I hold up my hand to stop the sales pitch. “Ok, ok. I already told you that I’d sign on, you don’t have to keep going.”
She smiles at me, and I see her cheeks redden. “Sorry. I’ve practiced that speech so many times trying to get people to join the company that it just comes out on its own sometimes.”
I nod and ask for a pen to sign the contract. Even though it’s only a one-year deal, I’m already coming out ahead. Between the $2,391 in my pocket and the 2,000 credits coming, I’ll have enough to get myself a new phone and buy some new gear.
Lillian gladly gives me a pen, and a few squiggly lines later I’m an employee of Monsters Squashers Inc. A moment later, I get a notification that 2,000 credits have added to my inventory.
Lillian stands up and leans across the desk, holding out her hand to me. As we shake, she smiles and the room seems to brighten.
I hear a polite cough and realize I’ve been shaking her hand for almost a minute now. Embarrassed, I quickly let her hand go, but part of me aches to hold her again. I may be imagining things, but I think there’s a hint of red in her cheeks too. Whether it's from embarrassment or interest, I can't tell.
She continues to smile at me and plops back down in her seat. “Ok. Now that that’s all done, we can start getting you trained. I know you’ve been trying some stuff out on your own, but we want to get you set up for success. So, what kind of User are you going to be? Frontline fighter? Tank? DPS? Support? Maybe you want to be a crafter like John?”
I look at her in confusion. I wasn’t expecting these kinds of questions. I’d expected to look through some gear and start killing monsters in some dungeon somewhere.
Seeing the look on my face, Lillian says, “I see you haven’t thought about this yet. Well, there’s no rush. The System Games aren’t until September, and we have until January to register you for any events. We have plenty of time to work out what you're good at.”
“The System Games? Is that some weird take on the Hunger Games? If it is, we’re in trouble because I’m terrible with the bow.”
Lillian laughs at the joke. “No, it’s an event held once every four years, sponsored by the largest companies that use the System but organized by the Governing Users. They create a group of challenges and events that Users can participate in to get money and prizes. The individuals or groups that do the best get some fantastic rewards. This year's big prize is a dungeon core.” Lillian’s eyes light up, and she claps her hands together excitedly when she mentions the dungeon core.
I smile, sure she’s going to chastise me for not already having looked it up in the Idiot’s Guide to the System, but ask, “What’s a dungeon core?”
“Oh, well I guess you wouldn’t know about those yet.” She leaned forward, an excited look in her eyes. “You know the dungeon we just cleared?” I nod. “Well, imagine that you could create your dungeon like that. Only this kind doesn’t hurt anyone by existing. Plus, you could summon your monsters, decide it’s theme, generate specific types of loot, design the various levels of the dungeon. A dungeon core lets you do exactly that. It’s an incredible source of income and experience for the owner. User’s from around the world travel to the few in existence and pays huge fees to explore them.”
Wow. I can only imagine what it would be like to create your dungeon. No wonder it’s the top prize.
She continues, “If we can win the top prize, our company will be set. So, we need as many entrants as possible, especially if we plan on entering any of the group events. The minimum team size is three. Part of what we’ll be doing with you is leveling you up and training you for some of these events. So, go home and think about what kind of role you want to have on the team.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Lillian frowns at the term, and I correct myself. “I mean, Lillian.”
“That’s better.”
A quick hug goodbye, and I’m stepping through the portal to my home.
Sitting on my bed, I remember that I leveled up when we cleared that dungeon and quickly pull up my character sheet. I see that I have four stat points to use and now have a total of fifty skill points banked. I decide to save the skill points till after I determine my role on Lillian’s team. After all, I’d hate to spend the skill points and never use the skill because I decide I’m better at something else. The stat points go into Intelligence and Wisdom—two in each stat—bringing my Intelligence up to twenty, and my Wisdom up to eighteen. As usual, the moment I save the changes, my mind and body feel woozy. When the dizziness passes, I feel a sense of clarity and insight that I’ve come to associate with an increase in those mental stats.
Suddenly, remembering I have a work in a few minutes, I change into my Quickie Stop Mart uniform as I run out the door, giving my mom a quick kiss on her cheek goodbye before leaving.
Chapter 22
I’m finally able to get a new cell phone with the extra cash. It’s nothing fancy, just a basic smartphone. But at least I can call my family if I’m going to be late coming home again.
School and work are pretty easy the next week. Without another dungeon to clear, I’m able to spend more time studying. I gain even more free time since I paid for a port to the school. No more riding the bus to college for this guy. I’ve also been able to raise Speed Reading, Mental Math, and Analysis all to level 4 without spending extra skill points. Due to the combination of extra study time and my improved academic skills, my midterms are easy, and I score A’s on all my tests.
Work, though, has become more tedious. Inventory Management and Inspect can only be used so many times before they stop increasing in skill. Inventory Management is stuck at level 3 and Inspect at level 5. I’m not sure if it’s the result of my Analysis skill or my improved intelligence, but I know that it’s taken me 64 hours of practice to get Inspect from level 4 to 5 and that I can look forward to 128 hours of practice to get it to level 6. It’s that or spend six skill points.
However, Lillian seems to have plans for those skill points. Since I never told her what I wanted to train in, she brought me in for testing to see which role in the party I would best be suited. Lillian’s office has a training room that will let you fight holograms of different monsters or create simple scenarios for practicing skills. You don’t get any experience points from killing the monsters or completing the scenarios, but it’s good practice. Lillian has me try out the leading roles in a group, including the appropriate armor and weapons.
As a tank, I wear heavy chain mail and wield a shield and long sword. The tank's job is to keep the attention of the monsters and use superior defense and high hit points to absorb the damage in the fight. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the skills. Even when the training program lets me pretend to have a taunt skill, I just forget to use it as I should. The scenario given me is one of protecting a group of innocent and buxom women from a pack of wolves. I’m supposed to use my taunt skills to keep the wolves’ attention on me until I can whittle down the health of the wolves, but I keep losing the monsters attention, and they keep killing the women.
I also try the healer/support role in a scenario. I’m made a healer in a virtual group of five and given spells to heal the team members. I’m also given two buff spells that enhance a team members damage and defense. The two support spells only last a minute and have to be recast. The whole situation becomes a tedious grind of watching each team member's health bar and timer that indicates when their buffs wear off. Even though I’m not bad at the job, it’s just so boring that I know that it’s not something that I want to do full-time in a group.