He watched from the shadows as a slimy snake-like creature, the length of a city block, chased the pedestrians down the street. The serpent rose up and hissed, spitting a thin mist of poison. It dove, its head engulfing a pedestrian, swallowing them whole.

  With a pedestrian-sized lump in its neck, its tongue flickered in and out as it tasted the air. When it turned in Jeremy's direction, he grabbed his bow and ran to meet it. As he approached, its head rose, looking down at Jeremy. It spat more poison, making Jeremy's eyes burn. A small poison notification appeared on his stat sheet. The serpent dove at him, its mouth wide open. Jeremy slid onto his back, looking up at the serpent as he fired an arrow directly into its mouth, hopefully through whatever passed for its brain. He rolled to the side. Boom! The serpent's head slammed into the ground inches away from him, hard enough to make the ground shake.

  Jeremy jumped up and fired more arrows into its head and eyes, but they probably weren't necessary. Its head didn't rise from the street, its body twisting and thrashing as it died and began to dissolve, being reabsorbed into the dungeon.

  He approached the temple, waiting to see what else would come out. When nothing did, he cautiously entered.

  “You've got to be kidding,” he moaned. The temple was crawling with baby serpents, the largest being ten feet long and the smallest half that size. He got out his sword. Killing them took the rest of the day. The poison clouds they produced were nothing his level 8 poison resistance couldn't handle. He wore his spider-silk cloak to protect himself from their bites. At least they weren't monster puppies or piglets.

  When he'd killed the last serpent, the temple seemed to breathe a mighty sigh of relief.

  He leveled up again.

  He received a quest completed notification.

  An ancient four-armed statue towered over Jeremy, holding an approximately 15-foot-long spear, charmed for durability, to hit, and to elongate for its owner. Nothing about it getting smaller though. The spear was too large for him to use, but it should be worth a lot to Banxi, and the dungeon didn't complain when he took it.

  Images of different beings appeared around the temple. When he approached one imposing figure, words appeared in front of him.

  This is mighty god Yaya, god of all things peaceful and good. He demands constant prayer, devotion, and the occasional blood sacrifice. Note: This god's priests have been known to molest children. You may request his blessing if you wish.

  He walked down the line of different images.

  This is the mighty god Manua, he is much like the previous god, but their respective worshipers have been killing each other for millennia. Note. This god's priests have been known to molest children. You may request his blessing if you wish.

  This is the mighty god Parpa, god of all things. He requires a lifetime of devotion and meditation. Note. This god's priests have been known to molest children. You may request his blessing if you wish.

  This is the Eldrich horror god Tiktik. It requires you to merge with its consciousness. Something none have accomplished and remained sane. Note. This god's priests aren't sane enough to molest children, but they have been known to eat them. You may request its blessing if you wish.

  Jeremy kept walking, pretty sure he would not be requesting any blessings. Not from these gods, anyway.

  He almost missed the dim shadowy figure lurking in the darkest corner of the temple. Curious, he approached.

  This is Arkys, god of shadows, born out of darkness and chaos, terror and justice. He has no priests, but will sometimes aid those he deems worthy.

  Jeremy walked over and sat next to this figure. Despite the description, this god's presence felt calming. “Adventurers killed and ate my friend,” he said. “They were too strong to fight. All I could do was run. I'm trying to get stronger so I don't have to run from people like this and can kill them, but I don't know if I can. I don't know if I'll ever be strong enough, and even if I get strong enough, I don't know if I can kill them. I've never killed actual people, and I don't know if I can. But I want to. I've been doing everything I can to gain strength, but I keep finding people stronger than I am and have to run and hide again.”

  Jeremy sat next to this figure, talking almost aimlessly for about an hour, telling it what he was doing to survive on his own and get stronger. When he'd finished, he sat there. Not sure if he should leave or what.

  The figure reached out with long, shadow-like fingers and plunged his hand into Jeremy's chest. The hand burned cold as if he'd been stabbed by an icicle. Then the figure vanished.

  Jeremy took a painful breath, and warmth seeped back into his chest. One sliver of ice beneath his heart remained. A voice soft as a whisper entered his mind.

  “The god Arkys, blesses your quest for vengeance.”

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  All the gods around Jeremy vanished. Not sure what else to do, he got up and continued searching the temple. By the time he'd finished, the sun had set. He decided to spend the night in the temple. Settling in a corner, he examined the bullets he'd found in a back room. On the positive side, they were heavy, silvery bullets covered with magical runes and the perfect size for his gun. Unfortunately, there were only two of them.

  Jeremy snorted. He supposed two bullets were technically bullets, as the quest promised, instead of a bullet, but only in the most minimal sense. What could he do with two bullets? He couldn't practice with them; all he could do was save them for something special and hope they worked. It didn't help that he wasn't even sure how to fire the gun.

  And what exactly did it mean to have the blessing of Arkys?

  He pulled up his stat sheet.

