The group was in the guidance counselor's area where Brock had made his base. Swain was getting increasingly upset as Brock and Derek argued against him.
Swain told the two the group was going back out to scavenge for supplies while looking for other survivors. He didn't mention the vehicle or any specifics of where or what they were looking for because Sylas had told the group to keep their plans to themselves.
Sylas stood in the back, letting Swain take on the role of team leader as he didn't care to lead and Brock seemed to like Swain. He hoped the role change would play two parts.
One: Brock would accept their plan to leave easier with Swain being in charge. Sylas had thought this because he'd seen those like Brock before while working in his part time retail jobs. Brock had gotten a tiny bit of power and control, and it had immediately gone to his head.
Two: Sylas really didn't care to deal with other people so he hoped having Swain take lead here would encourage him to take lead when dealing with any other people. Swain already was the center of attention in most group settings, but he would defer back to Sylas for any decisions and Sylas wanted him to make those decisions on his own.
Unfortunately, the plan wasn't going well. Brock and Derek were trying to split up the group, but the concerning part was they were going to be split by Swain and Sylas going out on patrol and the women staying in the student center.
"No, we aren't splitting up!" Swain raised his voice at Brock and Dexter. "Our team came together and we WILL leave together!" Swain's face was getting heated as the situation was starting to spiral.
Brock had a smirk on his face as Dexter moved closer to Swain in an act of intimidation, but once he arrived in front of Swain there was a clear discrepancy. Swain was six inches taller and had 50 pounds of muscle on him. Dexter shrank back a bit when his beady eyes met Swain's.
Sylas was about to step in when a notification popped into everyone's vision.
[The first being of Earth has reached Tier 1! The advancement of Earth and its beings is met with a reward and challenge in the form of Dungeons. Dungeons will spawn in 2:37:46. Please refer to the Tutorials menu for more information.]
Everyone paused what they were doing to read the notification. Sylas glanced at the time to see the timer would count down to zero at noon today.
"We'll be heading out before then," Sylas announced as he started to usher his group out the door of Brock's lair.
Brock looked like he had bit into a rotten fruit as he watched them leave. Grasping at the last bit of control he felt he had, Brock hissed, venom dripping with each word, "Go and collect supplies for us."
Sylas saw more survivors in the student center during the trip back to their room than he had seen the previous night. 'They must be alert because of the dungeon notification.' he mused.
'Why are they..' Sylas's synapses started firing as he noticed people's reactions as their group passed. He watched as those around would be talking to each other as his group walked through the room with no reaction, until the first few had walked by, then the survivors would adopt a subtle hint of disgust as the last two in his group passed.
'Swain's leading so it's not because I'm a guy, unless it's something as simple as seeing three girls and then me is too much. Seems like it's always when Sam is about to pass the group, but she doesn't smell so I don't think it's something with her.' Sylas discreetly sniffed himself. 'I don't think I smell. What is it?'
Sylas kept contemplating until they reached their room again. Shutting and locking the door, Sylas turned around to see Swain, Sam, Diana, and Jackie staring at him. Jackie spoke first, "Do the dungeons change anything about our plans?"
"Before I think about that, I noticed something weird." Sylas explained what he noticed last night and today while walking through the halls with an exasperated sigh. "Do I have something on my face? Do I smell?"
Sam was the first to step up. She took a sniff, scrunching her nose playfully before clearing him of the foul smell theory. They stood, for a moment, thinking about what the cause could be when a small voice spoke out.
"I might know what it is." The group turned to look at Diana, who blushed and looked towards the ground. "There's been a weird feeling around you since yesterday. I think… I think it's the cloak."
Jackie's, Sam's, and Swain's eyes all widened when she mentioned the cloak. There were a couple mumbled "That's what it was." while Sylas thought about it. 'It does make sense. It absorbs death aura. I'd have to assume it would emit some as well.' he thought.
Sylas took off the cloak, placing it in the corner of the room. "Quick test." Sylas said with a curious tone. "Walk to me, then to the cloak, then back to me. Let me know how you feel."
He paused for a moment before putting his wand in another corner and adding "Put the wand in the rotation too."
The group took turns walking between the three points before coming to the conclusion that neither the items nor Sylas gave off the weird feeling, but as he equipped his items again Sam said "There it is again. As soon as you put the cloak back on, the feeling is back."
"I want to try something." Sylas unequipped the cloak and wand, placing them on the ground again. "Tell me when you feel it." He said as he bent down, picking up the cloak.
Sylas watched Sam's reaction as he slowly put the cloak on, then bent over to pick up the wand. As soon as the wand was in his hand, Sam calmly said "It's back."
The gear turned in Sylas's mind as he thought out loud, "So it's not the cloak, but a combination of the cloak and the wand. Or, a combination of the cloak, wand, and me."
Knowing what the cause was, Sylas wasn't pressed to find the exact reason with so much else looming on the horizon. Clapping his hands together once, "Alright, everyone read up on dungeons and we'll see if the plans adjust or not." Sylas spoke to the team as he fell back into his bean bag, navigating the System menu to his wanted tutorial,
[Dungeons are connections to other worlds under the System's purview. They serve two purposes for the beings under the System. Dungeons allow those in the Integration to have contact with other worlds and their inhabitants, a compact area filled with combatants to defeat and gain combat experience and levels quickly, and a guaranteed item drop upon the completion of the dungeon.]
[For those who have completed their Integrations, they can open a dungeon to a fledgling world starting their Integration by sacrificing a portion of their world's mana to the system as well as providing item sacrifices as rewards if their dungeon is completed.]
[If a dungeon is not completed within 30 days of establishment, a Dungeon Break will occur. Dungeons have a limited amount of completions possible based on the mana sacrificed to open the dungeon.]
[Dungeons spawn in locations similar to the environment featured inside the dungeon.]
[Dungeons span in locations where the world's inhabitants have a reasonable chance to find them before a Dungeon Break occurs.]
[If a dungeon is started, there are three possible scenarios. The dungeon is completed, the challenging party is annihilated, or the challenging party flees the dungeon.]
[WARNING: If the challenging party flees the dungeon, a Dungeon Break will occur within an hour unless another party challenges and clears the dungeon.]
Sylas immediately looked at the dungeon break tutorial as well.
[Dungeon Breaks occur after a challenging party flees or the dungeon isn't completed within 30 days. The inhabitants from the other world will be able to leave the dungeon, entering the world where the dungeon spawned]
Sylas contemplated how this could affect his team as he waited for them to finish digesting the information.
"Listen up." Sylas looked around the room to see all eyes focused on him. "I don't think this affects us or our plan. We'll still gather our supplies and plan on leaving tomorrow."
Sylas paused for a moment before speaking again. "If anything, I'd like us to try and fight more to raise our levels. We get our classes at Tier 1 and although I'm not sure when that is, I'm sure we'll get a decent jump in our power so we'll search for fights while we're out.
The others nodded while Sylas remembered the levels they had shared with him this morning. Sylas and Swain were level 6 with Sylas having leveled earlier. Sam was level 5, Diana level 4, and Jackie was only at level 2.
There wasn't a big difference between the capabilities of Swain and Jackei even with their level difference if Swain's gear was removed from the equation, but Sylas was sure that wouldn't be the case when it was class versus classless so he wanted to get everyone in the former category as soon as possible.
Sylas explained his thought process as everyone readied themselves to head out again. With three empty backpacks, the group left the student center, heading towards Jackie's SUV so they can pack it with supplies as they acquire them.