In the dead of night, a boy trudged up to a set of old, rusty gates.
"Who goes there?!" shouted the sole guard sitting in front of the gates under the dim orange light of a lantern. The man wore thick leather armour and had his hand on the pommel of his sword.
Asher said, "Sir, I'm from the Adventurers' Guild. I'm on a quest to clear the sewers of monsters for deep cleaning."
The boy held up a badge for the guard to see as he stepped into the lantern-light. The badge was a bronze token with the emblem of the Adventurers' Guild on its surface.
Seeing the badge, the guard relaxed, and Asher held the badge back up to his shirt, where it magically reattached itself.
The guard said, "You're an F-ranked adventurer, kid. I know this is an F-rank dungeon, but dungeons are supposed to be tackled with a party, and wasn't the Awakening Ceremony just yesterday? Do you even know how to use your Blessing?"
"I know how to use it well enough, and between starving to death and rotting in a dungeon, I'd choose to rot." Asher unsheathed his own sword and held it pointing down. He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, a warm light poured from the blade, chasing away the darkness of the night.
The guard raised an eyebrow, "Colour me surprised. How about your armour, then? You...don't have any."
He glanced over Asher's body. All the boy was wearing was an ill-fitting cloth tunic and a pair of trousers. Hardly appropriate for someone going into a dungeon.
Asher scratched his head, "That's...uh... Well, with all due respect, sir, it's none of your business."
Chuckling, the guard brought out a key and opened the gates. "Okay, follow me."
Asher sheathed his sword and plodded along behind the guard, who led them down a paved path that nature had begun to reclaim. They trudged past bushes and shrubs and a fallen tree before they finally arrived at the entrance to the sewers of Molanda, which was a simple stone brick archway dug into a steep, earthy hillside.
<[Sewers of Molanda]>
[Dungeon Rank: F]
[A sewer abandoned and left to disrepair. These walls aren't something you can scrub clean.]
"The system's Inspect isn't all that useful," Asher commented. Everything it had told him he already knew from the Guild's quest description.
The guard said, "That's just how it is. I hear there are some Classes with special abilities that give you more details, but this is what you'll have to deal with for now. Brace yourself."
Embedded in the arched entrance was another gate. Contrary to the rest of the dungeon entry's appearance, the gate was in pristine condition. The guard fitted another key into the gate, and it swung open.
Asher retched as a gust of wind blew out of the tunnel. He turned to the armoured man, "That's disgusting!"
"Comes with the job. In you go."
Asher's frown only deepened as he passed through the gate. The air grew several times more humid as he did, and a thin film of moistness had already condensed over his neck.
"Last chance, kid. Are you sure you want to do this? You might be able to gain some experience down there, but strong adventurers don't go into a dungeon alone."
Asher didn't turn back. He was scared, but starving in his own home was scarier.
"I'm not a strong adventurer."
"That's stupid, but...suit yourself. Good luck in there. Oh, and don't forget: never let go of your sword." The gate slammed shut with a clang, and he was left alone in the dark.
Asher unsheathed his blade again and held it up in front of him with one hand. It flashed with a bright light, illuminating the tunnel in front of him. Squinting, he toned down the effects of his Blessing until the glow was around that of a blazing torch's.
At the end of the tunnel was a large room with a giant circular hole where a steep metal staircase spiralled along its walls down to the first level of the sewers.
He brightened his sword until a slight warmth radiated from it as well.
The room was relatively clean. Vines snaked across its surface and in the gaps between bricks, and the roots of a tree stuck out from one of the top corners, but otherwise, it wasn't as stained as the Adventurers' Guild's description had led him to believe.
Not too bad... For now... he thought as he descended the staircase.
The further down he went, the more the signs of the grime that had infested the sewers showed themselves. He watched as more and more muck painted the stone walls.
The mutated plants that clung to the edges of bricks and to the metal stairs practically oozed a yucky grey slime. Each of his steps came with a sickening squelch.
He reached the bottom of the stairs, and his boot was immersed in a wet layer of sludge that reached his ankles.
This smells worse than the farm, Asher thought. The first level of the sewers was a labyrinth of tunnels with raised platforms on either side overlooking mildly flooding aqueducts that allowed for refuse and moss to accumulate into a layer of slimy biomass.
Asher pointed his glowing sword at the water trickling over the buildup of waste throughout the massive aqueduct. It was murky, to say the least.
Best to stay away from that.
Suddenly, a squelch sounded out from in front of him. Asher instantly put his guard up, clutching the hilt of his sword with both hands as the light it radiated intensified.
The words spilled out of his mouth. "Wh-who's there?"
There was no response. Obviously.
Another squelch came as the carpet of grime wriggled. A part of it flipped over onto itself, then again and again until it formed into an uneven sphere.
It was a Sewer Slime.
<[Sewer Slime]>
[A slime formed in the sludge of an overwhelmed sewer. It's heavier than it seems.]
Thank you, system. Very helpful.
Thankfully, Asher's handler at the Guild had taken the time to give him a few pointers regarding some of the creatures he would likely find in this dungeon. Sewer Slimes were one of the more common ones.
Slimes formed everywhere; even more so in such a dingy, isolated place. They were essentially sized up, gelatinous cells that took on the properties of its environment, but Asher's understanding of these creatures was far more rudimentary: to kill it, break its core.
The slime spilled over itself, splaying all over the ground before reforming into a blob, picking up some of the muck on its way.
Asher approached it slowly and jabbed at it with his sword. The Sewer Slime didn't seem particularly affected, and continued its slow advance towards him, so he steeled himself and put some actual weight into his next jab.
He lunged forward and pushed down on the slime, feeling his blade penetrating the muck and hitting something inside with a crack!
Almost immediately, the Sewer Slime fell apart, turning into a pile of sludge and trash.
Asher reached inside and rummaged around till he felt something pointy and uneven. He pulled it out of the corpse and rubbed it clean. It was a rough, haphazard crystal that shone an almost imperceptibly dim grey. This was the core that animated the monster.
Can I even sell this? he thought as he pocketed the chipped slime core. Then, he looked up, and—
Well, shit.
The carpet of moist sludge was wriggling all over the place. More Sewer Slimes were forming.
Asher fought the urge to wipe the condensation accumulating under his neck.
He sighed, This...isn't going to be clean, is it?