Dungeon Master (Karma System)

Max waited outside the room with Anna by his side. He smiled when she reached over and straightened his tie.

He had decided to wear a grey suit for the occasion. He knew that others would find his clothing strange, but when he was suited up, he always felt confident. It didn’t hurt that Anna thought he looked handsome as well.

”This is so exciting.” He said while turning to his wife.

She gave him a breath-taking smile. ”This is just the start. Hopefully they will tell others and we can grow from there.

Max nodded seriously. ”We need to make sure they enjoy their time with us. Perhaps we should ask for feedback on areas we can improve on.”

”That’s a good idea.”

///

The four stood up from their beds. They each checked themselves over and found no injuries.

”Could it have been some sort of illusion?” Lana asked.

”I don’t know.” Rod said. ”It felt pretty real to me.”

At that, both Dirk and Silvia nodded.

”I gained experience from when I killed that little thing.” The archer said after checking his system.

Lana decided to check her interface as well. She then agreed with Dirk. ”I killed 2 before I went down and I received experience as well.”

”Do you... Do you think this is the afterlife?”

The 3 others shuddered, it was a thought they were trying to avoid. But now that it had been spoken out loud, they couldn’t deny such thoughts.

”I think the only way to get answers is to ask our hosts.” Rod said.

The group looked towards the door where the man and woman had departed from. It was Lana who bravely took the first step.

She opened the door as the others followed her out. They found themselves in a large hall that was lined with doors. Arrows on the floor directed them to the side of the building. Through the glass windows at the end of the hall they could see sunlight.

The foursome peeked into a few rooms as they walked towards the exit. Each one looked identical to the room they had woken up in. Each room had 5 beds and a bathroom off to the side.

They reached the end of the hall. Lana pushed the doors open as they stepped out onto the village street.

In front of them stood the man and the woman from before. The strangely dressed man took a step forward and spoke.

”My name is Maxwell Clarkson, but you can call me Max. This is my wife, Annastasia. If you will follow us to the redemption counter, you can see what rewards you earned during your dungeon run.”

He then turned and lead them to the wooden building next door.

”Please.” Max said as he held opened the door and motioned for them to enter.

The 4 walked into the room and saw a large counter in front of them. Several automatons stood at attention behind the counter.

They all noticed the man Max was looking at them with interest, but they had no idea what he expected them to do.

Annastasia realized that they weren’t aware of what was expected of them. If she hadn’t helped Max with setting things up, she might not have known either. She motioned for them to step up to the counter.

”Hello Ruby.” She said to the automaton on the other side. ”These 4 adventures have just completed their first run of Fey Nights. Will you please help them settle up?”

”Of course, Madam.” The machine said in a synthetic voice.

When Annastasia stepped back, the 4 others walked up to the counter.

Ruby, the automaton looked over them before she began speaking. ”Your party overcame 1 encounter. +2 dungeon coins to each member. Your party was defeated during the second encounter +0 Dungeon coins. The Archer killed one quickling, +1 Dungeon coins. The mage Killed 2 quicklings, +2 Dungeon coins. The second quickling killed by the mage dropped 1 pair of +1 speed boots. Total earnings, 11 dungeon coins and 1 piece of common equipment. 4 arrows have also been recovered.”

The machine then reached beneath the counter and set a pair of leather boots and a few arrows next to 11 coins.

”Congratulations.” Max said while clapping. ”Equipment drops are a bit rare. You managed to get one on your first try, that’s some good beginner’s luck.”

Rod looked at the strange coins and the boots before turning to the man. ”These are ours?”

”Indeed.” He said while nodding. ”If you had gotten further and killed a few more things you would have gotten more, but... that wasn’t the case.” Seeing that the group wasn’t making a move, he urged them. ”Go on, take them. They are yours.”

Rod reached out to scoop up the coins, he was surprised when they vanished at his touch. Lana grabbed the boots, but unlike the coins, they didn’t vanish.

When Annastasia saw them looking around, she spoke up. ”If you check your system, you can find the Dungeon Coins and then will be able to distribute them within your party however you like.”

