9-15

Chapter 9

It had been painful, more than he had been expecting honestly, and far less than what he could endure. The most painful part hadn't been George fixing the semi-set bones in his once shattered knee. Instead, it was him pulling his core and meridian back together.

Just as he had said it would be before he even started.

He didn't make a lot of initial progress on them, as he was focusing on their placement. The Master Healer wanted to ensure that none of them would get worse while he was away.

So that is what he spent his time doing, tweaking each meridian and shard of core he came across. Pushing and nudging them into slightly better positions.

It was exhausting work for him, and more than he had initially meant to do.

Still, when he left a few hours later, Nate felt better than he had since he arrived.

George made sure to tell him that while he had fixed his knees and the bruises, his core and meridians were far from being better. What he was feeling was simply a sign of how messed up he was. Any change for the better was extremely noticeable.

Nina stood over her son as he lay stretched out on his bed. "We got lucky this time, Nate. I never would have thought that someone like the guild master would come and visit us, let alone care enough to heal you."

He nodded. "I know, mom. I wasn't expecting anything like this either."

She ruffled his hair and smiled lovingly down at him. "Get some sleep. I want to see you going to school tomorrow."

"I know. I had planned on it."

Niall walked into the room with a sigh. "This is going to complicate things for us. As soon as word gets out of what George did, the families are going to target us again. They can't go after him, so they'll come after us instead."

Nate groaned. "Is it really that bad?"

His father nodded. "I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe not right away, but in the next week or two after the excitement from this structure settles… Yes, they'll come after us."

"Great." Nate closed his eyes and slumped against his pillows. "I guess we need to start preparing for that as well."

"Let us worry about that. You just get some sleep and worry about your classes." Nina said, pulling her husband out of the room. "Night Nate, sleep well."

"Night son."

The door clicked shut behind them, leaving only a thin strip of light coming in from the gap at the bottom.

The next morning, Nate opened the screen on his wrist computer before getting out of bed.

Nathaniel Holmes

Age: 17 years

Realm: Unawakened Mortal (Damaged Core, and Meridians)

Core: Grade ??

Strength: 7(-2.8)

Speed: 6(-3.8)

Constitution: 6(-3.7)

Energy: 4.1

Meditative Art: ??

Energy Skills: None

Attack:

Support:

Companion Beast: None

Dungeon Creation - Current limit 1

Dungeon Interface

Dungeon - 1

Avatar

Equip

Don Avatar

Items

Storage

He took a quick glance at his dungeon to make sure nothing had gone wrong during the night and then returned to the menu. The changes from the healing George had done were small, but were still represented on the menu.

Just having that visual confirmation, that what he had done worked, felt good.

It was with a smile on his face that he turned off the screen and climbed out of bed. Nate paused and took a moment to revel in the lack of pain in his knees. Only moving when his stomach rumbled with hunger, reminding him of the cost the healing had on his body.

It only took him a few minutes to get ready for school and then head downstairs to fill his stomach.

His mother had prepared a simple breakfast for him, that was ready and waiting for him as soon as he went down.

"How are you feeling this morning?" She asked, sipping at her steaming mug.

"I…" He stopped to chew his toast before answering. "Good, better than I have in a while. My left knee no longer feels like it's going to collapse with every step I take, and my right one isn't aching either. The rest of me feels a little better as well. I wouldn't say that it's a huge improvement, but I can tell that what he did to my damaged meridians and core helped."

"That's good, small but steady improvements until you are back to perfect condition again." Nina smiled, an invisible weight lifting from her shoulders with the revelation that things might work out. "As soon as you're ready, your father will drive you to school."

"Just let me grab my laptop and bag and then I'll be ready," Nate said after swallowing.

A comfortable silence initially filled the car as Niall concentrated on the road. The radio was off for the moment as they enjoyed their limited time together. With only a few words being spoken between them the entire drive.

"What are you and mom going to do today?" Nate asked, breaking the silence as they neared the school.

"We'll probably be watching the TV the entire day. The team was set to depart this morning. Who knows when news about them will start to hit the internet or airwaves?"

Nate shook his head. "They are moving way too fast for this kind of operation."

"You keep saying that, but they're really not. All the teams keep supplies on hand in case they need to leave on a mission into the Dimensional Zones. Sure, parts of this are different, but the core of the mission is the same. There is no reason it would take them more than a couple of hours to get everything ready to leave." Niall explained to his son as they pulled up to the school.

"Huh, I didn't know that. Either way, it just seems like they aren't being cautious enough and are rushing everything. I'm glad you and mom decided not to go." He opened his door and climbed out.

Nate was enjoying not needing to use a crutch or cane to walk around. It was a nice break from what he had gotten used to over the last few months.

"You finally lost the limp." A somewhat amused voice came from behind him as he opened the doors to the school.

Nate held the door open and stepped to the side. "Angelica, it's a pleasure to see you this morning."

Angelica Chrighton was considered a minor celebrity in the school. She was good-looking, with long eyelashes and hazel eyes that naturally leaned towards honey, and tall at five-foot-seven-inches. Like everyone else in school, she was trim and fit. On top of all of that, she had two more things going for her. She was nice, at least superficially to everyone, and her family had power.

"I've told you before to call me Angie." She said, stopping beside him and momentarily blocking the door. "Interesting. You look healthier than you did the other day. Is this why you didn't come to school for a couple of days?" She shook her head and leaned towards him to whisper. "No matter, but it will draw attention from the others. I hope you are prepared for what that means."

"No, I'm not. I might look a little healthier, but the only thing that has changed is my knee." It was the truth, mostly.

She leaned back with a skeptical look. "Hmm, if you say so."

Nate gently pushed her inside, so they weren't blocking the door anymore. "I do say so. The alchemy guild still refuses to provide the medication I need to repair my meridians and core. We just finally got a decent healer to come out and fix my knee, that's all." It was hard to keep the bitterness from his voice.

"Right, I forgot you needed some specific medicine for that."

He glanced at the students crowding in around them and wondered why she was still talking to him. Angie had always been polite to him, but it had been at a distance. They couldn't be considered friends, with their limited interactions.

"What's going on, Angie? I can count on one hand the number of times we've spoken before this. You're not the type of person to approach me and start a conversation for no reason. That's not who you are."

"And you know who I am, do you?" She seemed amused by the claim instead of angry.

Nate shrugged. "I know you hold yourself back from the others in school, and that despite being polite to everyone, you don't actually care for any of us. I'm not sure I've even seen you talk to anyone outside of Lindsay some days."

"You're more observant than I thought." The amused look had gradually disappeared. "Fine, you're right. I don't care about making connections with others here. I know that I'll be fine with just the backing from my family."

Nate quirked his head at that. To his understanding, the Chrighton's were a semi-powerful family within the city, nothing more. Certainly not something on the level that she could solely depend on. Either she was over-estimating her family, or there was more to them than met the eye.

He thought it more likely to be the second option. Angelica didn't strike him as a girl who simply said things for no reason.

His eyes narrowed. "What did you just say?"

"I said I would be fine with just the backing from my family."

Nate somewhat roughly pushed her into an empty room as they were passing by. Glad that she didn't resist. With his pitiful strength at the moment, a toddler could have escaped from him.

"I'm assuming that the full extent of your family's power is known to the people of this city and I'm the only one who didn't know? Were you involved with the people who did this to me?" His eyes shook as he growled at her.

"What? No, of course, we weren't involved with that! No one knows about my family. How did you figure it out?" She whispered harshly back at him, making sure no one outside the room could hear them.

He took a confused step back. "You told me."

He quickly explained his thought process to her. Now that he was thinking with a calmer head, he was glad he had been right, or things could have ended in a vastly different manner.

