Samuel couldn’t believe his eyes.

  A whole range of emotions from shock to fear were fighting for control of his mind, keeping him rooted in place.

  When the thought of being in a dungeon first crossed his mind, he had dismissed it quickly as simple overthinking. There was no way a newbie like him would end up in a dungeon. Not unless the system was being run by some kind of cruel sadist.

  And yet here he was.

  Welcome to the Eko Central Dungeon. Congratulations on being the first human to enter it. Quest updated.

  Main Dungeon Quest - Defeat the Dungeon Boss and clear the dungeon. Difficulty: Legendary. Rewards: Authority Token, City Deed, +20% to effective stats, Skill Upgrade token, Title.

  Side Quest - Defeat the monster settlements around you. Difficulty: Variable. Rewards: Unknown.

  Settlement Defeated - 0/5

  Beware, the dungeon grows.

  The message popped up the moment he stepped out, obscuring his vision. He read it multiple times and then stood still, wondering whether there was some kind of prank being played on him. He had no idea how strong the boss was, but the difficulty level certainly wasn’t making him confident.

  Calm.

  He took a deep breath and tried to approach the problem rationally, aware that panicking would get him nowhere. At the very least, completing the quest would require him to get a lot stronger. He already planned to do it, but he now had something to aim for. He would need to take stock of his advantages and all the things he could leverage. There was also the matter of his build going forward.

  His lack of knowledge was certainly going to be a major limitation in his decisions. He was able to deduce a few things because of his gaming knowledge and simple extrapolation, but there was just so much he didn’t know. There was, for example, the glaring problem of his complete ignorance of magic of any kind. He loved psi and would make it his primary focus, but magic was certainly something he couldn’t afford to miss if this new world was similar to his expectations in any way.

  Or maybe that was just his inner child talking.

  He sighed at the thought. There were simply too many things he needed to know and no way to gain any information.

  As he was about to dismiss the screen in front of him, a notification caught his attention. He clicked on it to see a new tab called [Quests]

  [Quests]

  [System Quest]

  Reach Level ten and choose a class. Reward increases with class rarity. Difficulty: Variable. Rewards: Unknown.

  Survive to the end of the month without the tutorial. Difficulty: Legendary. Reward: Racial upgrade.

  [Dungeon Quest]

  Main Dungeon Quest - Defeat the Dungeon Boss and clear the dungeon. Time: 30 days. Difficulty: Legendary. Rewards: Authority Token, City Deed, +20% to effective stats, Skill Upgrade token, Title.

  Dungeon Side Quest - Defeat the monster settlements around you. Difficulty: Variable. Rewards: Unknown.

  Settlement Defeated - 0/5

  Samuel’s eyes went wide once more as he stared at the words in front of him. For some reason, the main dungeon quest now had a time limit, and it was absolutely ridiculous. He had no idea why it suddenly changed. Perhaps the controller of the system decided that the first one was not cruel enough.

  There was also a quest to get a class, which answered one of his questions. He was wondering whether this system had classes. He was not sure how exactly he could increase the rarity though. There could have been hidden requirements he had no idea of. Or the answer might have been more straightforward than that.

  Maybe legendary classes required legendary actions.

  A dangerous thought made its way to the front of his mind and resisted all attempts at being quashed. It was far too risky, especially since he did not yet know what he was dealing with. Yet he found it difficult to just ignore even with the risk. The world had changed, something that he was made acutely aware of by the screen floating in front of him. As much as he would have loved to play it safe, he would need to take risks if he wanted to survive the quest. There was no listed penalty for failure, but he did not want to find out otherwise.

  He thought about it some more before steeling his resolve. He was no stranger to taking risks. The only difference now would be the higher stakes. Winning could mean real power. Losing, on the other hand, could have real consequences. Greater than any he might have deemed reasonable before he received a quest timer.

  A light smile graced his lips at the thought. Dramatic much?

  Nevertheless, as he thought about his newly formed plan once more, conviction took hold in his heart.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  This new system could give him power, real power. It was something he had seen with his own eyes, and Samuel would be lying if he didn’t admit he was greatly tempted by the prospect.

  In fact, he was willing to go through a fair amount of risk for that power. The thrill he felt when he used his telekinesis made it painfully clear to him.

  Samuel Chuwks was no stranger to risk.

  Thoughts about his future aside, Samuel finally dismissed the system screens and stared at the vast expanse of land in front of him. It was grassland that stretched as far as the eyes could see. As he scanned the environment, he wondered just how long it would take him to find the monster settlements if the dungeon was truly as big as it seemed.

  He had made his decision though, and there would have no chance of succeeding if he could not even scout ahead.

  Of course, it would be foolish to do that in his current state, tired as he was. So he went inside and locked the door before going to sleep.

  ***

  After more than thirty minutes of walking through nothing but grass, Samuel finally realised how odd it was that the sun was shining down on him in a dungeon. He’d have sworn they were usually underground, or at least not open air, but he supposed it was a sign that he should treat his preexisting knowledge as assumptions, not fact. That thought seemed grim when he realised he was planning to risk his life for one such assumption.

