WHOOSH. SWOOSH.
"What are we even doing?" Dustin laughed while dodging an extremely fast ball that came out of nowhere. He and Zac had entered this special dungeon a few hours ago.
"I mean, they are supposed to be challenging," Zac yelled back. "But this? This just feels like one of those crazy Japanese game shows."
A week had already passed since Zac and Dustin first set foot on the Oceanic Tutorial grounds.
This zone was made up of hundreds of small and medium sized islands scattered across a vast ocean. To travel from one island to another, a person had to either swim or build a wooden boat.
Luckily, they met a guy with a Craftsman class near the transportation channel. His main task for this event was to build a thousand boats before time ran out. He chopped down trees and built boats endlessly. He worked so fast that almost all the trees on the starting island were already gone, and he was using his finished boats to harvest wood from neighboring islands.
When Dustin and Zac needed to cross the water to reach their dungeon, the Craftsman gave them two options. They could buy a two-man boat for 4000 points, or pay 400 points per person for a one-way trip.
They decided to pay the travel fee and boarded a boat steered by one of the Craftsman's hired workers.
It took them nearly eight hours to reach their designated island and finally enter the dungeon.
Unfortunately for Zac, it turned out to be a battle-type dungeon. They had to defeat a level 73 boss monster. However, since there were nine people in total participating, they managed to clear the dungeon without any major mishaps.
They both received 6000 points and a good chunk of experience for clearing it, but neither of them leveled up. Zac did not look very happy. Earning points and getting stronger was great, but surviving was the top priority. To survive, he desperately needed to complete his puzzle-type event task.
They decided to rest for the night before heading to another dungeon. They took a boat to a nearby island where survivors had already set up large camps, living there as if they owned the land.
That night while eating dinner, Dustin and Zac overheard a group talking about a specific puzzle dungeon. It required ten people with puzzle-related tasks to open. It was currently stuck. The group had just come from that location. They explained that only seven people with the right tasks had gathered so far, so the dungeon remained firmly shut. It would take a lot of waiting for more people to arrive.
Hearing this, Zac and Dustin instantly changed their plans. They decided to head straight for that puzzle dungeon. The island was very far away, forcing them to endure another two full days of boat travel.
They arrived and waited patiently. Eventually, the rumors spreading across the oceanic zone brought more people with puzzle tasks to the island.
Inside the special puzzle dungeon...
"Aaahhh!" Countless monsters violently tore apart one of the participants.
The man struggled bitterly. He managed to kill a few of the beasts, but the sheer number of monsters was just too overwhelming.
The final round of the dungeon was currently underway. Surprisingly, all fifteen participants had survived to reach this point. For this final challenge, every participant was assigned a three-by-three square space to stand on. They were completely locked inside these personal barriers. Outside of their safe zones, a massive pit swarmed with countless hungry monsters.
When the round first started, Dustin scanned the horde. The beasts ranged from level 1 all the way to 87. However, the monsters quickly began fighting and eating each other. Now, almost every monster below level 40 was already dead.
Up until now, everyone was doing very well. For Dustin, dodging the flying projectiles inside his safe zone was a piece of cake. His high Agility from the Rogue class combined perfectly with his Super Sense skill.
Zac was also holding his own. His Agility was much lower than Dustin's, and he lacked any sensory skills, but his reflexes were solid.
The challenge forced them to dodge incredibly fast magical balls without a single moment of rest. After hours of this, one of the men grew exhausted. His focus slipped for just a second. A ball slammed into his chest. The moment he failed, his protective barrier shattered, dropping him directly into the pit of monsters below.
The rules of the puzzle were clear. If a participant fell, they had to survive in the monster pit for five minutes to earn their safe space back, plus a thirty-minute rest period. Unfortunately, the man did not even last a single minute before he was killed.
Hearing the horrific screams of the dying man below, two more people became distracted. A man and a woman lost their focus, failed to dodge, and met the exact same tragic fate.
