The next morning Levi found himself in the same room as the night prior, but this time with an extra two people, presumably Mia and Sam. The atmosphere was not nearly as dark as the night before, possibly because of the beams of morning sunlight shining through the windows. It was much harder to be all doom and gloom when it was so bright. Once everyone settled down David started speaking.

“Sam, Mia, I know this is a bit short notice, but something rather important has come up. I will be making an announcement about it later today, but we have deemed the threat of monster hordes too much, and as such have decided to move the outpost. This is in response to the news that the main settlement has been destroyed. There are likely no survivors.”

Levi could tell that both Sam and Mia had questions, but under David’s intense stare neither of them seemed to be able to interrupt him.

“We have also determined that our previous efforts at raising our combat level is insufficient, so we have decided to undertake a slightly more dangerous path in the hopes of securing our safety. Both of you have been chosen to participate, although of course you are free to refuse. I know you have questions, but please save them until the end.”

David then paused, letting the gravitas of what he was saying sink in.

“First let me formally introduce the newest member of our settlement. This is Levi, who joined us a few days ago. He appeared by himself and was able to survive up until now. Partly thanks to luck, also thanks to his unique experiences. Alex, if you would.”

“Sure,” Alex said, taking over the explanation. “Both of you are familiar with the concept of dungeons, right? So Levi here found a dungeon, which is why he is as powerful as he is. He was able to clear it and got some sweet rewards from doing so. Part of those rewards is the ability to sense the location of other dungeons, a sense which tells him that a dungeon is located across the river. We plan to make a party of myself, Levi, Duane, and you two to go raid it and then catch up to everyone else after we come out.”

“What do you mean exactly by dungeon?” Sam said. “If you mean like dungeons in video games there are quite a few different types.”

“Why don’t you tell them about it Levi?” David said.

Levi was caught a little off guard be asked to speak, but thinking about it more it made sense. Telling everyone about his experiences was important not only for them deciding if they wanted to come or not, but also so they had a rough idea of what it would be like inside, although there was no guarantee that all dungeons were similar.

He spent the next few hours telling everyone about his dungeon experience, this time going into a little more detail. Those details weren’t all that relevant for people not entering a dungeon, but for dungeon divers, knowing was half the battle. Alternatively, having an idea of what a dungeon would hold could lead to assumptions, but Levi made sure to stress the danger of it. He knew there was a risk of people dying, but he wanted to make it as low as possible. He didn’t want another solo clear.

During this tale of his experiences he received more questions, mostly from the people on the dungeon diving team but occasionally one from David or Kelly. Only two people didn’t speak up. Agatha wasn’t that surprising, but Levi was a little surprised that Duane didn’t have any questions, although it was possible others just got to them first. Levi patiently answered all the questions until he finally got one that stumped him.

“Okay,” Sam said, “Let me get something straight. Why didn’t you leave? From what it sounds like, you only survived due to luck. Why wouldn’t you leave the dungeon as soon as you realized how dangerous it was? You didn’t even know what the rewards would be, or even if there were any. I’m not even sure why you are willing to go into one again, and it even sounds like you actively want to. Something doesn’t add up here.”

Levi opened his mouth to reply before slowly closing it. He realized he had no clue how to answer that question. He had never even thought about it before, which now that the question was asked of him felt rather strange. He tried to recall his thoughts at the time, but he couldn’t remember anything about going backwards. He knew that you could. Susan had made sure they tested that when they entered, but somehow it never came up again.

The more Levi thought about it the stranger it seemed. He had been very careful to avoid any mentions of Susan in his story, saying instead that he had entered by himself. He had been the one that wanted to enter, but Susan had still come along. And not wanted to leave. They were almost killed by the first trap. Surely they must have at least talked about leaving? Susan had even killed monsters outside, so it wasn’t like they were running from anything or needed immediate shelter. But as hard as he tried Levi couldn’t remember even a single word or thought expressing the desire to leave.

“I don’t know,” he said, a frustrated look on his face.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Sam said. “Did the boulder actually hit you on the head or something? You must have at least thought about leaving?”

Levi shook his head. “I can only remember thinking about how to defeat the dungeon. I’m not sure why.”

