As we approached the border between the forest and the stormy mountain, I felt the urge to head in a different direction. Recognizing it as a ward effect, I grinned.

“That’s a nice, subtle way of preventing unwanted guests,” I commented.

Greta grinned. “I thought you’d figure it out since you’re an Enchanter. I bet you can do something similar.”

I didn’t deny it, though wards weren’t something I was particularly skilled in.

Just a few minutes later, we passed through another ward as we headed toward what appeared to be a thorn-covered hill. As the image dissipated, a small village shimmered into view, having been hidden by the illusion.

“We have to keep watch for dungeon spawns, but they are pretty rare right here on the border. That’s part of the reason the village was built here,” Greta explained as we entered the unwalled village. “The wards are normally enough to avoid any outside creatures from coming inside, but we still have to be vigilant.”

There were several times the number of people within the second village than there were in the central village. Having seen the number of apartments available in the residential building, I was almost positive there was enough room there for everyone. The fact that practically all the dungeoneers had left the safety of the village to build a separate one spoke deeply of the trouble the new Earthborn challengers had created.

“When was the village built?” I asked.

Greta hummed for a moment in thought. “I think the one on this floor was founded about ten years ago. I’ve only been here for three years, and it was already pretty well established by the time I got here.”

“Do any Earthborn live here?” I asked.

“A few,” Greta nodded. Yarrin was walking directly in front of us, leading the way to wherever we were going. “My friend Dawn is from Earth. She was really excited to meet other races. I met her on the second floor, and we’ve been friends ever since. There are a couple of others, too, but I don't know them very well.”

“That’s because they’re not nearly as amazing as I am,” an Irish-accented voice called out from the side. I turned and saw a redhead heading our way. Her hair wasn’t the natural orange-red of pre-awakened Earth. It was actually dark red, almost burgundy. I immediately pegged her as either a Fire Mage or a Magma Mage.

“Dawn!” Greta yelled happily. “Meet Emie! She’s from Earth, too!”

The new addition eyed me with suspicion. “Those are some fancy robes for someone claiming to be from Earth. What, were you cosplaying a cultivator when you were taken?”

Greta hissed and yanked on her friend’s arm. “Don’t say something like that. She’s a sect disciple! I told you about Elites, right?”

The redhead simply stared at her friend blankly. “You said she’s from Earth. We don’t have sects.”

Not wanting to let the misunderstanding grow, I stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Emie,” I said, extending a hand. Dawn gave it a hesitant shake. “I am from Earth, but it’s a lot different than you probably remember. Time goes by about five times faster here, so depending on when you entered the dungeon…”

“I was taken on January 2, 2033,” she replied abruptly. “It’s been over seven years.”

[Dawn O’Malley – Level 28 – Crafter/Trader – Magma/Air]

After identifying the woman, I replied. “I arrived today. It was June 28, 2034, when I left. Were you a beta tester for Atlas Online?”

Dawn’s lips thinned into a line. “No, but I was a professional gamer, so I spent most of my time logged in until I awakened,” she said. “The guy who did my briefing seemed nice enough, and I was scheduled to meet with some people in London the following week. But the elf got me before that.”

Her expression darkened. “He explained that I’d awoken and couldn’t go back to Earth because of policies that he didn’t elaborate on, but didn’t tell me much more than that. I’m almost positive there was some kind of mental compulsion on the table because I just accepted everything and did whatever he told me,” she said with barely suppressed fury.

“I would never have agreed to be sent somewhere like this if I had an actual choice,” Dawn insisted before sending an apologetic glance toward Greta. “My family and friends probably think I’m dead, and I have no way of contacting them from this place. The method the dungeoneers knew about didn’t work for the people who tried it.”

“You got the interface upgrade?” I asked, assuming that was the ‘method’ the dungeoneers had mentioned but wanting to make sure. From what Jackle had said, I was under the impression that they couldn’t communicate openly between floors. Otherwise, he should have known what was going on with his former party.

Dawn shook her head. “Not me, but some of the others,” she said. “It was supposed to help with sending messages outside the dungeon, but it just kept giving everyone error messages whenever they tried.” The woman gave a dejected sigh. “Since getting the upgrade took a lot of experience, I decided not to bother since it didn’t work.”

“Maybe it was because the reintegration wasn’t complete on Earth?” I offered. “I know a lot of things were hampered before the portals connecting Earth to the rest of the Alliance activated. You should try again now that they’re working.”

“Yeah?” The redhead’s eyes lit up hopefully. “I’ll get Aaron to try it the next time we head into the village. If it works…” she grimaced, “Damn, that’s a lot of experience now that I’m Tier Three.”

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I nodded in commiseration. The first time I’d gotten the interface upgrade, I’d been Tier Three as well.

“It’s worth it, though,” I said. “There’s more to the upgrade than a method of communication.”

“Yeah, I know. I had it in the game, but it really wasn’t as useful as the game guide I read made it out to be.”

My lips twitched at the comment. “I guess it’s all about how it’s used. The AI isn’t an independent entity. It can only anticipate a user’s needs so much, especially without training or augments.”

Noticing Yarrin had disappeared while we were talking with the newcomer, I turned my attention to Greta. “Is there a restaurant or a tavern here?”

I felt strangely more comfortable with Alliance-born people than my fellow Earthborn, but I still didn’t trust them enough to reveal my MealMaker just yet. I’d placed the backup recipe storage crystal in my inventory, so losing the device wouldn’t be devastating, but I didn’t want to risk it.

The blue-haired girl nodded excitedly. “Yes. Marjorie is an excellent chef. Unlike most dungeoneers who focus on lifestyle and crafting classes, Marjorie wanted to experience the climb, so she splits her time between fighting and cooking.”

