After several moments of acclimating to the flood of new information from his eyes Dante stood.
"Shall we vote on which dungeon we're going to? Or have you guys already come to a consensus?" Dante asked as he looked upon them before his eyes began to wander chasing bands of unseen color.
James rose from his seated position in the grass.
"Yeah, we have. We want to...*sigh*...take on the Lion's Den. What do you guys say?" He asked with a determined expression.
Looking to his parents and Califa for a moment they conversed for a moment before they came to an agreement.
"Lions den it is, but we want to go check out that Zone of healing that kid with the spear mentioned." Frank spoke up looking to the rest for their input.
Another moment of discussion and it was agreed.
----------
It took but a moment to walk the couple hundred feet to the closest doorway for a Zone of Healing they had heard about. It was interesting how there were nearly a dozen windows around and above the doorway. Each set into the wall the same as the doorway itself.
James and Dante were the first to step through the doorway.
As he passed through the door he felt his skin tingle.
He could feel the mana radiating off the doorway. He turned to face the exit and slowly began to back up.
A dozen feet back he could see off to the left and right two large windows that looked out upon the zone.
'I bet those higher windows are connected to the higher floor's.' Dante thought, kicking himself a little as he thought how stupid that sounded.
"Ok these zones are pocket dimensions so this place and the other dungeons must like small soap bubbles clinging to the edge of a much larger one. So that means that each of those door's out there leads to its own pocket dimension? Didn't someone mention some of those doors leading to other Normal tutorial zones?" Dante thought aloud as he looked out to see the rest of the legion looking in at him.
"I think that was Motoyasu..." James began before a voice interrupted him.
"Excuse me sirs? May I bother you for a moment of your time?" A feminine voice asked startling Dante as he almost reflexively jumped back towards the doorway he had arrived through.
Turning Dante found a blonde elven woman in what appeared to be nurse's scrubs looking back at him from behind a counter.
Raising up a single finger about to speak Dante paused as out of the corner of his eye he saw the rest of his legion step through the doorway and looking around.
Turning his attention back to the woman he spoke, "What do you need?" He asked simply as he lowered his hand back to his side.
"I am informed that your legion has several healers. Would you all be willing to help some of our patients on the higher floor's?" The elven women asked with an almost pleading voice and hands clasped together.
"What's this about patients?" Frank asked as he and the rest of the legion came to rest near Dante.
The elven female desk attendant looked at the rest of the legion. Her eyes lingering upon Hannah, Frank and Laura for a moment.
"This is a system hospital for those on earth with conditions that their health regeneration cannot heal at their current levels. On behalf of my employer, the great system, will you clergymen and women please heal them? There will be compensation for each person healed." The woman said raising her hand towards the end to draw attention to the prospect of being paid.
Dante looked to James and the rest of the legion for a moment awaiting their thoughts.
"We should at least check it out. I was kind of wondering what was happening to all the people in hospitals since the system came." James gave his opinion.
Several others agreed seeing no reason not to take a look.
Hannah looked at Dante with an expression of both sadness, joy, and stoicism.
Once more Dante turned to the elven women, "Please, lead the way Miss?"
"Greenwood. Sasha Greenwood." She replied and they carried on.
--------------------------------------------------------
After a short walk they found themselves in a ward filled with hospital beds and people on those beds.
As soon as they entered the room they each received a notice.
You have entered a system designated recovery room! Health regeneration is doubled for the duration of your stay...
They stayed together as they walked down the middle of three double rows of hospital patients.
As he looked upon the dozens of people in this row alone he couldn't help but to want to help these people. Many of them seemed to be like Hannah. People sick with things for which there was not outright cure. Then there were people whose hair was wild and seemed completely disconnected with reality.
Eyes that starred off unfocused.
People whose minds seemed more damaged than their bodies.
"I know we all want to help them so how about this." Dante began to say as he waved a hand to get everyone's attention.
"Let's run the dungeon to level up, so we can come back after and heal these people more than we can now. If we try now we can't help as many people as we could if we grinded up some more levels. We need healers if we're going into a dungeon. Besides, as the old saying goes..." He paused for a moment mentally activating one of his skills.
