Jack woke bright and early, with more energy than he’s had in months. Most days were a struggle to get himself out of bed, but today he had a purpose. Looking at his phone he saw it was 8 am and he already had a message from Jay.
7:22 am Jay: let me know when you get this, something has come up, arrive at my house by 1000.
Jay has a lot of weird habits, one of which was that he always spoke and wrote in military time. Jack had long ago given up on finding out if he did it for efficiency or just to troll others.
After a quick breakfast, he began searching the internet for new developments. Ecstatic when he found a new Reddit page called ‘GenesisWatchers’. It was all about posting articles and first-hand accounts about the system. Several more skills were posted, handguns, singing, even mathematics was a skill.
He was surprised to find a list of perks people had unlocked. Taking everything with a grain of salt, he dove in. Some girl in Uganda got a perk for being the smartest person when the Genesis Wave hit. Based on the information her Intelligence was twenty-four.
A hunter in Russia shared the two requirements to unlock the perk ‘Genesis Wave’. The first requirement was to be alive when the world was brought into the system. The second getting to level three. Arguments in the comments debated on why it would take getting to level three. There was no clear winner.
There were a bunch of rumors and reports about people acquiring a class but nothing concrete. The most prominent one was of a twelve-year-old kid making a youtube video saying that he got the class ‘World Hero’. But when pressed for more information he became very defensive, then shut down his account, which made Jack laugh.
A long thread dedicated to the eerie acceptance of the world. Its main argument was that everyone seemed to have brushed past this alien-like being invading everyone's mind. A lot of people think that the mood dampener either caused most to accept it or it’s still affecting everyone to some capacity. The only ones seeming to push back against the screens were some governments, telling citizens not to mess with them.
What he was excited to read was that all across the world at around four-thirty for him, random people received a notification. It told them they had received a Quest. Almost all of the quests were the same; a ‘Proximity Quest’ called ‘Baby Dungeon’. The quest stated that dense pockets of magic were forming dungeons, and the quests were to clear them.
Jack got up and started pacing. His head was spinning, it all sounded so much like a game. He didn’t know what to make of it. Jumping back and forth from excitement because the world was now like a game, to mild horror because the thought of game-like logic overlapping with reality was terrifying.
His alarm went off telling him it was 9:00 am. He quickly woke Emily up, got ready, and headed out the door.
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Jay was sometimes referred to as ‘The Batman’ of the friend group. He had plans for numerous disasters. Owned a bunch of gadgets that only had fringe uses. And he had quite a bit of money.
Jay was not the tallest, barely reaching five foot six, but his natural leadership and intimidating presence would never leave you thinking he was someone you could push around.
His work ethic was something Jack both respected and envied. He could sit and grind out his job day after day. He worked so much, that he never really had to stress about money. This allowed him to have several hobbies; he played D&D every week, he took survival classes, and enjoyed building things from scratch.
He also had more expensive pastimes such as paintball. He had full gear, a great gun, and he dedicated time to be good at it. His aim was good enough to snipe someone at one hundred yards.
Over the years he built up a large collection of guns, knives, and swords. The swords were mostly medieval weaponry that he became familiar with through D&D. He didn’t own any fully automatic weapons but his collection was vast enough to be considered an arsenal.
Jack’s apocalypse plan was always ‘Go to Jay’s house’. He hoped his baking and cooking skills would be enough to make the cut in the post-apocalyptic civilization Jay would inevitably build. When Jack and Emily walked into his house, they were not surprised in the least that Jay looked ready to go to war.
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Sitting on the couch with him was his D&D group. Sarah, who a few years back was looking to get into D&D when Jack happened to have an open spot. She loved playing charismatic characters, a stark contrast to reality. Jack would like to put her in the spotlight to pull her out of her shell and be more confident. It worked out well at the table, but it hadn’t quite bled into her daily life yet.
Keith was their resident power gamer, he always swore he was just making a character who was just good at one thing. His characters always seemed to throw off the balance of the game, making Jack have to power up everyone else to keep it fun.
There was also obviously Emily, and Jay the latter of which was giving a sermon on gun safety, while they waited on Sam. Jay was explaining the steps of reloading and properly maintaining one of his handguns.
