Chapter 32: No Fear For The Unknowing

Once Luke entered the dungeon he took a moment to catch his breath and only after recovering his stamina did he begin to explore the inside of the dungeon which despite having a clear lack of a light source was surprisingly well lit with the source of the light coming from bioluminescent plants.

The dungeon itself was pretty narrow and long and if Luke's sense of spatial movement was not skewed it was situated not more than 2 meters below actual sea level.

The deeper he walked into the dungeon, the more prominent the sound of waves crashing over his head became as he was sure that this dungeon was created off the shore of Panjim town and under the sea bed.

It was a mysterious and beautiful place with amazing carvings all along the hall-ways and although there were no monsters in the dungeon that Luke encountered yet, somehow the dungeon gave him an eerie and abandoned feeling that made his nerves feel on the edge.

"Who dares enter the great Oyster Farmer's workshop?" A voice suddenly said, startling Luke as he entered the main hall of the dungeon.

The voice sounded angry and the question it was asking was obviously rhetorical, however, Luke fearlessly replied to it as he had nothing but pure intentions in his heart.

"I'm SkyLion, an adventurer who's looking to uplift many beggars out of poverty.

I have been given information that this place holds the key to achieve my goal, am I correct?" He said, counter questioning the voice that asked him his identity, speaking in a commanding tone which left even the owner of the voice dumbfounded.

"You- huh? What?" The voice said as soon a thin and scrawny looking man walked out of the shadows, inspecting Luke as if he were some odd being.

"You're clearly human, a species cursed with greed…. Yet you claim you want to help others?" The scrawny man said as Luke raised an eyebrow and retorted "You say these words as if you're not human yourself".

Once again, the scrawny man was left dumbfounded as he frowned deeply and inspected Luke's stat panel only to find him to be level 0.

Luke was clearly a full grown man and full grown men were supposed to be at least level 10 irrespective of how talentless they were, yet Luke was level 0.

Not only that, but he was apparently telling the truth too as it seemed like he had no idea that the man he was talking to was not a human but a mer-man.

"No I'm not human-" he said as he showed his palm which had webbed interlockings like a duck instead of open fingers like those of a human.

"Holy hell! You're a mermaid!" Luke exclaimed as the man in front of him could not help but slap his face in dissapointment.

"Hey hey hey, fool, from what angle do I look like a woman? Do I have breasts? Do I have a big plumpy ass? Do I have sexy long hair?

I'm a mer-man! Man! Male! Owner of the donger, sword warrior, game changer" he exclaimed as Luke made an 'O' expression on his face, feeling enlightened.

Back on Earth the popular fantasies only depicted the mermaids and never talked about the males of the species, so Luke had never imagined that males existed amongst them too.

"Apologies…. I had no idea" Luke said as the mer-man let out an angry sigh, feeling agitated about facing a fool like Luke.

"You're wasting your time here human, this is a mer-man outpost where we farm oysters, it's off-limits to humans as per our treaty.

I don't know how you found it, but I can't help you with anything, so it's best you return" The mer-man said as Luke shook his head and wiggled his finger in front of the man.

"Nononono, you see, the system would never issue a quest that was impossible. You're capping, I call it" he said as the mer-man was once again left dumbfounded watching his confidence.

System?

Capping?

Call it?

He understood none of those terms and while both of them were speaking English it seemed like both of them were not speaking the same English as the mer-man failed to understand what Luke wished to convey.

Judging the confusion on his face, Luke reiterated his pitch as he said "See it's like this, there are a lot of beggars in Panjim town… the human establishment off the coast.

And someone told me that this place holds the key to teaching them a skill that can uplift them out of poverty….. that's why I'm here"

"So what if some humans sleep hungry? What's it have to do with me? Why should I teach them the pearl collection skill?

What's in it for me?" The mer-man argued as Luke immediately walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder as he looked deep into his eyes.

This was an awkward scenario as Luke was being way too casual with a level 360 mer-man who had the potential to submerge the entire Panjim town underwater if he lost his mind, yet in his ignorance, Luke did not fear this man at all.

"What's in it for you? Come on now…. I thought you were a capitalist! Can't you see the opportunity?

Cheap labor…. CHEAP LABOR!" Luke said excitedly as now the mer-man truly felt lost, yet intrigued about what this unique human had to say.

What followed was Luke explaining how the mer-man could teach humans his pearl collection skill and make them work for minimum wage and in-return he could make exponentially more money for himself.

Initially the mer-man wondered if the human was a fool, but after he understood the benefits of the arrangement Luke proposed he began to laugh alongside Luke as well as his hostility towards him dissolved.

