Museum Core Chapter 26: First Dive

Their armored personnel carriers spread out before the car in a semi-circle, half the guns aimed out at the jungle, the other half pointing up towards the museum’s roof.

Then, Jaclyn’s borrowed radio crackled to life.

“The orc says that the museum’s a Dungeon, some kind of monster spawner, she says we need to wait until she checks something.”

Ok, referring to their strongest and most important ally as “the orc” was definitely problematic, but not an issue that could be addressed just yet.

The real issue was the Dungeon, which had been luring people here.

Jaclyn didn’t know everything about what those were, but she’d gotten the gist. Place full of monsters and treasure, sometimes really dangerous, might send out monsters to kidnap people or lure them in, bad Dungeons were really, really, really dangerous. And yet, they were also the best way to get stronger in existence, basically, with a single dive through an appropriately ranked Dungeon being enough for several Levels at the lowest Ranks. They could be literally priceless if they were useable.

But given that Gula had begun to march towards the entrance on the tail end of that warning without even bothering to summon any of her monsters, it seemed like there was at least a chance to resolve this peacefully.

“Under the Compat of Khar’alem, I hereby request a parlay!”

Ok, that just happened …

***

“What is she talking about?” Thomas frowned. Elias had told him a lot of stuff, most of which he’d forgotten again, but when something related to that came up, it usually sparked some recognition. This was new.

“No clue,” Elias shrugged.

“I thought you knew everything?” Thomas pressed, causing the fairy to sigh in disappointment.

“Multiverse, remember? Anything a single person can know can’t ever be more than a fraction of a fraction of something that’s basically infinity.”

“So, no idea?” Thomas asked.

“None at all,” Elias practically grinned. “So, time to find out?”

“Drop by the humans, tell them the military is here, ask for a spokesperson but don’t send anyone out yet in case there are itchy trigger fingers,” Thomas warned.

“What does that mean?”

Somehow, that phrase was the first thing that had managed to throw the fairy off his stride. Perhaps it hadn’t translated well?

“Those soldiers have guns, those are weapons fired by pulling on a trigger. They just fought their way through a jungle and they’re probably jumpy. I don’t want anyone to get shot because they startled them.”

“Oh, so you’re concerned about the humans, but you don’t have a problem sending me into the line of fire?” Elias huffed.

“I thought you had enough common sense that you’d be careful,” Thomas shrugged. “Also, I’m pretty sure you’re included in ‘anyone’. But if I need to spoonfeed you everything, there is a new spiderweb in your favorite duct, watch out for that when …”

Elias just grumbled something as he sped off.

About two seconds after that, he slammed straight through a spiderweb that had mysteriously appeared, right in the path that Elias usually used to move through the museum.

… He wasn’t too happy about that, muttering about what he’d do to the spider responsible when he caught it.

***

Whatever this “Compact” was, it seemed like Gula was confident invoking it in the current situation.

But nothing happened for a long moment. Then, there was a rustling, trampling sound as though countless creatures were retreating until, eventually, a tiger trotted out.

A freaking tiger.

It ambled right up to the door at a slow, measured, pace, before flipping onto its back and presenting its belly, a gesture of submission of Jaclyn had ever seen one. It was just that … the concern was that this whole thing was a trap for desperate refugees. How could they know that this was also real?

Gula stayed where she was for a long moment before she began to speak once more.

“What are your intentions, Dungeon?”

Her only reply was silence, making Jaclyn grimace. Was this really some kind of man-eating building straight out of a horror movie?

After another five seconds, a small voice replied, one she wouldn’t have heard before the System, shouting a reply.

“Uh … intentions? Survival. Am I going to get shot if I show myself?”

Gula shot a dark look towards the convoy, where several soldiers were already training their guns on the door. They were carefully aiming around her, but still … not cool. Not to mention that the concern of whoever was speaking wasn’t exactly unfounded. Everyone was tense as fuck after that jungle trek.

“Everyone, please lower your guns,” Jaclyn asked.

“There’s monsters up there,” someone complained even as Major Lowe echoed her thoughts.

