“So, I got this loot notification, but I want to try something, Will you help me, Joe?”

When Joe agreed Louie asked him to run down to the barricade across the road and bring back the beetle horn that was laying there.

Louie went to a corner of the tunnel just outside of the safe zone and started dumping some of the sand and gravel and rubble that was filling up his inventory, he decided he would only keep the items that the system automatically looted and all the rocks.

You never know when having a big rock will come in handy, and they weigh nothing in my inventory.

After Joe returned with the massive horn, Louie explained his thoughts.

"Joe, you killed a couple of Rats on your march to Worchester, what happened when you looted the bodies?”

Joe shrugged. “The bodies started to decompose real quickly.”

“Hmm, I'm thinking that we should inventory all these loose pieces that are not attached to the body before we loot it, I want to see what happens to stuff like the legs and horns in our inventory after we looted the body.”

Joe shrugged. “Ok.”

Right after Louie looted the body it visibly started to rust and shortly there was nothing left but a brown mark where the golem used to be.

Loot Received:

10S halves

1 Lunchbox

2 iron bars

2 pieces Golem carapace

They crossed the line back into the safe zone.

Louie removed the loot and also one of the legs that they have inventoried before they looted the body.

“Nice the stuff that we picked up from the Beetle are still here it didn’t disappear when the body did.”

“Nice.”

“Everything else is standard loot except the lunchbox, why would it have a lunchbox?”

Sher spoke up. “I think it was on the forklift.”

“What do you mean Sher?”

“Well, I think you guys forgot, that wasn’t a beetle that u fought. That was a forklift that changed into a golem, and if you read that I think that there was a Rhino Beetle somewhere on that forklift when this place turned in to a dungeon, and I think the dungeon used its life force to animate that golem and that’s why it acted and looked like a Beetle, and I think that lunchbox might have belonged to the driver.”

“You are right, For a moment I forgot that it was a Golem and not a mechanical Beetle.”

Joe agreed. “It was probably one of those forklifts that hook to the back of a truck.”

Louie the loot.

10S halves, 3G Rounds

Lunchbox: a magical lunchbox that will keep its contents fresh and reduce the weight by 99%

2 Iron bars: Two plain iron bars

2 pieces Golem carapace: Two Carapace pieces of a killed Beetle Golem.

Happy now you monster? It was just a little Beetle.

He shook his head at the sarcastic remarks.

One of the pieces was the other wing cover, and the other looked like metal gear.

The covers are each nearly one and a half meters tall and sixty centimetres wide.

With a bit of work, they might make decent shields.

Sher picked up the lunchbox. “Whoa. Did you guys see this? I got a BB asking if I want to bind this lunchbox to me. It says that it’s not a soul bond but while it is bonded to me only I will be able to place it in my inventory as an extra Tab.”

“Nice, how do you bond it? What’s BB?”

Sher turned it around searching for a note or something.

The lunchbox looked like one of the old tin lunchboxes that you see the old miner’s used to have on TV.

She saw what appeared to be a fingerprint next to the handle and showed it to them they shrugged.

She pressed her finger on the print and gave a small yelp. When she pulled her finger away and saw a drop of blood being absorbed into the lid.

Sher blushed. “BB, Blue Box.”

The lunchbox shimmered and disappeared as she clicked yes to the box asking if she would like to inventory the lunchbox now.

She quickly opened her inventory and looked in amazement at the new section. It had 35sq of which three were filled.

She took the three items out, the first were a 2L ceramic bottle, a metal tumbler and a small satchel.

“It says that time is suspended inside, preserving whatever consumable I place inside the lunchbox.”

Loo hold out his hand. “May I them?”

“Sure.”

he shared the Boxes with them as they appeared.

Cursed Satchel of Plenty Now, this satchel is cursed and can only produce loaves of bread. Twelve a day

Once this legendary satchel, that produced whatever godly fare could be imagine, belonged to a greedy emperor, that used it to host a lavish feast for his friend while his empire starved. He and all his friends were cursed by the Gods with and the satchel was stolen by the God Anansi. Goblet of Relish Once a day this goblet can be filled with any non-medicinal and non-magical liquid and for the rest of that day, it will refill with that liquid when emptied. Six times an hour Flask of Elias Once there was a flask that belonged to a prophet, he was instructed to drink from it the most glorious of wines every day. He was in the desert for 40 days, the flask never ran dry.

