Chapter 2
"After the dimensional-" A loud snore interrupted the teacher from continuing his lecture. He closed his eyes and rubbed them, before continuing on, ignoring the sleeping student. "These zones are where the portals to other dimensions have formed and then changed the environment to suit the invading beings. At the same time as these creatures and monsters appeared, humans began to acquire our powers to cultivate."
He glanced at the sleeping student and continued on. By that point, all of the teachers and many of the students had heard the transfer student's tale. Nathaniel Holmes was a bright boy, one of the brightest if his test scores were anything to go by. Unfortunately, that was just in the more mundane subjects.
He seemed to struggle with any of the more exotic subjects, though that was to be expected after what had happened to him. It had been two months since the attack on the boy, and you could still see the signs of it on him. The massive brace on his destroyed knee, and how much he slept.
The healers had only been able to fix the damage to his leg so much with how frail he had become. With the boy's wrecked meridians until they were healed, this was his new life. He had gone from a bright future to someone who could barely stay awake in class.
It was a tragedy.
The remarkable thing was that he wasn't failing any of his subjects, as long as you didn't count the physical ones, at least. Even in those he appeared to be struggling in, he still maintained a passing grade and showed improvement.
All the teachers were impressed with him and his will to study.
***
Nate hated that all he could do was study endlessly, but he truly had nothing better to do at the moment. The computer on his wrist still hadn't finished forming, even after all this time. Sure, the outer shell had been done the next morning, but that was all. There had been nothing inside, and even after those appeared, there was nothing installed on it.
So here he was, two months later, still waiting to see what the device was going to be used for. In the meantime, he had used the time he had to study up on his new home, learning how it differed from his old one.
It was still called Earth, and the history was even still largely the same up until the dimensional zones appeared with their portals. Then things got a bit wonky, and traditional physics got thrown out the window. Not that he had a problem with that. Even on his Old Earth, the scientists had begun to figure out that their science wasn't always correct.
The problem was, the lawsuit had only ended the other day. Even in a world filled with monsters, the judicial system found ways to needlessly drag their heels for every little thing. Though, he guessed two months might have been quicker than it would have been on OE.
Thankfully, the judge had been nice and brought the hammer down as hard as she dared on everyone involved.
The teacher, who had been caught, was, of course, sent to jail. All the money he had been given as a bribe had been handed over to Nate's family. The school, for their actions in trying to cover it up and overall negligence, now had to foot the bill for all of his school-related expenses until he graduated high school. It made the choice of where to send him next even easier now that they didn't have to worry about money.
As for the kids involved, well, they got away with a warning, and a fine that would be sufficient to pay his medical bills four times over. Or at least it would have been if they had been able to find anyone willing to make the medication for him. Even the healer who had been working on his knee had stopped coming by.
After the lawsuit happened, he had become anathema to all the medical professionals. The families involved knew they couldn't attack him directly, so they went after what they could instead. They didn't even need to touch his parents; this was worse in their eyes.
He had to admit; it was seriously annoying to be stuck in such a weak body even after being brought to another world. All he could do was hope that whenever the computer on his wrist finished doing its thing, it would be able to help in some way.
That was really the only complaint he had about his new life. He had his parents back, and he now lived in a world where magic existed. He had even seen people fly, not in person mind you, but on the TV, and it had been real!
It was part of the cultivation that people practiced now to gain strength and fight the monsters and other beings that threatened to invade. To fly, someone needed to be even stronger than his parents. Which he supposed meant he probably wouldn't be taking to the skies anytime soon.
Nate shook his head and refocused on the book spread out next to his actual laptop, not the one on his wrist.
Even with the dimensional zones appearing, humans had found time to create computers. The outer shell was made from different materials than he was used to, and the sleek designs were gone. The internal hardware, on the other hand, was even better than what he was used to. With magic backing them up, there was no way they would be lagging behind in that department.
He tried reading the same page a few more times before pushing it to the side and opening the computer on his wrist. The installation percentage meter had been stalled at ninety-nine percent for the last day. It was so close to being finished that he could feel it, and the excitement was keeping him from focusing on anything else.
It was like he was six again and it was Christmas.
Except this had the potential to be even better!
He stared at it, willing it to move on to one-hundred and complete the process already. Finally, after he had been staring at it for ten minutes, that is exactly what it did.
With a soft chime, the computer on his wrist restarted and displayed his vitals alongside a menu screen.
Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Unawakened Mortal (Damaged Core, and Meridians)
Core: Grade ??
Strength: 7(-3)
Speed: 6(-4)
Constitution: 7(-4)
Energy: ??
Meditative Art: ??
Energy Skills: None
Attack:
Support:
Companion Beast: None
Dungeon Creation - Current limit 1
Avatar
Items
Storage
That was not what he had been expecting… not at all. Well, his stats were, they sucked, they were abysmal. The computer being some kind of dungeon creation tool, though was not anywhere in line with his thinking. He didn't even know what one was here. Were they the same thing as the old tabletop games he had played on OE?
He had never heard of dungeons here before, and it wasn't like the governments kept information restricted. Far too many people went through the zones and portals trying to keep the world safe for that to even be remotely viable. At least not for the more common items.
Nate yawned and turned off the screen. Other people couldn't see the computer, but he didn't want to accidentally roll over while he was sleeping and start hitting buttons. He had already learned there was no point in fighting his body's need for sleep.
"He's pushing himself too hard. We keep finding him asleep at his desk instead of in bed."
Nate awoke to the concerned whispers of his parents standing in the doorway of his room.
"It's alright, I'm up." He mumbled, pushing back from the desk, and stumbling over to them. "How was the patrol today?"
"It was fine, just the usual weak monsters that we always deal with. Luckily, the zone closest to us is a weak one without much variety a lot of the time. Whenever a new monster appears, that is when we know we need to worry. A boring day, with the same old weak monsters, is a good day."
Nate listened to his dad speak while following them downstairs to the kitchen for dinner. The last two months had held a sort of normalcy to them that he absolutely loved. He got to spend time with his parents again, and just listen to them talk about work.
In his old life, he would have been bored to tears, and he still was, truth be told, but now he knew how precious these moments could be.
A little later, Nate found himself at his desk again. This time, he was wide awake and ready to finally explore what the computer could do.
Turning on the screen, he was presented with the same information and options as before. He was tempted to go directly into the 'Dungeon Creation'option but felt that might be biting off a little too much. It was better to ease himself into whatever strangeness this device had in store for him.
With that in mind, he selected the second option instead, 'Avatar'.
'Welcome to the Avatar Creation tutorial. Would you like to begin?'
Nate blinked in confusion at the words. He knew what they meant and even what an avatar was in a broad sense. What he didn't know is why he needed one, or what purpose it would serve. Information that would have been useful when designing an avatar.
Somehow, he doubted this was something that many other people would be seeing. Which meant its existence served another as yet unknown purpose entirely. Unfortunately, without more information, all he could do is treat the creation process as seriously as possible and hope that was good enough.
After a brief hesitation, Nate selected 'Yes' and began the process of creating his avatar.
The number of options was mind-boggling and absolutely destroyed any ideas he might have had to its purpose. If it was meant to look like him, then he would have had a couple of guesses. Now, though, he could change the avatar's race, gender, and everything in between. It was every gamer's dream, and his nightmare.
What was he supposed to do with this?
Did he hold to his plan of creating something serious, with his own likeness, or go for something fun? An Elf, perhaps, or a jiggly slime thing? He could even make a skeleton avatar if he wanted to, though that sounded overdone in his opinion.
There were too many options. Finally, he found a hint at the very bottom of the screen, written in tiny letters like you would find on a warning label.
