Gem books it at this point, making it to the gate in moments that would have likely taken minutes. The guards standing at the gate don’t try to stop them, but Gem does notice some coins being exchanged, because of course they would know about them. The only question on Gem’s mind being if they had been betting on if this would be the gate or if they would make it at all.

  Then Gem is out of the city and running right towards the nearby forest. Behind them, a bunch of people stop before leaving the gate, not wanting to deal with waiting to reenter. One of them who seems the most important shouts after Gem, “Why are you even running? Our masters only want to talk to you!”

  Gem doesn’t turn around so they don’t don’t see them roll their eyes, “Did you say something? Can’t hear you!”

  As if Gem was some newb without an idea of how this worked! They had spent days designing so many characters, so how likely do you think it was that they hadn’t spent at least that much time looking into the random option? As long as Gem doesn’t acknowledge having heard them, Gem was simply rushing to grind out in the forest. If they had heard those people, though?

  Well, Gem is just a low level pyer and they represent big shot nobles and organizations! So they better go and listen to all of those people who want to “sponsor” them. And if Gem decided not to go with any of the groups or people? Well, life wasn’t going to be easy until they could escape to another city.

  And yes, this was a game, so if this wasn’t to your taste, you had options. For instance, start a new character and don’t choose random, because the random option will put you right back where you were. See, this nonsense was part of the inherent bancing the game included to make up for the fact that random characters could be so powerful right from the start.

  Gem, however, was going for option two. The wild child route! Go out into the wilderness and forge your own path, avoiding cities and only stopping at small towns until you’re strong enough in either power, fame, or some other noble recognized way. That or make yourself a liability. Gem didn’t want to pigeon hole themselves, but...

  Anyway, they made it to the forest and with their B rank body were still fresh and full of vigor to start bashing on things. With magic. They learned magic to use it.

  Not that they were alone, this was a forest a short run away from where new pyers get dumped. There were rabbits, foxes, and so many pyers who were more animal than the monsters. Gem had read that the devs ended up making these forests unreasonably thick with trees just to hide how many monsters were shoved into the area and they were willing to believe it!

  In the short time they had been running deeper into the forest, Gem had passed ten people and over twenty monsters. That’s crazy density! Good thing the SAI who made it all didn’t have to follow things like the food web when needed.

  Then Gem ran into a boar. Maybe they shouldn’t have been looking over at that fox they just passed and kept their eyes forward? Anyway, neither of them were quite sure what to do about this. It isn’t every day a pyer accidentally crashes into a monster at a survivable speed. Most accidental person on monster collisions involve one side not surviving it.

  Though Gem might not survive this in the end, anyway! The boar got its act together a lot quicker and went for a gore attack. This snapped Gem out of it and they jumped over the monster, using its back as a springboard, into a flip that nded them on their feet.

  The aerobatics were a bit mispced at this time as, by the time they were facing the boar again, it had turned around as well.

  Wind Bde to the face!

  The boar’s snout is scratched by this, and Gem gets a sinking feeling. Maybe there was a reason they had seen so many rabbits and foxes, but no boars? At least not until just now, having gotten deeper into the forest.

  “Hey, idiot! What are you doing out here?” A voice yells from up in the nearby tree.

  Gem dodged the boar’s charge before looking up and finding a woman with short cropped blue hair that seemed to be a baseline human otherwise. “Probably the same as you? Not up in that tree for the fun of it, I bet!”

  The woman snorts, “Well, come up and join me so we can be stupid together!”

  Gem unleashes a barrage of weak Wind Bdes at an adjacent tree as they run over to it. The bdes are walked up the trunk, leaving furrows at a regur interval. Furrows that Gem then uses to get their butt up the tree pronto!

  And not a second too soon as the boar crashes into the tree below them, almost knocking them off. Gem ignores it though, and continues climbing until they make it to a sturdy branch that can support them.

  The woman nods, “Well that was clever enough. Almost makes me wonder how you could figure that out and yet be stupid enough to go too deep into the forest.”

