Dungeon Salvation

“Faster! Don’t let up or you won’t make it in time!” Vivian was merciless as she pushed Elias to run faster.

He wished that he had the energy to complain, or the line of sight to glare at her, but he didn’t. His mother was loving and kind for the most part, but she had an impressive sadistic streak when it came to training. Any form of disobedience or hesitation was met with brutal suppression.

The stakes of the training were simple. If he could run 12 kilometers in under an hour, he would be provided with a potion to aid in his recovery. She called it a ‘reward’ for putting in the effort, but it was actually a critical aspect of his physical training. This was due to how increasing your attributes really worked.

It was nearly impossible to increase one’s attributes without the System. That number represents the absolute limit of any given person's natural potential, with ten being the highest value they can be born with. However, even a person that is born with their Strength attribute at level ten would need to train their body to realize that potential. In this aspect, all the System did was quantify that person’s natural gifts, such as a predisposition to having a powerful physique. Similarly, leveling your attributes did not make you automatically gain more muscle mass, have a clearer mind, or a tougher body. These things must still be obtained through training, in a process that is referred to as building one’s foundation.

People who have fully realized the maximum potential of a body with all attributes at level ten are said to have a perfect foundation. Since that level represents the limits of what is naturally possible for humans to obtain, it is impossible to improve one’s foundation beyond that point. Past that level, people’s bodies are reinforced with mana instead of improved biologically, making it much harder to accomplish a perfect foundation past level ten.

The bodies of high level individuals no longer atrophies due to lack of training or flexibility due to lack of stretching. The mind will no longer grow clouded and memory will be perfected. In other words, the bodies of these individuals are far less malleable than those of lower levels. For these reasons, any improvement to their foundation comes at a great cost, but any benefits obtained before or after this point become permanent.

Many potions and concoctions were developed to facilitate the improvement of a person's foundation. The most commonly found ones were the recovery potion, which were constantly sought after by those under level ten. Although incredibly expensive, they were incredibly helpful and easy to use.

The person only needed to drink them after pushing one’s body and mind beyond their safe limits. The potion would help their bodies realize the gains from training miraculously fast, as well as healing any damage caused by straining the body excessively. Elias had even heard rumors of a potion powerful enough that it perfected a person’s foundation outright, but figured they were either just rumors or far beyond his price range.

Elias really needed the recovery potion at this point in his training since he had nearly doubled the value of his Vitality attribute in the last couple of days. It would take a very long time for his body to grow into his new attributes without aid. More pressingly, his lower lips turned numb about five minutes ago and he could feel his left arm turning cold. He wasn’t too alarmed as he doubted his mom would let him harm himself in training, not permanently. She wasn’t above withholding the potion if he didn’t meet her goals.

“Come on! You’re almost there and you only have three minutes left. You won’t make it if you stop to vomit again. Put your back into it!” Elias wanted to cry at the injustice of it all. He used to be required to run 10 kilometers in an hour just the week before.

I should have lied about my stats.

He arrived back at the dojo with only a few seconds to spare according to his mother’s bellowing countdown. He collapsed into the tatami and wheezed for minutes, unable to do anything else. The only part of him that moved was the left side of his lower lip, which started spasming at some point. He suspected he might have had a minor heart attack at some point.

Eventually, he was able to recover enough that he felt that he could drink something without throwing up, if barely. Drinking his well earned recovery potion would go a long way to make him feel alive again. The potion was small, red, and siruppy. He chugged it.

It tasted like strawberries and cold sea water. He could feel a refreshing energy quickly spread from his stomach to the rest of his body, soothing his aches and taking the worst out of the exhaustion.

Now that the exercising part of his training was done, it was finally time for meditation and stretching. He had already trained his reflexes before running, which consisted of dodging a bunch of things his mother threw at him from different angles. Thankfully, that exercise hadn’t changed much from before as his increased Vitality and Strength barely affected his performance in those exercises, unlike with running. He checked the clock on the wall and his face started to twitch again.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon, on the dot, exactly one hour after he had left for the run. His mother had lied to him about the time! He arrived at the dojo a couple of minutes ago at the very least, so it should have been a few minutes after four. He grew indignant at this revelation, feeling betrayed.

“Good job Eli. 12 kilometers in just under 55 minutes, it’s like you’re a new person. We’ll keep this pace until you increase it when you raise your Vitality again.” Elias looked at her dumbfounded, trying and failing to see any traces of guilt in her expression. He had almost killed himself trying to make time. How could she just pretend like it’s no big deal?

“I still had 5 minutes!? Why did you tell me I was running out of time?” She looked at him with a puzzled look, clearly expressing that the answer should have been obvious.

“The recovery potion accelerates your body’s natural healing and soothes any aches immediately. Pushing a little harder makes the gains much greater and quicker without any downsides. You know this already.”

