However, the boldness didn't last too long. He accepted one of the Quests at the nearest tavern and, on his way out:

  "Hey, James."

  He heard a voice he recognized. He turned around, seeing Christopher, greeting him.

  "Feel like having a drink with me? My treat."

  "I'm sorry," James replied, without really thinking about it, but after a pause, he added: "I'm not doing too well for money, so I'm busy."

  "Okay, another day then."

  "Yes, yes, another day."

  James left the tavern.

  Besides, I don't drink alcohol, he thought. Never, not a drop.

  To get to the beginning of the next Quest, he had to take a good hike through the mountains and climb here and there. He felt energetic enough to do it and, why not admit it, he liked it. He'd been a dungeon explorer for very little time, but it was very easy to get used to the good things.

  People used to say that if you worked hard you'd get what you wanted, but naturally that was a lie. You could try your hardest every second of every day and die being insignificant. But in this place everything was different. If you worked hard, you leveled up and got better. Instant gratification. And who wouldn't become addicted to their efforts bearing fruit; it was what most of the population longed for.

  Not all quests consisted of going to a dungeon, even though they were dungeon explorers and not adventurers or heroes. He could have tried something else, but given the precariousness of his situation, he wanted to have the greatest chance of obtaining big rewards as quickly as possible. He was aware that he was also exposing himself to greater danger, but as he had told Alma, he no longer cared; in fact, it excited him.

  It took some time to find the right stone to press to open the entrance. He had to admit he got nervous, wondering if he hadn't screwed up or gone to the wrong place. He let out a big sigh of relief when the stone wall opened before him. He had always been prone to anxiety, to overthinking things.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  [DUNGEON ENTERED: Descent][Difficulty: Moderate]

  He put his hands on the wall of a narrow tunnel that led into darkness and slid down. If not for the armor, the palms of his hands would have been rubbed raw. He landed with the grace of a feline. Nah, just kidding. He tripped over his own feet and almost ended up slamming into the wall. But well, at least nobody had seen him do that.

  This was the entrance that everyone exploring the dungeon for the first time took. Of course, just like in a real RPG, there were ways to farm on deeper floors from the beginning. It would be tremendously tedious to start from scratch all the time.

  Well, that was the logic in a video game, he thought as he ventured into the darkness. And here the logic was... better not waste time thinking about that.

  It didn't take long to find the first obstacle. If he had to describe it, he'd say it was like a mix of a person's corpse and a giant spider. The grotesque image affected his enthusiasm a bit. Just a bit. He didn't suffer from arachnophobia, but well, who liked those bugs? And even less in giant size?

  [ENEMY ENCOUNTERED: Corpse Spider][Level: 4]

  In any case, the time had come to test his powers. Fuck, he almost let out a laugh of pleasure. His powers, damn it. It was incredible.

  Anyway, the half-human spider, or whatever it was, attacked. James just stood there doing nothing. Only at the last second did he activate the ability with a thought.

  [SKILL ACTIVATED: Stone Skin]

  His skin turned to stone and the creature's claws simply bounced off. He quickly returned to his natural state, but it was obvious how useful this could be. More useful than he had thought, actually, because the monster, destabilized, fell backward, exposing its stomach.

  Swallowing the urge to vomit, James stabbed his sword into it again and again. Before it could get up, he was forced to step back so the creature wouldn't crush him. Then, he attacked its eyes.

  I wish I couldn't see either, he thought.

  Then, he attacked its neck, like an executioner's axe: precise, lethal, with all his strength. The spider's head rolled.

  [ENEMY DEFEATED: Corpse Spider][+150 XP]

  It didn't give him any loot. He hoped it would count as a mini boss so it would give him something juicy, but he wasn't that lucky.

  James shrugged. Well, his time would come. Right now, he had easily defeated a giant spider without getting hurt and had used his ability correctly in a real situation. Victory everywhere he looked. He had nothing to complain about. Except for one thing, of course.

  If this dungeon turned out to be the spider creature dungeon... well, maybe he'd come back another day.