(3) - Getting Acquainted

The massive tan skinned man shook Adam's hand firmly and said,

"My name's Theo."

He smiled and looked Adam in the eye with such genuine kindness it was almost nauseating.

"Umm.. I'm Adam" he responded, taking his hand away. He glanced around to the other two.

One was a woman, in her early twenties, fair skinned with freckles and long curly red hair.

The other was a mixed looking guy with dark eyes and a nice fade to go along with his curly black hair.

The woman was the next to speak up as she said in a British accent:

"Well, new guy huh? we can get the show on the road then yeh?"

She turned to the mixed guy and said, "that right Jay?"

"That's what that fancy dressed guy said.." He replied with a deep, almost Brooklyn accented voice.

"What is going on? Where is this place?"

Adam asked, confused. He was a little more than overwhelmed at this point by all the events.. Even more so by the casualness at which the others in the room seemed to be handling the situation.

"You don't know?" The woman asked, giving him a look that said 'are you and idiot?'

It made him irritated..

Theo stepped between the two and said calmly,

"Come now Lily.. he's clearly confused."

He clapped Adam on the shoulder and smiled again, saying, "Don't worry, we've all been there.. In fact. We've been stuck in this room for a while now.. I'm the newest, I've been here two weeks..

Jay there has been here two months.."

Adam raised an eyebrow and said, "what? Really?"

The tall man nodded and removed his hand before continuing, "Before I continue.. I want to know what YOU know about this place.."

Adam nodded and explained all the events leading up to that moment.. the regal guy, the bottle room, and being transported there.. He left out the car wreck, not wanting to sound crazy...

"I see.. That all sounds familiar. You should have listened to that Victorian guy though to be honest.. You and Lily have that in common"

Adam watched as Lily crossed her arms and looked away, irritated.

Theo laughed, "Did you have some sort of accident before coming here? Like... were you killed?"

Adam felt all the eyes in the room on him and his heart seemed to skip a beat.

"How... did you know?"

Theo frowned and it was actually Jay who spoke up from his spot near the fire,

"It happened to all of us..."

"Right.." Theo added, "I died of smoke inhalation... a fire.. world went black and I woke up here..."

"For me it was a heart attack.." Jay said, "watching tv.."

Everyone looked at Lily but she said bluntly, "Why would I tell you lot?"

Adam spoke up next, his mind finally accepting the reality he knew deep inside:

"I.. died in a wreck didn't I..."

Theo patted him on the back and said, "dead or not.. you are here now! Alive in some shape or fashion"

Adam nodded. He began to open his mouth to speak but a familiar voice interrupted him,

"Welcome Heroes... To the dungeon at last. All 4 have gathered and thus the party is complete.. You have all been granted your very own Core Skill.."

The regally dressed figure stopped talking and the room grew eerily silent. Adam glanced around at the others. They all seemed to be intently focused on the person as they moved into the light of the fire.

"Before you can venture forth and take on the challenges of the dungeon... you must learn the basics"

Without missing a beat the regal man rattled off a list of information almost too fast for Adam to keep up.

"1: You can access all the options of your status by thinking 'menu'

2: you can spend stat points from killing monsters on leveling up your stats..

3: your skills are acquired through discovery and level up separately

4: work together.. If you die, it is your own fault...

5: If you conquer the dungeon, you will find that which you desire most..."

And just as quickly as he came the man disappeared..

The 4 stood in the room looking at each other.

"This is like a video game huh?" Jay said, looking at a transparent blue menu in front of him.

"I guess so..." Lily echoed.

Adam thought 'menu' himself and saw a rectangular blue box akin to the one he saw before.. Only bigger and with more information:

[Name: Adam — Level: 1 — Class: None]

[HP: 10/10]

[Str: 6]

[Int: 11]

[Wis: 10]

[Agi: 7]

[End: 5]

[Cha: 5]

[Skills]

[ (Core Skill) Spring-Like: LVL 1 (Poor) ]

[Inventory]

[Sack Cloth Clothes]

"Weird... this is like a tabletop game character sheet or something" he thought. Reaching a finger out he clicked on 'spring like' and a separate menu popped up:

[Spring Like]

- At will you can grant your body all the aspects of a spring. This can be used in tandem with other skills. The strength and effectiveness of the skill is determined by skill level.

