Chapter 4.2 - The Dungeon 2

  Being in the corridor was still creepy as hell, the silence, the darkness, the lack of any feeling of moving. Whoever designed this part of the game must have been into horror movies. It felt like at any moment something from the Cthulu mythos was going to emerge from that blackness and devour the ship. It was not a pleasant feeling. To get my mind off of that I stand up from my seat and ask aloud for either Celeste or Nania to answer, "How long until we arrive at our destination?"

  Celeste is the first to speak up, "It will take about two and a half days captain."

  Over two full days, well that will give me plenty of time to get some skill ranks and stats before entering the dungeon. I nod to give my thanks to Celeste and leave the bridge to head to the Tech Workshop and see what I could do. Actually, let's go to the armory first, it's right next to the workshop anyway.

  I call it an armory, but really it's just a line of lockers with various items in them. I haven't taken the time to go through them all yet, but I figured now was the best time since all I had was... time. Jesus that's saying 'time' a lot. I open the first locker and see an array of various pistols ranging from old-fashioned looking to ultra high tech looking. I pick up one of the more interesting looking ones and examine it.

  That's actually a pretty cool weapon, nothing like setting someone on fire using what amounts to an intense beam of light. I set the pistol back in the locker and pull out one that looks a little older and that I'm pretty sure is a projectile weapon.

  Well nothing thrilling there, but not everything was going to be mind-blowing. I set the pistol back in the locker and close the locker so I can peek into another one. Inside of it, I find something very interesting.

  This suit of armor looked strikingly similar to the one Nania wore, though hers was clearly of a higher quality and possibly had more features. I was also pretty sure she had an upgrade or two installed in hers, I know I wanted to install one in this thing right away. I search through the remaining lockers and see a nice array of weapons of various sizes and types, sniper rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, handguns, various grenades, and even a nice grenade launcher. I leave everything where it is for now because I wanted to see what I could craft first. Though my skill ranks meant I could only craft level one items for the time being. In one of the lockers, I find a small selection or weapon and armor upgrades, one, in particular, catches my attention.

  Hell yeah! This plus the armor I found earlier would increase my defenses significantly. The less getting shot and dying, the better. The only item I take from one of the lockers and use immediately is a new [Utility Belt] with a larger storage space and a fifty percent weight reduction property added onto it. Now I could carry twice as much without becoming encumbered. With everything from my old belt transferred to my new belt I walk over to the table in the Tech Workroom and use the built-in computer to start browsing through the catalog of schematics.

  I browse through the listing of weapons and armor that are item level one, the only level I can craft. I need five ranks in either [Weapon Creation] or [Armor Creation] per item level of whatever I wanted to make. So to make a weapon with an item level of two, I needed a [Weapon Creation] rank of ten. Pretty simple and straightforward. I pick up one of the MCU's and examine it to get more information on it.

  Yeah, these things are bad ass. Just don't ask me the exact science behind how they work because I don't have a goddamn clue. All I do know is I have one hundred thousand of these things and a small library of stuff I can make with them to rank up my skills. I pull up a random schematic, at this point whatever I made was solely for the purposes of ranking up my [Weapon Creation] skill. Turns out I picked something rather useful, a [Combat Knife]. I didn't have anything for melee, not that I actually wanted to get into melee, but having a knife was always a good idea.

  According to the schematic, I need eighty-five MCU's to make the knife, luckily there's a nice little dispenser so I pour one of the cases of ten thousand MCU's into it and have it dispense the necessary number for me. With the small pile of MCU's on the table, I select the [Combat Knife] schematic and start the process of crafting the weapon. A new holographic screen appears and introduces me to another minigame like interface. This time it shows a wireframe model of the knife with sections of it grayed out and one section flashing green. A small timer appears above the wireframe model of the knife showing the number three. It begins to count down so I press the flashing green section.

  As soon as I touch the flashing section the MCU's on the table begin to move almost like a liquid. They reshape and reform themselves to become the pommel of the knife. The flashing green section moves to the handle and the counter appears again. It seems like a very basic interface and minigame, but I can picture more complex items requiring more steps with shorter timers for me to press the right section. I press the next section and another small swarm of MCU's flow over the table and reshape themselves into the handle of the knife, a solid black affair with a nice ergonomic grip. Again the flashing green section moves to the blade of the knife and I press it before the counter has a chance to tick down from three to two. The last of the MCU's flow over to the handle of the knife and reform themselves into a chrome blade.

