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Gen stared at the ceiling while listening to the gentle snoring of six miniature iguanas snuggled into a pile pressed against her.

They had the whole garden to live in now, but Jasper had led them into her bed like it was the most natural thing in the world, and she hadn't seen a reason to object.

Whether the cold-blooded lizards were just using her as a personal heater, preferred the cheap foam mattress over rocks, or genuinely enjoyed her presence, she couldn't say, but it was a nice feeling not being alone in this seriously disturbing reality.

She still had no idea what the iguanas were at a fundamental level, but she trusted Jasper and would've happily stayed in bed another two hours if it wasn't for the schedule G2n and Morna had forced upon her the previous day.

Sighing, she quietly slid away from the iguana pile. Jasper opened one eye, and she gave him a nod before opening and exiting her room.

"GOOOOOD MOOOOOORRRNING!~"

Gen covered her ears and gave Morna a dead-eyed stare. Morna was wearing a sports bra and gym shorts, showing off her sculpted abs, looking to be brimming with lifeforce in direct contrast to Gen's exhausted state.

"It's 5 am… how are you so chipper?"

Morna smiled evilly, "It's because I'm healthy! With the right diet and exercise, one day you could be half as energized as me!"

"What diet? You were literally showing off your snack-generating items yesterday…"

Morna gave her a disappointed look, "Gen, apologize right now! Snack foods don't deserve your slander! Calories are energy, and my diet is equal opportunity!"

"Ummm. I'm sorry?"

Morna nodded approvingly before looking Gen over. "You're going to exercise in that?"

Gen looked down at her jeans and shrugged, "I don't own anything else."

Morna signed, "I overlooked it before because you were poor, but enough is enough! You got second place! We're going shopping!"

***

Several hours later, Gen's new workout clothes were drenched in sweat, and she had decided she hated Morna.

"Gen seriously!? How many breaks do you need?"

Gasping for air, Gen pointed a finger accusingly at Morna. "You said you'd go easy on the exercise plan to ease me into it!"

"I am! This is as easy as it gets!"

Gen glared at the pack of mechanical dogs with razor-sharp teeth that had been chasing her for what felt like a dozen miles. When Morna had brought her to the gym, Gen had naively assumed her life wouldn't actually be on the line. When the first dog had bitten her leg and drawn blood, however, she'd been forced to reevaluate.

Morna hardly looked winded as she wagged her finger at Gen, "I set it to difficulty level 1! The puppies don't even have lasers…"

Gen felt like passing out. Morna had convinced her to splurge on a whole new set of clothes for anything from yardwork to a pool party and an additional 100 emmys on a year-long membership to her favorite gym. The place was simply called Mike's, and seeing their brief spiel on extrinsic motivation enhancers, she had dumbly assumed things would just be something like gamified fitness goals, not the threat of being torn to pieces.

Sensing her mood, Morna's tone became defensive, "You can't deny it's effective though! I've seen you run before! You wouldn't have made it even half as far if they weren't pushing you to your limit!"

Gen refused to agree with that statement and hurried to the showers before the dogs decided to reactivate and give her another exercise session.

Her phone alarm went off mid-shower, letting her know that she was running late. Quickly dressing, she snuck past Morna, who was wrestling a robot gorilla, and hurried to class.

The zombie event had taken priority over her generated tutorial classes, but with it over, she was going to try attending again. The classes weren't mandatory, but learning about the world through a more normal and structured manner than through Morna's group of eccentrics was probably a good idea.

Checking her phone, she could see Alfred was still on hiatus. She still felt bad about that, but vowed to make it up to him once he was back. A quick trip on the trolley brought her to the familiar building, and after walking through the door, she found herself facing someone familiar.

Rusty.

Flustered, she bowed and quickly spewed out her prepared apology.

"Sorry for stealing your phone! It was literally life or death for me, and it really saved me!" Reaching into her new backpack, she pulled out one of G2n's untraceable phones and held it out as an offering, "Please accept this as an apology!"

G2n's phones were expensive, but Gen thought it was worth it to actually have private communication, and she was rich at least for the moment, so she wasn't going to cheap out by giving Rusty a new phone inferior to her own.

Rusty looked startled at her appearance and stared dumbly at her as he accepted the phone. Before he could say anything, however, another familiar face appeared, stepping in front of Rusty, Tonata.

