The group got to their feet with a variety of expressions on their faces. Fear, a bit of anger and hurt pride, but the most interesting was the wonder in the eyes of the guy at the back. Tom, was it? “Tom,” I said, enjoying the flinch which passed through the five of them as I spoke, “you seem more reasonable than this one. What’s going on here?”

Put on the spot, the guy’s starry eyes became frightful once more. He almost seemed more bothered by the pressure of the others in his group turning to him than from me. Weird dynamic. While the archer had used the strongest attack, it was obvious to me Tom was the strongest in the group. The sense I got from his Aspect suggested as much, anyway.

“W-wuh- we were just looking f-f-fuhhh,” he paused, holding up a finger while he covered his mouth and swallowed. Making a face, he took a breath and started over. “Our friend, Harry’s brother, came into this dungeon a few days ago. We’re looking for him.”

He smiled, looking relieved as everyone turned back to me. “Yeah? Your brother?” I turned to the armoured one. The body I had found was mangled, but his face and hair bore some resemblance now it was bloodied. A grim thought. “Did he have a sword like you?” The warrior seemingly couldn’t decide between fear and anger as he growled a confirmation back to me.

I gave a large solemn sigh, my lips doing a percussive trill as the air was forced between them. I answered his questioning look with a shake of my head. “Follow me.” I led the group to the makeshift grave I had made and received a look of appreciation I didn’t really deserve. I had let this guy’s brother down by not taking things as seriously as I should. A mistake I nearly repeated. Must be a character flaw, I mused.

Admittedly, the area he had passed away in had become quite beautiful. Looking at the spot, there were roses budding to life in spots. The thorns on the stem drew the eye. This close, I realised I could sense Dao upon the flowers. The whole space had been fixed in various ways. The recently disturbed earth looked like a cared-for lawn, the arrangement of the flora around felt intentional in a way I couldn’t begin to understand.

No wonder they were so grateful. Was this because the man who died was magical? I wanted to ask if he had an Aspect but I let the group mourn, as they had all known the deceased. It wasn’t long before my quiet leaning against a nearby tree was interrupted. Timid, the mage approached me. I turned and gave him a smile and nod to indicate it was okay. He gulped hard. “Am I that scary?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

Intimidating was good. Terrifying? That should be reserved for actual enemies. The younger man, Tom, looked sheepish as he nodded. “Well, I’ve never seen anyone as strong as Luke or maybe Harry before, but you’re something else.” I felt my Dao preen a little at the praise and chided myself. I’m not so easily swayed that a single compliment would break my aura.

He pointedly looked from me to the grave and back. “You didn’t have anything…?”

“Oh, that’s why you’re scared. No good outcome if I say yes, but I promise, when I found Jason he was already gone.” My education was paying off. Talking to people about difficult subjects was something I was more than practised in, it was literally my job. Or it was going to be, before I became a magical dragon monk. I shook my head, clearing the silly thoughts. “That’s a cool staff, where’d you get it?”

I must have been a little too obvious in my greed on that one because Tom clutched the staff close. Well, one of my eyes is green. I smirked at his reaction and my own inside joke. Up close, it really was a work of art though. As tall as myself, the wood was a lovely shade of darkest blue, almost black except where the light hit to show the truth. At the head, it twisted into a knot, carved into an empty cage.

“Can you shoot energy from here?” I poked my finger towards the open spot and hopped backwards into a more open area. My genuine excitement must have broken the fear a bit because while he looked taken back a little, Tom smiled and matched my energy.

“A good magician,” he effused, a spark in his eye, “doesn’t reveal their secrets.” I watched intently as his mana moved through his body. Or rather, how it didn’t move. Focused on the energy in Tom’s body, I didn’t have time to register the huge flash of mana which appeared at the end of the staff. Despite all my levels and readiness, my head snapped back at the force of the ultra-quick attack.

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“Sonofabitch,” I shouted. “Sorry, sorry,” I panicked towards Harry and the group still in mourning. They were reproachful, but I had already taken my welt for it. I gave Tom an exaggerated glare. “We’re doing this again later,” I demanded while pointing at the admonished Tom.

I could barely see the mana coming before it hit me. There were two flashes, one in Tom’s mana channels and one at the end of his staff, then the attack landed. It wasn’t instant, but it might as well have been. I need one of those staves. I promised myself I would get one somehow, before returning to the group.

“I’m sorry about your brother, Harry. If it helps, I killed the monster that killed him.” With a flash of inspiration, I drew an up-to-now unused weapon from my inventory. The general lack of reaction as I made a hammer appear out of thin air was almost as interesting as the act. “This is a weapon dropped by the creature. Maybe you can make some use of it in his memory. I’ll throw these in, too.” I tilted my hand and some snacks fell to the ground along with cans of soft drink.

