Where do I even start?

So many things were on this island that could pick apart her squad like they were nothing but ants. The panther would've ranked in the top three on that list, but he'd already killed the monster, so it'd have to be taken off the list.

Let's see:

Miners

The sea

Errant monsters in the wild

That's actually not much to go by. I could add the bunny?

Nathan stared at the bunny at that last part; the damned thing had played its cards like a pro, so his words might not have the intended effect.

"First off, the entire island is out to get you, but for specifics, I only have three things that you should by all means avoid," Nathan said. "The miners, the sea, and errant monsters... oh, and dungeons above the rank of F."

The rank D dungeon still left a sour taste in his mouth. Sure, he'd survived the dungeon and gotten a good enough bump up in levels, but it still felt like he'd been played by the system. How did it give the Lich minions that he couldn't even use to level up? That was just vile and deadass terrible.

"Miners, like the ones we just fought?" Ciara asked.

"Yep, so what was the tutorial like?"

Nathan had wanted to disregard the follow-up question and just wait for her to ask it again when it got to their turn, but it wasn't worth it. She might turn frosty with her replies if he did that, and Pirlo looked like he'd be worse to converse with.

"Kinda like a tower climber, heck, it was a tower climber," Ciara started. "We moved from floor to floor clearing monsters and advancing to the next floor. Apart from that, the system basically thrust a bunch of random information in our heads before tossing us into the towers."

Nathan couldn't understand what he was hearing. The fact that the system had tossed them into a monster-infested hellhole from the get-go didn't sound right to him. Because it'd done the exact same thing to him, and he was head and tails higher than them. Unless the towers had very weak monsters, weak like the level one imps he'd seen on his first day.

Probably.

"Tell me more about strongholds," Nathan asked.

The subject was one that he had no idea about. The concept was familiar yet foreign, and he'd be wise to use this opportunity to get all his confusion out of his mind.

"Strongholds are more like forts or towns that can be upgraded to become a Kingdom at the highest grade. It's basically a civilization officially recognized by the system. The benefits include buying buildings from the building and upgrading them using the system, purchasing utilities and other things like traps too."

Just like I thought.

The cabin had been what had tipped him off to the fact that strongholds were just a town-building exercise with the system as a cheat code. Of course, it was pretty expensive to build, but at the same time, it was way better than anything that Nathan could've built by himself.

It was a prime example of how better the system was at producing things out of nothing. He'd simply spent the coins, and the cabin had been built right in front of his eyes, complete with a magical fireplace and a bathroom to boot.

A bathroom with water too.

"You said something about dungeons. Explain... please," Pirlo asked.

Nathan was surprised that the rogue hadn't butted into their conversation in a while. The wiry teenager, probably his age, still had his daggers in a white-knuckled grip. His eyes seemed to shine with determination even as he asked the question. What really caught his attention was the addition of the word 'please' — that was the equivalent of "here's a bag of a million Ra'hal coins" coming from someone like Pirlo.

"Yep, dungeons would probably be the equivalent of a tower level if I understood your earlier explanations of towers right," Nathan said, staring at the rogue. "The difference is that it's a single floor, and once you're done with the clearance requirement, you collect your loot and scram before it collapses on your head."

Huh.

Saying the words made him consider the situation a little more closely. Towers and dungeons were way too alike. With a rough sketch laid out in his mind of what the two were like, he had a suspicion that dungeons were prototypes and towers were the end result. But what he couldn't understand was why the system would have the two present on Earth at the same time.

He wasn't an engineer by any stretch of the world, but he assumed that they'd obviously throw away their prototypes after getting the final form of whatever they were working on.

Or are we a trial run?

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

That was a heck of a possibility that the system was trying to use them as guinea pigs to try out its new toys. He wasn't sure of his theory, but that was what it looked like from his perspective.

"Do you guys know what the system is doing here on earth?"

Nathan stared at the pair of Ciara and Pirlo as they glanced at each other. The feeling he got from that interaction was that they probably didn't have any ideas on what the system had in store for them.

"Not really, no, but the system did say to prepare to fight for our survival. I have no idea if that was it talking about the monsters that it has spawned in our world or there's something much worse coming," Ciara said.

He listened attentively and was already picking apart the information before she had even finished her sentence. With everything that Nathan knew about the system, he wouldn't put it past the infernal thing to have something way worse planned for them.

Like the demons.

While he'd been able to singlehandedly eradicate the presence of demons on the island, he had an odd feeling that it wasn't the last he'd see of the race. Then there was the fact that one of the master imps had managed to contact a higher power for help during its fight with him. Whatever it'd contacted had been able to cast a hefty debuff on him from wherever it was.

20% on all stats.

