HC: Handyman | Ch. 20 - Smartening Up (Patreon)

What if he used his staff to tap the floor ahead of him, like a blind man using a white cane? Thinking of how his staff’s durability would probably drop if he did that, he frowned. His eyes landed on the fallen darts next to him. Perhaps he could use these to test the path ahead and activate the traps.

Tin Dart (Common)

Description: A sharpened piece of tin that was fashioned into a dart. Can be used as a projectile.

Durability: 5

Damage: 5

“These are considered items, too?! I can pick these up?!” Jack exclaimed, thrilled at the development. If so, then this dungeon had just become a treasure trove. Even if they only sold for a few coppers each, dozens of them lay about, and he had a full inventory.

Internet access!

Jack hurriedly checked online for the price of the darts and found that each stack sold for ten coppers. He looked back at the corridor behind him and the one before him. There were still plenty of traps to go through, and these things were worth money. It would be silly not to pick them up, especially when he had time to kill while he waited for his hp to recover.

He turned around and started picking up the darts. He had already sprung every trap in this corridor, so it should be safe. Each salvo shot ten darts, which meant that he got ten coppers for each trap he activated. Wondering whether others knew about this, he finished collecting the first ten darts and walked toward the second trap.

Click!

His ears were well-tuned by now, and he immediately jumped forward, dodging most of the damage.

-5

-5

He looked back at the location where the darts had fallen. “What? Why?” He should have activated this trap the first time he ran through it. He looked back at the piles of darts scattered throughout the hallway and found them all at regular intervals with this new trap in between. Just what was going on here?

Jack stretched his arms, picking up all the darts around him without taking a step. His hp was really low, and springing a trap now would be fatal. He didn’t know the penalties for players who died in the game, but he was pretty sure it was bad.

He had 30 darts in his inventory. He grabbed one and threw it in an arc toward the corridor he had run through. The dart landed on the stone floor one step away.

Clink.

The sound of metal on rock sounded pleasant, but nothing happened otherwise. He aimed a little further now. The dart landed at a location where he previously triggered a trap when running through the corridor.

Clink.

Nothing happened again. Jack kept throwing the darts progressively farther and farther away from him, and finally, there was a shower of darts. He had just found a trap and that these darts could spring them. Jack grabbed another dart and threw it at the same location. Nothing happened. Did this mean that each trap only had ammunition for one activation?

Just as Jack opened his inventory to grab another dart, he paused. There were 21 darts left. The one that he had just thrown had been his ninth. He had an epiphany. Jack grabbed nine more darts from the inventory and started throwing them randomly.

Clink.

Clink.

“Seven, eight, nine!” Jack threw the ninth one, and sure enough, another trap sprang. Jack grinned. Everything was making sense now. The clue wasn’t in the sheep but in the number of them: nine.

Either the traps were activated by sound or by a sensor on the ground, but a trap was activated at every ninth step he took. That’s why he activated a trap right at the entrance the first time he had circled back. That also explained why he could still activate a trap in previously safe places!

Jack couldn’t help but laugh. The mystery had been so frustrating but only added to the satisfaction of this moment. Figuring out how this dungeon worked by himself was an incredible feeling.

Jack turned around toward the dungeon's exit and counted his steps. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.” Just as he reached step number eight, he grabbed a dart and threw it somewhere in the distance. The trap activated far away from him. He slowly placed his foot forward for the ninth step, but nothing happened this time. This method worked.

The dungeon became easy after he found out how it worked. He took eight steps at a time and then threw a dart. He only stopped to pick up the fallen darts. By the time he collected his 18th stack, he stopped bothering. He only had space for 25 stacks in his inventory window, which was nearly full of his other items. He wanted to leave a few empty spots in case he got anything interesting. Even so, he had already gained two silvers in this dungeon, just in darts. It was enough to cover the costs of his trip from Bright Hill to Embersgate and back.

Finally, after the fourth curve, Jack found the end of the tunnel. He stepped through it and found Babu waiting for him.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The dungeon guide applauded as he arrived. “Well done, adventurer! You have discovered the secret of this dungeon. Congratulations!”

“Thanks!” Jack answered proudly.

“Look, here is the reward for your efforts!” Babu said, pointing at a treasure chest in the middle of the room. 

Jack approached it while licking his lips. The treasure chest didn’t look like anything special. It was rusted and cracked. Jack felt the lid. It was unlocked. He popped it open and received a notification.

Congratulations! You’ve completed the dungeon tutorial!

+200xp

Level up!

You’ve received 5x[Basic Torch].

You’ve received 5x[Straw Hat].

You’ve unlocked a new title: [Graduate].

Graduate (Common)

Title effects: You’ve tried a little of everything and have opened your mind. From here on out, the sky is the limit.

Effects:

+1% movement speed.

Conditions to unlock [Graduate]:

• Complete the beginner town tutorial;

• Complete the dungeon tutorial;

• Learn a profession.

