System Change

Now that the ‘Rudy’ problem was taken care of, Derek needed to figure out exactly what he needed to do. Alanah’s words about needing to be stronger rang in his head. He had told her not to worry about him, and he meant it. He had a few ideas about how to increase his strength quickly. Luckily for him, he was already close to where he needed to be.

“Rudy.” Derek got the man’s attention. “Of all the people that are in the village, where would you rank in terms of strength?”

“Uh…” Rudy gave Derek a thoughtful look. “With Katrisha and the other guards… gone… from what I know, I should be in the top 10. That’s unless some other adventurers who are at the dungeon camp decide to stop by.”

Derek nodded. He needed to leave the village for a while, but didn’t want to leave the others unguarded, especially after he had just killed the Overseer. He’d wanted to bring Silvi along, but it looked like she would have to stay in the village.

“Silvi.” Derek said.

“What?” The green crystal chimed with her voice.

“Do you mind staying here in the village and making sure nothing happens to anyone?” Derek asked.

“That’s fine.” Silvi agreed. Then the bunny looked over at Malorie. “Beautiful deli… ahem… Malorie. Do you want to cook with me? You made that delicious food before. Show me.”

Malorie glanced oddly at the bunny before smiling. “I would be happy to prepare some dishes with you. I’m sure everybody’s hungry after all that’s happened today.”

“Good. It’s settled. Silvi will stay here and make sure nothing bad happens. I have some business to take care of. It will probably be late before I get back. That’s if I get back today.” Derek said.

Nobody seemed to care about what business he had to take care of. In fact, almost everybody, especially Rudy, seemed more concerned about watching a bunny cook dinner.

Derek turned to leave the house.

“Be careful.” Brandi’s voice sounded out behind him.

He turned and gave her a smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it.” Then he walked out of the room and left.

A few minutes later, Derek stood in front of the forest’s entrance. He sighed. Alright… How am I going to do this? There were a few challenges in the next step of his plans. Derek planned on completing the undying dungeon a few times.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to gain any rewards from an already completed dungeon, and the experience gain would be half of the original amount. Still, with the number of enemies in the dungeon, even if they have lessened after stopping the overflow, and his quick clearing speed, he should be able to hit level 100 in no time.

Still, the main problem he was contemplating was the dungeon camp. It meant that there were going to be multiple people in the area of the dungeon. There may even be people running the dungeon already, and from what he knows, only one group can complete the dungeon at a time.

One thing was certain, people were going to notice him. As far as he knows, after talking with Walter, there has only been a single successful completion of the dungeon since everyone found out about it. When a single person shows up and clears the dungeon solo, it will draw some attention.

Derek was sure that someone would be able to put together who he was, even if he wore a mask, which he does plan to do. People would learn of him showing up at the village and killing the Overseer. If a masked figure then shows up at the dungeon right after, it wouldn’t take a genius to draw some connections.

Of course, nobody would know for sure, and that was why Derek still planned to do it. The worst outcome would be people thinking that Derek was still below level 100 somehow. Which would lead to many questions about his class and rank. But that is all it should lead to, questions. Questions he wouldn’t have to answer.

Who knows? Maybe nobody would connect it with me. I made sure nobody saw me leaving the village, so I’m sure everybody still thinks I’m at Rayna’s. If all else failed, he could deny everything. He wouldn’t be in the Torith area much longer, anyway. He hoped that any rumors would die out quickly.

The other problem with his plan was the dungeon timer. It wasn’t a big problem, but he would have to stand still while the dungeon timer counted down. This problem wouldn’t matter with a full party, but, being solo, he would have to wait.

While waiting, Derek would be immobile and only have one hand to use if somebody decided to do something. He wasn’t scared of the people around the dungeon, as he was sure he could beat them with one hand, but there was the possibility of somebody else latching on to the dungeon orb and seeing his information.

Maybe there are rules or honor or something. He thought back to what he heard about it basically being illegal to monopolize a dungeon, so maybe there would be something about that too. Oh well, I’m not going to find out until I get there.

