by Troy Neenan
With enthusiasm, Kim clicked on the button on the top right hand corner of her phone screen and felt a wave of dizziness come over her. The next thing she knew the factory was gone.
Kim found herself walking through a set of doors and into what appeared to be an empty casino, empty as in there was nothing there except a huge glass table and her employer, David, tapping at the glass.
As if sensing her arrival, David looked up from his tablet and looked at her in astonishment. “How did you...” he stopped himself as his table flashed something. “You're kidding. This is how you upgrade?”
Kim looked at the empty hall, she had seen better. “What is this place?” she asked.
“I guess you would call this a loading screen or a desktop. You're kind of in my safe house.” David sounded a bit unsure, and Kim doubted he really knew. “When you see me just zone out, this is probably where I am.”
“It's a bit empty,” Kim mentioned.
“I kinda have my hands busy. So now we need to work on the best way to upgrade you.” He thought for a moment, “Music, huh? How... about a stage?” he tapped something on his table and a stage just suddenly appeared. It had a single chair on it and an electric guitar just hovering in the air.
“Nice,” Kim exploded, not because the stage itself was fantastic but at the casual display of magic.
Over at the far end of the casino, a lone video game appeared. It had five anime characters on top of it and it had the look of one of those dating sim games that Japan was crazy about for some reason. The third new machine had the look of a trivia game. It had The Assistant written in glowing neon light.
“Three professions, one job. Pick which one you want to dump your points.” David said.
“Where's the scribe?” Kim looked around, trying to locate the fourth machine.
“Couldn't figure out a good game for that. You'll have to look at the tablet for that.” He gestured at the table. “Or you can save up your points.” Neither David nor Kim believed she would do that. The idea of getting a super power was too much of a temptation.
“Did Cassidy and Daisy pick yet?” She asked.
“Daisy has ten points. She got them by selling the gold. Curiously, Cassidy hasn't gotten a single point, yet.”
Kim snorted. Cassidy liked to talk a big game about responsibility but really she was a lazy bitch, preferring to do everything at the last moment. What was worse, despite her lax attitude she always got better grades than Kim did back in school.
Kim moved to her first love, the floating guitar. Well, actually anime was her first love, but music was up there. She sat down on the low chair and her hands instinctively picked up the instrument. As she plucked her first string, she felt that the guitar was horribly out of tune. Annoyed, she tweaked the knob.
Fine Tuned.
Type: Instrumental, passive
An instrument is not just a mechanism that makes noise. It is an extension and mirror of its owner. You will instinctively be able to tune any instrument to your own tastes.
Points needed. 5.
Kim blinked. “Okay.”
Not wanting to waste her points on a stupid upgrade, she tried just strumming a few of the lax cords.
Nimble Fingers I.
Type: Playing, passive.
Your fingers instinctively know which cords to pluck and which keys to hit. Speed increased by 5%
Points needed. 10
“Can I get a menu for this?” Kim asked, she just wanted to make this easier.
David smiled, “You're no fun.” He pushed a few buttons and Kim saw the full list of upgrades.
She was now able to see a list of her potential upgrades, the text hanging right before her like a computer window. It looked as if the set up was of old Japanese RPG systems where you had several tiers inside one main class and you could only get the more powerful abilities by unlocking the the prerequisite abilities.
The music profession seemed to be distributed into several main categories. Instrument, Singing, Stage, Compose, and Playing. That was most likely to change as Kim continued to unlock new powers and abilities.
Vocals I.
Type: Singing, passive.
Your voice not only hits those high and low notes but you are able to hold a note for a full two minutes.
10 points.
Song Writer.
Type: Compose, passive.
From snappy lyrics to epic compositions. You can now write your soul onto parchment.
15 points.
Showman.
Type: Stage, passive.
Even the greatest artist feels the weight of a thousand pairs of eyes on them. You feel more comfortable working with big crowds.
5 points.
Kim could sense that this was just the bare bones of her profession. From the fictional books that she had read about dungeons, she could guess that her abilities would expand and become much more expensive the more upgrades that she unlocked.
20 points. It wasn't a lot. She could purchase four minor enhancements or go for the songwriter talent.
“You still have the other professions.” David called out helpfully.
Not wanting to give up this chance, Kim selected the nimble fingers upgrade. Her points dropped to 10 and she got a new prompt. Instantly she got several new abilities to gather and unlocked Nimble finger II.
Nimble Fingers II.
Type: Playing, passive.
Your fingers dance and twist in ways they never could before. Your dexterity is enhanced by an additional 5 %.
Points. 25.
Deep Calluses.
Type: Playing, passive.
Your hands and fingers are now protected by natural armour.
Point 15.
Musical Muscle Memory.
Type: Playing, passive.
Your body knows what it is doing even if you don't. The more you repeatedly play a song the better the chance that you can reproduce it.
Points 20.
