“You’re an elf!” I said, staring at the platinum-blonde-haired boy’s pointy ears. His hair was just long enough to partially cover them, falling to just above his neck, and his eyes were a bright sky blue. He wore only a torn, oversized robe. No armor. In fact, the only weapon I saw on him was his dagger.

His dirt-smeared face and overall haggard, disheveled appearance made him look older despite his short stature, but with those effeminate elf features hiding underneath, I put his age in the mid-teens.

The elf backed away, suddenly gripping the dagger he’d just stowed.

“What’s it to you?” The dagger’s leather squeaked as the elf tightened his grip.

“Nothing! Just surprised, is all,” I said, more defensively than I’d intended.

“Surprised to see an elf in a Trial of Dominion? Just because we don’t have any ourselves doesn’t mean we can’t delve like everyone else, you know?”

His eyes darted from me to the walls of the cavern, as if searching for an escape.

“Er, sorry?” Dominion, who? Wasn’t that the name of a stat?

“You think we just laze around all day, do you?” He said, eyes narrowed. “We do our part, just the same as you!”

I stared at him blankly. What was this elf on about?

“You’re just like everyone else,” the boy said, full of mistrust.

“I can assure you, that’s not the case,” I said, barely stopping myself from chuckling. “Look, I’ve clearly offended you somehow, but I can assure you it wasn’t on purpose.”

I raised my hands placatingly. I didn’t know what he was freaking out about, but I needed to calm him down so I could get some answers. Still, it wasn’t like I could just come out and say, ‘Hi, I’m Greg and I’m an alien! Let’s all just get along!’

With my patron god being as helpful as a rubber duck, this guy was my best bet for learning more about this world. I had to make a good impression.

“Who are you, anyway?” the elf asked, voice dripping with suspicion. “Why haven’t I seen you on the lower floors?”

A great question. I inhaled deeply and drew upon my decades of bullshitting skills.

“I ran into some powerful monsters, which is why I only just caught up. I came here seeking power.”

The boy looked at me flatly. “That’s obvious. Why else would you be here?”

That… was a good point. Why else would anyone dive a monster-ridden dungeon? Well, no one ever said my bullshitting skills were any good.

Maybe I was just imagining it, but the elf’s suspicion seemed to fade a bit, replaced by something else.

“You truly don’t mind me being here?” He asked, sounding genuinely perplexed.

“Umm, no?”

Okay, Greg, think. He got pissed off when you spoke to him, right? What did you say? What is… oh. Obviously.

“I don’t hate elves, if that’s what you’re worried about,” I said. “But yes, I was surprised to see one here. Especially someone as young as you.”

“O-Oh, that,” he said, visibly relaxing. “Yes, I suppose that’s true. Believe me, I wouldn’t be here if I had a choice.”

“Someone’s forcing you here?” I asked.

“Well, no,” he said, biting his lip. “It’s complicated.”

For you and me both, buddy.

“Er, look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Greg. I’m not really from around here.”

“You do have a strange dialect,” the elf admitted. “And your clothes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Where exactly are you from?”

It was only then that I noticed how we were able to converse without issue. Rather, it sounded like he was speaking English, though I was sure he wasn’t. Apparently Cosmo’s translator wasn’t good enough to mimic dialect. Or maybe it was just one the elf wasn’t used to?

“I guess you could say I’m something of a country bumpkin,” I said. “Home’s a long way from here.”

“I see…”

“Look, the whole reason I returned to fight this… thing,” I said, thumbing at the troll’s body, “was for the gear.”

The boy’s eyes lit up for some reason, but then his ears drooped. “I suppose that’s fair. You did come up with that reckless gambit, after all.”

So he was after the armor and weapons too? They wouldn’t even fit him. Maybe I could let him have the sword?

“I tell you what. How about we split it?” I suggested, attempting to offer an olive branch.

“You would sell it, rather than use it for yourself?” the elf asked.

“Er, I don’t think it’d fetch much even if I tried,” I replied, somewhat confused. “Besides, those things don’t sound mutually exclusive? I can always use it now, and sell it later, right?”

“What are you talking about?” the boy asked, just as confused as I was. His eyes went wide. “You have a way to split it?”

I opened my mouth, but couldn’t find anything appropriate to say.

“I… feel like we’re not speaking the same language,” I said at last. I somehow doubted it was the translator gizmo’s fault.

“Likewise. Regardless, we’d best not linger. I don’t want to be around when the Dominion goblins return.”

So that’s what they’re called? He’d said Dominion earlier, too. So many questions…

Still, despite the awkwardness my total lack of knowledge would cause, it was good to have someone nearby. Someone I could talk to. Both for the peace of mind of knowing I wasn’t alone in here, and the ability to fill the gaping hole that was my knowledge about this world. And, of course, the security.