  Name: Jeremy Wilkins

  Race: Human

  Sex: Boy

  Age: 11

  Character Class: Child-Rogue

  Level: 16

  Health: 12

  Mana: 9

  Attributes:

  Strength: 14

  Endurance: 5

  Vitality: 6

  Dexterity: 20

  Agility: 21

  Perception: 27

  Intelligence: 9

  Wisdom: 6 (+1 ring of wisdom)

  Will Power: 5

  Charisma: 4 (+1 clown nose)

  Extra point: 1

  Active Skills:

  Identify: 5

  Sneak: 8 (+2 magic shoes) (+1 camouflage ring)

  Detect Traps: 7

  Charmed Object Activation: 3

  Passive Skills:

  Enhanced Physical: 2

  Poison Resistance: 8

  Mental Fortitude: 4

  Pain Tolerance: 5

  Skills:

  Melee Weapons: 5

  Archery: 3

  Knife Throwing: 2

  Spells:

  None

  Dungeon Account:

  11,515.34 dc

  Titles:

  Big Slayer

  Friend of the Community!

  Marks:

  Bank-robber!

  Politician Hater!

  Gifts and Blessings:

  Blessing of the Spider Queen..

  The god Arkys blesses your quest for vengeance.

  He wiggled his loose tooth. The ice shard in his chest felt like his loose tooth. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was hard to ignore. He looked at his chest. Below his heart, a dark line pointed downwards, connecting to a curved knife shape. A scythe? So that was what the blessing of Arkys looked like? He wondered if the blessing would do anything for him, or if it was just a chest decoration?

  Jeremy wasn't sure what day in the dungeon he'd turned eleven. One day, he looked at his stat sheet, and there was an eleven after his age. This meant he'd been in the dungeon for a bit over ten months. His parents must have given him up for dead by now, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  Third Journal Entry

  Day ??

  I robbed a bank yesterday, and now I'm marked, whatever that means. Today I gained a god's blessing. I stole a cigarette lighter and cigarettes from Mr. May'r. When I tried smoking, I started coughing, and I got sick. Turns out dungeon cigarettes are poisonous. But I think smoking is a good look for me. I'll be like one of those badass tough-guy detectives with their cigarettes.

  ***

  When he woke up the next morning, the dungeon's merchant, Banxi, was standing in front of him. “Congratulations, Jeremy. You completed three quests! And gained the blessing of a god!”

  Flint appeared next to Jeremy. “Before we continue, I want you to explain to Jeremy Titley Wilkins how foolish he is for offending the banker and politician yesterday, and how much money, experience, and valuable monster loot his actions cost him.”

  “I'm afraid I can't do that, Flint. Some things an adventurer must decide on their own,” Banxi responded.

  “Are you sure you can't get rid of this idiot?” Jeremy asked, glaring at Flint. “Also, I don't see how I could get that much experience or coin from killing one tribal leader.”

  “Oh, no, no, no,” Banxi said. “Killing their leader is the first of several quests ending with casting the entire tribe out into the desert to die. Most of the tribe are non-adventurers, women, children, and infants, but when you kill a large number of them, it adds up to a sizable amount of experience. Enough to raise you several levels. In addition, though you split the dead tribe's wealth with Mr. May'r and the town of Dungeonville, your share would be sizable.”

  Jeremy felt something being added to his stat sheet.

  NEW QUEST!.

  The town's neighbors, the barbaric, loathsome, monstrous Pflementy tribe have been living peacefully in this area for many generations and have refused to give up their mana mine, even though the Dungeonville town leaders asked nicely.

  They, that is all right-thinking beings, agree the Pflementy tribe consists of inferior barbaric beings who do not feel pain like more advanced civilized beings like yourself, and you should not feel guilty for killing them.

  Your quest is to kill the tribal chief, which leads to additional quests culminating in the extermination of this monstrous tribe.

  The reward for completing this quest is....

  Satisfaction of helping your community, lots of experience, monster loot that includes a very large spatial storage ring with hundreds of meters of storage space, a lot of dungeon coin, high-quality mana crystals, and an additional two silver titles!

  Friend of the Politician!

  Friend of the Banker!

  Note. You will lose your Friend of the Community title because it's incompatible with the other two. But I'm sure you agree that two silver titles are better than one.

  Do you accept this quest?

  Yes/No

  “You will, of course, have to apologize to Mr. May'r and return his cigarettes and cigarette lighter,” Banxi continued. “But he will be happy to see you've come around to his way of thinking. The bank will take 10,000dc from your share of the loot, but there will be plenty left over for you.”

  Jeremy stood up and paced around the temple, deep in thought. He couldn't help feeling like he was in the jaws of a trap that rivaled any the dungeon had thrown at him so far. Was it okay to kill decent beings who'd never done anything to him so he could become strong? This dungeon tribe wasn't even real. They'd respawn as soon as he left this floor of the dungeon. But...

  “It's a trap. You idiot!” Jeremy shouted at Flint.