He glanced at his notifications and noticed that he had gained another level after killing Katrisha and the guard. He was now level 77. He smiled. One level to him was like a common class gaining three. Besides, not many people will be able to do anything to me once I’m finished.

With that, Derek threw on his black facemask and gear, and made his way into the forest. When he got there, he didn’t want to make it easy for people to pick him out, so he dressed in equipment common to that he saw people wearing.

Derek kept at a reasonable pace all the way to the dungeon camp. He didn’t want to make too much of a commotion speeding through the forest.

As he stepped into the now giant clearing, he observed his surroundings. He chuckled, as he wasn’t the only person hiding his face. In fact, there were quite a few people with large hoods or other types of face concealment.

The large camp was pretty basic. There was a large tent set up closest to the dungeon orb. That must be the Overseer’s tent when they are here. He thought. There were dozens of other tents around, too. Multiple guards patrolled the perimeter.

As he looked around, he noticed something about almost everybody. Most people were sullen or sad. Many had a look of defeat plastered on their faces. I guess that’s what you get when you’ve been sending so many people into a dungeon and next to no one has returned. By now, he was sure the difficulty of the dungeon had spread far and wide.

Finally, Derek set his sight on the dungeon orb. It was much dimmer than it had been recently. It had already been pale gray, but it at least had some luster to it. This orb barely had a glow to it. Is that because it’s no longer overflowing? No. Derek thought. It wasn’t like that after I cleared it. All of the other dungeons we ran had more of a glow, too.

Derek walked deeper into the camp. He walked over to an older man dressed in worn plate armor, sitting in front of a fire, staring at the dungeon orb. “Mind if I have a seat?” He asked.

The man glanced up, then furrowed his brows. “Doesn’t make any difference to me.”

Derek sat on a log a few feet away from the man. “How long have you been here?” He asked the man.

“I was one of the first here.” He replied.

“Oh, were you one of the members that completed the dungeon? I heard that a team actually succeeded.” Derek asked.

The man shook his head. “No. I’m over the level requirements. I’m here to observe for the Adventurer’s Guild.” The man pointed to the badge on the shoulder Derek hadn’t seen. It was gold.

“Ah, I see.” Derek said. “Are people still going in?”

The man nodded. “There’s a team in there now.”

That must be why the orb is odd right now. Derek thought. “You’d figure people would get the hint that it’s a difficult dungeon and stop going in.”

The older man grunted. “You’d think. But they don’t. They just want the glory and rewards. Greed kills more people than beasts.”

Derek couldn’t help but agree with the man. “You think this team is going to make it?”

The man shook his head. “Not a chance. Their preparations were lacking, and they didn’t have the levels. I told them not to go in.” He replied.

At that time, the dungeon orb began glowing properly again. The man let out a sigh and took out some papers and a writing utensil. He began jotting down some characters on the paper.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked.

“Marking down that five more adventurers have perished in the dungeon.” The man shook his head and stored everything back in his ring.

“Is another team going in?” Derek question.

The man shook his head. “At this point, the dungeon goes hours without being occupied before a team gets the courage to go die again.”

“That’s good.” Derek stood and walked towards the orb. When he got there, he touched it with his left hand.

The man he’d just been talking to stood and walked up beside him. “You don’t see many dungeon with the undying in them.” He sighed. “Unfortunately, with the rate that it’s being completed, it won’t be long before it begins to overflow.” Obviously, he thought Derek just wanted to view the status of the dungeon.

Derek nodded, still waiting for the dungeon notification to pop up. They stood in silence while he waited. Finally, the notification popped.

Dungeon Countdown Timer Depleted

Participants: 1/5

Derek Hunt: Level 77

Please Choose an Option Below

View Dungeon

Enter Dungeon

Leave

Derek didn’t bother looking at the dungeon status and just focused on entering.

Participants Ready: 1/1

Derek Hunt: Ready

Derek turned and looked at the older man. If this man was watching everyone who was going in and out of the dungeon, he would see Derek anyway. There was no reason to try to hide going in. “Well, I guess I see you in a bit.” Derek said.

The man gave Derek a confused look that turned into wide-eyed horror as the dungeon counted down and a light washed over Derek’s body. Finally, the light vanished, along with Derek.

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