Richard sighed as he stooped down to pick up the Blue Slime core. He stopped a moment to watch the wind blow over the plains of long grass and he felt a little bit of peace. Which was bad considering that he was currently inside of a dungeon.

  He had been ‘working’ at the dungeon for a few weeks and it had kind of gotten boring. Smashing slimes. Picking up drops. And then selling them on the way out. Day after day. While he was happy that there wasn’t really any sense of danger. He also wanted something a little more thrilling. Something with some with a little spice.

  From how the math looked Richard figured that if he went to the dungeon for 4 hours everyday. It would take him 24 days to get enough money for rent. That was assuming 2.5 Blue Slime Cores dropped an hour. If he wanted to cover his food expenses he would need to work 31 days a month.

  The problem was a combination of two things. One was the recurring cost of the equipment rentals. The $10k a day was brutal and he only started making money after 9 cores. The second was the 4 hour work days. Buying new equipment was harsh, and would take saving something up to the tune of $50k to $70k for a weapon and $120k or more for a set of armor. So the only option was to work more.

  Which led him to his current, mind numbing predicament. Assuming that he worked long enough to get one more core, 11 total, it would almost double his income and he would only need to work 16 days a month. So he worked more, he would make more. Simple enough. Great.

  He was bored out of his mind. And Richard was really feeling the need to take a trip or something. But the travel fees were exorbitantly expensive, just leaving the city often cost more than it was worth. So he did what he could and stayed at home. His home brewing took care of his need for craft beers. Reading was always cheap, given how many things had either been heavily discounted or come into common law that they were free.

  There was another option, a loophole, that Richard could take advantage of. He could leave the city to explore another dungeon. The wall taxes when leaving your zone were waived so it made it a lot more financially feasible. But only if you were going to a dungeon. And you needed to put a minimum amount of time into said dungeon. Otherwise one would have to pay for the unpaid wall taxes. Damned government and their nickel and diming. Sure the walls needed repairs. But were there still enough loose monsters to justify the tax?

  Richard had found another slime as he wandered around. And instead of attacking it right away he tossed a stone at it. Which did nothing aside from letting the little blue murderous pillow know where he was standing.

  It was enough for the intended result, and the slime squished down and launched itself at Richard. He was already waiting for it and took the blow on the buckler strapped to his left arm. The slime fell to the ground with a plop and a quick swing later the slime was taken care of.

  The damage was small enough that Richard felt that he could safely ignore a slime should it know his location. One day he had tested it in a bout of boredom. And well, yes, it could be deadly if the slime managed to hit someone in the head or throat. He felt that it was good to have an idea on how much damage he could expect from a slime. And every so often Richard would purposely tank a hit or two just so that he would continue to be aware of the risk.

  When the slime finally disappeared a flower dropped. It had several green saw toothed leaves and a bright orange flower that smelled of honey and sunshine. The System had labeled it as a Healing Flower and the Dungeon Center bought it for $4,500. Which was a huge sum when compared to the Blue Slime Cores. If only they weren’t so rare Richard’s daily income would be a lot higher.

  Of the 200 or so slimes that he had killed, Richard had only managed to find 3 of them. Given that people were bored, there were already drop tables posted online for all of the safe dungeons. He felt a little stupid at how many days it took him to notice the drop tables that were shown on the info screens that hung on the walls of the Dungeon Center.

  The 1% drop that Richard had for the Healing Flowers lined up with the posted rate. There was also information on other drops even rarer that sometimes appeared. Only since they were so rare it wasn’t really possible to confirm the information. But if what he found was to be believed then anything from deeper levels could drop. If the explorer was lucky enough that is.

  Richard dumped his satchel into the counting tray and handed it over to Mark. Over the past few weeks they had managed to strike up a working friendship. Mark sported a blond mustache and buzzed hair, probably on account of there being not much hair up on top of his head.

  Mark quickly tallied up the drops and sent the money to Richard’s account. “Pretty good day wasn’t it?” Mark asked. The total was 14 blue slime cores and 1 Healing Flower. Which came out to $9,125.

  “If only the drop tables were better,” Richard said. “Then I would be able to make some real money.”

