The hours ticked by agonizingly slow. The home’s AI counted down each hour as Sam came closer and closer to turning eighteen.

  “Five.”

  “Four.”

  “Three.”

  “Two.”

  “One.”

  Sam frowned as he didn’t feel any different. “Happy birthday to me…” He would no longer have access to most of the benefits the AI provided.

  The door flashed once, blinding him. When the world returned, the doorway was filled with swirling blue and greens. His home portal had finally appeared.

  As he watched, a box fell out of the portal, plopping down on the ground with a small thud.

  “It’s here,” Sam said softly.

  Rubbing his temples, he moved from his computer chair over to the box. Grabbing hold, he hefted up, finding it far heavier than he expected.

  “What is in this thing?” He groaned as he carried it over to his bed.

  Pushing in the end, he made enough space to grab the tape and pulled. The sound of tearing cardboard filled the room and as the last of the tape tore free, the box sprung open.

  Inside he found three books, a leather vest that would barely protect his vitals, a shortsword made from cheap iron, and two healing potions. It wasn’t much, but it would get him started.

  Before he took anything out, he moved to the portal and touched the wispy energy.

  A message popped up in front of the portal. Opaque, and easy to read in bold letters.

  Tutorial portal will be ready in twenty-three hours and fifty minutes.

  Closing his eyes, he stepped back and when he opened up again, the message was gone.

  “I better start reading,” Sam muttered as he moved back over to his bed.

  Picking up the first book, Sam smiled. Despite the dread of going into the portal, the first book appeared to be a skill book.

  Inventory for beginners.

  Setting that aside, Sam picked up the second and third book.

  Dungeon delving for beginners and their history.

  Leveling up and being classy.

  “A brief history won’t be so bad… I was only able to learn so much from the AI.”

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, Sam picked up the inventory book again. Flipping open the cover, the first page was surprisingly simple. A small ink stamped button that read “Press Me” was all there was.

  Shrugging, Sam pressed the button.

  It started off slowly. The book started flipping through its pages as gold lettering raised into the air.

  Sam looked around, wide eyed as the letters hovered over him. Before he could react, they darted into his head, and blinding pain nearly made him pass out.

  Information that wasn’t his assimilated as a memory faster than he could process. Second by second, he opened his mouth to scream as his head felt like it was going to explode.

  Falling from the bed, Sam collapsed on the ground, the letters following him.

  Then, it was over.

  Sam blinked a few times, realizing the pain was gone. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and touched his temples.

  “Son of a bitch…” he whispered as he turned and glared at the book.

  To his surprise, the book was turning to ash, covering his bed in filth.

  “Dammit!” He jumped up and frowned as his shift whisked the ash over his pillow.

  Groaning, he sat back down, ignoring the ash for now. Instead, he looked inward. The new information turned memory made him feel like he always knew how to call up his inventory.

  He knew there was going to be a system involved, similar to a video game, but he didn’t expect it to be so easy.

  With a simple thought, two rows of ten appeared on a translucent screen in front of him.

  Waving his hands through the image, he passed through it easily, but a small spark of energy clung to his fingers.

  “I can push items into the inventory or pull them out. But I can also add the items with a thought. I can also summon items with a thought. I’ll have to experiment.”

  Picking up the second book, he pushed it into his inventory. When it disappeared from his hand and appeared as an icon in the grid, he smiled.

  With a thought, it appeared back in his hand.

  “Okay, so that works…”

  Looking over the embellished cover of the second book, he read the title again.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Dungeon delving for beginners and their history. Huh, should be interesting.”

  Flipping open to the first page, he settled in to read. He had hours before bed, and even longer before he could enter the tutorial.

  The first few pages explained that one's guardian deity was responsible for bringing one into their domain.

  Looking around the room, Sam already knew he was in his domain, and the fact that the Christian God was who brought him into it.

  He had only heard God’s voice once before and that was when the door first appeared. Then he was left alone with his AI for ten years.

  Flipping through a few more pages, he continued to read.

  Hours passed as he grasped the basics of the dungeons. First and foremost was the fact that a planet could be recovered from the agents of chaos by defeating enough dungeons and purging the world of their influence. It sounded simple, but Sam already knew that domains were falling every day.

  Humanity was losing their planet, little by little. The surface was already destroyed, and even if he could defeat enough dungeons, rebuilding would take longer than he would live.

  Reaching another portion of the book, he delved into the history of the battle of the gods.

  The gods were real. Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and all of the others. They managed more planets than Sam wanted to contemplate. Earth was just one of many, and was already in the grasp of Chaos. A force that covered space and the many universes.

  A barrier of epic proportions had been placed around the planets. This barrier forced Chaos to create dungeons instead of directly manifesting their forces on the planets.

  The dungeons also served as a way for the inhabitants to fight back and win their planet in the grand game. Once Chaos was expelled, they couldn’t come back, and the delvers would move onto another planet to help fight.

  That was Sam’s lot in life after being chosen.

  The book didn’t go into full detail about the barrier or Chaos themselves. It really was just a beginner's introduction to what he was wrapped up in.

  When he finished, it was nearly ten at night. The small clock on the wall was flashing its digital display, signaling he should be asleep.

  Rubbing his eyes, Sam set down the history of the dungeons and picked up the third book. If he could even call it a book.

