Chapter 1: Tutorial
Sunlight be damned who opened my window blinds? I huffed, trying to reach them from my bed. "Go away sun...no one likes you…" I groaned while trying to close the blinds.…
I felt for the blinds strings, feeling nothing but the window glass. Huh, Don't remember pulling them up last night. Hazily I began opening my eyes, blinking as the shapes formed… wait… that's not my window… this isn't my bed… this isn't my room…
"Uh...where am I?" I muttered worriedly, looking around at where I was.
The room was empty, save for the small twin bed I was on and a painting on the wall. The size of the room was no larger than my bedroom back home, but this room was all wood. Ceiling, walls, floor. The bed I was on was a basic twin with a minimal sized frame. Getting up, I was still in my clothes at least. Well, my shirt, shorts and socks. I got up, looking over at the door on the wall in front of me and the painting on the wall next to me.
It reminded me of… it was a woman, pregnant by the look of her belly and surrounded by flowers massive and small, and her clothes looked like some kind of cream and gold silk. Her hair went down her back and was a gold color, eyes a lapis blue.
"Well...that's interesting." I started. "Wonder who that is." I asked aloud.
Looking around I headed for the door, opening it revealed a small hallway, a few other doors along the walls, and down the hall was a lady, dressed in a nuns attire but pink and blue over black and white. She turned to look at me and… She has large yellow stilted eyes, orange/red scales, and something that looked like leathery hair along her forehead.
"Where...in the hells am I?" I asked worriedly..
The lizard… dragon… person… lady, blinked at seeing me. "Oh my. Another one? You lot have been popping up often lately." She said, walking over next to me. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. It's part of my job to help people like yourself." She informed kindly.
"Well...what's going on?" I asked. "And where am I?"
"Please sit down first." She asked as I walked over and sat back down on the bed. She stood in front of me. "First off, are you familiar with the concepts of Displaced or Isekai?" She asked.
"I am familiar, yes." I nodded, having heard both of those things back home. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, that's your current situation. It happens often here. People from realities separate from this one appear here seemingly with no reason." She stated. "So far you're the third one to appear this month at this church."
"Third one? Is that rare or something?" I asked curiously.
"We typically get one or two of you popping up in the church overnight a month. Three has only happened a few times before. So, you are in a whole other world, most likely drastically different from your old one. And I'm sorry to say but there isn't any means back to the one you came from. Believe me, many of your kind have tried and none have learned of a way."
"That's...terrible…" I started sadly. "So...I just..lost my family and friends?"
"There have been cases where those that were left behind appear here as well. If it does though is the question." She sighed sadly. "The church is your home for as long as you feel the need… Mr.?" She questioned.
"David." I nodded. "Who are you ma'am?"
"Carla." She said with a nod. "If you'd like time to process this I can come back later to answer any questions you may have."
"That...would be appreciated thank you." I nodded, needing a moment because of this was all just...so sudden.
Carla nodded, standing up and leaving, closing the door behind her. Mom… Dad, Sis… Jose, Charlie and Mike… Christ, maybe I'll get lucky and see them here… Why am I even here? How am I even here… Not even the first one to up and vanish from their home to appear here either…
"This...is too much…" I muttered, not knowing where I am, not knowing why I was stuck here...and missing my family already.
I sat there for maybe a few hours, just wondering how I'm gonna move on. I remember Carla said it was her job at this church to help people in my situation adjust… and if I am stuck in this world I might as well learn about it. Might keep me from dwelling on the pain.
"Um...Ms. Carla?" I called out carefully.
After a minute the kindly lizard lady came in. "Yes David?" She asked as she entered.
"What's this world I'm going to?" I asked curiously.
"Well, the world you are in now… this is never easy explaining. Imagine the universe, but truly infinite. Unlimited exploration, discovery and adventure. That's our reality. Everything that can be done or thought of is possible here… save for returning you home."
"Well that's not fair." I huffed. "But...I suppose it can't be changed…" I sighed out.
"Don't know. Any more questions?"
"Where am I starting off and what do I start with?" I asked curiously.
"This church is just outside the town of Coal Vien, as the name suggests it's known for the coal deposit below. As for supplies we have a large selection in the storage shed around back, you can have your pick of anything."
"Thanks." I nodded. "Where is the shed around here?"
"Follow me." Carla said as I followed her out of the room. Down the hall and some stairs we entered what should normally be a worship area, rather, there were all kinds of people and… 'people' sitting around talking, trading and relaxing. In the center of all this was a statue of that same pregnant lady from the picture in the room I showed up in. I followed Carla outside, the sun was bright, the air smelled so… clean and… holy hell! Floating islands… is that a literal flying ship?! Was that a dragon? "Impressed?" Carla said, giving a small laugh at my amazed look.
"Holy Christ on a bike…" I blinked.
"I told you, unlimited discovery, exploration, and adventure." Carla said with a giggle as I followed her to the shed. The shed itself was fairly ordinary. She opened it and inside… was larger than the outside. Outside the shed was a simple five by five foot wood shed, inside it was a sixty by sixty foot house where various boxes and barrels of things decorated the walls and floor. "Want anything in particular?"
"Um...what's in there?" I asked curiously, wondering what could be in this big shed.
"Weapons, armor, preserved food stuffs, magical bags, spellbooks, a few elemental gems, just whatever the local adventures donate for people like you who end up here." She explained.
"Well...any pets?" I asked curiously.
Carla hummed for a moment. "Not a pet per say but given how you arrived here it will help you out a lot until you get an assistant, if you do that is." She said, entering as I followed where she looked around a shelf covered in various small boxes.
"Alrighty then...let's take a look." I said while looking around the place.
I saw a lot of stuff. Guns, swords, armor ranging from classic fantasy to modern and sifi… is that a lightsaber? Are those Pokeballs? Wow…
"Oh my god...this is amazing." I said in awe, wondering what to even pick here.
"Here we are." Carla said, picking out one of those small boxes and walking over to me. She held it in her hands over to me. "This box holds a Familiar Gem, once broken the spirit inside it will follow and aid you so long as you hold onto the contract breaking the gem will create between the two of you. This one is a bit weak, but they will grow with you over time."
"Thanks." I said while taking the gem. "How do I break it?" I asked curiously, wondering if there was a specific way to break it.
"Crush it in your grip, the symbol of your contract will mark you both and bind you both."
I nodded, taking the gem out of the box and looking it over, it was half the size of my palm and looked like glass, glowing with a bright white glow that felt so… calming. I gulped, gripping the small gem as it began to crack, then finally shattered. I felt no shards as it broke, and opening my hand I watched as light poured out from my palm. Upon it began forming a four ringed circle. The light then moved out from my palm and over to the ground before me, and took shape. A small feral form shaped out then began looking less a silhouette of light and more… a dog. A small, black and brown dog with a tail ending in a large puff of hair. They looked up at me, and barked. "Yay! I got a master!" The dog talks!?!
"You...talk?" I asked in surprise.
Again, Carla chuckled. "It's always fun to see these interactions." She mused.
