Danny is an idiot. It cannot be properly expressed how completely he defines that term. This was Alan’s eighth try and in the previous seven Danny did everything in his power to die. He’s not suicidal either, that would be more understandable. The fool had made seven decisions that he thought were the greatest ever and then died. Every time. Danny is the reason why escort missions are the worst.

  It was Alan’s second dungeon in tier two. Tier one had ended earlier in the day with a drizzle, literally. He had woken up mentally psyching himself up to fight this crazy monster with incredible powers. As he went to start his daily morning workout he noticed that the waterfall had been reduced to a fraction of its former size. Behind it was revealed a pass.

  The entrance must have been flooded under a few feet of water while the waterfall was going before, but the pass had a significant incline so the water would have just run back toward the lake forming a small pond on the other side.

  Next was a quick jog and some limbering exercises to get the blood flowing and the body ready, all the while watching the end of the pass expecting something badass to come out at any moment. Nothing did, so he figured he would have to go find it.

  Alan crept along the rocks by the cliff wall and cautiously peered around the corner into the pass. Still nothing. Then he noticed a cave opening that was at least five meters tall and more than three meters wide on the side of the pass. It was located just beyond where the edge of the pond would have been.

  Thus began another slow approach, keeping his balance centered at all times as he prepared to fight or flee at a moment's notice. None of the fights so far had been a true challenge, but this was going to be some kind of boss with special powers. It was possible that he would need to retreat and improve himself some more before he was ready to face it.

  And then it happened, out walked the boss. If you could really call it that. It was a big hedgehog. To be fair, it was incredibly huge…for a hedgehog. Most likely whoever thought this was a good boss meant well, but that dramatic increase in size meant that instead of being able to hold it in your hand it was under a meter and a half long and a little over a meter high. So, a little bigger than the cougars that he had been fighting yesterday. Identify made it seem a little better.

  Beast: Mana-Infused Hedgehog (epic) level 5, threat level: medium.

  Alan thought, okay, mana infused, cool. Epic, should be nice. Level 5, much higher than anything else. Threat level, medium? That was the highest yet, but what self respecting boss would simply be medium? Turns out it was infused with water mana and could shoot jets out of its spiny hair. The water it shot would probably have torn small holes in a weaker person, but with a constitution of 11 it felt more like getting shot by a pellet gun. Painful, but causing nothing more than a bruise. And, the worst part was that his already tattered clothes took the brunt of that attack.

  Also, in credit to its creator, its water infused spines were really tough and neither his big club nor his sharp knives could harm them. Unfortunately for the hedgehog the wolves had taught him a trick and he simply waited for it to try and bite him. Oh, that was another let down. When it opened its mouth to bite it had the cutest little teeth. Alan felt kinda bad about shoving his pugio into its mouth and through its brain. The little teeth barely pierced his toughened skin.

  The one nice thing about the fight was that he had picked up an opal class stone for a reward. He couldn’t use it yet but Tamee assured him it was a good one.

  The first dungeon he found on the other side of the pass was a much better experience. It was a kind of open air thing too. After killing the ‘boss’ he had gone to the end of the pass not sure of what to expect.

  Once there Alan saw spread out before him another long valley. Whereas the last one was solid forest, except around the edges, this one seemed to have a variety of biomes. Fields seem to be the dominant feature, though. The nearest thing he noticed was a small bit of forest to the east that seemed to have vines growing through the trees.

  It was begging to be explored, and apparently it was a dungeon. As soon as he stepped in he had gotten a quest to kill the King of the Swamp. His biggest concern was that it was going to be a bunch of stupid spiders, but it turned out to be a three headed snake. It was at least ten meters long and the heads were on the end of necks that stretched well over a meter. The heads themselves were the size of prize winning watermelons.

  Luckily it wasn’t a hydra situation because after he managed to hack one of the heads off it did not grow back. It took four separate blows to cut through with his knives. Once he could focus on just two heads it got much easier and after cutting off the second he switched to his club to smash the last head. Afterwards, he was left with a feeling of accomplishment and his body was pumping with adrenaline. That was a proper fight.