Maybe he wasn’t a fighter, but let’s face it, neither was I.

The elf started muttering to himself, and out of pure curiosity, I knelt, pretending like I was tying my laces while I retrieved Cosmo’s translation sphere and gently placed it on the rocky ground.

The instant the ball left my hand, his speech changed entirely. His pitch grew higher, and the syllables were all different. I couldn’t really place what it sounded like. Maybe French? But more melodic and far less guttural. It was… beautiful. Like a siren’s song or something.

I picked up the orb and deposited it back into my pocket. As much as I wanted to hear more of his native tongue, I couldn’t let him think I’d suddenly forgotten the language. The boy was suspicious enough of me as it was.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

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

“…Aerion,” he said hesitatingly. “You said you are… “Grug?”

“Greg,” I corrected. “Well, Gregory. Greg for short. Nice to meet you, Aerion.”

“Odd name,” he said. “You said you’ve journeyed from afar. From whose domain do you hail?”

Oh, shit. How am I gonna fake this one?

“Cosmo’s. I hail from Cosmo’s domain,” I said confidently.

“I’ve not heard of that name.”

“Yeah, well. He’s a pretty unimportant figure. Long way from here. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“I can certainly believe it,” Aerion said, looking me over. His words seemed to be driven more by curiosity than suspicion, unlike moments earlier.

“It’s a local thing,” I said, making a mental note to ditch these clothes at the earliest opportunity. Then again, my jeans and t-shirt seemed to put Aerion a bit more at ease. I guess between my speech, name, and clothing, I made a pretty good ‘foreigner’.

“Well, you’d best claim the troll’s soul crystal before someone else does. Lax of you to take your time with that. You’re lucky I didn’t snatch it out from under you. I’d have been well within my rights to, you know?”

“R-right. Um, thanks,” I said, understanding only about half of what he said.

I turned my back on Aerion, thankful to no longer be on the hot seat. If I got through this dungeon without him ditching me for being a weirdo, I’d consider it a resounding success.

Still, any risk I took associating with him was more than offset by all that I’d learn. Plus… I couldn’t just leave him here on his own. Wouldn’t sit right.

I approached the corpse of the obsidian troll—just a mound of rocks, really—looking for this soul crystal Aerion mentioned.

Seeing nothing, I finally kicked at some of the smaller shards the troll had broken down into, hoping to find another weapon I could initialize among the rubble.

Apparently, that triggered something. The whole corpse began to glow.

Don’t tell me it’s a bomb or something?

Games sometimes had monsters that blew up after they died, leaving a nasty surprise for anyone unfortunate enough—or greedy enough—to venture too close.

A blinding flash of light forced me to cover my eyes.

When I opened them, the corpse was gone.

In its place, hovering a foot above the floor, was a jet-black cylindrical crystal, about the size of my index finger.

I initially mistook it for obsidian, but unlike the black volcanic mineral, this thing was see-through.

Soul Crystal (Obsidian Troll) [Uncommon]

A Soul Crystal from an Obsidian Troll. A useless trinket! Good luck finding a use for it. May have additional, unknown uses.

Grade: Emergence

Abilities: None

Stats:

— Dominion: + 10

Uh, what?

How could anything that bestowed stat bonuses be a useless trinket? Either the description was lying, or there was more here than met the eye. And that ‘additional, unknown uses’ was just bait.

I glanced at Aerion and caught him gazing longingly at my prize.

Sorry, bud. But if this is as valuable as I think it is, I can’t hand it over.

I wouldn’t use it, either. Not yet. Not until I knew what it did. Or even how to use it—I figured asking Aerion would only give him more reason to suspect me of being not from this world. I needed to be careful until I knew how common Otherworlders like me were… And how they were treated.

I pocketed the crystal, mildly saddened that all the troll’s obsidian shards had disappeared—I was looking forward to Initializing those. Looking at the boatload of minimized System notifications, however, got me over my slump pretty fast.

Congratulations! [Initializer] has leveled up to Foundation - 4. Max Essence has increased from 40 to 50. Essence Utilization: 25/50.

Congratulations! [Initializer] has leveled up to Foundation - 5. Max Essence has increased from 50 to 60. Essence Utilization: 25/60.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Pet Rock]’s ability [Rock Solid] has leveled up to Foundation - 1.

Congratulations! [Obsidian Bone Club]’s ability [Scarborne] has leveled up to Foundation - 3.

Blessing [Initializer] has reached Foundation - 5. Blessing Ability gained: [Armor Bestowal].