“Lower your guns. Stay prepared, but make sure whoever’s in there isn’t staring down the barrel of an assault rifle when they show themselves.”

“Why did you present the tiger in that manner?” Gula asked.

“Er … trying to show that we’re not attacking while I headed over here?”

Jaclyn audibly gasped when she saw who was speaking, though Gula didn’t react in any way she could see.

It was a fairy. A friggin fairy. A tiny human hovering in midair with glittering wings blurring behind them. She couldn’t see it too well from how far back she was standing, but it was probably adorable to boot. Actually, judging by the timbre of their voice, the fairy was a guy.

“What is your explanation for luring humans here?” Gula pressed. “You’re not aware of the Compact that governs the interactions between humans and dungeons, and common sense dictates that a man-eater luring humans does not have good intentions.”

“What does this ‘Compact’ say about emergencies?” the fairy asked curiously, albeit at an extremely high volume so that everyone could hear, not just Gula, who responded in a tone that made it clear she was quoting, or at the very least, paraphrasing some important document.

“During large-scale emergencies, Dungeons may use various methods to transport sapients into their depths, so long as these sapients are not harmed. An appropriate remuneration will be paid.”

“In that case, we’ve got almost forty people in there, just waiting to be rescued. Let’s just pretend I knew about the compact the whole time and …”

The fairy stoped as the tiger suddenly rose to its feet and nudged him with its head.

“Ahem, my core says we’re just happy to help, we can send the humans out now, but most of them want a guarantee that they won’t be shot at. But if you were to give us some …”

The tiger nudged the fairy again, who sighed.

“On a fully volunteer basis, we’d love to get our hands on some animal samples. Snakes, any interesting monsters you find, maybe some more cats, birds of prey, and dinosaur bones.”

The fairy paused, as if listening to an invisible speaker.

“Basically, if it’s a part of a cool animal, we’d love to have it. We’re telling the people the coast is clear, and once we don’t have any civilians in the line of fire, we’d love it if you wanted to try delving into the dungeon. We’ve got a list of the rules we follow pinned to the door right there …”

The fairy continued to talk about how “awesome” the Dungeon was for another minute or so, only stopping when a hippo became visible behind him.

But poking out underneath the massive animal, Jaclyn could see a couple of human feet.

“Any guns being pointed at me, Elias?” a male voice shouted, causing the fairy to visibly jump.

“If there were, they’d be aiming at the hippo,” the fairy replied, hovering slightly higher than before. “Have you seen what those things can do? They’re terrifying.”

It was only then that Jaclyn remembered how dangerous hippopotamuses were. Was it too late to draw her gun? Her Glock might have been a peashooter compared to the assault rifles and machine guns the military had brought, but it would still have felt good to be prepared for a fight.

She’d only ever seen a hippo at the zoo and it was easy to forget their terrifying reputation when it was just sitting there, all fat and happy.

A man wearing a rumpled, somewhat stained suit finally stepped out from behind the hippo and half-ran, half-stumbled, towards the line of waiting cars.

“My name is Theodore Smith, here’s my ID in case you want it. I just wanted to tell you that we’re all safe, I’m going to go fetch everyone else, be right back.”

And then, before anyone could do much of anything, he ran back inside.

Jaclyn sighed, took her hand off her gun’s holster and tucked her shirt over it, then walked up towards the entrance.

Up close, the fairy wasn’t cute, exactly, other than that inherent “oh, it’s tiny” adorableness. He simply looked like a young man in a toga with metallic wings who spoke with an authoritative voice.

“Sounds to me like there are normally some rules about how Dungeons interact with their delvers. Maybe we should discuss that?” she suggested.

***

Ok, so that could have gone better. But not by much. The refugees were leaving before the bathroom situation became a serious problem or anyone started getting mad about the food, and they gained an open communication line with the outside world.

Sure, Thomas would miss having Teddy around, a helpful human willing to go diving into the depths of the archives was always nice, but all in all, it was still a good change.