Battle Hymn.
"Don't you know you never split the party!" He sang a little tune with a small smile, hoping for the best.
Burning heart has leveled up! Lvl. 3...
Battle Hymn has leveled up! Lvl. 2...
'Why did the Burning heart level...' His train of thought derailed when there was a stir among the nearby patients.
Mumbled voices in waking or sleep. Names spoken, tears shed.
He knew he had just effected nearly 30 people with that.
And in that moment he understood what he had done.
His little song had given each person effected a little bit of hope. Seemed to have made them remember the people they cared for.
Thus both skills leveled.
Dante and the others looked upon those nearest to them noticing the change.
Dante's eyes widened in shock and realization.
He froze in place, thoughts racing, searching his memories for a song of healing, one of strength. In the end he came up blank, even his enhanced memory failing to recall any songs that fit what he needed at the moment.
Dante felt his mother and father embrace him, Califa standing off to the side before she too was dragged into a hug.
James and his party embraced one another as good friends did.
The moment was sweet and warming but could not last.
In a moment the individuals all parted, some more slowly than others and things resumed as they had been.
James looked at his party as they began a discussion of the matter in hushed words.
Dante stood a moment longer before he turned and spoke.
"I think I will help you guys when we come back here." He spoke to his parents and Hannah, the party healers.
-----------------------
After several minutes of quiet decision making it was decided among everyone that they would all go to the dungeon to level before returning to help the sick here in the System hospital.
Among all those he traveled with Dante was the last to leave the hospital. The weight of realization still on his mind.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
'Battle Hymn can do more than I initially thought, with the right song anyway...' He thought as he stepped through the doorway back into the normal tutorial zone.
As he stepped through the doorway, a shiver rolled down his spine. He stopped for a brief moment on the other side shacking off the feeling before continuing.
--------------------------
Back on Earth...
The morgue was quiet.
None were there to tend to the body still left chest open upon the table.
The lights began to flicker as the darkness seemed to coalesce in the corner of the room.
The lights went dark.
In that darkness glowing crimson eyes flickered into existence.
The lights returned and there in the corner stood a hooded figure cloaked all in white.
Those insect unfortunate enough to have been within a few feet of the figure died immediately. All the while those insects outside this fled from it presence.
Death stepped forth silently. Nothing about it made a single sound, from the treading of its feet to movement of its clothing. Nothing could be heard.
Death stood above the corpse that laid upon the table chest left open. The mortician who had been examining the body having been whisked away to the tutorials. Death would be seeing him in a few minutes.
He would be seeing many people today.
Death reached up and brushed the mans face with a skeletal hand.
The corpse let out a breath it had been unable to expel up until now and the man's head slowly drifted off to a side.
The only sound after that was from Death himself as he spoke in a voice like a whisper of wind. "Rest now, your time is done..."
------------------------------------------------------
Across the world many remembered stories they had heard online. Urban legends, ghost stories that kept one up at night and then there were Creepy pastas. Chief among them was the SCP series.
All across the world 10's and 100's of millions of people remembered those stories and seeing how the world had changed they began to believe that such things were possible now.
They believed if only a little, and that was enough.
All across the world, items, monsters, and even gods appeared.
--------------------
Back with the group...
Several minutes of walking found them back at the entrance of the Lions Den.
As they approached the door Dante looked at the door but saw nothing besides what appeared to be a blank slab of stone within the large empty doorway.
As the legion arrived at the door to the dungeon, they were greeted by a notice.
You are standing before the entrance to the "Lion's Den" a D-rank dungeon. By entering this dungeon you will be automatically begin the Beginner dungeoneering section of the tutorial.
Dante and the other's in the legion with the exception of Califa, appeared to have received the notice. Upon a closer look there seemed to be a shimmer to the air within the otherwise empty arched doorway.
Dante smiled for a moment then stepped forward and motioned for the other's to follow as he stepped through the doorway.
What greeted Dante as he stepped through wasn't what he had been expecting.
