When we finished collecting all the crystals, the entry cave was pitch black, except for my light ball, and I personally collected over fifty mana crystals. It was actually a good haul. Their size was decent, ranging from mana crystals we could get from relatively big monsters, like the furry rhinos, to some larger ones that usually came from bosses. All in all, it was a worthy endeavor, despite the general disappointment with the dungeon.

We walked out, and I stopped, mouth agape. The cave opened into a wide valley, with sharp, pointy mountains in the distance. The landscape was rough and uneven, dotted with low bushes covered in bright pink flowers. In the middle of it all stood a single tree, much larger than anything else. Its trunk was thick and twisted, and the top spread out into a wide, dense canopy of deep pink foliage. The colors stood out sharply against the dark sky and the dull ground.

But the most striking thing was the sky. It was a churning mess of thick, dark clouds, moving slowly. Bright flashes of lightning lit up the clouds. Some bolts hit the ground in the distance, but not near us. They just flickered and disappeared, as if they were trapped up there. The air felt dense and heavy, but not in a physical way. It weighed on my mind. Or, more precisely, my psyche. There was constant tension that made it almost impossible to relax, accompanied by a pervasive feeling of general disgust.

I took out my camera and snapped a few pictures.

"Why?" Mahya asked, giving me a puzzled look.

"I like the spooky look. It'll go great in my scrapbook," I said.

"You're weird even for a wizard," she said, shaking her head.

"No, I concur," Al said. "The spooky atmosphere is unique and justifies documenting."

She looked back and forth between us. "You're both weird."

image [https://i.imgur.com/irIXyWS.jpeg]

A bolt hit the ground about twenty meters from us. It was thicker than the others. When it winked out, six Jurbers stood where it had struck. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and looked again. Still Jurbers. Just to be sure I was not imagining things, I identified them.

Jurber Level 1

Jurber Level 1

Jurber Level 1…

Rue made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a scoff.

I looked at him. "Don’t scoff. I think it’s very nostalgic. Our first monster together."

He made the same noise again.

While we were traveling down memory lane, Al took out his shield, threw it like a frisbee, cut all the Jurbers in half, and caught the shield as it flew back to his hand.

Mahya tilted her head, squinting at the creatures. "What are those things?" she asked.

"Jurbers from Shimoor," I said.

She wrinkled her nose. "They look harmless. Why did you have nightmares about them?"

"I didn’t!" I said quickly. "Well... maybe the nightmare was trying to make Rue eat one of them."

Al crossed his arms. "Why would you try to make your familiar eat a monster? Nothing eats monsters, and it would have been very bad for him."

I threw up my hands. "I didn’t know that then. I didn’t even know they were monsters."

They both gave me the same pitying look, like I was some poor, lost puppy.

"Hey! It was less than a week after I started traveling. I didn’t know anything," I said.

Mahya scratched behind Rue’s ear. "I hope you didn’t eat the monster," she said gently.

Rue puffed up his chest and wagged his tail. "Rue smart good boy before Rue familiar. Rue no eat no stupid monster."

Mahya and Al nodded and said in unison, "Good."

I just shook my head in defeat.

While we were talking, the Jurbers started to dissipate. I rushed over, kicked what was left of them into a pile, and converted it into a crystal. As I bent down to pick it up, my mana sense brushed against the ground, and I stopped. There were six small mana crystals buried just beneath the soil. I pulled out a shovel without a word.

"What are you doing?" Mahya called.

"There are mana crystals buried here," I said, already digging.

I found six tiny mana crystals and pocketed them.

"A comprehensive scan of the entire area is recommended," Al said, his voice serious.

I pushed my mana sense down through my feet and started walking back and forth in zigzags, scanning the ground as thoroughly as I could. Nothing else turned up. We continued toward the tree, and a few meters before we reached it, another bolt of lightning slammed into the ground.

When it winked out, seven creatures stood where it had hit. They looked like praying mantises the size of housecats, with four arms that ended in sword-like extensions.

"Swish," Al said in a delighted tone.

