《System Antithesis [LitRPG, Apocalypse]》 Chapter 1 Chapter 1. The Arcadia slid into the dimension, calmly reasserting its existence in the plane of existence from which it had first launched sixty-eight thousand years ago. It quietly and calmly scanned its source planet, a blue-green jewel. And it paused to find the world not only inhabited, for that had been theorized as likely, but inhabited by billions of souls living in semi-advanced societies. With a quiet methodical nature, it spent six days in orbit, noting that it was being bombarded with radar and other measurements from the objects that the primitives had launched into orbit. It had no doubt that it was being observed by the people on the surface. It had never had any intention of hiding from them. Finally, it reached the end of its investigation and pulled from his cryosleep the captain of the Arcadia. The Titan Erandius awoke, pulled himself out of the cryostasis pod, and began to dress. ¡°What is it?¡± the titan asked the ship. ¡°An inhabited world is in the path of the antithesis,¡± the Arcadia answered. ¡°We are being called to service to ensure that as many of the population survives as possible.¡± ¡°Average level of the current population?¡± Erandius asked. ¡°Zero. Non-system integrated.¡± ¡°Primitives then,¡± he muttered. ¡°Do they at least¡ª¡± ¡°Not quite primitives,¡± Arcadia corrected, and began showing him holographic data of the cities that it had been observing, of the media that it had been pulling from the airwaves showing a high level of sophistication. ¡°Oh,¡± Erandius said as he processed the data, entire databases streaming by in seconds as he absorbed days of observation in moments. ¡°Well then, that complicates things. I recognize this world.¡± ¡°You should. You were born here,¡± Arcadia said. ¡°So was I.¡± ¡°The Antithesis left survivors of the first wave,¡± Erandius said, ¡°And they were abandoned by the fleet for millennia. But no longer. Come, Arcadia. Let us welcome our cousins back into the light. Even if the only purpose of the act is to show them the terrors that have been hiding just out of sight. I shall act as Prometheus this time, and with the fire of the gods shall these poor souls push back the night.¡± ¡°Stop pretending to be poetic,¡± Arcadia scolded. Erandius grinned, and he sat in the command cradle as he pulled up a mug of stimulants and began to go to work. ~~~~~~~ ¡°The object¡¯s presence has been confirmed by amateur and professional astronomers alike,¡± the reporter on television was saying in the background as Eli chewed his cereal. He suddenly froze and looked at the television, then pulled out his phone. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s mainstream now?¡± he asked as he searched the major news networks. He was one of those amateurs who had pointed the telescope his father had given him up at the flashing object just to confirm that it wasn¡¯t a satellite. It was too big. Eli had nerded out with a few other geeks online and done the measurements and calculations to figure out how big it was, and the answer was ¡°it¡¯s the size of one of the greek islands.¡± Now, this was a pretty big screwup for NASA and other organizations for something to get through their monitoring system, but then again the thing was also clearly manmade, or at least it would appear that way to anyone with a telescope.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. But when he had checked whether school was canceled, or whether there were any emergency measures being issued, all he had found was that airplanes were being grounded and a general travel advisory. School and daily life wasn¡¯t supposed to be interrupted by the aliens showing up, he guessed. So he¡¯d gotten dressed like normal, but now as he searched for new articles on the object which had captured his imagination he was tempted to skip. Eli¡¯s relationship with school was ¡­ complicated. He wasn¡¯t a delinquent. He didn¡¯t do or sell drugs. His grades were pretty good, although he didn¡¯t try hard enough to make them really good. He just had trouble connecting with most of his classmates. His mother had sent him to counseling for it in middle school because she¡¯d thought he should have more friends, and his counselor had taken her money and effectively told him that if he wanted to be a social butterfly that he¡¯d have to put the effort into it. Eli had decided that he didn¡¯t want to be a social butterfly, and so he hadn¡¯t put the effort into it. That was fine by the therapist¡¯s way of thinking, she got paid by the hour. But his mother had been expecting a teen more like what she remembered from her own days. Instead she got the sort of kid who joined the astronomy club. Which hadn¡¯t been a thing, but was now. Because she had insisted that he join at least one club, so he¡¯d photoshoped a flier for a fake club and it had gotten stuck in the printer and a teacher had seen it and now it was a real thing. Eli sighed and checked the texts from that friend group, but he was the only one with an actual telescope that could be used to look at near-earth objects. Not very well, of course, but he¡¯d used it for satellite spotting before. And general astronomy, of course. His mother swooped into the kitchen, grabbed a granola bar, kissed him on the cheek, and was gone in three minutes. He glanced at the clock. She was running behind. He had plenty of time, however, the bus wasn¡¯t due for fifteen minutes. But he still finished eating and went to go wait like a good high school student because he didn¡¯t have anything else to do except let his phone rot his brain. When he arrived, he dropped his bag and went back to looking at his phone. Until a literal meteor struck in the woods behind his house. Jerking in shock, Eli made a split second decision, and he ran off to investigate the smoking crater that had manifested in the acreage where he¡¯d played as a younger boy. He found the object in minutes; it was hard to miss. A massive orange obelisk that was, even as he recorded it with his phone, rapidly cooling from its reentry. He posted it to one of his astronomy networks without thinking it rather than a major social media network, but he posted it all the same. He was talking to himself, or the phone, or the stone, he wasn¡¯t sure which one. Saying things like ¡°This isn¡¯t fake, it wasn¡¯t here before this morning. This isn¡¯t fake, this crater is new. I¡¯m not crazy, I¡¯m not faking something, I¡ª¡± And then the stone attacked him, with a small burst of energy zapping him. The surge destroyed his phone, knocked Eli unconscious, and began doing a dozen other little things. Such as sinking into the ground and causing the forest floor to regenerate itself like nothing had ever happened. ~~~~~~~~ Erandius viewed the report of the initial Cores landing. There was very little that he needed to do at this point. The details collected by the Arcadia had shown that the mortals on the surface would easily be wiped out by the Antithesis, even with their global society and ¡®advanced technology.¡¯ So the standard methods of giving a race the chance to fight back were being initiated. That they had been developed on, and for, this world initially was an irony that was not lost on the titan. That was so long ago that only other titans like him remembered, and he had spent most of the intervening time in cryosleep. He examined the initial reports of the humans who came into contact with the Cores, examining the physical data that was collected as they were weighed and measured in ways with measurements that their current technology could not understand. He was pleased. Even without a system to guide their evolution, the humans of the home world retained a 99.8% compatibility with the system. That would save a lot of time, and, perhaps, a few of the lives of the native inhabitants, as one of the side effects of the integration was occasionally the violent discorporatement of some of the very species that the Titans were trying to save. It hadn¡¯t happened to Erandius, but there were worlds which had literally been forced into a state of ¡®pick your own apocalypse¡¯ as the Titans had tried to encourage the inhabitants to volunteer for a process which would kill them five times out of six. Even the 0.2% incompatibility of the humans, however, wasn¡¯t a death sentence. It could be resolved with further attunement of the personal system to the greater systems provided by the core. Still, Erandius thought, sipping on his mug of hot stimulant liquid. Getting zapped by a system, after being born without one, probably felt like hell for the first in the line. So many of them were holding small plastic devices as they approached the Core, Erandius noted. There, a teenage boy was zapped by an orange Core. Here, a woman in her twenties. There, an old man. The system didn¡¯t care how old a subject was. It¡¯s goal was optimization of body, mind and soul. It was a shame that Erandius couldn¡¯t ask these people for more explicit permission for subjecting them to this process, he thought to himself, but it was all or nothing. Because the system was contagious, and it would jump from one human to the next until everyone had been infected. Chapter 2 ¡°Attempts at isolating and securing the landing sites of the objects have failed,¡± the speaker informed the room filled with men in suites and military uniforms. ¡°While the objects appear to be obelisks of various colors, they render any human who approaches them unconscious with an unknown energy weapon, then vanish, repairing the damage that they caused during landing. We estimate that there are presently six hundred thousand unique landings across the globe.¡± ¡°Six hundred thousand and we failed to isolate even one,¡± came a detractor¡¯s voice. ¡°Yes,¡± the first speaker agreed. ¡°Whoever this is, whatever the nature of this attack, they¡¯re using technology that is significantly beyond ours. I do not know what happened beyond the event horizon of the arrival of the central craft, but the recordings of that phenomena makes my skin shiver. The fact remains, however, that by the time our teams arrived, the obelisks had already moved on to the next phase of their activation. We have secured a number of the victims and are holding them for observation, of course. But¡ª¡± ¡°And observe we shall,¡± came a third voice, sonorous and friendly. ¡°If this is an attack, then our guests will be the first to show symptoms of what kind.¡± ¡°Many of them have already been treated for radiation sickness,¡± the first speaker said. ¡°But it leaves me wondering what the point is. The object could have caused far more destruction by sending a rod from god into a metropolis than by breaking up the kinetic strikes into six hundred thousand objects.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite obvious from that perspective that the objective was to deliver the thousands of payloads, not to cause mass destruction,¡± another speaker said. ¡°The issue is that we¡¯re dealing with complete unknowns, and so all we can do is speculate and observe our guests. Both the guests in orbit, and our guests in the hospitals and other facilities where we have been gathering them. It is so convenient that so many of them have been brought in by their own families and friends, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± The men and women at the table, not all of whom were physically present but were represented by a digital avatar on a screen, continued to discuss the matter for some time. None of their deliberations amounted to a damn thing. They didn¡¯t realize it, but these men and women, used to deciding things from the shadow, were already making a significant mistake. They were being left behind. The system integration was beginning, and they were all level zero. ~~~~~~~ Please Remain Calm. System Integration is in progress. Your Species is extremely compatible, Your Survival is Guaranteed. Your body is being watched over by the Core which initiated the process. No predators are in the area, your body is safe. Tell me, Elias Mathews, What do you want to become? Eli blinked. Or he tried to blink, except that all of his being was focused on the words in front of him. Like a movie screen where you were paralyzed and had to watch the words scrolling upward slowly. Strangely, he was very calm. ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand the question. If you¡¯re asking what I want to do after high school, then¡ª¡± The Antithesis Comes. Your Society in its current state will cease to exist. I/We are here to prevent excessive loss of life, if possible. Your world needs warriors. Are you a Warrior, Elias Mathews? ¡°I can¡¯t even win at dodgeball,¡± he objected. He frowned. The system was crawling around in his brain, searching through his memories of P.E. and playing as a child. He went right along with it for the ride. Then, however, it began paying attention to him in class. You fit the criteria of a Scholar. Will you accept the responsibility of bringing lost arts back into the world? ¡°What sort of lost arts?¡± Eli asked the system. And he gasped as visions filled his head. Magic. That was the only word for it that made any sense to Eli. The system was offering him magic, and he immediately accepted it. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Tell me how to do that, and I¡¯ll...I don¡¯t know. Fight this antithesis, I suppose? What is this Antithesis, and why does it mean the end of society?¡± The Antithesis are the Antithesis. They annihilate all who are not them.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. They have been to Earth before, and they will come again. Previously your ancestors escaped by abandoning all technology and reverting to hunter-gatherer lifestyles. This is the threat that stands before you now. Will you truly stand before it and use ¡®magic¡¯ to defend the people of your world, Elias Mathews? ¡°Yes,¡± Eli said. Assigning an extra 0.4% mana to your initialization. With your consent, I will imprint the Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire into your mind. Further Grimoires can be purchased from the system store for your contribution points. ¡°I consent,¡± Eli said, and he immediately regretted it as his head was subjected to excruciating pain, like someone jabbing broken glass into places where broken glass wasn¡¯t supposed to go. He blacked out. When he awoke, he system was gone and his body was back. He blinked and sat up slowly. His head hurt, and it was evening now. He¡¯d been left where he¡¯d fallen after the obelisk had zapped him. He sat up and checked his phone, but the screen was black and cracked. He glanced at the sky and realized that it was late evening. He¡¯d missed school altogether, and he didn¡¯t know whether he was in trouble for that or not. But before anything else, he needed to know whether what he¡¯d just experienced was real, or some lightning induced fantasy or what. The Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire. A fancy name for a book filled with basic runes, he thought. But that made sense. He poked at the edge of the knowledge that had been merged with him, surprised at how easily he was able to access it. Like recalling what he¡¯d had for breakfast leading to recalling a visit to his grandparents, really. Except instead of a visit to his grandparents, the poking at the sore edges brought him to magic lessons that he¡¯d never actually received. He took out a marker and tore off a sheet of paper from a notebook from his bag, and he thought for a moment, then he began writing. It wasn¡¯t English. It wasn¡¯t any known human language he¡¯d ever seen before. It was a series of complicated symbols in a straight line. When he finished, he rolled the paper into a tube, and he tested it out to see if he was understanding this entire process correctly. Something flowed through his body, into the paper, interacting with the ink he¡¯d written there, and changing shape. With a sudden ¡°Thwoop!¡± a blast of energy shot out of his hand and knocked Eli backward, as well as causing everything in a sphere to take an impact. He began laughing insanely. It was real. He could do magic now. ~~~~~~~ After getting scolded by his mother for skipping school, Eli took a shower. He noticed a few things in the shower. Like the fact that he had abs now, and in general looked like he was in a much better state of health than he¡¯d been since ¡­ ever. He wasn¡¯t stacked like someone who did nothing but lift weights and drink protein shakes, but he was significantly more muscular. When he got dressed, he sat down at his computer. He hadn¡¯t even bothered his mother with the phone being broken; he¡¯d known that would only set her off down another tangent. Chronicling his delinquency or something. Better to wait and find a new opportunity to beg for a new phone. They had insurance, so it should just be a matter of going into the store and-- He lost interest in his phone as he began searching the news on his computer. He frowned as he learned that his experience was far from unique, as hundreds of thousands of the obelisks he¡¯d observed had landed on the surface of the planet. The ¡°survivors¡± of the crashes were all supposedly left unconscious and were to be sent to the hospital for observation and medical treatment. ¡°Yeah, like I¡¯m going to do that,¡± he muttered to himself, thinking that he¡¯d seen enough films with men in black to have a healthy distrust in the government¡¯s willingness to just let him go afterwards. He scrolled through the news sites for a few moments before suddenly recalling the video he¡¯d been in the process of uploading to his astronomy forum and panicked. He swiftly logged into his account to delete it, but it had already been hidden and deleted by the administrator. Who had also sent him a direct message. Eli clicked on it, and it was a link to another forum. ¡°Check this out when you wake up,¡± the message said, and that was it. He clicked on it. He was pretty sure it wasn¡¯t a scam, since he trusted the administrator of the astronomy website not to pull something like that on him, but found that it linked to a still image from his own video of the obelisk. He spent a few minutes reading the text. It was set up by someone whose friend was in the hospital after having come into contact with another meteorite like Eli had been. He was encouraging anyone who had a similar experience not to go into the authorities, stating that they were being treated like patient zero in a plague scenario. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not what this is at all,¡± Eli muttered to himself. He frowned and typed for a few moments on the keyboard, then sat back. He deleted everything that he¡¯d written and started over. ¡°The System Apocalypse has begun,¡± he typed. ¡°The Antithesis comes. If you¡¯ve heard the system¡¯s voice, then you know it¡¯s true. ¡ªRunekeeper¡± He submitted his comment and began working on deciphering the magic that was locked inside his head, inside the Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire, instead. Chapter 3 Eli woke the next day and began scanning the forums and news websites. The first thing he noticed was that the government was locking everything down, stating that whatever was knocking people unconscious after coming into contact with the obelisks was contagious. That was news to Eli, but he wasn¡¯t too worried. The system said that his species was very well adapted to the system. A round of unconsciousness aside, he didn¡¯t think anyone was going to die from the system upgrade. Speaking of the system, did he ¡­ have a menu now? His vision didn¡¯t look any different than it always had. There weren¡¯t text boxes floating around. There was no handy button that said ¡°customize¡± anywhere. After a few minutes of mental exercises, and then verbal ones, he finally figured it out. It was like learning to flex a muscle that wasn¡¯t there. Sort of like when he¡¯d channeled mana for the first time, except different. Far more fine-tuned, although he had the feeling that was because he was interfacing with an interface rather than a ¡­ magical equation that transformed mana into force? Yeah, that¡¯s what his doodles were. Still, he managed to pull up a status screen, and he was rightly proud of himself.
Species Human
Constitution 10
Sure he was only level one, and all of his stats were at ten, which he assumed was the normal starting rank or something, but seeing the mental projection of his status in his vision was confirmation that this was real. To him it was, at least. He wasn¡¯t certain that anyone else would be impressed by his claims that he had a mental menu to navigate.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. There were several other options available to him from his menu, but the primary one was the option which brought him to the grimoire which had been downloaded straight into his brain, apparently. With an effort of will, he was able to manifest it as an hallucination of sort, like an actual book that he could hold in his hands. It even had weight, although some part of him knew that it wasn¡¯t there. He sat at his desk and began to read. It truly was a primer for those who were brand new to magic, and it introduced the three basic types of magicians. There were the sorcerers, magicians who used magic innately. The book didn¡¯t talk too much about them, stating that formal guidance was unnecessary for them as they each walked their own unique path. Then there was traditional magic, which, according to the book, Eli should be capable of with his Scholar class. It was based upon shaping mana, which was one of the fundamental forces of life according to the grimoire, into certain shapes which would then take on a life of their own and fulfill the actions predefined in the spell. The final sort of magic listed in the grimoire was ritual magic, which was both the least practical for fighting with and simultaneously the most potent, since it reshaped the mana of the environment to enact an effect. Depending on the size of the ritual, the effects could be profound and devastating. Eli¡¯s attempt at magic earlier, with the marker and the notebook paper, had been a limited ritual spell powered by traditional magic, according to the books terminology. There was one ritual that caught his attention early in his explorations of the grimoire. It was ¡®highly recommended¡¯ that all who read the tome perform this ritual immediately, or at least as soon as possible. ¡°Summon lesser Scholarly Spirit,¡± he read. ¡°Summons a helpful spirit. From note taking to holding up lesser rituals, this spirit is an able helper in all Scholarly pursuits. Lesser spirits evolve over time and evolved spirits are more loyal to their initial masters than recently summoned ones. Beginner Scholars are strongly recommended to summon their first spirit as soon as they wake up after their Class Day.¡± Shrugging, Eli read the ritual through three times, realized that it wasn¡¯t too complicated and that he could do it in his backyard. But first he went to check on his mother, whom he should have heard in the shower by now. She was fast asleep in her bed, and when he went to disturb her he felt a slight pressure. His own system warned popped up with a warning in his head. Matilda Mathews is currently undergoing system initialization. Do not disturb. Penalties for attacking those who are undergoing initialization include ... ¡°I¡¯m not going to hurt her, she¡¯s my mother,¡± he told the system. ¡°I¡¯m just going to cover her up a bit better.¡± The system relaxed its pressure on him, and he pulled the blankets over her. He wrote a note for her to read when she woke up. ¡°You probably caught it from me,¡± he whispered to her as he closed the door. ¡°Hopefully you don¡¯t write this off as a weird dream and oversleeping.¡± He closed the door after shutting the blinds and leaving his mother to her rest. In the backyard, he grabbed a shovel, the salt that they used to melt the ice on the driveway during the winter, and a hoe, and he went to work carving out the lines that he needed to enact the ritual from the grimoire. Even without it manifested in its hallucination form, he could still see the ritual pages perfectly in his head, and it took him about two hours to make certain that the lines were all correct. He¡¯d worked up a sweat by the time he¡¯d finished, and when it was finally time to set the tools aside he walked over to one of the two focal points of the ritual. He checked his Status and noticed with amusement that he¡¯d lost eight points of Stamina, but otherwise he was ready for this. The Grimoire had recommended using all of his Mana in one go for this, and, having used his Mana once before, he felt confident in his ability to just keep the tap running until he was dry. So just like he had yesterday with the primitive ritual, he pulled upon that part of him which he¡¯d always sensed was there but could never interact with before, and he felt it move. He fed it into the ritual, which was basically just pushing it out of his body as the ritual itself took over from there. He watched with detachment as the ritual shaped it for him, bringing it into a complex 3D shape that coalesced on the other focal point of the ritual. He kept his own mana flowing, watching in his mental Status as the points slowly trickled down. From the start at one-ninety-three down to one eighty, which he sensed was the minimum to actually activate the ritual, and then from then on in a slow drip drip drip as it went point by point. Like a faucet that was slowly draining his barrel full of mana, he focused on keeping the flow steady and slow rather than pushing himself to get the ritual over faster. It took him almost forty-five minutes to get below thirty points, and that was when he started feeling light-headed. He frowned, because he was loosing focus. He wanted to summon the best spirit possible at his level, which meant using all of his mana. So, with a final burst of will, he forced out the last of his mana all at once. He still only managed to bring himself down to five points, and then his vision swam. His ears ringing slightly, his world wavered, and he fell to the ground, breathing heavily, like he had a fever. ¡°Mana Exhaustion,¡± he commented with complete detachment. ¡°The grimoire warned about this.¡± He wasn¡¯t worried, though. It was only really dangerous to go below zero. As he¡¯d read in the grimoire, the system calculated the ¡®zero¡¯ of a person¡¯s mana as the point at which they¡¯d normally pass out. According to the grimoire, he had approximately ten percent more mana than the system said he did, but that ten percent was tied into his life functions. So unless he hit negative twenty man, he¡¯d probably be alright. The ritual was making noise now, a slow and steady thrum. After a few moments, he managed to sit up and watch as the ball of magic that he¡¯d been feeding began changing colors in a kaleidoscopic manner. ¡°Oooh, this place is new,¡± a voice with a slight mischievous tone said. ¡°I haven¡¯t been summoned to this world before. Who are you? A little Titan?¡± Eli frowned at the floating blob of mana. ¡°I¡¯m a human.¡± ¡°Titan, human, sebatian, septation. New places are exciting, so we¡¯ll split the difference. You need a familiar, little human?¡± ¡°I was attempting to summon a scholarly spirit,¡± Eli said. ¡°If that¡¯s the same as a familiar, then¡ª¡± ¡°Bah, don¡¯t limit yourself so much with labels. Let¡¯s make a deal, you and I. I¡¯ll take this mana you¡¯ve sacrificed as payment for a contract between us. In exchange, I¡¯ll serve and teach you. It will cost you to keep me manifested. According to the terms your familiar with, it will be...oh...about one hundred points to manifest me, and then it will keep your maximum points limited down by fifty to keep me out. Does that make sense?¡± the voice asked him. ¡°So you¡¯re basically asking to feed on my mana,¡± Eli asked. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I get out of the relationship,¡± the spirit confirmed. ¡°And what do I get out of it?¡± ¡°Why, my infinite knowledge, experience, and support,¡± the spirit answered, and Eli could feel its self satisfaction. ¡°Normally a spirit like me wouldn¡¯t be attracted to such a low level summoning circle like this. I¡¯m not a lesser spirit, Elias Mathews. In fact, I¡¯ll be forced to limit myself quite significantly at first. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I don¡¯t remember ever being to ¡®Earth¡¯ before I wouldn¡¯t have been interested in you at all. That, and your mana is ¡­ delicious. Perhaps it¡¯s worth growing you some.¡± Eli felt goosebumps forming as he processed the spirit¡¯s words. ¡°What level spirit are you?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just keep that a secret for now,¡± the spirit answered him. ¡°My name is Gabri-al. You can call me Gabri. I promise to support you in every way I can if you complete the contract with me, little human. I promise you again my undying support. A third time I promise to support you if you make me your familiar. I assure you this is a very, very good deal. I¡¯ll be limited, of course, but there are high ranking summoners who would trade dozens of their other contracts for the terms that I¡¯ve just offered you.¡± ¡°Promise me first, that you have no ill intentions towards Earth or the people of Earth,¡± Eli said. ¡°You¡¯re not a Demon, are you?¡± ¡°Nothing of the sort,¡± Gabri said. ¡°I¡¯m just a curious spirit who likes new things. That¡¯s why your summoning circle gained my attention in the first place. It¡¯s an old circle in a new place, and that¡¯s interesting. And I want to learn more about this new place of yours. A contract with you is the easiest way of doing that.¡± Eli considered the words. His vision was still swimming and his mind was racing from the mana exhaustion. He hadn¡¯t been expecting such a vocal spirit. The description of the ritual had made it clear that the spirits summoned by it were typically newborn elemental spirits who needed such a contract in order to grow. This Gabri was not at all what he was expecting. But was that a bad thing? Was this not a unique opportunity? Was he overthinking this? The Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire had suggested this spell, calling it the basis for being a true Scholar. If it had attracted a stronger than normal spirit, then wasn¡¯t that only to his benefit? The spirit was limited by his own strength, after all. Or so he¡¯d read. If it turned out to be a pain in the butt, he could repeat the contract with a different spirit and simply never summon this one again. He could form as many contracts as he wanted, according to the grimoire. ¡°I accept,¡± Eli said eventually. ¡°Excellent!¡± the spirit said. And Eli suddenly felt the mana on the other focal point of the ritual being devoured in one large ¡®gulp.¡¯ Then, a moment later, a faerie appeared in a flash of light. He was grinning, the size of a barbie doll, and completely naked. ¡°Thank you for the sacrifice of your mana, Master. At the present time, this is the most fearsome form I can manage, but by the time you¡¯re level forty or fifty I¡¯ll be able to¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s start with finding you some pants,¡± the mana exhausted boy said, pulling himself to his feet. ¡°Let¡¯s see if I have some felt or something.¡± Chapter 4 Eli quickly gave up on finding pants, and instead cut up a sheet to form a basic toga for Gabri instead. The little pixie seemed pleased with the garment, and wore it proudly. They talked as they worked on establishing a wardrobe for the spirit, and Gabri¡¯s picture of the status on Earth had the little spirit most excited. ¡°Oh, so it¡¯s like that!¡± the spirit exclaimed when Eli explained how they had seen the object in orbit of Earth a few days ago, followed by the raining of meteorites which had knocked the witnesses unconscious, a phenomena which was now spreading. Eli didn¡¯t have much time to explain after that, as once the spirit was dressed, it began constructing a new ritual out of table salt on the counter. It used the wind itself to shape the lines, and within moments the ritual was complete. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Eli asked the toga-wearing pixie. ¡°Trying to talk to whoever is in charge,¡± Gabri answered. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that since there¡¯s an interventional ship in the heavens of this world, that means that the antithesis is coming. We need to figure out how long we have.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said. ¡°And you can do that with table salt?¡± ¡°Yes! It¡¯s most convenient that you have such high-purity salt available. With this and a bit of quartz I could¡ªoh never mind. I keep forgetting that you¡¯re only a level one human. No need to blow you up quite yet.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to blow me up ever,¡± Eli said sternly. ¡°This ritual isn¡¯t going to explode, is it?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s just going to¡ª¡± Before the spirit could finish explaining, a face appeared above the salt. ¡°Who requests contact? I wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to know how to¡ªoh. Hello. I see that the fae have already found their way to earth. Might I inquire which court you belong to, and how you come to be in service to one of these humans?¡± Gabri made an Eeep sound, covering his mouth in surprise as he turned to the hovering head nearby. He suddenly looked like someone who was overly aware of what they were doing with their hands while simultaneously not knowing what to do with their hands. He fumbled for words for a moment before speaking. ¡°I have secrets and promises to keep, oh great Titan Erandius,¡± Gabri answered. ¡°But one of those promises is to support this young man in any way that I can! I must do my earnest best! Yes I must! Three times I have said that I support this young man. And that is why I have put him in contact with you.¡± ¡°I see,¡± the floating head said. It was the face of a young man, with lines that looked like tattoos of a Maori warrior upon him. Those lines held runes of power, Eli realized, and he swallowed as he wondered how strong this being was. ¡°What is your name, young man?¡± ¡°I am Eli Mathews,¡± Eli answered. ¡°I sort of have an idea what is going on. The Antithesis is coming, and you¡¯re here to prepare us to fight back? Is that right?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± the Titan said. ¡°What would have happened had you not come?¡± Eli inquired. ¡°Then when the Antithesis arrived, it would have found this world unprepared and slaughtered everyone,¡± Erandius said. ¡°The weapons of your military might have put but a dent on the first waves of the enemy. Without a system to counter the remainder of the wave, your masses would have been swept up into the Antithesis. So much death. You require warriors and tactics which are beyond what is available to you without a system and the presence of great warriors. And scholars and mages, of course.¡± ¡°What is the Antithesis?¡± Eli asked. ¡°To say that it is only one thing is a great disservice,¡± Erandius answered, ¡°For everything that it conquers becomes a part of it and it becomes stronger. Every world which falls to the Antithesis becomes the fodder for the next world that it attempts to conquer. Ultimately, the goal for Earth is not to defeat the Antithesis, but to make the Antithesis decide that it is not worth the price to swallow this planet into its hoard. I do not know how many waves it will take, but we have shown time and again that driving it away is possible. That is the hope of Earth, young Eli. To drive away this threat.¡± ¡°And how likely is that to happen?¡± Eli asked.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Erandius made a noncommittal expression. ¡°I will do all I can to provide your kind with the tools to prepare you for the confrontation. I shall myself hold off the threats which would annihilate your world in an instant with mine own body. Never once think that your kind faces this enemy alone, little human, for I, Erandius, am here. I shall not break before the Earth does, that I promise.¡± ¡°But if we break, then you¡¯ll retreat and recover,¡± Eli said, nodding as he understood. ¡°It is my duty to survive and live to face the Antithesis once more,¡± Erandius confirmed. ¡°But I assure you that I shall not retreat while hope yet remains. For when all the demons and evils were released from the jar, yet there was hope.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said. ¡°So here¡¯s a question for you. Why are you having this conversation with me, a fifteen year old nobody, instead of the president of the United States or someone who can actually do something about preparing the world to face this threat?¡± Erandius made another noncommittal expression. ¡°The power of your old world is fleeting. Once the system finishes spreading throughout the human population, Eli, I expect your society will swiftly break down. Especially once the Dungeons open.¡± Eli blinked. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s this about Dungeons?¡± ¡°You have three days,¡± Erandius said. ¡°I suggest you find a party, perhaps form a guild, and prepare to delve. I wish you luck. But I have spent enough time on you, young Eli Mathews. Good luck, I wish you a long life and many progeny.¡± Abruptly the head vanished from above the salt circle, and that was it. ¡°Three days! More time to prepare than I thought!¡± Gabri exclaimed. ¡°Come Master, let¡¯s get to work.¡± ~~~~~~~~~ Eli took his mother¡¯s credit card and her car. He wasn¡¯t technically supposed to be driving on his own yet, but he had his learner¡¯s permit and was counting on not getting caught. One minor crime versus establishing the basis for the future of the survival of humanity? Yeah, he was going to drive himself. The first thing he did was go to buy himself a new cell phone. He was lucky that the store was open, and doubly lucky that the clerk on duty knew him and his mother and had no problem trading in his fried, busted phone for a new model. As soon as that was finished uploading his information and updating, he began to make phone calls. School was out for the day, but that didn¡¯t mean that the teenagers of his small city were being good kids and waiting for classes to start up again. No, there were six dozen different parties that he was able to find, and he quietly made an appearance at each of them. He was patient zero, he realized quietly to himself. The government was right. But instead of bringing a plague, he brought the system. He could feel it, the moment that it hopped from his body into someone else, but nobody seemed to notice as he mingled his way awkwardly through social situations that he¡¯d never particularly enjoyed navigating before. After he had infected as many people as he thought he could get away with from school, he went to the mall and bought a few things, including a pair of hiking boots, new jeans, a leather jacket, and a baseball bat. Gabri had discorporated himself while Eli was busy playing Patient Zero, but the spirit was able to continue commenting on things despite not having a physical body. After the mall, Eli went to the place he was looking forward to the most; his teacher¡¯s house. The one who had helped him set up the Astronomy Club, which was also the unofficial meeting place for that organization. He¡¯d have set that up first, but it took everyone a while to agree to a time. They had their own lives, after all, and it wasn¡¯t like he could just explain over the phone that ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve discovered that there¡¯s an existential threat to life on earth coming our way, but we¡¯re getting magic to fight it,¡± over the phone. However, since he had a phone now, he was able to check on the news again. He found that the government lockdown extended to the news media as well. The mentions of the mothership in orbit and the falling of the obelisks was completely censored, and all focus was upon the sudden outbreak of an ¡®unknown disease¡¯ which caused unexplained unconsciousness. He ignored it, and checked in on the astronomy website, where he once again had a message from the webmaster, who addressed him as ¡°Runekeeper.