James turned off the TV, pushing the fact that he’d be asked for an interview soon out of his mind. He decided to go to the dungeon.

After adjusting his body so that he was comfortable, he activated the blue card and was transported to the dungeon shop.

However, as soon as he set foot into the dungeon shop, he discovered a fact: he was still injured. His legs couldn’t support his weight, so he ended up falling onto the ground, which hurt his already busted ribs even more.

“AAAAHHH!” he screamed.

He was in too much pain to care that everybody in the shop was staring at him. His screaming caught the attention of John, the shopkeeper.

“Hey, what happened?”

“My real body got injured pretty badly, so as soon as I came into the dungeon, my injuries carried over and I toppled over.”

John nodded. Injuries in the dungeon would carry over to the real world, and vice versa. However, this also meant that potions could heal wounds received on Earth. John wasn’t surprised, because he had already heard about James’ circumstances from his higher ups.

“Actually, I have something here for you here. But first, you’d like a health potion, yes?”

“Yeah, that’d be appreciated.”

James restocked on all of the potions that he’d used up during the fight, buying 7 health potions, 4 mana potions, and 2 stamina potions. He hadn’t really gotten the chance to use the stamina potions yet.

The transaction left him with 768 points. Not exactly a lot, but James could grind back up pretty quickly. Other than potions, and a few items, there wasn’t all that much worth buying in the dungeon, at least not yet. James hadn’t unlocked the entire dungeon shop – he was still at the first floor.

James drank two of the potions and felt all of his remaining wounds heal up.

“I still don’t understand how these potions work,” he thought to himself.

Then, once the majority of the pain was gone, he looked at John again. He ignored all the stares piercing into him.

“You said you had something for me?”

“Yeah. Follow me.”

James followed John behind the bar counter and into a separate room. John then opened another door in the room. Behind it was another portal, similar to the one James used to come into the shop just a minute ago.

“What is this?” asked James.

“You looked at your dungeon card, right? There’s a little note that said you had a reward waiting for you there, right?”

James nodded.

“Well, because you killed that bear, you stopped mana from becoming more abundant on Earth, and, uh, that’s a good thing. The higher ups will reward you for stopping it, and punish those who accelerate it. Although, in certain situations, they’ll give some leeway. So, that girl, you don’t have to worry about her getting punished because her spell gave away mana, because she was helping others. Anyways, don’t release mana into the real world. Remember that.”

James nodded even more. He had already come to a conclusion similar to this. For some reason, what happened in the dungeon stays in the dungeon. He also didn’t bother asking about why not having mana on Earth was good, because he doubted he’d get an answer.

“Anyways, because you stopped that bear, you’ll get a reward. So step into the portal.”

“What will they give me?

John shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. I was just told to bring you here.”

James decided that nothing bad could be waiting behind the door for him. After all, the people who ran this dungeon probably could kill him effortlessly just by summoning a few extra monsters.

He walked into the portal.

====================

James appeared in a massive hall. The entire place was ornately decorated, and the place was lined with items neatly put on pedestals. Each one of the items made James shiver from just looking at it. They all exuded an aura that made James want to curl into a ball.

“Holy shit, this place is massive. Are all of these magical items or equipment?”

[Welcome, James. This is the treasury of the dungeon.]

James blinked. The dungeon has a treasury? Did that mean every time he got a drop item, things disappeared from this hall and appeared in front of him? Also, who was speaking to him. This voice was not that of announcer woman’s. It was someone else entirely. James got the feeling that he was speaking to someone of great importance.

[You have come here to claim a reward from the item. Very rarely does this happen.]

“And I suppose you won’t tell me. I won’t believe it if you say it’s about me saving the lives of innocents. There’s something bigger going on here.”

[You’re right. There’s something bigger going on, and I’m not telling you.]

James wasn’t fazed by this, but spoke his honest thoughts.

“I don’t know why you want to reward me, but I feel like what I did isn’t worth that much. I feel like taking one of these items that I can see would be way too much.”

James could tell that these items in front of him were. Even his senior explorers didn’t have items this good, and there were hundreds of them here. James got the feeling that this dungeon was much much bigger than it seemed.

[That isn’t exactly true. You may not know it yourself, but your actions have been a tremendous help to us. The treasures in front of you are all extremely valuable items in your eyes, but they are not nearly as worthy in ours. We would be willing to give one of them to you. However, as your current level of strength is a bit low, you would not be able to wield any of these items. The treasury of the dungeon is bigger than you think.]

They were too good for him. This didn’t surprise James at all. He doubted he could even muster the courage to touch one of them. That was how overpowering their aura was.

“So then, where are the items that I can choose from?”

[We have a system to help you find the item best suited for you. You shall get that item. Do not look down on this system. Even the dullest item with the smallest effect can be a great help when it is used to its full potential. There is surely something there that resonates with you.]

Best suited for me? This sounds interesting. What would I get? And how would this work?

[Please, walk to the end of the hall, and step on the circle.]

James walked passed rows and rows of treasures, until he arrived at the end of the hall. There, a massive circle was laid out. James guessed that this was a magic formation. On the edges, inscriptions of characters unknown to James pulsed with light. James couldn’t even discern the runes near the center of the circle, but he assumed they were even more powerful.

Once he stood at the center of the entire formation, it activated automatically. James’ vision was filled with white. After a while, the white faded into…into…something?

James’ didn’t quite know what he was seeing in front of him. It was almost as if his mental prowess couldn’t process it. At the same time, he heard noises that didn’t exist, felt imaginary objects, and tasted nothingness.

It was too much for him to handle. James felt his consciousness slipping away from him. He couldn’t think straight. The last thing he thought before he drifted away was “I am never using shrooms again.”