18 Chapter 17: Rendezvous at the Gate

"So, what now?" Luca asked, looking towards his new teammates for guidance. The last thing Luca wanted to do was a repeat of the march through town to reach the gateways that lead to the other dungeon floors. Yesterday's memory of the hostile elves pelting him and the group with rocks was fresh in his mind. He didn't want a repeat.

Tatiana looked at Luca without saying anything before she turned and looked at 2Face. With a slight nod of her head, 2Face stood up and reached into the pocket of his uniform and pulled out a heavy-looking, though basic steel maul. Cradling the weapon gently, almost reverently, 2Face walked over to Luca and handed it to the newest member of their party.

Holding the maul in his hand, Luca could only look with shock on his face wondering how the impossible had happened. He really just pulled this massive thing out of his pocket. Where did he even keep it? Luca examined the maul, wondering what the trick behind the magic was.

Seeing the look of shock on his face, the entire team starting to laugh at Luca's expense. The healer known as Mother took a little pity on Luca, turning to him when the laughing stopped in explanation. "It's part of the magic of this place. Every pocket is a spacial pocket. Any pocket you have basically connects to as far as we can tell, an infinitely large personal inventory. All you have to do is think about what you want and reach in and grab it. The magic does the rest. Its one of the few things I like about this place."

"That makes sense to me, but what am I supposed to do with this?" Asked Luca, holding the heavy maul with both his hands. He was surprised that even though it felt like solid steel, it was noticeably lighter then he had expected, carrying it would be easy.

"You swing it obviously. What else would you do with it? It's close enough to a bat or a club that you should be able to use it without hurting any of us seriously until we get a chance to train you up. This breaks our stand operating procedures, but its not my call." Replied Mother to Luca as 2Face and Steel looked at each other, sharing a knowing smirk at the rookie's expense.

"That's enough, you guys. Leave the noobie alone." Interrupted Tatiana, slamming her hands down on the table. "Listen, Luca, can you swing that? If you can, show me."

Luca grabbed the maul with his hands, holding it like they had heavily hinted, holding it like a baseball bat. His dominant right hand positioned about a quarter of the way up the handle and his off-hand just above the base. Luca easily hefted it through the air, swinging it in a forward motion, sliding his dominant hand downwards to further propel the force. Too late, he realized he couldn't stop it and smashed the maul into the floor.

The maul's head hit the floor with a loud noise. Breaking through the wooden planks that held it together, leaving a small jagged hole of splintered wood on the floor and a small crater underneath that. Every single person in the room turned to look at him with varying degrees of annoyance, irritation, and malicious joy. 2Face began to do another slow clap, a mocking grin on his face as one by one every single other person in the room joined in. Embarrassed by the attention, Luca didn't know how to respond, his fair skin turning a bright shade of red in embarrassment.

"Jesus, kid, you sure love making trouble." Said Tatiana shaking her head in disbelief as she examined the hole. as she turned to the crowd and motioned for them to settle down. "Just what exactly is your strength at anyways? That was almost impressive."

Luca hesitated, wanting to check to make sure before answering. "Status," He said as the prompt flashed before his eyes.

Name

Luca Fernandez

Race

Nephilim

Aliases

None

Class

Angel

of Death

Passives

None

Abilities

Summon Nightmare (1-1000)

Level

Current Unassigned Stat Points

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0

1 of 999

Current Experience

0 of 35

STR

10

INT

10

AGI

10

WIS

10

LCK

10

PHY

2*

END

10

PER

10

SOL

*$0000

With a motion of his hand, Luca dismissed the prompt and answered. "My strengths at 10."

Steel looked at him in disbelief as she narrowed her eyes in jealously. "There's no way your strength is at 10 if you're new. What's your level say? What about your PHY score, you know, physique?"

Luca responded bashfully, uncomfortable with the sudden attention on him, not wanting to be examined or treated differently by those around him, but knowing there was no use fighting it. It was something he was used to. "It says my level is 1 of 999, and my PHY is at 2."

"Jesus, man." Said Mother, "Maybe you should be our tank then and replace Steel. That puts you at an effective strength of 20. That's amazing. With your strength being boosted like it is, that makes you about as strong right now as a level ten. Might not seem like much, but not many here in the Dungeon live long enough to hit 10."

His face heavy with envy and pettiness, 2Face interrupted them to ask, "What's your total stats at noobie? I'm level 31, and my total stats are at 62."

Luca realized that he had made a mistake in sharing his states so freely. Whether he wanted to or not, he was going to be treated differently and like an anomaly. If his PHY score basically doubled his physical stats, then Luca realized he was about as strong as 2Face already was at level 31 and then had more after that. There would be repercussions. He needed to expect that. People didn't like being challenged, and if they didn't think they could fight him, the repercussions would come in different, harder to detect forms.

There were times when Luca struggled to know what to do. This wasn't the time for doubt. The response to the question was easy enough. With only one real answer, Luca lied. "Only my strength is at 10. Everything else is set to 1." Most of the team relaxed visibly when they heard this, the budding resentment already fading, though 2Face remained agitated. Something about the situation not sitting well with him.

"That's enough chit chat. Somebody will be by soon enough to fix this floor, but let me tell you, rookie, the cost of the repairs is coming out of your shares today and that's if you get any. They're not exactly free with the money around here and the Dungeon doesn't pay well." Chastised Tatiana as she made hand movements for the group to finish up. "At the least, it looks like you can swing the hammer well enough to kill something.

"Mother, go ahead and head on downstairs and open the portal or save a spot if there is a weight." Ordered Tatiana as she grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck and directed him towards the stairs. "As for the rest of you, once we get to the other side of the portal, be prepared for a fight as soon as we land."

"Um… is mother going to link back up with us?" Asked Luca, bewildered, wondering why the man wasn't headed out the door towards the central plaza. "

"Of course he is, don't be stupid." Replied Steel. "He's just going downstairs to the guild gate. Belonging to a guild has its perks. One of those is having a gate right here in the building for us to use.

Tatiana cleared her throat, impatient, and getting irritated that her team hadn't started moving already. "We are heading out. The order will be Steel, Luca, 2Face, Me, and then Mother."

With no further fanfare and without delay, they went down the flight of stairs, leading directly towards a sealed room where Mother was waiting, haggling with however the gatekeeper was. "We can go through at any time." He announced.