'You only get to create an avatar one time. Make sure you are happy with all aspects of your creation before confirming all modifications to your ethereal avatar.'
This was meant to be his 'Ethereal Avatar'. That also meant it was connected to his spirit, or at least to him in some way. That decided it for him. He didn't want any weird slime behaviors trickling through an as-yet-unidentified connection and influencing him. It wouldn't be so bad if he got the agility of an Elf. It would be another thing entirely if he got their pointed ears.
Elves were one of the races that had appeared with the dimensional zones. If his ears suddenly changed like that, he would be killed, or worse, shoved through a portal.
No, thank you!
His only option was to model the avatar after himself. Well, maybe with a few improvements. Surely no one would begrudge him for making himself a little more handsome or adding the sixpack he currently lacked. You know the little improvements that every male wanted.
Nate stayed up late into the night, making sure the avatar was perfect. The fight to stay awake against his weak body during that time was a struggle. However, he was determined to finish before going to sleep, and he did.
When he finally fell into an exhausted sleep in the middle of the night, his avatar had been completed.
Nate didn't wake up the next morning.
Chapter 3
He was sick from pushing his stupid body too hard, and now he was paying the price. In other words, he was confined to his bed for the rest of the day, instead of being allowed to go to school.
Oh, no, it was such a terrible punishment! Nate would have rolled his eyes if he had felt any better. As it was, he completely understood how stupid he had been. Pushing his body for hours to finish that avatar, had not been a smart choice on his part.
He felt like crap, but that wasn't going to stop him from messing around with the dungeon creation system. He had no interest in watching any of the TV shows this world had to offer or playing their videogames, not when he had something potentially better on his wrist.
Nate pushed the sole button on the side of the wrist computer, turning on the screen.
He briefly thought about looking at the two options he had yet to explore, but decided it made no sense. They were most likely empty, and besides, he had already set a goal for himself. He wanted to explore what it meant to create a dungeon.
Though, he did find it somewhat curious that the selection for 'Avatar' was still on the menu. There might be more in there now that it was created. However, that could wait until later.
First, the dungeon.
He pushed the selection for the 'Dungeon Creation' and sat back as the screen on the computer suddenly began to expand. No longer was it confined to just his wrist and the small, but incredibly detailed display. Now, he was seeing everything in at least forty-inches wide-screen mode, from two feet away. It was the perfect size for him to still touch mostly everything without straining.
That would have been useful last night when he was designing his avatar.
Nate was just glad no one was home. He already knew no one else could see or even feel the computer on his wrist. How that worked, he had no idea, but it did. Even his clothes acted like it wasn't there.
What he didn't know was if those same rules would also apply to the giant floating screen in front of him. He imagined they did, but there was a little tiny voice inside that made him wonder.
The screen began to populate with a series of locations that he vaguely recognized but couldn't understand why.
'Welcome to the Dungeon Creation system, you are currently limited to one dungeon at this time. So, choose the location of your first dungeon carefully. These are the currently open incursions to your world, colloquially known as 'Dimensional Zones' and their associated portals. Please make your selection from these options.'
Ah, that was why they had looked familiar. There was a map of these on the wall at school, but he could have sworn the number of zones wasn't nearly this many. He dismissed the thought but memorized the locations, regardless.
It was information he would look into the next time he went to school if he remembered.
Nate made the familiar pinching and spreading motion to zoom in and out, just like he did on his smartphone. He already knew where he wanted to build this dungeon. His parents had mentioned that the area was fairly safe, which meant it would be a good spot. At the same time, it would also help to keep them safe.
It was a win, win in his mind. He just had to find the right incursion, as it had been called first.
Luckily, since the map matched what he had seen at school and was already familiar with even before that, it wasn't hard.
A moment after making his selection, a new screen appeared.
'Incursion Zone selected- Are you sure this is the area where you would like to create your first dungeon?'
Nate felt a burst of apprehension run through him, as he double-checked the location to make sure it was the one closest to them. The stupid warning had needlessly sent his heart racing.
Still, before he selected 'Yes', he checked again, one last time. It was like when you locked your car door and you had to keep checking to make sure it was actually locked. It was that stupid little annoying voice that constantly asked, 'what if?'
The screen changed, with the map of all the different incursion sites disappearing.
'The Dungeon Core is now being constructed. During this time, build a dungeon using the resources available at your disposal. The goal is to protect the Dungeon Core first and prevent access to the outside world second. As the dungeon and its Core grow in strength, it will be able to merge with the portal and create additional levels inside their world.'
He swiped away the message with a gulp. As soon as this thing appeared it was going to cause such a stir. A chuckle rumbled up from the depths of his frazzled mind. Maybe he could even have some fun with that. Create some signs on the outside that lambasted the families that had hurt him or refused them entry.
He would need to see what he could actually do with it.
A timer appeared in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, telling him how long he had until the core was finished. He had no idea how powerful the monsters from this portal were, or even what kind they were. They could have been humanoid, beast, or something else entirely.
Suddenly, he regretted not asking his parents more questions about their job.
No wait, he had seen the bodies on the news before. He strained to remember what they had been and vaguely came up with an image of beasts that were reported to use nature attacks.
That would help. He couldn't have anything nature based in the dungeon if he was right. That was a big chance to make for something like this. If only there was some kind of device, he could use to search for more information like this.
Nate chuckled and reached for his regular laptop. He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten about this. Why bother trying to remember something when he could get the actual hard facts as they were reported?
It only took him a few minutes to confirm that this particular zone only had beast monsters. With each running the gamut in size and species. Thankfully, his parents hadn't been lying when they said this area was fairly safe. The monsters this zone produced were pretty weak in the grand scheme of things.
Of course, that still meant they were enough to take care of any regular person without a problem. Only cultivators at the fourth or fifth realm, 'Core Refining or 'Foundation Establishment'stood a chance against them. Considering how many realms there were reported to be, that was actually pretty low.
Still, it presented a problem to him. How was he supposed to create a dungeon that could stand up to them?
All he could do was open up the creation menu and see what he had to work with. Maybe something would come to him.
Nate shifted around on the bed as his body ached anew. He really had pushed it too hard the night before. He would need to be more careful in the future.
It was time to focus on creating the dungeon. He had all the basic knowledge he could think to get, and he was on a timer. Who knew what would happen if the dungeon wasn't ready in time? Maybe nothing, or it was possible the core could just appear completely unprotected in the zone and waste his one chance.
Either way, he wasn't going to gamble on it.
A series of basic building components, reminiscent of the old RTS games he used to play, appeared along the right side of the screen underneath the countdown. Each one had a number listed next to it that let him know how much he had access to.
The menu for building the dungeon was the same as the old games he was thinking of. He could drag and drop the pre-listed options. Or using the search menu at the top and the holographic keyboard that would appear he could design his own.
Nate started by creating a room around the portal, sealing it off from everything else. A lone reinforced door served to slow down anything that came through. He couldn't lock it, but he could make it, so they needed to turn the knob to open the door in the first place.
Unfortunately, the system wouldn't let him place a trap inside the room with them.
Gradually, he built up the dungeon, keeping an eye on his building components the entire time. Each wall and floor took a certain amount, as they needed to be strong enough to withstand the monsters. Thankfully, that was something he didn't need to take into consideration this time around and was done automatically.
Instead, he just needed to worry about the overall design and material management. He was quick to realize that with his limited funds, the size of the first dungeon wouldn't be anything impressive. Especially if he wanted to include traps and other functions meant to injure and disable the roving beasts.
Not to mention that he still needed to find some way to hide and protect the core.
