ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 17: The Tier II Dungeon (Entry)

Chapter 17

The Tier II Dungeon (Entry)

“Welcome to Bottomless Gorge.” The Entry guard said, as he greeted and scanned Alexa’s identification card. This was the same card she had always used, the one linked to her 500+ Tier I dungeon runs.

For a moment she wondered if there was going to be a problem with her entering this dungeon.

Happy beep.

There was the nice chime sound of her card being accepted.

“I see, you are a pre-awakened and this is your first actual Tier II dungeon.” The guard said.

Alexa just stared.

After a moment of silence, the guard continued. “As this is your first time here, I am ordered by law to give you a mandatory safety briefing. Despite the fact that… good gods…” The guard said, clearly reading the number of dungeon runs she had already had. “Despite your past successes. It is my job to tell you of the safety measures for this dungeon. This is called bottomless gorge for a reason. It is infinite. You don’t actually descend or ascent, but rather it repositions you in a part of the dungeon that has already been completed. Each time you go through the same floor type, the difficulty will increase. This also means the rewards increase. If you think the traps are getting too tough, stop. Every five floors you will find a bed, don’t sleep in it, it is a mimic and will eat you when you sleep. If you are tired come back up. I see you have a backpack; this is good. We have everything you would need for a prolonged dungeon delve in our shop.” He paused as he pointed to a little shack right by the dungeon entrance.

Of course, the only reason Alexa even had a backpack at this point was because she had been kicked out of school. Her backpack was empty because she had to turn in all her textbooks and final assignments. That meant she only had a few pieces of loose-leaf paper, a few pens, a few mechanical pencils, her school clothes, and a water bottle. Having been in so many sports, she kept a spare change of PT clothes in her bag. That was what she was currently wearing, as she doubted her school clothes would last long in a true dungeon run.

“At the end of every floor, you will be given two options. To go up, or down. Going up will take you back to the lobby where you can immediately leave through that portal behind me. Going down will reset the floor and make it so you must continue onward until the end. Again, I cannot stress this enough, if you are tired in any way, do not sleep in the dungeon.” With that the guard paused.

Silence.

Finally, after a moment of staring at the creepy girl, the guard asked, “any questions?”

“No.”

“Okay. This concludes my mandatory safety briefing.” The guard said, before turning away, then as he turned, he noticed the fancy sports watch on Alexa’s wrist. This was one of those fitness trackers, heart rate monitor, emergency call watches.

“Oh, I see that you have a sports watch. Don’t expect that to work in the dungeon.”

“I know.”

Alexa did know, she still needed to use the watch to both keep track of time and to help her keep track of her heart rate. Often when she was engrossed in a project she would forget to eat. This lack of eating would cause her heart rate to spike, and her glucose levels to drop. That was part of why her parents had gotten her such a robust watch. Added to that was the calling and messaging feature, meaning that her parents could always get a reading of her vitals and to make sure she was fine. While this was not a problem in recent years, particularly when she got her Endurance to be well over the fifty point threshold, it was still a lingering concern of theirs.

As such, every year like clockwork, Alexa got a new smart watch tracker, while Luke got a new phone. Alexa preferred the watch, as she never had to remember to take it with her. On energy conservation mode, or dungeon delving mode as Alex liked to think of it, this new watch could last for well over a month telling her the time and monitoring her vitals.

That of course was the setting that made it famous for dungeon delvers, as many would put it on and enter a dungeon.

In this case, Alexa made sure to go through a list of important things.

First she went to the shop and bought seven days’ worth of dried rations. Then she also bought and filled four canteens full of water. She also made sure to fill her regular sports bottle with water. She also bought a roll of toilet paper that she stripped out the cardboard tube in the center.

In the end, all her purchases came to the price of just under one augmentation crystal. The prices were steep, but clearly this was a niche market. Also, Alexa had made sure not to use any of the five crystals she gained on her last run before coming here. This meant that even after paying the two crystal entry fee, and the one crystal food fee, she was still up one crystal from where she started this morning.

With her two crystals in her backpack, she made one last mental inventory. Found that there was nothing she thought she would need for the time from now, Tuesday, until Sunday night when she would return. Then proceeded to write out a note to her parents.

Her standing rule was, she could go into any dungeon that she was allowed to enter, so long as she sent a quick message before entering. Then once she left, she would have to send another message.

Despite this being a Tier II dungeon, Alexa figured her rules still applied. Especially as she had just informed her parents last night about her status change. Surely, they would have noted any changes to their rules at that time. As such, Alexa penned out her message to her parents.

Mom, Dad,

As you no doubt are aware, I am unable to attend Central H.S. anymore.

I will be transferred on Monday to Dawning Light.

I know this is where you two met, and I remember the stories of hazing.

I also remember the way you said to avoid hazing you had to be the strongest.

It is with this note in mind, that I have decided to better myself.

As such, I have decided to enter the Tier II Trap Dungeon “Bottomless Gorge.”

