<04 August 2024, The White House - South Lawn, D->

  [President Armstrong]

  Joshua Armstrong was slightly frustrated. He had managed to get many of the materials he thought he needed for the tower he was supposed to build. But the System had just removed them from reality.

  Oh, it had replaced it with 'comparable' materials, but apparently, it thought very little of concrete, so the two tons of raw mix had been replaced with one hundred pounds of Mortar mix that had a mana density of D+.

  "I should have picked the third option." Joshua mumbled to himself.

  "What is that, Mr. President?" Fred asked.

  "Oh, nothing," Joshua said, "and what did I say? No more of the Mr. President stuff. Congress, or at least the three members we have contact with, have already made it abundantly clear they don't believe what I am saying. But they also can't do anything about it, so here we are."

  "I..." Fred started to say something, then shrugged. "Whatever you say, Joshua."

  "Thank you, Fred. Now we need to get more supplies together..." Joshua said, going over the list in his head. He was about to continue speaking when his daughter and the woman who was looking after her walked into view. "Well, we can worry about it later. Let's get breakfast going and work from there."

  Joshua looked out where ten people they had found with the Digging skill were using said Skill to create the foundation of what the plans labeled a 'Merchants Guide Tower.'

  He watched the people move a frankly ungodly amount of dirt as he watched. He was set back, but he knew what he needed to do. And he had people counting on him. When the members of his security detail had heard his plan, they had wanted to try and get to their families and return here. He had told them they were free to do so.

  Only Fred had stuck around, as he was single and his parents were long dead. Joshua looked at his daughter smiling at him and waving as she sat down on a chair at a table near the back door of The White House, and he felt resolution rise up in his heart.

  "I'll get it done if I have to carve the pieces from my bones. She will be safe."

  <04 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER, A+>

  [Theo and Julia]

  The first thing that Theo and Julia did was eat breakfast. Then they took a look at their new gear. They each equipped their bound Runesewn Pouch and inspected it.

  "Isn't this a little broken?" Julia said, gesturing to the Pouch on her hip.

  "I mean," Theo felt the same way, "we did give up all the coin we had, which may have been more than we realized. Maybe we still got screwed but I almost feel as if we have something that we should not."

  Julia nodded as they both looked at their respective Identification skill results.

  "I know it says that it is mid-tier," Julia said, "but doesn't it feel like this is almost like cheating?"

  "I mean we are nice people, nice enough at least," Theo said, still stunned, "But I don't know that we are this nice."

  "I think you have to be right." Julia finally nodded and dismissed the skill result, "The coinage must have been worth more than we understand. Either that or people are dirty bastards, and we are just a refreshing breeze comparatively."

  "That's not a great thought," Theo chuckled, "but fair enough. It's done now. And I have to fix this damn thing."

  He kicked enenergetically at the pieces of the divider that had come apart when the System removed the five-fifty cord he had sewn the hides together with. "I also need to fix the roof, I guess."

  Julia looked up and the tarp that had been there to separate the sod from the interior of the Cabin was gone. "I mean, I guess the question we need to ask is do we fix this stuff or do we focus our efforts on building a keep or something."

  Theo thought for a moment. "I think we fix the divider so we can each have a little privacy. But maybe we go find the Thronehold and then try the dungeon access crystal. How does that sound?"

  "Sounds like a plan," Julia said, starting to gather up the cured Gulmgrot hides off the floor.

  Several hours later, and three hundred feet of their jute cordage saw the divider re-installed just like new. Julia nodded. "Okay, lunch, then we find the Thronehold."

  As they ate, they discussed what to take with them. They decided to be as prepared as they could. Julia had ended up with the Rod of lesser healing in one of her Quick Access Slots, along with her Glimmer Branch. She also had ten days' worth of food.

  Theo placed his dagger in the Quick Access Slots, and left the Master Tool in the form of a bearded axe, leaving it slung across his back, he also had ten days of food.

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  They both made sure that they had on the System's basic clothing and the Basic Adventures Armor. They split the remaining Meat sticks, and each of them took one of the waterskins with half their water supply.

  Julia placed the Dungeon Access Crystal in her Pouch, and Theo did the same with the Leveling Plane Crystal. They discussed anything else they might need and decided that Theo would take the twenty-five feet of leather cord they had found in the Strawberry cache.

  "Alright, we find the Thronehold, and then we each use a charge of the Dungeon Access Crystal, unless we get a similar response to our Bond as we did with the Leveling Plane. Then we can go together. Deal?" Theo asked.

  Julia hesitated and then grabbed the two Skill crystals they had yet to use. "I don't think that we should leave these here. I think that we should use these, and that way we have whatever benefits they can provide."

  "Fair enough," Theo said, taking his Skill Crystal and holding it to his head. Julia followed suit, and soon the crystals faded away, leaving Theo and Julia with new skills.

  Theo smiled and looked up at Julia. "What did you get?"

  "It's called Bound Teleport," Julia said, reading through her Skill and relaying it to Theo. "Let's see. It says, 'While in land that is owned by yourself or your Bond, freely teleport from anywhere in that claimed land to the location of your Bond. If you are not in your owned land or your Bond's owned land, you may teleport your Bond to you once per day.'"