  The reward was nice, too. He got a pair of snakeskin boots that would enable him to keep his footing even in rough or wet terrain. It wasn’t a walking on water situation, but it would have saved him from the mud bath he got if he had been wearing them when he went through the swamp. An upgrade, or simple replacement, of his pants would have been better since his starter boots were still fine, but he wasn’t about to turn down magic loot. It also introduced Alan to something Tamee hadn’t warned him about, the Dungeon Exchange.

  It was a virtual store where you could spend points that you earned from completing these tier two dungeons. The prizes that he saw weren’t amazing, but it was nice to be able to pick and choose what you wanted instead of having to rely on what the Network gave you. Technically it wasn’t the Network rewarding him anymore. Now that he was in tier two control had passed to something else. Tamee was reluctant to explain what was in control now, but it was neither the larger Network or the initial dungeon core that had been replaced. This was normal though, tier two was a much larger and more complicated space and so it needed a more sophisticated controller than the last zone. The prize he was most excited for was a pair of self cleaning and self repairing pants. They weren’t actually armor, but they would at least keep him presentable. After his clothes were mostly obliterated by the hedgehog's water attack and then the remains were dragged through a swamp he was feeling underdressed. There was a definite breeze on his unmentionables.

  The cost of the magical pants was nothing to scoff at. Tamee had told him that it was because of the enchantments on them. The swamp dungeon only gave thirty dungeon points and it would cost two hundred to buy them. That explained what he was doing with Danny.

  The second dungeon Alan had found had as its entrance a small wooden shack maybe five meters on a side. The front had a door with a shadowy opening that he would always associate with dungeons, and stepping though he found himself on a wide road that passed through thick woods. To avoid potential confusion, this was a wide well packed dirt path, perhaps ten meters across, not asphalt. Next to him was the new bane of his existence and the reason he was there.

  New Quest: Escort Dantelion (100)

  [Dantelion is a nobleman's son who has decided to make a trip to see the big city. Unfortunately the local woods are infested with bandits and monsters. Protect him until he makes it out of the woods.]

  Someone might wonder how big the woods could be if they fit inside that small shack. That was basically what he asked Tamee.

  “That shadow you see in the opening is the sign of a portal. The actual dungeon is located underground, below that shack. Everything you see around you is being created by the core. The sky above you is merely an illusion, so it could be quite large.” Great.

  Dantelion was a human male who thought he was the greatest being in the universe and this trip was his chance to finally prove himself. He saw Alan not as a bodyguard but as more of a manservant, and not a good one at that. Five minutes later Dantelion was dead from a sword through the belly. They had been ambushed by bandits and the pompous fool challenged their chief to a duel. That was when Alan learned what happens when you fail, at least for some dungeons.

  Quest Failed: Escort Dantelion (100)

  [Dantelion has died, you have failed the quest. Make your way back to the entrance to either exit or try again.]

  Tamee told him that this is a common thing for dungeons to do, but that not all dungeons could be done again if you failed. Sometimes you only had one shot. Alan managed to escape the bandits and run all the way back to the entrance. Luckily it wasn’t far. He restarted the quest and Dantelion appeared next to him the same as before. It took three more runs before he figured out how to convince the kid to let him handle the bandits. Unfortunately he couldn’t convince him to sneak past, ‘I shall travel the road, not creep through the woods like a peasant.’ Yay.

  Twice more his ward died. Once to a stag that skewered him with its horns and then to a pair of bandits who he insulted so much they shot him with an arrow. In the most recent run they could see the end of the forest when the fool decided to sample a mushroom growing from a tree. Turned out it was a bunch of deadly skullcaps.

  That would have been the end of the quest attempts for Alan, but that 100 next to the name was how many dungeon points it was worth. That was half of the cost of the pants for one quest. However, one hundred points or not, this was going to be the last attempt. Alan couldn’t go through this again. It may be only one quest, but it was incredibly frustrating.

