The World's First Dungeon Vs Zane

By the time Max had taken ten steps toward the Safe Zone, he was steady on his feet again and breathing easier. Somehow, despite everything, he was still carrying the box of raw snags. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was shock. Or maybe he was just too hungry to let them go.

He could see the Safe Zone clearly on his system map now—an invisible circle of protection overlaying the paddock. People who crossed the boundary were dropping to their knees, collapsing, or simply sitting down where they stood. Exhaustion crushed everyone equally.

Zane and Bell were doing their best to keep order.

"Don't stop here!" Zane roared. "Let's get all this gear and food to the house first!"

It wasn't working. People were too drained, too hungry, too mentally fried to listen to yelling.

Bell tried a different tactic, cupping her hands around her mouth.
"We can cook up some food for everyone once we get this stuff to the house!"

That worked. People groaned, hauled themselves upright, and stumbled forward, motivated by the promise of actual food.

Max crossed the Safe Zone boundary—

DING!

A system window filled his vision.

You have entered an Unnamed Safe Zone.

System Monsters cannot enter or remotely attack you while you are within this Safe Zone.
(Safe Zone can only be named by a Guild Leader)

Before he could finish processing it, another notification appeared.

DING!

You are in a Safe Zone and in a Starving State.

It is highly recommended that you eat before spending any saved Points or
Levelling up again.

Max froze right where he stood—the system didn't usually beg, but that definitely felt like begging.

His stomach cramped hard to make sure he understood the message.

Kaitlyn crossed over beside him and stopped as her own notifications popped up. She let out a laugh through her panting.

"I bet I'm hungrier than you. I'm so glad Mr Walker made us eat that cake before we started this crazy march."

Max snorted.
"Yeah. You ate over half our giant birthday cake. The one meant to feed more than a hundred people."

Kaitlyn's cheeks went bright red. She opened her mouth, closed it again… then sighed.
"Okay—yeah, that one's on me."

They kept walking as Max looked out over the Rider property.

The Walkers' house loomed above the landscape on stilts—five meters off the ground like a bushland fortress. Surrounding it, the paddock looked like something straight out of one of Max's favourite PC games, Call of Honour. Barbed wire snaked in every direction, marking paths and choke points. Poles stood like skeletal sentries, each topped with old solar lights that had definitely seen better days.

Kai had sprinted ahead and was uncovering large pits—carefully hidden traps lined with shaped stakes. Max shuddered. Those would absolutely stop anything charging.

Looking further, he spotted the vehicles: two trucks, the Riders' ute, and a plain four-door sedan coated in dust.

Zane was still trying to wrangle the crowd.
"Once we cook up what you guys brought, we'll need to unload the vehicles!"

Someone yelled a question Max couldn't hear.

Zane's voice rose.
"Yeah, those trucks are full of food we got yesterday! No, we can't go into town and get more! And no, we can't go into town and rescue your family right now!"

Another wave of voices. Bell murmured something quickly to Zane—calming, focused.

Zane nodded and shouted again, louder but steadier.
"We know you're scared for your friends and family. Once everybody is fed, and once we have a quick meeting to get you all up to speed, we'll look at going on a rescue mission!"

People muttered, unhappy and unsure… until a familiar voice cut across the paddock.

Tarni cupped his hands around his mouth.
"No need to worry, mate! We're all friends here! I reckon you should all listen to Zane!"

The tension snapped—just like that. If Tarni said it, the crowd trusted it. People began moving again, limping, shuffling, but moving.

Max blinked.
How did Mr Walker manage to shut down an entire crowd in one sentence?

He didn't know—but right now, he was just glad someone could.

____________________________________________________________________

The cook-up was nothing short of epic.

Five fire pits blazed in a rough semicircle, each one tended by someone who looked like they might actually pass out face-first into the flames at any moment. But the smell—god, the smell—kept everyone going. Meat sizzled, fat dripped, smoke curled up into the dusk, and the first real smiles since the world ended spread across exhausted faces.

Max watched his precious box of snags finally getting cooked. The simple sight of people eagerly chewing on the sausages he had protected so fiercely made something warm bloom in his chest. Pride, maybe. Relief. Or just the pure satisfaction of seeing people fed.

He had already wolfed down more food than he'd ever eaten in one sitting in his life. Now that his body wasn't actively shutting down from starvation, his hands had stopped shaking enough for him to think straight again.

