DMS Chapter 8

  Hector and Flinx ignored James’s mutterings since they understood that he was still feeling bitter. They understood since they felt the same way.

  Hector taught them how to kill the rock wolves and the vampire bats, which were the two remaining enemies that the three would encounter on the first floor. They spent the rest of the day mindlessly killing enemies, and there was a moment when Flinx felt like a zombie.

  They briefly stopped for lunch and ate the bread and a piece of meat that was provided to them by the wizards. Because of Flinx and Hector’s Prestidigitation spell, the bread, meat, and water the three ate and drank became a veritable feast.

  “This is the main reason why a group of three must always contain a wizard or a profession that can cast the Prestidigitation spell. It’s a must for the slaves to survive healthily,” Hector said.

  After lunch, they continued to mindlessly kill the first-floor mobs, and by the time evening arrived, the three managed to collect a total of 36 mana stones. Hector gave James and Flinx 12 mana stones each, and when they returned to the entrance of the dungeon, the three submitted their mana stone quota for the day. Then, they returned to the place where they slept.

  When they arrived at their resting place, Flinx asked Hector a question.

  “Is it always like that? The number of mana stones we can collect daily?”

  “Yes. Because of that, you can eventually purchase all the cantrip spells and save a lot of mana stones. I have several hundred saved.”

  “That means you don’t actually have to hunt anymore if you like,” James said.

  “You’re right, James, but no one wanted to stay here. The wizards sometimes come here and sometimes torture the slaves they find here without any reason at all. The groups that consisted of veterans and had saved thousands of mana stones would stay in the dungeon and live there for the day to avoid the wizards. They would return to submit their quota of mana stones and rest in the sleeping area, then the next day would be the same. They would spend their day in the dungeon surfing the internet to pass the time. Once you collect enough mana stones, we will do the same thing. You can do whatever you want with your mana stones,” Hector told the two.

  The three then ate their dinner, which became palatable because of the Prestidigitation spell then they went to their sleeping bags to while away the rest of the evening using their system to browse the internet.

  Flinx decided to hold off on buying any more spells since the spells that he currently had were enough to kill the beginner monsters. He wanted to have enough mana stones that he could submit in case he couldn’t work for a day. Once he collected more than 10 mana stones, he would start purchasing the rest of the cantrip spells.

  While browsing his system to learn more about his new life, for a moment, Flinx grieved. His life on Earth, even though it was not perfect, was good compared to this place. Here, he was supposed to be a mindless mana stone slave. Flinx knew that the only reason why the Earthlings were not all insane was because of their access to the internet, but then again, they may all be insane.

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  Not only that, he feared for James. He somehow knew that his new friend would not be able to tolerate this life and would probably act that would result in his demise. Flinx would try his best to talk to James. He didn’t want to be alone with the veteran slave. At least, he and James were of the same age, and they had a lot in common.

  Flinx thought that maybe the best thing that he could do was to talk to James about the science-fiction books they both favored, since that would take their mind off their current situation, but at that moment, he gave the man his space. They were both new in this place, and they needed the time and space to grieve.

  After spending a couple of hours learning about the system and browsing the forums that the other slaves made that contained information about their situation, Flinx finally fell asleep.

  The next day, Flinx woke up extremely early since when he checked the time, it was only four in the morning. When he checked, he saw that Hector and James were also awake. They started eating their breakfast, and while they did so, Hector told them that they could take their weekly food from the supply area.

  “You mentioned yesterday that some of the veteran slaves managed to collect hundreds and even thousands of mana stones. Why did the wizards allow that? Don’t they check the storage rings of the slaves?” James asked.

  “The wizards don’t care what the slaves do as long as we provide the mana stones that we’re supposed to provide them. They are aware of the mana stones that we’ve collected, but they simply don’t care. If it’s medium or high mana stones, then they would take them, but the amount of low mana stones they managed to collect from the slaves was enough that getting the slaves' savings was work that they didn’t want to bother with. It’s like a bunch of adults giving kids waste paper bags and telling the kids to gather 10 ants for the ant farm that they use to feed their monitor pets. The adults will not bother to check the plastic bags and will be content with the 10 ants that they required the kids to get, so any more than that is something that they don’t want to bother with.”

  James and Flinx were a little flabbergasted when they heard what Hector said.

  “Not only that, because our system was locked down by the slave collar, we have no other use for the mana stones once we’ve bought all the cantrips that we can buy.”

  After finishing the personal hygiene details, the three then went to the supply area. Flinx and James would learn where it was, and after they received their weekly food and water, they headed directly to the dungeon.

  While they were heading to the dungeon’s entrance, Hector suddenly dropped down and prostrated. Flinx and James followed suit immediately since they didn’t want to experience the horrifying torture that they had experienced the day before, but Flinx saw the hate and anger in James's face. Flinx decided to talk to James later. He didn’t want to lose the guy since Flinx already considered James a friend.

  Flinx and James still felt a little excited battling the weak monsters that could be found in the first level, but Hector’s expression looked like he was removing weeds from his garden. By the time afternoon arrived, the two younger men were used to the little monsters enough to use different spells in killing them.

  Flinx tried his minor illusion spell, then used his spear to finish off the goblins. James was the same. Hector even had to save them a few times, but didn’t bother to lecture them since, according to him, every newbie did the same thing.

  While they were eating lunch, Flinx approached James.

  “James, please don’t show your anger or hate for the wizards on your face. I don’t want to lose the only person I consider a friend here,” Flinx told James almost beggingly.