Not far from Joe's first stop, that is the small village, the family of three arrived at the sword dancer's flying swords.
"This is where I met with senior Cho."
"This place?"
The husband looked around. He found nothing but a dense forest with all kinds of shrubbery and trees looking back at him. Never had any experience as a tracker, he failed to see where his good friend went.
"I think this is the place too! I could see where Uncle Joe headed."
The daughter spouted nonsense. She used her 'expertise' in anime and manga as her knowledge source. She found nothing of the significance of course. The wife who knew what her beloved daughter was like, stayed silent. What differs from the usual nonsense her daughter gave was pretty apparent from the prompt her Shonen Protagonist System gave her. The daughter was receiving passive buffs from her system and could see the leylines of the land.
"Where is he heading right now?"
"I don't know… He's going south, I think."
The husband blinked. He can't really take his daughter's words seriously because a sudden yelp from his wife broke his train of thought.
"I got another quest!"
}
///Urgent Side-Quest///
Find a hidden dungeon near the Green River Village.
Reward: Novice Bundle (new technique, spell, equipment, and mount.)
}
"What does it say, mum?!"
The daughter was the first one to be concerned.
"It said that we need to find a hidden dungeon near the Green River Village. The reward is a Novice Bundle."
"What's inside the bundle?"
"A new technique, spell, equipment, and mount."
"Your system will give you a mount?! I'm jealous."
The daughter pouted. She was unhappy with her dead-fish system who only gave her buffs on cultivation. It was as if her system was on hibernation mode or something.
"All party members could ride and drive the mount, sweetheart."
"Really? Yay!!"
The poor sword dancer can't follow the conversation. There were a lot of jargon and words she just couldn't understand. She only knew that every sons and daughters of heaven in the past will talk about some kind of system or something. They would also be accompanied by either one of these phenomena: a golden dragon of destiny, multi-coloured light orbs, purple clouds, mythical animal sounds, and those kinds of stuff. The daughter in particular exhibits Dao rhythms with every step she took. That was the reason why this family were safeguarded by a bunch of elite disciples when they arrived at the sect, and why they were still being guarded.
"Does this have any connection to Joe?" The husband asked.
"It was not stated by the system, dear."
"Well, I think the mount will be useful when we were trying to find Joe."
The wife nodded. She accepted the Side-Quest as soon as her daughter and husband agreed. For someone who has a Shonen Protagonist System, she exhibits none of the usual shonen protagonist tropes.
The group of four found their way to the Green River Village. The sword dancer knew of this village, but since there were lots of villages near there, she can't pinpoint which way her senior was going. They entered the village and were greeted by the village chief. The daughter acted as a leader of the group and asked questions you would see being asked inside an RPG game. It was the usual, who, what, where, how, and why, question. She questioned the poor village chief about her uncle Joe and the caravan he was a part of.
Being bombarded by question after question, the aged village chief was confused. He hurt himself in his confusion—not. He was really confused and asked around the village in order to be a good host to this group of four. A young child said that he saw the fighter going inside the forest, and because the young child was a fan of martial artists, he sneaked around to see what the fighter would do in the forest. The child thought that he was going to train, but in reality, he went to find Joe. After telling the group about his tale, the child went to play with his friends. With a place in mind, they went towards the place.
There, four of them saw something familiar. It was a Torii, a Japanese gate from their homeworld. This familiar item cemented their hope of reuniting with Joe. They were observing it from up close when the daughter passed the gate.
She vanished.
The husband and wife panicked like never before. Their beloved daughter vanished right before their eyes. Amidst their panic attack, the husband saw a squirrel pass the gate and vanish from existence. He calmed his wife down and jumped into the gate, also vanishing. The wife who doesn't want to be left alone, followed after her husband and daughter into the gate.
All this happened in the blink of an eye. The sword dancer had no time to stop the family of three or reorganize her thoughts. She gritted her teeth and entered the Torii.
Inside the Torii.
Disoriented from the spatial transfer, the family of three got their bearings together. They were inside a dimly lit corridor. The corridor was square-shaped and it could fit a two-story house easily. The room they were in, or it would be more apt to call it a maze or labyrinth, was lit up by equally distanced torches. Murals littered the wall in large quantities but without any semblance of pattern to call them art.
"No fucking way…" The husband cursed.
"Language!" The wife chided.
"I'm sorry, dear. I… I think I know where we are, right now."
"Where?"
"One of Joe's Dungeons."
"Is it so hard that you had to curse?"
"Oh, you'll see. I played it once and still had nightmares about it."
The wife was going to reply to her husband when a large roar resounded inside the so-called dungeon. It was also at this time that her system became fully activated.
}
Dungeon detected…
System Activating…
Heroes of Light, recover the crystal and banish the darkness forever!!
=Player=
Name: Anna Walter
Class : Housewife
Level : 1
=Skills=
Beginner's Luck | Rank EX | Anything that has the probability of giving an advantage will always give an advantage.
Mother's Love | Rank EX | Buff party members with increased EXP Gain as long as they have a familial relation to the player.
=Spells=
-
=Inventory=
-
=Party=
Name: Alan Walter
Class : Farmer
Level : 1
…
Name: Alice Walter
Class : Dao Incarnate
Level : 1
…
Note : Due to the existence of other systems within the party, it was deemed impossible to read each party member's skills and spells. However, it was still possible to read them provided the player asked for permission. Ask for permission now?
}
The wife was overwhelmed by the information deluge and the ear-rupturing roar. The husband equipped his Novice Farmer set, which consists of a Hoe, a set of farming clothes (the usual shoulder strap jeans and white shirt), and a straw hat. The daughter seemed oblivious to her surroundings and instead was captivated by the murals on the walls.
Silence gradually descended within the dungeon as the roar subsided. Then, a voice as if coming from a school's public address system was heard throughout the labyrinth. It said, " Test… test… mic check…. one, two, three…" It was Joe's voice.
The husband, laughing and crying, said aloud, "I knew it!"
It was at this time that the sword dancer arrived. She got her bearings together and was about to ask the family three what was going on when Joe's recorded voice continued its announcement.
"Participants of Dungeon Number One, may I please have your attention!"
The family of three plus the sword dancer perked their ears. The family was happy that there was someone from their world here. Meanwhile, the sword dancer was still in disbelief after she heard her benefactor's voice here. For her, this whole thing was dripping with the scent of an old immortal's legacy. She thought she had found a hidden tomb and was happy about it. However, Joe's next words confused her.
"This is your dungeon master speaking. I will withhold my name and identity, but please trust me that you are in the right hands."
They listened.
"The purpose of this dungeon was to let you master a set of skills in order to quell all kinds of beasts and external threats to our world. You won't die when you are here, so please feel free to let loose. I have also lessened the pain you feel inside."
"So, what should we do?" The husband asked.
"That is what I'm going to explain now."
"Can't you just come down and, you know, meet us?"
"This is machine-generated content based on the master's voice and words. Please refrain from asking anything unrelated to the dungeon," the voice coldly replied.
"You will be able to exit this dungeon when you have defeated the adversary we provided. Please note that there are different levels in this dungeon. You are free to return here anytime."
"How many levels are there?" The daughter asked.
"Endless levels, at least in the eyes of a mortal. Each level has 10 floors inside. You are free to choose what level you will enter after you finish the tutorial dungeon. These levels are based on all kinds of creature archetypes with floor 1 being the easiest and floor 10 the hardest. Are you ready to challenge this tutorial dungeon?"
"Yeah!" she replied.
"Alice, wai-" the father reached out his hands.
"The input has been accepted. Dungeon – 1 starts."