And judging by how that lady was talking about rules for the Dungeon in exchange for people actually delving inside, he’d be getting some visitors who could appreciate what he’d built. Not to mention that according to Elias, any sapient visitor would give him a small amount of advancement energy even if they survived.

Of course, he wasn’t intending on murdering people for power, just provide a challenge to make things mutually beneficial.

Also, he’d built his Dungeons according to the “Cardinal Rules of Dungeonbuilding” Elias had shared, which were vital to avoid being destroyed by ticked-off humans.

There were five simple rules:

1. Always give Loot

2. Don’t be an asshole

3. No inescapable traps

4. Show your rank

5. No currency!

The first four rules were simple. People went through the effort of fighting monsters, they should receive a reward they could hold in their hands. You should also not be, well, an ass.

That meant letting people get away by not having monsters chase them beyond the monsters’ initial room, not going out of one’s way to wreck equipment, and so on.

In the meantime, traps needed to be either detectable, avoidable, or escapeable. Anything else would result in potential delvers just throwing their hands up in consternation and walking away, or worse, trying to destroy a vicious, murderous, dungeon.

As a Dungeon, Thomas should also have creatures at his rank visible near the entrance so that people would be able to judge the level of danger within.

And finally, well, a magical 3D printer capable of creating essentially infinite money could crash an economy with casual ease. In fact, magically advanced worlds were very careful about detecting Dungeon-forged cash and ruthlessly punishing anyone who tried to pay with it. Or even had it in their possession.

As such, rewarding cash was worse than useless and usually resulted in a Dungeon being boycotted, or invaded by powerful delvers whose sole intention was to chuck any and all rewarded money at the core.

Not that Thomas would have done that even without the warning, the last thing he wanted to do was directly pick a fight with the British government. Or rather, the British equivalent of the IRS. He hadn’t had the pleasure yet, but he doubted the experience would be pleasant.

Tax regulatory bodies were scary. He wasn’t a comic book guy by any means, but even he knew that one of the only things the Joker was scared of was the bloody IRS. If a freaking supervillain didn’t mess with ‘em, Thomas sure as shit wouldn’t either.

And from that had grown Thomas’ self-imposed rules of conduct. No creatures would chase retreating delvers beyond their own rooms, he’d hold back all his snakes unless someone came in with the intention of killing him by destroying his core and so on.

He left most of the conversation to Elias, barely adding anything. His existing code might have been based on Elias’ rules, common sense, and gut instinct, but it was largely identical to what the orc was demanding. Or suggesting. It was hard to tell with how polite she was being.

Oh yeah, there were orcs now. The world had somehow managed to get even crazier. Would there be elves too?

Either way, someone might get to dive into his Dungeon soon!

***

Jaclyn was surprised by how reasonable the fairy was being. Sure, they were discussing the rules for running into a museum filled with monsters, and no one would be willing to do that if there were no limits, but still … was the fairy just agreeing with everything they were saying, or had the rules already been in place?

She briefly wandered off and started reading the original rules, making sure to not stand in the way of the rescued civilians that were still streaming out of the museum. Basically, they’d laid out what they’d already discussed. In essence, they assured any potential delvers that while they’d be risking their lives by going inside, obviously, they’d be able to retreat at any time and they wouldn’t be facing the full fury of the Dungeon’s power as long as they stayed out of the marked “Danger Zone” that held things the Dungeon wanted to keep safe.

Her radio crackled to life with a message from the Major.

“How are things going? Do we have everyone?”

“You’ll have to ask the people already out,” Jaclyn informed him. “We’re discussing the possibility of going into the Dungeon.”

“Why would you want to do that? Isn’t it filled with monsters?” he asked.

“You can gain a lot of power by delving,” she said.

“Even without an active System?” he pressed further.

“Hold on, let me ask,” she told him and turned to Gula and the fairy who just shrugged.

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted.

Did she want to go into the house of monsters? Really want to?

Staying out here would be the safe, sensible choice, and yet … the actual smart choice would have been to never walk into a jungle of magic in the first place. And even staying outside wouldn’t have been safe either, not unless every monster in here stayed put and behaved.

