Billy aimed for the most talkative one in the group, assuming he was their leader. He fired off four rounds of glowing blue bullets in quick succession but halted his fire when the man swatted the bullets away with the machete in a spray of sparks.
“Holy shit”, Rick said, surprised by the man’s speed. Now he was genuinely worried about Jimmy’s safety. “Jim, see if you can circle them and get to the door.”
Jimmy’s face dripped in sweat, “Did you absorb any weapons? Could really use one, pal.”
Rick only had 8 Energy so he couldn’t absorb one and provide it to Jimmy. Checking his registry, he once more saw the autographed photo. It wouldn’t stop a bullet, but maybe the frame could deflect a machete blade.
“This is the best I can do,” he said and produced the framed photo at Jimmy’s feet.
Rick assumed that Jimmy would say something disparaging or angry, but the sight of Bill Paxton seemed to fill him with confidence. Jimmy set his jaw, picked it up with both hands, and ran toward the fight with a battle cry.
Billy had stopped his advance after his magic bullets were blocked, but the wolf had continued forward. The wolf was targeting the man on their left. Billy fired a few more rounds at the two men to the right, making sure they focused on him.
Just as the wolf was about to lunge and likely be cut down, Billy fired four rounds at the wolf’s target. The man was forced to try and block the bullets but wasn’t as fast as his comrade. He managed to block one but the other three thumped into his chest.
The wolf leapt as the bullets hit the man and drove his already falling form into the ground. With a quick snap of its jaws, the wolf crushed the poor soul’s neck with Crushing Bite.
The talkative machete wielder spun toward the wolf and chopped down on the wolf’s head. The machete embedded in its skull forced the man to spend a precious moment yanking it free. That was all the time Billy needed as he sent his remaining bullets into the guy’s back.
The third machete wielder was already charging as Billy began his Quick Reload. Rick had realized that the ammo was magical but didn’t see any spare magazines on Billy’s belt. It turns out, Billy doesn’t need to haul around extra supplies. His hands began to glow the same blue hue as his bullets.
The last Challenger was closing in, machete raised, and Billy still hadn’t finished his reload skill. The Floor Boss didn’t seem to mind. Rick smiled inwardly as he watched Jimmy closing in behind Billy.
“Move!” Jimmy wheezed.
Billy dove to the side just missing Jimmy’s charge. The Challenger was greeted with Mr. Paxton’s smiling face crashing into him with the force of a city bus, driving him down to his ass. Jimmy tumbled forward and tripped over the man onto his belly, knocking out any remaining oxygen from his lungs.
Billy finished his reload, got to a knee, and unloaded a dozen magical bullets into the last Challenger.
The moment the last Challenger died, he received an alert but was filled with euphoria much like when he built a new floor. In fact, his entire dungeon shuddered from the emotion.
“Jesus, that’s better than sex,” he groaned.
“How would you know?” Jimmy managed to sputter out between coughs.
Rick couldn’t help but chuckle, “Glad you’re alright, man.” His mirth faded a bit as he saw the carnage in the room. The three Challengers and the wolf were laying in pools of blood. He had never seen anything like it in real life before. Prior to becoming a core, he probably would have been sick but in his new form, he didn’t feel that repulsed. The lack of emotion over it concerned him a bit, but Rick knew that everything was different. Maybe it was due to the Core, or maybe his mind defended itself by suppressing the expected emotions. He wasn’t sure.
Maybe his Alerts would make him feel better.
Unnamed Challenge Dungeon (Level 2): Choose Name
Energy Available: 150/150
Skills: 3/4
Floors: 2
Challenge Points: 15
Loot Level: 14
Floor Bosses: 1
Minions: 1
Treasure Rooms: 1
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Dungeon Attendants: 1
Challenger Leaderboard: N/A
—ALERT—
Upon reaching Level 2, Unnamed Challenge Dungeon has acquired:
* Free Use of Absorb on Non-Sentient Objects of Fallen Challengers
* Energy cap increased by 50
* 1 Skill Selection
* 15 Challenge Points
Select One of the Available Skills:
* Spatial Expansion (Level 1): Consume 100 Energy to increase the size of a floor within your domain by ten cubic feet. The outside world is unchanged.
* Conceal Entrance (Level 1): Consume 25 Energy to conceal the dungeon entrance for one hour.