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯m pretty certain that you¡¯re one of the ones who know the truth,¡± the message read. ¡°My cousin is one of the guys who¡¯s in government custody. I can¡¯t get the truth out of the hospital where he¡¯s being held, but I know he¡¯s awake now. He woke up about the same time that you did, actually. Look, I know you¡¯re just a kid who likes Astronomy, but something is going on. If you want to share what you know, here¡¯s my personal contact information. It should be safe for you to contact me, I¡¯m using several cutouts. If they¡¯re monitoring me closely enough to catch us, then we¡¯re already screwed.¡± The webmaster signed off. After a few moments of consideration, Eli made a phone call. Chapter 5 Miguel Phelps was a good guy. One of the Good GuysTM, actually. He was a webmaster, and specifically his job was to monitor the communications of kids to try to catch child predators. So far he¡¯d helped lock up eight. He was also an amateur astronomer, which is why when he¡¯d seen the Astronomy Kid¡¯s video on his website he¡¯d been able to take it down before anyone had shared it. He was pretty sure that nobody had noticed it, he knew that there was a pretty wide scrape out for everyone who had seen one of those obelisks in person, but so far nothing in that area. His cousin, on the other hand, was a first responder. He didn¡¯t know much about what had happened to his cousin, except that he had arrived at one of the crash sites, or landing sites, and had fallen unconscious shortly after. The communications blackout was in place, and although he¡¯d made several efforts to pierce it, so far he¡¯d heard nothing. Which didn¡¯t mean that Miguel was helpless. As an experienced webmaster with insider knowledge on how law enforcement works, he had been quite busy setting up a network for the survivors of the obelisks. He knew that many of them had gotten through the net, and he was hoping to help them. If they needed it. If they wanted it. If he wasn¡¯t making up nightmare situations in his head. He was coding another website with the still photo he¡¯d taken from the Astronomy Kid¡¯s video when the phone rang. It took him a moment to figure out which phone, because like a drug dealer he had nine of them laying on a nearby table. Different numbers given out in different messages to different people. He couldn¡¯t keep it all straight in his head. ¡°Who is this?¡± he asked when he picked up the phone. ¡°Um, you asked me to call?¡± a nervous voice on the other line answered. ¡°Oh, Astronomy Kid. Good, I was hoping you¡¯d see my messages. I want to start off by saying that I¡¯m on your side,¡± Miguel said. ¡°You don¡¯t even have any idea what¡¯s going on, do you?¡± the kid asked. ¡°Something is happening that¡¯s above my pay grade, that¡¯s true. But innocent people like you are being caught in the middle of it. I want to try to protect those people. Even if it means breaking the law,¡± Miguel admitted. The kid was silent for a moment. ¡°Your cousin should be fine. According to the system, everyone is expected to survive the integration. I can¡¯t make any promises about the government, but the thing that knocked him out isn¡¯t dangerous.¡± Miguel nodded. ¡°I know he¡¯s awake. I also know that he¡¯s in a quarantine unit. I¡¯m not an emergency contact, and he hasn¡¯t asked to speak with me, so I¡¯m in the dark beyond that.¡± ¡°Your cousin, or anyone who has come into contact with him or the others who were there when the Core Stone fell from the sky, you should try to interact with them in person. I¡¯m not entirely certain how the system spreads. It¡¯s like ¡­ proximity, I think? Maybe that¡¯s the right word? For me, I feel it jump at about fifteen feet. Closer is better, but it needs to be at least that close to activate.¡± Miguel found a pen and started taking notes. ¡°So you¡¯re aware of it when the disease spreads? Do you think there¡¯s any way to stop it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we want to stop it, Webmaster. I think that it¡¯s a gift from the Titan Erandius. I think he¡¯s trying to save our species,¡± the kid answered. ¡°Here¡¯s what I know so far.¡± And the kid began to go on about magic, dungeons, and systems. Miguel held his skepticism back and took down notes faithfully. He knew that he ought to report the kid once they hung up, but instead he asked a few probing questions. ¡°So, once the dungeons opens, you and your friends¡­¡± ¡°If they follow me, then we¡¯re going to try to challenge one,¡± the kid answered immediately. ¡°According to my familiar, there¡¯s a bunch of benefits for doing so. Like being able to establish a Guild, and accessing the system shop, and a bunch of other factors. And levels, obviously. We don¡¯t get levels for killing other humans, I asked that. Nor any indigenous life. Only Monsters, which will spawn in the dungeons. And if we don¡¯t start clearing dungeons, then eventually the monsters will spawn on the surface as well. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea, so I want to keep it from happening in my home.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Miguel continued taking notes. ¡°Erandius, you talked to him?¡± the Webmaster asked. ¡°Do you think you can contact him again?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more like my familiar butt dialed him and he picked up the phone before adding me to his blocked list,¡± the kid said. ¡°He¡¯s busy, I¡¯m lucky that he took the time to explain what he did. But he¡¯s the reason I know that we have three days before the dungeons open.¡± ¡°Tell me more about your familiar,¡± Phelps said. ¡°Well, he¡¯s a real pain in the butt, for starters. But he¡¯s contractually obligated to help me, and I think that among his people promises are a very big deal,¡± the kid said. ¡°Look, I¡¯m going to hang up now. I just ¡­ I wanted someone out there to know some of the things that I¡¯ve figured out, and I think you¡¯re in a better position to spread them than I am. Good luck, Webmaster.¡± ¡°Good luck, Runekeeper,¡± Miguel said, and the line cut out. He continued taking notes, and then he sighed. He began designing a new website, for which he was either about to become famous, or loose all of his credibility, or, perhaps, wind up in a black-ops site. Fortunately, if it was the final option, then he was fairly certain he¡¯d find out pretty soon. Every hour that passed was another hour that the newly awakened system had to spread. And Miguel knew the power of being an early adopter. ~~~~~~~~~ Hanging up on the webmaster, Eli felt much better. He wasn¡¯t certain how, but he knew that the webmaster had a much better chance of getting the knowledge he¡¯d uncovered out into the world than a regular fifteen year old kid ever could. Well, he supposed he could re-summon Gabri and have the pixie dance on youtube or something, but he doubted that anyone would believe that the video was real. Ditto on any attempts to do magic on his part. So instead he¡¯d just tell the truth to an adult, like a responsible young man, and hope that the adult could handle things from there. Which is what he planned to do once more when his teacher let him into the club headquarters, AKA the science classroom, where there were astronomy charts decorating the walls. The teacher had unlocked the classroom for them when Eli had arranged for an ¡®emergency meeting.¡¯ The other teens in the club were already in attendance, and Eli felt it as the system focused on each of them and then made the jump from him to one of them. The other four had already been infected, he realized. The system was spreading rapidly. He doubted he could have stopped it from hitting everyone in the city at this point. And from there, the state, and from there the country, and from there the world. At least, if the Webmaster was right and there were others like him. The kids were talking about the news with the excited voices of excited teenagers talking about exciting things. They were focused on the object in orbit and the landings of the obelisks, glossing over the illness. He sighed. If he didn¡¯t know what he knew, he¡¯d be a little more concerned about the period of unconsciousness that was caused by the system¡¯s integration. Fortunately, he¡¯d had it confirmed that the system analyzed the situation for threats, and it wouldn¡¯t knock out a driver who was operating a vehicle or anything like that. In fact, except in the cases of the patient zeros like him, most of those newly initiated into the system wouldn¡¯t have their system kick in until the next time they slept. The system wasn¡¯t in any hurry, it was confident that it would reach everyone in the end. But Eli¡¯s own plans called for a more proactive approach. So, pulling out the Toga from his backpack, he asked the group ¡°Hey guys, wanna see a magic trick?¡± Then he summoned Gabri, who arrived in all of his glory. ¡°Bow before me, mortals, for I am the mighty¡ª¡± ¡°Why is it naked? Oh my god, is it supposed to be that small or is it like, cold out or something?¡± one of the girls asked. And that effectively cut through the impossibility of what had just happened as Gabri dressed indignantly and Eli began to explain for the second time in two hours what had just happened. In the corner, their teacher sat quietly, listening to every word. Because they affected him just as much; his presence had been a calculated part of the teen¡¯s plans. He was normally a skeptic, but while seeing the manifestation of a ¡®familiar¡¯ before his very eyes made him question his sanity, he knew that he was either dreaming or the kid was on to something. So he listened carefully as Eli explained his plan. Chapter 6 Chapter 6. The teens listened to Eli¡¯s plans and mutually agreed to wait until the morning to see what class the system assigned them before planning any further. Eli had left intentionally unexplained his deliberate role in spreading the system, but had stated authoritatively that everyone, or almost everyone in the city at least, would have the system in the next few days, and that included everyone at their school. After all, there was no point in planning group dynamics or party formations for the dungeon before anyone knew what their class was. And if everyone was assigned Scholar like him, then ¡­ well, they¡¯d have to figure out how an all Scholar party cleared dungeons. So the first meeting of the party didn¡¯t last very long, just long enough for a boring explanation of the system and the upcoming apocalypse from Eli. After he¡¯d told them that it would probably wait until they were asleep to activate, his schoolmates mutually decided to go home to try to sleep. Either to prove him right or prove him full of crap, they were divided upon which. The teacher, one Mister Estabon, held Eli behind. ¡°You drove to the meeting,¡± the teacher said. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure the cops have bigger concerns than a fifteen year old driving,¡± Eli answered. ¡°What about you? Are you part of the party, or¡ª¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is real or not. But I don¡¯t expect that I have the power to stop you, so I might as well try to keep you safe,¡± the teacher said, sighing. ¡°I suppose we¡¯ll find out tomorrow whether your claims that the system will be spreading are true. I have no other answers as to how you manifested that ¡­ thing, in front of us. So in lieu of another explanation I¡¯ll accept yours for now. But that doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that I¡¯m not looking for another one that fits the fact better.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s fine. You¡¯ll probably get scholar like me, Mister Estabon,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯m not certain if it¡¯s a rare class or not, but you¡¯ll enjoy the logic of magic, I think. I¡¯m just starting to figure it out, but it¡¯s really intriguing.¡± ¡°Magic and logic are things which traditionally do not belong together, in my experience,¡± Mister Estabon said, but he sighed. ¡°But who knows, perhaps that¡¯s exactly how the system works. Perhaps it¡¯s simply the codification of a force which we primitive humans have previously been unable to access. If that¡¯s the case, then everything you¡¯ve said would make sense.¡± ¡°Yeah, if you say so,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go home now.¡± ¡°Let me drive you,¡± the teacher said. ¡°Now that I know you¡¯ve been driving yourself I can¡¯t turn a blind eye to it, and so you have a choice. Either I call the police and report you, or you accept the ride.¡± Eli sighed. ¡°Okay, but let¡¯s at least take my mom¡¯s car. If mom is awake when we get there, she¡¯ll want to know where it is, and she won¡¯t mind dropping you off somewhere, I think.¡± ¡°You shouldn¡¯t make promises for other people, Eli,¡± the teacher scolded, but accepted the suggestion. Once they were on the road, Eli¡¯s phone rang. It was his mother, who immediately erupted into a tirade that showed just how concerned she¡¯d been to find her son missing when she¡¯d awoken from her system integration. ¡°And what the hell were you doing with the salt in the kitchen? Why is the backyard all dug up? What were you¡ª¡± ¡°What class did you unlock, Mom?¡± Eli asked, cutting through her concerns. She paused. ¡°What are you¡ª¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a dream, Mom. Or it wasn¡¯t just a dream,¡± Eli said. ¡°Look, I¡¯m almost home. Mister Estabon is driving me, but you¡¯ll have to give him a ride somewhere when you¡¯re both done yelling at me for my irresponsible behavior. Either way, things are going to be different from here on out.¡± ¡°Oh is that right?¡± His mother asked. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right!¡± Gabri shouted, sneaking up to shout into the phone. His high-pitched voice resonated with indignation. ¡°I won¡¯t have my master bowing and scraping to his own mother! Eli, if you can¡¯t even stand up to your parents, then what sort of master are you? I won¡¯t¡ª¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough Gabri. Just relax,¡± Eli said. ¡°Mom, what class did you unlock?¡± His mother was silent. ¡°I had a dream where I was told that I was supposed to be a Warrior.¡± Eli blinked in surprise, then made a little fist pump. A warrior might mean either a tank or a damage dealer, and either way, if he could convince his mother to join his party, then he¡¯d have one key piece of the party in place. ¡°We¡¯ll talk more when we get home, Mom,¡± he promised. ¡°But do me a favor. Why don¡¯t you go outside and try splitting some wood? Also, I¡¯m not one hundred percent sure about this, but you haven¡¯t looked in the mirror since you woke up, have you?¡± His mother was quiet on the other end, then the line went dead. ¡°Sounds like she¡¯s mad,¡± Mister Estabon commented. ¡°The last thing she remembers last night was grounding me for skipping school, then she finds out that I took the car today,¡± Eli said. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s mad. It doesn¡¯t matter though. I¡¯m pretty confident that the system doesn¡¯t consider eighteen to be the age of majority. School¡¯s out, Mister Estabon. Maybe forever. Trigonometry and Macbeth aren¡¯t going to help us survive what¡¯s coming.¡± The teacher didn¡¯t have anything more to say until they arrived at his student¡¯s home. After a brief conversation with the boy¡¯s mother, and a reaffirmation that the teen was grounded until the heat death of the universe, the woman agreed to drive the teacher back to his house after offering him a bit of hospitality. Nobody addressed the hovering Pixie in the room. The teacher, as a normal heterosexual male, couldn¡¯t help but notice that the physique of the boy¡¯s mother had become significantly more muscular than the last time he¡¯d seen her. Which meant that either she¡¯d taken up a rigorous exercise routine, or the system had something to do with it. Regardless, Eli obediently went to his room and began focusing on the last thing on his agenda for the day. Enchanting the purchases he¡¯d made at the mall. Fortunately there was an entire section in the Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire dedicated specifically to such an endeavor. ~~~~~~~ Mattie Mathews pulled up in her driveway, forcing herself to be calm. Her day had not gone well, starting with waking up after noon and realizing that she¡¯d slept straight through work. She¡¯d called the office, only for the call to go to voicemail. It had taken thirty minutes for her to figure out that the entire office was on lockdown. And fifteen minutes beyond that to realize that her son had made a mess at home and then stolen her car. Furious, she¡¯d called him, and it was only after speaking with him that she¡¯d realized that the weird dream she¡¯d had was more than a dream. She had never been fat, but neither had she been particularly strong. Now, however, she was solid muscles. She wasn¡¯t quite in body-builder status, but the normal amount of body fat that she¡¯d been content with was gone. She didn¡¯t have calipers or anything, but she estimated that she was at 6% or lower. On top of which, she weighed twenty pounds more due to the muscles which had grown. Overnight. She¡¯d taken his suggestion to heart, going out back to split some wood. The results had been...staggering. She¡¯d split not only the top log, but the one beneath it. The ax, empowered by some sort of energy she couldn¡¯t understand, had shred the wood into splinters and pierced through into the dirt beneath, leaving a small crater. She swallowed, and put on a polite face while the teacher was present, but when she got home after breaking several laws regarding the suggested speed at which you drive your car in certain areas, she stalked through her house and kicked open her son¡¯s bedroom door. ¡°Okay, spill it,¡± she said. ¡°What the hell is happening?¡± He sighed. ¡°Okay, but let me record it this time so that the next time we bring someone into the circle I don¡¯t have to repeat myself,¡± he said, and he pulled out a new phone¡ªwhen had the little brat gotten a new phone? He pulled out a new phone to do exactly what he¡¯d suggested. Chapter 7 ¡°So anyway,¡± Gabri was saying, chewing a piece of jerky that was longer than his entire body, ¡°You¡¯re pretty lucky to have Scholar as your first class. The Core must have liked you to give you such a rare class.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Eli asked, squirting a bit of mustard onto his sandwich. ¡°I thought it was just because I was a student.¡± ¡°Nope? Maybe? I don¡¯t know?¡± Gabri answered. ¡°Who knows, maybe I¡¯m wrong and the system will be spitting out thousands of Scholar classes in the coming days as it spreads through this fledgling world. But it¡¯s one of the one percent classes, that¡¯s for certain. At least, for a first class. It¡¯s more common for a mage to unlock scholar accidentally while trying for a more elusive secondary class like Sage. But lucky you, you get all the benefits of being a scholar without having to focus on offensive magic just for the sake of leveling.¡± ¡°Okay, so that actually sounds like a downside,¡± Eli said, finishing his sandwich. With his mouth full of his first bite, he asked ¡°Are you saying that I won¡¯t have much offense?¡± ¡°If a party¡¯s scholar is doing damage directly then it¡¯s already raining piss,¡± Gabri explained, ¡°But the good news is that a scholar is the party¡¯s meteorologist, so it¡¯s their job to predict piss storms and give everyone the umbrellas they need in order to keep the scholar on the back lines where they¡¯re safe.¡± ¡°Okay. So not a front line fighter. That¡¯s good to know,¡± Eli said, chewing. ¡°I¡¯m still enchanting my baseball bat.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, do that,¡± Gabri agreed. ¡°Make your weapon as strong as you possibly can. You¡¯ll want to make all of your gear as fancy and as strong as you can. That way when you transfer your enchantments to your party, they¡¯ll be as empowered as you can make them.¡± Eli paused his eating. ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t know? That¡¯s like, the class¡¯s entire job,¡± Gabri said, chewing the jerky greedily. ¡°You¡¯re a...what¡¯s the word you like to use? Buff? You¡¯re a buff warehouse. Or that¡¯s one of the things you are at least. You¡¯ll see once you actually get into the dungeon. You should already have Transference, or you¡¯ll unlock it through your enchantment before you start. It¡¯s always a low leveled skill, although I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s level one or not. You might have to help kill a few things, but I don¡¯t think so.¡± Eli continued chewing. ¡°Okay,¡± he said, pausing to take another bite. ¡°So I¡¯m a back-lines support character. That¡¯s good to know.¡± ¡°What is up with the terms you use?¡± the fairy asked impatiently. ¡°I don¡¯t have time to explain video game culture to you, Gabri,¡± he said. He sighed and pulled up a website on his phone. ¡°Here, read that,¡± he said after finding one forum that defined common terms for noobs. He went off to watch his mother, who was practicing Tai Chi in the back yard. Except that when she struck, he could sense a bit of literal energy coming from her fists. He swallowed the mouthful of sandwich, grateful that she wasn¡¯t suggesting that they try her new strength in a sparring match. ¡°So do you believe me yet?¡± he asked. She stopped her exercise and turned to him, her face an expression of stubborn consternation. ¡°I¡¯m not certain what I believe,¡± she admitted. ¡°But I hope you don¡¯t think that you¡¯re going to be some sort of revolutionary in this new world.¡± ¡°No. Just one party leader out of millions I think,¡± Eli answered. ¡°What makes you think you¡¯re cut out to be this sort of a leader at all?¡± his mother asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Eli said. He calmly reflected for a moment, his silence making it clear that he was giving the question further thought rather than simply ignoring it. ¡°When the system started talking to you, what did you think, Mom?¡± ¡°That I was going crazy,¡± she answered honestly. ¡°And I¡¯m still not convinced that those thoughts were wrong.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, my first thought was ¡®okay, so what do I do if I¡¯m not hallucinating?¡¯ I knew that if it was fake then the evidence would present itself in short order, so I just rode it out. But then I went home and found out that I had abs, and I always miscount when they make me do sit ups in gym, so there¡¯s only one way that could have happened,¡± Eli admitted. His mother grinned, flexing her own biceps. ¡°Yeah. The physicality of the changes makes it harder to deny.¡± ¡°Just curious, but what is your strength rating?¡± Eli asked his mother. ¡°Ten,¡± she said. ¡°Huh. So it¡¯s a baseline for the individual rather than a unified measurement,¡± he said, frowning. ¡°What?¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Nothing, just theorycrafting,¡± he said. ¡°So, the good news as far as you¡¯re concerned is that my class isn¡¯t like yours. I¡¯m a back line supporter. I¡¯m not sure how exactly my class works yet, but it seems that I support the front lines with buffs and maybe healing? I¡¯ve got to study my grimoire a bit more and talk to Gabri and figure out how things work through trial and error.¡± ¡°So you stand in back while meatheads like me do the hard work?¡± she asked. ¡°It sounds like there¡¯s more to it than that, but basically, yeah,¡± he admitted. ¡°Well that¡¯s reassuring for my sanity at least. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d be so calm if you were a warrior like me,¡± she confessed. ¡°Your ¡­ um, faerie thing. He helps you fight?¡± ¡°Right now he¡¯s just helping me figure out what to do, and he¡¯s been extremely helpful despite the amount of snark I have to put up with,¡± Eli admitted. ¡°I heard that!¡± Gabri shouted from in the kitchen. ¡°Take it as a compliment!¡± Eli shouted back. ¡°I did!¡± ¡°So anyway,¡± Eli continued, ¡°I think my class is pretty complicated really. I¡¯m going to be counting on you, and my friends, and everyone else, while I figure things out. That doesn¡¯t mean that I¡¯m not going to be helping, but when people think of mages they think of people who throw fireballs and lightning. That doesn¡¯t sound like a thing that a scholar does.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Matilda Mathews said. Then she hugged her son. ¡°I don¡¯t care. Whatever is happening, and I¡¯m not convinced that your version of events is correct yet, I¡¯ll support you, Elias.¡± ¡°Mom,¡± the teen complained, but he uncomfortably returned the hug. Then they went back to their various forms of preparation. Eli continued working on enchanting his gear from the mall with nothing but a marker, rubber cement, and various other items left over in the room where he had done arts and crafts when he was younger. Not so long ago, really. He felt it when his first successful enchantment clicked into place and sucked out a bit of his mana. He frowned, because that meant that the last six enchantments were failures. He went back and began examining them closely, looking for where the error in the logic chain that made the enchantment work lay. He fell asleep after successfully completing two enchantments. One on the bat, and one on the boots. ~~~~~~~~ He woke up to his phone. He frowned, not recognizing the ring tone, before he remembered that the phone was new and a lot of his settings hadn¡¯t been saved. He also frowned when he saw that it was from an unknown number. He answered it anyway. ¡°Who is this?¡± ¡°Hello Runekeeper,¡± the Webmaster said. ¡°I thought we should keep in contact. Don¡¯t worry about us being traced, if you were. After last night¡¯s news, I doubt that the government thinks it can contain this thing anymore. I saw my cousin a few hours ago.¡± ¡°What news is that?¡± Eli asked, pulling the blankets aside and getting out of bed. ¡°Even in China and the other nations which locked down hard after the arrival of the obelisks¡ª¡± ¡°They¡¯re Core Stones, Webmaster. Dungeon Core Stones,¡± Eli said. ¡°...the governments who locked down hardest after the arrival of the core stones apparently didn¡¯t go far enough. They¡¯re estimating that about thirty percent of the population is affected as of today, and they expect that number to reach one hundred percent in a few days. Now they¡¯re playing this off as a cold, predicting a one hundred percent survival rate and urging people to stay at home and be ready for a period of mandatory rest, as once it hits them they¡¯ll be unconscious for a few hours.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± ¡°Yeah. I figured you might not know yet, since it¡¯s morning where you are.¡± ¡°You know where I live?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a webmaster. You visit my websites without any sort of proxy or VPN. I haven¡¯t looked into your identity, but if I wanted to, I could,¡± the man said flatly. ¡°In fact, let¡¯s talk about that. I¡¯m going to send you some things about securing your digital footprint, if you intend on sharing more data with the world like you shared with me yesterday.¡± ¡°Yeah, okay, whatever,¡± Eli said. ¡°I never had any reason to hide online before. I¡¯m still not certain that what I have to say will be that upsetting to anyone who can do anything about it.¡± ¡°Even so, it¡¯s better to be safe,¡± the webmaster said. ¡°So. I¡¯m in the process of setting up a website for people like you. Who have the system. It¡¯s basically facebook with a looking for group function built into it. People will be able to list their classes and explain their abilities, and hook up with people who are looking to delve dungeons. And of course share information on dungeoneering and other such things.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said. ¡°Is that all?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll send you the link. I don¡¯t have the system yet, so I¡¯m mostly guessing,¡± the webmaster said. ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯ll look at it after I brush my teeth and get out of the shower.¡± ¡°Ah, I woke you. Well, this phone number is safe to call or text or whatever. I¡¯ll keep an eye out for your messages.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said, a real conversationalist this early in the morning. ¡°Oh, and Webmaster? You should know, you¡¯re going to have the system, if you saw your cousin. It¡¯s probably going to hit you the next time you go to sleep.¡± ¡°I figured as much,¡± the webmaster said. ¡°Go do your morning routine, Runekeeper. Don¡¯t let me keep you.¡± Chapter 8. Chapter 8. After Eli finished bathing and dressing, he made the effort of calling a few of his friends, but all of their phones went to voicemail. He figured as much; if his mother¡¯s experience was anything like normal they¡¯d be out until after noon. He wouldn¡¯t have any idea bout what his group composition would look like for a few hours yet, but he still had things to do. For example, he managed to figure out how to display the system as a semi-holographic interface rather than just one in his head. It was just a verbal command, one that he coaxed out of Gabri, who was even grumpier in the morning than he was. But he texted the verbal commands and pictures of the holographs to the Webmaster, suggesting that he use those to get the interface on the website to match what the interface actually looks like. It would do miracles for its credibility. Of course he included a message about trusting the webmaster to obscure his identity and the source of the initial images and such. He wasn¡¯t too worried, between the two of them the webmaster was far more concerned with government intervention than Eli was. Once he had finished projecting, Eli went back to his enchantment work, which he kept up with until he started getting texts and calls from his friends that afternoon. He managed to complete all of the basic enchantments that he¡¯d set out and was working on the more advanced ones, but he found that he couldn¡¯t activate them all at the same time. He was frustrated, but still working out how Scholar enchantments worked. Because they did not work like enchantments in video games at all. For some reason, every time he felt an enchantment click into place, his maximum mana decreased. Fortunately, his friends began to distract him before he could wallow in disappointment too much. ¡°So, how does it feel to have words in your brain?¡± he asked one of his closer friends. The boy on the other end of the line was silent for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Eli. I talked to my parents after I got home, since you said they¡¯d probably wake up with the system too. They¡¯re saying no. They want us all to go to the hospital.¡± Eli felt a pit in his stomach, but he forced himself to smile. ¡°Well, alright then. Just out of curiosity though, what class did you unlock?¡± ¡°Sentinel,¡± the boy answered. ¡°Good luck, Eli. Maybe I can talk some sense into them, but I think they¡¯re pretty determined to pretend nothing is happening. Even though I can literally lift the front of the car now. I tried.¡± ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± Eli said. ¡°Good luck with that. If you managed to convince them to come around, let me know, our group could use a good sentinel.¡± They hung up, and that was the last time they ever spoke. His friend did eventually talk his parents around, but Eli was too busy with other matters to talk to his friend who had fallen so far behind thanks to bad decisions made in the early days of the system. ~~~~~~~ Eli had the same conversation with half of the members of the Astronomy Club, which cut into his plans considerably. However, the remainder had managed to convince their parents not only that this was really happening, but that they needed to take a more proactive role in matters than standing on the back foot and watching as their children dived into dungeons without them. So while only three of his friends joined, he had five adults, plus his teacher and his own mother. By mutual agreement, everyone met at Eli¡¯s house. One by one they arrived, and Eli extended to each of them a party invite as they arrived. Eleven people arrived; his friends, their parents, Mister Estabon, one of his friend¡¯s younger sibling and another friend¡¯s older one. Sandwiches were ready for the guests, along with age appropriate drinks for everyone who wanted one. Some of the adults asked for something a bit stiffer than the lemonade that the kids were having. Eli had extended to each of them a party invite as they¡¯d arrived, and he¡¯d received confirmation as they¡¯d accepted it. There was no denying it, they all had the system. So as they stood around in his back yard, looking at the magic circle that he¡¯d dug to summon Gabri, they talked about things like what it meant to have the system, what was going on, and whether or not this was mass hysteria.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Eventually, Eli cleared his throat, and he once more launched into the explanation he¡¯d received, weaving information that he¡¯d coaxed from Gabri and Erandius and the system itself. When he finished, there was a general debate about whether a teenager should be in charge. The teens supported him, as did his mother and, surprisingly, three of the other parents of his friends. Eventually Eli got fed up and resolved the situation by kicking the adults arguing that he wasn¡¯t qualified from the system party and his mother inviting them to go somewhere else if they didn¡¯t want to follow her son¡¯s leadership. Eli was a bit surprised by the backup from his mother, but he sent her a grateful expression. The detractors had been a small minority, and they seemed contrite when they accepted the re-invites moments later. But Eli made a note to keep an eye on them. They were the parents of one of his friends. The mother was a nurse, the father a baker at a local grocery store. He had other roles as well, but his main job was to produce their fresh baked goods. He¡¯d received a class which could only be a non-combat support class: Cook. Eli didn¡¯t fancy that anyone would be relying upon his combat prowess, but his wife had received a coveted ¡°Medico¡± class, which she was still struggling to figure out. Fortunately, the cook, who¡¯s name was Jose Santos, was the only class which didn¡¯t sound useful in combat. Well, his wife, Alaina, was more useful after combat than during it hopefully, to make certain that everyone was topped off. Ideally she wouldn¡¯t be healing any critical injuries in the middle of combat. Their daughter was a knight. Which was a little surprising to everyone, but like Eli¡¯s own mother she had put on a significant amount of muscle and looked pretty good in the simple T-shirt and jeans she was wearing. Her name was Maia. Sophie Waters was another friend who had shown up from the Astronomy club. Sophie¡¯s mother was a cop, and she was armed with her pistol despite being out of uniform. Eli had noticed that she seemed to be alert beyond what he¡¯d normally expected, and when he commented on it -- ¡°Are you expecting someone else?¡± -- the woman had apologized. ¡°I think it¡¯s the system,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°My class is sharpshooter, and ever since I woke up I can¡¯t seem to focus. Every motion in the distance pulls my attention to it, even if it¡¯s just the wind teasing the leaves of a tree. On the plus side, I have telescopic vision now. Like, I can see better with my naked eyes than I can with a scope.¡± ¡°That sounds useful,¡± he said. The cop¡¯s name was Elaine. She was actually a very nice person, but her gaze had always made Eli remember his most recent bit of misbehavior whenever he saw her in uniform. He was glad that she¡¯d shown up without it. Sophie herself was a scout. She proudly displayed for everyone her ability to ¡­ not turn invisible. But rather she seemed to make everyone forget that she was there. It took repeated effort for her to actually show what was happening, but eventually Eli understood. She had a vanish ability, like a rogue in a video game, which seemed to effect the memories of those who it was used upon. It wasn¡¯t until she told him that she¡¯d popped out of nowhere on him three times that he understood what she was trying to communicate. She was a scout, and if her abilities worked like that, then even being ambushed meant that she could still report on the enemy¡¯s location. ¡°I have a feeling that it won¡¯t work against high-leveled enemies though,¡± she confessed. ¡°I mean, it actually feels like there¡¯s a big warning sign on it that says ¡®don¡¯t rely on this if you run into the big bad evil guy,¡¯ because it only works on small fry. You know?¡± ¡°Yeah. We¡¯re all still level one. You shouldn¡¯t count on it working against high levels or elites,¡± he agreed. Sophie¡¯s younger brother joined them, a thirteen year old who had unlocked the generic warrior class and was super excited about it. He had already been athletic, and the jump from being an athletic thirteen year old boy to a system enhanced warrior child meant about twenty pounds of muscle had been added to his frame. The boy¡¯s name was Peter. Eli¡¯s other friend, Luke Campos, was far nerdier than Eli himself, and was super excited by the ongoing experience, especially after unlocking the Mage class for himself. Like Eli, Luke had a spellbook in his head, and kept bugging his friend to compare notes on the differences between their abilities. Eli had to put it off until later, promising that once he¡¯d gotten everyone to agree on the plan for getting ready for the dungeon they would nerd out together. Luke¡¯s older brother, John Junior Campos, AKA Just Junior, was a class that Eli wasn¡¯t entirely certain what to make of. The system listed it to him as ¡®Tinkerer.¡¯ The nineteen year old college student confessed that he didn¡¯t have much of an idea of how it worked himself, except that he saw details about how things worked in his head now. Like, looking at the lawnmower which was sitting by the shed out back, he could see a schematic forming on his head based on his appearance combined with his knowledge of how lawnmowers worked and a bit of supposition. He wasn¡¯t a little uncertain whether his own abilities were combat oriented or not, but he said that he¡¯d tried to do push ups that morning and found that he could do over one hundred before he¡¯d had to stop. As opposed to ¡°before this morning I hadn¡¯t done push ups since I was allowed to drop gym in high school.¡± John Senior Campos, AKA John, shared his son¡¯s class and had shed forty pounds. His wife, Susan, confessed nervously that her class was Bard, which she had barely known was a thing before, but the system assured her in her dreams was a good fit for her. That left Mister Estabon, who was insisting that everyone simply call him Erik since it seems that school was scheduled to be canceled for a while. But the young teacher revealed that his class was, unexpectedly, ¡°Trickster.¡± He performed several slight of hands to display his new dexterity. Taking a bit of paper aside, he began to jot down notes about how he expected his party dynamic would work. After a bit of Q and A with his friends and their parents and siblings about how they ¡®felt¡¯ their class would work, they came up with a plan of what to do while waiting for the dungeons to open. They had two days left to prepare. ? Chapter 9. Chapter 9. The meeting with the Party lasted two hours, and it was mostly boring, but eventually everyone was on the same page. The adults departed to do some shopping ¨C or rummaging through their basements, attics, and garages. The teenagers remained behind to explore their new abilities in the privacy of the woods behind Eli¡¯s house. John Junior went with his father, the two tinkerers putting their minds together to figure out how their class worked, but of the teens, everyone else was eager to explore their system-granted abilities. Peter, the thirteen year old warrior, dueled with Maia, the knight who was Eli¡¯s classmate, under the watchful eyes of Eli¡¯s mother, Matilda ¡°Call me Mattie,¡± who tried to teach them Tai Chi. Surprisingly, they all managed to actually move their internal energy like she said they should be able to. Internal energy was definitely a thing that all of the martial members noticed. The system called it Stamina. They also lacked Mana. Fortunately they had Gabri to explain the difference. ¡°Stamina is lifebound Mana. It¡¯s not the same thing, you have much less of it than a true mage. But what you do have is easier to use. But less versatile. Like a club versus a scalpel, you can smash and smash, but a mage can be precise. Eventually, at least. Low level magic is so very ¡­ brutal. It¡¯s why I prefer Scholars as contractors,¡± the faerie said, floating about in his little toga. ¡°I have Stamina on my menu too,¡± Luke pointed out. ¡°Of course. But you have much less stamina than a warrior. The system doesn¡¯t tell you that since you it defaults to one hundred at level one, whereas mana is a fixed unit. That¡¯s because mana can be measured empirically, whereas high level warriors¡¯ Stamina can only be measured by the system, and it prefers to keep those measurements...confidential, shall we say? If a mage ever ran out of Mana and Stamina at the same time, they¡¯d be dead. One or the other is just very uncomfortable,¡± the fae said, picking his nose. ¡°But if you¡¯re running out of Mana and Stamina at the same time, you have bigger problems. Like the monster that¡¯s tearing through your party and pushing you into your final reserves.