Ch 3 - Convincing

'Where am I' was the first thing Jax thought when he arrived at the dungeon. He saw a variety of different and weird people. But Jax instantly recognised them.

'Elves? Dwarves? Beastmen? Am I dreaming?' he thought, and no one would blame him. This was a scene that could be taken straight out of a manga.

Jax looked around for answers to his question. But unlike most, he actually got an answer.

[Ding! Binding to host… please wait]

"What!" he exclaimed. A couple people glanced at him, but soon continued with their day. Newbies were common occurrences around here, so they could easily recognize Jax to be one as well.

[Ding! Binding complete! Welcome host!]

"Uh… what?"

[Would you like an explanation of where you are?]

"Uh…" Jax was speechless. Is this one of those systems that the protagonist has that are overpowered?

"Yesss…?"

[Ding! The host is in the Dungeon of Souls. It's where…(omitted)]

The system then went on to explain the basic info about the Dungeon of Souls, the different god's and their domains, the basics of each floor and about the first floor.

'Damn, this is weird. A fantasy dungeon after you die? Wait, I'm dead?!' He finally processed his death. He remembered that he was playing a game on his old computer when some sparks came out. Although he doesn't exactly remember what happened, it's safe to say he died because of his computer.

'Crap, I shouldn't have used that run-down computer…' Although he was bummed about his death, he was more salty than sad. It's not that bad though. He's now in this new fantasy world… scratch that, dungeon.

[Would you like an explanation of this system?]

"Yep" the only thing that Jax was confused about was this supposed system he received. Was it a system that'll let him grow insanely strong? Maybe this means he's special!

[Ding! This system is made from the god of chaos, and is given to those who have the potential to rise up and descend the dungeon. You, the host of the system, are a human who possesses the right potential and mindset to properly wield the system]

'Wow, I must be really special!' Jax thought.

[Incorrect. You're the 762 389th person to receive the system]

"..."

His thought was immediately shut down. But, another thought came up: 'Wait, you can read my mind?!'

[The system has been bonded to you, so it can receive thoughts directed to the system]

'Well that's awfully convenient' he thought.

[Would you like an explanation of the systems features?]

'Yes'

[Ding! The system has 5 different features. Status, inventory, shop, missions and map]

[The status feature is like it's name, and shows your status. This includes your health, mana, arts, skills, etc.]

[The inventory feature can store 20 different items, but if the items are the same, they can be stacked. Upgrades in the shop can increase the size of the inventory]

[The shop feature provides a variety of weapons, armour, equipment and more. Also, system upgrades can be bought there]

[The missions feature gives out daily missions, special missions and emergency missions. Each mission gives out system coins, which are used to buy stuff from the shop]

[Lastly, the map feature is a 3D map that shows everywhere you have explored. It shows you your real time position and the world around you]

[There are more features that need to be unlocked in the shop, or when certain conditions are met. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask]

'...okay' he thought. The explanation was a bit hard to digest all at once. 'Inventory, shop, missions and map… got it. This system is quite amazing'.

'What should I do first?' Jax asked the system.

[Ding! The system recommends you complete a daily mission]

'Okay, then give it to me'

[Ding! The daily mission is to…]

{}

"Are you sure you want to come to my office? I'm just going to be working all day" Quinn asked.

He was just about to leave for work when Ella came and asked if she could come with him.

"But it's boring here~" Ella pouted. But, she had a point. His apartment had no toys or anything.

"Plus, I'll be lonely, since you won't be there".

"Fine, I guess there's no harm in bringing you along"

"Yay!" Ella shouted and jumped on his back. "Piggyback! Piggyback!"

"Ugh… aren't you a bit too old for this?"

"No! I can always have piggybacks!" She rebutted.

"Okay, but you're kinda heavy… ouch!"

Ella had pinched Quinn's cheek. "Mommy said that men should never talk about women's weight! Bad Quinn!"

"Sorry, sorry" He quickly apologized, not from the pain, but from Ella getting angry. Ella let go with a "hmph".

