Dungeon Diving 101 Chapter 10 (Patreon)

I was prepared not to be impressed with the dungeon shop. Right, it would be like just any other store.

Wrong.

“Oh, my god.” Harley was panting as we went into the building for the dungeon and the shop ran by the United Guilds. “I want all the things.”

“Calm down.” I put a hand on her shoulder, and she was actually vibrating with excitement. “We need to sell the stuff from our dive here.”

On the right side, before the entrance, there was a bank of booths with a teller in each.

With my attention on the booths, the women working there noticed me and pointed.

“Someone is popu~lar.” Harley teased. “Look at all those girls shuffling in back to get your business. Pick your favorite.”

“That’s not what’s happening.” I promised Harley.

“It is so cute that you try to deny it. If I were straight, I’d gobble you up. Then again, Des here has already called dibs even if she’s going to pretend she’s not interested.” Harley leaned on my shoulder with a gigantic sigh.

Desmonda stepped around Harley. “I will kill you. Shut up.”

Harley snapped to attention. “Yes. Ma’am. Shutting up.”

Desmonda went from looking at the troublesome bard to checking my expression. “If you don’t pick, I will.”

It wasn’t a big deal.

I hurried forward to the closest booth.

There was a pretty woman with glasses sitting in the booth, a green vest over what looked like mage robes. “Hello! I’m Katie.” She said, a little too excitedly. “I’m sorry, are you Ken? There are a lot of rumors going around campus about you.”

I sighed as I sat down in a chair and the rest of my party took four of the five seats in front of her booth. “Yes, I am. We are here to sell the goods from our first dungeon dive.”

“Great. You haven’t signed up with the United Guilds yet, have you?” She looked at me and the rest of my party for an answer.

I shook my head. “Do we need to sign up since we are students at Haylon?”

“Of course. If you don’t mind, I’d like to offer myself as your diving adviser. I am a level eighteen mage and I’ve been as deep at the 21st floor.” She placed a hand on her chest with a proud smile.

The girls didn’t seem to have an opinion. “Sure. What does a dungeon adviser do?”

She quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper while some of the other ladies behind the counter sighed and went back to their duties.

“We help give you personalized advice on your dives and can give you updates on things happening in the dungeon. Like say there was a population boom of monsters on the second floor. I will shoot you a message through your CID. That and once I register you four as a party, you’ll have an available chat and call function in your CID that will work in the dungeon.”

Both of those seemed like helpful things.

“Alright. All of that sounds good.”

“One moment then.” She turned away and started typing on a terminal. “If you have the items for sale, please allocate them to a trade menu on your CID and place it up against this box to transfer them to the United Guilds.”

Holding up my CID, I had the menu come up and quickly dragged the stacks of moss and random items into the trade menu.

Des finished first and tapped her CID against the box as it made a chime. Then the other three of us did the same.

“How do you want to allocate the money?”

Harley had joined us late, but I wanted to start us out on a good foot. “Evenly.”

The pink-haired girl realized it. “No, you don’t have to.”

“It’s fine.” Des said. “Just the first time we go out, the meal is on you.”

“Yeah! We can go out and get Charlotte drunk. She’d be so cute.” Harley said with a dark chuckle.

“Do not get Charlotte drunk.” I rolled my eyes.

Harley shrugged and a little chime made me realize she had a bell in the hair band holding her hair back. “If you will not make a move, I am.”

“Guys.” Charlotte said, burying her face in her hands as she blushed furiously.

Bun-bun squeaked angrily at the bard.

Katie just watched us all with an amused smile from the booth. “Okay. Your party is all formed up. It’s causing a little trouble in the system, with Ken being an aberrant. The system is having trouble reading his skills, it looks like.”

“Wait, I have skills?” I blurted.

“Of course you do. All classes get skills, most get two to start, with a few rare exceptions. Trouble is, the CID doesn’t know what your skills are because it doesn’t know your class.” Katie wrinkled her nose. “Whatever your class is, it isn’t playing nice with the CID. Have you had trouble with your stats?”

“No?” I was growing concerned.

“Oh, right, you are level one. We’ll just have to see it’s happened before. Without knowing your class, it might lock you out of allocating stat points to prevent harm to your body.” Katie explained as she continued to type distractedly into the terminal.

Des was the one concerned now. “Then how is he supposed to progress?”

Katie gave her an awkward smile. “I’m sure since Crimson has taken an interest in him, she had some secret methods. She’s an aberrant class too.”

I frowned, but tried to push it out of my mind. That was a problem for another day. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Is there anything I can do for my skills?”

“If you manage to use one, the CID will recognize it and add it to your sheet.” Katie assured me.

Frowning. “So I just shout spell names and hope one works?” I asked.

Katie winced. “Pretty much.” She paused. “I can try to put together a comprehensive list of known base class spells. A lot of classes share some.”