Nate found himself removing the initial layout and starting over three different times before deciding to approach this in a different manner. He needed to be more logical and thorough in how he approached this. He couldn't just do whatever came to mind.
The dungeon needed to be planned out properly, or at least as properly as he could manage before he ran out of time.
He started out with the same small room around the portal, only this time, he created three different doors. Each was trapped, the same as before. The main difference this time was in how he designed the rooms. It was more of a labyrinth now, with the portal contained in the middle.
The core would be in the upper left, with only a single, trap-filled passage going to it.
The opening that would lead out to the dimensional zone was in the bottom right corner. It wasn't nearly as confusing or trap-laden, because frankly, he didn't care if they got out just yet. He knew that the cultivators could take care of them if they did.
If these beasts destroyed the core, though, then everything for him was over. What could be potentially his only chance to make something of himself would be gone. And that was something he couldn't allow to happen. So, until he knew more about this dungeon and how everything worked, the cultivators protecting them would have to keep doing their job.
He silently apologized to his parents for not being good enough.
It was hard creating something for beasts you knew next to nothing about. Even more so when you also knew nothing about the strength or capabilities of the building materials you were using. Hopefully, the walls would be strong enough and the traps deadly enough. But who knew if that would actually be the case?
Would they be able to smell the acid in the traps, or would it be able to melt through their skin? What about the spears and fire he was using? Were any of them even going to be useful?
Unfortunately, he wouldn't know until it was too late. He had done his best to maximize what he could with the resources he had available. Now he just needed to know how to get more.
The last item he had on his list that he needed to complete before the countdown finished in the next couple of minutes was the signs. Each one banning the families of the members who had attacked him. He didn't think he would be able to enforce it, but it would still cause quite the stir, if nothing else.
Besides, they would be stupid to enter this far into the dimensional zone.
Nate somewhat felt as though he had raised a flag by thinking that thought but shook off the silly feeling.
Chapter 4
The last few seconds of the core creation ticked down, only a couple of minutes after he had finished creating the dungeon. Nate waited, his breath coming in shallow gasps as nothing happened.
Finally, after several long seconds, a new message appeared.
'The creation of the Dungeon Core has been completed. Would you like to finalize the creation of the dungeon and its placement?'
He breathed out in a long exhale, feeling as though his already weak body was about to give out. Okay, at least now he knew he hadn't needed to rush quite so much. That was good information for the future.
He leaned back and clicked 'No' for the moment. Now that he knew he had some extra time, he was going to take it. While he was mostly satisfied with the design of the dungeon, it had still been done under a perceived time crunch.
Now that the timer was gone and he could think clearer, it was time to look at the design again.
What he found was a mixed bag. It truly was a decent design with the information he had on hand. There was no vegetation or nature that they could use for their attacks, though he wasn't even sure if that mattered. And that right there was the crux of the matter, knowledge. There was simply too much he didn't know about them.
Nate made a couple of last-minute changes and then told the dungeon to finalize the creation and its placement.
New screens appeared above his current one that showed in real-time the dungeon being created. It sprang up out of the ground around the portal, his first time seeing the dimensional tear, and then covered everything. One of the screens switched to a view inside the dungeon aimed at the portal, while another went to the core.
That left him with three screens, one he kept on the outside view of the dungeon. The last two he could freely move around the dungeon as he wanted, seeing how effective or not everything was.
The entire process only took a few minutes to complete this time, though he had a feeling that future changes to it would take longer.
He shifted again, struggling to find a comfortable spot with his aching body, but also unwilling to go to sleep just yet. Nate was determined to see how this played out at least in the beginning.
Unfortunately, he failed to account for one thing. How often, or in this case, how rarely, beasts or monsters tended to come through the portal.
It wasn't always a large number of them, otherwise humanity would have been overrun years ago. At the same time, it was a fairly steady rate of a couple every hour, normally.
That meant he had to wait several minutes before the first beast monster appeared inside the dungeon. Right off the bat, he noticed that the energy resource had ticked up a fraction with its appearance. The monster was giving him, well, the dungeon energy just by being inside it. That answered how he got one of the resources, but not the rest of them.
The beast was a rather ugly-looking brute that resembled a cross between a monkey and its own butt. It was entirely smooth, with no fur and rippling with muscles. Not to mention it was obvious the thing had been taking steroids. Nate almost felt sorry for the females of its species.
It stood around in confusion for several moments before approaching a wall and beginning to pound on it.
The walls held, but Nate noticed that his energy production had stopped. The dungeon appeared to be using energy to reinforce the wall, equaling out the energy production instead of sending him into the negatives.
He breathed a sigh of relief. That was one less thing he needed to worry about. As long as the dungeon used the same amount of energy that each monster produced, then the walls would probably never fail.
The Butt-Monkey pounded on the wall for another minute before giving up and wandering around the room. He stumbled across the door, but was clearly unaware of how to use a doorknob. Not that he let that stop him from breaking the door down. It turned out that doors were a lot less sturdy than walls.
However, it did start to repair itself after the beast had walked through, for an additional energy cost. Nate frowned at that, already rethinking his idea to use so many doors. With how many it would have to break through, they would for sure slow it down. The cost to repair them all, however, would make any gains he made almost negligible.
The beast stopped in the middle of the third room and sniffed the air. It looked from side to side and then backed up, a wary look on its ugly smooth-cheeked face.
Nate checked what he had in the room and grimaced. It was an acid trap. If even this ugly monkey thing could smell the acid, then those traps would be no good in this particular dungeon.
As far as he knew, monkeys didn't have particularly keen senses of smell. At least not compared to a canine or a feline. Yet even it was detecting the smell of the acid.
He made a note to remove those traps and not use them in any future dungeons with monsters that might have a better sense of smell than normal.
The beast made a decision and took a running leap, jumping through the spot in question. A spray of acid hit the ground behind it. The energy production for the dungeon halted again, as the ground was fixed from the attack.
Nate yawned and flicked his eyes to the other screens, seeing if there was anything else happening. There wasn't, so far, it was just the one monster inside the dungeon still.
He shifted as another lance of agony ran through his body. He didn't think just pushing himself to stay awake would result in this much pain. Yet, here he was, confined to his bed and unable to find a comfortable position to even lie in.
All he could do was focus on other things.
Nate looked at the endless line of traps that led up to the Dungeon Core. He couldn't forget about how the disgusting-looking monkey had responded to the acid. It might be a good idea to include the acid as his first line of defense there. Just load the first passage up with enough that they wouldn't even think of going farther.
He made another note on his laptop and set it to the side while he watched the show.
Finally, everything ended seven rooms in when the stupid thing fell into one of his spear traps. The pointed metal death dealers sliced through its skin without a problem. In moments, the hole-ridden body had bled out and died.
The resource counters for iron, copper, acid, and more spun up as they collected everything they could from its blood and body. Energy increased the most with its death. However, he was sure there was something else going on behind the scenes. There was no way that body had nearly the amount of resources he had gained from it.
Not that he was going to complain. That would be just stupid. At least he now knew how to get more of what he needed to build up the dungeon. He just needed to have it keep killing things. It wasn't enough to let them walk through it. He would get energy from that, but nothing more.
They needed to die.
With the show now over, Nate pulled up the information on the dungeon and began to change the parts he was unhappy with. The first to go were the doors, at least in their current form. They slowed down the beasts, which he liked, but they were too flimsy. He needed something that they could either open eventually or wouldn't break as easily.
That was the hard part. He couldn't select what the doors were made from, the system wouldn't let him. Each room needed to have a way for the monsters to get in and out of. The doors were only allowed if they were weak, and the doorknobs because they were considered a form of trap.
