4. New Beginnings

[System Override Code: #####]

[Initializing Idle Dungeon System]

[Initialization Complete]

Jack woke up in an unfamiliar alley way, on either side of him were grand stone walls. 

[Welcome to the Idle Dungeon System.]

Jack blinked his eyes to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. The last thing he remembered was the copper object in his pocket started to glow. 

[You completed the Tutorial Dungeon, rewards will be administered to your inventory.]

He thought of his inventory and instantaneously a screen with multiple small boxes appeared with its normal blue color. Inside of the top boxes were Copper Orbs and next to them was a spear. He first summoned one of the orbs and looked at it with curiosity before a familiar screen popped up in front of him, this time providing information about the object in his hand. 

[Copper Core]

[Description: A core once belonging to a Copper ranked monster. Provides a stat increase of the user's choice.]

He put the Core before pulling out the spear that he gained. It was made of a pure blue material, the length was the same as that of the simple spear he had previously used. 

[Slime Spear]

[Rank: Copper]

[Stats: +5 Strength]

[A spear that was formed through the hardening of slime. The process of creation is unknown.]

As usual there was the typical weapons that had a rank and stat increase to them. After checking out his new acquirements he thought about the weird boxes referring to a Idle Gaming System and as the thought about it another screen appeared. 

[Welcome to the Idle Gaming System]

The system had many tabs such as [System Experience: 0/100] and a separate tab labeled 'Dungeons'. When he clicked on it he saw a empty screen that consisted of many greyed out slots with only the top one being colored. He clicked on the colored one, which was the Tutorial Dungeon, and was met with another screen.

[Rewards: 1 System Experience, 10 Copper Rank Cores, 1 Slime Leggings]

Although the rewards were seemingly lack luster the cooldown timer started to count down from 30 which meant that he would be able to obtain the rewards 48 times a day which meant based on his first reward he would be able to obtain 480 Copper Cores a day. Even without knowledge about how they increased his stats he realized just how powerful his new system was.

Jack took out the slime leggings and put them on. When he did the blue color was mellowed out and replaced with a faint lapis color. He check the status of the two piece. Each granted +5 Vigor and they had a 2/2 set bonus that allowed for the armor to reduce incoming damage by 1%.

He thought at his stats which brought up his status screen. 

[Name: Jack Crawford]

[Rank: COPPER]

[Stats]

[Strength: 1 +5]

[Dexterity: 1]

[Vigor: 1 +5]

[Agility: 1]

[Focus: 1]

[Skills: ]

[Inherent Skills: Inspect]

As he looked through his stats and skills he was able to understand what each of them did even without having to think about them. Although his stats looked low he assumed that they were a just a number that represented his abilities, because when he held his spear he was not 6 times stronger than he was before. 

Before long he familiarized himself with his new system and decided to continue forth out of the alleyway. When he reached the streets he was awestruck by the size of the city he was in. If he looked up he was met with massive walls and buildings and at the very top was a giant castle. Although he had seen many big cities in VRMMO's before he had never felt the inferiority that these giant constructions imposed on him.

When walking around he saw many horse drawn carriages and both the rich and the poor. Many shops lined the streets with some of the buildings were just ordinary houses. What caught his attention though was the giant sign above a large building which read 'Dungeon Divers Association'. In many games he was familiar with there was always some sort of association for those that did quests and tasked assigned by the masses and he assumed that this was no different. 

When he entered he was greeted with a wide waiting area with receptionist desks directly in front of him. There were to grand sets of stairs that led to a upstairs labeled 'Store'. He walked up to the receptionist desk and was met with a elegant lady in her work uniform.

"How can I help you, Sir. Are you looking to shop or perhaps sell something?"

"Um, actually I was wondering if you could give me some information." 

Jack wasn't expecting the lack of prompts or the beauty of the lady behind the desk which fueled his antisocialism and lack of self confidence.

"What do you want to know, Sir?"

"What exactly is the Dungeon Divers Association?"

"I'm not sure how you wouldn't know what it is but to explain in simple terms we buy and sell equipment and skill books, as well as keep track of all the Dungeon Divers in the city."

"What is a Dungeon Diver and how exactly do you keep track of them?"

The lady behind the desk seemed to get angry at his question and answered with a aloof tone.

"A Dungeon Diver is someone who clears the Dungeons in the city and its surroundings and uses the Cores dropped monsters to become stronger and fight even stronger Dungeons. Each Dungeon Diver is registered with a card."

Although he could clearly tell that he receptionist didn't want to answer any of his questions he still asked another.

"How do I register?"

"Just fill out this form and return it back to me and I will make your card."

Jack sat down in one of the many chairs and filled out the form compiled of simple questions like his name and the date when he filled out the form as well as the date he awakened. He quickly returned the form to the receptionist who quickly transferred it's contents to a card that was then imbued with some form of magic that strengthened the card.

"Will that be all for you, Sir."

"Almost, where is the closest Dungeon?"