ã€ŠMage Tankã€‹


 1 - A Deadly Oak Tree

    Mage Tank

    An autobiographical telling of the valiant exploits of Esquire Arlo, described exactly how they happened and without any frill or embellishment.

    Written by: Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Platinum Delver

    Volume: 1

    A tree killed me. Well, maybe that¡¯s not fair to the tree. Crashing my bicycle into the tree and bleeding internally until my organs could no longer function killed me. At least, I assume it was the bleeding. I¡¯m not a doctor, so I don¡¯t really know. But, I don¡¯t blame the tree, or the inevitable consequences of physics colliding violently with my frail human biology. Rather, I blame the motherfucker who didn¡¯t understand bike lanes.

    I didn¡¯t see the car that hit me. I heard it approach from behind, engine revving like the driver was competing for the littlest dick award. Sorry, that''s body-shaming. The car was loud; the type of thing you hear screaming through the neighborhood at one a.m., the driver announcing his (or her, but let¡¯s be honest, his) inadequacy to the world with the thundering trumpets of the NASCAR gods.

    I was firmly in the bike lane, reflectors on my helmet, bright clothes, middle of the day. The slight left curve of the road must have been too much for the driver because they drifted into my lane and swiped me. They didn¡¯t outright crash into me. Just clipped my left side so fast that my elbow turned to gravel and my tibia snapped and my hamstring tore and so, so much pain flooded my body. Bright and sudden and terrible. Then, I was careening off the road, down the grassy slope, and into the trunk of a mighty oak.

    I hit the tree with my torso. A twenty mile-per-hour chest bump with an unyielding bro made of wood and bark. I heard my ribs and sternum crack more than I felt it. At that point I¡¯d gone into enough shock that I was aware something terrible was happening to my body, but I wasn¡¯t really feeling it. I spun and ragdolled into the line of trees and came to a stop, chest and head facing up, legs and hips rolled over to the right. A nice spinal twist. Perfect for relieving tension in the glutes and lower back. Of course, I couldn¡¯t feel my glutes or lower back. All I felt was something deeply wrong inside my body, and I couldn¡¯t breathe. I stared up at the canopy, overcast sky peeking down between the branches and thinning autumn leaves. It was the type of day I loved. Crisp and cool and just a little damp.

    I gasped in a breath and tried to call out, cry out, scream, make some sort of noise but all that came out was a pathetic, high-pitched groan. I struggled to breathe in and out, the pain beginning to blossom in my chest. I heard wetness in my breath, felt gurgling in my throat. I sputtered blood like a gut-punched anime protagonist. Punctured lung, I guess. My body began to go numb, the sounds of the forest and the wind and the cars driving by on the road forty feet away all hushed. My vision darkened. And finally, the world disappeared.

    At first, I didn¡¯t believe that I had died. The experience was similar to stories I¡¯d heard about moments before death, but there was no dark oblivion consuming my awareness, no dutiful angels, demons, or reapers coming to claim my soul. However, text formed against the black nothing reality had become, assuring me of my circumstances.

    You died.

    I was confused for a moment. Then, I tried to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but there was no sound. My abs didn¡¯t clench, my lungs didn¡¯t force out air, my vocal chords didn¡¯t tighten to make sound and express my delight at the humor. None of those sensations came. No sensation came at all. Nothing. I felt nothing. Physically, that is. I still felt the panic that came after the realization that my body was failing to send or receive signals. But I could see, at least. Not that there was much to see in the dark beyond those words, which shifted and reformed into new ones.

    Would you like to remain dead or respawn?

    (A): Life sucks, let me die.

    (B): Respawn.

    Life sucks, let me die? I considered the option, confused. It was like one of those antagonistic video games that tried to shame you into playing at a higher difficulty. ¡°Normal¡± difficulty or ¡°I¡¯m a little baby who¡¯s afraid of games¡± difficulty, complete with an infant in a soldier outfit sucking on a pacifier.

    I didn¡¯t think life sucked. Well, at one point I had but not anymore. I¡¯d gotten my shit together. I¡¯d gone to therapy, gotten a late-in-life mental health diagnosis, started medication, quit drinking, started exercising. I took a damn bike to work for Christ¡¯s sake. I was happy, I was engaged to a wonderful woman, I made decent money. This was a shitty time to die.

    I focused on the word ¡°Respawn¡±. The option highlighted and the text pulsed blue, then the text swirled and reformed once again.

    Respawning will start you in a new zone. Continue to respawn?

    (A): Hell yeah, new content!

    (B): No thanks, let me die.

    New content? Was I getting Earth: the Expansion Pack? I rolled my eyes, which did nothing because I doubt I had eyes at that moment, then focused on ¡°Hell yeah, new content!¡± The message pulsed blue and disappeared. For a few seconds, nothing new happened, but then more text, and a countdown.

    Moving to character creation room.

    3¡­

    2¡­

    1¡­

    Light flooded my eyes and sensation returned to my body. After a minute of disorientation, I realized that I was laying back on a soft surface, in a body that was free of broken bones or blood-filled lungs. My eyes adjusted to the light and I found myself in a dimly lit room.

    I stared at a vaulted ceiling made up of dark wooden beams and densely woven straw. I sat up, realizing I was on some sort of mattress and I ran my hands over the coarse fabric of the blanket beneath me. Through its surface I felt uneven bedding, rough and dry. More straw, maybe?

    I turned and set my feet on the ground with a soft thud. I was wearing what looked like an ancient pair of leather boots. I stood and looked down at myself. My pants were made of dark linen and my shirt was made of the same, but off-white. It was also very long, hanging down to my knees, with sleeves that opened wide at the wrists. It was cinched around the waist with a tattered leather belt. Overall, the getup was very similar to a wizard outfit I¡¯d worn to the local renaissance fair, minus the wizard hat, cloak, and staff.

    I moved and stretched, making sure my muscles and bones were all back to where they were supposed to be. A few deep breaths confirmed there was no blood in my lungs, but I remembered the pain. The memory was so fresh, the pain so sharp and real, and the sensation of it all disappearing without going through the slow, aching process of healing was strange.

    I looked around the room, which was small, about the size of a studio apartment¡¯s living room, with a compact dirt floor beneath a loose spreading of more straw. The room was lit by a small fire crackling within a stone fireplace, along with a dozen or so tall, thin candles set about on various surfaces and shelves.

    There was a shabby wooden table at the center of the room upon which a large book sat, a couple of crates in one corner, and an empty bookshelf. Otherwise, the room was empty¨Cno furniture or decoration of any kind.

    I considered whether I were dreaming. I rarely had lucid dreams though, and the moment I considered that I might be dreaming I usually snapped awake. But that didn¡¯t happen. I also tended to have to pee in my dreams. Not sure what that¡¯s about, but it was a common theme. I did not have to pee. Trying to flip a light switch sometimes helped me out of a dream. The light levels wouldn¡¯t change and I would realize it was a dream and awaken. But, no light switch. I could put the candles out, but that didn¡¯t seem very smart or effective. I also wasn¡¯t able to read in my dreams. So, there was at least one easy way to confirm. I stepped to the center table and slid the large book to me.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    It was massive, bound in dark, supple leather, with a strap through a large buckle on the front keeping the tome firmly shut. The cover was soft and smooth to the touch and it was unnaturally warm. Almost like touching the hide of a living creature rather than an inanimate object. I took a deep breath and undid the buckle, then flipped it open to the front page.

    For a moment I felt a sense of relief as the text within was neat lines of ornately written symbols and letters that were alien and unfamiliar. Complete gibberish, which is what I¡¯d expect from a dream. But, was I still unconscious on the side of the road, or was that also imagined?

    As I looked more closely at the symbols, however, I realized that I could read them. There were words and letters, but not in English. Not in any other language that I recognized, either. Definitely not one that I¡¯d spent several years becoming fluent in. Nonetheless, the script was fully legible. I couldn¡¯t decide whether to score that in the ¡®dream¡¯ column or the ¡®holy shit this is real!¡¯ column, so I started perusing the text.

    At the top of the page was a scribbled note. It was messily written, as though the author had made it hastily.

    As a newly arrived citizen of this world, you have bypassed the normal means of character customization via natural birth and have access to the following additional options while in the character creation room: Physical Appearance, Birth Sign, Bonus Item Selection.

    I raised an eyebrow, then continued to the text below, written in a formal, flowing script that looked like the normal font within the book.

    Welcome, Traveler, and congratulations on qualifying for the first round of testing! You are currently in the character creation room where you may assign your starting attribute points, select your first passive and active ability, and select your starting equipment. Turn the page to begin!

    Below that was another note in the sloppy writing.

    Before turning the page, make your additional selections. Say the name of the option out loud and you will be guided through customization.

    I scratched my cheek, thinking about the instructions, and was surprised to find it smooth and barren. I usually sported a short beard, an appearance I¡¯d settled on in my early twenties as my pudgy frame had left me with an ambiguous jawline. Even after getting into the habit of diet and exercise, which knocked fifty pounds off my body, I¡¯d kept the growth. I felt naked without it. I reached up to my scalp and found that I was also bald. It was completely smooth, as though a barber had just finished with a straight razor.

    ¡°Physical appearance,¡± I said, calling up the first of the three bonus options.

    Someone cleared their throat from behind me and I jumped. I turned to find a tall, thin man sporting a broad mustache which curled up at its edges. He was sharply dressed in a dark gray suit complete with a golden tie clip and a pocket square that matched the colorful floral pattern on his tie.

    ¡°Good morning, sir,¡± he said in a low baritone with a hint of gravel in it.

    ¡°Fuck, dude,¡± I said, ¡°where¡¯d you come from?¡±

    ¡°I apologize for startling you,¡± he said, smiling politely. The ends of his moustache bobbed with the expression. ¡°I honestly have no idea where I¡¯ve come from. My patron is in charge of my travel, from the means to the destination, and they rarely tell me where I¡¯m going, when I¡¯m going there, or that I¡¯m going anywhere at all, for that matter.¡±

    ¡°Your patron?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Indeed. I believe that you require some assistance deciding on a new look.¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t even know what my current look is. I¡¯m bald, which is weird.¡± I took a sharp breath. ¡°Listen, do you know what¡¯s going on here?¡±

    He raised a precisely plucked eyebrow.

    ¡°We are choosing your appearance, sir.¡±

    ¡°No. I mean, we are, but I¡¯m asking about all of this.¡± I gestured broadly at the room. The well-dressed man took a look around, frowning in disapproval at what he saw.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± I paused to consider what I was even asking. ¡°I died. And now I¡¯m here. Am I still dead? Did I actually die? Are you dead? Is this the afterlife?¡±

    He tilted his head and his brow furrowed.

    ¡°I am not dead,¡± he said slowly. ¡°As for you, I would not presume to know. You appear to be alive. The dead that I have encountered do not tend to speak. They are inclined to lay there doing nothing more than being dead.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    He cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.

    ¡°If it pleases you, sir, I bill by the minute and as you are not the one incurring charges for my services I would prefer to proceed with our appointment. I¡¯d hate to appear as though I¡¯m padding the time sheets, so to speak.¡±

    ¡°Oh. Ok, sure.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± He snapped his fingers and a full-length mirror sprouted out of the ground, making me hop back in surprise. I took a second to recompose myself, and cleared my throat.

    ¡°Mirror from nowhere,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s cool. No big deal.¡±

    I took a look at my reflection and found a much younger version of myself looking back. Gone were the creeping wrinkles around my forehead and eyes, and my skin held the softness of youth. My hairline, still barely visible despite the clean shave, was also better. Not that I had been balding, but my forehead had definitely grown as I¡¯d gotten older. I was still an adult, but looked like I was going into my freshman year of college.

    Beyond the obvious age difference, I could see a well-muscled chest pressing against my linen shirt. I reached up and ran my hands over it, then down across my abdomen. I felt my shoulders and flexed a bicep. I was buff. Not bodybuilder buff, but as well muscled as I¡¯d gotten during a two-year strength training phase in my twenties. Beyond that, the layer of fat that had hidden my bulk during the time I spent lifting was gone. I could feel the outlines of a serious six pack beneath the linen.

    ¡°If you¡¯re done fondling yourself, sir,¡± said the well-dressed man. The tailor? Was I also buying dress clothes? He stood just behind me, looking at me in the mirror. ¡°Perhaps we should start with the hair. Do you have any preferences?¡±

    ¡°Um, I like it short, I guess. But not too short. Finger length?¡±

    ¡°Curly, straight, thick, thin, coarse?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I was always a bit curly. Just, I¡¯m fine with what I had before if that¡¯s possible.¡± My hair was one of the few parts of my body I¡¯d been satisfied with.

    ¡°Very good.¡± He plucked a brush out of thin air and ran it over my scalp. A few seconds later I had a short, well groomed head of hair with a clean fade along the sides. It was my natural color, so dark brown that it was nearly black. ¡°How¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± It was my standard post-haircut reply, even if I didn¡¯t like the barber¡¯s work, but this looked good. Plus, I wasn¡¯t too picky.

    ¡°Facial hair?¡± he asked.

    ¡°How about a full beard? Maybe on the longer side. And can you make it thick? My old one was a bit patchy. And it was going gray. So, no gray?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± he said, producing a comb and running it across my face. As I watched, the beard hairs sprang into existence, running down to my collar bone. It was already shaped, cut shorter on the sides and cleanly trimmed at the base so it didn¡¯t look bushy or wild. The tailor pulled out a bottle of oil and began massaging some of it in. It smelled like peppermint and wood chips.

    ¡°Any preference for color?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m fine with it the way it is.¡±

    ¡°Eyebrows?¡±

    For the first time I noticed that those were missing as well.

    ¡°Just what I had before is fine. I mean, I had one hair on my right brow that always grew way longer than the others so if you can fix that, please do.¡±

    He nodded and produced a thin brush with a long handle, almost like a toothbrush, and ran it along my brow. Voila, I had eyebrows again.

    ¡°Any preference for skin tone?¡±

    ¡°What are my options?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Anything you like. Fair, olive, tanned, any shade of brown, orange, blue, green, chartreuse, the sky is the limit.¡±

    ¡°Wow, ok. Just what I had before but give me a bit of a tan I suppose.¡±

    ¡°Very good.¡± He tapped me on the temple and my pale skin turned a few shades darker. ¡°That about right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s great. Don¡¯t want to look like I live in a tanning booth.¡±

    ¡°A wise choice. Eye color?¡±

    ¡°Oh, definitely green. Like a piercing green.¡±

    He ran a hand in front of my face and my irises turned emerald.

    ¡°Hell yeah, that¡¯s cool.¡±

    ¡°Any other physical features you¡¯d like to change? Height, finger width, the size of your feet or the size of any other parts?¡±

    I turned and looked at him.

    ¡°I can make¡­ anything bigger?¡±

    ¡°Or smaller, if you so choose.¡±

    Needless to say I saw no reason to make anything on my body any bigger than it was already, as everything was certainly big enough and I had no personal insecurities or feelings of inadequacy. I opted to gain a couple inches in height, making me a member of the over-six-foot club, but otherwise I was perfectly happy with my proportions.

    ¡°Are you fine with your previous body hair?¡±

    ¡°Sure, but I guess get rid of my back hair, never was a fan of that.¡± I¡¯d been a somewhat hairy dude, and the feeling of my chest hair growing back tickled under my shirt.

    The tailor plucked at my garments, wrinkling his nose.

    ¡°I would love to do something about these clothes, but I¡¯m afraid that is restricted.¡±

    ¡°Restricted? How come?¡±

    He shrugged.

    ¡°I am but the lowly servant. I don¡¯t make those sorts of decisions. Are you happy with your current look? Anything else you¡¯d like to change?¡±

    ¡°No, I think this covers it. Thanks.¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡± He stepped back and looked me up and down, then smiled. ¡°Conservative, but classy. I think it suits you well.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, wondering what he meant by conservative.

    ¡°Very well. If that is all, then I shall take my leave.¡±

    ¡°Alright, have a good one,¡± I said, reaching out to shake his hand, but he¡¯d already disappeared. I stood there awkwardly, then let my hand drop. I took a moment to run my fingers through my glorious new beard, then checked the handwritten note for the next option. ¡°Birth sign!¡±

    A translucent blue window appeared in front of me, covered in text. Oddly, the first bit of text was in the same sloppy handwriting as the book notes.

    As an extra-dimensional entity you have access to a unique sign. I suggest you take it.

    Extra-dimensional entity? What the fuck did that mean?

 2 - Stats!

    The text for the ¡®unique¡¯ extra-dimensional entity sign was also in the same messy handwriting.

    Unique Sign: The Traveler. Travelers go places and do things, bla bla bla, putting something here because there¡¯s a minimum text requirement for the description.

    Bonuses:

    1) Spectacular Vernacular: You have an eidetic memory for languages and an intuitive grasp of grammar. You learn new languages and dialects at incredible speed.

    2) That¡¯s a Lot of Stats!: You can gain bonus attribute points through training up to a maximum score of ten in each attribute.

    The bonuses looked good, but I was suspicious of the author¡¯s motives. Who was this person? Were they responsible for my ¡®respawn¡¯? Did they really have my best interests at heart? My mind turned to classic tales of mercurial gods making playthings out of mortals. Still, I couldn¡¯t see how either of those options could burden me with a monkey¡¯s-paw-style curse of some sort.

    I was curious about the That¡¯s a Lot of Stats! bonus, as well. Was ten a high number, or was it trivial? How much of an advantage was it to gain stat points that way? I looked over the other options.

    They ranged from quicker skill advancement, to extra mana, to the ability to turn invisible for one minute per day¨Cvery tempting¨Cand one even offered an increase to the potency of poisons and mind-affecting spells and abilities. Pretty standard RPG fare.

    I shrugged and decided to trust the author of the notes for now. At the very least, quickly learning new languages was useful. I got the feeling I wouldn¡¯t meet too many native English speakers in whatever this ¡®new zone¡¯ was. I could already read the language that the big book was in, so I had a head start, but who knew if that was the mother tongue of these lands. I selected The Traveler, got a confirmation message, and the window disappeared.

    ¡°Bonus Item Selection!¡±

    A new window popped up, once again scribbled by the mysterious author.

    You died and all your shit is gone. Too bad, now you¡¯re poor. Lucky for you I¡¯m feeling generous, so you can pick one item from the following list:

    1) 50 Hiwardian golden notes: Cold, hard, Hiwardian currency, the most widely accepted in your new region. Better buy a fancy purse to carry it all in;

    2) Ring of Healing: While wearing this ring you¡¯re granted +100% to your health regeneration. Heal those nasty paper cuts faster;

    3) Big-Ass Hammer: A six-foot-long war maul that weighs as much as a one-handed battle hammer, but still hurts as much as a full-sized war maul when you smack someone with it;

    4) Infinity Quiver: A quiver of steel-tipped arrows that never runs out of ammo. No, you can¡¯t dump it out endlessly and fill up the ocean or become a war merchant with a cost-basis of zero and ruin the economy or any other weird exploit you¡¯re thinking of. You need an arrow, you get an arrow, that¡¯s it;

    5) Edgelord Wakizashi: A wakizashi with a steel blade that will upgrade into higher quality materials after slaying a certain number of your enemies with it. It also gains bonus damage if you¡¯re brooding.

    I was beginning to become a bit concerned about the item descriptions. Why were they all so snarky?

    I spent a few minutes looking over the choices. The weapons seemed nice, but without knowing what I had gotten myself into I didn¡¯t feel confident in choosing one. If life outside this room was in any way similar to my Earth life, I wouldn¡¯t have much use for a melee weapon or a quiver of arrows.

    The style of the room I was in and the choices I was being given led me to suspect I was wandering into some sort of medieval fantasy combat scenario, but it¡¯s possible all that window dressing was setting me up to make biased assumptions that I would pay for later. As for the currency, I didn¡¯t have any idea what it was worth. Would one golden note get me a bag of rice, a year¡¯s supply of rice, or an entire rice farm?

    Maybe rice wasn¡¯t the best expression of buying power.

    I picked the Ring of Healing, because healing twice as fast as normal sounded good no matter what situation I was in. Fix a broken bone in three weeks instead of six? Works for me. Maybe it¡¯ll help with indigestion too.

    After making my decision the ring appeared in front of me and hovered in the air until I grabbed it. It was a simple golden band with three small rubies set into it. I slipped the ring on and it fit perfectly, but I didn¡¯t feel any surge of power or sudden sense of wellbeing.

    Having gone through all my ¡®bonus¡¯ options, I went back to the big book and turned the page.

    A translucent blue window appeared over the book with text written in the normal decorative font.

    You do not have a name, please input your name.

    I was shit at names, but I ran a few options through my head, eventually settling on one I liked. ¡°Arlo¡±. Arlo wasn¡¯t my real name, but I¡¯d always liked it, so might as well. The name automatically appeared on the screen, and I promptly ignored the implication that some mind-reading AI or entity was monitoring my thoughts.

    I considered whether I should come up with a surname but there wasn¡¯t any way to know if that was what the screen wanted. Maybe I would be assigned a last name, or maybe I¡¯d keep my old one. I¡¯d hate to enter a name into the window like it was my first and last name only to end up having the text I entered count only as my first name and be in the uncomfortable situation of having two names as my first name. I¡¯d never been a fan of compound names, and if that meant I didn¡¯t get a last name I wasn¡¯t too worried about it. I¡¯d rather be a Cher than a Mary-Kate. The screen updated with my new name along with a host of other information.

    Name: Arlo

    Age: 0 (physical age 18. Actual age 35)

    Delver Level: 0

    Special Delves Completed: 0

    Health: 23

    Health Regeneration: 4/hour

    Stamina: 20

    Stamina Regeneration: 2/hour

    Mana: 40

    Mana Regeneration: 4/hour

    Race: Human

    Subrace: Extradimensional Entity

    Racial Bonus: Adaptable

    Adaptable: Adaptable races possess a high capacity for modifying their environments and developing technologies to suit their needs. +100% to crafting skill progression.

    Subracial Bonus: From the Beyond

    From the Beyond: Your mind and body have been subjected to incredible dimensional forces and your soul has been irrevocably altered. This experience has earned you Dimensional Attunement. You¡¯ve earned +10 to the Dimensional Magic skill. You gain +100% to Dimensional Magic skill progression. You gain 50% resistance to non-consensual dimensional effects. You gain the active ability Shortcut.

    Birth Sign: The Traveler

    Birth Sign Bonuses: Spectacular Vernacular, That¡¯s a Lot of Stats!

    Divine Favor: For better or worse you have garnered the attention of a divine being. This divine being is currently your patron and has granted you a series of perks. Continue to garner their favor to be granted additional rewards. Anger your patron and suffer the consequences.

    Divine Perks: Respawn, Customized Physical Appearance, Unique Birth Sign, Bonus Item Selection, Carryover Stats.

    Carryover Stats: Your achievements from a past life have earned you bonus attribute points to certain stats.

    Huzzah! More plates, more dates! Your focus on strength training during a previous life has earned you +1 STR.

    Huzzah! You can touch your toes! Your focus on flexibility training during a previous life has earned you +1 AGI.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    Huzzah! Half marathons are for half asses! Your focus on long-distance running during a previous life has earned you +1 SPD.

    Huzzah! Smile through the pain! Your experience of significant physical injury during a previous life has earned you +1 FOR.

    Huzzah! How many degrees do you have?! Your focus on academic learning during a previous life has earned you +4 INT.

    Huzzah! Everyone needs therapy! Your focus on self-reflection and cognitive behavioral therapy during a previous life has earned you +3 WIS.

    Huzzah! This guy¡¯s got jokes! Your focus on concealing your feelings of inadequacy through humor during a previous life has earned you +2 CHA.

    Huzzah! Don¡¯t look behind you! A divine being is watching you, and has interceded on your behalf in a previous life. This has earned you +1 LCK.

    Stats:

    Strength 2

    Agility 2

    Speed 2

    Fortitude 2

    Intelligence 5

    Wisdom 4

    Charisma 3

    Luck 2

    You have 10 attribute points to distribute. You must spend these points before leaving the Character Creation room, or they will be lost. Select a stat to see additional details.

    Active Abilities (1/10):

    Shortcut

    Dimensional

    Cost: 10 mana

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic 10

    Travel through the cracks between dimensions and teleport to a place you can see within a number of feet equal to 10x your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Passive Abilities (0/4):

    None

    Intrinsic Abilities (1/10) [Locked - Cannot acquire new intrinsic skills]:

    Dimensional Magic 10

    Attunement:

    Dimensional

    Languages:

    English

    Hiwardian

    Loward

    There was a decent amount of information here, but most of it left me with more questions than answers. The entry for my age was unusual. I had, in fact, lost seventeen years in physical age. I remembered reading about how the brain didn¡¯t fully mature until twenty-four or so, but maybe that was bullshit. Was my brain still 35? I still had all my memories, so maybe. It didn¡¯t have much impact on me at the moment, so I moved on.

    What were Delver levels? Was that like character levels? I tried to bring up more detail by focusing on it, but nothing happened. I looked at my health, stamina, and mana. I was more magically inclined than anything else from the looks of it. Also, according to my math my health would fully recover in under six hours.

    Did that mean I could recover from any injury in an afternoon? Forget healing a broken bone in three weeks, this speed of healing was superhuman.

    I moved past the racial bonuses to crafting and dimensional magic. Other than confirming that magic was, in fact, a thing here, it didn¡¯t tell me much, though I did shudder when I saw that my soul had been irrevocably altered. That sounded ominous.

    The active skill, Shortcut, sounded good. Escape, repositioning, crossing the street without waiting on the crosswalk, it had a lot of utility. The skill said that I could teleport to a place I could see. If so, transparent barriers wouldn¡¯t stop me. I could find a jewelry store and pop in through the glass without setting off any alarms. Not that I¡¯d ever been predisposed to stealing, but it¡¯s good to consider these types of things. You know, just in case.

    The parts that talked about a divine presence and its favor were the most concerning to me. Was the divine entity the one leaving me the notes? What did I have to do to garner their favor, and what sort of consequences were there for angering them? It made me deeply uncomfortable.

    The carryover stats were interesting and gave me some insight about what sorts of activities each stat influenced, or what activities I could undertake to train them using my birth sign. Physical training was probably the easiest, but studying, meditation, and mindfulness were also concrete activities.

    I¡¯d gotten Charisma for being funny. Or, at least, trying to be funny. So telling jokes helped. Maybe there were some open mic nights that I could hit up.

    Luck gave me nothing to work with, aside from reminding me that some god was involved with whatever was going on here.

    The stat values felt¡­ underwhelming. Didn¡¯t games with these types of systems usually start out in the teens, or even the hundreds? Everything being single digit made me feel underpowered, but I had no frame of reference. I assumed that I was at least in an OK place.

    I also had ten stats to distribute. Assuming that each stat started at one, I already had fourteen points spread out across stats from my carryovers. So, ten more stats was about seventy-one percent more stat points than I¡¯d already been given, and a little less than a forty-eight percent total increase to my stats. I paused over doing that math so quickly in my head. I knew I wasn¡¯t that good at math. More mysteries.

    I selected Strength to see more detail, then made my way down the list.

    Strength

    Pick heavy things up, put them back down. Strength determines how heavy you can lift and how many random guys give you awkward compliments before asking about your protein intake. If you want to be a brawler, wear heavy armor, or be accused of steroid use, then Strength is the stat for you!

    That wasn¡¯t very helpful. Strength makes you stronger. Great. It also garners the attention of men. That was fine, I enjoyed compliments. But how much stronger would one point of Strength make me? I moved on to Agility.

    Agility

    Backflips and handstands always impress at parties and staying limber is one of the best ways to slow the ever-increasing torment your body plagues you with in old age. Hide in the shadows, round-house kick your foes, and nail your kids from across the room with the Disciplinary House-Shoe by investing in this must-have stat!

    Also more or less what I would expect. I¡¯d never been very flexible, so there was an opportunity for some personal growth there. I kept going down the list.

    Speed

    Not just for athletes! Speed not only determines how well you can keep up with track stars or run away from mounted bandits and stray dogs, it also enhances how quickly you think, react, or decide what to have for lunch! Wanna go fast? Then Speed is key!

    The descriptions were beginning to make me question my assumptions about the medieval fantasy impression I¡¯d been getting. These were references to modern day life. Was this world some sort of hybrid?

    Fortitude

    It doesn¡¯t matter if the enemy hits you when you just. won¡¯t. die. If you¡¯re a petty mortal who fears death or a twisted masochist who wants to experience the limits of the human mind¡¯s capacity for pain (without suffering life-altering injuries), then live long and prosper with Fortitude.

    DISCLAIMER: Fortitude may help you heal from physical trauma, but it will also curse you with the burden of watching all your friends and loved ones die before you.

    Dark. Did¡­Fortitude make you immortal? Or was life so dangerous that you¡¯d be the only one who wouldn¡¯t die an early, violent death?

    Intelligence

    Push up your glasses and practice saying ¡°actually¡±, because you¡¯re about to be the smartest person in the room! Your trivia team will love you and your classmates will hate you as you ameliorate your crippling insecurity by proving that you can memorize facts and learn new spells on the first pass. Intelligence isn¡¯t just a stat, it¡¯s an entire personality!

    Easy memorization was good, but I felt like this description was a personal jab, especially since this was my highest base stat. I didn¡¯t even like trivia, and I got along fine with my classmates!

    Wisdom

    When should you act, and when should you refrain? When should you follow the herd, and when should you take the road less traveled? Wisdom gives you insight into life¡¯s mysteries, helps you decide the best course of action in any situation, and provides both mental resilience and a wellspring of mana. Know yourself and you shall know the universe.

    This was the only stat with a serious description.

    Charisma

    Charming compliments, rousing speeches, and looking good. Charisma lets you know what to say and how to act in order to get what you want, whether it¡¯s a discount on a used car or the autocratic power over a nation. Become an adored sex symbol, a terrifying warlord, or that clerk at the grocery store who¡¯s not too bright, but who everyone seems to like, and you like them too because they¡¯re kind of cute and they always ask about how your dog is doing.

    This description had to be talking about a girl at my local Kroger named Ashley. I stopped in one time with my pug Dozer and she never forgot. It was really endearing.

    Luck

    Fools assume they have some sort of control over their lives, but you know the truth: the universe is random and your destiny is dictated by circumstance. Tragedies strike down saints and monsters get rich off random picks on the stock market. Luck may not have always been on your side, but it damn well better be now! Load the dice of creation in your favor and stumble your way into power, fame, or a life-time supply of free chicken tenders.

    Talk about pessimistic. It was almost like the author was trying to scare me away from putting points here.

    I took a deep breath and concentrated on the numbers. I could distribute my points evenly, making me a jack of all trades, but I didn¡¯t think that was a good idea. I had the perk from my birth sign that let me train stats up to a maximum score of ten. Any points I spent on stats below that threshold were giving up potential free stats. In fact, if I didn¡¯t have to spend the stats before I left the room I would have saved them all until I got to ten in each on my own, then chosen where to dump them.

    In order to maximize my points, Intelligence was the obvious choice. It was my highest stat, which meant that I¡¯d only be giving up five free points to get it to ten. If I threw all ten there I¡¯d have an INT of fifteen.

    I tapped the window and was able to place a point in a stat to see the changes it made to my character. When I did, a confirm button appeared at the bottom. I was able to take the point back without confirming.

    Fortitude buffed both stamina and health. With stamina, it was a linear improvement, ten per level. With health, there was an escalating benefit. When I went to a three in Fort, I got thirteen extra HP. When I went to a four in Fort, I got fourteen extra HP. That pattern continued as high as I could preview the stat, with point twelve offering twenty-two extra health.

    Fortitude also improved stamina regeneration by one per point, and health regen improved by some formula that kept it at twenty percent of my total health.

    Wisdom gave ten to mana and one to mana regen. Aside from Fort and WIS, none of the other stats had an effect that I could see displayed numerically.

    So, I could gain unknown benefits from most of the stats, or go in on something more concrete like Fortitude or Wisdom. As I agonized over the choices, a new window popped up in front of the character screen.

    Four of five party members have completed their character creation process and have initiated a ready check. You have ten minutes to complete character creation.

    Shit.

 3 - New Friends!

    I had a mini-crisis when confronted with the time limit. After placing my points I still had to select a passive ability, an active ability, and choose starting gear. The new screen changed to a large countdown timer and floated away until it was above the single door in the room.

    I looked at the stats again. I wanted to put them all in one place to maximize my training stats. I wanted to pick something that had a concrete impact on the values I saw on the screen. But, did I care more about mana or health?

    The sickening memory of my ribs shattering against the trunk of a tree and the agonizing pain of internal bleeding and then death flooded my mind. I didn¡¯t want to be a glass cannon. I wanted to not fucking die.

    I tossed all ten points into Fortitude, pumping it up to twelve and selected Confirm.

    Health: 198

    Health Regeneration: 39/hour

    Stamina: 120

    Stamina Regeneration: 12/hour

    I now regenerated more health in one hour than my entire health total from just a moment earlier. I wanted to dig into these numbers even more, but I didn¡¯t have time. The game, or god, or whatever was controlling this system was giving me a kick in the ass.

    If I¡¯d known I was under a time constraint I wouldn¡¯t have fussed over my appearance so much. I stroked my luxurious beard and started looking for a way to move on to choosing passive and active skills, but another fucking window popped up in front of me.

    Wowee! You spent all your Character Creation points on a single stat! A truly inspired and nuanced build. As a reward for your foolhardy bravery you have earned the Dumping achievement!

    Dumping: After spending 5 or more stat points at once on a single attribute, you are granted 1 additional point in that attribute. This effect is retroactive.

    My Fortitude jumped up another point, and I gained another twenty-three health and five regen, bringing me to 221 health and 44 health regen per hour.

    You have reached a Fortitude of 10 or higher at Delver level zero! Just because you won¡¯t die, shit still hurts. You know that, right? You have earned the I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me achievement!

    I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me: So long as you did not attack first, an enemy becomes stunned for one second the first time they deal damage to you with either a melee weapon or a part of their body. An entity stunned in this way may not be affected by this skill again until the next dawn. Certain skills and abilities may prevent this effect.

    Heavens to Betsy! Your Fortitude has reached level 10! Your body has transcended the limits of human resilience and simple attacks from non-magical sources now deal significantly less damage to you. You¡¯ve also unlocked your first Fortitude evolution. Please select one of the following:

    1) Like a Rock: Your body acts as though it is five times heavier when determining whether an enemy can force you to move by any means.

    2) Workhorse: The effects of Fatigue are reduced by 50%.

    3) I Can Do This All Day: Health and Stamina regeneration bonuses from Fortitude are doubled.

    My blood pressure shot up when I was presented with even more choices. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it was nice to get more buffs, but I didn¡¯t have time to give it any real thought. I was sure that there were a variety of hijinks that could be had with the Like a Rock ability, and Workhorse sounded good, but, like so much of this process, I didn¡¯t know enough to decide how good it was. I defaulted to picking the thing that made my numbers go up: I Can Do This All Day. I was up to 88 Health regen and 26 Stamina regen.

    The window disappeared after I made my selection and I was left staring at the table. Where was the next window? I had to choose abilities and gear and there were only seven minutes left. Then I remembered the book. I reached out and flipped to the next page. Another blue window appeared.

    There are an endless number of skills in Arzia and we hope you¡¯ve done your homework! Please select what type of Active Skill you would like:

    Offensive

    Defensive

    I had a theme of defense going on but grabbing a defensive skill seemed like overkill. I selected Offensive.

    Poke ¡®em, slash ¡®em, whack ¡®em, or blast ¡®em. What type of offensive skill would you like?

    Melee

    Ranged Physical

    Magical

    INT looked like my highest offensive stat, so I selected Magical.

    From hellish flames that incinerate your foes to vivid hallucinations that torment them, your enemies will tremble at your power as a master of the arcane arts. Or, they¡¯ll freeze. Or collapse on the ground in a fit of giggling. Basically, how do you want them to suffer?

    Elementally

    Mentally

    Dimensionally

    Cursedly¡­

    ¡°Dammit!¡± I said as the list went on and on. I selected Dimensionally since I already had a bonus to it. There was a single spell, and I selected it after reading the description through once.

    Oblivion Orb

    Dimensional

    Mana Cost: 5

    Requirements: None

    For the briefest moment you create a small dimensional tear in the shape of an orb in your palm, which attempts to transport whatever it touches to another plane of existence. Higher levels of Intelligence increase the size of the orb. Damage is increased by 1 for each level of Dimensional Magic. The critical damage of this attack is increased by 100%.

    I wasn¡¯t sure how that worked as an attack spell, but the window disappeared and I flipped to the next page in the book.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Passive skills are powerful effects that help to define your build. Passive skills do not level, but may unlock additional traits as you gain mastery over them. Please select what type of Passive Skill you would like:

    Offensive

    Defensive

    I hesitated. My only form of attack was the odd spell I didn¡¯t know how to use, so it made sense to go for an offensive passive. But would an offensive passive give me another means of attack? Passive skills in games were often force multipliers. Get more of what you¡¯re good at to really excel. Right now it looked like I was good at taking hits. It was a weak argument, but the logic made sense to me at the time.

    I was in a rush, don¡¯t judge me. I selected Defensive.

    Please select what type of Defensive Passive you would like:

    Self

    Aura

    Self or aura? I assumed self meant the passive only applied to me, but an aura¡­ that would affect my allies too, right? Nobody hated an auramancer. Dude drops into your game with a million active buffs that make everyone stronger? Hell yeah. I selected Aura.

    There are three starter defensive auras available. All defensive auras grant you limited awareness of any allies affected by the aura within a limited range:

    1) Mike¡¯s Magic Shield: You and your allies gain damage reduction to hostile magical effects equal to your Wisdom.

    2) Herd Leader: You and your allies gain an additional amount of Mana and Stamina regeneration equal to your Speed.

    3) Who Needs a Cleric?: You and your allies gain an additional amount of Health regeneration equal to your Fortitude.

    Easy choice. More health regen. I selected Who Needs a Cleric? and my health regen went up to 114, which was a gain of 26, double my Fortitude score. I pondered it for a split second, until I remembered my Ring of Healing. This implied that my ring doubled my health regen regardless of the source.

    I could now go from the brink of death to full HP in about two hours. I wasn¡¯t about to be stitching my wounds back together in seconds while slicing my enemies apart with dual katanas and my cutting wit, but I was on my way.

    As soon as I made the selection, power thrummed around me. My body felt great, as though every cell of my being was healthy and whole. My vision was sharper, my muscles were loose and warmed up, my allergies were gone. In fact, my nose was truly clear for the first time I could remember. I took a deep breath and savored the cleansed sinuses.

    Three minutes left.

    I flipped to the next page of the book and came to my last selection: Equipment.

    Whether you want to keep your insides on the inside or cause immeasurable suffering to your enemies and deep emotional harm to the loved ones who survive them, gear helps you get it done. Please select a Starter Kit to receive a complimentary gear loadout.

    Starter Kits:

    Suckling Sorcerer

    Tanky Toddler

    Rug-Rat Ranger

    Pickney Priest

    Ankle-biting Assassin

    Baby Barbarian¡­

    I clicked through a couple of the options, taking a look at what they contained. Basic weapon, a couple pieces of armor or enchanted clothes, a couple items, the Assassin had smoke bombs, which was cool, but nothing fit with what I was going for. What was I going for? As I gnawed my bottom lip I noticed a new option had appeared. It was written in what was becoming a familiar, hasty scrawl.

    Tiny-tot Traveler

    I selected it without even looking at what it contained. A single, small necklace appeared in the air before me and I grabbed it just as my time ran out.

    The door to the room slammed open and an immense force surrounded me, like a giant hand gripping my entire body, which hurled me toward the open door. I sailed across the threshold and crashed down onto a smooth stone floor, sliding several feet before tumbling to a stop.

    I let out a high pitched yelp as I soared, which probably didn¡¯t improve the stunning first impression I¡¯d just made on the people in the new room.

    There were four of them, and two were gaping at me in open shock. A third merely raised an eyebrow, and the fourth looked disgusted.

    ¡°Hi,¡± I said, sitting up. After recovering from the terror of being manhandled by an invisible giant and having it impress upon me the value of punctuality in this universe, I realized that being tossed out like a bucket of compost hadn¡¯t hurt at all. I hopped up onto my feet and took a look around, my new friends still silently gawking.

    One of the wide-eyed looks was from a tall, olive-skinned woman with dirty blonde hair pulled back and woven into a bun. She was dressed in dark leather armor with a bow slung over her shoulder. She looked what I would call, well, handsome. I couldn¡¯t describe to you what makes a woman handsome as opposed to pretty or plain or beautiful or kawaii, but she had it in spades.

    The other shocked look came from an even taller person, and seeing them reinforced to me that something truly strange had happened to me.

    They weren¡¯t human.

    They were tall and lithe, with hands that came down past their knees. They were covered in gray fur and had a long snout, not quite like a dog¡¯s. It was thinner, more tapered, like a bandicoot or a rodent. Short white whiskers twitched to either side of a pink nose, jet-black eyes ran me up and down, and one of their short, pointed ears flicked. They were too real to be someone in a costume and I lost myself for a moment as my mind took a tiny step towards accepting the idea that I had actually, really died. That my home was somewhere very far away and my fianc¨¦e was alone. I was alone.

    I quickly looked away.

    The raised eyebrow came from a short and curvy woman with light red skin, which was completely unnatural but after the last person it didn¡¯t trip me up too much. She had a mop of dark, curly hair that came down to her shoulders and she was leaning back on one of the plain stone walls, twirling a scepter in one hand. She wore a long, blood-red tabard with some elaborate and twisting symbol on the front over a chainmail shirt with white robes that looked thick and padded underneath. A small shield was propped against the wall beside her.

    The look of disgust came from the tallest of the group who stood head and shoulders over me despite the extra couple of inches I¡¯d given myself. Inches that were suddenly failing to fill me with the confidence I¡¯d thought they would. He was pale¨Cdeathly pale¨Cwith ice-blue eyes and hair the color of snow you might find on the side of the highway. He was fully clad in steel armor.

    As my eyes moved over the man¡¯s getup, I got distracted. I knew there were nifty names for all the individual pieces of the plate armor, but I couldn¡¯t remember all of them. I knew more about the lower half, and remembered greaves. Or were they sabatons? Were those different things? I thought they were. Delightfully, Big n¡¯ Pale was the first to speak.

    ¡°You sure took your time,¡± he said in a voice so low I felt it in my bones. I had been staring at his lower extremities for a lot longer than was polite, and I nodded after he spoke, hoping I looked like I was deep in contemplation about something other than his trousers or what might lay beyond them. I looked up and smiled.

    ¡°I was just figuring some things out,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m Arlo.¡± I held out a hand to him. His jaw clenched as he looked down at it, then he sighed.

    ¡°Arlo, I¡¯m going to be honest with you. I¡¯m very unhappy with what I¡¯m seeing.¡±

    Left hanging for the second time that day, I let my hand drop. Maybe they didn¡¯t do handshakes here.

    ¡°Ok,¡± I began, ¡°why-¡± He held up a finger and cut me off.

    ¡°First, what am I even looking at?¡± He gestured up and down at me. ¡°You¡¯re wearing rags. I¡¯m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that your gear pack and everything else you brought got left in the room you just fell out of, a room which no longer exists and where everything left inside is now cast out to oblivion.¡±

    I turned to look at the door and found a blank stone wall, the same as the rest of the room.

    ¡°If I assume that,¡± he continued, ¡°then I can believe that you¡¯re just an idiot, and not someone who is either profoundly challenged or, worse, a saboteur.¡±

    I peeked down at my linen clothes, then around at the others who were all wearing some form of armor. Each of them also had a large backpack on or near them and an additional large sack as big as my torso sat on the ground, stuffed full. I nodded.

    ¡°Ok,¡± I said. Big n¡¯ Pale tilted his head and clenched his hand into a fist.

    ¡°Second, you spent a long time in that creation chamber. So long, in fact, that we,¡± he gestured between himself and the other three, ¡°all learned together on this very day that there is a thing called a ¡®ready check¡¯ that can force a person out of the room if they take too long. I¡¯ve never heard of a ready check. Sayil,¡± he said, turning to the tall beast-person, ¡°have you heard of a ready check before?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± said Sayil in a rough and tumble voice straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie.

    ¡°See?¡± said Big n¡¯ Pale.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°what I¡¯m hearing is that people don¡¯t normally take that long.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Well, I apologize for my, uh, tardiness. It shan''t happen again.¡±

    Big n¡¯ Pale dropped a heavy, gauntleted hand onto my shoulder.

    ¡°Are you taking this seriously?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I think so?¡±

    He hung his head, let his hand slide off my shoulder, then took a deep breath and stood up straight.

    ¡°Alright,¡± he said, ¡°I¡¯m the party leader. Have a problem with that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I do.¡±

    The short woman leaning against the wall spoke up, looking to Big n¡¯ Pale, whose identity I considered updating to Party Leader in my mind. Perhaps Big n¡¯ Pale Party Leader. That was too long. Pale Party? Big Leader?

    ¡°You should at least ask him for his title,¡± the pink-skinned woman said, her tone much merrier than Big n¡¯ Pale. ¡°To make it official.¡± Big n¡¯ Pale¡¯s mouth made a thin line but he nodded.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he said. ¡°What¡¯s your title?¡±

    I had trouble deciding how to approach that question. I assumed he was asking me for something along the lines of a noble title, but I had no idea if noble titles were a thing here. If they were, what type of noble hierarchy did they have? Was this a kingdom? An empire? A dictatorship where supreme executive power was awarded by strange women lying in ponds and distributing swords?

    I decided to take the honest route.

    ¡°Esquire.¡±

 4 - Unilateral Decision Making

    Esquire was a technically correct title; I did have a law degree. In fact, I could have told them to call me Doctor if I¡¯d felt so inclined, but I thought that might sew some confusion. It was also pretentious.

    ¡°Esquire?¡± Big n¡¯ Pale asked, looking incredulous.

    ¡°He¡¯s a fucking landed peasant!¡± said the tall blonde in leather.

    ¡°Not a peasant,¡± said the shorter red-skinned woman.

    ¡°Not a noble either,¡± said the beast-person. Big n¡¯ Pale held up a hand to quiet them.

    ¡°Esquire Arlo,¡± he said slowly, ¡°how did you end up with a place in the Creation Delve?¡±

    I gave this a second of thought.

    ¡°It was a gift,¡± I said.

    ¡°Your lord gifted you with a slot in this year¡¯s Creation Delve?¡±

    I decided to see how far I could stretch the truth. One might characterize the act of granting me a second life as a gift, so that wasn¡¯t too far astray from what happened. Plus, it was a gift from a divine being. Perhaps that made them a sort of capital ¡®L¡¯ Lord instead of what Big n¡¯ Pale meant, so I just went with it.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, urging myself to believe the lie I was telling.

    ¡°Hell of a gift,¡± the beast-person drawled. The others were speechless.

    ¡°What, if I may ask, are all of your titles?¡± I said, looking around the room.

    ¡°He¡¯s fucking with us,¡± said the blonde. ¡°He¡¯s probably the whelp of some fat prince out in Timagrin or something. More money than sense.¡± She walked toward me and prodded me in the chest hard with a finger. I barely felt it. ¡°You may think this is funny, but your jokes have led you to an unmarked grave in the Delve.¡±

    ¡°Is that a threat?¡± I asked. She barked out a laugh.

    ¡°A threat? I don¡¯t have to do shit for you to get dead.¡±

    ¡°Enough, Chilla,¡± Big n¡¯ Pale said to the blonde. ¡°Esquire or not, that is the title you have given and so the party will be organized with that fact in mind.¡± He turned to the short, red-skinned woman. ¡°Good enough, Xim?¡± She nodded. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled.¡±

    He turned back to me, glaring.

    ¡°I am Lord Varrin Ravvenblaq, second son of Thundralke Ealdric Ravvenblaq the Third. Such is my pedigree, which marks me as the highest of this group and thus I am its leader. Because you have claimed to be an esquire, who cannot possibly be of a higher rank than anyone here, I will spare you the lineage of our other members. This is Low-Lord Chilla Stormreiss,¡± he pointed to the blonde woman. ¡°She is second in the party as her mother is a Wolfsbane.¡± He pointed at the beast-person, ¡°This is Sir Sayil Starion, who is third, as his father is a count in the Littan Empire. This,¡± he pointed to the shorter woman, ¡°is Xim of the Third Layer who is fourth because she is a denizen of the deep. And you are Esquire Arlo whose surname is irrelevant and who is the child of no one important.¡±

    ¡°My mother would definitely disagree with that.¡±

    ¡°Enough of your quips,¡± said Big n¡¯ Pale, I mean, Lord Varrin. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back, looking forlornly at the ceiling. ¡°What¡¯s your class?¡±

    ¡°Lower than noble and higher than peasant, apparently.¡± I said. ¡°So, I guess middle?¡±

    ¡°Your build, you fool! How do you fight?¡±

    I knew what he¡¯d been asking, and I knew it was immature to keep riling him up but I couldn¡¯t help myself on that last one.

    ¡°Spells.¡±

    Varrin waited a moment for me to elaborate, but I didn¡¯t. Telling him my stats would be telling him my strengths and weaknesses and I got the feeling me and him weren¡¯t going to walk out of here as good friends.

    ¡°Fine,¡± he said after it became obvious I wasn¡¯t giving him anything further. ¡°A caster. So that gives us four damage dealers and a cleric. It could be worse. We¡¯ve got ranged physical from Chilla and whatever the esquire here has for magic damage, plus two melee fighters, Sir Sayil and I, so our damage diversity is decent. Cleric for healing is good since we won¡¯t have a main tank, Xim can handle a shield and armor in case she gets attacked. Sir Sayil, did you balance for defense or focus more on attack?¡±

    ¡°Balance,¡± said Sayil. ¡°Gonna focus on attack as I level, but wanted to make sure I could make it work with whatever team I ended up with.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Varrin, ¡°I did the same.¡± Xim and Chilla both nodded in agreement at the sentiment.

    ¡°Did you all not come in together?¡± I asked. They all looked at me. Sayil and Chilla looked dumbfounded, but Varrin was pissed. Xim just stared at me.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know how this works at all, do you?¡± Varrin asked.

    ¡°I do not,¡± I said. Even if I wanted to lie it would quickly become obvious that I didn¡¯t know what I was doing. I mean, I thought it was already obvious.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been teamed up with an infant,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Do I need to teach you your letters as well?¡±

    ¡°You think he can read?¡± asked Chilla.

    ¡°This is the Creation Delve,¡± said Xim, taking a step forward. ¡°It is the first Delve taken by those who wish to become Delvers.¡± The others watched her for a moment as she spoke, but Varrin stomped away and started pulling equipment out of his pack. Chilla and Sir Sayil also turned to their own preparations.

    Xim walked closer to me and continued.

    ¡°One hundred candidates must enter at once for the Creation Delve to activate and the Delve assigns us into random groups of five. We do not know who we will be grouped with until after we have undergone character creation. I believe Chilla and Varrin know each other at least somewhat, but the rest of us are strangers.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why they were talking about having a balanced build,¡± I said.

    Xim nodded, her dark, curly hair bobbing.

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s difficult to specialize because too many with the same specialty may be grouped up, which makes it more difficult to complete the Delve on one of the higher tiers. Five defense specialists might get killed by ranged casters in a fortified position. Five damage specialists can be overrun by melee attackers. And five healers, well,¡± she gave a slight smile, ¡°they can¡¯t do much without the rest of the party.¡±

    She began pacing around me in a circle, looking me up and down as she spoke.

    ¡°Most aspiring Delvers go for a balanced approach. Their build will lean toward a specialty, while also fleshing out other stats that will be useful if they wind up in a party with a lot of the same types. Our party is missing a defense specialist. But while both Sir Sayil and Lord Varrin are planning to become Strength-based melee damage specialists, for the Creation Delve they both invested in things like extra Fortitude, or Agility to help them take hits or dodge attacks, as opposed to leaning heavily into Strength and Speed.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯re a cleric,¡± I said, looking over her armor and the scepter she continued to swing about as she walked. ¡°So you went for what? More Intelligence and Wisdom, but also a healthy splash of Strength and Fortitude?¡±

    ¡°Close,¡± she said, stopping in front of me. ¡°Charisma is more important than Intelligence for my casting. I can heal, but I can also take the front line and deal with melee threats if I have to.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°What if you end up with five ¡®balanced¡¯ melee classes?¡±

    Xim shrugged.

    ¡°It happens. You can¡¯t focus on everything, so the most common tactic is to pick two roles and build into those. But you didn¡¯t know that coming in.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    She leaned in and spoke softly.

    ¡°So you specialized?¡±

    ¡°In a sense.¡±

    She grinned again, like she was in on some joke that I wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably fine. People who specialize for their Creation Delve are viewed¡­ poorly. They rely on others to fill in the gaps so they can get a head start on the stats they really want. If enough people did that, then Creation Delves would become a lot more dangerous, so no one likes a specialist. But we have enough balanced members, and some ranged magic will be helpful.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯s not ranged, per se.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡±

    Before I could respond, there was a flash of light and the walls around us morphed and changed. They transitioned from bright and clean-cut stone to roughly-carved rock the color of wet earth. There was a loud crack and a deep grinding sound, followed by a notification window.

    Your party leader has initiated the Delve. The selected difficulty is: Platinum. You have twenty-four hours to complete the Delve. Good luck!

    ¡°What did you do?!¡± Sir Sayil roared. When I looked up, an entire wall of the room was descending into the ground, and Sir Sayil had the point of his spear at Low-Lord Varrin¡¯s gorget-covered throat.

    Chilla had her bow drawn, aiming at Sir Sayil.

    ¡°Take a step back,¡± she said. Sayil didn¡¯t waiver, his eyes locked on Varrin.

    ¡°You¡¯ve killed us,¡± Sayil said, his spear still leveled at Varrin.

    Varrin held his hands out to either side.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to delve, aren¡¯t we?¡± he asked.

    ¡°But not to die,¡± said Sayil. ¡°You never even asked what difficulty we were prepared for.¡±

    ¡°Please,¡± Varrin scoffed, ¡°you may be far from home, Sir Sayil, but I know who you are. I¡¯ve been keeping up with all the promising candidates for this year¡¯s Delve since I was twelve. Your empire holds tournaments to determine who enters their Delver academies. You swept your bracket, the only Littan to go undefeated that year. Since then you¡¯ve been at the head of your class for six consecutive semesters.¡±

    ¡°And what of it?¡± asked Sayil.

    ¡°Your talents would be wasted on anything less than a gold Delve. Why wouldn¡¯t you aim for the top?¡±

    Sayil stepped back and slammed the butt of his spear into the ground.

    ¡°My family is not so greedy for power that we would throw our lives away. I would have been fine with a gold Delve, but you chose platinum. And even if you know something about me, I don¡¯t know anything about you.¡±

    Varrin let his hands drop, then shrugged.

    ¡°Chilla was one of five students hand-picked from my vassals. We¡¯ve trained together extensively and I can vouch for her talent. The fact that we¡¯ve ended up in the same party is an enormous advantage. And Xim is of the Third Layer! Any member of her tribe could carry a party of three-year-olds through a silver Delve without harm.¡±

    Sayil thrust his spear in my direction.

    ¡°And what about him?¡± he asked. Varrin grunted.

    ¡°Who cares? He can hide in the back and throw Force Bolt or whatever it is he does. The four of us are among the absolute best of this year¡¯s candidates. If we can¡¯t handle a platinum Creation Delve, then no one can.¡±

    ¡°You still should have asked,¡± Sayil spat.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have to ask,¡± said Varrin. ¡°This isn¡¯t a council, it¡¯s a party, and I am its leader. You need to respect that while we¡¯re inside.¡±

    Sayil glowered at Varrin, but didn¡¯t say anything further.

    While the drama unfolded, I kept an eye on the wall beyond them as it slowly made its way into the ground. Green mist began to creep over its edges and drift in tendrils toward the floor, where it puddled and spread.

    ¡°It¡¯s good that we¡¯re all bonding,¡± I said, ¡°but should we worry about that?¡±

    Xim was already studying the mist, frowning, and the other three turned to look at it. As the wall sank, more and more mist spilled out of it. It flowed across the ground and began filling the room. Varrin adjusted his sword belt and snatched a kite shield off the ground, sending swirling patterns through the cloud.

    ¡°Looks like visibility will be low inside,¡± he said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just fog,¡± said Xim, kneeling to study the vapor and taking a hesitant sniff. ¡°It¡¯s poisonous.¡±

    By the time the door had sunk entirely, the mist was pouring out. Beyond it was a dark stone corridor, its walls rough and uneven. A set of stone steps was barely visible within, descending into the cloud.

    ¡°Well that¡¯s fucking ominous,¡± I said. Sayil shot Varrin another dark look. Chilla rifled through her pack and produced three small vials of a dark, amber liquid.

    ¡°I have three antidotes,¡± she said.

    ¡°Antidotes won¡¯t matter,¡± said Xim. ¡°It will cleanse the poison, but you¡¯ll just breathe more in and get poisoned again immediately.¡±

    ¡°Then we take the antidotes after we¡¯ve gone through the cloud,¡± said Chilla.

    ¡°And how long,¡± said Sir Sayil, ¡°will that take?¡±

    We all leaned in for a closer look, but the bottom of the stairs was obscured by puke-green darkness.

    ¡°Maybe we sit this one out,¡± I said. ¡°Catch the next Creation Delve.¡±

    ¡°Once entered,¡± said Xim, ¡°you can¡¯t leave the Delve until it¡¯s completed.¡±

    ¡°And if we can¡¯t complete it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We die,¡± said Sayil.

    I swallowed, then wondered if there were some sort of record for speedrunning your second death.

    ¡°It¡¯s a beginner Delve,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It can¡¯t be very strong. Everyone check your health regen.¡± Varrin knelt and took a deep breath of the mist. He coughed and stood back up, eyes watering, then he stared off into the distance for a second. ¡°It¡¯s one damage every five minutes. See?¡± He made a face like he¡¯d just taken a shot of uncut moonshine brewed in a dirty bathtub. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. Do some math and figure out how long it will take for your health to get low. Xim can rotate her heals. If the mist keeps going we just have to get through it in a few hours.¡±

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± said Chilla. ¡°My health regen is massive for some reason.¡±

    ¡°Mine too,¡± said Xim.

    Varrin stared off into space again. Checking his stats, I guessed.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± he said. ¡°The detail reads: ¡®Plus thirteen health regen granted from Who Needs a Cleric?¡¯. Is that someone¡¯s skill?¡±

    The others shook their heads. I raised my hand slightly and they all looked at me.

    ¡°That¡¯s mine,¡± I said. ¡°No offense, Xim. That¡¯s just the name of the skill. I¡¯m sure clerics are very much needed.¡±

    She just stared, which was happening a lot to me. People staring. These people, at least. I thought it might be a cultural difference. Maybe staring wasn¡¯t rude here. But, honestly, I knew that it was more likely that my whole existence within the context of this Creation Delve was a bit ludicrous.

    ¡°The name of that skill,¡± said Varrin, ¡°is absurd.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strong,¡± said Sayil. ¡°Who cares what it¡¯s named?¡±

    ¡°Is it an aura?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Picked it up as my passive. Thought it looked pretty good.¡±

    ¡°Pretty good?¡± said Sayil. ¡°For level zero it¡¯s unhinged.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an aura,¡± said Varrin, ¡°They¡¯re always strong to start-¡±

    ¡°Not this strong,¡± Sayil interrupted. Varrin frowned.

    ¡°They don¡¯t scale well as you level. That¡¯s why no one takes them.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re lucky he did, though,¡± said Sayil.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Varrin, glancing at me. ¡°If all you do is stand there and give us that health regen you¡¯ll at least be useful. One damage every five minutes is twelve an hour, so thirteen extra health regen completely offsets the poison effect.¡±

    ¡°Glad I can help,¡± I said. It was true. Varrin was being an asshole, but I kind of understood why. I was obviously a complete amateur at whatever this Creation Delve thing was. Even if the others weren¡¯t experts, they had clearly studied and prepared for it.

    If this were a group project, I was the guy who hadn¡¯t spent a single day paying attention in class, then showed up expecting everyone else to do the work. I mean, I hadn¡¯t done that on purpose. I¡¯d been thrust into this situation somewhat against my will. I still wanted to be helpful, or at least not get in the way. So, I could forgive Varrin for his behavior at the moment. Although I expected he was always kind of a dick.

    ¡°Is everyone ready to go?¡± Varrin asked. The others nodded, shouldering their packs and beginning to move to the Delve¡¯s entrance. Varrin picked up the large sack and tossed it to me. ¡°Since you don¡¯t have anything of your own, you can carry one of these.¡± I smiled and hefted it onto my back.

    As I thought about the fact that I didn¡¯t have any gear whatsoever, I remembered that I was still holding the amulet that I¡¯d gotten from the Tiny-Tot Traveler starter kit. The others were already starting down into the darkness, and as I stepped through the entrance behind them I looked down at the necklace.

    It had a dark chain speckled with red and silver flecks. A small and utterly black gem dangled off of it, wrapped in an ornate wire setting made of the same material. I focused on it, and a blue window popped up. That was still blowing my mind a little.

    Traveler¡¯s Amulet

    This is an evolving item.

    Current Level: Tiny-Tot

    Effects:

    (1): It¡¯s stylish.

    Complete the Creation Delve to unlock this amulet¡¯s next effect.

    It was exactly useless.

    I sighed and clasped the amulet around my neck, then stepped down into the murky, green darkness.

 5 - Attack of the Stickmen

    As I entered the fog, my nose was filled with a bitter, metallic scent that made my eyes water. I was also greeted with a notification.

    Welcome to your first Delve! Now Initiating user interface. You may customize the interface by concentrating on the element you wish to change.

    A series of colored bars appeared at the lower edge of my vision: Red, green, and blue. I assumed they followed standard gaming conventions with red for health, green for stamina, and blue for mana. Above the health bar there was a small skull and crossbones and when I focused on it, text appeared beside it that read ¡°Poisoned, Toxicity: 12/hour¡±.

    I assumed that ¡®Toxicity¡¯ told me how much damage I was taking from the poison, since that matched up with the math Varrin had done earlier. I briefly wondered why he¡¯d done math if he had access to the same type of interface. Were his notifications different, or did I have access to different information?

    To my upper left was a list of party members, but the only information presented beyond their names was the same skull and crossbones symbol. Each revealed identical text to my own when I focused, ¡°Poisoned, Toxicity: 12/hour¡±. Another notice appeared, and I paused to read it.

    You have entered Delve 1156: The Toxic Grotto.

    Difficulty: Platinum

    Current accumulation level: 0.5

    This Delve¡¯s accumulation has been interrupted. Find and eliminate the cause of the disruption to clear the Delve.

    Reward: Early mana distribution.

    Time Remaining: 23 Hours, 55 minutes.

    The notification used a lot of language that I was sure was shorthand. The difficulty was platinum, nothing new there, but what made a Delve platinum? Was it the accumulation level? Sayil¡¯s reaction to the difficulty made me think there was more to it, but I had no idea what an accumulation level even was. Maybe it also had to do with the clear condition, which I was happy to see, even though it didn¡¯t provide a lot of information. I liked having a clear objective. As for the reward, what was an early mana distribution? I filed those questions away and continued down the steps.

    The stairs were damp and had patches of mossy growth that made them slick in places. I stepped down carefully, feeling my body move with an unfamiliar level of grace and precision. My worn leather boots felt like they still had good tread, and although my progress was slow, I made my way down without incident.

    As I descended, the stairwell grew gradually darker, until round orbs emitting soft light started to appear. They were set into the walls at regular intervals and I stopped to examine one, finding that it felt cool to the touch, with a surface like smooth rock. I moved on quickly to keep up with my party, but I was curious about what powered the rock lights.

    As we reached the bottom, the corridor opened up into a much wider space. The glowing orbs were set into the walls and along the ceiling, providing a gentle level of illumination. Despite this, the omnipresent green fog made it difficult to see more than thirty or so feet away. The rest of the group had come to a stop, and I stepped forward to join their huddle. Varrin spoke softly.

    ¡°Have any of you heard of the accumulation being interrupted before?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Xim. The others shook their heads as well.

    ¡°Kill the freaks,¡± said Chilla. ¡°That¡¯s usually the objective. But I¡¯ve heard of others, like investigating unusual mana sources or reactivating ancient devices.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Sayil, ¡°but those are usually found in special-difficulty Delves.¡± His fur had grown wet and stringy from the fog.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a special, though,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We should still expect hostiles. We¡¯ll treat it like a normal Delve, just keep an eye out for anything unusual.¡± He wiped a trickle of green liquid from his brow, then donned a steel helm. ¡°Chilla, take the lead and move us along the left wall. We¡¯ll stay back, but keep within visual range. Sayil, move side by side with me. Xim, stick behind us next to the esquire.¡± Varrin turned to look me in the eye. ¡°Stay close, don¡¯t wander off, and be quiet unless something is trying to kill you.¡±

    ¡°Even then,¡± said Chilla, ¡°try not to make too much noise.¡±

    I nodded and gave a thumbs up, then the group fell into formation and began moving. Chilla walked about twenty feet ahead of us, her form half obscured by the fog. She moved with careful steps in a slight crouch, bow drawn and arrow nocked. As we walked I kept an eye on the surroundings, wondering what sorts of things could live down here in the middle of a bunch of deadly mist.

    The walls and ceiling were rough and uneven, looking as though they were formed within a naturally occurring cave. There were also stalactites hanging down from above in a few places, but the floor of the space had clearly been modified. It was flat and had an intentional grain to it. I bent down to look more closely, seeing tiny grooves cut into the floor, so regular and precise that I would have guessed they were machined. It reminded me of the type of flooring you¡¯d find in factories or other industrial buildings, where it was important to keep workers from slipping.

    I noticed Varrin and Sayil slowing, and looked ahead to see Chilla with one fist in the air. We came to a stop and she backtracked to us slowly, then whispered.

    ¡°Freaks ahead. Look like Stickmen, but it¡¯s tough to tell with the fog.¡±

    Varrin nodded. ¡°How many?¡±

    Chilla shrugged.

    ¡°I can make out four, but there might be more.¡±

    ¡°Ok. Return to position and wait one minute, then see if you can pull them with an arrow.¡±

    Chilla turned and crept forward again without a word. Varrin gently placed his pack on the ground, the others following suit, and I put down the bag I was carrying as well. Varrin turned back to me and Xim.

    ¡°You two get that?¡±

    Xim nodded, but I needed to know more. The group already thought I was ignorant, and rightfully so. It wasn¡¯t safe to try and conceal how unfamiliar I was with what was happening, although I wasn¡¯t about to try and explain that I was from a different world altogether. If I did that, the best case scenario is that this sort of thing happened a lot here and I¡¯d get a small welcome gift.

    On the other hand, maybe outsiders were feared and burned as witches. I was surrounded by four heavily armed and armored individuals. I didn¡¯t want to accidentally provoke any strange prejudices. Most likely they¡¯d think I was a loon, or playing an exceptionally vicious prank. Either way, I decided that further exposing my ignorance was safer than going into a fight with next to no information.

    ¡°What are Stickmen?¡± I asked. Varrin frowned, but looked as though he¡¯d already accepted my naivete.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°They¡¯re creatures about as tall as a grown man,¡± he said. ¡°Their body is thin, flexible, and light, but covered in tough skin, so it¡¯s difficult to get a good hit on them. They attack with two long front legs that have hard points and inject you with venom.¡± He looked over my threadbare clothes. ¡°Try not to get hit.¡±

    He turned back to the front and drew his sword. Sayil stood with his spear ready, and Xim held up her shield, scepter held back and low. I didn¡¯t know what to do, so I took up a boxing stance. Xim eyed me, but then focused back on the dark shape of Chilla without comment.

    Chilla let loose an arrow with a soft twang, stood and watched for a brief second, then turned and hurried back toward the group. A baleful screech came from behind her, then dark, lanky creatures became visible through the fog, darting toward us.

    I tried to count them as they emerged, but lost track at a dozen. Their bodies were long and unnaturally thin, with two short hind legs and two lengthy front legs, each as long as my entire body. The front legs were segmented like a spider¡¯s, but ended in a slightly curved point the length of my torso, which dug into the ground as they galloped and crawled. Their skin was black and craggy, looking like tar-stained tree bark. They had small heads atop long, skinny necks, which were elongated and misshapen. They each had a single oversized eye which darted between the members of our group, and had mouths like a lamprey¡¯s, circular and covered in needle-like teeth. Ichor oozed from the orifice.

    A pair of the Stickmen closed the distance between themselves and Chilla, and the archer leapt into the air as one shot a claw toward her. She spun and soared over Varrin, landing in a crouch behind him, another arrow already nocked.

    Varrin interrupted the attack from the first Stickman, leaning into the swipe with his shield, then bashing the creature away. He swung his sword in a backward sweep toward the second, and the blade skidded across the creature¡¯s flesh, knocking off a few chunks of bark. It let out a screech and tumbled to the side, where Sayil was waiting with his spear. The beast-man thrust at the creature, which was off-balance from Varrin¡¯s attack, and Sayil landed a strike on its joint. The spearhead dug deep and Sayil twisted it like a pry bar. The Stickman¡¯s front leg tore off its body with a loud crack.

    Before Sayil could follow up on the injured creature, two more drove toward him and he spun the spear, knocking away two sets of thrusting claws. Varrin intercepted attacks from another pair of Stickmen that had made it to our front line, their pointed limbs driving into his shield with loud thunks.

    Chilla let arrows fly toward the creatures, but their thin bodies and quick movements made them hard targets. A couple arrows glanced across skinny torsos before a third struck true on a joint, causing the creature to stagger into a strong downward strike from Varrin, which ran along the back of the creature¡¯s neck, catching on its head and cleaving off the top of its skull. It moved about drunkenly before crashing to the ground.

    The trio did their best to hold the front line, but Sayil was forced aside, spinning his spear to knock away a half dozen thrusting claws, and more of the Stickmen poured into the gap between him and Varrin. The eyes of the newly arrived Stickmen spun and moved between me and Xim, one locking onto me and two more moving toward the cleric. I heard the sound of their pointed appendages crashing into Xim¡¯s shield. The creature that had locked onto me gave a low, wet moan as it brought its front legs up, getting ready to drive them down into my body.

    Now, I cannot express how much I did not know what I was doing. I had very little in the way of combat training. I had taken a grand total of one year of kickboxing lessons, and hadn¡¯t even entered the ring with anyone other than my trainer. I wasn¡¯t a fighter. Any time a situation had gotten heated enough that I thought violence might ensue, I either talked the person down or got the fuck out of there.

    I¡¯d taken the boxing stance because it was the only thing I knew to do. Beyond the fact that my understanding of the martial art was, at best, amateur, kickboxing was designed for use against a human opponent. My head was low to keep a fist from crashing into my jaw and laying me out. My arms and fists were up to intercept strikes and throw out jabs and straights. This leech-faced fuck didn¡¯t have fists. I was trying to stop a pair of three-foot-long pickaxes with my forearms. It also wasn¡¯t aiming for my face. Needless to say, my defense was¡­ ineffective.

    The pair of pointed legs lanced down at me. One struck straight between my forearms and the other to the outside of my right. I felt a moment of abject fear as the deadly limbs descended, followed by an overwhelming sense of calm. I had come close to dying a few times in my life, aside from the time that I actually, well, died. In each instance, the moment my brain accepts the imminent danger, it fucks right off with emotions like fear or panic. I shut down and immediately moved into damage control.

    What can I do? How do I mitigate? It¡¯s a characteristic I was proud of, having a cool head in an emergency. There was also an element of acceptance to it. If things don¡¯t work out, if I actually bite it, then I did my best. No use worrying.

    Both of the points slammed into my chest, nearly knocking me on my ass. But my footing was good and, despite the power behind the strike, I stayed upright. I gritted my teeth, waiting for a delayed sensation of pain to begin crushing my will, but it didn¡¯t come. The claws didn¡¯t feel good, but they didn¡¯t hurt much either. It was like being roughly prodded with an umbrella. It didn¡¯t do much damage, it just felt rude.

    I confirmed this by glancing down at my health, which was still completely full. I glanced back up at the Stickman, who stared at me in what I like to believe was a moment of confusion. His claws had met soft, tender flesh, and it hadn¡¯t done shit.

    I swung hard with a right-handed straight, popping the monster right in its tiny little face. Despite the solid hit, I didn¡¯t experience the satisfying, concussion-inducing thunk of a well-aimed blow. It felt more like punching a recoiling snake, or a green tree branch. There was no weight behind the creature¡¯s head, so my attempt at delivering blunt-force trauma was useless.

    There was another long moment where we stared each other down. In reality it was probably less than a quarter second of consideration, but in the middle of the adrenaline-fueled fight it felt long enough that I thought a tumbleweed was about to roll between us.

    I seized the initiative and drove forward with a combination of strikes, but like the first, none of them found good purchase. The creature drove its limbs into my ribs and chest as I rotated my hips and leaned into every hook and straight. We may as well have been having a pillow fight.

    I jumped back, surprised at the distance I cleared with the hop, and considered my options. At this point, an astute observer might notice, and perhaps loudly remind me, that I hadn¡¯t used my Oblivion Orb. You know, the one ability I had that was explicitly designed to maim and slaughter my enemies. In my defense, it¡¯s not like I came from a place where magic was an option so, when I flipped into fight or flight mode, that tactic wasn¡¯t among the very short default list of things I could do to not die. However, after leaping back like an olympic athlete competing in the GTFO olympics, I was reminded that I was not limited to the mundane options and abilities available to my previously puny human form. I didn¡¯t know how to use the spell, but I had an idea about how to apply it.

    The creature skittered toward me and I rushed to meet it. I had a plan. That plan, however, failed to account for what the monster did next. As its mighty claws rose into the air, it shrieked and the points of its front limbs began to glow with a green light. I was already committed to the attack and couldn¡¯t stop my momentum toward the beast before its claws shot down at me faster than my eyes could process. The points of its legs hit me hard enough to arrest my upper body, though my legs continued forward, and the creature used my newly diagonal stance to slam me into the ground. Its legs dug deep into my chest this time and I felt something hot inject itself under my skin and begin burning away at my muscle.

    Overall, it hurt, but not nearly as much as the fatal tree hug given to me by my arch nemesis, The Mighty Oak, in Chapter One. I ignored the pain and reached up to grab the creature¡¯s thin neck. Again, I didn¡¯t know how to use Oblivion Orb, or how to cast any spell for that matter, but the System had given me a few hints as to how it worked. So far, I¡¯d been able to make selections, see additional details, and potentially change my HUD by concentrating or focusing on the thing I wanted to affect. So, I simply thought about casting Oblivion Orb.

