Dungeon Core Online

Chapter 55

James had no idea what to say. Was this another joke by the developers? Was someone pulling his tentacle?

"Glyax?" Rue hovered in front of him as she waved a hand across his floating eye. "Glyax?"

"Wha?" He blinked as her waving hand messed with his vision, drawing his focus away from the achievement notification. It floated in front of him, untouched since he opened it. He had been hoping for his last experience point, to hit rank, since Dwight's party had been the last one in his dungeon. However, it seemed the developers had a different plan in mind.

Achievement Unlocked- There Can Only Be One-

Reward – Title: Highlander

Highlander-???

"Are you okay?" Rue glanced at his achievement screen, before looking back at him.

"Yeah, just… I was expecting something a little better than just a title." He stared at the screen, making sure he hadn't missed anything.

"I didn't think dungeon cores could get titles." Rue muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Her comment pulled him further out of his stupor. There was something the dungeon pixie didn't know?

"Nothing. So, what's the title do?" She flashed him a smile, but James could see her eyes held quite a bit of curiosity in them, as well as, was that, concern?

"No idea." James didn't even know how to equip titles, but he figured he might as well find out.

"Let's" He closed the achievement and found himself staring at another message.

Equip Title: Highlander Y/Y?

"Well, that's just great." He was growing really suspicious about this achievement. While the other achievements had all come across as sarcastic jokes or poor puns, this one seemed different. It didn't match what the developers had been doing with the game, and logically, it didn't make sense. Titles were meant to give players special buffs or traits, while also allowing them to show off a title they had earned. Many games had such mechanics.

A title for a dungeon core, that no other players could see, seemed pointless. What's more, none of the other dungeon cores had mentioned titles, not even Blank. With how many dungeon cores there were in chat, James figured there should at least be one or two mentions of such things.

He tried to exit out of the window, but it wouldn't. It stayed frozen directly in front of his field of view. He waved a tentacle, trying to summon more windows, but they wouldn't. Instead, the prompt just flashed brighter each time. It seemed he didn't have a choice.

"Fine." James grumbled as he selected one of his two options. Just to be spiteful, he selected the right Y, where the no option would have normally been. It was pointless, but it made him feel better.

Congratulations! You have accepted the title of Highlander!

Another window appeared, and before James could select it, it auto opened.

Huzzah to you, that you are so misfortunate to be the first dungeon core to miss leveling up by a single experience point. Now, I have no idea what point of the game we are in, and I just hope it's enough to stick it to those asshats who decided to fire me. Sheesh, all I wanted to do was put mimic toilets as an option in the town, was that so wrong? Who doesn't think the option of mimics disguised as toilets wouldn't be a great hit? Adventurers are always the most vulnerable when they are going to the restroom after all. But nooooooo, Xander and his self-righteous group thought it was a dumb idea, so I decided to just break in and add them myself. Of course, Blake had to walk in on me doing it, and boom, I'm kicked out. Well, now I have the last laugh. Why wouldn't I put in a back door. They want to have their little social experiment, they want to play games, well I'm going to play games…. Chances are they are going to remove this line of code the moment they find out about it, and my backdoor was a one-time thing. But hey, it's going to be impossible for them to remove it from you, so ha.

-Steve

P.S. Please, please put at least one toilet mimic in the game. Do it for your buddy Steve.

After a few moments, just enough time for James and Rue to read the message and share confused glances, the message flashed a brilliant white, and literally erupted. In its place, a screen, similar to an achievement screen.

Highlander: You are the only one. None will come to take your title, so wear it with pride. Upon becoming a highlander, you have gained:

+1 to all mob stats. +1 to all boss mob stats. +1 upgrade point for each mob. +1 resource, -1 Hour removed from research projects, +1 rank to each level of research, +1 unique+ transformation for mimics

From now on, as the Highlander, you will gain 1% more experience per kill. You will also gain 1 additional resource per hour. You will also passively gain 1 experience point for every 24 hours of in game time.

"Well, that just happened." James had no idea what had just happened, but it had just happened. He had suddenly gone from being 1 experience away from Rank 5 as a Tier 2 dungeon, to receiving a crazy amount of rewards. And, in some crazy way, whoever this Steve was, had just given him his Rank 5 experience, all he had to do was wait 24 hours.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Rue's normally chipper voice was greatly subdued, and James felt irritated the pixie wasn't as excited as he was. They had literally just gained so much from this one achievement. Considering all of his research levels were at or near rank 5 before, the plus 1 to each level alone was worth hundreds of play time hours. Not to mention, a free upgrade point for all of his mobs, bosses included. James was skeptical, he was suspicious, but he was also not going to let an opportunity like this pass him by. Steve was going to get a toilet shaped mimic, that was for sure.

"What could possibly go-" Before James could finish his statement, the entire world disappeared into a white emptiness, save for his form, and Rue.

"You just had to ask." Rue's wings were down to her side, and she was staring at the ground. James, curious what had caused the pixie to do a complete 180 in her attitude, glanced around. At first, all he could make out was the vast, empty whiteness. However, slowly, a form began to appear before him, a single figure, clad entirely in dark robes. If this was an anime or a video game, this would be the cliché bad guy. Oh wait, it was a game. James kicked himself mentally, and decided if this was the bad guy trope, he would at least play along.

"Who are you? What do you want?" He was grinning internally as he shouted out to the figure, causing Rue to flinch. Sure, he was just a dungeon core, but James enjoyed playing the hero part. And besides, as the dungeon core, he was the most valuable piece of the game, after all. As long as he didn't break his NDA, he had nothing to fear, right?

The dark cloaked figure raised hands glad in dark gloves up to his hood, and slowly removed it. James watched intently, expecting some horrifying visage or scarred figure. What he saw instead, was rather…underwhelming.

"I understand we haven't met face to face before." The face before him was that of an older man, likely in his fifty's or sixty's. He had calm, green eyes that looked at James's form from behind wide rimmed glasses. His hair had streaks of silver running through it, and it was tied back in a pony tail. He definitely didn't look like a villain. However, James had heard the voice before.

"You." This was the voice that had greeted him the first time he logged into DCO. This was the voice that had taken Rue away and banned her from liquor. James actually didn't mind that latter part, but he didn't like the fact this person could steal away his pixie on a whim. It meant he was one of the developers, and he held a lot more power than James ever could.

The man waved his hand, and a chair appeared beneath him. It was similar to the way Rue interacted with the world, an instantaneous, undeniable power that James did not have. Another flick of his wrist, and suddenly there was a table in front of him, with three cups of some sort of drink on it. Two more chairs appeared, and the man motioned towards James and Rue.

"Please, join me, it seems we have a few matters of business to discuss." He flicked his wrist again, and suddenly James's body was his own. Not his avatar, not his floating dungeon core form, but his own. In fact, he was still wearing his clothes he had worn to school the previous day, given the fact he hadn't changed out of them before he logged in. That fact, his direct appearance in the game, was more than a little unnerving. He felt his throat tighten with unease as he walked towards the chair. Beside him, a human sized Rue walked, her eyes remaining downcast as she shuffled towards the offered chair.

Whoever this man was, James had a feeling his unease, Rue's fear, were justified. Just what had Steve gotten them into?