Arc 1 Chapter 3, Part 1: Gunny Parkinson and the first floor

Reincarnation Protocols Initiated

processing Stored Soul "Master Gunnery Sergeant John Parkinson"

Compatible Core [Ranger-Class][Heroic] available

Race Template "Lizardmen" selected

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Memory and Experience exceeding current skill rank but not core rank, converting

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Spawning Body Floor 1

Point-of-View "Gunny"

“Oww, my head. Did anyone see the license plate of the truck that run me over?”

I’m sitting on a stone floor in a large room, five or six meter each direction. the walls are rough stone blocks and there are burning torches on the wall - with iron holders. Really? Someone found an old medieval cellar for a base? Ouch-Headache...

My head feels like it’s about to split any second now. What happened?

The last I remember is the helicopter on the way to the Health Institute of London, then everything gets fuzzy. I think we arrived, but what happened then and how did I end up here?

Better check for injuries first.

I raise my hands to my …. “WHAT???”

I don’t have a hand anymore, at least not a human one but something with claws. Really, really sharp looking claws on a hand on a arm that is covered partially with scales and partially with tough-looking leather.

What has been done to me? My Body?

I look at my body. Everything is scaled and green, hands and feets are clawed - and I even have a large tail coming out of my back - so that's why sitting upright is so uncomfortable. Going over my head - no hair, scales from the feel of it but it appears to be at least partially human-like, not an alligator snout.

Calm down John, this has to be a dream or so. John – that is my name, right?

Yes, I’m John “Gunny” Parkinson, and my rank in the army is Sergeant. No – Master Gunnery Sergeant.

And at the moment I just hope this is a dream – but giving the fact that Zombies became a reality half a year ago and the USA and the entire world’s humanity went almost extinct within two months, that is not guaranteed.

I’m wearing a loincloth with a girdle and a small bag hanging on it, and there is an iron-banded staff on the ground. Flintstone, a piece of steel and several copper coins in the bag - at least the staff seems to be a decent weapon.

Spoiler: Lizardman Gunny Parkinson Picture

Using the wall I stand up - balancing with an added tail will take some practice. There is a dark opening between the two torches on one wall, and a strange door-like frame standing about ten centimeters from the wall on the other side. Nothing else in this room, and no sound anywhere - can I even hear sound?

"Hello? Anyone around here?"

Jup, sound seems to be normal.

"Hello? I could use some help here?"

At that moment a blue screen appears floating before me.

Help System activating

Sphere System HELP

Welcome to the Sphere System Help Segment

This system can be activated at any time by concentrating on [Help]. If that is no longer necessary you can change this configuration under [History/Log].

We hope that your life in the sphere will be long and productive or full of challenges depending on your personal preferences.

To ensure this we made the system that will manage your existence as simple as possible – you really should not need such a help because everything should be self-explanatory.

Basically you can call up any of the management screens by concentrating on their name, like [Status]. If you concentrate on any word in any screen, it will bring up an explanation as well – it’s so simple that any idiot can use this.

If the system itself has any question for you – like asking how you want to proceed, then just think the answer and the System or the Gods will handle the rest.

"Huh?"

That looks and sounds similiar to those computer games my nephew always plays. Was I wounded at the HIL and then thrown into some experimental virtual reality chamber until I could be healed? Naah - technology wasn't that advanced, and even if it was with the zombie apocalypse there isn't enough infrastructure or electricity left to operate something like this. So what's going on?

Away with that - but it did give one hint for what to do now. [Status]

Equipment/ Inventory Infos/ Titles Skills/ Abilities Quests Gallery/ Knowledge History/ Log Status Race: Lizardmen Primary Class: Ranger Type: Military Secondary: Alchemist Xenotic: unchoosen Name John 'Gunny' Parkinson

max Rank [Heroic] Level (L) 10/100 Experience (XP) 999/1000 free AttrPts 25/10 Body-Power (BP) 20/100 Endurance (EP) 242/242 Needs Body-Density (BD) 10/100 Health (HP) 142/142 Food (FP) 100/100 Body-Flexibility (BF) 20/100 Physical Rank (PR) [Very Low] Water (WP) 100/100 [Locked] - [Locked] - Rest (RP) 100/100 Body-Aura (BA) 10/100 Control Rank (CR) [Limited] Mind-Power (MP) 10/100 Astral (AP) 142/142 Mind-Density (MD) 10/100 Soul (SP) 142/142 Weights Mind-Flexibility (MF) 10/100 Mental Rank (MR) [Limited] Equipment 2/40 kg [Locked] - [Locked] - Storage 1/20 kg Mind-Aura (MA) 10/100 Awareness Rank (AR) [Limited] Astral 0/30 kg Regeneration and Gain Values EP (10% BP/hour) 2 AP (10% MP/hour) 1 [Locked] HP (10% BD/day) 1 SP (10% MD/day) 1 [Locked] Temporary Status Effects Name Effect Previous Life EXP (24) Halves Experience need for next level

"What the heck... Previous Life EXP? What does that do?"

Previous Life EXP (erience)

Type Temporary State

Details You have been reincarnated with knowledge of your previous life.

