*000000*

Okay. Now that I've had a nice day off in which I did shopping and picked up the stuff I need, let's get down to business (to defeat the Huns). Which is to say, doing a dungeon. Because then everything will be balanced, and therefore it's a better idea than wandering into the forest was. Even if the Game says I'm a little underleveled for it, I have a bunch of magic bombs that punch at least a little bit above my weight class, and a bunch of mediocre ones, what could possibly go wrong?

The tricky part, of course, is going to be getting away from Qrow. I don't want him to see me just disappear for no reason for an unknown amount of time and then come back out notably stronger. So, I come up with a cunning plan.

Something I was planning on doing anyway is to use my geomancy to expand the underground portion of my place via the basement. I can just shut myself in the basement with a few precooked meals and Qrow will think I'm just down there working while I tunnel my way out with shape earth, even if it probably will take a while. Except that if Qrow is in bird form he can easily just spot me when I come back out, so that means I need to get him to watch over me from inside my home.

Sil: hey, I can see you out there. I know Oz has you spying on me, but you're free to do it from inside my house if you want

Sil: I have a TV

Sil: and ice cream

Sil: and birdseed

Qrow: I don't eat birdseed

Sil: okay but there's no way you haven't tried it out while you were in your bird form at least once

Qrow: I prefer to maintain a distance as a matter of professional courtesy

Sil: dude you literally took me shopping yesterday

Qrow: that was a matter of necessity

Sil: but fine we don't have to be in the same room if you don't want

Sil: just like, hang around in the backroom while I'm working my magic in the basement some more

Qrow: ...fine

I'm still in the process of making my dinner (some nice horseradish tuna) as Qrow finally comes in. I texted him before I was done cooking so that I wouldn't have to bother pretending to work on more spellstones while I waited for him. I also learned that my inventory does in fact keep things frozen in time when they're in it, which means I don't have to bother putting groceries in the fridge, and is thus great. I also got a cooking skill when I made myself a breakfast burrito, which was already at 7, probably because of my preexisting competence.

Qrow's expression is deeply disturbed as I spontaneously pull a plate from my inventory and slide the fish out of the pan and onto it, then also pull out a pepper grinder and lavish on the sauce. "You put horseradish sauce on tuna?" Oh. I was expecting him to be surprised by the whole pulling stuff out of nowhere thing, even if I have done it in front of him before.

"It's delicious. Besides, it's not like this is the same kind I would put on a steak. It's totally different." Now properly seasoned and sauced, I put the whole plate back into my inventory, even though I'm tempted to eat it right now.

"It's an abomination." Qrow just scowls.

"Whatever, fine, I'm going to lock myself in the basement now. I'll set an alarm on my scroll to remind me to eat lunch." I say as I'm tossing the dirty dishes in the sink to do later. I need to get magic that will do dishes for me. Like Mickey Mouse with the brooms, but competent. "If you get bored feel free to do household chores for me."

"I won't."

I blow Qrow a raspberry and shut the trapdoor that leads to the basement.

Okay. First thing I gotta do is pry up some wooden boards with my nonflaming dagger so that I don't start a fire.

As it turns out, buildings have these things called foundations and drywall, even in the basements. I didn't know basements were that complicated.

In that case, maybe I should see if I can perform some kind of structural analysis before I go any further. How can I do that with geomancy? Maybe echolocation but underground?

I place my hands against the drywall. It's not made out of something that reacts to geomancy. Damn. Guess I have to just stab my way through it.

A series of furious stabbings and covering myself in chalky plaster later, I finally manage to get a hole in the drywall that I can squeeze through, and that leads to a concrete foundation, which I can work with. Now what I need is to make sure I can navigate while I'm tunnelling underground. I'll see if I can make a spell to let me sense stuff by sending sound waves radiating out through it and interpreting the rebounds. Call it geolocation.

Insufficient geomancy skill to create this spell.​

Damn. Okay, plan B. Just make a tunnel that points up, then add stairs. Then I hope nothing collapses. Is it reckless? Probably? I don't know anything about construction.

It takes a lot of mana. And therefore a lot of time for that mana to recharge. But on the bright side I gain two levels in geomancy in the process.

