Gwen was on her bed, a nervous excitement coursing through her body. It had been a while since she had gone on a date with someone she liked, much less someone she had chosen. Most of the dates Gwen had been on in the past couple of years had been with the scions of other famous Dungeons Fairy’s families. Most of them had as much training in working with Dungeons as she had and were simply looking for a trophy to tie their families together. Their conversations had often focused on how strong a union would make their families in the future, not Gwen’s interests or ideas. It had been refreshing to meet someone who wanted to show her new things to enjoy together, rather than someone who saw Gwen as a prize to be won. That this person was thoughtful enough to set up multiple surprises just because he thought she might like them, rather than impress her, had further endeared John to her. The Lord Of The Rings poster was so cool, and after she looked into it, she had found out that John had created it using the image of the Mines Of Moria from the Special Extended Edition of The Lord Of The Rings DVD. Gwen would have to ask John about where she could find some other interesting images to make into posters or let him surprise her again.

John was also different from many of the other men she had been set up with, in that he wasn’t haughty when it came to his position. While he didn’t have the full context of how important he would be in this world, John seemed to view his role as a Dungeon as a lucky opportunity Mahaytar had granted John, rather than some birthright he deserved. That John wanted to use his position to better his world, rather than better his place in life, was something that Gwen also admired, as it reflected beliefs that she had about positions of power. Many of her peers felt that power was a means of making one’s situation better, only caring about themselves and their families. Thinking of her peers, she missed her friend Trixie, one of the few who had shared her beliefs.

Gwen felt a slight sense of giddy embarrassment rise at how bold she had been towards John, being the first to make any moves towards a relationship. Being the one to express their desire physically had been a new and thrilling experience for her. Many of the failed courtships she had been forced to attend had seen her being the one to be vigorously pursued, though she had let only a few be as physically intimate with her as she had been with John. Most of the men she had been set up with had been remarkably handsome and told so since birth, making them arrogantly believe that their looks alone would be enough to secure any woman they had wanted. When someone she liked had low enough self-esteem to think they couldn’t be desirable to her, she had at first been confused and frustrated. Gwen’s feelings had morphed into a much sadder emotion as she dwelled on what this likely meant about John’s psyche. However, since he had remained kind and thoughtful towards others, she was hopeful that he could be reminded that he has worth and deserves the same kindness and thoughtfulness he gives to others. To cheer herself up, she decided to try listening to More (ft. Anderson .Paak) by Flying Lotus, which John had said was a newer song he liked a lot.

George was pretty sure that he had found the entrance to the Dungeon. He couldn’t think of many other reasons that a door would appear somewhere it hadn’t been before so rapidly and without evidence of heavy construction. Discovering this had helped alleviate some of his disappointment in not unlocking a Class yet. Still, George figured the System had felt that shadow boxing for two minutes during his breaks had not been enough to evaluate his combat abilities, which was fair enough. He had been surprised that his activities throughout the day had earned three skills and had two Professions to choose from, along with another more specialized Profession that he was close to unlocking. It wasn’t a massive amount of options, but it gave him some direction to go in, and George could see how both Professions would give him some valuable benefits. He pulled up the notifications of the skills he had earned, followed by the skill descriptions.

Negotiation, Level 11, Novice Benefit Unlocked

Information Gathering, Level 10, Novice Benefit Unlocked

Travelling, Level 24, Novice Benefit Unlocked

Negotiation

Description: The ability to determine and trade items and ideas of value with another.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Buying - Novice, Selling - Novice, ???

Subskills: ???

Related Skills: Information Gathering

Novice Bonus: Gain a general idea of what your value is in the deal compared to your opposites value

Information Gathering

Description: The ability to gain information about various things in or related to the system. Techniques can be used to gain information about identities and attributes.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Research - Novice, Navigation - Novice, Perception - Novice, ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: Negotiation, Travelling, ???

Novice Bonus: Speed of information gained (1+n/100)x, Current 1.1x

Travelling

Description: Using different means to travel between one point and another

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Walking+, Driving+, ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: Information Gathering

Novice Bonus: Travel Efficiency (n+n/10)% at Base Speed, Current 26.4%

As far as George could tell, the System had evaluated his different Skills and their techniques based on enough use of them throughout the day. The Negotiation Skill came from his selling and collection of bus fares throughout the day, along with the couple of purchases George had made at convenience and grocery stores during the day. Those had given him the Novice versions of the Buying and Selling Techniques. Although he wasn’t doing anything about negotiating better prices, he had used the Techniques in ways that sped up the process, endearing him slightly to those interacting with him. George could also feel how the System would help him repeat the best versions of the Techniques he had used and how it would help him improve those Techniques. George would gain some skill experience for merely using the skill, more for improving Techniques, especially to new mastery levels, and the most experience for showing unique aspects of Techniques or even entirely new Techniques to the System. By concentrating on why this was, George gained a feeling that the System itself operated on a kind of gestalt knowledge, and rewarded users for confirming the information it already had, and even more so for giving the System new knowledge. George figured that if he wanted to improve his Buying and Selling Negotiation Techniques, a decent way would be to host and visit some yard sales or go to a secondhand or pawn shop. George could then Negotiate with the more flexible prices to give the System more data and get more data from the System to improve his Techniques.

