The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

stepped up to the hole in the wall.  Slowly, he shuffled forward, as the outline of his body wouldn’t allow for him to pick up his feet to walk, as he squeezed through the cut-out without more than a hair’s breadth to spare.  It is uncanny how accurate this is.  Luckily, the thickness of the wall wasn’t more than a few inches thick, so it didn’t take long to get through.  Gwenda popped out just after him, and Sterge looked up to see a gigantic tunnel with an arched ceiling leading off in the distance, curving at some point so he couldn’t see the end.

On the wall nearest him, Sterge noticed something different from the uniform appearance of the impressive passageway.  There was another plaque similar to the one they had first seen warning them about the blue-skinned, six-armed people that had attacked the dungeon.  This one, though, wasn’t so much a warning as it was welcoming.

“Is this for real?” he couldn’t help but say out loud after he finished reading.  The message that was conveyed to them was about some sort of room at the end of the tunnel designed for entertainment, though he was a little confused about what that entertainment was supposed to be.  All the plaque said concerning the entertainment was that an appropriate opponent would be selected that would be the least challenging at first, but that a simple request could be put forth for something more difficult.  In addition, there was no limit to the number of contestants, whatever that meant, but that the reward would be much less the more contestants there were.

He scratched his head, now thoroughly confused.  At the end of the message, there was a note about how every 24 hours the room would shut down for 12 hours, so that different challenges could be arranged.  Also, that there may be a possibility of Raider-like opponents as a challenge, and not to be alarmed.

Despite the warning, he was alarmed.

“I think…I understand what this is, but I could be wrong.”  Gwenda’s response was soft, as if she was afraid her voice would carry too far.  “We’ll have to explore later, though, as this says that it will open up in approximately 12 hours.  That should give us a good night of sleep; I don’t know about you, but all of this preparation over the last month has exhausted me.  Let’s go.”

He wasn’t going to argue, because the exhaustion was deep in his bones.  They had been going since dawn that morning, finishing up the little details needed to ensure everything was taken care of before they were locked down in the mountain, and Sterge was ready for some sleep.  He followed Gwenda back to the wall and shuffled out of his cut-out to the waiting crowd outside.  Looking back, he noticed that while the hole was technically still there, it was now covered up on the opposite side by stone.

“What is it?”

“What’s in there?”

“What did you find?”

“Did the dungeon speak to you?”

“Tell us!”

Sterge held his hands up for silence, which came slowly, but he waited until it was down to a murmur.  Gwenda took over, thankfully, because Sterge really wasn’t a fan of public speaking.

“There is something that could be beneficial for us, but we’ll have to wait to find out until tomorrow; apparently, in 12 hours it will open up and we can find out more,” she started, which was met with disappointed growls and demands for more information.  “We have a few details, but it really won’t make sense until we actually see it in person.  So, for now, let’s all get a good night’s sleep and we’ll pick this up again tomorrow.”

Ignoring the calls for her to explain what those details were, Gwenda walked away and Sterge was quick to follow.  Luckily, no one impeded their progress, and they were met on their way to their room by the rest of their group.  No one said anything until they were inside and their privacy screen unfolded, but Sterge could see the questions in their eyes.

Sitting down on their cots, Gwenda softly regaled them with what little information they had, keeping her voice from carrying beyond the boundaries of their room.  It wasn’t that they were worried about the information getting out, but more about people having unreasonable expectations that they could neither confirm nor deny without seeing it themselves.

“That would be incredible if that’s indeed what it is,” Evy said, a glint in her eyes.  “If we’re to be stuck in here, having some sort of entertainment and a way to gain Power at the same time could be just the thing we need.”

Sterge hadn’t even thought of that.  He had been more focused on what the “entertainment” was than anything else, but it made sense.  Instead of them delving through a dungeon in order to find monsters to slay, the monsters would come to them.  Or at least, come to those participating in the battles.  If that was indeed what it was.

There were still too many unknowns.

Not for long, though, because Sterge fell asleep not too much later.  When he woke up, the rest of his group was waiting for him, and appearing to be as hungry as he was.  Fortunately, during their preparations over the last month, they had converted one of the rooms nearby into a “kitchen” of sorts where they could get some food.

There was a line out the door when they arrived, but they didn’t take advantage of their status to cut in line.  Instead, they spent the next half-hour waiting their turn, and when they were finally able to get inside Sterge saw that the kitchen was working better than he had thought it would.

Three Elementalists, Level 15, 16, and 19 Casters who chose the Class when they hit Level 10, were the main power behind the whole operation.  They were