"What does that mean??" Adam thought. "Spring Like?"

He thought for a moment then closed the menu. He looked down at his feet and imagined them being 'spring like' whatever that meant..

He then took a step and felt it.. sure enough, he could feel a very minute 'bounce' in his step.. as if he was, well, stepping on a spring..

Curious, he tried it on his arm, and he moved it around.. if he contracted it, he could feel it 'coil'.. as if his bones and joints were tensing up.. he could then release it at will and feel it spring outwards..

"What is the point of this skill?" He wondered.. Usually skills in games were very specific.. While this one the use of which he could only guess..

Looking around the others we're wrapping up their study of the menu and their stats as well and it was Jay who spoke up first,

"Right.. I think it would probably be good to know what everyone's skill is yeah?. If we are going to work together?"

"Who said anything about working together?" Lily snapped, clearly irritated..

"What's her deal?" Adam thought as he watched the young woman and the young man being to argue.

"Didn't you hear him? Clearly we need to work together.."

"Ha.. like working together with you lot will do anything for me.."

"Come on you two stop.. let's calm down" Theo interrupted.

They begrudgingly stopped...

Adam wasn't sure whether they stopped because of Theo's words or because he was built like a pro wrestler.. either way, they both turned to listen to him.

"I think for now we should work together.. Look, there's a passage over there that wasn't there before.. We should keep going together. If it turns out we need to split up we can, but we were clearly meant to be together for now.."

"Hmm.. For now.." Lily said.

Jay mouthed "thank you" to Theo who nodded back.

"Let's walk then.." Theo said, "And I can tell you all about my core skill.."

The four moved to the passageway, dark and lit by scant torches..

As they moved down the long corridor they all took turns sharing their skills with each other, starting with Theo:

"My Core Skill is called '11th Sense'... It says 'at will I can sense life forms, constructs etc. and determine their location, and intent based on the level of the skill..."

"Wait, so how far can you sense then? What does that mean?" Lily asked.

Theo stopped then and closed his eyes and said, "Keep going.. all of you go and stand somewhere"

Without opening his eyes he pointed to the other three one by one and said "Lily, 10.2 meters that way.. feeling: annoyed"

"Jay, 9.7 meters that way, feeling: curious"

"Adam, 10.1 meters that way, feeling: curious"

"Wow.. how far can you do that?" Jay asked.

"I think I can do about fifteen meters right now.. and I can't really explain it.. I just 'know' where you are, almost like a feeling.."

"Neat.." Jay said, "My Core Skill is a little different.. I haven't tried it out yet.. It's called 'Crystal Mana Engine'...

The description says: "You generate Mana within yourself and find it easier to use magic.. Though you can only use 'crystalline mana'.. That means you can only use white magic, life magic, and holy spells..."

"No fair!" Lily said, "That sounds cool! You get to use magic?! And here I am with 'immovable'..

All it says is: "You are very hard to knock down, and are more sturdy in general.."

"Haha! That fits you!" Jay said, to which Lily punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"

Theo laughed and Adam couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"Aah mine.." Adam said, interrupting them.. "Umm it's called 'spring like'"

"What?" Lily said, confused

Adam then went on to explain what he understood about it and the others seemed just as confused as he was about it.

"Anyway, that's it.." Adam concluded.

"Well... I'm sure it's useful for something.. maybe you can jump higher or something i don't know" Jay said shrugging.

The four fell into silence after that until they reached a large squared off room with a sign in the middle of the floor.

There were scattered tables with loads of different objects on them.

The sign simply said:

"Pick your weapon..."