This is not that flask, this one is filled with water

“Damn, it’s an ever filling water flask.”

“Nice.”

“Aaand, a cursed item, but it says that it was only cursed to reduce the quality and quantity of items, not place a curse on the owner. So it should be ok. Well, we won’t starve, we got water and bread.”

Sher took the satchel and inspected it, trying to figure out how it works. “Let’s try it out. We have been in here for a couple of hours already and it has been a long day outside. Let’s take a twelve-hour break, rest and prepare then start clearing this Dungeon.”

She took a blanket she had in her inventory and spread it out so each can sit and eat without sitting on the road, she concentrated on the satchel and out popped a steaming loaf of bread that she tore in three pieces, handed them each a piece.

As they took cups out Louie realized that he had nothing personal in his inventory.

He started looking through the loot that was collected by the system when he slew the Ratkin Tribe, he saw something that might work, placing his piece of bread on the blanket he jumped up and move towards the restrooms.

“Be right back, just going to use the restroom.”

He had been thinking of his mace and how it was made because it was one piece and obviously it was made from three different items, so he had been thinking and came to one conclusion, and the confirmed it, he had made it with Magic.

Looking through his Status he had found the Spell tab and there it was. A spell,

'Time to experiment and DO SOME MAGIC MON,' HaHaHa the last was thought in what sounded like a Jamaican voice.

He opened the door and saw the same three doors that he saw last time. One was marked with a male sign and the other with a female, the last door he assumed was a baby changing room. He pushed open the last door and stopped in amazement, he backed out and then opened it again just to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming.

“Hey, guys you got to come and see this!” When there was no response he went to the entry door and looked out.

He saw them still sitting in the middle of the road on the blanket.

“Hey guys, you won’t believe me but there are sleeping bunks with a table and I think there is even a vending machine in here, and it looks like everything is working.”

They looked at each other before jumping up and grabbing the blanket and all the loose stuff and rush towards him, he backed away and pointed towards the restroom quarters door.

“Through there.”

Inside they stood with their mouths open as they looked through the room.

Against the left-hand wall there were three Double bunks and there was also an island with six barstools around it, there was a table with six comfy looking chairs scattered around the room.

Against the other wall, there was a counter and next to it was what looked like a vending machine.

“DAMN!”

They walked towards the Table and deposited all their stuff there.

Louie went towards the vending machine.

Louie was scratching his head.

This was one of the strangest vending machines I have ever seen. Sullivan automated Vendor, a strange name for a vending machine. There is a silver dinosaur on the front, hope it’s not one of those stuffed toy dispensers.

Where are the chips and cans of Fanta?

“It looked like one of those machines you get in Tokyo that sell stuffed toys.” Joe was looking over his shoulder

“Really? I bloody well hope not.”

“Yes, they are really strange over there, you can buy nearly anything at a vending machine.”

Sher also joined them. “How does it work?”

Joe reached out and touched the machine.

“There is a BB.” He smiled at Sher. “It’s a menu with items and prices. Hey, this thing sells nearly anything, there is bowls of food, drinks, holy hell, there are even potions. There is also a tab for buying stuff from us.”

“Ok, I was kind of expecting a system shop out there somewhere, but not in here”

Joe nodded, “Yes, the coins. I was also expecting a shop to appear somewhere or else why give us coins if there is nowhere to spend it?”

“Yea, but a vending machine, and inside a Dungeon?” Sher asked. Louie was mulling things over.

“No this is actually a good thing, just think if this appeared in towns right now, it will be total chaos, I bet most towns are deathtraps with all the bodies luring animals in and spawning nests. This way, if the news spread, and it will spread, then people can get teams together to bring loot in to sell and buy stuff and they will have to clear the Dungeon at the same time to get back out."

Joe agreed

"I bet there is one in every Dungeon, I wonder if the prices are constant across the board and I wish there were a buying and selling price list that we can take out for everybody outside.”

Louie had barely spoken when there was a ‘THUMP’ and what looked like a small screen appeared above the silver pedestal attached to the vendor.

Joe started laughing as he reached out and removed the screen. “It’s a Tablet, Ha Ha Ha.”

