Many hours later Theodore wakes up in a cave. He'd spent the rest of the prior day slowly sneaking through the woods, taking large detours around the few creatures he spotted. They hadnt been trying to hide so spotting them was relatively simple. What woke him up however, was the annoyingly bright glowing blue box now floating infront of his face.

Initializing System...

Initializing Localised VI Subsystem.. Initialized.

Calculating attributes.. Complete

Proccessing recent events.. Judging recent actions.. Granting Skills..

Estimating Current survival rate.. Low.

Local end user integration complete.

Welcome to Order. The last defense versus the chaos from beyond.

The Order System is Thought-Controlled. Merely think 'Status' to view your status screen.

Other keywords will be made known to you once you register for your class at the nearest safezone

Your planet is also being governed by an Advanced Virtual Intelligence. It has a database of responses to the most common questions new System Initiates may have.

The.. System? Is this what caused that meteorstorm earlier? and those cre-

Any events you may have experienced prior to System Initialization were not caused by the system itself. Rather, they were caused by the forces of chaos invading your planet.

The System was designed to protect species from the forces of chaos, and so implements itself onto a planet once a chaos infestations have been detected.

Hah. So you're saying you're not to blame. Fine. I have other things to worry about right now.. What was the keyword again? Interface? Status?

Status Name: Theodore Vance Titles: First-Wave Survivor Class: N/A -- Exp: N/A Skills: Stealth lvl 1, Denial lvl 1, Improvised Fighting lvl 1 Available Paths: Free Stat points: 0 Health: 10/10 (1/hr) Internal Influence: N/A External Influence: N/A Strength: 2 - Explosive physical power, Internal Influence cost/effect Ratio and muscle integrity. Vitality: 4 - Governs health Regeneration, General Bloodflow, Toxin Resistances and Internal Influence Recovery. Constitution: 2 - Governs General Tissue Strength, Disease Resistance, Healthpool and Internal Influence maximum. Agility: 3 - Governs Kinestetic senses, flexibility and speed of the body. Perception: 5 - Governs external senses, and general awareness. Reflex: 3 - Governs automated responses, Reaction speed and non-conscious responses to attacks. Focus: 6 - Governs how much willpower can be leveraged into mental attacks. Governs Effect of other stats on surrounding space. Intelligence: 4 - Governs Memory, Cognitive speed, and External Influence cost/effect ratio. Willpower: 2 - Governs Influence can be managed at once. Provides Resistance to mental trauma and attacks. Affinity: 0 - How attuned you are to chaos. Governs Internal And External Influence Regeneration.

These stats.. make sense? I always knew I wasnt very fit, and school wasnt exactly challenging.. But come on.. 4 Intelligence? I feel insulted.

So what else is there to see.. No class. Seems I get that later.. Skills? when did I get those..? so how do i.. Stealth?

Stealth lvl 1: Increases light absorbtion of the user while active by 0.5%, passively reduces noise of movement by 2%. Active use requires Internal Influence

Next we have.. Denial? Influence? I dont seem to have any. Guess I can only use the passive. Wait. Increases Light absorbtion? So it makes me darker? by a percentage? how does that even work? Wouldnt dark skinned people have way more use for this? Hell does it even matter if you have clothing covering yourself? GAH! I hate that I cant test this right now.

Denial lvl 1: Deny reality, or part of the reality around you. reduces your perception of what is denied by 2%. Does not use Internal or External Influence. Effect Scales with Focus and Skill level

... No answer? is that not a common question? What the hell System. You said it was an Advanced VI not a piece of budget crap!What kinda skill is this? Reduces my perception of something?? What is the point of that? Isnt this basically just debuffing my own perception?? Why would I want a skill that debuffs myself? Hey System, Can I remove skills?

Shaking his head in frustration Theodore looked towards the last skill he had.

Improvised Fighting lvl 1: Proves basic ability to handle weapons or improvised weapons. Increases durability of objects used in combat by 5%.

Before he could take a look at the rest of his status, another message appeared covering his status.This.. This seems pretty good? isnt this quite ridicolous though? 5% at level 1. Does that mean 500% at level 100? Could I break a rock using a stick? How does it decide wether an object is used in combat or not?

All Users integrated. Applying World Zone Template... Applied.

Wait what? Template? System what are you doing?

Your world is being remade to fit the battleground templates with the highest success rates versus the forces of Chaos.

Applying World Dangerlevel Template... Applied.

I dont suppose you have plans to revert that once the battle is over? I kinda liked the world.

Applying Safezones... Applied

And now you're not even replying.. Are you being passive agressive? is that what this is? Is it due to what I said earlier?

Applying World Dungeon Template...

At this point Theodore felt the ground shaking beneath him as everything around him started glowing white. The walls, the floor, even the caves exit that was just a few yards away was now hidden by the everpresent whiteness.

The light was only getting brigther and brighter. Feeling his eyes start to hurt Theodore clenched them closed.

For the love of god please tell me this is just a coincidence and that the cave I found didnt suddenly get selected to turn into a dungeon. If this is about what I said earlier then i'm Sorry! I didnt actually mean it! Please dont place me in a dungeon!

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Applied.

You have entered the Dungeon: Winterfallow Caves(lvl 53)

Congratulations! As one of the first humans to enter a dungeon; you get a share of the reward! +2 Perception!

Congratulations! As one of the first humans to enter a Advanced-level dungeon you get a share of the reward!

+67% increased Skill-experience for the next week!

+100% Increased Experience in the dungeon that triggered this reward!

+5 unallocated stat points!

He could see the notifications even with his eyes closed, and they brought him nothing but despair.

Level 53?! I'm level 1! No. NO! This is NOT happening. I'm not playing your game system! I'm leaving!

