08 - Dungeon Air (Patreon)

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Ryan wiped the last of the tables clean, getting ready to open the café for the day, glancing over toward his uncle stood behind the counter.

"You know..." he said, feeling a little awkward, "What was my dad like? From your perspective?"

Runar snapped his head around in surprise, "Uhh... Where's that coming from?"

"I'm just curious... mom sent me some of his old stuff the other day, and I realized that I don't really know that much about him beside what mom told me, and she... doesn't talk about him that much," Ryan explained, not fully turning toward his uncle.

"I mean... what do you want to know? There's a lot to say about him. He was always honest, helped those around him whenever he could... got in trouble with our father a lot," Runar leaned onto the counter in contemplation, a small, bitter smile on his face. Ryan didn't see him like that a lot.

"Why did he get in trouble?"

"Ah... Our father..." Runar sighed, as the topic moved to a direction he didn't particularly seem to like, but he still explained as best he could, "He was very traditional, I guess? He put a lot of pressure and expectations on Hayden, wanting to turn him into something that he just... wasn't. And Hayden would not stay quiet about the fact it really wasn't what he wanted. And then, when our father died, he... he left. Moved somewhere quiet, away from the rest of our family, met your mom and... you know the rest of the story."

Ryan looked back at Runar with a frown, "And just left you alone?"

"Oh, I mean, it was fine, I wasn't like, alone. Our mom was still around back then, our cousins and friends supported us a lot... I guess I was mad at him for a while, though. I was 15, so obviously, you know? But there was also a 10-year age gap between us, so we hadn't been super close until then anyway. We only reconnected about a year before he passed," Runar explained, even if he seemed a little nervous. But seeing Ryan's expression, he quickly tried to clarify something, "There's no hard feelings or anything, I get why he left, and honestly, it was the right decision for him. Things worked out really well, and if he had stayed... he wouldn't have been happy. And that's what really matters in the end."

Ryan looked at the ground, trying to figure out how to word his next question properly, "Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but was he interested in magic at all? Like, spirits or something, maybe?"

Runar froze up for a moment, something that didn't get past Ryan, but he soon shook his head and replied, "Not that I know... But it's possible, obviously. You never really know. Why?" he asked with a slight frown.

Ryan slowly held forward his hand, "I found something in his things when mom sent them to me, and when I grabbed it, well..."

Red wisps of light started to flow out of Ryan's fingertips, gathering on the table in front of him. And soon, the light itself dimmed, revealing a small, model-sized knight.

"I awakened," Ryan started, "This is Maximus, a spirit. He... well, his core was with dad's stuff, so... I figured maybe you'd know something about it."

When Ryan looked back up away from Maximus, for a fraction of a second, he spotted an expression of shock on Runar's face that Ryan wasn't able to pin down exactly. But just a moment later, Runar himself seemed to realize, and relaxed his face into a smile, "Holy shit, that's... that's fucking amazing! But a... a magic class, huh?"

"Yeah, I know, I know..." Ryan replied, smiling awkwardly as he looked down at Maximus, "I had hoped for some kind of a physical class, but this one seems pretty fun too, I guess. I mean, it's really not easy to get disappointed by awakening, so I really can't complain."

Runar stared at Maximus, not averting his gaze as he spoke, "So, you found that spirit's core, and that made you awaken? And you're sure it was with your dad's stuff?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. It was with some model-building stuff."

"...right... And this happened the other day?" Runar asked. His eyes were still stuck on Maximus, and Ryan really didn't know what was going on, but it was freaking him out.

"Yeah, on Tuesday, after my shift. I went out to get it registered yesterday in the morning, and then Silvia, Modak and I went-"

"Wait, you registered already?" Runar asked, his face even more pale than usual.

"Yes? Was I not supposed to?" Confused at his uncle's sudden worry, Ryan just stood there, unsure what was going on, "If you're mad that i didn't tell you beforehand, I'm sorry. But yesterday was one of your random 'break days'. I tried telling you on Tuesday already but you weren't in your room, you wouldn't reply to my texts, and the basement was locked, as always. What did you want me to do?"

"...What about your mom, does she know?"

"Of course she knows, I talked with her for like three hours last night about what my plans are and how this changes things. She trusts me to do the right thing, so why are you acting so weird?"

Runar kept staring at Maximus, something that the Knight continued to reciprocate. In the end, Runar just let out a long sigh, "I'm sorry, I just... I've seen a lot of people's lives changed by awakening, and not just for the better. I'm the only family you have here in the city, so I want to make sure that you'll be alright."

Ryan sighed deeply. Until now, Runar mostly acted like a friend, taking on more of an older-brother position. Seeing him this worried was unusual, especially considering his normal demeanour.

