Richard groaned as he rolled over. The light spilling in from the window told him that it was morning. And that it was time to get up. But he still felt like staying in bed. Since he didn’t have to be anywhere it didn’t matter if he slept in. Though if he spent too much time in bed his head would start to hurt. So there was a fine balance of enough sleep and too much.

  His brown hair was short and messy. And his blue eyes blinked in the harsh morning light. “Funemployment problems,” he said aloud. Even though he lived alone. No spouse or pets. Or plants. Fragile forever dying things.

  Eventually he pulled himself from bed and looked out the light streaming in from the window. One of the reasons that he left the blinds open was to force him awake. He would otherwise spend all day in bed, reading or watching tv. And while that was always enticing, it also meant that he wouldn’t get anything productive done.

  Which would be bad since he had hobbies to… ignore. His living room/bedroom was scattered with half hearted attempts at trying to wile the time away. The box of minis and paints that lasted only a couple of weeks. The bookcase that filled the entire length of the was held all sorts of books from several different genres. At first fantasy, then sci fi, then mystery, cozy, whodunits, howdunits, thrillers, into nonfiction, school textbooks, philosophy. There also was a section of spicy romance hidden under the philosophy books. Most recently he had added how-tos on dungeon delving. Something that had become safer in recent years and more were opting as a career path.

  Richard stood and walked into the kitchen where a number of carboys were bubbling away with wine and beer. If he had known how long it would take for them to finish he wouldn't have bothered with making beer and wine in the first place. Too much work cleaning and fussing about just to wait for weeks or months for an okay product.

  He found his phone amongst the books that littered the kitchen table and completed his morning ritual, one of many. “Bank balance is getting kind of light,” he said. “Probably need to look for work again… though I don’t really want to.” Everything was either just plain boring, or required him to kiss up to some zoomer who acted like they were boomers. High on power and micromanaging people who would be better off if they were just left alone.

  A yawn took the better part of a minute before it finally settled down. Richard knew that he could continue to coast for a while longer. But also knew himself well enough that would just make it harder in the long run. There was always Universal Basic Income, but from some reason UBs were always looked down on. Slave of the government. Lazy scum. Getting by without producing anything worthwhile. And so on. Which meant that when he dipped into it in the past he just never told anyone.

  He still had enough for 4 or so months, but that was his emergency fund. Something that his Dad always told him to have. Something to prepare for the lean times and give him some stress free months while he looked for a job. While it was sound advice at one point the job market just didn’t favor people. Staying in a job for a long time would be a dream, albeit a boring one. But corps would usually only have heads on the payroll long enough for the government grants and then roll them out the door.

  Richard smacked his cheeks to center his thoughts. They ran the risk of running away from him otherwise. He needed a way to get out of the house, it would do him some good. And he had been eyeing a way to do both that, and also get himself a little bit of income at the same time. He stuffed his mouth with some nutri-toast, grabbed a shower, and left the apartment for the first time in what felt like weeks.

  ***

  One of the reasons that Richard had picked dungeon exploration instead of a traditional job was the ease of access. For a job he would need to find something he would like to do or try, write a resume, hope to be contacted back, get through the interview, start the job, learn to deal with the people, and hope that he makes it past 6 months for the probationary cutoff. To explore the dungeon all he needed to do was write and pass an exam that he had already been studying for. Register for the ID card tied to his magical signatures, whatever that meant. And then get some rental equipment and he was off and already making money. Though the $10k rental costs had already put him in the red…

  The first floor of the dungeon Richard had picked was an easy one. Only slimes appeared, and from what others had commented, on the DungeonClues social, they wouldn’t hit too hard. There was also none of that attaching to your face and trying to suffocate you. They would just try to use the plain old physical violence of the bludgeoning kind.

  And speaking of bludgeoning, Richard had opted for a club, the cheapest option, to deal his own type of violence. Swords or daggers were also rented out. But slimes tended to stain anything their internal juices spilled on. Which would be a nightmare for anyone by the most determined homemaker to remove. And also they dinged rentals at most $1.5k depending on how dirty they were when they were returned…

  As Richard walked down the stairs and through the entrance tunnel he let out a small gasp at the sight.

  It was also the closest of the “safe” dungeons and was located in the old downtown. The dungeon had manifested in the basement of a highrise. And what had once been premium real estate was destroyed during the dungeon break. All that was left of the building had been cleared away so that the Dungeon Center could be built on top.