However due to limitations of this process only a part of your previous knowledge could be imprinted on your new form.

The remaining knowledge and experience has been adapted but not integrated. This means that as long as this state has stages left, you gain future levels faster than normal.

Effect Halves Experience need for next level Removal Each Level UP removes one stage when the effect takes place.

Being Killed will remove all remaining stages of this state.

So I died at the Health Institute in London? And have been reincarnated as a lizardman in a game-like fantasy world?

Ranger and Military would fit, and "Alchemist" is probably the closest they have to "Demolition Expert".

But what now? If this is like a game, then the next hint would be at

[Quests]

Equipment/ Inventory Infos/ Titles Skills/ Abilities Quests Gallery/ Knowledge History/ Log Status Race: Lizardmen Primary Class: Ranger Type: Military Secondary: Alchemist Xenotic: unchoosen Quests: Overview List

Select quest by name for details Find and Contact Lieutenant General Marc Corwall [Limited Quest]

OK, if the General is also around here, then I know who to ask for what's going on. Any possible details on that?

Find and Contact Lieutenant General Marc Corwall [Limited Quest]

Details Your former Boss and Commander is supposed to be around here somewhere.

Start looking for him, he might be able to tell you what's going on and what to do next. Rewards 100 XP

Not really, so where I am?

The lizardman looks around the room again. It looks like an almost empty, stone-walled cellar room. There is only one exit without a door, at one wall, the wall where two torches are anchored to both sides. The light from the torches doesn't go far into that opening, it is extremely dark after a meter or so.

The other object in the room is a stone arc that looks like a doorframe but stands empty about a handspan from the wall. It is fused to the floor and covered in a lot of strange symbols.

If this is a fantasy world I would guess this is a disabled magic doorway or teleportation gate. Let's see if I can find any way to activate it. ... ... No, nothing that I can see or feel.

Both doorways seem to be two meters wide and two and a half high. Let's see how long that corridor is.

Gunny grabs the staff and cautiously goes between the torches. Surprisingly the corridor here is only two meters long, then there is another room - and as he approaches the torches behind him went dark while the torches in the new room light up.

OK, this is a hall - ten by thirty meters would be my guess. There is a pillar with glowing letters on it in the center, this half of the hall is mostly empty aside from the torches and a few benches along the wall. There is a lot more in the other half of the hall, but I can only see part of what is beyond the pillar.

It looks like six corridors (including this one) go out, each flanked by two torches. I don't know if there is anything dangerous here - it usually is in games. So safety first.

After carefully looking around and not seeing anything moving, the gunny quickly strides to the other side of the wall, to a corridor opening directly opposite to the one he just left. The inside is dark again, but because there are a lot more torches in the hall he can see that the corridor is only two meters again before opening into a room of some sort.

If the torches are automatic here as well, I'll need to make two steps forward, a quick look around and two steps back again.

The room is identical to the one I started in, including the empty doorframe at the other end. Nothing there at the moment, let's check the next opening in this hall.

An imaginary watcher (or a dungeon core sitting a few floors below) could see the lizardman carefully checking the next two openings with the same results. The only difference is that from the position of those two corridors the gunny has a good view of what is in the other half of the hall: A large stairway going down between two seperated sections of the hall. Both sections contain desk, chairs and cabinets and are inside some sort of low fence or barrier.

Hmm - that looks like regular but empty offices. I'll check them later, this pillar is probably more important.

A lot of glowing runes on the pillar and on the floor around it - unfortunately no language that I know.

...

Nothing to it, the only thing I can try is touching it.

[Accessing Node Menu]

Node Access Menu Rank [Limited] Type Creation: Rations Matter Storage 100/100 Matter Creation 1/hour Node Creation Options Meat-Based Rations Cost 10 SP, 5 Matter Effect +40 Food (5 day fresh) Grain-Based Rations Cost 10 SP, 5 Matter Effect +30 Food (10 day fresh) Animal Fodder-Rations Cost 5 SP, 2 Matter Effect +40 Food (animal only, 30 day fresh)

And what would happen if I...

Suddenly the runes on the pillar glow and something touches the Gunnies right hand. Before he can react, a large piece of dried meat falls to the ground.

OK, the 10 SP got substracted from my status, the 5 matter from the pillar itself, and I now have enough dried meat for a meal. At least I won't go hungry here. But that seems to be it with this pillar, nothing else.

He looks around - two corridors and the stairway down, plus two empty office sections with some equipment.

Let's first check the remaining two corridors - perhaps two more gate rooms like the other four?

No - this room is double the size of the rooms with the doorframes and has four torches, but is completely empty. Let's head for the last corridor.

In the last room the gunny sees something new. The room is again as large as the one on the opposite of the hallway, but where the other room was empty this contained a stone platform in the floor. No symbols of any kind are edged in here, but it is one step above the rest of the floor.

When the gunny steps on it, he suddenly sees another menu opening.

Select Target Floor for Teleportation Platform

Platform inactive, no targets available

It looks more and more like a completely abandoned home base of some adventuring game - where the hell am I? And where is the General?