"That's an interesting leap to take. You weren't wrong, but I'm not sure how many people would have made that deduction right away. I'll have to be more careful to never say something like that again in the future." She admitted.

"I'm curious as to why you even said it this time. We never got around to talking about why you were even speaking to me."

"George Trellow," Angelica said simply.

"The Healer's Guild Master? What about him?" Nate wasn't about to admit to anything that might hurt the man who had healed him.

"He contacted my father last night and told him that he had just met a most interesting young man." She rolled her eyes. "My father was most surprised to discover that this remarkable young man not only went to my school but was in my class. He asked that I speak with you and get to know you better."

"All because George mentioned me during a phone call?" Nate questioned in disbelief.

"The Guild Master and my father go back a long time. He's actually why we even live in this city. I guess you could almost call him my uncle, just without the blood relation. Anyway, George never shows interest in anyone."

"So, when he did, that was enough for your father to decide you needed to speak with me."

"Got it in one." She leaned back against a nearby teacher's desk. "I don't suppose you know why he found you so interesting, do you?"

Nate shook his head. "I hadn't realized he did. I thought I was just another job, for the most part. I mean, I know he equated what happened to me to his son from before, but that was it."

"I… now that I think about it, what happened to you does have some similarities to that incident. But I don't think that's enough to draw his interest. For him to heal you, sure, but not enough to call my father."

The bell rang before they could say anything more.

Chapter 10

"Now, who would like to tell me what a possible 'Energy Skill' you might learn is?" The teacher asked the class.

"Flight!" Someone called out from the back.

The teacher rolled his eyes. "Something a little less obvious, please?"

"Are you looking for skills oriented towards attacking or support functions?" Nate asked, speaking up for the first time since he had transferred in two months before.

The class fell silent, and even the teacher could only stare in shock for a moment before regaining his wits.

"Uh, either will do."

"Very well, under support, we obviously have the previously mentioned 'Flight'. Which is probably the most famous skill around. Then we have the basic 'Examine' skill which just shows things in red, blue, green, and yellow, depending on whether they are dangerous, beneficial, or unknown. Then there are the healing spells, which are rather obvious, so I won't mention those by name."

The teacher held up his hand. "That is plenty, thank you. I would highly suggest everyone learn 'Examine' if they can. It has allowed more than a few people to stumble across valuable resources in the wild or avoid dangerous enemies. Now the purpose of this question was actually to demonstrate to you just how many skills there are out there."

He glared at the class. "However, for some reason, only one of you felt like saying anything."

The class erupted into noise, protesting what he had said.

"QUIET!" He called out. A minor shockwave rocked the room.

Nate paled and leaned to the side as a dribble of blood appeared from the corner of his mouth.

"I apologize for doing that, Nathaniel. Do you need to go see the nurse?" The teacher apologized with a wince.

He wiped away the blood and shook his head. "I'll be fine, just please don't do it again."

The teacher nodded. "Now, as I was saying. As more of you approach the point where you are thinking about awakening your cores, there is information you need to be aware of. Particularly in relation to energy skills. You only get seven skills. Three for attack, and four for support. So, you must choose wisely.

"You can, of course, always choose to later forget one of these and learn a new one. However, if you do that, you will lose all the progress you had gained on the skill. It's a decent tradeoff if the new one is stronger right away, but what about if it takes a while to display its strength? For this reason, each of your initial seven skills should be chosen with great care."

He wasn't saying anything that they didn't already know and was instead merely reminding them.

"Now, here is the information that you need to know. Skills can evolve, and sometimes they can even fuse together. It doesn't happen often, and the requirements for each are closely guarded by the larger clans. Just know that it is possible. So, if you have a high-level skill and suddenly see one that you like even more, it may not be to your benefit to forget the current one."

He shrugged. "Ultimately, it's up to you. Just never forget to choose them with care. Those three attacks need to be able to carry you through any monster you meet. Or, at the very least, be enough to give you a chance to escape."

True to Angelica's earlier prediction, the other students did notice that he was now walking around without a limp and cane. However, he was still persona non grata in their minds as no one but her dared to approach him.

Nate was sitting at an otherwise empty lunch table when Angelica sat down across from him with her friend Lindsay in tow.

He sighed and pushed the food to the side. The cafeteria at this school was top-class and befitting the people who attended it.

"You know, you might be able to get away with publicly sitting and talking with me. But what about her?" He didn't know anything about Lindsay's family, or even the girl herself.

Lindsay was slightly shorter than Angelica, at five-foot-five inches, with raven-colored hair and dark eyes to match. He wouldn't have called her gorgeous, but she was certainly pretty in her own way.

"You don't need to worry about Linds. Everyone knows she is under my family's protection."

The girl in question rolled her dark orbs and settled down across from him with a grumble. "It would be better if I didn't even need protection. I can't wait until we are allowed to go through the awakening process."

"Just be careful when the time comes." He was a walking example of what could happen when you weren't, or if people wanted to cause problems regardless.

"Now-" Angelica stopped talking as a shadow loomed over their table.

"Why are you eating with him, Angie?" A large boy Nate had never spoken to before demanded.

"It's none of your business, Chad!"

"You know what they're saying about him and his parents!"

Nate snapped his head up so fast his neck twinged. "What are people saying about my parents?"

"Stuff it, you waste of space!" The larger boy demanded.

"I'm the waste of space? I would have had my core formed before everyone in this place if this hadn't happened!" Nate was starting to get worked up.

"It doesn't matter how fast you can form it if it's only going to be the lowest grade."

"Is that what you think mine was going to be?" Nate asked with a smirk. In truth, he had no idea what kind of core he would have gotten before. It never hurt to bluff a little in situations like this though.

The big brute took an uncertain step back.

"Now, tell me, what have they been saying about my parents?"

Hands clenched into fists as Chad tried to figure out how he had found himself in this situation. He had been the one to come over here demanding answers, and yet somehow the situation had been reversed on him.

Angelica stared at the big man and nodded. "Well? Tell him. I'm interested as well."

"They're cowards who refused to go on their assigned mission!" The boy spat.

"Interesting." Nate rested his head on the palm of his hand. "Did they also mention that my parents should never have been selected for that mission in the first place? Or, how about the fact that the survival rating for the mission is non-existent, except for maybe those leading it? Have either of those been mentioned at all?"

"Your parents were selected to go inspect the structure around the portal?" Lindsay gasped out.

He nodded. "Yup, something deep within the dimensional zone where they aren't qualified to go normally. Yet somehow, they were suddenly selected for a mission that goes there. I don't think so."

Chad's face turned a deep purple, as he barely managed to hold back his rage at Nate. Without saying another word, he turned and stomped away.

"You realize he's going to make your life miserable every chance he gets now, right?" Lindsay asked as she carefully buttered her bread.

"Probably, but it's too late for me to do anything differently. I have a feeling that as soon as the two of you sat down here, my fate was sealed." He scooted his food back into position and began eating again.

"You're not wrong, however, we also didn't do it on purpose. I didn't count on him or anyone else responding quite so strongly, simply because we chose to sit with you." Angelica shook her head in wonder. "I apologize in advance for any trouble this brings you."

Nate noticed that she didn't offer to help alleviate or get him out of the trouble. She merely apologized for bringing it down upon his unsuspecting head.

"What grade was your core going to be?" Angelica asked curiously as they were finishing up lunch.

Nate shrugged. "I have no idea, probably something of low-medium quality. My old school can't compare to this place, but it still had access to all the normal information."

Lindsay smacked her head against the table in shock. "Well, I guess that answers that question then. Low-Grade is what it likely would have been then. Who knows, assuming you can get your… everything healed and fixed in time. Having them broken might just turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to you."

