As Lucas walked around the building, he built up a picture of the area in his head. While he could have shared what he saw as he saw it, instead he kept to himself. The relative quiet was nice. It was dusk when he reached the entranceway again. It may have only been 3 kilometers around the base, but he took it slow to keep himself safe.

Once he returned to the entrance, Lucas gave Rose a summary. “There are no access ramps all the way around. The River blocks around 180 degrees of access. We have the old airfield to the north, but it’s mostly prairies now. There are fields south and east of the base. I can see the tops of some buildings to the east when I am standing on a hill. North of the town appears to be more prairie. I see some sort of herds of domesticated animals. With the crap Hades has pulled, I’m not quite sure they are cows from this distance, but they are roughly the size of cows. The forest looks to have completed subsumed the subdivision that was over there when we were put to sleep. I cannot see the remains of any of the homes. If it’s relatively safe, I can probably scavenge metal from some of the places I remember the homes to be at.”

That’s likely going to mean that the Squirrels are still on my roof in the morning.

“I know, but it is getting dark, and outside of the firelight, I probably won’t be able to see well enough to keep myself safe. We can deal with them in the morning.”

I’m OK with that. I’ve got your room ready. Just follow the hallway around. It should be easy to find. It’s the only one with the door open.

After Lucas had walked back to the room that Rose had prepared for him, he began telling his story.

“So, you know I was in the infantry wing of the United Military. You probably know from the IT records that I had a pretty high rifle skill. But I didn’t have much else going for me while I was under the system, in the Army. I had just joined up, hadn’t even gone through boot camp yet when the System hit. I had average stats with the only standout being extremely high endurance.”

“Because of Hades almost instantaneous attacks, we pretty much skipped boot camp and went straight to war.”

“I wasn’t a very useful soldier. I think that’s why I got sent here initially. I had high skill in certain areas but was utterly blocked from progressing in others. I couldn’t use our best Ion Rifles due to skill restrictions the system added, and I couldn’t pick up the Ion Rifle skill no matter what, just the generic rifle skill.”

“As for why I joined the Army, I joined because I didn’t have many other options. I couldn’t afford to go to college. I didn’t want to work in a dead-end job all my life, and the United States still sent people who completed their 5-year stint to college.”

That may be the facts of why you were physically here. But why were you here? You said it yourself when I woke you up. You were hiding here.

As Lucas arrived at the bedroom, he noticed it was sparsely furnished. It was clearly in the beginning stages of being converted from an office into a bedroom. There was a bed, a nightstand, and oddly an office style desk with a very old, very dusty PC sitting on the top of it. Settling onto the bed in the room, Lucas continued “Did you ever wonder why the signal to shut down my tank’s self-repair card failed? Did you ever wonder why the system allowed your cobbled together self-repair card to keep the base operational while I slumbered?”

I did. But I assumed it just dumb luck on your part.

“It wasn’t. I was hiding. I was hiding because of what I suspected my uncle did. I would tell you his name, but I have been warned off of mentioning it. The Domains are still looking for people who utter his name. I believe, well, after the whole dungeon thing, I guess I know, my uncle was the first Domain. He devised and activated the method used to hold in check the rest of the domains. The method is known as the System, and he was protecting me even while he disabled and destroyed the bulk of the technology we use to make war.”

That’s a lot to take in. I am going to need a little while to process that. But if we know, there are nine Domains, and we know of nine domains means that we know of all the affinities. The eight elemental affinities plus the crafting affinity.

“Think about the name of one of the Domains, the Hidden Domain. Crafting is not the 9th Affinity. The System is the 9th affinity. The true 9th affinity is hidden by a minor aspect of themselves. Crafting is just part of what the nanobots are designed to do.”

Explain. Now.

Speaking slowly Lucas responds, “You know how affinities are inheritable? That affinity is related to Genetics? The theory that someone who cultivates an extremely high affinity in a single area they might be able to pass it on to their children?”

Yes. The genetic concept had been well studied by the time the reserve was activated. The theory that you speak of turns out to be a fact. It is something that has led to the creation of magical dynasties ruling over various parts of the earth. Those with extreme affinities or those who cultivated extreme affinities passed it down to their children.

“Good to know that's been proven out. Since my Uncle is one of the Domains; since my Uncle is the first domain, I am genetically disposed to have some level of affinity with System nanobots. The Nanobots that my Uncle nominally controls. Crafting Domain can come about two ways. Either you have control over nanobots that have root access to do pretty much anything, or you have access to 8 different sets of nanobots that let you mimic the results of the System nanobots.”

