Chapter 71: The Dungeon Gate
The days passed without fanfare.
David didn’t give Mrs. Walbury an answer about dinner. Not a yes, not a no — just the particular silence of someone who had somewhere else to be every time the question came up. She didn’t push it. He was grateful for that.
He buried himself in the regimen instead. Mornings with Mrs. Walbury running him through the martial drills until his form stopped embarrassing both of them.
Afternoons with Holly, testing his mobility, watching the numbers climb in real time and figuring out what they actually meant when his body was moving at full output. It was one thing to see a stat increase on a notification. It was another thing to feel it.
He noted it. Didn’t celebrate it. There’d be time for that later.
And then, without making a big announcement about it, soon, the D-Day arrived.
***
[DUNGEON GATE WILL SOON OPEN]
[TIME REMAINING: 00:03:32]
[Player will be rewarded for completing threshold on time with aid item.]
The numbers ticked down in the corner of his vision, quiet and indifferent, while David stood in his bathroom and dried off.
The shower had been good. He’d needed it — three days of drilling had left him carrying a specific kind of weight that hot water was the only thing for, and he’d stood under it longer than necessary, letting it work.
Now he was standing in front of the mirror with a towel around his waist, water still on his shoulders, taking slow glances at the countdown like it might change its mind.
It didn’t.
He exhaled and turned to his room.
’What do I even wear to a dungeon?’
He stood at his wardrobe and genuinely thought about it. It wasn’t a question anyone had covered in the prep materials — or if they had, he’d missed it. He pushed a few things aside.
’Something free. Something that moves. I’m not going in there stiff.’
He glanced at the system notification still hovering at the edge of his vision.
’Actually—’
"Hey," he said. "Can you not provide armor or something? You’re supposed to be useful."
[The System can provide equipment through the Shop.]
[Insufficient points for current inventory. Browsing requires minimum purchase threshold.]
[Although, Player will be equipped with F-rank armor before commencement of dungeon raid.]
"Of course it does." He pulled a white T-shirt off the shelf. "How much is armor in the shop? Just — ballpark."
[SHOP — ARMOR (SAMPLE LISTING)]
[E-Rank Material Armor: 1,000 System Points]
[Note: Standard dungeon-grade. Forged from artifact materials sourced from gate clearances.]
David stared at that number.
"One thousand."
[Correct.]
"For the cheapest one? I only have 50 points."
[Correct.]
He laughed. Short. Dry. Not particularly amused. "Alright. What about forging? If I go in and collect materials — can I forge something for less?"
[Forging is available post-material acquisition.]
[F-Rank forge: 200–400 points depending on material quality.]
[E-Rank forge: 500–600 points.]
[Forging slot limit: 1 active item.]
David paused, T-shirt in hand. ’One item. That’s actually workable. If I clear something decent in there—’
"Why only one slot?"
[To prevent material oversaturation and encourage selective acquisition.]
[Also: buy from the Shop.]
He blinked at that last line.
"Did you just — are you actually trying to upsell me right now?"
[The Shop offers convenience and guaranteed quality.]
[Forging requires effort and dungeon clearance.]
[The choice is yours.]
"Unbelievable," he said, and pulled the T-shirt over his head.
He dressed practically. White tee, track jacket over it, loose trousers that didn’t catch at the knee when he moved. Sneakers. He bounced once on his heels checking the give in the soles. Good enough.
He walked out to the living room.
It was clean. Quiet. The kind of quiet that a space gets when the person in it has been too busy to disturb it. He stood in the middle of it for a moment, taking it in, feeling the countdown still moving somewhere at the edge of his awareness.
He took a breath.
Then he muttered the words.
"System...show me my stats."
The minute the System flashed his stats across his vision, David gave them a once-over —
[PLAYER STATS UPDATED]
[Name: David Myers]
[Strength: 55 | Agility: 53 | Endurance: 53 | Stamina: 54 | Penile Strength: 50]
[Total Exchange Points: 50]
[LvL: 5/???]
[SKILLS/TOOLS]
[Dragon Claw Blood (Lvl 1)]
[Virgin’s Touch Aid (Lvl 1)]
[Rewind Shield (Lvl 1)]
[Adrenaline Rush (Lvl 1)]
He blinked.
"Wait, I even forgot to ask back then." His eyes tracked back up. "Why does my level say five-slash-question mark?"
[That information is not available.]
"...Right....uhh..." He exhaled through his nose.
"Okay. Fine. Is this like a solo l*veling situation? Do I just — level up forever? No ceiling?"
[The System is not categorized by limits.]
[However, the player is not exactly limitless.]
David stared at that for a second.
"So what is the limit?"
[Negative.]
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Stood there for a moment with his jaw working around a response that didn’t arrive.
Then he just — shook it off.
’This thing is playing with me.’ He exhaled.
’That’s all that is.’
He turned his eyes back to the gate.
[TIME REMAINING: 00:00:58]
Fifty-eight seconds. He watched the numbers bleed down and let the quiet do what quiet does. He let it run its course. Then he rolled his shoulders once and pushed it out.
’I’m going to be okay.’This is where it starts. This is where the hunter thing actually begins.’
Once he cleared this, he could get back to Mrs. Walbury. Start the real prep for the hunter evaluation. Everything in order. One thing at a time.
He receded into that quiet confidence — the kind that doesn’t announce itself — just as the last seconds bled away.
[00:02]
[00:01]
[00:00]
The air cracked.
It wasn’t loud so much as sudden — a sharp, pressurized split in the space in front of him, and then the sparks came. Just a few at first, scattered like static, floating and harmless. Then they collapsed inward, pulling toward a single point, and from that point something bloomed: a churning mass of light and energy, crackling at the edges, folding over itself until it solidified into something that could only be called a gate.
It roared without sound. It glowed without heat. It just — was.
David stared at it. Smoke curled at the threshold.
His eyes flicked sideways.
[CONGRATULATIONS.]
[Player has reached threshold within time limit.]
[Player may now advance forward.]
[Bonus item awarded.]
’The aid item?’
"What is it?" he said.
The System loaded.
[ITEM RECEIVED: SHIELD HERO’S PIECE (FRAGMENT)]
[CLASS: AID]
[RANK: F-RANK(lvl 1)]
[Effect: Blocks a minimum of +10% of damage directed at player.]
[Note: Efficacy varies depending on the nature and strength of the source.]
David read it twice.
Then he almost laughed.
"Armor." He said it to no one. "I actually got armor."
Not much. A fragment. But it was something — and if he pulled decent materials from inside, he could forge it into something worth wearing. The System had told him that much.
He equipped it without ceremony.
[EQUIPPED: SHIELD HERO’S PIECE (FRAGMENT)]
He turned back to the gate. The smoke rolled at the edges of it, lazy and indifferent, like it had been waiting. Like it had all the time in the world.
David didn’t.
’Alright then... let’s get on with this.’
With that, he stepped through.