NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10: The First Key
The young lion stared around himself disbelievingly. Dominic had been walking through a pitch-black tunnel when suddenly...he wasn’t. Instead of darkness, it was bright daylight – impossible when he knew it was nighttime. Instead of tunnels, he was out in the open air.
Or at least, he seemed to be – closer inspection revealed him to be instead in a massive cavern which only appeared to be open sky. It was realistic to the extent of having something bright enough to seem like the midday sun shining down on him. The main difference was that it didn’t seem to be searingly hot in the same way: the cavern was warm, but that was more of an ambient temperature rather than from the ‘sun’.
In what appeared to be the middle of the cavern was a strange-looking building. It was sandy-coloured, blending in reasonably well with the environment. If not for its size, he might even have missed it. As it was, its three-storey height was obvious against the flat landscape.
He had taken a single step forwards when a message popped up in front of him.
<Welcome to the G-Grade Savannah Plains Temple dungeon.>
<Objective: Lay your hands upon the altar.>
<Rewards: XP, ?, ?>
<Type: Limited, Open>
A dungeon, eh? Dominic said to himself thougtfully. He suspected that this was more a game dungeon rather than a medieval style one. At least, he hoped so. And why was it talking about XP? I don’t earn XP….do I?
He supposed it was possible that XP was something that only appeared on the status sheet once you’d started earning it. As for what ‘limited’ and ‘open’ meant, he didn’t know.
The objective was pretty clear, though whether it counted if he laid a paw instead of a ‘hand’ he also wasn’t sure. It’s worth a bit of exploration, he decided. At worst he’d lose a bit of time; at best he might actually gain something.
Turning around, he realised that there was an odd archway behind him. The outline was barely visible, looking more like condensed air that caused a slight distortion than anything else. The archway looked empty except for the faint ripple in the air within it.
I guess that’s my way out, Dominic concluded. Fixing the point in his memory, he realised that it was next to what appeared to be the only tree in the whole cavern. Easy.
Heading towards the temple, the young lion kept a wary eye out around himself. Although he’d never been in a dungeon himself – of either kind – he’d read enough stories about them to know that he should keep his guard up.
Fortunately for him, however, he managed to make his way to the temple without any issues. As he got closer, he realised that he was directly in front of what looked like the main doors.
How convenient, he thought wryly to himself. Casting his eyes over the rest of the structure, he realised that he didn’t recognise the structure at all. Not that that was surprising, exactly – he hadn’t studied archaeology in any sort of way. Still, the hexagonal influence that was clearly the predominating theme of the whole construction was not something he was familiar with.
The doors were two halves of a regular hexagon. The blocks were regular hexagonals too. Based only on what he’d seen so far, the two towers either side of the door were hexagonal prisms on their ends. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought it had been built by a group of bees.
As it was, Dominic immediately encountered his first problem: the doors were shut.
This was immediately an issue: it turned out that a lion’s paws were not the best when it came to dealing with handles. Fortunately for him, they were bar handles – the bar a hexagonal shape, of course – so eventually he was able to get the right technique to slip his paw between the metal and the door and pull.
That’s where the next problem appeared: the doors were also locked.
At first, Dominic had thought he just wasn’t able to apply enough pressure to the handle to actually open it, but repeated attempts and increasing frustration proved to him that, indeed, it was an issue with the doors themselves. Growling in annoyance, he stopped trying to yank the doors open and sat back on his haunches.
It was then that another box popped up in his vision.
<Oh no! A pack of marauding trodils has stolen the key away and torn it into pieces.
Objective: Find the pieces of the key and take them away from the trodils guarding them. Assemble the separate pieces into a whole. (0/5 found)>
<Reward: A key for the temple door>
You couldn’t have told me that earlier, groused Dominic grumpily to himself. He also read the melodramatic flavour text with a judging eye. Original, not, he criticised. Ah well. Might as well get to it. Plus, the mention of trodils actually had him perking up a bit.
He wouldn’t deny the appeal of a rematch against the little annoyances now he’d got full control over his body. Another plus: more opportunities to gain Quick Strike.
*****
About half an hour later, Dominic felt like he’d properly scouted the whole of the cavern and found the location of the five keys. Well, four out of five for sure, and he had a good clue where the fifth was.
trodils were everywhere; some static, some moving. Another person might call that a challenge; Dominic called it an opportunity. With that number of individuals, he should gain Quick Strike in no time! Not to mention PP for his next level-up, presuming that dungeon creatures gave PP.
With that in mind, he headed straight for one of the paths worn into the savannah grasses. Finding one, he lay next to it and waited patiently.
What his scouting had told him was that trodils trotted along these paths with regularity. Maybe that’s why there were paths at all. Although it could just be the dungeon design, like that temple, he allowed.
