《The Dungeon of Stories》 C: 1 - The Birth of The Dungeon of Stories Deep within the void, the mostly ?????????????????? that made up what lay outside the Dimensions, Realms, and Universes of the Omniverse, a small bubble, a small dimension was formed. Inside the small empty dimensional bubble at the center, floated a glowing white orb. This orb was a Dungeon Core, but not just any Dungeon Core. A Dungeon Core of the Dimensional and World types. Typically, Dungeon Cores are earth-born, forming deep within the earth of planets across the dimensions and realms of the Omniverse. However, Dimensional Type Dungeon Cores are special, they form their own mobile dimensions that allow them to attach themselves to other Dimensions, Realms, and Universes and can freely unattach themselves and move onto another if they so wish. When attached to a different Dimension the Core sets an entrance into the Dungeon through a tear, typically a ''crack'' in the Dimension, that allows free travel through both the Dungeon and the dimension it is attached to. But even then, a Dungeon isn''t so limited, if it uses enough energy, the Dimensional type Core could create a Permanent Portal that would link the Dimension to whatever dimension it''s attached to. Using Portal Gates, the Dungeon would still have a connection yet be able to unattach and move to another Dimension and attach to those as well, allowing it to be connected to multiple worlds at any given time, so long as they are strong enough. The Dungeon could have as many connections as it wanted through Portal Gates so long as it could keep up the drain, allowing for a lot more Dungeon Divers to enter its depths and therefore, allowing it to grow faster. As for the World-type Dungeons, they were another type on the rarer side alongside Dimension dungeon types. You see, most Dungeon Cores are quite...slow when newly born, and typically are guided by instincts till they either reach a certain age or their 25th floor and they typically embody a single ''concept.'' For example, Fire, if a core embodied such a thing, they''d usually end up molding their monsters and environments to suit the theme, such as Dragons, Lizardmen, Kobolds, and so on. World-type Dungeon Cores are much more...complex. They are typically born quite intelligent and curious. These Dungeons typically embody many things, instead of just one, and tend to create complex ecosystems and environments in their depths. The Dungeons embody ''Worlds'' and if left unchecked, will create entire monster societies and entire ''worlds'' inside their depths, making them quite dangerous for Dungeon Delvers and Divers due to the many different dangers and traps, but equally more valuable due to their unique loot and monsters. Which brings up another thing, "If Dungeons are so dangerous, why don''t people destroy them?" The answer? They do, but not often, most Dungeons are kept functioning due to the resources and materials they offer as well as the training and challenges they offer for the inhabitants of the worlds, making them a valuable commodity to most worlds with some worlds even discovering how to enslave and use Dungeon Cores for themselves. But what makes this newborn Dungeon Core different from others? Not much, besides one thing. It had a strange set of memories. Memories of worlds and stories. Worlds of Men, Mer, and Gods. Stories of unimaginable horrors and madness. Knowledge of technologies and magic never heard of before. How did this Core know this? It...He doesn''t know. What the core did know, was that these stories and worlds were created by creatures called ''Humans'' on a planet called ''Earth.'' If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. As for the Core, it was looking upon the welcoming system screen that accompanies most Dungeon Cores'' birth across the Omniverse. /----------=+=----------\ Welcome to the System! Please select a name for yourself, your Dungeon, and a Username for the System, or one will be automatically generated by the System. \----------=+=----------/ ''Names? Hmmm,'' The Core questioned. "Call me Kohl. My Dungeon shall be named The Dungeon of Stories, and as for a username, I''d like to be called Prometheus, named after the Titan God of Fire who defied and stole from his fellow Gods and Titans and gifted Humanity the Primordial Fire so that they could grow strong and survive in their cruel world." /----------=+=----------\ Names noted. Generating Status...done! \----------=+=----------/ /----------=+=----------\ Personal Name: Kohl (Pronounced as Coal) Dungeon Name: The Dungeon of Stories Race: Dungeon Core Race SubType: [World] and [Dimension] Mana: 1,000/1,000 Units Mana Generation: 100 Units per Day [Blueprints] [Entity Templates] [Rules: 0/3 Used] [Increase Rule Cap: 5,000 Mana] [System Store] [Core Points(CP): 1,000] \----------=+=----------/ /----------=+=----------\ ---=[Dungeon Core Chat]=--- --[Local Section of the Omniverse]-- [System Announcement] - Welcome User: Prometheus to chat and his new Dungeon Life! [Grasping Roots] - A new Core? What beauty will they bring, I wonder? My Children and I shall watch and see. [Necrotic Will] - Hopefully they bring more undeath to this disgusting omniverse filled with a bloating amount of life, ugh. [Wandering Hunter] - New prey? I''ll find you soon, and feast on your essence! [Light''s Hammer] - A new friend I can bring into the light? Come, my brothers and sisters, let''s show these heathens the might of light and welcome another into the fold! [Prometheus] - ... \----------=+=----------/ Ignoring his apparently edgy fellow Cores, Kohl focused on his Dungeon, his currently empty dimension that was almost entirely empty, if not for his glowing core at the center. Pondering, Kohl questioned what to do first. Coming up with what he needed to do, he first began changing the shape of his Dimensional Bubble from an orb to a cube easily and without cost. Motes of light escaped his Core and stone, dirt, and various other materials began to form before falling down, filling up the bottom of the cube. -500 Units of Mana. Once 20% of the cube was filled with rock and material, he rose the ground by another 5% with rich soil. Once that was done, another 200 mana was spent to begin pumping oxygen and various other gasses into the dimension to make it breathable for the most common organics it had memories of. Looking upon the brown and desolate land below his core, he pondered what he should make...what story he was wanting to create. His Dimension''s size at the moment was 10 Miles from one side to the other. And while it may not seem like much space, Kohl can always start infusing the Dimension with mana, expanding the border of the bubble. He had many ways he could begin constructing his dungeon, but he wouldn''t be satisfied with simple or chaotic designs like other Cores. He wanted to make something truly beautiful, like the worlds depicted in the stories in his head. After some thought, he decided to start with a forest. Sure, a forest was kind of a cliche when it came to Dungeons, but it would help him start out where his monsters could use the shrubbery, foliage, and trees as cover. But who says he will go with a basic forest? No, he planned something different. He wanted to first start with a Red Wood Forest, with gigantic trees that could reach up to over 300 feet in height and 27 feet wide! (91.44+ and 8.2+ Meters respectively) Why would he want to do this? It''s simple, he could add a much larger variety of monsters to live in the forest. Such as birds that nest inside the trees, snakes that wrap around the trees waiting in ambush or lie in wait inside burrows, land-based predators that lay in wait inside and outside the trees, magical creatures that hasten the growth and health of these trees, and so much more. With a plan now in mind, he continued. More and more mana is drained from his core. -500 Units of Mana Seeds were planted in the soil, ponds and a river were made, and grass was planted. Most newborn Cores would have begun with experimentation or the information they purchased from the system store when they start their dungeons, usually having to spend all the core points they were given at the start, but because of the memories inside his head, all he had to do was recreate was he saw and ''experienced,'' not having to spend a single CP for blueprints or templates. [Coast Redwood (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Giant Sequoia (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Dawn Redwood (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Sword Fern (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Shrubbery (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Grass (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] [Long Grass (Plant) has been added to blueprints!] It would take time, a lot of time, for the trees and plants to grow to full maturity, especially the trees, which would take many ''human'' years. Unfortunately, Kohl didn''t have any more mana, just creating the plants and planting them took the rest of its mana. Setting its internal clock for 10 days, approximately when its Mana capacity would be full once again according to its status, Kohl went to sleep, or whatever was equivalent for Dungeon Cores. C: 2 - The First Monsters When Kohl ''awoke'' he was pleasantly surprised to find that quite a bit of the plants inside his dungeon grew much further than what it expected. It seemed each and every plant grew quite fast, at least compared to how long it would normally take naturally growing. Most of the grass was fully grown excluding the long grass, the Trees were small saplings, and the ferns and shrubbery were about a fourth of the way done growing. So, Kohl seeing that his mana was full once again, started pumping its mana into the ground, water, and plants. -100 Mana -100 Mana Eventually, all 1,000 Units of Mana were once again emptied from its core, and as Kohl expected, the plants after absorbing the mana began to grow at a much faster rate. The plants must be absorbing the mana Kohl pumped into the ground, water, and air, hastening their growth. Once again setting its mental clock, Kohl couldn''t wait to see how far the plants would grow after all of the mana he pumped into them, and Kohl went to sleep. When Kohl awoke he was in for a pleasant surprise! Apparently, imbuing so much mana into the environment led to a few natural monsters spawning within its dungeon. Among them, there were four Plant Monsters called ''Spirit Trees'', three monsters called ''Wood Sprites,'' and what interested Kohl most of all, an ''Earth Elemental''. Based on the stories in his mind, Kohl has some idea of what each of his new monsters was. Spirit Trees were Trees that awoke a Spirit, basically becoming slightly conscious of their surroundings, the older a Spirit Tree got, the more intelligent and wise it became. Some Trees evolved and obtained defensive and offensive abilities to protect themselves, and some just grew to become massive trees that towered over their world, their roots running throughout their entire planet. Some were even written to be able to house entire worlds on their branches, making them similar to world trees that connected multiple worlds together through their roots. From what Kohl remembered, Sprites were tiny creatures the size of insects that were playful and mischievous, acting like rebellious and playful children, they loved to sing and play with the trees and anything else they encountered even if they didn''t play back, and when Winter arose, the Sprites would stay with the trees, singing to them, helping them survive through winter and the loneliness that arose after all the birds and other animals would leave them due to the harsh cold. The Sprites have beautiful and glistening membranous wings with their bodies taking the shape of humanoids. Most of their bodies were covered with green leaves, and their skin was snow white. Their eyes, however, were completely black, void of any features that would indicate where they were looking and make the looker feel as if they are looking into an abyss. Their hair could range from something as simple as black hair, to as exotic as pink and purple. And these Sprites were young, basically children. /----------=+=----------\ Name: Unnamed Race: Young Tree Sprite Level: 1/5 EXP: 0% [A/N: ^ Saving me the trouble of having to do a lot of math, more than I already have to] Health: 15/15 (2.5 per hour) Mana 3/3 (1.25 per hour) Stamina: 15/15 (5.0 Per Hour) [Phyiscal Stats] Strength: 1 Agility: 15 Endurance: 5 Vitality: 5 Preception: 5 Reaction: 30 [Mental Stats] Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 1 Willpower: 1 The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Resistance: 5 Control: 5 Focus: 1 General Skills: None Racial Skills: [Flight], [Nature''s Communication], [Nature''s Bond], [Fae Language] Resistances: [Nature Magic Lvl 30] Level Up Rewards: +0.5 HP, +1 Stamina, +1 MP, +1 Free Stat Points] \----------=+=----------/ All it would take is a slap from a Modern Human to cripple and nearly kill one of the Sprites, they were that weak, but they had one advantage, they could react and fly faster than a Human could move and react, and the Sprites have quite the sharp teeth. As for the Spirit Tree, its stats were abysmal, with it only having any stats in Endurance, Vitality, Wisdom, and Intelligence, and even then for its mental stats they were at 1, they were less intelligent than even animals, simply feeling emotions and living simple lives. As for the Earth Elemental, it was a true combat entity, Elementals from what Kohl remembered could become living natural disasters if given enough time, or even stronger. Kohl reminisced in memory of a beautiful woman coated in ash and flames fighting one on one with a Lighting Elemental, their blows capable of causing a normal human to disintegrate, both so strong that they''d be walking army killers and city destroyers with the sheer might they could bring forth. The Earth Elemental was weak right now, barely the size of a human hand, floating mindlessly across the forest without a care. As for the plants, the only things left to finish maturing were the trees, many of the shrubs have even begun bearing berries that the Sprites have been eating. Kohl made sure to save the new monsters into its entity list, so if he needed to he could create more or revive the ones currently living. To create Spirit Trees, it would cost 50 Mana, and Sprites cost 10 Mana a piece, while the Earth Elemental cost 150 Mana to create. And while Kohl would normally just dump all of its mana into summoning Entites and Monsters, he frankly did not need them right now and could use the mana elsewhere. Kohl suspects that the forest will soon be finished growing in a few days, as he can still feel that some of its mana lingered in the soil, still increasing the plants'' rate of growth. The question is, what should he use his mana on? He could expand his mana capacity by enlarging his core, he could try to experiment and try to find other ways to increase his mana capacity or find ways to increase his mana generation, or he could even begin searching for his first dimension to attach to. He had many things to do, he just had to decide what came first. It took him only moments before deciding on finding ways to increase his passive mana generation. The question was, how? Then, Kohl had an idea. What if Kohl managed to create something that drew the void energy from the void and converted the energy into Dungeon Mana? It should be possible, Kohl needed to only figure out how to do it. In the meantime, Kohl pumped 50% of its mana into his core, increasing his core''s size, and capacity depending on the amount of mana he used. -500 Units Mana [500/1025] Kohl did the math, 20 Units of its mana for a single point increase in its capacity. As for its size, it only noticed an increase of 1/5th of an inch in its diameter. Moving on, Kohl began experimenting. He first created a large stone disc that lay within the dirt and soil of his dungeon. He needed to learn how to enchant. Which, would have been near impossible for Kohl if he was any regular dungeon, but he is not. The stories in his mind would greatly help, he just had to choose which enchanting system to use. He could go Tamrielic Enchantments(Elder Scrolls), Azeroth Enchanting (World of Warcraft), Minecraftian Enchantments, the Outsider''s Enchantments(Dishonored), and so much more. Eventually, Kohl made his decision. Tamrielic Enchantments were fueled by souls and mana. The Enchanted items would be imbued with magical effects or ''spells'' that a mage was familiar with. In the world of Tamriel, to learn enchantments, students, and mages were taught to destroy the item and its enchantment and absorb the energy left behind, gaining knowledge of how to cast that enchantment themselves. The Enchantments were limited to the senses and limbs of the user and their knowledge. [A/N: Following is copied from wiki] According to the mages of Tamriel, once enchanted, an item will not enchant again. This is called the Law of Firsts. The first enchantment is the only one that takes. However, a mage named Brarilu Theran discovered the secrets of imbuing an item with two enchantments. According to the mage, a Dragon shared the secret that a skillful enchanter can weave two enchantments simultaneously into an item. For men and elves, the limit is two. The dragon said that men and elves have two arms, two legs, two eyes, and two ears. When asked why that mattered, the Dragon simply laughed. The enchanter must weave one enchantment with the left hand while weaving the other with the right. The eyes must focus on one and only one enchantment, while the ears only pay attention to the other. When asked about legs, the Dragon laughed again. Brarilu spent two years mastering the technique and managed to make a sword with both fire and fear enchantments. Kohl would not be limited by mortal senses and limbs, basically allowing him to possibly enchant a single item with however many enchantments he wished, and even then, the item would only be limited by material, the skill of the creator, and the soul gem used to set the charge of the item. Let''s say an item, particularly a steel sword that was created by the best blacksmith in the entire world and enchanted with extreme durability, unbelievable sharpness, the ability to set targets aflame, drain the target''s vitality with each slash, and even an enchantment that would paralyze the target after being hit, but the sword and enchantments were only charged with a Petty Soul gem. After just a single slash, if even that, the enchantments would run out of charge, and fail, making the steel sword just that, a steel sword. However, if the enchantments were fueled by a Grand Soul Gem or even a Black Soul Gem? The enchantments could last dozens if not hundreds of attacks before needing to be recharged depending on the skill and efficiency of the enchanter. So, what Kohl was planning, was stacking an absurd amount of enchantments on a single item, and having the enchantments work in a specific sequence. The Enchantment Kohl was thinking of would draw in the void energy, the second enchantment would safely store the energy, the third enchantment would slowly drain the stored energy, the fourth enchantment would slowly convert the energy into mana, while however many other enchantments would be used to reinforce the item''s durability, mana attraction, and other traits to make the item self-efficient and capable of running on a very small amount of soul energy and mana, but generate much more than it consumed. There''s just one problem with this plan, Kohl didn''t have the exact ''knowledge'' that the Mages of Tamriel managed to obtain after countless years of study ad experimentation. Kohl would have to start from scratch and relearn all of the enchantments himself, which would take a ???????? long time, especially with the knowledge and memories of the worlds and stories being mostly from an observation point of view. 3 - First Enchantment It took who knows how many days, but Kohl managed to finally create his Enchantments, he even found two ways to do so at that! But they were not the ways he was aiming for. For example, the first type of enchantment he managed was ''Intent.'' Such as flooding an object with mana and adding an intent to what the Enchantment should do. Such as if Kohl filled up a sword with mana and gave it the intent ''The Blade will become very hot upon saying "Flame On" and will extinguish when the phrase "Flame Off" is said, allowing for a sword to become very hot and catch on fire. Of course, Kohl would have to guide where the intent is supposed to work, or the entire sword would burn very hot, which includes the handle. But what Kohl found, is that only one or two ''intents'' can be placed on a single object before it would begin to break down, causing the previous two intents to cease. The other Enchantment type? Runic Symbols. For example, carving a Bear on grieves would give someone great strength and vitality, but the amount depends on the understanding of the symbol and how much mana is inputted into the item, the Runic Enchantment relied more on Images, Feelings, Understanding, and just like the first, the amount of Mana in the enchantment. Kohl had found two types of Enchantments so far, Intent and Runic Symbols, but for the life of him, Kohl could not understand why it couldn''t recreate the Enchantments of Tamriel. Frustrated, Kohl set aside that project and focused on the two Enchantment Styles it did discover. In the last five days since it began attempting to enchant, Kohl was only using the 500 Mana it had left after using half of the mana in its core to improve it, and now that five days, it used the 500 Mana to once again improve its core, raising its capacity from 1,025 Units to 1,050 Units. Kohl has also kept an eye on the forest, and only a few patches of land remained that still haven''t matured yet. A few more Spirit Trees cropped up as well, along with two more Wood Sprites and even a Water Sprite. Focusing on the Runic Enchanting for now, Kohl wondered just what kinds of images he could make and if there were any limits. Searching through the stories, Kohl soon came upon an entity that would surely test to see if anything could become a Rune. Creating a slate disc the size to fit perfectly in a human hand, Kohl used mana to slowly and delicately carve away at the stone. The image of a large mass of conjoined skeletons forming a giant creature formed in Kohl''s mind. The Creature had a cloak of inky darkness and wielded a sickly-looking sword. The creature gives off an Aura of Death and Illness, around him were many skeletons, Liches, and other Undead. It was Gravelord Nito, the first of the dead, one of the original Lords who possessed a Lord Soul, a Slayer of countless dragons and those who lived, and a living manifestation of Death, Illness, and Decay. Gravelord Nito''s origin comes from the story of the world of Dark Souls, and if this worked, Kohl figured he could make a runic image for any entity it knew. Infusing 100 units of mana, Kohl watched with fascination as the rune gave off a sickly green and black glow. /----------=+=----------\ Name: Slate Disc of Gravelord Nito (Changeable) Item Grade: Unique-Rare This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Item Type: Artifact Level Requirement: 50+ Bonuses: +500 HP, +1,000 Stamina Grants Skill: Miasma of Death Lvl 5 - Release a fog of death that drains 25 HP per second to those in it, the Miasma will remain for one minute before disappearing and can only be summoned once per day. The Fog''s Diameter is 10 Meters. The Fog deals true damage to the living. Undead are immune to the Miasma. \----------=+=----------/ Kohl was glad to see it worked, and based on the Bonuses and Skills, Kohl wondered why it was cheap compared to the stats of his created monsters. Is it because this was not creating life? Was that why it had such bonuses and deadly skills? Vowing to experiment later, Kohl hid the disc underground to prevent tampering from the Sprites, and for once in a while, decided to take yet another nap to regain the mana it expended. 10 days later, when Kohl reawoke, found that the rest of the forest was fully grown and once more, a few more Sprites formed and a few trees awoke, becoming Spirit Trees. There were nine spirit trees, seven wood sprites, two water sprites, and the single earth elemental roaming the dungeon, and Kohl was wondering if there were other ways to naturally spawn monsters, instead of having to create one himself and then copying its template and pasting the monster over and over again, costing a lot of mana. Perhaps when Kohl can find out how to make a mana attractor or generator, he could automate the process using the ambient mana in its dungeon so that his mana could be focused elsewhere. Wondering, Kohl opened up the System Shop and searched Mana Attractor, and froze upon seeing the prices. The cheapest Mana Attractor was 5,000 System Points, and the seller stated that it only generated 10 Mana a day! For the price, it wasn''t worth it, in fact, it would probably be easier to figure it out on his own. But, while he was at it, Kohl began looking through the shop. Much to his surprise, Kohl didn''t find a single template or item that was based on the stories he knew, sure, there were some that were incredibly similar, but not exactly the same as the things he knew. Although Kohl couldn''t say for sure, the shop offered countless things, or more accurately, his fellow dungeon cores did. If his brethren didn''t have access to the stories that he did, It meant that Kohl would have countless things he could sell in the shop if he decided to recreate them. It meant that Kohl also had countless ways that he could overcome his brethren if he ever came to needing to fight. All Kohl would need is time, time to make the things he knew, time to make the champions of the stories. Kohl had a plan for the layout of his Dungeon, and the redwoods were only a small part of it, Kohl wanted to make a large circular area that would contain sectioned biomes with the center being a circled grass plain for the Adventurers to rest and gather. Around the planes, which would act as a safe area, would be various biomes, all having their own specific monsters and animals. It would also give Kohl the ability to be diverse in its monster use, which was another positive. At the moment, Kohl was planning on a Swamp, Desert, and an Arctic Forest. Kohl might expand the biome variety later on, but for now, those would be suitable for implementing a wide variety of monsters across this ''Starter'' Zone. It would take a while, but at least now Kohl would focus on expanding his Dungeon. Once he makes the starter ''zone'' and begins spawning monsters to inhabit the biomes, he will begin searching for a decent dimension to connect to. Was Kohl over-preparing? Yes, especially since more than likely, his siblings would have begun searching for Dimensions to breach at his current stage. But Kohl wasn''t stupid, if the stories were any indication, any Dimension he Breached could be extremely dangerous, even to something like him. What if Kohl accidentally breached a Dimension that contained the Chaos Gods and their ilk? Kohl would either be enslaved or would perish not long after the breach. Call him paranoid, but it''s better to be safer than sorry. So the cycle continued, Kohl, slept, regained his mana, awoke, pumped mana into the Dimension, expanded it, then repeated. By the time Kohl was done, he didn''t even remember just how much time has passed, but now a wide empty space took up most of the space of his Dungeon, with the Redwood forest only taking up a corner of it. The forest would have collapsed too, destroying everything he made if he weren''t keeping the forest from spilling out, like water flowing to the bottom of a cup. Kohl would estimate that the diameter of his dungeon was now that of 100 miles, quite a lot of area, but Kohl doubted that it was large at all compared to his siblings. Getting back to work, Kohl began filling up the empty space once again with dirt and rock, but due to his capacity, he had to sleep multiple times before he could fill up the space with dirt and rock. When Kohl finally finished, a vast swath of empty and dull land lay before his ''eyes'' with just a single corner of the land having a small forest. Now, onto the next step, Kohl needed to expand the Redwood forest and begin shaping the land to their respective biomes. 4 - The Dome When Kohl''s mana was once again refilled, he expanded the Redwood Forrest to a decent size, then began working on the second biome, the Arctic Forest, planting the seeds for hardy trees and other plantlife that could survive the cold temperatures that would surround this biome. Kohl could will the temperatures and whatever weather he made to their specific biomes, and even keep the monsters and animals to their respective biomes, so it would all be down to the adventures to decide what they wanted to face. Still, if they wanted to go past the biomes he would create, they would have to go through them. Don''t get Kohl wrong, he doesn''t want to kill his Adventures, at least not the ones he favors, but he will without hesitation kill any that seek to destroy his Core. It''s a give-and-take relationship with Adventurers. Dungeons offer treasure and power in exchange for the excess mana Adventurers give off passively while in the dungeon, and upon death in the dungeon, their essence will be given to the Dungeon. Focusing back on the task at hand, Kohl expanded the Acritic Forest to become about the same size as the Redwoods and then moved onto the swamp, but didn''t waste his mana on speeding their growth. Before long, Kohl was finished with the Arctic Forest and spent a few hundred mana to change the weather for the biome and the Redwood Biome, keeping both separate but still allowing airflow to pass through the biomes. With what little mana he had left, he began working on the Swamp, before going to ''sleep'' to recover his lost mana. When he reawoke, he flooded the swamp and began placing trees that could handle the excess water. The weather would be cold at night, but hot and humid during the day. Then, he began working on the last biome, the Desert, which was arguably the easiest, since all he was mostly having to do, was cover the land in sand and add a few oases scattered across the desert. Now, all that was left was to make the plane at the center of the biomes, which was incredibly easy, since all he needed to do was cover the land in grass. He then spent an unknown amount of time pumping mana into the land, hastening the growth of the plants. When he was finished, he had many more monsters than previously, including new elementals and elemental types! There were now twenty-three Wood Sprites, eight Snow Sprites, seven Sand Sprites, eighteen Water Sprites, nine Wind Sprites, four Earth Elementals, three Water Elementals, two Sand Elementals, one Air Elemental, and even an Ice Elemental. As for Spirit Trees? Their population exploded massively and now sat at forty-eight in number, but they were still...currently useless. Kohl was greatly surprised by how many Elementals managed to arise. Still, he could only guess that it was because he was dumping a lot of mana into the very ground and air, allowing them to form naturally. It seemed that there were many different types of Elementals, meaning he could add even more diversity to his Dungeon, which made Kohl happy. But, Kohl had one more thing to create, one that would explain why so many different biomes could blend together without interfering with each other. An Ark Obelisk. [Image here] In the world of Ark Survival Evolved, humanity discovered a unique resource and energy-filled material they dubbed ''Element'' which skyrocketed their civilization to greater heights. And eventually, as humans do, they declared war on one another to obtain this resource, until finally, only two factions remained. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The planet was ravaged by war, and those who remained faced the corruption caused by Element. So, the two factions came up with different ways to overcome their situation. One constructed an elaborate and grand Colony ship and fled Earth in search of a new planet. The other faction constructed many orbital stations in which they revived those best suited for survival in artificial environments to test who would be most suitable for retaking the Earth when it would be safe once again. In these orbital stations, were large metallic objects that floated in the air above terminals that the survivors could use to access the bosses, called ''Obelisks.'' Why would Kohl mention this? He wanted to recreate an Obelisk and set it above the Grasslands. It wouldn''t really serve a purpose other than connecting people to the system. That''s right, the Obelisk could connect someone to the system, giving yet another incentive for any that delve into his Dungeon to keep delving to earn more rewards from both the System and his Dungeon. And as an added bonus, those with higher levels provided more mana to the Dungeon as well as EXP to the monsters who slay them. So, it was an incentive for the Dungeons too, since not all would want their Divers getting stronger, and becoming a bigger threat. So, Kohl got to work. When his mana was once again refilled, he poured it out of his core, weaving it into metal and what he remembered of Element, letting his instincts guide the creation process. Surprisingly, it seemed to work as not long after, an obelisk with glowing white edges took shape under his control, and floated above the center of his dungeon. His core still floated at the very top of the dungeon, almost like a small star, Kohl wondered just how large he could make his core, perhaps in time, his core would grow large enough to become the sun above his world. Going back to the subject, he was curious, what else could he create using his Core instincts? Was there a limit to it? Was he perhaps special in some way? So many questions, and no way to answer them except...well, he''s certainly not going to reveal it in the Dungeon Core chat, which he still hasn''t bothered to open again and won''t bother to until he''s done with this beginner preparations. Now, all there was to do, was to designate the obelisk as a system obelisk. [Designate selected object as System Obelisk?] [Please note that proceeding with this will allow for Non-Systematic Entities to connect to the system through interaction and could possibly endanger your dungeon in the future] Kohl proceeded anyway. Just like Prometheus, Kohl would gift those who entered the primordial fire needed to survive and hopefully thrive. ... When Kohl reawoke, he started the next part of his plan. Once again, a few hundred units of mana flowed from his core and to the end of the dimension, before a thick and impenetrable fog arose around the biomes, forming a dome. Kohl did this for two reasons, first, was so that he could work on expanding his dungeon without being watched by his divers, and second, it would help add a bit of mystery to his dungeon, hopefully attracting more to dive into his dungeon. Though there is one flaw, the Fog would be able to be broken by those of sufficient strength or power. He had no doubt that some gods in the stories would be capable of seeing right through the fog, let alone be capable of easily breaking through it. And now that the fog was up, and the ''Dome'' was finished, he just needed to add the finer details and populate the biomes. First, he created a platform and terminals directly beneath the obelisk, the Terminals would be linked to the Obelisk, allowing the divers to touch the terminals rather than the actual Obelisk, though that would still be an option for any large or air-capable adventurers. From there, he created worn paths that stretched out from the obelisk platform all the way to the edge of the and throughout the biomes, all the way to the fog wall, like a spiderweb. Next, he began adding pens and small holding areas around the biomes, leaving signs that things broke out, and escaped into the area a long time ago. Kohl even went as far as to add small structures like public bathrooms that have long since become dilapidated and even added several small buildings at key points along the walkways that should have presented as a security station, especially at the end of the paths that led to the obelisk platform. From there, small towers were placed around the perimeter of the Obelisk that suggested some kind of energy fence that would keep intruders out, leaving the only way to enter through the four main guard station checkpoints. Some of these small towers would be in utter ruin, while others would be left standing, covered in grass. And to add one more touch of detail, Kohl began creating human skeletons. These skeletons would show signs of sudden death, or possible death from a struggle. Some would be missing limbs, some would have holes in their skulls, and Kohl even went as far as to place some skeletons away in the biomes, far from the paths, only for those to suggest they died through unfortunate circumstances, such as falling into a deep pit, bleeding out, and so much more. Before long, what lay before Kohl''s eyes, was a story, one that would arise curiosity, and hopefully inspire some to search for clues. 