Leaning back against one of the empty trucks, he finally pulled up the system messages he had shoved to the side earlier.

SYSTEM MESSAGE

Congratulations, Max Smith.
Your world (Earth) has been fully initialised into the SYSTEM.
You have successfully rolled for a Soul Bond Companion.
Companion must be based on local fauna.

Available Creature Pool:

Mammals
• Kangaroos & Wallabies
• Koalas
• Wombats
• Platypus & Echidnas
• Possums & Gliders
• Bandicoots & Bilbies
• Quolls
• Flying-foxes

Birds
• Kookaburras
• Parrots & Cockatoos
• Honeyeaters
• Wedge-tailed Eagles
• Emu

Reptiles
• Goannas
• Thorny Devil
• Snakes

Other
• Frogs
• Insects & Spiders

A random creature from the above list will be selected and added as your Soul Bond Companion.
A Random Skill has been selected for you.

GLOBAL INTEGRATION COMPLETE

Due to the efforts of five champions, you have been granted 3 levels, and the following systems are now active:

Skill proficiency now increases through use

Party system unlocked

Map system unlocked

Item drop rate increased

Safe Zone created

Bag of Holding added to loot tables

Job Classes & Crafting trees added

Guild & Quest system unlocked

Soul-Bond Companions (1 in every 100,000)

System interface improvements

You still have 12 Points to spend

Class: Basic Human
+3 Points per level
Level: 4

Stats:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 9
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 11

Title: Second Born!

You are the second person to reach age 16 after full System initialization.
(+1 to all Stats per level until level 8)

Skills:

Create Light — Summon a small glowing orb that attaches to surfaces.

Soul Bond Companion: Wallaby

Stolen story; please report.

Companion Skill: Basic Shadow Walk — Your companion can cloak your movements for 30 seconds, as long as neither of you are in direct sunlight and you don't move faster than a walking pace.

Gear:

None

Another notification waited at the bottom.

Please Name Your Soul Bond Companion

You must name your Wallaby companion before it can be summoned.
(A Safe Zone is recommended)

Max sat there for a long moment, staring. He had checked around.

Nobody else—nobody—had been given a soul bond companion.

His heart thumped.
He really needed to talk to Mr Walker before he made any decisions about points, names, or anything else.

With rising excitement, Max jumped to his feet. Too fast. His full stomach protested violently, but he powered through it. He washed his tin plate in the bucket of soapy water someone had set up, then hurried across the clearing.

It didn't take long to spot the group of adults. Mr and Mrs Rider. Mr Walker. His own parents. Several others. They were standing near the base of the stilts under the house that was in the middle of the safe zone, speaking low—but urgently.

He slowed as he approached, catching snippets of tension-tight argument.

"We need to go and save the rest of the town."
"It's not safe to go to town and look for people."
"You can come with us."
"We need to get things organised here."

Then Mr Walker noticed him.

"G'day, Max. Feeling better?"

Max nodded fast. "Yes, sir! Um—actually—there's something I really need—"

Before he could finish, Zane had climbed up onto the veranda of the house and had put his hands to his mouth calling out to everyone that could hear him.

"Alright everyone! Meeting time! Up here under the house—we need to talk about the new rules before anybody does anything stupid!"

Groans of protest rose from the exhausted crowd, but people shuffled toward the gathering area anyway. Max followed, sticking close to Mr Walker.

Underneath the tall stilts of the Rider house, lanterns and makeshift lights illuminated a wide open space. People sat on camp chairs, logs, crates, or the dirt. Kids huddled together. Adults clustered in family groups.

By the time the crowd had gathered, Zane had been joined by Bell, Tarni, Lily and Kia. Together, they looked like an adventuring party from a video game—if adventurers were covered in goblin blood, dust, and exhaustion.

Leaning on the railing of the veranda Zane took a breath.
"Okay. Listen up. The world has changed—permanently. There's no going back. The SYSTEM is the new law of reality, and if you ignore it, you die."

Silence fell.

He began ticking off points with his fingers.

"First: this Safe Zone protects everyone inside it. Monsters can't enter or attack us from outside."

Most people had been told about the safe zone but to hear it confirmed by the people who had saved them. A wave of relief washed through the group.

"Second: if you haven't eaten yet, eat. The system will punish you for leveling up while starving. We don't want people collapsing."

Heads nodded.

"Third: skill proficiency now increases with use. So whatever you want to get good at—practice it."