Do not worry.

I have set an alarm, so I will know when to leave to make it back home by Sunday night.

See you then.

-A.

Alexa read the message once, then twice. Then making sure it said everything she wanted, she decided at the last minute to send it to Luke as well. Then once she was completely satisfied, she hit send. Then immediately put her watch onto energy conservation mode, or Dungeon mode as the button called it. With her familial obligations done, she entered the dungeon prepared to make her first run in a Tier II dungeon.

As she entered, she felt the same. Not that she had expected to feel different, but this was her first time in a Tier II dungeon. But she didn’t notice or feel any differently. In fact, had it not been for the increased amounts of mana around her, she might have thought there was no difference.

But the thick mana allowed her to focus. She realized this was a Tier II dungeon for a reason, with that in mind, she scanned the entry room and looked for signs of what traps and puzzles she could expect on this floor.

As she looked around, she realized this was likely the floor with the mimic for a bed. This was done as a bed was clearly showcased in the entry room with glowing eyes in the sheets. At least that was what Alexa saw through her slotted class perk Identify Energy Types.

The creature was so clearly a mimic that she wondered how it was successful. Or if it was ever successful. Surely the guards began telling travelers of the mimic bed for a reason.

Alexa then looked around the room and found a few odd an end glowing jars on a self of cooking items.

Sleepy Time Tea Leave Powder.

Warning: May cause extreme drowsiness and death in some cases. Use as prescribed.

The label said, with that Alexa looked from the container on the shelf to the bed.

It was at this point that she noted that the powder was the exact opposite magical resonance as the mimic bed.

On a hunch, Alexa went over and poured the tea leave powder over the mimic.

There was a moment when the mimic awoke, then spasmed for a moment. Then died. As this was the training room, nothing should happen here. But the message was loud and clear regardless. Here was a monster type that Alexa was familiar with, the mimic. But then once it was dead, she wondered if the standard practice of mimics was in effect.

Curious, Alexa decided to lie down on the dead bed-shaped-mimic and rest. At which point she was met with a prompt.

Secret condition met. You have discovered a natural bed. While you are here you may rest, without concern of any creatures or traps in the dungeon coming after you. Furthermore, any timers will be paused while you rest.

With that Alexa nodded to herself. This made sense, dungeons were designed to keep you in as long as possible. So, the fact that a dungeon calling itself Bottomless Gorge would naturally want to keep spelunkers in as long as possible. Obviously, the mimic was put in as a way to give travelers a safe way to rest.

With the message over, the bed in the practice room disintegrated and was reabsorbed by the dungeon. This was a fascinating process, one that Alexa always enjoyed witnessing. But she had never seen it done so quickly. This again reminded her that she was in a Tier II dungeon and that danger lurked around every corner. With that, Alexa treated the dungeon, like she did anything that could potentially kill her on a whim. She spoke politely to it.

“Thank you, dungeon.” Alexa said.

She didn’t know why she did this, it was mainly a habit at this point. One that she kept on her solo runs. But she always felt that there was some form of sentience in these dungeons.

Even now, after her speaking to the dungeon, the magical energy of the room seemed to pulse and throb at her words. Of course, she knew it was likely her overactive mind assigning values to mana. But this much mana being used to generate such in depth trap rooms, this clearly spoke of something grander.

She looked around the room and found a few more odds and end pieces that clearly glowed with magical energy, denoting that they would be important to solving the overall floor layout. But nothing seemed to glow to her like the Sleeping Powder and the Mimic bed. That was clearly the main threat this floor had to offer. And if Alexa was right, the bed would be the reward for the trap room of this floor. Meaning that she didn’t have to always fight the mimic bed, but she would, when she wanted to eventually sleep.

As such, Alexa began wondering a few things. First could she keep the powder from floor to floor? If so, then her delving could be a lot easier, as she could just stock up on the powder. Though she realized she would likely have to be careful with the powder as the warning label also seemed to imply it would be dangerous for her.

Perhaps some of the other floors throw you around, or break glass bottles, making it so keeping them is hazardous to your health? She thought to herself.

Rather than scare her, these thoughts filled her mind to the brim with even more questions. Questions that her inquisitive mind would try to answer.

With her curiosity piqued for the moment, she decided to enter the dungeon. For her first run, she chose the Easy path. No point in getting too wrapped up in her own prowess. While she was more than capable of handling anything any level of a Tier I dungeon could throw at her, she knew to respect new dungeons. With that in mind, she would take it easy her first few floors. Then once she was comfortable, she would advance to Medium and then finally to Hard mode. Or Green, Gold, Red as most adventures took to calling the different challenge levels.

No one ever begrudged anyone for taking the easy path. Though it should be noted that she was likely only looking at one guaranteed crystal for this floor. Everything else would be on her own. This was again, perfect for her, as it would let her take her time to identify traps, identify hidden passageways and truly explore the dungeon.

She meant it when she planned to stay down here until Sunday night, and that was just what she was going to do.