The walk to his office was livelier than most other days. Ella was fascinated by the most common things, pointing and asking about random stuff along the way. Quinn ended up getting a lot of stares, with people wondering why he had a child with him.

The duo arrived at the office and situated themselves. Quinn started working on some papers he put off and Ella… she played with some office supplies Quinn left laying around. She bent a lot of his paper clips, so he made sure to buy some later.

Sometime around noon, there was a knock at the door. Sighing, Quinn knew Cory came once more to convince him. "Come in".

Surprisingly, there was another newbie instead. He looked determined, as if he had something to do.

"Are you Quinn?"

"Yes. What do you need?"

"I want you to join me".

'...you've got to be joking me' Quinn thought inwardly. He didn't even need to look twice to tell that this was another newbie. What is with it with all of these people trying to recruit him. He's not even that strong or anything.

"Why do you want to recruit me?"

"Uh…" the newbie went silent. Quinn waited… and waited… and waited. It's like he was having a conversation with himself.

"I don't have all day, so spit it out already" Quinn said, growing impatient.

"Well…" he was about to answer when someone else knocked on the door as well.

"Come in," Quinn yelled. Two people entered. He recognised one to be Cory from yesterday, but the other was a girl he didn't know. She had horns sticking out of her head.

"Have you made up your mind?" Cory cut to the chase straight away.

"I told you yesterday, I'm not joining you". Quinn shut him down once again.

"Hey, wait! I'm trying to recruit him. This is my mission, wait your turn" the newbie from before tried to chase Cory away.

"What do you mean? I came here yesterday. Plus, I don't know what mission you're talking about, unless…" Cory stopped talking, and seemed to have remembered something.

"...perhaps you're a system junkie, aren't you?" He said with a smirk.

"System junk- what are you talking about?!" the newbie tried to deny the accusation, but his red face gave him away.

"I knew it. You must've come to the dungeon the other day, and gained a system from the god of chaos. And I assume that your mission was to recruit Quinn onto your team, from what you said before".

"Uhh…"

"Okay, both of you stop," Quinn cut off both of them. "Whatever a system junkie is, I don't care. Argue outside my office. Plus, I don't want to join either of your guy's teams. I don't even know half of your names".

"I'll explain the system, since this guy doesn't know anything about his own system" Cory said, getting a sneer from the newbie.

"A system junkie is someone who received a special system from the god of chaos. They do missions that supposedly cause chaos, but most people know that they're weak and pointless at most times".

"What do you mean, weak?!" The newbie complained.

It's true. Plus, their only redeeming quality is that they can buy basically anything, act as a great storage space and lessens the chance you'll get lost".

"Whatever, you're probably jealous". The newbie bit back. "Anyways, my name's Jax".

"I'll introduce myself again, I suppose. My name's Cory. The girl over there is Ruby. I recruited her onto my team". He pointed over to Ruby who was playing with Ella in the corner. She gave a shy wave before playing with Ella again.

"Also, who's the kid? She wasn't here yesterday" Cory asked.

"That's Ella, and she needed a home, so I adopted her". Quinn said defensively, picking her up.

"...really?" Cory sounded genuinely surprised, giving him a weird look. "Anyways, if you don't want to join us, at least tell us why".

Cory, Jax and Ruby looked at Quinn for an answer. Even Ella tilted her head to look at him as well. Sighing, Quinn set Ella down. He then sat down on his chair and explained.

"Why should I descend the dungeon? Why should anyone descend the dungeon?" he asked rhetorically. "Sure, there's the whole 'Become the god of souls' thing, but why? For one, there's no reason for people to descend now, because any day somebody could finally make it to the bottom, and all your work would be for nothing".

"And even if that no one happens to arrive at the bottom. What makes you think that I can? Or you can? Or anyone can? There are dragons, angels, demons and more that are trying to make it to the bottom yet fail, so how can people like us even have a chance?"

