by Naosu N R
"You're sure?" Mandy asked.
"I've seen this movie before," Linz said, but she wouldn't say more when pressed.
Its obvious something big is happening!
And its probably related to the fall of civilizations and what struck the outside world, that trapped us in the dungeon!
You don't just send a huge convoy at full speed going through the dungeon.
But I noticed Rita wasn't even looking but was instead hiding behind the couch with her knees pressed to chin, and looking like she was going to cry. I pretended to not notice, since it was hard for her.
"That's Cesium's guild flag," Miguel said regarding the convoy in front of me.
I resumed looking.
"You know them?" Linz asked.
A strange gold half circle symbol with three green triangles resting in it, is on the sides of the vehicles with the triangles also forming a bigger triangle. There's an arrow going out the side of the half circle also.
"What's up with that symbol? Why does it look familiar?" Mandy asked.
"It should. They mean big business. If they are here there's huge trouble," Linz said.
"Like how?" Melanie asked, who wasn't at the window but was near Rita holding her hand.
"Cesium guild. Its not the strongest guild, but they always are involved in big events. I'd heard of their activities when I used to be more involved with information brokering before joining Jay. If they are here, this is related to the calamity for sure. They are a major player and have a lot of government contracts involved in trying to keep the country safe. If they are here, this will be a hot zone," Linz said.
"You know all this?" Mandy asked her.
"Yes."
"How? How do you know?" she pressed her.
"I told you! And I'm tellin' ya' straight. Jay knows I am," Linz said.
The convoy kept plowing through the zombies.
To put a plow on the front end of the truck... I wonder how the XP division goes? Does everyone in the car get some or only the driver?
So I asked Linz. It seems like she knows even more than Mandy.
"The XP division? The driver is probably a [Cavalier] class job. Or a [Rider], both classes get XP for kill using both cavalry, and vehicles. But they get an XP hit off it also, because its kind of an exploit. The driver gets more, but I don't know how much more," Linz said.
"I didn't know that," Mandy is giving Linz a keen eye.
"You have to know a lot of stuff in...my line of work. My old line of work now. I hope Jay can make me an honest woman now," Linz frowned with arms folded.
"So what now? Should we follow them to get to the town on level 10?" Simone asked.
Several ears pricked up at that.
You'd think it would be a good plan.
"I like it. Let's do it. Can we?" Mandy asked me.
"No. You can't," Linz said.
"Why not? Wouldn't we get to a safe place sooner?" Simone asked.
Actually these are good questions.
"You don't want to. It won't be good to be near those guys for a few weeks still. Whatever they are involved in you want to let the dust settle first," Linz said.
"So you do know something?" I asked.
"Word on the street about a week ago was that some big guild was going to come down through the area. The rumors were that their divination mages had told them to make a new town, if they wanted to save as many people they could they had to build a town," Linz said.
"But they are plowing a dungeon. I don't get it," Simone said.
"Plowing a dungeon..."
"In order to build a town. IN. THE. DUNGEON," Linz said.
What the freak?!
Is that how the other towns got there?! Were they built the same way? Or were they always there?!
I was suddenly very curious about this.
If the outside world. The world outside the dungeon had become a calamity zone....
And if the outside world, was now almost as if it were no longer a habitable world...
Jeez, I can't believe I'm thinking about this...
It would mean that the only livable towns in this world, or on several continents were INSIDE the dungeon, because of the calamity!
!
Wow...
The Tower of Babel dungeon is big. So big it could encompass whole countries. Its hard to fathom. For it to be like that, it must have grown and spread throughout the entire world.
You definitely could build whole towns in it, according to the others. Its hard to conceive at first, but after you get past that, it starts to make a bit of sense, and even feel kind of mystical and other worldly with fantastic flavor. And we'd already seen some things that led us to know that could work.
Imagine...a dungeon so big the whole world was in it.
And we'll be trapped in it too is the sad thing. There's no way back out in theory. The exits on the first floor are all collapsed.