"Hahaha…. I never thought about hiring cheap helpers for practically free, this human tactic is amazing! MUAHAHA" He laughed as Luke laughed right alongside him.

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/// A/N - Bonus Chapter for hitting the PS target, good job everyone! ///

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Chapter 33: Valuable Advise

[ System Notification:- Congratulations Player 'SkyLion' for successfully clearing the hidden dungeon 'Dungeon Of Waves' and securing an employment opportunity for the underprivileged of Panjim Town.

You are rewarded with

50x Gold Coins

2x Water Lily

1x Skill Scroll ( epic ) ]

A system notification informed Luke that he had successfully completed the hidden dungeon quest!

The completion condition for this dungeon was different from what Luke had assumed as there was no monster fighting, no puzzle solving, no treasure looting, but it was rather a simple mission where he had to convince a single man to take-in cheap labor.

"Hahaha, humans…. This race is so shameless, hahaha, I like them so much" The mer-man kept laughing as he realized that no longer did he need to work hard in his punishment and he could live a life of luxury once more.

Although Luke had no idea, the mer-man he had just befriended was actually a hidden bigshot and his real identity was the second prince of mer-land.

He was royalty who was exiled to the outskirts of their kingdom to reflect on his past misdeeds and was supposed to repent by performing oyster farming in isolation, however, because of Luke he once again saw hope in living a life of leisure.

"I'm Furlo, from today onwards, let's become friends, shameless human SkyLion" Furlo said as he extended his hand which Luke shaked enthusiastically.

[ System Notification - NPC Furlo wishes to form a 'Friendship' bond with player 'SkyLion'.

Do you agree?

Yes

No ]

A system notification asked Luke if he wished to form a bond with Furlo or not and Luke accepted the request without thinking much of it.

[ *DING* , NEW CONNECTION FORMED, SECOND PRINCE OF MER-LAND, FURLO ( LV 360 )

You can now open a private chat with Furlo whenever you wish to- ]

Another pop-up informed Luke that the connection had been successfully established, however, Luke just kept staring at the screen blankly, unable to contemplate the meaning behind its words.

"WHATT…. YOU ARE ROYALTY?" he said in shock as he slapped his cheeks, and Furlo raised his head high in pride as he enjoyed the awe his stature brought.

"MUAHAHA, Bow before me puny human" He said as Luke immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed before Furlo five times.

"All hail the prince!" He said again and again as Furlo kept laughing like a maniac as this was the first time someone had shown him this level of respect.

Back in mer-land, everyone knew that the first prince would ascend the throne and that the king did not wish for his children to get undeserving respect and hence nobody ever really paid much attention to Furlo although he was a noble.

Internally, he craved for the same respect as his brother and father got, however, because of his childish antics, his name was associated with that of a troublemaker back at the palace which meant that nobody treated him with proper respect.

Getting such attention from Luke, he felt like he was on cloud nine as he truly began to like Luke as a person although he was level 0.

"Puny human, since I like you so much, I'll indulge you and allow you one opportunity to ask me anything you want-" Furlo said as Luke stopped kowtowing and looked at Furlo with hopeful eyes.

Since he now knew that Furlo was a level 360 noble, Luke had faith that whatever advice Furlo would give him would prove to be invaluable and hence he asked with a shaky voice "Please tell me the mistakes to avoid in the path to become a good warrior"

"Don't learn trash skills….. and as long as it's possible, don't learn skills out of skill scrolls but always learn them through practical repetition.

You can only learn a limited number of skills in your lifetime and mastering a few will always be better than learning many trash skills and swapping them again and again.

My only advice for you is to master all the skills that you learn rather than swapping them consistently for better ones" Furlo said as Luke nodded his head in understanding.

He had no experience regarding learning skills or skill scrolls, he had not learnt a single skill yet, however, he trusted Furlo's advice on this matter and decided to choose his skills carefully in the future.

"Thankyou for the advise, I'll keep it close to my heart" Luke said as Furlo blushed red listening to his words feeling all giddy inside.

All his life it was only his elder brother giving him advice and this was the first time when he had the opportunity to mentor someone and because of Luke's genuine and eager personality, he quite liked the feeling of teaching someone new.

The two spent some more time together where Furlo told him to keep in touch and message him often for any doubts that he had and Luke also told him about how he should exploit labor and make the most effective use of their skills.

In the end the two parted ways on great terms and a promise to visit each other soon.

Luke, having gained the gold that he wished to buy a skill-scroll, now decided against buying a common skill and rather decided to buy a nice weapon with the money instead, but first he decided to visit the slums and complete his mission by convincing them to report to Furlo for guaranteed money and a respectable job from tomorrow.

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