Tonata, formerly known as Tony before his use of the remixer machine, was someone Gen had barely talked to previously, but based on his angry expression, he wasn't a fan.

"What are you doing here!?"

Gen looked around, confused, "I'm here for class? The generated tutorial thing is still going on, right? I was busy with the event, but with that over, I'm here to learn about… society?"

Tonata had his arms crossed, still looking angry. "To learn things like stealing is a crime?"

Gen looked away awkwardly, "I replaced it and--"

She was cut off as an unfamiliar man appeared.

Bluss - Level 4

The man stepped forward, pulling Tonata back and giving Gen a neutral look.

"You must be Gen, I've heard so much about you."

Feeling isolated and missing Jasper's familiar presence, Gen took a step back. "Well, I don't know exactly what you heard, but I had good reasons--"

Bluss didn't look convinced. "Good reason for breaking someone's nose and stealing personal property?" His eyes narrowed, "Also, the timing of Alfred's hiatus… his last received message was from the phone that you stole. Would you care to explain that?"

Gen gulped and fought the urge to request a lawyer. She hadn't really thought about it, but she had left an overall awful impression on her group of generated. A crowd was forming as more generated started to watch the altercation. Bo was in the back, smirking, his broken nose still had a bandage on it, and she felt an urge to punch it all over again.

Gen kept a calm voice as she tried to smile, "It sounds bad when you say it like that, but…" unsure how to explain, she instead questioned Bluss, "Who even are you and how do you know what messages Alfred received?"

Bluss's cold expression dropped to freezing.

"In Alfred's absence, I have taken over the management of the generated groups he was instructing. As for his messages… he is my husband, so it's hardly irregular for me to have access."

Gen gulped at the revelation. She hadn't really considered that Alfred might have a family or anything left behind after he died. Mentally correcting herself, she tried to alleviate her guilt by emphasizing he was on hiatus, not truly dead. Unless his viewers abandoned him, that is…

Facing the currently widowed Bluss, Gen tried to formulate a response before glancing over the crowd of generated who were watching the exchange. Their expressions varied between hostile, nervous, to amused.

Frustrated, Gen took a step back, "Alfred saved my life, so I'm grateful to him. I'll pay him back once his hiatus is over. If you want more info, text me on Rusty's new phone as it won't be traced." Pausing for a second, she looked at Rusty again, "I'm sorry about stealing your phone; my life really was in danger." She glanced at Bo in the back, "Not sorry about your nose, fuck you!" Flipping him off, she hurriedly turned.

Bluss called something after her, but she abandoned all decorum as she started to full-on run away. After being chased by mechanical dogs all morning, her knees, or rather her whole body, protested the exertion, but it was better than dealing with the social situation any longer.

Slowing to a walk, she wandered aimlessly for a bit before finding herself in the same park they'd passed through after their first scenario. Sitting on a bench, she stared up at the sky, her overwhelmed mind drifting.

Were the sky and clouds above even real? Her brief chat with LEO about the energy costs of maintaining a reality and how he was actively simplifying things really made her start questioning the details. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just have an image of the sky rather than anything of substance?

The thought made her feel claustrophobic in a whole new way. None of the lives in her memories had really been entirely free or had the opportunity to explore the vastness of space, but they all technically could have made radically different choices and gone anywhere they wanted.

Right now, though… no matter where she went, she would only end up right where LEO wanted her. The whole world was his stage, and she was just an actor.

Shaking her head violently, she cleared her thoughts. She was making herself depressed and getting philosophical just to avoid thinking about how awkward the previous interaction was.

Sighing, she pulled out her phone and messaged Francine.

Gen: I ran away from the generated school. I think I'm going to drop out.

Francine: You actually went? With all my connections at work, they're teaching me better than the classes ever would.

Francine: Plus, I don't want to see Bo.

Gen: Yeah… his nose is still broken 😎

Francine: … I still don't condone violence, but good.

Gen put her phone down and watched people passing her by in the park. None spared her a glance as they hurried around to their destinations or focused on their own activities. A group was playing Frisbee, and a family was having a BBQ. At first glance, things looked like a normal pre-LEO society, but small things like a dad who was conjuring ice cubes for plastic cups or one of the frisbee players jumping five feet vertically were obvious if you looked for them. Other things, like a woman taking her horse-sized spider for a walk, were obvious even if she didn't look for it.