5 - Monster Creation Kohl could feel the story open before his eyes as he did what he knew best, create. And something that was very important to any story, were the details. So, that''s where Kohl would start. Beginning with the smallest creatures of any food chain, then working his way up until a fully functional and self-efficient ecosystem was set in place. And so, Kohl decided to start with insects and bugs. He started going through the stories in his head, looking for any references to insects in the stories, and it didn''t take long before he began his work. It took hardly a few units of mana each to create thousands of insects in each biome. The insects were of great variety, ranging from colonies of Ants, Termites, Bees, and Wasps, to worms, ladybugs, spiders, mantises, and so much more. That number quickly grew to the tens of thousands over the course of a couple of hours. And, to make it even more interesting, Kohl began throwing in modified versions of a great many insects, such as the Crystal Ants, a species of ants that evolved to build their colonies around crystals and had special mandibles designed to chip away slowly at the crystals, and building their colonies inside these crystals, giving them great defense against other predators their size. Another such modified species would be the Death Butterfly, a species of butterflies that would boast a skull pattern on their wings to represent that when they were around, death was near, as they were made to be perfect scavengers and eaters of the dead. They were weak and didn''t live long, but their reproduction abilities would be more than enough to sustain their population as they used the bodies they didn''t eat as carriers of their eggs, eventually allowing a corpse undisturbed to pop open with more Death Butterflies. Of course, the Death Butterflies didn''t have a caterpillar stage since finding food would be extremely challenging due to their diets and speed, so, they instead when born had their bodies fully developed and ready to fly, which is why they didn''t live very long lives, at most they''d survive for a couple of weeks if not a month before death with their goals being to reproduce as much as possible before eventually dying. Next, Kohl began working on animals to eat the bugs and plants of the biomes, the Primary Consumers, such as Rabbits and Hares, quite a few birds, lizards such as geckos, and more. Moving on, he began work on the Secondary Consumers, making snakes, even more types of birds, wild cats and dogs, fish, crabs, and so much more, to eat the Primary Consumers, the plants of the biomes, or both. As for the Tertiary consumers, the Apex Predators of the Food Chain, he created Bears, Wolves, Eagles, Hawks, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats. He wanted them to be simple animals to start off with, nothing crazy or too strong, since the Dome would be a simple starter zone, where the weak can start their journey to become something strong. To keep the ecosystem balanced, he made sure that there were not too many Apex predators, but plenty of plants and primary consumers to keep the food chain working, the Apex Predators would also make sure that there were not too many Primary and Secondary Consumers so that their populations don''t explode in number. The Ecosystem would continue to sustain itself until something comes in and imbalances it, such as Humans or whatever equivalent eventually dives into its dungeon, but for now, it would continue working. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ''Hmm..'' Kohl hummed to himself, suddenly coming up with a brilliant idea for his first ''Rule.'' Rules were, well, rules in which dungeons could be set inside their dungeons, such as a rule in which Dungeon Divers must solve puzzles the correct way, or be faced with a Debuff of some kind. What Kohl had in mind, well, it could only be described as powerful and extremely useful for any Dungeon, but the main reason for it would be that it''s simply realistic. Willing the Rule into reality, a screen appeared in his mind. /========\ Rule: Survival of the Fittest Description: Dungeon Entities can now hunt and kill one another for exp, however, for this rule to apply, the Dungeon cannot interfere with the process. Cost: 3 Rule Slots \========/ Essentially, the rule would allow for the monsters and animals of his Dungeon to hunt one another and level up with time, allowing for the monsters and animals to grow in strength and level in time without the need for killing Dungeon Divers. Kohl felt relief that he even had the number of Rules required just to enact the Survival of the Fittest rule, having expected it to cost even more Rule slots. If the rule worked properly, even the herbivores and bugs of the biomes could level up if they successfully defended themselves from their attackers. Kohl couldn''t help but feel excited about his creation, and the world he would eventually create. But, that wasn''t all Kohl was excited about, he was excited to see how his future Divers reacted and explored the world he would create, through his creations, the Divers would make their own stories, and it excited Kohl. And so, he continued, watching and making sure that the monsters of the biomes worked as they should, fixing anything he noticed that was wrong or weird. From his observations, he noticed quite a few things in regard to his more magical monsters. For example, Spirit Trees apparently had other ways of gaining exp, such as absorbing various energies and converting them into exp, or accidentally causing the death of another monster, as an added bonus however, it didn''t seem any monsters besides the spirits could tell the difference between a normal tree and a spirit tree. As for the Sprites, while seemingly friendly with all the monsters/animals of the Dungeon, will still defend themselves when attacked, such as shown when attacked by aggressive or starving animals. As for the Elementals? Well...they seemed to only grow stronger with time, gaining exp from the Mana in their surroundings, same as the spirit trees, but, also seemed to attack anything that got close to them, and when he says attacks, he really means butchers the monsters, as they couldn''t even deal any significant damage to the Elementals before dying, not that it was a lack for trying, the Elementals seemed to have a massively physical damage resistance, pretty much making them nearly unbeatable to the other monsters currently in the Dungeon. Feeling quite satisfied with his progress, Kohl found himself to be ready, ready to finally begin searching for a Dimension to breach, and so, he poured all of his mana into the dimension and began pushing from inside, forcing it to move instead of remaining still in place. It would take time, but eventually, his Dimension would touch another, and he would only need to breach the dimension and establish an entrance, in the meantime, might as well check on what''s happening in the Dimensional Dungeon Core Chat. /----------=+=----------\ ---=[Dungeon Core Chat]=--- --[Local Section of the Omniverse]-- [Ca''vik] - I shall feast upon your core! @SnakesUponTheThrone [SnakesUponTheThrone] - You can try @Ca''vik, but my Snakes shall revel in victory! [Pragmatic Destroyer] - I swear, this sector has more childish cores than one would ever assume, will you two just destroy each other already?! Do the Omniverse a favor! [Starless] - Don''t bother, @Pragmatic Destroyer. They are weak, and they will be culled. (MC) [Prometheus] - Hello brothers and sisters. [Grasping Roots] - So you live! How wonderful! How is your new life treating you, child? [Prometheus] - Child? [Golden Makk] - She refers to all young cores as children, don''t worry about it. [Prometheus] - How old are they? [Golden Makk] - She is older than me, and I am a millennia old. [Prometheus] - How much time has passed since the announcement of my creation? [Grasping Roots] - One year and eighty-eight days, child. [Light''s Hammer] - Ah, friend! You live! How would you like to hear about the blessings of the stars and their holy light? [Necrotic Will] - Shut it, priest, say, @Prometheus, are you an avid supporter of undeath and the death of all organics? [Grasping Roots] - Ignore that bag of bones, tell me, child, do you see the beauty in life? [Prometheus] - Are all dungeon cores so...unique? [Golden Makk] - ...yes, though not all are as bad as the ones in this sector. [Prometheus] - ...Great... C: 6 - Breach and...IKEA? For days, Kohl''s dungeon drifted across the void of the omniverse, waiting till his dungeon would touch or ''make contact'' with a Dimension, in this time, he''s slowed down his speed and has been using half of his mana experimenting. For example, after death, the monsters of his dungeon would leave behind a corpse and they have the option of dropping loot. This loot could be anything, but Kohl would have to be the one to make it and set how often these items in the loot table drop. For example, the wild chickens of the Jungle biome could ''drop'' whatever items he assigned to their loot table, and these items could really be anything, though he wanted to keep the loot to the theme. The loot table of the Wild Chickens was the following: Feathers x1-5 (35%), Raw Chicken Meat x1-3 (30%), Chicken Egg x1-3 (30%), Fertile Chicken Egg 1x (5%), and Chicken Staff x1 (0.01%) There was always a guarantee that one item from the loot table would drop, and there was always a chance of up to three drops at a time, such as the Feathers, Raw Meat, and Chicken Meat all in a single drop. The chances for multiple drops were the following: One Drop(50%), Two Drops (40%), Three Drops (10%). Quite simple, if you asked Kohl. As for the Chicken Staff? It was an item he managed to create based on what he knew about the Conjuring Staffs of the Elder Scrolls universe. The Staff was fueled by mana and would need to be recharged after a certain amount of usage, and if used, would summon a ''Furious Wild Chicken'' that ranged from Level 1 to 25 depending on the level of the wielder. That''s right, with a bit of experimentation, Kohl did manage to discover how to create Tamrielic Enchantments and Magic with the help of what he knew and letting his instincts guide the way. However, unfortunately, the Tamrielic Enchantments were not as flexible as Kohl hoped, meaning they were not suitable for the V.E.C., a Void Energy Converter, but, that doesn''t mean they were useless, it was yet another way to enhance items to make them more valuable to the dungeon divers, it was also an enchantment system that allowed for much simpler enchantments. For example, the Runic Enchantments Kohl discovered required a lot of attention to detail, energy, and time to make, while the Tamrielic Enchantments were quite simple and fast to make, at the cost of being a lot simpler in function, such as causing a flame to enwrap the blade of a sword and burn their targets, or an enchantment in which it soul traps the victim in a nearby soul gem or even an enchantment set to absorb the health of the targets. So, if Kohl wanted to continue with the V.E.C. idea, he would need to find a much more flexible enchantment system or create a machine capable of doing the task. And then he had an idea, what if he could make an enchantment system that was based on human programming? Such an enchantment system should be able to be as flexible as he needed and gave him some ideas for a few other things, such as more types of entities he could add to his monster list, such as Golems, Automatons, Robots, and things of similar ''Man-Made'' nature which would be great for the story he was making. ... More days passed as Kohl worked to create the loot tables for the dungeon entities and to repopulate the entities whenever a low-level entity died. As of this time, the current highest-leveled dungeon entity was surprisingly a new type of elemental, a Fire Elemental, one of two, with both being located in the Sand Biome. Surprisingly, the Fire Elementals were quite aggressive, hunting down any entities they noticed. The more aggressive Fire Elemental has reached level 24 due to its excessive fighting with the entity that came in second place not even hitting the 20s yet. Speaking of which, as an entity rose in level, the speed of its growth became entirely dependent on how much energy its opponent or its surroundings has, meaning, due to the Fire Elemental killing everything around it, including the higher leveled monsters, the average level of the monsters in the biome dropped, it became such a problem that Kohl had to calm the Elementals down a bit, to keep them from rampaging across the biome. Now, most of the Elementals remained in select locations, typically caves, and that''s where they would remain, seeing as Kohl didn''t want them to continue slaughtering everything. Luckily, the Elementals would continue passively growing from the ambient mana and other energies inside his Dungeon, though their growth would certainly be slower, even if some Monsters threw themselves at the Elementals in an attempt to claim their caves for themselves. Humming to himself, Kohl suddenly froze as he felt his Dimension come to a stop as it finally came into contact with another. Looking through his Dimension''s wall, of course, revealed nothing to see besides darkness, so, he sent out a tendril of mana to see inside this Dimension his Dimension was in contact with. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Once he felt the tendril peirce into the dimension, he followed the tendril and looked inside...and ??????????. He recognized the place he was seeing. From a story that held countless stories. A seemingly infinite building filled with furniture, strange humanoid monsters wearing uniforms, and people fighting to survive... SCP-3008, otherwise known as the Infinite IKEA. Does that mean the worlds in the stories existed? Kohl felt excited, so excited, that he immediately began forming a tunnel of mana between his dimension and the infinite IKEA''s, the sign that he was breaching the Dimension and setting up a portal entrance. Kohl''s monsters and creatures could feel his excitement through their link, and for a brief time, stopped fighting completely, instead staring up to the sky, watching the incredibly small but bright orb floating in the sky. And just underneath the obelisk at the center of his dungeon, directly beneath his core, a crack in space began to form. And not too long after, the entrance into his dungeon was fully formed, and a golden crack floated in the air both underneath the obelisk, and underneath a sign that read, ''Exchange and Returns'' in the infinite IKEA. [A/N: Not the town from the SCP, it''s an infinite IKEA, there are bound to be countless towns and cities with the same names if they all establish them under signs] And now that he was attached to a dimension, Kohl wanted to run a few tests. Such as if his monsters could cross to the other side, and explore the infinite IKEA. [A/N: I will be using the terms Monster and Entities interchangeably if you haven''t noticed already, they both mean basically the same thing in this context] So, he got to work, having a small hummingbird fly to the entrance and peck at it with its beak. [Warning! Any Dungeon Entities that leave the Dungeon, lose the benefits of being in the dungeon, and can no longer be revived no salvaged!] But, Kohl still had the bird proceed, and with its connection with the bird, could look through its eyes, as the bird found itself on the floor of a seemingly never-ending IKEA that it could see for miles on end. Just above the entrance, was a large sign that read "Exchange and Returns" and in the surrounding area, Kohl could see various showcase rooms showing different kinds of furniture and decorations, as well as a food bar not far with IKEA meatballs and various bags filled with chips various other things and fluids for consumption. The portal was right next to a counter and empty room which Kohl assumes would have been the exchange and return counter and storeroom. Wanting to test something, he had the bird begin ripping apart some of the nearby furniture and bring chunks of the materials and consumer goods back into his dungeon for analysis. Examining the materials closer, revealed them all to be seemingly normal materials, fabric, wood, glass, etc, it all seemed normal, which confused Kohl to a great degree, as he expected at least ???????? signs that showed the materials to be unnatural. Changing focus, he had a few more birds go through the portal, and begin searching the surrounding area for settlements. --- [??? POV Change] Four years, four ???????? years he has been in this place, in this hell. When he first appeared here, he wandered for what felt like hours without seeing another person, and he was lucky he found anyone at all before lights out, otherwise, he would have died on the very first night he arrived here, in this hellish IKEA. Turns out, a great many people die before a week even passes in the store, and it''s not due to dehydration or starvation, it''s due to the Staff. If you asked him when he first got here, he would have thought it was some joke, but no. The Staff are humanoid monsters that wear the uniforms of IKEA employees. The difference? They have no facial features as if their faces were blank canvases. Their bodies were worse, with long or short mishappen limbs and body parts, surprising strength, and tenacity. They were docile in the day...but at night? When the lights turned off? They would become aggressive, hunting down any survivor in this shithole, and typically, rip them apart if they managed to get their hands on anyone. Luckily for me, I was at least somewhat fit, so I could fight and run if...no, ???????? needed. Luckily, those who found themselves trapped here, have built settlements over who knows how many years. Walls of stacked furniture, gates of scrap wood and metal, and even weapons fashioned from lawn mower blades, scrap metal, and whatever else they could get their hands on. But, even then, these settlements can be sieged, and in the four years I have been here, I, unfortunately, have been a part of and seen, three settlements fall, and many who I would call friends, die to the Staff or their wounds. Now? I lived in a settlement by the name of ''Living Room'' due to it being built in a Living Room area of the store, but also due to the large blue sign that hung overhead the settlement. Just like the last two settlements, I took up guard duty and scavenge duty, preferring to keep myself fit and battle ready. Plus, it allowed me to kill the Staff every night when they attacked the walls and gate trying to force us to ''Leave the store'' because ''The store is closing.'' There were just over ninety people in this town, and it was the smallest settlement I had joined so far, but something I''ve noticed over these years, was that everyone was surprisingly friendly, though we have heard rumors of some war and tribe-like settlements out there. My point is, everyone is trying to survive, and if you are alone, you are certain to die, so, everyone works together, and everyone pulls their weight, if we didn''t meant we were much more likely to die and this settlement would be yet another to fall. Suddenly the nailed-together wooden fence acting as a net for a door was pushed aside as a woman rushed in, making me pause from sharpening the lawn mower blade in hand. "Jay!" "Why are you yelling? I''m right in front of you," I replied, somewhat annoyed by just how positive this woman could be, even after being here for a decade. I arrived in the store when I was 23, and now I''m 27, Cindy on the other hand, got trapped here in the store when she was 16 and now she is just a year younger than me, how she managed to stay so positive after all these years, I have no idea, but she was the main reason the morale of the town was doing so good. Cindy was both the town''s counselor and mayor, she ran this town, and also helped everyone with any problems they had, in fact, I am sure she has managed to set up a couple of people here up together, and those people have actually had kids, one family had even been here since the founding of the settlement, with their eldest kid hitting eleven not too long ago. "Well, don''t go silent on me, what is it?" I asked, wondering what she wanted to tell me. "Come look!" She shouted, as she grabbed my arm and yanked me out of my shack made of loosely put-together furniture. Once outside she pointed to the sky and upon looking I grew confused. Were those...birds? 7 - Visitors! Well, isn''t that just lucky? Precisely two miles away from the entrance to Kohl''s dungeon, was a settlement of ninety-three humans, all living underneath a blue sign that read ''Living Room.'' Their...town, if it can even be called that, was not large by any means, shacks built of furniture and scraps, a wall of furniture and sharpened metal, people wearing tattered clothing, even their weapons were not all that noteworthy as they were just scrap or lawn mower blades. So, it was exactly something Kohl expected due to what he knew about this...SCP. Next, Kohl wanted to get the survivor''s attention, so, he got all the birds in the IKEA, to begin swarming the town, flocking overhead, and it didn''t take long for them to take note of his birds, and as he called upon more birds, he suddenly pulled back, having all the birds begin flying back to the Dungeon. Leaving behind a bird to keep watch, Kohl some of the birds continue searching for more settlements but left the rest around the area of his portal to keep watch. Unfortunately, the lights were soon switched off, plunging the area into darkness, curiously enough, the town had plenty of light from the widely available light sources in this IKEA. Seeing as the bird couldn''t be seen, Kohl managed to get an even closer look at the town, seeing that even though the people of the town remained vigilant and ready with guards using spears fashioned from lamp poles and lawnmower blades. Along their wall, was a series of holes in their walls, more than likely to allow the humans of the town to attack from inside the walls. Kohl was also able to see that the people were getting power from various outlets across their settlement, seemingly being plenty in number due to the many lamps that were showcased in the area that needed power. Suddenly, however, the bird could hear a phrase being chanted like a mantra in the distance outside the walls. "Excuse me, the store is now closed. Please exit the building." All sounded the same, but coming from every direction around the town, and those on guard duty seemed to tense. Soon enough, however, Staff members could be seen, first only a few, then more, then dozens. And while they charged toward the town, intent on ripping the people in the town apart, I felt a bird that was keeping watch next to my portal, die. Immediately switching over to the birds in the area around his portal, Kohl grew annoyed. Dozens of Staff trying to catch the birds, and rapidly approaching my portal. ''Well, if you want to cause problems, I''m happy to oblige,'' Kohl thought to himself as his Elementals began heading towards the portal, with the Air Elementals arriving within two minutes and the others as much as ten minutes. By that time, a few more birds died, and the Staff began pouring into my Dungeon, which was incredibly foolish, as the Air Elementals sent out sharp winds that cut them apart, and the staff''s attacks couldn''t harm the Elementals. [SCP-3008-2 Construct Slain! +0.005 Mana] ''Oh?'' Although it would take killing 200 if the Staff to even get a single point of mana, Kohl still found it to be somewhat profitable, seeing as the Elementals would gain exp as well, though just as little. Though Kohl had a feeling he wouldn''t be able to collect the mana from the 3008-2''s if they were to be outside the Dungeon, so, he had the birds fly back into the Dungeon, leading the many Staff members to chase them right into the ''claws'' of the Elementals waiting on the other side. For hours the Staff attacked and invaded Kohl''s Dungeon, giving Kohl a few points of mana, and a few levels ups for some of the Elementals. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. By the time the lights flipped back on in the store, there was a hill of corpses around the portal, there were so many in fact, that most were burned to ash by the Fire Elementals to prevent thousands from stampeding into the Dungeon the next night. You see, the corpses of the Staff, whole or not, draw more Staff to their location during the ''night'' of the store, meaning, if enough are killed in a single night and not removed, the staff''s numbers the following night could double, triple, or even quadruple. For the settlements in the store, that many would be a death sentence as their walls cannot become sturdy enough to handle such numbers. Think about it, their walls were made of what they could scavenge from their surroundings, whether that be furniture, metal scaffolding, or whatever else they could find, and due to the Staff all possessing greater strength than that of humans, it wouldn''t take long for them to break through any sort of barricades and walls the survivors set up. However, Kohl came up with an idea. He would make the survivors around his Dungeon, become dependent on him, dependent on his resources and the system. He could ''offer'' food, water, materials and components, weapons and armor, and most importantly of all, the System, of course, they''d have to fight for it, and Kohl would have to limit the number of deaths to ensure repeated diving and reliance. Perhaps once he obtains enough rule slots, he could do something that would prevent most deaths in his dungeon, but for the foreseeable future, he will just have to stop his monsters from striking fatal blows manually. Now, to see how well the ''Living Room'' Settlers fared after the night. --- [Jay''s POV] "Come on, grab under the arms, I got the legs," I told a man by the name of Chase, as we hoisted a Staff member off of a pile of other staff members and onto a cart we fashioned from some tables and what little rope that could be found. We pilled as many bodies as we could, before carting the bodies a mile away, and repeated again and again. I helped with the first loads but was soon called upon by Clair. "Come on Jay, you''re going to miss the meeting!" She ended up dragging me back into the settlement and into a sort of garden the town had made over the years from scavenging a small garden area a few miles out. This garden is where we discuss topics concerning the settlement and discuss any issues the town or individuals may be facing. I guess you could say we were a council. I was in charge of scavenging and making sure the town stayed safe. Jake, a rather carefree and relaxed man, was in charge of keeping the walls and our equipment up to shape. Sarah, a rather strict woman, was in charge of keeping everyone fed and keeping stock of our supplies. Dr. Bright, while we don''t really consider him a doctor, patches up our guys and loves telling stories about some kind of secret society in his home Earth. Keeps us entertained, and certainly gives us a chuckle with all the stories he has, also made a few crossbows for us, which was certainly helpful during the night, though they do break quite easily. Vernon, a rather tall man acted as the sort of main counselor or therapist like Clair for those in our town, the man helped quite a few of us greatly through our problems. Then there was Clair, she acted as our sort of Leader, and kind of helped everywhere. "So, are we going to talk about it?" Jake asked. "The Birds?" Bright asked. "That, and how about how last night had a lot more Staff than usual?" Vernon spoke. "Who knows, this damned place doesn''t make any sense," Sarah replied, scoffing. "...Anyways, the birds. Thoughts?" Clair spoke up. "Unusual, not in regards to being here, more to their pattern and behavior, did you guys notice the fact that they were all in sync?" Bright asked, folding his arms over the dusty lab coat he wore and the amulet around his neck. "Yeah, it was kind of creepy, like they were all robots," Jake spoke up, and Bright suddenly had that creepy smile on his face. "It also almost seemed as if they were trying to lead us somewhere..." Dr. Bright noted, causing everyone else to frown at him. "What? We are trapped in a store, intelligent birds are where you draw the line?" Dr. Bright asked, acting offended. "Intelligent or not, I''d like to see where they were heading, for a whole flock to get trapped here? Unlikely, especially since they are rare in the first place, I have been here for a few years myself, and even then, I have only ever seen a single bird, not to mention, even if it was just a coincidence, are you guys really going to back off from the chance to eat something other than the garbage we normally have to?" Dr. Bright continued with a chuckle. "Hmm, I''m down for hunting them, though how are we supposed to catch them? Not to be rude or anything, but it''s not like we could use the crossbows, otherwise, there would be very little left," Jake voiced his concerns. "Can you both stop talking about eating them? Have none of you even begun to think that maybe these birds have been trained? Their unusual behavior could be the sign of them being trained by people," Sarah voiced out. ... Eventually, everyone agreed to find out if the birds lived nearby, and that''s it, Clair didn''t think we should waste time and walk too far only to be unable to make it back in time. So, Clair had Charles, a guy named Luke, me, and unfortunately Dr. Bright head out in the direction the birds flew away to. Dr. Bright decided to ''tag along,'' and Clair was more than happy to throw him at us, much to our displeasure. It''s not that Dr. Bright is a bad guy... It''s just, well...the man is a massive clutz, and way too big of a problem-maker, the man quite literally, is a danger magnet, and his constantly shifting curiosity makes it quite annoying to travel anywhere with him. I just hope his presence doesn''t cause some kind of troubling thing to come up. 8 - Visitors Part 2 Seeing the humans begin traveling toward where they last saw the flock of birds, Kohl began clearing out the surrounding area of his entrance of all furniture, making the portal much more noticeable using some of his elementals. Something to note is that with each level an Elemental gains, their size and power have been increasing, making them more imposing with each level. A basic level one elemental is the size of a palm, and the level 25 Fire Elemental, on the other hand, has become as large as a small human child, a baby Kohl thinks they were called. Even then, with their small sizes, they can be quite lethal. Of course, to prevent exhaustion, Kohl had some of the animals from the biomes help drag furniture into the dungeon before returning to their homes. So, within half an hour, a large area around the entrance was cleared and only the birds remained outside, waiting for the humans to arrive. The elementals returned to their caves, and the various other animals returned to their respective homes. --- [Jay''s POV] "Ooo, what''s that?" Bright asked, running over to a random lamp. "A lamp," Luke dryly replied. "And that?" Bright asked, running over to a ceiling fan with its own light. "A ceiling fan," Charles responded. "And-," Bright began only for me to cut him off, "Cut it out Bright, this will already be a long day, can you keep quiet for just an hour?!" Quietness...bliss...for about four seconds. "Why?" Bright asked, starting his annoying game. Before anyone could reply, a chirp caught our attention and we noticed a bird sitting atop a nearby room wall. "A Toucan?" Bright asked, confused. Suddenly the bird leaped off the wall and dived towards our group, before pecking Bright on the head and flying around the wall. "Ow! Damn bird, get back here!" Jack Bright yelled before chasing after the bird in anger. Sighing, we all began chasing after Bright, it seems we will have to drag him back to town. Only for us to trip and fall over Bright after turning the corner and running directly into his stilled body. "What the hell Jack, why did you suddenly stop?" Charles asked, rubbing his head and climbing off of Luke. Climbing off of Jack, we all looked at him, only to realize that his eyes were focused directly ahead. Looking, we froze as well. A large empty area devoid of any furniture of any kind with a gleaming golden crack in the air with a counter in front of it and a sign that read ''Exchange and Returns.'' Just behind the crack and the counter, was a small room presumably meant for storage whatever would have been exchanged and returned to the store. Not only that but flying in circles above the crack were what seemed like dozens of birds of varying species and colors. Suddenly, the whole swarm of birds dived down in sync and whenever one touched the crack, they disappeared in a flash of light until each and every bird disappeared. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "What the hell...?" Charles spoke. "A spatial tear," Bright finally spoke. "You know what it is?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the thing before me. "We shouldn''t even be able to see it..." Bright spoke. "Where does it lead?" Charles asked. "Somewhere, maybe even somewhere out of here..." Bright responded. "We should go tell everyone," Luke spoke. "We could, but...the crack could close at any moment..." Bright explained, causing all of us to look at each other. "I''ll stay...as much as I hate to say it, if this is a chance of us escaping from this hell, then we shouldn''t be the only ones to leave," I spoke out with a grim tone. "You guys can go, but I''ll stay, and I won''t stop any of you if you decide to leave," I continued. Others would kill for this opportunity to escape this hell, but honestly, I had second thoughts. Sure, it might lead out of here, but what would await on the other side? Something worse? Our old worlds? How would any of us even be able to return to our old lives after being trapped here for so long? Could I really ever go back to an 8-5 desk job? I could see everyone hesitating on whether to go or not, but after a while, I was honestly surprised to see them all turn back to me. "Im staying," Charles spoke. "Me too," Luke quickly responded. "Ah...fuck, fine, I got all of eternity, might as well do some good," Jack replied with a strange tone of tiredness. "Luke, Charles, can you both stay here while Bright and I return to the town?" I asked my two fellow guards. They both nodded, and I thanked them. "Come on Jack, let''s get there as fast as we can, can you jog?" I asked the lazy guy. "I''ll keep up," Bright replied [A/N: Dr. Jack Bright is Bright''s full name, in case you are confused as to his name being switched from Jack and Bright] --- Listening to the conversation was easy after crawling onto one of the men with an insect and watching them from afar with a hidden bird. Kohl found it strange how cooperative and altruistic the people of this Infinite Ikea were, from both experience and observations to the journal of an Ikea survivor listed in the IKEA''s SCP File. Was this how the SCP chose its targets? Did it go for only Aultruistic people so that those trapped here would work together to survive? Or was it simply human nature that brought humanity together in these dire times? What would change when they were introduced to his dungeon? Would they tear each other apart or continue working together after realizing that they were not on any ''Earth'' they knew of? Kohl was curious to see what would happen. Would human nature and altruism prevail? Or would the darker side of humanity rear its head? Kohl couldn''t wait to see what would happen. --- [Jay''s POV] I was somewhat surprised that Jack managed to keep up with me for the two miles we jogged back to the town, but when we did reach the town, I could see he was on the brink of collapse from exhaustion and was covered in sweat. Banging on the gate I yelled, "Open up! We need to see Clair, now!" Once we got in, we rushed across the town, eventually managing to find Clair helping Sarah keep an inventory of our supplies. "Jay? Bright? Why are you two back so soon? Did something happen?" Clair asked in concern, seeing how exhausted and sweaty we were from running. "Gather everyone you can, we think we found an exit out of here," I told her. "What do you mean?" She asked, confused. "We found a spatial tear, we all saw the birds go into it. It could be a way out of here, and back to Earth," Bright explained. It took a few moments for both Clair and Sarah to process it. "Are you sure?" Sarah asked in seriousness. "Yes, the tear could heal at any time, so time is of the essence, the other two guys are still there waiting for us to return," Bright explained. "...Okay, spread the word, have everyone gather at the gate, be quick," Clair ordered, and we all rushed out of the store and began urgently spreading the word. The people of the town were clearly confused that we gathered them all at the gate, and it was clear that the people were quickly becoming scared, but within ten minutes, we had everyone gathered. Clair told everyone that we may have found a way out, a way to leave the store for once and for all, and that we needed to hurry if anyone wanted to escape. The people got loud, but Clair was able to stay in control and somewhat calm the people down, we armed everyone in whatever weapons we had and tried to organize the crowd so that everyone would be protected, with children and the elderly being in the center of the crowd and the more able bodied being armed with weapons and surrounding our weak. Clair and I were worried it may suddenly turn dark on our way there, and with this many people out at night, we would be swarmed by staff. Bright and I would lead the people, while Clair and the other council members would keep the people motivated and moving, there were less than a hundred of us, but it would still be a difficult two mile walk. --- Kohl watched as the people began traveling to the Dungeon in hopes of escaping the Infinite IKEA, but little did they know, while they would be leaving the store, they''d only be entering a place that was even more dangerous, but far more rewarding. Knowing they would like create a settlement in the Dungeon thinking its safer, Kohl began expanding the entity count across the dungeon so that the humans wouldn''t destroy the ecosystem within a few days by overhunting to feed the settlement. Kohl also drastically increased the natural food sources such as wild vegtebles and fruits, and also included a wide variety of nuts and berries to create a balanced diet for the settlers. Soon they''d arrive and explore. 