《Earth's First Dungeon》 Prologue: Gamer Chat "What do you think the odds are that they hit the asteroid?" Reginald asked the rest of his guild mates over team speak. The television to his side blurting out the latest in a stream of updates. "This just in: by UN Accord, the USA, Russia, and China have launched a coordinated strike on the meteor, aiming for a fissure located by the cameras on the International Space Station. In fact, we have confirmation of the launch of the first missile!" Istand Alone: ¡°Should hit it with all it cost for the ISS" Sakura Ranger: "Maybe we''ll see Bahamut IRL, lol?" Pious One: "Seriously? We''ve got an incoming Meteor? Who let Sephiroth get the Black Materia this time?" Shadow Storm: "Quick, someone find the White Materia for protection!" Vivian Enflamer: "USA, Russia, and China are launching nukes to break it apart, hopefully it burns up in the atmosphere." Reginald laughed and shook his head at his guildmates antics, they were the only friends he¡¯d ever really had. Unlike the rest of his family they didn¡¯t pretend they were any better than anyone else, they proved it in the games and worked together to help one another out. Reginald may not have been super rich, but his parents were, and the only thing they had asked of Reginald was to not bring shame upon the Montgomery name, since he didn''t want to be a public figure like the majority of the family. In fact, he had nearly sixteen square miles of land around his house, since his family bought the land from farmers whose land had stopped producing as it used to. His home was in fact where they held all the family gatherings, since it was by far the nicest and most private. The town of Tarmac, Oklahoma had also been created to support people like Reginald and the other family of actors and politicians who don''t like the limelight. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Istand Alone: "I''m more concerned about what looked like buildings on the photos released by ISS..." That last one made him blink and open his computer to do a search on google of the images from ISS about the meteor. Indeed, on the surface of the meteor facing them you could see a couple of structures that looked like ancient greek or roman temples. There was also a huge metal box on the edge of some of the images. He replied to the guild chat: "I''m more concerned with that huge metal box... That won''t burn up on entry..." Istand Alone: "Huge metal box? Where are you seeing those?" Darkest Nightmare: "On the edge of some of the pictures you can see a large metal wall, well, I pulled up multiple pictures and it seems to be a huge metal box of some kind..." Shadow Storm: "Do you think they might have stasis pods inside there? There could be live aliens!" Pios One: "Now who''s played too many games?" Sakura Ranger: "Nah, he''s read too many Light Novels!" Shadow Storm: "As if... If I had, I''d have said it was a dungeon lol" That idea made Reginald start sweating. "Okay, well, I was just checking in. I''ve gtg for now. Stay safe people." He then logged out and went to take a shower before going to bed. Chapter 1: The Meteor Shower The nukes did their job and shattered the huge meteor into thousands of little meteors, most of which would burn up in the atmosphere, but the huge sections, with the temple and metal box, and other large areas with buildings would likely survive the friction of entering the atmosphere, and so while the meteor shower would look beautiful over almost all over the globe, the nations of the world let people know that it was at their own risk to be outside of the community shelters. The news also received reports from scientists of ''unknown energy readings'' coming from the fragments. The governments highly recommend that if any of the meteorites make landfall that you do not approach and dial 9-1-1 if someone were to find one. Personally, Reginald thought that they should at least offer a reward for any of the meteorites turned in. Reginald didn''t have any friends in the town he lived in, and really didn''t care much about finding a place in the local shelter because he wouldn''t be missed. He sent out messages to his guild that he would be watching the meteor shower from his back yard and that he would see them in the morning. At that point, Reginald figured that all he would see was a bunch of shooting stars as he stared at the night sky, and that would be fine with him. After thinking about it, though, the empty lot at the top of the hill would actually make a much better viewing spot, so he quickly popped a pair of popcorn bags and grabbed a six pack of cola before heading out to his truck and drove to the lot. When he got there, he found out that he wasn''t the only one with that idea, as the gates to the lot were open and unchained, and a guy was sitting in a chair with a sign that said ''Meteor Shower BBQ - $5.00 per person''. Reginald laughed and handed the guy a twenty, getting three fives back and was directed to where to park and that the owners of the land were serving food at the large flat zone that he had been planning to lay down and watch the shower from. When Reginald got out of his truck and headed to the food area, he brought with him the popcorn and soda as an offering for the impromptu party. "Why thank you," an absolutely stunning young woman with a soft soprano voice stated when she saw him approach while a six foot tall man with a three foot beard was grilling burgers and dogs behind her. "It''s so kind when guests bring supplies to the party." She grabbed an empty bowl and put it on the table, meanwhile going to the cooler and opening it to find room for the six pack she quickly swiped from Reginald''s hands. All he could do was chuckle and empty the popcorn into the bowl while chuckling before he grabbed a plate to get a burger and dog. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "So, where do you think the temple and the box will be crashing? Shame that such a beautiful structure would survive the destruction of a planet, travel to another, only to be destroyed either by entry heat or crashing into the ground," the man asked as he served up the food. "Well, I''m hoping that they won''t crash anywhere near, but with my luck? I''d guess one of them lands on my house," Reginald laughed softly, not knowing just how close to the truth he was with that statement. "The question I have been wondering about is what the unknown energy is... Are we going to face one of those LitRPG Mana Apocalypses?" "What''s LitRPG?" "Literature Role Playing Game, it''s a subgenre of SciFi/Fantasy that usually deals with the tropes of summoned heroes, reincarnating in another world, virtual reality MMOs, the transfer of human consciousness between physical and digital, or ''what would happen if Mana came to Earth'', where the game and system elements are just as important as the story, otherwise there is a disconnect and it can feel odd." "Well, it looks like the show is getting started," the lady stated as a bunch of other vehicles pulled in, and the guy from the gate got out of one of the vehicles. A huge streak appeared in the sky overhead and there was a sonic boom as well as an explosion from inside the rock high in the sky, having shattered into a ton of little pieces. "There''s no way the government''s gonna be able to clean up this mess. Hell, we don''t even have a way to figure out what exatly the energy those meteors are leaving in our atmosphere, and what change it will have on the population and are..." Over the course of the next hour and a half, the sky was full of burning and exploding pieces of another planet, making a beautiful scene from where we stood, until a small chunk survived and crashed down not a hundred yards away from us on the lot. "It''s a good thing that these lots are so big, since it''s not quite a metropolis," one of the people laughed as we approached it slowly with a fire extinguisher. "All circuits are busy," another chuckled as he tried calling 9-1-1 to report the location of the meteorite chunk. As they were spraying down the fires around the crater, a much larger chunk crashed down sending them all sprawling from the impact resonance, and then a wave of heat and pressure. Meanwhile, the sound of an absolutely huge chunk crashing down a few miles away sent them bouncing and crying in pain again. There were more crashes and explosions from around the town and the surrounding area. As we got to our feet, someone looked in the direction of the town''s shelter and swore, drawing our attention towards the town. The town was on fire! Chapter 2: In Fire and Peril Reginald swore softly as he took in the massive destruction, and then ran for his truck. His truck wouldn''t start at first, and his phone seemed to have shorted out, but eventually, he was glad that he had an older vehicle as it did manage to turn over and he managed to drive off the lot and headed to his home, which was in the direction of where that truly humongous crash had come. On his way down the hill, he saw that there was a huge trench dug in his back yard, so he put the gas down further, doubting that anyone would be around to pull him over for speeding at this moment. He pulled into his driveway and floored it, taking the long stretch at nearly seventy mph, the fastest he''s ever done this stretch. He pulled up along side his house and took the track around it to the field that was turned into a crash landing site. When he got there, he found that it had crashed in at his pool, and the 30'' depth of the water had helped greatly with quenching the heat and fire from the crash. Of course, now he was going to have to repair his pool and refill it, but at least it kept the place safe, he thought. He hopped out of his truck and took his huge maglight and turned it on, before following the slightly steamy tunnel that the meteorite made. When he got to it, he found what looked like a massive black cube with a glowing green pad. He approached the metal case and gingerly reached out for the glowing pad, which gave off a chime as his hand connected with what felt like cool glass. The glowing green pad flickered to red, yellow, blue, orange, and back to green before there was screeching from an opening door which hadn''t been oiled or opened in who knows how long, and then grinding before a ble-bleep from the pad as a very dense and heavy air pushes out of the cube, sending Reginald sprawling in the stream flowing from his pool. He started coughing and was unable to get a decent breath for almost a minute, making him very, very light headed when he noticed a floating robot with a giant crystal in it''s core in front of him. He grabbed his head as it tried to communicate, a bunch of screeching and squealing appearing directly into his mind, making him howl in pain and writhe on the ground. It cut off immediately afterward and about a minute later it reconnected. >System Updated! Language: English. Wireless Data Source: Connected. Scanning... >System Error... Current Owner: Unknown. Location: Unknown. Would you like to claim?Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. He groaned and blinked at it. "What?" >System Updated! Language: English. Wireless Data Source: Connected. Scanning... >System Error... Current Owner: Unknown. Location: Unknown. Would you like to claim? Reginald stared at the floating bot. It looked like a small orb, about the size of a human''s torso, floating in the air with a gorgeous spherical crystal about the size of a pearl shone inside it. "What are you?" >Unit Identified as: Centralized Construction Core Model 18394754-382-001. Would you like to claim? "Huh?" >Unit Identified as: Centralized Construction Core Model 18394754-382-001. Would you like to claim? "Sure...?" >Please hold out your right arm. Reginald did so, and the orb floated over to his hand and injected him with the crystal, pinning his arm in place as it carefully rebuilt his hand with the crystal in the center of the palm. Reginald, of course, passed out from the pain. *** Reginald came to about five hours later, with absolutely no pain. >DNA Analyzed. Bonded Species: Homosapien (Human). Sub-Category: Caucasian (White). >Location Set: Tarmac, Oklahoma, United States of America, North America, Earth. >Mana Density: Low. Detected Increase in Mana. Would you like to release Mana Reserves? "Define Mana?" >Mana is the primal energy of the universe. "That doesn''t help... What does Mana Reserves do?" >Increase in Mana Density, allowing for the fast alteration of local environment and spawning of mobs. Mana Density will reach acceptable levels in 6 days, 18 hours, 30 minutes, 25 seconds at current increase rate. Would you like to release Mana Reserves to increase Mana Density? "No!" Reginald suddenly panicked. >Mana Reserves remaining: 100,000 gallons of condensed Fluidic Mana. >No other Construction Core located. System requires establishing at least One (1) Core Mana Zone. Would you like to establish CMZ? "No!" >No other Construction Core located. System requires establishing at least One (1) Core Mana Zone. Would you like to establish CMZ? "No!" >No other Construction Core located. System requires establishing at least One (1) Core Mana Zone. CMZ will be established using the Emergency Module as the Centralized space. "Damn it!" >Please locate Deity Shrine to register Centralized Construction Core Module 18394754-382-001 so that it cannot be stolen. >Emergency Module aerisolizing 1,000 gallons of condensed Fluidic Mana to speed up Initialization and Localization of Deity Shrine. A huge blast of extremely dense air flooded the corridor, shoving Reginald backwards and out towards the pool and the entrance. >Warning! Detecting atypical biological reaction to heavy mana! Reginald cried out in pain, passing out as the control sphere which the construction orb had implanted draws his mind into it, and is pulled to the center of the heavy mana zone. The tunnel collapses and the cube sinks deeper into the ground. Chapter 3: New Existence *Where am I?* Reginald couldn''t feel his body, but he could see in every direction, which made him think he should feel ill, but quickly faded as he realized that he really didn''t have a body *What the hell is going on?* >Greetings Owner. You currently reside within Centralized Construction Core Module 18394754-382-001. Sadly, your biological form did not seem compatible with the extreme density of mana you were exposed to. This is the first time this has happened. *So... I am dead?* >Question unclear, please rephrase. *My physical body died?* >Correct. Lifesigns ceased as of 1,440 hours ago. *But I''m still alive? Wait, 1,440 hours?* >Question unclear, please rephrase. *How do I still exist?* >You have been preserved by the ''God of LAG''... Please inquire with your Status and Patron Deity. *How do I do that?* >Think ''Status Screen''. *Status Screen!* A black box with white text popped up in his vision, like an old DOS Prompt! Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Sapient Centralized Construction Core Sub-Race: Module 18394754-382-001 (Dungeon) Level: 1 Experience: 0/1,000 Durability: 100/100 Current Mana: 3,000/3,000 Mana Regen: 1.5/sec Zone Radius: 10.0m Mana Density: Below Average Deity: Borick, God of LAG (LIVE ACTION GAMING) Assistant AI: Non-Sentient Centralized Construction Core Standard Perks Available: 5 *Perk List!* >System Error. You cannot select Perks until you have spoken with your Patron Deity. *Interesting... So, how do I contact my Patron Deity?* >You must construct an altar. *Do you have the plans?* >Affirmative. *How do we construct an altar?* >Activate the Construction Ability. *Ability Screen!* Abilities: Absorb - Mastered The ability to absorb material to learn its atomic make up for construction and conversion to or from Mana. This is an Ability limited to Cores. Identify - Mastered The ability to know what something is by focusing on it. As a Construction Core, you can see all statistics of an item, including Durability, Enchantments, Attack or Defense, etc. Construct - 1/100 The ability to create rooms and buildings. Skills: Loot - 1/100 The skill to create a reward. Repair - 1/100 The skill to infuse mana to restore lost durability. Reinforce - 1/100 The skill to infuse mana to increase maximum durability. *Construct!* You currently have the following known blue prints: Empty Room* (100 mana / cubic meter) *Materials in the current space will be Absorbed. Deity Image* (1000 mana / deity) *Different Materials offer different rewards and can increase cost. Altar* (1000 mana) *Different Materials offer different rewards and can increase cost. Reginald scanned the area around him for a better understanding of the situation he found himself in. His core was floating in the center of the metalic cube that had crash landed, and he could see magical technology glowing around him. *I''ve been gone for sixty days, surely there must have been some changes in the world since my death?* >Affirmative, it took sixty days to recompile and defragment your program. There have been many changes. *Can you grant me access to the internet?* The computer part of the core seemed to be processing this request for almost a minute before Reginald received a new ability. Ability Generated: Digital Communion - 1/100 The ability to connect to digital signals and display them on an internal HUD. Although it doesn''t know why you would care what happned to the rest of the fleshbags on your world, it has granted you the ability to connect to their digital networks. As a former organic, your mind has built in antivirus and firewalls. Data Process - 1/100 The ability to run any programs you have copied to your personal Storage. Each item you Copy to your Storage will have it''s own Console window you can run the attached Operating System on. Sleep - Mastered The ability to take oneself offline for maintenance or bypass sitting idle while waiting for mana regeneration. New Stats Generated: Fragmentation: 0% The higher this is, the slower you will think, process Data, or recall things and the longer your next Sleep will be. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.Storage (Digital): 1 exabyte Shielding: 100/100 This is the remaining durability of your Antivirus and Firewall. Shielding Regenerates at 0.05/sec while in Communion, and 1.00/sec outside of Communion unless infected. Skills Generated: Purge (Digital) - 1/100 At the cost of mana, you may remove any digital infection you come into contact with. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and increase rate of virus removal. Hack (Digital) - 1/100 At the cost of mana, you may forcefully insert yourself into a system. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and reduce likelihood of discovery. Copy (Digital) - 1/100 At the cost of mana, you may clone the data on either a storage medium. Higher levels of this skill will reduce mana cost and increase speed at which files are copied. *Digital Communion,* Reginald thinks, and an old fashioned web browser appeared! He quickly input the web address for his favorite news sites, and found out that for the most part, technology survived, either by forcefully normalizing Mana in an area as a divine gift or creating a power splitter that removed mana from the electrical feed, allowing the older circuits to run. The Temple had landed about fifty miles away from him, and the mana levels were densest around it. As a punishment for not believing in the new gods powers, various religious extremist groups had been wiped out and various changes occurred through the world, including eighty percent of the human population disappearing for a week, only to return as entirely different beings! Then, the other twenty percent were taken, only to be returned back as the basic humans but with access to the ''System'' that seems to be what Reginald already had access to. There were now various beast-people (real life furries), demi-humans (humans with beast ears, eyes, tails, and senses, but not fur or hooves and paws), elves, dwarves, draconians, elementals, gummy (not to be confused with the slime monsters), lolis, futas, even a group of five anime otaku who had their race changed to a knock off of the saiyan race called ''Tellin''. After skimming through the news, Reginald quickly checked to see if he had been declared dead, which was a no, his body apparently not having been discovered yet. Then he accessed his email site and sent out emails to his guildmates, parents, and siblings to let them know that he wasn''t actually dead, despite the fact that he has been missing for two months. He even typed out his status screen for his guildmates, other than his name, which he removed from it because of Guild Policy. He sent it and ended Communion because his mana bar was down to about half full. Ability Level Up! Digital Communion - 2/100 +10 Shielding +0.1/sec Mana Regen Digital Communion - 3/100 +10 Shielding +0.1/sec Mana Regen Fragmentation +0.5% Reginald absorbed an 8 cubic foot room outside the door of his ''core room'' as he started thinking of the cube from outer space, costing himself 800 of his remaining 1500, leaving him with 700/3000 Mana. He activated ''Sleep'', and selected ''Until Mana is fully regenerated'' as his sleep timer, waking up 23 minutes later with a fully charged mana bar. In the empty room, he quickly made an altar from granite instead of regular stone for an extra 250 mana, and then spent a total of 1,500 mana on Deity Statue of Borick, since it said that marble was a much higher quality conductor of Divine Will and would grant me a +100 Favor with any deity I made a statue out of Marble. Apparently, Borick was a man with four arms and a pair of tablets loaded with a huge encyclopedia of gaming information. He wore a hooded cloak, and had a bag of dice at his belt. Inside the hood, he had four eyes and glasses on both sets. He also had extremely pointed ears and a great big smile. Ability Level Up! Construct - 2/100 +25 Maximum Mana +0.3/sec Mana Regen Increased number of default Blueprints Construct - 3/100 +50 Maximum Mana +0.5/sec Mana Regen +250 Divine Favor with Borick, God of LAG. (100 + 150 Bonus as Patron) Increased number of default Blueprints. Congratulations! You can Level up! You have spent 3,550 Mana on your Dungeon! Current Experience: 3,550/1,000 Level Up locked until you have talked with your Patron. *Gah...* Chapter 4: Levels and Mana *So, only mana I spend on the Dungeon assists with Leveling up?* >Affirmative. *Is there a bonus for waiting on Leveling up?* >All Experience earned is used when you Level Up. The more Experience used in each level determines the rewards for that Level Up. *So, Level One required a minimum of 1,000 Experience, but I''ve earned more than three times that requirement.