The next few days were a whirlwind of activity around the dungeon. The Guild Master, who I’d learned was named Liscern Pinniard, had as many people as she could get her hands on cycle through the shop chamber to get their status screens updated. From there Lorekeeper, Ophelia Memori, and dozens of scribes and others with classes related to knowledge, dredged through everyone's screens to get what had changed and what was new.

I had gotten taken in hand by Baron Berav of Acantid. Apparently, one of the ways several nations used to protect reincarnated people was to give them a minor title of nobility. So, I was a Lord. No land, but I did get a small monthly stipend. The Baron informed me it’d be enough to live in one of the ‘cheaper’ inns that catered to the gentry in the capital. I was moving up in the world.

The first day I spent answering as many questions as my fuzzy memory could. From what I was expecting in the dungeon, to what my life was like before. I’ll be honest, answering some of the questions did help to remove the fog I had on my time back there.

I had been old, at the time of my demise. That I kind of remembered. I knew I’d died from complications caused by a stroke, i.e. I just didn’t recover after having one.

I had family, I now remembered siblings and that I was a widower. I had children, two girls and a boy. From the time I’d woken up that one time, the vague scenes showed that one of my daughters had been there with me.

I was close to retiring, in that world. Forty-five years, give or take, of working and saving and I’d been about ready to retire. My life had been ordinary, but one that I felt a pang about not being a part of anymore. It had been a good life.

I had explained as best I could about the games that were played in my old world. Factions and how they would lead to quests and the rewards that usually went with them. Everyone seemed a little excited about that. Something to do with the fact that while there had been races other than humans once upon a time, and that they were all gone now.

The next day had been spent gearing myself out. Clothes, both for delving into a dungeon and everyday wear. Being added to the nobility had skewed some of the things I had to choose from. Wasn’t blue jeans and t-shirts, let me tell you.

More questions and answers, about my time inside the ‘tutorial’ dungeon and my interactions with the ‘system’. The fact that I’d interacted with what might have been three different versions had caused a stir. Ophelia thought it might have just been my state of mind at the time, though I still had my doubts.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

In whatever time I could grab for myself, I went over the spells I had to see if I could make out any new ruins. I also closely examined the items I had, to see what I could make out of them. Ophelia had been interested in the bonuses attached to them, and that led into a discussion of sets and set bonuses.

From the jerkin and pants, I was able to learn Rune of Resistance. The pairing with Trauma and Mana only gave a minor increase, at least the way everything was arranged in the enchantment, but I could see where changes could be made to slightly raise the benefits. I didn’t want to risk damaging anything by trying, my Enchanting was still at Level 0.

The boots had a Rune of Movement, and a new pattern that I hadn’t seen yet. If I was right about the placement and the purpose, it limited the amount of movement granted from the enchantment. I suppose being able to walk four or five miles an hour without hurting myself was a good thing. Nothing like going speedster fast and slamming into a wall, or worse.

A Rune of Storage, also with that same limiting pattern, was what I got from the Ring of Minor Storage. The ring was of special interest. Storage items were on the high side of rare, the cost to make them staggering. The excitement of all the people picking my brain was thick in the air.

It didn’t get any less when I examined the Necklace of Minor Healing. An item that could be used by anyone to heal, and that recharged every week? It didn’t matter that it was such a weak heal, if it could keep someone from bleeding out until better healing was available? Yes, please!

There were two new runes and patterns that I hadn’t seen before. With all the people around me, we decided it might be something related to being able to hold the spell, and recharge it each week. Hold the spell, recharge it (which was a huge pattern, by itself), something there for how many charges, and maybe something to set a time span? None of which I could learn at my current skill levels.

The third day, I met with the Sunsworn, Delava Thrensdottor, and the two others that had been chosen to go with me as my party, into the dungeon. A Trapsmith, which unsurprisingly was a subclass of Rogue, named Kendra ‘just Kendra’ and our third, which I could see was going to be fun.

The Baron introduced us to his youngest son. Lord Orthan of Acantid, Son of Berav and Annea, was probably the youngest of us. He had taken after his mother more than his father. He was a Storm Warden, a subclass of Druid. Like me, he was more of a support/utility class than anything else.

A few damaging spells, some healing ability and a defensive spell. He frowned when I asked what his favorite animal was to turn into. Apparently, that wasn’t a thing.