  “Listen Danny,” Alan started.

  “It’s Dantelion,” the lordling corrected.

  “Not today it isn’t. You manage not to kill yourself and then I’ll call you that. We are going to go through these woods. I will do any talking. I will do any fighting. If we are attacked by bandits you just stand there like a big strong man and put your hands in the air. If you see a cool animal, just remember there are cooler things in the city, so ignore it. And for the love of all that's good, DON’T EAT MUSHROOMS YOU FIND IN THE FOREST,” he finished in a not very quiet voice.

  “That last one seemed oddly specific, but you have no need to shout. I heard you. I will let you do all the work, after all that is why my father is paying you,” the brat even managed to sound magnanimous.

  When they ran into the bandits it was Alan who ended up challenging the chief to a duel. Knowing that they were outlaws, and most likely murderers, he had no expectation they would keep their word so in the middle of the fight he turned and killed two of the bandits standing around watching. That left the chief plus three other bandits. The chief was already moving on him, but the other three were still shocked by his perceived treachery. Alan managed to kill one more before they got over it and then it was three on one.

  Danny tried to make it three on two, but after a lot of yelling and one light bolt someone shot past his face, the lordling stayed put. His face was turning a nice shade of puce, though. The chief was actually low on stamina so he fell fairly easily. That left the other two and there was a reason why they were bandits and not soldiers. They managed less of a fight than their exhausted leader. Alan looted their bodies for the fifth time so far and got a couple of rusty swords and some copper and silver coins.

  The second time he had looted them he thought that maybe he could exploit the repeat nature of the dungeon and just loot them over and over when he failed the mission. Unfortunately you only get to keep the loot when you leave a dungeon through an exit. If you go back out the entrance before completing the quest, anything you had collected until then disappears whether you restart the quest or exit. He hadn’t noticed the stuff disappearing until he put the second set of rusty gear in his pouch.

  “That wasn’t very fair to attack the others while you were supposed to be dueling the chief,” Danny naively informed him.

  “It wasn’t very fair of six people to ambush us in the woods and demand all our stuff, they got what they deserved,” he grumbled in reply.

  Then it was time to talk the young nobleman out of hunting the ‘glorious stag’. Next the two bandits with bows were easily scared off instead of insulted. Finally, not thirty seconds before they came to the mushrooms Alan repeated his warning about not eating fungus you find growing wild. The little bastard tried to do it anyway. He had to slap it out of his dainty hand at which point the fop drew his rapier and challenged Alan to a duel.

  He stole the kid’s sword and sat on him until he saw reason. Then Alan returned his sword and they left the forest with Danny safe and only slightly rumpled. He told Alan that he would no longer need his help and stalked off. He was the one who felt frustrated? Alan debated killing him right there himself, but decided that was a line he shouldn’t cross. Even if this wasn’t real for the kid playing Danny, it was real for Alan. His actions in the ‘fake’ dungeon could turn into his actions in the ‘real’ world.

  It didn’t matter. A minute later while he was checking his notifications Danny bent over a small pond to take a drink of water and was eaten by a rather large alligator. There may have been some cheering at that. Luckily the completion notification didn’t go away.

  Quest Completed: Escort Dantelion

  [You managed to see the young man safely on his way out of the forest. Reward: leather bracers and 100 dungeon points.]

  The leather bracers were nice. This wasn’t an upgrade but instead a piece of equipment he had never worn, not even in the service.They appeared to be custom made to fit his arms and would provide some protection for his forearms in a fight. That would have been useful against the wolves, cougars, and even the hedgehog bossling.

  All together he had probably spent most of a day trying to keep Danny alive, but when he stepped back outside the wooden shack he found that the sun had hardly moved in the sky. Luckily many of the dungeons in this section had time dilation. There was a notification when you went in letting you know the rate. This dungeon had 20:1, meaning twenty hours inside is the same as one outside. After finishing her test in the previous zone Tammy had finally told him that the days were 20 hours long, so that one day of questing had lasted only an hour outside.

