《Dreamscape (Working Title)》 Idea Corner Hey as i have stated in the synopsis Im an amature writer. now for the story i have the trials mostly thought out as well as to what the world the character will be introduced into will be however if there are any interesting ideas or suggestions that you think would be good to use please leave them in the comment and if i like them ill try to think of a way to work with them. And this isnt just for the dreamscape if there are any interesting scenarios you can see the MC doing in the real world with his newfound power that would be fun too. This character will essentially end up with two lives, one in dreamscape and one in reality so it opens up a lot of possibilites. I cant wait to read some of the suggestions.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Chapter 1: Entering the Dungeon Chapter 1 - Entering the Dungeon Leaning back in my chair I start to rub my head. I had been working on this stupid program for over 3 hours and I couldn¡¯t get it to work. God, I hate Javascript. Why couldn¡¯t it be in C++. Sometimes I really hate my school. Ever since the forced merger that absorbed it into Kenwood State the standard has gone all to crap. So many options and areas that use to be made for the students and to give them options have been replaced with organizations and corporate shops that Kenwood has sponsorship deals. So many shops have been replaced with shops that sell the same, except shittier and more expensive, versions of the same product. Not only that but Kenwood was a literary college, they have no idea what it takes to run an engineering college. Hell literally the past 2 years since the merger has been filled with bugs and mismanagement of funds and more complaints and transfers than the entire running time of the college before! Sighing I turned back to the program I was trying to write. Once again, another fuckup caused by the school. A second year programming class in the wrong language. I¡¯ve tried talking to the professor to see if there were any sites he knew to help me with this since I have never worked with Javascript before. Sadly, he wasn¡¯t one to care about the work load of each student, stating that when we finally graduate we will have to deal with all kinds of situations and that we need to learn to deal with it on our own. What¡¯s worse is that I needed to perform really well in the class because my tuition depends on federal aid and how much I get for the next year depends on this semester¡¯s score. Getting up I packed my stuff and headed to the bus stop in front of my school. I was just tired and ready to go sleep. My family wasn¡¯t one that could be called poor. They have enough to support stable living with my brother, sister, and me but they don¡¯t have enough to help with college so I needed to find ways of supporting myself. Sadly because of my lack of involvement in high-school I didn¡¯t have a lot of options so I had to depend on financial aid and the Pell grant. Which means I must focus a lot more on my studies. I managed to solve some of the cost by living off campus, and by living off campus I mean living at home with my family and taking public transportation to and from school. Of course, it was a strenuous as all hell. Just getting to school took about 2 hours, and I often had to get up at 5 in the morning just to make it to a 9 oclock class. But hopefully it would all be worth it when I walk out of college with my electrical engineering degree, along with both a computer science and mathematics minors. Hopefully that would help me get into whatever company I would want. Maybe even NASA, which would be cool because I¡¯ve always been a fan of sci-fi and would love to visit other planets. Buuuong! ¡°...¡± As I waited at the school bus stop to go home, a foreign car passed by me. It was a stranger but I could see his face. He was around the same age as me, maybe a bit younger, possibly 22 or 23 years old. I wasn¡¯t envious. It was just frustrating. I had seen so often it in recent years. Students who had families who could help them go to college and buy them fancy cars to get to it. I bet that kid even had his own apartment where he could party and do whatever he wanted, all on his family¡¯s dime. The talent of money, the so called ¡®wall¡¯ that I couldn¡¯t cross. The freedom of not having to worry about whether I will run out of aid to keep bettering myself is sadly something I couldn¡¯t afford. I had friends who went out and earned a lot of money for the first 10 years after graduation and then returned home rich. I wanted to be like them. No, I wanted to surpass them. Clink. As soon as I came home I said hello to my parents, made some ramen for dinner, and finally I threw myself onto my bed, kicking off my shoes and throwing my bag down in the process. Today I was too exhausted to start studying again. I just wanted to take a break. These days, it was difficult to endure the exhaustion I felt all the time, like something was draining my life out of me. Looking at my clock it said it was about 9 at night as I closed my eyes.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. It was midnight when I opened them again. ¡ò I rubbed my eyes and sat up. Looking around I saw that the clock had stopped at exactly midnight. However, I felt like I¡¯d gotten a full night¡¯s sleep! Stretching I turn on my light figuring if I¡¯m up I might as well finish one of my lab reports. Rubbing the sleep out of my mind I swung my feet off my bed and looked up. "What the?¡± I staggered and barely managed to throw myself back on the bed. There was a thing in my wall. It was a strange arch roughly a meter wide. There was a stone border that looked like sandstone with some strange looking vines wrapped around them. And in the center a hole leading to blackness. ¡°...¡± I stared at the wall for a while and then give myself a smack but the hole is still there, and the pain in my cheeks is telling me I am definitely awake. My next thought was that I should leave my room and see if anything has happened to my family. However... ¡°W-what is this?