  Six hours, twelve weapons, thirteen armors and seventeen thousand seven hundred and fifty MCU's later.

  Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. I could have done it faster but I didn't want to craft anything above item level two, the MCU's required started to skyrocket after that point. Still, I managed to average about two skill ranks per item and gained a significant amount of [Smarts] for all my effort. With thirty ranks in each, I could create weapons with item levels up to six now, so I will be able to create gear when I level up and creating that gear will level up my skills.

  I store all the crap I've made into the lockers, sorting them out into the different lockers that already had similar items, I should probably see about selling some of this stuff just to get rid of it. After storing everything I return to the table and take a serious look through the available weapons and armor at item level four. It was time for some upgrades. First up is a new [Mana Pistol] that costs two thousand and seventy MCU's.

  Mana Pistol (Tactical)

  The damage only went up a little, but the range also increased making it a little better than before. Not like I expected the weapon to suddenly become super-powered just because it went up three item levels. But with my [Weapon Specialization] ability it would deal a worthwhile 6-12 damage, then I could always add on [Overcharge Weapon] for even more damage. This is looking pretty nice! Up next I make a level four [Mana Shotgun] for another two thousand and seventy MCU's.

  Mana Shotgun (Snub)

  The [Mana Shotgun] ended up with a nice damage boost and an additional pellet when fired, a very nice increase in damage for face shots. With the weapons made I take the time to look through the locker containing the weapon upgrades to see if there's anything I can add to these new beauties. What I find makes a smile slowly spread across my face. Oh, this is going to be fun. I grab four of the [Weapon Fusions] out of the locker and head back over to the worktable in the Tech Workshop. I dispense two thousand and seventy more MCU's and spend the time to make another [Mana Pistol].

  The second mana pistol is the exact same as the first, no differences at all. However, now it's time to make them different! I set the four [Weapon Fusions] on the table and separate them between the two pistols. Over the next few minutes, I add the fusions to the guns until...

  Merciful Holy Mana Pistol (Tactical)

  Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol (Tactical)

  The [Merciful Holy Mana Pistol] changed in shape, the sides of the barrel looked like they had been carved to resemble feathered wings and the softly glowing blue lines were now a bright golden yellow. The weapon exuded a feeling of peace and contentment that just made you want to stroke it while listening to that soft hum. Meanwhile, the twin next to it had changed as well. Along the barrel were the swooping lines and jagged points of bat wings and the energy lines had changed to a dark blood red. The weapon felt menacing, dangerous like it might try to eat someone's soul if given half a chance. Oh yeah, I loved both of these things!

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I grab a spare holster from one of the weapon lockers and strap it around my waist so I could carry both pistols at the same time. On my right, the [Merciful Holy Mana Pistol], on my left, the [Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol]. The holy weapon giving off a gentle warm glow, the unholy weapon leaving behind a shadowy trail of haze. Thankfully both the merciful and ominous fusions were item level one, while the holy and unholy were item level two. This allowed me to combine the two fusions into the two guns since their total item level was less than the weapons.

  With my two new amazing weapons on my hips I scroll through the armor options but nothing beats the [Carbon Stealth Suit] I found in the lockers so I'll use that for the time being. Unfortunately, no weapon or armor upgrade schematics are in the library, I'd have to remember to yell at Reginald for that later. I look around the Tech Workshop and sigh, I think I went through my skill grinding a little too fast. Well, that's okay. I had two other things I could be working on, my small personal vehicles.

  Thankfully it took me sixteen hours spent over the course of two days, with a logout to take care of myself, and twenty-five thousand MCU's to build the [Hover Bike] and [Personal Racer].

  All in all, I think I've spent the last few days pretty well. I've got some upgraded gear, two small vehicles for traversing planets and boosted my [Smarts] a good amount. With the vehicles done and taking up one of the bulk spaces in my ship I head to the armory and begin to outfit myself with all my new gear. I swap my [Second Skin] for the [Carbon Stealth Suit] with the [Personal Forcefield MK I] installed in the upgrade slot, the new [Mana Pistols] with their fusions, and the new [Mana Shotgun]. I also add the [Combat Knife] I created first to my lower back, and store several types of MK II [Grenades] and one of the grenade launchers in my upgraded [Utility Belt]. I was preparing for fucking WAR.