Angelica slowly nodded. "It's possible it could have been slightly higher, but not by much. The quality of information we have, versus your old school, is far larger than you think. I would suggest you start studying up on the methods to cultivate your core again. Assuming you can get it fixed, with the information we have here, you should be able to get a much higher-grade core when you awaken."

A higher-grade core meant more overall energy available for energy skills. Though, according to the computer on his wrist, he still had some energy anyway. Either way, it also helped to determine how fast and far you could grow. The better the grade, the farther you would go before you began to struggle for every improvement.

"Huh," Nate took a moment for that to sink in. "Well… I'm not sure I entirely like the way it happened. If I can come out the other end better, then yeah, okay. Of course, that depends on if I can get my hands on the medication from the alchemy guild. Which seems unlikely."

"How long will it take to heal normally without the potions?" Angelica asked, taking a sip of the enhanced juice.

Enhanced juice came from fruits grown in the dimensional zones. Eating them before you awakened supposedly helped to strengthen your body. Unfortunately, only limited quantities could be brought back at a time. That meant most people never got to taste them.

Nate had been eating and drinking their juice ever since he came to the school and had yet to see an effect on his stats. He wasn't sure if he had to awaken first to feel the effects or if something else was going on. Either way, he ate and drank as much as he could every chance he could.

"I have no idea. No one has mentioned anything along those lines to me before now." He stared down at his plate and slowly twirled his fork. "If I had to guess, that means there likely isn't a lot of hope for it to heal naturally."

"Well, that sucks," Lindsay said blandly.

"Gee, you're so warm and caring. I can just feel the sympathy pouring off you." He shot back with a roll of his eyes. "I wasn't asking for you to care. I was simply answering the question."

Angelica began to say something, only to be drowned out by the bell. "That's the second time that thing has interrupted one of our conversations now. I'll talk to you after school. I want to run something by you."

"Uh, alright?" It hadn't really been a question so much as her telling him what they were going to do.

Not that he truly minded in this case. If her family had the connections she thought they did, then maybe they could help. What George had done the night before had helped, but it was going to be a slow process.

Then, even after he was healed, he would need to start the awakening process all over again. Probably, or maybe not. The computer on his wrist still showed him as having some energy. That might mean that he wouldn't need to start completely over. Even if that was the case, the number it showed wasn't exactly high.

He had no basis for what an average score was in regard to the stats. All he knew was that they looked low, but that didn't mean they actually were.

This was another of those times he really wished the system had come with a manual. Instead, he was being forced to figure everything out on his own.

It sucked and was taking up a lot of his time. Then again, he was an injured teenager without a job. Time was one of the few things he had a lot of in surplus.

Chapter 11

True to her word, Angelica was waiting for him as soon as school let out for the day. This time Lindsay was not by her side but was instead guarding the door to make sure they weren't interrupted.

"What is it you wanted?" Nate asked. He was still more than a little suspicious of the girl and her motives.

"You're a very cautious fellow, aren't you?" She smirked and leaned back against the wall.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't be? I know nothing about you or your motives. You say that you're different from the people who did this to me, and maybe you are, but that doesn't mean I can trust you." He'd had some time to think things over since their conversation at lunchtime.

"I can appreciate that." She crossed her arms thoughtfully. "Luckily for you, what I had in mind doesn't require you to trust me. At least not much. Think of it as more of a business arrangement."

"We're in high school," He said dumbly. "What kind of business could we be doing together?"

There was a muttered, "Oh boy," from Lindsay by the door.

"Families like mine pay little attention to age. If we see a chance to do business of some kind, then we do it. It's as simple as that." Angelica's fingers began to tap on her arm impatiently. "Now, would you be interested in working with me?"

"You haven't mentioned what either of us would get from this, or even what I could possibly do for you."

"What you can do for me is simple, and ties into what we both get out of this arrangement." She took a step forward and approached him. "I want you to find a way to keep George coming over to your house. Dad said after meeting you, he was more alive than he had been in a long time. If that is true, then I want the two of you to keep interacting."

Nate mentally facepalmed. That was something the old man had already planned to do, and it would have been entirely out of his control otherwise. Regardless, he decided to play along.

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that? He isn't someone I can just call up for a chat."

"Don't worry, I have it on good authority that he'll call later tonight to make sure everything is fine. You can use that conversation to invite him over for a thank you dinner or something."

"You realize you are asking me to manipulate the man who healed my body? Even if you are possibly doing this for his own good, why would I want to do this?"

"Because I can get you the healing medicine from an alchemy guild in a different city." She said, dangling the proverbial carrot in front of him.

George had offered to heal him, but it would take time, whereas the medicine would be quicker. Both were good options, and in this case, they weren't mutually exclusive. Despite that, something held him back from simply accepting her terms.

"Let me get this straight. All you are asking me to do is keep interacting with George Trellow because I remind him of his own family. If I do that, then you'll get me the medicine from a different alchemy guild outside our city? I thought that was impossible."

"Not impossible, merely difficult for most people. Less so for my family."

Lindsay snorted at that, never looking away from the hallway.

Nate slowly shook his head. "I don't think that is a deal I can accept, sorry. He helped me more than you realize when he healed my knees. I know it sounds like you're looking out for him, but I don't think I would be comfortable going behind his back like that."

Angelica tilted her head and stared at him, not saying anything for several long moments. Before abruptly cursing and tossing a coin to Lindsay.

"Uh, what just happened?"

"I'll tell you what just happened is I won a bet!" The girl by the door crowed happily. "That almost never happens."

Angelica rolled her eyes and relaxed. "She's right. She bet you wouldn't take the deal. While I thought you would. Obviously, she won this time."

"Wait, so none of this was real? You were playing with me this entire time?" He was past beginning to get angry with them, and in the territory of murderous rage.

A clue that they both seemed to quickly pick up on.

"No!" Angelica quickly said. "It was real. I would have done all that I said I would. I just would have been disappointed and not offered to do more."

"What was the point of all this then?" He growled, not understanding what they were aiming for.

"She wanted to see what kind of person you were. If you only care about yourself and are selfish, or if you also thought about others when you made decisions." Lindsay clarified for him.

"That is so stupid. We're kids, we're selfish at times, but that doesn't mean that's who we are all the time. In case you have forgotten, my parents are being threatened right now and can't work, and I was attacked and ended up with a destroyed core and wrecked meridians. Taking the sure chance to potentially get all that fixed isn't selfish but the smart move."

"And yet, that isn't what you did. Why?" Angelica asked him with a curious smile.

"I already told you. He helped me more than you know. He deserves my respect and loyalty for that alone. Whereas, you I have only talked to for the first time today. I can't even confirm that you actually know him." Nate narrowed his eyes theatrically. "All of this could be a trap of some kind for George."

Both girls started laughing at that, while he himself grinned.

"Point is, for now at least I owe him, and I don't want to go making deals behind his back with people I don't know. That's how things get messy, and my life is messy enough as it is. Do you understand now?"

Lindsay stopped laughing and sighed. "Well crap, now I feel bad."

"Crap?" Nate glanced at Angelica.

"Her family doesn't believe in cussing." She replied with a roll of her eyes. "They're weird, but we indulge them."

"Ahh, okay then."

"However, she is right. I do feel a little bad for doing this now."

Nate glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, listen, this has been fun and all, but I've kept my mom or dad waiting long enough. I need to get out there before they think something else has happened to me. If you want to stay in here and feel bad, that's fine with me, but I've got to go."

He grabbed his bag and walked towards the door, where Lindsay stepped to the side after a moment.

"She didn't mean any harm." She whispered as he walked past.

"I didn't think she did, but her methods still sucked." He hurriedly returned before walking out into the hallway and leaving them behind.

True to his expectations, his mother was worriedly waiting in the parking lot.

