We moved through halls without conversation until coming upon a steel door, the only one we had seen in the barracks thus far, “Be respectful,” the guard with us warned before using the door knock.

“Come in,” a deep and tired voice welcomed us inside. The room was spacious, an office of sorts no doubt. While the rest of the barracks had been plain, this room was full of life. There were two paintings upon the walls, both portraits of stoic men who held a striking resemblance to the man seated in front of us. The head of a buck of considerable size was mounted on the left wall, there was even a potted plant in the window.

“This is General Rhugar,” our escort said, “he’s in charge of the south east walls and a force of five-hundred men.” The general was burly and intimidating. His entire body was covered in armor, as if he just came out of battle. Only his hardened face and head of dark, greasy hair was visible. His eyes lifted and met mine, they showed no emotion, only indifference.

Our guard walked over with a parchment and handed it to Rhugar before standing to the side, head tilted down and hands behind his back at perfect attention. There was silence as Rhugar studied the parchment and glanced over each of us.

“Seems we’ve gotten quite the catch this time,” he looked to the guard, “you did good today Donivan, you’ll be well compensated.”

“Sir! For the empire! Sir!” Donivan responded without showing the slightest bit of emotion on his face. There was definitely pleasure in his eyes, though.

“Spellcasters and magic users are quite uncommon, and for a group such as yourselves to show up on a whim is suspicious in and of itself,” Rhugar began. A bead of sweat dripped down the nape of my neck and ran cold down my back, my Sixth Sense wasn’t picking up anything, but I was still on high alert. “With that being said, your assistance could be extremely valuable.”

“How can we be of help?” I spoke up, glad to hear that my tone sounded neither servile or overbearing.

“Lately, gnoll invasions have been coming here more frequently. We need all the mercenaries we can hire and normally we distribute them throughout the army. But seeing as how you’ve come as a group, I presume you fight best together?”

There was a bit of a hidden threat to his comment. Splitting us up was well within his power, and would definitely hinder any nefarious plans we potentially could have if we were spies. “We fight best together,” I said firmly, “but we will follow your arrangements.”

He didn’t seem to think too hard about the decision, “Good. You’ll stay in a group together, for now you’ll be your own squad. Donivan will lead you to your rooms so you can get situated. ID cards should be available for you by tomorrow. Your freedom won’t be limited, but you must always be in the barracks by moonrise.”

“Is there a curfew in place?” Jessica asked.

“There is, and will be for the foreseeable future.” Rhugar said, “The times are tumultuous; crime goes up rapidly after these battles and to ensure there are no riots, curfew is enforced. Only shadow guards are allowed to roam freely at night.” He looked at each of us, with a calculating expression as if gauging our interest in the role of shadow guard.

“We have no interest in being night watchmen,” I assured him.

“That’s a shame.” His gaze settled on Jessica, probably because her tracking ability would prove invaluable for detecting those sneaking around in the night. “Meal time is in an hour, and there is breakfast at eight-thirty in the morning. If you hear an alarm while out and about, return immediately. Dismissed!” He waved his hand.

We followed behind Donivan, who was no doubt in a jubilant mood. It seemed his reward for recruiting such a powerful force wouldn’t be small. “It turned out to be the gnolls,” said Alan.

“It’s always the gnolls,” Anna joked.

Donivan didn’t say a single word the entire walk back out of the garrison. Instead, his hands flickered in front of him as if moving invisible abacuses or counting handfuls of coins.

The barracks were lined with bunk beds and when I took mine, Jessica threw her gear on the one below me. Having clarified we were free to go into the city, subject to emergency recall and the requirement to get back by curfew, we didn’t hang around the minimal facilities of the barracks. We got envious looks from some of the soldiers present in the room, as those without special abilities were stuck in the barracks for a beginning period of at least two weeks. We had been given a lot of freedom on account of our special classes.

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“We should assume we are being watched,” Lucas warned once we were clear of the gates of the barracks. ‘They might be giving us freedom in the hope that if we were spies we might slip up and be exposed.’

“Let’s just enjoy the next few days,” I said to everyone. As far as I was aware, there was no time limit on this dungeon. Not only that, the potential for the dungeon to bring the danger to us after a certain time here was also true. We might just be along for the ride; no one could know for certain.

