Next, Carl chooses his race and class. With Mordecai’s help, he chooses a race called Primal, which has disadvantages, such as losing one point in all base stats, but allows for greater progress later and unlocks several Earth-based classes. Mordecai explains that Primals were a progenitor race in the universe. However, their original appearance is unknown, so players who choose this race retain their current physical form, just with the added benefits.

Next, Carl chooses an Earth-based class called Compensated Anarchist, which includes benefits to Carl’s bomb-making and explosives kills, as well as increases in intelligence and charisma. He will also be able to choose a subclass when he reaches floor six. Carl and Donut must then distribute the points they accumulated on the first two levels. Donut now has 20 Strength, 29 Intelligence, 6 Constitution, 21 Dexterity, and 70 Charisma. Carl has 13 Strength, 5 Intelligence, 19 Constitution, 11 Dexterity, and 25 Charisma.

Meanwhile, the dungeon announcer states that there are 700,000 players remaining, and they have eight days to complete this floor. This time span is shorter than usual, proving that the Borant Corporation is trying to speed things up. Mordecai leads Carl and Donut outside, now allowed to leave the guildhall because he is Donut’s manager.

While the first and second floors corresponded to geographical location on Earth, the entrance to the third floor is randomized, meaning that crawlers—other players forced into the game—could end up anywhere. They may interact with crawlers from different continents now. They are now in the Over City, a traditional element of the Dungeon Crawler World, with small, medium, and large settlements surrounded by abandoned city ruins, with a volcano beneath. This urban landscape will reappear every three levels. The NPCs are real living beings bioengineered by the Borant Corporation and implanted with memories corresponding to the floor and the game’s storylines.

The settlement Carl and Donut are in has shops and guildhalls. Some guildhalls are specific to one’s race, class, or skill, where players can train. Carl and Donut can both enter Rogue halls, Donut can enter Bard halls, and Carl can access Fighter halls. The settlements also have Village Guards. Mordecai warns not to antagonize them, and not to harass or attack the other NPCs: “[T]here is no jail here. Only the death penalty” (34). If they get in trouble with the guards, he tells them to run, as they are powerful but slow.

Beyond the gate are the abandoned city ruins, filled with rotting buildings and monsters. The floor’s storyline is a magical world with six layers sitting within a volcano. The Over City is the top layer. One day, a monster at the bottom of the volcano released a poisonous gas that killed or transformed 90% of the population. The survivors’ descendants live in the settlements. Those transformed into monsters live in the ruins. Unlike the previous floors, this one has night and day. The streets are not safe at night. Mordecai recommends that Carl and Donut travel the ruins to reach a “medium skyfowl settlement” (36), which will be larger, with more shops and better prices. Mordecai will automatically join them when they enter a safe room. Carl and Donut leave, and Mordecai heads for a pub.

In the ruins, Donut trains Mongo, her loyal kitten-sized dragon companion, and Zev, their publicist and handler outside the dungeon, contacts them over the chat. She will have an interview lined up for them on the fourth night. As they walk past abandoned buildings, a new mob creature attacks them: Circus Lemurs from Grimaldi’s Traveling Circus who were transformed during the poison gas event. A new notice says they have triggered a Quest titled “The Show Must Go On” (41). The Quest involves finding out why the circus still exists centuries after the poison gas event and “put[ing] an end to its reign of terror” (41).

Over chat, Carl asks Mordecai what a quest is, but Mordecai’s response is garbled nonsense. Carl realizes he is drunk, though they only left him 15 minutes ago. Mordecai says that incubi have a low tolerance for alcohol and then stops answering. Lemurs continue to attack them as Carl, Donut, and Mongo run. Carl uses a smoke bomb, but a breeze clears the smoke. They run into a horrifying clown creature. Donut fires a missile, and Carl jumps on its chest, killing it. They finally reach a safe room. When they enter, Mordecai teleports to their location. Drunk, he vomits and passes out.

Mongo has now risen three levels and doubled in size. Carl and Donut open their achievement boxes while Mordecai is unconscious. As a prize for triggering their first quest, Carl and Donut each receive an “Earth Hobby Potion,” which will give them knowledge of an Earth hobby at random. Donut’s new hobby is Scutelliphily; Carl’s is Cesta Punta. Neither know what that means. They each also receive Earth items: Donut receives a candle and a cat tree; Carl receives a potted cactus and Louis L’Amour books he liked as a child. Additionally, Donut receives a new spell called Clockwork Triplicate, which allows her to copy pets or minions, though it only lasts a minute.

They decide to go kill clowns while they wait for Mordecai to wake up. Out in the ruins, they spot three dead crawlers and a lemur clearly trying to lure them into a trap. Donut attacks the lemur from behind. Though successful, Donut took dangerous risks, scaring Carl. She insists that she needs to set a good example from Mongo, but Carl argues that “we don’t put our lives in danger for our pets” (58), hurting her feelings. However, he views her as a friend, not a pet. Hoping to convey this, he calls her “partner” (58) as they move on.

Carl and Donut approach the three dead crawlers. Two appear human, but the third looks like a tree creature. All three are women with the same last name, Bautista. Carl notes that there is enough blood for five or six victims. Someone has already looted the bodies but missed some items, including an anklet called the Enchanted Anklet of the Fallen Oak, which Donut takes.

They move on, attacking more lemurs until they reach a large building. Through a broken window, they see a circus inside the hollowed-out building, with three large tents and cages filled with creatures, as well as mobs wandering about the area. The animals and clown mobs are preparing for battle. One circus poster reads, “Tsarina Signet and Her Amazing Battle Squad” over which someone has scribbled, “Wanted. Traitor” (62-63). Over the chat, Mordecai contacts them, finally awake. He tells them to leave and not get involved in any quests.

They turn to leave but must fight through lemurs and magic mortar rounds shot from circus cannons. The ground collapses, and they fall into a basement. Donut uses her Puddle Jumper spell to bring them all back up to street level, where they find a beautiful elf woman covered in intricate tattoos. They recognized her as the woman from the Tsarina Signet poster. A notice explains that she is a Half-Naiad, Half-Elf Elite bastard daughter of the High Elf King. Elites are special, powerful, one-of-a-kind NPCs that appear as either white or red dots with a black cross.

Carl feels himself inexplicably aroused by Signet. Mordecai tells Carl to break his own finger to negate Signet’s Charm spell, then tells them to retreat. However, it is too late. The circus creatures surround them.