Without hesitation I stepped inside my first Instance Dungeon.
The moment I regained my vision from stepping into the portal, I was greeted with a nasty stench.
"Ugh...", I groaned. It was dark. Not too dark, but enough that allowed me to see that I was placed in a long, never-ending tunnel that was basically a sewer. An environment that Slimes love.
"It really does smell like shit down here.", I frowned, trying to hold back the urge to vomit. Slimes like to consume everything in their path, so this is definitely one of their nesting grounds.
Squish. Squish. Plop.
Not even another moment passed by before I saw something come into view. A green-colored, membrane-like monster.
A true-and-true Slime. This really is like a game!
"Not letting me catch my breath eh?", I uttered. Ignoring the horrible stench, my eyes remained on the Slime.
It was moving...rather slowly. Or hopping? I could easily outrun this little guy. It was no bigger than a couple feet in size. Larger than a cat. I almost feel sorry for it.
"Still, this is a dungeon. I cannot be remorseful here. Everything is experience points, and I need to get strong quickly for what's to come. Iron Man I begin in two years...", I said.
Feeling pumped up, I wondered what I should do for my attack. Before that, I saw the one green Slime close its distance. It was now close enough that allowed me to view its details.
[Slime Lv1]
[Ding! You have observed a monster.]
[Ding! Through a special Action, a Field Skill has been generated.]
[Ding! Skill, Observe - Lv1 (0.0%) has been added to your Status.]
[Ding! Using Observe does not use MP.]
[Ding! Any target in front of you will have its information automatically displayed.]
Neat. Observe will go a long way. I looked at its details.
[Observe Lv1 (F) - (0.0%)]
Rank: F
You can view a target's details. It is automatically triggered.
Once I checked what Observe did, the Slime's details automatically came into view, just as the Skill described. Now that's convenient.
[Slime Lv1]
A slime that has adapted to living in the sewers.
HP: 10/10 MP: 0
STR: 1 DEF: 1 INT: 0 DEX: 1
Skill: Gelatinous Strike
EXP: 1 Money: $5 USD
"Nothing out of the ordinary. Right now, I need ten experience points to level up again. Normally, I'd have to kill ten Slimes. But thanks to Points Doubler, I only need to kill five. No matter how many times I have to say it, Points Doubler is overpowered, heh.", I chuckled, seeing that my grind has literally been cut in half.
Should I use some of my points? Right now my STR is still only 1. I have not defined any growth pattern yet. I don't think I need to head down that route right now until I can comfortably level up without worrying about what my Stats do. For the time being, I'll invest four points into STR to test the waters.
Not literally, of course. These are horrible sewers. That'd be disgusting, haha!
Pulling up my Status, next to each Stat Point, I saw a little arrow that I can tap to increase its value. I proceeded to do so.
[Ding! You have used 4 Points.]
[Ding! Your STR has increased by 4!]
[Ding! Current STR: 5.]
[Ding! Points Doubler did not trigger.]
[Ding! Points Doubler only triggers when Points are received.]
Ahh...so that's the one caveat to Points Doubler. Otherwise, that'd cut what's already cut in half by another half, making it a fourth of what I would normally require. That'd be way too broken if you ask me.
"Now then, what Action should I try? This Slime is quite harmless. It's moving so slow...", I uttered, seeing the one Slime take an eternity to move a couple feet. It sure was taking its sweet time, so I decided to be proactive.
I dashed forward. Once I was close up in the slime's...face? Did it even have a face? I guess body is the more appropriate word to use here. I didn't reach my hands out cause who knows where its body has been. Instead, I drew my right leg backward.
Then I swung hard with my foot. BANG!
The Slime couldn't even react. It didn't have DEX displayed on its Status, so it was practically non-existent. If it had some DEX, it likely could have dodged my kick just now, but it took the attack head on.
The Slime didn't stay in place, either. I had angled my kick, which caused its body to lift up into the air, and smack the wall nearby, hard.
[Ding! You have landed a successful blow on Slime Lv1.]
[Ding! With the impact of the wall, you have landed a critical blow!]
[-9!]
A big red damage number appeared over the Slime as its gelatinous body attempted to roll back down onto the ground before me. Disgusting.
"Is this place even considered an Instance Dungeon? This is way too easy, haha!", I happily said. Like this Slime wasn't even fighting back and it was already on death's door. Let's put it out of its misery.
I ran up to it, feeling no remorse for what I'm about to do. It's a Monster, alright? They're meant to be killed. I need my experience! So I decided to do the same thing again. Gathering and Observe triggered from one single Action in both instances, but nothing happened when I kicked the Slime once.
