The Turen Crevasse turned out to be a completely new experience for Ian, and that was before he even had the chance to enter the dungeon. Unlike the starter dungeon, everyone had to sign in through a kiosk that would record their names and verify their levels before they were allowed inside. While it was something Ian knew was necessary to ensure adventurers’ safety, his anxiety grew as he waited in line.

  He was stuck on the scenario that the device would accidentally record his true name instead of his alias. The last thing he wanted was to be in a crowd of his ex’s adoring fans when his name was called out. He remembered being jumped in the parking lot outside the restaurant after she broke up with him, then again in front of his old job after they had ended his internship, and finally on the metro a few weeks after that.

  People were crazy, and he definitely didn’t want to get into a fight with a bunch of armed adventurers with increased statuses. Even if they weren’t allowed to do it without getting in trouble from the curator, he didn’t trust some of them not to be stupid enough to try.

  Despite feeling like it took hours, Ian was only in line for about ten minutes. He sighed in relief when he saw how the crystals worked.

  “Please put your hand over the crystal and state your name or your party’s name,” said the representative in in front of him.

  “Zero,” Ian said just loud enough for the man to hear him.

  The crystal under his palm emitted a green light, letting the representative know he met the minimum criteria.

  “You may proceed into the dungeon,” said the man before looking up at him. “We’d usually try to talk you into joining a party, but as you’ve unlocked skills, it’s obvious you are over level 100 and should be fine. Just don’t push yourself too hard and have a safe run.”

  “Thank you,” Ian said as he turned to walk in.

  Having a new identity felt both great and horrible at the same time. It was amazing that people were treating him like a real person again, but it also drove home how bad his life had become if he was shocked when people weren’t openly rude to him at best and physically abusive at worst.

  “Today is a day full of new experiences,” Ian muttered to himself as he walked over the threshold of the portal before instantly finding himself inside another cavern system. Unlike the Slime Caverns, this cavern had cracks in the roof that let bright yellow light shine through, and there were plants growing up against the walls and in the areas with particularly wide patches of sunshine.

  He was admiring the view when another adventurer walked past him and looked at the three different paths that led out of the room. After looking at each path for a moment, the man turned back to Ian.

  “Hey, bud, just to make sure we give each other enough space, which way do you plan on going?” asked the younger man.

  Ian suddenly realized the adventurer in front of him probably hadn’t even graduated from high school yet. Some of the adventurers started as soon as they hit the legal age of 16, but they were held to stricter standards, and the dungeons were closed to them during the week.

  “Oh,” Ian said dumbly, looking at the three pathways. “I think I’ll take the one on the left if you don’t want it.”

  “Sounds good, man. Good hunting!” said the boy before he pulled out a short sword and shield from his item storage and walked down the path on the opposite side.

  Ian went to walk towards the left path, only to realize he was smiling. He pulled out his spear and nearly smacked himself on the head. The four-inch needle tip probably wasn’t going to be as effective at quickly putting down anything other than slimes, but he would give it a try. It could technically cut using the edges on the side, but it wouldn’t be as efficient as a normal spearhead. Luckily, he had also picked up a used gladius as a backup when he started adventuring, but hadn’t used it much over the past year.

  As Ian slowly went through the pathways, he branched off a few times, making sure to always take the path on the left. After the fourth branch, the cavern suddenly opened up revealing a large stadium sized cavern filled with waterfalls and a plethora of plants growing all over.

  The tittering sound was the only warning Ian got when two small humanoid creatures burst out of the closest clump of plants and charged him. They were no more than three feet tall with dirt-colored, stocky frames on spindly legs. Their faces looked like someone had taken clay, made a giant hooked nose, and covered everything else in wrinkles.

  Recognizing the enemies as minor earth imps, he moved to the side to prevent them both from reaching him at once. As they came in range, he thrust his spear at the one closest to him, aiming for its overly large head. He was surprised when the spear punctured straight into the skull, causing the creature to flop to the ground as its body was overtaken by violent spasms.

  With no time to watch, Ian brought the butt of his spear up to smack the other imp down as it jumped at him. He caught it right in the stomach, sending it flying with a meaty thwack, causing it to land heavily on its back. He quickly covered the distance, skewering the creature in the chest as it tried to get back up. He stabbed it a couple of times before it stopped moving. Realizing there might be more, he scanned the area only to fall back on the second creature as it finally stopped spasming.

  Congratulations! You have earned 1 level. You have achieved level 11. You have been awarded 20 skill points!

