Health 59/110
Stamina 115/115
Mana 37/105
I was worried. For a few long minutes my health had slowly but surely ticked down every few seconds, going from a not very healthy seventy sothing to the low sixties. Now it had stopped and held at fifty-nine for a few minutes, or as close as I could reckon.
Okay, okay, I said as I shifted to the side and opened my backpack. I found the blanket I had nabbed from the first floor and set it down before using it as a spot to sit on. Im ready, Mister nu.
Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Cinnamon Bun class has reached level 4!
Health 5
Resilience 5
You have gained: One Class Point
You have unlocked: One Class Skill Slot
That was nice. I glanced at my status as soon as the giddiness washing through passed.
Health 64/115
Stamina 115/115
Mana 38/105
That was really nice, even if I didnt feel all that much better. Still, I would take it. Another level, another skill point and another class skill. That last could be very useful if I got sothing that wasnt Cleaning or Jumping.
Next one, mister nu, I said.
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Makeshift Weapon Proficiency skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank E is a free rank!
Makeshift Weapon Proficiency
Rank E - 00%
The ability to use non-weapons as weapons. Your ability to find and use makeshift weapons has improved.
Thatll be handy, I said as I patted my spade. It hadnt served all that well in the last fight, but I was sure that would change eventually. Plus a spade just seed useful to have. Whats after that, mister nu?
I found a jar of honey and a spoon while I waited for the next pop up.
Dungeon Cleared!
All adversaries with The Wonderland Dungeon Defeated.
All Bosses Defeated
Broccoli Bunch, Cinnamon bun, level 4 is awarded the Wonderlander class.
All class slots filled.
Replace current class with Wonderlander?
Replacing your current class will reset your level 0.
Heck no! I said as fast as I could. No way was I going to get reset to level zero just like that.
Class: Wonderlander set in abeyance until Class Slot becos available.
I humd as I considered that. It seed as if my earlier hunch about multiple classes was right. That begged the question though, how did you get a second class? Maybe it would happen when I hit level one hundred. That seed almost reasonable. At my current rate I would be... long dead because I ran into sothing scary that gobbled up.
Oh well, I thought, maybe Id figure it out later.
Health 65/115
Stamina 115/115
Mana 39/105
My health was rising, that was excellent news. I wasnt going to die!
My mood sowhat improved, I got to my feet, wincing at the pull of nding flesh over my thigh. Packing everything back up into my backpack, and crossing half the room to retrieve my magic wand was a huge pain in the butt. Literally. But I got everything sorted and took another look at the room.
There were now two glowing portals between two sets of the stone monoliths. I should probably have noticed those earlier.
One had a blurry image or what I recognized as Threewells, just outside of the dungeon. The other was a hazy image of a small room with a stone pillar at its middle. Atop the pillar, and covered in glowing roots, was an egg of sorts.
Quest Update!
You have found the Evil Root. Destroy it to Cleanse the Land!
Oh, I said as I took in the pulsing form. My hand reached out and brushed against the portal, slipping through it without so much as a whisper, though I felt sothing tingling under my skin, as if I was using my cleaning spell without actually using it. Funky.
I closed my eyes and stepped through, then opened them again.
I was now in a much smaller room, tight, even, with dirt walls and large, cruel-looking roots crawling across the ground and up the plinth.
Whoa, I said as I moved closer to the egg-thing in the middle. It was too round to be an actual egg, and too glowy and see-through as well. I felt... funny, just standing next to it.
Health 97/115
Stamina 135/115
Mana 275/105
Oh, yikes, I said as I took in my stats. That was probably not supposed to happen. No complaining about the faster healing though, and I did feel oodles better. I fired an insight at the orb, then the freaky roots.
The Dungeon Core for the Wonderland Dungeon
An Evil Root.
Well, thats simple enough, isnt it, I said.
I poked the evil root and fired a blast of cleaning magic into it, then, when that did nothing, a stronger blast that lowered my mana down to the low two-hundreds.
When that didnt work I gave it a smack with the edge of my spade.
It didnt even leave a mark.
Quest Update!
You have found the Evil Root. You are too weak to Destroy the Evil Root. Break the Core and let the Root Starve.
That sounds wildly dangerous, I said to the quest nu.
The nu rely shifted to the side as if to say theres the core, get smacking.
Sothing about the smooth motions of the quest nu, the way it seed to be more reactive, told that it wasnt mister nu. I was going to call it miss nu not to confuse the two.
Well, here goes, I said as I poked the core and fired a cleaning spell into it. If that didnt work, then it was back to using the spade.
The magic washed across the core, starting from where my finger touched it, then racing all the way to the other side as a glowing ring before returning. Then, with a glass-like crunch, the core cracked. At first just a small little hairline, then it expanded and raced across the surface, like the videos Id seen of antarctic ice breaking apart.
Dungeon Warning
Dungeon Stability Failing.
Evacuate.
Oh, shoot, I said as I turned tail and ran. I dove through the first portal, then almost tripped when the ground of the boss room heaved underfoot. The sharp rocks above, stalactites? Mites? Loosened and began to crash to the ground around like thrown spears and the monoliths trembled.