"And I appreciate that, I really do. If I need your help with anything, I'll tell you, but I know what I'm doing. It's not the class that I expected, but I'm pretty happy with it. Maximus is great, and man, it's a unique class! I'm so curious to see what's gonna happen if I keep growing this."

Runar looked at Ryan, still clearly concerned, "Just tell me if you need help with anything. I've got some friends that know a thing or two about spirits, so I can ask them. And text me some updates on big stuff that happens, alright?"

"Right, of course. Well, right now, the only thing you've gotta know is that I'm going to a Dungeon tomorrow, and someone from Bluesky tried to buy my class yesterday. That guy might come here too, so just tell him I'm not interested if he does. Oh, but if you want, just use this whole thing to get some free stuff."

"...Text me this kind of stuff right away from now on."

***

***

***

Ryan stood in front of the factory. He was wearing the clothes that Silvia had specifically designed for him. On it we're specific hooks and pockets to hold all the makeshift weapons that Ryan had bought for Maximus, so that Ryan could easily give Maximus whatever he could need. Of course, at the same time, it was all positioned and attached in ways that allowed Ryan to move without constraints so that he could fight as well.

On Ryan's legs and torso, hard protective pads were attached as armour, and Silvia had even customized the helmet that Ryan bought. She even borrowed Ryan's backpack and added some loops to them that could hold the hammer and pickaxe for the dungeon.

"That girl's fucking insane," Ryan muttered to himself with a grin on his face. Silvia had done all this in just two days. Though, Ryan didn't even want to think about how much all these materials were worth... if he got his hands on some item drops in the dungeon, he definitely had to buy her something. But that wasn't what he had to concentrate on right now.

Ryan looked at the checkpoint that had been set up just a few steps behind the old, rusted entrance, stepping up to the reinforced entry gate. He held his Awakened License up to the scanner at his side, and a green light quickly lit up in front of him as the gate opened up, allowing him to step inside. Once he was through, he could feel the quality of the air change considerably. Not that it was worse, just different. Ryan heard about this tons of times before. 'Dungeon Air'. Due to the high concentration of mana, there was a tangible difference in the quality. This presence of mana emanating from the dungeon's heart was what caused the 'Dungeonification' of the surrounding area, and if regular people lived in this ambience for a long time, they would end up with 'Mana Sickness'. If you had generally high aptitude for magic or awakened, getting mana sickness was a lot harder, though still possible. For high risk dungeons with particularly high concentrations of mana, even an awakened would collapse and vomit within minutes.

And to protect the surrounding areas, and to prevent the growth of a dungeon into 'Stage 3', the point where it affected the areas adjacent to the original structures, once a dungeon was found, a barrier with only limited entry points would be placed around it. Ryan had just stepped through one of those entry points. Turning around, Ryan noticed the refracting light on the surface of the barrier, like that shifting rainbow hue you would see on soap bubbles.

Ryan placed his backpack onto the ground, first grabbing the pickaxe. He needed to try out both, but using this initially seemed a bit safer. From inside of his bag, he grabbed a few things. A pair of gloves, an energy drink, and a protein bar. He put on the well-fitted gloves with rubber pads on the palm and fingers. Hopefully, these should improve the grip he had on the pickaxe and hammer, and also make the whole thing a bit easier on his hands in general. Depending on how long he was going to be here today, his hands could suffer quite a bit. Ryan was confident in his stamina, but things like this always took more than you would expect.

With a wave of his hand, a flow of red wisps flowed out from Ryan's arm and hands, as Maximus appeared next to him. Ryan handed him one of the hammers, formerly a spiked meat tenderizer, and then leaned back against the brick wall next to him. Silvia had pried off the old handle and then wrapped the metal rod that acted as the handle's core in some fabric. Since Maximus' hands were gloved anyway, it didn't need to be super comfortable. Maximus seemed quite happy with it as well, especially since he could wrap both his hands around it well enough. Silvia had really outdone herself, again.

"We'll head inside in a bit, I just need to get used to this air first..." Ryan explained to him, and Maximus replied with a slow nod. Taking a deep breath that left his throat weirdly warm, Ryan pulled on the energy drink's tab and drank a mouthful. He tore off the protein bar's wrapper with his teeth and quickly took a bite. Maximus was watching this intensely.

"Hm? What, you want one as well?"

Maximus slowly shook his head, and Ryan raised his brow for a moment. It didn't take him long to understand why Maximus seemed confused, "Right, sorry. So basically, a ton of Dungeoneers suggest this before you head into a dungeon, especially for beginners. These don't really do much once your physical stats get high enough, but for me right now, the extra energy won't hurt, at least."

