The guard standing at the portal entrance raised his hand toward Sam as she stepped forward.
"One moment, please." He said, pointing to the ten unlit mana stones above the portal. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until an instance becomes available. Shouldn't take long." Sam nodded at him, staring up at the stones.
"I, uh, don't mean to sound rude, like the others," he admitted, nodding toward the murmurs behind her. "But, are you sure you want to try this alone? The first few floors I'm sure you'll be fine, but after the sixth or so…" Knowing where he was headed with this, Sam just smiled and said,
"I'm not alone."
Then, clutching her beast space pendant, she called out her tames. She had to put their armor back on anyway; she might as well do it while she waited. Syn was the first out in all her glory. Touching the back of the towering wolf, her armor appeared in place. Then Tempy, Iggy, and finally the cubs, Nox and Nyx. Now clad in leather armor that had a subtle shifting glow, the comments around her stopped completely.
The guard laughed, mainly at the sudden silence of the small crowd.
"Well then, I guess you'll be just fine." He said, and just in time, as one of the mana stones lit up. "Well, that's your cue to go. Best of luck."
Sam thanked him as she followed her tames through the glowing portal.
[Welcome to the tower dungeon of The Lab. May your time here be fruitful. You have entered the First Floor. Many more await you below. Good Luck!]
An almost mechanical voice rang in her ears.
After walking through the portal, she was met with an odd sight. To others of this world, it must have looked like a futuristic world left to nature's embrace. To Sam, it looked weirdly familiar, like an office that had been through an apocalypse. The space was about forty feet long and twenty wide, with two hallways and a ceiling of around thirty feet. They appeared to have come through what may have been, at one time, the front door.
It looked like the lobby of any high-class office building. While it had once probably been painted a sterile white, time and nature had turned it into a kind of greenish-brown. Plants and vines had taken over, but you could still see where a reception desk had once been. Behind it, on a wall that had seen better days, was what must have been the original lab's signage. All that was left were the words The and Lab, with an obviously missing second word in the middle.
Not exactly a very creative name for a dungeon, Sam thought.
She was tempted to slip behind the desk and see if the fallen letter had survived, but just as the thought entered her head, the pitter-patter of little feet came down one of the two hallways on either side of the old reception desk, most likely where elevators to the other floors once were.
Staying back, she used Beast Command to send her tames forward to investigate. From one side came two goblins, from the other side, three. She split her group accordingly: the cubs took the pair, and Syn, Tempy, and Iggy took the trio.
The fight didn't last long.
At only Level Five, her trio decimated the goblin trio in seconds, with the cubs not taking much longer. The ringing of notifications signaled their success. Then, from the hallway on the right, the sound of much louder feet could be heard.
"That'll be the mini-boss, everyone back together," she directed her tames. She used Inspect to see what they would have to deal with once the creature rounded the corner: a Level Seven, Common, Green, Warrior Hobgoblin.
"It's only a Level Seven Green; you guys know what to do. Just make sure Nox or Nyx get the last hit." Sam stood back and watched her tames. It wouldn't take much longer than the goblins, but Hobgoblins were a little smarter than goblins, plus it was a warrior, so it might put up a fight. As she watched, a thought popped into her head.
"Hey Jarvis,"
{"Yes, Sam? How may I assist you?"}
"So, I was thinking about how Abe looked so ador... I mean, how Abe looked like a brave adventurer." She said, clearing her throat as the little mouse in question looked up at her. "I haven't looked through the whole of my Enchant-opedia yet, and maybe this is a more advanced enchantment, but are there any enchantments that can take pictures? I don't recall seeing anything other than paintings or drawings in my travels, so I was curious."
{"Well, there are enchanted brushes and pens that draw what a person wants. They are located in the auxiliary section of the book, but nothing like you're describing."}
"Hmm. Am I able to create my own enchantments? Like from scratch? I mean, they had to all come from somewhere, unless all enchantments are S.I.S.T.E.M.-created." Sam asked.
{"At your current level, no. If you wanted to create your own enchantments, you'll first need to gain all the enchantment skills for your class, then have two similar or complimentary skills merge at Level 10 so you can open a skill slot. After that, with some experimenting by combining runes, the S.I.S.T.E.M. should eventually offer you a quest with the reward being 'Enchantment Creation.' Or you may get lucky after killing a mage-type boss and get an 'Enchantment Creation' skill book. Though the chances are slim. It's a skill that needs personal development."}
"I see. As informative as always, Jarvis. Thank you," Sam said just as Nox slashed the Hobgoblin, who looked like he was not having a good day, with his claws, finally bringing it down.
{Your tame Nox has struck the final blow to a LVL 7, Uncommon, Green Warrior Hobgoblin Mini - Boss! +50% xp for level discrepancy.}
{You and your tames have cleared the first floor of The Lab. Rewards will appear in a small wooden chest. Congratulations."}
On the floor where the hobgoblin fell a chest appeared. Curious Sam opened it to see what kind of things The Lab offered as rewards. Since it was the first floor she wasn't expecting much.