¡± I¡¯d made my way to the door of my room, but it wouldn¡¯t budge. The handle was stuck as though it had been glued in place. Freaking out I opened my phone to call 911. [The call is currently not available in this area...] There was just a voice message stating I was out of range. I turn around to try and open the window. Just like the door, it didn¡¯t move at all. I desperately opened my mobile phone again but belatedly realized something that only raised my fear. 12:00 A few minutes had certainly passed since I woke to the hole. The clock on the wall was the same, the hour/minute/second hands were fixed at 12, not moving. Was this a nightmare? My senses told me that wasn¡¯t the answer. Even if this was a vivid dream, it gave off the feeling of reality. If this was a dream then I wouldn¡¯t even be thinking about it. [Lie down in bed to return to your normal life or step through the arc to descend into a world of danger and possibilities.] ¡°What!?¡± I automatically swung a fist as letters appeared in front of my eyes, but my fist just went right through them. The letters were still floating in the air, as if nothing happened to them. I wondered if something else would pop out, but the words just stayed floating there. Then I thought about the meaning of the words. Lie down in my bed to return to a normal life? What did that even mean? My head naturally turned and looked at the bed. Then more letters showed up. [As soon as you lie down, you will fall into a sleepy state. The hole will disappear. All your memories about the hole will be gone in the morning. You will return to the life you have lived and it will continue as it would before.] I wasn¡¯t as surprised as the first time. Instead, after carefully reading the new message, I turned and stared at the hole. I had seen letters above the bed. It was like whatever was going on was showing me the options I had. I wonder if looking at the hole would do anything? Turning I looked at the arch in my wall. I was proven to be correct as new words appeared in front of me. [By going through the arch, you are agreeing to enter the Trial of the Dungeon. Each day you will be required to explore one floor a night until the dungeon is completed. It isn¡¯t possible to leave the dungeon before the exploration of the floor is completed or before you are eliminated. Time spent in the dungeon will speed up to 3X faster than in reality.] Dungeon? It was a word I had heard before. A word I knew from games and online stories I¡¯ve read. But if the words were true, why wouldn¡¯t I lie down on my bed? I had no intention of stepping on the staircase. Not without knowing what was down there... [An opportunity.] What? New words surfaced like they were answering my subconscious thoughts. That wasn¡¯t the end. [Alex Cooper, this is a means to pursue the desires that can¡¯t be achieved normally. To leave your boring old life behind. By passing through the trials of the dungeon it will lead to a world full of opportunities.] ¡°...¡± If I was normal, then I wouldn¡¯t step into the strange arch. But was it due to what I had been thinking recently? Was it because of the uncontrollable fatigue that reached its peak today? The overwhelming feeling of being trapped I¡¯ve felt for who knows how long? Whatever the reason, I took the words seriously. I don¡¯t know how long I spent staring at the strange structure that appeared in my room. All the parts of my life that lately seemed to be against me, the walls of my lack of talent slowly crushing and limiting me. Finally I made my decision. And I took a step into the void. [Alex Cooper had decided to enter the world of Avalon.] [Opening the dungeon¡¯s 1st floor.] Strange words surfaced in front of my eyes as the world faded from black to a strange cave like structure. At the same time, something appeared and started to blink in the upper right part of my vision. ¡°What is this?¡± At first glance, it was a strange symbol, it kind of looked like an eye in a box with strange borders. Wait a minute¡­ Weird symbol in my vision? I¡¯ve read plenty of online novels and fanfics to know what that means. Staring at the symbol I try to concentrate on it. After a couple of tries I finally got it to open.
Name: Alex Surname: Cooper
Occupation None Title None
Stats
Strength 4 Intelligence 7
Dexterity 5 Constitution 4
Charisma 4 Magic 0
Traits:Asperger¡¯s(Genetic)
Chapter 2: Exploring the 1st floor Chapter 2 ¨C Exploring the 1st floor ¡°¡­¡± I actually have a status screen? That¡¯s awesome! But why don¡¯t I have an hp bar or something? [1st floor. Arrived.] A cave appeared in front of me. It had stalactites like the ones commonly seen in nature documentaries. However, the tunnel had a regular width, or at least one I could walk through. I looked back at the stairs with surprise wondering if I could walk up them back to my room. But there was one slight problem. There was no end to the stairs leading upwards. [You are not allowed to step on the stairs to return to reality. If your feet touch the stairs, you are out.] What does it mean ¡®out¡¯?¡± I muttered to myself but sadly whoever was in charge of this place didn¡¯t decide to give me an answer. ¡°Okay, I understand.¡± I shrugged, but half of it was bravado. Inside I was freaking out. After taking a few deep breathes to calm myself I started walking in the direction of the cave. Before I walked a hundred steps, I noticed something strange: there was no light in the cave. In fact, it was complete darkness, though somehow, I could still see what was in front of me. However, it was hard to judge how far ahead I could see Four meters? Or five meters? Man, it feels weird realizing since becoming an engineer I¡¯ve started using the metric system in my day to day life instead of regular miles and feet. All I knew for certain was a set range around me was illuminated, like a spotlight was focused on me. Once I moved my foot, the part I stepped to brightened accordingly. The boundary between the bright area and the dark part seemed to be drawn with a ruler. I was staring at it when more words appeared. [Current floor visibility is normal. Field of Vision: 3.5 m] [This can be expanded with a related talent or object.] Well that explained the lit-up area. So, my field of vision was roughly about 10 feet. The fact that I couldn¡¯t see more than a few meters in front of me was quite annoying. After walking for a few minutes, I came across a cavern. The cavern forked into three directions: left, right, or straight ahead. ¡°¡­ oh boy. This might be bad.