"Yes I talk! And a whole lot more!" The little dog said, her voice a slightly high pitched females voice, not high enough to be annoying, more that of one who is still quite young. "My name is Diva, but everyone calls me DJ." She said, jumping about. As she jumped I saw on her belly was the same symbol that was in my hand.
"Adorable." I chuckled while petting the young dog.
"DJ here will help you out in learning about the world and in your exploration of it if you choose to explore it. Now, onto Equipment." Carla said. "What would you prefer?"
"Hmm…" I hummed while looking around at everything. "How much am I allowed to take?"
"If you take a bag of holding, as much as it can hold. All the bags of holding we have though are a low quality though, they all only hold about… half the room you awoke in worth of supplies."
"Some armor can have their pockets enchanted to be bags of holding too!" DJ stated happily. "Though I doubt there are any armors here like that."
"Sadly." Carla said.
"Right...so gonna need to pick things carefully…" I hummed while looking around the place.
In terms of armor I mostly just need something protective to wear, an extra set so I can clean the first and spare clothes. After that weapons shouldn't be too bad. I mean hell, they have light sabers, swords, guns, some kinda energy weapons, I'll just need a sword and maybe a gun to be safe. A handgun will do fine. And definitely taking that Lightsaber, I mean, hell, it's a Goddamn lightsaber!
I had in the bag of holding a lightsaber, a steel short sword, two sets of leg and torso leather armor, spare clothes, a ten millimeter handgun, and two hundred spare rounds for it with five clips. Still lots of spare room in the bag too. I put the bag on my back, the sack was your basic grey single pocket backpack, and being a bag of holding all it held inside was basically like carrying an empty bag. "Take this too." Carla said, handing me what looked like a tank leather wallet. "Got to have a place to hold the money you acquire. There's two thousand rem in there already. A gift from the church to all like yourself."
"What's rem?" I asked curiously.
"Rem is what our money is called!" DJ said. She jumped, tapping the leather wallet with her nose as a single greyish black pebble flew out with some strange marking on it. She caught it in her mouth then put it on the floor. "It's short for Remember, cause they last forever and if you find a special shrine you can learn all the things this little stone remembers. They are found in dungeons, dropped by all enemies, and accepted everywhere."
"Huh...that's...interesting." I said simply, not thinking a humble pebble could do something like that.
I put the rem back in the wallet. I'm assuming it's also a bag of holding to have two thousand of these small pebbles in there. "So, do you have an idea or a destination in mind?" Carla asked me.
"No and no." I said honestly.
"How about this, do you want to explore or do you want to live as you did back home?" DJ asked.
Back home… as much as I miss it I worked at a fucking McDonald's. Shit hours, shittier pay… I did always play games to escape the boring and feel powerful and to see things my world could never show… and here magic and science and so much more I don't know is all around me… I'd be insane not to want to see it all.
"What would be a good starting place?' I asked curiously. "Cause there's a lot of places I could go to."
"Depends on what you will be doing, but most Isikai like yourself want to start with a dungeon raid or a guild quest. Which would you prefer?" Carla asked.
"Well...what's a Guild Quest?" I asked curiously.
"Basically they're either a job or an event. A job is things like 'Kill the slimes', find my horse, take this package from A to B. Events are special trials the Time Walkers organize for people to test themselves in grand scale feats." DJ said. "Oh, and the Time Walkers are one of the three guilds The Mother herself oversees."
"The Mother? Is that who those statues are?"
"Yes." Carla said quite enthusiastically. "The Mother is the one who made our reality infinite, allowed all possibilities and crafted the way our reality works so we can always find enjoyment."
"She oversees only three guilds, The Time Walkers, The Mother's Sons, and The Mother's Daughters. Churches like this one are run by The Mother's Daughters, like Carla here." DJ explained as Carla nodded.
"Uh...is that metaphorical or literal with the naming convention?" I asked nervously.
"There are males, herms, genderless. The Mother's guilds take all, they are just names really, but they do tell what each guild covers." Carla started, placing a hand on her chest. "The Mother's Daughters are protectors, healers, caretakers and teachers. My fellow sisters and I each keep the local churches operational and give what aid we can. This church is mostly a popular rest stop, free inn and I can heal most injuries."
"Sounds about right." I nodded in understanding.
"The other two, the Mother's Sons and the Time Walkers function nearly identical but still differently. The Mother's Sons are warriors, the strongest people in our reality are almost all members of The Mother's Sons, they explore this realities most dangerous areas, just one of The Mother's Sons elites can take on the Rank Five dungeons solo. The Time Walkers operate more… shadowy." DJ began explaining. "Before I say more, how old did people in your world typically live?"
"About a hundred or so?" I said honestly.
"Ah, well you're gonna live way longer than that." DJ said. "People here are almost immortal, and Isikai like yourself gain this trait too. Now I did say almost, there are a few things that can kill you here, first is the Level Five Dungeon bosses, second is a Void Admin, and lastly the Time Walkers. Time Walkers do many things but their primary purpose is to bring those who have lived long enough to the afterlife. You see, there is a condition some people can get after living so long, we call it Madness. Time Walkers know when people will fall into Madness and arrive well before that time to bring them to the afterlife, and if they resist…"
"Then they become executioners." Carla finished with a sigh.
"Well then…" I started. "That's...quite a lot to know."
"That's our reality." DJ said with a shrug… how did she do that? "So, dungeon or guild?"
"Guild seems like a decent start right now." I said honestly.
"Okay! Follow me!" DJ said, the small dog walking out the shed and heading out as I followed.
"Good luck, you are always welcome at any church for rest." Carla said as we hit the road towards the town of Coal Vein.
"Thank you." I nodded to the priest while following my new dog. "Onward to a new adventure."
The road to town was long… easy more than five miles. The landscape around was littered with various holes where the black ore that is coal could be seen just below the topsoil. It amazed me just how much seemed to be here.
"Good lord, how has this place not caught on fire yet?" I asked honestly.
"Magic." DJ said simply. "There was a major fire once a few million years ago, and ever since that happened they put up all kinds of anti fire spells. Not even a lighter can ignite in or around the town."
"I mean...if it's been that long, all the...wait, now how did the fire stop? Shouldn't this entire place be set ablaze?" I asked.
"Hydro and weather mages. Took five whole years to put it all out and five more to rebuild the town and mine, safety anti fire spells included."
"And I presume that was also to stop all the poisonous gases?" I asked curiously.
"Yup. Purification enchantments work fast."
"That's very interesting." I said honestly. "Wonder what else magic has done…"
"All kinds of neat stuff. Just ask away and I'll answer all I can."
"You sure seem to know a lot even though I just got you though." I brought up. "Why is that?"
"Familiars don't stay in their Crystals, they're more like summoning. We have our own dimension where we learn about this world so we can help out those who summon us."
"Huh, that's interesting." I said honestly. "Hmm...what were the most recent big events?"
"Big like what? New colonized worlds? Homeworld news? Newest children of the Mother? New enemy types? Red and Blue moon events? Top ranked Heroes? Bad guys?" She listened off.
