After deciding that it wasn’t cannibalism, Rick absorbed his ashes. It revealed a small treasure in itself with a gold necklace and a matching gold watch. But the most important thing in the pile was his cell phone.
With a slight mental push at the cost of two Energy, he managed to unlock it and saw that there was no service or wifi.
“Damn, maybe that shit doesn’t work in my domain,” he pondered aloud.
Sensing the key being jammed into the front door lock, Rick mentally smiled as it swung open.
“Oh good, you’re ba–” Rick cut himself short.
Jimmy burst in and tripped over Penny who tried to squeeze past him. Takeout bags went flying, spilling the chicken parm and breadsticks.
Rick immediately noticed the blood running down Jimmy’s nose and Penny holding up one of her front paws in a sad limp.
Jimmy slammed the door shut and brought down the metal gate, “It’s fuckin nuts out there, Rick! The whole world was just hit with a “System Integration” message. Everyone has levels and classes.”
“Jesus man. Why are you and Penny hurt though? Were you attacked?”
Jimmy breathed heavily and nodded, “Yeah, it turned into chaos out there. I was pulling out of Vini Vici Dore’s with the chicken parm when the message popped up and the entire fuckin grid was wiped out. All electricity just shut off and there’s no phone or internet service at all.”
“I didn’t get a System message and there hasn’t been any commotion here,” Rick said. His lights were still on naturally as a part of him.
“You can’t hear it? There’s fighting going on a hundred feet away,” Jimmy said incredulously.
Rick focused for a minute, but all was silent outside his domain, “Nope, nothing.”
“Damn man. There are some psychopaths and gangs out there just straight up murdering people. I almost got my skull caved in by some dude with a bat until Penny jumped in and ripped his throat out. She got a little bit dinged up, but I don’t think it’s too bad.”
Penny had laid down by the cash register, sniffing at her injured leg. Rick felt relieved that she wasn’t in too much pain, “Penny baby, can you hear me? Did you bite the bad man?”
Penny’s tail wagged, but he wasn’t sure if that was just a coincidence or if she could actually hear him. Rick used his Identify skill on her:
Penny: Level 3 Dog
Class: Good Girl
Rick laughed, wondering what skills the class gave. He didn’t have to wait long as Penny’s nose gave a faint golden glow while she was sniffing her leg. She tilted her head, her tail thumping against the floor. She sprung up to her feet, and trotted around the store, limp free.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Meet Penny, the healing dog mage,” Rick said in his best circus ringleader voice.
Jimmy’s eyes went wide, “Hey Penny, do ya mind?” he said, pointing at his nose and getting down to one knee. Rick thought he had the worst doggy-baby-talking voice.
Penny bounded over and promptly booped Jimmy’s broken nose with her glowing one. An audible snap rang out, making Jimmy’s nose noticeably straighter.
Jimmy sniffed a couple of times, much like a dog would do, and gave Penny a thumbs up, “I can breathe again, thanks Penny.”
Rick smiled, happy his dog had such a useful skill. He wondered what kind of classes his parents would have as well.
“Fuck, I should have asked you to check on my parents,” Rick said.
Jimmy shook his head, “I already stopped by their house once I saw all the violence going on and they weren’t home. Mine weren’t home either. Don’t worry though. Once some of the chaos dies down, I’m going to find them. I promise.”
“Thanks, Jimmy,” Rick said, genuinely grateful to his friend.
Jimmy nodded but he wore a pained expression as he gestured to the mess of takeout food on the floor, “Could you?” he pleaded.
Rick immediately absorbed the mess, “Sure, but I’m running low on Energy ya needy bastard.” Between his use of Identify and absorbing some of the valuables in the store, he was down to 28 Energy.
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“No worries. I’m not exactly hungry after seeing Penny tear into that guy, but I’ve been smelling that food for hours. Can’t let it go to waste. Might be the last chicken parm on Earth. What have you been doing?”
Rick explained the new floor and who was inside it now.
Jimmy nodded along, “I wanna see it. Where’s the door?”
“Shit, I have no idea how to do that. Let me check,” Rick said in embarrassment and brought up his status.
