《The Morality System》 A Princess Rescued "It''s okay. I''m here to rescue you. I killed the guy who abducted you. He didn''t do anything sexual to you did he?" I said. She shook her head no. "Ok. Good. Well, I''m going to undo this chain. I got the key off the guy," I said. "Please don''t attack me when I undo this." She nodded. I undid the locks on the chain to give slack and then I undid the shackles. She took off the shackles and rubbed her wrists. [Good Deed committed! You rescued a woman] [Rewards incoming] [Choose an ability] [Muscle Builder: Build muscles and strength 10 times as fast as a normal person] [or] [Team Builder: Members of your party get stronger in whatever they pursue 10 times faster] [or] [Experience Plunder: Gain 10% of all future experience and stat increases gained by everyone within a mile radius] Oh, I immediately knew which ability I was going to choose. Experience Plunder of course! Now this was the golden finger I was hoping for! Besides it''s just 10%. It''s not like people are losing that much, but I''m gaining immensely from it. ''I choose Experience Plunder.'' [Skill granted. Dark aura increased by 20] ''Of course.'' "Why would you save me? How did you even know I was down here?" she said. "He had blood under his fingernails. I questioned him about it and knew he was lying, so I figured he hurt someone. He admitted it when we were fighting when he thought he was about to win," I said, lying. I''m not going to tell her about my system. I''m not telling anyone about that. "Oh. So you actually fought and killed a man, just because you suspected and then knew that he had kidnapped someone? Are you crazy? What about your life? Your safety?" She said. "I didn''t really consider that. Besides there''s not much of a life to consider. I woke up in the middle of the street with no memory of who I was or how I got there, and I had no money. I was going to starve to death on the streets, so why not die for a cause?" I said. "You''re a weird one. But a helpful one. I thank you for this kindness. I will soon repay it," she said. "How?" I said, raising my eyebrow. "Please don''t try to repay me in sexual favors because that would make me deeply uncomfortable." "No! In money and honors," she said. "I am a princess after all. That''s why I was abducted in the first place. I''ll take you to meet my father and he''ll pay you handsomely and probably even give you an award!" "Oh! That sounds nice," I said, in an uncertain tone. That didn''t sound anything like the kings I read about in history. Kings didn''t reward people for good deeds. They put them in dungeons. "Are you sure that''s what he''ll do?" "Why wouldn''t he? You saved my life!" she said. "Because kings don''t usually reward peasants. At best they''ll just send you on your way and say thank you. At worst, they''ll put you in a dungeon or kill you," I said. "He would never do that!" She said. ''If he did, would you defend me, or would you just watch it happen?'' I asked her with Soul Inquiry. ''I would defend you!'' Her soul said. "Ok, let''s go then," I said. I realized this meant I had to follow her out. What I wanted to do was check the basement for a hidden stash of money the baker might have had, but the princess probably wouldn''t like that, and I needed to stay on her good side.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. "Ok," she said. "I''ll follow you out." I showed her the way out. I put the body of the baker behind the counter. She shuddered when looking at it. I opened the front door and let her out, and then locked it behind me. She guided me this time. We went up a series of stairs and through a series of gates which always let her through once they realized who she was. We made our way to the castle at the top of the hill, overlooking the city. The guards tried to stop us at first because they didn''t recognize who she was. They just thought she was some dirty homeless peasant, but when she raised her voice at them and called them by name, they let us through. When we got to the throne room, she ran up to the king sitting in his throne and hugging him. She talked with him a bunch. I stayed back so I couldn''t hear much but from what I could hear, she just told him what happened and how I''d saved her. "Sir, what is your name?" The king said when he addressed me. He leaned forward and put an elbow on one knee. "Tom. Tom Ketchup, your majesty," I said. I made sure to bow. I didn''t know the customs here but that''s what I vaguely remembered you were supposed to do from history and movies. "Ketchup? I''ve never heard of that surname before. Where are you from?" He said. "I genuinely don''t know, your majesty. I woke up in the middle of the street today, dressed like this, and the only thing I could remember was that my name was Tom Ketchup," I said. I activated Soul Inquiry. ''Can you tell that I''m lying?'' ''No. You seem utterly sincere in everything you say.'' Oh yeah, the Absolute Sincerity ability. It made it so everyone believed that I believed everything I said. That was going