Chapter Three

I awoke quickly to see that the sun had taken advantage of my slumber to rise undeterred into the sky. The alarm clock beside my bed was showing that it was just after three o'clock. I rubbed the remaining sleep from my eyes and got up out of bed. After a brief second of walking, I realized I didn't feel any discomfort in my arm anymore. I quickly unwrapped the bandage and saw that I didn't have a wound anymore, just a small jagged half crescent scar. I was surprised that gamers body let me have a scar but in the end, I didn't really mind.

I equipped my shoes and made my way through the school and out through the front doors. The gate guard glanced up at me as I walked passed his booth, but quickly went back to his book that he was reading.

As I made it outside the grounds, I pulled up my map to see what was nearby but found out I only had map markers within a few miles of my position. The whole map was open, but nothing was showing about places or names of things. Which, after thought, just meant that I'll probably have to wander around until I find what I'm looking for. What I did find within a few miles of myself though, were several dungeons. They were all common except for one. Almost like they were points of an x, the dungeons were placed as if marking Yancy as the center. Three of them were common with the last being a rare dungeon, thankfully they weren't too far away.

I thought about going into a few of them, but I didn't want to get stuck outside of school for the night just in case the dungeon would take longer than I thought, so I decided to save them for another time.

I marked them on my minimap for later and kept looking around the map as I walked. I was looking for a sporting goods store or maybe even a gun shop. I might not be able to get one legally, but I may be able to get one illegally.

In the end, I didn't find a gun shop, instead, I walked until I saw a shop that caught my eye. Its sign said it was called Hobbies by Horace and was a relatively big hobby store. It was filled with shelves and shelves of all kinds of things from Legos to crafts, to cooking, to all kinds of sports, and even parasailing. There was so much stuff I knew that I would be able to get lost in there for hours.

With an eye on several of the clocks that I had found throughout the place, I started wandering to the area I had seen sports equipment to hopefully replace my bat. I knew it wasn't the best option, but it was an option that had come in handy.

I found a wooden one that I liked, so I carried it with me in my cart as I walked. I didn't find much in the sporting goods section for what I wanted so I made my way to crafts next.

I found a lot of neat things there that I knew I would be back for, but right now I didn't have the extra money to splurge on things that I might need in the future. I ended up spending just over an hour wandering through the veritable treasure trove, but I ended up only getting my bat and a more sturdy pair of shoes and clothes. If I was going to be going through dungeons, I wanted to have backups.

I left the store and decided to circle back to the school instead of head directly there, so I could see a bit more of the city. I walked slowly through the busy streets, people filling the side walk.

I walked passed a hardware store and remembered that I still had a ring of keys in my inventory. I pulled the keys that I wanted copies of off of the ring and walked through the front door to find someone that worked there. It didn't take long and before I knew it, I had all the keys to the kingdom that I could need. A very small, very sad kingdom, but a kingdom none the less.

I left before I started to get any crazy ideas about the chainsaws that I saw on the shelf.

I made it almost back to the school before I found something interesting. It was a big open lot, one of the very few that I had seen, filled with stalls and all kinds of booths. I knew a flea market when I saw one, so I immediately detoured to go have a look. As is the way of the flea market, I found all kinds of things. People were selling anything from old toys to sports memorabilia, to pot paraphernalia, to vhs movies and dvds, and the classic stall selling giant tiger blankets. I made it all the way to the end of the last row of stalls before I found what I was looking for. The knife stall. I immediately saw what I wanted and grabbed it to take it to the owner. It was a hunting knife that was as long as my forearm with a black handle. It felt sturdy in my hands, with a full tang blade. He took a long look at me and I could tell he didn't want to sell the knife to a child, but when I pulled out my money I could almost see the complaint die on his lips. He took the offered bills and shoved them in his pocket and turned back to his chair.

I walked away and when I felt hidden enough I put the knife into my inventory and started on back towards school. I know I have a spear now, but a good knife will always be a decent back up weapon.

I made it back to school with no problems, passed the dozing guard and through the still empty corridors and up to my room. I debated staying in there until the sun went down so I could go to the dungeon, but the lack of people in the hallway on the way to my room swayed me to at least try to go now. If I went now, maybe the sun would be down and the timer on the other one would be reset by the time I got out.