Power was what she needed to keep herself and her loved ones safe, and that Dungeon promised po- … shit, that hadn’t taken long, had it?

The potential to gain power via violence made violence an attractive proposition. As a police officer, de-escalation was the name of the game. Any tense situation that didn’t end with fists flying was a situation well handled.

An actual police Class likely wouldn’t have that problem, though. You got Levels for doing your job, a police officer picking fights for power wouldn’t be doing their job and therefore not get rewarded.

But she would be.

And even though she hadn’t consciously decided to go chasing power through violence, it was subconsciously influencing her in all likelihood.

“I have an offer for the first people to go delving: any attempt to retreat will be honored, the monsters will instantly leave if you surrender.”

The fairy paused for dramatic effect before continuing.

“And in exchange, you’ll make our Dungeon known. You’ll tell your colleagues and superiors about what this Dungeon is and …”

The fairy paused again and cocked his head to the side as though listening to someone Jaclyn couldn’t see.

“… And we’d like you to post on whatever official social media accounts your precinct has access to. ‘Dungeon in Natural History Museum, accepting delvers, reasonable dangers’, and so on.”

With that, he flounced onto the tiger’s head and just lay there for a moment, spread-eagled, before raising his head and extending a hand.

“What do you say, deal?”

Jaclyn passed the message along to Lowe, who didn’t even take a full minute to respond and came up to the door himself.

“I have a squad of volunteers willing to enter the Dungeon under those conditions,” Lowe said, shaking the fairy’s hand. Well, he held out a finger the fairy grasped with both hands, though based on how it was moving, the fairy was clearly strong enough to actually move his finger. That thing was strong.

“If anything happens to them, there’ll be hell to pay and you’ll be the one getting the bill.”

The fairy instantly shot into the air, hovering in front of Lowe’s face.

“It’s a Dungeon, it’s dangerous,” The fairy snapped. “That’s how the world works. However, it gives them a fair shake, and they’ll have it easy. The only thing that’ll get them killed is recklessness and incompetence.”

Lowe bristled but didn’t snap back, instead calmly responding.

“You’re smart enough to know where the line is. Throw everything you have to wipe out my scouts, and I’ll throw everything I have into destroying you.”

Jaclyn sighed. Weren’t they off to a great start?

But they’d still be going inside.

***

Jaclyn shivered as she stepped across the threshold of the museum. She’d been here before, as a kid, and later, with her kid. The biggest danger had been a sugar high from the terrifyingly attractive giant lollipops in the gift store, or being yelled at by someone who worked there for petting one of the exhibits.

Now though, for her, Gula, and the four soldiers alongside her, it was potentially their death.

At the far end of the entrance hall stood a dinosaur. She’d have called it a diplodocus, but she was pretty sure those were longer. This thing had to be between forty and fifty feet long, had legs like tree trunks, a long neck, and an equally long tail.

And above them, on the gallery, she could hear a tiger pacing.

“Alright, Norris, Aster, take down that dinosaur the moment it moves, aim for the head, we don’t know how tough that skin is ...” Sergeant Smith began to order, but Jaclyn put her hand on his shoulder to slow his walk inwards.

“There’s a tiger on the gallery above,” she warned.

“How do you know that?”

“I can hear it,” Jaclyn said. “I can lure it out, if it doesn’t attack me, we can send Gula Halcyon to fry it.”

Smith sighed before announcing: “Inspector Abrams is in charge now.”

She stared at him in surprise.

“You’ve got the best senses, you’ll be aware of trouble before me, and we can’t have conflicting orders.”

Jaclyn nodded.

“Alright, I’ll lure out the tiger, when it jumps down, you shoot it once I’m clear. There is at least one more out there, but it’s not near the entrance. If that dinosaur charges, dodge to the side, it can’t possibly turn quickly. Dinosaurs have tiny brains, focus your fire on the neck instead. Gula, if that dinosaur isn’t stopped after the first charge, throw your Tatzelwyrm at it, but make sure it’s clear of our exit route …”

The plan wasn’t simple, but it didn’t have many moving parts either. This wasn’t Jaclyn’s first time in charge of a group of people about to charge into danger, she knew how to make plans that would survive contact with reality.

