6.65 - Chatting with the System
It was no surprise how the other waves went. Each dungeon provided a boss that was less challenging than the last. And each gave the town exactly no rewards for their efforts. The bodies of the monsters exploded after a time, sending flames into the air that seemed to harm nothing. It was late into the night before the waves cleared, though. Every defender was exhausted, seeming to have no will to go on. With stamina depleted, and little else to do, most went to sleep.
Theo stood with Tresk and Alex at the town’s center, prepared to head off into the void. Xol’sa was still awake, working on his theory. The elf had collected information during the waves, recording all the energy emitted by the monsters. Once he combed through it, he could figure out what had happened. In his Dungeon Engineer interface, each one was now set to ‘dormant.’
“Ready to talk to the system?” Theo asked.
“No. I don’t wanna,” Tresk said. “I wanna go to bed.”
Theo dropped the group through the veil and angled for the sun at the center of the system. Tresk screamed as they went, but he ignored her for now. She was his emotional support newt. As expected, there was an invisible wall segmenting the inner parts of the system from the outer parts. The alchemist placed his aura against it, trying to push through. It pushed back for a moment, but in time he felt them falling into something familiar. They landed on a snowy plane, looking through darkness up at the raised platform.
“I don’t like it,” Tresk said, folding her arms. “Why would we need to talk to the system?”
Theo approached the platform, ascending the steps. Once he was on the platform, the cold from the tundra faded. The twelve spots—plus one for the system—all glowed. So each spot for godhood had been filled. He hoped that was a good thing.
“I have a report to make, system,” Theo said, speaking to the central circle on the platform. “Some seriously weird stuff is happening on the mortal plane.”
“Do your job,” a twinkling voice came from the center. But no one appeared.