“Can someone change Classes?,” Loch asked Cerie as he and his daughters walked across the school yard, heading east.

The fairy, flying a couple feet ahead of the Brady family, turned to glance at him sharply. Loch was looking off to the side. Following his gaze, Cerie saw Loch watching people pulling up large chunks of pavement, others carrying pavement to the mounds that were being formed under the supervision of the landscape architect, who had received a Class just yesterday. Land Engineer. It was a combination of Crafting and some combat capability, geared to creating fortifications. Loch wasn’t looking at him, but the laborers. Cerie understood his question.

“Yes,” she replied, slowing down to fly closer so she could talk quieter. “It is very difficult and the Adapted will lose a lot of their gained power. Mostly just that associated with the original Class but it could be more.”

“What do you mean?,” Piper asked.

“When the Adapted chooses to change their Class, they are reset to Level One,” Cerie answered. “And they lose anything they have gained associated with their Class. Not just their Abilities and Skills but also their Levels, Stats and Achievements.”

“That sounds horrible,” Harper said, Loch happy that her mood had improved in the last couple of days.

He hoped this little trip would help. There was nothing pressing, nothing demanding his attention. Most of his personal group were running Dungeons with people closer to their Levels. Brian, Julia and a couple others were heading east along Route Four to run the Challenge Dungeon. Another team of around Level Seven to Nine, including Lucy Graham the scavenger team leader, were also going to run the Challenge Dungeon. The hope was to get more Spatial Bags. When Davis and Drew’s groups had run the Dungeon, they’d each gotten a bag but they were soulbound. The scavengers needed the bags, which meant they needed to run the Dungeon.

Group, team, party. So many words to mean the same thing. They needed to come up with a consistent term. It was starting to get confusing. Loch smiled as he added it to his ongoing lists. It was such a minor item compared to what he usually added to the mental list.

And the lists were starting to get shorter. Things were starting to get removed.

There was nothing for Loch to do, so he had decided to take the day for him and the girls and it was starting out with a picnic. As much of a picnic as they could manage with the food and drinks available to the Clan currently. Loch was really just looking forward to a peaceful day with his girls.

It was something they hadn’t had in weeks.

He’d first thought of going to Northwood Meadows but there were monsters in the woods and along the trails. That didn’t seem very relaxing and peaceful.

They’d settled on the one small island in Harvey Lake. It was connected to the mainland by a thin strip of land, making it not truly an island. Of decent size and the land bridge being behind the school, the island had been used for many outdoor lessons and activities. There had even been some camping on it occasionally.

Because it was so close to the school, Loch could quickly get back with a couple of Windsteps. Not that he wanted to. Ed and the others had the Clan mostly under control, but Loch was feeling a little superstitious that morning. It was too calm and he was afraid something would happen. He hoped nothing would.

“Why would anyone change a Class then?,” Piper asked.

“Because they don’t want to do that forever,” Loch answered, motioning to the Laborers. “Someday, I hope people can be in a position to choose what they want to do with their lives.”

“It is not truly that bad,” Cerie added. “When starting over the Adapted is back to Level One but they still retain any Achievements they earned that were not directly related to their Class and Level. Things like Kill or Bane titles would stay, as the Adapted did earn those through their actions. They would lose the Level Milestone Achievement but would be able to gain it back.”

“So they start with an advantage?,” Harper asked.

“Yes, in terms of overall stats compared to other low Levels and Classless. They also have experience depending on their previous Class that can apply as well as just life experience.”

“There doesn’t sound like any drawbacks,” Harper said.

“There are some. They have a harder time Leveling. Because they have increased Stats, when doing Dungeons and facing monsters the Connection calculates them as a higher Level and so their gained Spirit Experience is lower. Unlike your Father who can face higher Level opponents with ease…”

“I wouldn’t say with ease,” Loch interrupted, earning a glare from the fairy.

“These Second Classed Adapted, as they are known, have a hard time doing Dungeons with like-Leveled parties. They are stronger but only in specific places. Overall they are not a match for higher Leveled threats that would give them better experience gains. There is also the cultural and societal impacts. Going from a high Level to a lower can affect their overall status within their Clans.”

“That could be a big negative,” Harper muttered.

“Indeed.”

They fell silent as they walked down to the shoreline east of the school, where the trail across the landbridge reached the mainland. With the increased size of Harvey Lake, the island had also gotten bigger, the land bridge longer. But as it was close to the school, the hunters had already combed the island. There was nothing there.

Which made it perfect for a picnic.

