Only now that I understood the source of my unease, and our lack of solution to that problem, could I justify shifting my attention to browsing the new bounties that had been given to me on exiting the dungeon.

World Traveler

All Stats +5. Grants a small benefit to Mental Fortitude.

The gaze of the unknown tempers the mind. When the abyss stares, you find the courage to stare back.

Bravery [P] has reached LV. 4

And as if reading the title was like unboxing a present, my Bravery talent immediately gained a level. Mental Fortitude? That wasn’t a stat in the character sheet unless it was retroactively added. I opened my stats again to check.

Name: Mike Reynolds Class: Necromancer Level: 28 EXP: 50%

HP: 1578/1655 MP: 625/625

STR: 5 + 7 Fear Resistance: 5

AGI: 2 + 5 Shadow Resistance: 5

DEX: 5 + 6 Disease Resistance: 30

VIT: 29 +44 Cold Resistance: 5

WIS: 27 +53 Lightning Resistance: 5

Available: 21 Fire Resistance: 15

Skills: [A] Summon Skeleton LV. 11 | [A] Summon Skeleton Mage LV. 5 | [A] Decay LV. 4 | [A] Reanimate Dead LV. 4 | [A] Bone Armor LV. 3 | [A] Vast Shadows | [A] Temporary Grave LV. 1 | [P] Sixth Sense | [P] Bravery LV. 4 | [P] Mutated | [P] Pain Resistance LV. 3 | [P] Skeletal Mastery LV. 5 | [P] Intimidate Living LV. 2 | [P] Inner Calm LV. 3 | [P] Necrotic Vision | [P] Blood Thirsty LV. 2 | [P] Cold Hearted LV. 2 | [P] Poison Immunity | [P] Branded

Mental Fortitude wasn’t anywhere in the menus, nor in my character sheet. The flavor text mentioned courage, and my Bravery also leveled up after receiving the title, too. However, Pain Resistance didn’t change, which I expected to also be some sort of fortitude-related trait. “Does anyone have a stat called Mental Fortitude?” I decided to ask.

“Are you asking because of the title?” Anna asked.

“Yeah, it says increased Mental Fortitude but I don’t see a stat for it. One of my passives leveled up after receiving it though.”

“Mine did too,” Lucas said.

“What was the passive? What does it do?” I asked.

“It’s called Steadfast, and it increases my courage depending on how many enemies I’m facing.”

“Mine as well, Bravery.”

And then Jessica called up from the front a moment later, as if she just checked on her title. “Mine also leveled, Hunter’s Courage.”

“I don’t feel any braver,” Maria said.

“Is it important though? Or are we just talking semantics?” Lucas asked.

“Well, I don’t think this is specifically important,” I answered, “but I was under the impression that stats dictated everything. Now we have an invisible stat giving tangible benefits to us. Does that mean at an innate level I am braver than someone else?”

“Like being as strong as someone with five strength points when you only have one?” Richard offered.

“Exactly.”

“How many titles do you think we can have?” Glenn asked everyone.

And before anyone else could give any thought to the question Jessica called out, “There’s something up ahead on the map.”

I looked at my map and could see somewhere further along the road, well into the point where the map was simply greyed out with no features, a glowing green square. There was no notification, no information about it and touching the map did nothing to identify it. A green square in a sea of grey, and because of the map having no features or landmarks, it was difficult to tell exactly just how far away it actually was.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Any thoughts?” I asked before voicing my own opinion.

“We don’t have any direction right now anyway.” Alan’s meaning was clear.

“Treasure.” Anna only had one word to say about it.

It became obvious very quickly which way we were leaning as a group, “Red means stop and green means go,” I added.

“Then it’s settled.” Jessica stamped her seal of approval and we continued moving forward. Alan was feeling a bit more excited so he joined Jessica at the front to dispatch the wandering zombies and ghouls that stumbled upon us. At our current level we would need to adventure into some named or dangerous zone to fight enemies that would give us experience. Out here in the middle of nowhere were simply small fry that Jessica could dispatch with a single arrow.

This was a rather uneventful way to travel, but once we passed the lumber farm, the landscape morphed around us into open farmland. I stayed in most days, gaming, and never enjoyed the countryside, but I was feeling even more grateful that I lived here instead of a big city or populated area.

While boring, we had clear skies, a clear view, and a solid road under us. Honestly, it beat the hell out of trekking through a swamp, so I couldn’t ask for much more. Moving on foot towards the green square, there were hours and hours of walking we needed to do, but we were making good progress.

“Based on what it looks like on the map we’ll be there before nightfall.” Lucas had been keeping track of the map every half hour, and I was glad for that. I had spent most of my time thinking about my next move.