¡± ¡°Right, thanks Gabri,¡± Eli said. ¡°Anytime, loser,¡± the faerie said. ¡°Hah! Take that.¡± Eli wisely decided to ignore the remark, which caused the faerie to frown intensely and go back to browsing Eli¡¯s phone. The surefire insult he¡¯d researched had somehow completely missed its mark, and he had to figure out why. ~~~~~~~ Miguel Phelps drank more coffee than he¡¯d ever consumed before in his life. He¡¯d broken his opsec rules and brought a team of webdevs into his circle, explaining that he was establishing a website for those awakening from the temporary comas to connect with. He was using his cousin, rather than the Runekeeper, as a source for the images of the kid¡¯s interface. The images had been carefully edited to preserve the kid¡¯s identity, of course, but the style of the system was easy to duplicate by the graphic artist he brought in. After that, it was almost as easy as establishing a role playing forum for table-top or online games. After a few hours, he had a working prototype, and he pushed it live shortly after that. He¡¯d test it live. Given his background, he was a little concerned about this website¡¯s potential for abuse, and he quickly began pulling in some of his friends for moderation, even as he began spreading the words through less conventional information distribution networks about the website¡¯s existence. He received his first takedown notification within two hours of posting it live. Fortunately for him, the government had no jurisdiction in the locality where the server was hosted, and he sent them a flat ¡°Screw you¡± in response. Unless he was distributing drugs or engaging in certain other illegal activities, he was protected by the First Amendment and its equivalents in every jurisdiction that mattered. Including the ones which hosted his server. He watched as a few users began slowly signing up for it. Then it went viral as the people who had been verified as having been released from the hospital after suffering a ¡®feinting spell¡¯ caused by the meteorites began confirming that it matched the format of the system in their heads. The servers were overloaded swiftly. Swallowing, Miguel began purchasing more processing power from the cloud. Within hours, he was receiving buyout offers from established social media corporations. He ignored those, despite the numbers attached to those numbers. Then he received an offer that he couldn¡¯t ignore. Because it didn¡¯t come from the computer. ¡°Hello, Miguel Phelps,¡± a voice said behind him. Miguel turned, and he found three men in black suits standing behind him. ¡°Let¡¯s go have a chat, shall we?¡± They didn¡¯t stop him from flipping the switch that turned all of the hardrives in the house into fancy paperweights, but they really were just there to talk. They didn¡¯t care about the website. They had known that something like that was inevitable as soon as the first ¡®victims¡¯ awoke and began talking about systems in their heads.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. They wanted to know about Erandius. And the dungeons. And they wanted to know how he knew about those things, since they knew for certain that his cousin did not. Fortunately, the hydra that was TitanSystem.app could survive Miguel Phelps being taken in for questioning at this point. Indeed, it did. And also fortunately, Miguel survived his interrogation to claim his ownership of the monster that he created. But not for an entire week, which is how long it took for the interrogators to get Eli¡¯s name out of the man. By that time, the boy was already in the dungeon. And out of their reach completely. ~~~~~~~ Erandius looked down at the world that he would break himself defending, if it came to that. He sighed, knowing that it was impossible. Even though he did his best to defeat the Antithesis in orbit, it always made landfall. And from there, the endless swarms which devoured all life. There was a secret that he knew, as one of the ancient Titans. A terrible secret about the Antithesis and it¡¯s purpose. And that terrible secret was as simple as it was horrendous. There was no purpose to the devastation that the Antithesis left behind. It was enough, sometimes, to break through the ennui of showing up to defend a world, only to find that someone had beaten him to it and the system was already in place, and the population raised to a level well prepared to defend themselves. It would take some argument, but he would eventually step aside and let the younger races prove their valor, remaining just out of sight in case the world needed the intervention of the Titans. Lately, the younger races had proven that they were growing strong indeed. It had been so long since Erandius had last spoken with another of his kind that he sometimes questioned if he was the last of the originals left. There would be duplicates, of course. Every ship manned by the lesser races carried copies of the original Titan crew. But the younger races took pride in their ability to allow the Titans their rest. He understood their dedication, but although it was tempting, sometimes, to go into an abandoned star system and simply ¡­ go to sleep and not wake up ¡­ he had a duty. Erandius thought of the child who had contacted him, and he steeled himself, and he felt validated for every century that he had put off powering down his systems. A child, a distant cousin of his own people perhaps, born on the same world as Erandius and the other Titans. He had a purpose once more. And that purpose was to protect Earth a second time. Even as he monitored the primitive information networks and realized that many of the people dwelling on the surface wouldn¡¯t enjoy the salvation that he offered, he knew that they would take it in the final hour, when the Antithesis arrived and the realization that something Antithetical to their very nature was arriving. Because where Erandius and the Arcadia brought salvation in the form of the power to defend oneself, the Antithesis brought with it only death. Waves and waves of death, of the dead that it had claimed over eons of its implacable march forward. He glanced at the time until the Antithesis¡¯s arrival, and he examined the schedule for the system. He recalled the initial distrust that his own people had faced in entrusting their fates to the system that they themselves had designed. Would sixty-eight thousand years of evolution make much difference in that regard? Should he do something to convince them to trust their fates to the system? He frowned and drank his stimulant drink as he continued to think, watching a man speak in a language he couldn¡¯t understand as words he couldn¡¯t read flickered by him; a two-dimensional image with the logo of CNN in one corner of the screen. A lot of people on the surface were watching this man speak, and he was trying to learn the language, but like the last time, there were so many languages. He frowned, and with a sigh, he decided that was something he¡¯d have to do something about. ¡°Arcadia, activate the Language of the Birds Protocol,¡± he said. ¡°Yes, Erandius,¡± the ship answered. He watched as the man speaking suddenly paused and began speaking in the language of the titans. He frowned, then apologized in his native tongue for the slip and resumed speaking in English. Erandius smiled. He¡¯d known all along that this man had a system, but it was amusing to see the language slip, and the effort that the man had to put into speaking the language he¡¯d been born into after the system had updated the region of his brain responsible for language. It would take a while for the process to complete, and until it fully differentiated, a lot of people would find themselves slipping in and out of the ancient tongue. It felt good for Erandius to hear his mother tongue spoken by one of his cousins. He allowed himself a single moment of simple pleasure, replaying the slip. ¡°The President of the United States issued a statement that there is no indication that the incapacitation¡ª¡± that was the extent of the slip, and it didn¡¯t translate perfectly into the ancient tongue. More like ¡°The leader of the unified faction,¡± while the rest of the message was pretty congruous with his own understanding. He sighed. Language was such a frustrating barrier, he thought. So many races who hated the Titans because of simple misunderstandings that had taken generations to correct. Once the Antithesis arrived, of course, things were different. But a part of Erandius still questioned. Would the younger races fear him so greatly if they¡¯d only learned to listen to him sooner? Would they still turn him away from the fight against the Antithesis if they knew what motivated him? He thought of the child who the fey had put him in contact with, this Eli Mathews. And he thought of another boy, sixty-eight thousand years dead. He sighed and took another sip of his stimulant drink. It was black. It tasted bitter. It reminded him of home. It was the same drink that the replicator had been making for him for sixty eight thousand years, and he still drank twelve of them every day, just like he used to. ? Chapter 10. Chapter 10. Erik Estabon sat in the car with his girlfriend just beyond the bend that led to his student¡¯s house. She, like him, had awoken with the system that morning. She¡¯d been his first call, and he hadn¡¯t been hers. But after promising to investigate the situation further, he had promised to call her back. So he¡¯d gone to the one kid who seemed to know what was going on and listened in on the meeting, and realized that the fifteen year old Eli Mathews had a better idea of what was going on than the official channels. And better than he did himself. ¡°So, this group,¡± Lucy asked him. ¡°It¡¯s not like a cult is it?¡± ¡°You lost twelve pounds overnight and ran six miles this morning, Lucy,¡± he pointed out. ¡°If it is a cult, they sell pretty good kool-aid.¡± She slapped his arm, but it was a playful interaction. She frowned. ¡°They¡¯re not going to be biased against me, do you think? Because my class? I don¡¯t know how I¡¯m going to sew an enemy to death. I mean, I realize I like knitting and sewing, but really, I¡¯d prefer a magic oriented class, I think. You said that¡¯s a thing now, right? One of the kids demonstrated magic for your gathering?¡± ¡°Stop confusing terms. This isn¡¯t magic the gathering this is...never mind. Yeah. Eli showed some of the tools he¡¯s made over the last few days with his magic class. You can ask to see him hit something with that bat of his yourself. Even if it¡¯s just off his old T-ball set, the ball goes flying like he¡¯s a pro-athlete. Oh, and he has a faerie.¡± ¡°Yeah, you mentioned that. A roman faerie?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not roman, Eli just gave up on making him pants so he gave Gabri a toga instead,¡± Erik explained. ¡°Maybe I can help with that. Look at us, strategizing on how to make friends with teenagers. That¡¯s not creepy at all.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a high school teacher. If I¡¯m creepy I¡¯m very bad at my job,¡± he pointed out. ¡°And I don¡¯t think I¡¯m bad at my job.¡± ¡°You¡¯re great at your job,¡± she assured him. ¡°Better than I ever was at mine. You think they¡¯ll release the lockdowns anytime soon?¡± ¡°Probably not until a few days after the dungeons have been open, if the kid is right on how things will play out. Locking things down will only encourage people to explore the dungeons, and we don¡¯t know what we¡¯ll find when we arrive. All we do know has been filtered through a snarky faerie and a teenage boy who has direct contact with the source of all this, apparently. His description of integration with the system left me with a few questions compared to my own.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± Lucy asked. ¡°Like it mentioned the Antithesis,¡± he answered. ¡°Mine just said that earth was being integrated into the system and I was being granted new power in the form of a Trickster class.¡± ¡°Funny how your student is a scholar and you¡¯re a trickster,¡± his girlfriend teased. ¡°Like, shouldn¡¯t it be the other way around?¡± Eli sighed and snapped a coin out of his pocket. Without the intervening step of putting his hand in his pocket. Trickster magic was handy, and he was still getting used to it. ¡°I don¡¯t think it cares about the labels of the old world. I think however the system measured and weighed us, it wasn¡¯t based solely upon life experiences,¡± he said. ¡°Some sort of natural aptitude that we don¡¯t understand to magic. I don¡¯t think it disregards life experience completely either. I think ¡­ I don¡¯t know to be honest.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know what you think?¡± ¡°I¡¯m complicated, okay? And these are confusing times.¡± ¡°Right, sorry,¡± she said. He sighed and put the car in gear. ¡°I¡¯ll introduce you when we arrive. We¡¯ll talk about your class with Eli and figure out what to do. Jose, one of the other kid¡¯s father, is a cook. So you¡¯re not the only one who seems to have a class that¡¯s completely unrelated to combat.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, although she didn¡¯t sound hopeful. ¡°Or maybe I can get a job in a sweatshop in china or something.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not go there,¡± he said, and they arrived moments later. Just in time to witness the explosion. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Luke, Eli¡¯s classmate and the party¡¯s true mage, had finally managed to nail one of the spells outlined in his mental spellbook and conjured a fireball which, upon realizing that this time would actually go off, he aimed in the safest direction that he could think of. Straight up. He¡¯d thought that it would travel a set distance and explode. He hadn¡¯t realized that it would be affected by gravity. Nor that it would remain a cohesive ball until it hit something and exploded. It was Maia, the knight and Luke¡¯s fellow freshman in high school, who dashed in at the last moment and shielded him with her own body. She acted without thinking, but she instinctively acted several abilities at once. One of them was the one that allowed her to tackle Luke and shield him with her own body. The other reinforced her entire body with internal energy. What the system called Stamina, but Mattie, Eli¡¯s mother, was referring to as Qi. Because she was into new age BS, Maia thought privately, but she had to admit that the woman¡¯s Tai Chi was a step beyond her own awkward sparring with the thirteen year old warrior in their party. She gasped as she felt her clothing burned away, and she blushed as she realized that she was ¡­ exposed. But largely unburnt. Or rather, she had somewhere between a sunburn and a first degree burn on her backside where she¡¯d been expecting, from the size of the flare that she¡¯d shielded her classmate from, to be ¡­ well, dead. It was at that moment that her teacher came rushing in and began putting out her burning clothes with the old blanket he kept in his backseat, wrapping the teen in it after the fires were put out. ¡°Okay, right, so what the hell was that?¡± their science teacher demanded. ¡°Magic,¡± Luke said dumbly. Erik smacked him on the back of the head. At school he wasn¡¯t supposed to touch the kids, but this was a little beyond what he was used to handling. Besides...he used trickster magic to do it. His hands were in his pockets. ¡°Don¡¯t be a smartass. Why did you¡ª¡± ¡°He tried to redirect it at the last moment,¡± Maia said, jumping to her classmate and friend¡¯s defense. ¡°Because there wasn¡¯t anywhere safe to put it he tried to shoot it into the sky. But then it started falling and I realized it was going to land on him and that he¡¯d die, and¡­ my body just acted on its own. If you¡¯re going to be made at someone, be mad at me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re obviously in shock, because that¡¯s the most idiotic thing I¡¯ve heard all day,¡± Erik said. ¡°Why be mad at one of my idiot students when I can be mad at both! Now come on, I need to call your parents. Your mother needs to look at those burns. And Luke too, I think I see blisters on your arm. Let¡¯s see if the Medico class lives up to the hype.¡± At that moment Mattie, Peter and Eli came running around the corner, and it took a few moments to explain what had happened, but fortunately Maia was whisked into the house while Erik did most of the talking for her. She was suddenly very tired, and grateful that the adult was there to take charge of things. She fell asleep on the surface, and woke up with her mother rubbing sunburn lotion on her back. She blushed as she realized that she was exposed again, but a quick look around showed that it was just her mother there. ¡°How bad is it?¡± ¡°Not as bad as it was when I first looked,¡± Alaina, her mother, admitted. ¡°I wanted to take you into the Emergency Room, but I tried to use my ¡­ ability. I tried my ability on you first and I felt exhausted and you were healing at a visible rate. So I held off until it was only a sunburn instead of a full-body first degree burn. Then I healed the boy who did this to you¡ª¡± ¡°--It was an accident¡ª¡± ¡°Then I came back to check on my baby girl. But at this point I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯ll heal on your own, and I¡¯m exhausted in a way that¡¯s hard to explain, and besides I think maybe a bit of pain will be good for you so that the next time you see someone in danger from their own stupidity you¡¯ll think twice before sticking your own ass into the fire to pull them out of it.¡± ¡°It was an accident, Mom. We¡¯re stupid teenagers with magic and superpowers now,¡± Maia said. ¡°We¡¯re going to screw up, okay?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not okay,¡± her mother said. Then she sighed. ¡°No more magic practice without adult supervision.¡± ¡°That¡¯s like saying ¡®you need to ask permission to go to the bathroom¡¯ to a middle schooler, mom. These classes, they¡¯re part of us now. You can¡¯t take them away from us like you can take our phone.¡± Alaina sighed but didn¡¯t rise to the argument. ¡°I can say that you are out of commission for the rest of the day, young lady. As the party healer, that¡¯s a decision everyone agrees with.¡± ¡°I never agreed with that,¡± Maia said. But then she sat up and felt the way her skin burned when she moved and hissed. ¡°But okay. You¡¯re certain it¡¯s not that bad?¡± ¡°I wanted to bring you to a burn ward, Maia,¡± her mother said seriously. ¡°But my ability...changes things. I don¡¯t know how it works. But I felt you healing as I used it on you. You went from mostly first degree with minor patches of second degree burns over your entire back and backside to a really bad day at the beach in about ten minutes.¡± ¡°Yeah, well, thanks for that,¡± Maia said. ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep until I go from a bad day at the beach to ¡®pleasantly warmed.¡¯¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably for the best,¡± her mother said, and Maia turned over on the couch while her mother went to go scream at a magically inclined teenager again. ? Chapter 11. Chapter 11. Eli was, like everyone else who¡¯d had the system forced upon them, abruptly aware of the moment that he¡¯d had a new language thrust into his brain, but after discussing it with his party they mutually agreed to continue speaking English because ¡­ well because speaking the alien language downloaded directly into their brain was weird. English was familiar. The alien language was weird. But after searching on the internet, they were surprised to learn that everyone had this new language. There was a bit of uncertainty on what to call it, ironically, since nobody could think of ¡°the name for this new language¡± in a name and not a concept that required explanation in the new language. Eli found an online poll. It had hundreds of suggestions; apparently this was the third iteration of this online debate since the update to the system had apparently updated everyone on the planet¡¯s Broca¡¯s area. While the official naming was clearly far off, there were a few clear front runners. The simplest, and the one that got Eli¡¯s vote, was just Common. But there was also Vox Universalis, and some form of ¡°Common Tongue¡± or ¡°Universal Speech in a few other common languages. Eli¡¯s preference for ¡®Common¡¯ was strictly because he was an English speaker. Which made him think of the translation for ¡®common¡¯ in the new language, and he hit his head in frustration. He posted on the same forums. ¡°Hey guys. So, everyone is suggesting some version of ¡®the language that everyone speaks.¡¯ But they¡¯re using their own language. English speakers want to call it Common because of various reasons, but that¡¯s admittedly English biased. But the new word for ¡°Common¡± is ¡°Bakotu.¡± So, yeah. I already voted for common because I hadn¡¯t thought of it yet, but yeah I¡¯m totally changing my vote next time.¡± He got a few responses pretty quick, including a link to Titansystem.app. He followed the link out of curiosity, blinking in surprise when the registration system looked a lot like a party invite, except on his phone. Curious, he registered. It didn¡¯t ask for an email or any personal details. He could enter a pseudonym, which he did, but it asked for his class and his stats, which he entered honestly. He lied about his age reflexively as a teenager on the internet; it was just easier that way. Once he¡¯d registered, he was directed to the information page, which was a list of information officially confirmed by the website devs, and a second category of speculation by its users. He swallowed as he realized exactly who it was that had set this website up. He regretted choosing his username ¨CRunekeeper. But not enough to change it. If the Webmaster was going to recognize him and send someone after him, he¡¯d have done it by now. He got a few messages from others, but a lot of them seemed to be just trying to increase their friend count. He learned pretty quickly to tell the difference between real users and wannabes because the people who actually had the system at this point knew that everyone started out with base 10 in every attribute. And there were people who tried to quantify things the system didn¡¯t measure using notes like ¡°My charisma is 50+¡± or something equally stupid like that. He was spent a few hours reading through some of the theorycrafting and of other system users displaying their level one powers. Here was a warrior doing a standing long jump that set a world record. There was a mage casting a fireball that was slightly less damaging to people and property than the one that Luke had cast in his backyard last night. There was a young woman unscrewing a wet pickle jar effortlessly. Okay, so that last one was a bit stupid but it made him laugh. Eventually he decided that it was probably safe to share what he knew about his own class, so he recruited the eager Peter to hold his phone for him as he showed off some of the gear that he¡¯d been preparing for the dungeons. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°I guess my class is kind of rare,¡± he said to the camera, ¡°It¡¯s called Scholar. But yeah, it¡¯s like mage in that I got a grimoire downloaded into my brain. It¡¯s teaching me to enchant things, I guess? I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m not quite certain how I contribute to a party yet. Or maybe I don¡¯t? Maybe I¡¯m just an enchanter and strategist. Anyway, if you look at these boots, these runes empower grip and speed. I¡¯ve tested it out, and when I¡¯m pumping mana through the enchant it¡¯s ¡­ let¡¯s say it¡¯s like running on a regular surface that versus skating on the ice, except on reverse. You¡¯re even less likely to slip than you were. And it¡¯s hard to say how much faster it makes me since I¡¯m still adjusting to my post-awakening reality.¡± ¡°Show them the baseball bat,¡± Peter suggested. ¡°Okay, right, turn off the camera and we¡¯ll do that next,¡± Eli said. After setting up and getting Sophie to toss him a softball for the camera, he demonstrated the difference between his athletic ability alone versus swinging the bat with the enchant activated. His pure athleticism hadn¡¯t been anything impressive before, but after the system awakening he might have been mistaken for someone who actually practiced swinging a bat. But with the enchant, the ball just ¡­ kept going. Out and into the trees. Two, three hundred yards at least. ¡°I¡¯m not chasing that,¡± Peter said. Eli sighed, but he took his phone back from the thirteen year old Warrior and ran off to chase after the ball he¡¯d grand slammed. He finished uploading the two videos and submitted them to the power demonstration forums, expecting that they¡¯d be buried pretty quickly. He wasn¡¯t wrong. His abilities just weren¡¯t as flashy as warriors displaying superhuman strengths, rogues displaying impossible levels of grace, and mages blowing things up in creative applications of low level magic. It was actually reassuring that his posts were buried. He¡¯d had a phase when he was like eleven when he¡¯d actively tried to go viral. It had been awkward and cringe, and he didn¡¯t like thinking about it. That wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d been going for, he¡¯d been hoping to connect with other scholars through the website to perhaps compare notes. Instead he got a message as he was returning after finding the ball. He checked it, reflexively trying to accept the message request with his interface ¨C funny how swiftly he¡¯d adapted to that ¨C before he remembered that it was on his phone. He checked the message the old fashioned way. With his finger. Like a peasant. And he was surprised when he got another one from another sender a second later. ¡°Hey, your abilities look awesome. You have a group yet? I¡¯m in SoCal,¡± the first message read. ¡°Gonna challenge the dungeons when they open?¡± Eli thought about his response, but saw no reason to lie. Thousands of people were apparently openly discussing their intentions to delve as soon as the dungeons opened up, which the website had ¡®verified¡¯ as occurring ¡®soon.¡¯ ¡°Planning on delving with some friends from school,¡± he admitted to the anonymous internet stranger. ¡°We¡¯ve got a solid line up, I think. Hopefully it¡¯s not an alien trap and we don¡¯t die on floor one.¡± ¡°If they were going to do that why not wipe us out instead of giving us superpowers?¡± the first guy responded before Eli had a chance to respond to the second message he¡¯d received. He had really fast typing fingers, Eli thought to himself. He took another moment to explain his thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s more like ¡­ what if we don¡¯t understand what it is that¡¯s at stake that worries me. I think most of us are either asking what the point is or treating it like it¡¯s a game at this point. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a game.¡± He checked the second message. ¡°UR magic is obviously fake.¡± He blocked the sender. The first guy responded again. ¡°There are games that play for keeps,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe this is one of those. We¡¯ll find out in the dungeon together, I guess? I mean, not together, but in spirit, yeah? Us dungeon delvers need to stick together.¡± Eli smiled and sent the guy an emoji and a ¡°Yeah. Together in spirit.¡± And a friend request, because why not. When he returned to the yard, the others had found the website and were currently playing around on their own phones as they registered and began reading the info-dump and theorycrafting that was being shared there. He sighed as he went to check on Maia, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch at this point. At least as long as his friends were on the phone, they weren¡¯t doing anything dangerous like shooting fireballs straight up and forgetting that things that go up tend to come down. ? Chapter 12. Chapter 12. ¡°We can¡¯t just shut it down,¡± the man in black said to the woman in black in the bunker where they were beginning to regret their life choices. Once the insidious nature of the infection had been made clear, spreading to people who were simply passed by ambulances rather than any traditional infections mode known to man, the uninfected like the pair of them were ordered to shelter in place. She didn¡¯t ask what he was talking about. She knew he was talking about the website. It was frustrating for both of them. ¡°I know,¡± she said, and he could hear her frustration in her voice. ¡°And we cant DDoS them, because they¡¯re growing to handle that already. The higher ups aren¡¯t happy that they¡¯re locked in their panic rooms, and we¡¯re not happy we¡¯re stuck in here without air conditioning, but that doesn¡¯t mean that you need to repeat things we both know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m brainstorming,¡± he said. ¡°What can we do if we can¡¯t shut it down? What are our options?¡± She sipped a bit of water through a straw, making an annoying sound that she knew bugged him. Probably because it bugged him and not due to being thirsty at all. He sighed as she thought. ¡°We could infiltrate. Implant disinformation, run counterintelligence, run actual info-gathering and start recruiting assets from those who will be delving,¡± she commented. He frowned. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. Assuming that the rumors of ¡®dungeons¡¯ are true, they¡¯ve already set aside a multi-level force designed to clear them before they ever become a threat. Whatever it is that the aliens intend to throw at a dungeon ¡­ what are they calling themselves?¡± ¡°Depends on who you ask,¡± she answered. ¡°I call them delvers.¡± ¡°Well, the delvers aren¡¯t going to have the coordination of our elites. Or even the rank and file military forces we¡¯ll be sending, if it seems that we can secure a base inside the dungeons. The civilians will be irrelevant and forced out within days, if not hours. That¡¯s my prediction.¡± She sipped her drink just to annoy him. ¡°Yeah? Let¡¯s see how that prediction holds up two weeks from now,¡± she said, and she went to the sink to refill her drink. They were decision makers. Movers and shakers. Power players who did the work behind the scenes, deciding who would say what by moving around impressive sums of money, or by whispering in the right ears, or through any number of other actions. They didn¡¯t have a system yet. They wouldn¡¯t receive one for two weeks, as the government that they served completely forgot them in their bunker in the middle of nowhere. The man in black¡¯s prediction didn¡¯t hold up very well at all, it turned out. ~~~~~~~ John was in the hardware store when his phone rang. He picked up when he recognized the number as that of one of his daughter¡¯s friend¡¯s father. ¡°Hello Jose,¡± he said, his eyes looking around through the various tools and building supplies. His new class was in overdrive, and he was finding it both extremely pleasant to let the ideas of how to build a trebuchet out of two by fours and plumbing supplies flow through him. ¡°Are we really still thinking about letting our kids go through with this?¡± the Cook on the other end of the line asked. ¡°I know that¡ª¡± ¡°Are you trying to sew dissent, Jose?¡± John asked, throwing a multitool into his basket and moving on to another aisle. Junior was nearby with his own basket full of odds and ends, and the two tinkerers were planning on putting their heads together to compare notes on what their classes wanted them to build before they checked out. ¡°No, I¡¯m just saying, now that we¡¯ve all had some time to think¡ª¡± ¡°Sounds like sewing dissent to me, friend,¡± John said. ¡°Or are you trying to assert control? Are you upset that our kids seem to know how to handle this new world better than we do? Because I¡¯m proud of them.¡± ¡°My daughter was almost blown up by your son with this new ¡­ magic bullshit,¡± Jose said, his voice angry. ¡°Sorry about that, yeah,¡± Jose said. ¡°Which, to me, is just all the more reason to go with them. To make certain they¡¯re not getting in over their heads. Who knows, maybe dungeons are easy and we¡¯ll blow through them. Or maybe the only way to keep our kids safe will be for them to see in person how dangerous they are and have their parents swoop in and save them. Either way I¡¯m not letting my kids take this on alone.¡± The phone abruptly went dead, and John sighed. He found the aisle with the rope and his Tinkerer abilities began going into overdrive. ¡°Oh,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re going to need a lot of rope.¡± ~~~~~~ The day drew to a close. The parents who had dropped their kids off at Eli¡¯s house came to pick them up. Alaina brought a change of clothes for Maia¡¯s burnt outfit, and everyone else retired to their own homes to rest for what might be the final time before the end of the world as they knew it. Although some would eventually argue that the world as they knew it had already ended. The adults went to bed listening to news reports about how the spread of the system, while perhaps disruptive to the status quo, had thus far led to no casualties. Newscasters spent time interviewing those who had woken up with their new abilities and the menus in their heads. Government officials promised official responses ¡°in the coming days and weeks.¡± Eli, sitting on the couch with his mom, thought it was funny that the Titan ship in orbit was largely forgotten by the news media. As were the Core Stones which had landed on Earth and started the entire process.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Thanks for backing me up with the other adults, mom,¡± Eli said before they went to bed. ¡°What were you expecting? I¡¯m not going to just throw you to the wolves. But you¡¯ve got to show that you¡¯re worth it, Eli. So far everyone is following you because you¡¯re a step ahead of everyone else in figuring things out. If that changes, there are going to be challenges to hold onto your throne.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a king or anything,¡± he said, ¡°just a party leader. And if someone else can do the job better then I¡¯ll step aside. Honestly I¡¯m not entirely certain that it wouldn¡¯t be better if I¡¯d let someone else handle it from the start, but nobody else is standing up to do it, and, well, I know things at this point that give me an advantage.¡± ¡°Because of Gabri and your conversation with this Titan,¡± his mother supplied. ¡°Yeah,¡± he agreed. ¡°Gabri is a great resource. And Erandius answered a few important questions for me.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m proud of you,¡± Mattie said. ¡°Now go to bed. It¡¯s been a long day.¡± ¡°Right,¡± he agreed, and they turned the TV off. There wasn¡¯t anything interesting on anyway. ~~~~~~ The next day, the entire party arrived at the Mathews¡¯ house with the supplies they¡¯d gathered the day before. Elaine was missing, stating that she needed to work but would be around for the opening of the dungeons tomorrow. They spent a few moments to address the matters what they¡¯d discovered through the news that morning. Something like sixty percent of the world was presently unconscious, presumably receiving the system. The response to this from those who were still awake varied. Some were using the opportunity to loot and rob, while others were being good citizens and staying home, waiting for society to come back online again. TitanSystem.App had a major influx of new users. Eli got a few more pings asking him for enchanting advice, or if he was available for a party, or various other messages, but mostly he focused on his own party rather than his phone. They set up a clearing for Luke to practice his low level magic in relative safety while everyone else donned the protective sports equipment they¡¯d found or bought or ¡®borrowed¡¯ from the school the day before. Peter, the thirteen year old warrior, was dressed in his football gear even as he wielded a baseball bat. He wanted a sword, but between his natural physical powers being enhanced by the arrival of the system and his ability to tap into Stamina, he was already quite dangerous with just the bat. Sophie, Peter¡¯s older brother and Eli¡¯s classmate/fellow Astronomy Club member, had arrived with their deceased father¡¯s old compound bow and was practicing with an archery butt nearby. She reported that her skills were interacting with the bow in a way that she was still figuring out, but that the arrows had more ¡®punch¡¯ than they should. They weren¡¯t worried about Peter and Sophie¡¯s mother¡¯s equipment; Elaine, as a cop turned Sharpshooter, was likely the most prepared for the situation of all of them. Luke¡¯s older brother had purchased three crossbows. Johns Junior and Senior were in the process of tinkering around with theirs, while Susan was alternating between practicing with her own crossbow and sparring with the warriors using a quarterstaff. Which, she reported, suited her quite well. Maia had recovered entirely from her burns the day before. Her parents had, at her request, purchased some hockey padding for her, as well as a hockey stick for a weapon. That left Matilda, who went dressed in a simple Gi rather than wearing armor like the other warriors, and Erik Estabon, who was wearing a thick leather motorcycle jacket and a pair of jeans. Mattie had chosen for her weapon a crowbar, while Erik had arrived in the morning with a machete. John Sr. passed out hardhats to everyone who didn¡¯t have sports helmets. Everyone wore sturdy hiking boots. And so, in this hodgepodge of equipment, the group began to practice with their newfound Skills and Abilities, and their Teamwork. This continued even as their phones beeped with updates from the government to ¡®stay calm and shelter in place.¡¯ Eli frowned and investigated the cause of those updates and was dismayed to find that a significant number of people had taken to using their new abilities for criminal and antisocial behavior. The police was responding, but traditional tactics were less effective against the system-enhanced criminals. He could only shake his head at the idiocy of it all, but when Elaine showed up hours later she was frustrated. ¡°You¡¯re certain that people who go into the dungeon will emerge even stronger than those who remain on the surface?¡± she asked Eli. ¡°Definitely,¡± he said. ¡°That¡¯s the entire point of dungeons to begin with.¡± ¡°How much stronger?¡± the policewoman asked. Eli shrugged and turned to Gabri, who was watching with amusement as Luke failed to cast a simple spell. Gabri realized that the question was being directed at him, and he shrugged. ¡°It depends on how deep they go,¡± the faerie answered eventually. ¡°The dungeon will reward some experience for killing monsters and enemies, but also for completing objectives, resolving puzzles, and avoiding traps. The deeper you go, the more experience you get from the system. But anyone who reaches floor 10 should be level fifteen or higher.¡± ¡°And what could a level fifteen criminal do to a level one person?¡± Elaine pressed. ¡°Oh, this and that,¡± the fae said, grinning. ¡°If they¡¯re particularly deranged? It wouldn¡¯t be pretty. They¡¯ll be about eighty percent stronger in every area that matters by the time they emerge.