Lucas and Bart sat in a small waiting room with 14 other people. A bored-looking clerk stepped into the room, holding a stack of papers.

“Welcome. You are the eight groups who have been selected for participation in the ‘Exploration of the Deepoak Tunnels’ mission. This is part of an initiative to encourage the quick progression of new adventurers to help staff this understaffed branch of the adventurer’s guild. You will all be sent into the tunnels to search for information, treasures and unknown monsters. By the end of the month, you are expected to have returned with whatever you have found. Any group that does not return within the time limit is disqualified from the competition. The group which either has the most useful information, treasures or unknown monster parts will win one tier 0 aspect gem that they get to pick from a selection that will be presented to them. Considering the result of the last attempt at this contest, where only one group made it out of the tunnels, with one member dead and no information, treasures or monster parts gained, we have added a new clause to the competition. If you are the only group to make it out alive, you will automatically receive the prize. Any questions? No? Good. Good luck on your quest adventurers.”

Lucas and Bart walked through the empty tunnels. They had been in the dungeon for 3 days already but had found absolutely nothing. There were no caverns, no monsters, no treasures, no traps, nothing.

Bart had taught Lucas about how to draw his aspect out of him and how to shape it into more powers. Normally this wouldn’t be recommended until he had at least 2 essences due to the amount of corruption it can create but due to his perfect essence he could start early. After the first week of training in the tunnels Lucas had gained his second skill.

Rainbow Blade

You can form a blade out of rainbows.

It didn’t have as many different benefits as his Rainbow Cloak did, but it was still a useful trick. Lucas had a small amount of control on the shape and size of a blade, but it always seemed to be some variation of a long sword.

Bart and Lucas carried on their journey through the caves. It was on the third week of travel that they found something interesting. A snapped adventurer’s badge lay in front of a sharp corner. When Lucas and Bart turned the corner, they saw a giant open hall made entirely out of wood. On the back wall, there was a giant stone tablet covered in blank stone squares. Inside the room, 14 dead bodies sat slumped across the floor. Some were torn into shreds, others were flattened and some seemed to be perfectly unharmed. Lucas and Bart entered the room with their weapons drawn.

They entered the room cautiously, back to back, looking out for surprise attacks or signs of life, but none came. They examined the corpses and checked the walls for secret pressure plates or trip hooks but nothing appeared. After hours of searching the only thing left untouched was the giant stone tablet in the back of the room. Bart gave Lucas the go ahead and watched as he pushed in a stone panel. Suddenly, 14 other stone panels also pushed in, and 8 others filled in with numbers. Bart readied himself for an attack, but none came. Lucas stared up at the giant bored, and realised that this was a giant minesweeper board. How a game that had originated on his homeworld less than 40 years ago was on a giant underground tablet in some other random part of the universe which had apparently been here for thousands of years, Lucas didn’t know. What Lucas did know was how to play minesweeper.

Lucas quickly moved along the stone tablet, pressing in every square that wasn’t a mine. Lucas had got to the final two squares, which there was no way to tell apart. There was a 1 in 2 chance that he would activate a mine and if he did, there was no doubt in his mind the number of corpses in this room would be 16. Before Lucas made his guess, a purple flash of light burst out from the opposite side of the room. Lucas felt everything slow for a split second, as a man appeared.

Lucas spun on the heel to see a short man step out from the light. He was dressed in a white robe and stood with a slight hunch to his shoulders. Bart flung a dagger at the man but it fell apart as soon as it left his hand. The man stood there, watching Lucas but not making any move. He seemed to have some sort of time related power, which didn’t fare well for Lucas. If this man wanted to, he could have probably already killed Lucas but instead he just stood there and watched him.

Lucas ignored the presence of the man and turned back to the end of the puzzle. Worrying about problems he couldn’t solve wouldn’t help him. Lucas jabbed at the stone piece in the corner and saw it fall in with no mine. He sighed a breath of relief and heard a rumbling come from behind the tablet.

He turned around to see the old man nodding, before a bright flash of purple light appeared and he disappeared. Bart threw a second knife at the spot he had just been in, only to blink in confusion. “Where did he go?”

“He just vanished. He showed up and watched me complete the puzzle before vanishing away. You were frozen in place for a minute.” Lucas never turned away from the puzzle in front of him.