Before Jack could appreciate the details of his rewards, the area around him warped and twisted, and suddenly, he was outside the pyramid again, facing Babu. He was beginning to realize why Babu claimed that the pyramid manipulated one’s mind. The feeling he got when he returned to the outside of the pyramid was that he was awakening from a daydream. Checking his inventory, however, he could see all the darts and other rewards still there. That meant that he had been transported into the pyramid, right?

Jack shrugged. Whatever. This was a game. He didn’t care about the lore the developers had come up with to introduce these dungeons as long as he could gain levels and loot. Seeing that Babu wasn’t saying anything, he checked the details of his new items.

Basic Torch (Common)

Item description: It will light your path and provide some warmth.

Durability: 10

Straw Hat (Common)

Item description: A hat weaved from straw that can provide some shade but will do little if you’re attacked.

Durability: 10

Block: 1

Defense: 3

Requirements: None.

The torch was a good tool when he adventured into dungeons that weren’t lit. From what Babu had mentioned, not all dungeons were this generous. Being given torches for his next runs only highlighted this fact.

As for the hat, it was better than nothing. It was wide and conical, and it felt light. He equipped it at once, feeling a little less of a noob now that he had a piece of equipment different from what he had started with. It provided him one extra block stat and some defense. He guessed that if he were to rerun the same dungeon, he would take a little less damage from those darts now.

The title he received gave a very slight boost to speed, but he guessed that it only made a difference as it accumulated with other similar bonuses. This was his second title and probably one that every single player had. Well, except for those who never bothered with tutorials. Good thing that he, Jack Sousa, wasn’t like that. He had been industrious and covered all his bases responsibly.

Having a better sense of how this dungeon thing worked, Jack looked around and, finding a nearby market, ran to it to dump all the darts. He wanted to keep his inventory free for whatever was in store for him in the next dungeon. Running back toward the pyramid, he imitated many other players around him and touched it.

Welcome to Embersgate Dungeon!

Select one of the following dungeons to begin an exciting new adventure:

• Ancient Maze

• Infested Ruins

• Unlikely Alliance

• Quiet Storm

Compared to before, the list of dungeons had become much fuller. He opened the details for each one. The Infested Ruins was, like the game suggested, the first dungeon that had monsters. Given how pitiful his equipment was, he was sure he’d be shredded if he went there. Unlikely Alliance was a party quest. He would have to be matched with other players and cooperate with them. The Quiet Storm was the first of the shackled quest challenges. Considering how difficult it had been for him to go through the tutorial, he reckoned that he wasn’t ready to try it yet. He selected the first option.

Ancient Maze

Solo dungeon.

Uninfested.

Recommended level: 2

Are you sure you want to be transported to the Ancient Maze? [Y/N]

Jack chose yes, and he was transported into the pyramid again in the blink of an eye. This time, everything was pitch black.

Jack grabbed a torch from his inventory to cast light on his surroundings. He was at a crossroads. Four corridors stretched in all directions. The torch's light only went so far, but it was still enough to reveal where one of the corridors split into two paths. The other three tunnels just eerily disappeared into darkness.

Jack searched the nearby walls, looking for clues. Nothing. There were no hieroglyphs, just rock and spider webs. The walls, ceilings, and floors were made of the same yellow stone he’d seen in the tutorial, the only hint that he was inside the pyramid. Babu did warn him that dungeons weren’t always helpful enough to give players a glimpse of what was expected of them at the start of the run.

His torch had lost one durability point in the short time he had been here. He was on the clock, and things would get much tougher if he ran out of torches before solving the maze. Since there were no clues, any direction was as good as any. Jack selected one corridor at random and took off. After taking nine steps, he subconsciously tensed, but nothing happened. There was no shower of darts in this dungeon. Hopefully, that would remain the case. 

As he arrived at the first crossroads, Jack turned right. There was no point in wasting any neurons overthinking this. If he always took right, he would eventually find the exit. Jack kept veering right turn after turn and, after a few minutes, eventually reached his first dead end. He sighed and circled back, trying to stick to his lazy method, always turning right at every turn. 

Soon, the whole thing became boring. Jack had played many video games during his school days and, more recently, during work hours. Usually, he stuck to platform games where he had to guide an avatar through a series of challenges. He preferred games that didn't require much thinking. 

Thinking had never been Jack's forte or preference, for that matter. He had never been an A student, but his test results were always passable. He could get away with taking tests without studying and relying only on what he remembered from classes. He was sure there was a better way to go about this dungeon, but what was the point?

His lack of enthusiasm only worsened due to how dull this maze was. Everywhere he looked, everything looked the same. The only variable in this boring dungeon was the torches. The durability points every so often decreased by one. Jack stumbled upon another dead end and noticed that his first torch was almost spent.

Ch. 19 - The Pyramid

INDEX

Ch. 21 - Maze Running