Natural armour? Now that is just cool. Suddenly, Kim found herself with a new work ethic. Wanting to see what else she could get from her other professions, she put down the guitar and moved to the glass tablet.
Scholar upgrades.
Calligraphy.
Type: Writing, passive.
Text doesn't have to be boring, turn your words into art with new fonts.
Points 10.
Index Initiate.
Type: Research, passive.
You instinctively know where to find the right book you need.
Points: 10.
Research Initiate.
Type: Research.
Your dungeon will receive four extra research points a week. Library, scholar's hut, or school room required.
Points: 20.
Learn a new basic language.
Type: Language.
You can now learn another basic language that you have heard or studied before.
Points: 20.
Comprehension 1.
Type: Critical thinking, passive.
Reading something is not the same as knowing it. Improve base intelligence by 5.
5 points.
It was the Research Initiate talent that peaked Kim's attention. It held no interest for her right now as she no longer had the points to purchase it, but maybe later she and the dungeon would have a talk about her first raise.
She was interested to know that some abilities were already unlocked. Including the second level of the Writing tier which she obtained by knowing how to read and write, give it up for literacy.
It was just surprising that the upgrade was there in the first place. You would think that being able to read and write would be a prerequisite of the scholar class and not an option.
“You really need to update this thing.” Kim said.
“Yeah, tell me about it. As best I can figure it, my dungeon is a hand-me-down of one of the fantasy realms. You know those ones where anyone with a saw is called a doctor, and the education system is compose
d of teacher slapping kids in the heads with books. About a third of the upgrades are blanked out because our universe doesn't support magic. Check these out.”
Speed Reading I.
Writing, passive.
Permanently increase reading speed by 5%.
Points 10.
Speed Writing I.
Writing, passive.
Permanently increase writing speed by 5%.
Points 10.
Transcribe Text I.
Writing, passive.
Copy text from one book into another 10% faster.
20 points.
Eye for Grammar.
Writing, passive.
You can now see and fix grammar mistakes, making utter nonsense into easily understandable gibberish.
Points 10.
Read between the lines.
Type: Writing, active.
Authors often put a piece of themselves in their work. For one hour you will be able to sense the author's emotional state when they were writing their piece.
5 points.
“Sucky, right?” David asked. “Now, if we were in a fantasy world, you'll get holographic reading, be able to make your own grimoire. Plus the scholar class is linked to enchantment and magical classes. In theory, you could make magical scrolls.”
“Awww.” Kim groaned, that would have been so cool.
Unable to get the magical powers of her upgrades, due to her stupid universe making logical sense, there was little that Kim was interested in at the moment. As for mundane purchases, that speed reading one and learn a new language, however, was up there in her wish list. Learning Japanese without trying would make watching anime so much easier.
She decided to save up her points, not bothering with her assistant upgrades. If David wanted her to get an assistant upgrade than he was going to have to shout out a raise.
As if sensing her intentions, Kim found herself back in the real world surrounded by dozens of pissed off animals all of whom wanting to be fed and taste freedom. She checked her phone and discovered that not even a minute had passed in the real world while she had clearly remembered playing around with her upgrades for at least half an hour.
Doing her best to ignore the annoyed animals, Kim manoeuvred around the cages to where David was looking at his laptop. “Hey, was that real?” she asked over the barks and clatter.
Her boss didn't answer. David sat there, cross legged, examining the screen. Next to him, eating an assortment of junk food was Judith, who kept her eyes on Kim with an eerie predator expression, as if she were daring the Australian anime geek to turn her back on her.
Curious, Kim examined the screen. The Dungeon Core appeared to be in the middle of reading a boring paper about genetics. Why a fantasy dungeon needed to know or would care about such a subject was beyond her. She hadn't been much of a fan of the dungeon master anime, which seemed to be more about the artist's fulfilling some sort of harem fantasy. She preferred darker fantasy and science fiction shows.
After today, however, Kim promised herself to read more LitRPGs, ones that don't feel like the author really needs to get laid, badly.
Not getting an answer, Kim shook her boss' shoulder.
Startled, David jumped. “What?” he looked up to see Kim there, looking at him.
“Was that real?” she asked. “The casino? The upgrade?”
David blinked in confusion, and then he seemed to grasp what Kim meant. “Oh, yeah, that was real. Nimble fingers I.”
“Can you give me...” she hesitated for a moment, trying to come up with the most polite way to put this, “Give me more points?”
“Would if I could, but without a dungeon I can't do much. It looks like you need to complete side quests. And no, I don't know how this stuff works.”
“Okaaaay,” Kim trailed off. “So can you give me more quests, maybe get you a coffee for fifty points?”
David gave her a smile, “Try and focus on your music. Maybe you'll get a secret quest if you memorise a song or something” He looked at his watch, “Pawn shops closed. Better go back to the hotel, take Judith with you. She needs a good night's sleep.”
Kim's phone rang and two quests popped up.
Quest alert. The right tools for the job.
Obtain an instrument.
Reward: A musical instrument.