The land bridge was behind the white church, near the corner of the cemetery. As they got closer, they could see people fighting, facing off against Skeletons and Zombies. Loch recognized Steph and the twins. The trio, with one of the Clan’s newest Healers behind them, fought the boss monster of the Spawn Field.

It was a zombie giant, standing ten feet tall. The thing was fast, long arms whipping down. Steph ducked under one, a twin circling to the side and stabbing with his spear. A real spear, not some make-shift weapon. The tip penetrated the moldy hide of the zombie, digging in deep. The twin twisted, pulling the weapon out and taking a large chunk of zombie flesh with it.

Loch and the girls kept walking, glancing at the fighting. There was no need for them to jump in and help. The Clan Brady members in the cemetery had it under control.

With the sounds of fighting behind them, Loch led his girls onto the land bridge.

***

The bridge was overgrown. Plants grew out of the water on both sides of the narrow strip of land. It was only three or four feet wide, the growth making it seem even thinner. Roots grew across the top, with some fallen leaves. The waters of the lake had washed out parts of the bridge, leaving gaps a couple feet wide.

Nothing that stopped the Bradys, who could easily jump the gaps.

It was clear that no one had crossed the bridge in weeks. Loch didn’t even see any animal tracks along the trail. They saw some frogs hopping in the weeds, some normal sized turtles and jumping fish just off shore. A couple of birds flew through the trees.

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He stopped onto the island, following the trail up a small slope. The island’s sides sloped up from the water, only about ten to fifteen feet, fairly steep and covered in bushes or loose pine needles. The island was thick with trees, a trail running along the perimeter with a couple of small clearings. One was at the far end, close to the water, where some of the bushes had once been cleared to allow for canoes and kayaks to land. That clearing had a small fire pit and it was where Loch led the girls.

They walked along the north side of the island, the trail near the top of the slope. It wasn’t as overgrown as the bridge, but still showed no sign of anyone or anything’s passage. Looking north, Loch could just see the large brick building that was the school through the trees. People at the shore were visible, pushing boats out onto the lake to do some fishing. Harvey Lake wasn’t large and it would be easy to completely drain it of fish. They could use the food, but the fishermen were thinking long term and wanting to make sure the Lake stayed stocked.

There were plans to send some of the fishermen west to Northwood Lake. With guards at the wall along Route 4, and barracking in some of the nearby houses, it should be safe enough for the fishermen and the wall was close enough to the lake. The problem was how to get the few boats the Clan had to the other lake.

Most of the larger motor boats had been taken by the Worldcore, just like the cars had been. The scavengers hadn’t hit those houses along the lake yet. They assumed there would still be some kayaks and canoes, just like how they had found some along the shore of Harvey Lake and in some of the other houses in town.

Ed Turner was thinking that they’d send the scavengers first, to try and find some boats, and then send the fishermen. That way, they’d know if they had to take any of the boats from the school. No one was looking forward to the overnight trip from the school to Northwood Lake lugging boats over the broken roads.

It was a good plan. Loch wasn’t sure how well the fishing would be on Northwood Lake, especially with the Gaviat and its cry. The guards at the wall, when they came back from their rotation, had said the giant bird could be heard at least every other night, the cry echoing over the water. They had gotten used to it, no longer feeling the depressing effects, but it took a long time.

But if they could start bringing in a lot of fish, it would go a long way to supplementing their meat stores. The turkeys in the spawn field by their old house were supplying a lot of meat now and because it was a spawn point, they didn’t have to worry about running out. The problem was that only one turkey out of every twenty or so killed dropped a full bird’s worth of meat. A full bird of those sizes could feed a lot of people for a meal. The chickens by the old dump wouldn’t start producing meat or eggs for a while, most likely not until the Spring. The Ranchers were working on increasing the chicken population. It would take a large amount of chickens to supply the Clan in meat and eggs and still have enough population to keep the supply coming.

The Hunters were still bringing in deer. With the additional sources of meat, it would help keep the Clan going. Loch really wanted to find some cows and start raising those. He, and others, were afraid that the Clan would grow too fast for their food production means and that they would be in danger of killing off all the meat supplying animals in the area. The further they went out, the longer it took to get the meat back and the more likely the Hunters would run into others, either another human settlement or invaders.

The Clan’s Butchers had started smoking the meat to make it last longer. The cooks were still rationing, keeping an eye on what they were giving out in the communal kitchens. Loch hoped that by this time next year, the communal kitchen wouldn’t need to feed the entire Clan. He knew that it would be a long time until everyone in the Clan had their own homes again, their own means of gathering or buying food, but he wanted to be making progress toward that soon.

