The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

fairly ridiculous-looking on her compared to how she normally appeared, but he really couldn’t talk – he was wearing a set of old, battered leather armor that was barely held together by thick threading.

When they had borrowed the “market” wagon – which was normally used to deliver their produce to the market in Heftington – and delivered the corpse of the Elven Raider to the Raider Delving Clan outpost there, they were first met with suspicion.  Actually, that was putting it lightly – they were actually arrested and locked up, which was a unique experience that he never wanted to go through again.

However, after it appeared as though they hadn’t stolen anything from the Elf, they were released; it was originally thought that they had killed the Raider to rob him or something, though why they would then bring the body and show the Clan didn’t make any sense to Sterge.  Not even considering that it was unlikely that they could even hurt the Elf, it was just stupid in his opinion.  Sterge attributed their whole temporary imprisonment on the Raiders operating the Clan outpost erring on the side of caution, because the outpost leader was apparently away for the day.

Regardless of how they were originally treated, they were released and actually rewarded.  Because they had found the body and returned him to the Raider Clan, they were entitled to half of what the Elf had on him; the total they were reluctantly offered was a bit less than half of what was actually on him – because they had already seen how much was really there – but Gwenda had another offer: to allow them to become Raiders instead.

The Clan representatives jumped at the new offer, because it didn’t really cost them anything, so they were able to keep all of the money the Elf had when he died.  That day, they were initiated as brand-new Raiders of the Raider Delving Clan – really, the only Raider organization on the continent – and asked to touch a special orb that apparently all Clan outposts possessed for initiations.  As soon as Sterge had touched it, something popped up in his mind that startled him for a minute or two.  When he had recovered, he finally paid attention to what it was asking of him.

Choose your Starting Class:

Melee

Ranged

Caster

Healer

That was it – with no other explanation.  Fortunately, the Clan members gave him – and Gwenda, for that matter, once she touched the strange orb – a brief rundown of what each of them meant.  It didn’t take him long to decide, however, as Melee seemed like the best choice that fit his personality.  His best friend, as intelligent as she was, chose to be a Caster – which also perfectly fit her personality.

He had been given the set of the leather armor – that he was currently wearing as he walked up the mountain – as part of the starter kit they had lying around, as well as the rusty iron shortsword that was practically a longsword in his hands.  Luckily, it didn’t scrape against the ground as he walked with it attached to his belt, otherwise he would’ve probably just taken only his knife along on their little expedition.  Granted, he didn’t actually know how to use it other than putting the pointy end in an enemy, but he was told that the more he used it, the better he would become at using a sword; it didn’t make any sense to him, but he assumed it was a part of the strange new thing in his head.

Raider Status

Name:

Sterge Stonewell

Class:

Melee

Raider Level:

1

Power:

0/100

Physical Attack:

1 (3)

Physical Defense:

1 (3)

Ranged Attack:

0

Ranged Defense:

1

Magical Attack:

0

Magical Defense:

1

Resistances:

Physical 1

Mental 1

Earth 1

Fire 0

Water 0

Air 0

Nature 0

Life 0

Death 0

Skills:

Blade 1 (0%)

Blunt 1 (0%)

Two-handed 1 (0%)

Block 1 (0%)

Light Armor 1 (0%)

Heavy Armor 1 (0%)

Abilities:

None

The screen popped up in his mind at annoying times, but it was at least fairly easy to get it away.  Sterge didn’t know what a lot of it meant, and the Clan representatives didn’t seem like they wanted to explain, so he just kind of went with it and decided he’d figure it out on his own.  So far, the only thing he discovered was that his Physical Attack and Defense fluctuated when he had his armor on him and at least a single weapon attached to his side.  That was about it, though he didn’t really mind; he wasn’t expecting to actually do any fighting or defending, so it could stay gibberish for all he cared.

Gwenda had insisted that they wear their gear while they went up to see if the dungeon entrance was open, which included her wooden stick—staff—she was given along with her dark-blue linen robe.  She had added the rope to keep it cinched closed, but otherwise she was wearing it just the same as he was wearing his leather armor; Sterge had asked why, but she said that since they were going in an official capacity as Raiders, they needed to look the part.

Who in the world was going to see them climbing up a mountain to check to see if a dungeon was open, he didn’t know; nevertheless, he went along with it because she was always the smarter one.  He knew that when they came down right after their climb that the heat would probably become unbearable in all of his extra padding, but if it allowed them to confirm the presence of the dungeon and then turn it in for the finder’s fee, he was all for it.

There was no reason not to take advantage of the situation, now that the original Elf Raider was dead – it wasn’t like he’d be missing the