"Like...biggest world events." I said honestly. "Er...well what would be considered a 'big world event'."
"Hmm for this planet… that would be the unexplored portions of it. This world only has 27% of it's surface land explored and less than one percent of its water, subterranean and atmosphere explored."
"Damn." I said honestly. "But uh...considering this is on a galactic scale...what was the biggest thing to happen in the entire universe?"
"That would be this reality formation countless Centillions of years ago. When the Mother came into existence after the great war."
"Great war?" I asked curiously. "Also Jesus, it was that long ago?"
"Yes, and yes. Before the Mother came into existence there was a great war that threatened the entirety of the multiverse. A massive family of countless powerful heroes fought an ageless being who created the foundation of all realities. These Heroes managed to beat them by learning to become the same type of being as he was, and after they won the family of heroes needed to fix the damage done in the battles aftermath. They all fused into a single all powerful being we know as The Mother, and with just thoughts and words alone rebuilt all reality into what it is now. Ever since everything has been in more or less perfect harmony."
"Huh...that's quite a history." I said honestly.
"The finer details are largely forgotten sadly, but the story is still true. Anything else?"
"Any general tips I should know about?" I asked curiously.
"Well, for starters once we're in town we should get you an Assistant." DJ said.
"What's an Assistant anyways? Cause I doubt it's a person following me." I said honestly.
"An Assistant is a Genetic Spell Matrix that once placed on you can't be removed, but it… basically acts as a hud and menu options from video games. As well as a whole lot of other cool stuff."
"Cool." I nodded. "Good to know...it's probably expensive…"
"Completely free!" DJ corrected.
"Really?" I asked curiously. "That seems...strange."
"Well it's linked to Genetics, everyone is born with one on their wrist, or equivalent appendage, and it activates around puberty. It doesn't seem right to charge Isikai like yourself for something everyone here has from birth."
"Well...that sounds about right." I nodded. "Even though back home people would charge an arm and a leg for it."
"Yikes. I guess after we got you that Assistant we should go shopping. Camping equipment mostly, will be better in the long run since a proper inn is expensive over time and while the churches are free for the nights it's not always guaranteed you'll get a bed."
"Starting off homeless, isn't that a good start." I joked.
"Most people, especially adventurers, are. Not everyone has the typical job, adventures often make their own homes someplace they like or just wander with all their belongings in their Assistant or their bags of holdings. Or both."
"Sounds about right." I said honestly.
"Anymore questions?"
"Hmm...what's the current quest we're on? Or do I not have it yet?" I asked curiously.
"Hmm, I guess if anything we need to get you an Assistant, get you some camping and survival gear, and then figure out which guild we can start you off with."
"Sounds like a simple enough plan." I nodded. "Now, where would the proper shop be?"
"There should be a map for us to look at once we reach the town entrance. Should only be a few more miles."
"Hopefully." I shrugged. "I don't know much about this place, I'm mostly working on what you know here DJ."
"Hopefully I'll be able to keep you informed."
We arrived in town and as DJ said, there was a map. So this 'town' is apparently bigger than my home state… but thankfully there was a shop nearby, a mall actually. Walking our way there I spotted a whole lot more various races of people and… why is that wolf lady naked?!
"Uh...what's the 'dress code' here?" I blushed brightly as I tried not to look at the naked beings here.
"Well, a lot of beastial type races go out naked mainly because of cultural, or health reasons. I mean, as someone with lot's a fur on them at all times I don't need extra heat on me from clothes."
"Yeah...but uh…" I started nervously. "At least covering up the bits…" I muttered nervously.
"What do you mean?" DJ asked… Oh, uh...er…
"It's nothing…" I said nervously.
Thankfully the nudist furries weren't many. The mall was… amazing. The outside area was the size of my hometown's hospital, the INSIDE was the size of my home town, including the airzone. DJ explained to me that Pocket Dimension spells and tech that makes this possible are part of everyday life, so the inside is typically always bigger than the outside. I found myself at a small, and by small I mean the individual shops were all also pocket dimensions and this one was about the size of a Walmart,rather than the size of another mall, that sold gear more directed at Adventurers. They had fucking Grenades, Rocket Launchers, one handed micro missile handguns… and I could afford them!
I didn't get that though, weapon wise I'm good with what I got and need to practice anyway. I instead headed over towards the camping and survival stuff and hello Dragon Ball Capsule Corp. Every 'tent' was either a small device that expanded into a building with all you'd need, or an actual tent that once set up was still the size of a small house inside. They even came bundled with defensive turrets for when you camp in Hazard Zones.
"Holy crap...seriously I don't think I have enough money for any of this…" I said worriedly.
Looking around, I found one cheap enough that I'd be left for eight hundred rem. It wasn't a camp per say, it was a car. A car that looked like a Ford Mustang, but inside it was basically a small RV. No gas needed either. That was a bonus. With that in tow I went off to get food stuff. They only sell in bulk but… fifty pounds of beef for fifteen rem? Sixty pounds of potatoes for ten rem? Two hundred gallons worth of water for nine rem?!
"Okay so am I the only one that thinks these prices are outlandishly cheap?" I asked DJ carefully.
"That's how it's always been. Even before the Mother existed the people of the multiverse learned how to rapidly mass produce food of all kinds that outpaced the rates of growth for cities and population. It's largely thanks to the Elemental Crystals that can be found almost everywhere. Mostly in underground veins and as dungeon loot. Alone they give you power over things like fire, water, air, ice, time, space, death, spirit, earth, ect, but together they can do amazing things." The small dog informed, grabbing in her mouth a five hundred pound bag of dog food in her mouth, and failing to pull it off the shelf herself. That was twenty five rem. "Little help?"
"I don't think I can lift up five hundred pounds, but I'll try." I said while trying to help my poor dog.
I could not. But, to my surprise, store employees could via what looked like a gravity gun. I paid for everything and was left with six hundred rem. Thankfully that all, somehow, fit inside my backpack of holding without issue, and we headed off to a nearby guild building.
It wasn't far of a walk, and there were a lot of guild offices inside this single pocket dimension building. Hunters Guild, Explorers Guild, Gatherers Guild, Arms Guild… Familiars Guild huh?
"Familiars Guild? What's that?" I asked curiously.
"It's a guild for people who enjoy training and collecting and breeding familiers, like me!" DJ said happily with a jump. "They aren't all that big members wise but they work alongside a lot of other guilds given most familiar gems are found in dungeons."
"But you're so adorable, who wouldn't want to be a part of something like that?" I asked while kneeling down and petting the cute doggo.
"Mostly because it's time consuming." DJ huffed.
"That's...what happens when you take care of pets though." I said honestly.
We headed into the Familier Guild office, the whole place looked more like a pet store than anything. Soon I was face to face with a… anthro Zebra lady. Huh. "Hello, how may I help you?" She asked me.
"I would like to join." I said while picking up DJ gently. "I have a Familiar, and she's a good girl."
