Arthur was less than enthused with his current circumstance. Being the designated driver for the man he hated the most in the world, the son of a minor noble family. That alone would have been nearly unbearable, his drunken ramblings were well known across the college campus, mostly by the sad saps that got suckered into working for him, just like Arthur.
Arthur looked into the fish eye mirror that the new Super SUV's had. All elements of the car were digital except for steering, leaving a minimalist dash with just a screen emitting far too much blue light for how late it was. Arthur was concerned he would get eye troubles just from looking at the speedometer for too long.
The drunken fool yawned and sent another flurry of expletives towards Arthur. Adam Der Terik, hated commoners, especially those from his own territory. He would purposefully go out of his way if he thought it could cause an inconvenience to anyone who looked "too happy", in his own words.
Arthur made it a point to avoid the man like the plague avoided politicians, but it was his duty to babysit him tonight. A rival noble family, the Von Reznix, wanted Adam to damage his family so they had remote access to the SUV's internal camera system. Unlike the primitive vehicles of the lower class, the upper class had their vehicles react to their emotions, voice commands, hand signals, and, if you had the implant, even their thoughts.
The night was going great until recently. Arthur dropped Adam and his newest chamber mate off at the party and expected to get a decent amount of time before they would be out, but unfortunately, the booze was much stronger than normal. After only 45 minutes, a heavily intoxicated Adam, his girl, and a small group of equally drunk people came waddling out the door.
Arthur guessed they were all with their girlfriends because they all seemed quite happy to get in a luxury SUV which was headed towards a very popular hotel. Adam had his daddy rent out the entire top floor of a local hotel for his own use. Arthur figured he would pay for a bunch of hookers and spend the whole week spelunking, but instead he realized he was stuck with a packed vehicle that incapable of speeding as per imperial decree.
Now, back at present time, Adam was starting to speak even more as he finally entered the stage of drunk where your thoughts start becoming words.
"I... ca-can't believe... my dad hired... a damn commoner!" He slurred into Arthur's ear.
Adam's girlfriend, who Arthur kept referring to as "A hooker with more greed than sense", grabbed his muscular forearm and set the angry man back in his seat, unlike the other passengers, Adam and his squeeze weren't forced to share a seat, as it was his car. No one sat up front to avoid 'sharing space with a filthy lesser.'
"Please don't mind him, he doesn't mean what he says!" The girl said, with what Arthur could almost be convinced was shame.
"She's just trying to save herself from any political ramifications," Arthur thought to himself.
The urban roads split off into a number of rural roads, and Arthur turned down the road leading him off the mountain. One thing he will say about noblemen is that they have the best views from their houses.
"I assume the luxury comes from the corruption and extortion everyone knows about but no one wants to say," Arthur joked to himself.
"So... ah... Arthur, was it?" The girl asked.
"Last I checked," Arthur replied, accidentally putting too much snide into his voice.
The lady was going to open her mouth but stopped, harrumphed, and looked down her nose at him. Arthur thought she looked like a moron with how much she had to strain her eyes to still see him.
"Are you going to finish what you were going to say, or should I just assume the distraction was pointless and add it to my fee?" Arthur asked.
She sputtered. Not wanting to waste Adam's money, she swallowed her pride and continued.
"I want to know when we'll arrive," she said.
"Do you have to piss?" Arthur asked.
"Wha-"
"I mean, it's totally natural if you have to go. I won't be able to stop for a few more miles, but I suppose if it's that bad then you could go out the window, although I would ask that you push hard so you can launch the liquid down instead of towards the open window in the back. Then again, it would be funny to see Alvin take a face full of piss, I could always blame it on some animal if you're too ashamed to take responsibility, but if you wanted to take responsi-"
"That's enough!" She screamed, "I don't need to p-piss! I just wanted to know when I should apply my facial powder."
For every second Arthur spoke, her face got a little bit more red, a mixture of embarrassment and offense, no doubt.
"I don't think it's a good idea to apply facial powder before peeing out the window of a moving car! Getting that stuff in your eyes can cause some serious pain, and when you're peeing out the window of a moving car, keeping focused on your balance is quite important!"
"I just told you I don't need to go pee!" She was indignant.
"Ah! Gotcha!" Arthur winked, "the trees are looking a little dead, don't you think? Wouldn't it be good to water them?"
"Ugh! Fine! I'll stop talking!" She huffed.
Arthur smiled and focused more intently on the winding road, and the city that sparkled gold in the powerful headlights.
What happened next, Arthur wasn't sure. One moment he was driving the expensive car, and the next he was waking up on the strangely damp floor of a massive cavern, water droplets falling on his sprawled body.
"It's cold!" He thought to himself.
He was numb except for his hands and head, realizing this, his body slumped like a puppet with its strings cut, and his cheek pressed into the ground in front of him.
"Where am I?" A girl screamed.
"Oh good, it's the girlfriend! Yay!" Arthur greeted, sarcastically.
"Where did you bring me? What are you trying to do? Did you drug me?"
Arthur already had a headache and certainly didn't need her voice to stab at his cranium while he gathered his thoughts.
"Shut up, let me think!" He commanded.
"No! Tell me what you did with anyone else!" She demanded, rising to her feet in an effort to look intimidating.
"You don't look very scary dressed like a stripper," Arthur stated.
"Is this how you talk to women?" She squealed.
