Saturday, 11 January 1992
Daniel woke up with a quiet groan and stretched, his joints giving a few satisfying pops. The cold air nipped at his skin, making him pull the blanket off a little slower than usual. Still, he got up and went through his morning routine.
After finishing up in the bathroom, he stepped back into the dorm and saw his friends still bundled up and snoring in their beds. Not wanting to wake them, he tiptoed out and made his way down to the common room.
His thoughts were already drifting.
'No more excuses now. I've got two whole days free...'
He slumped onto one of the couches, staring at the dim fireplace.
'Guess it's finally time to stop avoiding that dungeon.'
He'd managed to dodge it for days, feeding himself little lies like 'I need to rest', or 'I need to finish todays homework', or even 'bad moon phase'. But deep down, he knew it was fear, and today, he was done running from it.
Quietly, he slipped into a random empty classroom, the door clicking shut behind him. No one around. Perfect.
He took a breath, focused, and entered the dungeon.
The world shifted.
Daniel blinked and found himself standing in the murky, dense forest. The air was damp and cold, his breath immediately visible in soft white clouds. Overhead, the twisted branches parted just enough to reveal a full moon, glowing pale and distant.
He stared at it for a second, oddly captivated.
"…Creepy and beautiful at the same time," he muttered.
Silence surrounded him, no birds, no breeze, just the sound of his own quiet steps. Activating Stealth, he moved into the shadows, his footsteps barely audible against the mossy ground.
It didn't take long before he spotted his first Erkling.
'Let's see if it's alone…' he thought, crouching low and watching from behind a tree. He scanned the area carefully, waiting for any signs of movement.
Nothing.
He crept forward like a shadow, steady and silent, then raised his wand and focused.
'Magic Arrow.'
A flash of blue light, and the Erkling dropped with a sickening crack as the arrow pierced the back of its head.
"Ugh… I'm still not used to the exploding heads," he muttered, scrunching his nose as he collected the loot left behind.
'At least they still go down in one hit to the skull.'
That small victory gave him a boost. His movements grew more fluid, his pace more confident. The hunt was on.
40 minutes later
Daniel crouched behind a log, eyes locked on a pair of Erklings sitting near a tiny campfire, their hunched forms casting twitchy shadows.
They were… talking?
'Are they speaking?' he wondered, inching closer to eavesdrop.
"Kiki ratak! Shreevi mak dak!" one of them barked, jabbing a stick toward the flames.
'Do they have their own language?'
He aimed his wand at the stronger of the two.
Magic Arrow.
The spell hit clean. The first Erkling dropped like a sack of rocks, but the second one immediately shrieked and charged.
Daniel didn't hesitate.
"Glacius!"
A blast of icy wind shot from his wand, freezing the creature mid-run. He followed up with a quick Magic Arrow to the forehead. The Erkling shattered like brittle ice.
'I really need to get faster at casting,' he thought. 'Definitely adding "spellcasting speed drills" to the to-do list.'
He stepped forward to collect the loot, knees crunching against the forest floor. But just as he reached down-
Step.
"GRIIIK!"
His head snapped around, but too late. Something slashed across his stomach.
"Aghh!" The pain hit sharp and hot, and for a terrifying second, his brain blanked. His instincts kicked in, panic fueling the magic in his hand.
With a grunt, he swung his fist straight at the Erkling's head, packed with raw mana. The creature's skull detonated in a messy, sizzling pop.
He staggered back, gasping.
"Huff… huff…"
The pain began to fade, slowly leaving his body, but fear settled in his chest.
'My first wound... And all because I didn't check my surroundings. I got cocky from the easy kills.'
He looked down. No blood. Just a deep slash torn through his shirt.
"Thank god for the Gamer's Body," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Still hurts like hell, though…'
He quickly exited the dungeon and came back to the empty classroom.
Daniel dropped into a chair with a quiet thud. The silence was almost too loud.
'That could've gone so much worse.'
'It was a stomach wound, but what if it had been my throat? Or an eye? Would the Gamer's Body fix that too?'
He leaned forward, elbows on knees, staring at the floor.
'I need to be smarter. No more tunnel vision. No more rushing in.'
'Alright. Time for a dungeon break, let's focus on spell practice for now.'
The thought of combat drills sounded less exciting, but also… safer.
'Let's see if Michael and the rest are up to something today,' he thought, finally standing up. He pulled a clean shirt from his inventory and swapped out the ruined one.
After one last glance at the quiet classroom, he stepped out into the hallway, and back into Hogwarts.