  "Oh, that's cool," Theo said.

  "And what about you?" Julia asked.

  "I got Dimensional Storage," Theo said, reading the Skill description to her as it appeared in his mind. "Store Items in another dimension. Takes thirty seconds of channeling to open the Dimensional Storage. After channeling, the storage will remain open for up to two minutes. Can not store living creatures. The size of storage scales with the User's power."

  "Ohh," Julia sounded intrigued, "You should try that."

  Theo nodded and began channeling. After the required thirty seconds, a black wooden cabinet of wood that was very clearly not of this world, pulsing with magics and runes unlike anything they had ever seen, popped into existence at head height. It had a door on the side facing Theo. He opened it, and inside was a one cubic foot space.

  They played with it, examining the cube, until Theo felt the Skill pulse, after another ten seconds, the door of the cube shut and the cube popped out of existence. Julia smiled. "That is very cool."

  "I agree," Theo said, "though I do feel that I am getting a lot of storage. First it was the Hand of Gold, then it was the pouches, and now this? Am I supposed to read into that?"

  "I mean I wouldn't, but it is what it is." Julia shrugged, then nodded. "Alright, it is time to go find this Thronehold."

  Theo nodded and joined her in walking out of the Cabin.

  Several hours later, it turned out that Theo had found the Thronehold earlier when they searched the Overlook. "Well, at least I know why this place felt weird now."

  They were back at the square clearing that he had thought felt strange. He knelt and placed a hand on the dirt and used Identify.

  "Well, I guess that is about what I was expecting," Julia said as she did the same.

  "True." Theo shrugged, then turned to Julia. "Dungeon Time?"

  "Dungeon Time," she confirmed as she used the needed time to remove the Dungeon Access Crystal from her Pouch, and then she triggered the cube.

  A strange influx of power rushed towards them. And then nothing happened.

  "What the..." Julia trailed off as the System began to speak to them in its strange way.

  >Local Message: Dungeon Selection failed due to...

  >Local Message: Mana density adequate = true

  >Local Message: Monster Managment System Online = true

  >Local Message: Dungeon Management System Online = false

  >Local Message: Searching for Solution Please Wait...

  >Local Message: Please Wait...

  >Local Message: Please Wait...

  >Local Message: Please Wait...

  >Local Message: Solution Found

  Theo and Julia looked at each other with die eyes. Then they refocused on the messages from the System.

  >Local Message: Planetary Dungeons for selection unavailable

  >Local Message: Selecting potential dungeons from list = SystemWide

  >Local Message: Asset Allocation Overburdened

  >Local Message: Reallocation offer issued

  As they read this, a new message from the System popped up

  They both read the message and then looked up at each other. Julia broke the silence, "So what do you think?"

  "Well, we get four charges, but we have to wait, or we get an actual dungeon run." Theo thought for a moment. "I personally think we should go for the dungeon. I have a sneaking suspicion that if we do this, the risks will be higher, but the rewards will be much better as well. And maybe we get another title."

  "True," Julia said, "but we are giving up the Leveling Plane Access Crystal. That is almost guaranteed resources."

  "True, but that just reinforces the idea that we should do the Dungeon."

  "How so?" She asked.

  "Well, thus far, the System has been indifferent," Theo said, and Julia nodded in agreement. "But it has been indifferent and Fair. So if it thinks that time in this dungeon is worth surrendering the Leveling Plane, then I am willing to take that bet. So I leave it up to you. One or Two?"

  Julia thought for a moment. "Ahh.. I hate this, but I think you are right. Let's do it. Let's do the Dungeon."

  "Cool," Theo said with a smile as the System began working.

  >Local Message: Reallocation offer 2 Accepted

  >Local Message: Removal of Item: Dungeon Access Crystal (Personalized) Completed

  The Crystal dissolved into a shower of blue and purple sparks.

  >Local Message: Removal of Item: Leveling Plane Access Crystal (01 - 10) Completed

  Theo felt a wash of power flow through his Pouch and knew that the Crystal was gone.

  >Local Message: Establishing teleportation coordinates

  A swirling mass of power began to take shape, and grew from a point that was roughly chest height to Julia until a flat circle of light almost eight feet across was standing in front of them.

  >Local Message: Spatial connection completed

  >Local Message: Portal valid for one round trip per User will disappear after fourteen days have passed in the dungeon. Users will be forcibly returned.

  >Local Message: Error resolution complete

  The System said nothing else. Theo inhaled "Do we wait or do we full send it? You want anything else from the Cabin before we do it?"

  "Two weeks..." Julia trailed off.

  "Well, that assumes that time passes at the same rate in the dungeon. It said when fourteen days have passed in the dungeon." Theo said and saw the color leave Julia's face a little bit. He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I like stuff like that."

  Julia shook her head. "It's whatever. I think that we should full send it."

  Theo stepped up to the portal, side by side with Julia. She looked up at him for a moment. "On three?"

  "One," Theo said with a grin.

  "Two," Julia said, a little shakily.

  "Three," They said together and stepped forward into the portal.

  They stepped out of the portal and were greeted by a hallway roughly fifty feet wide, a hundred feet tall, and stretching away into the distance. They also saw what was becoming a regular sight: a blue box.