Exploring the Dungeon

"Is this the Dungeon?" Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu passed through the first floor of Babel Tower and descended a long staircase, finally reaching the Dungeon's first floor. "The air is moving, and glowing plants are growing on the rocks. The surroundings are surprisingly different from what I imagined." They were about ten meters below ground, yet the air was unexpectedly dry.

"The wall lamps are as bright as when we're sleeping." Xin Mu observed the surroundings too. "I can see just fine."

The Dungeon's ecology was unlike anything in the known world. The two discussed it for a while, but came up with no answers. One was a liberal arts student and the other an engineering student; neither knew much about biology.

They kept walking forward. Zhang Ruofeng led the way, wearing an arm guard on his left arm and holding a dagger in reverse grip in his right hand. Xin Mu held the map in her left hand, her right resting on the dagger's hilt, as they slowly made their way onward.

"Left," Xin Mu instructed. Though it was their first time in the Dungeon, Zhang Ruofeng figured that if he wanted to cook dinner himself, they would have to fight until they were exhausted on the first floor, judging by how much this world resembled an RPG. That wasn't worth it. Besides, the closer a Dungeon was to the surface, the fewer monsters it seemed to have.

As soon as they turned left, two bouncing mushroom monsters, each about the size of a basketball, appeared ahead of them. These were Weak Mushrooms, common monsters on the first floor. According to the information Heluo had given them, they weren't much of a threat and had little offensive power. However, if their spores got into your eyes, it would hurt a lot, so they had to watch out for them.

The darkness really was a disadvantage, Zhang Ruofeng thought. The monsters seemed weak, but it was hard to see their spores in the dark. One careless mistake could leave them in a bad way. Besides, these were monsters—real monsters. It was hard not to feel curious about something that didn't exist in the real world.

"Here they come." Xin Mu's warning snapped Zhang Ruofeng out of his thoughts. But the monsters' movements were so clumsy and adorable that their hopping toward him at about the speed of a normal walk made all his preparation seem a little ridiculous. To shake off his embarrassment, Zhang Ruofeng charged forward a few steps. He watched where one mushroom was about to land and kicked it flying, then turned and grabbed the cap of the other. With a hard squeeze, the Weak Mushroom instantly crumbled into fine sand that fell between the plates of his arm guard. All that remained in his hand was a pale gray stone about the size of a fingernail. Zhang Ruofeng knew this must be a Magic Stone. Meanwhile, the Weak Mushroom he had kicked away hopped back toward him and leaped up to shoulder height. A mouth lined with thornlike teeth opened at the base of its cap and lunged for him.

"This thing makes no scientific sense," Zhang Ruofeng thought. It had no eyes or ears, yet somehow it knew where he was. But his hands didn't hesitate. He knocked the mushroom's attack aside with his left hand and stabbed its cap with his dagger. In an instant, the Weak Mushroom crumbled into fine sand too.

"I think I should stop trying to understand these things scientifically." Zhang Ruofeng looked at the pile of sand, picked up the Magic Stone, and put it in his bag.

"Mm." Xin Mu watched the pale yellow sand slowly disappear into the ground and frowned slightly.

"These monsters really are weak." Zhang Ruofeng flexed his left hand. Killing the monsters hadn't given him any sense of accomplishment at all. They really did feel like the Slimes beginners encountered outside the starting village in an RPG. These monsters were probably worth EP +1. Zhang Ruofeng imagined that green EP +1 markers must have appeared over his and Xin Mu's heads.

"Ruofeng." Xin Mu saw the absent look on Zhang Ruofeng's face and guessed what he was thinking. She was speechless and turned her head slightly away.

"Right, let's keep going." Zhang Ruofeng came back to himself, awkwardly scratched his head, and continued onward. There wasn't much to be on guard against on the first floor, though. They walked and paused along the way, and after about forty minutes reached the first landmark on the map: the First Floor Monster Food Storage. It was a supply point for the floor's monsters, containing water and some black fruit that neither Zhang Ruofeng nor Xin Mu had seen before.

