“Very well, Jeremy, rogue it is,” Boggan said. Jeremy felt something flash in the corner of his eye. For a time he couldn't move, feeling something shift inside him. His stat sheet changed.

  Name: Jeremy Wilkins

  Race: Human

  Sex: Boy

  Age: 10

  Character Class: Child-Rogue

  Level: 0

  Health: 7

  Attributes:

  Strength: 5

  Endurance: 5

  Vitality: 6

  Dexterity: 4

  Agility: 5

  Perception: 4

  Intelligence: 6

  Wisdom: 5

  Will Power: 4

  Charisma: 4

  Mana: 1

  Active Skills:

  Identify: 0

  Sneak: 0

  Detect Traps: 0

  Passive Skills:

  None

  Spells:

  None

  Jeremy studied his stat sheet. “I get three active skills?”

  “Most dungeons do not give adventurers three active skills starting out. They force adventurers to earn these skills through quests or slaying monsters. You should be grateful. If you gain sufficient proficiency with these skills, you can evolve them. Detect Traps into Detect Danger, for example, but that's in the distant future.”

  “What about passive skills? And how do my attributes interact with each other, and what about the rest of my stat sheet?”

  “But enough boring lessons,” Boggan continued, not answering Jeremy's questions. “As you are now a Child-Rogue, your life of adventure begins! Now, I know you are eager to start killing monsters and leveling up, but first, there is the matter of your equipment.”

  “Equipment?”

  “Exactly. Fortunately for you, Jeremy, you get 100 dungeon coin for being from a new world with no dungeon experience, a second 100 dungeon coin for having no equipment or character class, and a third 100 dungeon coin for being brave enough--or something--to enter this dungeon by yourself.”

  “Dungeon coin?” Jeremy asked.

  Boggan stroked his beard. “In ancient times, all dungeons had platinum, gold, silver, and copper coins. But these coins came in different sizes, quality and values from dungeon to dungeon, creating a confusing and complex mess of a dungeon monetary system. Also, adventurers had such a hard time carrying all these coins around that it distracted them from killing monsters. So dungeons got together and created a universal, more portable, dungeon currency called dungeon coin.”

  “I guess that makes sense?” Jeremy said, not understanding.

  “Exactly. Our dungeon coin-based currency is equivalent to a standard gold coin. You have 300 dungeon coin or the equivalent of 300 standard gold coins.”

  “So I have 300 gold coins?” Jeremy asked.

  “Not exactly.” Boggan produced a large gold coin from nowhere and tossed it to Jeremy.

  Jeremy caught the coin. It felt like gold, heavy for its size. One side had the image of two garden gnomes with the number 300 superimposed on them, and on the other, an image of children playing identical to that on the archway.

  “You are holding 300 dungeon coin or the equivalent value of 300 standard gold coins,” Boggan said.

  Jeremy studied the coin. “What if I wanted to buy something worth 1 dungeon coin, or how about the equivalent of a copper coin?”

  “Easy,” Boggan said. “Just concentrate on your dungeon coin and pull off the amount you want. For example, the equivalent to a standard copper coin is 0.01 dungeon coin, a silver coin 0.1 dungeon coin, and a platinum piece is 10 dungeon coin.

  Jeremy concentrated on his 300 dungeon coin. After several minutes of trying, he pulled off a second gold coin that looked exactly like the first but with a 1 on it. His original coin had changed from 300 to 299. Then he pulled 0.01 dungeon coin from the second coin. The 0.01 coin was identical to the other two, only copper colored. The second coin, now 0.99, had become silver.

  “There are also dungeon stars. These are a special currency and cannot be bought with any amount of dungeon coin. However, they can be used to buy items from the dungeon that are not available otherwise.”

  “How would I get one?”

  “By being a strong adventurer, or a fortunate one. But enough talk of money.” Boggan pulled up another holographic image, this time of tiny weapons and assorted gear. “I strongly advise equipping yourself properly before you continue.”

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  “This is off subject, but I have a question,” Jeremy said, studying the tiny images. “Where in a dungeon do you go to the bathroom?”

  Something Jeremy had always wondered about, in the games he'd played was where adventurers were supposed to relieve themselves in the dungeon.

  “An excellent question,” Boggan said. “The answer is wherever you want. The dungeon absorbs any refuse and bodily waste you might excrete. Go ahead and go. See what happens.”

  Jeremy needed to go. Being trapped in a strange and dangerous place filled with monsters was bad enough without needing to pee.

  He nervously went to the cavern's edge, opposite the archway and teddy bears, unzipped his pants, and let 'er rip. Urine trickled down the cavern wall, pooling on the floor.

