George woke up feeling quite refreshed until he realized he hadn’t woken up and was instead floating in some sort of void. As he began to question what was going on, George received a notification letting him know that he could now respawn and what equipment he would like to spawn with him. As he selected his clothes, he felt a large amount of mana suddenly leave his body. The sensation wasn’t painful, but it also wasn’t pleasant, and it gave George a slightly nauseous feeling. As he also selected his shoes, this time, he concentrated on letting the mana flow out slowly and had better control over the process. George had even better control when he chose the knives he had brought into the Dungeon since he had a feeling his wife would notice relatively quickly if those went missing. As he finished selecting what he wanted to respawn with and confirmed the respawn, a sparkling blue light began to fill his vision.

The first thing that George noticed was that the first Room was much better lit than it had been last time he was in it. Even from where George was standing by the Checkpoint pedestal, he could see across the Room to the stairway entrance at the far end. While the Room’s general colour scheme was still very dark, it was now lit so that he could see all of the details of the furniture and the Room itself. The second thing that George noticed was an orange blur flying at him at around chest height, and that blur was just about to have an impact on him. Lenny hit George’s chest with a whump, and it caused George to take a couple of steps backward. He had a moment of panic but quickly got over what he felt as Lenny nuzzled his head into George’s chest, reminding him of when his kids had been younger, and George gave Lenny a quick head rub before putting him back down.

As George put Lenny down, Lenny grabbed George’s hand and began tugging him back towards the Checkpoint pedestal. As Lenny was doing this, George noticed that he had a set of notifications waiting for him to check. So, he said to Lenny, “Just give me a couple of minutes Lenny, I have some notifications that I would like to check on before we get to what you want to show me.” Lenny looked up at George and nodded before scampering off to a black couch, where a custom orange Switch with a cartoonish version of Lenny’s face on the backplate waited for Lenny. AS Lenny sat down, he could hear the familiar theme tune from Animal Crossing coming from the Switch.

Respawned

This first respawn took much longer than standard respawn due to a lack of divine healing in your world. In the process of respawning, the System took the liberty of removing some unnecessary genetic coding that would have usually been cleaned up during divine healing, resulting in most System users being less susceptible to a host of diseases and disorders.

Seeing that notification, George looked over to where Jake had sat down besides Lenny with a much more standard looking Switch, and asked, “How long did it take me to respawn?”

Jake gave a shrug and answered back, “I think you died around 2 a.m., and it’s now around 10. So for about eight hours.”

“Thanks, I just got a notification that this respawn was longer than usual because the System was cleaning up some things. So it looks like the first respawn will be much longer than the next respawn. It’s a good thing my wife is staying over at her sisters’, or I might have had even more questions to answer about what I was up to.” George said, followed by a ruminating chuckle.

“No problem, thanks for letting us know this information about the respawn process. By the way, if you were wondering, when you spawned back in, it looked like an old school Star Trek teleportation.”

“Ha. Interesting, I’ve got more notifications to look over, so I’m going to get back to them.”

Skills Gained

Blunt Damage, Level 5

Resistance, Level 3

Armour Use, Level 2

Channelling, Level 1

George pumped a fist in excitement, as it looked like he had unlocked his first Skills related to combat, which meant some of those further notifications would likely be letting him know about the first Classes that he had attained. He was excited to get to Class descriptions but wanted to look at the wording of those Skills first to see what he was working with and improve the Skills. He also wasn’t exactly sure what Channeling was and was curious about exactly what it entailed.

Blunt Damage, Level 5

Description: Damage done from blunt forces, good at destroying solid objects.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Unarmed+ - Initiate, Clubs+ - Initiate, ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: ???

Resistance, Level 3

Description: The ability to reduce incoming damage and adverse effects from a variety of sources.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Physical+ - Initiate, Mental+ - Initiate, ???

Subskills: ???

Related Skills: Armour Use, ???

Armour Use, Level 2

Description: The skill to use armour more effectively and efficiently.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Light+ - Initiate, Medium+ - Initiate, ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: Resistance

Channelling, Level 1

Description: The ability to increase or decrease the amount of resources put into actions or Abilities.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Energy Flow+ - Initiate, Concentration - Initiate

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: ???