“That would be super helpful.” Harley butt in. “How much did we get from the loot?” She asked eagerly, casting a longing look at the shop.

Katie nodded and hit a key on the terminal with finality.

A number in the corner of my CID readout dialed up.

“Split four ways you guys earned five hundred and thirty-four coins.” Katie said as the readout settled on those same numbers.

Harley looked at her CID and then back at Katie. “Is that a lot?”

“No. Not really.” Katie deadpanned. The adviser didn’t seem to be Harley’s biggest fan. “But you are level 1 and spent a single day in the dungeon. Considering that, it’s great. Haylon has some high-quality loot given the moss from the boggarts is used for low rank healing potions. It is always in high demand.”

“Alright. Let’s go shopping.” Harley was on her feet and hurrying me out of the chair. “Come on, fearless leader, the joys of shopping await us.”

Charlotte just laughed at Harley’s antics, apologizing to Katie and hurrying after us.

Desmonda did her best to hide any emotion on her face.

“It really is wonderful.” Charlotte said as I opened the doors to the shop.

The glass wall had given us a good idea, but there was something special about the doors opening up into what almost seemed like another world.

We were underground, and I wondered just how far the shop went.

“Welcome. First time?” A clerk smiled. “Grab a shopping basket to carry things. Your CID’s inventory will be disabled while in the shop.”

I nodded, grabbing one of the wire baskets. “Thank you.”

“Have a pleasant time. The lower level area is to the left side of the store.”

“I wanna see the high level items.” Harley turned right, set on all the large shiny looking items that hung on hooks and shelves.

Even from here, I could see that some of them were powerful enough that their enchantments actually put off a slight glow.

“Harley, if I let you go that way, you are going to get depressed when you see the prices.” I said and knew that I didn’t want to deal with a depressed Harley during our dungeon dive.

“Maybe go look at the level three items and get some reasonable goals.” Desmonda suggested.

I nodded, not letting go of Harley and pulling her along.

“None of you are any fun.” She huffed and went along with me. “It isn’t like I’m going to get into trouble. They disabled the CID inventory, and it sounds like they have everything covered.”

That stealing was the first thing on Harley’s mind, was uncomfortable, to say the least. Stealing from the United Guilds would be a great way to get in a dangerous situation.

They controlled all the dungeon entrances with the promise to remain neutral, but that didn’t mean if you stole from them they couldn’t do something like black list you from every dungeon.

The United Guilds might be the most terrifying organization on the planet if you got on their bad side. Their resources were near endless.

I walked us down the isles, every other one was labeled with what levels were on either side.

It wasn’t until we got to the level three area that we allowed ourselves to go down the aisles.

“Oooh. Pretty.” Harley stopped in front of a puffy white dress with gold trim.

“That’s for mages.”

“So.” Harley stared at it with stars in her eyes. “I want it. It has good stats too.” She grabbed the tag to look at it and let out a small scream. “Fift-fity thousand coins?!”

Des laughed at her. “What did you expect?”

“Something affordable.” Harley stomped her feet. “Let’s go over to the level one area. Stupid coins. What is the point of these?”

“They are a digital currency that even the other races use.” I said, even though I didn’t think she was really asking. “You can exchange them for cash if you ever want, but everything around the dungeon uses them.”

Harley couldn’t be bothered as she rush around the shelves to another section that was for level ones. “This stuff is so plain.” She picked at the sleeves of a white tunic and found the tag. “One fifty and it only gives a little armor.”

“Well, it won’t burn you like that level three dress.” Charlotte tried to console the bard.

“Right.” She pulled the tunic off and squinted at it. “Na. Not worth the coins.”

“You were a pretty excellent shot with the bow. Why not pick one up in case you need to fight?” I tried to get her to move past the bland clothing that I knew would just continue to disappoint Harley.

She was the kind of girl who wanted bright colors, and there was none of that here.

“But that’s why I have you, Ken. I sing for you and you go fight monsters.” Harley joked.

I rolled my eyes and continued past to where Desmonda had stopped.

“What are these?” I asked.

Desmonda was stopped in front of a small bookshelf with a bunch of strange, thin books. “All the gear here we’d end up replacing in a week. These first levels will go quickly.” She explained her logic, and she held her chin and continued to scan the bookshelf. “But a skill would be something that would more permanently increase your strength.”

Charlotte nodded as Bun-bun clung to her head, the rabbit’s ears flopping along with the motion. “That’s an excellent point.” She reached up and pulled out a book with ‘thorny bush’ on the spine. “But these are similarly expensive. This one is six hundred.”

“Still feasible.” Desmonda pulled one from the shelf and handed it to me. “Here. This one fits you and you could use a skill, Ken.”

I took the skillbook from her. “Dark Strike?” I held it up to my CID to see if it had any more information on it.

