Mistakes Were Made

Map Unlocked

 

It happened while he was sitting in his room contemplating buying a drone, covering himself in PPE, and driving it under the door to the basement. Would looking through the keyhole count as exploring or seeing what’s in the basement? Were there systems there that Back Agumon could explore?

The gains were important. He couldn’t get stronger without them, and he would die to something dumb like a goblin. Red wasn’t going to die to a freaking goblin. He took a deep, hagged breath and let it out slowly. He felt better.

Maybe he needed a nice pushup challenge. That was getting him pumped, and a little exercise would get his mind working in the background. It was what he needed to move forward. Red clapped his hands and jumped on the floor.

The old carpet smelled like dust, but that didn’t stop him. Red threw himself into exercise and watched his stamina points tick down slowly. It was something he would have to work on. Then a thought occurred to him: Maybe there were other quests he could complete that didn’t risk being kicked out without a penny in his name.

“N2, is there a quest for working out?”

 

If you want, I can give you chores.

Daily Tasks

1. 100 Pushups

Reward: +1STR/REF

2. 100 squats

Reward: +1 STR/REF

3. 10km run

Reward: +1: END/BDY

4. Explore A dungeon

Reward +1INS/SNS

5. Level or Tame A Monster

Reward: +1 MST/RCT

 

“I don’t want to ask, but I would be a fool not to. Are there any penalties for not doing them?”

 

The world already has punishments for laziness. It is inefficient to waste effort creating tailor-made punishments for tasks you want.

 

Red continued with his pushups, now with a counter that dinged with everyone done with beautiful form until finally he hit the goal.

He felt it. His muscles expanded, and he could feel that they would fire a little faster. Red jabbed the air as the burning in his arms cooled down. Making gains already was a great feeling. Ten free attribute points were the equivalent of over two level-ups.

N2 mentioned a dungeon. He held off on going for it because there was another part of his daily task he had to do. After resting for a few minutes, his stamina had filled back from 82 to 85. That was good to know. Red’s stamina was refilled with rest. He drank some water from his bag and watched it finish its journey to 94, where it wouldn’t increase further.

That was concerning, but he didn’t ask Red if he could guess it well enough. He was fatigued from exercising. Red couldn’t abuse his body to extreme rest and expected to be good enough to continue abusing it in a few minutes without consequences. He needed actual rest, like sleep.

It was better to know while he was safe in his room instead of out and about, where monsters could drag him off to be devoured or whatever else went on in this place.

He did his squats and enjoyed the sensation of further increasing his attributes. They were a bit easier after gaining the attributes from his last reward. Did that mean more attributes decreased his stamina cost?

A higher upper limit could mean that he used less stamina overall. Someone used to walking around with 300 lbs would feel light walking with 150 lbs.

The 10-kilometer run still sounded scary as hell. It would also take him away from his current quest. What’s in the basement wasn’t going anywhere, hopefully.   

Red walked downstairs to his uncle Gin's kitchen, where he was marinating the steaks. It was still a few hours before they would eat, so maybe he had time.

“Hey, Uncle, I’m going out for a quick run to find my way around the neighborhood,” Red said.

“Call me if you bring home the red-headed neighbor girl. I wouldn’t mind an inn with her mother.”

“Who?” Red asked.

“A sweet thing named Rias Gremory, her mother is an executive on the board of Virocorp. She used to go to school in Japan. I can't guess why she returned from Anime Mecca to attend college here.” Gin puffed on vape. “Well, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do?”

He stepped out the door and ran, following the minimap, toward a place exactly 10 kilometers away, somewhat into the woods labeled dungeon. People with their pets stared at him strangely as he walked down sidewalks and over a bridge to his location. He mostly paid attention to the map, hardly paying attention to where he was going.

Red only saw a tire before a blonde girl with striking green eyes slammed into his chest while her bicycle smashed into his crotch, sending them both over. Pain throbbed between his legs, progressively growing worse, while the blonde, almost silver-haired girl looked down at him with striking amber, nearly red eyes.