"Cute." She said at DJ. "I see you don't have an Assistant, I'll call the nearby Adventurer's guild, they have someone there who can get you one." She said, lifting her left arm. Her wrist had this tattoo looking symbol on it, a circle with a bunch of overlapping lines or stars or something. She tapped it and I jumped at seeing there was this hologram looking screen floating between us as she looked at it, words appeared on it… mental texting? That is so cool!
"Wow…" I said in awe at the things going on.
"They'll be here in a bit." She said. Again, I jumped as suddenly in a fast gust of wind and lightning, a guy who looked human but I'm not sure, was next to me. "Hey Jake."
"Alley." He replied, looking at me now. "So, you're the new arrival?"
"Yes I am." I nodded. "Names David." I introduced myself politely.
"Alright then, right or left arm wrist?" He asked simply, taking out something that looked like a paper thin watch.
"Um...right." I said while bringing up my right hand.
He put it on and I watched as the materials melted into my skin, that same symbol as Alley's appeared on my wrist.
I blinked, words appearing in my vision now.
[New user detected.
Scanning DNA.
DNA scanned.
Boot up initialized.
Boot up complete.
Welcome User David Alchem]
I blinked again, my vision changed as suddenly there was two small green bars in my top left, one had my name, the other had DJ's. There was also a small compass in the top center if my vision, a small mini map in my bottom right corner… so cool. "Later." Jake said, speeding off like lightning again.
"Speedsters." Alley said with a roll of her eyes. "Alright, Assistant please?" She asked, holding up some scanner looking thing.
I raised my assistant up. "Well...this is interesting."
There was a quick flash of light from her device and she looked over at a computer next to her. "Okay then. Entery level member, and here you go." She then handed me a card with my face on it, almost like a driver's license.
[Familiars Guild Member: David Alchemy
Age: 23
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Level: 1]
"That ID card will also let you enter Dungeons!" DJ informed.
"I have a feeling Dungeons aren't entirely what I believe they are." I said nervously.
"Depends on type and level. There are all kinds of dungeon types but they all fall into one of the five level types, level one being easiest and level five being the hardest and most dangerous." Alley explained. "For now you can only enter level one dungeons with your current rank."
"If you wanna boost that up, you gotta explore fully more dungeons til you're ready to handle the harder ones." DJ added.
"Sounds simple enough." I nodded. "Wonder where the closest dungeon is?"
"There's fifty nine around the village, twelve of which are level ones you can enter. If you'd like you can check Guild Postings on your Assistant to keep an eye out for dungeons that spawn in familiar gems we're always keeping an eye out for." Alley said.
"Sounds simple enough." I said while raising it up. "Uh...how do I work this thing?"
"Just tap the mark, the rest is all done with thought." Alley explained.
I tapped the mark and that holoscreen jumped out from it like with her. My options were simple. Store. Settings. Media. Internet. And lastly Storage. I mentally imagined a mouse cursor over settings and clicked it. It worked and now I had lots of options. I saw Guilds and clicked it, opening to a list with one option. Familiars Guild. Clicking that I was shown a lot of news stuff and other things, topped ranked in the guild and all that. Ah, here we are, Gem locations. Filter to level one and yes use location… two have some gems I can find.
"Cool." I nodded. "So there's a quest for one of the closer dungeons."
"No but you don't need to be on a job or quest to collect and gather these gems." Alley explained. "Just the location and to know if it drops there or not."
"Oh, that's good to know." I said honestly.
"To enter your ID card for your affiliated guild just has to say you can enter that dungeon level or higher." DJ added.
"Stay safe on your adventures." Alley the anthro zebra receptionist added.
Before leaving the mall I bought a few more essentials since this car thing I got also counts as an RV and once outside I read the instructions for it.
[Link vehicle to Assistant via touching the pod to the Assistant Matrix symbol. Once done they will be linked and place a vehicle pod at least fifteen feet away from yourself. In your assistant select the Items menu and find the vehicle under the respective tab and activate from the menu, the vehicle will construct itself to full size within one minute.]
"Well, that's cool." I said honestly. "Let's try that out…" I muttered while doing what the instructions told me.
As advertised, the car constructed itself before my eyes. Stepping in… I imagine this is what the TARDIS is like. Once in the door I was met with the driver's and passenger's seat, and behind that was a large section that was the size of my old apartment. Pre furnished thankfully. I began putting all the food items away, thankfully the shelves and fridge/freezer are also pocket dimensions, as well as the other stuff I got and felt good about all this. I felt pretty hopeful. With everything put away I sat in the driver's seat and… where is the steering wheel?
"Good lord…" I blinked. "This place is huge and...where's the wheel?"
I spotted a small… is that a camera? It was where the wheel should be… shrugging, I held my Assistant mark up to it. A flash from the camera and new menu appeared in my vision again.
[New Owner Registered.
Welcome David Alchem.
Select Destination.]
A map of the whole planet appeared before me in my vision… holy hell. This is a massive planet. Okay uhh… Coal Vein?
Okay good it gave me the area of the town and around it. Let's see, the dungeon I need is closest… here it is. Castle Ruins Caliporion.
The car's engine roared and the map vanished, the car moved. Fast. So fast all I saw in the front and side windows was blur.
[Destination: Castle Ruins Caliporion. Level 1 Arena Dungeon.
2.9 million miles to destination.
Travel time: 3 hours.]
"Uh...excuse me?" I started. "How is that far going to take three hours?"
"Remember those Elemental Crystal's I talked about?" DJ asked from the passenger seat. "Time Gem plus Space Gem make an engine capable of crossing massive distances in no time at all."
"Those...aren't elements though." I pointed out.
"Are you really gonna compare elements you know from your world to this one?"
"There should at least be some form of comparison here." I frowned.
"Well when you say elements, what do you mean by that exactly?"
"Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and if I want to get into Chinese lore here, Wood and Metal." I said honestly.
"And time and space don't count to you because?"
"Because neither of those things are 'elements', they are literal parts of existence as we know it?" I pointed out.
"As you knew it." DJ said. "Remember, this reality is completely different from your old, and since before The Mother, Time and Space have been considered elements of nature and reality. Especially after their elemental Crystals were discovered."
"Alrighty then...good to know." I said honestly.
"Well, we got three hours to kill. You mess with your Assistant and I, will nap." The small dog familiar said as she curled up into a round ball and began to sleep.
I chuckled at how fast she fell asleep. "Alright." I said gently. "Get your sleep DJ." I said while starting to mess with my assistant.
I decided to check the Shop option. I was met by something akin to a darkmode amazon sight, but replaced Amazon with Freak Inc. The items were split into Digital and Physical. Clicking digital, I saw a large list of recommended apps. Hey, Youtube? Neat. Download.
Browsing around that I figured I'd… Guild Apps. Clicking that list I found the Familier's Guild App and once it installed I opened it.
It was basically the same page I was at earlier. Now then, where… Ah, Castle Ruins Caliporion. Known Familier spawns.
Turtle Knight Adion. This familiar is a ninth generation familiar that's defense is it's dominant skill branch. Makes sense it's a turtle. Gonna have to look up what a skill branch is. Speed wise on land it's just below average but if in water it tripled. Capable of using weapons and magic, a worthwhile beginning familiar.