  “There’s always a deeper floor. But not really recommended for solo divers. That’s… from the reports the deeper floors are more dangerous obviously. But there’s also a chance of conflict between explorers. I’d advise you to be careful should you encounter a large party of strangers.”

  Richard looked at Mark for a moment. “I see. The 1st floor should still be safe?”

  “For now I’d say yes. We got…” the door to the center opened and a group of people walked inside. Richard had seen them around before. They seemed to be several parties working together. “I’ll leave you to it then,” Mark said and turned towards the new arrivals.

  Richard nodded and stepped out of the way so that Mark could process the entry of the new group. He took a brief look and found that they all had a badge somewhere on their clothes. It showed a black fist covered in thorns on a red shield. It wasn’t from any of the big guilds in the city, so they were probably a new group or something.

  ***

  It was another day of grinding at the dungeon, and Richard was struggling to find any slimes. It seemed like the guild that he had noticed the other day was training on the first floor. While the floor was rather large, maybe a 20 to 30 mins walk to the other end where the 2nd floor stairs are. There were enough people killing slimes to reduce the numbers such that he had only found a few after being there for hours.

  Richard hoped that they would just get their training done and over with. Otherwise he would need to find another income source. He decided to leave it for the day. And clubbed one last slime on the way to the exit. He ended up doing a double take when he noticed that the drop wasn’t a core or a flower. Rather it was a leather bound book.

  He quickly looked around and stooped down to pick up the book. It had been said on the DungeonClues wiki that oftentimes party members would fight over skill books when they dropped. And that even worse things happened should another party find out that one had dropped.

  There was a rustle in the grass behind him and instead of pocketing the book Richard decided to use it right then and there. There wasn’t any time to read what the window said and just smashed on yes to learn it. The book shrunk down into a small orb of light and entered his chest. He pulled his satchel around and pretended to place something inside.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Oh? Rich? How are you doing today? Was that a lucky drop I just saw?” Richard looked over his shoulder and found a man by the name of Calvin. Unlike the office suit and tie Richard had seen him in last time, Calvin was wearing a black armored vest and pants. He sported a full, but neatly trimmed black beard, with likewise black hair slicked back.

  They had met some weeks earlier when Calvin had invited Richard to join his guild. It wasn’t even after a few words that the offer had been made. Only joining a guild sounded too much like joining a company. And Richard was enjoying the self employed lifestyle too much to be pinned down by others and their expectations like that.

  “Calvin,” he said and nodded. “nah. Nothing so lucky as that. Just another blue slime core.” He looked around the first floor. “Seems like it’s busy today. Not having much luck at all.”

  “Yah, my guild is here training the new roster. Practicing on slimes is better than something that can actually kill you. Plus the Healing Herbs that drop can be processed into potions by the alchemists.”

  “Oh? What was your guild again?”

  Calvin smiled and turned his shoulder to Richard. There was the same badge that he had seen the other day, a black fist surrounded in thorns on a red shield. “It’s the Fist of Thorns guild. We started out last year and are still growing. Have you given any more thought into joining a guild?”

  Richard shook his head. “No. I’m still quite happy with my current situation.”

  “Well,” Calvin said and looked out over the field of the 1st floor. It was possible to see 3 other groups of 4 wandering around and fighting with slimes. “Let me know if you change your mind. We are always looking for more people.” With a smile Calvin excused himself and walked towards the nearest party.

  Fist of Thorns? They should have a portal or something online right? Phones didn’t work inside the dungeon or right outside in the DC. But Richard was in luck as there was a closer source of information right outside.

  “Hey Mark,” Richard said as he approached the counter. He started to dump his satchel out into the sorting tray and realized that since he had already used the skill book there wasn’t any way to pay for it… then again… It’s not like they needed to know. Or even that Richard would be able to pay for the book.

  “Only 5 blue slime cores today?” Mark asked. He quickly collected them and transferred the money over. “I guess that it’s rather busy? The Thorns do that from time to time, take over the entire floor. It’ll be a couple of days and then they’ll move deeper.”

  “Ugh. I was going to ask about that. Also about that guild, they aren’t that high ranking right? I only really know about the Angels and Swords. Maybe another one or two that I’ll recognize the name if I hear it. But not enough to recall it.” With the equipment rental Richard had taken a $4k hit by leaving early.