¡± Elaine cursed, then returned to her patrol car and had a conversation with her radio for a while. At three PM, the training montage was abruptly interrupted by the system. Notice: Dungeons shall be opening to all system users in 12hrs. Delve as deep as you can for Experience, Gear, and other Rewards. Form a Party and prepare. Minimum party size is five. Rewards and difficulty increase for every additional combat capable person. Rewards increase exponentially the deeper you go, so aim for the lowest floor possible! Time until Surface Monster Spawns begin:120hrs ? Chapter 13. Chapter 13. After the system¡¯s warning about the dungeons opening up, everyone decided to check their supplies and try to get some rest. While the opening of the dungeons would, inconveniently, be at three AM in their time zone, everyone had brought along sleeping bags and tried to get at least a few hours of rest. Everyone had backpacks filled with supplies, including all the obvious things that one would take if they were, for example, going for a long nature hike. But the tinkerers in particular were loaded down with toolboxes and bags filled with widgets and power tools. Alaina, the medico, had purchased several first aid kits and was working on combining and inventorying them. Her husband, Jose, was nervously embracing his role as the cook. He had a cleaver to defend himself with, but he also had more food in his pack than anyone else, and the tools required to prepare dried or fresh food, whereas everyone else was mostly relying on energy bars. Of everyone, Lucy, Erik Estabon¡¯s girlfriend, felt most out of place. She had a baseball bat to defend herself like everyone else, but her class was Seamstress. She¡¯d been expected to get turned away by the boy leading the endeavor, but he had instead immediately asked for her help in getting the enchantments to work properly on his jacket, jeans, T-shirt, and even his underwear. While he¡¯d had no trouble enchanting his boots or his weapon with simple arts and crafts supplies, he hadn¡¯t been able to do the same with his clothes. After showing her the patterns that he needed to put into the clothes, however, she was surprised at just how easy it had been to embroider them. She wasn¡¯t perfect the first time every time, but she found that she had a sense for this. She could tell when the embroidery was out of place or what parts of the pattern were wrong when he reported that the enchantment weren¡¯t working. He thanked her profusely, and promised her a spot on the team. ¡°I think maybe your class is more important and impressive than it sounds,¡± he confided to her. ¡°I want to get you to the system shop and see what options it gives you. It might be that ¡®Seamstress¡¯ may also mean ¡®enchanter,¡¯ or you might be able to make magic clothing or clothing from magic materials.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ll be holding the group back,¡± she objected. ¡°I don¡¯t think that will be a problem,¡± he assured her. ¡°We¡¯ll see when we get into the dungeon, but Gabriel has been saying something about SafeZones and noncombatants. If you or anyone else is in serious danger or holding us back, we¡¯ll turn back and regroup on the surface. But until we have more information I want to proceed with everyone.¡± She had nervously accepted his word. The counter to the opening of the dungeons slowly ticked down even as the party settled in for their last naps on the surface for a long time. ~~~~~~~ The alarms went off at two AM, and groggily everyone got up. Eli rolled out of bed for the last time and went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and dressed in his enchanted gear. He didn¡¯t activate the enchantments, not yet, but instead went to check on everyone else. He opened the door to find a line for his bathroom, and he stepped aside to let Sophie inside. He blushed, he wouldn¡¯t have dallied if he¡¯d realized that others were waiting for him. In the living room, he waited for the party to assemble, and they turned the television on. The president was speaking, encouraging people to wait to delve into dungeons until they had been thoroughly scouted by the armed forces to ensure that they were safe. ¡°What sort of idiotic thing is that?¡± Luke said. ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon . Of course it¡¯s not going to be safe. But I don¡¯t think we have a choice. If we don¡¯t delve, then the monsters will start spawning on the surface, or else the criminals who do delve will return and burn whatever is left on the surface to the ground.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Eli agreed. He scratched the back of his head and checked TitanSystem.App for a few minutes. He hadn¡¯t gotten any new messages, but he did notice that it was way, way more active than it had been before. According to the little ticker in the corner, it had more than a billion users. A system timer appeared in the corner of his vision, and he swallowed. Fifteen minutes left. ¡°Let¡¯s go outside and finish getting ready,¡± he suggested to the party, and everyone agreed. Protective gear was donned. Backpacks were slung over shoulders. Weapons were equipped. The counter ticked down. Dungeon System Online. Eligible Party Detected.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Party Leader: Elias Mathews 14 Members Eligible Difficulties: Very Easy , Easy, Normal, Hard Do you wish to enter the dungeon at this time? Yes/No Eli wasn¡¯t surprised by the difficulty option. He¡¯d been expecting it, having been informed of the function by Gabri. But he hadn¡¯t told his friends, because he wasn¡¯t interested in the debate that would follow. He selected yes, and, when the followup question of what difficulty he would be challenging, he selected hard. The system asked for confirmation, warning him that the enemies would be approximately thirty to one hundred percent stronger than on normal mode, and he selected confirm. He was putting a lot of faith in Gabri in making this decision, but he felt confident that it was the right choice. As soon as he¡¯d entered his selections, a violet portal opened up in his backyard. He turned to the others, and, taking the lead, he stepped through. ~~~~~~~ The passage through the portal had a feint sense of moving in multiple directions at once, resulting in a bit of vertigo as his guts and his inner ear protested at the treatment, but after a moment he found himself standing in a brightly lit room. The walls were covered with lichen, and the light seemed to be coming from the open sky, but the sky itself was black and starless. The walls ascended for thousands of feet and did not look climbable, being constructed of sheer rock. Maybe with the right equipment? One by one the other party members appeared in formation behind him. Once everyone had arrived, they took stock of the situation. After they had been in the dungeon for about a minute, they received another prompt from the system. Welcome to Floor 1 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 23:59 Floor 1 objectives: Kill 100 goblins or Kill Goblin Champion or Find Stairwell to Floor 2 Completion of any of these three objectives will teleport your party to floor 2, regardless of where they are on the floor. Return to SafeZone before Collapse if you wish to withdraw. Good luck! ¡°Goblins?¡± Luke said. ¡°should be easy then, right? Goblins are trash mobs usually.¡± ¡°If you say so,¡± Maia said. ¡°But one hundred is a lot of them.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t be doing it all at the same time, obviously,¡± Luke clarified. ¡°We¡¯ll do it in smaller groups of like five or six. I bet my fireball could probably get the job done on a group that size if they¡¯re close enough and¡ª¡± ¡°And what, alert the entire floor of where we are?¡± Peter said, smacking the older boy. ¡°Don¡¯t be an idiot. If we¡¯re outnumbered then we need to stay quiet.¡± ¡°Gabri, did you see the message too?¡± Eli asked. ¡°Nope! But I can guess. Don¡¯t bother with kill counts, Master. Go for the stairwell.¡± ¡°What about experience?¡± Eli asked. ¡°Won¡¯t we miss out if we don¡¯t farm the goblins on the first few floors?¡± Gabri made an equivocal motion with his hand. ¡°Eh, not really. If you¡¯re fast, you earn a speed bonus to the experience reward for completing the floor. If you have to kill some goblins along the way then you shouldn¡¯t shy away from it because they¡¯ll definitely not be making things easy for you. But you¡¯ll only get five to ten experience for killing a goblin. If you complete the floor, you¡¯ll gain maybe five hundred experience, and if you get a speed bonus you can get up to double that!¡± ¡°Right,¡± Eli said. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then we should get moving. Let¡¯s keep an eye out for anything that looks like it might lead to the stairwell. We¡¯ll defend ourselves if we have to, but unless these goblins are ridiculously easy to kill, then we should avoid confrontation with them until we¡¯ve cleared a few floors and have some levels and a better idea what we¡¯re doing.¡± ? Chapter 14. Chapter 14. The SafeZone was vaguely circular, with two hallways going off in opposite directions. After some discussion, they labeled one of these directions North and the other South. They weren¡¯t actually north or south, as the compasses they brought weren¡¯t working inside the dungeon. But they had to start somewhere. Sophie volunteered to scout one direction and Elaine the other. They both promised to return the moment they saw any signs of hostile forces. They returned twenty minutes later, as agreed, and shrugged. Each of them gave effectively the same report; a long twisting corridor with no offshoots. After some consideration, Eli simply flipped a coin and announced that they were heading south. The corridor twisted around to the right, and then the left, and finally split off again. This time the right passageway led to a smaller version of the safe zone, where eight goblins were sleeping out in the open. The party retreated until they were out of earshot, and then had a brief discussion. By mutual agreement, they decided to engage. If things went badly, then they¡¯d run to the safezone and withdraw. Either way, it would give them a better idea of what their chances were to face these early goblins than to be forced into combat on unfavorable terms and find that they were massively outmatched and cornered. The melee members of the group, Peter, Maia and Mattie, sneaked forward. Peter felt his heart beating so hard in his chest that he was worried that it would wake the goblins. Maia and Mattie, however, found that they felt a surprising calm now that they were about to engage in combat. Maia¡¯s calm was that of icy sureness, while Mattie¡¯s was more like the serenity that she¡¯d been chasing after with her Tai Chi all along. Abruptly one of the Goblins sat up, looked blearily at the party, and made a screaming sound. The crack of a gunshot filled the enclosed space as Elaine shot it in its center mass, causing the green little monster to practically explode as the bullet did an abnormal amount of damage to it. The combat started, and the disoriented goblins all began jumping to their feet and racing for where they¡¯d stashed their weapons. Sophie killed one of them with an arrow in its back, and Junior took down another with his crossbow. Before the remainder finished arming themselves, Peter raced up behind one of them and, just like he was swinging for the outfield, smashed it in the head with his baseball bat. The result was the goblin¡¯s head turning into a pulp and a messy spray squishing onto the wall. Mattie jumped and pinned another of the goblins to the ground, stabbing with the long end of her crowbar and piercing it through its heart. The goblin went still within moments. Maia tripped another one with her hockey stick and began beating it until her stick broke, then resumed beating it with her own fists. The goblin went limp as her Stamina enhanced blows broke its bones. The two remaining goblins managed to arm themselves with a club and a dagger, respectively, and turned to charge the group. Erik Stepped forward and slashed his machete at one, and even though it didn¡¯t look like his weapon connected, the goblin¡¯s head suddenly fell from its shoulders. It took two more steps and fell. The final goblin looked around at the party, then charged at Eli. It was wielding a dagger, and he stepped forward to test out how his enchanted bat would do against it, but before it reached him the goblin suddenly jerked to the side with the bright orange fletching of a modern arrow piercing the side of its chest. It continued forward, but stumbled and fell after two steps. It fell to the floor, wheezed twice, and went still. The group looked about the aftermath, their ears ringing from Elaine¡¯s pistol. Sophie ran out to the intersection to see if anyone was coming to investigate that, but ten minutes passed and it seemed that their slaughter went unnoticed. The party regrouped. Maia took one of the clubs from the goblin¡¯s stockpile to replace her broken hockey stick, noting that the primitive weapon was heavier and stockier but would hopefully survive more than a single blow with her enhanced strength. ¡°Okay. So, what did we learn?¡± Eli asked. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°That goblins are easy to kill?¡± Peter asked. ¡°Maybe,¡± Erik said, frowning. ¡°We got the drop on them. We outnumbered them. Between those two factors, there¡¯s no reason we should have been in danger from that fight, but things still went wrong. Elaine, I don¡¯t know if you noticed, but¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah, I noticed,¡± she said, looking at a bullet in her hand. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a hollowpoint bullet. It did way more damage than I was expecting it to.¡± ¡°It did 1d4 sonic damage to the rest of our ears too,¡± Luke pointed out. ¡°Honestly, I kind of wish you hadn¡¯t done that.¡± ¡°Yes, well, it happened,¡± she said. She put her bullet back into her vest and shook her head. ¡°Either goblins are especially vulnerable to bullets, or it¡¯s something to do with my class. But either way, my service pistol is more dangerous than I thought it would be.¡± ¡°Maybe this won¡¯t be so bad after all,¡± Sophie said. ¡°I noticed that my arrows have an extra punch. Maybe bullets are the same way.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± Eli said. He glanced at Gabri, who was searching through the loot they¡¯d taken from the goblins. ¡°I think that it¡¯s the system enhancing the weapons because of who is using them.¡± ¡°Well, regardless, we proved that we can take on goblins if we catch them sleeping and unprepared,¡± Junior said. ¡°But let¡¯s not get complacent, yeah?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Eli agreed. Then they began moving forward again. Having returned to the fork in the passage, the group took the other option this time and found that the path lasted longer this time. When it did branch off, they took the left exit, with Sophie leading the way as their scout. While she had promised that she would only stay a few hundred yards in front of everyone, the truth is that she continued to jog even after she¡¯d reached that point until, suddenly, she came across another large, open room. She gasped at what she found, then returned to the group. From Eli¡¯s perspective, she abruptly reappeared and motioned for everyone to retreat. ¡°Goblins,¡± she said. ¡°Fifty of them. All in one place. And they¡¯re not sleeping. They¡¯re cooking something, and it kind of looks like it¡¯s something that used to walk on two legs.¡± ¡°Right. Back to the fork,¡± Eli said, and nobody argued as they returned down the passageway and took the other way this time. They continued to navigate the maze. They came across another small encounter with five goblins and swiftly executed them with a brutal ambush, although Elaine refrained from firing her pistol on them this time. Even so they were concerned about the screaming, and so they continued to push forward. Fortunately it didn¡¯t seem that the large room they had skipped had heard them, and although there was a goblin who came to investigate from in front of them, Sophie dispatched him with an arrow to the chest and didn¡¯t even bother to report it to everyone behind her until they stumbled upon the body. The path split again, and Sophie wrote on the wall with a marker that she was scouting the left path. Everyone else paused at the intersection to wait, except Elaine, who volunteered to explore the right path. They both returned a few minutes later. ¡°Dead end with twenty Goblins defending it,¡± Sophie said. ¡°Another split,¡± Elaine reported. So they took the path that Elaine had scouted rather than the dead end. Once they reached the next fork, Elaine and Sophie again scouted. While the group was waiting, the rest of the party was nervously chatting about how the first floor was proceeding. ¡°It¡¯s a lot easier than I was expecting,¡± Luke was saying. ¡°We haven¡¯t had a real battle yet, so shut up and don¡¯t jinx us,¡± Junior scolded his younger brother. ¡°I just mean that¡ª¡± Abruptly, an arrow took the mage in the shoulder, and he cried out in pain. The group turned about just in time to see ten goblins coming around the bend behind them. The goblin with the bow hollered in victory as he strung another arrow. ? Chapter 15. Chapter 15. ¡°You bastards!¡± Junior shouted at the goblins who had injured his little brother. He brought up his crossbow even as the goblin who had shot Luke was drawing another arrow. They aimed at each other, but Junior pulled the trigger first, and his bolt took the goblin in the eye. The goblin¡¯s arrow still flew, but aimlessly it bounced into the wall instead of coming anywhere close to the party. It was at that moment that Eli finally noticed something odd about the goblins; their eyes were pure white. He wasn¡¯t quite certain why he hadn¡¯t noticed before, or why he was only noticing now, but they had no iris or pupil to be seen. The realization that this had been the case all along hit him all at once, although he had no understanding of what it meant. He came to this realization in a flash even as the others in the party moved into action to continue fighting their opponents. John Sr. stepped forward and launched his own crossbow bolt at one of the goblins in the front, taking it in the abdomen, and Susan likewise took a shot, but it went wide. Alaina rushed over to Luke and began examining the injury even as the boy gasped and cried out from the pain. Maia, Peter and Mattie moved to intercept the oncoming rush of goblins. Fortunately the walls of the hallway effectively limited the goblins, preventing the party from surrounding the melee members or getting at the more vulnerable party members in back. Unfortunately that also meant that once the crossbow wielders had reloaded, they couldn¡¯t get a clear shot without hitting the fighters protecting them. The three melee fighters stood shoulder to shoulder and met a charge of goblins, each carrying a primitive weapon. They screamed out in a mad frenzy. The fighters fought fiercely, Mattie with her crowbar, Peter with his baseball bat, and Maia with the club she¡¯d stolen from a dead goblin earlier in the day. Fortunately the humans had the advantage of reach over the shorter goblins, in addition to being more coherently organized. Each of the combatants was surprised to find that once the fighting started, their fears and doubts faded to the wayside and they were able to ignore everything except for the moment, and the next moment, and the next moment. They couldn¡¯t plan any further than a few seconds in advance, they were busy reacting to the vicious attacks of the goblins. So they simply allowed their bodies to react. Eli felt himself wishing that he could do something to help, but as he watched he knew that he¡¯d only get in the way. He was ready to step forward if it came to him, but-- ¡°Help them,¡± Gabri said, landing on his shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll just get in the way,¡± Eli protested. ¡°Not if you use your magic,¡± Gabri said. ¡°Haven¡¯t you figured it out yet? You should have the Skill, you just need to press it to them.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, to be honest. I¡¯m not a Scholar. I know how your abilities work but I don¡¯t know how they feel . But you should be able to empower their weapons from here, so do that ,¡± Gabri suggested. Eli frowned. He looked down at his baseball bat, covered in permanent ink and rubber cement. He activated the enchantment on it, feeling his Maximum Mana dip slightly as the enchantment took his magic. To his surprise, he felt a sudden resonance. Most keenly he felt it on Peter¡¯s own baseball bat. Reaching out in a way that he didn¡¯t have the words to describe, he felt the connection between the two weapons form. Suddenly the magic that had been encapsulating his own bat was surrounding Peter¡¯s weapon instead. The next time the younger boy swung his weapon, it cracked straight through the defending goblin¡¯s shield and sent the little man-shaped creature flying and blood spraying against the walls. The boy looked down at his bat, surprised. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I¡¯ve got it,¡± Eli said, and he reinforced the connection between his bat and Peter¡¯s. Even as he did, he began empowering his other enchantments. He pushed more mana through the bat and found that it would click into place to form a second enchantment, although it seemed less efficient when he did it like this. He ignored the inefficiency and focused on the resonance between his bat and his mother¡¯s crowbar. She too swung her weapon and jerked in surprise when it was suddenly twice as effective as it had been before. His maximum mana dipped precariously as he empowered Maia¡¯s club next. He didn¡¯t have time to check his status, but he was pretty sure he was pushing his limits enchanting three weapons. Even so, he pushed more of his mana into the enchantment in his jacket which was supposed to make his clothes knifeproof and willed it into his mother¡¯s Gi. The others had sports equipment at least, he thought to himself to justify the nepotism, but in reality he just wanted to make certain that his mother was protected. With their weapons empowered and the hallway a tactical choke point, the three warriors were able to meet the attackers head on. Thirteen goblins met their end in a relentless attack on them, including the two which had been killed by John and Junior¡¯s initial crossbows. When the pressure let up, it was because the surviving goblins broke. Three of them turned and ran. Without missing a beat, John, Junior and Susan stepped forward even as the warriors, seeing them approach from behind, stepped aside to make way for them. The Campos family went down to one knee to steady their aim, then fired. Three crossbows took two goblins in the back. One of them almost got away, screaming and squealing for its life, before it got any further a bolt of arcane energy suddenly took it in the left hamstring. Peter, who had been chasing it since the crossbow bolts had missed it, was inspired into a burst of speed and took a two handed swing with his bat. ¡°Home run!¡± he thought to himself as the goblin spun midair and collapsed. He returned to the rest of the party, who were circling around Luke, who was being ministered to by Alaina for the arrow the goblin had shot him with. The arrow had been extracted from the boy¡¯s shoulder and the bleeding had stopped thanks to Alaina¡¯s ability, but the Medico had a strange expression on her face. ¡°I can¡¯t explain what I¡¯m doing,¡± she said, even as the wound closed and a pink looking layer of skin formed where the wound had been. ¡°It¡¯s so frustrating. This is impossible. Scientifically impossible, but I¡¯m doing it and I don¡¯t even know how!¡± ¡°It¡¯s magic, Mom,¡± Maia said, patting her mother on her shoulder. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to make sense to us. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as magic!¡± Alaina shouted. ¡°It¡¯s Titan technology then,¡± Eli said. ¡°And it just looks like it¡¯s magic because we¡¯re primitives compared to them. Either way, we have to get going. The question is do we go forward or backward?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Luke said. ¡°We obviously keep going.¡± ¡°You were just shot, idiot,¡± John said, smacking his son. ¡°We¡¯re getting you out of here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, Dad. We have a healer. I mean, it sucked and that hurt like hell but¡ª¡± The Campos family burst into an argument. They were still arguing about whether or not to return when Sophie returned. She had a frown on her face. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± she asked. ¡°Was there a fight?¡± ¡°Luke got shot, then we killed like thirty goblins,¡± Peter told his older sister. ¡°You should have seen it, I was awesome.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty awesome too. I scouted out six different passages. They¡¯re all dead ends. This entire way is just filled with dead ends and sleeping goblins,¡± Sophie said. ¡°Did you have to use your vanish ability?¡± her younger brother asked. ¡°Shut up,¡± she scolded. ¡°Look, one way or another we should get moving, because I slipped past a patrol that was coming this way. They¡¯re going to be here in like five minutes.¡± ¡°Which means it¡¯s time to head back,¡± Susan said. ¡°Let¡¯s get going.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t leave without my mom,¡± Sophie said, motioning in the direction where Elain Waters had headed to scout for the group. ¡°If you¡¯re all chickening out, then¡ª¡± Abruptly, three gunshots came from the direction that Elaine had taken. The party stiffened, then the teenagers grabbed their weapons and ran to investigate. ¡°Wait!¡± their parents called, and charged after them. ? Chapter 16. Chapter 16.
Name Elias Mathews Health 100/100
Age 15 Mana 72/98
Species Human Stamina 100/100
Class Scholar Strength 10
Level 1 Dexterity 10
Titles Runekeeper Agility 10
Party Unnamed Party (Leader) Endurance 10
Guild None Constitution 10
Allegiance None Magic Power 10
Eli had taken a moment to examine his status since the fighting had stopped, while the others had argued. He¡¯d made a few deductions regarding his skill. First of all, he could pass off the enchantments on his gear onto the gear of his allies. That much was clear from the fight. Second, he could run more than one enchantment through his gear at a time, but it grew more expensive with each iteration. He knew that his maximum mana without any spells active was 193. He knew that it cost him fifty mana to keep Gabri manifested. He was currently enchanting his own clothes and his mother¡¯s to be immune to slashing damage. He wasn¡¯t certain what that cost. But he knew that his maximum mana had been down to sixty-eight at the end of the combat. When he had released the enchantments on Maia¡¯s weapon, his maximum mana had gone back up by thirty points to ninety eight. His current mana had not recovered instantly, however, and he was presently waiting for it to do so. He continued to maintain the enchantments on the weapons of his mother and Peter. It was easy to maintain Peter¡¯s bat, while his mother¡¯s crowbar took a bit of strain. He was uncertain if that was because it wasn¡¯t a baseball bat, or if it was because it was the second weapon he was maintaining. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Regardless, he needed to experiment further with his abilities to properly support his party as a Scholar. But now was not the time for experimentation. They came upon a crossroads which had an arrow pointing in one direction written on the wall in chalk, then crossed out and one pointing in the other direction. Elaine had doubled back rather than return to the group when she¡¯d come to this point, Eli realized. Sophie, who had done the same thing in her own scouting, realized this and promptly chased after her mother. The teenagers continued to give chase. They came upon an out of breath Elaine a moment later. She had her pistol out, and when she saw the party she stopped running. ¡°They¡¯re chasing. They¡¯re fast, they¡¯ll catch us. Get ready,¡± she said. Peter and Maia stepped up to the front, but Luke pushed his way between them. ¡°Let me go first,¡± he said. He turned to Elaine. ¡°How far are they?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, thirty seconds? Whatever you¡¯re going to do do it fast,¡± she said. ¡°Right,¡± and the boy began chanting. For the first time that Eli had seen the boy trying to cast magic, he wasn¡¯t muttering under his breath but calling out the incantations at full volume, even as he moved his hands through measured forums. The words were gibberish language as far as English was concerned, but to Eli¡¯s surprise he understood them perfectly. They were in Bokuto. ¡°Small. So small that it is beyond sight, fundamental to all that exists. Excitement. Become more excited, become one direction. Opposites attract, become one. I am north, thou are south. Lightning Strike!¡± The goblins appeared down the hallway just as the teenage mage was reaching the halfway point of his spell. When the teen Mage finished casting, his palm outstretched, Eli had the distinct smell of ozone fill his nose, even as thunder filled the hallway and lightning blinded him. The electricity arced from one goblin to the next and ripped through a full dozen of them. Even as the spell devastated their forces, however, Luke abruptly collapsed, having put all of his mana into that spell. Blinking his eyes to see again, Eli was surprised to find that not all of the goblins were dead, and some were standing back up. Maia and Peter resumed their position in front even as Sophie stood just behind them and began firing her bow at the stunned goblins. Junior stepped forward and took his own shot with his crossbow before stepping back to reload. Eli cursed and wondered how he could contribute. He was about to step forward into the space between the two warriors when suddenly his mother was there, pulling him by the jacket and throwing him back. ¡°No you don¡¯t you idiot,¡± she said. ¡°You said you belong in the back!¡± The goblins, eight of them left after the lightning bolt, awkwardly charged forward. Elaine stepped forward, gun in hand. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot,¡± Eli said. ¡°Save your amunition. They¡¯ve got this.¡± Elaine frowned, but nodded. Another of Sophie¡¯s arrow took one of the charging enemies before the collision between the warriors and the goblins, and then the clash happened, and then a moment later the fight was over. The humans had perhaps taken more damage to their hearing than the goblins had managed to inflict on them in total. The other adults caught up to them. ¡°Okay, that is it. We go home, now,¡± Jose Santos said. ¡°No, we don¡¯t,¡± Erik Estabon said. ¡°Don¡¯t you hear that?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t hear anything after the thunder,¡± Eli confessed. ¡°Behind us. There¡¯s hollering and hooting. I don¡¯t think they know where we are, but I can hear them. That spell must have woken up every goblin in the dungeon.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Luke said, standing from where he¡¯d been kneeling in a recovery position. ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking about how loud it would be.¡± ¡°So we can¡¯t go forward, we can¡¯t go back. What do we¡ª¡± Eli said before he was interrupted by Elaine. ¡°We have to go forward. I was stupid when I got ambushed, but it¡¯s mostly clear. Follow me.¡± ¡°But how will going forward get us out of here?¡± Jose objected. ¡°We¡¯re just getting further from the surface.¡± ¡°Shut up dad,¡± Maia said. ¡°Either keep up or get left behind.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you talk to me like that!¡± he said, but she just turned to Elaine. ¡°Lead on, Mrs. Waters,¡± Maia said. ¡°Ignore my father, he¡¯s an idiot.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have time for family drama,¡± Eli said. ¡°We have to get somewhere defensible so that we can kill goblins as they swarm us until we hit the one hundred mark. Elaine, please, lead the way.¡± ¡°Keep up or be left behind,¡± Elaine said, and she took off at a jog down the hallway. The rest of the party fell into line behind her, jogging at a swift but manageable pace. Manageable to their post-system enhanced bodies, at least. Eli knew from PE that he would have been exhausted at this point previously, but surprisingly he was only breathing a little hard at this point. ¡°What is up with my bat?¡± Peter said at last. ¡°It¡¯s like a super-bat suddenly. Like someone flipped a switch and suddenly its¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m enchanting it,¡± Eli informed him. ¡°Remember when I smashed the grand slam out in the back yard with my magic bat? Well, I figured out how to spread that to your bat too.¡± ¡°But it didn¡¯t work when I tried swinging your bat,¡± Peter protested. ¡°No. It¡¯s weird, I¡¯ll try to explain it later,¡± Eli said. ¡°But it¡¯s easiest to enchant your bat, so I¡¯ll try to keep it active if I can. That and my mom¡¯s Crowbar. Sorry Maia but your club doesn¡¯t work too well with my ability.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she said, and he jumped a little when he realized that she was right behind him . He put on a little bit of speed to make certain he wasn¡¯t slowing her down, and to make some distance in general. ¡°It must be draining to keep it active all the time, so maybe only cast it if we get behind.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Eli said, although that wasn¡¯t exactly what he¡¯d meant. The adults continued following after the teenagers even as they protested. Well, not all of them were protesting. Mattie was, to her surprise, finding that she felt alive in a way that she¡¯d never experienced before. Erik, she noticed, had a determined grin on his face and his hand kept going to that massive knife of his. John Sr. and his wife Susan Campos were silent, but handling the situation with more aplomb then she¡¯d expect of them, considering that they had just watched their youngest son be shot. Mattie was surprised to realize that she didn¡¯t want to turn back. She wanted to keep pressing forward. What was that? She¡¯d never been a risk taker before. Before she could consider it too much, they took a sudden turn and found themselves in a wider passageway. ¡°This is as far as I got before,¡± Elaine confessed. ¡°Do we dig in or keep going?¡± ¡°We keep going,¡± Eli said definitively. ¡°There¡¯s a stairwell hidden somewhere, and if we find it we¡¯re golden. Or we can kill the boss, if we find him first. We only dig in if there¡¯s no other choice.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Elaine said, not questioning why she was deferring to a fifteen year old kid. Something in her brain was switched into follower mode, and she kept her hand near her holster as her eyes skittered around the shadows at the far end of the hall. Nothing down there, she could see that plain as day. But her eyes didn¡¯t like to hold still since the system had done its magic to her. She looked behind them, and she cursed. Jose was pulling at his wife¡¯s sleeve, trying to get a word in as everyone rushed to get to safety deeper in the dungeon. But that wasn¡¯t why Elaine cursed. The goblins were catching up. Elaine pushed the idiot Jose out of the way even as she drew here pistol, took her stance and fired. Center mass, just like target practice. She didn¡¯t feel a twinge of the guilt she¡¯d always worried she¡¯d feel if she¡¯d ever been forced to use her weapon in the line of duty. She knew one thing for certain; these white eyed, green skinned things weren¡¯t people. They weren¡¯t monsters either. No, she knew what a monster was, and monsters had eyes. These things were ¡­ puppets. But they were puppets that could kill, and she had now doubt that they were dangerous. The two front running goblins dropped with gaping holes in their chest. Elaine turned to Jose Santos and motioned for him to pick up the pace. ¡°You okay back there?¡± the kid that everyone was looking up to for some reason called back to them. ¡°I¡¯ll take the rearguard,¡± she called. ¡°Sophie, find us the way out of this joint.¡± ¡°Right,¡± her daughter called back, and Elaine felt a jolt of pride in the girl. Elaine chased after the group, occasionally kicking Jose when it looked like the idiot was going to say something, but ultimately it proved only moderately necessary. Elaine didn¡¯t know where the kids thought they were going, since they were turning left and right haphazardly, but she was too focused on keeping an eye out for goblins chasing them to -- Abruptly, the party ahead of them stopped running. She dashed forward and saw why. A goblin dressed in spiked leather armor stood before them, a club with iron nails driven into it in his left hand and a shield in his right. ¡°That¡¯s the boss,¡± he son said. ¡°Like in a video game. If we kill him we win.¡± Without saying another word, Elaine pulled her pistol and shot the white-eyed monster in the face. Congratulations! You have Defeated the Floor Boss! Advancing to the 2 nd floor in 30 seconds. Please secure all belongings before transference. ? Chapter 17. Chapter 17. Floor 1 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 1:32:52 Rank: 102,354 Goblins Killed: 68 (Exp automatically awarded to top contributors) Floor Boss Killed: Yes (bonus points awarded) Secret Locations Found: (0/5) Stairwell Found: No Loot: Spiked Club; Minor Mana Potions X5, Minor Healing Potions X15, 1 box 9mm bullets (Copperhead Hollow Point), 1,400 Contribution Points (total), 7,000 experience points (total) Group Leader Menu: Assign Exp Bias? (Default: No) Assign Contribution Bias? (Default: No) Assign Loot? Eli was once more detached from his body in a no-space, alone with the system as it presented him with options. He sighed in frustration when he saw that the after-floor summary displayed the difficulty at the very top of it, that was sure to be a sore point when he reconnected with the rest of the party. After reviewing the screen for a few minutes, he began interacting with the group leader menu. He found that he could assign loot easily enough, and he quickly gave everyone one of the healing potions, keeping one left over for himself. The box of ammunition he naturally gave to Elaine, while the Spiked Club went to Maia to replace the inferior version that she had right now. He gave three of the mana potions to Luke and kept two for himself before exploring the Exp bias and Contribution Bias options. The Contribution Bias was straightforward; everyone was at one hundred percent and the menu explained that everyone would receive one hundred contribution points for their participation on floor one. The Exp bias was...more complicated. Not everyone was at one hundred percent. After a bit of playing around with it, he realized that he could increase the Exp that someone would be awarded, but only by decreasing someone else¡¯s gains. He considered very hard for a moment before he cut Jose Santos¡¯ experience gain down as low as he could. He was frustrated with the way that the man kept challenging him, especially towards the end when they were literally being chased by monsters. But more than that, the guy was a cook. It was better to award those points to someone who would help them survive. So he distributed them to his mother and his friends. He considered knocking down Lucy the Seamstress¡¯s experience as well, as she was the other non-combat class and hadn¡¯t contributed anything to the clearing of the floor, but he held off. Instead he mentally saved the settings and willed the changes to take place. He had a feeling about the noncombat classes that he couldn¡¯t quite place, but he was pretty certain after receiving Lucy¡¯s help with his jacket that her class was more important than it seemed. Perhaps Jose¡¯s was as well, but at the moment the man was undermining his leadership and contributing nothing back to the group. A few moments passed, and he felt a wave of disorientation as he was suddenly back in his body, lying on the floor. He sat up at the same moment as everyone else, and the entire party looked around in confusion. He pulled up his status and checked his status.