Ghost Knight Pokin. A Pre Mother familier that is more well known for their curses and black magic over their attack power. While no physical attack can harm it they take more than average damage from magic attacks and blessed/Holy attacks and spells deal double damage to them.
[Newest Addition] DJ the Loving.
Newest addition? I looked over at the sleeping dog, then looked back at the info.
A new familier that at one point was an ordinary dog who died in a world not this one. Her soul was brought here much in the same way the Displaced and Izikai are. Upon her spirit's arrival she was taken into the familiar's dimension and made a familiar. Currently she is too new and has one known masters. No further information available.
"Huh...that's...interesting." I muttered. "Poor girl...she probably doesn't even remember her previous owner…"
One known owner? Looking at that my name wasn't what came up. Jack Degurechaff. I looked it up and apparently he's ranked number four in the familiars guild top members. Huh. He's some weird… wolf… pony… human mix. His face looks human but he has the dark blue fur and fangs of a wolf while having pony ears, horn, wings, and large blue eyes and blond hair.
"Huh...wonder why he left DJ?" I wondered, checking to see if he was still alive.
His status on the guild was as alive, location hidden though.
I sighed and decided to look through my Assistant settings again. Hmm, ah, Skill Trees? Clicking that, I blinked as I saw a series of circles linked together around a central sphere that had my name on it. Huh… Nothing's unlocked yet, wait, weapons. Weapons Skills. Two were lit, Firearms, and Melee. Firearms, handguns, 10mm handgun… huh. Let's see. Melee, Energy, Lightsaber.
"Well, that's very interesting." I said honestly. "Can't really do things right now since I'm level one…"
Closing all that out I got up and began to look through the food I got. Meat, water, oh good this place also came with a few pots and pans. Hm?
I looked at the stove, seeing a small screen that seemed to Control it. It had two options. Manual and Auto… no way.
I clicked auto, and in my vision a list of food options became available based on all the stuff I had. Okay now that is just awesome. I clicked in fried steak and watched in awe as the stove lit up, a pan moving atop it like from a Harry Potter movie and oil and seasonings and all the ingredients flowed around me as the meal cooked itself. Moving thankfully the floating food moved away from me and I sat in the living room area where a flat screen was built into the wall. I sat on the couch and wondered.
I lifted the Assistant symbol on my wrist up to the TV and there was a beam of light that went from the TV to it. The TV then flashed to life as a holographic controller formed in my hand… holy shit it feels solid.
"Good lord this place has everything." I said, still not being able to believe this was at all possible.
I clicked the channels button and was surprised to see all kinds of shows from home, some that were clearly from this world, and remakes of shows and movies I knew from home but made in this reality. Those Harry Potter movies look way cooler like this.
"And this is what happens when Harry Potter has more effort put into it…" I muttered
I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with real magic and possibly a real philosopher's stone for the entirety of the ride. Also DJ and I ate a quick meal. The steak was amazing and DJ enjoyed the dog food. The car… RV…. This thing let me know that we were just half a mile from the entrance to this dungeon.
It stopped at that point and as I was about to exit when either this… base, I'm gonna call it my base, or my Assistant, alerted me.
[Warning!: Entering Hazards Zone!
Be cautious of monsters and dangerous creatures.]
"Sounds about right…" I started while looking outside to see if there was anything up.
Exiting the car door my eyes were hit by bright sunlight, and once that cleared the cool breeze of the wind hit me. The air smelt of dirt and grass. All around me were decayed wagons, skeletons half buried of people of all races and horses, other riding beasts and beyond that was the ruined, still smoking walled castle that was my objective dungeon. The hell happened here.
"Wow, this place looks neat." DJ said.
"This place definitely looks neat." I said honestly.
DJ sniffed at a skeleton, pulling an old looking knife from it's ribs. "I'm surprised you don't look horrified at this place." She said, dropping said knife by my feet and sniffing around more skeletons.
"Oh no I am." I said honestly.
DJ looked up at me, seeing my pailing face. "Mind telling me what you think happened?"
"War?" I asked. "Cause there's a lot more bodies and mounts here…"
"That's the general theme of this dungeon yes." DJ said. "Despite how this place looks, it was never an actual Kingdom at any point, when this world was colonized this dungeon spawned just as you see it."
"That seems...weird." I started. "How can dungeons just...magically spawn in when people appear?"
"How to put this." The small dog said, putting down a dirty bag and actually moved a paw to her chin to think… so cute! "You know of a game called Minecraft?"
"Yes, and also your adorable doing that." I chuckled.
"Well, keeping that in mind, imagine every uncolonized world is a blank Minecraft world, and when someone lands on it the world itself generates. Typically they always theme themselves around the person who landed on it. In this world's case, it's actually more themed towards resources, since the founder of this world was primarily a handyman/wilderness lover. Dungeons are all themed but spawn their themes, layouts, and their difficulty level spawn in randomly. The only thing that's constant is that they spawn in Hazard zones, areas of the land and sea where monsters, and of course dungeons exist on the worlds. Even space, the moons and suns of every planet has these safe zones, where villages, wild game and the all that exist safely, and Hazards zones like where we are now."
"Well then…" I started, not sure what to say about that explanation.
"So, in short, these skeletons were never people… But at least half of all of them will wake up at night as undead soldiers to fight us once the moon is up. All of them if it's a blood moon, none if it's a blue moon." She said. "So, let's loot some stuff that's at least a bit useful in terms of scrap or salvage. Then we head into the dungeon proper."
"Jeez, this is starting to sound more like Terraria than Minecraft…" I frowned.
"Eh, it was the first example I could think of that wouldn't be too confusing." She shrugged.
With that in mind I helped search the bones and wrecked wagons and boxes. Weapons wise were all metal and in bad shape. DJ said a feature in the Assistant could let me scrap them for either useful parts or melt them back down into their base metals to either make a new one or use in something else. With a small stockpile of metals from damaged swords, guns, and a few scraps of leather and cloth from armor. I actually found some useful ammo, about fifty extra bullets for my handgun and various other bullets.
With that we headed inside the dungeon walls. The town area was wrecked and I saw more skeletons just scattered about. A ways in front of me I spotted this small… blackish purple creature with bright white eyes and twisted antenna on its head.
"A Shadow Creature." DJ informed.
"Uh...what?" I asked nervously.
"They're monsters that have existed here well before The Mother. They show up in dungeons and in the hazards zones as enemies. That's the most common type, and everyone just refers to it as the Common Shadow."
"Sounds about right." I nodded. "So...just kill them or are they hard to kill?"
"This is a level one and even in the level fives those ones are really weak. A shot or two from your gun or one good swing from your light saber sword will kill it."
"Sounds simple enough." I said while taking aim at the shadow creature.
My aim with guns… is shit. Half a clip and finally I get a shot off in its torso. The thing bled this mercury colored liquid, then rapidly evaporated as did it's body til a small pile of them was where it once stood. "They also always drop rem upon death." DJ said.
"I'd like to not be complete shit at aiming…" I frowned.
"Have you shot a gun before?"