He had been expecting dark cold worked stone halls, perhaps some kind of cave, not a bright and sunny grassland.
Congratulations! You have discovered that not all dungeons are as you have come to believe...
You have taken your first steps towards learning of Beginner Dungeoneering...
Road of Dungeon Exploration I has opened to you!...
Stepping away from the door to give the other's room to exit Dante activated Eagles sight scanning the distance for any immediate threats.
It was a better skill than he had initially thought as it seemed to give him a zoom in effect at will. However, the more he zoomed the more the resource costs went up.
Eagles Sight has leveled up! Lvl. 2...
All he could see for as far as he could see was grassland with a sparse number of tree's scattered here and there.
As his party member's passed through the doorway they all expressed their awe and confusion at the sight before them.
Eagles Sight has leveled up! Lvl. 3...
Dante flicked off Eagles sight after a moment.
As David stepped through his immediate response was, "It's fucking hot! Why does this place look like we're in Africa?"
Dante looked at him wondering what he was talking about before others chimed in, saying the same thing.
'Must be my burning heart skill. It did mention something about helping me resist hot and cold.' he thought for a moment before a small grin appeared on his face.
"Let me ask my guide. Virgil!" Dante responded, summoning his guide for a bit of information.
A moment later most of James' party looked upon the figure of Virgil in awe and splendor, asking him how he had gotten his guide to look like that.
He waved away their questions eliciting a small laugh and smile from Virgil.
"Please state the nature of your inquiry Dante." Virgil asked smiling seemingly unbothered by the heat the others felt.
"Why does this place look like..."
"Dante look at this!" James said raising his voice.
Concerned he turned in James' direction only to find him looking at some birds flying through the air. He was about to ask him why he was so concerned but then he noticed it.
His eyes retrained upon the birds for several seconds only reaffirming what he had thought.
"Those birds are stuck in the air. They aren't moving..." Dante spoke and the legion all looked back in the direction of the doorway to find it standing there. However what laid behind the, now colorful, arched doorway appeared to be a large flock of birds frozen in midair.
"Virgil, please explain?" Frank asked simply.
"Certainly. What you are witnessing is the effect of time dilation in action. The moment this dungeon was formed it was connected to your tutorial zone. To prevent needless hassles the system has forced this dungeon to accelerate to meet the level time dilation present within your tutorial zone." He spoke calmly to the collected group.
Several heads nodded in acknowledgement before refocusing on their surroundings.
Dante on the other hand took a moment to soak in that information before deciding to conduct an experiment.
Using telekinesis his picked up a small rock from the ground and flung it at one of the birds. As he had suspected the rock rebounded off an invisible barrier. Repeating this several times showed Dante that the door they had come through was at the border of this barrier.
Congratulations! By your examinations of the dungeon barrier 1 point has been entered into the Road of Dungeon Exploration I...
The rest of the group began to express their desire for direction towards Dante and James. The two looked at each other whilst trying to quiet the other's down.
"Ok guys let's start heading away form the door in a straight line and see if we can find something to hunt or any structures to explore....Virgil is this dungeon in Africa?" Dante paused before asking as seeing outside the barrier gave him the impression there was surely more than just grasslands beyond the border of the dungeon.
"Yes, this dungeon has spawned upon the continent of Africa on Earth..." Virgil paused as someone yelled out.
"No wonder is so fucking hot!" was a sentiment expressed by Reo and then many other's in the group. All the while Dante felt a bit warmer than he would have liked but it wasn't too bad for him.
"Well that's good to know. At least we know we may have to fight prides of lions, herds of water buffalo, and avoid rivers and other large bodies of water." Dante said with both enthusiasm and mild concern.
"I hope we find a honey badger." Jacob said smiling like a chimp.
"Oh be quiet Ash Ketchum!" James said with a smile.
Without missing a beat he replied, "Gotta Catch Em All!" Jacob shouted smiling even wider as he pumped his fist in the air.
Everyone laughed at that except Califa who simply looked confused. In response Dante simply waved it off, stating, "I'll try to explain later."
