The Culling of Man: A litrpg adventure (Peril's Prodigy Book 1) by Craig Kobayashi (ereader android TXT) 📕

Depths in the ruins of the once-popular Alderwood Mall, was only a mile to the south. The Party made good time, climbing in altitude only once before coasting on open air the rest of the way.

As they began their descent, Garath willed his MENU panels open and enlarged his World Map. The dungeon appeared to be on the north-most side of the mall, between what had been a revolving sushi bar and an amazing Mexican grill - two restaurants that Garath would sorely miss. The area surrounding the shopping center on the map was painted with a shade of red so light it was nearly pink. He knew that the colored overlay signified an “un-safe” zone but he didn't know exactly what made the area dangerous - and made a point of taking advantage of the increased visual perception of Crow form. As they drew nearer to their destination at the decimated mall, he noticed that the buildings on either side of the location denoting the dungeon entrance were relatively untouched. He wondered if any of the food items had made it through The Culling and, if so, had they already been scavenged? He made a mental note to have a look around after conquering the Aquawood Depths.

Garath landed down on the cracked cement and shifted back into his true form, a glowy eyed Necrologist with a long, pointed hat, old blue jeans, and Chuck Taylors. He was followed by Warrion, Athios, and Sharon in short order and the four of them looked on dubiously at what could only be the dungeon’s entrance.

Between the two surprisingly untouched buildings rested a beautiful fountain spouting a deep sapphire liquid from its center. An elaborate white archway adorned with intricate carvings of vaguely humanoid figures spanned over the fountain. In the half-circle between the tall archway and the sapphire pool below, the open air shimmered unnaturally. The entire terrace sat on a spotless, raised platform of white stone where a Panera bread had once sold sub-par sandwiches at reasonable prices to unreasonable soccer moms. The four of them took in the scene for long minutes before Warrion finally broke the silence.

"I think this is the part where one of us says, 'it's quiet', then someone else says, 'too quiet',” Warrion said. “G, be a pal and say the first one?"

Garath smiled and humored the Assassin. "It's quiet," he astutely observed.

"Hey," said Athios, inadvertently interrupting the ominous cliche. "Wasn't this a Panera?"

"Dude! What the hell?" Warrion asked, looking deeply betrayed at the Dimensionalist. "Try it again, G."

"Nah." Garath shrugged. "The moment passed."

Warrion sulked with his shoulders low, but Garath didn't notice. The Necrologist was scanning the mall-turned-ghost-town for any signs of movement, but it appeared that they were alone - for the moment at least. Apart from the occasional calls of passing seagulls and branches rustling in the light breeze, it really did feel too quiet.

"It really is too fucking quiet," Garath observed again.

Warrion groaned expansively. "Seriously? You just take both?"

"I wasn't sure what to expect but," Garath was saying, ignoring the Assassin. He stopped mid-sentence, alarmed, as Sharon approached the fountain. She was bending to touch the liquid it contained. "Sharon! Don't just stick your hand in weird liquids, what are you thinking?"

Sharon retracted her outstretched hand from the fountain as if it were a rabid dog. Then, once she had recovered from the alarm of Garath's reprimand, she scoffed and reached back out to dip one finger into the cool, blue liquid. The Necrologist was relieved when nothing happened but almost fell over himself as Sharon made a cup with her hand, scooped some of the liquid from the pool, and lifted it to her mouth.

"Sharon!"

"Now just you calm down, Charlie Brown. If I want to be mothered, I'll ask. And believe me, I wouldn't ask you," she retorted.

"What's it taste like?" Warrion asked curiously, taking a few steps toward Sharon and the fountain.

Sharon sipped again from her cupped hand and let the strange liquid slosh its way around in her mouth. "I can't quite place it. It's sweet, but not like sugar or syrup. Why don't you come try it yourself if you're so curious? And Garath, I got another icon like the water one, maybe you should try it too."

Another buff just before entering a dungeon sounded almost too good to be true, but considering they were about to enter a dungeon one person short, Garath figured any advantage would be worth taking. He stepped up onto the white stone platform and scooped a handful of sapphire liquid to his mouth and let it pour down his throat.

The little sip he swallowed seemed to coat his throat and stomach on the way down with a cool, soothing feeling. He too received a new buff icon, this time with a simple sapphire square the same color as the fountain's liquid. He willed more information to appear, and it did.

You have ingested Concentrated Crystillium. Your focus heightens on the edge of battle, improving overall perception and decision making by 20%.

Time Remaining: 29 minutes, 59 seconds.

‘Did I just find liquid Adderall?’ Garath wondered excitedly to himself. He also immediately started to second guess his hasty decision to storm into a dungeon that he knew nothing about one member short of a full Party - as well as a handful of life decisions he'd made in the past.

Garath looked up from the deep blue liquid to the top of the archway, then below to the unnatural shimmering in the half-circle beneath, it reminded him of something he had experienced before - albeit not here on Earth.

"Athios," he said, pointing, "does that look to you like the doorway to an instance?"

Athios looked up from her seated position at the edge of the white stone platform. She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "You know, I think you're right."

"So the archway is the entrance to the dungeon?" Warrion asked.

"What in the world are you three going on about? An instance isn't an entrance to anything, it's something that