With a growl of annoyance, Nate decided to put them back, leaving them alone for now. He would keep working at them when he came up with a better idea. For the moment at least, he would simply have to put up with them being constantly destroyed and repaired. Hopefully, the delay they provided would make it worth it.
Next, he started on the acid traps, concentrating on the one closest to the portal. He removed the first and was pleased to note that he got back the resources that had been used in their creation. However, it did take energy for the removal.
Energy was definitely going to be his most precious resource going forward. Everything depended on it in some form.
Now he just needed to decide what traps to create in their stead. Did he want to use more pit traps? That had been effective against the last beast, but would it be the same against something smarter or faster?
He decided to change things up a little and went for arrow traps instead. Making one of them an acid arrow just to see if they could detect that one as well.
A new beast appeared just as he was finishing up. Thankfully, he could still make changes while they were inside, but the creation of the new traps slowed to a crawl. He would need to remember that in the future. If he made changes at the wrong time, a monster could walk through parts of the dungeon completely unmolested.
The new beast was a leopard with three whip-like tails.
Right away, it was clear that this monster was smarter than the monkey from before. It didn't try to attack the walls pointlessly. In fact, for several long moments, it didn't do anything. It simply studied the room.
When it finished, it approached one of the doors and smacked it four times with its tails, shattering it into pieces. It was a different door than the previous beast had taken. An action that Nate found odd. It should have been able to smell it still, yet it decided to not follow the same path.
He made a note of it and went back to watching the leopard study the new room. It was a cautious one. He had to give it that. Every time it entered a new room, it would stop and study everything.
That caution and awareness helped it to avoid all the traps he had placed throughout the dungeon. Yet, none of that was able to help it get out. The beast was so slow that Nate simply started changing the traps he was unhappy with.
The cautious leopard was showing him the faults in where he had placed the traps. Or where he had used the wrong ones entirely, as they were too easy to get around.
Nate was taking constant notes, documenting the beast's entire journey through the dungeon. This was valuable information.
He began to line some of the walls with retracted spikes that activated when anything got too close to them. That had been a pain to type into the search bar. He thought it was worth it after he saw the leopard run on the wall for the fifth time.
He began to make a list adjacent to his other notes containing all the traps he could remember from video games. Unfortunately, it wasn't very long. Only a few of the most common ones seemed to rise to the surface of his mind.
Instead, he made a note to do a search on the internet later.
The beast had actually managed to take a roundabout path towards the exit when it ran along the walls for the final time. His newly installed trap. The wall spikes sprang out and pierced through it.
The monster had made it twelve rooms into his dungeon before dying.
Chapter 5
Nate nodded in approval at the sheer amount of energy the monster had given him due to how slow it had been. A detriment that reared its head a moment later as a new monster appeared before he could make more changes.
The previous beast had taken so long that whatever timer they ran off of had run down on him already.
At least this one was fairly normal looking, for the most part. It was a rat. A large one for sure, but still just a rat. The tail looked strong but not as flexible as the whips the leopard had. It simply appeared to be an oversized rat.
He watched it for a few more seconds before focusing on his traps. He could feel his body protesting that he had been forcing it to stay awake again to watch the show. That meant he needed to get to sleep soon. However, before he did that, he needed to make sure the path to the Dungeon Core was secure.
Or at least as secure as he could make it.
Which mainly meant lining it with the arrow and spike wall traps. Those were all he could afford either way. His resources were tapped out for the moment. Until a lot more monsters died, he wasn't going to be making any more large-scale changes to the dungeon.
Which was fine. He already had a fair number of notes that he needed to sleep to properly go through still. The dungeon he had designed was less than optimal in a lot of ways. Some rooms were too large, or too narrow, which kept the monsters from choosing them. There were a lot of things he needed to go through and change.
However, all of that could wait until after his nap, when hopefully he would be feeling better. Nate closed all the screens on his wrist computer and saved his notes in a password-protected file on his laptop.
The pain lancing throughout his entire body wasn't enough to keep him awake a second longer after his head hit the pillow. He was out of it and didn't wake again until his parents got home around dinnertime.
"Are you just barely waking up?" His mother asked with concern. Her warm hand felt at his head. "You have a slight fever, but that's nothing new since the attack."
Nate stretched out, feeling better after the long nap. Most of the aches and pains that had been bothering him since the night before had vanished, with only a few lingering ones left over. Not counting his knee, of course, that wasn't going to go away by simply sleeping.
"I'll be fine, mom. Any word on the medication?"
She shook her head, her eyes drooping as she delivered the bad news. "No change there, I'm afraid. Even the judge can't order them to make it for you. I'm sorry, sweetie."
His hand covered hers as he gave her a placating smile. "Are there other options? What about other cities? Can we import it?"
"That's not the way it works. Each alchemy guild is in charge of its own city, period. We can't submit orders to another city's guild. They won't let us, and it's not allowed."
He sighed and let his head thump lightly against the headboard of his bed. "I'll guess I'm stuck like this until everything blows over then." He swallowed around the suddenly thick lump in his throat. "Anyway, tell me how your and dad's day went."
"Interesting. There was a major change around the portal earlier. Our satellite images are still grainy, but it seems like a structure of some kind suddenly appeared around it. Since then, we haven't seen any new monsters appear on the images."
"Oh?" Nate stilled, trying to act normal. "Have any other structures ever appeared? I haven't heard about them in school before."
"No, this is the first one. It has a lot of people worried that the zones are about to undergo some change." She sighed and pushed her hand through his hair before pulling it back with a cringe. "You need to take a shower. Your hair is all greasy. Anyway, they're thinking of sending a unit in to inspect whatever it is."
His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Promise me that you and dad won't be a part of that team. No matter what, please?"
"Are you alright?" She felt his head again with clear concern. "I promise, we wouldn't get chosen anyway. However, if we did. We'd make sure to refuse."
"Thank you." He couldn't allow his mom and dad to go into the dungeon he was creating. He had just gotten them back. To lose them to his own creation would have been a cruel joke beyond all others. "I'll go take a shower and then come down for dinner."
The brace he had on his knee allowed him to walk somewhat normally, but it was painful and he had to keep it on while washing.
The quick shower helped revitalize his mind enough to realize something was wrong with his body. Everything felt slightly different from before, longer, more detailed. Not like the injured semi-marshmallow he had become. A quick visit to the mirror confirmed his suspicions.
The changes he had made to his avatar were slowly being made to his real body as well. It was a good thing he hadn't chosen one of those more exotic races. He hated to think about what would have happened then.
Each of the changes was almost purely superficial as well. For instance, he had the beginnings of a six-pack, but he wasn't any stronger.
He was glad he hadn't gone overboard on any of the modifications, but it did make him curious. What was the purpose of the avatar? If it was to fight in the dungeon, then what would happen to him if it got hurt or even died?
It was something he would need to be very careful about in the future.
For now, though, he needed to worry about getting through a dinner with his parents without saying anything wrong.
Dinner was a mixed affair, with his parents worried about his health still, and the appearance of the so-called structure. They wanted to keep him home for one more day at least, if for no other reason than because they believed he had slept all day.
It was a decision Nate was more than willing to get behind. Studying was a pain, but he enjoyed the socializing that came with school normally. Right now, however, he had something more important that he needed to explore.
There was a lot that needed to be done with the dungeon, especially if cultivators were going to be visiting it soon. After getting a renewed promise from his parents that they wouldn't be part of any group to investigate, he went back upstairs.
Those groups couldn't be trusted. In any case, there were too many politics.
