The Human From a Dungeon

Nick Smith

Adventurer Level: 5

Human - American

'Yes I am,' the AI said.

I glanced at the orcs who were watching me with concern plain on their faces. If I were in their place I'd be alarmed too. Hell, I probably should be, and this machine in my head is likely the reason I'm not. On the other hand, a lot of things make sense now. The translations, the shape of my magic pathways, the speed with which I've been picking up skills, all of it can be attributed to Ten. I met eyes with Yhisith.

"I'm coming with you," I stated.

The silence I had broken returned much heavier than before. Yhisith, Joni, Yulk, and Matri looked confused. Nash looked angry, which is quickly becoming his default expression. Thunra crossed his arms and grinned widely at me.

"How come?" Thunra asked.

"Our investigation has resulted in more questions than answers," I replied. "There might be more information where the monster is. Plus, it turns out I'm a mechanically assisted fighter."

Nash stopped looking angry, "The machine helps you fight?"

"Yeah."

My answer was met with silent contemplation, but after a few moments Thunra started shifting uncomfortably. He looked to the others and then locked eyes with me.

"I don't know what everybody else is thinkin' about, but you're still level five ain't you?" he asked. "The thing we're gonna be fightin' killed orcs that were a bunch of levels above you. Is the machine thingie gonna be able to help you THAT much?"

It was a valid question, and one I didn't know the answer to. But what else can I do? I have to find out more about how I got here so I can figure out how to get back. I NEED to get back.

'Ten, do you have an answer to his question?' I thought.

'Yes, I do,' Ten responded hesitantly. 'I'm learning that the Curaguard system measures level primarily based on skills, not actual physical ability. My assumption is that physical ability is either augmented by skills or gained by the process of acquiring those skills, and is thus accounted for in that way. So in theory, I should be able to augment your physical capabilities to a degree that would put you on par with higher level monsters.'

'How much higher?'

'Unknown. Haven't even seen you walk yet,' Ten said. 'With more data I'll be able to bypass your bodies natural self-defense systems, causing you to hit harder and faster. The human body underestimates its own abilities by quite a bit, it would seem.'

'Bypassing my self defense systems sounds pretty dangerous.'

'The self-defense systems overcorrect to make certain that you don't hurt yourself when you throw a punch or a kick. I can make that correction with a much more narrow margin, allowing you to use more force without hurting yourself.'

"Okay, Ten says it can help, but it doesn't know by how much," I told Thunra. "It would be safest if I stayed in the rear, so I probably wouldn't be holding you back."

"Probably? Shit," Thunra said. "I wanna see what you can do, kid, but..."

"Yeah, I'm not sure that we can keep you safe," Matri added.

"There's another problem," Nash said coldly. "Yulk and I would have to go as well. Mom would never forgive us if we didn't, even if you survive."

"He's right," Yulk chimed in. "Still, if we stay in the rear we should be fine. There's no doubt that four over-twenties will keep the monster busy enough to ignore us."

"I don't know. I've got a bad feeling about this," Nash replied.

Yulk and I stared at Nash while he mulled it over. After a few moments, Thunra and Matri joined in on the staring. Finally, Yhisith crossed her arms and began to glare at Nash. Nash looked around and settled his gaze on me.

"Fine," he sighed heavily. "We stay in the back, though. If things go south, we run. Deal?"

"Deal," Yulk and I lied in unison.

I stood up and was struck by how different I felt. Lighter, faster, and much stronger. I didn't know if it was Ten or the table responsible for this, but it felt amazing. As I followed after the orcs I noticed something else was different. I was nervous, but my heart wasn't hammering away in my chest. It was beating its normal rhythm, as if I didn't have a care in the world.

'Ten, are you controlling my heart?' I asked the machine.

'No, just regulating it. Saving you some energy by making sure your heartrate stays steady,' Ten answered. 'Would you like me to stop?'

'It's fine. Are you also regulating my muscles?'

'I haven't quite figured that function out yet. Working on it, though.'

Well, that answers the question of whether it was Ten or the table that gave me my powerup. What did that thing do to me? I looked at my hands. My scar had become even smaller, which means that the table somehow healed me. What else did it do?

'Ten, is there anything weird about my body?'

Ten took a second to respond and said, 'Define weird.'

'What are the differences between my body and that of a normal human?'

