Luke looked out across the crowd after shouting for more members to join the party of six required. Perhaps six wasn't a must, but going in without as much power as they could muster was a fool's errand, and Luke was no fool. The mention of a profession in the interface intrigued him. Behind that simple word was another path toward strength and power. He just knew it. Knew it and needed it. His chosen class, Lifeweaver, held immense potential but left a lot to be desired in its current form. Each time Luke used a skill, active or passive, the inherent force behind it was like a shimmering mirage on the horizon. When he reached for it, it evaporated, becoming a husk of weakness as he wielded what could and should be true power. With a profession and an increase of levels in the dungeon, perhaps the illusion might become reality.

  "Two," Kirk corrected. "I’m coming."

  Luke blinked. "Huh? Sorry, what?"

  "I'm going with you."

  "You really shouldn’t," Luke said. "You’ll be needed out here if we fail."

  Kirk looked like he’d tasted something sour, but gave a curt nod in resignation. "You’re right."

  "I’ll go!" one of the riot police shouted, holding his plastic shield in one hand and raising a skeleton's sword in the other.

  "I don’t think you can, friend!" Kirk shouted back, then pointed to the portal. "But give it a go!"

  "He’s not coming either way," Luke said, his voice low so it wouldn’t carry. "We’ll need all the strength we can get. Someone who isn’t Integrated won’t cut it."

  "I’m about 99% sure it won’t work," Kirk said.

  Just as predicted, the cop couldn’t enter the portal.

  Kirk slapped the cop’s shoulder. "You’re a brave one to volunteer. But you should go touch the orb and complete the Tutorial Dungeon. Take as many riot police as you can gather with you and hurry. Perhaps you can make it back before it's all over."

  The cop glanced over to the massive gray orb in the distance and followed its impressive height to its top. Then he nodded and jogged off, waving for other cops to join him. Quite a few did.

  "Who else?" Kirk bellowed. "We need three more Integrated."

  Silence held for a long moment, then one huge arm raised above the crowd, and a young man in a football uniform pushed his way to the front.

  It was the tank Luke helped save.

  "I’ll go," the young man repeated.

  A woman about the same age as the football player, wearing a cheerleading uniform with a red top and a red short skirt with white fringe, squeezed to the front as well.

  "If you’re going, then I’m coming with you," she said, blowing on a strand of long blond hair that'd fallen out of the bun on the top of her head, trying to get it out of her face.

  "Penny, no," the footballer said. "It’s dangerous."

  "Are you Integrated, young woman?" Kirk asked.

  "Don’t you ‘young woman’ me," she barked. "Of course I’m Integrated."

  "What is your class?"

  "My class is called Stormsinger. It’s Lightning Magic. Sort of. Or maybe weather in general."

  Luke frowned. "I didn’t see lightning in the fight."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The girl pointed an accusatory finger at the football player. "This ass told me to go hide, but I’m done with hiding. If he’s going, then I’m going."

  "You his girlfriend or something?" Ray asked.

  "What does that have to do with anything?"

  Kirk glanced at Luke, who shrugged and nodded.

  "One more!" Kirk shouted.

  "I will go with you."

  They all turned to see a man coming from their left, one Luke recognized. It was the spear-wielding fighter from the Tutorial Dungeon. The one who'd fled right before the goblin mage released its attack.

  Kirk slapped his hands together. "Great! We have a tank, two melee damage dealers, one ranged damage dealer, and two support classes. Create a party and go inside. Godspeed, everyone!"

  An invite from Ray popped into Luke’s interface. He had designated himself as the party leader. Luke accepted and looked at the group. Once five small health bars appeared next to Luke's own in his interface, Luke stepped up to the portal and then walked through it without another word. There was nothing more to say. It was up to them now to clear this dungeon, which meant destroying any and all monsters found within.

  Emerging on the other side, he blinked, disoriented, as he took in his surroundings. It was dark as night on this side of the portal. A pine forest spread out to his sides and behind him, and what he could only describe as some abandoned medieval village waited farther down the sloping dirt road straight ahead. Seven or eight small houses crafted from logs with collapsed thatch roofs spoke of the village's inhabitants having been gone for quite a while.

  System Message: Quest Updated: Slay the Fallen Shepherd and leave before the dungeon collapses in on itself. Reward: A profession.

  Luke saw no signs of movement between the buildings and heard no noise that might indicate a presence. Past the village and through a small patch of forest, he saw a church tower rising above the trees. In the top window, a small light flickered. A gust of wind blew past Luke, over the village, and toward the church. Beyond the church, the forest seemed to go on for an eternity.

  The others emerged behind him, and Luke inspected them all.

  Inspected Integrated: Ray. Assassin. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Hannah. Vesper. Level 5.

  Inspected Integrated: Mateo. Lancer. Level 6.

  Inspected Integrated: Penny. Stormsinger. Level 3.

  Inspected Integrated: Colt. Vanguard. Level 5.

  "The church," Luke said, pointing with his quarterstaff.

  "We're killing undead. Of course we're going to the church," Ray said with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes as his gaze flickered from the dark woods to the dead village and beyond.

  "So, Ray," Luke said, "you're the leader. You better lead us to the church."

  "I don't want to lead," Ray said. "I'm supposed to stay in stealth and kill things."

  "Well, I'm the healer, so I don't think I should lead either," Luke said.

  "My friends, do not worry yourselves. I shall lead us through this challenge," Mateo declared, running a hand through his long, dark brown hair.

  Colt shrugged, and Penny looked more interested in examining the deep blue mage's robe with white streaks representing lightning she'd just donned against the chill of night.

  "Sure," Luke said. "Sounds good to me."

  As they made their way down toward the silent village, Luke walked up beside Mateo at the front. "We were in the same Tutorial Dungeon."

  "Yes, my friend," Mateo replied, not taking his eyes off the village. He stroked his moustache and twirled the end around his finger like some cartoon villain, then gave Luke a genuine smile. "The strange goblin mage got you. A nasty attack, that."

  "You knew it would do that?" Luke asked, not bothering to correct Mateo's misconception about Luke's demise.

  "Yes. We killed one before, my friend and I, the tin man. Once the spinning rocks are too numerous, then attacks are useless. So, you run. Only, you didn’t run."

  They made it to the edge of the village and passed through the first line of houses, peering through windows and the empty gaps where doors once stood. Dark brown stains showed up on the walls, the village well, and in several places on the ground, on discarded objects like buckets and tools.

  Penny pressed herself close to Colt while Hannah looked around with open interest. "They were all killed."

  "Probably turned into zombies," Ray began, pointing toward the church. "They’ll all be in there. We’ll find a bunch of floors going down into a basement. Then down and down and down, all the way to hell."

  "Don’t say that," Penny whispered, making the sign of the cross over her chest.

  "This isn’t a game," Luke said.

  "Great, just great," Ray muttered. "We’ll see. Just make sure you don’t stumble over any peg legs lying about."

  "What is he talking about?" Hannah asked Luke, who just shook his head.

  "Ignore him."

  They didn’t see a single corpse. No bodies, no signs of struggle except the dried blood, as they exited the village on the opposite side, heading toward the church and the flickering light in its high window. Once they drew close enough, the low moaning of zombies reached them. Within a rusted iron fence that surrounded the church and the graveyard, monsters roamed. A large number of them stopped in their tracks, their dead eyes turning to the group. Then, as one, they shuffled toward the wide open iron gate.