“What is your chest made of brick?”

“I’m Red, pretty lady. You can call me Red Brick.”

“Moka Akashiya, are you hurt?”

The spots he was seeing started clearing and the girl was suddenly less of a blurry blonde circle and more of a Japanese model. He couldn’t help but look at the roots, and they were real. She was a Japanese person with real blonde, almost silver hair. Then it clicked into place. Moka Akashiya, of course, would hit a story beat from the original world.

“Why are you heading to the old hunting lodge?” Moka asked.

Red raised an eyebrow.

“I’m new here. Please pretend I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Fair enough, I’m a reporter for the Hollofield news. There have been sightings of things in the woods at night.” Red crossed his arms. “Hey, I’m not waiting there alone. My cameraman, John Aono, and Hank Jackson are there. He’s a local who just returned from being overseas. Oh, and then there is the intern Yukari Sendo, who didn’t want to change her name to make things easier, and my friend and Twitch superstar Jasmine Kurono.”

“Why aren’t you driving?” Red asked.

“I didn’t want to leave them stranded.”

“No, someone could abduct you.”

“Really,” Red closed his eyes and tried hard to keep from shaking the woman.

“Quiet, not that it isn’t nice, but why are you still on top of me?” Red asked.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She pushed herself up, giving him a quick flash of her panties. The camel toe was impressive. Moka also didn’t have a scratch on her.

Red got to his feet and dusted himself off. Moka stared at him a little too much, and he could have sworn her eyes were growing redder by the beat of his heart.

“To answer your earlier question. I found a landmark on my map app 10 kilometers away for my run. Having a goal in mind helps me focus.” Red said.

“Oh, wow. You should be careful, as running at predetermined times for long distances can attract the attention of predators. Mountain lions are in the area, and they went someone a year ago.” Moka stared at his neck and bit her bottom lip.

He was prepared to bring Black Agumon out of stasis and burn her.

“Do you want me to carry you on my back then?” Red asked.

“What?”

“Maybe having us appear as one animal to them will scare them away,” Red said.

“Nice save. I’ll think about it if my bike fails me.”

She rode off, and he couldn’t help but watch her skirt ride up a little as she pedaled her bike. There wasn’t an observer, but he was sure she was a vampire. Was it natural for her to be born a vampire, or did something happen? Either way, she had a nice ass.

Red continued his run, ending at the cabin where there was no sign of her friends. Did she lie, or were they not around? He checked the map before suddenly feeling like his bones were vibrating. His heart raced, sweat poured down his face, and it was over.

His fatigue wasn’t gone, but it was pushed back like he had downed an energy drink. He checked his resources.

 

HP 113/120

MP 100/100

SP 80/120

 

Why would she lie? He entered the lodge to see concrete floors, an old fireplace full of ash, and a buck on the wall. There was a kitchen that hadn’t been looted, but no power to the place. He checked the back, and there was a gas-powered generator bone dry, but it was interesting that it was there. He found a door on the floor leading to a basement bared with a padlock.

This had to be the place she was talking about. Red walked to the center of the room where the dungeon was supposed to be. There wasn’t a second story, so he needed to go down to get to it.

Red didn’t see any order not to rip the lock off the door. Who knew what was inside the basement?

He checked his phone. Was there time for a dungeon dive?

Why would Moka lie about having people back in the abandoned lodge? Maybe she thought Red would have kidnapped her if people weren’t waiting for her. That wasn't an option if she was anything like canon Moka. Her pride refused to show fear to anyone lesser than her.

New world, new people. He couldn’t assume anything yet.

Red grabbed the lock, twisted it, and ripped it off. Clearly, whoever owned it wasn’t that interested in keeping the doors shut. He opened the door to blackness. The first stair creaked, and he heard a whimper.

A thousand pounds of adrenaline poured into his guts. He heard someone playing music through a speaker approaching the cabin. He quickly closed the door. Maybe he’ll think someone saw whatever was inside and think they fled. If he thinks the police are on their way, he might flee.

