[ Please select from the following rewards:

  -Armour - Knight’s Breastplate (C)

  -Weapon – Golden Burst Morningstar (C)

  -Accessory - Boots of nimble steps (B)

  -Skill – Invisibility (A) ]

  Changes to the list were surprisingly simple, but also kind of misleading. He didn’t trust the Entities that ran this thing, but there was one Entity that had at least shown some promise, perhaps two if you imagine the one that ‘rented’ him a while ago, could have done horrible things but just went on a joyride instead.

  The Entity he spoke with a while ago, was this his... her... its doing, or was this something else, there were many kinds of skills he wanted. Invisibility and stealth-related things were something he wanted, but he hadn’t used any of that in here… did they read his information or was that reward cherrypicked for him?

  He wanted to comment on how the list was incredibly random, except for the skill which was aligned with his wishes. Had he not complained perhaps he might have gone for the weapon or armour, none of which feels right for him without checking their stats. The boots could possibly work, their name hinted at them being stealth-focused, but he didn’t know for certain.

  In his process of analysis, he concluded that he didn’t care too much. Sure, his greed and wish for improving still wanted to analyse and make sure the ‘correct thing’ was chosen, but he was more focused on getting out of this place, he had been here for close to two months and it felt infinitely longer than that. Sam had noticed that he had gotten a bit twitchy in how he reacted to danger this time… especially when considering the corrupted bosses, but he had also done some horrible things to the poor Dungeon monsters.

  More than once Dia’s face flashed in his mind as he killed the monsters with some form of insanity, but every time he had told himself that Dungeon monsters and sapient ones like Dia, were different. And they were, this had been confirmed but in the start, it felt weird, now it almost felt weird that he should consider them something else than entertainment.

  “The skill, Invisibility. Now get me out of here.” Sam commanded, even if he knew that there was no need to speak his opinion, he just wanted out.

  [ Skill chosen. Do you wish to leave, or continue for higher rewards? ]

  Sam almost laughed, instead, he felt anger swell inside him. This was probably how the Wave system should work. You survive 10 waves and get the question to continue or quit. Not only didn’t he want to spend more time in here, he also didn’t know if the system would keep glitching or fuck with him.

  No, he wanted out.

  “No, fuck that. Take me out of here.” Angrily barking at the System window he didn’t want to stay in there any more. Had this been working as it should have been from the start, he might have considered it, but with this shit, the nightmarish things he fought.

  Eventually, he figured them out and their repeated arrivals only lowered their fear factor, but he still had bad dreams about insects under his skin, slick and gooped-up tentacles trying to invade his body, and shit like the Flesh Collector who tore pieces of Sam to graft onto itself... He hated it here more than anything he had been through, he’d easily take the Flesh Dungeon before this place in the future.

  As the bright light started enveloping him he could only finally honestly smile.

  A chaotic crash with shattering glass, things breaking, and people screaming in surprise reached Sam’s ears before he could properly see anything. As the white light left his vision he could see what was going on.

  He had been transported back and found himself standing in the lobby next to the reception where he disappeared, the only problem here was that everything he had gathered in the Wave Dungeon came with him. The gear was not a major issue, nor was his own disgustingly dirty self, but last time he counted he had over 6000 Aether Crystals in that hallway... All of those came with him and seemingly landed everywhere.

  “What the fuck is going on?!” A male voice cut through everything with a thunderous commanding tone.

  Looking towards it, Sam found a man in a TAC guard uniform, wading through the wave of crystals that bellowed out from their landing spot, seeming to have been deposited in a rough area they just flowed out like a mini avalanche.

  “Err... yeah... About that...” Sam commented hesitantly, even though he was smiling from ear to ear. He was back, he didn’t care what problems came out of this, he was back!

  As the man took a somewhat fight-ready stance, Sam noticed something in the corner of his eye.

