"Ugh, what an unfortunate turn of events.(breathing hardly). I did go to get my class assignment today, so how did I end up here?" Croaked out a young man from his cracked and dry lips. Standing alone in a cave tucked out of site from passing monsters with only a small crack serving as an opening.
"Well, I guess it nothing will change if I just keep complaining". The young man stands up from his previous resting position, finally recovered from all the running he had just finished.
This mans name was John, he just turned 20 a few weeks ago and was finally old enough to enter in the dungeon and kill his first monster. This would allow him to gain a class, which would determine his future. He placed all his hopes on this and hopefully being able to get a decent job to support himself.
For people with non combat classes they end up having numerous choices to choose from, these people train their intelligence and go to one of the numerous colleges available to awakened individuals. While combat classes are able to choose any numerous types of jobs in military or as independent mercenary. This made john drool at the possibilities, he had excellent grades during school, so he was positive he would be able to get either a full ride scholarship or be given enough support by the different hunting organizations do well of for himself.
For these reasons he despaired his current situation, as a hopeless orphan who was so unremarkable he was abandoned by his parents before his first birthday, now he definetly not be able to achieve his dreams of not working hard labor for the rest of his life. After all he was probably going to die while trapped in a random cave on a floor so deep in the dungeon that he felt as thought he mana in the air was pressing down on him. Almost as if he was swimming even though he was on land. Luckily the cave he was forced to to hide in was perfect for such a situation, as even though the mana seeped in through the walls, he was in a more secluded area of the floor and was far from the center, where mana was the strongest.
So how exactly did John end up in this predicament?
1 Day earlier.
'Ding....Ding....Ding'
"yawn". John was forced to roll out of bed by his alarm. Even though he was initially reluctant to do so, he remembered the what day it was as he fervently went about his morning ritual of getting dressed, brushing his teeth, a cup of coffee, and having a small meal. He grabbed his old backpack, not minding of the miscellaneous items left in there from his days working part time at a farm. he quickly threw in the lunch box he had prepared the previous night, a change of clothes and finally he grabbed his water bottle.
Finally he was ready to leave the house, double checking that he had his keys, phone and wallet, he began down the steps out of his cramped one bed, one bath apartment. walking down the hall past his more fortunate neighbors apartments boasting much larger space than his. He reached the elevator after pressing the button it arrived to him and was empty. Looking at the time and laughing to him self about his brief shock due to the time. Obviously not many people would be awake this early, he himself only woke this early for the dungeon excursion. After a few moments in the elevator he reached the bike garage's entrance.
Quickly unlocking his small rented garage of 5 by 3 foot, he grabbed his bicycle, helmet, and the lock for them. He excitedly hopped on and biked towards the train station, arriving there quicker than he thought and locking up his bike he was left waiting for the train to the dungeon to arrive. Gradually more and more people all looking around the same age as him arrived, they began seeking out their friends and chatting.
'I guess it has only been a few weeks since graduation so i'm sure everyone would like to meet up with their friends'. He quietly mused to himself while watching the scene in front of him, where numerous young adults rushed about in a vibrant setting.
'Well I guess it's the same as ever, nobody is paying me any mind'. He chuckled as he thought about it, 'Hell, I guess ill probably awaken a stealth skill'. John had always been socially awkward and blended into the background. He never was particularly noticed or picked for much of anything. This led to any empty and unnoticed school experience and led him to never be adopted at the orphanage, once he had turned 16(the age were he could legally work)and was able to get a job they kicked him out due to not "having enough room" for him and he was forced to get a job where ever he could. This led to him sleeping in parks and working at nearby farms after he got out of school, after all they were the only places paying enough for him to live while working and going to school.
After the first six months he was finally able to afford the worst possible apartment in a neighborhood so far out of town he had to bike for half an hour to get to the train station, then further ride it into town for school.
"Ugh, now's not the time to reminisce on these depressing thoughts, everything is going to change today after all" John lightly slapped himself and clenched his hands to get the thoughts out of his head. Today would he the start of his new life and he wasn't going to let anything get him down.
