After my initial experience within the Dungeon, I became acutely aware of areas that could be enhanced. Notably, the design of the rooms and corridors lacked strategic obstacles, hiding spots, or places where mobs could conceal themselves and launch surprise attacks.
Quickly, I headed to the control room and made these changes.
As I was engrossed in these improvements, my phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Jeff, Starry Night restaurant, two hours from now, the whole gang will be there. If you don't show up, I'll beat you up."
He hung up immediately. Quite a blunt invitation, I must say.
"Well, who am I to criticize? It ended up like this because of my half-hearted excuses to dodge past meetups."
It appears that my evasive actions have led to this rather direct approach.
I already had to check if anyone else had been chosen, and this meeting conveniently came about.
"Jeff, you rascal."
"Sorry, sorry."
"People were starting to think you were going crazy and would distance yourself from everyone again."
"That time..., well, thanks for caring about me and helping me out."
"That's what the group is for, everyone helps and support each other."
It's a group of friends that grew up together. Since childhood, this group has stuck together for one reason or another. Over time, we moved away, but we've always remained connected. Whenever someone needs help, the group tries to lend a hand.
During college, due to being overwhelmed with stress, I had a breakdown. I began to distance myself from everyone, was constantly in a bad mood, and felt like giving up on everything.
But they, those lovely people, didn't leave me be. Whenever I wanted to give up, they encouraged me. Whenever I was stressed out, they found ways to help me relax or cheered me up.
I'll never forget the day they invaded my apartment, took me to the beach, and suddenly started a water gun fight. Utterly nonsensical, but in those silly games, I managed to forget about daily worries for a while.
"I was just tired, working multiple shifts."
"You and your dream of buying a house. If your dream wasn't about getting a mansion, things would be simpler."
"Enough with the delay, everyone else is already inside."
Stepping into the restaurant, we were directed to a private room. Inside, I found Oliver, Alexandra, Rebeca, and Lívia.
"Ladies and gentlemen, look who we have here."
"And I thought I'd have to break into your apartment."
"Sorry, sorry."
After a round of greetings and conversations, we ordered food and drinks.
"Rick, what's so important that you've gathered the whole gang last minute?"
"Did you guys get called last minute too? I thought he didn't tell me earlier so I wouldn't have time to make excuses."
"Well, I don't know if you've been keeping up with recent events."
"You mean the thing with the dungeons? Oh man, how I wish I had been chosen. My dream was to fight monsters, but my family never allowed it."
"Well, it's not the same thing, but because of that, it'll be easier for you to realize your dream."
"Yeah, I saw that someone is opening one nearby, called Fox Workers. Whoever named it clearly isn't good with names."
A pang in my heart, and why is my head hurting? Did something I ate go bad? But everyone else seems fine.
"Indeed, I noticed that too. I was thinking of visiting to see what it's like. I just hope the dungeon master didn't name their kids, or they'll have to choose names for them."
The pain in my head increased for some reason. Is something wrong? But everyone else seems okay.
"Changing the subject, are you okay, Jeff? You look a bit pale."
"I'm fine. So, what did you want to say?"
"Well, I was one of the chosen ones, and I wanted to know if you guys could help me with this. I've always avoided this topic, so I have no idea what to do."
"Who would've thought we'd find a dungeon master in our group."
"I didn't want to ruin the moment, but we have 2 in the group. I was chosen too, in fact, my dungeon is the one you were talking about."
Suddenly, an awkward silence settled over the room, and all eyes turned toward me.
Rick is looking at me with hopeful eyes.
Oliver is staring at me but struggling to hold back laughter. He looks like he's about to burst.
Alexandra is looking at me with a confused expression.
Rebeca is making a face as if apologizing for what she said.
And Lívia looked at me with pity.
I never imagined I would see our group with such varied expressions about the same subject.
"Jeff, can you help me? I haven't chosen a location for my dungeon yet because I was waiting for more information."
With that, I shared everything I've learned so far, discussed my thoughts, the challenges, and the cool things I've witnessed.
"It sounds complicated, but it also sounds cool. I never had the urge to fight, but thinking about the possibility of creating a dungeon the way I want could change everything."
"Yeah, unfortunately, I couldn't do everything at once. I feel incomplete, but at the same time, excited about all the things I can do."
"Hey, how about we work together? Like combining our dungeons and sharing the workload?"
"I think that's great, but I don't know if it's possible. Wait a moment."
(Hey, system, can we merge two dungeons?)
[Unfortunately, it's currently not possible to merge two different dungeons, whether through submission or full control.]
(I don't want to destroy or use his dungeon to level up mine, is there anything that can be done in this case?)
[It's feasible to coexist with two dungeons in the same location and merge the initial instance. No further interference can be implemented currently.]
[You won't be able to edit his dungeon, nor will he be able to edit yours. The points generated by visitors within the first instance will be divided, but those from the second instance will remain separate.]
"What are you doing?"
"Sorry, I was checking with the system if it was possible to do that."
"You talk to the system?"
"Don't you?"
"Well, it's a mechanical voice, devoid of emotional tone. I thought they only spoke announcements."
"Hey, you two, are you leaving us out?"
"Sorry, sorry. So, Jeff, what did you find out?"
"It's possible, but it seems that I won't be able to change your dungeon, and you won't be able to change mine. However, we can use them in the same location."
"That's good, we can split the costs and do more things. Like, I can bring in an AI to help."
"And we can help too. If you need an architect, Lívia here is up for the task." – our wonderful Lívia chimes in.
"Well, I can help sometimes. On the days when I'm not on my work shift, I can cook for you." – adds Oliver, our grumpy boss.
"Well, unfortunately, I haven't finished my psychology degree yet, so as long as it doesn't interfere with my studies..." – Rebeca, the group's motherly figure, always looking out for everyone.
By the way, she's the head of the group.
"And I'm not busy. I've already finished all my projects." – states Alexandra, our programmer.
After discussing a bit more, we decided to visit where my dungeon is located, in order to install Rick's dungeon in the same place.
During our visit, we implemented changes to the initial instance. We constructed a kitchen for Oliver, a space for Rebeca to provide psychological support to visitors, and more.
Furthermore, Lívia was horrified and wasn't pleased with certain aspects of the setup. She quickly started instructing me to make changes in almost every place, always explaining exactly what she wanted, how she wanted it, and where she wanted it.
After that, each of us went home to rest.
"Thanks, Jeff. I was considering giving up the idea of being a dungeon master if you guys didn't support me."
"Don't mention it, I thank you. I don't know how I would have managed everything on my own."
"You just had to talk to us. Remember when we agreed as kids to work together?"
"Yeah, but that was when we were kids, and back then we didn't know what path we would follow."
"Everything works out when it's supposed to."
"You're right. See you tomorrow, good night."
"Good night."