* >Affirmative. *What is the required Experience per level?* >The Ratio of Minimum Experience to level is 1,000 multiplied by the current Level. *Is there a Maximum Experience per level?* >The Experience Cap per Level is 20 times the Required Experience. *What are the bonuses for waiting on Leveling up?* >The Overlevel percentage times standard radius, mana and recharge rate bonus, at five and ten times the experience requirement you get a free Skill Level up. At fifteen times, you get a free Ability Level up. At Maximum experience, you get a free Perk. If you were a Biological Organism still, you would have received bonus stats on top of your Class Stats based on the Overlevel percentage. *What is the standard Mana and Recharge Rate bonuses?* >You will get 1 meter radius, 100 Mana, and .5 Recharge Rate per level at this Mana Density. *Can we Increase the Mana Density?* >Affirmative. *How do we increase the Mana Density?* >You can push mana from your core into the surrounding air. This is the standard way to increase Mana Density. *Do we have any more Fluidic Mana?* >Affirmative. Stocks of Fluidic Mana are at 75,000 gallons. *Why is that so much less than the 99,000 gallons we were supposed to still have? >This unit received requirements from the Divine to release more than the initial 1,000 gallons so that the mana levels of the surface returned to at least sub-optimal. *Why did Earth not have mana originally?* >Error. Answer Classified. *How much Fluidic Mana would need to be released in order to bring the Mana Density in my radius of influence to Optimal?* >10 gallons. *Is there a way to keep it from leaving my influence?* >Affirmative. *Can you teach me it?* >Affirmative. Skill Granted: Mana Barrier - 1/100 This skill allows you to create a zone in which you control the density and flow of mana at the cost of your mana. At higher levels of this skill you can retain greater amounts of mana with lower requirements of mana expended. At even higher levels, you can make invisible walls out of mana! *What is the rate of expenditure for the Barrier?* >At current Level you will expend 10 mana per second to maintain the Barrier while the Density of the zone is higher than Below Average. *What are the Levels of Mana Density?* >Non-existant, Abysmal, Pathetic, Weak, Below Average, Average, Above Average, Excellent, Superb, Optimal, Overload. *So it took 25,000 gallons to go from?* >Non-existant to Weak. It will take 15,000 gallons to increase the Density of the planet to Average, at which point low level monsters may start to Spawn and you will unlock the Ability Spawn. This is an estimate as the external Mana Density is slowly dropping. *Can I absorb a drop of Fluidic Mana, so I can see how much it would cost to create?* >Affirmative. One drop will not effect our stock in any statistical amount. So that''s what Reginald did, learning that it takes 10,000 mana to create a single drop of condensed Fluidic Mana. He then checked his mana and found out that he had regained approximate 2,000 mana during the discussion with the AI. He pulled up his current status and checked. Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Sapient Centralized Construction Core Sub-Race: Module 18394754-382-001 (Dungeon) Level: 1 Experience: 3,550/1,000 Durability: 100/100 Fragmentation: 0% Current Mana: 2,250/3,075 Mana Regen: 2.5/sec Digital Shielding: 120/120 Digital Storage: 1 Exabyte Zone Radius: 10.0m Mana Density: Below Average Patron Deity: Borick, God of LAG (LIVE ACTION GAMING) Divine Favor: 250 Assistant AI: Non-Sentient Centralized Construction Core Standard Perks Available: 5 Abilities *Skills Absorb - Mastered Identify - Mastered Construct - 3/100 *Loot - 1/100 *Repair - 1/100 *Reinforce - 1/100 *Mana Barrier - 1/100 Digital Communion - 3/100 *Purge - 1/100 *Hack - 1/100 *Copy - 1/100 Data Process - 1/100 Sleep - Mastered Construction Blueprints: Empty Room (100 mana / cubic meter) Deity Image (1,000 mana / deity) Altar (1,000 mana) Stalactite (10 mana) Stalagmite (10 mana) Pit Trap (75 mana / cubic meter) False Wall (100 mana) Treasure Chest (500 mana) Loot Blueprints: Copper Coin (10 mana) Copper Ore (Poor) (5 mana) Silver Coin (25 mana) Silver Ore (Poor) (20 mana) Healing Herb (200 mana) Mana Herb (250 mana) Stamina Herb (100 mana) Vial with Fluidic Mana (10,000 mana) (1 Drop) Full Vial of Fluidic Mana (100,000 mana) (10 Drops) *Hmmm... I''m not quite ready for a talk with a god. I should probably pass this information on to my guild.* >Affirmative. *Nobody asked you... >... *Digital Communion!* The browser opened up and Reginald quickly logged into his email, noting that he was losing about ten mana every five seconds. He found an email from the Guild Leader. From: Darkest Nightmare ([email protected]) To: Hidden Leecher ([email protected]) Subject: Life as a Dungeon Core? Leecher, I''m not sure if you''re joking us or not, but if that''s your true status, you''ve got it easy. Before we can even hit Level 1, we have to get a Class! Of course, that was done mainly in the Tutorial we were sent to when we got our new Metamorphised bodies... Status: Name: --- Race: Beastkin Sub-Race: Feline (Lion) Gender: Female Age: Loli (382) Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000 Class: Sorceress Sub-Class: Alchemist / Apothecary Health: 100/100 (1.0 / second) Stamina: 100/100 (2.15 / second) Mana: 1000/1000 (6.3 / second) Vitality: 10 Endurance: 10 Strength: 10 If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.Agility: 20 Dexterity: 15 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 30 Charisma: 30 Luck: 10 Mana is doubled for the Class Sorceress, and doubled again because of the Loli Age. Any information you can weedle from your AI would be wonderful help. You always were one of the brains of the Guild. If you truly are a Dungeon Core, then build us a Dungeon to be proud of! You will always be one of us, Darkest Nightmare Reply From: [email protected] To: [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Re: Life as a Dungeon Core? Nightmare, I managed to weedle some information out of my AI Friend that you and the rest of the guild NEED to know before you Level! 1) You do not ''Automatically'' Level Up upon hitting the Experience Requirement. 2) You need 1,000 Experience times your Level for each Level''s minimum Level up. 3) All extra experience is expended into ''Overlevel Percentage'' upon Leveling up, so you start each level at 0 Experience. 4) The Maximum Overlevel is 20 times your Experience Requirement (20,000 exp for Level 1, 40,000 exp for Level 2, 60,000 exp for Level 3, etc.) 5) Each ''Overlevel Counter'' as I call it grants you 1 ''Bonus'' Statistic point. 6) At Overlevel Counters 5 and 10, you get a free Skill Level or Skill (Calling this a Skill Point). 7) At Overlevel Counter 15, you get an Ability Level or Ability (Calling this an Ability Point). 8) At Maximum Overlevel you get a PERK. All Hail the Eternal! Hidden Leecher P.S. - Apparently, there is something absorbing the ambient mana on this planet, which makes me think that we should have had mana around all along. Beware of zones with concentrations in the ''Average'' and above, as these areas are where Monsters will start to spawn. Reginald ''smiled'' to himself as he sent the information. If he knew Nightmare as he thought he did, she would quickly be grinding out Experience towards the first few Perks. He quickly checked the Guild''s website to make sure the front page posted the message, and then disconnected. Ability Level Up! Digital Communion - 4/100 +25 Shielding +25 Mana +.25/sec Mana Regen Sleep Until Maximum Mana. *** When he woke up, Reginald took time to examine his current situation. He didn''t know if his deity would force him to level up right away, but he really didn''t want to waste the bonuses from leveling up, and in all the old tales, gods loved gifts. He made a Treasure chest on the altar, and was happy when he noticed the full mana expenditure was put into experience. *So, when I create treasure chests, they are part of the Dungeon Environment. What about Loot?* >Loot is considered a part of the dungeon. *So the loot I put in the treasure chest will grant me experience?* >Affirmative. With his remaining 2,600 mana, he added two Mana Herbs, two Healing Herbs, a Stamina Herb, and 40 silver before blacking out from lack of mana. About ten minutes later his vision came back and he noticed a couple of notifications. WARNING! Mana Depleted! You are currently vulnerable due to having expended all personal Mana. Vulnerability: 10 minutes Skill Level Up! Loot - 2/100 Copper Ore upgraded from (Poor) to (Low) +25 Mana +.25/sec Mana Regen Loot - 3/100 +25 Mana +.25/sec Mana Regen Loot - 4/100 Copper Ore upgraded from (Low) to (Average) +25 Mana +.25/sec Mana Regen Loot - 5/100 Silver Ore upgraded from (Poor) to (Low) +25 Mana +.25/sec Mana Regen New Blueprint Available! Ability Level Up! Construct - 4/100 +50 Mana +.5/sec Mana Regen New Blueprint Available! New Blueprints: Pool (100 mana / cubic meter) Liquids other than water will change cost. Gold Coin (100 mana) Gold Ore (Poor) (75 mana) *Wow... Gold Coins already?* >Affirmative. *What is standard ratio of money?* >Currently this world is fighting against using System Currency. *What good is the money I make then?* >After you talk with your God, you can access the System Shop and purchase items which you can Absorb to add to your Loot blueprints. *Sweet. I don''t plan on talking to him until I hit the Maximum Overlevel in case he makes me Level.* Reginald waited for his Mana to fully recharge, and then made an moat around his small shrine, spending 1,600 mana on ''Empty Room'' to increase the size of area by another meter in length all around, then using ''Pool'' he dug down a meter in that area and filled it, spending another 800 mana. This brought him to 9,050/1,000 experience, and left him with about 850 mana. Next to the pool, he planted two mana herbs on one side, and a healing herb on the other before he had to take a break for fifteen minutes to regenerate mana and continue to work. He could plant up to twelve mana herbs every fifteen minutes, and that''s what he did over the course of the next forty-five minutes. After another fifteen minute rest, he placed 30 gold into the treasure chest on the altar, not caring that he passed his maximum experience. He checked his blinking Notification panel, which he had minimized when starting the pool. Ability Level Up! Construct - 5/100 +50 Mana New Blueprint Available: Wall New Skill Generated! Plant - 1/100 Planting allows you to grow herbs and other items that grow in the ground and take care of their needs with Mana. As they grow, they will help enrich the natural mana in your Influence. Skill Level Up! Plant - 2/100 +5 Mana Plant - 3/100 +5 Mana Plant - 4/100 +5 Mana Plant - 5/100 +10 Mana Loot - 6/100 +25 Mana New Blueprint: Wall (50 mana / .3 cubic meter) (Default: Stone) Increased mana cost for different Materials. *So, while new Skills can still be used without the notification being read, Level Up bonuses aren''t granted until the Notification has been cleared?* >Affirmative. *Alright, now that we''ve hit Maximum Overlevel, it''s time to approach our Patron.* Chapter 5: Deities and Dungeons *Okay, so... How does one pray to a deity in this System?* >Traditional Prayer: Oh, Great (Insert God), hear my plea. *Uh... Does that usually work?* >Usually only if they have an Icon of the God infront of them. *What about if someone doesn''t want to worship the god, but still get their attention?* >Query unclear. *Yeah, I know. Okay, so, how can I get his attention for a chat?* >Offer a prayer. *Ugh, fine. Make me wish I was still a biological entity so I could sigh...* >Bilogical beings are complicated. *Yes, we are. Alright, let''s get this over with...* Focusing on the statue of Borick, he prayed at it. *Oh, Great Borick, hear my plea.* "Well, that was a bit lackluster," a rumbling voice came from the statue as it started to emit a soft prismatic light that shifted through the colors. *Sorry...?* Borick snorted and started laughing, a deep and jolly sound. "Well, I guess I deserve that. It isn''t like you humans asked for this, right? Hmmm, after having reviewed a lot of those LitRPG products, I''d say some of you saw this coming." *Yeah... I read a bunch of those. So, you have the domain of ''Live Action Gaming''? Can you tell me more about that?* "Well, you are quite informal with a deity," Borick chuckled. "I guess that comes from not having a body?" *While you may be a deity, and apparently my Patron, I have never been a very... religious... man? I guess that''s why I never played a Priest class in any of the games in the past...* "I see... So, will you willingly follow my Guidance and establish the First Dungeon on this miserable planet, or shall we have the Fluidic Mana dispersed so that the world warps with random spawns of dungeons and monsters?" *Will you protect me from destruction or removal from my territory? Also, you bypassed telling me what your domain really is.* "Yes, if you agree to follow my guidance and establish the First Dungeon on this planet to allow us to train the people to meet universal standards, now that we are past the barrier set up by the Living Lich and his cronies that keeps the mana at such a low level." *Well, I would be honored to be the Official First Dungeon... however, if what you said about a barrier keeping mana away, I would probably have to say that this Living Lich probably set up one to draw in mana from outside it and keep it contained somewhere. If you can destroy that, the mana levels of the world will likely spike drastically. Damn it, you''re avoiding telling me about your domain! Stop throwing tangents!* Borick sighed, shaking his head and tapping his foot impatiently. "Fine, my domain involves the Localization of the System used to enhance and support the populace. It''s also why you have 5 Bonus Perks, since I am the God in charge of your development and the System''s localization and implimentation. I expect you to train adventurers and send me feedback on the System. You will have access to the Biological side of the System when you unlock the ability to Spawn monsters, as you can then create your own personal Avatar to challenge the dungeon with and control how the mobs level up." *Does my Avatar also get 5 free Perks at Level 1?* "Yes, it will. As a Dungeon, you will gain experience for each monster living in here, each Adventurer inside, and a bigger amount when one dies, based on how much Mana you have spent on the creatures. Perks have a maximium of five tiers." *Perk List.* Available Perks: P3R|< Divinity (Exclusive Offer!) Increases Perks by 2 per tier. Skill Mastery Increases Skill Point by 1 per tier. Ability Mastery Increases Ability Point by 1 per tier. Increased Radius Radius increases by an additional +1 meter per tier (before Overlevel Calculations). Enriched Mana Increase the effects of Mana Density. Instanced Zones Allows two parties to challenge the dungeon at a time. Teleportation Unlocks Ability: Teleport. Grants Spell: Exit. Personalization Unlocks Skill: Customize. Teaches adjustment of mana and effects. Mana Up! Increases the base Mana Increase per level by 100. Regen Up! Increases the base Mana Regen per level by 5. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Bestiary Unlocks Ability: Spawn. Teaches creation of ''Common'' and ''Uncommon'' mobs. Osmosis Grants some of the knowledge of all beings Absorbed. ... *Hmmm, well, I can see how that are very useful to start with at the moment. Okay, so is there a way to see what my current Level Bonuses are? Although, I do see an OP option...* "Yes, just say ''Access Bonuses''." *Access Bonuses.* Current Level Bonuses: Radius Increase: 5m (x20) Mana: 100 (x20) Regen: .5 (x20) Skill: 0 (+2) Ability: 0 (+1) Perk: 0 (+1) *So, I''ll take all five ranks of Perk Divinity. Perk List: Purchase 5 ranks of P3R|< Divinity.* Confirm Purchase: P3R|< Divinity: Tier 5 Grants 10 Perks per Level. *Confirmed!* A fanfare rang through the room and there was an evil chuckle as another God appeared in the room. "Greetings, First Dungeon. My name is Marlon, God of Overpower, and I would like to grant you my Blessing." Borick''s eyes flew open as he stared at Marlon. "He chose the path to become one of us, didn''t he? Hell, he''s a Gamer, I should have known you would have offered him a Secret Perk, which one is it?" Marlon chuckled and bowed deeply, pushing back his hood revealing a man with deep red skin and horns, the belt of his robe unwinding to reveal it was really a spade-tipped tail. "Why, it was none other than Perk Divinity! Our friend here will gain a base ten perks each level. I must thank you for granting him the ability to maximize it, as this would be the only time it was an option." You have been offered the Quest: Path of OP. Quest Giver: God of Overpower, Marlon Requirements: Create 1 ''Shrine'' to Marlon. Offer 20% of Mana Regen to Marlon. Create 1 ''Unique'' Boss. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: 1 Set of Scaling Gear fit for your Avatar created by Marlon. *ACCEPTED!* Marlon smiled widely making Borick sigh and shake his head. "So, you get 20% of the mana he generates, allowing you to make supremely overpowered monsters and heroes... Well, as the God of Live Action Gaming, I do need Heroes and Villains to issue Quests around." *Gods, if you two were to work together, you could abuse the system so you are the top two in the Pantheon... Hell, if I am not mistaken, my Guildmaster, Darkest Nightmare became a Loli Sorceress to become an OP Spellcaster.* Marlon''s grin widened even greater. "I have another Quest for you." You have been offered the Quest: Brutal Mode Quest Giver: God of Overpower, Marlon Requirements: Create 1 Dungeon that is ''Brutal'' Difficulty. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: Free Resurrection of all Adventurers who attempt your Dungeons. *I''ll accept that one too!* "What was that Quest? Wow, okay, yeah. Here''s my Quest for you then." You have been offered the Quest: Trial Mode Quest Giver: God of LAG, Borick Requirements: Create 1 Dungeon that is of ''Scalable'' Difficulty. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: Increase of Bestiary Perk to Rank 5: Bestiary of Myths and Legends. *I''ll take that Quest as well. Any other Gods or Goddesses want a special mode? One for Gathering professions perhaps?* A loud popping sound made the two gods turn and look at a thin young woman who waved her hand shyly before vanishing. You have been offered the Quest: Peace and Prosperity Quest Giver: Goddess of Alchemy, Lilian Requirements: Create 1 ''Dungeon'' that is full of high quality or supreme Alchemical ingredients. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: Lilian''s Smile *Well, that''s an interesting reward, I''ll accept that quest, although I will need to purchase knowledge of Alchemy in order to finish that task.* "She almost never makes an appearance in public..." Malon whispered. "Anyways, it''s time we finish up here and head on home." You have received Divine Blessings! Malon''s Shield Your Durability cannot be decreased except by a weapon of Divine Rank. Borick''s Reinforcement Your Durability has increased to 100,000/100,000 and restores at a rate of 100 / second. Borick''s statue walked back to the altar, picked up the chest, and then Malon vanished as the statue returned to inanimate stone. Chapter 6: LEVEL UP! *Level Up!* A loud fanfare surrounded my core for a moment and then a screen popped up. Level Increased to Level 2! Radius Increased from 10.0m to 110.0m Mana Increased from 3,350 to 5,350 Mana Regen increased from 4.0/sec to 14.0/sec Skill Allocation: 2 Ability Allocation: 1 Perk Allocation: 11 Experience to Next Level: 0/2,000 *Purchase Five Tiers of Ability Mastery, Five Tiers of Regen Up, and 1 Tier of Personalization* Ability Generated! Customize - 1/100 This ability allows one to customize the make up of an item. Stat Increase! Mana Regen increased from 14.0/sec to 39.0/sec Ability Allocation +5 *Increase Construct by six Levels. Increase Loot by 2 levels.* Ability Increased! Construct - 6/100 Construct - 7/100 Construct - 8/100 Construct - 9/100 Construct - 10/100 +100 Mana New Skill Generated: Traps New Blueprints Available Construct - 11/100 Skill Increased! Loot - 6/100 New Blueprints Available Loot - 7/100 New Blueprints Available New Skill Generated! Traps - 1/100 This Skill grants knowledge of basic traps and their construction. New Blueprints! Loot - Mana Stone (50 mana) Loot - Ore Veins (Ore x 10 mana) Trap - Tripwire (10 mana) Trap - Pressure Plate (10 mana) Trap - Pitfall (15 mana / meter) Trap - Rockfall (15 mana / meter) *Status Screen!* Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Sapient Centralized Construction Core Sub-Race: Module 18394754-382-001 (Dungeon) Level: 2 Experience: 0/2,000 Durability: 100,000/100,000 Fragmentation: 0% Current Mana: 5,450/5,450 Mana Regen: 39.0/sec (-20%) Current Regen: 31.2/sec Digital Shielding: 145/145 Digital Storage: 1 Exabyte Zone Radius: 110.0m Mana Density: Below Average Deity: Borick, God of LAG (LIVE ACTION GAMING) Deity: Marlon, God of Overpower Assistant AI: Non-Sentient Centralized Construction Core Standard Perks Available: 0 Reginald calculated that it would take him about three minutes to fully refill his Mana and it would take less than eight full expenditures of his mana to max out the overlevel for this level. He proceeded to make a bunch of large empty rooms, in which he would later spend time to design them. During this expenditure, Construct leveled up twice, giving him another fifty mana. Less than an hour after he had increased from Level One to Level Two, he was ready to Level Up again. *Level Up!* The fanfare rang out again. Level Increased to Level 3! Radius Increased from 110.0m to 210.0m Mana Increased from 5,500 to 7,500 Mana Regen increased from 39.0/sec to 549.0/sec Current Regen: 439.2/sec Skill Allocation: 2 Ability Allocation: 6 Perk Allocation: 11 Experience to Next Level: 0/3,000 *Purchase five Tiers of Mana Up! Purchase five Tiers of Skill Mastery. Purchase one Tier of Increased Radius.* Stat Increased! Mana +500 Skill Allocation +5 Radius 1m *Apply six levels to Construct and seven levels to Loot.