“Is that it?” I asked

  We were all looking around, waiting for the next big bad to jump out at us. Even Dekka was still in her hellhound suit on high alert.

  “Well, it is supposed to be a low-level dungeon,” Ayerelia said, her voice dripping condescension, but she didn’t move towards the chests either.

  “Even for a low-level dungeon, that seemed like a suspiciously low number of monsters.” Copperbeard opined.

  Darkraven was looking at a dead baby spider like she might cry. Arjun patter her on the shoulder, trying to look anywhere but a spider. That was tricky the way the cavern was littered with spiderlings and spider parts.

  “I levelled up, though.” He eventually said.

  “Me too,” I added.

  Still none of us moved.

  “Standing here is wasting time. I have things I need to do. Let’s open these and see what loot this dungeon was worth.” Ayerelia waived her hand towards the loot boxes.

  “I am not stopping you,” I told her.

  She rolled her eyes. “It’s probably not a trap, but on the off chance it is, you don’t want your healer to be the one who walks into it.”

  Maybe you would if that healer was Ayerelia.

  Then we all noticed my dog, back in tiny terrier form. Clearly she had decided there was no more danger and was snuffling around the floor. Possibly looking for more rats. She was moving steadily towards the boxes.

  We just stood there, the anticipation palpable. No one breathed and she zigged and zagged her way across the floor. I felt a bit guilty just watching. Rushing over and having more of us set off the trap, if there was one, wouldn’t help us.

  She made it unscathed to the other side. She sniffed one of the loot boxes.

  We tensed, my hand went to my club and I saw Darkraven’s hand glow faintly.

  Dekka stopped dead. Arjun shifted his grip on his shield.

  Then she sneezed, throwing herself back a step, dust rising around her glittering in the glowing light of the orb overhead.

  “Well that there is a good dog.” Copperbeard said smiling and strode off towards the boxes, followed closesly by the elves. Arjun wasn’t moving yet. He had a bit of that thousand yard stare going on as he looked without seeing towards the backs of our party mates.

  “You ok?” I asked him softly.

  “This game is too real.” He said, then as his eyes focused he looked over at me. His face was serious and he somehow looked more gaunt than before. “I kept telling myself the spiders weren’t real, that my body, the real me, was safe in a pod in my home. But I didn’t really believe it.”

  “Hey, I get it.” I just stood there with him. Did I ever get that. Though I didn’t know where or if my body was being stored.

  “Hurry up guys.” Darkraven called over her shoulder at us.

  Arjun sighed, but then smiled. “After you,” he said with a sweep of his arm.

  I nodded mock seriously and we walked over to the loot boxes.

  All five boxes were identical as far as I could see. One per player. Ayerelia and Copperbeard had opened theirs already. The box lids popped open on a touch. But looking at the other’s boxes I couldn’t see anything inside but they were all smiles.

  I touched the box I had decided was ‘mine’. The lid sprung open as if on springs, there was no sounds or friction. There was nothing inside but I got a notification.

  Congratulations you have earned a common level loot box!

  You have received: Sturdy Club of the Brawler (weapon)

  You have received: Twilight Spider Silk Cloak of Stealth (clothing)

  You have received: 3 gold coins

  You have gained the title Dungeon Crawler.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  I pulled the cloak out. It was stunning. It fit me perfectly, just clearing the floor as it swished when I walked. The fabric was heavier than I would have thought for silk but it did have a shimmer that made me think of the northern lights. It said it was a cloak of stealth, but I didn’t have a stealth stat. Was that just it’s name? Or did other people have a stealth stat?

  “Ooooh that is really pretty. Any chance you want to trade that or I could buy it from you?’ Ayerelia was admiring the cloak with covetous eyes.

  “It is really pretty.” I said thrilled. Finally I had something that made me feel like the old me. This and the strappy shirt and all I would need were some good trousers or maybe a skirt and I would be happy. Well happier. “I am good, I think I will keep it.”

  “Whatever.” Ayerelia said. But she wasn’t fooling me. She was jealous. That only made me grin more. “Lets leave the dungeon, I know I don’t want to show back up in here when I log back on again.”

  There was a polished half sphere set in the table in the middle of the boxes. She touched her palm to it and winked away.

  Darkraven went next, the Copperbeard. Arjun paused. “What about the dog?” He asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you want to go back up through the dungeon? There should be no monsters. I would walk with you.”

  I looked back the way we had came, all velvety darkness now that Ayerelia and her light spell were gone. Just the pool of glowing light emanating from the loot boxes. I had a candle.