Through chance, he’d found out that as long as he wasn’t on the path itself, the passing trodil would completely ignore him. Taking full advantage of that, he set an ambush.
The first trodil came into view a few minutes later, Dominic shifting into a position more ready to pounce. As it was about to draw abreast of him, he tensed his muscles further. A moment later and it was all over.
For the trodil.
Dominic was frankly over-leveled for the encounter. Even had he not taken an enhancement to his speed in a recent level-up, his weight, superior weaponry, and the element of surprise massively stacked the deck in his favour. Frankly, the only reason he’d struggled at all in their last encounter had been because of their numbers and his own lack of familiarity with his body.
Quickly absorbing the body, he checked his status screen. A moment later, he closed it, satisfied that killing this trodil in the dungeon was no different from killing it outside.
21 more PP in the bag, 7% closer to gaining a new ability, hunger and thirst partially quenched, and the single point of stamina he’d used replenished, Dominic returned to his wait. I might as well see whether any other trodils pass by here before moving to another spot, he decided. He didn’t know whether it was his own laziness making the decision or the innate laziness of a lion, but either way it seemed a sound strategy.
Four more trodils later, Dominic was fairly sure that no more were coming along this particular pathway. He’d been waiting for around ten minutes; the longest previous time was only about four or five.
Pushing himself to his feet, he stretched, enjoying the feeling in his sinuous muscles. Man, even going to the gym every day wouldn’t get me this stacked, he decided admiringly. Shaking the bare beginnings of what would one day be a lustrous mane, he trotted off to find another ambush site.
Spotting a trodil jogging along another path, he ran lightly after it. Charging quickly as he got closer, he overran it in a matter of seconds and quickly overwhelmed it. He’d only taken two injuries so far in this dungeon and he wasn’t looking to add to them.
Another quick absorption of its corpse, and he settled beside the track, sure that this one was still ‘live’. Sure enough, he didn’t have to wait long until another trodil approached.
As it got closer, he realised with a thrill of excitement that this one was different from the others. It was bigger, for one. For another, it had something golden-coloured in its mouth.
The first key!
Fixing his hunter’s gaze on the other predator, he waited for his moment. Unlike the other trodils, this one seemed to detect his presence somehow. It slowed and stopped short of his ambush, casting around itself suspiciously.
Dominic released the tension in his muscles by bounding forwards, pushing his new speed to its limits as he covered the ground with admirable speed.
To his surprise, the trodil didn’t run. Instead, as soon as he emerged from hiding, it spat out the golden key piece and stood its ground, baring its teeth. It even leapt out of the way of his initial pounce, slashing at his flanks and he overshot.
Both of them missed: Dominic unable to course-correct fast enough; the trodil misjudging the distance, or perhaps the speed at which he was travelling.
No matter. As soon as he got his feet under control, Dominic leapt back at the trodil. Prepared for it to side-step again, he swiped at it with his claws in passing.
<You have dealt 15 damage (Tearing+Slicing)>
Yes, after experimentation, he had found a way to show the damage he dealt along with the damage he took.
<You have taken 6 damage (Piercing+Tearing)>
That was less welcome, though the pain from his flanks revealed that the trodil had also learned from its previous encounter.
Lunge, swipe. Dodge. Damage. Pain.
The battle fell into more of a rhythm. The trodil was irritating, dodging out of range as soon as it could, playing it safe. Dominic felt his frustration rise as it went on.
His frustration made him reckless and he willingly offered the trodil an opening just to make one for himself. The trodil bit, both figuratively and literally.
<You have taken 15 damage (Piercing+Tearing)>
More than double the previous attacks, this one was clearly more serious since the trodil was able to sink its teeth into the skin of his neck. Dominic barely kept his panic at bay, but the opportunity offered was worth it. In return for the trodil’s minor injury, Dominic ripped out its own throat.
<You have dealt 83 damage (Piercing+Tearing)>
<You have killed Trodil (Basic Beast level 3)>
<You have earned 27 PP>
The messages came in thick and fast as the life left the trodil’s eyes. After the issue with a thought-dead enemy actually just being unconscious, Dominic had asked the System to inform him when he’d made a kill – it had obliged. A level 3 Beast, apparently. Unsurprising considering its greater size and intelligence.
Quickly absorbing the body, Dominic was pleased when it offered another 2% progress towards earning Quick Strike. Only 20% left until Quick Strike is at 100%. I wonder what will happen then…
Trotting over to the key piece, he wondered what to do with it. If he’d had a pocket, he’d have put it in there. As it was, his coat was rather lacking in pockets. A design-flaw right there, he thought humorously to himself.
In the end, he just picked it up in his mouth and decided to spit it out like the trodil when he wanted to use his teeth.
Time to earn me that Quick Strike, he thought to himself with excitement.