#DungeonQuest
[System Notice]
Events have begun! Events are the appearance of time-limited quests, monsters, items, weather, or dungeons. Events may be limited in scale - like the appearance of a single unique monster or item - or global. Watch for the first global event coming soon!
---
I log back in to Dungeon Quest just outside the city. It's the same gathering of trees and bushes that I've been using each day to hide my clothes while I do strength training. I see a notification about events. That's cool - I guess the AI tried to give people some time to learn to play the game before introducing new variables. And weather patterns? That sounds awesome! I can't wait to experience a thunderstorm here in Fountain City. Storms are my favorite. I wonder where the best place would be to watch a storm.
I look around. Far in the distance there are some mountains, but otherwise the land around the city is really, really flat. Except for... I look up at the islands floating above the castle. Even from outside the walls I can still see them. From up there the view is probably incredible. But I can't fly. And they're probably off-limits. And I am 100% sure I would die if I tried to climb the chains hanging down from the islands. Maybe swim up the waterfall like in other video games? Wait, where does all that water come from? And where does it go?
I start my daily regimen. After a week of exercises, this has begun to feel almost normal.
The past week I've spent all my time in Dungeon Quest doing strength training.
All of it.
I'm not doing quests, exploration, or anything else at all.
I really want this adaptive stat.
The first few days were pretty rough going. I got a bloody nose when my arms gave out while doing push-ups, and then died from loss of blood. I lost my balance while doing lunges and then couldn't stand for over an hour. Zero stats are awful.
Assisted squats and lunges, weighted arm curls, and core exercises seem to be the safest methods of strength training for me right now.
This spot close to the city doesn't seem to have any creatures. Other than a few weird looks from an adventurer party or two, I've been left alone to do my thing.
I lay in the grass and do crunches, bicycles, and ab twists.
An hour later I'm coated in sweat and laying in the early morning sunshine. I swear there have been a couple times this week where I felt something growing inside my muscles, but every time I look my stats are still zero. My in-game body is tired out, so I log out.
I read online that you can exercise while in the game gear - in real life - and potentially get adaptive stats as well. In real life I have a lot more stamina, and a lot more strength, so my bedroom has turned into a home gym. I do full-body workouts rather than focusing on muscle groups, since I can only do a couple of exercises inside Dungeon Quest.
An hour later, I'm exhausted in real life. I jump up, shower, get dressed, eat something, and log back in. Inside the game, a couple hours have passed, so my fatigue is mostly gone. So I keep lifting rocks and doing sit-ups and squats.
About 40 minutes later I feel the sensation of tingling in my muscles, and suddenly I feel stronger. I pull up my stat screen.
>>
Name: Gabe
Proficiency: None
Level: 0
HP: 10
MP: 5
STR: 1
AGI: 0
DEX: 0
END: 0
INT: 0
WIS: 0
CHA: 0
PER: 0
Inventory: Karmic Ring of Strength (bound)
>>
I did it.
I lay down in the grass as feelings wash over me. It took me roughly a week to get one strength point... and the rest of my stats are still zero. But I did it! I got an adaptive stat, which means that my weird, nonsense way of making a character still worked.
And I can keep my clothes! And my inventory! Man today is a good day.
I watch the clouds drift by. That's weird. I realize that I don't think I've seen clouds before in Dungeon Quest. Oh yeah! The event announcement. This must be weather at work. The clouds are all sorts of different shapes. That one looks like a horse. That one like a fat little bird. That one like a slime. But not the slimes only this world - more like the famous slimes of video games.
I close my eyes and just appreciate the moment.
Less than a minute later, though, behind my eyelids, light begins to flash.
I look up and the air just above me is sparkling in a mass of colors. I get up carefully. What look like balls of light, each one a little less than 10cm in diameter - fairies? Will-o-wisps? float around me, and I am surrounded by high-pitched chime and bell sounds.
The fairies / light balls spread out into a circle around my body, then begin moving around in a circle, going faster and faster until they are a blurry ring of light. The circle then quickly shrinks and the ring shoots above my head into the sky, leaving a visible rainbow trail from the spot where I stand that arcs off far in the distance toward the mountains.
