Nothing is Impossible

Lars looked between the two of them. "You guys know each other? Great! That will make our lives much easier." Atlas tried to say something, anything, but Lars just whisked them away, heading straight for the tier 3 portal. "It's time to kill things!"

Atlas just followed. Not really knowing how to feel. Here was the girl he had dated for two years, the girl he had wanted to marry. But now… Atlas felt lost. He had changed so much, and he very much believed Lesli had too. Otherwise she wouldn't be wearing mage robes and be adventuring in another world.

Atlas felt torn. On one hand, he still had feelings for Lesli, how could he not after so long of being together? But on the other hand… He loved growing stronger, and he felt like that was far more important to the current him than any relationship.

As he wrestled with himself internally, they reached the tier 3 portal, an attendant looking over the six of them and nodding before letting them all go through.

Atlas felt his body jolt painfully and he found himself standing on a white pedestal some feet above an even brighter white ground. He glanced around and saw everyone else was also standing on pedestal's similar to his, and they hopped off without giving it much thought. After some deliberation, Atlas followed suit.

Lar's clapped his hands. "Okay people, let's get this show on the road. I'll take point, Atlas on my left, Jay on my right, preferably with stealth active. Dane, summon one of your ranged creatures if you would, and stay in the back to help buff with Nex. Lesli, if you could stay with them, that would be great." He looked like he was about to leave it at that but then he noticed Atlas.

"Oh, Atlas, is this your first dungeon?" Atlas nodded, and he went on. "Then here is what you should expect. Be on the constant look out for traps, calling them out if you see them. This is a tier 3 dungeon, so there are three floors. At the end of each floor is either a miniboss or a puzzle, it depends on the dungeon and floor. At the end of the final floor is the boss. Kill the boss, we get rewarded. As I already said, you will be on my left, and when we start combat, let them first charge me then have at them. Sound good?"

Atlas furrowed his eyebrows before nodding. "So it's similar to a video game?"

Jay shrugged. "In some ways, yes, that is a great way to think of it. Just remember this is real life and you can die here. You can't respawn, and if you mess up, it could lead to one of us dying. So a video game… just with much higher stakes." He said, flashing Atlas a grin.

Atlas blanched, coming back down to earth. When Jay said it like that… he felt a lot more pressure than he had before.

Atlas took his position to the left of Lars, and Jay went opposite him.

Dane started to chant in a strange language, and Atlas felt like he could understand the intentions but not the actual words. He was… summoning something? After at least a full minute of chanting, there was a golden flash and a creature appeared in front of Dane.

It appeared to be some type of huge rodent, and it looked slightly similar to a squirrel. It was deep black fur with golden markings on its body, and it stood at a towering seven feet tall. It had a long bushy tail and carried a large rock about the size of a bowling ball. It was covered in more of the golden markings and glowed slightly.

Atlas used Master Scan.

Scurrid Rockmaster

Tier: 3 Level: 250 CP: 0.8

Description: A Scurrid Rockmaster is a creature from the Plane of Life, and uses force magic to control its bound rock, dealing large amounts of damage at range to creatures. They are very squishy and are often referred to as "Glass Cannons" because they can do so much damage but take so little. This is the summoned creature of Dane Ulithian and is under his control.

Endurance: Low

Constitution: Very Low

Strength: Average

Dexterity: Above Average

Wisdom: High

Intelligence: Very High

You have leveled Master Scan to level 7!

Atlas nodded to himself. "How many creatures can you summon?" He turned, looking at Dane.

Dane furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth. He spoke in a deep raspy voice that both sent chills down Atlas's spine and sounded like the earth itself was speaking. "I can summon only one creature at a time, two if I really push it, and I can currently summon creatures from the Planes of Life, Earth, and Water that are below my level. Mana cost varies depending on what I summon, and it takes a minute to summon any creature, so it can't be done mid battle."

Atlas was impressed. That meant that if he had even a minute to respond to a threat, he could summon a creature for the exact situation. "That's pretty powerful, is it a skill or a spell?" He asked, deeply curious.

Dane grinned at him, flashing sharp white teeth. "You ask a lot of questions, you and Lesli are very similar. It's both. I have a skill called Summoning Knowledge and a spell called Influence Planes. Using them both together allows me to summon creatures from the planes I can influence."

Atlas froze at being compared to Lesli, having to confront those emotions once again in very little time. He mentally wrestled with himself for a few more seconds before steeling himself and pushing it away. It was time to kill some things.

Atlas followed Lars as they went through the first door, finding themself in a tunnel that looked to be 15 feet wide and just as high. The tunnel was not straight, and winded back and forth every so often, making it impossible to see all the way down it, even with enhanced eyesight. They started down the tunnel, with Jay taking the lead temporarily to look for traps, as he apparently had a skill to help with that.

There was only one trap that they ran into, and Jay quickly deactivated it, cutting the tripwire that would have activated the trap with his daggers. His daggers were sharp enough that he could cut the wire without applying any pressure, therefore not activating the trap.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

They eventually came to a fork in the tunnel, with three paths to choose from.

Lars turned to look back at all of them. "Any preferences on which one we take? Or will we just pick one at random?"