Red checked his phone, and there was no signal. He turned on his flashlight instead and saw five people chained up and gagged. He turned immediately to the toughest-looking son of a bitch he ever saw. The guy’s face was swollen, with one eye shut and an arm bent at an odd angle.

Whoever took these people out was tough. That or they took a hostage and then beat the guy. John Aono didn’t look to have a wound on him. If the scenario he thought happened was fact, then there wasn’t much either could do. The music cut off, and he heard deep sniffing like a dog.

Does time stop when in a dungeon? He turned his attention to the swirling green portal that could only be a dungeon entrance. If time stopped, he could enter a dungeon, tire himself out, and exit only to be blindsided by a well-rested maniac. If he entered and couldn’t leave but time flowed normally, the maniac could kill all four people, and Moka was coming back with snacks if that wasn’t code for getting police help. Maybe she was riding fast, but he couldn’t take that chance.

He was also down the stairs, giving whoever did this the high ground. Then there was exposing himself to all these people. Giving the game away at the beginning to the media sounded like a good way to get locked up in some kind of government facility.

Would it be worth living only because he hid like a coward from an unknown enemy? Well, there was only one acceptable way to move forward.

Red would have to terrify the people he planned to protect to the point of silence.

He released Agumon and met the dinosaur’s golden eyes before turning to the door. Agumon scanned the area and got the message at an incredible speed. The others didn’t seem to react, thanks to Agumon’s camouflage. The black dinosaur flexed its sharp 6-inch claws and stretched out, ready to use its powerful back legs to spring toward the enemy and neutralize the high ground.  

Agumon opened his mouth and clicked his teeth together, creating little sparks before the door shot open. The little dinosaur sprung, and Red heard an impact as he charged up the stairs. He heard a roar as the figure, a 6ft tall behemoth of a man with scaly skin and tusks poking up from his lower jaw, threw Agumon off of him.

Green blood poured from over two claw wounds in moments, but the creature stood up.

“Ruining my fun before it even started. You made me think the cops were coming. Clever but not enough.” The wounds were healing as the man mumbled.

Red looked around and found the only seat, a stool, and picked it up, ripping the nails out of the floor. The monster turned to Red just in time for Agumon to regain his bars. Red feinted to the side and dodged a kick that would have taken his head off. He could feel the air bite at his skin from that single blow. He held up the stool, only for it to shatter on the first blow.

He glanced at the door, and the man moved in its way. “Not so fast. Do you think I would let good meat getaway? We can’t hunt you humans in the city, but if you wander into the woods, you’re free game like those idiots down there. You should have been smart and run when you had the chance.”

“Pepper breath,” A black ball of fire slammed into the creature’s body and lit him up. Red stumbled back, nearly falling down the basement stairs before jumping aside.

Another pepper breath hit the monster as he turned toward Agumon. The monster roared and charged at blinding speeds. Red withdrew Agumon before impact and summoned him again beside him. The monster turned just as Agumon charged another breath.

He unleashed the attack, smashing the monster square in the chest. Burns covered the creature’s body, but it wasn’t enough. He kept regenerating.

Red turned to the basement. “This isn’t enough.”

“I am getting tired. I only have a few of those left in me,” Agumon said.

“We’re going through the portal. We tried beating it but can’t, so we’ll try to get stronger and then come back and finish it off.” How long until Moka returns with snacks? “N2, how long before Moka returns, and is that time different in the dungeon?”

 

Moka Arrival 35 minutes

Dungeon Time 350 minutes

 

“It’s the only way,” Red said.

This was supposed to be an easy day, but he felt thrown into the deep end. Were they even fighting a troll? If so, why was it healing so well against fire?

They approached the portal as the monster's shadow stood above the stairs.

“Good, less walking for me. You hurt me pretty good; that’s made me hungry, and I like my meat while it can still scream.” The monster said.

Red touched the portal.

 

Zombie House Wave Mode

1/9