“Looks like I got more melee options than ranged or magical in this shuffle. What do I actually want? The first pick is quite important since the character starts growing alongside the player, possibly ending up the strongest in the party, due to the experience gain.”

  I pondered over it for a moment. I could definitely discard any support-types for now, so I did that. While magician-types had high firepower, they would be squishy in the beginning. The best choice was either a ranger-type or warrior-type.

  Considering my lack of real-life combat experience, I shouldn’t assume that it would be any different now, so someone actually knowing how to fight in close quarters would be the most desirable. I didn’t have that many support skills yet but that should change with time.

  Ticking a few filters, I reduced the tiles on the screen to twelve, all representing melee Classes. Out of those, one particular symbol caught my attention. The head of a massive, double-edged greataxe.

  “Berserker,” I whispered, reminded of my fallen friend who had sacrificed himself for the sake of my player character. “After all, why not? Why shouldn’t I commemorate him?”

  I checked the details.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Strength: 22

  Agility: 15

  Constitution: 15

  Intelligence: 8

  Wisdom: 6

  Perseverance: 5

  Fury: 5

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Not a bad distribution. And the Class-related stats are balanced, which means they are not leaning towards either of the two main paths. I will be able to influence it and grow them into a tank or an attacker.”

  In the corner of the rectangle, I noticed a pink symbol, the familiar circle with a cross sticking out of it.

  “So, this one is a girl. She’s the only Berserker in this shuffle. I hope you won’t mind, Berg. You are going to be reborn as a hot, badass chick with a giant axe.”

  Since I had already set my mind on it, I selected this one and tapped the button saying Recruit. The System asked me if I was sure about spending my token and I confirmed.

  Everything moved and I was back in the Subordinate Management menu, with a spinning circle that symbolized the loading of assets hovering above the lone highlighted pedestal.

  “Now what?” I asked, looking around. “Will someone ring the doorbell, like with the package?”

  But, nobody did.

  Instead, a black magical circle appeared on the floor by my desk and started pulsing with blinding intensity. I had no idea how darkness could be blinding, it just was.

  Through my covered eyes, I saw dark motes of energy form a humanoid-looking silhouette. Within twenty seconds, a feminine shape stood in front of me, obscured by a black mist. When the onyx smoke gradually receded, it revealed the woman who had just materialized in my apartment.

  First, I thanked gods she actually had some clothing on. I hadn’t been so sure about that, not after my recent experiences with the Status and Subordinate Management menus. Fortunately, a simple linen tank-top and shorts covered the woman’s charms.

  I glossed over her crimson hair, tied up in a wild ponytail, with two small braids framing her face and resting on her chest. She had a well-toned figure, and she was a breathtaking beauty. But what actually caught my attention was not what you might expect.

  She had horns, a tail, and occasional tough-looking crimson scales here and there.

  The horns, much darker than her hair, curled upward and slightly inward around the sides of her head. They stood up proudly, like a ferocious crown. No doubt they were extremely sharp and durable. I would not want to end up on the receiving end, if she decided to charge at someone head-first.

  The woman’s tail was as magnificent as her horns. It was of a similar, darker crimson shade, but you could easily make out single scales, neatly organized along its length. It was rather thick where it sprouted from her lower back, but not massive, and gradually decreased in diameter until its narrow tip.

  Regarding the aforementioned scales on her skin, they ran mostly along the outside of her arms and legs. Man, they made her look exotic and especially stunning.

  Small plates covered the sides of her shins and thighs, a few decorated her underbelly—clearly diving down into her shorts—and a bunch more covered her shoulders and arms, and finally a few ran along her cheekbones and forehead.

  After what felt like an eternity of me staring at this gorgeous woman with a fierce but charming face, her chest heaved up strongly and she took a deep breath as if she’d just resurfaced after spending a long time underwater. Her eyelashes fluttered and she opened her eyes.

  I wasn’t sure how she would react, so I remained silent and unmoving, trying to appear as casual and friendly as possible. She scanned her surroundings attentively before locking her shiny scarlet eyes with mine. I marveled at the beauty of her vertical pupils.

  We stared at each other for several seconds without saying anything.

  Eventually, she spoke first.

  “So, are we just going to stand still like this or...?”

  Her voice was melodic, pleasant to listen to, yet carrying a note of fierceness.

  I cleared my throat. “Apologies. I wasn’t sure how I should act. We can sit down, if you would like.”

  She raised a brow at me as the corner of her mouth curled a little in a faint smirk. “Oh? Am I your first then?”

  “Yeah. I’m fairly new to this, so I would be grateful if you could cut me some slack if I make some grand faux pas by accident.”

  She chuckled softly. “I didn’t expect my little tease to be overlooked this easily, without even the tiniest reaction.”

  “Well, if you meant it like that, then no, you wouldn’t be my first.” I smiled back at her. “I had the pleasure of experiencing a thing or two with my previous partner.”

  “Previous? My condolences then.”

