Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see anything out of it, Dylan walked over to the window. Although Fairbasin’s wall was just over a mile away, the view of it from his room was blocked by the other buildings in town.

But sound carried.

Howls, shouts, the rumblings of battle.

As Dylan opened the window, the distant noises all reached his ears.

His mind was pulled back to the dungeon break. The hurried preparations, the fragile wish for the battle to pass him by, and the desperate struggle when it hadn’t. The same sounds he’d heard back then once again echoed toward him.

It’s different now, he told himself. This time, no one was caught off guard.

The dungeon break had just been so sudden. There hadn’t been any of the usual warning signs.

Fairbasin may have been small, but it wasn’t so weak that it couldn’t properly handle the dungeon. It had been well managed and regularly cleared. In fact, its draw had been one of the pillars of the town’s economy. There were always groups of people looking to explore, train in, or make money off of it. Even if the residents hadn’t been capable of regulating things, there would have been no problems avoiding the kind of mana buildup that would lead to a break.

And that wasn’t unusual. Breaks rarely occurred near populated areas, even those as small as Fairbasin; the benefits entering a dungeon could provide were more than enough to entice regular visitors that would keep most of the places in check.

If it weren’t for the mana storm preceding everything, there would have been no chance for the dungeon to grow out of control. There would have been no slapdash reaction to the sudden danger. No scrambling to either protect the town or get to safety.

But now that everyone knew what was coming, they were ready to face it. Even if the battle would be difficult and fatiguing, having a chance to prepare changed everything.

Dylan calmed his thoughts, pulling them out the powerlessness he’d felt before the Tutorial. But after remembering the mana storm that caused it all, Dylan realized he hadn’t had the chance to tell his father what Chester had said about the world advancing.

I need to talk to Dad when he gets back.

Dylan stepped away from the window and walked out to the living room.

No use just standing around.

His father had told him to stay at home and that there wouldn’t be a problem with handling the assault. Dylan believed him. Judging from the explosion that had sounded a few moments earlier, he assumed that the tier three Fire Mage was still helping. Some of the groups in town to train or explore were probably contributing as well. With preparation and proper coordination with the guard, things should be fine.

But even still, Dylan wanted to safeguard against anything going wrong. If any monsters got into town, he wanted to be ready to defend himself.

He already had some protection. He was still wearing the leather armor he’d put on before the Tutorial, and although it was torn in a few places, it was serviceable. All of the bloodstains had disappeared while he was in the dungeon’s core room. He didn’t know why it had happened, but he was glad. He didn’t want his father seeing what a mess he’d been. The man must have been worried enough already.

What Dylan didn’t have was a weapon.

He approached what remained of the pile of gear leaning against the wall and found a sword. It was a little shorter than what he was used to, but it was better than nothing.

And it won’t disappear on me. Dylan thought of the Phantom Sword card. He liked its ability to bypass a portion of his target’s defense, but its limited duration combined with the luck factor involved in actually having it in his hand when he needed it made the weapon unreliable.

Having a real, permanent sword in front of him made it an easy choice to leave the card out of his considerations for what to include in his deck. Maybe he’d get something in the future that would change his mind about it, but for now, it would stay in his collection.

Next, Dylan sat at the wooden table and summoned his catalog.

It was a bit of a risk to manage and reload his deck with the battle outside. He considered just sticking with the same configuration he’d set up before the last section of the dungeon, but he worried that his deck may be unreliable without Favored Card. Right now, he was alone; he didn’t have someone to support him in a fight until he got the right draw.

He decided to take a chance and spend the thirty minutes he’d need to set up and load a more reliable deck. If a monster attacked in that time, he’d just have to use the sword to defend himself. Even without his cards, he was no longer as helpless as he’d been before the Tutorial. The stats he’d gained were enough to give him a fighting chance.

Besides, if everything went well on the wall, he may not even need to fight. That’s what his father was expecting, after all.

A few minutes later, Dylan looked over his deck.

Ten Basic and five Intermediate Energy cards.

Four each of Immobilize, Draw, Mana Spike, and Phantom Archer.

Two Mana Shields and two Phantom Rallies.

And the single copies he had of Mana Surge, Lunadera’s Bloom, Giant Web, Siphoning Veil, and Lizard Ravager.

For the first time, his deck was at the minimum threshold of forty cards. It had a summoning cost of 61 mana, and after subtracting his regeneration, it would cost 1.769 mana each minute to maintain. Even without playing any cards to support himself, he could last forty minutes. Though, things would fluctuate when he added in Mana Surge, Lunadera’s Bloom, and any possible reshuffling or need to channel Immobilize.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Next, Dylan checked his deck enhancements. Because he had too many expensive cards, he still kept Summoned Energy on his deck and then applied Favored Card to his new bracelet.

Finished with his modifications, he then began to load the deck. Different from the usual process, a prompt immediately appeared in his vision.

[Please select a Favored Card.]

After a moment of hesitation, Dylan chose the Lizard Ravager.

It was expensive. Even with the two energy provided by his other deck enhancement, he might not be able to play it immediately, but judging from its stats, it was likely his most powerful and consistent source of damage. And if he could get it out, it would last for as long his deck would.

Or until it died.

This wasn’t the Tutorial dungeon. The monsters he might face here weren’t designed by the System. They weren’t scaled to provide a suitable challenge to push the limits of newly initiated eighteen-year-olds.

They were monsters spawned in a wild dungeon and had possibly even been mutated by the dungeon break.

Something might appear that could kill Dylan’s lizard instantly, and if that happened, nothing Dylan was doing now would matter. He’d probably be dead too.

