October 27th, 2023
3 PM EST
Alastar
Wake up Star, you are in danger!
The voice rattled in Alastars head as he woke up. He had cotton mouth, completely dry, and he was unable to focus easily. Even his stomach felt mostly empty. All of that was quickly driven out by a heavy pain that filled his head, he had such a massive headache that no one could so easily believe. “W-Wah?” He mumbled, shaking his head.
Oh thank the gods of luck you are finally awake! The voice was familiar, but it took him a minute to remember that it was Vajra’s. His odd fox familiar who was taking care of him while he trained. How long had he been asleep? I couldn’t wake you up, and dangers have started to spring up. The museum, it hasn’t been claimed, and it’s begun to evolve into a dungeon.
“A dungeon? Like in a dungeon core novel?” Alastar asked without much hope of being answered.
Exactly like a dungeon core novel. And I’ve kept you from becoming a dungeon core because you decided to go into a gods damned coma in unclaimed territory. I have had to protect your ass, now get up. Alastar felt as the fox slammed its paws into his tummy. He suddenly felt sick, but even as he almost threw up he realized all that was in his stomach was bile.
“Shit, well, okay then. I suppose it’s not as bad as it could be.” Alastar said, looking around. The hall looked normal, but as he looked he realized there were several animal corpses on the ground. They didn’t have the smell of death that road kill had, instead they smelled like Formaldehyde and other chemicals he’d grown familiar with over the last year.
Yeah, well, this place is going to be a dungeon and it’s going to be wild unless someone claims it. The fox walked back and began to lick its paw, absent and aloof like a cat.
“Well I need to try to do that. I can’t let what’s here be lost. Already so much has been… destroyed.” He looked sadly at the bodies that had clearly once been exhibits. “I need to claim it.”
Well, you’d need to get the right kind of skill. Does your next quest give you that? The fox asked with a clear questioning tone.
“I uh… didn’t think to look” Alastar said, embarrassedly, as he pulled up the next quest.
> New Quest!
>
> New Quest: (Virg…
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
>
> Error 203-999
>
> Recalibrating…
>
> New Quest: (Libra) Balance the Scales of Fate
>
> Description: You have attacked the forming
>
> Reward: Dungeon Master Skill
“Welp. This system doesn’t even pretend to not be watching us huh?” Alastar said after having read the notification.
Not particularly, no. Vajra said, a grin on its foxy lips. I assume you got something that’ll help you with this problem?
“Yeah, basicly. The quest reward is a dungeon master skill. All I have to do is try and help the subway dungeon or it might collapse.” Alastar hummed to himself. “Does that mean magically or physically? Because that could lead to a lot of distruction and I really don’t want that anyway. This sounds like a win win.”
Both, normally. If it’s a forming dungeon it has probably started to expand slightly so the destruction might be even more than you think. Vajra informed him, standing up. Now get off your lazy butt. We need to find something to go and solve this problem, right?
“I think I have an idea.” Alastar said, getting up. “But first, I need something to eat and drink.”
Vajra nodded. Okay, I’ll stay ahead of you, you can’t fight til you eat. I’ll protect you for now. Vajra lead the way from the hall he was sitting in down to the vending machine. Occasionally they were interrupted by something, but thankfully that hadn’t been in one of the major halls with large animals so the small fox seemed more than able to take care of them. In fact, the familiar almost seemed delighted when it pounced on a small animal like a butterfly and ripped it apart.
Even though Alastar knew that each of these steps was trying to kill him, he really didn’t like having to deal damage to these valuable specimens. Sure some of these were rather new, but even the new ones were occasionally made up of rare materials and creatures that were going extinct.
“I never thought about it, but some of these things… they might be extinct now. I mean the magic has done a lot to activly change and disrupt things right? Creatures who have less than a thousand specimens. in the wild might just be straight up gone.” Alastar didn’t know how he felt a lot that this was. seems come true and he wasn’t happy that his dream would come at the cost of animals and biodiversity.
Well. Vajra said through a mouthful of beetle. The system has an appriciation for rare and unique things. Those creatures probably got a lot of help. They might not be the same, magic can mutate after all, but they’ll exist in some form.
“That’s something, but even then, we loose what there already was.” Alastar said. He turned the corner and there they were, the vending machines. It was odd, they didn’t seem damaged but their contents had been thrown to the ground. He dug through them and grabbed some Cheetos and a ginger ale. He had to start small.
Well, there are plenty Leary of people who try to preserve pre system things. For special materials or mana if nothing elss. Hell, much of the art on your world has already been sold off for that reason, as a special cultivation artifact.
“Sold? By who?” Alastar asked, wondering if aliens had in fact invaded.
The system. And, well, you guys. Certain quests are to grab artifacts which then are sold in system stores to nobles. They may not be on earth, but they are cared for. Especially by gods who need anything to advance.