Moving on to his Information gathering skill, George found that the System had given him the Research technique while he had spent some time on breaks looking for information. George had based his research on information if there had been any weird phenomenon in the last couple of days that could explain the System’s presence. Navigation had come from the memorization of his bus routes and going through traffic, along with the quick looks at maps he had used to figure out some detours that had been necessary. Looking through the specialized Profession requirements had made him excited about the possibilities of this Technique, and George would have to do some experiments later. He had gained Perception by paying attention to what was going on around him and concentrating on the things that had caught George’s attention. Travelling had surprised George with how broad of a range it covered. Walking and Driving might seem to be specific initially, but each covered a wide range of activities. When he opened Walking, he had separate sub-Techniques for Walking, Jogging, and Hiking; Walking was at an Apprentice level, while Jogging and Hiking were both only at Initiate. Hiking had come only from the stairs he had gone up and down, and the ease of the terrain was why it was only at the Initiate level. George had the feeling that almost anything related to walking that had its broad array of approaches could be a sub-Technique. Driving seemed to cover powered vehicles, as he already had sub-Techniques for driving Buses and Cars, both at Novice levels, though he could sense they were close to Apprentice. The efficiency rating of travelling seemed to refer to how efficient his travel was at base speed. At 100% efficiency, it would incur him no stamina costs to travel at base speeds. Driving vehicles would still use fuel, though the system would also make fuel use slightly more efficient. Driving’s main benefit would be that he would not feel fatigued if he were at 100% efficiency as long as he could stay awake. Above 100% efficiency would allow George to recover some stamina while walking at base speeds or while driving, though it would not get rid of his need to sleep.

Finishing up with the skills he had unlocked, he brought up the Professions’ descriptions he had unlocked. He was able to select Merchant or Teamster, and he was close enough to unlocking Guide that he could look at the Profession’s details.

Merchant

Description: A base Profession for buying, selling, and trading goods. +1 Chr, bonus chance to acquiring valuables when equipped.

Prerequisite: One of the related skills must be unlocked.

Skills: Negotiation, ???, Information Gathering

Active Abilities: Item Of Interest Highlight, System Aided Appraisal, Customer Attraction, Motive Sense, Goods Movement

Passive Abilities: Carrying Dexterity, Coin Handling

Teamster

Description: A base Profession based on transporting goods and people. +1 Chr and Str, 2% bonus to movement speed when equipped.

Prerequisite: One of the related skills must be unlocked.

Skills: Negotiation, Information Gathering, Travelling

Active Abilities: Customer Attraction, Motive Sense, Solid Path, Strength Boost, System Aided Navigation

Passive Abilities: Carrying Capacity, Travel Efficiency

Guide

Description: A specialized Profession for guiding others to destinations safely. +2 Con and Dex, +5% bonus to movement speed when equipped.

Prerequisite: Apprentice Level Travelling, Apprentice Level Navigation Technique

Skills: Travelling, Information Gathering

Active Abilities: Path Highlight, System Aided Mapping, Safe Rest, Point Of Interest Marking, Solid Footing

Passive Abilities: Map Acquisition, Danger Sense

He was surprised at how much information was given in the description of each Profession, as Skills did not list all possible Techniques. However, he could not access the details of the individual Abilities of each Profession. George also had a sense from the system that for the cross Class and Profession Abilities that appeared in multiple Classes and Professions, when he unlocked them for one Class or Profession, they would also unlock for the other. Besides that, upgrading the Ability in one class would also upgrade it in the other. Depending on the user’s preference, they could use this feature of the System to strengthen cross Abilities more or quicken the acquisition of all Class and Profession Abilities for each Class or Profession.