* Ability Level Up! Construct - 12/100 Construct - 13/100 Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.Construct - 14/100 Construct - 15/100 New Skill Generated: Puzzles! New Blueprints Available Construct - 16/100 Construct - 17/100 Skill Level Up! Loot - 8/100 Loot - 9/100 Loot - 10/100 Mana +50 New Blueprints Available Loot - 11/100 Loot - 12/100 Loot - 13/100 Loot - 14/100 New Skill Generated! Puzzles - 1/100 The knowledge of constructing puzzles to impede exploration. New Blueprints: Construct - Door (10 mana) Construct - Staircase (5 mana / stair) Construct - Mana Light (100 mana / orb) Construct - Torch (10 mana / torch, 10 mana / hour upkeep) Puzzle - Lever (100 mana / Lever) Puzzle - Image (50 mana / piece) Puzzle - Key (50 mana / piece) Loot - Copper Ore (Good) Loot - Ingot (Ore x 25 mana) Loot - Silver Ore (Above Average) Loot - Gold Ore (Average) Loot - Tin Ore (Low) (30 mana) Loot - Aluminum Ore (Poor) (100 mana) Loot - Mana Crystal (1,000 mana) Reginald hummed softly as he examined his notifications. *Dungeons really do have the easiest time building up to maximum Overlevels...* He started placing Mana Lights, and experimenting by making a grotto with a waterfall and a treasure chest behind it. In the treasure chest, he made figurine sized marble statues of Borick and Malon, then filled it with a bunch of silver and copper coins with a sprinkling of gold for whomever came this deep and managed to find it. The pool from the waterfall eventually was dug to meet the initial moat with the herbs around it. Then he built a staircase up towards where his next level would be. After spending less than an hour he hit the sixty thousand experience cap, and leveled up again. Level Increased to Level 4! Radius Increased from 211.0m to 331.0m Mana Increased from 8,050 to 20,050 Mana Regen increased from 549.0/sec to 1,059.0/sec Current Regen: 847.2/sec Skill Allocation: 7 Ability Allocation: 6 Perk Allocation: 11 Experience to Next Level: 0/4,000 *Purchase four tiers of Increased Radius, two tiers of Personalization, and five tiers of Instanced Zones.* Stat Increased! Radius +4m New Stat! Instances: Infinite, Modifiable Radius of Influence used to define maximum size of area in Instance. Ability Rank Up! Customization - 50/100 New Skill Generated: Enchantment New Skill Generated: Smithing New Skill Generated: Weaving New Skill Generated: Leatherworking New Skill Generated: Alchemy New Skill Generated: Carpentry New Skill Generated: Glasswork New Skill Generated: Ceramics New Skill Generated: Painting New Skill Generated: Cooking New Skill Generated: Engraving New Skill Generated: Genetic Engineering New Skill Generated: Magitech Engineering *Ugh... ow, ow ow... knowledge overload, brain hurting!* >Diagnosis: User Error. Too much data assimilated too fast. *Smart ass AI... How deep did you bury us? I still can''t sense the surface!* >Approximately 1 of your kilometers. *So, you''re saying that I need to continue leveling up?* >Affirmative. He made a staircase up, and started working on another floor. Chapter 7: Preparing the Way Reginald made some calculations while working on the floor above his current home. It would take him until Level 8 at max overlevel to get to the one kilometer mark in his radius. When he was ready at that point, he would also forty-four Perks, 30 Ability, and 35 Skill allocations to apply. As he was making rooms almost on autopilot, he pulled up the Perk List and tried searching for resource and crafting related perks. Perk - Minerology -Tier 1 Increased knowledge of base materials of the earth and improved yield and quality of materials. Perk - Herbology - Tier 1 Increased knowledge of plants and improved yield and quality of materials. Perk - Skilled Artisan - Tier 1 Increased chance of producing an increased quality of craftsmanship based off quality of source material. Perk - Nature''s Bounty - Tier 1 Plants and animals have an increased growth rate inside your influence. Perk - Guiding Mentor - Tier 1 Increased chance of others gaining abilitiy and skill levels in your influence. Perk - Enrich Mana - Tier 1 Increase Mana Density in your Zone. Increased chance of naturally producing mana-infused materials. When he finally reached the surface, he intended on purchasing all of them at their fifth tier, making up thirty of his perk points, two more to max out Personalization, and then two to unlock the second tier of Bestiary, leaving him with ten perk points to spend. He ran a search information perks and chuckled. Perk - Lore Library - Tier 1 You begin to understand what the true past of your world is. Many Dungeons have Libraries to entice Travelers in with. Perk - Osmosis - Tier 1 You can glean some information from those that die in your domain. He accepted the level up when he hit maximum experience, and continued working, meanwhile pulling up a pocket dimension and starting to craft it, only getting half of the mana he spent in the pocket dimension as experience. While the rooms and corridors are rough plain stone for the regular dungeon, he worked carefully in the first instance, slowly building the entrance to a grand temple, which he had plans for having statues of every deity. He hummed to himself as he worked, setting up minor traps and false walls. He spent a lot of mana on the temple''s exterior and entrance as he made it out of solid granite and then took the time to polish it and seal it so that it retained the splendor. After that, he started on the interior of the temple, keeping the floors and walls a soft brown granite. He makes an alcove with a very richly mana infused marble altar and statue of Borick. *Borick, God of Live Action Gaming, hear my plea.* The statue blinks and smiles brightly at the alcove surrounding him, which has inscriptions of various aspects of Gaming. "Well now, this is a wonderful start, much better than that original statue. What do you need, Reginald?" *I would like a full list of Deities, their domains, primary colors, and the like, if I may. This Temple of the Gods will be placed near the entrance to the main dungeon, and as you can see I am trying to make this place with a high density of mana.* "Well... hmmm... Fill in the engravings with mana crystal and I''ll give you the information on the full pantheon." You have been offered the Quest: Crystal Decor Quest Giver: God of LAG, Borick Requirements: Fill in the empty engravings around the shrine you made for him with Mana Crystals. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: Complete knowledge of the Pantheon''s Deities, their domains, sigils, colors, and preferred sacrifices. *I accept your quest, Lord Borick.* Reginald responded as he started channeling the mana for mana crystals into the engravings, then sealing them into the granite so that they cannot be removed without extreme effort and damage to the shrine. After about fifteen minutes, Borick blinked as he received a notification that the quest ''Crystal Decor'' had been completed. He linked up with the Data part of the Construction Core and transfered the promised information. "Will all the deities be getting statues this infused with mana?" *That is the current plan, seeing as the marble is moving so much smoother now than it did before. This way each Deity can hold a conversation with the one who appeals to them if they desire.* "Very well... I am impressed with the effort you are putting into this place, but it will need to be a lot bigger." *Yes... I had some ideas, like using multiple instances at once, but decided that wouldn''t work well. As my radius increases, this place grows as well. I was planning to have it finished shortly before I opened the door outside.* "Yes, that would be wise, give yourself a barrier to place between the people and us. Have you considered how to advance further?" *Right now, I''m just making a series a tunnels and rooms with some minor traps and false walls and dead ends on my way up to the surface to give me room to build upon later, but my main dungeons are going to be separate Instances like this one. The ''Brutal Difficulty'' dungeon will be attached directly to a private shrine of Malon as its entrance in the Instance.* "I see. That will allow you to make multiple dungeons and resource nodes without actually using up space on your planet. Smart. In fact, once the dungeons are set up, you can ''gift'' the Instance controls to a deity and the Instance will still exist even if something should happen to you..." *Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and expect abilities to get nerfed after I break them. That''s my primary code.* "I see, well, you are an intelligent person. I just hope the rest of the world accepts your uniqueness." *We shall see. At least my Core is safe unless they managed to get their hands on a divine weapon.* "Is there anything else you need?" *I have another idea for the use of this temple, but it would be more fitting for Lialla, Goddess of Travel, to consider. You see, if I were to gift this completed Instance to the entire pantheon, which is my intention, you could use it to place openings on all worlds that the System is connected to, and you can then charge adventurers from various worlds fees to travel. Although, that could lead to large scale battles where people wish to immigrate from another planet and the spot you choose for them here is ''refused'' by the locals...* Borick''s eyes opened in shock, having not even considered the fact that Instanced Dimensions could have multiple entry and exit points, as most dungeons didn''t bother with them beyond the second tier of perk, which was enough for them to have instances running so they can have more adventurers feeding them experience and mana. While Borick was walking around the temple, he sensed Reginald level up and the Instance expand in maximum size. He also felt Reginald''s consciousness expand greatly due to purchasing five ranks of mental partition. He turned to look back at his altar when he sensed a change flow thorugh it. The Altar had been replaced with a solid core of Mana crystal, with only an inch of glossy marble around it! Reginald finished this alterations to Borick''s Shrine, and then proceeded to make the other gods their own shrines, each floor being 10m high with a seven meter tall statue of each god. He made a magical lift between floors, so as to not take up space with huge staircases. Borick was startled again when he sensed the creation of an instance in an instance! This new instance was marked off as ''Private Shrine'', and was behind a door that has a Coin Slot marked ''10 Gold''. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. What Reginald did next nearly made Borick pass out in shock as he twisted the instance inside to call upon a 1,000 cubic meter shrine, but the instance is interactive, letting you choose any of the individual deities shrines, decorated in their colors, sigils, symbols, with a marble-coated mana crystal statue and altar. After that, Borick received a message that he had been gifted full rights to the ''Private Shrine of Borick, God of Live Action Gaming'', and that this Rank V Instance has only 1 current entrance: Pantheon''s Shrine, Private Shrine Room. Malorn''s statue descends the lift. "Borick, old chap, how are you doing?" Borick blinked and shuddered as he felt how much more powerful Malorn already became in the time since meeting with Reginald. "Malorn, how...?" Malorn laughed softly, "Do you know how much Mana this dungeon generates? Hell, it''s been a week since we had the initial meeting with him, and I was informed he spent some ''down time'' informing his ''guild'' about your existence, my existence, the fact that he''s a Dungeon, and the best way to level up." Borick sighed, "Yes, I received five people at the main temple that landed on Earth yesterday, asking to buy the ability to perform a ''Character Reset''. This world is very intriguing. Of course, four of the five were refused, but the one I granted was because it was a request for a grandmother from her granddaughter... whom you made into a Loli-Lioness-Sorceress! Apparently, whomever handled the grandmother''s adaptation phase, which the granddaughter called the ''Tutorial'' didn''t make any changes other than race, and to a race where she was considered nearly dead at that age." Malorn sighed, "I see, so that''s where Eternal Darkness spent the reward I granted her for the quest she completed for me." Reginald''s mind floated back over. *Oh, you guys know Darkness? That''s cool. Hope that problem her granny had with Character Generation got fixed... Seriously, whomever handled that one needs to be explained to that feline beastkin don''t generally live to the age of seventy without serious changes in their aura. Borick, did you fix her grandmother?* Borick chuckled softly, "Indeed. They showed up yesterday and she offered me a mana crystal for the ability to help her grandmother have another chance at a personalized character tutorial with her help. They should be back in about two weeks." *So, Malorn, she got you some preliminary report on what we know of a couple of places that seem to be drinking in mana? If I''m right, one is in India, and the other Italy. In two months, I plan to release another 25,000 gallons of condensed Fluidic Mana through the pressurizer and send it into the atmosphere. Hopefully, that will give us a month of ''training'' in my dungeon for some of the Guild to be ready.* "Wait, you actually think it will be wise to raise the mana levels to the point where monsters will start to randomly spawn on your planet?" Malorn asked. *Why not? The current nations and religions were getting too full of themselves. Let''s see what governments do when monsters like Godzilla are real and so are heroes of Legend. I plan to put my guild through a series of dungeons to prepare them. There is always a way to Break any Class.* Borick''s eyes flew wide. "Shit! You plan to make them train their stats and do Max Overlevel." *Not just that... Thanks to having all five ranks of Perks in Instances, I can make instances that temporarily reduce the level of an adventurer to a specified range...* A pair of sheets appeared infront of the two gods. On them was a list. Instance: Level 1 (Tutorial) Enemies: Level 1-5, Boss Level 5 Instance: Level 1 (Advanced Tutorial) Enemies: Level 5-10, Boss Level 10 Instance: Level 1 (Bend Me Over) Enemies: Level 10-20, Boss Level 20, Hidden Boss Level 35 Instance: Level 1 (Brutal) Enemies: Level 20-25, Boss Level 30, Hidden Boss Level 50 Instance: Level 1 (Eternally Damned) Enemies: Level 30-50, Boss Level 75, Hidden Boss Level 100 Instance: Level 1 (Why, Pantheon, Why!?) Enemies: Level 100+, Boss Level 125+, Hidden Boss Level 150+ Instance: Level 1 (Path of Ascension) Enemies: Level 250+, Boss Level 400, Hidden Boss Level 1,000 *Only earned Stat Points will carry over into the Syncronization Instances, not Level Up bonuses. However, all experience is calculated based on your currently displayed Level versus your enemy''s level. In BMO, you can find Epic and Legendary gear for low levels. In Brutal, you can find Epic Sets and Ego Items that you can syphon experience into to increase the Item''s bonuses. From WPW and up you can find Id Items, which require a Maximum Overlevel amount of Experience per level to increase compared to the Ego Items. Id Items will also be soulbound without any chance of remaining with the corpse if the person is killed, and Ego Items will revert back to Level 1 when dropped. Also, Ego and Id Items do not lose their current status when running through Synchronization Instances.* Malorn had a look of absolute terror on his face. "Reginald... I don''t think I can allow this." *Hmmm? Why not? What is the current highest level adventurer in the System?* "A Level 4,382 Xynathil Paladin of Mergo, God of Honor," Borick answered immediately. "The next is a Level 3,789 Permian Sorceress." *Xynathil? Permian?* "Xynathil are a warm blooded reptillian race, standing at an average of eight feet tall, the average adult Xynathil is as strong as a mountain giant and as intelligent as a gnome, just not with the wisdom that gnomes use to increase their thoughts per second," Malorn stated. "Xynathil have a racial trait that requires them to earn at least five times the base experience to level up, so none of their levels are at anything below five times the class bonuses and five free stat points. Most Xynathil Academies require their students to obtain double that for each level or suffer a punishment. Xynathil will generally get increased physical damage resistance and occasionally magical damage resistance as they level depending upon what sort of minerals they can consume to change their scales. Resistances are effected by Overlevel Bonus when they shed to have the new scales, however they can only have one set of scales at a time. "Meanwhile, the Permian are basically humanoid Persian felines. They have a racial trait that gives them a minimum of two extra Intelligence each level, which is effected by the Overlevel Bonus. They are highly sensitive to magic and psionics, so they get bonuses to those they know, but also because of their sensitivity, they receive a racial reduction in resistence. Permian Academies are some of the premier magical academies in this galaxy." *Well, perhaps the Xynathil would enjoy the challenge. you could always bring them through this central shrine to where I place the Exit on Earth.* The two gods look at each other and then return to their individual shrines so that they could have a full conference of the Pantheon. Chapter 8: Rewards and Preparations A week later, Reginald had finished the Temple and Shrines to his satisfaction and changed their ownerships to the proper pantheon members and the Temple as a whole to the entire pantheon, meanwhile keeping access to placing entrances if he chose to. He received a huge pop-up for it! Level Increased to Level 14! Radius Increased from 2,135.0m to 2,335.0m Mana Increased from 128,050 to 140,050 Mana Regen increased from 5,649.0/sec to 6,159.0/sec Current Regen: 4,927.2/sec Skill Allocation: 77 Ability Allocation: 66 Perk Allocation: 105 Experience to Next Level: 0/14,000 For your devotion to the Pantheon and your gift of an Interdimensional Shrine and Private Shrines, you receive: Maximum Divine Favor Skilled Artisan Tier V: Divine Artisan All Crafting Abilities maxed out (Ability Level 100/100) All Crafting Skills maxed out (Skill Level 100/100) All Current System Crafting Recipes unlocked All Current System Blueprints unlocked Item Creation requires 1/2 Materials or 1/2 Mana License to craft Leveling items (As explained to Borick and Marlon) Title: Overpower Terror You scared even the God of Overpower. Congratulations! Loot Skill maxed out (Skill Level 100/100) Loot Blueprints for all items in Divine Vaults Title: Divine Engineer Your Gift to the Gods have left them in awe. Construct Ability maxed out (Ability Level 100/100) Items created through Construct have Durability increased 500% +100,000 Mana +201.0/sec Regen +100m Radius Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Sapient Centralized Construction Core Sub-Race: Module 18394754-382-001 (Dungeon) Level: 14 Experience: 0/14,000 Durability: 100,000/100,000 Fragmentation: 25% Current Mana: 240,050/240,050 Mana Regen: 6,360/sec (-20%) Current Regen: 5,088/sec Instanced Zones: Infinite Mental Partitions: 25 Digital Shielding: 145/145 Digital Storage: 1 Exabyte Zone Radius: 2,435.0m Mana Density: Above Average Deity: Borick, God of LAG (LIVE ACTION GAMING) Deity: Marlon, God of Overpower Divine Favor: Maximum Assistant AI: Non-Sentient Centralized Construction Core Standard Skill Allocation: 77 Ability Allocation: 66 Perk Allocation: 105 Current Level Bonuses: Radius Increase: 10m (x20) Mana: 600 (x20) Regen: 25.5 (x20) Skill: 5 (+2) Ability: 5 (+1) Perk: 10 (+1) Divine Blessing: Marlon''s Shield Borick''s Reinforcement Titles: Overpower Terror Divine Engineer Perks: P3R|< Divinity - Tier 5 - Grants 10 Perks per Level. Ability Mastery - Tier 5 - Grants 5 Ability per Level. Regen Up! - Tier 5 - Grants 25/sec regen per Level. Mana Up! - Tier 5 - Grants 500 Mana per Level Skill Mastery - Tier 5 - Grants 5 Skill per Level. Customization - Tier 3 - Knowledge of Item Customization. Increased Radius - Tier 5 - Grants 1m per Level. Instanced Zones - Tier 5 - Infinite Zones, Max size per zone by Radius. Mental Partition - Tier 5 - You can split your mind into twenty-five parts without penalty. Divine Artisan - Tier 5 - Item Creation requires 1/2 Materials or Mana Abilities *Skills Absorb - Mastered Identify - Mastered Construct - Mastered *Loot - Mastered *Plant - 25/100 *Traps - Mastered *Repair - Mastered *Reinforce - Mastered *Mana Barrier - Mastered Customize - Mastered *Enchantment - Mastered *Smithing - Mastered *Weaving - Mastered *Leatherworking - Mastered *Alchemy - Mastered *Carpentry - Mastered *Glasswork - Mastered *Ceramics - Mastered *Painting - Mastered *Cooking - Mastered *Engraving - Mastered *Genetic Engineering - Mastered *Magitech Engineering - Mastered Digital Communion - 25/100 *Purge - 1/100 *Hack - 1/100 *Copy - 1/100 Data Process - 1/100 Sleep - Mastered Before the increase in his mental partitions, the influx of knowledge would have been extremely painful and have forced him to sleep, but now he can compress all of that into one partition and let it leak through at his own rate, not to mention that with the massive increase in Mana, he seemed to be able to process information faster. Reginald sent out a series of emails to his Guild, including the location of his home so that they could find his Dungeon Entrance, which he opened up on his front lawn with a ''Welcome Eternal Gamers!'' sign, with another under it marked ''This Way to Hell'' and an arrow pointing down into the staircase on his lawn. He quickly chuckled to himself as he placed an Portal to the Temple behind a door marked ''Divine Access''. He swore softly as he realized that he needed to spend his Perks. *Purchase five ranks of Minerology, Herbology, Lore Library, Skill Library, Spell Library, System Library, Osmosis, Guiding Mentor, Enrich Mana, Mana Enhancement, Digital Mind, Digital Protection. Give me Three Ranks in Bestiary and Two ranks in Customization.