Mahya and I both turned to stare at him. He was grinning from ear to ear, looking way too happy about it. But his mirth didn’t stop him; he pulled off the frisbee throw again and cut down the monsters. When I converted them into a crystal, my mana sense brushed against the ground. There were more mana crystals buried underneath. This time, I dug up seven tiny crystals, and my spidey senses tingled.

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"Why did you sound so happy?" Mahya asked. "Those things are supposed to be our nightmares."

"When I started training in sword fighting, my trainer used to catch Swish and have me fight against them to enhance my situational awareness and ability to handle multiple attacks," Al said, and smiled even wider.

"Weren’t they too small?" I asked, frowning.

"I was small too," he said.

"I found seven crystals this time," I said. "I think every time monsters are created with lightning, the same number of crystals appear underneath them."

"Cool," Mahya said, nodding.

"Lis had an expression about getting extra benefits," Al said, tapping his chin. "What was it?"

I thought for a second. "Two birds with one stone?"

"No."

"Have your cake and eat it too?"

"No."

"Two for the price of one?"

"No."

"Double dipping?"

Al pointed at me. "That one. I enjoy double dipping."

The next "nightmare" showed up a few minutes later: eight rodents about the size of rats, with floppy dog-like ears and no tails. Mahya shuddered.

"Your nightmare?" I asked, glancing at her.

She nodded stiffly. "Those are Grund. One of them bit me when I was little."

Al’s frisbee throw was great, and we got eight tiny crystals this time, proving my suspicion.

The next "nightmare" was more problematic. It was nine seagulls. Regular seagulls from Earth.

Rue growled, and the seagulls took off, flying away without a fight. We exchanged glances and shrugged. Sure enough, there were nine tiny crystals left behind.

"Why do you think seagulls are nightmares?" I asked Rue.

"Rue never catch annoying birds. Rue very annoyed!" he grumbled.

Mahya and Al burst out laughing.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"You say he spends too much time with me because he curses now," Mahya said, wiping a tear from her eye. "He spends too much time with you, too!" She pointed at me. "He learned to be annoyed from you."

The last nightmare was the strangest. Two Jurbers, two Swish, three Grund, and three seagulls.

The seagulls flew away immediately, and the monsters turned on each other. Mahya stomped on the last Jurber left standing. Instead of dissipating, its body turned into motes of light and coalesced into a wooden staff.

"When I traveled in Shimoor, I used a staff to fight Jurbers. You think we got the staff because of that, or it’s just a regular prize?" I asked.

Mahya shrugged. Al shook his head.

I inspected the staff and left it there. It was the worst staff I have ever held in my hands. Cheap and brittle wood with weak reinforcement. In my estimate, it would have survived one or two hits at most.

The valley ended suddenly with a demarcation line that led into a new area. The new section was covered with grass, and there were no spooky clouds or lightning in the sky. There was also no sun, but it was lit enough. Maybe like late afternoon.

Mahya glanced around, then pointed toward the cliffs. "Before we continue, we should gather resources," she said. "John, go check the cliffs up there, see if they contain any ore. I’ll go get the tree."

I headed for the cliffs. They had nothing useful, just a lot of rocks and loose dirt. By the time I got back, all the pink bushes were gone, and so was the tree. I expected to see a tree stump where it had been, but instead, there was a deep hole.

I blinked at it, then looked at Mahya. "Did you dig it up?"

Mahya wiped some dirt off her hands and nodded.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "If we figure out how to build that pastoral lakeside village you’re dreaming of, the tree would look great there."

When we crossed onto the grassy field, Al waved around and said, "This is the safe zone. Do we wish to rest or continue?"

"Continue," Mahya and I said together. Rue was busy sniffing around.

After about ten meters, the demarcation line of the next area appeared. Looking back, I couldn't see the area we came from, only the grass.

"Wait a minute," I said and went to investigate.

Standing at the other edge of the safe zone, I could see the area we came from, but when I tried to take a step forward, I couldn't. It was strange. There wasn't a force field or even a pane of glass that stopped me. I just couldn't step forward. I tried touching it, but didn't feel anything stopping my hand. It simply couldn't pass after a certain line. Shaking my head at the dungeon shenanigans, I rejoined the group.

