Chapter 109 - 23-29

Chapter 23

Needless to say, Nate had been unceremoniously kicked out of the house rather quickly after that. It was a move that he completely understood. The family had some things that they very obviously needed to talk about.

"How did it go?" His father asked as soon as he walked through the door of their tall brick duplex a while later. The row of squashed-together buildings on the street all looked the same outside of their front doors.

Nate hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure. I think it went well for the most part, but then things got weird, and the conversation got derailed." He shrugged. "I guess I'll find out tomorrow at school. Anyway, what have you and mom decided to do?"

"We're going to look for a new place to work. There's no way we can stay with a company that betrayed us like that. So, we've decided to start going through them all and seeing if we can eliminate any from the list. We don't want to end up working for another group that will pull something like this again."

"Dad, I doubt there's a company out there that wouldn't buckle under the pressure and sent their people on a death run."

"You might be right, which is why your mother and I have also been thinking about starting our own group."

"Is that even possible or feasible?" Nate asked, impressed at the amount of work, and thought they had put into the matter while he had been gone. It had only been a couple of hours and they were already thinking about striking out on their own.

They didn't have a plan or anything, but the idea was there.

"Normally, I'd say no. Right now, though, we might have a small chance of making it work. The large families are the ones who typically control the expeditionary rights for outside the city."

"But a few of them are currently on the outs with the person who created the structure out there. I know it's leaving everyone unsure of what to do in regard to their families." Nate said, finishing for him.

"Exactly. So, we might have a chance right now of actually getting some expedition slots instead of being ignored. However, that's only the first part of the problem. We'd still need to fund everything, create our company, and get the paperwork in order," Niall sighed and shrugged. "It's a lot, and not necessarily the best option either. For now, it's just one of the options we're considering."

"Well, I'm heading up to my room. Let me know what you both decide."

"We will, and don't get too absorbed in anything. Dinner will be ready in just a little while."

Nate laid on his bed with a groan. Meeting Angelica's parents had been interesting for about five seconds. Then it had simply been stressful. It was no wonder she only had one friend. If she ever brought them home, they would have been run off.

Rolling over, he pulled up the screens to the dungeon and began reviewing everything he wanted to do to it right away.

Which mainly consisted of the normal items, fixing and perfecting various traps. The only new item on the list was creating a path throughout the dungeon, specifically for his use. Something that he wasn't even sure the dungeon would let him do.

It had odd, hidden requirements at times. So, while the tunnels might be meant for him, they also might need to be accessible to the monsters. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would be annoying. Either way, the only way to know for sure was to experiment and find out.

If this worked out, then maybe he could erase the hallways to the dungeon core altogether and just use tunnels. It was a nice thought, but again, he needed to play around with it all first.

Creating a tunnel turned out to be more difficult than he had originally thought, for different reasons. He had to plan the placement of the tunnels around the traps in the floors or the walls. No matter where he took them, there was a trap.

The only real solution was to plant them even deeper or go even wider. All of which would make the trip longer, and while he would still be safe, it would somewhat defeat the purpose of having them. Not to mention they became extremely confusing to navigate after a certain point.

This was another item he would need to fix with the second dungeon. He would include the tunnels in the design of the dungeon from the very beginning.

It took a while before Nate stumbled upon an easy, though somewhat costly, solution. He would expand the space inside the walls of the dungeon. That way, the tunnels could fit in between each of them, however, that meant that the entire dungeon needed to grow by a fair bit.

Everything that he had gotten back earlier by deconstructing parts of the dungeon would have been used. Even then, the tunnels would have been left open as building working doors were currently beyond his budget. Doors that blended into their surroundings were far outside his budget.

By the time the call for dinner came, Nate had placed the idea for tunnels in this dungeon to the side. They would have to wait until a later time. At the moment, he would rather use his limited resources on perfecting the traps.

"Are you all set for school tomorrow?" His mother asked as he came down the stairs.

He nodded and took a seat at the table. "I finished all my homework on Friday. There shouldn't be anything else that I needed to do besides that."

Niall shared a looked with his wife as he speared a particularly large meatball in the middle of his spaghetti. "Nate, your mother, and I wanted to ask your opinion on something. You're old enough now to have a say in the matter, especially since it also impacts you."

Nate twirled some noodles around his fork and slowly nodded. "A little ominous, but alright."

"It is at that," Nina agreed, taking a drink from her water glass. "As your father told you earlier, one of the options we were discussing is creating our own expedition team and company. However, if we did that, it would require some changes. A tightening of the belt, so to speak, specifically for all things related to money. I know you had just asked about getting some training in relation to using kukris. If we did this, that wouldn't happen anytime soon."

Nate sat back, his fork lying forgotten on the plate. "I'm fine with you both doing this, as long as you think it's the right move. I can figure something else out for my training if I need to. If you are going to create your own company, though, then you need to make sure you can do it safely.

"No going into dangerous areas or anything like that. I want you to run the numbers first. Can you make enough to keep it running by running those types of expeditions? The current companies make more money because they treat their employees like disposable objects. All they care about is getting more…" He blinked uncertainly. "Whatever it is you get when you hunt the monsters."

"Parts for weapons, armor, and alchemical ingredients. Cores if we're really lucky. Most parts of the monsters and beasts we find out there can be used if we can bring them back." Nina explained carefully. "The city also pays a bounty on everything we kill. The stronger the beast, the more they'll pay out. At which point, it becomes a juggling act for available storage space. They'll only verify it if you bring the corpse back."

"So, if you stay out too long and run out of space, then you are leaving money on the table all around. And since selling the bodies is apparently how companies make most of their money. If they're leaving them all behind, then they aren't making anything." Nate finished for her.

"Exactly," His father said. "Which is why we would also need to make sure we had enough people to run a wagon train. We aren't like the big cities; storage items don't exist out this way. Especially not ones of sufficient size to carry a bunch of monster corpses."

"Anyway, going back to the earlier discussion. If you both want to do this, I say go for it. Just, you know, have a plan, and be careful. Please?" Nate was more than ready to support them in this endeavor in any way he could.

It sounded like it had the potential to keep them safer than working for another company would. Assuming they could find a decent group of people to work with in the beginning at least.

He might need to talk to Angie and George and see if they knew of any trustworthy people looking for work.

He wouldn't be asking for their help in hiring anyone so much as just pointing them in the right direction. Hopefully, they would be willing to do that much.

Nate swiped one of the last large meatballs on his way to the sink. The saucy ball of deliciousness disappearing into his mouth in near record time.

The doorbell rang while he was in the middle of washing off his plate.

Setting it to the side to dry, Nate grabbed a nearby hand towel and went to see who might have shown up. Draping the small towel over his shoulder, he opened the door and stepped back in shock. He had somewhat been expecting George when someone rang the doorbell.

And he was there, however, there was also another man that Nate had hoped to never see again. One that George was glaring at as well, his entire body coiled to spring at him if he so much as said the wrong thing.

Suddenly, he found himself faced with a choice. Did he greet the man with the hostility that he so dearly deserved, or with a modicum of respect?

Did he want to risk drawing George into a fight? Especially when it was one that he could potentially avoid, and the kind older man had no stake in.

"George, it's great to see you as always. Why don't you come inside?" He took a deep breath and faced the other man. "Leon Pritchley, I wish I could say the same for you. What brings you here today?"

"Careful, he doesn't have a lot of respect to lose by attacking you personally." George breathed out as he walked past, his hand quickly grasping his shoulder.

Leon stiffened and glared at him. His jaw worked itself up and down as it repeatedly clenched and relaxed. Finally, he grunted in annoyance, his eyes shifting from the boy to the inside of the house, and began speaking at last.

"I have come to apologize for what happened a few months ago."

Nate felt the small part of himself that had gotten its hopes up die and wither away at that lackluster showing of an apology. "Sure, I think we both know why you are really here. Someone with a lot of power appeared and now you are suddenly scrambling to do damage control. Make amends to those who you can before they come to attack your weakened corpse. Is that about, right?"

