“Howdy, pal,” the straw blonde haired girl with freckles and slightly bucked teeth said. “The name’s Becky Oak. Some people call me a professional cow wrangler, and also the prettiest girl in all of Gainsville, Tennessee.”

She was a hardy girl, and Vaughn could imagine her looking not-so-out-of-place with a pair of daisy dukes on, although currently she was wearing the same adventurer’s garb everyone else was. Despite her claim of being the prettiest girl in town, she wasn’t that amazing to look at, but she was certainly going to be handy for adventuring.

“I’m Vaughn Hallows. Used to work in finance,” Vaughn replied with a smile, extending her hand. Trying to rid himself of his corporate slavery roots, he pronounced finance with a hard ‘i’ rather than the funaaahnce that the people he worked with with sticks up their asses loved to say.

Becky looked a bit quizzically at his extended hand, then shook her head.

“Eh, not sure you wanna shake hands with me. Pig shit ‘n all,” Becky replied, cracking a laugh.

“Gotcha,” Vaughn replied. Thankfully he never had to get his hands dirty so far in life, but that was about to change, so he welcomed someone with hands-on experience like Becky. “Anyway, do you want to team up for the slime cave?”

“Well, you look sturdy enough. Why not?”

That went pretty easily, huh. This was the benefit of being good looking. Oh yeah, he had piercing blue eyes and a sharp jawline.

Really, was it narcissism if he was just telling the truth?

…

Actually, that’s exactly what a narcissistic dragon would say when praising their own shiny scales.

…

Moving along.

“Great. Now we just need one more person,” he said.

A familiar face, who happened to be eavesdropping the entire time, approached Vaughn and Becky. He had an unkempt, rather unsightly beard, and a hood over his head. A faint, slightly salty smell came from underneath his hood. Fuck. It was that guy.

“Greetings. My name is Dhunnim ‘il Dharral. May I join your party?”

If he wasn’t clearly a forty-something year old man with receding ginger hair and blindingly pale freckled skin that heavily suggested that his bloodline traced back to Scotland or Ireland, Vaughn could’ve possibly been convinced that Dhunnim ‘il Dharral was a middle eastern name and not some roleplaying abomination.

Still, perhaps being an aggressively nerdy roleplayer was a good thing in this new world, if the cliched storylines of webtoons and web serials were anything to go by. Vaughn decided to hear him out.

“Maybe. Are you good at fighting?”

“You wish to see my skills. Very well!” Dhunnim ‘il Dharral declared, throwing his hands together into what was clearly a hand sign from a certain ninja in an orange jumpsuit, as a slight fizzle appeared in front of him, before blinking out of existence without doing anything spectacular. Some might even say that it was useless.

But still, Vaughn’s eyes widened. That spark was something completely new, and clearly some form of mana manipulation. How the hell did this dungeons and dragons edgelord manage to use magic despite the fact that they’d just landed in this new world? And more importantly, how was this idiot ahead of him in the power curve?

Vaughn could not let anyone surpass him. After all–he too was an edgelord, albeit a self aware one. He had to wringe this guy of his secrets, which probably wouldn’t be hard to do seeing how socially inept he was.

“Ooooh, that’s purdy,” Becky gasped. “How’d you do that?”

“It is my previous journey into the arcane arts that has given me such tremendous power, and I will be a valuable asset in your journey into the slime cave. Perhaps we will run into an arcana skill check, which I will be able to pass easily. My stat sheet has been fully optimized and prepared for any difficulty that lies ahead,” Dhunnim ‘il Darral said, placing a hand in front of his face like a monk praying in zen.

Alright, this guy was more than a bit loony, but still nice to have around to figure out a bit more about the systems in this world. And plus, he was kind of endearing... sort of. As long as he promised to take a shower.

“Sure, you can join us. I’ll just call you Dunny for short, alright?” Vaughn said in an amicable tone.

The bearded man paused for a moment, as if taken by surprise. Finally, his eyes blinked back to life, before narrowing into an edgy stare. “Dunny is permissible, if my true name is too difficult for mere mortals to pronounce,” he said in a low growl.

[Your blood pressure is rising due to irritation. In the interest of your health, please try to calm down.]

Good to know, system.

Vaughn took a deep breath, and nudged them towards the trail. “Well, now that the party’s formed and all, let’s get this show on the road. Time to hit the slime dungeon and see if all that jazz about treasure and fame was false advertising or not.”

“Alright y’all, let’s doooooooo thisssss!!!” Becky shouted into the air, a cry of freedom that everyone felt at the core of their soul. This was a fresh new beginning, in a foreign world where a cow wrangler from Tennessee, a treasure hunting reckless narcissist who used to work in finance, and a dnd edgelord were all on the same level.

They only had to walk for a minute before they found themselves in front of a cave with a wooden sign in front of it, with a drawing of a cute slime being pierced by a sword.

You have discovered a new area [The Slime Cave].

This is a beginner dungeon. The difficulty of this dungeon is negligible.

Your fame in this area is 0.

You have no reputation in this area.

Congratulations. You’ve made your way to the beginner dungeon. You have unlocked four class progression quests.

Alvatross can be a dangerous place. It is advisable to level up multiple classes to have a well-rounded skill set. However, you may also elect to focus more of your time on disciplines that you excel in, although this will leave you lacking in other departments.

Your overall level will be the same as your highest level class or profession.

You are now a level 1 Warrior.

You are now a level 1 Archer.

You are now a level 1 Mage.

You are now a level 1 Healer.

You may unlock different classes as your adventure continues. However, only your highest level classes will be visible in your three class slots.

Vaughn read along and nodded, finding this all rather interesting, but he found himself distracted by Dhunnim ‘il Darral, whose face had turned a shade of pink.

“W-w-what? This is preposterous! How can such a system allow such rampant multi-classing without drawbacks? This is blasphemous upon the Player’s Handbook Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition!”