"Get that off and give it to me right now!" James yelled at Derek.
"Fuck you. This armor is mine!" Derek said as he looked around the empty space.
The display was as though he was viewing the world like normal through an open-face helmet. He didn't even have his view blocked by the sides of the helmet like he would have expected.
"This is awesome! We never had anything like this except in VR." Derek commented as he tried moving himself around.
He felt the suit reading his movements and moving with him in a manner that felt completely natural. He decided to give the suit a test and crouched slightly as he readied himself and then pushed off with his back foot and rocketed forward.
This all happened as the world was changing and bringing them out of the dungeon. Derek found himself rushing straight into a wall and flailed in panic as he tried to stop the suit's forward momentum. Completely unable to arrest the movement, Derek screamed as he plowed right through the wall and into the next one, creating a human-shaped outline in it.
"Kind of like if Wile E. Coyote got Master Chief armor," Tom commented offhandedly.
Peeling himself away from the wall, Derek shook himself.
"I'm sure it's just going to take some getting used to," He replied, still reeling from the rush.
"Hopefully the learning curve is small. Alright everyone, good job on this dungeon. We just have one more to run." Tom said.
Tom moved toward the door of the dungeon and placed his hand on the wall next to the frame. He closed his eyes and concentrated on claiming it for Azroc. A symbol of Azroc's face giving a thumbs up appeared on the wall just like in the other dungeon. As he finished this process, a weight landed on his shoulder. Jerky suddenly appeared and hugged Tom's head. Squirrel was standing behind them a bit and when Tom turned to see what was happening, James had kneeled on the ground with his arms extended, waiting for Squirrel to run to him. Squirrel trotted along happily but went straight past James and over to Kiera who scratched the wolf behind the ears.
"Ungrateful bastard," James mumbled under his breath.
"Oh no, you are going to drop me back at the guild first. I'm not doing that shit again." Brian protested.
"I know. We need to swap you out for someone else. Plus we need to check in with everyone. We were in there quite a while." Tom said, looking outside to see that the sun was up.
The team left the Aquarium and headed back to the guild base. When they arrived the guard on duty looked at them confused.
"Hey, Brandon. What's the matter? You look like you weren't expecting to see us." Tom said to the guard on duty.
"I wasn't. Weren't you going out to run a dungeon?" Brandon asked him.
"We did. We already finished. Why?" Tom asked now curious why he was being asked about this.
"I expected you to be gone a lot longer. Was the dungeon that easy?" Brandon asked him, seeming hopeful at an opportunity to go himself for some easy loot.
"What are you talking about? We were in there for almost two days." Tom said in shock.
"Two days? You just left a few hours ago. What the hell are you talking about?" Brandon asked, now shocked himself at what Tom was telling him.
"There must be some kind of time dilation in the new dungeon," Derek offered.
"But...how is that possible?" Tom asked.
"Seriously? You can shoot fireballs and heal wounds in seconds and you're hung up on time dilation magic?" Kiera asked.
"It just seemed like something that wasn't possible. But I guess, with magic..." Tom trailed off as he thought about the implications.
"Actually, it's theoretically possible. As you get closer to the speed of light, time slows considerably. So if we were moving that fast we could potentially reach a point where time barely passes for us." Brian offered.
"An you know this how?" Jay asked Brian.
"I'm a reader. It's literally called the time dilation effect in physics. The concept comes from Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Special relativity infers that if two people were to watch a clock and one was moving at tremendous speeds, the person moving would see the clock move more slowly than the person standing still due to their relative, or perspective if you will, velocity." Brian explained briefly. "I don't think we were somehow traveling at light speeds, but if physics can explain it, then magic should be able to do it."
"Well, then I guess we don't need to worry that something happened while we were inside then, do we?" Tom asked looking at the group. "Thanks, Brandon, for the update, and keep up the good work here."
Walking into the guild building, the team went to the security room.
"You guys look like shit warmed over. And you're back sooner than I thought. Rough time?" TJ asked leaning back in an office chair in front of the security camera monitors.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, time dilation, physics, magic, blah, blah, blah. We need to replace Brian because he's being a little chicken shit about going into dungeons." Jay said quickly, hoping to skip the physics lecture again.
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"Hey..." Brian complained.
"Oh shut up your beautifully butterscotch-accented mouth. You know it's true." Jay cut him off before he could continue. "Who you got for us?"
"Well, since you came back so fast, I'm not sure who is here right off hand. A lot of people went out with their teams for training. Let me see who's here." TJ said, reaching across the table in front of the monitors for a clipboard.
Reading over the list carefully, he came to rest on one name in particular.
"Looks like Michael is in training with Graham. He's your best bet for people here who can handle the first run of a new dungeon." TJ said looking from from the papers to the team.
"Great! Can you get him to meet us here?" Tom asked.
"Sure thing. Just give me a few minutes." TJ said rolling his chair over to the PA system and calling for Michael to join them.
"I'm going to shower and try to scrub away the terror from myself. Probably need new clothes at this point too." Brian said sullenly as he bid the team farewell and left the room.
Not long after, Michael entered the room, his intimidating appearance and size making Tom glad he was on their team.