Nothing collapses. Immediately. I hurry my way to surface before it can, coming up in a small strip of grass between my shop and the one next to it. I quickly cover the entrance with enough dirt and stone that it won't collapse unless someone tries to make it do so and start walking, bringing up the map the Game told me I could use to find a dungeon.

The first thing I do is filter out everything but the lowest difficulty ones, referred to as common. Level 20 is the recommendation, but eh, it's not that big a difference between 12 and 20 at levels this low. I'll be fine, and I'm not going to just wander around hoping something happens again, I learned from that mistake.

The nearest one is actually... in my basement? Wait, what? That's just too weird. No, it's not in my basement, it's slightly to the side of my basement, but still within my property. But I still did all that for no reason. At least I got some geomancy levels and an emergency backdoor, I guess.

I'm just going to walk back in the front door, I'd rather not let someone see me using geomancy in the open like this if I can help it. I bet Qrow will be flabbergasted. If he hasn't been onto me the whole time.

As if just to mock me, a crow squawks at me from the edge of a roof.

"Alright Qrow, you caught me trying to sneak away." I roll my eyes. That's not going to work again. Actually, it didn't work in the first place. At least this way I know that. "I'll go to my room now."

Just to make sure I'm not being paranoid, I check the rest of my house for Qrow before going back to the basement. Yeah, that was him.

Looking at the minimap once I've gone back to the basement, there is indeed a dungeon exactly ten feet north of the northmost wall of the basement. I don't think it's in another basement. So... I guess this house must be really shady, because there's a hidden panic room in the basement. Now how to reach it?

The only thing I didn't snatch out of the basement is the sole lightbulb in the ceiling, so if it's not that it needs a remote control and I'm going to have to break in. It's one of those old light bulbs where you have to pull a chain instead of having a wall switch. I start by rapidly turning the light on and off. Nothing happens. I try turning it off and letting it sit that way, plunging the room into complete darkness.

Just as I'm about to turn it back on, I realize I can hear the sound of something grinding against stone. So I wait, and a few seconds later I see a slip of light coming from what I guess must be north. It quickly grows into a doorway that was somehow hidden in the wood paneled walls, and leads to a somewhat small room stocked with two cots and a bunch of boxes.

As I step inside, the first thing I notice is that one cot is a familiar burnt orange, and the other is pink and brown.

"You have got to be kidding me." I did find out about this place while Qrow's semblance was affecting me, didn't I? That was a terrible idea, wasn't it? Just to be sure, I use Observe.

Neopolitan's cot

A cot put here for Neo's use in the event that this particular safehouse is needed.

I'm renting a place that conceals one of Roman Torchwick's safehouses. Because of course. Well, I guess I was looking for an in with him, so I guess this will be useful if we ever meet. Assuming he doesn't just have Neo kill me for trespassing. Not that being fatally stabbed by Neo wouldn't be really hot. I'm just going to have to deal with it when it comes up.

Anyway, back down to business. There's a swirling gray portal on the other side of some boxes. I'm not even going to touch anything in here, because I do not need to aggravate Roman right now. Or ever. I'll probably stand a pretty good chance against Neo once I get tremorsense and can keep up with her in terms of skill, but I don't really know how far away that is from being attainable. She's probably at least level 100 or so. She's the reason why I've decided to perpetually carry around a quart of neopolitan ice cream in my inventory. I prefer sherbet, personally.

So I guess this is the dungeon?

Yup.​

Got any advice? Any more details about how this is going to work?

Sorry, you gotta go into the first one blind. All I can tell you is that you shouldn't go in there yet, your level is too low.​

I can't not go in there. I need levels to make progress of any kind.

With a deep breath, I step forward.

-----------​

She's going to get killed.​

Yes. I noticed.

Why the hell did you let her do that? You should have intervened, she's had a death wish this entire time. Are you trying to kill me?​

It's understandable really, given how she died. Don't worry though, there's no need to intervene. What she really needs is an immediate reason to be more careful. She'll find it in there.

How did she die, anyway?​

If you don't know, you don't need to know.

