-Armageddon-

The Mighty Armageddon had been monitoring deep space; scrutinizing every particle of interstellar dust across as much of the local star system in an effort to detect manna, see where it came from, and see if he could extrapolate its effect on the space-time continuum when he got proximity alert from his ground sensors. He had already known they were coming from his conversation with Brian but figured there wasn't much they could do versus his overpowered technology and the strange.

Alert!

Probably of dungeon invasion imminent

The Armageddon looked through a satellite and spotted three individuals moving at high speed through the air. They were breaking the sound barrier and headed towards his dungeon's entrance. He looked through the sensors in the dungeon. All the traps were armed, and the Strange was currently taking a massive dump in his new portable litter box.

The Armageddon assumed control of the tentacled horror of M.R. Tentacles 2.0 and slithered over to the Strange. He spoke out of the loudspeaker while lightly stroking the strange who had since curled up on a chair: "Hey there, little buddy. I got some new toys for you.", and displayed a holoprojection of the incoming scouting team. "Here is a quest; please dispose of them if they cross into the 15th room."

Quest!

Play with the scouts in room 11. If they cross into Room 15, dispose of them.

Reward:

You keep their gear

-Brian-

The next couple of days passed in a rush. I still went to work, manna ball, and dance, but spent quite a bit of time on the com talking with Mike and the Armageddon to make sure the dungeon was set up to be as realistic as possible. Mike assured me that it was. He said that it looked exactly how a Godlike Dungun should, and no one should suspect that it wasn't the real deal as long as his manna array was operational. We had strategized on ways to prevent the guild from trying to destroy the strange but had finally decided that he would probably be okay as long as he stayed inside the armor of M.R. Tentacles 2.0. The armor was extremely dense, and the strange was immune to the possession abilities.

The day of my review at work finally came, but not in the expected fashion. I had just finished the day's training lessons when I was called away from the group by the same secretary who did the hiring.

I was met by the same group of people that had interrupted my class before. Kevin and Ralph. They had a table set up in the middle of the room and sat behind it. "What is going on here?" I inquired. Kevin stood up. "We are here for your review. Captain Kenneth got deployed to the capital, so we investigated your training methods ourselves.

It seems that your techniques are not standard operating procedures. Where did you learn them? I inwardly groaned. The last thing I wanted was a conversation with these idiots. "Well, Kevin. It is Kevin, right? Anyway, where I learned my techniques are confidential and are not a requirement for disclosure according to the contract." Kevens face broke into a big smile. "I was hoping you would say that. Anyway, you're fired! We don't need unknown practitioners gumming up our operation with their fancy education or silly techniques. We will take over this training operation and show the recruits how real men fight. Now get out!"

-Armageddon-

The Armageddon watched as the scouting party formed up outside the entrance. The individual in the robes was the Arch Mage. He was also apparently the leader. "Alright, boys. The manna tracker clearly shows that the Strange went into this here dungeon. The only problem is that this is a Godlike Dungeon." He stroked his long goatee. "I have no idea how a Godlike Dungeon evaded our many dungeon scouting parties." He gestured at the warrior king "Hey Jenkins. We can't take Leroy in there! Dominators use their Force of Will to control enemies. You can't dominate a Godlike Dungeon."

Leroy sat on a stump and pulled out a pipe. He was wearing chain mail and shifted to get conferrable while the others talked. The Warrior King spoke up. He was wearing heavy plate and had a massive glowing sword. "Yeah, your right. And the other thing, we could certainly go in there after the strange, but this Godlike has Ancient status, and its mobs are roaming; a sure sign It's probably more powerful than a whole regiment of us. Leroy should stay here as a rearguard."

The Arch-Mage continued to stroke his goatee. "Well, I have an anti-teleport spell and an excellent spell shield. I could shield us both, and we could scout it. You could defend me from any physical traps. We could also try and negotiate it" "Sounds a bit risky, but I'll go for it," said Jenkins, "But you had better teleport us the fuck out if it's just out to kill us. Ancient Godlike Dungeons break most of the normal dungeon rules. Scary shit man".

-Brian-

I walked out of the building feeling dejected. How did a pair of bumbling idiots have so much power? It almost felt like dealing with people from the imperial government but without a way to petition the King to execute them for incompetence. I just couldn't believe that the same idiots that had been using weapons while inebriated could be allowed to run the show.