When most of the Techniques George had unlocked were pretty self-explanatory, he looked into the Techniques that had sub-Techniques to see what he had gained. Under Blunt Damage, he had attained the Unarmed Technique with a sub-Technique for Kicking. Along with Unarmed, George had earned the Clubs Technique, and he had unlocked a sub-Technique for Long Clubs. If a baseball bat was considered a Long Club, George assumed that the much longer clubs like Kanabos were likely covered under a different Technique or sub-Technique. George also wondered if similar weapons like Maces would be covered under Long Clubs or if they got their own sub-Technique. Judging that there was a Long Club sub-Technique, there was also likely a Short Clubs sub-Technique for things like Blackjacks and Batons. Similarly, under Unarmed, he assumed sub-Techniques for things like Punches, Knees, Elbows, Grappling, and other things related to Unarmed combat existed.

Under Resistance, the Physical Technique had a sub-Technique for resisting Piercing Damage, which he assumed was another overall Damage type like Blunt Damage. George had a few ideas about how he could unlock that Skill and was excited to try them out. Since being speared in the back of the knee had unlocked that kind of resistance, attacking similarly to the spear trap could likely unlock that kind of damage, possibly even for some Unarmed techniques and certain moves with Clubs. Being able to do multiple types of damage with a single weapon using different Techniques would be more useful and realistic than the often single kind of Damage only being available to each weapon. Besides the Physical Resistance he had gained to Piercing Damage, George had also gained Pain and Fear resistance sub-Techniques under the Mental Technique. George felt that being more resistant to both of these mental states would likely be vital in becoming an Adventurer in the future. Presumably, those resistances were evenly currently helping him right now to help George deal with the trauma of having been killed and respawned.

Under Armour Use, the Light Technique currently only had one sub-Technique, which was for Leg Armour. Similarly, under the Medium technique, he had the sub-Techniques for Chest, Hand, and Head Armour. George would experiment with different Armour setups to see if he could pick up different sub-Techniques for each Armour’s primary type. Hopefully, these other Techniques would help him level up Armour Use quicker and unlock bonuses regarding wearing armour. Eventually, he figured he would settle on a specific kind of armour layout, but for now, experimentations would help him get used to wearing armour in general and level up his Skill with it. Under Channeling, he only had one sub-technique under Energy Flow, which was Mana Flow. It seemed that this Technique allowed him to regulate how quickly the energy flowed through his body but did not yet control the total amount of energy he emitted. The Concentration Technique allowed George to concentrate on his Channeling of resources, allowing him to control further how the energy flowed through his body. Still, George felt that improving this Technique would also help to multi-task while Channeling, similar to some meditation methods.

As George finished looking over these Skills, he was ready to pull up the Classes he had unlocked. Ever since he had got the System, Classes had been one of the things he had looked forward to the most. It was something that would allow George to be a Hero like he had always daydreamed about being, and he was excited to seize this opportunity.

Classes and Professions Unlocked

Now that the user has unlocked both Classes and Professions, the user will now be able to gain slots for Abilities outside their current Classes and Professions, allowing these Abilities to be used as if that Class or Profession were currently equipped. The slots are exclusive to Profession or Class Abilities, depending on how they are unlocked. Each Class or Profession above one that the user has attained will unlock an Ability Slot. However, there are other ways to unlock Ability Slots, including some slots that can be used for both types of Abilities.

To provide an example of how this works, if a User has equipped three different Classes and five different Professions, they would have unlocked two Class Ability Slots and four Profession Ability Slots. These slots are just from having had these Classes and Professions equipped at some point and would not include slots unlocked by other means.

Classes Unlocked

Fighter

Description: The introductory martial Class, known for its versatility. +1 STR, DEX, CON when equipped.

Prerequisite: Any physical damage related martial skill.

Skills: Blunt Damage, Resistance, Armor Use, ???

Active Abilities: Power Attack, Double Attack, Dash, Charge, Physical Wall

Passive Abilities: Speed Increase, Physical Damage Increase, Physical Damage Reduction

Performer

Description: Base performer Class that uses performances to buff allies and debuff enemies. +1 CHR, INT, WIS when equipped.