Interrupting the lesson was a knock on the door. Sam was about a half-hour late, because, as he believed, it was important to stop for doughnuts. Jack honestly couldn’t argue as he grabbed one.
Sam was more of an enigma, a nice guy but Jack never knew if he liked D&D or if he just liked having a regular meet up with his friends. He didn’t talk much, seeming to always be on his phone or his own little world. Not that Jack could judge people on zoning out. When he did talk it was generally to talk about a tank game he enjoyed or to ask what was happening.
Instead of starting up again, Jay took a seat in his large armchair, and with a serious face, he addressed the group. “So in case, you haven’t heard yet, earlier today people started getting quests to go clear out the first floor of these baby dungeons that seem to have appeared.”
Jack noticed the purposeful slip of information. “Wait, where did you hear about clearing the first floor? None of the posts I read specified the first floor.”
Jay’s face started to crack into the smile that he got whenever he was going to reveal something, “When I woke up at Oh-five-hundred, I saw a few of those reports. Being the intelligent person I am, I took a long drive around the city, then some surrounding towns. And I found one!” He began laughing at their shocked faces “Look, this is an unprecedented opportunity for us all. Whoever this Mesith guy is, he is way more powerful than anything, or anyone in our history.” He paused to add a flair of drama
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“WIth the power, it must have taken to give everyone on earth this system, Mesith could have easily destroyed us, or our world. Therefore I believe we have to assume this system is for our benefit, and not a trap as some people are theorizing. Why would he waste time trapping us if he could just kill us.”
“So, with that said, why do we need to be stronger? Why do we need to level up?” He pulled out a piece of paper and scanned through it, “In the original message to the world, it stated that a dangerous level of magic was pouring into this world. And Mesith was changing it to, quote ‘less lethal forms’. That implies that the system is a way to defend ourselves from some sort of threat. One that is either here or is going to appear in the future. For example, calling them baby dungeons leads me to believe there are full-grown dungeons too or these babies will grow as time goes on.”
Seeing where he was going with this, Jack interrupted him, “So what you’re getting at, is that you want us to go and clear this dungeon.” Giving Jay a pointed stare “And I am sure this has nothing to do with your desire to start grinding levels, just pure altruism.”
Jay shot him a huge grin, knowing he could see right through his intentions “Exactly, we need to do this for the good of our fellow man! Long story short, I have found a dungeon and I think we should go and raid it before anyone else discovers it.”
Sarah spoke up, she had a confused look on her face “Shouldn’t we leave this to the police?”
Jay gave her a confused look back like he was unable to comprehend why she wasn’t as excited about this as he was. “What do you mean leave it to the police? Do adventurers leave the guards to handle all the dangers? No, they step up and root out the monsters, that if left alone, would cause harm to innocent civilians”
Jack could feel Sarah shrink down when she let out a weak reply “But we aren’t adventurers, we ARE the civilians, this isn’t a game”
Jay stood up excitedly to emphasize his point “But we could be! Whatever this system is supposed to prepare us for, we will need to be strong to fight against it! We don’t know the dangers ahead and we don’t know if we will have the privilege of relying on others for protection. So we must prepare for the worst possible case.”
Sarah looked like she was on the verge of tears as she stood up; Leaving the house without another word. Emily ran after, to talk to her.
Jay turned to Jack with a guilty look “Was I being too aggressive? I was just trying to make her understand” he ran his hand through his short beard and looked to the front door. Doing so made him see much more devilish then sincere, something Jack warned him about when he chose that particular style.
Jack stood up, he knew Jay could get carried away sometimes, but he honestly agreed with him. “No, you were fine, I think Sarah is scared of what you think the future looks like.”
Keith spoke up for the first time. “IT IS a scary thought, I’m in by the way. I know she said this isn’t a game but with how the world is reacting, and literal screens appearing in front of us, it certainly feels like one. Plus look at this” he began to take off his shirt.
Keith wasn’t fat but he had a little pudge much like Jack. Jay was always trying to get them to go to the gym with him and Keith’s response was always ‘That is way too early for me to be up.’ So both were shocked to see that he was perfectly fit and toned. His muscles, while not bulging, were well defined, they were on the same level as Jay who had been going to the gym three times a week for five years.
Taking in their shocked expressions Keith gave a short spin. “I invested my three points into strength, it was like my fat melted down and was reforged as muscle.”