“A what?”

Sher shook her head at the laughing Joe. “A tablet it’s like a Cell phone and computer all in one, everybody has one, well that was before the pulse. Now like anything else they don’t work.”

“Ow, Ok, so what does that thing do?”

Joe wiped his eyes. “Sorry, it’s just that I miss my Kindle, I miss reading my books.”

He poked at the tablet and the screen lit up.” It’s a catalogue. I wonder how the money system works.”

Suddenly a BB appeared in front of everyone.

100 Iron Bits = 1 bronze Quarter

10 iron bits = 1 copper piece

100Bits = 10 pieces =1 Quarter

100 Quarters = 1 Silver Halve

100 Halves = 1 Gold Round

100 Rounds = 1 Platinum Crown

Coins can be combined into one shape until it reaches the next denomination. 123 bits will become 1 Quarter 2 pieces and 3bits = 3 coins. 1quarter coin, 1-2pices coin, 1-3bits coin

“Ah. . . Guys this might be an AI or magical construct. It replied to my question.”

These booths are a Construct of House Sullivan SSS and Bonded to the Multiverse system, they are activated and controlled by the entity known as GAEA.

GAEA is in control of these Sullivan Mercantile Constructs (SMC) until the GAEA System opens the Gates to the rest of the multiverse

"Ooookay. This tells me that the system is not something from here, but something that found the Idea of GAEA in our minds or she was here and it woke Gaea up and she took control of.”

Joe and Sher agreed, “The Mist, it must have been the Mist. I must be some kind of magical particles that float around in the multiverse and activate when it reaches a likely planetary system.”

Sher. “True, but this seems so random and why destroy everything? . . All those deaths.”

“There are always chaos when there are big changes, and there has never been a bigger change to humanity that this. If I read the Gaea message correctly. She shuffled, and changed, humans and territories around over eight planets. That alone would cause massive earthquakes, tsunamis and not to talk about the changes we will see in the weather the next few hundred years.”

He took a deep breath. “Our struggles have only started.”

Joe nodded and then suddenly looked up in horror. “Bloody Hell, Do you think there will be Mana Storms?”

“Mana storms? I don’t know what those are, I played games like Baldur’s Gate, Diablo Two, Nox and a couple more.”

Joe looked really sad, “Man you missed out on some fantastic games. But back to Mana Storms. Think of a fast-moving stormcloud a couple of square kilometres big that are filled and overflowing with mana and it releases Elemental and Druidic spells as it travels across the land, fire rain, lightning strikes, ice spears, earth spikes and then mix in there the nature spells twisting nature and mutating animals. That are mana storms, its nature and chaos combine.”

“Damn, how do you survive that?”

Joe just shook his head. “Hope there is nothing like that in this system, or keep away and find shelter immediately, a very. very strong shelter.”

“Shit.”

Louie touched the vending machine and saw that he had a couple of thousand Bits and quarters.

Damn, guess I got that all from the Ratkins.

He chose what looked like a big bowl of stew and two pitchers, but looked more like 2L bottles of what the machine describes as the nectar of the gods for two quarters and four bits.

I hope it’s not from some Lava loving fire Elemental Gods.

There was a thump as the items appeared on the pedestal next to the vendor.

He took his stuff and sat down at the table before shook his head and went back to buy some utensils.

He suddenly remembered why he came to the restroom in the first place and got up from the table to go to the bathroom.

“Be right back.”

He entered the bathroom and saw that there were two separate cubicles each with a full bathroom, he closed the door and went to stand at the sink in front of the mirror.

He took a big breath, Ok, Magic time.

Looking through his inventory he found what he was looking for and took it out, together with some of the thin copper tubing and wires that they picked up from the golem.

Ok the spell say and the Mace was obviously three pieces, but I don’t think it would work if you just threw the stuff together, so I think I must try to use and combine some of this stuff to try and physically make it better, and then use the spell.

Wait, let me try it on something else first, don’t want to mess this up.

He took out some of those crap knives the ratkin had.

Crude Ratkin dagger

A crude dagger used by Ratkin scavengers. You can barely call this piece of metal a dagger, it will have trouble cutting water.