Cool.
Also weird.
I log out, then immediately log back in.
My clothes are still on my body. No "items above your carrying capacity have been removed" notification. Yesssssssssssss. The rainbow is also still there.
I walk into Fountain City, log out right in front of the fountain at Fountain Square, message my brother and my best friend, and collapse on my bed to take a nap.
I still have a long way to go. But I'm getting there. It's gonna happen. I can do this.
---
Moments after Gabe walks into Fountain City, multiple groups of adventurers reach the clearing of trees. After searching for over 30 minutes, and finding nothing, they set off at a run following the rainbow above them in the sky. Events are happening, right? And if there isn't something at one end of the rainbow, there must be something epic at the other end.
---
I wake up to the sound of my phone ringing.
Koji: "Bro! I've been looking for you in-game to congratulate you, but you weren't at your training spot. Are you ok? What's the news you wanted to tell me?"
Gabe: "I got an adaptive stat."
K: "No way! Really?"
G: "Yeah. Really. I have one strength point."
K: "Hahahahaha well that's awesome. If anyone could do it, you could."
G: "So what's up?"
K: "Oh! I was gonna ask you. There was a rainbow at your training spot and a ton of people..."
G: "Still? I saw it form while I was there. A bunch of fairy light things flew up into the sky and off towards the mountains."
K: "Have you been to the other end yet?"
G: "The other end? I haven't. It didn't even occur to me."
K: "Everyone is going up the mountain! Apparently a new *limited event* area spawned at the other end of the rainbow, with a rainbow pool and waterfalls. We should totally go!"
Hmmmmm... I did just get a strength point, so I should be safer outside the city. And even if I die, I won't lose my clothes.
G: "Sure."
---
A few minutes later Koji and I are jogging on the pathway up toward the mountain. There's a huge crowd of adventurers going the same way, and huge crowds heading back in the opposite direction.
"Are there really this many people going up there?"
"Yeah... there are a lot of people. I think most people have told all their friends. It *is* the first event we've seen here in Dungeon Quest after all."
G: "We're not in any hurry tho - so we could just walk and appreciate the experience."
K: "Actually, I think we should keep jogging... these events may not last very long."
G: "Ok."
---
It's a half hour jog on flat ground. After that, the mountain starts rising almost immediately. The adaptive increase in strength has made an enormous difference - I haven't tripped once, and I can jog at a normal speed.
The crowds continue to get larger as we climb - groups of adventurers, most wearing full battle gear, everywhere from new to high-leveled. The ones coming back seem abnormally excited.
G: "Is this place that beautiful? don't think I've ever seen this many people in one place outside of Fountain City... and where are all the creatures?"
Koji looks slightly anxious. "Yeah... it's weird right? It must be pretty awesome. Maybe they all moved away since there are so many people?"
Maybe. The mountain just seems really quiet.
G: "Koji, do you know anything about this event? Honestly this feels really off to me."
K: "... yeah well... I guess you'll see? We're almost there. The pool is really pretty, and there are waterfalls and everything..."
G: "Have you been up here already?"
K: "...yeah. I heard about it and I had to come. I didn't think you'd be interested, but it's so incredible... I thought I'd bring you anyway..."
G: "What are you talking about? What do you mean I wouldn't be interested?"
Wait.
Adventurers in groups wearing full battle gear. The first event in Dungeon Quest. Huge crowds.
Please don't be a murderfest.
---
A few moments later the path suddenly opens up in front of us. The rainbow that leapt from me earlier drops from overhead, landing in a clearing surrounded by trees and stone outcroppings. In the center, where the rainbow hits, dozens of cascading waterfalls join together into one final pool, the water shimmering every color of the spectrum like the surface of a soap bubble.
The view is breathtaking.
But that's not the real reason why I can't breathe.
There, floating in the waterfall pools, resting on the ledges, and shattering into clouds of golden dust as parties of adventurers kill one after another... are dozens of tiny rainbow slimes.