9 - Arrival It didn''t take long for the people of the town to arrive at the portal to the Dungeon where the two guards were still waiting. When the people saw the portal they were definitely apprehensive about touching the portal, let alone entering it, so Kohl had some birds showcase that it was safe by exiting and then reentering the dungeon, showing they were just fine and that it must have been survivable on the other side. --- If there was one thing unfortunate about Dr. Bright''s new situation, it was not only that was he an immortal stuck in an infinite IKEA where humanoid monsters called Staff led to his unfortunate demise on several different occasions, but it was even after a few years of being trapped in this hell, he felt that he perhaps would be stuck in this hell for all eternity. So, when he found that perhaps there was a way out? One that could lead back to Earth? Or at least a similar version of it? Sign Dr. Bright up! However, instead of charging in and escaping this hell, he instead decided to try and escape with all the friends he made in his time here. The same people that put up with him, joked with him, ate with him, practically became a family to him? He made his choice. He was just glad that they made it back in time. The portal appeared stable, but without the proper equipment, who knew if the portal was suddenly going to collapse or disappear? So, not wanting to waste any time, and with his unique immortality, he volunteered to be the first to go in to make sure it was safe. His friends didn''t know about his curse, and he hoped they''d never learn about it. Everyone who has ever learned about his secret looked at him differently, even back when he worked for the SCP Foundation. Figuring the portal was two-way from the appearance and disappearances of the birds, he informed them that if he didn''t come back through within a few minutes, don''t attempt to go through. He found it touching how much his friends trusted him and steeled his resolve. Everyone was getting out of this hell today. And who knows? If everything is well on the other side, and perhaps if the portal stays stable they could begin a rescue effort. Saving everyone from the local settlements. "Are you sure Jack? We have no idea what''s on the other side. For all we know there could be monsters or something dangerous on the other side!" Clair tried to persuade Bright, wanting to take his place instead. "Every action we take has its dangers, but don''t worry, if there was something dangerous just on the other side by the portal, the birds would have looked panicked when they flew out here, besides, so long as I have a weapon I should be able to defend myself against anything that would be a threat," Bright tried to ease her worries. Suddenly a hand landed on his shoulder, and turning around Jack came face to face with Jay, "I''m not risking your life Doc, I''m going in with you, if there''s anything dangerous on the other side, you should at least be able to escape back here," Jay spoke. "Not necessary Jay," Bright once again tried to convince them. "No matter what you say, if you are going in there, I''m going with you, you are our Doctor, if something happens to you and we remain stuck here, the whole town will be in danger if something happens," Jay told Bright and Clair. "I could say the same thing about you!" Bright began only for Jay to interrupt him, "I''m just a guard, we have plenty of Guards, everyone can fight and defend themselves, I''m nothing special, however, you are the only one that can patch up our people, so, I am not letting you go in alone." Bright and Jay went back and forth arguing about who would go while the other members of the council kept the people calm and prevented them from just charging towards the portal to escape. Eventually Bright gave up, and it was decided that both of them would be the ones to enter, and if anything were to happen on the other side, one of them should be able to escape and warn everyone. Jay and Bright readied themselves for battle, they had no idea what would await them on the other side, so they armed themselves with spears fashioned from lawn mower blades and pipes, and strapped machetes to their belts for a just-in-case scenario. Surrounding the portal, the crowd of people stood in the distance as the two men stood before the portal. "Are you ready?" Jay asked Bright. "As ready as I''ll ever be, you?" Bright asked in response. "Same, on the count of three?" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "Sure." "1." "2." "3!" With the synchronized saying of the number, both men jumped forward, entering the portal simultaneously, disappearing with shimmers of light. The crowd could only wait with dread, hoping that it would be safe and escape was on the other side. ... [Dr. Bright''s POV] Once we touched the portal, I felt momentarily weightless before suddenly feeling gravity once again and finding myself standing on solid ground. Stumbling, I accidentally fell to the ground, causing me to fall onto my knees and hands. Feeling a smooth floor, my eyes rapidly blinked as they adjusted to the light and I found that I was kneeling on a smooth metal floor. Feeling a hand grab my arm, I heard Jay ask, "You okay?" as he pulled me up and helped me stand. "I''ll be fine-," I stopped midsentence as I observed our surroundings. A massive shadow overhead, strange metal pedestals scattered around the area, and an equal distance between all of them. Empty grassland surrounded the platform we stood upon, and looking up towards the shadow, I couldn''t help but gawk. A strange metallic structure floated in the sky, glowing with bright white light that embedded and outlined its exterior. Above that were clouds and a bright yellow sun. "It looks...safe?" Jay seemed to ask hesitantly. "It does...but that thing floating above us is...concerning," I told Jay, feeling a bit nervous. "Should I give the go-ahead to Clair?" Jay asked. "Yes, I''ll wait here. Perhaps this version of Earth, if we even are on Earth, is much more advanced?" I pondered. "Don''t know, but we should get everyone here before it suddenly goes dark," Jay told me. "I''ll escape if I see anything dangerous," I warned him and he nodded in reply. Watching him head back through the portal, I gazed at the floating object far above and wondered who could have created such a thing. It was a machine, one built by something or someone, and with its sheer size it would have been found already if this was Earth, or at least the Earth I was from. Of course, it was always possible that this object was built by the people of Earth and it wasn''t anything unusual. With everyone seemingly mostly being from different versions of Earth who knows what planet we found ourselves in? For all we know this could be an Earth with such a vastly different history that everything we know could have been flipped on its head. My gaze trailed down from the object and down to the strange pedestals scattered across the platform I stood upon. Slowly and cautiously walking over to one, I noticed it was a console of some kind, covered in dust. Embedded in the center of the console was what appeared to be a button that took an appearance similar to that of a Kite. Before I even knew it, I whipped the dust away, accidentally pushing the button, not even realizing my stupidity until too late and how foolish I was to go pressing random buttons, a bright light seemed to flash from the console, and a holographic screen that appeared to be glitching appeared above the pedestal! [Scanning] [S??????????????????????c?????????????a??????????????n??????????????????????n?????????????i??????????????n????????????????????g??????????????] [Detecting no P??e????r??s?????o?n????a??l?????? System ????I????n?????t???e???r????f?????a????c????e?????] [Initiate Sy??st?????????????????????????????????e??????????????????m??????????????????????????????????????? Assimilation?] Personal System Interface? What the hell is that supposed to be? Seeing a simple yes and no option, I felt like I had nothing to lose and decided to click yes, which led to the screen switching to show a representation of what I was supposed to do. Following the picture, I placed my hand on the console, just above the button. At first, I thought nothing was happening, but that thought quickly changed as I noticed that I couldn''t pull my hand away from the console, as if my hand was glued onto it. Then I noticed the console began warming up, slowly at first. Then it quickly got worse, to the point, that it felt as if I placed my hand on a freshly used burner on a stove and could take it off. Then it got to the point where I would have chopped my hand off if it hadn''t suddenly let go of me. [Scanning Host...Done...Generating Status] /========+========\ Name: Jack Bright (Formerly: Jackson Bale) Race: Human Age: 26 (98) Years Old First Class: N/A (Available For Selection) Second Class: Locked till Level 100 Health: 60/60 (12 Per Hour) Mana: 56/56 (24 Per Hour) Stamina: 24/24 (10 Per Hour) [Attributes] [A/N: Average Human Physical = 10, Mental = 15-25] Strength: 8 Agility: 9 Endurance: 8 Vitality: 10 Preception: 8 Reaction: 14 [Mental Stats] Intelligence: 24 Wisdom: 18 Willpower: 16 Resistance: 30 Control: 10 Focus: 10 General Skills: None Class Skills: N/A Resistances: N/A Perks: N/A \========+========/ ''What the hell?'' ''Class?'' Bright questioned in his mind. [Generating Class Choices] [Soldier (Common) - A common path among those trained or at least knowing the art of warfare. The common soldier is the backbone and main force of most armies, they are brave men and women that would fight for what they or others believe in. Bonuses: +2 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Willpower Per Leve (4)] [Thief (Common) - A path common among those who live in the underside of any society, forced to struggle, steal, or kill to survive. Bonuses: +2 Agility, +1 Perception, +1 Focus Per Level (4)] [Hunter (Common) - The path of the Hunter is not an easy one, but few classes are more suited for the wilderness than this one. Bonuses: +2 Perception, +1 Agility, +1 Focus Per Level (4)] [Aspiring Chef (Common) - A simple path that can be found in the common people due to its usefulness in preparing and enhancing food. Bonuses: +2 Focus, +1 Control, +1 Agility Per Level (4)] [Aspiring Mage (Uncommon) - A path not just anyone can take, the path of Magic is a long and unending road that countless perish or stagnate on. Bonuses: +2 Wisdom, +2 Intelligence, +1 Control Per Leve (5)l] [Aspiring Scientist (Uncommon) - Men of Science, those of this path seek to understand and discover. Whether that be understanding the many forms of science, or discovering ways to defeat the enemy. Bonuses: +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +1 Focus Per Level (5)] [Researcher of Anomalies (Rare) - Few take on this path, but those that do usually have to deal with entities and anomalies that shouldn''t exist and have been forever changed by them. Bonuses: +3 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 Resistance, +1 Willpower (8)] [Stargazer (Rare) - Few have gazed into the stars and found them gazing back, those that have, will be forever changed by their gaze. Bonuses: +3 Willpower, +2 Control, +2 Focus, +1 Wisdom (8)] [Apostle of Despair (Rare) - Few have taken the path of embracing pain, but those that have made sure others would never be able to forget their despair Bonuses: +3 Endurance, +3 Willpower, +2 Control (8)] 10 – Classes Seeing the many options that appeared before his eyes, he didn''t hesitate to choose the one most appealing to him after playing D&D for so many years of his life. [Aspiring Mage selected!] [Please choose three skills!] [Mana Bolt - Active - Summon a bolt of mana to strike your foes!] [Mana Arrow - Active - Summon an arrow made of mana to pierce your foes!] [Mana Shield - Active - Summon forth a shield of mana to defend yourself from strikes!] [Mana Weapon - Active - Summon forth a weapon made of mana to strike down your foes!] [Mana Armor - Active - Summon a layer of armor made from mana to protect yourself!] [Light - Active - Summons forth a ball of light to illuminate your surroundings] [Spark - Active - Summons forth a spark that can set things aflame] [Mana Sense - Passive - Allows for the user to sense the mana in their surroundings and others] [Meditation - Passive - Allows the user to meditate to gain 1% of their mana per minute] Putting only a bit of thought into his choices, he chose Mana Bolt, Mana Sense, and Meditation. [Skills have been selected] [You have gained Mana Bolt Lvl 1] [You have gained Mana Sense Lvl 1] [You have gained Meditation Lvl 1] [Please select a perk] [Enhanced Vitality - Perk - Gain +5 Health Per Level] [Enhanced Mana Capacity - Perk - Gain +5 Mana Per Level] [Enhanced Stamina - Perk - Gain +5 Stamina Per Level] [Danger Sense - Perk - Sense Danger moments before it happens] [Low-Level Nightvision - Perk - Gain low-level night vision to see better in the dark] [Strong Arms - Perk - Gain +5 to Strength] [Nimble - Perk - Gain +5 to Agility] [Tough as Nails - Perk - Gain +5 to Endurance] [Healthy as a horse - Perk - Gain +5 to Vitality] [Eagle Eyes - Perk - Gain +5 to Perception] [Fast Reflexes - Perk - Gain +5 to Reaction] [Smarty Pants - Perk - Gain +5 to Intelligence] [Wisdom of the Ages - Perk - Gain +5 to Wisdom] [As Determined as a Bull - Perk - Gain +5 to Willpower] [Mind of Steel - Perk - Gain +5 to Resistance] [Self-controlled - Perk - Gain +5 to Control] [Focused on another level - Perk - Gain +5 to Focus] He didn''t hesitate to choose Enhanced Mana Capacity, it was simply because the perk would be a kind of ''Growth'' that would give a lot of mana. And since he was a Mage, mana should be important, right? [Enhanced Mana Capacity Perk gained!] If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Then silence, no more notifications, and the screens that were appearing before his eyes, and not from the terminal stopped appearing. Staring out into space, Bright wondered if what he just witnessed was real. However, when he thought about his status, it appeared once again! Looking over the changes in his status, he wondered how he could cast his spells, giddy with excitement, he tried everything to cast the spell until he eventually managed it. [Mana Bolt!] A bright blue bolt of energy appeared in his hand and launched off in a random direction, quickly slamming into the ground and leaving behind a scorch mark. "Uh...Bright?" Clair''s voice came from behind him, causing him to freeze, and slowly turn around to find the people already on this side. ''How did I not hear them?!'' Bright scolded himself. --- Meanwhile, Kohl who was watching this whole encounter couldn''t be happier. If the System was attached to Bright now, he''d have a semi-immortal adventurer to explore his Dungeon! Though Kohl was curious if someone else put on his pendent, would they become connected to the System too? Or would Bright have to manually reconnect to the System with each new body he gets? Then there was the hilarious scene of Bright casting his first spell right in front of all of the entering humans, including those who were in the ''council'' they formed in their settlement. They gawked at the power of a simple magic spell, something that was so weak that frankly, it was to Kohl, what an ant was to the sun and the entire universe, ??????????????????????????. "Wait...let me explain!" Bright shouted over the whispers and clamoring of the crowd. "Have you had this the entire time?!" Someone asked from the crowd. "No! I just touched the console! Clair, come here! See for yourself!" Bright shouted and almost dragged her to the console to show her, failing to mention the burning pain that would come with it. Only when the holographic screen appeared did they seem to get distracted. "Click yes, and you''ll be able to do it too!" Bright explained, and Clair clicked yes, not seeing any downsides to it. Just like before, her hand got stuck to the console same as Bright''s and it started burning. Grunting in pain, she yelled, "Get me off!" Others rushed forward in an attempt to pry her off of it, but Bright got in the way with his hands raised, "Relax! She''s fine, it''ll let her go in just a moment." Just after saying that, she was let go, and I could only assume that the system messages began appearing for her. Speaking of which, I was now able to see floating lines of text above both of their heads. [Jack Bright - Aspiring Mage Level 1 - Human(Male)] [Clair Higgins - Aspiring Leader Level 1 - Human (Female)] It took a few moments for her to choose her class, but it was among the lines of what he expected her to choose. Only after Clair confirmed what Jack was saying did some of the people look at the consoles with interest, though there were many more that looked at them with suspicion and fear, which was to be expected since they were Human. But it was a start. It would take time, but eventually, all of the people would become integrated into the System once they realized the power and benefits that came with it. After all, who would say no to becoming stronger, faster, more intelligent, or even living longer? Something to note, however, was that with just those two becoming integrated into the system, I noticed a very slight increase in mana generation. As in a single point a day from them both. Kohl could already see how that would be beneficial to other Cores, imagine if you had thousands diving in your dungeon every day. Your Mana Generation would quite literally skyrocket! And the higher the level an adventurer gets, the more mana dissipated from their bodies and into the Dungeon! By the time an hour had passed, of ninety-three, twelve men and women had integrated themselves into the System and had selected their classes. Of the classes, there were of course Bright''s and Clair''s Aspiring Mage and Aspiring Leader. The rest, however, chose the following: One chose Aspiring Chef, another Farmer, four chose Aspiring Warrior, two more chose Aspiring Mage, another chose Hunter, and the remaining two men chose different classes than the others. One chose a class named [Aspiring Knight], and the other [Aspiring Herbalist]. It may have been less than what Kohl expected, but hopefully more would join soon. --- "This feels...weird," Jay told Bright, clenching his hands. "No kidding, but it''s certainly not a bad feeling," Bright replied with a smile on his face. "How can you two be so calm?!" Clair shouted. "What?" Jay asked, confused. "Do you two not find this weird?! All of the consoles in this area show signs of disrepair! Who knows how long this area has been abandoned!" Sarah shouted at the two. "Of course it''s weird, but do you seriously not find this ''System'' even weirder? It lets me cast magic, for Christ''s sake" Bright replied with a careless shrug of his shoulders. "We can focus on that later, Bright! Now, we need to focus on setting up camp and making sure we don''t starve to death before we find civilization!" She shouted just loud enough for the other council members to hear before whispering to herself, "If it even exists..." Clair had doubts, why were the consoles in such a state and not repaired by those that created it? Were they busy in some way? Was it forgotten? Was it so unimportant that those that created it no longer even bothered maintaining it? Did the civilization even exist? A myriad of thoughts swirled through her mind, and she didn''t like many of the situations that cropped into her mind. She needed to get the people to work, set up hunting and gathering parties, people to make a camp here, and so much more. Luckily for her, whatever the system did, based on what Bright suggested, would only improve their chances of survival. Though there was one concern, was there a limit to how many could get this ''system?'' Even more importantly, how did this system work? Were there limits? What all could this system do? So many questions, yet seemingly no answers to them. Worrying... 11 – What happened here? [Clair''s POV] It took a bit of work, but I managed to get the other Council members on task, getting their help in directing the people in setting up camp on the metal platform under the floating obelisk in the sky. I had a few of our Guards set up around the portal in case the staff decided to come through, and I had the rest simply resting and setting up camp with whatever supplies they took with them from the town, which wasn''t much due to our sudden departure. I then had Jay, Bright, and a couple of our strongest men head out in a certain direction to see if they could find anything but told them if they didn''t find anything within a couple of hours to return. I did this with three other groups too, sending them in three other directions. It would have us defenseless if Staff were to come in, but we should have enough people to defend ourselves if they do attack. Not going to lie, I was hoping the portal would have closed once we all passed through, but it still looked the same even after a few hours passed. Other than that, a few more of our people interacted with the ''System'' gaining classes and mysterious powers and abilities themselves. Even she selected a ''Class'' for herself, gaining three mysterious abilities. [Boost Morale - Active - Activating this ability and giving a good enough speech, you can give a minor or major boost to the morale of your subordinates] [Aura of Confidence - Active - While active, your Aura will give a slight boost to your ally''s confidence and bravery depending on how confident and brave you yourself are] [Leadership - Passive - Whenever you lead, you get a feeling of the right things to say] Those were the ''skills'' she chose, and based on their descriptions and her experiences so far in using them, they were not wrong. However, the skills seemed to be quite weak due to their low level, barely helping at all, though it was better than nothing. However, she was concerned, if these skills did indeed affect a person''s mind, what other things could it do? Was there some kind of skill that allowed someone to mind control another? Shaking her head, she instead focused her mind back on the task, they might have escaped one hell, but who is to say they didn''t escape into another? --- Meanwhile, traveling west, towards the split between the Arctic and Redwoods Biome, Jack Bright, Jay, and several other guards were chatting as they slowly walked through the grassy plains. However, about half an hour of walking later, some of them began noticing what looked to be pillars forming a line in the distance with large gaps of empty space in between. Deciding to follow along the pillars, the group eventually came upon a road with a small building made of metal at the end. Jay was the first to step in. It seemed to be a small office, with a console on one of the walls with a shattered window above it looking out towards the road and away from the obelisk. The Console was clean, yet covered in a sheen of dust, its surface like a screen. However...Jack was the first to notice the skeleton wearing an old and tattered guard uniform several feet up in the air pinned to the wall by arrows... The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Walking up to the skeleton, Jack was the first to notice an object in the skeleton''s clasped hand. Opening the closed skeletal fist, Jack was surprised to see a small rectangular block with a sharp tip. Grabbing it, Jack examined it closer. At the top of the block was an engraving of a diamond, surprisingly the same symbol that was on the face of the Obelisk floating above the camp... Turning around, Jack noticed a seemingly perfect hole at the center of the console that would fit the rectangle. "Jack?" Jay asked as Jack walked past him and toward the Console before inserting the rectangle. Suddenly with a flash of light, the whole console seemed to power up as the diamond on the ''key'' turned a bright white, and white lines seemed to spread across the console and the screen flashed on. [Logs] [Gate Status: Deactivated] [Fence B Status: Deactivated] [3/4 Guard Stations Needing Activation] Curious, Jack tapped on Logs, bringing up a list of entities. [Log 1 - 8/14/2358] [Log 2 - E??r?r?o??r?, Log not available] ... ... ... "What...2358?" A man by the name of Derrick who took the Aspiring Warrior Class asked, baffled. "Over 300 years..." The last man of the group, Gyle, of the Aspiring Hunter class, spoke. Even Jay and Jack''s expressions turned grim. Even though there was a possibility this wasn''t their Earth, they were still worried about the countless changes and differences the Humanity of this Earth would have after so long. Without hesitation, Jack opened the first log, which brought up a holographic screen showcasing a recording of the very room they were standing in only clean and with a man in a Guard''s uniform sitting in a chair. This man, of Asian descent, looked annoyed as he sighed with his eyes closed before he opened them and stared back at the screen. "My name is Kyle Rig, and as of today, April 2nd of 2358, I am required to make daily logs going over my daily activities and any reports I may have for my superiors...sigh," the man sighed, "Listen, I know no one is going to even watch these, so I''m going to speak candidly, I''m tired, and I am old. This job is supposed to be an easy one, and well paying, but with whatever their building at the center of the park, I am beginning to wonder if I might actually have to try and actually ''work,'' not that I had much I had to do other than keep those without proper authorization out and making sure that the fence hasn''t been breached and is in working order, and with my boss becoming more iron-clad with following the rules, I worry." He leaned back into his chair and sat in silence for a minute, seemingly lost in thought, "The boss has always had a stick up his arse, but don''t get me wrong, he recently has become a lot more serious, meaning whatever was being built at the center of the site, have my boss''s higher-ups pressuring him to make sure we do our jobs. My question is, why the hell are they building whatever in the middle of the damn park? They do realize countless people walk through the park every day, sightseeing or checking out the exhibits, right? They are not making my job any easier...sigh, this is going to be a long day," The man said, staring past the console and towards the road, "Seems I have to turn back another guy, man...this job fucking sucks..." With the recording abruptly ending, the others spent a minute or two in silence, processing what they watched. Scrolling down, Jack noticed most of the logs were corrupted, and inaccessible, leaving only a few that were available for viewing. Turning back, he glanced at the skeleton before turning back and scrolling all the way down to the most recent log. [Log 14 - 4/2/2359] "Shit...shit...shit!" The security guard, Kyle cursed, as his uniform was covered in sweat and his hand was bleeding. "I don''t know what happened, but there was an earthquake, I can''t even remember how long it''s been since an earthquake has even been recorded happening...and suddenly the alarms start blaring out through the city, I was on my way to work, and suddenly these...things appeared in the middle of the path and began killing everyone around me, luckily I had my issued firearm on me and was able to protect myself from whatever the hell these creatures were, but one of them fucking got me, knocking my gun out of my hand, I didn''t know what to do so I ran, I came to the only place that seemed safe in this damned park...shit...they were following me," The man cursed and paled as he looked past the screen and towards the road. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He screamed as he tried to run, only for the sound of breaking glass and an arrow to shoot into the room like a missile... The arrow hit the guard with so much force it sent him flying back, and pinning him to the wall. Pale and bleeding, he tried to pull the arrow out, and he successfully did, rushing toward the console, he seemed to pull out the ''key'' and try to make a run for it, why he didn''t just run away, the group didn''t know, perhaps the key was valuable? Only for a high-pitched laugh to come from behind the screen and a strange creature with green skin standing at five feet in height, to leap over the console and into the room. In the final moments, the group horrified watched as the green creature approached the guard who slowly backed off to the wall, then the recording went black. 12 – Hostiles The group sat in silence as they digested the information shown to them, what the hell could have happened here? Whatever that...creature was that attacked the Security Guard, it was clear that it was humanoid and at least somewhat intelligent due to how it was clearly using a primitive bow. And whatever that creature was...it was clearly sadistic. Based on the remains of the skeleton, the creature clearly tortured the security guard... But that raised another question, How could such an Advanced Civilization be attacked by something so...primitive? Based on what the Guard said, the city must have been attacked by a lot of these...creatures, and that made the group worry. Would there be more of these creatures hiding in the park? Was the city evacuated? That might explain why the place seemed to be in disrepair. Though why wouldn''t they come back? As time passed, the group had more questions than answers, and little did they know, the other search groups were coming across similar scenes. Skeletons wearing tattered uniforms, some were the other security guards for the other checkpoints, and some seemed to be scientists, yet all were found dead, with arrows still lodged within the skeleton''s bones. Not only that, one of the search groups found the skeletons of civilians, the same cause of death. By the time three hours had passed, three of four security stations were activated, with only one remaining deactivated. This caused the 3/4ths of the ''fence'' around the Obelisk to become active, and prevent crossing. Seeing as this could be an added security measure to keep the camp safe, the three groups that activated the fences left them activated, while the last search group ended up never following the fence and proceeding further south, soon coming upon a strange ''divide'' that separated two completely different biomes, a sand dune in a desert, and a marshy swamp, two drastically different biomes that shouldn''t be so close to one another. It was strange to look at, the two biomes were split, forming a straight line down the middle. Even stranger was the fact that they could see that the...weather was different for both of the biomes as well as if they were in a bubble. It was unnatural, so much so that they assumed it could only be artificial. They didn''t proceed, however, deciding to head back to the camp to inform the others of their findings. Meanwhile, Kohl who was watching them, had already started his work in expanding the dungeon past the Fog wall, working on the next project of the Dungeon. The Ruins of Invictus. Of course, not even two days had passed since Kohl''s dimension breached the IKEA, and his Mana generation was still pathetic. However, what made up for that, is now more than fifty of the ninety-three humans had become ''Classed'' and gave me a single point of mana per day for each Classer. At the moment, his mana generation was sitting at one hundred and fifty-eight per day, and if all of the Humans integrated with the system, his mana generation would be only a few points away from reaching two hundred a day. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. With the mana he did have, he already began making the foundation of his next expansion, though he definitely didn''t have enough since he wanted to make the city ruins four times larger than the Dome, leaving the Dome at the center of the city. However, Kohl had bigger problems, it would soon be night, or at least, it should have since Kohl had Synchronized his day and night cycle with that of the IKEA. If the previous night was anything to go by, then his...people? Wards? Humans. Would soon be sieged by the Staff, and unlike their previous town, their camp had no defenses worthy of note. Hmm...Kohl''s mind went deep into thought before he eventually had an idea, as his eyes gazed towards the Obelisk. ... By the time all of the search groups returned to the camp, it was already becoming dark, as Kohl''s core which provided the light in the dungeon began dimming, to signal the end of day, and the start of the night. The people of the camp noticed it, as they finally noticed Kohl''s core, which acted like the largest star in the sky, surrounded by tiny embers acting as stars in the dark sky. And as they looked towards the sky, voices came from behind. "?E????x????c????u???s?????e??? ???m??????e,???? ????th????e??? ??????s??????t??o????r??e????? ??????is????? ?????n????o???w? ???c????l?o????s????e?????d???,???? ???????p?l?????e????a????s?????e ????e?????x????i?????t? ????t?????h????e?? ????b?????u?????i?l???d???????i?????n??????g?????,?" The distorted voice of staff called out, as they began pouring through the portal. People cried out in fear as the Staff charged through the portal, the Classed who were guarding the portal were the first to react, those who were mages casting spells before charging, while those who chose more...physical classes stopped the Staff from getting past. Unfortunately, it was all in vain as the Staff easily outnumbered the guard, so, those who had selected classes and who were brave, charged forward, hoping to keep the Staff back long enough for everyone else to escape, even the search teams that were now back at the camp began helping in holding the staff back. However, that''s when things changed, as the Obelisk suddenly glowed and pulsed, vibrating the air around it. The vibration was powerful, almost sending everyone to their feet, but that''s not what caught the people''s attention. Those who were fleeing, stopped, turning back to see a stream of white material flow from the Obelisk. Before everyone''s eyes, the stream of material began morphing to be similar to the Diamond symbols that were on the Keys of the Guard stations, to those integrated into the system, lines of text were visible over the new machine. [Guardian - Level ???] [A/N: Same form as the Overseer in Ark Survival Evolved] Humming for a second, the Guardian seemed to vibrate, as it floated over to the gate. With a hum, multiple lasers blasted out of the strange machine, vaporizing the IKEA Staff, strangely enough, the Guardian avoided hitting all of the people fighting, being precise enough to even vaporize the Staff that was actively attacking. Not even a few moments had passed, before the beams of energy waved over every staff member, turning them to dust, but more continued to pour through the gate. It became a literal tide of yellow, and blue, as the Staff members seemed to desperately climb upon one another to get through the portal, only to fall to the ground once inside, to be instantly vaporized. The people, now no longer needing to fight, watched the spectacle with wide eyes. While some were hesitant to stay, others realized that if the machine wanted them dead, they would, be dead. And while the leaders of the camp were thankful, they also quickly grew even more concerned. Once again they wondered why this...obelisk was abandoned, what on Earth could have happened for this advanced version of Humanity to leave such a thing alone and in disrepair? Was it really forgotten? Hundreds of Staff were utterly destroyed, then thousands...then more. Whatever was happening, resulting in what felt like all of the staff of the infinite IKEA invading through the portal, either to eliminate them to prevent their escape or for some other unknown reason. Jay and Clair exchanged glances as they watched the pinpoint carnage done to the Staff by the Guardian. By the time an hour had passed, the amount of Staff began to visible decline in number. Near the end, the dungeon began brightening, signaling that it would soon be daytime, Clair decided to approach the Guardian and talk. "Hello...?" She hesitantly asked, before continuing, "Would you happen to be...intelligent? Or sentient?" Getting no answer, they began to think it was simply a guard dog for the Obelisk, to make sure it was safe. However, that was when a mechanical voice came from the Guardian. "[Scanning...Scanning...Human, Status...Civilian. Scanning Credentials...None found. Authorization, denied.]" And before their eyes, the guardian seemed to melt into multiple liquid streams of material and flowing back into the Obelisk. Silence was what followed, as the people tried to digest what just happened, and what the hell just saved them. 13 – Pleasant Surprise To my pleasant surprise, after I saved them, using 250 units of Mana in the process, almost all of the Humans had connected to the system, with only two refusing to connect. That''s right, of the ninety-three humans, ninety-one were now Classed! Raising my daily generation to one hundred and ninety-one points. The two that haven''t connected with the system, were the two oldest of the community, both in their seventies. However, I am betting they would be quick to join if they found out they could regain their youth through the system and increase their lifespan. Though it was also possible that they would become even more adamant in refusing to connect to the system, Humans are such fascinating creatures in that way. They can be illogical and...''insane,'' but Humanity has proven time and time again that they are a species filled with determination and ingenuity, and will fight the universe itself if it gets in the way. Sure, Humans can be cruel, apathetic, deceptive, and downright horrible creatures, but they are also empathetic, kind-hearted, compassionate, creative, and wonderful people. They were both destroyers and creators. Without realizing it, I already began imagining worlds, some were seemingly ordinary, where humans went about their days trying to survive, others were so dangerous and filled with perils that it was a wonder how Humanity survived, let alone lived long enough to thrive. A universe filled with strife, an ancient Imperium led by a dying god sitting on a golden throne, worlds with hive cities so large that planets could have billions upon billions of people living in one city among dozens if not hundreds of cities. Another world was one where Humanity was on the brink of collapse, a religious alien threat wielding advanced technology, the only hope being supersoldiers trained from childhood to become the best humanity had to offer. Focusing back on the situation at hand, I observed the people camping below the Obelisk. The night had already passed, and hiding the Guardian in the Obelisk was simple enough. I wondered if they would set up some kind of defenses around the portal to prevent another surge of Staff from overwhelming them, but they were too afraid of entering the portal and returning to that IKEA to grab anything. They had enough food and water to last another day or two at the most, meaning if they didn''t want to starve or die of dehydration, they would either have to enter the IKEA and scavenge for food, or go scavenging in the biomes. Of the two, traversing the IKEA was vastly safer, though they did not know that. Hmm...I suddenly had an idea. In several worlds that I knew, there existed something called ''Quests.'' These were essentially tasks that would reward the quest completer items, currency, or experience points. Through the system, could I create these...''Quests?'' If I could, I would be able to influence the humans to a much greater degree, and even direct them a bit. Oh, perhaps I could fashion a quest that would have a human exploring the story of my dungeon environments and earn rewards based on what they learn from the evidence I provide? Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. So much I could do with my dungeon, and I had all of eternity at my disposal. However, I was still vulnerable. I can be destroyed. I may be ageless, but that does not mean I am immortal in the true sense of the word. The Guardian which I created at the cost of 250 units of mana, would be able to deal with most mortal threats, however, it would be easily beaten by a good number of armed mortals or entities of great strength. A small army of a few hundred mortals armed with modern weaponry would be able to take down the Guardian. I shouldn''t have to worry about anything coming through the IKEA portal that my Guardian shouldn''t be capable of destroying. Though I may have to worry about ''When Day Breaks'' or some variation of the SCP Foundation or other organization tossing an SCP into the IKEA, treating the dimension as some kind of ''Thaumiel'' SCP, where they can get rid of or ''contain'' troublesome SCPs. For example, Dr. Bright, there probably existed countless versions of this man, woman, or something else that could have somehow ended up in the IKEA. This Dr. Bright was certainly an Ex-SCP Foundation Scientist, though he was reluctant to talk about his past, and even when alone he didn''t talk about his past life from before he ended up in the IKEA or even use a journal. Who knows what could have caused this Dr. Bright to end up in the IKEA? His world could have faced a K-Class end-of-the-world scenario, or he could have just spent a Saturday evening furniture shopping and ended up in the IKEA. So while I had no doubt I''d eventually have something come through that portal that would give my Guardian some trouble, due to the way I created the Guardian, I could always forcefully upgrade and improve it since it''s mechanical in nature, and not a biological organism. I certainly didn''t want to deal with a loose SCP-682 that was thrown into the IKEA simply because it was convenient. Due to the way the Omniverse worked, there was an infinite amount of possibilities, for all I knew, there could be multiple Infinite IKEAs. Focusing back on the situation at hand, I wondered how I should make these...''Qeusts.'' Should I go the typical Quest Board route? A simple Quest Screen? Or perhaps should I take on a form and give out quests as an NPC of sorts? [Poll at the end of the chapter] Deciding to come back to that later when night falls, I focused on the remains of the land outside of the dome. To make the Guardian, I had to recycle a bit of the land I created, causing a minor setback. However, I was still making progress with the Ruins of Victus, having created a block of the city. So far, the design I was going for was that of an ancient yet still intact modern city with clear signs of advanced technology. Ruined hover cars, holographic signs, buildings made of gleaming silver-ish metal. Clear signs of panic and struggle, as a hovercar was shown to have arrows pierced through the windshield and straight into the driver''s seat where a skeleton could be seen. The car was planted straight into a wall, and the hood smashed with the front of the car buried into a wall of a building. Another car showed similar signs, as the driver was also killed and the car crashed into a lamp pole. As I created, I came up with a story in my mind of what was happening. Most human skeletons would have deteriorated with the amount of time that had passed, but outlining the skeletal bones was some kind of metal, making the humans when they were alive tougher and more durable. The metal grafted on their bones made their skeletons far more resistant to normal deterioration by the elements, meaning it would take far longer for the bones to deteriorate in the open air and exposed to natural elements, littering the streets with their remains from a time long past. Overgrowth had already begun taking over the city, vines grew along the sides of buildings, and grass covered the roads, and skeletal remains. Trees grew sparsely in the area, their roots breaking apart the roads and sidewalks. Oh, how I so enjoyed creating the story of the Ruins, shame how I had to stop so soon due to a lack of mana. I do wonder, what would my creation look like once I was done. Would it be as magnificent as I expected it to be? Only time will tell. 14 – A fight for Survival As I predicted, three days passed before the people under the Obelisk began running out of food and water. Now they were left with two decisions. Go back into the IKEA and scavenge for food, a relatively safe option to be sure, but I doubt they would take it due to fear of the portal closing or it turning to night. They should really get a clock, their time-tracking skills need some work if they can''t even guestimate the amount of time they have left in the day before ''Closing Time'' as they called it. Though to be fair, I guess they don''t really have any tell-tale signs of time other than sparse appliances across the IKEA. They also now have more people around the Portal but always remain guard for when I begin shifting to the night cycle in my dungeon, where everyone armed themselves and stepped back from the portal. In the past two nights, I had my Guardian reveal itself, protecting them from the wave of Staff that come pouring through the portal every night, I am afraid that if I didn''t they''d all probably be dead by now, or they''d have fled farther into my Dungeon and into my Biomes. I''ve also managed to get the help of the System, what most don''t understand, is that the System is alive, and for quite a significant number of Dungeons, it acts as our Patron, in exchange for a few things. For example, the System is a lot like a plant. It seeks to grow and will use whatever resources it can acquire to further that objective, even going as far as to create Symbiotic Relationships with those it feels can help promote its goal. Of course, the System also acts as a sort of patron to those who assist in expanding and strengthening it, with rewards such as energy, schematics, and more for Dungeons, levels, items, and skills for the Integrated, entities that join the System. What I essentially did, was convince the System to implement this ''Quest'' system in my Dungeon so that more would be enticed to integrate into the system. At the cost of me being the one to supply the rewards and energy that the Integrated calls ''EXP.'' I would gladly pay the price, as a Dungeon, I was more than capable of producing the rewards and ''EXP'' that the Integrated would want. However, I will not activate the Quest System yet, as I wanted a full week to have passed for those who Integrated, and that''s how I wanted the System to do. This meant those that became Integrated sooner, would reap the benefits of the Quest System first, and for every other integrated, they would have to wait a week from the time they became integrated before they gain access to the Quest System. It was the fifth day since they arrived in my dungeon, meaning the few that integrated on the first day, would gain access to the Quest System in two days. But for now, I focused on the important figures of the Humans as they came together and began discussing what to do. ... Gathering around in a circle, Clair, Jay, Dr. Bright, Jake, Vernon, and Sarah. Hovering above each of their heads, were a few lines of words, words that I could easily see and read. [Clair Higgins - Aspiring Leader Level 1 - Human (Female)] [Jay Barnes - Aspiring Warrior Level 3 - Human (Male)] [Jack Bright - Aspiring Mage Level 3 - Human (Male)] [Jake Cobbet - Aspiring Guard Level 2 - Human (Male)] [Vernon Wilkinson - Aspiring Chef Level 6 - Human (Male)] The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. [Sarah Carter - Quartermaster Level 5 - Human (Female)] They were progressing smoothly, but a couple of them were not progressing as fast as the Profession classes, such as the Quartermaster and Aspiring Chef classes Vernon Wilkinson and Sarah Carter had. "We are almost out of food," Sarah grimly informed the others. They all looked between one another, but Clair was the first to speak. "Then we need to form a group to go forage or hunt for food." "Are you serious? We have no idea what''s hiding in those bubbles," Jake commented, as everyone was briefed about the four strange biomes that seemed to be in some sort of ''bubbles'' that surrounded the grassy planes around them. They had only two real options, traverse through these ''bubbles'' in search of food, or return to the IKEA and potentially become trapped again. So, of course, they chose the most dangerous option, though they did not know that, and gathered six men to form a group that would enter these...bubbles. Leading this group was, of course, Jay, and joining him was Bright, while the rest were men who could fight, and run if need to. And with hardly any preparation, they set off towards the Jungle. I, of course, watched them the whole way, as they walked through the grass planes, then through the security checkpoint, and past the perimeter. From there it was only a matter of time before they stopped just shy of the Jungle''s ''bubble.'' ... "Are we seriously going to walk into the creepy ass Jungle?" One of the men behind Jay and Bright asked, concerned. "Yep!" Bright excitedly shouted, not even turning around before stepping forward and into the thick Jungle. Stepping into the Jungle, everyone watched as Bright froze and shivered. "You alright Bright?" Jay asked, concerned. "Yeah, It''s just that it is a lot warmer in here, like 20 degrees warmer and a lot more humid..." Bright answered. I observed them crossing over the atmospheric bubble surrounding the Jungle biome. The Jungle''s temperature was set at 80 F, and the humidity only made that worse for the Humans, however, for all the life in the Jungle, it was perfect. Flora and Fauna thrived within the dense jungle. It was arguably the best place for them to find food, but also one of the most dangerous as well, though it was still their best option. The Jungle was home to a myriad of creatures, from venomous snakes and creatures to Dire Bears, Pteranodons, Thylacoleos, Velociraptors, Dodos, and even Otters. The Jungle was designed to house the most life, which meant that there was plenty of food and water, more than what the Humans would ever need as I constantly replenished what was consumed. However, they would have to be wary of danger coming from every direction, the ground, the sky, the trees, everywhere. I watched as they carefully navigated the Jungle, I made sure to direct anything that would slaughter them away but left the animals and creatures that they would still struggle to fight, such as a pack of Velociraptors they would soon stumble upon. [Velociraptors Level 8 - Male] [Velociraptors Level 5 - Male] [Velociraptors Level 2 - Female] [Velociraptors Level 4 - Male] Seeing the raptors, the group of Humans tensed and clenched their weapons tight. With what sounded like a mix of bark and hiss, the Raptors charged forward, with the strongest charging forward while the other raptors flanked the humans. Though the Humans outnumbered the raptors, the raptors were still far stronger and faster. The raptors now surrounded the humans who had their backs together, with their makeshift machetes and spears. The Raptors seemed to taunt the humans, as they acted like they would charge forward to bite, only to pull back. The Raptors were far more cunning than one would expect from an animal, as they waited for one of the humans to take the bait and overextend themselves. Dr. Bright, seemingly having enough of that, cast a Mana bolt, which directly hit the face of one of the raptors. The bolt accurately slammed into the face of one of the high-leveled Raptors, the bolt popped like a water balloon, and the mana washed over the Raptor''s face, burning it Meanwhile, with the strongest raptor reeling back from the pain, the Humans charged forward and attacked the other Raptors. Seeing its pack members die, the scarred Raptor chose to flee, and ran off into the Jungle, faster than any of the Humans could hope to catch up. Humming to myself, I could already see a new story being put into place. That scarred raptor would come back, and it would come back with a Vengence. Keeping note of that particular raptor, I focused back on the Humans. They were breathing heavily, I could hear, no, feel their hearts beat fast, faster as adrenaline coursed through their body. It was strange but oddly interesting. Being able to see into their bodies, hear and watch as their hearts beat, the Dungeon side of me could already see countless ways I could change and improve their biology. Looking at them, I wondered how their biology would change with each level they received, would their bones become stronger? Denser? Would their muscles become more compact and durable? Would their very DNA change with time as the energy they call ''EXP'' changes their body? Now that I thought about it, this was controlled Evolution, and I wondered, what else does the System do for the Integrated? 15 – The Jungle While the group sat and rested, I continued to redirect the more dangerous inhabitants of the Jungle away from the humans. The smell of their Blood and the carcasses of the Raptors, nearly every monster in the area, would have been on them like starving locusts and torn the humans apart before they could even hope to fight back. Most of the monster''s senses were already superior to a human''s at their base. Still, with the levels they have been getting, their senses are, in some cases, multiple times better than usual for a non-system animal. It was all fascinating, comparing the changes my monsters have undergone through the System and comparing them to what they would have been without the influence of the System. It gave me an idea of what would happen if I evolved them myself. Without any help from the System? Noting that experiment for later use, I focused back on the Humans, who were crowding around the carcasses of the Raptors, examining them. ... "Well...I certainly never expected to see real-life dinosaurs, nor did I ever expect that they''d want to eat me," Bright commented while looking at one of the dead Raptors. "What did you expect? That they just wanted some cuddles?" One of the others asked sarcastically. "Maybe cuddles with our intestines," Another commented, causing some of them to blanch from the disgusting image. "Well...I guess we got some food," One of the others commented. "Not enough. We''ll need a lot more if we want to feed everyone," Jay replied, eyes still scanning their surroundings in case of another ambush. Hearing that, Kohl set some of the weaker monsters free, and they quickly approached the humans. Not before examining the monsters to ensure none of the Monsters would be capable of wiping the human party. [Juvenile Thylacoleo - Level 2 - Male] [Blood Wasp Swarm - Level 6 - Females] [Carnotaurus - Level 12 - Male] Carefully guiding the Carno away, Kohl watched as the other two descended upon the humans. The young juvenile was as large as a human and had the claws to tear any of them apart, but it was still young and not nearly as intelligent as the humans. Even then, it was still a natural killer and knew how to ambush strong prey. So while the Thylo stalked the humans from a distance, waiting for a chance to strike, the frenzied Blood Wasps swarmed the humans. The swarm of wasps counted as a single ''monster,'' and each wasp shared the same stats, skills, and attributes. This meant debuffs or buffs would affect all of the wasps, not that the humans had any that had such skills. However, their leader would eventually obtain such skills depending on the Class Evolutions they took. It also meant that upon detecting the scent of Blood, the Wasps were sent into a frenzy and activated one of their racial abilities. [Blood Starved - Upon detecting the scent of Blood, the Blood Wasps enter a frenzied state and gain +50% to their Health and +5 to Agility] Once they detected the scent of Blood, not only did they become more challenging to kill, but also quite a bit faster. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Kohl was using the Blood Wasps as experiments toward Hive-mind and swarm-based monsters for the future, and his experiments were successful if the Blood Wasps were anything to go by. However, Kohl had plans for them; these were one of the few groups left in the Jungle, and they''d be the last until he gave them a proper...home, so once they were removed from the Jungle, they''d never respawn within it again. The small swarm they were fighting was the weakest swarm of the eight total swarms currently in the Jungle, with the strongest swarm being one of the strongest monsters in the Jungle, right under a select few, including the Elementals. If anything, the Blood Wasps were too dangerous unless something was accurate enough. The only real damage that would hurt them was AOE attacks, and even then, they were a swarm. Unless whatever fought the Wasps had a decent amount of AOE attacks, there is not much one could do against them. However, there was one other feasible way to attack them: Magic. Something which two of the humans had, Bright and another Human Kohl, didn''t remember the name of. They both cast Mana Bolt, and the bolts struck the swarm accurately before spreading across the Wasps like a chain reaction, killing dozens of the wasps at once, eliminating 28% of the Swarm''s Health in one go. Seeing the damage, the two mages started spamming the Mana Bolts as fast as they could against the swarm, but for every Mana Bolt that hit, the Swarm became smaller and even harder to hit, to the point only around three dozen of the Wasps remained. Unfortunately for the Humans, that was more than enough time for the Wasps to make it to the group and attack one of the warriors. With a frankly shocking speed, the Wasps drained the man''s blood from his body, turning him into a Husk within seconds. Then, to the human''s surprise, the Wasps split. Yet another racial skill, [Lifeblood], is a skill that lets the Blood Wasps split and regenerate the damage they have taken and recuperate their lost numbers. You see, with each level, the number of Blood Wasps increases, with high-level Blood Wasp Swarms likely capable of blotting out the sun or Kohl''s core, in this case. To Kohl''s surprise, the Thylo, upon seeing this, chose to leave the area, likely not wanting to have to fight with the Blood Wasps for some meager prey. Meanwhile, seeing one of their friends dying, some of the Humans panicked and began hacking away and or backing away, doing little to stop the Blood Wasps as they drained their friend dry, quickly killing him. While Kohl had no intention of wiping out the party, at least not for a decently long time, it did not mean he wouldn''t make them suffer and struggle. From what he''s seen, only through working, suffering, and hope do Humans typically overcome their limits and become something...more. Some become Gods amongst men, some become horrifying monsters trapped within human skin, and some are survivors. Survivors that fight and fight until it becomes the only thing they know. That''s what Dungeons fundamentally are: training grounds where Adventurers can become something more or die trying. In Dungeons, the weakest of the weak can either become someone or something strong or stay stuck forever in weakness. When the Wasps flew off of the husk of a human and let it fall, Bright and the other mage began pelting the swarm with Mana Bolts once again, this time taking more time to actually hit their target, dealing substantially more damage to the small Swarm. The swarm would have already died by this point, but due to the warriors who rushed forward, the two mages couldn''t get a good shot on the swarm. While the Humans eventually managed to take care of the swarm, primarily by swatting at them as if they were flies, the Humans did kill the Swarm, leaving only seven more and much more powerful swarms left in the Jungle. With one of the humans now dead and Kohl having gained a bit of mana from his death, he knew they''d likely all die if faced with another threat. They were not veterans yet and will probably not be for some time. Perhaps once there were more humans, Kohl could observe and stop interfering, but his Monsters were too strong and numerous compared to the Humans. When the Humans got up from the ground, they did not speak, some likely still in shock, as some of them picked up the Raptor carcasses, and one of the humans had the unfortunate situation of having to grab the husk of a human that was left after the Blood Wasps. While they silently traveled back to the Obelisk, Kohl had to reorganize, deciding to move the stronger monsters toward the center of the Jungle while leaving the weaker monsters on the edge of the biome. He then did this for the other biomes as well, to make it more balanced for the future Adventurers. Kohl had an idea for a rule to prevent more deaths in the future, but until then, it''ll require a bit of micro-management to keep the deaths from going too far overboard. And when the Humans approached the camp, he focused on the leaders, knowing this would likely be a wake-up call to how dangerous his biomes could be. 16 – Wake up call and the Quest Windows [A/N: Well, this chapter took longer to write than I expected. Seems I got a bit rusty. XD] "Clair..." Jumping from the sudden voice from behind her, Clair turned around to see the scouting party...along with a dried husk of a corpse. "My god...what happened?!" She shouted. "We were...ambushed by creatures that hid in the forest. They were dangerous, and...we lost someone," Jay sorrowfully informed Clair before telling her their name and how they died. She looked horrified but quickly put on a mask, showing that she was still their leader. Taking the lead, she ordered the man to be buried and for those related to him to be notified. She then gathered the other council members, and Jay and Bright fully briefed them from start to finish on what had happened once they left the camp. There, they quickly learned how dangerous the Jungle proved to be and that while it had plenty of food, it also had just as many dangers. While the human leaders talked about what happened in the jungle, Kohl observed some other Humans began butchering and cooking what the scouting party brought back. Now that their food problems were solved, Kohl wondered how they would take care of their water needs. Getting lost in thought, Kohl realized that he completely forgot about the weather. Perhaps he should fashion a weather system of sorts to provide drinkable, clean water across the Dungeon? Kohl was glad he was able to get visitors for his dungeon so soon. They were already helping Kohl in recognizing problems with his Dungeon that he probably wouldn''t have noticed for a long time. Though with that, Kohl wondered if he should add other harvestable resources that would interest future Dungeon Divers. He already had plans for things such as Iron, Wood, and other basic materials, but what if he added things like Vibranium, Uru, Adamantium, Element, and so much more? Kohl knew adding such materials, even if few in number, would greatly increase the attention his Dungeon would receive, as Humans could be quite the greedy race. ... Days passed, and officially, a week had passed since Dr. Bright first connected to the system. At the exact hour, a week later, from when he connected to the system, something changed. ... /=======+=======\ System has completely integrated Unlocking Quest Window Congratulations, Jack Bright, on becoming an Integrated! \=======+=======/ "...What?" Jack asked out loud, drawing the attention of the nearby Jay and Clair. /=======+=======\ Daily Quest is available! =[Gather Food]= Description: Gather 15 lbs worth of Food from the Infinite IKEA and bring it back to your settlement. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Rewards: +10 EXP \=======+=======/ "...What?!" Chuckling to himself, Kohl watched as Bright freaked out and tried to slap the floating screen before his eyes away as its sudden appearance seemed to jump scare him, along with the audible ''Ding'' it made. Once Bright calmed down, he explained that a screen suddenly appeared before his eyes and tried to explain to Clair and Jay what a ''Quest'' was and that he apparently could now get daily Quests that would give him a reward of some kind, in this case, EXP. "You''re saying this...Daily Quest will give you EXP for fulfilling some...task?" Clair asked, confused. "Precisely!" Bright answered, pointing at Clair with a smile on his face, like one of those old game show hosts. "But what''s the quest for? What''s the task you have to do?" Jay asked, still somewhat confused. "That''s...it wants me to go back into the IKEA...and grab 15 pounds of food before bringing it back..." Bright stated before the other two began arguing about it, stating that it was dangerous to go back in. "No... it''s not. We know the dangers inside the infinite IKEA. We, however, don''t know all that lurks in the Jungle or any of the other biomes..." Jack argued. "Still...what if the portal closes behind you?" Clair asked, concerned. "That''s a risk I am willing to take. After an entire week, the portal still remains stable. I doubt it would suddenly collapse without us noticing it first," Jack answered with a shrug. "But what if it does?" Clair pushed. "Then, at least I know there are ways to escape," Bright replied, brushing off her concern. An uncomfortable silence took place as the three looked at one another, taking a deep breath, Bright broke the silence by stating, "Then...I guess I''ll be back soon. If I am not, well, wish me luck, who knows, perhaps I''ll have better luck than you guys," He joked. "Good luck...and stay safe," Clair said goodbye, leaving Bright to turn around and begin walking towards the portal. Stopping only for a moment, Bright took in a deep breath and reached out to touch the portal, disappearing with a golden flash when his hand made contact. Kohl knew Bright had at most seven hours to complete his quest, one that Kohl personally assigned to him, to help the Humans realize that they could get what they need from the Infinite IKEA but remain within the Dungeon, not that Kohl planned on spelling out for them. In a few hours, Clair and the other humans who were the first to integrate into the System would be given their Quest Windows, Kohl already had a few goals in mind that would set the Humans on track. ... With a flash of Golden Light, Bright found himself standing inside the Infinite IKEA. "Sigh, this damn IKEA," He cursed with a sigh before his eyes registered the sea of employees that surrounded him, no, surrounded the portal. "Well...fuck." ... Meanwhile, soon enough, Clair''s Quest Window was unlocked, and Kohl assigned her a quest. /=======+=======\ Daily Quest is available! =[Curious Curiosities]= Description: Watch all of the logs of one of the Gate Stations around the ARK Rewards: +15 EXP \=======+=======/ While Jay got a different Daily Quest. /=======+=======\ Daily Quest is available! =[Scouting]= Description: Visit the outer edges of the four biomes surrounding your settlement. Rewards: +25 EXP \=======+=======/ "Jay...did you also just get a Daily Quest?" Clair asked, concern on her face. "I did..." Jay answered. "It wants me to listen to all of the logs of one of the Gate stations you visited...also, I think it just named the Obelisk floating above us," Clair stated, looking up. "Wait, it gave the name of the obelisk?" Jay asked, momentarily confused. "Yeah...the screen called it the ''ARK,''" Clair explained, looking up at the ARK. "The ARK? As in Noah''s ARK?" Jay asked, confused. "What''s that?" Clair asked. "It''s something from the Bible, at least I think it is. Haven''t been to any church in well over a decade. If I remember correctly, Noah''s ARK was some kind of boat meant to save two of every animal from some world-ending disaster," Jay explained. "So i''s meant to become sort of...safe haven?" Clair asked. "I mean...I guess so that Guardian certainly protects us from the staff whenever they come out," Jay mentioned, looking off to the portal. "Jay...what did Quest did it give you?" Clair asked, focusing her gaze on him. "It wants me to scout out the edges of all of the biomes..." Jay spoke after a few moments, not looking her in the eye. "You don''t have to accept it, right? What happens if you don''t do it?" Clair asked, more toward herself than Jay. "I don''t know," Jay answered, only for Clair to ask, "But can we risk it?" The two looked between one another, silence once again taking hold. Meanwhile, Kohl observed from above, wondering how the Humans would proceed now. There were plenty of cases of Humans being independent as a species, fighting against oppression and control. Would they eventually start trying to free themselves from the system? Or would the Humans start fracturing into many different factions? 17 – The First Void Converter While the Integrated Humans dispersed in many directions to complete their Daily Quests, Kohl was focused on the most important project yet, Void Converters, the object he imagined many days ago that would convert the void into Mana, and with luck, he''d finally create his very first. He had no idea how much creating such a device would cost, so he wiped out most of his work on the city surrounding the ARK and its biomes. With his memory, he could still remember whatever he took down so that he could rebuild it later on, but he still felt a little distraught at having to tear down his creations to recycle the mana he used. And so, he began to draw all of the mana he could, pouring it out of his body in a visible blue stream to an open space in the sky near his core. The streams of mana flowed to a small area next to him, slowly condensing into a ball. The blue ball started to solidify, becoming something reminiscent of rubber. Satisfied, Kohl began, using the mana he had left to start carving runes, symbols, and more into the surface of the orb, creating a sort of chain of enchantments that should work together. There were many types, and some were designed to do the same things yet were from a different path of enchanting. Kohl did this so that in case any of the Enchantments failed, there would be backups that would activate in emergency scenarios and prevent the entire generator from being destroyed or causing some form of explosion. The runes, symbols, and images let out a golden glow as he pumped them full of Mana and activated them. However, it did not work, as it was missing the source from which it would draw. Taking a deep ''breath'' or whatever equivalent a Dungeon Core could do, Kohl began to manipulate his dimension, probably far past what was intended, as he tore an infinitesimal hole at the very center of the Void-Mana Converter. If the tear was open outside of the Void-Mana Converter, Kohl was afraid that a great many things in his Dungeon would have been sucked into the void, killing and destroying everything he had built so far. Luckily, it was contained within the Void-Mana Converter. Suddenly, the blue orb covered in Golden etchings turned black and, to Kohl''s immersion satisfaction, actively began to convert the Void''s energy into usable mana. However, there was a problem. The conversion rate was atrocious, and it didn''t seem exactly stable. The Void-Mana converter was clearly struggling with converting the Void energies to Mana, and Kohl feared that the enchantments and the device itself would need breaks so as not to self-destruct or have the first set of Enchantments break down. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Calculating, Kohl found that the Generator would cost 500 Mana to create and would require 25 Units of Mana a day to maintain, not including recreating any of the Enchantments if they were to be destroyed, while it produced 30 Units of Mana a day. This meant it would produce an excess of 5 mana a day while the rest could be used to maintain itself, though he''d have to make a few more enchantments if he wanted it to be self-sufficient. Hopefully, he can improve the enchantments and the conversion rate with time, but it would be a long-term investment for now. Though now that he had that thought in mind, he wondered, what would happen if he created one that was, let''s say, as big as a building? Or the sun? He''d be drowning in Mana. Now, he needed to create more and more of the Void-Mana Converters until it shouldn''t cost him a dime to create one. With enough of the Converters, he should be able to build and create whatever he wants; it would just take time. ... So, as time passed, the Settlement under the ARK grew. Walls of furniture surrounded the settlement and the portal. Guards with makeshift swords and crossbows above these walls, watching over the portal and the wall surrounding the outside of the town. Buildings were fashioned from furniture, and people went about their days. Everyone was now integrated with the System, as the benefits outweighed the suspicions some had about the system. Every day a group would leave through the Portal, journeying through the Infinite IKEA to gather food, water, and furniture, which was brought back to the settlement, supplying the settlement with everything it needed. The one thing they did have trouble getting was Medicine, as it was a rarity in the IKEA, with few groups even having sources of medicine. Unfortunately, by creating a new settlement and abandoning their old one, they had lost contact with many of the settlements they knew of, though efforts were being made to reestablish contact with them so as to reestablish trade and show them the way out of the hell they were trapped in. Any new arrivals that were found roaming around the IKEA, lost and unaware of the dangers, were led back to the Settlement and informed of the situation they found themselves in. It happened quite frequently enough that eight new humans of varying ages were added to the settlement, the youngest being 15 and the oldest 72. The Council was planning to expand what they''d need, and now they were even working on making a list of ''rules'' and ''laws'' that must be followed to keep the peace. Sure, none of the humans were overly aggressive or caused many problems, but in any society, there are grudges, fights, arguments, and more. So, a group of ''Guards'' was made, led by a man with a combat class. The Guards were responsible for guarding the walls and keeping the peace, though their main purpose was to keep the Settlement safe. There was also a group of ''Explorers'' made to scout the edges of the four Biomes that surrounded the planes and ARK, where the Settlement was founded. Of course, it was noticed that the biomes were significantly safer than the first Scouting Party encountered. So, from the Scouting parties, fresh meat, bones, and other animal parts were frequently gathered as the Scouting parties adventure deeper and deeper into the Biomes every day and returned with the carcasses of whatever they hunted. Also, the four gate stations around the ARK were manned by guards, and the energy fences were activated, making those four gate stations the only viable way to get to the settlement other than through the portal. This was done to alert the Settlement of any attacks and retaliation from the creatures that dwelled in the Biomes while also being a vanguard for any potential outside human contact that is made. Hope was in the air, and happiness was plentiful while discontent and anger were at an all-time low, as the many who found themselves trapped within the Infinite IKEA for years were more than happy to see a sky, taste the dirt and wood in the air, and feel ''natural'' light on their faces. Little did they know, small black spheres were slowly appearing in the sky above their home, and eyes watched their every move with intrigue and happiness at the story that was unfolding before their eyes. 18 – Progress Four weeks had passed, and now twelve different V.E.Cs were floating around my core. I considered grouping them together to form a kind of cloud but ended up deciding against it and splitting them up instead, forming dark ''stars'' in the sky. Dark stars that the Humans have noticed appear. I feel in a few months, I will be able to make a V.E.C. every day and have mana to spare. In these past couple of weeks, the Humans have become more and more confident venturing back into the IKEA without fear of the portal closing behind them. They quickly realized that using furniture as building materials to make their settlement was a bad idea as their walls and ''buildings'' were easily flammable, breakable, and, unfortunately, could soak up quite a bit of water, making the settlement have a terrible odder. So, I got to work on influencing the Humans to delve into the biomes to gather materials such as Wood, Stone, and other materials through the Daily Quests, even going so far as to try and get the Integrated with crafting and lifestyle classes to begin working on their particular crafts. However, there was one material that I could not offer the Humans: metal. The nightly attacks had been slowing down enough to where I didn''t need to use the Guardian to protect them; now that they had fortified the area around the portal, they were perfectly capable of taking on the staff by themselves. I couldn''t be their guiding hand forever, but I hope that they will be the examples my future visitors follow once they are ready, and I will no longer have to interfere as much. ... Time continued to pass, and my V.E.C. count increased to 20, and my generation to 312 a day. I decided to make a V.E.C. every two days and use the excess mana to shape and design the layout of the ruins of Invictus that would surround the dome. Once I make a V.E.C. every day, I can fully focus on expanding my interior, but I will not deny that I wish I could progress faster, and I could if I focused all of my mana on creating V.E.Cs but I won''t do that, especially since I was not in a rush. Patience was key to making a perfect world within my Dungeon, and with the time I had, I would be able to fully plan out and design my interior. The Settlement now had 107 Integrated, which only continued to increase by the day as small parties of integrated humans continued to enter the IKEA for food, water, and supplies. I believe they even found another settlement in the IKEA, and I had no doubt that all of the Humans in that settlement would leave in favor of joining the ARK settlement if given the choice or opportunity. However, I do wonder what they will decide. Will they reveal the Dungeon? Tell them about the ''Escape'' even though it wasn''t really the Earth they escaped to. However, that raised another question: why haven''t they tried navigating through the biomes through the outskirts? Avoiding the more dangerous inhabitants of the biomes? Or were they afraid of another ambush? This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Humming, I assumed that they had either not thought of it or were preparing for it by gaining levels and strength. ... Standing around a structure made of stacked furniture, the council of the temporarily named ''Ark Settlement'' was having a meeting, discussing plans and logistics, and making important decisions. The Council stood around a dining table with a makeshift map picturing what the scouting teams had explored of the Dungeon. "Jay, what''s your progress on obtaining anything of value we left at ''Living Room?''" Clair asked Jay. "We''ve gathered whatever personal items were left behind and also have scoured for anything that might be useful, from extra weapons and makeshift bolts to stashes that were placed around the settlement," Jay reported, getting a nod from Clair, who then focused on Bright and asked, "Bright, how goes the exploration of the biomes?" "Well, we are obviously focusing on exploring the Jungle first due to its plentiful and wide variety of huntable creatures and edible plant life, but unless one of us climbs up a tree, we have no idea how large the biomes are, or what other kinds of creatures might dwell within them," Bright explained with a sigh and slight smirk. "Do we even know if the other Biomes are dangerous?" Clair asked naively. "It might, but it also might not. If each of the biomes is so dangerous, then it really comes down to preference, but due to the fact we have already begun exploring the Jungle and the fact that we bring back whatever we forage and hunt, we chose the Jungle to explore, sure, we could make an attempt to journey through the other biomes, but personally, I don''t think our odds are in our favor," Jay explained to the teenager. Everyone was tired and overworked, with all of them getting very little sleep for the last few weeks, and it was beginning to show. Noticing the obvious, Vernon, the Settlement''s...psychologist, decided to speak up, "I know that with our current situation, we have no time to dilly dally and waste time, but I believe we all need rest, and more importantly, I believe we need to make a proper command structure. We are clearly overworking ourselves and putting too much on our plate." "What are you proposing?" Jay asked, leaning on the nearby wall, clearly tired and appearing to be nearing falling asleep. "Is it not obvious?" Sarah, our quartermaster, asked before continuing, "We need subordinates, people we can delegate to oversee our more minor decision-making and can act on our steed for the more minor things, leaving the more major decision-making for us. This will not only give us a bit more room to breathe, but it also means we can all get some rest. I don''t know about you all, but having to work every hour of the day only to collapse onto my bed when I get home is certainly not healthy." "Hmm, I agree. I certainly wouldn''t mind having more underlings under me," Bright joked. "Shut it, Bright," Sarah scolded Bright before stating, "So, all in favor?" Everyone raised their hand, "Then it''s settled," Clair told them, "Soon night will be upon us, Jay, Bright, you two will man the walls around the portal. Meanwhile, everyone else get some rest; in the morning, we will gather candidates and see whether or not they are fit for the jobs," Claur ordered. Everyone left the room, Jay and Bright leaving together and heading towards the portal. They passed by the many buildings and hazardous structures made of stacked furniture fastened together with rope, cables, and whatever else they could use to tie the furniture together. But even though the settlement was new, hope and content were high, and everyone felt it. Who wouldn''t? After being trapped within the IKEA, the settlement, the sky, and even the grass around them made them come to appreciate what they had lost. Sure, the sky looked strange, including the strange stars appearing in the sky along with the small glowing white star that was visible day and night. Something of concern, however, was the fact that there was no visible sun or moon concerning quite a few people, including every member of the Council. After all, how could they see anything if there was no sun? Especially at night. Little did they know that the same white star they saw night and day was the ''sun'' and ''moon,'' at least for now. The two looked between one another and soon reached the wall that was built around the portal to keep the Staff from breaking through. Little did they know, they were about to have the roughest night of their lives. 