You haven't screwed with the dungeon, have you? You know that kind of shit has consequences we can't handle.​

I simply offered a trade. Replace the ordinary boss with a more powerful one in exchange for a concession should she win. The dungeon agreed.

You let it be more deadly?​

More, yet also less. She's a clever girl, I expect her to figure it out.

I really fucking hate you sometimes.​

Trust me, her odds are far better than they would have been had I done nothing.

-----------​

On the other end of the portal is a small glade. It's picturesque, and edged on the sides with thick green hedges that remind me of the way video games will try to differentiate parts of the map you're not allowed to walk on. Like in Pokemon Ranger. There's also no portal in it.

Quest Added: I Done-geon Fucked Up

Objective: Pacify the boss and make it out of the dungeon alive

Bonus Objective: Explore 100% of the dungeon

Reward: THE ABILITY TO LEAVE, FOR NOW, Misc. Game Feature Unlocks, 1,000 credits, 4,000 exp

Bonus reward: 2,000 credits, 6,000 exp, x 3 gacha token​

I guess I'm in here until I finish the dungeon.

Yes. You are. The starting area is a safe room, there is at least one more around, but never many. They'll be marked on your minimap when you enter them.​

Okay, so now I am a little bit concerned about this, given that I can't back out. Still, I have a ton of supplies.

There was another spell I was thinking of making before I got here though. What was that? Oh yeah, earth wall.

Spell added: Earth Wall

It's like Wall of Force, but of Dirt.

MP cost: 200

Yeah, there we go. All my other spell ideas require me to hit higher skill levels, so that'll do for now.

I'm ready now, so I leave the start area, dagger in hand. The entire area is a forest, but there's still a cleared out path for me to follow, so I do.

My first encounter is with a monkey, which I only notice when it hits me on the head with a rock. It hurts like hell, but at least I have aura.

And then, when I look up and see it sitting in a tree, it starts doing a merry little dance, just to taunt me. It would be funny if it weren't weird to see a creepy little chimp celebrate trying to kill me. I take advantage of the distraction though, and cast a pebble at it, knocking it in it's head and off the tree branch.

I rush it as it falls, managing to slash it before it can find it's balance. It shrieks and twitches, smelling like burnt hair as it writhes in pain, so I finish it off with a quick stab. That dagger was a really good investment. With the old one it probably would have taken twice that much to finish that thing off.

It's in the moment that I'm celebrating my first kill here that two more stones hit me simultaneously, coming from two more trees on opposite sides of me. Meaning that I'm going to have to dodge one monkey's attacks while I take care of the first. Shit. And those rocks have each taken a bit less than a tenth of my aura off. And I've only just started. This might be bad.

I cast a pebble at one while I watch the other, dodging it's attack the moment I finish casting the spell, only to get hit from behind a moment later. But that one should have been knocked down. I spare it a glance, and see it must have dodged. Are they... learning? This seems really bad.

I can neither confirm nor deny any of your suspicions.

​Okay, I can afford to burn some spellstones. I'll be able to remake the simple stuff anywhere, and I have a trick that can take care of these little shits. I sheathe my dagger and pull two spellstones from my inventory, two engraved spheres that each fit comfortably in the palm of my hand. I rub my thumb over the slight indentations that serve as the activators with a slight delay between them, and hold them as their fuses run low.

After two and a half seconds, in which I have to duck and weave my way around more rocks being thrown at me by tree monkeys, I toss both in the air in succession and cast pebble missile on each monkey, sending them flying at their targets while I run under the nearer monkey. They both dodge the missiles again, but then the stones trigger, and cast pebble missile again, causing themselves to change velocity and hit their targets anyway.

I slam the monkey that was right above me into the ground as I impale it, then quickly get up and run to the other one, which is able to get back onto its feet before I reach it and tries to avoid getting stabbed by jumping onto my face as I'm leaning down to reach it. It's claws dig into my aura as it starts viciously biting and scratching, so I lean forward a little and cast earth wall right in front of my face.

The chimp gets dragged off and flung into the sky, where it can't do anything to dodge the boulder I send flying towards it, and is smushed.

