Dungeon Tour Guide: A LitRPG Adventure

Dungeon Tour Guide A LitRPG Adventure Aaron Shih Copyright © 2023 by Aaron Shih All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. Contents 1. Chapter 1 2. Chapter 2 3. Chapter 3 4. Chapter 4 5. Chapter 5 6. Chapter 6 7. Chapter 7 8. Chapter 8 9. Chapter 9 10. Chapter 10 11. Chapter 11 12. Chapter 12 13. Chapter 13 14. Chapter 14 15. Chapter 15 16. Chapter 16 17. Chapter 17 18. Chapter 18 19. Chapter 19 20. Chapter 20 21. Chapter 21 22. Chapter 22 23. Chapter 23 24. Chapter 24 25. Chapter 25 26. Chapter 26 27. Chapter 27 28. Chapter 28 29. Chapter 29 30. Chapter 30 31. Chapter 31 32. Chapter 32 33. Chapter 33 34. Chapter 34 35. Chapter 35 36. Chapter 36 37. Chapter 37 38. Chapter 38 39. Chapter 39 40. Chapter 40 41. Chapter 41 42. Chapter 42 43. Chapter 43 44. Chapter 44 45. Chapter 45 46. Chapter 46 47. Chapter 47 (Interlude - Minus One) 48. Chapter 48 49. Chapter 49 50. Chapter 50 51. Chapter 51 52. Chapter 52 53. Chapter 53 54. Chapter 54 55. Chapter 55 56. Chapter 56 57. Chapter 57 58. Chapter 58 59. Chapter 59 Thank you for reading! Chapter 1 [Warning: Dungeon Core overloaded.] That wasn’t good. The entrance was sealed, and the core was glowing bright white. I was pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen. [Critical core failure in ??? seconds.] This was only my second dungeon outing! It wasn’t fair. I only just got started. Why was I going to die now? “Hey, Lucas, are we going to be okay?” I turned my attention towards the voice. Right. It wasn’t just my life on the line here. I’d somehow managed to land the only set of adventurers in the entire Guild that had less experience than me. “You’re going to be alright, kid.” I wasn’t sure if I believed my own words, but the boy wielding a sword too large for his size clearly did; he calmed visibly. This dungeon was supposed to be an easy one. The call had been for new adventurers only, and it had turned out to be brutally wrong. Even with my remarkable proficiency in healing magic, it had taken everything I’d had to keep us alive. And it had been exhilarating. As much as it should have been utterly terrifying, I’d found it fun to push myself to my limits, to manage my healing and keep each and every one of my teammates alive. My team… wasn’t the best. They were all teenagers like me, but I was pretty sure we differed in that they hadn’t been born on Earth, raised on too many MMORPGs, and then ultimately sent to be respawned in a fantasy world. There were two boys and one girl, and all three of them were on their first adventure. A [Wizard], a [Swordsman], and a [Flame Knight], respectively. I could see their potential, but it had taken multiple life-or-death situations for them to actually unlock any of it. We’d managed to get a good rhythm going by the end of the dungeon, even taking down the [Cave Troll] that we were definitely underleveled for. After that, though… [Critical core failure imminent.] “Dungeons don’t usually do this, right?” K’lon asked. The [Swordsman] who still wasn’t quite used to his sword. The cave entrance had fallen in behind us after we’d slain the dungeon’s boss, and no exit had opened. “They don’t,” Ashley replied. Our [Flame Knight] who had finally managed to get over her fear of fire halfway through the dungeon. “The Guild never mentioned anything about this, at least.” The Dungeon Core was growing increasingly bright, now almost painful to look at. A glance back revealed that no, the boulders blocking the only exit had not moved. “I’m scared,” Thorn said. As the party’s [Wizard], he’d been the one with the most expertise coming in. “It’s going to be alright,” I lied. Rounding us out, I was the [Healer]. One that was far too good at my job for someone who was only level 2. We hadn’t even gotten the experience that clearing a dungeon would normally net us. There were many things wrong here, and nobody knew how to sort this situation out, least of all me. The spherical Dungeon Core was glowing even brighter now. [Core integrity failing.] Fuck. I didn’t even have a mage-type class, but even I could sense the mana spiking from that thing. What was there that could be done? It sounded like this thing was going to explode. We didn’t have any methods to deal with it. A thought formed in the back of my mind. A stupid, useless idea that was practically guaranteed to do nothing and get me killed, but I couldn’t shake it. “Hey,” I said, stepping towards the painfully bright core. “It was a fun dungeon, right?” “Yeah!” Ashley said, her characteristic enthusiasm holding even in this situation. “It definitely was.” “Find another [Healer] for me, will you?” I asked. As I stepped closer, I could feel how dense the mana was, making the air thicker and thicker the nearer I was to the core. “What… what are you doing?” Thorn asked. I don’t know. “I’m doing my job.” Why was I doing this? I had gotten a second chance to live my life, and here I was throwing it away. Still, looking at those three lost souls trying to find their place in the world… it seemed familiar. It was like a mirror through time, a reminder of who I’d been in the past. I’ll be there for you. I hadn’t made it through those dark times myself. People had made sacrifices for me. They’d been there for me when I hadn’t had the power to lift myself out of the holes I’d dug