”Hmph!”
Another day in the dungeon – swinging my hammer at slimes again.
Well, “hammer” is bein’ generous. It’s just a steel pipe with a sledgehammer head welded on at a local machine shop. Livin’ at the orphanage, that’s the best weapon I can get.
At first, the weight threw me off. But now I can handle it like it’s part of me arm. Two years of swingin’ it around, and you figure it out. Back when I first became an Awakener, even takin’ down a single slime was a struggle. Now I can drop one with a single strike.
”Hah!”
My hammer, charged with Gaia Points – the system calls ’em Gaia for short – lands true. The slime collapses into a cloud of black mist. Most of it gets absorbed by the dungeon itself, but a fraction seeps into me, the one who struck it down. That’s how you earn Gaia Points, they say. Levels work the same way. And sometimes, the slimes drop Magic Stones or other loot.
”Twenty so far today,” I mutter. “That’s about it for now. Time to cash in at the Explorers’ Guild and call it a day.”
Even though there’s no one here, I talk to myself as I turn and head back through the dungeon.
In the year 20XX, dungeons suddenly appeared on Earth.
Underground spaces, out of nowhere. At first, people blamed excessive groundwater pumpin’, or tectonic shifts – but when survey teams entered, they found creatures no one had ever seen before. Creatures straight out of a light novel: slimes, goblins, monsters by those names. And so, these spaces came to be called “dungeons.”
Countries sent in their militaries to eliminate the threat, but inside the cramped corridors, heavy weapons were useless. Advanced electronics wouldn’t function. Firearms were too powerful – if a monster wasn’t killed instantly, it would go berserk like a wounded animal, causin’ even more damage. And the noise of gunfire only drew more monsters from deeper within. So the armies fell back on swords, spears, and bows. Close-quarters combat became the only option.
Five years later, monsters began to spill out of multiple dungeons at once. A state known as a Dungeon Break.
The nations had guarded the dungeon entrances, but they never expected thousands of monsters to pour out all at once. Civilians took the heaviest losses. Some say the world’s population was reduced to two-thirds. There are even reports of countries that responded by launchin’ tactical nuclear strikes – wipin’ out their own citizens along with the monsters.
When the Dungeon Breaks finally subsided, governments realized the military alone couldn’t handle the threat. So they opened the dungeons to the public – startin’ with the upper floors, where only weaker monsters dwelled.
Then word got out: defeated monsters left behind gem-like stones that could be used as an energy source. People flooded into the dungeons as if it were some kind of gold rush.
Those stones came to be called Magic Stones.
Summary:
The protagonist begins his daily routine grinding slimes in the dungeon, reflecting on two years of hard-won competence. He mutters to himself about his progress and heads to the guild to cash in. The narrative then shifts to a global exposition of how dungeons appeared on Earth, the military failures, the catastrophic Dungeon Breaks, and the eventual opening of dungeons to civilians, culminating in the discovery of Magic Stones and a gold rush mentality.
Trivia:
- The protagonist’s weapon is homemade – a steel pipe with a sledgehammer head welded on at a local machine shop.
- He has been swinging this weapon for two years and can now defeat slimes in one strike.
- Gaia Points are partially absorbed from defeated monsters into the one who struck them down.
- Slimes occasionally drop Magic Stones and other loot items.
- Dungeons appeared on Earth in the year 20XX without warning.
- Military forces failed due to cramped spaces, non-functioning electronics, and gunfire attracting more monsters.
- Dungeon Breaks occurred five years after dungeons first appeared.
- The world’s population was reduced to roughly two-thirds following the Breaks.
- Some countries used tactical nuclear weapons against monsters, at the cost of their own citizens.
- Governments opened the upper dungeon floors to civilians after realizing the military couldn’t handle the threat alone.
- Magic Stones were discovered as a usable energy source from defeated monsters.
- The public flooded into dungeons after learning about Magic Stones, driven by gold rush fervor.