“Yes, I know how the potion works, but I had more time! I thought I was going to have a heart attack.” Vivian had the audacity to laugh at his face when he said that.

“Stop whining, Eli. You were going to be fine. The first time you push yourself after raising your attributes are always like this. Your body is capable of more, but hasn’t grown into its new capabilities yet. With the potion, you will get the benefit of months of training in days, but only if you truly push yourself. You need to go a bit beyond your safe limits and have the potion bring you back.” Elias continued to mumble and complain about the injustice of it all, but knew she was right.

The recovery potion was pretty expensive as well and was usually only used by some of his parents' more wealthy clients. It was also the secret as to how he was able to increase his Vitality to a value of three by training, whereas he had started with a value of one as a child. Without the potion, he would have cripled himself before succeeding.

Having calmed down from the perceived betrayal, they started the stretching session. His mother would hold him in different poses, forcing his muscles to stretch, increasing their flexibility. Throughout, he was required to keep meditating. He had no idea how, but his mother always seemed to know whether he was faking it, and would stretch his muscles harder if he was. It was very painful.

The next day, Elias decided to forgo breakfast in favor of eating lunch in the clearing. Isabela finally managed to convince him to bring her along as well. She had been trying to get someone to bring her there ever since he told her about it. He tried to convince his parents to pay for their lunch in turn, since he would be taking her.

His mother excitedly agreed and wanted to turn it into a family trip. His father sympathized with his predicament, however, and argued that they shouldn’t intrude in his lunch with his friends. Especially since they were newly acquainted.

After a brief back and forth, they decided to all go together to the clearing, while his parents would split up from the siblings when they got there. It would also allow them to accompany his sister home afterwards, since he would be staying in the dungeon.

Elias got the feeling that they just wanted to see his new friend, since he never had many. The only truly close friend he had ever had was Melinda and he always felt like his mom disliked her for some reason. He never really figured out why.

Isabela wore her long blonde hair tied with a long yellow ribbon and Kitty had a matching ribbon around her neck. The cat trotted in step with his sister, her long tortoiseshell fur bouncing up and down. They looked adorable.

When they arrived at the clearing, he split up from his parents to take a look around with his sister. Isabela was very excited as they walked through the stalls, sparkling eyes flitting everywhere. Occasionally, he would catch her stealing glances at the jungle and realized that this was probably her first time inside the dungeon.

Elias spotted Marco beating his way out of the jungle a few minutes later. Strangely, his sword looked to be made out of wood instead of metal as he remembered. He waved the other man over, but couldn’t resist using Analyze on the sword out of curiosity.

*******

Hardwood Katana

Common

Sword

This wooden sword was reinforced with mana by a powerful swordsman. Ideal for training, this sword has no blade.

*******

Yup, definitely not the sword from before. Actually, why does Marco seem so upset?

Hey Marco, how’s it going man? Are you alright? You look like someone kicked your puppy.” Elias had a bad feeling about what was about to happen. The other man had a dark look on his face as he approached them.

“It’s fine! It’s not your fault,” said Marco in a clipped tone. His tone indicated that he very much thought that whatever the problem was, was indeed Elias’ fault.

“What the hell happened? I didn’t do anything,” said Elias defensively. He was getting irritated with the other man, as he was being pretty rude for no reason.

“I know you didn’t, I’m sorry,” he said with a sigh and, taking a deep breath, explained what had happened. “I was an idiot. Remember how I said that my dad is a swordsmanship instructor? Well, I ended up telling him about how you were forced to fight in the dungeon without any weapons. The old man took the story as a challenge and made me a wooden training sword. I should have never said anything!”

Isabela immediately burst out laughing, pointing at Marco while holding her other hand to her mouth. He was unsure why she bothered to put her hand against her mouth, since she was making absolutely no effort to suppress her laughter. “What an i-”

Elias cuffed her on the head before she could finish what she was about to say, but Marco obviously got the message. It didn’t help that his sister continued laughing at the boy exaggeratedly. They both just looked at each other awkwardly for a bit and Elias thought to diffuse the situation with a little humor.

“So, wanna switch, then? I keep your sword and you keep my nothing,” he said. The other man burst laughing at that, bringing a smile of relief to his face as well. Thankfully, it seemed that Marco wasn’t really holding Elias responsible for his new situation in his mind.

“I’m good. Anyways, who’s the brat?” Isabela definitely stopped laughing at being called a brat and both men just smirked.

If you can dish it out, you better be able to take it.

“I’m Isabela, Eli’s sister,” she said with a harumph. Kitty also gave a curt meow of greeting, surprising the other man greatly. “And this is Kitty.”

Elias had never been able to get a straight story out of his parents regarding Kitty, but the cat was obviously some kind of mana beast at the very least. She was a cat, and behaved like any cat would most of the time, but was obviously smarter than just any beast. Elias had no idea how smart exactly, or how strong she was, but at the very least she seemed to understand conversations and context.

