John needed a bit of time to process what had happened once he returned to his Soul Space. The emotional strain of watching his brother die, followed by finding out that he could get him back, was quite severe. John would also be taking on a new set of responsibilities that would affect people’s very souls, which was also quite stressful. With the mood John was in, John felt he could use a bit of emotional catharsis, so he cued up a playlist with some of the songs he usually listened to when in a sombre mood. The playlist included some of what John felt was some of the best songs for this, including Light by The Dear Hunter, We All Try by Frank Ocean, and Sleeping Sickness (ft. Gord Downie) by City And Colour. John then conjured up a bed so he could lay down and try to relax, and as he flopped down on his back on the bed, he felt another weight hit the mattress beside him. Feeling a sense of reassurance and support coming from Gwen, he felt her hand intertwine with his, and her head moved to rest on his shoulder as The Grace (ft. Dallas Green) by Neverending White Lights began to play. Knowing he was supported and in a safe place, John allowed some tears to start to well in his eyes.

Lenny was pretty excited. It was his first time getting to explore without someone directly supervising him. He would do his best to remember the things John had taught him and do his best to make John proud. John had asked him to gather some of the local trees and flowers specifically, but he would grab any other plants he came across that John did not yet have the patterns for yet. Lenny also figured that John wouldn’t begrudge him a quick exploration of John’s Domain’s area and a bit beyond. While he was wandering around, he spotted a mural with a guy wearing a black and grey suit with a bat on his chest, and another guy in a red and blue suit swinging on what looked like a strand of spider’s web. They looked really cool, so Lenny made a mental note to ask John about them later. As he looked in the shop window of the building the mural was on, Lenny’s eyes widened with excitement. There was some kind of turtle waving around some sticks like how he waved those crows around. A word came to his mind, almost as if it was a divine revelation: nunchucks. Nunchucks! He would have to ask John about these holy sticks, and who this divine being wielding them was. Lenn knew he would have to train hard to wield these sticks with the confidence and flair that this godly turtle did. He could probably get John to make him some even!

If Lenny was going to be able to keep such cool things away from thieving hands that wander through the Dungeon, he was going to have to get John to make him a private area. He’d need some kind of house. Lenny really should have asked John before he left, because if someone found the Dungeon, Lenny didn’t want to have to try and hide in a dark corner while he tried to get some sleep. Lenny needed a house, but he wanted to make sure it was something he earned, so he would have to do a good job and get some useful plants for John. If he did an excellent job, maybe he could get John to build him a dojo to get some awesome training with nunchucks! Nunchucks, what a benevolent God that had made them. Lenny would have to dedicate a shrine if he got that dojo.

While John wasn’t entirely at a normal emotional level after a half-hour of listening to music, he felt better. He would be able to get back to work, though he was hesitant to leave the bed. Gwen’s presence beside him had been quite comforting, and John appreciated the thought behind the gesture. He should probably check the notifications he had received and get to work on what had been unlocked from that. However, before he got started on that, he wanted to show his appreciation for Gwen.

“Hey, Gwen, I’m just about ready to get back to work.”

“Okay. I liked the music, there were instruments I didn’t recognize, and those songs’ tone was sad, but they were still pretty.”

“I’m glad you liked it, I made a playlist of songs that I thought you might like, I forgot to mention it to you before.”

“Thanks, John, that should be good. I’ll listen while I’m doing some reading.”

“Before I get back to work, is there anything else you need?”

“Oh… I can’t think of anything. I’ll be okay.” John could sense that Gwen was a bit embarrassed that he was showing concern over her. He got the sense that Fairies generally saw themselves in more of a support role to the Dungeon, rather than a full-fledged partner.

“How would you like an area that would kind of be your own room? I can also set something that would be for reading and studying.”

“That would be nice, but it’s not necessary.” As Gwen said this, John could feel a sense of appreciation coming from her joining her embarrassment.

“Gwen, you were just there for me in one of the worst moments in my life. I want to do something to show my appreciation.”

“Okay. I think the study area will be more useful, and I don’t need a bed of my own, so if you just set up an area where I can store some things, that would be nice.” John had felt that Gwen’s embarrassment had grown when she mentioned the bed, though he wasn’t sure why. He got to work setting up some comfortable chairs and a couple desks and study supplies, and he felt that he had unlocked something new. He should probably start going through the notifications he had unlocked.

Humanoids unlocked for use in Monster Templates.

John had seen these templates mentioned a couple of times now. And he wasn’t exactly sure what it was. So he used his dictionary function to get a definition.

Templates

For unlocking specific known kinds of Monsters, Templates are created. They have requirements listed on them, and once the requirements are fulfilled, that Monster can then be made in the Dungeon.