I equipped my new, sturdier set of clothes and made my way towards the attic. With the assistance of my map, it didn't take too long to get there.

I passed the janitors office as I went through the halls, so I returned the keys where I had found them and kept going on my way.

The attic was full of all kinds of old school junk, from desks that were filled with graffiti or lockers that were so rusty and damaged that they were a health concern just to walk by them.

I found the dungeon just as easily as the other one. It was in the back corner of the space, and it was so obvious that I didn't know how I didn't immediately see it when I entered the room. It was a large white portal, set against the back wall. It was made of what looked like smoke, drifting in air currents that I couldn't feel. There was a slight chill in the air, and I could smell just a hint of something similar to the last dungeon, like I was underground again, but it might have just been the musty old attic. I couldn't see into it passed the swirling smoke, but when I raised my hand to touch it, I got the same pop up screen as last time that asked if I wanted to enter the dungeon. I accepted and got pulled through the smoke.

I shook my head and opened my eyes to pitch black. I rubbed my eyes, but that didn't help any, so I figured that might just be how the dungeon was. I summoned a torch and was secretly relieved when the bright green glow illuminated quite a bit of the area around me. Gamers mind had kept me calm, but I wasn't ashamed to admit to myself that for a brief second there I was afraid I had gone blind.

With the torch in hand and my spear in the other, I saw that I was standing on some kind of rough stone. I looked around, but I couldn't see any walls or even a ceiling. With a shrug and an eye on my minimap, I started walking in a random direction.

My footsteps sounded extra loud in the open space. Shortly after I started walking and making noise, I heard the sounds of flapping. It sounded like it was coming from all around me, but my minimap told me the sound was coming from a decently large group of enemies approaching me. I couldn't see them, but I counted six blips moving straight toward me. Taking into account that it seems like I'm in a huge cave, these would probably be bats. Which was absolutely unfortunate. My skill set, or lack thereof, would be terrible against something like that. My spear or even my knife would be next to useless because I don't have the dex required to hit a fast moving airborne enemy like that, mana strike and sphere for the same reason, so that only left shield and bolt. And out in the open, my shield might not be very helpful against a large number of bats.

Regardless, I put my spear back into my inventory and cast a shield off to my side. I wanted it ready to use at a moments notice. I raised my other hand and used the mana bolt skill, but I didn't release it. I couldn't see how high or how low they were yet, so all I could do was wait for the best time. My torch was still bravely illuminating a good portion around me, so I knew I'd have at least a few seconds to attack before they got to me.

The sound of wings was suddenly louder, much louder than before, and I could see the bats. They looked like a bad Zubat knockoff, with mouths that were way too big, no eyes, and dark blue skin. Their wingspans were probably around two feet wide at best.

As soon as I could even start to make out their shapes in the gloom, I aimed and fired my held spell. The two bolts flew quickly through the air, hitting one of the creatures but missing the other I was aiming for. The bat I did hit burst into light, which surprised me, but in retrospect small enemies that appear in crowds typically have low health.

I used what time I had left to try and take out as many as possible, and I succeeded for the most part. I launched bolt after bolt until there was only two left before I ran out of time. I brought my shield up and blocked one, but the other swerved out of the way and made it to me before I could do anything about it. I felt it's fangs pierce through the skin on my shoulder with little resistance, the bat making obscene sounds as it consumed my blood. I could immediately feel the effects of being drained as I was hit by a feeling of weakness.

The bat that hit my shield seemed a little dazed, so I dropped my shield and reached for the bat that was attached to me. It didn't try to fly away, so I was able to grab it with little issue. It didn't have bottom claws or any way to attack except for its teeth, so when I had it in my hand, there was little for it to do to escape. My mana strike infused fist smashed it into dust and I was able to hit the other with a mana bolt before it recovered.

Once I gave a final look around to make sure the enemies were gone, I looked down at my shoulder to see the damage. It wasn't nearly as bad as the rat bite had been. Where the first had been a jagged open wound, this one was just two deep puncture marks. I pulled out some gauze and packed it deep into the spots and taped them in place. My gamers body seemed to heal like a game, so hopefully the gauze wouldn't be absorbed into my skin or something. So far I had been gnawed on by a huge rat and a fairly big bat, and I have to say I'm not a fan. Not one bit.

