This will be the last direct contact from me. I will still be able to hear you if you call upon my name, but I will no longer be with you. I understand that Hades’ monsters are a problem. Hades has agreed to stop making his monsters harder in an area until that area levels up enough to be able to handle it, in return I must stop interfering on humanities behalf. To secure the best possible chance for the success of humanity, I will retreat to Olympus with seven of the Domains.

All my currently operating equipment will continue operating. Including the system that connects new gates and assigns them a 7-character address.

Theta Sigma - Excerpt of final printed speech distributed through the Gate.

“What happened...” said Lucas as he slowly woke up.

A mysterious voice echoed into his head, “You’ve absorbed the energy meant for the final boss of a dungeon. Since a dungeon isn’t supposed to be without a final boss, the energy moves to whichever mob is the last one standing on any given level, providing them with a pretty decent buff as well as rights as a dungeon boss. Most folks know by now it’s not something you get in the way of on pain of death. You killed the last goblin mob as the energy was coming to transform it, so there was nowhere else for the energy to be redirected.”

“Who are you, and where am I?” asked Lucas.

“I don’t think you are ready for that answer. I will say that I chose to interfere rather than let you either be transformed into the dungeon level’s boss or die to the power surge. I will also say that I am here representing one of the nine Domains. But I will not tell you which one. As far as where you are, you are in your own mind, waiting to wake up. The same type of mind space that the base’s medical AI would use to talk to you without bringing you to full consciousness,” said the voice.

“So, you are an AI then? Working for one of the Domains?” asked Lucas.

“You could say that. It isn’t accurate, but it is close enough.” said the voice.

“What should I call you?” asked Lucas.

“Frankly, I don’t care. I am here to give you a couple of choices outside of the normal choices that will kill you. You may direct the dungeon nanobots in the energy blast to rebuild the structure of the base in full. You can modify the structure slightly before you release them to build the door to that river you found. As the dungeon nanobots can align with any affinity, you may absorb them and gain a small amount of affinity in a single affinity. Finally, you may simply release the energy and see what happens. I always like the last one since it has the potential to cause the most powerful changes.”

“Well, I’m going to call you Frank then. And if you are here to make sure I don’t die to this energy, I am guessing that I am correct, and my uncle is one of the Domains. If that is true, then you probably have my best interest at heart. That leaves me with two questions; What would you suggest I do? And how’s my uncle?”

“I will answer the second question first, as it is the easiest. Yes, I’m here because of your relationship with your uncle. I won’t say his name, I won’t say which Domain he is, but I think you already can answer that question. Before you ask, no he cannot come and help you in person. He doesn’t have the available power to do much more than sending me. If he acts, then the delicate balancing act that has been ongoing for a very long time comes undone,” said Frank. “I’d advise you never say his name out loud. The other Domains, especially Hestia, are seeking any possible advantage, and if they hear his name or if they sense your presence, they may investigate try to create an advantage against your uncle. While they probably cannot hear us in here, it’s a good practice to be in.”

“Got it,” said Lucas, not understanding why, but not wanting to be doomed to be hunted by the other Domains.

Frank continued, “As far as what I would suggest you do with the energy, I’d suggest you let it go. The results can be chaotic, but the odds are you will end up with better results than if you take either of the two direct options. If I had to describe them I would describe all the potential effects as chaotic good to borrow a phrase. The outcomes have the potential to be much, much better than either of the two default options. At worst you will find boss drops, at best you could find the entire dungeon repaired and all the equipment within it.”

“Then I guess I am going to go with what you suggested,” declared Lucas.

“Good, then it is time to wake-up.”

As Lucas woke, the energy was still streaming out of him. Little beams of energy shot of each of his fingers and toes. Once the energy left him, it was sort of swirling around and waiting.

After the energy leaving Lucas tapered off, the swirling Energy exploded outward in a wall of light.

“Ughhh” screamed Lucas as the bring light temporarily blinded him.

I concur, said Rose. On a floor where she was not supposed to be able to speak or see.

“Um. Rose?”

Yes. It’s me.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

As the nanobot swarm exploded outward, they expended their energy repairing my systems and then converted into something else, but I can’t track them anymore. I have full access to the entirety of the inside of the base. The primary base AIs have basically been reset and their hardcoded commands eliminate. They are still vegetables, but they are vegetables that are no longer able to fight me.

“Can you do a scan and let me know what else has changed? According to… sources... the energy I released is going to be very chaotic.”

Sure. I’ll run a scan. Give me a minute and I will get the results back to you.

As Lucas was waiting, and before Rose could get back to him with scan results, a new notification forced its way in front of his face.

System Requires Input

There is an error in a nearby dungeon. For reasons outside the control of the system, as the closest user, troubleshooting has been left to you. Please select a path forward:

1) Become the new Dungeon Boss 2) Designate a new Dungeon Boss 3) Collapse Dungeon and destroy all contents.

“Um, Rose. We have a problem here,” yelled Lucas.

The scan is complete, I’ll fill you in momentarily, what is the problem?

“Dungeon wants a new boss or it’s going to self-destruct.”

That is a problem. What are the consequences of becoming the boss monster? Also, what are the extents of the dungeon? Floor seven? Or the whole base?

“System, what is the consequence the new boss monster must endure? And how big is the dungeon?”

System Message

Boss Monsters may not leave their dungeon. The entirety of the military base formerly known as ‘The Reserves’ makes up the dungeon.

Boss Monsters will not be allowed to be an unaltered Human, so unaltered Humans will be chaotically altered.

Boss Monsters receive +1 to each stat.

Boss Monsters have control of whatever sections of the dungeon they can conquer. If monsters from another race are already established, clearing them out is all that is required to take control of that section of the dungeon.

After reading the notification, but before he can relay it to Rose, another notification pops up over the top of the system message.

48 69 64 64 65 6e 20 44 6f 6d 61 69 6e

P.S. Rose is eligible to be a Boss Monster. I'd pick her. She'll like it.

~Frank

“Ok. So apparently the boss monster is stuck in the dungeon. It may not be a classic human without getting a forced race change to a chaotic race...whatever that means. There are minimal bonus stats. And the boss monster gets control of the dungeon’s resources,” said Lucas. “Furthermore, I received a message that suggested you’d be a much better fit, but I do not want to expand on that until after we’ve had our talk.”

So basically, we’re screwed if you become the boss monster, because of no power. If I don’t volunteer, then the base is destroyed.

“I think that about sums it up. But again, I want to stress that according to the message I got, you will like being the boss monster.”

What’s the worst that happens. I am stuck here till I die? Just promise me I won’t be alone as long as you are alive. If you can promise me that, I’ll do it.

“Rose, I promise that I will try and keep someone communicating with you regularly to the best of my abilities,” said Lucas. “System, please designate Rose, the human-AI hybrid within the dungeon as the dungeon boss that this dungeon is missing.