Dustin felt the sudden shift from rocky cavern floor to weightlessness, a seamless transaction that alleviated him from carrying his body weight. It was comforting, but Dustin knew if he relaxed he would be dumped out of the dungeon face first.

Three seconds later the classroom he had left hours earlier appeared around him, alluding him to believe it had been there the entire time, just hidden. His eyes were still adjusted to the dark, letting him see the pitch black classroom. The shutters had been closed, and the day progressed well into the night.

The students who had come before him were celebrating their return with each other, hugging it out. The door to the classroom was wide open, likely that some had already barged out. The university was closed up for the night, and Dustin saw Sam whip out her cellphone, now with reception.

She called campus security who roamed the campus 24/7, alerting them to the presence of the students and teacher who had disappeared. Dustin took a seat on one of the desks, kicking his feet in the air. He almost felt naked outside the dungeon, feeling the mana seep into him was comforting.

Part of the memories remained foreign, like he was watching someone else attempt them. He realized that part of his mind accepted the change, but not his body. The fact that he struggled after seeing the atrocities committed at the birthing pits gave him pause.

Normal people would have a similar reaction, but not those who had seen the worlds beyond Earth. The two halves of Dustin were fighting, the side he was, and the side that he would become. Ben jumped up on the desk next to Dustin and laid down, facing the ceiling.

“Why did this happen?” Ben whispered, rolling his head to peak at Dustin.

With a shrug, Dustin laid back, resting his head near Ben’s legs, “I’m not sure, we never had time to ask why.”

The two fell into silence, casting vacant stares at the ceiling before Dustin could hear the university building door burst open, followed by a crowd of voices.

“Security’s here.”

Dustin grunted and rolled off the side of the desk onto his feet, feeling the protest of his heel. Countless aches and pains littered his joints, informing him of their wish to rest.

Still, he was alive, as were the other students he came with. It was only until his eyes came to rest on the woman’s body left in the corner of the classroom that his mood soured. In the few hours he had been sitting around the dungeon to avoid suspicion, the woman, Grace, had suffered.

He knew he wasn’t to blame, but survivors guilt was a serious condition already, only compounded by the dungeons. The suicide rate skyrocketed after people begun exploring dungeons, losing those closest to them.

While the governments still held power they implemented a world-wide mental health service and routine check up for any active pioneers, trying to appear as useful as possible before the pioneers realized they were not controlled by politicians anymore.

Still, Dustin commended them for implementing such a service, he attended several sessions following the death of Ben and other family members, an invaluable service. He doubted his current situation would be the same without them. If he could, he planned to give a little back.

A lone security guard entered the room, flicking the light on to the chagrin of everyone else. It took a minute to fully adjust to the light, and many students demanded answers from the poor guy. Dustin knew he was not equipped to deal with the situation, even more clueless than the students as to what transpired.

“Call for a few ambulances.” Dustin, eyes scanning over the students who had been bitten or scratched. Almost everyone had some kind of minor injury, only a lucky few avoiding the fight.

Most of the bite wounds were superficial, not deep enough to puncture the blood vessel and send it around the body, but he could already see some swelling in the areas. It was enough of a concern for the paramedics to handle.

The security guard latched onto the rope Dustin had given him, calling triple 000 and giving a shaky description of events. While he was busy, Dustin stood next to Ben’s head and bent down.

“Don’t tell anyone else about what we know. I’ll discuss more with you later. I just need you to trust me on this again. If they ask, just tell them exactly what happened, but leave out any of your suspicions.”

Ben opened his right eye to look at Dustin. Behind the ash-stained skin, burn marks, bruising, and shallow scratches, he could see the determination.

“Fine.” Ben muttered, closing his eyes again.

“Now go away, you stink.”

Dustin snorted, holding back a laugh, and retreated. He moved over to Jennifer, kneeling beside Grace’s body.

“It could have been one of us.” She said.

Dustin gave Jennifer’s shoulder a squeeze and remained silent, letting her sift through the scale of emotions. He could see a tear traversing the stains on her face, falling in a zig-zag pattern in the path of least resistance, she clenched her teeth and glanced at Dustin.

“We may not have known her, but that doesn’t make it any less painful. It’s okay to be sad, or angry, but you didn’t do this to her, the monsters did.” Dustin offered a few words before leaving her to boil.

The words were part consoling, and part directing. If Dustin could ignite the anger in her to fight, it would become a whole lot easier to shape her into a killing machine. He felt a sickness rising in his stomach, revolting against the thought of manipulating friends into risking their lives, but he pushed it down.

Everyone had to sacrifice something to stay alive, and Dustin couldn’t let his path change just because it felt wrong. He checked with Kantaro next, finding the man picking the bandage on his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Dustin chuckled, pointing at his own bandages. Kantaro looked up with a smile, grasping Dustin’s outstretched hand with his own.

“You are crazy. You know that?”

