System Architect - Ch 125

The fictional world of the tutorial faded. I was back in the living room of Mom’s house with both her and Grandpa Joe. Their eyes regained focus around the same time as mine did—give or take a second. The tutorial process didn’t perfectly pause time. It was compressed significantly so that it took only a handful of seconds on average. Someone who stuck around to practice more might take a second or two more.

My shield, spear, and fire starter were placed next to me. I looked at Grandpa Joe. His weapon of choice was a shotgun. I didn’t see anything to indicate his profession. That it wasn’t an object said to me that what he had chosen was not a craft. Beyond that, I there was nothing to go on. For Mom, she had also picked up a spear like I had. Like Grandpa Joe, her profession was something other than a crafting one.

“So,” I said. “What did you think of the tutorial?”

“Hmm,” Grandpa Joe said. “It was simple. But simple is good. And informative, too.”

“Did you pick Spearman?” Mom asked. “That’s what I went with.”

“No,” I said. “I practiced with the spear, but I ended up picking Wizard. For all the insanity I’m sure is about to happen, magic’s really fucking cool.”

Mom glared at me for my choice of words while Grandpa Joe laughed.

“I assume you picked something gun-related?” I asked.

“Mmhm,” he replied. “Solid weapon, but not too much ammo. I’ve got some in the trunk of my car because you never know.”

“What about your professions?” She asked.

“Enchanter. Not that you would have guessed anything else.”

“Dad?”

“I’m going to keep that one a secret for now,” he said. “There were so many interesting ones in that library. I couldn’t help but test a few of them. Did you do the same?”

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” Mom answered.

We looked at each other.

“I already knew what I wanted. I’d been testing all of those crafts for a reason before I stumbled upon enchanting.”

“I picked Engineer,” she said. “It’s what I do for work and what I enjoy.”

I nodded.

I imagined Grandpa Joe’s choice was related to the work he’d done for the government once upon a time. Since I didn’t know much, I couldn’t guess which type of subterfuge-based profession he’d gone for. The only one I could rule out—on account of his class dealing with firearms—was Assassin or similar. Spy, Saboteur, and anything else like those two were the most likely candidates.

Mom’s made sense for her. She knew what the work meant—much like I did with enchanting. On top of that, she’d spent years doing the non-magical version of it. Engineer was broad, though. What it entailed—specifically—wasn’t clear to me. After all, there were many types of engineering… anything from military to computer.

“Grandpa Joe?”

“Hmm?”

“Dungeons should form in uninhabited areas nearby to population… would you like to go find one?”

“Like in a park, you mean?”

“Exactly!”

“Now wait here a minute,” Mom started. “That’s not very safe! I—”

“I’ll be there with him,” he said. “Plus, you can always come with. The more the merrier!”

“Yeah, come with us, Mom. These dungeons are full of monsters, but they also need to get cleaned out periodically else monsters will come out and start harming people!”

“I-I did not know that,” she stammered. “I’ll go with you. I’ll feel better being there to help.”

“Got it. There’s a park about halfway between here and Dad’s. I want to see if there are any dungeons there. If so, I’d like to try clearing it before anyone else gets the same bright idea.”

“Do you have everything you need?” Grandpa Joe asked.

“Let me get the spear I made earlier. It’s better than the one from the tutorial. Then, yeah. I’m all good.”

“Great. I’ll get the extra ammo from the trunk.”

“Mom, you should use the better spear as well. It might take getting used to, but the enchantment takes mana and will make cutting easier.”

“Ok.”

--------

We regrouped at the front door minutes later. Stepping outside, I could hear voices yelling from nearby houses. Mom’s neighbors were arguing about something system-related, though it wasn’t any of our business. We were on a time crunch to find and enter any nearby dungeons before anyone else could.

Grandpa Joe took the lead. His shotgun was slung on his back. Mom took up the rear, holding her spear in both hands. I was in the middle. I held my spear in my right hand, while my shield was strapped to my left arm. Other than weather-appropriate clothing, I had nothing in the way of armor. If I went out again in the future, I would most certainly want some kind of protection—more than a shield, preferably.

We made good time. The park was only half-a-mile from Mom’s house. It was a small park with a few benches and a playground. For the adults, there was a small pond with a path around it. All told, it was about an acre or two in size.

The park was empty. The people who usually ran laps around the pond were gone. As were the kids who frequented the playground after school and on breaks. On the path around the pond was a large structure that hadn’t been there before. It was made of stone blocks. The bottom was a flat area with concentric rings of stone that formed stairs going to to the ground around it. On either end of the rectangular flat area were narrow towers of blocks forming a tall arch. Inside the arch was a shimmering iridescent film—a portal. Atop the arch was a sign with information about the dungeon.

Dungeon Level: 4
Dungeon Break In: 04:23:42:18

“There!” I exclaimed when I saw the dungeon. “That’s what we’re looking for.”

“What does it say on top?” Mom asked.

I relayed the information. Her eyesight—even with glasses—wasn’t the best.