As though he agreed, Maximus nodded his head in understanding, and then slowly turned toward the dungeon itself. It was a large, run-down factory that clearly hasn't been used in a while. Though, it wasn't a terrible sight, and he understood why urban explorers came here; the whole plot was filled completely with wildflowers. The factory's brick walls as well as its smokestacks, were covered in vines and ivy. Quite impressed by the view, Ryan pulled out his phone. The gloves he bought could be used with touch-screens, luckily. He pulled up the camera and tried to take a picture of the building, but the photo ended up somewhat distorted. Dungeon Air tended to do that to regular cameras, and Ryan didn't care enough about taking pictures to buy a phone with a mana-sensitive camera, so this would have to do. Though, these distorted pictures also had their own charm to them.

He continued to take long, deep breaths until he seemed to get adjusted to the Dungeon Air, and then slowly pushed himself off the ground.

"You remember the signs we agreed on?" Ryan asked, and Maximus nodded his head. Since Maximus wasn't able to talk, and Ryan could only really understand rough ideas when interacting with the spirit, they agreed on some very simple hand-signs that Maximus would show to Ryan if he wanted to swap to a different weapon. Similarly, Ryan had a hand sign that he would show to Maximus for a single specific reason.

To let Maximus know that he was about to activate the 'Spirit Link' skill. Usually he would just tell him, but it would be a lot safer to be quiet inside of the dungeon whenever possible.

Over the past few days, Ryan had used the 'Spirit Link' skill a few times in preparation for today.

Though it was mostly useful for a few specific circumstances, this skill would be very important for today.

"And remember, just use your skills at your own discretion, don't wait for my signal. I trust your judgement," Ryan reminded Maximus as he slowly pushed himself off the ground. He tightened his grip around the pickaxe's handle with a smile, leaning down one more time to pick up Maximus.

"You ready?"

Maximus replied with a quick nod, as the two made their way toward the large door that was the factory's entrance. Squatting down next to the door, Ryan carefully pushed it open and peaked inside. There was nothing there, so he carefully made his way inside while glancing at his phone screen. He had opened the Awakened Forum app, specifically the page for this dungeon. There was a rudimentary map on here spanning about 500 by 700 metres, though of course that probably wasn't the full extent of the dungeon's interior.

A dungeon, once it reached Stage 2, would start distorting the space of the structure it infested. While it also changed the outside, to an extent, most of the change happened within the physical space within the dungeon. Most of the time, especially for dungeons like this that were still fairly young within Stage 2, the original structure's spaces would be repeated and folded upon each other, almost as if seen through a broken kaleidoscope.

The worst part was that they could change over time, though at least not without warning. This map should still be fine for now. If Ryan had better funds, he could have bought a dungeon-mapper. Though, it might be worth investing in if he ended up going into dungeons more anyway. Depending on how much you mapped out, you could get a decent chunk of money from the DMB, the Dungeon Management Bureau.

Ryan stepped further into the building, keeping low as he did. Soon, he came by some rails on the ground. Glancing over at Maximus, who was also looking back at him, Ryan slowly and quietly moved forward. Luckily, the ground was covered in grass, weeds, and moss, so his footsteps were almost completely silent.

However, it didn't take long for him to hear a sound from a whole other source. Rusted metal scratching against even more rusted metal, and the reverberating sound of rocks being hit against steel repeatedly. Ryan peered around the corner, and spotted the first 'Monster' he had ever seen. His heart was almost ready to jump out through his throat as he looked at the back of that figure.

It was a person made completely out of stone, as if someone took a pile of bricks and vaguely moulded it into the shape of something that should resemble what seemed like a dwarf. It was trying to push a mine-cart filled with the green of deeply oxidized copper, but it seemed like something was blocking its way along the rails. Looking around, Ryan spotted a piece of ore that had probably dropped out of that very cart just earlier, and picked it up.

He looked over at Maximus, who carefully nodded his head. Carefully, Ryan moved further around the corner, and threw the piece of ore at the back of the stone monster. Almost instantly, the monster turned around. Its legs were in the same position as before but its back twisted around 180 degrees, until it was looking straight at Ryan, squatting just barely in view. Once its legs and feet caught up to the rotation, the monster started running at Ryan; not particularly fast, but considering it was a dwarf-sized mass of stone, it was still pretty terrifying.

While its heavy footsteps approached, Ryan and Maximus retreated back into the area they were in before, where it seemed a safer to fight this monster. Ryan tightened his grip on the pickaxe, but he wasn't the one that was going to fight.

Maximus grasped the former meat tenderizer, now an improvised war-hammer, with both of his hands, as Ryan could see a thin red light envelop the weapon and Maximus 'Knight's Attack' skill was activated.

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