* Minerology - Tier Five You know the make up of every element in the ground, the metals and gems, the different types of stones and sands. Herbology - Tier Five You know all the System Discovered plants and their effects. Lore Library - Tier Five You have access to all books on the Lore of the System, the planets they have been on, the races they have interacted with. Skill Library - Tier Five You can create Skill books for any Skill in the System. Spell Library - Tier Five You can create Spell books for any Spell in the System. System Library - Tier Five You can create any Book that has been written on a System occupied Planet. Osmosis - Tier Five You gain access to all known skills, spells, and abilities of people who die in your dungeon for use in your Avatar body. Guiding Mentor - Tier Five Increase Learning Rate and Skill Development by 500% for anyone inside your Influence. Enrich Mana - Tier Five Your Mana Density has increased to Optimal. Guiding Mentor rate increased by Bonus 500%. Your New Leveling Bonus for Optimal Mana Density is: Base Radius: 10 Perk Radius: 5 Total Radius: 15 Base Mana: 500 Perk Mana: 500 Total Mana: 1,000 Base Regen: 10/sec Perk Regen: 25/sec Total Regen: 35/sec Base Skill: 0 Perk Skill: 5 Total Skill: 5 Base Ability: 0 Perk Ability: 5 Total Ability: 5 Base Perks: 0 Perk Perks: 10 Total Perks: 10 Mana Enhance - Tier Five Increase Stat Development by 500% for anyone in your Influence. Optimal Mana Density: Increase Stat Development by bonus 500% Digital Mind - Tier Five Your mind can now handle information at the speed of a quantum computer. Incoming Data is filtered, sorted, defragmented, and slotted for access at optimal rates. As a Digital Mind, you are immune to effects that target a biological mind. Digital Protection - Tier Five You are Immune to all Digital attacks that would inflict a negative status. Bestiary - Tier Three - Bosses and Royalty You have access to Spawning monsters from Common, Uncommon, Rare, Elite, Boss, and Royal class. Ability Generated - Spawn - Mastered Skill Generated - Enhance - Mastered Skill Generated - Rank Up - Mastered Customization - Tier Five You have access to creating Level Items. Available Perks: 40 Reginald went through the information he had just been granted. He still had to create a Unique Boss, but that was usually simpler than most people would think. After all, he could make a two-headed Goblin chief/mage hybrid, and that would definitely count as ''unique''. However, he had an idea he thought would be hilarious and decided to run with it. First, he made a standard Orc, then he opened up it''s Character Sheet. Status: Name: (Unnamed) Race: Orc Sub-Race: Greyskin Longtusk Gender: Male Age: 15 Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000 Class: (Unselected) Sub-Class: (Unselected) Health: 100/100 (1.0 / second) Stamina: 100/100 (1.0 / second) Mana: 100/100 (1.0 / second) Vitality: 10 Endurance: 10 Strength: 10 Agility: 10 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 10 Luck: 10 After checking it''s default character sheet, he used Enhance on it. You have selected to Enhance (Unnamed) Orc, Level 1. Specify Changes. *Upgrade Class to Drill Sergeant, Sub-Class Slave Driver. Change Age from fifteen to twenty-five. Increase physical Stats by 30, Increase Mental Stats by 20. Add Mastered Abilities: Athletics, Weapon Master, Motivate. Add Mastered Skills: Sword Mastery, Dagger Mastery, Axe Mastery, Archery, Dual Wield, Pistol Mastery, Rifle Mastery, SMG Mastery, Throwing Mastery, Staff Mastery, Unnarmed Combat Mastery, Spear Mastery, Whip Mastery, Swim, Dive, Parkour, Sprint, Dodge, Roll, Deflect, Encourage, Cuss Out. Add Perks: Physical Supremacy Tier Five, Overwhelming Presence Tier Five, Linguistics Tier Five. Name him: Hurolg. Altar his bones to diamond. Change his outfit to that of a standard Military Uniform.* Selected Upgrades requires 150,000 Mana. Do you wish to Pay? *Confirm and Pay.* The scrawny teenage Orc in front of him grew and bulked up, his loincloth becoming that of an active Military Officer, a scowl appearing on his face, his yellowish grey teeth and tusks becoming brilliant diamond. The uniform even had his name ''Hurolg'' in the proper place. *Open Hurolg''s Character Sheet.* Status: Name: Hurolg Race: Orc Sub-Race: Diamondtusk Gender: Male Age: 25 Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000 Class: Drill Sergeant Sub-Class: Slave Driver Health: 300/300 (3.0 / second) Stamina: 300/300 (3.0 / second) Mana: 250/250 (2.5 / second) Vitality: 30 Endurance: 30 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Dexterity: 30 Intelligence: 25 Wisdom: 25 Charisma: 25 Luck: 10 Perks: Physical Supremacy - Tier Five - Adds Five Points to each Physical Stat at Level Up. Overwhelming Presence - Tier Five - Adds Strength Stat to Charisma Stat when doing Presence checks. Linguistics - Tier Five - Able to Speak (and Cuss) in all System Languages. Abilitiles & Skills: Athletics *Deflect *Dive *Dodge *Parkour *Roll *Sprint *Swim Motivate *Cuss Out *Encourage Weapon Master *Archery *Axe Mastery *Dagger Mastery *Dual Wield *Pistol Mastery *Rifle Mastery *SMG Mastery *Spear Mastery *Staff Mastery *Sword Mastery *Throwing Mastery *Unarmed Combat Mastery *Whip Mastery Level Bonus: Racial Bonus: +1 Vitality, +1 Endurance, +1 Strength, +2 Free Class Bonus: +1 Vitality, +1 Endurance, +1 Strength, +1 Willpower, +1 Charisma Sub-Class Bonus: +1 Vitality, +2 Endurance, +2 Wisdom Perk Bonus: +5 Vitality, +5 Endurance, +5 Strength, +5 Agility, +5 Dexterity Total Bonus: Vitality: +8 Endurance: +9 Strength: +7 Agility: +5 Dexterity: +5 Intelligence: +0 Wisdom: +3 Charisma: +1 Luck: +0 Free: +2 Reginald whistled softly as he calculated the maximum overlevel stat increase to himself: 160 Vitality, 180 Endurance, 140 Strength, 100 Agility, 100 Dexterity, 60 Willpower, 20 Charisma, and 60 Free Points, each level. Maximum overlevel really does make stats scary, Reginald thought. *Hurlog, you shall always seek to drive yourself and all those around you to Level only with maximum overlevel, do you understand me?* Hurlog slammed his fist to his chest in salute as he responded, "As the Creator dictates, so shall it be." A new window popped up: Hurlog, Diamondtusk Orc Drill Sergeant has become an Overboss Reginald created a doorway leading to an instanced Shrine to Marlon, and had Hurlog step through as his mind followed into the instance. *Oh mighty Marlon, hear my plea!* "Hmmm... A Diamondtusk Orc Drill Sergeant Slave Driver, intriguing... What the hell did you order him to make him an Overboss? Damn, that explains it. Well, congratulations, you''ve completed your quest!" You have completed the Quest: Path of OP. Quest Giver: God of Overpower, Marlon Requirements: Create 1 ''Shrine'' to Marlon. Offer 20% of Mana Regen to Marlon. Create 1 ''Unique'' Boss. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: 1 Set of Unique Scaling Gear fit for your Avatar created by Marlon. Bonus: For creating an entirely new boss category, the Overboss, your Unique Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation will be Soulbound and grant access to your Core Body''s Abilities, Skills, Perks, and Titles. Dungeon Lord of Devestation Set: Head Body and Shoulders Armguards Cloak Belt Hands Legs Boots Crown of the Devestator Slot: Head Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Defense, +5 Intelligence, +5 Wisdom This crown can take on the any appearance of any headgear. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.Dungeon Lord''s Devestating Armor Slot: Body and Shoulders Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +15 Defense, +5 Vitality, +5 Endurance This armor returns Level times 1% Damage received back to attacker, ignoring all resistances. Dungeon Lord''s Bracers Slot: Armguards Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Defense, +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity These armguards provide a magical shield that reduce Magic damage by 0.5% times Level. Damage reduced by this effect is added to Mana. Cloak of the Dungeon Slot: Cloak Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Charisma, +5 Luck This cloak can change its appearance at will, granting near invisibility or complete visibility. Dungeon''s Devious Belt Slot: Belt Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +10 Charisma, +5 Luck This belt can extend to the maximum length of your radius. Lengths of rope created from this belt have Level times 10 Durability. Dungeon''s Glorious Gloves Slot: Hands Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Defense, +5 Strength, +5 Dexterity These gloves offer a Level times 1% chance of automatically increasing quality of resources gathered or items created. Devestating Breeches Slot: Legs Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Defense, +5 Agility, +5 Charisma These breeches are enchanted to add a Level times 1% chance to deflection, dodging, and parrying. Boots of Dungeon''s Travels. Slot: Shoes Set: Dungeon Lord of Devestation Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Level 1 Stats: +5 Defense, +10 Agility These boots reduce movement noise by Level times 1% and increase movement speed by Level times 0.5%. Set Bonus: 2-item Bonus: Upon death, all current Abilities and Skills are saved for next Avatar. 4-item Bonus: Access to Dungeon Radius at Level x 0.1% area of effect. 6-item Bonus: Upon death, current Experience to Level transfered to Core. Full Set: Access to Core Body''s Perks, Abilities, Skills, and Titles. "In addition to this wonderous set, I grant you the ability to respawn Hurlog for a donation of 10,000 mana after his death." *The set is wonderful. I will have to purchase the Perks for Avatar Formation soon, especially as my friends will wish me to accompany them into the dungeons when they open.* "Well then, you better get started with those trials, especially the Brutal one if you want to ensure that people have a chance to come back if they die in your dungeons," Marlon chuckled. "I''ll be taking Hurlog with me to show off to one of my Orc Clans. I''ll give him back in a week." With that statement, Hurlog vanished along with Marlon''s presence. Reginald pulled the Set into an Instance that is basically a giant wardrobe with a few maniquins, one of which suddenly gains the Set and then is moved behind a Mana Shield that he fed until it has a million mana reserve, which took about five minutes. He then checked on the various projects the rest of his mental partitions were running. What had really surprised him was that each partition had a copy of the amount of Mana and Regen, but that his gained experience was decreased based on the number of partitions active. One of the Partitions was sculpting a massive garden and zoo with a 10 meter tall statue of the Goddess of Alchemy, beaming happily down upon any in her ''domain'', since the garden has at least a thousand different herbs in nice neat and organized rows. Every plant in the Garden of Alchemy was saturated in mana, and he discovered why when he saw the sprinkler system set up to dispense fluidic mana over the various plots. There was a sign at the entrance to the instance: "You have entered Lilian''s Garden of Alchemic Materials. Please do not Craft in here. There is a separate Instance that is designed for Crafters." Next to each of the raised garden beds were signs explaining which herbs were in each plot, and in front of a plot, there was a sigil with a notice of how much it would cost to create a fresh plant, be it in mana or in coin, if the current plot was empty, along with a ''respawn time'' listed for those who are patient. Similar sigils were outside each of the animal exhibits and the cage where you could summon one for a quick kill to harvest its alchemical reagents. Effects on the cages kept creatures summoned into them docile and unable to respond, then absorbing the body for its remnant mana leaving the Loot sack with the alchemical or crafting material drops having a much greater chance of dropping, along with the blessing of the zone promising at least an Average quality, but likely much better, unless your luck was in the single digits. For monsters that grew stronger and had more potent reagents based on age, there were options to spawn it at a higher level and age, but those cost a great deal more mana or financial offering. The exhibits were behind powerful mana shields, powered by a growing network of mana crystals and a reservoir of fluidic mana, separating them from the summoning cages, and allowing people to see the natural environment of the creatures. Each exhibit was actually a window into its own private instance where the displayed animal was the ''top of the food chain''. Of course, these monsters could easily be used in any of my dungeons, which was a benefit of setting up the sanctuaries. You have completed the Quest: Peace and Prosperity Quest Giver: Goddess of Alchemy, Lilian Requirements: Create 1 ''Dungeon'' that is full of high quality or supreme Alchemical ingredients. Time Limit: None Failure: Refuse or Give up Rewards: Lilian''s Smile Bonus: Due to the nature of the preservations for the animals and monsters, you are granted Naomic''s Pride as well. The statue glowed and smiled even brighter. Reginald could sense the alchemical properties of the plants strengthen even more. Divine Blessing Added! Lilian''s Smile Your Alchemical concoctions will automatically upgrade one tier in type and potency. Naomic''s Pride Increased chance to find ''Last of a Species'' quests. Last of a Species that you raise have a much greater chance of reimerging other than as Mana-bound mobs. One of his partitions was creating a blueprint for a guild house based off the guildhouse Eternal Gamers had been using in their latest MMO. He then applied it to a section of lawn on the driveway of his estate, while another was setting up the ''Private Room'' system, with the ability to generate a personal instance suite for each member of the Guild, and anyone who joined. In the Guild, he also applied an access to the Grand Temple, and created a Guild Vault, which was its own instance. Another Partition was making revisions on the initial gearsets for his guild, trying to match what Marlon made, but not being able to get more than a total of 5 stat points, including defense, out of an item per level, unless it was an Id item. Suddenly, a system message popped up infront of all of his partitions! Attention System Users - System Update UGD 10.25.189,839,975 We have an exciting announcement coming from our new Frontier World! We have a new Gear Type to introduce you to: Experience Syphon Items! Experience Syphon Items come in three different flavors! Ego - These require the same amount of standard experience as a normal person to increase in the level of the item, which will increase its stats or give it a new feature. Id - These require the maximum overlevel amount of experience as a normal person to increase and are set on the path of ultimate power for its class. Super-Ego - These require the maximum overlevel amount of experience as a normal person to increase in the level of the item, but grant you the options of customizing the stats or abilities they gain. Please note that Ego, Id, and Super-Ego items will be Soulbound and unable to be looted from a person who is resurrected. When an Ego, Id, or Super-Ego item is looted, it will revert back to its lowest level, no matter what level it shows as when looted. In addition to these new items, we are proud to introduce a new classification of Boss Monster: The Overboss. All monsters in the zone will be have leveled up via maximum overlevel from Level 1. It is highly recommended you avoid the Overboss Zones, unless you carry Resurrection Tokens. Resurrection Tokens are now a standard 10 Gold at any Shrine or Temple. If you have purchased a Resurrection Token within the last sixty days, please enter a Shrine or Temple to retrieve additional Tokens equal to the amount you paid. Thank you for reading this message, Borick, God of Live Action Gaming Marlon, God of Overpower Wilson, God of Enchantments Reginald had the urge to sigh, wondering how much trouble he will get in with the Pantheon for the Id and Super-Ego items, considering how powerful they will make people, if used properly. He checked the Digital Mind in charge of communicating with the outside world, and laughed at the fact that he arranged for the Guild to arrive at one airport, and then flown via his family''s personal jet to Tarmac, since most regular airplanes are routed around it. Inside the Guild Hall, for the Tavern section, he opened the ''hire staff section'' and then spawned a cluster of twenty Fairy Maids, an Elven Winemaster and Dwarven Brewmaster, a group of five waiters and servers, two huge Ogre Bouncers, and a set of five Grandmaster Autochefs, powered by mana with access to all his recipes. In the middle of the Guild Hall, he hired a pair of catgirl receptionists, a wood elf receptionist, a high elf steward, a pair of gnomish accountants (they were a two-for-one special), a drow butler, another cluster of twenty Fairy Maids, along with twenty Pixie Delivery Boys. Finally, in the Crafter and Trainer section, he hired the best of the best, not caring about initial mana costs, since nobody is over a million mana individually. He ended up with grandmasters of each craft along with several different Archmages, High Paladins, High Bishops, Witches, Sorcerers, even a Demon Lord and a ArchLich. Unknown to him, when he ''spawned'' these mobs, he wasn''t actually creating new people, but actually teleported them from what would be considered an Afterlife, granting them new bodies but not in charge of their stats, since he was using Mana to ''hire'' these people from their individual afterlifes, but they were bound to fulfill the roles they were hired for and not fight each other. They were however allowed full access to anywhere in his Influence unless he specifically banned them. In front of all of the crafters and trainers two ''cards'' appeared, one marked ''personal'' and the other ''professional''. This included the Winemaster and Brewmaster from the Tavern. Everyone else just received the ''personal'' card, which would work for the Instance door, granting them a private residence. Each crafter or trainer''s ''professional'' card opened into an ideal grandmaster workshop or training facility, each having its own instance with its own resources. On the Guild Counter, three different Library Instance cards appeared: ''System Library'', ''Spell Library'', and ''Lore Library''. *Guests will start arriving within the next two weeks. If you need anything specific, please list it on your Whiteboard marked ''Dear Reginald''. If I need to hire more staff, let me know. there were still some I could hire for the Adventurer''s Guild and Tavern section. Trainers and Craftsmen, I thank you for your time. Each of you will notice the cards that appeared in your hand. Insert it into the reader next to the door marked ''Instance'' and when the reader lights up green, open the door and remove your card. This will grant access to either your personal residence, or your stocked workshop. Crafters, I hired all the assistants you had marked as requested.* *If you wish to explore, the entrance to the start of my Dungeon is out behind the Guild Hall. This Guild Hall is the official Guild Hall of my personal Guild, the Eternal Gamers. Trainers, I would like you to test your skills against my Level Sync dungeons. Master Crafters, please do not craft any of the new ''Ego'', ''Super-Ego'' or ''Id'' items for at least three months. For those of you with different alignments, such as the Bishop and Demon Lord or the Paladin and Lich, please do not fight each other outside the Training Instances. Thank you for your time.* With that, Reginald made sure that the outer chambers of the dungeon were clean and smooth, with perfect lighting and clearly marked doors. Now to work on the next level of challenges and his Avatar. Chapter 9: Ask Marlon! As soon as the feeling of the dungeon''s presence faded, one of the high elven priests of Marlon whispered, "By Marlon, I pray for answers!" The door marked Temple opens, and a seven foot tall statue of Marlon stepped out, a cold beer in his hand. "Oh, hey, Jarlin! Welcome back!" Marlon looks around and does a head count. Let''s all go over to the Tavern section, as you''re probably all wondering about how you are all back, seeing as you all died in various ways. Someone write on the ''Dear Reginald'' board that we need ten kegs of high quality Daedril Ale, a case of Superna Fire Whiskey, and a case of Elverbright White, as a request from Marlon for the Tavern." As they enter the tavern, the floor space, number of tables, chairs, and boothes expand as more of them enter until it can hold everyone without any issue, the requested alcohol appearing on the bar counter. "Everyone, take a seat," Marlon stated as he leaned against the counter, waiting for everyone to be seated and quiet. "So, Jarlin, my high priest requested answers. Just so you know, every deity is on very good terms with this ''Dungeon'', Reginald Montgomery." "My God, please, I remember dying and being sent to your afterlife. How did I end up coming back?" Jarlin requested. "Well, most of you died in service to either your god or craft, or for some reason, when asked if you would be willing to reincarnate you marked yes on the paperwork. Today''s date is 10.25.189,839,975. Many of you have been dead for centuries, if not millenia. We''ve finally returned to Origin, which is currently known as Earth. Two thousand some odd years ago, that bastard Lich destroyed this world''s Twin Trees, World and Mana. That separated this world from the pantheon running it and launched them back in time to other worlds almost two hundred million years ago," Marlon started with. "Many of those ancient deities have gone into seclusion and are not currently part of the modern divine pantheon as they just want to sleep and be forgotten. There are currently at least two different areas on this world that are trying to pull all of the mana in and nullify our ability to influence this world. As for how you are all back, in your physical primes," Marlon chuckled as he looked at the glowering Arch Lich of Alberos, "we gave this sapient dungeon the ability to spawn bodies for you from Mana. Alberos, don''t glower at me, you know you were never physically stronger than when you were a Lich." "Excuse me, Lord Marlon, but why did he choose us, and why do some people have two cards instead of one?" a bubbly tabby catgirl receptionist inquired while glowering at a smirking Wolfkin BeastLord. "Ah, you must mean the Instance cards... Yes, that is something we shall discuss..." Marlon smiled as he produced two of his own, one marked Personal Shrine, the other Grand Temple. "Wait, did you say Instance, as in a dungeon''s private dimension?" one of the archmages asked before scurrying out into the main sector and snagging the three ''Library'' cards and returning. Marlon laughed loudly. "Yes, this world has gotten interesting, and we haven''t even been here half a year. Mana levels are still below average for the next three months so that people can come and do some immediate training inside Reginald''s ''Tutorial''..." Marlon cut off as he couldn''t help but laugh at the idea of the Tutorials. Marlon waved his hand and everyone received an notification of the Level Sync dungeons that Reginald is making. The Dwarven Shieldwall trainer spits up a mouthful of his ale. "Ye cannae be serious, Lord Marlon! Even ye would not risk people''s lives pointlessly like this in a quest for power!" "Oh, I''m perfectly serious. You see, one of the boons Regi has earned is free resurrections of all who challenge his dungeons." "Back to the subject of Instances, Lord Marlon?" one of the Archmages inquired. "Oh, yes, you see, for the longest time, no dungeon has gone above the third tier in the Instance perk, since that was all they needed to fulfill their minimal roles as training grounds," Marlon stated. "Well, Regi received five free Perk points off the bat from Borick because of the fact that his physical body was killed when the Construction Core released a huge burst of concentrated mana, the Core Gem absorbing his mind, and I offered him the Perk Divinity option. Some of you are familiar with this Perk. For those of you who aren''t, Perk Divinity grants a single Perk point per level per tier of the Perk, and can only be purchased at Level 1." "How many Ranks did he purchase?" one of the Paladins asked. "All five," Marlon grinned. "I think he said that while there were so many pretty options available, he will be able to get them all if he maximized Perk Divinity. The fifth rank, doubled the amount of Perks he got per level to ten, and he has only leveled with maximum overlevel, granting him a total of 11 perks per level. Anyways, he made a Grand Temple of the Pantheon, which you should all totally check out, along with individual private shrines for each deity... He also created a new category of boss, called an Overboss, where everything the Boss is in charge of leveled via maximum overlevel, including the boss. Likely, that list of Instances will have some additions, regarding Overbosses." "Lord Marlon, do you know what Library perks he has purchased?" the Archmage with the Library cards asked. "He has purchased the complete System Library, Lore Library, and Spell Library. Ah, I see you have his Library instance keys. Yes, let''s get back to the Instances. He has an unlimited number of instances that he can create or edit, and he found a way to tie the entrance and exit to a reader system with your cards granting each of you a private instance for your off time, and a training or crafting instance each fully stocked at the moment." The ForgeLord raised his hand, "Yer Lordship, what do you mean by ''Fully stocked''?" "Each Crafting Instance includes tools of Grandmaster Level quality, with resources that would make many of the gods weep at the audacity of you mortals having access to the materials. He can replenish your resources with Mana, but he has also made it so you can pump your own mana into a creation circle and thus raise your own mana levels. I would recommend checking out the Instance ''Lilian''s Garden'' to see what this dungeon is truly capable, with only a few handful of levels. It will be a godsend for you alchemists. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. "Also, he has done something none of the older dungeons ever considered, placing an instance inside another instance. Really, the God of Space and Time was flummixed by that revelation. We all knew that they don''t spontaneously collapse if you carried a bag of holding into an instance, but nobody ever thought of placing an instance in another instance, let alone a bag of holding inside another bag of holding." The Hero of Birule stood up. "What do you mean placing a bag of holding inside another? How would that work?" Marlon grinned viciously. "Why, Tronjo, Hero of Birule, it is a wonder you were resurrected. I know you have that Spacial Ring that you keep all your tools and equipment in, and it negates all their weight. Well, Bags of Holding have always been limited to a 90% weight reduction. Now, take that one bag of holding, and place it in another bag with the same properties. The new Bag will have the old bag in a single slot of its inventoy, and the weight of that bag will again be reduced by 90%, making it only 1% of the original weight. Now you could put that bag in another bag if it was still too heavy, if you had another." Many of the wizards sighed and shook their heads, remembering how often they had had to leave loot behind because they had too low of a strength score, and the answer was something so simple as placing one bag inside another. "Well, that''s what we deserve for thinking most of the secrets of the universe had been discovered..." one of them stated. "Don''t worry, he also improved the Quiver of Holding, making a Creation Quiver that can create different arrows for mana..." Marlon tossed one of the bracer-mounted quivers to an expert sniper. "Any type of arrow can be created, you just need to select it''s properties and it gives you a mana cost... What is a ''Macro'', and why are there ten different slots for it?" the wood elf sniper asked. "A Macro is what the humans who live on this world call a programmed set. The fact that it can hold ten macros means you can program it for ten different types of arrows to ''quickly'' create without having to mess with the arrow editor," Marlon answered, getting a nod from the sniper who then tried to return the quiver. The drow butler stood and bowed. "Lord Marlon, what do you know about this Guild, the Eternal Gamers?" "I don''t know much, other than the fact that Reginald was one of them before he had his incident, and that they were some of the best among those who played fictional versions of limited simulations of an adventurer''s life, called Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, or MMORPGs. Apparently, they tend to be antisocial outside their own bunch, and most were working the system of the two week trial for bonuses. Many ended up cashing in those bonuses to have an advanced level one. The Leader of the Eternal Gamers went by the handle of ''Eternal Darkness'' or just ''Dark'' or ''Darkness'' amongst the guild. Reginald was and is known as ''Hidden Leecher'' or as they all called him, ''Leech''. "The Guild consisted of thirty primary members, and maybe twenty more secondary. All of them will be here in a week and a half, when Eternal Darkness emerges from helping her grandmother through an Assisted Tutorial, since the deity who generated her race and character change didn''t take her advanced age of mid eighties into account when assigning her the Feline-kin race without applying an age reset or granting her immortal youth via the loli status." "So, we will have a minimum of fifty guests to look after?" "On the contrary, all of them will be issued Private Instance cards like you have for their personal rooms and needs. You will only have to help arrange the care of this Guild Building, making sure that everything is stocked properly in the Tavern and shop sections, and prepare some ''training'' quests for them to take off the Request Board. Right now, everyone on this planet is level one other than all of you. This entire Guild has caught my eye, and as such, I shall be issuing specific quests. Know that most of these people won''t hit above Level five in the next three months, not because of the fact that they will be making no effort, but because of the fact that they will be grinding their base stats and only leveling with maximum overlevel. Eternal Gamers will likely become our very first OverGuild." "Why is there such a variety in trainers?" the wolfkin BeastLord asked. "Surely he doesn''t expect us to try to train outside our Class roles!" "Of course he does, Fenron," Marlon chuckled. "You can expect them to try to get you to teach everyone but the Necromancers, as living beasts and monsters don''t tend to work well with undead under the same controller. You''ll see people mixing Demonic or Angelic summoning with Beast Taming from the Gamers. You see, thanks to the vast openess of the System, they can crosstrain to make some impressive combinations. What would you think about an Archfiend wearing a Bone Juggernaut as armor? Or an Archangel sending a blast of Light magic through a Glass Elemental designed to Focus the beam? Those are just two ideas that he has mentioned to his Guild." The summoners, necromancers, and elementalists eyes went wide at the two ideas. "Reginald Montgomery has already broken so many things that I had to convince the rest of the pantheon to drop the price of a resurrection token to a standard ten gold, and they agreed due to the fact that he gifted each of us new instance shrines as well as the Grand Temple for all of us. And now, I''ve overstayed my time here and the mana in this statue needs to be recharged. I''ll be off." Chatter broke out amongst the various crews when Marlon left, exiting through the door marked ''Pantheon''s Temple''. "Will this Guild accept us as more than Trainers and Craftsman?" a large bear-kin asked. "Why would they?" one of the gnome accountants muttered. "We''re just hirelings, after all... They''ll probably treat us like garbage and expect us to lick their boots." Jarlin, High Priest of Marlon, stood and tapped his staff on the ground, silencing everyone. "We have heard many answers from Marlon, the God of Overpower. All of them will have been true to the best of his knowledge and ability to speak. I would suggest that we try to make ourselves useful to this Guild and see how the treat us before worrying and coming to a predetermined negative end. Now, since the God was kind enough to have us get plenty of alcohol, let us celebrate our rebirths!" Chapter 10: Mad Geneticist Chapter 10 - Mad Geneticist Reginald spent the next week polishing up his dungeons and leveling up at maximum overlevels, reaching a whopping level of twenty before he settled down to purchase more perks, and increase his abilities and skills. Perk: Dungeon''s Avatar Tier Five You can now create Spirit, Ephemeral, Physical (bound), Physical (unbound), Physical (unbound, levelable) Perk: Avatar Durability Tier Five Your Avatar has gained an innate +100 Defense. Perk: Avatar Creation Tier Five Your Avatar can be created and adjusted via the Spawn, Enhance, and Rank Up System you use as a Dungeon. Perk: Avatar Inventory Tier Five Your Avatar gains access to the System''s Inventory function (10x10 grid). This Inventory carries over between Avatars in the event of an Avatar''s destruction. Perk: Avatar Strength Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Strength every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Dexterity Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Dexterity every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Agility Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Agility every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Vitality Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Vitality every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Endurance Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Endurance every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Intelligence Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Intelligence every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Wisdom Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Wisdom every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Charisma Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Charisma every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Perception Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Perception every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Luck Focus Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 Luck every level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Physical Supremecy Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 to all physical stats per level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Mental Supremecy Tier Five Your Avatar gains a bonus +5 to all mental stats per level before Overlevel Calculations. Perk: Avatar Core Mana Tier Five Your Avatar keeps access to your Core Mana and Regen Perk: Avatar Physical Combat Mastery Tier Five Your Avatar has mastered all physical weapon masteries. The Physical and Mental Supremecy as well as the Physical Combat Mastery perks cost double the standard perk values, making it so that he could only get seventeen Perks for his Avatar outside of the perk to generate one. Then again, his Avatar would now gain ten points to all his stats except Luck, which would gain five, before calculating the overlevel. As an Avatar, he cannot get bonuses for things like Loli status, but seeing how easily he will overpower next to anything after a few level ups, he was absolutely thrilled. Reginald checked his Perk points and saw that indeed, he had but a single Perk remaining. Reginald spent the better part of a full day going over the pros and cons of each of the races, their bonuses, their detriments. He decided to try to create his own race, which was when he was also informed that had to keep the Control Crystal with his Avatar to serve as a link between the Dungeon Core and Avatar, so he made sure to implant that behind the sternum and between the lungs. He pulled up lots of different information on the formation of the body. The Bones were made out of a diamond-tough, hollow organic coral from one of the deep water worlds that the system knew of, which also had great magical conductivity. For the muscles, he mixed the muscles of the fast-twitch muscles of the speed races with the dense muscles of the naturally strong races. He cut down on the amount of intestines needed by focusing a spell into his organs which would convert any waste that made it from the stomach into mana, which was then added to his circulating mana, as he designed the mana to flow through his body in veins and arteries similar to his blood but not mixed with his blood. He had two hearts, one for pumping blood, and one for pumping fluidic mana. The brain he made using the condensed grey matter of the Qurandite race, who gained a +3 Intelligence and +2 Wisdom every level. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. After all the internals were arranged and the genetics spliced together, he started sculpting the exterior, granting it a six pack, retractable bone claws, he granted it a dragon''s eyesight. The hair was a deep emerald green color, the body and face lean, sculpted, standing about six feet in height. Of course, he had to give himself a respectable size down there too, since he wasn''t going to have to worry about pride issues. Once he finished all of the double checking of the genetics and testing it in a simulation, he poured mana into the creation of his Avatar, shockingly requiring him to channel mana until it reached a full million mana points to spawn it. He then checked the message that popped up. You have created a new Race! Race: Dunatar Through the careful manipulation of the genetics of multiple races, you have created an absolutely new race of highly overpowered beings. These beings are perfectly built to house a Dungeon Crystal in the hollow behind their sternum. Non-Avatars can grow their own Mana Crystal there to enhance Mana Capacity. While looking moderately human, all Dunatars have jewel toned hair and the ability to extend diamond-bone claws. Racial Bonus: +2 Strength, +3 Agility, +2 Vitality, +3 Endurance, +3 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 Perception, Poison Resistance - Tier Three Racial HP/Vit: 20 Racial MP/Int: 20 Racial SP/End: 20 Racial Lifespan: Unlimited Racial Society: High Magitech Racial Vision: Normal, Night, Dark, Thermal Racial Genders: Male, Female, Futanari, Loli, Trap Racial Deity: Marlon, God of Overpower Would you like to designate Earth as the homeworld for this Race? Yes / No *What does designating a homeworld mean?* >The System will create a space of bubbled time and allow this race to mature, before injecting a full community with its own society and values into the world. *Yes.* You have earned a new Title! Mad Geneticist When going about creating a new race or hybrid, you have an additional 50% chance of getting it right immediately! >Injecting Control Crystal. You have successfully created your first Avatar. Would you like to wake up in it? Yes / No *Yes...* Everything went black and then Reginald coughed as he inhaled for the first time in months, his eyes opened wide to take in the surroundings he had previously only known as a spirit in a core. You have activated your first Avatar! Congratulations! Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Dunatar Sub-Race: Avatar Gender: Male Age: 23 Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000 Class: -Unselected- Sub-Class: -Unselected- Health: 440/440 Stamina: 460/460 Mana: 360,050/360,050 Vitality: 22 Endurance: 23 Strength: 22 Agility: 23 Dexterity: 20 Intelligence: 23 Wisdom: 22 Charisma: 20 Perception: 22 Luck: 15 Defense: 100 Reginald stood up and stretched, one of his partitions creating a set of silk underarmor clothes for him, which he pulled on before entering his Vault and taking the Dungeon Lord of Devestation set and equipping it and checking his statistics again. Status: Name: Reginald Montgomery Race: Dunatar Sub-Race: Avatar Gender: Male Age: 23 Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000 Class: -Unselected- Sub-Class: -Unselected- Health: 400/400 (500/500) Stamina: 400/400 (500/500) Mana: 360,050/360,050 Vitality: 20 (+5) Endurance: 20 (+5) Strength: 20 (+10) Agility: 20 (+15) Dexterity: 20 (+10) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 20 (+5) Charisma: 20 (+20) Perception: 20 Luck: 15 (+10) Defense: 100 (+40) "Sweet, it automatically separated the buffs from the default!" Reginald cheered with a rich, deep, hypnotic voice. "Woah, is that what I sound like now? Epic! Alright, time to head up to the Guild House and eat something!" Chapter 11: The Guild Flies In Robert Murdoc, heir to the Murdoc Corporation and gaming enthusiast, was at the security gate in Las Vegas, waiting to be checked through so he could get on his personal flight when a group of humans who had been taken during the morph entered the line for the private flights security checkpoint behind him. Each of them had a carry on bag behind them and looked lost. He could hear them asking each other if this was the way to the private flights. Ever since the morph, many corporations and governments had tried to push a pro-human agenda, which Robert had thought hilarious after all their former demands for inclusiveness of those different from them. "How the hell did Leech get us a private flight? And where the hell is ''Tarmac, Oklahoma''?" a young looking lioness catgirl asked. (Eternal Darkness) "Well, if I remember my research off the internet, Tarmac is a new city that is almost exclusively for the reclusive rich. The Government also has taken interest in the area over the last month," a deep voiced dwarf who stood as tall as the catgirl answered. (Istand Alone) "Does that mean that Leech is really one of those arrogant richies?" a tanned elf inquired. (Sakura Ranger) "At least the rest of you are over five feet! I swear, if I ever get my hands on the deity that turned me into a gnome, I''ll give them a piece of my mind with my wrench to their head!" a gnome with bright red hair growled. (Vivian Enflamer) "Well, most of us ended up in bodies similar to the style of gaming we played," a pale elf stated. (Pious One) "True," the male drow in the group chuckled. "Vivian always was a tinkerer, and that''s a gnomish habit." (Shadow Storm) "I''m still amazed that Leecher ended up as a Dungeon. I mean, you read stories of things like that but you never expect it to happen to someone you know," Darkness said as she skipped along beside them. "You know, when I watched that anime named GATE, I always thought of you when the loli was on screen," Vivian laughed. "Imagine our shock when you posted on the Guild forum that you actually became a loli." One of the others looked away. "We were never as close to Leech as the rest of you... why would he extend the invitation to us?" a thin, almost skeletal, young man asked. The half orc behind him rested a hand on his shoulder. "Don''t worry about it, Jarick. We''re all part of the same Guild, and I think that is all that really mattered to Leech. I remember you and he had spent hours discussing your build for the game, just think about this as a personal life consultation then, that we''re being asked to attend." Jarick nodded firmly, "You''re right, Marson. Thank you. After all, could you imagine if I actually managed to pull off the juggernaut armor on an elder archfiend like he suggested? You have no idea how much I was imagining that. How the hell does he come up with these ideas?" Robert turned and looked at them. "Excuse me, you were mentioning a private flight heading for Tarmac? It looks like we''ll be taking the same plane then... How do you people know the Montgomery family?" The guild stopped in their tracks. "Montgomery, as in Vice President Elinore Montgomery?" "Of course. Forgive me, I am being rude," he said as he bowed. "My name is Robert Murdoc, and Aunt Elinore asked me to take their family jet to check in on her son, Reginald. I was informed when I got here that I needed to wait for guests invited by Reginald, and that would seem to be you, as there are no other flights to Tarmac." "Well, that explains quite a bit about some of the nights when he had to suddenly disconnect," Istand Alone murmured. "I''m afraid we never knew his IRL name... that was always a rule amongst the Guild," Darkness said warily. "Oh, so you must be the Eternal Gamers! Reg wouldn''t shut up about some of the antics and system breaking combinations he''s made you pull on nights where he and I could find a way to sneak out of those damned political meetings. I would have moved to Tarmac myself, except Tarmac is designed for all of us to get away from the political world," Robert said. "Well, now that you''re here, we can all head on through the security checkpoint, I think." After they had all been cleared and guided to the private jet, Robert stated calmly, "I''m not really surprised that Reginald managed to arrange for all of you to be here at the same time. He has always been highly skilled at organization. I can''t wait to see him again." "About that..." Eternal Darkness started to say something before the others all looked at the giant, wall-mounted television, which has the guild logo displayed on it with a notification of a Live-Stream occuring as soon as the plane has taken off. A stewardess helped them store their bags, and informed them that their checked luggage will be transported to the Montgomery Family Estate by courier and should arrive before sunset. She then helped them to seats with their names on