That... was worrying. It also gave me two levels, so maybe it means those enemies were strong for this place?

I'm putting all my extra stat points into DEX, I don't like this and I don't want to get hit by more things if I can help it. My aura is already down to just under 60% and I've barely stepped outside the entrance.

It is possible that I have done fucked up, and should have listened to the Game's advice.

You think?

​Yeah. Sorry. You die if I do, right? That's always how it is in the stories.

Yes. Yes I do. So I'm sure you will understand if I am irritated.​

At least I have a moment to breathe now. Wait a few minutes and let my aura and mana get back up.

And of course just as I think that a stag appears out of the bushes and starts to charge me. I have no choice but to erect another earth wall and slide around it, flanking the stag as I stab it, going for where I think some of the important organs might be. Just as I go for it again, thinking that it can't fight back if I'm on its side, it jerks its head back and rakes sharp horns along my cheek.

I duck and slash along the back of its hind leg, hamstringing it as it cries out in pain. I think the stuff in here really doesn't like fire, which is a relief. Most living things don't. Another stab to the gut is enough to silence it, giving me another level.

Did that happen just because I tried to rest outside of a safe room? This whole dungeon thing just keeps getting more and more worrying.

Unless...

Unless it's not that I'm in a dungeon. Oh no. No, no, no, please tell me I'm wrong.

Am I in The Dungeon? As in, the sentient one from Danmachi? Or a similar concept?

I can neither confirm nor deny information about the Dungeon while you are within its grasp.​

Fuck.

I turn around to go back to the start, and the moment I do I see three monkeys appear in nearby trees. I dodge their opening salvo this time, and when I return fire with more pebble missile spellstones I end up in a melee with two of them, the other impaled as it falls once again. They might be able to learn, but they're still limited by physicality, and I can learn about them too.

I create a pit under one of them, but it's climbing up the edges of the pit quickly, though not quickly enough to reach me before I intercept the second one with my dagger as it launches itself at my head. These guys aren't too bad in melee combat, even if they are quick, the only real spot where they can attack me head on is my face because of how I have to crouch down to reach them. They'll be a serious problem in combination with other enemies though, considering that they're fast enough to dodge my faster projectile spell.

The Dungeon is pretty clearly trying to stop me from making it back to the starting safe zone as it throws more monkeys at me, but I manage to pull through without my aura breaking, now at level 19. Geomancy is at 22 now, and daggers at 24, which is so frustratingly close to unlocking stealth. That would be so useful here, I think. Assuming these enemies can't all just sense me because of the nature of the Dungeon. I get the sense that 22 is too low to make any of the other geomancy spells I had in mind either.

I think carefully as I replenish the spellstones I used. Pebble missiles are simple enough that I can just make more here with the hammer and chisel. I don't think any of my unknown spells would work for that though.

I need a spell that doesn't have a travel time. Something much harder to dodge than a projectile. Which is hard, considering that it has the ground as a medium. Or maybe that's my opportunity. What if I made a spell that basically does what a fox trap does?

Spell Created: Claptrap

Snapping earthen jaws close around the ankle of your target, injuring and immobilizing or slowing them.

Range: trap, placed at present location

Mana: 293

Yes. This, combined with stealth, are exactly what I need to fight the way I want to be fighting. With cunning, not force. After all, the greatest victory is that which requires no battle. The original context is a bit different, but these enemies don't have morale so I have to apply it creatively. I prefer a slaughter to a surrender anyway.

There's less resistance going deeper into the Dungeon than there was trying to retreat. Just some more monkeys, none of which give me chances to sneak up on them as they see me first. I manage to make it some distance without taking any more hits, and that was only because of these monkeys being stealthy. I take care to explore every twist and turn for the sake of that bonus objective, and because I need every last bit of experience and loot I can get before I try fighting the boss. It's not until I come across a small clearing that I had thought was a safe room that I have an opportunity to use my stealth skill.

