Project Alpha_Book 1 Page 13

  I’m taken aback by how quietly she’s approached, but I guess that’s what you get when you can afford thick carpeting like this. “Uh, you have a nice spread.”

  She raises an eyebrow at me. I realize how the wording might sound and correct myself, “I mean, the food looks nice and you look tasty.”

  Her eyebrows shoot upwards, and she presses her lips together.

  Oh no I didn’t mean it that way either, “I mean the food looks tasty. You look nice.”

  Lillian breaks into a full grin seeing how uncomfortable I’ve become and she’s kind enough not to tease me anymore. She leans in and playfully punches me in the shoulder. “That’s fine Anthony. I get what you're trying to say.” She gestures to the comfortable looking chairs in the center of the room, “Why don’t we sit here, and you can tell me about how things are going for you?”

  I nod, happy to move past my awkwardness. I don’t know why Lillian makes me this way. I swear I’m much smoother with the ladies usually. Heck, they call me Tony the Tantalizer. Ok, well only one girl I dated called me that, and I’m pretty sure she meant tenderizer since I was holding a mallet at the time tenderizing the steaks I was making. Still, she said it and it counts.

  I sit in one of the overstuffed chairs and put the plate of food on the table next to it. I nibble on some strawberries as Lillian takes one of the other chairs and lifts it straight up into the air and places it across from me. The sight of this five-foot five-inch woman casually tossing around furniture makes me smile. I can only guess that she’s put some stat points into strength or maybe she has a furniture moving skill or something.

  She sits down in the chair, crosses her legs, and leans against an armrest. “So, you mentioned on the phone that you found a dungeon? I’d hoped you would have hooked up with me before you started that kind of stuff. It’s dangerous to do alone, especially if it’s your first time.” She shrugs once before continuing, “Oh, well. What’s done is done. It apparently didn’t kill you. Tell me all about it.”

  I lean back in the comfortable chair and take another bite of the food on the plate. Then I launch into storytelling mode and tell Lillian about the last few weeks. It’s an interesting thing trying to summarize all that time I spent in the dungeons. I tell her about all the times I died and what I learned from each experience and how each made me a more capable fighter. She tilts her head as she listens to me describe the types of monsters there were at the beginning and the ones that have shown up recently. I also try to casually mention the stack of weapons I can’t sell and that I need to figure out how to convert credits to dollars for my long-term plans to work out.

  Lillian listens attentively as I talk and when I finish, she asks, “You mentioned your long-term plans. What are those?”

  “To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. I mean I have aspirations and vague ideas of what I want to do with my life. I know I want to do something I like. Something that pays enough to take care of my family. I figured I’d try to be a teacher, engineer, doctor, or maybe start my own business. I don’t know. My big goal in high school was just to get accepted to college. At least that was the plan before I became involved in all of this.” I gesture around her home base to indicate I mean the System stuff. “Now, I see an opportunity that no one else I know has, there’s so much potential with this System stuff it’s almost scary. I mean, I’m already doing better in college than I thought I would, thanks to the academic skills I purchased. I’ve looked through the list of skills I can buy with the forty skill points I’ve saved, and some of them sound like they could make me quite powerful. Then there’s the dungeon. A veritable gold mine for credits and experience points. It was when I started to put more stat points into my intelligence and wisdom that I realized exactly how much power the System gives users.”

  Lillian nods in agreement. “Yup. That’s true. The System gives people like us the opportunity to be powerful.” She squints at me, and I assume she’s using some skill. “You’re level 5 now, and you feel pretty powerful. Imagine what it’ll be like to be level 100 or 200? I know a couple of people that are that high level. They’re old, but the very air crackles with power when they’re in the room. Is that what you want?”

  I think for a second. That sounds tempting, but something is off about the idea. Level 100. That means they’ve had four hundred stat points to add to their character sheet. My intelligence is at eighteen, and I feel like I’m a lot smarter than before. I can only imagine what it must be like to have all your stats in the hundreds. How much above the regular ordinary man must they feel? “It must feel terribly sad and lonely to be like that.” I realize that I didn’t just think those last words and see Lillian looking at me contemplatively. I smile and quickly try to explain. “I mean, being that powerful and not like everyone else. Understanding so much and that you can hardly talk to anyone without them boring you after a second. Or being so strong you can never hold your lover for fear of accidentally killing them if you squeeze them too tight.”

  Lillian nods thoughtfully. “Yeah, that’s how it is basically with those kinds of people. They can do just about anything and yet can't do the most ordinary things.”

  “No, I don’t want that. Right now, I want to be able to take care of my family. That’s enough of a goal. So, how about you help me do that. Care to explain how to turn credits into dollars?”

  Lillian smiles at my question. “Sure. It’s not a secret or anything. You just have to upgrade you System Store. Each time you upgrade it, you get access to more powerful store features and better basic items to buy and sell. At level 2, you get access to the bazaar, a kind of online auction house for Users. At level 3, you can convert credits to any real-world money you want.”