He did his best to keep his tone even and non-confrontational the entire time he was speaking.

Leon growled and nodded.

"Well, don't bother. It's not like we have the power to do anything against you, even if we wanted to. If you actually wanted to make amends, you could give us some more money to pay for the medication I need. It's going to be more expensive than what was originally quoted."

He nodded sharply and reached into his back pocket for his checkbook.

"Mister Pritchley, one last thing, if I may?" Nate dared to ask, looking at the scary man before him.

Leon ground his teeth together but still gave him the go-ahead.

"Why did they attack me in the first place? I was so close to finishing my core…" Nate's voice was soft as he asked the question that had undoubtedly been haunting his parents.

"I've asked myself that same thing many times," Leon began in a strangely quiet voice. "I've asked my daughter almost as many times… The answer she gives me is different each time, but the original reason was simple and worse than I had imagined. They wanted to see what would happen to someone if they were attacked in that state. I have no idea if that's the truth or just another lie, but I hope it's not."

Nate saw a haunted, tired look enter the powerful cultivator's eyes, and he answered his impertinent question. It was proof that there was still some humanity left in the man. "I understand, thank you."

Chapter 24

"What did HE want?" Nina hissed as Nate walked into the living room. Both parents had already been briefed by George.

"Leon wanted to make an overture of sorts, a peace offering because of everything going on." He pulled on the check and presented it to his parents. "I thought some additional funds might help get the company up and running easier."

Niall gingerly took the check and turned to George. "What do you think? Was asking for this money a good idea? What about us accepting it?"

"You have no choice but to accept it. It'll just be wasted otherwise. Leon won't care whether or not that ever gets cashed, only that Nathan took it. But yes, I think it was a good idea. Money is something he understands; he knew there would be a price to pay for what his daughter did. Honestly, asking for money instead of justice or revenge was the best call. He probably would have killed you on the spot, regardless of me being here."

Nate gulped. He had somewhat figured all of that was the case, but having it laid out so plainly was intimidating.

"What's done is done. Let's just avoid opening the door if any more people stop by." He suggested wryly. "We're obviously not equipped to deal with these people."

"Well, while I agree with that." George began with a short deprecating laugh. "I don't think you're going to have a choice in the matter." He tilted his chin toward the road visible through the window along the wall facing the road.

The group had yet to move from the living room and had a prime viewing spot as two more cars rolled to a stop in front of the house.

Niall cursed and grabbed Nate's arm, pulling him into the kitchen. "Leon was one thing. According to the accounts they told in the courtroom, his daughter was a reluctant participant. Those other two, however, are absolute psychos."

George nodded gravely. "That is indeed the case. I believe they are the ones who instigated everything. She has been merely trying to protect them. It would be best if Nate did not appear in front of them right now."

"You won't hear an argument from me. Just be careful." He hurried into the kitchen and behind the dividing wall, where he would be out of sight. He didn't think any of them had advanced their cultivation enough to sense presences yet. As long as he was out of sight, then he should be safe.

At least, that was the hope.

"I'm sorry you got involved in all of this, George," Nina apologized as they waited for the second group to approach the door.

"Oh, it's fine. I know this is serious, but it's also entertaining in its own way. I rarely get to be entertained anymore. Besides, they won't dare to do anything too stupid with me around. My cultivation realm might be lower than theirs, but my influence is greater, especially right now." The healer was rather satisfied with himself for the moment.

Nate rolled his eyes good-naturedly as he listened to the man boast. He hoped what he was saying was true, but it was like he had said earlier. The two were the ones who had raised insane children. It was doubtful they were playing with a full deck mentally themselves.

Anything could happen with people like this.

Why did they have to come here anyway? He would have thought they had other people to bother.

A firm fist pounded on the door, announcing their presence as they ignored the doorbell. A habit that he only now noticed George had as well.

Niall wiped his sweaty hands down the side of his pants and opened the door. "Hello, what can we do for the two of you this fine night?"

The two men began to snarl, only to stop as they saw George standing behind him, beside Nina.

"We wish to speak to the boy, regarding the… unfortunate incident that happened earlier this year." The one on the left said, his eyes darting around the inside of the home.

"Is that all you want, Randall?" George demanded. "The rumors I've been hearing about your boy and the lack of punishment after the attack say otherwise. That goes for you as well, Dean. Neither of you disciplined your boys for what they did to Nate."

"And how does this matter to you, George? How are you involved?" Dean sneered, his lip curling unpleasantly.

"I'm the one who is healing the damage your kids did to him, so you could say I am involved in a way. Besides, you all should be glad I wasn't the one they had inspecting the boy in the courtroom. I have no idea how much you paid that charlatan, but I hope it was worth it. I've already ensured they'll never work in this city again."

The first man, Randall, spoke up again. "Well, due to certain circumstances beyond our control, we've had to start doing a certain amount of damage mitigation."

"Yes, that's what happens when you let your family members act in any manner they see fit. They tend to piss off people they shouldn't." George told them dryly.

"Regardless," Nina shouted. "What does any of that have to do with the two of you showing up on our doorstep? We all saw the signs that were placed outside the building there. Even if you make up for what your sons did to our son, how does that help you?"

"Truthfully, it probably won't." Dean sighed and took off his fedora. "However, we have to try something, and your son's case drew a lot of publicity. Bad publicity for us. So, we chose a few of the highest profiles ones our families have been involved in, and here we are."

"A little disingenuous when you explain it like that," Niall muttered.

"Like you would have believed we were here for any other reason anyway?" Randall snapped back. He clearly did like not being put in his current position. Neither of them did.

"It would have been a bit more genuine if you had brought the kids along to apologize. But I suppose that would have backfired far too easily." Nina said quietly.

"Have you met their kids? They're absolute nightmares. There is no doubt in my mind it would have backfired as soon as one of them decided to open their mouth. This was definitely the better option." George supplied.

Dean and Randall both growled at the man as he spoke ill of their sons. "Watch what you say, George. We'll be back on top soon enough, and then we'll be coming for you."

Nate wanted to groan at the cliché lines. Didn't these two realize that they were giving his parents all the reason they needed to say no?

"Well, I suppose we'll have to do our best to make sure that journey takes as long as possible then," Niall told them firmly, standing up straight against the combined weight of their gazes. "We will not be participating in your little publicity stunt."

With that decided, he slammed the door in their faces and held his breath.

George and Nina stared at him in astonishment, their brows raised. "Well, if they didn't hate you before, they certainly do now."

Nina nodded at the healer's words, unable to say anything for several moments. "Dear, that is one of the bravest and stupidest things I have ever seen you do. Don't ever do anything like that again!"

Nate slowly stepped back into the living room and slowly clapped. "Congratulations, you've just made some very powerful people mad at us. If we didn't have a target on our back before because of what happened to me, we do now."

George nodded. "He's right. You all are probably fine where Leon is concerned, but with those two…" He shook his head. "If you thought you had problems before with everyone after what happened with Nate, then this will be an eye-opener for sure."

"Even now?" Nina asked in a small voice. "What about their general authority in the city falling by the wayside?"

"It has diminished, yes, but it is still there."

"Um, mom, dad, why don't you go get as much paperwork for the company done as you can? It would probably be best if you could submit it tomorrow before Dean and Randall start to cause us problems."

"He's got a point. Why don't both of you get started on that, along with depositing that check? Meanwhile, I'll do another session of healing on Nate. After I'm finished, I'll come down and see if I can help you with anything." George offered, knowing how much they needed to rush now.

Upstairs, George took hold of his hands and began the now familiar process.

A while later, he separated from a sweating, aching Nathan and tapped his fingernails on the nearby desk. "Your energy keeps increasing."

"That's a good thing, right?" He ground out.