People murmured approval at that one.

"Fourth: the map and party systems are active. Use them. If you go anywhere outside this Safe Zone, you go in a party. Nobody wanders off alone."

Several adults exchanged uneasy glances.

"Fifth: crafting, jobs, guilds, and quests are now a thing, and we'll explain those once people aren't half-dead."

Zane paused.
"And sixth…We don't know how bad it is out there, so no one is leaving until we are prepared. There are stronger monsters than Goblins and hobgoblins. We will make a team to go to town, but not until we are ready."

The adults looked grim. Some of the teens swallowed hard.

Max kept glancing at his system message.
He really needed to talk to Mr Walker, or should he call him Tarn like he keeps saying?

He wanted to name his wallaby.
And find out about Shadow Walk.
And, and so many other things.

Zane continued, "Tomorrow morning, we'll organise some scouting teams. Tonight, everyone rests. We will keep watch."

Everyone began buzzing with questions, arguments, fears—

And Max realised, heart pounding:

This was just the beginning.

__________________________________________________________________________

Tarni stood on the top platform of the stilted house, arms folded, eyes sharp.
His stats might not have been flashy on paper, but in practice? They were unmatched for one thing: Reading people.

Most of the crowd were settling in without trouble—relieved to be alive, fed, safe. Some were still scared. Others were anxious. But nobody looked like they wanted to start a fight or argue again.

Then Tarni spotted Max.

The kid was walking in tight little circles, chewing on his bottom lip, looking like he was about to either be sick or explode. Tarni remembered that Max had tried to approach him earlier, only for Zane's shouting to interrupt.

So Tarni smirked—his normal friendly smile that everyone insisted looked like he was plotting something—and called down:

"Oi, Max!"

Max stopped mid-circle, looked up in confusion.

Tarni waved him over.
"Come on up, mate. You and I can chat in the lounge room."

A ripple of shocked murmurs spread through the people lying around the base of the house.

"Why does he get to go in?"
"That's Riders-only, isn't it?"
"Hey—that kid just showed up!"

Tarni ignored them.
He knew Max probably hadn't even heard. The boy's face lit up with so much excitement that Tarni couldn't help grinning wider.

Max hurried over, practically sprinting to the ladder, and scrambled up. Tarni offered a firm handshake the moment he reached the top.

"Good on ya," Tarni said before leading him inside.

The lounge room was quiet except for the soft scratching of Lily's pen over a notebook and Kai rummaging through a pile of first aid supplies.

Tarni exhaled dramatically.

"Oh, thank the System—you two are still here. Max and I are gonna need your help."

Both Riders looked up.

Kai groaned in a friendly, long-suffering way.
"Alright, Tarn. What'd Max get into?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly are we helping with?"

All three of them turned toward Max.

Max froze.

Not because he was shy—normally he wasn't.
But these three? These were the legends who had run into the apocalypse head-first and saved everyone. They had food, a Safe Zone, weapons, actual combat skills—and the plan everyone was relying on.

Now they were staring at him with open expectation.

Max opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
Closed it harder.

Tarni burst out laughing.
"That's a damn good impression of a fish out of water, mate. Relax—we're all friends here."

Max laughed at himself, the tension breaking. He took a breath and showed them the system messages he'd been holding back. By the time he reached the part about his Soul Bond Companion and his Title, all three adults were leaning in like kids around a campfire.

Kai jumped up, nearly spilling the bandages he was sorting.
"That's the same reward Tarn got! Different title name, but same effect!"

Lily chewed thoughtfully on the end of her pen.
"If you got the same as Uncle Tarn, that means you were second. So…" Her eyes lit. "Who was first?"

"Oh, that's easy," Max said proudly. "Kaitlyn—my sister. Mum always said we were born at the same time, but turns out she beat me by four and a half minutes."

He pouted at the unfairness of it.

Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh yes, tragic. Truly heartbreaking."

Then she leaned forward again.
"Do you know exactly what your sister's System message was?"

"Yeah," Max said instantly. "We showed each other everything on the march. Hers said:

Title: First Born!
Congratulations—you are the first to reach 16 years of age after full System initialization.
(+1 to all Stats per level until level 10)"

"Yep," Lily said, not surprised at all. "I figured as much."

Kai stepped in, expression suddenly bright and intense.
"Max, do you realise how ridiculous these titles you and your sister have actually are?"

Max shrugged.
"I mean… I thought it was good? But… not level-twenty good."