Greta leaned closer and mock-whispered, “Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s a LOT better at cooking than fighting. We pretty much just carry her when she joins our party for a bit of alternate experience. But she gives us discounts, so it’s completely worth it.”

I grinned and followed the other young woman as she led me to a building that had clearly been grown by a Nature Mage. It was a huge, hollow, wooden bulb with a decorative wooden door that was far nicer than most of the buildings surrounding it.

I glanced at Greta questioningly.

“I know. It’s something, huh?” she said with a grin. “She brought it with her from the sixth floor. It’s enchanted with all sorts of effects. I’m pretty sure her parents are loaded and gave it to her so she would be safe while she ascended. They wanted her to stay on the sixth floor and just get carried through her alternate levels, but she refused.”

I don’t know why the sight of Marjorie caught me so off-guard. I’d been around Kastets and Kastet hybrids before. The game had even included them and other non-human species in most of the expansions.

My former party member, Marcus, was a Kastet hybrid, though he looked a lot more human than Marjorie. If she was a hybrid, the non-Kastet portion must have been very minor since she looked very cat-like.

Kastets were a species of bipedal felines that originated on one of the mid-tier planets incorporated into the Alliance sometime after the Earth colony was founded. A few other animal-like species also came from there, though they were not nearly as prolific as their feline counterparts.

Dawn and Greta watched my reactions as I caught sight of their friend, making me wonder if they used their clearly non-human friend as some sort of gauge by which to judge newcomers. Aside from a small stutter in my step upon seeing her, I tried not to react at all.

“Dawn, Greta!” Marjorie called out from her position behind the grill. The small restaurant had an open kitchen surrounded by tables, allowing everyone to see the Chef as she cooked. “Have a seat! I’ll send Kris over to take your order in a minute.”

Less than a minute later, the sous chef stepped out from his station and headed to our table. “Hey. I see we have a newcomer,” the lanky teenager said with a smile. His pointed ears and lightly iridescent skin pointed to an elven heritage, though I suspected there was something else mixed in. His features weren’t nearly as pronounced as Yarrin’s.

“My name is Kris. The menu options are on the board behind me if you need some time to decide. Everything is available except the herbed poultry. We’re working on that now, but it’ll be another half-hour before it’s ready.”

On the advice of the others, I ordered boar ribs. I was not disappointed. There was practically no wait since the meals were prepared and held in [Stasis] until ordered.

I wasn’t sure if Kris had his own [Stasis] storage or if he’d actually retrieved the plates from the cabinet he reached into. It made sense to hide artifacts like that since they would undoubtedly incite greed in others, especially at Tier Three.

Then again, most of the people in the village probably came from cities on higher-tiered floors. They might all have [Stasis] storage and enchanted equipment. I didn’t think the equipment restriction applied after one entered the dungeon, especially not if Marjorie had brought the restaurant with her from the sixth floor.

“Did you have any limits on what you could take with you when you left your home floor?” I asked Greta between bites.

She shook her head. “No. Did you?”

“I did. I was only able to bring in items up to Tier Four since I entered at Tier Three,” I replied. “The Gatekeeper even had a way of checking my storage device.”

Dawn frowned. “At least you got to bring stuff with you. All I had was the inventory and the clothes I was wearing when I showed up. I was lucky there were already people on the first floor. I couldn’t imagine being one of the first people to arrive. From what I heard, it was horrible.”

I could easily imagine how rough it would be to get dropped into an empty village with nothing but an empty inventory. They would have been defenseless. It probably took quite a while to get established enough to do much other than survive.

“What was it like when you arrived?”

“Cramped,” Dawn replied. “There are so many people just camping there, refusing to fight or advance. They’ve actually expanded the central village to make room for everybody. It’s probably more like a town at this point.”

She paused for a moment before continuing, “They have briefings for every new cohort that shows up to let them know what’s going on and help them make good decisions – like on professions and such. I guess the first cohort had a really rough time and didn’t want everyone else to suffer like they did.”

I nodded as she spoke. “I noticed a lot of lifestyle professions like Butcher, Trader, and Leatherworker,” I said, thinking back to my stalkers. “I thought they were odd choices for people from modern Earth, but if they were getting advice on what professions to take, that makes more sense.”

“Yep. But not everyone listens,” Dawn added. "It takes some of us a while to accept things too, yanno? It was probably a good year and a half before I even bothered doing more than the absolute minimum required to stay alive."

I nodded sympathetically. In many ways, I'd reacted the same. It hadn't taken me as long to start functioning the first time, but I'd been dealing with grief, not with losing everything I'd ever known.

“What about the second floor?” I asked.

“It’s like a mix of the first and third floor. There’s a high population of people who have given up on advancing, though not as many as on the first floor. There are also a lot of newcomers from the upper floors,” Dawn said, nodding her head toward Greta.

“Yeah, showing up in the village there was really awkward,” Greta added. “It was even worse for people like Marjorie, who are very obviously not from Earth. There were quite a few people ejected from the dungeon because they kept causing problems inside the village. I was really glad to find a dungeoneer village there.”

I nodded in understanding. Though I was from Earth, I already felt more at ease in the dungeoneer village than I had in the central village. My association with the Alliance had marked me as an outsider to the people from Earth.

Though there was still a weird ‘sect elite’ thing going on, it seemed like more of a curiosity to most of the dungeoneers. I could sense a bit of wariness in some of the individuals when they noticed my robes, but it was nothing like what my fellow Earthborn had expressed when I arrived hours earlier.