Chapter 1
James stifled a yawn and blinked lazily at the screens he’d summoned before him. He tried to focus on the information, skimming past achievements he’d gained as a Dungeon Core during the Siege Event, and double checking how his research tabs were going. Compared to the fast-paced life of an adventurer within the dungeon, and especially the final battle during the Siege, doing his dungeon duties again felt… monotonous.
Still, he wasn’t one to shirk his duties. He took a long sip on his morning beverage, a chilled screwdriver, the tart orange flavor perfectly masking the shot or two of vodka that had been added in, a liquid breakfast if you would, and yawned again. Originally the amount of information and screens he was dealing with had overwhelmed him. Now, it barely phased him. It took only a few seconds, a minute tops, per screen to parse over everything, before he could switch to the others.
“Anything worth note?” Rue slid into the hot spring beside him, a pink drink that sparkled with glitter in her hand. She offered him a smile, and it made his heart beat a little faster. He immediately stifled his next yawn and smiled back at her. She had that effect on him.
“A few achievements, obviously some experience gain.” He shrugged. “We made it Tier 6 Rank 2 and are close to Rank 3. There’s a good possibility we may hit Tier 7 this immersion, if the experience gain keeps up at this rate.”
“And that’s just a shrug worthy thing now?” Rue’s face took on a pout. “What happened to the enthusiastic little Glyax I met on day one?”
“You know damn well what happened.” James laughed. “Besides, I don’t want to get my hopes up. Plus,” he motioned at his monitors, “no one has even attempted the sixth floor yet. So it’s not like I can do much to the mobs just yet.”
With each Rank up, the mobs on the floor associated with the Tier increased in a level. Now that his Tier 6 Rank 2, that meant the mobs on his sixth floor, which originally were level 90, with the boss, Jormun-grander being level 100, would be 91 and 101 respectively. He’d additionally gained upgrade points for the mobs. However, until he saw how the adventurers fared against them, he would hold off on upgrading them. After all, he didn’t even know if he wanted to keep the spread of mobs on that labyrinth as they were, or if he’d end up changing them. He needed adventurers to er, play test the layout first, so he could make such decisions.
“You used to be so much more excited about all these things.” Rue said with a sip. “Now you look almost bored.”
James took a drink of his own. “It’s not that I’m bored,” he motioned to the screens, and then focused on Rue. “It’s that I’d rather be doing you know, other things, than crunching numbers.”
“Like adventuring?” She said with a knowing smile. “One siege event, and you’re hooked.”
“Killing mobs is a helluva drug.” James said with a chuckle. “Besides, as much as I love being a Dungeon Core, and really, I do… I hadn’t realized just how much I missed the actual adventuring side of things. Being there, in person, experiencing everything I’d created through my own eyes, was invigorating.” He took another drink. “Besides, you and I made a pretty good team out there.”
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“You were pretty hot out there,” a slight fang protruded past her lip as she smirked, showing she’d shifted, at least part of herself, to her vampire visage. “Especially when you fused with Ifrit.” She let out a sigh, “so hot.”
James splashed water at her and laughed, as he remembered the final battle. With Ifrit slain, he’d been able to utilize the ultimate skill available to him as a level 77 Djinn Tamer. Well, technically his class was now Enlighted Djinn Tamer. Semantics aside, his skill had let him fuse his soul with Ifrit’s, changing him from a support style pet class, to a full on dps. It had been invigorating, intoxicating. Different from his normal playstyle, the up close and personal, fast action of a close ranged melee dps, had quite literally made his blood boil. And apparently Rue’s too.
“I don’t think I’ll be fusing with Ifrit all that often.” James said, “so you’ll have to cool yourself off in that regard.”
Rue sighed, “are you sure?”
“He has to be dead, in order for me to use that skill.”
“As the party’s healer, I can make that happen.” Rue said with an evil smile. “It wouldn’t be that difficult to forget to throw a heal or two out. And you could also you know… forget to heal him.”
She was joking of course. Or, at least, James was pretty sure she was joking. However, for good measure, he decided to move past the subject. Sure, in other games he’d had no problem sacrificing his pets when the occasion called for it. But those hadn’t been in DCO. Those hadn’t felt like real, living, companions. And those he hadn’t needed to build a relationship with, in order to work together optimally.
“Moving on,” James said as he cleared his throat. “Was there anything in particular you wanted to do today?” It was the third day of the current immersion cycle, meaning the third hour of real-world time, in the current cycle. Considering it was the eighth day of release, that meant James had spent 66 days within DCO already thanks to the time dilution, which equated one hour of real-world time, to twenty-four hours of in game time. Just over two months. The best two months of his life, if he was being honest.
“Other than…” she played with the straw in her drink as she eyed him hungrily. He felt his face turn red, causing her to laugh. The sound was pure music to his ears, even if it was at his expense. “I would like to adventure some more.” She said once her laughter faded. “And we’ll likely have to take part in some skirmishes.” She tapped the top of her straw thoughtfully. “Oh, and a coliseum battle or two, to keep my Avatar skills sharp.” There was bloodlust in her eyes at that. A bloodlust James could now appreciate, thanks to his time fused with Ifrit.
“Sounds like a plan.” James finished flitting through his screens, confirming there was nothing else pressing. “Think the others are up yet?”
By the time the Siege had ended, it was late into the second day of immersion. The players had invited James and Rue to a celebratory party back in town, but they’d passed on the offer. With the thrill of the Siege over, the hard work James and Rue had been putting in those first two days of immersion, had caught up with them. And if there was one thing James never wanted to repeat, it was going without sleep for too long within immersion.
Steve, of course, being the reckless developer he was, hadn’t. That had been a good 10 hours ago. Assuming none of them had gotten so drunk as to incur an actual blackout penalty and be booted until their character sobered up enough to function, surely, they should be up and about.
Before Rue could respond, a new screen popped up in front of James. One that made his lips curl upwards.
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