The Monster System and Dungeons

[You're the in the DC Universe! Good Luck and make sure to use the gifts I've given you well or I might very well take them back!]

'...Bloody hell,' I let out a sigh which sounded incredibly odd coming from my new mouth - the mouth of a literal baby. But I didn't even stop to really think about that because this screen in front of me was so much more important, 'The DC Universe? Well, if these so-called gifts are trash, I'm dead. Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, I'll die if these gifts aren't good.'

Just as I was wondering this, another screen appeared, as if to answer my question.

[You've gained the Monster System! The biggest, the baddest, the strongest--You can gain all their powers and use them however you want! Go buck wild, kid! But know that you have to work for the powers to progress. Whether that be exercise or using the second ability I've given you: A dungeon creation ability! Spawn a dungeon and level up your races or just to practice fighting against real opponents! It's your choice!]

'...Okay?' I found myself asking to myself before I began to wonder mentally on how to open the so-called monster system, 'Open? Start? Status?' none of those worked, so I brought my childish hand up to my chin and scratched it before nodding my head, 'System!'

[Well done on figuring out how to open the Monster System, it took you four tries but we won't hold it against you! Anyway, for the start, we'd like you to open a starter pack that holds two races all just for you! Once you've opened the pack, we can show you your status!]

[Open the starter pack? Y/N]

'Sounds easy enough,' I ignored the barely veiled insult on my intelligence in the previous message and just mentally selected the 'Y'.

With a burst of light, sounds of confetti went off next to me, making my young and baby-ish body jump. I also think I may have shit myself. Well, that's not very dignifying. My terrible bowel control aside, the light cleared and the fanfare of noise in my ears stopped as another screen popped up in front of me.

[You've gained two new races to level up! Congratulations! You've gained {Troll Lv1} and {Ogre Lv1}!]

Seeing what had been added, I raised my eyebrows before I felt a wave of heat go through my body. It wasn't painful or anything...just weird. I felt it passing through my muscles and bones and changing them - making them better and harder and stronger. Not in quantity but in quality instead.

'Status,' I mentally called as this wave of heat flooded through me. A screen with the same style as the others appeared in front of me.

[Name: Taylor Jackson]

[Age: 9-months-old]

[Races: {Human Lv1}*, {Troll Lv1}* and {Ogre Lv1}*]

[EXP: 0]

[Strength Level: Negligible]

[Speed Level: Negligible]

[Durability Level: Negligible]

[Stamina Level: Negligible]

'Huh,' I mused, 'So I guess I'm more biological than I am magical otherwise I'd have the strength to rip up trees because I'm both an Ogre and a Troll, not just a Human baby anymore. So, I need to grow until the bigger changes start happening? Makes sense--who am I kidding? None of this makes sense. I'm just grasping at straws here,' sighing, I slowly brought back my composure as I mentally clicked on all of the asterisks after the races I had.

[Human Lv1 - Enhanced Intelligence, Enhanced Crafting.]

[Troll Lv1 - Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Senses, Superhuman Stamina, Regenerative Healing Factor, Super Eating.]

[Ogre Lv1 - Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Durability, Superhuman Stamina, Predator Instincts, Enhanced Tracking, Enhanced Biting.]

Seeing this, I quickly had another question, 'What's the difference between enhanced strength and superhuman strength? I assume it's a difference in amount or effectiveness...but which one's better?'

And just as quickly, I got an answer.

[Enhanced Strength gives less of a boost than Superhuman Strength. There are five levels to the enhancements brought on by different levels. These levels are, from lowest to highest: Augmented, Enhanced, Superhuman, Immense and Apex.]

Mentally nodding, I found the whole thing to be a bit...confusing but overall I got what it meant. These races I'd just gained gave me enhancements and these enhancements and their effects grew as their levels increased. 'But the dungeon ability...how do I activate that? If I'm in DC, I wanna start leveling as quickly as possible,' I nodded to myself, feeling more awake than ever despite the mental exhaustion I'd gone through today.

I'd woke up as a baby, left behind a life that I'd been living for 21 years without getting a say in whether I wanted to or not AND I'd just had some mystical system thrust onto me that was apparently changing my genetic code.

...And yet I was feeling more alive than I had in a long, long time.

My questions were answered as I thought this, by a new screen that appeared and as all the others closed.

[Your dungeon creation ability will not be available to you until you show the level of strength necessary to survive inside of it. If we let you in before then, you'd die. Nobody wants that. Yet, anyway.]

