7/23 Outside of a dungeon Henan Province, China 1:45 PM

A man stumbled out of the dungeon. His shirt was gone, his pants had been torn into shorts. His face bore a furious scowl. The dozens of guards raised their rifles at him from inside their grey concrete bunkers.

"Get that fucking fuck back here! And get me some damn food!" he yelled at the nearby guards.

The rifles didn't lower. Some of the guards talked to each other in Mandarin. Hak-Kun didn't speak Mandarin.

"Well?" Hak-Kun shouted at the men.

One of the soldiers shouted back, slowly as if that would help Hak-Kun understand the words. "You American man, you wait here!"

Hak-Kun hung his head. Then he pantomimed eating and rubbed his belly. "Food? Eating?"

The Chinese whispered among themselves again, then the same man shouted towards Hak-Kun. "Fooood? Ah!" The man nodded then turned to his comrades. "Lu shi! Lu shi!"

Hak-Kun nodded. "Yeah, bring me loo shee."

The soldiers all burst out laughing.

"What the hell?" Hak-Kun returned to being furious. "Get! Me! Loo! Sher!"

Raucous laughter rolled out of the two bunkers. After a good half a minute, one of the soldiers waved Hak-Kun over. "Ahh, you just asked for donkey shit. You sure you want donkey shit?"

Hak-Kun cracked his neck. These idiots needed to be taught a lesson, clearly. Red sparks flickered around his hands and eyes and-

A barrage of rifle fire slammed into Hak-Kun as a dozen soldiers lit him up. Hak-Kun slumped to the ground, wounds seeping with blood. Spent bullets slid out of his wounds as they closed over the course of just seconds.

Hak-Kun sat up and looked around. The rifles were still aimed at him. He had options. Options that all required a two second warm up. His powers weren't instantaneous. He had to build up a charge, then release it. He could, theoretically, make his ruin bubble and protect himself from an infinite number of bullets. But these fucks would just shoot him again before he had the charge to trigger it.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair! He slammed his fist down into the dirt that surrounded the red gate that led into the dungeon.

He was the hero! The hero goddamn it! Why were these fucks-

The man in the suit dropped down from the sky in front of Hak-Kun, landing with a small puff of smoke from his feet. "You finish the dungeon?" He asked flatly.

"I need food," was Hak-Kun's bitter reply. "Also, who are you? I'm sick of your mysterious stranger shit."

"You can call me Gin," the man said, and slipped a steaming basket of meat buns out of his inventory. "You don't stock food in your inventory?"

"No." Hak-Kun took the basket, opened the steamer lid and stared at the pure white buns. They were the first food he'd seen in 24 hours. He dropped the basket in his lap and started in on the bao.

The man, Gin, spoke as Hak-Kun ate. "Your charge up time makes you vulnerable to sudden attacks. I imagine you don't have trouble once you get going, but you can't fight foes with high Reflexes. How high in the dungeon did you get?"

Hak-Kun swallowed another bao. "No idea. Your dungeon is weird. What's with all the gates? It's confusing. You have Coke?"

"No Coke. Tea." Gin slid a thermos of tea out and handed it to Hak-Kun. "It's hot."

Hak-Kun opened the thermos, sniffed the tea, then poured some into his mouth. His Toughness and Constitution let him ignore the heat. "Fucking Asians and tea."

Gin just looked down at the Korean boy and then shook his head. "Which gate did you get through last?"

"Oh, uhhhh the fourth metal gate."

"That would mean you were at floor eighteen. That is less than I'd hoped for, but better than I expected."

"Sorry to disappoint, your highness," Hak-Kun said with a sneer. "You ever going to tell me who you actually are or why I'm here? Just let me go or whatever all ready. You obviously can't kill me."

Gin looked at Hak-Kun. He looked human but certainly wasn't anymore. "What was your species called?"

Hak-Kun looked surprised, then looked away. This guy had already guessed Hak-Kun had over 500 Constitution. He already knew too much. "Secret," Hak-Kun muttered, trying to maintain at least some advantage.

"Something you put into the code for yourself, then. In answer to your poorly worded question, I am the trainer for our best soldiers, the one leading as many as possible to the 6th Step." Gin could see Hak-Kun start to interject, and held up a hand to stop him. "Yes, I know you are 6th step, we have scanners. You are 6th but lack the fundamentals. Your build is specialized to the point of being worthless. Supreme Constitution, but what of it? Your magic is destructive but unusable in multiple situations. I am going to form you into a better version of yourself. Then, I'll give you a team to shore up your remaining weaknesses."