Name Elias Mathews Health 112/112
Age 15 Mana 117/117
Species Human Stamina 113/113
Class Scholar Strength 11
Level 3 Dexterity 11
Titles RunekeeperThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Agility 11
Party Unnamed Party (Leader) Endurance 11
Guild None Constitution 11
Allegiance None Magic Power 12
He grinned, pleased that he¡¯d gained two levels in the madness that had been the first floor. ¡°Okay, now how do we get out,¡± Jose said once he was upright. ¡°Where¡¯s the damn exit sign?¡± Before Jose could say anything, another System message popped up. A Vote to abandon the Dungeon and Return to the surface has been initiated. Cast your Vote Return to Surface? Yes/No Eli cursed inwardly, but quickly voted no. He waited impatiently, looking from face to face as the others cast their votes. He tried to speak, but found that he could not. The system itself suppressed the sound that came from his lips until suddenly it was back, along with another system message. Vote to return to the surface has failed. 4 votes in favor, 7 votes opposed, 3 votes abstain Vote cannot be repeated until floor 3. Eli flicked the message away and was about to say something when another system menu popped up. Welcome to Floor 2 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 23:59 Floor 2 objectives: Kill 200 goblins or Kill 2 of 5 Goblin Champion or Find Stairwell to Floor 3 Completion of any of these three objectives will teleport your party to floor 3, regardless of where they are on the floor. Vote to return to surface has failed: your party cannot withdraw at this time. Good luck! Eli was just about to say something when Jose grabbed him by the collar. ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing you little psycho?¡± the man demanded, putting his face right in Eli¡¯s vision. ¡°Do you think this is a fucking game? We could have died! We could still¡ª¡± Eli kicked him in the balls as hard as he could. The man crumpled, and Eli backed up before Jose could recover. Holding his bat defensively, he looked at the others. ¡°It was a vote,¡± he said. ¡°I voted to stay, obviously, but so did six others, and three couldn¡¯t make up their mind. I don¡¯t make the rules, and honestly, I don¡¯t even know half of them. But at this point we don¡¯t have any choice but to keep going. So we can either sit here and call each other names or we can make a plan for how we¡¯re going to clear this floor.¡± ¡°Who else?¡± Jose demanded from the floor. ¡°Who else decided to stay in this deathtrap.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to answer that,¡± Eli said to the other party members. ¡°Jose, I¡¯m going to say this one time. I don¡¯t think this is a game. I think that the system is preparing us for something much worse than we can possibly imagine at this point. Honestly I¡¯m sorry that I can¡¯t return you to the surface, but¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere without my daughter!¡± the man declared, standing up. He took out his cleaver and-- ¡°Papi, I voted to stay,¡± Maia said, lifting her hockey mask. ¡°And unless someone actually dies and we somehow clear the floor anyway, I¡¯m probably going to vote to keep going until we can¡¯t go any further.¡± Jose looked at his daughter, his mouth agape. ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying. This psycho¡ª¡± ¡°Eli actually knows what he¡¯s talking about, Papi,¡± Maia said. ¡°At least I choose to believe that he does.¡± ¡°Did you forget, Jose?¡± Erik Estabon asked. ¡°We have fifty days until monsters start spawning on the surface. Now, maybe that means just a few monsters that the army will be able to protect us from and we don¡¯t have to worry about anything. But it could also mean godzilla walking through New York City. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s in store, but our best bet is to challenge the system and try to get strong while we can.¡± ¡°Nobody asked you. You¡¯re a teacher, not a parent, you don¡¯t understand¡ª¡± Erik punched him in the jaw. The man went down, and he didn¡¯t get up. His wife rushed forward to check on him, then shook her head. ¡°I could heal him and wake him up, but what¡¯s the point?¡± she asked. She looked at the others. ¡°This place, it¡¯s safe, right? Can we leave him here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Eli admitted. ¡°But that¡¯s what the system says. As long as we clear the floor in less than twenty-four hours, he should be safe.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go,¡± she said. She pulled up the strap of her medical bag and pulled a bottle out of her pocket. ¡°No, wait, let me write him a note first, telling him to stay put until we return.¡± ¡°Um, I¡¯ll stay with him,¡± Lucy volunteered. The party turned to the seamstress, Erik¡¯s girlfriend, who had been so quiet until then that most of the party had forgotten she was with them. ¡°I¡¯m not any good in combat either, after all.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Erik asked her. ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. She looked at the others and nodded. ¡°Eat an energy bar real quick, then give me the extra supplies. If it works like I think, then as long as I grab the bundles before the timer ends after you kill the next bosses then we¡¯ll be able to keep our stuff on the next floor. I¡¯ll be our porter or whatever, if that makes sense.¡± The others exchanged looks, then took her advice, or drank some water. Conveniently there was a toilet in the corner. Inconveniently there was no privacy, but everyone took a turn using it anyway, the others looking away politely. As they were preparing, however, Erik took Eli aside. ¡°I think we should split the party,¡± he said. ¡°We are,¡± Eli said. ¡°Noncombatants are staying in the¡ª¡± ¡°No, I mean I think we should split the party another time, so that we have two parties looking for the exit.¡± ? Chapter 18. Chapter 18. Eli listened patiently as his teacher explained his reasoning behind his suggestion, and in the end he agreed with the man. ¡°Will you help me convince the others?¡± Eli asked. ¡°Yes,¡± the man said. ¡°We¡¯re not sure that you¡¯re right. Floor two could be completely different from floor one,¡± Eli pointed out. ¡°Then we turn back as soon as it becomes apparent that¡¯s the case and we regroup,¡± Erik said. ¡°But I don¡¯t think so. The objectives are the same. The layout is the same. Everything looks the same, it¡¯s just twice as hard. But half of the party was sitting on the sidelines last time. Luke couldn¡¯t use his magic, and I couldn¡¯t use mine.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you had magic,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯m a trickster, Eli. Of course I have magic,¡± Erik said. So as the others finished taking their breaks, the two began convincing them of Erik¡¯s crazy suggestion. It took some suggestion, but with both Eli to convince the teens and the responsible Mister Estabon to convince the adults, eventually everyone gave way. They discussed for a few minutes how to break the teams up before they set out. Not everyone was happy with how the teams were split, but they had to agree most of the reasons for the splits. Unlike floor one, there were three directions to head out into. They gave up on trying to assign north or south and each party simply picked one to go down. Eli was in a party with his mother, Peter, Sophie, Junior and Susan. The other party, Maia, Elaine, Erik, Luke, John Sr, and Alaina, took the exit counter clockwise to Eli¡¯s party. Sophie bumped fists with her younger brother and then took off at a sprint down the hallway. As their scout, she was ¡­ well she was going to scout out the area. They¡¯d already sort of planned for this possibility before coming into the dungeon. She had both a massive marker to write on the wall, and sidewalk chalk for the same purpose. She vanished down the bend of the hallway. They couldn¡¯t hear her footsteps, but they couldn¡¯t hear them even before she¡¯d gone thirty feet. Following behind at a slower pace, Peter, the thirteen year old wearing football gear and wielding a baseball bat, took point. Right behind him stood Junior and Susan Campos, who were both wielding their crossbows, each ready to fire the moment that they were confident of a shot. Eli stood next to them, keeping his weapon enchant and his ¡°Resist Slashing¡± enchant on his clothes, ready to project them at any of his allies if he thought that it would help. Hovering next to Eli was Gabri, who had been surprisingly silent and cooperative throughout the delve so far. Mattie Mathews took up the rearguard position. The first floor had shown that was an important position, after all, and they were learning from their mistakes. The party made swift progress. When they came to the first fork, Sophie had already scouted the left and written ¡°Six gob¡± on the left passageway in chalk. They went right, ignoring the potential conflict for now. Sophie was, it turned out, a very good scout, because the next five forks were labeled the same way, with varying amounts of goblins. Twice they came across a goblin with an arrow in its heart, and nobody said anything as they stepped over the corpse. Finally they came to a fork which hadn¡¯t been successfully scouted yet and they waited for her to return. Which she did moments later. ¡°Wow, is it just me or am I really good at this?¡± she asked, cracking her neck to the side. ¡°How are you constantly picking the side with the goblins to scout first?¡± Eli asked her. ¡°I can hear them,¡± she said. ¡°So then I just go close enough to count them or see if they¡¯re patrolling or just sitting about. Anybody got any water?¡± Junior tossed her a bottle from his own pack; the two tinkerers on the team were the only ones who were still carrying most of their gear. Sophie drank half the bottle before tossing it back to him. ¡°Thanks,¡± she said. ¡°So, here¡¯s the thing. I think we should fight this room.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°We agreed to skip¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s got one of the boss monsters in it,¡± she explained. ¡°If we kill one here, then we can clear the dungeon just by killing the second one we find. On the other hand, if we skip it¡ª¡± ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± Eli said. Sophie¡¯s eyebrows rose, she¡¯d been expecting more of an argument, but he just turned to the others, who all shrugged. ¡°Give us the layout. What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°He¡¯s in there with four minions. He¡¯s not dressed in bondage spikes like the last one, instead he¡¯s got robes and spectacles. I¡¯m not one hundred percent certain he¡¯s a boss, to be honest, but I figure he might be a rare, you know? We should take the chance.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli agreed a second time. ¡°Here¡¯s what we do.¡± So they followed the hallway to the end, which came out into a library where five goblins¡ªfour in loincloths and one in robes with spectacles¡ªwere busying themselves about. Two of the goblins were doodling on the floor, while one was shuffling papers, and the fourth loincloth wearing goblin was trying to reach a book off the top shelf. The robe wearing goblin turned and saw them, its white eyes going wide with surprise. It raised its hands and began weaving them, speaking even as it began forming Power with its hands. ¡°It¡¯s a Mage!¡± Eli called out. Twang! John Junior Campos¡¯s crossbow went off and the bolt slammed straight into the robe wearing goblin¡¯s chest, pinning its arm in place. The goblin kept chanting. Mattie leaped into the room, crossing the distance in moments and jumping into the air. She brought the crowbar down and Eli empowered it with the Greater Impact runes on his baseball bat. The crowbar slammed into the monsters head, and she followed it up with a second and third strike, but the goblin just kept chanting. A second Twang took one of the robed goblin¡¯s allies in the side, sending it down. Peter rushed forward to help Eli¡¯s mother bring the elite goblin coup de grace. Sophie shot two more of the goblins while this was happening, but not the one that was the most dangerous; Mattie was in the way. Mattie Mathews continued smashing away with all of her strength. Finally the robed goblin stopped speaking, but not before a sudden burst of blue light enveloped her. She was helplessly tossed about as magic pulled her this way and that, slamming her into the walls and floor. The goblin had a look of anger on his face as he abused Eli¡¯s mother. Eli stepped forward with his bat and took a wide swing at the same time as Peter. Their bats met in the middle, and the monster¡¯s head cracked as the enchanted weapons collided at the same time. That still wasn¡¯t enough. It turned to them and laughed and-- And another arrow pierced its heart. It frowned, looking down at its chest, then looked up at Sophie, who had probably just risked her friend¡¯s life by shooting in the middle of them. ¡°Why come here?¡± the goblin asked in Bokuto. ¡°To get strong!¡± Eli said immediately. ¡°Why?¡± the dying monster asked. ¡°To fight back!¡± Eli answered. ¡°Against Antithesis?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The goblin nodded. And then it died, falling over, the light in its white eyes vanishing as they turned grey. ¡°Oh very good, very good, you killed an elite,¡± Gabri said, hovering over to look down at the corpse. ¡°Make sure to strip him down and search for jewelry. And steal that book that he was looking at. Actually hold on, let me look at all the books.¡± Rather than immediately obey the little faerie, Eli went to check on his mother. She was a little bruised and beaten up, but mostly no worse for the wear. ¡°My menu says that I lost thirty health points,¡± she confessed, ¡°but they¡¯re already going back up. I¡¯m at ninety now.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care what your menu says, I just want to know you¡¯re alright,¡± he said. ¡°That magic, what was that?¡± ¡°Magic, Eli. What did it look like? I felt like I was being ripped apart in different directions like a ragdoll. I¡¯m lucky you kids were here to put an end to the monster who cast it,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah,¡± he agreed. He helped her up and they hugged, and then he went to search for loot. ? Chapter19 Chapter19 Gabri did look at all of the books in the room before he let them leave. And he wanted to steel a third of them, but after realizing that there was no way to carry that many out of the room, he reluctantly went through the pile that he¡¯d thrown everything into and created a much smaller pile. ¡°There,¡± he said once the selection of books was down to twelve thick tombs. ¡°You should be able to manage that.¡± Eli sighed, but turned to the others. ¡°They might have important information in them. Let¡¯s bring them back to the safe zone. If we¡¯re quick about it, we might only lose twenty minutes.¡± The others shrugged, and they picked up the books before retreating the way they¡¯d come. ~~~~~~~ Elaine acted as scout for the other group. She wasn¡¯t particularly happy to be separated from her kids, but she understood the reasoning behind it. It came down to party synergy. Each party needed a scout, and while her daughter was proudly their best at that role, Elaine was second place. She was less excited about her son wanted to go with his older sister than his mother, but she lost that argument. As far as she was concerned, the only way to resolve this state of affairs was to get through this floor and reach the next one as swiftly as possible. She maintained a good lead on the party she was escorting through the dungeon, but unlike Sophie she couldn¡¯t pick the ¡®right¡¯ path to go down based on her hearing. Also unlike Sophie, she didn¡¯t have a vanish ability. Also unlike Sophie, her weapon was loud and would draw attention if she used it. Which is why the second party moved much slower than the first. But that was fine, because unlike the first party, they were fighting. The first room she found with enemies in it, she was almost discovered. One of the goblins suddenly got up to relieve itself as she was scouting around the corner and looked directly at her. She froze, knowing that movement draws the eye more than anything else, and watched as the goblin did its business then returned to its other business. She retreated, and went to speak with the others. After a bit of discussion, they decided to engage. However, they didn¡¯t just charge in blindly. It was actually John Sr. who made the first move. He had spent the previous night emptying glass bottles and filling them with solvents and fuels. With a pair of molotov cocktails in hand, he dashed around the corner where the goblins were resting and threw the improvised incendiaries into the middle of twenty of them, then ran back as the screaming began. Elaine and Luke watched as the remainder of the group of forty goblins ran around in circles, with Elaine slowly picking off the ones that were on the outskirts with her pistol and Luke doing the same with a quick cantrip that sent out a dart of fire that seemed to burn straight through the goblins¡¯ flesh. It was almost too easy, and as the flames died down, that was it. The room was hot but empty of life. They moved on to the next, but didn¡¯t make it as the noise that they¡¯d made drew the attention of the next room down on them. They had been anticipating this as well, and John threw out a bunch of caltrops made from twisted nails, which he¡¯d apparently made with his son the night before. They retreated back to the entryway of the room where they¡¯d just come from and waited for the goblins to come to them. Which they did, of course. In waves of eight to fifteen. Elaine calmly emptied her pistol before stepping back. One bullet per goblin. A perfect center mass shot each time, and each bullet particularly devastating. John Sr. stood next to her with Luke. Luke continued to cast that same magic-arrow spell as before, while John Sr. shot his crossbow as fast as he could reload it. Only once, when three of the groups coming after them arrived at the same time, did the melee members need to get involved. The caltrop-injured goblins were dancing around on injured footsies and Maia weaved between them with the Spiked Club she¡¯d gotten from completing Floor 1. She smashed heads and grinned at the way the heads crunched beneath the heavy weapon. All the same, the club didn¡¯t quite feel right in her grip. And Erik ¡­ anything that came near Erik Estabon simply died. She couldn¡¯t quite see what he was doing except for waving his machete around, but for some reason that didn¡¯t quite make sense the machete cut a moment before he swung it at a foe. In fact, it looked like he was-- This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Oh, she understood suddenly. That¡¯s because he was several steps ahead of his body. It was his shadow that she had to watch, she realized. It was some sort of illusion. Where she saw his body was about three seconds behind where his shadow said his body was, and when the shadow of his machette connected blood would spray out of the goblins. Dangerous, she thought to herself. Dangerous and tricky. Then abruptly he stepped back and gasped. ¡°I can¡¯t keep doing that,¡± he admitted. ¡°I can keep fighting, but not like that.¡± ¡°Take a breather,¡± she advised, since the oncoming rush of enemies had thinned out for now. Fortunately they¡¯d been lucky and everything had been managable with the caltrops slowing the goblins down. ¡°Right,¡± he agreed. ¡°Still getting used to having actual magic.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a neat parlor trick,¡± she admitted. They heard the laughter at the same time. They turned and saw him approach. He was a goblin, but dressed in steel armor. He laughed and stepped over the caltrops as though they were not there. Luke cast his magic arrow, and the armor turned the fire arrow aside effortlessly. The little goblin raised his sword in challenge. Elaine calmly finished reloading and shot him in the eye. The goblin fell over dead. Congratulations! You have Defeated the Floor Boss! Advancing to the 3 rd floor in 30 seconds. Please secure all belongings before transference. Before anyone could say anything, Maia sprinted forward and picked up the shortsword that the goblin had dropped. She picked it up and was in the middle of unbuckling the goblin¡¯s sheath when the timer ran out and they were sent to the next floor. ~~~~~~~~~~ Floor 2 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 45:52 Rank: 72,987 Goblins Killed: 98 (Exp automatically awarded to top contributors) Floor Bosses Killed: 2/2 (bonus points awarded) Secret Locations Found: (1/5) Stairwell Found: No Loot: 50 Crossbow Bolts, Lesser Embroidery Kit, Minor Mana Potions X10, Minor Healing Potions X15, 1 box 9mm bullets (Copperhead Hollow Point), 2,800 Contribution Points (total), 21,000 experience points (total) The menu once more appeared while they were disembodied. Eli quietly began distributing the loot. He also minimized Jose¡¯s contribution points, since the man had done nothing but argue and literally spent the previous floor unconscious after a fight. He understood, on some level, that the man was just trying to keep his daughter safe, but at the same time Eli had simply run out of patience with the man. He had realized, at some point, that the others didn¡¯t see this menu at the end of the floor. Nobody had commented about the floor difficulty at least, and he¡¯d found that nobody had realized that he¡¯d been the one assigning loot either. That was fine, he¡¯d like to keep it that way if possible. Eventually someone might figure it out, but he¡¯d just act as surprised about them not seeing the menu as he was about them seeing it. As long as they couldn¡¯t see the difficulty, he thought he could get away with it. He was a little nervous about doing things this way now, but he was committed and if the others found out they might doubt his leadership. So...well, for better or worse, they were going to do things the hard way. After he¡¯d finished distributing the loot and assigning the biases on experience and contribution points, he willed the menu away and, a moment later, his body returned. He sat up, and the others sat up around him. ¡°Good job killing one of the bosses,¡± he said to the others. ¡°You too,¡± Erik said back. ¡°Although I¡¯m not certain we should do that again. We had half of the dungeon coming after us and had to burn through a lot of supplies that John brought with him.¡± ¡°Right. Yeah, that¡¯s fair,¡± Eli agreed. ¡°We found these books, Gabri says they might be important. Let¡¯s take a few hours break to examine them before we go forward. Luke, come here. This one says it¡¯s a spellbook.¡± ? Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Jose came to during the break, and his wife and daughter took him aside into a corner to talk to him where Eli couldn¡¯t hear. That was fine with him, he didn¡¯t want anything to do with the man. He was regretting bringing him with, as far as Eli was concerned Jose Santos was a simple waste of resources that could be better spent on the rest of the party. There was another toilet in the safe zone, fortunately, but no sleeping arrangements, but nobody was in the mood to sleep anyway. Everyone was restlessly leafing through the books. Which were inconveniently indecipherable. Except when they weren¡¯t. Lucy picked up one and gasped as she began to ¡­ not read, but look through the pictures. She asked someone to take off their undershirt and got one shirt soaked in teenage sweat from Peter, who was pleased to take his football gear off for a while and show off his new muscles anyway. Eli had, naturally, assigned her the embroidery kit. She sat with the sweaty T-shirt in one hand and the embroidery kit in the other while she chewed her lip and sewed. Eli left her to her experimentation; he had a feeling from his own experiments with enchanting that if she succeeded, she¡¯d know she¡¯d succeeded as soon as it happened. Luke was the other one most excited about the books they¡¯d gotten. In addition, the goblin mage had dropped two rings, one on either thumb. One of those rings increased Magic Power, and the other one mana capacity. Luke was wearing the Magic Power ring, while Eli had gone for the Maximum Mana, stating that it seemed more useful than power at this point in his development. It wasn¡¯t much, just a +10 to his maximum mana. He sighed and pulled up his status again to reflect upon his gains since clearing the second floor
Name Elias Mathews Health 130/130
Age 15 Mana 215/215
Species Human Stamina 127/127
Class Scholar Strength 12
Level 6 Dexterity 12
Titles Runekeeper Agility 12
Party Unnamed Party (Leader) Endurance 13
GuildIf you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. None Constitution 13
Allegiance None Magic Power 15
He¡¯d gained three levels thanks to clearing floor two, and his physical stats were coming along slowly. But he was most focused on his Mana, since that seemed to be where his ability to support his party came from. He was certain he had some use for Magic Power as well, but so far he wasn¡¯t certain that his enchantments improved with that or not. They didn¡¯t seem any stronger now than they¡¯d been at level one. Not that he would turn down physical stats if he could figure out how to raise them aside from simply gaining more experience, but considering that he was a magic baised class he wasn¡¯t terribly worried about them at the moment. He sighed and turned his attention away from his menu and back to the book he was reading. It was a Grimoire, like the Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire that he could access from his memory, but this one he actually needed to have the physical copy in front of him. The words swam before his eyes and made no sense to him. The diagrams showing runes and enchantments made a bit more sense, but without the text explaining them he didn¡¯t know if they were a method of enchanting your underwear to stay dry or cursing your enemy into have a heart attack, and he didn¡¯t want to find that out the hard way. No, if he was going to give anyone a heart attack, he would rather it be deliberate. Still, Gabri said that it was an important book, and so they included it in the pile to keep. Most of the others Gabri said were just very valuable and could be sold once they reached floor five, which was apparently the first place where they¡¯d be able to spend their contribution points. Eli was looking forward to it. ¡°Give me your shirt,¡± Lucy said, interrupting him from his study after he¡¯d been at it for an hour. He looked up at her. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what these enchantments do, but I know that they¡¯re beneficial,¡± she said. ¡°The one I just put on Peter¡¯s shirt clicked into place most decidedly, and I got a menu notification. ¡®Embroidery-Lesser Steelweave.¡¯ That¡¯s the name of the enchant that I just put on his shirt. I¡¯m going to try another one on yours.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Eli said. He took off his jacket, then his shirt, and handed it over. ¡°Okay, good luck. Let me know how it turns out.¡± Then he put his jacket back on because it was slightly chilly and he didn¡¯t want to go around shirtless, and he sat back down to study. Maybe that was the secret, just learning by doing. He pulled out a sheet of blank paper that they¡¯d brought along and began drawing one of the designs on it. Abruptly the sheet of paper burst into flames. He glanced up at Gabri, who, rather than looking contrite or sly or any other expression that Eli had been expected, looked angry . ¡°I thought I said not to blow yourself up, Master,¡± the little faerie said angrily. ¡°What do you think you were doing?¡± ¡°Learning,¡± he answered. ¡°By copying part of the most dangerous rune circles in this entire book?¡± Gabri asked, kicking the book closed. ¡°I said to study it , not to copy it . Only a Scribe can copy a book like this you idiot, and you¡¯re a Scholar . If you copy any of the rune circles in this book you¡¯re likely to activate them if you put any mana into them at all, and given your complete lack of control you¡¯re very likely to do exactly that.¡± ¡°And what, the magic will burn off my eyebrows?¡± Eli asked, skeptical. ¡°No. Then you¡¯re likely to create a magical chain reaction that will draw all the mana into a confined area and explode it. You¡¯ll be lucky if you survive as more than a pink stain on the wall,¡± Gabri said. ¡°We need to teach you to read the Language of the Birds before you even think of actually putting into practice anything in this book.¡± Eli frowned at the faerie. ¡°Well if we¡¯re not going to learn anything, then what are we doing sitting around here for?¡± he asked, and he went to speak with the others. It was time to get moving, he thought. And the others all agreed with him. After a few minutes, they put their team together and headed out, leaving a small group behind this time to watch their supplies and their loot. Most of the male members of the party left their shirts behind to be embroidered by Lucy, who was grateful to be of service. Jose also remained behind. Eli hadn¡¯t heard a word out of him since Mai and Alaina had finished talking to him. Alaina also remained behind this time, which made Eli worry a little bit because she was their healer, but he¡¯d been without a healer the last time as well. John Sr. also stayed behind to try to figure out new and interesting ways to use the supplies that he was carrying with them to hurt and kill goblins, while Junior came with the delving party. Susan was the other party member who stayed behind, but basically everyone else moved out. Sophie had been busy scouting while most of the party had been studying the books, and she¡¯d completely mapped out one of the four hallways. The party, by mutual agreement, went off to kill the two bosses that lie in that direction. Eli pulled up the SafeZone menu before he left to check their time and objectives. Welcome to Floor 3 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 19:53 Floor 3 objectives: Kill 400 goblins or Kill 3 of 10 Goblin Champion or Find Stairwell to Floor 4 or Solve the mystery of the Totems Completion of any of these four objectives will teleport your party to floor 4, regardless of where they are on the floor. Return to SafeZone before Collapse if you wish to withdraw. Good luck! The¡¯d spent more than four hours studying the books, which he saw as a waste of time. The number of regular goblins they needed to kill to progress that way had doubled once more, while it sounded like defeating bosses was actually becoming an easier solution due to their heavier presence. Eli wasn¡¯t too hopeful about the other two options to advance; he had absolutely no idea what the mystery of the Totems referred to and was just as clueless about which of the five directions to head into to find the exit. No, killing the bosses must be the easiest way, he thought to himself. ? Chapter 21 Chapter 21 There must be an easier way, Eli thought to himself as the bosses finally died. These goblins had been in riot gear which had easily defeated everything the party had thrown at it. Like, the goblins were dressed in actual child sized riot gear, except that they were extra resistant beyond what you¡¯d see the police wearing in the event of a protest that got out of hand. Elain¡¯s bullets bounced off, as did the crossbow bolts of Junior and Susan. Luke¡¯s magic had been similarly uneffective. The little monsters seemed to delight in the back and forth as they used their batons to do battle with Peter, Mattie and Maia. They fought back to back, and neither of the white-eyed goblins had seemed to tire as they were hit again and again and again and again by the weapons of the warriors. Not even Maia¡¯s new sword, which had been so effective against the unarmored goblins, had pierced through the riot goblin¡¯s defenses. And then, out of nowhere, Erik had stepped into melee and slapped each of the goblins on the side of the head with his palm, and they had each fallen over dead. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do that ten minutes ago?¡± Peter said, falling backward as he realized that the goblins were dead. ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure I could,¡± Erik said honestly. He looked down at the dead goblins and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m still getting a feeling for what I can and can¡¯t do.¡± ¡°Yeah? Well what the hell was that?¡± Peter demanded. ¡°I had a coin in my hands when I tapped them,¡± Peter answered. ¡°Now its in their brains.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s¡ª¡± Peter began before he thought better of how to finish that sentence. ¡°Scary as hell, that¡¯s what that is. So you can, what, pierce through armor with your weird ass abilities now?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Erik answered. ¡°I¡¯m not certain myself.¡± ¡°Well, next time do it sooner,¡± Peter said. We examined the fallen goblin elites for loot to see if there was anything we wanted to take, but there wasn¡¯t anything that looked valuable or interesting, so we moved on. Sophie hadn¡¯t taken part in the battle and had instead been sent on to scout out another one of the five corridors from the SafeZone. She¡¯d actually scouted two and signalled that she¡¯d found two more of the same type of elites in each location. With three corridors scouted and her presently scanning the fourth, we decided to take a look at the fifth. Specifically Elaine scouted ahead of us while the rest of the party followed behind. We worked together, splitting in opposite directions when we came to a fork, but neither of us actively sought out combat. It didn¡¯t take long for us to find the final room, which had two more of the riot-gear wearing goblins. We sighed and began to return to the -- Wait. Eli turned back to look at the expansive room where the two bosses were standing at the far corner. They had their backs turned to the party and were, along with the loincloth wearing goblins, all bowing to figurines that were carved into the wall. He swallowed. He thought he understood. All they needed to do was-- Congratulations! You have found the Stairwell of the 3 rd floor! Advancing to the 4 th floor in 30 seconds. Please secure all belongings before transference. Eli cursed in surprise as the prompt alerted him that Sophie had, apparently, found the stairwell and activated them. Half a moment passed, and then he was once more disembodied as the transferrence happened. Floor 3 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 6:31:12 Rank: 272,987 Goblins Killed: 21 (Exp automatically awarded to top contributors) Floor Bosses Killed: 2/3 (bonus points awarded) Secret Locations Found: (0/10) Stairwell Found: Yes Loot: Minor Mana Potions X10, Minor Healing Potions X15, 3,500 Contribution Points (total), 27,000 experience points (total) Eli couldn¡¯t quite sigh with disappointment as the rewards were displayed for the completion of the third floor scrolled by. He noticed that there was no loot except for the mana and healing potions they¡¯d been getting every floor, as well as the Contribution Points and Experience Points of course. But bubkiss for loot. He assigned the potions fairly and toggled out of the menu. Everyone woke up on the fourth floor, which, surprisingly, was a SafeZone identicle to the first three, save for the fact that there was only a single doorway leading away from it. Eli considered complaining that he¡¯d figured out the Secret of the Totems, or whatever it had been called, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. Sophie had been told to take the exit if she found it, as soon as she found it, so there was no point in getting worked up. In fact-- ¡°Good job finding the exit Sophie,¡± he said, smiling. ¡°One more floor and we have access to the shop. At least if we can really believe Gabri about anything.¡± ¡°Hey! I haven¡¯t steered you wrong yet!¡± the faerie objected. ¡°You¡¯d think that I¡¯d never have been through this before! Trust me, trust me, trust me! I¡¯m trying to keep you alive until I¡ª¡± Abruptly the faerie cut off. ¡°Ooh look at that!¡± he exclaimed, pointing at the depiction above the corridor. There was a series of goblins carved into the walls in bas relief. They were bowing to a man, who stood atop a platform with his hand raised to the sky. Upon his hand was what looked like a star, to Eli, but could have been a crystal, or a piece of glass for all he knew. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s neat,¡± Eli said. ¡°Now come on, let¡¯s strategize.¡± He pulled up the menu to check the floors objectives. Welcome to Floor 4 SafeZoneSupport the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Time until SafeZone Collapse: N/A Floor 4 objectives: Debate the Rising of the Spheres Delay the Rising of the Tides Destroy the Path to Regret Defeat the Specter of the King Completion of any of these four objectives will teleport your party to floor 5, regardless of where they are on the floor. Good luck! He frowned as he read the win objectives for the floor. What? ¡°I think that the system is having a joke at our expense,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no kill quota this time, but there are four weird objectives that I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Oooh, what are they?¡± Gabri asked, even as the others got the distant look on their face to show that they were examining their own menus. Eli read the options off, and Gabri laughed. ¡°Yeah, I have no idea what the heck you¡¯re supposed to do. Good luck! You only have until you run out of food until you figure it out.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Eli asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you notice? There¡¯s no option to retreat,¡± Gabri explained. Eli frowned. It was true that the place where the menu said something about returning to the SafeZone to withdraw was gone. ¡°He¡¯s right,¡± Jose said suddenly. ¡°I can¡¯t initiate a vote, like I did before.¡± ¡°Great,¡± Eli said, and the others exchanged nervous looks as they each began poking about in their interfaces to confirm what Jose and Eli had said. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s not panic. The kill quota is gone, and so far the path is linear. This might be the easiest floor yet.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t freaking jinx us man,¡± Junior said, swatting him on the arm. ¡°But yeah, come on, let¡¯s go. Sophie, do you hear anything coming from up ahead?¡± ¡°Water,¡± she said. ¡°No goblins, but that might be because the water is too loud.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯ll go check it out,¡± Sophie volunteered, but Elain put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ll go together,¡± her mother said, and the mother and daughter took off at a brisk jog. The rest of the party finished getting organized, putting all of their gear and loot together where Jose and Lucy could rush to claim it when they cleared the floor, then went off after the Waters mother and daughter. Eli watched as they passed more and more bass reliefs, each showing an interaction between men and goblins that he didn¡¯t understand. Then the elves came, and then the dwarves, and then fae and orcs and many, many other races. It was obvious that the walls were telling a story, but he couldn¡¯t for the life of him put together what that story was. It might help if he could read the runes on the wall better, he thought to himself, but they were just like the runes in the books that Gabri had given him. Useless. They walked along the path for half an hour, studying the bas relief statues as they went. The story grew more intricate the further in, with clear battles taking place, but Eli couldn¡¯t tell who they were fighting, or why, or who won. The sound of water was coming from all around them, as though there were a great waterfall on either side of the path. Nobody was talking, but Eli doubted that anyone could hear enough to hold a coversation anyway. Finally, the party caught up to Sophie and Elaine, who were standing in the final room. Eli knew it was the final room because the walls were bare, and there was nothing but a crystal sphere in the center of the room. He frowned. ¡°Debate the Rising of the Spheres,¡± he muttered. ¡°What does that mean? We have a sphere here, are we supposed to argue with it?¡± ¡°Try pumping your Mana into it, Master,¡± Gabri said excitedly. ¡°Try try try, see what happens!¡± Eli frowned, but he couldn¡¯t think of any reason not to follow the faerie¡¯s advice, so he put a hand on the crystal, which was the size of a car, and he pressed about fifteen mana into the crystal. Abruptly his menu appeared. Unauthorized User Detected. Mana Signature Logged. Authorizing User. Privileges set to -52i Authorized User Detected. Awakenining Titan Gilgamesh. Error: ##5235## ##Do not Wake the Titans ¨C Ranalin Windsong ##Do not Wake the Titans ¨C Korgoth Deepdrum ##Do not Wake the Titans ¨C Sugarplum ##Do not Wake the Titans ##Do not Wake the Titans ##Do not Wake the Titans! ##Do not Wake the Titans!!!! Eli watched as the phrase repeated itself a thousand times, sometimes signed and sometimes not. The words remained the same each time they passed. He cried out in pain as the words echoed through his mind, spoken by a thousand voices, until a thousand thousand men, women and children had spoken. And then there was silence, and he was left with a simple prompt. ~#: After some consideration, Eli realized that he could think an argument into the prompt, and so he went with the most basic request he could ask of a computer. ~#: Help Scanning Contacting Sysadmin, please wait. Abruptly, the menu disappeared, and within the crystal ball a man¡¯s head appeared. Eli breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Erandius!¡± he said, but the voice that followed was mechanical and recorded. ¡° I apologize for any distress you were caused. I am unable to delete this floor for sentimental reasons. I have attempted to reduce the frequency at which it appears to prevent confusion. Please STAND BY as I unstick you.¡± The voice spoke loudly and clearly, but there was no soul to it. Then, abruptly, the world went black. Floor 3 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 32:21 Rank: 2,241 Debate the Rising of the Spheres: Complete Loot: 500 Contribution Points (total), 1,000 experience points (total) Eli sighed as he confirmed the Contribution Point and Experience Point Bias that he¡¯d been using all along, then sat up. ¡°Welcome to floor five,¡± he said to everyone, and for the first time he realized that they were in a completely different sort of SafeZone than before. ? Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Congratulations! For Reaching Floor 5, you receive a mandatory 6 hour break! By Reaching Floor 5, you attain access to the System Shop! You may Sell Loot at the system shop, or you may buy from the system or other players! List your items for sale at system prices, auction them to the highest bidder, or request an abovemarket price! Break Time remaining: 5:59:23 Eli closed the menu and looked around. They were in a school, he could tell. He even knew which school. He ought to, he¡¯d been a student there until the eighth grade before moving on to high school. It was the middle school in the town that he¡¯d grown up in. Specifically, they were in one of the computer labs. It was dark in the room, the lights turned off, but the room was filled with the soft glow of the monitors of a dozen computers. He sat up and looked around. ¡°Everyone present and accounted for?¡± he asked. The others called off one by one. Lucy, however, cried out in despair. ¡°The message came to fast, I didn¡¯t have time to grab everything this time,¡± she said. ¡°All of our stuff is gone.¡± The others let that sink in, but ultimately it wasn¡¯t Lucy¡¯s fault, so nobody got that upset. Until Gabri started laughing. ¡°It was in the SafeZone wasn¡¯t it?¡± he asked. ¡°It should be stored just fine! That¡¯s the entire point of a SafeZone; your stuff in that Zone is Safe. Not only that, but it should be in the store if you want to sell any of that junk now. Go and see.¡± The little faerie laughed as the others looked at him in confusion. Then he motioned towards the computer chairs, and Eli took a seat. The computer screen came up with several tabs.
