While I was sitting down my usual breakfast, I was surprised to see the brothers pull out the chair on the other side of the table and sit down. So far, all of my breakfasts had been alone, and while I liked their company, don’t get me wrong, I also liked my solo morning routines, so I internally hoped this wasn’t going to become a constant.

“Hey Dave, don’t mean to intrude, but we’ve got a limited-time chance at a new dungeon someone found and posted. I know you don’t have your core yet, but you should really check this out with us. It’s only a rank F, so we should be fine. It can give you an idea of what some of the other worlds have out there,” Cecile explained with such enthusiasm that I was nearly ready to abandon breakfast on the spot and considering how I had felt just moments ago, that was impressive.

“Let him finish his food. We aren’t in that big of a hurry; no one is likely to steal that low-ranking of a dungeon from us, especially since anyone looking for dungeons here has already headed out for the day, but yes, my brother is right. This is something you should learn about while you have the chance in a safe and somewhat controlled environment,” Elicec added.

“Well, boys, you have me convinced. Just let me finish off my eggs and lead me wherever this dungeon is. I’ll hold the questions until I’m done chewing,” I replied. It made sense that with a gamification System like this, actual dungeons would be a part of it. They had already told me about monster hunts, so this didn’t really come as any sort of surprise.

“Yes, our first real adventure together!” Cecile said with just as much cheer in his voice as before. I finally realized why I liked these two so much. They reminded me of my son when he was a teenager, full of a wanderlust for everything in life that was tampered down with the need to understand any risks before he took action. I wondered how that would have played out if he had had two separate brains fighting over the actions instead of just the one.

I quickly finished the rest of my meal, wiped my face with a napkin, and stood up, ready for a day of adventure instead of books. “So what exactly does a dungeon entail anyway? I have an idea of the concept, but I have to imagine it works a bit differently in reality,” I said, picturing a series of random monsters in different chambers that we had to fight through for arbitrary reasons.

“It has something to do with natural mana orbs and attracting monsters. It wasn’t something our family knew a lot about, so it’s one of my bigger knowledge gaps. You don’t really get to see a dungeon unless you’re registered with the System, as they’re one of the only reliable ways to gain any significant amount of experience once you start getting past level one hundred, other than the Arena itself, that is,” Elicec explained. I quickly added finding a book about dungeons to my notes tab. I wanted to accrue as many levels as I could before I returned to Earth, and if dungeons were an essential part of the process, I’d have to explore the topic more.

“If we find any monsters, just stay behind us, Dave, you should gain experience as long as you’re in the proximity,” Cecile followed up on his brother’s comment. What would happen if I did more than just hang behind them?

“Would I gain extra experience if I took any direct action instead of staying back?” I asked, already considering how I could best contribute.

“I’ve been avoiding saying this, but you’re a bit old for the typical human who is starting out, and you guys are already pretty fragile as it is, so I’m not sure fighting would be a good idea just yet,” Cecile answered. For someone as large as Cecile and his brother, I understood how they could see humans as generally more fragile, especially considering my state when we first met, but that didn’t change the fact that I needed all the experience I could get.

“That wasn’t an answer to my question,” I said, pushing back.

“Yes, you will gain more experience the more you directly interact with any situation in the dungeon. Just please try not to get yourself hurt Dave. We don’t have an unlimited supply of healing pills, and we have no way to afford more right now,” Elicec answered, his voice more pleading than ordering.

“I’d rather not break myself either, so I’ll try not to get hurt too badly, but I do have to learn these things eventually, even if I’m a lot older than the usual newbie,” I replied. At least I’d finally unlocked my attributes, which could help somewhat with dungeoneering. Sure, I didn’t have my core yet, but I felt that I was progressing reasonably well now toward that. I just had to find a way to avoid the mistakes the previous person who had dedicated their life to studying the concept had made. How hard could it be?

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“Hi, how can I help you all?” A wispy asked, interrupting our conversation. I looked over and realized we had already made it to the adventurer hall. The voice belonged to a greenish cloud that was hovering above a counter. We were the only other people in the room. There were several stands with signs above them signaling various things for sale, but no one was manning them. Were there just not enough adventurers in this world to run the hall, or was this the norm everywhere?