  “Ok, Tamee, I’ve tried a couple of these and seen what’s going on. Any suggestions for what to look for?”

  “Well, obviously any dungeons with a good dilation ratio are worthwhile. The more time you spend leveling up between now and the end of the tier the better. By the way, I liked your new friend.”

  “Don’t even go there. Tell me, I know he was a real person who was basically hired for a role, but he was just acting right? No one can be that dumb.”

  Tamee laughed before answering. “Sadly there is no way to tell. There are spoiled idiots out there, but I would like to think our lifestyle in the Network usually roots out those who truly don’t have a clue.”

  Now that the less observant Network was no longer in charge, Tamee had to be more cautious with her answers. Luckily all TAMs were allowed more freedom in their interactions in tier two anyway. Unfortunately, while she could give tips and advice now, Tamee couldn’t tell him where to go for the next dungeon. He decided to head toward the eastern mountains. The last tier had all the dungeons by the mountains so Alan figured there was a good chance he would find a bunch there. He noticed that the mountains seemed smaller here than in the last zone, as if they were tapering down toward the middle of the disc.

  The tutorial token that had directed him from dungeon to dungeon had really spoiled him. After completing the last dungeon in tier one it had become an inert piece of wood. He still kept it in one of his regular pouches as a memento. While walking he checked his status. He had made some nice gains and even reached the next threshold in a couple of classes. Rogue was still the highest class. His reward from the tier one boss had been an opal class stone that could upgrade it.

  Item: Opal Phantom Class Stone, rarity Rare. This stone can be used to upgrade the quartz rogue class to the opal class Phantom, a dexterity based class that specializes in moving stealthily and dealing viscous blows. Requirements: Daggers 50 and stealth 25

  It sounded pretty awesome but he wouldn’t be able to use it until his rogue class reached a hundred percent. He was about halfway there already, but he wasn’t going to focus on it to the detriment of his other classes. His progression was a marathon, not a sprint.

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  He now found himself along the eastern edge of the valley. The knee length grass of the fields was thinned out as it got closer to the mountains. There was now more dirt than grass with only scattered patches of scraggly greens. Alan jogged to the north and soon was standing before a stone doorway covered in runes. He stepped into the shadows and found himself in a short tunnel that led to a very bright opening.

  New Quest: Dwarven Mine (10)

  [Before you lies a dwarven mining camp. Find a guide to take you into the shafts to mine a vein of iron ore.] [Upgradeable: Daily]

  This didn’t sound very interesting. Instead of fighting something, he would be mining ore? Also the payout in dungeon points was pitiful. The time dilation wasn’t great either, only 3:1. On the other hand, having some ore to explore his aura abilities with might not be a bad idea. He wasn’t sure what the upgradeable thing was so he checked in with his not so silent partner.

  “You definitely want to do this. Yes the points aren’t great, but you will probably learn the mining skill. It may not sound good now, but it could come in handy later on. The real bonus, however, is the upgradeable part. Most dungeons are fairly static. If you come back tomorrow or a year from now you will see the same thing. An upgradeable dungeon will change every time you complete it. The ‘daily’ after it tells you how long it takes for the upgrade to finish so that you can then reenter it. There is no way to tell how it will change, but the rewards always get better. If there were other people here this dungeon would be a major strategic resource. Parties would probably even fight over who would go inside. Depending on how many upgrades it goes through, the final reward could be unbelievable.”

  That was pretty hard to say no to, so Alan went down the tunnel to where it opened up into a large cavern, maybe two hundred and fifty meters across. Inside was a small village with two meter high wooden fort walls surrounding it. Peeking out above the walls he could see quite a few wood and hide structures. More toward the center he could see some larger stone buildings. There was a gate a short distance away with two people even shorter than he was guarding it.

  As he got closer he remembered the name of the quest. These weren’t short people, they were dwarves. Taking them in it was like reading a Tolkien novel. They stood well under a meter and a half tall but were almost as wide. They both were also wearing a solid looking leather and metal hybrid armor.