  “Lets try something first.” I said reaching down I picked up my dog. Then I grabbed her leg and tried to get her to touch the stone. She struggled. More of a ‘don’t unhand me you pleb’ than actually fighting the idea of touching the stone. “Fine,” I told her and put her on the table. “You need to touch the stone there.

  She looked me straight in the eyes, reached her paw out and tapped the stone. A heartbeat later she was gone.

  “Smart dog.” Arjun said.

  “Yeah, smarter than she was before.”

  He gave me an odd look but I touched the stone and found myself standing outside the entrance to the dungeon. Dekka was sitting there waiting for me, looking quite pleased with herself. Again I wasn’t sure how I felt about this change. She was still her, just more. Smarter.

  Arjun popped in right behind me.

  “Oh, Elizabeth. I just got a notification from the ticket I put in.” Copperbeard said as we appeared.

  “Right!” I said, I hadn’t had a chance to bring up the weird person in the middle of the road. “What did it say?”

  His eyes flicked back and forth reading a message only visible to him.

  Thank you for submitting a ticket. We have looked into the anomaly you reported but upon investigation we found nothing. If this continues to be an issue please reach out to us again.

  And the ticket is marked closed.”

  Closed?

  “See, nothing is wrong. I think you can leave if you really wanted too.” Ayerelia said. “Anyway, speaking of going, I gotta bounce. See you all tomorrow.”

  “Yeah I should go too, byeeeee” And Darkraven logged off.

  I didn’t know how to process the fact they had found nothing. I had seen the confusion of that person. I wasn’t nothing. I had been putting so much hope on the ticket to get answers.

  Instead I asked, “I have noticed sometimes you guys go to sleep to log off, and sometimes you do it just where ever. Whats’ the deal.”

  “If we go to sleep in a bed or bedroll we get a refreshed bonus for a few hours of in-game time,” Copperbeard explained. “It’s only a minor boost but if you are right near a sleeping spot there is no reason not to get it.”

  Arjun nodded to the two of us and disappeared.

  “Look, I know this is hard to believe. But I can’t leave. And if I was in here on compassionate life or whatever it is called then I think someone would know.”

  The dwarf just grunted.

  “Also something really weird happened.” He looked over at me and lifted an eyebrow. Having really bushy eyebrows made that a whole sentence that said “you have me intrigued, do go on.” So I did.

  I explained the interaction with the figure on the road who couldn’t see me.

  Copperbeard stroked his beard. “I haven’t seen a game dev in this game. But it makes sense they would look different just to set themselves apart from the players. I’ll open a new ticket when we play tomorrow.”

  “Thank you.”

  He gave me a wave and logged off.

  “Well, Dekka, let’s go back to the city. Dinner is on me.” Her tail started to wag at the talk of dinner. “I don’t mind you getting smarter, I think,” I told her as we started back up the path. “I just don’t think it’s fair that I have to pay for both of us.”

  She sneezed like she thought that was funny.

  “Well at least you don’t take up much of the bed.”

  Her little tail wagged in agreement.

  Yeah, I think I was ok with my dog becoming smarter. It was like when a human grows up. They get smarter, but they still stay them.

  For the next few days while I waited for the party I continued my exploration of the city and furthered my goal for us to eat at every establishment at least once. With the new shirt and the fancy cloak I felt I was treated better and got better service than when I was dressed like a common peasant.

  Ah good old classism; people are shitty even in pretend ye olde cities. I met someone who was another player in the adventurer’s guild. He wasn’t very chatty was just picking up some quests. He didn’t say it but I got the vibe he was trying to speedrun the game.

  Who speedruns a game with infinite storylines? Like, what was the point? Maybe to experience as many stories as possible? Still seemed kinda stupid to me. Why not enjoy the story. If you weren’t trapped of course. I kept my eye out to look for more players. But the next players I saw were my party.

  I was just leaving the Guild to go see about breakfast when Darkraven popped in, followed rapidly by the other three.

  “So we were talking, out in the real world,” Ayerelia was telling me. “That we feel we are all high level enough to start the next quest chain.”

  “Ok” I said.

  She looked at me oddly. Like she expected more. I was just along for the ride. All I wanted was real people to hang out with and try to get help in figuring out what was going on.

  She shrugged and walked past me into the Guild. We followed her to the quest board. I couldn’t tell the difference between the quests. But just like other players getting to save and see health bars the quest postings stats were visible to them. Gold ones were the local quests but the purple one was the main quest.

  Ayerelia groaned the moment she accepted it.

  “What, what’s wrong?” Asked Darkraven.

  “It’s an escort quest,” Ayerelia said in a tone of deep despair. The looks on everyone’s faces mirrored hers.