He finally finished one of the puzzles he'd obtained on the second floor of the dungeon. After what felt like his millionth attempt, he got his puzzle adventurer to the other side of the vast puzzle labyrinth to freedom. The reward was five dungeon stars and a white potion that would raise his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Will by one point, and a glowing green potion that would raise Intelligence, Wisdom, and Will by three points for a short time.

  He drank the white potion.

  The evening was miraculous in that there was only one sun in the sky, the other three having sunk beneath the horizon. It was only hot, not extremely hot.

  Back from searching, Jeremy practiced throwing his knives, making it more challenging by facing away from the target. His score wasn't perfect, but he stuck all the knives in the target—pretty good, considering...

  “Yes, I know, Flint, you would have won. Congratulations. Did you or Squeak notice anything today?”

  “Sadly, knowing you will never leave here until we find your hidden entrance, I have not,” Flint said from where he was sulking in the corner.

  “Squeak.” Squeak hadn't seen or felt anything unusual.

  Jeremy sighed. “I know the hidden entrance is here, but I have a feeling finding it won't be easy.”

  The next day, Flint had a surprise for him.

  “You want me to do what?”

  “I can tell you're getting bored with these weak monster scorpions,” Flint said.

  “No. I'm not bored.” Jeremy was still tired after a night filled with nightmares, so he lay there looking up at the cloth roof of his shelter.

  “That's what a weak adventurer would say.”

  Silence.

  Flint appeared in front of Jeremy, floating a foot above him and looking him in the eye. “Let me remind you, Jeremy, that you wanted to be strong. When the dungeon offered you a chance to go home, you refused. You cried because you just had to be strong. Even though you couldn't even kill a pack of goblins, you want to kill a guy who's probably on the other side of the universe by now, and whom you'll never meet again. Just as well, considering he could crush you with his figurative little wizard finger.”

  “I'm already killing monster scorpions with my bare hands; wearing a blindfold on top of that sounds like suicide. Are you sure you're not trying to kill me?”

  “As tempting as killing you would be, no. That would mean my eventual demise as well, what with the universe ending and all. A blindfold has multiple functions: the first is to expand your other senses, making you a more well-rounded adventurer; the second is to help you develop your mana sight.”

  “Mana sight?”

  “Mana sight is your body's ability to sense the surrounding mana,” Flint said. “A difficult skill to master, but once developed, it should give you an additional sense, making you less dependent on the other five.”

  “You're saying I can learn to sense mana well enough to fight monsters? I believe The Order of the Sand Monarch uses blindfolds, but that's at a higher level.”

  “Then there's no time like the present, Jeremy. Tick tick. The clock is ticking. Let's get you less weak.”

  “Shut up, Flint.” Jeremy slowly dragged himself to his feet, ate his breakfast, and performed his morning rituals like cleaning his weapons and winding up his gnome watch. Then he left his shelter.

  He crept through the dungeon desert until he found a small scorpion. He wrapped a piece of cloth around his eyes and tied it off. Then he showed himself to his adversary.

  The scorpion was silent, but Jeremy could feel it charge. When the scorpion stopped, he threw himself to the side to avoid its stinger.

  Ow, Jeremy hit the ground, landing on a sharp rock he hadn't noticed, hurting his back as he rolled over, struggling to avoid the expected pincer attack as he got back on his feet. The scorpion's stinger slammed into his chest. Jeremy grabbed the stinger and backed away, using his strength to pull the scorpion off balance. The scorpion dug in with its ten legs, creating a tug-of-war.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Jeremy released the electric charge that had been building up for the past three days. The scorpion spasmed, stunned, its armor protecting it from Jeremy's electric attack somewhat, but not completely. Jeremy charged, rolling the scorpion onto its back and punching its belly with all his strength. The belly armor cracked after his second punch, shattered after the fourth. He pushed his hand into the scorpion's belly, found its heart, and squeezed, getting struck twice more in the meantime.

  —you have been poisoned—

  appeared on his stat sheet.

  He pulled off his blindfold.

  Flint appeared next to him. “While you killed the scorpion, let me suggest that blocking its stinger with your body might not be the best strategy.”

  “What was I supposed to do? I couldn't see anything. I'm lucky I didn't lose an arm or a leg to its pincers.”