Kai almost shouted.
"Mate—you're underestimating it! By the time you hit level eight, you'll have gained 72 stat points. That's the same as a normal person—without a title—would have at level twenty. Maybe higher depending on their class!"

Max stared.

Tarni clapped him on the shoulder.
"Told ya we'd help. Now—about that Soul Bond Wallaby…"

____________________________________________________________________________

The conversation had already gone far longer—and much deeper—than Max expected. What Tarni had assumed would be a simple explanation of System messages had turned into a full-blown strategy meeting, complete with pacing, raised voices, and more than one moment where Kai nearly tore his own hair out in excitement.

The core question kept circling back around like a boomerang:

Should Max level up first… or name his companion first?

Kai argued passionately that Max should wait.
Lily insisted that he absolutely should not wait.
Tarni, annoyingly calm, kept saying, "Either way has pros and cons, mate."

Max sat on the lounge, feeling like the only kid in a room full of adults arguing over what flavour ice cream he should eat.

"OK," Kai said, leaning forward. "If you level up now, your stats go up before bonding, which could affect the companion's growth curve—maybe. But if you bond now, the companion may scale with your unspent points—maybe."

"That's a lot of maybes," Max muttered.

Lily nodded sharply. "That's the System for you. You only get clear answers after you accidentally do something irreversible."

Kai pointed at her. "Exactly! Which is why we don't want Max messing this up."

Max's stomach twisted again—this time not from hunger.

Tarni finally raised a hand, silencing the three competing opinions.

"Let's slow down. Max, mate—what do you want to do? Leveling gives you power right now, which could save your life in the next twenty-four hours. Bonding gives you a friend and long-term growth. Both matter."

Max opened his mouth—but before any decision could form, Bell's voice carried down the hallway.

"Zane, hurry up—they're in here!"

A moment later, Zane Rider stepped into the room with Bell behind him. Both looked exhausted, dust-covered, and satisfied in a Very-Rider kind of way—like they had just fought goblins and dug trenches and would happily do it again tomorrow.

"G'day, Max," Zane boomed, cheerful despite the bags under his eyes.

Bell gave him a warm smile. "Hi Max. How's your sister doing?"

Max was over being shy—completely, utterly over it. After everything he'd already revealed, what was the point?

He spun around on the couch cushion and answered both at once.

"G'day, Mr Rider. Um—my sister's doing great. I think she's making a place for our family to sleep right now. She did such a great job healing everyone during that crazy march. Everyone's treating her like a hero, you know… like you guys…"

His voice trailed off as he realised exactly who he was talking to.

And how ridiculous it sounded to call the Riders heroes to their faces.

But instead of looking embarrassed or uncomfortable, Tarni and Zane just burst into laughter—deep, relieved laughter that broke all the tension in the room.

Bell chuckled too, shaking her head. "Trust me, sweetheart, if being covered in mud, blood, and goblin spit qualifies someone as a hero, we're overqualified."

Kai snorted. "Speak for yourself, Bell. I'm pristine."

Lily flicked a paper ball at him. "You literally have goblin eyebrow stuck in your hair."

Kai yelped and started patting frantically at his head.

Tarni leaned back in his recliner, amusement in his eyes but voice gentle when he turned back to Max.

"Mate, heroes or not, we're just people trying to keep everyone alive. Your sister did real good today. And so did you."

Max felt heat creep up his neck—but this time it wasn't embarrassment.
It was pride.

Zane rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So—are we interrupting some kind of deep planning session, or…?"

"Oh yes," Kai said dramatically, pointing straight at Max. "He has to make a gigantic, life-altering decision and we are all arguing about it like seagulls fighting over chips."

Bell arched a brow. "And the decision is…?"

"Should Max level up before naming his companion," Lily said simply, "or name his companion first, then spend his points?"

Zane blinked.

Bell blinked.

Then Zane let out a long, low whistle. "Oh boy. Yeah. I see why you called in reinforcements."

Tarni grinned. "We haven't even gotten to the part where Max has a crazy strong title like mine."

Zane turned to Max with renewed interest.
"Right.
Start from the beginning.
Tell us everything."

Max inhaled.
And for the first time since crossing into the Safe Zone…
He felt ready.

Because whatever choice he made—whatever path he took—

He wasn't alone.

He had the Riders.
He had Tarni.
He had his sister.
And soon…
He'd have his companion.