Inventory Auction (View Listing)
Buy Auction (Bid)
Sell Auction (Sell)
He clicked on Inventory, and to his relief he saw all of their missing gear. He called the others over to verify. There was a lot of gear to choose from, but after a few minutes of browsing they concluded that everything was there. ¡°Right,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m going to mark everything that¡¯s communal property as not-for-sale, and we¡¯ll go ahead and list the books that Gabri said are valuable but not useful to our party. Obviously we¡¯re holding on to the ones that are useful for now, maybe once we get deeper into the dungeon we can sell them after we¡¯ve gotten everything we can out of them.¡± ¡°Or maybe they won¡¯t be worth that much by then,¡± Luke said. ¡°But it would still be useful if we could actually read what they¡¯re saying.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Eli agreed. ¡°Anyway, there should be enough computers for everyone, so go ahead and browse the system to see if there¡¯s anything that you think would be useful for you to purchase at this point. Everyone should have Contribution Points to spend. After that, I guess it¡¯s time to get out the sleeping bags and try to get some rest.¡± The others agreed with him, and they sat down at the computers and began looking through the system¡¯s lists. Eli tried searching a couple different ways. He searched ¡°Gear for a Scholar,¡± and ¡°Scholar magic accessories,¡± ¡°Scholar enchantments,¡± and ¡°Scholar consumeables.¡± And he got a lot of very interesting results, to be honest, but not many of them were in his price range. Most of them were selling for millions of Contribution points. He only had a few thousand. However, when he reached ¡°Scholar Consumables,¡± he came across an interesting item. ¡°Language Codex,¡± he read. ¡°Initiate acquisition of lost languages and tongues. Note: allow three to six hours of processing time¡± He frowned, but the price was right at sixty contribution points, so he bought it. Abruptly his interface began flashing, and he slumped over, unconscious. ~~~~~~~ Miguel Phelps sat in the interrogation chamber, blinking as he adjusted to his new life with a system. He was pretty deep down the rabbit hole of what he could tease out from interacting with his interface, but ultimately that by itself wasn¡¯t a source for finding power. If the kid was right, then to find power, he¡¯d have to get into the dungeon, somehow, and according to the system messages that kept popping up for anyone still on the surface, that required a party of five or more. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Unfortunately the idiots interrogating him weren¡¯t interested in carrying his slightly overweight ¨C or at least he had been ¨C ass through the opening levels of a dungeon. And Phelps didn¡¯t have any real way of knowing what awaited him there except for what the agents were telling him. ¡°Look, here¡¯s the thing,¡± the man was saying. ¡°You¡¯re goose might just be cooked, Miguel. I mean, your website helped a lot of these ¡®delving parties¡¯ organize. So many of them are returning after facing casualties, and who are they going to hold liable when their families sue? The government which tried to keep them safe and out of the dungeons, or the websites which told them lies and encouraged them to dive into the most dangerous place on earth.¡± ¡°Lawyer,¡± Miguel said. ¡°I told you, we¡¯re working on getting you your lawyer, but you¡¯ve got to work with us here. If you¡ª¡± ¡°Lawyer,¡± Miguel said again. ¡°I want my Lawyer. I won¡¯t speak to anyone without my lawyer. Quiero a mi abogado. Je veux mon avocat. Ich will meinen Anwalt. Voglio il mio avvocato. ÎÒÒªÎÒµÄÂÉʦ . I want my lawyer.¡± ¡°You really want to go down this route?¡± the interrogator was saying. ¡°You realize that things are changing, don¡¯t you Phelps? That things might not be the same in the new world as the old one. We need to know where your information came from so that we can verify it, that¡¯s all. Who is Erandius, how do we talk to him?¡± ¡°Lawyer,¡± Phelps repeated. The Interrogator sighed, then got up and walked out of the room, leaving Phelps alone to stew in his own juices for a while. Unfortunately for both of them, while the old world was indeed falling apart, it wasn¡¯t doing so in quite the way that either of them hoped it would. ~~~~~~ Gabby was eight years old when the world started to end. It hadn¡¯t happened all at once, and she hadn¡¯t been aware of anything at first. But then she¡¯d had a really weird dream where words had talked to her and told her that she was a catterpillar and maybe she¡¯d be a butterfly before it was time to die. She didn¡¯t understand the dream and it made her confused and afraid, and when she¡¯d woken up she and everyone she knew could see the system in their heads. The adults in her life were all panicking while this was happening, but Gabby had her own concerns. School was out. That wasn¡¯t a good thing, because Gabby liked school. Mostly because it got her out of the house, as she didn¡¯t like living with her foster parents. So even though school was out and the president was saying to quarentine and stay at home, Gabby snuck out to go see what was happening at the park between her foster parent¡¯s and the school. She was surprised to find a small group of other kids organizing. There were a lot of them, and one of the boys she knew ¨C he was two years older than her and kind of cute ¨C ran over. ¡°Hey, Gabby, join my party,¡± he said, and suddenly her new interface flashed in her mind. You have been invited to join Team Monster Truck by Antony. Accept? Yes/No Gabby accepted, and she suddenly had an awareness of four other people in her head. A bunch of other kids like her. Antony fistpumped and looked at her. ¡°It¡¯s just like they said. Now that we have five we can go to the dungeon.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Gabby asked the cute older boy. ¡°I don¡¯t think a dungeon is somewhere we want to go in real life, is it?¡± ¡°No, but I think we have to. If we wait for the parents to figure stuff out then we¡¯ll die when the Antithesis comes. My big brother was talking about it. We have to fight for ourselves, Gabby. If we don¡¯t, then the world is going to end before any of us hit puberty.¡± She frowned, because that milestone wasn¡¯t something she particularly understood nor was it something she was looking forward to. Antony cajoled her for a few minutes to enter the dungeon with him and the others, and after a few minutes of peer pressure, Gabby gave in. They were going to be going in on very easy mode, after all, so how hard could it be? Suddenly a doorway appeared before her. Team Monster Truck has selected to enter the Dungeon. Prepare for Transference, Gabby Mitchel. Good luck! Suddenly Gabby didn¡¯t feel so confident, but she stepped through the archway a moment after Antony and the others. Welcome to the 1 st Floor of the Junior Challenger¡¯s Dungeon! Please note that time runs faster inside the dungeon than outside. At present you will experience two weeks for every day that passes outside. Training and Preparatory Modules are available. To advance to the next floor: Defeat your combat training partner in a duel 100 times AND Solve the floor puzzle Good Luck! Gabby looked around at the four idiots that had talked her into this mess, then looked for the way out. Which she immediately noticed was missing; the doorway that they had entered through was gone. They stood outside of what looked like a reform school, with a school bus nearby and a sign over the door that said ¡°Welcome!¡± While they had entered with a party of only five children, there were ten other parties nearby of equivalent sizes and ages. ¡°Where¡¯s the exit?¡± she asked her friends. The others looked as confused as her. Abruptly a tall, slender man appeared, with long flowing golden and¡ªwere those elf ears? An elf appeared. ¡°Welcome to the tutorial dungeon. You are here because, through no fault of your own, the Antithesis is coming for your world. The Titans in their wisdom have seen fit to give you a chance to stand against the coming apocalypse, and they are bending time itself to your aid. I shall be your instructor. Call me Gwel-nor. Unlike the other difficulties, there is no retreat option for Very-Easy. But there is also no danger. It is a soft place meant for children to come of age. For the next seven years, you will train next to each other and the other cohorts of the¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry did you say Seven Years ?¡± Gabby shouted. ¡°We¡¯re trapped in this place for Seven Years ?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m sorry if that news is troubling, but in order to prepare you for the Antithesis drastic steps must be taken.¡± Gabby stopped listening, and started beating Antony for talking her into this idiocy in the first place. ? Chapter 23 Chapter 23 Lawrence stood on the exit to floor six. He cracked his neck and flexed, feeling the power running through his body. It had been hard, starting out on floor one with no gear and nothing but his prison jumpsuit, but with the small team that he¡¯d formed with the others in the exercise yard, they¡¯d successfully broken out of prison. For now, at least. He wasn¡¯t certain what would happen if they retreated. There wasn¡¯t exactly a ¡®layout¡¯ for the dungeon, since it seemed to be teleporting everyone from one area to the next when a floor was cleared, but perhaps when he did have a return to surface option¡ªso far that had been lacking¡ªthey¡¯d be able to choose another location. A new location, a change of clothes, and it would be like he was just an average Joe. Not someone convicted to six lifetimes in prison. He grinned. Or they could just drop him back in prison and let him figure out his own way out of there. He was level was raising slowly, but each level came with an increase in strength and lethality. Soon, he¡¯d be the perfect warrior, able to¡ª ¡°Oy, enough. My turn on the toilet,¡± one of his compatriots said to one of his other compatriots. ¡°Or just stay where you¡¯re at and get wet.¡± Lawrence sighed and stopped his self-reflection. He knew better than to plan too far in advance. Right now the team he¡¯d put together was following him. But there were tensions, and he might have to do something about the idiots who thought that this was a democracy eventually. Possibly he¡¯d have to do something about them permanently, but that wasn¡¯t something he¡¯d shy away from. He had eight idiots following him. How many of those idiots did he really need ? He sighed and began thinking about interpersonal dynamics and how to stay on top of the game. Then he called the others together and they discussed how to tackle the latest floor. ~~~~~~~ The mood was subdued in the conference room, and in conference rooms like it across the globe. With somber expressions, the people in power realized that things were coming apart at the seams. The realization that the system targetted young children differently had come too late, and now a sizeable chunk of the nation¡¯s youth were already trapped in a dungeon without parental supervision. And the realization that the dungeons came to you whereever you were meant that the prisons were empty as the criminal element of the world decided to band together and delve rather than continue to meekly serve their sentences. The army had launched their own probes into the dungeons immediately after they had opened, but the information from the forward teams was spotty. Only those teams who had reported casualties returned to the surface, everyone else was following orders and pushing forward, but they had no communications with their commanders. And then there was the unrest on the surface. The threat of monster spawns drawing closer more rapidly than anyone had expected¡ªthe timer that had initially seemed so far away would occasionally loose five or six hours at random interval. And it wasn¡¯t like the government could hide the missing people from those who remained. So that left them with ¡­ what exactly? How did they maintain order during these chaotic times? Every one in the conference room had an interface at this point. They were all healthier and stronger than they¡¯d ever been, having received abilities beyond their understanding. But they continued to rely on the power of the old world. Which is why the power of the new world fell from their grasp. ~~~~~~~~ Eli woke suddenly and sat up. He looked around and saw that someone had covered him up with his sleeping bag after he¡¯d lost consciousness. Probably his mom, he reflected. He hadn¡¯t been expecting the sudden feinting spell, but when he checked the time remaining on their mandatory rest period he saw that he¡¯d only lost about four hours. Some of the others were resting, others were talking quietly in a corner. Gabri floated over to him and thunked him on the head. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°You¡¯re lucky that your friends and family aren¡¯t the sort to rob you blind while you¡¯re unconscious,¡± the faerie informed him. ¡°But I can¡¯t say that was a stupid purchase. Now hurry up and spend the rest of your credits before time runs out and this SafeZone disappears.¡± ¡°You think it will disappear?¡± Eli asked. ¡°I think that it¡¯s always better to assume that things will get worse,¡± Gabri answered. ¡°But no, not really. I think once the mandatory rest period is over you¡¯ll be forced to complete the floor¡¯s challenge, which will be different than the ones before it. I don¡¯t know, this environment isn¡¯t one I¡¯ve seen before. Is it from your world?¡± ¡°Yeah. This is a school,¡± Eli explained. ¡° This is a school? ¡± the faerie asked, its expression turning into one of distaste. ¡°You don¡¯t like schools?¡± Eli asked. ¡°I like schools. It¡¯s just...where¡¯s the trees? Where¡¯s the art? Where¡¯s the beauty?¡± ¡°Oh. Maybe we have a more utilitarian view on what a school should be than faerie kind?¡± Eli suggested. ¡°There are some beautiful schools out there but most of them look something like this one.¡± Gabri muttered something and plopped himself down on the desk next to Eli as the boy resumed browsing through the items that the store had available. Gabri quietly updated Eli on the items that the others had purchased which would be made available to them at the end of the rest period. John Sr. and Junior had purchased enough materials to make another dozen Molotov cocktails, as well as proper caltrops instead of the improvised ones they¡¯d been using. They also purchased a variety of new crossbow bolts which had extra wide arrowheads for increased bleeding, but which should still fit their crossbows. Elaine had purchased more ammo for her service pistol, which she was in one corner cleaning quietly. Luke had purchased an oak staff that was polished and covered with runes that were supposed to increase the mage¡¯s magical potency. Erik Estabon ¨C Eli still thought of him as Mister Estabon half the time ¨C had purchased a short sword. One that was actually made for combat rather than cleaning foliage. He had placed his old machete on the auction to test how the system works. The warriors of the group, Peter and Mattie, and the knight, Maia, had all purchased new gear. Peter had replaced his baseball bat with a longsword, but he continued to wear his football gear while he saved up for better armor than was presently available. Eli¡¯s mother had traded in her crowbar for an iron bo staff with etchings on it. She continued to wear her exercise gi, although she had put on a bullet proof vest that she had gotten from the system store and was wearing it underneath. Maia, like Peter with his football gear, continued to wear the hockey padding that her parents had purchased for her when the world had begun to end, and had switched from the spiked club that had dropped at the end of floor 1 to a proper short sword with a buckler on the other hand. Overall, Eli thought that the groups lethality had gone up a notch thanks to the access to the shop. However, the switch from blunt weapons to bladed left him at a crossroads of his own; so far he had mostly contributed to combat by enchanting the weapons of the melee fighters. How could he continue to do that when they had switched from bludgeoning damage to bladed? Did he need to buy and enchant a sword to continue to support the others? So he asked Gabri, and Gabri had scoffed. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t already have an enchanted knife to pass off ¡®Enhance Sharpness.¡¯ You don¡¯t need a sword, just something with a sharp edge,¡± the faerie had answered. ¡°Why not buy that delightful weapon that your former teacher was using before? It has a nice broad blade to make the necessary etchings onto.¡± So Eli had woken Erik and requested the use of the machete, then bothered Junior to get the Tinkerer¡¯s assistance in etching the scholar enchantment onto the weapon quickly before the end of the rest period. The tinkerer had several ideas about how to do a better job, should he have access to some shop tools, but said that all he really needed was a nail. Eli drew the required markings onto the blade, then stood back and watched the tinkerer work. Junior drew ¡­ not mana, Eli realized. It was Stamina. But he drew it into the point of the nail and scratched out an etching on the good steel of the machete with a simple iron nail. Junior had actually laughed at that. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be able to scratch the steel of this knife but somehow it¡¯s like carving butter.¡± Eli nodded and thanked the older boy when the process was complete, activating the enchant to make certain that it worked. He tried cutting the edge of the desk with the knife to test its effectiveness, and was surprised when the corner of the desk was easily shaved away. ¡°Huh,¡± he said, and he was glad that he hadn¡¯t tried to touch the edge of the blade to test how sharp it was. He might have lost a finger. Satisfied, he pulled out one of this new books and blinked in surprise as he could actually read the cover. ¡°Musings on the Functions of Mana Control and Rune Literacy. Intermediary Primer volume 2.¡± He promptly opened the book. The writing hadn¡¯t changed. But the symbols made sense to him now, almost as clearly as if they were written in English. He pulled the book onto his lap and began to read. ? Chapter 24 Chapter 24 The Mandatory Rest Period is Over Welcome to Floor 5 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 23:59 Floor 5 objectives: Solve Floor Puzzle Or Defeat Floor Boss Or Defeat 1000 Zombies Or Find floor Stairwell Completion of any of these objectives will automatically teleport all party members to the next floor Good Luck! The system prompts flared as soon as the mandatory rest period ended, but everyone was already putting away their bedding and getting ready for whatever came next. They read the prompt, then calmly finished getting ready for combat. ¡°Zombies, huh?¡± Peter said. ¡°Do you think that we¡¯ll get zombified if we get bitten?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, but better not to find out, yeah?¡± his sister said. ¡°I doubt that Walking Dead rules apply, but even so...um, yeah, let¡¯s keep an eye on anyone who does get bitten.¡± Eli reluctantly agreed. ¡°We keep an eye on them, but we don¡¯t do anything about it unless they start to change,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s not have any mistakes on something like this. There¡¯s plenty of mythos where zombies are risen by arcane energy and the magic isn¡¯t contagious. So that¡¯s probably what we¡¯re facing, not some sort of virus.¡± The party finished their preparations and checked the door to the SafeZone, which was finally unlocked. They moved with purpose, quietly moving through the hallway in a group. With Gabri¡¯s assurance that their gear would be safe in the SafeZone even without anyone watching over it, the group decided that it would be best to move quickly. Elaine and Sophie both left in different directions to scout while the rest of the group slowly explored the familiar territory of the middle school. Despite the promise of one thousand or more zombies, the hallways were clear. In fact, the school looked perfectly normal, as though it were merely empty for the weekend or a holiday. Luke was the first to spot it. In one of the intersections they passes was a bulletin board protected by glass, so that only a teacher with the keys to access it could actually change what was featured. Normally these were fliers for school events and other such matters of importance to the students. Featured in this case was a newspaper. Not the student paper, but the one from the city. The headline was ¡°Zombies Rise from the Grave!¡± After a short discussion, Erik smashed the glass protecting the paper and pulled the newspaper out. He read the front page, then handed it off to Eli. They split the newspaper up, everyone reading a different page, then summarized what they had learned. According to the reporters, the zombification wasn¡¯t contagious in the sense that a living person wouldn¡¯t become a zombie unless they died. The ¡®unless they died¡¯ was a key qualifier; falling in battle meant that the zombies would have one more among their member. Survivors were recommended to decapitate fallen companions who died of their wounds after their deaths to prevent them from rising again, but more drastic measures weren¡¯t recommended. Which was somewhat reassuring to the group, but also not really, since they¡¯d still have to slay one thousand of the zombies in order to advance. The paper also explained why the school was empty; the city had been evacuated. The last update before the paper had been printed was that the zombies were gathering near downtown and in the industrial zone of the city. The graveyard was said to be empty.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Eli frowned at that, but they discussed the situation calmly as Elaine and Sophie rejoined them. While the school was empty, the pair reported that they had checked outside and seen zombies in the streets in small groups. ¡°So, if we want to get credit for killing zombies we have to leave the safety of the school,¡± Junior said. ¡°I think all of the options to clear the dungeon require us to leave the school,¡± Eli said. ¡°Which complicates things. Did anyone get any clue from their piece of the paper where the exit is?¡± ¡°The paper said those who were looking to evacuate the city should take the freeway north,¡± John Sr. said. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s the hint we¡¯re looking for?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Mattie said, ¡°But to get there we¡¯ll have to pass through the most heavily infested zones. According to the paper, at least. Maybe things have changed since it was printed?¡± The discussion went on, and eventually the decision was made to go and check the parking lot to see if they could find any cars that would start. They found six zombies milling about in the area. The zombies were not a problem. Although the decaying humans turned and, upon seeing the party, began running towards them, they were swiftly put down. Elaine refrained from using her gun to avoid alerting nearby groups to their location. That was wise, since just as the newspaper had warned the only way to stop the zombies was to destroy their brain or decapitate them. A crossbow bolt to the face seemed to work, Junior discovered, but the head was a much more difficult target to hit than center mass. The melee members, including Erik who danced among the zombies using his elusive method, quickly put down the rest. When the combat was over, the party split up to search for any car with keys in the ignition. It was hoping for a bit much, however, and it proved to be a fruitless search. John Sr. and Junior, however, realized at some point that their class was giving them mental directions on carjacking, and in a few minutes they had three vehicles running. A gray minivan, a red sedan, and a motorbike. With the vehicles running, the party collected once more to discuss what to do. While they had quickly overcome the small party of zombies they¡¯d found, the idea of overcoming an army of them was unappealing. That left the exit, and the floor puzzle. ¡°I think we should split up again,¡± Eli said. ¡°We have three vehicles. That means we can split up into three groups. One should head for the freeway and see if we can find the exit there. The other two groups should look for the puzzle. Or hints of what the puzzle is. We should engage in combat only if we¡¯re trapped.¡± The others agreed with him, and the party split up. In the minivan, Lucy volunteered to drive, since she said she wasn¡¯t good for very much else. Both the Santos family and the Waters family filled the seats, putting the minivan at capacity. It was a little awkward when the weapons were accounted for, but everyone fit. The Campos family took the sedan, plus Erik Estabon. Once more the car was cramped, but the team made it work. That left the Mathews family on the motorbike. It surprised Eli to learn that his mother knew how to drive one, but she confidently took her seat and waited for him to get behind her. As agreed, they took point, and his mother skillfully kicked the vehicle into gear. As they left the parking lot, the signs of a zombie apocalypse became more apparent around them. The party¡¯s little convoy stuck close together, and they were able to quickly outdistance the zombies that they disturbed along their way downtown. Eli held on tightly as his mother navigated the streets. He was looking off to the side when he saw a bit of graffiti, and something that had been bothering him since he¡¯d read the newspaper clicked into place. Why was the graveyard said to be empty? Shouldn¡¯t the concentration of zombies be highest there? ¡°Mom, change of plans,¡± he said, shouting to be heard. ¡°Take us to the graveyard.¡± ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°I figured out the puzzle,¡± he said. ¡°or at least, I know where we¡¯ll find it. Trust me, take us to the graveyard.¡± His mother didn¡¯t ask for further explanation and simply signaled to the drivers behind her that she was turning left. It took ten minutes to arrive at the largest graveyard in town. The graves were all churned up and empty as the dead had crawled out of it, and the area stank of something . Not death or rotting flesh, as Eli might have expected. No. Something arcane. Like burnt paper and ozone and sulfur had a baby. The closer they got to the exposed graves, the stronger the scent became. And the more Eli¡¯s convictions grew that he was right. The party arrived at the cemetery gates and got out. Some of the teens complained of the smell, and Eli had to explain the change of plans. ¡°We¡¯ve already figured out that these are arcane zombies not plague zombies,¡± he said. ¡°So it makes sense that there would be ¡®magic¡¯ animating them, right? So if we disable the magic source, it should disable the zombies themselves. I¡¯m pretty sure that they¡¯re all being controlled by their summoner, who brought them downtown, but it makes sense, to me at least, that the animation ritual would remain in place in the graveyard.¡± The rest of the party simply took his word for it, except for Erik who looked a bit skeptical but didn¡¯t call him out on his leap of logic. The scent in the air was strong evidence that some sort of magic shenanigans were going on. So the party fanned out and began looking for the magical ritual. ? Chapter 25 Chapter 25 With the graves empty and the dead all missing, there was nothing to stop them from finding the ritual except for ¡­ not knowing where it was. So they searched. Eli, being the sort of person who actually reads headstones instead of walking straight past them on the few instances he¡¯d actually been to a graveyard in the past, noticed something was strange. The headstones had been defaced. But not with the magic that was bringing the dead back to life. He spent a moment analyzing them and, his eyebrows rising in surprise, he pulled up the mental conjuration of the Runekeeper¡¯s Grimoire and began searching through it. He found what he was looking for in just a few moments. ¡°It¡¯s a mid level ritual that¡¯s powering the undead,¡± Eli announced, turning to his mother and the others. ¡°These marks on the gravestone, they¡¯re like receivers or amplifiers spreading the signal. But that¡¯s all they are. If we destroy all the headstones then we might reduce the range that the undead are active, but we won¡¯t actually kill them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what has you all excited? You figured out that¡ª¡± Junior began. ¡°They have a directional effect,¡± Eli said. ¡°So we just need to follow them back to their source!¡± Having come to that conclusion, Eli proudly led the group deeper into the cemetery, not bothering to search any longer. He found something that hadn¡¯t been there the last time that he¡¯d visited this cemetery during a funeral of someone he didn¡¯t know, and he was slightly deflated to realize that this addition would have stood out to anyone who was had been here before as well. A chapel was built off to the northeast of the cemetery, with a traditional front. When they kicked in the door, however, the stench of the arcane ritual grew more intense, and the magic was palpable. At least to Eli and Luke it was; he got nauseous from coming to close to it. He backed out and turned to the others. ¡°I think that if we destroy the ritual, we win. But I can¡¯t get close enough to study it to see how to dismantle it and¡ª¡± ¡°And you¡¯re over thinking it,¡± Junior said. He pulled out of his backpack a Molotov Cocktail. He looked at the others, who nodded in confirmation with his strategy, then lit the rag that served as the stopper and the fuse of the incendiary and threw it through the doors of the chapel. The ancient wood¡ªthe chapel seemed to be centuries old despite having just appeared in this reality suddenly¡ªsoaked up the flames greedily and soon the building was completely engulfed. Eli kept waiting for some sort of notification from the system, but instead they received a visitation. ¡°Ah, so we have some clever ones in the mix as well,¡± a dangerous sounding female voice said. The party turned to face the source and found not the woman that they were expecting it to belong to, but her skeleton. ¡°And here I was thinking that this would be easy, but you¡¯ve gone and destroyed my perfectly good ritual. I suppose I¡¯ll just have to play with you until it falls apart!¡± The litch extended hands that were clearly not natural, but belonging to some sort of skeletal horror. With claws that were six inches long and bladed, the monster swiftly identified their weakest party member and attacked. Jose cried out in surprise as a force he didn¡¯t understand enveloped him, preventing him from dodging even as the blades slit his belly open. He screamed in pain and fear, even as the magic holding him in place faded, allowing him to fall. The litch turned to the next weakest party member, Lucy the Seamstress, and once more launched its combination of paralytic magic and a dangerous slash from its monstrous claws. But it found itself blocked by Erik, who rose to meet it with sword in hand. He cried out as he stood in defense of his girlfriend, and the forces holding her in place switched from her to him. He found that his body seemed to not want to move anymore, yet his trickster magic continued to function, allowing him to be six inches away from where he appeared to be. It saved his life as those dangerous claws passed through the illusion of where his body seemed like it should be to the eyes watching it. A gunshot went off, and the Litch¡¯s head exploded. The body turned to face the rest of the party, and Mattie was there suddenly with her new sword. She hacked off the undead monster¡¯s right hand, and when it raised the left to strike at her, Erik Estabon got the it from behind. Eli, acting a moment late, extended drew his machete and extended its enchantment to his mother and Erik¡¯s blades as the two swiftly cut the litch apart. The feminine laughter echoed through the graveyard despite the party¡¯s seeming victory, and Eli had a sudden sinking feeling as the corpse of the enemy suddenly puffed into bone dust and reformed as a massive canine figure this time. It launched itself at Sophie, who fired an arrow that caught it in the eye, but proved to be completely ineffective.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Maia hip checked the scout and stood her ground against the skeletal hound, raising her shield and Smashing the monster with everything she had. She overcame the monster¡¯s inertia and cleaved the beast¡¯s head in with her weapon. Luke abruptly finished casting a spell. A small projectile passed between the mage¡¯s staff and the hound, and when it connected the skeletal horror was engulfed in flame. And otherwise completely unaffected as it continued to snap and bite at Maia. Peter appeared its flank and began hacking the burning beast with his weapon. Eli extended the enchantment of his blade to all four even as his mind raced on how to defeat this battle. It¡¯s a litch, he thought to himself. It can reform itself as long as its phylactery is intact. So we have to find it¡¯s phylactery, but where would that be? He didn¡¯t have too long to think. Abruptly the Litch vanished again and appeared next to him in the form of a skeleton once more. It raised its arm¡ªinstead of a hand it had a bone sword three feet long¡ªand slashed at him. He raised his machete to meet the weapon and was surprised when his weapon slid through the bone effortlessly. So was the litch, which looked down at its severed sword-arm with dismay. It vanished again, forming a dust which coalesced nearby, attacking Susan Campos. Susan had put aside her crossbow when it was clear that the weapon would be ineffective and taken in her arms her bo staff instead. She exchanged a few blows with the Litch, which was still burning, as the warriors rushed to her side. Before they reached her, the litch puffed into dust once more. It appeared before Luke, who raised his staff, but not fast enough. It stabbed the boy in the stomach and moved on to the next. It got caught up with Peter, mistaking his young age for weakness, and the young warrior slashed it apart in a moment before it was forced to once more puff into powder. Eli¡¯s mind continued to work in overdrive as he struggled to come up with a plan to achieve victory. It was only by chance that he saw the flickering nearby when the body of the litch changed form once more. He rushed over to the glinting light, which had landed in the pile where the litch had been ¡®defeated¡¯ the first time by Mattie and Erik. Even as the battle continued, Eli realized that the Litch had made a critical mistake. It had been wearing its phylactery, an amulet. When it was defeated the first time it had dropped it, but the amulet remained where it had fallen. He picked it up. You have received Amulet of the Lesser Litch (Argentos) This is a Cursed Item Claim Cursed Item? Yes/No Eli hit No without even considering the other option, then he examined the amulet more closely. It had a large quartz crystal locked into place by several prongs to form a clasp. Surprisingly to Eli, he was able to see the mana flowing from the crystal into the golden amulet. A plan formed in his head. ¡°Junior, Catch!¡± he called out, tossing the amulet to the college student. The nineteen year old as at his brother¡¯s side, trying to both defend the younger mage and help him over to where Alaina was working on healing her husband. Still, the Tinkerer caught the flickering amulet. ¡°What the hell¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s the phylactery,¡± Eli shouted. ¡°Break the clasp and the battle ends!¡± The litch heard this, of course, and had a sudden change in priority as it turned from fighting the warriors once more to defending its phylactery. It broke apart into its dust form and slid through the air as a cloud, reforming into another hound. It launched itself at Junior, going for the young man¡¯s throat. But Junior had already popped the crystal out of the clasp using a screwdriver from his tool belt. The bones of the litch collided with him, but they lost cohesion and fell apart rather. The momentum was enough to knock him over, but he was unharmed. Congratulations! You have Defeated the Floor Boss! Advancing to the 6 th floor in 30 seconds. Please secure all belongings before transference. ? Chapter 26 Chapter 26 Floor 5 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 2:23:14 Rank: 43,245 Zombies Killed: 6 (stealth and speed bonus applied to experience gains) Floor Boss Killed (Lesser Lich Argentos): Yes Secret Locations Found: 1/43 Floor Puzzle Solved: No (Puzzle Destroyed) Loot: Crystal of the Lesser Lich (Argentos), Amulet of Skeletal Manifestation, Book of Lesser Necromantic Arts, Eyeshades of Mana Vision, Lesser Healing Potions X30, Lesser Mana Potions X12, 56,000 Experience (total), 12,000 Contribution Points Eli quickly assigned loot. Knowing that Jose was badly hurt, he quickly removed the experience bias that he¡¯d applied against the Cook and reset it to default, hoping that maybe a level up would help save his friend¡¯s father¡¯s life. Once his body returned to him and the safe zone notification appeared, the others rushed to finish recovering from the hectic battle against the Lich. Alaina had been so distracted by her husband being disemboweled that she hadn¡¯t seen Luke getting run through, but Luke¡¯s family¡¯s shouted calls for her to tend to their son got her to finally pull her attention away from Jose and turn to the young mage. Although he had been run cleanly through the abdomen, the mage had had the presence of mind to drink one of the small vials that the system identified to him as a healing potion, of which he¡¯d been getting one or two every level so far. That potion had mostly stopped the bleeding, and although he felt, well he felt like he¡¯d been stabbed in the stomach, he didn¡¯t feel like he was about to die. Eli stood nervously nearby as his friend was tended to by their medico, who pushed her abilities to the limit between the two casualties of the battle with the Lich. As the de facto leader of their party, he felt guilt over the injuries, even though he didn¡¯t know how he could have prevented them. However, he still took a moment to take in the environment. They were in a gymnasium in another school. He didn¡¯t recognize this one, but judging by the ¡°GO WILDCATS!