After only a few more minutes of waiting the train had finally arrived. Capable of moving at insanely fast speeds after upgrades using monster parts and mana crystals(mana crystals are mined in the dungeon, they are fantastic energy sources and have greatly reduced the carbon emissions and reduced waste. monster cores are used for weapons and some work for training, they are the center of a monsters power and are harvestable after the monster dies). After the conductor ensured everyone was properly buckled and secure the train took off, they arrived dozens of miles away in minutes.
"Phew" John exhaled hard to relive his nerves, he had finally made it to the dungeons entrance. All he had to do was touch the polished exterior of the enormous black metallic monolith, It easily towered hundreds of feet in the sky and towered over skyscrapers. There was groups of soldiers at regular points on rotation to ensure no monster escaped, groups of 20 year old's from all of the city were at numerous locations around the dozen sided tower, the base of it was so wide the pyramids were dwarfed by it.
There were groups of government officials directing them and instructing them on the tower. "Listen up everyone, You have to touch the surface of the tower and then you will be transported to the first floor. On this floor there will be instructors and they will help you with your class choices based off of your affinities to different weapons and based off of your status page". He then instructed them to line up and they began touching the pillar one at a time. After a while it was John's turn and he touched the tower...
Darkness surrounded him and he was spinning as he flew through space to his destination. He was traveling for what felt like an hour and could feel him speeding up as he approached the destination, when he suddenly had several screens appear in front of him.
[System Error]
[Teleportation Failed]
[You have arrived on ##### floor ./j.,o;,h..,,yo./..]
[Class choice is restricted. You have been assigned as newbie gardener, as it best suits your traits]
[Status window now available]
'Booom' John unceremoniously crashed into the floor upon his strange arrival to the dungeon. The sound was very loud and attracted nearby monsters. Before he could even get his bearings, several growling monsters began to approach him from the front. They growled deafeningly and before he could even look at the large cavern he had arrived in, he was on his feet running.
"WHAT THE HELLLLL" John ran as hard as he could as five monsters tailed him. While running he suddenly felt lighter, calmer and ran faster. As he noticed this a ding sounded in his head and a bluish screen appeared in front of him.
{Unique skill: Farmer's blessing, has activated}
{Farmer's blessing(rank f): This skill passively absorbs mana from the surrounding and enhances the farmer's body, While in combat this raises the user's strength, speed, and perception by x% based on rank. #####'s Blessing to the farmer for the systems mistake.}
John somehow began to lose his chasers as he approach a tunnel that slimmed the vast expanse of the cave considerably. The tunnel was several dozen feet, but it was tiny compared to the numerous miles of cave he was currently in. He ran with all his might, easily making it far before the monsters go close to him. After running for what seemed like hours, he could no longer hear the chasing monsters and was able to breath a sigh of relief and look at his status finally.
{Stats gained from Combat action (running) have been added to your base stats}
{Class skill Farmer's Blessing has gained a small amount of exp}
"Huh, what a strange development. I guess my house plants won't die because of rob at least, but how come my teleportation failed?"
"Well, I guess there's no point in dwelling on it, I got to remember what the trainer said to do when we first got such a notification. That's right it's was…."
'Open status' he thought, before a semi translucent screen appeared a foot from his face and followed which ever direction he willed.
[John Ross]
Class: Newbie Gardener (rank h)
Strength: 1.7(1 + 0.7)
Endurance: 1.8(1 + 0.8)
Mana: 0.2(0 + 0.2)
Speed:1.5(1 + 0.5)
Skills:
Farmer's Blessing [unique] (rank f)
Running [common] (rank f)
"Oh, that's nice. I guess my unconscious use of my newly developed mana created the running skill"
Still dwelling on his thoughts he clicked on the skill and the description popped up right beneath it.
[Running [common] (rank f)]
• One of the most basic survival skills that has been developed through the use of mana in the legs.
• Evolvable, active skill options and passive options after certain tasks completed.
"That's fascinating, so I have to complete certain quests or gather knowledge potentially to unlock new skills and rank them up with proficiency"
His pondering came to an abrupt halt as a red screen suddenly appeared in his vision.
[New quest]
Due to the users actions, a quest was generated.
[Running]
Run 5 miles while avoiding monsters
0/5 miles