¡± This was a ¡®dungeon¡¯, something I have only read about online in stories and none of them were safe places. What¡¯s more if the structure was a maze, I could be in some serious trouble. Especially since I could only see roughly 15 feet around me. It would make backtracking to this crossroads incredibly difficult Looking back, I could see the stairs that apparently lead back to reality were still visible in the distance. Man, if this was going to become a maze I really regret not grabbing a notebook and pencil before coming in here. Thank god I was so tired I forgot to get undressed or I would be stuck in a cave in my boxers. Well since I didn¡¯t have anything to draw on I guess the only way to get out of here is by trying to remember everywhere I¡¯ve been. Good thing I have a good sense of direction. Looking back I started to draw a mental map of how far I seem to have come from the entrance when suddenly I got another strange pop-up [Skill has been acquired.] [Mental Mapping: Ability to create mental maps. Maps become more accurate the higher the level of the skill. At a high enough level a map icon will be granted to the user.] [Currently it is LV 1. Benefits will open at LV 5.] Skill was acquired? I gained a skill just from trying to memorize my way around? Was it really that easy? [It is possible to gain skills through specific acts and experience in the dungeon. Repeating it will give experience and cause the rank of the skill to rise.] [Any skill acquired in the dungeon will also be applied in reality. The innate and acquired qualities that the individual is born with will be forcibly changed.] The words disappeared and suddenly I had a clear 2-d map drawn in my mind but only of the entrance and the hallway leading to the room I was in. Concentrating on the map I got another pop-up. [Mental Mapping LV 1. 2/100] This was probably¡­ I turned right at the intersection and started adding it to my internal map. The change came immediately. [Mental Mapping LV 1. 4/100]This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. No matter how busy I got I was still a college student that grew up in the 21st century. One of my favorite past times was video games so I could kind of figure out what was going on. I guessed that the ¡®4/100¡¯ was experience. It was the experience required for LV 2, and at LV 2, the skill would grow like the words said. The ability to draw mental maps. Now I would never get lost again! And the pop-ups said something about a place called Avalon. I bet once I pass whatever trial this is I¡¯ll be transported to that place and the ability to create a map in my mind of the land would be incredibly beneficial. Wondering if it was really that easy to get a skill, I turned around and walked back to the entrance of the dungeon, this time trying to be as quiet as possible. After walking back, the hundred or so feet to the entrance I gained yet another skill. [Sneak LV 1. 1/100] My heart jumped. It really was that easy! Holy crap! And didn¡¯t the pop-up say the changes were permanent? And it would also be the same when I returned to reality? I just obtained a skill I could use no matter where I am. So, does that mean I could map out an entire city in my mind? That once I get out I can sneak like a ninja? That would be so awesome. I¡¯d walked maybe a hundred feet and they were both already 4/100. It didn¡¯t seem like it would be very difficult to fill up the remaining 96 points. I continued to add to the map on the screen as I walked. Trying my best to be as quiet and light footed as possible. 8/100, 15/100, 24/100¡­ The map was incredibly useful. Several times I would have become lost if I didn¡¯t have it. I would probably be crying in a corner unable to either reach the end of the dungeon or the beginning I had come from. However, I stayed calm and made the right judgements. It really helped that I hadn¡¯t run into any strange monsters in here. [The level of a skill has risen.] [Mental Mapping LV 1 -> LV 2.] [Mental Mapping LV 2. 2/200.] [Sneak LV 1 -> LV 2.] [Sneak LV 2. 1/200.] ¡°All right!¡± There was a feeling of accomplishment. I checked the map that I had made so far. The structure of the cave was indeed a maze. There were several dead ends and some long routes that connected to previous intersections. However, there was something I had noticed about the structure of the cave. It seemed to be contained to a rectangular shape and there was one part that I hadn¡¯t visited yet. It looked like the only way into that part was through a branch in an intersection several hallways back. While backtracking to the appropriate intersection I had a thought. Something was strange about this whole thing. Maze. Dungeon. In any story I¡¯ve read about these kind of things there was always something in them, whether it was a monster or some kind of treasure. However, I haven¡¯t found anything like that. Just some vines and stalactites. Maybe the occasional wet stretch of moss. If I left the maze without finding anything¡­ ¡°Eh?