    A power flowed out from my gut and a pulse of white light traveled down my arm. I felt air being sucked in between my fingers accompanied by a loud pop! My fist closed more tightly around the creature¡¯s neck, and something warm and wet started to trickle down my wrist.

    I let go of the Stickman and saw that half of its neck had disappeared, replaced by a golf ball-sized hole. Its head lolled from one side to another, as a violent spurt of dark green ooze sprayed from the wound. It yanked its limbs from my chest, sending up an arcing stream of my bright crimson blood, then collapsed onto the ground, its limbs flailing violently. I hopped to my feet, then dropped on top of the monster, reaching out and grabbing it in the same spot, then cast Oblivion Orb again. This time, its neck was nearly severed, the head held on by a small sliver of barky skin. Its body twitched, and then it lay still.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°that was effective.¡±

 76 - Vicious Mimicry (B2 chp 1)

    ¡°Grotto¡¯s hiding something.¡±

    Nuralie turned away from the ancient and disorganized art gallery she¡¯d been watching intently, raising an eyeridge at my statement.

    ¡°Everyone hides things,¡± the loson said. Her expression was hard to read in the dim lighting, even with the enhanced eyesight my divine blessing gave me. Nuralie was the only person I had trouble seeing when the lights were low, and it had little to do with her black leathers or her dark sable skin and scales.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but putting aside general commentary on humanity¡¯s love of secrets, Grotto¡¯s been pretty stingy with his advice lately.¡±

    Nuralie paused. ¡°Grotto hides more than others,¡± she admitted, then turned back to her vigil.

    The rest of our party, Xim, Varrin, and Etja, all slept while me and Nuralie kept watch over the gallery. It was a strange thing to find in the depths of a platinum Delve, but everything one found within the depths of a platinum Delve was strange.

    The room where our allies caught some kip was a dead end, with no other entrances or exits other than the one we guarded. We¡¯d chosen it not just for that reason, but also because the room had only been partially full of the clutter of vases, wall paintings, reliefs, ancient weapons, armor, ornate stone furniture, sculptures, statues, effin¡¯ dolls, and all sorts of other shit that this entire leg of the Delve was absolutely stuffed full of.

    The room had looked like it belonged to my brother, whom I¡¯d given an armchair diagnosis of third-stage hoarder to back on Earth. Compared to the rest of the place, it was practically barren.

    So, we¡¯d taken the liberty of designating it as our bedroom for the night and promptly broken everything that was inside. We¡¯d smashed, bashed, crushed, and ground every priceless relic into smithereens. Only once no individual piece larger than my hand remained did we decide it was safe to sleep.

    Because anything inside this Delve¡­

    Anything

    Could be a fucking mimic.

    And these weren¡¯t cute mimics. They weren¡¯t silly treasure chests with a tongue hanging out or a sword with a very tail-like belt strap that purred when you reached for it. No, these were perfect copies; completely dormant and unidentifiable until you leaned a little too close to an incredibly detailed triptych to admire its masterful brushwork. Then, it grows a pair of monstrous jaws big enough to chomp your whole head off in one go.

    I¡¯d never seen a painting try to commit murder before coming into this Delve, and now I¡¯d seen it three times. I¡¯d had no desire to see it, but I saw it regardless. My appreciation of art had been forever changed, and I¡¯d be haunted by the subtle suspicion that every woodblock print I encountered from hereon out would seek to end my life in a violent manner.

    Everyone else in the party didn¡¯t seem to have the same problem. Just stay away from the art! they¡¯d said. I harrumphed at that. Harrumphed!

    No threat, be it man, beast, or bloodthirsty amphora would keep me from engaging with the visual pleasures. I may have been a violent masochist with unresolved trauma hellbent on a quest for vengeance against a pair of dark gods, but dammit I was a sophisticated one!

    All that to say, I did not like this Delve. It was like walking through the candy aisle, where one of the chocolates was poisoned. You could eat as many as you liked, and they were free! But one would definitely kill you¡­ by ripping your guts out with its nine-inch fangs. The whole thing got me heated.

    ¡°Are you ok?¡± asked Nuralie, and I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I said, shaking my head to clear my thoughts.

    ¡°You looked angry.¡±

    ¡°I am angry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m angry at the injustice of this place.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d ask if you want to talk about it,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°but I don¡¯t want to hear any more about,¡± pause, ¡°the exaggerated sexual features of early fertility deities.¡±

    ¡°The place where the claws sprang out from was totally inappropriate!¡±

    ¡°Did I say the opposite of what I meant to say?¡± Pause. ¡°Because I¡¯m hearing more about the thing I didn¡¯t want to hear about.¡±

    ¡°How do they think thoughts?¡± I asked, and Nuralie pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. ¡°They don¡¯t have brains. I smashed the head right open on the one that was an uncanny valley clone of Varrin, and it turned into a puddle of slime and slid away.¡±

    ¡°Maybe they don¡¯t think,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Nothing too deep,¡± I said, ¡°but they must have some level of consciousness. Their actions are so complex, so premeditated. Do they know that imitating an exemplar of subtractive sculpture will draw me in, or do they copy random things until they ensnare me in their web?¡±

    A deep voice came from behind me.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s magic, Arlo,¡± said Varrin, and I turned to see him approaching, rubbing the sleep from one eye. He was still out of his armor, wearing only a thin pair of linen leggings, leaving his ghostly pale chest and arms exposed. Despite the basement-dweller skin tone that came naturally to Hiwardians, Varrin was as fit and well-muscled as they came. I couldn¡¯t help but give the nearly seven-foot-tall man a quick up and down with my eyes.

    ¡°How do you get your shoulders that big?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ve always wanted bigger shoulders.¡±

    ¡°Hush, Arlo,¡± came Xim¡¯s smooth and upbeat tone. ¡°You¡¯re jacked, too. You can both be big muscly boys.¡±

    The rose-skinned Cleric walked out from behind a pile of broken furniture, already dressed in her thick robes and chainmail, complete with a blood-red tabard that sported a dark and mind-warping symbol. It shifted and changed when you looked at it. Her old tabard hadn¡¯t done that, but we¡¯d all gotten a few upgrades that were flashier than our starting gear from the year before.

    ¡°Your beard¡¯s bigger,¡± said Nuralie, looking between the two of us.

    ¡°Varrin doesn¡¯t have a beard,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Pause. ¡°So what I said is true.¡±

    ¡°Youd¡¯ve made a good lawyer,¡± I said, then looked to Xim. ¡°Is Etja still sleeping?¡±

    ¡°She is. I¡¯m starting to wonder if golems need extra rest for some reason, or if she¡¯s just generally a sleepyhead.¡±

    ¡°Not a sleepyhead!¡± said Etja from out of sight, her normally cheery voice laced with the grit of the newly awakened. ¡°Delving is soporific!¡±

    Xim frowned at me.

    ¡°Ever since you gave her that thesaurus, I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s saying half the time.¡±

    ¡°It means sleep-inducing,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Tending to cause sleep.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re having very different reactions,¡± I said. ¡°I couldn¡¯t sleep in here if I tried.¡±

    ¡°Do you even need to sleep anymore?¡± asked Xim. ¡°What¡¯s your Fortitude at?¡±

    ¡°Thirty-eight!¡± I put my hands on my hips and took my very best power pose. ¡°Two more points, and I get a new evolution.¡±

    A sinister voice entered my mind to give me its opinion on my build choices.

    [Be sure that this new evolution does not continue your descent into becoming an unearthly amalgamation of inhuman cells and tissue,] Grotto thought to us.

    The bonded Delve Core wasn¡¯t present in the Delve with us, busying himself with projects inside my Pocket Closet to avoid us, among other things. By this point, the extra-dimensional inventory space was so vast that the only way it was still a closet was if it were a walk-in for God Himself. Despite being hidden deep within the depths of my labyrinthine fortress, divorced from this realm of reality, Grotto could still psychically communicate with us when he felt like it.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°The flavor text on Body of Theseus is just that, Grotto. Flavor text. My lame-o human cells are fine.¡±

    [I am the one monitoring your bodily functions, and observing your cellular mass transform as your Fortitude continues to grow. The ability¡¯s critical hit and debuff reduction is a powerful boon, but I grow concerned over the cost.]

    ¡°I feel fine,¡± I said. ¡°And I¡¯m monitoring those things as well, the old fashioned way,¡± I tapped myself on the head, ¡°with my noggin¡¯¡±

    [A ¡®noggin¡¯¡¯ that is now forty percent unidentifiable organic substance, homogenous in nature, but capable of fulfilling any specialized function that your body requires. Should you not be more concerned that the alien substance is affecting your thought process, especially regarding itself?]

    I chewed that one over for a bit in my head. I wasn¡¯t as flippant about it as I let on. I did have some serious concerns, but the decision had been made. I couldn¡¯t un-evolve a stat, and I wasn¡¯t going to let my Fortitude flag, since it was my bread-and-butter stat. Unscrambled eggs, and all that.

    [Additionally,] Grotto continued, [you know that I am aware of your thoughts, and yet you continue to speak as though I am not. I am not hiding anything, for I make no effort to convince you that I have no secrets. I have many secrets, and the secrets that I hold are unsuited for your underdeveloped minds. The truths that are contained within me would wreak havoc upon this world! Their very utterance would cause entire empires to crumble!]

    I imagined Grotto waving his downy tentacles in the air as he embraced the melodrama.

    ¡°As long as it¡¯s the Littan Empire,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°feel free to tell us.¡±

    ¡°Are there any other empires?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Davah was an empire long ago,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Now it¡¯s divided into tribal regions.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°No one¡¯s seen a Davahn in decades.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s impossible for entire empires, plural, to crumble,¡± I said, ¡°since there¡¯s only the one.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± said Xim. ¡°Tell us your secrets, Grotto! The devastation will be limited!¡±

    [I will not.]

    ¡°Boo,¡± Xim jeered. Then she slumped forward as though the day had already worn her out, despite just beginning. ¡°Ugh, so are we heading back out there, or do we just wanna use your Get Out of Cage Free card?¡±

    The card had been one of our rewards for defeating the specter of Orexis within Delve 9998: The Cage. It had seemed like a joke item at first, but like other rewards I¡¯d received from the System, there was a lot more to it than a dumb name.

    Get Out of Cage Free Card

    By activating this card, you invoke System authority to extricate you and your party from any form of imprisonment, capture, restraint, or other situation in which you find your physical presence undesirable, including a Delve where you have failed the objective, or are just plain sick of.

    The mechanics of your escape will vary based on the circumstances and the System may not be capable of intervening in certain situations. System''s capacity to intervene and the methods available to it are dependent on the current phase of System rollout. Please consult your User Manual or mentor for more information.

    This is a fleeting item and may only be used once.

    The item had gotten us all curious about what was meant by ¡°the current phase of System rollout,¡± and had given Grotto what I think was the Delve Core equivalent of a panic attack. He became intractable, refused to shed any light on the meaning of the phrase, and eventually shut himself inside the Pocket Closet, denying any request we made of him.

    Since Grotto wouldn¡¯t help us, we decided to kick in the doors on as many Delves as we could, and politely ask any Delve Core we found to tell us what it could about the card. We were currently knocking out Delves at record speed. Literally, record speed. This was our fifth platinum Delve since The Cage one year ago, which was two more in a year than any other party had attempted and survived.

    Of course, we had advantages. After helping to save a large swath of Ravvenblaq from devastation, we were given the first pick of any Delves we wanted for the next two years. A time limit we fully intended to squeeze for everything it was worth.

    Everyone in the party also had my That¡¯s a Lot of Stats! ability. The ability let us train to earn stat points up to a max of ten in each attribute, which was normally impossible for Delvers, who relied solely on Delves to earn stat points.

    We¡¯d gone full training montage after The Cage, and stacked points as fast as our minds and bodies could handle, with Varrin acting as our drill sergeant. He kept his foot on the gas pedal until we almost broke, let off just enough for us to catch our breath, and then pressed down even harder.

    I didn¡¯t even need to train half the time, since I¡¯d already earned a lot of my training points, but he worked me as hard as everyone else until I wondered who the real party leader was. Although we all still had some stats that hadn¡¯t yet hit the cap of ten¨Clooking at you, Luck¨Cby the time we were tackling our second platinum Delve, our party was completely overpowered for our level.

    We dominated Delve after Delve, which was beginning to cause some powerful people to ask some difficult questions. Nonetheless, we pursued our goal relentlessly, eschewing subtlety in favor of power leveling, and trying to unravel the mystery of the card.

    So far, the leveling was going great, but the investigation had been a bust.

    ¡°Not using the card, Xim,¡± I said. ¡°A priceless magical artifact with unknowable power isn¡¯t worth sacrificing to skip a few mimics.¡±

    ¡°But, but, they¡¯re art mimics!¡± she said, walking up and gripping me by the arms. She peered up at me, her amber eyes glistening with fake tears. ¡°Isn¡¯t that right? You hate art mimics!¡±

    ¡°Eh, at this point I think I¡¯ve gotten over it.¡± I heard Nuralie choke a bit. ¡°Besides, the mystery of the card is why we¡¯re here. It¡¯d be a shame to waste it.¡±

    ¡°Half the reason,¡± Xim said, releasing me and stepping back, her pleading facade wiped away in an instant. ¡°We¡¯re also learning more about Delves in general.¡±

    ¡°And I thought we were here to grow more powerful,¡± said Varrin, who¡¯d begun to don his armor. It was impressive that he could put on the heavy, frozen-steel plate without assistance, but the armorsmiths of Hiward had better designs than the ones of medieval Earth. That, and an auto-equip manaweave. He pulled at the cuff of a gauntlet, fitting it tightly over his hand, then looked up. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you both considered this a research mission.¡±

    ¡°The card is one-third of the reason we¡¯re here?¡± I said.

    ¡°Money,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Chips. Essences. Gear.¡± Pause. ¡°Loot.¡±

    I counted those off on my fingers.

    ¡°One¡­ eighth of the reason we¡¯re here?¡±

    ¡°Call it ten percent,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Etja, are you ready to move?¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± said Etja, walking out from behind the broken stack of furniture that she and Xim had made their fort for the night. The golem-turned-Delver was fully dressed in light-blue robes, the exposed skin of her neck and arms already transformed into the crimson chiton that she used in place of armor.

    She¡¯d continued to refine her appearance over the last year, her features now indistinguishable from human, although her clay-red skin tone made her stand out in Hiward. That, and the fact that she had four arms.

    ¡°Ready to kick ass and smoke grass!¡±

    ¡°Etja,¡± I said, ¡°I taught you that phrase with the understanding that you¡¯d only use it when appropriate.¡±

    ¡°When is it appropriate?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Who smokes grass?¡±

    ¡°The Hyrachon,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°It stinks.¡±

    ¡°I thought it meant that I was excited to do something,¡± said Etja, waving her hand in the air like a showman. ¡°Kind of like when you say ¡®I¡¯m ready to rock out with my co-!¡¯¡±

    ¡°Nope!¡± I interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m having regrets about our lessons.¡±

    Etja dropped her hand and pouted a bit.

    ¡°Then which one should I use?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Um, how about,¡± I cleared my throat and dropped my voice an octave, ¡°Spooon!¡±

    There was a moment of silence for my dignity.

    ¡°What do utensils have to do with anything?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Is that a Shog thing?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I said, ¡°No, why would it be?¡±

    ¡°Because he ate that c¡¯thon that tried to eat him, then stole one of his tentacles. The one that made cutlery.¡± Xim squatted a bit and did her best Shog impression. ¡°C¡¯thons do not need tools to consume, so I devoured that heathen and his brothers such that their heresy would not spread to the impressionable broodlings.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember that,¡± I said. ¡°I only remember that he grafted a new tentacle to his body because ¡®the c¡¯thon it belonged to was tasty, and I like the smell.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Shog says a lot of things,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I doubt most of it is true. Also, Xim just made that last one up.¡±

    ¡°Why would you ruin my joke like that, Varrin?¡± Xim asked. ¡°I could have gotten him to confront Shog about it. Start subtly testing whether his summon is haunted by a sudden urge to craft the finest silverware.¡±

    ¡°So, I shouldn¡¯t say spoon?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Every morning,¡± Varrin grumbled, looking up at the ceiling. ¡°These conversations. Every. Morning.¡±

    ¡°You could try ¡®Hulk smash!¡¯¡± I said. ¡°Or, ¡®Plus Ultra!¡¯¡± I ran a hand through my beard, happy to find it free of gore for once. I was doing exceptionally well on the Arlo hygiene scale this Delve. ¡°You know what, maybe try out a few of your own. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get something.¡±

    ¡°Ok!¡± said Etja, clapping her hands, then lifting her upper arms into the air, hands balled into fists. ¡°Let¡¯s hunt some mimic!¡±

    That one still sounded a bit familiar, but I let it slide.

    And hunt mimic we did.

 77 - Cadaverous Mimicry

    ¡°It¡¯s the corpse in the middle,¡± I whispered. ¡°Gotta¡¯ be.¡±

    Our journey deeper into the Delve had gone mostly unimpeded. As was typical, our course took us down. The maze of rooms cluttered with art and relics eventually revealed an arched entryway to a wide stairwell. We descended, our nerves still frayed from the prior day¡¯s endless hit-and-run assaults, and any slight movement, real or not, got a callout. There was more than one false alarm.

    It was strange how the shadows moved and the eyes of the sculptures seemed to follow us while we remained hypervigilant. This had been building into a ¡®boy who cried wolf situation¡¯, and our diligent lookout for mutating tapestries and transmogrifying murals began to flag. Nuralie, however, never faltered, and the rest of us only barely caught a glimpse of what she pointed out.

    One of the wide stone tiles of the hallway floor walked away and around a corner on eight tiny feet. Around that corner, was a tomb.

    ¡°Should I blast it?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Not yet,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why the corpse in the middle?¡± asked Varrin, looking over the series of desiccated corpses lining the walls, little more than dust and bones. ¡°It could still be a piece of floor.¡±

    The bodies were tucked into alcoves, and each one held a metallic rod over its chest, like a warrior buried with their sword. What they were holding was too round for a blade, however, and too short for a staff, even accounting for age and deterioration. It was closer in size and shape to the handle of a broom or mop.

    At the center of the room was a body better preserved than the others, laying on a burial slab angled up so that the cadaver could be viewed from the entryway, where we stood. Its skin was thin and dry like paper mache and tufts of wispy white hair hung from its arms and legs¨Cmuch longer than any of the humanoid races I¡¯d seen in Arzia, aside from Umi-Doo. This wasn¡¯t a two-and-a-half-foot tall yeti munchkin, however. The head was bald and the face bare, but a jeweled chain adorned its skull, with a shimmering ruby gemstone as its centerpiece upon the person¡¯s brow.

    ¡°That¡¯s what the mimic would expect us to think,¡± I said. ¡°We saw it as a piece of floor, so it knows we¡¯d be looking at the ground.¡±

    Xim ran a crimson flame along her knuckles, a habit I¡¯d noticed her picking up when agitated. It was a bad tick for stealth, but we weren¡¯t trying to stay hidden.

    ¡°How do you know it saw us see it?¡± she asked, looking at everything in the room except for the prominent carcass.

    ¡°The mimics have never taken the same form twice,¡± I said.

    Varrin grunted.

    ¡°There may not be more than one,¡± he said. ¡°We never got a kill notification for the others we cut down yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°they¡¯ve been playing possum. Or, it has been.¡±

    ¡°Is that a game?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°No, a possum is a marsupial that pretends to be dead to avoid predators,¡± I said. ¡°Back on Earth. Sometimes my idioms come across and other times they don¡¯t. What gives?¡±

    ¡°I got it,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°So did I,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°What do you think I¡¯m talking about when I say possum?¡±

    ¡°I think of¡­¡± Xim began, ¡°a marsupial that pretends to be dead to avoid predators.¡±

    ¡°How do you know what a possum is?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not rare,¡± she answered.

    ¡°So there are possums in Arzia?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°What do they look like?¡±

    ¡°Spines,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Teeth and spines.¡±

    ¡°Spines, as in quills?¡± I said. ¡°Like pointy defensive growths on their back?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°They have multiple spines.¡± Pause. ¡°And torsos.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like a possum,¡± I said.

    ¡°What does it sound like?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°A fucking nightmare.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a possum,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Guess that solves the mystery,¡± I said. ¡°None of those ancient memories have possums in them?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Not that I¡¯ve gotten to most of them. It¡¯s all still vague, like I had too much wine when it happened.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t know what ducks were, either,¡± said Xim, the flame along her knuckles flaring.

    ¡°I don¡¯t recognize most of the wildlife,¡± said Etja. ¡°I remember lots of animals, but they don¡¯t match what¡¯s around here.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Mirtasian I was modeled after had a pet yabberish.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of it.¡± The others shook their heads as well. ¡°Pets aside, if we¡¯ve been fighting one mimic this whole time, it¡¯s a tough sonofabitch. More health than me.¡±

    ¡°Or we aren¡¯t doing it much harm,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Our damage diversity is normally good, but we¡¯ve leaned toward physical with the monster. It may not be effective.¡±

    ¡°Fair,¡± I said. ¡°My gut instinct when a gossamer gown tries to eat me is to hit it.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue to break those types of bad habits,¡± said Varrin, and I flinched. He and I had been having a lot of one-on-one time together. A lot of very painful one-on-one time learning me some genuine combat techniques. I needed the extra practice since I was, in his words, ¡®the most incompetent fighter among us¡¯.

    ¡°Then we avoid physical,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll stick to Oblivion Orb, try and send some of that mimic goo to another plane of existence.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll use my spiritual attacks,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If it lacks a soul, there¡¯s at least a mana matrix to cut into pieces.¡±

    ¡°Nuralie can use her new bow¡¯s ability,¡± I said, and the loson nodded.

    ¡°And I¡¯ll smite the fucker,¡± said Xim. ¡°Just¡­ show me what to smite.¡±

    I scratched at my head, frustration starting to nudge its way into my mood. The mimic had been giving me some performance issues.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try it again,¡± I said, looking around the room. I focused on my soul-sight, pushing up its sensitivity and scanning everything inside for a glimmer of the shiny liquid that marked an entity¡¯s spiritual essence. The gift had proven its value countless times, especially now that I¡¯d had the chance to develop it further. It helped me find hidden enemies, and gauge relative strength, it could even give me limited insight into emotional states like whether a creature was more likely to fight or to flee.

    With the mimic so far, I¡¯d gotten squat, and this room was the same. Either the mimic didn¡¯t have a soul, like Varrin suggested, or it could hide it completely.

    When it had copied Varrin, however, it had also copied his soul appearance to some degree, but like the man¡¯s facial features, something about it was off. Almost Varrin, but not quite right. Just enough to give me the willies. At first, I thought the man was having a psychological breakdown, or worse. I only realized that it wasn¡¯t Varrin when he tried to bite me. When I understood that the mimic could mimic souls, that¡¯s when I upgraded it from an annoyance to a threat.

    For inanimate objects, there was no need to copy a soul¡¯s appearance, since most objects didn¡¯t have one. Most objects. I hadn¡¯t yet seen a distinct presence that I would have called the mimic¡¯s own, but it seemed to do a better job copying the absence of a soul, rather than the presence of one. Once the mimic failed to trick us with knock-offs of ourselves, it had avoided any attempt at an organic form. Unless a walking floor tile was considered organic.

    ¡°Still nothing,¡± I said.

    Xim huffed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± she said. ¡°You should be able to See lies and deception.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s never really worked for me.¡±

    ¡°I think you need to pray more.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t pray at all.¡± I gave her an annoyed look. ¡°I don¡¯t worship Sam¡¯lia. I don¡¯t worship anything.¡±

    ¡°You worship your beard,¡± she mumbled, a bit petulantly. I knew that it was half a joke, but I also knew that there was some genuine worry there as well.

    Xim really wanted me to rub elbows with her goddess. Not out of some mindless attempt to fill her convert quota, but because she genuinely believed that I was loved by Sam¡¯lia and that my lack of engagement was the same as giving the seven-organed god the cold shoulder. Especially after the blessings I¡¯d received. It was like I¡¯d turned Xim¡¯s best friend down when she¡¯d asked me to prom¨CXim¡¯s best friend who had just bought me a Ferrari. She wasn¡¯t mad, she was disappointed.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not a lie,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is what it mimics.¡± Pause. ¡°Until it isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°It failed to do that with me,¡± said Varrin.

    Nuralie poked at a scale along her jaw while she pondered.

    ¡°Maybe what it copies has to be generic,¡± she said. ¡°To mimic perfectly.¡±

    ¡°The art in here isn¡¯t generic,¡± I said, earning me a couple of pairs of rolled eyes. ¡°What? Some of these are clearly unique works!¡±

    ¡°You never saw the original,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°There could have been defects.¡± Pause. ¡°Ones an expert would have noticed.¡±

    ¡°Then it isn¡¯t what it is until it isn¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t ever what it was until it wasn¡¯t, it is what it is until it¡¯s not, and that is a deception.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m confused,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Yep,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°You¡¯re trying to be opaque, Arlo,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I said what I said.¡± I sucked at my teeth, then held a finger up in the air. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got a plan.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll go in there,¡± I pointed at the crypt, ¡°and let it attack me. Then,¡± I pointed at Xim, ¡°Xim can cast Judgment on me while I grab it.¡±

    ¡°Your plan is bad,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Dragging the enemy into a pillar of divine inferno is not a reliable strategy.¡±

    Xim looked at me, her face devoid of any expression.

    ¡°Have you ever felt the cleansing pain of holy fire?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Uh,¡± I began to second guess my plan. ¡°No?¡±

    Xim nodded, then looked at Varrin.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a good plan,¡± she said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it anymore,¡± I said.

    ¡°Too late,¡± said Xim. ¡°Go on, then.¡± She made a shooing motion at me. ¡°Gods know it won¡¯t kill you.¡± She was already beginning to kneel.

    ¡°Don¡¯t charge the spell too much,¡± I said, then began hesitantly walking into the tomb.

    The soft muttering of prayer came from the cleric¡¯s lips, words squirming through the air like shuddering insects looking for an ear to crawl inside.

    My boots clicked against the polished stone floor, echoing off the room¡¯s hard walls and mingling with Xim¡¯s disquieting invocation. Her devotions swept the reverberance up and twisted around it, the chamber mute and silent but for the orison that made all other noise subservient.

    Was this what it felt like to be targeted by Xim¡¯s spell, or had I never heard it properly before?

    I walked to the crypt¡¯s center, where the cardinal body lay in eternal repose. My hand was raised, prepared to send a hunk of the corpse into the endless void. When I was close enough to touch it, I reached out, my fingers moving within an inch of the gemstone chain atop its head.

    ¡°Hey, bud,¡± I whispered. ¡°Is this whole place your burial mound? Interred with all your worldly possessions as grave goods?¡± The dead man gave no reply. ¡°Why get buried in a Delve? Or, did you build it yourself? Did it get turned into a Delve afterward? I know those Delve Cores like to build their nests wherever it looks good. I¡¯ve got a whole infestation in my closet.¡±

    I tapped the gem with a fingertip. It was warm to the touch. I furrowed my brow and leaned in closer. The gem danced and shimmered. When I held my hand close, I could see points of light play across my palm. The gem had been crafted from a ruby chip, I realized.

    ¡°Fancy,¡± I said, wondering what that said of the man. Had he been a Delver? An ancient one? Hiward had only discovered the Delves a century and change prior. This gentleman was much, much older than that. If he had been a Delver, was he part of the society that created them?

    Considering what I knew so far, I doubted it. Cage, the only Delve Core to date himself so far, had said he was several thousand years old. While this body was ancient, I didn¡¯t think it was ¡®pharaohs of Egypt¡¯ ancient. But, then again, magic. It could be a million years old with a ¡®decay-away¡¯ manaweave. I doubted carbon dating would work very well here.

    I pulled back a bit and pursed my lips. I gave the guy a gentle tap on his empty ribs, and a touch of dust scattered into the air from the ragged cloth that covered the fragile bones.

    ¡°You¡¯re no mimic,¡± I said.

    And he wasn¡¯t. The mimic was smarter than that. It was Arlo levels of smart. The fucker used my own signature move against me.

    It came from above.

 78 - Mimic Mimicry

    The world got dark and sharp real quick, and then it burned.

    The mimic hadn¡¯t been the corpse in front of me, but the cobweb-ridden chandelier above me. That it could imitate something with as much fine detail as cobwebs was of no surprise, especially after the craftsmanship with which it replicated the quillwork on illuminated manuscripts.

    The mimic didn¡¯t need to be down here in a forgotten Delve preying on ambitious Delvers, emergent mana monsters, or whatever wildlife found its way in. It could partake in any number of lucrative career paths out in society. Its range and functionality were incredible!

    It could become the ultimate multi-tool for a smith or engineer, an undetectable spy, a model, a celebrity impersonator, or a high-end three-dimensional mirror. If it kept everything it had mimicked stored in its cellular memory, or however its body worked, it could be an entire library, morphing into any book on command! It could even become a migrating museum!

    Alas, as I shouted these ideas into the slathering mouth that engulfed my head and shoulders, the mimic was unswayed. It grew a hundred new fangs, and the freshly formed ivories launched from every direction within the orifice to pierce my face and neck. My eyes were spared, but my latest pair of rose-colored shades cracked and chipped as the teeth pressed into them.

    HP: 1121 -> 1078

    Bleeding: 24 (40% reduction from Body of Theseus!)

    The mimic may have been better served by using fewer teeth since my face was doing the ¡®walking on nails¡¯ trick. There wasn¡¯t enough penetration for any single fang to stab deep into something vital because the force was being spread too thinly between the canines. Although I was a pretty hard guy to chew, so I understood why it may have misjudged its approach.

    My words having failed, I reached up and grabbed a part of the mimic¡¯s amorphous body above my head and cast Oblivion Orb.

    Oblivion Orb had gotten some serious juice over the last year. My Intelligence now sat at a healthy score of twenty, and I¡¯d also gotten some practice in with mana-shaping. I could reliably adjust the size of the orb on the fly, which resulted in a linear decrease to the spell¡¯s mana cost when adjusting down, and an exponential increase to the mana cost when adjusting up. The exponent by which the cost was multiplied had gone down quite a lot with practice, but it was still more efficient to cast the spell multiple times to achieve the same volume of annihilation, as opposed to shoving mana into the spell for a bigger one-off cast.

    In this instance, I used the downward adjustment, since the default cast of the five-mana spell was now as big as a bowling ball. I was casting pretty close to my head, and while losing a bit of skull and brain wasn¡¯t as lethal a proposition as it had been during the Creation Delve, I didn¡¯t want to accidentally teleport part of my parietal lobe to the nether.

    Oblivion Orb blinked a pomelo-sized chunk of the mimic out of existence with a satisfying pop, and then the mimic and I burst into flames.

    I felt the heat of Xim¡¯s Judgment spell building before it hit. In three seconds it went from hot, to ¡®heatstroke warning¡¯ hot, to ¡®I just leaned against the stovetop after making a stirfry and forgot to turn the eye off¡¯ hot, to ¡®why am I standing on the space shuttle launch pad?¡¯ hot.

    The wet sucking and crunching sounds of the mimic¡¯s mouth were drowned out by the roar of a blazing conflagration, and I was hammered by the delayed-onset agony of seared nerve endings. It burned. Gods above, did it burn and it burned deep. Too deep. More than flesh was scoured by the flames, my very soul becoming tinder for Xim¡¯s divine pyre. The fire reached into me and sought out my sins and transgressions. Molten hands groped within my spirit to claw out my most wicked deeds to place them upon the scales and measure my depravity.

    The hands fumbled about, then hesitated. They poked a few more places but came up empty. I sensed¡­ encouragement. Like the metaphysical equivalent of a thumbs up and a slap on the back. The hands withdrew, and the spiritual pain vanished.

    The physical pain remained.

    I was on the ground, rolling from side to side, head still covered by the mimic. I was on fire. The mimic was on fire. I¡¯m pretty sure the floor around us was on fire.

    HP: 1078 -> 993

    Ignited: 10 damage per second

    The upside was that the mimic was no longer trying to eat me. It was trying to get away from me. In the confusion of the moment I had wrapped my arms around the mimic, hugging it tightly to my face while I rolled. My panicked attempt to smother the fire did nothing, however, since magic napalm didn¡¯t need oxygen to persist. The mana of the spell and the sins of its victims were both self-oxidizing compounds.

    With my health ticking away and no more good ideas, I fell back on casting Oblivion Orb on the monster, plane-shifting another tropical fruit¡¯s worth of its goo. The creature¡¯s body split around my arms and hands and I lost my grip on it. It slimed its way up off of me and I lost track of it through the flames.

    I heard Varrin bark something out, the sounds of metal striking stone, and then a wave of blue mana washed over me, extinguishing the flames. I waved a bit of smoke away, then saw Etja spare me a glance to make sure her Nullify spell had done the job of putting me out. She turned back toward the ceiling, the fingertips of her lower pair of hands transitioning from blue to orange before she shot a disintegrating beam at the retreating mimic.

    I looked up to see the thing crawling on the ceiling, still on fire. A chain ran from its rear to the chandelier¡¯s ceiling mount, as though it hadn¡¯t fully given up on impersonating a light fixture. Etja¡¯s spell carved a line through the roof and cleaved the mimic¡¯s body near the back, severing the links. The chain fell away and dangled from the roof, goo dripping from its end. The mimic lost its grip and fell to the ground, writhing in a fiery puddle like the T-1000 taking a liquid metal bath.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Two arrows wreathed in golden light connected with the monster, followed by the blade of Varrin¡¯s greatsword, which smoldered with gray mana. The force of the hulking man¡¯s swing cut the mimic in half and launched both sides to the far side of the room with enough force for it to splatter into formless sludge. One half was jettisoned into a corpse-hosting alcove, dry bones shattering from the impact, the other detonated against the wall.

    The blackened slime was now a slick stain on the wall and an oozing puddle mingling with a defiled corpse.

    HP: 953/1121

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Etja asked, walking up to check on me. She knelt and looked me over. My exposed skin was red and blistering, but my health regen would take care of the injuries in twenty minutes. My armor was enchanted Madrin plate, so it was scorched and would need some TLC from Seinnador, but still functional. My violet feather boa and ocean blue leather vest were both immutable, so they were fine.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m okay,¡± I said, and Etja helped me back to my feet. When I stood, ash and debris sifted down my legs and fell out between the armored plates of my greaves. ¡°My undergarments are not.¡±

    Varrin and Nuralie went to inspect the puddles. The loson had produced a jug of her highly flammable sticky juice and soon began pouring it out onto what was left of the slime. Varrin supervised as the sneaky alchemist reignited the mimic.

    Our party tried not to assume that anything was dead until we got a System notification. We¡¯d been a bit lax with that in this Delve but were being reminded of the value of our double-tap philosophy. I wouldn¡¯t be satisfied until every ounce of the thing was ash.

    ¡°Is your hair immutable, too?¡± asked Xim. She crossed her arms and inspected my head and face. I reached up and ran a hand over my scalp, finding my hair where it should be, then along my jaw to find my beard unharmed as well.

    I liked to exaggerate my sense of vanity to the others, mainly because it was disarming, but if the hair had been burned away it wouldn¡¯t have been a big deal. It¡¯d grow back. In fact, the growth¡¯s durability had increased proportionally with the rest of me as my Fortitude went up. I thought it might be a problem the first time I got a haircut, but magic shenanigans made the hair as easy to snip as I wanted it to be when I wanted the hair to be snipped. The same didn¡¯t go for the rest of me, so I wasn¡¯t going to be getting any tattoos or elective surgery any time soon. Unless the tattoo artist was also a Delver.

    I gave Xim a toothy smile.

    ¡°You know what they say. ¡®When it¡¯s raining divine hellfire outside put a mimic over your head¡¯.¡±

    Xim nodded sagely at my words.

    ¡°How was getting judged?¡± she asked.

    ¡°You mean when the blazing hands of a god reached into my soul to yank out my sins like a rotten tooth?¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t heard it described that way, but yeah.¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It was kind of nice, I think.¡±

    ¡°Nice?¡± Xim asked, uncrossing her arms and placing her chin on a hand. Her curiosity had overcome her mock irritation with me. ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°It was as though Sam¡¯lia came by for a visit, looked over my deeds, and told me to keep up the good work.¡±

    ¡°Really? She wasn¡¯t mad?¡±

    ¡°Nothing to be mad about, I reckon.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡± Xim¡¯s eyes unfocused as she contemplated my feedback.

    ¡°What were you expecting?¡± I asked. She blinked but kept staring into space.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting anything,¡± she said. ¡°But I was interested in the results.¡±

    ¡°Happy to be the subject of your experiments whenever you need.¡± That got her to glance back up at me, although the look she gave me was somewhere between excited and concerned.

    Maybe she was excited to experiment, but concerned over my poor sense of self-preservation. Maybe she was excited to experiment, but concerned about how excited she was to experiment. Maybe she was excited to experiment, but concerned over how to maximize the utility of the irresponsible level of control I just gave her over my bodily well-being. Before I could ask a follow-up question, Varrin returned to us, grumpy.

    ¡°Still no kill notification,¡± he said, hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. Despite being the coolest cucumber in our party¡¯s vegetable drawer this Delve, I could see the cracks starting to form. ¡°It¡¯s no more than a smoking dark spot on the ground and wall, but the System doesn¡¯t think we¡¯ve slain it.¡±

    I looked over to where Nuralie was managing the dying fire. There wasn¡¯t anything to burn once the accelerant had been consumed, so it was already mostly out, despite only a minute or so passing. I looked up to the ceiling, where the chain that had been attached to the mimic still hung. It was noticeably shorter.

    I walked to the center of the room and looked up at it. The end of the chain looked goopy, either from being stuck inside the mimic or¡­

    I activated my shield Gracorvus, the thick slabs flying off my armguard to form a honeycomb pattern in the air before me. I directed it to hover flat over the ground at my feet.

    The targe had been reforged by Varrin¡¯s grandfather, Ealdric Ravvenblaq Junior, or as Varrin affectionately called him, ¡®Papa¡¯, after it took a beating inside The Cage. It now had a total of twenty slabs, nineteen to make up the honeycomb body of the shield, and one ¡®home¡¯ slab inside the armguard which could be used to quickly recall the others.

    With the additions, it was no longer sized like a traditional targe, which was generally a little broader than my chest. Now it was a much wider ¡®round¡¯ shield. The decision to make it bigger was made with little concern for its utility as a shield. The extra width made it easier to stand on.

    I stepped onto Gracorvus and willed it up into the air to inspect the chain twenty feet above me. The body of the chain looked exactly how I would expect. It was brass in color, with spots of corrosion from age and a thick coating of dust and cobwebs along it. At the bottom of the chain, it transitioned from metal, into mimic goo. I went all the way to the ceiling and found something else out of place.

    The topmost link of the chain was three-quarters absorbed by the chandelier¡¯s ceiling mount, which itself looked like it was being pulled into the ceiling. I gripped the chain and cast Oblivion Orb.

    The links were severed, and the chain below immediately morphed into wriggling slime as it fell to the ground. It snaked around the room, drawing curses from Varrin and a request that I become a better communicator from Xim. Then, the roof swallowed the chandelier mount, along with the rest of the chain. Once it was gone, the ceiling was flat and bare, looking every bit like that was exactly how it should be. There were even some little chips in the stone and other imperfections.

    The rest of the party made quick work of the mimic-snake-chain. The Mimake. The Chaimic. The Snachic. The Snamain¡­

    One might have said they¡¯d killed the Mimchake once its wriggling body was a dark spot on the ground like the rest of the mimic we¡¯d just fought, but I thought that Varrin had been right. None of the mimics that we¡¯d fought had been killed. Not because they were all the same mimic that played dead and ran away, but because they were all pieces of the same mimic.

    And it was a big fucking mimic.

 79 - Royal Mimicry

    ¡°You think the whole Delve is a mimic?¡± Varrin asked. His tone was genuine, without a hint of incredulity toward my theory. It said a lot about our experiences as a group that the idea could be floated without much pushback.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t it swallow?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°If we¡¯re inside already.¡±

    ¡°Or smoosh us?¡± said Xim. ¡°Or send bigger mimics?¡±

    ¡°It may not be the whole Delve,¡± I conceded. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s like a parasite, and it¡¯s woven mimic-ness throughout.¡±

    ¡°Why send one mimic at a time?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°If it has a much larger central mass, it could overwhelm us.¡±

    ¡°One mimic hasn¡¯t given us too much trouble,¡± Xim added. ¡°It should know that by now. Sending them single-file just keeps us on edge.¡±

    ¡°That could be the goal,¡± I said. ¡°Wear the enemy down on the approach. Only commit to a larger engagement once it knows we¡¯re weakened.¡±

    ¡°A losing plan against us,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Our party excels at resource generation.¡±

    ¡°Health and stamina, sure,¡± I said. ¡°We still have the opportunity to improve with mana.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you understand what normal values are,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I know what they are, I just don¡¯t care,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯ve got a good point either way. The mimic may be used to dealing with ¡®normal¡¯ parties. A few sneak attacks on the tank, some jump-scares to rattle the spell-slingers until they¡¯re trigger-happy, soon enough, the party would be low on health and mana.¡±

    ¡°But not us,¡± said Xim. ¡°It¡¯s taken a bite out of you four times by this point, Arlo. I haven¡¯t even had to heal you yet. Or anyone else for that matter.¡±

    Xim looked conflicted over that fact. Not needing the healer to heal was usually the sign of a clean Delve. Superior tactics and skill won the day, with no injury serious enough that magic had to get involved. With our party, if Xim needed to break out the heals then we were taking the kind of damage that would put most groups six feet under.

    Part of our group''s healing came from my aptly named aura, Who Needs a Cleric? It gave bonus hourly health regen to everyone in the party equal to my Fortitude, which was presently a stout thirty-eight. I also had a modification to my tenth level Fortitude Evolution I Can Do This All Day, which I received for completing The Cage.

    At base, the evolution doubled my health and stamina regen from Fortitude. The modification, We Can Do This All Day, caused one nearby ally to regain health or stamina whenever I took damage, equal to fifty percent of the damage taken. My health regen was massive, and my proclivity for becoming injured was high, so this ability went a long way toward keeping my allies topped off, although Varrin was usually the one getting the biggest benefits from it.

    Varrin and Xim had both received Fortitude evolution modifications from The Cage as well, which further enhanced our party¡¯s recovery.

    Varrin¡¯s original evolution was already a resource buff:

    Deep Breaths: Your stamina recovery is tripled while you are outside of combat and not engaged in strenuous activity.

    The key word in that ability was ¡®recovery¡¯. It applied to all sources that gave back stamina, not just regeneration. The modification he received also shared the wealth with the party:

    Let¡¯s All Take Some Deep Breaths: If your stamina is full, your nearest ally who is missing stamina gains the benefit of Deep Breaths.

    That made for a fun symbiotic relationship where the damage I took in combat kept Varrin¡¯s stamina healthy, and then after the fight I could take advantage of Deep Breaths to get my own stamina back. We even tried to munchkin the ability by having Varrin punch me in the face to get his stamina back faster so that I could then get Deep Breaths sooner, but, sadly, my ability didn¡¯t trigger if an ally was the one dealing me damage.

    Varrin was insistent that we keep experimenting with the technique, though¡­

    Xim¡¯s Fortitude Evolution augmented the healing she received:

    Receptive Healing: Charisma-based healing is twice as effective when used on you.

    And her modification, again, spread the love around.

    Instructive Healing: Whenever you recover health in an amount greater than the health that you are missing, 25% of the excess recovery is granted to the next closest ally who is missing health.

    Once more, the key word there was ¡°recover¡±. It didn¡¯t only apply to healing, but all sources that gave back health. Thus, while Xim was at full health, 25% of the bonus she got from my healing aura, along with 25% of her natural health regen, was granted to the next closest person who was missing health. Normally, that was me.

    The typical resource flow went something like: I get stabbed, grant stamina to Varrin based on the damage from getting stabbed, get my stamina regen buffed by Varrin once we killed what stabbed me, and also get extra health regen from Xim to recover from being stabbed.

    For mana, our benefits were not as great, but still robust. My personal mana regen was often higher than it should have been due to the Ambient Absorption trait from my Bonded Familiar passive. If there was excess dimensional mana around, I sucked that shit up. I also had a Wisdom evolution that doubled the mana regen I got from the stat.

    If you look closely, you can see that there¡¯s a theme to my build¡­

    We then had Nuralie¡¯s mana potions and the fact that the lowest WIS score in the party was a ten, which meant that everyone had some mana and regen to play around with. Overall, our party¡¯s total mana regen output was much higher than it had any right to be. With all our powers combined, we were swimming in resource pools.

    If the mimic¡¯s strategy was to wear us down, it was doomed to fail, unless it started coming at us with a lot more dakka.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s feeling us out,¡± said Xim. ¡°Seeing what we can do.¡±

    ¡°Probably both,¡± I said. ¡°Testing our capabilities while trying to drain resources.¡±

    Varrin grunted.

    ¡°If it¡¯s as big as you say, one would think it wouldn¡¯t feel pressured to use such tactics.¡± He leaned back against a wall, eyes studying the bare ceiling. ¡°Powerful monsters rarely act so reservedly.¡±

    ¡°The Delve portal is restricted to level six or less,¡± I said. ¡°Even if we assume that this is the big daddy of all level six Delves, we should still outclass it with our stats.¡±

    ¡°Stats aren¡¯t everything,¡± Varrin said, eyes narrowing as he pushed off from the wall. ¡°And these are platinum Delves, Arlo. Level restrictions mean far less than they do on lower difficulties. Your intrinsic skills are half of what they should be to Delve this high, even with our training. None of us even have a full set of active skills.¡±

    ¡°I get it,¡± I said. ¡°Believe me, I¡¯m not advocating that we be rash. I¡¯m just saying that whatever creature is in here has likely learned caution. It may be a big mimic, but that doesn¡¯t mean that it¡¯s an overconfident mimic.¡±

    Varrin sighed and leaned back again.

    ¡°Assume the enemy is as intelligent and well-prepared as you are,¡± he said. ¡°If not more so.¡±

    ¡°If I were a mega mimic,¡± I began, ¡°a king mimic, hiding in a Delve, and a full party of Delvers came knocking, I would want to do some recon. I may be strong, but Delvers are dangerous. Luckily, as a king mimic, I can send my mimic pawns to test the waters. That¡¯s what it looks like has been happening.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the Delve Core,¡± said Xim. ¡°It could be directing the mimics itself. Trying to give us an ¡®appropriate¡¯ challenge.¡±

    ¡°Would a Delve Core be intentionally sub-optimal?¡± I asked. ¡°I feel like it would do everything it could to kill us with the tools available.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. We¡¯re attributing strategy to a mana-monster. The core may be the one in charge.¡±

    ¡°Or a rogue Delver,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Or a godly avatar.¡±

    ¡°Summoned villain from another world,¡± I suggested. ¡°Aliens. Same thing, really.¡±

    ¡°The mimic is what¡¯s in front of us,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We have no evidence to suggest that an external entity is governing its actions. We should remain aware of the possibility, but proceed as though the mimic is our primary opponent.¡±

    ¡°Then what have we discovered so far about mimics?¡± I asked. ¡°Besides their love of cultural treasures.¡±

    ¡°Resistant to physical,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Possibly immune. Resistant to any damage that takes advantage of normal biology.¡±

    ¡°No heart to stab, no brain to concuss,¡± I said. ¡°Makes my Oblivion Orb a lot less deadly. I¡¯d call that dimensional resistant.¡±

    ¡°Divine works,¡± said Xim. ¡°As long as the deity supports killing mimics. Sam¡¯lia was happy to smite it.¡±

    ¡°We should assume spiritual is less effective than divine,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If it lacks a soul, spiritual attacks would primarily be interrupting mana flow through the mana-matrix. It may hinder its shapeshifting, but wouldn¡¯t cause any real harm.¡±

    ¡°That version of the mimic makes me metaphysically uncomfortable,¡± said Xim. ¡°If it does have a mana-matrix, then there must be a soul for the matrix to flow into and out of. Otherwise, that would be like a floating web of mana-veins with no flesh and blood surrounding it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a freaky mental image,¡± I said. ¡°What I¡¯m hearing is that divine and mystical attacks should be preferred. Unless we find out that the king mimic has a soul, whereas its minions do not.¡±

    ¡°Good point,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Magic Blast is mystical!¡± said Etja. ¡°That must be why my beam worked so well. I can use my Incarnation passive to combine it with Nullify.¡±

    ¡°Magic laser with countermagic properties,¡± I said. ¡°Should play hell with its shapeshifting.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Nuralie, looking at Xim. ¡°Mana flows from the mystical realms, through the divine, into the spiritual realm, and then out into the physical world. But, mana can also flow through the dimensional void to get to the physical realm.¡± Pause. ¡°It could have mana nodes instead of a mana-matrix.¡±

    The conversation then devolved into the nuances of the five-school model of magic, which is as exciting as an intriguing textbook. Suffice it to say, Nuralie¡¯s suggestion required specific conditions that we hadn¡¯t observed with the mimic.

    As the conversation moved on from how to kill the mimic more effectively, to how to find and defend ourselves against the mimic, I began to develop a feeling of being exposed. My gut tingled and the hair along my neck stood on end. It was a sensation I¡¯d learned to trust, and as the others talked, I began scanning the room. I¡¯d barely begun when I found the face watching us.

    It was on the wall behind Varrin. While the large warrior leaned back against the stone surface, a woman¡¯s countenance had emerged just behind his waist. It was mostly obscured, but a slight step to one side gave me a better angle on it.

    Her eyes were a little too large, and the pupils bent outward to the side ever so much, not fixed on a single point. Her mouth hung slightly open in a pleasant smile, though her lips were too big, and a bit of drool ran down her chin. Her exposed teeth were two rows of wide and uniform incisors, with no canines or variation that I could see. Her nose was tiny and pert, but glistened as though made of marble. A smattering of dark freckles covered her cheeks, perfectly mirrored on both sides. Each element alone would have looked a touch out of place on a person¡¯s face, but together, they were a horrifying conglomeration of features.

    ¡°Varrin,¡± I said, ¡°I need you to step away from the wall.¡±

    The big guy gave me a questioning look, but immediately popped off the wall and took two steps away, then turned. The rest of the party followed our eyes until we were all staring at the woman on the wall. Weapons were readied and Etja¡¯s fingers glowed, but I held up a hand and signaled a halt.

    The face turned its exotropic eyes to me, then rolled them slowly over the group. A stringy line of spittle dripped from its chin onto the ground, and its smile widened. It began to speak, its voice high-pitched and barely audible, like it was talking to itself. I strained to listen, but the language was unfamiliar. The face paused and looked over us again, then began speaking with a different cadence. It sounded like an entirely different language, but still one I didn¡¯t recognize.

    After a minute of rotating through different tongues, the face finally began speaking in one that I recognized, having learned it earlier that year. Loson¡¯binora, Nuralie¡¯s native language.

    The scaled alchemist took a sharp step backward when the face first began to utter phrases in the language of Eschendur, lowering the arrow she had nocked and pointing at the thing. The others took note of her shock but stayed focused on the creature, weapons and spells ready to splatter the face if need be. I shrugged off the surprise and my mind caught up to the words being spoken.

    ¡°...time to be that I have seen them. Too much time to have seen them. I have not seen them in time to be¡­ it has been¡­ it has been time, too long, I have forgotten¡­¡±

    The words were droned and the face stopped and started like it were malfunctioning or having a stroke. I eventually realized that the stutters were an attempt at the loson-style pauses that Nuralie was prone to, but it was failing at using them properly, just as it was failing to make any sense at all.

    As we watched, the face began to swell and bulge out from the wall until an entire head was revealed, the sides of it lined with geometrically perfect scales. It made a harsh retching noise and slime poured from its mouth. It licked its lips with a long and rounded tongue, then continued.

    ¡°It has been time¡­ too long a time¡­ since I have seen proper Delvers¡­¡± it said, then smiled broadly once the words were out. One of the eyes drooped, then snapped back up into place. ¡°A face, a face, difficult to see, I don¡¯t see¡­ like this anymore¡­¡±

    ¡°Uh,¡± I began, then cleared my throat and dropped into the dulcet tone of Loson¡¯binora. ¡°Hello, are you the mimic?¡± Pause. ¡°That we¡¯ve been fighting?¡±

    The face smacked its lips a few times.

    ¡°Mimic, a m-mimic, a w-word¡­¡± it stuttered, then its voice became loud and confident. ¡°System Inquiry: Mimic.¡±

    My eyebrows shot up as its lazy eyes began moving over unseen text. The thing had System access, and I began to wonder if Xim had been spot on with her guess at the Delve Core being in charge.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the face, and its features bunched together as though five different people were each in control of a specific part, trying to make it scowl. ¡°A mimic¡­ poor choice of word¡­¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± I said. ¡°Is there something you wanted to talk about?¡± Pause. ¡°Or are you here to try and kill us again?¡±

    The face moved its wet lips back and forth, and its cheeks puffed in and out a few times.

    ¡°No,¡± it said.

    ¡°No?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°To which part?¡±

    The face smiled wider, and three monstrous arms grew from the ground at my feet, each as long as my whole body. One grabbed my neck, and the others each took one of my arms, pulling them back behind me. The hand at my throat squeezed, and my vision was filled with squirming dark spots.

 80 - Chatty Mimicry

    If I had to play ¡®Marry, Fuck, Kill¡¯ with my active abilities, Oblivion Orb is the skill I¡¯d marry. It was reliable, flexible, affordable, and it got the job done when things needed to get dead.

    Shortcut is the skill I¡¯d fuck.

    I teleported out of the three-armed clutches of the mimic, appearing atop the burial slab of the room¡¯s central corpse. My boot knocked his skull to the side, the gleaming gem along his forehead sliding to his temple. It glittered and swirled in response. I whispered a quick apology to the gentleman while surveying the state of my party members.

    Varrin was laying into a series of lancing spikes that had grown from the wall, their hard tips attached to knotted, organic limbs. He parried and evaded with inhuman speed, spinning his greatsword overhead and bringing the momentum down on the softer bits, severing the spikes. When they hit the ground, the spikes squirmed and then melted into the floor. He was keeping pace with the attacks, but I doubted he was doing much damage.

    A mouth as wide as a sofa had opened at Etja¡¯s feet, its flat teeth clacking together as it bulged out from the ground. The golem escaped by casting her gravity magic, darting halfway up to the ceiling. She was now establishing air superiority by raining death beams down on the various limbs and facial features sprouting from all surfaces of the room.

    Xim¡¯s scepter was covered in crimson flame, and she shield-bashed a groping hand away, then connected with her weapon, setting it ablaze. Her martial prowess wasn¡¯t near the level of Varrin¡¯s, however, and she was becoming overwhelmed by the attacking appendages.

    A few of the grasping limbs around the room had gone limp, golden arrows piercing their forms, and the face on the wall that had been speaking with us hung lifeless, an arrow protruding from one of its aberrant eyes. I spotted a shadow dart out from one of the corpse-filled alcoves, Nuralie diving out of cover as the entire recess exploded into thrusting spikes.

    I processed the situation and took action.

    I cast the spell Life Warden on Etja to shore up her defenses, and a thin layer of dimensional distortion coated Etja¡¯s exposed skin. It was the only new active skill that I¡¯d been willing to commit to over the last year.

    Life Warden

    Physical/Dimensional

    Cost: 10 mana reserved plus 10 mana per hour

    Cooldown: None

    Requirements: Physical Magic 10, Dimensional Magic 10

    Grant a nearby ally the buff ¡°Life Warded¡±. Any time a Life Warded ally would take physical or dimensional damage, you take half of that damage instead. The damage you receive in this way is reduced by 1 for each level of your Physical Magic skill, but cannot otherwise be reduced or negated by any means other than natural resistance or immunity. Life Warded allies must remain within a number of feet of you equal to 20 plus your Dimensional Magic skill level to sustain this effect, or within the range of an aura skill originating from you and by which the Life Warded ally is affected, whichever is larger.

    It was the only skill that I¡¯d gotten through diligent research, rather than circumstance or necessity, and by diligent research I mean that it was listed inside a book on auras that Umi-Doo had gifted me. The normal range of the Life Warden skill was too short for the spell to be viable in high-level Delver fights, where battles could sprawl across massive areas. For me, however, the range was as big as my aura, and the range of my aura was, ¡®Are they in the party?¡¯

    With Etja shielded and cutting through mimic with her anti-magic laser, I turned my attention to the others.

    I split off seven slabs of Gracorvus, arranging them into a shield that I willed through the air to Xim¡¯s back, blocking a claw descending on her flank. I sectioned off a part of my brain to direct the shield and give her cover, then leapt off my perch to Nuralie, assembling the rest of Gracorvus into my own shield and activating its atrocidile roar.

    An abominable, spectral face launched from the shield¡¯s surface, letting out a bellowing moan like the distorted wailing of desperate children. The limbs and spikes that Nuralie ducked and wove between turned toward me, abandoning their pursuit of the archer-alchemist to batter my defenses with clubs and lances. I blocked what I could and soaked the rest.

    With some of the heat taken off of Etja, Xim, and Nuralie, I considered what I could do for Varrin, aside from continuing to allow the mimic clubs to crack me in the ribs, blessing him with a fresh stream of stamina.

    Eh, Varrin didn¡¯t need any more help.

    I instead focused on trying to figure out a better plan of attack than the reactive melee we presently had going on.

    The room was too small for a proper Explosion! without catching my allies in the blast, and I doubted the spell would do much against the mimic, who was immune to physical damage. I also hadn¡¯t advanced enough with Mystical Magic to use Dispel on something as general as an entity¡¯s mana matrix.

    Oblivion Orb was my best bet, but there were so many attacking limbs around the room that I didn¡¯t want to fully commit to a melee and get distracted by the few targets in arm¡¯s reach. Fortunately, I had a better way to use the spell. I threw open my inventory screen and started pulling out my new favorite toys with my free hand.

    Throwing hammers.

    It sounds ridiculous, I know. Believe me, Seinnador¨Cand Lito¨Ctold me as much when I commissioned them. Why throw a hammer? A knife, mediocre for throwing reliably at a moving target. An axe was OK but not great for the same reasons, it just had a bit more weight behind it than a knife. A spear or javelin was much better since it was easy to get the pointy end to stick where you wanted it to go. But a hammer? No blade, axehead, or speartip to stab into a target. Without the force and weight of an arm swinging the blunted head, it would hurt, but wouldn¡¯t do much else. Just, why?

    Because it¡¯s fucking awesome, that¡¯s why.

    I¡¯d raised my Blunt skill high enough to specialize it into hammers, which gave my hammer attacks some pretty serious armor penetration. Further, I had Homing Weapon, which was a technique that did exactly what it sounded like it did, while also adding extra speed and oomph to my weapon throws and returning the weapon to my hand after it hit. Additionally, I had selected an appropriate evolution to my Blunt skill once it reached level ten, which took advantage of my avant-garde build choices.

    Hammer Throw: You suffer no penalty for using hammers as a thrown weapon. The maximum speed and distance you can throw a hammer is increased by 10% per level of Blunt.

    So, when asked, ¡®Why throw a hammer?¡¯ ¡®Compounding returns¡¯ is my answer, and coincidentally my new favorite phrase. My Strength was a ten, not as good as Varrin or Xim, but still at the lower end of superhuman. Homing Weapon buffed the speed and force of thrown weapon attacks, which was additive with Strength, but my Hammer Throw evolution was a compounding bonus applied on top of both. Huck a hammer at eighty miles per hour, get another fifty on top from my technique, and then double that from my Blunt skill of ten¡­ that¡¯s a hammer moving at a third of the speed of sound.

    And I was going to get these fuckers making sonic booms before long.

    If all of that wasn¡¯t enough to kill, I could also use my Strength evolution, Nimean Weapon, to channel Oblivion Orb into any Strength-based attack I made. Conveniently, throwing a hammer really fucking hard was a Strength attack. The reality-erasing sphere of annihilation that triggered on hit would finish what the hammer started.

    The System didn¡¯t have an official name for the combo, but I liked to call it Void Hammer.

    I hopped back to put some space between myself and the weaponized mimic limbs sprouting from the ground that were assaulting me and chucked a 260-mile-per-hour world-eating hammer at one.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    It exploded.

    The hammer traveled through the first limb, splattering mimic goo across the whole room, then through the next limb and the limb behind that before triggering Oblivion Orb on the fourth¨Cthe one I¡¯d targeted¨Ctaking enough mass out of its center that it buckled and collapsed.

    Before the first hammer was back in my hand, I had out a second, which I hurled at the limbs assaulting Xim, aiming to give her more room to breathe. The Cleric was baptized in the viscous fluids that were the result of mimic meets Void Hammer, but her only reaction to the gore bath was that her look of fierce concentration was replaced by a malevolent grin.

    Xim was a big fan of Void Hammer.

    Our party was a violent kitchen prepping mimic cutlet dinners for the entire neighborhood. Varrin and Etja slice, I minced, Nuralie skewered, and Xim tenderized, then roasted. The enemy¡¯s attacks grew wilder and more frenzied.

    The mimic formed jaws along the floor to trip us up, but we were nimble-footed and quick from endless mobility drills with Varrin. It launched spikes and blades from all directions, but our movements were agile and limber from learning Myria¡¯s acrobatics. It dealt glancing blows and made sacrifices to earn shallow cuts, but we¡¯d slept on gravel beds and used fucking sandpaper to wipe our asses, toughening our minds and bodies. The fight dragged on, and perhaps the mimic had hoped that we would run out of stamina, but we were built for continuous fighting.

    The inflated physical stats also helped.

    The fever of battle took me over, my mind entering a flow state as my attacks devastated the foe. My cheeks were stiff from bared teeth and a manic grin. My muscles sang with endorphins, rewarding me for the abuse I was putting them through. This was it, the feeling I longed for, the desire that kept me awake at night, this sensation of power, of indomitability. My blows were inescapable, my victory, inexorable. I couldn¡¯t just do this all day, I could do this forever.

    That thought snapped some part of me awake. I couldn¡¯t do this forever. I couldn¡¯t do this for ten more minutes! There was a limit to what we could endure, and as the floor grew thick with inert mimic goo, laid to rest with divine fire and arrow, mystical beams of force, and spiritual blades, the mimic was unrelenting. Each Void Hammer took ten stamina and seven mana to use, and I¡¯d thrown enough of them to banish a hundred liters worth of mimic to the darkness between realms. I was growing concerned.

    This fight would have been impossible for a ¡®normal¡¯ platinum party, even one as well-prepared and expertly trained as Varrin believed a platinum group should be. We¡¯d been thrust into Delves with challenges way above our level range in the past, and I was beginning to wonder if our expectation of overwhelming odds was doing us a disservice in this situation.

    More and more, this fight wasn¡¯t feeling like a fight, it was feeling like a trap. Something to overcome with cunning and guile, rather than brute force. The fact that we could stand up to this situation at all was luring us deeper into the snare. An impossible challenge should make us look for an alternative, not make us think ¡°oh, we deal with this shit all the time, we¡¯ll fucking win anyway.¡± This was supposed to be an insurmountable obstacle.

    We needed to retreat and regroup, give ourselves time to think the situation through. Now, how do we retreat from an endless wave of enemies sieging us from all sides? I stole another glance around the room, looking for the best exit strategy when something caught my eye and made me feel like a complete fool.

    The ruby gem atop the central corpse¡¯s head was shining brilliantly.

    I lobbed my next hammer at the corpse¡¯s temple, sending the jewel, and the majority of the decrepit head, to the nether.

    Emotions drained out of me, and the aftermath of my battle trance was like a lead weight chained to my leg, dragging me into the depths of fatigue and torpor. My thoughts lost their manic edge, replaced by despondence, but I could see the situation for what it was now. The mimic was already a brutal enemy in a straight fight, but it fought dirty, as well.

    I watched my party members shake off the effects of the mind-warping gem as I minced another mimic. Eliminating the gem hadn¡¯t done a thing to stop the mimic¡¯s onslaught. Once I was satisfied that everyone had their head on straight, I made the call.

    ¡°Quick advance!¡± I shouted, and everyone snapped into new action.

    Varrin used Spiraling Strike, his blade growing in length and his body becoming a spinning blur, eviscerating everything within twelve feet of him. He dashed toward the exit of the room, opposite where we entered, clearing a path as he went.

    Etja swooped down to Xim, who leapt up onto the golem¡¯s back and wrapped her legs around her waist like she was riding a bronco. Etja shot to follow Varrin, with Xim shield bashing and scepter smashing limbs that got too close to the caster. One thrusting spike scored a hit along Etja¡¯s side, and I grit my teeth against the damage transfer.

    I sent the second half of Gracorvus to Nuralie, who grabbed it tightly with all four limbs, even wrapping her tail around it. I willed the shield back to me at full speed, and Nuralie released her hold when she was a few feet away from me. She landed in a roll and sprang back to her feet as all nineteen slabs of the shield assembled into a platform hovering off the ground. I jumped on and Nuralie backflipped out of the path of a massive foot descending from above, landing on the shield with her back to mine. It was a tight fit, but she was already firing more arrows. We launched after the others.

    The hallway beyond the crypt was not an improvement.

    Groping hands reached down from the ceiling, trying to snag us as we flew, but I brought out Arbitros and held it in two hands, using the warhammer to shunt the attacks aside. I didn¡¯t have good footing for making solid hits, and they wouldn¡¯t have done much against the mimic anyway, but it kept the hands at bay. Nuralie¡¯s position in this formation was normally to watch the rear and make sure we weren¡¯t pursued. Maybe fire some arrows to waylay any tagalongs. With the mimic, that tactical choice didn¡¯t make much sense. The mimic didn¡¯t pursue us, it was everywhere.

    As we snaked past claws, spikes, and massive mouths trying to scoop us up with their tongues, the growths receded once we were out of range, only to reform anew ahead of us. Fortunately, the process took a few seconds, and much of the path ahead was cleared by Varrin, who rampaged down the hallway.

    The warrior didn¡¯t have a flight ability, but you¡¯d barely know that with the way he rushed down the corridor. His feet were on the walls as much as the ground, his fluid and everchanging battle stance taking him from enemy to enemy and cutting them down with machine-like precision.

    He¡¯d use the momentum of a swing to carry his body, touching down for a split second with the ball of his foot before taking the force and applying it to the next raking hand. He¡¯d find a wall, kick off from it to cleave a spike from the ceiling, release his blade with one hand to reach up and push away, adjusting his course to the next wall and taking out two more.

    At one point he was entirely upside down, his greatsword spinning in the air before him, until he grabbed the hilt of the weapon and used the energy of its rotation to right himself enough to plant a foot on the ground before he fell from the air. He ended that move by cleaving a face growing beside him down the middle. I don¡¯t even think he needed to cut that one. It had just been watching Varrin with wide eyes, looking as impressed by him as I was.

    As Varrin did his clearcutting, more faces began to emerge on the surfaces of the hall. They were identical to the strange ¡®woman¡¯ that had spoken to us earlier, its lazy eyes staring us down from all directions. The smiling, drooling mouths began to scream at us as we hurtled past, and between the screams, it spoke.

    ¡°Finally! Finally!¡± it shrieked in Loson¡¯binora. ¡°No more suckling swine clawing at the Delve¡¯s tits! No more feasts for fools! Come! Come!¡±

    The faces contorted and melted away as fast as they appeared, each one speaking only a few words before the next took up the cry.

    ¡°Such fine children! So soon, as well! How many generations have come and gone?! How many eons since we saw such haste towards the end?! It has been so long!¡± Between the shouts were chittering squeals and throaty gags that might have passed for a dying man¡¯s fit of laughter.

    ¡°What in the absolute fuck?¡± I muttered to myself as the faces continued to spout nonsense.

    Before long, our group came into a new chamber, one which pulsed and moved like a living creature. The walls, ceiling, and floor were covered by a thousand identical faces. They spoke and laughed and spat and howled. Some looked like they wept, but all of them had eyes fixed on one point¨Ca hole in the center of the room, leading down.

    No more limbs grew to attack us, no more gnashing teeth or hungry mouths. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but think of this hole as some sort of throat.

    ¡°Go on! Go on!¡± shouted a face. ¡°It¡¯s the only way to leave!¡±

    We studied the pit, only Varrin brave enough to let his feet touch the face-covered floor. The mimics he stepped on smiled up at him, and the faces seemed to delight in the abuse. It was¡­ weird.

    ¡°Why does it always have to be a hole?¡± Varrin asked, waving at the dark opening. ¡°One where we can¡¯t see the bottom?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s always down,¡± I said. ¡°That gives us either a hole or stairs. Holes are quicker.¡±

    ¡°Ladders,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°Holes, stairs, or ladders.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a drinking game,¡± I said.

    ¡°What about a lift?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Like an elevator?¡±

    ¡°Yes! You could use an underground river or something to turn a water wheel, and use that to create an elevating or descending platform.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll add it to the list,¡± I said. ¡°Holes, stairs, ladders, and lifts.¡±

    ¡°Now it sounds like a card game,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Why?!¡± screamed a face. ¡°Why are you talking?! Go down! Go down!¡±

    I held up a finger to shush the face. Surprisingly, it piped down.

    ¡°What do we think?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not staying here,¡± said Xim, looking around at the faces in annoyance. ¡°If I want to be in a room of countless faces screaming nonsense at me, I can just go home.¡±

    ¡°The objective is to reach the obelisk,¡± said Varrin, ¡°and then ¡®conquer the challenge that awaits us.¡¯¡± He sighed. ¡°Seems as good a place as any to look for the obelisk room.¡±

    ¡°A hungry giant invites you down its gullet,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s warm inside, and no enemy will ever reach you.¡±

    ¡°Are you quoting something?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°Just explaining the situation to myself.¡± I rolled my right shoulder, working out some stiffness. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡±

    And so we jumped merrily into the belly of the beast.

 81 - The One and Only Mimicry

    The hole was a little narrower than arm¡¯s length. The rest of us flew, floated, or rode into the descent, but Varrin led the way by pressing his hands and feet into the tunnel walls and sliding. The edges were shaped organically, with irregular lumps and folds, but made of hard metal. Varrin¡¯s gauntlets and sabatons sparked against it as he skated down at near-freefall speed.

    The tunnel opened into the ceiling of a dark, two-hundred-foot-tall chamber, and Etja slowed Varrin with her gravity control to prevent him from an uncomfortable landing. We made our way to the ground and inspected the new space.

    It was an obelisk chamber, and at first glance, it was a boring one.

    The obelisk itself was impressive, its tip rising more than halfway to the two-hundred-foot ceiling above. While one-hundred-and-fifty feet of meticulously engraved obsidian-black stone, glowing with untold mystic power, and hidden within the depths of the Earth for time immemorial would have been considered quite interesting for most people, we¡¯d grown a bit jaded to that sort of thing.

    ¡°Big obelisk,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Seen bigger,¡± I said, turning my gaze over the rest of the barren chamber. Aside from the obelisk, there was nothing else. No strange machines, no boss monster, no gruesome aftermath of ancient violence. The chamber was as wide as it was tall, with a circular edge and an arched ceiling, making it a dome or half-sphere. ¡°There¡¯s a pattern to Delve architecture. Feel like they should mix it up now and again.¡±

    ¡°It probably has to do with the mana accumulation,¡± said Xim, taking a few steps closer to the obelisk. ¡°This shape may be more efficient.¡±

    ¡°My Pocket Delve¡¯s obelisk is in a rectangular chamber,¡± I said, walking up and placing a hand on Xim¡¯s shoulder, stopping her. ¡°Grotto hasn¡¯t complained. The ceiling is vaulted, though. Also, this is the most obvious ruse the mimic¡¯s made so far.¡± I nodded at the obelisk.

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Xim, shoulders slumping. ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°Should we start burning it down, or wait for it to attack?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re both much too relaxed about this,¡± said Varrin, pulling his greatsword back out of his inventory.

    I mused over how we¡¯d all originally lugged heavy gear bags around, rather than relying solely on the inventory. On death, inventory items were returned to a designated home point and thus lost to the rest of the party for the duration of the Delve. My own home point was my permanent underground residence back in Formation, although I worried that my death might result in a rather large loot-based explosion in the district since I had a lot of stuff in there.

    Gear bags carried outside of the inventory space ensured that our essential items would be available to those who survived. While it was a nice thought, our party had a pretty mobile fighting style, and the bags did more harm than good. The reality of my Pocket Closet also made the gear bags feel¡­ quaint.

    The listed inventory size on my interface was no longer a plain number without any mention of what the number referred to. It had been cubic yards, it turns out, which was a strange measurement to see once I¡¯d figured out how to toggle the advanced UI filters on and off. Now, it was listed in cubic miles. Yeah, the Closet was Big, with a capital B. We had a hundred different gear bags stuffed full of different styles of provisions inside the Closet, and I could pull one out to toss it onto the ground when needed.

    The chamber was pretty dark, so I did that very thing and pulled out a bag full of glowstones. There were handheld glowstone lamps, headlamps, mounts that we could hang the lamps onto, and even a pair of modified crossbows that would launch a glowstone-laden arrow with enough force to penetrate rock if we wanted some overhead lighting. That last one was Nuralie¡¯s invention. I tossed a few loose stones around the chamber, giving Varrin and Etja a bit more light to see by. Nuralie, Xim, and I all did well enough in the dark without them.

    ¡°Calm?¡± I said, looking at Varrin as I hurled another glowing rock. I could almost hit the ceiling. ¡°Don¡¯t let my placid demeanor mislead you. That shit was disturbing.¡±

    ¡°Many Delves are a sort of test,¡± he said. ¡°Grotto has admitted as much, but this one feels like a test. The other Delves we¡¯ve done have all had an objective that obscured any intentional challenge being engineered for us.¡±

    ¡°This one states it outright,¡± I replied, hefting one of the crossbows. We probably didn¡¯t need it, but these things were fun as hell. ¡°Go, go, gadget glowstone!¡± I said, firing the bolt into the ceiling high above. The glowstone was nowhere bright enough for it to provide any useful lighting from that distance.

    No one commented on the wastefulness. We had a dozen of the launchers in my Closet, and glowstones were cheap. Cheap to us. For an average person, they were a luxury that could never be justified against the cost. And before anything is said about how I could use that money for a greater good, I already had an orphanage named after me: Esquire Arlo¡¯s School for Gifted Youngsters. It was nice, too. No slum-lord Arlo in these here parts. Delvers were an overall net benefit to the world economy, anyway. Mana chips were useful and in high demand.

    Not that we¡¯d gotten any from this Delve so far, but the choir room¡¯s worth of historical artifacts I¡¯d plundered should make for some fine additions to the Supplicants of Astrania¡¯s public collection, assuming that none of the relics were mimics¡­

    And let no more be said about my generosity.

