It was a nice day with the moon shining and the owls hooting. On days like this, I just knew that something would go wrong. So I wasn’t surprised when being forcefully awoken to a burnt smell and making sure my kitchen didn’t burn down. I was sat down on the couch and told by my best friend of four long years to, “go and get Pocket dungeons already! You have no more excuses now that we’re living in a college dorm away from your parents.”

I just stared at him saying, “Tet, as your friend for the whole mess that was highschool I have trusted you with my back for more than 4 long years and yet you woke me up at this ungodly hour with the threat of burning our dorm down to have a talk about a game I would be getting later today.” We both knew that I wasn’t asking then. I was stating a fact and slowly wrapping my head around that fact.

Tet looking a little embarrassed now that his actions were put into words dared to laugh and say, “sorry Nadezh’ I was just really excited since I just KNOW that you will be a natural. You always were more of the strategist to my brute force.”

I deadpanned at him and spoke in that slow drawl I only reserved for the really idiotic moments my usually better than that friends got up to, “Tet..as your brother in all but blood I truly can’t count the number of times you have caused me to wake up at an ungodly hour to hear another rant or sob story from you. But when it is just after we got off the spacecraft and I still have a minor migraine with an order from Illyuziya to stay away from the coffee (spiked with 3 shots of espresso and some liquor but no one needed to know that) that I need to deal with you guys...you are pushing the limits of our brotherhood.”

After my exasperated rant was over Tet anxiously pushed me to lay on the sofa. "How about you have some sleep. I'll ask Osprey to get some high-quality coffee beans on the H.A.W as an apology", he said.

I was too tired to push more but still mustered up the effort to shoot him a look before drifting off as he hurriedly messaged someone on his Holographic All-Purpose Watch aka H.A.W.

“I don’t think his migraine matters over his sanity Illyuz’”, that was Tet.

“Yeah but you should know better than to get him so worked up after a flight, you know how bad he is with all things long and boring not to mention unnecessary,'' said Illyuz’.

I didn’t want to, but better to cut them off than cause an incident first thing in the morning. “Guys as much as I am happy that you care for me please shut up, Illyuz’ my migraine is mostly gone and Tet it was fine just... don’t eat so much dessert from now on. I can’t deal with a hyper you in the morning. I am not Osprey nor your babysitter,” I stated.

They stopped their arguing and then cracked up, I was confused until I realized that I probably looked like a mess. With my shirt crumbled and hair in disarray, I was very off from the image I usually showed and with my voice cracking every once in a while because of thirst I probably look like I just had a shagging session with someone.

I deadpanned at both of them and decided to just go and get a shower going with the mindset of ‘I’ll deal with this later’. After a quick shower, I checked to make sure that I was ready to go on a trip to get the game. Long black hair braided? Check. Grey eyes bespectacled and not blurry? Half-check (I need coffee). Semi-formal clothes consisting of a dress shirt and tie, jeans, and my favorite fedora? Check. Completely neutral face? Check. Hidden weapons and emergency mini-meed kit? Check. ‘That should be all’, I thought.

Once I was again in the kitchen/dining room I was greeted with the sight of a dressed down Tet in black jeans and a white t-shirt it made his red hair and eyes stand out so I’ll let the informality pass this time.

“Nadezh’ why did you wear a dress shirt and tie couldn’t you just wear a t-shirt like seriously we’ll be right back after picking up the game plus the extra mods and packs anyway” he whined.

I glared at him saying, “Unlike a certain someone I have to keep up an image for the press and to make sure my family doesn’t come dragging me back to our planet.”

He waved it off as we had had this conversation many times already regarding my need to wear formal-ish cloths. I stopped glaring at him when I smelled the sweet scent of coffee and almost ran to the kitchen. Seeing Illyuz’s AI body there I was happy since that meant I was allowed coffee today.

“Hurry up and eat we only have today and tomorrow until college officially starts”, Illyuz’ said.

After which we all sat down and ate in a quick but steady manner, well Illyuz’ didn’t but that was fine as AI bodies don’t need sustenance these days. I was now starting to feel excited about finally joining my peers in playing Pocket Dungeon as I have always been not allowed to do so by my parents and older sister. It was only a quick ride in a hovercar until we got to our destination GameStep the place where everything gaming is sold.

As we got off I noticed that Illyuz’ was already back in digital form and his body was safely stored in my DSU aka the Dimensional Storage Unit. We looked around the small store and was quickly approached by the shopkeep.

“What are you looking for today sir and madam”, asked the employee.

Tet cracked up as I sighed, this had happened multiple times before because of my body shape, more slender profile, and long hair I was often mistaken for a female while Tet with his built body is sometimes thought as my bodyguard or in some instances boyfriend. This often causes me to cringe and him to laugh.

I clarified the situation saying, “I am a male mister and we are looking for a Pocket Dungeons file and some packs and extensions if you will.” He quickly apologized and showed us the list of boosters packs while Illyuz’ was compiling the data. I scrolled through the list and picked the best Realistic Physics Engine there was on the market. Hearing a faint groan of, “of course”, from Tet.

Next, I asked Illyuz about the amount of money I could use before they noticed and he said, “get however many you want I’ll tell you when it gets a bit too much.” Hearing that I looked through the list one more time and picked out the Faith system which allows for things like divinity and faith to be used as an energy source. At the same time, I picked out the Extreme Biomes Pack which I will have to be careful about mixing with the Physics Engine.

At first, I didn’t know if I wanted to go in the sci-fi or fantasy route yet since I was better suited towards sci-fi but wanted to do fantasy since I wanted magic. So I compromised and decided to go for a fantasy world base with races and biomes leaning more towards the sci-fi department. To work towards this goal I picked up the Extensive Mana Pack and Extra Elemental Affinities Pack. With the main fantasy elements done I selected the Revised Steampunk Pack which also houses sentient clockworks and other interesting creatures I’m looking forward to studying.

My world was being fleshed out as I pick pack after pack and now I just wanted a few more creature packs and more personalized packs that I will use to top off everything else. Tet is looking at me like a hungry shark so I better hurry this up. I wanted something like the leylines of general fantasy but didn’t want to have to deal with that cliche so I picked the lesser-known Central Elemental Focus Pack which fulfills the same purpose as leylines just in a different way.

After which I bought the Alchemic Creations, Living Plant Life, Aquatic Horrors, and Hollowed Spirits Pack rounding out my creature count with the addition of the default the game gives. Looking at Tet I quickly said, “I’m almost done, just one or two more.” I wanted something that I could use to interact and fine-tune my creatures and faction more and as I’m studying in planetary conservation (major) and revival of species through DNA transferal (minor) otherwise known as PC and RSTDC.

Fine Modifications Dual Pack for both creatures and systems and the DNA Management Pack looked ideal. Finishing at last after *checking my H.A.W* 30 minutes rounded down of me looking through packs. I stretched and started to get up but was grabbed by Tet and pulled to the counter to pay. I muffled a laugh and looked at his face ‘shit’, I thought that’s the ‘I am so going to enjoy what’s coming next face’.

‘What have I unleashed unto myself’...