¡± As soon as I had that thought I reached the last part of the maze. It was a dead end with a staircase leading down. The stairway underneath the square hole looked like the one in my room. In front of it was a square box. [Wooden Box. A weak box that may contain an item. It is possible to smash it.] It said the box could be smashed. Then letters appeared above the stairs behind the box. [Stairs. It leads to the 2nd floor.] [The moment you step foot on it, the current floor exploration is over and you will return from the dungeon. The next night at midnight, you will start on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.] So, it was fixed to one floor per day, but the real point was the next words. [Changes in the following floor: Dungeon space has expanded. Monsters below E rank will emerge. Has possibility of resources spawning] Monsters¡­ I trembled at that word. No matter what lore, story, game, or movie monsters were one thing. A creature that are humans. And unlike all those I have had no experience fighting them. Hell I¡¯m a college student who spends most of his time in front of a desk studying. How on earth am I going to kill anything? ¡°¡­¡± I stopped thinking about it. They weren¡¯t directly in front of me and I had an object to focus on: the box. Luckily whatever ran this thing used the first floor as a testing area and didn¡¯t decide to include some kind of guardian for it. Gulp.I gulped and pushed open the top of the box. The interior of the box was dark. It was a completely black void that showed nothing. All of a sudden¡­ I heard a swishing noise as three spikes shot out of the chest and impaled into mine. Thud. There was a sound as they buried themselves into me. The impact knocked me back and then I felt something else entirely. Pain. ¡°¡­Eh?¡± Id been impaled? ID BEEN IMPALED! ¡°Ah, waaaaaahhhh!¡± A huge pain overwhelmed me and my knees buckled before just collapsing onto the floor. I have never felt so much pain before. It was almost enough to make me black out. Pain was quickly followed by fear. I felt like my chest was on fire. The fear of dying in the middle of nowhere, not even on the same dimension. I couldn¡¯t believe it as I looked down at my chest. It was a surreal sight as letters started to form above the blood spilling from the puncture wounds. [Common wounds suffered in the dungeon will be cured by clearing the floor.] Fighting through the pain I tried to focus my mind on what the words implied. According to this I would be fine as long as I throw myself down the stairs? I felt relieved and immediately stepped towards the stairs. I wanted to escape. The pain of my body being impaled was real. I didn¡¯t want to feel like this for one more minute¡­! ¡­But even through the pain something started to bother me. I stopped right in front of the stairs. My body was telling me to go down. Don¡¯t hesitate to go down quickly, but at the same time, something inside me was saying something else. It was strange. The box was three steps away from the stairs. Why the hell would there be a trapped box just a few feet away from the thing that could relieve it? Wouldn¡¯t the trap be useless if they placed it three steps before the stairs? It was like it was trying send me a message ¡®Pain? Quickly run away! You can end it if you leave now!¡¯ There must be something. This entire thing is supposed to be a trial. And this was literally the beginning of the road. In the next level there were monsters, and unlike now there was no guarantee that they would be near a cure all checkpoint. And I don¡¯t want to be incapacitated like this in the middle of the dungeon If only¡­ Suddenly my mind flashed back to the moment that I received Mental Mapping. Could I perhaps gain a new skill? People wouldn¡¯t die just from being impaled, well they would but it depended where they got stabbed. Judging from the pain nothing overly important was stabbed. Thank god it missed my heart. But if this was literally the beginning of what was to come I need to gain something to stop myself from being incapacitated like this later. So despite every nerve and braincell telling me to leave I sat down right in front of the door and didn¡¯t move. I gritted my teeth to fight through the pain. Once again, I was glad that my family tended to be a stubborn bunch. However, the pain was killing me. And so was the blood loss. After what had to only be a second but felt like an eternity letters appeared in front of my eyes. [Skill has been acquired.] Chapter 3: 1st Floor Completion Chapter 3 ¨C 1st Floor Completion Finally putting up with all that pain paid off. [Pain Tolerance: The ability to endure pain caused to the individual. Higher levels allow the individual to deal with higher levels of pain] [Currently it is LV 1. Benefits will open at LV 5.] ¡°Oh, thank god, finally.¡± I could feel the sweat running down my face, but I smiled as I saw the words. I have never been a fan of pain and any way to limit the amount I feel in the future would be wonderful. As I was glad over my newest acquisition yet more pop-ups appeared in front of me. [Use the command prompt ¡®check talent¡¯ to show the list of talents that you currently possess.] [Use the command prompt ¡®check status¡¯ to show the current capabilities of your abilities.] ¡°Check talent.¡± Then the words ¡®Mental Mapping¡¯, ¡®Sneak¡¯, and ¡®Pain Tolerance¡¯ appeared. Next. ¡°Check Status.¡±
Name: Alex Surname: Cooper
Occupation None Title None
Stats
Strength 4 Intelligence 7
Dexterity 5 Constitution 4
Charisma 4 Magic 0
Traits:Asperger¡¯s(Genetic)
So, I can either say check status or just focus on that icon in the rightmost part of my vision. As I was mulling over my status and what each thing could mean I got even more pop-ups. [A person¡¯s status is the numerical equivalent of various attributes of the persons being. Each status represents a different part of the characteristics that make up an individual.] [To check to see the description of each stat please think or say the words Status Description.] [For the current human race, the adult standard of each stat maxes out at 10 whereas the average is 5.] [Traits are special traits unique to the individual that can have special effects that alter either an individual¡¯s stats or provide bonuses/demerits.] ¡°Ha.¡± I couldn¡¯t help laughing. Despite the fact that my chest looks like a spit roast. I struggled alone in an unfamiliar environment. I struggled through college trying to better myself and be someone my parents could be proud of. I struggled to learn the excess amount of information I had to learn to succeed in life. I had to struggle against the pressures of adulthood while simultaneously being poor trying to better myself. I even had to struggle against the very institution that was supposed to help me become something more. And finally, those struggles are paying off.