Level: 0

1 handed dagger. speed: slow

Damage: + 1

He took two of the daggers, removed the bindings that served as hilts, then placed them on each side of a long thin serrated piece of golem steel. He then took some copper wire, removed the insulation covering, then wrapped the three pieces together so it looked like some Mad Max bastard creation knife with a copper-covered hilt.

OK, now the magic. I think I got to imagine what I want when saying the spell, nothing to lose.

He imagined a nice kukri style blade with copper engravings and then activated there was a bright light and in his hand the cobbled together knife had transformed.

Uncommon Rat Golem Stiletto

A Common stiletto, with one side slightly serrated, magically forged by Loo from Golem and Ratkin items, Not bad for a first try, this knife will cut water.

Level: 4

1 handed dagger speed: 4

Damage: 5 + (strength + agility + Constitution)

10% chance to inflict

Shit, not what I wanted, but nice. Ok, look like the spell has a mind of its own, now this.

He picked it up and made sure that there were no cracks or places where liquid could leak out and then took the copper wire and wrapped it around the handle.

The thin tubing went around the bottom and top edge and he made sure that he wove it through all the cracks and crannies on the outside. there was a bright light and he smiled.

Then he picked up the next piece. . .

Placing the items in his inventory he washed his hands and then went back to the others and his meal.

He sat down and took the cover of the bowl of stew and indicated that they should help themselves.

He took out his plate and mug and used the spoon he bought from the vendor to spoon himself a big helping of stew and filled his mug with the Godly Nectar.

He dunked a piece of the bread in the stew and took a bite.

Hmm, strange taste, not bad, it’s actually good, just strange.

As he took a sip from his mug he noticed their stares.

“What? can't a man drink his liquor from the skulls of his enemies?” he gave them a toothy grin.

“Where did you get those . . . things?” Sher waved at his crockery.

Smiling he asked. “Do you like it? I like the style.”

“It is macabre, where did you get it, it looks like a vampire skull and that plate, is it made from bone?” she shuddered.

“Ha Ha, it’s loot that I found in my inventory from fighting the Ratkin, I just cleaned it out and improved it a bit, the mug is from the skull of a giant bat and the plate I believe are from the scapula of some animal.”

Joe just shook his head when Louie asked if he thought it was nice, Louie kept on smiling.

“I like the theme, I think I should get myself some more Bone utensils.”

He started softly laughing. “Don’t worry it’s not real bone, it's system generated.”

Ha if only they knew. He silently laughed.

“Do you guys think that the prices are really cheap? That big bowl of stew and two bottles of drink that I think is about 2liters each cost me two quarters and four bits. That’s twenty-four bits. I checked my loot reports and that is what I got as loot from two Ratkins.”

Joe nodded, “I remember reading a book once and in it the author explained something and I felt that it was a valid point, he said that the common items In the system generated stores were cheap to encourage people to become adventurers, to go and kill monsters and gather loot. In most of the stories that I read, the fare and lodging were cheap, but it favoured the adventurers because, in the beginning, you could only get system money from looting monsters.”

Louie nodded. “That might be right. We got 10Halves and 3 rounds from the Golem, so that’s a lot of coins. It might be another way for the system to encourage people to clear Dungeons.”

“Yea, clearing Dungeons will have to become a priority, Dungeon breaks are going to become a real problem. Just imagine these Golems running around outside the Dungeon.”

“Yes, I think we should stock up on potions and do our stats from the level ups, get a couple of hours of rest, then see about clearing this Dungeon.”

Joe took out the tablet and started browsing. “I have been looking through here a bit, and I don’t see any class restrictions on armour type, I think you and me should go for Tank\Damage dealer and Sher will be our healer. So Sher I was thinking we should get you the heaviest armour that you can move around in. What do you think Louie?”

“I agree, I think we should also make up an adventurers backpack for each of us, a Backpack, a small tent, bedding, maybe a sleeping bag if the vendor has it, a spare set of clothes for those of us that don’t have any, like me, some Rope, definitely Rope, books that I have read all say adventurers will always need a rope. Something to start a fire with, something to carry water in, maybe a hatchet multi-tool if there is something like that, we each need a knife. Oh Sher I think you should have this till we can get better.”

He reached into his inventory and handed her the RatGolem stiletto.

He looked at Sher.

"What, why are you looking at me like that?” Sher wanted to know.

