The sky was still dark when Elias set out for the dungeon entrance, his only companion the soft glow of the streetlights. The pack on his back was full, loaded with everything he might need for the day, including food, water, and even a spare shirt.
He wore black combat boots with black pants and a matching black shirt—the closest thing adventurers had to a uniform. The design was extremely popular among dungeon delvers worldwide for being cheap, durable, and comfortable. His parents had made sure to buy him several sets for his birthday, along with a new energy card.
Due to their ease of use and generally low cost, energy cards were the most popular method of storing currency. Elias' new card was a dull gray and middling in quality, with a storage capacity of 10,000,000 energy and the ability to hold energy up to Tier 3.
The sky was beginning to brighten when Elias arrived at the dungeon entrance, granting him a breathtaking view of an impossibly large bearded fig tree.
It towered over everything in the small town, rising more than five hundred meters into the sky. Thousands of vines hung from its crown, stretching endlessly toward the ground. Surrounding it on all sides stood four stone pillars, each about two hundred meters tall, their surfaces etched with glowing runes.
The areas containing dungeon entrances are known as Temples—special zones within the dungeon where monsters cannot spawn or enter, offering adventurers a safe haven to rest. Interestingly, most known Temples are located deep within the dungeon, with new ones occasionally being discovered.
However, the surface Temples were especially significant, as they housed what were known as Monuments—magical structures that enabled adventurers to undergo their Awakening. This process allowed anyone with all attributes at level ten to unlock their Skills and attain the Beginner rank simply by touching the Monument.
The concrete sidewalk beneath Elias' feet gave way to a field of grass as he stepped across the clearly marked boundary of the Temple.
He continued walking toward the tree and soon passed one of its many hanging vines, which swayed gently against the grass. Already, he could see thin roots threading through the ground, even though the base of the tree was still hundreds of meters away. The tree’s roots grew thicker as he neared the base, forming a complex network of bridges and tunnels that people used to travel to and from the dungeon entrance.
Elias passed one of the four pillars—this one glowing a fiery red—with hanging vines interwoven along its length. Even at this early hour, he spotted a girl about his age standing atop a root, touching the base of the pillar and smiling, likely having just undergone her Awakening.
Beneath the bearded fig tree—its roots sprawling over and digging into the structure—stood a large stone pyramid. People were already disappearing into the narrow tunnels leading inside, and Elias followed suit, entering the one closest to him.
Softly glowing crystals embedded in the walls lit the tunnel, allowing Elias to move forward unhindered. He walked at a relaxed pace for several minutes until the passage opened into a sprawling jungle within a vast cavern—the first zone of the dungeon.
Tens of thousands of glowing crystals adorned the walls and ceiling of the enormous cavern, shining down like stars. They provided a constant source of illumination, allowing adventurers to explore the dungeon at any time. Even so, the thick jungle vegetation still made visibility a challenge.
The tunnel’s exit was carved into the cavern wall and opened into a large clearing, where several adventurers were preparing for their dungeon delve. The clearing formed a perfect hemisphere around the dungeon entrance, its edges bordered by a wall of dense jungle vegetation—a clear demarcation of where the dungeon really began.
Elias knew this clearing wasn’t protected from monsters like a Temple, but the people around him acted as if it were. He shrugged, then walked past them and stepped unwaveringly into the wall of leaves.
Since the monsters in this area were level 10 at most, it was affectionately known as the newbie zone, even though it was technically classified as an unranked zone. The Beginner, Novice, and Journeyman rank zones also followed the same jungle theme, with slight variations and progressively stronger monsters. In fact, all zones directly beneath a dungeon entrance shared the theme of that Temple, a pattern that only shifted at the Expert rank zone.
Having lived his entire life in this town, and spent most of it preparing to become an adventurer, Elias knew nearly everything there was to know about this zone. Most relevant now was the fact that monsters grew stronger and more densely packed the closer one got to the zone’s center. So, he decided to stick close to the cavern walls. His attributes were still low, after all, and he had promised his mom he’d be careful.
Elias slipped through gaps in the dense foliage as best he could, using his hands to push aside large leaves and hanging vines. Bits of vegetation clung to his skin and clothes.
Several minutes passed, and frustration began to creep in. He still hadn’t encountered a single monster. Then he heard it: a strange sound, a cross between the call of a songbird and the hoot of a monkey, echoing four times before fading into silence.
He perked up, immediately recognizing it as the call of a monster—and it was close.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
He turned slowly toward the source of the call, careful not to give away his position. Moving as stealthily as he could, he hoped to catch the monster by surprise and score an easy kill.
Soon, he spotted a small monkey hanging by its tail from a tree branch. It had an abnormally long neck and a small head with a beak instead of a mouth, and a pair of wings tucked close to its body. Elias used Analyze on the creature, though he already had a good idea of what he was dealing with.
*******
Tamarin Macaw
Common
Level 5
*******
Elias cheered silently, pumping his fist in a quiet celebration of his luck.
These small winged monkeys were a blessing to well-informed adventurers, serving as a reliable way to locate other monsters. They posed no direct threat, but typically stayed close to stronger creatures. As a result, they always nested in areas with a higher-than-normal concentration of monsters.
Elias spent a few seconds scanning the area, trying to spot the other monster he knew had to be nearby. A rustle of leaves made his heart skip a beat as the Tamarin Macaw released its hold on the branch, spreading its wings wide.
It flitted about with impressive agility, using its wings to maneuver from one branch to the next, and its tail and legs to shift direction quickly. Soon, it landed on another branch and settled, cawing four more times before hanging upside down by its tail once again.
Suppressing a sigh of relief, careful not to alert the monkey-bird to his presence, Elias resumed his search for the second monster. The task was made easier by analyzing the path the Tamarin Macaw had taken as it flitted about. Though its flight appeared random, the creature consistently stayed within a specific area, and sure enough, he spotted the second monster right at the center of it.
Burrowed in a small hole in the ground, the long snout of an armadillo-like creature was just barely visible. The hole was mostly covered in fallen leaves, and its dirt-brown hide served as effective camouflage, making the small monster difficult to spot. Not recognizing the species, Elias used Analyze.
*******
Slingshot Armadillo
Common
Level 4
*******
For a moment, Elias was dumbfounded by how on-the-nose the creature’s name was, guessing it could likely launch itself at high speeds—like a slingshot. Still, he chose to be cautious, reminding himself that he didn’t actually know what its abilities were. After all, even if the monsters in this zone rarely posed a threat to inexperienced adventurers, they could still hurt him, especially with his low Vitality.
Elias picked up a few stones from the ground and began to slowly approach the small armadillo-like monster. Positioning himself in front of a particularly thick tree, he hurled a couple of stones toward the spot where the creature was burrowed.
After a brief delay, the monster launched itself at him like a cannonball, having curled into a tight ball. But Elias had prepared for exactly this. He narrowly ducked under the living projectile, despite its incredible speed.
It slammed into the thick tree with a dull thud, followed by a wheezy grunt as the beast uncurled and flopped onto its back—right at Elias' feet. With a wicked smile, he punched down as hard as he could, landing a solid hit on the creature’s exposed belly. Then he kept striking, again and again, until his vision briefly filled with a notification.
 