People like his parents would only end up being treated as disposable garbage by the rest, or worse. He had no desire to see them put through that. Thankfully, as a result of what had been done to him, their eyes had been firmly opened to how things worked. They wouldn't be stupid and willingly forced into one of those groups, either.
Stripping down to his boxers, Nate laid down on his bed and rubbed his knees. He'd forgotten how much growing pains could hurt; it was no wonder he had been so uncomfortable earlier.
Pulling up the notes he had made on his laptop, Nate touched his wrist computer. A new option appeared in the main menu right underneath the now greyed-out 'Dungeon Creation' button. The new 'Dungeon Interface' was obviously what he was looking for.
Selecting it opened a sub-menu with only a single option on it at the moment. His sole created dungeon. Only after selecting that, did it pull up all the same screens that he had seen from that morning. There were currently two monsters working their way through the dungeon. One of them had gotten close to the exit, while the other had just left the room with the portal.
Nate glanced at the resource counters and sighed. He, or rather the dungeon, hadn't gotten nearly as much as he had been hoping for. Energy was fairly plentiful. Everything else, on the other hand, not so much. They had increased, but not by as much as he had been hoping.
Then, as he was watching, the monster closest to the exit made a break for it and slipped through. It left behind a large part of its tail, but the beast itself had escaped. No wonder the rest of the resources hadn't increased as much as he needed them to.
Who knew how many of those things had managed to slip through while he was asleep? He was lucky they hadn't attacked the core.
It would seem that some of these beasts were smarter than he had been giving them credit for. Nate cracked his neck and made a decision. It was fine. He wouldn't concentrate on those monsters. He would focus on the weaker ones for now.
He would build up slowly. This was a marathon, not a sprint. This dungeon needed to be able to take care of itself while he wasn't around. Something that the core seemed perfectly designed to do. He just needed to make sure that it had the opportunity to do so.
With that in mind, he began another round of changes in the dungeon.
The goal this time was to make the exit harder to get through. He might need to make it similar to how he had done the core, except he still wanted to keep monsters away from that. He would see about far he could take this place later. For now, he just wanted to keep the things inside for as long as possible until they gave up and died.
There would be no moving walls in his labyrinth-like dungeon. Not yet, at least. He was too focused on traps. Unfortunately, he had no other choice with which to attack the invading monsters.
The dungeon couldn't create anything living, or even a facsimile of it. There would be no horde of monsters under his own command, or skeleton warriors for that matter either. It wouldn't even let him create an apple. Anything with life seemed like a non-starter.
Traps were the only way to go, at least for the moment. He had plenty of notes to work off of from before, and he made use of them now. Beasts were different from humans. They weren't driven by greed, or at least not the same greed. He couldn't hide treasure throughout the dungeon and expect them to explore the place.
They seemed solely focused on escaping the dungeon. He could use that. He just needed to set the place up in a way where it wasn't one long death corridor. Nothing would be willing to walk through that, not even these monsters. Besides, he had a feeling the dungeon wouldn't let him anyway.
He was hesitant to say it had rules, so much as it seemed to have certain guidelines he needed to follow most of the time. There had already been a couple of times when he had gotten away with minor infractions.
Like there weren't supposed to be any traps in the portal room, yet the doorknob counted as a trap. It was a silly, almost inconsequential thing, but it meant something. He wasn't sure what exactly, but once he did, hopefully, things would begin to move faster.
Nate added another couple of wall traps around the exit and a pressure plate for the spike floor. They were the final changes he was going to make for the moment.
There was one other thing he wanted to try out that night, and he was getting tired.
He exited the 'Dungeon Interface' and moved over to his 'Avatar' instead. It was time to see if this thing was good for anything. He selected the option and was greeted with his naked form and a new menu with two options. 'Equip', and 'Don Avatar'.
It wasn't hard to understand what donning his avatar meant. However, he certainly didn't want to do that while nude and without a weapon.
With that in mind, his first selection was an obvious choice.
Chapter 6
Nate clicked on 'Equip' expectantly… only to be greeted by an empty screen. He had nothing. There were no clothes, no armor, and no weapon for him to use. The dungeon wasn't providing any of it, or if it was, he hadn't figured out how to access it yet.
The stupid thing hadn't exactly come with an instruction manual after all.
Which left him with a choice. Did he want to risk going into the dungeon nude, or do nothing for now? It was a harder choice than he wanted to admit.
A large part of him wanted to do the safe thing and stay where he was. At the same time, he felt the need to learn more about what this system could do. And he would never do that by simply playing it safe all the time.
Unfortunately, there was another matter to consider. He had already seen firsthand that the avatar had the power to influence his physical form. What would happen if it was injured, torn apart, or even killed?
He had no answers, and without a manual, it seemed like there was only one way to find out.
Nate brought the menu back one screen, and stared at the 'Don Avatar' option, trying to work up the nerve. Finally, a minute later, he decided to throw caution to the wind and pressed the button. His body fell back onto the bed, looking for all intents and purposes as though he were asleep.
The transition was disorienting, but he found himself standing inside the core room of the dungeon. The wrist computer was still there with all of its functions. He was able to modify the dungeon now from the inside, which had some plusses, but he wouldn't be able to take notes. So, it also had some minuses.
He was also able to spy on the monster, currently working its way through a corridor in the distance.
Nate glanced down at his completely naked form and shivered. This was not going to end well. He didn't even know how he was going to leave the room. With his body's current condition, just looking at one of the traps would be enough to kill him.
Still, knowing that this wasn't his real body and having died once already emboldened him some. He patted the core for good luck and walked toward the exit, marveling at the fact he was able to walk without his knee hurting. It turned out to be easier to leave the room than he thought it would be. The traps didn't react to him at all. They simply didn't activate as he passed by. He was the owner of the dungeon, and this place knew that.
It would never hurt him.
Feeling a little better with that knowledge in mind, Nate broke into a jog and ran towards where the beast was. He already had a plan forming in his mind. It was a somewhat stupid plan, but he had little doubt it would work. As long as he was quick enough.
He double-checked where the closest trap was and waited for the monster to come around the corner. It was an ugly, foul smell fish thing that trundled about on four legs. Its main weapon seemed to be a froglike tongue that could shoot out and stick to surfaces.
That tongue and the mobility it provided seemed to be the sole reason it had survived for so long.
Nate swallowed, suddenly scared at what he was about to do, and whistled. He was standing right in the middle of a trapped floor. Sharpened spikes would shoot up from the floor as soon as it detected any weight that wasn't him. Which meant he needed to run as soon as the fishy thing saw him.
Its tongue flicked out and hit the ground beside him with a thud as he rolled to the side. The trap refused to activate since he was still in the way. Nate ran as the fish jumped into the air and rocketed towards him.
Even as he was running, ideas were surging through his head on how he could capitalize on this situation. Along with plenty more, that cursed him out for being a fool. He could have been comfortable in bed, but no, he had just felt the need to do something stupid!
Nate dove out of the area of the trap just as the monster hit the ground behind him. The spears shot up, skewering it instantly and killing it in one go.
He huffed and puffed his way over to the beast, wanting to touch it before the dungeon claimed its prize. He didn't reach it in time, but he did notice the small glowing white orb it had left behind. Something that he had never seen with the other kills.
Touching it carefully, the orb broke apart with a flash of light. In its place, a pair of fish-leather pants that was exactly his size had been left behind. He had found his first piece of equipment.
He wasn't sure that made the entire ordeal worth it. However, getting up close and personal with his traps wasn't a bad thing. After looking through the interface some more, he had begun to notice a few differences in how they operated.
The dungeon interface he had been using before was great for macro usage. After all, it had let him create an entire dungeon in one night. The interface he was seeing while in his avatar form, however, was more micro-based. It lent itself more towards fine control.
