Wolf

Several hours later

“That should be good enough for this floor,” I mutter as the blue lights from the EXP orb disappear into my skin before turning around and walking back to the cave’s entrance.

Right as I step through the thin crevasse that makes up the entrance, a message appears on the side of my interface.

“Oh?” I mutter with a brief stretch now that I’m outside of the cave. “I wonder what they want to talk about…”

System Notification

You have received a message from player: Luke Adler

“If you can, find a safe place to talk.

We’ll call you when you do.”

If I were to guess, then it’s probably got something to do with those anthrovespids on Aegis. Considering all of the trouble they are causing back there, I can understand why everyone hates them.

Although, despite that, I don’t really care about them one way or the other. Not unless they actually attack my family. Which they will likely do.

I turn my head back towards the cave before turning back again and walking several meters away from the cave entrance.

That also reminds me of Soldier – the anthrovespid in the dungeon. I’ll probably have to deal with it whenever I run into it.

If it weren’t for the fact that they attack everything they see, then I probably wouldn’t even do that. But chances are that it will attack me if I see it, so it’s best to deal with it accordingly.

Anyways…

I open my status before navigating to the Portable Expanded System Store menu.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Portable Expanded System Store

Summon

Force Dispel

Customize

Return

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As soon as the menu opens, I select Summon, causing a slightly larger version of my parents home back in Colorado – before the Initialization – to appear in the middle of the snow-covered land in front of me.

When I first opened the menu, it told me that I had to make my own custom store to be able to use the menu. So I just decided to model it after what I am used to.

I step up to the two-story-tall building before taking a moment to admire it. The building is made up entirely of white bricks – which actually matches rather well with the environment on this floor – and has a triangular roof. It is slightly longer than my old home on earth, but that is mostly to accommodate the store totem.

After a few seconds of standing there staring with Sapphire casually taking a nap on my shoulder, I walk up to the building and open the door before freezing it shut behind me.

One other difference in the building is that I removed the windows and doors – excluding the main entrance, of course. Mostly because it doesn’t exactly spell secure to have so many possible entrances. Even if people can’t just break them down.

It’s unfortunate that the System wouldn’t let me put locks on the doors though, but my ice works just fine, so it’s not a problem.

I smile as I look around the interior of the building; at the familiar hallway and living room. The large, open kitchen across from it. And even the Christmas tree that feels a little bit out of place now, but the System copied my memory of the house from the last time I saw it to use for the portable store, so it’s there. Despite Christmas having passed months ago.

What surprised me the most when I first went into the portable store was that it actually has electricity. Although, when I tried putting an electronic device into my inventory, it just vanished and reappeared in the ‘store.’

The same thing happened when I tried to manually bring it out of the store.

It just teleported from my arms into the house.

That said, the electronics that need other things to work – like television signals, or the internet – don’t work. Which is unfortunate but expected. Seeing as there isn’t exactly an internet or tv station in the dungeon.

The store feels almost as if it’s set in time or something. Everything that was in it at the time of the Initialization is in it now, except certain electronics. Like video games and tv sets for example.

I ignore everything as I make my way towards the bathroom before entering one of the only locations within the Administrator Dungeon that don’t allow the livestreams to follow.

Without even a full minute passing by, a familiar ringing sound plays out from my headphones, followed by a notification.

System Notification

A player has attempted to call you. Would you like to accept Luke Adler’s call?

Yes No

I quickly accept the call before a large screen appears in front of me, showing my parents in some sort of office.

“Hey,” I greet them with a nod.

Both of them nod back before dad says, “How are you doing with the new changes?”

“Aside from the noticeable drop in my profits from the viewing rooms, they haven’t really affected me all that much,” I answer with a shrug. “Although, the smaller floors have helped me find more monsters. Not all that many more, but more nonetheless.”

I wasn’t really buying very many Tier 7 items or skills from the store anyways, since they aren’t as good as the ones in the auctions. So that didn’t hurt me almost at all. Meanwhile, the loss of the dungeon monster patterns isn’t much of an issue either. Sure, it leads to less predictability, but at least it makes the dungeon less boring.

Not to mention that some of the patterns can be annoying.

Like those dark sprites and their magic immunity.

I pause for a second as something comes to mind before mentioning, “The new consumables are pretty helpful. Especially the portable store.”

“That’s good,” Dad nods his head again before continuing, “as for why we called you…”

He pauses for a second with a glance towards mom before looking at the screen again.

I raise an eyebrow at this without saying anything.

He’s not normally the type to have doubts, so whatever this is, it must be important.

“We wanted to ask you some questions about the top factions you know about,” he finally says before adding, “specifically, the Grand Werewolf Empire, and The Ascendency.”

The first faction he stated doesn’t surprise me in the least, but the second one…

“Why do you want to know about The Ascendency?” I ask him out of confusion.

I thought they arrived at around safe zone 602. Or maybe I am just remembering this wrong?

Mom surprisingly speaks instead of dad this time, “As it turns out, The Ascendency’s forces on Aegis are split up between their various leaders. They are located near safe zones 601, 1029, 403, 901, 2, 1704, and 63; each with a different one of their higher ups leading them.”

My brows raise in surprise at this news before she continues speaking, “The higher ups that we have heard are on Aegis include Albold Dese, Beatrix Warren, Farant Tyr, Sybilais Bowen, Býulfr Vollan, Lyssandre Loragos, and someone named ‘Tiamat.’ Although we haven’t been able to find a last name-”

“Tiamat?!” I shout in surprise, interrupting her before she can finish.

She raises an eyebrow and motions for me to speak.

“Why the hell is The Ascendency’s leader on Aegis?!” I exclaim with a frown, startling both of them in the process.

“Their leader?” dad asks with his brows furrowed in confusion. “You mean that this ‘Tiamat’ is The Ascendency’s leader?”

I nod my head in confirmation before a wary look crosses both of my parent’s faces as they exchange glances with each other.

“What is it?” I ask before something comes to mind. “Do you know which safe zone Tiamat’s group is near…?”

The wary look turns grim as dad looks at me and says, “Tiamat is located near safe zone 63.”

A groan escapes my lips as I rest my head in my hands.

And now there is another thing that we have to worry about…

I raise my head a couple of seconds later and say, “To keep this short, Tiamat is a chaos dragon – which is an evolved species of dragon with unknown powers – and she is the ‘hidden’ leader of The Ascendency. Not much is known about her, outside of the fact that she was originally a water dragon before evolving, and that she doesn’t care much for politics.”

None of us say anything for a few seconds before dad suddenly mutters, “That explains why she settled there, if she was originally a water dragon…”

“What do you mean?” I ask with a frown.

Dad shakes his head and says, “For some reason, her group decided to settle down on a frigid cliff off of the coast. The location – for some reason – seems to constantly be raining at all times and is a very unpleasant place to be. No one has been able to figure out why they decided to settle there, but if she has some sort of powers over the water, then it might make some sense.”

“Hmm,” I nod my head in agreement before saying, “make sure you don’t do anything to get on her bad side. From what I have heard, she might just be the strongest Administrator in the System.”

Both of them look surprised for a second before nodding.

“Anyways,” dad says, “could you tell us what you know of the factions?”