Instead of a break, I see in the clearing before me a sleeping tiger. Just peeking at it has gotten my new stealth skill to 2. I should leave it alone, but not only do I really want to clear everything here, I've reached a point where this is the only path forward. I have no confidence in my ability to avoid waking it up and sneak past, but even if I did, this whole thing gives me mini-boss vibes. Plus, there's a risk I encounter it later, when it's already awake.

So, I slowly work my way forward, laying as many traps as I can. If I can reach it without waking it up and stab its threat, I'll try that. If not, I'll stay at range and pepper it with fire burst spellstones and other magic while my traps slow it down. It's a solid plan.

Stealth goes up another two levels as I'm approaching, nice and slowly so that I can regen as much mana as possible before I inevitably wake it up. I also prep with a stoneskin, because I need every advantage I can get.

I'm closer than I expected when it finally wakes up, it's eyes slowly sliding open to stare at me. There's a moment of held breath as we study each other, then it leaps up faster than I expected, pouncing at me. I roll desperately to the side as I pull out a fire blast spellstone and toss it, evoking cries of pain as its fur catches fire and one of my traps tugs on its front leg, only to be quickly broken out of.

Its biggest strength is definitely its strength, but I'm dexterous and I don't think it can quite catch me, especially with my traps prepared. I throw another stone as it roars and charges me, only to stumble as it triggers another trap, giving me time to cast boulder toss before I have to step back from a swipe of its claws.

I'm not fast enough to dodge its follow-up pounce, however, and it manages to gouge into my aura, dropping it by half and leaving me with just a shred remaining after the other attrition I've taken. I really don't want to get hit again, even if I can probably survive another graze like that. The tiger is bloodied at this point, and certainly looks wounded, even as it shakes off another claptrap like nothing.

I spend the last of my mana on another boulder as I toss another fire blast spellstone at it, both of which only seem to make it angrier. It charges forward again, with momentum like a wrecking ball as it barrels into me, not even bothering to use its claws and instead just ramming me into a thick tree trunk, breaking my aura and taking my breath away.

There's not time to pull out my dagger or cast a spell, it'll probably cut me open with its teeth first, so all I can think to do is pull a Kiru Kazuma, and punch it in the fucking face with my stone-encrusted fist. It hurts like crazy, but it also makes the tiger stumble away from me, suddenly weakened. So I do it again, giving it an uppercut square in the chin, and it finally collapses, dead.

For defeating the midboss, you have received gacha crystal x1​

I then cough up some blood. Fuck, that really hurts. I hope it can heal on its own, because I have not managed to figure out healing spellstones yet.

Checking my HUD, I'm not actively losing health, so I guess I'll be fine. This area is now marked as a safe zone on the map, which is a huge relief. That was way too close. I'm really worried about my ability to beat the boss, even if I am making good progress here.

Name: Sil Marilis

Race: Faunus(Mermaid)

Level: 24

HP: 532/975(END*25)(regen 10%/minute)

MP: 47/1550(INT*25)(regen 10%/minute)

AP: 0/1575(WIS*25)(regen 10%/minute)

STR: 35

DEX: 68

END: 39

INT: 62

WIS: 63

LUK: 35

Points: 0

Skills:

Geomancy(28/100)

Daggers(29/100)

Light armor(1/100)

Runecrafting(28/100)

Stealth(4/50)

Okay, so now that I've got some time alone, and geomancy is getting higher, lets see if we can't make one of those more complex spells I've had in mind for a while now. Step 1: : rip off those Earth Kingdom secret police from Avatar with their whole hand thing.

Spell created: Give Me a Hand

A small swarm of 4 flying stony hands move to restrain or attack the target(s)

MP: varies by targets

Range: 10m

That's it. That was the only step, for now. I like these increasingly silly spell names.

I wonder if beating a miniboss means I'm about halfway through now? Too bad I haven't found any chests or anything, but it's fair since I'm getting rewards just for wandering around everywhere. Well, I guess the gacha crystals are the chest-like random loot. Speaking of which...

Time to pull this bit of crystallized dopamine out of my inventory and "hit the lever", as Konami would say. I study the small blue crystal in my hand for a moment before breaking it open with a snap.

You have received Angmar

A gold ring appears in my hand. Hmm, that name sounds sort of familiar, but I don't really get what this is. I Observe.