“That, that right there,” Sam said, jabbing her finger towards Levi. “There’s something wrong with that. And why didn’t any of you all pick up on this? Instead you guys all seem gung-ho about entering this dungeon despite having zero idea about what’s inside. I’m all for getting stronger, but something stinks.”

Levi wasn’t sure what to say to that. To be frank, he agreed with her. Something did seem strange about the whole thing, but he couldn’t really figure out why. He remembered that at the time it just seemed so natural to continue into the dungeon. And he had survived, so it couldn’t have been completely crazy. Thoughts kept swirling around his head, each one more chaotic than the last. He could feel his heart rate speeding up. Finally, he activated Concentrated Will, moving his thinking to something else entirely. He would go crazy if he continued his previous line of thought.

Everyone had lapsed into a brief silence, reflecting on what Sam said. David was the first one to speak.

“Levi, there’s something you should be aware of. Sam has a skill that gives her resistance to mind altering effects. More specifically, it targets those from the System. So far we were unable to find a use for that part of the skill, but it seems that’s no longer true.”

“Damn straight,” Sam said. “It looks like all of you were suckered by the System. There’s obviously more to these dungeons than the System is telling us if it’s trying to force us to destroy them.”

Levi’s mind reeled. There was a part of him that knew what Sam and David were saying made sense, but there was also a part of him that just couldn’t accept it. It was the System. The System did that to him. To Susan. It was a huge bombshell, but Levi new he would have to focus on it later. He didn’t want to freak out in front of everyone. There would be time to reflect later.

“I think Sam might be right,” Levi said slowly. “Now that she pointed it out to me, some things don’t add up. I’ve also had a feeling in the back of my mind that I should go over to the dungeon on the other side of the river and enter it. I wasn’t sure why I was feeling that way, but now…”

The group lapsed into silence, each one lost in their own thoughts. A plan that had seemed like a done deal now had a large element of uncertainty to it. A potentially unacceptable amount. Everyone one of them at some point had wondered about the System and what force was at play supporting it. They now had a hint about its goals, and that hint didn’t look like it lead to good things. And it also begged the question that if the System was subtly manipulating them once, what was to stop it from doing so twice?

“It seems there is still more to discuss,” David said. “Setting aside the issue of the System manipulating us in other ways, in regard to our planned dungeon excursion I believe there are two important things to focus on. One, whether this System influence is good or bad, and two, whether this is still our best option for growing stronger.”

Levi had trouble believing what he just heard.

“Wait, you mean you are still considering this? It’s clear there is something going on here.”

“There’s always something going on,” Agatha said, speaking up for the first time during the meeting. “It might not be so apparent to you young people, but there’s always a power behind the scenes. Sometimes you need to fight that power, and sometimes you are helpless and can only go on about your life doing the best you can with the situation you’re in. It’s true that it’s probably crazy to enter the dungeon, but I think you should know better than all of us what the potential rewards are. Everything in life has a risk. Our job is determining which risks are acceptable and which ones aren’t.”

Levi settled back into his seat, focusing on using Concentrated Will to calm down. He knew sense when he heard it, even if his emotions were still fighting to cloud his mind. Maybe he had been thinking about things all wrong. It was possible that Susan might have still died if they hadn’t gone into the dungeon. She only had a limited amount of bullets, and Levi had no clue how he would have gone about obtaining combat skills without Aecylic Empowerment as the base. Maybe he hadn’t fucked up completely.

“Sorry,” Levi said. “I guess I wasn’t thinking things through.”

“Don’t worry about it,” David said. “You are absolutely correct that in the optimal situation we would avoid the unknown if we could, but life is never so simple. Even without this issue, entering an unknown area always contains danger. It’s just that now that danger had risen. Maybe that makes it not worth the risk, but as the people going that is for all of you to decide.”

The conversation continued, with everyone going over the previous discussion in the light of the new information. At first, Levi was hesitant to join in, feeling embarrassment over his blunder and inadequate in contributing on something he so obviously failed in. But other than some pointed looks from Sam, everyone else seemed happy to hear his opinion, even going so far to seek it out. He was clearly being treated as part of the team, and it made him feel things he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Sometimes being around other people wasn’t so bad after all.