"I shot an airsoft gun before, the principal's should have stayed though." I said honestly.
"And the gun recoil, bullet speed and spread as well as any wind in the area? You accounted for all that?"
"Not...fully." I said nervously.
DJ chuckled. "You'll learn and get better over time." She said. "Come-on, these Arena Dungeons are all about exploring and combat. But because of how they work stealth is an option too."
"And is Stealth the most overpowered thing in this world or something?" I asked curiously.
"Depends on how you build it." She shrugged as we continued through this dungeon.
So far aside from those Shadow Creature things there wasn't much in terms of monsters, which for me is a good thing considering combat is still new to me. Still, at least as I kept pissing bullets I hit more than missed. Now the main bitch is when these little shits move they move fast. We were stopped in some house so I could refill my clips, DJ digging through anything that was at her level to reach.
There better be a way I can reload these like In video games, loading bullets is a pain.
"Alright, so how does reloading this thing become easier besides practice?" I frowned.
"Apps." DJ said from inside a nearby knocked over barrel. "Pretty sure the Assistant has apps for that."
"Are...are you joking?" I started slowly.
"Nope." She said simply, two apples rolling out of the barrel. DJ's head then poked out, looking at me. "Apps for things like auto reloading gun magazines when placed back in your bags."
"You are just too adorable to be mad at for making an outdated 2000's joke." I chuckled.
I decided to check just that and there were a lot of these auto reload apps. On a related note in the shop items section there are these things called Infinity mags. Basically the magazine pulls the ammo from your bag via your Assistant and you never seen to manually reload a gun again. The one I need for my gun is seven thousand rem. Way more than what I got.
"That would be so good if I had money…" I muttered while looking at all the apps to see which one's were the best and not scams.
This one looked good.
[Rapid Reload.
Upon install just tap your empty magazines on your Assistant and they will be reloaded.
10 Rem]
Clicking buy took the rem from my wallet, somehow, and installed the app. Once it was installed and I made sure it was working I just tapped the empty mag on my assistant and blinked, seeing the mag now full of its respective bullets. Thank you.
"Okay that's going to make life so much easier." I sighed out thankfully.
With my clips full and the various loots in tow we headed back out, killing a few more shadow Creatures and managed to find a ruined blacksmith shop. It was here I found my first elemental Gem. It was an almost chrome grey crystal gem with these… thorns pulsating around it. It fit in my entire palm.
"Uh...the hell is this?" I asked curiously.
I held it to DJ who sniffed it. "That is a Nothingness Gem."
"That's...what?" I asked. "Nothingness? Why does that sound familiar?"
"Hmm… depends. Does the title, Kingdom Hearts, ring any bells?"
"Wait...oh yeah! I remember that." I said honestly. "I've played enough of it...still can't believe their making a rhythm game about it."
"Weird. Anyway, Nothingness is the stuff like those Nobodies and such had. That's the power that crystal holds."
"Huh...cool." I said honestly.
"You can sell it, use it to embeu armors and weapons with Nothingness abilities or absorb it and use that energy yourself."
"Really?" I asked in surprise. "Wow that's...quite a thing." I said honestly. "Well...getting the energy to use its abilities would come in handy…"
"Just squeeze it and your Assistant will ask if you want to absorb it. Just hit yes and you got your first energy based abilities skill tree unlocked."
"Cool." I nodded while squeezing the crystal. "Can't wait to start with some new powers."
An alert flashed in my vision.
[Elemental Crystal Detected.
Type: Nothingness
Absorb into DNA to utilize energy?
Yes?
No?]
I clicked yes and watched as it seemingly melted in my hand, flowing into my skin like water to a dry sponge and I saw a new bar appear in my hud under the health one.
[Nothingness energy absorbed.
New skill tree grown.
One Branch Ability available: Thorns.
Twenty five usable points of Nothingness energy.
Recharge time after complete drain is two hours.]
I went over to my skill trees and yes Nothingness was a brand new tree, linked via… roots, I guess, to my main tree. There it is. Thorns. Shoot Nothingness thorns from your palms. Uses one point every time cast.
"Sounds simple enough." I said honestly.
I lifted my hand, palm facing forward and… is it with thought or is it- I held my hand out like I was going to grab a large ball and suddenly a ball of the Nothingness energy appeared in my hand. I blinked, smiled and managed to get a shot off at the wall by pulling my arm back just a bit then pushing it forward like I was picking something… not exactly magic but fuck that's cool! "Yay!" DJ cheered with me.
"Okay, now that's cool." I said with a warm smile.
With new power in hand, pun intended, we headed off. This was a bit earlier to aim than my gun and I can shoot this in my right or left hand so that was fun. Messing around aside we finally reached a shopping district area where some real valuables were. Decent armors, weapons, tools, food, money and ammo. I even found a second handgun. The jewelry was the real nice prize, my assistant telling me just one of the nine gold rings I found was worth a hundred rem a piece.
"Cool." I said honestly. "This is all going to come in handy."
As we headed outside I spotted what looked like someone. They were a lady, wearing ragged torn clothes and walking around aimlessly. DJ growled at them. "Careful David. That's not a person."
"I mean...isn't it obvious that she's not a person?" I asked while carefully bringing up my gun. "But what is it?"
"Well, it's basically a shadow Creature, but this one is made to look human in these kinds of dungeons. The ones in the level ones are pretty much easy to figure out but the harder level ones, those human looking shadow Creatures can pass for a person so well. It's also a bit stronger than the Common ones. The closer to the castle we get the more of these stronger monsters will pop up."
"Sounds about right." I shrugged. "Well...just kill it still?"
"Yup. But these kinds can use weapons and low level spells so just be careful."
"Alright…" I said while taking aim carefully at this ragged monster.
I'd be lying if I said I shot it immediately. When I saw it's face it really did look like a person. I hesitated a bit, but fired. Thankfully it bled that mercury colored crap rather than normal red blood. That made the next three shots easier. Upon death it dropped a dagger, thirty seven rem… and a Nokia? Not even a new type; the actual classic Nokia phone… probably shouldn't question how or why.
"Ah yes, the most durable of all the phones." I said while picking up what would constitute more as a brick of some stupidly strong material than a phone.
Heading deeper in we came across more and more of these not people Shadow Creatures. One had a gun and I got to experience the feeling of getting shot, in the left leg to be specific.
Pain sucks. Oh how this sucks! As I was limping I saw as DJ ran up to the gun welding mad not person, and barked, a line of Nothingness Thorns hitting it's torso. She barked thorns a few more times til it died and melted.
"Good girl." I said warmly. "Also ow…" I groaned in pain.
"Did you grab any healing items from the church?" DJ asked as she ran up to me.
"Thankfully yes." I said while digging through my pocket and pulling out a healing vial. "When in doubt, grab as many healing items as you physically can hold, so says basically every RPG ever." I said while uncorking the vial and drinking the healing potion.
It tasted… Kinda minty, with a hint of… Lime? I winced, my shot leg closing up the wound before my eyes. Thank goodness that bullet went clean through. "We gotta grab you better armor at some point." She said, sniffing the now closed up wound. I put weight on the leg. It was sore but not bad.