  Gem shrugs, “First day, and I didn’t want to join up with anyone back in town. Was running and ended up–”

  The woman snorts, “Running into that boar, literally! One of the funniest things I’ve seen in the st hour. Though that might have more to do with the fact I’ve been stuck in this tree for a bit more than that.”

  Gem smacks the branch they’re on, “At least the trees are sturdy! Now, since you know so much, why are you here? Like, I got into this mess by not looking where I’m going and just running into the unknown. You, though, cim to have known better.”

  Akhier

  Dungeon's Path

  So the world ended. Whoopsie? We didn’t even see it coming. Quite literally as it came at us faster than the speed of light. Don’t worry though, it got better. Also, I am not joking about the world ending. Most people say that and mean humans are inconvenienced for some reason. Nope, all matter disintegrated at the atomic scale there for a few moments. Apparently the local universe wasn’t actually stable? Don’t ask me to go into too much detail. It would require both of us to have a few more college degrees than sense, and I at least ck them (both the degrees and the sense). Anyway, the energy/matter/wibbly wobbly strings were at a local minimum and not the universal minimum. Basically, what we took for sea level was actually a nice little mountain ke and when the dam busted so did, well, everything.

  Now here is where things go a bit off track with what normal meant before. You see magic is real, qi is real, gods are real. Not on old Earth mind you but souls pay little attention to time and space so we dreamed of it. In fact, the closer the shift in reality got to Earth, the closer our dreams got to the new reality. This is basically me tip toeing around the fact that it was a ‘System Apocalypse’. Reality became a video game, I became a dungeon, and this is my story.

  Doyle Huxley just wanted a normal life but as the above might clue you in on that just isn’t in the cards. He gets to experience a “Path Based System Apocalypse” and some early paths he takes, both literally and figuratively, lead to him becoming a dungeon.

  The aim is to release chapters once a week on Friday.

  Cursing will be avoided and no naughty adult action will take pce in the story.

  NeoRealm

  Jason has just turned 18 and will be finally be able to py The biggest VR game out there, NeoRealm. Using a bit of knowledge from his past (life) he wants to start his adult life with a bang. Taking the road less traveled will sound quiant compare to where he wants to go.

  ~NeoRealm~ the most realistic VR game to date. A Fantasy world which even after years of exploration is still mostly unknown. Want to experience the mysteries of the Arcane? Become one of the many types of Magic Users and work to improve your ranking till you can move mountains, or just ftten them if you prefer. Do you just desire to wield sheer physical power? Then train your melee skills beyond all others and decimate towns with a single swing. Or maybe you just want to know what its like to be a cat person. We have those too. Come on in and join us at 5x the speed of boring old reality (you heard us right, not your average everyday 4x time compression!). *WARNING - limited to those age 18 and up, we are not responsible for any minor losing their grasp on reality, sanity, or species

  Banished Talent

  There were things hidden in the darkness and they’re about to introduce themselves to the hood of my car. Not that the knowledge will do me much good. Some Talents aren’t too appreciated by the Powers That Be, and with magic? Sometimes the best option is to just Banish the problem.

  I’m Alvin Smithson and let me tell you my story.

  Alvin grew up on Earth, or at least one shockingly simir to what you’re familiar with. Except for the magic. And Alvin? Despite never having experienced magic before, he believed in magic a little too much. So when magic found him, he was past the point of being returned to his boring modern life. Then things got worse when they tested him to see if he had any magic of his own.

  Join me, as we get a front-row seat to Alvin being banished from Earth and as he descend into a painful rebirth. He won’t be leaving the pnet alone, though. Much to his misfortune, a person going along has decided this is all Alin’s fault and is more than willing to make their displeasure known. So now Alvin only has a limited time to learn about his power in a pce actively trying to kill him.

  Can Alvin adapt fast enough? Gain the power needed? Or will he be just another life snuffed out in a realm where no one has ever escaped from?

  This novel has been finished and while you can read it in the entirety here and on my Patreon, there is a more polished version avaible for purchase as an ebook for 3.99 on both Amazon and my Patreon. I will get more of the cut if you buy it on my Patreon shop, but I understand that getting an ebook on kindle can be a hassle so feel free to use Amazon. If anything, it will help boost the story in the algo.

  [colpse]