A small, pure blue crystal, the size of a blueberry, emerged from a pitch-black portal, 'delicately' landing on a creaky wooden floor, causing dust to explode out.
Still grappling with his transformed state as a dungeon core, Alex found himself in an empty environment. Questions swirled in his mind as he contemplated his surroundings and his future.
Looking around the cabin, he observed signs of neglect, such as cobwebs draped over the furniture, decaying wood, and mold absolutely everywhere. There were even large gaps in the floor and walls. In this decaying cabin, Alex had to seek help from the system. Mentally calling out [System] to gain something for his current situation.
---
Name - Alex Whitlock
Species - Dungeon core
level - 1
---
ABILITIES
Body takeover - (2-yard range)
---
PASSIVES
Omnidirectional view
Energy transformation
---
[Map]
[Shop]
[Inventory]
[Quests]
[Token Wheel]
[Summons]
---
Eager for clues about his surroundings, Alex decided to access the [Map] feature, hoping for some information from his current location. To his disappointment, the entire map was shrouded in blackness, revealing only a small illuminated area around him, the confines of the abandoned cabin. As the small blue dot on the map, Alex felt a sense of loneliness within the vast unknown.
However, a small white square with a downward-pointing arrow in the upper right corner of the [Map] caught his attention. Curiosity piqued, he mentally clicked on it, revealing a small white tab. The contents were sparse, with a lone blue dot accompanied by a text that simply read 'You.' The simplicity of the information left Alex pondering the significance of his solitary presence on the map.
Guessing a functionality of the [Map], Alex concluded that it acted as a legend, requiring him to explore and travel to unveil more of the legend. Though accurate, he might have missed some details.
Exiting the [Map] by mentally pressing the red 'x' button in the upper left corner, Alex shifted his focus to the [Shop]. Once he saw it, he felt giddy as thought about all the stuff he was going to buy. So praying to the ROB that he gets a good system [Shop], he opened it.
---
[Shop]
- Earth
(Use Summon tokens to unlock more of the [Shop]
---
The massive amount of excitement Alex had for his [Shop], deflated in a second. The only tab in the [Shop] was [Earth]. But his excitement rushed back inside of him as he realized that he could click on the [Earth] tab. Once he clicked on [Earth], he felt so much joy when he saw all the options.
---
[Shop] --> [Earth]
[Weapons]
[Clothing]
[Furniture]
[Jewelry]
[Vehicles]
...
---
There were countless new tabs displayed right in front of him, and he could still scroll down further. However, the first thing that immediately grabbed his attention was the [Weapons] tab. Excited, he clicked on it, causing a massive list of weapons to materialize. The list was completely unorganized, presenting an overwhelming array of choices. He could see a chaotic mix of items: Desert Eagles, Glocks, light machine guns, anti-aircraft missiles, swords, bows, a spork, and practically every weapon imaginable.
Thankfully, there was a filter tab available, making it much easier to navigate through the clutter. However as he scrutinized the prices, he noticed that the [Shop] used SP as its currency. Which he had none of, making him poor. And the cheapest items cost 1 SP.
Simple slingshots, wooden swords, string, and even a plastic fork were sold at 1 SP.
But being poor, he closed the [Shop] as he still had to look at his other features. The next feature was the [Inventory]. The only thing inside the [Inventory], was a golden present with a description that merely said Gift Pack. Other than a whole bunch of empty boxes and the ability to scroll down forever, he opened the gift pack.
(
+ 1 Common Summon Token
+ 1 Common Power Token
+ 1 Common Item Token
+100 SP
Dungeon manual
Emblem Marker
)
[Mmm] Alex looked at his gifts. He had gotten 100 SP, which was very good, 3 tokens, a [Dungeon manual], and a... [Emblem Marker]? He had some questions about the [Emblem Marker] but the description for it showed nothing but '???'. So he ignored it for now as he knew which feature to check next.
Excitement and curiosity propelled Alex toward the [Token Wheel] as his next exploration. Upon clicking, he encountered three distinct wheels, each having its own purpose. The left wheel was labeled Item Wheel, the middle Summoning Wheel, and the right was the Power Wheel.
Each wheel had six buttons, each adorned with a different color in the sequence of white, green, blue, purple, gold, and pitch black. All buttons, except the white one, displayed the number 0.
It was easy to guess what he had to do next. So with anticipation mounting Alex, with a sense of hope, pressed the white button on each wheel, with silent prayers accompanying the action. The prospect of unknown rewards lingered in the air as the wheels began to spin.
(
Common Summon Token used. MQ-27-Dragon-Fire (Black Ops 2)
Common Power Token used. Thermal vision (Ability)
Common Item Token used. XIX Desert Eagle (Earth)
)
Alex's joy was high as he saw the results of his [Token Wheel] spins. The summoning of the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire, a strong drone with a lot of uses, pleased him. However, the potential of utilizing the drone's body for movement worried Alex a bit. But hey, he can now fly. So that's good?
However, lacking any actual arms and fingers. The Desert Eagle was useless to him. So it just stayed in his [Inventory]. Picking up non-existent dust. The thermal vision was really nice but he didn't know how to use it.
So, exiting the [Token Wheel], Alex turned his attention to the [Summons] tab. Upon opening it, he found an image of the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire. Curious to test its functionality, he selected the drone. To his amazement, the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire vanished from the [Summons] tab only to reappear physically before him.
As the drone began to hover and move around the room, exuding an apparent sense of joy, Alex attempted to communicate. Though to no surprise, he realized that no audible words escaped him, leaving him in silent contemplation of his new, unconventional means of interaction.
Experimenting with potential means of communication, Alex attempted mental commands to the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire. As he thought the command [Stop], the drone promptly halted its movements. An idea struck Alex, he could communicate with the drone through mental commands.
(
As Alex continued experimenting with mental commands, he discovered a growing proficiency in communicating with the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire. Each command sent out seemed to emanate from within him, a subtle yet tangible sensation accompanying each mental command as he felt he lost something.
Curiosity piqued, Alex decided to explore the extent of his newfound abilities. He called the drone to approach him and, with a focused effort, attempted to utilize [Body Takeover]. As he commanded the drone to land and initiated the takeover, his vision plunged into darkness, only to emerge into a bright new perspective.
Alex found himself viewing the surroundings from the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire's perspective. The successful execution of [Body Takeover] gave him a weird sense of control that somewhat helped him in controlling this body. Though his mind began to wander as he started to think of the possibilities for the future with this ability.
Adjusting to the weird experience of navigating the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire, Alex marveled at the high clarity in his vision. Sensing the rotors on his back, he struggled with the challenge of activating them. After some effort, Alex successfully powered up the rotors, allowing him to move.
The scene unfolded as the drone 'gracefully' maneuvered around the dilapidated cabin, occasionally bumping into the rotting walls. Alex, getting somewhat used to the feeling of having rotors on his back, he slowly hovered through a hole in the ceiling, trying his best to not bump into anything else.
Upon exiting the cabin, Alex let his eyes wander through his new environment. Dead trees stretched for miles, punctuated by occasional hills, with dead plants everywhere. As the MQ-27-Dragon-Fire soared above this barren terrain, Alex started to think about what the fuck he was going to do as everywhere he saw was just barren and gray, very creepy too.
[Where am I?] The question echoed in his mind, prompting Alex to seek some sort of navigational marker. He decided to use the sun as a reference point, so he steered himself in the direction of the very bright sun as slowly went forward. Hoping to see something other than death!
---
Thanks for reading
Comment if there is any kind of mistake.