"Damn it," Dustin gritted his teeth. He forced his eyes forward and kept dodging. There were still two hours and thirteen minutes left on the timer.
Even though Dustin was physically keeping up, his mind was racing with agitated thoughts. Why? Why did they have to do this? What was the point of all this suffering? Was this whole death game going too far?
Watching these people get torn apart made a heavy sadness settle in his chest. Yes, he had seen many people die in the Desert Tutorial grounds. But in the first dungeon, those people were actively trying to murder him, so he felt no pity. In the second dungeon, he was too focused on killing monsters to process the death around him.
This felt different. He had spent hours cooperating with these participants to solve the earlier puzzle rooms. Now, he was forced to stand safely in his box and watch them die, completely unable to help. He could only focus on keeping himself alive.
But then again, could he even save them if he tried? Should he? He did not truly know these people. They were not his friends or family. Why should he risk his own life to play the hero?
Dustin let out a frustrated breath. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to take a long, deep nap on his comfortable sofa. This new magical reality was definitely more interesting than his boring old life on Earth, but the mental exhaustion was overwhelming. It felt like playing a brand new video game. You play it continuously for hours, entirely hooked, but eventually, you need to put the controller down and rest. Here, he could never put the controller down.
"Hey, focus! Don't get distracted!" Zac yelled. He had noticed Dustin's movements slowing down. The familiar voice snapped Dustin out of his wandering thoughts and pulled him back.
"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Dustin called back, raising a hand to signal he was okay. He pushed his doubts away and focused purely on surviving.
Time slowly ticked by. By the time the final timer reached zero, four more people had fallen into the pit and perished.
When the dungeon was finally cleared, the barriers vanished. All the surviving monsters disappeared into thin air. The only things left in the room were the mangled bodies of the seven fallen participants and the corpses of the beasts they had managed to kill.
Dustin let out a long breath to calm his racing heart. He walked over to the pile of bodies and climbed onto the chest of a large, dead monster.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing over there?" one of the surviving men shouted at Dustin.
"Leave him be," Zac shot back. "He is just feeding his cicada."
"This'll do," Dustin muttered. He drove his dagger deep into the beast's chest, carved out the large heart, and placed it on the floor.
The cicada flew out of his clothes, buzzed around his head once, and landed eagerly on the heart.
DING.
[ You have successfully cleared the dungeon ]
[ Rewards: 11000 points have been rewarded to each survivor ]
"Finally," Dustin sighed in exhaustion. Since this puzzle dungeon did not allow him to actually kill monsters for experience, he did not get any level ups. He only gained the completion points.
A moment later, they were teleported outside. Dustin found himself standing alone. He and Zac had entered the dungeon individually rather than forming a system party, so they were scattered.
"Let's see where exactly I am." Dustin opened his system map. After finding his coordinates, he closed the screen and started walking toward the port where he and Zac had agreed to meet up.
He arrived at the docks a short while later. He was the first to arrive. Just like every other island in this zone, there were several boatmen waiting around to offer rides.
"Need a boat, sir? Where're you headed?" one of the men asked, seeing Dustin standing near the water.
Dustin ignored the man completely and just stared out at the ocean in silence.
When Zac finally showed up, they rented a boat together and sailed toward the island that held the transportation channel. They still needed to figure out which tutorial ground to visit next.
After a long, quiet journey across the water, they arrived at their destination. This transportation channel island was extremely crowded with survivors.
Dustin opened the map to check the status of the remaining dungeons. After analyzing the numbers, he saw a clear pattern. The Ocean Tutorial grounds still had the highest number of uncleared dungeons left. He had no idea why. Following that was the Clouds tutorial grounds, then the Plains, then the Forest, and lastly, the Desert.
Since they had already completed tasks in the Desert and Ocean zones, they only had three viable options left. They could choose the Clouds, the Plains, or the Forest.
After discussing it for a while, Dustin and Zac made their final choice. They would go to the Forest Tutorial grounds. They immediately crossed the Cloud zone off their list because of the rumors about roaming murderers. Neither of them wanted to invite pointless trouble.