Would you like to reclaim Initialized equipment?

Well, now. That was a lot to take in. While the gains were nice—my Essence had jumped to 60—it was this ability that really piqued my interest.

Armor Bestowal

Now you can enchantify armor too! Maybe now you won’t have to run for your life like a hysterical baby!

I was not hysterical. Well, maybe only slightly. But this was fortuitous timing, because I’d just found some metal armor that looked like the perfect candidate to test my new ability on.

It told me something else, too, though. While I still didn’t know how high the levels counted up for each letter, it did mean that the boundaries likely had perks. I doubted it was a coincidence that [Initializer] gained a significant upgrade at the level five mark. Level ten would likely bring another.

I made my way to the bone pile under the watchful eye of Aerion, who followed, intently scrutinizing my every move.

Is he taking notes, or…

Picking my way through the rubble, I finally made it to the skeleton with the armor and the sword.

What I found was… Underwhelming. In my haste, I'd overlooked the state of the gear. To say it wasn’t good was putting it mildly.

The cuirass had turned brown from rust, and the sword wasn’t much better. The helmet had cracked into three, rendering it unusable.

“Please don’t tell me you’re planning on wearing that?” Aerion said, scrunching his nose at me.

“Believe me, I hate this as much as the next guy, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

“The next guy?” Aerion asked, frowning in confusion. “Do you mean me?”

“Just a saying,” I replied, gingerly lifting the armor off the bones on which it sat. I’d never been this close to a real human skeleton before, let alone interacted with one. Or, I suppose it could have been an elf. Or some other humanoid race I wasn’t aware of.

What a strange world this was. Despite resembling a fantasy game, it still freaked me out. Or maybe it was precisely because it resembled a game world so much.

Real gods? HUDs with health displays and leveling? Elves? Dwarves? This completely threw humanity’s understanding of the universe out the window. Forget extraterrestrial life. This meant we weren’t alone! Extraterrestrial intelligence! Hell, was this even in the same universe?

“Are you well?” Aerion asked, peeking at me from outside the obsidian bones. “You’ve gone stiff.”

“Oh, er, it's nothing. Just a little spooked,” I replied, mentally thanking him for thwarting my impending mental breakdown.

Aerion giggled. “If you’re afraid of some old bones, I'm afraid you’re not likely to see the light of day again!”

“Not the bones I'm worried about,” I muttered.

His mannerisms reminded me of some older movies I'd seen. More formal than modern speech. More… elegant. It was pretty.

“So I’m guessing you’re headed out now?” I asked as I slid the cuirass off the skeleton, broaching the topic that neither of us wanted to discuss—what next?

“N-no,” Aerion said, narrowing his eyes. “What’s it to you?”

“Oh, just wondering. Y’know, maybe we’re headed the same direction.” I shrugged, looking over the armor in both hands.

“And if we are?”

“Well, I… I dunno, I just thought…”

“I’m not leaving.”

“Sorry?”

“The Trial. I came for power. I can’t leave until I have it. Besides…”

“Yeah?” I asked when he trailed off.

“No, it’s nothing,” Aerion replied, looking away.

I shrugged again. If he didn’t want to say, it certainly wasn’t my place to pry.

Liberating the disgusting rusted cuirass from the skeleton at last, I picked up the sword and its worn leather sheath and left the skeletons—both humanoid and obsidian—behind.

I now had two brand new pieces of gear to Initialize. I glanced at the sword, then at Aerion, then back at the sword.

“Do, er, do you want the sword?” I asked. I’d already hogged the crystal for myself. Keeping the sword as well just didn’t feel right.

Aerion gave me a look of pure disgust. “Are you truly asking me if I want that rusted piece of junk you’re holding?”

“Well, when you put it like that... So, uh, you’re not leaving,” I said, awkwardly trying to change the subject.

Aerion crossed his arms. “And you are,” he said, though I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a statement or a question.

“I was looking for a way out,” I said before I could catch myself.

“What do you mean looking?” He asked with a wry grin. “Did you hit your head, by any chance?”

I gave him an embarrassed smile. “Uh, something like that.”

“Truly? You're not joking?” His eyes widened when he realized I was being serious. “Oh... My apologies.“

Aerion hesitated, looking away, then back at me. “If... If you don’t want to come with me, that’s fine. I can show you to the nearest exit. Just… I feel we’d have better chances if we stay together.”

Sounds from the tunnel interrupted our conversation.

“How about we have this talk somewhere else?” I said.

“The Sanctuary Chamber,” Aerion said with a nod.

“Right. But first, let me see if I can get us an edge.”

I looked at my hard-won gear.

Initialize!