My gear was now far and above what it was before, and definitely not something that would hold me back anytime soon. I had an open skill slot right now which came from a reward for killing the Fiend, and at Level 30 I’d receive another. I needed two new abilities that fit well with my current build. Probably, that should be related to my undead troops. I had to admit, my summoned warriors were quite versatile.

The other question we all had was what did the system mean when it said our ability had evolved? There was nothing apparent in my skill sheet. None of my skills seemed any different, either. I came back to the thought that maybe something innate about us had changed. Ability was another word for ‘skill’, but ability could also mean many things not skill related. Were we just… better now, more able? And if so, what did that mean?

A ton of things came to mind, but until we had tangible evidence it would be nothing but hopeful dreaming. The prickling on the back of my neck hadn’t gone away, and I needed to find a new skill soon. In hindsight, it was honestly unacceptable to have gone through the dungeon down a skill, as that could have been unbelievably dangerous.

We experienced a lot of fortunate encounters, but I was sure of one thing. If it was similar to our first dungeon experience, someone would have probably died inside. I had been incredibly lucky, truthfully. Not only was I strong individually, I also had reliable teammates with a variety of skills, and we were good at working together.

Even if I only had a single skill, just my Summon Skeletons, I’d probably be stronger than a large chunk of people. But if I wanted the kind of power to that was going to keep my friends alive in this post-apocalyptic world, ‘just enough’ wasn’t going to cut it.

“I think that’s it up ahead.” Jessica said. Maybe a mile up was a white building standing two or three stories tall just off the road.

It wasn’t spectacular in any way, just a plain white cube with a door and dark windows and absolutely no other character at all. Even more interesting were the miles of empty space behind it, as if it flattened the earth around it before appearing. But the most interesting thing of all, “Why is that building standing?” I asked. Every building we’d seen since the quaking had been toppled and destroyed, and we knew now that was by design.

“I don’t know, but let’s go!” Maria yelled excitedly. “A place to sleep, woo!” And no one could complain with her logic, we could always take a closer look and make a judgment once we were there.

Soon we found ourselves standing in front of the cube, admiring the blood red hue the sky painted it.

“What’s it supposed to be?” Anna asked.

“A creepy hotel…” Maria groaned.

“What do you think?” I looked at Jessica.

“There’s nothing inside,” she answered.

I was confident in her, so I walked forward first and grabbed the door knob, and received a system message.

Congratulations! You have discovered a resting zone!

Huh?

As the first person to discover this zone, you have become its owner.

That was all the system said. “Hey, what’re you waiting for? Open the door,” Maria pushed from behind.

“I got a message,” I replied, “it’s some sort of rest zone.” And then I opened the door revealing a fully-furnished, beautiful interior. The darkness I expected wasn’t there, even, and that was the most shocking thing. There was electricity inside, lights illuminated everything as if we had gone back in time.

It was dead silent behind me, and when I looked back, I could see my friends all with the same face of confusion and surprise.

“Could… could there be running water?” It was Jessica who asked, and to be honest I expected Anna or Maria to be the first, but they were still too stunned to speak.

“Dibs on a window room!” Richard snapped out of it and ran forward, going inside, with the others following after him. Lucas and Glenn took their time browsing the first floor, while Anna, Maria, Alan and Richard raced up the stairs bickering like children. Thomas went to find a bathroom and Jessica and I found a seat on the first floor and sat down.

It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders as I sank into the couch cushion, “Is this a trap?” Although I wanted to believe in this place, I had to ask, “Maybe it’s an illusion?” I waved my hand in front of Jessica’s face

She flicked my forehead which caused me to wince in pain, “Seems like you’re awake.” She grinned.

“You know you’re stronger than you think.” There was now a red pulse right in the middle of my head, mostly from her flick but a bit of my own rubbing. It really did hurt…

“What is this place?”

I delved into my character sheet and eventually found it. There was an entire section listed here, and the building we were in was there as a skill.

Humble Abode LV. 1: A small but sturdy home, it should protect you from the elements.

There was more there to read, but something clicked after reading it. “The portal…” I said.

“Wait, you’re right,” Jessica realized it at the same time, “Branded isn’t there.”

The debuff wasn’t there in my skill sheet, either. Which meant this system-built home protected us from the eye’s vision, from its rapid degeneration. It made sense, but not from my understanding of how depraved this world was. I started reading through descriptions and then it became clear—the reason why humble abode was a skill.

It confused me at first, because I didn’t understand how a home could be leveled, but then I saw what came next.

Waves of Demons slain: 0

Time Until Next Wave: 62:39:31

I should have known the system wouldn’t give us anything for free… so we needed to survive waves of demon attacks, and then what? I looked further, and realized there were so many levels to the skill, and that eventually… maybe…

I looked at Jessica, “I think we’re going to be really busy.” I said.

“Huh? With what?”

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer, “Create a bastion for human civilization, save the world, that sort of thing… probably.”