“I’ll go to the seedier areas of the city to gather information,” Glenn said. Richard, Mark and Lucas decided to join him and they set off towards the east, where the houses we’d passed had been smaller and more crowded together than they were in the vicinity of the barracks.

The rest of us headed back to the main street. I was extremely curious what this dungeon world had to offer by way of magic items and gear.

I felt like a kid in a candy shop as we got closer to the bustling main road. More and more side stalls lined the streets as we walked. Some merchandise was set out on rugs or sold out of a wagon, some of the buildings even had huge fold outs or wide window sills lined with wares.

“Isn’t that an equipable neck slot item?” Maria asked while looking at a particularly shiny necklace. It was pure silver, and definitely caught the eye on a day like this one. There was also a single ruby sticking out of a bell cap that also drew the eyes. It felt out of place on such a plain looking rug.

“Have a look if you want,” the shopkeeper said, she was an old woman who seemed to me to be nearing the end of her life. It was hard to even tell if her eyes were open and looking at us under the brim of her cap.

Maria looked back at Jessica and I, as if to ask, ‘Can I? Jessica gave a nod and urged her to do so, I was curious as well. Was it just an ornament, or did it actually give stats? Maria took the necklace into her hands, “It’s magical and equipable,” she said excitedly.

“How much is this necklace?” I asked. Accessories in particular were incredibly rare, at least they had been up to now.

“One gold,” the shopkeeper responded.

We didn’t have any gold at all. Not a single piece of copper or silver, either. “Would you take any trades?” I asked. There was surely something among our spoils we could potentially trade for this item.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do that young man. I can only pay for my medicine in gold.” If she had made any other objection to trading I’d have pushed the issue and tried to barter, but since this was a matter of her health, I realized we’d have to leave it until we’d obtained a gold coin.

“Alright, thanks for your time.” I said before leading everyone away. “There will be more opportunities.” I said to Maria who seemed the most dejected.

“The stats were really very good… plus five on Int and Dex.”

I was actually glad I hadn’t taken the opportunity to look. Maybe I’d have been as dejected as her if I had to hand back a useful item like that for want of one coin.

“We just have to make some gold,” Alan said, “We get a salary for being mercenaries at least.” He tried to comfort Maria.

“Agreed.” I was also happy that there was finally a currency. The post-apocalypse world seemed to be developing into something more similar to that of actual games.

“There was even an active ability…” Maria turned her face away to hide a sob. It seemed the necklace was exceptionally special. As we continued along the main street, it was clear the opportunity to get good items to fill our empty slots didn’t just stop at the necklace, there were innumerable equipable items available from the stalls lining the streets. Something for literally everyone, and a good portion of them had unique active abilities or buffs.

I had agreed with Alan that we needed to make some currency—not entirely serious about it being our priority. But now? I eagerly wanted to get hold of a large quantity of coins. The gear here was no worse than the secret shop we’d previously accessed. There weren’t any consumables for purchase, but the gear was several steps above what we were currently wearing, and the quantity…. There was enough gear available for purchase to supply a small army.

We hadn’t made it very far when Jessica stopped us, “If we want to eat tonight, we have to head back soon.” She was right. Dinner time was coming upon us, and night meant the arrival of the curfew as well. “We’ll have more time in the morning, and we need to meet up with the others again. Maybe they’ve found out something interesting.”

Of all the group, only Jessica seemed unmoved by the tantalizing presence of items that would make a great difference to our strength and ability to survive. Even I felt a bit dejected at having to walk past so many gear upgrades. We hadn’t explored more than five percent of what this city had to offer us, and had found so many potential upgrades.

“There’s probably somewhere that sells skill books and potions and stuff, yeah?” Maria was glowing like a flower in sunshine.

“Hopefully,” Anna said.

The walk back to the barracks took one tenth the time as our outward journey as we didn’t stop and browse any wares. The dead street of earlier was now bustling with soldiers also making their way back to the garrison for dinner.

The pitiful amount of people in the large dining hall was surprising, though. It seemed the previous attack did quite the damage to their numbers.