to be so useful. "I''m sorry to hear that, Tom. However, for saving my daughter from that dastardly baker, who made really good bread, I will reward you with a sum of money and a medal of bravery. Also, assuming you don''t have a place to stay, you can stay in one of the guest bedrooms for now," he said. A guard came up to the king and handed him a sack of money and a medal. "Come here, so I can give you the money and place the medal on you," the king said. "Thank you, your majesty," I approached him. He handed me the sack of money which was far too heavy to put on my belt. Then he put the medal over my head and around my neck. It was a little chunky and heavy, but it fit just fine. Now I had to figure out what to do with myself. It was still the middle of the day. I couldn''t just go into my room and sleep. Maybe there was a place I could get new clothes and an adventurer''s guild where I could register as an adventurer. "There doesn''t happen to be an adventurer''s guild in this city is there? Also, do you know where I can get decent clothes? I look homeless," I said. "Yes, you do look quite homeless. But you are homeless, are you not?" The king said. "Yes, Your Majesty, but I don''t want to look like it," I said. "I suppose that makes sense," he said. "Yes, there is an Adventurers Guild nearby and a decent tailor. Abigail. Please escort our new guest to the tailor and the Adventurers Guild." "Yes, father," she said. "Come, Tom. I will show you the way." As we walked away from the castle, I could hear the sounds of guards training in the yard. As I clenched my fist, I realized I felt slightly stronger than just a second ago. And then the next second was the same feeling. That must have been the Experience Plunder ability at work. I wondered if it was something I could turn off if it got to be too much. I didn''t want to be a massive hulk of muscle walking around and getting stuck in doorways. [You can turn off Experience Plunder''s effects whenever you want. You can also toggle off specific effects so that you don''t lose out on its other beneficial traits. As to your concern about becoming too large, you can choose how large you get and still gain strength after that without gaining size] ''Really? Well, that certainly eases my concern. Thank you.'' [You are welcome] I visualized a size I was ok with becoming. ''That''s the maximum size I want to be.'' [Noted and input] ''Thanks.'' "So, Tom, do you have a class?" Abigail said. "A what?" I said. I had seen the class stat on my status screen, but I didn''t expect her to know about that. "A class. It dictates the kind of fighter you would be if you chose to become an adventurer. Everyone chooses one at the age of 18. But you seem a little older than 18 so I figured you must have one by now," she said. "How do I find out if I have a class? Also, if everyone has a class, wouldn''t that make everyone adventurers?" I said. "You pull up your status screen by thinking ''Status''. And no. Not everyone wants to be an adventurer. It''s a very dangerous occupation. And not everyone even has the potential. If your potential is below F tier then you are not allowed to become an adventurer," she said. "Oh," I said, I closed my eyes pretending to pull up a status screen. I didn''t pull mine up because I had already seen it. "Ok, I have it pulled up. It says my class is unassigned." "Oh, so you haven''t chosen a class yet. Interesting. Well, you''ll get to choose one at the Adventurers Guild. But first, we need to get you some clothes," she said. We went to the tailor and tried on different fabrics and cuts of clothes. Abigail ran the whole thing. I wanted to try something more noble-looking, but she said only nobles could look like nobles. Then I said, I wanted to look like a knight, and she said only knights can dress like knights. We kept doing this on down the list, until she said, "We can dress you like a scholar. No one will object to that." "Fine, let''s do that," I said, exhausted. She picked me out a form-fitting dark blue robe with red accents and a red cape. I didn''t know what scholars dressed like this. To me, I looked like a dark mage, but she thought it made me look handsome, so that''s what we went with. The red cape highlighted my dark red hair, she said. Oh, yeah. I have red hair. I figured it was related to the system naming me ''Ketchup''. It must have thought it was really funny. [I do, actually, yes] ''Wow.'' After picking out clothes that made me look like an edge lord, we made our way to the Adventurer''s Guild. When we walked in, no one was dressed like me. I felt so out of place. There were warriors, rogues, and even mages, but no one was wearing dark colors like mine. Everyone was dressed in either earth tones like brown and green, or bright colors. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Then again, she wasn''t dressed like anyone else either. She wore a bright pink dress with gold accents. No one else was wearing pink. So I kind of understood why I didn''t look like anyone else either. She had weird taste. We walked up to the front counter and a nice woman with a bright smile said, "How can I help you today?" "We would like to register as adventurers, and he doesn''t have a class yet, so we''d like to assign him one. Checking his potential too would probably be a good idea," Abigail said. "Ok. Step right over here," the woman came out from behind the counter and walked into the middle of the room with all the adventurers. There was a glowing orb on a pedestal that I hadn''t noticed before right in the center of the room. "Why is it in the center of the room? Couldn''t we do this in a more private place?" I said. "Why would we? This way all the adventurers get to react and judge your class choice!" She said, cheerfully. "That sounds like a bad thing," I said. "It''s not!" She said, smiling. "Oook. Let''s do this, then," I said. Then I turned to the princess. "Why are you registering as an adventurer?" "Because my dad never let me before. But he can''t stop me if I''m already here, can he?" She said. "Checkmate!" She made some weird hand motions in the air as emphasis to what she said. It made me think she was throwing up some weird fantasy version of gang signs. "Couldn''t he just make you unregister?" I said. "You can''t unregister. Once an adventurer, always an adventurer," she said. She threw up her weird gang signs again. "Couldn''t he just not let you leave the castle?" I said. "If he did that, I''d beat him up with my magic powers, which I''m going to get," she said, throwing up more weird gang signs. "Wow. You''re a really different person than I thought you were," I said. It was kind of hot, in a goofy way. "What, did you think I was going to be a normal prissy princess?" She said. "Uh, yeah. Obviously," I said. "Well, I''m not," she said, she threw down her gang signs so hard this time that she knocked herself off balance and fell off her heels. She put her hand up and said, "I''m ok!" First Dungeon We found Sally downstairs making breakfast. She gave us something to eat and then sent us on our way to our mercenary jobs. It turns out we would be working together. As dungeon porters. Porters, if you don''t know, haul supplies into the dungeon and haul loot out of the dungeon. They aren''t supposed to do any fighting. Just carrying. That''s the job we were stuck with. It made sense though. We had no real monster-fighting experience unless you count the baker. We went into a dungeon that the mercenaries controlled. It was cleverly hidden out of sight by a wall that looked like a rock wall, but it could be opened and closed. This dungeon, like most, but not all dungeons in this world, had a respawn rate. The respawn rate of this dungeon was daily. So the mercenaries could come here every day, gain experience by killing all the enemies, and then loot the place. This dungeon was supposed to be an abandoned beast-infested crystal mine. So we would encounter all kinds of magical beasts until we either died or defeated the boss at the bottom of the dungeon. The entrance to the mine was well-lit and had a lot of crystals growing from the floor. Henry, the leader of the mercenaries, said, "Don''t pick up any of these crystals. They''re junk compared to the stuff we''ll find further in." We followed a path that seemed to be designed for us. Every so often there was a junction where tunnels branched off, but all of them except one were always collapsed, so we only had one way to go. After not too long, we ran into our first enemies, giant rats. Henry, Lloyd, and Stu were all warriors. They took the rats head-on and cut them down one by one while making sure to not let any past them so they couldn''t get to us. I wanted to fight so bad, but that wasn''t what we were being paid to do. But you never knew, in these kinds of situations, sometimes the porters end up having to fight, run, or die. I was hoping it would be the first one. After all the rats had been dispatched, we all cut the cores out of their bodies. They were quite small. About the size of a large marble. They glowed and radiated energy. "Don''t pop any of those cores. Those aren''t for us. Those are for paying customers, ok?" Henry said. "Yes, sir," I said, as I stuffed another core in one of my bags. I was carrying four mostly empty bags to fill with cores and loot. That extra muscle I gained overnight was going to be useful. As we walked one or two bats that had crystals growing on their bodies would attack us. Henry would slice them out of the air like they were annoying flies. Abigail and I used the knives that Henry had given us to remove the cores from the bats. We talked as we walked. Henry and Abigail switched off between explaining how the cores worked to me. Cores gave the person who absorbed them stats. Monster and beast cores added one of the four stats, strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence. It started with monster and beast cores which only gave one type of stat per core. The amount of stats per core went by size. Tiny cores, like from the bats and giant rats, gave 2 to 3 stat points. Small