* Energy Infusion (Level 1): Instantly infuse your Core with the maximum amount of Energy. Cooldown: 30 days
Before moving on to the rest of the alerts, Rick couldn’t help but choose his skill. They were all damn helpful, but how could he say no to manipulating space? Sure, it was an expensive Energy cost, but who cares? He could regenerate over time. Without overthinking it, he mentally shrugged and selected Spatial Expansion. Since it was “Level 1”, it was probably safe to assume that he’d be able to improve it.
Sure, being able to conceal his entrance so cheaply was an excellent defensive measure in case of a large attack, but it didn’t make him excited in any way.
He also knew that Energy Infusion would be a really nice ace in the hole for him, but the long cooldown turned him off. Running low on Energy sucked — plain and simple. Hopefully, he’d be able to find a way to better build up his Energy capacity and not be kicking himself down the road for turning it down.
“Alright, what’s next.”
Level 2 Wolf Respawn in 04:54
“Nice, only a five minute cool down.”
After reading the alerts, Rick proceeded to absorb the fallen Challengers. They gave some crappy clothes, poor quality machetes, and gun replicas. The punks didn’t even have real guns. Their DNA and class skills were also added to Rick’s registry. They all had the same class, “Swordsman”.
Rick was about to rant about the stupidity of having a swordsman class in a world with magical guns and who knew what else until he saw the skill he added to his registry:
Parry Projectile (Level 3): Parry up to six projectiles with your blade. Cooldown: 20 seconds.
“Simple, yet effective. Not a bad cooldown either. Guess it didn’t save you in the end. I wonder if I can add it to my minions or floor bosses. I’ll add that to the list of shit I need to figure out.”
“Man, your talking to yourself is even more brutal when it’s ringing in my damn head,” Jimmy complained once he regained his breath.
Rick laughed, “It’ll be good for ya to listen to someone else once in a while. Anyway, get anything good for your class from that?”
“Nothing too exciting. I got a skill to deny access to Challengers. Which, I have an idea for actually,” Jimmy said, rubbing his chin. “I could set up a little security booth at the door. Charge people to Challenge you with a promised prize of a diamond if they beat ‘ol gun slinger in there.”
“That’s a smart idea, but I don’t think I need money anymore being a Core and all.”
“Yeah, well I need money,” Jimmy said, jamming his thumb in his chest. “And you actually do. According to my Dungeon Lore skill. The Dungeon Shop will take your Challenge Points or CP. But, one of my main functions is to purchase items from the System Shop once I have access to it in about ten days.”
“Just like the Dungeon Shop, but for you regular people,” Rick joked. “But can’t I just print money for you to use at the System Shop?” Rick asked, genuinely curious why they would need to charge at the door.
“Yeah, thing is, we can’t sell anything you produce in the System Shop. The only people that can sell what you produce are Challengers. And their rewards will have System imposed diminishing returns. The System just knows somehow,” Jimmy explained.
“Well that’s some BS,” Rick grumbled.
“Yeah, agreed. I had plans of you just producing fat stacks of money for me and living the dream in a penthouse filled with beautiful women.”
“What if I printed money for you and you just used it with people here before the System Shop opens? You can probably buy that penthouse and whatever else you want,” Rick said.
“I thought of that too. But, the gig would be up too quickly once people figured out that our money is no good within the shop. Also, I’m pretty sure that once the shop opens, everyone will use the System currency with each other. Our cash is dead, man. But that’s why it’s great we have all these jewels and precious metals. Those can be sold to the System Shop by Challengers. We can use that to lure people into giving us fistfuls of System Credits or whatever” Jimmy beamed proudly at that.
“Hell yeah. We got pretty lucky then.”
“That’s right brother. But…” Jimmy trailed off.
Rick could sense his friend was hesitant, “What is it?”
“How are you feeling with all this?” he said, gesturing with his arms. “I know you’re still here and all, but you’re not really here. Are you ok, man?” Jimmy’s eyes showed genuine concern.
Rick sighed, “I think this transition into being a Core has cut off some of my emotions. It’s as if not everything was transferred. I didn’t feel fear or disgust when those guys died. There’s more, but I think there’s some disconnect going on.”
Jimmy nodded along, “It’s probably for the best, ya know?”
“I agree, but just promise me that if I ever start acting too cold or not — human, that you’ll rein me in and give me a mental slap, ok?”
“You got it, Rick,” Jimmy smiled. “Now, enough of this sappy shit and absorb some of that bulletproof glass we use for the gems. I need it for the security booth.”
Rick laughed and focused on the glass. “Where were these ideas when we owned the shop?”