Solomon's Crucible 17. A Brief Respite (Patreon)

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Solomon felt a sense of satisfaction roll over him as he entered the clearing where he had first been dropped into the dungeon. He could tell he'd made a full circuit of the perimeter because it was the first time he stepped out into open ground and didn't have a monster try to kill him. Clearing out the edge of the dungeon meant that a decent chunk of the floor's land area was now monster free. Now all he had to do was kill the more dangerous monsters that were lurking in the heart of the forest.

He walked over to a fallen log and took a seat in front of it. Setting his spear down by his side, he leaned back against the log and let out a long sigh. He glanced at the timer in the corner of his vision. 17:13:29. He had time for a break.

Physically, he didn't need it. Between the attribute points he had put into improving his Constitution and the Enhanced Endurance ability, he was full of energy. He felt like he could run a marathon just for fun. What's more, the system's HP healing had him in tip top shape, with no lingering aches and pains from all the fighting he'd been doing. His fatigue was all in his mind.

That didn't mean it wasn't real. It was hard to believe that just nine or ten hours ago he had been driving his car and looking forward to getting away from it all for a while.

Well, he'd certainly gotten a break from his nine to five. It was going to be a long one, too. Solomon had a feeling his cubicle wasn't going to be waiting for him once he finally made it back to civilization. Or to what was left of civilization, anyways.

His gun and phone had both stopped working as soon as the system activated. He was pretty sure his car wouldn't start if he ever got back to it, even assuming none of the system's monsters had gotten to it. Out in the wilderness, the failure of technology wasn't as important as all the monsters trying to kill him. In a city, though, it would be devastating. Especially if the breakdowns were as widespread as he feared.

Solomon counted himself lucky that nobody he was close to was laid up in a hospital, relying on modern technology to survive. As far as he knew, none of his friends and family were planning to be flying anywhere when the system hit. They could all be in good health. Perfect health, really, considering the HP system. 

All they had to worry about was navigating life in a modern city as it was divided into one mile square chunks, all the electricity went out, and man-eating monsters started appearing out of nowhere. Sure, buying necessities from the system store might ameliorate some of the problems, but how many people would keep their heads and figure that out? Solomon didn't exactly feel like he had gotten lucky to be tumbling down a hill and have his hand trapped under a boulder, but he certainly had enjoyed some advantages thanks to being out in the middle of the wilderness when the system appeared.

Inevitably, his thoughts turned to his ex-girlfriend. She might have responded to his proposal by ending their relationship, but it wasn't like he could just flip a switch and stop caring about her. He hoped she was all right. She never had been much of a fighter. The only thing he could picture her doing if she ran into one of those carnivorous furballs was to call him into the room to kill it. Still, she wasn't the type to just lay down and die over a little adversity. She should be able to take care of herself.

Solomon saw that his MP was fully charged. He sighed and got to his feet. Sitting around worrying wasn't going to do anybody any good. He was committed to at least clear out the first floor of this dungeon. If he cleared the whole thing there ought to be some kind of reward waiting for him.

If what Mort said was to be believed, everything the system had put him through so far was just the tip of the iceberg. Right now, adding the Earth to the system meant there were monster attacks to be fended off. Soon enough, they could be facing an invasion by other, more experienced users of the system. They wouldn't be able to rely on their own technology to fight off the invaders. To have a chance, they needed to grab as much power as they could from the system as quickly as possible.

Solomon didn't know if he was ahead of the curve or already falling behind the pack. Either way, he needed to keep moving.

He used his spear as a walking stick as he started picking his way deeper into the forest. The outer edges of the dungeon had been lightly forested, broken up with frequent clearings. As he moved towards the center of the floor, the trees were packed closer and closer together. It wasn't long before the sky overhead was completely blocked by a ceiling of branches and leaves.

Solomon couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him. He couldn't see nearly as far in the eerie twilight world of the dense forest as he would have liked. He kept catching motion out of the corner of his eye, but every time he turned his head there was nothing to see but more trees.

It was almost a relief when instinct had him turn around and raise his shield, catching a projectile before it could hit his unprotected back. The impact was more of a thud than the sharp shock he was expecting, and was almost immediately followed by a foul smell.

Everything became clear when Solomon looked up to see a monkey standing on a branch twenty feet off the forest floor, gesturing at him and chattering angrily.

"Yeah, yeah. Try coming down here and saying that! Stupid monkey."

The monkey could throw what it liked, but it wouldn't be able to do more than annoy Solomon. If it came down within reach, he was confident that it would be an even easier kill than the boars had been.

He was feeling pretty good about the situation until the tone of the monkey's voice changed from angry to triumphant. While it kept pointing down at Solomon, it wasn't looking straight at him any more. Solomon followed its gaze and turned around to find that another ten monkeys were arranged in a line on another tree branch. They were looking down at him like he was Thanksgiving dinner fresh out of the oven.

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