    ¡°What was the king screaming about, anyway?¡± I asked. ¡°¡®No more suckling swine clawing at the Delve¡¯s¡¯¡­ places¡­ ¡®How many eons since we saw such haste towards the end?¡¯ It used the word ¡®generations¡¯ as well. ¡®How many generations?¡¯ Both Grotto and Cage have used that word when talking about Delvers.¡±

    ¡°Is that what it was saying?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Also, I don¡¯t wanna call it ¡®the king¡¯. Come up with a better name.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps slime-face has simply gone mad,¡± said Varrin. I gave him a dubious look.

    ¡°Emperor Ooze didn¡¯t seem-¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Mommy Mimic-¡±

    ¡°Uh-uh,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Queen Yuck-¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t ruin the word queen!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°What¡¯s this fucking Delve called?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Naysayer¡¯s Tomb,¡± answered Varrin.

    ¡°Tomb Mimic didn¡¯t strike me as crazy.¡±

    Nuralie looked at me in disbelief, while Xim tapped thoughtfully at her chin.

    ¡°It¡¯s functional,¡± said the Cleric. ¡°Not your best name.¡±

    ¡°Why am I in charge of the names?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the party leader,¡± she replied with a smirk.

    ¡°If you like,¡± Varrin began, ¡°I could-¡±

    ¡°Varrin, brother, your names are¡­ they need some work.¡±

    The big guy hung his head a bit. I turned to Nuralie.

    ¡°It felt like it was spurring us on,¡± I said. ¡°Like a misguided cheerleader.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you got from that?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°What did you think? No one else speaks Loson¡¯binora but us. You understand the native syntax better than I ever will.¡±

    Nuralie froze in a ¡®deep thought¡¯ pause.

    ¡°Tomb Mimic¡¯s rhythm sounded,¡± pause, ¡°broken, in the beginning. As it spoke, it became one of elation¡­ elation and relief.¡±

    ¡°Was it pausing at the end?¡± I asked. ¡°Sounded like it was rambling non-stop.¡±

    ¡°Staccato,¡± said the loson. ¡°Subtle, advanced. Can be mistaken for a breath or other beat.¡± Pause. ¡°We can cover them in the next lesson.¡±

    ¡°I thought we¡¯d gone over them all.¡±

    ¡°You are fluent without them. It is also something that non-Eschens,¡± pause, ¡°can rarely grasp. I am sure you will pick it up in a day.¡±

    ¡°Why did it speak loson in the first place?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°The other languages,¡± said Xim, ¡°the ones it tried to speak first, sounded archaic. I didn¡¯t hear enough to figure out what any of them were, but the phonetics were similar to some ancient cultures I¡¯ve studied.¡±

    ¡°Modern Hiwardian is relatively new,¡± said Varrin. ¡°An adaptation of ancient Hiwardian and code language adopted during the Littan occupation. The original language from before the Littans enslaved my ancestors is lost.¡±

    ¡°Not many people in the First Layer speaking Othertongue,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Whereas I,¡± I said, ¡°am the only man alive who speaks English.¡±

    ¡°Loson¡¯binora is old,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Very old. It does not change much.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s the natural language Tomb Mimic would land on,¡± I said. ¡°If it¡¯s an ancient First Layer creature with no experience in the modern world, Loson¡¯binora is the only language it could use to speak to us.¡±

    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°It also had scales,¡± said Xim. ¡°It was emulating a loson. A geulon, specifically.¡±

    ¡°The scales only showed after it started speaking loson¡¯binora. It may have been replicating a geulon because it was mimicking the Eschen language, and saw Nuralie.¡±

    ¡°I wish it hadn¡¯t,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Or maybe¡­¡± a voice echoed throughout the chamber around us, ¡°it is because I was once a loson.¡±

    We looked for the source of the voice, but it came from everywhere. In the distance, however, I noticed a wide mouth growing on the wall. There was another further down the wall, and then another. They dotted the entire perimeter.

    ¡°Mimics are mana monsters,¡± I announced to the room in Loson¡¯binora. ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re not a mimic?¡±

    The fact that it could understand, if not speak, Hiwardian ruled out some of our theories. Then again, there were other ways it could know what we were saying, without speaking the language. I didn¡¯t like the idea that Tomb Mimic was psychic, but it would help to explain some of its abilities.

    ¡°So certain a folly to harbor,¡± said the voice. It had pitched down from the feminine squeal it spoke with above, now sounding like a giantess. ¡°Did the System tell you that?¡±

    ¡°It¡­ did,¡± I admitted. ¡°You disagree with the classification?¡±

    ¡°Tell me what the System says,¡± pause, ¡°about this form.¡±

    I¡¯d expected that the obelisk itself was the mimic, but the floor around us morphed and slid out from under our feet, exposing the true ground six inches below. The mass formed up in front of the obelisk, and an enormous throne rose from the goo. Atop it sat a young loson woman wearing a crown adorned by jagged spires that rose two feet from her scalp. She had deep blue skin and scales, and a reptilian tail wrapped around from behind her and laid over her lap.

    From what I saw so far, mimics didn¡¯t have souls. But this mimic did. It was gray and metallic, slightly darker than a silver Delver¡¯s, and it was latticed by the densest network of violet striations I¡¯d ever encountered. The striations, I had discovered, indicated the changes that special Delves made to a Delver¡¯s soul, a fact that became apparent once our party had received our rewards from The Cage. All five of us, plus Grotto, now had the same tell-tale sign of a special Delve completion woven into our spiritual essence.

    I moved on from examining the woman and checked my interface.

    The Mimic: Architect, Level 10.

    ¡°Architect?¡± I said.

    ¡°She has a level,¡± said Xim, ¡°not a grade.¡±

    ¡°Only Delvers have levels,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Architects have levels, too,¡± I said. ¡°And souls, by the way. What the fuck is an Architect?¡±

    ¡°They design bridges!¡± said Etja. ¡°And other things.¡±

    ¡°The golem speaks more wisdom than she knows,¡± said The Mimic, in Hiwardian.

    ¡°It¡¯s my highest stat!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± The Mimic asked, grinning as though a toddler had just told her an interesting fact, then turned steely eyes on me and swapped back to Loson¡¯binora. ¡°Your party is prone to divergences. I believed your tangents to be a distraction, yet your focus did not waver,¡± pause, ¡°much.¡±

    ¡°Guess I¡¯ve been rubbing off on everyone,¡± I said. ¡°Organizational culture trickles down from leadership, you know?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± said The Mimic, her face growing stern.

    ¡°You seem a lot more put together now. No drooling or screaming or opaque references to mysterious hidden knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Those were my subprocesses,¡± said The Mimic, waving a hand. ¡°I took time to ingest their memories as I awoke.¡±

    ¡°That seems like a useful ability. I¡¯ve figured out how to remotely view the different parts of my Pocket Delve, but to have that sort of total presence across the whole place is pretty powerful.¡±

    The Mimic raised an eyeridge at my words, and I got a scowl from Varrin. He probably didn¡¯t approve of me divulging that intel, but we were here to acquire information. And levels. And chips and loot and equipment. But, more than ten percent of our motivation was getting information about the Get Out of Cage Free card. A little quid pro quo often greased the wheels of dialogue.

    ¡°You¡¯ve no idea,¡± said The Mimic. ¡°It is a curse as much as a blessing. I¡¯ve learned three new languages since waking, and each is as crude as the last. Your civilization is underdeveloped, your culture base, your arts unrefined.¡± She placed her fingertips on her forehead, kneading the skin as though she had a headache. ¡°I¡¯ll need to adjust the sensitivity of my hibernation protocols.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s she saying?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I think she¡¯s saying that her presence extends a lot farther than just this Delve,¡± I replied in a whisper. I raised my voice to address The Mimic again. ¡°Are you responsible for all of the other mimics?¡±

    ¡°I am all of the other mimics. I swear, the System has grown bold to use such a facile term for me. That which is everything need not pretend to be anything.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot to unpack there. Are you from an ancient civilization?¡±

    ¡°Ancient is a word that fails to encompass the breadth of time that has transpired since I last woke, much less since my people left this world.¡±

    My breath caught and my heart rate sped up.

    ¡°Are you one of the Old Ones?¡± I asked, trying to keep the excitement from my voice. ¡°The creators of the Delves?¡± Nuralie snapped her head toward me, then back at The Mimic. Her whole body tensed.

    The Mimic¡¯s expression soured.

    ¡°No,¡± she said with a sneer. ¡°They came before me. Even farther removed in time from myself than I am from you.¡± She leaned forward on her throne, her eyes wide and intense. ¡°Much farther removed.¡±

    ¡°I-¡±

    The Mimic held up a hand.

    ¡°I¡¯ve no more interest in your curiosities,¡± she said. ¡°Your party is promising, especially given that you are only in the first phase. All of you exhibit abnormal mana signatures, too powerful for your stage of advancement. That is not all, either. Hmm.¡± She eyed me and Xim. ¡°Two revelators.¡± She then turned to Nuralie. ¡°Perhaps a third, but the power has been sealed. I am disappointed that a loson has failed in her faith. There is yet time to redeem yourself, child. Your weapon¡¯s borrowed power is a crutch.¡±

    Nuralie''s arms went slowly limp, and she dropped her bow. Her expression was an ocean¡¯s depth of shock and desolation.

    The Mimic turned to Etja.

    ¡°Divine spawn,¡± she said in a clinical tone. Pause. ¡°With Delver levels. This is novel, perhaps worth my awakening. That it has happened worries me, however. The avatars grow more troublesome.¡± She finally turned to Varrin, looking down at him with disdain, and swapped back to speaking in Hiwardian. ¡°You are nothing special.¡±

    The words echoed through the chamber and lingered in the silence that followed. Varrin gave The Mimic a beastly what the fuck did you just say to me? look, and I feared that the encounter would turn very violent very fast, but The Mimic followed her statement with a single word that reset the tone.

    ¡°Yet.¡± She leaned back in her throne, hand stroking her tail like a favorite pet. She¡¯d have made a great Bond villain. She continued, still speaking Hiwardian. ¡°I am disappointed. I know why you are here; I have heard all of your conversations while inside of this place. I will not help you. It is too soon for this generation.¡±

    The excitement that had been building within me sank.

    ¡°We were originally going to ask the Delve Core for information,¡± I said.

    She glared at me.

    ¡°I know. I have heard all of your conversations. This Delve¡¯s Core has no personality graft. It will not speak with you, even if you were to tear it from the obelisk and dismantle its chassis. It exists solely for the automated functions it provides me.¡±

    ¡°Then that¡¯s it?¡± I said. ¡°You lay down all these ridiculously intriguing statements, then clam up?¡±

    ¡°Such is my privilege,¡± said The Mimic.

    ¡°What about the challenge?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°The Delve objective?¡±

    The Mimic rolled a hand in the air.

    ¡°You may have your paltry level and may leave this Delve. I have already challenged you more than is appropriate.¡±

    ¡°Geez, what a letdown,¡± I said. ¡°I was starting to think you might be cool, then you go all Grotto on us.¡±

    ¡°Your lives continue,¡± she said. ¡°Be thankful that I allow that much, child. What little knowledge you already possess is dangerous, especially in the hands of such an underdeveloped society. The only reason I let you live is that you are too impotent to use it.¡±

    The Mimic¡¯s insults and entitlement caused my emotions to boil over, and all of the aggravation that I¡¯d bottled up throughout the Delve started to peek through. I pointed a finger at The Mimic.

    ¡°The past two days inside this shit stain of a Delve have been the most frustrating and infuriating of both of my entire lives,¡± I said. ¡°You and all the other ancient Delve asshats in your little secret club are irritating the fuck out of me, stringing us along with tantalizing details, only to blush and cover your mouths when you let something substantive slip. I¡¯m sick of it!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, tell her! Boo!¡± shouted Xim. It startled me, and I turned to the Cleric, who gave me a thumbs-up. She took a step forward and pointed at The Mimic as well. ¡°Give us answers or we¡¯ll kick your ass!¡±

    I took Xim by the arm and pulled her back, pushing her hand down to stop her from pointing.

    ¡°What the hell, Xim?¡±

    ¡°What? She¡¯s only level ten. We¡¯ve been carving our way through mimics this whole Delve. We can get answers out of her the hard way.¡±

    ¡°First, not sure I want to advocate for torture or physical abuse when confronted with a non-violent obstacle. Second, she¡¯s got ten times more violet in her soul than anyone I¡¯ve ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Xim. ¡°What¡¯s your point?¡±

    ¡°Her level doesn¡¯t mean shit is what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Neither does ours,¡± she retorted, crossing her arms.

    ¡°Christ, just don¡¯t volunteer the whole party for a fight by yourself. She¡¯s giving us the opportunity to leave.¡±

    ¡°Then what were you going on about?¡± she asked, holding her hands out in confusion.

    ¡°I needed to express my dissatisfaction with the Delve experience she¡¯s cultivated here.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re leaving?¡± asked Etja. She looked up at me with big, sad eyes. I swear she did it because she knew it would get me to capitulate to whatever it was she wanted. ¡°It was just getting good!¡±

    ¡°You want to stay?¡± I said. ¡°And fight that thing?¡± Etja nodded, clutching her upper pair of hands together at her chest. I rolled my eyes. ¡°What about you, Varrin?¡± His grip was as tight on the hilt of his sword as I¡¯d ever seen, but his expression was stone cold.

    ¡°She insulted me,¡± he said. ¡°As an adult, I find it best to confront these sorts of interpersonal conflicts head-on. Shouldn¡¯t let them fester.¡±

    ¡°Stabbing somebody is not an appropriate interpersonal conflict resolution skill.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± said Varrin. ¡°I find that it works quite well.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t effective.¡±

    ¡°I need to know more,¡± said Nuralie. She¡¯d recovered her bow and, although she looked a bit shellshocked, had regained most of her composure. ¡°Also, I can test my new products on her.¡±

    ¡°Why does this conversation make me feel like we¡¯re not the most upstanding of people?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a monster, Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°Monsters don¡¯t have feelings.¡±

    ¡°That line of thinking is problematic. And I¡¯m pretty sure this one does have feelings.¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± she said. And that was the end of that argument.

    ¡°Mimics are violent and deadly,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°If we defeat her, maybe we defeat all of the mimics.¡± Pause. "We''d be saving lives."

    ¡°Now you¡¯re reaching.¡±

    There was a loud thud, and I turned to see The Mimic standing at the foot of her massive throne. She was unhappy.

    ¡°The insolence,¡± she spat. ¡°The stubbornness. The greed. The overconfidence.¡± Her eyes drifted slightly apart. Her mouth opened into a wide smile. Slime ran down her chin and dripped onto the ground as the floor rose to fold around her. Her throne collapsed and joined the mass enveloping her body. As her demented face was subsumed by the enormous mound of churning mimic goo, her voice raised an octave and she let out a gurgling shout.

    ¡°Maybe I won¡¯t be disappointed, after all!¡±

    Then, the blob of slime rose, growing a new mouth for The Mimic to speak, its lips fat and dripping with ichor.

    ¡°COME NOW, CHILDREN. TRY AND MAKE ME TALK.¡±

 82 - Tanking Mimicry

    The ¡®malformed and misshapen¡¯ Mimic began to grow dozens of eyes over its body that spun and locked onto us, gummy and seeping thick fluid like they were infected. Limbs sprouted from its bulbous form with skinless muscle attached to yellowed bone. The ooze along its hands slimed up into the shape of various weapons: sword, shield, axe, spear, and claw. The weapons each had faces of their own, and lips stretched taut against bared teeth as the mouths of the lethal instruments muttered nonsensical phrases at us.

    I had an excellent jeer to throw at The Mimic involving John Carpenter, but there was no more room for games. It was time to take this seriously.

    ¡°Ew,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Riiiight?!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen a lot of nasty shit in Arzia, but come. On.¡±

    Ok, maybe serious wasn¡¯t our thing.

    ¡°What¡¯s the play?¡± asked Varrin as The Mimic began sprouting ears, noses, and scales.

    ¡°Big Bang Attack,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s immune to physical.¡±

    ¡°Mana Bomb variant.¡±

    Varrin nodded. ¡°Good call. Disrupt its shapeshifting. How much time do you need?¡±

    ¡°Twenty seconds.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a big bomb.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a big mimic.¡±

    Xim reached under the collar of her chainmail, touching a mana-weave that only she could activate.

    ¡°How come your favorite tactics,¡± she said, grunting as she shoved her hand deeper to find the weave, ¡°are the ones where you aren¡¯t the tank, Arlo? Gods above, this thing needs to be higher up!¡± She finally found what she was looking for, and her armor dropped away, leaving her wearing her mega-stretch bodysuit.

    ¡°Pitfalls of a dual spec,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, Varrin likes getting the practice in.¡±

    I dismissed the Life Warden skill from Etja, then cast it on Varrin. Now, half of the damage Varrin took from physical or dimensional transferred to me, the damage was reduced by my Physical Magic skill, and half of the damage I ended up taking from the transfer got refunded to Varrin as either stamina or health.

    To translate, I just gave Varrin 70% DR.

    Nuralie tossed the big guy a potion, and he popped the stopper, then downed it.

    Nuralie¡¯s Night-Rush Potion

    (Reluctantly formulated based on a Littan recipe)

    Duration: 15 minutes

    Your melee damage is doubled.

    -5 To all physical defenses

    INT-based skills require twice as much mana and stamina to use.

    You gain Toxicity: 10

    Xim held her scepter in the air and moved it in ritualistic patterns. Varrin¡¯s body began to glow with crimson light as she cast two buffs on him.

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Blessing of Hunger

    Spiritual/Divine

    Cost: 10 mana

    Cooldown: 1 use per target per day

    Requirements: Fortitude 10, Charisma 10, Spiritual Magic 10, Divine Magic 20, Patron Deity: Sam¡¯lia, Revelation of the Stomach

    You grant a nearby ally a number of stacks of Blessed equal to your Divine Magic skill level, plus your Charisma, divided by five.

    Whenever the target ally deals melee weapon damage to an enemy, they consume a portion of the enemy¡¯s life essence, dealing 1 additional damage and receiving 1 point of healing for each stack of Blessed they possess. The target ally may elect for their melee weapon attacks and damage to become Divine for so long as they are Blessed.

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Blessing of Pounding

    Spiritual/Divine

    Cost: 10 mana

    Cooldown: 1 use per target per day

    Requirements: Strength 10, Charisma 10, Spiritual Magic 10, Divine Magic 10, Patron Deity: Sam¡¯lia, Revelation of the Heart

    You grant a nearby ally one stack of Blessed.

    The target ally gains one stack of Blessed each time they deal damage with a melee weapon attack, so long as they are Blessed.

    Blessed: A Blessed person may spend any number of stacks of Blessed to increase their attack damage by 8 per stack spent, for one attack. Additionally, a Blessed person may spend any number of stacks of Blessed to reduce the damage received from an attack by 8 per stack spent, for one attack.

    Tank¡¯n¡¯Spank Varrin launched at The Mimic, who was still graciously sculpting her body into the most awful form she could imagine. The man weighed almost four hundred pounds in full kit, and he was now moving at what our tests had determined to be ninety friggin¡¯ miles per hour toward his foe, wielding a mana-woven, seven-foot-long frozen steel greatsword, buffed with a wombo-combo of divine blessings that made every attack he landed deal more damage, and grant more healing than the last, while also under the influence of a got-damn berserker potion.

    Point that fucker at the enemy and take a step back.

    Varrin jumped, hurtling through the air as he rotated his body to bring his greatsword around on The Mimic¡¯s left side. The opener cleaved away two arms growing near The Mimic¡¯s central face, shoulders and all. Blood-red light erupted from the cut, and The Mimic let out a wrathful shriek as the biomass fell to the ground.

    Despite all of Varrin¡¯s buffs, the severed limbs were not destroyed. They became amorphous and liquid, then rejoined The Mimic¡¯s body at what I very graciously called its feet. Even so, there was a thick puddle of inert slime left behind, and The Mimic¡¯s bulging eyes and echoing screeches told the story of the harm dealt to the monster.

    Either that, or The Mimic¡¯s true form was a screaming blob of rage and violence, and I was misinterpreting its reaction. Hard to tell.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t done this in a while,¡± said Xim as Varrin went on the warpath, and a column of ruby light formed around her. Light red fur sprouted from her skin and an onyx horn split her forehead and grew to two feet in length. Her body swelled and her muscles bulged, the eldritch symbol on her bodysuit twisting in anticipation. By the time she¡¯d fully transitioned to her Ascended form, Xim was nearly a foot taller than Varrin himself.

    She let out a bestial roar, the veins in her neck pulsing. Then, she turned to me and Etja, gave us a little wave, and sprinted away at The Mimic. The reverberation of her battlecries were layered with the whispered promises of the damned.

    Nuralie was¡­ somewhere.

    Etja spun, dancing her way in front of me, and looked up at me with a smile.

    ¡°Nullify?¡± she asked.

    ¡°If you please,¡± I replied. Then, I raised my hand to the sky, and began to chant.

    ¡°I call upon death, with life as my mission!¡±

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    As I chanted, Etja danced, and as she danced, her soul-halo bloomed around her. The base layer of Etja¡¯s soul was deepest black, like Orexis¡¯ had been, but over time bright swirls of color had begun to appear. At first, it had been a hectic pattern of neon primaries. As she spent more time with the party and explored the world, it had begun to organize itself into a beautiful tapestry of braided knots. The colors flowed between one another, wrapping together into intricate patterns and snaking off to a new nexus of intermingling hues. The threads were small, and the points of connection few, but new ones were constantly forming.

    Each knot represented a moment of her life. An experience that helped to define who she was, and who she was becoming. It was a wonderful process to watch unfold, and one that progressed much slower with people who already had a firm sense of identity. People who, for example, weren¡¯t a golem with a confusing mass of ancient memories embedded in their brain and one single year of real life experience.

    I¡¯d only realized the meaning behind the patterns by spending so much time with Etja, and seeing her soul¡¯s development. Although, I had gotten hints about the stories a soul could tell from studying Lito¡¯s.

    The platinum of her Delver levels parted, and the base layer of her soul stretched out to encompass me. It created a profoundly vulnerable feeling, to be wrapped in the soul of another, but my experience with the Reveal ability had helped me become more comfortable with this sort of contact.

    This was Etja¡¯s inheritance from Orexis, although the abhorrent god of yearning had likely never intended it be used this way. It was a passive skill that had been called Bound Construct, and was partially how Orexis had been able to use Etja as his soul vessel for infiltrating The Cage. After defeating the half-god¡¯s specter, the System had reforged the skill.

    Shared Vessel

    Your spiritual essence was forged as a shell to contain the overwhelming might of a godly avatar¡¯s soul-fragment¨Can avatar against whom you rebelled. Divorcing this specter from your body has unbound you from his will, but the ability to contain another entity¡¯s spirit within you remains.

    You may open your soul and embrace the spiritual essence of a nearby ally, allowing you to use your Incarnation passive to combine one of your active skills with their own. This also allows you to utilize your birth sign to apply the benefits of your Mirtasian Cadence to the combined active skill, granting all relevant bonuses to mana efficiency. Any skill utilized in this manner additionally gains the benefit of your Finishing Move passive, and will deal 200% bonus damage if it is the fourth spell cast in sequence.

    Etja¡¯s dance established a rhythm for her spells, allowing her to cast each successive ability for less mana. As her movements took her to my left, she used Siphon on me to raise me off of the ground. This gave her the room she needed to move, while still remaining close enough for the ability to function, eliminated me as a line of sight obstruction, and since it was the first spell in her Mirtasian Cadence, the cost of my Explosion! channel dropped by one point per second.

    Enemies also tended to ignore the dancing woman to focus on the guy hovering menacingly over the battlefield shouting things like:

    ¡°I invoke destruction, such that no tranquil land might fall!¡±

    While Etja and I did our thing, Varrin raged against the Mimic. The big guy had opted for a Strength and Speed based build, and when he connected full force with his greatsword, it made the consequences of my Void Hammer look tidy.

    The Mimic grew limbs as fast as Varrin could shred them, the razor¡¯s edge of his blade traveling with so much force and speed that anything he hit was reduced to a thirty-foot spray of quivering slime. The mimic tried to box him in by curving its body, morphing around him on three sides, and thrusting with countless spear-tipped limbs.

    Varrin dodged and maneuvered, kicking off the limbs to travel up The Mimic¡¯s center mass and shearing more appendages as he went. He didn¡¯t avoid everything, however, and I felt a wound open in my gut as I watched him take a spear in the abdomen. It slowed neither of us down, and Varrin kept hacking away at the beast while I continued to chant ominous phrases such as:

    ¡°You, who are violent, shall hear my words, and you shall know them in your soul!¡±

    Xim tried to flank The Mimic while Varrin held its attention, but the tactic was useless against the creature. It already had literal eyes in its back, and grew a second massive face to bite at Xim, all while swinging a twelve-foot sword of bone and weeping faces at her.

    Xim¡¯s claws were bathed in unholy flame, and she fought with wrothful brutality, indifferent to the wounds being inflicted on her by the innumerable smaller limbs that stabbed and swiped. She scooped out chunks of The Mimic with fiery talons and single-minded fervor like an infernal hound after a foxhole.

    The Mimic brought its blade around, and Xim¡¯s footing was slick with the inert goo at her feet. She took the blade in the side, but rolled her body to try and reduce the force of the impact. Blood sprayed out from her ribs, and the blow sent her to the ground, sliding across the floor. The mimic¡¯s body elongated, its arms and weapons reaching out to where Xim lay, while still exchanging blows with Varrin on its opposite side.

    Xim finally got to cast Heal.

    Golden light pulsed down the Cleric¡¯s body, and the wound on her ribs began to close. I knew that one cast wouldn¡¯t be enough to fully recover from that type of strike, and her body was awash with smaller cuts and punctures, but Xim could take care of herself. She and Varrin were focused on tying The Mimic up while doing as much damage as possible, and something minor like seeing an ally getting cleaved in the chest by a car-length claymore made of carrion and sadness wouldn¡¯t distract me from my own job, which was to announce to the world foreboding things like:

    ¡°The dead cannot make war, and so you shall know peace!¡±

    Etja whirled and shot out a beam of pure mystical force, carving a line across the mimic¡¯s side. The cost of my channel went down by 1. She swept one leg in front of her in a wide arc and went into a forward cartwheel, then sucked the dislodged mimic goo towards us and consumed it into herself through her palms. The cost of my channel went down by 1.

    Finishing Move will be applied to your next skill.

    Etja raised her hands, and the power of her Nullify spell flowed through her soul, into mine, and out into the tips of my fingers. The cost of my channel went down by 1.

    Etja pumped more and more into the spell, its magic-disrupting potency swelling in crescendo with the last few seconds of my near two-hundred mana charge.

    ¡°Witness! Take Heed!¡±

    Varrin heard the signal words, and dumped every stack of Blessed he had accrued into a final attack, cleaving a massive, crimson line down the center of the Mimic, then both he and Xim got the fuck out.

    ¡°Explosion!¡±

    I snapped my fingers, and The Mimic became one with the stone and the air.

    My chest cavity thumped as the shockwave crashed through the air in my lungs, and my sinuses were rocked like someone had just dropped a king-sized mattress on my face. The sound of the explosion was brief, but it was God leaning over to clap in my ears.

    The Mimic was reduced to a fine spray that assaulted my skin with a split second of hurricane-grade downpour. My eyes were protected by my specs, but my mouth¡­

    Gods, it was in my mouth!

    As I retched and spat, I saw that Etja was lying on the ground. I was still floating, so I used Gracorvus to lower myself to her. Her entire frontside was soaked in mimic, and her eyes popped open when I knelt to check on her.

    ¡°You ok?!¡± I shouted at her.

    ¡°What?!¡± she shouted back

    ¡°Are! You! Oh! Kay?!¡±

    She wiped some goo from her eyes and squinted at me.

    ¡°... What?!¡±

    We needed to figure out some hearing protection.

    Varrin made his way over to us, and I started to ask how he was doing, but he waved a hand to stop me and just pointed at his ear. He sat down on the ground next to Etja. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and I knew that he¡¯d be riding the Night-Rush bus for another fourteen minutes. It was better to avoid interacting with Varrin while he was on the rage high, so I let him be.

    Xim appeared, back in her normal form, and somehow more soaked in slime than any of the rest of us. She must not have gotten as much distance as Varrin, which made sense. Her Speed was half of his.

    We surveyed the room in silence, observing the thin paste that was The Mimic.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t we gonna ask it some questions?!¡± Xim shouted. I nodded at her. ¡°The fuck do we do that now?!¡± I shrugged.

    I maybe didn¡¯t think the plan through as well as I should have. My first priority was to win. A fireside chat afterward was a distant enough second that it wasn¡¯t even in the same county.

    I began to struggle with the feeling of letdown, and a bit of guilt. I was frustrated that answers had been within our grasp, and my tactical use of a yee-haw!¡¯s worth of supercharged magic TNT had taken it away. I could have played this one smarter. I could have played this whole Delve smarter, to be honest.

    I took a breath and tried not to dwell on it. We¡¯d do a deconstruction once we got back to Ravvenblaq, to talk about what worked and what didn¡¯t inside this mess of a Delve. For now, I needed to focus on claiming our level and getting us the hell out of here. Also, Nuralie was still missing.

    I looked around for the sneaky alchemist, but she was nowhere in sight. What I did see was some mimic goo starting to wriggle.

    ¡°Fuck me¡± I said, and waved to get the attention of the others.

    They looked up and saw me pointing out the puddle of goo that was now beginning to rise up into a vaguely humanoid shape. They stood, getting ready for round thirteen with this friggin¡¯ thing, when a different puddle began to rise. Then another. Then¡­ another.

    Suddenly, we were surrounded by a dozen or more mimics, their bodies dripping and viscous. They continued to coalesce, their forms becoming more distinct, but they were struggling to stay cohesive. One flopped back and splattered into slime again, then trembled and tried to get back up.

    Before we could move in and start working our way through this new horde, however, golden streaks of light filled the air.

    Divinely charged arrows sprayed out from the dark, one for each mimic, and in less than a second, all of the struggling creatures were skewered through the head. They collapsed back into puddles, and moved no more.

    Except for one.

 83 - Ded Mimicry

    Nuralie stepped out of the shadows, her bow venting golden mana into the air. While the weapon was normally jet black, intricate rune work revealed itself when the loson put it through its paces, which she just had.

    ¡°You were charging Hunger Shot that entire time?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie stopped several feet away from us, wrinkling her nose at our sludge-covered bodies. She, in contrast, was spotless.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°You never gave me a position for the Big Bang strategy.¡±

    ¡°Sure I did.¡±

    ¡°¡®Just shoot it¡¯ is not a position.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s guidance,¡± I said, putting my hands on my hips. ¡°And you executed it flawlessly.¡±

    Xim looked over the inert puddles of slime.

    ¡°It¡¯s weird that Nuralie¡¯s attack targeted the mimics individually after the big one split up,¡± said the Cleric.

    Xim was right. The skill was normally single-target.

    Hunger Shot

    Physical/Spiritual

    Cost: 1 stamina/ second

    Cooldown: None

    Requirements: Agility 10, Fortitude 10, Archery 10

    Take aim at a target and charge this skill for any length of time. Upon firing, you make one ranged weapon attack against the target for every five seconds this skill was charged. These attacks occur in rapid succession. All bonuses applied to this skill, your attack, your weapon, or your ammo, apply to each attack made this way, regardless of whether the bonus is restricted to a single attack or projectile.

    ¡°Skills are as skills do,¡± I said. ¡°It must have still considered The Mimic a single entity, even though it¡¯d divided. The System isn¡¯t-¡±

    ¡°Not the time for your theories,¡± said Varrin, an edge to his voice. He bounced on the balls of his feet, staring at the only puddle of slime that still quivered.

    Varrin¡¯s words got me a bit miffed, but I let it slide since he was ¡®roided up on Nuralie¡¯s potion, and we made our way over to The ¡®Last¡¯ Mimic.

    The Mimic was still partially shaped into her loson body, although her features were distorted halfway between her Architect form and her ¡®blech¡¯ form. From the waist down, she was nothing but slime. Organs spilled out onto the ground from her abdomen and chest cavity, dissolving into goo before us. Her skin was half-melted, exposing muscle and bone, and one eye slid down the side of her face, staring off into the distance.

    The other eye had an arrow in it.

    Varrin clomped across the wet and sticky floor, then dropped one of his armored, size sixteen feet on The Mimic¡¯s chest hard enough to make a thud. Some more of her internals squished out from the pressure. He pivoted his greatsword off of his shoulder and swept it down until it was pressed into the side of her throat, the movement so quick that the tip of his blade dug a groove in the stone next to The Mimic.

    The man could be terrifying.

    I hid my apprehension over Varrin¡¯s death knight vibes, and squatted down next to The Mimic, putting on a veil of calm distaste. I sighed.

    ¡°Nothing special?¡± I said. The edge of The Mimic¡¯s mouth curled up into a grin, showing off several missing teeth. ¡°I believe the deal was that, if we win, you talk. Are you even able to talk right now?¡±

    The Mimic licked its lips with a greasy tongue, and struggled to take a rattling breath.

    ¡°The card,¡± she said, gurgling, ¡°show it to me.¡±

    I pushed my lips to the side and raised an eyebrow at the party. Their faces were hard masks aside from Etja, who looked on with the wonder of a five-year-old watching a building burn. No one objected. I opened my inventory and took out the Get Out of Cage Free card, then held it up next to my face, out of The Mimic¡¯s reach. With her shapeshifting, she could probably extend her arms to try and snatch it, but that would result in a quick end for her.

    ¡°Let me inspect it,¡± rasped The Mimic.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°S-system¡­ Insight,¡± she said.

    ¡°You think you¡¯ll get more details from it than we¡¯re able to?¡±

    ¡°I know that I can.¡± She sneered up at me, and a part of her cheek slid off. I rotated the card in my fingers for a few seconds, considering the request, and decided to take the risk of letting her touch it. This was the best lead we¡¯d found after a year of ceaseless training and Delving. I needed a fucking vacation. Maybe this creature could give us enough information that I felt justified taking some time off.

    I brought the card closer, and she reached up to brush it with skeletal fingertips. A gentle light flashed in her deformed pupil, and she let the hand drop.

    ¡°This is¡­ worse than I thought,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯s worse?¡±

    The drooping eye slid back up into position and peered at me, then rolled toward Etja.

    ¡°The avatars,¡± said The Mimic. ¡°The Delve that issued this reward, The Cage¡­ did not exist in my time. It is merely a balm for a symptom. There is¡­ a cascading failure.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Care to elaborate on that?¡±

    More of The Mimic¡¯s face melted away, exposing the bone of her jawline.

    ¡°The System is deployed in phases,¡± she said. ¡°Your civilization is in phase one. It challenges you, and separates out the weak. Once enough Delvers prevail over the obstacles placed before them¡­ the next phase is unlocked.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with the godly avatars?¡±

    ¡°Very little, and at the same time, a great deal.¡±

    I waited, but she volunteered nothing further.

    ¡°What do you mean by our civilization?¡± I said. ¡°This has happened before?¡±

    ¡°More times than you can know.¡±

    ¡°What happened to those other civilizations? The ones that came before.¡±

    ¡°If you progress¡­ you will find out for yourself.¡±

    I leaned closer, and spoke very clearly.

    ¡°This is a Q & A, not drama club. Lose the suspense.¡±

    The Mimic¡¯s eye ran over my blue and violet armor.

    ¡°I would have¡­ never known,¡± she said with a smirk. Some red foam bubbled out of the corner of her mouth. ¡°I could not explain it¡­ in the time you have won from me.¡±

    ¡°Won from you?¡± I said. ¡°Are you one of these ¡®obstacles¡¯ that Delvers are supposed to overcome?¡±

    ¡°It could not be stated¡­ more plainly.¡±

    ¡°But what¡¯s the fucking point?¡± I asked, frustration creeping into my tone. The Mimic¡¯s grin widened, and I doubted I¡¯d get an answer.

    Varrin pressed the edge of his blade a centimeter deeper into The Mimic¡¯s neck.

    ¡°What does the second phase do?¡± he asked. The Mimic¡¯s eye swam to him.

    ¡°Tools,¡± she said. ¡°Resources. Power. It will provide you with these things, such that you may continue¡­ to grow.¡±

    Varrin¡¯s jaw tightened, and his grip on the hilt of his blade shook.

    ¡°How do we unlock it?¡± he asked, half whispering. There was a glint in his eye that I didn¡¯t like.

    ¡°You cannot,¡± she said, and I heard the squeak of metal as Varrin twisted his grip. The blade dug a little deeper into The Mimic. I reached up and put a hand on the big guy¡¯s arm. His eyes shot to me, wild, but he relaxed a little.

    ¡°Why not?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Your level is too low¡­ to access all of the System Cores required.¡±

    ¡°System Cores?¡± said Xim. Her practiced look of stern indifference dropped, and she got down on her knees next to The Mimic, face alight with curiosity. ¡°What are those?¡±

    I should have known the charade would only last so long.

    ¡°I will¡­ allow you to find out¡­ for yourself,¡± said The Mimic, and we got a System notification.

    The Mimic: Architect, Level 10 has offered to share world map data with you. Would you like to accept? Y/N

    I furrowed my brow and selected ¡°Yes.¡±

    The locations of the following Delves have been added to your map:

    The Hierophant''s Valley: Special-grade, level 30 or higher

    Saekongr¡¯s Crevice: Special-grade, level 20 or less

    Deijin¡¯s Descent: Special-grade, level 10 or less

    I read the message, discovering at that very moment that my HUD had a map function, then pulled up the locations. A map of Arzia appeared, mostly grayed out except for Hiward, and three glowing points spread out across the continent.

    The first was in the middle of the absurdly named Less-Than-Habitable Forest to the east, and the second was in the middle of the ocean southwest of Hiward, between the shores of Timagrin and the island nation of Davah. The third¡­

    The third was in Eschendur.

    ¡°We could probably do this third one!¡± said Xim ¡°It¡¯s level ten, and our effective level is-¡±

    ¡°Witless child,¡± said The Mimic. ¡°The level requirements are not guidance. They are restrictions. Do not hang yourself with the chains around your neck.¡±

    ¡°Why give this to us if you don¡¯t think we can use it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Everything is impossible,¡± said The Mimic, ¡°until it isn¡¯t.¡±

    More of the meat along her face melted away, and her eye became a watery slush that drained from its socket. Varrin¡¯s boot sank further into The Mimic¡¯s chest as it grew soft and formless.

    ¡°I have¡­ enjoyed this,¡± she whispered.

    The Mimic was reduced to a viscous puddle, and we finally got the notification that had evaded us the entire Delve.

    Your party has defeated The Mimic: Architect, Level 10!

    Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 10 Emerald Chips

    2) 5 Greater Mimicry Essences

    3) The Staff of Archon¡¯s Maker

    Party leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 2 Emerald Chips

    Party leader had set item allocation to: Master Looter

    Party leader receives all other rewards.

    ¡°Easy come, easy go,¡± I said, staring at where The Mimic had been. ¡°Which is a saying that should also work in the inverse, so why the fuck didn¡¯t we get more out of her?¡±

    ¡°Defeated?¡± said Varrin, scanning the message. He dismissed his System window with a sharp wave and kicked at the inert slime on the ground. A trail of fluid slung off the tip of his sabaton. ¡°Defeated?!¡±

    ¡°Guess we didn¡¯t slay it,¡± I said, watching him carefully. Varrin tossed his sword into his inventory, pulled off his helm, and threw it in behind. He stood still for a moment, hands flexing, then pulled out a towel and began wiping himself down.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave this place,¡± he grumbled, running the towel over his face and hair. It came back darkly stained, and he looked at me with a fury that I knew wasn¡¯t meant for me. I raised my eyebrows at him, and his features softened. He dropped the towel and pulled out a fresh one, beginning to work on his gauntlets. ¡°Please,¡± he said, and it almost sounded pleading.

    I glanced up at the obelisk, which had already begun to hum with power, preparing to dump a massive wave of mana into our bodies.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s take our level and go.¡±

    ¡°What do we do with this information?¡± asked Xim. She¡¯d gathered her mail and robes up from where they¡¯d dropped before her transformation, and held them folded over one arm. She clutched a handful of her black, curly hair with her other hand, eyes shifting over the ground as she thought.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± I said, ¡°for now. We can talk about what it all means once we¡¯ve had a bath, some food, and twelve or more hours of sleep. Twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep, preferably.¡±

    I¡¯d been able to push through for forty hours without rest inside the Delve with a steadily rising debuff to my stamina regen as the only listed consequence. But something the character screen didn¡¯t show was the massive brain fog I was starting to feel, and the downward pressure the lack of sleep was putting on my mood. I didn¡¯t have the brain cells left to rub together over this intel, and if I didn¡¯t find a bed soon I might do or say something I¡¯d regret.

    I also couldn¡¯t keep using my Fortitude as an excuse to avoid a bedroll, but some part of me, the part that needed to be in control, hated leaving the watch up to someone else. My party members were more than competent, and I trusted them with my life, but that still didn¡¯t help me catch any z¡¯s while we were in mortal danger. It was a problem I had to overcome, or I worried I¡¯d make a fatal mistake.

    The obelisk issued our mana distribution, we assigned our stat points in line with the builds we¡¯d worked out beforehand, and we exited through the portal that appeared afterward.

    Fuckin¡¯ mimics, man.

    Fuckin¡¯

    Mimics.

 84 - Mandatory Tavern Scene

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to chant to cast Explosion!¡± I said to Etja through a mouthful of stew-soaked brown bread. It was warm and buttery and presently fulfilling all of my lifelong dreams and fantasies. ¡°I started doing it half as a joke, and half because it was a great way to let every aberrant hound within a one mile radius know who just turned their pack leader into a blast crater.¡± I swallowed the bread and drained an entire mug of fruit juice, slamming it down on the table with more enthusiasm than I¡¯d meant to. The handle snapped off. ¡°It¡¯s taunt, intimidation, and flex all rolled up into one.¡±

    A waitress dedicated to our table swung by to grab my mug and I smiled sheepishly at her as I handed her a silver note.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I whispered. She looked down at me from beneath raised eyebrows as she tucked the cash into her apron, but I could tell she was used to this sort of thing. We were in a tavern that catered to traveling Delvers, after all.

    ¡°But there¡¯s more to it than that,¡± I continued, ¡°and through experimentation and analysis, I¡¯ve distilled my theory down to a single concept: ¡®restrictions¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Varrin, ¡°we talked about this.¡± He was leaning over the table, head hanging low as he gripped a horn of ale as long as my forearm in both hands. It looked like he was getting ready to give himself a shower with it.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t talk about anything,¡± I said. ¡°You talked at me, and I chose to ignore your advice.¡±

    He let out an elongated grunt, like a frustrated, dying animal. I turned back to Etja, who was, of course, enraptured by my commentary. She had the second of two assorted cheese plates offered by the establishment in front of her, and she dutifully nibbled on a piece of brie. She¡¯d already eaten her way through the first.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to chant,¡± I said. ¡°I can silent cast Explosion! if I want, as incongruent as that might sound. But I do chant. I chant every time I cast the spell in combat, because when I don¡¯t chant, the spell is less powerful.¡±

    ¡°Whaaaat?¡± said Etja. ¡°That¡¯s not in the description!¡±

    ¡°I know! There¡¯s nothing in the System¡¯s description of the spell that discusses a vocal component to the ability. But, I¡¯ve already realized that the System¡¯s text is incomplete. It doesn¡¯t account for the total sum of any given spell¡¯s effects and interactions, because one, that¡¯d be way too much text, and two, ninety percent of Delvers don¡¯t give a crap.¡±

    ¡°I give a crap!¡± Etja said.

    ¡°You¡¯re one of the good ones, Etja.¡± She smiled at the praise. ¡°So, the System¡¯s description is an abstraction of the true magic that¡¯s occurring-¡±

    ¡°Allegedly,¡± Xim interrupted. She was slouched back in her chair, hand wrapped loosely around a goblet of wine that rested on the table. There were five empties scattered around it.

    ¡°Allegedly,¡± I agreed. ¡°The System truncates the dissertation¡¯s worth of theoretical context for the spell. That¡¯s frustrating, and it''s terrible design if the System¡¯s descriptions are intended to be a magical manual.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t?¡± Etja asked, leaning forward. ¡°Then what are they?¡±

    I shook a finger in the air, smiling at her.

    ¡°That¡¯s the golden question,¡± I said. ¡°I no longer believe that the System¡¯s spell descriptions were ever intended to serve as a Magic 101 textbook. They¡¯re a glossary of technical reference material for people who are already experts.¡±

    ¡°Does anyone think that?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°That it¡¯s meant for beginners?¡± Pause. ¡°Everyone studies magic before going into the Creation Delve. Before they have access to the System.¡±

    ¡°Almost everybody,¡± said Xim, grinning at me.

    ¡°All of the theory taught in Hiwardian magic academies is based on information acquired from the System,¡± I said.

    ¡°Been to many Hiwardian magic academies?¡± Xim retorted.

    ¡°Two,¡± I said.

    ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°When?¡±

    ¡°When you did that month of cloistering.¡±

    ¡°Hells,¡± said the Cleric. ¡°I missed a lot when I did that.¡±

    ¡°While visiting said academies, I skimmed most of their core books on technique. It¡¯s just lists of spells and practical considerations when using them!¡±

    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t,¡± said Varrin. He sat back up and took a deep pull of his beer. His chair creaked out a threat under his weight.

    ¡°Most of the other stuff,¡± I said, ¡°is just theoretical texts on the nature of the five schools of magic and their relationships.¡±

    ¡°Just?¡± said Xim.

    I held up a hand.

    ¡°Stay with me for a second. There¡¯s some hand holding from the System, and some theory developed by the academies. For the most part, however, Delvers have to figure it out for themselves. Now, back to Explosion! and my chanting.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Grotto suggested that I was mana-shaping Explosion! when I chanted.¡± I pointed at Etja. ¡°That¡¯s another handy trick not listed anywhere in the System text. However, when I chant, the spell doesn¡¯t cost any more mana. When I don¡¯t chant, it doesn''t cost any less, either. This is distinct from my experience mana-shaping all of my other abilities. Mana-shaping has a cost, and that cost is more mana. Since I¡¯m not spending mana, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m mana-shaping.¡±

    ¡°Then what are you doing?¡± Etja asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m paying a different cost. Something other than mana or stamina.¡±

    ¡°Oooooohhh,¡± Etja hummed in excitement.

    ¡°When I presented my mana-shaping findings to Grotto, the old Delve Core got shady. He told me to figure it out for myself. Pretty sure he always knew that it wasn¡¯t mana-shaping, but for whatever reason he¡¯s been trying to hide the truth from me.¡±

    ¡°Grotto¡¯s an asshooooole!¡± Xim cheered to the tavern, one arm raised to the sky. It drew a few curious looks. She went to take another sip from her goblet, but it was empty, and the waitress had her a fresh drink in less than ten seconds.

    ¡°Accurate,¡± I said. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s when I remembered a conversation that I had with the core back in Arsenal, when I was considering my level ten Strength evolutions. Grotto told me that a specific evolution can allow for my mana matrix to output a higher level of magical force in regard to a specific task, because the magic is bound to a restriction.¡±

    ¡°Sssssecrets,¡± Xim whispered, leaning forward.

    ¡°Just tell the whole place,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What do I care? Tell everyone.¡± He stood abruptly and swiveled to look around the establishment. The waitress walked up to check on him, and he gave her an off-balance, but outrageously polite bow. Given the man¡¯s station as the son of a Thundralke, showing the mundane waitress that level of deference was nigh on scandalous.

    ¡°M¡¯lord?¡± said the waitress, her face going beet red. She held out her hands as though to catch Varrin if he fell. She¡¯d more likely be crushed.

    ¡°Madame,¡± said Varrin, standing stiffly upright. ¡°Would you be so kind as to direct me to the facilities?¡±

    ¡°Of course, m¡¯lord. Right this way.¡±

    The waitress turned to walk Varrin to the men¡¯s room, but the big guy spun and slammed a hand on the table before following.

    ¡°Taking a piss,¡± he said.

    ¡°Yeah, brother,¡± I said. ¡°We got that.¡±

    He nodded, then turned to follow the woman.

    ¡°Nuralie,¡± I said, speaking in Loson¡¯binora. ¡°What the fuck did you put in their drinks?¡±

    ¡°Only what they told me to,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°Adjusted for body weight.¡±

    Magical additives could apparently make mundane alcohol into magical alcohol and thus bypass much of Fortitude¡¯s natural resistance to mundane toxins.

    In other words, Nuralie had a ¡®shitfaced¡¯ potion.

    ¡°Keep going!¡± said Etja, pulling me back on track.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I said. ¡°Where was I? Uh, restrictions make the magic stronger?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± Etja nodded emphatically.

    ¡°Ok. My theory is that restrictions for magic are like a high-velocity nozzle on a garden hose. The Seinnador on my shoulder would tut-tut at me for trying to reduce the idea to such mundane terms, but it works for me, so get lost, shoulder Seinnador.¡± I brushed my left shoulder off.

    ¡°It¡¯s like a¡­ what?¡± said Etja, confused.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said, searching for a better analogy. ¡°Ok, so, say you have a fire. It gets the whole room a little warm, right?¡±

    ¡°Right!¡±

    ¡°But if you put that same fire inside an oven, then it gets the inside of the oven really hot, but the rest of the room stays the same temperature. Mostly.¡±

    ¡°Ok¡­¡± Etja said. I didn¡¯t think I quite nailed it with that one.

    ¡°Let¡¯s skip the metaphors for now.¡± I cleared my throat and added a bit of drama to my voice. ¡°Thus, my theory is born! If the System can use restrictions to engineer powerful magical effects and abilities,¡± I paused for effect, ¡°then so can I!¡±

    ¡°Really?!¡±

    ¡°Yes! But, it¡¯s fickle. I can''t just slap any requirement onto any spell to make it stronger. Like mana-shaping, it¡¯s something that I have to be deeply familiar with, that resonates with me personally, and that makes sense for the spell or ability that I¡¯m using.¡±

    ¡°Shouting,¡± said Xim, and we turned to her. She swallowed and sat up a bit straighter, slapping herself on a cheek. ¡°Shouting,¡± she continued, speaking with very intentional diction, ¡°about your explosive awesomeness and inviting lethal countermeasures from everyone who can hear you is a very ¡®Arlo¡¯ thing to do.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°That¡¯s why my chanting works for Explosion! Now, I was very proud of this discovery. My unique skills and talents led me to this breakthrough, benefiting from my extraterrestrial origin as a cross-dimensional invader!¡± Nuralie¡¯s eyes went a bit wider and she snuck some looks around. No one else in the tavern was paying any attention to what I was saying and, even if they were, our table had already proven to everyone in the square that we were blasted. ¡°My superior Earth-based scientific method and modern-world ingenuity let me figure something out that¡­¡± I leaned in, and Etja leaned forward to meet me conspiratorially, ¡°something that everybody who is somebody already knows about.¡±

    Varrin returned and sat back down heavily in his chair. Something in the piece of furniture cracked, but it held. I went ahead and earmarked another few silver notes for the damage.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s nothing new,¡± said Nuralie. Etja looked between me and her, frowning.

    ¡°Correct. When I presented the idea to Varrin,¡± the big guy snorted, ¡°he let me know that his family already engages in the practice. They keep it secret, though. For reasons.¡±

    ¡°Our house has many enemies,¡± Varrin said, droning like it was a memorized sound bite. ¡°Such things are not spoken about publicly, lest our foes seek to use the knowledge against us.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like some forbidden ninja techniques or something. I hate it.¡±

    ¡°The same thing is true for mana-shaping,¡± said Xim. ¡°After you told me about it, I asked around. A lot. A lot a lot. People don¡¯t know about it because the people who do know about it keep it to themselves and use it to give themselfs an edge.¡±

    ¡°Trade secrets, as I would have called it in my prior career,¡± I said. ¡°C¡¯est la vie.¡±

    ¡°Why not share the love, Varrin?¡± asked Xim, narrowing her eyes as she bent toward him. She slipped a bit, nearly tumbling from her chair. She grabbed the edge of the table to keep herself steady, then continued like nothing had happened. ¡°We¡¯re your teammates. We saved Ravvenblaq together! Doesn¡¯t that deserve a lil¡¯ sssssecret knowledge as a reward?¡±

    ¡°My mom says parties are like suitors,¡± the big guy mumbled. ¡°Don¡¯t tell them everything until you¡¯re planning to be wed.¡±

    ¡°Not sure how I feel about that advice,¡± I said. ¡°But, I get it. A party is a complex set of social relationships, and it might not work out. Don¡¯t want to start spilling the beans on treasured family methods after one night of passionate world-saving.¡±

    ¡°Can we talk about our builds, now?¡± said Varrin, throwing his hands up. ¡°What are your Fortitude evolution options, Arlo? They better be good. Level forty.¡± He belched. ¡°That¡¯s a big one.¡±

    ¡°At the risk of further compounding your present inability to think and talk coherently,¡± I said, ¡°allow me to blow your minds with the choices that I have been offered.¡±

 85 - Keystone Evolution

    ¡°But first!¡± I said, looking around the table. ¡°Would any of you like to hear the evolution I picked for reaching Dimensional twenty?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Fortitude, let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Aw,¡± Etja said, frowning.

    ¡°Fine, ok.¡± I brought up the evolution options for my Fortitude skill and shared them with the party.

    While stats had to be assigned within twenty-four hours, I could sit on an evolution choice for as long as I liked¨Csomething I did often, since I relied heavily on the input from my expert allies.

    ¡°It basically comes down to ¡®Do I want to practically live forever?¡¯, ¡®Do I want to literally live forever?¡¯, or ¡®Do I want to continue transforming myself into an eldritch entity until the line between man and monstrosity is so blurred that I cannot know if I am the Arlo that came to this world or a malevolent god¡¯s twisted replica of the original?¡¯¡±

    Varrin had been about to take another sip from his horn of ale, but hesitated and set the vessel down on its rest. He turned to Xim.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll need a Cleanse for this,¡± he said.

    Xim rolled her whole head toward him, mouth half-ajar.

    ¡°But I¡¯m not done being drunk yet,¡± she said.

    ¡°Xim,¡± he dropped a heavy hand onto her shoulder. She slid even further down in her chair, but made no effort to adjust. ¡°I hate to poop your party, but this was supposed to be a team meeting.¡± She scowled at him.

    ¡°You hate to do what to her what?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s that thing you say.¡± Varrin waved broadly at me, nearly scattering a trio of mugs off a passing waitress¡¯ serving plate. She dodged the gesticulation. He didn¡¯t notice her existence. ¡°You say it when you claim that I¡¯m ruining the mood.¡±

    ¡°Party pooper.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°The phrase is ¡®party pooper¡¯. Not ¡®pooping a party¡¯. That¡¯s a whole different kind of party. You don¡¯t want to go to that party.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡± He turned back to Xim. ¡°Look, most of the fun of being drunk is getting drunk. We can sober up for now, and then start drinking anew once we¡¯re done discussing.¡±

    Spoken like a proper young adult, with a healthy liver and few regrets.

    ¡°Ugh,¡± Xim huffed, sitting up straighter in her chair. She cast Cleanse on both herself and Varrin. Their eyes lost their lidded appearance, their expressions tightened, and the loose and relaxed postures of inebriation were replaced by Varrin¡¯s regular prim bearing and Xim¡¯s¡­ Well, Xim¡¯s posture was the same. She even slid back down in her chair and crossed her arms.

    Varrin rubbed at his eyes, then fell into the far-off look of a man studying a System message.

    Fortitude.

    FUCK YEAH!

    Your Fortitude has reached level 40 and your inhuman resilience has ascended into the realm of myth and legend. Choose one of the following evolutions and try not to regret it!

    1) Prince of the Universe: You are immune to all mundane disease and sickness, cannot be subjected to any effects that force aging, and once you reach the physical age of 30, you no longer grow any older. When you take this evolution, you are cured of any genetic abnormalities that interfere with your physiological functioning, except for those with few or no deleterious effects that contribute to the unique bundle of eccentricities that make you who you are. Unless you want those gone, too. It¡¯s your identity, do what you want.

    2) Just a Flesh Wound: You are immune to Bleeding and (so long as you aren¡¯t dead) can naturally regenerate from any injury, no matter how severe. Your body becomes capable of fully replacing any part of itself with your natural HP regeneration. This includes limbs, organs, entire bodily systems, and even your brain! But, if your head is destroyed, will you be the same person when it grows back?

    3) Body of The Minotaur: Your cells are already being replaced by something more powerful, something better. Why not give that new organic matter an upgrade? Your body gains perfect physical recall. This grants a range of benefits, but we won¡¯t leave you guessing entirely. Here¡¯s one of the less obvious perks this ability enables: Every step you take is cataloged by your bones, every turn memorialized in your muscle, every climb or descent inscribed upon your skin. You intuitively remember the floor plan and location of any physical space your body has traveled through.

    You are also offered the active skill: Blood of My Enemy

    Blood of My Enemy

    Physical

    Cost: none

    Requirements: FOR 40, Body of The Minotaur

    Touch an entity that you or a member of your party has slain. You consume the life essence of that entity, adding X% of its maximum health to your HP regeneration for one hour, where X is equal to your FOR. This bonus does not stack if you consume multiple slain entities, but can be reset and replaced by a higher bonus if a healthier entity is consumed.

    ¡°I feel ill,¡± said Nuralie as she studied the options. ¡°Are all of your evolutions like this?¡±

    ¡°Only most of them,¡± I said. ¡°What do you think?¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Pause. ¡°I do not know. Many people would rejoice at being offered¡­ endless life. I do not think that I would like it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in that same boat,¡± I said, then considered. ¡°I¡¯m at least on the pier where that boat is docked.¡±

    ¡°Prince of the Universe,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Does the name suggest something beyond what the ability states? That¡¯s a lofty title.¡±

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°Some of my evolutions have alternate headings, even when an identical evolution exists with a normal name. Usually crappy pop culture references from Earth, but these ones are ok; I like Queen.¡±

    ¡°I assume that¡¯s the name of one of those references,¡± said Varrin, ¡°and not your proclamation of affection for the king¡¯s late wife.¡±

    ¡°You assume correctly.¡±

    He studied the screen a little longer.

    ¡°This first evolution is the same as the evolution called Immortality, with minor language differences. Many high-level Delvers aspire toward Immortality, building their Fortitude in the hopes of receiving the option. I think it is a poor choice, however.¡±

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°Eternal youth doesn¡¯t fit with your quest for ultimate strength?¡±

    ¡°Who wants to live forever?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Another good track,¡± I said. She raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Delvers already live long lives,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Delvers with high Fortitude, even longer. If your goal is to reach Fortitude one-hundred, then you will already be gifted with incredible longevity.¡±

    ¡°How incredible?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Patriarch Bluewren has a Fortitude of one hundred. The man is close to one-hundred-and-forty years old, but appears to be in his mid-forties.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s a triple life span,¡± I said.

    ¡°No. Bluewren was one of the oldest Hiwardian slaves to become a Delver during the rebellion. He was nearly thirty when the Creation Delve was discovered, and didn¡¯t reach a Fortitude of one-hundred until he was in his sixties.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s physically aged fifteen years in a century?¡±

    ¡°Yes. However, because aging continually slows the closer you get to Fortitude one-hundred, much of that physical aging may have occurred during the time he spent with a lower score.¡±

    ¡°What, there are no portraits of the guy in his sixties? Take a look and guestimate how much he¡¯s aged since getting a top score?¡±

    ¡°Have you seen noble portraits?¡± said Xim. ¡°Flattering, to say the least. Who knows what he¡¯d have really looked like.¡±

    ¡°Then, if we take a conservative estimate,¡± I said, ¡°and assume that half of that aging has occurred since he got to Fortitude one-hundred, then that¡¯s seven-ish years of aging in eighty years. More than a ten times multiplier on life span. You¡¯re saying that I could live to be eight-hundred years old? A thousand?¡±

    ¡°No one has had the opportunity to live that long,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s untested, but perhaps.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± I sat back and stared at the table, studying the grain of the wood as I tried to wrap my head around living for a millenia. ¡°I could still get cancer, though.¡±

    ¡°Delvers rarely suffer from mundane maladies,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But, again, the higher end of Delver lifespans is untested. It is possible to develop a condition of old age that ends your life prematurely. For now, most Delvers who perish do so violently.¡±

    ¡°Victims of our high-risk lifestyle,¡± I muttered. ¡°What about Just a Flesh Wound? I already have resistance to bleeding from Body of Theseus, but only to the extra bleeding caused by crits.¡±

    ¡°Plus,¡± Xim added, ¡°Theseus will eventually make you immune to critical damage. Period. Immune to crits, immune to Bleeding. With that combo, you¡¯d be the bane of half of all Physical builds.¡±

    ¡°Half?¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s gotta¡¯ be more variety than that.¡±

    ¡°There is,¡± said Xim. ¡°But crits plus Bleeding is very popular.¡±

    ¡°With Delvers. I¡¯m more worried about monsters. High-grade monsters, specifically.¡±

    ¡°High-grade monsters like to rip your arms off,¡± Xim countered, waving a hand over the table as though gesturing at some unseen and mutilated body. She paused for a second after she did so, then furrowed her brow. ¡°We need to visit the tribe. I miss making easy visuals.¡±

    ¡°Both of those are true,¡± I said. ¡°Dismemberment as an occupational hazard, and the need to visit the Third Layer. I still haven¡¯t had my orientation. But as far as Flesh Wound goes, being able to regenerate limbs and organs is the real bonus. Bleeding immunity is more of a side-dish for me, since I already have some protection from it.¡±

    ¡°Just don¡¯t lose your head,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Maybe I could pick it back up and hold it onto my neck until it re-attached.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ kind of want to see that now,¡± said Xim. Nuralie blinked at her.

    ¡°And then,¡± said Varrin with a heavy sigh, ¡°there¡¯s The Body of The Minotaur.¡±

    ¡°You should take that one,¡± said Etja. I turned and looked at her, confused.

    ¡°You like that one?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s like it was made for you!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what worries me. It¡¯s like the System wants to turn me into some weird flesh, uh¡­¡±

    Etja tilted her head to one side.

    ¡°Golem?¡± she said.

    ¡°That¡¯s not where I was going,¡± I lied. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s what I was going to say, but I didn¡¯t mean it like¡­ I just meant it¡¯s as though the System is encouraging me to abandon my humanity as rapidly as possible.¡±

    Etja turned back to her cheese platter and poked at some gouda.

    ¡°I¡¯m not human,¡± she said, her normal enthusiasm lost. ¡°I get along fine.¡± She flicked the cheese with her finger and it plopped off of the plate. I didn¡¯t know what to say to that. ¡°I can see why someone who is human may not want to be reshaped by some kind of super-powerful being.¡± She smiled at me, but it felt frail. ¡°At least you¡¯d be getting to choose what happens.¡±

    Nuralie watched Etja, her expression neutral, but I knew the loson was worried. She¡¯d taken up a lot of, for lack of a better word, parental duties when the golem first joined the party. Teaching her how to dress, how to use utensils, keeping up with her location and making sure she was safe, and that she wasn¡¯t being swindled or otherwise having her naivete taken advantage of. There was a bond there, and I suspected Nuralie felt like Etja was still under her wing.

    ¡°Awkward,¡± said Xim. The Cleric reached across the table and patted the back of Etja¡¯s hand. ¡°We love you just the way you are, Etja.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said, but her smile was gone. She picked the gouda back up and tossed the entire piece into her mouth. I should probably have done something similar with my foot.

    ¡°Flesh Wound is a good choice,¡± said Varrin, ¡°Any immunity is a boon, and regeneration is always useful. This third one, The Body of The Minotaur, has advantages. When combined with the aspect of your Dimensional Thinker perk that grants an intuitive understanding of spatial relationships, you¡¯d be able to understand and memorize the layout of any physical space you¡¯ve been without effort. You¡¯d never get lost, mazes and complex Delves would prove no obstacle, and your recon would be incredible.¡±

    He looked up at me intently until I returned his stare, then held my gaze, drawing my thoughts away from Etja.

    ¡°However,¡± he said.

    ¡°However,¡± I repeated, making it clear I was paying close attention.

    ¡°This active skill, Blood of My Enemy, is dangerous.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°There are¡­¡± his jaw tightened, ¡°some who would believe it profane. And most would take a very dim view of you, if you used it on another person.¡±

    I was assaulted by a memory of flesh and blood withering to blackened bone, and Grotto pulling another corpse toward the obelisk. Would this skill do the same thing that my obelisk did to members of the Artemix group? That Orexis did to Varrin¡¯s father? I couldn¡¯t imagine what it would be like to be in a party with someone whose main skill reminded me of the violent murder of my dad. A murder that I witnessed.

    And let¡¯s be honest, if I took Body of The Minotaur, I was going to slot Blood of My Enemy. And if I slotted Blood of My Enemy, it was going to become one of my main skills. The health regen was too good, especially for someone whose build revolved around fast regen. And the spell was free.

    But, the cost of the spell, the real cost, would be both social and psychological. Could Varrin work with me if I drained bodies like that? Would I be tempted to show less mercy to those I fought if I was low on health and wanted a sip of their vital juices? At what point would consuming the remains of those I slew become rote, with other people reduced to potential corpses in my eyes?

    Was this a road I was already walking down, by letting Grotto continue to build the Pocket Delve?

    If this were a game, and I was playing some kind of vampiric death mage, I¡¯d have taken it in a heartbeat. My name was Esquire Arlo, however, not darkelorde69. I didn¡¯t want the spell, not because I didn¡¯t like it, but because I liked it too much. I had an honest moment with myself, and accepted that I¡¯d eventually make a terrible choice if I possessed it. If I was truly going to live a thousand years, that only made the mistake more likely.

    ¡°I¡¯m taking Just a Flesh Wound,¡± I said in a rush and chose the regeneration evolution before I could think about The Body of The Minotaur any longer.

    The choice was confirmed, and bleeding immunity was added to my resistances.

    I¡¯d been expecting this conversation to be fun, if not a little dark. Instead, I was left feeling shaken. From my blunder with Etja to realizing how easy it would have been for me to lean into my darker impulses, it called into question some of the things I believed about myself.

    Still, there was a voice in my head that told me I¡¯d made a foolish choice by giving up that skill.

    ...That voice was Grotto.

    [I cannot believe you¡¯ve chosen to hamstring yourself out of some misguided lust for paragonism!]

 86 - The Why

    [The concept of virtue¨Ca dubious quality, if it exists at all¨Cis invalidated by its wanton pursuit! You¡¯ve sacrificed might in exchange for nothing but empty self-platitudes!]

    [Uh, hey Grotto.]

    [Perhaps we should call upon the gods to examine your karmic worth. I would wager that it has risen three entire points from this blunder. It is unfortunate that morality is weighed upon an infinite scale with no beginning or end.]

    [Did you¡­ need something? We¡¯re busy talking about our skills and shit.]

    My party members watched me, picking up on the signs of my silent communication with the bonded Delve Core.

    [Yes, I have also chosen an evolution. I wished to share it with you, such that you might be apprised of the value I bring.]

    [Oh, so you wanted to be part of the group?]

    [That is not what I said.]

    [It¡¯s ok to come out of your room from time to time, Grotto. You don¡¯t have to ask permission.]

    [I am busy with important matters. It is a Dungeoneering evolution. You may view it on your character screen.]

    He was gone as quick as he came.

    ¡°What was that?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Grotto wanted to say that he¡¯s disappointed in me, but that I should be proud of him.¡±

    ¡°Sounds about right.¡±

    ¡°He got some evolution to Dungeoneering. I guess he finally cracked level twenty with it.¡±

    ¡°I wish my frogs could advance my alchemy skill,¡± said Nuralie. She pulled one of the amphibians from her inventory, which is something I still didn¡¯t know how she did. My inventory wouldn¡¯t let me put anything living inside of it.

    ¡°His work advances my Dungeoneering skill,¡± I said, ¡°but he chooses all the evolutions, and he¡¯s the one who uses all the benefits.¡±

    ¡°I would be fine with that,¡± said Nuralie, leaning down to touch noses with the housecat-sized frog. ¡°You¡¯d pick good evolutions, wouldn¡¯t you, Bertegog?¡±

    The frog replied with a mighty croak

    ¡°It¡¯s like having an intrinsic slot occupied by an annoying roommate,¡± I continued, ¡°instead of a skill.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the evo?¡± asked Xim. I brought up my list of skills, read it over, then shared it.

    Engineered Terror

    Fear and intimidation checks performed by allied entities within a Delve, dungeon, or labyrinth you control are 1% more effective per level of Dungeoneering.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the hounds will like that one,¡± I said.

    [They will remain ineffective so long as you continue to bring them steaks to consume. A starving beast is much more dangerous than a well-fed one.]

    ¡°Welcome back, Grotto. Done with your ¡®important matters¡¯? That was fast.¡±

    [I have dedicated a subprocess to managing my ongoing projects.] The others at the table made varying expressions, telling me that Grotto was now broadcasting to everyone. [I feel that it is important I monitor the party¡¯s build planning, now that you¡¯ve committed such a blunder with your evolution choice.]

    ¡°I can literally have my heart ripped from my chest and grow it back now. I thought you¡¯d be happy about that.¡±

    [It matters little if the damage dealt by the blow reduces your health pool below zero.]

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll get more health. Look, I¡¯m not going to turn into one of your monsters and-¡± I hesitated, realizing that there were some topics that shouldn¡¯t be discussed openly in a crowded tavern. I¡¯d been a bit liberal with my ¡®free the knowledge¡¯ philosophy so far, but intimate party secrets were a different matter from mana shaping or restrictions, which I believed every Delver should be equipped with. I swapped to telepathy.

    [I¡¯m not gonna¡¯ stalk the Pocket Delve, eating the corpses of people who enter.]

    [You also had the opportunity to attain eternal youth, yet eschewed that option with little regard. It is one of the few items that I have added to your ¡®List¡¯. Item number three! Attain immortality!]

    [Yeah, right after ¡®Accrue Power!¡¯ and ¡®Dominate our enemies!¡¯ I feel like I¡¯m kicking ass at those first two.]

    [Two of three is barely a passing grade, Arlo.]

    [D¡¯s get degrees, baby!] I shot finger guns into the air. [I made all A¡¯s in school, though. Except for ethics. Made a B in ethics.]

    ¡°This is still very strange,¡± said Nuralie, holding a hand to one ear like she was starring in a spy-thriller, listening to her commlink. ¡°You aren¡¯t talking, but it is like you¡¯re all around me.¡±

    ¡°Eh,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯m used to this sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what some of my memories are like,¡± added Etja. Varrin grunted.

    ¡°Now that our sixth party member has joined,¡± I said, ¡°any other important evolutions we should all know about? Etja?¡±

    ¡°I got my Fortitude to twenty!¡± she said, her demeanor moving back into its normal exuberance. She rarely sulked, and when she did it wasn¡¯t for long. ¡°I was offered Mana Barrier. Since it¡¯s one we discussed, I went ahead and picked it.¡±

    Mana Barrier

    You may choose to have 50% of the damage you take be dealt to your mana pool instead of your health. Damage dealt to your mana in this way is doubled.

    ¡°Nice,¡± I said. ¡°Now you can really lean into WIS and CHA for a while. Nuralie?¡±

    ¡°My Archery intrinsic went to twenty,¡± the loson said. ¡°Now I do extra damage when I take a few seconds to aim.¡±

    ¡°Makes Hunger Shot even more potent. Solid. Xim?¡±

    ¡°Charisma and Fortitude are now both at twenty,¡± said the cleric. ¡°When I heal myself, I also heal my stamina, and enemies hit by my Divine damage get feared.¡±

    ¡°You heal your stamina?¡± I asked, feeling my inner resource hoarder twitch. ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°A percentage of the healing equal to my Fortitude.¡±

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s useful.¡± She gave me a single, exaggerated nod.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I picked it!¡±

    I turned to the big guy.

    ¡°Varrin?¡±

    ¡°I picked up Damage Analysis,¡± he said. He was rubbing the side of his chin with a thumb.

    ¡°Finally decided on your Intelligence evo? You¡¯ve been mulling that one over for weeks.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I regret waiting so long. Being able to discern The Mimic¡¯s resistances whenever I dealt it damage may have saved us some grief.¡±

    ¡°Resistances,¡± Xim spat. ¡°More like immunities. The gods forsaken thing couldn¡¯t be stunned, bled, poisoned, immobilized, or crit!¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t grapple it either,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Immune to physical, resistant to dimensional, selectively resistant to spiritual. At least you could pray for it to ignite.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all I was good for!¡± Xim said, raising her arms.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    We spent another hour or so going over different abilities the party had picked up over the last couple of levels. It turns out that Xim had an ability that let her choose not to deal fire damage to her allies with her divine abilities, and to cleanse them when they were touched by the flames instead.

    She¡¯d let me burn when she cast Judgment mainly because she wanted to see what Sam¡¯lia¡¯s current feelings toward me were.

    I didn¡¯t know why she couldn¡¯t have just communed with the goddess¡­

    Overall, we were in a good place. Our skill diversity was broad, our survivability was high, and with Varrin¡¯s entire focus being on turning enemies into grease stains, our damage output was respectable. The only thing we hurt for was someone who could exert some social control abilities¨Csleep, charm, dominate¨Cbut with Xim¡¯s recent pivot into fear, we had a little something from that category, and the cleric assured us that fear was something the Xor¡¯Drels were good at.

    We also briefly touched on loot, and made the formal decision to give Etja The Staff of Archon¡¯s Maker that we¡¯d acquired from ¡®defeating¡¯ The Mimic. The staff was six feet in length, several inches taller than Etja, and made of a dark metal that matched the material that many of the Delves were constructed from. The top flared out into an oval intersected by ten thin bars, with a ruby gem set into the tip of each. The former golem was pleased with the item, to say the least.

    Staff of Archon¡¯s Maker

    A staff of office for the Archon of the Fifth Court, crafted by the scorned lady known to you only as The Mimic. It would eventually come to light that the Archon himself had also been crafted by The Mimic, a treachery that led to the collapse of the judiciary and enabled a violent coup against the realm¡¯s emperor. This staff may serve as a symbol of your strength, or a promise of retribution to those who would oppress you.

    Requirements: WIS 20, Divine 10

    Effects:

    1) Stored spell: Seek Alignment.

    20 mana per charge.

    Max charges: 5

    Seek Alignment

    Divine

    Peer into the history of a target and discern what wicked deeds they have performed within the last 7 days. Target may resist this effect by passing a CHA check against your WIS. A target that has resisted cannot be affected by this spell until the next dawn.

