Upon arrival, I was greeted by the bustling activity of Floor 2. Unlike Floor 1, this floor had a day-like ambiance. Each floor seemed to have its own sun or at least its own time cycle.
There were merchants selling various items, and one booth caught my eye. An elven NPC with the Crusaders' guild logo—a shield with a red cross and a sword diagonally through it—was displaying hundreds of small, crystal-like balls. They were clear with a center in one of several colors: red, blue, green, white, yellow, and black. They resembled slime cores.
The NPC noticed my interest and beckoned me over. Behind her were countless little boxes, presumably containing the same items.
"What can I do for you?" the NPC asked with a vibrant tone. She had long black hair and tired eyes.
"What are these gems?" I inquired.
"They're not exactly gems," she replied quickly. "They allow people with low mana to use magic."
"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled.
She picked up a ball with a blue center and infused it with mana. She then threw it onto the ground, and after a few seconds, it exploded, creating a patch of ice.
"These are for people who won't be able to use high mana skills," she explained. "Right now, we only have ones with basic magic of each element."
I realized these were like bombs, and the skill the NPC demonstrated was Ice Shard, a Tier 1 magic skill that normally requires a lot of mana. It seemed these bombs cut the mana cost by about 90%.
The bombs were small, about the size of a coin smaller than the cores they were based on.
"I'll take some," I said quickly.
"How much are they?" I asked.
"1 silver each," she replied.
I handed her 1 gold. She rummaged through the boxes putting 200 of each into a pouch and handed it to me.
She explained that the red ones had Fireball_, the green ones had Earth_Wall, the blue ones had Ice_Shard, the white ones had Wind_Blade, and the yellow ones had Flash_.
I thanked her and warped to the sixth floor.
"Floor_6"
***
Upon arrival on the sixth floor, I was immediately enveloped in complete darkness. The suffocating void filled me with dread, and the air felt thick and almost alive, as if the cave itself was breathing.
My Night Vision goggles worked and lit up the surrounding area after a few seconds. I had appeared on a rune in the center of a vast cave, with tunnels branching out in every direction. The tunnels seemed quiet and still, but I knew monsters lurked around every corner.
I chose one of the paths, but suddenly, three spiders charged at me. I quickly pulled out one of the red and one of the blue bombs from my inventory and threw them at the approaching spiders.
The mana bombs exploded on impact, killing the spiders instantly. However, the last spider lunged at me, pushing me to the ground. I grabbed a small dagger from my hip and stabbed it in the stomach.
Once it was dead, I cut off the spider's legs and eyes, placing them carefully into another pouch.
"Wow," I laughed. "These are incredible."
As I continued down the path, it grew narrower and steeper, with dangerous crevices on either side. I moved carefully, avoiding the gaps that could spell disaster. There were fewer spiders now, and I suspected that G2's guild must have cleared out most of them, causing the remaining spiders to scatter.
CLICK
A sharp clicking sound made me lose focus. Before I could react, a small hole opened up beneath my feet, screaming as I fell. I landed with a splash in a pool of water and lost consciousness.