5 To Eat Or Not To Eat

The neon lottery wheel spun rapidly in a blur, creating a blur of colours. The tension in the air grew thicker as it spun slower and slower, every click of the arrow against the stubs made the two girls grimace slightly.

Eventually, the wheel stopped on a green coloured slice labelled [Aravia].

"Whaa, I don't know if we're lucky or not." Zwei muttered to herself seeing the results. The lottery wheel had appeared once they activated their complimentary dungeon portal. Searching through her database, she pulled out her information on Aravia.

"Aravia: A small world in the outer circle of the multiverse. Medium presence of music, Reactivity: ~3000RS. Populated by around 60% humans, the rest are merfolk and demons. The strength balance is about the same and it's been peaceful for a while now, although the demons, Trea Empire, and the Holy Light Empire are usually at war."

Zwei pulled out a map as she read out the summary and projected it in front of them. "I apologise that the information may be a bit out of date, Aravia is just a small world after all."

On the map was a small continent to the left while the right was an arc of scattered islands. The crescent of islands were merfolk territory while the continent itself was shared by Mankind and Demonic beings. On the lower parts were the human countries, the middle area being occupied by the Holy Light Empire, a human empire. Only the top third was the demonic territory, Trea Empire. The bottom sector was split between three countries, Ethela's Land, Vesrye Empire and The Freedom Republic. Little else was mentioned about Aravia.

"It really is a small world among thousands," Zwei explained helplessly, "I don't know whether the peace is beneficial to us or not."

"Why so?" Elise questioned her strange statement.

"Generally, dungeons following the usual strategy would rather a waring continent where everyone is desperate to become stronger. Only then would people want to go to dungeons. I'm not sure about our plans though."

Elise looked at her as if she was an idiot, which honestly offended her a little as she was quite sure Elise is an idiot. "Zwei, you can be quite silly some times. What we aim to provide is whatever the customers' desire, we can shape ourselves to suit any circumstance, that's the beauty of business." She lectured fervently, "If they want entertainment, we sell entertainment, if they want food, we'll sell food, if they want strength, we will sell that too. Although, I hope they want food. Now let's go to our new dungeon."

Zwei looked at her, a little shocked as she mumbled to herself. "Shape ourselves… flexibility of a dungeon." After processing for a moment, she looked towards Elise with a little more admiration. "Ah that, you're the dungeon master so you could teleport anywhere within your territory."

Hearing this wonderful piece of news, a stupid smile creeping onto Elise's face. Assuming a 'cool pose', she snapped her fingers and the world around them warped into a cave. The two found themselves standing in a cave of only five metre squared or so with a small entrance.

Tsking, Elise looked around with disdain. As much as she wanted to expand and decorate her lovely dungeon, she decided there were other more important things to do.

"Hey Zwei, can we leave the dungeon?" She inquired.

"Yes of course, why not?" Came the matter of fact response from the once again calm Zwei, regaining her cold character. "However, I wouldn't recommend leaving as we are very weak. VERY WEAK. You only have a PL of 300 or so while I am at 600."

Hearing the strange classifications, Elise didn't know what to think. "PL?"

"Power Level, the amount of power a being has. It is measured in accordance to RS, the reactivity scale. I'm assuming you don't know what that is either?" Seeing Elise's affirmative nod, Zwei was once again reminded of how troublesome this master is, she doesn't even know the most basic multiverse common sense. "Reactivity scale refers to a scale where we measure how much energy is present in one place. The closer to the centre of the multiverse, the more energy the place will have, making it easier to train. Generally, a place with higher RS will produce people with higher PLs.

"So there's no Leveling or System?"

"What?" Zwei was confused by these strange mentions. Elise could only sigh again, she expected so much more from a fantasy setting.

"So what's the general PL around here?" Elise helplessly inquired.

"Only 1000 or so should be enough if we're around a small town or village. The stronger cities should be at 2000 or so. 3000 would be a super strong figure in this world after all. By the way, although you don't seem to have any skills or spells, you're awfully strong."

"What do you mean? Isn't 300 weak."

"Well, I'll say it in different words. You're like a newborn, but you're already at 300, you're definitely a species from an upper world. Humans are born usually at around 25, I was born at around 50 and I'm a beast tribe. Most children would gain muscle and mana as they grow up and learn spells, martial arts or skills. Only then would they increase their PL by training."

Elise was confuzzled, she was definitely human before she died. But then again, she died, so what is she? "My species is a secret, you'll know if the time is right."

Zwei seemed to accept the answer. "Alright, if you want to explore outside, it would be a good idea to get something. Just for self defence, don't spend too much DP. An axe would be very good for me." She suggested conservatively.

Elise was slightly surprised. "You're a heavy weapon warrior?"

Zwei, who was glad she knew at least this much common sense, nodded in response. Soon, a Tier 2 battle axe materialised in front of her. It was… usable.

"Is Tier 2 good? I don't know the classifications here."

"Ah it is usable, definitely fine for the current me. I'm just a system helper so I have long lost the battle prowess I used to have, after all. You should know that tier one is for 500-, two 1000-, three 2000-, four 4000- and so on, it doubles every time. There are 11 tiers and above that is Legendary tier and God tier."

Zwei watched as 4 more scrolls materialised in front of Elise. She saw 125 DP being used, they used 185 in total, a decent fraction of their wealth.

"Do you need armour?"

Zwei was little touched by her concern. "No need, we've spent enough already."

She moved closer to see what Elise had bought and almost screamed. "Summon lesser skeleton? Necromancer spells?! What are you thinking. How is that going to help in battle, or in anything. It's so expensive, and you can't even learn it without the perquisites of certain basic necromancy. That's 100DP wasted!" She almost yelled, worried about her host's lack of common sense, she really needs education.

Elise, who didn't think about perquisites, almost froze in mortification. Scrolls really were expensive, do dungeons have a refund function? She grabbed the scroll for [Summon Lesser Skeleton] while wondering what to do with it. Could she sell it? Or use it in the dungeon as a treasure drop? To her dismay, the moment she came in contact with the scroll she felt a strong impulse to eat it. It was as if the devil was whispering in her ear, the scroll suddenly looked delicious and her stomach felt hollow. The urge grew stronger by the millisecond, EAT IT, her mind pestered her, clawing at her defences.