cores gave 4 to 5 stat points. Medium cores gave 6 to 7 stat points. Large cores gave 8 to 10 stat points. Huge cores, like from mini-bosses and bosses gave 11 to 50 stat points. Enemies would also sometimes drop loot, depending on the enemy and the dungeon. Stu and Lloyd who seemed to be good friends, were walking ahead of us and chatting about their families and kids. I didn''t use Soul Inquiry on any of the mercenaries because I just had a feeling they weren''t bad people. They might have committed a crime or three, but that didn''t make them evil. Once we got a certain way in, wolves appeared to block our way and try to take bites out of us. Henry ran up to join Lloyd and Stu who were in the lead. They took out the wolves as a team. Lloyd would injure one and Stu would finish it off, and vice versa. Henry was in a league of his own. He must have had a higher-tier potential than Lloyd and Stu because he was taking down wolves in a single strike every time. Once they were finished, we retrieved the cores and carried on. Henry told me that Lloyd and Stu were D-rank warriors and he was a C-rank warrior. You were ranked by your potential and not your current growth or ability, so things could get a little confusing. An inexperienced and low-stat A-rank adventurer could lose to an experienced C-rank adventurer who had popped more cores and built up his stats. For that reason, rank wasn''t as well regarded as reputation, but it still factored into what people thought you were capable of.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. There just wasn''t a reliable way to rank people based on their current stats and experience. That said, the potential ranks weren''t useless. People with higher potential could absorb more stats from a core than low-potential people, so after a few dungeons, most people fell into a general range around their potential ranks. Lloyd, Stu, and Henry may have had a much lower potential than Abigail and I, but they were very experienced and had absorbed many cores. They were the real deal when it came to clearing dungeons of this danger rating. "This is a blue-rated dungeon, which means it can be completed by a party of 4 to 6 with a mixture of C and D rankings. We''re running with only three because we''re very experienced and we stop before the boss. We''d need a larger and higher ranked group to take down the boss without any casualties and in this business, like in most businesses, you can''t afford casualties," Henry said. "There are green, blue, yellow, orange, red, purple, and black dungeons to anyone''s knowledge, in increasing difficulty. I''ve heard rumors of rare different-colored dungeons, but if you ever come across one, I''d suggest you turn back. They''d likely be harder than black dungeons and black dungeons are only for S-ranks and above." Oh, right. Sally never told them our potential ranks, which might''ve saved our lives. You could get killed over a high potential from jealous and angry lower-ranked adventurers. You could even get killed by higher-ranked adventurers for that. They didn''t need the extra competition. "Thanks. We''ll keep that in mind," I said. "By the way, I''m curious, what potential rank are you two?" Henry asked. "F," I said. "D!" Abigail said nervously right after. Henry could tell Abigail was lying, but he couldn''t tell with me because of my ability, despite my poor acting. Henry looked at Abigail and said, "You don''t have to worry about me. I wouldn''t gut you for having a high potential, but saying low is a good instinct. There are some pretty nasty people out there." "Thanks," Abigail said. Crystals on the walls and floor glowed as we made our way through the tunnels. At this level, there were multiple paths and only a few of them got you where you wanted to go. We had to turn back a few times because we had walked into dead ends. I asked Henry why they didn''t have the way memorized and he said it was because the path changed every time the dungeon respawned. We kept walking until a massive club came down, crushing Lloyd who didn''t see it coming. A troll stepped out from behind a wall. The troll lifted its club off the crushed body of Lloyd. I thought they had really high stats. What happened? Stu rushed to Lloyd''s side, but the troll stepped on Lloyd and tried to smash Stu. So Stu had to retreat. "Can I fight?" I yelled to Henry. "No!" Henry yelled. "Just stay back!" Stu and Henry tried to fight the troll but their attacks barely hurt it. They just weren''t strong enough. The only chance we had was my automatic crit ability. The troll slammed its foot on the ground, shaking it, and knocking Henry and Stu onto their backs. The troll pulled back its club to smash Henry and I couldn''t just stand back and watch anymore. I put my hand out and formed a bone spike in the air. I aimed it at the troll''s head and fired it. [Auto Crit on Evil activated] The bone spike redirected slightly in midair and plunged into the troll''s eye and its brain. The troll kind of just stood there dying, but its club arm came