Before anyone else could ask any questions, Bjorn told us stories could wait till we were home, and to gather as much of the crystal as possible. It didn't take too long to gather it all. There was probably enough crystal to make a a lifesized replica of Bjorn and Scria, and most of it was in large chunks. Everyone seemed to have a different way of gathering it. Scria just picked up pieces and strapped them on with her all her weapons. She actually had open spaces in case she found a weapon she liked. Lily shrank a couple of pieces and put them in her pocket, and Marcus put them into some kind of dimensional storage.

We didn't have very far to walk from there. The sewer path that we were following ended at a ladder (or a pipe if we wanted to go swimming), and when we climbed up we were back outside, and out of the dungeon. We even got a notification to tell us.

Con&[email protected]!ati0ns!

Y0u [email protected] $ucces$ful!y exp!or3d a du^ge0n

F%( y$& )@([email protected]!( y$)@e$

**************************************

"Um, did anyone else get a messed up notification?" They all looked at me, but with slightly confused looks.

"We should have all just gotten the dungeon completion notification. It tells you how you did. Like mine says that our party ranks 4096th out of all the parties who have entered the dungeon. Which puts us... at the bottom of the rankings." Marcus looked a little upset with his findings. "That makes no sense. We didn't lose anyone, we killed a boss, and we found an exit. We should have gotten at least mid rankings. Oh."

Bjorn looked like he was tapping some kind of invisible screen. "Did you check the details? Somehow it has ten thousand deaths."

They both looked at me at the same time, "Uh, guys, that was creepy."

"So Bwyd, are you alright? The system says you died a lot." Lily looked concerned.

"I didn't die once. I was..."

Bjorn interrupted me. "Wait, lets talk about it in the house. It's more private than here."

Scria nodded, "Ya neva know who's listening. I was tellin' my budies about some, uh, stuff and this weasel was listening. He told everybody. Messed everything up."

So we started walking to the city. We were a little bit closer to it than where we entered the dungeon, but it still took us about thirty minutes to get back. It felt way longer than that, because everyone wanted to know where I'd been, and I wanted to know what they thought about it all. Plus we could have been robbed of everything we had gotten since we left the city. Basically PvP worked similar to killing monsters, except you couldn't steal something that they had when they were at their last safe zone. If you had certain skills you could get a copy of something, and the original would break, but the person you robbed would still have a broken version that they could get fixed. Except for legendary items. They had special rules, and it was different for each item. It was like they had minds of their own.

Luckily, we didn't see anyone on our way back, but it felt good to get back in the city, and relax a little. I really just wanted to lay down and sleep. It felt like I had been going for too long, and I was exhausted. Sadly, my friends all wanted to know what I'd been through, and I had to figure out how to tell them. I knew blood wasn't supposed to exist in the game. I knew pain wasn't supposed to exist (it usually felt like pressure, not real pain). I wasn't sure exactly why those two things existed in the zombie city, but they did. I wasn't sure if they'd even believe me if I told them. I was also a little worried about telling them. I didn't know if I should keep it a secret, or not. So after the first bit of relief when we got back to the city, I started to get really stressed. By the time we got to the house I was practially sweating.

"Marcus, activate the wards please." Bjorn sounded very professional.

Marcus closed his eyes for a moment. "There, done." He also sounded professional.

"Bwyd, what happened?"

"I think I broke the game. Or it broke around me? I didn't try to break it."

"Calm down Bwyd. We're all friends here. Just take a deep breath, and start from the beginning."

So I did. I told them everything. I started with the darkness and told them everything up to when we were back together. Surprisingly, they were all quiet till I was done. When I finished we all just kind of sat there for a few minutes. Everyone seemed to be thinking. Well, Scria looked a little confused, and maybe bored, but she was probably thinking.

"Ok, Bywd, don't tell anyone else this." Marcus walked over to me, he looked a little excited. "Bjorn and I had a bet, and you're story just helped me win. Have you ever watched anime?"

"Uh, a little?"

"Well there are several shows that have the main characters get stuck in a game, or something like that. Usually the game world is not what it seems, or there's some kind of evil programer who wants to force people to live or die depending on what happens to them in the game. I thought this game was too much like some of those worlds and Bjorn thought I was crazy. We had a bet, and I think your story proves me right."

Bjorn shook his head, "That could just be a special part of the game. A challenge arena, or something. You need more proof."

"Lily? Can you believe that? You agree with me, right?"

"Nope. Bjorn's right. There could be some kind of special arena. Did you get any rewards Bwyd?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. My notification for the dungeon was all messed up. I couldn't read it. Like when there's another language in the notification."

Marcus smiled, "I'd say that's more evidence."

Bjorn crossed his arms, "Or Bwyd broke the game. Bwyd, can you send me a message?"

"Sure." I tried to bring up my menu, but all I got was a very bright blue flashing light. It looked like it was coming from everywhere, and everytime it flashed I got a spike of pain. I think I made a shrieking sound, and fell over backwards, but when I hit the ground the flashing stopped, and my menu was there. Looking perfectly normal.

They all rushed over looking concerned, but Marcus was the first to get to me, "Are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah. There was a flashing light, but everything's normal now."

Bjorn was next, "Maybe you're still wrong Marcus, and there's an error with her system."

"Have you tried turning it off, then on again?" Lily giggled. "But seriously, are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. But maybe I'll log out for a bit. See if there is something wrong. I can always run the trouble shooter just to be safe." I started to select the log out option.

"If you need anything, we'll be here for a bit so if you log on. I'll be here." Marcus gently put his hand on my shoulder. Trying to be comforting.

"Ok, thanks guys!" and I logged out.