"You're late." She said in a way of greeting as he climbed into the car. Her eyes skimmed over him, making sure he wasn't injured.

"I know, sorry. I got held up by a couple of students who wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Her eyes narrowed, expecting that to mean something more.

"Yeah, just talk. Nothing bad happened today mom, you can calm down. How has the expedition fared so far? Has there been any word?"

"Even if they travel at top speed and don't run into any difficulty, they won't reach the inner zone until tonight at the earliest. I'm guessing they won't reach the structure until sometime tomorrow in the afternoon. Either way, we probably won't hear anything unless it's through the official channels."

At home, Nate spread his homework across his desk for later and sprawled out on his bed. He hadn't had a chance to look at the dungeon all day, and it was making him jumpy. School and generally having a piece of crap body were getting in the way of him managing the dungeon properly.

At least, this first dungeon seemed somewhat designed to help him learn as he went. The abundance of resources he had begun with made no real sense otherwise. Unless, of course, he was still missing something. Which was entirely possible and more than a little likely.

He opened up the interface and spread out the various screens in a rush. The resource counters had gone up again, especially the energy, which had skyrocketed.

At the moment, inside the dungeon, there were four monsters. One of them was winding its way around the interior, bashing against the walls and doors, while somehow narrowly avoiding the traps. Nate didn't think it would be in there for very long. It was an ugly, wrinkled creature with no eyes. He remembered seeing something similar to it once on an old, animated television series.

It had been called a naked mole rat, he believed, only this one was far larger, and uglier than the real-life versions.

The other three monsters in the dungeon were in the corridor outside the dungeon exit room. Evidently, they had made it all the way there and were now afraid to continue any further. It was nice to know the trap was working, but it seemed like they were able to sense it still.

A trap was no good if everyone knew it was there. It kind of stopped being a trap at that point and more of an annoying obstacle.

That wasn't what he had been going for when he designed the dungeon or the trap. However, it might be something to consider for later. The simple maze he had gone for didn't really count as an obstacle design. At least not in his mind.

Nate glared at the three monsters and then at the wriggling naked mole rat that apparently had better senses than he had given it credit for. He needed some way to finish them off.

The question was how?

He couldn't afford to go in with his avatar and properly fix some of the traps. In that same vein, he couldn't afford to spend a lot of resources creating new ones, either. Those resources would be needed for when he could go in with the avatar. Everything was more expensive then.

Something that he would be able to do, hopefully, during a time when there were fewer monsters. He didn't feel like being torn apart again. He wouldn't say no to getting more equipment, it would simply have to be against the right monster. Something that he could handle in his current weakened state.

Nate made sure they hadn't gotten close to the dungeon core and then closed all the screens. It was time for him to do some more research on traps. No matter what he did, it felt like there wasn't enough variety.

He was probably overthinking the process, especially considering the opponents were mostly unthinking monsters. Yet, he wanted the dungeon to be better. This was his first one… the dungeon he would care the most about.

What he came to realize, though, was that it all came down to trial and error. He was trying to rush something that couldn't be rushed.

Grabbing his notebook, Nate began jotting down a few ideas that had stood out to him that he wanted to try out.

The next time he went inside with his avatar, he needed to see what it could do. Instead of rushing, he would take things a little slower this time. As long as the monsters couldn't reach his core, then he had all the time in the world to experiment.

Well, he also needed to get ready for the expedition party to arrive the next day. There was no telling how they would do against the traps. He expected the first one to be the deadliest, simply because they wouldn't be expecting it. After that, they would be on the lookout.

He would need to make a few more changes to some of the rooms that night after George left. Assuming he was coming over. They hadn't exactly set a schedule of any sort. It was more that whenever the guild master had some time to spare, he would come over for a healing session.

Chapter 12

Nate spun the pen around his fingers and leaned back in his desk chair. His homework for the next couple of days lay mostly completed in front of him. It was easy for him. After all, most of it was information he had studied in the past.

The items pertaining to the dimensional zones, monsters, and how they had changed the world were another matter. However, he found reading about them interesting and had been devouring all the books and articles on the internet he could.

Right now, none of that was enough to hold his attention for longer than a minute or two at a time.

To the side of his homework sat his notebook with all his thoughts on the dungeon. That little book was the cause of his current mental funk. At times he typed his thoughts in a password-protected file on his laptop, and other times he used the notebook. Either way, the end result was the same.

He was trying to understand more about the dungeon and how it functioned.

Early on, he had identified that the resources came mainly from the monsters upon their death. Energy seemed to be generated no matter what, as long as something was inside the dungeon.

All of the resources that were listed at the top of the dungeon screens were ones that he recognized. There were no fantastical names like 'Mithril' or 'Unobtanium'. At least not yet. In fact, most of them seemed to come from the composition of the blood and body. They were remarkably normal in that way.

Which led him to his current dilemma. Did he want to find some way to game the system for maximum resources? Or was he more interested in spending that time learning what he could about the dungeon?

Was there even a way to maximize profits? As far as he could tell, it simply depended on the monsters dying. Which meant he just needed to make the traps better.

Which brought him back to one of his earlier issues. He needed to wait until later before going inside with his avatar.

Nate kept working on his homework while he thought things over, hoping the task would trigger an idea.

It didn't work, but it did help him to finish all his homework ahead of time. By the time he finished, his father was home, and dinner was ready.

The TV was on, displaying some news about the party that had left to explore the structure.

"What's going on?" He asked, seeing his parents absorbed in whatever they were saying on the news.

"There's some news about the expedition already," Niall said, waving him over to the couch.

"Oh? How many have they managed to kill off already?" Nate snarked, plopping down next to his dad.

"They're not saying. It's just reporting that they're making good time and have run into several monsters. Nothing ground shaking or unexpected, in other words. They're trying to prepare people for when they do reveal the numbers, I'm sure."

Nina nodded. "The numbers can't be good if they've already started subtly laying the groundwork for when they do reveal them."

"Yeah, but we already knew they wouldn't allow most people to return. If nothing else, they would want to contain the information on what they discover as much as possible."

Niall thumbed the remote and turned off the TV. "Either way, I'm sure we'll hear more tomorrow sometime. Come on, let's eat."

Nate stayed sitting for a moment longer as a thought occurred to him. Who would report back about the dungeon if the entire team wiped? Sure, they would get the hint eventually that everyone had died, but he wanted people to know what the dungeon was doing. Didn't he?

He stood up, deciding that was a problem for the future. He couldn't control people, and he wasn't responsible for what they did either. The signs out front were already enough of a hint that something was going on. If future groups wanted to explore it, he would take them as they came. That was all he could do for now.

There was a knock on the front door as he was walking towards the kitchen.

George Trellow was standing on their front porch, wearing a long black trench coat with a scarf and hat that cast his face in shadows.

"You look like an old-schooler mobster dressed like that. The only thing missing is a cigar." Nate joked as he invited the man inside and took his coat. "We were just about to eat. Are you hungry?"

George laughed. "Good, perfect timing on my part, then. I haven't had a chance to eat all day."

He followed Nate back to the kitchen, where Nina and Niall greeted him with a smile. They had heard the exchange at the door and had already pulled out another place setting for the man.

"Guild Master, what brings you by tonight?" Niall asked as they dug into the food.

It was never a good thing to be presumptuous with someone more powerful than yourself. In the Guild Master's case, his cultivation level and position of power were higher than either Niall's or Nina's. He was someone who could do almost anything to them if he wanted and get away with it.

Just because he acted civil and nice to them didn't mean a beast wasn't lurking beneath the surface. They didn't know the man well enough to judge him yet.

"I came by to do another healing session on Nate's core and meridians. The guild is expecting things to get busy once news of what the structure is comes back. More cultivators from other cities will come over to explore it and keep us busy.