***

Jaclyn marched out into the center of the entrance hall, already feeling as though the tiger were breathing down her neck, hot, warm, wet air brushing against her from a giant feline more than close enough to kill her in a single bite.

She knew it wasn’t there, that it was five meters above her, but willingly walking into a trap wasn’t fun. In fact, it was terrifying. But she did it.

There was a soft noise from above as the apex predator of the Indian jungle began its deadly descent but she immediately hurled herself backwards.

Her vision became a blur of orange and black as the tiger smashed into the ground in front of her face, close enough for her to reach out and touch it.

In fact, that was exactly what she did, hand forming into the half-open Leopard fist and driving the knuckles on her right hand into the guts of the big cat, simultaneously pushing her and the tiger apart. In that moment, it felt like the time was flowing like honey, moving with glacial slowness.

And then, the world sped up again as she fell backwards, the feeling of fur caving in under her knuckles vanishing as the distance between them opened up while guns roared to life behind her as the soldiers opened fire.

Tigers might be apex predators, but a human being with an assault rifle was a monster beyond the realm of the natural world.

A distant part of her mind scolded her, telling her that killing an endangered animal was a horrifying thing to do, but she knew that thing was an artificial construct, made by the Dungeon.

Something that was proven a moment later when both the tiger and the blood that spattered the ground vanished, replaced by a small token that clattered onto the ground.

Jaclyn scooped it up as she ran past, taking position off to the side, once again underneath the mezzanine, safe from the tiger that was roaming around up there, ripped her Glock free from its holster, and opened fire at the dinosaur. The first bullet clipped the side of its torso, the second flashed past its neck, and the third hit again, and by that point, the dinosaur was already breaking into a run, straight at her.

That lined it up perfectly for the four soldiers to open fire.

They were treating this situation as though they were going up against an elephant. Those things were big and tough enough that modern assault rifles, designed for versatility and rapid-fire, would only cause significant tissue damage, likely being unable to kill the creature before it stomped its attacker’s to paste.

There was a reason elephant rifles fired some of the heaviest slugs on the market.

So Jaclyn was out here playing matador while everyone else tried to take out the only viable target, the throat.

And, of course, Gula was at the ready with her summoned spirits.

Gunfire thundered through the museum’s entrance hall as the soldiers opened fire, tearing open the dinosaur’s flesh … but not quickly enough.

Jaclyn dove to the side at the last moment as the dinosaur thundered past, a giant leg smashing down where she’d been a split second before, cracking the marble floor.

She started to run across the hall to open up the distance again, only to hear the swish of fur at the last possible second as the room’s second tiger launched itself at her.

Oh, those fuckers hiding on the mezzanine … that was a dirty trick.

Jaclyn threw herself to the side and rolled back onto her feet in seconds while the tiger landed lightly, practically grinning at her as it charged.

Somewhere behind her, she could hear the sound of a heavy weight dropping to the ground as the dinosaur died.

… Which just left her fighting the tiger, which was currently leaping at her.

Her gun flashed up but the beast’s roar slammed into her chest like a physical force, causing her to fumble the shot and then, the tiger was already inside her guard.

She threw herself to the side once more, letting go of her Glock as the tiger’s jaws closed around her gunhand, barely managing to free her right hand while she punched it in the throat with her left, feeling cartilage crumple under her knuckles.

The tiger landed, gagging and coughing while dropping her gun to the ground while it glared at her.

It launched itself right back at her face, jaws opening like the gates of hell, ready to crush her skull like a rotten pumpkin between those fangs.

She could try to dodge again, to evade, to fling herself to the side and hope that she could get to her feet before the tiger was on her, but it was spreading its paws wide, claws out, ready to carve into her even if she did move.

