《Breaking The Game》Quest 10: Celebrate A Success
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“Cheers!” Everyone shouted with raised glasses. The group consisted of the core four team members, two employees, and two random adventurers that decided to join. The party was in full swing. Nicholas and Rex drank to their hearts' content, proud to finally be considered commoners. Xander joined in on the fun but stayed somewhat reserved. Meanwhile, Robyn tried to enjoy herself, but something outside grabbed her attention.
“Congrats on the progress, you guys. I’m so proud of you all.” Jenna, the tavern’s owner, said with a smile. She had been running The Feral Tomcat for years, and these customers were some of her favorites. They were kind and genuine, which was rare to find considering where the tavern was located. Jenna even offered to house them in the tavern’s spare rooms for a reduced price.
“Yeah, really proud. So proud to know that you’ll be paying off your tab.” Mateo, Jenna’s husband, said with a smirk. He was less giving than his partner. He preferred to charge the group full price, especially because they had been skimping out on recent payments. The team assured the married couple that they would pay their dues upon a certain mission’s completion, but it apparently got interrupted by someone extremely powerful. They stared down one of the gods’ disciples. That alone was worth the wait and annoyance.
“Ye- No. We’ll pay the minimum tonight. The rest will be covered later.” Nicholas responded to the passive-aggressive comment. He wanted to cover the entire tab at that moment. In fact, the team decided that they needed to pay off their debt first. Unfortunately, the newest class came with new skills. They replaced some of the previous negative skills with refreshing new ones. Nicholas received [Penny Pincher] which limited the amount he could give someone in a transaction. Additionally, his skill [Lying Proficiency V] evolved into [Master Liar], but that also had its downsides.
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“Don’t worry about the small details. Let’s get the party started!” Rex said with delight. He was ready to continue drinking until the sun came up. This was due to both his excitement and his newest skill. [Irresponsible] forced him to make rash decisions every so often. This coupled well with the combat skill [Heavy Hit] which he would undoubtedly use at the wrong time.
“Fine. But you all better pay up eventually.” Mateo said. Despite his high charisma, he couldn’t fight against the influence of two skilled liars. Rex, alone, could hinder any conversation, so both men were a force to be reckoned with.
“I feel like I can take on the world,” Xander said with a slurred voice. Enough time had passed that the team felt the effects of their constant drinking. Robyn was probably the only reasonable person left, but she was still staring off at something.
“We probably could,” Nicholas said through a frown. He tried to stop his words but couldn’t. This was the downside of [Master Liar]. In exchange for crafting the perfect lie that worked on most individuals, Nicholas was afflicted with a secondary skill dubbed [Pathological Liar]. He was forced to lie almost every time he spoke. Each word had to be carefully arranged, but the Genesis Program still found a way to twist his sentence.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Rex replied. He wasn’t aware of the lying skills, so his warning was directed at both of the drunk fools. The team was still low leveled and obviously new to the world. No one knew how many participants were within the Genesis Program, so it was possible that they could be the strongest or weakest of the pack. Regardless, Rex didn’t want to say something he’d regret.
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“Why not? We’re starting to figure out how Genesis works. Soon, this game is all ours, baby!” Xander cheered. He drank another full glass before waving at Jenna for another. The team was told about the most recent developments within the Genesis Program. Errors have been occurring. Not only that, they resulted in far-off skills that would have required weeks, if not months, of training to acquire.
“Um, Guys?” Robyn tried to ask but was ignored. She stopped looking at the window to see her companions drinking irresponsibly. Worry was painted across her face, but she returned her attention to what was outside. She wanted to make sure what she saw was real before causing a commotion.
“Yeah! No more stupid classes for you and me, buddy!” Nicholas said. He was happy to be free from the shackles that were the [Peasant] class. Even so, he knew what he said was a lie. Genesis always had a trick up its sleeves. The next class could be just as annoying as the first two. Knowing how the world worked, it was almost guaranteed.
“I’m just saying. Let’s not start this kind of talk when an omnipotent force is always listening.” Rex said with a calm voice. Thankfully, [Irresponsible] didn’t always hinder his thoughts. He tried to press the issue that something bad was due at any moment. Genesis rarely gave anything for free. The recent errors were bound to cause some sort of problem, and he didn’t want to trigger their reveal any sooner.
“You act like it could get any worse. Look at our skills. This stupid program is doing everything to hurt us.” Xander said with a drunken smile. He didn’t care if the program could hear him. In his eyes, they were already at the bottom. His skills were especially negative. He couldn’t deactivate [Forgettable], and it was always activating. Thankfully, the team was starting to understand his struggles with the appearance of more permanently active negative skills.
“I’m sure things are about to look up for us,” Nicholas said through gritted teeth. He couldn’t help his comment. He wanted to invoke a reasonable argument against focusing on the positives. Of course, he couldn’t do so. The team started to pick on the irritation that Nicholas radiated, but they were interrupted by Robyn.
“Guys!” Robyn shouted at the top of her lungs. It immediately brought the room to hush, but the drunk men weren’t in a suitable mindset to handle the confrontation.
“What?!” The three men yelled back. They all had looks of disgust that someone on their own team would ruin the celebration. Angered steps walked over to the window, but the mood suddenly changed.
Everyone went pale as they saw the raging fires outside.
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Of Gods and Dungeons
March 16, 2021 - Hiatus note: I will come back to this story! I'm really struggling with it, though. It's been a number of years and I kind of forgot what the original outline was. I still remember the main path, but not any of the details, because I stupidly didn't write an outline. Progress is being made. I'd like a very decent sized buffer before I start posting again. Don't want to get hopes up only to immediately disappoint! ----- Amy Barnes, an aspiring chemical researcher, finds herself dying from cancer. One of her most desperate prayers is answered in a way that she'd never dreamed possible, and she finds herself living a new life as a dungeon. Warning: Violence, morbidity Cover: Taken from here, courtesy of www.pexels.com by photographer @tookapic. Author's Note: I've read some dungeon core stories on here, and they've tickled my fancy. I've thought up a whole story, start to finish, and thought it'd be a blast to put it into words. Other than the violent and morbid aspects, this story is suitable for children. Aside from the vocabulary, that is. I will avoid the temptation to have any cursing, sexuality, or gore. Excessive gore, I suppose - it is a dungeon story, after all. I’ll do a little research from time to time, but this story will not have a great deal of rigor. I’ve made Amy’s knowledge comparable to my own for that reason. There’s a few things she knows more about than I do, and a few things that she knows less about. Unlike me, she doesn’t have access to Google - it’s a non issue for her to be more knowledgeable than me, on occasion :P This story does not use the same magic system that I’ve used in either Sorcery in Boston or A Summoner’s Confession. This one is mostly intention based, and designed to be easier access for people who are more used to the idea of, “It’s magic, therefore it works” kind of thinking. Do note that Amy is, in most senses of the term, overpowered. This goes along with the usual dungeon core stories. She’s not more powerful than other dungeons per se, but she does have knowledge and intelligence that puts them to shame. I thought about doing this in a LitRPG style, but systems take balance, and I wanted this to be pure fun to write.This story was inspired from a few sources. Despite the title, it wasn’t really inspired by Of Mice and Men, though some of the themes match. Rather, I’ve taken inspiration from a few dungeon core novels on Royal Road Legends for the main idea. Many conventions of dungeon core stories have been perverted from the genre, however. I’ve taken my usual science-loving self to town to play around with the powers, and I can only hope you have half as much fun reading this as I have had writing it.
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