Manna ball was that evening, but I decided to skip and head over to the bathhouse. I figured I could get a good soak, maybe work on my meditation and think about what I should do now that I was unemployed.

I had just sat down in the steaming hot pool when an elderly gentleman sat down across from me. "Howdy! My name is Rupert. I have seen you around. Like the place much?" I was still depressed from losing my epic combat instructor job, but I still engaged with the man. "Yeah! Hi! I actually really like it here. I mean, they got everything, soaking pools, massage, excise, and all sorts of stuff. Have you tried the dance? Some friends got me into it. It's super fun aerobics." Rupert leaned back, enjoying the water temperature."Yeah, it truly is a great facility. It's nice to relax. I like to relax here after a good day of picking weeds."

"You pick weeds?" I replied. Ruport massaged his hands. "Yes, I make it my job to pick weeds in the community. Keeps the area nice, don't you think?" I thought about it, and come to think of it, I hadn't seen any weeds growing in the cobblestone cracks.

Rupert asked another question. "You said you like the dance? I can't say I have tried that. Are you the only guy in the room?" I laughed. "You know what I actually am! I can't say I feel bad about that though" Rupert sat up a bit straighter. "Hey, a question for you. Have you been watching the protests?" "Hey, I don't actually know about that," I replied. "I have basically been in the city a pretty short time. What's going on with that?"

"Ahh," Rupert replied, "The city lord gets reviewed by the King every four years. Based on the review, he will keep his position, or the King will elect a new lord from one of the political houses here in the city. He comes all the way down from the capital, so it will be a big event. "That's interesting," I replied. "I'm not big into politics." Rupert grinned. "But what about gun control?

"I frowned. "What do you mean" Rupert drummed his fingers on the pool's edge. "You clearly have an open mind as a single male dancing with all the women." I nodded in agreement as he continued, "I, for instance, believe that you should only be allowed to have so many rounds in a clip. Like for instance, one. You can shoot one."

I frowned again. Some Rune cannons did have clips for the stored physical projectiles. I replied, "Well,l I think it depends on the given circumstance. There will be a time and place to shoot them all." Rupert crackled in a laugh. "Well said, young man. What did you say your name was?"

"Oh, sorry," I replied. "My name is Brian." Rupert chuckled. "No, I mean your real name." "As I said, it's Brian," I said, feeling confused. "No, that's just something your mom told you. What is your real name?" I sat there stumped by the strange question before it donned on me, and I replied with an empty mind, "I am the immortal."

My eyebrows were scrunched as I walked back to my apartment. The conversation with the old man seemed that odd, but what was that about gun control? Was he warning me not to sleep with the women? Was I a weed he might try and pick? I didn't know, but it didn't seem like it qualified as a suspicious statement relating to the Soul factions. I shrugged my shoulders. Whatever the case was, I figured I had more significant issues to worry about.

At manna ball that evening, I was distracted and got hit early. I was still worried about the strange interaction with Rupert and the fact I had no employment. I could go back to the dungeon, but it would be swarming with adventurers soon, and I could still use the city to level up as my Spirit was not level five yet. I decided to head to the job board in the morning and see if there was another position I could get.

-Soul Council-

The Prime Controller had been closely monitoring Brian and had been ruthlessly brainstorming ways to turn the boy to his advantage. He spoke to the council, "We may have an opportunity to manipulate events soon to gain control over the human with the strange technology." There was silence from the other council members, so he continued, "Brian is at a unique juncture where we may be able to influence his trajectory to our benefit. I propose we put him in with the girls he dances with. They are high-strung, easy to influence and overreact to everything. Brian will become emotionally entangled with them. At that point, we can cause the women to take advantage of him, and we will see what he does. I believe Brian will use his technology to kill them. If he does that, we can use this mental instability to manipulate him into being an assassin for us. Think of all the problems we could eliminate with a weapon like him!"

One of the council members spoke, "That's really going to mess him up. What if he finds out and starts destroying the planets we farm?"

The Prime Controller smiled. "Brian is, after all, a human. He would have to have an I.Q. of like 10,000 even to approach figuring it out. I think we are safe from that."

"Very well," the voice replied. "Conduct your experiment."