The win over Murderous Mary was heavy.

Jay didn’t need his strange gravitational empathy sense to feel how it brought the mood down for everyone. As someone who could shift a mood with a song, or a good joke, Jay had the inkling to make things more lighthearted.

One look at Kleo told him to let the mood be.

Instead, he pointed toward a more obvious distraction.

“This is an interesting notification.”

Your party has destabilized and laid ruin to the main threat of Zone Three, the Toyreveler Staircase. However, your party hasn’t completely cleared the zone. There are still large pockets of hostile dungeon monsters lurking about, creating a Contested Zone after the death of the miniboss.

Contested Zones are a unique halfway point between a Hostile Zone and a Safe Zone. These Zones are notable since they come up during interesting situations where dungeon crawlers circumvent the smaller challenges and get to the bigger ones as you have. This usually happens with the death of the zone leader, such as a major miniboss.

Contested Zones will reward you, especially the loot you’ve earned from your kills. It will also give you an extra four hours against the destabilization event timeline, keeping the core and its corrupted energies contained in this pocket dimension and the local area connected to your home dimension. However, seeing this zone to completion can get additional rewards and another full eight hours.

You will not get access to a treasure chest while in a Contested Zone. But we will reward you a little for your unique maneuvers that haven’t been seen before in this dungeon.

Jay Luckrun: +1 Resilience, +1 Poise, +2 Strength, +2 Intellect. Michael Zhou: +1 Resilience, +3 Strength, +2 Conviction Dennis Miller: +2 Intellect, +4 Discovery Franklin Stronghold: +2 Poise, +4 Discovery

Please remember every eight hours in this dungeon dimension is one hour in your home dimension due to time dilliation.

Adventure on, dungeon crawlers.

-A Pre-Release System Junior Admin

“Hm,” Mike hummed ponderously. “Dennis, where is your Discovery at now?”

“Up to 10 Discovery,” Dennis answered. “I’m not so sure about what it, luck, or Chance does. It isn’t my main thing. But I’ll take any free points.”

“I believe the Junior Admin gave us points that’ll shore up the weaknesses in our profiles,” Mike said. “I’m now at 10 Strength, which honestly makes me feel like I’m kind of swole.”

Dennis burst into laughter. “Dude, you’re telling me you had 7 Strength for this long? I started with 14 Strength, and that feels small to me now.”

That was easy for him to say since he was the strong guy with the big sword.

Mike pushed his glasses up his nose. “Must I tell you about my Intellect?”

“Hey, hey, relax. Let’s not go there. I’m glad you’re at average Strength now. At least that’ll do something for you, unlike Discovery.”

“Nah, let me stop you right there,” Jay said. “Discovery is pretty good. It’s not something you notice while you’re in a situation because it’s subtle, but it feels like it helps you find the opportunity you need to win. I don’t think I’ll be alive without points in Discovery.”

Dennis nodded thoughtfully.

“Also, I’m not sure if the Admin was shoring up any of my weaknesses,” Jay said to Mike. “All of the AP I got went to Attributes that were already above 10 AP. Maybe they don’t want to give us points in what we’re already good at if they had to give points.”

“If they’re worried about us snowballing, that’s a poor measure of control,” Mike said. “But then again, this junior admin person, and whoever else is running the System, have powers beyond our understanding. They have greater experience on how all of this runs in the greater scheme of the Multiverse.”

“I still say we mess things up a little here and there,” Jay said.

“Why would you want to mess with the Multiverse Admins?” Frank asked gravelly, interjecting into the conversation for the first time.

Jay tilted his head. “Because anyone with all that power is gonna push you around because they can. So, I think it’s worth checking them when you can.”

“That’ll invite hostility from powers immensely greater than you, Luckrun. Are you asking for death?”

“I don’t have to ask.” Jay waved his arm around the scene of death and destruction. “I’m just one guy who wants more than the boundaries they’re setting for us.”

“Is that why you’re helping me, Jay?” Kleo asked.

“Tut, tut, it’s Master Jay,” he scolded her lightly.

“You’re an idiot,” Kleo said.

“Then your master is an idiot.”

“I’m not calling you master,” Kleo grouched.