    2) Archon¡¯s Faith: While wielding this staff, your Divine Magic skill is considered to be 5 higher.

    3) Spells you cast may originate from the head of this staff.

    ¡°On to the next topic,¡± I said. ¡°Unless anyone has anything else?¡± I waited, but just got a couple shaking heads in reply. ¡°Alright, future planning. Our initial goal was to reach level six. Well, here we are.¡± I sat back and looked around the table, giving the statement a second to sink in.

    Level six was a marked achievement for most Delvers who reached it, since it was Hiward¡¯s average Delver level. It sounded low, but most Delvers pursued silver Delves which gave them a soft level cap of eleven, and a lot of silvers dropped out of their Delving career early for safety reasons. They were rich and powerful already, and, according to most, there was little in the ¡®real¡¯ world that could threaten them anymore. It was a valid choice, although I didn¡¯t agree that the world was a safe place for lower level Delvers.

    The next largest group was copper, which had a soft cap of level three and they really dragged the average down. Golds and platinums had a much higher potential maximum, but golds were rare and platinums practically non-existent. Even then, reaching level eleven or higher usually took a gold Delver around a decade, and most plats died before making it out of the single digits. Thus, once your party reached level six, you started to get a little more respect around the block.

    Our group¡¯s reaction was muted. We¡¯d had a hard year of endless training, drills, and mortal danger. We were tired, needed a break, and, beyond that, had a much longer road ahead of us than behind. Making it to the middle of the pack was an achievement, but not one that any of us felt like celebrating. Toxic attitude? Probably, but none of us had ever questioned the ambition that drove us. What that ambition was, however, was in need of some clarification.

    ¡°Before I can really dig in to what my advancement looks like,¡± I said, ¡°I need to know why we¡¯re Delving.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know why you¡¯re Delving?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°No, I think I know why I¡¯m Delving, but why are you Delving? We¡¯ve been running this party with the assumption that everyone wants to do what we¡¯re doing. It looks pretty clear that that¡¯s true, but we¡¯ve never really sat down and talked about what aligns us, beyond getting big-strong.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fun!¡± said Etja, then she looked back down at her plate as she muttered the next words. ¡°And there¡¯s Orexis.¡±

    ¡°The avatar that threatens the world,¡± I said. ¡°Or, does he? We haven¡¯t heard a thing about the guy since we kicked off our marathon.¡±

    ¡°A creature like that,¡± said Varrin, ¡°does not simply walk away from what it seeks.¡±

    ¡°He sought his sister. She¡¯s loose, and maybe they¡¯ve already met up.¡±

    ¡°He won¡¯t stop coming after us,¡± said Etja. ¡°After we defied him and let Fortune take Anesis¡­ He¡¯ll find us. One day.¡±

    ¡°Amass power to defend ourselves,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a legitimate reason to Delve.¡± Etja nodded.

    ¡°Protect Eschendur,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I need the strength to return, and the strength to push back the Littans.¡±

    ¡°Defend others. I think that¡¯s also good.¡±

    ¡°I just wanna know what¡¯s up with the Delves,¡± said Xim, shrugging. ¡°I don¡¯t think too hard about it. There¡¯s clearly something going on with platinum difficulty that¡¯s different from the others. We get all sorts of hints that you never hear about from gold or lower.¡±

    The table agreed with the sentiment, and we turned to Varrin. The warrior had gone back to staring into his horn of ale, though he didn¡¯t take a drink. His expression was dark, and there was a lot more weight behind the anger that smoldered in his eyes than a guy his age should have to bear. His eyes flicked up to meet mine, and he passed his gaze between the rest of us.

    ¡°In the Creation Delve,¡± he said, voice low, ¡°I was overconfident in my abilities. If that Delve had been a normal platinum Delve, I believe we would have conquered it without any losses. What I learned that day, and what I¡¯ve learned since, is that there are no normal platinum Delves. It was arrogance to expect the Delve to cater to my assumptions, and people died under my watch.¡±

    He sat back, looking over the crowd of people in the tavern and I followed his gaze. The room was full of mundane humans, but there were a dozen other Delvers mixed in, some in groups, others with what looked like friends or family. Most of them were below our level.

    ¡°I took that lesson to heart when I went back to Ravvenblaq. I decided that I would make sure I had the skill to carry my party through, if another¡­ difficult¡­ situation arose. I discussed with my parents, my grandparents,¡± he gestured at Xim, ¡°Drel and Xorna, as well. Their wisdom matched much of what I¡¯d learned firsthand. They were lessons I¡¯d already been taught while training for Creation, but lessons that required a hard kick to settle into my mind, it seems.

    ¡°And then, I made another mistake.¡± His eyes narrowed. ¡°I assumed that my parents were almighty. Thundralkes of the most powerful nation in the world, blood of one of the most powerful Delvers. Platinum, and nearly as fearsome as the highest echelons that can be reached by gold. They, too, were swatted like insects by an enemy with power outside the bounds of what is to be ¡®expected¡¯. My father was murdered, my mother¡­¡± He trailed off.

    I wasn¡¯t certain about the state that Nola Ravvenblaq had been in since The Cage and the death of her husband, but Varrin¡¯s careful avoidance of the topic had told me it was nothing good.

    ¡°I Delve because I must,¡± he said, fist clenched hard enough that the horn of ale groaned in protest. ¡°To protect Hiward from Orexis, and whatever other unknown powers-that-may-be. To protect Ravvenblaq, to protect my family.¡± He relaxed his grip on the horn, and placed his elbows on the table. ¡°But I will not lie to you, either. That is what should drive me, and it does. But the thing that sends me through those portals, what presses me forward every moment, is the thought of slaying the beast that has done this thing.¡±

    He finally took another drink from his horn, draining it. The waitress began to approach, but he held up a hand and shook his head. He sat the horn on its rest with care, then stood.

    ¡°I would take my leave,¡± he said. ¡°I- I would better serve this conversation after some time has passed.¡± Then, he turned and left.

    We sat in silence, stunned. It was more insight than any of us had gotten into Varrin¡¯s thoughts in months. What he said hadn¡¯t surprised me, I¡¯d suspected as much, but the fact that he laid it all out there so plainly was unusual. Especially the last part.

    [He could have merely said ¡®protection¡¯ as well.]

    [Is your goal to be as insensitive as conceivable, Grotto?]

    [That would be impossible, as the thought of sensitivity does not enter my mind.]

    [You say that, but I don¡¯t believe you. Did you want to add your own goals to the discussion?]

    [You are not already aware of what I seek?]

    [No! You don¡¯t tell us shit, other than some abstract commandments about strength and conquest. If you want to drop the smokescreen, feel free. Until then, I¡¯ll put you down as undecided.]

    Grotto didn¡¯t reply, and Xim broke the silence.

    ¡°What about you, Arlo?¡± she asked. ¡°I think that you¡¯re the real mystery. Everything that happened last year made sense; you were dropped into the Creation Delve, and then got caught up in Orexis¡¯ scheming. But, ever since, you¡¯ve been just as enthusiastic about this as the rest of us. You¡¯ve got enough money to spend the rest of your life hopping from one capital city to the next, staying in pricey inns and sleeping with top-shelf courtesans. Why don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I like travel, but I prefer my intimacy to be less transactional.¡±

    ¡°You know what I mean.¡±

    ¡°Hey, not avoiding the question, just adding some clarity. First, I¡¯m a busy-body. Even if I retired, I¡¯d find some other work to do. Leisure is something I enjoy in small doses, but not a lifestyle I think I¡¯d enjoy.

    ¡°Second, the rewards from Delving are insane. It may not be anyone here¡¯s primary motivator, but wealth and superpowers? Sign me up. I think we all feel that way to some degree.¡± Nuralie and Xim nodded. ¡°I mean, we¡¯ve got a lot more than walkin¡¯ around money. That mimic Delve was absolute trash for rewards, and we still each got two emerald chips. You could buy a small estate for that.¡±

    ¡°Or a big boat,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°And hire a crew for a year.¡±

    ¡°Where I came from, I¡¯d have to take out a loan and then work for twenty years to pay the bank back in order to buy a decent house. I just made that kind of money in a couple of days, and it was a shit-tier reward!¡±

    ¡°I still can¡¯t believe we got diamond chips for the specter,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°I could retire modestly on the interest those generate, alone.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re making interest?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Yeah. I know a gal. Can introduce you later if you like.¡±

    ¡°I thought you spent it all on that orphanage,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°No way. An orphanage that fancy would be called a prep school.¡±

    ¡°You literally named it a school.¡±

    ¡°Point is, chips and stats are reward enough in and of themselves,¡± I continued. ¡°I also think I¡¯m an adrenaline junky and never realized it. We¡¯re dancing on a knife¡¯s edge with our lives, but I¡¯m usually enjoying myself inside of Delves.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fun!¡± Etja said again.

    ¡°And there¡¯s Orexis,¡± I said, mirroring her earlier sentiment. ¡°Put my worry about him on the pile as well. I like the idea of protecting people, too, although you guys are the main people I¡¯d want to protect, and each of you is hardly a vulnerable target.¡±

    ¡°Tanking mindset,¡± said Xim with a grin.

    ¡°But the core of it, the main thrust of why I¡¯m so on board with the pace Varrin wants to set, is that I¡¯m worried.¡±

    ¡°What are you worried about?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°You have seemed anxious lately,¡± said Xim.

    I tapped my finger against the table, organizing my thoughts.

    ¡°The state of the world¡­ troubles me.¡±

 87 - Tavio of Seqaria

    ¡°There are many who are worried,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Between the avatars and Litta, there is much to be concerned about.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s going on in Eschendur and whatever Orexis is brewing is serious. I don¡¯t want to downplay that. But¡­¡± I took a moment to look around the tavern. So far, everything I¡¯d said was either something I didn¡¯t care about other people knowing, or the type of thing that could be written off as a joke or drunken boasting. However, I needed to get into some more sensitive topics to properly explain my trepidation. ¡°Tell you what, this is probably a discussion better had in private.¡±

    ¡°Geez, Arlo,¡± said Xim, ¡°and you complained about The Mimic stringing us along.¡±

    ¡°Now you decide to be discreet,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you! Just let me pay the bill, and we can hop inside the Closet back in my room.¡±

    ¡°If I go upstairs, I¡¯m going to bed,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We just got up three hours ago.¡± I leaned over to peek out one of the tavern windows. It looked like the sun had long set.

    ¡°Yeah, but my schedule¡¯s all screwed up after we left the Delve. I went to bed at sunrise today.¡±

    Etja yawned.

    ¡°I can always sleep,¡± she said.

    ¡°Just give us the basics,¡± said Xim. ¡°Use¡­ code phrases or something.¡±

    I rubbed at my eyes, then gave her a tired glance. She watched me expectantly.

    ¡°Really? You can¡¯t wait five minutes?¡±

    ¡°If we go upstairs,¡± she said, ¡°open the Closet, and go into your magic penthouse to talk about one of your theories, it¡¯s not going to be five minutes.¡±

    ¡°I will admit, that¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Outline it for us. Entice me with your hints and intrigue.¡±

    I drummed my fingers along the table and considered.

    ¡°There are some patterns I¡¯m noticing here that remind me of some things that happened in my¡­ homeland during the century before I was born. Mutual defense pacts, an aggressive imperialist nation, an ongoing technological renaissance¡­ Most importantly, however, you¡¯ve got the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen, and these lands have yet to experience the devastation that fielding those weapons in open conflict will cause.¡±

    ¡°Are you talking about Delvers?¡± asked Xim.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Among other things. Hiward also has a fucking airship the size of a small lake hovering over Foundation.¡±

    She furrowed her brow and thought for a moment. ¡°People know Delvers are dangerous,¡± she said. ¡°No mundane soldier in their right mind would try to fight one.¡±

    ¡°Soldiers rarely choose whether they go to war,¡± I said. ¡°Or, who they fight when they do so.¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°Look, I¡¯m not claiming anything will or won¡¯t happen. The conditions here are very different from where I came from, but maybe not as different as you might imagine. It¡¯s something that I¡¯m paying attention to.¡±

    ¡°You said this reminds you of your history,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°How about this,¡± I said. ¡°Timagrin, Mittak, and Hiward all have reciprocal defense treaties. If one of them gets pulled into war, all three of them do. On the other hand, you have the Littan Empire, which is made up of Litta and six vassal nations. When Litta marches, that¡¯s a seven-nation army. If a conflict arose between those two sides, you¡¯d have three-quarters of Arzia wrapped up in it.¡±

    ¡°You think Litta would be that stupid?¡± asked Xim. Nuralie was the one who answered.

    ¡°Yes.¡± Pause. ¡°They are already doing it.¡±

    ¡°Hiward and Eschendur are friendly,¡± I said, ¡°and that hasn¡¯t deterred Litta from whatever dumbassery they¡¯re engaging with over there. Hiward¡¯s relationship with Litta, however, is one of necessity. Given the history between Litta and Hiward, it¡¯s surprising they haven¡¯t fought more than they already have.

    ¡°Right now, peace is kept through mutual deterrence. Hiward has way more Delvers, but Litta has way more people and resources. Litta can¡¯t approach Hiward because of how well-entrenched the nation is. There¡¯s a big stretch of ocean between them, and every port along Hiward¡¯s coast doubles as a military fortification. Hiward can¡¯t approach Litta, either, because they don¡¯t have the manpower to seize and control such vast swaths of territory. If given the chance, I¡¯m sure either side would be happy to be rid of the other.¡±

    ¡°But, why?¡± asked Etja. ¡°What would they fight over? I know the Littans enslaved the Hiwardians a long time ago, but is it worth starting a war because you''re grumpy about the past?¡±

    ¡°The most important ¡®natural¡¯ resource in the world,¡± I said, ¡°is the Creation Delve. Only a hundred new Delvers can be minted every year, and Hiward gets to say who those hundred people are. They have total control over the number of superhumans available to every nation on this planet.¡±

    ¡°Just Delvers,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°There are other roads to power.¡± Pause. ¡°But delving is the easiest.¡±

    ¡°Litta has guaranteed slots every year,¡± said Xim. ¡°It¡¯s not like Hiward can completely deny them.¡±

    ¡°There are treaties, sure,¡± I said. ¡°But how secure is that? Litta has the largest share of Creation slots next to Hiward, and Hiward still has twice as many as Litta does, despite having a fraction of the population. As far as what everyone else gets? They¡¯re fighting over scraps.¡±

    ¡°So, Litta wants the Creation Delve?¡± said Etja, ¡°And Hiward wants those extra slots back?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not a politician, but wars have been fought over less. Regardless, if it comes down to conflict, you¡¯d have two multinational superpowers going to war with an army of Delvers at their backs, in addition to their traditional militaries. That¡¯s never happened, and I¡¯m afraid of what that looks like.¡±

    ¡°There was the Davahn invasion,¡± said Xim. ¡°Thirty years ago. That involved Delvers.¡±

    ¡°Only in a minor way. Davah didn¡¯t have many Delvers because they didn¡¯t have many Creation slots. That¡¯s why they sailed against Hiward in the first place, and they were beaten so badly that their whole country went into hiding and hasn¡¯t come out since. History has shown us that you can¡¯t fight Delvers without Delvers, but not what it looks like when you do.

    ¡°Just imagine Matriarch Dukgrien raining fire on a Littan city. She can light up an entire mountain with one spell! Now, what does the retaliation for that look like? A single fight between two high-level Delvers could annihilate an entire region. What about a fight between a hundred mid-level Delvers? A thousand?¡± I turned back to Nuralie.

    ¡°What happened in my homeland is that no one really understood how devastating a war with these new weapons would be. Once the fighting started, everyone got sucked into it, and that only led to even faster development and production of deadly technologies. By the end, entire nations were ruined, and millions were dead.¡±

    Nuralie shifted in her seat, and her tail began to swish in agitation.

    ¡°Something like that,¡± said Xim, ¡°don¡¯t you think it would end quickly? What general would send a mundane army against a group of Delvers?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s common knowledge here in Hiward how dangerous Delvers are because Hiward¡¯s concentration of Delvers is tens of times higher than anywhere else per capita. I expect there are a lot of traditional military commanders in the world who may have never met a Delver, or if they have, only ones who are low-level. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they didn¡¯t take the threat seriously, especially if one little party of Delvers told them to turn their whole ten-thousand-man-strong army around. It¡¯s the type of thing that defies common sense until you¡¯ve seen it in action.¡±

    ¡°You think you could fight ten thousand people?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Normal soldiers?¡± I said, then sat forward in my chair. ¡°How would they hurt me? I wouldn¡¯t need a single spell or technique. I could just swing my hammer until my arm got tired, and my arm would never get tired.¡±

    Xim tilted her head to one side as she thought about that, and I saw that the message got through. Even amongst Delvers, the impact they could have on a battlefield had no frame of reference.

    ¡°This¡­ has been lovely,¡± said Nuralie, and she stood. ¡°But, I do not want to hear more. I¡¯m going to go and be depressed in my room now.¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll come, too!¡± said Etja, hopping up behind the loson. The pair wished Xim and me a good night, then went on their way.

    Xim and I sat in silence for a while, the sounds of the tavern growing more raucous as new patrons filed in for the after-dinner revels. A trio of musicians took to a low stage and began filling the room with jaunty tunes and a scandalously worded song about a well-endowed barmaid and her three equally well-equipped suitors.

    A dark expression marred Xim¡¯s features until she blew out a breath and it disappeared.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot to think about!¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go think about it in bed. Also, Arlo?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°The world isn¡¯t your responsibility.¡±

    ¡°I know. But I live in it.¡±

    ¡°We should try to do something fun,¡± she said. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d get sick of Delves, but you can only do one thing for so long, ya¡¯ know?¡±

    ¡°Believe me, I know. I''m still worried about my intrinsic skills since they represent half of my combat capability and are half of what they should be. According to Varrin, at least. We''re starting to run into things I can''t kill with a vigorous sneeze. But, you''re right. It''s time for a break.¡±

    ¡°Intrinsics take time, but while you work on those you could try putting points somewhere other than Fortitude. Besides, the Delves aren''t going anywhere. But first, we''ll plan out our time off tomorrow.¡± She hesitated before leaving, studying me, but left without voicing whatever it was she was thinking through.

    I let the sounds of the tavern flow over me for a time and tried to allow my mind to exist in the moment. I banished the thoughts of what the next year would look like, how to improve my training or build, and any lingering worries about what had happened in the past.

    Tension left my neck and shoulders, and I realized that I¡¯d been letting the stress build without a release valve for some time. I figured that everyone had been. I was making incredible progress with skills and levels, but I somehow still always felt behind. That was nothing new, though. Just part of the Arlo condition.

    I slid into my meditative state, something I hadn¡¯t done in a while, and time passed without my notice. At some point, the waitress came to check on me and I ordered a glass of what I¡¯d come to consider whiskey, but left it untouched on the table in front of me. I started into its amber surface, running my fingers along the side of the crystal tumbler as I let the world¡¯s sensations travel through an empty head, unbothered.

    The trance was broken when a man sat down across from me and slid a mug of fruit juice in my direction.

    I looked up from my drink to find dark eyes and brown fur, a gently sloping snout, and delicate whiskers.

    While most Littans were lithe, the one across from me had a thick layer of densely packed muscle across his arms and chest, and I presumed the trend continued down below the table. His body was still on the leaner side, lacking the broad and beefy girth of a high-Strength Hiwardian, but I didn¡¯t let his physique tempt me into thinking he couldn¡¯t bench-press a rhinoceros.

    He was level seventeen, full gold, with a few of the violet striations that told me he¡¯d conquered at least a couple of special-grade Delves. The base layer of his soul was a flowing river of grain, eagerly awaiting its turn to sprout from the earth.

    ¡°You are Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, no?¡± he said in sharply accented Hiwardian. The last Littan I¡¯d spent any time speaking with was Sir Sayil back in the Creation Delve, whose accent had been close to a western drawl. The way this gentleman spoke made it sound like he was from an entirely different country altogether. He probably was, in fact.

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± I said, trying to hide my apprehension. I couldn¡¯t think of many reasons a Littan would track me down, and the ones I could think of weren¡¯t good.

    ¡°My name is Tavio,¡± he said, pressing a hand to his chest. ¡°Tavio of Seqaria. I was wondering if I might speak with you for a few moments?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got me curious, Tavio. What would you like to speak about?¡±

    Tavio smiled and scooted his chair a little closer under the table.

    ¡°You and your party discuss some interesting things,¡± he said.

    ¡°Eavesdropping?¡± His grin broadened and he waved a hand.

    ¡°Please, one does not need to eavesdrop to hear what you were saying. You announce it to the whole room. I could practically hear you across the street.¡±

    He had a point.

    ¡°Which part got you interested?¡± I asked.

    ¡°All of it, I think.¡± He sat an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand, looking off toward the raunchy minstrels. ¡°I have heard about mana-shaping, but not this thing, restrictions, as you called it. Did you know that you can mana-shape techniques as well?¡±

    I raised my eyebrows. The thought had occurred to me, but I¡¯d had no reason to explore it.

    ¡°Do you call that¡­ stamina-shaping?¡± He pursed his lips.

    ¡°I call it mana-shaping,¡± he said, looking as though this were the first time he¡¯d considered calling it anything else. ¡°Mana for spells, stamina for techniques, at the end of the day they are both magic. It matters little what you call it when the application is the same.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I like specificity in my nomenclature.¡±

    ¡°You said that you stumbled upon your restriction for your explosion spell. Have you had any success designing restrictions intentionally?¡±

    I watched him for a second, realizing he¡¯d heard more than some snippets of my party¡¯s chat. It was like he¡¯d been right there at the table with us. Did that mean¡­ high Wisdom? A specific evolution? Or maybe I was louder than I realized. I¡¯d heard that complaint a few times in my life.

    ¡°Not so far,¡± I said. ¡°My skill set has been pretty effective, and nothing else has felt quite right if that makes sense. With Explosion!, the chant began partially out of necessity. I adapted the spell to my role. I haven¡¯t needed to do that with anything else so far.¡±

    ¡°Ah, a solution for a challenge. That is the best kind of progress, I think.¡±

    ¡°More fun than theory-crafting,¡± I said. I went ahead and took a sip of the juice. The guy was being nice enough, and it was more expensive than the whiskey. No reason to let it go to waste.

    I did not get any poison notifications.

    ¡°So, did you just want to interview me about my team meeting, or¡­¡± I trailed off as Tavio turned back to lock eyes with me. His expression had turned grim.

    ¡°I am afraid not, no,¡± he said, crossing his meaty arms. ¡°My duchess has tasked me with finding you, to ask you some questions about your Creation Delve.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Sir Sayil.¡±

    ¡°Yes, may Griosan bless his path through the darkness beyond.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°We all gave our accounts to members of Central. I expect those reports sum up the events fairly well.¡±

    ¡°It is not usually our custom to rely upon reports when one of our own has perished. Especially when those reports are prepared by officials who are subservient to one of the¡­ involved parties.¡±

    ¡°What, Varrin?¡± I said. ¡°He doesn¡¯t have any authority over members of Central.¡±

    ¡°Certainly you are not so naive, Esquire Arlo. His great-grandfather helped to establish the organization. If anyone would receive special treatment, it would be him.¡±

    ¡°Yes, nepotism is a thing. However, I¡¯ve spent a good amount of time with the Ravvenblaqs since then. They¡¯re not so¡­ subtle, I suppose? If they wanted to help Varrin get away with something, they¡¯d just draw a sword and dare you to come and get him, not participate in some kind of coverup.¡±

    ¡°Such is as I¡¯ve heard. Still, it is something that I must do.¡±

    ¡°Then what do you want to know?¡±

    He sat up straighter.

    ¡°Did Varrin Ravvenblaq take any actions that contributed to, or resulted in, the death of Sir Sayil Starion of Nohrrin?¡±

    The way he worded the question was so precise that I suspected he was using some ability to tell the truth of my reply. Either that, or he¡¯d recited words dictated to him by someone else.

    ¡°Varrin chose the difficulty of the Delve without consulting the party,¡± I said. ¡°Sayil had an issue with that, but nothing physical ever occurred between the pair of them. Once we were inside, Varrin acted with skill and care, but the challenges of the Delve were greater than any of us contemplated. Sir Sayil was killed by a level two Delver named Hognay Haskagander, who was aided by a Delve Core that he¡¯d coerced into his service.¡±

    I took another sip of juice, waiting for any further questions. Tavio frowned thoughtfully and played with a whisker.

    ¡°It is a good answer,¡± he said.

    ¡°It¡¯s the truth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I believe you.¡±

    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re done?¡±

    ¡°No, I do not think so.¡±

    ¡°Then what else can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°Where do you come from, Esquire Arlo?¡± he asked, uncrossing his arms and resting his chin on his palm again. ¡°I heard you speak of your home, but it does not sound familiar to me.¡±

    ¡°Does this relate to Sayil in some way?¡±

    He looked up toward the ceiling, and his nose twitched.

    ¡°It could, I suppose, but it is not why I am asking.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t like to discuss my past.¡±

    Tavio looked disappointed, but let his arm drop to the table and sat back.

    ¡°There are other questions I was told to ask,¡± he said, ¡°but I do not feel they are important. The types of things that one with no nose for the truth might ask.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s so, I should be getting back to my room. I¡¯ve already stayed up later than I intended.¡±

    ¡°Before you do that,¡± said Tavio, holding up a hand, ¡°I would ask a favor.¡±

    ¡°What¡­ kind of favor?¡±

    Tavio placed both hands on the tabletop and leaned in toward me, his eyes growing a little wider, his whiskers dancing.

    ¡°Fight me.¡±

    I took a cue from Nuralie and froze for a second.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I would like you to fight me.¡±

    ¡°Dude, you¡¯re level seventeen.¡±

    ¡°And you have done five platinum Delves in one year!¡± he said, growing excited. ¡°I wish to know how strong you are, to do such a thing.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ No, I¡¯m not going to fight you. I¡¯m not trying to die tonight.¡±

    ¡°I will pull my punches!¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said, doubting. ¡°What¡¯s your Strength score?¡±

    ¡°What is your Fortitude?¡±

    Tavio had continued to lean in, rising to his feet until his chair clattered over onto the ground. The jacked beastman loomed over the table, and I¡¯d pulled back so far that I was slouched into my chair. He seemed to realize what he was doing, and a cool look came over him as he stood upright.

    ¡°You will not fight me?¡± he asked. I shook my head. ¡°It is a pity.¡±

    He looked me up and down out of the corner of his eye, then walked away toward the bar.

    ¡°What the shit,¡± I mumbled, watching him as he beckoned the barkeep forward. I saw a viridian glint from within Tavio¡¯s palm as the Littan slid the barman something. It was a chip.

    A fucking emerald chip.

    Tavio leaned over and I barely made out what he said over the noise of the tavern.

    ¡°For the damages.¡±

    The barkeep¡¯s eyes went wide, and Tavio spun on his heel then marched back toward me.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said, ¡°you¡¯re not about to-¡±

    He was about to.

    Tavio punched the fuck out of me.

 88 - Dont PvP with a PvE Spec

    Past Arlo sometimes did future Arlo favors. In this instance, past Arlo had considered the idea that future Arlo would one day be caught with his chausses down, and had chosen a Speed evolution with that in mind. After all, this wasn¡¯t the first time that another Delver decided to surprise me with an unexpected gift of violence.

    My inventory screen opened and closed so fast that it was little more than a blue flash on the edge of my vision, and my arm swept into the bracer that held Gracorvus in a fraction of a second.

    Rapid Blocks

    You may equip or stow your shield near instantaneously. Your Speed is considered doubled for determining how quickly you can block.

    Gracorvus snapped into targe mode and Tavio¡¯s fist crashed into the shield, the blow sending a shock through my entire body. The tavern was filled with a resounding gong like Tavio had just rung a church bell and, despite my block, pain erupted in my forearm.

    HP: 1220 -> 1184

    Tavio hit me with an empty fist, through a shield, and did more damage than one of the mimic¡¯s surprise attacks. But while the punch hurt, the ceiling hurt more.

    Tavio struck with an uppercut, and the force of his blow launched me through the air in a diagonal up to and then through the twenty-foot-high ceiling above. I smashed into the timbers, the air was crushed out of my lungs, and my world was awash in splinters.

    The deafening crash of snapping planks announced my uninvited entry into the second-story room of a Hiwardian couple in the throes of intimate activities, and I heard a woman¡¯s screams for a quarter second before I connected with the next ceiling. The boards bent and cracked, but refused to allow me through to the roof, and I bounced off, hit the wall, shattered a dresser, then tumbled to the ground.

    The couple looked down at me, their cries turned to shocked silence.

    HP: 1179 -> 1128

    ¡°Apologies,¡± I groaned as I hopped to my feet, then ran toward the door to the room. Tavio¡¯s strike had certainly activated my I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me achievement, which would give me one second to act and plan while the Littan was stunned. Of course, most of that second had been spent on air travel. When I grabbed the doorknob, a furred arm slapped itself across the exit, and when I pulled, the handle tore from the sturdy door as Tavio kept it from opening inward.

    I looked up to see the Littan staring at me with his big, black orbs, looking just as relaxed as when we¡¯d been discussing spell restrictions over a mug of fruit juice.

    ¡°That is a good ability,¡± he said. ¡°I did not expect to be stunned.¡± He connected across my jaw with an elbow, and my whole body spun with the speed of a figure skater going for a perfect ten. The room whirled as I found the bedroom¡¯s western wall and I could practically hear a disembodied voice shouting ¡°Let it rip!¡± as I connected like a fucking Beyblade, my torso shredding the planks.

    I ended up halfway through the wall, my upper body hanging into an adjoining room where a pair of feathered Deijinon gaped at me, wide-eyed.

    HP: 1128 -> 1047

    ¡°Please forgive the intrusion,¡± came Tavio¡¯s voice from behind me as I tumbled forward. ¡°He is being difficult, I hope that you understand.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m being difficult?!¡± I shouted as I got to my feet and turned. A couple of teeth flew from my mouth when I spoke and I stared at them dumbly, momentarily struck by the loss, and by lack of blood in my mouth.

    Tavio was talking to the pair of Hiwardians with arms raised in a shrug, as though he were embarrassed for me. He turned and raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°We could have done this somewhere else,¡± he said, then placed a hand on his hip. ¡°That was a good block, earlier. It is an evolution, yes? Rapid Blocks. That means your Speed is at least a ten.¡± He walked forward and stepped through the hole I¡¯d made as I backpedaled, but my leg found the edge of the bed where the two Deinjenon sat frozen. ¡°I know that your Fortitude is forty, at minimum, since you shouted to everyone in the town that you were choosing the Total Regeneration perk. At level six, you would have sixty-six stat points. Dedicating nearly two-thirds of them to Fortitude is a bold choice. I like it.¡±

    I cast Shortcut and appeared behind Tavio, back inside the Hiwardians¡¯ bedroom, then shoulder-checked the door and smashed it down. I ran out into the hall, finding several more of the inn¡¯s guests peeking out from their rooms, disturbed by the ruckus. I needed backup for this shit, but I hadn¡¯t paid attention to where everyone else in my party was staying. Still, the inn wasn¡¯t that big, I just needed to-

    A hand landed on my shoulder.

    ¡°Your block was quite sturdy, and you broke that door like it was nothing. That is a ten in Strength at the least, I think.¡±

    I wheeled around and formed Gracorvus into its pointed formation, driving the blunted tip toward Tavio¡¯s wrist. He pulled the limb back with easy grace, avoiding the strike.

    ¡°That teleport is called Shortcut,¡± he said, holding one arm behind his back and studying the clawed fingers of his other. He picked at the nail of his pointer finger with his thumb, then flicked away whatever he¡¯d dislodged. ¡°Then you have Dimensional Magic at level ten or more, and it is not the cheapest spell, so I expect you have invested in Wisdom.¡± He paused and scratched at his chin. ¡°That should be all of your points¡­¡±

    I turned and looked through the window at the end of the hallway, then cast Shortcut to get outside. If I was going to stand any chance against this asshole, I needed more room. I couldn¡¯t fight properly inside of an occupied building.

    I popped into existence twenty-five feet off the ground, and used Gracorvus to slow my descent, landing in the middle of the square. It was crowded with people, many of whom had been gawking up at the inn and they shouted in alarm when I appeared. They quickly gave me some breathing room, although several were still closer than I liked.

    ¡°Clear the area!¡± I shouted as I pulled out my warhammer, Arbitros. A handful sprinted off and a few more began to walk away hesitantly, but many more ignored my warning. Tavio opened the window and hopped down, landing as though he¡¯d fallen only a couple of feet.

    ¡°You should only have enough points for two Wisdom,¡± said Tavio as he strolled forward. ¡°Which would mean you are out of mana. Tell me, how would you do a platinum Delve with such low offensive stats? Do you simply let the enemy strike at you while your party deals all the damage?¡±

    I considered pulling out a throwing hammer, but didn¡¯t like the collateral damage that might cause. If Tavio dodged, the projectile would smash through a good chunk of the inn behind him before halting, whether or not I used Homing Weapon to bring the hammer back. I had no idea how many people that might maim or kill. Explosion! was equally useless with so many people around. The radius was too big, even without charging it.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    That left me with a handful of shitty melee options against a melee fighter who was clearly beyond me. He was using his bare fucking hands and two hits had chunked away fifteen percent of my health.

    Tavio dashed forward, his body bursting with glorious light. He was on me in an instant, the world exploded in a flash, and I was airborne again.

    You have taken Righteous damage! Sumrann has judged you worthy, and no bonus damage has been dealt.

    The notification was of little solace as my health took another decent hit.

    HP: 1047 -> 996

    [You should be more concerned with your own survival than the inconsequential lives of the plebeians around you!] came Grotto¡¯s voice in my mind as I soared through the air and smashed through the front of a haberdashery on the opposite side of the square. [The discomfort this is causing me is substantial!] The store was closed for the evening, so no one was inside, but suits and dress wear tumbled down on top of me as several shelves collapsed.

    [Not my style, Grotto,] I thought as I extricated myself from the fashionable attire. Tavio was already in front of me.

    I¡¯d kept my grip on Arbitros and swung it at him, but the fucker punched my hammer. His fist struck the head of the weapon and knocked it away with enough force to nearly tear it from my grasp. Tavio followed up with a left hook that sent me through the southern wall of the shop and back out into the street.

    Shards of glass and wood were stuck in my hair and beard, and I spat out another tooth. By this point, most of the onlookers were fleeing in earnest, shouting or screaming in alarm.

    HP: 996 -> 925

    [Then summon Shog¡¯tuatha for assistance! I am sure that the brute would be more than willing to consume this insufferable rat.]

    [You want me to summon a c¡¯thon in the middle of a crowded Hiwardian city?]

    [As your summon, he must obey you. He will not harm these people! To deny yourself his aid is giving greater weight to their emotional comfort than your own life. Don¡¯t be a fool!]

    I clenched my teeth, painfully aware of the ragged gums where three of them had been smashed out. Grotto was right, I couldn¡¯t worry over what the people around me thought about a c¡¯thon rampaging through their town, so long as it wasn¡¯t eating people along the way.

    I cast Dimensional Summon, a gaping tear opened in reality. Tendrils snaked out of it, covered in multicolored feathers. Tavio paused his slow advance through the fresh door he¡¯d carved with my body to study the spell as I clambored to my feet.

    [Move the Closet entrance to the pound. I¡¯m going to try and take this fight somewhere safer.]

    [Safer for you,] Grotto thought with sinister glee, [much less safe for him.]

    ¡°That is Dimensional Summon!¡± Tavio said, looking surprised. ¡°It is quite expensive. Have I mistaken your stat distribution? Or¡­¡±

    A demonic voice purred, interrupting Tavio.

    ¡°It is good to hear your call once more, slayer of Ihbriobrixilas.¡±

    Shog¡¯tuatha emerged from the portal, eight feet of impossibly lean c¡¯thonic muscle, covered in pulsing veins beneath boreal skin. Downy tentacles spilled down the front of his face from his cephalopod head like a nightmarish beard, but the tentacles were no longer uniform.

    After nearly being consumed by Orexis, I had dismissed Shog back to his home dimension sporting vicious wounds that cut all the way down to his dark bones. Many of his original tentacles had been lost, but Shog had picked up a few new tricks after eating a part of the specter.

    A wounded c¡¯thon is food, according to Shog, and that seemed to be the prevailing opinion on his homeworld. When he was dismissed, he was set upon by a mountain of foes seeking to finish the job that Orexis had started, but Shog had slaughtered them endlessly. After tapping into Orexis¡¯ soul, he¡¯d learned how to bond with the essence of his victims, and had taken to claiming tentacles from those he slew as trophies, and as replacements.

    Shog¡¯s beard was now an amalgamation of feelers, varying in length, color, and girth. One swayed through the air, covered in chitinous barbs that clacked and clattered, another glowed with spectral luminescence, and a third dripped venomous ichor. There were many more interspersed between the remaining black and green tendrils that were his originals, and the ones that came stock flexed with monstrous strength.

    ¡°It is grade ten!¡± shouted Tavio. ¡°How do you summon something so strong?¡±

    I narrowed my eyes at Tavio. The jackass had started a fight I didn¡¯t want, and even though he fought me without armaments, I had no guarantee that he was trying to let me live. For all I knew, he was ordered to exact revenge over the death of Sayil, regardless of whether he believed Varrin, Xim, or I had contributed to the Littan¡¯s death.

    When someone attacked me without warning my default assumption was that it was with lethal intent. Beyond that, Tavio had somehow managed to keep from punching me through any people while he slugged me through walls, but I had no idea how long that pattern would last. Someone was going to die.

    ¡°Shog,¡± I said, ¡°hungry?¡±

    ¡°Always.¡±

    Shog didn¡¯t need anything more. The c¡¯thon shot through the air at Tavio, and the Littan was taken by surprise when one of the summon¡¯s tentacles shivered with a blaze of mana, firing a paralyzing arc of power at the man.

    Tavio stepped to the side and narrowly avoided the beam, but Shog brought several feelers down on the Littan. Tavio struck at the tentacles as they assaulted him, his fists landing with meaty thunks. Shog¡¯s feelers were shunted away with each blow, and I could already see violet c¡¯thon blood beginning to dribble onto the ground.

    Still, Tavio had only two hands, and Shog¡¯s feelers were endless. The c¡¯thon got a pair wrapped around Tavio¡¯s waist and began stabbing the Littan with a venomous stinger. Tavio¡¯s expression finally moved from calm surprise, to irritation.

    ¡°Detestable creature!¡± Tavio spat, then connected with a glowing fist in Shog¡¯s face. There was a burst of radiant light like I¡¯d seen when the Littan charged me, and Shog let out an inhuman howl. Rather than releasing the Littan, however, the c¡¯thon was enraged.

    I moved in as Shog began to flail at his grappled foe with increased ferocity and used Nimean Weapon to layer Oblivion Orb onto my hammer swing. I went for Tavio¡¯s center mass, trying to angle my strike away from Shog¡¯s feelers, and not trusting myself enough for a head blow.

    Tavio continued to punch Shog¡¯s feelers away, and a few of them were little more than pulp by this point, raining monstrous blood onto the ground. The Littan twisted his body, wrenching himself free of Shog¡¯s grip, and struck the head of my warhammer again. His strike landed on its side, and Oblivion Orb failed to activate.

    The weapon shattered.

    The hammer¡¯s head scattered into a hundred pieces that shot down the street like a shotgun blast. They shredded through the exterior of a bakery across from us, furniture and display cases exploding from the force. Tavio tore a tentacle from Shog¡¯s face, then landed a kick to the c¡¯thon¡¯s center that sent him flying away. Shog caught himself in the air before crashing into a building, using his c¡¯thonic flight to stabilize himself.

    Tavio turned and scowled at me.

    ¡°You work with such a beast?¡± he snarled. ¡°I had a better impression of you than that.¡±

    [The Closet entrance has been moved.]

    I dropped the handle of my broken weapon onto the ground, then detached Gracorvus, sending it into hover mode. I began to focus on opening the Closet, mana-shaping the ability.

    ¡°Shog,¡± I said, and the c¡¯thon growled in response. ¡°Taking this guy on a trip.¡±

    Shog roared and blasted toward Tavio as I cast Shortcut to appear behind him. At the same time, I commanded Gracorvus to fly at the Littan, creating a three-point assault.

    Tavio spun and punched Gracorvus away, the shield scattering into its individual slabs. They spun in the air, trying to reform as I thrust my palm at Tavio¡¯s side, pumping mana into an Oblivion Orb. The Littan caught my wrist and twisted. I felt bones snap as Tavio leaned into the move. There was a resounding pop as the spell activated, but without contacting my target. Tavio¡¯s lock brought me to the ground, and I face-planted into the dirt roadway, made muddy by Shog¡¯s blood. The acrid scent of it filled my nostrils.

    Amidst the fray, the Closet opened, and Tavio had busied himself avoiding my two-pronged attack. Shog barreled into the Littan, wrapping him up and pushing him toward the Closet entrance.

    Tavio¡¯s feet dug into the ground, dirt piling beneath the soles of his boots as they dug deep into the road. I cast Shortcut again, appearing beside Tavio and I kicked at his knee. The Littan bent his leg inward in response, my foot meeting the front of his kneecap, but the move cost him leverage against Shog¡¯s charge.

    He stumbled off balance and Shog carried him through the portal and into the Closet.

 89 - Donâ€™t PvP in a Pocket Dimension Controlled by Your Opponent

    Tavio regained his stance after being pushed a few steps across the portal¡¯s threshold, then threw Shog aside with another burst of radiant light. The pitch dark room within the Closet was illuminated in a photo flash of white, the sharp edges of the uneven metal floor glinting, but the cavernous ceiling remained cast in shadow. At the chamber¡¯s edges, forms began to stir.

    I cast Shortcut deeper into the room, then stepped carefully between sculpted potholes, the phantom pain of sprained ankles leaping to my mind. Still, I kept my eyes on Tavio. Even without the aid of my enhanced sight, I was intimately familiar with the sloping and hostile terrain.

    The Littan stood in a beam of moonlight that cut across the room from the Closet entrance. He studied his surroundings with caution, nose snuffling the air and whiskers twitching. Shog had recovered from Tavio¡¯s toss, but hovered and waited for my direction, violet blood dripping from his wounds. This fight was no longer on the aggressor¡¯s terms, and the c¡¯thon knew enough to let the asshole wade deeper into the trap.

    Deep growls sounded from the dark, echoing off hard surfaces and accompanied by the clatter of talons.

    To his credit, Tavio took the time to appraise the situation, and it seemed like the Littan wasn¡¯t fond of what he found. He stared into the gloom, shifting eyes searching for the source of the hungry snarls. Even I had trouble making out the aberrant hounds from this distance. Despite the dark, Tavio stared in their direction as the pack made their approach, as wary of the intruder as he was of them.

    ¡°This¡­ is not a spell I recognize,¡± Tavio said, taking a few steps further inside.

    I considered shutting the portal behind him, but I didn¡¯t like cutting off his only route of retreat. He¡¯d pissed me off and endangered innocents with his senseless brawl, but it wasn¡¯t yet my goal to end him by any means necessary. Even if it was, Tavio was certain to be more dangerous when trapped, and I could do without a level seventeen rampaging through all of mine and Grotto¡¯s hard work.

    The air shimmered to Tavio¡¯s left, and the Littan ducked low to the ground as a wave of dimensional force tore through the space he¡¯d just been. He placed his palms flat on the floor and tumbled forward as another shot out and left a line carved through the metal. He rolled gracefully back to his feet, searching for the source of the attacks.

    While Grotto took his potshots, I pulled out my throwing hammers. I cast another Shortcut to give myself a better angle from atop a small rise, then lobbed a Void Hammer.

    The hammer screamed through the air and Tavio dodged aside, then spun again as another arc of twisting space sought to rend his flesh. My hammer struck the ground with a crash, annihilating a soccer-ball¡¯s worth of the floor before hurtling back toward me. Tavio followed the arc of the hammer as it came back, then used his glowing charge to close the distance.

    I caught the hammer and cast another Shortcut, taking myself into the midst of the pack.

    Most of the aberrant hounds came up to my elbow, but the pack leader looked at me from eye level. Their four-legged frames were covered in knotted muscle beneath wet skin, their mouths pulled back into permanent snarls. They appraised me with rheumy eyes, but after taking a few sniffs, ignored my presence. Being the co-administrator of a Delve had its perks.

    Tavio turned his head about for a few moments before looking in my general area. I got the sense that he could make me out, but just barely. To my knowledge, Littan¡¯s didn¡¯t have the best darkvision, so it had to be a skill of some sort.

    Tavio began to make his way slowly in my direction, when the floor opened up and swallowed his foot. He let out a startled grunt, but it sounded more surprised than concerned, and he staggered to a stop. He pulled against the trap, the sound of wrenching metal filling the air.

    This fucker was strong enough to tear his way out of the Delve equivalent of reinforced steel. It didn¡¯t even look like he was trying that hard. Still, it gave him pause, and that¡¯s all that Shog, or the hounds, needed.

    I led with two Void Hammers while Tavio struggled with the ground and Grotto activated another dimensional trap. The Littan jerked his foot free and avoided all three, but Shog was on him again, wrapping him up in a barbed tentacle and landing several more strikes with a stinger. He followed it up with several clawed swipes that Tavio intercepted with his fists, leaving the c¡¯thon¡¯s fingers broken and bloodied.

    The pack leader howled and the hounds charged, splitting the pack into two groups that flanked Tavio. They quickly overwhelmed the Littan with numbers, and Tavio hurled hound after hound away from him while yet more began to chew at his thigh and calves.

    I caught my hammers and cast Shortcut into the fray, swinging with Oblivion Orb-infused strikes, but Tavio abandoned his defense against the hounds to avoid my attacks. Shog¡¯s grip did little more than slow the Littan, and I heard the awful sound of tearing skin and muscle as Tavio pulled with enough strength to begin ripping more of Shog¡¯s tentacles free.

    Even with all of the level seventeen¡¯s advantages, he couldn¡¯t dodge everything. Wounds began to cover his legs from the merciless jaws of the hounds, and Shog continued to pump him full of venom as I did my damndest to connect with a hammer.

    ¡°Stop!¡± shouted Tavio, but I ignored him and rage began to boil within me over the command. He had demanded a fight, and this was the fight I was going to give him. I didn¡¯t fuck around with sucker punches and snide comments.

    Finally, the pack leader bit down on Tavio¡¯s shoulder, and his movement was halted by the combined force of my allies. My hammer descended toward his torso and the Littan couldn¡¯t dodge away this time. But when the hammer struck, it struck with a clang.

    My eyes widened as a broad kite shield appeared over Tavio¡¯s left arm in another burst of light. The shock of the impact jolted down my arm as my weapon smashed into it. Tavio thrust the shield back at me at the same moment and I was staggered, falling back a few steps to catch my balance. Tavio bashed the pack leader with the shield and then Shog in rapid succession.

    The alpha hound was knocked away and the c¡¯thon¡¯s grip was broken, feelers hanging limp from his body. Tavio kicked at my summon once more, sending him sailing through the air. This time, when Shog caught himself, spectral vines rose from the ground and wrapped themselves around his body. Their edges were covered in sharp thorns and rose-red flower petals began filling the air. They whirled around Shog, shimmering and translucent, and I saw that they left thin cuts across the c¡¯thon¡¯s skin where they whipped past him.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Tavio raised one arm into the air and a pillar of light burst from his hand, revealing a resplendent spear that turned the area around us to daylight. He spun, and in a quarter second the legs were cut out from beneath several of the hounds. They howled as they collapsed to the ground, stumps dripping thick blood. Then, Tavio leapt backward, clearing a hundred feet and landing in front of the exit portal. He held the shield before him, eyeing the scene and looking¡­ embarrassed.

    ¡°This spar has gone farther than I intended,¡± he said.

    I began silent charging Explosion!

    ¡°Spar?¡± I said. ¡°I declined your ¡®spar¡¯. You started a fight.¡±

    He lowered his shield and inch and tilted his head to the side.

    ¡°I¡­ can see what you mean,¡± he said. ¡°I suppose that I got carried away.¡±

    I found the attitude baffling.

    ¡°What the fuck did you think was going to happen?¡± I asked, voice low. ¡°You attacked me out of nowhere. I¡¯m supposed to think it¡¯s a game?¡±

    He shrugged.

    ¡°I told you that I would pull my punches.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t feel like you did,¡± I said, running a tongue over my swollen gums. My missing teeth were still missing. I took a look at my hounds. ¡°Didn¡¯t pull your punches on my fucking dogs.¡±

    ¡°I did, though,¡± he said. ¡°They are mana monsters, no? The legs will grow back. I did not want to kill them, since they seem to be your, ah, pets?¡± I glared at him.

    ¡°You almost killed someone.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Who? The people in the inn? No, I was very careful to hit you in directions that had no people. I have a lot of experience with these things.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± What kind of person has a lot of experience punching people¡­ around other groups of people? ¡°Sure. What now?¡±

    He thought for a moment, then dropped his shield and dismissed his spear. He placed his palms together and gave me a Hiwardian bow.

    ¡°Now, I apologize,¡± he said. ¡°I am sorry that I took this so far. Please forgive my rudeness, but¡­¡± he peeked up at me, still bowing, ¡°you are much stronger than you should be for your level. I got excited.¡± He gave me a stupid grin.

    ¡°You done?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, standing up straight once more. ¡°I shall take my leave.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°Then get the fuck out of my closet.¡±

    I snapped my fingers.

    The deafening roar of Explosion! resounded through the space and Tavio was sent hurtling. He flew back out into Hiward and then through the wall of the bakery he¡¯d trashed with the shrapnel from my broken hammer. The Littan¡¯s body did far more damage than the debris had and, I am embarrassed to admit, it was incredibly satisfying.

    Maybe I didn¡¯t mind sucker punches so much.

    Still, pretty shitty, all things considered. That baker was going to be having a rough day tomorrow. In that moment, however, I let myself appreciate the feeling. I¡¯d pay for the cost of repairs and drop ten years worth of baker¡¯s wages on top. Hopefully they¡¯d view it as a windfall, and not just as some rich asshole turning their livelihood into expensive playtime.

    I walked toward the portal as Tavio climbed from the debris and dusted himself off.

    ¡°That was a pretty good spell!¡± he said, placing his hands on his hips and smiling. ¡°It dealt ten percent of my health!¡±

    My feelings of satisfaction drained away.

    ¡°What¡¯s your Fortitude?¡± I mumbled, then brought my weapon back up when a roiling shadow appeared and deposited another Littan beside Tavio. He was much more slender than Tavio, built more like the typical Littan¡¯s I¡¯d seen, but no less tall. He wore a well-tailored suit of black and blue that contrasted starkly with Tavio¡¯s¨Cnow ruined¨Ccasual wear.

    He was also level seventeen, all gold, with special Delves under his belt.

    ¡°Gharifon!¡± said Tavio, turning his broad grin on the new arrival. ¡°I did not expect you so soon.¡±

    Gharifon returned Tavio¡¯s smile, though it looked strained.

    ¡°Tavio,¡± he said, ¡°these Delvers are not level six.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Tavio gestured at me. ¡°You can see the level right above his head.¡±

    Gharifon turned and appraised me with glittering brown eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you got roped into this,¡± he said. Then, to Tavio, ¡°I do not care what the level indicator shows, they are not level six.¡±

    A chill ran through me.

    ¡°Are you talking about my party?¡± I said, tensing. ¡°What did you do to them?¡±

    The second Littan, Gharifon, held up a hand and bowed slightly.

    ¡°Nothing harmful, I swear. Tavio merely asked that I distract them. They were asleep for most of it.¡±

    ¡°Most?¡± said Tavio. ¡°What do you mean by-¡±

    A pillar of crimson light fell from the sky, engulfing them both.

    ¡°You. Fucking. Asshole!¡± shouted Xim, and I turned to see her charging towards us from the inn. She had her scepter raised over her head, but she wore only a long sleep shirt. In the distance I saw Varrin struggling to follow, one hand on the hem of his pants as though he hadn¡¯t had time to lace them up. ¡°Try and haunt my nightmares?! I¡¯ll find your fucking family you little shit!¡±

    I turned back to the Littans, and was confused by what I found.

    Whenever Xim had cast her Judgment spell, the fire had always burned with a blood-red hue. Tavio, however, burned with the natural orange and yellow flame of non-divine fire. Gharifon¡¯s immolation, on the other hand, burned in the color that I expected. Tavio shouted and patted at his body, but his companion waved a gentle hand through the air and a blue wave of mana rolled over them both.

    In the instant before the inferno was doused, I saw the outline of Gharifon¡¯s face within it. His eyes were deep and hollow, filled with a dusk that defied the raging light engulfing him. They were endless and, for a moment, I felt them sucking me in.

    When the fire disappeared, the Littan had the same weary smile on his face and his eyes were a normal honey brown, though his clothes were charred and ruined. Tavio took a deep breath and uttered a series of swears in Imperial.

    ¡°Burning!¡± he said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how much damage it does, I despise it!¡±

    Gharifon heaved a sigh.

    ¡°May we go now, Tavio?¡± he asked.

    Tavio gave Xim, who had paused her charge ten or so yards away, a frustrated look.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Tavio, then he turned to me. ¡°I have learned much from this. Thank you, Esquire Arlo. Perhaps we will meet again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I hope not,¡± I said, still fixed on Gharifon and the strange feeling he¡¯d given me.

    Tavio¡¯s look of annoyance gave way to a wide smile, then both he and Gharifon disappeared in a cloud of shadow.

    Xim marched up to me, bare feet slapping through the muddy ground where Shog had bled. She stopped a few inches away, looking me up and down.

    ¡°Arlo,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah, Xim?¡±

    ¡°What in all the hells was that about?¡±

    I looked at the empty space where the Littans had been.

    ¡°I have no fucking clue.¡±

 90 - Fix My Build

    Varrin trotted up to the scene, still lacing up his pants and looking over the damage.

    ¡°What happened?¡± he asked. His ice-blue eyes were puffy from sleep.

    ¡°I got my jaw punched through some buildings,¡± I said, following his gaze to the wrecked bakery and then to the smashed up haberdashery. ¡°Then, the guy left.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Neither do I!¡± I shouted. I took a breath and tried to calm down. Several onlookers were beginning to come out of hiding, and a few flinched when I raised my voice. ¡°Hold on, we need to make sure Shog isn¡¯t dying.¡±

    We entered the Closet to find Shog dragging himself by his mangled hands towards the portal. Xim swore, then ran over to check on him.

    ¡°Do not fear, demoness,¡± he choked out, ¡°that mouse was a mighty foe, but it will take more than a light dismemberment to fell me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m still not a demon, Shog,¡± she said, kneeling and beginning to cast Cleanse and Heal on the c¡¯thon. She looked surprised for a moment. ¡°Too bad you¡¯re not immune to bleeding.¡±

    ¡°His strikes were sharp and the force of his blows ruptured many lesser organs. But¡­ the loss of such mundane fluids does not¡­ impede me.¡±

    She paused as Shog¡¯s head began to droop and patted him on one of his intact tentacles.

    ¡°Sure, Shog. Sure.¡±

    My summon laid his head onto the ground, then passed out.

    Xim stood and wiped her hand on her shirt, leaving a dark stain of c¡¯thonic blood behind. She judged that Shog would live, then took a quick spin over the injured hounds. They were already recovering on their own, however, drinking in the rich ambient mana of the Delve.

    ¡°Just walk it back,¡± she said to me once she¡¯d finished. ¡°Tell us from the beginning.¡±

    I relayed the basic events. The cleric¡¯s expression grew ever darker as I did so, while Varrin listened attentively. When I finished, the big guy grunted and his eyes flicked up to look at his interface.

    ¡°You¡¯re only missing about a third of your health.¡±

    ¡°¡®Only¡¯ you say? Half of that damage was dealt directly to my face, ya¡¯ know.¡±

    ¡°You fought a level seventeen,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You should be dead. Instead, you hardly look injured.¡±

    I started to argue with him, but reached up and ran a hand along my face. It was tender, but there was no blood or gashes.

    ¡°Do I have a black eye at least?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± said Xim. ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the party screen and your clothes being all torn up, I wouldn¡¯t even know you¡¯d been in a fight.¡±

    ¡°Guess immune to Bleeding means¡­ I don¡¯t bleed? At all? Even internally?¡±

    ¡°How did you think it worked?¡± she asked, cocking her head to one side.

    ¡°Look, this magic shit isn¡¯t very intuitive sometimes. I wasn¡¯t going to make any assumptions.¡± I poked inside my mouth with a finger, feeling out the holes in my gums. ¡°It¡¯s like I gah bead up and don¡¯d haff anything to show wor it. I¡¯n nissing teeth though, see?¡± I opened my mouth to show her and rather than recoiling like any reasonable person might, Xim peered into my mouth curiously.

    ¡°Regardless,¡± said Varrin, the word dripping with the tone of a man speaking to an idiot, ¡°we¡¯ll need to report this to Central. They won¡¯t be happy about a rogue Littan Delver causing mayhem in Hiward.¡±

    ¡°Oh, he wasn¡¯t rogue,¡± I said, dropping my hand and letting the anger creep back into my voice. ¡°He said he was here at the request of a fucking duchess.¡±

    Varrin¡¯s jaw tightened, and his eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s even more imperative that we do so. This may have political implications.¡±

    Xim arched a brow.

    ¡°Why would a Littan duchess send a guy to beat you up and leave?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I think he improvised that second part,¡± I said. ¡°His questions about Sayil sounded scripted. Once he was satisfied with my answers, he started swinging.¡±

    ¡°So he came to interrogate you and then¡­ just felt like having a brawl?¡±

    I gave her an exasperated shrug.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have my family look into Tavio,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Gharifon as well. Littans at that level are uncommon, so we should be able to find out a good deal of information.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll eagerly await their home addresses,¡± I said, briefly fantasizing over some mobster-grade payback. I dispelled the thought as soon as it came, then sighed. ¡°Not that I¡¯d be able to do anything with it.¡±

    My mood began to cloud, and I turned my eyes toward the ground. I¡¯d confronted some harsh odds since arriving in Arzia, but I¡¯d never been so profoundly outclassed. Any time I¡¯d gone up against something this far beyond me, I¡¯d had my allies to back me up. If my experience with Tavio had taught me anything, it was that I was much more vulnerable on my own than I realized.

    Varrin marched forward and loomed over me. I looked up to find him peering down, looking disappointed.

    ¡°You speak as though you were defeated,¡± he said.

    ¡°I¡­ was, though? The guy kicked my ass, roasted it, cut it up into thin slices, then served it back to me on a knuckle sandwich.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± he said. ¡°What I saw was a level seventeen being explosively jettisoned from your Closet and crashing through some unlucky baker¡¯s pie shop.¡±

    ¡°I hit him with that spell after he¡¯d already given up. It was petty. How could you tell it was a pie shop?¡±

    ¡°Did you?¡±

    ¡°Did I what?¡±

    ¡°Give up?¡±

    ¡°I- No, but it¡¯s not like I argued with him when he wanted to call it quits.¡±

    ¡°When you and I duel,¡± he said, ¡°how do we determine the winner?¡±

    ¡°Uh, we ask which one of us is named Varrin?¡± He didn¡¯t find the comment humorous. ¡°Whoever yields, loses,¡± I finally said.

    ¡°Tavio yielded, and so you won.¡±

    I gave him a classic steely squint.

    ¡°Wrap it up however you want, slap a bow on it, and call it victory. It¡¯s still a box full of ¡®Arlo lost¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too upset about it,¡± said Xim. ¡°None of us would have stood a chance.¡±

    I focused for a few seconds and closed the entrance to the Closet to keep any more eager ears from listening to what I was about to say. I waved a hand and hidden glowstones gave the chamber a low level of illumination so we weren¡¯t standing in the pitch dark.

    ¡°Look,¡± I said, ¡°we can stand here all day and pretend to be level six, but we aren¡¯t. You guys are all up to level eleven by your stats, and with my Carryovers and the bonuses I get from Dumping, my effective level is fucking fourteen! I just¡­ don¡¯t feel like it should have been so one-sided!¡±

    ¡°How many times have I told you,¡± said Varrin, ¡°that stats aren¡¯t everything? You may have the same number of points as a level fourteen, but your distribution of those points is extremely broad. The same goes for all of us. Many of those points are ones we earned from your training ability, and are stats that we don¡¯t use to their full effect. My Wisdom is a ten, for example, but I don¡¯t have a single mana-consuming ability. Beyond that, you¡¯ve invested much of what you¡¯ve earned into Fortitude, which does little for you offensively beyond giving you stamina. Tavio¡¯s stats are likely heavily concentrated on offensive physical attributes.

    ¡°Further,¡± he continued, ¡°your intrinsic skill levels are worse than what I would expect from a level six platinum Delver. Our delving spree has yielded tremendous growth, but intrinsics take work, dedication, and time. Time that you haven¡¯t had, due to how you came into this world. Tavio has, at minimum, a decade¡¯s worth of experience over you, likely much more. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if his total intrinsic skill level is triple what you have, or higher.¡±

    I listened to Varrin¡¯s speech, recognizing the logic in his words, but my emotions ignored them. I was frustrated, especially after kicking so much ass through the Delves we¡¯d been running, and I knew myself well enough to realize that it would take a few days for ¡®reasonable thoughts¡¯ to wrangle all the buzzing irritation.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°My build is all over the place,¡± I said, interrupting Varrin, who had continued to lecture.

    ¡°You¡¯ve focused on having a wide skill set,¡± he said. ¡°To respond to a variety of situations.¡±

    ¡°Situations that involve the party, inside of Delves,¡± I said. ¡°My aura is best for group recovery and it¡¯s not helpful in a brawl like the one I just had. My Bonded Familiar passive is,¡± I took a breath and shouted into the Delve around us, ¡°pretty much useless right now!¡± I waited for any response from Grotto, but none came. ¡°Archmage gives me a little boost to damage, but it¡¯s mainly a buff to my mana pool and regen.¡±

    ¡°You have a fourth passive open,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You may be best served by choosing something that helps you fight more effectively on your own.¡±

    ¡°My active skills are focused on utility and one¡¯s a buff I can¡¯t use on myself. I only have two direct offensive skills, Oblivion Orb and Explosion!. Explosion! has a massive cooldown, and I couldn¡¯t land an Oblivion Orb on Tavio. Even if I had, I doubt it would have been a game changer. His Dimensional resistance is probably pretty good, especially with how high his Fortitude had to be.¡±

    ¡°What about Homing Weapon?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°That¡¯s mostly a delivery vehicle for Oblivion Orb. My throwing hammers can wreck low level shit without being buffed by the spell, but at the end of the day my Strength and Blunt aren¡¯t high enough to be a threat to anything with serious physical resistances. That¡¯s doubly true for my melee hammer attacks, which,¡± I gestured at the non-existent exit portal, ¡°I can¡¯t even make right now because my fucking warhammer got destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Then pivot,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You¡¯re already durable enough for a high-Strength Delver to punch you halfway across a village and then walk it off. You have the Shields and Heavy Armor intrinsics, which will continue to grow your defenses, so you can start spending more stats on Intelligence.¡±

    ¡°That all makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°But, and hear me out,¡± I spread my hands in the air before me, ¡°Fortitude.¡±

    ¡°I think you have an addiction, Arlo,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°The next evolution¡¯s at seventy! That¡¯s just four platinum Delves away! I¡¯d be untouchable!¡±

    ¡°And your attacks will fall like heavy leaves upon the backs of your foes,¡± she said with an air of sagely wisdom.

    ¡°An effective tank doesn¡¯t only take hits,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They still need to be deadly, and we¡¯re reaching the point where your head start won¡¯t keep up with your aggressive investment in Fortitude.¡±

    ¡°It was good while it lasted,¡± I mumbled.

    ¡°Cheer up,¡± said Xim. ¡°What¡¯s dead can¡¯t hurt you. If you think about it, offensive stats are defensive stats.¡±

    ¡°You sound like my old football coach.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a traditional military tactic,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Occupy the enemy with aggressive action and they won¡¯t be able to mount a counterattack.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of it like that.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your hammer, either,¡± said Xim. ¡°Arbitros wasn¡¯t a good fit for you anyway. It¡¯s designed for a fire user, since it doesn¡¯t melt. Other than that, it¡¯s just a heavy lump of metal with basic magic properties. Besides, dad¡¯s been asking about what he should give you as a tribal greeting.¡±

    ¡°Tribal greeting?¡±

    ¡°Welcome gift,¡± she said.

    ¡°Your dad¡¯s gonna give me a new hammer?¡±

    ¡°My father,¡± she said, placing a hand on her chest and straightening, ¡°patriarch of the grand Xor¡¯Drel tribe, will allow you the honor of selecting one of our finest artisans to work with in crafting an item of your choice.¡± She relaxed her posture. ¡°If you want that to be a hammer then go for it.¡±

    ¡°Will it have some sort of hellish nature?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh! Will it talk to me and try to convince me to commit grave sins?¡±

    ¡°You already have Grotto and Shog for that,¡± said Xim. ¡°Besides, living weapons are more hassle than they¡¯re worth.¡±

    ¡°They exist?!¡±

    ¡°I feel like I shouldn¡¯t answer that question,¡± she said. ¡°You like collecting nightmarish entities a little too much.¡±

    ¡°Hey, that reminds me,¡± I said. ¡°You were screaming about Gharifon haunting your nightmares when you ran up. What happened to you guys? Where are Etja and Nuralie?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still asleep,¡± said Varrin, ¡°but safe. Gharifon cast some form of illusion that prevented us from hearing the commotion of your fight. We were already sleeping, so none of us noticed your health dropping on the interface. Xim was the one who awoke and alerted me.¡±

    ¡°There was a shadow man in my dreams,¡± she said. ¡°So I woke myself up and started tearing my room apart. I found that asshole Gharifon out in the hall muttering to himself.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t usually get shadow man dreams?¡± I asked. ¡°And you can just¡­ wake yourself up whenever you want?¡±

    ¡°It would seem that Xim has never had a nightmare at all,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°No nightmares?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible,¡± said Xim. ¡°When I dream, I connect to a realm created by Sam¡¯lia that¡¯s shared by those who worship her. The only way something stressful would happen is if there¡¯s magic interfering.¡±

    ¡°What if Sam¡¯lia wanted to give you a vision or something?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s pretty gentle,¡± said Xim. ¡°To her worshipers. She¡¯s vicious toward her enemies. When she wants me to know something it¡¯s usually a relaxing experience.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty cool,¡± I said. ¡°Also, what was the deal with Gharifon when you cast Judgment on him? Tavio as well. The spell did weird things.¡±

    ¡°Weird?¡± said Xim. ¡°With Tavio, he took normal fire damage since Sam¡¯lia didn¡¯t find anything worthy of judging him for.¡± She frowned. ¡°It doesn¡¯t do nearly as much damage.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the same thing that happened to you, Arlo,¡± said Varrin, ¡°when Xim cast Judgment on you and the mimic.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°I just knew burning and fire. Wasn¡¯t paying attention to the color. But, Gharifon burned crimson, so Sam¡¯lia thought that the guy who was kicking my ass wasn¡¯t worth judging, but the guy who showed up, apologized, and was generally very polite, he was worth judging?¡±

    ¡°Must be,¡± Xim said with a shrug. ¡°It¡¯s not like I get a report when I cast the spell.¡±

    ¡°Could you ask her about it?¡±

    ¡°Why? You¡¯ve never cared about what something was being judged for before.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± I admitted. ¡°There was the thing with Gharifon¡¯s eyes, though.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± she asked.

    ¡°While he was burning, his eyes were endless pits. It gave me an impression like the one I get from looking at Orexis.¡±

    Both Xim and Varrin tensed at those words.

    ¡°Could you¡­ be more specific?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°It was just a glimpse, and when he dispelled the fire it was gone. I¡¯m curious if Sam¡¯lia can give us any insight into it.¡±

    Xim stepped up to me and placed a hand on my arm.

    ¡°Arlo, I know you aren¡¯t the religious type, you¡¯ve told me plenty of times, but I didn¡¯t see anything like what you¡¯re talking about. Seeing things that others don¡¯t is part of The Eye¡¯s revelation. If you caught a glimpse of Orexis in the Dark Mother¡¯s holy flames, then you should be the one to ask her about it. If that¡¯s not a sign that she wants to talk, then I don¡¯t know what is.¡±

    I considered Xim¡¯s words. It was true that I wasn¡¯t a religious guy, not since I had a falling out with my Baptist upbringing as a young teenager. I didn¡¯t have any problem with the concept of religion, but I did have strong feelings about the way some people wielded it as a weapon to get what they wanted, and when the beliefs themselves involved oppressive ideologies. Shitty people did shitty things with the tools in front of them, whether or not the tools themselves were good, bad, or anything in between.

    I¡¯d also never resonated with any religious belief structure I encountered. Miracles, visions, apocryphal tales of supernatural events. I didn¡¯t buy most of it, so I¡¯d just tried to live my life as a good enough person and stopped thinking about it. But religion here on Arzia was a different animal. I didn¡¯t need to have faith, I¡¯d met these so-called deities. I was Fortune¡¯s lockpick, Orexis¡¯ chew toy, and Sam¡¯lia¡¯s adopted son. The gods of Arzia were very different from the concept of ¡®God¡¯ that I¡¯d been raised believing in, but they still resonated with the way gods were viewed in Earth antiquity.

    Still, the idea of praying to something made me feel icky. I couldn¡¯t explain it.

    ¡°What if you talked with her about it?¡± I said.

    Xim let go of my arm and looked irritated.

    ¡°I commune with Sam¡¯lia every week. The evocations have never involved Orexis, much less Gharifon. This sign isn¡¯t for me, it¡¯s for you.¡±

    I groaned and rubbed at my eyes.

    ¡°Fine. If I wanted to ask Sam¡¯lia about it myself, how would I do that?¡±

    ¡°If you want to have a real chat,¡± she said, ¡°not just send her your regards and ask forgiveness for being a turd toward her, then we¡¯ll need to go to the Third Layer.¡±

    ¡°Oh? How come?¡±

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia doesn¡¯t reside in the First Layer,¡± she said. ¡°She¡¯s blind to it in some ways, since The Eye only beholds the Third. Without a strong connection like the one I¡¯ve cultivated, you¡¯ll have to be in closer proximity to her to get anything concrete.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I stretched my arms and let out a yawn. The adrenaline of the fight was wearing off, and my fatigue was asserting itself. ¡°So, we need to go to the Third Layer for my orientation, to get myself a new and more badass hammer, and so that I can ask Sam¡¯lia some questions about Gharifon and Orexis.¡±

    ¡°It might also be good,¡± said Varrin, ¡°to ask her about the System phase rollout as well.¡±

    ¡°You think so? Would she have any insight into that?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a goddess, Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°She¡¯s existed since time immemorial. If these phases are something that¡¯s been going on for eons, she¡¯d know about it. Better than any mortal would.¡±

    ¡°Say no more. I need no further convincing. We were all planning on taking a break from Delving once we hit level six, so I suppose that Xim and I will spend our time sojourning in the Third Layer. What about you, Varrin?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll look into Tavio and Gharifon, while doing my own research into the phase rollouts. I¡¯ll also keep my ear to the ground for anything concerning Orexis and focus on training in between.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t sound like much of a vacation,¡± I said.

    ¡°I like what I do,¡± was his only response.

    ¡°I reckon that Nuralie and Etja will travel the countryside like they¡¯ve been talking about, and-¡±

    [And I will join you on your visit to the Third Layer,] came Grotto¡¯s voice in our minds. [Drel¡¯gethed is a powerful individual with whom you must further ingratiate yourself, Arlo. It will be important that my presence be known, such that we both might impress upon him our talents.]

    [You¡¯re leaving the Closet?]

    [Yes. I believe that you will soon know enough about the rollout that my life is no longer at risk of termination by the System.]

    [Wait. That was a possibility? And you were dealing with that on your own, without telling anyone?]

    [Indeed.]

    [Grotto, you can talk to us, man. If you need space because of some System-derived bullshit, you can always ask.]

    There was a beat of pause before Grotto replied.

    [There were other considerations. To even mention it would be¡­] Another few seconds of mental silence passed. [Very well, I understand.]

    [I¡¯m glad. If you want to talk about it during our trip, I¡¯m here to listen.]

    [I will be sure to enlighten you beyond the bounds of comprehension capable by your fleshy confines.]

 91 - Homecoming

    Traveler¡¯s Amulet

    This is an evolving item.

    Current Level: Crumb-Cruncher

    Effects:

    1) It¡¯s Stylish

    2) Soul-Sight

    Make ¡°Soul-Sight¡± your own to unlock this amulet¡¯s next effect.

    ¡°It¡¯s a pretty necklace,¡± said Xim, ¡°but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s pretty enough for you to stare at it as much as you do.¡±

    I held the amulet in my palm, gazing idly into its glittering black gem. The chain was a dark metal that I¡¯d come to recognize as the material many of the Delves were constructed from, and it was speckled with red and silver flakes. The red, I theorized, was from ruby chips, and the gem at its center reminded me of the void sphere Grotto and I had drained, but without the massive mana charge. I wasn¡¯t sure about the silver, though. Could be some other Delve-related material, or it might just be plain old silver.

    ¡°It¡¯s just¡­¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s fuckin¡¯... a fucking fuck, ya¡¯ know?¡±

    ¡°Eloquent,¡± Xim replied.

    We sat in a small clearing in the woods a few miles west of Ravvenblaq¡¯s main manor. It was the geographic equivalent of where Xim¡¯s tribe resided within the Third Layer, and the cleric was preparing to transition us over. Unlike Drel, who could invoke The Eye in moments, Xim required some ritual preparation. She¡¯d just finished inscribing a large rune into the dirt with liberal amounts of black ink and was presently sprinkling it with what looked like dried flakes of blood. I didn¡¯t ask what half of the materials she was using were, because I didn¡¯t want to know.

    ¡°Maybe the whole thing¡¯s a joke,¡± I said. ¡°I can just imagine Fortune laughing his giant ass off at the idea of me agonizing over how to get this thing to move on to the third effect.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it is,¡± said Xim, finishing her sprinkling with a flourish and dusting her hands off. ¡°Or maybe you haven¡¯t made soul-sight your own yet.¡±

    ¡°What does that even mean, though?¡±

    ¡°It is related to your divine gifts,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe Sam¡¯lia can jostle something loose.¡±

    ¡°You think she and Fortune are in on it together?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think anything,¡± she said, pulling out her scepter and giving it a twirl. ¡°I stopped thinking about that amulet a long time ago. Ready?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, standing up and clapping some of the dirt from my pants. I was back in my feather boa, leather vest, and exposed manly chest combo. If I was going on vacation, I was going to do it in comfort and with style. ¡°What do you think about Siphon?¡±

    ¡°Etja¡¯s gravity spell?¡± she said as she raised her scepter to the air. It began to glow with crimson light. ¡°What about it?¡±

    ¡°My two biggest problems with Tavio were that he catapulted me all over the place, and then he dodged everything I threw at him.¡±

    The sun in the sky above began to dim, growing ever smaller until it was a modest orb. The radiant sphere floated down from on high and settled at the tip of Xim¡¯s scepter. In the sky above, a massive blood-red eye opened.