Once I made sure my new bleed debuff had gone away, I started gathering up all of my loot. Each individual bat had dropped less that a single rat, but all together it was more by almost a half. The experience points were a little lacking, but I didn't expect much from something that can be one shot by a single mana bolt.

I didn't have a way to tell the time in the dungeon, but what seemed like almost an hour passed by with me going through little swarms without any real issue.

Note to self, find a watch.

I had been attacked by enough swarms that I had lost count after the twentieth, but something interesting happened when I hit level ten.

New Mage skills learned:

Mana Burst

Reaper level up to level one:

New skill learned:

Soul Casting (beginner)

New Perk:

Soul Cache

The mana burst skill did exactly what it sounded like. I cast it when I had a spare minute and the mana used by the skill flowed aggressively from my hand and outward into a small explosion. The hand that I used to cast it was shoved back by the force alone, so I knew I'd have to be aware of that if I used it. I probably wouldn't be able to cast it several times in a short time, but maybe if I could increase my strength it wouldn't have such a bad recoil . It's range wasn't very good, but the damage seemed like it would make up for that.

Now, it was the other skill and perk that really caught my eye.

Soul Casting (Beginner): Take soul energy that you have accumulated and imbue your magical attacks with it to increase the effectiveness of those abilities.

Soul Cache: You now have a reservoir to store soul energy that you gain from defeating enemies. Reservoir size is based on reaper level.

Current Exp conversion percentage: - 1% +

I noticed something change in my hud so I looked down at my heath bar and saw a new bar, completely empty. I thought about it and changed the conversion rate to one hundred percent. It's a reservoir that has a cap, right? So I'll fill it and everything after that will become experience points again. I'm excited to start experimenting with it so I set out and start to look for my next swarm. Sacrificing a little experience now will help me for the boss fight later, so hopefully I can fill it quickly so I can gain the boss monsters exp points. If it's not full by then, I might just change the conversion rate.

For the next few swarms, mana blast showed that it was the skill of choice for this dungeon. I would wait until the last second before the swarms would hit and mana blast from both hands and they would almost always be wiped out to a few stragglers. The cost and the recoil made me a little useless for a second after, but nothing detrimental. Each little bat only filled the he soul bar a tiny amount, but after six swarms, the bar was almost completely full. I guess a level one reaper can't really hold much energy. I wonder what level my passenger was before they got dropped to zero.

Throughout the whole journey across the dungeon, my minimap had become one of my most useful tools. So much so that there were very few moments where I wasn't paying very close attention to it, so when I saw a much larger red dot headed toward me than all the previous ones, I figured it might be the boss of the dungeon.

Boss Monster Summoned

Ah. And then there's that.

I eyed my soul bar and debated a bit before I dropped the conversion rate back to one percent. I would probably only have one enemy to face off against so I wouldn't get any more soul back until I beat it anyway.

The blip on my radar got closer and closer until I heard the flapping of its wings. Just from the sound of it, you could tell that it was bigger. The sound that it's wing beats made sounded deeper, and just a little more menacing. I prepared my two mana burst spells, but this time I primed the soul enhanced version.

Now, I had gotten pretty used to how mana felt as I used my spells, but mana mixed with soul energy was a completely new feeling. It was like a low voltage of electricity thrumming through my veins, and I could practically feel my heart rate speed up in response.

I almost lost control of the mana, but I reigned my focus back in. The middle of a dungeon isn't the place to lose focus.

I saw my soul bar dip to match the mana cost of the two spells, and I was excited to see how the spell differed.

The bat finally got close enough that I could see it, and I almost laughed. If the other ones were zubats, then this one was without a doubt a golbat. It was easily three times as big as the others, with fangs on the top and bottom of its maw. A dark purple liquid on its fangs that was probably some kind of venom shined in the torchlight.

The bat swooped down in exactly the same pattern as all the others and for a brief second I was disappointed. Only for a second though. This should be easy experience if it behaves in exactly the same way. It finally flew within my range, so I raised my hands and fired off both of my prepared spells.

When I dual cast the mana blast spells before, I had always had to brace my feet or I'd get pushed back. With the soul enhanced version, there was more force from the spell but I didn't get pushed back any more than usual. There was however, a difference in how the actual mana looked and acted. My mana bolts, blasts, torches, and even my shields have all been a deep green. They shined with their own energy, but it's never been a bright light show. With the soul energy running through with the mana, the dark green color of my mana turned into equal shades of greens and golds.

