“Dammit Jimmy. Where are you?” Rick complained. It had been at least five hours since he went back outside to work on his security booth. No new Challengers had come in either which was good.
Rick had burned the rest of his Energy down to one after creating six barriers made of bulletproof glass. He found that he could erect the panels directly from the ground, standing vertically. Since the makeup of the glass was in his directory, he was able to expand the size of them a bit without burning extra Energy.
They were all staggered in the back, giving Billy and the wolf some cover but a clear view of the door, as well as some maneuverability to move forward slightly. The floor boss and minion had both respawned by now. Billy was visibly relieved to see the minor protections put in place.
“Do you remember the last battle, Billy?” Rick asked.
“I do. Rather, I remember seeing a white orb fly toward my face and then a flare of pain. At least it was short,” he answered, almost annoyed.
“Yeah, that was unexpected. What can I do for you to make your job easier?”
Billy pondered for a moment, “The panels do help if they’re as strong as you say.” Billy eyed the wolf and Rick noticed a slight twitch of a smile, “More minions would be welcome.”
“I can’t get you any more minions yet, but when I can, do you know of any that would complement you the most?”
Billy walked over and patted the wolf on the head, “I could use a few more like Finn here.”
“Ah, so you named him? Finn it is!” Rick said happily. Talking about dogs always made him soften. Well, wolves too. They were close enough to him. “I’ll remember that. I knew I liked you, Billy.”
“Thank you, dungeon,” he said with a bow.
Rick inwardly scoffed. Whatever default this System gave these floor bosses was formal. It didn’t fit the appearance of the gunslinger.
----------------------------------------
Finally, the door opened.
“Took you long enough, Jimmy.”
There was no response as the door slowly opened. A young man slipped in without a noise. He wore a black hoody sweatshirt, camo pants and comfy looking running shoes. He held what looked like police batons in each hand.
Rick used his new dungeon senses to peer under the hood and saw the person that got him here in the first place.
“Adam, you sonofa — Billy, hold back, I want to hear what this little thief has to say.”
Billy simply nodded without taking his eyes off of Adam. The wolf gave a low growl and paced back and forth in front of Billy.
It didn’t escape Adam that the floor boss and minion were holding back. “Hi Rick. As you know, I can’t hear you, but you can hear me. I just had a nice long chat with Jimmy,” all the while he slowly advanced through the room. “I have to say, I didn’t expect you to be the compatible soul for the core.”
“You knew it could do that to me?” Rick yelled in frustration, knowing that Adam couldn’t hear him.
“If it makes you feel any better — you’re not the only one. I distributed dozens of cores throughout the world. You were the last one, and most impressively, the first one to join with a soul.” He said that last part with a smug smile.
Rick studied Adam’s face closely for the first time. His eyes seemed older than the rest of him, but he had always just chalked that up to Adam being a street rat. He had seen that look in a lot of the young people who came into his shop. The ones who truly lived difficult lives or were robbed of their childhood.
Yet, Adam’s eyes weren’t quite the same as that. They were more confident and wise. Almost mischievous.
“Ah, I definitely misjudged you. Could at least pretend to feel a little bit bad about putting me in here,” Rick mumbled as he listened to Adam’s story.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“I was punished by an S-tier Core. It ripped open space and time itself and sent me here on a quest. In doing so, it stripped me of my connection to the System and all of my skills and levels. See, I’m a Core Hunter,” Adam said with a smile. “Oh, don’t be alarmed, I’m not interested in yours. At least not yet. Perhaps in a few millenia if you survive that long. In your current state, it would harm my long term growth.”
Adam halted his creep forward so that he was a mere ten feet away from Billy and Finn. He tapped one of the glass panels with a baton and nodded appreciatively.
“Anyway, my quest is essentially complete. I just have to wait until the System integration of your universe is finished so I can use my return token,” he said, gently patting one of his pockets on his camo pants.
Rick wondered where the hell Adam had come from.