"Or just armor in general." I grunted.
"Yeah, Leather armor isn't the best for stopping bullets." DJ sighed. She then turned her head, an ear lifting. "I think I heard someone. A person person." She said, taking a sniff to the air.
"What's the smell?" I asked curiously. "Anything specific?"
She took some sniffs. "I smell… Oil. Burned metal… Melted plastic… I think it's a Synthetic." DJ said.
"A synthetic?" I asked nervously.
"You know, Robot, Android person. They exist here like you and everyone else." DJ said. "They might be in trouble if something damaged their body."
"Well then let's go check it out. Start searching girl." I started, preparing to help search.
I followed DJ along the road, dodging shadow Creatures and those not people along the way. We arrived in the castle courtyard when I saw them… they looked like a balloon, no, a small hot air balloon that was on fire floating in the air. There were four of them surrounded by something that looked like a smaller version of the Terminator. Their arm was in bad shape and they were cornered by those things.
"Flying Flames." DJ said. "Those Shadow Creatures can get as hot as a Blacksmith forge in a level one dungeon, no wonder they started melting."
"Okay so how do I hit the things that are literally hot air balloon's on fire?" I asked worriedly.
"Bullets can work, but best use those Nothingness thorns."
"Alright." I said while creating a ball of Nothingness Thorns. "Let's hope for the best." I said while firing off some at one of the balloons.
Thankfully they were super weak, dying in one shot each.
"I kind of expected these things to be a lot tougher…" I said while making sure to kill all the balloon monsters.
"Well they are still basically hot air balloons."
"Yeah that makes sense." I nodded. "Alright, so let's make sure the person is okay…" I said while moving over to the Synth in hopes they were alright.
"Thanks for the assist." They said, sounding heavily robotic. "Just goes to show, even level ones can screw you." They stood, and I realized this robot person was shorter than me. "Name's Cassidy."
"David." I said with a nod. "You okay there?"
"Would you believe me if I said I've been worse off?" They said. "First I got an axe to the neck, that broke my primary voice chip so now I'm talking from my backup, then these fucks appeared and melted my cosmetic skin off and armor. I suck at these dungeons." The intelligent machine said, and it felt nice hearing them talk with such… life. So this is just a back up voice then? Huh.
"Need some help?" I asked. "And such at 'these' dungeons?"
"I guess that would be helpful. I'll need to make repairs first, let's find the closest safe room."
"There probably should be one somewhere." I said honestly, looking around carefully.
"I know where it is. Follow me." Cassidy said as DJ and I followed the Synth.
The safe room was a half broken inn, but apparently these dungeon safe rooms contain some loot too, typically a book on 'lore' of the dungeon for those who might want to know about things like that, and beds to rest on. While Cassidy fixed themselves up I reloaded my gun magazines and went through the collected loot so far. In total the stuff I'm gonna sell, according to my Assistant, will net me about three grand in rem. Not bad at all.
"Well so far this has been a decent venture for me." I said honestly.
"The only downside so far has been getting shot." DJ said, taking a sniff at the hole in my armor where my first, and odds are far from last, gunshot was. "Wonder how long Cassidy will take in repairing herself?"
"No idea." I shrugged. "I...don't know how long it would take even to build a robot to begin with."
"Depends on if she was built, birthed or won." DJ said with a shrug.
"Uh...what?" I asked. "Built I understand but...birthed or won?"
"Just because she's synthetic doesn't mean she can't have kids, or have been born. All mechanical life forms are born/made with fully functional synthetic reproduction organs. She can have kids either with another synthetic or an organic. As for the won part. Well… how do I put this… you know how my summoning gem was a dungeon prize? Well it's the same for some beings, they aren't made or born but actually spawned in as prizes in boss loot chests. They are people in their own right but appear as a prize."
"Huh...that's pretty interesting." I said honestly.
"Yup. Typically they can spawn in level ones too but only in the final boss chest, they are more common the more dangerous the dungeon, for obvious reasons. I know the main boss of this place was beaten already, can you check if there are any of the others still alive?"
"How can you tell the main boss is dead?" I inquired as I checked the dungeon to see if anything else was still alive.
"Check your minimap."
I looked at my minimap. After a moment there was a small list that appeared.
[bosses:
Primary Boss: Cursed King Hendric- Defeated
Secret Boss: Prisoner Knight Hale- Alive
Optional bosses:
Fool Malitric- Defeated.
Mad Man Mark- Alive
Slave Master Elizabeth- Alive.]
"There's Hale, Mark and Elizabeth still alive...two Optional bosses and one secret boss." I said honestly.
"Should probably avoid the secret boss. Those are always the strength of the next highest dungeon level. The Optional bosses might be a good challenge but will still be tricky as hell if we decide to fight one."
"Well...that's not worrying at all." I said sheepishly.
"The hardest of those two is Malitric. Not only is he extremely flexible and hard to hit he is a natural pyromancer class enemy and can eat spells cast at him."
"Then it's a good thing I wasn't going after him." A very un robotic voice spoke as she entered. Cassidy was… woah. She looked completely human. Her skin lightly tanned, hair a bright blond and eyes, Well, they were a ruby red but her eyes while looking human still looked slightly robotic. "I was trying for Elizabeth." She was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. And… well, damn… just damn…. That figure...
"Uh…" I blinked, continuing to stare at her like...damn.
I snapped back to reality as DJ licked my nose. "Focus." She said, turning to Cassidy. "Why are you after Slave Master Elizabeth?"
"She drops this item, a Nanobot injector." Cassidy said, DJ making an 'oh' expression.
"I mean...can't you just get that without coming here though?" I asked curiously.
"It's worth twenty five thousand rem." Cassidy said plainly. "It also only spawns in Optional boss or secret boss loot."
"Plus once those bots are injected she'll get a massive upgrade." DJ added. "For organics like you or me, they enhance all physical abilities by ten percent, but for a synthetic like Cassidy the first injection will modify and upgrade her body to be nearly identical to organic flesh. After that the injections work the same as with organics."
"Yup. It's why I need to get one. I am so over having my skin melting whenever anything with fire gets close." She said with a sigh.
"Well uh...we'll get it." I said, trying not to act like an idiot after staring at her for a good bit. "So where's the Optional bosses?"
"You'd help me?" Cassidy asked.
"Of course I'd help." I said with a smile.
"Hmm… you sure?" She said, holding up her arm with the Assistant symbol on it. There was something different about it, it had what looked like a presents bow in the center.
"Oh, so you were won." DJ said.
Cassidy nodded. "This very dungeon. The guy who won me asked if I wanted to go my own way or get a lift to the Allies Guild. I chose to stay. Gave me some stuff and we parted ways, but I didn't leave. Not without that upgrade."
DJ nodded, then looked at me. "People won like her can be free but there is a catch. If they team up or party with someone they have to be their allies for at least a year and will follow some similar rules to a familiar like me, but just altered a bit."
"Uh...that sounds a little weird but sure." I said nervously.
"You sure?" Cassidy said. "You'd be stuck with me for a year."