down anyway. Just as the club was about to pulverize Henry, a large bubble came out of nowhere and attached itself around part of the club. When the club impacted against Henry, the bubble made it just bounce off and fall to the side. The troll fell forwards finally and Henry scrambled out of the way of its body. I looked back at Abigail and she was holding her hands out. She had sent the bubble. I guess her magical power was bubbles? Did that make her a bubble witch? Whatever she was, she had saved Henry''s life. I grabbed her and went to hug her, but she went for a kiss so we kind of just smacked faces together. Then I realized what she was trying to do and I kissed her back. Then I remembered Lloyd and broke the kiss. I looked back and ran over to where Lloyd was lying. Stu and Henry were already standing there, looking down. I wondered why they weren''t doing anything until I saw his body. Yeah, there was nothing they could do for him because he was already dead. "What the hell, happened?" I said. "I thought this part of the dungeon was supposed to be safe?" "Yeah, that troll wasn''t supposed to be so far up in the dungeon. Trolls aren''t supposed to show up until near the bottom," Henry said. "Yeah, but I thought you guys could make it to the bottom! Just not the boss room," I said. "That may have been a little exaggerated," Stu said glaring at Henry. "We go to the floor before the floor that''s before the boss, grab all the crystals we can, and then high tail it out of here." "How did you kill that troll? That was pinpoint precision. That''s impossible for a new guy. Have you really never been in a dungeon before?" Henry said to me. "Yes," I said. "You going to say anything more than ''yes''?" Henry said. "No," I said. "Ok!" Henry said. "What about you young lady? How did you do that bubble thing?" "Instinct," Abigail said. "It''s my only spell so I used it." "Makes sense to me," I said. "Ok, well, apparently we have two dungeon geniuses on our hands! Let''s take Lloyd''s body and get out of here! The dungeon run is over!" Henry said. "No! Shouldn''t Lloyd''s family get compensation for his death?" I said. "They should, but they won''t," Stu said. "Why not?" I said. "The company doesn''t insure deaths. It''s called assumed risk. The employee takes responsibility for the risk inherent in the job. Meaning, it''s your fault if you die. Not the company''s," Henry said. "That''s bullshit," I said. "His family should get something as compensation." "The company won''t do it," Henry said. "What if I do it?" I said. "What if you do what?" He said. "What if I compensate his family? The company can''t prevent that, right?" I said. "No, but where would you get the money for that? You''re a dungeon porter because you have no money," Henry said. "That''s why anyone is a dungeon porter." "You said, this dungeon run is a wash, right? If you bring Lloyd''s body back, the company will accept the loss, right?" I said. "Uh, yeah. What''s your point?" Henry said. "Well, then the company can''t take any of the loot I bring back if Abigail and I complete the dungeon ourselves," I said. "As long as you tell the company the whole thing was a wash, they won''t know or suspect we kept any loot to ourselves." "You''ll never get out of there alive, but if by some miracle, you do, I will not tell the company and neither will Stu. Isn''t that right, Stu?" Henry said. "That''s right," Stu said. I activated Soul Inquiry. ''Are you telling the truth?'' I asked Henry''s soul. ''Yes,'' it said. ''Are you telling the truth?'' I asked Stu''s soul. ''Yes,'' it said. ''Will you deliver the loot to Lloyd''s family if I give it to you?'' I said to Henry''s soul again. ''Yes, but I''ll pocket a couple of the crystals. I have a family to feed too you know?'' Henry''s soul said. ''That''s fine,'' I said. "Ok, then leave the dungeon and wait at the entrance for however long you think it would take for us to complete it and come back. Maybe two hours?" I said. "Sure, but when you don''t show up after two hours, you''re on your own, even if you''re somehow still alive," he said. "Ok," I said. I turned and started to walk away. "Abigail. Let''s go." "Wait!" Henry said. "What?" I said. "There should be a platform at the bottom that will send you back to the entrance after you kill the boss," Henry said. "Good luck." "Thanks," I said and started walking farther down into the mine with Abigail trailing behind me. It was only a few minutes before another troll showed up, but at least this one announced its presence with a roar. Family Compensation Plan I shot a bone spike vaguely in the direction of the troll getting ready to attack us and my crit skill activated. The spike redirected and shot into the troll''s heart. It fell over dead. I opened the pack I was carrying. Henry wouldn''t know or care that I used the cores we gathered before I went further into the dungeon. I looked for an intelligence stat one. Intelligence cores were yellow. A couple of the tiny ones were yellow. I looked at one and thought about inspecting