"Yes, it's just a little lopsided, in your case. Your damaged meridians are doing the work for your entire body at the moment. Until the rest of your destroyed meridians are healed enough to be used and your core is functional, your system is off balance. It's just amazing to me how quickly you can cultivate in your current condition. I suppose,you must have been a genius at your old school before this happened." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Regardless, be careful and don't go overboard. Your newly healed meridians will need time to adjust. So don't try to push them right away."

"Yeah, but I mean, they're not fully healed yet, either. Are they?"

George smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't be daft, boy. Of course, they aren't. You're still a long way from being fully healed. I was talking about the meridians I had managed to fix."

Nate rubbed the back of his head, enjoying the pleasant full-body ache that came with each of these healing sessions. "Do you think those three will send their families to investigate the building more?"

"I'd be surprised if they haven't already," George replied grimly. "Their families are sworn to maintain the defense of our city. It is part of what allowed them and other families like them to reach such heights. Now, however, it appears that they have forgotten those oaths."

"And now they're potentially sending off a large portion of their cultivation force into the dimensional zone to inspect the building." Nate felt a shiver of uncertainty run through him at the news.

These cultivators that would likely be coming to the dungeon soon wouldn't be like the rest. These would be trained warriors who were strong in their own right. He didn't know if the dungeon was ready to meet people like that just yet.

They could arrive and just steamroll through everything. It was a possibility that he did not want to happen. If they destroyed the core, then that was it. The dungeon was done.

He could continue on as a cultivator, but he would always know that something was missing, that he had lost his chance. It'd be like losing a part of himself.

No, he needed to lock down the dungeon and make those traps as good as he could before they arrived. It was what he had been working towards the entire time, and now it had become imperative that he did even more.

The guild master nodded. "I should let the mayor know. I doubt he'll be happy at the news of what they're doing."

"Is there anything he can even do?" Nate asked. "The city's defense force was gutted, I thought."

"Oh, it was, but that's not the only ace the mayor has up his sleeve. If he chooses to go that route, then life for those three families will get very difficult."

"How so?"

George stood up with a cryptic smile. "You don't need to worry about that just yet. Just know that there are contingencies in place. Ah, before I forget, how was your visit with Angela and her parents today?"

"Did you know that her mother, Trissa, had set up an engagement of sorts between her and some family named the McFadden's? Because Angela certainly didn't, and it all came to light while I was there earlier. It was… interesting."

George cursed, his gaze darkening. "That fool woman! What was she thinking? Tell me everything."

Chapter 25

"Well, at least she made sure to include some decent provisions in the agreement," George muttered when Nate finished his tale.

Nathan shrugged. "She didn't seem to think it would matter. Right before I was asked to leave, they had started talking about how the boy in question was ignoring the requirements. He still considered Angela his, he just didn't care about doing his own part to maintain the agreement."

"That gives the Chrighton's a good excuse to push the entire matter into the past. They might have to deal with the boy, but until then, the McFaddens shouldn't make any individual moves." He sighed and shook his head. "I truly thought Trissa was smarter than this."

Nate opened his mouth and then closed it a second later. He didn't know the woman well enough to truly comment. All he could say was that he didn't approve of what she had done on any level. She had sold her daughter after a fashion. It didn't matter that she had worked all sorts of items and provisions into the agreement.

She had still done it without asking Angie first.

"You don't approve," George stated, already knowing the boy didn't.

"No, I don't. I don't like what she did. It feels wrong, like she was selling her daughter, without first asking for her input. I know how that would make me feel as a guy, and I can only imagine it's worse for Angelica. I thought we had moved past selling our family members for profitable deals years ago."

"Some places in the world never moved past that practice, but you're right, it's not exactly common in our society."

With that, George opened the door and walked out, leaving him in peace. He was going to go down and give Niall and Nina a few more ideas for their new business while Nate recovered from the session.

Nate closed the door behind the healer and shuffled over to his bed. He couldn't say for certain, but he thought his body was reacting to the healing sessions worse each time. Everything hurt and was sore. It reminded him of how his body had been in his last life.

Thankfully, he knew everything would feel better in the morning.

Changing into his pajamas, he slipped into bed and entered his avatar without delay. There was too much he needed to do to the dungeon and too little time in which to do it. It was a good thing that the dungeon was still overflowing with resources from earlier.

He was going to need them, assuming, of course, he could come up with decent ways to make the traps deadlier.

There was also the added problem that he was now needing to design them for humans and monsters. One or the other was relatively easy, but not both. At this point, he somewhat knew what to expect when it came to dealing with the beasts that came through the portal.

Human cultivators, on the other hand, were something else entirely. His experience with them was almost non-existent. He had no idea what the baseline was for their powers, or how fast and strong they were.

That was just when talking about normal cultivators, like the ones who had failed to survive the first room of the dungeon earlier. What was coming were elites. It was entirely possible that he was overreacting and worried for nothing.

Unfortunately, the growing chill he could feel between his shoulder blades wouldn't let him believe that theory for long.

Whoever was coming was more dangerous than he could imagine, and the dungeon needed to be ready. Or he would lose everything.

Settling into his avatar, Nate entered the dungeon and pulled up the cameras. The first thing he needed to do was assess how dangerous the area was first. It would do him no good if all he did was die right after entering because he wasn't careful.

The viewing screens showed two separate monsters strolling through the inside of the dungeon. One was even nearby and in the corridor, just outside the dungeon core. That meant for the moment at least he was trapped.

Until that monster either died or left for a different area of the dungeon, he wasn't going anywhere either.

There hadn't been a chance to perfect all of the traps he had made in the beginning, and some of them just plain didn't work. He had learned a lot since he first created the dungeon, and many of the ideas he had used had proven less than effective.

There was something to be said about keeping things simple. Simple things were easy to build on and fix, the same could not be said for complicated items.

He felt as though he was constantly searching for new ways to create traps. It was stressful. This was only the first dungeon as well. What would he be like when he had two or three or even dozens if that ever happened?

It was a goal that, depending on his current mood, he wasn't even sure he wanted.

Not that he was going to let those future worries stop him from accomplishing something with his current dungeon. Of course, deciding what to do at the current moment was a little more difficult than normal. If he made any changes, then the trap in question would deactivate and the beast could simply walk right past it if it realized.

He had already made a fair number of changes to the traps in those corridors from before. Really, all he needed to do is the upgrade that would perfect them to their current best form.

However, he couldn't help but hesitate for a different reason. Standing this close to the core reminded him of the cost to upgrade it. It was something that he hadn't even considered before, but it did come with a couple of benefits. Such as being able to upgrade all the previously perfected traps again.

They would go from a perfected level one trap to a perfected level two. He had no idea what that entailed, but it certainly sounded impressive. He would need to have enough resources left over to buy each upgrade though. They didn't just come along with the upgraded core for free.

Still, it was tempting. Did he want the guaranteed ability he knew he would get from making the existing traps better? Or did he want to roll the dice and use up almost all the dungeon's resources on upgrading the core?

Well, he said ability, but really it was just the increased effectiveness of the traps.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he couldn't even remember how much he needed for the core upgrade. He remembered it being a lot and only requiring energy, but that was it. Deconstructing parts of the dungeon had given him a lot of other resources, not just energy. Thinking about it with a clear head, he still might not have enough energy anyway.

Nate glanced at the counter for the dungeon's energy resource and shook his head. There was a lot there at over thirty-five thousand. Frankly, it was far more than he was expecting. However, seeing that number was enough to jog his memory, and he needed even more.

The cost to upgrade the core to level two was fifty thousand units of energy.

It was a sum that was frankly ridiculous and only viable if you purchased it right away instead of expanding the dungeon as he had. Another of those hidden items he was sure would have been mentioned in the manual. If such an item had existed.

Or maybe he was wrong and upgrading the core didn't do anything special for the dungeon.

Shaking his head, Nate focused on the screens, showing the two beasts still inside the dungeon with him. Both were smarter than average and appeared to know that there were traps in the rooms. They were content to avoid those rooms, going around where they could, and simply laying down in wait when they couldn't.