Her phone buzzed as Francine messaged her again.

Francine: Well, if you do drop out, you can come work with me! Your performance in the zombie event is enough to guarantee you a position. It's been hinted to me that they would love to hire Jasper as well if he's interested…

Gen sighed. She had existed for too little time to deal with long-term decisions yet… Her long-term goals were still in flux. Her memories weren't any help in determining what to do.

Sophia would've loved to just kill everyone, starting with Bo. Kyle probably would've joined Francine and worked his way up the corporate ladder. CJ? Her memories of them were very combat-focused, but she had a vague sense of them hoping for the end of the war so maybe they'd just enjoy the peace or start some sort of new social conflict against the elites… Victor was the easiest to guess; he would've just found a board game group and played until he died from old age.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

None of those options was particularly enticing for her, so she was left at a loss.

Her phone buzzed again, but this time from G2n, distracting her from considering Francine's employment offer further.

G2n: If you're skipping class, then we should get started on your dungeon setup early.

Her eyes narrowed, she'd agreed to work with him this evening after class.

Gen: How do you know I'm skipping class… Are you monitoring my phone? 😡

In response, she received a picture from behind of herself sitting on the bench. Turning, she heard laughter and saw Hon and Pali giggling. G2n was behind them. He looked serious, but she could see an amused glint in his eye.

Hon put on a stupid expression, "aRe yOU mOniTOring mY pHonE??"

Gen stared at him, waiting for him to finish before addressing the other two.

"I expect this from Hon, but you two…"

Pali shrugged, "It's fun to be part of the audience."

Hon clapped him on the back, "I've been trying to give him comedy training! His ability is insane, but he never tells jokes!"

Pali rolled his eyes, "I don't typically have much need for stopping people's hearts."

Hon scoffed, "It was epic when you killed Daryl, though! A level 5 and just like that BAM dead! If I were you, I'd enroll in clown school!"

Pali scratched his neck, "I'm scared of clowns…"

Hon ducked down and whispered, "Don't say that! If you ever do another scenario, LEO is going to include a clown for sure!"

Gen's mind flashed back to her scenario run when the gnome king had briefly been turned into a clown by Billy's ability and shuddered.

Looking at G2n, she asked, "What are you guys even doing here?"

G2n spoke first, "Just getting some air…"

Hon shook his head, "We're taking him for a walk. Old Gen has us take him out once a week; otherwise, he just stays inside and slowly goes crazy."

G2n shot him a glare.

Pali added from the side, "And we're getting smoothies."

So Gen found herself tagging along on an impromptu smoothie run. Along the way, she learned a bit more about her friends' backgrounds.

Hon apparently worked as a trolley repairman. Pali was an accountant. Unsurprisingly, G2n was vague on what he did exactly, but he implied it was tech support.

Hon helpfully whispered, "He's a hacker."

G2n glared at him, but Gen honestly couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.

A short time later, the four of them found themselves in Gen's dungeon. It was an empty room with a giant crab just as she left it. The crab held still while her three friends circled it.

Hon nodded confidently, "It's definitely a crab."

Pali nodded as well, "It's a European green crab."

Gen stared at him, "But it's brown…*

Pali shrugged, "They come in a variety of colors."

Still confused, Gen asked, "How do you even know that? Like, I didn't expect you to even know what Europe is."

Pali looked offended, "The original Earth might have been destroyed, but Earth history is a required subject, you know. LEO's base programming is built on Earth culture, so we need to know at least the basics to understand his references. As for the crab… I like crustaceans. This species has five spikes on either side of its head. They're normally much smaller, though."

Gen shrugged apologetically and didn't question the crab expert further.

G2n finished with his own examination and spoke next. "You said it took 20 dungeon essence to create it, right? Can you try unsummoning it and see if you get refunded?"

Gen focused on the crab, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

100/100 dungeon essence available

Gen breathed a sigh of relief. At least she didn't have to worry about bricking her dungeon.

Next, G2n had her focus on her iguana's ability to see how it interacted with the dungeon.

Iguana Spawner: 20 dungeon essence

Teamwork makes the dream work: +1000 dungeon essence.

