The light disappeared, and I could see again. I groaned as I rubbed my eyes, taking in the tiled walls of yet another waiting room. What was with this Dungeon and its obsession with the eclectic tiles? The cream, mint, brown, and black swirled together in utter hideousness, hurting my eyes worse than the light had. And still it refused to provide chairs or any kind of seating. If it was going to give us all these waiting rooms, it might as well make them proper ones.


    “Alfie sure loves his waiting rooms,” Bethany said. She stretched her arms. “But good work, everyone. We took that boss down pretty easily. And we got a level up.”


    Blossom nodded. “I remember helping Grandma in her garden as a kid, and I didn’t understand why she complained so much about the pill bugs. Now, I get it.” She shuddered. “If I never see one of those things again, it’ll be too soon.”


    “I killed that huge [Squirrel]. It was awesome!” Fern gushed.


    Peter shook his head, still grinning. “A [Vengeful Squirrel]. Grandma always had it out for that bushy tailed guy, and it looks like he knew how to hold a grudge just as well.”


    I glanced around the room, but there was no doorway leading out. “How long are we trapped in here? What’s the point of sending us here instead of directly to the next floor?”


    A white dog-man appeared in front of us, his eyes more boogery than usual. “Hello, demanding children. Welcome to the second floor of Gram-Gram’s Dungeon.”


    “Do the rules change on each floor? Why are you here?” Bethany put her hands on her hips.


    Alfie rolled his eyes. “You’d learn that if you would only shut up and let me speak.”


    “Careful how you talk to my sister, dog-boy.” Peter took a menacing step forward.


    Alfie bared his teeth. “You forget who you’re speaking to. I am the [Dungeon Manager], and I can send you right back to the tutorial if I wanted to.”


    I pulled my brother back, desperate to not further offend the guy who controlled all our fates. “We’re sorry. We’re just confused. Please continue, Alfredo.”


    He sniffed in disgust but moved on. “Ahem. Welcome to the second floor of Gram-Gram’s Dungeon. This room represents your new reset point, so dying on this floor will bring you back here, and the policy will continue with each floor you arrive at. Do you wish to continue as a single team?”


    We all glanced at each other, but it was Fern who spoke first.


    “No. Blossom and I are our own team, Girl Gang. We don’t want to keep going with those slowpokes,” she declared.


    “Slowpokes? We weren’t that far behind you,” I said.


    “Regardless of silly cousin disputes, the lady’s wish shall be answered. Each team will receive a personalized [quest] so it was important to establish that beforehand. The boss entrance will work the same as the previous floor. Barring any extreme or unfortunate circumstances, I will see you on the next floor.” Alfie clapped his hands and disappeared.


    A grating noise sounded from the side, and part of the wall slid away to reveal the entrance to the second floor. At the same time, a dinging sound alerted me to a new notification.


    [New Quest!]


    [Team Spirit:]


    [Complete a battle where every member of the team participates equally.]


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    [Reward: Free level up]


    Blossom and Fern sprinted off towards the exit, but Bethany grabbed Peter as he tried to join their haste.


    “Not so far. Let’s take a second to talk about this [quest] and handle our level up stats,” she said.


    “B-but–” Peter motioned to the door as our two cousins passed through it and then disappeared down the corridor.


    “Eh-eh. We’re a strategic team, Peter. These extra five minutes aren’t going to make a difference.” Bethany gave him her typical older-sister glare, and he relinquished to her wishes.


    I already had my screen pulled up to see my status after leveling up and then killing the boss.


    [Temporary Class:]


    [Kinetic Mage, Level 5]


    [MP: 3/30]


    [XP: 240/500]


    [Attributes:]


    [Strength: 1] [+]


    [Agility: 3] [+]


    [Speed: 3] [+]


    [Intelligence: 6] [+]


    [Charisma: 2] [+]


    [Luck: 1] [+]


    [Attribute Points Available: 1]


    “I’m putting my next point into [Agility] again,” I told my siblings as I pressed the [+]. It went up to four, and at the same time, a new notification box appeared on the screen.


    [Class-Centered Attributes Reached a Sum of 10!]


    [New Passive Ability Gained:]


    [MP Conservation]


    [All skills require half MP to use]


    “No way. I gained a passive since my [Agility] and [Intelligence] sum up to ten. My [skills] require less [MP],” I said excitedly.


    “Oooo. I didn’t know we could get passives. I’m going to put my point in [Charisma] then since that and [Intelligence] are my two most important attributes,” Bethany said. “Though I won’t reach a total of ten in them until our next level up.”


    “[Speed] and [Strength] are my two class attributes, but I’ve been pouring my points into [Agility] and [Luck] instead.” Peter huffed. “I guess I’ll do [Strength] this time, but it’s going to take a few levels to get there.”


    “Did you get a new [skill] this time, Mads?” Bethany asked.


    “Yes.” I navigated to my [skills] tab. “It’s called [Push All].”


    [Class Skills:]


    [Push: Level 3] [+]


    [Pull: Level 3] [+]


    [Push All: Level 1] [+]


    [Skill Points Available: 1]


    [Passive Skills:]


    [MP Conservation]


    Before I decided where to put my point, I pressed the name of my new [skill] to see the description.


    [Push All:]


    [Pushes a group of objects of enemies within view and within five feet of each other up to 5 feet away.]


    [Cost: 2 MP]


    I read the description aloud to my siblings. “I’m going to put my [skill point] there since it really came in handy against the [Garden’s Banes]. Being able to shove a lot of enemies at once is convenient.” I exited out of the description window and then pressed the [+] next to [Push All]


    “Another lame [skill] for a lame [class].” Peter rolled his eyes. “Are we done with this? Can we get going? I want to get out of here before Landon and his sisters arrive.”


    “Alright, alright. Let’s go. We can discuss how we want to tackle the [quest] while we walk,” Bethany consented.


    Peter eagerly jogged to the doorway, with me and Bethany on his heels. The corridor we entered was similar to a man-made cave, just like the one from the first waiting room, and it only took a few minutes of walking before we arrived at the actual entrance to the second floor.


    The three of us stopped at the distinct line where the walls changed from cobblestone to light-blue painted walls and the floor went from packed dirt to worn carpet. Instead of floating orbs in a black void, the ceiling was vaulted with cheap chandeliers hanging from it. The hallway split into more corridors further down, with many branching paths off of it to create what might have been a maze. It was closed off and tight, the complete opposite of the open dirt expanse that made up the first floor of the Dungeon.


    “Is this… Grandma’s living room but dungeon-ified?” Bethany asked.


    I noticed a set of framed pictures on the wall, all of extended family members on the Marks side of our family.


    “Yes. Yes it is,” I said.


    This floor was going to make for an interesting change of pace.