One let him create everything quickly, and then the other was there for him to fine-tune the creation.
It was an interesting idea to him, and one that he would need to explore more later. At the moment, though, he needed to rest. His avatar was still using the same unhealthy parameters as his normal body. Which meant he had already pushed himself far too hard.
Nate finished pulling on his new pants and used the menu to exit the dungeon.
It was morning when he next opened his eyes. Using the avatar had put his body to sleep, and in his current state, he had stayed that way even after exiting.
Surprisingly, he didn't feel any worse. Despite abusing the avatar, his normal body was still in the same crappy shape as before. It hadn't developed any new issues while he slept. In fact, he felt like he had slept pretty well.
That was a possible tick into the box towards the avatar being somewhat disposable. It made no sense for him to feel everything it felt with both his bodies. He shook his head; he was starting to get confused.
His dad was already gone by the time he made his way downstairs, but his mother was still at the table drinking her tea.
"Hey mom, you have the day off?" He wrapped one arm around her shoulders before continuing on to make his own breakfast.
"Hmm, no… They announced the people they want to go and investigate the structure this morning."
Nate stopped, his hand squishing the loaf of bread in his hand. "That seems rather sudden and hasty for something that only appeared yesterday."
"I agree. It's not normal, and we were on the list."
He closed his eyes and hung his head, unsure of what to say.
"Your father went to talk to them. He's going to tell them that we have no intention of going, just like we promised you. Even if we hadn't, I don't know that we would be comfortable going on this excursion. They're rushing things far beyond normal procedure and selecting people that aren't remotely qualified."
"It's politics, mom. That's all it ever is. Someone saw a chance to make a grab for more power, and to eliminate some people along the way. Because of what happened to me, we've annoyed some powerful people. It comes as no surprise that someone wants us gone or sees it as a possible favor to those families who did this." Nate gently stretched out a piece of bread, trying to bring its shape back before he toasted it.
"They're all going to die if they even make it to the building." His mother Nina agreed. She cursed softly. "This is going to set us back quite a bit. Your father and I might have to quit if they try and force us to go."
"Better that than you two dying. We have some savings now, in any case." He gave her a wry smile. "Besides, it's not like it was going to be used for my medicine anytime soon anyway. I'd rather see the two of you alive and healthy than dead and gone. That would be…" He didn't finish, unwilling to go there.
"Don't worry, honey, your father and I know where we stand in this world. We won't leave you alone." She finished her cup of tea and rose to give him a hug. "I'm sorry we're so powerless."
"It's fine, mom like I said before. I would rather have the two of you alive and healthy than anything else."
"Go get some rest. I want to see you at school tomorrow. You'll never make any friends at this new place if you have to keep skipping due to your health."
Nate rolled his eyes. "I don't think anyone wants to be friends with me there, mom. What happened to me isn't exactly unknown. The other kids all know I failed to awaken and that I have issues with some of the more influential families in the city. The smarter ones have already been warned away from associating with me."
"I know, but I can hope. I haven't seen you with a friend or go on a date since they did this to you. I just want things to go back to normal for you."
Nate buttered his toast and put it on a paper towel to bring up to his room. "I'd like that too, but I don't think it's going to happen. Now I'm going to eat my breakfast, get a little studying in, and then go back to sleep. Enjoy your day off and have fun."
She patted his arm as he limped on by, staring down at her empty mug while worrying about how everything would turn out for them. They had worked hard to get on that squad, and now it looked like everything was about to disappear in an instant. She had to admit; it was more than a little frustrating.
Nate set his toast to the side of his bed and grabbed his laptop with a sad chuckle. His mom wanted to see him go on a date. He didn't even know if he knew how to do that anymore.
The last time he had been on one, the last time around, had been a couple of years before his parents died. He had been, what, twenty-two, twenty-three at the time? It was just before his health had taken a massive turn for the worse.
What were people supposed to do on dates in this world? The options for activities opened up considerably once you were a cultivator. If you could fall from the top of a two-story building without breaking a bone, then there was a lot less to fear than before.
Of course, that automatically precluded him anyway. In his current state, he would break a bone just walking up the steps. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it still wasn't enjoyable.
Nate pulled up a news article on the mysterious structure that had appeared in the middle of the dimensional zone. It really was freaking everyone out. The comments were mixed, with many fearing the worst. There were few that held any hopes it was something good.
Not that he blamed them. As far as he could tell, there had never been anything like the dungeon he created before. It was an unknown to them.
And in response, they were going to send a team of people to come and investigate it. To explore and die in its depths.
He needed to get to work perfecting the traps. Unfortunately, he couldn't do that until that night. He didn't want to risk having his mother come in and try to wake him up. He didn't know if she would be able to, so it was better to simply avoid the entire situation for now.
Chapter 7
The dungeon interface showed a momentarily empty dungeon when Nate opened it that morning. However, the resource counter had increased by a bit more than expected. It seemed as though the changes he had made last night had made some difference.
Or, maybe the monsters since then had just been more stupid than the earlier ones, it was hard to say for certain.
Either way, he had already decided the next changes he made to the traps were going to be done through the avatar. So, for now, all he was going to be doing was taking notes while watching so he could refine the process.
Well, there was one more thing he wanted to do, and that was to create more signs at the entrance. Especially one's warning off those families. With any luck, they would get annoyed enough to enter.
It was a long shot, but he could hope.
He had just finished adding the last of the signs when he heard the front door slam shut. Closing everything down, he hurried downstairs and saw his father leaning against his mother.
"It's done. We're not going, and moreover, we are even still employed. However, I think the price might be too high." Niall's tired, muffled voice came from Nina's shoulder. "They put us on probation instead."
She drew in a deep breath before beginning to curse with a vehemence Nate had rarely witnessed before.
"I'm missing something here. What's so bad about being put on probation?" He dared to ask.
"It locks our contract with them. We have to go on the next job they call us on, or they can refuse to let go of our contract. Which means we wouldn't be able to work somewhere else. Not legally, at least." His father explained.
"That's absurd! Who came up with such an idiotic system? That would be so easy to exploit. All a company would have to do is always have their people on probation." He couldn't understand why anyone would willingly agree to this sort of setup.
"The local governments prevent the guilds from doing that. Supposedly, the contract system is meant to protect everyone involved. Now that we're on the other end of it though, I'm beginning to see a lot of things differently." Nina admitted.
"Are there bylaws, or any sorts of protections built into the contracts for situations like this?"
Nina looked at her husband, who scratched his chin thoughtfully. "There might be, actually. There's a provision in them about mission wipeouts. If the mission we have been placed on probation for not participating in suffers a catastrophic loss of life, then the probation is automatically deemed void."
"What constitutes a catastrophic loss of life in this case?"
His mother shrugged. "Normally it would be anything above thirty to forty percent of the team. However, since we've pretty much all agreed that they are going for a nearly complete party wipe… I'm sure they'll find a way around that."
"So, everyone needs to die then?" Nate asked, not sure of how he felt about all of this. There was little doubt in his mind that few of those people would even be alive to reach the dungeon. However, any that did enter would not be allowed to leave.
Niall nodded. "Unfortunately for us, that would be the best-case scenario."
"How likely is that to happen?"
"Not very. The leaders they're sending will be strong."
Nate sighed. "I know it's wrong, but I hope they do."
"Understandable. We've all been having our eyes opened in a lot of ways lately."
"Yeah, anyway, I'm going to take a nap for a while. I just wanted to come down and see how your meeting turned out." Nate hugged his parents and went back upstairs.