"I can make an iguana spawner, but it doesn't elaborate. It seems like I can optionally use my ability augment with the spawner, but it makes the cost crazy…"

Activating it, a watermelon-sized iguana egg appeared on the floor. It was reminiscent of the zombie iguana hatchery, but much smaller, and didn't look diseased.

Squinting at it, she saw a description.

Iguana Spawner: Summons an iguana every ten seconds.

"It does exactly what you would expect…"

Playing around a bit more, Gen found she could expand the room's size, add holes, hills, and walls. The costs varied, but overall her design options were severely limited by her small supply of dungeon essence.

Deciding not to complicate it, she made four crabs and an iguana spawner, and they decided to do a test run. Groups of three could enter the dungeon, and five groups could enter a week. Leaving the penalty as none, she set the dungeon as ready and made an entrance portal in the conference room.

Hon wanted to enter immediately, but G2n made sure the three of them were fully outfitted in their scenario gear before entering the dungeon.

Gen watched them disappear, and a prompt appeared asking if she wanted to observe the trespassers. Selecting yes, she teleported and found herself floating above the simple room she had designed, like a ghost observing the standoff between the four crabs and her friends.

G2n was in front, and two wires extended from him, connecting to Hon and Pali. Gen had asked about the ability she witnessed during the fight with Susan, and he had explained that it was called human network and allowed groups to synergize and coordinate. He had some augments for it that further enhanced combat ability as well.

Hon had a baseball bat, and Pali wielded a golf club. The two of them loomed behind G2n, looking like thugs. G2n pointed forward, "Attack."

Hon and Pali darted forward in unison, and the crabs rushed forward to meet them. With a crash, Hon smashed his bat into the first crab only to have it bounce off uselessly. Pali followed immediately after with his golf club, hitting hard and cracking the shell, but still not doing any substantial damage.

The two of them froze as their weapons failed them, but the crabs didn't hesitate. One grabbed Hon around the waist with a claw, and another snatched Pali by his leg, pulling him to the ground.

Hon screamed in pain as the giant claw tightened, and a sickening crunch filled the room, causing him to cough blood. Pali was no better as he was dragged to a giant maw foot first. With rapid bites, it was blending its way up his leg, leaving pulped flesh in its wake.

G2n capitalized on his teammates' distraction. He had produced his javelin and hit a crab from the side, effortlessly stabbing straight through its head and killing it in one blow.

Gen could tell his Sneaky Swole ability was in effect as he unleashed pure nerd strength and killed a second crab. Hon and Pali were abandoned on the ground as the two remaining crabs rushed G2n, but he looked nonplussed as he stabbed twice in rapid succession and killed both.

Pali was screaming in pain on the floor, and Hon was lying limply and looked dead.

The iguana spawner in the center of the room glimmered for a second, and an iguana materialized.

G2n ignored Pali's screams as he and the iguana stared each other down. Abruptly, the iguana turned away and started nibbling on Hon's dead body.

G2n relaxed and leaned over, using his super strength to grab Pali and hurl him to the exit door. With a flash of light, Pali was gone, and G2n dashed behind him, exiting as well. Gen watched the randomly spawned iguana eat Hon's body for a few seconds before everything froze, and she received a message.

Dungeon Run Completed - ⅓ invaders killed

1 emmy gained

Minuscule amount of dungeon XP earned - Insufficient XP to level

LEO's notes: Turn the safety off. It'd be way funnier!

Gen found herself back in the conference room. Pali was breathing hard as he examined his regenerated foot.

Hon looked confused as he spun around, "Did we all die?"

G2n was to the point, "Only you did."

Hon groaned, "Let me redo it! I got crabs and turtles confused, I thought it would be slow!"

Pali shook his head. He'd sat down, "I'm out. If I do that again, I might develop a crab phobia."

Small treasure chests appeared in front of Pali and G2n. Hon spun around looking for his own before looking disappointed and mouthing to Gen Let me redo!

Pali opened his chest first, and it disappeared with a victory trumpet noise and a poof of smoke to reveal a single uncooked spaghetti noodle. Hon stared at it jealously and cheered up when Pali handed it to him.

G2n's reward was more substantial, but equally lackluster, as he received an unopened box of spaghetti noodles.