  The Dungeon Center was a one floor box with a single entrance. Tinted glass covered the wall of the exit, otherwise it was all the gray color of carbon nanotubes. Reinforced to hold the monsters in place for as long as possible should a break occur. How it looked could be summed up in one word, tasteless.

  Everything around the Dungeon Center was rubble or the remains of the once historic downtown. A lot of the rubble had been cleared up, but given the proximity to an active dungeon the land had largely been left abandoned or otherwise fixed up enough just to be usable.

  Richard had always felt that it was a shame to see so much mindless destruction. When the New Downtown was built they had tried to replicate the charm that the city once had. But something was missing. It was artificial and planned. Not haphazardly put together like the old one. The buildings were all of the same flavor, and not a testament to the time. The old downtown was cobbled together as buildings were needed. Maybe if he had enough success in the dungeon would he be able to buy some of the old buildings?

  Richard slapped himself on his cheeks again. He was getting distracted. And while that meant nothing outside of the dungeon. Getting lost in his thoughts there at the entrance or even deeper inside would lead to more trouble than some zoomer yelling at him about the reports not being done yet.

  What had caused him to gasp was that the first floor of the dungeon looked like it was outside. There were high blue skies, endless plains with tall green grass as far as the eye could see. He looked at the entrance that he had just walked out of and found that it was a ruined building. It appeared somewhat out of place, but even more so there was no way that the tunnel could exist. The back of the building was only several meters away, but he had walked deeper and farther than that. Was there some sort of teleportation going? Or maybe some temporal stretching of time and space? One day someone might discover how they worked. But it most likely wouldn't be Richard. It would be nice to read about it though.

  He checked his equipment like he had been taught, confirming that his nanocarb buckler was in place, free with the rental of a weapon and armor. Richard twisted his torso and pulled at the nanocarb leather chestplate, $7k rental, so that it wouldn't pinch or otherwise encumber him during combat. Then he grabbed his nanocarb club, $3k rental, in hand and squeezed it tightly. Testing the heft and taking a few practice swings. Instead of a backpack he had elected for a satchel that he hoped would stay out of his way. And with the check completed it was time to find some slimes to unalive.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It didn’t take long before Richard encountered his first foe. A mighty Blue Slime. It smudged along the ground dissolving anything under it when it stopped moving. There was a trail behind it where the grass was parted or missing. He stepped forward slowly and once in melee range rose his club up high and then slammed it downwards.

  There was a thub as the club impacted the slime and Richard felt the feedback rumble up his arm to his shoulder. The slime sat there for a second and jiggled before it finally deflated. “There should have been a drop?” he said aloud and continued watching the now dead slime. After a moment it faded away in a fizzle of light and sound. In its place was a small round blue stone.

  Richard was suddenly affected by a sharp pain that started in his eyes and then shot into his brain before disappearing. “I expected it to be better,” he said and blinked his eyes and tapped his temple. The pain was only an instant, but it still would have spooked him if he didn’t know that it was coming. The system installation as it was called on DungeonClues.

  Once his vision fully cleared he found a blue window sitting in the air in front of him.

  Welcome to the System Richard!

  Congratulations on slaying your first monster.

  Status has been unlocked.

  Richard waved the window away and spoke, “Status.” And a new window appeared in front of him.

  ~Status~

  Richard

  Level: 1

  Skills: None

  Strength: 10

  Endurance: 10

  Magic: 10

  Wisdom: 10

  From what he read in the DungeonClue wiki there were 4 stats, grouped into physical and magic categories. There was one for attack, while the other was for defense. 10 was the standard level for humans. “Nothing much to look at huh?” he said aloud and waved his hand to close his status.

  He bent over and picked up the blue stone and the System Identification window appeared. It was another kind of blue window that informed the explorer what drops were. In this case the blue slime that he had killed had dropped a Blue Slime Core. Which made sense considering where it came from.

  With the System Installation out of the way Richard continued to hunt slimes and called it a day after about 4 hours. Sure going into the dungeon was supposed to replace a job. But it was dangerous, even if everything was known about the place. Even if it was labelled “safe”. Going for longer than what he was used to wasn’t a good idea.

  Plus half days are the privilege of the self employed.