  [ Invisibility (A) unlocked ]

  [ Invisibility - A

  Lasting invisibility up to 30 minutes after activation.

  -Gives 10% per point of Energy dedicated.

  -Energy is refunded at deactivation of skill failure.

  -Invisibility breaks on strenuous activity, like combat. ]

  “Are we going to have a problem here?” The guard continued, his hand moving to the handle strapped to his back.

  “No, not at all.” Sam smiled back at him, being geared vastly better than him. A glance at the man Appraised him as a lvl 15 Warrior, his skills focused him on hammer use and though he was decently strong his defence and offence had no chance against Sam, should it come to that.

  “I was just transported out of here a while ago, and now I came back. I didn’t have any say in just where I landed.”

  “I think we need to talk, come with me.” The guard’s tone was firm but also had a questioning tone, almost like he understood that if Sam went with him, it was because Sam wanted to.

  But, he didn’t intend to cause any problems. Sam nodded to the man but turned to the receptionist. “Would it be possible to count all of this up and hold it for me until I get back? I’ll be selling most of it.”

  He knew this was not the receptionist’s job, but given that he was being abducted by the guard it wasn’t too much he could do about it right now.

  The middle-aged woman in the reception nodded hesitantly, still seeming shocked by the experience.

  Sam went with the guard and was led into a room through some hallways before being asked to sit down in an interrogation room, with metal furniture, a one-way mirror and everything.

  “Now, Identify yourself and explain what happened?” The man asked, sitting down on the other side of the table Sam sat down next to.

  “The short of it is that I was transported out of the lobby... a while ago, and I just now completed the Dungeon and came back.” Sam didn’t go into more detail than that, he didn’t feel there was a need to, and TAC didn’t have more power over him than what they needed for TAC safety.

  As he started his explanation he took out his Player ID card from a pocket under his armour, he was almost surprised to still have it but he never had a reason to take it out so it was safely kept there the whole time.

  The guard took the card and scanned it with his phone, going through a few things there as he listened to Sam. After a few minutes, he returned Sam’s card.

  “From what I can see here, you disappeared from the lobby as you say, six months ago, the security tapes and report by the receptionist explain that you suddenly panicked and asked TAC to take care of your... companion if she didn’t come with you. Then you teleported out.”

  The guard turned his phone after starting a video, showing Sam the security recording of himself talking to the receptionist and suddenly panicking, commanding them to use his resources if needed and to contact Janik, then teleporting out suddenly.

  Sam’s eyes saddened considerably as he saw the video continue and Dia panicking, shouting for Sam again and again, looking around trying to find him. The guard turned his phone around again and inhaled to continue talking, but Sam beat him to it.

  “What happened to her?” He could hear his voice break as he asked. He hoped that his request to care for her out of his pocket would be enough, and to contact Janik would be enough to keep her going, but half a year...

  “I can get to that after, first I need to kn-” The guard took control of the situation but was again interrupted.

  Sam felt his mind shift, he needed to know more than he cared for what happened here. Stopping himself in turning it violent, after all the guard was just doing his job, but there was something in the back of Sam’s mind that just wanted to tear him apart for not answering right away. A large shift in how his emotional side was reacting compared to his logical mind.

  “What happened to Dia?”

  In Sam’s mind, he asked that question normally, but seeing the guard’s instincts reach for, but not pulling, his hammer hinted that Sam might not have asked as pleasantly as he expected.

  “She’s fine, on your request we contacted-” he checked his phone to remember the next detail before continuing, though he never took his eyes off Sam. “-Janik, as you requested. He took custody of her.”

  This calmed Sam down considerably, he felt a massive amount of tension fade out of his body. If Janik took care of her, everything should be fine. He didn’t trust many people in this world, but he was one of the few.

