The wet, musty air of the dungeon hit Leopold Richter as the maelstrom of colors and sounds dissipated. He coughed, feeling the damp moss under his hands. A cave. Deep, unnatural. His colleagues were gone. The system had "rerouted" them. His carefully selected, functional unit had been broken, replaced by... this.

"Where are we?!" gasped Markus Brandt, the young warrior, his eyes wide with panic. He clutched at his spear, which now seemed material and heavy in his hands.

"What has happened! My family!" cried Katjenka Novalina, the ranger, her voice tinged with fear as she staggered, axe in hand.

Walter Steiner, the cleric, didn’t say a word, his gaze scanning the damp walls as if he were searching for something invisible.

Leo’s mind raced. Analysis. System error. He opened his mental game menu. His eyes darted to the new entries under "Group". Yes, they were here. All six of them. He, Luna, Clara Becker, Markus Brandt, Katjenka Novalina, Walter Steiner. A random selection. Or not? The system had spoken of "coherence". What was the coherence of this... collection?

His gaze fell on Luna. Her green eyes scanned the surroundings, the daggers clutched tightly in her hands. She was the first to seem to catch herself. He concentrated his analysis on her. Nothing. No data. No status value, no skills, no name. Only an error message: Target outside the parameters. Fascinating. And disturbing.

Then Clara Becker. She sat on the damp floor, clutching her healer’s staff, her gaze distant, her features marked by deep exhaustion and worry. Leo analyzed her. The data appeared: Clara Becker (Healer), Level 1 Normal. Then why not Luna?

"We’ve been moved to a dungeon instance," Leo said, his voice, still mechanical, but now with an air of authority. He ignored the horrified looks from the others. "The system has regrouped us. Apparently on the basis of unknown criteria. Our original group members were redirected."

"Redirected?!" shouted Katjenka Novalina. Her eyes widened. "You were just... sent somewhere else?! I... I had my best friend with me!"

Clara rose slowly, her face pale. A stab of panic ran through her, stronger than any pain. She was a healer, but here she could not heal what tormented her most - the uncertainty of the fate of those she had left behind.

Leo registered Clara’s obvious despair as another as yet uncategorized variable - not relevant to the current analysis. He fixed his gaze on Markus, who shakily raised his spear. "Markus Brandt, warrior," Leo said. "Katjenka Novalina, ranger. Walter Steiner, clergyman." He mentioned their classes, their names. "I am Leo Richter, scholar. And this is Luna, thief. And Clara Becker, healer." He pointed to each person. "We’re a group now. And we have to find out what this Vermin-Den is and how to get out of here."

Walter Steiner raised his staff slightly, an indeterminate murmur that was not a word. Markus Brandt swallowed hard. Katjenka Novalina, although visibly frightened, straightened her shoulders. Luna continued to look around the circle, her daggers in hand, ready for any threat. The dungeon was silent. Still.

Luna watched the others. The warrior Markus, who seemed panicked but understood what Leo was saying. The ranger Katjenka, who lamented her loss but took in Leo’s words. The silent Walter Steiner, who looked at the ceiling but responded to Leo’s instructions. And Leo himself, the scholar who seemed to tame the chaos with numbers. They all came from different corners of the world: Jakarta, Berlin, Ohio, wherever the others were from. They spoke different languages: Bahasa Indonesia, German, English. But when Leo spoke, she understood him perfectly. And when Katjenka expressed her fear, it was as if she was speaking her own tongue. That was wrong.

Luna opened her game menu. She mentally tapped on "Skills". Next to her thief skills, there was a new entry that wasn’t there before: a blue, glowing symbol.

Skill: Common Language (Passive) Allows you to instantly understand and speak all human languages within a dungeon instance.

Fascinating. And eerie. The system ensured that they could communicate, no matter where they came from. She continued to scroll through the menu. A new tab had appeared, directly under the group tab: Dungeon Map. Curious, she tapped on it.

A shadowy map of the cave that surrounded her at that moment appeared. Dark lines indicated corridors and chambers. A glowing dot showed her current position. But unlike on the maps she had seen in the outside world, there were no moving red dots to indicate monsters. Just the empty corridors in front of them.

"Here," Luna said, her voice surprisingly clear in the stuffy air. She mentally raised her hand, her finger seemingly pointing into the void, but for the others, a faintly glowing pictogram materialized in their field of vision, mimicking the map. "We’re here." Her index finger tapped the dot that marked them. "And this..." She slid her finger to the skull symbol on the map. "That’s our destination."

Leo Richter, who was making a note of Katjenka’s emotional reaction, wheeled around. His eyes widened when he saw Luna’s "projection". "A map? How did you get that..."

"In the menu," Luna replied curtly. "And the languages..." She looked from one to the other. "We all understand each other." She switched the projection off again.

Leo’s mind crunched, but the data was undeniable. He immediately opened his own game menu. In fact, he now also found the new tab under the familiar tabs: Dungeon Map. He tapped on it and Luna’s shadowy map appeared, but in the analytical representation of a scholar. His eyes skimmed over the shadowy corridors. "Interesting. The map only shows what we have seen so far or what is immediately around us." Katjenka Novalina, the ranger, also stared at her own menu, her brow furrowed. "But... my menu is different," she murmured. "I see... red circles. Here. And here." Her finger tapped the shadowy projection, visible only to herself. "I can’t see what it is or how many. But it is something. And it’s moving." Leo’s gaze became even more analytical, his brow furrowed. A ranger ability. Fascinating. A specialization based on information. Then Leo’s gaze wandered to the Contacts tab. A small, pulsating symbol appeared next to it. He tapped on it. The names of his five companions were listed. And underneath, small and unobtrusive: Add group. "I... I can make a group," Leo said. His voice was less mechanical, more astonished. A new feature. The grouping. There had to be a reason. He mentally activated the option. A pop-up appeared in front of all five other group members: Group invitation from Leopold Richter (Scholar): Would you like to join the group? [Accept] [Decline] Luna did not hesitate. She knew that the only way to survive in this world was to work together. She accepted. After a brief hesitation, Clara did too. Markus, Katjenka and Walter Steiner did the same. Another confirming pop-up appeared in Leo’s field of vision: System message: Group successfully formed. New menu tab available: Group. Leo opened the new tab, which showed the same information as the Contacts tab, but now with additional options for group management and communication. Perfect. An organizational unit. "Then... forward," Leo said, and this time it sounded less like an order and more like a shared realization. "We follow the map. And we stay together." The group moved forward, deep into the darkness of the Vermin Den. The moss-covered ground was uneven and damp. Water dripped everywhere. Their footsteps echoed eerily. A soft crackling sound came from the distance, the sound of too many legs on too hard a rock. The first challenge was waiting.

Next Chapter: Fight the Den