  “Doesn’t matter. We’ve parted on... okayish terms. She found someone better, supposedly, and suggested we wrapped things up after meeting them for some time. I always reminded her to just be honest and straightforward with me, so I guess she was, and did. With a slight delay, more or less…”

  I waved a hand dismissively with a wry smile.

  “Anyway, why are we talking about my ex and our past love life? I would much rather learn about the woman before me, instead. Especially in terms of who I am dealing with, as it’s my first time seeing a person with such features.”

  “Ah, where are my manners? I’m Aisha, a drakan. You are a human, correct?”

  I nodded. “Nice to meet you then, Aisha. And yes, I’m a human. My name is Lucas.”

  “Lucas. A proud name.”

  “Thank you for the compliment.”

  My eyes jumped to her slowly moving tail and Aisha clearly noticed it, causing it to change directions a bit more with an enchanting smile.

  “Well then. Let me just ask something first, if you don’t mind,” I continued.

  “Naturally. Go on.”

  “How does this whole recruitment work? I picked a Berserker and then some magical formation had you materialize in front of me. Did I like summon you from another realm? Hopefully, I didn’t kidnap you from somewhere.”

  “Looks like you really are completely fresh.” She chuckled again. “This should be explained in one of the giant encyclopedia tomes you should have received from your organization, but I guess you haven’t skimmed through them yet. Not that I blame you, those things seem to be endless. Speaking of which, your Personal Domain seems to be quite empty. Where are they?”

  Aisha glanced around as if looking for something.

  “Tomes? Ah, I think I know what you mean. I can access that information in a more convenient way, so I only received four small notebooks.”

  I walked over to the bed and picked up the colorful notebooks to show her. Then, I pulled out my phone and entered the Wiki, scrolling through it a little in front of Aisha.

  “And you say that all the information is in this shiny tablet?” she asked curiously.

  “Yes. I can even enter words or phrases to search for specific details.”

  “Fascinating. This saves so much space. And time.”

  She observed my phone for a few more seconds before shifting her gaze back onto me.

  “Nevertheless, it’s always more fun learning from someone else, so I don’t mind answering any of your questions. As long as I know the answer, of course. So, I can assure you that you haven’t kidnapped me. Quite the opposite. You have freed me.”

  It was my turn to raise a brow at her. “How so?”

  “I used to be a Defender, like you, working for a guild back in my own realm, thwarting the Dungeons threatening it. But then, simply speaking, I died.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. Mistakes were made. Happens to everyone. Anyway, when a Defender dies in a Dungeon, they are given a choice. You can either pass on, or become part of the System. If you choose the latter, your level is reset and you join the pool of souls available to be drawn on by various Classes operating on summons, familiars, subordinates, minions, et cetera.”

  I rubbed my chin while nodding. “I see. You become a servant for a second chance at life. Still, there’s a risk you might end up in a much worse situation.”

  “That is true. But, this is not all. If you agree to become a servant, you are also promised a wish, once your master reaches a high enough position in their organization. It can be almost anything, including bringing back the dead. As you can imagine, that’s quite an incentive for quite a lot of people.”

  “Right. If not for the dying part, it would seem that you get better long-term benefits than me. Did you spend a long time waiting?”

  Aisha shrugged. “No idea. The good part about it is that you don’t feel the passage of time. Also, you are technically my first master. Speaking of which, what’s your Class?”

  “Whoops. I completely forgot to mention it. I guess you don’t know it inherently. I’m an Overlord.”

  “Overlord?” She showed a bit of surprise. “You don’t seem like one, honestly.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I frowned a little.

  “From what I know, you need to have specific qualities to be able to pick this Class as a starting one. I have no idea what exactly those are, but the two I met were complete jerks, slave drivers, pretty much. Something about making your minions completely submit, I think.”

  I winced a little when imagining it. “I really hope not being like that doesn’t weaken the user. Even if I wanted to make you submit, you’d hand me my ass in a flash, considering your stats and experience.”

  Aisha grinned while cracking her knuckles. “And here I was looking forward to duking it out with you. We won’t know unless we try, right?”

  Taking a step back, I raised my hands in front of me. “Woah, let’s slow down a bit. I am quite fit, but I’m no fighter. I was a Tactician in the game.”

  “Game?” She tilted her head.

  “Uhhh… How did you join whatever organization you worked for?”

  “A representative approached me and invited me in, explaining some parts about it first. I was a B-rank adventurer before that. I love fighting, so the prospect of enemies just waiting for you to slaughter them seemed more interesting than protecting my world.” A bit more feral grin made it onto Aisha’s lips before she refocused on me. “You?”

  “Well… You could say that I was scouted through a simulation. I’ll try to explain it someday, but there’s probably a lot you wouldn’t exactly get. Different world thingy.”

  “Not that it matters all that much. Could I get some water? I just realized how parched this new body of mine feels.”

  I nodded and quickly strode to the kitchen complex, which was visible to Aisha, of course, as it was really just one of the corners of my apartment, which was in the shape of a big square, and only the bathroom was walled off.

  Grabbing a small bottle from the fridge, I picked up a glass too and gestured at the bed after returning with them.