Sure enough inside the little wooden chest was a handful of silver coins and a single item.
{Rustedge Shiv (Common)
Damage: 10 DPS
Enchantment: None
Description: Rusted iron blade. Small chance to cause minor infection if target is organic.}
Figuring she could just sell it, or maybe display it as her first item gained from The Lab, Sam put it in her inventory. When she looked up, one of the elevators doors were open. The doorway was a glowing portal, clearly the next step in her journey. Gathering her tames they walked through the portal and arrived in a kind of entrance room. In front of them was a single door.
From the outside they could hear the shuffling of feet and muffled groans.
[Welcome to the second floor. You have proved your worth to continue. You're next opponents have increased in number and difficulty. Hint: I'd keep away from the teeth.]
"That doesn't sound ominous at all. Ok girls and Nox, since we're not quite sure what we're up against yet, Syn, how about you go first and unleash your Overgrowth Surge skill to slow them down, then Root Snare to hold them so we can get a look at what we're dealing with. I'm assuming from the note they have either sharp teeth or their bite is poisonous. I may have an idea of what's ahead from the sounds, so let's go find out."
Opening the door, Sam was right on her assumption. Wandering around the twenty by twenty foot square room were five zombies. They were a level higher than the last room, but still a common green type. Still a basic monster, they had no real intelligence, just an instinct to kill and eat.
Syn was the first to react. As planned, she immediately sent out her Overgrowth Surge skill to slow the enemies and weaken their defenses. Roots sprung from the floor, trapping the zombies in place for a few seconds as Tempy dashed toward them and unleashed her Chain Dash skill. While stunned, the cubs slashed with their claws as Iggy lit them on fire.
After a few rounds of this, Syn used her claws to behead the last standing zombie. The loot flew to Sam's bag as the monsters disintegrated into motes of mana particles, and a door on the other side lit up, showing them the way forward.
[First room of the second floor cleared. Please proceed to the next room.]
Following the instructions, Sam opened the door to the next room. Inside were another five zombies, as expected, only this time they were Warrior Zombies. They were the same tier, rarity, and level as the last ones, but each held a sword in its decaying hands. Unfortunately for them, Sam's tames had already worked out a method for keeping the "bitey" zombies at a distance. It didn't take long for this room to end like the last.
Once they were dispatched, a door off to the side—which Sam was fairly certain would have been a staff room at one point—opened, revealing one last zombie. Slightly larger than the others and two levels higher, this Orange-tier common zombie had a look of higher intelligence than the previous ones. A quick Inspect showed its intelligence was among its strongest stats. Unlike integrated beasts, humanoid monsters had the same stat division as humans.
At the same level as her original three tames, the mini-boss put up a bit more of a fight, but just like the others, it was defeated, though not quite as quickly.
Another chest of mediocre loot and a handful of coins appeared, and they were on to the next floor.
Things went as smoothly as the last floor. The third floor featured Level Seven Skeletons. They were basic in the first room, and warriors and archers in the second. Sam made sure to command her tames to deal with the archers first and hold off the warriors until they did. The third room had all archers. However, between Syn's shield and the protection on their armor, the ranged attacks didn't really make a difference. They fell just as the others did.
The mini-boss was an armored blue-tier skeleton with a level of nine. The girls and Nox took a little longer with this one, but they still won in the end.
The fourth floor was a bit harder for Iggy. Being populated with imps, their natural fire resistance prevented her from doing much damage, but her claws and newly acquired Flicker Dodge kept her safe and gave her plenty of options for attack.
The addition of the mage imp in the third room of the fourth floor finally added a little more difficulty to their fight. It also tested Sam's resolve not to lend a hand. Though her new shield did assist by lowering their health with the reflective damage, her tames were still the ones that finished them off in the end.
By the time the mini-boss appeared, Sam got a little more proactive. It was a Level Ten, Uncommon, Blue Lesser Demon Mage. She stood in the back, firing off ice arrows as her tames teamed up against it. Her arrows did little more than keep it where it was; its magical damage resistance was fairly high. But like most mages, its physical defense was mediocre. With a group of tames all having claws and pointy teeth to inflict damage, it wasn't long before it succumbed to its wounds.
[Fourth floor cleared. You may now proceed to the next.]
After a quick heal for superficial wounds and a round of meat for her tames, they were on to the next challenge. This time, the environment was surprisingly different. Gone were the apocalypse-like office rooms. In their place seemed to be an overgrown ruin with waist-high water, vines hanging from the ceiling, and crumbling stone walkways.
Standing on a small, raised island, Sam put her hands on her hips, looking around.
"Well, shit."