Arthur rubbed his hand through his short blonde hair, fixing the irregular pattern he felt on his head.
"Women are a treasure, but that doesn't mean I can't insult the ones I don't like. I do find it odd, however, that you chose to focus on how I treat you instead of us being completely alone in a cave,"
"You didn't answer my other questions!" She argued.
"Touché," he nodded.
"What's your name? It's impractical to keep calling you 'the girlfriend'," Arthur asked.
"My name is Susan Deanda!" She bowed.
Arthur made a note that even in dire situations, she acted with dignity. He could respect that. Then he remembered her very skimpy outfit she was wearing and immediately retracted that decision.
Susan wore a mini-skirt with knee-high black socks that matched her midnight blue high-heels. Her top was no better, as a cutoff white rock band t-shirt hugged her live form and exposed her porcelain skin underneath in all the right places. All the right places for any man except for Arthur, who preferred more modest girls.
Arthur grew up in a fringe village at the edge of the star system, far from the squalling cities of the main worlds. So he was quite jarred to arrive in Alabaster City and be greeted by two courtesans who wore little more than a single wrapping of gauze around their chests. This, however, didn't mean he was inept at women.
"Susan, why are you dressed like an EDM groupie?"
That wasn't a fair comparison, but Arthur noticed the logo on the t-shirt was from a mildly famous EDM band and rolled with it.
"Adam likes to show me off. Look, I don't want to talk about this! Where are we?"
"I don't know. I woke up here same as you," Arthur said.
"Why should I believe that?" She hissed.
Arthur just shrugged, then turned to examine the area with more scrutiny. They were in a cavern, complete with stalagmites and stalactites. From the ceiling, which was easily 60 feet high, thick cave moss grew down the walls. The floor was unusually smooth for a cavern, which immediately sparked interest in Arthur's mind.
Bending over to rub his hand across the stone revealed what he had originally thought. This cavern was man-made. For what reason, he didn't know, but would file away for later pondering.
"This cavern is man-made. There should be a way out!" He assured the still mildly frazzled Susan.
Arthur took one step before the world shook. He felt as if the very atoms themselves were coming loose as he lost consciousness for a second time.
{Greetings, Arthur Hughes!}
{The multiverse called, and your universe answered!}
{Your universe has undergone a fundamental change!}
{Welcome, to the initialization!}
{Name : Arthur Hughes
Race : Human
Bloodline : Harmonic Wanderer
You have a natural affinity towards all things harmonious. By walking a path in harmony with nature, you will grow stronger at an increased rate.
Level : 0, select a path!
Coins : 1,000
Stats :
HP - 180 MP - 180 SP - 126 Constitution - 10 Mind - 10 Perception - 6 Power - 7 Dexterity - 7 Free Points - 0
Skills :
Basic : N/A Paths : 0 Path Points N/A, select a Path!}
{You have entered Tier 2 Dungeon, Overgrown Vermin Nest!}
{Objectives :
Slay ??? Lv.? Slay ??? Lv.? Slay ??? Lv.? Slay ??? Lv.? Slay ??? Lv.? Slay ??? Lv.?}
It had been over half a day since the two of them woke up in the dungeon. Susan hadn't spoken once, instead just staring off into space with dead eyes. Arthur, on the other hand, was frenetically examining every aspect of the system he could. When the transparent purple screen first appeared in his vision, he thought insanity had claimed his mind, but after noticing Susan's eyes tracing the words just like his, he believed it.
Arthur always prided himself on his ability to adapt to change. It was the main reason his family sent him to the academy in Alabaster City. 'It only takes one gifted child to raise a family to greatness.'
For the past 3 hours, Arthur had spent every second scrolling through the path options. None of them sang to him, especially when he saw that the majority were Common grade. Which he learned was the lowest based on the cost of items in the shop.
Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical. Those were the grades of items and paths. The system gave him the option to sort the paths based on whatever variable he wished, but instead his curiosity got the better of him, and he started to read through the list from top to bottom, alphabetically.
So far, the highest grade of path he saw was Legendary, and he wondered if a Mythical path even existed. It would make sense, logically, for such a path to exist, it would also make sense, logically, to make attaining said path incredibly difficult. If just any average Joe could select a Mythical path, it would make the grade redundant.
The big problem was that every path required Path Points to unlock, and he had none, nor did he know how to get any. Checking the shop, he hissed in displeasure. He could sell his Stat Points for 1 Path Point each. That sounded incredibly stupid, especially given his circumstances.
Quite a few times now he had heard hisses and screeches coming from down the cave, and he would bet money that being in the 'Dungeon' meant a nest of monsters. At least that was how the popular media portrayed the concept.
Arthur sighed and had the system sort paths based on cost, and was unsurprised to see all the cheap ones be Common grade. There were even some free ones to choose from, again, Common grade. He sorted by affinity and found a decent amount of paths seemed useful. None of them were Common grade, as if the system knew he would reject those.
{Paths : Filtered}
{Sorted by Highest Affinity :
Wood [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
Earth [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
Metal [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
Water [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
Fire [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
Wind [Uncommon] (14%) - 7 Path Points
. . .
Nature [Legendary] (3%) - 50 Path Points}
{Additional Information - Upon reaching 100% affinity with any Path, that Path becomes free.}
Arthur couldn't bring himself to choose any path lower than Legendary. Which meant that he needed to find a way to gain Path Points without the shop, or he needed to raise his affinity with Nature.