Y stood near the back of the kobold army, waiting for the players to get closer. People around him shifted, weapons ready.

A wave of nearly-invisible magic pulsed through the dungeon. Y looked down, wondering how many players had survived the dragon on the final floor. A second wave of magic followed the first, and the fighting paused. Everyone watched the floor, waiting.

A third wave of magic crashed over them. Golden light filled the dungeon, resetting everything. Y watched the gold fade to gray, and tried to spot the system message as it told him he was Item 793, needed a stat reset, and belonged on floor 97.

The message flashed.

Item: 793

Has passed through entrance of Floor 100: TRUE

If TRUE: Send to random unoccupied location on Floor 1

ERROR: Item 793 not designated PLAYER

Previous command:

If Item assigned to Floor 1: Assign designation PLAYER

Item 793 now designated PLAYER

ERROR: PLAYER 793 not complete

Previous command:

If PLAYER not complete: send to customization plane, proceed when PLAYER chooses command APPLY

Sending: PLAYER 793 to Customization Plane

Y blinked as the box vanished, not sure he saw all that correctly. Gold light replaced the gray, only to fade away again, leaving him in a void. A message box blinked, waiting for him to acknowledge it.

WELCOME!

You are in the customization plane! Here you will find options to change your physical appearance and more!

Name: You

Would you like to change your name? (2) name changes available.

“Yes,” Y said, extremely thankful the option had finally been given him.

Please enter new name:_______________

A keyboard appeared, and Y pressed a single letter, followed by enter.

New name: Y Are you sure?

“Ye…” He hesitated. He could give himself any name. Any name at all… Nah. “Yes.”

Gender: Male

Would you like to change your gender?

“No.”

Race: Kobold

Would you like to change your race?

“Yes,” he said, wondering what options he’d get.

A list popped up. He scrolled through them, debating becoming a dark elf when his eyes landed on “neko”. Grinning, he selected it.

New race: Neko

Over the next few seconds his whole body tingled as scales turned to fine fur, ears grew and face changed. He flexed his fingers as they morphed, watching claws extend and retract.

Changes complete. Statistics for you, for race:

He accepted them all, not bothering to change anything. Whatever he got, he’d be happier than with kobold stats.

Statistics: Approved

Magical affinity color: none

Please choose one:

White Black Lt. Blue Drk. Blue Purple Red Orange Yellow Green Brown Pink

The colors all had dropdown menus. The first one he clicked was white. It had a bunch of light magic spells under it, fairly strong ones, most of which seemed designed to appeal to solo players. Sadly, he was not a solo player. The next one was black, which apparently meant shadow magic. He selected it without checking the others. Besides, thanks to the color-coding of the catgirls, he knew what most of them involved.

New Magical Affinity Color: Black Please choose five spells:

Teleportation and invisibility were the obvious choices. And silence, because what’s the point of being invisible if you aren’t quiet? Sphere of Darkness was always good. Darkvision was already a race feature, so he didn’t need that… Ah. Living Shadow. Make the target’s shadow attack them. It was one of those “one target per spell level” spells, so after a few uses it basically became an AOE spell.

Spells: Chosen Please set appearance defaults, which may be changed or overridden depending on race:

Y smiled, watching the 2D human avatar on the screen change as he chose his looks. It was close to what he’d looked like as a human, and he didn’t want to change much. Heterochromia was the sum of his ambition in that department, which he felt fitting for a cat person. For clothes he went with something simple yet formal. And lastly, glasses. He’d missed glasses.

Appearance Defaults: Chosen Please review everything, and say “apply” when ready.

“Apply.”

The screen flashed.

Item: 793

Has passed through entrance of Floor 100: TRUE

If TRUE: Send to random unoccupied location on Floor 1

A wave of gold magic washed over him once more, this time leaving him standing on a stone floor in a huge cavern. People surrounded him, most staring at a spot two feet in front of them.

A screen flashed in front of Y, trying to get his attention.

MESSAGE FROM ADMIN

Welcome to the 40th cycle! I’m instituting some changes, most of them small. The biggest one is this: only players who have reached the final floor (100) are being allowed to continue. As such, you’ll notice fewer players around.

Be aware that you have until cycle 60 to press the end button twice. If you don’t, you won’t be allowed to continue. To make things a bit more fair, from here on out six people, rather than three, must push the button to end the cycle.

Good luck!

Y closed the message. A new one immediately popped up.

Welcome to a new cycle!

You are allowed to keep 1 weapon and 1 piece of armor from the previous cycle. Please open your inventory and choose.

He opened his inventory, and was surprised to find it held everything he’d had as a kobold. For weapon he chose a +1 crossbow, and for armor he kept a Ring of Defense.

Weapon and armor chosen. All other weapons and armor will now be removed from your inventory.

Statistics have been reset to:

ERROR: NEW PLAYER

Previous command:

If NEW PLAYER: Change nothing

Changes applied.

Open customization options?

Yes No

He hit no.

Nothing customized. Good luck, Y!

“Thanks,” he muttered, looking around as the screen vanished.

He didn’t see any familiar red ponytails, but a silver pixie cut wasn’t too far away. As he wandered towards Via, Nikki ran up to her. She didn’t notice a group of men who’d adopted the viking aesthetic following her. Y stopped, watching.

The vikings walked up to the girls, suggesting with broad grins that they should form a party. Via looked uncomfortable, but Nikki cheerfully told them they already had a party. The vikings said they had a better party. Nikki told them that, sadly, it didn’t matter. The lead viking reached out to put a hand on her shoulder.

Thanks to teleportation, Y beat him there. He smirked as the viking recoiled.

“Sorry, guys, these girls are in my harem.” He pushed his glasses into place. “You’ll have to find your own.”

The viking blinked. “Your…”

Y turned to Nikki, dropping his hand. “Have you seen Kim?”

“Oh, Y! Not yet,” she answered.

Via shook her head. “Sorry.”

He nodded, turning back to the vikings. “...You’re still here.”

“Yeah, we are,” the lead viking said. He pulled himself up to his full seven-foot height. “I can make you respawn with a single punch. What do you have, twink?”

Y raised an eyebrow. “An intelligence level greater than three. Now go away.”

“No. If you want to-”

A fireball hit him in the face. To everyone’s surprise, he vanished.

Kimi appeared in front of Via, glowing dagger in one hand and a fireball in the other. “Who’s next?”

Nikki pointed, taking a step back to do so. “I found her!”

Y laughed as the vikings left to find their leader. “Thanks, Nik.”

Kimi looked at him with fire in her eyes. “You can leave too, dude.”

“I can, yes,” he said, grinning. “Are you sure you want me to, Kim?”

The fire evaporated as she realized who he was. She put her dagger away, slowly walking around him. “Hmm. I approve.”

He bowed. “Thank you. Now, shall we go track down the rest of my hare- I mean, the rest of the group?”

Via sighed. “Why do you call us that?”

“He thinks it’s funny,” Kimi told her, latching onto Y’s arm.

“It is funny,” he said.

Nikki pointed behind them. “I see Aya and Mika!”