The large stone tablet slowly groaned as it was pulled deep into the floor and a small stone tunnel was revealed. Bart walked up to the door and gestured for Lucas to follow. The two arrived in a small room. It was entirely empty except for a large box in the middle. Bart stepped over to the large box and pried the lid off with a dagger. Inside the box sat a single wooden stick, marked with a symbol. Bart pulled it out of the box and tried identifying it.

Seal of The Seven Suns (Artefact)

An ancient seal designed to break the Seven Sun’s influence. It seems to have been designed thousands of years ago by a great warrior of nature who used his own soul to forge the seal.

Bart whistled as he read the item's description. “Hey Lucas, look at this beauty. If we get this back to the adventurer’s society we will live it big for the rest of our lives.”

He chucked the item at Lucas, who caught it awkwardly. Lucas looked at the seal and felt it pulse in his hands.

CONDITIONS MET.

The Seal of The Seven Suns has been turned into “Aspect of The Seven Suns”.

You have bonded to the Artefact Aspect “Aspect of The Seven Suns”.

The Seal of The Seven Suns has been broken.

Lucas stared at the prompts in shock. Before he had a chance to react further, his vision was filled with a bright light and more prompts filled his vision.

The Advanced System Protocol has now been activated.

WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT

System Patch 1.0 has now been released. It comes with the following changes:

- New updated interface, complete with a new map system, a new quest system and a new help function.

- The previous form of the System merely showed estimations of power through stats, skills, tiers and items but no more. Your stats now directly determine your physical traits. Your skills now directly determine your ability to perform certain tasks. Your items now have specific abilities which can activate. Your tier now directly gives you overall boosts to resistance of lower-level abilities and stats compared to those of lower tiers.

- Your progress towards your next aspect ability is now directly shown.

- There is a new complex quest system which can directly reward those who complete specific tasks.

- Other creatures slain will now generate items and coins as determined by the system.

- A new partying system which allows people to form groups, share information and split loot with ease. More information is available in the system menus.

- Certain zones will be designated as “dungeons”. In Dungeon Zones monsters will automatically spawn, but increased loot can be found. Beware, each dungeon has a Dungeon Boss, a unique and deadly creature designed specifically for each dungeon.

- The current magic system has been replaced. Instead of being able to create rituals, magic is now a type of ability granted by aspects. More information is available in the system menus.

- All currency has been rendered inert and has been replaced with System Coins. System Coins come in different levels. More information is available in the system menus.

- The gathering is no more as it has been assimilated into The System.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Congratulations on your party completing the hidden quest, “Free The System”!

Your rewards are as follows:

2x Rare Aspect Gems

100x Silver System Coins

1x Shield of the Rainbow Snail

1x Cobra Dagger

Lucas saw a notification appear in the top of his vision that the Rare Aspect Gem of Water, 50 Silver System Coins and the Shield of the Rainbow Snail had been added to his inventory. Now that he paid more attention to it, he saw his entire vision had been filled with tiny icons and markers, including a small minimap in the top corner of his vision. It reminded him of RPG’s from his own world in design, but with no health mana or stamina bars.

Lucas looked over at Bart. “Oops.”

Bart shrugged, “We all have those days, don't sweat it.”

“You aren’t mad that I just broke an artefact seal and altered the laws of reality?”

“You haven’t even been here for a week. I doubt this was all part of your evil master plan. Also, the look on your face when you saw what you did was worth losing the artefact, it was priceless.”

WARNING

The zone you are currently in is undergoing a transformation into a dungeon zone. Do not leave the room you are stationed in, at the risk of having a monster materialise inside of you.

Lucas and Bart exchanged a look. They had no intention of having something materialise inside of them, but if the large open room was at the end of the dungeon, then they would have to get past the dungeon boss. There wasn’t much they could do except wait and see what happened. In the meantime, Lucas looked over his character sheet and see the differences.

NAME: Lucas Longe

Current Tier: 0 (2/6 aspects)

Corruption: 0%

Attributes:

Strength: 2 (1.02x)

Agility: 2 (1.02x)

Fortitude: 1 (1.01x)

Cunning: 4 (1.04x)

Intelligence: 3 (1.03x)

Willpower: 3 (1.03x)

Skills:

Cooking: Student 3

Mental Manipulation Resistance: Unknown

Identify: Untrained 5

Hereditary Bonus: Traveller From The Far Lands

Aspects:

Unique Aspect of the Rainbow (Perfect) (0% Corruption)

Rainbow Cloak (Utility)

Rainbow Blade (Utility)

Artefact Aspect of the Seven Suns (0% Corruption)

Kiss of the Seven Suns (Attack)

Kiss of the Seven Suns

You channel the power of the Seven Suns through your lips and impart a deadly kiss.