it. Information was pulled up about it. [Intelligence core (Tiny)] [Core Value: +3 Intelligence] Now, I remembered Henry saying something about how cores gave different ranked people a different amount of their base value. It went like this: [F-Rank: 0.5x core value] [D-Rank: 0.8x core value] [C-Rank: 1x core value] [B-Rank: 1.2x core value] [A-Rank: 1.5x core value] [S-Rank: 2x core value] [SS-Rank: 3x core value] [SSS-Rank: 5x core value] I didn''t know how many times the base stats N-Tier potential would give me, but I knew it was more than 5 times. I squeezed the core slightly in my hand and focused on absorbing its stats. The core popped and the yellow light flowed into my hand and up my arm. [You have absorbed a +3 Intelligence core. N-Tier 10x multiplier applied. +30 Intelligence (130)] Nice. With this level of absorption, I could level up my stats incredibly fast with very few cores. I was going to absorb all of them and get as strong as I could. Well, I was going to absorb half of them. Abigail deserved half of them as well. I took a large-sized core that Abigail gathered from the first troll. It was red. That meant strength. I tried to absorb it and it popped. [+10 Strength core (large). Non-Primary Stat. 10% absorption. N-tier absorption bonus: 10x. 100% absorption. You have gained 10 strength (130)] ''I appreciate all that information, but could we summarize it next time?'' [Yes] ''Thanks.'' "Abigail. You should absorb all the cores in your bag. I''ll absorb all the cores in mine. Then we can continue on," I said. "Ok, Tom," she said. She started absorbing the cores in her bag. I dug the core out of the troll I''d just killed and threw it to Abigail since I took the first troll core. There was an even amount of strength, agility, stamina, and intelligence cores. Altogether I gained 10 more strength (140), 25 agility (145), 22 Stamina (142), and 200 intelligence, including the first core I popped (300). I could feel the enhanced stats. Even the increased magical power and mana supply due to my higher intelligence. Intelligence dictated your maximum mana pool and the power of your spells. Your potential dictated how much of a core''s stats you absorbed and how quickly you mastered new skills/spells in your primary stat. Abigail''s and my primary stat was intelligence, but a warrior''s would be strength and a rogue''s would be agility. Your potential also dictated how quickly you gained experience and leveled up. Experience gained worked on the same scale as core absorption rates according to rank potential. Everyone could only absorb 10% of a core''s value in their non-primary stats, which then got multiplied by their rank absorption rate. So instead of getting 10 times the stats from non-intelligence cores, I only got a measly 100% of their stats. Normally, because of this -90% core absorption penalty, most adventurers had to train their non-primary stats, through either weight lifting for strength, agility training for agility, cardio for stamina, or learning for intelligence. You could learn anything as long as it was challenging and expanded your mind. But with my ridiculously high core absorption rate multiplier, I could bypass the need for training. And then I got to take 10% of the stats gained from training from everyone within a mile radius with Experience Plunder. I was going to be dangerous as hell, very quickly. And so was Abigail. A 3x core absorption multiplier is nothing to laugh at either. We started picking up crystals as we came across them. There was a lot to pick up. My strength was reasonably enhanced by this point so I would be able to manage all four bags I''d come with but Abigail was using a different method. With her now core enhanced intelligence, her bubbles could hold significant amounts of weight and stay floating. And she could put her hands through the surface of the bubble and place things inside it. So she had a decent sized bubble that she was just filling with crystals of all colors and shapes and sizes. I''m sure part of this dungeon''s challenge was to discern the valuable crystals from the non valuable ones and only take those, to prevent yourself from becoming overloaded. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. But that wasn''t a problem for us. We were just stashing everything we saw. The only things that were far too large to take with us were the massive clubs the trolls used as weapons. We came to a flooded area that had giant spiders with crystals attached to them on the other side. Instead of wading or swimming through that and then getting attacked on the other side, I figured I''d see how much my bone spike ability had improved. When I summoned a spike it was 3 times the size of the original and when I fired it, it fired 3 times as fast, which was really fast. These spiders weren''t evil, so I didn''t get auto crits on them. I just kept firing large spikes into their bodies until they died. You''d think they''d run away after getting attacked, they acted a lot like video game enemies. They just got mad and tried