So Jaclyn went straight for the beast, dropping into a low stance, underneath the attack, under its guard, and surging back into her height while punching out, throwing her full power behind a fist aimed squarely into the cat’s gut.

Unlike the last time she’d tried that, the tiger was leaping straight at her, and this time, the combination of her having more power behind the attack and the tiger literally throwing itself into her fist, something tore.

One moment, there was a big cat leaping at her. The next, its eviscerated body was falling past her while she could feel fluids she did not even want to think about coating her arm and splattering along her right side.

Oh … bugger.

She still whirled around, ready to defend herself against a last-ditch attack, but was only met with the dying tiger, which began to dissolve after ten or so seconds. Thankfully, that involved the unmentionable fluids coating her right side.

A tiger pelt settled on the ground, but she left it alone in favor of scanning her surroundings for further threats. Had that hippo come from this room? Was it about to come charging down one of the staircases?

But nothing showed itself, so they all took position in the center of the room, with Jaclyn joining them after retrieving her gun and returning it to its holster once she’d made sure it was still intact.

Gula packed the tiger pelt into a spatially expanded bag she’d brought, alongside the skull they’d gotten from the dinosaur, and finally, Jaclyn handed over the token.

“This is a summoning token, capable of summoning a familiar for the user. The creature will be a real creature, tamed and responsive to commands, but not a slave.”

Jaclyn fixed each of the soldiers with a hard stare. “Do not gossip about that token. If anyone at the precinct finds out that I could have had a pet tiger and turned it down, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Although mostly, she was worried about Eve finding out. Her daughter had been begging for a pet cat since forever, and if it seemed like she’d had a shot at a tiger … yeah, better to avoid that tantrum altogether.

“Are you ok? You have a little something there …” Aster carefully gestured at Jaclny’s arm, causing her to glance down. The act of literally punching through a tiger had pushed up her sleeve, which she was yet to return to its original position, and revealed an angry red mark on her skin. It looked like a burn, somehow …

“I think that might have been stomach acid ...” She said slowly. It wasn’t bad, though it was still a shock to see. She’d already decided that punching through creatures wasn’t an ideal tactic, it was messy and required her to get far closer than was really necessary to land a killing blow, but “acid burns” was still the best argument against trying that again, at least in her mind.

She also spotted four bloody but shallow scratches on her side that she hadn’t even noticed before. Apparently, one of her dodges hadn’t been nearly as clean as she’d thought.

“Should we keep going?” Smith asked.

“In a second, I’m fine,” Jaclyn told him, briefly looking at her Status and seeing that she’d gained another Level. Four stat points immediately went into the body stat, and the last went into mind. She’d have to balance her points out later, at 25, her body stat was almost as high as the rest of put together, but right now, she felt that placing her physiology solidly into the realm of the superhuman was her priority.

Being able to kill a tiger with her bare hands was already a lot, but being able to do the same to a bear or even a dinosaur … those were things she might have to do in this Dungeon delve.

“Now I’m ready,” she announced after a few seconds of adjusting to her new strength.

Thankfully, the far wall was covered in scribbles that gave directions, including instructions to go to the left for delvers and to the right for people wanting to hide out in the cafe.

So they turned left … and stopped in an instant as Jaclyn hissed “stop”.

She gestured to a nearby bench.

“There’s a snake under there.”

And then, she shot it.

Two meters later, there was another snake, likewise blown away by her gun.

“You’re good at spotting those,” Smith commented.

“Yeah, benefits of superpowers,” Jaclyn said. In her mind, she didn’t need to share the fact that the reason snakes were so easy to see was that her power kept suggesting she should eat them, and reminding her how easy it would be to kill one after it had already bitten her, which would be fine since she was almost immune to most forms of venom.

***

“I think you should hide the snakes better,” Elias announced. “Somewhere where regular delvers won’t see them and think they’re a threat.”

“Yeah,” Thomas replied off-handedly, mostly paying attention to the people down below.

An orc, four soldiers, and some kind of superhuman martial artist who was apparently a police officer. Well, that, or the world outside was some kind of superhero universe and that lady’s superhero name was “Inspector” … which sounded more than a little stupid.