  When Alan was about ten feet away the lefthand dwarf called out “Hail wanderer, we haven’t seen you before. State your business.”

  “My name is Alan, I have come to find a guide who might teach me the ways of dwarven mining.”

  “So you’ve come to steal our secrets? Get out of here you no good stinking human.” spat the right hand dwarf.

  “Now, now Urpo, there ain’t no law against learning a trade, and he wouldn’t be the only human here. His money is as good as the next persons.”

  The part about money was not a good sign. He didn’t have much, just the little bit he had gotten off of the bandits. What followed was a brief argument where Urpo was eventually overruled by the other guard, Groundim.

  “You can go on in. If it’s a guide you want you better head toward the mining tower. Go to the middle of the village and you can’t miss it.”

  Thanking him, Alan made his way inside. It was not a very crowded camp, but it looked well used. Those people he did see were almost all dwarves, but there were a few humans around and he even saw another person who was covered completely in fur. Not wanting to be rude, especially after the racist greeting at the gate, he tried not to stare as he hurried to find the tower.

  The buildings around the outside of the camp tended to be of a single story wooden frame construction with stitched together hides for walls. It would make sense that in a cave there wasn’t enough wood to make whole buildings out of it. Most of the structures he passed seemed to be some kind of dwellings. It wasn’t until he got near the larger structures in the center that he caught sight of buildings that were for other purposes. None of the signs on the buildings had words, but he was pretty sure he saw a tailor, a blacksmith, and possibly some place to get food. When he got to the center he found a dirt square surrounded by five multistory stone buildings. The largest appeared to be an inn. Over the door was hung a sign with runes on it and a picture of a steaming cauldron. Another looked like some kind of store. These were the first buildings where the signs had writing in addition to the pictures. Unfortunately he couldn’t read the runes.

  Of the last three buildings he noticed one had a crossed pickaxe and shovel carved above it. There was a pretty good chance this was the mining tower so he went inside. There was a large entry area with a few tables with chairs around them and three desks against the far wall. On that wall was a reinforced door to another section of the building. The room was practically empty with only one table and one desk occupied.

  “Can I help you with something sir?” Asked the female dwarf sitting behind the desk. Contrary to what some Earth fiction would lead you to believe, this female did not have a beard. Because of their stocky build this was the easiest way to tell she was female.

  Alan walked over and introduced himself. “Ah, yes. My name is Alan and I am looking for a guide or mentor who could help me learn how to mine.”

  “I see. We don’t have a program for that or anything, we are more of a working camp than a teaching society. But you can always try and work out a deal with any of the miners. Unfortunately most have gone out into the mines for the day. I wouldn’t expect them back for several hours. My name is Eile if you need anything else.”

  She seemed pleasant enough, but he wasn’t sure if everyone was going to be as nice. The encounter with Urpo at the gate had shown him that not all dwarves would appreciate him being here. Seeing an opportunity to practice his aura reading, and curious if a different race would have a different aura, Alan extended his senses.

  All in all it looked similar to what you would expect, if you could see illusory energy lines in the people and objects around you. One difference, though, is that the dwarves' arteries seemed to be thicker than his own, but less energy was flowing through them. He had no way of knowing if that was because he was a higher level class and had more energy or if it was something based on being a dwarf. The more he explored with his senses the better he should get at interpreting what differences in auras meant.

  “Can I help you with something else, sir?” Alan had been staring a little long and apparently he was making her uncomfortable. Thanking her again for her time, he moved to the only other people in the room.

  Seated at the occupied table were two dwarves having a conversation. Based on their relaxed body posture and the smiles on their faces, he didn’t think he was interrupting anything serious.

  “Good afternoon, kind sirs,” More flies with honey is not just a saying, “my name is Alan and I am looking for someone who can take me into the tunnels and maybe show me how mining works?”