them, arranged by Reginald. The only one who didn''t have an arranged place, was of course Robert, since he wasn''t planned for. "The flight will be a little over two hours. After we have taken off, I will be around with the prearranged drinks. Mister Murdoc, would you like your standard request?" "A rum and coke, yes, unless Reginald has supplied something special?" "Oh, Master Reginald has indeed provided specialty beverages for each of his guests. Let me see if he left any special instructions for you!" she scurried off into the employee area, and skimmed a list. "Ah, yes, he sent something special for you as well, although he listed you as a 25% likelihood of showing." "I''ll take that then, thank you. Let the pilot know we''re ready to fly." *** As soon as the airplane stabilized in the air, the guild emblem vanished from the screen and a giant number five appeared on the screen, and provided a countdown, which ended up streaming a live feed of an emerald haired man examining the camera in his hands. "Ah, we''re live? Good, good," he stated before tossing the camera up, where it started hovering around him, letting them get in a good look at the new Reginald Montgomery and the inside of the extremely high magitech room that is the heart of his Dungeon. "Hmmm, counting heads, it appears we''ve got an extra on the plane. I''m guessing that''s you, Robert, and that mother must be worried since I haven''t done anything but email her these last couple of weeks." "Reginald, as straight to the point as always, yes, that is one of the reasons I am on this plane. Imagine my surprise to find myself waiting for your guild at the Security gate!" Reginald chuckled softly, "yeah, I can imagine you were a bit impatient. I see from recent status posts and news articles that you and mother are still standard humans, while your father became a gnome and many of those in congress became goblins and gremlins. Fitting, I guess." "Leech, that really you?" Istand Alone asked. "Yes, it''s me. I''ve hit Level 20, and created not just my first Avatar, but an entire new race called the Dunatar, who will be appearing on this planet with a high-magitech society sometime soon. Let me show you around my Heart Room," he answered, and motioned at the Construction Core bot. "This is where my primary body and soul is, the Centralized Construction Core Module 18394754-382-001. I''ve made a couple more of these Core bots as extremely rare treasure drops. According to the AI, since everyone has gone through the Tutorial, the binding will just allow you to have Construction Core Master status, instead of being pulled into the core, which happened to me do to an abnormal mana pressure wave after they crashed in my backyard." As Reginald talked, he walked through the dungeon, walking past mobs that ignored him, and stepping over pressure plates and resetting puzzles as he passed on his way out. "I have spoken with Borick and Marlon, two of the ''gods'' of the Pantheon in charge of this new system we are all using now. Borick is the god in charge of the gaming elements of the system, and Marlon is the god of the Overpowered, who eventually get chosen by other gods as their Champions or Heroes, and are given ''Storyline'' quests." "If you remember the recent update that announced the introduction of Ego items, those were my idea. You should have seen Marlon''s face go pale at the mention of Id Items. The traitorous AI in my core passed them the information regarding the Super-Ego Items I was planning on keeping secret for the Guild, but to be fair, it would be wise to spread them around too." The Stewardess emerged from the staff area with a cart, loaded with wrapped packages, she slowly, carefully distributed them to the proper passenger. Reginald continued on with his speech. "Each of you have received a specialty beverage from the world your new race originated on, created from my Loot Table. Sadly, Robert, you remained a human, so I sent one of the bottles of scotch from my family cellar." There are a lot of cheers as people open their packages, and then gasp when they realize some of these liquors have ceremonial serving containers and instructions. Everyone also has four black cards with golden caligraphy on them. "Those cards will be what you swipe at the Instance door in order to gain access to the Instance coded into them. You will notice that they say ''Home'', ''Guild Crafting Hall'', ''Guild Library'', and ''Guild Training''. The Home one is the only unique one each of you have. When you enter your ''Home'' Instance, you will be granted full control of the Instance, and it''s ten million mana reservoir for changes. "The Crafting Hall is set up for grandmaster artisans and is fully stocked. Crafting in each of the specialized zones of the Hall has a bonus to success, quality, and a reduced resource cost. The Library is unique compared to the Library access I left at the Guild Counter. The Guild''s Library has five Librarians who I purchased from the system. Apparently, I pulled them from their afterlives to work for me? Anyways, I have it set up into four quadrants: System Lore and Non-Fiction, Fiction, Skills and Spells, and Blueprints and Recipes. If you want a specific book to take with you, you must pay for it with mana to generate a new copy for someone else. Yes, you can learn use the Automatic Learn function of Skill and Spell books, but you will be charged mana to produce a new copy if you do so. You can also read through the entire book to try to understand the skill or spell yourself without System Guidance, and that doesn''t cost you mana." Reginald had just reached a long corridor, which is the entrance to his actual dungeon behind him, the door closed and read: ''Eternal Gamers Only - Live Dungeon Challenge''. He motioned for the camera to show the Level Sync doors as well as the Lilian''s Garden and Mineshaft Instance doors. "The Guild''s Training zone is where I am currently housing my first Overboss and the clan of goblins and orcs that Marlon gave him. Please do not kill any of his goblins and orcs, as I have to pay mana to respawn them. Hurolg is a Drill Sergeant and Slave Driver, designed to make people pump their stats the hard way, as well as level only using maximum overlevel. Lilian''s Garden is an Alchemical reagent paradise, including a zoo and aquarium, meanwhile Mineshaft is of course, a mineshaft, where you can practice your mining for ores, jewels, and mana crystals. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Across from the garden and mineshaft, you probably noticed the doors marked Sync Level 1, then a series of letters. These zones will drop your effective level to one, removing the bonus statistics from having leveled up. It will also unequip any gear you have that has a level requirement. They are zones designed to make you think and react, and train your statistics. Unlike in a game, there is no ''useless'' stat for any class, although thanks to perks we can mitigate most of the need for outside stat effects. "This door here," Reginald stopped right outside a door marked ''Death and Despair beyond this point'', "leads to the hardest challenge I have created. It will sync you down to level one, and the enemies inside are maximum overlevel monsters with levels in the mid two hundreds. Now, even if you have unlimited hit points, every being has a spot that that is considered fatal if damaged enough. For most of us biological beings that includes the brain and heart. If you can complete this dungeon solo, I have crafted a complete set of Super-Ego gear, including eight rings, two bracelets, a necklace, and two earrings. "Resurrection for dying in my dungeons is free, because of a quest I completed for Marlon, the God of Overpower. Each of you will have a treasure coffer in your private instance with a thousand gold coins. I would recommend you purchase Resurrection Tokens for yourselves and those you care about from the Grand Temple. Resurrection Tokens are only ten gold, and it''s another reason why the world should switch to the system currency. You have two months to prepare before I release more pressurized mana into the atmosphere and raise the global mana level to Average. Now, I''ll meet you all at the Guild Hall, which I created outside my dungeon entrance. Leech out." The screen went black, and then the Guild Logo came back up. The Stewardess smiled and said she would leave them to discuss, only to ring the bell on the table if they needed anything. *** Robert looked absolutely flumoxed while everyone else seemed excited about what Reginald had just been talking about. "How can he just give away so much money and be so..." Robert rubbed his face before pouring himself a double shot of scotch and slamming it. "Oh, you get used to Leech doing this in games. He''s always been the most generous when it came to getting the guild set up, and we never knew how he would generate the funds. A lot of people accused him of hacking the games we played in the past. Well, this time, he literally is the Dungeon Master, and apparently for mana, he can create things, not unlike what we read in so many light novels regarding dungeons," Eternal Darkness stated as she sipped from a small glass of dragonfire wine, which was made with a strong cinnamon flavor. "Well, looks like the global economy and work forces will need to be changed. I would suggest that ye pass that on to the Vice President, along with the fact her son be alive," Istand Alone added while craddling a small barrel marked ''Endless Ale''. "Leech never held back on gifts in the past, and his personality is definitely the same. I don''t care if he''s a mind in a computer core, he''s still the same man." "Agreed," Vivian confirmed while sipping on gnomish version of sake. "That man has more luck or ingenuity than almost anyone else I''ve seen. Did you know that he once got what everyone was considering the worst drop in a game and found a hidden quest around it, simply because he paid attention to the lore of the game?" "That was messed up. I remember that he got us all exclusive beta access to their next title as a reward for that!" Shadow murmured. "I think the government should try to purchase a few of those construction cores, or visit the Gold Shop in the Temple and purchase mana-stabilizing devices for the big cities, if what he said about raising the mana concentration to Average will do what he said it would on the forum," Pious calmly explained. "Once the level of mana in an area outside of a dungeon''s control reaches Average, the mana can start condensing and spawning random monsters." "What!?" Robert jerked upright in his seat. "He''s going to make the world deal with monsters in addition to the rest of this bullshit?" "Well, actually, yes. I think he''s planning to groom us to go and raid the Mana Syphon below the Vatican and the one in India," Darkness replied cautiously. "Apparently, this world was supposed to have had mana all along, but... well, the victor rights the histories, so we can''t really do much about the last two thousand years, but that''s the approximate era where we haven''t had gods and magic around." She pulled a file out of her bag. "The site in India has the lesser syphon, and wouldn''t have been detected without the general level of mana in the area having been increased as much as it is, where as the one at the Vatican seems to be trying to syphon all mana away. "According to the Indian Government, Vault B''s Secret Door requires a special monk to perform the Garuda Mantra. Sadly, the last monk who qualified died in 1935. Therefore, Leech recommends we either ask the gods to transfer a suitable monk from another world to ours or we need to train a Monk to have a maximum Meditation and Chakra ability with a mastered Chant skill. Another idea was he could ''create'' the needed character with his Spawn and Enhance capabilities as a Dungeon. "Regarding the Vault B information, we''ve come up with a lot of information that is misleading or false. Leech thinks it could be the remnants of a dungeon behind the door, and wouldn''t be surprised if after we entered, the doors closed again. We have no information on what could be inside in truth, although someone had a vidtube clip claiming it as a likely genetic modification laboratory and the cobras on the doors were a predecessor to the caduceus." As Darkness was talking, the screen pulled up various images, showing that Reginald had left something connected. "We have no real information at all regarding what is hiding under the Vatican, but that will likely be where the real threat is. I''m afraid our enemy this time is an ancient Fleshbound Lich. For reinforcements, we might be able to call upon the Guild Teachers, if we can accept them into the Guild, which is a roundabout way of bypassing their resurrection rules. Whatever is there has been festering since before the Basillica was even built in 326 AD." "So, in a few months, we''re going to be going on an intercontinental trip?" one of the usual support members of the Eternal Gamers asked. "Oh, we aren''t nearly ready to face a Lich over two thousand years old. Leech thinks it will likely take us about two years to be ready to attempt the Garuda Instance as he has dubbed the India site. He said we might need up to ten years for the Vatican, and that''s if we can get permission from the people there. If we can''t, it will require a lot more work and a vast amount of manpower," Darkness answered. "So, our first goal as a guild will be what?" Istand Alone inquired. "Our first goal is to try to convince first the USA, and then the rest of the world to switch to the System Currency and see about getting ''City Cores'', ''Dungeon Cores'', and other such utility items from Leecher and the gods. We will also need to get the governments of the world to issue Guild and Adventurer accreditation and certification," Darkness informed them. "Mister Murdoc, I am happy you are here with us, as we will need you to pass these to the Vice President and try to get them passed into law." Darkness pulled out another folder marked ''Government Oversight'' and passed it to Robert. "The government needs to also openly accept the worship of the various deities of the Pantheon," Pious one murmured. "We need to see about setting up shrines, churches, and temples. We need these passed as Federal Laws, not just city and state laws. While we can all carry a few items in our inventories, adventurers will also need the right to open carry weapons. Not just guns, but swords, daggers, spears, axes, bows and arrows." "Any other laws that you would suggest?" Robert sighed. "Aunt Elinore won''t be very happy if this causes her planned campaign to derail..." The screen changed back to displaying an image of a large guild house with Reginald out front of it. "Just tell mother that a dungeon is the ultimate resource if handled properly. After all, I can provide an unlimited amount of grain, meat, ores, and herbs, as well as coins, gear, spell books, skill books, blueprints, and mana crystals or Fluidic Mana," Reginald stated. "Sadly, most dungeons will be run by AIs with limited direct oversight. Since the gods didn''t want anyone to die on their arrival, you''ll have noticed that anyone who did die was brought back, and most of the buildings that were damaged were fixed by the gods, I was the only one out of all that who ended up dead, which was why they made my mind and soul the primary ruler of the construction core dungeon module. They only started eliminating people who were actively opposing those whom they were trying to help, hence the elimination of the violent religious extremists by their will. "Oh, and I''m outside the First Guild Hall for Eternal Gamers, which is on the driveway to my family home, with my dungeon entrance right behind the Guild Hall," Reginald stated as he closed his eyes, focusing on something. A metal case appeared at his feet and he smiled. He leaned down and pressed a button, the case unfolding and extending into the shape and size of a bus, hovering above the ground, with a control crystal in his hand. "The government will also need to consider passing laws regarding magitech equipment. Just so you know, we do have at least four interplanetary ships headed our way with the intention of immigrating. The leader of one of the expidition is a level 2,000 rabbit demihuman hero. Their ships should arrive in a year. The governments need to understand that the Gods intend to open our planet for immigration, and the lower level ones will be able to emerge through the Grand Temple I created, where as others, such as the Level 2000 Hero need to arrive on their own. "Just an fyi, Robert, the government has absolutely nothing that can damage these ships, as they have mana barriers that can and will stop nukes and convert the radiation into extra mana which it will then syphon off to recharge itself. We will need to welcome these immigrants and assist them with settling in, and they will not cause trouble, as the gods have decreed. Anyways, I''ll be waiting for you at the airstrip to pick you up." With that, the screen cut back to the Guild Logo. "Damn it Regi, you just love causing problems for me to clean up, don''t you?" Darkness stretched and yawned, "It is only a problem if you intend to resist the changes occurring. It is better to go with the flow as Leech is doing and try to control it to some extent. At least you''ve got the warning of immigration. Perhaps people from Earth could move to some other planet." "That was freakin'' cool, he made a Jetsons-esque flying bus!" Shadow exclaimed. "I can''t wait to see what gifts he intends to give us in addition to all the information he has helped us with." Chapter 12: Contract with the Government As Reginald passed the barrier the Pantheon had placed around his home, the barrier fell, allowing him to pass. He flew the bus over a bunch of military and news vehicles parked outside the curve of the barrier. He turned on the radio to a news frequency, tuning in during the middle of a recorded speech from his mother. "... people abusing the new magics to harm others or commit crimes. It is because of these actions we are forming the new Department of Magical Conduct, which will assist the other law enforcement agencies with crimes of a magical nature. It has become quite clear that these self-proclaimed deities have an agenda all of their own. The President is going to make an attempt to contact them directly and find out what they intend." "And that was from a press conference held this afternoon by the Vice President. Now, you know I normally stay away from theological discussions on this radio show," the smooth voice of the radio jockey flowed out of the radio, "but with being who can keep a building that would fit well in ancient greek or roman architecture together through reentry, the restoration of anyone who was killed or even hurt by meteor fragments, all of the people who had a true racial change, and not just from skin tone, but into an entirely different genetic race, I would have to say that they have earned the title of deities by sheer power alone." "I wonder what sort of people will be hired for the Department of Magical Conduct," a deep voiced co-host snorted as he said that. "Sorry, but seriously, the Department of Magical Conduct? What, are we living in Pottermore now? What''s next, a Department of Dungeon Affairs?" "Well, you do know that the government has been keeping a much closer eye on Tarmac, Oklahoma where that large cube crashed and buried itself in the ground, and then the deities set up a barrier to keep people away so the government couldn''t dig it up," the original jockey stated. "Apparently the mana inside that area has grown incredibly dense over the last few weeks." "I''m surprised they haven''t tried to drop a nuke to either take out or penetrate the barrier that appeared around it," the co-host answered. "This administration has for the most part been action oriented. I think they''re just upset that the Pantheon eliminated the extremists instead of letting them do it." "Woah! We''ve got news from the site in Tarmac. Apparently, a flying bus just came through the barrier, which made it drop. Apparently, the ship had a Logo and a website address on it? EternalGamer.net? Oh, wow, it''s a website for a Guild who handled top tier raiding in MMOs for the most part until the change. On their Front page there''s a new article posted just a few minutes ago! "Dungeon Grand Opening, inviting people to a meet and greet with the Guild and the hired System Trainers, funded by Dungeon Corporation. What the actual ... Sorry about that, I got caught up and swore on air, oops," the show host said in a surprisingly good humor. "Either someone is playing a joke on the world..." "I just checked, and Dungeon Corporation is listed as an international entity, registered last week, but whatever has been going on started before they decided to go public," the co-host stated. "Fuck my life," Reginald groaned. "Now I''m going to have to talk to mother directly so they don''t try to nuke my dungeon, not like it would do any good... What the hell, are they trying to pull me over?" He stared in the rearview monitor at the multiple cop cars with flashing lights and blaring sirens chasing his slowly flying bus. He sighed and landed on the side of the road. When one of the cops finally approached after surrounding his bus, he shook his head and lowered the window. "Good afternoon, Officer Dunkirk." "Do I know you? Would you step out of the vehicle please?" "Of course, Officer. No, we don''t know each other, but I can see your information," Reginald stated, tapping the door panel to make it fold open while pulling the camera out of his inventory and setting it to record as he climbed out of the bus. "I am recording this interaction for your safety as well as my own, Officer Dunkirk. Why have you pulled me over?" "You just came out of a Quarantined zone. We are legally required to take you into custody." "I''m sorry, Quarantined zone? I hadn''t heard anything about my lands being quarantined. Besides, I have to pick up my guild and my friend Robert Murdoc at the Airstrip before we head back." "I''m afraid the only place you''re going is to the local Homeland Security office," Officer Dunkirk stated as he reached for his weapon. "Don''t bother shooting, Officer, it won''t do anything to me. My defense value is 140. Are you really sure you wish to cause an incident by resorting to violence?" "You are resisting arrest!" Reginald sighed and shook his head. "Look, I''m going to call my mother and get this bullshit sorted out." He reached into his inventory and pulled out a sack and tossed