Before I go down the stairs there are several books and scrolls on those four desks and the cabinets lining the walls. Inkwell and writing quills indicate a medieval or fantasy area as well.

What the ... BLANK???

The gunny hastens to the next desk and the next, frantically checking the dozen books or so that are scattered among the almost empty furniture. All of them are completely blank, there isn't a single word written anywhere, not even titles.

Suddenly he stops - a quiet skittering can be heard from down the stairs.

He looks down the stairs but sees nothing - suddenly he trusts his staff. Something tiny and white jumps away, making the staff hit only the stone floor.

About two meters away from him at one of the upper stairs now stands the tiny skeleton of a rat - moving back and forth despite not having any flesh or muscles left on it.

"Zombies I got from the plague on earth, but how does a skeleton work? And such a tiny one as well - that rat couldn't have been more than twenty or thirty centimeters including tail when it was alive."

It goes up and down the stairs, always looking back to me - it looks like someone wants me to follow that as a guide.

Well - the stairs are the only option left, so let's follow it for now until I see something better.

...

Spoiler: Public Part of Floor 1 (includes later additions)

...

Those two floors I just passed looked somehow incomplete - perhaps this base is not abandoned but on the contrary not yet finished. And the pillar I passed on floor three would only help if I get out of here to a market. What's now on floor four?

The stairs arrive at a large and lengthy room on floor 4 - it has another desk and a chair and a bed at one wall. Dominating the room however is another pillar - only this time it is not a pure green stone pillar, but there is a metal ball installed on top of it - a ball with holes through which he can see another ball rotating. And a second such multi-ball floats next to the pillar, that one glowing light blue. And this seems to be the end of these cellars, without an exit in sight.

Slowly the Lizardman approaches the pillar and touches it like the others he found.

Core Access Menu Dungeon Name general Floors/Level 4/11 Core Rank [Mythical] Node Rank [Limited] Type Elemental: Water Matter Storage 7500/7500 Matter Creation 78/hour Node Creation Options Drinking Water Creation Cost 10 SP, 5 Matter Effect +40 Water Water Elemental Summoning Cost 50 SP, 50 Matter Effect 1 [Limited] Elemental (MaxRank [Mythical]) Water-type Core Creation Cost 500 SP, 500 Matter Effect 1 [Limited] Core usable for Golems and Spell Storage Core Options Data Exchange/Communication Trade Contract Contest

Let's try [Data Exchange/Communication]

“Ah, finally. Calm down Gunny, this is General Corwall speaking. I couldn't talk to you before you got here.”

“Nice to hear from you, Sir. Do you have any idea of what’s going on?”

“Mostly, yes – what is the last thing you remember?”

“We were on our way to the HIL to get some equipment, then everything becomes a bit fuzzy in my memory.”

“We got there and succeeded, but we both had to sacrifice our lifes for the mission. And the rest is not exactly kidnapped by aliens, but close.”

“We are now in some form of medieval fantasy world where the gods have problems and decided to snatch our souls from the afterlife to help them solve those problems. I’m stuck in this metal ball that was originally something like a computer to control this dungeon, while you got a lizardman body – I considered that better than you having to spend months to learn how to slither along with a naga/snake body, and those two are the only races currently available to me.”

“Well General – sounds like the usual business. The bosses made mistakes, even if they call themselves gods here instead of politicians and we have to solve them.”

“Then again, even on Earth a lot of politicians considered themselves gods and still made only mistakes, always calling us hard-working guys to clean up their messes…”

“So nothing new at all…”

"That's one way to put it. Anyway, can you please request a contract with me? Then we can talk without you touching the pillar."

Contract Offered

A contract has been offered between the Dungeon "general" and the Lizardman "John Parkinson".

Both need to confirm this offer for the contract to be created.

The race of "John Parkinson" will be changed from "Lizardman" to "contracted Lizardman".

This will enable several additional evolution options, but there is a chance that other beings detect the change based on the difference between their levels and or ranks.

The dungeon core "general" will gain the ability to place or delete quests on "John Parkinson"s Quests-List.

It will also gain the ability to check (but not change) all other status-screens.

"John Parkinson" will be able to access the core menu options including the core boost to nodes at any node inside the dungeon "general". This excludes the contest option as long as the contract exists.

Breaking the contract will cause a penalty to be imposed on "John Parkinson".

"Well Gunny, I suggest you sit down at the desk with the book to take notes, and then I bring you up to our current situation."

The lizard looks at the chair suspiciously and then takes it to smash it against the wall.

*Crash* - the back broke from the chair, and the Gunny could finally sit down on it with his tail. He turns toward the glowing pillar and listens to the tale.

...

“Well, General – you never were one for the simple tasks, but from what you told me so far this tops everything, both the Zombie Apocalypse and that black ops in North Korea thirty years ago.”

“Oh? You’re finally willing to forget that Korea mission?”

“Never forgetting General, your mistakes as the captain of that mission created that clusterfuck and you always need to remember that you can make mistakes on your own. But the situation with the restrictions here is indeed a lot worse. Let's see what we can do about it.”