Nolan had mentioned that those dodo birds came from low graded dungeons; more specifically, they were known lesser monsters for tier one and tier two dungeons. The levels you were guaranteed to run into ranged from 10 to 25. Between a level 31 human and a level nine dragon, we had nothing to fear, right?

Nolan went on to say that the monsters respawned on a timer, rotating in waves. The max amount of respawns depended on the tier of the dungeon. For instance, a tier one dungeon had a maximum wave count of five, which meant that you and your party could beat the baddies five times over, minus the boss. The boss could only be beaten once, and that applied to all dungeons. For a tier two, it dropped to four times. Tier three, three times. Tier four, two waves, and lastly tier five, no respawning of monsters. Not for the same party, anyway. As a matter of fact, the dungeon would refuse entry if it detected any member of the party having entered before within a year’s time.

“This prevents dungeon farming,” Nolan said as we rode down the trail, where a cave sat along the horizon. “If you visited one dungeon and maxed out the waves, then move onto another dungeon.”

‘How many dungeons are there?’

“Plenty to spare, that’s one thing for sure.”

‘And I’m assuming you’ll find your biggest baddies at a tier five dungeon?’

He snorted. “The worst….” His eyes softened as he looked forward, and I could tell that he was thinking about the struggles he endured when the witch shipped him to that tier five dungeon. “If I didn’t have the resources that I did, I would have been dead for sure.”

The guy killed people for a living, and yet, a tier five dungeon had him shaken up.

‘Do you remember your first dungeon?’ I asked, breaking the silence that had grown between us.

The side of his mouth twitched into a smirk before he said, “Like yesterday.” he said, his voice a lil’ gruff. “A tier two dungeon. Thought I was ready for it. But nothing humbles you more than getting beaten half to death by a banshee and her horde of undead minions. I was a low leveled naïve bastard at the time, and I had a lot to learn.”

‘So, I take it that you didn’t have a party?’

He laughed. “I travel alone, and always have, until I found you, short fry.”

I smiled. ‘Aww, I feel special.’

“Yep. It was a simple decision. Having a backup meal with a built-in flame thrower is never a bad idea when you’re on the road!”

I deadpanned him. ‘You got jokes, huh?’

When we reached the mouth of the cave, I was expecting to see something special. There was nothing designating it a tiered dungeon. A big neon sign over it would work, except when we jumped out of the wagon and got closer, my codex popped up and did all of the introducing for me:

Bashbee’s Barren Lands

Western Region

Figor’s Fate

Tier 2 Dungeon

Treasure chest rewards:

6 gold coins, stage 1 evolution fragment, armor of invulnerability, Tunshra gauntlets (2), Cloak of Despair, Willpower Charm

Enter?

[Y] [N]

‘I see an evolution stone!’ I cheered. ‘It’s one of the prizes!’

“You sound like a kid at the carnival,” he teased.

‘I forgot to ask, how do the fragments work? They aren’t named, so I could potentially get the same piece, right?’

“No. The fragments are divided into equal parts of three. When they are in each other’s presence, they fuse together immediately. Not only that, they become harder to find in the later stages.”

‘Well, I didn’t assume any better, so.’ I smiled. ‘I’ll be two fragments in, and I’ll only have one left to worry about so I can evolve out of this small body.’

“Might as well get excited now, because stage three won’t be easy.”

‘And who is Figor?’

“The final boss of this dungeon. I’ve never seen him in person because I’ve never finished a wave in this dungeon before.”

‘Really? You seem to have spotted it pretty fast.’

“I went where the Raphur birds told me to go. After a while, you get a sixth sense of this shit and carve the path to lairs. It’s something good to have.”

Voicing my concerns about leaving our sleepy demon dog outside went through one ear and out the other for Nolan. There was honestly nothing we could have done about it. Unless the beast was in my thrall, it couldn’t enter. Not only that, vehicles of any kind weren’t allowed, unless it was something you could summon.

I had more questions on that for later.

Nolan received the same welcoming screen as I did, and he accepted the invite into the tier two dungeon. I followed right after. As soon as we accepted, a transparent film of blue began to flicker along the mouth of the cave, and then it spread like opening curtains. Funny enough, I didn’t see a barrier until the dungeon allowed us entry, and the entry was doing its finest job with being imposing and ominous. A cool breeze wafted out, carrying with it the scent of wet earth and a slight tang of something metallic, maybe blood—remnants from previous battles, perhaps.

“Well, let’s get to it, then.” Nolan looked down at me. “Remember to stay close.”

The first few steps into the cave were deceptively calm—just a typical earthen tunnel. It was dark, pitch black, to the point where I couldn’t see anything in front of me. I was afraid something would lean in and scoop me up, so I climbed up Nolan’s side and took it upon myself to perch on his shoulder.

“Your claws aren’t exactly blunt, you know?” he grunted.

‘Sorry! I’ll hop off once we get a better visual. I am small, you know.’

“Just admit that you like being up there, and we can quit this back and forth denial before it starts.”

‘Oh yeah, because I love nothing more than being within grabbing distance of a scruffy beard and the potent scent of manly musk.’

“Yeah? You don’t smell like dandelions either, princess.”

‘I’m a newborn, whatcha expect?!’

“Baby breath, at a minimum,” he jested. “Not the underbelly of a giant orc.”

Touché, Nolan, Touché.

So my breath weapon didn’t give off rainbows and sunshine. I guess I deserved that roast for getting at him first. Even so, I swung my tail and wacked his nape so I could get the last word, Nolan biting back with threats of chucking me into the depths of the dungeon.

I knew he was bluffing.

