ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 92 The Exit

Chapter 92

The Exit

Saturday Morning

Everything was going as planned. The notes were shown, highlighted on the screen by Alexa. Then executed upon by everyone. The meeting room this time was the third room, a mirror of the family room that served as their impromptu headquarters over the weekend.

There the team, realized they would all need to meet up in room two, Gina’s room to once again exchange items. Then set their timers, after which they would have each perform four different tasks at different times. Then once they were done, they would all meet up in the third room, Julie’s room to watch the final events play out.

“This time, rather than giving the sleepy time tea formula to the mimic bed itself, I will unlock the summoning ritual in the fifth room, from the fourth room. By that time the tea that Julie will have gained from her room will already be brewed and ready for the summoned monsters. Once the summoned monsters appear, they will instantly drink the sleepy time tea, after which I will grab them and carry them back to feed the mimic bed. That should be the last and final task of this dungeon. Any questions?” Alexa asked, having gone over the last and final portion of the seemingly overly complex set of tasks that were needed to pass the Analytics Dungeon.

“Yeah, can we expect this level of complexity for all dungeons?” Luke asked.

Hearing that, Alexa just nodded. “I believe so. Worse, this is only he second Tier of a dungeon. Presumably conquering a third-tier dungeon would be much harder.”

“And when we get our crystals, we are just to assume a class?” Julie asked.

“That is correct. I believe we can scale our classes gained in this fashion later on. This would also explain the sudden cut off for entering a third tier dungeon, and why the dungeons will not accept you without having a class.” Alexa said.

“Well, it does sort of make sense. If the dungeons are designed to teach us how to use the system. Then of course there would be safeguards in place to stop us from going too far too fast.” Luke said, at that both Gina and Julie looked at him with confusion. “What?” He asked somewhat defensively.

“Nothing, it’s just, well…” Gina trailed off looking for the right words.

“It’s just what?”

“You finally showed your intelligence.” Alexa cut in, stopping the conversation before it could go too far.

“What? I’m intelligent.” Luke said.

“You are, you just don’t always use your Intelligence to its full advantage.” Julie said, with a playful pat and a wink to take out most of the sting.

“All right, so any questions?” Alexa said, getting the team back on track. “Remember this time we have to get through twenty tasks. At a rate of 30 seconds per task, we are looking at ten minutes and thirty seconds to complete everything, including our one minute first task so everyone can get in place. This means we need to find all our items within three minutes and already be heading back to room two, where Gina will once again start us off.” Alexa paused, this would be a speed run of the utmost. “Realize this is our first time, and we might have to take this trial multiple times in order to accomplish it, still this will be good practice and we should try to give it our all. We each have four items to find per room, we all know where they are, we know what they are. We should easily be able to logistically get our items within the first two minutes of entering the room, that is thirty seconds per item. Which should still get us back to room two by our three minute marker. Again, this is a red dungeon so we only have fifteen minutes, but I know we can all do this, provided we all work together.”

Everyone gave a nod of agreement.

Seeing that, Alexa nodded then said “I’ll see you all on the other side.” Then with that, she was gone.

Gina once again followed suit and found herself charging forward with Alexa and Julie through the first room to her room. Where she let out a quick breath, before going to her four corners of the room, grabbing her items that she once again laid out on a flat table. She made sure to place them in ascending order so it would be easier to link up with others. As soon as she was done arranging them, Luke came in, placing his items together. Then Alexa and Julie joined again.

Alexa placed her eight items, and arranged Luke’s into the group, then taking Julie’s there was a quick exchange, then a syncing of watches.

Chirp.

Then just like last time everything was going just as expected. Just a lot faster.

Badump, badump.

Gina felt her heart race. But then just used her first turn in immediately so she wouldn’t forget. Then stared at her watch until it was time to turn in the next set.

This time Luke joined her, before her last set was over. He watched, as she performed the last turn in. Then they left to join Julie in her room. The house, complete with a still living mimic bed.