He wanted fresh fruit. Loch had never realized how much fruit he ate, or how good a juicy strawberry was, until he had none. When they had raided the Grandford’s, all the fruit had already rotted. There had been some canned stuff, even though he had never liked it, he’d eaten it. Luckily scurvy was not something they had to worry about with their Adapted bodies.

Most diseases were a thing of the past. A rare benefit of the Connection.

So far the Scavengers hadn’t found any fruit seeds, but everyone was hoping.

The walk along the perimeter of the island was peaceful. They didn’t really talk, just enjoying being with each other and nothing pressing pushing at them. It had been awhile since they had been able to just enjoy time as a family and not as Adventurers and Adapted.

Loch could see the clearing at the end of the island, the blue waters of Harvey Lake visible through the trees. He cursed as they got closer.

“Dad,” Piper teased, being in the back. “Don’t swear..,” she trailed off, seeing what had made him curse.

The firepit, a small area of blackened ash surrounded by small rocks, was in the middle of the leaf and pine needle covered clearing. Logs had been laid around the pit, giving people places to sit. A gap in the trees along the edge led to a small beach and a couple rocks just above the waterline, a place to walk out on and sit, enjoying the small lake.

But to the side was something new. It hadn’t been there weeks ago when the first Clanmembers had come out to explore the island. They would have mentioned it.

A mound of dirt, about ten feet high rose above the island, extending out into the lake with the top sloping down, disappearing in the water. Moss grew along the curved sides, along with pine needles and small plants. The front had a slight slope, a dark hole in the middle.

“What is that?,” Harper asked, walking closer.

Loch stopped in front of the dark entrance. The floor sloped down sharply, the exposed sides and curved top covered in vines and roots. It looked like there were puddles gathered, a thin stream flowing down into the depths.

“It is a Dungeon,” Cerie said, flying closer. She stopped just outside, not flying the extra couple inches into the entrance.

“What’s it doing here?,” Loch asked. “It wasn’t here before.”

“Dungeons can form almost anywhere and at anytime,” Cerie said. “But typically it is when there is a lot of Spirit released or a momentous battle or occurrence.”

Loch thought about the Crone Dungeon that had formed after they’d defeated the Silver Bark Night Crone. That Dungeon was high Level and so far none of the Clan Brady Adventurers had delved it. But that explanation didn’t make sense here. There was no huge release of Spirit on this island and nothing had happened. No one had stepped foot on the island in weeks.

Loch looked around at the ground, moving closer to the shore. He didn’t see any tracks, but that really didn’t mean anything. It had rained, but the ground was dry and hard. Not a good environment for tracks. He wondered if the Dragon Turtle had been on the island? Had Unfey done something that could have prompted the creation of the Dungeon?

And it didn’t necessarily have to be right there on the island. Maybe just off shore, or along the southern edge that they hadn’t walked. Maybe in the middle?

None of the sentries at the school had reported seeing lights, energy flashes or hearing anything on the island. But it would still be possible that Unfey had fought something.

The hows and whys really didn’t matter. The Dungeon existed, which meant it needed to be dealt with or there would be a breach and monsters would swarm out. That couldn’t happen, not this close to the school.

“It is a Rank Two Dungeon,” Cerie said, glowing brighter as she examined the entrance.

“Not a shifting one like the Painted Caves?”

“No. It is like the Lynxia Dungeon, set in Rank.”

“The threats wouldn’t be adjusted if I went in,” Loch asked.

“No.”

He walked closer to the entrance, feeling humid air coming up the tunnel. Loch could feel the barrier, the Dungeon’s entrance, about five feet into the tunnel. It was low, especially with the slope. He’d have to crouch. Brian Jefferson would have a hard time entering the tunnel at all.

“Anyway to tell how close to surging it is?”

“Unfortunately no,” Cerie answered.

“Crap,” Loch muttered. He sighed. “Let’s head back to the School. We can let Alison know about it and she’ll assign a team”

“Why can’t we run it,” Harper asked. “We’ve got our stuff.”

They had come for a picnic, leaving the school with no armor or weapons. But all their gear was in Piper’s Spatial Bag. Close to the school, venturing out onto an island that supposedly had no threats, Loch wouldn’t allow them to go without their weapons and armor readily available if needed. And he always had access to Onyx.

“Rank Two is low Leveled for us,” Loch answered. “We’d barely get any Spirit or usable loot. It would be a waste of time where others could get more benefits.”

“Yeah, but we can also safely map it out and tell them what to expect. Making it easier and safer for them,” Harper said, smiling.

Loch sighed. She had a point.

“Okay, fine,” he grumbled. “Get your gear on.”

He hoped the Dungeon run wouldn’t take long. Maybe they’d still be able to get their picnic in.