  Not like he had much of a choice.

  He had woken up refreshed, but hungry, glad to see that his psi was topped off, at least. It wasn’t until he had cleaned up, eaten, and spent two hours making sure he was prepared that he finally began his journey.

  There was enough food in his bag to last for at least three days, in case the worst happened, with a change of clothes and some other things that might be useful. He held the walking stick in his hand, with the two knives hanging by the sides of his bag. It was a little heavy, but not too much that it would overwhelm him, even after a few hours.

  He was starting to wonder if he was just trapped in an endless world of grassland when the terrain changed abruptly. Fields of rolling grass and shrubs turned into a forest of towering trees that covered the entirety of the land in front of him in shade. The sun was still shining up ahead, but the cover provided by the trees finally gave him some respite from its scorching light.

  Behind him, he could see a very clear boundary between the fields of grass and the forest of trees. They felt like artificial biomes, which was probably what the system was going for.

  A system prompt all but confirmed that suspicion a second later.

  

  Talk about ominous.

  The mention of being marked was quite concerning. He hoped it did not mean that the monsters would all rush to his location. As for which monster settlement he was currently in, he suspected it was the snakes, given the name.

  The thought of walking into a snake infested forest filled him with enough dread that he nearly turned back. He went on alert instantly, and made sure both his staff and telekinesis were ready to be used at all times. He was thankful for toxin resistance, though he hoped it would not see much use.

  He walked forward slowly, his eyes darting around and making sure to scan the trees as much as he could. The last thing he wanted was to have a very poisonous snake ambushing him from above.

  For a while, he travelled through the forest without seeing anything. The lack of action was nerve-wracking, and he could feel himself become increasingly frantic. Even then, he could acknowledge that it was still better than actually getting attacked. A part of him was starting to wonder whether it would be possible to complete the journey without seeing a single snake.

  Alas, that dream was crushed mere minutes later when the first snake ambushed him. It was a small brown snake, barely the width of two fingers and shorter than the length of his arm. It did not come from above, like he feared, but was instead hiding beneath some leaves on the ground,

  The camouflage was effective, and he nearly missed it as it struck at him with speed greater than he could manage. Thankfully, he had his telekinesis ready, and the snake found itself flying away from him.

  He stopped the snake midair before it could land on the ground, somehow managing to retain his hold on the skill even through his fear. Suspended and unable to do more than wiggle slightly, it was a breeze for him to kill the snake with his knife. He tried to crush its head directly with telekinesis, but he was not nearly skilled enough for that.

  You have slain [Venomous snake - level 1]

  The ambush was a lot closer than he was comfortable with, and he found himself scanning all around him even more frantically.

  After another few minutes with no more ambush, he came to a stop. If the snake biome was similar to the grassland he just crossed, then he still had more land to cross. Land that would only get more dangerous the deeper in he went. He could already feel the tension getting to him. At this rate, he would likely get himself killed because of some stupid mistake.

  Once more, he was filled with the urge to turn back and retreat to the confines of his house. He could practice telekinesis and hope he didn’t die at the end of the thirty day limit. Was it even worth it to go through so much fear and possible pain?

  That train of thinking was quickly silenced by the mental image of his grandmother. Even now, he could imagine her lecturing voice chiding him in the middle of a dangerous forest full of snakes,

  He shook his head fondly at the thought, his mind briefly wandering to the older woman. He could only hope Rose was able to protect her. Otherwise he had no idea how she would manage through all the insanity that was bound to come. His grandmother was a strong woman, without a doubt, but she was decades past her prime.

  With the voice of his grandmother mentally propelling him on, he pushed forward, continuing his journey once more in spite of his fears. He found a total of three more snakes as he walked, killing one and managing to avoid the other two. There was no point in risking himself too much if he could avoid it. Not when scouting was his primary mission of the day. He came to a stop a few minutes after leaving the remaining third snake behind.

  Something was definitely wrong.

  Though he did not expect to see thousands of snakes or something equally ridiculous, coming across only four in over twenty minutes was very suspicious. Even more so, seeing as he had been marked. He assumed that had alerted the residents of the biome to his presence. That he had only come across four weak snakes made him uneasy. None of them was as big as the one that had attacked him at home

  Of course, it was possible that the snake biome was a low level one and he had simply overestimated it. Yet he couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was more to it. No matter how he searched though, he ended up with no tangible answers. Once more, there was little he could do but go forward. He simply needed the knowledge too much

  He spent another five minutes walking cautiously before he spotted it.

  Coiled around the branches of one of the towering trees, was a snake larger than any he had seen in his life. Its tongue tasted the air in front of it before it turned to his direction, snarling at him with a hiss. Samuel took in its shining brown skin and massive fangs with a gulp.

  Just as he was thinking about what to do next, it lunged..