A bit of time passed since the small man, main character of this story, fell. It was truly a lifechanging this in his life, not the fall itself, but what was before it!
It might sound strange, but it is like that, sooner or later people would feel how it is to fly, wether they fall from somewhere or just learn to - doesn't matter, the outcome is almost the same!
Wait, no... when you fall there's a bad feeling of dread, because if a fall is long enough for you to make a few sentences you are, most likely, not going to survive... eh... still, flying is nice, believe me!
What was i saying?... Oh, right, the story! Almost forgot! Now, what happened after The Fall? Nothing much, he just sat there until he was kicked by a porter, that's it. Is that all you wanted? No? Uh... okay...
Small man then started doing what he does worst - working, he collected some random pebbles that had mana in them, fancy looking parts of monsters that Protectors around him killed and other stuff that would probably sell well.
Of course he did not forget to take something for himself, some awakened people, who were called differently everywhere, had special abilities that allowed them to do various things, why am i saying that only some of the awakened had them? Well, that's because most of awakened simply got their strenght, magical power or some other sense boosted!
For example, remember the girl whose underwear Kerren stole? Her ability was passive! It's called "Sword Mastery 8" by the masses or "Teachings of a Sword God" by those who can see other people's "statuses", only a chosen few can do that, but fret not, because most of the artefacts that people get from clearing low-leveled dungeons have such ability!
Why, you ask? Why would i know? It just happened that a lot of those exist! Of course, their level varies, cheapest ones would be "Inspect 1" that is usually found on cheap rings or trinkets, by the same way of thinking you can go until "Inspect 7" and above that are found on high-leveled hood or helmets as sub-skill or in some skill books, but that's really rare!
Well, to be honest - most of the skills work like that, for example: "Sword Mastery" as a skill is commonly found everywhere, but are they the same? No! It varies on a place you get those from, for example a book from C to F level dungeons will most likely be from level 1 to 4, rarely it would be 5.
But! Is that all? Nope, people found a lot of things that weren't supposed to be there, our glorious Kerren was lucky like that! He found a book when raiding a... wait, raiding? Portering! Yes, portering an E rank dungeon, was that book useful, expensive and overpowered!? Yes it was... if you liked to eat, the skill he got was called "Neverfat" in the status meny and was basically unknown to the world.
You might want to know what it does? Well, here it is!... Drum drum drum!!! It doesn't allow you to get fat!... That's it. It's an A rank skill. Many women and even men would kill for such a skill, but for Kerren it was useless, not like he could get fat if he wanted to!
Then, you might ask: "But why didn't he sell it then?" Simple! Because he couldn't get it out of the dungeon! He didn't have a personal inventory at the time and it was unknown what skill it was exactly, it's not like it's just written on the book or anything... Also, dont worry, just learning new skills from random books is never dangerous because before you actually "add" it to yourself it will display the full description and ability of a said skill!
"Cant you just identify books like that, then?" Nope, because the books is consumed when that prompt is activated, so it's basically get or delete from this point on...
Wait... Why am i even saying all of those?... Oh, right! Kerren has a level 4 "Inventory" skill, that's what makes him different - he steals!... That's not a good thing but whatever, he's just trying to survive, okay? Not like he would get paid a lot even if he brought a level 12 skill book...
Anyway! Enough with explanation of those boring things! Now to the good stuff - collecting trash from the ground! Kerren already found some nice pebbles and bones, so lets go follow him to see what else he will find and do!
...
-* God damn it... Why do is there nothing on the ground anymore!? Like, i understand that you want to get paid a lot, but leave something for me - Kerren was screaming internally, he could not find anything expensive...
He looked around for a while to find wether or not some new monsters appeared so he could quickly take the most expensive thing in them - mana heart - and then leave the corpse to another porter.
Nope, every single person around him was resting, it looked like it was breaktime now... How sad, Kerren had to crawl on the ground now... Or just take something from the inventory skill he already filled to the brim... Yeah... Who would take care of him if not he himself?
Some time later they started moving again, things were going smoothly, small man, who is the protagonist of this story, filled his porter bag to the brim and went to drop it off to a special person, they called him a Chief Porter, usually a person with either insane mental strenght and a lot of space or space-time rings or them or simply with an Inventory skill, this time it was the latter.
- H-hey man, i filled my bag! Count it and give me my share! -- small man looked as pathetic as ever, only God knows if it was a tactic of his or his usual behavior...
- Dont shout. Drop it off here first -- he then pointed on a weight close to him, of course it was not normal, but do you really want me to explain what exactly it does and how it works?... Of course you do! The weight counted the amount of mana infused in to items that lie on it, basically giving it a fair price, of course, such a method does not work with every material there is, because some of them didn't have any mana but their value was immense! For example horns that Kerren collected - they were such an item! For such things existed a second weight that calculated the value of those things! With a simple mathematical formula porters get paid according to the result of those two!
- 348 magical particles, 94 value particles, your total payout is 20 gramms of 100% pure A crystal, will be given in 75% pure crystal, 100 gramms in total. Next! -- he hurriedly said without even looking at the small man.