¡± posters they were in one of their city¡¯s nearby neighbors. The sports teams were rivals. Not that Eli particularly cared. When it became apparent that everyone was going to survive the battle with the previous floor¡¯s boss, he checked the conditions for victory on this next floor. Welcome to Floor 6 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 119:56 Floor 6 objectives: Solve Floor Puzzle Or Defeat 2 of 3 floor bosses Or Defeat 2000 Zombies Or Find floor Stairwell Completion of any of these objectives will automatically teleport all party members to the next floor Good Luck! ¡°Zombies again,¡± he said to the others. ¡°The only difference seems to be that there are three bosses we can find, although we only have to kill two of them.¡± ¡°And we don¡¯t have home field advantage this time,¡± Peter pointed out. ¡°I don¡¯t know where we are.¡± ¡°I do,¡± Erik said. He pointed at the poster. ¡°We¡¯re in Alexandria. This is one of their three high schools.¡± ¡°We should start with information gathering, like before,¡± Eli said. ¡°Sophie, Elaine, can you scout the school?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Sophie agreed, and her mother nodded. They took off, going in separate directions. Sophie returned twenty minutes later with a newspaper and Elaine five minutes after that with a radio that worked. Eli was reading the newspaper, frowning as he tried to figure out the solution to this floor¡¯s puzzle. The Radio gave real time updates on the zombies¡¯ movements, calling out streets and avenues as the mass of zombies moved about the city. But the newspaper gave a chilling history.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The zombies had risen from their graves like on floor five, but on floor six they hadn¡¯t just congregated in one area. They were roaming about, and the response hadn¡¯t been an orderly evacuation like in his hometown. According to the newspaper, the exit to the interstate had been overrun, and there were no hints of what direction the party needed to move in to find the stairwell and escape the floor. The radio, meanwhile, was broadcasting the account of a journalist who had taken it upon herself to report on the movements of the great masses of zombies. She was vowing, in between her zombie traffic report, to remain in the air until her helicopter ran out of gas so that anyone in the city could reach safety. She neglected to mention where safety was, however. After Eli had gotten a good idea for what the challenge of this floor was and had developed a plan to, if not clear the floor, then at least move forward, he went to check on his injured party members. Luke¡¯s abdominal wound had closed up and left a pink scar in the place of the gory hole where he had been stabbed. Jose¡¯s wounds were likewise healed, although where Luke¡¯s injuries had been a straight through-and-through, Jose¡¯s abdomen had four crosswise slashes. Both insisted that they could walk. ¡°We should turn back,¡± Jose said. ¡°The option to vote to return to the surface is back. If we¡ª¡± ¡°You don¡¯t get it Jose. The entire point of showing us this floor? The system is saying that it can make the surface like this, if it wants to. I¡¯m not sure what the limits of its abilities are, but screwing around with dimensions and raising the dead seem to be part of them,¡± Eli said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you were injured, but¡ª¡± ¡°Whatever this is I know it¡¯s a problem, but it¡¯s not one we¡¯re qualified to handle,¡± the man insisted. ¡°I¡¯m a baker, for heaven¡¯s sake. I can¡¯t fight a cursed skeleton! What do you expect me to do except get in the way? And my daughter¡ª¡± ¡°Either come with us or stay behind, Jose,¡± Eli said flatly. ¡°But I¡¯m going to ask you to stop trying to talk us into going back. It¡¯s bad for morale. In, what is it now, four days? In four days monsters will start spawning on the surface. Maybe we¡¯ll have reached the bottom of this dungeon by then and we¡¯ll be able to protect the weak and the vulnerable on the surface when we return. Maybe that¡¯s the point of fighting right now.¡± Jose frowned. ¡°You really think the surface will be like this soon?¡± ¡°I think that the world is ending, Jose. I¡¯ve thought that since I got the system installed in my head,¡± Eli said. ¡°My only goal is to survive the coming apocalypse. Hopefully with my mom and as many of my friends as possible. Right now, that includes your daughter. And your wife¡¯s role in the party is vital as our healer. But if you keep on turning my group against me, then it won¡¯t include you. You understand?¡± Jose turned paler. ¡°Are you threatening me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m explaining my priorities. You asked why I should be the leader. I¡¯m trying to show you why. Right now I¡¯m being transparent. If you want to level up and maybe find a way to survive, then you need to either learn to be a follower or figure out how to take command of a group of fighters while you have a useless class like Cook. Have you figured out a way of doing that yet?¡± Jose went quiet, and his wife didn¡¯t help him. She stood nearby, examining the other combatants for injuries that they might have missed in the adrenaline rush of combat. Fortunately everyone else seemed to be alright except. Jose sighed. ¡°I won¡¯t leave my daughter behind, and she won¡¯t stop following you. I¡¯ll try to stop making problems, but I don¡¯t think we should be doing this and I will not hide my feelings.¡± ¡°Then you can stay in the SafeZone and keep an eye on our supplies while the rest of us figure out this floor¡¯s puzzle,¡± Eli said flatly. ¡°I¡¯ll stay with him,¡± Lucy said. ¡°I¡¯m not much good in combat either, after all.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve enchanted most of our clothes by now,¡± Eli said. ¡°And I¡¯m going to keep doing that,¡± she said earnestly, ¡°But I was nothing but a liability against the skeleton. Look, this SafeZone is supposed to be safe for days, right? That means that Jose and I can supply a fallback point where the rest of you can rest and regroup if you fail to find a way forward. So it¡¯s not like we won¡¯t be busy.¡± Eli nodded. The truth is that he¡¯d been hoping to assign her to such a position with Jose, but he was pleased that he didn¡¯t have to phrase it as an order. At least not in her case. Jose looked nonplussed, but he nodded. The rest of the party had been listening, and they turned to Eli to begin planning their strategy. ¡°I¡¯m going to spend a while investigating this book,¡± he said, pulling out the Book of Lesser Necromantic Arts he¡¯d gotten from completing the previous floor. He¡¯d actually taken the amulet, the crystal containing what he assumed to be the Lich¡¯s soul, and the Eyeshades of Mana Vision to himself as well. He hadn¡¯t mentioned those items to the party yet, but he might after discussing matters with Gabri. ¡°Maybe it will have some clues as to how to clear this floor. It makes sense that the dungeon would give us some hints, right?¡± The others agreed. Junior decided to take a small team to the shop classroom to see if there were any tools he could use to improvise weapons, while John Sr. went to the parking lot to hijack the vehicles he found there. Both father and son were accompanied by half of their teams, since they were uncertain whether the SafeZone extended to the entire school or only the gymnasium. For that matter, they weren¡¯t entirely certain what would happen if they led zombies back to their fallback point. Eli didn¡¯t hope to learn how to summon undead from the book that he was studying, but he did see where he¡¯d gone wrong on the previous floor. While the ritual he¡¯d found was indeed responsible for raising the dead like he¡¯d thought, simply destroying it wasn¡¯t enough. He should have inverted the ritual by disrupting several of the runes and placing a few drops of living blood on the relic which empowered it, which would have been the phylactery of a lesser Lich. When they had destroyed the chapel, they had destroyed the source of the necromantic energies, but not those energies themselves. It would have taken days for the zombies to run out of energy. In addition, they had woken the lesser Lich, which had been serving as a power source and would have been dormant until Junior set fire to the building. They had still cleared the floor by defeating the boss, but it could have been easier and better done, Eli reflected. He went through several of the other ¡®easy¡¯ reanimation rituals listed in the book and noted their signs and how to counter them. Then he emptied out his backpack and put the book inside it, intending to keep it with him as a reference. Once he¡¯d concluded his study of the book, he went to find the other party members, who were all out in the parking lot. John Sr. had hijacked one of the maintenance vehicles, a pickup truck, and attached the plow that the school used to clear the parking lot in winter to it. He was driving that, while his sons were in back and his wife in the passenger seat. The Santos and Waters families both had their own sedans this time, while Erik Estabon shared a car with the Mathews family. After some discussion, they figured out the order of their convoy. The maintenance truck would lead. The entire purpose of having Luke and Junior sitting in the back of the truck was so that they could unleash devastation without getting out; Luke in the form of his spells and Junior in the form of a growing collection of incendiaries. Everyone else would follow behind. Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Realizing that he hadn¡¯t checked his stats for a while, Eli pulled them up.
Name Elias Mathews Health 142/142
Age 15 Mana 152/152
Species Human Stamina 136/136
Class Scholar Strength 12
Level 8 Dexterity 13
Titles Runekeeper Agility 12
Party Unnamed Party (Leader) Endurance 14
Guild None ConstitutionThis book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. 14
Allegiance None Magic Power 16
He¡¯d reached level eight, which he thought was rather decent considering that the party hadn¡¯t been actively killing foes. Most of his experience, meaning virtually all of it, had come from the bonus of clearing the floors. Gabri had said that was normal, and he was still trusting that the little faerie had the party¡¯s best interest at heart. His maximum mana was increasing further, and he felt more confident about keeping some of his unique enchantments active on himself, his mother, and the other person in the car with them, Erik Estabon, Eli¡¯s science teacher. The synergy between the enchantments on his leather jacket and his machete and the clothes of his companions and their own weapons was pretty high, and it was relatively easy to maintain the effects across all three of them. He mentioned to them that their weapons were magically enhanced and to be careful of the blade, of course. They had tested it out before getting in the car and found that the magically enhanced blades could cut through wood like hot butter and saw through metal like it was wood. After a bit of consideration, they had decided to carry his baseball bat with them as well. The others weren¡¯t carrying blunt weapons, but he was confident that if they were disarmed and found improvisational weapons like rebar or two-by-fours he¡¯d be able to enchant those weapons for them using the one on his bat. Regardless, he was pleased with the increase to his stats, although he didn¡¯t really feel any stronger than he had on the surface. He needed time to sit down and study, he thought, and he wasn¡¯t certain when he¡¯d be able to get it. His class was literally called ¡®Scholar,¡¯ so he was fairly certain that he needed to learn in order to grow stronger and not simply kill a thousand zombies or so. During the discussion on how to proceed, the decision had been made to go to the radio¡¯s broadcast station. The reporter¡¯s voice was the first human voice they¡¯d heard since entering the dungeon, so they were hopeful to find others. Whether those others were more challengers to the dungeon like themselves or ¡­ survivors? It didn¡¯t matter. They were able to listen to the reporter¡¯s ongoing traffic report en route, but they still came across a group of zombies. Fortunately it was a small group of less than fifty. As planned, the maintenance vehicle charged straight through them, literally plowing the group apart while the rest of the party stopped and got out. Luke followed up on the initial charge attack with a fireball, the same spell which had injured Maia. It landed in the center of the zombie pile and exploded, taking out half of the group. The heat from the spell was intense, but aside from the zombies in the center of the blast the rest were minimally affected. But the ones that were in the middle were literally blown apart. There were sixteen zombies that staggered to their feet after the spell and the truck had done their damage, and two more that didn¡¯t crawl to their feet because they didn¡¯t have feet, but did crawl towards the oncoming party. The fighting was over swiftly, with the warriors of the party, the knight, and the trickster moving through the surviving zombies like a scythe through wheat. It wasn¡¯t that the zombies were weak or slow, Eli realized even as he pushed himself to enchant Maia and Peter¡¯s swords, causing him to briefly dip down to ninety maximum mana. Rather, the zombies were just as strong and fast as a normal person might be. Before the system arrived, at least. In comparison, however, the party members were moving at speeds and coordination which made them look like they were engaging in a Hollywood choreographed film scene. All while the combat was punctuated with a steady Bang! Bang! Bang! Elaine¡¯s service pistol continued to server her well, and each bullet resulted in the exploded head of one of the zombies. The crossbows also continued to fire from the Campos family, which had pulled the maintenance vehicle along broadside to the melee. Susan was proving to be just as skilled with a crossbow as her Tinkerer husband and son. Luke was having the worst time of the combat, as he kept beginning to chant a spell, only to stop as someone got in range of it. Or he thought they did. He hadn¡¯t practiced all of his spells yet and wasn¡¯t certain how large the area effect some of them had. He knew that he could control that to some degree, but aside from pumping so much mana into the fireball that he¡¯d cast off the bat that the spell had almost destabilized on him, he didn¡¯t know how to take advantage of it. So he too continued to snipe from a distance using a simple Fire Dart spell. After some consideration, Eli stepped into the melee as well, trusting his enchanted jacket to keep him safe and his enchanted weapon to make him dangerous. He was right on the second account, as he found that the machete could easily cut through the necks of the foes he was facing. He only had a chance to slay one before his mother was beside him, however, and she ruthlessly kill-stole everything that came near them after that. When the fighting was over, they were surrounded with gore. They quickly cleaned their weapons and returned to their vehicles. ¡°A group of survivors have just taken down the group of zombies that was plaguing 42nd and Dakota. Unfortunately it seems that the noise of their battle has upset the nearby groups. From Washington street in the west, a group of ninety zombies is charging in their direction. From the north, one hundred twenty streets are coming from thirty second street. I hope that these brave souls can hear this,¡± the radio was saying. ¡°To everyone else, if you¡¯re in the path of the oncoming zombies, get out! Either flee or seek shelter, because you don¡¯t stand a chance against groups this large!¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± John Sr. asked Eli. Eli considered for a moment. ¡°We keep going to the radio tower,¡± he decided. ¡°That path takes us north,¡± John pointed out. ¡°We¡¯ve just proven we can handle these zombies,¡± Eli said. ¡°If it comes to another fight, then we fight. It might be easier to clear this floor by killing zombies than solving the puzzle this time.¡± ¡°Right,¡± the Tinkerer agreed, and none of the other party members had anything to say. They just got in their cars and followed the maintenance truck as it drove north. They managed to bypass the enemies coming from the north, more or less. The maintenance truck ran straight over a small group of six zombies and Luke finished off the surviving two with his magic before the convoy had even stopped. Aside from the zombies and the occasional misplaced car, the streets were empty. No sign at all of survivors. They continued their journey until they came to the broadcast station, then parked and got out. ¡°The group of survivors I mentioned earlier have apparently decided to clear the zombies out of the radio station,¡± the reporter said. ¡°Or at least that¡¯s what I¡¯m choosing to hope. To the heroes who are fighting back, if you can clear the refueling station on the roof, then I¡¯ll be able to extend my coverage by refueling my helicopter. I only have about two hours of fuel left. I¡¯ll land before bingo. Until then, I¡¯m going to keep on reporting the traffic.¡± They turned their vehicles off and gathered outside the entrance. ¡°So, a dungeon inside a dungeon?¡± Luke asked. ¡°Sounds like it,¡± Eli said, patting his machete. ¡°And we have a time limit.¡± Chapter 28 Chapter 28 The party gathered up their weapons and left their vehicles running in case they needed to make a swift exit. Anticipating that the building would be filled with narrow halls and small rooms, they split into two teams once more, using the same roster as before. They entered the lobby together and heard the sounds of chewing. They found the source of the sound behind the receptionist desk. Junior put an end to the sound with his crossbow and assured everyone else that it was better not to look. The young man didn¡¯t seem to bothered by what he¡¯d seen, however. Rather, he simply reloaded and grimly looked forward. The high-rise had more than just the radio station in it, and the decision was made to swiftly go floor by floor and clear whatever they found. The basic floor plan was the same for each floor, after all, so unless one team got bogged down fighting they should be able to divide and conquer. Eli moved on to floor two while the other group cleared the first floor. They emerged from the stairwell. Eli was accompanied by his mother, by Peter and Sophie, and by Junior and Susan. Susan cocked her head and listened for a moment, then shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t hear anything, but the sign said that this is a psychologists office, so there might be soundproofing. We should go room by room and check.¡± So they did, with Mattie and Peter leading the way and unceremoniously kicking in any door which stuck. But they quickly found that the second floor was clear. As was the fourth, and the sixth. On the eighth floor, Sophi frowned and signaled the others to stop. ¡°I hear chewing,¡± she said. Junior grimaced and tightened his grip on his crossbow. ¡°Lead the way.¡± They found three zombies standing over a dead woman. Chewing, of course. There wasn¡¯t much left of the woman. Without any ceremony, Susan and Junior let loose with their crossbows. Sophi fired her bow at the same moment. The three projectiles struck the enemies in the head, destroying their brains and putting an end to their meal. The party was about to turn when Eli saw something written on the wall. In blood, and not in English. ¡°Wait,¡± he said, and he went to read grizzly message. The Fires of Cold Hearths does not burn. It does not warm the heart of those it envelops. It does not in winter yearn for the birth of spring. In black and death it walks, the living it stalks. It does not cook meals, for those who walk by the Fires of Cold Hearths meals still walks. Or at least that¡¯s what the words would be if they were translated into English. In Bokuto, they were the same but different, yet surprisingly still lyrical. Eli pulled out his backpack and began shifting through the pages until he found what he was looking for. ¡°Here it is,¡± he told the others. ¡°The Fires of Cold Hearths . It¡¯s the ritual that¡¯s awakening the dead on this floor. If we find the altar where it¡¯s being cast from, I can disable it.¡± ¡°Okay, great,¡± Sophie said. ¡°How do we find the source?¡± Eli frowned. Because he had an idea. ¡°First we clear the tower,¡± he said, confirming the strategy they¡¯d already settled on. ¡°Then we have a chat with the reporter when she lands. We¡¯ll need her help.¡± ~~~~~ As one of the four adults in the other group, Erik had initially been tempted to allow a more democratic leadership style arise than existed in the initial group. At first. But he recognized the pitfall to that idea. Namely, it would undermine Eli¡¯s authority to have the adults think that they were ready to lead in this new world.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. So instead he had stepped into ¡®teacher mode,¡¯ which is how he led the discussion without anyone really realizing that he was in charge. But he definitely was, and the adults soon realized it. Still, they had their marching orders, so there wasn¡¯t much to discuss. Elaine scouted the floors for them and, if there were less than three zombies in a room, she put them down without disturbing the rest of the party. They came across two times where the rest of them needed to fight in clearing to the ninth floor. Both times the fight had been over within moments, with John supporting Elaine at ranged and Erik the Trickster supporting Maia the Knight in melee. Luke was mostly superfluous, and thankfully nobody was injured enough to require Alaina¡¯s ministrations. At least not until they reached the top floor of the tower. The radio station occupied the penthouse, and everyone was on guard. But nobody was expecting Elaine to empty her entire clip. She shot once, then two more times, and then fired until she ran dry. She appeared a moment later, cursing. ¡°It¡¯s one of those boss enemies,¡± she announced with frustration. ¡°Get ready for a fight, because my entire clip did nothing but piss it off.¡± The group had only a few seconds warning before the pale zombie of a man with massive headphones came charging through the door behind her. As she had said, his face was riddled with bullet holes, but rather than causing his head to explode like normal zombies, the wounds were regenerating. ¡°I¡¯ll try fire,¡± Luke said, and he proceeded to cast a spell. It was the same Fire Dart spell that he¡¯d gotten used to casting, and his proficiency with the spell was paying off as it took him only a moment to cast. Unfortunately the elite zombie blocked the magic with his fist, which caught flame and did not go out. With its left hand on fire, it held a mic in its right. It put the mic to its lips and it screeched! The party screamed as the sonic attack, amplified by the speakers in the radio station lobby, made their ears bleed and damaged their sense of balance. The attack lasted for a seeming eternity before it faded, leaving the party stunned. Elaine was the first to recover, and without saying a word she took her reloaded pistol and aimed at one of the speakers. She pulled the trigger, and managed to shoot a second speaker before the zombie launched a second sonic attack. This one was weaker than the first, and it allowed the party a short reprieve. Elaine, pulling in details as the world seemed to slow down for her in the unique way that it had been lately, noticed that the zombies hand had burned away. ¡°It¡¯s weak to fire,¡± she shouted to be heard over the ringing in their ears. ¡°Luke! Cast your spell again! Aim for its head!¡± But the boy didn¡¯t hear her. Nor did Maia, who leaped into melee with the zombie and began slashing her short sword. Elaine and Erik both cursed, and Erik jumped in to support her. Elaine stood back at ranged, holding her pistol but unwilling to shoot into the melee while the fighters were moving in unpredictable patterns. Instead she took down another speaker that was hanging from the ceiling, then held her gun in a ready position. Erik danced with the zombie, which was using its microphone like a club and its burning hand like a torch in combat. Unfortunately it was fast, much faster than the typical zombie. Also unfortunately it healed its injuries as soon as he inflicted them. His trickster abilities weren¡¯t of any help here. He couldn¡¯t get into the zone he needed to make something appear somewhere that it wasn¡¯t, like when he¡¯d put two coins inside two different goblins head. With his ears ringing, it was all that he could do to be where the zombie¡¯s club and grasping hand were not. Maia was having the same trouble as Erik was, but she was holding out better. She¡¯d recovered her balance and was beginning to figure out the zombie¡¯s move. It was just frustrating that her sword wasn¡¯t sharp enough to cut cleanly through the zombie. It kept getting caught on the monster¡¯s thick muscles and its bones, then the wounds that she was causing would heal up in seconds after the-- Suddenly her sword cut cleanly through the zombie¡¯s left arm. The flaming appendage fell to the ground, leaving her and the foe both stunned. Fortunately Erik took advantage of the open and launched forward, slicing his sword through the monster¡¯s neck. The sword, empowered by Eli, who had just arrived to the scene with the rest of the party, severed the zombie¡¯s spine. The monster¡¯s body fell like a marionette whose puppetmaster had cut the strings, and its head rolled nearby. ¡°Oy, what was that for?¡± the zombie¡¯s head asked. Then its white eyes went gray, and died. ? Chapter 29 Chapter 29 They cleared the rest of the floor as a unified party, but the elite they¡¯d encountered was the only monster to be found. When John Sr. examined the broadcasting room that it had been found in, he rubbed his hands in excitement. ¡°Always wanted to be in a broadcast room,¡± he confessed. ¡°On television there¡¯s always so many buttons and stuff. Hold on a moment and I¡¯ll see if I can¡¯t tell our eye in the sky that it¡¯s safe to land.¡± ¡°Is it safe to land?¡± Elaine asked. ¡°We just finished clearing the roof,¡± Eli confirmed. ¡°Right before we heard your gunshots. We came as soon as we heard the scream, sorry it took us so long to arrive.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Elaine said. ¡°I think we could have defeated it if we could have set it aflame, but its opening attack left us scattered. Between John and Luke we would have managed to burn it to death once we¡¯d recovered and come up with a strategy. Was that your magic that allowed us to win?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Eli confirmed. The rest of the party knew, more or less, how his enhancement spells worked. Nobody had realized how effective they could be until they¡¯d overcome DJ Rothead, as the kids were calling the boss monster now. ¡°As soon as I saw them in combat I empowered their weapons. I didn¡¯t expect it to be super effective.¡± ¡°Well, you saved us some time and effort,¡± she said, patting him on the shoulder. John figured out how to broadcast, and a moment later he was talking to the reporter in the helicopter. ¡°If you¡¯re in the broadcast room, that means you defeated the guardian,¡± the reporter said. ¡°Is it safe to land?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve completely cleared the building,¡± John Sr. confirmed. ¡°Come on down and get a free T-shirt. We¡¯re looking forward to meeting you.¡± ¡°Right. I do need to refuel to keep working. I¡¯m sorry to everyone who is counting on this broadcast to survive, but you¡¯ll have to get by without me for a while.¡± She went on to say some on-brand things, but the party stopped listening as they went to the roof to wait for the helicopter to land on its pad. It arrived ten minutes later. Eli explained along the way that he knew how to disable the ritual empowering the undead, he just needed to find the altar. For which he had a plan, but that plan required the help of the flying reporter. They all stood back as the helicopter sat down squarely in place. The pilot got out first and ran to the refueling station, connecting a hose to the helicopter and pumping it full of fuel. Eli was reminded of the smell of propane and summer barbecues when he smelled it. The woman got out next. She took off her helmet and smiled at the party. Who all reflexively grabbed their weapons. Her eyes were pure white. ¡°Don¡¯t hurt me?¡± she said, smiling. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what happened, but yeah, I woke up this way the morning that the world ended. So did everyone else. Nothing is different except for the fact that all of those hours practicing my baleful glare or my ¡®come hither¡¯ eyes are wasted. Then later in the day the dead started rising, and, well, you know the rest. Or maybe you don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say that we don¡¯t,¡± Eli said. She shrugged, and launched into the tale. It was a rather classical as far as undead apocalypse. The graves all emptied and zombies began overrunning everyone, each kill they made adding to their number. The zombies weren¡¯t especially strong, being as fast and as strong as an average Joe, but they weren¡¯t slow or weak either. They were slightly stupid, which is the only reason that the world hadn¡¯t been completely overrun. Presently she guessed that about one percent of the city¡¯s population remained, while the rest was either dead of fled. She eagerly encouraged them to journey to the FEMA refugee point sixty miles northeast of the city, giving the party the first idea of where the floor¡¯s stairwell was located. But Eli had another idea to try first. He pulled from his backpack the Eyeshades of Mana Vision and watched as the flows of mana circulated through the city. He¡¯d tried them on before, but they didn¡¯t reveal much from the surface. From the top of this building, however, he had a better view. There were two distinct types of mana floating about, one that looked like a soft green and the other a silver-blue. Where the two met, the silver-blue seemed to snap at the green, and the green retreated rather than engage in combat with the silver blue. Eli didn¡¯t know for certain, since the colors of mana weren¡¯t consistent between the various skills and items used to view them, but he had a feeling that the green was natural mana and the silver-blue was the ritual that was empowering the undead. Unfortunately he couldn¡¯t see the epicenter of where the silver-blue was coming from. Not from this vantage. He returned to the white-eyed reporter, whose name was Reba. ¡°We need your help,¡± he told her. ¡°I know how to kill all of the undead at once. But I need to find where the animating force is coming from. I need to fly with you in your helicopter. I can spot the convergence point from the sky and then the rest of my party can destroy it.¡± She took a sip from a flask that he hadn¡¯t seen her produce and sighed. ¡°Yeah, okay kid. Whatever you say. Let me get you a spare helmet.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Eli¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise at how easy it had been to convince her, but didn¡¯t look the gift horse in the mouth. Instead he turned to Luke. He pulled out the Book of Lesser Necromantic Arts and opened it to the bookmarked page. ¡°This is the ritual that¡¯s being used,¡± Eli said. ¡°Here¡¯s what I need you to do to disable it.¡± Luke listened for a few minutes, then shook his head. ¡°Eli, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to remember all of this. We need to swap places. Give me those shades and tell me what I¡¯m looking for, and you¡¯ll be in charge of disabling the ritual.¡± Eli frowned, but Luke had a point. Eli knew what he was doing with the ritual, and the only real reason to fly on the helicopter was that it would be pretty cool to do so. Finding the ritual was the easiest part of disabling it at this point, so it made sense to pass it off to Luke rather than expecting the mage to remember how to invert the ritual. ¡°Okay,¡± he said, and he gave the mage his eyeshades. Luke put them on and muttered ¡°Oh wow,¡± before he began asking questions about how how to identify the source of the necromantic energy and determine the direction that it was flowing from. Once that was sorted out, the party returned to the stairwell, leaving Luke behind with Reba and the unnamed pilot. Their vehicles were still running, but they had to wait a few minutes for the helicopter to get in the air. Reba started talking to ¡°All the fans out there¡± and explaining that she was joining hands with the good souls who had cleared out the radio station to try to put an end to the undead infestation. She still called out the location of the undead packs, but she also allowed Luke to speak occasionally as he described the confluences of energy that he was witnessing from the helicopter. The convoy headed east, then south, and then east again as they tracked the energies to the source. It was a park three miles from the radio station that Luke declared as the epicenter of the energies. Reba said that there was a gathering of three hundred zombies present, but Luke asked the pilot to get in close and then was heard chanting the incantation for his fireball spell. He cast it four times in succession, and then Reba amended her estimate by seventy. ¡°That¡¯s all I can manage for now,¡± Luke said over the air. ¡°I¡¯m out of mana.¡± Fortunately, they¡¯d planned for this. Susan, driving the maintenance truck, drove straight into the park. Using the winter plow of the truck as a battering ram, she drove straight through the groups of zombies while her husband and oldest son stood in the back of the truck, guarded by Maia, as they threw out their incendiaries. They went through their supplies rather quickly, tapping on the cab of the truck when the last Molotov Cocktail had been thrown, but the damage they¡¯d done to the enemy¡¯s numbers was considerable. They pulled out of the park, which was well and truly on fire, and back to the line that the rest of the party had established. When the zombies arrived, they had to march through a steady barrage of Elaine¡¯s pistol and the other ranged fighter¡¯s crossbows, including Sophie¡¯s bow which was starting to pack the same punch. Eli stretched his magic to protect his mother and enhance the blades of all of the melee fighters even as he himself joined them, having discussed the matter before hand. Until he learned to use his magic more proactively, there was no reason to restrict him to the backlines when his magic made him almost as deadly as a regular warrior. Or so he thought until he actually fought beside them. Compared to Maia and Peter, Eli was slow and uncoordinated. Fortunately so were the zombies, at least compared to the fighters who had all increased their levels several times at this point. More frustratingly, he had to hold focus on his enchantments to keep them from dissipating as he struggled to emulate just a tenth of his mother¡¯s grace during the combat. But with the numbers decreased, the party managed to emerge victorious after a moderately protracted battle. Eli wasn¡¯t certain how long it took. It was a series of memories when he examined it later. Slashing the head off of one zombie. The arm off of another while he dodged the grasp of another. Hearing Gabri shout out a warning when one came up from behind him. It was all strung together like the slideshow of someone else¡¯s vacation pictures when he examined it later in his head. Someone¡¯s gruesome, terrible, ugly idea of a Walking Dead themed vacation. Then it was over, and it took him a moment to realize that it was over. He was hyper-vigilant for a few moments, breathing hard and looking for someone to attack to the point where he almost cut his mother when she stepped towards him. ¡°Easy Eli,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s done. We won.¡± He blinked in surprise at her voice, and he looked around to realize that although they stood among a mound of gore, his mother was right. None of the zombies were moving. Or the parts that were moving were too small to be a threat to anyone. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said sheepishly. ¡°Don¡¯t be. I did the same to Erik a moment ago. I didn¡¯t realize you were still in the trance when I came to check on you or I¡¯d have been more careful.¡± ¡°The trance?¡± he asked. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re calling it. You know what I mean, don¡¯t you?¡± she asked. He swallowed, and he nodded. ¡°Think it¡¯s from the system?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. You¡¯re the expert on all things system, remember? I¡¯m just following my son¡¯s lead.¡± He considered for a moment. ¡°Not everyone is a born fighter,¡± he said eventually. ¡°But what if there was a switch that you could flip in someone¡¯s head to make it easier? This thing is already in our heads. What if it¡¯s actively changing our personalities and making us more resilient to things like PTSD?¡± ¡°You think?¡± Mattie asked her son. ¡°It can teach us languages, Mom. It¡¯s making us all hallucinate images in our vision. I don¡¯t think tweaking a few hormonal responses is above its capabilities,¡± he said, growing more confident in his words. ¡°What does that mean for society?¡± she asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± he admitted. ¡°But hopefully it means that the people who need strength will find it from the system.¡± ? Chapter 30 Chapter 30 Erandius watched as another missile collided with the Arcadia , exploding pointlessly. He could have stopped it, but the ship had run the calculations and it was more energy effective to allow it to hit and explode, then fix the damage, then it would have been to shoot the missile down. It was a two percent difference, but the Arcadia was all about efficiency. Erandius wasn¡¯t certain whether it was more demoralizing for the forces firing at him to see their weapon¡¯s damage hit and cause no damage, or if shooting it down would have been worse. He had shot down a nuclear warhead a few hours ago, but the simple explosives in the other ballistic missiles that were being sent at him weren¡¯t worth that sort of energy expenditure. He sighed, wondering what the poor bastards were thinking. He could ask, but ultimately, what was the point? He¡¯d already given them the tools they needed to survive, and they were still clinging to the trappings of their old world order. ¡° Arcadia, you can handle the defenses from here on out,¡± he announced. ¡°I don¡¯t care anymore.¡± ¡°Yes, Erandius,¡± the ship agreed. ¡°Technically I could have handled them from the beginning.¡± ¡°How are the delvers adapting? How is the system adapting to the delvers?¡± he asked. ¡°The goblins have claimed the first few floors. They apparently resemble mythological beasts to the humans of the surface, and the combat response from the inhabitants has been less hesitant than we initially believed it might be. Deeper floors have been seeded with various apocalyptic methods from the collective consciousness of the population. They actually seem to think of the end of their world quite a bit.¡± ¡°Of course they do. They¡¯ve already lived through it once. Or their ancestors did,¡± Erandius said, sighing. ¡°Stories like that don¡¯t just go away.¡± ¡°Would you believe me if I said that they predicted the return of the system?¡± Arcadia asked. ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t I?¡± Erandius countered. ¡°It¡¯s only been sixty eight thousand years since the dregs of the original system were disabled to avoid drawing the attention of the Antithesis while the surface was reseeded with lower life forms.¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly it, my lord,¡± Arcadia said. ¡°They¡¯ve been without a system all that time. They¡¯ve forgotten it, forgotten what it was like to have one. And they still predicted its return.¡± ¡°They¡¯re human. Humans think of the impossible all the time,¡± Erandius said, and he signaled to the ship that he was done talking now. The ship respected his wishes. He thought back to the boy who had contacted him early in the system initialization. And he thought back considerably further, to another teenage boy. The son of his lover. Not his own son, not by blood. The relationship with the boy¡¯s mother was a secret one, borderline taboo as he was the sworn protector of the royal family and she was his charge. He was her Titan, and she his goddess. But the boy? She had asked Erandius to keep an eye on him, and to teach him, and that was all. But when the gates to the fortress had been under siege and the Antithesis had come in force, the boy, barely level two hundred, had commanded the walls like a champion. And like everything else that the Titans had done to protect their world, it hadn¡¯t been enough. He sighed and bit into an apple. The same apple he¡¯d eaten millions of time. He pulled up the listings and found the boy¡¯s position in the dungeon. He was facing one of the apocalypse scenarios that his people had come up with. Surprisingly deep in the dungeon for a young lad, with a team that was well suited to go much deeper. At least, if they could survive the coming challenges together. Erandius reviewed Eli¡¯s progress, watching the boy grow in levels and leadership along the way. The resemblance to his lover¡¯s lost son only grew stronger. He felt bitter sorrow well up in his chest, but he didn¡¯t push it down. Sorrow was better than ennui. He tapped the interface and changed the parameters of floor seven through ten for the lad. The system thought for a moment, then clicked into place, suggesting a compromise between the recommended parameters and his own entry. He considered for a moment, then approved the system¡¯s compromise. He didn¡¯t really care, and if the boy continued to survive he could always teach him the true history of his people at a later date.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. If the boy was destined to die anyway, then what would it matter if he learned the true history of his people? What would it matter if one more soul knew where the Titans had come from before vanishing into the void? ~~~~~~~ They found the altar they were looking for in one of the park¡¯s playgrounds. It was right out in the open, an evil-looking circular table made of ebony and covered with runes. Eli borrowed some tools from the Tinkerers and pried out a few of the jewels that littered the surface. He carved a few new runes into the surface, inverted the skull that was sitting in the middle of the ritual, and then took the goblets of blood that were being offered to dark gods away and dumped them down the drain of the drinking fountain nearby. With all of that finished, he put his own hand on top of the skull and pushed his mana into it. You are Attempting to Claim the Necromantic Ritual of Rizen the Big Bad Evil Guy Actions have consequences Are you certain you want to commit to this course of action? Yes/No Eli quickly selected yes, warning everyone that they may be in for a boss fight if Rizen showed up to challenge them for the rights to the ritual. Instead, he got another prompt. Ritual Inversion Complete Necromantic Energies inverted The Dead Can Rest Once More Floor 6 Puzzle Complete Bonus Applied to Floor Rewards Advancing to 7 th floor in 30 seconds Please Secure all belongings before Transference Junior and Peter both gave him a high-five when the notification came up, and he felt a grin on his face at the stupid teenage camaraderie ritual. They checked to make certain that they weren¡¯t leaving anything important behind¡ªthey¡¯d bagged the jewels from the ritual and left only the non-valuable components¡ªthen they simply waited for the timer to run down. A few seconds later, Eli was once more in the black space where the rewards were distributed, without even his body. Floor 6 Summary (Hard) Time Taken: 3:43:25 Rank: 7 Zombies Killed: 243 (speed bonus applied to experience gains) Floor Boss Killed 1/3 (DJ Rotface) Secret Locations Found: 2/49 Floor Puzzle Solved: Yes (Bonus Applied) Loot: Runekeeper¡¯s Intermediary Grimoire (Upgrade), Portable Campfire and Invisibility Runestones, Akov¡¯s Open Sight Rifle, Intermediate Thaumaturgy Spellbook (upgade), Napalm (100L), Liquid Nitrogen (100L), 15 boxes .30-06 rifle bullets, 5 boxes 9mm ammo, Don the Hobo¡¯s Magic Harmonica, Temporary Tattoos for Beginners! A Primer on Self Enhancement, Henna Tattoo Kit, Lesser Healing Potions X30, Lesser Mana Potions X12, 256,000 Experience (total), 62,000 Contribution Points Eli¡¯s non-present eyes bulged out at the list of the rewards he¡¯d gained from completing the floor¡¯s puzzle. The fact that they were ranked seventh had something to do with his disbelief as well. Was that out of the entire world? Or at least, everyone who had reached this point on Hard Mode? He tried to take a deep breath, remembered that he couldn¡¯t breathe right now and just focused his mind instead. Some of the gear was obvious on how to assign it. The rifle and ammunition only made sense to go to the sharpshooter, after all. And Grimoire and Spellbooks assigned themselves to himself and Luke, respectively, and didn¡¯t allow him the option to change that. He was less certain what to do with the napalm and liquid nitrogen. They were obviously intended for the tinkerers, but he felt a little nervous allowing them to play with such dangerous substances. He assigned them as communal property for now, hoping that the containers the substances came in would be found in the SafeZone of the next floor. As for the harmonica, he gave it to Susan, figuring that she was a Bard, after all, and might have some use for it. He was less certain about what to do with the tattoo kit and the associated book. He assigned them to himself for now, since he could always just give them to someone else later if he figured out why the system wanted them to have the items. But most impressive of all the gains were the Experience and Contribution Points. The experience points his party had gained was something like five times what he¡¯d they¡¯d gotten for clearing floor 6. Solving a puzzle was that important? He frowned, considering what to do with the bias. In the end, he decided to simply assign everyone one hundred percent and let the system sort it out. He could steal some from the noncombat classes, Lucy Lee and Jose Santos, but Jose had mostly come around, and he wanted to see what would happen to the Seamstress and Cook class if they leveled. Were they like Commoner in a video game? Useless even if you leveled them? Did they maybe evolve? Did they make magic clothes? Magic food? It was worth investigating so that he could tell others, and this windfall of experience to do so more quickly than expected. Finally, he stepped back to review his choices. Yeah, he was satisfied. He closed the window, and woke up on a boat. ? Chapter 31 Chapter 31
Name Elias Mathews Health 179/179
Age 15 Mana 308/308
Species Human Stamina 164/164
Class Scholar Strength 14
Level 14 Dexterity 15
Titles Runekeeper Agility 14
Party Unnamed Party (Leader) Endurance 16
Guild None Constitution 18
Allegiance None Magic Power 22
Eli couldn¡¯t help himself, he pulled up his status before even checking on the others or figuring out where he was. The fact that he¡¯d gained six levels from the experience from the previous floor made his eyes bulge out a little bit. He wondered again how the numbers actually translated into percentages. Was his Magic Power 220% stronger than it had been at level one? Was he 140% stronger than he¡¯d been? He knew that the system itself had made him stronger, and he hadn¡¯t gotten a good baseline on that improvement before entering the dungeon. So he was uncertain what he was capable of now, except for the muddled recollection of standing with the warriors against the zombies.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. He jerked himself out of his reverie and turned to the others, who were looking around the wooden boat where they found themselves. They were in the hold, and the hold was narrow. There was very little light, what illumination there was coming from portholes. It was daytime or the hold would have been pitch black. ¡°So where are we?¡± Peter asked, looking around. ¡°I have no idea,¡± Eli confessed. ¡°But I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be fighting zombies this time. He pulled up the SafeZone menu and checked the floor objectives. Welcome to Floor 7 SafeZone Time until SafeZone Collapse: 1:59 Floor 7 objectives: Kill 6 Elite Monsters or Kill Labyrinth King or Solve Floor Puzzle Or Find Stairwell to Floor 8 Completion of any of these objectives will teleport your party to floor 2, regardless of where they are on the floor. Return to SafeZone before Collapse if you wish to withdraw (Error: Sysadmin Intervention prevents withdrawal at this time) Good luck! ¡°We only have two hours before the floor collapses,¡± he informed the others. The others frowned, confirming his statement with a quick check of their own interfaces, then began considering what that meant. ¡°It says that the option to retreat is blocked by the Sysadmin,¡± Maia pointed out. ¡°Do you know what that means?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± Eli said. ¡°Maybe it has something to do with the fourth floor? Like there¡¯s some sort of weird event every four floors that we can¡¯t avoid?¡± ¡°Nah, this has something to do with your weird and screwy world,¡± Gabri said, floating over to poke at Eli. ¡°If this was another Remnant it would be like the other one. And we wouldn¡¯t be facing enemies. This is another training floor, I¡¯d bet my wingdust on it.¡± Eli blinked when the faerie got to close to his eyes and pulled back. He frowned at the little guy, then turned to the others. ¡°Okay. So, the system can apparently pull out a zombie apocalypse from our media. We don¡¯t know what else it can do, but given that this boat is made of wood, I don¡¯t think that this current scenario involves a lot of modern technology.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no point in speculating until we know more,¡± Erik said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go up to the surface. I¡¯ll come back when I¡¯ve spoken to whoever is in charge.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you,¡± Eli said. ¡°No,¡± Erik said. ¡°I¡¯m not certain that the deck is part of the SafeZone yet. It might be that we¡¯ll be attacked as soon as we leave the cargo hold. Everyone else stay down here and figure out what to do with the sudden power bump you got from the last floor. I don¡¯t know about the rest of you, but I¡¯m level nine now.¡± Eli blinked, noting that he was a higher level than his teacher, but he didn¡¯t say anything. He supposed it might make sense if the different classes leveled at different rates. Indeed, a quick poll showed that it was actually related to age. The youngest member of the party, Peter, was also the highest level at level sixteen. The oldest among them, John Sr, was only level eight. This was excluding the two noncombat classes, who were both a surprising level twenty-two and level fifteen, with Jose being lower level. The others put this disparity down to his age, and Eli allowed them to make that attribution. They didn¡¯t need to know that until the previous floor Jose had been receiving a massive bias against his experience gains. Erik came back after fifteen minutes. He sighed and slung himself into one of the hammocks. ¡°I figured out what¡¯s going on, more or less,¡± he said. ¡°The scenario is this; we¡¯re in classical times. And unfortunately, we¡¯re slaves. We¡¯ve been sold to a foreign king, who is planning on sending us into this labyrinth where he has tricked every monster and evil thing on his island into hiding. The passageways keep changing so once we¡¯re inside there¡¯s no coming out. Our job is to kill the most evil thing we can find and return. Does this scenario sound familiar to anyone?¡± The room was silent, then Luke raised his hand. ¡°Is this like the labyrinth of the Minotaur?¡± ¡°Indeed, it sounds exactly like that to me,¡± Erik said. He sighed. ¡°Well, at least we only have to kill six enemies.¡± ¡°They¡¯re elites though,¡± Luke said, shaking his head. ¡°That means the fights aren¡¯t going to be easy. And I¡¯m not entirely convinced that we can read the prompt to say that there are only seven monsters in the labyrinth. It¡¯s possible we¡¯ll have to kill endless waves just in order to reach one boss.¡± ¡°Thanks, you¡¯re right, I was being too optimistic,¡± the teacher said. ¡°We¡¯re obviously screwed.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean that,¡± Luke said. ¡°So what do we do?¡± Sophie asked. ¡°We have two hours before this SafeZone collapses, what does that mean?¡± ¡°It means that we¡¯re arriving in port today and after that we¡¯ll be presented to the king and thrown into the labyrinth,¡± Erik said, shrugging. ¡°Unless we try to run away. We could try that.¡± ¡°And what?¡± Eli asked. ¡°We don¡¯t know where we¡¯re going, we won¡¯t be able to return to the surface, and we can¡¯t call for help. The only way I see to get out of here is to keep going. My vote is that we cooperate with this scenario and fight it out in the labyrinth.¡± ¡°Right, mine too,¡± Maia agreed. The teens were all with him, and the adults reluctantly joined their voices to his. Even Jose, who looked annoyed to be forced to agree with Eli. After the discussion came to an end, Eli pulled out the book on Tattoos that he¡¯d received and began reading it in the light of one of the portholes. He blinked in surprise as he realized what it was, sitting up straight. He re-read the introduction, then examined the index. He flipped to the back and read the description of the complex patterns. He settled on two to test out immediately. His mind raced quickly, and he looked at Sophie. ¡°Sophie, come here. I need your help.¡± She walked over, but paused when he began taking off his shirt. ¡°Um, what¡¯s up, Eli?¡± ¡°One of my rewards from the last floor, it¡¯s a list of Tattoos. Enhancement tattoos. We need to get them on everyone ASAP, but these two are a priority to put on me. They¡¯re scholar specific. One of them increases speed and strength, and the other increases regeneration? I¡¯m not exactly sure what it does but I¡¯m hoping it will let me buff everyone the way that I can buff weapons and clothes at the moment.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°So why did you take off your shirt?¡± ¡°I need you to draw this pattern on my back,¡± he said, turning away from her. He passed her the henna tattoo kit over his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯re the best artist among us.¡± She bit her lip for a moment, but accepted his story. She spent a moment examining the patterns on the book, then began. There was fifteen minutes left on the timer when she finished the first one, so she didn¡¯t bother with the second. Instead, Eli ran his magic through the tattoo to test it out, feeling it burn into place in a way that he hadn¡¯t been expecting. But once it was active, he tried arm wrestling with Maia to test how strong he was. She beat him both times, but reported that he was about sixty percent stronger when he activated his enchanted tattoo. They repeated the experiment with him buffing the other warriors and found that the effect was less profound when it was spread to someone else, only about thirty percent. But that was still a thirty percent strength buff, he thought to himself. He checked to make certain that the tattoo had set before he put his shirt and leather jacket back on. When they had time, they¡¯d go through the rest of the tattoos and figure out what to put on everyone. But for right now, they didn¡¯t seem to have time. Indeed, just as he was thinking that, the boat clunked and men came into the hold to yell at them. The prisoners understood them perfectly, for the men were speaking in the Language of the Birds. ¡°You shall cooperate with us as we go meet the king,¡± the captain said, his muscular sailors standing nearby to back him up. ¡°If you don¡¯t cooperate, then you shall die prematurely, yes? You have come this far, do not be a bad investment for me at the last moment.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll cooperate,¡± Eli said. ¡°We have our own reasons to get this over with.¡± ? Chapter 32 Chapter 32 They were marched from the docks, which were large and open, with a Mediterranean feel to the little bit of flora that was visible in the simple city that the party passed through on their way to the palace. The palace itself wasn¡¯t much different from the city that led up to it, just two stories taller and with statues out front. Statues of the greco-roman style, Eli noticed briefly, trying not to focus on the nudity displayed. Instead he focused on looking for any sort of hint of the floor puzzle. So far all they had was the references to the legend of the Minotaur. That would mean that this island was Minos, which had something to do with his opinion on the Mediterranean-ness of the environment. That and the dress of the locals, who were all wearing robes right out of a recreation of The Illiad . The men, women and children of the city lined up to see them and cheered at them. They seemed to be genuinely happy to see the party, Eli thought. When they reached the palace, they were shown into the throne room. An old man sat on a golden throne, a stuffed bull head behind his chair. The party was announced as ¡°Lost Souls From Beyond Time and Space, here to receive judgment for their sins.¡± Once the throne room had settled down, the king spoke. ¡°One hundred years ago, a labyrinth was created. The great heroes of the age led, chased, or dragged all of the evil monsters and spirits of the island inside and closed the door behind them. The halls were designed to be ever changing and never changing, constantly evolving and revolving, but always static. Nothing evil that enters the labyrinth ever leaves it. Only the pure of heart are able to come and go as they please. You shall enter the labyrinth and prove your virtue. Do you accept?¡± Eli frowned, because he hadn¡¯t been expecting a choice. ¡°What happens if we do not?¡± ¡°Then you will die where you stand,¡± the king said, and the guards around them suddenly drew arms. Eli frowned. None of these people had pupils, he¡¯d noticed that long ago. He was pretty sure that meant that they were part of the dungeon, spawned in order to provide the atmosphere or be part of the challenge. But he didn¡¯t think that it was a good idea to antagonize that many armed men, even if he and his party had gained a few levels and were stronger now than they¡¯d ever been. ¡°We¡¯ll enter the labyrinth,¡± he said after thinking for a moment. ¡°What happens when we emerge?¡± The king smiled. ¡°Why don¡¯t we talk about that when and if it happens?¡± he said. Abruptly a trap floor opened in the floor, sliding out with the sound of stone scraping on stone. A stairwell was revealed, and the guards motioned for the party to go down. Once the last party member was on the stairs, the trap door began to close. The walls were illuminated with torches which burned despite having no fuel. Half of the party took one of the torches with them as they climbed down so that they could see better. They descended for twenty minutes before reaching the end of the stairwell. ¡°Well then, which way?¡± Erik asked Eli as they looked around the room. Eli frowned, holding up the torch. ¡°There¡¯s writing on the walls,¡± he said. ¡°I can¡¯t read it,¡± Erik said. ¡°Nobody can,¡± Luke said. ¡°It¡¯s Greek or something.¡± ¡°I can,¡± Eli said. He nodded towards the others and began shuffling in his backpack, in which he kept his books and notebooks. ¡°Hold up a torch for me so I can take notes.¡± ~~~~~~~ They spent an hour just in the large circular room at the base of the stairwell. Eli sighed as he sat back after having read the last of the pictograph etchings. ¡°Okay,¡± he said to the others. ¡°So here¡¯s the thing. We¡¯ve been lied to.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t say?¡± Jose said bitterly, but Eli ignored him.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°This labyrinth isn¡¯t a century old. It¡¯s much older than that. The people living up on top didn¡¯t build it, they found it. They¡¯ve been exploring it for centuries, but the problem is that it¡¯s so dangerous that the heroes they send inside keep dying before they return. That¡¯s why they¡¯re searching for outsiders to explore it for them,¡± Eli explained. ¡°Okay,¡± Luke said. ¡°But if it¡¯s dangerous why not just leave it alone? Why poke the bear?¡± ¡°Because if they don¡¯t sacrifice someone to the labyrinth at least once per year, then a monster escapes. It might be a low level weakling that their guards can put down without trouble, but it might also be one of the elites that can raze half the island alone. One human sacrifice buys them one year. We just bought them fourteen years of peace,¡± Eli explained. ¡°Okay, so what are we going to do about it?¡± John Sr. asked. ¡°Clear the floor,¡± Eli said. He motioned around to the various archways. ¡°There¡¯s eight passageways. We need to clear the boss out of six of them to advance by beating the elites. I think that¡¯s actually probably going to be the hardest method, so let¡¯s hold off on that for now. The easiest method would be to simply determine which archway leads to the floor king and defeating that one.¡± ¡°What if they¡¯re too strong for us?¡± Peter asked. ¡°Being the king implies that it¡¯s stronger than the rest.¡± Eli nodded. ¡°Challenging the others without knowing what we face is means that we might challenge the king anyway. It¡¯s better to challenge him at full strength when we know what we¡¯re facing than it would be to challenge him sixth and be exhausted after having already cleared most of the floor.¡± The others considered his logic for a moment before accepting it. ¡°Okay,¡± Elaine said. ¡°So which direction do we¡ª¡± ¡°The other option is the floor puzzle,¡± Eli said, interrupting her. ¡°Which won¡¯t be easy, but I think I¡¯ve figured out how to solve it.¡± The others looked at him. ¡°Okay,¡± Sophie said. ¡°How do we do that?¡± ¡°We escape the labyrinth,¡± Eli said. ¡°That¡¯s it. We don¡¯t have to kill anything at all. Not unless we¡¯re cornered. We just have to find the way out.¡± ¡°Yeah I vote for that method,¡± Jose said eagerly. His wife and daughter kicked him, and he jerked in surprise. ¡°What? I¡¯m not undermining him, just letting my preference be known.¡± Eli nodded. ¡°Yeah. And the thing is, escaping the labyrinth might be the most lucrative method as well. We got five times the amount of experience on floor six as we did on floor five because we solved the floor puzzle. I think we should focus on doing that if and when we can.¡± The others agreed with him with various amounts of enthusiasm, but that still left them with the question they¡¯d started with. What direction did they go? There were ten to choose from. Eli explained that they were each labeled, presumably with the form of the boss and/or the enemies that they would find along the way. In order going clockwise, there was a Man, a Spider, a Scorpion, a Snake, Griffon, a Skull, Minotaur, a Harpy, a Hydra, and a Chimera. The group spent some time deliberating before they selected the man¡¯s path. Their reason was rather simple; even if the man depicted by the bas relief label of the passageway depicted the boss and they¡¯d be forced to kill him (Or perhaps her), they might be able to interrogate the boss first and get another clue as to how to escape this floor. The second vote was the Minotaur passageway, since this scenario seemed to be based upon that myth after all, but Eli thought that solution to the puzzle was too easy and obvious. The Minotaur might very well be the floor king, but the solution to the puzzle lie elsewhere, and he argued successfully that they should pursue the puzzle before they tried for the clear. Gabri was strangely silent as he looked at the walls around him. Occasionally he could be heard muttering something under his breath, but his normal snark was absent. When Eli asked him what was wrong, the faerie shook his head. ¡°Nothing, nothing. Just ¡­ the archetypes are all here, but only the archetypes. Where are the lessers?¡± the faerie asked. ¡°I have no idea what that means, Gabri,¡± Eli said. ¡°Exactly,¡± Gabri said. He shook his head again. ¡°Have you seen anything in the dungeon that doesn¡¯t belong yet? Anything that has shaken your beliefs, or which you found utterly alien? Anything which you do not comprehend?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t comprehend magic. I might be able to use it now but I don¡¯t understand it on a fundamental level the way that I do electricity,¡± Eli said. ¡°Exactly! I mean, look at that!¡± the faerie said, pointing towards the bas relief of the spider. ¡°If you asked a faerie about magic she¡¯d be ¡®oh yeah we have magic!¡¯ But spiders? Spiders!? You don¡¯t find Spiders outside of dungeons! Why does the sight of spiders not drive you mad, Eli?¡± ¡°Um, because they¡¯re everywhere on Earth?¡± Eli asked. ¡°They¡¯re what?¡± Gabri asked, his voice squeaking. Eli grinned. ¡°Oh yeah. Literally everywhere. I mean, they can be anywhere at any time. They spin webs and¡ª¡± ¡°That¡¯s a lie!¡± the faerie said. ¡°You¡¯re just trying to scare me.¡± ¡°No really,¡± Eli said, and they marched through the dungeon, arguing about whether or not spiders were really real and present on Earth. In the end Eli gave up and agreed that they didn¡¯t really exist, all while planning on catching one to show Gabri when they returned to the surface. ? Chapter 33 ¡°Be quiet,¡± Sophie said suddenly, and the entire party froze. She cocked her head to the side, making a shushing motion with her finger to the others. ¡°There¡¯s someone up ahead,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m going to go check it out.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll come with you,¡± her mother said, and the two took off down the passageway at a steady clip. The party waited quietly for a moment, then Elaine returned. ¡°It¡¯s a boy and a man,¡± she whispered. ¡°The boy is playing with a set of toy wings. Like he¡¯s dressing up to play an angel in a play or something. They¡¯re both talking to each other, I left Sophie to see if they said anything interesting, but they seemed to be self absorbed. The boy with his wings, and the man watching the boy play.¡± ¡°Do you think they¡¯re hostile?¡± Eli asked. ¡°The man is pretty old,¡± she said. ¡°And the kid doesn¡¯t look older than five.¡± ¡°Daedalus and Icarus,¡± Erik suggested. ¡°Daedalus was said to be the architect who built the labyrinth, and Icarus his son. It sort of makes sense they¡¯d be here.¡± ¡°Do we make contact?¡± Eli asked. Erik shrugged. ¡°Your call. I think we should, we might learn something.¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Eli looked around and saw no detractors, so the party continued down the path until they came to a clearing where a five year old boy was zooming around in a circle while trying to flap his toy wings. Daedalus looked over at them when they arrived, then promptly ignored them. ¡°Go away,¡± he said. ¡°This memory isn¡¯t for you and your kind.¡± ¡°Father who are these people?¡± Icarus asked. ¡°Nobody, precious one. Focus on learning to fly. Once you learn to fly, we¡¯ll be able to escape this place. You¡¯ll love the sky, little one. It¡¯s such a beautiful shade of blue.¡± ¡°But the sky is black!¡± ¡°Only at night, and when it is black it¡¯s filled with stars!¡± the man said. He turned back to the party. ¡°Please, go away. Let me be happy for a few days. Let me have this memory of the only child of mine who did not see his end coming.¡± Eli hesitated, then stepped forward. ¡°We¡¯ll leave,¡± he promised, ¡°If you will only tell us the way out.¡± ¡°You know the way out. Killing. Always killing and getting stronger and stronger until there is nothing left to kill. We are just like the Antithesis in that way. But there is nothing here for you to kill. Nothing but an old man and a helpless child. Neither of us is worth the experience, unless you have the heart of a blackguard it¡¯s not worth the nightmares it will give you.¡± Eli stepped forward, and that¡¯s when he noticed something. In the steady light of the torches they carried, the man¡¯s eyes glinted. They were actual eyes, not empty whites. He looked at the boy, but quickly saw that the child¡¯s eyes were a solid white. The man sighed. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true. The boy¡¯s not real,¡± Daedalus admitted. He sighed and waved his hand, the boy freezing in place mid leap. ¡°What do you want from me? Why can¡¯t you just leave me to my reflection of happiness? Why am I once more called to serve?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Eli said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know¡ªthe system only just arrived on our world, but you¡¯ve been living with it for a long time haven¡¯t you.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it living,¡± the man said, chuckling wryly. ¡°But yes. I¡¯ve been a part of this dungeon for so long that I¡¯ve lost track. Damn Erandius for re-instigating this scenario. But now that I see you I understand. We¡¯ve come full circle, have we? Well, very well. You¡¯ve woken Daedalus, but I don¡¯t know what good it will do you, young Titan. I¡¯m not a mighty warrior. Just an old man who mourns his child.¡± ¡°You can help by telling us what the Antithesis is,¡± Eli suggested. The old man chuckled. ¡°The name isn¡¯t enough?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s the opposite.¡± ¡°The opposite of what?¡± Eli pressed. ¡°Life? Happiness? Everything?¡± the old man said, shrugging. ¡°The Titans witnessed the creation of the Antithesis, but we do not truly understand it as we do the dungeon you walk through and the system which is designed to give you a chance of survival. You know that it is a chance and a chance only, yes? You will most likely die, as your ancestors did the last time it visited earth. Perhaps you would not be happier to let others do the fighting as you stand aside and enter the final rest? Oblivion isn¡¯t as frightening. It¡¯s better than the alternative, in fact.¡± Eli frowned. ¡°So you don¡¯t really know what the Antithesis is? Then how do we fight it?¡± ¡°With great difficulty,¡± Daedalus answered. ¡°Erandius will explain eventually. He is the general. I have been sleeping for ¡­ ten thousand years? That number feels right. I have been sleeping for ten thousand years and do not remember as well as I once did. To me, that child died yesterday,¡± the man said, motioning to Icarus who was still frozen mid jump. ¡°But with the others I fought for millennia to make certain that others might have a chance to raise their children in peace. I do not remember that. My grief is like an open wound, a searing brand. A pain that only the father of a murdered child can understand.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Eli said. ¡°It¡¯s selfish to ask more of you than you¡¯ve given.¡± ¡°Thank you for understanding¡ª¡± Daedalus began. ¡°I¡¯m a selfish child,¡± Eli continued. ¡°Please, I beg you. Tell me what you can about the system.¡± Daedalus looked at him, anger flashing on his old countenance for a moment, then it softened. He sighed and waved a hand. A holographic representation of the stone that Eli had seen land in the forest near his house appeared. ¡°It¡¯s powered by Core Stones like this,¡± Daedalus said. ¡°They¡¯re one of the few things that survive a purge by the Antithesis, which makes them one of the few records left over of the final hours. They¡¯re titan technology, developed almost a hundred thousand years ago for unrelated purposes. We were seeking to advance ourselves, our society. These were meant to preserve life, they were not a weapon. Not at first.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Eli said, nodding his head. ¡°What changed that?¡± ¡°The Antithesis, of course,¡± Daedalus said. He shook his head. ¡°No. I¡¯m sorry. I will say no more on the matter for now. Begone from my sight, selfish child. You¡¯ve already taken more than I¡¯m willing to give.¡± Eli frowned, but tried once more. ¡°How do I clear this floor? What¡¯s the puzzle? Do I have to kill the Minotaur?¡± ¡°Why would you kill that kind soul?¡± Daedalus asked, cocking his head to the side. ¡°You already possess everything you need to solve the mystery of this floor, but perhaps you lack the context. Why did you choose the path of the Titans when you set out?¡± ¡°I chose the path of men, not Titans,¡± Eli argued. ¡°Ah, yes, of course,¡± Daedalus said, a sad smile on his face. ¡°Well then, you chose the wrong direction. Mortals die, Elias Mathews. If you want to find the exit for men, then you must choose the path that reflects that fact. Now my patience is at an end. Goodbye.¡± The man waved his hand, and he dissolved into blocks of white mana. His child followed suit a moment later. ¡°Well that was a waste of time,¡± Peter commented once they were alone once more. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t,¡± Eli said. ¡°He told us exactly how to proceed.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± the younger boy asked. ¡°All he did was not say anything useful and talk about his dead kid.¡± ¡°Show some respect,¡± Erik said, smacking the boy. Considering that he did this without actually moving his hands, the thirteen year old didn¡¯t see the blow coming and didn¡¯t dodge in time. ¡°Daedalus and Icarus are considered one of the classical tragedies after thousands of years. We¡¯re not certain how old the story really is, but if the truth is anything like the myth, then the man has a reason to be upset.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Peter muttered. ¡°But seriously, what did we learn?¡± ¡°We learned where the exit is,¡± Eli said. ¡°It¡¯s time to go back to the entrance.¡±