The sweets helped. Luke dove for a specific drink, cracking it open immediately. He chugged half the can quickly. “Ahhhh,” he sighed happily as others took their pick and Harry took the Sorehammer. “What are you? Since everything changed, it’s been impossible to find stuff like this. It’s even cold, what the fuck, dude? Why did I never think about putting food in my inventory? Also, what’s your name?”

Answering Stormborn would do us no favours. Thinking of the markings on my skin, I realised it was fairly obvious actually. Still, I wasn’t explaining anything. “I’m just a normal guy. I basically started inside the dungeon and have been running around like a headless chicken just trying to survive. Getting stronger is the only thing which made sense. And my name is Grant.”

“You can’t just leave?” Aaron asked. I gave him a flat look.

“No, Aaron. I can’t just leave. I’ve got a quest which says I need to kill three dungeon bosses before I can. Wait, can you all just leave?” Unapologetic nods came my way. Everyone looked a little smug, like they were happy to have one over on me. “Well, whatever. Good, that means you can… leave.” Over the time the group had been here, probably less than two hours, I had realised a pretty important thing.

I didn’t want them here. It was interesting to have others around, but I would get plenty of that when I broke the dungeon. Until then, at best these guys were houseguests. In most cases, they’d eat up some of my experience. The worst which could happen would be following poor Jason to the grave. With their levels and the scaling nature of the dungeon? It was honestly more likely they just got in my way.

The group looked suitably affronted, though there was no real reason for them to stay. I understood why they felt flatfooted in this situation. They had expected to find their friend, hoping he was trapped in the dungeon like I was. In their minds, they had been expecting a fight to save Jason. What they got was a bit of a beatdown and a much quicker, sadder resolution than they wanted.

“We should stay, help you finish the dungeon…” Each word quieter than the last, Luke trailed off. The four gathered around the grave looked defeated. Breaking the trend, it was Tom who spoke his piece instead.

“I want to stay. You’re absolute layers stronger than all of us combined, and it’s not just levels. Something about this place - or something you found here - made you way stronger than we are.” He had fire in his eyes, the spark from earlier ignited in full. “Unless you throw us out yourself, I’m not going anywhere.”

Damn. I know those eyes. How could I refuse someone with the same dream as myself. Any of the others wouldn’t have changed my mind so much but Tom’s Aspect was on full display. It’s just… Magic? Lucky bastard. A System prompt appeared to just drive the nail in. My resolve was pretty flimsy and his argument was more than fair. I sighed, reading through the prompt.

Quest Received - Establish A Guild

Due to your status as a higher grade, you can bring others under your wing. A guild is a joinable faction which creates various benefits for its members. As guild leader, any members at lower level will receive increased levelling speeds. A portion of their gains are given to you.

Build A Guild Hall.

Reward: Guidance Stone For Each Initial Member

Other Rewards Based On Strength Of Members.

Ugh. I never liked management games.

The reward was too good, the opportunity too enticing. A Guidance Stone was valuable enough, but then the System had to add a bloody mystery prize, too. Coupled with the abstract guilt I had for the death of Harry’s brother, I conceded to the System’s whims. Tom, who had been ready for a prolonged argument, now had nowhere to direct his steam. “So there.” He bookmarked his nice little line in the sand with a crap two-worder and everyone cracked up.

I couldn’t stop my lip from twitching a bit as I tried to smile. “Fine,” I spoke through my teeth, “but you’re not staying in my house.” I scratched my head and ignored their questions about Home Base. I’d show it off eventually but for now I wanted to maintain some mystery. Also, I had a roommate to consider.

Explaining this to Naea was going to be interesting.

—————————————————

Naea found the idea of building homes for other people ridiculous, but had no issue with the idea of having more “workers” around. I truly saw the dragon half of her Fairy Dragon nature when she began immediately planning to make her own life easier now others were around to do things. I let her dream of the supposed servants she would now have, planning to introduce her to them all at some point.

In fairness, I couldn’t judge Naea. I had been left with directions to put together a few makeshift buildings. I could already see the guild hall option in my buildings tab, which had only contained Home Base to now. Between the guild hall and the eventual housing for the others, the project was going to cost a whopping seven and a half thousand of my total coins. One hundred each for their houses and seven for the hall itself. “Better be worth it,” I grumbled to myself.

I looked out a window in the direction of the dungeon’s final tower. I could feel the pull of the final boss getting stronger as my power grew. As its power grew to meet mine. Soon, I promised. The universe could only get in the way for so long, surely.

Surely.