- Wait, what? 20 gramms!? Outside it would be at least 50! What a ripoff! -- small man was unhappy! he was furious! He was getting ripped off!
- Ripoff? What a nice word you chose, want me to rip off some of your limbs then? -- Chief Porter did not even look angry, i think he just wanted to scare him off.
- W-wait... I got it... -- he crawled back like a rat... Pathetic, isn't it? But what can he do? Would you fight an elephant because he took your thing? Wait, why would an elephant do that in the first place?...
-* Damn you and this place! It's a good thing i stole the most valuabe things! Hehehe! I'm going to hit it big! -- he was happy inside but acted pathetically outside, a perfect tactic for weaklings!
He then started doing the same thing again, he just followed those that are strong and collected whatever was left on the ground, of course, if he had a chance to run in first and steal the most valuable things - he would, he was not a coward, he was just... cowardly, that's completely different!
...
- Miss, i think the map is wrong, look here -- he pointed at a mountain on the map -- this is where we are, but do you see any mountains that i dont? -- man in golden armor finally stopped talking.
- I dont... What's strange is not that the mountain is not here, it's that the rest of it is accurate... -- she looked at a man standing not too far away from her -- Cartographer, how could this happen? -- she asked worriedly.
- I... I think that it could be that there was something big here, and my skill misstook it for a mountain? It happened before, but it was a leviathan that made the map innacurate, surely there wont be one here, right? Hahaha! -- he laughed like an idiot after saying it all...
- A leviathan you say? -- man in golden armor rose his brows - Hmm... Maybe it was a golem? When was this map made? -- he asked the cartographer
- I made it as soon as we entered the dungeon, so around 10 hours ago... -- he said with a confused expression on his face -- Wait, i have an idea, why dont i just make a new one and where this mountain is now? -- it was a good idea! It really was! If i was him - i would be proud of myself!
- Let's do that, then. -- the woman said, as if they needed to hear that... Wait, they did, she's the leader here...
Cartographer then took a scrool out of his inventory skill and used another skill to draw a map on it, it wasn't that accurate, after all cartographing was wastly different from from scouting, but it gave people a general idea of where they are and where they need to go, so it was useful.
- Done. -- he said while drops of sweats rolled off his face -- Now, lets see... -- he started looking at the map along with everyone else present here.
Soon, strange looks filled faces of people around him, him included!
- Am i seeing things, or those mountains are incircling us?... -- man in golden armor said with a weak voice.
- 7... 9.. 13 mountains moved in total! -- beautiful woman cried out -- Okay, lets not panic, do you have any idea what they could be? -- she asked with a somewhat weak voice, she was not as scared as the man in golden armor.
- I bet on golems, my cartographing skill is not perfect, but it would not be misled by something that is not big enough, it wouldn't mark them at all if they were small -- he conveyed proudly.
- Golems? Okay, genius, where are they, then? -- man in golden armor said mockingly -- I dont see any giant golems at the size of a leviathan, or even close to one! -- he said with a now scoffing look.
- Uhhh... -- cartographer scratched his head -- maybe they are hiding? -- he said with a stupid smile.
- Or they are not on the ground! -- at this moment everyone looked at the side where this sound came from, can you guess who said it!?
- What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else? -- beautiful woman said
- Huh? Nope, i'm supposed to be here -- it was a tall and beautiful man with a great chin, short hair and a... uhm... okay, fine, i'll stop, it was a guy with a shield who Kerren was supposed to follow, happy now!?
- What do you mean underground? -- cartographed asked with a strange look in his eyes -- Do you really think my skill is that powerful?
- Well, there's not that much of a difference between water and earth for mana, is there? Theory, people! Learn it! What would you do if not for me!? -- he hit himself on the chest several times, he really was proud!
- That makes sense... But... If that is so - aren't we in danger now? How many underground monsters of that size do you know? -- beautiful woman asked with a worried expression and a slight smile.
Every person who heard it looked at her with an expression full of fear, they knew exactly what monsters were of that size - Deathbed Worms! Horrible, horrible monsters! What was worse - there were a lot of them! Each one of them could flatten a city! It was really dangerous!
- I think we're mistaken, we have to think properly first, if they really were worms - wouldn't they attack us already? They're territorial and dont live in packs, so it must be something else. -- man in golden armor said a good thing, however it has not easened the atmosphere around them.
- Then what is it? An underground dungeon or something similiar? -- man with a shield and a beautiful chin looked at the cartographer -- What is the range of your map? Could it potentially work for underground facilities aswell? -- he then asked
- I... Yes, definitely! When i was hunting a leviathan he was far below the surface level, but my map still drew him, it could be the case! -- he said with signs of relief on his face... not that relief, he was glad that he wont die to deathbed worms.
- Okay, that makes it easier -- the woman suddenly chipped -- We need to move, fast and steady, if there really is a dungeon or a facility underground it wont be a problem to find an entrance. -- she then turned around.
- Men! -- she said loudly -- Disperce on groups of 3 and scout the area! Report anything that looks unusual for a forest we're in! Any buildings, caves, holes in the ground! Report everything to me! Oh, and also, avoid battle as much as possible! -- she concluded.