They all stared at it before Gen said, "Maybe they'll get better as it levels up?*

Hon snatched up the box and looked offended. "I gave my life for that spaghetti! Don't look down on it!"

They ignored him, and Gen quickly filled G2n in on her experience of observing and the single emmy she had been awarded with and the small amount of XP. Prior to her zombie event winnings, even a single emmy would've been nice, but even after her shopping spree and buying a second phone from G2n, she still had hundreds of emmys to use.

Strategizing G2n and her quickly decided to switch the iguana spawner to a fifth crab. She loved her iguana ability, but without the teamwork augment, the spawned iguanas were just normal iguanas and didn't even actively attack people. In the future, she could imagine uses for them, but not in her current rinky-dink dungeon.

Hon wanted to do another run immediately, but Gen didn't want to do more runs without Morna, as her fiery friend would no doubt complain nonstop if she was left out longer.

Ending things there for the evening, she headed to the kitchen and found Jasper and his mess of mini-iguana friends surrounded by a group of admirers. The fans had brought snacks, and the iguanas looked perfectly pleased to be spoiled with treats.

Old Gen was at the center of it, feeding BBQ chips to Beryl. Gen shared a look with Jasper to confirm he didn't need rescuing before making a sandwich and retreating to her room. If nothing else, her dungeon would be useful for expanding the club's awful food options.

In her room, she heard a familiar Ding!~ as her polls resolved.

Poll 50: Pool Upgrade Complete Votes Healing Waters 3 Explosive Pool Noodles 0 Hungry Hungry Hippos 2

Poll 51: Random Plant Complete Votes Buckshot Buckwheat 0 Mint Condition 6 Mourning Glory 2

Seeing the words healing waters her eyes immediately focused on the upgraded Olympic swimming pool's description.

Olympic Swimming Pool: Pool water is self-cleaning and regenerates those within.

Gen's body felt miserable after the exercise that morning, particularly where the damn robo-dog bit her, so she didn't hesitate to remodel her house.

It wasn't cheap, but it was definitely worth it as she rearranged things and added more floor space.

Her new floor plan no longer had people walk directly onto her bed when they entered. Instead, there was a hallway branched out like a plus sign. To the right, she put the toilet and sink in a small room with a door. Straight ahead, she placed the garden, and through the left hallway behind another door was her bedroom.

For the final change, she made another door right before her bedroom and made a simple room. Activating her swimming pool, she placed it in the middle and smiled at the Jacuzzi-sized pool.

Being level 1 and having her equipment weakened outside events worked out as she wasn't sure she wanted an Olympic-sized bathtub. Not hesitating, she stripped and climbed into the water, shivering at the temperature as well as the feeling of relief as the magical healing properties went into effect.

She had no baseline to know if the healing effect was diminished in the same way as the size was, but it certainly felt heavenly as her torn muscles slowly started to regenerate.

"Morna can't know about this."

If her fitness junky friend learned about it, Gen was confident that the workouts would only intensify. Gen wanted to be fit, but she wasn't a masochist…

Relishing in her new tub, she was particularly happy with its self-cleaning functionality as she was sure to be using it often. Leaning against the side, she pulled her new seeds out of her inventory and inspected them.

Mint Condition: This minty plant can repair minor damage! Just rub it on and watch nicks and scratches disappear!

Gen read the description again before putting the seeds away. It was certainly useful, but in a more practical way than the apocalyptic degree LEO seemed to prefer operating.

That was perfectly fine by her as she could use some low-key stakes for a while.

LEO's voice boomed in her head, making her jump.

Howdy folks! With the big event wrapped up, you know what time it is! Time to go to work! As always, it's totally optional, but I'll be very disappointed in you if you decline!~

Do you wish to participate? Y/N

Gen sighed. She knew this was coming, but had forgotten. Based on what she knew, the work events were exactly that, you'd get a normal job and work it for two to three weeks. Sometimes things would happen, but in general it was just a way to pass the time until the next event and earn emmys. Gen had enough savings to skip it, and supposedly a lot of people did, but…

She had an itch to at least test it out once and selected 'Y'.

Poll 52: Work 1 Dishwasher 2 Deliveries 3 Streetcleaner

Gen stared at the poll. It was exactly what you would expect from normal jobs, but she was still disappointed for some reason. Shrugging, she relaxed deeper into the water as her aches slowly disappeared.

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