Following behind ‘the captain’, I took a little time to take in the sights. My first impression that this was like a mini-mall, wasn’t too far off. The store fronts were open, no gates or windows. A few had space that would allow a customer to go behind the counter.

I couldn’t quite tell what all the shops were. There weren’t people standing at the counters, nor were there goods being shown off for sale. It was a little odd, to be honest. It lacked the lived in feel that I remembered from the places I’d been.

“So fresh from my memories, I take it?” I asked as we stopped in front of a shop. It looked like a jewelry store, with stations visible behind the counter. The main difference being that it looked like the jewelry was made there, rather than being sent off to some other location.

The elf nodded, knocking their knuckles against the wooden countertop. “With the necessary changes, due to the differences between worlds,” they said as they waited.

“Well, yeah… Magic,” I responded with a small laugh. “I can only imagine how things are made here. I mean, I know a little about a few things. But, I don’t think I’d be able to build any of the fancy stuff.”

As another elf with long blonde hair stepped out from a room I hadn’t noticed. She wore a set of leathers, tools held at various places at her belt and a few tucked away in pockets on her chest. “Captain, this is highly irregular. The new rules specifically state…”

The captain held up a hand, stalling whatever she had been about to say. “I know. However, in order to properly introduce some of the changes being made, we must make allowances.”

Turning to me, they held a hand out. “This is Sage Ian Luna, Blessed of Nalura. He has tested and completed the tutorial stage, earning two tokens to be traded to you.”

I stepped forward, setting the tokens on the counter and nodding in greeting to the woman. “Ma’am. I’m not sure what all is going on, but sorry if it’s an inconvenience.”

She snorted, giving the captain a little stink eye before looking at me. Or glaring. A few things were starting to click in my mind. I’m old, or was. I’m a little slow sometimes.

“Factions. Holy Hannah,” I said as I looked at the two of them. “You’re introducing a faction system within the dungeons.”

The woman swiped up the tokens as I stood back. She looked at them, then at me and eyed the armor I wore. “Ring and necklace then, to complete the set?”

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I nodded at her, and she stepped away into the back of the store. “Are the people of this world going to be ready for this? The political and economic hits alone…”

The captain shrugged, watching me. “Secondary issues, at least from our perspective. We care not what happens outside of our domains. The System itself doesn't see borders or anything like that, so only cares that its purpose is being met.”

My brows had raised, hearing that. I got the feeling that I was being told something that wasn’t quite common knowledge. Perfect, just got here and I’m going to have to keep secrets that people would kill to know. “Should you be telling me stuff like that?”

They laughed, shaking their head a bit with a smile. “Oh, it’s quite common knowledge that the System exists for a reason. I don’t think anyone has figured out what the exact reason is. Probably a lot of guesses, some might be close.”

Okay, that made me feel a little better. Dungeons not caring about what was going on beyond their gates… caves… dungeons… right. Anyway, I shook my head at all of this. “Am I ever going to know why I was brought here? You said Nalura didn’t expect anything of me, but I’ve gotta say… This is a second chance of life, you know?”

I looked back at the four sitting at the tables in the court area. They were all chattering about their screens and the information on them. “I don’t know how old you are, but by looking at those four… I’m older than any of them. Or was.”

“I beat you by close to four decades, I believe. As to why, didn’t the System tell you? Usually a reincarnation occurs due to a lack of balance in the souls of a region or realm…” they replied with a frown.

I blinked. The first box did say something like that. “I didn’t think that was serious… Whoever was talking to me at the time, didn’t elaborate on anything.”

“At the… What?”

Now the elf looked confused. They started to speak again, when the woman came back out. She set two boxes down on the counter. One, the typical box a ring would be in, and the other larger that probably held the necklace.

“One Ring of Minor Storage, I believe you had a description of it? If not, you can examine it and it will tell you what it is capable of,” she said, all business now. Though with a slight undertone you’d get when someone was doing something they didn’t want to be.

“The other is the Necklace of Minor Healing. Also, with a description if you examine it.” She pushed both boxes towards me and stepped back from the counter. “The last information I have for you, is that both items can be upgraded with the correct materials.”

She held up a hand to forestall any questions from me, shaking her head. “I am not telling you what they are, or where you can get them. That is something you will have to discover on your own.”

She paused a second, then nodded and turned to walk back into the room she had come from. “You are a Sage, after all. Isn’t that what you do?”

Holding the two boxes in my hands, I looked at the elf. The elf who was the owner of the dungeon. Who was masquerading as a guard captain. That I didn’t even know the name of.

“Yeah, I guess I am and I guess it is. Time to be about it then, yeah?”