Rats.

Lots of them.

That's what else the Dungeon held for him, apparently.

Izuku let out a yell as he ran around the room, a swarm of rats following him. Why were there so many of them? Well, they were in a dungeon so that was why, but still! Izuku yelped as one latched onto his ankle, leaning down as he ran to grab it.

He threw it at the wall in front of him, dodging another that jumped from the side, trying to grab onto the fur at his waist. The rat he threw slammed into the ground, not moving anymore, and he sighed.

At least they weren't any stronger than regular rats. They could have been, being dungeon creatures and all, but they weren't. This was good. He sheathed his sword as he ran, which was harder than he expected it to be, and pulled out his dagger from its sheath above his butt.

As another rat dove at him, he slashed at it with the dagger, and it dropped to the floor instantly. If they all died to one hit, then he needed the speed a dagger gave him instead of the reach his sword would!

The dagger was also easier to use while running, something Izuku made great use of as he dodged the swarm of rats trying to clamber onto him. He slashed and stabbed with the dagger, each one leaving a dead rat in his trail.

Eventually, though, he made a mistake. The room he was in wasn't very large, and his running around eventually led him back the way he had gone before, having gone in a big circle. He slashed at a rat and took a step backwards, letting out a yell as he felt his foot land on a dead rats body, slipping.

He landed on the floor and was too slow getting up before they reached him. Rats clambered all over him, nibbling at him. His gear! He started to stab at the rats, but their numbers made it so he was making little progress.

He couldn't let the rats get his gear! He couldn't afford more! What could he do? 'Think Izuku, think!'

'That's it!'

Izuku rolled and pulled his arm back. He looked over to the far wall and focused on a single brick in the wall. He sent his fist flying forward as if he was going to punch the wall.

"Lunge!"

He felt the world blur around him again his body was pulled towards the wall. The rats that were attached to him seemed to come with, but while using his ability he was too fast for them to hold on to.

Pain shot up his arm as the world stopped again, his fist now touching the stone wall. It had worked! It was really stupid and now his arm was sore, but it worked! He heard thuds all around him and saw that a lot of the rats that had been on him had fallen off and slammed into the wall.

As he massaged his arm, a plan formed in his head. He just needed something the rats would want to eat more than him! He rifled through his pack and grabbed out one handful of his rations. He ran around the room looking for something to hold it… there!

The room was themed like a storeroom, meaning there were boxes and barrels and bags all over the place. Izuku scooped up one of the bags when he ran past, emptying its contents on the floor. He placed his rations into the bag and put in on the floor behind him, before jumping onto a box nearby, ready to stab any other rats who decided to go after him instead.

Luckily, they were the minority. Most of the remaining rats in the swarm focused on the closer source of food, diving into the bag and piling onto one another in an attempt to get to his rations. Izuku stabbed at one of the ones who attacked him instead before dropping down to the floor.

He grabbed the bag, now wriggling due to how full of rats it was and turned to face the far wall, pulling the bag back behind his head, ready to swing it.

"Lunge!"

He immediately appeared in front of the wall, the ball slamming into the wall. He heard cracks and screeches from the rats and turned back to the other wall.

"Lunge!"

Another dash, another slam into the wall, and the bag fell silent, the wriggling around stopped. He waited another few moments just to make sure some of them weren't playing dead before he heard a soft 'ding'.

Congratulations!

You have earned 100XP for defeating [Minor Rat Swarm]

Izuku smiled as he dropped the bag to the ground. He looked down at his gear and gave himself a mental check-up. He had been lucky to get out of the swarm quick enough that they hadn't been able to do much damage to his equipment.

He gave a quick look around the room to see if there was anything else worth looting when he saw something. When he had jumped off the box to grab the bag he had kicked it away from the pile of boxes it was a part of.

And now he could see a hole underneath where the box had been.

Congratulations!

You have earned 50XP for discovering [Secret Rat Den]

Izuku wiped his brow with his forearm as he finished moving the final box in the pile. The hole in the ground was fully uncovered now, and Izuku could tell it was actually a tunnel. While it was fairly short, It was wide enough for about two of him to crawl side by side if needed.

