When I pulled into the convention center lot, I didn’t even make it out of my van before the Dungeon stirred. The ring pulsed cold, then hot, and back to cold against my finger, a reminder, and I knew what it wanted. I fed it a large part of my MANA.
Afterward, I asked, “Are people using you today?”
THREE INSTANCES ARE IN USE. MOST END AFTER THE SECOND RANK OF ROOMS. WHY IS THAT?
“I think it’s because they don’t want to die, but they want to say they’ve been there. Most of them will be back soon.”
SOME WILL NEVER RETURN. THEIR BODIES WERE REMOVED. ONLY ONE GROUP REMAINED WITHIN.
“What happened to them?”
THEY SPOKE OF MAPPING THE CORRIDORS. THEY WERE MET BY A PATROL AS THEY RETURNED FROM WHERE THE STAIRS WILL BE. THEY ARE NOW BEING UTILIZED IN GROWTH.
“You’re getting some experience, and whatever else it is you get. I hope more groups keep coming. Our party will return tomorrow if things go as planned. I’d hoped for one run a day, but today had too many distractions. I have a question. You make items with powers. Can you add those powers to something from before the Game? A sword or dagger, for example.”
The Dungeon went silent. The cold and hot flashes from the ring were faint. A couple of minutes passed before the Dungeon spoke again.
THAT IS NOT WITHIN THE CURRENT TEACHINGS. THE ENHANCEMENT ABILITY DOES NOT CURRENTLY APPLY TO ITEMS FROM OUTSIDE ME. MORE THINGS WILL BE AVAILABLE WHEN THE NEXT LEVEL IS COMPLETED.
“Right. You need to level up…or down, I guess. I understand. Your TEACHINGS expand as you grow in size and depth.”
THAT IS CORRECT.
“Thank you. I’ll do what I can to bring you more groups.”
The ring was quiet. Conversation over.
I exhaled and headed back inside the convention center, the glass doors flashing with afternoon light, the hum of voices and clicking keyboards greeting me as I returned to see what else the GRA wanted.
By midafternoon, I wanted less and less to do with the GRA people. It wasn’t that I disliked them. Most were fine. But sitting under their questioning, I felt less like a person and more like a specimen in a Petri dish, some curiosity under a microscope, instead of a person.
Using Game Chat, I reached out to the party: another dungeon run tomorrow? With our new gear and if we skipped the Boss Room, we could move quicker, safer. I was close to leveling and wanted it done. Everyone agreed, more or less, on the morning to do it.
For my own amusement, I decided to give the professors a show. Slipping off my shoes, I swapped them for my new sandals. Then I equipped a robe and staff from INVENTORY. A Mage’s Staff, though a Shaman’s would’ve looked nearly the same. Their eyes widened as I stood there in a full getup, and I had to fight a grin.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
That about tapped me out for new tricks. I wrapped up by telling them I’d be back when I had something worth sharing…or when they had something for me, or us. I wanted to bring both the party and the Irregulars into future talks. I still had spawns to grind, and things to buy.
One piece of good news I tucked away for later: the GRA was considering giving real-world support to the players most useful to them. Sponsorship, basically. It wouldn’t be for everyone, and they had no details yet. But it was coming. I thanked them anyway, left the meeting room, and stepped into the warm May air outside.
[William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [I’m done here. How about you?]
[Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Just finishing up with a spawn.]
[Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [And done. What do you want for dinner? My turn tonight.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Up to you. Today was a mostly unproductive day. Except for lunch. That was very productive.]
I waited a few minutes before she answered.
[Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Yes. It was. We’ll have to do it again sometime. Maybe all of us after the next dungeon.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [Unless Shadow has to get to work, they might. Talk to you when you’re done. I’m home.]
At home, the only email that mattered was from my boss at the university press. No more work left for me. The Game had disrupted publishing just like it had disrupted everything else. I sent a quick reply thanking her and asking to be kept in mind if anything new came in.
I still had freelance listings online, and they’d brought in some side work before. Maybe it was time to update them, polish up my profile, start promoting myself again.
I stared at my computer, sipping coffee, the hum of the air conditioning the only sound in the house. Eventually, an idea percolated up through my back brain into my front brain.
Why not write my own book?
Behind the Shield, The First Mana Mage.
“Too corny?” I muttered aloud. Maybe. But I’d read enough about independent publishing to know I could probably do it. A cheap cover. Maybe even just a photo of me with text. The notes started flowing, and soon I was scribbling ideas fast enough to cover the several pages of note paper.
Two hours later, the front door opened.
“Hi honey, I’m home!” Blaze’s voice rang through the house.
I groaned into my hands, then peeked through my fingers toward the office door. Blaze stood there, trying and failing not to laugh.
“Isn’t that my line?” I called back. That broke both of us into laughter.
“I know, but I couldn’t resist.”
We asked, “How was your day?” at the same time, which made us laugh again.
“What’s up for tonight?” Blaze asked me.
“I’m waiting to hear back from Shadow about the dungeon run tomorrow,” I said.
“I cleared time at the office. It’s fine with me. We’ll have to go early and move quicker, but Matt wants more data for the database.”
“So does everyone. This is going to be the most researched catastrophe in history.”
“That assumes anyone’s left to read it. Most dungeons are showing up outside urban areas. A few are in cities like New York, Chicago, LA. One per million people, they’re saying. This state’s got three we know of.”
“Yeah, one near each population hub.” I nodded. “Robes time.”
She grinned, and her mage robes appeared over her clothes. I laughed. “Nice try. You know what I meant.” I pulled mine from INVENTORY and equipped them. “And since it’s your turn to cook…what are we having?”
Her robes flickered away, uncovering her normal clothes, and she smirked. “Well, I tried. Don’t know yet. I’ll see what we’ve got and improvise like you do.”
“Sounds good to me,” I called after her as she stepped back, turned, and entered her room to change.
I have a channel. (John.Malkin.Writer) if you want to ask questions, make suggestions, or just talk about the story, come join it. You can go directly to the channel. It is a never expires link. In case it doesn't work, you can always contact me for a current join request.
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