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  The rest of the interrogation was more straightforward, Sam did his best to not react out of the ordinary, he had nothing against the guard, after all, he was just tired and jumpy. He didn’t share the Ascendancy system nor the specific details, he only shared what he felt the Guard needed to know. Angling this as a mini-dungeon that just ate him up, claiming to not know why he was teleported out like that without anyone else knowing, worked to some degree but didn’t explain his reaction to caring for Dia.

  That was luckily amended by just stating the standard. A System window explained that he’d be teleported out alone, he didn’t know if a bound companion counted as ‘alone’ or not, so he panicked.

  In the end, he was let go after having to re-answer the same questions multiple times, he was eventually allowed to leave. Heading back to the reception, he hoped they had gone through his stuff and found his phone.

  Not having had the chance of a shower, he wanted to get a room and just get cleaned up, he was still caked in... stuff and it wasn’t even sticky anymore. He wanted to eat something... Just... some food that isn’t a simple sandwich... He wanted something greasy and bad for you.

  Finding himself in the reception soon enough, he walked up to the same woman who saw him arrive. “Good...” He looked at a clock on the wall to find it was in the early evening. “Evening. Now... I’m sorry for my arrival but... I would love to get a room for the night.” Putting his ID card on the counter between them she hesitantly nodded and did her normal checks.

  “Oh, Mr. Carter. A room for you is not a problem, will that be all?” She didn’t look up as she kept doing things on the computer, which was much like the other times he went through this, probably going through the registration process.

  “I’d like some food sent to my room, something good and greasy, I don’t care what it is as long as it’s not sandwiches.” Sam commented dryly. “I also wonder if you found my phone in the... pile of stuff I came with.”

  She looked at him a bit weirdly when he requested no sandwiches but nodded in either case.

  “I don’t have a report of the things that came with you yet. But I can have it sent to your room if we find it.”

  “That’s fine. I also want the gear sent there. I’ll just sell all the Aether Crystals right away, but everything else I want sent to my room.” Sam wanted to have a proper look and think about this properly. He glossed over it in the Dungeon but he knew his mindset might change as he relaxes.

  The receptionist nodded and noted everything, explaining that his ID card should open up his room on the 5th floor.

  He felt like he almost blacked out as he walked there, only imagining eating something proper and having a solid shower before anything else, remaining in his mental bubble, thoughts of things that happened the last two months, his mind had only been focused on fighting, on surviving, just being able to walk like this without any danger was... unreal, in a way.

  And six months, though the dilation was very different compared to the last time, it was still bad. Janik would handle it fine and Elara seemed to be surprisingly mature mentally, but he wondered how Dia handled it. She seemed to be the most bound to him in a way, and the memory of her panic in the surveillance video didn’t help.

  Entering the door to his room, his focus changed as the door closed behind it, a shower.

  Walking into the bathroom he undressed for the first time in two months, having to almost peel his armour and clothes off himself, he entered the shower. As the warm water washed over him, it took with it what felt like years of fatigue. Though there was a lot wrong in the world yet, right now everything felt perfect.

  He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he had soaped and cleaned his body at least five times, focusing only on the sound of the shower and the smell in the room improving by the minute, he finally exited into the rest of the room, feeling like a whole new person. He could see his skin colour for the first time in months, and that wasn’t just due to the poor lighting in the Dungeon.

  Looking at himself in the mirror he saw just how bad it was. Having to chuckle at his horrible shaving, he took advantage of the hygiene kits in the bathroom to get a proper shave. His hair having lengthened wasn’t an issue and was fixed by just pulling it back into a tiny ponytail, he’d get that cut later.

  His clothing was still caked in... things, he briefly wondered about putting it all in a bathtub and cleaning it, but that sounded like a hassle. Remembering that TAC had a cleaning service, perhaps it was about time to use that. Putting on a complimentary bathrobe he walked into the living room, and as he sat down on the sofa, intending to order the cleaning service the next thing he realised was waking up to the sound of knocking on the door.