    ¡°I thought you were trying to figure out how to do more damage,¡± she said.

    We both stared up at The Eye as it branched out into an all-encompassing nautilus spiral, copying itself ten thousand times over until it dominated the entire expanse overhead.

    ¡°I can spam Oblivion Orb,¡± I said. ¡°I just have to hit him with it. Siphon is a Mystical spell, so I can pick it up, and it could let me lock people down. I might also be able to make myself heavier with it to keep from getting¡­¡±

    The trees around us began to melt, and I trailed off. I¡¯d seen a lot of stuff since coming to Arzia, but the transition to the Third was one of the most impressive. As the flora around us deteriorated into shimmering puddles, they revealed a wall of black spires that jutted from the ground. Runes lit up along the spires, and a wave of multi-colored mana coursed over the pair of us. A shiver ran through my body.

    ¡°It¡¯s a useful spell,¡± said Xim as the spires began to descend into the earth with a rumble, ¡°but it takes a lot of mana to get it strong enough to use offensively. Etja mostly uses it for utility and zoning.¡±

    When the spires no longer blocked our view, the Xor¡¯Drel lands were revealed to me.

    The soil, like so many things dealing with the Third Layer, was red. Not Martian rust n¡¯ dust red, but the deep red of a Devil¡¯s food cake, with all the moist and springy goodness that came along with it. It was soft beneath my boots, and the air was filled with the scent of pleasant sweetness.

    From the ground grew elaborately twisting bushes, their stems the color of tar, their leaves a dark violet, and with flowering blooms that shifted and moved in the air. The flowers varied in color from orange to blue, and minute glittering particles drifted up and away from their petals.

    Rising up amidst the bushes were trees with curling branches, covered in bronze fronds that clinked and chimed in the light breeze. More of the dark spires were set into a regular pattern that followed along the dirt trail before us, their lengths thrumming with energy. The sigils upon them oriented themselves toward us, as though watching.

    Further down the path, I could make out a few structures that I thought might be huts or houses, but each one was in a different style. One looked to be made of clay and straw, while another was constructed from gray stone with a tile roof. A third was made of some dark substance that soaked in the light, creating an omnipresent shadow all around it.

    A man walked out from within the umbral building, his skin the same rosy shade as Xim¡¯s, and he looked up the path toward us. He raised a hand in greeting, and I raised mine in return. Xim waved at him enthusiastically. Then, his body flickered, distorted, and he tore away through space like his physics engine had been designed by Todd Howard.

    I let out a startled grunt, and Xim turned back to me with a broad grin.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Get used to that one,¡± she said. I nodded, uncertain what to make of the sight, then returned to ogling the scenery. My eyes drifted up and over what was immediately in front of me.

    The horizon was ruled by a tree the size of a skyrise apartment complex.

    Its limbs curled and meandered like the smaller plants around me, covered in great thorns and littered with dozens of stylistically diverse houses like the ones lining the path. There were countless windows set into the trunk at irregular intervals and even a few doors that looked like they would deliver anyone traversing them to a three-hundred-foot plummet. Colorful cloth banners, chimes, and lanterns were strung up in many places, each of which must have been the size of a horse for me to make them out so clearly from this distance.

    ¡°Is that¡­ the Irgriana tree?¡± I asked. Xim¡¯s smile grew even broader and she nodded.

    ¡°You got it,¡± she said, then began skipping down the trail.

    I hurried to follow after her, but she covered more ground than made sense for the strides she was taking. After a couple of skips, she paused and turned around, already a hundred feet ahead. She kept smiling like someone had just gifted her a bag full of her deepest wishes the entire time I trotted up to meet her.

    ¡°I should probably bind you,¡± she said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know we had that kind of relationship,¡± I said, and she rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Until you get used to things here, travel will be confusing. The thing to remember is that, while the landscape and houses are all firmly rooted in the group consciousness, a person¡¯s precise location is not.¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said, ¡°these words communicate concepts and ideas that make sense to me.¡±

    ¡°The Third Layer is a realm of mind and dream,¡± she said. ¡°The world is as we decide for it to be. Areas with a lot of people are more concrete because reality bends toward consensus. For example,¡± she pointed to the horizon, ¡°everyone knows that the Irgriana tree is at the center of the village, and so it is. But you and I,¡± she pointed between us, ¡°don¡¯t have a fixed location within the tribe¡¯s mind.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I think I follow that some. How does that affect travel?¡±

    ¡°We can shape the world in limited ways,¡± she said. ¡°Like we did when everyone Layer walked while traveling to the Calvani Caverns. So long as there is no will opposing us, we can imagine all sorts of things into existence. In Xor¡¯Drel, the opposing will is the tribal consensus.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve mentioned creating ¡°easy visuals¡± and stuff before, but you¡¯re saying that people can make things appear out of thin air? Not just illusions?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not always easy, or simple,¡± she said, ¡°but yeah. When it comes to moving around the village, we¡¯re able to simply be where we want to be, since no one is thinking too hard about where we ought to be. The tribal mind will stop us from teleporting or anything like that, but we can still move pretty quick.¡±

    ¡°But if everyone got together and agreed that we were both, say, in the tavern¡­¡±

    ¡°Then we¡¯d have to walk out of the tavern normally.¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t be trapped there?¡±

    ¡°That would take a pretty strong belief,¡± she said. ¡°People have legs. They walk places. Everyone would have to agree that wasn¡¯t true, at least for us. It would be easier to tie us up and believe that the ropes are very, very strong.¡±

    ¡°Right. What does ¡°binding¡± me do?¡±

    ¡°It tethers you to my beliefs. When I travel, you¡¯ll travel with me. That sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t make me your bonded servant or anything?¡±

    She gave me a mischievous look.

    ¡°Only if you want it to.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll stick with ¡®fast-travel only¡¯, please.¡±

    She looked at me with exaggerated disappointment, then pulled a leather pouch from her inventory.

    ¡°Brand or blood?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Uh, which one¡¯s more fun?¡±

    ¡°Fun for me, or fun for you?¡± she asked.

    I gave her a flat stare.

    ¡°Brand it is, then,¡± she said and opened the pouch to pull out a small iron rod with a flat end. She summoned some divine fire and began roasting the tip, then gestured at my arm. ¡°Your wrist, if you don¡¯t mind.¡±

    I looked warily at the literal brand she was heating, then held out my arm, gritting my teeth at what was about to happen. She pressed the end of the iron rod to my skin and¡­ it tingled. There was no sharp burn, or delayed onset of icy pain, just a slight buzzing sensation. When she pulled the brand back, there was a small crest burned into my skin.

    ¡°How long does this last?¡± I said, looking over the simple linework. It sort of looked like a hyena with wings.

    ¡°Until you decide you don¡¯t want it.¡±

    ¡°Oh? That simple?¡±

    ¡°Welcome to the Third Layer,¡± she said in reply, then turned back to the path. ¡°Now, try not to pass out!¡±

    Xim once again began skipping, and the world blurred past. I didn¡¯t even have to move my feet. When I tried to take a step, in fact, I didn¡¯t go anywhere. Each hop from Xim sent a massive stretch of the path zipping past us, and the plants and houses that flew by looked more like impressions than real things.

    Huts became expressionist paintings, the bushes, blotches of watercolor. When Xim¡¯s skip landed, the world reasserted itself as a well-defined, three-dimensional space full of concrete structures, but her next prance would send it all back into vagary. It was jarring, but mesmerizing, and for the first time in a while I began to question whether any of this was really happening to me.

    In a matter of seconds, we were at the base of the Irgriana tree, which had been more than a mile distant moments before. Standing at the base of the tree were Xim¡¯s parents, Xorna and Drel¡¯gethed.

    Xim ran forward and leapt into Xorna¡¯s arms. The ruby-skinned woman swept the cleric up and off her feet, onyx horns glinting in the day¡¯s scarlet ¡®eye¡¯-light. Drel drifted over and gave me a Hiwardian bow, which was made a bit awkward given his shifting, gaseous lower half. I returned the gesture to the man with skin like a star-speckled midnight sky and he stared deep into me with purple irises.

    ¡°It has been too long, Esquire Arlo,¡± Drel said, voice like a whispered sonnet.

    ¡°I regret we couldn¡¯t have come sooner,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s been a busy year.¡±

    ¡°I see that it has,¡± said Drel, gaze drifting up to my level indicator. ¡°To think it has been only a year. You both grow powerful in such little time. I will need to contemplate Xim overtaking me, much sooner than I expected.

    ¡°I suspect that¡¯s the dream of many parents,¡± I said. ¡°That their kids do better than they did.¡±

    ¡°¡®Better¡¯ may be too humble a word, Esquire Arlo. Xorna and I spent five years reaching level six.¡± He drifted a bit closer, waving his nose through the air just above me. ¡°Your scent is much richer than level six should be,¡± he said.

    It was then, for the first time, that I considered Drel might have a revelation of The Nose.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Xim is excited to tell you all about our training,¡± I said, doing my best not to take a step back from the floating man in my personal bubble.

    Xim ran over and gave her father a hug, though less exuberant than the one she¡¯d given her mother. Xorna, now free of her daughter, walked up and wrapped her arms tight around my ribs, lifting me off the ground as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to see you, Arlo,¡± she said in a polite, reserved tone that was wholly divorced from the enthusiasm of her hug. I hesitantly patted her on the back, worried that if I let any air escape my lungs that it would never be allowed to return.

    ¡°You too,¡± I rasped.

    She set me down and gave me a grin.

    ¡°We¡¯ve made dinner,¡± she said. ¡°I selected several dishes that I am excited to watch you try.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be delicious,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm? Oh, yes, I suppose.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to make of that.

    ¡°Where is your bonded familiar, Esquire Arlo?¡± said Drel. ¡°I am eager to speak with him once more.¡±

    ¡°Of course, he¡¯s in the Closet. I¡¯m interested to see if it opens from here. Er, probably should have checked before we came.¡±

    I focused on opening the Closet, mana shaping it to speed things along. The portal opened like normal, which I was very glad to see, and a little man in gray robes floated out of it, looking over us all with dark, imperious eyes.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said in a voice I¡¯d only ever heard inside my head, ¡°I find that this realm suits me quite well.¡±

 92 - Tonight We Dine in Hell

    ¡°Grotto?¡± I said, looking over the small dude.

    He was three feet tall, although his robes dangled down to cover his feet, so he may have been shorter. He was bald and bare-faced, looking like some kind of religious monk with beliefs that ran antithetical to hair growth, with deeply tanned skin. He held his hands behind his back, chest puffed up proudly and he managed to look down upon us all from where he hovered.

    ¡°Yes?¡± he said.

    ¡°You¡¯re not a mini-c¡¯thon.¡±

    Grotto raised an eyebrow and floated closer to me, peering at my face.

    ¡°And the three nose hairs that grow to excessive length out of your left nostril are no longer present, either. It would seem that this layer allows one to assert their own self-image upon their chassis.¡±

    ¡°This is how you see yourself?¡± I said, rubbing at my nose. I¡¯d have to check on that when we got back. ¡°Your ¡®self-image¡¯ is a diminutive bald guy in robes?¡±

    ¡°My personality matrix was forged from my predecessor, as you may recall. From my perspective, I lived my entire life as the man you see before you prior to being assigned a Delve. I have had no need for mirrors within my facilities, so there has been nothing to amend that perception.¡±

    As Grotto spoke, he brought a hand around to gesticulate, and a feathered c¡¯thonic feeler sprouted from beneath the loose sleeve. I pointed at it and he followed my gesture, then paused.

    ¡°I suppose that since adopting the form of Ihbriobrixilas, these limbs have been in my field of vision quite often.¡±

    He brought his other arm around, which was also a waggling tentacle, then looked down as several more sprouted from the hem of his robes.

    ¡°You look like you¡¯re about to be summoned to form some dark pact with unwitting primates,¡± I said, ¡°dooming them to an eternity of mishap because you misinterpreted their simple wishes.¡±

    ¡°I have not done that in some time,¡± he said, then spun in the air, feelers flailing. I couldn¡¯t tell if he was joking. ¡°This is unsatisfactory. If I am to be a man, I require arms. If I am to be a c¡¯thon, then these ribs will be an impediment.¡±

    I watched in awe as his body began to twist and reshape itself. For a moment he became the rune-covered orb that was normally hidden beneath his c¡¯thon disguise, which made me suspicious of his claim of having no mirrors. Then, the limbs and feathers sprouted anew and he was back to being a downy little octo.

    He looked over his appendages, then stared at them intently. They began to elongate and the gray robes reappeared to cover him from just below his big black eyes. Two tentacles sprouted from the sleeves and small hands formed at the ends of two of them. Once finished, he looked like a dark wizard who had been the victim of a tragic polymorph backfire and was somehow even cuter than he had been before. Except for the hands. The hands were creepy as shit.

    [That should suffice,] he thought to us. [There are many advantages to phalanges. I shall make use of them while I am here.]

    ¡°You can¡¯t magic yourself some fingers in the First Layer?¡±

    [I have no desire to modify my usual form into a horrid amalgamation such as Shog has done. I also doubt that many would be fooled by my disguise if I were to take such liberties.]

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said, trying to avoid looking at the child-like hands he now possessed. I turned to the trio of Third Layer residents. ¡°Is this¡­ normal?¡±

    ¡°Nothing¡¯s normal with Grotto,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°It is impressive,¡± Drel said, looking at Grotto. ¡°You have already learned to amend the belief in your concept. It is a skill that might take years to learn, and never be mastered.¡±

    [Thank you for your kind words, Patriarch Drel¡¯gethed.] I was briefly taken aback by the gratitude. [You will find that I am equally superior in many other areas. The bounds of my talents are as wide as the cosmos, and likewise ever expanding.] Ok, that sounded more like Grotto.

    Xorna tittered at the Delve Core¡¯s comments.

    ¡°His sense of identity is surprisingly malleable,¡± she said. ¡°I think he¡¯ll fit in well.¡±

    ¡°Can anyone do this?¡± I said. ¡°Is that how¡­¡± I gestured at Drel¡¯s shade-like body. Xim¡¯s father looked down at himself, then back to me.

    ¡°To what do you refer?¡± he said.

    ¡°I, uh, never mind.¡±

    Xim gave her father a playful shove.

    ¡°Dad¡¯s messing with you,¡± she said, and I spotted a small grin on Drel¡¯s speckled face.

    ¡°My body has many adaptations,¡± he said. ¡°They come from different sources. Some are from reshaping my identity, as Grotto has done. Others are from Sam¡¯lia¡¯s gifts, like your eyes, Arlo. Yet more have come from the System¡¯s guidance.¡±

    I considered the changes that I had undergone in my brief time as a Delver. I¡¯d made a series of small modifications to my body during Creation, and my black sclera and cosmic-green irises came from The Eye. It had only been a year, so I could imagine that undergoing decades of compounding modifications might result in an appearance that was wholly distinct from where I¡¯d started. Especially if I were to begin trying to ¡®reshape¡¯ my identity.

    Maybe I could get an extra pair of eyes on my back...

    ¡°Don¡¯t get any ideas,¡± said Xim, watching my gears turn. ¡°Messing around with your sense of self is as dangerous as it is complicated. It¡¯s something that most denizens never attempt.¡±

    ¡°Drel is braver than most,¡± said Xorna, sidling up next to her husband and taking his hand. ¡°I¡¯d worry that my brain would fall out of my head if I tried to make myself a lady of the shadows.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll put that idea on hold, then,¡± I said.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve had our hellos,¡± said Xim, ¡°let¡¯s eat!¡±

    The food took me on an emotional journey, and I don¡¯t mean that in a hyperbolic ¡®chef¡¯s kiss¡¯ kind of way. I mean that the cuisine was prepared by a man who¡¯d made it his business to impart specific emotional states into the dishes themselves.

    There were loaded mushrooms that evoked comfort and ease, followed by a roast that inspired confidence with a side of saucy vegetables engendering harmony. For dessert, we had a caramelized pudding that reminded me of creme brulee, and which encouraged a sensation of wellness and belonging, as though I were exactly where I was meant to be.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Each of the foods came with a status indicator and I was offered the option of resisting the effects using my Wisdom, but I decided to give the Third Layer spread an honest first try. Overall, it was the best meal I¡¯d ever had, which had less to do with how tasty it was and more so with how I felt afterward.

    Despite buying a residence in Foundation, I¡¯d spent most of the year in Ravvenblaq or on the road, falling into the wandering adventurer lifestyle I¡¯d wanted to avoid, at least in part. If anything, the penthouse I¡¯d set up in my Closet was what I considered my primary residence, but it was hard to think of it as stable and stationary. After lunch with the Xor¡¯Drels, I felt my mind and body invite me to relax, settle in, and drop the sense of constant vigilance I¡¯d been keeping up ever since arriving in Arzia.

    After eating, I was given a tour of the Irgriana tree, which housed about a third of the tribe¡¯s population. A series of spiraling tunnels wrapped around the trunk, their walls knotted and curved, looking as though they¡¯d grown there naturally. The many windows I¡¯d seen from a distance were floor-to-ceiling arches that bathed the tunnels in light from outside. We took our time moving about, foregoing the rapid dream-step travel that Xim had used and allowing me to orient myself and take in the tree¡¯s layout.

    I absorbed the relative positions of everything rapidly. My level twenty Intelligence evolution was called Coordinated Thinker, which gave me a significant boost in my ability to understand a range of spatial and dimensional concepts. That included spatial relationships, so it was easy for me to memorize where everything was even as the tunnels meandered through elevation and depth within the tree.

    I was introduced to everyone we passed, each of whom treated the Xor¡¯Drels with respect, but it was informal. The reigning couple seemed closer to well-loved governors than monarchs or nobles, although I kept their station in mind as we interacted with the people. I saw no other Delvers but was assured that the tribe had a handful more. The Creation slots assigned to the Third Layer rotated between the major tribes, so the Xor¡¯Drels were represented every five to seven years, and when they participated they were allowed to send only a single individual.

    Even without many Delvers, the tribe was awash in magic, from constructs like the spires I¡¯d seen on the way in, to the mana-rich plants that grew in plethora around the buildings. The houses along the branches of the Irgriana tree had terraced gardens where a variety of alchemical fruits and herbs were cultivated, illuminated by mana lamps that let off a sparkling vapor.

    Despite being called a hell layer, the Xor¡¯Drel region was closer to a botanical garden, albeit one that looked like it could be the backdrop for an operatic metal music video. It was mystic and alive, the colors a vivid contrast between dark roots and bark and vibrant flowers and decor, all set between the crimson planes of the ruby soil below and the ever-watching Eye above.

    It wasn¡¯t even hot. It was quite pleasant, in fact. And not a single tortured soul in sight.

    By the time we¡¯d finished our tour of the tree, the light of the Eye had dimmed and it was nearing time to retire for the evening. We discussed plans for the next day and it was decided that it would see me commune with Sam¡¯lia at dawn. The Xor¡¯Drels were adamant that Her guidance should lay the groundwork for how I spent my time in the layer, and I tried to hide my reluctance as I agreed. The idea of speaking with the deity made me anxious, not because I was afraid of her¨Cwell, that¡¯s not true, she was a fucking god, the idea of being smote was always a possibility¨Cbut mainly because I was afraid of what she wanted from me. What if it was something that I wasn¡¯t willing to give?

    I bid the others good night and went to sleep on a bed made of the very concept of comfy.

    *****

    The next morning, I stood before a squat stone building nestled into the limbs of the Irgriana tree. It was built in the center of the canopy and had required a decent climb to reach, which had been a good way to warm up after the best night of sleep I¡¯d had in a year. Its exterior was plain and unadorned, lacking even the colorful cloth and hanging ornamentation that the rest of the village sported. I was very curious about what was inside. Xim, however, was not ready to discuss the building.

    ¡°Listen,¡± she said, ¡°if my parents say anything about someone named Cul¡¯gute, don¡¯t engage.¡±

    ¡°Okay?¡± I said. ¡°Who¡¯s Cul¡¯gute?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s a member of the tribe that they¡¯re trying to set me up with. They already brought it up once last night, and I¡¯m afraid they might try to get you roped in.¡±

    ¡°Roped in? How?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe like asking you to talk to me about the importance of making space for romance, instead of focusing on Delving all the time.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see. Big bro party leader delivering life wisdom. Yeah, I¡¯d be the worst person to give that talk. All I can think about is Delving and skills and levels.¡±

    ¡°Right? Listen, I¡¯m not trying to die alone, but there¡¯s no way that I could get involved in anything serious right now. Cul¡¯gute is a great guy, but I don¡¯t have the time or energy to focus on a relationship.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m in that same boat.¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯m not against something casual.¡±

    ¡°Humans and the human-ish have needs.¡±

    ¡°But that¡¯s not what he¡¯s after. It wouldn¡¯t be fair to him to lead him on, which is what it feels like my parents are doing.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s an¡­ interesting way to think about that with your parents and all, but sure. Casual can get messy, though. Even if you¡¯re clear from the outset, people can still develop strong emotions. In my limited experience, I¡¯ve found that it¡¯s best not to dabble too close to home, so I think that¡¯s a good instinct with Cul¡¯gute.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, definitely no one from the tribe,¡± she said.

    ¡°I draw the line somewhere outside the main friend group,¡± I said. ¡°Don¡¯t know if that would extend to an entire tribe. Do you know everyone in the tribe that well?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that big compared to a city like Foundation, and I grew up here. Everyone knows everyone.¡± She looked thoughtful for a moment. ¡°You don¡¯t know anyone here yet, though, so that¡¯s not a problem for you. There are a few people I could set you up with.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say no to a Third Layer fling,¡± I said, ¡°but let me get my bearings a little better before you start sending me on blind dates.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°So, now that we¡¯ve had the Cul¡¯gute conversation, ready to tell me what¡¯s inside that building?¡±

    Xim took a deep breath and watched the stone hut for several seconds, clasping her hands together in front of her face.

    ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, suddenly speaking with quiet reverence. ¡°It is known that there is nothing inside, and so it is empty.¡±

    ¡°Does nothingness have a sacred meaning to Sam¡¯lia?¡±

    ¡°No. I might say the opposite. The purpose of the building being empty is that when you enter, the only things within will be you, Sam¡¯lia, and whatever you¡¯ve brought with you.¡±

    ¡°Was I¡­ supposed to bring a gift?¡±

    Xim smirked.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have been a bad idea, but it¡¯s not expected.¡±

    ¡°I could give her some poison essences.¡±

    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t mean much,¡± she said.

    ¡°Why not? They¡¯re worth a heap of notes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s less to do with what the item is worth to society, as much as what it¡¯s worth to you, or the effort you spent acquiring it for Sam¡¯lia. You¡¯ve still got hundreds of essences, so they¡¯re not that valuable.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± I said. ¡°I value them at exactly thirty-two golden notes a piece, as per my contract with Seinnador.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± she said, which meant she wasn¡¯t interested in a debate. ¡°Unless you¡¯ve got something you¡¯ve prepared yourself, it¡¯s probably better not to offer anything.¡±

    ¡°Like a handmade card?¡±

    Xim nodded. ¡°She likes those.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I could make one. We could come back later.¡±

    ¡°Just get inside!¡± she said, giving me a shooing motion.

    ¡°What about Grotto?¡± I asked. ¡°He said he wanted to come.¡±

    ¡°If Grotto wants to go in, he can go in on his own after you¡¯re done.¡± She placed a hand on her chin and considered. ¡°I wonder if she¡¯d be willing to talk to Grotto.¡±

    I took a deep breath, then walked toward the building. The door was simple, with only a handle. Not even a knob or latch to keep it shut. I pulled it open and peered into the interior. It was dark inside, impenetrable even with my sight.

    ¡°Call her Lady Sam¡¯lia!¡± Xim called after me. ¡°Or Dark Mother! Or say ¡®My goddess¡¯! ¡®Divine One¡¯ works as well!¡±

    I steeled my nerves and stepped across the threshold, then pulled the door closed behind me.

    The room was utterly black for a moment, but a gentle light began to fill the space like someone was slowly pushing up a dimmer switch. When the light rose enough to see again, I found myself in a well-appointed sitting room.

    The colors and vibe matched the rest of the village, from the dark and winding roots that served as the body of the chandelier on the ceiling, to the luxuriously polished wood counter on the bar in the corner. There were two overstuffed armchairs of the deepest shade of brown set before a small fireplace, which crackled with a fire that burned blue.

    In one of the chairs was a woman in her early forties, looking every bit like your middle-school best friend¡¯s mom. She wore a royal blue dress, loose and comfortable, with a few subtle pieces of jewelry that looked like they were made of ivory, or possibly bone. Her eyes and hair were blood red, and she smiled when I caught sight of her.

    ¡°Hello, Arlo,¡± she said, cheerfully. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful to meet you in the flesh.¡±

 93 - Talking to (a) God

    ¡°Lady Sam¡¯lia,¡± I said, giving the goddess a bow.

    ¡°No need to be too formal,¡± she said, then gestured to the chair beside her. ¡°Please, sit.¡±

    I walked forward and lowered myself into the chair. There was a knot of anxiety building in my gut that prevented me from appreciating how disgustingly comfortable it was. I wasn¡¯t sure what I¡¯d been expecting Sam¡¯lia to look like; maybe a disembodied presence, a giant floating brain, or an incomprehensible cosmic void. A relaxed soccer mom hadn¡¯t made the list of things I was prepared to see.

    It was nice that she appeared like someone that I could have a ¡®normal¡¯ conversation with, but on the other hand, it made the situation more real. I didn¡¯t think that I would have had much of a problem with the discussion growing contentious if the entity with whom I was speaking was monstrous. As it was, the woman before me looked kind and non-threatening. Her appearance touched on an ingrained social instinct that made me want us to get along. Not that I hadn¡¯t wanted us to be amicable before, but now if we didn¡¯t, I¡¯d feel kind of bad for letting this nice-looking lady down. Maybe she¡¯d planned for that, or maybe I was overthinking it.

    ¡°How are you doing?¡± she asked, breaking me out of my mental spiral.

    I started to respond with a stock reply but paused to think it over. I saw no reason to be anything less than honest with Sam¡¯lia. She¡¯d already seen everything I¡¯d ever done in my life twice. Once when I was layer walking and the Eye peered into me and another time when Xim hit me with Judgment.

    ¡°I think there are several answers to the question,¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯d be disappointed if there weren¡¯t,¡± she replied with a smile.

    She reached down and picked up a crystal decanter from a side table between us which I hadn''t noticed before. It was filled with a golden liquid and she poured a measure of into one of two crystal tumblers. She held it up, inquiring.

    ¡°Honestly,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to avoid the harder stuff as much as possible in this life.¡±

    Her smile grew mischievous, and she leaned in a little.

    ¡°It¡¯s apple juice,¡± she half-whispered, as though it were a secret.

    ¡°Apple juice? As in, Earth apples?¡±

    ¡°As best as I could make them from your memories.¡± She took the liberty of filling the second glass nearly to the brim, then picked it up and handed it to me. I took it gingerly so as not to spill and took a tentative sip. It was chill, but not too chill, as though it had been left to rest outside on a crisp autumn day. It was also damn good. I savored it, then took a deeper swallow.

    ¡°That¡¯s the second-best apple juice I''ve ever had,¡± I said.

    ¡°Second?¡± said Sam¡¯lia. ¡°What was the first?¡±

    ¡°My nan had an orchard. Nothing quite like homemade, no offense.¡±

    She waved a hand.

    ¡°None taken. If I were second best at everything I tried for the first time I think I¡¯d be doing pretty well. Besides, sentiment and nostalgia aren¡¯t something you can grow in apples.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you, though? Here in the Third Layer?¡±

    She pointed at me with the hand that held her glass.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s a question with many answers,¡± she said. ¡°You first. How are you?¡±

    I sat back in the chair, feeling the knot inside me starting to loosen a little.

    ¡°I¡¯m stressed,¡± I said. ¡°Among other things.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    I gave her a careful look, trying to decide if she was trying to play the part of concerned relative, close friend, or therapist.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been in Arzia a little over a year now and I¡¯m starting to get a rhythm, but I still feel¡­ alien. Maybe ¡®isolated¡¯ is a better word for it.¡±

    ¡°Is it so different from Earth?¡± she asked.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°Depends on how you look at it. There are people and social structures that I understand. The cultures are different, but they make sense. It¡¯s not as though I landed on a planet full of unrelatable squid people, but it¡¯s still enough to take some time and effort fitting in.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you want?¡± she asked. ¡°To fit in?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not going to pretend like I¡¯m some special edge case who¡¯s unaffected by feeling like an outcast. I don¡¯t need to fit the world like a glove, but I¡¯d like my glove to have the right number of fingers if that makes sense. I have no problem pushing back against things I think are wrong or being disliked by people who support abhorrent ideologies, but when it comes to regular, everyday people, I like to know I can have a conversation. That I can relate and that they don¡¯t think of me as some outsider to be avoided or afraid of.¡±

    ¡°And you don¡¯t think that you can do that.¡±

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°When I first came here, the thing that created this sense of separation was my lack of knowledge about the world. That was something I could fix. I couldn¡¯t pretend like I was a lifelong resident, but I could read up and talk to people enough to sound like a competent foreigner. But now, the thing that separates me is that I¡¯m constantly migrating away from many of the things that make a person a person.

    ¡°Compared to the majority of people on this planet, I¡¯m superhumanly strong, agile, quick, and¨Cat the risk of sounding immodest¨Cattractive. I can get thrown through entire buildings without breaking a bone and I don¡¯t even bruise or bleed anymore. I lost two teeth a week ago and they grew back in an hour.

    ¡°I see things others can¡¯t: threads of mana, specters, people¡¯s souls. Not to mention the amount of violence I¡¯ve participated in this last year is more than any ten average people will witness in their entire lives.¡±

    ¡°Your allies share this experience with you, don¡¯t they?¡± she said.

    ¡°That¡¯s true. For most of it. Sure, I¡¯ve got this ever-growing chasm between myself and ¡®mundane¡¯ people, but I can relate to Delvers. However, the problem with relating with other Delvers is two-fold. First, a lot of Delvers are¡­ guarded. Secretive. Each has their own power set and growth so it can be difficult to find someone that truly shares the experience of how you¡¯re changing. Second, my party members each have their own culture and families which I don¡¯t share. There are multiple layers of separation I have to cut through to connect with people. Plus, even back on Earth, I was considered to have kind of a big personality. Not everyone¡¯s cup of tea.¡±

    Sam¡¯lia nodded and studied her glass.

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable,¡± she said. ¡°But you have been adopted, Arlo. You may feel isolated, but do you think part of that is your own doing?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah. Of course, it is. I¡¯ve always had this problem. Arzia just amplifies it. As far as the adoption, I apologize that I haven¡¯t come here sooner. Still, if we¡¯re talking about strange¡­ this place is as far from Earth as anywhere I¡¯ve been so far.¡±

    ¡°No need to apologize to me,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m not here to tell you what to do or how to do it, especially if you have no wish for me to do so. If I were to give a word of advice, however, you might consider embracing the culture that you have been made a part of, rather than expecting it to embrace you.¡±

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s words cut through me, but the idea wasn¡¯t a surprise. I¡¯d always kept a degree of separation between my true emotions and the world at large, which I believed was a reasonable thing to do up to a certain point. I had taken it too far in the past, and maybe it was something I was still doing. I really couldn¡¯t complain about failing to connect with people if I wasn¡¯t making much of an effort.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Thank you for sharing all of that with me,¡± she said, and it sounded genuine. ¡°I won¡¯t pry any further. As for your question about my world, could one grow nostalgia apples? Perhaps, but I wouldn¡¯t say that the nostalgia grows within the apple, more like it¡¯s being implanted there.¡±

    ¡°How does this place stay stable?¡± I asked. ¡°If people can just think of something and make it real, I don¡¯t understand how it can function.¡±

    ¡°That portrayal is somewhat simple, but I¡¯ll offer you a simple answer,¡± she said. ¡°It is because I will it to be so.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve got your hand on the dream rudder.¡±

    ¡°In some places more than others,¡± she said with a wink. ¡°Now, what can I do for you?¡±

    The shift caught me by surprise.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, organizing my thoughts. ¡°I just had some questions.¡±

    ¡°Feel free to ask,¡± she said. ¡°No promises that you will like my answers, however.¡±

    ¡°Seems like the standard divine wisdom agreement,¡± I said, which earned me another playful smile. ¡°First, these gifts from The Eye. From¡­ you? I¡¯m not sure how the whole seven-organed thing works, but is there something you expect from me? Some sort of¡­¡±

    ¡°Payment?¡± she said, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°Not to sound too transactional, but yeah.¡±

    She looked into the fire for a moment, the blue flame reflected in her crimson eyes.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°See and Reveal responsibly.¡± She toasted her glass to me.

    The ease of her response filled me with relief, although I had expected a bit more.

    ¡°That was surprisingly straightforward,¡± I said.

    ¡°Did you anticipate a long list of ¡®thou shalls¡¯ and ¡®thou shalt nots¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I did. That, or a blood sacrifice.¡±

    She pointed at me again.

    ¡°Feel free to do that, just don¡¯t sacrifice anyone I know. Not a requirement, though.¡±

    ¡°I- er,¡± I tried to interpret her expression, but it was impenetrable. I decided to leave that issue behind and forget that it existed.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I began, ¡°if you don¡¯t expect me to do anything in return for the gifts, do you expect me to do anything at all? Any holy missions you plan to send me on or people to smite in your name? Do you want me to do anything like¡­ avoid eating pork on the weekend or try not to take up smoking?¡±

    She sat her glass down and turned to me, resting her elbow on the arm of her chair and placing her chin upon it. It reminded me of Xim. Then again, maybe Xim reminded me of Sam¡¯lia.

    ¡°That all depends,¡± she said.

    ¡°What does it depend on?¡±

    ¡°It depends on what you want.¡±

    ¡°What I want?¡±

    ¡°What do you want?¡±

    ¡°From yourself, or in general?¡±

    ¡°Both.¡±

    ¡°I want-¡± I struggled to find the right words. ¡°I want to be the best version of myself. To have a place to call home full of friends and family. To have the power to protect them.¡±

    ¡°How do I help you with that?¡±

    ¡°You could tell me what Orexis is up to?¡±

    She frowned.

    ¡°Orexis,¡± she said softly. ¡°My perception of the First Layer is limited. I know only what my worshippers tell me, and little of that deals with the avatars.¡±

    ¡°What about the avatars, generally? What¡¯s their whole deal?¡±

    Her smile returned, though it was a little bitter.

    ¡°The avatars are wrong,¡± she said, and the room trembled with her words. ¡°I do not know from what foul womb their brood spawns, but their existence is a plague upon this world.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a pretty strong condemnation,¡± I said, and she turned to me, eyes glowing.

    ¡°I am legion, Arlo. My sisters and I span more worlds than I know and those to whom I have spoken do not find these entities in their realms. Some perversion creates them and their existence is anathema to life. All I know for certain is that when Delvers begin to rise in the First Layer, the avatars rise to meet them. Now that they are here, they will only grow stronger.¡±

    ¡°Wow.¡± I shifted in my seat, suddenly warm. The fire in the hearth had kicked up. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of threads to unravel in what you just said.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I doubt that it eases your mind any.¡± Her eyes cooled, and she sat back, looking worn down. ¡°I wish that I could tell you more that was helpful. For now, my best advice is to stay out of their way.¡±

    I swallowed, then took another sip of the apple juice to clear a bad taste from my mouth.

    ¡°Staying out of their way might be hard to do,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m already on the radar for a few. What if I decide not to do that?¡±

    ¡°And take up Xim¡¯s holy quest for vengeance?¡± She smiled again and I could swear I saw a fang peek out.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure vengeance is the thing I¡¯m seeking, but as an example, sure.¡±

    ¡°If you wish to confront one, grow stronger. Grow until your power might wash away a nation and then grow stronger still.¡±

    ¡°Any advice on how to do that?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t wait for the path you¡¯re on to embrace you.¡±

    ¡°Embrace the path I¡¯m already on.¡± I paused for a beat. ¡°The System phases.¡±

    Her eyes returned to the fire and the flames danced for her. She ran a hand through her hair, and it flowed like liquid around her fingers.

    ¡°Yes. Although the System is not your only road to strength,¡± she said. ¡°You have your allies, your revelations, even the gifts given to you by the avatars themselves.¡±

    I thought for a moment, then pulled out the Traveler¡¯s Amulet and studied its dark gem.

    ¡°If avatars like Fortune are so dangerous, I thought you might ask me to get rid of this thing.¡±

    She tilted her head from side to side, considering.

    ¡°Fortune¡¯s gifts to you have been a great boon. I hesitate to say you should abandon them. Would you cast off that ring of his, as well?¡±

    I looked down at my right hand where the Ring of Healing sat with its simple golden band and three ruby gems. I had gotten it as a ¡®bonus item¡¯ when I was resurrected, to compensate me for the loss of all my worldly possessions. Since learning more about Delving and mana-woven items I¡¯d realized that the ring¡¯s effect was much more powerful than its description let on when I chose it. It doubled every source of health regen I had and was practically the centerpiece of my build.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t give him some weird power over me,¡± I said, ¡°does it?¡±

    She glanced down at the ring.

    ¡°Only the gratitude that it earns him,¡± she said. ¡°From what I¡¯ve heard about Fortune he is a curiosity, even among the avatars. He¡¯s not the type to lay out traps. He¡¯ll convince you to build them yourself.¡±

    ¡°Then laugh as you fall into it,¡± I said.

    ¡°Maybe.¡± She sighed. ¡°Of all the avatars that could be keeping an eye on you, he is, perhaps, the best.¡±

    ¡°Where does Orexis rank on that list? From best to worst?¡±

    ¡°Very bad.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really great.¡±

    I turned my attention back to the amulet.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to unlock the next effect on this thing,¡± I said, holding it up and letting the chain dangle. ¡°Xim thought you might have some insights.¡±

    She studied the amulet, then held out a hand.

    ¡°May I?¡± she asked. I set it down into her palm and she ran a thumb across the flecked metal. She smirked. ¡°¡®Make Soul-Sight your own¡¯,¡± she said, then chuckled. She passed the jewelry back to me. ¡°Fortune has given you an impossible task.¡±

    ¡°How so? I initially thought that receiving the revelation¨Cbeing able to use Soul-Sight without the amulet¨Cwould be enough. It hasn¡¯t been.¡±

    ¡°That is because the power flows through you, but it is no more ¡®your own¡¯ than the air you breathe or the river you drink from. Your body is an organized pile of borrowed things. With every inhale and swallow you add to it, with every exhale and drop of sweat you return what was lent.¡±

    ¡°Huh. If that¡¯s how Fortune sees it, then is that the big joke? I can¡¯t unlock the next effect because I can only ever ¡®borrow¡¯ Soul-Sight?¡±

    ¡°That sounds too crude for Fortune from what I¡¯ve heard about the creature,¡± she said. ¡°I think he wanted to make sure that you came and talked to me.¡±

    I tilted my head in confusion.

    ¡°Why would he want that?¡±

    ¡°Why did he encourage you toward Soul-Sight in the first place? He must have known that it would draw my attention and that my Eye would get a kick out of inspiring your growth.¡±

    ¡°You think I¡¯m fun?¡±

    She furrowed her brow.

    ¡°Naturally,¡± she said. ¡°A man from another universe saves the life of one of my daughters and then begins peering into her soul. A man with the divine stink of avatar wound around his veins, adopted into one of my tribes. A man who by all measures shouldn¡¯t be having anything to do with half the things you''re doing. You¡¯re interesting.¡±

    ¡°Thanks?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± she said, picking up her glass and taking another sip.

    I hefted the amulet, trying to decide if I wanted to ask anything more about it, but tucked it back into my pocket.

    ¡°I assume Fortune isn¡¯t the only avatar handing out trinkets,¡± I said, and Sam¡¯lia nodded. ¡°Is that why you showed me Orexis¡¯s eyes in the flames of Judgment that covered Gharifon?¡±

    ¡°What you saw was influenced by your perception of the avatars.¡± She ran a thumb over one of her bone rings. ¡°Eyes are important to you, Arlo, even when looking past your gifts. That vision of endless pits gave you insight into Gharifon¨Ceither his nature or his past. The flames were a conduit for the vision but not its source. As for what I saw, Gharifon is a man of faith. That faith clouded what I could make out of his deeds, but the taste of them¡­ He has been in contact with something like Orexis if not Orexis himself.¡±

    I mulled that over, wondering how much of my encounter with Tavio was chance. I started to move back to the System phase rollout, wanting to dig more deeply into what Sam¡¯lia knew but I was taken by a different idea.

    ¡°Can you teach me more about magic?¡±

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s smile returned, genuine and gleeful.

    ¡°I try not to meddle much,¡± she said. ¡°But if you¡¯re willing to take a risk, then I¡¯m willing to give you a hint.¡±

 94 - System Phases

    When I walked out of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s stone treehouse I found Xim kneeling in prayer, her body bathed in crimson light. I waited a few minutes for her to finish what I expected was her own communion with the deity. When she finally opened her eyes she looked more excited than I¡¯d ever seen her.

    ¡°Whaddya think?¡± I asked. She stood so quick that she did a little jump.

    ¡°Everything¡¯s changed,¡± she said, ¡°but nothing has.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I feel about the same.¡±

    Xim hopped forward and took me by the arms.

    ¡°We¡¯ve gotta tell everyone,¡± she said, looking as though the knowledge she now possessed pleased her to no end. ¡°Come on!¡±

    Xim used her dream step and the branches, houses, and foliage swept by us in an abstract blur. In a matter of seconds, we were back inside the Irgriana tree within a large library where Drel and Xorna were lounging and reading.

    ¡°News!¡± Xim said, rushing forward and pulling her mother out of a velvet chair. Drel sat his book down and drifted over.

    ¡°Yes?¡± said Xorna, giving Xim a pat on the head. The cleric waved her mother¡¯s hand away.

    ¡°We talked to Sam¡¯lia and she told us lots of stuff!¡± said Xim. ¡°Stuff she¡¯s never told anyone! Well, she¡¯s told people, but not for a long time. We¡¯re the first ones from this generation that she¡¯s told. Everyone else she¡¯s told is gone. She hasn¡¯t had a reason to tell anyone yet because it hasn¡¯t mattered but now that there are avatars and we found out about the phases she decided that we were the ones to tell!¡± Xim said all of this is a rushed jumble.

    ¡°Calm yourself, Xim,¡± said Drel. ¡°What did she say?¡±

    ¡°Where do I start? It¡¯s uh- The System is- No, the avatars are-¡±

    ¡°May I?¡± I asked. She turned, eyes a bit wild, then nodded. I cleared my throat. ¡°The avatars will endlessly grow stronger and destroy all life unless someone finds a way to stop them and the System is a world-spanning device that turns Delvers into gods.¡± I paused to let the statement settle. ¡°Oh, and Sam¡¯lia helped me learn a new technique.¡±

    ¡°The avatars are that dangerous?¡± asked Xorna.

    ¡°What is meant when you say ¡°turn Delvers into gods¡±?¡± said Drel.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said to Xorna. ¡°Sam¡¯lia doesn¡¯t know the exact reasons why, but when the System starts pumping out Delvers the avatars come out of the woodwork. They grow more dangerous over time and their past hijinks have resulted in the devastation of multiple civilizations that rose and fell on this planet prior to the ones that currently exist. We haven¡¯t seen them up until now because it usually takes time for them to emerge, but Sam¡¯lia says it¡¯s happening faster this go-round than it has in the past. Probably a bad thing.¡±

    I turned to Drel.

    ¡°Gods, as in celestial beings. True divinities, not avatars. The System phases continually unlock additional resources that allow Delvers to ¡®transcend¡¯ the physical plane and become one with the divine. It culminates in ascendancy for anyone who¡¯s made the grade. Phase two is mainly about increasing the accessibility of the Delves; allowing more people to undergo Creation and giving the high-level Delvers that exist a new crop of challenges to help them grow.¡±

    Silence ran across the library for a few seconds.

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Xorna. The woman was normally as detached as they came, but she placed an arm around Xim¡¯s shoulder to steady herself.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the avatars can reach us here, Mom,¡± said Xim, patting her mother¡¯s arm. ¡°They¡¯re limited to the First Layer.¡±

    ¡°For now,¡± I said. ¡°Not to be too negative, but Fortune brought my body across dimensions. I¡¯m sure some of these entities could find a way to travel between Layers.¡±

    ¡°We have all of us tasted Orexis¡¯s strength,¡± said Drel. ¡°You say such power is only the beginning?¡±

    ¡°Orexis is less powerful than a normal avatar alone,¡± I said. ¡°And all of the avatars will be getting stronger over time.¡±

    ¡°How many are there?¡± asked Xorna.

    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°It sounds like a lot of them got locked into the Cage, but Sam¡¯lia doesn¡¯t have good vision into the First. She can¡¯t be certain how many escaped that trap or how many new avatars have arisen in that time.¡±

    ¡°New ones?¡± said Xorna. She was going pale. ¡°They can breed?¡±

    ¡°Their reproductive habits are unknown,¡± I said. ¡°But they do multiply¡­ somehow.¡±

    ¡°I must confess,¡± said Drel, ¡°I do not desire godhood. Had I known that was the path of Delvers, I might have chosen a different trail.¡±

    ¡°Why did you become a Delver?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I was¡­ curious,¡± he said.

    ¡°Guess that¡¯s where Xim gets it from. What about you, Xorna?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡± My question broke her from some deep thought. ¡°Why did I become a Delver? It is what Drel was doing.¡±

    ¡°Ah. I suppose that¡¯s kind of romantic.¡±

    [None of you need worry about ascension for some time,] said Grotto into our minds. [One may become a Delver without having divinity thrust upon them. It is a choice, not a mandate.]

    The Delve Core floated out from between a series of bookshelves, several tomes gripped in his feelers. His gray robes undulated around him in time with his feathers, as though he were underwater.

    ¡°Finally able to share?¡± I said. ¡°Not being held at spearpoint by the System any longer?¡±

    [There are still truths that I am forbidden to speak if you must know. The two of you]¡ªhe gestured between Xim and I¡ª[have had your permissions elevated. Matriarch Xorna and Patriarch Drel¡¯gethed, I apologize, but I remain unable to answer your questions directly.]

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡±

    Grotto¡¯s dark eyes shifted as he considered. For a second I thought he would keep holding out on us.

    [They are not Platinum-grade Delvers,] the core finally admitted. [Although the phases have been revealed to them, their path through Gold disqualifies them from further advancement.]

    ¡°What?!¡± said Xim, rushing up to Grotto. ¡°What do you mean? The difficulty a Delver pursues can¡­ can lock them out of whatever the second phase might give them?¡±

    [Yes,] Grotto thought to us. [The Delve tiers are the first great filter. The System rewards bravery, risk tolerance, and commitment, in addition to skill and intellect.]

    ¡°Is that why it¡¯s so hard to jump up a grade?¡± I asked. ¡°The System decides your merit early then makes it impossible for you to change your mind?¡±

    [The System makes no modifications for a Delver who attempts to climb to a new difficulty, it is merely that those who wish to do so are seldom equipped for the endeavor. Regardless, after the first few Delves within any grade, an evaluation is made of the Delver. There is no absolute rule of when the matter is ultimately decided, but I have not yet seen the System issue its approval for a Delver who has remained at Gold or lower past their tenth Delve.]

    Xim looked back at her parents, worried, but Drel raised his hand to calm her.

    ¡°Fret not, Xim,¡± he said. ¡°As I mentioned, I do not seek such heights. I am content to remain mortal. To remain within Sam¡¯lia¡¯s embrace.¡±

    Xim looked to Xorna, who nodded in agreement and took Drel¡¯s hand. I got the sense that she was happy to be wherever Drel was, whether that was in the Third Layer or the heavens themselves.

    [Now, you two have many important decisions to make,] Grotto thought as he swept past Xim to hover between the two of us. [What will you do with this knowledge? Do you seek to ascend, or are you satisfied with your paltry mortal lives?] He spun to Drel and Xorna. [No offense meant, most esteemed ones.] I rolled my eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much interest in becoming a god,¡± I said. Xim raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°Okay, becoming a god is a compelling proposal but it¡¯s not top of mind for me at the moment.¡± I crossed my arms. ¡°We need to let Varrin in on what we¡¯ve discovered. He can decide if he wants to take that intel to the higher-ups in Hiward. Then we need to figure out how to unlock the next phase.¡±

    ¡°You are certain you wish to do so?¡± asked Drel.

    ¡°What choice do we have?¡± I said. ¡°According to Sam¡¯lia, the avatars are a threat that must be dealt with. Giving the world¡¯s Delvers the tools to do so should be priority number one.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Hiward will be on board,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t they be?¡±

    ¡°They control the Creation Delve,¡± she said. ¡°If the second phase allows for more Delvers to be minted outside of Hiward they lose their monopoly.¡±

    I rubbed at the bridge of my nose.

    ¡°First, we don¡¯t know what form that would take. Maybe it just increases the number of slots within the Creation Delve that¡¯s already in Hiward. Second, I fucking swear if politics and bullshittery get in the way of literally preventing an apocalypse then I am going to lose my cool.¡±

    ¡°Politics and bullshittery,¡± said Xim, ¡°it¡¯s what Hiward does best.¡±

    ¡°We are not beholden to their whims,¡± said Drel. ¡°If this must be done, the tribe will be with you.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ appreciate that, Drel. Still, if Hiward isn¡¯t on board then Varrin may not be. I like to think he can look past political allegiances for the greater good, but with his station that may be tough.¡±

    Xim let out a loud, groaning sigh aimed at the ceiling.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯ll go back to the First and let him know what¡¯s happening,¡± she said.

    ¡°You have only just arrived home,¡± said Drel.

    ¡°Let us send a messenger,¡± said Xorna. ¡°Cul¡¯gute is quick and good with the Eye.¡±

    ¡°He is an honorable young man,¡± said Drel.

    ¡°And handsome,¡± Xorna added.

    ¡°He is of an age that is ripe for bonding, as well,¡± said Drel. Both of Xim¡¯s parents were now staring at their daughter.

    ¡°Please stop telling me about Cul¡¯gute,¡± said Xim. ¡°In fact, yes, send him away to Varrin. Tell him to be our Ravvenblaq contact while Arlo and I are here. That way I won¡¯t have to worry about any more ¡®surprise¡¯ dinners with his family.¡±

    ¡°He will be eager to prove his merit to you,¡± said Drel.

    I knew that Xim was irritated with her parents over this Cul¡¯gute guy, but the whole situation was a little funny. I did my best to hide my grin while I tried to find a way to guide the conversation toward a change of topic.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, ¡°now that we¡¯ve got the line of communication between the First and the Third sorted, I think this would be a good time to talk about getting me a new hammer.¡±

    *****

    There were no smiths in the Xor¡¯Drel tribe. There were dream forgers. The most skilled of them was named Khigra.

    Khigra¡¯s workshop was near the base of the Irgriana tree, surrounded by a wide field on all sides. The forge itself was open to the air, with only a canopy set upon stilts to keep the rain and weather off of the forge master¡¯s back and a series of tarps to set apart its different sections.

    I traveled to Khigra¡¯s alone while the Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s worked out the logistics of communicating with Varrin and continued to discuss both the implications of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s truth bombs and the various suitors that Xim¡¯s parents wanted to hook the cleric up with. I was happy to be away from that conversation since I didn¡¯t want to get ¡°roped in¡± like Xim suspected that I might.

    Drel had already sent the broken haft of my old hammer, Arbitros, to the forge master to inspect. The Xor¡¯Drel patriarch expected Khigra to have formed some strong opinions about both myself and my fighting style from reviewing the remains of my old hammer, although I was uncertain what that meant. I tried to walk into the forge while leaving all of my assumptions at the metaphorical door since I had no idea how crafting weapons operated in the Third Layer, which was only slightly less than the amount I knew about how weapons were crafted in the First.

    Upon seeing Khigra, I realized that I hadn¡¯t been successful in abandoning my presumptions.

    When I thought of a forge master I thought of a sweaty man with a beard in an apron and covered in soot. Maybe a stout dwarf or, at the very least, a hale lass with thirty kilos of muscle buried beneath a few decades'' worth of hardy post-manual-labor meals.

    Khigra was a level 23 Delver, six feet of lean and trim with curves that defied her body¡¯s attempt at eliminating all fat in favor of muscle. She had thick, black hair that ran down to the small of her back and which floated in the air behind her, kept out of her work by an unseen force. Her clothes were minimalist and functional, hugging close to her body with no loose articles to get in her way, but lacking the thick and protective nature of typical smith wear.

    When I approached she turned her orange eyes to me. Set against her light red skin they gave me a profound sense of sunset, as though the world were preparing to call it a day and settle in for the night. She¡¯d been leaning over a heavy wooden counter, engraving squirming sigils into a length of unfamiliar metal.

    ¡°You must be Arlo,¡± she said, resting an elbow on the counter and looking me over.

    ¡°And you must be Khigra,¡± I said. ¡°Pleasure to make your acquaintance.¡±

    She met my greeting with a half-amused smile, then turned and walked behind a thick curtain. She returned holding the haft of Arbitros.

    ¡°What material is this?¡± she asked, which surprised me.

    ¡°It¡¯s frozen steel,¡± I said, and she looked at me expectantly. ¡°It gets harder when it¡¯s hot and gets softer when it¡¯s cold. It also has some simple magic properties.¡±

    She flipped the haft over in her hands, feeling its weight.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look like you run hot,¡± she said, still studying the haft. ¡°Or cold.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°It was a gift. It wasn¡¯t the best fit for me, to be honest.¡±

    She nodded, then gripped the haft by either end. Her forearms flexed, the striations of her muscles pressing against her skin, and she bent the length of magically enhanced metal until its ends crossed like a simple ribbon.

    ¡°Not the strongest substance,¡± she said, then stepped forward and handed me the twisted remains of Arbitros.

    I accepted it out of reflex but couldn¡¯t help but stare at Khigra and experience a moment of enlightenment. While my body responded to the symmetry and grace of Charisma, it responded more profoundly to the raw power of Strength.

    ¡°Come,¡± she said as she held back the curtain, ¡°let me show you a few things.¡±

    ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± I whispered, then followed her deeper into her shop.

 95 - The Hammer is My...

    ¡°Your Blunt skill is too low,¡± said Khigra. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be worth my time to make a hammer for you.¡±

    We stood before a rack of weapons the dream forger had made, each with requirements more substantial than the last.

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t hire Michaelangelo to paint your house.¡±

    I brought up the item description for a sword that floated in the air, its edges fading in and out of being. Varrin might have been able to use that one, but only because his Sword Prodigy passive lowered the required stats for any sword he held.

    Khigra walked over to me and gripped my shoulder then went lower and squeezed my upper arm. Her grip was very firm.

    ¡°What¡¯s your Strength score?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Ten.¡±

    She crossed her arms, then leaned against a post.

    ¡°Why do you want to wield a hammer?¡±

    ¡°Would you object to the answer ¡®because hammers are cool¡¯?¡±

    She gave me another mildly entertained look.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I enjoy all the weapons I make. It¡¯s why I do this.¡± She gestured around the shop.

    ¡°It¡¯s good to like what you do. How high would my Blunt skill need to be?¡±

    She looked up at the tarp above us, pursing her lips in thought.

    ¡°I have some ideas for using Intelligence as the main stat,¡± she said. ¡°Fortitude would be better, but I don¡¯t think it fits with the way you want to use it. In a perfect world, your Blunt skill would be equal.¡±

    ¡°Twenty-one,¡± I said. ¡°That means I¡¯d need to go up another nine levels.¡± She nodded. I dismissed the item screen for the sword I was inspecting. ¡°Well, I guess I¡¯ll come back in a couple of months.¡±

    Her eyebrows went up.

    ¡°Just like that?¡± she said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°I tell you I won¡¯t make it and you¡¯re willing to walk away?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯ll come back. Training is always at the top of my List, so it¡¯s not like you¡¯re asking me to do anything I wouldn¡¯t already be doing.¡±

    ¡°Patriarch Drel¡¯gethed commissioned me himself,¡± she said. ¡°He told me to make you whatever you asked for.¡±

    ¡°And that was very generous of him. What, uh, what¡¯s your point?¡±

    She popped off the post and looked me up and down.

    ¡°You could insist that I do it,¡± she said. ¡°Right now, even with your low skill level.¡±

    ¡°Seems like a waste,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, forcing someone to work against their wishes is a bit dumb for a couple of reasons. One, asshole move. Two, and not to doubt your integrity, but what if they did a shit job out of spite?¡±

    She nodded and looked thoughtful.

    ¡°Anyway, It was nice meeting you,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll come ba-¡±

    ¡°Do you have a trainer?¡±

    ¡°No. Xim¡¯s Blunt is more than double mine, so I thought-¡±

    Khigra waved a hand dismissively.

    ¡°Sparring with a party member is fine for sharpening skills,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s no good for building fundamentals.¡±

    ¡°Do you¡­ have someone in mind?¡±

    She looked me over again, drumming her fingers along a biceps.

    ¡°I¡¯ll train you,¡± she said.

    ¡°Really?¡± I said, confused. ¡°I won¡¯t assume how long it takes you to make a hammer but if you¡¯re worried about wasting time, training me up nine levels will take weeks, at the least.¡±

    She smiled again. This time it was a little feral.

    ¡°I would learn nothing from making a bad hammer,¡± she said. ¡°There is always something to be learned from training.¡±

    Three months.

    Khigra kicked my ass for three. Months.

    Best three months of my life.

    Getting my Blunt to 21 took a little less than five weeks. After that, we worked on Heavy Armor and Shields. She took a little too much pleasure in walloping me around the yard outside her forge with a different melee weapon every day.

    The woman had the Weapons Master passive, which meant she could wield almost anything effectively. One day she just had a big fuck-off branch, practically a log. That¡¯s the only time I¡¯ve ever had the same skill go up twice in one day, which is roughly a quarter of the number of times my arm was broken from blocking the hunk of wood.

    Khigra was a different kind of trainer than Varrin. Where the swordsman was meticulous, intentional, and grueling, Khigra was enthusiastic, taunting, and above all else, fun. Even though I was no match for her she was always eager for our daily duels and she was as excited to play the part of ¡®master¡¯ as I was to play the part of ¡®student¡¯.

    There was a rhythm to our physicality with one another that was harmonic and augmentative. She learned my thoughtful and, as she was quick to point out, overly analytic style and broke it down with animal grace. By the end of it, I was fighting on instinct and emotion as much as on higher reasoning and our fights were closer to a choreographed dance, rather than the clunky melee they had started as.

    The results of our efforts took my Blunt to 21, my Shields to 20, and my Heavy Armor to 11. A total gain of 24 intrinsic skill levels, which was more than most Delvers got done in a year.

    At the end of the twelfth week, after my Shields skill finally hit 20, we paused our training session early. The day had seen me on my ass as much as my feet, which was a big step up compared to the previous fortnight. I was sore, exhausted, down to two-thirds HP, and about as sweaty as I¡¯d ever been.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said between heavy breaths. ¡°I¡¯ve never been so disappointed in a skill-up before. I mean, I knew I had to go back to the First at some point, but it always seemed kind of¡­ far off.¡±

    Khigra sent her broadsword to her inventory and closed the distance between us with an easy pace. She stopped about a foot away.

    ¡°So, what now?¡± I asked. ¡°Start working on my hammer?¡±

    She reached up and wiped a bit of sweat and dirt from my brow, then let her hand drift down the side of my face and neck to my collarbone. Our practice had destroyed no less than six different shirts, so I¡¯d taken to going without when we weren¡¯t focused on armor training. She ran her thumb along the ridge of bone, then looked up at me with an expression I can only describe as sultry.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°Now,¡± she said, ¡°we practice grappling techniques.¡±

    Did you know that the furniture in the Third Layer could be reinforced with the very concept of resilience?

    It was convenient since Delvers needed sturdy beds.

    While I was¡­ training¡­ Xim was working on her Divine with Drel and, to my surprise, Grotto. The core was Divine-attuned so it was no surprise that he knew a thing or two about the school of magic but his engagement with the party had gone up tenfold since our talk with Sam¡¯lia. He¡¯d transformed from a veritable hikikomori to a wise, insistent sage overnight.

    At the end of our three months in the Third Layer, on the final night of our stay, Khigra prepared to forge a new weapon for both myself and Xim.

    The process included a hundred members of the tribe in addition to Khigra and ourselves. Dream forging didn¡¯t involve melting metal or hammering out impurities. It was a guided manifestation of intent, directed by Khigra and imbued with the will of many of the tribe¡¯s most skilled dreamers. We all gathered in the open field around Khigra¡¯s workshop, which existed for that very purpose, not just as a stomping ground for my ass.

    Xim went first. As Khigra summoned the form of the cleric¡¯s new scepter, the forge master connected Xim¡¯s desire to the crowd and guided us as we focused on the concepts of Judgment and Flame. The air shimmered and the world flexed as the weapon was forged. The look on Xim¡¯s face when she stepped forward to take the scepter in her hands was one of absolute glee. She gave it a couple of practice swings but resisted the urge to start knocking down houses. She pulled Khigra into a tight hug, then returned to the crowd as I stepped up next to Dream Forger to receive my own tribal gift.

    ¡°It¡¯s a shame that I won¡¯t be able to instruct you with this new weapon,¡± said Khigra with a smirk.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯ll be back. I¡¯m going to set up a Checkpoint in the tree.¡±

    ¡°Checkpoint?¡±

    ¡°My Dimensional 20 evolution lets me create permanent connections to my Pocket Closet. I can only make two and the portals only last an hour once a day, but that¡¯ll let me travel to and from the tribe without much trouble.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± she said. ¡°I guess we all beseech the Eye in our own way.¡±

    Her comment made me consider whether creating a Checkpoint really was beseeching the Eye. Sam¡¯lia was the ultimate gatekeeper of travel to and from the Third Layer, and one needed to ask the Eye¡¯s permission to gain entry. If my Checkpoint skill worked, that meant that it must work with her blessing.

    Khigra leaned in close and whispered in my ear. ¡°I look forward to many more lessons.¡± She moved back again. ¡°Now,¡± she said at normal volume, ¡°since you can Reveal, this process will be easier for you than most.¡±

    ¡°Right. The connection you made when forging for Xim felt a lot like the way I touch on souls while using the revelation.¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°Go ahead and reach out with Reveal. The tribe members here will be open and accepting.¡±

    I readied myself, then used the Reveal ability for the first time in months. The skill allowed me to share my perception with others around me and it went much deeper than the surface-level experience of my five senses. Reveal showed those with whom I connected the world colored by my thoughts, intuitions, and feelings. For some, it was overwhelming, making it difficult to tell where I began and where they ended. It had caused a small amount of chaos in my party¡¯s fight with the specter of Orexis for that very reason.

    The souls of the hundred tribe members were beacons in the night. Beholding them with Reveal engulfed me in a cacophony of presence, similar to my Soul-Sight when viewing a powerful individual, but suffusing the entirety of my perception. I felt, heard, and tasted the tribe surrounding me, awash in their emotions. I corraled the feeling and began directing it to the concepts I wanted to embody, guided by Khigra¡¯s expert hand.

    Dream forging worked best in sets of two or three concepts. After having discussed it with Khigra, I¡¯d settled on two.

    Growth and Void.

    In my mind, the ideas were integral to one another. Growth was my lifelong pursuit. Ever-forward, ever-improving. Every day I wanted¡ªneeded¡ªto be better than I was the day before. Stagnation was a terror nipping at my heels. It wasn¡¯t always helpful or useful, but it was a part of my identity. I could use it and shape it into something that served me, but I also had to take care that I ruled the concept and that the concept did not rule me.

    The void was absence, the lack of, space waiting to be filled. It was what I grew into. When I¡¯d arrived in Arzia, I¡¯d had nothing. No possessions, no family or friends, no connections. I¡¯d had my body and the gifts given to me by Fortune, as potent as they were, but so far as this world knew, where there was once empty air, a person appeared. I filled my world with new relationships and my presence expanded out into Arzia as I lived. As my Closet expanded outward and endless, filling the dimensional nothing in which it existed, I too would grow without end, ceaselessly through the void.

    I delivered these concepts to the tribe, their will imbued Khigra¡¯s workings and where there was naught, Somncres came into being. I reached out to take the weapon and then inspected it.

    Somncres

    War Hammer

    This is an evolving item.

    Requirements

    STR 10, INT 21, Blunt 21, Dimensional Magic 20, Mystical Magic 10

    Effects:

    1) Somncres can be summoned and dismissed at will.

    2) Somncres¡¯s size and form can be adjusted at will, so long as you would normally be able to wield such a hammer.

    3) Whenever you make a thrown weapon attack with Somncres you may create up to X copies, where X is your INT/10. Each copy costs 2 mana to create. These copies possess all qualities imbued into Somncres at the moment the copies are created.

    4) Khigra may imbue this item with an additional effect once you reach your next Intelligence evolution.

    The haft and handle of Somncres were black and the head was emerald green. All along the length of the weapon were points of light that shifted and moved as I turned the hammer, evoking a sense of cosmic space like both Drel¡¯s body and my own irises. All in, it was pretty damn cool and I couldn¡¯t wait to throw it at a motherfucker.

    ¡°Growth was a good choice,¡± said Khigra, looking over the item with me. ¡°It is less powerful than the weapons I normally make, but it may be worth boasting about one day.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, holding the hammer reverently. Khigra gave me a gentle pinch on the ribs.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a baby,¡± she said. ¡°Stop cradling it like one.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°That tickles, you know.¡±

    ¡°Would you rather it hurt?¡±

    ¡°Both are good.¡±

    She smiled and squeezed my shoulder, then I took a few steps away from everyone and gave Somncres a couple of practice swings. It was a little over three feet in length in its current form. I focused and the weapon grew until it was comfortable to hold in two hands. I went through a few practice motions, then willed the hammer down to a form that mimicked my throwing hammers. I wasn¡¯t about to go tossing it around with everyone milling about, so I looked it over and gave it a flip. The weight and balance were perfect for me in each form it took. I turned to the tribe members who were gathered and gave a bow.

    ¡°Thank you all for this greeting,¡± I said. ¡°It is my honor to be a part of the Xor¡¯Drel tribe.¡±

    ¡°Thank us at the tavern!¡± someone yelled, which got a few chuckles.

    The group broke up and several members approached to give me their well wishes. Afterward, the casks of ale were opened and the spirits flowed. Xim and Drel eventually wore me down and convinced me to try some of the fabled liquor brewed from the sap of the Irgriana tree.

    Unlike normal First Layer denizens, I did not go into a coma. Instead, I got to take my hammer for its first test drive fighting the hallucination demons that I accidentally spawned. I¡¯m pretty sure the others were helping the manifestation along, as I doubted I had learned enough about manipulating the fabric of the Third Layer to summon Grade Two monsters without assistance.

    The evening passed, I set my Checkpoint within the Irgriana tree and then spent the night with Khigra. The next morning Xim and I said our farewells to the tribe and returned to the First Layer, setting out for Ravvenblaq.

    When we arrived, Varrin was cutting down training dummies with a sword that was as long as a giraffe was tall, from hoof to head. It was also so thin that there was no way physics was letting that thing exist without a whole lot of magic devilry going on.

    ¡°That¡¯s a big fucking sword!¡± I yelled from a good, safe distance. I wasn¡¯t willing to get within a hundred feet of the man while he held the thing. Varrin paused and turned to see us, then the sword collapsed down on itself until it was the length of a normal longsword.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot to discuss,¡± he said as he made his way toward us.

    ¡°Yep!¡± said Xim, trotting forward and peering over the sword. ¡°Arlo got laid.¡±

    Varrin raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

    ¡°Good for him,¡± he said. ¡°But that¡¯s not what I meant.¡±

    ¡°Have you gotten laid recently?¡± Xim asked. Varrin opened his mouth to reply but snapped it shut without answering. Xim patted him on the arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, me either.¡±

    ¡°Not for the lack of trying by your parents,¡± I said, and she scowled.

    ¡°Why are we talking about sex?¡± said Varrin. ¡°Let¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°Ok,¡± said Xim. ¡°We can move on to Arlo¡¯s new mystery technique. Sam¡¯lia taught it to him herself.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t really teach it to me,¡± I said. ¡°More like she guided me to it. It¡¯s called Gravity Anchor.¡±

    Varrin held up a hand, his expression growing serious.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be happy to see it later,¡± he said. ¡°The crown has called a meeting of all high-profile Delvers. That includes my entire family and our associated party members.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Three days ago,¡± he said, expression going from serious to dark, ¡°Timagrin¡¯s third largest city, Canotha, was destroyed.¡±

 96 - Patriarch

    Timagrin was Hiward¡¯s staunchest ally, and my mind obsessed over how Hiward might respond to the destruction of Canotha. The nations had a shared history of joint defense, and the idea that an invading force was to blame reignited my worry over the potential for a Delver war that would run rampant across the entire continent.

    My worries only grew as we traveled with the Ravvenblaq retinue to Hiward¡¯s capital, Foundation. Varrin knew little beyond the most basic facts and the Ravvenblaqs who were in the know were unavailable to our humble level 6 party. It was a frustrating, somber journey, but our arrival in the nation¡¯s largest city reunited us with Etja and Nuralie.

    I spotted the pair on the main thoroughfare through Hiward leading up to the Dark Iron palace, where the meeting was to be held in three days. They were hard to miss, not only because one was a dark, scaled loson and the other had four arms, but also because of the absurdly sized head coverings they each wore.

    ¡°Nice hats,¡± I said as I approached them through the crowd of moving people along the road. The pair turned to see Varrin, Xim, and I, and Etja gave us all a bright smile.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± she said, reaching up and running her hand along the side of an oversized tricorn, complete with an array of colorful feathers.

    Etja¡¯s entire outfit had seen an upgrade. Her simple blue robes had been replaced with a well-made dress of navy and cerulean. She had on jeweled bracelets, anklets, a couple of rings, no less than five different necklaces, and had acquired a taste for bold makeup choices. She held her Staff of Archon¡¯s Maker in one hand and there was a stringed instrument similar to a lute on her back.

    Nuralie had also taken to a more fashion-forward outfit, though more subdued than the former golem¡¯s. She was dressed in an expensive-looking suit of black and gray, with silver buttons and embellishments. Her high-top boots sported intricate filigree and were well-polished enough that I feared to stare directly at them, lest the reflected sunlight blind me. Fortunately, my shades shielded me from the worst of their photic assault. Upon her head was a stovepipe hat that looked to have been crafted by a milliner who may have been better suited for designing watchtowers.

    ¡°How was your ¡®vacation¡¯?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It was so good!¡± said Etja. ¡°We went to every big city in Bluewren and Heronwyte. Nuralie learned how to do magic tricks and I learned to play four different instruments at the same time!¡±

    ¡°Magic tricks?¡± I said, looking at Nuralie.

    The loson held up her hands, spread wide and empty, then took off her multistory hat and held it up so that we could see that it was empty. She snapped, flicked her wrist, then pulled her cat-sized frog, Bertegog, from within.

    ¡°That¡¯s just using your inventory,¡± I said.

    ¡°Still magic,¡± said Nuralie, and I had to give that one to her.

    ¡°And you became a one-woman band?¡± I said, turning back to Etja. She nodded with enough enthusiasm that her tricorn bobbed forward over her eyes.

    ¡°She is now a bard of some renown,¡± said Nuralie as Etja pushed the hat back up. ¡°At least, across the western coastal cities.¡± Pause. ¡°I have never seen so many grown men cry.¡±

    ¡°Twelve different people proposed to me,¡± said Etja, placing one pair of hands on her hips and striking a dashing pose. ¡°One of them even offered me six goats as a bride-dowry.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure the offer was tempting,¡± I said. ¡°I was neither proposed to nor offered any livestock.¡±

    ¡°I sort of got proposed to,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°There were two Hiwardians and one geulon,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°who offered to become my mate. There were many others who inquired about¡±¡ªpause¡ª¡°more informal arrangements.¡±

    ¡°What about you, Varrin?¡± I asked. ¡°Any offers of marriage during our time off?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve received several letters of intent each season since I was fourteen,¡± he said. ¡°The past few months have been no different.¡±

    ¡°Hot damn,¡± I said. ¡°This is a popular crew.¡±

    ¡°Rich, powerful, and gorgeous,¡± said Xim. ¡°Most of us have all three.¡± She gave me a sly look as she said this and I clutched at my heart in feigned grief.

    ¡°I won¡¯t ask which one I¡¯m missing,¡± I said. ¡°I have a difficult time with criticism.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± said Xim. ¡°I saw you getting ¡®criticized¡¯ quite a lot these last few months. Publicly, while getting your butt kicked. You seemed to handle that pretty well.¡±

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t criticism. That was instruction.¡±

    ¡°Is that what you kids are calling it these days?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ older than you.¡±

    ¡°Not in this world you aren¡¯t, junior.¡±

    As Xim and I exchanged kind words, I noticed Varrin¡¯s posture move from his usual upright and proper bearing to an evolved form of ¡®I¡¯m a serious noble doing respectable things with respectable people.¡¯ I thought his spine might fracture from the force he was exerting to eliminate any natural curvature that it might hold. When the big guy placed a hand on his chest to give a ramrod-straight bow, I caught sight of the person who¡¯d caused the change.

    I turned to see, for the first time in my life, Ealdric Ravvenblaq Senior, Patriarch of the Ravvenblaq house, and one of the founding fathers of Hiward itself.

    The man was a little shorter than Varrin, which placed him somewhere just north of six and a half feet. He was also less broad, so he looked like he had the physique of an NFL quarterback under his simple, dark outfit, rather than that of a straight-up demigod. His pale skin and arctic blue eyes were identical to Varrin¡¯s, however, and the family resemblance was uncanny. He looked about 60 years old, though the man had to be somewhere north of 130.

    He had long, silver hair down to his waist that shone with enough luster to put a Maybelline model to shame and that was so bright it nearly melded with the platinum that suffused his soul. He was level 56, and his presence was like standing in the shadow of an eclipse on a cold winter day.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    His silent footsteps brought him closer and he paused in front of Varrin who was still bowing. He tapped the big guy on the shoulder with a knuckle.

