Lily's heart sank into her stomach. Everyone else was Level 5—except her.

She knew they could see the disappointment on her face, even if they pretended not to. Her thoughts spiraled. What if all the goblins were gone now? What if there were no more chances left to level up? What if I'm just stuck here—useless?

Trying to distract herself, she busied her hands making cuppas for everyone. Uncle Tarn was doing his best to cheer her up with his terrible jokes—so bad they looped back around to charming—but it didn't help.

She felt her mum's presence before she saw her. Bell joined her quietly at the bench, helping with mugs and teabags in that soft, unspoken way of mothers who just know. Lily wanted to tell her she was fine, to go sit down and rest. She also wanted to scream, to rage against the unfairness of the System.

Before she could decide which version of herself would win, Bell stopped what she was doing. Her eyes went distant, unfocused, and she began pointing gently in the air—fingers twitching through menus only she could see.

Lily had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from sobbing. Her mum was spending her points.

Zane could see that Lily was upset; he didn't know what to say that would actually help. So he went with the good old classic—distraction.

He clapped his hands and raised his voice just enough to cut through the tension. "Alright! We got a lot of new stuff from the System."

He started counting off on his fingers. "Skill proficiency's gonna increase. We've unlocked the Party System. There's a Map System now. Item Drop Rates are up. And—oh yeah—let's not forget this shiny new thing called a Boss Key."

He looked around at the group, eyebrows raised. "We really need to go through all this before we get—"

Ding!

"—distracted... again."

Lily nearly collapsed to the floor in relief as the glowing message filled her vision:

LEVEL UP! You are now Level 5. +6 Stat Points

Lily Rider – Level 5 Due to your Title: "You Took Your Time", you will receive +1 to all stats per level until Level 5. At Level 5, the System has granted you access to a choice of one skill from four options instead of the usual two. Note: Because of the Title: "You Took Your Time", the System will randomly select a second skill.

Before the message could even change, she whispered in disbelief, "I'm level five."

Even though she had barely spoken, everyone in the room heard her. Bell spun around and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug. Zane shot to his feet and stepped in, wrapping his arms around both of them. Kai, grinning like a madman, rushed over and joined the pile.

Tarni, never one to miss a chance for theatrics, chuckled before launching himself into the group hug like a missile. The impact made the other four stagger under the force, then burst into laughter.

"Bloody hell, mate, warn us next time," Zane joked as he elbowed Tarni lightly. "I thought the war-chief came back."

"Group hug means everyone, old man," Tarni replied, grinning like a kid on Christmas.

Lily groaned in mock annoyance. "Ok, ok—let me breathe! I've still got messages to read."

They all chuckled and let her go, returning to their seats around the table. Lily remained standing, her hands flicking the System screens around her as her expression lit with curiosity.

Then she read the next message out loud:

System Initialisation Update: Safe Zone Created (One time calculation: 12.5 Meter radius per stat point — Total: 987.5-meter radius)

The air shifted instantly. Everyone froze.

"That's… nearly a kilometre," Kai said, eyes wide.

"That's massive," Bell added, stunned. "That's bigger than the CBD of our local town."

"Do you reckon the System's only going to do that once?" Zane asked.

Lily just gave a helpless shrug before moving on, her voice louder now as she read the next screen.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Your Skill Choices:

Group Snare

–

within a radius of 0.25 meters per point in Intelligence enemies at or below the caster level will be snared and unable to move for 0.5 seconds per 5 points in Strength.

Deep Think

–

Passive. Increases mana regeneration by 5%.

Fairy Fire

–

Reveal all hidden enemies and allies within a 1-meter radius from the caster per level of Intelligence.

Create Light

–

Summon a small glowing orb that can be attached to anything, illuminating the area.

She paused, eyebrows raised.

Tarni was the first to crack. "Create Light again? Is this skill following us around now? I swear, it's becoming a meme."

Kai chuckled. "We should give it its own stat sheet. Name it. Adopt it."

"I vote we call it 'Glowy Boi'," Tarni said with a smirk. "It's part of the team now."

Kai laughed before pointing out one of the options. "That Fairy Fire one sounds useful—like a hidden enemy detector."

Bell shook her head. "It reveals allies too. Not great if you're trying to stay hidden or lay low. Could get you all killed in the wrong situation."

Tarni nodded. "Yeah, not a fan of revealing everything. That's how you get caught with your pants down. Literally."

Zane leaned forward, tapping the table. "Group Snare. That's the one. Crowd control. Let the rest of us clean up."

Lily chewed her lip, thinking. "It would help me keep Kai safe," she said quietly. "And slow anything that gets past the frontline."