  I feel crestfallen at the news. It costs five hundred credits to get the first upgrade. I can only imagine what the second upgrade will cost.

  “Don’t look so sad, Anthony. I told you before. If you join my team, you’ll get access to the best gear and places to sell your stuff.” A window pops up in front of her, and she turns it around so I can see it. It’s the System Store for her home base. Just scrolling through the items in the System Store, I can tell that it has a heck of a lot more upgrades than I’ll ever be able to afford. It has level 200 basic gear, a tab for the bazaar, a currency tab, a quest tab, a job tab, and much more.

  “How did you get all this upgraded? It must have cost you a fortune.”

  “It did. It cost me my entire family fortune.”

  “Huh?”

  “I grew up with the System and all the skills, levels, and stuff. Both my parents were Users. Both their parents were Users. With all that time grinding out dungeons, the family had amassed a rather large fortune by most people’s standards.” She wistfully looks out the window to her right and continues, “Then they all died. After estate taxes, lawyer’s fees, and all the pieces extended family took, I inherited enough to live a life of comfort for the rest of my life. Instead, I started this firm.” She turns back to me, and I see an intensity in her eyes I’d never seen before. “You see, my parents taught me that the System gives us these powers to help other people. We are the only beings on this entire planet that have the tools to destroy the dungeons. If we don’t, then everyone suffers.” She leans in towards me and continues, “I’ve seen dungeons get out of control before and turn hard-working neighborhoods into cesspools of crime and hate. These things have influenced whole countries. Wars have started.”

  “And from what you’ve told me, you’ve been letting one grow too powerful as you milked it for experience points. Have you noticed what it’s done to the neighborhood it’s in or were you too busy looting weapons?”

  I have to think about what she’s asking. Sure, the corner of the mall where the dungeon is at has been getting worse. Businesses seem to close around it, but I just thought that was the economy or that malls, in general, aren’t doing well.

  “Maybe.”

  “There’s no maybe about it.” She calls out, “John!
Can you come here please?”

  After a moment, a skinny dark-haired man with thick glasses enters from one of the doors at the back of the room. He strides confidently up to Lillian, acknowledging me with a nod. Lillian introduces us. “Anthony, this is John, my tech guy. He specializes in crafting tech items but also has a kick-ass A.I. that lets him gather statistical data like no one's business.” Gesturing to me, she introduces me, “John, this is Anthony. He’s a new User. Barely a month old and he’s already screwed up his first dungeon.”

  Confused as to why she seems so angry all of sudden and how I messed up I ask, “What do you mean…”

  Lillian doesn’t let me finish. Instead, she holds up a hand to me to silence me and asks John, “Can you pull up the crime and economic data around…” She turns to me and asks, “What mall is the dungeon in again?”

  I tell her its name, and she has John pull up the data.

  John for his part doesn’t question why she wants the data. Instead, his eyes light up as he pulls up a series of blue screens and starts to tap away at them. After a minute, he turns one of the windows around for Lillian to see and explains, “This is the data from the area for the last six months. As you know, the area around the mall has been declining for the last few years as fewer people shop there, but in the last month, the activity has dropped dramatically. Economic growth has plummeted in the mall, and six business have closed up shop. Additionally, overall profitability has decreased by 40%. Overall crime in the vicinity has increased by 30%. There are more reports from police of illegal drug activity in the area documented as well.”

  Lillian thanks John, then he backs away giving me a sympathetic look and mouths, ‘Good luck.’ Before turning away and walking through the door in the back.

  “Do you see what I mean now?”

  “Are you saying that I’m responsible for all the stuff happening?”

  Lillian quickly shakes her head, “No. That neighborhood was already moving in that direction before the dungeon showed up. Remember when I told you the dungeons are the manifestation of the collective unconsciousness of people? Well, it works both ways. If a dungeon isn’t cleared, it grows more powerful, and it starts to affect the minds of people around it. At first, people just find that they start having darker thoughts. They feel depressed and anxious as the dungeon becomes powerful. Then it starts to influence their minds and hearts, encouraging the darkness there to grow. People on the edge of making bad choices suddenly have no problem making them. Then the dungeon becomes even more powerful and starts to attract people with darkness in their hearts to the area. People that are usually on the wrong side of the law and people that don’t mind hurting others to get what they want. How fast this happens is a mystery, but it always does. Any wild dungeon out there always causes these types of problems, and it only gets worse the longer the dungeon exists.”

  I wonder at the statistics shown. Was I messing up that neighborhood by not clearing the dungeon when I had a chance?

  “Thankfully, it’s not too bad yet. Sure, crime is up, but there’s no increase in the murder rate or violent crime. You and I are going to go right now and clear that dungeon before things get worse, ok?”

  I nod mechanically, shaken by what I could have caused. Imagine if someone was killed because some psychopath was drawn to the dungeon in the mall? How could I have lived with myself? I feel my hand being taken and see Lillian pulling me up out of my chair. The plate of food drops from my lap, and I wonder how I could have been hungry when people are being hurt by what I didn’t do. Lillian leads me to her office door and tells me to take her to the dungeon.