to find a way around the water. Which, you''d think they''d crawl on the ceiling, but for whatever reason they didn''t. "Do you have anything for this? Cuz I don''t," I said to Abigail. "I might be able to do something," she said. She started shooting out bubbles at the water. They landed on the water and semi merged with it, but didn''t pop. She kept doing it until there was a thick multi bubble layer of bubbles floating on the water. She put her foot on one of the bubbles to test it, and it held. She carefully walked across to the other side. It looked like the bubbles were going to pop any second, but I kept reminding myself they weren''t regular bubbles. They were magic bubbles. Magic bubbles could do whatever they wanted to do. I carefully walked across to the other side. I remembered that I didn''t just have the bone spike ability. I had two others that I hadn''t used yet, which I probably should have. One was Bone Sense, which allowed me to sense bones. That would have been really helpful against the troll, Tom! You idiot! The other was bone armor, which let me create a suit of bone armor around myself. Because bone was relatively light, it still counted as light armor even though it was full coverage. I just didn''t make a helmet, because I wanted to see. Once I had finished creating my bone armor, which looked really cool as it formed, I activated Bone Sense. I noticed there were several bones over the ridge of the tunnel. I warned Abigail about the bones, and we stepped over the ridge. There was a group of bears with crystals on them at the bottom of a decline. They immediately noticed us and began running at us, roaring. I summoned my bone spikes and kept shooting the one in front, but the bastard wouldn''t go down. It got within 20 feet of us and then Abigail shot a bubble at it. This was different than her protective bubbles. It shot out fast and hit the bear in the face, even knocking it back a few feet. The bear shook its head and roared as the other bears ran around it toward us. Abigail shot 4 more bubbles of the same kind and knocked those bears back too. She kept firing and firing, keeping the bears at bay, until I realized I should be fighting too. I shot dozens of bone spikes deep into the bear''s hides until they were soaked in blood. After a good few minutes of continuous barrage, we finished off the bears. "Good job!" I said. "You too!" she said jumping up and down. "Can we kiss again, because I kind of liked that." "Yeah. We can," I said. Now that we were out of the life threatening situation, I realized I was nervous about kissing a girl. I hadn''t really thought about it before but now I was. I steeled my nerves, leaned in, and kissed her again. It was simple and nice. She had really soft lips. [You have leveled up! You are now level 2!] [Oh and you defeated evil again! Rewards incoming] [Calculating rewards] ''Did you forget that I defeated evil?'' [No. My response was just delayed] ''Isn''t that just another way of saying you forgot?'' [Nope. No, it isn''t] ''You seem less and less like a system and more and more like a person the more we interact.'' [Would that be a problem?] ''Not necessarily. I don''t know. I''ll have to get back to you on that.'' [You do that] [Your rewards have been calculated] [You have reached Level 2] [You have gained a new ability: Weapon Formation] [Weapon Formation: Can form basic weapons out of bones, such as crude hammers, daggers, and spears] [Bone Spike ability upgraded. You can now form and launch up to 3 spikes at a time] ''Nice. Thanks.'' [I''m not done! You have defeated two minor evils. For that you get to choose two minor abilities] [Happiness Giver: People will temporarily become 10% happier a minute after they finish interacting with you for the first time. They will have no idea you were the cause of their happiness] or [Happiness Beneficiary: You will temporarily become 10% happier every time you interact with a new person] or [Happy Meetings: You and the other person will both temporarily become 5% happier every time you interact with a new person] This one was easy for multiple reasons. I knew which one I could get good karma or whatever for choosing, and I didn''t like the idea of my emotions being manipulated every time I met a new person. ''I choose Happiness Giver.'' [Granted. -5 Dark Aura (35)] [Next reward choice] [Multiplied Generosity: When you gift someone money for the first time, they receive 3 times the amount you gifted them] or [Greedy Recipient: When someone gifts you money for the first time, you receive 3 times the amount] or [Improved Commerce: Goods and services are 5% cheaper] Since I''m literally doing so I can gift Lloyd''s family, money, the obvious choice here is the one that will multiply that gift by 3. ''I choose Multiplied Generosity.'' [Granted. -5 Dark Aura (30)] ''Thanks.'' I remembered we hadn''t dug the cores out of the spiders. We dug the cores out of the bears first and went back for the spiders. We needed as many stats as we could get if we were going to defeat the boss. I