Dustin walked through the dark tunnels for another few hours. He became extremely tired and eventually had to stop. He reached into his carrier, took out a handful of the red mushrooms, and swallowed them whole without chewing. He had not eaten a real meal in a very long time and was incredibly hungry. The bitter mushrooms provided a small amount of strength and effectively cured the mild stiffness and pain in his overworked muscles.
Step. Step.
He turned a sharp corner and finally saw natural sunlight pouring in from a wide opening. The sudden, bright light made him squint his eyes. He stepped forward with a heavy sigh of relief and finally got out of the damp cave.
Thud.
He sat down heavily on the soft dirt just outside the entrance. He closed his eyes to enjoy the fresh air.
Rustle.
A sudden noise came from the bushes.
"Who are you?" a male voice asked from his right side.
Dustin turned his head and saw a group of people standing a few yards away. The man at the front looked like a high-level warrior or mage, and he was clearly their leader. They all had their weapons drawn but held low.
"You can call me Dustin," Dustin replied slowly. "Would you mind telling me who you are?"
"I am Gareth and this is my team," the leader replied. "We are from a camp called The Survivors Place, and I am one of the leaders there. You can join us if you want. We let anyone join who comes to us, but you must provide something for the camp in return. Freeloaders are not allowed."
"I will think about that," Dustin said. He stood up and patted the dirt from his pants. "But right now, if you could provide me some food, it would be very, very helpful."
"I am sorry, what?" a woman from Gareth's team asked in confusion. She lowered her bow slightly.
"Actually, I was stuck in this cave for who knows how long," Dustin said with a completely exhausted expression. "It was all due to a stupid dog. I have not eaten anything for several hours, so if you could give me some food to eat, it would be very helpful."
"Have this," the woman said. She stepped forward and handed a piece of dried meat to Dustin. "You can call me Arina, but you have to pay something in return."
Dustin looked at her face just as he took a large, hungry bite of the meat.
"What can I pay you?" Dustin asked while chewing. "We do not have any type of money here, do we?"
He reached into his pocket, took out some of the red mushrooms he had gathered from the cave, and showed them to her.
"Are these fine?" Dustin asked. "They have a similar effect to painkillers."
Gareth immediately stepped forward and took the mushrooms from Dustin's hand. He used his system to scan them. Dustin watched Gareth's face change from suspicion to genuine interest.
"Where did you get these?" Gareth asked. "Do you have more?"
"I do have more," Dustin said.
He opened his supply carrier and poured a large pile of the mushrooms out onto the ground.
"They have a very good healing effect, but they taste incredibly gross," Dustin warned them.
"How much would you sell them for?" Gareth asked. He sat down and started counting the pile of mushrooms.
"How much what?" Dustin asked. "We do not have any type of currency, do we?"
He looked around at all of their faces. They all seemed to know something he did not.
"Since you have that supplies carrier on your belt, I guess you at least know about the shop section," Arina said. "In that section, we can also choose to give someone points in exchange for items."
"Really? But how?" Dustin was surprised. He quickly opened the shop section. "There is no sell feature in here, or at least it is not available for us right now."
"It does not work like a normal store," Arina taught him. "To give someone coins, you just stand in front of that person and ask the system to make a transfer. But that person must also give you an item in return through the system window. There will also be a five percent tax charge on the total amount of points sent."
"So it works like that," Dustin pondered while looking at his system screen.
"I will pay you 227 points for all of these," Gareth interrupted them.
Dustin first thought about raising the price. They seemed like they really needed the healing mushrooms, and there was nothing wrong with gaining more profit. But he soon discarded this idea. He was completely alone, and the odds were totally against him if a fight broke out. He agreed to the offer and the deal happened.
Ding.
[ Point Transfer Complete ]
[ + 227 Points ]
After this deal, Dustin now had a total of 979 points. He had spent a large chunk of his points inside the cave to buy a new dagger with a fire affinity. That weapon gave him a five percent boost to his Stamina, Strength, and Endurance stats.
For now, Dustin decided to travel with these people. They did not seem bad to him. A new, unknown event was going to take place very soon, and these people might help him survive it.
After talking with them for some time, Dustin learned that they had come out here to clear a dungeon. They had even done so without a single casualty, which proved their strength and teamwork. This motivated Dustin to stick with them for the time being. He could leave their group whenever he wanted. There was no rule stopping him from walking away, so sticking with a strong team for now was simply the best option.
Dustin opened the store section again. He selected his new fire dagger and upgraded it to Level 2.
Ding.
[ Weapon Upgrade Complete ]
[ Cost: 700 Points ]
[ Remaining Balance: 279 Points ]
"So where are we going now?" Dustin asked as he closed the screen. "Are we heading to your camp?"
"No," Gareth replied while securing the mushrooms in his own bag. "We are going to clear two more dungeons before going back to the camp. Do not worry. We can handle everything. Just protect yourself."
"Yeah, you do not need to worry too much," another hunter laughed and slapped Dustin on the shoulder. "Our boss is already Level 31. He can handle just about any monster right now. Hahaha."