  They looked at each other and the older of the two was the one who responded. “My name’s Bodvar. Is it just you or are you here with a group?”

  “Yes, just me. I have some down time before I have to be anywhere and I was hoping to make good use of it.”

  “Well, see, we occasionally help out travelers with tours of the mine, but that's usually a group of people. Not sure it's worth it for just one. How much you offering?” Reading Bodvars aura he seemed like he was being honest.

  “I only have a few silver pieces.”

  Bodvar laughed and told Alan that wasn’t nearly enough to get him back down in the mines so soon after returning. He got up from his table and turned to his companion.

  “I’m gonna go get a pint at the boiling cauldron, you coming Thadrick?” He asked.

  “I’ll catch you later, I’ve had a couple unlucky days. I could maybe use an extra set of hands.” Thadrick replied.

  Bodvar smiled at him and told him he’d see him later. It didn’t seem like there would be any hard feelings. He didn’t really know what to expect from these people, and being on his own for the last week had made him a little off when reading social cues. Especially after that fiasco with the woman Cassidy.

  “So, you want to go into the tunnels and maybe pick up some tips on how to mine ore. You got your own tools?” He asked Alan.

  “I don’t, pretty much what you see is what I got.” He wasn’t sure if spatial storage items would be seen as common so he was trying to hide the fact he had one.

  “Well now, that might be a problem. I’ve got an extra pick, but what if something happens and you break it. They aren’t cheap, you know. How many silver you got?”

  Alan reached into one of his pouches. He had put most of his coins in one of the many normal pouches he had as his purse. He must have grabbed the wrong pouch because he pulled out his glowing white quartz rock instead. Thadrick’s eyes opened wide and he reached out to touch it. At the last moment he seemed to realize what he was doing and pulled his hand back.

  “Mind if I see that?”

  He offered it to him and the dwarf quickly ran his hands over the rock. He held it up to his nose and he even licked it.

  “This is a nice chunk of quartz you have here. Normally it wouldn’t be worth much of anything, but I notice that it is glowing a little. It’s absorbed a lot of mana hasn’t it?” Thadrick wasn’t hiding his excitement.

  “I think so. I found this rock in a lake so I am not sure where it came from, but you’re right it does glow. Why, is this valuable?” Alan could already tell that it was based on Thadrick’s reaction, but he wasn’t sure why. He was going to play it safe and not tell him that he was the one who had put the mana in it, at least until he found out more.

  “Aye laddie, this is valuable indeed. You could probably get a couple of gold for it. The right craftsman could use a stone like this to make something special.”

  That was good information to learn. He knew the lake had a lot of these stones, and his pouch had a pile of at least thirty of these as well. He also knew how to get the mana into them. Maybe this was a way to get a nice pile of money to buy himself more gear. It should also help him finish his current quest.

  “I’ll tell you what Thadrick. If you agree to take me down in the mines and help me mine some iron ore, I’ll give you this stone. Would that make it worth your time?”

  “That’s more than a fair deal. I’ll even split the profits with you for anything we find down there.” Alan had thought that was part of any deal anyway, it was a good lesson in assumptions.

  Thadrick and Alan went over to the desk and told Eile their plan. Eile was a secretary for the miners guild. As a safety precaution all the miners in the camp were supposed to let the guild know where they were planning on traveling in the tunnels in case anyone went missing. They were going to a relatively nearby shaft so Thadrick assured him there shouldn’t be any trouble.

  “This is one of the older shafts so it doesn’t have a lot of ore left in it. But since we are going out more for the experience it should suit our needs well.” He explained to his temporary apprentice.

  Their next stop was his house. Thadrick had one of the hide buildings near the edge of the village. Alan found the inside to be a little claustrophobic. He was a short guy, but compared to Thadrick he was a giant and the house showed it. He couldn’t quite stand up straight or his head would be rubbing against the ceiling. The house was only one room with a bed and chest on one side and a small kitchen on the other. There was a short table with two chairs in the middle.