Prerequisite: Performance and Channeling Unlocked

Skills: Performance, Channeling, ???

Active Abilities: Buff Ally Stats, Debuff Enemy Stats, Mana Bolt, Mana Shield, Aggression Redirection, Rally

Passive Abilities: Radius Boost, Ally Mana Efficiency

Besides these two Classes, George had also fulfilled enough requirements to see what one other Class was.

Magician

Description: The base magic Class for general users of magic. +2 INT, +1 WIS when equipped.

Prerequisite: Novice Channeling or ???

Skills: Channeling, Calculation, Information Gathering, ???

Active Abilities: Mana Bolt, Mana Shield, Mana Blast, Prestidigitation, Minor Telekinesis, Minor Illusion

Passive Abilities: Mana Efficiency, Magic Damage Boost

George was having a tough time deciding on what Class he would pick first. Even though he would be a level 0 Performer if he picked that class right now, George would learn the Abilities it contained and what other Skills he could acquire to level it up. Hopefully, those Skills would be easier to use than Diplomacy, and he could work on levelling those up to get a level in the class. Seeing as how Performers Abilities seemed to be generally magical in nature, it was likely there be some overlap with Magician as well, and possibly help him to unlock and level up that Class as well. On the other hand, if he selected FIghter right now, he would be level 1 in that Class already and unlock an Ability. George would also gain the rest of the Skills attached to the Fighter Class, which may help him achieve other Classes.

What helped George decide was the overlap between Performer and Magician and the fact that he likely wouldn’t be exploring the Dungeon again until late tonight or tomorrow. So, he could change to the Fighter class to take advantage of its Abilities before returning to the Dungeon, hopefully allowing him to survive his next delve. As George selected the Performer Class, he watched as the description updated, and he was able to look at the unlocked Skill and Ability Descriptions.

Performer, Level 0

Description: Base performer Class that uses performances to buff allies and debuff enemies. +1 CHR, INT, WIS when equipped.

Prerequisite: Performance and Channeling Unlocked

Skills: Performance 5, Channeling 1, Leadership 0, Magic Damage 0, Healing 0

Active Abilities: Buff Ally Stats, Debuff Enemy Stats, Mana Bolt, Mana Shield, Aggression Redirection, Rally

Passive Abilities: Radius Boost, Ally Mana Efficiency

Leadership

Description: Commanding attention and directing those willing to follow.

Parent Skill: Performance

Techniques: ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: N/A

Magic Damage

Description: Damage done from magical sources, both internal and external to the user.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: Channeling

Healing

Description: Using a variety of Techniques to help with healing and repairing the damage done to beings.

Parent Skill: N/A

Techniques: Physical+, ???

Subskills: N/A

Related Skills: Blunt Damage, ???

Buff Ally Stats

Description: Gives a boost to ally stats through magical Healing and enhancement via a performance. It is boosted by Skill and Ability levels.

Prerequisites: Performer Class Ability

Ability Type: Active

Debuff Enemy Stats

Description: Gives a debuff to enemy stats through Magical Damage via a performance. It is boosted by Skill and Ability levels.

Prerequisites: Performer Class Ability

Ability Type: Active

Mana Bolt

Description: A bolt of mana that can be fired at enemies. Users can change it into different mana types.

Prerequisites: Performer, Magician Class Ability

Ability Type: Active

Mana Shield

Description: A static shield of mana that can be used to block damage. Users can change it into different mana types.

Prerequisites: Performer, Magician Class Ability

Ability Type: Active

Aggression Redirection

Description: Use performances to redirect aggression from one target to another.