Unnamed Challenge Dungeon (Level 1): Choose Name
Energy Available: 28/100
Skills: 3
Floors: 2
Challenge Points: 0
Loot Level: 14
Floor Bosses: 1
Minions: 1
Treasure Rooms: 1
Dungeon Attendants: 1
Challenger Leaderboard: N/A
Focusing on Floors, the holographic blueprint appeared again. There wasn’t any intuitive way to add an entrance. Should he create a staircase? Elevator? He thought an elevator would eventually be the best idea. Maybe the Dungeon Shop had something like that but it was unavailable to him.
He did, however, realize that he could designate the basement as the “1st Floor” of the dungeon. Once he did that, a prompt appeared:
Dungeon Entrance Adjusted
An exact replica of the front door of his store materialized on the southern wall of the basement room with Billy and the wolf.
Jimmy’s eyes snapped to the door, “I just got a System Quest. I’m supposed to build an access panel outside. I’ll be able to access any floor with it. Fuck, I don’t wanna go out there.”
Penny got up, excited at the prospect of going outside.
Rick scoffed, “No, Penny. You stay here,” then turned his attention back to Jimmy, “You can’t even work a microwave. How are you going to build an access panel?”
Jimmy waved his middle finger in the air, “It was only one fire and that was years ago. Plus, you just gave me a good idea.”
Jimmy jiggled his way to the electronics area and grabbed a cardboard box full of old T.V. remotes, then found a small tube of super glue in a drawer.
“Oh, this looks promising,” Rick mocked.
Jimmy took a deep breath, “Yeah, you’re a tough guy all of a sudden now that you can talk shit and I can’t give you a good smack. Anyway, I need you to absorb one of the remotes and the glue, then resummon them.”
“This better work. I’ll be almost completely out of Energy if I do that.”
“It’ll work. My Basic Dungeon Lore skill touches on access panels. Most dungeons don’t require them, but some do,” Jimmy said, waving his hand dismissively.
“Alright, fine. I trust you,” Rick said and promptly absorbed one of the remotes and the super glue, then resummoned them on Jimmy’s lap. He was all the way down to 8 Energy.
“Wish me luck,” Jimmy said as he lifted the gate and went outside.
Jimmy and the objects seemed to vanish into a void, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds for Rick to feel the glue and remote connect to him again.
Access Panel Obtained
Access Panel: Gives Attendants full access to floors. New Challengers may only access the first floor. Returning Challengers may access any floor they have completed.
Jimmy reentered, wearing a smug smile. Except he was now on the first floor with Billy and the wolf. “Damn, I’m good. A few bastards noticed me and started running this way. Might get our first Challengers.”
Rick had to admit he was impressed. It took Jimmy less than a minute to complete his quest.
“Good shit Jimmy. But shouldn’t you come back to the 2nd floor? You’re immune to Billy and the wolf, but not to Challengers, right?”
Jimmy’s face drained of all color. He reached for the door again but it swung open and pushed him back.
Billy put his hands on his guns and the wolf growled, hackles up.
A group of three men entered. Rick was annoyed that he didn’t have the Energy to Identify all three and urged Jimmy to get the hell out of the way.
“Jim, fuckin run man.”
He didn’t need to hear that twice and started booking it toward Billy and the wolf. His face turned beet red after the first couple of steps. Jimmy was a lot of things, but being built for speed in a foot race was not one.
The three men looked around with glazed eyes for a second. Jimmy took that as them reading some sort of System prompt.
“Jimmy, my man. Why are you running? Your shop's a dungeon now? That’s fucked up man. You must be into some weird shit,” One of the three men said as the other two laughed. They were fairly young and carried machetes. Guns hung in their belts but clearly didn’t think they needed them for Jimmy.
The wolf crept to the side. It was impossible to sneak up on them in the empty room, yet it still searched for an angle. Billy didn’t make a move yet, waiting for Jimmy to get behind him.
Rick vaguely recognized the three men as a few punks that sold pills close to the shop. Rick never liked them, but they never seemed dangerous to him and he never bothered to learn their names. The trio certainly had a new air of confidence about them.
The men chuckled again seeing Billy and the wolf, “How cute,” one of them said as he swung his machete in a practice swing.
Three Challengers have entered Floor One
Rick felt a jolt of excitement. He wasn’t sure if they were considered official Challengers or not before the alert. Billy must have received the same message as he made his move.
Both Billy and the wolf broke into a run toward the Challengers. Billy pulled his guns and started firing.