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. For the longest time I thought I was a little more special than ordinary people. My mind had always been quicker than those around me, giving me a slightly smug sense of achievement. At least until I entered college. Then I found out how subpar I really was. ¡°Special. Hah, how ridiculous.¡± However, that was then. Now I had the dungeon. I could improve myself above anything humanity has ever produced. I could improve anything lacking I had. I could sharpen my skills to become the best. If I didn¡¯t have a skill, then I could get it. Endurance and willpower. I was quickly discovering that those traits would be the key to my new world. Only through endurance and willpower would I improve. I guess the old saying was coming true. No pain no gain. [Pain Tolerance. LV 1. 39/100] Originally the pain from being stabbed several times hadn¡¯t disappeared. Rather, it seemed to be getting even worse than before. However, the feeling returned to other parts of my body. The pain was so bad that other parts of my body couldn¡¯t move properly. But that was before I received Pain Tolerance. Now, I still suffered the pain in my chest but their sensations in the other parts of my body were different. My body seemed to be able to move more easily than usual. The shaking in my legs seemed to have stopped. It almost felt like the pain wasn¡¯t allowed to leave the area of the injury. [Pain Tolerance. LV 1. 51/100] Maybe I went crazy due to the pain. Only a short time had passed, yet the rise in ability was enormous. And it seemed to have awoken something inside me. An almost obsessive need to become better. ¡®There is no feeling of death. My vision hasn¡¯t started to fade. Once that happens I will toss myself down the steps.¡¯ I can endure. I can withstand it. [The level of a skill has risen.] [Pain Tolerance LV 1 -> LV 2.] Finally, it increased. I sat by the wall next to the exit thinking about how to power level Pain Tolerance. Level two required 100 points while level 3 needed 200. I had that thought and opened my eyes. [Pain Tolerance. LV 2. 14/200] Wasn¡¯t it rising more slowly than before? It might be due to the level up. But I didn¡¯t feel like my Mental Mapping talent became slower after reaching level two. The limit had been raised from 100 to 200 so it wasn¡¯t right that the rate should reduce. Perhaps¡­ Although it had been very painful for a while, I had now grown accustomed to the sensation. Did the experience slow down because the pain I felt was lessened? So, in order to increase my skills, I need to constantly have stronger sensations? ¡°¡­¡± The solution was clear. I just didn¡¯t know if I could put it into action. But one thing was clear, this was going to hurt like a son of a bitch. I turned and had my back facing the exit. I even scooted back some so that I would hopefully fall in if anything happened to me. Then I took a deep breath. ¡°¡­ Oh please don¡¯t let me pass out from this.¡± My legs were shaking with the thought of what I was going to do. This was the craziest thing I would ever do. Ever. I laughed and with a yell of ¡°Leeerrooy jennnkins¡± I grabbed the skewer that was in my gut and did something incredibly stupid. I twisted it. ¡°Ack!¡± ¡ò I briefly lost consciousness. [Pain Tolerance. LV 4. 792/800] ¡°Yes¡­ Eu¡­ Ai¡­ g¡­¡± My mouth could barely form sounds. I used every last strength to raise my head. I was stretched out on the ground, half in half out of the exit. My body was numb and there was a giant pool of blood all around my stomach, leaking down the stairs and soaking my back and hair. It was dangerous. I had to go down the stairs. There was no strength in my legs. I even smelled urine. It smelled like there was a lot of it. I gritted my teeth and try to lift my arms to pull myself down the rest of the stairs. There was no sensation anymore in my stomach. In some part of my mind I was wondering why I had stopped gaining experience. But it made sense, no pain no way to become more tolerant to it. How many times had I stupidly decided to twist that spike? I remembered exactly two times. Thank god, I fell backwards so I still had some blood in my brain to keep it going. No. Stop thinking about it. I didn¡¯t want to think about it. I didn¡¯t want to think about it. I wouldn¡¯t think about it. Go down the stairs quickly! I struggled before finally being able to raise my hands over my head and started looking for a step to grab onto to help pull me the rest of the way down the stairs. Finally, I managed to get a grasp of a step beneath my head as I started to slide down the stairs on my back. However, pulling myself down the steps sent a flare of pain just as strong as when I twisted the spikes inside me. All I could think of while I slipped into unconsciousness was how nice it would be to wake up from this bizarre dream. [1st floor cleared. 10 Dungeon Points have been awarded. 50 dungeon points have been awarded for mapping entirety of the first floor. For completing the first trial, memories and body will be scanned to create unique trait for participant.] [Unique trait has awakened.] [Now distributing skill points acquired in trial. Skill points have been distributed.] ¡ò The first thing I did when I opened my eyes was look at my stomach. It was completely fine. It was like it had never been skewered in the first place. In a daze, I looked at the clock. It was 8 in the morning. All those hours in the dungeon and only 8 had passed in reality. ¡°Ah¡­¡± I got up from the bed and stretched to loosen my tense muscles. Everything was the same as it had been before I went to sleep. Not only my stomach and chest, but the small scrapes on my body and the dirt and urine on my clothes were all cleaned. Was it cleaned? Or had I even been dirty in the first place? The windows opened very easily. The morning scenery spread out, telling me that this moment was reality. How could I tell if last night was real? It was as simple as opening the window. I opened my mouth. ¡°Check status.¡± Chapter 4 – A Whole New World Chapter 4 ¨C A Whole New World ¡°Check Status¡±