The name made him pause before going in. It was a [Secret Rat Den]. That meant that there were rats down there. Or at least that's where they came from. Was it worth going down there? It probably was.

Izuku couldn't think of any reason why there would be a secret tunnel other than to house some form of secret treasure. Guess he was going down there!

He dropped onto his stomach and looked down the tunnel. There was a soft light coming from a bend around the corner, but he couldn't see what was creating the light yet. He moved forward, commando crawling his way through the tunnel.

He had to use his dagger to stab the occasional rat, but other than those few, there weren't any dungeon creatures. He eventually reached the corner of the crawlspace and gasped at what he found.

It was a mini loot room! The small cavern that he had found was just tall enough for Izuku to sit up in, and on the other side of it was a small wooden chest, emblazoned with a golden rat on the lid.

The light he had been following seemed to be coming from some bioluminescent mushrooms that dotted the walls and sat around the chest. He reached out and opened it. His first chest! "Cmon, give me a cool sword!"

The lid creaked open, the soft glow of the room illuminating the inside of the chest. Sitting inside, on what looked to be a pile of rat leathers, was a big lump of metal, a small pile of coins, and a dagger that seemed to be made of bone, with leather wrapped around it like a grip.

"Identify"

As he used his ability on the items, he smiled.

Lump of [Enhanced Steel]

A lump of steel that has embraced magic into its makeup. Is stronger than regular steel. About the size of a cannonball.

25 copper coins

Currency

Ratbone Dagger

Dagger made out of condensed rat bones and leather.

+100% Damage to Rodents

Izuku couldn't believe it! His first magic item! Weren't they usually a second-floor and below kind of thing? Did he get it because he found the secret? That has to be it! And not only did he get a magic item, but he also got magic materials!

That was arguably better than the dagger! If there was a Magic Smith in town, he could get this lump of [Enhanced Steel] forged into a better weapon! Or even some armour! It was quite the sizeable chunk.

One problem though, it was very heavy. Too heavy for me to take further down into the dungeon with me. I'd have to go back, finish my quests, and try and find a Magic Smith that will help me for cheap. He still wasn't the richest adventurer around.

Stuffing the lump of [Enhanced Steel] into his pack was slightly awkward, but he eventually made space for it. Now came the much harder trip, crawling back up the tunnel with all of his new loot!

It took him far longer than the first trip had, and a few times the extra weight on his hip had caused him to slip back down the tunnel a small bit, making it take even longer. Not that he minded.

Any amount of time he spent in the dungeon was quite literally his dream come true. Ever since he had learned what classes and dungeons were, his dream was to conquer every dungeon he could find until he was strong enough to fight even the Bosses that the 'Great Scourge' would bring.

It was his dream to be known far and wide as the best hero the Mightian Empire had, to have people know for sure that because he existed, they were safe from the worst monsters the world could create.

He eventually reached the goblin room and made sure to hoist one of the bodies over his shoulder, gritting his teeth. The combination of the [Enhanced Steel] and the goblin body made him very heavy and it was taking quite a lot of his strength to stay upright under the pressure.

His steps slowed with the new weight, but he pressed further onwards back to the main room, his only available way out of the dungeon for now. He eventually made his way back to the large double doors and planted his hand on them.

He waited a moment, before hearing the soft 'ding' of his menu.

Congratulations!

You are exiting the [UA Dungeon]

+200 XP!

Level Up!

+1 Strength | +1 Endurance | +1 Intelligence | +5 HP/Mana/Stamina

The world faded to black again as the dungeon transported him to the surface, and Izuku couldn't be happier at today's dungeon crawl. 2 Levels for a single day of work! Sure he was low level, to begin with, but that was impressive!

His mood brightened even further as he saw Kurimuzon and David turn to face him. On top of everything that had gone his way today, he also got to hand in a quest! Two of them!

That was always the best feeling.