  Reaching down, he touched the imp at his feet and was greeted with a prompt that asked him if he wanted to loot it. Selecting yes, he was surprised to see a small opal pebble appear in his hand with a notification that he looted an extra small essence stone. When he did the same to the other imp, he was excited to receive another.

  He smiled as he looked at the first essence stones he had ever looted. Sure, they were only worth a few dollars each, but he would probably get enough money out of this trip to get dinner. Especially if he had luck finding even more monsters while he was down here.

  A rustle of the plants off to his right told him more enemies were waiting for him just a couple of dozen yards away. With a smile, he began advancing towards the sound.

  Ten minutes later, Ian was fairly sure he had completely cleaned out the cavern. He had killed enough of the imps to reach level 17 and netted enough essence stones to make more than he would make during a normal shift at his job. While not every imp dropped them, they were considerably more fun to collect than fries from hot oil.

  As he reached the far side of the cavern from where he entered, he found a tunnel that sloped down instead of the even floors he had dealt with so far.

  “A path to the second level? If my memory is correct, I think mobs range from level 20 to 40 down there,” he muttered as he looked back at the cavern he had just cleared. “There was very little challenge up here, so I might as well give it a try.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He ended up following the sloping path as it looped around until finally leveling out in a new chamber. Unlike the area above, there were no cracks in the ceiling to allow light through. Instead, the entire area was glowing a soft blue. From what Ian could understand, the moss on the ceiling was responsible for giving off the light.

  When Ian stepped out into the small cavern, he heard a low growl as something on four legs walked into the chamber from the other side. It looked like a four-foot-long naked mole rat. It had long nails and two long, sharp teeth. It gave a second growl before charging him with abandon.

  Lowering himself into a defensive stance, Ian was ready when the creature launched itself at him. He thrust his spear using the creature’s own momentum to help drive the head deep into the monster’s chest. Once the spearhead was far enough in, Ian flung the spear to the side, causing the creature to fly off the spear and into the wall with the sound of breaking bones.

  As Ian watched the monster, it tried to get up, only to collapse back to the ground and let out a couple of wheezing breaths. Blood rapidly pumped out of the wound on its chest for a moment before the creature went still.

  Congratulations! You have earned 2 levels. You have achieved level 19. You have been awarded 40 skill points!

  Ian whistled at the prompts that popped up in his vision. The naked mole rat creature must have been near the top level for the floor if he had gained two levels. He looted the monster to receive three extra small essence stones and a needle tooth. It was getting to the point where he might make decent money in this dungeon.

  As he checked his watch, he saw he had another two hours to spare before it was time for the old man to begin his shift. As long as he was careful, he should be able to get quite a few levels before it was time to go return the coat.

  *~*~*

  Ian walked out of the coffee shop with two hot black coffees, a handful of creamers, and a couple of packets of sugar. It had been a long day, but he couldn’t keep the joy off his face as he walked back towards the Slime Cavern dungeon entrance. It was just after dark, but he knew the man would have only been on shift for about an hour.

  He had switched out of his armor and was now walking around without his conceal skill in place. It was dark enough that the hood of his sweatshirt hid most of his features from the passing crowd, and the young man who made his coffee was paying so much attention to a display of some adventurer’s live stream that Ian doubted the young man even knew what color Ian’s shirt was.

  He had recently taken to wearing non-prescription glasses and bleaching his hair, but it didn’t always work. His ex just had way too many fans, and the changes leveling had on a human body helped turned everyone who leveled beyond a couple hundred into a model. Fans do a lot of crazy things to protect their celebrities, and Ian was pretty much fed up with all of them. If nobody ever knew who he was, he would live a perfectly happy life.

  Very few new adventurers came to the beginner dungeon after dark. Unlike the other dungeons, it required very little supervision, which is why there was only one representative from the AO, or adventuring office, there at any given time. Which Ian was particularly thankful for as he walked up to the representative’s building and knocked on the door.

  After a few moments, the old man from the night prior opened the door and gave Ian a large grin.

  “Come on in, son,” said the man as he moved out of the way. “The second door down is a break room we can sit and talk in.”

  Ian gave him a small smile as he entered and walked down the hall to the aforementioned room. The break room was small, but it had a table with four chairs, a refrigerator, and a sink. The table was set next to a window that gave a clear view of the portal to the dungeon.

  Ian placed the coffee, creamer, and sugar on the table before sitting down.

  “I didn’t know how you liked your coffee,” he said to the man as he pulled the freshly washed coat from his item storage. “And thank you for the help last night. I’m sorry if I got you in trouble with your daughter.”

  The man chuckled as he sat across from Ian and took a sip of the black coffee. As he took in the flavor, he closed his eyes and smiled.