"That's why I made my decision a long time ago to stay on the first floor. If you know you can't reach the bottom, why bother to even descend? You may call me a coward, but at least I'll be alive".

Quinn finished his speech. No one else said anything. They were all in deep thought. No one could blame them, since Quinn did have a valid point. What was the point of descending the dungeon if they couldn't even reach the bottom?

"That's quite the toxic mindset you have" Cory was the one that finally answered Quinn. "But is living on the first floor forever really that great?"

"It's better than death," Quinn replied.

"Really? Well, I know that doing nothing with your life is no better than death. You're just wasting your second chance of life away, as well as everyone else staying on this floor. But, if you strive to accomplish nothing valuable in your life, and just want to live peacefully, I guess this is a good option for you".

"But…" Quinn was about to say something when Cory cut him off. "You do want to do something in your life. Everyone does. Go on an adventure, explore a new land, have a new chance in life. That's the purpose of this dungeon, whether it was intended or not. There are new things to uncover and learn about everywhere. Many questions go unanswered, and many mysteries lay undiscovered".

"So, instead of living a safe life on the first floor, why not start your descent? You might actually make it to the bottom, who knows? All you have to do is try".

Quinn was captivated by his speech, along with everyone else. He was still conflicted about descending though. How could he ever descend with his strength.

That question was immediately answered by Cory, who saw the indecision on his face. "Also, if you ever do decide to give up, you can live a new life on the lower floors. There are cities every 10 floors which you can travel back to at any time, so a lot of people end up making a living in those cities. So not all is lost if you decide that you want to stop".

"How do you even know all of this?" Jax butted in, asking a question that was growing in everyone's minds.

"I have insider knowledge" He replied ambiguously. "Anyway, is it a yes?"

Quinn became conflicted. His knowledge and perception of what he assumed the dungeon to be was getting challenged.

Cory's knowledge seemed to be based on truth though. Everything made sense and added up, plus it appeared that he did have access to insider knowledge.

But how? He was a newbie.

Then again, other newbies did have insider knowledge as well. Apparently, some long-living species like elves, dragons, etc knew about the dungeon beforehand from their ancestors. Maybe whatever world Cory came from contained those species, and he obtained the knowledge from them?

"One last thing," Cory added. "I'm going to come back every single day to try and convince you".

"...fine. I��ll join" that was the last straw for Quinn. He didn't want Cory annoying him everyday, and he didn't doubt for a second that he would do that.

"Good," Cory said.

"Wait a second, I didn't even get a chance to try and convince him to join me!" Jax tried to butt in.

"Well, if you want, you can join us too. That'll complete your mission, plus we can use you to carry stuff around".

"Ugh, fine. But I don't want to be used as a travel mule".

"You can act as a mobile shop as well".

"Screw you!"

Jax and Cory started arguing. Ella giggled on the side, and Ruby shyly laughed.

"Young lady, why did you decide to join Cory?" Quinn asked her a question that's been on his mind for a while.

"Uh… he helped me when I first came…"

"How did he do that?"

"Umm… well, I was a human, but now I'm somehow half human half dragon else…"

"What?! That's strange" Quinn was stunned once again. His worldview was crumbling down from all of the recent events.

��Well, Cory said that I can find out why I'm different if I descend the dungeon".

"Probably" Quinn would have disagreed, but that's the most reasonable thing he heard today, so he didn't doubt it for a second.

"Hurry up you guys! We should go to the challenge area so we can descend already" Cory shouted at both of them, trying to get them to hurry up. Jax was already waiting, and Ruby walked over.

"Bring Ella as well," Cory added when Quinn was walking over as well.

"Wait, she's coming with us? But she's just a child!" Quinn refused.

"She's going to have to descend anyway, so it would be safer for her to come with us" Cory replied. "Plus, once you leave, what's stopping her from following you?"

"Sigh… alright, fine" Quinn said and picked up Ella. He put her on his shoulders as they walked out of his office.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going down," Quinn replied.