Rod raised and eyebrow but then tried it out. ”Info.”

He then saw his familiar character sheet. The only difference was that beside his name was a small (+). He clicked on it and found the 11 dungeon coins. He found that it was easy to shift the currency between his party members.

”Hold onto them for now.” Lana said. ”We don’t know what they are used for.”

”What a wonderful segway.” Max said as he took a step forward and led them out of the building. ”This village runs on Dungeon Coins. Food, drink, entertainment, inns, the stores, and so on require Dungeon Coins to be used as currency.”

”Want to get your equipment repaired, you need Dungeon coins. Want to receive a private training lesson from one of our class trainers, you need Dungeon coins.” Max said.

”Then what do you suggest we spend out Dungeon coins on?” Rod asked.

”Well... 1 Dungeon coins is equivalent to 10 bronze coin. So they aren’t worth very much.” He answered.

”But you can convert gold, silver or bronze coins into Dungeon coins. And you can also sell your spoils or other equipment. The +1 speed boots are worth about 12 Dungeon coins I believe.”

Lana thought about what they would sell for at home and then nodded. ”That sounds like a reasonable price.”

”I would suggest saving up for some time with the class trainers though.” Max said. ”I noticed that none of you used any skills or abilities and while the mage got out a few spells, I didn’t notice any quick casts. It is okay to be nervous and startled during your first run of a fresh dungeon but you will need to improve your game if you want to succeed...”

Max trailed off when he realized that all of them were looking at him strangely, even Annastasia.

”What? Do I have something on my face?”

It was Annastasia who spoke up. ”Classes don’t provide their first skill until level 10 or 15. It is normal for them to not have those. And usually only mages that have been around for a long time can quick cast a spell.”

Max saw that the others were nodding along with her.

”That’s not right.” Max mumbled while thinking to himself.

It certainly didn’t match the information that he received when he arrived here. He asked DC to display the adventures information.

Max was giving pages upon pages of stats and info. He couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t take advantage of that information to complete the easy missions. It just made no sense.

[You have full access and permissions enabled. You can see things that others can’t.]

”Ah.” Max said. {Then show me what they see.}

What was presented was a simplified version that really only contained their ability points, known skills, experience bar, health, mana, buffs, and so on.

Now he understood. Perhaps those challenges for each class were still unknown. But that was unlikely, it was more probable that they were a closely guarded secret.

Max clapped his hands. ”I understand now. I forgot that your systems are a bit limited in what they display so it’s understandable that you are unaware. For instance, once a mage casts a spell 10,000 times they can then quick cast it.”

”Really?” Lana asked with wide eyes. ”But that is a lot of mana and time.” She said after a moment.

Max shrugged. ”If you rapidly cast back to back, it will help reinforce the mana circuits in your body for that particular spell. Eventually they will become so sturdy that when mana flows through them, it doesn’t need to slow at all. It can be cast in an instant. It also has a side effect of lowering the mana bleed while its cast so in reality it requires less mana.”

Lana stared at him with her mouth open. She had never known any of that.

”Magic users are a bit different but there is a bunch of skills they can learn that will help them but aren’t class specific. Just like the rest of you can learn the skills of your basic class.”

”Basic class?” Rod asked.

”An axe master is a warrior at heart. A shield maiden is derived from a guardian. An archer comes from a rouge. You can’t learn their special skills, but you can still pick up the basic skills from those classes.”

”Really?! What do I do?” Asked Rod excitedly.

”Well that’s easy.” Before he could say anything more, Anna caught his eye. He then understood her meaning. ”But you must understand that I run a business. So how about this, since I helped Miss Mage, I will give you 3 a voucher for a free short session with a class trainer. They will inform you how to unlock a skill. For more than that... you have to pay.”

”Or you can save up your dungeon coins after you run through Fey Nights a few more times.” Anna said.

Silvia was the only one not distracted by skills and abilities. ”If we can run the dungeon again, does that mean we aren’t dead and in the afterlife?” She asked.

Max reeled back. ”Heavens no. You are perfectly alive and well. Why would you think that you are dead?”