George began weighing the pros and cons of either selection for his first selection. While Merchant only gave one stat boost compared to Teamster’s two, the bonus seemed better than Teamsters. George did some quick mental math and assumed that whatever Skill he unlocked from acquiring Merchant would start at zero or need to be evaluated to give him a proper level in it. From this, George calculated that he would be a level 2.1 Merchant or a level 4.5 Teamster. After thinking about his intent to the System, George learned that it would be a level 2 Merchant and a level 4 Teamster, as the System only counted discrete levels. He would need nine more skill levels to level up Merchant to 3, and five more skill levels to level up Teamster to 5. What settled the decision in his mind was those levels. George could select four Teamster Abilities today and save one of the cross Abilities when he switched to Merchant tomorrow, unlocking all five active Abilities for the Teamster Profession by tomorrow. Besides this, using four abilities today would give him some time to test out how they worked. As George selected the Teamster Profession, he was able to bring up the description of all the Abilities. However, he wouldn’t be able to choose one of the passives until he was level 5, and the other until he was level 10. After unlocking each passive, George would be able to upgrade them with his Ability point he got with each level, rather than the active Abilities if he preferred. He could also feel his Strength grow, and he would better handle social interactions thanks to the improving Charisma.

Customer Attraction

Description: Attracts customers that could use your skills in a 100m radius. By having multiple Professions with the ability, numerous or specific types of customers can be attracted based on user preferences. Higher levels increase radius and decrease resource costs.

Prerequisites: Merchant and Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Active

Motive Sense

Description: Use resources to sense the exact motives of those using your services. It also gives a more general sense of motives as a passive ability. Higher levels reduce resource costs.

Prerequisites: Merchant and Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Active (Passive)

Solid Path

Description: Use mana to smooth out the path you are travelling on or turning soft terrain into a solid path using more mana. Increasing the level increases the speed at which the trail is smoothed and solidified, and reduces the mana used.

Prerequisites: Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Active

Strength Boost

Description: Use resources to boost strength by 10% for a minute. Higher levels increase the boost amount and time while reducing the resource cost.

Prerequisites: Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Active

System Aided Navigation

Description: Using a constant low amount of resources, the System helps guide the user, making them less likely to get injured and travel quicker. Higher levels reduce resources used and give better guidance.

Prerequisites: Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Active

Carrying Capacity

Description: Increases strength concerning carrying capacity, allowing heavier weights to be carried.

Prerequisites: Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Passive

Travel Efficiency

Description: Increases efficiency in all areas of travel possible, including speed, distance, and safety. Scales with information known about travel, skills, and abilities.

Prerequisites: Teamster Profession Ability

Ability Type: Passive

George decided he would save Customer Attraction until he selected the Merchant Profession. It seemed like it would be useful if he had something he was looking to sell, and George felt he would be able to attract more customers to ride his bus, which might help him train his Negotiation skill and possibly unlock new Techniques for it. On the other hand, George figured that Sense Motive could also be used for training and having an Ability that has a passive component is always useful. The more challenging choice would be when he earned enough skill levels to get his first passive. Carrying more weight would help bring Dungeon diving equipment and set up traps, but the Travel Efficiency sounded like a more general skill that would help him out more in day-to-day life. George was even more excited than usual for family game night tonight; he had a feeling that a session of Dungeon and Dragons might be a great way to unlock some more Skills and Professions, and possibly even a Class. It would also give him a chance to ask Frank if he had heard anything from his parishioners.

John was staring at his first Monster. What surprised him the most was how cute his first Monster was, as when he pictured monsters, the general idea of claws and slavering maws came to mind. Not the Monster before him, which had a distinct lack of claws or mouth and had a rotundity to it, rather than a sleek sense of power he pictured for other Monsters. After Gwen finished the Fellowship Of The Ring and came over to help him create a monster, she had suggested a Creature to infuse with mana that had surprised him at first. Still, as she explained more about creating Monsters with just Mana Infusion, he completely understood the logic behind what she suggested. It was smart, and John appreciated Gwen’s expertise in the area. John sensed Gwen herself seemed pretty proud of doing something more direct for John, rather than just providing him with emotional support like she had lately. Gwen had explained that when Monsters were created by Mana Infusion, instead of each sub-type of creature turning into a unique Monster, essentially all Creatures in the category were combined into an apex Creature. For example, all subtypes of Rodents in the Rodents category would merge into a Monster with all the subtypes’ Abilities. If more Creatures are unlocked for that category, then the Monster would have to be recreated and replaced in the Dungeon to get the new Abilities.

On the other hand, John did have one Creature category with all the subtypes already, and Gwen told him that the resulting Monster was one of the most versatile. Especially since once John created a Monster, there was a chance that it could evolve after time and unlock a new subtype of that Monster. This specific type of Monster had an almost unlimited ability to develop. John would even be able to create elemental subtypes or advanced versions of the base type that have some unique evolution possibilities themselves. And so, John had made a Slime Mold and Infused it with Mana, resulting in the somehow cute, almost translucent blue sphere, the basic Slime.