That left only two options. The Plains zone still had six available dungeons, while the Forest only had three left. They decided to hit the Forest first before those three dungeons closed, and then head to the Plains afterward.
Dustin still needed to clear three more special dungeons to finish his event task. Zac only needed one more puzzle-type dungeon. This meant Zac might be forced to visit the Plains or even the dangerous Cloud zone if the Forest did not have what he needed.
"Well, that settles it. We're heading to the Forest," Dustin said. He was staring at the large groups of civilian-class people with a flat expression.
"You know, I've been thinking about something," Dustin said as they started walking.
"Thinking about what?" Zac asked.
"Look at them." Dustin nodded toward the civilians. "In a messed up way, they actually have it easier than us right now."
"What? Are you jealous?" Zac laughed, slapping Dustin hard on the back.
"Not really. Honestly, it's just disturbing," Dustin replied, his voice dropping. "Think about it. We see people get slaughtered every single day. They know they can unlock combat classes through sub class if they just pick up a weapon. But most of them won't even try. They just sit in these camps waiting. It's like they've completely surrendered to fate."
"You're not wrong," Zac sighed, his smile fading. "But don't waste your energy on it. That's just human nature, man. People are terrified. They want someone else to do the heavy lifting so they can stay safe in the background. We can't change that. We just gotta focus on staying alive and finishing our own tasks." Zac quickened his pace.
"Yeah, you're right," Dustin agreed, letting out a heavy breath. "Anyway, I've got a massive pile of points burning a hole in my pocket. Need to spend them before we go."
Dustin opened his system interface. First, he spent points to level up his 'Light Armour' skill.
"All my combat skills are looking solid now. I'd love to upgrade 'Shadow Heal' again, but the cost is ridiculous. Seven thousand points for one level is just too much," he calculated internally.
"Let's see what else I can get." He opened the weapon shop. Instantly, a pair of high-tier daggers caught his eye. They had a fire attribute, just like his current weapons. Even though he had upgraded his old daggers a few times, they were still low-quality gear. He immediately bought the new pair. They dealt far more damage, possessed higher durability, and even provided a five percent boost to all his base stats.
Next, he navigated to the spear section. This was the main reason he opened the shop. He lacked long-range attack options, and fighting with a spear would naturally level up his new sub-class.
After browsing the inventory, he finally selected a wind-attribute spear. He really wanted the lightning spear, but he was short on points.
The wind spear was still a fantastic weapon. It had slightly lower damage than the lightning variant, but it was incredibly lightweight and fast, perfectly suiting his fighting style. It also came with a unique magical property: the user could summon the spear back to their hand using a burst of wind magic.
"Magic," Dustin smiled to himself. "I've always wanted to do that."
"You done shopping?" Zac asked, stopping at the edge of the dense, towering woods. "We gotta cross through this small forest to finally arrive at the transportation channel on this island. Keep your guard up, there may be monsters everywhere."
"Yeah, I'm done," Dustin closed his system screens and gripped his new daggers. "We're actually running low on food supplies. Let's hunt something while we walk."
They ventured deep into the forest. They spotted several small critters, but ignored them. They needed enough meat to last a few days, so they were looking for a larger beast. Strangely, the woods felt incredibly empty. The monster population was unnervingly low.
"Where the hell are all the monsters?" Zac asked, kicking a rock in frustration. "From what I heard this land forest had a lot of monsters."
"Wait," Dustin held up a hand. "You hear that?" He immediately pivoted and silently darted toward the sound.
"Hear what?" Zac hissed, sprinting after him.
They ran through the forest for ten minutes until they burst into a wide clearing. The ground was littered with the fresh corpses of over a dozen large beasts. In the center of the carnage, a lone woman was locked in fierce combat with a monster easily above level forty.
Dustin squinted through the trees, his eyes widening as he recognized the fighter's familiar face.
"Arina."