Dustin grinned and took a seat on the floor next to him, bending his knees to rest his arms on them. The security guard checked over the group as he spoke to the triple zero receiver, giving an overview of the injuries faced. The rest of the students were facing their own demons around the classroom. Some went off on their own to deal with the trauma, seeking distance for others. A group of students huddled together to debrief, speaking with each other to understand what happened was real, and not the end of the world.

Dustin did not feel the need to refute them, and sat comfortably on the floor beside Kantaro. Mark and Katie were hanging about in the hallway outside the classroom, hell bent on getting to an ambulance as soon as possible. He estimated about ten minutes before the area was flooded with people, giving him some time to whisk through the Dos interface.

Welcome back Dusty.

Fourteen notifications require your attention.

A tap on the pop-up opened up a scrollable list of notifications, the first of which congratulating him on becoming a pioneer. The introductory message was generic, an exact copy of what every pioneer received except for the name it was addressed to.

It was signed by Dos, giving no indication of anyone behind it.

The second notification granted him the entry package of 500 Dos, most of which had been sucked into purchasing his starter medical kit. The next three notifications after that explained the interface, providing him an instruction manual, and wishing him happy spending.

He skipped through the boring messages, halting when the content changed to rewards for his efforts.

Congratulations on clearing the Dungeon. 750 Dos awarded.

No party detected. Rewards allocated to Pioneer Dusty, and one unknown.

Happy spending!

The next screen contained a list of rewards he could choose items from. When completing dungeons with a party, the list would be handed around for each member to choose their own reward. As Dustin was not in a party, he had free reign to take what he wanted within the system limitations, however Ben had also participated in the kill. The ‘unknown’, Ben, would also receive the chance to choose rewards from the list after Dustin was finished.

For a dungeon this early, the rewards were plentiful. An upcoming patch to lower the difficulty level to match that of Earth’s pioneers would also trim the reward list.

As a solo clear, Dustin could choose six items from the list to take. The average size of a party clearing these dungeons was usually 5-6, so it fit well. It took him a minute just to scan over the list and pick out the promising options. He postponed accepting anything for the time being as he did not want to clog up his small inventory.

A smaller list accompanied the first, he suspected it was a side quest reward, related to the birthing pits. It allocated two rewards from the list, with Ben given access after him.

It was another excuse to leave it until later, as the notification would not pop up for Ben until Dustin had confirmed his choices.

You have reached Level 2. Congratulations! 5 Attribute points awaiting allocation.

You have reached Level 3. Congratulations! 5 Attribute points awaiting allocation. The Achievement Store is now open.

One of the grey buttons on Dustin’s interface now began to flash, the Achievement Store. Dustin was not interested in purchasing anything from it right now, but tapped on the button to remove the annoying prompt.

Welcome to the Achievement Store. As a Pioneer, it is your duty to explore the universe and make a name for yourself. Completing Achievements accepted by Dos will award Achievement Points, which may be used to purchase anything from the Achievement Store. The grander the Achievement, the higher the reward.

Achievements completed:

Slay a creature from the Dungeon - 1 AP

Advance to the next level - 3 AP

Slay another Pioneer - 5 AP

Fight against the ‘Beastmaster’ Boss Archetype - 5 AP

Slay a Dungeon Boss - 6 AP

Completed a Beginner Dungeon - 10 AP

Uncover a secret in the Dungeon - 15 AP

Total AP: 44

Achievements were earnable by any Pioneer. As someone who accompanied Dustin, Ben would earn 39 AP, as he did participate in slaying another Pioneer.

Dustin held his breath as he opened the Pioneer Status, comparing it to the first time he had seen it.

Pioneer: Dusty

Code: XQB-4T7L9UM5A

Home: XQBVU9

Level: 3

Intelligence: 19

Strength: 15

Agility: 15

Wisdom: 18

Charisma: 13

Constitution: 14

Available Attribute Points: 10

Dustin looked at the interface with a smile, his initial assessment prior to the dungeon was quite accurate. He had underestimated himself in Intelligence, Strength, and Wisdom, and overestimated in Charisma, Constitution, while Agility was spot on.

The average human had a score of 10. With the average age of humans being about 30, he was above average for all attributes, while below the average in age.

If he hadn’t the knowledge of what was to come, it was understandable that groups would want him in the future. His intelligence was already great the last time Dos came knocking. He was lucky enough to find a spellbook for a healing spell not available in the store, the group he was with belonged to a subsidiary of the military. In exchange for allowing him to keep the book, he would serve under them as a healer for a set number of years.

During that time, Dustin struggled with healing, unable to push past the initial barrier that most faced. Like other types of magic, the human body naturally wanted to resist its effects. It didn’t like being burned, or shocked, and actively fought against it.

Healing magic was no different, the body viewed it as hostile, and refused to let the energy help. Even when the outcome was beneficial, the spell recipient could not fight against their own unconscious processes. To be a successful healer, you had to treat a healing spell like an offensive one, overpowering the body’s attempts to compensate on its own, replacing a body’s natural processes with magical restoration.

