After descending the stairs, notifications popped up in front of the six people. Although the system was resetting, some of the basic functions seemed to be operational. Unfortunately, the status menu was not one of them. 

‘As I thought.’ Stephen knew that the underground tunnels had been compromised based on the footage he examined from the security network. The tunnels were still a better option than  traversing the surface. 

He didn’t even want to think about the entity he saw roaming the surface. 

It danced amongst the bodies, laughing in the corpses. 

Stephen looked down at two small crystals he had swiped previously. When his hand tightened around them, more notifications appeared. 

‘Open up the system, level up, get weapons, and get as far away from the island as possible.’ 

‘We have a chance.’ 

Now that Stephen had taken the first steps towards his escape plan, the motions that followed felt easier. He just had to keep moving, riding the momentum forward. 

Stephen declined the notification and then sent a party invite to the rest of the group. Ever since the Age of Heroes, forming a party was one of the basics when challenging a dungeon. All the changes that happened over the last several centuries didn’t change that fact. 

Although it did seem a bit old fashioned. Dungeons were multifunctional spaces constructed by the demonic forces. They were used as lairs, used to bait and trap those belonging to the human races, and also used to terraform the land. 

However, the concept dwindled with the rise of the Third Demon King, who ushered in a new technique: Gates. Unlike dungeons, gates were not intrinsically connected to the space they were attached to. They were more like separate worlds, and without adventuring inside, the contents couldn’t be known.

Although dungeons had become obsolete, the toolsets for the two mechanisms were basically the same. All things considered, the current task was relatively simpler compared to the State training Stephen participated in. After all, the fundamental nature of the location wouldn’t change. 

With pre-existing knowledge, the map of the dungeon practically existed in Stephen’s head. 

Meanwhile, the other five were examining the party notifications. 

“Hehehe.” Sophia’s tail wagged, hitting the back of Stephen’s leg occasionally. Even after entering the dungeon, she occupied one of his arms. Unlike the Princess who silently accepted the party invitation, Sophia continued to stare at the notification, seemingly savoring it. 

“Hmph. This lady won’t mind joining… if I get all the booze.”

“Haha. I don’t think they will drop any booze…” Gawain laughed.

“You never know.... Maybe there will be a chest or something?” Ravenna shrugged. There was some truth to this. Rewards in dungeons tended to take the party’s interests and personalities into consideration. This phenomenon was even in effect, although less so, if there was a Dungeon Master involved. 

Alex was the last one to accept. He stared at the empty space for a few moments with a grimace on his face before he finally relented. 

“Fuck… I have to carry all of you,” he then turned to look at Stephen and Sophia, “This isn’t a date.”

‘Of course, he would complain… he is just jealous he doesn’t have his own masochistic dog!’ Stephen had a habit of saying a lot of random and intrusive bullshit internally. The lack of own self filter, which was a byproduct of his awakened ability, didn’t even phase Stephen as he habitually ignored such thoughts. 

“D-date… is this a date! Me and a commoner… how immoral!”  

Stephen looked at Sophia’s glowing eyes. They were like an excited puppy. Even her ears were filled with emotions. If he said something those ears would surely droop. But perhaps more impactful was the habits ingrained into Stephen. He was used to being pulled along at the whims of others. At least, this time he didn’t feel as bad about it.

Gawain continued to look at Stephen during the whole exchange. He seemed to want to know if he knew about the existence of this dungeon. If the man directly asked he would have answered that he had his suspicions, but the man didn’t so he remained quiet and focused on the path ahead. 

So far the party hadn’t encountered any enemies near the entrance. He hoped that most of the monsters had already left for the surface. There was an armory a couple levels down that would be useful. The military prowess of the State couldn’t be understated. Even if the higher grade artifacts imbued with mana wouldn’t be functional, the ballistic arsenal available would obliterate low class monsters with ease. 

‘Of course, it could still be a dead end — a bad ending.’ 

The entrance to the tunnel was still normal as far as Stephen could tell. 

The walls of the stone passageway were completely smooth. The top and bottom edges of the walls were lined with dim fluorescent lights. Activated by motion, the lights in the immediate vicinity flickered on only to turn right off as the group moved forward. 

After a few dozen steps, Alex grunted and pushed his way through the group to get to the front. He twirled a metal bat in his hands for a bit before letting it rest at his side. An arrogant look was plastered on his face despite everything that happened.

‘He probably just wants to be the first one to hit something…’ 

“Do you even know where you are going?” Gawain asked Alex. His lips were pursed slightly as if he found something amusing.

“Not a clue, but if I’m not gonna be sniffing the ass of you losers.”

“I see.”

