Age of Gods - A VRMMO Story

After stepping off of the stairs at the seventh floor, Thomas was greeted by an unexpected sight. There were three groups of people sitting, standing, or leaning near a set of massive stone doors. The first thing Thomas paid attention to were the massive double doors. They were carved with a bas relief that showed humans battling an army of goblins. There were scenes of carnage involving the deaths of both humans and goblins as well as humans and goblins locked in conflict as they fought a deadly battle against each other.

It was a rather awe-inspiring sight, considering that the monsters in the sculptures on the doors were goblins and not something majestic like dragons. After enjoying the sight of the closed doors, Thomas turned his attention to the groups of people waiting in front of the doors. All three groups were looking Thomas up and down and evaluating him. Thomas did the same to them in return. It took a moment, but Thomas noticed that the groups loosely formed a line. A man in heavy armor in the group furthest from the doors spoke to Thomas, "There's a line and your group is last."

Thomas glanced behind himself to see if there was another group behind him that the man might be confusing for his companions. There was no one there so he turned back to face the man and casually said, "No group, just me."

Telling them he was alone was a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it told the groups that he was capable of getting to the bottom of the dungeon on his own. On the other, it told them he was alone and that may give them thoughts on attacking him. All three groups seemed surprised that Thomas had made it to the bottom floor alone. They all glanced at their companions for a moment. After they turned to look back at him none of them showed aggressive or greedy looks.

It seemed they had deemed Thomas too dangerous to mess with. Even if they managed to defeat him and maybe steal some of his gear, they would likely take a fair bit of damage doing so, they might even lose some of their members making their attempt at the boss a waste. The man who had addressed Thomas spoke again, "When the doors open the group closest to them gets to go in first. After they enter the doors will close and won't open again until they defeat the boss or all die in the attempt. Once everyone before you has gone you can go in." The man looked uncomfortable for a moment before speaking again, "It's none of my business, but I suggest you not try to go in there solo. The boss is leagues above the elites."

Thomas nodded as he made his way to the end of the line, "Thanks for the advice. Worst case scenario I'll just die once. I want to give it a try."

The man nodded and said no more. Death wasn't too big of a deal for otherworlders so while it might be hubris to try and take the boss on alone it's not like it would have dire consequences if he failed and died. After picking a spot to wait his turn, Thomas opened his character sheet and looked over his gains. The dungeon dive had been extremely beneficial to him. All of his main combat skills had grown significantly while he'd gained a lot of experience from killing hundreds of goblins. Even after spending so much he currently had over 8,400 experience he could spend.

Thomas assigned 2,400 experience to his Magic attribute to increase it from 45 to 50. He felt like fifty would be a good place for his Magic attribute for the time being. He looked at his other lacking attributes and decided to increase his Agility next. He wanted to increase his top speed so he could focus more on dodging attacks and attacking fast. To that end, he spent 3,550 experience to increase it from 30 to 40, a massive boost of 33%. Lastly, he spent 1,650 experience to increase his Endurance from 30 to 35. When all was said and done he had only 848 experience left.

After confirming his decisions, Thomas sat down and let the comforting energy of his attributes growing flow through his body to nourish it and increase his overall power. Normally, he would have preferred to increase all of his attributes evenly. However, knowing he was going to leave for the magic academy in the capital shortly, he felt he needed a high Magic attribute. Still, he couldn't ignore his other attributes completely.

As he was basking in the feeling of his attributes rising, the doors to the boss room creaked open. Thomas looked over curiously only to see a completely black entrance. The group of six players in the front, the largest group he'd seen so far, marched into the darkness. They quickly vanished from sight and the large doors groaned closed. Everyone moved closer to the door as the line advanced. Curious why no one had exited, Thomas called out to the man who'd spoken before, "Since no one came out does that mean they all died?"

The man turned to glance at Thomas before shaking his head, "Not necessarily. Win or lose you are teleported out of the dungeon."

Thomas tilted his head and asked further, "If the previous group was victorious, will there be no boss in the room?"

The man shook his head again, "According to the adventurers guild, the majority of the miasma that the dungeon absorbs is pulled into the boss room. This makes the boss respawn within minutes of its defeat."

Thomas nodded and picked a spot to sit down and relax at while he awaited his turn. Nearly half an hour later the doors groaned open once more to reveal the black abyss leading to the dungeon boss. The next group in line moved into the entrance and disappeared into the darkness. Thomas and the last remaining group moved a little closer to the door and began to wait once again. As he continued to wait, Thomas pulled a cold bit of food out of his storage ring and began to munch on it.

The wait was extremely boring and while conversation would help it go faster, the remaining group of four people seemed standoffish and he didn't feel like making the effort to talk to them to make the time pass faster. Instead, he closed his eyes and relaxed his mind and body in preparation for the upcoming fight. The wait this time wasn't nearly as long as the last time. Within ten minutes the doors groaned open once again. The man Thomas had spoken with snorted and commented to his party, "They must have all died."

Without knowing how strong the previous party was, Thomas felt like commenting on their strength would be pointless. It was entirely possible that they had just beaten the boss quickly. The group moved forward and stepped into the boss room entrance before they disappeared leaving Thomas on his own. As the doors closed, Thomas moved closer to them and sat down to resume his waiting. He felt so bored that he was tempted to take out more food and eat it, but he was at least aware enough to know that going into a fight while feeling full was a bad idea.

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It was a forty-five-minute wait until the doors creaked open once again. No one else had made their way down to the boss room while Thomas had been waiting, so he climbed to his feet and made his way towards the dark entrance. As he stepped over the threshold the usually silent system spoke up.