  Chapter 19

  The first stop on our journey to the mall is for me to use my home base key to get us to my house. It’s a moment’s effort to turn the key and create a portal to my room. When I bring Lillian, though, I’m embarrassed by the state of my room: there are clothes all over the floor, a plate with a half-eaten sandwich in the corner. I kick a pair of dirty underwear under the bed.

  Lillian looks around my cramped room and wrinkles her nose. “My, what a lovely place you have here.” She bends over and with two fingers pick up a crusty gym sock that’s stuck to itself and looks like an accordion. She looks at me with a slight look of disgust. “You don’t have many guests do you?”

  I snatch the sock from her fingers, hearing a crunch from the sock as I do, and throw it into the corner of the room. “No, not usually. I work, I go to school, I take care of my sister, and I sleep. If I meet up with friends, it’s not here.” I scratch my head as a realization occurs to me, “As a matter of fact, I think you’re the only person I’ve brought here since we moved in.”

  Lillian puts a hand to her chest and bows mockingly, “I’m honored.”

  I bow back and say just as mockingly, “You should be.”

  When I look back up, I see that most of the anger from earlier has gone and that there’s a small smile on her lips. Man, I’ll never understand women. One minute they're happy, the next they're angry, and the next their teasing and joking again. Maybe I’ll understand women better after I get married.

  I shake my head to clear that thought away and give Lillian the two-cent tour. I point out my bed and my closet full of weapons that I can’t sell. Lillian says that on the way back she’ll take all the weapons with her and she’ll give me some credit for them. I accept the offer since I can't do anything else with them.

  She also points out that if I upgrade the System Store to level 2, that I can start adding extra space to the room by buying home base add-ons. Things like a training room, or a kitchen, or a workshop. Turns out that’s what those doors at the back of her office were.

  I thank her for her advice, and the tour ends. I walk out of my bedroom. The two of us are just walking through the dining room when I hear the sound of a pan hitting the stove. I lean to my right to peek into the kitchen and see my mom, still in her soft cotton robe, cooking. I realize she’s just getting up after sleeping in on her day off. I try to back away slowly without making any sound since I’d rather not explain why I’m bringing a girl from my room. Unfortunately, the fates are against me.

  Lillian, seeing my furtive movements asks in a concerned voice, “Is everything ok, Anthony?”

  Even though she spoke in a normal voice, she might as well have shouted. I see my mom start to turn and I know it’s too late to escape unnoticed.

  My mom turns around from her cooking and sees me, a loving smile appearing on her tired visage. “Hello, mijo, I didn’t know you were home. Are you hungry?” She takes a few steps forward her arms outstretched for a hug, then sees Lillian standing next to me. The smile on her face doesn’t change, but I notice a considering look in her eyes. My mom walks up to me and hugs me, but her eyes never leave the blonde, fair-skinned girl standing next to me.

  Weighing and judging Lillian with her eyes, my mom asks, “So, who is this lovely, well-dressed young lady you have with you, Anthony?”

  Feeling a tension in my neck suddenly, I force a smile on my face as I disengage from my mom’s hug. “Oh, Mom, I’m so happy you’re up, this is Lillian; she’s …” Wait, what do I call her? My friend? My potential boss? My guide into a world of dungeons and monster killing?

  Lillian thankfully is quick to pick up the conversation, “I’m his girlfriend.” She holds out her arm for a handshake, but my mom bypasses it and hugs her instead. I can tell Lillian wasn’t expecting the move as her eyes bulge slightly and she awkwardly hugs my mom back.

  When my mom lets Lillian go, I see that my mom’s attitude has changed. There’s still a shrewd look in her eyes as she talks to Lillian, but there’s also a genuine smile on her face. I think she’s happy I brought a girl home for her to meet.

  Even though I protest that Lillian and I have to get going, my mom pulls Lillian to a seat at the table and grills her about how the two of us met. Lillian rolls with the conversation and tells a beautiful tale that weaves the truth of how we met with a fictional romance.

/>   According to Lillian, the two of us met at the college. I followed her to class, thinking it was mine. Only realizing that it was a class on women’s history in the U.S. but felt too embarrassed to leave and admit my mistake. Lillian took pity on me and helped me escape without being noticed. She then gave me her phone number and pointed me toward the correct building where my actual class was. I called her that night, to thank her for her help, and to ask her out. Apparently, I was amusing and romantic on our first date which won her over. We’ve been dating since.

  I’m rather impressed by Lillian’s ability to tell a story. She even added details about me telling her about my family and my work at the Quickie Stop Mart. Now, because I go along with the story and my mom believes it, I get a level of the Deception skill. Which I sort of feel sorry about, but it’s better than trying to explain the reality of the System. That Lillian and I teleported into my room and that we’re going to go to kill a bunch of monsters in a dungeon to prevent the further degradation of the area around the mall.