[A/N: Well, this chapter took longer to write than I expected. Seems I got a bit rusty. XD]
"Clair..." Jumping from the sudden voice from behind her, Clair turned around to see the scouting party...along with a dried husk of a corpse.
"My god...what happened?!" She shouted.
"We were...ambushed by creatures that hid in the forest. They were dangerous, and...we lost someone," Jay sorrowfully informed Clair before telling her their name and how they died.
She looked horrified but quickly put on a mask, showing that she was still their leader.
Taking the lead, she ordered the man to be buried and for those related to him to be notified. She then gathered the other council members, and Jay and Bright fully briefed them from start to finish on what had happened once they left the camp.
There, they quickly learned how dangerous the Jungle proved to be and that while it had plenty of food, it also had just as many dangers.
While the human leaders talked about what happened in the jungle, Kohl observed some other Humans began butchering and cooking what the scouting party brought back.
Now that their food problems were solved, Kohl wondered how they would take care of their water needs.
Getting lost in thought, Kohl realized that he completely forgot about the weather. Perhaps he should fashion a weather system of sorts to provide drinkable, clean water across the Dungeon?
Kohl was glad he was able to get visitors for his dungeon so soon. They were already helping Kohl in recognizing problems with his Dungeon that he probably wouldn't have noticed for a long time.
Though with that, Kohl wondered if he should add other harvestable resources that would interest future Dungeon Divers.
He already had plans for things such as Iron, Wood, and other basic materials, but what if he added things like Vibranium, Uru, Adamantium, Element, and so much more?
Kohl knew adding such materials, even if few in number, would greatly increase the attention his Dungeon would receive, as Humans could be quite the greedy race.
...
Days passed, and officially, a week had passed since Dr. Bright first connected to the system.
At the exact hour, a week later, from when he connected to the system, something changed.
...
/=======+=======\
System has completely integrated
Unlocking Quest Window
Congratulations, Jack Bright, on becoming an Integrated!
\=======+=======/
"...What?" Jack asked out loud, drawing the attention of the nearby Jay and Clair.
/=======+=======\
Daily Quest is available!
=[Gather Food]=
Description: Gather 15 lbs worth of Food from the Infinite IKEA and bring it back to your settlement.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Rewards: +10 EXP
\=======+=======/
"...What?!"
Chuckling to himself, Kohl watched as Bright freaked out and tried to slap the floating screen before his eyes away as its sudden appearance seemed to jump scare him, along with the audible 'Ding' it made.
Once Bright calmed down, he explained that a screen suddenly appeared before his eyes and tried to explain to Clair and Jay what a 'Quest' was and that he apparently could now get daily Quests that would give him a reward of some kind, in this case, EXP.
"You're saying this...Daily Quest will give you EXP for fulfilling some...task?" Clair asked, confused.
"Precisely!" Bright answered, pointing at Clair with a smile on his face, like one of those old game show hosts.
"But what's the quest for? What's the task you have to do?" Jay asked, still somewhat confused.
"That's...it wants me to go back into the IKEA...and grab 15 pounds of food before bringing it back..." Bright stated before the other two began arguing about it, stating that it was dangerous to go back in.
"No... it's not. We know the dangers inside the infinite IKEA. We, however, don't know all that lurks in the Jungle or any of the other biomes..." Jack argued.
"Still...what if the portal closes behind you?" Clair asked, concerned.
"That's a risk I am willing to take. After an entire week, the portal still remains stable. I doubt it would suddenly collapse without us noticing it first," Jack answered with a shrug.
"But what if it does?" Clair pushed.
"Then, at least I know there are ways to escape," Bright replied, brushing off her concern.
An uncomfortable silence took place as the three looked at one another, taking a deep breath, Bright broke the silence by stating, "Then...I guess I'll be back soon. If I am not, well, wish me luck, who knows, perhaps I'll have better luck than you guys," He joked.
"Good luck...and stay safe," Clair said goodbye, leaving Bright to turn around and begin walking towards the portal.
Stopping only for a moment, Bright took in a deep breath and reached out to touch the portal, disappearing with a golden flash when his hand made contact.
Kohl knew Bright had at most seven hours to complete his quest, one that Kohl personally assigned to him, to help the Humans realize that they could get what they need from the Infinite IKEA but remain within the Dungeon, not that Kohl planned on spelling out for them.
In a few hours, Clair and the other humans who were the first to integrate into the System would be given their Quest Windows, Kohl already had a few goals in mind that would set the Humans on track.
...
With a flash of Golden Light, Bright found himself standing inside the Infinite IKEA.
"Sigh, this damn IKEA," He cursed with a sigh before his eyes registered the sea of employees that surrounded him, no, surrounded the portal.
"Well...fuck."
...
Meanwhile, soon enough, Clair's Quest Window was unlocked, and Kohl assigned her a quest.
/=======+=======\
Daily Quest is available!
=[Curious Curiosities]=
Description: Watch all of the logs of one of the Gate Stations around the ARK
Rewards: +15 EXP
\=======+=======/
While Jay got a different Daily Quest.
/=======+=======\
Daily Quest is available!
=[Scouting]=
Description: Visit the outer edges of the four biomes surrounding your settlement.
Rewards: +25 EXP
\=======+=======/
"Jay...did you also just get a Daily Quest?" Clair asked, concern on her face.
"I did..." Jay answered.
"It wants me to listen to all of the logs of one of the Gate stations you visited...also, I think it just named the Obelisk floating above us," Clair stated, looking up.
"Wait, it gave the name of the obelisk?" Jay asked, momentarily confused.
"Yeah...the screen called it the 'ARK,'" Clair explained, looking up at the ARK.
"The ARK? As in Noah's ARK?" Jay asked, confused.
"What's that?" Clair asked.
"It's something from the Bible, at least I think it is. Haven't been to any church in well over a decade. If I remember correctly, Noah's ARK was some kind of boat meant to save two of every animal from some world-ending disaster," Jay explained.
"So i's meant to become sort of...safe haven?" Clair asked.
"I mean...I guess so that Guardian certainly protects us from the staff whenever they come out," Jay mentioned, looking off to the portal.
"Jay...what did Quest did it give you?" Clair asked, focusing her gaze on him.
"It wants me to scout out the edges of all of the biomes..." Jay spoke after a few moments, not looking her in the eye.
"You don't have to accept it, right? What happens if you don't do it?" Clair asked, more toward herself than Jay.
"I don't know," Jay answered, only for Clair to ask, "But can we risk it?"
The two looked between one another, silence once again taking hold.
Meanwhile, Kohl observed from above, wondering how the Humans would proceed now. There were plenty of cases of Humans being independent as a species, fighting against oppression and control. Would they eventually start trying to free themselves from the system? Or would the Humans start fracturing into many different factions?