  He had fallen asleep the moment he sat down, all the fatigue catching up to him had just knocked him out as soon as he was comfortable. This made a lot of sense. Chuckling a little at the situation of comfort he walked to the door, looking through the peephole.

  Seeing two women in TAC-branded uniforms behind push-carts of food and items, he mentally felt uncertain even though he had ordered them. Psyhand reached for some weapons in the bathroom, he was ready for a fight if it came to that before he opened the door.

  “Oh, Mr Cater, we’re here with the food you ordered and the items you wanted sent up.” She had a practised smile as she patiently waited for him to open the door.

  Looking at them for several seconds, he eventually stepped aside and opened the door for them to enter. As the door opened enough they came in, parking the two push carts next to the door.

  “Just leave everything on the carts and we’ll pick them up on order, or during the next room cleaning.” She smiled and gave him a little curtsey, her colleague did the same as she saw it done, and they both left after.

  Sam closed the door and locked it as soon as they left, and before he could think of something else he could finally smell the food.

  It was divine.

  Lifting the cloches on the first cart, he found steak, hamburgers, vegetables and sauces. Several dishes with some desserts next to it. He almost shed a tear as he started eating it all like a magical caveman, ignoring the cutlery in favour of his hands and Psyhands, eating to the point of him almost hating himself due to stomach pain.

  But it was a good pain.

  Once that was done, he finally looked at the second cart, it had the rest of the gear he had gotten from the Dungeon, placed over the two stories of the cart. On the side was his phone, having been cleaned like the rest.

  Picking it up, it still had plenty of power left, not surprising as it had been standing on an Aether crystal most of the time it wasn’t in use. Unlocking it he found several messages and missed calls from Janik.

  First, several messages were wondering if he was back, and what happened, being dated back around the time he disappeared. This was followed by nicer messages and updates on how Dia and Elara were doing. Preceded with a message explaining that he’d ‘just share things in case Sam could see them’, it became a sort of diary of events.

  Elara was with Grace most of the time, the first images and clips had a depressive tone over them, at least from Elara’s angle, but eventually, this turned into more and more positive as she spent time with Grace.

  Dia’s were worse, at first she was depressed and failed to hide a kind of panic, but eventually, this became better and better. There were clips of her speaking in, broken but understandable English. She explained, on her own, that she had taken Janik’s phone to send images and videos of herself talking to Sam, how she was improving and hoping he’d come back soon.

  There were more and more clips and images of them spending time together, Janik explained that he told Dia how it worked last time, and that he would be back in time. She didn’t like it at first but eventually, she seemed to accept that it was only a matter of time.

  This was followed by more updates on things going on, how Dia was accepted by Janik’s gaggle of kids, and her first meeting with the snow. This keyed Sam in on that it was winter now, he hadn’t considered the date. At first, she was hesitant about this cold, white powder, but a few more updates later she was rolling around in it, digging through it like the fox she was, disappearing into large snow mounds only to pop out elsewhere.

  Janik was taking care of them.

  Sam briefly wondered if it was better if they would stay with him, his life was probably going to get more dangerous going forward, and it looked like they were having the time of their life... eventually. He could just transfer some funds to Janik to make sure he was set and could care for them, with some extra for his troubles.

  But, as he neared the end of the messages, he noticed that they were all from today. Janik commented that Elara confirmed that he was back. The 14 missed calls were also from today, only a few hours ago until only a few minutes before the food was delivered. He demanded to be contacted. He and Elara could handle this, but Dia needed to see him again.

  That removed the chance of Sam not bringing them back into his life, it wasn’t like he didn’t want to bring them back, he wanted them there... desperately. But there was safety to consider.

  As he was considering this, a video was sent from Janik, opening it showed Dia shouting at the phone, holding it with both hands and shaking it in a mix of desperation, need and anger.

  “Zar! Zar is back! Where are you?! Please!” She looked like she was moments from tearing up, ordering him to answer.

  He answered simply; he was back and he was in room 514.