"What's up? You all needed me? I was training with Graham. Is everything okay?" Michael asked seeming genuinely concerned.
"We need another member for a dungeon dive. We want you to join us." Tom explained.
"Oh hell yeah! I'm totally in! Where's it at?" Michael asked.
The other members of the team looked at each other suddenly as Derek facepalmed.
"Guess we need Brian back after all," Derek said with a huge sigh.
"No need. I have it marked here. You can take this and add it to your map." TJ said.
"What do you mean add it to our map?" Tom asked.
"Your System map. Don't you have it turned on?" TJ asked.
"We have a System map?" Tom asked again, still confused.
"Oh, man. You mean you all have been running around without your map on?" TJ asked trying not to laugh.
"Just tell us what we need to know, please. All this bullshit with stuff we couldn't possibly know..." Jay began to grumble as he tried to urge TJ forward.
"Just think about your display and think about a mini-map like in video games. It should appear in your vision, then you can move it in the display to wherever you want. You can scan other maps by looking at them and thinking about adding the info to your map. It will show kind of a grey covering over an area you haven't visited before and lighter where you have been. You can also mentally put pins in it to show a destination you want to reach." TJ explained and each of the team began to put the map into their displays.
"This could have been really handy so many times," Kiera complained.
"You can also view a larger map by focusing on the mini-map and it will bring up a layout you can zoom in and out on. But it covers most of your vision, so be careful where you use it." TJ Continued.
Tom took the map from TJ and looked it over. He thought about adding the details to his map and a circle appeared in the middle of his vision laid over the map showing the progress of the map scan. When it reached one hundred percent the circle disappeared and he pulled up his own map. It had all the items on the map TJ had given him and even looked like it.
He thought again about making it more like the digital maps from apps he had used on his phone and the system again gave him a loading icon. When it was completed he was looking at a clean easy-to-read map with all the locations on TJ's map. Tom passed the map onto the others to scan in as well. Focusing on the marker TJ had indicated for the second dungeon, the icon had words added to it saying "Dungeon #2".
Minimizing the map back to its miniature form, Tom addressed the others.
"Excellent! Are we ready to set out? Michael, do you need anything?" Tom asked.
"I'm ready. Let's do this shit!" Michael said excitedly.
Gathering everyone together, they left the security room. Tom offered they take the GS2 this time as the distance was a little further away and walking seemed like a pain since the day was getting away from them. Heading to the garage, they piled in and Tom started the engine.
Upgrades Available
You have points to spend on upgrades for the Goblin Slayer 2.0. Would you like to spend your points to upgrade the vehicle?
Yes
No
"Guess I haven't been spending these points like I should. One minute guys while I do this." Tom said selecting Yes and looking over the options.
Tom scrolled through and looked at the big-ticket items. Almost all of them required other purchases to be made first. He really wanted that Gatling gun, so he went ahead and selected the upgrades for the reinforced items all the way around the car. That left him with two more upgrades so he selected the armor plating for the driver's side and passenger side doors. With his purchases made, he put the vehicle in reverse, backed out of the parking space, and then drove out of the parking garage.
The second dungeon was located on the west side of town, getting closer to Shandra's neighborhood. They had to be careful with where they went as they did not want to be seen as encroaching on Stormcrusher's territory inciting them to attack, but the old bank building seemed far enough away they should be safe from reprisals.
When they arrived about half an hour later, they parked the GS2 in a parking garage across the street to try to keep it from being left out in the open and walked into the bank. The doors had been pried open, whether by looters, those who found it from their guild, or monsters Tom couldn't be sure. In any case, it meant an easy time getting inside.
Walking to the back of the bank, Tom found a door inside the drive-through window area. The sign on the door read "Dungeon" with a smaller sign underneath it that read "Beware of Animals".
"That's new. Never seen the second sign before." Tom commented as he read the signs.
Looking at the others who just shrugged, Tom opened the door. Inside was a set of stairs leading down into a dimly lit hallway. The steps were made of stone and there was a light at the top of the staircase hanging on an ornate sconce.
"Electricity? Here?" Tom commented again at seeing it shining with something other than a torch.
"Magic dungeon, Tom. Come on let's get going." Jay said growing impatient with his stopping.
"You can't just say everything is magic when you don't understand it," Tom scoffed at Jay's dismissal.
"I can, and I will. Now get your ass in gear!" Jay said firmly giving him a gentle push inside.
Tom steadied himself with a hand on the walls, which were also made of stone, and continued inside, figuring it wasn't worth arguing about now. Continuing down, they reached the floor of the dungeon and the door closed automatically behind them.
The team walked down the hall until they came to a giant room with ceilings reaching at least three stories high at their peak. Sitting in the middle of the room was a large creature covered in fur. Its back was turned to them as it lay curled into a ball on the floor. A long chain with links as big as a man's hand stretched from the side of the room where it was anchored to the wall, all the way over to the beast. It disappeared behind its curved body so they couldn't see where it was attached.
As they neared the entrance to the room, they cautiously equipped their weapons. The beast began to stir. It sat up, turned, and faced them.
"That the actual fuck is that?" Tom asked as it rose to its feet and stared at them.