  “I should be thanking you,” the old man said as he took another sip. “And not just for this coffee. My daughter is very talented at her job, but she’s still young. Only a year or so younger than yourself, but you’ve probably grown up a lot in the past couple of years, I’d wager. Adversity at the level you’ve dealt with tends to either forge or break people.

  “I’m getting off subject, but as I said, she is young and judged someone she didn’t know without understanding the situation. Like many young people, she is stubborn and convinced that what she knows is correct…just like I was at her age. Last night she learned that the world isn’t always what you expect it to be, and very few things are black and white. It’s a lesson that will stick with her, and do you know why?”

  Ian just shook his head as he listened to the man.

  “Because she’s a smart person who now feels both guilty and incredibly stupid,” the man said with a grin. “Smart people hate feeling like they are stupid, even more so when it makes them feel like they have done something horrible. Especially when they should have known better.” The man paused for a moment to take another sip. “It was honestly how my wife taught me most of my lessons when we were adventuring together. Though I think she did it more for her own enjoyment than to teach me anything.”

  “Well, I’m glad the situation could be of some help,” Ian said as he looked at the cup in his hands. “I don’t think I’ll be coming back here to this dungeon anymore though, so I probably won’t see you around much after this.”

  The old man snorted, bringing Ian’s attention back to him. “I hope not, son. Level 37 in a single day, that’s pretty impressive. It would be more shocking if I didn’t know you hit level 100 yesterday. Your skills are going to be pretty amazing, but you need to get yourself a skilled Keeper to help handle the administrative and branding sides of being an adventurer.”

  Ian’s breath stuck in his chest as the old man casually let it slip that he knew quite a bit about him. Had he used the AO’s records? But how could they tell if he hadn’t updated his information yesterday before resetting his levels?

  “Oh, calm down,” the man said with a wave. “I did the same thing as you when my wife and I ran years ago. We didn’t want to have people constantly bothering us during our off hours, so we both purchased appearance alteration skills at level 100. People told us we were wasting our points, but that decision has allowed us to retire without constantly being harassed.

  “Though I have to ask, what’s with choosing the name ‘Zero’ for yourself? That seems a bit self-depreciating for someone who is probably going to surpass everyone currently active in the next few years.”

  Ian just opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times as he stared at the man. Finally, he shook his thoughts free and had to ask. “How do you know so much about me? The AO shouldn’t even know this much right now.”

  The old man smiled and shook his head before saying, “That’s definitely true. They don’t even know you hit 100 out here. The system doesn’t automatically start tracking you until you hit level 101, and the last scan they had of you in the system showed you still sitting at level 1 early last year. Also, because your good skills are awakened and inherent, they will be hidden by the system from everyone except for your Keeper. The AO board members can’t even see them for security reasons.

  “But I’ll tell you what. I’ll tell you my secret if you answer my question.”

  Ian sighed at ran his hands over his face before looking back at the smiling old man across from him.

  “Eh, I guess there isn’t much to lose, especially as you seem to already know everything.” Ian said with a shrug. “It’s kinda stupid, but one of the last things my ex-girlfriend told me was that ‘a zero’s future is all you have to look forward to’, and it's been living rent-free in my mind ever since. Everything else she said was such a blatant lie, but that single statement has summed up my life for the past year and a half. Now that I’ve found a way to break the cycle, I want a chance to throw it in her face…even if she never finds out that I can make something of myself, at least I’ll know.”

  “Hmm,” said the man. “I must admit, I kind of like the sound of that. Take something that has tormented you and turn it into a positive. Plus, the name Zero is kinda cool, or at least it would have been back in my day. Well, anyway, a promise is a promise. You told me yours, so I’ll tell you mine.

  “I have a skill that lets me see anyone’s status. It would be a problem if anyone found out, because they would know who I was back in the day if you catch my drift,” the man said before bursting into laughter as the look of shock appeared on Ian’s face. “Yeah, you know who I am, but neither of us wants our identities getting out, so you can just call me Walter. How does that sound?”

  Ian was having an internal war between being terrified and having his own fan boy moment that he hated so much about all of his ex’s fans. Before him sat Vision, one of the greatest adventurers of all time. Which meant the man’s wife had to be Prophecy, one of the only adventurers to ever be able to glimpse at events in the future.

  “You doing okay, son?” Walter said with a smirk.

  Ian just nodded dumbly as he looked down at his coffee.

  “Sorry, Walter. I don’t think I brought the right drinks for the occasion.”

  Walter started to laugh as Ian heard the door open, followed by quick footsteps down the hall. As both men turned, Ian saw Claire standing in the doorway staring at him.