So we'll have to just cope with it, and learn how to live this way?
Wow.
This is huge.
I have to figure out how to do this.
If we're too slow and get behind the other rats we'll be stuck in the lower level overwhelmed towns in the dungeon. But if we're too fast we'll be roadkill like the guys volunteering for this Cesium guild mission.
Maybe that's why their guild name is Cessium?
...
Name; Jay Williams
Race; Type 349F human hybrid
Magic job; Mind/Enchanter Mage
Titles unlocked; Support Mage (+1 MP), Novice Tactician (+1 MP), 'Mage Combat Survivor' (+1 to magic resistance)
Level; 11
Health; 123/134 → 132/142
Mana; 131/422 → 138/426
Mana Regen; 33 → 34 (per hour)
Health regen; 3 (per day)
Element affinities; mind, enchantment
Str; 33Agi; 38Con; 43 → 44
Int; 111 → 112Wis; 101 → 102 App; 112 → 113
Skills; athletics (+1 con), jogging (+2 agi), math (+2 int), physics (+1 int), mana affinity (enabled), defend+3, block+1, parry, (weak) Stun (4 seconds), First aid, Alertness, Hide & Sneak (limited, weak), Blunt Weapon skill,
Magic skills; Seduce +3, Charm +3, Mesmerize +1, Enchant +1, Enhance +1, Hypnotism (Temporary Charm), Dungeon Map Detection, Ice snap (new!)(reduced damage +2, element incompatibility), Love+1 → +2(emotion magic), Spell Evade → +1, Safe Zone enchant, Repair Magic(enchant), Pacify(new!), Weapon Enhancement+1,
Passive skills; demon lord clan heritage (bonus starting mana +50), demon lord heritage (bonus mana; +2 mana points per level), +1 to mind control. Team leader skill (+1% to group offense), Party Team Window Management magic,; Mind Control Efficiency (+13 → 14%), Quick Reflexes, Love Magic Efficiency +1 → +2, Clan Heir (+5 bonus to Health, mana, and stamina., Mana Sensing, Love Magic Relationship Tracker(Demon lord clan only!), Magic Resistance (passive)(+10), Mage blood trait
Gear list;
Crowbar +3 (Knock back effect)
Health necklace +1 (per 6 hours, maxed)
Baseball cap
Jacket +4
Jeans (+2 defense)
1 long crowbar +2
Hoodie +3 defense
Flashlight (energy efficient enchant, blind 3/day)
Flashlight #2 (Mezz 2/day)
Remote Control (slow 1/day)
Baseball Bat
Buckler
(+5)+3
Belt +2
Ring; mana regen+1
Ring; Charm skill+1
Umbrella +4 (Damage absorption shield enchant on activation)
Endless Water canteen
Endless Beef Stew +2 (+10% volume per day)
Pack frame (+5% carrying volume, -20 to weight enchant)
Ranger boots +2;(+10 to movement, +5% evasion, +5 armor)
Supply bag; 1 red health potion, 2 med gels, 3 pain creams (borrowed from the house)
Bank account; $2,561
'foreign dungeon currency'; 194
Unused stat points; 0
...
Too much has happened.
The appearance of the Cessium guild, and the outside world having just had a massive chain of destruction. These are big trigger events that shouldn't happen. A reply mage mail from my brother Ryan, confirmed that the Cessium guild always appears around massively big chain of events. He advised to stay away from them, as they have a huge casualty rate however, even if their intentions are good at achieving their goals.
I didn't tell the others this yet, because it would raise questions about where the information came from. And Ryan said that sometimes the family clan doesn't get along with them. So its better I don't say anything unless I need to.
We need to know more and get to that level 5 town. That's going to be one of our next goals. That's the only way we can know what really happened and ask questions. And hopefully people there might be able to tell us.
It appears we'll be living in the dungeon now to survive.
If we can.
But life shouldn't be too hard with my team with me...
...my new family.
End of Book 1
Thank you for reading!
Sequel for this book already being worked on, but date yet to be announced.