That settled it.

She selected the option.

Skill Selected: Group Snare Within a radius of 0.25 meters per point in Intelligence enemies at or below the caster level will be snared and unable to move for 0.5 seconds per 5 points in Strength.

DING!

Skill Acquired: Deep Think – Passive. Increases mana regeneration by 5%

Lily blinked. "Guess that's my random one."

"More mana's always good," Bell said approvingly. "You're shaping up to be one of the best support fighters here."

Lily gave a small smile, proud but still a little overwhelmed.

"Alright," Tarni said, rubbing his hands together. "Stats time! How're you spreading those six lovely points?"

"Group Snare scales with Intelligence and Strength," Lily said thoughtfully. "So… two into Strength, that makes it fifteen. Three into Intelligence, bringing that to fifteen… and one into Constitution, just for a bit of survivability."

Everyone nodded approvingly.

"You've just become our magical glue trap," Zane said with a grin.

"Sticky Lily," Tarni added.

"Never say that again," she deadpanned, but even she was smiling now.

Zane gave a nod of approval. "Alright, with that done, I finally want to talk about this—"

DING!

Everyone groaned.

"Not again," Kai muttered.

But it was already too late. The next round of messages was on its way.

Stand Proud. Clench Those Butt Cheeks. The final stage of System Initialisation has begun.

The world's first Dungeon will spawn an entrance inside the created Safe Zone. Groups of up to five people, minimum Level 5, may enter.

"Clench what now?" Tarni asked, blinking at the glowing words as he leaned over his still-steaming cuppa.

"I knew it," Zane muttered. "The System has a weird sense of humour."

Bell didn't look up. "It's got Tarni's vocabulary and our fate in its hands. We are so screwed."

Before anyone could throw out more than a passing comment about clenched cheeks, another system message swept across their vision.

QUEST! Objective: Complete as many floors of the Dungeon as possible within five days. Each completed floor will unlock additional parts of the System upon full Initialisation.

(No pressure, but the level of the tower you reach will determine the destiny of your world. Good luck, I guess.)

There was a heartbeat of silence.

Then chaos.

"NO PRESSURE!?" Zane roared, half laughing, half horrified.

"Five days? Does that mean we only get one shot at this?" Kai asked, eyes wide.

"What happens if we don't reach enough levels?" Lily said, already pulling up her system screen.

"I wonder what extra parts it's talking about?" Bell asked aloud, her analytical side already racing through the possibilities.

"HOLY OGRE BUTT HAIRS!" Tarni shouted, leaping to his feet. "We got a QUEST! Like, a real, legit, end-of-the-world quest! This is awesome!"

Zane took a deep breath and clapped his hands sharply. "Alright, focus!"

Everyone stopped mid-rant or ramble and turned to face him.

"We need to figure this out, now. This dungeon—whatever it is—just became the centre of everything. If what it says is true, how far we get will affect… literally the whole bloody planet."

Bell frowned. "Do you think it means just our world? Or the whole system? Other people?"

"Mate, I didn't even think there was a dungeon system," Tarni said. "Now we've got butt-clenching quests and endgame floors. What is this, a cosmic reality show?"

"Well, it's inside the Safe Zone," Lily said, quietly but firmly. "That means it's close. And it means it's ours. If this is the first dungeon in the world, then maybe… maybe no one else has a chance to change anything. Just us."

That silenced everyone again.

Zane gave a slow nod. "Then we do what we always do. We prepare."

"Like hell," Tarni said, grinning. "We over-prepare. And then we break this dungeon in half."

Zane pointed at him. "That's the energy I want."

Kai looked around the table, eyes sharp. "So... that's all five of us. We're the group."

"No one left behind," Bell confirmed, nodding.

Tarni fist-pumped. "Hell yeah, Team Ass-Clench rides again!"

Zane gave him a flat look. "Please stop calling us that."

"Too late," Tarni said proudly. "I've already branded the merch in my mind."

Lily, still pale from the emotional rollercoaster, gave a shaky laugh. "It's us, isn't it? No backup. No other teams. Just... us five."

"Five of us," Zane said, steady and calm, "against however many levels of whatever the System thinks a dungeon should be."

"Bring it on," Bell said, cracking her neck. "If this world's going to be shaped by someone, might as well be the five weirdos at the end of the line."

Tarni raised his mug high. "To dungeons, destiny, and slightly clenched cheeks."

The others followed, cups held high in a lopsided toast.

"To destiny," they echoed.

And somewhere deep beneath their feet, the world shifted.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.