Once Luke entered the dungeon he took a moment to catch his breath and only after recovering his stamina did he begin to explore the inside of the dungeon which despite having a clear lack of a light source was surprisingly well lit with the source of the light coming from bioluminescent plants.
The dungeon itself was pretty narrow and long and if Luke's sense of spatial movement was not skewed it was situated not more than 2 meters below actual sea level.
The deeper he walked into the dungeon, the more prominent the sound of waves crashing over his head became as he was sure that this dungeon was created off the shore of Panjim town and under the sea bed.
It was a mysterious and beautiful place with amazing carvings all along the hall-ways and although there were no monsters in the dungeon that Luke encountered yet, somehow the dungeon gave him an eerie and abandoned feeling that made his nerves feel on the edge.
"Who dares enter the great Oyster Farmer's workshop?" A voice suddenly said, startling Luke as he entered the main hall of the dungeon.
The voice sounded angry and the question it was asking was obviously rhetorical, however, Luke fearlessly replied to it as he had nothing but pure intentions in his heart.
"I'm SkyLion, an adventurer who's looking to uplift many beggars out of poverty.
I have been given information that this place holds the key to achieve my goal, am I correct?" He said, counter questioning the voice that asked him his identity, speaking in a commanding tone which left even the owner of the voice dumbfounded.
"You- huh? What?" The voice said as soon a thin and scrawny looking man walked out of the shadows, inspecting Luke as if he were some odd being.
"You're clearly human, a species cursed with greed…. Yet you claim you want to help others?" The scrawny man said as Luke raised an eyebrow and retorted "You say these words as if you're not human yourself".
Once again, the scrawny man was left dumbfounded as he frowned deeply and inspected Luke's stat panel only to find him to be level 0.
Luke was clearly a full grown man and full grown men were supposed to be at least level 10 irrespective of how talentless they were, yet Luke was level 0.
Not only that, but he was apparently telling the truth too as it seemed like he had no idea that the man he was talking to was not a human but a mer-man.
"No I'm not human-" he said as he showed his palm which had webbed interlockings like a duck instead of open fingers like those of a human.
"Holy hell! You're a mermaid!" Luke exclaimed as the man in front of him could not help but slap his face in dissapointment.
"Hey hey hey, fool, from what angle do I look like a woman? Do I have breasts? Do I have a big plumpy ass? Do I have sexy long hair?
I'm a mer-man! Man! Male! Owner of the donger, sword warrior, game changer" he exclaimed as Luke made an 'O' expression on his face, feeling enlightened.
Back on Earth the popular fantasies only depicted the mermaids and never talked about the males of the species, so Luke had never imagined that males existed amongst them too.
"Apologies…. I had no idea" Luke said as the mer-man let out an angry sigh, feeling agitated about facing a fool like Luke.
"You're wasting your time here human, this is a mer-man outpost where we farm oysters, it's off-limits to humans as per our treaty.
I don't know how you found it, but I can't help you with anything, so it's best you return" The mer-man said as Luke shook his head and wiggled his finger in front of the man.
"Nononono, you see, the system would never issue a quest that was impossible. You're capping, I call it" he said as the mer-man was once again left dumbfounded watching his confidence.
System?
Capping?
Call it?
He understood none of those terms and while both of them were speaking English it seemed like both of them were not speaking the same English as the mer-man failed to understand what Luke wished to convey.
Judging the confusion on his face, Luke reiterated his pitch as he said "See it's like this, there are a lot of beggars in Panjim town… the human establishment off the coast.
And someone told me that this place holds the key to teaching them a skill that can uplift them out of poverty….. that's why I'm here"
"So what if some humans sleep hungry? What's it have to do with me? Why should I teach them the pearl collection skill?
What's in it for me?" The mer-man argued as Luke immediately walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder as he looked deep into his eyes.
This was an awkward scenario as Luke was being way too casual with a level 360 mer-man who had the potential to submerge the entire Panjim town underwater if he lost his mind, yet in his ignorance, Luke did not fear this man at all.
"What's in it for you? Come on now…. I thought you were a capitalist! Can't you see the opportunity?
Cheap labor…. CHEAP LABOR!" Luke said excitedly as now the mer-man truly felt lost, yet intrigued about what this unique human had to say.
What followed was Luke explaining how the mer-man could teach humans his pearl collection skill and make them work for minimum wage and in-return he could make exponentially more money for himself.
Initially the mer-man wondered if the human was a fool, but after he understood the benefits of the arrangement Luke proposed he began to laugh alongside Luke as well as his hostility towards him dissolved.
"Hahaha…. I never thought about hiring cheap helpers for practically free, this human tactic is amazing! MUAHAHA" He laughed as Luke laughed right alongside him.
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/// A/N - Bonus Chapter for hitting the PS target, good job everyone! ///