As Theodore yelled in his head at the system, he noticed that the notifications faded ever so slightly. Opening his eyes showed him that the light around him had faded ever so slightly aswell, as if someone had put very very weak sunglasses on him.

But the light was still blinding, it hurt even with his eyes closed, the skill gave him some slight hope however. Sitting on the ground and closing his eyes tight again he starts to repeat to himself.

There is no light there is no light there is no light there is no light

By this point the light was tapering off, much more than could be explained by his Denial skill. Theodore Waits for another few seconds for the light to become mananageable before opening his eyes.

This.. looks completely different.. and its cold, it wasnt cold before.

Slowly he turns his head to look around. The cave is bright. Glowing moss appears to be growing all over the walls that are now covered in moisture. A stark difference from the previous dry and dirty cave-entrance. As he finished his scan of the surroundings he was struck by a thought.

Wheres the cave exit? Did the system just remove the cave entrance? Fuck. It hates me doesnt it..

Theodore blinked and looked around once more. He seemed to be in a passageway in a cave. The walls on both sides were quite close to him. The passage only being wide enough to fit maybe 2 adult humans standing side by side. Beyond that the passage stretched far both to his right and left.

Thankfully i'm not claustrophobic. But considering the moisture.. I'm down pretty deep in the caves arent I? The food I have in my backpack wont last me forever and i'm sorely lacking in water.. I might be able to find that down here. But I'll need to escape this dungeon before I run out of food.

Theodore started heading down the path to his right. He saw no reason to just wait around.

As he was Traveling Theodore continued experimenting with his Denial skill. Denying the walls of the cave, His Fear of the current situation and even The freezing cold.

It appears to work just as fine for physical phenomenon like the cold as it does for more abstract things like my fear. How does that even work? I mean, what is Fear, and how can I reduce it? I'm pretty sure fear consists of millions of chemical and electrical interactions going on in my brain right now.. am I somehow ignoring all those happening? that doesnt even make sense.

Theodore started seeing more light coming from ahead just around a corner. Feeling some slight excitement and a large dose of apprehension he softened his footsteps and tried to stealthily peek around the corner to get a view of what was emitting all this light.

What he found nearly struck him speechless.

So many trees.. There's an entire forest down here. And.. a sun?

High High up in the ceiling Theodore saw the source of the light; it was too bright to make out any details but clearly it was huge, probably as large as a small buidling. Denying the light did little to help him withstand it.

Looking away from the painful sun Theodore focused his attention on the Trees. He saw what looked Like palm trees, and yet right next to them were giant Evergreens. There were even Maple trees! All of them were Vividly green, even in this cold temperature. There were hip-heght bushes of some kind spread out over the ground and short grass was growing where there were no other plants. Looking to the sides Theodore could see no walls or end to the forest, plants stopping his vision from reaching that far. But even just what he could see was several football fields wide. atleast 6 or 7, the cave was utterly gigantic.

Not seeing any movement amongst the flora Theodore procceded out of his small cave and into the larger..

Can this even be called a cave? The ceiling is atleast 50 yards up, there are trees and even a pseudo sun!

keeping his cane close to his body Theodore cautiously walked further into the forest.

This really is just like an aboveground forest.. Perhaps I'll find a spring here and solve my water problem? Hah! there might even be fish.

Feeling somewhat giddy now that he'd found open space Theodore kep walking with a slight spring to his step. Feeling the soft dirt beneath him easily parting for his feet and leaving highly visible footsteps.

After a few minutes of searching Theodore managed to locate a stream. The increased perception didnt seem to help him noticeably, but he still managed to spot many animals while moving around. They all seemed more afraid of him than he did of them however. Running the moment he got close. He even stumbled upon a boar that got so startled it ran right into a tree trying to escape from him.

Wasnt this supposed to be a high level dungeon? Why are there only common animals here?

shaking his head to disperse that line of thinking he sat down next to the stream to quench his thirst.

This could make a good camp-site while I explore the rest of this cave..

Interrupting his thoughts another Notification appeared.

World Initialization Complete. Procceding with Chaos Inoculation for Sentients

Welcome User. Do you wish to procced with Chaos Inoculation?

What? I dont know what that means..

Chaos Inoculation is the proccess through which living beings are granted resistance to the corrupting influences of chaos. The proccess is very painful, and in some cases will result in your demise. We advice you seek a safe area with others you trust to guard you during the proccess. Successful Inoculation will also allow you to use Internal and External Influence and gain skills pertaining to the two.

So what? what even is that Influence anyway? Why would I care about being inoculated?

Internal and External Influence are ordered versions of Chaos energy. Raw Chaos is extremely corruptive and often harmful to the user. Order therefore structures the chaos energy absorbed into safer versions of this energy for the user. Even these safer versions can be harmful however, and Inoculation is required to safely handle them.

And if I dont accept this?

Not accepting the inoculation will lead to being labeled a monster. You will become an enemy of the system and will provide experience and stat rewards to any user that later kills you

So it's blackmail. huh. Not sure what I expected. Fine. I accept the Inoculation.

As soon as Theodore thought his acceptance he fell over, his body spazming and his mind filled with white hot radiating pain. He could feel his blood pumping through every vein of his body like liquid lightning. Every movement he made caused his now hypersensitive nerves to go alight with even more pain. His vision shrinking from the intense pain Theodore realized he would soon pass out if he didnt do anything. Perhaps that would be fine, but he wasnt in a safe place, nor did he have anyone guarding his body. So he focused all the willpower he could manage and did the only thing he could think of: He Denied the pain.

With all the willpower he could musterhe denied the pain before it could consume him. A few seconds felt like half an eternity.

NO MORE NO MORE NO MORE NO MORE NO MORE