“It’ll take time to get used to, but in the long run, you won’t mind it,” Jay said with a cheesy smile.

Kleo opened her mouth when a sudden spasm interrupted her. Her face split into perfect cubes of plastic and flesh that floated in the air for a second. Then the cubes snapped back together where they belonged.

“What the fuck?” Dennis gaped.

“Heh, if I knew that was coming, I would’ve gotten closer to your face for a full freak out, big guy,” Kleo said, panning a gaze from Dennis to the rest of the party. She stopped to look at Jay. “Divergent monsters unwilling to obey the core’s base designs or the dungeon master’s wishes will degrade over time if another monster doesn’t kill them first. Then we’ll return to the core where the dungeon master can do with us, with me, as he pleases. I’m betting he’ll destroy me forever.”

Kleo looked at the knife where Mary had once been.

“Or he recycles me into a new role like Mary. There’s been a rumor that had died out a while back. The rumor says Murderous Mary was once Marvelous Mary. She used to do the role I’m doing now. She used to be a good Toy, really awesome and friendly with crawlers back when the dungeon wasn’t so twisted. Crawlers could come, defeat monsters, gain some loot, and part ways with the dungeon without anyone having bad feelings or aiming to destroy one another. But that changed for some reason. The Toyreveler turned a happy, glowing Marvelous Mary into Murderous Mary, and then the rest is history.”

“We’ll beat the Toyreveler,” Jay said softly. “Then we’ll take you out of here.”

Kleo started speaking, but another divergent degradation moment interrupted her. This time it pulled apart her left arm into perfect cubes before combining it back together where it belonged.

The toy shook her head, amused. “You can keep telling yourself that, Jay, but it ain’t possible. You’re just another crawler, and I’m not going to let you give me hope. Let’s focus on beating the Toyreveler so I’ll get the satisfaction he’s gonna become just like me, a big pile of nothingness.”

“That’s quitter talk,” Dennis muttered.

It was easy to forget the guy despite how big and prominent of a figure he struck. He didn’t hold sway on a majority of these conversations. But Jay could feel an impression around him that was palpable like he was the center of attention they all must pay heed to.

“Everything around us is freaking magic,” Dennis said. “Yeah, there are rules, but those rules are magic, too. Unless they penalize us for stuff we don’t know, we should try to win the game however we can. And a total win means we get you out of here, Kleo. Ain’t that right, guys?”

“I’ve already agreed to this experiment from the start,” Mike said. “I’m interested to see what will happen.”

Jay chuckled, not having to answer. They already knew his stance. He’d been laying the groundwork, even if it seemed crazy.

Frank held his silence for a while. “You are a monster. You have the potential to wreak havoc upon our world, which is why I’m here. To ensure that it doesn’t happen.”

There was a long pregnant pause.

“But you’ve helped against Mary, throwing in with us crawlers,” Frank said with a sigh. “You’re risking what could be permanent destruction, or worse, for strangers. I can’t even imagine what’s going through your head.”

“Something similar to Jay’s thoughts but in one easy-to-explain word,” Kleo said. “Spite.”

Jay blinked, feeling a subtle ripple reverberate out of Kleo. Something about that last world felt hella special. Nobody seemed to notice.

Frank laughed darkly. “Heh, I can get behind that. Fine then, let’s help. It’s along the way, anyway.”

Dennis roared in cheer, pumping his sword up and down.

Mike reached down and patted Kleo on the back.

Jay put the strange, rippling event out of his mind for now. He scanned the area.

“What are we going to do about all the loot?” he asked.

Frank grunted. “We bring the most important stuff with us in our knapsacks. And leave the rest.”

“Seriously?” Kleo questioned. “All that loot’s gonna go to waste.”

“If we take too much time trying to gather all the loot,” Frank said, “we waste the time we need to defeat the Toyreveler and save you.”

Kleo flinched, taken aback. “But killing and looting is the dungeon crawler’s way.”

“I’ve thrown my hat into this mission to rescue you somehow,” Frank continued. “Sacrifices must be made.”

Frank turned to his party.

“So, let’s get our asses going, people. Snatch up everything of decent value. Hustle fast because we’re on the clock and still have those solo challenge rooms to run.”