A brilliant banner, composed of glowing lights hanging high in the sky with no visible supports, welcomed me to this strange version of Hell I now found myself in. The green grass came up to my ankles, and the sky felt unnaturally blue without any kind of cloud or sun in it–only the banner.


    [Welcome to Gram-Gram’s Dungeon!]


    Gram-Gram’s what now?


    When I and the other grandkids were really little, we all used to call Grandma Marks Gram-Gram, but seeing the title hanging in the sky like that made me angry.


    How dare this Dungeon take such a precious memory and incorporate it into its monster-murder-haven! I had no idea what it wanted with me, but I sure as heck knew that I was going to teach this creep a lesson for disrespecting my grandmother’s memory in such an obscene way. This Dungeon being was going to regret ever choosing me–


    “Madison Howard?” a whiny voice asked, drawing me from my internal rant.


    As I turned to look at the speaker, my jaw dropped.


    It was Grandma’s old dog, Alfie. Or rather, a person wearing a hyperrealistic Alfie costume. He had the white fur, the crusty eye boogers, and the glistening nose, but he was also standing on two legs like a Human and over six feet tall. Not to mention he was holding a clipboard in his hands/paws.


    Still, there was no doubt that this was some perverted version of Alfie. He was even wearing the fraying green and red sweater Grandma had knitted him for his second ever Christmas twenty years prior. The problem was that Alfie died over three years ago, so it was actually just another disturbing addition to this freaky place. Above his head was a title of sorts, floating there just like in a video game.


    [Dungeon Manager]


    “Alfie? Is that you?” I asked in disbelief.


    “Hmph. This is a formal setting so I believe my proper name would be appropriate, Ms. Madison,” the dog-man said with a sniff.


    I rolled my eyes. “Sorry. Alfredo? Is that you?”


    “Better.” He cleared his throat. “Madison Howard, you are a second generation descendant of Francine White Marks, and as per her wishes, you’ve been invited to participate in a the competition for–”


    “‘Per her wishes?’” I interrupted him. “You mean to tell me Grandma Marks wanted me to get sucked into a Dungeon? I don’t believe that for a second.”


    Dungeons were terrifying, mazes full of monsters. System-Integrated-Users existed so they could inside and cull the monsters before they overran the Dungeon entrance and came into the world to kill people.


    The dog-man looked down at his clipboard. “Mrs. Marks was very clear in how she wished her System-Integrated-User ability to be passed down. She wanted one of the grandchildren to get it, but she also wanted to ensure it went to someone who could properly utilize it.”


    I chuckled. “Her what? You’re not actually trying to tell me that my dear, eighty year old grandmother was a User, are you? Because that would be ludicrous.”


    Alfie peered down at me. “Nothing ludicrous about it. Mrs. Francine White Marks was an original System-Integrated-User, chosen during the first year of Advent.”


    I laughed harder. Grandma Marks? A User? That was a good joke. The only “monsters” Grandma had ever fought was that family of squirrels who moved into her garden seven years ago, and even then it’d been obvious the old woman was no fighter.


    “Ms. Madison, compose yourself. This is a serious matter,” Alfie chided.


    I wiped the tears from my eyes that had formed, stilling the last of my giggles. Whatever this Dungeon was doing, it sure as heck didn’t know the first thing about my grandmother.


    “Sorry.” I took a breath to fully calm myself. “Go on Alfie–sorry, Mr. Alfredo.”


    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    The dog-man glared at me before returning his gaze to his clipboard. “Ahem. As I was saying, Mrs. Marks wished for the System-Integration to be passed down to the most worthy of her grandchildren, which is why this temporary Dungeon was formed upon her death and you received a temporary class. The first grandchild to successfully complete the Dungeon will be awarded System-Integration, becoming a User as you so crassly put it, and given a full class. They will also be given the one and only title of [Grandma’s Favorite].”


    “Did you say ‘first?’ You mean this is a competition?” My palms started to sweat. I was already dreading seeing most of my cousins again, but now I was going to have to compete with them in some twisted life-or-death game for something as stupid as becoming a User?