“I may have only started with 3% affinity in it, but that 3% translates into 3% in every affinity. Theoretically, if I can cultivate 99% affinity with System Nanobots, I will have 99% affinity in every single domain. If you combine that with my Magus class, it may be possible to achieve over a 100% affinity in several areas. If you combine that with me raising my natural affinities in any given domain, who knows where I can get my total affinity.”

That is so broken. I told you the 10th domain was cheaty. I guess it is the 9th domain, but my point stands. Your affinities are broken and you have the potential to be extremely overpowered.

“That may be, but there is a consequence that makes up for it. If I am found by seven out of the nine domains, chances are I will be killed. Probably tortured first. Possibly tortured until I nearly die, revived using nanobots and tortured again.”

That is a pretty nasty consequence.

“Yes, yes, it is. I don’t even know what my uncle did wrong. Hell, I don’t know what happened to the rest of my family. I had cousins who should have had just as much system affinity as I have. Where are they? Why isn’t this something that everyone knows? My guess is the Domains killed them.”

“So, while I might eventually become overpowered compared to the rest of the folks that are typical adventure fare, at least in the magical realm, I will likely only just barely reach a point where I might be able to actually hurt the Domains or even kill them. If they fight me solo. If they gang up on me, I likely won’t stand a chance. My uncle has been defending himself against them for centuries, so it’s got to be possible at some level of System affinity.”

“But I do not know what the affinity level a Domain has with their domain. Is it 110% or 1000%? Or are our affinities not actually compared to their affinities. Is 1% of human affinity the same as a tenth of a percent of a Domain’s affinity and they still top out at 100%. I don’t know. I do know that I intend to get my skills and professions to a level where I stand a chance against anything else this world can throw at me. Then I just hope that it is enough to stand a chance when the Domains come for me.”

I understand. And I will help you in any way that I can. Now they are we are honest, is there anything else you want to tell me? Anything that you think I might be able to help with?

“I didn’t tell you at the time, but reaching 5% affinity with the system granted me user rights to the system. I’m not exactly sure what that means. I’m guessing it is some sort of backdoor that my Uncle built in for his family and those he trusts. So far, all I can do with it is customize my status screen and designate objects as System Objects. I’m guessing you don’t know, because I didn’t. It’s probably common knowledge since it is on the system screen, but System objects can hand out quests to change your race. And most of the system objects in existence have been created by Theta-Sigma, something called a Gate. Supposedly there is something in dungeons that is also considered a system object, but the explanation on that was pretty vague. I’d like to continue raising my Affinity level and see what I can get when I reach a higher affinity with the system.” Even as he said it, he saw a new blink in the corner of his Eye and he knew he had a new notification.

Before he could look at it, Rose continued enthusiastically, Oh. I have the plans for a Gate. Does that mean we can get a system object? I’ve got a quest asking me to be brought to a system object! Oh. But the plans say that Theta-Sigma has to connect to the item we make to transform it into a Gate. I wonder if he is even still looking for the connection attempts. If not, will you take me to one?

“Rose. Slow down. We don’t need a Gate to get a system object. Besides the fact that you can no longer leave the dungeon as the dungeon boss, with my Level 1 User level, I can designate a system object. Even though we don’t need one, now I am curious, what does a Gate do?”

A Gate, also called an Earth Gate Connection, allows near-instantaneous, long-distance travel. Wait… What do you mean I can’t leave the dungeon?

Sighing, Lucas replied “I am guessing you didn’t listen to me when I told you what happens to those who become the dungeon boss, or you forgot. You get those nifty Dungeon Nanobots that you like so much, it lets you change your layout and possibly other things, I don’t know. You also get stat bumps. Finally, you get stuck in your dungeon. But it’s not like you can go anywhere anyway.”

I was hoping that maybe someday, I would be able to go somewhere. I have a race change quest, same as you, so it is possible, that I could be more than a voice coming out of a speaker someday.

“We will just have to see what options you have. It is entirely possible that the system will give you an option that makes that possible. Do you have any other questions? It’s late. I’ve had a long day, and I’d like to get some rest.

As Lucas drifts off to sleep, notification unchecked, he faintly hears Rose say, Sweet dreams Lucas.