Virgil grew closer to Dante before he continued. "According to my information this dungeon has been covered by the system in a dome as to prevent a nearby village of newly uplifted beings from destruction. The dome however seems to have undergone several small expansions since it was put in place! That can only mean that this dungeon has already killed a number of players and consumed them." Virgil stated worriedly. He grew silent for a moment.
"Thank you Virgil. We will all keep that in mind!" Dante exclaimed making sure everyone heard him.
"You heard Virgil. People have already died here. Keep your eyes open and be aware of your surroundings. If the challenge seems more than we can handle we will retreat!" Frank spoke up taking on the tone of a drill instructor for a moment.
Dante took a deep breath acknowledging that this place could get one of them killed. His fears only somewhat abated by the knowledge that every one of them had one respawn. One.
It was both of great and little comfort.
For even if they could come back once, it was only once.
That was without mentioning that to use it they would have to die. And said death likely would not be painless or pretty.
---------------
"I'm wondering if there's a boss and what it is if there is one." David spoke up raising an eyebrow in interest.
"I'm willing to bet it's a massive lion." James called back with a smile.
"Yeah me too..." Dante said reservedly as his eyes began to scan the horizon.
Dante looked up to see Prism flying 50 feet above them.
Half an hour later he had gained several notices.
Congratulations! For mapping a continent not your own +250 exp...
Skill, Cartography, has leveled! Lvl. 27->30...
Congratulation! For achieving level 30 in the Cartography skill the Cartographer I road has opened to you!...
Dante smiled before James spoke up.
"Hey did anyone bring water? I think we didn't exactly prepare for this situation." He spoke up, a mutter of concern rose up before Dante raised his hands and spoke.
"I would ask you to remember we should still be able to buy things from the store. Also, I have a cantrip that lets me make water from the air." He said rubbing a bit of sweat that had accumulated off his face.
"A cantrip can do that? What cantrip is that!?" Herald spoke up first, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Shape water. It doesn't tell you in the spell description that it can but I figured it out." He smiled as he spoke, then he cast the spell.
As he clenched his fist and cast the spell, a thin fog began to form around him.
The others looked on in awe as water condensed around him into a mist.
Then an idea struck him and he smiled.
"Let's give it a try. Everyone stop for a few seconds." He said as he turned around and took a few steps back.
Holding out his hands he kept the spell running while he tried to flex one of his newer skills.
Blessing of Zephyr.
A small breeze picked up around his outstretched arms. Slowly the mist around him began to swirl and move.
He willed the air to move. To push the mist he was creating towards the rest of his group.
Slowly the wind carried the mist the several feet to the rest of the legion.
Everyone smiled at the mist carried on a cooling breeze.
Skill, Blessing of Zephyr has leveled! Lvl. 5...
Recalculating...
Skill, Student of Magic has leveled! Lvl. 15->18...
Dante smiled then wondered how cold could he make this? Part of the base spell was the ability to freeze water.
Dante opened his hands and slowly began to close them. As he did he felt the temperature dropping around him, as did everyone else.
Water began to condense from the air forming a mist around him.
Your affinity for water has increased!...
He felt he could push it even farther and so he did.
Others began to back up giving space to the quickly accumulating cloud around Dante.
Mist became fog, become a white and fluffy cloud.
Notices rolled across his vision and he let go of the effect.
Calculating...
Recalculating...
Congratulations! You have created the Uncommon active skill, Condense water...
Condense water- Condense water from the air and surrounding environment. Condensed water may be contaminated due to environmental factors. Can create mist, fog and even clouds. Can be focused to fill containers with water. Cannot create water. Mana and stamina cost: (Variable) per second...
Dante smiled as everyone was relieved to see nothing had gone wrong.
As they continued on their journey he was asked what he had done.
After a bit of explaining how he had done it he received more notices.
Breakthrough...
Skill, Student of magic has leveled up! Lvl.18->21!...
Congratulations! You have reached 250 skill levels!...
Apprentice Road has opened to you!...
He smiled glad to be learning magic.