"Who are-what are you?" I ask out loud
WELL FIRST OFF YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO TALK TO ME OUT LOUD, AS IT WILL MAKE YOU LOOK CRAZY. THIS MAY BE A FIRST FOR ME, AS NO ONE HAS EVER GOTTEN THE MASTER JACK SYSTEM BEFORE, BUT EVEN I KNOW ITS CRAZY TO SEEM LIKE YOU'RE TALKING TO YOURSELF, RIGHT? LISTEN, ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW IS THAT IM ON YOUR SIDE, AND LISTENING TO ME WILL MAKE YOU STRONGER. A LOT STONGER. LETS JUST SAY MY POTENTIAL HAS GIVEN YOU A SERIOUS BOOST. YOU SAW YOUR SKILLS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME, RIGHT? WELL THEY ARE ONLY GONNA GET BETTER MY FRIEND, AND IF YOU USE ME CORRECTLY, YOU ARE GONNA HAVE MORE SKILLS THAN YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH. GOOD ON YOU BY THE WAY, FOR ALL THAT TRAINING YOU TRIED TO GET OUT OF BEING A FARMER, THAT WAS THE FIRST REQUIREMENT TO GAIN ACCESS TO ME, UNFORTUNATELY MOST AREN'T PUT INTO THE DESPERATE SITUATION YOU WERE TO FINISH GETTING ACCESS TO ME, AND THEN LAST OF ALL, DISPITE ALMOST LOSING YOUR WHOLE FAMILY, IT WAS YOUR LUCKY DAY, CAUSE THAT GATCHA SPIN WAS LEANING HEAVILY TOWARD FARMER, YOU'RE JUST TOO GOOD AT IT KID. BUT HEY, WE'RE HERE NOW, SO NOW YOUR ADVENTURE CAN BEGIN. WHERES THE NEAREST DUNGEON? DO YOU KNOW?
"Um" is all I can get out at first, my mind being overwhelmed by all this information at once, "I believe there's a grocery dungeon a couple towns away."
Now it was the system's turn to be dumbfounded.
WHAT, PRAY TELL, IS A "GROCERY DUNGEON"? AND STOP SPEAKING OUT LOUD, YOU DONT WANT PEOPLE LOOKING AT YOU FUNNY.
I roll my eyes before pointedly saying out loud, it's what we call minor dungeons that are formed around bigger cities. There are three areas in them, the first there is very little danger, it's filled with plants and plant beasts that can be harvested for food, mostly in the fruits and vegetable varieties. The only danger there is if you piss off a bird or cow beast, but they aren't hard to kill if you do. The second area has grain based plants, and is the main living space for the cow and bird beasts that live in the dungeon. The cow beasts are really docile, unless you mess with the calves, and the birds won't mess with you unless they catch you stealing their eggs. Most people won't mess around with the birds or cow beasts unless it's a really bad winter due to how docile the beasts are. Heck, as long as there isn't a calf feeding at the same time, the cows will allow you to milk them, and if you sneak well enough the birds won't catch you stealing eggs."
"The last area is where you have to be careful though. That's where all the bulls, roosters, and boar beasts stay. This is where local warriors in training go to practice skills. The bulls have straight line speed, with a ton(literally) of power, the roosters are fast and their claws can be deadly if you don't have armor. And the smallest boar beasts are twice the size of a normal wild boar. KNIGHTS travel across the land making sure to kill off a number of beasts in the grocery dungeons so there isn't an OVERFLOW, not that they ever have to kill to many at a time, as local adventurers will regularly be assigned to kill a number of the beasts, so it's rare that anyone dies."
"Other than the meat, which still fetches a nice price, the parts of these beasts go for decent prices, due to their utility in ALPHA grade armor; which is good because beasts in the grocery dungeons don't have soul gems, except for the boss that is, but you don't kill the boss in grocery dungeons unless there's an OVERFLOW, because the dungeon goes away after the boss is killed, and there's no telling how long it takes to get it back."
"THE BOSSES LETS YOU KILL THEIR MINIONS IN THESE DUNGEONS?"
"Yeah, more or less. Because the dungeon spawns so many monsters regularly, the bosses don't care, as long as they aren't wiped out all at once. That's when the boss reveals themselves, when all the minions are killed off."
"YOU HUMANS ARE EXPLOITING THE RULES OF DUNGEONS...FOR GROCERIES. HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?"
"You know, I have no idea, its always been a thing as far as I know. rumor has it the capitol has more than five of them, on top of the other dungeons that crop up."
"WAIT A SECOND, IF THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR A WHILE...AND PEOPLE PURPOSELY DON'T BEAT THE BOSS...THIS MEANS YOU PEOPLE HAVE EITHER FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE BONUS, OR ITS BEING SUPRESSED...WHO USUALLY BEATS DUNGEONS?"
"What bonus-, oh, that would be KNIGHTS or high ranking adventure groups, dungeon bosses are too hard for anyone else"
"MAYBE NOT KID...YOU NEVER KNOW"