"Once that happens, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to come over. So, I'd like to get enough done while I can that his body can start healing them on its own. Right now, they're so bad it can't even do that."

"The guild doesn't honestly think anyone from the expedition is going to come back, do they?" Nate asked softly, looking down at his plate. "It'll be hard to properly report anything if that happens."

The table went silent.

"I'm sure your parents have discussed how the team that went out was constructed?"

He nodded.

"Well," George swirled his water glass. "It's a good thing they didn't go with them. The latest report from an hour ago already has the team facing massive losses just getting through the dimensional zone. So, no, I don't expect them to come back.

"I think they underestimated how difficult it would be to reach the structure and stupidly saw this as an opportunity to eliminate some people. Even if they do reach it, they won't have enough people to make it back through the zone. This expedition will result in a total party wipe. There is no doubt in my mind. Regardless, unless something goes wrong, we'll still get the information we need."

Nate thought about that for a second. "I'm not sure if I should say that's a lucky break for my parents, or something more respectful for all those who are dying because they pissed off the wrong people. I must say, I feel a certain kinship with them at this point." He smiled wryly as George burst out laughing.

"Worry about yourself first boy, no one outside your family is going to do if you don't. Some of the people that were forced to join the expedition truly deserved what they are getting. Others indeed did merely annoy the wrong idiot, and those you should pity. However, you don't have the power to do anything more than that."

"Does anyone have the power to go up against the major clans in each city?" Niall asked, more than a little bitterly. He sighed and picked up his empty plate. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It was inappropriate for the dinner table."

The guild master chuckled at that. "I like that, such honesty. You say that it was inappropriate for the dinner table, but not to say period. Good, you should keep that up. In answer to your question, there are a few who can stand up to the clans. Usually bigger clans that occupy multiple cities.

"Then there are the powerful cultivators that belong to no family. Unfortunately, they are usually worse. By the time they have obtained their power, they have suffered at the hands of the clans. They want nothing but revenge and to experience their own taste of what it's like to order others around."

"I can't believe the government just puts up with this. I mean, I know everything has fractured and splintered since the zones appeared, but ostensibly we're still part of a unified nation." Nate protested. He couldn't help but remember his old world at moments like this.

The adults at the table started laughing.

"Oh, Nathan, my sweet, ignorant child. Nations and countries exist in name only now. Officially, we all still belong to the same one but at the same time… It's a matter of logistics. Think about how hard it is to get supplies from cities far away. Air transport is a thing of the past with all the flying monsters, and no cultivator strong enough to fly would become a simple courier. Which means everything has to go overland, which is slower and even more risky as a result.

"Point is, that's just supplies. For a country to remain together, it has to be able to provide support in times of need. That is no longer possible. Our 'Country', if you will, is the nearby cities that we are allied with. It's the same for them." Nina explained to her son in an easy-to-understand manner.

He groaned and thumped his head against the table. The world really had changed more than he realized. How had that not come up in any of his internet searches? Then again, why would it? Unless it was an official declaration of dissolution, it wouldn't have appeared when he was looking for differences.

Not to mention, back then, he hadn't exactly known enough to look for something quite like this.

"Well, you learn something new every day. I guess my old school wasn't as good as they thought they were." He muttered, pushing all the blame for his ignorance onto the school that had let him get injured.

George shrugged. "Who can say if it was really their fault? Even though the dimensional zones have been here for so long, there are a lot of people who like to pretend that everything is fine. I'm sure there is some nameless bureaucrat either in office right now, or who recently left that is likely to blame. His new school will be much better for him."

"Speaking of my new school, I'm classmates with someone you apparently know, Angelica Chrighton. She approached me today and wanted to say hello."

"Ah, I should have guessed something like that would happen. I spoke with her father last night after our session. He must have mentioned you to her as a result. You should get to know her. She's a lovely girl, and her family is… expansive." He grinned.

Nate narrowed his eyes. "You set them up. You wanted them to reach out to me!"

The guild master had a twinkle in his eyes as he winked at them. "Consider it me having some fun at a friend's expense. Did she make you an offer, or want you to do anything?"

"She did." Nate folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Not sure if I should tell you what it was now." He muttered half-heartedly.

Niall and Nina proceeded to clean the table around them while he told the healer about Angelica's offer.

"And you refused that?"

"Like I told her, I didn't want things to get messy by doing something like that behind your back. Even if you never healed me any more than you did yesterday, I owe you for that. You were willing to meet and talk with us like normal people. With just those two things, you have more of my respect than anyone else in power that I have met or heard of."

"I appreciate that, but for the record, I don't mind if you make a deal with her. Getting that medication would be incredibly helpful. The damage done to your core and meridians will take quite a few sessions to heal without it. I can't get it on my own, but they can. Just make sure she gets a high-quality one." He finished with a grin.

"You are nothing like I expected a guild master to be."

"I'm one of a kind, for sure."

Chapter 13

Nate watched George leave, his entire body aching from the recent healing session. He had no doubt that when he checked the info screen on his wrist computer later, his stats would have improved again.

His parents came up behind him. "Come on, why don't you finish the last of your homework before going to bed? Then in the morning you can call that Angelica girl and let her know what he said. That is, of course, assuming George hasn't already talked to them." Niall suggested, gently pushing his son towards the stairs.

That was right, George had wanted him to take Angelica's deal. Which still struck him as odd. The entire point of the deal was the keep the man interested in coming over and spending time with them. Which by telling him, he had pretty much already agreed that he was going to do anyway.

Did that mean the deal was moot, or that he had already fulfilled his obligation in advance?

It was a question he had no answer for. Since his homework was already done, all that was left was getting ready for bed. He took a quick shower and changed into his pajamas.

Laying down, he activated the computer on his wrist and saw his updated stats.

Nathaniel Holmes

Age: 17 years

Realm: Unawakened Mortal (Damaged Core, and Meridians)

Core: Grade ??

Strength: 7(-2.6)

Speed: 6(-3.5)

Constitution: 6(-3.4)

Energy: 4.3

Meditative Art: ??

Energy Skills: None

Attack:

Support:

Companion Beast: None

Dungeon Creation - Current limit 1

Dungeon Interface

Dungeon - 1

Avatar

Equip

Don Avatar

Items

Storage

They had increased again, well decreased depending on how you looked at it. Not a lot, but it was there. At their current rate of improvement, he would need at least another fifteen or so sessions, give or take a couple.

He could see why George would want him to use the medicine. There was no guarantee how long getting to that number would take. Besides, who knew if he would even maintain a constant rate of improvement? The alchemical potion was simply a better and faster method if he could get his hands on it.

If not, well, he had already waited two months just to begin healing. He could wait a little longer for it to be completed.

Without waiting any longer, he donned his avatar, sending his regular body to sleep.

Inside the dungeon, Nate took a moment to remember what he wanted to do. Right now, he wanted to perfect a few more of the traps, and better secure the core.

Creating new ones could wait until later. He was having a hard time coming up with different traps to place. There was nothing preventing him from creating an entire dungeon of pitfall or acid traps, except himself. It was boring, and wouldn't work on all the monsters, not to mention the humans that were coming.

He had to take those annoyances into account with what new additions he made. Maybe he'd find out in the next couple of days how people reacted to the dungeon. They might leave well enough alone or decide to explore it.

Personally, he thought they would be stupid to explore something that was slowing down the appearance of monsters. However, people were curious creatures, and he doubted they would leave well enough alone.

They rarely did, after all; humans had a terrible track record in that regard.

Nate looked around the large empty room that housed the core and pulled up his menu. Surely there was something he could do to make it more secure while in this form. He already knew he couldn't hide it completely. But that didn't mean he needed to let it remain out in the open and completely visible, either. Did it?