Jack poked him in the stomach. It felt almost like poking a rock. “That is amazing, but I don’t think we should invest any of our points until we find out more information. We don’t know what we will need or what other options may arise.” He and Emily had a similar conversation after the discussion of possible hidden attributes.
The two others nodded in agreement as Emily walked back in “She is just scared and wants to go see her mom, I can’t blame her. You really laid the ominous danger of the future, on thick there. You being an ass doesn't mean I disagree with you though, we should at the very least go check out this dungeon and see what is in there.” She looked at Keith's shirtless body seeming to put two and two together “By the looks of your almost-a-six-pack abs, I assume you're in too. What about you, Sam?”
The trio of guys standing looked to Sam who was still sitting on the couch. His head came up from his phone at the mention of his name; looking around confused “What?”
After explaining everything again to him, Sam politely bowed out, saying that a real-life dungeon didn’t interest him and he’d just go home. He still wanted them to tell him how it turned out.
As they watched Sam leave, Jay spoke “So I think we should leave soon, before anyone else discovers the dungeon I found. It's out near the Falls, so I don’t think anyone will be out there today, but I don’t want to risk losing out on the quest.”
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All of them had shot a gun in some capacity before. Jay frequented the gun range and owned all the weapons they brought. Keith’s family is all about hunting. Emily's family enjoyed bringing a few firearms to shoot while camping and Jack would tag along once in a while. Jack had never shot at a living creature and the idea of doing so didn’t sit well with him. But he figured if the dungeon had mindless monsters of some kind, he’d probably get over his reservations fast. He dreaded the thought of encountering something sentient.
While his friends were comfortable with hunting rifles and handguns, almost none of them had experience with swords. Jay had insisted each of them take one and use the guns as a backup.
This excited Emily, she loved swords. She went to a renaissance fair every year. Five years ago, she saw a performer practicing with a sword and watched with fascination. Eventually, he noticed her and offered to teach her some basics. Every event after that, she would meet up with him and his group to learn more about how to wield and fight with a sword. Jack was skeptical about how much of her ‘training’ would apply to real-life combat, but he enjoyed the excitement in her eyes.
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The Falls were a local tourist attraction, in the summer the national park around it would be packed. Hiking up a small mountain you could see the waterfalls from every angle. But in a cold month like October, there might only be a handful of visitors. With everything that happened the day before, the Falls looked abandoned. Even the employees couldn’t be spotted.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Jack received a notification.
**Proximity Quest** Baby Dungeon Qualifications:
Level 1 exactly
Never have entered a dungeon
A dense pocket of magic has formed a dungeon in the local area.
Clear out the first floor.
He was relieved when he saw how empty it was, each of his friends had at least one gun or rifle, with a sword on their hip; not a subtle image. He turned to Jay “So where do you think the Dungeon is?”
“Honestly I have no idea I figured we would hike around and search”
Emily spoke up “Well in games, dungeons are almost always inside a cave or in some ruins. I know there are some caves near the top of the falls, maybe we should check there” Everyone seemed to agree it was a decent place to start. It would, at the very, least be a good vantage point to look around.
Jay pulled out an old army duffle bag full of supplies from his trunk, then put it on like a backpack. Jack wasn’t the least bit surprised. Jay always played the character, in D&D, who brought half of a store with him into dungeons.
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They picked a trail that went up through the forest and to the base of the small mountain. After an hour of hiking up the mountain trail, Jack's stamina was at zero.
Asking to stop and take a breather, the other three seemed annoyed. But since they had all shared their attributes on the hike up. They understood he had the lowest endurance of the group. Jay and Keith went to scout ahead while he found a rock to rest on.
Looking up at the sky he was thankful for the overcast, spending most of his time inside he sometimes resembled a ghost, meaning he burned easily. He was dozing, when Keith and Jay came running back.
Keith got there first “I think we found it, it looks like there was a landslide not too far up the path and a huge fissure opened up on the side of the mountain”
Jay stopped in front of the group “I got close to it and received a notification that I discovered a dungeon called ‘The Spider’s Den’” he had a huge grin on his face as he looked at Emily.
She had a look of pure horror on her face “Damn it! Why did it have to be fucking spiders!?”