Gawain gave a passive laugh and didn't say anymore. He was a man that not only had a thick skin but could also read the room. If there were going to be problems with the group dynamics, it would happen with the others.

Remaining quiet was the smartest thing to do in the current situation. Naturally, silence was too much to ask for given the nature of the students, so Stephen didn’t even bother trying. He just hoped they wouldn’t kill each other. 

“Weren’t you the one…” Ravenna paused and took a swig of her drink, burped, and continued, “Who got his ass handed to him?” 

For some reason, Ravenna leaned her arm onto the Princess. Her booze sloshed in the bottle. It moved back and forth in front of Mel’s gaze. Her pointed tongue licked her parched lips. 

‘Do the royals drink a lot? Surely, she won’t just snatch the drink.’ Stephen’s eyes moved back and forth between the various members of the party. He was already feeling tired. 

“He was just lucky.”  Alex shrugged his shoulders and continued walking through the tunnel. The veins on his hand showed as he gripped his metal bat tighter. 

Stephen turned his attention back to the two girls. The doll-like Princess was about to move when her gaze met Stephen’s. Her lips wiggled a bit before she looked forward with a slightly red face. Mel pushed off Ravenna’s arm and even passed Alex. 

“Huh?” Alex watched the Princess and then frowned. He in turn sped up to retain his position at the front. Neither of them ran, but they comically swung their arms as they seemingly raced to hold the front of the group. Of course, both had different intentions in doing so.  

“Now it is just us two.” Sophia whispered into Stephen’s ear.

“I’m right here. Haha.”

“Burp. Same.”

‘I hope we encounter some mobs soon…’

The group kept pressing forward despite numerous turns and branching pathways. Gawain looked into the darkness at the end of the tunnel and then turned to look at the darkness that crept after them. 

“You know where we are going?” This time he asked Stephen. His voice was quiet in consideration of Alex. Seeing how Alex clicked his tongue, he wasn’t quiet enough. Gawain chuckled lightly in response.

“You know how Hammer Port is the main naval base for the Empire?”

Gawain gave an uninsured nod.

“Well, these tunnels were built by an eccentric scientist that wanted to fortify this location given its strategic importance to Hammer Port. In the event of a full scale war involving strategic-class weaponry, the defensive fortifications built into Bastion were a form of redundancy.”

“I don’t get it.”

Stephen licked his lips slightly and smiled. Gawain-coin was on the rise. 

“Magic dissonance weapons. If an adversary like the Moon Rabbit Contient decided to nullify the grid then this location would offer a counter measure. Although it was just the experiment of a mad scientist, there exists multiple supply caches spread throughout these tunnels. They are all mechanical—well mostly. Deeper in these tunnels, if we take a detour there even is a fully stocked armory.” 

“Will the armory even be operational?”

Sophia, attached to Stephen’s side still, growled at Gawain. 

“Grrr… stop asking so many questions!”

‘He only asked like two questions… she won’t actually bite, right?’ Sophia’s current behavior was uncharted territory. Was it wrong that he found it cute? He was never allowed to own a pet. Before he realized it, he was scratching her chin. She giggled lightly.   

In the process, he turned to Gawain. 

“I’m not certain,” Stephen admitted, “But the State is methodical and plans multiple contingencies. The locks and containers should all be mechanical.”

Sophia nuzzled her head into Stephen’s shoulder. However, she kept a glaring eye on the man that liked to laugh.

“The difference… haha.” Gawain scratched the back of his neck and didn’t elaborate on his thoughts.

At the same time, Ravenna’s slurred voice could be heard slightly behind them. She was trying to get the Princess, who had returned to the back of the group, to speak to no avail. The Princess continued to wear a confused look on her face. 

“Take a right,” Stephen said, ignoring the chatter. 

The group turned for the first time. As expected, Alex led the group down the left path. They continued straight for some time afterwards.

“Take another right.”

As expected, the group actually turned right this time. It was like a minigame trying to handle Alex efficiently.

Nonetheless, around the corner, there was a small opening on the right wall that led into a small room. Of course, Alex entered first. The room was where the first supply cache was located. Originally, there should be a couple lockers that contained rifles, medical supplies, and armored uniforms. 

Stephen heard a grunt. When he turned to peeked into the room, there were two open chests. The supply lockers were nowhere to be found.

“Looks like Dungeonification,” Gawain said from behind Stephen. 

Alex poured a bottle of some liquid onto his metal bat, pocketed himself a health potion, and then threw a handgun at Stephen. It fit nicely in his hand.

The magic industry was continuously revolutionized by State scientists that sought efficiency. Although the current handgun utilized archaic technology by modern standards, it was still a good product. 

As if on cue, while Stephen was examining his new weapon, the sound of something running towards them could be heard. Lights rapidly flicked on and off in the distance. 