Name: Alex Surname: Cooper
Occupation None Title None
Stats
Strength 4 Intelligence 7
Dexterity 5 Constitution 6
Charisma 4 Magic 0
Traits:Asperger¡¯s(Genetic), Bibliophile
Holy crap it was real! Not only that but I had seemed to have gotten a few points in constitution. That had to have been from the torture session I put myself through with the spikes. I didn¡¯t really do anything else worthwhile in the dungeon. Strangely I have no stats in magic. And I have no idea how to go about acquiring it. Sadly, I had no choice but to hope that the dungeon would somehow give me points in it. Speaking of which the pop-ups said something about being able to see what each stat means. What was the phrase to do that again? Oh right. ¡°Status Description.¡± Suddenly multiple pop-ups appeared in front of me. Strange how I seemed to be getting more use to that. [Strength: This stat shows how strong your body is. It covers many aspects such as muscle density, physical strength, and physical speed.] [Dexterity: This stat shows how nimble and flexible your body is. The lower this stat goes the more rigid your body becomes. The higher this stat becomes the more flexible and nimble your body becomes. ] [Charisma: This stat shows how charismatic the individual is to other people. Through physical looks, elegance in speech, or just an attractive aura radiating from them.] [Intelligence: This stat indicates how well a person¡¯s mind works. An increase in this stat increases the individuals cognitive function and memory making absorbing new information easier and harder to forget. It also helps the user think of multiple solutions to problems some of which they may not have considered before.] [Constitution: The stat that indicates the overall constitution of the body. This includes cell regeneration, disease resistance, and how much punishment the body can handle before beginning to shut down.] [Magic: This stat shows how in tune the individual is with the underlying energy that controls the multiverse, mana. Higher levels of Magic decrease the knowledge needed to perform certain phenomena as well as allows the user to manipulate reality in larger ways. By becoming more in tune with mana you can instinctively grasp more cost-efficient ways of preforming spells.] Huh well that¡¯s unusual. It seems like many of the stats that a person normally gets in games have been combined in these. And looking at this it looks like the reason I don¡¯t have any kind of bars on my screen is because all the status screen does is show my overall strength. I¡¯m going to oversee figuring out my limits myself. Damn that is going to be incredibly tedious.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Looking at the bottom of the screen I see something called traits. Which is odd. I have no idea what those are. I remember the pop-ups saying that I got a unique one from finishing the first floor. Looking back, I remember only having Asperger¡¯s on there. I thought that was just referring to the fact that I actually had Asperger¡¯s I didn¡¯t think it would actually impact anything. But with this newest trait maybe it really will. I wonder¡­. Taking a gamble I decided to try a new phrase. ¡°Trait Description.¡± [Asperger¡¯s(Genetic): Your body has undergone a mutation from birth. This mutation increases your intellect but greatly impairs your ability to socialize. Increasing intelligence is 1.5X easier while increasing Charisma is twice as hard. As it is a birth mutation this trait cannot be modified or removed.] [Bibliophile: You love books. Any kind of books, text books, story books, old scrolls, comics, any kind of writing on paper. If it is on a written page you become absorbed into whatever it may contain. Knowledge from books is easier to understand and remember. Greatly increases learning capability with the written word.] Well. That has some useful information. First there are commands that the pop-ups haven¡¯t told me about that I can find on my own. And second looking at my Asperger¡¯s trait it seems like traits can be modified or removed. They also seem to be able to negatively affect me. Suddenly I hear barking coming from outside my door. It looks like the dogs are up. Which means so are my parents. After a quick ¡°Close status¡± I grabbed some fresh clothes and headed to the shower. Even though going down the stairs cleaned me of everything that happened I still felt dirty. So, I figured a nice warm shower is exactly what the doctor ordered. After a nice toasty shower and getting into some clean clothes I put away my old clothes I slept in and went to the living room. In it was the families two dogs Lilly and Rusty along with my mom and dad sitting in their chairs drinking their morning coffee and watching the news. My dad pauses the tv and looks over to me. ¡°Morning son. Why are you up so early? You usually sleep in a lot later on the weekends.¡± ¡°Oh well I crashed pretty hard last night so I guess I got more sleep than I normally do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good you¡¯ve been running yourself ragged lately. Maybe take a break today.¡± Quickly I made an excuse, knowing if I said I would take a break from studying I would be roped into doing chores around the house. ¡°Sorry dad I cant. I have to finish this program for professor Demetri and I have a test in circuit analysis later on this week.¡± ¡°Alright then. Well good luck son, I¡¯m proud of you. Keep it up.