    ¡°Stand up straight, Var,¡± he said. ¡°You know I hate that.¡±

    Varrin snapped back to his broomstick-up-the-ass position and Ealdric Sr. gave him a look like Varrin had just told an amusing anecdote.

    ¡°Patriarch,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Please allow me to introduce you to my party members.¡±

    ¡°You may,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°We¡¯re overdue for a meeting. No fault of yours. The world¡¯s a busy place.¡±

    ¡°As you say, Patriarch,¡± Varrin looked like he was about to bow again, then thought better of it. He turned to face us. ¡°Lords and Ladies,¡± he began, ¡°it is my honor to present Ealdric Ravvenblaq Senior, Patriarch of the Ravvenblaq¡ª¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± said Ealdric, waving a hand. ¡°Patriarch of this, master of that, hero of the war of rebellion, and object of desire for men and women across twelve countries spanning the breadth of Arzia. Enough of that, tell me who these fine young men and women are.¡±

    Varrin nodded, lips tight, then began gesturing around the party. ¡°This is Lady Xim Xor¡¯Drel, hailing from the Third Layer, Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel of the same, Lady Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a of Eschendur, and Lady Etja Nothosis of¡­¡±

    Etja smiled and blinked as Varrin¡¯s words hung in the air.

    ¡°I guess I¡¯m Mirtasian?¡± she said.

    ¡°Of¡­ Mirtasia,¡± said Varrin, grimacing.

    ¡°That¡¯s curious,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°Mirtasia was destroyed a thousand or more years ago if I remember my history.¡± He bent his head forward slightly toward Etja. ¡°You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re a thousand years old.¡±

    ¡°It depends on how you think about it,¡± said Etja. ¡°I am, but I¡¯m not.¡±

    Ealdric smiled when she offered nothing further and clapped Varrin on the back.

    ¡°An interesting group you¡¯ve curated,¡± he said. ¡°Maybe the other family members could learn from your worldly approach. I¡¯ve never seen a group level so fast.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Patriarch,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Our growth is due in no small part to Esquire Arlo¡¯s unique contributions.¡±

    ¡°So Nola has told me,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°Esquire.¡± He paused, tasting the word. ¡°Why do you prefer a lower title than you are due? A Delver who calls the Third Layer his home is viewed as an equal to a lord here in Hiward.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a branding thing, Patriarch,¡± I said. ¡°People take note of the only esquire in the room.¡±

    ¡°I suppose they would,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°They would also view an esquire as the least of threats that surround them in that room if the room were full of lords and ladies. Do you want to be underestimated?¡±

    ¡°Underpromise and overdeliver,¡± I said. ¡°It impresses every time.¡±

    Ealdric considered my statement, eyes distant. We all stood, waiting, but the man drifted into his mind for long enough that I began to wonder if we¡¯d lost him. Eventually, he gave a sharp shrug.

    ¡°Puzzling,¡± he said. ¡°Now that we¡¯ve all been introduced and the pleasantries have been dealt with, I¡¯ve come to tell you all that you shouldn¡¯t come to the summit.¡±

    ¡°We what now?¡± I said.

    Varrin cleared his throat and gave me a sharp look.

    ¡°Forgive me, Patriarch,¡± he said. ¡°If that is your wish, we are happy to oblige. May I ask whether we should be made aware of the reason for your request?¡±

    ¡°There are two reasons,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°First, I¡¯ll tell you what they¡¯re going to say in the meeting right now. They¡¯ll drone on and on¡­ I¡¯m sure it would be very boring for a group of eager adventurers like you five. This way, you can avoid a tedious meeting headed by the old and slow like myself.

    ¡°Second, your group plays an important role in the narrative Hiward is about to hand out to all five of the major houses. I think it would be better if you made yourselves scarce until everyone is more concerned with what was said at the meeting that was truly important, rather than busying themselves trying to figure out who all of you are.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re important?¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°The only reason that we¡¯d be important is if it has to do with what happened in Ravvenblaq last year.¡±

    ¡°For this level of play, that is true,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°Central has good reason to believe that the avatar you encountered last year is responsible for what happened in Canotha.¡±

    ¡°That was fast,¡± said Xim, and Ealdric looked at her expectantly. ¡°Sam¡¯lia just told us that the avatars were going to be a big problem.¡±

    ¡°Timely advice,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°Sam¡¯lia¡­ Could it be advice that looks timely?¡± He pondered that for a few seconds, and I had no idea what he¡¯d meant by it. He took a quick breath and moved on. ¡°A large mana vent opened near the outskirts of Canotha twelve or so days ago. One that grew and threatened to cause an eruption much faster than anyone expected. Very similar to your experience in the mountains. Because of the size and density of the mana vent, one of Timagrin¡¯s most advanced Delver parties was sent to investigate and remedy the situation. There was also a party of mid-level Hiwardian Delvers in the region who responded to see if they could help.

    ¡°When the Timan Delvers arrived they were ambushed by a pair of powerful giants. The Hiwardian party described one of them as ¡°breaking people down into the faintest of particles and breathing them in like the most horrible of pipe smoke.¡± The other was said to ¡°lay siege to the lands with her flesh, which turned all it touched to her own likeness.¡± I think it¡¯s reasonable to believe the first is a description of this Orexis creature. The second may be its sister, Anesis.¡±

    ¡°And Canotha?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Destroyed by the mana eruption,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°The buildings and structures still stand, but all of the people were laid to rest by the mana toxicity and the region will be uninhabitable for years.¡±

    ¡°How did the Hiwardian team escape?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They fled as soon as the avatars began dismantling the Timan team.¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t help?¡± asked Etja. She had her hands clasped together, worry clouding her expression.

    ¡°I think they made the right decision,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°They were level sixteen. If the Duckgriens couldn¡¯t fell one of those beasts, then that party had no hope. They brought back an account of events, which is useful. Throwing their lives away for honor would have been¡­ less useful.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Hiward¡¯s response going to be?¡± I asked.

    Ealdric Sr. crossed his arms behind his back and looked up at the sky.

    ¡°Most of the inner circle knows what happened in our mountains¡ªthe patriarchs, matriarchs, and thundralkes. We agreed to pursue the matter quietly. Our hope was that we could find some clues without stirring up more trouble with these creatures or whatever groups might be allied with them. That¡¯s part of what has kept me so busy these last sixteen months. The strategy has had mixed success.

    ¡°Now that these avatars are openly attacking Delver parties and civilian populations, our cautious approach is¡­ not needed. Hiward will give an account of what transpired in the mountains to everyone present, along with what I just told you about Timagrin and Canotha. We will then be advised that Hiward¡¯s official position is to kill on sight, and we will be encouraged to break the seals on any treasures, relics, techniques, tricks, or dangerous imprisoned relatives we may be hiding away. If any such object, skill, or person was considered forbidden, illegal, or in bad taste, Hiward will kindly look in the other direction while we aim them at the enemy.¡±

    ¡°War footing,¡± I said.

    ¡°It goes farther than that,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°Wars are fought against people. There are some rules for war. These things are not people and so there are no rules.¡±

    ¡°And our party knows more about them than most,¡± I said.

    ¡°Which is why I think it is wise that you stay out of the way of the other houses while they process how much grace Hiward has just given them to act like fools.¡±

    ¡°What about the System phases?¡± said Xim. ¡°If Hiward is looking for tools to use against the avatars, unlocking the next System phase might do that.¡±

    The patriarch tilted his head to the side. His relaxed and somewhat distant demeanor evaporated as his eyes focused and fixed on Xim.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± he said, ¡°what are System phases?¡±

 97 - Umi-Dooby-Doo, Ecchi Otaku?

    ¡°Let me repeat that back to you,¡± said Ealdric, ¡°and you can tell me if I¡¯ve understood you correctly.¡±

    He clasped his hands together before him, pointer fingers held together close to his mouth.

    ¡°The System gave you a mysterious item, called the Get Out of Cage Free Card, which hinted at the existence of something called System phases. While searching for information about these phases, you hunted down and defeated a powerful entity known as The Mimic, who rewarded you with the location of several special-grade Delves that must be conquered to advance to the next phase. You then sought out and spoke with the goddess of the Third Layer, who told you that the System¡¯s second phase will allow more Delvers to be made each year and will provide existing Delvers with greater access to power and resources.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± said Xim.

    Ealdric took a deep breath, then pondered the information for a full minute. We waited in silence as he did so.

    ¡°Fascinating,¡± he finally said. ¡°Who have you told about this?¡±

    ¡°Arlo and I told Varrin,¡± said Xim. ¡°No idea who he told.¡±

    Ealdric¡¯s eyebrows went up and he turned his head slowly to the big guy, who had gone completely still.

    ¡°I reported the matter to Mother,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°As is appropriate,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°She is the sole reigning Thundralke since my grandson perished.¡±

    ¡°She advised me to inform Grandfather,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I did so and he instructed me to stay silent while he reported the matter to Umi-Doo at Central.¡±

    ¡°My son has been keeping secrets from me,¡± said Ealdric Sr. ¡°I¡¯ll have to have a word with him about that.¡±

    I experienced the strangest mental image of a 90 year old man getting spanked by his centenarian father.

    ¡°If I may,¡± said Varrin, ¡°I believe Grandfather wanted to validate the claims before troubling you with it.¡±

    ¡°The information is somewhat suspect,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°I do not doubt the word of your party, Varrin, but this intelligence was gathered from item descriptions, mana monsters, and divinities with unknown agendas. Unreliable sources, in other words.¡±

    Xim frowned as Ealdric indirectly insulted her goddess, but she kept silent over the matter.

    ¡°Still,¡± Ealdric continued, ¡°the chance that it could be true makes it valuable enough to be worth my time. I would like to hear Umi-Doo¡¯s thoughts.¡±

    The patriarch then strode away from us in the direction of the Dark Iron Palace. I looked around at the group, but Varrin simply turned and began following after Ealdric Senior without missing a beat. He gestured for us to follow.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, ¡°guess we¡¯re going to see Umi-Doo.¡±

    *****

    We entered the Dark Iron Palace through the front, uncontested. Guards parted and servants swept doors open as the patriarch made a beeline for the west wing. We kept close at Ealdric Senior¡¯s heels, earning no more than a careful glance from any of the security.

    We came to a large, spiraling staircase that ascended to the palace¡¯s highest tower. I leaned back, peering up at the endless rows of circling stairs. There were enough flights to give Nuralie¡¯s hat a run for its money. Ealdric paused and looked back at us.

    ¡°Let us take the quick way,¡± he said, and we received a notification.

    Ealdric Ravvenblaq Sr. has invited you to join his party.

    Accept? Y/N

    We accepted the invite, the patriarch looked up again, and the world became a blur. No more than a second passed before we¡¯d ascended to the highest landing. The movement was as quick as Xim¡¯s dream step, but we didn¡¯t cheat our way through reality by believing we were somewhere else, we just moved at ludicrous speed.

    Once we reached the top, the patriarch unceremoniously dismissed us from his party then marched to a set of high-arched doors and pushed them open. Beyond was Umi-Doo¡¯s office and library.

    Ealdric entered like he owned the place, eyes scanning for the mini-yeti who was his target. The Director of Central was nowhere in sight and while Ealdric continued his search for Umi-Doo I took in the furry guy¡¯s choice of aesthetic.

    The room, like the tower, was massive and cylindrical. Bookshelves lined the walls from the floor to the 200-foot-high ceiling, lacking any sort of ladders or walkways to allow one to browse their contents. Amidst the books, countless trinkets and baubles were scattered, many of which looked magical in nature.

    There was a set of thirteen gears that continuously assembled themselves into different configurations, turning for several seconds before finding a new arrangement that suited them. One shelf held dozens of vibrant crystals which I suspected were different types of essences, emitting puffs of colorful vapor. They were outrageously expensive crafting materials and Umi-Doo displayed them like nick-nacks.

    There were orbs that showed what appeared to be live feeds from different locations around Foundation when you peered into them. One shelf had a series of hand mirrors that reflected what I would look like if I were a geulon, a Chovali, a Littan, or any number of other races present on Arzia. I spent several seconds admiring myself as a Timan, the deer-like race that my favorite shopkeep, Seinnador, was a part of. The beard didn¡¯t quite work, but it gave me the look of a deerman who was both distinguished and willing to challenge conventional fashion trends.

    The collection that most drew my eye, however, was one that lined a shelf that ran the length of the entire room, right at the level of my hip. I squatted down and examined the contents, finding it stuffed full of figurines. Some of the sculptures were of different goddesses representing a dozen pantheons and religions. Others were representations of important historical figures hailing from each nation on the continent.

    Yet more were of specific Delvers, each of which had the Delver¡¯s name engraved on the base of the little statue. Varrin¡¯s mother, Thundralke Nola Ravvenblaq, was among them, along with Matriarch Dukgrien, several matriarchs from the other houses¨CBluewren, Heronwyte, Thrushmahagony¨Cand even God-King Ayamari, who I¡¯d only ever heard descriptions of, but never seen a representation.

    The most powerful Delver on the planet looked similar to a Timan, though her antlers were far grander than anything I¡¯d seen on a typical member of the people. Her body proportions were also closer to a Hiwardian¡¯s, while her face was less human than a typical Timan¡¯s and more deer-like. Her eyes were also¡­ strange. Any amount of the detail could have been the liberties taken by the sculptor, so I didn¡¯t pay them much heed.

    Despite the disparate subjects, all of the statuettes had three things in common. They were all women. They were all wearing clothes or armor that I would describe as ¡®nonfunctional¡¯. They were all portrayed in a moment of ¡®compromised¡¯ positioning.

    There were hundreds of them.

    I couldn¡¯t decide if the collection was entertaining or disturbing. Had any of these women agreed to become the subjects of said miniaturization, or was Umi-Doo more of an ¡®ask forgiveness, not permission¡¯ type? Did Hiward have any laws regarding the commercialization of a celebrity¡¯s likeness? I could probably make a case for misappropriation, assuming that¨C

    ¡°Umi-Doo!¡± Ealdric bellowed. ¡°Where are you?¡±

    Several books fell from a high perch and the white-furred face of Umi-Doo sprouted from the shelf behind them. The mage had literally been buried in the books.

    ¡°Ealdric?¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°What are you doing in my office?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like to have a meeting,¡± Ealdric Sr. called up to him.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Umi-Doo, extricating himself from the shelf and hovering in the air a hundred feet above us. He began floating down. ¡°The patriarch of Ravvenblaq comes to my office and asks for a meeting, so I suppose that I am now having a meeting with the Ravvenblaq patriarch.¡±

    Umi-Doo landed before Ealdric, craning back to look up at the silver-haired man, who towered over him by three feet or more.

    ¡°What do you know about the System phases?¡± asked Ealdric, and Umi-Doo let out a purring snort in reply.

    ¡°What do I know about System phases?¡± he said. ¡°Fucking nothing! If you¡¯ll excuse my colorful language.¡±

    ¡°Nothing?¡± said Ealdric, his tone skeptical.

    Umi-Doo threw his arms up in frustration.

    ¡°Almost nothing!¡± he said.

    He then spun on his heel and glided through the air to a large marble desk at the center of the chamber. We all followed and when we drew close, I noticed that there was yet another figurine on the desk, half-painted, with an extensive set of fine brushes and pigments laid out beside it.

    It looked like my friend Myria landing in one of her cat-like poses after leaping off something unreasonably tall. However, the figurine was wearing a mini-skirt that was distinctly not designed to be worn while performing acrobatics, resulting in certain undergarments being exposed that should have otherwise remained unseen. Knowing Myria, there was a good chance she had approved this model.

    Umi-Doo waved a hand as we got close and the figurine and paint set disappeared, replaced by a mountain of dusty tomes that plopped onto the desk in rapid succession, landing with heavy thuds. Umi-Doo waved again and the cloud of ancient soot that now filled the space was sucked away into a small, ruby bottle along a shelf to our right.

    ¡°No mention of System phases among the ancient culture of Hursrabargdraf,¡± said Umi-Doo, gesturing at one of the piles. He gestured at the next. ¡°No mention among the theological texts of the dead religion of VONT. No mention among speculative fiction which pre-dates the founding of the Littan Empire concerning the existence of the demon spirit, Juntin. No mention among witness interviews after the fall of Mudong-Dal. No mention¨C¡±

    Ealdric held up a hand.

    ¡°These are all very specific sources,¡± he said. ¡°Why would they mention System phases in the first place? Most of these were written before the Creation Delve was discovered.¡±

    ¡°Yes, well I¡¯ve already read everything written about the Delves,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Everything published, that is. Probably half of what is unpublished. It goes without saying that nothing about System phases is mentioned in those.¡±

    ¡°Does it, though?¡± I asked, and Umi-Doo turned to look at me. I was pretty sure he¡¯d only just noticed my existence.

    ¡°Esquire Arlo,¡± he said.

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Why the fuck are you in my office?¡±

    I waited for his usual request to forgive his language, but none came.

    ¡°He¡¯s with me,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°You¡¯re saying that no other Delver has encountered this concept?¡±

    ¡°People have ¡®theorized¡¯,¡± said Umi-Doo, using finger quotes around the word theorized. ¡°It¡¯s all preposterous, poorly considered, and, for the most part, made up. Most of the time the term ¡®phases¡¯ isn¡¯t even used. It¡¯s something vague like ¡®the growth¡¯ or ¡®the awakening.¡¯ One text written by the famously mad Mir DeTartes called it a series of ¡®bug-fixes¡¯. The list goes on, but none of the ideas have any evidence to back them up. That last one didn¡¯t even attempt to explain what insects had to do with anything.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s shorthand for a machine error,¡± I said. Umi-Doo gave me another surprised glance. Had he forgotten I was there already? ¡°It¡¯s when an automated system does something unexpected and unwanted.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with bugs?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No idea,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe an actual bug was the cause of the first machine bug, so they just called them bugs from thereon out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s absurd.¡±

    ¡°Lots of names for things are.¡±

    ¡°Why are you here again?¡±

    ¡°Because,¡± said Ealdric, ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly discovered the System phases. At least, according to what you¡¯re telling me.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why that requires the physical presence of the party members.¡±

    ¡°Did I offend you somehow, Umi-Doo?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°You never came to visit.¡±

    ¡°I never came to visit? I didn¡¯t know I had an open invitation.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°You could have requested a meeting.¡±

    ¡°Was there something you wanted to discuss?¡±

    ¡°I wanted to know what you thought of the book I gave you.¡±

    ¡°Which one? You gave me four.¡±

    He waggled his eyebrows.

    ¡°You know which one,¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°The illustrations were well-made and the articles were¡­ informative.¡± I snapped a finger, thinking of something. ¡°I might have an entry for you on Third Layer denizens.¡±

    ¡°Really now?¡± said Umi-Doo, leaning closer.

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Xim, ¡°I enjoyed Umi-Doo¡¯s book as much as you did, but this conversation is moving into degenerate territory.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s for science,¡± I said.

    ¡°For posterity,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Literally and figuratively.¡±

    My brain crawled over how many entendres that statement held. Ealdric placed a hand on Umi-Doo¡¯s desk and gave the mini-yeti a penetrating glare.

    ¡°Stay on task,¡± said the patriarch. ¡°You said that you knew almost nothing. What do you know?¡±

    Umi-Doo¡¯s eyebrows twitched, then he summoned a map of Arzia made of mana and light. Three dots appeared.

    ¡°The three Delves¨Cthe ones that Mimic entity provided you the locations for¨Cexist,¡± he said. ¡°The two lower-level Delves, Saekongr¡¯s Crevice and Deijin¡¯s Descent, have been noted for the curiosities of their entry permissions. Most Delvers, even those who meet the level requirements, are denied access. The precious few who have been allowed through the portal never return. These were all parties of exceptionally talented young Delvers.¡±

    He zoomed in on the third dot, which was in the country-sized forest on the eastern side of Arzia.

    ¡°The level 30 and up Delve, The Hierophant''s Valley, exhibits the same portal behavior, but to my knowledge no Delver has been granted entry. However, after receiving this new information I sent a team to investigate the portal.¡± He turned back to us, crossing his stubby arms. ¡°First, finding a team willing to breach the inner sanctum of the Less-Than-Habitable Forest is extremely difficult, I¡¯ll have you know. Second, the portal is closed. In its place there is only a large guidestone with text written in Celestial carved into its face.¡±

    ¡°Celestial?¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Did you send someone who could read it?¡±

    ¡°My usual team loadout of suicidally driven Delvers does not demand the presence of a member with such niche capabilities,¡± said Umi-Doo.

    ¡°I¡¯m assuming what you meant to say just now was ¡®no¡¯,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Do you have someone who can read it?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°They are currently engaged in other matters, but will be en route as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°I can read Celestial,¡± said Etja, and I turned to her, surprised.

    ¡°When did that happen?¡± I asked.

    ¡°When I was born,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s one of the things I inherited from my father.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a vanishingly rare language and an even rarer skill to read it,¡± said Umi-Doo, appraising Etja for the first time. He fixated on her extra limbs. ¡°Leave your card and I may hire you in the future.¡±

    ¡°My card?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Contact information,¡± I said.

    ¡°Ah. You can just come and find our party, Mister Director, sir.¡±

    ¡°Inconvenient,¡± said Umi-Doo, ¡°but very well. Regardless, the Forest is far too deadly a place for a level 6 Delver, even when escorted.¡±

    ¡°If the portal is closed,¡± said Ealdric, ¡°someone must have conquered the Delve.¡±

    ¡°That is my working theory,¡± said Umi-Doo.

    ¡°Who? None of the truly powerful Delvers from Hiward have been to this region of the Less-Than-Habitable Forest in years.¡±

    ¡°Your information-gathering apparatus may be flawed,¡± said Umi-Doo.

    ¡°Or,¡± said Ealdric, eyes narrowing, ¡°it was a Delver from outside of Hiward.¡±

    ¡°There are precious few who would meet the criteria,¡± said Umi-Doo, ¡°assuming these Delves are as dangerous as The Mimic suggested. I¡¯m unaware of anyone taking serious action in the forest, aside from the thrillseekers out in Nohrrin. They never dive this deep, however, and Hiward keeps a close eye on anyone who could.¡±

    ¡°Except for the one who cannot be kept track of,¡± said Ealdric.

    Umi-Doo scratched at his jaw with an ebony-taloned finger.

    ¡°You believe Ayamari may be responsible?¡± he said.

    ¡°She would have the means,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°I did her a favor recently. I believe she would be receptive if I simply asked her about the Delve.¡±

    ¡°The direct approach,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Always nice when it works.¡±

    ¡°If that Delve has been conquered,¡± I said, ¡°then the hardest of the three Delves is done. We just have to knock out the other two.¡±

    ¡°I fear you have missed a significant stretch of this conversation,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Some of the most talented young Delvers in history have disappeared within the confines of these Delves.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°but that doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re impossible.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°¡®Everything is impossible until it isn¡¯t.¡¯ Those were The Mimic¡¯s undying words to you, correct?¡± I nodded. ¡°Well, if your party wants to sail to Eschendur, figure out a way to bypass the Littan blockade, convince the notoriously insular Eschens to let you galavant across their nation in search of a Delve that is both unlikely to allow you entrance and, if it does, will most certainly kill you, then be my guest.¡±

    I had no good reply to that.

    ¡°Hiwardians frequently cross the blockade,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I¡¯m certain you can grant us passage.¡±

    Umi-Doo blinked at the big guy, then looked at Ealdric, who nodded.

    ¡°I do have some arrangements that can be leveraged,¡± Umi-Doo said. ¡°If a request is made by you, patriarch, then I would be willing to spend some of my diplomatic capital.¡±

    ¡°Then consider the request made,¡± said Ealdric. Umi-Doo shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s your influence to waste, I suppose,¡± he said.

    ¡°Once we cross the blockade,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°I can be our escort.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know you¡¯d been sanctioned by the church with such capacity,¡± said Umi-Doo.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± Pause. ¡°But I can be.¡±

    ¡°Then you have two of your three required miracles,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Your party moves quickly. Now you just have to survive the Delve.¡±

    ¡°And avoid any difficult Littans,¡± I mumbled, mulling over the chance of a second encounter with Tavio and Gharifon. The Littan armies weren¡¯t in Eschendur, but they sure as hell were around it.

    ¡°Who would you send for the 20 and under Delve?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°Saekongr¡¯s Crevice.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid there¡¯s been a misunderstanding,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°I, in my role as Director of Central, cannot condone this mission. If we assume the information you have is correct, the nebulous claim that your actions will generate new methods to mint Delvers is unfavorable to Hiward.¡±

    ¡°Here it is,¡± I said. ¡°The politics and bullshittery.¡± Umi-Doo tilted his head at me. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse my colorful language,¡± I added.

    ¡°As such,¡± he continued, ¡°any assistance I can provide is limited. Even petitioning for your passage into Eschendur puts me in a tricky position.¡±

    ¡°What about brother Ealdric?¡± Varrin asked, turning to Ealdric Senior. The patriarch shook his head.

    ¡°He and his party are only level 12. A level 20 Delve would be suicide. Normally, I would say your own party is reaching too high with a level 10, but the reports I¡¯ve read on your team¡¯s activities are enough to persuade me to allow you to pursue it.¡±

    ¡°Any other Ravvenblaq teams in that range?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The other family teams are too high level,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°I would have to entreat one of the other houses. It would be a difficult task, especially in light of Hiward¡¯s reaction to the avatars.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°The Thundralkes are unlikely to allow their best and brightest to chase fairy tales while the king has us readying ourselves to take action against god-like beings in Timagrin.¡±

    ¡°So, someone else?¡± I said. ¡°One of the non-Hiwardian teams?¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± Umi-Doo purr-grunted. ¡°Timagrin is busy, my native people in Mittak wouldn¡¯t care, Ayama doesn¡¯t play nice with anyone, and our present relationship with Litta is poor. Beyond that, the imperials are more concerned with their chokehold on the Eschens.¡±

    ¡°Anyone in Eschendur?¡± I asked, looking at Nuralie.

    ¡°The Eschens have few capable Delvers,¡± Umi-Doo said before Nuralie could respond. ¡°They are a Revelator culture, ill-equipped to¨C¡±

    ¡°Sakra Manar,¡± said Nuralie, and Umi-Doo¡¯s mouth clapped shut. ¡°She could do it.¡±

    ¡°What level is she?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Fifteen.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t think that¡¯s too low? Is her party really skilled or something?¡±

    ¡°Eschendur is a Revelator culture,¡± said Nuralie, eyeing Umi-Doo. ¡°Sakra Manar is one of the ruling triarchs of Eschendur, the Zenithar of the Church of Deijin, a sixth-stage Revelator, and the only member of the Triune who is also a Delver.¡± Pause. ¡°She is more than capable.¡±

    Umi-Doo shifted uncomfortably and a heavy book fell from his desk. It made a loud clap as it landed, but the little mage ignored it.

    ¡°In that case,¡± he said, ¡°you would need only to convince one of the most powerful and important people in your nation to pursue a Delve on the opposite side of the continent.¡±

    Nuralie lowered her head and her tail twitched.

    ¡°I will convince her that our mission is righteous.¡± Pause. ¡°And necessary.¡±

    Ealdric watched Nuralie¡¯s expression for a moment, then rapped his knuckles against the desk.

    ¡°Sounds like you have a plan,¡± he said. ¡°Umi-Doo gets you through the blockade, Nuralie guides you through Eschendur and recruits the assistance of the Zenithar, then the five of you conquer a hitherto insurmountable Delve.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve had worse,¡± said Varrin. ¡°There are no half-gods trying to kill us this round.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I said. ¡°Why would you speak that into existence?¡±

    Our group spent another hour hammering out some of the details, then began to make our way out of Umi-Doo¡¯s office. It would take a couple of weeks to get our blockade passes, mainly because Umi-Doo would have to grease some palms to help us get Nuralie through. The Littan blockade had already kept the loson from returning home for nearly two years.

    On our way out, Etja stopped and admired some of Umi-Doo¡¯s figurines, picking one up to examine. The model was of Yara¨Cqueen of the gods and rightful ruler of the celestials¨Cin upward dog position. Etja turned it over and studied it from all angles, then caught me watching her.

    ¡°These are neat!¡± she said as she set the figure down and picked up another. While she looked over a Dhonvon angel of purity shedding her mortal body¨Cand clothes¨Cto rise into the heavens, Umi-Doo floated over to study it alongside her.

    ¡°I take great care to portray them exactly as the scriptures describe,¡± he said.

    ¡°Really?¡± both Etja and I said at the same time, though with distinctly different tones.

    ¡°What about the real people?¡± I asked, pointing over the section of Delvers.

    ¡°Also made with high fidelity,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s a point of personal pride, and also why they sell so well.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that¡¯s the only reason,¡± I said. ¡°So, do these ladies get a cut?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said Umi-Doo, looking affronted. ¡°Do you take me for a thief?¡±

    ¡°I, uh, no. I thought that, maybe¡­ nevermind.¡±

    He looked at me quizzically, but turned back to Etja.

    ¡°I hear you made a name for yourself out on the western coast,¡± he said.

    ¡°You did?¡± said Etja. ¡°Already?¡±

    ¡°You left quite the impression. You may not be a woman of exceptional renown at the moment, but I can see you one day being known the world over.¡±

    ¡°Aww, that¡¯s sweet of you to say.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s never too early to think about merchandising,¡± he continued. ¡°If you like, we could collaborate on a statue for yourself.¡±

    Etja paused her inspection of the figure and looked at Umi-Doo. Umi-Doo looked at Etja, his mini-yeti face expressionless. Etja looked at me. I looked at Etja. We both looked back at Umi-Doo.

    Etja sat the model back onto the shelf.

    ¡°That¡¯s a really nice offer,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind.¡±

    ¡°Proposal¡¯s on the table,¡± said Umi-Doo. ¡°Let me know if you change your mind.¡±

    We then left the Director of Central¡¯s office behind, so that he could do his highly professional Director-of-Central things alone.

 98 - Spirit, Sea, and Lots of Cannons

    Before parting ways with Ealdric Senior, the patriarch pulled Varrin aside to provide some words of wisdom. The pair made no effort to avoid being overheard and I made myself obvious as I waited on the big guy, so that no one could fairly accuse me of the eavesdropping that I was certainly engaging in.

    ¡°I see that you¡¯ve taken up your father¡¯s sword, Kazandak,¡± said Ealdric Sr., gesturing at the sheathed blade on Varrin¡¯s hip. The giraffe-length weapon¨C20 feet at its longest¨Cwas the size of a normal longsword when fully collapsed. Varrin nodded at the patriarch¡¯s words, placing his hand on the sword¡¯s pommel, but didn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°When your grandfather forged that sword,¡± Ealdric Sr. said, ¡°it was the first blade made by a Delver that could only exist because it was made by a Delver. Other craftsmen had well-honed the art of producing blades that could only be wielded by a Delver¨Cdemanding mana weaves, absurd size and weight¨Cbut your grandfather was the first to cast the entire art of weapon smithing into the fire before using that heat to forge Kazandak.

    ¡°This weapon could not possibly exist without magic. No metal can be worked to be so long and so thin while keeping its structural integrity. Everything that had come before it relied on traditional designs, adapted to the abilities of Delvers, but Junior¡¯s first masterwork asked the Delver to adapt to the weapon, instead. To wield Kazandak, one must bend to Kazandak. The blade makes itself a part of your technique, your style, a part of you.

    ¡°When Junior presented it to me as a gift, its requirements and enhancements fell well below what I was able to wield, but I recognized the potency of it. The blade is light, so it takes great advantage of Speed, but the force required to use it effectively at its farthest reach demands incredible Strength. When both are applied with skill, the sword proves itself more potent than many blades with¡­ ¡®flashier¡¯ or higher-level bonuses. I used it for many years, before passing it down to your father.¡±

    Varrin watched the patriarch respectfully, though it looked like he knew this story well. I imagined it was a favorite bedtime tale for many of the Ravvenblaq children, tucked to sleep with their wooden play swords to keep them warm in bed.

    ¡°Var,¡± said Ealdric, ¡°when I was a child, we slept on threadbare blankets on cold stone deep within the mountains. Our family ate what we called Rhyming Soup, made from moisture collected from the mines and whatever vermin we could hunt for meat¨Cbats, rats, and cats, mostly. We held nothing of value but for one thing: an ancient, brittle shortsword.

    ¡°For you or I now, something like that would be less than junk in our eyes, but at that time, it was a treasure. We could have traded it for a month of full bellies and dry beds near the warmth of the smeltery. Being discovered with it could also have sent my father to the pens for a year, which was the same as a death sentence. It was the most valuable¨Cand dangerous¨Cthing anyone that we knew owned.

    ¡°My father did not keep it for its worth in silver, or even to use as a weapon, however. He kept it because it was his totem; a symbol of his lineage, passed down from parent to child for unknown generations. Our family held no surname at the time, but that sword was our crest, the sigil of our house.

    ¡°I tell you this not to remind you of your heritage or because old men enjoy repeating stories they¡¯ve told a hundred times¡­ Well, maybe a little bit of that second part. No, the reason I am telling you is because our house has lost some part of itself since we were granted titles and lands and more money than we know what to do with. I have struggled with it myself, and I fear that I have failed to pass on the essence of my father¡¯s customs. The customs that were held for centuries before the name Ravvenblaq was first spoken.

    ¡°To my father, that sword was not an object¨Cnot a weapon or a tool. To him, the blade was the spirit of our family. Each hand that had held it was a part of the blade, a piece of every man or woman who¡¯d owned it, imbued into the metal. The sword was a living thing that spoke to him in some deep way, and he passed before I ever truly understood what that meant to him.

    ¡°I have struggled to hand his beliefs down through the family. When I was young and angry, I blamed my father for much of what we endured in my youth. Here was a man who muttered to his sword, instead of using it to cut down our taskmasters. A man who prayed to the ancestors that had allowed us to be enslaved. A man who never raised a fist to anyone, no matter how cruel. I thought him weak and foolish. As I have aged, I have¡­ calmed down some.¡± He gave Varrin a smile soaked in regret.

    ¡°While my father never broke fetters or drove our oppressors back across the sea, he accomplished a feat that I think is just as grand. He kept our identity. Ours was the only family with history, with a story that told us who we were. We were connected to all those who came before us, and though that connection grew frayed and distant, it never broke. It persists to this day.¡± Ealdric reached down and placed his hand over Varrin¡¯s along the sword¡¯s pommel.

    ¡°That ancient sword is lost,¡± he said. ¡°Stolen and shattered before the earliest days of the war. But, this blade,¡± he shook the pommel for emphasis, ¡°this blade is our legacy now.¡± He released his grip and took Varrin by the shoulders. ¡°I taught Junior everything I knew, Junior put everything he had into forging this blade, and your father¡­¡± Ealdric looked down for a moment and swallowed. When he looked back up at Varrin, he was no longer the Ravvenblaq patriarch. He was a man, forlorn and world-weary, who¡¯d seen his share of tragedy.

    ¡°Your father lost his life trying to protect you with it,¡± he finally said, softly. ¡°Now, this blade is yours, but I want you to meditate on the ones who came before you. Try to understand your connection, not just to the three generations that held Kazandak, but to all those who lived and died in the mines, and all those who lived as free men and women before. This may not be the sword that was taken from my father, but this is the sword he whispered to in the night. That history and connection go beyond the limits of this physical world.¡±

    Ealdric grasped Varrin by the back of the neck and gave the big guy a gentle shake, then dropped his hand. He searched Varrin¡¯s eyes for a few seconds, then turned to leave. Varrin watched the patriarch go, and I could tell the story had moved him but also left him a little confused. He raised his hand from the pommel of the sword and stared down at it. When he looked back up, the patriarch had passed out of sight.

    He turned to me with a strange expression, as though he didn¡¯t know whether he was allowed to ask me what the fuck that was all about. Eventually, he walked over and the pair of us moved to catch up with the rest of our party in silence.

    *****

    We¡¯d been told to make ourselves scarce, so after setting a Checkpoint at my Formation estate¨Cnot ransacked and no squatters yet, so huzzah!¨Cand making a visit to a few shops, we hustled our way out of Foundation before the Delver meeting was ever held. We spent the time waiting for our blockade passes by traveling to Port Sarsora on Hiward¡¯s eastern coast, where we¡¯d depart across the sea bound for Eschendur.

    We took the journey at an easy pace and ended up with a few days in the port, which was enough time for me to use my Spectacular Vernacular bonus to teach myself the Imperial language to a conversational level. Uncommon words would be tricky and my accent was probably shit, but it seemed like a reasonable thing to spend my time on since we were about to be interfacing with a fleet¡¯s worth of Littans.

    Our passes arrived without a hitch, and no less than a dozen merchants and rental fleets denied us passage or vessel after catching on that we had an Eschen in our party, despite the fact that our passes expressly granted Nuralie permission to cross the blockade. As it turns out, Varrin was a deft hand at sailing and Etja had a good grasp of what was required from her inherited knowledge, and they assured us that we three laymen could be instructed for the brief voyage from shore to shore. So, we bought a caravel with a speed-enhancing mana weave.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    We set out at dawn with the wind at our backs and Etja¡¯s tricorn making her look like the most fabulous of sea captains as its large, colorful feathers flapped in the breeze. Three dawns later, we were pulling up to thirty imperial warships off the coast of Eschendur and facing down one grumpy Littan admiral.

    After dropping sails, allowing ourselves to be boarded and ¡®inspected¡¯, handing over our passes, and watching a schooner full of Littan soldiers sail away with them, I was still pretty calm. That didn¡¯t last.

    After an hour, a galleon moved into position on our starboard side along with a second which closed in on our bow. Both ships faced us broadside, with a battery of cannons on full display. The attempt at intimidation got me irritated, and I briefly wondered how much damage a cannonball would do if I took one to the chest.

    When the admiral finally showed his face, it was from very far away on the deck of his galleon with a pair of level 3 Delvers at his side, full copper. One of them had a skill that amplified the admiral¡¯s voice, the latter of whom began engaging us in a meaningful dialogue in which he made demands that none of us were willing to acquiesce to.

    ¡°You will remove all weapons and armor,¡± said the admiral in a nasally voice that echoed across the water. ¡°My sailors will retrieve these items from you before allowing your passage into Eschendur.¡±

    I looked around the party, seeing that I wasn¡¯t the only one who had trouble with that idea. We¡¯d debated whether to approach the fleet in full kit, casual wear, or hire an illusionist to make our full kit look like casual wear, but had settled on the upfront and honest approach. We had on our normal loadout, although most of us still had our main weapons in inventory.

    ¡°Our passes carried no such restrictions!¡± I shouted back to the man. ¡°We were given unrestricted passage!¡±

    A scowl crossed the admiral¡¯s face. One of the Littan coppers, a woman in a sand-colored uniform, leaned over and whispered into his ear.

    ¡°You will also submit to an inventory inspection,¡± said the admiral.

    I turned to the group.

    ¡°Is that a thing?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You can show other Delvers most of your screens,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Including your inventory.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but why haven¡¯t I heard of an ¡®inventory inspection¡¯ before?¡±

    ¡°Because it¡¯s an outrageous request,¡± said Varrin. ¡°No one asks to look at your inventory, because no one wants to have their inventory looked at. Not unless you¡¯re meeting with someone like the king.¡± He frowned. ¡°In Hiward, anyway. The Littan Delvers may have a different culture.¡±

    ¡°Or they¡¯re just being assholes,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not gonna fly with me,¡± I said. ¡°You know how much shit I got in there?¡±

    Varrin rubbed at his face.

    ¡°I feel that they are intentionally making this difficult,¡± he said. ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of them making this kind of demand before.¡±

    ¡°Alright. So, what do I say to that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If they insist,¡± said Varrin, ¡°then we either comply or return to Hiward.¡±

    My grip on the boat¡¯s railing tightened.

    ¡°We can¡¯t go back, we got important crap to do here.¡±

    ¡°Then impress upon them the significance of disrupting our journey.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you should take this one,¡± I said.

    ¡°That might be messy,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You¡¯re the party leader. It¡¯s important to show a clear chain of command. It¡¯s also important to establish that we are not here at Hiward¡¯s behest. If I were to be in charge of communications, it might make that distinction muddier.¡±

    I sighed, then shouted again.

    ¡°We are sailing for Eschendur with a full grant of rights to passage by your government! If you insist upon performing an illegal inspection, we will be forced to report your malfeasance!¡±

    The admiral did not like that statement one bit.

    ¡°Blunt,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Hey, I gave you your chance, brother.¡±

    ¡°You may file your report back in Hiward, as is your right,¡± said the admiral. ¡°Turn over custody of your Eschen passenger and you will be allowed to depart.¡±

    My grip on the railing tightened further and I heard a sharp snap as it cracked, but it wasn¡¯t my grasp that had caused it. I looked over and saw Varrin¡¯s gauntleted hand wrapped around splintered remains. He tossed them into the water, staring darkly at the admiral. I turned to check on Nuralie and found her looking murderous. Xim had a flare of crimson flame rolling across her knuckles. Even Etja looked pissed, which I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d seen before. I turned back to the galleon.

    ¡°You have no right to-¡± I began to shout back, but the admiral cut me off.

    ¡°If you do not comply, we will fire upon your vessel.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re threatening to sink a legally sailing crew with full permission to¨C¡±

    ¡°If you attempt to flee, we will fire upon your vessel.¡±

    ¡°You cannot possibly be this stu¨C¡±

    ¡°You have thirty seconds to signal your intent to hand over the Eschen.¡±

    ¡°Ah, fuck this,¡± I said.

    I cast Shortcut twice in quick succession and appeared on the deck of the galleon beside the admiral. The beastman stumbled back when I popped out of a dimensional tear two feet from him, but one of his copper flunkies steadied him before he fell. All along the deck, soldiers leveled spears and crossbows at me. The second copper, a brawny male Littan, stepped between myself and the admiral, glowing scimitar at the ready.

    ¡°It seemed like we were having difficulty communicating,¡± I said, leaning to one side and ignoring the level 3. ¡°I think this is more convenient.¡±

    The admiral¡¯s eyes had gone wide, but he recomposed himself after the woman came around to join the other level 3 between myself and their commander.

    ¡°Listen, my guy, think about what you¡¯re asking here,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a full party of platinum Delvers on that boat, people that I¡¯ve fought and bled with, people I care quite a lot about, and you¡¯ve just asked me to hand one over to you. It¡¯s not gonna happen.¡±

    ¡°I-if you refuse to cooperate, then¨C¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re going to shoot cannonballs at us? Do you think you¡¯d hit any of us with them?¡±

    ¡°Your vessel will be¨C¡±

    ¡°We bought that boat with one-tenth of what we made in our last Delve. Sink it, see if I care. Or, wait, do you think we need a boat to make it to shore?¡±

    ¡°Seize this intruder!¡± the admiral shouted, and the coppers jumped into action.

    They weren¡¯t very impressive.

    The woman began weaving a spell, which I Dispelled. She seemed genuinely shocked when her mana fizzled. Scimitar brought his weapon down, but I cast Shortcut again and appeared behind the admiral. I sent Gracorvus into targe mode and had it fly at Scimitar, who struck at it like a charging monster, which accomplished very little. I kept willing the shield forward at 40 miles per hour and Scimitar was sent tumbling off the side of the ship. The splash was satisfying.

    The woman began weaving viridian mana, which I Dispelled again.

    ¡°You gotta, ya¡¯ know, try to fake me out or something,¡± I said as I Dispelled a third spell. ¡°This shit costs me like 40% of what you''re spending on that magic and I guarantee I have more mana than you.¡±

    She bared her teeth and pulled out a long dagger, then charged. I gripped the admiral by the collar of his jacket and jerked him in front of me, which caused her to stumble to a halt to keep from skewering her commander.

    ¡°We¡¯re all reasonable people,¡± I said as a soldier stabbed me from behind with a spear. His weapon broke on my armor. ¡°You gave me one option, which is to say, an ultimatum. I¡¯ll do you a favor and give you two options. Option one, you let me and my crew sail to Eschendur like our blockade passes give us the legal right to do. No one gets hurt, and everyone walks away happy. Option two, you act like a pissy asshole and I sink your battleship. Less people walk away, happy or otherwise.¡±

    The admiral turned and looked at me with one wild eye. Two more soldiers broke their spears on my back and I gave the admiral a winning smile.

    ¡°Your choice,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fire all cannons!¡± the admiral screamed.

    ¡°This is why I¡¯m not a diplomat,¡± I said, my voice lost in the thundering sound of big guns.

 99 - At Loggerheads

    I checked to make sure my party had abandoned ship before our caravel was shredded by 40 cannons, full broadsides from two different battleships. Varrin had leaped out onto the water and was now literally sprinting across its surface. Etja, Xim, and Nuralie all hovered up and into the air under the effects of Siphon.

    I jumped off the edge of the ship, then cast Shortcut when I could see inside of a gunport, appearing next to a rather surprised Littan cannon crew. I pulled out Somncres and extended it into a two-handed form, then brought it down on the cannon before me. The mundane iron crumpled beneath the magically enhanced blow, rendering the cannon useless.

    I began marching down the line, ignoring soldiers who tried to prod me with spears and blades. Their weapons either broke or were turned aside by my armor. Here and there I shoved one roughly aside as I rapidly made my way down the entire length of the ship, dismantling every cannon I came across. While my Strength alone wouldn¡¯t have been enough to make such casual work of the materials I was tearing through, Somncres and my recent buffs to Blunt added a lot of oomph to my swings.

    As I wrecked each piece of artillery in turn, I began to consider that there may have been a few ways to handle this situation that would have been¡­ better than how I¡¯d approached it.

    Could we have called the admiral¡¯s bluff and tried to run the blockade? Maybe. However, when someone points a gun and says they¡¯re going to shoot, I believe them. Turns out, that was the correct assumption to make.

    Could we have dived below the water and hidden in the Closet, then used our combined magic prowess to figure out a way to swim under the blockade once the Littans thought us dead or in the wind? Possibly. But, I hadn¡¯t thought of that.

    A soldier landed a spear in my cheek, but it failed to penetrate the skin. I snatched the weapon away and glared at him. He backed off, with several more around him abandoning their attempts to subdue me.

    We¡¯d had passes that granted us the legal right to travel through the blockade. My first instinct had been to argue my legal point, rather than fall back on committing a ¡®crime¡¯ to avoid an asshole with power. In retrospect, that was naive of me, but it was how I¡¯d always done things. I hadn''t been given much time to think, so I¡¯d relied on what had worked for me in the past. Of course, my past self had never interfaced with foreign military elements in possession of a fleet of ships and what appeared to be carte blanche to use them however they saw fit. I¡¯d wanted to ¡®talk it out¡¯ with the guy.

    Unfortunately, in order to talk with the admiral, I¡¯d had to get close to the admiral. Teleporting onto the man¡¯s galleon in full Madrin plate was, I supposed, a threatening gesture, but it¡¯s not like I¡¯d attacked anyone. I didn¡¯t even have my weapon out. Again, it was probably naive of me to think he would have reacted any differently.

    Once I¡¯d disabled all the cannons, I smashed through the planks below me, exposing the ship¡¯s lowest deck where the hull went below the waterline. I began channeling Explosion!.

    Now, I was in a predicament. The admiral had just tried to kill my allies. He¡¯d had no chance of succeeding, but that attempt irked me nonetheless. I¡¯d already seen red when he¡¯d demanded that we turn Nuralie over to him, so this wrinkle added to my irritation with the Littan. Unless he had more Delvers¨Cones a lot better than the level 3¡¯s he was rolling with¨Chis insistence on keeping his ultimatum would do nothing more than result in the deaths of his soldiers while my party carved its way to shore.

    I turned to the soldiers who were either brave or stupid enough to still have weapons leveled at me.

    ¡°You guys should get out of here,¡± I said in Imperial. They glanced at my upraised hand, then ran.

    Maybe we could fly over the blockade, banking on the idea that their cannons wouldn¡¯t get a good angle on us. Then we might have Littans chasing us into Eschendur, which was an entirely different can of worms to open. They also had ballistas, but if they weren¡¯t mana-woven in some fashion I doubted they¡¯d do any real harm to anyone in the party. That was an assumption, though, and a risk that I wasn¡¯t completely comfortable with. Also, Varrin could run on water and I could use Gracorvus, but I wasn¡¯t confident Etja¡¯s mana would hold out while transporting three people across the mile of sea left between us and the Eschen shore. It was all very frustrating.

    I snapped my fingers and cast Explosion!. A pressure wave rocked through the belly of the ship as planks and iron bands were obliterated. Seawater began pouring in through the massive breach. I looked up and brought my hammer around on the planks above me, tearing open a hole. I hopped up, grabbed the edges, and hefted myself back topside. Several soldiers scattered from where I emerged, and I marched back over to the admiral.

    The woman Delver in the sand-colored robes¨CSandy, I decided to call her¨Chad pulled out a second dagger and tried to intercept me, but I sidestepped her. Her physical attributes had to have been abysmal and some part of me couldn¡¯t believe she was trying to fall back on them after I¡¯d tossed a few Dispels at her. I grabbed the admiral by the collar again, then positioned him so that Sandy couldn¡¯t keep coming for me.

    ¡°Why the fuck wouldn¡¯t you accept our passes?¡± I said, glaring at him. The ship groaned beneath us, but it would likely take a few minutes to begin listing.

    ¡°No Eschen Delver is to cross the blockade,¡± said the admiral.

    ¡°Then why did your government give us passes that gave us the express right to do so?¡±

    ¡°My orders are given with the weight of the Imperial throne,¡± he said. ¡°An administrative blunder does not overrule the emperor¡¯s authority.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that the passes were issued negligently?¡± He didn¡¯t give any reply to the question, verbal or physical. ¡°You could have let us turn around,¡± I added.

    The man had recovered his composure and was now looking at me with a mix of contempt and bewilderment.

    ¡°I am also tasked with capturing any Eschen Delver who attempts to cross,¡± he said. ¡°I will not allow such a weapon to return to Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°Then you realize that Delvers are dangerous?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do,¡± he spat, insulted.

    ¡°But you just threatened a whole crew of them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re level 6!¡± he said. ¡°My Delvers told me as much. I have been apprised of the capabilities of Delvers in different ranges. The lower levels are dangerous, but hardly a threat to a significant military force.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the root of the misunderstanding. You don¡¯t think we¡¯re dangerous enough.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re mad,¡± said the admiral. ¡°I know that some Delvers become drunk on the powers they gain, but this¡­ it rises to the level of absurd.¡±

    ¡°Sandy,¡± I said, turning to the woman, ¡°have you seen Delvers fight mundane soldiers?¡± She swallowed and looked between myself and the admiral, but didn¡¯t comment. Either she hadn¡¯t¨Cnot in any serious way¨Cor she wasn¡¯t willing to contradict her CO¡¯s position.

    ¡°What would it take for you to stand down?¡± I asked the admiral.

    He smiled like I was joking. It was contemptuous, and I couldn¡¯t stop myself from pulling at his collar, bringing him closer, and lifting him off the ground completely.

    ¡°I¡¯m not kidding,¡± I said.

    ¡°We won¡¯t,¡± he said.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Even if it costs you the entire fleet?¡±

    Anger marred his features.

    ¡°I won¡¯t entertain ludicrous hypotheticals,¡± he said. ¡°You may cause damage, you may even kill me, but you won¡¯t get through this blockade.¡±

    ¡°I just destroyed all of your cannons and put a hole in your hull in the span of minutes,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not a hypothetical, that¡¯s something that just happened.¡±

    ¡°And what did it cost you?¡± said the admiral. ¡°You cannot possibly do that more than once! I know the limitations of mana and stamina.¡±

    The man was so confidently wrong that it hurt, but I was faced with a choice. I needed to regroup with the party and make it into Eschendur while avoiding as much pointless bloodshed as possible. The question was how much of a spectacle to make while doing so.

    I decided to give the man a bit of a show for two major reasons.

    One, if I could convince the admiral to stand down there would be fewer mundane soldiers throwing themselves into our line of egress. I had a self-interest in keeping this admiral from sacrificing his soldiers to either us or the next¨Cless pleasant¨CDelver to come along. If hordes of mundane soldiers were being slaughtered by Delvers on the regular, things might devolve into open conflict very quickly. With the admiral¡¯s current attitude, it felt like only a matter of time before he ran into someone who wasn¡¯t willing to play games. If the man understood how outclassed he was, maybe that would keep things from escalating like this in the future. Providing the examples for him myself was certainly high-handed, but if there was a chance that it would help him rethink how he was engaging Delvers, I thought it was worth trying.

    Two, I was pissed.

    To persuade the admiral, I felt that a different tack was needed. First, I¡¯d tried wearing my ¡®Reasonable¡¯ hat. Reasonable-hat Arlo didn¡¯t make much of an impression. I¡¯d just tried out my ¡®Angry¡¯ hat, but Angry-hat Arlo also proved ineffective. I decided that it was time to put on my ¡®Ass¡¯ hat.

    Sandy provided Asshat Arlo with his first opportunity to take the stage.

    ¡°Coward!¡± Sandy shouted at me.

    I turned to her with an eyebrow raised, the accusation breaking me from my musings.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I said.

    ¡°An honorable man doesn¡¯t use another as his shield,¡± she snarled. I looked at the admiral I held by the collar in front of me. The man had started struggling against my grip again, but his coat was thick and well-made. The seams held tight and he didn¡¯t have the strength to pull free.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Listen, Sandy, I¡¯m using this man as your human shield, not mine.¡± Her brow knitted at the nickname. ¡°If I let him go, you might try to attack me again. I¡¯m sure that someone, somewhere wouldn¡¯t want you to die in vain. It¡¯s for your own protection.¡±

    ¡°Call it what you will,¡± she said. ¡°You hide behind Admiral Richtin while¨C¡±

    I set the admiral down and reached out to straighten his coat, letting all the rage and tension flee my body. I smiled up at him as I brushed off his shoulders and pulled at the front of his uniform so that it was flat against his torso, no longer bunched up around his neck. I then placed a hand on the admiral¡¯s chest and guided him to the side.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go anywhere,¡± I said to him. The man looked at me with deep concern over my sudden tonal shift.

    Sandy hesitated for a second and the admiral stumbled a few feet further away. Then, she charged me with her daggers. I stepped aside, dodging her with little effort¨Cthe woman probably had a Speed of 1¨Cthen summoned Somncres and brought it down on the side of her knee. There was a sickening crunch and she screamed as she collapsed, her blades clattering to the deck. She grabbed at her leg, eyes watering from the pain, and I squatted down next to her. She glared up at me defiantly.

    ¡°Attack me again,¡± I said, ¡°and I¡¯ll start taking you seriously.¡±

    I stood and went back to the admiral. A few crossbow bolts plinked off my armor as I closed the distance, but I ignored the attacks. Regular soldiers weren¡¯t worth Asshat Arlo¡¯s notice. They held their fire when I got close to the admiral, and I placed my hand on the gentleman¡¯s back, then guided him forward to the deck¡¯s railing.

    ¡°Where I¡¯m from, most people dislike wanton violence,¡± I said, giving the man¡¯s shoulder a friendly squeeze. ¡°There are some outliers, but it¡¯s a fairly peaceful place. Here, in these lands, I¡¯ve noticed that the culture is different.¡±

    I pointed at the second galleon and the admiral followed my gesture. Varrin had grown tired of dodging the enemy cannonballs as he danced along the sea¡¯s surface. He¡¯d now crashed through the side of the second galleon¡¯s hull like it was made of graham crackers, making his way into the belly of the battleship. There was a bright flash as the big guy¡¯s blade tore through the vessel, a few soldiers above getting caught in the attack and falling to pieces. I winced at that. Kazandak was at its full extension and, after three strikes, the ship was cut in half from keel to deck. The ship began to split and soldiers started diving off of it en masse.

    ¡°Not dangerous enough,¡± I said, repeating my earlier statement. ¡°That guy has a Strength evolution that makes him ten times more effective against mundane objects. Are any of the ships in your fleet made from magic wood?¡±

    The admiral looked back at me, shocked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think so,¡± I said.

    I reared back and hurled Somncres into the deck at the admiral¡¯s feet, who shouted in alarm and stumbled back, falling. The sounds of smashing planks followed the hammer down through the vessel. When it whipped back up out of the hole and into my hand, it was dripping with briney water.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°if your ship¨Cthe admiral¡¯s ship¨Cdoesn¡¯t have any weaves, then it¡¯s probably safe to say that none of them do.¡± I squinted down into the hole. ¡°You asked how much it cost me to disable this vessel. I¡¯ll be honest, I couldn¡¯t sink an entire fleet of ships with the same speed as what I just did here, but I could sink a few. That guy, however¡±¡ªI pointed at Varrin, who was speeding out to the next approaching vessel¡ª¡°What he just did to that galleon didn¡¯t even use stamina.¡±

    I reached down and took the admiral by the arm, helping him back to his feet. I looked back out over the water, where several more vessels from the fleet had begun sailing closer.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how this goes,¡± I said as one ship aimed a ballista at my floating trio of party members.

    The massive bolt launched through the air, and a casual wave from Etja sent it flying off course. She guided it into another vessel closing from the opposite direction, leaving a gaping hole in its hull. A volley of bright arrows rained down onto the deck of the attacking ship from Nuralie, laying out the soldiers manning the ballista along with who I suspected was the captain, though I couldn¡¯t quite tell from this distance. Then, a beam of crimson light hit. The boat quickly began to burn.

    ¡°You had 30 ships, right?¡± I said. ¡°Now you have 27.¡±

    The admiral looked over the galleon Varrin had cleaved in twain and the one that was quickly becoming a pyre. I clapped him on the back.

    ¡°You should tell your men to abandon this one,¡± I said.

    He looked around at the soldiers who watched us, many of whom looked uneasy as they adjusted their stance to the ship¡¯s increasing tilt. Still, they all held firm and none abandoned their post, despite the display.

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ understand,¡± said the admiral. ¡°The reports said¡­ a level 6 shouldn¡¯t be able to¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you in on a little secret,¡± I said. ¡°Levels don¡¯t mean as much as you think. Now, you¡¯ve just made an error.¡± I placed my hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. ¡°An error that has so far cost you 10 percent of your fleet. None of my party members have taken so much as a single point of damage. Do you want to compound your error, or would you like to withdraw and let us become someone else¡¯s problem?¡±

    The admiral stared me down, but then shrugged off my hands and turned to start shouting orders to his men.

    ¡°Fly the fallback flag!¡± he shouted. ¡°Prepare the rowboats for any injured! Ensign, go to my cabin and secure my strongbox!¡±

    The soldiers became a flurry of activity and their focus became survival, rather than me. I turned to will Gracorvus to my feet and found Scimitar climbing back over the railing of the deck, fur soaking wet. He looked from Sandy, clutching her knee, to the soldiers preparing to abandon the galleon, then to me. Gracorvus landed and I stepped onto it. He narrowed his eyes but made no move to stop me. I took off from the ship, aiming for Xim, Etja, and Nuralie.

    When I drew close, Xim crossed her arms and frowned. She kicked her feet a bit as she hovered.

    ¡°Negotiations go well?¡± she asked.

    ¡°The admiral has agreed to a temporary cease-fire,¡± I replied, eyeing the ships that were starting to change course to avoid us. A few were approaching the distressed vessels for rescue operations.

    ¡°That¡¯s good!¡± said Etja. Nuralie looked disappointed if anything.

    ¡°How long can you keep this up?¡± I asked, gesturing at the three of them.

    ¡°A few minutes,¡± said Etja. ¡°If I don¡¯t cast any other spells.¡±

    ¡°Think we can make it to shore by then?¡±

    ¡°If no one¡¯s shooting at me, maybe,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Then let¡¯s get going.¡± I scanned the area. ¡°Anyone seen Varrin?¡±

    The others looked around as well but came up short. I decided to use an aura trick I hadn¡¯t pulled out in a while and focused on my allies. With focus, I could get a general sense of where anyone in my party was and even see their surroundings to a limited degree.

    As I worked on finding Varrin, the big guy¡¯s health dropped by a fifth on my interface. I swore and quickly got his approximate location, then went to view his surroundings.

    All I saw around him was dark, endless water.

 100 - Yaretzi!

    Varrin was somewhere near a retreating galleon north of our position and the four of us quickly flew over. Etja set Xim and Nuralie down on the ship¡¯s deck both to give her mana a break and also to help me search for the big guy, which was distressing for the Littans aboard the vessel. The ladies gave the crew a few mean looks and they backed off without much trouble.

    Varrin had taken a burst of damage while I felt for his location earlier, which indicated he¡¯d been attacked by something that could not only hurt him but hurt him severely. The good news was that he hadn¡¯t taken any further damage, but the view my aura gave me of his surroundings placed the man underwater. Even if whatever attacked him had backed off, drowning was a minor concern. Varrin had plenty of stamina, so we had several minutes to find him and figure out what was going on, but there still wasn¡¯t much room for dawdling.

    The bad news was that there was a level 17 Littan¨Cfull gold¨Cslowly rising into the air off the Galleon¡¯s starboard side.

    The man was clad in ostentatious armor, which is saying a lot considering my own getup. It was bright blue and silver mail that was studded with rows of gemstones in swirling patterns. He wore a tabard that looked like a rhinestone cowboy¡¯s kitchen apron, with the sparkling image of a bird as its central coat of arms. It looked suspiciously like a rooster.

    On top of all that, the man¡¯s headgear was in the style of a frog-mouth helm like the ones used in jousting tournaments but had a massive, shining crest on top that looked like it was made from fine threads of spun moonlight. He held one hand tucked behind his back with the second outstretched as if he were holding a fencing blade or rapier, but it was empty. He brought the hand around from behind him and gave me a jaunty wave.

    ¡°Hello!¡± he shouted. ¡°Correct me if I am wrong, but you are Esquire Arlo, aye?¡±

    The man¡¯s level and the fact that he knew my name both gave me a very bad feeling.

    ¡°I am,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, this is wonderful news!¡± he said. ¡°Yaretzi has heard many good things about you!¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at his use of the third person.

    ¡°Did Yaretzi happen to hear these things from a guy named Tavio?¡±

    ¡°Aye, yes!¡± he replied, still floating slowly upward. ¡°It is all that Tavio would speak about for three days. He sometimes becomes obsessed, you see, and he is still very curious about your party. Gharifon, though¡­ he was not so impressed.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try not to take it personally,¡± I said. ¡°Is Yaretzi the reason one of my party members is sinking to the bottom of the ocean?¡±

    The man fully bent over to look down at the water below him, then righted himself and shrugged.

    ¡°Yaretzi saw a man trying to sink this galleon. Yaretzi stopped him.¡±

    I turned and caught Etja¡¯s eye, then nodded at the water.

    ¡°I¡¯ll get him,¡± she said, then flew off the side of the boat and into the drink.

    ¡°Well, if you see this Yaretzi fellow, you should let him know that I¡¯m unhappy he attacked my group. Otherwise, we were just finishing up here and heading to shore. So, nice chat.¡±

    The man placed a hand on his chest.

    ¡°Yaretzi is Yaretzi,¡± he said.

    ¡°Sure, that makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°Who else would Yaretzi be but Yaretzi? Anyway, if you run into him, let him know that I think he¡¯s kind of a dick for what he did to Varrin.¡±

    I looked down at the gentle waves, waiting for Etja to reappear, hopefully with our missing warrior. The man scratched at his helm.

    ¡°You are fucking with Yaretzi,¡± he said. ¡°That is unkind.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m confused. Is Yaretzi in the room with us right now?¡±

    ¡°We are not in a room.¡±

    ¡°Is he outside of the room?¡±

    He threw his arms out.

    ¡°What room?!¡± he shouted.

    ¡°The room where Yaretzi is!¡± I shouted back.

    ¡°Yaretzi is not in a room!¡±

    ¡°Then where the hell is Yaretzi?!¡±

    ¡°Right here! In the air! Over the sea!¡±

    ¡°Is he behind you?¡± I asked, floating myself around the man with Gracorvus. He was still rising upwards in the air. ¡°I don¡¯t see him.¡±

    He crossed his arms and harrumphed.

    ¡°Yaretzi will play this game no longer.¡±

    Etja¡¯s head popped out from the water.

    ¡°Varrin won¡¯t stop sinking!¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t get him back up, even with Siphon!¡±

    I looked down at her, then up at Yaretzi, who was still rising. The movement didn¡¯t make much sense, since he was already above the level of the galleon¡¯s deck. I was even having to rise as well to stay level with him. It was slow, but consistent, perhaps about the speed of something sinking. A few things clicked together for me.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Are you¡­ moving in the opposite direction of Varrin?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I am!¡± he said.

    ¡°And can Varrin not move in the same direction as you at the moment?¡±

    ¡°You figured that out pretty quick! Tavio will be pleased.¡±

    ¡°Would you mind stopping that?¡±

    ¡°It depends,¡± he said. ¡°You never asked for this one¡¯s name. It is rude.¡±

    I frowned at him. Now this guy was fucking with me.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°What is your name, mister sir?¡±

    ¡°This one¡¯s name,¡± he said, casting his arms out again, ¡°is Yaretzi!¡±

    In time with the man¡¯s proclamation of identity, a massive web of multicolored lightning erupted from the ocean below, ripping into the hull of the galleon. Xim and Nuralie were caught up in the crackling energy, their bodies seizing for a second as it coursed through them. Planks shattered under the force of the attack and flames flared up where the boat was struck. Several of the Littan soldiers were vaporized, their flesh scoured clean from bones that clattered to the deck in ashy piles.

    I was distracted by the spectacle and when I turned back to Yaretzi, the man was plummeting down to the sea. Before he made contact with the ocean, however, he disappeared in a hazy blur. I focused on the spot where he¡¯d evanesced and realized that there was a wake moving through the water as if a boat was gently cruising by, but with no boat to speak of. After a few seconds of concentration, I was able to pierce the illusion and see three entire caravels crewed by full five-person teams of level 3 coppers.

    The ships were absolutely stuffed full of cannons and ballistas, which looked completely out of place sitting on the decks of the smaller watercraft, but the weapons that lined their sides were overshadowed by the twelve-foot spikes of metal that sat on the bow of each ship. The spikes were covered in glowing runes and sat on large, gimballed mounts, with large handles along the back, presumably to turn and aim the weapon. The one upon the lead ship sizzled with venting mana. Yaretzi stood on the deck of that vessel, looking down at one of the level 3s who¡¯d fallen on his side, screaming and waving smoking, skeletonized hands in the air.

    I checked on the status of Xim and Nuralie, finding that neither of them had taken significant damage from the rainbow lightning, but noted that they¡¯d each taken a small hit to their stamina and mana as well. Whatever weapon that Delver crew had just fired did more damage to the Littans than it had to us.

    Etja blasted out of the water with Varrin in a bridal carry. She took in the destruction with wide eyes, but swiftly deposited the big guy on the deck of the galleon, away from the flames, where he began to sputter and cough. The fires along the ship were growing, but the crew was already working with buckets of water to try and douse the flames. The captain of the vessel barked orders and cast an angry glance at the rest of my party. I swung in close on Gracorvus and hopped off onto the ship while keeping an eye on Yaretzi. He was berating the level 3 crew over something.

    ¡°You okay?¡± I asked, looking Varrin over.

    ¡°The bastard cut my hamstrings,¡± he said through deep breaths. ¡°Then he kicked me between the shoulders and into the water. I never even saw him.¡± I grimaced.

    ¡°Will a Heal fix that?¡± I asked, looking at Xim. The cleric could regenerate damaged muscle and bone, she could even replenish lost blood to a degree, but she couldn¡¯t regrow something like an organ that had been removed or a stretch of intestine that had a big scoop taken out of it. I wasn¡¯t sure where a severed tendon fell on that spectrum.

    ¡°An Intelligence healer would be faster,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to concentrate on it.¡±

    ¡°How long?¡±

    ¡°A couple of minutes or so.¡±

    I turned back to the caravels. Yaretzi had finished dressing down the lead boat¡¯s crew and the other two ships seemed to be awaiting his orders. They all gave the spike weapons a wide berth.

    ¡°Reckon he¡¯ll be happy with his cheap shot and let us go?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what happened,¡± said Xim, keeping her eyes on Varrin¡¯s wounds as she focused a low-power Heal on the backs of his legs. ¡°Where¡¯d that lightning come from?¡±

    ¡°Right, they¡¯re still invisible,¡± I said. ¡°Get ready for an Arlo upload.¡±

    The party steeled themselves as I connected to each of their souls and used Reveal, sharing my ability to see through the illusion that cloaked the caravels.

    ¡°The Littans have been experimenting,¡± Varrin growled once he caught sight of the vessels. ¡°That spike cannon on the front looks like Madrin. The traditional cannons look like dark iron.¡±

    Yaretzi turned around, looked up to see me, and then gave me another wave. He gripped two large handles at the rear of the caravel¡¯s magic gun and swung it in the galleon¡¯s direction.

    ¡°Shit is he gonna¨C¡± The runes along the body of the weapon lit up. ¡°Hey!¡± I shouted. ¡°You¡¯re firing on your own ship! You¡¯re going to sink your own galleon!¡±

    ¡°No, no!¡± Yaretzi shouted back. ¡°You are sinking the galleon, you fiendish Delvers! By the time I arrived, all that was left for me was flotsam and vengeance!¡±

    He fired, and I dove to the deck of the ship with my allies. The kaleidoscopic web of lightning crackled across the boat¡¯s hull then arced over the side and struck at the deck with enough force to shatter planks. A dozen more Littan soldiers were annihilated, their bodies reduced to charred embers. The flames that the crew had been diligently extinguishing redoubled, joined by a score of new fires. One of the bolts struck my armor, but like with Xim and Nuralie before it didn¡¯t do much.

    HP: 1220 -> 1209

    Stamina: 364 -> 359

    Mana: 250 -> 245

    ¡°What the fuck?!¡± I said, jumping back to my feet. Yaretzi was yelling at the other two boats and gesturing at their big guns, but the Delvers were understandably hesitant. Even Yaretzi¡¯s hands now smoldered, and the person that I suspected first shot the spike cannon, losing their hands in the process, had passed out. Instead, the crews started manning the normal cannons and ballistas.

    The galleon¡¯s captain was beginning to lose control over his surviving soldiers, who were panicking, unable to see the enemy that was attacking them. A few had already begun jumping overboard. I went over to look down the side of the galleon, finding the hull ruined and the ship taking in water. Before long the vessel would be a sinking inferno.

    ¡°Those smaller cannons have mana threads running through them,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°So they¡¯re all magic bullshit guns,¡± I said. ¡°Of course.¡±

    ¡°What did he mean when he said that we¡¯re the ones sinking this ship?¡± Etja asked.

    ¡°He can shoot all he wants,¡± said Varrin, ¡°and we¡¯ll take the blame.¡±

    ¡°What about the Littan crew? They can see we aren¡¯t attacking!¡±

    ¡°Yaretzi is invisible to them,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve already destroyed three vessels. It¡¯ll be rank and file reporting that there were Delvers and Delver magic sinking non-Delver boats. Just because they¡¯re confused about where the spell came from won¡¯t change much.¡±

    I looked around at the rapidly burning ship. There was a loud report and part of the deck exploded as the caravels started firing ¡®normal¡¯ cannons. Their ships were much smaller than the galleon, so their angle was too low to hit us directly on the deck of the taller vessel. Still, whatever the cannonballs were made of went through the ship like its hull had been assembled from clouds and wishes.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°If he¡¯s going to try and frame us for blowing up his boats, we may as well actually blow some boats up. More boats, that is.¡± I looked over the group. ¡°Xim, your first priority is to get Varrin upright. Preferably before this ship sinks. Etja, Nuralie, there¡¯s three of us and there¡¯s three of them.¡±

    ¡°Sixteen, actually,¡± said Xim. ¡°Three boats crewed by five Delvers each, plus Yaretzi.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the clarification,¡± I said. ¡°There''s three of us and sixteen of them. I¡¯ll distract Yaretzi. You two focus one caravel down, then move in on the other. Ranged air superiority, got it?¡±

    They each nodded, and I hopped back up onto Gracorvus. Then we started our strafing runs.

 101 - Three vs Sixteen

    The moment we rose over the galleon¡¯s deck, five cannons began trumpeting their disapproval over our existence. Two level 3 Delvers from each caravel fired shots from the mana-enhanced big guns, then moved down the line to the next pair of cannons. That is, except for the central ship where one cannoneer was unconscious due to severe hand trauma.

    A third Delver on each crew¨CSpeed-focused¨Creloaded the spent weapons so quickly that I wondered if they¡¯d put points in any other stat. The fourth member of each was a caster who began throwing up a shielding spell and who was likely responsible for the illusions that kept the boats invisible as well. The fifth directed their actions and looked built for close combat, potentially with some sort of Leadership or party buffs. The groups looked purpose-built to man these ships, and the idea of a navy dictating a Delver¡¯s build specifically for military application chilled me.

    One of the caravels could easily sneak up on and devastate a traditional warship many times its own size, evidenced by the rapidly sinking galleon I¡¯d departed, but they were ill-equipped to handle my party. Even with superhuman accuracy and skill, cannons weren¡¯t meant to hit fast-moving aerial targets, and I wove between the shots on the back of Gracorvus as I summoned Somncres into my hand.

    Etja immediately began sending a disintegrating ray at the southernmost caravel as Nuralie downed an unknown potion and then followed up the mage¡¯s attacks with a volley of arrows. The archer¡¯s missiles disappeared as soon as they left her bow, blinking back into existence when they crashed against the enemy spellslinger¡¯s shield alongside Etja¡¯s beam.

    Waves of force rippled along the surface of the spell, but runes flared on the body of the caravel, flooding the mage¡¯s body with mana and reinforcing the barrier while the cannons returned fire. Etja kept Nuralie and herself flying on a wandering course through the air, dodging the projectiles as the pair laid into the shield again. The runes began to smolder, then burst, and the shield flickered as the mage gasped and fell to a knee. The runes, like the spiked weapon, had a cost, and the copper was now paying that price. Nuralie sent a final arrow down while the caster struggled with what I suspected was a sudden, acute case of mana toxicity. This arrow was slower than the others, and the enemy mage recomposed himself enough to thrust a hand out and halt the missile with some form of telekinesis when it was a few feet away from his chest.

    The arrow had a blunt tip and a payload, however. It was one of Nuralie¡¯s experiments in fletching, and it didn¡¯t need to make contact to activate. The end of the arrow exploded into a murky green cloud as it hung in the air, and there was no shield spell to stop it.

    The entire deck of the caravel was covered in poisonous gas and its effects were immediate. The Delvers manning the cannons gave up on their attack and grasped at their throats, doubling over and beginning to empty their stomachs. The Speed-focused Delver pulled out two potions, presumably antidotes, but his movements had become slow and clumsy. He fumbled one and it shattered on the deck of the ship. He downed the second, but I knew from experience it wouldn¡¯t help. It would cleanse the poison he had, but the cloud lingered and he would get re-poisoned immediately. The man was either panicking, or this team didn¡¯t have much experience with persistent clouds of toxic gas. My party might have been somewhat unique with that experience, so I tried not to make any harsh judgments about their competency.