That debuff had been enough to turn the tides against him in a battle he'd have won handily. The worst part was that the entity hadn't even stayed back to watch — it'd disappeared after casting the buff like a fight between Nathan and the master imp wasn't worth watching.

He'd have to hope that the demons didn't return, but he'd train like hell was after him just in case. The monsters were already getting stronger, and the miners on the island already had a foothold and a portal to God knows where. The feeling was that they were most likely using the portal to transport whatever they mined to their own world, but he had an inkling that they were using it to add to their workforce and manpower.

Great, more reasons to take down that portal.

Brrww!

A rumble cut short his musings. Looking around, it was easy for him to pinpoint the source — it was Ruben. The guy was rubbing a hand at the back of his head as he sheepishly looked in Nathan's direction, asking a silent question.

"Oww, sorry. I haven't had company in a while," Nathan said apologetically as he reached for his bag of holding.

Pulling out a couple of fruits, he tossed them at the others, then tossed three at the bunny, who left them untouched and still stared straight at him like it was his responsibility to feed it.

Can't you just go outside and do whatever it is you do to level up and eat whatever you kill?

Nathan was sure the bunny wasn't a herbivore, after all, it'd tried to bite his head off after immobilizing him. That didn't mean it didn't eat fruits, though. Just like humans, the bunny seemed to be an omnivore, and he knew that no matter how much fruit he fed the bunny, it'd still hop out to kill something.

With a sigh of exasperation, Nathan chucked three more fruits at the bully of a bunny, much to the delight of the said bunny and the rest of the squad who had been watching the exchange in amusement. Pretending as though he hadn't just folded to a bunny, he analyzed the rabbit.

[Neran Rabbit

Level 17]

Interesting!

The bunny seemed not to have leveled up from the last time that he'd seen it, which was a first since the sly rabbit had always gone up at least a level every time they met.

That wasn't the only interesting thing, though. Ciara and her squad mates were gobbling up the fruits like their lives depended on it. Even Pirlo wasn't as nonchalant when it came to decimating the fruit. Ruben, as always, turned out to be the odd one out — the guy was trying to fit two fruits at once, which could've been a testament to how hungry they all were.

Nathan decided to let them take their time consuming the fruit. It seemed like they'd had a rough couple of days, and the chance to unwind was certainly something that would do the squad much good.

Pirlo was the first to finish with his fruit, the rogue wiping off the juices running down his chin with the sleeve of his shirt. Ciara followed, and soon enough, the whole squad was done.

"Ohhhh, what the heck was that, bro? It was amazing, man," Ruben said. "The best thing I've tasted in... days. Thanks, man."

He half-expected the squad to lash out at the guy, but it seemed as though they all agreed with the sentiment. He could see a little blush starting to envelop the faces of the ladies in the group, no doubt their actions a while ago had left them feeling a little bit abashed.

"Don't worry about it," Nathan said to Ruben. "I think it's high time we had a formal introduction... nothing too personal, just first names and archetypes."

He sat still and watched as the squad had one of those non-verbal conversations. Ciara and Pirlo more so than the others. Ciara seemed to have won the eye contest because he could clearly see the rogue let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Sounds good, I'll start," Ciara said. "Ciara, Mage."

That made a lot of sense, as he hadn't seen her with any weapon. He assumed that she'd either be a priest or a mage. Most likely a mage because priests couldn't realistically be frontliners like she'd been. He turned his gaze to Pirlo, who was openly glaring at him for some reason until Ciara nudged him and gave him a look.

"Pirlo, Rogue."

Now was that so hard?

That was what Nathan wanted to say, but he opted to nod towards the rogue instead. No point fueling the emotion that was clearly affecting the rogue. The next was Ruben, and he crossed his fingers.

"Name's Ruben, the best Berserker you'll ever see," Ruben said with much confidence.

Jackpot.

A couple of snorts and chuckles left his squad mates. Their non-verbal response to his claim didn't seem to bother the berserker.

"Tasha, Ranger," the girl next to Ruben said, still chuckling.

"Diane, Priest," the girl after Tasha muttered.

"Daniel, Ranger," a tall guy said in a bored tone.

"Yola, Ranger," another girl mumbled, her voice barely audible.

Hell, Nathan had barely even remembered that she was there. She wasn't small in stature, but she was the kind of person that was usually swallowed up in a crowd.

His eyes went back as he noted the names and archetypes of Ciara and her squad. Assigning face to name, it seemed as though the group consisted mainly of ranged attackers. The only frontliner was Ruben — the Berserker. Other than that, the rest were archetypes that were usually at the back.

The fact that they'd survived this long with a single Berserker on their team either spoke volumes about the competence of Ruben or the competence of the rest of the squad as a whole.

"Errm, errm," Ciara coughed loudly. "It's your turn."

Right, just name and archetype.