'Huh... Now that I think about it, your bones and muscles are denser than they should be. Not quite to the point of osteopetrosis, but we should definitely add at least five pounds of fat to you before you try to go swimming.'

'What?' I asked. 'Why?'

'Well, it's extremely unlikely that you're still buoyant. Which means it will take much more effort and energy to keep you above water. The fat will help offset your density. It'll also provide an energy source to keep you moving!' Ten replied cheerfully.

I put my hand on my stomach to feel my abs. They were more pronounced than they'd ever been, probably because I had been working out a lot more. I guess nothing gets you more ripped than being in a survival situation.

'Five pounds? Isn't that unhealthy?'

'No,' Ten answered. 'It varies from individual to individual, but for you it'll begin to become a health concern at around twenty pounds. However, I can mitigate those health risks with proper deposit placement. Keeping the deposits off of the heart, liver, and kidneys, that sort of thing. However, given your current condition my recommendation is to gain between five and ten pounds of fat.'

I briefly wondered if Ten had been programmed by my grandmother. It's not that I don't believe it, I'd heard interviews with strongmen that said that abs mean you're not eating enough, but is it really all that bad to be this lean? Most guys would kill to be in the shape that I'm in. Not to mention how the hell I'm supposed to pack on that much weight to begin with?

My thoughts regarding my nutritional intake were interrupted by our arrival at the barrier. It had been a long walk in both directions, but I wasn't feeling any exhaustion. My feet didn't even hurt.

"We'll take a break and recover a bit before we take down the barrier," Yhisith said.

Yulk and Jino sighed with relief and plopped onto the ground. The rest of us soon followed suit, and we ate a small meal in silence. After I finished eating, I caught myself staring at the barrier, watching the runes peacefully drift across its purple surface.

It reminded me of floating down a river on an innertube. The last time I'd done that was with Cass, before she got sick. It had been a great time. I remember watching the water droplets slowly slide down her clavicle...

'That's Gon,' Ten interrupted.

'What?' I asked, startled. 'What do you mean that's gone?'

'I mean that the runes you are staring at are in Gon,' it explained. 'It says traversal prohibited.'

"Hey Yulk, did you know that the runes on the barrier are in Gon?"

Joni and Yulk both looked up at me with surprising speed.

"What do they say?" they asked in unison.

"It just says traversal prohibited," I said. "But that's weird, right?"

They thought about it for a moment before Yulk spoke up.

"I guess it's not that weird. Most of the spells we know, and barrier spells especially, were created back when Gon was the primary written language."

"That's correct," Joni added. "Scholars used Gon for quite a while after people started using more modern languages. It's good at condensing information, which unfortunately makes it difficult to translate and teach."

"And since it's harder for people to admire your brilliance when they can't understand what you're writing, Gon was abandoned in favor of modern languages," Yulk chuckled.

"I don't think it was quite that simple," Joni began.

Before he could continue Yhisith patted her pants and stood up. She cracked her neck and looked at the two sorcerers with a hint of disdain.

"Well, if we're feeling energetic enough to debate linguistics we should have enough energy to continue on," she said. "Any objections?"

Two seconds of silence confirmed that there were none. After a few sighs we all rose to our feet.

"Thunra, you'll take the lead. Matri and I will be flanking a few feet back. Joni, you'll be behind us and you three will be behind him," she said, gesturing at Yulk, Nash, and I.

"Classic diamond formation. Nice," Thunra said.

"Everyone get your lights ready, if you need one I've got extra."

"I'll need it," Nash said.

"Nick and I should be fine," Yulk added.

I gave him a confused look and he grinned at me.

"Thgil tsac," he said, holding a finger above his head.

A light appeared at the tip of his finger and hovered in place. He moved and the light followed. Then he gestured at me.

"Go on, give it a try."

Okay. Light. No problem. Protons? Electrons? Which is it that generates light? Wait, am I overthinking this?

'Imagine a ball of light appearing from your fingertip. I recommend setting the generation point above your right shoulder,' Ten instructed.

'Okay, thank you,' I replied.

I pointed above my shoulder like Ten said and thought about a ball of light. How it would look, how it would feel. White, bright, and slightly warm.

"Thgil tsac," I heard myself say.

I felt the magic travel from my chest through my arm and out my fingertip. The light appeared where I was pointing, just like it did with Yulk. I smiled a little when I noticed mine was brighter than his, though.

"There you go," Yulk said with a laugh. "It's a basic spell, but far more useful than most people give it credit for."