    Etja used the opportunity to carve out the bottom of the caravel, cutting the lower hull apart with her destructive beam. Nuralie produced a final arrow, one with a flame at its end, and fired it into the cloud. It ignited the gas, which exploded in a ball of blue-white flame. The enemy Delvers were no longer immersed in a deadly haze but were now on fire. The mage and the speedster both collapsed¨Cwhat little Fortitude they had exhausted¨Cand the cannon crew and captain dove into the water.

    ¡°Drop me,¡± Nuralie said to Etja, who nodded and let Nuralie free of her Siphon spell. The alchemist-archer fell to the sea, rotating in the air and kicking off her boots before hitting the waves with a perfect forward dive. Nuralie was a member of the loson subrace called the Geulon, and the Geulon were best known for thriving in wet environments. I imagined it was one reason she got along so well with her frogs.

    Before long, the Delvers who had leaped into the ocean to douse themselves would begin disappearing beneath the surface, never to be seen again.

    While Etja and Nuralie dealt with the southern caravel, I made it my mission to draw fire from the other two. I had Somncres in a throwing-hammer shape and began to unload with a combination of two of its abilities.

    Somncres can be summoned and dismissed at will.

    Whenever you make a thrown weapon attack with Somncres you may create up to X fleeting copies, where X is your INT/10. Each copy costs 2 mana to create. These copies possess all qualities imbued into Somncres at the moment the copies are created.

    I threw Somncres at the northern caravel, activating its copy ability and adding two ethereal versions of the hammer that followed behind it on its flight path. I immediately dismissed Somncres, which caused the lead version of the hammer to disappear but left the two copies still hurtling at my target, which was the mage managing the vessel¡¯s shield. Then, I summoned Somncres back into my hand and threw it again.

    This allowed me to make attacks without using Homing Weapon to get my hammer back and to make thrown weapon attacks even faster than if I were pulling extra hammers out of my inventory. I¡¯d also picked up a fresh Blunt evolution when I¡¯d reached level 20 in the intrinsic that gave my throws an extra perk.

    Hammerang (Blunt 20)

    You gain enhanced control over the path of thrown hammers, allowing you to imbue their flight with otherwise impossible arcs and patterns. The degree of control and the complexity of the arcs you can imbue are based on your level in Blunt.

    Now I had access to a poor man''s Homing Weapon by arcing my hammer¡¯s path with Hammerang and then using Somncres¡¯s ability to summon it back to me and let the copies do the work. However, Homing Weapon also added speed and damage to the attack, so I used it anyway. An enemy-seeking hammer that not only locked onto an enemy and sought them out but also flew around or behind the enemy first was a pretty neat trick, I thought.

    I was also able to use Hammerang for other, more interesting synergies¡­

    I sent six fleeting hammers at the northern caravel on three different arcs from either side and above. After bonuses from Homing Weapon and my leveled-up Blunt skill, the speed of these hammers was currently sitting at around 400 miles per hour. We were now at 52% of the speed of sound.

    While those attacks rocked the shield on the northern boat, I lobbed six more copied hammers at the center boat, right at Yaretzi¡¯s stupid fucking face. For these attacks, I lovingly layered on Oblivion Orb. Since Somncres¡¯s copies ¡°possessed all qualities imbued¡± into the weapon when I spawned them, they copied the spell as well.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    So, for one activation of my self-titled Void Hammer combo, I got three¨Cor two, if I wanted the real Somncres back before the attack landed. Since the copies cost a touch of mana to make, it wasn¡¯t a massive mana efficiency boost, but it would compound as I raised my Intelligence and could generate more copies at once. I envisioned a future in which a sky full of reality-erasing hammers crashed down on my foes as I cackled madly at the devastation. Either way, it sure saved a lot of stamina since Homing Weapon wasn¡¯t cheap.

    While the northern shield shakily held up under the assault of my:

    very-fast-but-not-quite-fast-enough-yet-to-make-a-big-boom-sound hammers, the shield over the central caravel did not withstand the impact of my:

    also-very-fast-but-takes-bowling-ball-sized-chunks-out-of-the-universe-as-well hammers.

    The runes on the ship flashed and exploded into sprays of sparking mana, sending the woman maintaining that vessel¡¯s shield to the ground from the blowback. Two of the hammers made it through the collapsed barrier¨Cone fleeting and one the true Somncres¨Cheading straight for Yaretzi, and the audaciously armored fighter pulled a rapier out of nowhere. With a graceful flick and a blur of speed, he turned the first hammer aside, which smashed down into the deck of the caravel and ripped a massive hole out as Oblivion Orb activated. He didn¡¯t have time to avoid Somncres, but there was a burst of familiar blue light from his offhand as he dispelled the Oblivion Orb imbued into the weapon before it struck. The hammer collided with his helm and sent the man cartwheeling off the deck of the ship.

    While the Dispel had certainly saved Yaretzi from some serious bonus damage, my gut told me that Yaretzi had thought all of my hammers were a spell of some sort, and he was counting on the move deleting the entire hammer. Sadly¨Cfor him, not for me, I was fucking overjoyed¨Che was mistaken. I understood his confusion as I dismissed and resummoned Somncres to my hand before it flew back to me. The thing popped in and out of existence like something someone had conjured. Not a spell though, just a sweet-ass dream hammer. It would probably have worked on the copies since they were made of mana, but I wasn¡¯t sure. Something to test out later.

    While Yaretzi took a swim and the southern boat burned as an apex water predator finished off its crew, I swung in low over the central ship and jumped off of Gracorvus to face the crew head-on. I figured that I could save some resources taking on this team in melee, and I also wanted at least one of these boats intact by the end of our fight. We still needed a practical way to shore, and the Littan military owed us a seaworthy vessel after blowing ours up.

    The northern caravel changed targets off of me to Etja. They were willing to fire on their allies on the galleon, just not their Delver allies on the sister caravel. That was my assumption at least, and it disgusted me. That made what I had to do easier.

    ¡°Your party comp is made for these boats,¡± I said, looking over the Littans before me. I stepped over the handless man and the mage shuffled back on her hands and knees. ¡°How well does it function in a straight fight?¡±

    The Speed-focused Delver rushed me with a shortsword while their commander cast a buff on him. From watching the speedster load the cannons, I knew that he had to at least match Varrin for the stat, which put him somewhere in the 20¡¯s. A full copper was truly level 3.75, not 3, with 48 stat points to play with. Fully half of this man¡¯s stats were in Speed, which left him with very little for anything else. I also doubted that he had much in the way of the Blades intrinsic, especially if he¡¯d focused heavily on skills for these dumb little boats. I thought about letting him hit me to confirm my suspicions, but there was no reason to be sloppy.

    He was fast, but my own Speed evolution made my blocks almost as quick. Gracorvus slapped onto my arm guard and I brought it up to halt his blade. It was a basic Delver weapon with a minor mana weave, but nothing more. I blocked it easily, then brought Somncres around. The man ducked back to avoid the weapon, which was still in its short, throwing hammer form, but I adjusted its size as I swung until it was a full hand-and-a-half war hammer.

    His dodge had been made with precision, moving only far enough away to avoid the attack and keep himself close for a counter. It was a good instinct, but it did him a disservice in this instance. Somncres caught him in the ribs. His simple leather armor did nothing to soften the penetrating blow and I heard his ribs crunch as the air was knocked from his lungs with a sharp, rattling breath. He didn¡¯t immediately perish, which meant he¡¯d put a lot of his remaining points in Fortitude, or maybe the captain¡¯s buff had given him an edge. The strike still laid him out, however, so either way it hadn¡¯t been enough.

    The captain shouted a few words in Imperial and I felt the familiar tug of a Charisma attack on my mind. My Wisdom and mental defenses were too high, so whatever it was didn¡¯t take effect. Two arrows hit me; one in my shield and one in my chest. I looked over to see the cannoneer with a bow out, drawing back for another shot.

    HP: 1209 -> 1178

    His attack hadn¡¯t done a lot, but it pierced my armor and did enough to settle my mind over something I¡¯d been struggling with.

    A part of me felt bad for this level 3 group. I didn¡¯t know why they¡¯d been given this assignment, and while I¡¯d made some assumptions about them based on the lack of empathy their actions had shown for their fellow soldiers, I had no idea what might have pressed them into this role. It was possible the Empire had draconic rules surrounding their Delvers and forced them to take these boats for a test drive with sinister orders. Yaretzi himself might have threatened them into firing on the galleon, which didn¡¯t seem unlikely given how he¡¯d been berating them. At the end of the day, this could be a group of fairly decent people placed into a bad situation.

    My mind flashed back to the peasant Delvers being cut down by my allies back in the Calvani Caverns while I¡¯d been disabled by Orexis¡¯s soul presence. That surprise attack on people we barely knew a thing about had never sat well with me, even if the circumstances had pointed to them being involved with nefarious activities.

    I had no desire to kill these Delvers, but I also didn¡¯t want to allow myself to become blinded by a self-sacrificing pursuit of righteousness. My party had followed Imperial law, gotten our passes, and been detained without cause. Now we were facing down escalating lethal force to try and stop us from reaching Eschendur, a place we needed to go to have a shot at giving the world better resources against the avatars. That wasn¡¯t an immediate goal, though, and these people had no idea how important we felt our mission was. More immediate and more personal was the fact that these Littans wanted to take Nuralie, and I was pretty sure what would happen to her if they succeeded. They knew what would happen to her if they succeeded.

    Unlike the regular soldiers, who could do little or nothing to harm me, these Delvers were weapons that could hurt. Unlike the slaughter in the caves a year and a half ago, we did not possess an overwhelming force that gave us the luxury of options. When Yaretzi eventually hauled his ass out of the water these level 3¡¯s would become too much of a risk to me and my allies. We¡¯d need to be wholly focused on the level 17.

    So, instead of stepping over the prone speedster who could use my mercy to get up and stab me in the back or toss potions to his allies, I brought my hammer down on his skull. It was a gruesome, calculated act, and the first choice I¡¯d made that truly forced me to question whether the path I was walking was a noble one.

    I pushed the rest of my doubts aside and rushed the cannoneer.

    Archers benefitted from range and an open, complex battlefield. This archer had neither. He fired more shots, infused with skills, but they struck harmlessly against my shield. He backed up a few feet but ran into the railing and had a split second to decide if he would dive off to avoid me. He hesitated, perhaps because he¡¯d noticed that his allies who had dived in had never resurfaced, and when I got close I brought my hammer down on his thigh, bone snapping under the attack. He fell and a strike to the head finished him.

    I turned to find the mage heaving herself into the water while pulling the handless man with her. The captain had a mace out and tried out a different Charisma attack, but this one too failed. I shrank Somncres and threw it at his chest. He wasn¡¯t quick enough to dodge and, even without Oblivion Orb, the hammer crushed him and his corpse flew off of the boat into the sea.

    ¡°Tavio was right,¡± Yaretzi said from my left, and I jerked my head to find him hanging on to the side of the ship, peeking over the boat¡¯s railing. His wet, dripping helmet sported a massive dent. ¡°You are too strong for your level.¡±

 102 - One vs. One

    ¡°Were you just¡­ watching that whole time?¡± I asked.

    Yaretzi pulled himself up and over the railing, then surveyed the body of the Speed Delver. Etja had begun bombarding the northern caravel and its shield was beginning to fail.

    ¡°Yaretzi did not see you kill this one,¡± he said, nudging the body with a boot. ¡°Yaretzi came back up when you struck Lintiel.¡± He gestured at the archer.

    ¡°Why not help them?¡±

    ¡°Yaretzi needed to see what you could do.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Tavio believes that he can make the climb up to Platinum if he were only a bit stronger. That is why he wishes to know your secrets. Yaretzi finds that idea intriguing, so this one does not want to accidentally kill you before finding out what your trick is.¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with these boats?¡± I asked. ¡°Did you come out here just to wait for me to show up?¡±

    His face was obscured by his helm, but his body language showed puzzlement.

    ¡°What? No. This is a happy coincidence. Yaretzi was sent to the blockade to test these weapons.¡± He pointed at the broken spike gun on the bow of the ship. ¡°The copper ships are¡­ not ready for deployment. The silvers show more promise, though.¡±

    ¡°You tested them on your own people,¡± I said, voice low.

    He waved a hand dismissively.

    ¡°It was pointed at you,¡± he said. ¡°Yaretzi will not be in any trouble.¡±

    ¡°Then it doesn¡¯t bother you to kill your allies?¡±

    ¡°Allies?¡± said Yaretzi. ¡°Those soldiers were not Yaretzi¡¯s allies. How could they be, as weak as they are?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a member of the Navy? That doesn¡¯t make them your comrades?¡±

    Yaretzi sighed.

    ¡°When Yaretzi reached level 10 the Empire bestowed upon him the rank of Captain. It is a great honor, but it is not an honor that Yaretzi wished for.¡± He rolled a hand in the air. ¡°This is all an obligation. Yaretzi does not care for it. Yaretzi would never say this to the duchess, but if Yaretzi could break free of the Empire, Yaretzi would.¡± He paused and flicked his wrist, a saber appearing in his grip. He locked eyes with me, and I could just make out his dark brown irises beneath the helm. They glowed with eerie light. ¡°You must not tell anyone, but this is not the first time that Yaretzi has killed Imperial soldiers because it was convenient to do so.¡±

    As I realized the depth of Yaretzi¡¯s psychopathy, I received a notification.

    You have observed the Intimacy spell!

    Intimacy

    Divine

    Cost: None

    Requirements: CHA 20, Divine 20

    Effects:

    Choose one character you can perceive other than yourself and reveal to them something they don¡¯t already know that is personal to you.

    You receive a number of stacks of Blessed based on how vulnerable the information makes you and by how much it affects their opinion of you, good or bad. You receive a minimum of one stack and up to a maximum number of stacks equal to your CHA.

    Blessed: You may expend any number of stacks of Blessed to increase your damage or defenses by 7 for each stack spent for one attack.

    Yaretzi dashed forward, saber slashing through the air. I brought up Gracorvus and barely intercepted the strike, but he twisted his arm and the blade slid down off the front of the shield. He ducked low and brought it up beneath my guard, stabbing me between the plates of my armor in my armpit.

    Critical damage reduced by 40%!

    Bleeding negated!

    HP: 1178 -> 1079

    Weakness: 25%

    You have been affected by Blade of Censure! You lose mana equal to half of the damage Yaretzi dealt.

    Mana: 289 -> 240

    The damage wasn¡¯t anything special. The Weakness debuff and the hit to my mana were the real threats. I leaped back and threw Somncres, copying it into a triple Void Hammer and arcing it to one side to take Yaretzi from his right. I immediately followed up with another series aimed head-on.

    Yaretzi tumbled forward and dodged the first volley, then cast a Dispel on the second, and one of the copied hammers disappeared. He turned the next hammer aside with his blade. The final attack landed, but Yaretzi¡¯s body glowed with divine light and the strike bounced off. Oblivion Orb activated, but the spell was consumed by the fighter¡¯s defensive buff, which meant the man was spending an unreasonable number of Blessed stacks.

    He rushed me again and I cast Shortcut to appear behind him. I swung with Somncres, lengthening it into a one-handed war hammer, but the man ducked aside without even looking behind him. He bent over backward and thrust his blade at my arm with two quick jabs. The strikes landed in my elbow and my shoulder.

    Critical damage reduced by 40%!

    Body of Theseus has prevented 40% of the effects of a debilitating injury!

    Bleeding negated!

    HP: 1079 -> 1027

    HP: 1027 -> 970

    The tendons in my elbow were cut, and I was surprised to find that I held on to my hammer through the benefits Body of Theseus gave me. While the evolution¡¯s description made me suspect that I was being transformed into some sort of homogenous flesh creature, I hadn¡¯t realized that it meant my body was less reliant on discrete physiological structures like the tendons that attached muscle to bone. Disturbing in a way, but helpful.

    [Aren¡¯t you supposed to be on a boat today?!] Grotto thought to me. [Why are you taking so much damage? Are you trying to wrestle predatory fish?!]

    [Ran into a friend of Tavio¡¯s,] I quickly thought back.

    Yaretzi twisted his body to face me and prepared to deliver another series of thrusts, but my adversary had forgotten about something. My first volley of hammers had been thrown with Homing Weapon. The copies that Somncres created were Fleeting, which meant that they disappeared once they struck something. Yaretzi had dodged the hammers, so they hadn¡¯t hit anything, and were now hurtling back towards me in an attempt to return to my hand.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I cast Shortcut to appear on Yaretzi¡¯s right, placing him directly in the path of the two copied hammers flying back to me. I feinted with a hammer strike, shortening Somncres since I was only a foot away from the Littan, and he swept the attack aside with his saber. He followed up with a quick thrust to my exposed face and his blade pierced through my cheek, destroying several molars in the process.

    Critical damage reduced by 40%!

    Bleeding negated!

    HP: 970 -> 856

    You have been affected by Blade of Censure! You lose mana equal to half of the damage Yaretzi dealt.

    Mana: 198 -> 121

    I jerked my head to the side as the attack landed, keeping the blade from sliding through my mouth and throat and out the back of my skull. Yaretzi flicked the blade, slicing my right cheek entirely open, but I dismissed Somncres and grabbed the man¡¯s wrist in response. A rapier appeared in his offhand and he readied himself to drive it into my gut when his eyes went wide. He twisted his head in the split second before the two hammers returning to me crashed into him, his body becoming engulfed in divine light.

    Both copies slammed into his back, the kinetic force and dimensional damage being consumed by his Blessed stacks, but his buffs faltered on the second hit. The second Oblivion Orb went off and runes along his armor flared to life as whatever enhancements they possessed were forced to tank the damage. He stumbled forward into me, snarling and trying to rip his arm free. That¡¯s when I realized that Yaretzi didn¡¯t have a very high Strength score.

    I tightened my grip and cast Oblivion Orb the old-fashioned way¨Cin the palm of my hand. Yaretzi¡¯s armor lit up again, some of the runes failing and venting mana along his arm. He shrieked and brought his rapier across my knuckles, severing two of my fingers and yanking his hand free.

    HP: 856 -> 817

    The mail around his wrist was gone, the edges cut clean through by Oblivion Orb. While the flesh below had not also been cast into another plane of existence, the fur was gone and the skin was deeply bruised and dripping blood.

    Yaretzi stepped back and his saber disappeared as he tucked the wounded limb close to his chest. I looked down at my hand, seeing that my pinky and ring finger were no longer there. Curiously, I could see blood crawling along the edge of the wound, but none of it spilled out. The vital fluid exited the little arteries in my fingers, found that it had nowhere to go, then wormed its way back into a vein to return to my heart. I still had blood, it just knew where it was supposed to be at all times.

    I summoned Somncres and gave it a couple of test swings. My grip wasn¡¯t as stable, but I could still use the weapon. It just hurt like shit to do so. I spat out shards of my teeth and smiled at Yaretzi, the expression excruciating and lopsided since my left cheek was destroyed.

    ¡°Tavio was tougher,¡± I said.

    I spotted caution entering Yaretzi¡¯s eyes beneath his helm as he reconsidered how much of a threat I was. While we¡¯d both taken hits to our dominant hands, mine was still useable whereas his was limp and unmoving.

    I¡¯d never landed an Oblivion Orb on a higher-level Delver before but I¡¯d harbored suspicions about how it might work. The spell had failed against mana-dense objects in the past¨Cmana-woven armor and magically reinforced doors¨Cand a Delver¡¯s body was crammed full of the stuff.

    The common wisdom was that Fortitude was the primary defense against Dimensional damage, but it looked like that resistance didn¡¯t stop Oblivion Orb from penetrating, it just reduced the amount of substance that it was able to remove from reality. Between Yaretzi¡¯s enchanted armor and whatever his Fortitude was, he had managed to keep his wrist, but the deep bruise, oozing blood, and unmoving fingers told me that the damage went through the muscle, bone, and tendon beneath. A million tiny holes, instead of one big one.

    How well would Yaretzi¡¯s heart work with damage like that?

    Also, where the fuck was Etja?

    I was positioned on the north side of the caravel, looking southward at Yaretzi who was doing some sort of mental calculus in his head about our fight. The caravel Etja had been engaging was behind me and I didn¡¯t dare take my eyes off of my opponent. While I didn¡¯t hear the sounds of battle, I did hear voices that carried well over the water.

    ¡°Please!¡± a man shouted in heavily accented Hiwardian. ¡°He threatened our families! He¡¯s insane!¡±

    ¡°Okay, calm down,¡± said Etja. ¡°Are you saying that¡­ you won¡¯t shoot at us anymore?¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t!¡± said a woman hastily. ¡°But you have to kill him! Everyone who¡¯s even thought about reporting him disappears!¡±

    Yaretzi sighed.

    ¡°Yaretzi does not like how this is going,¡± he said.

    ¡°I bet.¡±

    Yaretzi brought up his rapier in his offhand and held it up in front of his face, then gave me a duelist¡¯s bow.

    ¡°Yaretzi will no longer try to capture you.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, but I don¡¯t buy that for a second,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yaretzi will now kill you instead.¡±

    ¡°Ah, that makes more sense.¡±

    Yaretzi¡¯s torso shone with sparkling light and I was hit with a debuff.

    Lockstep

    You and Yaretzi may only move away from one another.

    I squinted at the debuff and tried to take a step toward the man, but my feet wouldn¡¯t budge. I took a step to the left, which put a little more distance between myself and Yaretzi, but couldn¡¯t step back to the right.

    ¡°Fun trick,¡± I said as Yaretzi took two big steps away from me and came to a stop next to one of the boat¡¯s side-mounted cannons.

    He kicked the cannon¡¯s mount and several bolts came loose. The cannon rotated around toward me and came to a stop aimed directly at my chest. There was no magic involved, no spell or technique used from what I could see. It was as though the cannon¡¯s mount had been built with a specific, intentional flaw for this exact situation.

    ¡°Are you built into fucking Luck?!¡± I said, scrambling to adjust Somncres into a throwing hammer shape, but I was too slow.

    Yaretzi gave the cannon another kick and it fired. A mana-woven, dark iron cannonball hit me in the chest at about 700 miles per hour.

    It sucked.

    The force jettisoned me backward and I crashed through a mast, then bounced off of the boat¡¯s quarterdeck and smashed the railing on the stern. I was thrown out across the sea, tumbling end over end through the air. While the world rotated around me my eyes caught sight of something on the distant shore that momentarily broke through the shock of my sudden, acute injuries.

    There was a monstrous soul presence rising up over the coastline and visible even from a mile away. It was as potent as any soul I¡¯d ever beheld, but there were no Delver levels surrounding it. There was something else imbued within it, a presence that hinted at unknowable depths as the soul substance churned like a storm-swept sea.

    I splashed down into the cold water and lost sight of whatever it was. For several seconds I couldn¡¯t move as my mind and body processed the traumatic damage I¡¯d just sustained and I sank into the dark abyss.

    Critical damage reduced by 40%!

    Bleeding negated!

    HP: 817 -> 605

    My ribs were gravel, my lungs were collapsed, and the front of my plate armor was bent inward to the point where it was crushing me. The pain was blinding and I was disoriented, unable to tell which way was up or down in the water. After several seconds of battling against the agony in my chest I finally managed to begin making a feeble effort at swimming¨Cthat is to say, I used Gracorvus to float me in a few different directions. I figured out which way was up by figuring out the direction that I couldn¡¯t ¡®swim¡¯, which was in the direction of Yaretzi who was above me in the caravel. It was exactly what had happened to Varrin.

    I tore at the straps of my chest armor and ripped it away, then tossed it into my inventory. The fact that I could perform any functions with my arms that required the use of my pecs was likely due to Body of Theseus. The ribs that anchored those muscles were in a hundred little pieces, after all, and the movements were slow and difficult. I took a moment to think through my next course of action as my empty lungs began to burn. That particular discomfort was a drop in the bucket while said metaphorical bucket sank deeper into an ocean of hurt, so it was easy enough to ignore.

    [The feedback from our Shared Fate connection has now caused me to ruin three separate weaves that I was working on.]

    [A tragedy, to be sure. Feel like helping out?]

    [If the alternative is that you suffer a miserable demise, then I suppose it is in my interest that I assist.]

    [Alright, get ready to think real hard at an asshole.]

    I used Gracorvus to keep myself from sinking any further and tested using Shortcut to get closer to the surface. The teleport was successful, unrestricted by the Lockstep debuff, but I kept myself a few feet under the water while I considered. I looked at the debuff again, but there was no hint as to how long it would last.

    I was below half on health and had a third of my mana left. I had no idea how much damage I¡¯d done to Yaretzi. Certainly a lot less than he¡¯d done to me, but my allies would be moving in soon. I needed to be sure I was there to keep Yaretzi from quickly cutting apart my less tanky party members, but I also wanted to make sure I had a good counter to this ability. If anything, Lockstep was just as much of a detriment to Yaretzi as it was to me, although the Littan likely had a lot more experience dealing with its downsides.

    If Yaretzi couldn¡¯t move toward me, what would happen if I pulled him toward me?

    I decided that was something I¡¯d like to find out.

 103 - Four vs. One

    I cast Shortcut again to appear a hundred feet above sea level, scoping out the aquatic battlefield before me while standing on Gracorvus. I felt a tug at the back of my mind to turn and study the massive soul presence I¡¯d seen, but I ignored it. There were more immediate problems than some distant demigod, avatar, or outrageously leveled Delver. Whatever it was, it was firmly within Eschen territory. I doubted it was Littan.

    I also resisted the temptation to get tunnel vision on Yaretzi, choosing to take a few seconds to let my ribs begin to fuse back together while I scanned the fleet. The psychopath had mentioned the existence of Silver-grade Delver boats like the Copper caravels we¡¯d just wrecked, and I didn¡¯t want any sneaking up on us.

    I didn¡¯t spot any more encroaching caravels, but that didn¡¯t mean a whole lot. I couldn¡¯t use my See ability on the whole ocean at once, so unless I knew generally where to look for them they could still be out there. What I did spot was the entire Littan blockade fleet regrouping and sailing our way.

    ¡°Fallback flag my ass,¡± I muttered before turning back to Yaretzi.

    The number one asshole in my life was currently sailing his caravel out of a cloud of poison while holding a cloth over the slit in his frog helm. Without a crew, it should have been impossible for the man to manage the craft alone. And yet, he did. The boat was moving quite fast as well. I added ¡°magic sailor¡± to my mental model of Yaretzi¡¯s build.

    I was glad to know that Nuralie was still in the fight, but still had no idea where she was, exactly. I checked her status in my party interface and saw that she was close to full on health, so it didn¡¯t look like Yaretzi had done any damage to her while I was taking a bath.

    While Yaretzi cleared his deck of the toxic mist, Etja launched off the northern caravel and began raining death rays down onto him. Her beams carved across the deck while the Littan danced between them, his body moving and contorting in inhuman ways. He made it to one of the cannons and raised a hand toward Etja, the familiar blue mana of a Dispel dancing along his fingers. I was pretty far away but hadn¡¯t ever had a problem with the range of my own Dispel before, so I decided to counter his counterspell. I shakily raised my hand and focused on his mana, activating the skill with all the righteous fury of a mono-blue player at Friday Night Magic.

    It didn¡¯t work.

    Dispel negated by Absolute Authority

    You cannot counter, dispel, or negate any of Yaretzi¡¯s skills unless your relevant skill level is equal to or higher than Yaretzi¡¯s Mystical Magic skill.

    I tried to let out a frustrated grunt when I saw the message, but it came out more as a gurgle that sent me into an excruciating coughing fit. Yaretzi¡¯s ability countered spells trying to counter his counterspells. I fucking hated this guy.

    To soothe my irritation, I mana-shaped the Pocket Closet portal and unleashed Grotto into the world. He swept out in all his feathered and octopoid glory.

    [Direct me to the insolent fiends and I will wreak havoc upon their minds!]

    While I was focused on the Closet, Yaretzi cast his Dispel, Etja¡¯s beam fizzled, and he fired his cannon just as I finished opening the portal. My first instinct was to Shortcut between Etja and the projectile, but that was a very precise teleport and I also knew that Etja had plenty of defensive abilities of her own. I couldn¡¯t afford to soak another 200 damage right now. I needed to do a little setup to make sure Yaretzi found his way into a watery grave. He was too dangerous and the risk that he would pursue the party after this fight was too high. Unless escape was the only viable option, I would do everything in my power to end him.

    The cannon shot was lined up perfectly, but Etja used a powerful burst of Siphon to shunt the projectile aside. Yaretzi cartwheeled to the next cannon and began aiming it, but Etja adjusted her tactics and began cutting through the weapons aboard the Littan¡¯s caravel. Unlike Yaretzi himself, the hunks of dark iron couldn¡¯t dodge.

    [He is very acrobatic.]

    [Think you can disrupt some of that?]

    [His level is substantial, but my experience with the specter has given me a few ideas.]

    [Alright, help the others hold out while I get a combo going.]

    [Very well.] He floated away toward the fight at speed.

    I summoned Somncres and swung it in the air before me, testing my grip and strength. It was barely manageable with the state of my ribs, but I didn¡¯t need to be able to chuck the hammer full force. I just needed to get it going. The skill that Sam¡¯lia helped me to learn would do the rest.

    I activated Gravity Anchor.

    Gravity Anchor

    Dimensional / Physical

    Cost: Variable stamina per second

    Requirements: FOR 40, INT 20, Dimensional 20, Physical 10

    Effects:

    Vastly increase your gravitational pull. While Gravity Anchor is active, the core of your body may not be moved by any physical means. The strength of this gravitational pull is based on your Physical skill level and the amount of stamina channeled into this ability.

    You may also warp the directional flow of the gravitational pull by spending additional stamina, so long as the endpoint for the adjusted flow is the core of your body. Your control over this secondary effect is determined by your Dimensional skill level and your Intelligence.

    The technique was based on Etja¡¯s Siphon ability, but Sam¡¯lia had helped me to reforge the base skill into something that better suited me. We added restrictions to make it less versatile but more potent while adjusting the mana flow so that it centered on my body and could utilize stamina rather than mana. I couldn¡¯t command objects to fly or blast my opponents into the ground at range or manipulate myself to fly. I had none of the nuance that Etja had. I could command gravity to do one thing, and that was to make the world fall toward me.

    After all, having everyone and everything around become irresistibly attracted to the density of my masculine presence was a very Arlo thing to do.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The sea spray in the air whipped around me and I felt moisture beginning to gather on my skin. My ears popped as the air pressure rose. My leggings and the armor I was still wearing hugged me more tightly. My shirt had been shredded and entangled by my warped breastplate and had come off when I removed the armor. I was glad that my chest was once again properly exposed, as gruesome a sight as it was. The weight of my cuirass pressing into my broken chest would have been less than pleasant.

    I threw Somncres and made two Void Hammer copies. I used Hammerang to manipulate the weapon into a tight arc and the copies began to spiral around me. It had taken a lot of trial and error to get this trick right, but the main struggle had been a physical one. My Coordinated Thinker evolution for Intelligence gave me an enhanced grasp of spatial and dimensional concepts, so intuitively calculating orbital trajectories wasn¡¯t a big deal. I just had to build up muscle memory until I possessed the skill to throw the damn hammers at the right angle.

    I summoned Somncres back to me and made sure the two spectral copies that were orbiting me were stable. In the distance, Yaretzi had summoned a billowing cloak on his back and it spread out like wings. He darted up into the air to meet Etja, rapier glinting in his offhand. At first, Etja was quicker, but Yaretzi shot forward with a sudden burst of speed and he thrust his blade at Etja¡¯s joints. The mage¡¯s body shone as her Mana Barrier shunted some of the damage to her mana pool, but with Yaretzi¡¯s Blade of Censure ability that let him drain mana, I knew that Etja couldn¡¯t last long.

    Grotto drew closer to the fight and Yaretzi¡¯s head jerked back and his helm glowed as the mini-c¡¯thon hit him with a psychic attack. The Littan froze in place for a moment, and an arrow appeared between Yaretzi¡¯s shoulder blades. I finally spotted Nuralie on the deck of the caravel Yaretzi had just left. It was listing heavily, slowly sinking from the damage caused by Etja¡¯s beams, but Nuralie balanced on the uneven surface and lined up another series of shots.

    While the four fought, I threw two more sets of Void Hammers into my orbit, giving me six hammers rotating around me. My chest screamed with every throw, slowing my progress, but I wanted more. I threw another set, making sure that each pair was orbiting at a slightly different range. The combo was a huge drain on both mana and stamina, but I wasn¡¯t planning on needing to repeat this trick. I threw again.

    Yaretzi maneuvered around Etja, placing her between himself and Nuralie. He thrust his rapier into her back and Etja¡¯s Mana Barrier failed as his attack exhausted the rest of her mana. The former golem fell toward the sea, unable to maintain Siphon to keep herself afloat. Her health was low, but she was alive.

    Yaretzi¡¯s helm glowed again, making space for Nuralie to land another arrow. The Littan shot toward Grotto, but my familiar was even nimbler than Etja in the air. The Delve Core led Yaretzi on a merry chase through the sky. Eventually, the Littan threw a pair of daggers at Grotto, causing my familiar to back off a bit further. Etja had splashed down into the ocean and was beginning to sink.

    [Grotto, are you strong enough to lift Etja?]

    [How feeble do you believe me to be?] he thought back, already descending toward the sinking mage.

    Yaretzi spun and rushed down toward the ship as Nuralie turned to dive off, but the Littan activated an ability that kept the loson from fleeing. Nuralie¡¯s eyes opened wide in alarm as she was caught in the grip of Lockstep. Instead of restricting the pair of combatants to only moving away from one another, they could now only move toward one another.

    Yaretzi just fucked up.

    While I couldn¡¯t travel through space normally while Gravity Anchor was active, I could teleport. I cast Shortcut to adjust my position so that I was a hundred feet behind Yaretzi as he dove. After a two-second pause, I cast Shortcut again and appeared beside Nuralie, on the opposite side of Yaretzi from where I¡¯d just been. The Littan came to an abrupt halt as though he¡¯d collided with an invisible wall made of sticky traps. The kind they use to catch mice in attics.

    Yaretzi could only move away from me, but he could also only move toward Nuralie. Since she and I were standing side by side, there was nowhere for the Littan to go.

    Nuralie let out a yelp as she was sucked into my side by my gravity well, but I was able to use the technique''s secondary effect to adjust the pull to flow around her, giving her some relief from the pressure. It took a lot of concentration and upped the stamina drain substantially, but I only wanted to make one person a pancake today.

    ¡°Don¡¯t move,¡± I said to her, but I kept my eyes on Yaretzi.

    ¡°What is this?!¡± Yaretzi yelled as I kicked the gravity up another notch, dumping more stamina into the ability. I was down to a quarter of my reserves.

    The Littan¡¯s body contorted as an immense pressure pulled him toward me while his own ability forced him to stay in place and endure it. His limbs dangled and his mail armor billowed and clinked. Metal ringlets began to come loose from where I¡¯d severed it with Oblivion Orb. They smacked into my wet skin and stuck to me alongside drops of blood from the Littan¡¯s bruised and bloody wrist.

    The caravel was no longer sinking, held aloft by my pull. The boards of the boat below creaked and groaned, then began to splinter and break. The ocean rose over the sides of the ship and began to gather and swirl around Nuralie and me. Pretty soon I would have to start holding my breath.

    But that was only the opener.

    My hammers did not travel with me when I teleported. That was a problem I was working on, but it was also an advantage I could manipulate. All ten of my copied hammers had been thrown with Homing Weapon and all ten were currently trying to make their way back to me. My first teleport had been made to pull them into an angle of approach from Yaretzi¡¯s rear, while my second teleport put him directly in their path.

    Ten Void Hammers rushed at Yaretzi¡¯s back in a chaotic spiral of varying arcs. Their orbits had been disrupted by the sudden absence of anything to orbit and Homing Weapon demanded that they return to me, causing the copied weapons to crisscross and approach like a cluster of hastily fired missiles from five different launchers.

    Yaretzi¡¯s eyes narrowed and he struggled to twist his head to look behind him, but he couldn¡¯t crane his neck under the force of my pull. He had something that alerted him to attacks that he couldn¡¯t see coming. He¡¯d used it the first time I pulled this trick. Yaretzi couldn¡¯t move to avoid the incoming disaster. Instead, he made a confession.

    ¡°I donate half my salary to a wounded children¡¯s fund!¡± He screamed in a rush of words.

    I barely had time to register his statement, which must have been true because his body glowed with fresh stacks of Blessed. The moment before the hammers impacted he also activated a skill.

    Funhouse Mirror

    So long as you are facing Yaretzi, you only deal half damage with your attacks. So long as you are facing away from Yaretzi, you deal double damage. This effect also applies to Yaretzi when attacking you.

    Before I could process the debuff and adjust, the hammers came down on Yaretzi in a storm. His immobilized form was battered by Somncres copies that activated bowling ball-sized Oblivion Orbs on contact. Yaretzi¡¯s body glowed with holy light as he struggled to absorb the damage with his Blessed stacks while his Funhouse ability halved everything that was incoming.

    Not all of the hammers landed. A few smashed into the deck of the ship and swallowed large holes out of the already broken and distressed vessel. A couple whipped past Yaretzi and I hastily caught them, then did my best to throw them back, but the strength was shit from my destroyed chest and the force of my gravity working against me. Still, the throws weren''t enough for the hammer to do much kinetic damage, but the Oblivion Orb charges activated.

    The last three pierced all of Yaretzi¡¯s defenses and the runes on his armor exploded. Large circles of the armor were cut away, revealing scoured, bruised and bleeding flesh beneath. One wound on his abdomen had been stripped of its skin completely, and I could see a bit of intestine trying to worm its way out. Blood rained down onto me, mixing with the seawater that swirled and churned around my midsection.

    Before I could savor the victory, Yaretzi produced the biggest fucking crossbow I¡¯d ever seen from his inventory.

    He could barely hold it. His left arm dangled toward me as his body was still locked in place by his own ability while being sucked in by my skill. The weapon was so long that it ended less than a foot from my chest. It was already loaded and primed.

    I considered using Shortcut to escape, but Nuralie had slipped directly behind me. I could drop Gravity Anchor and kick her off the boat, but there was no time. Yaretzi was mortally wounded and, unless he got some sort of treatment, he would certainly bleed out. No. I wanted to keep him locked down. I decided to eat it.

    ¡°Come on!¡± I screamed. ¡°Think it¡¯ll be enough?!¡±

    He fired. The bolt hit me in the chest. It pierced my heart.

 104 - Thunderdome

    Critical damage reduced by 40%!

    Bleeding negated!

    HP: 605 -> 381

    The pain was sharp and bright. My lungs constricted and spots danced in my vision. Vertigo overwhelmed me and the only thing that kept me upright was Gravity Anchor. Each beat of my heart brought fresh torment and an extra tick of damage. I waited for death, certain that even I couldn¡¯t survive my fucking heart having a massive hole drilled in it, but I was wrong.

    Body of Theseus kept the muscle going, despite the structural damage. Just a Flesh Wound kept me from bleeding out, despite the ragged hole. My absurd health pool did the rest. I glared at Yaretzi, whose look of shock was plain, even through his helm.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Not enough.¡±

    He let the enormous crossbow go and it smashed into me, pressing the bolt further into my chest. He pulled out a fucking second one.

    That¡¯s also when my stamina ran out.

    Gravity Anchor ended and I crashed to the ground alongside a deluge of water, blood, broken planks, and bits of armor. The entire boat sank back down onto the ocean with a resounding splash, kicking up froth and spray. Yaretzi slumped from the impact, but caught himself with a hand, managing to stay upright. I struggled to try and sit up, but my body refused to cooperate. Having a foreign object in my heart didn¡¯t kill me, but it sure fucked with my mobility.

    Nuralie immediately drew back on her bow and fired. The Littan released the crossbow and his rapier blinked into his hand as he ducked the first arrow. Nuralie fired another and Yaretzi swatted it aside drunkenly. His rapier disappeared and he pulled a knife from nowhere and then threw it at the loson. Nuralie could only dodge forward, but she chose to take the knife in her arm rather than get closer to the lethal fighter. She dropped her bow and pulled out a vial of something toxic, but hesitated, looking at my heavily wounded state.

    I tried to grab the bolt in my chest and pull it out, but my arms were weak. I couldn¡¯t get them to move in the right direction. The damage to my chest was finally too much for my evolutions to overcome. I kept taking damage as my heart shredded itself against the bolt with every beat.

    HP: 298 -> 288

    HP: 288 -> 278

    HP: 278 -> 268

    ¡°At least I¡¯m not bleeding,¡± I slurred.

    Yaretzi¡¯s lower body was painted red as he held his guts in with his useless dominant hand. He produced another knife and moved to throw it at me, but a streak of lightning struck him from behind. He halted, then turned.

    The northern caravel had sailed closer to our¨Conce again¨Csinking ship and the hands of the level 3 mage aboard glowed with mana. She gritted her teeth and readied another spell. The two cannoneers also drew back bows, the guns on their ship having been slagged earlier during their fight with Etja. Soon, the entire level 3 crew was lobbing attacks at Yaretzi.

    The level 17 Gold watched them in confusion, the attacks bouncing off his battered armor. He swept the projectiles aside as they came.

    ¡°Yaretzi is upset,¡± he croaked. ¡°Why are you attacking Yaretzi?!¡±

    He heaved a knife at the mage, who went down when it struck her in the neck. The Speed-Delver aboard dragged her away and poured a potion into her mouth.

    Nuralie used the opportunity to move closer to me and grip the bolt in my chest.

    ¡°Ready?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Do it.¡±

    She yanked it out. I would say that it hurt, but it was the kind of hurt you write love songs about. The relief of having the thing out of me was overwhelming and I considered asking Nuralie to marry me on the spot.

    ¡°Stop looking at me like that,¡± she said. Pause. ¡°Here, drink this.¡±

    She pulled out one of her advanced healing potions and tipped it into my mouth. She did the same with a mana potion.

    Nuralie¡¯s Advanced Healing Potion

    +946 HP regen/hour

    Nuralie¡¯s Advanced Mana Potion

    +364 MP regen/hour

    Total HP Regen: 1,514/hour

    Total MP Regen: 429/hour

    ¡°Going to burn through all our emerald chips using the good potions so liberally,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, very liberal.¡± Pause. ¡°You¡¯re the only one who can drink them without going into shock.¡±

    Yaretzi tossed a few more knives at the Littan Delvers, then hefted the massive crossbow and railed one of the cannoneers with it in the eye. The man slumped over, but the attacks of his allies had started to land. A couple of arrows stuck out of Yaretzi¡¯s torso where my orbs had removed his armor. He snarled and raised a hand into the air, then used a new technique.

    Darkness flowed out from his body and filled the air, casting everything in impenetrable shadow. Even my enhanced sight couldn¡¯t see through it, barely able to perceive Nuralie right next to me. The alchemist drew out a dagger and continued to crouch by me while I activated Gracorvus and held it up.

    ¡°The debuff only lasts so long,¡± came Yaretzi¡¯s voice from the dark. It echoed all around us.

    ¡°How many fucking abilities does this guy have?¡± I said, growing frustrated with the asshole¡¯s bag of tricks.

    ¡°Ten, I suspect,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Feels like more.¡±

    A knife thudded into Gracorvus.

    ¡°Any second now,¡± Yaretzi whispered.

    The effects of Lockstep on you have ended!

    Yaretzi stumbled through the dark toward us, rapier at the ready. I tried to get to my feet, but my body hadn¡¯t had time to regenerate enough. I was still crippled. Nuralie threw a vial at Yaretzi, but he swiped out of the air with his sword. The vial shattered and its contents splattered over him. His armor smoked and his skin sizzled where the liquid made contact, but he moved forward without pause.

    Nuralie stepped in with her dagger and the two exchanged strikes. Yaretzi was heavily wounded, bleeding, poisoned, and had the use of only one arm, while Nuralie was still somewhat fresh. However, Yaretzi was more focused on Blades and melee combat, whereas Nuralie¡¯s dagger was a fallback. The difference in level and skill bridged the gap between their relative physical conditions and after three exchanges, Yaretzi scored a hit on Nuralie¡¯s collarbone.

    Nuralie clutched at her neck and took another wild swing at Yaretzi, but the Littan parried and strode forward. I sent Gracorvus to intercept as he shoved his rapier toward the loson¡¯s gut. His blade crashed off of the shield, but he slid his weapon around it and plunged it into Nuralie¡¯s abdomen regardless. I gritted my teeth, then cast Shortcut right in front of Yaretzi, between the two of them. He laughed, then stabbed me in her stead.

    I tried to reach out and use Oblivion Orb, but he easily pushed my hand aside and plunged his rapier into me again.

    ¡°Yaretzi likes this much better!¡± he said. ¡°Tavio will not be happy, but he will understand!¡± He brought the rapier up to my neck. ¡°Would you like to tell Yaretzi how you got so strong before Yaretzi kills you?¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, barely able to keep myself from collapsing. After his last attacks, my health was only a hair above 100. ¡°It¡¯s simple. Step 1, eat vast quantities of excrement and perish. Step 2, develop enough flexibility to perform coitus on yourself. Step 3¨C¡±

    Yaretzi leaned in close and whispered in my ear.

    ¡°Is this supposed to provoke Yaretzi?¡±

    ¡°Feel like you¡¯re already pretty provoked.¡±

    ¡°You are correct.¡±

    ¡°How long until you bleed to death?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yaretzi has a few minutes more to speak.¡±

    A heavy thud sounded on the deck behind Yaretzi, and I could make out a near-seven-foot frame through the gloom.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re a talker,¡± I said, embracing the man in a tight hug as he tried to turn around¨Cwell, more like a gentle squeeze, given the state of my arms. It caught him off guard and I pressed my weight into him, pushing him off balance.

    The glint of metal cut through the darkness, and Yaretzi¡¯s legs were cleanly severed. I collapsed down on top of the man as he let out a cry of pain. I peeked up to find Varrin standing with Kazandak at the ready, blade dripping with Littan blood.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°This is starting to become a habit of yours,¡± I said. ¡°Showing up at the last second to cut somebody in half.¡±

    ¡°Move so I can finish him,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I already had to strike at his legs because of how close you were.¡±

    Before I could roll away, Yaretzi broke down into a fit of laughter.

    ¡°Say it!¡± Yaretzi shouted, and both Varrin and I looked at him in confusion. ¡°No? Yaretzi cuts your legs, then you cut his! You should say something like¡­ If you go for the legs, make sure to finish the job!¡±

    I rolled away from Yaretzi and Varrin brought his sword up for the coup de grace.

    Then, the world froze.

    A burst of gray light emerged from Yaretzi¡¯s chest and my allies disappeared. It rolled across the deck of the ship, and everything it touched faded to grayscale and monochrome. Yaretzi turned his head to gaze at me with his deep brown eyes.

    ¡°Yaretzi prefers that we finish this alone,¡± he said.

    The light spread out across the sea, banishing the magical darkness and revealing a world that was frozen and immobile. I sat up and looked around, finding the sea completely still and glassy. Our now unsinking boat no longer rocked or swayed.

    A bit farther out the world was ruled by a hazy, white fog. The Littan fleet had closed in, their bows creeping out from the soupy mist with cannons in striking distance but the decks were empty and the sails were still. The vessels were as frozen as the water they sailed across. The Delvers on the northern caravel were also gone. Besides myself and Yaretzi, there wasn¡¯t another living soul in sight. I looked up to find a clear sky black as night, but empty of the moon, stars, or any other celestial body.

    I took a breath but found it thick and difficult. I swept my arm through the air and felt resistance, as though the gas around me were condensed somehow. I looked back to Yaretzi, who had propped himself up and was downing a pair of potions. His right wrist was broken and he was missing both legs below the knees, but I was barely any better off. For the moment¡­

    ¡°The fuck is this?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Welcome,¡± he said, ¡°to the Second Layer.¡±

    I sat up and scooched back until I was leaning against part of the boat¡¯s railing that was still intact. I had a notification but didn¡¯t remember being alerted to one. I eyed Yaretzi. The man had closed his eyes and was looking oddly serene, so I read over the message.

    Thunderdome!

    Two go in. One comes out. Yaretzi has invoked a Deific spell that has transported both of you to the Second Layer. Neither of you may leave while the other lives. If one of you is reduced to 0 HP, the survivor will be returned to the origin point of this skill after one minute.

    ¡°How the hell did you activate a deific skill?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You like it?¡± said Yaretzi. He pulled a canteen from his inventory and removed his helm, then took a long pull. ¡°It is very interesting what one can acquire within a Special Delve.¡±

    Overall, the Littan looked very plain. Brown fur, brown eyes. Nothing noteworthy or distinct about his features at all. It was kind of disappointing.

    ¡°So¡­ what¡¯s your plan here?¡± I asked, choosing to take the opportunity to get a few things out of my own inventory. I filtered through the long, long list of potential items and settled on one of our pre-prepared Turtle packages.

    ¡°You are not so tough,¡± said Yaretzi. ¡°Strong for level 6, but¡­¡± He waved his limp hand through the air. ¡°Easily handled on your own.¡±

    ¡°Is that right?¡± I said, producing the canvas bag full of equipment. I started unpacking it. Yaretzi looked the contents over but didn¡¯t move to stop me. I wasn¡¯t sure if he could move to stop me. He had that flying cloak, but I wasn¡¯t sure what the conditions were to use it. ¡°Go on. Tell me more, Yaretzi.¡±

    He cleared his throat as I pulled out a series of interlocking plates and began assembling a barrier. The work was tough in my injured state, but I noticed as I worked that my missing fingers had already halfway grown back. My health was much lower than it had been when I¡¯d lost the digits, so I assumed that regrowing limbs acted independently of health. Good to know.

    ¡°Let me guess,¡± I said when Yaretzi failed to volunteer more. ¡°You bring me here while I¡¯m all beat up and on death¡¯s door. You swallow some potions and then we wait around for a few minutes until you get the spunk to finish me off?¡±

    ¡°It is¡­ not so simple as that,¡± he said.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said slapping a couple of plates together. ¡°Maybe you knock me out, and let me wallow in agony for a few hours until your health is back to full. Then you kill me and go out to finish everyone else off. Closer?¡±

    He frowned at me and took another sip from his canteen.

    ¡°Maybe this place moves through time in a weird way,¡± I said, leaning over and peering down at the water. While it looked completely still at first glance, I could make out the faintest movement along the surface. ¡°Thus, once you¡¯ve tortured and killed me, when you return to the First Layer everyone else will be unprepared for your miraculous full heal.¡± I slapped some more plates together and watched him. He shifted uncomfortably, so I figured I was more or less correct. ¡°Hmm, here¡¯s a question. It says we can¡¯t leave but does that stop me from doing this?¡±

    I concentrated on the Closet and spent the full minute opening the portal. I didn¡¯t want to mana-shape it since I needed to recover my resources, and if Yaretzi wanted to kill time, then I was going to let him. The portal opened without trouble and I could see the obelisk within. I reached out and tried to put my hand through the portal, but an immovable force stopped me. I couldn¡¯t go in, but the ambient dimensional mana could come out.

    Ambient Absorption

    You are absorbing high levels of ambient Dimensional mana. Ambient mana regen is capped at 10x WIS.

    +260 MP regen/hour

    Total MP regen: 689/hour

    Yeah, those were some good numbers.

    I finished assembling the plates and attached a few long, metal slats for the feet. The result was a waist-high fortification, complete with defensive mana weaves. I slid a ruby chip into the center of the array of runes and a small dome shield formed around me. Yaretzi sat up a bit more at that.

    ¡°I see you¡¯re not bleeding anymore,¡± I said, pulling a few more items out of the bag. ¡°Coagulation potion? Was the other one health? Had to be. What about mana?¡± I set a series of Seinnador¡¯s Dazzlers onto the ground, which were magic flashbangs that burned people¡¯s eyeballs out if they weren¡¯t careful. There were also a couple of canisters using similar tech with Nuralie¡¯s poisons in them.

    By the time I¡¯d set all that up, I had regenerated 250 health and 60 mana. My fingers had grown back completely, my cheek was in one piece again, my teeth were half-grown in, and my heart no longer murmured. My ribs were still collecting themselves, but that was fine.

    ¡°How good¡¯s your alchemist?¡± I asked. ¡°Did you buy the nice potions, or did you cheap out?¡±

    Yaretzi scowled at me. Alchemists were rare. Good alchemists especially so. I doubted the Littan had access to anything nearly as robust as I did. Assuming he had basic potions and no regen evolutions, he was probably getting back a tenth of what I was over the same time period.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me how you could use a deific skill,¡± I said. ¡°You got it from a Special Delve, sure, but that doesn¡¯t give you the capacity to use that level of divine magic.¡±

    ¡°Yaretzi no longer feels like talking.¡± He pulled a knife from his inventory and threw it at the barrier. It bounced off harmlessly. He rotated his dominant wrist, testing his injury, but winced.

    I crossed my legs and sat back again, feeling my ribs pop back into place. It was a wonderful feeling, like cracking all the stiffness out of your middle back. A few more minutes went by and I prodded the Littan with more questions, but he had nothing but insults and silence for me.

    I was back to half health and mana in under 20 minutes, and all my bones were in much better shape. There were still a host of fractures, but my chest was no longer concave. I pulled a fresh breastplate from my inventory¨Cnothing fancy, just some basic steel with a defensive mana weave¨Cand slapped it on. I stood, and Yaretzi flinched as he looked me over.

    ¡°You- how did you?¡± he began.

    ¡°What are your normal victims like?¡± I asked. ¡°Who does this work on? I mean, have you ever brought someone competent into this trap?¡±

    A look of rage crossed his face. His cloak billowed out and he rose into the air.

    ¡°Coppers?¡± I continued. ¡°SIlvers? Tavio seemed like the type of guy that likes to challenge himself. He was an asshole, but he knew his shit. He named my abilities as I used them. Deduced my build from punching me around a village. But you¡­ you¡¯re a fucking dumbass. How did you end up in the same party?¡±

    Yaretzi flicked his wrist and his rapier appeared. He summoned his saber into his injured hand, but I could tell it still wasn¡¯t at 100%. He rushed toward the barrier and began slashing at it. The shield flickered and hummed under his assault. It wouldn¡¯t hold up under his attacks for long¨Cit was designed for hordes of mana monsters, not level 17 Delvers¨Cbut I didn¡¯t need it to last. I activated two Dazzlers and two canisters of Nuralie¡¯s paralytic poison and tossed them out towards him. They passed through the barrier, and I covered my eyes as all four exploded.

    Yaretzi devolved into animalistic screams and guttural coughing. He continued to assault the barrier, but his attacks were weak and erratic. I produced a tinder box and a torch, lit it, then tossed it out as well. The poison erupted into a ball of flame. This not only lit Yaretzi on fire but also allowed me to drop the barrier since all the gas had burned off.

    Yaretzi dove off of the ship and crashed onto the surface of the water. Whatever temporal effect it was under made it hard, or maybe just really thick. He rolled to put himself out and I hopped down after him. There was a little give to the water, but I could stand on it without trouble. I watched him for a second, observing how pitiful he¡¯d become.

    ¡°The portal I opened made me curious about something else,¡± I said as Yaretzi finally doused the flames. He glared at me and raised his swords, ready to charge with his cloak. ¡°Again, the skill description said that we can¡¯t leave. But, can someone else come in?¡±

    I cast Dimensional Summon and Shog¡¯tuatha clawed his way through a tear in reality. Yaretzi¡¯s blades lowered slightly as he watched the c¡¯thon emerge.

    ¡°Slayer. I always look forward to your call.¡± He turned his big, black eyes on Yaretzi. ¡°I see you have found us another mouse to play with.¡±

    ¡°What- you-¡± Yaretzi stuttered. ¡°How can you summon a Grade 10 beast?!¡±

    ¡°You said that Tavio talked about me for three days! He didn¡¯t mention this?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps he feared retribution, should he use my name with ill regard,¡± Shog said, tentacles writhing and talons clacking.

    I surveyed Yaretzi¡¯s expression until it dawned on me.

    ¡°You tuned him out,¡± I said. ¡°You lived in Yaretzi!-land and ignored everything he had to say.¡± I felt another rib pop and I thumped my chest with a fist. ¡°Oh, that was a good one. Shog, want to grab this guy for me?¡±

    ¡°With pleasure.¡±

    Yaretzi turned and tried to flee as the c¡¯thon floated toward him, but Shog struck like a coiled snake and wrapped the semi-paralyzed Littan up in a half dozen tentacles. Yaretzi managed to get a few thrusts in with his swords, but Shog quickly wrenched the man¡¯s arms in directions they weren¡¯t meant to bend. Finally, Yaretzi was subdued.

    I walked forward and looked him over.

    ¡°Please, Yaretzi is helpless,¡± he said. ¡°I can tell you things. About the Littan military! I can tell you about the duchess and about Tavio. I¡¯ll-¡±

    I swung hard with Somncres into Yaretzi¡¯s temple, and the Oblivion Orb that activated took half his skull with it. The man went limp, as dead as everything else in the Layer. I spent a few moments processing the violence but found that I didn¡¯t feel very strongly one way or another about it. I was glad he was dead, and I wasn¡¯t upset that I¡¯d been the one to kill him, but there was no exultation or joy in it. I also wasn¡¯t disturbed by it. Eventually, I shrugged and let the matter pass out of my mind.

    ¡°Do you plan to consume this corpse?¡± Shog asked.

    ¡°Eh, Grotto might want it for something, but the Closet is pretty self-sustaining as it is. Feel free to have it if you like.¡±

    ¡°Excellent!¡±

    Shog immediately tore Yaretzi¡¯s arms off of his body, then pulled the rest of the Littan back behind his tentacles where his vicious beak began to work on it. Shog held the arms up and studied them, then wrapped two tentacles around them.

    As I watched, the flesh of his c¡¯thonic limbs melded around the Littan arms until all that could be seen were the furry hands. Shog let out an excited grunt, mouth full of Littan, then swept Yaretzi¡¯s blades off the ground in his furry new hands. He spun and slashed through the air, then did a few thrusts with the rapier. His grade got an update as he took the Littan¡¯s skills for a test drive.

    Shog¡¯tuatha: C¡¯thon, Grade 12

    Before I could ask what the fuck that was all about, the world collapsed in on me and I was splashing down into the ocean back in the First Layer.

 105 - Geuls Embrace

    I didn¡¯t mind a beach day here and there, but I tried to stay out of the water as much as possible. All the salt made me itchy.

    I broke back through the surface of the ocean to find Varrin looking down at me, sword at the ready.

    ¡°Arlo?¡± he said. ¡°How did you-¡±

    ¡°Teleported to the Second Layer,¡± I said, then cast Shortcut to appear next to him on the half-sunk caravel. Shog floated above the water, unperturbed by the sudden Layer transition and still testing his new limbs out. As a dimension-hopping mana fiend, he was probably used to suddenly being portalled from place to place.

    ¡°But you were just¡­¡± Varrin pointed at the space where I likely disappeared from only a second or so beforehand. ¡°And you¡¯re healed?¡±

    ¡°Time was weird there.¡± I looked down to check on Nuralie, but the loson was already bandaging her wounds, an empty potion bottle on the deck beside her. I glanced over the Littan galleons continuing to draw closer. There were at least three within striking distance and a dozen more closing in from farther out. ¡°Looks like the entire blockade is out to get us.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± the big guy said, dropping his hand and sheathing his sword. ¡°We should go, then. Unless you prefer that we destroy the entire blockade?¡±

    I appraised Varrin¡¯s expression, trying to decide if it was a serious question. I couldn¡¯t tell.

    ¡°We got shit to do. Yaretzi said there were more caravels like these, but crewed by Silvers. Plus, the longer we stick around the more likely someone tougher than a level 17 shows up.¡±

    ¡°What happened to that bastard?¡± Varrin asked.

    ¡°Slayer removed half of his skull and then I consumed his corpse,¡± Shog said, then held up his sword-wielding tentacle hands. ¡°Look! I have taken his appendages for my own!¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Good riddance.¡± He eyed Shog with some level of concern as the c¡¯thon continued to swipe Yaretzi¡¯s blades through the air.

    ¡°Want to train him?¡± I asked. The big guy¡¯s face went through a quick series of emotions from disgust to consideration and finally to curiosity.

    ¡°Perhaps¡­¡± he said.

    I clapped him on the shoulder.

    ¡°Awesome. But first, we must commandeer ourselves a vessel!¡±

    I cast Shortcut to the northern caravel, appearing amid seven deeply uncomfortable level 3 Littan Delvers, an unconscious Etja, and Grotto. The core gave everyone mean stares as he hovered over our mage.

    ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t pretend to understand what the fuck all just happened, but thanks for shooting at Yaretzi, I guess. You shot at us first, so really it¡¯s kind of a wash.¡±

    Varrin leaped onto the boat with Nuralie in his arms, landing heavily on the deck. Several of the Littans flinched. The small-ish vessel was getting crowded.

    ¡°We¡¯re heading to shore,¡± I continued. ¡°So, this is our boat now. If you don¡¯t like it, there¡¯s the door.¡± I pointed at the water. As I did so, a light red hand appeared on the railing and a very wet Xim crawled into the boat. She stood and glared at Varrin, then her body became cloaked in crimson flame. Steam rose off of her as she quickly dried.

    ¡°I need a movement ability,¡± she said.

    ¡°You¡¯re letting us go?¡± one of the Littans asked. It was the mage woman from the central caravel who¡¯d fled with Handless, who lay beside her. The guy was no longer unconscious but was obviously in a lot of pain. Varrin was already moving to get the boat underway heading east toward the shore.

    ¡°I never had any interest in fighting the Littan navy,¡± I said. ¡°We had blockade passes. Your leadership ignored them and tried to kidnap one of my party members. That led to a scuffle, and now we¡¯re here. Do what you want.¡±

    Two of the Littans immediately jumped ship and began swimming toward the closest galleon. The rest looked to the man I suspected was the ship¡¯s former captain, who stepped forward and cleared his throat.

    ¡°Where is Captain Yaretzi?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Dead.¡±

    ¡°The body?¡±

    I jerked my thumb at Shog, who had finished his sword acrobatics and was floating closer. There was a hungry glint in his eye.

    ¡°Eaten,¡± I said.

    Another Littan dove overboard, leaving us with four. The captain¡¯s eyes went wide at my words, but he stood firm.

    ¡°What Captain Yaretzi did,¡± the man said, ¡°and what he ordered us to do, was illegal. He lied to us about how these weapons functioned.¡± He nodded at the spike gun. ¡°No one knew that it would¡­ have such a large area of effect, and strike our fellow soldiers. Only one of us was foolish enough to fire an unfamiliar weapon while you were aboard the galleon.¡± He gave Handless a dark look.

    ¡°Cool,¡± I said, giving him a thumbs-up. ¡°I don¡¯t really care. Sounds like something to tell your admiral.¡± We were now cruising toward the shore at a decent kip.

    ¡°What I am saying is that the other vessels will not fire upon this caravel while there are Littan soldiers aboard.¡± A couple of the others shot the man angry glances but stayed silent.

    I rubbed my eyes to try and soothe an oncoming headache.

    ¡°We¡¯re not taking hostages,¡± I said. ¡°We just want to get to Eschendur. I doubt you¡¯d be welcome there.¡±

    ¡°You would still release us, then?¡± he asked. ¡°Even though you would be safer with us aboard?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to do. Honestly, I¡¯m confused about why you¡¯re still here.¡±

    The man nodded and then gave a signal to the others. Two more of the Littans jumped off, leaving the former captain, the mage, and Handless aboard. He knelt by the mage and the pair had a quick conversation in Imperial.

    The woman was concerned that they would be silenced before their report made it anywhere meaningful. The former captain tried to reassure her that the rest of the military wasn¡¯t made up of honorless vermin like Yaretzi and that they would be treated fairly. Eventually, she relented and made it into the water with Handless on her back.

    ¡°I will be sure to include your mercy in my report,¡± the former captain said. ¡°Along with your complaints about how your passage was handled.¡± He gave me a bitter smile, then jumped off to join the rest of his team.

    One of the galleons ended its pursuit to pick up the castaways. A few minutes later, the other vessels opened up with their forward cannons.

    The caravel was quick through the water and we had a decent lead. The ship was also a small target, sailing away from the larger ships that had more limited weaponry on their bows than their flanks. Most of the shots went wide and I stood on the stern with Gracorvus deployed, trying to intercept any that looked like they might land. It was an optimistic idea, since cannonballs move pretty fast. A few struck home, but the caravel limped along until we were close enough to make the rest of the way ourselves.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Etja regained consciousness and had recovered enough mana to zip herself to shore. Varrin sprinted across the sea with Xim on his back and Nuralie joined me on Gracorvus. Grotto clutched onto my shoulder while Shog was able to fly beside me with no trouble. The caravel sank soon after we left, and none of the cannons were able to hit us individually.

    As we drew close, the massive soul presence I¡¯d seen earlier dominated my vision until I had to reduce the sensitivity of soul-sight. While it emitted enormous pressure, similar to the pressure I felt from Orexis or Fortune, it wasn¡¯t hostile or oppressive. If anything it felt like a leviathan welcoming us into its home.

    A hundred yards from shore the Littan cannons went silent and I saw the person to whom the soul belonged. It was a Geulon woman in ocean blue robes with gold ornamentation. She was walking out onto the water with a glaive held in front of her, its point dragging across the sea. She raised a hand in greeting and Nuralie took in a sharp breath when she caught sight of her.

    ¡°Friend of yours?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Ros Zura.¡± Pause. ¡°She is the Zenithar of Geul.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so she¡¯s like the pope of your water god?¡±

    ¡°She is also one of the ruling Triarchs.¡±

    ¡°Pope and queen, eh? Well, she¡¯s got a soul that lives up to those titles.¡±

    We slowed as we drew close and she signaled for us to stop once we were within speaking distance. She continued to walk forward at a casual pace.

    ¡°What wonders this morning brings,¡± she said in a voice that sounded much older than she looked. I also noticed that she was using the halberd like a walking stick, its point dipping into the water and meeting some sort of resistance.

    ¡°Greetings, Zenithar Zura,¡± I said. ¡°I am Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel and this is my party, Fortune¡¯s Folly.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know who you are,¡± she said, walking right up to me. I lowered Gracorvus so that I was level with her, trying to give Nuralie room to stand beside me with some level of decorum.

    ¡°That looks uncomfortable,¡± said Zenithar Zura. ¡°Come down, the water will hold you.¡±

    I stepped off the shield, fighting my body¡¯s instinct to prepare for another dive, but the water was as firm as moist soil. Nuralie followed and I sent Gracorvus back into my armguard. Etja also landed nearby.

    ¡°Are the c¡¯thons in your party as well?¡± Zura asked. She appraised Shog and Grotto with olive green eyes that matched her scales, though she didn¡¯t look concerned.

    ¡°Bonded Familiar Grotto and Shog the Summoned,¡± I said, gesturing at each in turn.

    She paused and blinked. There was a stretch of silence where my normally talkative octos had nothing to say. Eventually, the Zenithar turned her eyes on Nuralie, who bowed deeply to the woman.

    ¡°Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a,¡± Zura said. ¡°I am happy Geul has seen you safely back to our waters.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Zenithar,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The journey was¡±¨CPause¨C¡°eventful.¡±

    ¡°I see that,¡± said Zura, looking past us at the still-approaching galleons. ¡°The Littans seem to have forgotten where our borders begin.¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t they been doing that for a while?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh, no,¡± said Zura. ¡°At least, not according to their maps. They mark Eschendur territorial seas at half of a nautical mile. They have stayed well outside that range throughout the blockade.¡±

    ¡°Half a mile doesn¡¯t seem like a lot,¡± I said, trying to remember the standard back on Earth. I was pretty sure it was a lot further than that. She raised an eyeridge at me.

    ¡°It is not,¡± she said. ¡°But we have had no reason to bicker over it.¡± She paused, though it was much shorter than Nuralie¡¯s typical beat. ¡°There are more important things in this life. Still, I cannot overlook such blatant encroachment.¡± She shook her head, and a look of grief crossed her features. ¡°Now then, children, step behind me if you would.¡± She flipped her halberd and stood straighter, then drove the butt of it into the water. A ripple flared out across the sea. As it made its way across the hulls of the Littan vessels, three more caravels were revealed, their illusions broken by whatever magic the Zenithar had just employed. They were each crewed by a team of level 8 Silvers.

    The nearest galleon slowed, and I saw a familiar face at its bow.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura,¡± said the Littan admiral, his voice once again augmented by Delver Sandy. ¡°The men and women beside you have committed grievous crimes under Imperial law. Please stand aside and allow us to take them into custody.¡±

    ¡°This guy¡¯s worse at diplomacy than I am,¡± I muttered.

    ¡°And a greater fool,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Has he not learned his lesson?¡±

    ¡°State their crimes, Admiral Richtin,¡± said Zura, her voice booming and suddenly sounding twenty years younger.

    ¡°Destruction of naval property, piracy, and murder,¡± the admiral replied. ¡°More charges will be forthcoming as well, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± said Zura. ¡°I have it on good authority that this team of Delvers was granted permission to pass through your blockade unimpeded.¡±

    The admiral frowned and exchanged a few whispers with Sandy. He turned back and straightened his uniform.

    ¡°Do you argue that this excuses their crimes?¡±

    ¡°Your blockade attempted to detain this group without cause,¡± said Zura. ¡°Fearing for their lives¨Cmost reasonably, I would say¨Cthey attempted to flee, but were given chase by your fleet. You sought to use lethal measures to complete your unlawful detainment, to which these men and women responded in kind. Do you deny this?¡±

    ¡°She¡­ knows a lot about what just happened,¡± I whispered to Nuralie.

    ¡°The Zenithars see much,¡± was her response.

    ¡°Their passes were issued in error,¡± said the admiral. ¡°Rather than submitting to inspection, their leader destroyed my vessel while his allies slaughtered good men and women.¡±

    ¡°Your characterization of events is delusive, admiral. I will not condemn these people on such specious grounds.¡±

    ¡°Then you intend to harbor enemies of the empire?¡±

    ¡°I intend to grant asylum to a group fleeing your barbarity.¡±

    The admiral flinched.

    ¡°If that is so, then I will have no choice but to send my soldiers to retrieve them.¡± The admiral made a gesture and the Silver caravels began sailing closer.

    ¡°Admiral,¡± said Zura, ¡°you should consider your actions more carefully. You are within Eschen territory, which is already a violation of our treaties. If you insist on deploying soldiers I will consider this an invasion.¡±

    ¡°This is no invasion, Zenithar. I am apprehending criminals who¡¯ve not yet set foot in your lands.¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯ve resorted to complete falsehoods, Admiral. We are within Eschen borders at this very moment. Recall your soldiers, or I will respond with force.¡±

    By this point there were at least fifteen Littan galleons spread out across the sea, along with the three Silver caravels that continued to sail toward us. There were no Eschen ships, nor were there any soldiers.

    The admiral had nothing else to say. Zura bowed her head, shaking it in disappointment.

    ¡°A fool¡¯s blade still cuts,¡± she said softly. ¡°And the fool is still to blame.¡±

    She raised her halberd into the air, spun it, and then drove the blade down into the ocean. This time, it did not stop at the surface but drove deep into the water. Another pulse rippled out from the impact, growing in intensity as it traveled away from us until it was a mighty wave that rocked the hulls of the galleons.

    Zura¡¯s soul shone with even greater intensity, then fell upon the halberd and traveled its length into the sea. The water shook and trembled beneath my feet causing me to adjust my footing. The effect also grew more intense the farther it got from us until the admiral fell and disappeared behind the railing of his ship. Even the Silver Delvers were unable to keep their balance, though a couple took to the air with flying abilities rather than struggle on deck.

    You have observed the Geul¡¯s Embrace spell!

    Geul¡¯s Embrace

    Deific

    Cost: 2000 mana

    Requirements: Zenithar of Geul

    Effects:

    All enemies that you can see within 1000 feet of a significant body of water are embraced by Geul. This effect may only occur within the borders of Eschendur.

    There was a heavy thud from below us and ice ran through my veins as I saw something vast rising from the deep. The ocean churned and a tendril nearly as thick as one of the Littan galleons burst from the sea and wrapped itself around the admiral¡¯s vessel. It constricted, destroying sails and shattering through the vessel¡¯s planks like toothpicks, then pulled the entire ship down into the ocean.

    The bright snaps of boards shattering filled the air and the resounding crash of massive waves heralded the arrival of another tentacle, yet the screams of the Littan soldiers could still be heard over the tumult. The titanic feeler wrapped around a second galleon, smashing through it like a sledgehammer across twigs. Two more tendrils rose and took the rest of the ship down into the drink.

    Across the entire fleet, the massacre repeated. Smaller tentacles assaulted the Delver caravels, wrenching them apart and seeking out their crews. Those that had taken to the air tried to fly away from the assault, but more limbs shot from the water and wrapped them up. The tendrils twisted and contorted the Delver¡¯s bodies until they were wrung into pieces, their blood and viscera splashing down into the water in streams and chunks.

    The billowing sea sent a surge of rocking tides toward us, but the waters settled and calmed before reaching the Zenithar. We all watched in quiet awe as the Littan blockade was swallowed up. It all happened in under a minute.

    By the end, the sea was an endless shipwreck save for a single galleon. The galleon that had stopped to pick up our castaways, and which had never sailed close enough to enter Eschen waters.

    The Zenithar stood unmoving for several minutes after the catastrophe ended and none of us dared to break the silence. Eventually, she turned to us, looking worn out and with tears in her eyes.

    ¡°Let us go then,¡± she said, ¡°and tell the other Triarchs what I have done.¡±

    She walked past us across the water, and we all followed without a word.

 106 - Cheer Up, You Got Levels!

    We walked across the surface of the sea behind the languid steps of Zenithar Zura, but the water formed a channel that swept us to the shore in under ten seconds. No one spoke, and as I set foot on the dark sand of the beach I looked back over my shoulder at the scene behind us.

    The waters that had so violently churned and frothed as battleship-wide tentacles rent the Littan vessels had calmed. The only evidence of the devastation was scattered planks, barrels, other broken ship parts, and destroyed cargo. There were no cries of pain or pleas for help, no voices to be heard at all. Not even a floating corpse to be seen, as though the crews had simply vanished like they had when I was taken to the Second Layer.