Deciding to just go for it, Nate walked out into the corridor and began the process of perfecting the traps. He had upgraded them but never done this final step. Of course, he still couldn't do it for the last room either. Not with the monster in there waiting.

The other couple of rooms and corridors, however, were open territory for him to do with as he wished. Not to mention, if he got lucky, then maybe the beast at the end would try to attack him. He still needed a shirt and armor, among other things.

He worked his way toward the last room, gathering up his courage every step of the way. Only to find the beast had gotten bored and left a few minutes before he arrived. It was now headed toward where the other monster was lying in wait.

He wouldn't be getting another piece of equipment or energy from it, but he could now finish perfecting the final traps in the corridor.

While Nate did want a shirt, his chest kept getting cold. He could live without one for a while longer. There were more important things that needed to be focused on.

The elite human cultivators were coming, and he was going to make sure the dungeon was ready. Or at least as ready as he could with the information he had on hand.

Nate sighed into the empty room. The enormity of the task he had been given suddenly threatened to overwhelm him. There was just so much he didn't know, and it was up to him to make sure the core stayed safe.

The rest of the dungeon could fall and be destroyed, but not that. Which meant he needed to make some changes to the dungeon. An addition or two that would keep the humans from looking too closely at certain areas.

Namely, he needed to add one or two treasure chests, and hope that the system would actually fill them with something. Although considering how he had to fight the dungeon monsters just to get his own equipment, he wasn't going to hold his breath.

It would be entirely too cruel if he could have simply bought some equipment this entire time. However, that could wait until he had finished everything else. That was not something that required him to be in avatar form to accomplish.

Nate finished the last room in the corridor leading towards the core and began concentrating on what to do next. For now, he wanted to finish the room he hadn't been able to complete the night before. He had worked on them then but hadn't been able to start the final upgrade process.

For a simple and strategically unimportant room like this, he was just letting the system perfect the traps already in place. He wasn't making any special changes as he had for a few of the rooms. He tended to save those for the rooms and corridors that were a little more important.

The rooms leading to the core had gotten a few extra options to them when he had perfected the traps.

He continued to work through the night, upgrading each room as he came to it. He held back from perfecting any more of them, for the simple reason of expediency. Besides, he had a different goal in mind at this point. He wanted the dungeon fully up and running before he woke up for school in the morning.

If he could perfect two more of the rooms by the exit of the dungeon, then that would be even better. Regardless, he wanted every room to finally be done. He might change the traps in them later, but they would at least be fully up and operational.

It was with those thoughts in mind that he spent the night dodging the monsters that kept appearing. He would continually backtrack and slip off into side rooms, when possible, all to avoid them. It was a somewhat cowardly process that worked well all the way up until he reached the last few rooms of the dungeon.

That was where the possible escape routes ended. He had erased them earlier.

It was there as he was working on perfecting the traps that he suddenly met his end. A shadow-tipped tail suddenly plunged through his chest, creating a stifling pressure around his lungs. The pain came several moments later.

It was the same kind of beast that had killed him the first time. Only this one didn't bother playing around with his body, something that he was immensely grateful for. It had already gotten past one of the perfected traps, and there was the faint smell of copper and iron in the air from an open wound. Admittedly, though, that could have been from his own gaping and dripping chest.

It flung Nate into a nearby wall with bone-crushing force, and he passed onto the realm of sleep for the rest of the night.

Chapter 26

Nate felt at his chest with a slight groan as he rolled out of bed the next morning. The bruise the attack had left behind on his physical body was already fading thanks to the healing ability of the bracelet on his wrist.

The bracelet only provided basic healing over a period of time, but every bit helped. He could already tell that he was doing better than the last time he had been attacked. The hour or two that had passed since it happened had been a near godsend.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at the table with damp hair and his bag at his side, eating and talking to his parents, when there was a knock at the door. The three blinked and stared suspiciously at the door.

"Were we expecting visitors this morning?" Nate asked, swallowing the last of his toast.

"No," His father replied, getting up to answer the door.

"Are you going to go file the paperwork for the business after I leave for school?" Nate asked his mother.

Nina nodded and patted the sheaf of papers tucked mostly inside a manilla envelope on the corner of the table. "Yup, George helped us get everything in order last night after he finished with you. That man has been an absolute blessing to our family."

"Yeah, he really has, and the most incredible thing is, he didn't even need to do any of it. Not even the initial reason that brought him over here was his responsibility." He agreed.

"Hey Nate," Niall called from the front door. "There's a young lady here for you at the door."

Lindsay was waiting for him with a stormy expression on her face. Her fingers tapped a constant impatient staccato against the inside of her arm.

"Hi Lindsay?" Nate greeted her hesitantly. "Did we have plans this morning?"

"No," She answered shortly. "I'm here with Angie." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. "She decided she wanted to give you a ride to school this morning."

"Uh, right, let me grab my bag and I'll be out in just a moment." He returned a moment later with his bag in hand and waved to his parents. "So, why do you look like you're in such a bad mood this morning?"

She growled under her breath and stomped towards the car faster.

Shrugging, he sped up and nodded to the driver, who was holding the door open for them.

"Thanks for the ride. It saved my parents some time this morning." He said as he saw Angie sitting primly by the window.

"Yes, I heard what they are planning to do this morning from my father, who spoke with George last night."

A stilted silence fell over the back of the car as the three sat there awkwardly.

"Did you pick me up just to offer me a ride to school, or was there another reason? I'm grateful either way. It's just not something I would have expected you to do, I guess." He finished lamely, running his hand through his hair.

"No, you're right. There was another reason. It concerns your visit to my house yesterday…"

He waited for her to continue and verbally prodded her when she didn't. "Alright, and the issue there is?"

"The issue is the McFaddens!" Lindsay snarled at him.

"Um," He recoiled from the angry girl and turned back to Angie. "I'm confused. That's the name of your would-have-been fiancé's family, right? What do they have to do with me?"

"Jace, the son, mother so brilliantly engaged me to somehow heard about you visiting the house yesterday."

"Right, I'm still confused. He hasn't been upholding his end of the agreement. I heard you point that out before I was kicked out of the house. It sounds like he shouldn't care or have any room to say anything about what you do, even if he did."

"Yeah, well, he does," Angie muttered bitterly, crossing her arms with a scowl.

"Alright, so we have some rich scion with too much money and connections for his own good. He obviously wants Angela, but you still haven't mentioned what that has to do with me."

"Yes, she did. He found out about you visiting their house yesterday." Lindsay said with a roll of her eyes.

"That doesn't mean anything!" He half-shouted in exasperation. "I could have been there to visit anyone, including her parents, which need, I remind you, was the actual reason behind the visit."

"The point is the visit put you on his radar, and then he began to look into you more. That's when he found out that we had also hung out at school a couple of times." Angie explained apologetically.

Nate covered his face with a groan. "And you thought the smartest move was to pick me up, ensuring we would spend more time together?"

Lindsay shrugged. "Why should Angie let Jace decide how she lives her life?"

"It's not about her! She has bodyguards. Last time I checked, I do not!" He collapsed onto the comfortable seat and began rubbing his neck. "This kind of guy would never go after the girl he's supposed to marry, not unless he was truly deranged or desperate. No, he'd go after the people who caused him to feel insecure, and the ones she spends time with. In other words, me, and Lindsay."

Lindsay turned to stare out the window. She had already known this, but her own family could afford guards if the need arose. They weren't spread across multiple cities like Angela's was, but they were doing well for how localized they were.

Really, the only one without any sort of protective detail was Nate. He was the weak link.

"I guess I should be thankful that you cared enough to pick me up this morning and warn me," Nate said after a moment's silence. "You probably also just made things worse for me though."

Angie had a small, thin smile on her face as the car pulled into the school. "Sorry about that, but I thought you needed to know. In your current state, you aren't exactly equipped to put up a fight against anyone right now. Besides, with you out of the way, it allows your parents to get to the city offices that much sooner this morning. My father mentioned he would make some calls to make everything as easy as possible for them."

