Starlit Dream - 1

Vance was the first to find the doors deep in the steam tunnels beneath campus. The double doors, made of white metal and engraved with an unknown starscape, stood out from the surrounding grimy walls. The sensation of mana leaking through the doors left no doubt as to their true nature: a dungeon, source of wealth, power, and death.

"What do you think of this, Jess? It's a dungeon, right?"

Jessica, the leader of the amateur diving group Vance was a part of, sighed. "Of course it's a dungeon. You don't need my [Identify] to see that."

Vance chuckled. "I dunno, the engineering department could have started their April Fools prank early or something. So what type of dungeon is it? I hope it's not another [Goblin Sewer]."

Jessica squinted and activated her skill. "The [Starlit Dream], apparently. No idea what sort of dungeon that'd make it. I've never heard of a [Dream] dungeon, much less a [Starlit] one."

Vance nodded to himself. "I bet it's got good loot though. With a name like that, I'll be there's fancy shit we could sell to New Agers. Crystals or something. What'd you think, Riley? Doesn't [Starlit Dream] sound like the kind of thing your mom would be all over?"

Riley, the third member, and the group's tank, shrugged. "Yeah, probably. But that's the Association's job, not ours. People like us shouldn't be going anywhere near an unknown dungeon."

"Aww, come on, Riley!" Vance cajoled. "Where's your spirit of adventure? Of making money? The mana flowing out of this dungeon is pretty light, I bet it's really new. And new means weak. And weak means money for us!"

Riley shook his head. "Or death for us. Just because a dungeon is new doesn't mean we'll be able to handle it. We can't even finish the 1st floor of [Goblin Sewer]."

"Okay, fine, but the [Sewer]'s been around since the Change, right? It's weak, but it's an *experienced* weak!"

Jessica held up her hands. "Okay Vance, your opinion has been noted. But I agree with Riley. We shouldn't stick out necks out into the unknown, not if we want to keep our heads."

Vance grinned. "But Jessica, think of the cash? Okay, sure, *you* don't really need it, but Riley and I are a different story! I could pay my rent! Riley could top up his top surgery fund! We could all get some actual equipment!"

Jessica and Riley grimaced and looked down at their gear. While Jessica had a proper combat knife, her armor was nearly nonexistent, and while Riley had some cheap body armor, he only had a metal bat for a weapon.

Riley groaned and glared at Vance. "Don't you talk about equipment, damn mage."

"Hey, I could buy an actual focus or something? Or I could save my back and buy a real divers backpack! Come on~"

Jessica sighed and walked up to the doors. "Fine. But we're leaving *the moment* things get bad. Got it?"

"Got it~"

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> You have entered the [Starlit Dream].

As the three college students pushed open the doors and stepped through the thin wall of mist dividing the dungeon from the rest of the world, an impossible vista opened before them. They stood on a cube of white metal, 30 feet to a side, covered in arcane diagrams and half submerged in a sea of black mud. The cube was one of many, lined up side by side, forming a floating pathway spiraling around a massive white tower, so tall it seemed to pierce the sky. The white, bark-like metal that made up the tower unraveled near the top, opening up like the branches of an alien tree, and flowing out along these branches were the fragments of a deep blue cosmos, a universe filled with stars.

Vance stared, jaw dropping in shock. "What. The. Fuck. What the fuck is this? Is this a dungeon? How the fuck is this a dungeon?? How the fuck is this *beneath* the college???"

Jessica managed to keep her jaw in place, but only barely. "I knew that dungeons could bend space somewhat, fit in where they shouldn't be able to, but... This is impossible. Is this an illusion? Are we dreaming?"

Riley stretched his eyes as wide as he could, trying to take the whole sight in at once. "Dreaming... Maybe that's what this dungeon is, a dream. A [Starlit Dream]."

Vance grinned to himself. "A dungeon in a dream, huh. I hope the loot's still around when we wake up."

Jessica sighed deeply. "Really, Van? That's all you can think about?"

"Hey, it's important!"

"You're not wrong... but... seriously... Now the moment's ruined." Jessica shook her head. "Fine, let's start the dive."

Shaking themselves awake, the three students took up formation, Jessica leading and Vance and Riley watching the flanks. Slowly and carefully, they started walking along the spiraling path, cube after cube. The first couple of cubes were empty, though there was a small cairn of snail shells on the 3rd. Jessica didn't [Identify] anything special about them, but Vance added one to his backpack anyways. It wasn't until they came across a pair of cubes, one floating like a wall next to the other, that something stopped them in their tracks.

> You have gained the [Watched] condition.

Riley shuddered and readied his bat. "Jess, you feel that? Like something's watching you?"

Jessica looked around carefully, trying to find the source of the strange feeling. "Yeah, but I can't tell where it's coming from."

She walked up to the wall cube and looking up, hoping to see something looking down at them from on top of it. "Nothing... It might be a trap? I should be able to [Identify] those, though..."