He checked his available resources and then thought about the traps he needed to modify. Everything was so expensive when he did it this way, but he thought he might be able to at least do something.

Nothing extravagant, but a simple wall with a tiny hole might be possible. If nothing else, it would help hide the core from sight.

Nate looked down at the ground, making sure he took note of where he had appeared. He didn't want to get trapped inside the room the next time he appeared.

Pulling up the menu, he began working on the construction of the wall, pushing it as far back as he could. It was nearly touching the pedestal that the core sat on when he finished. It still wouldn't let him send through the order to build it though, until he created an opening at the top in the corner. Hopefully, in a spot where no one would notice.

The wall was fairly thick, and expensive to create. However, it was the last line of defense for his precious core. He deemed it necessary. So, while he hadn't planned on spending anywhere near as much as he was about to. Nate was alright with it.

He would simply do one less trap for now is all.

With the room ready, he sent through the order and the dungeon shutdown.

The lights went out, and the air grew cold and lifeless.

Alarmed at the sudden change, Nate pulled up the viewing screens and saw all the monsters that had been stuck at the entrance suddenly leave. All of the traps throughout the entire dungeon had been turned off.

He moaned and sat down. He knew that doing construction on a trap made everything in the room inert for the duration. He hadn't expected the same thing to happen with the core, since it controlled everything. That had been a bad miscalculation on his part.

He kept the screens up as the wall continued to build behind him. Whether by a stroke of luck or something else, no monster wandered his way. In fact, they almost all took the same path for the exit. That was one theory confirmed, at least. The dungeon was doing something to actively hide scent trails.

He wished it worked on the smell of the acid in the traps he used, but you couldn't have everything.

It took nearly an hour and a half for the wall to build itself. Longer than most traps, that was for sure. He didn't know if that was because of how thick the wall was, or if it was because it was in the core room. Either way, it had taken a lot longer than he had expected.

When he got his next dungeon, he wouldn't be making this mistake again. That was for sure.

Finally, the lights came back on. The air took on the same quality of freshness it had before, and the traps started working again. The dungeon was back in business.

Nate stood with a shiver and began jogging towards the entrance and the first trap on his list to modify. He was freezing after sitting on the floor in the dark for so long. He only had a pair of pants on, for heaven's sake. No shoes, no shirt, nothing.

He needed to get his blood flowing.

Nate made sure to take an alternate route to the entrance. Avoiding the two monsters that had still been inside the dungeon when it restarted. If he was lucky, he might be able to trick them into one of the traps and get some more gear out of them after he was finished.

He would need to be careful with how he approached and handled them. He couldn't risk another set of odd bruises appearing like the last time. The guild master would only brush them aside so many times. Not to mention, as his core and meridians healed, he couldn't continue to use them as an excuse for everything.

Of course, it wasn't like he wanted to get captured and torn to shreds a second time anyway. Once was more than enough for him.

Nate made his way past the newest monster without a problem, but got stuck on the second one. In the short time he had been jogging, it had progressed through another two rooms and cut off the route he had planned on taking.

To get around it now, he would have to backtrack several minutes.

Pulling up the traps in the room ahead of him, he saw it was a mix of fire floors and arrow walls. It would have to do. Before he lost his nerve, he rushed into the room and whistled at the hairy boar-looking thing. Large tusks that could gore him in a second extended up from its mouth. Its rear haunches were abnormally large with rippling muscles, and its eyes gleamed with an inner red-light.

It was not the kind of monster Nate would have picked a fight with under normal circumstances. It was big; it was ugly, and quite frankly, just looking at it, made him shiver in fright as he remembered what had happened last time.

Still, this was something he felt he needed to do, if for no other reason than to face his fears. He wanted those items though. The promise of a shirt or boots, maybe even a weapon, was too much to pass up at the moment.

A cloven hoof scraped against the stone floor of the dungeon as the boar prepared to charge at him.

Nate swallowed, suddenly not sure how this was going to work out. The last time, the beast had at least stayed still for a moment so he could run away and let the traps activate. That might not be the case this time.

It was too late for second thoughts and regrets as it charged through the room it had been in and through a short corridor towards him.

Nate scrambled back out of the range of the trap, praying that it would activate in time. If not, all he could do is dive to the side and hope that it was enough to save his avatar. He didn't want to waste time doing this all again in the morning.

The boar was completely focused on him, its red eyes unwavering. The first of the arrows barely penetrated through its thick layer of protective hide. Until one of them lodged just right in its rear leg and sent it tumbling to the ground.

The fire floor trap activated and burned the beast to death while Nate watched from the opening of the room. He had backed up when he saw the first of the arrows fly free.

The fire continued to rage for several long minutes before finally guttering out.

Nate stepped carefully, unsure if the floor would be hot, only to find that it was already cool to the touch. In front of him, the remains of the beast sank into the floor, leaving behind two glowing orbs. One was blue, and about the same size as the one he had gotten before. The second orb was smaller, around the size of a marble, and looked like it contained the rainbow inside its crystalline interior.

"Please be a shirt, please be a shirt," He muttered as he reached down and touched the glowing blue orb. It broke apart with a flash of light, leaving a pair of long knives that curved towards the front.

He vaguely remembered them being called 'Kukris' from a story he had read years before. A crazy princess had been given them by a boy from another world after appearing in hers with his house. It had been an odd but enjoyable story that tied into a much larger universe by the same author.

They weren't a shirt, but getting a weapon wasn't a bad thing either, not that he had any training in how to use them. Not that he could remember anyway. If the original Nate of this world had received any weapons training, no one had said anything to him about it.

It was one more thing that he was going to have to start concentrating on. Whether that training involved knives or bows or some other weapon, would be determined later. Just because he had gotten the kukris from the dungeon didn't mean they were the perfect weapon for him to use.

It didn't mean he wouldn't use them until he figured out what that weapon was though either.

Picking them up, Nate saw a pair of sheathes appear on his thighs. Sliding the blades into their new homes. He looked at the multi-colored marble.

Chapter 14

The small orb was the last item on the floor, and the one that beckoned him most strongly. It was curious, and nothing like either of the two orbs he had seen before.

Deciding to just get it over with, Nate grabbed the small marble.

Unlike the larger orbs, this one didn't break apart in a flash of light. Instead, it slowly sank into his skin. A rush of heat spread throughout his body as energy poured into him. He enjoyed the feeling while it lasted, knowing it would be gone soon enough. With his broken core and meridians, the energy wouldn't be able to stick around for long.

As the feeling began to fade, he pulled up his stat screen from his main dungeon menu. A grin spread across his face as he noticed that his energy had increased from four point three to four point five. He didn't know if that was a lot, but it would certainly help when he began reforming his core. The more energy he had, the better the grade of core he would get later on.

Nate glanced down at his new knives and then to the screens he still had up, displaying the last monster still in the dungeon. He really wanted a shirt or a pair of boots. He wouldn't say no to some more energy either, or whatever else it might be able to drop.

He had only just scratched the surface at this point, and he was eager to explore what else it could do. The fact that it could help him cultivate energy was already a major help. How many people were able to cultivate during their sleep, or in his condition?

The traps could wait a little longer, he decided. He had another beast to help get rid of first.

The last monster in his dungeon was a giant rat. He had already seen them before. They were large, with strong quick tails, and had slightly acidic spit. It would be annoying to deal with, but wasn't a problem if he approached it properly.

Nate touched the new weights on his thighs for reassurance and took off at a jog. It didn't matter that he didn't know how to properly use them, just having them was a comfort all unto itself.

It was a comfort that didn't matter. As soon as the giant rat saw him, it lost control. The long tail flicked out and struck the closest wall as it screamed at him. Unfortunately for the rat, the wall was a spike trap and skewered the tail on contact.