  “Yeah. They aren’t too high ranked yet. But they are working on it. How did they treat you?”

  Richard shrugged. “Fair I guess. The one, Calvin, asked me to join again. But I refused. Pretty much had enough of the corp lifestyle you know?”

  Mark laughed. “I hear that. This job is alright, pays enough. Boring as hell. But then again, so are most jobs.” They shared a knowing nod.

  “Asides from that, do you have any other info on them? Their guild emblem seems a little dark. Though they might be cringe or edge lords.”

  The smile faded from Mark's face. And he shot a quick look around the waiting room. There were a couple of small groups, but they all looked to be independent explorers chatting amongst themselves. He leaned a little closer and spoke, “The problem with guilds is that they keep information about themselves close to their chest. Just to be safe.”

  “Is that from the government? Or other guilds?”

  “Both. People go missing in the dungeons all the time. But they also go missing outside of the dungeons all of the time. It makes it hard to find out the hows or whys. I’d be careful to not go any deeper than the first floor with them around. Only that would be the same with several guilds that have been inside a dungeon when people have gone missing. All I can really say is try to be safe.” He shook his head. “Too many get injured or disappear. Hardest part of the job really.”

  Richard looked at him for a moment and then nodded. With the rise of personal power it made it harder to enforce the laws of the world. What can you do when someone is able to shrug off bullets or torch a town all at once? The government's power is only as strong as the rankers who work for it. If they didn’t have any it the world would be a lawless land.

  Richard lightly tapped his cheek with his hand and then spoke, “Well. I’ll check them out a little more first. Thanks for the info.”

  ***

  Richard waited until he arrived home to check his status. His paranoia was up after the conversation with Mark. And he didn’t want anyone seeing him check his status. It could have also been the smile that Calvin gave to him as well. Or the presence of the guild on the first floor of the dungeon. How they were killing all of the slimes that appeared was somewhat strange to him. Did guilds just show up like that and monopolize the place?

  He shut the door, locked it, and plopped down at the kitchen table. With a word his status appeared in front of him.

  ~Status~

  Richard

  Level: 3

  Skills: Alchemy Level 0 (Rank S)

  Strength: 12

  Endurance: 12

  Magic: 12

  Wisdom: 12

  He had gained a few levels over the last few weeks. Which wasn’t something to really get that excited about. They came with an overall rise of his abilities, but no free points or anything like that. But it was the skills list that caught his attention.

  Alchemy Level 0 (Rank S)

  Richard’s hand trembled as he reached out and touched the new Alchemy entry.

  Alchemy

  Rank S

  Level 0

  Able to combine dungeon drops into various items. Additional abilities unlocked at higher levels.

  He waved his status away and pulled out his phone. A search for ‘What rank are most skills dropped at?’ brought him a number of results. At the top was a worrying sort of information.

  Skill books usually start at the lowest level of Rank F. Though it isn’t unusual for higher ranks to drop. In most cases skill books are used by those who found them or their guild. So information is derived from what appears on the open market.

  Richard washed his face with his hands. Just a low ranking skill was enough to get him noticed. But what now with something insane like an S rank one? Did Calvin see him pick up the book? What was it he said? ‘Was that a lucky drop?’

  The skill can be hidden. Or at the very least the rank can be lied about. A rank F Alchemy skill is more in line with what people would expect. What couldn't be hidden was a strange guild knowing about his new skill. More so if they think that he might not have used it and kept the book.

  Richard started up a vpn on his phone and connected to an IP address that couldn’t be traced back to him. He then searched up information about the Fist of Thorns guild. There was a guild portal like he expected, as well as several paid review sites saying how good of a guild it was to work for. Deeper he found a mention of someone saying that they had been attacked by them before, but it could just be someone slinging mud.

  There was only one post from the user with no follow up. Lacking the ability to really dig any deeper Richard sent off an email to a friend of his to see if there was more information on the darker versions of the net.

  Just to be safe he also decided that it would be better to try for another dungeon. There was another one not too far away that also had been opened as safe. He had a new skill to play with, and if there was anything that Richard liked more than his current hobby was a new one. It was hard to contain his excitement. But the chance of getting kidnapped or worse by a potential red guild would put quite a damper on his good mood.