"Why?" Xin Mu looked at the food storage, which was about three or four square meters, and asked quietly.

"Hm?" Zhang Ruofeng looked at Xin Mu. "Why don't we destroy the food storage? Monsters keep being born in this Dungeon, right? We can't be sure these fruits and water won't grow back quickly. And the monsters here seem pretty normal so far. Even a cornered rabbit will bite, and if we push these monsters too far, something worse might happen."

"Found it." While listening to Zhang Ruofeng's analysis, Xin Mu found the pale red nuts marked on the map. They were produced in small quantities only in low-level Dungeon food storages. They apparently tasted ordinary and were more like a spice in this world. Zhang Ruofeng and Xin Mu had collected them to save some money when he made braised pork for dinner, and they could sell any extras if they found enough.

"Mm, are there six?" Zhang Ruofeng looked at Xin Mu as she bent down to gather them. Six would be worth zero Faris—probably still not enough to buy anything. "There's only one plant. Looks like someone came through before us and took most of them."

"Take your time." Xin Mu didn't mind that there were so few. These spice-like fruits sold for about ten Faris each outside the Dungeon, so gathering them herself was better than buying them from a shop.

Zhang Ruofeng casually crushed two more Weak Mushrooms. Xin Mu didn't even need to draw her dagger before the two of them reached the staircase entrance to the next floor. Xin Mu liked Zhang Ruofeng, but he had always been quiet and unassuming in the Anime Club. Though she had watched him closely, she knew he was far more than just a shut-in. Among shut-ins, he was an obsessive sort: he nearly always played every game he picked up to completion, no matter how easy or hard. Yet he never bragged about it. He only offered a hint when someone else got stuck, then faded back into the background among his clubmates, lost in his own thoughts. And Zhang Ruofeng had a strength he never showed. Xin Mu had once happened to see him carrying a heat-stricken roommate out for medical care with one arm.

"Ruofeng." Xin Mu quietly tugged at Zhang Ruofeng's sleeve. He paused slightly but didn't turn around. "Mm, we're the closest people to each other in this world now. When there's time, I'll tell you about my past, but now isn't the right time." Zhang Ruofeng knew that the way he had acted today didn't fit his shut-in image at all, since he had crushed every mushroom on the first floor with his bare hands.

"Mm." Xin Mu was a reserved person too. If she hadn't been, she would have had a boyfriend long ago, she thought. But her reserved nature was something she had inherited from her parents, who were quiet themselves. Her family was also well-off, and a life without many hardships had naturally made her somewhat detached. It was precisely because of her reserved nature that she was drawn to Zhang Ruofeng. She had been interested in him from the first time they met, not because of his looks. He could perhaps be called handsome, but his detached air diminished that impression. What drew her in was the goofy side and silly smile that would sometimes appear on his face, things that seemed unlikely to come from someone as reserved as he was. They were like a ray of sunlight piercing layers of clouds, bright yet dreamlike. Maybe it was this contradiction that made Xin Mu curious about him. Over time, she came to realize that just about everyone knew she liked Zhang Ruofeng. But she never denied it or brought it up. Zhang Ruofeng was one of the smartest people her age she knew, so it didn't surprise her that he knew she liked him. Her reserved nature meant she didn't even try to hide her feelings, and the two of them carried on in a way that had more than once made others complain that Zhang Ruofeng had the emotional intelligence of a rock. But Xin Mu knew he was deliberately pretending to be clueless and sweet. She had received so many confessions that she couldn't even keep track of them, but Zhang Ruofeng was the first person like this. Xin Mu had never known she had such a strong sense of possessiveness deep down—until she met him.

"Well, the first floor was too easy. Let's head to the second." Zhang Ruofeng glanced at Xin Mu's lovely profile, the loose hair by her temple swaying in the faint breeze, and spoke softly.