So yeah, a cop with supernatural senses and the strength to punch clean through a tiger. Were there more with that kind of power? If the answer was yes, then Thomas was very glad that his new form made him largely immune to regular law enforcement.

He’d removed the hippos and one of the tigers from the entrance hall to make things a little safer, as well as the woolly rhino and the t-rex. This was the “dungeon light” introduction, not a genuine attempt to challenge or even kill the delvers. Though other than the orc and the cop, they seemed surprisingly normal for people who went running into monster lairs.

When the delvers caught sight of the Giant Sloth, Thomas could see them all flinch, immediately aim their guns, and open fire.

Ok, hopefully, they had better fire discipline outside the Dungeon. Seriously, they’d better not be that trigger-happy.

Of course, the Giant Sloth was, well, a giant, lumbering forward even as blood spattered across its fur, roaring so loudly that Thomas could feel the soundwaves brush past his core all the way across the museum.

But before it could reach the delvers, the cop barked an order and charged forward.

The soldiers began to target higher up on the sloth’s body while the cop ran up to the monster’s side and delivered a devastating kick to the side of its leg. Not enough to break bone as far as he could tell, but it was enough to make it stumble.

Then, the orc shouted something, the cop threw herself to the side, and suddenly, a small bird appeared between the orc and the sloth, hurling lighting, more than enough to stop the sloth in its tracks and also buying enough time for the bullets to finish it.

So, if he’d left the woolly rhino in there, a squad of soldiers with modern weaponry would not have been able to clear it on their own.

And up next, there was the dino section. Even without the T-rex, that would be a challenge.

***

Ten more points, thrown straight into Body. Right now, Jaclyn was fighting what seemed to be regular animals, both living and extinct, without magical enhancements.

They didn’t have supernatural speed that she could only respond to with supernatural reflexes or anything like that, she just needed the strength and physical speed to dodge attacks and land blows capable of doing damage.

She did a couple of push-ups and followed it up with a few experimental punches to see what her new strength was like. She knew that the only reason the change was so drastic was that she was a low Level, soon enough, her gains would be five percent improvements instead of the almost fifty percent increase she’d just gained, but right now, she still needed to do a little testing before walking into battle after such a massive change.

“Ready?” Smith asked.

“Ready,” She nodded and led the way, with the Halcyon hovering above her head.

She entered what she knew to be the actual dinosaur section of the museum, and it was gorgeous, decorated with rocks and foliage, that was, admittedly, plastic, but it still looked good.

That being said, that would also be the perfect cover for more snakes, so she carefully inspected the artificial underbrush, finding nothing.

Now, did that mean that there were no snakes, or that she was just too bad to see them?

Jaclyn shivered. She did not like snakes.

And with that cheery thought, she glanced around the corner into the dinosaur section, only to be confronted by, surprise, surprise, a pair of dinosaurs. They looked like ankylosauruses, just smaller and a little more spikey.

Thinking back to all the dinosaur books she’d read to Eve when she’d been in her dinosaur phase, she knew that dinosaurs had tiny brains, which meant that their braincase had more space and was likely very thick.

Throw in the rest of their armor and killing one of those would probably cost them all their remaining munitions.

“Gula, target the left one with the Halcyon, everyone else, shoot it once it’s not charging anymore, try aiming past the armor, its skull is extremely thick, I’ll hold back the other one,” Jacyln ordered.

And then, they put the plan into action.

She was the first into the door, charging straight at the dinosaur on the right with more speed than she’d ever had before, jumping into the air before the dino could bite her and leaping straight onto its back.

Predictably, the Dungeon monster absolutely lost its mind, bucking like a bronco. Or trying to, at any rate. This thing was more like a turtle than a horse, tough but not flexible. And unlike a scorpion, it really couldn’t curl its tail over its back to smack her.

The other dino began to turn, pointing its rear end her way while readying its tail to club her to death, only to be stopped short by Gula’s lightning.