John was interested in what kinds of templates he had unlocked, but he figured he wouldn’t be able to use most of them until he had done more Research. He remembered that he had unlocked some Templates for Legendary Monsters and wondered precisely what Legendary Monsters are, so he brought up the research description.

Legendary Monsters

Description: Allows monsters from legends, mythology, and stories to be unlocked in the Dungeon. Monsters may require other prerequisites to be unlocked. Legendary Monsters conform to the source they are known from, giving them unique skills and abilities, as well as defined weaknesses.

Research Cost: 50 R.P.

Benefit Of Research: Legendary Monster type available in Dungeon.

After reading the Research description and gaining a bit of intuitive knowledge, John learned two things. One was that some Legendary Monsters would be available as standard or rare Monster spawns in the Dungeon; others would only be available for use as Bosses due to their inherent strength. John then continued looking through the other notifications he had received.

Materials:

Science Materials: Bleach

Blueprints:

Tools: Hypodermic Needle, Syringe

Poisons/Medicines: Opiates

Misc: Research Station, Wallet

John felt a flash of anger as he read through the materials he had received, as someone must have set his brother up to take a hot-shot. While he understood that Jake had likely done many things to that person to piss them off, it was likely that what Jake had done didn’t warrant his murder. John would ask Jake about that shortly, along with how Jake had his wallet, which John hadn’t even noticed was missing until now. John gave a quick look over the Blueprints he had received to see how useful they would be. Apparently, the Research Station was for what he built in the Soul Space and would give a bonus to Research efficiency, how many benefits can be unlocked, and the amount of energy drained by doing Research.

The wallet was not just a standard wallet; from now on, any wallets created by the Dungeon would link to the owner’s System and allow them to register their funds with the System itself. John was surprised by this function since other storage items had not unlocked any Bag of Holding type functionality. However, he figured that this function type must be locked behind further upgrades to Abilities or Research. Finishing up with the Blueprints, John moved on to the abilities he had unlocked.

Checkpoints

Description: Saves the current Status of an Adventurer going into a Dungeon. Any full levels to Skills or Stat Points gained will be saved if the adventurer passes away in the Dungeon. Progress to the next level or improvement above the original progress registered that does not reach a full level will be converted into Dungeon mana. Items carried will be lost, but can be retrieved by giving the Dungeon mana in exchange for them.

Prerequisites: Boon of a God or Administrator, or unlocked through Research.

Subskills: Dungeon Trading 25 R.P.

Research Points Needed: 0 (25) R.P.

Dungeon Banking & Credit

Description: Allows the Dungeon to act as a bank and creditor, both for money and items.

Prerequisites: Access to a bank account

Subskills: None

Research Points Needed: 0

Soul Repository

Description: The Dungeon becomes available as a Soul Repository where souls may stopover on their journey to the afterlife or reincarnation. The Dungeon may also act as a purgatory, where souls may work to be absolved of their transgressions during life. Souls in the repository are available to become Dungeon Companions, NPCs, or Monster Spirits.

Prerequisites: Must be granted by a God or Administrator, and must have an affinity for souls.

Subskills: None

Research Points Needed: 0

John gained an understanding that the Dungeon Banking feature was tied to the Checkpoints and that now for someone to activate and enter the Dungeon Portal, they would need to put their hand on the pedestal that spawned. The person entering the Dungeon proper would then be given a notification about the effects of the Checkpoint, and further uses would notify them of the changes since the last time they had used it. When they used the Checkpoint, John would receive a notification about the person’s intention towards the Dungeon if they were negative and if any Gods or Administrators had damned them for their actions. These actions had to be extremely severe, and the System itself had to sanction the damnation, and the Checkpoint system would not respawn the user if they had been damned.

Looking through the Soul Repository Ability, John was able to glean the meaning of what the different aspects of the Ability entailed. If a soul wanted to become a Dungeon Companion and John approved of them becoming a companion, the Dungeon would essentially become an afterlife for that Soul. They would become permanent residents of the Dungeon until the Dungeon was destroyed or the Dungeon and they decided to mutually part ways. As permanent residents, these Souls would also perform the other two duties, which were also available to Souls that chose to serve the Dungeon if it acted as their purgatory. The NPC term was adopted from John’s knowledge of videogames and RPGs and are non-combat roles around the Dungeon and Domain, such as quest givers, attendants, shopkeepers, and crafters for any facilities that John created in his Domain. Monster Spirits was when the Soul would take over a powerful Monster or Boss in the Dungeon to give that Monster more autonomy and therefore make fights more varied and exciting.

As John finished checking on his new abilities, Lenny arrived back in the Dungeon, cheeks and arms fully loaded with an abundance of seeds, flowers, and miscellaneous items. Lenny put them in the corner and spit out a giant glob of them beside the pile that had been in his arms. He looked towards John and seemed to practically vibrate with pride and excitement as he gave a V for Victory pose towards John.