divided the cores up between the two of us and we popped them. I got 20 strength (160), 10 agility (155), and 100 intelligence (400). My intelligence was shooting up! I had confidence that once we made it to the bottom, I''d be able to blow away whatever the boss was. There were more crystals to collect around us so we did that before moving on. The crystals were glowing brighter as we got further down in the mine and they started looking clearer too. Less cloudiness in the body of the crystal. [Amplification crystal: Rare quality] Interesting. I wondered how it worked. Maybe it worked like the cores. I squeezed it with the intent to absorb it and it popped just like the crystals. [Magic Amplification: 1.2x] Nice. Good to know. I would have to save a few for the boss battle. The ones down below probably had better amplification values, because the areas were more dangerous. So I waited until I picked up the ones right before the boss. I picked up a yellow crystal and the system said: [Speed Crystal: Uncommon] The speed crystals must have been more powerful than the amplification crystals. That''s why it had lower quality. After that, I found some crystals that had no classification at all. [Crystal: Rare] We came to a point where the mine cart track was collapsed over and the only way down was a ladder leading down a dark hole. "Hey, Abby. By any chance, do your bubbles give off light?" I said. "I don''t know. Let''s see," Abby said. She shot several bubbles down the hole into the dark and they lit up the tunnel down some. "Huh. I guess they do." "Nice," I said. "Let''s go down." We climbed down the ladder to the level below. We came out into a brightly lit natural cave filled with luminescent crystals. They were all different colors. I went to grab a pretty big one when a huge chunk of the crystals moved and stood up, revealing that it was a crystal golem. Sharp objects like my spikes weren''t going to do anything to this guy. They would just glance off his hard angular body. Then another golem stood up out of the crystals and another. Once they were done introducing themselves as enemies, there were 6 of them. I had to think of something fast. Nothing sharp would work. If that was the case, then should make something that''s not sharp. I could form crude weapons now, so I formed a large basic club and swung it at this dude''s leg. It cracked. Good. That was progress. Now I just needed to hit that spot again. The golem didn''t just stand there though. He lifted both fists and went to slam them down on me. A large bubble went over each fist and they bounced off me. There was still a decent amount of force to them, but it was significantly reduced. "Thanks, Abby," I said. "You''re welcome," she said. With his fists dealt with, I swung at the golem''s leg again. It shattered and he fell over with a loud thud. He tried getting up, but he couldn''t. He was too heavy and awkwardly built. So I ran up to his head and swung the club down on it. It cracked, so I swung again. It cracked more, so I swung again. It shattered to pieces and the golem''s crystals went dim and still. I had defeated one of them! Now just 5 more to go. I looked back to see Abby barely fending off the crystal golems. She kept knocking them on their asses with her combat bubbles. The bubbles weren''t hard enough to cause any damage though. I rushed up and used the same strategy as before but this time, I wanted to ground all 5 of the remaining golems before going for the kill shot. I shattered their legs to pieces with my club while dodging and running in between their slow moving legs. Once they were on the ground, I smashed their heads in. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sighed in relief. There were no more enemies in this room. We spent some time collecting the rarest and highest quality looking crystals. [You have leveled up! You are now level 3] [Your Bone Armor is now self-repairing!] [Your Bone Sense''s range has doubled!] ''Nice.'' We also made sure to get the crystal golems'' cores. It was exhausting work smashing through their chests but it would probably be well worth it. The cores we pulled out of them were huge. When I popped mine, they were all stamina cores. I got 42 stamina (184) all in all. After Abby popped her cores, and we''d collected all the valuable looking crystals, we walked down a long cave tunnel with mine carts and mining tools pushed to the sides of the tunnel. There was a loud clank as I stepped on something hard. I heard a crunch sound and looked down at the massive bear trap that was clamped around my leg all the way up to the thigh. "Tom!" Abby said. "Don''t worry! I''m fine! My armor stopped it," I said. My bone armor had stopped the bear trap from slicing into me. I pried the bear trap open slipped my leg out and let it slam shut again. I looked at my leg and saw the chipped areas on the bone armor heal over. That was close. Now we just needed to navigate around all the other bear traps laid all over the floor of this cave tunnel going forward as far as I could see.