Dark Strike: Level one ability in which the user gathers shadow onto their blade and attack, dealing increased damage.

Before I thought about it further. I picked up a short sword from the rack. “Dark Strike.” I said, swinging the blade, but nothing happened.

“You have to learn the skill first.” Harley laughed at me.

“I was making sure I didn’t already have it.”

Harley made a big ‘O’ with her mouth. “Never mind.”

“At least someone has some brains.” Des said, turning the book in my hand to see the price on the back. “Eight hundred. We could pitch in to help you get it.” She said.

“No. You don’t need to do that.” I put the book back on the shelf. “Maybe after our dive today I can come back and buy it.”

We would have plenty of opportunity to get new things here at the shop.

More than anything, this was just to get some basics. “Right, let’s see if there aren’t any potions we might bring as back ups. Especially if Charlotte gets hurt.”

“Good thinking.” Des said quickly. “Why don’t you go look and we’ll keep browsing here. Just because you don’t want the skill doesn’t mean I don’t want one. I just have to keep looking.”

I shrugged and meandered down the row. At the end of the row the back of the store had consumables behind a glass with tickets you could bring up front for the actual item. At least everything was well labeled and I could go down the list and pick out what I wanted.

Each healing potion cost a hundred coins, so I picked up five tokens for the cherry red looking potions and then I grabbed one for a potion that would increase my dexterity for a period of time. Not a bad potion if we got ourselves into a tight pinch.

I had already experienced how much Harley’s buffs helped me.

Taking the required tickets, I continued to look a little more.

There was just so much here. Potions to bring up all the basic stats, healing health, and mana. Then there were strange ones allowing you to talk different languages, turn invisible or see magic.

Finally, I got to some simple rations and added them to my cart. They were dirt cheap. I’d just share with the group.

At the end there were some crafting items, followed by some knick knacks, items that were pretty, but held no actual stats. They were cheap, but I had no interest in them.

Maybe one of these days I’d buy something nice to bring back to grandpa and the grandmas just to prove that I was independent.

In a stupid way, I knew that they could get these easily on their own, but it was the principle of the gift.

Alright, if he was going to get the coins he needed for shadow strike, he needed to get going and pry Harley out of the shop.

“Back, find anything good?” Charlotte asked.

I handed her two healing potion tickets. “These look about right. With Harley, we are saving on mana potions though.” I looked around for her. “Where’d Harley go?”

“Her and Des decided to head up to the counter. I’m just here to grab you and go.”

I shrugged. At least Des could keep Harley in check. “You feeling better about the dungeon today?” I knew she’d been nervous yesterday after the fight with the boggart.

Charlotte stuck her tongue out. “Yeah. I’m fine. As long as I have all of you I can do this. My job is to make sure all of you come out in one piece.” She flexed her arm with a determined face.

The shy girl had a little silly side as she was coming out of her shell.

Bun-bun started crying out and pulling at her hair.

“You too Bun-bun. I was including you in that.” Charlotte pat the rabbit’s head and she calmed down. Though the rabbit seemed a little smug.

“That’s good. Don’t worry, I have your back inside and outside the dungeon.” Not only was she part of the party, but the shy girl had stood up for me in the cafeteria.

“You better have my front.” She shot back. “I’m the healer. You protect me and I support you the entire way.”

Her words were loud enough to reach Harley as she walked away from the counter. “Look at this Des, we leave Charlotte alone for a few minutes and Ken shows his true colors. Charlotte, you are too cute. If you are alone, he’s going to attack you like some dungeon monster. He’ll gobble you up like the big bad wolf he really is.”

Des hit Harley over the head hard enough to make the bard drop to a squat as she held her head. “Shut up.”

“Ouch. Yes, Dessy Dear.”

Another sharp karate chop came from Des, making Harley squeal louder. Des didn’t even look guilty at the pink-haired girl rubbing her head and squatting in the middle of the store. “Ready to go? I like her better when she’s playing music. It keeps her mouth busy.”

“If you want Des, there’s a way I could keep my mouth busy. You won’t regret — Ouch.” Harley was rubbing her head again.

I chuckled. “Here are some tickets for potions. Let’s all get one and Charlotte two.”

Des took her ticket. “Thanks. Come on, you wanted to buy things.” She handed the other to Harley.

“One of these days, I’m going to be strong enough that you can’t just bully me.” Harley almost looked like she was going to cry.

“Des, maybe you went a little too far.” I felt bad for Harley, even if her mouth seemed to get her in trouble constantly.

“Protect me, Ken. Charlotte, can you heal me? You have such tender hands.” Harley was already hitting on their healer.

Des raised an eyebrow as if asking for permission.

I stepped aside and Des stepped up behind Harley.

“Ouch!”

Maybe she’d never learn.