  Checking through my stuff I realize there's something I've forgotten to upgrade. I look at my [Personal Computer], it's only a Tier 1 model, I could upgrade it to a Tier 4. "Celeste, how much longer until we leave the corridor?"

  A holo-emitter lights up and a full sized Celeste appears nearby, "We're still about eight hours out, Captain."

  I nod and smile, "How do you feel about getting an upgrade?" I lift my left arm to show her the [Personal Computer], which is kind of stupid since she's technically inside of it.

  Celeste gives me a smile and nods, "I would be much more efficient and more capable if you took the time to upgrade me, Captain."

  I go back to the workbench and scroll through the [Personal Computer] models until I find the Tier 4. I also look up a few upgrades for it and grin when I find a few excellent ones.

  I spend the next three hours creating the new [Personal Computer], the upgrades for it, and transferring all the data over to the new device so nothing is lost. In the end, I've made a much nicer place for Celeste to live in.

  The new upgrades were going to make life much easier. The [Wireless Connectivity] allowed me to lock onto any device with a wireless signal and attempt to hack it, meaning I didn't need to get out the connection wire every time. The [Comm Unit] just broadcast on public channels, the [Wireless Connectivity] would let me lock onto private networks. It's kind of like the difference between a cell phone tower and a wifi-router. And the [Self-Charging] added a small thermal pad on the computer that let the battery on it charge from my body heat. So as long as I was alive it would never need to be charged. Granted having to charge the original once a week wouldn't have been a big deal, but never having to charge it was easier.

  So this is what my gear looks like now.

  I look myself over in a full-length mirror in my cabin and grin. I looked like a stone-cold badass if I do say so myself. I'd swapped my starter clothing for the [Carbon Stealth Suit] with blue jeans, a plain black teeshirt, and a black cloth duster that hung down to the back of my knees. I had to wear a pair of boots that were a couple of sizes too big to get them to fit around the armor, but all in all, with a cursory glance it was difficult to tell I had the armor on, but a closer look would make it fairly obvious. On my hips are my Merciful and Ominous [Mana Pistols], and my [Combat Knife] is in a sheath at the small of my back, tilted at an angle so I could grab it with my right hand. Lastly, I had my new weight-reducing [Utility Belt] around my waist with an array of things I'd stuffed into it to prepare for the dungeon, not the least of which was a variety of different MK II grenades I was looking forward to playing with.

  Nodding to myself in approval of my outfit I head up to the bridge of the ship, we're just a couple hours out from Garbumont. No one is on the bridge so I sit in the captain's seat and push the intercom button, "All crew to the bridge."

  Yeah yeah, there's only two of them or maybe three if you count Celeste. Celeste seems to count herself though as one of the emitters lights up and she appears full sized and sits in one of the chairs. A short time later Nania shows up and takes the pilots seat and is closely followed by Jerilda who takes the weapons controls seat. Nania looks much the same as when I met her, wearing the stealth suit, just without her weapons visible. Jerilda though has changed into a suit of thickly plated armor that looks like a weird mix of Kevlar and Full Platemail. She's also wearing a pistol visible on her right hip, but no other visible weapons. I assume the heavy artillery is inside of her [Utility Belt].

  I turn to Nania and ask, "Can you tell us anything about the dungeon on Garbumont?"

  Nania shakes her head, "Not really. Like I said before it has a level cap of five and by the time people find it they're above that level so no one has been inside of it."

  I nod, "Alright, what general information can you give me on dungeons then?"

  "Dungeons always have a minimum and maximum level requirement, Garbumonts is a minimum of level one, maximum of level five. Dungeons also usually have a specific theme for them. For example one of the level ten dungeons is an alien insect hive. The floors and walls are covered in slime making it difficult to walk, and the bugs attack in small swarms. Completing the dungeon means taking out the queen of the hive. Once you defeat the final boss you will find the loot from the boss either in their lair or through a short pathway to where the loot is stored. The first time a dungeon is cleared there is always significantly more loot than any future clears." She takes a moment to let that sink in before she continues, "Low-level dungeons are usually between one and three floors, if a dungeon has more than one floor then there will be a miniboss in the middle floor. So if the dungeon on Garbumont is two floors there will be a miniboss on the first floor and the boss on the second floor. If it's three floors then the miniboss would be on the second floor, and so on and so forth."