"Why would you do that for us? This goes beyond just helping people out because George took an interest in me. Besides, you already made the call to pay that particular debt, if you even want to call it that. And it's not because we're friends either, we barely know each other."

"You're a very suspicious person, aren't you?" Angie asked.

"And that's not an answer."

"No, it's not, and I'm not sure. For now, let's just say that several people with power have taken an interest in you and your family and are using mine to remain anonymous."

"That is even more worrying. I'm under no illusion as to the importance of my family in this city. No one knew who we were until George and that structure around the portal in the dimensional zone appeared. If they've taken an interest in us, it's solely because of some imagined connection to that thing's creator and George." He finished, only somewhat having to feign the bitterness he felt.

Granted, he was the dungeon's creator, kind of, but no one knew that. As far as everyone else was concerned, he just had dubious luck of being beaten, which put him on the same side as the person who created it. A side that he estimated was about to come under attack sometime that day by stronger cultivators than his dungeon had yet faced.

In videogame terms, his traps had been dealing with level one to five monsters up to now. That shadow being that kept killing him was the obvious exception to this. The cultivators that were coming would be more along the lines of level ten, or maybe even higher. He wasn't sure. The analogy didn't work all that well when he still wasn't sure how powerful each level and realm for a cultivator was.

The car came to a smooth stop just outside the doors of the school.

"You're not wrong, but it's better to make use of the resources you have available when you can instead of letting them wallow unused," Lindsay told him as she scooted closer to the door. "Now, smile. We're at school."

Angie shrugged at him. "She's right, you know. They may be watching you because of something beyond your control, but that doesn't mean you can't use it to your advantage. Rather, I would say you absolutely should. Opportunities like this don't come along often. Don't let it slip through your fingers." With that, she took the driver's hand and stepped lightly from the car.

The chauffeur coughed when it became apparent that Nate was stuck inside his own world, thinking.

Blushing, Nate scrambled out and nodded to the man, hurrying to catch up to the two women he had ridden with.

"Have you made your decision?" Lindsay asked when he joined them by the doors to the school.

"I think I would like to make the most of the chance that has been presented to me. I just don't know how at this time."

Angie smiled, a predatory gleam lighting up her eyes. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. Father was just waiting for me to let him know that you had made your choice. As soon as I tell him, he'll take things from there."

"Um, okay… Thanks, I guess? That helps, but still doesn't tell me what I should have done if you hadn't been around to help." Nate might be working with the memories of two lives, but neither of them was a business savant. He didn't expect to become one in this life, either. However, he needed to know at least a bare minimum to ensure he never got taken for too bad of a ride when making deals.

Both girls stared at him with looks approaching respect as he made the simple observation.

"Would you both quit looking so surprised every time I say something with any amount of common sense behind it?" He griped, pushing the doors open for them.

"We can try, but frankly, it is rather surprising that anyone our age would take the time to think things through." Angie pointed out as she brushed past him.

"What does that make the two of you, then?"

"Products of our environment and how we were raised," Lindsay replied flatly. "There are maybe a handful of other kids at this school that were raised the same way we were."

"Right, and I'm assuming I'm not among that number."

"No, you are not." She assured him with a grin. "But there is something to be said for having competent parents, I suppose."

He chuckled. "I do have that, or at least I think they are."

Nate waved to them as he broke off for his first class of the day. Once he was sitting down, he discreetly pulled up the menu for the dungeon. He hadn't looked last night, but the deficit he was suffering had indeed gone down again. Unfortunately, it was still a long way from being completely gone.

He stared at those ephemeral numbers for a long moment, taking them in, before flicking past and going into the 'Dungeon Interface'. Nate was still interested in potentially adding some treasure chests or other items to the dungeon. Anything really that might pique the cultivator's interest enough that they wouldn't destroy the place.

If they were capable enough to even do that, of course. He wasn't taking any chances on this one.

Doing all of this in the middle of class slowed him down. He was trying to keep his movements discreet, while also paying at least some attention to the lesson. Judging by the teacher's occasional irritated glance his way, he was only partially successful.

However, due to his efforts, he discovered that he was indeed able to place treasure chests inside the dungeon. He could even decide when they would appear in the perfected rooms. There was one piece of bad news though, the items inside the chest couldn't be used by his avatar. If he wanted some easy equipment or money, then he would have to go there in person to get it.

Chapter 27

For the most part, everyone left him alone during classes, same as they always did. It was during lunch that a group of boys approached him at the same time as Angie and Lindsay.

"Are you Nathan Holmes?" The big bruiser in front asked while Nate was getting his food.

"Nope, that's the kid at the head of the line," He told them, thinking fast. For being such a high-end school, this place had a lot of bullies in it. Though in a twisted way, that sort of made sense. They were all people with too much money and not enough sense.

The idiot stopped with his hand outstretched as Nate continued gathering up his lunch for the day. The one line had been enough to short-circuit the big guy's brains.

"No, that isn't. You are Nathan Holmes!" He finally roared.

"If you had already decided who he was, then why even ask?" Angie asked, joining Nate in line.

He flashed her a tight, thin smile, and nodded to Lindsay, who was right behind her. "Hello, to you both."

"What does he want?" Lindsay pointed her thumb at the fellow they had interrupted.

"No idea. He just came up asking if I was Nathan Holmes. I said I wasn't, and then you two appeared to save the day." His shoulders slumped. "If I had to guess though, it either has to do with that guy from last week or Jace."

Both girls turned to look at the big, menacing teen as he stepped closer to them. "Does he even go here? I don't recognize him." Angie murmured, nudging Nate along at a faster pace.

"Yeah, he does," Lindsay said with a sigh. "He just transferred in today. He was in one of my classes this morning."

They had been ignoring the rest of the boys standing behind him the entire time.

"So, I'm guessing that means he's with Jace, then." Nate guessed as he finally reached the front of the line.

The lady there scanned what he had taken and let him pass. The lunches at school were free, but they liked to keep track of what was being eaten and by who. They hadn't gotten to the point where they were tailoring meals for the kids, but they were constantly tinkering with the overall caloric values of the meals.

As they had neared the front of the line, the group of boys fell back so as to not create a scene. They may not have been afraid of the other students knowing they were after him, but apparently, that didn't extend to the adults.

"Aren't you going to eat?" He asked, seeing their empty hands. "I'll wait if you want to eat together."

"Sure, go find us a table, and try to stay out of trouble. Alright?" Angie said agreeably.

"It's not up to me whether or not I stay out of trouble. It's others who seem intent on approaching me and causing the problems."

The two girls glanced around the cafeteria and nodded. "I'll just get my usual," Lindsay told Angelica, stepping away from her and taking up position beside Nate.

"You got it. I'll find you both in just a bit."

"Uh, are you sure that's fine? I mean, you just ditched her for me." Lindsay pushed him along, ignoring his question for the moment.

She only spoke once they were seated. "It's fine. She's my friend, but she's also her own person and can handle herself."

"That's not what I meant… It's just, the two of you always seem to be together. Seeing you separate to escort me to a table just felt weird, I guess."

Lindsay glared at him from the corner of her eye. "I'm not sure if you're trying to ask if there is something more going on between her and me or simply being overly concerned and curious?"

He choked on the forkful of food he had just put in his mouth, his teeth just barely missing the metal tines. "Thanks for the image, I guess, but no, I was just being curious. I'll try not to do that in the future."

Nate was just trying to be nice and get to better know one of the girls who was going out of her way to help him.

She growled and ran a hand through her hair. "Sorry, and no, there has never been anything like that between us. When I was younger, I thought maybe I liked her that way, but it was just a phase and I never said anything to her, though I'm sure she knew. It's a bit of a sensitive subject for me as a result."

"Why tell me then? I really wasn't trying to dig at old wounds and cause problems."