He just hoped that his dad was right about the assault being manageable.

A more likely scenario would be something smaller slipping through while the guard dealt with more serious threats. Something like the welf he and Alyssa had faced in the basement.

Dylan drew his mind back from his speculations and focused on loading the deck. Although he was paying attention for nearby disturbances, he tried to tune out the sounds of the distant battle. He watched as motes of light rose from the pages of the catalog and formed into a glowing stack of cards, and he watched as that stack rushed forward to pierce his brow.

Once the cards had settled in his consciousness, Dylan breathed a sigh of relief. The deck was loaded. He was now as ready as he could be for any emergencies.

He dismissed the catalog and moved the sword to rest on the top of the table. Then he waited. Without having anything else to keep his mind occupied, he practiced meditative breathing to help keep his anxieties away.

But his calm was interrupted a moment later by his stomach rumbling. It caught him off guard.

It felt like it had been such a long time since he’d eaten, or even felt the need to eat, that he’d almost forgotten he had to do it. There was something about the Tutorial that put many normal bodily functions in a kind of stasis. Food, sleep, hygiene, waste. They were all distractions, and the System didn’t want the people it was initiating to spend their time on them. Learning how to navigate their new classes was more important. So, the System simply shut those distractions out.

Dylan wondered how much energy it was using to do things like that, and then he wondered if that expenditure even mattered for something as massive and all-encompassing as the System. But being reminded of the intrusive changes that it could make to a person’s body brought Dylan back to the “guidance” it had shown him when he was learning to make cards.

Staying alive and getting the best he could out of the Tutorial had helped to distract him from the violation he’d felt. From the way his thoughts and feelings had been robbed from him. But his distrust of the System had never truly left him after that had happened. He’d just been suppressing it. Because what else could he do?

The System was a fact of life. It was integrated into everything. It was an existence beyond human comprehension. Or beyond Dylan’s at least.

He was just glad to be out of the Tutorial. At least now, the number of his interactions with the System would be greatly reduced. That would create a sense of distance from what had happened and help him get a handle on how he was feeling about things. He hoped.

Dylan’s stomach growled again, and he let out a long breath.

Hunger was good. Hunger was real.

A sign that the System’s interference was leaving him.

Dylan stood up and walked to the kitchen, looking for the food his father had mentioned. The options were limited, and he ended up going back to the table with bread and jerky of some kind.

After eating, he stood and walked to the windows. It was now mostly dark outside, sunlight no longer lighting the room, but because the space was so empty, Dylan had no trouble navigating. He didn’t see any need to switch on a light.

There was no movement outside.

He could still hear the howls and the shouts. The battle continued. But it didn’t reach him here.

Dylan moved back to sit at the table and waited.

He once again used meditative techniques to keep himself calm and ready to act.

But without meaning to, his eyes drooped shut and his head was pulled down to meet the wood before him. He fell asleep.

Mentally drained from multiple fights and repeated bouts of mana exhaustion, Dylan was more tired than he’d realized. And just as his hunger had caught up to him after leaving the Tutorial, so did his need to rest.

But his sleep was not restful.

He found himself trapped in a cyclical dream. He kept trying to wake himself, but each time he thought he’d succeeded, he’d come to realize that he was still dreaming only a few moments later.

It wasn’t until a hand touched his shoulder that Dylan truly jerked awake.

He heard his father laugh. “You know, when I told you to wait here, I didn’t mean it literally,” the man said. “You could have gone to bed.”

Dylan stretched and yawned as he looked up. The lights were on, letting him see that despite the scattered patches of fur and blood pasted across the man’s armor, his father didn’t seem to be injured. “I was worried.”

“I told you we had it handled.”

“I know,” Dylan said, “but I can’t help it. Even if you’re fine now, how many days has this been going on already? And how many more will it continue before things get fixed? This can’t last forever. Fatigue’s gonna catch up eventually.”

His father sighed. “And letting your own fatigue knock you out at the table is gonna help how, exactly?”

“I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” Dylan muttered.

“Doesn’t matter. You just got back from the Tutorial. Your body’s catching up with your mind. You need sleep.”

“Fine,” Dylan sighed, but as soon as he stood to go to bed, he thought of something important he’d been forgetting. He turned to his father and asked, “When’s help getting here?”

Dungeon breaks were not a small matter, and if the people near one had trouble fixing it, there would inevitably be a government response.

“You need to rest.” Dylan’s father avoided the question. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until morning.”

“You saying that is telling me that something’s wrong. Talk to me. I’m not a child.” Dylan didn’t want the specter of an unknown problem hanging over his head while he tried to sleep. He stared at his father.

After a long pause, the man let out a huff. “Okay, okay.” He paused again before continuing, “There is no help.”

“What? How is that possible?” Dylan’s tired mind cleared in an instant. “We may only be a small town, but we’re still a part of the Asheford Republic. The government can’t just ignore us like this.”

Without help, with the situation the way it was, what would happen to Fairbasin?

“Dylan, calm down. We’re not being ignored.” His father took a step forward before saying, “We’re just not a priority.”

“What do you mean?”

Another pause. “Whatever caused the dungeon break didn’t just happen here. The entire region was affected.” The man shook his head. “Breaks everywhere.”

Dylan was shocked. “How many?”

“Can’t say. There’s just not enough information right now. But we do know that whatever happened affected the three dungeons around Middlepass.” His father let out a frustrated sigh. “All of the government’s attention is focused there. Without the city’s teleportation array, no one can coordinate an effective response to the rest of this mess.” The man seemed to sag when admitting the truth of their situation. “Until they’ve got the place under control, we’re on our own.”