Just going into the house, Gina could feel the energy swelling within the mimic. The bed that looked so small in Alexa’s floor was now huge, and all but glowed with magic. Looking at the creature, Gina was certain that the creature was now at least 15% bigger than before, her analytical reasoning letting her gain that much insight.

At that realization, she understood exactly what this dungeon was teaching her. It was teaching her to look at problems and identify variables and changes in patters. It started with the psychic power Analytical Eye (I), but then grew exponentially with her skill crystal she got last floor which conferred an 8% bonus to the unlocked Analytics skill. Surprisingly, she had already gotten her skill up by 2% on its own, as hers started at 10%.

Gina looked on, feeling like a passenger. Everything had gone so smoothly. Looking at her watch, it was clear that they were still on time, or at least close to being on time. The last few tasks of course had to happen in Alexa’s final two floors, meaning they just had to wait and hope she succeeded. If it was anyone else, Gina would almost want to take a quick glance to make sure they were holding up their end of the bargain, but this was Alexa they were talking about. She was the one who orchestrated this whole event. She was the one who came up with the game plan, and walked them through each step of the process so many times, that by the time it came to actually performing said tasks, they were done mechanically.

Looking back on it Gina was surprised at how easy everything was. This was a red dungeon after all and here they were, so close to completing it that she could hardly believe her eyes.

She was especially shocked to see the way Alexa came in with three small green bundles over her shoulders, while a fourth was being carried under her left arm.

“Do you need help?” Julie asked, going close.

Alexa was about to shake her head, but then nodded. “Can you pull back the bed cover?”

Hearing that, everyone froze. This was the mouth of the mimic they were talking about. By pulling it back, you were effectively courting danger, as that was basically the same thing as opening a dragon’s mouth and just waiting.

Seeing everyone standing around, Gina forced her body to move. She had been held in place by fear for only a moment, but forced herself to act. She trusted Alexa, and knowing her if this didn’t work Alexa could just blast the mimic and they could try the whole dungeon again.

With trembling hands, Gina reached out grabbing the white and black checkered quilt on top and revealed satin sheets.

Seeing the sheets Gina almost felt a want to touch the smooth and yet supple sheets, as they all but screamed comfort.

“Move.” Alexa said, her voice not quite cold but commanding enough to break the mimic’s spell.

Shaking her head Gina backed away, not quite realizing how close she had come to touching the inside of the mimic’s mouth.

Then she watched as Alexa hefted the four slumbering goblins onto the bed, making sure to use her long tall frame to gently roll the goblins as far forward as possible. Then placing the next one and the next one. With all four goblins in place, Alexa grabbed the hem of the quilt and covered the four slumbering goblins within the comforter.

Once they were all secured, Alexa grabbed Gina and began directing her out. The entire time Alexa used her large body as a shield to keep Gina safe. Seeing that level of protection, Gina couldn’t help but feel both flattered and a bit annoyed. She was slightly annoyed that Alexa would feel the need to protect her, but that was quickly overshadowed by the fact that such an overt action proved she cared.

The moment the two left the room and watched from the living room area, that was when the mimic spung to life.

CRUNCH!

I sickening slurp sound could be heard as every bone in the goblins were crunched in a juicy way. As thousands of pounds of mimic jaw pressure squeezed the four slumbering goblins.

Gina watched in horror as the goblins twitched awake in horror, only for it to be too late.

“They were dead before they awoke.” Julie said, a note of shock in her voice.

Silence.

Everyone watched on in horror as the mimic slowly began crushing the monsters and then devouring them.

Or at least the process seemed to go slowly to Gina’s senses that were on overdrive, noting every movement, and grimacing at every pain filled crunch the mimic made as the bodies crumble away like a hybrid of a blender and trash compactor all in one.

As soon as the four goblins were completely consumed, there was a lull, a slight moment when the world seemed to pause. The mimic that had been oversized, suddenly began shrinking down to its regular proportions.

Calm.

There was one moment when it looked like nothing had happened.

Gina looked at her watch to see if they still had time. Their overall time within the dungeon was at 14:32, far ahead of the fifteen minutes they normally had for completing a dungeon.

“Is that it?” Julie asked.