"No, like I said, it was just a phase." She waved his concerns away and looked out over the cafeteria. "It's more just lingering embarrassment about how I acted back then. We can't choose who we like, but we can choose how we act, or something like that. As for why I told you…" She looked him in the eye and winked. "Let's just say that I have a feeling you are going to become part of our group from now on."

"Thanks for trusting me enough to tell me your past, but I don't see why I would become part of your group. You and Angie will become tired of me soon enough." This was something his memories of his past life couldn't help him with. Truthfully, those memories were next to useless outside of a school environment. They made classes easy enough to pass, but the rest of the world had already diverged too much from what he had known.

"Just trust me on this one."

Angelica slid two trays onto the table a moment later with a huff. "Urgh, what is with everyone today and trying to get on my nerves?"

"Have another run-in with someone fun while in line?" Lindsay asked, scooting her tray into its proper position.

"Just Chad bothering me again. Instead of bothering Nate, this time he came for me directly. He is so annoying!" The rest of the lunch period devolved into an odd mix of gossip and news that was eye-opening for Nate.

After lunch, they trekked into their first combined class for the day.

Angie cursed and stopped in the doorway, blocking them from actually going into the room. Lindsay peeked over her friend's shoulder and turned back to Nate with a shrug.

"I have no idea what's going on." She muttered.

"Jace!" They heard Angelica grind out angrily. "What are you doing here? This isn't your school!"

"It is now my dear little fiancé," A smarmy voice came from inside the room, sending unpleasant shivers crawling down all three of their spines.

"Don't call me that!" She hissed, her fists clenching tightly. "You and I are nothing, and you know that! The deal our parents made is utterly dead and void, something that you thankfully made sure of. I feel I should thank you for that, even if doing so does hurt me."

"Oh, my dear Angie, you and I aren't done, not by a long shot."

Lindsay pushed past her friend to glare at the boy currently sitting alone in the classroom. "What did you think would happen when you didn't follow the agreement that had been made? Just because you suddenly decided that you want her now doesn't mean anything!"

Nate held back a groan and pulled out his phone.

Angie placed a hand on her arm, holding her back. "She's right. The agreement our parents made was legally binding. It's your side, you specifically that decided you weren't interested in adhering to what had been asked of you."

"Legally binding?" He sneered and sent the desk he was sitting on crashing into the others near it. "Do you honestly think the law can do anything to my family? We are above the law! There is no binding agreement that we need to pay attention to! Which means you will be mine, whether you want to be or not." He finished in a scary, calm voice.

Nate made sure his phone was still recording the conversation before choosing to step into the room as well. "Are you sure that your family is above the law here? I've heard that from a few different people lately, and it never seems to be true."

His first impression of Jace was rather lackluster. The boy's face was rather bland in appearance, but he had a good sense of overall style, and his body was in good shape. He was the type of teenager that Nate would have expected to see on a sports team if those still existed.

"Ah, you must be the worthless waste of space that set all of this in motion the other day. The poor and crippled Nathaniel Holmes." Jace sneered at him, his gaze roving over the other boy.

"That would be me. But please tell me about how great and powerful your family is? I want to hear more about that."

Jace narrowed his eyes before letting them flick to the clock on the wall. "I won't make that mistake, popper. This conversation is for us alone, and don't think this is over by a long shot!" He shoved past them and hurried from the room.

"What was that about?" Angie demanded, rounding on him.

Nate pulled out his phone and showed them the recording he had made of the conversation. "I'm not sure if it's of any use, but I thought it would be a good idea to have."

"It depends on if his family is friends with the mayor," Lindsay muttered, still suitably impressed with Nate.

He snorted. "Right, like the mayor wouldn't be friends with anyone who had money and power. Something that they had enough of to cause your mom to seek them out."

Angie groaned and nodded. "You might want to send that recording to the both of us. He doesn't know you have it, so he might still come after you."

He sent the file to them both as the rest of the class began trickling in, marking an end to their conversation. The teacher came in last with a bundle of papers and began handing them out to everyone.

"Congratulations to everyone who had the misfortune of coming to class today. You get to participate in a pop quiz. I know how much you all love those." He grinned evilly and listened to them groan. "Don't worry, I made sure all the questions have been covered in class. As long as you have been listening even a little, this should be an easy test to pass."

Nate yawned, already looking over the questions. He was right; they weren't that hard. There were a few that would have given him problems if he hadn't also taken the time to learn how this Earth differed from his old one. Regardless, he couldn't see many of the kids in class struggling too much with the test.

The teacher graded their tests as they finished them, handing them back to each student within a few minutes.

Apparently, he overestimated some of them… specifically Lindsay, in this case. Whereas he had been sleeping through classes because of his injuries, she had been doing the same because she was a lazy bum. Okay, not really. Her personal trainer worked her hard every night after school, and it left her drained.

Classes were one of the best places for her to catch up on sleep without sacrificing her time with friends.

Angie swiped her friend's test paper with a dead-fish-eyed stare. "Really, Lindsay? You said your parents were giving you some more time to study after school!"

"Yeah, I might have exaggerated how much extra time they were giving me to study."

"And let me guess, you used most of it to get in some extra sleep?" Her friend nodded sheepishly.

Nate looked away, unable to contain his smirk. He felt for her. It sounded like her parents were absolutely working her to exhaustion. At the same time, since it wasn't him, it was a little funny.

"Yeah, laugh it up little man, I've heard you're looking for a trainer of your own." Lindsay grinned at him nastily. "I might just have to invite you over for some training."

"Uh, yeah, that sounds tempting." He quickly lost his smile and backed away from her. "But, uh, my health, yeah, my health, it still sucks, no training for me." He turned and ran for his next class.

"Yeah, you better run!" He heard her laughingly call out after him.

Chapter 28

Nate was able to keep one eye on the dungeon throughout his next class. The monstrous beasts that were appearing were being taken care of by the traps, for the most part. He had seen a couple more of those strong shadow monsters appear and race unharmed through the dungeon.

It was a worrying trend, but there was nothing that he could do about it, even if he hadn't been at school. Those particular beings were outside of his reach, and he well knew it. Being torn apart by one once was more than enough.

It was near the end of that period and just before the last class of the day that the cultivators he had been expecting finally made their appearance.

Appearance-wise, they looked somewhat similar to the first group. They were dressed in a mix of cured beast hides and manufactured materials. The weapons they carried had all been handmade instead of inside of a factory. There had been a resurgence of blacksmiths and bowyers after access to gunpowder dwindled.

It had never fallen away entirely, but in the early years of the 'Dimensional Zones' easy access to the traditional supply lines had been fractured. Each city had been forced to come up with their own way to make ammunition and other weapons. Plus, depending on the zone closest to them, bullets might not even be effective on the monsters that had appeared.

That was when the more traditional weapons began to reappear on the battlefield. Someone with more hubris than brains had dared to attack something that bullets had done nothing against. He had died with a mighty 'splat', but somehow, against all odds, his death hadn't been in vain. Someone nearby noticed that the sword he had been using had managed to scratch the monster.

It wasn't a deep scratch, but it was several inches long in length and easily visible. The beast was vulnerable to cutting weapons. That was all it took to ignite feelings of hope, and the experiments began.

Supposedly, stories of similar idiots happened all around the world, sometimes sooner, other times later. But they always appeared.

It was only a little later that people began to discover cultivation in mass, and then things really began to change.

Nate mentally compared their weapons to his own kukri's and shrugged. His blades looked nicer, but that meant little these days. He knew they were sharp, but were they as sharp as the weapons these people carried? It was impossible to say.

The visible group had paused just inside the entrance to the dungeon and was looking cautiously around.

That was when he remembered he had never even tried to upgrade the dungeon for sound or anything else, so he could tell what they were saying.

Unfortunately, it was too late now, not that he had any idea on how to go about doing something like that. It just would have been nice to hear what they were saying, or even see it if subtitles were an option.