"That's not a problem." I said honestly.
"If you're certain." Cassidy said, holding out her hand. I shook it. "Uhhh…" She said, looking confused. Did I…
"He's Izikai." DJ said.
"Oh. Then here." Cassidy took my arm with the assistant and held it above hers. There was a flash between both and in my hud a new hp and mp bar appeared along with Cassidy's name right under DJ's and my own. "There." She said.
"Cool." I nodded. "Hopefully I can do good for ya Cassidy."
"Well, we can hope. So, as your familiar DJ there explained I am now bound to follow rules similar to those the familiars follow but the major difference is that I can self manage my own growth skills wise independently from yours."
"Yup. Whatever you can do, so can I, hence why I was able to bark Nothingness thorns earlier, but she can't use Nothingness unless she gets it for herself." DJ added.
"Also, she's adorable." I said while picking up my doggo and gently petting her. "And a good girl."
DJ happily took the affection. "Cute." Cassidy said. "So, what gear do you have so far?"
"Uh...a lightsaber, my gun, Nothingness Thorns and a few other things." I said honestly. "Fresh off the fact I'm forever kept away from my family."
"At least you have a family." She countered… "I've got a built in ion cannon, a one handed battle axe I found a week or so ago and a few grenades."
"Sounds like quite a bit of weapons, and the better word would be 'had'...I'm never allowed to go back home from what the priest said."
"Nun." DJ corrected.
"And you might run into them here. It is possible. Rare but possible." Cassidy said. "In any case, Slave Master Elizabeth is actually in the sewers, in her shop. Down there expect bad smells, poisoned water, giant rats and possibly a shit monster or two."
"Sounds like BlightTown from Dark Souls." I said honestly.
"Wanna go to that dungeon?" DJ asked.
"Excuse me?" I asked nervously.
"Blight town. It's a dungeon. Wanna go?" DJ asked again.
"I'd rather not, I was just making a comparison." I said worriedly.
"Heh, well, come on, that bitch isn't gonna kill herself and the loot she drops, aside from what I want, is pretty good."
"Let's hope for the best." I said honestly while following along with Cassidy. "You know where she is?"
"Yeah. When I learned she drops that Injector I tried to fight her… And got scrapped… her fucking whip is bullshit."…"
"How bad was it?" I asked. "Cause 'getting scrapped' can mean quite a range of things."
"Like I said, I got scrapped. Woke up in my camp about an hour later."
"Alrighty then." I nodded. "Good to know...but this time, you'll have help, so you won't get scrapped this time."
"Alright, lead the way." DJ said with a nod.
The way to the sewers was a large hole in the ground near the castle walls. The smell was as expected, shitty. And yeah… shit monsters. The smell…
"How is it I have the stronger sense of smell and you're the one tossing cookies?" DJ asked me as I washed out my mouth again.
"Because dogs have this weird tendency to eat their own shit?" I coughed.
"As a dog of higher intelligence than most I am offended." DJ huffed.
"Come on you two, entrance to Elizabeth's shop is just around here." Cassidy said from a ways down the sewer.
"Alright, boss time." I said while preparing myself for the fight.
Turning the corner the walls changed from the basic bricks to a more artistic and well crafted marble. Granted it was stained and broken.
We entered through the ruined curtains and and inside I was met by cages filled with corpses and skeletons of various races, the whole room lit by these glowing rocks hung by ropes along the ceiling. "Huh." DJ said.
"Well...this is a very stylized room." I said simply.
"Typical slave traders." Cassidy shrugged.
"My my." We turned, looking up atop the cages there stood… is that an actual person? She had two long pigtails of shining blond hair, deep green eyes and a rather poofy scarlet and black red dress. "It would seem I have customers, but sadly not a product to sell. Would one of you like to rectify that?"
"That's the bitch." Cassidy said.
"Well then…" I started. "Good to know we're fighting miss prim and bitchy."
"Eh, can't even play along, oh well." Elizabeth sighed. Suddenly I felt something very hot wrap around my torso. I screamed as it burned me, and I was lifted into the air and slammed down hard.
"David!" DJ barked, licking my chin.
"Guess it's to the point then." She finished, her grip holding a leather wrapped handle and a red hot whip made from small chains floating around her. "Best of luck you three."
"Ow…" I groaned while getting up carefully. "Alright...so…" I raised my gun and tried to fire at the bitch.
Her chains flicked most of the bullets. One hit her arm. She smiled. "My turn." She said, her whip flying across at us, cutting through cages. Cassidy jumped and dodged and I was low enough to get missed completely. DJ gave off some barks of Nothingness as Cassidy and I took cover behind some more cages.
"So...I can now see why you got beaten the first time." I said nervously.
"Like I said, her whip is bullshit." Cassidy huffed, her arms opening up and shifting into something akin to a cannon. "At least it's her only weapon."
"Yeah...now I understand...and as far as we know that's her only weapon." I said honestly.
"No it is, her boss listing says as much. At least for the version of her in this dungeon." Cassidy said, taking blind shots from our hiding spot. "Thankfully her lack of armor makes her just a bit weaker than most Optional bosses."
"Only problem is that stupid whip." I frowned while getting out of cover real quick and firing at the lady.
Her whip was either acting on it's own or as an extension of herself as it deflected more bullets. Thankfully between Cassidy and my own fire, add in DJ's Nothingness barks and it was too much for the chain whip til finally…
Her head flipped back as a bullet hit home. Like a limp doll, she fell on her back. "Congratulations. You win." Elizabeth said as her body faded rather than melted. On the ground was a small wood and gold treasure chest.
"That wasn't creepy at all." I deadpanned while getting out from cover.
"That's finally over…" Cassidy groaned. "Finally. Well, you got the killing shot, you open the loot box."
"Alright, let's hope it's the thing you need." I said while walking over to the small treasure chest and opened it.
A list appeared in my vision.
[Nanobot Injector x1
2,500 Rem
Slave Master Elizabith's Chain Whip x1
200 5.56mm
Slave Cuffs x3
Slave Cuff Keys x3
Healing Bandages x15
Med Grade Healing Potions x10]
"Well I got your Injector." I said honestly. "And also her whip and a bunch of other things."
"Sounds about right." Cassidy nodded. "So, the injector?"
"Uh...how do I...take something out of my Assistant?" I asked nervously. "I haven't done that yet…"
"Open your items menu, find the item, click it, and select remove when it appears."
"Thank you." I nodded while doing that exact thing for my robo friend.
I handed Cassidy the injector and after she took the cap off she pushed the needle tip under her false skin. The… whatever it is, flowed out and her body began to slowly glow silver and almost… vibrate for a moment, and when it was over she looked as she did before… save her eyes, her eyes looked human now. "Finally… No more melting skin." She sighed happily. "So… Thanks. Guess now we just… go along places."
"I guess yeah." I said honestly. "Wonder where we should go next?"
"Wherever we want."
I nodded, picking up DJ as Cassidy, DJ and I left these horrible sewers… Guess I can do whatever I want here. Guess it's time to see what this world can show me.