Dungeons where places with concentrated amount of arcane energy, to the point where most of the area was rich in both arcane energy and monsters. There were more than a few of those everywhere, from empty buildings to tall forests, even normal looking buildings could actually be a dungeon.
Decades had passed already since arcane energy - and the apocalypse - appeared, which meant monsters were far more common, normalized, and sometimes even became inoffensive, but that also made dungeons much harder to spot.
Not for people with a decent Arcane stat though, something that Gabriel now qualified as. Even without it, a few dungeons were mapped out on websites and shit.
And low level didn't need much equipment. He hopes .
Now he just needed to get in and hope for the best.
He stuck another daily curse post-it next to the one from yesterday. Yesterday's curse was Misfortune and today is Nightmare Curse.
The first one is pretty straightforward and the second curse causes horrific hallucinations. Both of them were fairly simple to learn especially with his Curse skill. Nonetheless, it was fun to traumatize innocent mosquitoes and flies. No spiders or bees as his victims of course, he wasn't a monster.
His stomach growled, reminding Gabriel of his ever-present battle with his hunger. He hadn't eaten anything yesterday night. This morning, to celebrate, he was planning on having a feast. He licked his lips just thinking about it.
As he said, just because dungeons had the most monsters didn't mean he couldn't find them in random streets. In a dingy alley, licking its own fur, was a cat. A goblin hybrid cat, because yes, goblins had both the ability and will to reproduce with anything. And its lineage clearly made the cat bigger.
It was the size of a lynx, in height only. It had no fur, and a skin tinted green. Its fat belly hanged there, tempting Gabriel. He manipulated the arcane around it, quickly cursing it with Nightmare and Misfortune. Nightmare would almost always cause fear and confusion rather rage in animals after all.
He got out his knife and stabbed it in quick succession. His knife, although rusty, went easily through its flesh with his newfound strength.
[ Exp gained ]
Not enough to level up. Which was to be expected really.
He dragged the corpse to the appartement, taking out bits of its meat, before burning journal and putting it on the stove along with the meat.
Now, to go to the dungeon. His hands were already sweating, from anticipation or anxiety, he couldn't tell.
He needed a party, but he directly went to nearby a dungeon, where he knows some people would wait especially to form a party.
Normally, forums were better and safer, but that needed a phone, and while yes he had a phone, its battery was finite, with no electricity in this place, and all the places nearby where he could charge it already knew he was homeless and didn't take kindly to him.
He went to another abandoned building, when he had often passed by, and was very clearly a dungeon.
It overflowed with greenery, and even from outside, he could see low-level monsters lounging around or fighting.
It was one of the better dungeons for beginner, with its immense amount of low-level monsters, people flocked to it.
Gabriel was there early in the morning though, which didn't mean there was nobody, just less than usual. Which suited him, since he didn't want anybody to recognize him. because even if Gabriel always made an effort to not look homeless, he still had to go to food banks and thrift stores. Plus, with no running water in any of his shelter, he had to wash in public washrooms, and people noticed eventually.
Lucky him, he was in a city just big enough that people didn't always know each other and gossip didn't travel fast.
He eyed the five other players there. They were visibly divided in two groups and negotiating.
" Ok, well most of our group was here first. " said an old but beefy man, his temper visibly fraying
" Well, if we hadn't come here you wouldn't be able to go in at all " said a just as old and just as beefy woman
" We can't go in right now either way because of you two. " muttered a guy only a few years older than Gabriel
He looked like the picture of teenage angst.
Gabriel approached them slowly.
" Hi ! I wanna form a party, or any of your searching for a member ? " Gabriel asked, clueless to what was going on
He used Persuade, as he always did.
The teenager and a woman, not the one arguing, looked at each other in synch, with a similar annoyed look on their face.
" Yes. " they said in unison
They both took an arm and dragged him away from the other two.
" Sorry, but they were both unbearable. " said the woman in the most monotone voice he's ever heard
Her voice was almost as empty as her eyes, which was mean, but true. Gabriel just smiled at her statement, hoping he didn't appear to confused, because he was.
The teenager noticed.
" They didn't want to be in the same party, so we had to split, but two isn't enough to make a party. " the guy still looked vaguely mad
Gabriel just gave an 'oh' of comprehension.
" Ok, well, I'm Gabriel. " he followed up
They both nodded. Neither of them introduced themselves. The woman just looked in the guy's direction, a mocking glint in her eyes. Gabriel just waited awkwardly before sighing.
" And your name is…" he said in a condescending tone
" Oh. Uh… I'm Sariel " he answered, blushing
Sariel glared at the woman, who just smirked at him. Gabriel felt a bit excluded honestly.
" And I'm Kafka " she gave him a once-over " What level are you ? " she asked bluntly
Gabriel was kind of taken aback, levels mattered very little in dungeons of such a low-level. Regardless, even if he admitted to having a low-level, it didn't matter much with the hundred stat points he received, a reward nobody without a great luck boost would be able to get. If they tried to kill him, they would just get a surprise.
But - and Gabriel gave her a once-over in return - they didn't really alarm him for some reason. And as a homeless kid in a world of monsters, he had great instincts.
" Level 2, and you ? " he asked in return
" Level 34 " she pointed towards Sariel " and Level 12 "
Sariel's eyes widened slightly. Either she was lying, or Sariel didn't know her level. He doubted it was the latter with how well they fit together. If she was lying, she was probably saying a number over her own level, a smart strategy to avoid killers, and Gabriel couldn't blame her for that.
Although 34 was a bit of an overkill, after all, what would a level 34 be doing in such a dungeon.
Her face broke out into a smile, Gabriel could tell she was trying to be warm, but it just seemed out of place on her face.
"Let's go then ! " her falsely cheery voice still, somehow managed to sound monotone
Sariel just glanced at her, clearly weirded out. But as they entered, Gabriel soon had other things to worry about than the strange duo.