In the meanwhile, Jaclyn was stuck figuring out how to kill this thing. In the end, she woulnd up emptying her gun into its back from point-blank range, aiming between the bony armor plates. And then she reloaded, fired another seventeen rounds into the dinosaur’s back while it tried to throw her off, and finally, managed to tear out the bone plate alongside a hefty chunk of flesh, opening up a hole she could empty her final clip into. That did the trick, finally.

By the time the first monster dissolved under her, the second was also down, leaving her unarmed, though nowadays, she was still extremely dangerous like this.

“I’m out of ammo,” Jaclyn said. “Can I borrow someone’s sidearm?”

Smith handed her his pistol, and with that, they looked into the next room.

It was large, open, without a single hiding spot anywhere, only holding a gigantic sabertooth tiger on the far side. Clearly, a boss room of some kind.

“I’ll distract it, you shoot it,” Jaclyn offered the plan. “We retreat if anything goes wrong.”

And after giving everyone a few seconds to adjust, she stepped inside … and immediately, her feet went out from under her and she fell forward. She tried to catch herself on her hands, but those slid out as well, leaving her to faceplant, her jaw painfully crunching against the marble.

Gunfire roared behind her, and glancing up let her know that the giant cat was already charging at her.

The ground was too slick for her to get up easily, or push against to get herself out, but she needed to move.

So she kicked the doorframe, her new strength sending her sliding across the slick ground like a hockey puck, neatly avoiding the attack … while moving her even further from the exit.

The giant tiger whirled after her, somehow gaining traction on the slick, wet, marble.

Oh, that was not good.

Did she want to surrender right here and now?

No, she wasn’t quite that desperate.

Jaclyn collided with one of the side walls and pushed herself off it again, sending herself sliding into the door that led deeper into the dungeon. There, she drew her gun and emptied it into the charging tiger … which did absolutely nothing. What on Earth was that thing made of?

She waited until the last possible moment, when the creature’s jaws opened wide to roar, and fired straight down its throat, causing it to stumble and gag.

Then, she once again pushed herself off the wall, sliding across the ground, her supernatural strength being enough to send her all the way out.

“Full retreat,” she ordered and that was the end of it. As the fairy had promised, the tiger didn’t chase them.

She sighed deeply. That … that had been nuts.

“Was that thing bulletproof?” she finally asked. That a sidearm had trouble penetrating the fur of a Dungeon boss was believable, but what about assault rifles?

“Near enough,” Smith said. “I doubt Lowe would let us bring in a rocket launcher just for a Dungeon run.

Jaclyn had to agree.

“Do you feel any stronger?” she asked.

“Sort of …” Norris interjected, trailing off. The soldier had largely stayed quiet so far.

“I mean, I think I could get stronger if I trained or something, but I might just be imagining it?” Smith added.

“Hm, that may be Levels you will gain immediately upon choosing a path to power,” Gula commented.

So that was where things stood right now. Might have done some good, might not have. But everyone was still alive, that was what mattered.

And as for her, she’d certainly gotten a hell of a lot stronger, especially physically. She’d have to start compensating for how heavily she’d gone into body later, but even so, it was looking incredible.

Name: Jaclyn Abrams

Race: Human

Class: Anima Monk

F-Rank, Level 4 -> 10/20

Class Abilities

Spirit Bond: Honey Badger (F-Rank)

Statistics (0 points available)

Body: 40

Magic: 0

Mind: 20

Spirit: 19

Skills

Pugilism 14 -> 15

Bàoquán 15 -> 17

Athletics 13 -> 16

Situational Awareness 17 -> 19

Bullshit Radar 12

Martial Arts 15 -> 18

…

Not to mention that her Skills had grown massively. She’d already improved her situational awareness in the jungle, but it had grown further in the jungle. And now, it was her best Skill.

Sure, it seemed like the higher-Level Skills grew more slowly, but even so, this growth was insane, giving her all-round improvements to her abilities even though she’d just grown a few punches, with the knowledge being thrust straight into her mind.

It. Was. Nuts.

And yet, it was the world she lived in.