"Why?" Hak-Kun looked up at Gin. Behind the man the sky was open and blue. Clouds drifted by. Hak-Kun never liked being outside. Too bright.

"To let you achieve your dream, of course. To help you destroy the United States government."

Hak-Kun looked up at Gin with nothing but skepticism. "China wants the US gone that bad, huh?"

Gin shook his head. "I'm not with the government. Welcome to Guge Tigang. Outside the government, inside the halls of power." Gin then stretched out his hand to pull Hak-Kun up. "We're going to save the world."

Hak-Kun took the offered hand and stood up.

-----

7/23 Inside the Broken Crow airship 1:45 PM

The ship is starting to look good. We've gotten it painted light blue on the outside thanks to some help from the Navy SEALS. We put Flargmips and Rekkkaqs in most rooms, dotting the interior with modern furniture. We've strung extension cords through the ship and put solar panels around the topside to generate some extra juice.

Noteworthy things from the last few days:

1. My Wisdom rose to 100, netting me a new ability.

Know Thyself - You gain additional information in system menus.

That lets me explore all sorts of stuff in detail. No more wondering what or how stuff works! For example, I now know the exact temperature of my flame weapons and that they are, relatively speaking, not that hot. At just over 500 degrees fahrenheit. Hot enough to burn most things. Not hot enough to ignite the air or forge pottery.

2. We've been collecting silver coins from our movie themed foes. An ounce of silver goes for about 30 bucks. We have over 5 million in silver in our pockets.

3. I got Odysseus to try SimAnt, the old PC game. He said it was okay. He was obviously being polite. I feel like it has aged poorly.

4. I've been working on my fighting style(s) and Stylist changed the bonuses it's giving me. More on that later.

5. The ant queen dropped a crown the second time we killed her. It's got +50 Charisma and Ivy is now wearing it. She spray painted it black.

6. Quins made it to his 5th step class, Mad Bomber! It lets him use his low tier explosives infinitely, which is just great. Also he got a really, really powerful arrow he can use once every eight hours.

7. Odysseus became a level 15 Paladin and got SMITE. It adds light elemental damage to his attacks, which really ups his offense. It costs Faith, but he's got plenty.

8. Ivy Black leveled Bard up to Troubadour, then Troubadour up to Raconteur, and got a subclass for it. Her Raconteur subclass, Instant Master, lets her add her Charisma score (which is high) to either her max Arcana, Ki, Faith or Spirit points, and she can swap this choice out with 10 minutes of concentration. So she's got a lot of flexibility going forward. I want that ability so bad!

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

9. I finished The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past. Jose is right, that game is amazing and super holds up. I started Ocarina Of Time.

10. When I took Experimentalist level 2, that was my 200th level in Synergist. I wasn't expecting anything at all and, to my surprise, got something special.

Synergist Level 200 - Upcycle You can sacrifice an ability to upgrade one of the same tier or lower.

This is going to be a whole thing. I'll have to sit down and chart out my options and figure out what I use and what I don't. It's going to take a bit for me to finalize my choices.

11. Mercy mastered the Psi Dragon outfit, and has learned how to make hybrid costumes work for her. Before they had unexpected drawbacks, like taking double damage from elemental attacks. Now those drawbacks are eliminated, so she's good to go on making combo costumes.

"So the big question is, what do you guys want to do tomorrow?" I ask the group as we eat the Mexican food we got delivered. The big Daanadarp table is a big black rectangle that's made for board gamers, so we all fit nicely. I am at one end, and everyone else is huddled around the other end, 6 feet away, because I'm unarmored. It looks like I'm the dungeon master and my players are conspiring against me.

Ivy looks quizzical, and Odysseus helps her out. "With the dungeon break? It's 30 hours long. You'll not participate in the battle, I'm assuming."

I nod. "Yeah, I gotta stay inside to keep killing 6th tier monsters. But you guys, I want to leave it up to you. Apparently the Navy guys and girl are up to the challenge, but you know extra guns, bows and fireballs are always welcome."

Quins raises a finger. "Hol' up, you think there's going to be a influx of ladies into special forces now that some stat points are all that stand between the common lass and bein' as buff as can be?"

I think about it for a second. "Yeah, probably. That one lady Navy SEAL here is probably going to get some sisters in arms soon. Hell, Ivy and Mercy could probably ace the physical tests right now."

"Nooo thanks, I'll leave the dumb soldiering to you boys," says Mercy.

"Not on your fucking life am I joining any kind of military," says Ivy, totally ignoring the fact that she's in a paramilitary organization right now.