Luke shook his head, as a look of horror overtook his face. “No, we should step back.”

As he spoke, he began taking a few steps back.

Seeing him, everyone began taking a few steps back as well. Then just like the other times, the mimic showed an allergic reaction to the sleepy time tea, but this time the reaction was more pronounced, more dramatic.

This time, there was a sickening yellow hue that began to form on the white patches of the checkered covered quilt. Then the yellow patches began to glow a pale golden color. Then finally the mimic began to wiggle and convulse, before it opened its mouth, which in this case was the covers, showing its satin tongue that was now growing and pulsing wildly with different colors.

Sploosh!

The mimic burst, spraying golden puss and blue slime everywhere. The slime covered the entire bedroom walls, most of the kitchen. Had it not been for a few random items like the couch and side wall, they would have all been covered by the gooey blood.

Squish, squash.

Alexa made her way through the slime and entered the bedroom. Gina looked on as she saw Alexa reach into the expanded maw of the great beast, before a sickening slurp sounded as she forced her hands to go deep into the monster.

At that Gina had to turn away as the entire string of events suddenly made her feel nauseous.

Gina wasn’t the only one who looked away as she found that Luke too had to look away. Julie was one of the few who stared forward, though Gina noted that while she could watch she did not go forward to help.

In the end, Alexa came back with four deeply glowing crystals.

“Here.” Alexa said, holding out one slime covered crystal to Julie, then to Luke, and finally to Gina.

Gina held the slime coated object in her hand for a moment, but then nodded to herself. Forcing a bit of her energy into the crystal, she didn’t hesitate to let the energy fuse with her.

Instantly Gina felt a surge of energy overtake her body, as her mind felt like it was on fire with a flood of information being forcefully crammed into her mind. She felt a little dizzy, but then she felt strong slime covered hands grab her and gently lower her to the ground.

The pain was intense, which was why Gina could only barely register the look of concern from Alexa’s face as she watched over her. Seeing her concern, Gina smiled, before the second wave of pain filled her. Then the system messages she had been waiting for came.

Candidate has reached the true purpose of this dungeon.

Hidden Quest Complete: The Dungeon’s Purpose. You have found the true purpose for this dungeon. Reward: Title: Dungeon Runner I, Skill Crystal (Greater): Analysis.

Title: Dungeon Runner (I): You have completed your first dungeon, as such you gain a 1% bonus to all your attributes.

Skill Growth: Analysis (Tier II): 128%.

Of course, those were what she had expected. Alexa told her that her the title granted a 1% bonus, while the greater crystal offered a 100% bonus to her skill. But what she was not expecting was what appeared next.

(Optional): Class: Researcher (Common), Strategist (Uncommon), Predictive Oracle (Epic).

Or rather, she had been told to expect a class option, but she did not expect one of her options to be an Epic level class.

Focusing on the class, she could see that many of her previous actions went into unlocking this particular class.

Even focusing on the class gave her an idea of what the class was.

Predictive Oracle: While you fall short of being a true oracle, you possess enough predictive analysis to see the way the future will unfold and can react accordingly. While not truly open to view overarching effects of the universe entirely. You possess enough knowledge of people, previous events, and causality to make rational conclusions that can be used to influence or completely alter the course of the future. With this class, you don’t just predict the future, you can help orchestrate the future.

Seeing the class, her eyes went wide, as she knew just by reading the class’s description that it would be the only one for her. With this class not only could she see the way things would play out, but finally she would be able to do something to stop the horrible events she knew would come. With this class she would finally be able to gain control over her life.

Would you like to take class Predictive Oracle, to be your permanent class?

Not even hesitating for a moment, Gina smiled brightly as she said “yes.”

Then a flood of energy filled her mind, as she desperately tried to stay conscious. Her last sight before she passed out was a worried Alexa standing over her, seeing her normally stoic face so alive with fear for her, made her feel oddly warm inside.

“Thank you.” Gina said, before her mind was completely overrun with swirls of energy and analytical probabilities dancing through her mind.

New Class Unlocked: Predictive Oracle (Epic)