“Well, nice to meet you both Isabela and Kitty, I’m Marco. So, where are we eating? I’m starving right about now. I swear, killing beasts with a real sword was much easier than with this oversized toothpick.”

“There’s this burrito stall I wanted to try out, right over there,” said Elias, pointing in the direction he remembered Rebecca’s burrito stall was in.

They arrived at the burrito stall and he immediately spotted Rebecca. She was as beautiful as he remembered. He felt vindicated to notice that even Isabela seemed to agree as she did an ‘oh’ with her mouth when she saw the woman. This time, Elias was far more prepared than the last couple of times he saw her, managing a simple smile and wave. No gaping. No starring.

Marco, to his merit, seemed to immediately catch on to Elias’ plan, giving him a knowing grin. He then glanced at the matching pair of little sister and cat, looked to Elias, and gave him an incredulous look.

“Don’t you have any shame, man?” Marco whispered into his ear. Elias didn’t even bother to respond, the answer was obvious. Of course not!

It was still early, so the line to the burrito stand was empty, as there were very few people who were already eating. Rebecca noticed him waving at her, smiled politely, and waved back. Isabela looked at him in confusion, curious about the exchange. They approached the counter of the stall.

“Rebecca, how’s it going? We met the other day. I’m Melinda’s friend,” he said, trying to act casually. At the mention of Melinda, her expression grew complex and she grit her teeth slightly.

“Right. What can I get you?” Elias’ surprise must have clearly shown on his face because Rebecca’s hard eyes softened and she sighed. He was really glad he brought his sister along now. “Look, I’m sorry. I just had some issues with Melinda. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Anyways, this is my little sister, Isabela, and Marco,” he said awkwardly, motioning to his two companions, and brought out the big guns. “And this is Kitty.”

He knew that his gambit had worked when the girl failed to hold back a smile when she saw the ribbon-wearing cat. Unfortunately, his sister has clearly caught on to the fact that she was being used and narrowed her eyes at him, a devilish grin forming.

“Eli, is this the girl you like? She’s so pretty! I can see why you can’t stop talking about her,” said the small fiend beside him. Elias could feel the blood rising to his face, as he stared at her in shock.

Marco burst out laughing, seemingly unable to even catch his breath. Isabela grinned victoriously at having scored a hit against her big brother. She saw an opportunity to embarrass him in front of a girl and took it, clueless that he actually did like said girl. He should have seen it coming.

Rebecca’s eyes widened in surprise and started to slowly rub her arm in embarrassment. She was looking down, avoiding meeting his eyes, trying to suppress a laugh of her own. She obviously didn’t take what his little sister said seriously, thankfully, or was trying to spare his feelings.

Elias was speechless. Despite everything, he couldn’t believe that Isabela would betray him like this, not now. He even brought her with him to the clearing after she asked… What brought this on? Regardless of the reason, what was done was done, and he could only try to salvage his dignity.

“I’m sorry for my sister, she thinks she is much funnier than she really is,” he said, glaring at the offending sibling.

“It’s no problem, it's a breath of fresh air, really. Anyway, I need to get back to work. Can I get you anything, or did you just come by to say hi?” Elias was relieved, at least, that she seemed to take it all in stride. She probably has a lot of guys hit on her, with how pretty she is. They ended up ordering one burrito each.

There was plenty of teasing and ribbing, both from his sister as well as Marco, all throughout the meal. Apparently, his new friend was not a believer in pity. He was ruthless. All things told, he took it all in stride, after his initial embarrassment. They said their goodbyes to Rebecca after they were done eating and were on their way.

“Hey, Marco, what’s your Vitality like, huh? Why don’t we have a little spar to see if I can make your face turn ‘as red as a tomato’ as well?” Marco snorted, but looked at him assessingly, as if trying to determine if he was serious or not.

“Jokes aside, I’m actually willing to go for a spar. Though, I will warn you that I am a very good fighter, so don’t take it hard when you lose.” At first, Elias thought that the other man was making fun of him again with his dismissive tone, but noticed that he was actually serious. Marco didn’t see him as a threat at all and that realization lit a spark of anger in him.

“When I lose, what’s that supposed to mean?” He let his irritation show clearly in this voice. Marco just shrugged, looking exasperated.

“Look Eli, I’m sorry, but I really don’t think you stand a chance. No offense man, but you look really weak. Even if you were a better fighter than me, which I seriously doubt, I would have a massive attribute advantage. You’re welcome to prove me wrong.” Elias did take offense. If there was one thing that pissed him off more than anything else was people underestimating him based on his appearance. It was obvious to him that Marco meant no offense by his comment, however, so he didn’t blame him too much. He would just have to show him exactly how wrong he was.