  I listen intently and keep all of that in mind, I was kind of hoping the dungeon would be at least two floors, I would very much like to be at least level five when I finished the dungeon. I lean back in the captain's chair and look over to Jerilda, "I assume you went through the lockers to find gear you could use?"

  Jerilda nods, "I did. But the lowest level Power Armor was level five so I can't use it yet. I did grab this armor, some guns, and some explosives." She gives me a hard look with her solid black eyes, "I should be able to protect you pretty well with this equipment as well as lay down heavy amounts of suppressive fire and damage, Master."

  Nania quirks an eyebrow when Jerilda calls me Master but says nothing about it. Honestly, it was a weird combination of embarrassing and thrilling to hear Jerilda call me that. I turn to focus on Nania, "For the remainder of the flight in the corridor I'd like you to show me and Jerilda how to fly this thing properly. When we get to the planet I would like to be the one landing the ship on the surface, if you think I am capable at that time."

  Nania nods and stands up from the pilot's chair so I can sit in it. For the rest of the trip through the corridor, she teaches me about the controls and best methods for flying the ship.

  Turns out Nania is an excellent teacher. Thanks to her Jerilda and I got quite a few ranks in the [Piloting] skill for this class of ship, I even earned myself an extra [Agility] point. I return to my captain's chair and Jerilda returns to the weapons controls while Nania retakes the pilot's seat. We're just a couple of minutes from dropping out of the corridor and back into normal space. I have to say I am really looking forward to seeing something outside of the windows other than pitch black.

  Right on schedule, the darkness changes from sheer pitch black to the dark open black of normal space where stars glitter everywhere. In front of us, though still a fair ways away, I can see the small sphere of Garbumont, but I can't make out much about it from this distance. It will take another few minutes for us to get closer to the planet and then land on it near the dungeon. I turn to look at Nania, "Take us in Nania, time for us to go conquer a dungeon."

  In case you were wondering, Nania declared I wasn't ready to land this tub on a planet yet. Garbumont is a regular looking planet, from here I can see a large blue ocean and two continents. One of the continents is a deep lush green while the other is nothing but a yellow desert as far as I can see. A pretty striking contrast actually. Nania flies us skillfully into the atmosphere, this much larger ship shakes and rattles more than the one I piloted before, but in the skilled hands of Nania there's no fear of any kind of accident. She guides the ship expertly towards the desert continent. As we get closer to it I can see various large settlements scattered over it, though we fly over all of them. Soon we approach a large mountain range where Nania carefully lands the ship.

  Once the landing procedure is complete Nania turns to me, "We've arrived, Captain. The dungeon is in the mountain range and shouldn't be hard to spot from the air."

  I nod and climb out of my chair then turn to Jerilda, "It's time to go capture a dungeon and get our hands on some excellent loot."

  Jerilda, despite her normal attitude, grins and gives me a mock salute, "Yes, Master."

  Before we leave the bridge though, a thought occurs to me. I turn to Nania, "How do I form a party with Jerilda?"

  Nania shrugs, "There's no official party system. In the field experience is shared among crew members automatically and also with anyone who helps take down the target. When entering a dungeon all experience is automatically split between everyone inside. Since it will only be you two in there it shouldn't be an issue."

  I thank Nania for the explanation then Jerilda and I head to the cargo hold of the ship, "Celeste, lower the cargo ramp for me please."

  Without a reply, the ramp at the far back of the ship begins to lower. I lead Jerilda to the area where I've stored the [Hover Bike] and [Personal Racer] I made during the trip. I climb onto the [Hover Bike] and start it up. It gives out a soft hum as power flows through it and gently lifts it off of the ground. I turn to look at Jerilda, "Hop on."

  Jerilda glares at me and then points to the [Personal Racer], "Why aren't we taking that one?"

  I look over at the racer and then back to Jerilda, "Because this one seats two just fine and I really want to try it out."