"Right, but the dungeon break?" I ask.

The 24 Hour Lockdown quest that everyone gets upon entering any dungeon makes coming and going a hassle. Once inside, you're stuck inside for 24 hours. I have to be inside to guarantee I can find 6th tier monsters to kill. I can't just kill monsters inside the dungeon and pop in and out of the dungeon. Well, I can pop out and in exactly once.

"You guys aren't shackled by a need to reliably kill 6th tier monsters. And I know at least Odysseus, you told me that you want to help." I gesture at the big man. "Mercy-"

She cuts me off. "Stays by your side through this trying time," she says in a chiding voice. "Besides, you can't solo any of the later floors."

"I totally could."

Quins backs up my fiance. "Nah, mate, it's a matter of numbers. You still need someone to watch yer back. The bloody jets will probably be up to six of them on the 15th floor." The dungeon had upped the number of knock-off Transformers a few times, attempting to adapt to each time we beat them up. Currently there were three jets, a tank and a boat. The boat didn't have any water to float in, so it was always in robot form.

"I'm helping the Navy," Odysseus says.

Ivy points at Odysseus. "I'm with the big man. Like, we're cool, Jun, but I think blasting my music over some big ass amp across a battlefield is too rad to pass up. Also can I borrow the company credit card to buy a big ass amp?"

She says rad a lot. I keep forgetting Ivy grew up in the 80s, despite looking like she's in her early 30s. Charisma is gonna put a lot of plastic surgeons out of business.

I pull a card out of my wallet and slide it down the table to her. Mercy wipes it down with a disinfecting wet wipe before Ivy touches it. "Quins?"

"Right, so, I'm on the fence with this one, boss. On the one 'and, I could do some good out there. On th' other 'and, I could do some good in here, watching yer backs." He motions towards both Mercy and myself.

Mercy draws two timelines on an android tablet in front of her. "The way the timing will work out, we'll have about 6 hours between the start of the dungeon break and when Jun and I have to hit a tier 6 monster." She adds little dashes to the time lines. "You could do part in, part out."

"Oh, that would do nicely, I think," Quins agrees, looking at the two lines and the hash marks denoting my need to kill shit.

I look to Odysseus. He always wants to help people. I look at Ivy. She always wants to be in the middle of the action. I look at Quins. He's always ready to be a wingman. I look at Mercy. She's always ready to support.

I look inwards. What am I always ready to do? Fight stuff, I guess. Not trusting my own Wisdom, I just ask. "If you guys had to complete the sentence Jun is always ready to how would you finish it?"

They give each other looks at the admittedly out of nowhere question. "Jun's finding himself," Mercy says, and the others nod. "Jun is always trying to improve things, including himself." What a nice way to say that. I'm not obsessed with upgrades, I'm just improving things.

Odysseus tilts his head. "Take on more than he needs to." Well that's a double edged compliment if I've ever heard one. But Mercy smiles and nods at it.

Ivy shrugs. "Be pretty chill for a boss who's also a Army brat." I don't think Army brat means what she thinks it means, but I get it.

"Yeah, a bit," Quins says, "but I'd phrase it more like he's always acceptin' people for who they are." He scratches the back of his head nervously. "I mean, we're blokes at this point, yeah? But I haven't had the best of experiences before the Pathbreakers, combat unit-wise. I'm pretty sure they sent me 'ere just to get rid of me."

It seems like a lot of the people who initially got sent to the Pathbreakers by various governments were basically people they considered expendable for one reason or another. Quins was the nut job who refused to use a gun. Madeline was the burly FBI agent. Henry was the future president. People who didn't fit in where they were. People who fit in with us, with me, I guess.

"We're definitely blokes," I reassure him. "Good blokes." We both nod at each other, in a manly, bloke-ish way.

And that's when something inside me clicks. Talking to Mercy, talking to Ivy, and Quins just now.

Jun always treats outsiders like insiders. That's why it's okay if I'm different. Why it's okay to have been not accepted by my family. Because I'll accept those who can't get accepted elsewhere. The weird DnD nerds. The girl who likes cosplay. The Brit who can't deal with single moms. The big Ranger who wants to deal with single moms. The rocker who wants to be seen as normal. Jose, who's way smarter than people think he is. Rutger, with their permanent outsider status.

"Thanks," I say. "That really helped." I stand up. "Pathbreakers. Team Lupus Rex. My friends." I get questioning looks. "Yeah, uh, so anyways, we've got time before the dungeon break, let's go kill shit and get closer to fixing the Scourge."

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