  The cores that Richard had collected scattered into the tray provided by the dungeon center staff. “Woah! That is a fair bit for a first timer,” Mark said. He was the one that helped Ricard that morning to register as an explorer. “Let me tally them up, umm, so $1.5k for each core, less the taxes will get you $11,250 for 10 cores.”

  “Ugh,” Richard said and looked down at the cores. He had been hoping to at least make part time job money. Well, adding it up it kind of was part time money. Given that he had put in a half day. $1,250 after equipment rental wasn’t too bad. “that 25% tax is killer. I don’t suppose that the secondary markets would be better?”

  Mark gave Richard an odd smile. “It would probably be the same. Even if you want to take them outside you still have to pay the 25% tax. If you are caught smuggling then the fines will be even steeper. All drops that you sell or remove from the dungeon are logged to your Dungeon ID.”

  “Government wants their cut. Always,” Richard said and shook his head. The taxes probably went to UBI. Which was a good thing given that many hadn’t been able to adapt to the dungeons appearing in the world. Or the breaks that happened right after. So many people and jobs disappeared all at once. “So I’d be out $375 each just to take one of these home? Is there even a use for them? I mean. I kind of assume that there is since you’re buying them. But what for?”

  “Crafting and the like. I’m not sure what else really. Maybe power generation? Though that is usually done with the magic cores that appear in higher level monsters. Slime cores are somewhat looked down upon as not really worth farming. Though sometimes we’ll get big buy orders for them. Off the record though on that last point,” Mark said and placed the side of his index finger over his lips.

  “I see. Given that the center probably sells them for more than they buy them. Anyone needing them would be better off just going and getting the cores themselves.”

  Mark shrugged. “We usually only get newbies nowadays. It’s been like that since the dungeon was fully explored. Though lowly desk clerks like me aren’t privy as to why that happens. At least it means that some people who aren’t willing to fight for their lives for a living can at least somewhat provide.”

  “Other than being UBs right?”

  “It’s there because it’s needed right? I’ve seen it done good and bad,” Mark said and shrugged.

  “Right, anyway, thanks a lot for your help today Mark. I’ll be back probably each day for the time being.” He would need to. Covering rent would take around 24 half days of work. And then there was food and the subscriptions that he needed to stay alive.

  “Remember to take a break some days. Just because they are slimes doesn’t mean that people don't go missing in the dungeon from time to time. No one knows what really happens, as remains… disappear quickly.”

  Richard missed what Mark had said there at the end. But he figured if it was important he would catch it next time.

  ***

  Richard looked at his bank balance that was $1,250 richer. It would be great if killing slimes made more money. But he supposed that since almost anyone could kill slimes since they opened the dungeons it sort of made sense that the demand for the core drops wasn’t that high. If there was a large demand for them, then the explorers wouldn’t have any reason to go deeper. Which would probably be bad considering the belief that dungeons needed to be cleared out.

  He sent a message to his Mother in order to keep her in the know, “I’ve started working again. Don’t know how long it will last.”

  “Alright son, I just hope that you remain safe is all. What kind of job is it?”

  “It should be fine. No problems after the first day.”

  “What does that mean? Is it not safe? What kind of job is it?”

  Richard sighed. Usually she wouldn't ask a second time if he didn't answer. But given that it’s about his safety she had someone honed in on the job being dangerous. “I’m just part-time exploring. Just the first level for now.”

  “Richard! That's dangerous! Please don’t do it. Just go on ubi if you need money. That’s what it’s there for.” UBI was something that his Mother had been on before she retired. While she found it great…

  “I don’t want to use it if I don't have to. It’s there for those that really need it.” She left him on read and didn’t respond. Did she read too deeply into his last message? Richard sighed and put his phone down and looked around his apartment to find something else. Anything really. That would take his mind off of his Mother turning his words around. There were still some bottles left from the last batch of cream ale that he had made. He grabbed one and went out onto the balcony to feel the night air.

  The building he lived in was a newer build, built after the dungeons appeared. It was over designed and engineered to both survive any dungeon quakes as well as become a stronghold in the event of a dungeon break. But it was all square and hard lines. No charm. And unpleasant to look at. Just functional to the point of ignoring form.

  And given the nature of high rise apartment housing, it’s all that he could see from his balcony. There was little wind and the air was stagnant even outside. The beer went down fast, and he soon found another in his hands.