Vance quickly checked the sides of the wall cube, but couldn't find anything either. He sent a small bolt of fire down each side, but nothing reacted. "Something's inflicting the condition, but it doesn't seem like my status has changed or anything. Maybe it's just trying to freak us out?"

Jessica grimaced. "Maybe. Lets keep going. Keep an *extra* careful eye out for anything."

> You have lost the [Watched] condition.

After passing the two cubes, the sensation vanished. The three took another look around themselves before continuing on, glad the condition had passed. After passing another cairn of shells, Jessica stopped and pointed to something in the distance. A group of 3 humanoids stood on another cube, clustered around an old-fashioned lantern growing out of the metal floor. Two were armed with fishing spears, while the third has a short knife. And all three were horribly deformed, their heads like fish and their bodies covered in scales and barnacles.

Riley stepped forward, taking point. "Looks like those are our first monsters. What's the game plan, Jess?"

"They seem to be called [Starlit Fishmen]. Probably resistant to fire, so don't get cocky, Vance. Riley, try and hold their attention and hit them when you can. Vance, steal aggro when Riley looks like he's in trouble and keep away from them. I'll cut them where I can."

""Got it.""

The three walked carefully towards the [Fishmen]. Vance took aim and loosed a fire bolt, starting the battle. As Jessica surmised, the [Fishmen] seemed resistant to the bolt, but it angered them all the same, sending the three [Fishmen] charging towards the divers. Riley quickly stepped in front of Vance and knocked a spear aside with his bat, while Jessica lunged forward and left a deep cut on the knife-wielder. The battle continued in the three's favor, with Riley landing the occasional blow with his bat and Vance peppering the monsters with fire. Finally, the last [Fishman] fell, Jessica's knife filleting its neck.

Riley had received a few blows, all blocked by his body armor, though the resulting bruises left him wincing. Jessica had a pair of minor cuts, which Vance tended as soon as the battle was over. And Vance was completely untouched, much to the others' relief and annoyance.

Vance grinned, putting away his first aid supplies. "Well, that wasn't too bad! How's the loot? Did they drop anything special?"

Riley frowned. "The mage doesn't get to talk. And no, they only dropped their weapons. They worth anything, Jess?"

Jess picked up the [Starlit Fishman]'s knife. "I don't think so. But the scales and bones might be valuable. The Divers Association doesn't pay well for humanoid body parts, though, so only take a few."

Vance nodded and picked up a few scales and bones to add to his pack. "This better wash out..."

The three continued forwards, encountering another group of [Fishmen] a short while later. This battle went much like the first, though with a better idea of how the monsters moved, they took less damage. Eventually, they came across a cube with several shell cairns and a number of larger snail shells lying on their side.

Vance crouched down near one of the larger shells and peered into it. "Empty. I wonder if-"

"Vance, watch out!" Jessica leapt out to grab Vance and pull him away, but the monster lying in wait in the shell next to Vance was faster. An incredibly pale woman, body dripping with slime, lunged forward and dug its sharp nails deep into Vance's arm. Similar women emerged from three of the other large shells, ready to dig their own nails into their prey.

Jessica turned quickly, dodging one of the monster's attacks. "Riley! Rescue Vance! I'll deal with the others!"

Riley didn't need to answer, he was already bringing his bat down on the monster grabbing Vance. The strike staggered the monster, forcing it to release Vance, but it rallied and brought its nails down on Riley instead. While the monster couldn't penetrate Riley's armor, it was able to grab on and pull him to the ground. Jessica managed to dodge the first handful of strikes from the other monsters, but a bolt of iridescent energy released by one of the beings clipped her shoulder, breaking her stride and letting another monster sink its teeth into her leg. She too was dragged down to the ground, two of the monsters piling onto her.

With Riley and Jessica taken care of, the remaining monster grinned and sunk its teeth into Vance. As he struggled to stay conscious through the pain, he could just barely make out a tall woman walking up to him, singing softly. She completely ignored the monsters, and the monsters ignored her in turn, as she kneeled down next to him, reached out, and shut his eyes.

> You have gained [Illuminated (1%)].

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Eyelit sat on a branch of the alien tree, her legs swinging back and forth as she softly sung a wordless song. She looked down at a bloodstain far, far below, before staring at a small cubic prism resting in her hands. A trio of divers fought and failed to defeat a quartet of [Starlit Snail Women], all of their images distorted by iridescent light. Without stopping her song, she tilted her hands and let the prism fall down to the dungeon below.

Changing her tune, Eyelit summoned several white metal cubes and watched them drift down into the dungeon, where they joined a second spiraling pathway. She raised her voice and several white-robbed monsters rose out of the cubes, joining the monsters already present on the 2nd Layer. Closing her eyes, she fell into a deep slumber, awaiting the next dive.