Zane was very grateful that the kitten was with him right now. The weight on his chest as she lay there kept him centered. Her and the vibrations from her purring sent a calming energy throughout his body. He really needed it right now.
The hole left by the absence of his friends and family felt deeper than ever. There were only a couple other times that he could remember feeling even a little this way. That was when he was injured and couldn't do any parkour. His friends and family had been there for him. Now he was here and all he had was this kitten. He hugged her close to him and her purring increased. He couldn't imagine going on right now if she wasn't there with him.
His mind drifted to those times when his friends and family had been there to cheer him up and cheer him on. Healing from a severe injury was never fun, but they made it bearable. He wasn't injured in a physical way right now, but he definitely felt as if some healing was needed. Gzi'om had been right. You never know when these emotions will hit you and try to drag you down.
He took deep breaths, concentrating on lifting the kitten with his chest as he breathed in. He did this for a long while and fell asleep.
Zane's eyes flew open as he took a quick and deep breath, his eyes darting back and forth as he was confused where he was. His breathing quickened as he started to panic, until he felt a soft touch on his face. He looks down and saw the kitten staring at him, with its paws stretched out to his face. He had the smile because the kitten was upside down as it did this. It was also still purring.
His mind cleared and he took a deep breath, remembering where he was. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but maybe he needed the rest. The emotional cloud that had begun to form in his mind was now at ease. However, waking up like that was hard. He felt like he had been having a vivid dream that had disappeared as soon as his eyes opened.
"Kitty, do you ever have dreams like that? Dreams that had so much in it and yet you can't remember a single thing about it when you wake up. You just have the emotions that were invoked from it. " He looked down at the cat. She rolled over and stretched her back with a big yawn. She jumped off his chest and went and sat on top of his pack, looking at him, as if to say, 'we should get going.'
"Yeah yeah yeah yeah," Zane said, getting up. " "Think we'll face a bunch of those Ratmen on this floor?"
The kitten nodded.
Zane smiled. "I hope we'll be able to communicate better someday. I wonder what the difference between these Ratmen and the one I just fought will be? The mutant rat I fought at the end of the first floor was obviously better than the ones that I fought on this floor. Let's go find out."
He left the fountain room and entered the third floor of the dungeon. The design of the dungeon was even more like what he expected from a dungeon. There were now multiple doors and he was meeting small groups of the rats he'd encountered on the first floor, though he could tell their level was higher. None of these rats had more than 30 hit points, so they didn't present any problem for him.
His third encounter into the floor was when he met the first of the Ratmen. This one was different than the one he had fought at the end of the second floor. It was only wearing a cloth tunic and had a dagger for a weapon. It had no helmet or shield. It also only had 100 hit points. He decided not to waste any time with it and moved in using his speed to quickly overwhelm and kill it. It dropped a rat's tooth and three penny coins. It gave him 40 XP, whereas the rats only gave him 10 XP a piece.
Most of the new rooms he found either held nothing or more enemies. The enemies always gave him loot and so he explored every room. The last room he checked before he found the door to the boss actually had a chest in it. He was ecstatic, but cautious. He hadn't run into a trap yet, but he didn't want to be caught unaware.
He first tapped the chest with his sword and pushed on it as well. He looked around the edges and on the hinge to see if there were any strings or buttons or anything he could see. He didn't see anything so he carefully lifted the lid and after it opened a few inches, he flung it open while jumping back.
Nothing happened, so he walked forward and looked inside. Inside was a coin purse and a ring. He picked up the ring and could feel that there was mana in it. So, this was a magic ring. He wasn't sure if it was cursed or not, but he wasn't going to take the chance. He put it in his inventory and hoped he'd have a way to identify it later. The coin purse held 20 of the penny coins and a coin about the size of a nickel that was still a brownish color but more yellow than the penny coins.
He put the coins in his inventory and looked the counter. It now said 70 CP, and one BP. "I think that the CP is probably copper pieces," Zane said to himself. "What metal could B stand for? The only things I can think of are brass or bronze. I wonder which one it is."
He left the room and continued to the end of the hall where he saw two Ratmen guarding the boss room door. They were like all the other Ratmen on this level, armed with only a knife. This would be the first time he fought more than one of them. He hope they would be him a little bit of a challenge.