Al looked at me with his eyebrow up in question. I shook my head.

The next area was completely different. The ground turned reddish, packed with loose rocks and patches of grass. A rough path, barely more than a set of uneven steps, wound its way between thick, leafy plants and skinny trees with fuzzy green tops that looked like someone had trimmed them into weird shapes. In the distance, between the greenery, were a few small wooden pavilions with curved roofs, half-hidden by the overgrowth.

Above, the sky stayed dark and churning. A massive bolt of lightning cracked down behind a steep hill in the distance, lighting up the clouds in a harsh, purple-white flash. The bolt didn’t touch the ground directly, just split and spread through the sky like veins.

The oppressive and unpleasant feelings from the last valley intensified, sharpening into something more unsettling. I started to suspect that the difficulty of this dungeon wasn't in the monsters, but in the way it made me feel. I even cast a couple of Clean spells on myself, but it didn't help. The feeling of being dirty wasn't physical, but mental.

"Well," I said, glancing at the others, "this looks cozy."

"So of course you’ll want to take a picture," Mahya said.

I nodded solemnly and, copying Rue’s tone, said, "Mahya is very smart."

image [https://i.imgur.com/r6b1KAj.jpeg]

The lightning struck right before the steps, and six frogs with sticky tongues from Shimoor were left in its wake. I forgot their name and was about to identify them, but Al beat me to it, repeating his shield-frisbee trick. This time, it didn’t go the way he thought.

All the frogs shot out their tongues at once, sticking to the shield. I had no idea what their plan was, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t going the way they intended either. The shield dropped right on top of them, pinning them flat to the ground. Mahya jumped onto the shield, squishing the frogs underneath.

Disappointment all around. At least we got one medium-small crystal from the frog pile and six tiny ones from the ground.

Al’s nightmare was still the Swish, but now they were bigger, about the size of an average dog. He still smiled widely when he cut them in half with his shield. I started calling the dungeon "therapy by extermination" in my mind.

Mahya’s nightmare was a group of green creatures resembling a cross between miniature crocodiles and birds.

She also smiled wide when she saw them, pointed a warning finger at Al, and said, "Don’t frisbee-shield them," before rushing forward with her sword. With one clean sweep, she decapitated all eight of them.

I blinked. "What was that about?"

Mahya wiped her blade on the grass, grinning. "My first dungeon. The little fuckers bit me more than once. I really needed to show them who’s boss."

Rue’s nightmare was still the seagulls, and like before, they flew away without even trying to steal food.

"I wonder what’ll happen to the birds," I said, watching them disappear into the dark sky.

"They’ll stop existing when we clear the instance," Mahya said with a shrug.

The last batch was another mix. This time, the seagulls weren’t as lucky. One managed to escape, but the other two got caught by the frogs' sticky tongues. That turned out to be a bad move. The Swish cut the frogs to pieces, and then the croco-birds tore the Swish to shreds. Mahya decapitated the last croco-bird, still smiling widely with a dangerous spark in her eyes.

We got another staff for our trouble. I picked it up, gave it a quick once-over, and dropped it back on the ground. "Still crap," I said.

We left it without a second thought and got to gathering resources. It took longer than I expected. Al was practically glowing as he inspected the plants, muttering to himself about fiber strength and potion bases. Mahya got out a shovel and began digging up a tree.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Diversifying our future lakeside grove.”

I frowned, glancing at the fuzzy-topped trees. "I don’t know. I kind of wanted the lakeside place to feel peaceful, not like a dungeon threw up in it."

"Think about it," she said, bouncing on her heels, and giving me the puppy dog eyes she learned from Rue. "A diverse environment! Something nobody’s ever seen before!"

I sighed. "Fine. Two trees. No more."

She whooped in victory and started digging faster.

Al chuckled under his breath. "At least it will be a unique habitat."

"Yeah," I said, watching Mahya practically wrestling a tree out of the ground. "That’s what I’m worried about."

This really was one hell of a strange dungeon.