Angmar

First of the Nine, gifted to the greatest of the Nazgul by lord Sauron himself

Oh god oh fuck no absolutely not I refuse I want to send this thing back where it fucking came from what the fuck why

I drop the fucking thing immediately. Obviously. Even if Sauron doesn't exist in this universe, there's no way that ring is going to be harmless. Even with Gamer's Mind, I do not trust this shit. Fuck.

Why is that a thing I can get from this?

Gacha rewards can be good or bad. Or mixed, though they generally trend towards the good, and gacha crystals with a qualifier such as rare or armor are guaranteed to be good.​

Great. At least now I know never to crack one while I'm not on full health and mana.

And now I have a conundrum. Do I put the ring in my inventory, or do I just leave it there? My first instinct is to just leave it there, but I have no idea what could happen to it if I do. Leaving it to the tender mercies of the Dungeon seems like a pretty bad idea. I doubt that it will just cease to exist once I leave this dungeon. In fact, the best guess I have for what would happen if I left it there is that it would end up somewhere in Remnant anyway, since this place is connected to Remnant on some level, which would be really bad. I can't take that chance, no matter how slim it is. So, I'll just have to keep it in my inventory until I get my hands on the Sword of Destruction, which can probably destroy it.

Quest Added: Angmar

Objective: Find a way to destroy Angmar

Reward: Multiverse Travel to Middle-Earth, Vastly decreased reputation with Lord Sauron's Faction, increased reputation with the Fellowship of the Ring, ???

Oh, well I wasn't expecting a quest like that. Cool. I guess it makes sense that I would unlock multiverse travel before I've done literally everything I want to on Remnant, since killing the Gods is going to require a whole other degree of firepower than what I can get here, as far as I know.

Moving on now that I'm rested, it seems like the only generic enemy types here are the monkeys and stags, which is probably what makes it a low level dungeon. The higher level ones will probably have a lot more complex variety, which will make moving through them more difficult. And more group attacks. At least now that I have some stealth skill I manage to be the ambusher rather than the ambushed most of the time, which lets me handle most of the remaining encounters before the next safe area without too much trouble, though enemies were appearing in greater numbers. Good thing I made a multi-target spell to deal with them more effectively.

At the other end of the safe area is a Bloodborne-style wall of fog blocking off what is obviously the boss fight. It would probably be best to go back and grind some more before I take it on, but I do not have the patience for that kind of thing, so fuck it. I push my way through the fog as soon as I'm back at full aura, my eyes darting carefully around the new clearing, which actually looks almost exactly like the others.

All I can see is a small orange kitten in the middle of the field, mewling. So I guess I must be fighting its mother. Except that nothing's coming. I wait and watch for a whole minute, and there's nothing. What gives? I can't leave this room now, but there's no boss.

Unless it's the kitten, but that would just be silly.

Okay. I'm just going to check.

Name: ?̵̡̧̙̝̩̹̘̪̜̞̘̳̙̆̉̇?̵̨̡̛͙̜͈̰͖̳̩̮̤̬̥̂̑̏̈́̊͐̿̍̋͛̿͘͜͜?̶̩̲͔̪̤̤̗̤͉̭̣͉̮̭̎͒̈̀̿̃̏͛̾̏́̿͂̾͝ͅ

Race: f̸̧̟̰̘͚̬̗̮̘̮̪̓̀͒͂̾̊l̶͇̘̫͕͈̇̀̏͐̑e̶̢̢̨̗̞̙̦̩̯͕͙̞͙̾́͛͋̀̓̈r̸̻̟̹̝̥̤͎̹͕̣̻͉̣̍͋̍̃̑͋̿̆̾̾̇͌͝͝k̷͎̜͍̟̲̼̭͖͇͈͍͕͍͍̀̍̋̐̏͊̕̚͜͝ȇ̷̫̣̬̔̚ṉ̸̦̝̩͈̝͋́̂͋́͋̓̄̒̒̈́

Age: 0

Level: 75

STR: 280

DEX: 190

END: 50

INT: 140

WIS: 90

LUK: 50

Oh no.