The range had also apparently increased as well as the damage. The two spells hit and blasted the boss monster backwards, but it didn't fade. Observe told me it was below half health just from that, but I was below half mana also, so I wouldn't be able to do that again. I instead turned to my bolt skill and tried to land a couple hits before it flew away or recovered fully.

Even with it needing to recover, it's dex was still much higher than mine so of the bolts I sent after it, only one hit. I didn't have the soul energy to spare on long shots like that so I hadn't used any on those spells so the damage was minimal.

By now it had mostly recovered so it was just circling overhead, probably trying to see how to attack better than rushing at me. I stood still and let it circle, but I kept an eye on it with my minimap. It started lingering longer and longer at my back so I took out my spear and prepared my shield spell.

Like I thought, soon after I had prepared, the blip on my radar suddenly started closing the space between us. I waited until I could hear the flapping as if it were right behind me, and then I acted. I whirled around and brought my shield up and braced myself. The bat hit the shield dead on and I could see surprise in its expression as it tumbled to the ground. I moved the shield aside and stabbed my spear down into the bat, the weapon passing easily through it as it turned to dust.

The exp jumped me up to level eleven and the loot was still subpar, but I did get another soul stone. Everything else went along with it into my inventory as I looked around for where the chest should be. I went in the direction of where the boss came from and I found what I was looking for pretty quickly.

Well, I say what I was looking for, but really all I was looking for was something out of place. Turns out, the first thing I came across was a giant, dead tree. It's gnarled and bare branches reached up towards a sky it would never see, and it bark lay in rotting piles at its roots where it had fallen off long ago. The bone white tree stood tall, and seemed to have been the resting place of the boss bat. At the base of the trunk was a hollow spot that just barely fit a small chest.

I grabbed the chest and with a little difficulty I pulled it free from the tree. I was going to open it but I had an idea and I instead tried to stash the whole thing into my inventory. To my surprise it worked. The chest blinked out of my hands and I received a notification asking if I'd like to exit the dungeon. I accepted and I found myself back in the attic. The portal had a small game alert sitting right in the middle that said the dungeon was on cool down, so I turned to make my way out. I could see through one of the few little windows that the sun was sitting on the horizon, waiting a last few beats before it finally started its decent into sunset.

I watched for a few minutes until only the last few rays of sunshine reached over the horizon to paint the clouds before I started my way back down the stairs.

By the time I got back to my room, I knew the rat dungeon hadn't reset so I instead took out the chest I had just gotten. It wasn't too big, maybe as big as a shoe box, but it had a little stack of money, a few more health and mana potions and another gacha token. I didn't see any reason to wait so I used the token immediately.

Minor Apothecary Satchel added to inventory

I pulled it out and saw a small beaded leather pouch, and opened it to see a few roots and different flower petals inside it. I put them back into my inventory for later use. Useful, but not mind blowing. Maybe I can get rare ingredients through the gacha later. I'll never turn my nose up at free ingredients, anyway.

Looking at the clock on my bedside table, I saw that I still had around two or three hours until the rat dungeon opened up. I decided to take a shower and a quick nap before the dungeon dive.

Three and a half hours later a stood in front of the rat dungeon portal, waiting the last few seconds for the dungeon to refresh. I had taken a quick shower and swapped clothes. The bandages from my bat bite had been disposed of because the wound had closed up, presumably when I was at full health again.

The portal flashed so I reached out to touch the door and I entered the dungeon. I went through the enemies easier than last time, mana blast and my mana bolts making short work of each room. The enemies themselves hadn't level up any or gotten any stronger, so my increased stats made traveling through each room easier. I still had to wait for my mana to fill back up, but not as long as last time. I refilled my soul cache back to full and I had started getting exp about halfway through the rooms so I had leveled up a few times before I got the notification that the boss door was open. Not enough to unlock a new skill, but each level was appreciated.

I made my way back to the boss room and I pulled out my spear. I liked the weapon and I wanted to get better at using it.

The boss door was gone just the same as last time, and it snapped into place just the same also. The boss crawled out and in the same manor, it rushed at me so I prepared a mana strike through my spear and a blast in my left hand.