  I didn't own a motorcycle of my own back in reality, but I had driven ones owned by my friends and I had loved every moment of it, so I was going to take this opportunity to drive the [Hover Bike] whether Jerilda liked it or not. Jerilda glares at me, "You just want to feel me pressed up against you or something, is that it?"

  It's my turn to glare at her, those kinds of thoughts hadn't even crossed my mind, I just honestly wanted to give the [Hover Bike] a try. I shake my head, "No. Now get on, that's an order."

  Grumbling some very unpleasant sounding things Jerilda does as I've commanded and straddles the bike behind me. I look over my shoulder, "Hold on. It's my first time driving this thing so try not to fall off."

  She silently glares at me while she takes a firm grip on some handholds built by the seat. There's only one throttle control just like a regular motorcycle, but by pulling up on the handles the bike would ascend, and by pushing down it would descend. Slowly I increase the throttle and the bike begins to glide forward. Carefully I pilot it through the ship, but instead of going down the cargo ramp like I had expected the bike continues on a level course above the ground. Grinning I slowly increase the throttle while pulling up on the handlebars to climb into the sky, "Celeste, close the cargo hatch and plot a course for the entrance of the dungeon."

  A small digital display on the bike turns on and shows a flashing indicator of where the dungeon entrance is and where I currently am flying. The entrance looks to be a few miles away, I would have to try and remember to thank Nania for not landing any closer. I level off the bike and lean forward as I slowly increase the throttle. As the speed picks up a windscreen snaps into place to block out the wind pressure and allow me to go even faster. I gun the throttle and Jerilda yelps in surprise and instinctively wraps her arms around my waist to hold me tight. It's not as pleasant of a sensation as you might imagine. Between the hard plates of her armor and the brutal strength of her arms, it's actually quite painful.

  I tap her arms and shout at her to loosen her grip before she squeezes me to death, it takes a moment but she eventually does. Though she doesn't stop holding onto me as we blaze through the air. Sadly, the trip to the dungeon entrance is over all too soon. I slow the speed of the bike and descend to the ground near the large entrance. It's a massive doorway at least fifty feet tall and probably thirty feet wide with a shimmering curtain of energy taking up the space where doors should be. I park the bike close to the dungeon entrance.

  Jerilda immediately hops off of the [Hover Bike] and glares at me, it brings to mind the phrase 'if looks could kill'. I just give her a beaming grin. Aside from her nearly squeezing me to death I had greatly enjoyed the ride over here. She crosses her arms under her breasts, which doesn't look nearly as enticing with the thick armor on and says accusingly, "You did that on purpose."

  I look at her and answer with as much sarcasm as I can muster, "Yes, because the feeling of hard plates against my back, while I'm being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, really gets my motor going."

  She huffs loudly and storms over to the entrance of the dungeon but doesn't try to go into it yet. Meanwhile, I turn on the security for the [Hover Bike]. It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere and there hadn't been any signs of civilization from the air, but better safe than walking out of the dungeon to a stolen bike. With that done I join Jerilda at the entrance to the dungeon and look at the shimmering entryway. I turn to look at Jerilda, "Time to get your game face on."

  Jerilda gives me a grin and operates her [Utility Belt], a moment later she's holding a massive beast of a weapon in both hands, with a large barrel and glowing lines of energy all along it. I lean close and examine the weapon to see exactly what she is using.

  Holy FUCK! That thing was ridiculous. I stare at the gun then turn to look at Jerilda, I guess I wasn't the only one who had planned to go to war in this dungeon. She turns to me and seeing the look on my face gives me a smile that can only be described as beautiful, then says something that's not, "Yeah, mines bigger than yours."

  I shake my head and give her a wry grin, it was looking like this was going to be a lot of fun. Between my [Overcharge Weapon] attacks and her massive laser, we were going to decimate anything inside of this dungeon. I turn back to face the dungeon and walk towards the shimmering portal. Jerilda follows close behind me. Together we step through the portal and into our first dungeon, together.

  Spoiler: Character Sheet

  Spoiler: Current Gear

  Credits On Hand: 5,522

  Credits In GalNet Account: 100

  MCU's: 50,955

  Spoiler: Spells

  Spoiler: Skills

  Spoiler: Abilities

  Spoiler: CR Spectrum