The rest of the adventurers activated their various lights. Joni used a spell like Yulk and I, but everyone else tapped on crystals that were embedded in their clothing. Nash took the spare from Yhisith and held it in his off hand like a flashlight.

"Alright, weapons out," Yhisith commanded. "Joni, kill the barrier."

We drew our weapons and Joni cracked his knuckles before approaching the barrier. Thunra walked up next to him, grinned, and cracked his own knuckles much louder. The sorcerer rolled his eyes and placed his fingers on the barrier. He said something quietly and the runes on the barrier rushed to its center, creating a strange looking opaque bump.

Joni placed his hand on the bump and said, "Emases nepo!"

The barrier quickly shrank into the bump, transforming it into a crystal. It began to fall, and Joni caught it with a quick motion. He placed the crystal in his pocket and gestured down the passageway.

"After you," he grinned at Thunra.

Thunra nodded and started walking. We all fell into formation with Nash and I flanking Yulk and ventured into the darkness, being careful to avoid the damaged portions of the floor. The shredded bricks definitely looked like some kind of plastic, and I recalled the notch in my sword. What kind of material could this be? And what the hell could slice through it?

I looked closer at the slashed lights and had a moment of shock. For some reason I had been expecting florescent lighting, but these were solid chunks of what looked like glass. I shook it off, realizing that florescent bulbs would require power and every other source of light so far had been either fire or magic. I suppose these would fall into the latter category.

We went further and further into the dark until the passage opened up into a room with pillars. I noticed that this room was brown, an odd color compared to everything else in this area of the dungeon. Then the smell of copper and rot hit me. Something deep within me recoiled at the stench, desperately trying to tell me that something was terribly wrong.

"Blood," Yulk whispered.

As we continued forward we began to see splashes of white, and I realized with terror that the room wasn't brown. So many people had died in this room that it was drenched in blood! That's disgusting! Horrible!

What could have done this? What kind of monster are we going to fight? What the hell was I thinking, dragging us in here? We need to get out of here! My heart thundered in my head as panic rose within me, and I nearly threw up before a wave of calm swept over me.

Ten's messing with my brain chemistry, making me calmer. Letting me think. I sighed in relief but almost retched again at the smell. Suddenly, we stopped. I looked past Yhisith and the feeling of terror hit me again, and was just as quickly washed away.

Someone was standing in front of us, completely nude. He stood there staring with sunken eyes and a small yet deeply unsettling smile. The creature's skin was unnaturally pale with the exception of both old and new scars covering it, like pink and purple paint slashed onto a bleached canvas. Long claws gleamed in the light that we were providing, and the fur running along its body was as white as the long hair draping down from its head.

It mouthed a word without uttering a single sound, but I knew what it said. I'd seen mouths make that motion hundreds of times. In perfect English, it had mouthed the word food. A cold knot formed in my stomach as it grinned and I saw teeth in a shape that I hadn't seen since I'd come to this world, except in my own reflection.

'Threat identified. Human male, likely modified and acclimated to dark environments,' Ten informed me.

I didn't even get to respond before it rushed forward with unbelievable speed. Its target was Thunra, who managed to catch the creature by the wrists before the claws impaled his head. I could tell the orc was struggling, but the thing continued smiling. Yhisith and Matri moved in unison so quickly I nearly didn't see them, weapons reaching for the creature's sides.

It leapt into the air and kicked in both directions. As Yhisith and Matri were flying across the chamber, it smashed both its knees into Thunra's jaw. Thunra crumpled to the ground, but before the creature could finish him off Joni shouted something and flung a fiery blue and white spear at him. Without dropping its smile, the creature rolled out of the way and flung a piece of metal that was on the ground at the sorcerer, striking him in the chest and causing him to fall.

It dashed forward with its claws ready to finish Joni when suddenly it stopped dead and sniffed the air. I watched its smile fade as its head turned toward me. My eyes locked with its sunken black orbs and it sniffed the air again. It was about to target me, I need to take the initiative! I readied my sword and began to charge at the thing.

Nash shouted, "NICK! NO! YOU'LL..." and the creature gave a deafening screech filled with wretched hatred and rage, drowning out the rest of what Nash was trying to say.

'Threat exceeds your current abilities,' Ten said in my head. 'Engaging combat mode.'

I didn't even get the chance to ask what it meant before darkness invaded my vision and I slipped into oblivion.