  “Weak adventurers are always making excuses.”

  “Shut up.” Jeremy got up, grabbed his scorpion steak, and headed back to the shelter.

  ***

  Over many days, Jeremy's skin turned brown and weather-beaten from the burning suns, wind, and flying sand. His days turned into a set routine. Get up after a nightmare-filled sleep. Eat breakfast (dungeon rations again!). After that, he'd train, and then meditate. He meditated in hopes he'd gain mana sight, though so far, that was eluding him.

  And while he'd gained an additional three levels, he was no closer to finding the treasure.

  “Hey, check this out. Miniature fireball,” Jeremy flicked his hand, focusing his mana to create a concentrated heat source, which he used on a few strands of desert grass he'd gathered to make a small fire. “Pretty useless spell considering how hot it is, but...”

  The spell, crude heat source, had turned into crude fireball.

  “I believe your people have a saying, 'Don't quit your day job,'” Flint responded. “But to cast that spell, you must be able to sense mana.”

  “That's my internal mana,” Jeremy responded. “When I cast the spell, I'm supposed to feel the mana and tell it what to do. That's what magic is, using your will to control mana.”

  “How do you feel the mana?”

  “That is a good question,” Jeremy answered.

  When he meditated, he tried to feel the surrounding mana but accomplished nothing.

  After he ate, trained, and meditated, he'd explore. Then he'd return after killing two or three scorpions. He used his blindfold only on the smaller ones, and even then had yet to kill one without hurting himself in the process. After this, he'd return to his shelter, eat a dungeon ration dinner, work with his smithy, throw knives, work on a dungeon puzzle, practice his crude magic, or shoot his gnome firearm to level up his gnome weapons skill.

  ***

  His kobold merchant friend from the second floor of the dungeon, Lard Lump, and her party came through. They passed through this floor as quickly as they could. He was tempted to make contact, but decided against it. They'd try to talk him out of what he was doing, and he wasn't about to quit.

  Jeremy tailed them, planning to step in if they were in any danger, but Lard Lump and her party held off the monsters with their spears and crossbows until they left for the fifth floor.

  He grew increasingly frustrated, even exploring the frozen section again, to no avail.

  One day, he checked his stat sheet and discovered he was thirteen. He'd spent another year in the dungeon.

  He solved his second dungeon puzzle, a many-layered puzzle that was like a magic Rubik's Cube designed by an insane being. His reward was a small package that Identified as Hydra Heart.

  “The heart of a hydra? What am I supposed to do with this?”

  “I believe Book and those gnomes mentioned monster hearts are items of great value,” Flint said. “Adult hydras are rare, due to their tendency to eat one another. It should fetch a good price if you can find the right buyer.”

  “Indeed. I was hoping for more potions or dungeon stars.”

  ***

  Jeremy saw a scorpion and put on his blindfold. The scorpion charged. Without thinking, he dodged, then dodged again, as pincers slammed shut in his face.

  The trick to fighting blindfolded was to avoid thinking about it. If he thought about what he was doing, he always got hurt.

  The scorpion's stinger stabbed him in the leg. Ow! That's what he got for thinking about not thinking about it. He threw himself to the side and rolled, flung himself under the scorpion, punching upward into its softer belly, and then rolled to the side again as its stinger missed him by less than an inch. He stood up, pushed the scorpion onto its back, and punched its belly, feeling its soft armor crack.

  Jeremy heard/felt/sensed a rumble as a second scorpion approached, a much much larger one.

  He released his electric charge into the first one, stunning it, before throwing himself to the side, using the first scorpion for cover. A massive pincer slammed shut above him.

  Jeremy yanked off his blindfold and ran. The semi-truck-sized scorpion was the largest he'd encountered. It charged, crushing the first scorpion as it did so. Jeremy ran between two boulders, only for it to knock the boulders out of its path.

  Here we go again, he thought, running for the rock outcropping he'd used to lure two large scorpions to their deaths already. But the giant scorpion cut him off, getting between him and the outcropping.

  Flint appeared next to him, feet propped up on an easy chair, reading a book while holding a cup of tea. “This looks bad. Perhaps you should have brought your weapons?”