To heal, meant to fight against your own team members. It required a sense of superiority, to believe that what you were doing was better for their health then what the body wanted. It felt wrong, at first, a sense of pervasiveness for both healer and patient.

It was no wonder that a lot of healers commanded parties, or were snobs before Dos came into place. Raising charisma came hand in hand with intelligence for healers. It was a stretch to cover both attributes properly while not skimping on the others.

Against the Ashen Goliath, Dustin had the least constitution, agility, and strength among his party. An intentional sacrifice to power up his healing and buffing. It was normal for healers to choose three main attributes. In his previous life, Dustin had chosen Intelligence as his primary attribute, and charisma as his secondary, almost forgoing any points into the others.

It was not unfair to say Dustin’s party at the end was geared entirely for letting him cheat the system, shoring up his weaknesses and bolstering his strength. The party had low charisma, at least for their level, as it allowed Dustin to restore their bodies with ease. It was a selfish plan, to force himself into leadership by performing a role the party relied upon. But it worked.

Each of the pioneers with him at the end were not dense, they knew what the stakes were. No matter how much they accepted the situation, Dustin could never crush his guilt. One of them could have made an excellent leader, in fact, he was confident that Tristen or Cynthia had the potential to outshine him.

But it was too late at that point. The team had thrown themselves into their role with ruthless efficiency, to regret and backtrack so close to exterminating the Torian oppression would be betraying all those who had died to pave their path.

The attribute points blinking drew his attention, prompting him to make a decision. Was he going to follow in the footsteps of his previous self, commanding his team, and invigorating them with the strength of a dragon, and healing their wounds in the blink of an eye.

The question irked Dustin. Was it realistic to expect humanity to follow his whims? The answer was clear, a definite no.

Dustin knew he could train pioneers in each of the roles, confident he could create the best team, then move on and outdo himself with the next set of candidates. But what role was Dustin to play, beyond a teacher and mentor?

He could transfer his knowledge healing to Ben, someone who seemed fitting for the role. Kantaro could serve as the tank for the party, or at least some form of close combat damage dealer. Jennifer was a no brainer, with her growing skill in archery.

Markus was unknown to him. Hovering over Katie, he was glancing around the room every few seconds, his hands fidgeting, unable to stay still. He had a mean swing on him from years of playing baseball, but Dustin worried the experience may have been too much. Almost losing your girlfriend to giant spiders would traumatize anyone.

The part in the party Dustin was lacking was the magic side. Although healing was considered magical, using it offensively to kill or harm monsters differed drastically to healing the human body. Ben knew the anatomy of the human body, which played a large part in effective healing.

The anatomy of monsters varied wildly. Some were similar to animals from earth, or monsters from mythology, but that didn’t mean they were identical.

Knowing where to attack with magic was important to learn, but came second before learning the magic itself. Intelligence was integral in understanding how to cast a spell, as the knowledge was something no human would understand at first glance.

The better the intelligence was prior to Dos arriving, the easier learning magic and the manipulation of mana would be. For Dustin, it was common knowledge.

Akin to any other knowledge, the more complicated it was, the more time and energy it took to learn. For higher tier magic, more time and resources were invested to learn not only its foundations, but how to improve or change the spell.

Even Dustin’s party, full of magicians with years of experience, able to cast up to tier 8 spells, could only grasp the very basics of tier 9 spells. Prior to sieging the last settlement of the Torians, Dustin had purchased a tier 10 healing spell, just to see if he could understand the nature of it, a final hail mary to improve their chances.

Like a slap to the face, the spell read like a different language. He dedicated time to learning the language, but the concepts it discussed were illegible, foreign to his mind. By the time they fought the Ashen Goliath, he knew what the spell’s intention was, and how to begin the process, but nothing else.

In the end, it was a wasted purchase, serving as difficult reading material up until his death. Now, Dustin realized, it was a perfect purchase. All that stood between a useless book, and a powerful spell, was time.

He had a headstart on learning, and a bigger advantage knowing where to start. The system was made for the magically disinclined, humans who had never been exposed to mana before. For Dustin, this was just a free lunch.

Early tier spellbooks purchasable in the store for human pioneers often contained traces of mana, meant to expose a mana starved body over time, so as to not flood them. The dungeons performed a similar role.

To Dustin, this was just free mana. He could already begin to manipulate the mana within himself, offering a quick way to expand his mana pool. The mana provided from the spell books would speed up this process.

When it came to later spell books, he would be flinging modified spells while the rest of humanity clung to whatever understanding they could draw. Offensive magic was not something Dustin cast often, but it was crucial for him to understand it all the same, for the sake of the party dynamic. A leader who did not know the strength of his own subordinates could not utilize them properly.

If Dustin could crack open the hardened exterior of a Torian with a high tier spell, the rest of the party could barrage the opening with as much lower tier magic as they liked. The position was born from warfare before magic, prior to the arrival of monsters that could resist firearms and missiles, and gained its name from that.

To penetrate the tough exterior and deliver the payload inside. A Tankbuster.