As soon as I saw the message on the screen, it disappeared making me roll my eyes, 'Great. They don't want me dead yet. How honored I must feel, right?' I scoffed, sounding very strange for a child, 'But let's give them the benefit of the doubt, yeah? They could just mean in general because I'll no doubt make a lot of enemies in this world. Ones that'll no doubt wanna kill me.'

Letting out another baby sigh, I closed my eyes, committed to going to sleep - I had training and whatnot to do in the morning. Baby training, of course. Not like I was gonna start lifting weights in the morning. But training nonetheless.

If I'm gonna get transmigrated as a baby into DC, I'm gonna make sure I do it right.

And for me to learn martial arts and how to fight, I first need to make sure I have control over my body which will no doubt grow to a superhuman level within a few years, 'I can't go killing my instructors in a spar now, can I? Well, I could. But that doesn't mean I should. Or that I want to,' I tossed and I turned before finally, I let my mental exhaustion take me into a deep and relaxing sleep.

. . .

8 Years Later

Finishing the last pose of the yoga I did with mom, I smiled and stood up before stretching. The joints in my body cracked and popped and I smiled wide.

"Someone's happy - did Clark ask you to come over again or something, sweetie?" mom stood up herself, getting off her mat as she smiled over at me. The vibrant light green eyes the both of us had, shining down at me.

Seeing her catch onto my excitement so quickly, I scratched the back of my head trying to look embarrassed as I smiled and averted my gaze, "Yeah, something like that...we're all going out. Clark, Lana and I," I clarified and mom took a step forward and kissed me on the forehead before pulling back and waving her hand back and forth in front of her nose comically.

"Well, you better go and have a shower then, Taylor. Otherwise you'll just scare them away with that stench,��� she laughed and I followed, before her expression went somewhat serious, "But remember, sweetie, no--" I cut her off with a whiny voice.

"No powers, I got it," I rolled my eyes before rushing off to the shower.

I told mom about my powers when I was four. I had a few reasons but honestly, keeping secrets like that from someone you live with...is very fucking hard, I won't lie.

'I can guarantee that if I didn't tell her, she'd have put the pieces together eventually. I was never ill. Never injured even after I should be. I'd beat up kids twice my size to protect Clark when he was getting bullied - my mom wasn't stupid. She wouldn't be the sheriff if that were the case,' I mused as I closed the bathroom door and began to strip for the shower I was about to have, 'Sheriff of Smallville. Can't believe I was actually born here. Can't believe I'm childhood friends with good ol' Superman either--but you know what? It was hard to surprise me after I'd been reborn as a baby with a system that's oriented around monsters and gaining their abilities.'

Shrugging, I turned the shower on before getting into it and speeding through the washing process.

None of the races the system had given me had given me super speed or whatever but my physical condition was enhanced overall anyway. I could use my superhuman muscles to move quicker than a human ever could. I just don't have the agility to make the full use of my speed. Think of me more like a 100m sprinter instead of a parkour artist, I guess.

With my speed, I finished washing myself within a few minutes before I was out of the shower and drying my body off. Wrapping the towel around my waist, I rushed to my room and got dressed.

I got dressed in a tank top and some cargo shorts before sliding some trainers on. Once I'd gotten dressed, I rushed out my house like a whirlwind of excitement, saying a quick goodbye to mom before I ran off to a secluded area near the house.

I wasn't going to meet the Kryptonian or his little crush, Lana--No. I was going to a secluded area so I could enter the dungeon I'd found out I could enter this morning.

This morning a screen popped up, saying that my strength was (finally) enough for me to enter the dungeon. So, I opened up my status and found a new tab called [Dungeon]. Clicking on it, I saw another screen that simply said 'Enter First Floor of Undead Dungeon? Y/N'. I pressed 'N' for now and instead went through my morning routine of meditation and control exercises, practicing the fighting techniques taught to me by the nearest mixed-martial arts dojo and the self-defense I'd ask mom to teach me, and finally doing some yoga with mom.

So, now, I was off to enter the dungeon.

I was excited. Enthused. I felt so alive with the threat of danger looming in front of me and at the notion of finally growing stronger, '...I feel like my new body and brain chemistry might be that of an adrenaline junkie's...but I can't really find it in me to care!'

Smiling wide, I broke through the fields surrounding my house and into the trees past them. Once I was in the somewhat lush area, I brought up my status and pressed the dungeon tab.

Then I simply pressed 'Y' to entering the dungeon.