  Going over to the bed the dwarf reached underneath and pulled out a pickaxe. He reached down to his belt and another pickaxe appeared in his hand. So storage devices were a thing, that was good. He handed Alan the one from under the bed and showed him how to grip the axe and then told him that he should carry it to get used to the feel of it. He also had him try on an old jacket but it wouldn’t fit.

  “When you mine for ore you get a lot of rock chips flying around. Those torn up clothes or yours won’t provide much protection but I don’t have anything that’ll fit you.”

  Alan was kinda in a hurry to finish this. He wasn’t a min-maxer who was trying to do everything as fast and efficiently as possible, but this quest wasn’t that interesting to him. “That’s ok, I’m pretty tough, I think I can handle it.”

  He looked up at him as if to say ‘you’re funeral’, but shrugged and led the way out of the village. On the way Alan got an earful about the camp. It was useless at the moment, but if the camp was still here when the dungeon upgraded it might be nice to know how it worked. They went through a different gate than the one he came in. He took the opportunity to ask about the walls and his trainer told him it was just a standard precaution. There weren’t any real dangers nearby but it made people feel more secure.

  They located the tunnel they wanted and headed down into the shaft. There wasn’t any light here and it quickly grew dark. He commented on it to Thadrick who smacked his head.

  “I forgot you humans can’t see in the dark. I don’t think that stone of yours is bright enough to do much. Do you have a torch?”

  He didn’t, but he did have a spell he hadn’t really used yet. Alan tried to cast it but something told him he wasn’t doing it right. Somehow he needed to designate a target for the spell. He looked up toward the ceiling and tried again. This time a ball of light about fifteen centimeters across burst into being at the roof. It did a good job of illuminating this section of the tunnel.

  The problem was that he couldn’t figure out how to get it to move. He soon figured out how to make it go out, but try as he might he couldn’t get it to budge. Then he thought of targeting an item instead of a location. Suddenly his whole belt was glowing. As he moved around the belt stayed lit up. Alan could feel that it was using his mana to stay lit, but it was recovering faster than he was spending it so he could keep it going indefinitely.

  “That’s a nice trick. You some kind of mage I guess?” the dwarf asked, impressed.

  “Yeah, you could say that. Would it be rude of me to ask if you have a class?”

  Apparently it would be, but Thadrick didn’t mind since Alan had shared about himself. He did have a class, he was a quartz fighter. They chatted about how he got his class and how it worked. He had indentured himself to the mining guild for eight years in order to get his class stone. It was a common practice and he had finished his time almost ten years ago. Apparently even though he looked to be a similar age to Alan, he was over a hundred years old.

  While it was true that he was a volunteer playing a role in the dungeon and everything could be a lie, he seemed very authentic. It would make sense for the Network to choose people to play roles similar to their true selves. He learned a good amount from him about life in a dwarven mountain as they made their way through the tunnel. It was almost eerie how similar it was to how dwarves were represented in Earth fantasy stories.

  Alan also got his first real lesson on how stats work. He hadn’t thought to ask Tamee about them again when she was in her more charitable faze. Strength does control how strong you are, but also the density of your muscles and overall hardiness of your body. This is why an increase in strength causes an increase in your health points.

  Thadrick was currently saving towards being able to buy an opal class stone. “I have always wanted to be part of the city guard. It is a respected profession and offers opportunities for future leveling. However, they will only take someone with an opal class or higher.”

  There were only the same eight quartz classes for everyone. But after that classes could grow in a myriad of ways. “I have always hoped to be an axeman, or even a berserker, but I would even take a plain opal fighter stone.” He confided in Alan. Apparently the different classes were somewhat similar in power, but gave access to different talents. Some of the rarer classes did provide advantages though. Also, later class possibilities would be influenced by these earlier ones.

  “Is it better to get another quartz class or an opal class?” Alan asked his new walking encyclopedia.

  “Oh, another quartz class would be much better. Once you go opal there is no adding another class. However, quartz stones are very rare and therefore very expensive to buy. Your best shot of earning a quartz stone is from volunteering for a dungeon. While opal stones give you a more powerful class, they are much more common and so they are much easier to purchase.”

