They had been finding and collecting their own Ghost Orchids ever since Zane identified what they looked like. When he handed the six he'd gathered to Bell—who was already holding two of her own—she got a system message:

Dungeon Progress: 08/30 Ghost Orchids collected

"Wow," Bell said, blinking at the message. "I think only one of us needs to collect the thirty Ghost Orchids."

Tarni jumped up with his arms full of the white flowers and shouted, "Holy elf butt hairs, that's awesome!" as he hurried over to Bell, quickly handing her his five Ghost Orchids.

Bell got a new message:

Dungeon Progress: 13/30 Ghost Orchids collected

Lily hadn't found any—she'd been too busy keeping watch—but Kai had been hunting hard. After splashing back across the small river he'd crossed earlier, he handed over his pile of Ghost Orchids to Bell.

She couldn't believe it. With Kai's haul added to the rest, the message changed again:

Dungeon Progress: 23/30 Ghost Orchids collected

"Bloody horseshoes," Bell grinned, "we're nearly done—and it's been less than thirty minutes since we got here!"

What followed was a mad scramble between Kai and Zane, both racing to be the one to finish the quest. In the end, it didn't matter who got the final ones—because just like that, the system pinged:

Dungeon Progress: 100% Congratulations! You have finished the third floor.

You Have Unlocked: 🛠️ Guild & Quest System …Wow, you knocked that one over fast. I'm just going to let you know what's coming up. Because you might want to do a twofer today…

Next Dungeon Level Reward: And a twofer it is. Upon entering the fourth floor, you will receive a randomly selected temporary Class. Upon successful completion, you will unlock the Basic System Shop. (I hope the RNG gods are with you.)

Everyone stood in place, blinking at the floating message they'd all received.

"We finished already? That's awesome!"

"Wait—what's a temporary Class?"

"'I hope the RNG gods are with you'—does that mean we're all getting random classes next floor?"

"Well… shit."

The world lurched—and suddenly, they were standing back inside the black cube, staring at each other in surprise and then out toward the tunnel entrance, where soft morning light was spilling in.

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Ding!

LEVEL UP! You are now Level 8. +3 Stat Points Awarded

They glanced around as the level-up message popped up for each of them. Only now did it really sink in—they'd just completed a floor by picking flowers for 28 minutes. No mobs, no wildlife, no threats.

Just flowers.

Laughter and cheers broke out.

Until Tarni frowned and muttered, "Well… bat guano," as he received a second message:

Title Bonus Applied: +1 to all Stats granted from "Well, You Were Almost First"

"That's the last time I get a full set of extra points from my title," he grumbled.

Everyone laughed at his scowl, offering mock condolences. Zane clapped him on the back. "Don't stress, mate—I still got bonuses until Level 10."

Tarni rolled his eyes, but the smirk on his face said he wasn't too upset.

They all made their way out of the tunnel and found a nice spot to sit in the morning sun. The air was fresh, and for a few peaceful moments, they just soaked it in before diving into the usual post-dungeon ritual—stat talk.

"Alright," Kai said, stretching out and opening his system window. "I'm going to throw one into Constitution and two into Intelligence."

Constitution:

15 → 16

Intelligence:

21 → 23

Bell eyed her bow, thinking through its requirements before nodding to herself. "Two into Strength and one into Dexterity for me."

Strength:

14 → 16

Dexterity:

16 → 17

Lily raised her hand like she was making an announcement. "Still on track to hit 15 in all stats. So, one to Wisdom, two to Charisma."

Wisdom:

14 → 15

Charisma:

11 → 13

Kai tilted his head as he did some maths in his head. "You know that next level-up, you're going to have a spare point, right?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, then I'll just keep it as an unspent point. That way I can gloat about being stat efficient or something."

The group laughed, the stress of the last few days melting away as they lounged in the warm light, fully aware that this calm probably wouldn't last long. The peace didn't last long. It was broken by Tarni grumbling and humming to himself as he stared at his stat screen, clearly struggling to decide where to put his points.

After a minute of indecision, he looked over at Zane. "So, mate, where are you going to put your points?"

Zane leaned back on his elbows. "Well, after Lil's comment about keeping one point unspent, I figured it might actually be smart to wait and see what skill we get on the next floor before allocating anything."

Tarni's eyes widened. "Shit, mate, that's a great idea. I'm gonna do the same."

Zane shrugged. "Yeah, sorry—I didn't think of it until after you guys started spending your points."

Bell gave a little wave of dismissal. "It's okay. We probably need those stat bumps way more than you two."

Lily nodded in agreement beside her mum, while Kai wore a look of mild regret. "Man… why didn't I think of that?"

Zane gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, mate. Live and learn. We'll be better prepared next time."

Kai muttered something under his breath about 'damn stat efficiency' while the others chuckled.

After a short while sitting in the sun, the conversation turned to their newly unlocked Guild and Quest System.

"Create Guild."

"Become Guild Leader."

"Create quest… make quest?"

Everyone tried saying commands aloud, hoping to activate the system. They experimented with different phrases, poked at their menus, even tried shouting for dramatic effect—but nothing worked, no pop-ups, no system messages, nothing.

Eventually, after several minutes of increasingly ridiculous attempts, they gave up.

"Well," Zane said, standing up and brushing the dust off his pants, "guess it's locked behind the next floor or at a higher level."

The others nodded, a mix of curiosity and frustration on their faces.

"Alright then," Bell said, stretching, "let's head back into the dungeon and see what this temporary class thing is all about."

With that, the group turned toward the black cube once again, ready to face whatever came next.

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