¡± Leaning over I gave him our customary fist bump before going over to my mom and giving her a hug. After grabbing some breakfast, I returned to my room. One of my newest traits, Bibliophile, said I learned more from books and remembered them better. Which was perfect since my head had been crammed so full of everything I¡¯ve had to learn in college that I was starting to forget bits and pieces. It was time for a refresher. Quickly I ran around my room and pulled together all my old schoolbooks and started reading. After only an hour I was amazed at the changes I could feel. Not only did I remember everything I read word for word. Somehow, I even understood it better than when I read it before! That proved it to me. Whatever risks there were in the dungeon the benefits more than made up for it. Just the Bibliophile trait would change my life. I could learn anything. I could become one of those super geniuses that get hired by governments and billion dollar think tanks to just theorize and design futuristic technology like hovercars and laser guns. Feeling more alive than I have in years I spent the entire day rereading my old textbooks. By the end, I could remember every single page of over 10 books. Physics, chemistry, advanced mathematics¡­. My head was swimming in knowledge. And I loved every second of it. Just yesterday I had trouble remembering everything I had to learn this semester and after one night it was fixed just like that. Relishing the sudden influx of knowledge into my brain I sat back and just started playing with it. I started theorizing and making blue-prints of various electrical parts in my mind. Just for fun. I always was an eccentric nerd at heart. It was while I was doing mental reductions of various kinds of circuits that I got an interesting surprise. [Mental mapping LV2 -> LV3.] [Due to gaining a large amount of knowledge and then integrating it into various components, solidifying your understanding your intelligence has increased by 1] ¡­Apparently, I could increase my skills and stats out in the real world as well as in the other world. I don¡¯t know why but that thought never even occurred to me. I only ever thought they would increase in the dungeon. This opened so many new possibilities. Suddenly I felt my head start to throb and then suddenly it was like a curtain had been lifted off my mind. I could feel my brain working faster, storing information more efficiently. Hell, even my kinetic vision got slightly better. My mind could now register each individual blade on my fan as it spun where just before all of them were blurred. I stumbled over to my bed and had to lie down. If you have had a head rush I can guarantee it was nothing like the one I just got. After lying down for a bit just relishing in the feeling of my mind becoming clear, I looked at the clock on the wall. I had spent over 10 hours just reading. Something I haven¡¯t been able to do since I started college. I went out to make some dinner and hang with my family. I helped my dad make American Chop Suey and sat around with my mom and listened to her gossip about her day. My brother coming in at some point and being the overblown goofball he is messing with the dogs on the rug. My sister came home and just rushed right into her room, probably to gossip about something or other on the phone with one of her girlfriends. All the while just slowly dying inside. Desperately wanting to get back to my room and go to sleep to return to the trial. Now that I knew the benefits it could give I became even more willing to return, despite the dangers. Finally, at around nine I said goodnight to everyone and took a few shots of vodka to help me get over my excitement and get to sleep. And finally, after an hour I fell asleep. [Alex Cooper is now entering the world of Avalon.] [Opening the dungeon¡¯s 2nd floor.] Chapter 5: Exploring the 2nd floor Chapter 5¨C Exploring the 2nd floor Opening my eyes, I saw that the entrance to the second floor was the same as the first. The only real difference was that instead of having to go down one corridor to get to a split, there was a 3-way split right in front of me. One tunnel leading straight on from the stairs and one on each side at about a 45-degree angle from the stairs. Not only that but the air seemed to be denser somehow. I felt a strange pressure on my body. It wasn¡¯t really anything that will impact anything but it was enough to notice since I was paying attention to it. I wonder if it would be like this every level. [Reminder. You are not allowed to step on the stairs to return to reality. If your feet touch the stairs, you are out.] ¡­well that kind of sucks. I was hoping to be able to go back up and see if anything was in the chest. Looks like I need to be double sure of collecting everything before I leave a floor. Patting my pocket, I start to frown. Before going to sleep I put my phone and a butterfly knife in my pocket before I went to sleep in a hope I could bring them with me into the dreamscape. Sadly, that hope was dashed. For some reason, I was in the clothes I was in when I first entered the night before. So, it looked like for some reason not only can I not bring anything in with me when I sleep, even my clothes aren¡¯t brought over. I guess the only way to change my clothes is to find something in this reality to replace them. That is going to make this so much harder, especially now that I have to fight. At least my body is now stronger so hopefully I can take enough hits to survive. And with my pain resistance hopefully it won¡¯t hurt too much. Taking a step forward I almost fall straight on my ass as my foot is propelled out from under me. Luckily, I was able to regain my balance. Looking down I blanch. On the ground were three spikes, each roughly a half inch in diameter and about 10 inches long¡­.It was the spikes that lodged themselves in my chest on the floor above. Since they were still in my body when I went down the stairs I guess whoever runs this thing took it as if I was wanting to take them with me. Looking at them instantly doused my eager attitude. With all the euphoria about learning that I really could change and that all the skills I got could be used anywhere I had forgotten one fact. No, it was more like I pushed it out of my mind. I could die in here, and I had no idea what that would mean to me in real life. Reaching down I collected the stakes and put two