"Are you with us today, Mister Holmes?" The teacher asked, being overly polite while getting his attention.

"Hmm, oh, um, no, I don't think I am, sorry." Nate grabbed all his supplies and stuffed them back into his bag, leaving the dumbfounded class behind.

He was getting good to excellent grades in all of his classes, skipping out on the last class of the day like this wouldn't hurt him any. Besides, he was more interested in what was going on in the dungeon by that point than anything the teacher was saying.

Nate quickly found an unoccupied room and locked the door behind him. Even those few moments rushing through the halls had been painful for him as he had missed the group entering the room. By the time he managed to look at the screen again, they were standing in the middle of the trap-triggered room. Each of them had a few scrapes and bruises, but none of them had died.

And he had missed how they had accomplished such a feat. It was enough to make him scream.

He settled on the cold linoleum floor, with his back against the door, and focused. He was desperate to not miss anything they did. This was his first true chance to study some proper cultivators in action, and he wasn't going to miss it. Those people from before didn't count. He hadn't seen them do anything but die.

This group, however, had actually made it inside. They were worth watching and learning from. With one hand, he dug out his notebook from his backpack and propped it on his knee so he could take notes.

He had no idea what he would be able to learn from them, but anything could help. Right away, the first thing that struck him was while the dungeon might be set up decently for monsters; for humans, it actually wasn't the best design. The corridors and doors that monsters struggled with were no problem for them.

They moved on from the first room and halted in the short corridor that separated it from the next room. With that, he got his next point of comparison. He had never seen the monsters or beasts halt in the hallways to plan or look around. However, for humans, that was something normal and expected.

They were going to take this dungeon, run slowly, and inspect each room one at a time. Again, he wished he was able to hear what they were saying. If he could hear what they were noticing, then he could fix them in later versions.

Depending on what they did next then he would likely need to change his own terminology. He couldn't call it 'perfecting' a trap room anymore, but merely upgrading it.

While he waited for the group to make their move, he idly waited and watched.

Finally, a few minutes later, the first of them stepped forward. The fairly small woman jumped lightly from foot to foot, cracked her neck, and then stepped forward. She surged forward and ran quickly around the long room, triggering the traps. With that done, she headed for the exit, mere steps ahead of the arrows rocketing after her.

Now the rest of the people in the group knew what the traps in the room were and what to expect. It made sense to Nate now how they had gotten through that first room. The traps didn't reset while enemies were still inside the room. It thought they were still alive and that they needed to be kept getting skewered or flame broiled, as the case may be.

With this group of cultivators that were working against the dungeon. One of them would trigger the traps and then the rest could walk through them with minimal difficulty.

He groaned and thumped his head against the door. The dungeon was so screwed. If this alone was their plan, it was probable that they could make it to the portal or even farther in.

For now, at least it didn't look like they were trying to destroy or even attack the dungeon itself. That didn't mean it was off the table though. He wasn't the only one taking notes.

Through the screen, Nate could see each of them scribbling down what he assumed were their own impressions of the room and traps.

He opened up another screen and found the current beast… just as it died to the traps in its own room. Snorting, he flicked the screen closed and went back to the cultivators. It had been silly to even think for a moment the monsters might be able to help the cause. There were only a couple that might stand a chance against these people, and the odds of them appearing were low.

Nate glared down at their notepads, a feeling of irrational annoyance flickering through him. He didn't like the idea of people bringing out information about his dungeon. That was the danger of letting humans inside the dungeon though, they documented things.

A few moments later, they finished talking and writing everything down and moved toward the next room.

Above his head, the bell ending the school day rang. They had taken the rest of the class period to just go through those two rooms.

He didn't really want to waste the time it would take going home. At the same time, he also couldn't just stay at the school after it had closed. Besides, his mom or dad was probably already out in the parking lot waiting for him.

With a grunt of annoyance, he packed everything into his bag and opened the door into a busy hallway. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Angie gesticulating wildly as she talked passionately to Jace. Her usual sidekick, Lindsay, was nowhere to be seen.

He didn't think he had ever seen either of them alone at school. Outside of maybe, when one of them was in line for something. They had all the same classes together and everything.

Casting his eyes about the packed corridor, he spotted the other girl a few moments later. She was being delayed by a few of Chad's flunkies. The large brute himself wasn't there.

Grumbling under his breath, Nate turned around and headed for Lindsay.

'Why do I even care? I've known both these girls less than a week, and look at the trouble they are already causing me?' He muttered under his breath as he stumbled into one of the boys, waylaying Lindsay.

They hadn't touched the girl, merely tightly surrounded her, which kept her from moving on. When Nate bumped into the boy, it broke the formation. It was an opportunity that Lindsay made sure to capitalize on as she slipped through and hurried towards Angie.

Nate, for his part, did his best to blend into the crowd after bumping into the boy, and never looked back. All he did in recognition of the event was send a message to Lindsay, making sure she was alright.

With that completed, he hung around for a moment longer as he watched one girl rescue the other. That was about all he could manage with his body in its current shape. If he tried anything more and one of the boys hit him back it would end badly for him.

His body had already deteriorated too much as it was. The only reason it wasn't worse was because of the residual energy it had managed to store inside his typically unused or specialized meridians. That bit of energy had done more to keep him alive and healthy than he cared to admit.

Even if it hadn't been enough to save the original Nathan of this world. Though, that might have had more to do with the shock of the half-formed core shattering than anything else. Not that he would ever know for sure.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, he headed towards the doors and the parking lot. One of his eyes flickered to the screen above his arm as he twisted among the crowd. It was excruciating knowing just how much useful information he was missing out on due to life.

Outside, both his parents were waiting inside their car, shuffling papers back and forth between them as they talked.

"Didn't you drop those off with the city this morning?" He asked as he opened the door.

"Hmm? Oh, hi, honey. No, these aren't the papers for creating our own company, those were submitted without a problem. It actually went off rather smoothly, far more so than I think either of us expected. These are just all the regulations and everything else we need to know." She smiled tiredly. "How was school?"

"It was fine, and before you ask, nothing is going on between me and Angie… or Lindsay. She just wanted to talk this morning."

His father snorted and nudged his wife while raising his brows twice. "Right, talk. Remember when we used to just talk on the way to school? In fact, maybe we should do some just talking tonight?"

Nate faked a gag. "You are disgusting! Parents don't have sex or anything of the sort. As soon as kids come into the picture, they become smooth dolls down there. All future babies get delivered by the magical stork."

Niall and Nina laughed at the image he had put into their heads. "What do you say, dear husband? Let's find out how true his words are."

"Agreed, I'd like to meet this stork."

Nate blinked, unsure if they were joking or not. In his last life, his mother hadn't been able to have more kids after giving birth to him. Just the one pregnancy had been rather rough on her. So, he had never had a younger sibling before.

"Can you have another baby, mom?"

"I'm not that old." She shot back playfully.

"No, I guess you're not."

Chapter 29

At the house, his parents headed for their small, combined office while he went up to his room. He had managed to keep a distracted eye on the cultivator's efforts to traverse the dungeon while in the car. The first of their group had finally gotten injured by a trap they had missed. It was something he had made sure to make a note of.

It was the kind of simple trap they hadn't been expecting and because of that; it had caught them unawares.

It would probably not work again in the future, but it was in his notes now so he could experiment.

No matter what happened as a result of all this, he was seeing the weaknesses of his current layout. Then again, he had already known that the traps he was using weren't the best designed for humans. They were oriented toward the normal inhabitants of the dungeon. The beasts that came out of the portal, and for them at least, they worked fairly well.

Still, these people were sort of like beta testers in a way. The information they were giving him with what they were doing was valuable. It was different from how the monsters worked and was useful in letting him know the weaknesses that existed.

Regardless of all that, he was still a little disappointed that the dungeon wasn't doing better against them. However, that in itself was worth noting, as it told him how strong cultivators could be. He would need to ask if anyone knew what their realms were later.