The boss was only a few feet from me when I quickly stepped to the side and hit it with the blast I had charged up. The boss rocked back from the force and I thrust my spear forward behind its front leg. The spear passed through its fur and pierced deep into its abdomen. It squealed in pain before bursting into dust. I was surprised before I saw the notification of a critical hit.

Huh. That was really easy, I should just try for crits every time.

New skill:

Mage Armor

The description said that it was a skill that made me resistant to slashing and bludgeoning damage, and that the duration was based on my intelligence stat. It didn't say anything about piercing though, so I'd still have to be careful of course.

The chest was in the same spot but I didn't get a gacha token in this one. I had the standard amount of money and potions, but this time there was something new laying in the bottom. It was a pair of leather bracers. Observe told me they only offered minor protection against piercing and slashing damage, but as my first real piece of loot that wasn't gacha, I was really excited. They would work well with the new spell I just got, but they only offered the protection on my forearms. Still, I'd take whatever I could get. I put them into my inventory along with the chest and I exited the dungeon when the prompt appeared.

It was still well into the early hours of the morning when I made it back into my room. There was no sunlight outside, and there wouldn't be for several more hours, but that's fine because I needed a little time to think. I needed to hash out a plan for what I wanted to do in this world, or at least what I wanted to do for the next few days. I needed to take this a step at a time, but a rough plan is still better than no plan.

As for right now, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do. There was no real reason to stay at Yancy academy after all. Mentally, I had already been through school and I wouldn't need any diploma or degree to make it in this world. I already had more money than I made in a week from my last life just from running three times into common dungeons. To be honest, all I wanted to stay at Yancy for was to see Percy, the protagonist of this world before he becomes the savior he would become. But I could save that for when I backed him up during the museum trip. I wouldn't step in unless I needed to, because that was a pivotal moment beginning his demigod career, but I would at least make sure he would survive. I had no idea what waves I would make by then because just my appearance in this world makes it different than the original.

I had found a flier in the hallway on my way back saying that there would be a field trip on the first of June to the museum, so I knew when the trip would be that would start canon. Right now I had a safe place to sleep, but I didn't know how long that would last now that my demigod blood was active. I know Grover protects Percy, and I didn't know if his blood was active or not, but I didn't want to cause problems by bringing monsters here.

So that settles that, I'll leave Yancy and go my own way, probably to camp half-blood. I couldn't get a house or anything like that because I'm just a kid here, and I wouldn't be able to protect it yet anyway. I don't know what kind of monsters are just running around.

To half-blood it is. I'll stop along the way and buy food and clothing, and anything I'll need. I have a few weeks so I'll just hoof it there instead of taking a cab or bus to get closer. This way I can hit all the dungeons I can too.

Just thinking about supply runs alerted me to a new problem. I hadn't eaten since I got here, and my stomach was completely empty by this point. I had wanted to get a full nights sleep before I left, but that would have to wait. I'll leave now and find a twenty-four hour convenience store or fast food place or something and maybe bribe my way into a motel room somewhere.

I looked around the room at what few belongings I had and tried to decide on if I should take anything with me. The mattress and bedding all went into my inventory as well as all the towels and clothing I had. I had no real use for the electric clock, but I took it anyway. The bedside drawers, lamp, and even the dresser all went into my inventory along with everything else. I couldn't imagine anyone would mind too much, I'm sure whoever is in charge would probably just send an overinflated bill to my trust fund that I apparently had, but I didn't have access to that anyway so I didn't care. With one last look around the now bereft room, I opened the door and made my way out and down the hallway.

—

Authors note:

Hello readers. It's been a while since I last updated this, but I just wanted to let y'all know that it's not a dead fic. Life just happened to get in the way like it usually does. I just got a promotion at work, becoming the shift lead, so I have a bit more time to myself than I've had for the last few years here. I can't guarantee a steady or consistent schedule for uploads, but I can at least assure you that the fic isn't dead.

I've been kicking around a few ideas for the fic, and I've went ahead and changed a few things in the background, such as the beginner mage class Alex currently has. I originally wrote it in to only have fifty levels, but I went ahead and swapped it to one hundred. I had originally wanted to introduce a tier system to classes, ramping up in levels needed to max more advanced classes, but I decided to go back to the standard one hundred.

I'll do better about keeping up my writing so I'll upload more often. Thanks for reading!