As Princess Plum walks regally away, the world around us starts to shimmer and fade. There’s a burst of pixelated light, and when I blink away the stars in my vision, I find myself back in the mall outside the formerly red door, facing an empty shop. A blue window pops up.
Congratulations on clearing the dungeon.
You’ve completed the quest - Save Princess Plum from the evil overlord King Kanon.
You receive 1000 XP and 1000 credits.
I’m enveloped in bright light, and I get another System message.
Congratulations. You’ve reached level 6.
My fists shoot up and punch the air as I jump in excitement. Checking my character sheet, I see not only did finishing that quest get me to level 6, but it gets me a good way to level 7.
Experience Points needed for level 7: 2335
My joy at leveling is cut short by a sharp voice. “Freeze you two!”
Instinctively I stop moving, obeying the commanding tone, which leaves me looking like I’m poking the air since I’d just closed my character sheet. Slowly turning my head to the left I see a short wrinkly man with thick coke bottle glasses, wearing a brown uniform with black lapels, and a thick belt with a flashlight and a can of mace.
Lillian laughs softly as we realize it’s a mall security guard and we unfreeze. I smile and wave at the old security guard. “Everything ok?”
The guards wrinkly right hand drops to the pepper spray on his belt, “What are you two doing over here dressed up like that? It ain’t Halloween for a couple more weeks.”
I realize that we’re still wearing all the armor and weapons we were using in the dungeon. I don’t have a very good explanation, but Lillian seems prepared with an answer. She gives the guard a dazzling smile and takes my arm in hers. “Oh, officer. We were just on our way to a cosplay party and thought we’d stop by the mall for a quick bite to eat.”
The older man wrinkles his nose and looks confused, but takes his hand off the pepper spray. “A cos-what party? Is that like a Halloween party?”
“A little, we’re just dressing up as our favorite anime characters. I’m Saber from Fate/Stay Night, and my date is Ranta from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.”
“Anime?” He asks, his brow wrinkled in concentration. He snaps his fingers and points at Lillian. “Oh, now I remember. Those are those cartoons from China, right? My granddaughter watches that stuff.”
My inner nerd aches to scream out corrections to the guard. That anime is not just cartoons from China. I mentally prepare a list of corrections, examples of great anime programming, and its influence on modern animation.
Lillian must sense my agitation because she quickly agrees with the guard. “Yes, that’s right. We’re dressed up as our favorite cartoon characters on our way to a party. There’s nothing wrong with that is there?”
Cartoon characters? Did she just reduce the detailed art form of anime production to cartoon characters?
The guard smiles at being told he’s correct. “No, miss. Nothing wrong with that. I just thought it was odd to see two people over here dressed funny.” He lowers his voice a little as if parting some bit of gossip, “You see, lots of shady people been hanging around here lately. So I have to keep a particular eye out for troublemakers.”
Lillian nods vigorously, “Oh. Thank you for that, officer. I feel safer knowing you’re around.”
My eyes widen in surprise as I see the old guard blush and his thick glasses get a little steamy. He tips his hat at Lillian and says, “No problem, miss. You two have a good day.” He then turns around and walks away with a little bounce in his step.
Watching the receding figure of the guard, Lillian whispers to me, “Quick, let’s get back to your home base.”
Nodding in agreement, I quickly take out my home base key and put it into the glass door of the empty shop in front of us, the door transforms into a green door to my home base, and the two of us walk through it.
Once back in my room, the first thing I ask Lillian is, “Do you believe that anime is just cartoons?”
Lillian narrows her eyes at me as she taps the air in front of her, and changes into the casual clothes in which she started the day. Lillian sits on the edge of my bed as she shakes her head. “No, of course not. But that old man wasn’t going to leave us alone if we started to argue with him. It was better just to agree so we could leave. I mean, what were you going to say dressed in your leather armor?”
Realizing I still haven’t changed, I open my inventory to replace my clothes. A brief flash of light later and I’m back in my jeans and t-shirt.
The two of us don’t hang out in my room long. I grab the weapons I’d been hoarding in my closet and the two of us port to Lillian’s office.
Chapter 21
Lillian and I only spend a few minutes at my home base. We grab the weapons I’ve been stashing in my closet, and we port over to Lillian’s office. Once at her office, she taps a few buttons on a System screen I can’t see, and the massive wooden desk that was there on my first visit replaces the couches in the center of the office
Sitting behind the desk, Lillian examines the weapons I place there.
“Ok, Anthony, I’ll give you 370 credits for all eighteen weapons. If you want to check out what you’d get from the System Store, I’ll let you use a terminal, but I can assure you that you’ll get less. The only reason I’m buying them at that price is that John can break them down into base metals for his projects.”
She could be lying to me, but I doubt it since a quick check of the System Store would tell me if she was. I accept the offer, and the credits in my inventory increase to 1594.
She also converts the credits to dollars for me at a market rate of 1:1.5 meaning that I get $2,391. Holding the money, I mentally ‘woo hoo.’ It’s not a lot compared to what other people make at a full-time job, but it’s a lot for me. It’s about what I make in two months working part-time at the Quickie Stop Mart. I earned this clearing that dungeon in my spare time.
God, that sounds like a script for a stay at home work ad. Want to earn extra cash but don’t want to work an actual job? Try dungeon clearing! I received over $2,000 just clearing dungeons in my spare time. You can too!
I shake my head to clear the image of me in a TV ad.
After handing me the money, Lillian pulls a sheaf of papers out of a desk drawer. “Ok, Anthony. Here is the contract to work for us.” She hands me the papers and continues on as if giving a rehearsed speech. “You’ll note that it’s a one-year contract with standard dungeon clearing clauses. We offer a 2,000-credit signing bonus. By working for Monsters Squashers Inc., you agree that the company gets 30% of all rewards you get for dungeon clearing, bounties, or other quests. You have first dibs on any item that you get in the dungeon or as a reward use. However, the company has first choice to buy anything you can’t use directly. The remaining items will be sold through the company with the User keeping 70% of the profits.”
I frown at the explanation of terms. “Most of that seems to benefit your company more than it does me.”
Lillian nods, as if expecting the statement. “That is true. However, there are lots of benefits for you. The System Store here at the office is already upgraded to get you a better price when you buy new gear. Not only that but John has his Trade skill which means he can get you even better deals at the bazaar, where Users sell items directly to one another. Plus, any gear the company buys or collects goes in the vault that newbs get to borrow or teams can use for special missions. Of course, the biggest benefit is the organizational structures we have in place to get you earning as many experience points and credits as possible.”