It was all about getting that baseline that he had been missing out on until now.

Nate pulled up the second screen and looked around until he found the current beast inside the dungeon. He grinned when he saw it was only one room away from them. It was resting in a corridor for the moment.

The monster was one of the leopards with three whip-like tails, only it had been injured by one of the previous rooms. One of the tails had been completely ripped off, and it had a long graze along the side as well. It was the first time he had seen one of the monsters simply take damage from a trap room and survive instead of dying outright.

There was a part of him that found the sudden change suspicious, but he wasn't sure what would have changed.

The only thing that had changed was the introduction of the humans inside the dungeon… But was that something it could even do? It wasn't something he had seen it do before, however, this was also the only time he'd had humans get this deep inside.

He shook his head; it was more likely the beast had just gotten lucky. It had to happen at some point.

Sure, Nate knew there were stronger monsters on the other side of the portal. This wasn't some video game where they were all limited to a certain level until something happened in the game's plot. It was a little difficult to remind himself of that fact though, at times almost all that came through were the weaklings.

The leopard's muzzle twitched, and its ears flicked about as it began picking up on the approaching group. The beast leaped up and pressed itself against the corner above the door. It was the perfect ambush spot for it. Behind it, the blood it had left on the ground sank into the dungeon, sending the iron resource up a percent of a point.

There was nothing left in the corridor to mark that it had been there, and it was the one place they wouldn't expect to be attacked. When he had designed the traps and layout of the dungeon, he had left the corridors purposely blank. They were the rest areas, and he liked to think somewhat psychologically damaging to everything that came through them.

It was an effect that he was undoubtedly overthinking and giving the spaces way too much credit for. But he liked to imagine that they were useful for something. He couldn't just have traps everywhere that would be too much and create other problems. There had to be a balance, a safe space of sorts for the beasts or people to relax enough that their anxiety for the next room could ramp up more.

It was a balancing act, one that was probably wasted on monsters. He was seeing the fruits of it now, however, as the cultivators took the chance to let down their guard.

It was the exact moment the leopard had been waiting for.

The beast jumped down and raked its claws down the woman's unprotected back. Its two tails speared out and knocked the others aside, leaving her open to its ravaging attacks. Unfortunately, it was just too weak.

The claws tore into her back, and scraped across her bones, but went no deeper. Her cultivation was stronger than the monster and while she was taking damage, leaving her blood splashed across the floor and walls. It was far from the lethal blows the monster assumed them to be.

She would need time to heal, but she would be able to heal from these wounds.

As soon as the leopard jumped away to take on one of the other cultivators, she crumpled weakly to the ground.

Through the screen, Nate could see her reaching for a healing pill while the rest of her team finally began to react to the unexpected attack.

The various weapons they held sliced through the air. Swords, daggers, and blunt clubs, among others, all raced for different parts of the leopard. A staff held by the biggest woman Nate had ever seen cracked against the base of the beast's spine. Its whip-like tails instantly fell to the ground, lifeless and dull.

From there, the fight lasted mere moments as they tore it apart in an efficient, if somewhat bloody, manner.

On the ground, their injured companion rolled over as the wounds on her back began to rapidly heal.

The entire fight had taken less than a minute, but Nate still found himself breathless. Finally, he had some idea of their base strength. This was a monster he kind of knew the strength of and could extrapolate theirs from it. It still wasn't perfect, since it was stronger than normal, but it would work for the moment.

What he learned was intimidating.

He stood no chance against these people, not that he had ever believed he did. However, he didn't think anything inside the dungeon did either. If he had a mask or some other way to obscure his face, then he could use the avatar to talk to them. Unfortunately, that was also not an option.

For the moment, all he could do was watch and learn, and hope they didn't destroy the place.

A minute later, the injured woman finished healing and stood up, pieces of her outfit falling to the ground as she did so. By that point, she was barely decent and quickly exchanged her top for another one.

Nate decided to be a gentleman this once and looked away, searching the other screens for potential monsters that may have entered the dungeon.

What he saw shocked him, as it confirmed his suspicions that something had changed inside the dungeon. It was the appearance of the humans, most likely, but the dungeon itself appeared to be trying to protect itself.

It had shortened the time between each beast summoning down to only a few minutes, instead of the normal half hour. Along with that, he also noticed that most of the traps weren't attacking them, so much as guiding them toward the invaders.

It was something he hadn't noticed before, but it appeared that the dungeon had a form of rudimentary intelligence. He sat back and let that percolate. Suddenly, upgrading the core had just become a lot more important. If it was capable of doing this much, then at higher levels, he might not even need to be the one who managed the dungeon at all.

Maybe he had finally figured out his role in this entire messed-up affair. He was never meant to micro-manage the dungeons for long. Instead, he was only there to get them on their respective feet and act as a sort of manager and overseer. It was a thought, at least, an expensive one, considering how much just the first core upgrade was going to cost him.

One monster after another was sent toward the cultivators, slowing them down, and wearing them out. It gave Nate plenty of time to study their abilities and habits, jotting them down in his notes while he watched. He somewhat distractedly did his homework during this time as well, though it took him three times as long to finish the work than normal.

He kept a close eye on the different knife-wielders in the group. Since it would be some time until his parents would be able to afford a proper trainer for him, he needed to learn where he could. These people were supposed to be considered some of the elites of their city. If that truly was the case, then there would be no better chance to watch them all in such a manner again.

Nate could control the cameras giving him closeup views of all the real-world moves they used. It would help him know how to practice his movements when he was in his avatar later. Of course, without the corresponding skills already learned, he wouldn't be able to use any specialized abilities. This was fine for practice and learning, or at least he hoped so.

He'd find out later. Until then, he'd just keep taking more notes and hope they were useful in some form.

They'd been inside the dungeon for hours by this point, and he had already eaten dinner. Despite that, their speed had slowed significantly. They had been cautious with the trapped rooms, to begin with, and now with the near-constant stream of stronger-than-normal beasts, their pace was glacial.

After all this time, they were finally nearing the first of the treasure chests Nate had placed earlier in the day. He just hoped they even took the time to look down the side corridor and find it.

It wasn't a possibility he was originally concerned about knowing how loot-hungry humans normally were. Then again, at the time, he also hadn't known that the dungeon would be an active participant in fighting against them. The chests might be another item he would need to scrap later from this particular iteration.

Nate cracked his neck and yawned. It was time to enter the dungeon through his avatar. Though, frankly, he was a little leery of doing so. He didn't know what, if any, his appearance in that form might have on the dungeon. He didn't really want to throw a sudden new variable into the mix, but he also didn't want to just go to sleep and miss the rest of the show.

Decisions.

It was such a seemingly simple one that he just didn't have the answer to at the moment. Scenarios where they learned who he was danced through his mind. There were other possibilities as well, such as his avatar shutting down whatever intelligence the dungeon was showing.

Finally, after thinking it over for a few minutes, Nate closed the screen, showing the cultivator group, and closed his eyes. In the end, the chance his appearance could cause more harm than good was just too great a chance. Sleep overcame him almost instantly, though it was anything but restful.

What he saw the next morning made him wish he could just stay asleep. At some point in the night after he had fallen asleep, it looked like they had found one of the treasure chests. From there, they had proceeded to tear the dungeon apart.

Pieces of the traps in the walls, floors, and ceilings had been destroyed by powerful attacks as they searched for more. All the traps that he had put so much effort into before were almost completely gone.

Their little rampage had led to them picking up their pace, and during the time he had been asleep, they had cleared the entire dungeon. Judging by the wreckage of the room the core was hidden in, placing a chest, there had been a smart move. If they had gotten there and found nothing, then he really would have lost the core.

Nate jumped out of bed and raced for the bathroom, suddenly feeling like he was going to throw up. It had been very close this time. He needed to fix the dungeon and get a second one up and running as soon as possible.

Then he needed to find a way to punish them when they came back, and there was no doubt in his mind that they would be back for more.