“I’ll give you one piece of advice though. Stay true to yourself. It is impossible to understand the System, but one thing I have seen time and again are souls losing themselves to the Core. Cores who merge with souls that stay true to themselves are rewarded. Those that do not, waste away over time, becoming nothing more than a mindless monster. It’s a miserable existence.”
Rick knew there was something to that. He had felt different since becoming a Core. There was a sense of power and muted emotions. Starting now, he would make an effort to keep a hold of himself and not slip away.
Adam appraised Billy and Finn. He patted the top of Finn’s head, earning a growl and poked Billy in the stomach with his baton. “You’re also going to need to seriously level up your minions before the ten days are up. These two are much too weak and you’ll become a laughing stock of a Challenge Dungeon.
Billy had a hand on one of his guns, glaring daggers at Adam. Of course, the Core Hunter was right. Rick knew that he and his minions had to get stronger.
“Anyway, Good luck!” Adam said in a cheery tone. “I’m going to level up as much as possible until the token is active and leave this pathetic rock behind. I may or may not be back before then. I mostly just wanted to confirm that it was you that began the System Integration. Until next time,” he said with a smile and left a confused Billy and Finn behind him.
Shortly after, Jimmy walked back into the shop area of the dungeon.
“So — I think I’ll keep it under wraps that we caused this whole System business,” he said, scratching the thinning hair on the back of his head.
Rick chuckled, “No shit. But Adam did get me thinking. He said that I need to stay true to myself.”
Jimmy nodded along, finding a seat in the old office chair. Penny came over for ear scratches. “Easier said than done when your world flips upside down on you.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to change. Ya know?”
Jimmy furrowed his brow, “Yeah, there’s the Rick I know. Just tell me what's on your mind instead of dancing around.”
“I have big plans for this place, but I can’t share them all with you just yet.
Jimmy raised an eyebrow.
“It’ll be a nice surprise for you if it works out, trust me. I just don’t want to get your hopes up. And obviously, I’m stuck here. You have dreams and wants too. You can’t just be my doorman for eternity. We’re going to need employees.”
A smile crept on Jimmy’s face, “I like where this is going. What else?”
“I can create pretty much anything within my domain as long as it’s in my registry. I need building materials, trees, animals, bugs. Anything and everything. I'm sure there are people out there that aren’t interested in fighting or challenging my floors. We can post a quest board with jobs to bring us different materials or any new System related artifacts.”
Jimmy’s smile only deepened at the prospect of striking deals with an even broader clientele. “That’s beautiful, Rick. I’ll get right on that.”
“Ok, but first find an employee that can watch the security booth. Once you have that, I want to prioritize finding our parents first.”
“Of course. That’s been gnawing at me too,” Jimmy said, looking down a bit.
“I almost forgot. I wanted to name the dungeon. I have a few ideas, but do you have any input?”
Jimmy’s eyes twinkled, “Yeah. ‘R&J’s Dungeon Depot’.” He said it as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
Rick was about to poke fun at him but said the name in his mind a few times. “You know, Jimmy. That ain’t bad. It’s simple and true to us.” Without further ado, Rick officially renamed the shop.
R&J’s Dungeon Depot (Level 2 Challenge Dungeon)
“Now we just need some neons to hang up outside,” Jimmy said with a smile.
“We can still use the ‘Pawn’ neon for now, but yeah, look into it.”
Jimmy nodded and swung the door open with excitement. He quickly closed it again before going out, “Rick, we got a line. Ready for another?”
“You know it,” Rick said with renewed vigor. A lot of his ideas would take time. In the meantime, he needed Challengers to feed on. “Oh, Jimmy? One more thing. My Energy pool is a bit low. Before you let anyone in, can you collect their gear? You can use some of it to add to the prize pool. If it’s valuable, just stash it on the shop floor for me to absorb later.”
Jimmy gave a mock salute, jingling his gold watch, and left to attend the line.