The usual, but with a detour

Malik's work goes as expected with no complications. The system present, but unobtrusive as he goes about his day. It is only when lunch comes about that he realizes that there is an indicator at the edge of his vision he experiments as he eats his chicken sandwich with a nice thick cut tomato and some lettuce. He cannot seem to call it up and he cannot dismiss it. He then shift his head from side to side and that is when he notices it moving.

"Oh a quest tracker maybe? Well it cannot be for the weapon so... the dungeon maybe. That would make sense given that it likely does not want that to be easily found by a random person." He says out loud to himself, "Well that is convenient at least." he promptly finishes his sandwich and thinks about the location it could be pointing to before referencing the order board and picks one for a hobbyist in that direction. It was a small order and would honestly not be worth his time out, but it would give him a chance to scout the area.

He drives out to a hobbyist farm with the two sacks of chicken feed following the direct route. He notices when the indicator slides by and makes a mental note for his return trip to swing wide to try and go around it. After dropping off the feed he starts going wide till the indicator starts to slide. He stops noticing a logging access road headed into a tree farm lot. The lot from the look of it would not be harvested for at least another year which means from his perspective it would never be harvested well at least not by the lots owners. He shrugs as he drives down the access road until he sees it.

It stands out cause it is easily something that should not exist per-integration. A black light drinking portal sits against a wall of a tool station. The surface folded into the portal giving it depth it otherwise would not have. As he approached a notifcation chimes:

Congrats you have found Trail of the vault keeper dungeon entrance.
This dungeon is a special F rank dungeon

Malik frowns at this F rank was the easiest dungeon clear in fact he would only need to send two level 1 women in to clear it assuming the monsters where not unusual. If they where the women could retreat out the portal no problem. The issue with this one was that it was the special moniker. Dungeon likes this usually start at the designated rank and scaled. Worse yet you could not freely retreat as the portal closes up behind you. Even if you did clear the initial condition and left it would be a waste as these dungeons paid out the more you challenge it but you can only press on while inside leaving permanently seals it.

"Well it is not like I dont have time to prepare at least I know where it is though." He says as his radio crackles his boss telling him to get a move on, "Right later this week then."

The next notification he gets is comes shortly after his last bite of a properly cooked texas ribeye steak. His mom well adoptive mother but really she was the only one he knew of growing up knew how to cook and made it her mission in life feed her family. On top of working a 9 to 5. She claims it was a promise she made to his mom and dad that she would ensure she would provide this daily meal and he could not recall a single day where he did not have a proper diner every night. Frankly it was something he enjoyed and would continue to remember fondly even though he knew what she would do in 6 weeks.

'Stop it we dont know why that happened. Part of it is clearly that she was claimed at some point. However when and what rules and orders was she under? Stop it I can think about this later.'

Malik pushed the dark thoughts out of his head as he collects the reward mentally a small task for some one as experienced with the system as he was. 10 free attribute points, 1 system credit, and the store unlocking with a subtle clicking sound in the back of his mind. The points could wait and with another thought he called up the system store he could not help, but crack a toothy smile. An easily noticeable smile for other at the dinner table.

"Well what has my son in such a good mood now? First you make breakfast and now your smiling so earnestly out of the blue one would think you just came into money." Brigid asks as she smiles back.

"Oh well I was just thinking of something interesting to throw at the party this weekend. I think you all will enjoy it." Malik said covering for himself and making a mental note to adjust the session.

"Well as long as it is not the goblins again. You got a little to into describing... certain actions remember there are 5 women at that table young man." She chides reminding him of last month

He recalls how he borrowed a page from the first episode of goblin slayer to add a bit of depth to the evil little shits. Course it was not a favorite for all the women at the table. Course finding out that goblins are male only race at least in his version of the world and reproduced by raping and impregnating women might have been to much for them.

"Dont worry mom, I will keep it PG-13 this time." Malik replied.

"It can be adult just stay away from the rape stuff, kay? The twins are going to go to college soon and I dont want them assuming all men evil pigs." She says flatly

"Mom we already know all men are evil rapist pigs that secret is out. Only difference is if you can change them from that and make them normal. Like we did Malik here." Maeve says teasing both her mother and Malik in the same sentence.

Malik just chuckles he sort of earned that with that session and he knew she was pulling his leg. He had been brought up to respect women and the one time he tried to add a bit of flavor it became a month long joke. Though this was nothing new just that he was the butt of the joke this time normally it was the one who had the poorest performance at the table. A series of bad rolls, a stray sentence that made things go from bad to worse or even good to absolutely terrible. As he listen to the conversation he was looking through the store.

Malik noticed a section in it that was listed as the Beta tester catalogue. Where as the normal store has various items for managing a harem to include potions, food, water, armor, weapons, and materials. This catalogue gave him access to skill tomes, crafting blue prints, ability potions, and even rare crafting materials. Some of the items where the magic equivalent of their modern day tech something that would come in handy in later stages of the apocalypse.

'Well damn now that is something. Shame it is all so god damn expensive, but at least it is an option.' He thought as his family finished their plates and he cleared the table.

At the sink he looked over his stats and assigned his attributes. Thinking about it he knew how the world would shape out. Harem Lords hiding behind an army of women never directly taking the fight to any one. He rather did not like this concept he preferred to lead from the front or at least closer to the front. Sure it was riskier however he would stand out better and have better impact on the women around him if he shared their hardships. With that thought in mind he put 5 points in to constitution, 2 points into strength and 3 points into dexterity to round out his one major flawed stat. The strangely familiar tingling sensation washes over him as he confirms the stat spread and he does not notice any changes.

That is until the next day...