Prerequisites: Performer Class Ability

Ability Type: Active

Radius Boost

Description: Multiplies the base size of any of the user’s radius for Skills and Abilities by 1.1x

Prerequisites: Performer Class Ability

Ability Type: Passive

Ally Mana Efficiency

Description: Allies within 100m have their Mana efficiency boosted by 5%

Prerequisites: Performer Class Ability

Ability Type: Passive

George was delighted with the Performer Class, as it looked like it was a reliable utility and support-based class, even if it didn’t give much physical support to the user. He was also pretty happy that the related Skills had shown him a decent amount of Related, Parent, and Subskills, as these interrelated Skills would help each other in levelling up, allowing him to do a bit of cross-levelling between Classes and Professions. He had been surprised that Damage and Healing were related, but it made sense as if you knew what was important in Healing, you knew what was essential to Damage, and vice versa. The descriptions of Mana Bolt and Mana Shield had also let him know that those skills would be more versatile than they seemed at first as he learned to use different kinds of mana.

George currently viewed his Magic Damage Skill as a kind of Catch-22. If it were a higher level, he would be able to unlock an Ability that could do magic damage, but he needed that Ability to do magic damage. George also found out after gaining the Magic Damage Skill that levelling it to the Novice level was the alternate requirement for the Magician Class. Either way, hopefully, he would be able to level up Channeling or Performance and unlock Mana Bolt from the Performer class, or he could find a Technique that would allow him to level Magic Damage without having an actual magic spell. Either way, that was a problem for the future. George was hoping to work on the Fighter Class, which he felt would help his survivability quicker than the Performer Class.

Finishing up with the notifications, George looked over to Lenny, patiently playing a game while waiting for him. When Lenny looked up after a short amount of time, George asked, “Hey Lenny, what did you want to show me?” After which, Lenny grabbed Jake’s hand and brought him over to George.

As Jake was walking over, he said to George, “Lenny wants to show you the exhibits he contributed to. We have a Zoo now.”

“Where exactly did you put a Zoo? I’m assuming this is due to some Dungeon magic or something?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Lenny is bringing you in with his guest pass today, but you will either have to buy a pass or donate to the Zoo to earn a lifetime pass in the future. You should go pick up your Adventurer’s Tool from the Checkpoint first, too.”

George wasn’t sure what the Adventurer’s Tool was but figured he should listen to Jake and get it. As he put his hand on the pedestal, he was given a prompt on if he wanted to receive his Adventurer's Tool, and after selecting yes, his phone spawned in his hand. It was a good thing George had listened to Jake, as George had utterly forgotten about his phone until that moment, and it would have been awkward going home without it, especially when it didn't show up on a phone finding app. As he checked over his phone, George noticed some new apps, and it looked like the apps would be focused on helping him out in his Adventures. They were mostly empty, but George could see their utility, especially the Map and Bestiary apps. George also noticed that his phone was slightly heavier than he was used to and that his phone was currently charging, even though it wasn’t connected to electricity.

George asked Jake about this as they walked through the portal into the Dungeon Zoo and received explanations about the crystals and the apps. It was interesting to see the larger than the natural version Dungeon Creatures, and Lenny quickly pointed out one of the plaques that featured his name. As Jake suggested, George made sure to take pictures and videos of the different Creatures and Monsters and take notes about their behaviour. He saw his Bestiary begin updating with information about the other Creatures and some of their general strengths and weaknesses as he did so. Besides being an enjoyable pastime, George could see the utility of using the Zoo to observe Dungeon Creatures and Monsters without putting himself in danger. He was also happy to see he had gained a new Technique under Information Gathering, Observation, and had levelled the Skill to 13.

The new Technique also gave the skill a bit more utility for George, giving him some basic information about the Creatures from his Bestiary as he watched them, including their overall level and what their Health was estimated to be. That level also allowed him to level up his currently equipped Teamster Class, which was now the first Class or Profession he had that levelled up to 5, giving him his first permanent Passive Ability. George was tempted to select Carrying Capacity but ended up picking Travel Efficiency for its more general utility. Since he couldn’t use his Ability point to upgrade this passive Ability yet, he ended up levelling up his Strength Boost Ability, giving it a 15% boost for a minute and a half now.

As it got to around 2 p.m., George decided that it was time for him to head home. He had enjoyed the morning and afternoon with Lenny and Jake, and had some decisions to make regarding what Jake’s brother, who George learned was named John, had offered. George also had some decisions about who from his family he wanted to try to bring with him to the Dungeon next time. Greg or Frank was most likely to come along, but if George could convince his wife, that would make his life so much more comfortable regarding Dungeon diving.