  It seemed to only have a few pages in it and was supposed to cover how he gained his class and what a class even was.

  “It really is like a video game…” Sam mumbled.

  Flipping to the first page, he started reading aloud to keep himself awake.

  “Your new leveling system is easy. Once you gain access to your class, you will be able to start leveling up. Your class will unlock automatically after you finish your tutorial dungeon. Your class will be selected for you based upon your results in the dungeon. Depending on how you tackle the challenges presented in the dungeon, you can unlock unique and advantageous classes.

  “Each enemy you kill will grant one SP, or Skill Point. Bosses grant ten SP. SP is used to level up, starting with the first level costing five points. From there the cost will increase by one point five times the cost, rounded up to the next whole number. For example, level two will cost eight points.

  “Skills can also be purchased with SP. Your class will come with two basic skills that are unique to your class. Each tier you can purchase one new skill. All skills can evolve for an additional cost of SP.

  “Tiers: Starting on Tier 1 you can progress to the next tier by leveling all the way to level ten and then paying the requirement to advance to level one of the next tier. SP may be the only cost needed, or you may need monster materials as well.”

  Sam set down the book, having breezed through it.

  “Looks like I need to finish the first dungeon before I find out what I’m going to be good at. It’s a very good thing I have no training, and I’ll likely die…”

  Falling back on his bed, ash puffed up into the air, reminding him that he never cleaned up.

  “Dammit…”

  ***

  Rolling over, Sam groaned as he woke. Glancing to the side, he found his clock ticking past seven am, and his computer was still on from the day before.

  Kicking off the blankets, Sam looked around groggily. The books he had been reading were scattered on the floor, and his armor and weapon lay in the box at the foot of his bed.

  Stretching, Sam refused to look at them any longer as he made his way over to the kitchen. Pulling open the fridge, he groaned. It was empty.

  One of the things he hadn’t needed to worry about was food since he came to his domain as a kid. But now that he was an adult, he would have to buy his own food, and he would have to make money off monster parts that he harvested.

  “That means…” he turned towards his computer and smiled.

  Shifting the mouse, he woke up his computer and found a new icon on the desktop. The Universe Shop, or market for short.

  Double clicking, he pulled up the shop and laughed. He had one hundred Dux waiting for him: the currency of the realms.

  A search bar was at the top of the screen, so he ignored the Hot Items on display—that were way too expensive for him—and typed in Earth Foods. A list several pages worth appeared before him. Anything he could think of that Earth once had was available.

  Narrowing his search, he found a few items to get him through the week. Thankfully, it was only twenty-five Dux, and he knew he would be able to make that back within the first couple of days.

  Clicking buy, he watched the spinning wheel of the load screen tick for a few seconds before congratulating him on his purchase.

  A thud sounded behind him and when he looked over his shoulder, he found a large box waiting for him near the portal.

  Getting up, he assured himself that it was his food before putting it all away. When he finished, he poured himself some cereal and ate it at his computer while checking the news.

  “Domain: 2789 has been lost.” Frowning, he closed down the news. “At least there was only one domain lost this time.”

  Setting his bowl in the sink, he marveled as it disappeared, cleaning itself before reappearing in the cupboard.

  “That still works,” he chuckled.

  Turning to his boxes, he grabbed them, emptied them out, and broke them down. Stuffing them in his garbage can, he watched them disappear. And just like that, he had more space in his room again.

  Touching the portal, he found another message waiting for him.

  Tutorial dungeon initiated.

  Remaining time to complete: Six days, twenty-three hours before dungeon break.

  Objective: Defeat Goblin Chieftain.

  Reward: Class and Summoning Token.

  “Dungeon break?” Sam mumbled.

  Moving back to his history book, he flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

  “Dungeon breaks… A dungeon break occurs when scheduled dungeon is not defeated in the time allotted. Monsters will enter the delver’s domain and will have to be fought and defeated, or the domain is lost and the delver’s soul will be forfeit…”

  Sam chucked the book across the room. Bouncing off the wall, it fell and sprawled open as he groaned.

  “It doesn’t get easier, does it?” Sam muttered.

  He had seven days to defeat the dungeon boss and finish the tutorial. If he didn’t get started, he was screwed.

  Forcing himself to his feet, he grabbed his leather vest and slipped it on. To his surprise, it fit perfectly.

  Grabbing his sword, he realized it didn’t have a scabbard, nor belt to attach it to. Rolling his eyes at the lack of convenience, he grabbed the healing potions and willed them into his inventory.

  Pulling one back out, he stared at it for several seconds. Just when he was about to give up, a screen appeared.

  Tier one: Minor health potion: Used to heal minor injuries for a tier one delver.

  Sam frowned. “What constitutes as a minor injury?”

  Putting it back in his inventory, he turned to the portal. “I guess it’s time to enter.”

  Shaking out his body, he prepared for the inevitable.

  His heart started pounding, his eardrums pulsing with the beat. Sweat began gathering on his brow as his breathing grew rapid.

  “I have to do this! I have to do this!”

  With a few last steps, he approached the portal.

  Reaching out, he touched the wispy blue and green swirl and watched as his fingers passed through.

  Gulping, he took the last step, and left his domain for the first time in ten years.