Lesli shook her head. "Manasight is telling me that the middle path has the highest concentration of mana, so that path is most likely the way to the next floor."

Lars nodded, and they continued down the path in silence. Atlas felt a sudden spike of dread and instantly reacted, summoning his scythe and activating Strength Form, swinging in an arc above him and killing three kobolds that had attempted to ambush them, jumping out from behind a bend in the tunnel and trying to land on top of them.

They died in a spray of blood and gore, but the fight didn't end there, as a group of 10 or so of the creatures charged them from further down the tunnel.

Atlas used Master Scan again, trying to glean some insight as to their strengths.

Kobold Spawn

Tier: 2 Level 150 CP: 0.001

Description: A Kobold Spawn is a kobold who has not yet gained the right to be considered a member of the Kobold Nation, and is not very powerful, relying on ambushes to kill anything. Dungeon Creature.

Endurance: Low

Constitution: Low

Strength: Low

Dexterity: Average

Wisdom: Low

Intelligence: Very Low

There was a bigger kobold leading the charge, and while the other kobolds were wearing what basically amounted to a loincloth, this one had leather armor, minus a helmet and gauntlet. Atlas scanned it quickly too.

Kobold Grunt

Tier: 3 Level: 10 CP: 0.1

Description: A Kobold Grunt is a kobold who has just gained the right to be considered a member of the Kobold Nation, and is usually found with its lesser brethren, Kobold Spawn. It uses ambushes and brute force to fight. Dungeon Creature.

Endurance: Low

Constitution: Average

Strength: Average

Dexterity: Average

Wisdom: Low

Intelligence: Very Low

A bit more of a challenge, but barely enough to be considered a fight.

Atlas waited for the Kobolds to reach them, but before they were even 30 feet away, a rock shot from above his head, hitting the Kobold Grunt and went through him like nothing happened. The rock then stopped in midair before shooting to the side, killing three of the weaker kobolds and then doing the same on the other side until there was only corpses and blood. The rock spun, blood sloughing off of it before flying back to the hand of the Scurrid.

Atlas was impressed. The Scurrid had taken out the 10 kobolds almost immediately, and he felt like it had barely had to spend any mana to do so. Atlas was sure he could have done the same, but it was still impressive nonetheless, especially since it was a summoned creature.

Lars just smiled at them all. "The first few fights are going to end up like this, but over time the dungeon will scale to us, and the boss will be difficult to fight, usually taking everything we have to kill it. It will always be within our same tier though, and if we are smart, it won't be able to kill any of us." He looked straight at Atlas. "Don't be dumb." He said sternly.

Atlas recoiled. "What? Why are you pointing me out specifically? I haven't done anything yet!" He tried to defend himself from Lars's judgemental gaze.

Lars smiled even wider. "Yet? That makes it sound like you're planning to be dumb." He smirked at Atlas before taking pity on his flabbergasted companion. "I'm messing with you. But seriously, don't be dumb."

Atlas used Master Scan on all his companions (other than Lars), wanting to know their levels.

Jay Smithfield (Human)

Tier: 3 Level: 163 CP: 0.9

Description: Humans are a prolific race that excels in gaining and leveling skills, but have some trouble with spells. Jay is an Assassin (Class) and Rogue (Subclass).

Endurance: Low

Constitution: Average

Strength: Low

Dexterity: Very High

Wisdom: Average

Intelligence: High

Dane Ulithian (Hobgoblin)

Tier: 3 Level: 281 CP: 1.7

Description: Hobgoblins are the more powerful spawn of goblins, with one hobgoblin born for every 10,000 goblins. They gain experience 10 times as fast as any other race. Dane is a Summoner (Class) and Cleanser (Subclass).

Endurance: Average

Constitution: Average

Strength: Low

Dexterity: Average

Wisdom: Very High

Intelligence: Very High

Nexunaluses Trethorn (High Elf)

Tier: 3 Level: 243 CP: N/A

Description: Elves are beings of nature and magic, just as humans are masters of skill gaining and leveling, Elves are masters of one specific type of magic, which is determined by their subrace. High elves are masters of Life Magic, and are some of the most potent healers and buffers around, usually having a secondary affinity for light magic as well. Nexunaluses is a Adept Cleric (Class) and Healer (Subclass).

Endurance: Average

Constitution: Average

Strength: Insanely Low

Dexterity: Average

Wisdom: Very High

Intelligence: Insanely High

Lesli Hilton (Human)

Tier: 3 Level: 194 CP: 2.1

Description: Humans are a prolific race that excels in gaining and leveling skills, but have some trouble with spells. Lesli is an Adept Mage (Class) and Spellcrafter (Subclass).

Endurance: Very Low

Constitution: Very Low

Strength: Very Low

Dexterity: Average

Wisdom: Insanely High

Intelligence: Ridiculously High

They were all around Atlas's level of power, with most of them actually being stronger than him. He was in very capable hands, if he said so himself.

Master Scan has gained 6 levels!

Tiering up…

Master Scan (Z) -> Master Inspection (Z)

Atlas smiled. He loved it when his skills got stronger.

Atlas was taken out of his revere by the scream of more kobolds. And, without a second thought, he leapt into the fray.