WARNING

You have entered the area of an active dungeon. Monsters will routinely spawn unless you are in a designated safe area. Defeat the boss to gain access to rare treasures!

“I think it’s fair to say we are going to have to fight our way out of the dungeon. Get ready to have to deal with the boss immediately. I will try landing a surprise attack and then we can go from there.” Bart hesitated before continuing, “If it seems like we can’t beat it, you run on ahead and I will hold it back.”

Lucas and Bart peeked into the boss hall, expecting to see some long forgotten king sitting on his throne, but the room was empty. Too empty. All the corpses that had been in there when Lucas had completed the puzzle had vanished, even the pile of dust left by the remains of Bart’s dagger had vanished. As Lucas looked into the room, he did actually notice one thing remaining. In the centre of the room, a tiny tree sapling sat. It was as small as an acorn and Lucas wasn’t even sure how such a small tree sapling could exist.

Something was off about the tree sapling. Lucas couldn’t tell what at first, but as he looked at it longer, he saw it was growing. It had started slowly, but the tree's growth had quickly snowballed. Half a minute ago it was as big as an acorn, but it was already up to Lucas’s knee now.

Lucas quickly sprinted into the room and started slide tackling at the centre of the tree. Lucas needed to stop the tree before it started growing more and became a bigger threat. Anyone could stamp a baby tree and kill it, but if it had enough time to grow, then it became an incredibly laborious task. Lucas felt something with brambles slide past his cheek, but couldn’t see what had caused the minor laceration.

His foot connected with the tree trunk, snapping it in half. Lucas stood up and brushed himself off. Lucas turned around and saw Bart staring at him in surprise. “It’s better to be safe than sorry, even if it is a plant.” Lucas realised Bart wasn’t looking at him, but something behind him and realised he had made a big mistake.

Lucas yelped as he felt objects stab into his back. He clumsily swung out with his pan but hit nothing but air. As he spun he saw what Bart had been staring at. The tree was no longer in the ground, but had uprooted itself and was clinging to the wall with the exit in it. It was surrounded by a spider's web of roots, all of which were spiked. Lucas went to move towards the half broken tree, but as soon as he tried approaching one root slashed at him, catching him on the shoulder and tearing open his skin. Lucas watched as another 4 roots slashed at him, but Bart intercepted and cut the roots as they approached.

Bart grit his teeth as he continually cut down the endless barrage of slashes sent at them. “I can’t do any actual damage to the main body with just daggers, so you will need to handle it. I can stop most incoming attacks but kill that thing quickly.”

Bart climbed onto Lucas’s shoulder as he started running towards the quickly repairing tree. The tree’s main body jumped from the wall, shooting itself directly at Lucas. Lucas slammed his pan at the tree but a mass of roots blocked the hit. Lucas pushed the tree away from himself and watched as it jumped back to its perch. He looked down at his arms and feet and saw hundreds of slight scratches. It might not be the most deadly attack but he knew that if this kept up, eventually he and Bart would fall. Lucas heard Bart grunt as a thorn stabbed into his leg. Bart’s smaller and more fragile body couldn’t hold up as well as Lucas’s could and he seemed to have reached his limit. Lucas would have to end this here and now if he wanted a chance of escaping to see what chaos his escapades had caused.

Lucas put away his pan and walked towards the tree slowly. He would only have one chance so he would need to make it count. He took the hits from the roots as he walked forward and waited for it to slash at him with one of the biggest roots. It obliged and sent the largest root directly at its head, spike first. Lucas stepped to the side and wrapped his arms around the giant root. He forced himself not to flinch as he held it with his hands and leaned down to kiss it. The second his lips touched the large root, he felt an energy leave him as a bright orange light travelled up the root into the tree and heard a loud bang. The large root split apart turned to ash in his hands, and the tree fell from its perch.

Lucas walked over to the main body of the tree and examined it. The inside of the tree had been completely hollowed out and was lightly on fire. As he checked over the corpse a large prompt flashed in his vision.

Would you like to loot this creature?

Lucas mentally selected yes and received two items.

You have acquired the new items:

x50 Bronze System Coins

x1 Wood Flute of the Willow

Wood Flute of the Wild Willow (Unique)

A small wooden flute forged from The Miniboss “The Wild WIllow”. It can be played to calm down angry plants.

Lucas and Bart applied healing salve and got ready to move out. They had a long journey back ahead of them.