“Are you sure we can handle something like that? We’re only level 1!”

“I’m level 6,” I said. “A bonus for having made this whole system thing. Oh, and a t-shirt that I will not be wearing anywhere.”

“Alright. But won’t it be hard for us?”

“Not at all. Within the same tier, things are relatively close. Tier 1 is levels 1-8, so we’ll be fine.”

“Good,” Grandpa Joe said. “Let’s see what the fuss is about, yeah?”

I followed him towards the dungeon. The structure was even larger in person than it had appeared when I was far away. It was impressive, and certainly wouldn’t go unnoticed—which was the entire point. I wanted dungeons to be found, delved, and exploited. That meant strength for humanity and a safer world—especially when the invaders came.

We walked up the several steps to the top. The cobblestone surface was distinctly different than the gravel footpath nearby. The texture of it hurt my feet and almost caused me to stumble as we walked towards the portal.

“So we just go through?” he asked.

“I think so.”

“You think?” Mom asked incredulously.

“Yeah. Not like I’ve been in a dungeon before. I just designed the system, you know?”

“Right.”

Grandpa Joe motioned for us to follow. I readied my spear for any monsters we might encounter directly on the other side. He went through the curtain of the portal first. I followed a second later, with Mom taking up the rear.

The other side of the portal was the bottom of a deep canyon. Though direct light did not reach down that far, it was bright enough to see without aid. The canyon was wide enough for five people to walk abreast—which was just barely enough room to fight in. After appraising my surroundings, I gave my attention to the notification that had popped up.

This is a dungeon containing level 4 monsters. The dungeon will be unable to contain the monsters within in 4 days, 23 hours, 40 minutes, and 29 seconds. Please clear the dungeon of monsters to reset the timer to 5 days. Rewards will be given in addition to the experience from killing the monsters.

A second message popped up as soon as I closed the first.

This dungeon has never been cleared. There is a bonus for the first person or team to clear the dungeon. 100 monsters remain.

I minimized the notification. I wanted to see if it would update as we killed the monsters. 100 seemed like a large number, but they could be small monsters like rabbits, where 100 would be a large-but-not-insurmountable number. A bigger monster like an orc would be problematic, so I hoped that wasn’t the case.

“So what do we do now?” Mom asked.

“We walk forward until we encounter the monsters,” I said. “I’ll walk on Grandpa Joe’s left, you take his right.”

She nodded.

We began to slowly advance. For several minutes, the only sounds I could hear were the clinking of our gear, our footsteps, and our breathing. Then I heard something else in the distance.

“I hear something,” I said.

Grandpa Joe stopped, and so did Mom and I. In the distance, we saw the first true monster. It was a goblin like I had fought in the tutorial. It was small and wielded a spear. The main difference to the one in the tutorial was that it sported more clothing than a loin cloth. I couldn’t call what it was wearing armor, but it was better than looking at goblin dong peeking out from under its loin cloth every time it attacked.

“Goblins,” I said. “I fought them in my tutorial. Did either of you?”

“No,” Grandpa Joe said.

“I didn’t,” Mom added.

“They aren’t particularly quick. Just keep the pointy bit forward and you should be ok. I’ve got a couple spells I’ll use against them. Primarily it’ll be a form of lightning. The spell will stun them and you can stab them. If there are too many, feel free to just go wild with the shotgun.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said.

We continued forward with caution. As we approached, I saw that the goblin wasn’t along. There were five of them clustered together. Almost as soon as they were within range of my spells, their eyes locked onto ours and they charged.

I started off the encounter my throwing an Arc at the lead goblin. The spell flashed across the gap before causing the goblin to seize up and fall to the ground. The four other goblins ignored their fallen comrade and continued their attack. A second Arc dropped another goblin to the ground. While those two were not dead, they would be stunned long enough to deal with the other three. Or so I hoped

After the second spell was fired, there was not enough time to fire off another before they were upon us. My spear was out and my shield ready. I took the attack of one of the goblins on the shield before stabbing forward with my weapon. The enchantment connected, allowing the spear to pierce clean through the goblin! The one downside to my spear’s design—and something I intended to fix when I returned to the workshop—was that it didn’t have a cross guard to prevent it from going too far in and getting stuck.

Thankfully, the spear didn’t get stuck. It had broken all of the bones it had encountered on the way in. It had also broken the goblin. Instead of disappearing like it had during the tutorial, it hung limply from my spear. I pulled it out and looked around to see if I could help.

The goblin in front of Grandpa Joe looked like it was done. A great hole in its chest a testament to the shotgun’s power. Mom—on the other hand—was struggling with her goblin. She wasn’t in danger, but she was slower than Grandpa Joe or I had been. As I approached to help her, she managed to stick the goblin in just the right place—without using the enchantment—to kill it.

Just in time, too. The other goblins were back on their feet and charging towards us! Sadly—for the goblins—there were only two of them and three of us. They died quickly, without the use of gunpowder or magic.