It had been a busy day, but she didn't feel that tired. The discovery of The Street, the talk with The Diviner and finally the shop she now had, it made her feel energized. For the first time in a long time, she felt ready for the next step. Sitting on her couch she booted up her PC and requested her vacation days. She had a lot of them saved up. She had thought that not going on vacation would help getting promoted or get her special projects, but she had been passed over for those anyway. It had been a sore spot for a while but now she felt better than ever, she could take two whole months off. Paid. It was nuts and she instantly sent in the request. She also had sick days and planned those first to make it seem like she was feeling the aftereffects of working overtime. It wasn't a hard story to swallow, and it gave her some more time.

The next day her gear arrived. Gear was maybe not the best word for it though. She purchased some leather armor at a cosplay store. It probably wasn't really armor, but it was probably tougher than the shirts or sweaters she had. A large backpack went over that, filled with some MRE's and other survival gear. She had some rope, a flashlight, a bedroll, and a small knife. She still had the hammer from her first outing and looped the handle through one of her belt loops. Standing in front of the mirror she felt badass and a bit silly. Maybe she was overprepared and going down the street looking like this was definitely not an option, but she felt good. She had been in just a suit last time, and she had lived, she was much better prepared now. She could do this.

Checking herself over one final time she made her way to her kitchen and grabbed the device that started this. The weird looking tablet. However, instead of the normal blank screen with her information and option to delve it showed a pop-up. The screen itself was the same bland looking thing as normal, the text the same black on white background. The text however, made her feel very cold.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

--- Updating hardware and software. ---

--- Please wait. ---

The implications were massive. These tablet devices were updating. That means there are bugs or incomplete features and also it means there are administrators and programmers. This means an organisation. She already knew that there was something off when she got a paycheck for delving, but this changed a lot. She was part of some kind of beta test, she had to be. She was part of the test group, her and the other delvers were part of a batch. Were there others? How long had this been going on? How finished was this test? While the implications went through her mind, she realised, it really didn't change much. Her goals were the same, but she now had new information. It made her reconsider her timeline a little, but it wasn't much. It was still time to delve.

--- Update complete. ---

--- Dungeons updated ---

--- Tablet Updated ---

The screen was a little different. It still had her information on the main screen. It also had the tabs with her unlocked spells and everything else was the same. The design was a little different now, the edges of the boxes in the screen more obvious. Still, it wasn't a large difference, yet. She pressed the button to delve.

--- Looking for group... ---

--- 2 Party members found. ---

--- Tier 1 dungeon found. ---

--- Good luck. ---

The world went white, and he found herself back on the white highway that led away from her planet. Her stream was quickly merged with 2 others. A man and a woman. The man had hand axes strapped to his belt and looked geared in a protective vest and normal clothes underneath. The woman was dressed in civilian clothes and not much else. No obvious weapons anyway. This was her party apparently. She introduced herself first.

"Hey, I'm The Warlock. You ready?"

"The Fighter and yeah."

"The sorcerer and no. I miss clicked. I just finished my initiation like 2 minutes ago."

Well. This was off to a great start.