Magical Engineering

I started with the first floor of the Arena, and put no modifiers on. I wanted to get a base-level idea of what this was like alone. I was also curious what would happen if I searched out the same prizes we had found the first time. If I grabbed them again, would I get the same bonus experience? Would I get more if I found more?

I smiled as I pondered the thoughts. Some mindless fun of smashing my way through a simulator while I leveled up had an oddly nostalgic, relaxing appeal to it. I ignored what that meant in how I saw my life now, and instead started on the floor.

The room I began in the first time came into view, as the System’s voice announced the start just as it had the first time. Unlike that time, I didn’t have the benefit of Rabyn’s food to buff up any of my abilities, nor did I have the rest of the party to help. On the other hand, I now had my own collection of bonded dungeon cores ready to fight.

“Alright, guys, I probably should have asked you beforehand if you were interested in this, but here we are. Ready to crush some Arena floors in the simulator?” I asked as I released the tools from my simulated System storage.

Something I still had no clue how it worked was bringing the cores into simulations. Was it just because of their bond to me that they were allowed in? I assumed they didn’t physically exist here, but what did that mean for their forms outside the simulation? That was something to explore eventually. Check latest chapters at novel-fire.ɴet

“Gamma, I think Dave just said we get to go test our powers!” Beta yelled as the knife whizzed back and forth across the room.

“Yes, I believe he did, too!” Gamma replied as they joined Beta in their celebrations.

“I did. I want the three of you to spread out and take down every enemy you see as quickly as you can. If you encounter anything beyond your abilities, note the location and report back to me immediately. I think between the three of us, we can destroy this floor, though,” I said with some cheer in my voice. This really had become that relaxing.

The tools all smashed through the window and vanished into the air as explosions and singing started sounding throughout the fabricated city. Was there a simulated Glorp and Connie out there somewhere? I decided not to mention to either of them if I ended up killing their doubles in here.

As I debated my own course, Corey’s form manifested next to me. “Last time we were here, I had Alpha’s place, it is fascinating to do this again now, bonded entirely with you. Where shall we head first? The previous time, we did not explore the entire building before we left for the street,” they said.

“Good idea, let’s head for the roof,” I replied. We both left the room together, their form staying slightly behind me as I found a flight of stairs and started climbing. No noise or movement suggested anyone else near us, but one day I’d need to map all of this out for potential treasure, if that still worked. There was likely to be some large experience bonuses to be gained from it.

After a few flights of stairs, I opened a door to a bright sunny sky overhead. Fake or not, it felt as real as the lava did in the other dungeons. Overhead, I spotted something I hadn’t seen during our first fight. There were several groups of fliers battling across the skies.

That was also something I hadn’t considered in redoing this floor. The people were still fighting each other, and not me. That meant I wouldn’t get as much experience as I could. With the new maximum level on my simulator skill, was it possible that one of the modifiers would allow me to get them all to target me?

A message window popped up as I was debating how best to take down the fliers.

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