Quest alert. Diddy.
Compose a small song or lullaby.
Reward: 2 upgrade points.
Kim smiled. She had been working on her own song for five years but never had the motivation to finish it, now it looked like the perfect time. As for the instrument, maybe she could get lucky and find a shop, if not there was always tomorrow.
She looked back over the building, “Are you going to be alright without your little bodyguard?” Not even for a million dollars would Kim ever stay in this place. Disregarding all of the poisonous monsters that were crawling around the area, the place looked as if it would attract meth-heads and hobos. Camping out in the wilderness was probably safer.
Thinking back at what happened in the racquetball centre, David looked at all of the animals and winced, “You probably don't want to be here.”
“Okaaay,” Kim said not wanting to touch on the subject. For all she knew this crazy guy was going to do some sex acts on these poor animals, and she really didn't need to see that. She took Judith by the arm, “Come on, bath and bed.” She wondered if there was a babysitter profession.
Judith looked back at her master as she was guided to Kim's car, she didn't want to leave David's side. He seemed to keep finding himself in trouble a lot.
***
Seeing his first creation leave with his employee, David stood up and moved to a cage containing two large female cats, one of which had what appeared to be a broken leg. He had gone for cheap fodder instead of loveable kittens, animals that were a day away from the gas chamber. What he intended to do to each of the animals was going to leave a mark on his already tainted soul and he didn't need the extra guilt of dooming a kitten.
From his pocket dimension, he pulled out a plastic bowl and filled the container with milk. Using a knife he then cut into his finger. A drop of red blood landed in the white liquid, a quick stir later and there looked to be no visible sign of the Dungeon Core's essence.
The cats drank greedily not realising their fate.
Chapter Twenty-Two
With a natural grace that no human could ever duplicate, the feline casually jumped back, avoiding the piercing claws and a quick death. With a look filled with contempt and mild amusement it viewed its foe.
The cat faced a deformed monster of its kind. A terror that looked more like a rabid hyena than a tame house cat. Its opponent snarled and yipped, displaying horrible teeth, its mouth was filled with so much bacteria that even its drool seemed to hiss as it hit the floor.
The hyena, easily four times the size of the cat and four times it weight, lowered its head, showing its hump and its bright orange stripe of hair which ran down its back. It gnashed its twisted teeth flinging drool everywhere.
The cat just sat there, watching its enemy. The hyena was nothing but a brute, a savage thing. The cat meanwhile, with its golden fur was a magnificent specimen. While smaller, the tiny cat had traded its size for a few little tricks. Unlike this lumbering oaf, the tiny cat had no need to hunt in the primeval forests or jungles of some alien world. It walked into people's homes, took what it wanted, and for its crimes it was worshipped like the god it knew it was.
In comparison, the hyena was a feral cretin which was groomed in an eat or be eaten world. The cat however, was raised in a different jungle, one of stone and steel, and children with sticky hands.
Seeing its small rival as no threat, the hyena lunged at the cat.
The cat casually turned away, its tail swiping at the hyena's face with the strength of a feather duster.
The hyena's jaws closed in on nothing but it did not leave empty handed. The cat's tail and its glistening fur had shredded the mu
tated hyena's nose clean off and its right cheek hung from the feral animal's face. It howled in pain and made the mistake of turning away from the tiny cat which was now licking its bloody claws.
The large oaf now cringing from its torn face, the cat easily jumped onto its adversary's back, gold claws extended. Seeing no other choice but to dirty its paws, the house cat began to dig and claw at its whimpering foe. Huge chunks of bloody meat and fur were flung into the air only to dirty the white floor.
The hyena howled in agony and performed a barrel roll. The house cat on its back held on tightly, it’s now red claws pinching the hyena’s tormented back for grip.
Getting tired of being squashed, the smaller cat abandoned its new mount and slid onto the floor. The hyena was given no respite, however, as the small cat grabbed at its throat and sent its golden fangs into the ugly brute's jugular. Its fangs, despite their sharpness, proved too small to do anything but annoy the larger creature, but the house cat's hind claws scratched its chest with the enthusiasm of a chainsaw.
Within a minute, the hyena lay there on the ground, its haunted eyes staring up into the faces of a slightly overweight man and a dark skinned goddess.
“Finally,” David breathed. It was a good thing that cats had litters.
There had been an option to select one cat as a template for the others or to use a pack challenge and to have two small groups fight in a five verses five brawl. David had selected a third option. Manipulating one foetus at a time for experimentation. After two rounds of getting nothing, the Dungeon Core finally managed to get a winning hand.
He looked down at his collection of cards which gravitated towards the centre of his board as if drawn by invisible hands. There was a faint glow and suddenly he was staring at his new card which showed the image of his new monster.
Zellio'zeri Crat nodded in satisfaction, “A fine victory. I have to say that you were due a victory. May I see your first true monster, David?”
Knowing that she could not steal from him in this place, David allowed the tree to view his newest treasure.