of them in my pockets while I held one in my right hand. At least I now had a weapon I could use. After a quick round of eenie-meenie-minny-moe I ended going down the right most path. Going as quietly as I could and remembering to mental map where I¡¯ve been. I remembered that the pop-ups gave me some kind of reward for fully mapping out the last level and I was going to try to do the same on this one. I have to say I¡¯m glad I got that boost in intelligence from reading all of those books. Or else exploring these caves would be really taxing on the brain. I simultaneously had to try to be quiet, and focus all of my senses to try to catch any hint of something coming for me. Even with that point I felt my mind straining. It was just so much to do at once. Hopefully I won¡¯t run into anything soon so I can get used to it. After following the tunnel for maybe a couple hundred feet my Sneak went up to LV 3 and I even gained a nice surprise.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Skill has been acquired.] [Heightened Senses: For focusing your senses to the environment while moving you have begun to train your mind to always be alert to warnings coming from your surroundings. You will be able to find certain objects easier as well as warnings from monster lurking around. ALERT: These warnings are only for reactions that your senses would naturally be able to pick up, such as sound or smells.] [Currently it is LV 1. Benefits will open at LV 5.] Suddenly I felt the burden of doing so many things at once lessen slightly. I guess now part of my subconscious was taking part of the burden and doing it automatically so it was less for my conscious mind to deal with. With a grin, I began to explore the tunnel again. After a few more minutes I came around a bend and found myself at a complete dead end. Sighing I turned around and went back to the beginning. On my way back to the entrance of the floor I heard scratching coming from up ahead. If it wasn¡¯t for my new senses I would never have caught it. Gripping my spike, I started walking forward as quietly as possible. It was finally time for my first fight. After inching forward for what seemed like forever I finally saw what was making the noise. It was a large Iguana black in color and about 2 feet long. It was standing over the body of another creature that looked like a large rat. After looking at the creature in front of me for a moment a blue pop-up appeared in front of me. [Black Iguana. Rank G] [Long ago a family of iguanas wandered into the dungeon and were never able to leave. Over time the Iguana¡¯s coloring became darker and darker to better blend in with the darkness of the dungeon.] Well at least it wasn¡¯t something outrageous like a spider that will turn me to stone or a rabbit that runs as fast as a cheetah with a horn. Though a bit big it was just a regular iguana. Crouching I start to sneak closer to the creature and grip my spike harder out of nervousness. For the first time I am going to take a life. Sadly in reality I¡¯m not as sneaky as I thought. The iguana turned around and hissed as it flashed its sharp teeth in an attempt to intimidate me. Since I¡¯ve avoided fights all my life I¡¯m not ashamed to admit I froze for a second. During which the creature decided to jump at me. Startled at the sudden lunge I swing my arm to try to stab the thing with my spike. Bad news I missed with the spike. Good news is that I had swung and hit it against the cave wall with my arm. Now the creature was twitching as it desperately tried to stand and attack me again but I didn¡¯t give it a chance. While it was still stunned I ran over and stabbed my spike into its skull. The feeling of the spike entering into its head and the resistance caused by the skull made me nauseous. As it lay there twitching I took a few steps back and spent the next several minutes emptying my stomach. After settling both my stomach and my nerves I turned around to the creature I just killed. Looking at it I can¡¯t believe that I got so scared by it. Suddenly something I didn¡¯t expect happened. [Materials can be obtained if there are suitable instruments.] ¡­a pop-up saying I can get materials. It¡¯s something I didn¡¯t quite expect but should have. This world seems to run on game mechanics, even if they are a little off, so it would make sense that there would be crafting. After catching my breath, I continued to travel back to the entrance of the dungeon. Once there I decided to take the middle path this time. This time I ended up in another round cave that led down several more paths. Randomly picking one I started to properly explore the dungeon. Strangely after I killed the Black Iguana, more strange animals started to appear while I explored. [Cave Rat. Type: Animal. Rank G] [Cave rats are rats that have inhabited caves for generations. They often blend in with the dirt walls of the cave and travel through cracks in the walls.] [Brown Bat. Type: Animal. Rank G] [Bats that live in cave systems. They are timid and the strength of their teeth is very weak. They mainly hunt insects and Cave rats.] I knew the Cave Rats existed since I saw the body the Black Iguana was eating but the bats took me completely by surprise. I was going through my sixth or seventh cavern and one just flew out of nowhere and almost smacked me in the face. Stupid thing almost gave me a heart attack. During my exploration, I also found several strange plants. One was this mushroom that glowed with a strange greenish-yellow color and several patches of a strange blue moss that smelled strangely like roses. I also found a strange red root that a Cave Rat was eating. Now that was a scary experience. A rat roughly twice the size of a guinea pig with a dripping red mouth suddenly jumping at you out of nowhere. I can safely say my enthusiasm for this dungeon has started to wane. After exploring another six or seven paths, all while mapping out most of the beginning part of the dungeon I came across something I wasn¡¯t expecting. In the middle of another cave was a wooden chest.