For someone I just met, our banter felt natural. I wouldn’t call us friends, at least, not yet. It was clear that we needed each other, and that when crap went south, we’d have each other’s backs.

When Nolan walked to a certain point, the mood of the cave changed. The dungeon smelled of damp earth and decades of decay. The cave walls were moist with trickling water that reflected the faint bluish light from an unknown source. Shadows danced along the crevices, giving a sense of lurking dangers ahead. It was chilly too. A cold gust of wind whirled around us the moment we stepped in, and it never went away. In fact, it was getting colder the further we went, and I was expecting our first run in with a monster anytime now.

Ah, right on time:

[Green Slime, Level: 15]

What the?

There was a green round blob of… glob, just hovering there at the wall’s corner along our path, with two big black eyes and no limbs. For a slime ball that was about my size, its level was pretty impressive. Its exterior was transparent and glowed with a strange luminescence akin to bioluminescent creatures of the deep sea. It bobbed slightly, as if it was breathing or pulsating. It didn’t have a mouth, but if it did, I’d bet 100 bucks that it was sliming, erm, I mean, smiling at us provokingly.

‘Nolan, information, please!’ I begged, like he was my personal Pokedex.

“Green Slime. Part of the dungeon entry package. They’re not aggressive unless provoked, but they can be quite annoying. They're amorphous shape shifters, meaning that they could take up any shape they want. That limit depends on their level, but a level 15 monster is typical for a tier two dungeon.”

It didn’t make any move to attack us, but it also wasn’t moving out of our way. Granted, it was more in the corner than in our exact path—but I felt like if we took another step, it’d jump.

I wasn’t going to let it walk regardless, so I locked my claws in, hunched my back, and unleashed my flames.

After I broke out the heat, I cleared my throat satisfyingly. But then something happened that hadn't happened since I first landed in Etheryn. I saw an HP prompt for the monster, and it was still sitting at an untouched 100%!

It was, it was…..

‘Flame immune?!?!?’

Nolan chuckled. “We’re at a different roulette now, short fry.” Nolan pulled out Scarlet and loaded her up. “Between the frequency of monsters spawning and their growing world levels, you need to keep on your toes. Outside is a cakewalk compared to a dungeon run.”

‘Yeah! I can see that! Maybe we should have started me off at tier one?’

“Hah! Nonsense! You could take this guy on.”

He was so confident in me, even after I ticked the slime off. It buffed itself up, looking real big and towering. I realized now that it was shape-shifting, and it took on the shape of Nolan and me!

On its shoulder, my slime clone got up on its hind legs and proceeded to taunt me. A paws wiggling to the side of its head, hips swinging, tongue sticking out type of taunt.

How childish, but it worked.

I was so heated that I unleashed another breath weapon. This time, I gave it an acid bath.

Innate Skill Discovered:

[Acid Bath, Level 1]

Glob of goo go bye-bye, I thought, because instead of standing there and taking it like when I burped flames, it shrieked and shriveled back, breaking out of its shape-shifted state.

[HP: 50%]

‘Hah! That’ll show you to taunt m—’ I gasped, the speed of the slime ball catching me off guard! It leaped right into my face, knocking me right off of Nolan’s shoulder. I dropped on the coarse ground, wrestling with the slime, but that petty thing was persistent! The ooze slipped around my eyes and my mouth. I was blinded, and my breath weapon was out of commission. If I could compare this horrible situation, I’d say it’s similar to being smeared with a bucketful of eggs. Every attempt I made to latch on felt short.

‘Damn it!’ I yelled, pulling back and pawing at the gooey monster. But it was like trying to grasp water; it just slipped through my claws. Panic settled in fast, and I turned to my options. If I couldn’t use a breath weapon, was I powerless? No, I couldn’t be. I was resourceful, darn it! At my fight or flight moment, I thought about the one skill I had under my belt that didn’t require me to open my big mouth. Pressing my eyes shut, I focused on channeling my mana.

Channeling mana, in theory, was no different than breathing. It was essentially qi converted into manipulable energy. It was part of me, and a sure part of every living thing around us. It flowed through the air, the ground beneath us, and even through the slime currently trying to suffocate me. But just like air, it was invisible and intangible. I had to visualize it, picture it coming to me in waves or a stream, or a whirlwind.

Nolan’s explanation filtered through my thoughts. If I thought too much into it, I was stunting its release. Magically blessed creatures such as myself had it easy. Other races besides dragons, drow, and elves had to work harder to use their special skills. Mana needed to be channeled via a bridge, the bridge being magic scrolls. For us, it was simply a matter of focus and will.

And so, with my eyes still squeezed shut against the slime’s sticky onslaught, I reached out with my mind. For the first time, I was truly aware of the essence of mana that filled everything around me. I released my [Cyclone Shield]. My AOE was small, but it was enough to get the job done. A shield of air enveloped me and began peeling off the slime around me. Soon, I was free from my gelatinous prison, gasping for breath as the rest of the glob peeled away. Most of the slime ball had been repelled, the force of the cyclone hurling it above me in the air.

[HP: 25%]

I could see that the slime was visibly weakened, with its formerly vibrant green membrane now a dull shade. It took a moment to regain its shape, slowly pulling itself back together. My mana consumption wasn’t enough to terminate it, and Nolan noticed that. He pointed the barrel of his shotgun at the levitating monster and loaded an ice shot at it before it got any funny ideas, blasting it into little ice cube pieces. Finally, the rest of its HP dissipated.

I crawled off my back and slammed my tail on the ground, irritated.

How embarrassing—nearly getting owned by a slime monster like that….

“Good job, Tiny Terror.” Nolan smiled. “You should be proud of yourself. You used your first mana skill.”