Chapter 5: Dungeons and Dangers

Perhaps by the whims of fate, I arrived home to be greeted by my brother who was leaving the house. It wasn't weird for either of us (me) to stay out, so after a simple greeting, he left the area and proceeded on with his day.

Seeing as I had taken a break from my part-time job. I found myself with an entire day ahead of me where I had nothing much on my plate. My motivation to use my ability had dimmed by a significant amount after finding out about the other world.

By that I obviously mean that I was so weak it felt like there's almost no point in me doing so.

Attempting to levitate the remote control on the living room table, I watched as it hovered for a few fractions of a second, before tumbling back on the table. As expected, my ability was severely limited if I'm not flicking things into the air.

By my calculations, it will take around 8 years for me to flick myself into the air and another 72 more in order to levitate and fly around freely. That was with the assumption that my ability grew constantly at 2.6grams per day without limit.

Feeling the chill at the area below my waist, I decided to train my ability to the point where I get knocked out. After all, it was excruciating painful.

Arthur had promised to pick me up at night, so by my estimates, that should be around the time where I awaken.

Speaking of which, they passed me a scroll and told me to tore it, claiming that I'll be transported close to my house. When I did so, I found myself back at the entrance of the clinic. Magic is amazing I guess. It does make me wonder... what's the point of flying after 72 years of training when I can travel just by tearing up a piece of paper.

Deciding to postpone my internal dilemma, I went into my room and began juggling my bottle of water in the air. I called it juggling but what I'm basically doing was flicking it back up as it falls down.

Watching as the bottle bop up and down, the motion was almost hypnotic, lulling me into a sense of security. Despite the migraine and the coldness inbetween my thighs, it was otherwise rather comfortable...not. I lost consciousness after wearing myself out. Perhaps I am getting addicted to the taste of fainting?

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I woke up to the sound of my doorbell. Feeling groggy, and already expecting who my guests were, I raised my voice and told them I was coming.

Naturally, despite how lazy I felt at the moment, it was only courteous for me to open the doors for them.

"Right, come in" I greeted them with my unkempt look.

"What are you talking about? You're coming out with us" (Warrior)

Oh right. I was getting brought somewhere to obtain the jade scissors wasn't I?

"Give me a second" I replied.

Rushing to my room and, I quickly switched my T-shirt and put on a fresh pair of pants. Before rushing back out to the front entrance.

The adventuring party gave me a curious look. As they looked at me from head to toe.

"Oh man... we forgot to explain to you about dungeons did we?" (warrior)

"It's, it's fine. Unless something happens, you won't die anyways. We'll fill you in on the way" Arthur assured confidently.

On my way out, I was surprised that we simply walked through the streets instead of tearing another scroll. As I marveled once more at the extraordinary sights around me, Arthur began to speak.

"Dungeons are what we call them, but more accurately, they are fragments of notable events that had happened or will happen in time" (Arthur)

"But all of them have one thing in common, and that is there's always an entrance and an exit... almost as if it was a clear goal set by the ones that made it." (Arthur)

"It's however theorized that these are basically made by the gods as trials for humans" the mage chimed into the conversation.

"So if they are random snippets of the past or future... how do you all know that this one we are heading to is it?" (Me)

"They don't disappear you know? They remain around even after you leave. Another theory suggested that they will eventually fill the world and there will be no 'space' left for other things to happen. Putting humanity in an eternal stasis!" (Mage)

I could see her getting more and more delirious in her speech so I stood a little further away.

So basically, it's a dungeon that they have been to before and they're just bringing me there to retrieve the scissors.

"So getting to the point, these dungeons are as you'd expect, filled with dangers... but this one isn't anything too serious so you don't have to worry about it!" (Arthur)

"Well the story of this event dates back to an ancient past, so you'd probably be fine as long as you stuck close to us. The most dangerous things there would just be the emperor's guards!" (Arthur)

"And the wilderness are filled with demonic beasts..." the warrior muttered.

"That doesn't instill much confidence in me" the words left my mouth as I found my surroundings change. I don't remember walking to anywhere speical and all of the blue, the scenery around me changed.

"This is Arthur's ability, we can drift into any dungeon he's been to before" the priest walked up next to me and announced somewhat smugly.

A mist shrouds my view and a bright light greeted me at the end of the road.

I looked around and was greeted by a grandiose view of an ancient palace. The architecture reminded me of an ancient civilization. It wasn't simply luxurious, but carried with it thousands of years of traddition.

We were standing on the road leading to the palace. The hustle and bustle of the street alerted me to the presence of... people. They were moving around and selling goods to one another.

The smell of fried chicken drifted into my nose as the unknown blend of spices involuntarily cause me to salivate.

"What is this amazing smell?" it was then my mouth and nose was covered by the warrior who swiftly put a mask over my face.

"That's the Super Addictive Chicken. It was so potent that it caused the civilisation to go under" (warrior)

"Look over there" he pointed at a store with a queue that seemed to last forever. The store owners were wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, but made out of wood.

"History has it that it caused thoese that had tasted it to be unable to consume any other food." (warrior)

"The problem was that it had spread way too fast and quickly that everyone, including the founders already had a taste of the chicken." (Arthur)

"Obviously, measures were put into place to meet demands, but the supplies just couldn't keep up. The worse part was that guys could no longer 'get it up' and their minds were only filled with thoughts about the fried chicken... "

"Anyways, let's go to the palace. A war will start over the chicken soon."

Nodding and following along the hero party, the ridiculous context of a civilization-ending fried chicken left me slightly baffled. But then again, so was the current situation.

"It has been recorded that perhaps the Devil Of Gluttony had been involved. Which you can see later will be proven true" the mage added on.

Wait a minute. That doesn't sound right. Why would I see that later? Wasn't I just about to grab some scissors and leave?

"You talked about exit and entrances to dungeons right?" I asked Arthur.

"What's the exit here?"

"It's not exactly a door, but more like a set of conditions you have to fufill..." he smiled awkwardly.

"We just have to defeat the devil!" he announced cheerfully. To which his party members smiled like it was nothing.

"I can't wait to see what loot he drops this time" (warrior)

I guess devils are farmable mobs in this world? So it was just the name that made it sound terrifying! Feeling a little more relieved, I headed up the stairs leading to the palace.

There was just one wierd thing... The coldness from my down under wasn't subsiding under the sun above.