The sudden burst of pain sent it rolling about the floor and onto another spike trap. And just like that, another beast had been eliminated.

A moment later, a single glowing white orb was all that remained of it.

Nate tapped it with a slightly complicated expression. He didn't feel as though he had really done anything to help this particular monster along to the afterlife. Yet, he also wasn't going to say no to the pair of comfortable-looking leather boots that it had dropped.

Finally, he didn't have to feel the chill of the stone through his bare feet anymore. Of course, he still didn't have any socks, or other undergarments, or even a shirt, for that matter. But beggars can't complain, he would just have to put up with the uncomfortable feeling of barefoot sweat.

Shaking his head at the odd turn of events his life had taken, Nate turned around and headed for the entrance to the dungeon. He needed to fix the trap there first. All the monsters were getting stuck there because they could tell a trap was waiting for them.

That wasn't good. It was exactly what he didn't want to happen. The idea was to make everything as invisible as possible, so the beasts walked right into their doom.

The problem was that he didn't know what they were seeing or sensing. When he got there, everything looked fine to him. Whatever it was the beasts saw was escaping him for the moment. Which meant he would need to wait until later to fix it.

If nothing else, it would serve to keep the monsters inside the dungeon. Even if it didn't kill them, it at least kept them inside, where they generated energy for him. That was something that he couldn't complain about.

Putting that matter on the back burner, he moved a few rooms back and began working on the traps there.

He didn't want to end up with a similar situation to the exit again. Which meant he had to make sure to choose a room with different sorts of traps in it this time. There were no spike walls or spear floors to be seen. In fact, this room was rather simplistic. There were only arrow walls in it.

He began by extending those all around the walls and then began tweaking their firing angles slightly. Nate wanted to ensure that there were no blind spots to be seen in this room whatsoever. He was sure there was more he could do, but that was all he could think of for the moment.

When at last he had everything designed to his satisfaction, he sent the order through to have it built. He glanced at the screens he had up until he found the current beasts inside. It was another of those leopards with three tails. They were strong and smart, not something that he felt like dealing with at the moment.

Deciding that he'd had enough excitement for one night, Nate left the dungeon and fell asleep properly.

His mother woke him with a shake the next morning. "Come on, get up. There's information about the structure that appeared on the news."

"Already?" He groaned. "Didn't the expedition sleep at all last night?"

"This isn't from the expedition, but a satellite that finally got a clear image." That perked him up. He had never seen the outside of the dungeon before. "Come on, hurry up."

It took him a moment to shake the sleep from his head as he followed his mother downstairs to the TV.

"I repeat, this is breaking news! Exclusive to our channel. This footage was obtained by a private satellite. Which means that others have likely already seen the structure in detail as well and just not reported it. You can see behind me-" Nate tuned out the talking head and focused on the structure they were showing.

Judging by the size of the trees closest to it, the building was maybe three stories tall and not all that large. Certainly not big enough to house everything that was going on inside. He had to suppress a giggle as he thought about the old line of it being bigger on the inside.

That described the dungeon to a 'T'.

Unfortunately, from above like this, they weren't able to see any of the awesome signs he had put out for everyone.

It was too bad the satellite feed wasn't live, or he might have been tempted to write a message on the roof just for fun.

"It looks like a typical building to me. I'm not seeing why everyone is so freaked out about it yet?" Nate said, already walking towards the kitchen to get some breakfast. "I mean, sure it's interesting, but has anyone even stopped to think that maybe who put it there doesn't want people touching their stuff? If they're strong enough to make something around the portal itself, then they're strong enough to wreck most people for annoying them."

"I think everyone is still focused on the thought that this is the next stage of evolution for the dimensional zones." His dad replied from the couch.

"Well, they can think what they want, and I'll think that they're idiots in turn. People are assuming that the dimensional zones are part of some kind of planned invasion, which is stupid. They've had years to do that, and they haven't succeeded yet. Which means either poor planning; not likely for beings that can cross dimensions and set something like this up. Or there is something else at play."

Nate finished putting the sandwich he was going to eat for breakfast together and turned to face his parents. "What?"

They were staring at him curiously.

"Nothing, it's just you've changed a lot since you were attacked, you know? You were always smart, but ever since they did that, and you lost your memories… I don't know, it's like you've been making up for lost time or something. It's not a bad change, just different." Nina said, while leaning against her husband.

"As for what you said, you're not the first to suggest it. Some people think it was simply our world's time to join some galactic network of worlds, and this is a rite of passage. Who knows for sure?" Niall told them while flicking off the TV. "What I do know is that you need to call a certain young lady today." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and laughed.

Nate rolled his eyes and grabbed a plate for his sandwich. "As if something like that would ever happen between her and me. You are right that I need to call her though."

Upstairs, he activated the dungeon screens for a quick moment to see how everything was going before grabbing his phone. The new trap was performing well, it seemed, all of the resource counters had increased during the night. Plus, there were no beasts stuck at the entrance.

The new trap might not be enough to kill them on its own, but it would hopefully injure them. From there, they could be finished off by the last trap at the entrance. Really, any of the traps worked, but that was what he imagined was going on.

It was what he had changed after all.

Glad that the dungeon was doing well, he pulled up his contact list and remembered that he had never gotten her information.

With a groan, he tapped on George Trellow's name. He would have to find another way to get her number. He hated going roundabout ways like this. It would have been better if he had gotten her number the day before.

Oh, well. It was too late for that now. All he could do was ask a mutual acquaintance for her number and hope that she answered.

"Nate, is that you?" George asked as he picked up. "Is something wrong?"

"No sorry, I hate to disturb you during the day like this, but I went to call Angie and realized I didn't have her number. You're the only person I know who also knows her, so I was hoping that you might have her number."

Nate could practically hear the older man roll his eyes as he snorted. "I did tell you to take her deal, but to think you had walked away from her at the school without even getting her number. I'm not sure whether to be impressed or disappointed. She is a rather good-looking young woman, you know. I would think you would want to collect her number for that reason alone unless, of course, you prefer men. I know fellows I could introduce you to, if that's the case."

"No, I like women," Nate said, not feeling like getting into that discussion at the moment. "I just had other things on my mind during each of our encounters. I won't deny that she's pretty, but so is her friend. Plenty of girls are pretty. It isn't hard to find a pretty person these days. Cultivators all tend to be good-looking after all."

"You're an odd one for sure, Nate. You aren't wrong, but few your age would ever think like that. Even beyond the initial similarity that drew me to you, I find myself growing keenly interested in you as a person." George remarked.

"I don't know about that; I think I'm pretty normal." He lied. Nate was well aware that the way he viewed things had changed since coming back. He had never been this mature as a teenager before. It would have been nice if he had been, but he had been ordinary back then.

He hadn't started to change until he got sick.

There was a laugh. "Well, you keep thinking that. Anyway, let me get you her and Lindsay's number, just in case she doesn't answer a call from an unknown number."

Chapter 15

Nate nervously tapped the side of his phone, trying to get up the courage to hit the button that would dial the number. He hadn't done anything like this in years, and George's talk of her being cute hadn't helped in the slightest. It had actually done the opposite.

He was psyching himself out, over a simple phone call with a girl who was completely out of his league. He took a deep breath and held it for several seconds before slowly releasing it. Remembering that she was pretty much a princess actually helped.

This wasn't a fairytale where love trumped everything, he was in a world where enough strength could overrule laws. If he wanted to be with someone, then first he needed to be strong enough to stand by their side.

Besides, all he knew about Angie was that she had a nice face, her personality so far wasn't exactly welcoming either.

Finding himself calmer, Nate thumbed the button and pressed the phone against his ear.