it at the Officer''s feet, revealing lots of golden coins. "There''s a thousand gold. If you want to cause trouble, make sure you carry a resurrection token, they''re only ten gold at a shrine or temple, and the Original Pantheon Temple is less than fifty miles away, right?" Reginald turned back to the bus and started climbing in before grunting in pain as a bullet slammed into his shoulder, taking off ten health. He picked the flattened bullet off his sleeve and tossed it infront of the bag, the door closing and the bus lifting off quickly before blasting towards the airport. "Damn it, mother, what''s your game here?" *** Elinore Montgomery, Vice President of the United States and ruthless business woman, was pacing in her office, having just received a call about a flying bus with the logo of her son''s stupid guild and guild website painted on it floating out lazily past the barrier which then fell completely. The military advisor suggested they seize the property while the barrier was down, he had sent some cops after the bus. She shot him down, saying that she had sent someone to speak with her son, and demanded they call back the cops. She swore up a storm after hanging up. "What the fuck is Reginald thinking!? That son of mine is going to ruin my chance of being elected!" She grabbed the phone when it rang, and looked at the caller id. "Robert, you better have some good news for me!" "Aunt Elinore, I took the private room in the back of the plane to make this call because of the soundproofing. Apparently, your son arranged for his Guild to be on this flight, and I was refused boarding until they had arrived. Your son has become a god-like being called a ''Dungeon''... He also prepared a package of suggested laws he wanted you to review regarding things called Adventurers, Guilds, and mobs. There''s also something about interstellar travel and immigration." "Bullshit, Robert. Cut the crap and tell me the facts." "I am being serious, Aunt Elinore. Why wouldn''t I be? You know his mentality. He gathered his ''Guild'' from those online gamers, and they''ve all been talking about various magics and abilities. They seemed to be excited for what he''s got planned. Oh, and if that''s not the overall kicker, he said we have interstellar immigrants headed our way!" "Hold on, Robert, Reginald is finally calling. I suppose you texted him to call since you were on your way there," she sighed and merged calls. "Hello, Reginald." "Mother, would you please kindly retract your damned military barricade from around my home and cancel the damned quarantine? Also, if you dare to try to nuke my dungeon, I will grow my dungeon to be able to cover all of the continent and fuck with your government," Reginald demanded. "Right now, I may only have a few kilometers of radius for my dungeon, but I can always continuously spawn monsters and push them out or release the rest of the pressurized fluidic mana and bring us easily above the point where large scale monster hordes will start spawning naturally. As it is, I managed to convince the Pantheon to allow for an extended duration of below average mana density to try to get some people trained." "They aren''t gods! There is only one God!" Elinore snarled. "Alright, then what are they? They have power over life and death, over time and creation. If they aren''t Gods, then please, tell me what they are. Or just accept they are beings beyond your comprehension and let us move on from that subject. Please tell me you aren''t a ''humans only'' advocate," Reginald sighed, shaking his head. "And what''s wrong if I am? At least those of us who remained human proved our loyalty to our race!" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "No, those of you who remained humans were selected by weaker or cheapskate deities who couldn''t look through your past and your mentality to find what truly suited your personality. Then again, your personality is probably the same as a standard corrupt politician, so tell me how much it will cost me to get what I want put through Congress. I know you have enough blackmail and you probably have maxed out the System benefits from that Skill, to make it happen." "I AM NOT CORRUPT! HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT WAY TO ME, YOUR OWN MOTHER!" "Oh, stuff it. I''m using Digital Communion to make sure this call is clean. Give me a figure. I want the USA to swap to the System Currency, I want laws to create an Adventurer''s Guild. You should have all the same documents in your inbox now that Robert has." "Reginald, you''re pushing much harder than I expected..." Robert started to say before Elinore cut him off. "You worthless, game addicted, pathetic excuse for a son... Fine, you want me to name a price? Get your ''gods'' to leave and never return." "That isn''t going to happen and you know it, Mother. I''ll give you fifty-two Capital Construction Cores and fifty-one AI-Driven Dungeon Master Cores. That''s one for each state, DC, and one to disassemble and study. I control the Dungeon at Tarmac, so Oklahoma might not need another dungeon. I will also give you ten thousand System Gold." "Oh no, you''re not getting off that easily. You will give me two hundred and sixty of those Capital Construction Cores and two hundred and sixty Dungeon Cores that are able to be controlled directly. In addition to those, you will give me every magitech item you can create and every blueprint for magitech devices. You will also give me ten million gold in System Currency." "Mother, for ten million gold, I can buy the entire planet from the system shop and make whatever laws I want according to the Gods. We have four interstellar ships headed our way with immigrants who likely could purchase from the system a good dose of the planet when they get here. I am not putting that much power in your hands. I''ll give you fifty-two Capical Cores, a hundred City Construction Cores, and a hundred AI-run Dungeon Cores. Unless you have someone you are willing to transfer into a Construction Core, you''re SoL regarding a person driven one. I''ll give you a hundred thousand gold and the blueprints of the simpler magitech items and weapons, which require less than twenty-five levels of Magitech Engineering to understand and build." "All goods from your dungeon face a fifty percent tariff." "That''s bullshit and you know it! I can provide food for the entire nation if I felt like it. The maximum I will allow is a ten percent tax on system currency dropped in the dungeon and a ten percent tax on system currency transactions. Don''t bother trying to get more than that from me." "I want everything you know on these ''gods'', the ''immigrants'' you claim are coming, and you to keep them from interfering in our electoral process." "I can make that request, but you must allow the immigrants land if they choose to settle here." "Only if they lease it, otherwise they can try to mix in with the rest of society like good little immigrants. You will also assist in training the Department of Magical Conduct." "Will you be willing to make this a System Contract?" "Are these Contracts binding?" "More so than your legal paperwork," Reginald snorted. "Then Yes, I will accept this as a System Contract." She blinked as a window popped up in front of her. Congratulations! You have struck a Deal as a representative of your government - The Federal Government of the United States of America! The Federal Governement will push through all laws suggested by Reginald in regards to Adventurers, Guilds, and Magitech and the conversion to System Currency. The Federal Government will NOT nuke Tarmac Dungeon. The Federal Government will allow System Accepted Immigration, provided they rent land from the government or merge with society. The Federal Government will remove the Quarantine of Tarmac Dungeon. The Federal Government will remove the military outpost from Tarmac Dungeon. In return the Federal Government of the United States of America shall receive: Fifty-two (52) Capital Construction Cores One hundred (100) City Construction Cores One hundred (100) AI-Controlled Dungeon Cores One hundred thousand (100,000) Gold System Currency All Magitech Blueprints of Level 25 and below Ten percent (10%) tax on System Currency Looted in Tarmac Dungeon Ten percent (10%) tax on System Currency item sales around Tarmac Dungeon Reginald''s Information on the Pantheon Reginald''s Information on Rabitteer Immigration Ships and Immigrants A Sincere request from Reginald to the Pantheon to not interfere with Earth Politics Training for Department of Magical Conduct Officers at Tarmac Dungeon Do you accept this System Contract? Note: If you Break a System Contract, you will be penalized by the System. You are making this Contract on behalf of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Any penalties will be applied to all members of this body (Executive, Legislative, Judicial Branches). Yes / No "In addition I want a personal ten thousand gold." "I can agree to that, Mother." Congratulations! You have struck a Deal as a representative of your government - The Federal Government of the United States of America! The Federal Governement will push through all laws suggested by Reginald in regards to Adventurers, Guilds, and Magitech and the conversion to System Currency. The Federal Government will NOT nuke Tarmac Dungeon. The Federal Government will allow System Accepted Immigration, provided they rent land from the government or merge with society. The Federal Government will remove the Quarantine of Tarmac Dungeon. The Federal Government will remove the military outpost from Tarmac Dungeon. In return the Federal Government of the United States of America shall receive: Fifty-two (52) Capital Construction Cores One hundred (100) City Construction Cores One hundred (100) AI-Controlled Dungeon Cores One hundred thousand (100,000) Gold System Currency All Magitech Blueprints of Level 25 and below Ten percent (10%) tax on System Currency Looted in Tarmac Dungeon Ten percent (10%) tax on System Currency item sales around Tarmac Dungeon Reginald''s Information on the Pantheon Reginald''s Information on Rabitteer Immigration Ships and Immigrants A Sincere request from Reginald to the Pantheon to not interfere with Earth Politics Training for Department of Magical Conduct Officers at Tarmac Dungeon Addendum: You will personally receive ten thousand (10,000) Gold System Currency. Do you accept this System Contract? Note: If you Break a System Contract, you will be penalized by the System. You are making this Contract on behalf of the Federal Government of the United States of America. Any penalties will be applied to all members of this body (Executive, Legislative, Judicial Branches). Yes / No "I accept." You have unlocked System Menu: Government! "What the fuck is with these pop ups and menus?" she snarled. "While that isn''t covered in our agreement, I shall send you information regarding it as well. I recommend that you use the 100,000 gold that was transfered to the Government Account to purchase the areas of the world where the United States already rules. You will find that the System Menus will be able to speed up government work quite nicely. Check your email for all the laws and requested information. Oh, and look at your desk." When she turned her head to look at her desk, she saw a huge bag on it marked ''10,000''. "Is that my personal Gold?" "Yes, and I would recommend you store it in your Inventory. Think ''Inventory'' to access it. I''m hanging up now, the plane is about to land. I''ll see you in a few minutes Robert." With that, Reginald hung up and Robert sighed. "Well, that was intriguing. I''ll have to find out more about what happened from him, since I doubt you''ll give me in depth information, Aunt Elinore. I have to hang up because we are indeed about to land. I''ll call later after seeing about setting up the training facility for the Department of Magical Conduct. We might want to try to slip in a required service response from local adventurers in case of Magical or Monster Emergency into the Laws." Robert hung up and Elinore opened her Inventory for the first time, and transfered the almost impossible to lift bag into her Inventory with a touch. "Maybe this System isn''t so bad..." she muttered before sitting down and checking her emails from her son with the many files she had been promised. Chapter 13: Meeting the Military Once the plane landed and taxied to a hangar, Reginald flew the bus in and settled it on the ground near the stairs, opening up the door so that they could immediately board the bus after disembarking the plane. Reginald shook his head as he looked at Robert. "I know you''re a spy for mother. We''ll work through it like any old friends. Deal?" "Absolutely. I know that your mother isn''t the easiest person to get along with," Robert started, before Reginald snorted. "As I was saying, she''s not the easiest person to get along with, but she isn''t a monster either. Your father loves her." "Only because she keeps him in the dark regarding what she really does to get her job done." "Regardless, your father loves her." "Agreed. I suppose you''ll be in charge of setting up the facility for training those Department of Magical Conduct idiots, and you probably got her to squeeze a provision into the laws she is drafting up for the mobilization and utilization of Adventurers and Guilds, which would be smart." "We will do what needs to be done to protect this nation... Although I would suggest you make arrangements with other nations as well so that the United States of America isn''t the only one with this new information, as that would just lead to a preemptive strike against us by the other nations," Robert said softly before going to find a seat, leaving Reginald to greet the Guild as they filed off the plane. Reginald hugged the girls and clasped wrists with each of the boys. they all had stored their personal gifts back in their boxes and then their inventories before disembarking the plane. "Well, don''t you look badass?" Darkness asked, taking in the way his gear looked, the crown currently looking like a crown. "That''s some powerful enchantments on it too," she whistled as she took it all in. "Quite the powerful reward." "Yeah, I got it as a reward from the God of Overpower for creating the first Overboss," Reginald grinned. "Anyways, we''ll discuss all of that when we get back to the Guild Hall." He continued greeting each of them as they entered, and then once everyone was onboard, he took off back to his land, quickly flying past roadblocks. As they approached the military barricade, he frowned when he saw them aiming a damned rocket launcher at his bus. He summoned a visible sphere of mana around the bus as a force field, and kept flying, the rocket impacting the shield and making the craft shiver slightly with turbulence before they were past the military and approaching the Guild Hall. He landed the bus outside the Hall, beside an older military hummer. "Ooh, I likey that, I think I''ll absorb it to learn how to duplicate them," Reginald stated with a grin, hopping out of the bus and putting his hand on the hummer, making it shimmer and then vanish, dropping the gunner who had been left to watch the vehicle from his seat to the ground. "I am Reginald Montgomery, get off my land," he stated before grabbing the soldier and tossing him into the back of the other military vehicle before storming into the Guild Hall, where a Priest is healing one of his receptionists, while the heavily armored class trainers are acting as a barricade and the rest of the trainers mutter about lack of room to get their own licks in. That was when Reginald saw his drow butler laying on the ground, dead. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!? I AM SO FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE GOVERNMENT OVER THIS! YOU ALL WILL BE LUCKY IF YOU ONLY GET COURT MARTIALED! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU SHOOT CIVILIANS? GET THE FUCK OFF MY LAND!" His anger and shouts startled the Sergeant and his soldiers, causing them to spin and point guns at him. "Don''t try anything. Hands in the air and surrender," the Sergeant barked. "Fuck off. You should have already received orders to fall back, you scrotum sucking taint worshiper," Reginald growled as a ball of lightning formed in his hand. "I''m just an Avatar, and I can probably rehire the drow you murdered, but even if you COULD kill me, how are you going to explain to the Vice President that you broke a treaty she just agreed to?" Reginald pulled up his ''Relationship'' menu, and decreased the United States Military from Neutral to Disliked. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Sergeant Dulahan, respond now!" croaked from the radio at his belt. "Did you just cause our Relationship with the local in charge of this system-zone to fall? GET YOUR ASSES BACK TO CAMP!" "Order''s received. Heading back to base," Dulahan growled into his radio. "This ain''t over, asshole. You and the rest of this freakshow best clear out or prepare to die." "Get the fuck off my land," Reginald snarled, watching them all curse as they try to pile in and on the only remaining LAV before flooring it down the driveway. The Sergeant pulled his gun from his holster and snarled, "what the fuck did you do to our other vehicle, nonhuman scum?" Reginald grinned and raised his hand, creating an exact duplicate of the Hummer he had absorbed. "Why, I absorbed it to make my own. Dulahan... yes, I can see cutting your head off and making you into an undead to fit your name. We could then use your worthless head as a soccer ball even." The sergeant shot him in the chest, making him grunt and the sergeant yelp as he fumbled his gun from the sudden and unexpected pain. Reginald smiled evily and quickly dashed forward and decked the sergeant, knocking him out. "Get this murderous scum off my land, and if I ever see him again, I''ll kill him," Reginald growled. He grabbed the sergeant and tossed him into the back of the hummer, and the military men quickly leave the land. Reginald then opens up the system shop, purchasing his land from the System for a thousand gold, then spending another two thousand to enclose it in a twenty-foot tall and ten-foot wide wall made of steel-reinforced-granite. Reginald nodded and headed back inside. *** Robert quietly slid into the back of the tavern and called his aunt, reporting on the incident. "Aunt, we need to have Sergeant Dulahan court martialed or at least removed from this area asap, considering he is showing extreme aggression towards non-humans, he murdered one of Reginald''s System Hirelings and will likely be killed by Reginald if he steps foot on his land again." "I see, yes that would be a problem. I will have orders sent to take him into custody for the murder of a civilian," Elinore answered calmly. "I need you to stay with Reginald and try to keep things from exploding in a dangerous way. Reginald has changed quite a lot from the boy I could scare into obedience." "Yes, Aunt." *** Reginald opened up the administrative settings and pursed his lips. He sighed and nodded, spending the mana to bring the drow butler back. The body of the butler disappeared, and a moment later he was whole, living and hale, standing on his feet by the receptionist. "Forgive me, I didn''t expect that they would attack, or I would have left orders to seal the place up until I got back. Anyways, I just officially purchased this land from the System and purchased a twenty-foot tall wall around it. I''m considering paying the system for enchanting it." The drow bowed deeply. "I should have been more wary when I heard those loud vehicles pull up. I do believe that it was their officer who shot me, after seeing how few ''humans'' there are in here." "Staff and Instructors, I would like to introduce you to my Guild, the Eternal Gamers. Gamers, these fine men, women, and beings of power are our Support Staff, Crafters, and Class instructors." Darkness skipped in and smiled brightly before heading over to the loli who looked like she was wearing her grandmother''s halloween witch''s hat. "Eternal Darkness, Loli sorceress and alchemist, reporting for training," she curtsied deeply. "It is an honor to have such highly skilled and talented instructors, and we would be honored if you would consider yourselves part of our numbers... I will be purchasing the official Guild Seal from the Temple tomorrow, and you are all welcome to join." The rest of the guild members went through introductions and a grand party was thrown that evening, everyone celebrating their upcoming training and membership in the guild. Chapter 14: Founding the Guild That evening, Darkness entered the Grand Temple and approached the center of the huge room, before dropping to a knee and bowing her head. She took a deep breath and started speaking with passion, "Lords and Ladies of the Pantheon, beings of great power, please forgive this one if you find either her or her request unworthy of your attention. I come asking for the right to establish the first official Adventurer''s Guild on Earth. My friends and I have been an official group for the past five years, and it was our Strategist, Hidden Leecher, who suggested I appeal to you all for an official sanctioning of the Guild. "We are not a group who will persecute others for their beliefs, as we feel it is the actions of a person, not their vocation or deity which proves the truth of whom they truly are, a valuable member of society or utter trash. The Governments of Earth will likely take a dim view of us, as we the majority of us aren''t Human, and most villains do the things they do because for one reason or another they believe they are doing the right thing. Leecher requested that I either form the Guild before we started to level up, or at least learn the requirements for forming a Guild. "I cannot promise that we will be heroes, as history is written by the victors once the defeated has been crushed to point where their viewpoint can easily be ignored, but I can promise that we will do our best we can to improve ourselves and honor the gods whom we represent. It is with great trepidation and hope that I await your answer, oh mighty ones." Darkness remained kneeling, with her head bowed and skirt spread around her, her nerves making her heart pound. She had reached the point in which all that happened next was at the behest of the gods around her. She had already done everything she could do with the help of Leecher to prepare. As she waited, the gods were having a conversation regarding the guild. Marlon smiled coldly to the other gods. "Borick and I are already the patron of the dungeon that is a member of this guild. Allow me to be the official patron of the Guild and set their rules... If you do, I will allow the full Guild''s Mana Donations to enter into the Pantheon''s combined well instead of my own. I wish to see if I can push them beyond anything we have seen before. Reginald made the first Overboss, let us use this as an excuse to make the first Overguild." Borick nodded. "I agree with Marlon on this one. If they truly are going to face the Lich who burned the World and Mana Trees and banished us to the far past, we should make requirements of them that will push them far beyond any other group in our oversight. They are also the most varied amongst the Guilds and Companies in the System and probably the most open about their beliefs." Over the course of the next few minutes, the deities voted unanimously to accept Marlon''s offer. Marlon then took his statue and descended the elevator and moved to stand before Eternal Darkness, a golden medallion in his palm. "Rise, Darkness. We have agreed to allow the formation of your guild early, and have requirements to place upon you and your members. The first requirement is that when someone joins the Guild, any levels that were not gained with Maximum Overlevel are removed, reducing them down to a minimum of Level One. The second requirement is that your guild will not be able to level outside of maximum overlevel. Your Guild will be the first Overguild. "The third requirement is that until a person passes the Brutal Difficulty Tutorial created by Reginald they will be considered a Trainee. I would prefer to see each of your guild clear the final of those Level Synchronized dungeons that Reginald made, but I am a reasonable man, and will understand if you cannot clear beyond the Eternally Damned difficulty, as even I am amazed by what Reginald has created. The final requirement will be that each and every member of your guild offers five percent of your mana recharge to the Pantheon. In return, all members of your Guild will receive 1 Tier Five Perk of their choice for joining and offering their considerate mana recharge." "Mighty Marlon, God of Overpower, we humbly accept your requirements and will do everything in our power to prove our worth to you and the Pantheon. As Guildmaster of the Eternal Gamers, I hearby make my own Tier Five Perk decision right now: I choose Enhanced Mana Recovery, Rank Five, increasing my mana regeneration to five times my Wisdom per second instead of being the standard of half my Wisdom per second. With this, I will also be offering more mana to the pantheon than would previously be granted and hope that this will show our willingness to work with the Pantheon," Darkness stated as she rose to her feet and accepted the Guild Medallion. The moment she touched the medallion, it glowed brightly and she received a notification she could not dismiss. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED AN OVERGUILD MEDALLION! MEMBERS OF THIS GUILD WILL BE UNDER DIVINE MANDATE! 1 - Only Maximum Overlevel levels remain. 2 - Can only level with Maximum Overlevel. 3 - Must Complete Level One Synchronization (Brutal) to advance beyond Trainee. 4 - Must offer Pantheon 5% of Mana Regen. Members of {Insert Name} Guild will receive: 1 Tier Five Perk 5% off System Purchases 5% increased Experience 5% increased Statistics 1 Resurrection Token Immunity to Damage in Guild Home Darkness quickly filled in the {Insert Name} with Eternal Gamers. She then bowed deeply as she confirmed her selection of her guild''s name and quickly confirmed her personal Tier Five Perk choice that she had informed Marlon she would choose. She quickly sent out guild invites, and checked out the Guild Information Screen. "Lord Marlon, how do we earn Levels for our Guild? Right now it says we are a Level 1 ''Overguild''... Also, what happens when the Guild Levels?" she inquired. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. "Well, you are not a normal Guild. Your Guild will gain experience only when your members cannot gain experience and it will funnel that experience into the guild. The Guild requires twenty times the standard guild experience to level, but with all of you working so hard on clearing those Level One Synchronization dungeons, I expect that to happen quickly. When your guild levels up, you will gain a Guild Perk, which can be used to increase the benefits for being in the guild, such as increasing the discount from the System, or increasing earned experience or statistics. You could even go so far as upgrading the immunity to damage in Guild Home to be immunity to damage on Guild Home World, with the exception being in dungeons. "Of course, since you are an Overguild, and we are requiring so much more of you than a standard guild, you''ll receive a total of five Guild Perks per level, in addition to the ones you have already started with. You can even buy bonus perks for your members with the Guild Perks. I am sure that Reginald will probably find a way to get you to abuse and break the system... Your current Overguild Membership Perks are equivalent to a total of ten Perks from other guilds, but unlike them, you have a harder time leveling and cannot purchase levels with gold." "Thank you very much, Lord Marlon," Darkness genuflected with a deep curtsy. "We shall do our best for the Pantheon." Marlon returned to the lift and rose to his floor, leaving Darkness to exit the Temple the way she entered. *** As Darkness sent out the invitations, she sent them in the order of seniority in the guild, and when she exited the Temple, she started sending invites to the trainers, crafters, and hirelings of the Guild Headquarters. She made an announcement before they join about the requirements placed upon their guild by Marlon. "We have been charged as the First Overguild. If you join, you will only have a level equal to all of your Maximum Overlevels," she expressed softly. Reginald smiled broadly as he accepted the invite and invited his primary form through his link, laughing when Darkness paled at the notification she received. GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} CONTROLS LEVEL 20 INFINITE DUNGEON! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} LEVEL UP! CURRENT LEVEL 2! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} LEVEL UP! CURRENT LEVEL 3! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} LEVEL UP! CURRENT LEVEL 4! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} LEVEL UP! CURRENT LEVEL 5! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} RECEIVES BONUS 5 GUILD PERKS FOR LEVEL 5! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} RECEIVES BONUS 5 GUILD PERKS FOR DUNGEON STATUS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS 30 GUILD PERKS! Reginald smiled at Darkness as they watch the Guild Experience continuing to rise as his Dungeon expends its current Experience to level the Guild. He winked at her. She quickly spent nineteen points to raise the Experience Boost to 100%, then spending nine points to increase the statistic increase to 50%. She then bought Increased Damage and Increased Defense at 5% each. "We have just received a massive boon from Reginald''s dungeon. Our Guild just raised to Level 5. With that, we also increased our Guild Perks. For those of you who use Mana, I would definitely recommend using the Tier Five Perk from joining our Guild to be Increasing your Mana Regeneration," Darkness stated. "We now have a 100% Experience Boost, 50% Stat Increase, 5% Damage and 5% Defense boost. We also have a 5% Discount when buying from the System Shop in the Temple. In addition to all of that, you shall receive one Resurrection Token, along with immunity to damage while in the Guild Hall. The downside is that until you complete the ''Brutal'' Difficulty of the Dungeon we are on, we cannot promote anyone above Trainee. When I complete it, I will automatically become the Guildmaster. Now that you know the benefits and detriments, you may choose to join or not." All of the members who came with her immediately joined without a second thought. The hirelings gathered together, and then after fifteen minutes, they also joined, raising the guild''s membership to over a hundred. Darkness shuddered as she watched the experience that all of the new members had earned previously being funneled into the Guild''s experience pool, raising them up to level 10! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS LEVELED UP! CURRENT LEVEL 10! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} RECEIVES BONUS 10 PERKS FOR OVER 100 MEMBERS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS 35 GUILD PERKS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} MAX BONUS INCREASED TO 200%! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO CRAFT CUBES! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO TAMER CUBES! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO MEDIC WARDS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO GUILD CASTLE! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO DEVIL FARMERS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO TAMER TRAINER! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO TAMER STABLES! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO TAMER KENNELS! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO MAGES LIBRARY! GUILD {ETERNAL GAMERS} HAS GAINED ACCESS TO MEDIC LIBRARY! The ground around the building rumbled, a grand mideval fantasy castle rising out of nothing, with the Eternal Gamers flag flying from the towers on the corners of the walls! Chapter 15: Tutorial Dungeon Part 1 - The Yuletide Forest Reginald entered the first of the Tutorial Dungeons, and blinked, realizing that he had set the dungeon to randomize the spawn point. "Shit... well, at least this is the beginner dungeon, which only went up to level five basic mobs with a boss of level seven and ten... Looks like we''ve spawned somewhere in the forest at the base of the mountain that the goblin camp exists in. At least as the creator, I know what to expect in this dungeon," he muttered to himself as he looked around, scanning for any threats. The forest was loud with birds, insects, and tiny mamals, including rabbits and squirrels. The trees and ground were heavy with snow, magical lights glittering in various colors all over the trees and bushes. He rolled his eyes as he realized he had gotten the Yule themed dungeon. "Oh, great, it dumped me in the random dungeon of Yuletide. I had to make the Tutorial slot for ''random'', didn''t I?" When building the dungeons, he had decided that it would be much more fun for everyone if the dungeon layout was random, with level appropriate challenges fitting the zone. As he was taking in the area around himself, his system notifications chimed. CHANGES HAVE OCCURRED BASED ON YOUR DEITIES! WELCOME TO THE WICKED OVERYULE FOREST! WARNING! SPECIAL CONDITIONS EXIST IN THIS DUNGEON! CONDITION: MAXIMUM OVERLEVEL! ALL MONSTERS HAVE LEVELED VIA MAXIMUM OVERLEVEL! MONSTERS IN THE YULETIDE FOREST RANGE FROM 5-7! ALPHA RABICORN DETECTED: LEVEL 8 ELITE! ALPHA SNOW OWL DETECTED: LEVEL 8 ELITE! ALPHA SNOW WOLF DETECTED: LEVEL 9 ELITE! WINTERBITE SPIDER QUEEN DETECTED: LEVEL 18 ELITE! MONSTERS IN THE GOBLIN VILLAGE RANGE FROM 7-10! GOBLIN CHIEF DETECTED: LEVEL 12 ELITE! MONSTERS IN THE SNOWBLIND MOUNTAINS RANGE FROM 10-15! YULETIDE GRINCH DETECTED: LEVEL 18 ELITE! MONSTERS IN THE NAUGHTY POLE RANGE FROM 15-20! NAUGHTY LITTLE HELPERS DETECTED: LEVEL 22 ELITE! NAUGHTY BIGGER HELPERS DETECTED: LEVEL 24 ELITE! DUNGEON CLEAR CONDITION: DEFEAT KRAMPUS LEVEL 25 BOSS! BONUS CONDITIONS: CLEAR THE FOREST 1 DEFEAT THE ALPHA RABICORN! CLEAR THE FOREST 2 DEFEAT THE ALPHA SNOW OWL! CLEAR THE FOREST 3 DEFEAT THE ALPHA SNOW WOLF! CLEAR THE CAVERNS DEFEAT THE WINTERBITE SPIDER QUEEN! CLEAR THE VILLAGE DEFEAT THE GOBLIN CHIEF! CLEAR THE MOUNTAINS! DEFEAT THE YULETIDE GRINCH! CLEAR THE POLE DEFEAT ALL HELPERS! A sudden sharp pain tore through the back of his calf as another message popped up. YOU HAVE SUFFERED DAMAGE! LEVEL 5 RABICORN USES PIERCING THRUST! RABICORN STRIKES HAMSTRING (CRITICAL DAMAGE 2X)! SNEAK ATTACK BONUS (3X)! DAMAGE RECEIVED 150 (PHYSICAL [165-140]x6) YOU ARE UNDER THE EFFECT: HOBBLED! HOBBLED: YOUR MOVEMENT IS REDUCED BY 20% FOR 10 SECONDS! CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR CLASS HAS BEEN ASSIGNED: BLUE MAGE! YOU HAVE LEARNED SKILL ''PIERCING THRUST''! "Gah! Ambushed by a Rabicorn! Damn it, I can''t believe I let my guard down like that! I can''t believe it took off over twenty percent of my health in one hit!" Reginald snarled as he wrapped mana around himself in a spherical shield to prevent another such strike against himself. He pulled out a weighted net from his waist as he received a message about the rabicorn being deflected by his barrier. He timed off four seconds and turned, throwing the net at where his back had been, catching the snow white rabbit with an ivory horn coated in his blood. COUNTERATTACK! LEVEL 5 RABICORN USES PIERCING THRUST! YOU COUNTER WITH WEIGHTED NET! YOU INFLICT 50 DAMAGE (PHYSICAL [70-20])! LEVEL 5 RABICORN IS TANGLED! TANGLED: YOUR MOVEMENT IS SEALED UNTIL EITHER THE END OF THE SPELL DURATION OR YOU HAVE A SUCCESSFUL STRENGTH CHECK TO CLEAR! The Rabicorn cried in anger and a bolt of lightning leaps from the horn into Reginald''s mana barrier. LEVEL 5 RABICORN USES STATIC DISCHARGE! ALL DAMAGE NEGATED BY SPHERICAL BARRIER! YOU HAVE LEARNED THE SPELL: ''STATIC DISCHARGE''! Reginald shook his head and knelt, watching the rabicorn struggle in the net. As he watched, he learned the player version of the Inspect skill, as well as watching it glow golden as it healed itself of the damage it had taken when it got tangled in the net. LEVEL 5 RABICORN USES MINOR HEAL! LEVEL 5 RABICORN IS HEALED FOR 50 HP! YOU HAVE LEARNED THE SPELL: ''MINOR HEAL'' Reginald smiled as he learned the spell, then pulled out a sword, aimed it at the heart of the rabicorn, and activated Piercing Thrust, thrusting through the rabicorn and into the ground, managing to pierce the heart on the way through. YOU HAVE USED PIERCING THRUST! YOU HAVE STRUCK LEVEL 5 RABICORN''S HEART! FATAL BLOW! LEVEL 5 RABICORN DIES! YOU GAIN 100 EXPERIENCE! Reginald nodded and pulled the sword free, and then lifted the net off the rabicorn. In dungeons, when a monster dies, it fades away into mana and will leave a loot bag, while out in the world you would either need to treat it naturally, or offer it up to your deity and they would replace it with a loot bag. Reginald quickly changed his settings so that he would only receive notifications of status effects, or learning a new skill or spell, with the exception of when his health dropped below twenty percent. He then touched the sack and smiled. YOU HAVE OBTAINED YOUR FIRST LOOT SACK! AS THIS IS YOUR FIRST LOOT DROP, YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE THE ABSOLUTE BEST RESULT FROM THE MONSTER LOOT! YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1 RABICORN PELT [PRISTINE]! YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1 RABICORN HORN [PRISTINE]! YOU HAVE RECEIVED 5 RABICORN MEAT [PRISTINE]! YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1 RABICORN FOOT [ID EQUIP]! YOU HAVE RECEIVED 1 RABICORN CORE [SUMMON]! Reginald frowned and shook his head, instructing his prmopts to stop being in all capitals before he pulled out the Rabicorn Core and examined it. Item: Rabicorn Core Type: Summon Usage of this item creates a Rabicorn Pet from the Mana of the user. This pet is considered a Battle Pet and requires either the primary class or subclass of Monster Tamer or Summoner to make the most of the pet. This Core is currently unbound and can be traded, sold, or stolen. Would you like to choose Summoner as your Subclass? Note: Adding a Subclass decreases the amount of experience you currently have and will receive by half. You cannot obtain new levels in your Primary Class until your Subclass reaches the level of your Primary Class. Yes / No Reginald shook his head and put the core back in his Inventory before selecting No as his answer to the prompt. He then pulled out the Rabicorn Foot pendant and equipped it. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Rabicorn Foot Slot: Pendant Type: Id Soulbound: Reginald Montgomery Durability: Indestructable Status: Level 1 (0/20,000) Luck +5 This soft fur pendant radiates good luck. He sighed and shook his head as he watched out of the corner of his eye another rabicorn preparing to attack him. In order to draw out the Alpha Rabicorn, he would need to kill fifteen of these fluffy balls of loot and experience. Reginald quickly countered it''s piercing thrust with the net as he had the first one, then followed it up with thrust to the pinned creature''s heart. He looted it. You have received 1 Rabicorn Pelt [High Quality]! You have received 1 Rabicorn Horn [High Quality]! You have received 2 Rabicorn Meat [Fatty]! He shook his head and smiled to himself as he headed towards the center of the forest and the Grand Yule Tree, where he has a chance to find a package known as the Yule Surprise. Of course, the Great Yule Tree has a lot of mobs around it, and not just the quest mobs either. There is also a chance of a mythic spawn of a Fenrir Cub. Regular mobs around the tree included rabicorn, frost fox, winter squirrel, silverfrost elk, snow wolf, polar panda, and snow owl. The rare spawns were the white tiger and winterbite spider. Holiday gnomes were quite common too, but they weren''t considered mobs since you could trade with them. As Reginald made his way through the forest, he would stop and collect some of the herbs needed for healing and mana potions for the members of the guild who took up alchemist as a trade option. He followed his previous method for killing the rabicorns that attacked him as he made his way towards the Yule Tree. By the time he arrived at the Yule Tree, he had learned a variety of abilities from the winter monsters. He looked over the list of the active abilities he learned from minor fights with a couple of wolves, foxes, and even a snow slime! You have learned ''Claw Swipe''! You have learned ''Bite''! You have learned ''Pack Howl''! You have learned ''Charge''! You have learned ''Snowball''! You have learned ''Frostbreath''! You have learned ''Icicle Dart''! You have learned ''Nut Bomb''! There was one extremely surprising notification he had received, after defeating a Rare Spawn of a Snowman Slime, Level 7 Elite monster. You have successfully gained the Slime''s Racial Ability: ''Absorb''! He pulled it up, sighing and shaking his head when he realized it was exactly the overpowered move it has been portrayed as in light novels all across the land. Absorb [Legendary] Level 1 [0/20,000] Cost: 250 Mana Absorbs the remains of a foe to have a chance at learning one of their abilities, skills, or spells. This can include racial or passive skills in addition to active. Current Chance 1% + [Luck/100]% He stopped at a clearing on the way to the Tree, seeing a Winter Goblin sitting on a wooden treasure chest and realizing he didn''t have any money in order to buy new weapons since he didn''t give himself any overpowered weapons before coming into the dungeon! He sighed and entered the clearing, the goblin jumping off the chest and banging the sword it is holding against the shield in its other hand. Level 7 Winter Goblin [Warrior] uses Challenge! You have been inflicted with the status effect: Taunted! Taunted: All damage done to all but the taunting creature is reduced by 90%. All damage done to the taunting creature is increased by 15%. You cannot build aggro with creatures other than the Taunting creature until this effect is over. Duration: 30 seconds. You have learned ''Challenge''! He shook his head and charged at the goblin while spinning the net and preparing it to throw. He launched the net as he avoided the swing of the goblin''s sword, and as he moved to attack the goblin he felt a sharp pain in his back. Level 7 Winter Goblin [Pickpocket] uses Backstab! Critical Hit! Damage received 300 [Physical [240-140]x3]! You are receiving this pop up because you have fallen to 200/500 Health! You have learned ''Backstab''! "FUCK!" He quickly cast the healing spell he learned from the rabicorn on himself as he thrust his sword into the netted goblin''s eye. "Of course there''s more than one..." He grunted as the goblin in front of him kicks him in the shin, which isn''t where it was aiming. He continued fighting and healing himself until he was the only one left, blood trickling from his open wounds before they sealed up under the minor healing spell. After he caught his breath, he saw that he had learned ''Goblin Punch'' (which turned out to be a Ro-sham-bo field goal kick toward''s the opponent''s genitals) and ''Pickpocket'' which has a chance to steal an item from a target''s inventory. He used Absorb on both of the goblin corpses, which liquified them as an invisible tendril treached down to the corpse to drain it completely. Sadly, neither goblin awarded him anything, but he did notice the counter on the ability was now at 2/20,000. He knelt down and inspected the chest, and once he saw it wasn''t trapped, he opened it and pulled out five gold coins and high quality short sword, as well as a note to himself. Dear Self, It appears we were stupid and went in without proper weaponry or any money. Here''s some spending cash and a better sword to increase our survival. Apparently, our Patrons have activated EVERY DAMN RARE SPAWN in the zone. At least that means we will have a chance to be extremely powerful by the time that we clear this dungeon. Also, congrats on the sweet ubercheat ability! Regards, Reginald Montgomery, [Hidden Leecher], Dungeon Core He burst out laughing as he equipped the short sword and continued to look around the clearing. He frowned and shook his head, before moving the treasure chest, revealing a hole that had been dug. "Never leave a clearing or room unsearched, and always make sure to move everything and tap on walls for secret hide aways..." He reached into the hole and pulled out a sack which had another thirty gold, and a couple of jewels, as well as a Ring with a +10 Health regen every second out of combat, which he quickly equipped. You have learned the skill ''Cache Detection''! He pulled up the tip for this new skill and chuckled. Cache Detection [Rare] Level 1 [0/200] You can sense a hidden item cache within 10 feet of yourself. Higher levels will increase distance and give a sense which direction to check in. With that, he kept his guard up as he walked out of the clearing and back into the forest heading towards the Yule Tree.