“We’ll see,” Lucas said. “Since it’s a quest to rescue you, the system might not let you.”

“I will not be given a second-rate role in this theatrical performance. If the system struggles, I’ll just find a developer to take my frustrations out on.”

“She’s straight psycho, boss,” Bonnie whispered. “But don’t worry: I’ll protect you for a little extra gold.”

“I’m not sure all the gold in the world would save me from her,” Lucas whispered back under his breath. “Anyway, buckle up.”

Lucas pressed the “Yes” button to generate the dungeon, but it took a moment for the others to reappear after the throne room generated. The guards were there instantly, but the delay made it obvious that the players each had to consent to being taken into the instance.

“Well, this is odd,” Viola commented, looking around at their surroundings.

“Umm . . . nice to meet you again,” Katie said.

“Boss, what’s going on?” Bonnie asked.

“I’m clueless too,” Nick added.

While they were talking, the usual “would you like to begin the evil villain monologue?” statement popped up in front of Lucas. If it were just him alone again, he would have clicked it and begun winging his spiel, but since there were people present who hadn’t heard it before, he decided to hold off on starting until everyone had a role.

“Okay,” Lucas began. “This is our chance to make some history. As soon as we’re ready, those doors are going to open, and a stream of enemies are going to pop out. They’re all going to try to kill us and free her,” he said, pointing to Viola.

“So, we just kill them and that’s that?” Bonnie asked.

“If you need to stay safe, I got ya, boss,” Nick said, his shield beginning to glow with Chi.

“This is a trial run from which the AI will generate the boss encounter that will be available for all players when they reach this room in their own unique instances?” Viola asked. “I had always speculated this was how GM-run dungeons were managed.”

“Yeah. The scene we make in a moment will be the “recorded evil villain monologue” that will play out for every group of players that make it through our dungeon and reach us. You guys are about to become the mobs in a tough boss fight,” Lucas explained. “But this particular trial is easy. We have to do this a few more times before it actually gets difficult. I didn’t die until the third round last time when I was doing it alone—or rather when I was trying to clear the Level 3 version of this dungeon.”

“Nnn . . .” Katie muttered as she slithered toward the group.

“Yes?” Lucas asked, noticing that she seemed to have something to say.