He had no more time to waste if he was going to make the dungeon as deadly as possible. It was time to go back in as his avatar and start perfecting the traps.
Nate got comfortable on his bed and donned his avatar. He re-entered the dungeon beside the core once more. That was something to consider in the future. If he always entered right next to the core, then building large dungeons would be a pain.
Especially with his body in its current condition. Moving through the dungeon and a single near-death experience had been enough to wipe him out the night before.
He would simply need to be more careful in the future… even if he did want more equipment. Walking around with only a pair of pants on was going to get old quick. He wanted boots, socks, underwear, a shirt, and armor. He wanted everything.
Right now, with his chest and feet exposed, he felt vulnerable and well exposed. He didn't like it.
Nate brought up the dungeon interface and its screens. Quickly finding that there were two monsters inside at the moment. Both were seemingly lost and wandering around in circles while avoiding his traps by pure luck each time.
That was why he needed to fix them as the avatar. Right now, the rooms had traps, but there were gaps everywhere. They didn't extend all the way to the wall, or they didn't go off at the right time, or there were visual cues the beasts could pick up on.
Doing it the other way was quick and dirty, but then he needed to go in and fix everything afterward to make it perfect.
He stopped at the opening of the corridor that led to the core and looked at the traps around him. There were gaps everywhere. It was pure luck that no monster with decent perception had come this way.
Nate had originally planned on heading over to the entrance and working on the traps there. Now he thought it might be smarter to fix one or two of these traps first before doing that. The core needed to be protected above all else, and that wasn't going to happen in its current state.
He began by taking the spear trap and extending it to every corner of its space. There was no longer a way for something to simply step around it if they knew it was there. Then he extended the spike walls the exact same way. Nothing would be running along them to escape.
They were basic traps, but effective. He wasn't worried about being overly clever or visually spectacular with these. This was a dungeon for beasts, not one of the more intelligent monsters that were out there.
The last thing he was going to do was find a way to hide all the openings that the spears would shoot out of. He needed them disguised until he remembered that this wasn't a normal corridor. He didn't want them coming down this way. Showing the traps could be a deterrent all its own.
Satisfied for the moment, Nate sent the order through for their changes and watched as his resources dropped. It took several times more to make these changes than it had to create the stupid things. Cursing out the system in his head, he watched as they slowly began to change according to his orders.
He had forgotten that any changes he made while a monster was in the dungeon took longer. Which meant that everything he wanted to fix from here on out was going to take forever unless he got extremely lucky.
Nate glanced at the screens, looking for the beasts that had been there earlier. They were both gone, having died while he was busy redoing his traps. And yet the speed remained slow. It seemed that the speed, while he was in his avatar, wasn't dependent on the existence of anything in the dungeon. It was just plain slow.
That was going to be a pain for sure.
Regardless, he took one last look to make sure everything was going in the direction he wanted and then took off at a jog. There was no better time to reach the entrance than right now when there were no monsters in the way.
He kept one eye on the screens as he ran, passing through one room and corridor after another. The place was much bigger than he had initially given it credit for. He had used all those valuable resources to make it big and impressive, instead of perfecting the traps like he was probably supposed to.
Once again, the lack of a manual had bitten him in the behind.
All those precious resources had been wasted. He didn't know if they were a first dungeon bonus, or if that truly was how he was supposed to approach the creation of these things. There were so many unknowns. All he could do is what he thought was best, and hope it wasn't a mistake at the time.
His breathing was heavy and labored by the time he reached the exit or entrance of the dungeon, depending on the way you were going. The screens also revealed the presence of a new beast inside the portal room.
The traps at the entrance of the dungeon presented a unique problem to him. They had to be hidden from both humans and monsters. Hiding the holes they sprang out of was easy going in one direction, doing it in both directions was another matter entirely.
Nate stopped right at the entrance before trying to walk through the opening. He couldn't. There was a barrier that prevented him from leaving the dungeon. His avatar was restricted to only being inside it and not leaving.
It didn't matter that he had been able to make the signs on the outside. That was not part of the dungeon proper, so he wasn't allowed out there.
Shaking his head, he focused on the traps around him. It had been a long shot and something that he hadn't really even considered until that moment anyway. Not being able to leave in this form didn't really affect him in any way, but it could have been fun.
The last trap before a monster left was the exact same as the last one he had worked on in the corridor before the core room. It had a spear trap floor and spike walls. With that in mind, he made the same modifications and extended them to their limits. Next, he increased their sensitivity so they would react quicker.
The only thing that wasn't covered at the moment was the ceiling.
Nate sent the order through to begin the changes to the current traps while he thought over what to add there. A quick glance at his resource counters showed that he was running low on everything.
There wasn't enough wood left to make a decent arrow-firing trap, even if the dungeon absorbed them afterward. The same was true for iron and copper as well. Even the other trace elements weren't exactly bountiful.
Honestly, the only resource he seemed to have enough of at the moment was energy. He was loath to even think of using that though, since every single thing he did, used it.
He could make an energy trap, maybe even something futuristic instead of fantasy, like what he had been going with. The only problem with that was again how much energy it would constantly consume.
It would need to be an item he wrote down as a possible trap for the future. Not right now though. He was in penny-pinching mode still.
He glanced up at the ceiling and sighed. It would have to remain blank for now. That was the sad truth of the matter. There was nothing he could do until there were more resources available.
Speaking of which, he wondered how far the beast had gotten. It had been some kind of shadowy-thing that he hadn't been able to see properly before. Surely something like that was fairly strong.
It took him a moment to find the monster on the screens and then abandoned them entirely as he looked up with a gulp. It was standing in the entrance of the room, with all the traps currently deactivated as they were improved.
Nate cursed and felt his knees go weak. This was not how he had been envisioning this day ending.
Wisps of shadow curled around the being as it stepped into the room with him. A low rumbling growl burst from its hidden mouth and Nate scrambled backward in fear. He had never been in a fight before, and certainly never this close to a monster before.
What had happened last time with the beast and the trap had been a fluke. He wasn't trained or a hero. He was a sick person, simply clinging to life and enjoying the second chance he had been given.
Chapter 8
Nate didn't even have time to dodge before a pair of shadowy claws had stabbed him through the chest. The beast's speed and strength were so much stronger than his, it was unreal. He didn't have the slightest chance to even think of doing anything against it and he was already dead.
The claws that extended out the back of his chest were used to lift him into the air and throw him against the wall.
Nate felt his ribs break from the impact as he slid limply to the floor. There would be no quick end for him. The monster in front of him was looking to play with its snack, and he couldn't manipulate the menu fast enough to leave the avatar.
He felt everything as it toyed with him. Every smack, broken bone, and bite it took, Nate felt and screamed himself hoarse. It was a tender mercy when he finally passed out from blood loss several minutes later.
This time he woke up right away and grabbed the closest trashcan to throw up in.
Small bruises were already forming all over his body as he leaned back on his bed a few minutes later. He was covered in a cold sweat, and his heart was still racing.
That had been an eye-opening experience, and not in a good way. Apparently, once there was enough damage, some of it would still come through to his actual body. He would need to watch out for that in the future in case he took too much damage in too short of a time span. He needed to let his actual body heal properly.
He also needed to learn how to fight and grow stronger. Of course, the growing stronger part was entirely out of his reach right now. He would have to pick his fights carefully in the future and go up against only the weakest ones that entered the dungeon.
Right now, though, he just needed to lie there and process everything that had just happened. It had been horrific and painful. It was something he would undoubtedly have nightmares about. He had just been so powerless…
He wondered if that was how the original Nate of this world had felt as those kids burst into the room when he was trying to awaken his core? It was both a terrifying thought and something that made him feel a little closer to the person who had inhabited the body before him.