It rang, and rang, then rang some more, before finally switching over to her voicemail. He left a quick message and hung up. He would wait a few minutes before calling Lindsay's number. There were several reasons Angelica might not have answered her phone, and he wanted to give her some time.

With his homework all finished, Nate was free to do as much research on traps as he wanted. Later he would start exploring the dungeon systems some more.

He was curious as to whether he had access to everything already or if there was a way to upgrade things. He knew he could have more dungeons eventually, yet he didn't even know how to unlock them. All of that told him he was missing something.

Finally, he also apparently needed to start training his body again and find out what weapon, if any he was proficient in. It was quite the list for a Saturday.

With his parent's home for the moment, it was probably smarter to weave two of them together. Grabbing his laptop, he went downstairs and settled down on the opposite end of the couch from his mother.

"Hey, mom, did I used to train in any weapons?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the computer screen.

"Hmm, why the sudden interest?"

"Just something that was mentioned at school, and since I can't remember portions of my life still, I have no idea."

"Sweetie, I hate to tell you this, but you'll probably never get those memories back. I looked into people who have suffered similar accidents to yours, and the few cases where people had lost memories never got them back. It's why having someone guard you is so important." Her hands clenched tight. "We should have been there to watch over you ourselves, if not for that stupid mission!"

"It's fine mom, it's the past. As long as you and dad are alright with me not remembering everything then this is fine. Now back to the question at hand. Did I ever train in any specific weapon or martial arts in preparation for what would happen after I formed my core?"

She shook her head, while forcibly unclenching her hand. "There was no one weapon you favored. You would train in them all for a little while and then move on to the next one. I'm not sure what you were looking for, but you never seemed to find it. You went through them all though, bows, crossbows, naginatas, daggers, swords, jians, katanas. You tried them all."

Nate felt his eye twitch. That did sound like something a younger him might have done. He would have been obsessed with finding the one that felt 'right' in his hands. Instead of training to get that feeling. He had read too many stories where you were supposed to pick the weapon that felt right. Instead of training to make it feel right.

There were arguments to be said for both unless of course you never found one that matched up to you.

"Did I ever try kukris?" It was a shot in the dark.

She tilted her head thoughtfully. "No, I don't think you ever did. Why?"

He shook his head. "Just curious. With George making progress on my meridians and core, and then what they said at school… It's got me thinking I should start training again is all. At the rate I'm going to be behind everyone else if I don't do something soon."

Her eyes narrowed. "This has something to do with a girl, doesn't it? I heard you mention a name to him last night. Ange, something, or other. I know guys always start working harder when they have a crush they want to impress."

"Her name is Angie or Angelica, and no this isn't about her, mom. This is about me not wanting to be vulnerable the next time someone wants to pick a fight with me. I want to know that I'll be able to defend myself when that time comes."

"You said when not if…" She said softly.

"Yeah, I did. You can't tell me you don't think someone won't try something similar in the future. Maybe not when I'm forming my core this time, but they'll find a reason to do something, I'm sure."

"Regardless, if you want to start training again. I can talk to your father about finding you a proper weapons trainer, just remember, he and I are on probation."

"I wouldn't be too worried about that mom, you heard George. He doesn't expect anyone from this expedition to survive anyway, so you'll be cleared automatically you said. Why do I need a special trainer though? Couldn't you or dad do it in your free time?"

She shook her head. "We already tried that once. I use a bow, which again you liked well enough but didn't think it was right for you. And your father uses bladed tonfas, which you absolutely struggled with. If you are wanting to train in daggers, kukri's specifically then neither of us would be able to help you."

He nodded in understanding, once again cursing the old him. There was something to be said for exploring your options and wanting to know how to at least handle most weapons. However did he really have to be this picky? It wasn't even like he was training to become more than passable in them anyway.

The sound of his phone ringing interrupted their conversation and stopped them from saying anything more.

Picking it up, he saw it was Angie returning his earlier call.

"Hello Angelica," He said accepting the call.

"I told you to call me Angie! I'm just returning your call; I'm assuming you got my number from George?"

"I did."

"And did you mention what I proposed to him?" She prodded.

"I did, he said it was fine and that I should take you for everything you're worth." Nate chuckled. "No seriously though, he did mention that getting the medication would be a tremendous help."

"Well, I hadn't originally intended for him to know of our deal for obvious reasons. However, I can't say I'm exactly mad that you told him either. It shows a certain amount of character towards relationships that I can appreciate. Anyway, I already sent the order for the medication through yesterday. I figured you wouldn't be able to resist speaking with him about the offer."

Nate rolled his eyes. "What strength was the order you sent through for? George mentioned I'm going to need something fairly potent."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "It was standard strength, but I'll let them know to make it stronger as soon as we're done speaking."

"Thanks, I'd appreciate it." He said softly.

"They really did a number on you, didn't they? We all know that you were getting ready to form your core, but that's it."

"Not getting ready to. I was in the midst of, I guess anyway. I don't remember anything from it, but apparently, it was pretty much the single worst moment for them to have intervened."

"I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"It wasn't you or your family's fault, but I won't say what they did is fine either. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about George. I'll talk to you later." They spent a few moments going back and forth before hanging up.

"Ugh," He groaned, looking up at his mother. "That felt so awkward and unnatural."

She nodded. "I cringed a few times, and I was only hearing half the conversation."

"Gee thanks mom, you're a ton of help."

"I try. Now, what are you going to do for the rest of the day?" She sipped some of her cool tea with a look of mild disgust and set it to the side.

"Hmm, well, I've already finished all my homework, but I do need to do some research through the school's information portal. Then I figured I'd start getting back into shape, so I'm not completely hopeless when it's time to train."

"Alright, well, go enjoy your weekend. I'll just be down here waiting for news about the expedition. I have no idea where your father ran off to."

Nate picked up his laptop, ruffled his mother's hair, and went back up to his room. With Angie working on getting him the medicine and George already having healed him twice, it was time to get serious about a couple of things.

Namely, taking care of his body and knowing how to form a proper core.

With his busted knee, training of any kind had been the last thing on his mind. Thankfully, the remaining energy in his body seemed to have kept him from falling too far physically. He wasn't a lumpy blob with no muscle mass. Of course, without his meridians, he was still weaker than normal all across the board.

Maybe he could start to change that.

He brought up the school website and logged into the information portal. All the latest books could be found either physically at the school library or online.

Nate quickly found every book available on either forming or recovering from core damage and began reading them. Well, he skimmed them initially. They were all monster-sized tomes that were exceedingly dry.

From that, however, he was able to remove most of the books from his list for the moment. They would be useful to read but weren't immediately useful to his situation.

He needed to focus his attention on where it would be most useful. This wasn't like the stories from his Original Earth, where information was delivered directly to your mind. He still needed to read everything the old-fashioned way for the moment.

Any information that got delivered that way needed to wait until after he got his core. Not to mention, some things were always lost when it was transmitted. That was why people still had to figure things out for themselves, even after getting the knowledge.

Sure, it helped with suddenly knowing how to do certain kinds of math or fighting skill, but the user had to make that knowledge their own still. Otherwise, it was little better than having a manual or textbook in your head all the time. It was useful, but not as valuable as some people assumed it was.

For the next few hours, he lost himself in the reading, making sure to take copious notes along the way. He wasn't going to screw up forming his core this time.

Unfortunately, fixing what he still had was a little harder. It wasn't a full core, and since it was actually broken, not just damaged, most of the information he found was useless.

That didn't mean it was a complete waste of time, only that it was close to one.

Again, he added all the information to his notes. He was determined to try everything out before he went to bed that night. Assuming, of course, the expedition wasn't causing problems inside the dungeon.

Finally, he decided he had spent enough time reading, and went down to the gym his parents kept in the basement to begin working out.