    “Yes. Mrs. Marks was a single System-Integrated-User, and thus she was only able to pass on a single System-Integration.” Alfie tossed the clipboard behind him, but instead of crashing into grass, it disappeared into thin air.


    Before I could ask him about the mysterious clipboard, he clapped his paws together and began speaking again.


    “Now that we’ve clarified that, let’s move on to the official tutorial. Obviously you won’t make it very far unless you understand the [temporary class] you’ve been granted.” Alfie waved his hand, and the blue screen appeared in front of me once again.


    [Temporary Class:]


    [Kinetic Mage, Level 1]


    [MP: 10/10]


    [XP: 0/25]


    [Attributes:]


    [Strength: 1]


    [Agility: 2]


    [Speed: 2]


    [Intelligence: 5]


    [Charisma: 2]


    [Luck: 1]


    [Attribute Points Available: 0]


    “This is your physical overview. [MP] stands for Mana Points, and it is used for activating skills. Be careful not to run out as hitting zero will have physical consequences. It currently regenerates at one point per a minute, but that will improve as you level up. [XP] is a measure of how close you are to the next level. I trust you understand the purpose of the basic attributes?” Alfie asked.


    “Yeah. Of course. I’ve played video games before,” I said.


    “Great. You will get an [Attribute Point] every time you level up which you can place into one of them. As you are a [Kinetic Mage], you will find [Intelligence] and [Agility] to be your most important stats.” Alfie waved his paw-hand-thing, and the screen flipped to the next tab.


    [Skills:]


    [Push: Level 2]


    [Pull: Level 1]


    [Skill Points Available: 0]


    “These are your current [skills]. It varies from [class] to [class], but you will gain a new [skill] approximately every three to five levels. Every level you will gain a [Skill Point] you can use to level up a current [skill] and improve its effects. To activate a skill, simply say its name with the clear intent to use it. Do you understand?”


    “Yeah. I’ve got it.” I crossed my arms, unimpressed with the [Dungeon Manager’s] prickly tone. I wasn’t exactly the idiot he was making me out to be, after all I was an engineering student at Stanford University.


    “Great.” He clapped his paws, making the screen disappear. “Let’s practice each [skill] to ensure you can use them correctly.”


    Alfie pointed at the ground about ten feet away, and then a small bullseye target popped out of the ground. “Use each [skill] once on the target.”


    “Seems easy enough,” I said, turning to face it. I shook my shoulders out and then pointed at the target. “Push.”


    Nothing happened.


    “Remember, you must have clear intent behind the command. Try again.”


    “I’ll show you clear intent, mangy dog,” I murmured. Once again I pointed at the target and spoke the command, “[Push],” but this time I made sure to think extra hard [Push] at the same time.


    An indescribable feeling flew from my fingertips, and the target jumped back twelve feet and then fell over, sending a puff of grass up around it.


    I fist pumped the air. It worked! The weird-magic-[Skill] did the thing! That was crazy! Maybe that’s how it felt to be a Jedi and use the force!


    “Wow. Great job,” Alfie said sarcastically. He twirled his finger/paw/thing, and the target came back to its original position. “Now the other one, if you please Ms. Madison.”


    I shook my head. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the dog house.”


    Alfie growled quietly. “The [skill], Ms. Madison.”


    I sighed and pointed at the target again. “[Pull].”


    Now that I had the trick of what it meant to use “clear intent,” it wasn’t hard to activate the [skill].


    That same magical feeling escaped from my hand, and the target rushed through the grass, leaving shallow trenches as it went and ending five feet closer to me than where it started.


    “Well, this System-Integration thing isn’t so bad after all,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. “That was a pretty easy tutorial.”


    “It’s not over yet, Ms. Madison. Now you must put these [skills] into practice.”


    I looked at Alfie with wide eyes, and he gestured behind me.


    Turning, I came face-to-face with my first, real-live monster.