  “And notice,” Boggan said from behind him. “It's gone. Not even a smell.”

  Jeremy started to object, but then he looked again. Boggan was right. The floor was dry as before. His pee had vanished.

  “Now, to get you outfitted.” Boggan pulled up the holographic image of hundreds of tiny weapons hanging in the air in front of him. “First, you need a weapon. An adventurer isn't much good without a weapon. Have a look.”

  Jeremy touched an image of a sword. The image expanded to full size with the words “CHILD'S CHEAP SHORT SWORD. Rusty. Poor quality. 10dc.” Another one, a large, attractive black knife, said, “CHILD'S KNIFE. THE RAVEN'S CLAW. High Quality, Charmed for durability, edge, and accuracy. 10,000dc.” This reminded him of shopping online. Like online stores, he couldn't afford most of the items there either. “I assume dc means dungeon coin. Remove everything over 300dc,” he said. Most of the weapons vanished.

  Something else occurred to him. “I killed a teddy bear before I was pushed into the dungeon. Do I get anything for that?”

  “For killing a weak monster outside the dungeon?” Boggan sniffed. “I think not. To get money from the dungeon, you have to kill monsters inside the dungeon. You did get a small amount of experience, though.”

  Jeremy shrugged. It had been worth a try. “How much experience?”

  “Check for yourself,” Boggan said. “Focus on that part of the stat sheet.”

  Jeremy focused on his stat sheet where it said Level: 0.

  Level: 0 (17/100) exp.

  Then he focused on exp.

  Experience represents the life force absorbed from slaying monsters and will allow you to advance to higher levels. Each level gained will make you a stronger more capable adventurer.

  “Seventeen points? That's it? That monster almost killed me.”

  “That is a surprisingly large amount of experience, considering how weak the monster was,” Boggan responded.

  Jeremy sniffed and went back to studying the dungeon store inventory. “If a dungeon coin is like a gold piece, your prices are completely unreasonable.”

  “Our prices are highly competitive, Jeremy,” Boggan said. “You will not find a better deal in any other dungeon.”

  “In my world, I could buy hundreds of weapons for what you're charging for that rusty short sword,” Jeremy responded.

  “You might be surprised. New worlds seldom have weapons of any quality.”

  Jeremy sighed and turned back to the weapon selection. What did he want? Certainly nothing large and unwieldy like the broadsword for 200dc. He looked through the limited selection of knives until he found. “CHILD'S HIGH QUALITY LONG KNIFE. Charmed edge, 268dc.” That looked the most promising.

  “I'll take that knife,” Jeremy said.

  “Excellent, and you will want armor as well,” Boggan said.

  Images of armor replaced images of weapons.

  “Under 32dc?” Jeremy asked. Three remained. “CHILD'S POOR QUALITY LEATHER ARMOR. A little better than bare skin. 10dc.” It wasn't much, but it looked better than the oversized shield made from an unknown creature's skin for 30dc.

  “That knife and that armor,” Jeremy said, pointing out the two items.

  “Splendid,” Boggan said, and suddenly, Jeremy was wearing surprisingly heavy leather armor. The knife rested on his hip in a belt sheath where he could get at it quickly. Jeremy pulled out his knife and admired it. He promptly cut his finger, testing the edge. He had 22dc left.

  “I might suggest you buy some new shoes,” Boggan said.

  That made sense. The toe part of his ruined shoe flopped around whenever he took a step. He bought some low-quality, soft leather boots for 10dc.

  “And as a bonus, here is a basic dungeon survival kit.” Boggan tossed him a small leather pack.

  Jeremy pulled on its leather straps, opening it. He took out a small water bottle, some dungeon rations, a roll of soft paper, and what looked like a tightly rolled blanket.

  “You will notice all of these items are endless and self-repairing,” Boggan said. “In addition, your pack has twice the space inside as outside, so it will hold lots of stuff.”

  “Wait,” Jeremy said. “What else does your store offer that might keep me alive in your dungeon?”

  “Well,” Boggan said, pulling up a bunch of items on the hologram. He poked something that looked like a Stay-Puff marshmallow man. “We have this golem companion.”

  “Something that's 12 dungeon coin or less?”

  “Then no, we do not.” Boggan made the hologram vanish and reached up with his tiny hand and patted Jeremy on the back. “Your life of adventure begins! Remember what I told you: follow the red path, don't get eaten by monsters, and you'll be home in no time!” With that, Boggan vanished.

  The six teddy bears instantly came to life and charged Jeremy from across the large cavern.