After the group's enthusiastic toast to destiny—and clenched butt cheeks—it was unanimously decided that no one was going to sprint off looking for the dungeon entrance just yet. They were going to do the sane thing.

Have breakfast.

A proper one. With eggs, sausages, toast, and—because Tarni insisted—Vegemite. "It might be the last taste of civilization we get," he declared, slathering a concerning amount onto his toast.

"Civilization tastes like burnt battery acid," muttered Kai, pushing the jar away from his side of the table.

The tension had started to ease, replaced by a kind of energetic curiosity. The System message was clear—they had five days, and while the urgency still hummed in the background, it hadn't kicked the door down just yet.

First order of business: explore their new System tools.

The Map System was up first. After some basic fiddling—mostly Tarni shouting, "How do you open this bloody thing?"—they all managed to activate the interface. A small, round 2D map appeared in the top-left corner of their field of view. When fully zoomed out, it displayed about 200 meters in every direction. Fully zoomed in, it showed a tight 5-meter radius—good for combat, maybe, or searching tight spaces.

It was Kai who figured out the zoom function. He had been squinting and muttering to himself before exclaiming, "Guys! Just think about zooming. It works like a scroll wheel in your head!"

Everyone tried it. It did.

"Neat," Bell murmured. "Feels like a video game HUD."

"Except it's our actual lives now," Zane added. "So maybe let's not die?"

The Party System was the next toy to be tested. Like something ripped out of a classic RPG, it operated on the expected rules: a party leader and members. The leader could mark waypoints, disband the party, and apparently had some minor interface privileges. Members could request to join, leave the party, or follow map markers.

Zane, by quiet and unanimous agreement, was made the Party Leader.

He'd tried to protest—"I'm not a bloody team captain"—but Bell just gave him a look. One of those looks.

"Right. Party leader it is."

They tried marking waypoints, watching little glowing pins appear on their minimaps. They couldn't find any way to change the XP share settings—if there even were any. That might be locked away behind some other system, or perhaps it was fixed by the System itself.

"Still better party controls than most MMOs," Kai said, half impressed.

Once breakfast was done—dishes cleaned with System-enhanced energy and lingering adrenaline—they gathered at the front door.

Tarni clapped his hands. "Alright. Now let's go find this dungeon. Should be within the safe zone, yeah?"

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Zane nodded. "That's what the message said. Seven-point-nine kilometre radius is a lot of ground, but if it's the first dungeon on Earth, I don't think it'll be subtle."

"And we're not panicking. We're just… methodically investigating our surroundings," Bell added, shouldering her speargun.

"Systematically," Lily said, eyes bright with excitement. "Like scientists."

Tarni grinned. "Systematically investigating the supernatural. Got it."

They stepped outside onto the veranda together into the crisp morning light. The familiar landscape of Zane's property had changed—not physically, but the knowledge of the Safe Zone and what lay within it made everything feel different. Their eyes scanned the terrain with new awareness.

Birdsong filled the air. A few kangaroos bounded away in the distance. No goblins, no monsters—just a quiet rural calm. But they all knew that somewhere within this zone, the first dungeon on Earth had appeared.

And they were going to find it.

Zane raised a hand and pointed toward the tree line.

"Alright, team," he said, grinning. "Let's go find ourselves a bloody dungeon."

Everyone was buzzing with excitement as they stepped off the bottom of the ladder and into the morning light. The hunt for the world's first dungeon had begun, and spirits were high. Zane and Tarni led the way like a pair of oversized kids on their way to the local skate park, eyes scanning wildly in all directions, necks craning left and right with unrestrained enthusiasm.

"Bet I spot it first," Tarni muttered under his breath.

"Bet you trip over your own ego first," Zane shot back with a grin.

Behind them, Bell and Lily walked at a more relaxed pace, watching the two older men act like teenagers. Bell chuckled softly. "It's like watching two dads try to out-dad each other."

"I think they've forgotten this is serious," Lily replied, grinning despite herself. "But I'm glad they're excited. Makes it feel less... world-ending."

Kai walked between the two groups, the unofficial middle ground as always. Even though they all knew the newly created Safe Zone was supposed to be clear of danger, they'd naturally fallen into their usual formation—Zane and Tarni scouting ahead, Kai in the centre, Bell and Lily bringing up the rear. It was a rhythm now. Familiar.

Kai, however, wasn't looking ahead. His eyes were fixed on the ground, lost in thought. His boots crunched against the gravel path as they neared the tree line bordering the cleared yard. Zane and Tarni were already approaching the old, patched-up wire fence when Kai suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"I think I've found it," he called out.

Zane froze, one leg already halfway over the fence. He turned back with a look of complete confusion. "Found what?"

Tarni spun in a full 360-degree circle, eyes darting around for something obvious. "Where? What? Where?!"

Kai stood exactly where he was, arms folded and a smug smile spreading across his face like he was the only one who'd brought the answer sheet to a test. He let them flail for a few more seconds until Bell and Lily caught up to him, both raising eyebrows at the theatrics.

With a satisfied chuckle, Kai finally said, "Zoom your map all the way out. Northwest of here. You'll see it. Pretty sure it's the big glowing green dot."

There was a pause, then all four of the others squinted slightly as they mentally reached out to adjust their HUDs. A few seconds later, Tarni let out a low, impressed whistle.

"Bloody hell," he muttered. "He's right. Big green dot. That's gotta be it."

Zane leaned back against the fencepost, arms crossed. "How the hell did we miss that?"

Kai shrugged. "Was thinking how I would find something in a D&D game, so I checked the map."

Tarni nodded slowly, impressed. "Looks like it's about... 150 meters out, give or take."

Bell tilted her head. "That's really close."

Lily frowned slightly as she continued staring at her HUD. "But how do we know it's the dungeon? There's no legend or key explaining what the colours mean."

"Could be a carrot farm," Zane deadpanned.

Tarni turned to Lily, grinning. "Wanna bet it's the dungeon?"

Lily gave him a look that was half amusement, half exasperation. "No thanks. I've learned not to bet against the System."

Kai stretched slightly, shaking off the tension. "So, are we heading out, or are we going to stand here arguing about the colour green?"

Zane hopped back down from the fence and nodded. "Alright, let's go find out just how terrifying this green dot really is."

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