“Hey Mel, that dungeon we were talking about earlier still available? No one sniped first dibs from us, did they?” Cecile asked. There was a hint of worry in his voice.

“Nah, no one here is going to want that thing. We don’t get newbies, and that thing is so weak I’m hard-pressed to even call it a dungeon; honestly, I doubt the dungeon core is even stable, so whatever it’s managed to pull in so far is likely all it’s getting, but if you want it, it’s all yours,” Mel said as his form rocked side to side slightly, in what I believed to be amusement, but reading the expressions of a cloud was not something I trusted myself to do.

“Perfect, thanks, man. Can you register Dave, Elicec, and myself for it?” Cecile asked. The words spilled out of his mouth rapidly in his excitement. I hoped the dungeon didn’t disappoint him.

“Sure can, no classes, right? What’s the team name? Wait, does Dave have a core?” Mel’s color shifted slightly as his eyes moved to focus discerningly on me. I felt a peculiar tingle of energy move across my body, almost like a small static shock. Had Mel scanned me somehow?

“Is that important? He’s even more a newbie than we are at this. He’s from an unintegrated universe, so this is all blowing his mind, so to speak,” Elicec explained to Mel for me. I was glad he had left off my core quest. The more I considered the implications of what the System was pushing me towards and just what the last experiment down the route had caused, the more I thought it was best to keep my quest somewhat secret.

“Look, normally, yeah, you’d need a core for something like this; now it’s within my power to give an override for that requirement, but usually that’s for certain private showings, some kids on a field trip with a much more powerful guardian, that type of shit, but, because I like you two and with how weak this place really is I’m gonna let you do it, if and only if Dave understands there’s still a pretty big risk here, got it?” Mel asked, turning his eyes back to me.

“Got it, but not fully understood. Why does my lack of a core make this so risky?” I asked. It wasn’t like the brothers were that much more powerful than I was already, were they? I mean, sure, they started a lot stronger, and they were younger, but in terms of core development, they were only a few days ahead of me.

“Like I said, this place is barely a dungeon, so that dungeon core is going to want to find itself a much better host than whatever it’s currently in, and normally, that’s pretty hard to do. Your personal core can punch pretty far above its weight class when it comes to soul intrusion like that, so that’s why I ain’t worried about the brothers here despite their low level. You, on the other hand, have no core, so do you think your soul is going to be able to handle fighting off an intrusion all on its own?” Mel floated down below the counter as he was asking this and had begun to ruffle through some drawers.

“Maybe, I don’t know, what if I just don’t let it near me?” I asked, now a little concerned about the dungeon. It was too late to add any points to my soul attributes. Or was this a reaction attribute? I hadn’t hit anything that covered dungeon core attacks at all in my reading.

“Eh, you’ll probably be fine. Didn’t really mean to scare you that much, just wanted to make my point clear. Don’t do anything too stupid, and it should be fine. Assuming you still want to go, here, take this,” As Mel said this, an arm poked out of his frame and produced a badge with the words “core exempt” on it.

I reached across the counter and took it from him as I voiced my agreement. “Yeah, I need to learn about this, so I’m going.”

“Good, I like newbies with spunk, means you got a chance out there. Now, the last question, and the most important. What’s your team name? Gotta register it.” The reaction of the brothers to Mel’s question made it obvious that they hadn’t a team name yet. Both of them were just staring open-mouthed back at Mel.

“The more heads, the better.” I smiled as I suggested it. It was a terrible team name. I loved it.

“Uh, yeah, sure, it even works if we find more people for the team,” Cecile said, looking to his brother for some confirmation.

“I don’t care, it’s fine,” Elicec conceded, and my smile grew wider.

“Alright then, The More Heads, the Better; exploration of unnamed and untyped dungeon registered, good luck boys.” Mel reached out the arm again and gave what looked like a thumbs up. Did he form the arms whenever he wanted to use one, or were they just concealed in his body somewhere? I realized I should read up more on the different species that make up the Spiral in the future, but for the moment it was time to explore a dungeon.