19 – Siege With the makeshift carts they made with IKEA parts and furniture, they began trudging the edge of the Jungle and collecting logs, sticks, and whatever else they could carry. Three of the Integrated who were [Aspiring Lumberjacks] were hacking away at whatever tree they could find, while the [Aspring Warriors] that guarded them helped by picking the logs up and placing them in carts. The Warriors took care of anything and everything that proved to be a threat to the [Luberjack] and [Foragers], which thankfully only proved to be weak monsters that were more the size of small and medium-sized dogs. Luckily, they haven''t had to deal with the stronger monsters that dwelled deeper in the woods, and not one person has died since the very first excavation. The wood and other materials they brought back were slowly replacing the...houses made of furniture back at the settlement, slowly replacing every house they could with wood. They first constructed a barn to store excess materials and furniture, and then they built three bunkhouses that were capable of holding 20 people a piece. From there, they began tearing down the old Furniture houses and using the excess furniture to reinforce and expand the wall around the portal. Just outside the portal, hundreds of Staff stood around the portal, motionlessly and blankly staring at the portal, as if guarding it to keep something from coming in or out, yet those who ventured out every day found no trouble with the Staff. Not to mention the increasing number of ''Black Stars'' that were appearing in the sky above. Essentially, everyone was on edge. People were worried that the Staff outside, or the countless monsters that called the Biomes home, would attack at any minute and butcher everyone. Little did they know, their fears were warranted. -- Exactly four more weeks had passed as the Integrated of the Ark Settlement expanded and thrived inside my dungeon. I was now generating nearly 400 mana a day, the Ark Settlement had 3 new Integrated, and I had 34 V.E.Cs now. Everything was progressing quickly, and I would soon be able to make a V.E.C. every day, though strangely, I was getting strange feeling the closer I got to 50 VECs. I don''t know how even to begin to describe the sensation...but if I could, it felt...foreboding. I had no idea if it was my instincts trying to warn me of something or maybe it was just me worrying. I didn''t know, but once I get closer to that number, I may be able to find out more. With the excess mana I''ve been getting, I have been attempting a new...project. A Monster Spawner. You see, I''d like to create some sort of machine or device that could gather ambient mana and create monsters by itself, allowing for a zone that perpetually spawns monsters until it runs out of mana or it doesn''t have enough. What that means is that depending on the environment, such theoretical devices would spawn monsters at a rate dependent on the ambient mana around it, so, in areas with dense ambient mana, theoretically, monsters would be spawned every single second, while in areas where mana is sparse, it would take a long amount of time to create even a single monster. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I just had to figure out how to make such a thing, automate it, then observe. It means I would not have to interfere as much and waste my mana respawning every monster that is slain by the Integrated, though I had no doubt I would have to personally respawn any ''unique'' monsters unless I dedicate a Monster Spawner to respawning them specifically. Hmm...That gave me an idea. Boss Spawners. Setting a monster spawner to a specific entity would mean I could create entire repeatable boss fights or Boss Raids for the Players to... ''enjoy.'' However, I have no doubt that the stronger the monster, the longer the respawn timer. Shaking my core, I focused back on the task at hand. At the moment, I have only one...version of a monster spawner. This...version was based on Minecraftian Monster Spawners that were enchanted cages with a monster egg floating at their center. The cages were relatively simple to make, as the enchantments were easy to engrave on the metal bars; however, the problem I found with them was their sheer size. My first prototype rivaled a bus in size, and that was only when it came to length and height. As for the egg...well, that was more complicated. The ''egg'' was essentially a...template, if I could describe it. Though I guess it could also be described as a program. Inscribed within the egg was a set of...instructions along with templates that would...create monsters inside the cage and then push them out. The monsters created from the spawner would then have a critical weakness, one that I''d need to account for if I used it. That glaring weakness would be if I only used the same ''Template'' and instructions, the monsters created would all follow be the exact same. Same weakness, same abilities, same thought process, and so on. It would essentially be cloning a single entity for all eternity so long as there was ''Mana,'' which, while would be okay with weak monsters, I absolutely refused to have such a glaring weakness if used for stronger monsters. So, what I was trying to do now was see if I could tweak the ''Template'' to add variables or possibly even combine multiple ''Templates'' and ''Instructions'' into the same ''Egg.'' Sure, it would be complicated, but for my future plans, such a thing would be necessary if I wanted to create Raid Zones and other such areas that would be treacherous for the Integrated. Speaking of which, I was hiding the prototype underground in a cavern in the desert biome and had the Spawner create basic Giant Scorpians, though none of the Integrated have ventured into the place yet, which was good for them, as a majority of the monsters were ambushers, armed with toxins and venoms that would easily cause them problems, and more noticeably, very few areas to find water and shade to battle against the heat. The Desert biome was a mix of rolling dunes, sparse Oaises'', and sandstone rock landforms that formed jagged ''spear-like'' mountains and rock formations across the desert. In the desert, dwelling within a cave of the largest rock formation, what I called ''God''s finger'' as it resembled a middle finger giving the bird to the world, lay the Sand Elemental, which, in its natural environment, proved to be one of the more dangerous Elementals, in some cases, even more dangerous than the Fire Elementals that roamed the Rolling dunes. Elementals were still quite rare as compared to all of the other monsters available in the biomes, but with the increase in my Mana Generation and the ambient mana in the air, the natural-born monsters have started spawning more frequently. Almost 5% of the Jungle was now Spirit Trees, which were somehow growing stronger from absorbing the blood of the monsters that hunted each other around them. None were exactly intelligent, at least by my standards, but they still felt emotions. Well, the Wood Sprites and I would call what they experience ''Emotions,'' but for Humans, it would be even more ''child-like'' or ''basic.'' What did you expect? They are trees. They don''t exactly have ears, eyes, or any other sensory organ, though some of them were sensing the mana in their surroundings, so I guess that would count as a ''Sense.'' I couldn''t help but feel curious about how the natural-born Monsters would develop and grow, especially the Spirit Trees; after all, what exactly would be considered a ''strong tree?'' Suddenly, my attention was ripped straight from me as I felt my portal open and stay open. Shifting my view, I growled in annoyance. A tidal wave of Staff was flooding through the portal like white-blood cells trying to destroy any invaders in a human''s body. Foolish. 20 – The Sea of Staff A literal tidal wave of staff poured into the dungeon, enough to where the sea of bodies quickly began forming a wriggling mound around the portal before completely covering the portal as more and more staff teleported into the dungeon. The Humans on the walls quickly shouted and began throwing, firing, and using their skills against the literal tide of Staff that flowed towards the walls, soon crashing into them. Each fireball, arrow, bolt, and spear thrown into the tide did so little to stop it that I had no choice but to interfere, once again, as the Staff began slamming into the walls. Having no choice, I summoned the Guardian. The Obelisk above the Settlement pulsed, and streams of white and gray materials flowed from within out into the open air, quickly forming the Diamond shape of the Guardian that was based on the Overseer of the Island ARK station. A strange sphere of energy formed around the Guardian before it floated towards the portal. From the underside of the Guardian, a beam of energy shot out, turning scores upon scores of Staff to nothing but ash. The Staff, however, proved to be unrelenting as they continued to flood through the portal into the Dungeon. With every Staff member turned into dust, four more took their place. As if they were zombies from World War Z, they swarmed the walls, climbing one another to try and climb over and grab the Guards. Throwing everything they had, even with the help of the Guardian, the tide seemed to be too much. With no choice, I scrapped some of the terrain of the ruins outside the biomes and focused on the Guardian and the Obelisk. With one thought, a flash of light erupted from the Obelisk, and countless streams of material flowed out and down toward the ground. They were Enforcers and were planned to be one of the main hostiles that would be found within the Ruins of Invictus. Enforcers look a lot like thin robotic lizards with a featureless head and an implant in the middle of the face. Their limbs are armored like a robot¡¯s. They have a red ring around them when they are aggravated. A pulsating red ring or outline around the implant on their head indicates that they are in pursuit of a threat to the Obelisk of Citizen, while if they were passive, the ring would be blue. As of this moment, all of the Enforcers'' and their Implants pulsed red. With one mental command, all of the Enforcers charged, weaving past the Humans at the speed of a speeding card, where they leaped over the walls, and with all of their weight, they pierced directly into the horde of Staff. The bodies of the Enforcers rammed right into the horde, crushing and spearing through dozens of staff before they rolled and climbed back onto their feet at an insane speed before turning right back around and leaping back into the horde of Staff. Having something in reach to attack, the Staff climbing the walls charged in both directions, half heading into the Settlement while the other half and the ones still rushing into the Dungeon turned on the Enforcers and began pilling on them. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The Staff were like mindless zombies as they flailed and struck the metal chassis of the Enforcers, doing little to no damage to the smaller Guardians. However, while they did little to no damage to the Enforcers, the sheer weight of the staff immobilized a few of the Enforcers. Knowing this situation was quickly getting even more out of hand, I took direct control of Guardian, sweeping its lasers over the Enforcers, freeing them of the Staff that piled upon them. As small amounts of mana funneled into my Dungeon from each Staff death, within half an hour of this, I had farmed 14 points! That was 2,800 Staff that my Enforcers and Guardian killed! It was absurd. Did the IKEA really feel that I was some kind of parasite? Were the Staff acting as White Blood cells attempting to destroy the bacteria before it could become an infection? If so, then that would explain why the Staff continued to gather around the portal in greater numbers and siege my Dungeon on an almost weekly basis now. While I was lost in thought, the Humans, who had all awoken to help fight back against the Staff, warily stared at the Enforcers who were surrounded by the misshapen limbs and torn-apart bodies of staff. Thinking for a few moments, I reached out and controlled a group of Enforcers and decided to send them through the Portal to the other side while the rest remained in my Dungeon, guarding the portal. Once they were outside, I looked through their eyes, finding the area too barren of any Staff but also completely pitch black for human eyes. Stationing the Enforcers around the portal as a vanguard against any future attacks, I pulled back the other Enforcers and Guardian, dematerializing them and returning them back to the Obelisk. Once the Humans saw my Machines return to the Obeleiks, they all visibly relaxed and let out sighs of relief. The Council of the Settlement immediately got to work. However, they were clearly wise enough to realize that it was still ''Night'' within the IKEA, meaning that an attack could happen at any time. Guards were posted around the gate, shifts and Guard rotations were established, and all of the Humans were prepared to fight if need be, as all were given weapons and taught how to fight the Staff. There was a cautious yet fearful aura over the settlement as the Humans came to realize something. The attacks were getting worse, and perhaps this was the push they needed to grow and become strong. ... The Council of the Ark Settlement quickly gathered in the newly built town hall, and it was the first of many buildings made of wood and stone, with more that were under construction. The Council members were quiet, as they were all clearly tired from being awoken so suddenly in the middle of the night, having not received even a few hour''s rest. Floating above each human''s head were their ''Markers,'' as the floating text was called. [Clair Higgins - Aspiring Leader Level 8 - Human (Female)] [Jay Barnes- Aspiring Warrior Level 18 - (Male)] [Jack Bright - Aspiring Mage Level 14 - Human(Male)] [Jake Cobbet - Aspiring Guard Level 12 - Human (Male)] [Vernon Wilkinson - Aspiring Chef Level 18 - Human (Male)] [Sarah Carter - Quartermaster Level 13 - Human (Female)] Everyone was leaving quite nicely, with both the ''Lifestyle'' and ''Combat'' classes seemingly leveling up at roughly the same speed. However, it was noted those who faced hard challenges leveled up much faster than others, such as Vernon, the resident and only Chef of the entire Settlement, who cooked and prepared most of the food for the Settlement, having to work nearly all night and day and Jay who was always volunteering to fight the Staff when they attack and journeying into the biomes to search for some kind of path that would allow them to escape and search for help. And yet, for all the work they had done, it seemed not to be nearly enough, as the dangers within the biomes were still far too dangerous for any group sent off to the Biomes, while the Staff''s attacks were starting to become more than they could handle. If not for the Guardian and the newly revealed Enforcers, they would have most likely all died tonight. They needed to get better, or they were certainly doomed. What they needed, was to get stronger. Strong enough to escape. Strong enough to fight back the Staff. Strong enough to survive. 21 – Meeting and Decision "Alright...let''s face it. We''re fucked," Bright commented, looking at everyone around the room. Seeing as no one decided to answer him, he continued, "We can''t keep going like this. We are not equipped enough to deal with the Staff attacks. If they keep increasing in size exponentially, they''ll eventually overpower the Guardian and whatever the hell the Enforcers are and butcher our quaint little settlement," Bright stated, his joking nature turned serious for once. "Then what do you propose we do?" Vernon asked, concerned. "Really, we only have a few options. The first is to simply leave and never return, head back into the IKEA, and hope that the attacks will lessen since we went back in," Bright started, only to be interrupted by the furious council members. "Or...not. The second option is that we ramp up our scouting missions, brute force our way through the Biomes to see if we can find help," Bright stated. "More than likely not possible. We are not nearly strong enough to take on the higher-level monsters and dinosaurs roaming the biomes. The best we could do is ramp up our hunts and level up, become stronger, strong enough to defend ourselves, and eventually get through the biomes," Jay commented. "Do we truly know if the Guardian and the Enforcers won''t be able to protect us forever? Surely, at some point, the Staff won''t be able to get past the Guardian and the Enforcers. Honestly, I think the problem is that we built too close to the portal. Perhaps if we move the settlement closer to the fence and expand the wall to add multiple layers, we will be able to more easily fight against the Staff, which should give us some time to either become strong enough to clear out the Jungle or any of the other biomes and make it through to the other side," Sarah, the Quartermaster gave her thoughts to the others. "Hmm. I can''t really say, but I can''t help but agree with Sarah. If we expand the wall, make some traps, and move the town a bit, we shouldn''t have any problems with the Staff; if anything, it might mean we can let the Guardian and Enforcers deal with the majority of the Staff while we attack from a distance. We have access to wood and metal from the Jungle and the IKEA, so we should be able to make Bows and arrows, right Bright?" Vernon stated before looking over to Bright and asking, getting a nod in response as Bright confirmed. "Yes. I already made some crossbows with whatever we could scrounge up in the IKEA, but with the excess we gather from the Jungle, I should be able to make plenty of bows and arrows, though I will say I might need some help if you guys want me to make more than a few bows. Against the Staff, the bows would be more useful too, seeing as they are unarmored and we can fire off more arrows faster than if we used only crossbows," Bright commented. "Bright, you think you can make a few more crossbows for the scouts? They''ve proven useful against the dinosaurs and monsters, and they give a ranged option for our [Warriors]," Jay asked Bright. "Sure, but as I said, I''ll need help, especially since they''ll probably attack again in a few days," Bright shrugged, going back to his casual self, acting as if he was not bothered in the slightest by the fact that they could all die in a few days. "I still think we should have some kind of exit strategy in case the Staff make it through the Guardian and Enforcers," Vernon stated, worried. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. "What do you have in mind?" Clair finally spoke. "Two options: we either try to find a way to get through the biomes in case we need to evacuate and let the monsters and dinosaurs of the biomes take care of the Staff or, if we have to, make some kind of passage that would allow us to flee back into the IKEA," Vernon suggested. "I... disagree. Both of those options are far too risky. We have no idea how far those biomes go. For all we know, it could go as far as hundreds of miles before we find respite or civilization. Meanwhile, if we had to flee back to the IKEA, we would have to face the Staff head-on, which would prove to be a death sentence due to their sheer number," Jay said. "That''s why I mentioned creating a passage, perhaps a tunnel of some sort," Vernon proposed. "No. Too risky. The weight of all the Staff could very well collapse any tunnel we make under the portal, and that would give them a way to get past our walls," Bright commented, denying that sort of plan. "Not to mention we have hardly any time as is before the Staff attack again," Sarah commented. "So, have we decided?" Clair asked, looking over everyone in the room. Getting nods in return, Clair continued, "Good. Jay, Bright, I want you two to start venturing deeper into the Jungle, level up, and get stronger as fast as possible. Split off into two different groups and take seven men each. Jake? I want you and the guards to assist the lumberjack and builders. Sarah, I want you to get started on building two more walls to surround the first. Make sure that there are some gates or tunnels where our people can retreat to the second and third walls when we need to. Once that''s done, I want you to begin tearing down the old houses and moving them closer to the western gate. Vernon, I want you to make sure we are all fed. The Hunters and Gatherers will bring you everything you need. Let''s get moving people!" Clair ordered. ... Now that the Humans had a plan, I realized that I would have to protect them, or at least continue protecting them, as a large part of their plan resided in having my Guardian and Enforcer hold them back. Outside the portal, a large number of Staff continued to gather, acting as if my portal was a beacon and they were all flies. The Enforcers I had butchered all of the Staff that came anywhere close to the portal, and they attacked all the same, ignoring the supposed rule that the Staff attack only at night. It was getting worse, and I was wondering if I should pull back. Take down the portal and leave. Now that I think about that...what''s stopping me from taking down the portal and reopening it somewhere else in the IKEA? That should buy time until the Staff finds it again, or at least slow down their advance. Hmmm...then that is what I will do. Once all of the humans return for the night, I will close the portal and guide my dimensional bubble along IKEA''s dimension. After a few hours, I will reopen the portal. The humans will likely notice, but I should be able to reopen the portal before they start a panic and all of the Humans wake up. All that was left to do was patiently wait and watch the Humans. The humans worked like busy bees. Everyone had a job, and no one was allowed to get any rest as they were working on a time limit. With the enhanced physiques and advantages a majority of the Integrated received from their classes and levels, many of them were able to work far harder and longer than any base-line human, so within the first couple of hours, they took down over a dozen houses and were already working on moving the supplies and building materials to the western security gate. Hmm. That''s another idea that the Humans have given me. Insects. What were the possibilities if I created a Monster Hive of giant insects? A hive mind. That would grant a large stream of EXP to the other monsters, and all I would need to do is provide biomass and territory. However, if I were to do such a thing, the insects would be at a low level due to the low amount of EXP the individual ants would receive. There are yet more reasons why I should keep the humans and ensure they survive until they become self-sufficient. They provide so many fascinating ideas and possibilities that one can''t help but wonder what else they shall inspire. ... Unknown to the humans, the small white star at the center of the sky glowed ominously for a few brief moments as it floated in the eye, watching over the humans with its calculating and eldritch gaze. 22 – Closing and moving the portal I observed the busy bees that were humans for hours upon hours until it was ''night'' and, while under observation, detached from the IKEA, closing the portal, which drew the attention of the nearby guards. ... [POV Change] After a long day of work without a single break other than the quick few minutes she had to grab something to eat from Vernon, Clair was beyond exhausted. So, you could say that this was probably the only time she would get any rest, as she has been running on very few hours of sleep for the past week. Luckily, the levels she has been getting, though far fewer in number when compared to the others, have given her a bit more strength and stamina to carry on through these exhausting days. Just as her mind was beginning to drift off to sleep, suddenly, she heard shouting before one of the Guards rushed into her room, stirring her back to consciousness. She sighed before the man could even say anything, tiredly getting up and asking, "What is it now?" "The portal closed!" The man yelled, causing Clair''s eyes to widen open and her jump out of the bed. Not waiting for even a moment, she dashed past the man and out of her small house made of furniture and dashed through the many small houses and bunkhouses made of furniture or wood. It took nearly five minutes before she reached the walls, where she climbed to the top to see all of the Guards posted on the walls staring at the now-empty area where the portal was not long ago. ... [POV Change] The humans reacted far faster than I expected when I closed the portal, as now around half of the human population was standing around the empty clearing where the portal was not so long ago. While I did close the portal, I decided to leave behind those two Enforcers to distract the Staff while we moved, though the Enforcers would be weaker now that I was not going to be able to funnel any sort of mana into them. Eventually, if the Staff could not destroy them, the machines would go dormant, though the few grams of Element in their bodies would grant them centuries of battery life, regardless of their activity. It was a shame, though perhaps I will recover them in the future and fully scan their memories of what occurred while they remained trapped in the IKEA. Meanwhile, I was already moving the dimension along the IKEA''s twisted and never-ending shape. As distance and size were irrelevant, it did not really matter how far I moved the Dungeon, as once I connected, I could be only a few miles from where the portal was originally connected, or I could be someplace new and thousands of miles away and in an entirely different area of the IKEA where the Humans would have never even heard of my human''s original settlement ''Living Room.'' Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Though there was no real way to explain how to explain Dimensions to something a human could understand, Dungeons stood as higher leveled beings that were graced with the ability to see many layers of reality, including realms higher than any normal human could ever hope to see. Of course, if the stories were anything to go by, it was entirely possible for Humans or their equivalent to reach such a stage through a number of methods, though I doubt I will encounter any such beings in this IKEA. Merely an hour later, I halted the advance of the Dungeon and, with hardly any effort, once again latched onto the IKEA''s Dimension before opening a portal. ... [POV Change] Gathered around a table, all of the tired leaders of the Settlement could be seen. "What do we do now?" Sarah asked, tired and on the brink of falling back to slumber as she sat as straight as she could in her chair. "Well...if the portal is closed, there''s not really much to worry about other than focusing on the biomes," Bright commented, thinking as he placed his hand under his chin. Just as everyone was about to discuss what to do next, now that they did not have to worry about the portal, yet another Guard came rushing in. "The portal is back!" The shoulder shouted. Sighing, Clair and the others got up and traveled back to the walls where, much to some of their displeasure, a golden pillar of light making a crack in the air floated above the ground at the center of a clearing, surrounded by walls. ... While the humans rushed back to the portal after seeing it reopen, I instead summoned another two Enforcers to scout out the surroundings outside of the portal, luckily finding no staff nearby, though I would not know truly if they could detect my...intrusion until they swarm my Dungeon. While the two Enforcers focused on Guarding the portal from within the IKEA, I focused back on my project. the Monster Spawner. At its current size, it was far too...unwieldy, with its size comparable to a house. However, I was working on miniaturizing it. Luckily, the mana cost was negligible since I was able to recycle everything. It was harder than I expected but still quite manageable. The Spawner I was working on was attuned to the Velociraptors, so once I activate it, it should spawn them above it. For hours, I worked on the spawner, recycling everything every time I made a single mistake with the etchings or its dimensions. Soon enough, I managed to downsize the spawner to the size of a large truck, and while I could keep trying to miniaturize it further, I wanted first to test it out. So, I pulled the spawner out from the small cavern I constructed it in and floated it all the way over to the Jungle Biome, where I proceeded to activate it. The etchings glowed with power as the ''egg'' at the center began to throb and tremble. With a wave of mana, Velociraptors began to form rapidly in the air before falling straight to their death. As all of them were level 1 and effectively as strong as a baseline velociraptor, they did not survive the sixty-foot(18.288-meter) drop. I gazed at the ground beneath the Spawner, which quickly became a literal landscape of carcasses and blood. Deactivating the spawner, I examined the etchings and enchantments. After I deactivated the spawner, I lowered it to the ground, and with a bit of mana, the ground swallowed up the Spawner. I''ll continue working on the Spawner until it becomes a lot more practical. For now, it will stay deactivated. I will only use it when I can add variables to the enchanting that the Spawner enacts, such as spawning different level monsters, having different monsters it can spawn, such as a list it can choose from, and then perhaps a way to make the Spawner more efficient to allow for faster-spawning. In the meantime, I focused on the viscera and carcasses that now covered the trees, grass, and bushes above the spawner. Taking control of the monsters in the area, I directed them to the carcasses, where I ordered them to eat, drink, and lick until the area was clean of everything, including the bones. I could simply recycle all of it, but I felt it would be simpler to let the other creatures in the area get some easy food without having to fight tooth and nail for it. Plus, it would add a bit more ambiance if I had them leave a few skeletons around the area and scatter bones across the Jungle. Anything to make a better story, even if it might end up looking like a horror story. Sadly for the poor humans, they would have to be both the audience and the actors. 23 – Time marches on Two months, two entire months, had passed as the Humans and I worked. In the sixty days, I continued creating the VECs, creating a new one every two days with what mana I had left over going towards creating Invictus. By day thirty-two, I finally reached fifty total VECs that now floated around my core like small pulsating black stars while I generated 486 Mana every day. Around the seventh day, the portal opened near a small settlement within a mile from the portal, and when the Humans entered the IKEA to gather food, furniture, and supplies, they came across scavengers from the settlement. After some debating, the Council decided to inform the people of the unknown settlement if they''d like to leave and join them. As you can guess, they jumped at the opportunity to leave IKEA. Now, there were one hundred and thirty-six humans in the Ark Settlement. As for the thirteen thousand and eight hundred and four Mana points I had gathered over the past twenty-eight days, all of it has gone towards developing and creating the Ruins of Invictus outside the Dome, and I have been making some real progress. The sheer amount of mana I had allowed me to add as much detail as I wanted to the ruins I constructed, and at my current progress, I can say that I am around...6% completion of the Ruins. At this rate, it will take me a little over a year before I finish the ruins, but that''s only if I do not continue increasing my Mana Generation. My work has slowly been wrapping around the dome, as I planned on slowly revealing the outer ''World'' hidden outside the Dome little by little, which will give me time to finish creating the city while also allowing the Humans to begin exploring once they can make it past the biomes. I had once again changed the level range of the monsters so that the weakest would be closer to the Humans, while the strongest would be further away and closer to the ruins and the other side of the biome. I did this because I did not want the Humans to skirt around the edge before I could finish. ... Three more days passed, and I once again moved the portal, having decided that moving the portal once a week would be the best way to keep the attacks from the Staff controlled. They slowly ramped up their attacks with each day the portal reopened, and I feel a week is the longest time the Humans can last against the Staff before casualties occur and I have to intervene. The Staff noticeably don''t provide much EXP, but even someone with a few levels on them is capable of taking on multiple staff at a time, with the Warriors and Mages able to on a small army of Staff with no problems. As the Council decided, they moved the settlement closer to the western gate, leaving behind a lot of furniture that was later used to make walls to hold back the Staff. Of course, the walls were not great, but against the Staff, they were somewhat decent, though I think they would fare much better if they actually used the wood they harvested from the Jungle to build an actual wall. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The highest level among them was surprisingly Bright, who was an Aspiring Mage sitting at level 48 and only continuing to grow stronger the further he and his group delved into the Jungle. Jay was not far behind him, sitting at level 45 as an Aspiring Warrior. That wasn''t all, however, as even Clair has begun helping with scouting out the Jungle, getting levels herself, and now sitting at a comfortable level 28. They have also begun scouting out the other Biomes, but that has been a much slower process than the Jungle, as the other biomes were sometimes harsher than what the Jungle offered. The Desert featured buried scorpions the size of a car, centipedes with acid that could melt through flesh, and snakes with venom that could prove lethal, and that was not even mentioning the scorching heat that made anyone who ventured into the dunes lightheaded and dehydrated. The Swamp was filled with giant snakes, man-eating frogs, leeches, giant crocodiles, giant mosquitoes, and so much more. As it turns out, the Humans refuse to go back into the swamp due to the serious risk of disease or death from an ambush, which says a lot about the stealth of some of the monsters that inhabit the swamp. If Humans would rather deal with giant buried scorpions that can suddenly come from beneath their very feet. Lastly, there was the Tundra, which featured a bitter, teeth-clattering cold that sunk into the bones of all who entered. It had many dangerous predators but also plenty of prey. Just like with the Swamp, the Humans were by no means prepared to fight in the blizzards that sweep through the woods that make up a large majority of the Tundra, nor the wolves, bears, and some other predators that thrive in the cold environment. Luckily for the humans, they have yet to come across an Elemental. If they had, they would be dead. The Elementals only continue to prove to be the strongest due to their near immunity to physical damage, which has made them kings of their biomes. The Elementals only continued to grow stronger with each new animal or dinosaur that challenged them or intruded into their territory, and to my surprise, more Elementals began appearing with the Biomes, though they were few in number. I figured the Elementals might fight, but they seemed to stay clear of one another, remaining isolated in their respective territories. At this moment, there were seven Earth Elementals, four Water Elementals, Six Sand Elementals, eight Ice Elementals, five Air Elementals, and three Fire Elementals. They did not fight one another, nor did the other Natural monsters, which confused me. Surely, the Spirit Trees would fight one another to ensure they had the resources they needed to survive, but instead, it seemed any Spirit Trees that were near one another actually...connected with one another, forming some kind of root network in which they could share resources, such as water, nutrients, and energy. I fear what they may be capable of once enough Spirit Trees connect with one another. Will they form a gestalt consciousness or a hive mind? Or would they simply be independent yet work together when one is in need of help? I wonder if the trees could evolve; surely they could if they have levels, though I wonder what possibilities exist for a tree when it comes to evolution. Would they become a Treant? A Dryad? A tree of myth, such as a Wish Tree or the legendary tree, Yggdrasil, that carried all nine realms on its branches? So many possibilities. Of course, there were the Sprites, who remained quite low-leveled due to their pacifistic nature, though I noticed that they actually seemed to level up passively from mana and age, like the Spirit Trees. Speaking of which, there were dozens in the Jungle, yet none of the Humans seem to be able to see or notice them. They formed a kind of clan, even building a strange kind of village that was incredibly small in a tree. Hmm...perhaps I could set the Monster Spawner to spawn Elementals or the Sprites? However, if I did that, the balance of power would likely deviate even further from where it currently is, as Elementals proved to be too strong. While I debated with myself on various things to do, the Humans gathered for yet another meeting. Meanwhile, inside the IKEA, two machines in an empty field could be seen fighting against a literal tidal wave of Staff while a small drone hovered in the air not far away, recording everything. 24 – Report and Integration Sitting around a small room, a group of men in lab coats could be seen examining a screen. On the screen was a recording of what looked to be your regular IKEA until one was to start paying attention to the details. For one, the IKEA seemed never to end, and even the camera on the small drone and an attached rangefinder could not detect any walls, but that''s nothing unexpected after the IKEA was first explored. This drone marked the fourth to be sent into the IKEA, and on its fateful journey, the footage sent back was flagged for anomalous activity within the IKEA. After a few hours into the drone''s journey, the scientists found what had raised the flag. In a large empty area of the IKEA, something clearly unusual as the only open areas the Drones ever found were areas that were scavenged of furniture for the construction of nearby settlements. Not only were there no nearby settlements that the Drone could find but there appeared to be an unusually high number of Staff present in the area, all seemingly converging towards the center of the large open area. At the center? Mounds upon mounds of Staff carcasses with two unknown entities attacking all Staff on sight. Not only was that unusual, but the Staff also seemed to be attacking the unknown entities on sight. Floating high in the air, they examined the unknown entities as best as they could with the resources they had available, that being the drone and its camera. However, they were on a small timetable, as the Drone''s battery was set to empty within a few more hours. So, the scientist in the room was actively examining the creatures from a safe distance and observing them as they efficiently culled the Staff with their weapons and bodies. From their studies, the Scientists only grew more confused. The two entities, while seemingly organic, were clearly not, as metal and unknown electronics were smoothly integrated within the flesh of the two entity''s skins. Then there were their seemingly inexhaustible energy levels, with them observed fighting the Staff for hours upon hours, and after some calculations and estimations, they estimated that the creatures must have been fighting the Staff for over a week! So, as you could guess, the Scientists were beyond confused. How did these unknown entities enter the Infinite IKEA? Where do they come from? Were they cyborgs or artificial creatures? What powered them? There were so many questions, and the Scientists had no answers for them as the Drone''s battery eventually depleted and the Drone was deactivated. Starving for answers, the Scientists came together and made a formal request to assign an expedition into the IKEA. Knowing full well that whoever was sent inside would never escape. One week later, their request was approved by an 05. So, twelve D-Class personnel of sufficient skills and experience were gathered. Two doctors, four craftsmen with training in various trades, and six veterans who have combat training and skills in survival, marksmanship, and other useful skills. These D-Class were evaluated and recommended due to their loyalty to the Foundation. Once they were chosen, they were transferred to the Infinite IKEA entrance, where they were given as many supplies as needed to survive for a long period of time within the IKEA, including, much to the dismay of the nearby Foundation Security and Task Force members, firearms to use to protect themselves in the IKEA. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. They were given Radio equipment, multiple drones, charging packs that were capable of charging from the many charging ports available across the IKEA, various cooking utensils, MREs, and a decent amount of ammunition to last them a week or two within the IKEA. Then, one notable Dr. Bright suggested they each take a melee weapon to use in case of loss of the firearms or as a last resort, as the Staff were noted to be as ''fragile'' as humans. Once everything was gathered and prepared, the D-Class was sent inside along with a Task Force Agent who volunteered to lead the group. The scientists could now only wait until they received a transmission from the Infinite IKEA. ... Meanwhile, not far from the expedition, a settlement aptly named ''Bedrooms'' due to the sign that hung over the settlement, a golden portal suddenly ripped through reality straight into the middle of the small settlement, startling everyone that lived within it. ... Gathered around the newly-opened portal, Jake and his Guardsmen stood at the ready, with all of the scavengers behind them. "Alright, you know how this goes; we go through first and scout out the surroundings, take care of any Staff that''s waiting for us, and if we are gone for longer than half an hour, warn the town. Got it?" Jake asked the scavengers that would come in after they cleared the other side as safe. Gettings nods; Jake placed his focus on his fellow Guards, "You guys ready? On zero...Three! Two! One! Zero!" Jake shouted as he grabbed the portal, finding himself suddenly surrounded by the gawking and stunned faces of over two dozen souls. ... While the humans began crossing over to the IKEA when the portal reopened, I sent a thread of mana through the portal, giving me a way to see the surroundings on the other side. To my surprise, I found the portal completely surrounded by two dozen humans. It appears that my portal this time around had opened in the middle of an IKEA settlement. Within a moment, I had an accurate count of all of the Humans living in the settlement and detected a strange energy fluctuation a mile away from the Settlement. What was strange was that the fluctuation felt much like how my portal feels whenever I open it within my Dungeon and the IKEA. Pushing the thread of mana toward the source of the strange energy fluctuation, I felt my senses expand and shift with the thread of mana, extending through most of the settlement, then through the walls, and toward the source, passing through many of the cubicles that featured. When I reached the source, I found...a group of armed men seemingly overprepared for the dimension, with all of them featuring firearms and sidearms, as well as various melee weaponry such as swords, axes, and knives. Creeping up closer with the thread of mana, I examined the humans closer before noticing one in tactical armor boasting a symbol I did not expect to see. An outlined circle with three arrows crossing its contour and pointing to the center. The sigil of the SCP Foundation. A top-secret organization known for its motto, ''Secure. Contain. Protect,'' and the myriad of creatures, anomalous objects, and entities they had captured, imprisoned, or slain. The same organization that Dr. Bright was affiliated with, and yet here''s a member seemingly leading a group of individuals who were armed to the teeth and prepared for the apocalypse. Curious as to their intentions and story, I left my threat nearby and listened in on their conversation. One of the bulkier of the men carrying some sort of radio equipment on his back placed the bag on the ground and began to mess with the machine before turning it on its own, causing a buzz to come to life. Turning a few dials, the man began speaking. "Come in, Come in, Callsign: Bravo-Theta-Zulu reporting, over," The man called out on the radio on some unknown frequency. Feeling the frequency, I was suddenly surprised to feel spatial distortions around the radio before a voice came over. "Copy that, Bravo, report," An aged voice answered. "We have reached the other side, gathering our equipment and setting up the drones to scout out our surroundings. Once a viable place is found where we can hunker down, we will begin setting up the rest of our equipment and increase our Drone Scouting range. Please advise, over," The man holding the radio told the aged voice, as the others around him were on guard and keeping their eyes open as they scanned their directions. "Sounds good. Hunker down, scout out your area, report every 24 hours, and radio in case of emergency or need of resupply. Future directives will be assigned within the coming weeks. Stay safe in there. Headquarters is out, over," the aged voice answered before the radio shut down. ...Interesting... 25 – Alarmed Tables and chairs were strewn about around the portal as the Guards and their Captain, Jake, stood around it as if protecting the portal from the people inside the settlement. Standing in front of the Guards, was Clair, the elected Mayor of ARK, the official name of the settlement they founded on the other side of the portal. "Listen. I understand that you want to leave, but we can''t let you pass through the portal without a few rules being established, you must understand that...the Earth is not how we once knew it. It''s dangerous on the other side, potentially far more dangerous than whatever the Staff could do-," Clair, the Mayor of ARK spoke up, interrupting the men and women before her. Jake and Clair were amid negotiations with the settlement that the Portal opened up in when a sudden quest notification appeared before their eyes. /=========+=========\ Warning! A new Quest has been assigned! Quest Name: Dangerous Intruders Quest Type: Region Quest Description: A group of armed individuals has entered the Infinite IKEA within a few miles of your position. These individuals are armed and dangerous. Quest Option 1: Discover why this group has entered IKEA and assist them. Quest Option 2: Eliminate the group and steal their supplies. Quest Rewards 1: EXP and ??? Quest Rewards 2: Supplies, EXP, and ??? \=========+=========/ Surprised by the sudden system notification, the Guards, Jake, and Clair looked between one another and the sudden compass-like arrow appeared in the corner of their vision, seemingly pointing towards the quest''s destination. "Jake, leave me three, take the rest with you, and try to assist them," Clair spoke up, much to the confusion of the normal people in the settlement. "Wait, where are they going?" One of the people leading the settlement asked as Jake and seven of the other guards left with him, pushing past the people and moving far too quickly than any human could ever hope to achieve. While they left, Clair called out, getting the people''s attention, "Ignore them. Let''s focus back on the topic at hand. For an olive branch, I am willing to accept all of you into our home, if you abide by our rules." ... Meanwhile, the group of Guards who had all varying Combat Classes rushed towards so-called ''Intruders,'' using the arrow that appeared in their vision. [Jake Cobbet - Aspiring Guard Level 26 - Human (Male)] [??? - Aspiring Mage Level 19 - Human (Female)] [??? - Aspiring Mage Level 21 - Human (Male)] [??? - Aspiring Warrior Level 23 - Human (Female)] A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. [??? - Aspiring Hunter Level 20 - Human (Male)] [??? - Aspiring Warrior Level 19 - Human (Male)] [??? - Aspiring Warrior Level 24 - Human (Female)] [??? - Aspiring Hunter Level 25 - Human (Female)] Following the Integrated with a thread of mana, I carefully guided them toward the armed group of men. With their levels and stats as well as the plentiful cover that the IKEA provides, they should face little trouble with taking down the Foundation with their makeshift crossbows, cleavers, and machetes. That is if they are not gunned down by the Foundation''s superior firepower first. ... Meanwhile, the expedition had fully set up their temporary camp and deployed four drones that were now high above in the sky scanning everything they could with their cameras and relaying the data back to the expedition. "Hey, Boss?" One of the men operating a Drone called out, gaining the attention of the only member actually officially a part of the Foundation. "Yeah? Catch something?" A man in full body armor asked before walking over to the man who was sitting down on a couch with a laptop in hand. "I think so, it''s hard to see with the camera, but I think I see some kind of fortress...built out of furniture," The man operating the drone answered, squinting at the screen. "Let me see," The man said, sitting down on the couch next to the other man, and looking at the computer. "What the...do you see that?" The Leader asked, seeing what looked to be a group of...people running as fast as professional athletes towards their position. "Yeah...Fuck..." "Everybody up! We got bogies incoming! I want everyone armed and ready, we don''t know if they are friendly or not!" The Leader called out before looking over to the Radio Operator, "Call HQ, fill them in on the situation, and ask for directions. How do they want us to handle this?" "Yes sir!" One of the men called out rushing over to the radio and turning it on. "Come in, Come in! This is Callsign: Bravo-Theta-Zulu requesting advisement!" "We read you Bravo-Theta-Zulu, what seems to be the problem?" A voice answered over the radio. "We have set up a temporary FOB and have noticed inbound locals, they appear to be armed and heading straight towards us, please advise," The Radio Operator called out. "Have you been discovered?" The Voice on the other side asked. "Unknown and unlikely. Could be a coincidence, and it''s improbable they have any technology that could detect the drones," The Radio Operator answered after the Leader whispered a few things in his ears. "Roger that, have the locals deviated in their paths at all?" The Voice asked. "Uknown, but since detection they have not deviated from their path and are still on a straight shot with our FOB, orders?" The R.O. asked. "Observe, if they get within a mile of your position ambush and interrogate. If useful, use them to complete your objective. If not, eliminate them," The Voice answered. "Roger that. Will report within 24 hours," The R.O. told the Foundation on the other side before cutting off the radio. "You heard them, everyone get ready. Mike and Jackson, I want you two to flank them from behind. Julio, and Sam, I want you to take cover behind furniture nearby, get a good spot, and wait. The rest of you, stay here with me, we will face them head-on. We''ll try a diplomatic approach, if the meeting goes sour, I want the ones armed with crossbows taken out first, they''ll be a bigger threat than some guys with scrap melee weaponry," The Leader called out, receiving a mixed amount of ''Copy that,'' ''Roger,'' and ''Yes, sir.'' Arming themselves, the ex-military all readied themselves for a fight, everyone rushing to get ready for the incoming bogies and keeping an eye on the unknowns through the Drones. ... Looking over the Foundation Expedition and how they were preparing for the arrival of my Integrated Humans. I was considering cutting off their line of communication, but ultimately stopped because if I did so, the likelihood of the situation developing into a hostile situation would exponentially rise, as Humans were...anxious and easily scared creatures. However, if my Integrated decided to slay the Foundation Agents, I would not stop them. Though I did not doubt that if such a thing did happen, while my Integrated had a good chance of winning with the System on their side, there was also a chance that the party would be wiped completely out and the people of my Dungeon would gain the ire of the Foundation, or this variation of the organization, to be more specific. Other than that, through my mana threads, I was able to piggyback off of their Radio transmission and now knew the...frequency of the Dimension for whenever I wished to open my Dungeon on a planet with a large population. I was far from reaching the point where I could accept a large influx of Delvers, so I certainly wouldn''t open a new portal soon, but I at least now had the option, so long as that Dimension remains connected to the IKEA. With great speed, the Integrated Humans soon reached the Expedition. 26 – A fateful meeting [Sergeant Malcolm''s POV] I did not like this. Not one bit. We shouldn''t have run into any of the locals yet. It was pure luck that we somehow appeared close to one of the local settlements. How they seemed to already discovered us, I had no idea. The only way I could think of is if they had something that detected us or someone spotted the Drones, which shouldn''t have been possible due to their size and the distance from the settlement. Based on the briefing, most of the locals we encounter luckily won''t have any sort of firearms, and if they do, they''d have very few bullets. The group heading our way seemed to only be armed with makeshift weapons and two crossbows, almost harmless. Almost. I was just glad I had Jackson and Mike with me here, knew them both. Served in the military together. The others, on the other hand, I did not trust. However, the scientists in the Foundation seemed to think they''d be trustworthy enough for the mission. As the strangers got closer and closer, everyone seemed to become more and more on edge, until finally, they came into view. A group of eight individuals soon came jogging from around an IKEA bedroom corner, stopping in their tracks when they were in front of us. Immediately we had our guns on them, tracking their movement as they seemed to not have broken a sweat even after jogging from the settlement to here. "Halt!" I shouted, "Identify yourselves!" The one leading the group stepped forward but paused when several of our guns swerved directly toward him. The man gave an awkward smile and laughed, "We came from a nearby settlement, who are you?" the man asked. "None of your business," I sternly replied, not wanting to give away any important information. The man''s eyes wandered past me and over the camp, clearly examining everything. "My eyes are right here, stop looking around," I told the man, his eyes focusing back on me. "How did you find us?" I questioned, noticing a few of the men in the group twitch yet receiving only silence. ''So they are hiding something. They knew we were here, but how?'' I thought to myself. "Phil, Brock, grab their weapons, none of you move," I warned the strangers while my men moved forward and stripped the strangers of their weapons. The strangers, now disarmed, stood before us with their hands up. "We have any rope?" I asked one of the D-Class who came along with us. "No." The D-Class answered instantly. "Fuck," I cursed before focusing on the strangers, "Alright, on your knees and hands on your heads." Once they did as instructed, I called out for Mike and Jackson. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ... [POV Change] Seeing the rapid change in the situation, I questioned whether or not I should interfere, but eventually settled on continuing with my observations. I could not save them from everything. If they wanted to survive, they must get through this themselves. So, I listened. Covering the entire area with my mana so that I could observe every detail. That''s when the leader of the expedition began interrogating my humans. "How many of you are in your settlement? What kind of weapons do you have? How did you discover us? How many settlements are in the area?" The leader asked. For some reason my Integrated decided to stay silent, silently looking at each other. Suddenly the leader hit someone with the but of his gun, "Eyes on me." "Now let''s try this again," The leader started, asking a series of questions again. Still getting only silence, the leader scoffed in annoyance. "Mike? Sam? I want you to keep an eye on them. Phil? I want a drone over that settlement. The rest of you? Fan out. Make sure there ain''t more of them out there," The leader ordered, going over to watch the human named ''Phil'' as he began flying a drone towards the settlement. It took them a bit to get the drone over to the settlement, but when they did, I noticed the two''s gaze widen upon seeing the portal and Clair negotiating with the settlement''s population. Jumping up and walking over to my humans, the leader held a small sidearm in hand and pointed it towards the temple of the female [Aspiring Hunter]. "What in God''s name is that thing floating in the middle of your settlement?" The leader questioned threateningly. Getting only silence in return, the man cursed and with a flick of his hand, sent a bullet into the leg of the female human, making her cry out and roll onto the ground in pain. "Tell me, God damn it!" The leader cursed. "Fuck, fine!" One of the [Aspiring Warriors] cracked before answering, "It''s a portal!" "A portal? To where?" The leader questioned. "Earth, or so we think. I doubt it''s our earth. I certainly don''t remember monsters and a giant floating obelisk in the sky back home," The man muttered towards the end. "Get HQ on the line, now," The leader called out eyeing all of my humans, including the still bleeding [Aspiring Hunter] on the floor. Humming, I reached out with threads of mana and while unseen, cleaned the wound and began to very slowly stitch it back together. The [Aspiring Hunter] noticed it but did not say anything, likely either due to shock or fear of being shot, again. Little did I know, as I focused on cleaning and slowly repairing the wounds of one of my humans, my mindless humming began to seep out into the surroundings through my mana. ... [Jake, POV Change] As the man who led whoever these people were paced back in forth, I heard a slight groan and focused on Samantha, "Samantha, are you okay? Shit. You are bleeding bad," I cursed, seeing the blood seeping out of her leg. Fuck! I was too foolish. I should have been more careful! Because of me, I have endangered our home! Our people! What if someone died?! What if Samantha dies? What if she died, because of me?! I was tempted right then and there to activate my skills and charge the man, but I bit my tongue. I knew I wouldn''t be able to stop him. They had guns. Not to mention the two men that were watching our every move. When I tried moving to help Samantha, one of the men shouted for me to stop. Not to mention the sinking feeling that we were being watched, and not by the men around us, but by something else. That''s when we heard it. A quiet hum, one that was barely noticeable at first, but quickly became more noticeable with each passing moment. The hum sounded like it was coming from everywhere around us, yet focused on Samantha, its voice ethereal and beautiful, but eldritch and indescribable in nature. Only when the intruders began noticing the hum did it finally cease. That''s when I noticed Samantha didn''t seem to be bleeding anymore. "Samantha?" I whispered. She shook her head, seemingly afraid or in shock, as she was sickly pale. That''s when the radio crackled to life. "This is callsign: Bravo-Theta-Zulu, come in, do you read me?" One of the intruders called over the radio, "We read you loud and clear, what''s your status, over?" A voice spoke over the radio, much to our surprise. They had a working radio! And they were talking to someone! "We have an update on the situation and require advisement, over." ... [POV Change] After I cleaned and fixed a bibt of the girl''s wound, I pulled back, and watched the situation unfold, not noticing the confusion and bafflement of my humans. As the intruders spoke over the radio, requesting advice on what to do about the situation and they were eventually ordered to investigate further, with the foundation citing that lethal force was permitted if needed. Curious, I wondered what they would do next. 27 – Confrontation After two hours had passed, Clair grew increasingly worried at the sight of the unfinished quest that hung at the corner of her vision. She expected Jake and the others to have returned by now. Getting worried that something may have happened, she decided to make the call. She looked over to one of the Guards, "Get Jack or Jay, whoever is still in town," with that order, and a flash of light, Clair hoped that nothing happened to her friends. ... "Sarge, they seem to be getting anxious, they just sent one of their men back through," The man operating the drones spoke up, breaking the silent atmosphere that hung over everyone. "Alright, Jackson, Mike, you ready?" The commander asked, looking toward his two second in command. "Good. Pack up, we need to move, Julio, and Sam, help the others with the Drones and radio equipment," The commander began issuing out orders left and right before focusing on us, "Alright, all of you up on your feet. No sudden movements, unless you wish to feel what it''s like to get shot." "What are you going to do?" Jake questioned, worried about his subordinates. "Quiet. No talking or more will end up like her," The Commander warned the Integrated Humans, gesturing toward the [Aspiring Hunter] they shot, who was still clutching their rapidly healing leg. Directing the Integrated Humans to stand, including the injured Hunter who stood with difficulty. From there, the Foundation operatives gathered their gear, geared up, and readied themselves to move. Forcing their prisoners to begin marching forward in front of them, the group began making its way towards the Settlement. ... Meanwhile, inside the Dungeon in the rebuilt town of ''Ark,'' Bright could be seen lazing around his shack with juice in his hand and several makeshift mead barrels sitting nearby. You see...Bright had started a pet project when he found beehives in the Jungle. With honey, crushes berries and whatever wild spices he found to begin fermenting his very own mead. It''ll take weeks before he has some decent alcohol, but he felt it would be worth the effort. Relaxing and leaning back into his chair, Bright couldn''t help but think that this was far better than the countless years he spent working for the Foundation. Sure, with the Foundation he was handsomely paid, but he hardly ever had a day off, and not once had anything resembling an actual vacation. Raising his hand, blue wisps of energy flowed from the palm of his hand, forming a small orb of energy that floated above his hand. With precise control, the ball began to float around his hand in an orbit. Every day Bright couldn''t help but be thankful they found this place. Not only was it a safe haven and an escape from the IKEA, but it also granted them all miraculous abilities. Bright couldn''t imagine not having these abilities. It felt like he was finally free, not from the amulet of course, but something that truly felt like it was his and not something he stole from the countless men and women he stole the bodies of due to his damned amulet. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Just as Bright was getting lost in his thoughts while he practiced his magic, sudden shouting broke him from his stupor. "Where''s Bright?!" The Voice shouted, quickly getting closer as they sought him out. Sighing, Bright climbed up from the recliner he sat in, and stepped away from the shack made of furniture that was his temporary home, grabbing his machete that rested against the wall. Seconds later, the voice reached him, showing it to be one of the guards. "Bright! Clair wants to see you, she said to bring your weapon and your team!" The Man informed Bright, heaving and breathing heavily, clearly having run from the Portal all the way to the town. "Why is it always on my day off..." Bright said with exhaustion. While he did enjoy this new part of his life, it certainly had its drawbacks. At least he didn''t have to do any paperwork...yet. ... Watching everything that was happening, I became giddy with excitement at the story taking place before my eyes, how would the Foundation Operatives react to Bright or my Dungeon? What were they planning? Would they siege the Settlement around the portal to get access to it, or would they try to be diplomatic? If the Foundation''s Operatives were smart, they''d try the diplomatic approach first instead of aggression. However, knowing the Foundation''s attitude towards most situations, I feel it is likely they will try to use fearmongering tactics instead or eliminate all of the opposition. Such tactics would work well if the party had overwhelming strength compared to the opposition, but the Foundation Operatives did not have overwhelming strength against my Humans. My humans possess magic, bows, and crossbows, and are numbered over a hundred in number. The small group from the Foundation would be powerless if my Humans were forced to fight back, regardless of whether or not the Foundation has guns. Though...that brings up another question, what will my [Enforcers] and [Guardian] do? I could alert them to a ''Citizen'' being in danger, and force a confrontation between my Machines and the Foundation, but as much as I wanted to, I would not interfere. I could not hold the hands of my Humans. This was a tribulation, would they grow, or would they fail? Following all of the participants involved with my Mana, I could see everything as it happened. The Foundation Operatives with their prisoners marching in front of them would soon reach the wall of the Settlement, where the Commander ordered two of his subordinates to split off from the group and get into position somewhere where they could get a clear line of sight on the Settlement. Noticing the shifting arrow pointing towards the Foundation Operatives, Clair must have realized that they were getting closer and warned everyone in the Settlement, as they quickly armed themselves and gathered behind the wall of furniture that would separate them from the Operatives. Clair, along with the few Guards she had with her prepared themselves. They had no idea what was coming, what happened to their friends, or even if their friends were successful in their mission, so, Clair chose to prepare for the worst scenario. Using her Aura skills, she boosted the morale of everyone present, hoping that her low skill level would make them a bit more focused and confident, they may very well need it for whatever was coming. ... [Jake] As they pushed us forward, I could see the outlines of the wall of the Settlement we found ourselves in a few hours ago. Standing behind the cracks of the wall, I could see Clair and the other guards, as well as all of the people who called the ''Bedroom'' Settlement home. I thought for a moment about fighting back, in hopes that Clair and the others would be able to rush out and help, but hesitated. These people, whoever they were, had guns. They could kill all of us before we even moved. But...No...there''s too many of them. If I say something they could very well kill all of us right now, or hurt someone else to get what they want. "Who are you?" Clair shouted from behind the wall, warily glaring at the strangers who had their guns trained on our backs. The men behind us stayed quiet, making everyone more nervous with each passing moment. Eventually, the leader did speak up. "All of you, come out with your hands up, or one of them dies," The Commander demanded, placing their gun against the back of the head of Tom, an Aspiring Hunter. Before I could react, I watched as Tom reacted, turning around faster than I could react, Tom managed to grab the barrel of the Commander''s gun and use one of his skills to send a devastating punch into the chin of the Commander, nearly instantly knocking him out. At that moment, chaos erupted. 28 – Conflict Feeling a horrible burning pain tear through his shoulder, Jake grits his teeth and lunged for a nearby guard, instinctively activating [Powerful Blow], a basic skill of [Aspiring Warriors] that forces all of the muscles in the body on a single punch, all at the cost of Stamina. His fist sailed across the air and into the nearby face of a surprised soldier, breaking their jaw and killing them nearly instantly. Grabbing their gun, Jake immediately felt a searing pain go through his leg and up his body, making him fall to the ground on his knee, crying out in pain. Looking up, he watched as his allies and friends were gunned down under a hail of bullets and felt the world go black. ... Seeing the situation devolve before my ''eyes,'' I couldn''t help but be taken by surprise by the events that happened before me, especially the sudden attack from one of the Integrated that led to multiple of the Integrated dying, including the Integrated''s Guard Captain, Jake. Those that did survive only did so because of their increased vitality and endurance, meaning the more...squishy of the integrated died under the gunfire of the Foundation Agents. It was unfortunate, but at least now my humans knew that this was serious. They could die at any moment from anything. Perhaps this would finally give them the push they needed. If they actually tried and took some risks, some of them should have already reached level 50 or even higher. Though it was unfortunate that none of them died in my Dungeon, the mana and souls I would have gotten would have been useful. Looking over the aftermath of the battle, I watched as two of the Foundation Soldiers fleed, while the rest were dispatched by the combined force of my Integrated and the normal humans of the settlement, at the cost of sixteen lives, most of those being the Integrated outside of the walls. The Integrated were lucky to have so many crossbows, or they would have lost a lot more, though Bright did make an appearance with a small force halfway through the battle, and with his magic, he personally managed to kill two of the armed Foundation Agents. Why the Foundations were so stupid as to attack and be aggressive to start with, I did not know, but their stupidity cost them. In the aftermath of the battle, the bodies were taken back into the Dungeon, where they were buried around the Obelisk in the field. ... Kneeling before one of the corpses of the unknown people, Bright could be seen staring at a certain insignia on their uniforms. "Bright?" Clair called out. "Huh? What did you say?" Bright asked, snapping out of it. "I asked if you are alright. Do you know these people?" She asked, eyes motioning over to the insignia that Bright was staring at. "It''s...It''s complicated..." After a few moments of silence and internal struggle, Bright let out a sigh. "Get the others...I think it''s time I finally tell you guys who I am and what I have done." ... After salvaging what they could and finalizing the agreements with the settlement''s inhabitants, they all retreated back into my Dimension. Within the hour, I had 48 new System Integrated Humans, some of whom chose interesting classes, raising my mana generation to 438 units of mana a day. Soon enough, I''d reach 500 units, and once that happens, who knows what I''ll be capable of creating. Most of my current monsters are quite cheap to create yet already stronger than most of the Integrated. What if I used hundreds of mana to create a single creature? How much stronger would they be compared to the [Guardian] in the Obelisk? Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Meanwhile, the council of ARK gathered for a meeting to both mourn and discuss what to do now that Jake was dead. ... Sitting around a table, everyone on the council could be seen with somber and sad demeanors. "What do we do now?" Vernon asked. "We do what we have always done: survive," Jay spoke up. "I have someone in mind that can take up the mantle," Sarah interjected. "I do, too," Vernon spoke up. "We can decide that later, for now...Bright? You have something to tell us?" Clair told the others before focusing on Bright, asking him what he wanted to say. Getting up from his chair, Bright sighed. "I know that I can be seen as the boy who cries wolf," Bright started, only to get interrupted, "That''s an understatement; you cause trouble every time you go outside," Jay joked. "Yeah, I know, but that''s not what I meant. You know those stories I like to tell?" Bright asked, "You mean the ones where you talk about monsters, demons, and angels?" Vernon asked, getting a nod from Bright. "Well...most of them are true. I...I really was once part of a secret organization on my Earth, named the S.C.P. Foundation, standing for Secure, Contain, and Protect," Bright started, only for Jay to ask, "You were serious?" getting a serious nod from Bright. "Well...damn," Jay stated, leaning back into his chair. "Why are you telling us this?" Clair asked. "Because those guys that attacked us? The ones in the armor and seemed like soldiers? I recognized the insignia on their uniforms. They were agents for the SCP Foundation..." Bright stated with a somber tone in his voice. "Are they...were they from your Earth?" Sarah asked. "No. I''m afraid...I''m afraid I am one of the few survivors of my Earth," Bright explained, a painful look in his eyes. Before they could interrupt him, Bright continued, "Due to my...curse, I eventually managed to escape my Earth and arrive in the IKEA," Brigght started before Clair asked, "What happened?" "An XK-Class end of the world scenario. Across the entire world, every known and unknown Foundation site was breached, and all of the horrors we kept back from ending mankind were released. Within a few years, billions were slaughtered, cities were destroyed, and countries fell overnight. People turned into monsters or suffered even worse fates. I only survived due to luck...and my curse," Bright explained. "You keep saying something about a curse; what do you mean by that?" Jay asked. "You see this amulet around my neck?" Jack asked, gesturing to the large amulet that hung from his neck. "Yeah? You''re always wearing that. What about it?" Someone asked. "This...amulet is special. Over sixty years ago, my...soul was....imprinted into the amulet after I died while holding it," Vernon interrupted, confused, "You died?" "Yes, and when a...prisoner held by the Foundation wore the amulet, my Soul took over their body, giving me a second chance at life. This amulet...is unbreakable by any known means...I''ve even gone as far as to try and nuke the damn thing..., but not a single scratch has marred its surface," Bright explained, sounding more like an old weary soul as he spoke, a soul tired of life. "You tried...destroying it?" Sarah asked. "Of course. Do you know what it''s like? Watching your friends and family die, but being unable to die yourself permanently?" Bright asked before grabbing the Amulet with a strangling grip that turned his knuckles white, "I''ve tried throwing this damned thing into the ocean, even a damned volcano, but no matter what I did, It was eventually found, and I found myself inhabiting a new body. Do you see this body of mine? I remember dying in the middle of the streets of a small town, only to wake up again in the middle of the IKEA. Do you think I want to take over the lives of these people? Strip them of their mind and soul? Tear them away from their families and lives? No!" Bright began yelling, getting more agitated the more he explained his situation. Taking a deep breath to calm down, Bright sat back down. "What I am trying to say...is that if the Foundation exists outside of my Earth, some variation is likely to have existed in your Earths as well...in which case...if any of you ever manage to return to your original Earths...then you''d likely be detained and captured before you even see your families again..." Bright explained, "And if the Foundation finds out that I exist here if a variation of myself exists on other Earths, then they''d likely try to capture or kill me, just to learn what I know. For all they know, I could possess knowledge they did not know, and information is...very important to the Foundation." That''s when a crackle could be heard from one of the devices they scavenged from the Agents turned on. "Bzzzt...-ravo-Th-ta--ulu, c---come in, d---do---ead---e?" 29 – A decision to be made "Bzzzt...-ravo-Th-ta--ulu, c---come in, d---do---ead---e?" Hearing the radio suddenly click to life, the Council froze. "Do not answer it," Bright warned before continuing, "If they know they are dead and we killed them, they could retaliate or try to send another group into the IKEA." "Then what do you suggest we do?" Clair asked, focusing on Bright. "Destroy it. For all we know, it could have a tracker of some kind. Lord knows the Foundation is beyond paranoid about everything and anything," Bright suggested. ... As my integrated humans discussed what to do with the radio, I instead focused on following the signal and examining the radio''s design and internal mechanisms. It was far from a simple device and was seemingly quite complex than what its exterior would suggest. From my examinations, it seems the Radio had multiple...features that allowed it to communicate through dimensions, even reaching mine through the IKEA. The radio did have a tracker, but not in the way that my Humans suspected. The tracker was more for directing the radio waves to that specific radio to prevent other radios in the area from detecting the frequency, tapping in, and listening to something they shouldn''t, which was a bit excessive for my tastes. Though a helpful thing that I could use in the future. I copied the radio''s design to memory for later use, then focused back on the conversation at hand. Only a few moments had passed since I concentrated on the Radio. ... "I disagree. I think we should use it," Sarah suggested. "Why would you want to do that?!" Bright shouted, asking Sarah why she''d even consider contacting the Foundation. "It''s simple. If we don''t, we will eventually die; at least with them, we can have a chance to return to our families," Sarah responded, crossing her arms and starting at Bright with a bit of heat in her gaze. "They could," Bright agreed, "But they would more likely make you a D-Class and make you into cannon fodder than put in the effort, especially since we are all from different Earths. For all we know, that specific Foundation could be even worse than the one I worked for. They could have deviated from their original goal and conquered the Earth all to ''Secure, Contain, and Protect." "Yes, but we won''t know unless we contact them," Sarah insisted. "Let''s put it to a vote. Who thinks we should contact the Foundation? Say ''Aye. '' Those who think we should destroy it? Say ''Nay.''" Clair spoke up, wanting to end the debate. "Nay," Bright voted. "Aye," Sarah voted. "Nay," Jay voted. "Aye," Vernon voted. That left Clair as the tiebreaker. Moments passed as all of those gathered looked upon her before she finally sighed, "Nay. As Bright informed us, the Foundation is dangerous. They attacked us on sight. Who knows what they''ll do once they find out that we killed their agents? It''s best if we destroy it." Those who voted it to be destroyed let go of sighs of relief while Sarah and Vernon seemed to be outraged. "But we do not know for sure! They could be the only ones that could help us get back to our families!" Sarah shouted while Vernon nodded in agreement, seeming a bit mad for the typically calm and rational man. "And who is to say that they cannot hear us already? Last I checked, none of us here are experts in the fields of engineering or electronics," Vernon suggested. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "It''s...It is possible but also unlikely," Bright said before continuing. "While the Foundation could do that, they likely would not, as that would only drain the Radio''s battery, making it near useless for a long-term mission like these guys were likely on." "Why don''t we just keep it for now? Listen in and see if the Foundation sends in or does anything else?" Vernon suggested, "That''s much more preferable to just destroying the thing," getting Sarah''s nod of approval. "Sure, but we''ll need to isolate the damned thing. We don''t know for sure if the Foundation is listening in on our meeting or if they were paranoid enough to implant explosives in it," Bright suggested. "Explosives?! Why did you not start with that?" Jay asked, jumping up from his seat. Bright chuckled and replied, " I''m just messing with you. Calm down." Coming to a decision, the council ultimately decided to keep the radio instead of destroying it, having it as a backup option, or using it to tap into whatever the Foundation sends through in the future, not that they knew that the Radio did not work that way. ... Meanwhile, a group of scientists at a particular foundation site grew annoyed that they had already lost contact with the expedition team they had sent through. However, as the Foundation could attest, its scientists weren''t anything if not stubborn. Within a week, they would have another expedition team ready to be sent through, this time one made entirely of D-class personnel to lower the expedition''s costs. Even a particular scientist known for his love of shotguns became interested in the...project and was contemplating joining in on the ''fun.'' ... Losing interest in what my Integrated Humans were doing, I focused once again on building the ruins of Invictus. I made significant progress, even creating a mile-wide ring of the ruins around the Dome. I have begun making plans for the Monsters that would inhabit the city, but the main attraction would be several different entities. The first would be Corrupted Enforcers, Enforcers that, after an unknown amount of years, have fallen into a state of disrepair and have begun malfunctioning, attacking everything on sight. Due to the extensive damage over time, I intended these Enforcers to range from level 25 to 100, with the level 100 Corrupted Enforcers being Enforcers that were minimally damaged. I even wanted to add another variant of machines, Corrupted Watchers. The Watchers had one purpose: scouting out dangers and alerting nearby Enforcers of the threat. They were relatively weak but could quickly swarm someone if they were not careful, with their level range being 5 to 15. The Watchers had three abilities: flight, scanning, and a small beam weapon, all at the cost of durability. They would be the weakest machine of the ARK Machine series of Robots, but they''d be the most numerous. The second group of entities that would roam the streets of Invictus would come from several different species. Ants. A versatile insect from Earth that could fulfill a wide variety of purposes, ants were one of the most successful creatures on Earth. On one Earth, an estimated 20 quadrillion Ants live across every continent and many islands. The Ants I planned on creating would be ''Giant Ants,'' with the basic drone being the size of a large canine and other casts being smaller or larger depending on their role in the Hive. These...Ant Colonies would be spread around the city, of course, and would be given a single Queen and 200 drones. From there, it would be up to the Colonies if they wanted to survive. It would be an...experiment of sorts, one that I could control and influence at will by providing or removing food within the city, adding or removing Enforcers and Watchers, and more variables. These Colonies would also be hostile to one another, essentially making it a war between the Hives and the remnants of the defensive forces of the city, with the war stretching on the surface, in the tunnels created by the Ants underneath the town, and the metro tunnels that will eventually make a large majority of the undercity. Those were my future plans, but for now, I could only continue expanding the ruins each day until I complete my objective. It was also noteworthy that in creating the ruins, I had to make the bedrock and the soil that the ruins would sit upon as I stretched and expanded my Dungeon with the ruins, slowing my progress quite a bit. As for the food sources I planned on spreading around the city, they would be small gardens, fruit-bearing trees scattered around the streets of the ruins, and the underground fungi farms that would serve as the main food source for the Ants and likely be maintained by them as well. As for the traits of the Ants, I intended to go with several different approaches. One colony would have strong warriors but would be terrible at farming, meaning that they would have fewer Ants than the others but stronger warriors in exchange. Another colony would have the advantage in numbers, but in exchange, it would be smaller and weaker, making them a decent swarmer. The last colony, on the other hand, would be in between, possessing a range attack but having no other advantages than the other two colonies. They''d be slower than the Swarmer Ants, yet faster than the Warrior Ants. They''d be smaller and weaker than the Warrior Ants but would be stronger and bigger than the Swarmer Ants. They would essentially be the average of the other two colonies, with the only advantage they possess being the ability to use Acid projectiles. Of course, the colonies would keep each other in check unless one gained an advantage over the other two. I had no doubt that the Humans would completely wipe them out if they did not grow in power fast enough. The last...''party'' that would be calling the ruins home would be the least in number and certainly not the strongest, but perhaps the best when it came to intelligence and cunning, allowing them to outsmart the Ants and Corrupt Machines but not be able to overpower either without sufficient preparation. 30 – Progress [Jack Bright] A month, an entire month, has passed since that incident with the Foundation. So much has happened since then, especially when we first arrived at our new home, if you want to call it that. Everyone worked or did something to help our quaint...''town.'' Everyone had to work if they wanted to eat; everyone had a job. We could not afford to be lazy, especially between the nightly attacks by the staff and the potential encounter with one of the monsters outside their habitats. We''ve run into some scary things that lurk in the four biomes that surround the ''ARK,'' as we call the giant floating obelisk in the sky near the portal. We were constantly on the lookout both outside and toward the portal. For all we knew, at any moment, a wave of Staff or a tide of monsters could come spilling out from both ways. Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by one of my men. "Bright? It''s time," one of my subordinates said before walking away, likely to meet me at the security gate after he''s made his preparations. By ''It''s time,'' what he really meant was that it was our turn to run the gauntlet and continue exploring the Jungle in an attempt to find a route in which we could escape and get as far from the portal as possible. As I made my way through town, I couldn''t help but glance at the great progress we''ve made. With the rise of classes and the...gifts the Obelisk and its terminals have given us, everyone was far healthier and stronger than they used to be, to the point that even the older members of our little settlement have regained a bit of their youth. With everyone feeling far stronger and able to work far longer than they were used to, within weeks, we transformed our town into a quite literal town. We''ve built many communal log cabins, large walls made entirely of thick wooden logs from the Jungle that we dragged all the way to the town. We even went as far as to build three sections of wooden walls around the Obelisk to act as a safeguard against any sudden attack from the Staff in the IKEA. So much has happened, so much has changed. I was beginning to think that everyone here was becoming content. Escaping is no longer at the forefront of most people''s minds because they feel they''ve already escaped. Personally, Bright believes that they traded one hell for another, not that he would know just how right he was for quite some time. While most became content with their new lives now that they were out of the IKEA, some still wanted to return to their families, regardless of how many years they''ve been trapped in the IKEA, such as Sarah, Vernon, and Clair, though Clair would not openly admit that she still wished to see her family, even if she''s been trapped in the IKEA since she was a child. Bright...Bright had nothing to go back to. The world he knew was long gone and likely a desolate wasteland by now, covered in horrifying monstrosities and entities. This place, these people, they were his home, his family. He cared for them...even though he would outlive all of them. That was his curse, but he would not let that hold him back. Soon enough, he reached the security station, one of four that made the perimeter around the Obelisk, which was constructed by the same people who probably built the Obelisk as well. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Seeing some of his men and women already waiting for him but still missing a few more, Bright calmly approached everyone. "Hey, boss, where are we going this time?" One of his men asked, leaning on the wall of the small building that acted as the security station. "The usual. You all know that it''s best if we scout out the Jungle as best as we can. The other areas are just too dangerous," Bright answered with a sigh. Truthfully, all of the biomes were dangerous in their own ways. It''s just that they''ve already come across a good number of the creatures that call the Jungle home, and the Jungle is the biome they''ve mapped out the most by a far margin compared to the other biomes. Not to mention, the Jungle had far fewer external factors that they''d have to worry about. In the Swamp, you''d constantly have to worry about leeches, mosquitos, toxic fumes, and other nasty things. In the Arctic Forest, you had to worry about the pitfalls hidden by the snow, the snowstorms, the bitter cold that easily flowed through their clothes, and the ambushing nature that most of the creatures in that forest tended to use. In the desert, you had to worry about quicksand, pitfalls hidden by sand, buried monsters waiting to ambush, the blistering heat, and the birds. Just thinking about the birds in the desert made Bright curse and angry. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Bright summoned his status. /----------=+=----------\ Name: Jack Bright Race: Human (Possessed) Class: Aspiring Mage Level: 68 EXP: 13% Health: 390/390 (37.5 per hour) Mana 1,160/1,160 (240 per hour) Stamina: 175/175 (30 Per Hour) [Phyiscal Stats] Strength: 8 -> 30 Agility: 12 -> 20 Endurance: 9 -> 30 Vitality: 8 -> 30 Perception: 9 -> 30 Reaction: 12 -> 20 [Mental Stats] Intelligence: 29 -> 200 Wisdom: 34 -> 190 Willpower: 25 -> 50 Resistance: 25 Control: 10 -> 78 Focus: 25 -> 30 Class Skills: [Mana Bolt Lvl 92], [Mana Sense Lvl 53], [Meditation Lvl 21], [Spark Lvl 14], [Mana Shield Lvl 16] General Skills: [Sprint Lvl 26], [Heavy Blow Lvl 14] Racial Skills: [Adaptable] Resistances: [Heat Resistance Lvl 14], [Cold Resistance Lvl 18], [Pain Tolerance Lvl 23] Perks: [Enhanced Mana Capacity], [Enhanced Vitality], [Enhanced Stamina] Level Up Rewards: +5 HP, +10 MP, +3 Free Stat Points, +2 Wisdom, +2 Intelligence, +1 Control Per Level \----------=+=----------/ It''s insane to see how much Bright has grown. Mana Bolt was almost to level 100, and Bright got two new perks at level 25 and 50, respectively. His mana was over 1,000 units, allowing him to cast dozens of Mana bolts before he ran out of mana and thousands, if not more, of [Spark] without running out of mana. He also had the option to choose two new skills at levels 25 and 50, and while he had new options, he still ultimately went with the two skills he was offered before. Spark would allow me to do what it said: create a spark. It''s come quite in handy when he needed to set things on fire. Meanwhile, the Mana shield acted as a small blue shield of mana he could create to block attacks, something that''s already proved useful on multiple occasions. They were lucky that we healed as fast as we did; otherwise, those of us who actively explored the biomes would have long since been put out of commission. The biomes were just that dangerous. Bright was not the strongest; that title belongs to Jay, but He was at least in the top three in terms of sheer destructibility. He could throw out a literal hail of Mana bolts, nearly 50 of them before he ran out of mana and needed a few hours to recharge. That was his weakness, so to say, he was limited by my mana. That''s why he started pumping more points into Wisdom. He needed the mana regeneration it gave. Speaking of which, Jay and the other ''Warriors'' were instead limited by their stamina, as most of their skills used a mix of stamina and mana, depending on the skill. They went the route of tanks, focusing most of their skill points on their physical attributes, while Bright acted more as a glass cannon. That''s why Bright typically was in the middle of the group, so the others could protect him when they were inevitably attacked. That was one thing that was guaranteed when it came to the Jungle or the other biomes: they were almost certainly going to be attacked by one of the monsters that call the biomes home. Once everyone arrived, Bright and the others headed out. 31 – Preparations Bright, looking over everyone gathered, he couldn''t help but think of how much his life had changed from working as a Foundation Scientist for decades to ''surviving'' an apocalypse, getting trapped in an IKEA, and now working as a Mage exploring a magical forest filled with horrible monsters of varying sizes. It was strange that while his new life was beyond normal, he''d never felt more alive. It was no secret to his friends and the higher-ups of the Foundation that Jack was...tired. After all, Jack had lived for decades, being forced to switch to a new body after each time his ''Host'' would die. He was a parasite, one that stole the lives of dozens of people''s lives. So...Jack has made many attempts to finally find his rest. He''s done everything imaginable to break his accursed amulet and even has gone as far as to try and nuke the damn thing. There was nothing more that Jack had wanted for some time, a chance to rest his weary soul finally, but now? Now, he feels he can wait a bit longer before he seeks his eternal rest. So, as Jack and his group traveled to the jungle, they joked and laughed. After many years of suffering, Jack let out a genuine smile, and when they reached the jungle, Bright made a vow to himself. If he were to be stuck with immortality, why not use his Curse to help these people? Help them return to their families? Help them survive against this...fucked up world filled with monsters and creatures straight from fiction. When they did reach the Jungle, Bright couldn''t help but take a deep breath. To think such a beautiful and vibrant Jungle would house such...monstrosities. They''ve been slowly mapping the Jungle and cataloging the monsters and creatures they encountered while exploring it. Of course, they also had to document all of the flora they encountered, as some of the other expedition teams found several different kinds of wild berries with useful medical properties. The system even had a name for these berries: Stimberry, Narcoberry, Bloodberry, and Stuanchberry. The names were certainly on the nose, but they have saved the lives of some of the people in the Expedition. Stimberry, as its name would suggest, gives a burst of stamina that lasts a few hours but makes the consumer suffer severe dehydration. Narcoberries were the opposite, acting more like a sleep aid that made those who ate it very tired and groggy. Bloodberries, as the name suggested, helped produce blood. How? Jack had no idea. The Staunchberry, on the other hand, was the opposite, stopping blood flow. Quite useful when dealing with injuries. Those were the most common medicinal berries, but they were far from the only ones. The Jungle was a treasure trove of useful Flora. Sarah and Vernon were quite intent on having us gather as much as we could carry, so much so that some of the people who were protected while they chopped would, hunted, and gathered at the edge of the Jungle were able to make some makeshift baskets and sacks from twigs and leather. Traveling with his little group was a group of Hunters and Gatherers, who were, of course, tasked with gathering whatever food they could get their hands on before returning to ARK. When they first started out, they had to leave someone behind to guard and protect the people, but as the hunters and gatherers gained levels, they could typically handle any of the lower-level monsters that roamed the outer skirts of the Jungle. Not to mention, they were moved in groups of three as a safety precaution. That was another blessing of the Jungle, it seemed. There seemed to be an abundant amount of creatures and animals to hunt, but they never seemed to run out. Bright, of course, saw this as suspicious, but unless they managed to explore all of the Jungle, he doubted he would find any answers. After all, by now, with all of the hunting they were doing, animals should have fled farther into the Jungle, not stuck around the outskirts. Not to mention the unusually high number of predators compared to herbivores. Shuddering, Bright remembered his first encounter with the Ravenous Bunnies, bunnies that at first did not seem all that unusual until they spotted prey. They would turn and focus on their prey, their eyes turning red while their maws widened, revealing rows upon rows of shark-like teeth that would easily cut apart whatever they bit into, turning their victims into shredded pieces of meat. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Shaking his head and focusing on the men around him, he spoke, "Remember, stay together in groups of three and remain within shouting distance of one another while you hunt and forage. There are already plenty of animals to hunt and trap in the Jungle, so hunters try not to give chase too far. As for the foragers, you guys...and gals, try not to wander off too far and stick to the edges of the Jungle. And everyone? Stay alert." Bright had to give this speech every time they came out here, every three days, with rotations between his team, Jay''s team, and the third team, led by a guy named Baron. Everyone knew the drill, but Clair wanted the three of them to give the warning every time they reached the Jungle so as to remind the others of the dangers of the Jungle. Not that they needed a reminder, as the Jungle was a terrifying place. Focusing on his comrades and subordinates, Bright asked, "Are you guys ready? Are you fully stocked on bolts and arrows? Medical berries? Bandages? Extra weapons?" As Bright listed off, he glanced briefly at his own weapons and attire. Of course, his old lab coat was in tatters, having gone through the abuse of a literal apocalypse and then years of surviving in the IKEA. Still, now that they had access to leather, Bright had some people do some patchwork to try and fix up the old thing, with the added bonus of having several new pockets within and outside the coat to store the bits and bobs that Bright carries around. He was just glad he didn''t have to worry about wearing glasses, as his...host had near-perfect eyesight. Strapped to his waist were a small crossbow, a small quiver to carry a dozen iron-tipped bolts, and a pouch to carry all of the medicinal berries he found and needed. On the left-hand side of his waist, he had a simple makeshift machete as a backup weapon, while his makeshift spear was in his hands at the moment. Sure, he could use magic and his spells to fight, but it was better to conserve his mana against more challenging foes. Besides, with his regeneration, it was best he not waste mana, as it would take hours to refill it from empty. Sighing, Bright realized that it was going to be a long day. Their job was essentially to make it as far as possible without getting lost and returning by nightfall or the next morning at the latest. When they first started exploring the Jungle, Jay''s team got lost and trapped in the Jungle for a night before eventually making it back to the settlement before sunrise the following morning. Jay and those with them warned that the Jungle was slightly more dangerous at night and that it was best to stick to a cave or make a camp and stay awake all night, as they were constantly attacked throughout the night without a chance to rest. That night is the main reason Jay is ahead of Bright and everyone else in terms of levels, though [Aspiring Warriors] seem to have an advantage over the other classes with their stamina and strength. Their stamina and strength allow them to fight for hours before needing rest, unlike Bright, who needs rest after a few encounters with the local wildlife of the Jungle to recuperate any used mana and stamina. However, that might not be the case when the other classes start reaching higher levels. It could be that [Aspiring Warriors] excel at lower levels but become outshined by other classes as they level up and unlock more powerful skills and traits. Enough about that, though; it was time to work. "Alright, let''s get moving people!" Bright yelled, getting everyone''s attention after they triple-checked their gear and items. The first to move were the hunters who stepped into the Jungle in groups of three, quickly disappearing past the tree line, followed by the foragers, then the lumberjacks. "What are you guys waiting for? We got a job to do," Jack asked, stepping into the Jungle and turning back to his comrades with a smile on his face. 32 – In the god damn trees! "What are you guys waiting for? We got a job to do," Jack asked, stepping into the Jungle and turning back to his comrades with a smile on his face. Stepping into the Jungle past the treeline, Jack Bright and his men were faced with the thick foliage that made exploring it so...difficult. That''s partially why Bright and a few of the others had machetes as their backup weapon, as their main use was mostly to clear a path through the damn Jungle. As they made their way through the Jungle, taking a route that they were all familiar with, Bright and his group soon came across a clearing that hosted a small cave under a mound. Typically, something decides to make the cave home every day. Still, the main reason they stopped by, other than the fact that it was a natural landmark they could navigate, was because, inside the cave, a certain medicinal flower grew, named [Vermilion Lily] by the System. A woman named, funny enough, Lily was a woman some of the IKEA scavengers picked up a few days ago, and she ended up choosing to become an [Aspiring Alchemist]. One of the skills she unlocked was called [Identify Ingredient], a relatively simple skill that allowed her to scan flora and get a short and usually cryptic description from the System. It was due to her efforts that we learned more about the flora found in the Jungle, the same flora we started bringing back so that Lily could make medicine, something that was a rarity in the IKEA and something that the settlement completely lacked. However, the medicine she created was labeled as [Potions] by the System, and the potion''s effects were determined by the ingredient, quality of the ingredient, and, according to Lily, a myriad of other factors. So far, she had managed to make a few potions, though many other attempts ended in failure. So far, Lily has managed to make [Weak Antidotes], [Petty Mana Potion], [Petty Mana Potion], [Petty Stamina Potion], and [Weak Sleep Aid] from an assortment of berries, flowers, plants, and other flora that they routinely gather up in their scouting trips, though the potions don''t surpass a dozen each in number, so they were valuable. Even Bright had a set of potions stashed away in his coat in case of emergency, though due to their limited number, he had at most a single potion of each type that Lily had made so far. Speaking of the potions, it seems the ''Petty'' prefix was a way to tell the quality of the potions. In this case, petty was probably the lowest grade of quality, as Lily has yet to make anything worse, and at its base, a Petty potion restores 25 points of a stat like HP, MP, or SP, something Bright and the others in the Council found would without a doubt be useful in emergency situations and so, everyone was doing what they could to help Lily make more potions and hopefully improve her skill. That''s why everyone who came to the Jungle, whether they be the Lumberjacks, Foragers, or Bright and the others, gathered whatever ingredients they found. "You guys ready?" Bright asked, gesturing towards the cave. Getting nods and affirmations, Bright made a plan. "Jerry, you''re the fastest of us. Can you try and draw them out? We''ll cover your retreat," Bright asked the party''s Hunter. Jerry was a level 19 [Aspiring Hunter], and of everyone on the team, his class made him the most suited to the Jungle, especially when it came to navigating and traveling through it. "Sure thing, boss," Jerry answered without hesitation. Bright and the other squads commonly implemented this tactic, as going into the cave and attacking whatever called it home would not only leave them at a disadvantage but also may harm the ingredients inside. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Taking a deep breath, Jerry activated one of his skills, [Primal Hunt], a skill almost every hunter gets just for its sheer versatility. At its lower levels, it was a sort of aura concealment skill. Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you? Many animals, including humans, have this primal instinct, and this skill essentially conceals the hunter from this instinct, at least until a higher skill level. Jerry and a good number of the other [Aspiring Hunters] who have reached and surpassed level 25 in the skill found that the skill unlocked another effect to the skill, a Danger Sense. Such a skill has become crucial to the survivor of everyone that has become [Aspiring Hunters] because not only would it make the Hunter harder to detect by the local animals and monsters, but it also proved to be a lifesaver, which, when concerning the Jungle that had far too many ambush predators, literally, saved lives. Seeing Jerry creep into the cave, throwing knives ready, the group spread out, with everyone forming a circle around the entrance of the cave and preparing to either throw spells, shoot arrows, or charge whatever Jerry would draw out. Tensing and readying themselves, they soon saw Jerry sprinting out of the cave, "Here it comes!" Jerry shouted, drawing his bow when he reached everyone before abruptly turning around. Tensing, the others soon heard a menacing hiss come from within the cave. "Shit," Bright cursed. Then, it revealed itself. White scales, piercing red eyes, and a long body that made the creature appear like it could wrap around a car and crush it. [Pale Death - Level 52] "Throw everything you got!" Bright shouted, summoning a dozen [Mana Bolts] that he launched at the creature without hesitation, costing him hundreds of mana in seconds. A literal tidal wave of magic, skills, bolts, and arrows slammed into the snake in an attempt to kill the thing instantly. A cloud of dust and ash covered the entrance of the cave, hiding the monster, but the group did not let up their attacks, with the mages switching to their ranged weapons while the Warriors continued throwing whatever form of long-ranged weapons and skills they had. They only stopped when they finally got the notification that the snake had died. By then, what was left was a carcass so damaged that wounds, burns, and bolts littered across its entire body. "Phew...thank god it wasn''t like the last one that ambushed us," Someone breathed out a sigh of relief. Bright grimaced. He was certainly not expecting that they''d run into such a strong monster on the outskirts of the Jungle. The last time they came across a [Pale Death] was a few weeks ago. That monster was actually a few levels higher than the one they just found. As for its...creative name, it was due to its venom and unnatural vitality. Just one bight was all it took to guarantee death...and they learned this the hard way. After that, they spent nearly an hour fighting the damned thing as it slithered and hid within the foliage, trees, and underground tunnels; it was a miracle. Only one person died the last time they fought a [Pale Death]. Taking what little meat and scales they could extract from the carcass, some entered the cave and soon came back with a few pouches filled with [Vermilion Lilies] and even a few [Neptune''s Flowers], a weird magical flower that Bright and the others found throughout the Jungle that produced water seemingly magically, creating a small puddle around its stalk. Bright and the other council members have been gathering as many flowers as possible and planting them in a field outside ARK. Of course, the flowers still won''t be able to produce enough water to cover the settlement''s needs, but they''ll at least help. Right now, most of the water brought into the settlement came from a few ponds in the Jungle and the IKEA itself, though mostly from the Jungle, as most people were hesitant to go back into the IKEA. After grabbing and harvesting what they could, they moved on, passing through the trees, only to soon hear one of their members cry out in pain. Cursing, they turned to find one of their men being impaled by a spike coming from a...tree. Rushing forward, some of them hacked off the spike, impaling the man and pulling him away, while multiple others rushed forward to begin...fighting...a literal tree. [Young Blood Drinker - Level 39] As people rushed to fight the tree, roots, and bark ripped off from the tree and attacked those who ran to help. Jumping out of the way from a root that was about to pierce through his chest, Bright couldn''t help but curse and shout, "Fuck! Do we seriously have to worry about the fucking trees now?!" 33 – A surprising find As a tree burned to ash in the background, and people stood around it to prevent the fire from spreading, Bright was crouched over the man who was impaled and was lying on the ground. Bright was far from being a Medical Doctor, but he was the closest thing the settlement had and was doing his damnedest to keep his friend and peer alive as he put pressure on the wound and forcefully fed the man various berries. ¡°Fuck, stay awake, John! Hey, need some help over here!¡± Bright cursed before calling out to some of the men idling around. One of the men rushed over, and Bright immediately got to work guiding the man on what to do. ¡°Keep pressure on his wound like this,¡± Bright showed before continuing, ¡°The Best chance he has with a wound that bad is if we cauterize it. What you''re going to need to do is hold him down. I know you''re an Aspiring Warrior. You¡¯ll need to use one of your skills to keep him still.¡± Once the man began putting pressure on the wound, Bright pulled back and unsheathed his machete; rushing over to the burning tree, he wasted no time in stocking the blade right into the fire. The only reason they managed to kill the tree was because one of his men, for some goddam reason, was carrying around a Molotov cocktail, ready to be used at a moment''s notice. Not only did using it save their team from suffering more damage, but it might just also save John¡¯s life. Stepping away from the burning tree, Bright noted that it must still be alive, as no one had gotten a notification. Luckily, they cut off all the roots it attacked with, so it could not defend itself. That¡¯s also why Bright felt brave enough to get close enough to heat the blade. Rushing back to John, Bright called for another Aspiring Warrior to help hold John down, ¡°Alright, no matter what, keep him still. We can¡¯t afford him to struggle and cause more damage. Do you both understand? If we don¡¯t do this, he will die.¡± Seeing them both mod, Bright took a deep breath while the warriors tightened their grips on John. John, seeing the red-hot blade nearing his body, began to involuntarily struggle and thrash around. ¡°KEEP HIM STILL!