I hung onto the straps of my backpack and jumped through the portal to the exit.
It snapped away just as I was about to pass through.
Ohhh, shoot, thats very not good, I said as I spun around and started running for the tunnel.
Part of the floor jutted up and I jumped over it, clearing a good ten feet before landing in a sprint. If jumping was faster than running, then thats what I would do. My sack bounced atop my back with every hop but I didnt have ti to ditch it.
I exploded out into the main dungeon shaft to find that the sky above was hazy and warped, like a television with a bunch of magnets stuck to it. The walls were trembling here too, loose stones clattering to the ground with crunches that would have been loud if they werent competing with the entire world going full apocalypse..
I bounced from mushroom to mushroom, moving as fast as I could with no concern for safety because safety was for when the world wasnt literally falling apart. The tunnel into the ti bunny room was broken, part of the floor and ceiling cracked so bad I had to take off my backpack and fling in through before I leaped down the remaining hole feet-first.
Sothing caught at my neck and my hat fell off just as the ceiling rumbled and the opening started to close.
I reached in and yanked my hat back a mont before the whole thing shuddered to a close.
Close, I gasped before jumping to my feet, grabbing my backpack, and running.
I took the ladder two rungs at a ti and set foot in Threewells once more just as the shaft behind collapsed, the world shifted sideways and a wave of what I could only assu was pure magic burst through the air like a bomb going off.
My knees gave out and I collapsed in a heap, gasping for air like a fish out of water.
Hah, I said. Then another laugh escaped. Haha... hahaha! Soon I was rolling on the ground, not because I was tired, but because the adrenaline coursing through made feel lightheaded and funny and everything was hilarious.
Quest Complete!
The world thanks you for your sacrifice!
That only made laugh harder, even if it wasnt funny.
Wonderland Dungeon Core Destroyed!
You have gained: Two General Points
I was laughing so hard by then that I was seriously worried, at the very back of my mind, that I might pee myself. My legs were kicking the ground and I was clutching at my sides and rolling.
Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Jumping skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!
Rank C costs one (1) Class Point
But like all good things the fit of maniacal laughter ca to an end.
I sat up, then dusted my skirt before checking it for damage. There were a few holes punched into the leather of my armoured skirt, and the cotton of my normal skirt fared little better. My stockings were... pretty much ruined. Fortunately it wasnt cold out wherever I was. Not compared to back ho.
Stretching as I stood up, I took in the town. There were more plants and such than I rembered, and the air felt vibrant sohow, thick with magic. It was nice. The sky was a burnt orange above, fading slowly into darkness.
I looked down and took in the large crater where the dungeon had been. There wasnt much left there. Then my eyes picked up sothing laying at my feet. Insight?
An enchanted Cheshire Cats Collar, new
Loot from the final boss, perhaps. I picked it up and examined it. The collar was offensively orange, with thin black lines across it and a little pendant at the front that looked like a smiling kitty mouth.
Okay then, I said as I shoved it in my backpack. A thing for later. Right now I had to... do...
I looked around, then down to my hands.
Now what?
A New Quest!
Pruning the Evil
Evil Roots Remain! Dungeons across Dirt are Infected! Destroy them!
Okay, so thats a what, I said. I took a few steps, then paused. I wasnt sure where to go, what to do. The last hour had been... a lot. Too much even. All I wanted now was my bed, and, and maybe my mom and my dad. We could have a family hug and mom would burn the supper and dad would complain about the environnt and then the price of gas and--
Focus Broccoli, I said. Focus. You did it. You took out a whole dungeon. Youre aweso. Now you just need to... to make friends.
Right. That was a goal, one even better than so silly no-reward quest. I would find so really cool people and wed form an aweso party and have the greatest adventures together!
In the anti, I could check out a few last things in the town. Check up on that nice ghost in the inn, look into that one building with the big locked door, then, then maybe Id spend the night in Threewells one last ti before hitting the road.
Resolve all fird up, I allowed a smile to cross my face and strolled across the town, checking in at all the houses I had missed along the way.
Not much remained of them, the houses nearest the side I had decided to call the North were all in much worse repair, with caved in roofs and walls with holes torn into them. There wasnt even a ghost snooping around to scare poor level one adventurers.
The Inn was as I rembered it. I stepped in and looked around, then made my way all the way up to the top floor. Mister Ghost? I called out.
But there was nothing. My wispy friend was gone.
On the bed where a corpse had lain was now a small ring that looked to be made of bronze.
Bronze ring of cleared soul.
I picked it up with a cloth and stuffed it away. I kind of wanted to try it out, it was certainly laid out the way soone would leave a gift, but I didnt dare put on any sort of soul-related rings. I had read Lord of the Rings, I knew better. Broccoli would not be a pretty Gollum.
The sun was nearly completely down. Rather than venture out to my tiny hidey hole I found one of the less disgusting beds, fired off a few dozen manas worth of cleaning magic into it, then flopped down.
I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the mattress.
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