BANG!
[-4!]
Just like that, the battle ended. I saw the Slime vanish into tiny pixels. In its place was something shiny. A singular screen bill that I was ever so familiar with. Money!
I reached down and picked up the five-dollar bill. The Gamer Notifications came flooding in.
[Ding! The battle has finished.]
[Ding! You defeated one Slime!]
[Ding! You have obtained 1 EXP.]
[Ding! Point Doubler has triggered.]
[Ding! You have obtained 2 EXP!]
[Ding! Current Level: 2 (12/20)]
[Ding! $5 USD has been deposited into your Wallet.]
"Fantastic. I can at least afford a single bus fare and head into the city, but only that. That'll get me further than where I currently am, but like I said, I'm not trying to become a Vigilante. I'd rather not fight criminals in LA if I don't need to. Hunting monsters is more fun!", I said. I also took this time to see my Quest's progress.
Task 1: Create Instance Dungeon (1/1)
Task 2: Kill Slimes (1/20)
"One down. Nineteen more to go.", I said, feeling more pumped now. In response to that, I heard some more bouncing in the near distance. Bounce. Bounce. Plop.
This time, two Slimes showed up!
"Hah!', I yelled, even though I didn't need to do that. It's nice to add some dramatic flare, right? At the same time, I wanted to test something out. Can I use my Status Window in the midst of combat?
'Open Status Window', I thought while running toward the two Slimes that were slowly approaching me. It actually opened! Neat, so if I really wanted to, I could keep some Points in reserve, and use them in a pinch. That could determine life and death right there. It's good to know I can do this. I'm not going to be stingy with my points.
'Put 5 points into STR, 2 into VIT, 3 into DEX', I decided. The combat is pretty basic for now, it likely just takes the difference between my stats and the slimes. And sometimes, a critical hit can happen. What would happen if additional factors, like Equipment, get added later? I can't wait to see.
To prepare for that, I decided to use my ten remaining Points.
[Ding! You have used 10 Points.]
[Ding! Available Points: 0.]
[Ding! Your STR has increased to 10.]
[Ding! Your DEX has increased to 4.]
[Ding! Your VIT has increased to 3.]
Music to my ears~
"Take this, you shitty slimes!", I yelled, doing the same motion as I did before. This time, I did a bigger swing of my leg. The attack connected. I swung from the right side all the way leftward. BANG!
Both slimes were lined up. Man how stupid are they? The first slime stuck to my leg and it soon collided with the second slime. It didn't end there, I continued the motion, and the exact same thing happened as the first one. The two got blasted into the wall, hitting it hard. Basic slimes like these ones don't really do well against solid concrete, huh? I almost feel sorry for them.
[Ding! Your DEX has overwhelmed your targets!]
[Ding! You landed a critical blow!]
[-18!]
[-19!]
Wobble...
The two slimes couldn't even reach the ground before they vanished into tiny pixels.
[Ding! Through a special Action, You have created an Active Skill!]
[Ding! Active Skill, Leg Sweep (F) Lv1 (0.0%) has been added to your Status.]
[Ding! You have created your first battle Skill!]
[Ding! Your STR has increased by 1.]
[Ding! Points Doubler has triggered.]
[Ding! Your STR has increased by 2.]
[Ding! Current STR: 12.]
[Ding! The battle has finished.]
[Ding! You have defeated x2 Slimes.]
[Ding! You have obtained 2 EXP.]
[Ding! Points Doubler has triggered.]
[Ding! You have obtained 4 EXP!]
[Ding! Current Level: 2 (16/20)]
[Ding! $10 USD has been added to your Wallet.]
[Ding! Wallet: $15 USD.]
"Five more bucks and I'll have a single twenty-dollar bill to my name. Just by killing twenty of these Slimes alone, I'll walk away with a hundred bucks. Given that it's 2006, it should be relatively cheap to stay at a hotel for a night, right? I can't exactly afford an apartment, let alone buy my own home yet. I'll need to tackle tens, if not hundreds of Instance Dungeons first before I can even think about doing the latter. Still, baby steps first. I can already see this becoming my main source of income!", I happily said, feeling satisfied with my progress so far. "No more crappy nine-to-five job!"
I mean, if I hunt Instance Dungeons from nine to five, is that considered the same thing?
At this rate, I'll turn into a professional Slime Hunter! All Slimes will fear me!
Joking aside, I used this time to head deeper into this dank, dark tunnel. Man, I really need a Skill to turn off my senses. It really does smell like shit down here.