Dungeon Raider System

Sam started putting all the pieces together as he realized that the crossroad that would define their future and that of mankind lied solely on such a small device. He could not fathom that such an insignificant moment that came and went without him even paying any mind to it could hold such relevance, but he was able to witness as if it happened to him.

He saw the alternate Sam tinkering with the smartphone and quickly discovering the system app that allowed him to keep track of his growth in a quantifiable manner. His strength and speed were incredibly low compared to his current self, but the moment the system prompted him to crush flux orbs the alternate Sam gave in.

Instead of asking for the flux orbs, alternate Sam simply helped himself to them which helped him become stronger. Not just that, by checking the system app alternate Sam also gained the knowledge of the skills he would be able to unlock and he did so right then and there.

Alternate Sam became intoxicated with power and went from running away from cryptids to actively hunting them. Such was his thirst for blood that when Miss Dragonfang came to rescue them, alternate Sam didn't hesitate to attack her killing her before she could reveal her identity, though Luna attempted to warn him there was something odd about the supposed lizardman.

Sam watched as Uriel supported alternate Sam and encouraged him to put his mistake behind him, not just that, he also pushed alternate Sam to shake off the guilt for killing the lieutenant and instead focus his energies in rescuing Phlox who found herself in trouble at the time.

Things progressed just as they did in reality, with Sam being summoned by his father and Uriel being hired by the Mapple corporation to participate in the expedition to Chichén Itzá, only Uriel would never come back from his trip as he would find his demise in Kukulkan's castle without ever uncovering the mysterious orichalcum dagger that would have allowed him to meet Water warlock.

This also caused Nika to lose her ability to jump in the shadows as she did not have a host and she survived in the jungle by eating exotic fruits and hunting wild animals and the first thing she did after returning to civilization was to resign the Mapple corporation and look for Uriel's friends as a means to dull her remorse for abandoning him.

By the time Nika and alternate Sam met, the later was already a heavenly rank hunter farming a name for himself as he hunted down the nastiest cryptids in the bounty board at the cryptid hunting agency.

He became so famous that people in the streets stopped calling him by his family name and used his hunter name instead, Sam the Lightbringer. From that point onward things only became better for alternate Sam as he traveled the world making it a better place, with the loving memory of the only friend he ever had.

"I wish you were here, Uriel." Alternate Sam said to a portrait of a skinny young man who obviously came from the slums.

"Yeah, he was a standup guy." Mark said with feigned sympathy.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about him? Something you haven't told me yet." Sam asked.

"Well, we were best friends he and I, but our relationship was a bit rocky because we were both in love with the same woman." Mark said trying to be vague.

"That Celes girl..." Sam nodded.

"I've never told this to anyone before but, I actually didn't like her much. I was just being pressured by my father. If I knew he would pass away so early I... I wouldn't have bullied him," Mark sincerely said. "I actually liked him, I really did. Everyone looked at him like he was a coward that wouldn't stand for himself, but I knew better. He was the bravest, because even when I made his life hell, not once did he risk his stay in college. He didn't even tell on me because of my family's weight. In that sense, he was the bravest man I have ever met."

"I'd get mad at you for bullying him, but... I was the same. I laughed at this picture when I first saw it not knowing it would be the only reminder I would have from him." Alternate Sam burst into tears that fell on the portrait that showed Uriel dressed as a janitor.

'This is stupid! That guy doesn't deserve your tears! He got greedy and got what he deserved. You have everything you ever wished for, you should just enjoy it and let go of the past.' Sam inwardly thought wishing he could scold his own alternate self.

At that moment Sam understood that finding the perfect moment to insert himself in the alternate reality didn't exist. It didn't matter if he did it at that point or after becoming a holy rank hunter, the only way he could truly find happiness without regret was if he went further back in time. Way before meeting Uriel.

Just out of curiosity, Sam decided to navigate through Uriel's thread of fate to see what his life had been before becoming a student at the university and while he knew it would be bad, he didn't expect it to be nearly as bad as it actually was.

Uriel was just a frail boy living in a cold apartment in the slums completely by himself, eating whatever he could whenever he could, yet somehow managing to save some money to buy his text books. He worked hard and studied even harder. The only times Uriel rested was when the changeling that passed as his uncle fed upon him causing him to pass out.

Uriel's entire life was a torture not even many hunters could endure, yet he somehow drove himself to push past the pain and misery to get good grades and get a scholarship for college. But even that would have never come to happen had Uriel not decided to escape from home and live his last year of highschool in the streets.

It made sense to Sam, as anything beat living with a cryptid that feasted on him on a weekly basis, but reality begged to differ. People walked by Uriel and took distance from him refusing to even acknowledge his presence.

'No wonder the goddess of fate did not account for him, this guy has been on the verge of death all his life.' Sam thought.

Sam could see the signs of anemia, malnutrition, common cold, dermatitis and many other affections caused by poverty alone, but all people could see was just another homeless and would take distance from him like he had the plague, which might had been the case. But nothing stopped Uriel from studying whenever he had the chance, not even when it rained so bad his textbooks got soaked causing the ink to become fuzzy in some places.

Seeing him like that made Sam ponder about his own life choices. He compared all of his own struggles with that of Uriel's and he realized what a cozy life he had and how little he did. He thought back at all the times his father nagged at him to study harder, to do more, yet all he did was to chase after girls in online games.

'This isn't right, this isn't...' Sam inwardly thought as he could not believe what he was about to do.

***

"You're back!?" Gertrude asked dumbfounded, then continued with a piercing tone. "why are you back!?"

"I just didn't find the perfect place to insert myself into Uriel's fate, that's it." Sam shrugged his shoulders.

"You really wanted to do it!?" Medusa asked in an accusing tone.

"I did, and I still want to. In fact, I think I know the perfect time to insert myself into his fate is."

"When?" Gertrude asked in relief.

"Now." Sam crushed the scrying mirror with his bare hands, a feat only possible thanks to his holy rank.

"That was a unique artifact! You just destroyed humanity's last hope!" Gertrude shrieked as her eyes brimmed with power, though this time all the present hunters stood together to face her no matter which faction or company they belonged to.

"No," Said an otherwordly voice that came from Sam, yet it was nothing like Sam's voice. "you small minded creature. He did the right thing."

A blast of light erupted from Gertrude as she used her power over fate itself to freeze everyone in place. They could see and hear, they could feel, but they could not move or make any decision. It felt as if their control over their own lives had been cut off because that was precisely the case. Not a single human being, not even other gods could do anything against the goddess of fate, but thankfully Water warlock was neither.

She moved at the speed of sound in an attempt to shut Sam's mouth and retrieve the pieces of the scrying mirror, but a cyan flash of light later Gertrude was thrown away breaking through many book shelves.

"The time has come, we must go now." Water warlock bellowed.