"You said that you had an Aromatherapy shop, that is practically alchemy, have you tried to use Aromatherapy with the new system. May I ask what your statuses are? If that isn’t taboo or something, I remember reading in one of my books that people shouldn’t ask to see others status.”

They shook their heads. “It’s no problem. How do I show it to you?”

“I think you just think of sharing it with a person while your Status windows are open.”

Suddenly their statuses were in front of him.

Name: Joseph (Joe) Wilemse

Race: Human (male) Lvl 4 1600 – 3200 = lvl 5

Class:

Titles:

Sub-classes:

Affinity: Earth

Statistics

Health points (HP): 122

Mana Points (MP): 94

Stamina (SP): 110

Critical Hit Chance: 3%

Name: Sheralee (Sher) Van De Merve

Race: Human (female) Lvl 4 1600 – 3200 = lvl 5

Class:

Sub-classes:

Titles:

Affinity: Life

Statistics

Health points (HP): 94

Mana Points (MP): 92

Stamina (SP): 98

Critical Hit Chance:

"Hmm, I think at level five the classes will unlock and I think you guys will get more spells.”

“I hope so. My < heal flesh> works great but it’s not very effective against poisons and infections.”

Joe scratched his head. “In Games, the low-level healers always had crappy healing spells that became great at higher levels. It all depends on what kind of healer you are going for, if you are going to continue with aromatherapy which might fall under alchemy, then you might look at a kind of Druidic class.”

"Sound good, but I think we should talk more about this when you guys reach level five, now we should distribute your free points and get some rest and then tackle the Dungeon.”

They all agreed before starting to get ready.

Louie washed his plate and stuff in the small sink that was in the counter next to the vendor before stepping up to the machine.

He looked through the catalogue and chose a small spatial backpack that reduces the weight of the items inside by 50%, from the description it’s a kind of Bag of holding that has 40sq. it’s bondable and cost a whopping One Gold Round or 1R, but totally worth it.

He got himself a small collapsible two-man tent with a campstone, there were no sleeping bags so he got himself two bedrolls, three sets of clothes that was described as auto-sized, but strangely he couldn't find any underwear, he also got a camping kit that has all the stuff needed to start a fire and maintain a small camp.

He also got 10 healing potions at 2copper Pieces or 20Bits for one, and he got mana and stamina potions too.

Hmm, at that price it must be a very weak potion, but it’s better than nothing.

He also got three pieces of rope, each twenty meters long wich looked strong enough for climbing.

Wonder if my spell works on a rope and if so, what it will do

He moved to one of the bunks after he packed his backpack. It looked like one of those small kids’ backpacks that he always saw hanging in the small of their backs.

I hate these things.

He shortened the shoulder straps so that it was between his shoulder blades and made sure that it wouldnt shift around when he moved.

Now I must do my stats.

STATUS Name: Lewis (Louie) Poren Race: Human (Male) Lvl 9 42850 – 102400=lvl 10 Class: Seeker (2) (35%) Sub Class: (exterminator) (1%) Titles: Jack Black Brodifacoum Affinity: Darkness Statistics Health points (HP): 252 Mana Points (MP): 135 Stamina (SP): 288 Critical Hit Chance: 4% Attributes Strength: 5+9 Agility: 5+5 Constitution: 5+9 Perception: 5+9 Intelligence: 5+2 Willpower: 5+3 Charisma: 5+0 Luck: 2+0 Free attribute points: 18

I haven’t had time to sit down and think about my build, so for now, I think I’m just going to throw two points in each except charisma, only one point there, Luck also two points, I know a lot of players think that putting points in Luck are pointless, but I always thought a little Luck was good for you. Ok, three points left; put one each in strength, agility, and constitution. Jip, Done.

Strength: 17 Agility: 13 Constitution: 17 Perception: 16 Intelligence: 9 Willpower: 10 Charisma: 6 Luck: 4

Hmm, my stats went up. Nice

Health Points: (HP) 306 Mana Points: (MP) 171 Stamina: (SP) 360

My stamina is pretty high, but I think it's due to all the fighting that I did. Will have to start grinding those skills to see how far I can raise my stats. But for now, a bit of shuteye - set my alarm for six hours.

“Night everyone see you all in eight hours. Rest well.”