¡± Bright shouted, bringing the flat side of the blade down onto the wound. Instantly, a sizzling sound and the cooking of human flesh and blood wafted from the wound while John screamed and screamed. Holding and pushing the side of the blade into the wound, Bright grits his teeth; this had to work; otherwise, John would die long before the team could return to the settlement. Tossing the blade away, Bright forced John to drink his only Narco Potion, the sleep aid potion Lily made back at the settlement. As John began to drift into unconsciousness, Bright began issuing orders. ¡°Change of plans! I force-fed John a Petty Healing Potion and a Narcotic Potion, these two,¡± he gestured to the two aspiring warriors next to him. We will carry him and escort them out of the Jungle. Got it? We ain¡¯t letting him die!¡± Bright ordered. That¡¯s when they heard buzzing in the air, coming right from where they had to go if they wanted to leave the Jungle. ¡°Fuck!¡± Bright cursed quietly, ¡°Come on, we don¡¯t want to be here when the Blood Wasp Swarm gets here!¡± Rushing back from the tree, everyone quickly fled deeper into the Jungle, having no choice but to go deeper toward what they believed to be their next checkpoint. However, due to their encounter with the tree, they unknowingly fled in the wrong direction, heading deeper into an unexplored section of the Jungle. ¡°Keep up!¡± Bright huffed as he ran from one of the most dangerous things roaming the Jungle, a ¡®monster¡¯ that soon reached the scene of the fight between Bright and the others against the [Young Blood Drinker]. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. [Blood Wasp Swarm - Level 93] ¡­ As the group fled into the Jungle, clearly lost as they found none of the landmarks they memorized and encountered before, they were surprised to soon come upon what looked to be a road, mostly buried under grass and dirt and covered in flora. ¡°A road?¡± Someone questioned. ¡°Should we follow it? It could lead us out of here,¡± Someone else commented. ¡°We don¡¯t got much of a choice; we can either follow it or try to get back to the settlement and past the Blood Wasps as well,¡± Bright explained to the others, offering his input into their choices. Stopping in their tracks, Bright let them come to their own decisions. For one, they could risk returning to ARK at the risk of encountering another Blood Wasp Swarm, or they could push on and find a spot to rest while John¡¯s body recovered, which would take a few hours due to the Integrated players¡¯ enhanced physiques. "Boss, we only have one option: we have to advance. There''s no way we can take on the Blood Wasps, especially not with one of us injured. Plus, if this road leads somewhere out of this damn Jungle, shouldn''t we take the risk?" A man by the name of Bart questioned. Bright sighed, "You''re right. Alright, everyone? Let''s follow the road and see where it takes us. Once we find a definable spot, we''ll rest and recuperate while John heals, got it?" Getting a bunch of nods, Bright took the lead, following the rough outline of the road that was covered in thick mounds of dirt, leaving only small parts of the road peaking out from under the terrain. They tailed along the path for over an hour, getting lost a few times and digging around to find where the road led, leaving behind markers on trees and rocks to act as a path back. Soon enough, however, they found something that was...surprising. Some large structures or buildings, two floors in height, are covered in vines, roots, and other flora. Sat outside the building and saw what looked to be long-since rusted cars buried beneath mounds of dirt and leaves. "What the hell?" Someone asked as a screen suddenly appeared before them all. /=========+=========\ Alert! A new Quest has been assigned! Quest Name: A Mysterious Structure Quest Type: Exploration Quest Quest Description: You and others have uncovered a structure from many years ago that nature has long since reclaimed. What is this mysterious structure, and what does it hold? Quest Option 1: Explore the structure and discover its purpose. Optional Quest: Learn what has happened here and listen to the final moments of all those inside. Quest Rewards 1: Map of ??? Optional Quest Rewards: Pristine Focus (Rare) and ??? \=========+=========/ "Well, we have no reason not to, plus that first reward is too precious to ignore, even if the map hardly helps after so much time has passed," Bright commented after reading the quest''s description. He wondered what the optional quest rewards were, especially whatever the ''Pristine Focus'' was, and why it had a ''Rare'' tag. "Well?" Bright asked, looking at his friends and allies, only to realize that none of them had seen a quest before, though for Bright, this was the second one he''d seen yet. "Alright, come on, let''s clear that place out and find a spot to lay John down before we even consider completing that quest. You guys got that?" Bright asked, raising his voice to snap his men to attention. Bright might not be the best, but the settlement had some military veterans training everyone. He helped where he could with his decades of experience in the paramilitary organization known as the S.C.P. Foundation, even if that experience was mostly as a Scientist. Together, Bright and the Veterans managed to drill almost everyone who volunteered to scout the biomes into people who could act like soldiers. They weren''t soldiers by any means, that''s for sure, but at least they could take orders and had some basic doctrines drilled into them to increase their chances of survival on the battlefield. Looking upon the sky above them, Bright sighed. This really was a battlefield, wasn''t it? They fought tooth and nail, clawing at everything around them to survive and emerge victorious...but a battlefield was not for everyone, and he knew that eventually, someone he knew would freeze in the face of a monster and be cut down like a scythe through weeds... Shaking his head, Bright focused on the here and now; they had a job to do, and John will not die on Bright''s watch, not if he has anything to say about it. 34 – Ranger Station Beta The entrance of the building was mostly covered in dirt and vines, but with a little bit of digging, the team managed to shovel enough dirt with their hands to make an opening into the structure. Sliding down the mound of dirt, Bright cursed. The room was shrouded in darkness, the only light coming from the opening. ¡°Hey, get some wood. We¡¯ll need to make a fire and some torches,¡± Bright said to his men above. Meanwhile, Bright waited, not turning his back from the darkness, as he had no idea if someone lurked within the shadows. When his men came back and tossed a few branches down, Bright wasted no time grabbing one that was sufficiently long and thick before wrapping the head with cloth. With a simple snap of his fingers, sparks lit the cloth alight, lighting the area around Bright. The floor was covered in creeping vines, yet none of nature seemed to have breached through the metal floor. As the others slid down the mound of dirt into the building, Bright lit a few more torches and handed them out. "Alright, let''s spread out and scout the place out first before we set up camp, split off into two groups, and search the building. Yell for help if needed. I''ll stay here and watch over John," Bright began issuing orderers left and right before examining John''s injuries thoroughly and making sure that his wounds were not infected. He was lucky, if that monster tree were any stronger, he''d have been killed instantly instead of being given only a fatal injury. After fifteen minutes had passed, everyone returned one by one, reporting to Bright that no monsters or animals were calling the building home. However, what his subordinates reported concerned Birght. Signs of a struggle and fights were clear as day around the building, as long-decayed human remains littered the building and multiple rooms that seemed to have been boarded up with old destroyed furniture were filled with dozens of skeletons. The strange thing? There were arrows littering the area, the arrows seemingly sharp and strong enough to have pierced the mysterious metal these people were so fond of using to build their buildings out of. The same green creatures that attacked the poor guardsman at the checkpoint the ARK Settlement was built beside. What were these creatures? Why did they kill all of these people? Why not even one of those creatures'' bodies were found alongside the human skeletons? Were they just that strong despite their seemingly primitive appearance? While a few stayed behind to start a fire and to look after John, Bright and the rest began to explore and investigate the building actively. In their searches, they began to piece together what could have happened based on the position of the skeletons and what they saw from the guard''s logs back at the checkpoint. These people must have fled from the little green men into this building seeking shelter. The question was, what was this building''s purpose? Bright and the others continued their search until one of the men found what looked to be a door covered completely by vines. Ripping them down revealed a small room, one with strange technology that took up much of the wall space of the room. Noticing a blue light, one of the men touched a button, and before they could react, the power turned on, lighting up the building and the many display screens that aligned the wall in the small room. "What''s this supposed to be?" Bright wondered to himself as he prodded at the screens and console, unknowingly activating something. Multiple screens began showing what looked to be live feeds of the building''s interior, which was now mostly lit up, with quite a few lights seemingly no longer functioning. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "Was this a security room of some kind?" Bright wondered. For the next hour, Bright continued to mess with the console and screens, trying to figure it out and how it works, eventually activating some holographic keyboard which was when he really started making some progress. As he sat on an old chair that struggled to stay together, Bright clicked an arrow key, and one of the camera feeds switched to show outside. Another press and the feed showed some random part of the jungle. Quickly realizing the potential of this console before him, Bright''s enthusiasm rose exponentially. If this security system really did have cameras scattered throughout the Jungle, then that could mean that they''d have a way to monitor, track, and keep an eye out for anyone moving through the Jungle. However, Bright continued to cycle through the cameras, hoping that one of these cameras would reveal more hidden pieces of this civilization. While Bright worked on the computer, some of the men stepped outside and began digging out a pit and began a mass burial. Hours passed as Bright worked on the computer, and John finally awoke, his body having nearly completely healed from his injuries. The others congratulated and celebrated their friend''s survival. Meanwhile, Bright made a breakthrough with the incredibly advanced computer. To Bright, it was like going from using a dial-up phone to dealing with one of the most advanced computers of his time on Earth. From the cameras, he managed to back out and access the main system of the computer; from there, he was able to access its internal files and finally learn what this building was: a Ranger Station of sorts. Specifically, the internal files had it labeled as Ranger Station Beta. Then, he managed to find the security logs. ... It was a completely normal day. As usual, people were trying to live normally while the world outside was slowly falling apart as the Terran Federation and the United Republic of Earth fought each other in a devastating war. People walked around the dome, one of the largest and one of the few parks in the world, right at the city''s center. People enjoyed the sights, as the park was one of the few places on Earth that preserved nature and was still thriving. People enjoyed the sights of nature, the enclosures housing countless animals and dinosaurs brought back from extinction, both natural and man-made, but that all changed when, one day, the sky turned red, and monsters invaded the park. People fled deep into the forest, hoping to escape the small green men who began wantingly slaughtering all in their paths, hunting down those who fled. Then, the animals and dinosaurs housed within their containment units escaped and caused chaos among the scared humans and monsters. It was only thanks to the animals and dinosaurs that the humans remaining managed to survive, but by then, they were few in number. Numbering less than two digits, the survivors fled from the Dome, hoping to escape to the city to get help...they didn''t make it past the beasts on the lose and the roaming little green men. Time passed, years and years, and what was left of humanity''s creations were quickly overtaken by nature as flora and fauna grew in number and plentifulness. The bodies of those who died from the attack decomposed and were eaten by the beasts that remained across the dome, and yet, no help ever arrived. Across the dome, the eight Ranger Stations, two stations in each biome, suffered the same fate, as those inside died from the beasts, little green men, or internal conflict. /=========+=========\ Congratulations! A Quest has been completed! Quest Name: A Mysterious Structure Quest Type: Exploration Quest Quest Description: You and others have uncovered a structure from many years ago that nature has long since reclaimed. What is this mysterious structure, and what does it hold? Quest Option 1: Explore the structure and discover its purpose. Optional Quest: Learn what has happened here and listen to the final moments of all those inside. Quest Rewards 1: Map of the Dome Optional Quest Rewards: Pristine Focus (Rare) and ''Watcher'' Engram \=========+=========/ 35 – Rewards and Map [Bright¡¯s POV] /=========+=========\ Quest Rewards 1: Map of the Dome Optional Quest Rewards: Pristine Focus (Rare) and ''Watcher'' Engram \=========+=========/ [Claim Rewards] [Yes] [No] Leaving the screen open, Bright climbed up from the ancient chair he was sitting in and headed back to the group camping out at the entrance of the building. ¡°Did you guys get the notification as well?¡± Bright asked when he neared the group, with a clearly wide-awake John who was almost healed from his injury. "Yeah, boss," They all answered at once. Much to Bright''s surprise, they all met the main part of the quest but failed to meet the criteria for the optional quest reward. However, upon bringing one of them to the security room, Bright found that after watching some of the footage, the man obtained the rewards for the optional part of the quest, though one of his rewards was different. He still got whatever a Pristine Focus (Rare) was, but the second reward was completely different, as he obtained something called ''Datapad Engram.¡¯ After helping the others unlock the optional quest rewards, Bright returned to the campfire and clicked [Yes], collecting his rewards. [Pristine Focus (Rare) - A triangular device designed by Humanity to act as a small augmented reality device that serves as a multipurpose sensory interface after being placed just above an ear. These devices act as compact computers that can store and log data the user comes across, communicate with other Focuses, provide translation services, and interact with other technology wirelessly and much more through a holographic interface only the user and other users can see] [Engram: Watcher has been unlocked. Watchers can now be constructed at any ARK Terminal] [Watcher: Powered by Element Dust, Watchers are hybrids of Scouts and Attack drones that serve as one of the most common autonomous security robotic platforms used by Independent, Terran Federation, and the United Terran Republic cities that will alert nearby human operatives and Enforcers of hostiles and repair nearby machinery using Element as fuel to repair the machinery. Comes equipped with advanced sensors and relays, two circular propellers for flight, a small weapon attachment that can incapacitate or hurt unarmored targets, a miniature fabricator, and repair arms Cost: 15 Element Dust, 100 units of metal, 25 units of electronics, and 5 units of oil] Along with those two screens popping up, a brief flash of light brought two things into existence that fell on Bright¡¯s lap: what seemed to be a scroll and a¡­guitar tip. Reading through the two screens that popped up, Bright¡¯s eyes widened. Reaching down to the silver triangular guitar pick, Bright grabbed the device and brought it to the side of his temple, and with fascination, was surprised to find the device seemingly launching from his hand onto his head, right above his left ear, like a magnet to metal. [Registering User¡­done] [Credentials¡­Citizen of Invictus] [Welcome to the city of Dreams, Jack Bright] [Running Diagnostics¡­complete] [Battery: 100%] [Initiating apps¡­done] [Logs], [Files], [Phone], [Message], [Contacts], [Camera], [Simulation], [Scan], [Settings] Humming in thought, Bright tried thinking of activating the scanning function and was surprised to see another light shine from the focus onto the first thing in sight, one of his w sitting across from him past the fire who was examining his rewards, and the focus in hand. [1%¡­50%¡­100%¡­done, scan complete] In less than a few seconds, Bright was surprised to find what appeared to be multiple screens before him. These screens had in-depth details, data, and more of his friend himself, his clothes, his weapons, and more before suddenly being flagged with many errors. [No data on materials¡­error] [No data on organic composition¡­error] [Please load needed data and files for better scanning] You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Confused, Bright opened the data and files tab on his apps and found that the device was nearly completely empty, with the only downloaded file being the system¡¯s OS. The Focus was essentially blank and empty, wiped off anything useful. [Please scan appropriate material for data collection to provide for more in-depth scanning in the future] Did that mean all Bright would need to do is scan something like a medical textbook or materials science textbook, and the next time he scanned, he would be shown something like a person¡¯s physical health if they had diseases, and stuff like that? If so, Focuses would have been invaluable to the Foundation, especially if it could allow a Scientist or Researcher to scan an object or creature¡¯s composition instead of running a bunch of tests and looking at a sample under a microscope. Humming in thought, Bright tried something else, [Phone]. [No Service] ¡®Service?¡¯ Bright wondered in thought. Moving on, he focused on the others as they put on their Focuses, from there they discovered that each Focus has a unique ID that was needed to add them as a contact, an ID that was easily found in settings. Adding the others to his contact list, Bright hummed in thought and tried the [Phone] app again, surprised to find that it opened a contact list. Tapping on one of the contacts, he was surprised to find that it went through, as the Focus on Bright and his friend¡¯s head glowed and buzzed for a second. When his friend answered the call, Bright was surprised to see a holographic image of his friend¡¯s face appear in the corner of the holographic screen shown before him by the Focus. In awe of the device''s usefulness, Bright continued messing with the other functions while he was in deep thought. He then realized that he had nearly forgotten about the map he had received as a main reward for completing the quest. ¡­ [Kohl¡¯s POV] It was fascinating how slowly the humans were progressing. I figured one of them would have reached level 100 and surpassed the first wall, but they hadn¡¯t. After some in-depth examinations, I found out the reason for this: the humans were overly cautious. Kohl could understand why the humans were so cautious. They lacked the proper items and gear to fight monsters at their own level, not monsters and creatures of higher levels. This was shown with the situation with the [Pale Death] earlier during the humans'' trip, as they used overwhelming force to fight something that frankly did not need it. This cautious approach, while they were saving lives, vastly slowed their growth. With the constant arrivals of new humans from the IKEA, Kohl figured that their need for growth and finding a way through the Dome would surpass their caution, but he was wrong. Kohl pondered, what could he do to¡­force their hands? Then he had an idea: Monster Waves. Many stories in Kohl¡¯s memories featured a ¡®wave¡¯ of monsters that would charge into Civilized Lands and attack anything on sight. To prevent this, the Humans must periodically cull the monsters or face such a wave. Humming in thought, Kohl issued a quest. /=========+=========\ Alert! A new Quest has been assigned! Quest Name: Trouble on the Horizon Quest Type: Region Quest Quest Description: Due to the rapid and unrestrained growth of Monsters within the Dome Recreational Park, a Monster Wave will soon be upon the poor souls calling the area home. Run or fight, for soon, the monsters will leave their homes. Quest Option 1: Cull Monsters within the Dome to Stop the Wave. Culled Monsters: 0/10,000 Quest Option 1 Rewards: Title, exp, and ??? Quest Option 2: Help the monsters grow and stop the locals from interfering with the wave. Quest Option 2 Rewards: Class, exp, and ??? Quest Option 3: Contribute and assist in whatever way you can in stopping or assisting the Monster Wave. Quest Option 3 Reward: Daily EXP based on contribution. Time until Monster Wave Begins: 15 Days \=========+=========/ Looking over the quest¡¯s parameters, Kohl refrained from issuing the quest just yet, as he wanted to ensure he¡¯d be prepared for whatever would happen. Of course, the quest¡¯s parameters would cause in-fighting among the humans, something Kohl foresaw as a necessary component of the quest as it would force the humans to seek even more growth in both level and skill. That brought another topic to Kohl¡¯s mind, as he wondered if this was the time to introduce the first intelligent monster species to fight against humanity, Goblins. With what he¡¯s shown through the use of recordings, logs, files, and more, Kohl knew that Goblins would provide another necessary danger to the Dungeon, for if the Humans became over-reliant on their cunning and intelligence that surpassed the monsters in the Dome, it would become a crippling weakness. While the Goblins would be emotionally and mentally stunted compared to normal humans, their cunning would rival humanity¡¯s. With their fast reproduction, they¡¯d become a pest that would constantly prod at humanity, forcing Humanity on its toes. However, that was for later. As of a few hours ago, two Monster Spawners were placed in each biome of the dome, as Kohl finally fixed the Monster Spawner¡¯s issue with spawning a single monster variation over and over. Kohl added a sort of catalog that the enchantments would constantly shift through as they spawned monsters automatically. The catalog was limited, however. So far, Kohl has only managed to fit fifteen monster species into the catalog, with their myriad of variations in levels, stats, and appearances. Depending on the cost of the monster and how fast or slow the Spawners would create monsters, It was incredibly complicated and expensive, but Kohl was glad he did it, as now that there were two of these spawners in each biome, the need for Kohl to constantly respawn or make new monsters had severely decreased, allowing him to focus his mana on other projects. If the Monster Spawners continued to prove useful, then he¡¯d add more underground under the biomes. Still, at the moment, Kohl¡¯s main focus has been expanding the next area of the Dungeon and improving the efficiency of his mana generators, which he has improved to the point they now produce 100% of their original production, allowing them to produce 10 mana units a day instead of the original 5. This raised his mana production to just over 800 units of mana a day, including the over two hundred humans that call the Dungeon home. With so many Mana units a day at his disposal, Kohl could do so much, though five hundred of the mana units went straight into building the next section of his dungeon. With a few revisions, Kohl prepared himself and planned to release the quest by the beginning of next week. 36 – A Crisis on its way A week later, Kohl found himself proficiently prepared as he added another monster spawner to each biome, bringing the total to twelve. Already, the number of monsters inhabiting the biomes had increased twofold, and the human explorer parties noticed. The humans began growing concerned by the increasing number and strength of the monsters. Though the rise of the monster''s numbers was noticeable, it wasn''t as much as it could be, as the monsters continued to fight each other and level up thanks to the first and currently only rule established by Kohl for the dungeon, [Survival of the Fittest], a rule that he established so long ago that continued to improve the strength of his monsters with little interference from himself. Though thanks to this rapid rise in the monster''s number and level, Kohl''s first monster had reached level 100, and of all things, it was a damn tree that reached it, evolving to become a [Lesser Vampiric Oak Tree]. In contrast, simple in name, this tree put the young blood drinker tree that the human party encountered to shame, as it was easily towering over the trees around it with its bark pulsing with red veins, its trunk filled with blood from the many monsters it killed. Trailing not far behind was the last and final Blood Wasp Swarm, its level reaching level 98, shy of two levels before it would evolve and become even more frightening. After it was the Elementals, of course, who were all but invincible to most of the monsters that dwelled in their domes. Kohl was tempted to make the tree the ''boss'' of the monster wave, but he declined, as he had a different monster in mind for that role, and the tree''s inability to move and its defenses made it too formidable a foe for the humans. This monster, which he will dub as Beast Lord, would be the Monster to lead and push the monsters out from the biomes. The monster? Of course, the Blood Wasp Swarm, it was becoming a problem and needed to be culled. ... Kohl wanted to see what would happen if he tried making a mixture of an elemental and a monster. The result? [Shadowmane Wolf - Level 88], an entire pack of wolves led by this mutated experimental monster that was a truly fearsome foe. The Shadowmane Wolf was two times larger than the other wolves, its claws razor-sharp and capable of easily tearing through anything the humans would have. After some thought, Kohl wanted each biome to have a Beast Lord. These Beast Lords would be so strong that they''d force the other monsters in the area to flee, only the direction they''d flee would be directly towards the ARK, and subsequentially, where the Humans live through the ARK''s guardians and enforcers would end up helping them a bit, that would only be protection against the Arctic Forest and the Swamp, even then some monsters are bound to make it through and attack the Humans from behind. Using a bit of mana, Kohl rose the levels of the four Beast Lords to 100, where they would evolve into their next forms. The Shawdmane Wolf became a Shadowmane Direwolf, becoming even larger and boosting its stats and attributes, making it even stronger and more dangerous to fight. Level 100 was the first ''stage'' in the system. It''s where Classes and monsters would evolve and where monsters and ''awakened'' become noticeably stronger compared to someone a few levels below them. Of the beast lords, there was the Shadowmane Direwolf in the Arctic Forest, the Onyx Giant Scorpion in the desert, and the Rock-shell Giant Crab from the Swamp. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. All these monsters were large, and most were the strongest of their ecosystems outside the elementals. All of the Beast Lords rivaled a human truck and had enough power and strength to either shear or crush through the metal and plastic of such a car. Another thing to note is that these beast lords were not alone. The Onyx Giant Scorpion had many smaller Giant Scorpians that were its brood and acted as loyal little soldiers. The same was the case for the other beast lords, though the Blood Wasp Swarm was a notable exception as it was a singular entity. The other beast lord''s spawns could level up and grow independently of their parents, but the Blood Wasp Swarm could not. Despite that, the Blood Wasp Swarm, now the Ravenous Wasp Swarm after it evolved, was more than capable of fighting the other beast lords and taking little damage from them. However, humans would likely have an easier time fighting the Wasp Swarm due to its weakness against magic and AOE attacks. With some last-second preparations and edits, Kohl issues the quest across the dungeon. ... /=========+=========\ Alert! A new Quest has been assigned! Quest Name: Trouble on the Horizon Quest Type: Region Quest Quest Description: Due to the rapid and unrestrained growth of Monsters within the Dome Recreational Park, a Monster Wave will soon be upon the poor souls calling the area home. Run or fight, for soon, the monsters will leave their homes. \=========+=========/ Across the entire dungeon, everyone at once received a quest alert, including Bright and his team, who were currently camping at Ranger Station Beta, which they turned into a decent hideout to rest, retreat to, and recuperate after their exploration trips. It was barricaded, and they could take plenty of escape routes if it were ever attacked. It was stocked with weapons, armor, and whatever else they could need, and the station acted more like a forward-operating outpost that could be used to expand their exploration range. "Bright, you see this?" Someone asked, looking over to the surprised Bright. Silently cursing, Bright rushed to his feet and ordered, "Get ready, we are heading back!" Grabbing everything they needed, they quickly returned to the settlement, where all hell broke loose. From a distance, they could see a pillar of fire as the settlement seemed to be on fire, and people attempted to put it out, to no avail, even with the plenty of IKEA extinguishers available across the store. By the time Bright and the others reached the settlement, multiple buildings had burned down, including some of the settlement''s most important buildings: the community kitchen, the apothecary, and the workshop. The fires were certainly the work of multiple people and were intentional. Vernon died in the fire. ... Kohl was both surprised and unsurprised by the humans'' reaction. The fact that a group of humans immediately worked together to sabotage the other humans before fleeing. Their actions got them quite a bit of experience, and while most of them who betrayed the other humans didn''t have any sort of combat classes, they could still fight. The direction these ''bad'' humans fled was towards the Arctic Forest with whatever they could carry. The settlement now had little to no food; they lost one of their council members and had to worry about their weapons and where some people would sleep. With that, humanity had officially split among themselves, and Kohl couldn''t wait to see how both groups would progress if the betrayers managed to survive and thrive in the Arctic forest. 37 – The Beast Tide /=========+=========\ Quest Name: Trouble on the Horizon Quest Type: Region Quest Quest Description: Due to the rapid and unrestrained growth of Monsters within the Dome Recreational Park, a Monster Wave will soon be upon the poor souls calling the area home. Run or fight, for soon, the monsters will leave their homes. Quest Option 1: Cull Monsters within the Dome to Stop the Wave. Culled Monsters: 406/10,000 Quest Option 1 Rewards: Title, exp, and ??? Quest Option 2: Help the monsters grow and stop the locals from interfering with the wave. Quest Option 2 Rewards: Class, exp, and ??? Quest Option 3: Contribute and assist in whatever way you can to stop or assist the Monster Wave. Quest Option 3 Reward: Daily EXP based on contribution. Time until Monster Wave Begins: 13 Days \=========+=========/ A mere two days had passed, and they were no closer to stopping the monster wave. The biomes were filled with countless dangers, as monsters were far higher in level and number, making it dangerous to even travel in the outer edges of the various biomes. The average monster was stronger than the average person who called ARK home, and with the rise in the strength of monsters, it was decided that more people needed to fight. It was a Grimm time, as a dreary atmosphere hung over the humans who called ARK home. Still, despite that, the people were determined to survive as everyone put in the effort, with cooks making large batches of food for everyone, the craftsmen making as many weapons, arrows, and armor as they could, and so much more. Yet, while they were determined to survive against the incoming beast wave, people were wary of one another after the incident that happened on the first day. There were rumors of traitors still among them, waiting for the opportunity to cause more chaos and bloodshed. With Vernon''s death, many were on edge, angry, and lashing out at everything around them. Vernon had to be the town''s sort of therapist, and with Vernon being a friendly, outgoing guy, many were saddened by his loss. Yet the ever-curious Dungeon Core watched it all with fascination, watching the humans work together like ants preparing for war, but they were not alone in their quest however, as the splinter faction, henceforth known as the ''Dark Faction'' numbered only a dozen in number had set up camp within the Arctic Biome, where they continuously fought against the wolves, birds, and other predators that called the biome home while they established a camp. Surprisingly, these Dark Faction humans proved to be capable warriors and builders, as they managed to construct a wall of logs around their camp in the span of a few hours and fend off the increasing monster threat around them. If they had been unlucky and had come across the Wolf Beast Lord of the biome, they would have been slaughtered like chickens before a shotgun. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Of the dozen humans, the strongest of them was an [Aspiring Hunter], who was surprisingly talented with a bow and proved to be one of the best hunters of the humans. These Dark Faction humans rose in strength tremendously as they faced monster by monster, quickly raising the levels of each man and woman to over level fifty. Kohl by no means expected these humans to survive if they didn''t increase their numbers soon. It was only a matter of time until they became exhausted or too weak to fight the arctic monsters surrounding them. Humming in thought, Kohl realized that he may have to interfere. If he sat back and did nothing, this splinter faction would be snuffed out like a spark before a storm. He needed to cultivate this group so that they''d provide sufficient conflict with the ARK settlement or even overcome it, but, in the end, Kohl decided against it. He would not play favorites. The spark would either grow into a wildfire or be snuffed out by the coming wind. However, with some time, so long as they survive this event, their contribution would at least grant them a class change or special reward, with potential unique class evolutions. In the meantime, they best do what they can to survive against the monsters that constantly hound their walls. ... Three more days passed as Bright and the others fought daily, culling countless monsters ranging from low-level monsters to high-level ones. Six of them had died so far, yet they had no time even to give them a burial due to the time crunch they had before the ''Monster Wave'' would grow out of control. However, it was not all bad news. With the increase in the level of the monsters, the humans leveled up far faster than expected. With their nonstop effort to kill all the monsters they could before the 15 days were over, one of the humans finally hit level 100, allowing for a class evolution. The human that reached level 100? Of course, it was none other than Jay who had some interesting choices, to say the least. [Warriror (Common) - A direct and expected evolution of the Aspiring Warrior that gifts no advantages nor disadvantages. Bonuses: +4 Strength, +4 Endurance, +2 Vitality Per Level (10)] [Swordsman (Common) - To some, a sword is merely a weapon, but it is a way of life for many others. Bonuses: +4 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +2 Endurance Per Level (10)] [Guard (Uncommon) - Guards are countless civilizations'' unyielding protectors and law enforcers, gifted with abilities to better protect and serve. Bonuses: +5 Strength, +3 Endurance, +2 Vitality, +2 Dexterity Per Level (12)] [Berserker (Uncommon) - Like the berserker of old, become an unyielding whirlwind of death, becoming stronger for a brief moment of time in battle. Bonuses: +6 Strength, +3 Endurance, +3 Viality Per Level (12)] [Knight (Rare) - The heavy infantry of countless kingdoms. Knights are stout warriors bearing heavy armor and or majestic steeds. Bonuses: +5 Strength, +5 Endurance, +5 Vitality Per Level (15)] Jay had a few more common options, such as [Footman], [Shieldsman], or [Spearman], but they were relatively basic and on the nose as to their purpose. Footman was a reality basic class meant for armies, while [Shiedsman] was likely a class that involved using a shield and [Spearman]? It was obvious. In the end, much to Kohl''s surprise, Jay became a Berserker, gaining and evolving a few skills. Jay obtained four new skills: [Cleaving Strike], [Bloodlust], [Thick Skin], and [Berserker Rage]. [Cleaving Strike] was a skill best suited for a bladed weapon like a sword or axe. [Bloodlust] was an aura skill that invoked fear in weaker targets, with a chance of invoking fear in targets of similar strength and near no success in stronger targets. [Thick Skin] granted a tangible increase in Jay''s natural defenses, thickening his skin and making his body more difficult to injure. Finally, [Berserker Rage], at lower levels, this skill granted a massive increase to strength, durability, and speed, but it came at a great cost, as Jay would lose all reasoning and go...well, berserk. It would also come with a drawback of severe exhaustion and weakness after use, leaving it to be a last-resort skill. With Jay reaching the next stage, many others were not that far behind either.