“Behind me.” Stephen raised the Staff of Iron, putting his finger on the trigger. Without even causing a fuss, Sophia let go of his arm so he could aim properly. 

At the same time, Alex cracked his shoulders and sprinted forward. His bat shined with a light blue hue. 

Three zombies. Ignore the one in the front. Fire twice at the second one.

The humanoid monsters sprinted forward with their two legs. Their appearance was similar to a rotting corpse. 

Alex lunged forward and smashed the side of the head of the first enemy using a wide swing. Two bullets then pierced the skull of the second target that was trying to bite Alex’s arms. The sound of the man clicking his tongue could be heard as he smacked the legs out from under the third creature.

It fell to the floor and with another swing, its head caved in. 

+10 xp

+10 xp

+10 xp

Blood splattered everywhere; however, the three corpses were actual dungeon mobs unlike the previous zombies that the group encountered, so they turned into speckles of light and disappeared. Even the blood stained on Alex’s clothes vanished. 

“Two to one.” Alex mumbled with a smug smile. He threw the three crystals towards Stephen and without saying anything continued walking forward.

“Wrong way,” Stephen lied. 

Alex seemed to hesitate but with a scoff continued on anyway. Sometimes, Stephen found Alex’s mannerisms cute. Of course, the purpose of the lie wasn’t meant to tease the man. He was gauging his actions.  

“Any booze?”

“None.”

“The chests?”

“Potions and weapons.”

“Fuck.”

Stephen gave the handgun to Sophia and then grabbed the remaining health potions left in the chest. He had to assume that the first aid kits that should have been in the supply cache had turned into the health potions the group found. Such things were possible under the dungeon’s influence. The state of the armory was put into question. 

‘At least, they didn’t turn into booze. Actually maybe booze wouldn’t be bad as a way to pacify Ravenna if needed…’

“You bastards coming?” Alex shouted. 

Stephen pulled out his knife and followed behind the man. The leisure walk had come to an end so he positioned himself at the vanguard with Alex. 

Stephen spoke from over his shoulder, “Cover me d-darling…” 

An uncomfortable feeling welled up inside Stephen’s chest, but his words seemed effective. Perhaps too much. 

“D-d-darling?!?! Fufufufu…” Sophia lifted her gun, “Don’t worry… I won't let anyone touch my… d-dar…s-servant…”

“Damn. For how down bad you are, girl, it's surprising that you are still too embarrassed to speak affectionately.” Ravenna smacked Sophia on the back several times while laughing. 

“...”

After laughing, Ravenna’s voice turned into a whisper, so Stephen could no longer hear her speak. He only heard a light squeak come from a red faced Sophia while a lecherous smile could be seen on the alcoholic's face.

‘I kind of want to know and I kind of don’t.’ Stephen with conflicting thoughts continued after an annoyed Alex. 

Although Sophia couldn’t access mana at the moment, she was trained as a mage, and thus, she had experience with using ranged weapons. He was also pretty sure, not one hundred percent sure, but decently sure that she wouldn’t purposefully land a shot on one of the party members. 

He could only trust her until they secured more weapons to even out the party composition. Even with the Dungeonification Phenomenon taking effect, it wouldn’t take too long. 

The group came across multiple stragglers as they continued deeper into the dungeon. As the energy of the dungeon intensified, the density of the mobs increased. However, they never encountered more than four zombies at once. 

Gawain, the Princess, and Ravenna never had to act even though they traded out their makeshift weapons at the various supply caches the group found.  

‘I suppose we can probably handle about seven at once without issue?’ This was assuming that no extra factors were considered: variant monsters, mob diversity, increased mob tier, and so on. 

“Ugh… umm… d-dar—”

Sophia’s ears were twitching, and not knowing how long she would take to voice her concerns, he interrupted her, “How many?”

“Two…”

“Only two, fucking dumb bi—” Alex shook his head. Despite his harsh words he had a smile.

“Dozen.”

“Tsk…” His smile disappeared.

2-Degenerate

Quick note: While not explained here XP/level aren't absolute/hard. It is more of a secondary thing. It is a helping hand and also a conceptualization tool.

For example,  the methodology of killing 'mobs' would change the xp gained. Throwing a grenade and killing a group isn't equal to manually killing each mob. On the same note, exercise/training/cultivation also yield XP. This is because the display is a "conceptualization" tool. 

There is also a bit of arbitrariness by the System's influence. Furthermore, the current System is more gamified because of the current authority of the system.

Other details displayed by the system typically follow the same logic. Damage numbers are estimates. In some other stories in ROFS, which utilize different Systems, this isn't the case. For example, some other stories which are closer to the VRMMORPG genre use direct resources like health/stamina/mp bars.