  Aisha sat down and I filled her glass, sitting on my wheeled chair next to the desk. She took a sip, which caused her brows to rise.

  “Mmmm... Perfectly chilled. And so tasty. I think I’m going to like it here, if everything will be of such quality.”

  “I’ll try my best to keep the standards up.”

  She chuckled. “You are either lowering my guard, or I hit the jackpot with my first master.”

  “I’d say it’s the latter.” I smiled. “Back to our conversation, you mentioning a new body reminded me of something. I have an option to literally design one when recruiting subordinates. Do you have an idea of how that works? I get that the templates are just people like you waiting to get picked, but what if I create someone?”

  “Hmmm…” Aisha’s brow wrinkled, and she pursed her lips. “I have no knowledge of something like that, but I remember a feeling of sensing a body which was completely different from mine, and something like a question if I would like to use it. It felt weird, so I subconsciously rejected it. I guess that might have been someone creating a female drakan Berserker and the System matching appropriate souls?”

  “Interesting. That could be it. I’ll check if the Wiki says anything on the subject later. Not like I’ll be recruiting another companion anytime soon.”

  “How far have you gotten in your Tutorial Dungeon?” she asked.

  “I woke up barely an hour ago and only just unpacked the mail I received from my promoter.”

  She grinned at me, her scaly tail swaying enchantingly back and forth over the sheets.

  “Then what are we waiting for? You should experience your first ever delve already.”

  Chapter 4

  New Old Home

  Aisha jumped off the bed and walked over to me, placing the empty glass on the desk. She then stood there with a smile and hands on her hips. Her crimson tail waved slowly behind her legs, capturing my attention again.

  A cough brought me back from my entranced study of her scaled appendage and I smiled back at her.

  “I would prefer to read at least the basic notebooks I received before heading out. You might have been an adventurer before getting scouted, but I was more of an office worker. Something like a scholar in your world, I guess.”

  “Commendable. But, don’t worry so much. The first Dungeon is always a cakewalk, provided you don’t lose your head. And yours seems pretty strongly attached. There’s no better teacher than experience, you know?”

  She stared at me, my uncertainty clear on my face. The craving for the thrill of fantasy in real life was pulled up short by my typically cautious nature and calculated approach.

  With a soft sigh, Aisha walked past me and headed towards the balcony. Without any difficulty, she opened the glass door and stepped outside. After glancing around, she rested her elbows on top of the stone balustrade.

  “Damn. Dwarven metropolises from my world couldn’t hold a candle to this. It’s my first time seeing such a breathtaking realm,” she marveled, leaning far forward out over the railing.

  “Be careful not to fall over—”

  Before I got a chance to finish my warning, Aisha’s body bent nearly double over the edge and she flipped over it, disappearing from my sight.

  “Shit!”

  I lunged forward, dread overcoming me. My apartment was located on the sixth floor. I had no idea how different drakans were from humans, but a fall from such a height could only be fatal in my mind. That is, unless some miracle occurred.

  “Aisha!” I shouted, leaning over the edge too. “Ah! Fuck!” I then cursed, startled even more.

  Just beyond and slightly below the stone balustrade, Aisha crouched in mid-air with an impish grin, supporting her cheeks with her palms, clearly proud of herself.

  Well, rather than mid-air, it appeared that she stood on the weird, blurry surface I had seen earlier, the one with emerald, glowing symbols, which seemed to exist somewhere outside my balcony.

  She stood up and extended a hand to me, still smiling. More than a little reluctantly, I took her hand and carefully stepped over the stone railing. Just like her, I landed on what felt like solid ground. The same blurry surface and strange symbols appeared beneath my feet.

  “What the hell?”

  “Did you forget about the restricted freedom, or did your promoter not mention it?” she asked.

  “There was something like that, but I thought I would need to avoid or limit my contact with those unaware. Keep all of this a secret, or something. You mentioned Personal Domain earlier. What exactly is happening?”

  Aisha let go of my hand and moved her palm towards the open space, soon hitting the eerie barrier I had noticed shortly after waking up.

  “Your home has been turned into a Pocket Dimension, often called Personal Domain since you can influence it, surrounded by powerful wards. This barrier is the last line of defense after the Defender fails to clear their assigned Dungeon, which results in a Dungeon Break. It gives your organization time to dispatch an emergency team before the monsters break containment and wreak havoc out in this world.”

  She turned around and pointed at the entrance door to my apartment.

  “Your organization can find the places of possible future Dungeon Breaks, which can happen literally anywhere around the world, and redirect them to this Personal Dimension, creating a connection between the worlds before a natural one opens.”

  Glancing towards the panorama of the city again, she continued.

  “You learn more about the lore behind this in more detail from the books, but simply speaking, the universe is constantly in turmoil and conflict between two sides. Good and evil. Life and death. Peace and war. It is said that an all-consuming Void constantly expands its forces to turn everything into nothing since the dawn of ages. Monsters are these forces. They are born from the Void and slowly raised in a place we call a Dungeon until it reaches its full capacity, causing them to pour into some poor realm.”