Nate slowly curled into a ball and began to cry. It had been years since he last properly cried on Old Earth, and now he found himself doing it near constantly on his New Earth. It was exhausting and emotionally cleansing.
He found himself opening up more and regaining that sense of wonder that a teen was supposed to have. At some point in life, adults lost that, he certainly had. Now he was slowly finding it again for this new life of his.
"Do you feel up to eating?" His mother asked a while later, sticking her head into his room.
Nate uncurled and slowly stood up, wobbling from side to side. His bad knee almost giving out. "Yeah, I think I can handle dinner."
"Are you feeling alright, sweetie?" She pushed the door open further and took in his appearance with a frown. "You aren't looking so good."
"Gee, thanks, mom." He ran a hand over his face, wiping away the salty tracks from his cheeks and around his eyes. "I'm fine, I just had a weak moment earlier, is all."
"I'm sorry Nate, I wish there was something we could do for you." She engulfed him in a hug.
"It's…" He exhaled and hugged her back. "It's life mom, I'll get healed one day and then I'll either move on with my life or I'll get even." Nate chuckled. "I'm not happy with it, but that's the way it is. As long as you and dad are fine, I can keep going."
"We'll do our best to stay safe then," She released him with a chuckled of her own, almost missing his wince. "What was that?"
"What?"
"That wince when I stopped hugging you. That shouldn't have hurt, so why did it, Nate?" His mother demanded.
"I'm not sure what happened, okay?" Nate muttered. "I woke up with a bunch of bruises all over my body earlier. It's kind of what led to me breaking down."
"Let me see them!"
He rolled his eyes and lifted his shirt, displaying the wealth of bruises to his mother.
"Is that all of them?" She asked after a moment.
"No, I have them all over," Nate admitted.
"I don't think this is a symptom of your ruined core and meridians. It must have been caused by something else. Niall, come up here!" She called.
It took him a minute, but soon enough, Nate's dad was standing in the room with them, examining the bruises on his son.
"What caused them?"
"He doesn't know. He woke up with them," Nina answered.
"Let's call the healer and see what they have to say." His father decided after a moment.
"Will they even come?"
"They will. They're being pressured, but not to the same extent as the alchemy guild. The healers have more autonomy since no one wants to piss them off. You never know when you might need healing after all." Niall quickly made the call and hung up. "They'll have someone over shortly to examine you."
His parents left him alone for a few minutes while they went to wait for the healer to arrive. He was an old man, with wizened eyes and the spark of power to go with them.
"Guild master!" Nina and Niall gasped out when they opened the door. "What are you doing here? We were expecting one of the apprentices." He had to fight to hide the bitterness from his voice and only partly succeeded.
"That is exactly why I am here," The old man told them, entering the house without waiting for an invitation. "Take me to the boy. I want to see for my own eyes how badly we have mistreated him."
Nate had limped from his room to the top of the stairs when he heard the commotion. He didn't recognize the healer; however, he saw the way his parents were treating him.
"Sir, I'm Nate." He winced, as he put a little too much weight on his knee.
Even after two months, he still had problems with doing that on occasion. What was worse was the overcompensation was already beginning to mess with his other knee. Twinges of pain could be felt as it flared from the abuse. He put it through.
"Hello Nathan, I'm George Trellow, the local master of the healer's guild." He walked up the stairs with more energy than someone who looked his age should have.
Nate swallowed and stepped back, his eyes flicking to his parent's. "What brings someone of your importance to our house?" His leg buckled as the knee they had never finished fixing crumpled.
"That," George said from above him. "Rarely do we keep getting calls for the same patient time and again. Yet, we have come to look at your knee many times over the last two months. It piqued my curiosity, and I wondered why none of the other healers had bothered to simply fix you."
"And what did you find?" Nate asked with a pained grimace as he straightened his leg.
"An interesting story, along with people not doing their job and giving excuses mainly. Come, let's get you onto your bed so I can do a proper examination of you. Let's see what I can fix as an apology." He extended his hand to the boy on the floor.
"Master Trellow, are you sure about this? Surely someone of your stature could have simply asked one of his subordinates to do this?" Nina wondered from behind him.
"Trusting in them is what led to this situation in the first place. So, no I couldn't."
Nate accepted his hand and gingerly got to his feet, being careful of his knee. "If you could help, then I would really appreciate it." He said, at last, once more standing before the guild master.
"Well, let's see what I can do then." He motioned towards the room with an open door. "After you."
Safely back on his bed, the guild master had him strip down to his boxers before they began.
"That is an impressive array of bruises you have there." George looked suspiciously at Nate's parents.
"It wasn't them if that's what you're thinking." He hurried to explain. "I don't know what happened. They were just there when I woke up earlier."
"Is this why you called the guild?"
Niall nodded. "We wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with him. He showed us the ones on his chest but had mentioned that they were all over his body."
"Interesting, well let's get started then. If you would please lie back, I can begin." George gently pushed Nate into the position he wanted and then began his examination.
First, he started poking and prodding him, feeling his muscles and the area around his knee. Occasionally, his eyes would gleam as he used an energy-based healing skill to inspect him. Finally, he pulled away with a frown and shook his head.
"I am going to have to discipline my people most severely after this. I can heal your knee and even strengthen it some. You will need to eat more food afterward to offset the calories lost in the healing process. The same goes for the other side as well.
"You've been overcompensating on your right knee and abusing it. So, I'll need to heal it at the same time. The issue is the bruises. They're odd… I don't even know how to describe them. It's as though they were caused by a monster attack, and yet not at the same time. I've never seen anything quite like them."
The guild master shook his head. "I can heal them without an issue. However, I'm worried that they'll simply come back again since we don't even know what caused them this time. Which brings me to the final item, or rather items, I suppose.
"His meridians and core… which he shouldn't even have. It's a fragmented half-formed mess that I've never seen the like before. It should have dissipated, yet it hasn't. I'm not sure how it'll affect him when he goes to form a new one either. It could help or hinder that particular endeavor."
"We know his meridians are are in terrible condition. The alchemy guild refuses to make the medicine he needs to heal them." His mother replied bitterly. "We didn't know about his core though."
"I think I can help with that as well. It won't be perfect, or even that much of an improvement initially, but it will be something. Each time I come over, I'm willing to work on repairing his meridians and core. If that's agreeable?"
"Why would you be willing to do so much for me?" Nate asked, afraid to even to hope the man was serious.
George sat on the edge of his bed in thought, his gaze lingering on the three of them before answering. "I used to be married, many, many years ago. This was long before I became the healer I am today. Back then I was still just a nobody, a few steps out on the path of life. I had a wife and a young son, several years younger than you.
"An incident happened while a bunch of kids were playing on the playground. The daughter of a local powerful family got hurt, nothing serious, just a scratch to her face. It could have been healed without an issue, so there wasn't even a scar. The family ordered everyone who was playing with her at the time to be eliminated. That included my son.
"My wife couldn't stand the loss and we separated. I, in turn, threw myself into my work." He swallowed. "Anyway, I guess you could say that I see you as an opportunity to redeem myself, if only a little. To do what I couldn't for my own son. Now I have the power to stand up against the families like the ones that hurt your son, and mine. I've just been waiting for a chance."
"In that case, I say let's get started. My body isn't going to fix itself."
"This is going to hurt, especially when I start on your meridians and core. I'll be pulling them back into position a piece at a time."
"I can handle pain." Nate grinned fiercely up at them, his eyes shining with determination. He had lived with pain for over ten years before he died on OE, and he had just been tortured to death by a monster. He could handle whatever George was going to do to him.