You have gained 80 exp.
 
Instead of celebrating, Elias quickly composed himself and scanned the air for the monster he knew would be trying to ambush him. Sure enough, the winged monkey was already swooping down.
He grinned and swiftly threw the remaining stones he’d gathered into its path. The flying obstacles disrupted the creature’s flight, sending it crashing to the ground with a pained cry. With that, its fate was sealed, and Elias finished it off just as he had the Slingshot Armadillo.
 
You have gained 100 exp.
 
As soon as it died, the monster began to disintegrate—its edges flaking into dust until nothing remained but a tiny, translucent crystal.
He held the small gem up to his eyes, but there was nothing inside, only the blue glow of unaspected energy. Unlike the energy crystals he’d seen before, which held a lightning bolt dancing within or a wave crashing down, this one felt… flavorless.
Done examining the Tier 0 energy crystal, Elias pressed it against his energy card, and the trapped energy began to flow into it. Once the transfer was complete, the crystal crumbled to dust in his hand just like the monster’s corpse. After a bit of searching, he found the crystal dropped by the Tamarin Macaw and added its energy to the card as well.
He was satisfied to see that the crystal didn’t glow as the energy was added. It was one of the key features of this model, designed to prevent others from guessing how much energy it held or using Analyze on it. That is, unless they were touching it directly, like he was now.
*******
Cloaked Energy Card
Rare
Energy Storage Device
 
90/10,000,000 Energy
 
Effects:
-Energy Storage
-Cloaked
*******
With his back straight and head held high, Elias continued trudging through the jungle in search of more monsters to kill.
While he hadn’t gained much from this encounter alone, Elias felt satisfied with his performance, especially considering it was his first time fighting dungeon monsters. His eyes gleamed with determination, knowing he’d need to defeat another hundred or so such beasts to raise his Vitality by a single level.
Minutes turned into hours as Elias relentlessly accumulated experience, one monster at a time. With practice, he even grew better at finding the beasts—or rather, at letting them find him.
As it turned out, making noise and moving quickly through the jungle was a pretty effective strategy for getting monsters to come after you, then all you had to do was kill them first. Easy.
Still, it was late afternoon by the time he finally gathered the 9,000 exp needed to raise his Vitality by another level.
 
Congratulations! Your Vitality is now level 5.