  Around this time they found the first of the iron ore. They were located in a large hollowed out area. There were occasional pillars of rock connecting the floor and ceiling to prevent a collapse. The tunnel they had traveled was where explorers had mined the stone looking for signs of minerals. Once they found them miners would come in and dig out along the veins forming these larger areas. The explorers were well compensated for finding new veins, but it was a hard job and there was no guarantee you would find anything. Most of the dwarves preferred to show up after and work the newly discovered veins.

  Thadrick showed him what to look for. Most iron he would find would be found in stripes running through the rock. It could be gray, red, or even yellow. For now he was better off looking for the red iron since it would be easier for his novice eyes to find.

  He was able to locate a few small sections of ore that were accessible. It seemed like no one had been working on them in a while. Using the grip his mentor had shown him earlier he then tried hitting the rock as instructed. He almost dropped it on his first strike and Thadrick was reduced to tears.

  “Ah, it’s almost worth the trip just to see an amateur fumble around. I once saw a lass who managed to put the pick right into her mate’s boot. I think he had been sweet on her before, but not so much after.” He then showed Alan how to adjust his stance, fixed his grip again, and then demonstrated the correct form for striking.

  They had been at it for a good hour before he had managed to get anything worth keeping. Thadrick put it in his bag as Alan checked himself over. He did indeed have some small cuts on his arms and legs, but nothing that needed worrying about. He spent another hour before that small vein had been worked as far as he could.

  “You can see the vein continues on, but we would have to carve out more of the stone around it to be able to access it. For now let's see if we can find some more closer to the surface of the rock.”

  Thadrick had told him that the stone around it was mostly a worthless type called chert. It was a silica based rock and Thadrick had left it sitting on the ground. Apparently there were lower level miners who were charged with gathering the debris left behind. The guild would pay them for helping keep the shafts clean, but it was a very small amount. Alan had been collecting some of it in his pouch as he mined. If he crushed it using his mortar it would turn into sand. That plus lime and water would get him mortar to build a stone house.

  As they walked Thadrick shared more of his exploits underground. Alan enjoyed talking to this garrulous dwarf. The rugged miner was quite a bit older than he was, but he had a youth to his spirit that Alan envied. In looking for another worthwhile vein they first came to another tunnel. These were sometimes made in these older rooms to look for new angles on the vein where the mineral was more abundant.

  They followed it down a little before Thadrick noticed a whole wall that was covered in iron ore. Alan’s light was still going on his belt so he could see that it extended down the tunnel for a ways. The experienced miner figured that some explorer must have recently carved this tunnel exposing a previously protected side of the ore. He was surprised he hadn’t heard anything about it yet. Thadrick felt Alan was skilled enough that he didn’t have to loom over him like a mother hen anymore, so he took out his own pickaxe and they both started mining the ore.

  They were making good progress, although Alan had gotten far less than his mentor in the same amount of time. That was to be expected since his mining skill had barely reached three. It had given him a warm fuzzy feeling when he discovered he had gained the new skill. During a break to gloat over their good fortune they heard a strange noise coming from farther down the tunnel. He pointed it out to Thadrick, but Alan’s perception must have been much higher than his because the dwarf couldn’t hear it.

  Storing what they had mined so far, they cautiously made their way down the tunnel. He found that he could dim his light spell so that it was only a third as bright as before. It still was obvious in the dark tunnels but unfortunately Alan needed light or he would be blind.

  “Tis probably the explorers who cut this tunnel and are on their way back to the camp. That is why no one else was here to mine this, they haven’t gotten back to report yet.” Thadrick said, trying to reassure him.

  When they spotted what was making the noise it was clear these were no dwarven explorers. There were four of them and they had small almost draconic heads with a humanoid body that ended in clawed feet. Their skin was also a dark red and looked very leathery.

  Creature: Kobold (common) level 6, threat medium.