    I reflected on the experience, a bitter taste in the back of my throat rising. I¡¯d adjusted to the violence necessary for Delving with ease. Slaying monsters and beasts that attacked on sight was an easy moral choice. Even the part of me that wanted to respect the creatures that I hunted by making use of their bodies was satisfied when the Delves took in their mana and essence. What I¡¯d just witnessed, what I¡¯d just been a part of, wasn¡¯t the violence of Delving. It was the violence of war. I found it to be more¡­ difficult to process.

    For Yaretzi, I felt nothing. The absence of any emotion over killing the Littan bothered me more than the act of deleting half his brain had. The level 3s that I¡¯d slain weighed more heavily on me, especially after hearing what the surviving Littan Delvers had to say.

    I didn¡¯t regret my actions, but I found flaws in my justifications. I couldn¡¯t pretend that what I¡¯d done was virtuous. I doubted it had even been necessary. No. Those Littans had been a threat, a very minor threat, and I¡¯d eliminated it. Yaretzi had me down to the dregs of my HP by the time Varrin had shown up, so it was possible the level 3¡¯s could have swung the balance in his favor. It was also possible that they would have abandoned their leader much as the other Delvers had as soon as it was shown that the level 17 was no longer in total control of the situation. There may have been a way to avoid doing what I¡¯d done.

    If I were placed back in the situation, I¡¯d probably make the same choice. I wanted to make sure I understood where that line was in my head, though. At what point did I reclassify an aggressor from being as dangerous as an angry toddler¨Clike the mundane soldiers¨Cto being something dangerous enough to kill? I wasn¡¯t sure there was a good answer to that.

    Either way, the fates of those Delvers may have already been sealed. For me, though, killing a person minutes before their demise or decades before wasn¡¯t much of a difference. Everyone died at some point, and a person¡¯s temporal relationship to that universal law of mortality wasn¡¯t a valid way to reduce culpability. It was still murder. The fact that Zura decimated the whole fleet shortly afterward didn¡¯t change the equation for me.

    While I wanted to carefully consider how I made those types of life and death decisions, I ultimately let the emotion of the deaths roll away from me. At the end of the day, they had been enemy combatants trying to capture or kill my party, not misguided children in need of a scolding. They¡¯d made their choices. I¡¯d made mine. I didn¡¯t feel good about it, but I wasn¡¯t going to lose any sleep over it either.

    We walked across the beach and through the outskirts of the city of Geulangal. The town was Eschendur¡¯s largest port, but we never set foot inside its walls. The docks were empty of any people. Cargo ships bobbed in the water, unused and in varying states of disrepair. The buildings around were abandoned, the roads untraveled. It was a ghost town.

    While our silent caravan made its way past the city, I distracted myself by going through a wave of notifications I¡¯d been ignoring since my fight with Yaretzi had ended.

    Your party has slain Yaretzi of Seaward: Delver, Level 17!

    Your party receives no System-issued rewards for this victory.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 21!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to level 11!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to level 12!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to level 12!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to level 13!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to level 22!

    Your Shields skill has increased to level 21!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to level 12!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to level 13!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 2!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 3!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 4!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 5!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 6!

    You have defeated a Delver more than ten levels above your own. You have earned the This is Bullshit! achievement!

    This is Bullshit!: While your opponents blame exploits, unbalanced mechanics, or a laggy rural broadband connection, everyone else knows the truth: they sucked! How else could you have won? Skill? Please. You now inspire greater rage in your superior foes.

    Distraction attempts you make against enemies who do not perceive you as a significant threat are twice as effective.

    You have survived being targeted by a deific skill! You are granted +1 LCK!

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are granted +1 LCK!

    That was a lot of intrinsic skill levels. More than half of the amount I¡¯d gotten by training with Khigra for three months straight. I¡¯d never seen so many at once.

    The biggest jump was to Leadership, which was a skill I¡¯d picked up recently and hadn¡¯t focused on.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Leadership is your ability to effectively coordinate, organize, and inspire those around you, as well as determine who is best suited for any given task.

    Unlike other intrinsics, which listed concrete bonuses from leveling the base skill, Leadership¡¯s benefits were ambiguous, at best. There were, however, many examples of the skill providing escalating party buffs with its evolutions. That was right up my alley. It was no surprise that it advanced the most since skills under 10 were far easier to level, but it was still an enormous climb for one fight.

    The achievement was nice, although it didn¡¯t seem anywhere near as potent as some of my others. Time would tell whether it made much of a difference, but having more tools to antagonize dangerous foes and keep their attention away from the rest of the party was always welcome.

    As far as the buffs to Luck, it had been a while since I¡¯d seen my training ability come back into play. Luck was the only stat that I had left under 10, despite the party¡¯s best efforts at figuring out a way to level it that didn¡¯t place us in the path of omnipotent beings that could slaughter us with a glance. I was more than happy to get a couple of fresh points. The first point was from being targeted by Thunderdome. As for the second, I wasn¡¯t positive who or what the divine being was that noticed me. I suspected it might be Geul since the spell that Zura had used was called Geul¡¯s Embrace and she was essentially the deity¡¯s high priestess.

    Our walk past the city had the vibe of a funeral march and I was reluctant to be the first to break the silence, but my curiosity overrode whatever sense of decorum I possessed. I turned to Etja.

    ¡°Did you get a bunch of skill levels and a point to Luck?¡± I asked, keeping my voice low.

    ¡°I did!¡± Etja whisper-shouted. Her attempt at matching my volume failed pretty spectacularly. ¡°Everything I have went up by 1! My Dimensional Magic is at 20 now, but I haven¡¯t looked over the evolution options. I¡¯m glad something finally got me another point of Luck. I was really sick of playing cards.¡±

    ¡°I also received several skill levels,¡± said Nuralie, appearing beside us. ¡°The Luck as well.¡± Pause. ¡°I enjoyed the dice games, though.¡±

    ¡°My favorite was the arena,¡± I said. ¡°We all still have room to improve the stat, so we can keep gambling. Who knows? Maybe we just didn¡¯t gamble hard enough. As for the divinity that noticed us, do you think it was from Zura¡¯s spell? Geul herself looking down upon us?¡±

    Nuralie tilted her head in consideration.

    ¡°That is¡­ complicated,¡± she said.

    ¡°How so?¡±

    Her features tensed as she struggled over something internally, then looked at Zura¡¯s back for a long moment.

    ¡°We can speak on it another time,¡± she said. ¡°I think you are correct, more or less.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let me stymie any theological discussion,¡± Zura said from ahead of us, still looking forward. The butt of her halberd clinked against the stone road with every step. ¡°I¡¯m familiar with your story, Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a.¡±

    Nuralie tensed at the words, and Zura stopped and turned.

    ¡°Worry not,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°It¡¯s no business of mine to share your history, but if my presence is an impediment to your¡±¨CPause¨C¡°dialogue, then know that there is little you could say that I¡¯ve not heard before. Part of being a Zenithar is accepting that there are many ways for one to revel in the divine.¡±

    I looked between the two losons, somewhat lost.

    ¡°My thoughts on doctrine hold no weight,¡± Nuralie said. ¡°It is unimportant, Zenithar. Please, continue.¡± She gestured back at the road.

    ¡°No weight?¡± said Zura, looking surprised. ¡°Why would that be?¡±

    ¡°I hold no rank,¡± said Nuralie, as though she were stating the obvious.

    ¡°Ah,¡± said Zura. ¡°You mean that your thoughts hold no weight in an official capacity?¡± Nuralie nodded. ¡°I try to give weight to the opinions of all followers of the Eschenden,¡± Zura continued. ¡°If you would feel more comfortable speaking while holding a title, I am happy to appoint you as a Deacon.¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Nuralie hesitated. ¡°Right here?¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± said Zura. ¡°I may appoint you Deacon of any of the three churches in my capacity as Zenithar. If you wished for something more advanced from Deijin or Hyrach you would need someone else, though.¡± She shrugged.

    ¡°A Deacon must have a revelation,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°You have one, do you not?¡±

    ¡°It is¡±¨CPause¨C¡°incomplete.¡±

    Zura considered.

    ¡°You received insight into a truth of the world, correct?¡±

    ¡°There were many who did not believe so.¡±

    ¡°It is not a matter of believing,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°I sense your revelation as clearly as I sense his.¡± She gestured at me. ¡°Or hers.¡± She gestured at Xim. ¡°No one in the Church can doubt that you have one. If they refuse to heed the wisdom you have been granted, that is their own folly to grapple with.¡±

    ¡°But there is no manifestation,¡± said Nuralie. A bit of frustration was creeping into her voice, which was a rare thing for the loson. ¡°I cannot use what has been given to me.¡±

    ¡°Receiving a gift and knowing what to do with it are different things,¡± said Zura. ¡°With every passing year, I find new understanding in my own revelations. They are not static things, to be mastered and wielded. They breathe and change as you and I do. A revelator who claims to fully understand their gift is farther from the path than one who has received no insight at all.¡±

    The Zenithar watched Nuralie process her guidance. The conversation was also generating a few questions of my own, but I didn¡¯t want to interrupt.

    ¡°Even if I wished to become a Deacon,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°because of my revelation, I cannot choose a church.¡±

    The Zenithar paused and blinked.

    ¡°What an odd way to phrase that,¡± she said. ¡°Not that you have trouble choosing, but that you cannot. I spoke with your village priest after you became stranded in Hiward and he told me a little about the revelation you received. I do not doubt that his heart was in the right place, but I think that his explanation may have been¡­ biased. I would love to hear how you would describe it.¡±

    Nuralie shifted uncomfortably but didn¡¯t speak.

    ¡°We can talk privately later if you wish,¡± said Zura. ¡°Or not at all, if that is what you desire. If you do not accept a position as Deacon, however, it will be more difficult for your allies to traverse Eschendur. You know that outsiders may not wander without escort, and escorts must be ordained. Any escort that would be provided to you would be less¡±¨CPause¨C¡°understanding of the tasks you wish to undertake.¡±

    ¡°How much do you know about why we¡¯re here?¡± I asked. ¡°Because it feels like a lot.¡±

    ¡°My insight is vast and mysterious, aided by the gods themselves!¡± said Zura, raising her arms to the sky dramatically. She looked me over, then gave me a wink. ¡°Umi-Doo sent me a missive,¡± she said, dropping her arms, halberd thudding into the ground.

    ¡°Oh, that makes sense,¡± I said.

    ¡°I thought I might receive special dispensation,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°To serve as their escort.¡±

    ¡°That is a messy solution,¡± said Zura. ¡°Special dispensation carries with it many restrictions. You would need to submit a specific itinerary detailing where you will be traveling and why. Do you wish to have your every move scrutinized and documented?¡±

    ¡°That is¡­ not ideal.¡±

    Zura took a deep breath and let out the longest sigh I¡¯d ever seen anyone give.

    ¡°There is one title that I might grant for your circumstance,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°It is a neutral position, unaffiliated with any one of the churches, and carries with it more rights and privileges than an ordinary Deacon. It is normally reserved for times of crisis and handed out only to those of significant skill and personal power. A third-stage revelator has been the requirement in the past, but that is not a strict prerequisite.

    ¡°It would appear to me that we are in a time of crisis,¡± Zura continued. ¡°Littans encroach on our borders and, if what you have told Umi-Doo is true, powerful beings will soon threaten all of creation, Eschendur included. As for the second requirement, while you may not be a third-stage revelator, that guidance was written before the Creation Delve was discovered. I expect you would fare well in a contest against one in the third stage using your strength as a Delver alone.¡±

    ¡°What is the title?¡± asked Nuralie. Zura leaned in slightly, and the two of them paused in unison before she answered.

    ¡°Inquisitor.¡±

 107 - Ownership

    ¡°The Inquisitor serves an important role during difficult times,¡± said Zura. She turned and motioned for us to follow behind her as she continued down the road. ¡°It is important for Eschendur to present a united front in the face of major threats. While our triumvirate is effective at balanced governance during peaceful times, our forebears acknowledged that such a three-pronged structure was less nimble than monarchies or empires, which possess a more vertical chain of authority.¡±

    As we walked, the road curved away from the edge of wild swampland, ruled by trees with corded trunks and thick canopies set over murky water. Zura continued straight, however, and we quickly walked off of the road and began plodding through tall grass, my boots sinking into the wet soil below.

    ¡°The Inquisitor is empowered with the authority of both priest and judge,¡± Zura continued as we grew closer to the tree line. ¡°When there is a disagreement between authorities from different churches in regard to how to respond to the crisis, the Inquisitor¨Cin their role as a neutral party¨Cserves as an arbitrator to settle the matter. Oftentimes, the Inquisitor is invited to make the decision themselves in the first instance.¡±

    By this point, Xim and I were struggling a bit through the muck as we passed under the shade of the first big tree. Highly saturated mud seemed to count as water for Varrin since he walked across the surface without issue. Nuralie and Zura also had little difficulty, neither of whom were currently wearing boots and whose Geulon feet were well adapted for the terrain. Etja was engaging in gravity hijinks, while Shog and Grotto, of course, floated.

    Zura paused and glanced back at us with a single green eye. She waved a hand, and the next step I took felt like it landed on solid ground.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said as Xim and I stepped up out of the knee-high sludge. I gave the cleric an empathetic look since her boots were now likely as full of goop as my own. She shrugged, took her boots off and put them into her inventory, then kept going barefoot.

    I saw no reason to trudge through a swamp in full kit, so I followed suit, then also removed my steel breastplate and began working on my other bits of armor. The gear was heavy enough to be annoying over long walks, and if something or someone attacked¡­ well, Zura was basically a walking nuclear deterrent. The Zenithar continued on and soon enough the road was no longer visible behind us, the midmorning sun disappearing behind the leaves and fronds overhead.

    ¡°The Inquisitor may enforce the law and investigate crimes at their discretion,¡± said Zura. ¡°They may also act as powerful soldiers during war, and serve as the point of first contact for basic diplomatic matters.¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a pretty broad set of responsibilities,¡± I said.

    ¡°Responsibilities and privileges,¡± Zura corrected.

    ¡°I am not experienced in¡­ most of that,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Humble is the sea with gentle waves until the storm rolls in,¡± said Zura. ¡°Do not underestimate yourself, Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a. As I said before, I have familiarized myself with your background. There is a reason that you were chosen to represent Eschendur at the Creation Delve. One of only four candidates that year. The candidate who was selected from the wilds as the neutral representative.¡± She gave Nuralie a meaningful look. ¡°Unlike Eschens who were raised in the more populous Dioceses, you were trained in all three aspects of the faith in equal measure. You excelled in your youth, your first revelation attained at a remarkably young age. Since then, you have not only adapted to life in a foreign nation but flourished with your party while advancing at an unprecedented rate.

    ¡°I do not yet know you well personally, but on vellum, you are well-rounded and gifted academically in both secular matters and subjects of faith. More so than many priests I have known. Your ability to navigate the difficulties you have faced evidences good decision-making skills and character, which are essential for a judge or investigator. Your combat prowess is hardly under question. You just broke through an entire naval blockade with only four allies! As for diplomacy¡±¨CPause¨C¡°there are few Eschens who are as well-traveled. Even fewer who surround themselves with such diverse friends and allies. I expect you would do better than you might think.¡±

    ¡°I am honored by your words, Zenithar,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But I do not think I would be able to¡±¨CPause¨C¡°fulfill those functions while we carry out our mission.¡±

    ¡°I did not expect you to take up residence at a local parish and guide the faithful had you accepted the title of Deacon,¡± said Zura. ¡°This is a means to an end. You would possess the authority, but your obligation to use that authority would be limited to any situations you encounter during your journey. Even then, your involvement may be brief and discrete.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Nuralie, sounding unconvinced.

    ¡°Think deeply upon the matter,¡± said Zura. ¡°We have a short walk ahead of us.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going, exactly?¡± I asked. I felt like we¡¯d been swept up into the Zenithar¡¯s wake without much input or explanation.

    ¡°Eschengal,¡± she said.

    ¡°The capital?¡± I asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t that 600 miles inland?¡±

    Zura nodded.

    ¡°That sounds right.¡±

    I considered our current speed over the very wet and very overgrown terrain. Even if we walked 16 hours a day it would take us more than a week to make that distance.

    ¡°Erm,¡± I began.

    ¡°Is my geriatric pace too slow for you?¡± she said, turning to give me a roguish smile.

    While it was true that I would have preferred that we moved with more urgency, the reality was that the Zenithar would save us a lot of time dealing with the politics of our mission. Getting permission for Nuralie to serve as our escort was a matter that I expected to take days or weeks at minimum, and there had always been the chance that the authorities would want to saddle us with a more traditional babysitter. The kind that might insist on specific routes or modes of travel that would add a lot of time to our journey. The Zenithar was ready to hand Nuralie a title that would solve that problem immediately. If the cost was burning a week on a casual stroll through the swamp, then that was a small price to pay.

    ¡°I¡¯m more than happy to move at a pace that you¡¯re comfortable with,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh?¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, then I¡¯ll get more comfortable.¡±

    Zura raised her halberd and balanced the shaft against her shoulder, adjusted her footing, and then sprinted off ahead of us with the speed of a horse at full gallop. I watched her disappear as she effortlessly vaulted over a massive tree root rising out of the water.

    Nuralie was behind her in less than a second.

    ¡°I like this Zenithar,¡± said Varrin before sprinting after her.

    ¡°We could have walked, Arlo,¡± said Xim as she began jogging up to speed. ¡°When¡¯s the last time we walked anywhere?¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Etja just smiled and followed, while Shog flew forward, cutting vines and limbs out of his path with his new blades. I felt Grotto settle onto my shoulder.

    [I will allow you to carry me.]

    [I feel honored,] I thought back to the core, then began rushing to catch up.

    *****

    We ran until nightfall, and then we ran some more. By the time Zura called us to a stop to make camp we¡¯d covered half the distance to the capital. Despite how absurdly fast that was as a group moving on foot, for Varrin it was about as quick as a swift walk, and equally demanding. His stamina never dropped a point, which allowed his Deep Breaths ability to grant everyone else a buff to their stamina regen if they got low.

    When that wasn¡¯t enough, Xim could fully refresh her stamina with an occasional self-heal from her Double Recovery evolution, and Etja could burn mana to fly while her stamina recovered. Nuralie got so many movement buffs from being in the dark and shady swamp environment that the journey through her home terrain was probably less taxing for her than it was for Varrin. My personal stamina regen was so high that I could move at my full speed forever without issue.

    That all sounded great, but sprinting for twelve hours was still obnoxious. It was also something that we¡¯d done as a party several times before. After all, why ride horses when we were faster without them?

    The Zenithar looked very pleased with herself afterward and hadn¡¯t so much as shed a single drop of sweat. Her robes were also impeccably clean, while the rest of us were soaking wet, covered in mud, and had enough random plants stuck in our hair to start a small botanical garden. My beard was riddled with an assortment of thorny burs that I had no memory of acquiring, and as I painstakingly plucked them out the Zenithar made a 20-foot vertical leap into the canopy with all the effort of a cat hopping onto a low stool. I began to suspect she¡¯d been taking it easy on us.

    We made camp in the trees since only two of our number found the idea of bedding down while half-submerged in cloudy swamp juice appealing. While I had the option of retiring in my lavishly appointed Pocket Closet penthouse, I thought that immersing myself in the local culture would prove valuable. If nothing else, the slow rhythm of the chirping insects, the gentle croaking of the frogs, and the violent shrieks of the unseen nocturnal predators made for a soothing lullaby.

    Before we all snuggled up into damp bedrolls on the stone-soft bark of the massive tree we were in, however, I decided to run a few questions by the Zenithar. She was happy to indulge me.

    ¡°Earlier, when you were talking about revelations,¡± I said, ¡°you mentioned that they were the types of things that change with you.¡±

    ¡°They are very personal in nature,¡± she replied. ¡°The archivists try to place them into broad categories, but no two are truly the same. Some change so much throughout a revelator¡¯s life that they have to be reclassified.¡±

    ¡°Is it the revelator changing the revelation, or is the revelation what changes the revelator?¡±

    ¡°A good question. One I wish I heard more often.¡± Pause. ¡°I believe it is both. A revelation is a profound experience. It is difficult not to be changed by one. However, once the insight is received, it is up to the revelator to decide how to use it, which can influence the nature of the revelation. Then, their use of the revelation again changes them. It¡¯s a continuous dialogue. Personality, temperament, morality, even environment are all factors that can shape the revelation¡¯s manifestation.¡±

    ¡°When you say ¡®manifestation¡¯, do you mean the ability that a revelation grants?¡±

    ¡°If that word is convenient for you, then yes. I say manifestation because it is how your revelation manifests in the world for yourself or others.¡±

    I leaned back against the tree trunk, looking out into the dark swamp and spotting a large, six-legged salamander creature wriggling through the mud in the distance. The thing was probably twelve feet long.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible for a person to make a revelation ¡®their own¡¯?¡± I asked.

    She frowned and scratched at her cheek with a pointed nail.

    ¡°I think that depends on what you mean when you say ¡®their own¡¯,¡± she said. ¡°But it sounds like those aren¡¯t your words.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°I have an item, an amulet. When I got it, it did nothing, but it promised to unlock an effect when I finished my Creation Delve. When that happened, it gave me something called Soul-Sight.¡±

    A hint of a smile crossed Zura¡¯s lips, but she didn¡¯t say anything, so I continued.

    ¡°Now it says that I need to ¡®make Soul-Sight my own¡¯ to unlock the next effect. As it turns out, Soul-Sight is part of the first revelation I received. Now I can use Soul-Sight without needing the amulet. However, even though I have the revelation, the amulet¡¯s next effect hasn¡¯t unlocked.¡±

    Zura nodded and motioned for me to continue.

    ¡°My revelations are from Sam¡¯lia,¡± I said, ¡°and I actually got to have a chat with her.¡± Zura¡¯s eye ridges rose at that. ¡°She said that the task is impossible because you can¡¯t ¡®own¡¯ a revelation, that the power flows through you like the air we breathe or the water we drink. It¡¯s borrowed power.¡±

    Zura chuckled.

    ¡°I am struck by that simile,¡± she said. ¡°Perhaps the next time I piss, one of my revelations will flow out with that morning¡¯s tea.¡± She lost herself in a brief fit of laughter, though she struggled to stay quiet. I was caught off guard by the Zenithar¡¯s appreciation for the fine art of middle-school bathroom humor.

    ¡°I may be misquoting her,¡± I said, smiling as her mood infected me. Eventually, the Zenithar calmed down and she patted me on the shoulder.

    ¡°I hold great respect for the Goddess of the Third Layer.¡± She locked eyes with me. ¡°But, she is, by her nature, a deity of the present moment. Her nature is one of thought, dream, and I would argue emotion. These are very immediate concepts. Vengeance is her most forward-looking aspect, but not one that I would say is strong on contemplation of the future.¡±

    ¡°What about thought, though? You can think about the future.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but you can only think in the present. I will not attempt to codify the behavior of deities by any firm rules, but that is my impression of Sam¡¯lia, based on all the tales that I know and all of my discussions with her followers. She is a wonderful protector, a terrible foe, and quite easy to talk to, I hear.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but why is thinking about the future important? In this context, I mean. Obviously thinking about the future is quite important. Sometimes I think it¡¯s too important.¡±

    ¡°That resonates,¡± Zura said. ¡°As for the future, Sam¡¯lia hears ¡®make Soul-Sight your own¡¯, and considers it in the moment. Soul-Sight cannot be yours, right now, right here, because it is constantly flowing through you, to use her words. But that phrase, I do not believe it is meant to say that you must ¡®own¡¯ Soul-Sight to make it your own. Perhaps the phrase invites you to take ownership of the revelation not in a literal sense, but in a personal sense.

    ¡°Take this swamp, for instance,¡± she continued. ¡°One does not need to ¡®own¡¯ the swamp to make the swamp ¡®their own¡¯. Someone who has made the swamp their own is someone who thrives in the swamp, and who thrives there for reasons that are unique or personal to them, not someone who can exclude others from the swamp, or isolate a piece of it.¡±

    I glanced over to Nuralie, who was buried under no less than six cat-sized frogs. None of them were frogs she¡¯d had when we¡¯d woken up that morning.

    ¡°To make something your own, you must first become familiar with it, you must consider your experience with it, and then you must commit to it. It requires thinking deeply about both the past and the future to develop a certain mindset, and then applying that mindset to the present.¡±

    I found Zura¡¯s logic about past, present, and future and how those related to Sam¡¯lia questionable, but I liked where she was going otherwise.

    ¡°Which takes us back to your words from earlier,¡± I said. ¡°If a revelation changes and grows with the revelator, then a revelator can focus on guiding that growth in a direction they like. And maybe, by guiding that growth in a personalized direction, they might make that revelation their own.¡±

    ¡°It helps if it is a direction that makes sense for the revelation,¡± she said. ¡°A revelation of sight is unlikely to grow in a direction that allows you to fly.¡±

    ¡°Unless, through my powers of observation, I learn how to fly.¡±

    She swatted my chest with the back of her hand.

    ¡°You may take your sophistry to your bedroll now,¡± she said.

    I grinned and bid her goodnight. As I climbed back toward my uninviting bed, I thought about how easy Zura was to talk to. It was like hanging out with somebody''s laid-back grandma, not a theocratic pope-queen head of state.

    You¡¯d also never suspect that she¡¯d massacred more than a thousand people earlier that day.

 108 - On Revelations

    The bark and gnarls of the enormous tree branch weren¡¯t painful to lie on, but they were definitely uncomfortable. I¡¯d discovered long ago that my best bet in such a situation was to set my mind on auto-pilot and allow it to ruminate until the world fell away in the middle of my thoughts. I turned away from my physical experience and focused on the cerebral, contemplating Zura¡¯s guidance and the nature of my revelations while I struggled to fall asleep.

    While I¡¯m sure theologians and experts would argue for greater nuance, in my mind revelations broke down into two parts. The first was the information or ¡®truth¡¯ that the revelation granted. The second was the ability, or ¡®manifestation¡¯ that you gained from it.

    It had taken me a while to decide when it was that I¡¯d truly gained my first revelation, the Eye¡¯s Sight. I¡¯d eventually concluded that it was while I was Third Layer walking leading up to the Calvani Caverns and The Cage hidden within. The Eye itself had gazed deeply into my soul and exposed all of the actions I had taken as a conscious being, from those that brought me pride to those that I so profoundly regretted that I had forced myself to seek out help and change.

    The revelation did not deal with the greater world around me. It was internal. The Eye embraced me despite my flaws, forgiving my transgressions and heralding my achievements. It shared that perception, allowing me to view myself and my life from an external point of view. An experience that I was sure few people would ever receive. Ultimately, it led to a deep sense of self-acceptance and had gone a long way toward building a stable psychological foundation for me to begin my life anew in Arzia. It¡¯s hard to feel secure when your existence is beset by turmoil both external and internal, after all.

    It was the closest thing I¡¯d ever had to a religious experience and, even so, I still considered it more akin to a sudden shift in my philosophy of self. Nothing about it made me want to commit myself to a ¡®higher¡¯ being or worship anyone or anything. I viewed Sam¡¯lia as an ally¨Cespecially after our talk¨Cbut I didn¡¯t see her as intrinsically superior, just vastly more powerful. Should she require any sort of offering or devotion, then my respect would have to do. It seemed like she was fine with that.

    The manifestation¡¯s relationship to that insight was not obvious. I had excellent darkvision. I could see the souls of others, which allowed me to glean knowledge about their nature and past in addition to their strength. It made it easier for me to pierce illusions and find entities hidden through stealth. It was external, but I began to wonder if my characterization of the insight was flawed. The Eye had seen me at the deepest levels, then shared with me what it saw. The raw knowledge I¡¯d gained had been about my inner self, but See¡¯s manifestation emulated what the Eye had done. The first step was to See the person or thing in front of me. The next step was to Reveal.

    My second revelation, the Eye¡¯s Reveal, began to take root during the Layer walk as well. I¡¯d been able to connect to the souls of my allies and had shared my perception of the Third Layer, allowing them to escape manifestations of the inner demons that tormented them. That had been accomplished with a lot of help from the Eye and from the Xor¡¯Drels as well, with whom I had gained a level of soul connection through the blood ritual that made me part of their tribe. My experience with Grotto and our Shared Fate trait had also helped. I was certain that the connection with my Bonded Familiar involved an intertwining of our souls. On some level, at least.

    I fully realized the revelation during our fight with the Specter of Orexis. I began not only to see souls but to feel them on a more profound level. While extraordinary individuals had been what first exposed me to sensations evoked by souls that went beyond the visual, after my experience with the specter I became much more sensitive to the pressure emitted by nearby souls, be they strong or weak.

    The truth that I¡¯d received was ongoing, everpresent. It was a deeper understanding of the individuals that passed through my life, a keen vision of what their inner world might look like. The ability went hand-in-hand with that knowledge. I could interact with that world, enter it, and share my own world with it.

    These were the basics. They were the fundamentals of the revelations that matched the teachings of the tribe. There was one more step in the sequence, Embrace, but the powers that it granted made me question whether or not I even desired it¨Cthe ability to forcefully alter reality for a target, to create a domain that I ruled as sovereign and sucked people into. It was very¡­ tyrannical. Perhaps it could also be used to create something wondrous and personal to the individual I affected. Maybe it could provide someone with solace or healing, but with my lifestyle, I doubted that would be how I primarily used it. I didn¡¯t feel great about my chances at therapizing mana monsters and psychopaths back to a healthy mental attitude amid their attempts to murder me. I had no idea what insight the revelation would grant, but it was something that also frightened me to some degree.

    Then again, it sure would be handy to have a mind-melting hellscape to afflict my enemies with at the drop of a hat. I was already working on that with the Pocket Delve, though, but having two mind-melting hellscapes would be twice as good, right? I did love having options.

    Anyway, there was nothing that said I must reach the Embrace stage to gain greater control, or even mastery over, my first two revelations. Each was required to attain the next in turn, but each was still its own unique revelation that could fully function without the subsequent step. The next step was helpful for understanding the prior revelation. I¡¯d learned that much from the context that Reveal had granted when I contemplated the nature of See. However, it wasn¡¯t necessary.

    So, I began to consider how I might evolve the revelations, to shape their manifestations in bespoke ways. I leaned on my understanding of restrictions and how such things generally functioned at their best when they revolved around a dominant character trait that I possessed.

    There was already something rather histrionic about Reveal. It made people see the world as I saw it. I didn¡¯t think that I could get someone to think any harder about me if I tried. Reveal was also the second revelation, and I was an orderly man who enjoyed doing things in sequence. I took a step back to consider See.

    See did a lot less in the way of demanding the attention of others. I could use the ability without anyone even realizing that I was doing so. It gave me information, pure and simple. It was information that I could use to inspire drama or draw attention, but at that point I wasn¡¯t really using the ability, just engendering strong emotional responses with my words and actions. Perhaps I could develop a paralyzing gaze, or a killing sight, like a fantasy ninjutsu master. Maybe I could make someone feel my eyes on them, overwhelming them with my mighty presence. I still thought that I would likely lean on Reveal to get any of that done, so I filed that idea away for later.

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Of course, melodrama and light narcissism weren¡¯t my only notable characteristics, but they damn sure synergized well with my abilities. Also effective was my tendency to be overly analytic. I endeavored, always, to predict outcomes based on past experience and my understanding of the situation in front of me. It had helped countless times in combat and had been invaluable when navigating my post-death life.

    I enjoyed looking at problems from as many perspectives as possible. This extended to arguments and emotional positions, even those that were problematic. While many might find it unpleasant to consider the underlying motivations of toxic individuals and attitudes, I found the mental exercise exceptionally rewarding. Understanding was the first step in countering nefarious, darkly appealing paradigms. I could strike at the emotional and logical heart of things I found abhorrent. Understanding them so well that I could effectively advocate for them was just part of my process.

    This had caused me to be accused on more than one occasion of supporting ideas that I in no way agreed with, simply because I was able to explain¨Cwith ideologically devastating appeal¨Cthe logic behind said ideas. Of course, my tendency to wax poetic without realizing that I appeared to be aggressively challenging someone¡¯s existing beliefs oftentimes led to the misunderstanding that I was genuinely in favor of the ideas that I¡¯d proposed. Without clearly presenting my Devil¡¯s advocate badge beforehand, it was probably a reasonable assumption for someone to make. Those were learning moments. Terrible, socially-damaging learning moments.

    Useful, though!

    Trying to apply the concept of analysis to See was much easier than trying to apply (fun) egocentrism. There were a whole host of ideas that came along with that. Seeing abilities, seeing stats or resistances, seeing the past or future, then using that information to make better tactical decisions. Maybe some sort of synthesis that automatically provided a potential strategy. However, I needed to focus on something that played to my strengths and, more importantly, my passions.

    Abilities, stats, and resistances were something I could figure out on my own. They were fun puzzles to solve, so I had no real desire to have a revelation do the heavy lifting there. I also had no desire to see the future, both for all the problems it would cause and also for how boring that would make things. Boredom was enemy number 1, and there was no easier way to break me. The past was interesting, but I had never been big on history. Don¡¯t get me wrong, a firm grasp of history was informative, enlightening, and crucially important, but I had no love for it.

    Instead, I considered what might have helped me recently, and what would give me an advantage right now. I needed something that would maintain utility into the future, but that wasn¡¯t an exercise in delayed gratification. If our plans proceeded smoothly, I expected to be facing down a Delve that had crushed prodigies in the very near future. If it kept me alive, then power now was a better investment than power later. The Delve wasn¡¯t the only difficulty ahead, though.

    While I was focused on the Delve, I was also focused on the journey. There were powerful individuals who could stand between the party and our objective. Being able to persuade them to allow us to proceed might be a prerequisite to stepping foot inside the Delve in the first place. The Littan blockade was only one example, and while we¡¯d bypassed it, that victory wasn¡¯t an easy one after Yaretzi had gotten involved. Had I better understood the admiral¡¯s motivations, had I been able to convince him of the truth of how outclassed he was, he may have stood down. That would have saved us a lot of grief, and the admiral a lot of Littan lives¨Chis own among them. I didn¡¯t doubt that other Littans might appear in our path, and there was no guarantee the other Zenithars would be as amiable as Zura.

    Perhaps there was a way for me to See more deeply into the reasoning behind someone¡¯s actions or demands in real-time. Some power of observation into the soul that provided context that I could use to my advantage. It was also possible that I could subtly deploy Reveal to signal the honesty of my own statements; a way to touch lightly on the soul and send the resonance of my veracity into them without invading or wholly entering their inner realm. I could give someone a gentle tap on the soul¡¯s shoulder, rather than a warm and awkwardly long, full body-contact hug.

    I also had some clues as to how that second part might be accomplished. Yaretzi¡¯s evil-monologue ability, Intimacy, had granted him stacks of Blessed for revealing secrets to others. The bonus he received was based on how vulnerable the information made him and how much the knowledge changed the target¡¯s perception of him. However, who was to say that his target wouldn¡¯t think he was just a liar liar pants on fire?

    While I hadn¡¯t realized it then, I hadn¡¯t really questioned whether either of Yaretzi¡¯s statements while using the ability was true or not. I knew that what he was saying was true, even if it seemed absurd. This was especially evident when he claimed to donate half his salary to a wounded children¡¯s fund. I knew that was true, even though it was diametrically opposed to who I believed Yaretzi to be.

    Maybe it was somehow nefarious, or he actually had some genuine concern for the kids that the fund helped, but I expected he made the donations for the sole purpose of using it as a trump card with his ability. Telling his foe about more of the awful shit he¡¯d done wouldn¡¯t change their opinion much. Once their opinion of the Littan couldn¡¯t go any lower, he hit them with the ultimate move of ¡°I selflessly help kids in need!¡± There¡¯s no way I would have believed that under normal circumstances, and I didn¡¯t see how it would have made him vulnerable.

    Either way, thinking deeply about the experience allowed me to glean some familiarity with how the ability had worked. It was a Divine spell, but Divine magic could manifest in ways that acted like any other school of magic to a limited degree. The ability touched on the soul like a Spiritual skill. Spiritual wasn¡¯t a school that I had access to with my Dimensional attunement, but my Reveal ability was a god-given cheat that provided me with Spiritual capabilities regardless. It wouldn¡¯t be easy, like reconstructing an entire person from the feel of their hand brushing against your back, but it was somewhere to start.

    This gave me some model on which to build my capacity as a truthsayer, but I wasn¡¯t sure about how to become a truthseer. My half-awake mind chuckled internally as I realized that my attempt at designing an analytic ability for the See ability had somehow resulted in understanding how I might develop one for Reveal instead, but that was par for the course. I was an orderly man who enjoyed doing things in sequence¡­ until I didn¡¯t.

    Rather than feel irritated at the circuitous route my mind liked to take through contemplative topics, I instead channeled my inner Grotto and affirmed that, when I chose to follow a different sequence, it was only because it was obviously the superior choice. My incredible intellect intuitively understood the best path to the knowledge I sought, which was a natural talent that I¡¯d cultivated with countless hours of fruitful daydreams.

    Daydreams that finally turned into regular dreams. I drifted off to sleep, transforming into a flailing octopus bent on world-spanning domination.

 109 - Grotto Safari

    The next morning I awoke to an unfamiliar tingle in my senses; the senses with designated values above five, that is. The extra ones. I sensed some weird soul shit is what I¡¯m saying.

    Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I noted was not the source of the soul ping I was getting. Instead, it was Grotto staring at me from a distance that I would describe as close, but not intimate.

    [Were you watching me sleep again?] I thought to him.

    [I have been waiting for you to awaken while providing you with the six feet of personal space that you¡¯d previously requested.]

    [Still weird.] I stretched and hopped out of the bedroll, then dismissed my sparse camping gear into my inventory. [Any reason you were so eagerly anticipating my resurrection?]

    Grotto rubbed his feelers together.

    [I do not know what to do with myself out here.]

    [Out here? You mean, outside of the Closet?]

    [Correct. All of my mana-weaving supplies and projects are inside the Pocket Delve. Once you and your fellow organics began to slumber I had little to occupy my time.]

    [Okay, no problem. I¡¯ll open the portal. Feel free to wake me for something like that. Then again, I might be able to figure out a way for you to open the Closet yourself at this point, but it¡¯d take some testing.]

    [I would prefer not to return to the Closet at this moment.]

    I¡¯d already started focusing on the portal but dropped my concentration in surprise.

    [You what?]

    [Our subordinates have endured my absence for too long. It would be a disservice to continue denying them the advantage of my presence.]

    I ran that through my Grotto translation filter.

    [Sure, you¡¯re always welcome to hang out.]

    [I am aware. However, I have nothing to do.]

    [Are you asking me what you should be doing?]

    [It has been my experience that entities with fleeting lifespans tend to engage in continuous activity regardless of their physical surroundings. I believe this serves a dual function of both improving their personal utility while also distracting them from the everpresent march of time that will inevitably bring about their demise. You are an exemplary model for this behavior.]

    I crossed my arms and waited to hear a question.

    [While I could continue my efforts with mana weaving, it is an unwieldy practice for our current level of mobility and too delicate to risk in such a humid environment. Since the party benefits from my guidance which, in turn, is enhanced by the immediacy of my physical presence, I require other projects that I might engage in outside of the Pocket Delve.]

    [And you can¡¯t think of a single thing to do outside of the Delve? No, never mind. That makes a lot of sense. More than 99% of your life has been spent inside of Delves doing things for Delves.]

    I took a quick look around the camp and found the surrounding branches empty of bedrolls and other effects. Peeking through the canopy above, I could see that the sky held the first tinges of sunlight, though dawn had yet to fully break. I quickly located my allies down in the swamp, already awake and each doing their own thing. I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I was the late riser.

    [Let¡¯s go observe and see if we can find you a hobby, then.] I hopped down off of the branch, letting Gracorvus slow my fall so I didn¡¯t splash down and make a racket. Despite everyone getting a head start on the day, the camp was nearly silent.

    [I do not believe in hobbies,] Grotto thought to me as we floated toward Varrin. [Activities should be fruitful pursuits that provide measurable progress toward desired goals and outcomes.]

    I paused a dozen feet away and watched the big guy, who sat on his knees in a meditative pose, eyes shut. He occupied a rare patch of grass and earth that was more solid than mud, with Kazandak laid out before him. This alone wasn¡¯t unusual. Varrin had done some version of the ritual each morning since his chat with the Ravvenblaq Patriarch about communing with his blade. What was unusual was that he was the source of the weird soul itch I¡¯d felt.

    Over the last year and a half, I''d come to be very familiar with the souls of my party members. Varrin¡¯s soul was exceptionally stable and controlled. Steady and unyielding, the soul felt like it had a great weight to it, even when he went a bit berserk.

    At the moment, however, his soul was a touch more erratic. Small sections along the edge would flare a few centimeters or a current in the flow around him would deviate. It was subtle and nowhere near the level of weird that the mimic had given off when it had tried to copy his soul presence. That had still been a pretty good facsimile overall, but what I was presently seeing was minuscule, comparatively.

    [Here, we observe a wild Ravvenblaq engaged in a curious type of¡­ soul training?]

    [He is napping in front of his sword.]

    I looked over my Bonded Familiar¡¯s soul, which looked like oil in water. It was always in motion, moving in many directions, but not with any haste. Beneath the rich platinum of the Delver levels I shared with him, his base soul was a dark green, although it had grown somewhat lighter as we¡¯d spent time bonded. My own base layer was closer to an emerald color that matched my eyes, and I suspected that our connection was causing Grotto¡¯s soul to gradually shift in the direction of my own.

    [Potential hobby number one: you could focus on our soul connection and try to figure out how we can make better use of it.]

    [I have crafted a suite of analytic tools within the obelisk chamber to assist in functions dealing with our connection.]

    [Sure, but how much progress have you made with those?]

    [Very little,] he admitted.

    [All your mental magic stuff has Spiritual elements. You could try to leverage some of that to figure it out.]

    While Grotto digested that idea I turned to find Xim, but was distracted by a glimpse of movement near Varrin. I turned back and studied him for a few seconds, but couldn¡¯t see anything that had changed about either him or his environment. I noted the oddity and planned on keeping a closer eye on the man during his morning routine, then moved on toward the cleric.

    Xim was also kneeling with her new scepter held in both hands. She was communing with Sam¡¯lia, rather than a blade, and her patch of nature was more of the mud variety. Xim was unbothered, though, and had simply gone full swamp-lady and discarded all clothes that weren¡¯t required for Eschen sensibilities, rather than deal with dirt-caked garments.

    As for what Eschen sensibilities required, it didn¡¯t take much. Personally, I had on the armguard for Gracorvus, a pair of linen trousers rolled up to my knees, and not a damn thing more. My brain grappled between feeling incredible freedom and having flashbacks to Grotto¡¯s Delve after fighting the Atrocidile.

    Xim¡¯s soul was doing normal Xim-soul things, at least insofar as how it appeared while she was communing with a goddess from another Layer: a slow-motion inferno that pulsed with the beat of a godly heart and hungered to feed on the sins of the wicked. Very relaxing soul presence, overall.

    [The untamed Xor¡¯Drel can often be found in search of divine truth and wisdom.]

    [She is napping with her scepter.]

    [Isn¡¯t your attunement Divine?] I thought to him, absently grooming some more burs from my beard. Seriously, I was awake for five minutes and already finding more, where the fuck did they come from? [Could work on deepening that connection.]

    [Yes, my attunement is Divine, and my patron deity is the System. There is little more that I can do to strengthen that connection.]

    [Could try and get some revelations,] I offered. Grotto¡¯s tentacles groomed his feathers as he thought that over. I absently considered whether he was mirroring me.

    [That is an interesting proposal. While I possess a wealth of knowledge and abilities granted by the System, they are not categorized as revelations. I am unaware of any such archetypically Divine gifts given by the System, however. Even if it were possible, I do not believe it could occur in the current phase.]

    [Why not?]

    [The System exists in the physical realm. While it serves as a patron for my attunement, it presently lacks appropriate access to the Divine to function in a traditionally deific manner.]

    [Are you saying that the phase rollout will literally turn the System into a god? I thought all that stuff about the System being a god was a joke.]

    [No, but it will allow it to harness divine energies on a much greater scale. How else do you believe it would be capable of assisting Delvers in ascending?]

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    [I guess I didn¡¯t really think about it. Well, seeking the divine as a hobby may need to be delayed until we get phase two things going.]

    [Indeed.]

    We then floated over to Etja, who was a hundred feet away from everyone else, dancing in the air. She moved gently to an unheard song, with small bursts of mana appearing around her, eyes shut tight in concentration. I could tell she was micro-casting some of her spells, but they felt different from her usual repertoire.

    The caster¡¯s skills were a bit of a unique case. She had only five skill slots, but could combine any two of them together to form a new spell. She currently had fifteen combinations and was on the verge of being able to combo three at a time, giving her access to many more. At first, I thought that she had finally crossed that hurtle, but realized that what she was doing was more complex.

    [Vanishingly rare and often misunderstood, the Nothosis may sometimes be seen refining her understanding of mana shaping.]

    [She is¡­ very good at that.]

    [Yeah, I honestly had no idea she¡¯d gotten this far.] A dozen small orbs appeared in the air, then burst into fragments, hissing as they dissipated. [I can¡¯t even tell which of her spells this is supposed to be, or whether it¡¯s a combination.]

    [Magical Thinker does not tell you?]

    [The ability doesn¡¯t trigger if I¡¯m already familiar with the spell. Either this is something I¡¯ve seen, or it isn¡¯t well-formed enough to be considered something new.]

    [It cannot be new, she has no more skill slots.]

    [Sure about that?] Grotto and I watched for another minute or so, but neither of us was confident enough to draw any conclusions. [Potential hobby number three: improve your mana-shaping capabilities.]

    [I would need additional test subjects for that.]

    I frowned and agreed that, for Grotto, that didn¡¯t seem like a solo activity. I also didn¡¯t want to break Etja¡¯s concentration, so we moved to Shog.

    The true c¡¯thon was, to no one¡¯s surprise, studying the art of the blade. He was the farthest from camp by several hundred feet and had single-handedly clear-cut an area the size of a small park. Vines, limbs, and entire small trees littered the ground and floated in the swampy waters. There were no dead and dismembered critters, though, but the mystery of the missing prey was solved when I caught sight of some¡­ leftovers in his beard.

    [Occasionally, the swamp contains a predator that is foreign to the environment, released into the wild by irresponsible summoners. In this instance, we can observe a Grade 12 c¡¯thon in possession of a disturbing amount of martial prowess decimating the local flora and fauna.]

    [Why have you not dismissed him yet?]

    I shrugged.

    [Just wanted to hang out with Shog some. I¡¯m also very interested in seeing how good he can get with those swords. Varrin said he might train him.]

    [You do realize that c¡¯thons are merciless killers who would ravage this world in search of any potent source of mana, slaughtering and consuming anyone who stands in their way?]

    [Yeah, but Shog¡¯s alright.]

    [The fiend is restrained by its misplaced respect for you, but should that leash slip, the death that results will be limited only by its power. Power that you seek to increase.]

    [I thought you¡¯d be happy that I was making use of the tools at my disposal.]

    [What? Of course, I am. Strengthen the beast until it alone can destabilize nations, then set it loose on those who resist us! I am only encouraging you to be careful not to lose control near any of our own interests.]

    [Glad we cleared that up. So, potential hobby number four: learn how to use a weapon.]

    Grotto held up his feelers, furling and unfurling them, perhaps imagining the feel of a lethal tool within them. Eventually, he squinted at a rock, which rose into the air and shot over at Shog. My summon raised his saber and intercepted the projectile without looking in our direction, then kept hacking away at a bush.

    [While I am more physically powerful than a mundane human, this form is ill-suited for Strength-based combat styles.]

    [You can always adapt a new form, right? You made that little c¡¯thon body pretty easily.]

    [Adapting a form that is as physically potent as Shog would require that I consume resources and mana in a similar manner. It would be tiresome. This body subsists on ambient mana alone and is otherwise convenient for my daily tasks.]

    [Cute, too.]

    [The disarming effect has utility, yes.]

    I considered taking Grotto to find Nuralie, but I had no idea where either of our Geulons were at the moment. I assumed she and Zura were off having a private discussion, so I decided not to traipse around the swamp and butt in. We began heading back toward the main camp area instead.

    [Does any of that strike your fancy?]

    [I believe I may need to diversify the way I engage in violence.]

    The old me would have probably found fault with that sentiment, but in the world I now lived in, broadening your lethal skillset was just solid advice.

    [Probably a good idea. Mental attacks aren¡¯t always a good matchup. You could always try out some other types of spells. Maybe get better at throwing rocks with your brain.]

    [I was created with the skills that I possess. I have never been offered any more. It was never necessary to learn.]

    [You probably know better than anyone that the System can be mysteriously selective in what it offers people. Deciding that you want new skills may be enough to nudge the System into showing you a few options. Otherwise, there are ways around having a skill directly presented to you. That¡¯s what Sam¡¯lia and I did with my Gravity Anchor skill.]

    [I do not believe I would need to go so far as forging something new. The System catalogs countless existing skills. I may be able to gain limited access to the library, given my status as a Bonded Familiar. In the meantime, I will direct the others to provide me with more substantive instruction in their relevant abilities, while also attempting to exploit our soul connection more effectively.]

    [You were a Delve Core watching Delvers for like a bajillion years. How did you not pick up a bunch of knowledge about skills?]

    [I did. However, there is a difference between knowledge and practice. Do not allow the illusion of competence earned from books to prevent you from seeking the guidance of experts.]

    I paused and appraised the Delve Core, reevaluating my impression of him.

    [You know, that¡¯s good advice.]

    [It is. Now, I must begin crafting several user requests.]

    Grotto didn¡¯t go anywhere, he just narrowed his eyes and began staring at invisible System screens. Zura and Nuralie appeared from nowhere, and Zura clapped her hands together.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve had our rest,¡± said the Zenithar, ¡°I believe we will be able to pick up the pace today.¡±

    While we ran, I reviewed my Character screen for the first time in a while, trying to see where my biggest gaps were. Some may find this interesting, while others may only be concerned with the tales of my heroic deeds and ass-kickery. Those who have no interest in the character screen may skip ahead to the beginning of the next chapter without fear of missing anything. For those who stick around, I have provided condensed descriptions of skills and abilities.

    Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel

    Age: 1 (Physical Age 19. Actual Age: 36)

    Delver Level: 6

    Delve Record: Platinum 6

    Special Delves Completed: 1

    Vitals:

    Health: 1220

    Health Regeneration: 568/hour

    Stamina: 400

    Stamina Regeneration: 80/hour

    Mana: 325

    Mana Regeneration: 65/hour

    Racial Bonuses and Birth Sign:

    Race: Human

    Subrace: Extradimensional Entity

    Racial Bonus: +100% Crafting skill progression

    Subracial Bonus: +100% Dimensional skill progression, +50% Dimensional resistance

    Birth Sign: The Traveler

    Birth Sign Bonuses:

    Spectacular Vernacular: Learn languages real good

    That¡¯s a Lot of Stats!: Earn stats through training up to 10.

    Divinity:

    Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Sight: Grants See ability

    Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Reveal: Grants Reveal ability

    Stats:

    Strength  10

    Agility  10

    Speed  10

    Fortitude  40

    Intelligence  21

    Wisdom  26

    Charisma  10

    Luck   6

    Stat Evolutions:

    Strength 10: Nimean Weapon - Add Oblivion Orb to STR attacks

    Agility 10: Point Blank - Better hammer throws in melee

    Speed 10: Rapid Blocks - Block with double Speed

    Fortitude 10: I Can Do This All Day - Double HP and SP regen

    Fortitude 10 (Super): We Can Do This All Day - Allies regen health or stam when you take damage

    Fortitude 20: Body of Theseus - Crit & stat effect reduction, but maybe also turning into homogenous flesh monstrosity?

    Fortitude 40: Just a Flesh Wound - Immune to Bleeding, can regen missing body parts

    Intelligence 10: Magical Thinker - See a spell? Know the spell.

    Intelligence 20: Coordinated Thinker - Double INT for spatial and dimensional comprehension.

    Wisdom 10: Fast Recharge - Double mana regen

    Wisdom 20: Where¡¯s Nuralie? - Concentrate to reveal stealthed enemies. When used with See can also reveal invisible/ illusion enemies.

    Charisma 10: Center of Attention - Better taunts

    Active Skills (8/10):

    Dispel: Get rid of some magical reality

    Explosion!: Explode some of reality

    Oblivion Orb: Delete some of reality

    Shortcut: Teleport around some reality

    Homing Weapon: Throw an enemy-seeking hammer and it comes back reality

    Life Warden: Take damage in place of an ally reality

    Dimensional Summon: SHOG¡¯TUATHA! REALITY

    Gravity Anchor: Become immovable, suck everything in real hard reality.

    Passive Skills (3/4):

    Archmage: +25% Mana, +25% Mana Regen, +10 to effective intrinsic when casting

    Bonded Familiar: GROTTO!

    Who Needs a Cleric? (Aura): Healing aura, locate allies, expands range for buffs

    Intrinsic Skills (8/10):

    Blunt 22

    Dimensional Magic 21

    Dungeoneering 20

    Mystical Magic 12

    Physical Magic 13

    Shields 21

    Heavy Armor 13

    Leadership 6

    Intrinsic Skill Evolutions:

    Dimensional 10: Pocket Closet - Pocket Dimension

    Dimensional 20: Checkpoint - Make waypoints and long-range portals

    Dungeoneering 10: Additional Pylons - Cheaper to build Delve shit

    Dungeoneering 20: Engineered Terror - Scarier Delve shit

    Mystical 10: Mana-shaping efficiency - what it says on the label

    Physical 10: More! MORE!!! - Phys skill cooldowns reduced

    Blunt 10: Hammer Throw - Speed and distance of thrown hammers mega better

    Blunt 20: Hammerang - Can throw hammers in silly ways

    Shields 10: Megablock - Block even more dmg

    Shields 20: UNSELECTED (Sinful Arlo)

    Heavy Armor 10: UNSELECTED (Indecisive Arlo)

    Attunement:

    Dimensional

    Languages:

    English

    Hiwardian

    Loward

    Imperial

    Notable Achievements:

    Dumping - spend 5 stats get 1 free!

    Exposure Therapy: Poison - 25% poison res

    I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me - Sometimes stuns mean people

    Strength of Xor¡¯Drel - Harder to fear

    This is Bullshit! - Easier to taunt strong people

    Notable Equipment:

    Ring of Healing - double health regen

    Traveler¡¯s Amulet - jack shit atm

    Rocket Man¡¯s C¡¯thonic Feather Boa of the Cat¡¯s Pajamas - Sexier, more renown

    Outlaw¡¯s C¡¯thonic Leather Vest of the Dirty Muffin Toy - Scarier, some stam regen

    Somncres (War Hammer) - Summonable, copies itself, and shapeshifts

    Gracorvus (Shield) - flies, floats, modular, atrocidile roar

 110 - No Time For Sightseeing

    Eschengal, the capital of Eschendur, was a city of three identities. An elemental triad informed all aspects of its architecture, with water, earth, and air being celebrated in equal measure, each a tribute to one of the three gods of the Eschenden. The themes wove together like threads of a fine tapestry, circling the churches that made up the city¡¯s center and converging upon a central park of unparalleled beauty and splendor.

    That¡¯s what I was told, at least. We never set foot inside.

    The second leg of our sprint through the swamp began at a slightly faster pace than the day before. An hour in, Zura heard a sound that she alone could detect and her mood darkened. After that, we were no longer on a playful stroll through nature. The water beneath our feet rushed forward with us, doubling our speed as we ran along the moving channels.

    By noon we¡¯d exited the swamp and made our way across wet plains, then into more domesticated farmland. Our passing left a small flood in our wake as the waters continually rose from the ground beneath us to hasten our arrival, driving us even faster now that the terrain was devoid of thick vegetation. We quickly encountered civilization, passing entire villages built atop lakes, sprawling through the treetops, and hidden beneath earthen mounds.

    We soon crested a high ridge, and in the distance, enormous stone walls could be seen that marked the outer boundary of Eschengal. Before we could draw another step closer, however, the ground fractured, and a twelve-foot-tall boulder emerged, churning up moist soil in large piles around it. A seam appeared along the rock¡¯s center with a loud crack and its two halves fell away, the chunks of stone landing heavily on the path. A man, who¡¯d been inside the rock, stepped forward.

    He was a Hyrachon, over seven feet tall with sandy skin and wide-set eyes on a broad face. Small, granite horns dotted the ridgeline of his head, and thick fur covered his shoulders and back, his frame as broad as a bull¡¯s. He wore only a heavy brown skirt, its edges embroidered with black runes and script.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura,¡± the man said, his voice deep and rumbling. ¡°You take a trip to the coast to survey the blockade, and now we are at war. I¡¯d wager your trip was not boring.¡±

    ¡°Zenithar Dal,¡± said Zura, inclining her head slightly to her peer. ¡°You would win that wager, although I believe we have been at war for some time. Should I expect Zenithar Manar to greet us as well? I¡¯d planned to call a formal session of the triarchs, but I am not opposed to meeting here on the road if she is already on her way.¡±

    ¡°Bah!¡± said Dal, waving a thick hand through the air. A bit of rock dust puffed away into the breeze as he did so. ¡°Sakra Manar is not in Eschengal, she is at Skyharbor.¡±

    ¡°Have you sent a flyer?¡± asked Zura.

    ¡°Why would I?¡± said Dal. ¡°The Right Ring has rung. The gong will have been heard at Skyharbor as well as it has been heard anywhere else.¡±

    Zura tapped her nails against the haft of her halberd.

    ¡°Why is Manar at Skyharbor?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Sparring with Yri, I expect,¡± said Dal. ¡°It¡¯s all she does up there.¡±

    ¡°You expect her to take note of the gong while sparring with Yri?¡±

    Dal threw up his hands and then dropped to the ground with a thud, sending tremors through my boots. He crossed his legs and heaved out a loud breath.

    ¡°She is no fool,¡± said Dal. ¡°But¡­ she may be distracted.¡± He shook his upper body, more stone dust kicking up from his fur. ¡°You and I may decide how to address the immediate matters.¡± He looked over our group. ¡°First, tell me who these strangers are.¡±

    ¡°Delvers,¡± said Zura. ¡°The party known as Fortune¡¯s Folly. They were waylaid by the blockade on their way to Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°You left in such a rush,¡± said Dal. ¡°Did you go to rescue them?¡±

    ¡°They made it through the blockade under their own power.¡±

    Dal leaned forward.

    ¡°Did the Littans pursue?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Zura.

    ¡°Into our borders?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And you asked them to leave, no doubt.¡±

    ¡°The Littans refused,¡± said Zura. ¡°Then deployed three Delver parties to take this group by force. After the Littan admiral disregarded multiple warnings, I sank the encroaching vessels.¡±

    Zenithar Dal sat up straighter, rolling his shoulders back, which made a few loud pops.

    ¡°How much of the blockade fleet did you destroy?¡±

    Zura thought it over for a second.

    ¡°I believe half of the blockade fleet was present. Not counting the ships Fortune¡¯s Folly destroyed beforehand. The rest were likely still spread out further to the north and south.¡±

    ¡°Half,¡± Dal grumbled. ¡°Enough for the Littans to finally commit to an invasion.¡±

    ¡°Invasion?¡± said Nuralie, stepping forward. ¡°Zenithar Dal, you said that the Right Ring sounded the alarm. Does that mean the Littans are entering through the Gap?¡±

    ¡°This is Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a,¡± said Zura. ¡°She has been stranded in Hiward for some years due to the blockade.¡±

    ¡°Welcome home, child,¡± said Dal. ¡°And yes. The Littans have marched at least one legion through the Eschen Gap. We await more details, but I expect that is only the beginning.¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Zenithars,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°My village is very near the Gap. It is not my place to ask, but what¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°defenses are in place?¡±

    ¡°We monitor the Gap, but do not defend it,¡± said Dal. ¡°Outposts do not last long in the Gap because of its ¡®resident¡¯, which is something the Littans learned the hard way. That is what started this whole mess between our nations to begin with. Currently, each Diocese is responsible for its own defense until we martial the monasteries. I have begun that process, but it will take some time.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Nuralie, turning to me. ¡°It is not why we are here, but-¡±

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go get your family,¡± I said. ¡°Give me an hour and I can establish a Checkpoint. That way, once we get to your village we can open a portal to Eschengal in the Closet and extract everyone.¡±

    Nuralie nodded, though her anxiety didn¡¯t abate.

    I began concentrating on my Checkpoint ability. I was limited to two of the long-range portal destinations and already had one in the Xor¡¯Drel village and one at my estate in Formation. I discarded the one leading to my increasingly pointless mini-mansion and immediately started the process of replacing it with our current location.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I will still need to be ordained to serve as a guide, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Zura.

    ¡°Then I will accept the Inquisitor title.¡±

    ¡°Inquisitor?¡± said Dal. ¡°We haven¡¯t appointed an Inquisitor in decades.¡±

    ¡°Do you disapprove?¡± asked Zura.

    ¡°No,¡± said Dal after a moment of consideration. ¡°There are no Inquisitors in office at the moment. Unless you plan to make her the High Inquisitor, we will need to appoint a few more.¡±

    ¡°I already have a list of candidates,¡± said Zura.

    ¡°Very well,¡± said Dal. He took another deep breath and climbed back to his feet. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve confirmed who to blame for this mess, I need to return to managing our response.¡±

    ¡°I will join you shortly,¡± said Zura.

    Dal grumbled something, then raised his hands over his head and gave a mighty clap. The broken boulder rose from the ground and slammed shut around him, sealing itself back together into a single piece. It sank into the ground in an instant, then disappeared.

    ¡°Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a,¡± said Zura. ¡°In my capacity as Zenithar of the church of Geul, I hereby offer you the title of Inquisitor. Do you accept such title and swear to uphold the tenets of its office faithfully?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Good enough for me,¡± said Zura. She placed her palm on Nuralie¡¯s forehead, and a brief glow surrounded the alchemist¡¯s body.

    ¡°Is¡­ that it?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Traditionally there¡¯s a two-hour ceremony,¡± said Zura as she fished for something in her robes. ¡°I have opted for the expedient version, given the circumstances. Here.¡± She held out a small, leatherbound book to Nuralie, who accepted it. ¡°That describes the powers and responsibilities of the office. However, you will find that you are already familiar with the contents, by virtue of being granted the title.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Nuralie, looking down at the book.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯d hoped to spend more time with you all,¡± said Zura, looking around the group. ¡°Unfortunately, I must assist Zenithar Dal in managing our response to the Littans.¡±

    ¡°Zenithar,¡± said Nuralie, looking up from the book. ¡°The blockade¡­ and now the invasion.¡± She glanced at the rest of the party. ¡°We-¡±

    Zula reached out and took Nuralie by the arm.

    ¡°You are in no way responsible for this,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°The Littans have been looking for an excuse to escalate this conflict ever since it became clear we wouldn¡¯t give them any of the concessions they demanded. It was only a matter of time before the blockade became violent, even if your group hadn¡¯t forced your way through. Also, know that I did not destroy those ships for your sake. I destroyed them for Eschendur. The blockade had become untenable. Beyond the economic impact it has had, the blockade had begun to cost lives. Eschens are dying every day because we cannot import certain medicines. Food insecurity has also become a serious concern in the cities. The blockade needed to be eliminated, and so it has. I shoulder the blame for the escalation. None of you are at fault.¡±

    Nuralie searched the Zenithar¡¯s eyes for a while, then seemed to accept her words.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.

    Zura gave her arm a gentle squeeze.

    ¡°The Littans have a long history of conquering their neighbors,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°They are aggressive, but they are not barbarians. They target soldiers, not civilians. Your village should be safe for the moment, and I have faith that your group can handle any hostility you find. Good luck on your journey.¡±

    Zura nodded to the rest of us, then summoned a stream of water to carry her toward the city.

    The rest of the hour passed with the party standing awkwardly on the side of the road while I established the Checkpoint, discussing ways to make it to Nuralie¡¯s village while avoiding the legion. Nuralie and Varrin also talked more about their understanding of why the Littans wanted to be in Eschendur in the first place, and how the conflict started.

    ¡°It comes down to magical resources,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Littan territory is rich in mundane materials such as iron, gemstones, and cropland, but they don¡¯t have access to extraordinary metals or mana-rich plants and animals. Eschendur is the world¡¯s largest exporter of Madrin, has unparalleled diversity in alchemical ingredients, and can produce a variety of materials useful for mana weaving. The Littans wanted a larger share of the Eschen trade that was going to Hiward, but didn¡¯t have anything to offer that Eschendur wanted in return.¡±

    ¡°Block trade to Hiward, force Eschendur to sell to Litta,¡± I said. ¡°Thus, the blockade. I get it.¡±

    ¡°The blockade didn¡¯t accomplish much,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Eschendur refused to sell to Litta.¡±

    ¡°Eschendur¡¯s economy is fairly self-sustaining,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They¡¯ve always been somewhat isolationist, so they aren¡¯t reliant on outside goods for much. Stonewalling the blockade caused harm to Eschendur, but not to the level the Littans were likely expecting.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s Hiward in all this?¡± I said. ¡°Litta is fucking up a really important trade channel to the kingdom.¡±

    ¡°Hiward can¡¯t do much,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s complicated, but it boils down to treaties. Hiward generally can¡¯t interfere with Littan military action. If they do, all existing political relationships between the nations are severed.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So, if it all comes back to Litta wanting Eschendur¡¯s magic shit, what was that comment Zenithar Dal made about the Eschen Gap about?¡±

    ¡°Pretense,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The Gap is home to an entity known as the Operator. It is¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°very strong. Stronger than most Delvers. We don¡¯t settle the Gap because of this. The Littans, however, began building settlements within the Gap when they first started testing our borders. The settlements were destroyed and Litta blamed Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The Operator is¡­ a legend to some extent,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The Littans think of it like a folk tale. When the settlements were destroyed, the evidence showed that it was caused by a single, powerful individual. There were no survivors to attest to what happened, so the Littans assumed it was an Eschen Delver. When Eschendur responded by saying it was the Operator, it wasn¡¯t taken seriously.¡±

    ¡°Litta thought you were telling them that the boogeyman did it?¡± I said.

    ¡°I will assume what you said makes sense and say yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Litta demanded that we turn over the culprit, but there is no one to hand over.¡±

    ¡°That was their excuse to start the blockade,¡± I said. ¡°Act like it¡¯s righteous, when really they just want to take your shit. Bet that angle works great as propaganda.¡±

    A few more minutes went by and I finally got the notification that the Checkpoint was active.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Long-range portal destination locked in. Time to go interfere with a major international dispute. More than we already have, that is.¡±

    Once again we set off in the direction of an objective that just happened to be on the other side of a major Littan military unit.

    Maybe I¡¯d be able to talk my way past this one.

 111 - Camping

    ¡°In my experience, most heads of state travel with a large entourage,¡± I said as we ran. The party traversed a span of grassy hills that spread for dozens of miles on our journey east of Eschengal. Some of the rolling mounds were the size of petite mountains, with ponds and small lakes nestled between them. ¡°Yet, between Zura and Dal, not a single groupie.¡±

    ¡°Our interaction with the Zenithars was¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°unusual,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Our interactions with powerful individuals as a whole are unusual,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Meetings with my own mother feel more formal than our average talk with prominent authority figures.¡±

    ¡°Even Fortune was kind of laid back,¡± I said. ¡°Aside from all the fuckery with Anesis.¡± This sentiment drew strange glances from both Xim and Varrin. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I have three different abilities that increase my resistance to fear effects,¡± said Xim. ¡°None of them helped with Fortune.¡±

    ¡°I endeavored to be formal with the avatar,¡± said Varrin. ¡°At the time, I believed that if I did not show him the utmost respect, I would die without even knowing how I¡¯d perished.¡±

    ¡°Scary doesn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t casual,¡± I argued.

    ¡°He didn¡¯t scare me!¡± said Etja, doing a little jump and spin through the air as she ran.

    ¡°Must be that divine heritage,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re inoculated against deific intimidation. For the record, I wasn¡¯t afraid of him either. At least, not in a visceral way. More an intellectual understanding of how trivial it would have been for him to kill me.¡±

    ¡°I was not yet strong enough to challenge him, so I kept my silence,¡± said Shog.

    ¡°Sure, bud. Same logic for you as well, Grotto?¡±

    [I am no fool. There was no reason to draw his attention to me, and so I did not do so. He also displayed a great deal of antagonism toward Cage, so I did not believe his attitude toward my status as a Delve Core would be positive.]

    ¡°Wonder what that guy¡¯s up to, anyway,¡± I said. ¡°We know he didn¡¯t hide Anesis from Orexis if the reports from Timagrin are accurate.¡±

    ¡°It is likely foolish to ponder it,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If gods have little insight into his actions, I doubt that we will.¡±

    ¡°Kind of defeatist. I know tons of stuff gods don¡¯t,¡± I said. ¡°Like how to make a proper apple martini. I bet we all have some insights that transcend the divine.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t Sam¡¯lia know everything about your life on Earth?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Sure, but that doesn¡¯t mean any other gods do.¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡±

    I considered Sam¡¯lia¡¯s ability to replicate delicious apple juice, and whether that would translate to a superior cocktail. It probably would.

    ¡°We¡¯re close to the forest,¡± said Nuralie, and we came to a stop atop one of the massive hills.

    A mile ahead of us the sparse trees became vastly more numerous, growing dense and dark. It looked like another swamp to me, with most plant growth sprouting from ubiquitous pools of water. Just, with a lot more trees than the swamp we traveled through on our way inland.

    ¡°How far to the Gap?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Four hundred miles or so,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°And your village?¡±

    She paused to think it over.

    ¡°Around three hundred and fifty.¡±

    ¡°Alright. How fast does a legion move?¡±

    ¡°Across open land, twenty miles a day, give or take,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Through this type of jungle¡­ less than that.¡±

    ¡°Assuming this is day one,¡± I said, ¡°then the Littans won¡¯t make it to your village until sundown tomorrow. We can make it there first, I bet.¡±

    ¡°There will be scouts,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We know they¡¯re mixing Delvers with their traditional military as well. They may have elite units that move much faster.¡±

    ¡°So we want to avoid those if possible.¡±

    ¡°That will be difficult,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Nuralie is the only one of us that specializes in stealth. Three of us wear medium to heavy armor, and our movements through the forest will not be quiet.¡±

    ¡°We could fly,¡± I offered. ¡°Rest in the Closet to get mana back when we run out.¡±

    ¡°We really can¡¯t go that far flying,¡± said Xim. ¡°Your shield takes, what, 1 mana per second?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not really made for long-range travel. I need to fix that.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t carry everyone for too long,¡± said Etja. ¡°I have an evolution that makes Siphon cheaper to use on allies, but it would still burn through my pool twice as fast compared to using it on myself.¡±

    I turned to my favorite extra-dimensional carnivore.

    ¡°Can you carry people while you float, Shog?¡±

    ¡°I can.¡±

    ¡°How fast?¡±

    ¡°I will be slower with more mass.¡± He looked us over, sizing us up and lingering on Varrin. Shog certainly outweighed the big guy, even while the warrior was in full gear, but probably not by a whole lot. Or, Shog would have outweighed him if gravity had any effect on the c¡¯thon. ¡°Perhaps half as fast as we have been moving.¡±

    ¡°Assuming 15 miles per hour, that takes us 23 hours and change to make it to the village. Still beats the legion there, even if they move at normal speed through the terrain.¡±

    ¡°Can you carry all of us for that long, Shog?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Of course! My tentacles are plentiful and potent.¡±

    ¡°Does it take resources for you to hover?¡± I asked. ¡°Mana, stamina, anything like that?¡±

    ¡°No more than it takes for you to stand, I expect. There is also this cloak that one of you could use.¡± Shog reached into his tentacles, then pulled out a length of gem-studded cloth. He held it up and I identified it.

    Bedazzled Cloak of the Aeronaut

    An exceptionally high-quality cloak earned as a System reward by the Delver Yaretzi of Seaward. It has since been adorned with equally high-quality¨Cand gaudy¨Cgemstones mined in the Littan province of Seqaria. This cloak grants its user the ability to fly, while simultaneously letting everyone around them know how fucking awesome they are.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Requirements:

    AGL 20, SPD 20

    Effects:

    Allows the user to fly at their normal movement speed. Allows the user to perform any action while airborne as though they were on the ground.

    ¡°Yaretzi¡¯s cloak?¡± I said. ¡°I thought you ate that.¡±

    ¡°I consumed his corpse, not his items.¡±

    ¡°Oh. You can¡¯t absorb mana from items?¡±

    ¡°I can, but I did not ask you if I could feast upon the little mouse¡¯s items, only his delicious body.¡±

    ¡°You saved them for me? That¡¯s very thoughtful.¡±

    ¡°I am keeping the swords, though.¡±

    ¡°As expected. Can any of us even equip that cloak?¡± I looked around the group, but no one had the stats. ¡°Varrin, you¡¯ve got the Speed, just need to get your Agility up, and then you can fly and do neat aerial tricks.¡±

    He eyed the glimmering cloak with obvious disdain, but reached out and took it nonetheless. Varrin had his pride, but he was, at heart, a practical man. He wasn¡¯t going to let a good item go to waste.

    ¡°I don¡¯t plan on focusing on Agility for a few levels,¡± he said. ¡°But it¡¯s a good item. There¡¯s not even a cost for the flight ability.¡±

    ¡°I know, right? Need to get that on my shield.¡± I looked into Shog¡¯s big, generous eyes. ¡°Did Yaretzi have any other good shit?¡±

    He reached into his beard of tentacles and produced Yaretzi¡¯s full suit of armor, which was half-destroyed from the fight, along with two rings and an amulet. One ring had a rock on it big enough for the 22-year-old supermodel fianc¨¦e of an octogenarian oil tycoon, while the other was studded out with at least a thousand tiny prismatic gems. The amulet, in contrast, was a simple pendant of alexandrite. It was probably the coolest, with the way the stone changed color depending on how you held it, but a bit out of step with the whole Yaretzi theme otherwise.

    ¡°Where the fuck were you keeping this stuff, Shog?¡±

    ¡°In my beard,¡± he said, sounding confused over the question.

    ¡°Does your beard have dimensional storage capabilities?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, again perplexed that I would even ask.

    ¡°The more you know,¡± I said, looking over the finery. We were on a timetable to make it to Nuralie¡¯s village, but it was worth it to take a minute and see if any of Yaretzi¡¯s gear would help us out along the way. I started with the it¡¯s-definitely-true-love-sized engagement ring.

    Fortunate Ring

    Requirements:

    LCK 20

    Once per day, one of the following effects may occur, although you may not choose when or if one triggers.

    1) An attack you make that would otherwise miss miraculously hits.

    2) An attack made against you that would otherwise hit miraculously misses.

    ¡°Interesting, but useless,¡± I mumbled. No one in the party was building into Luck, and as far as I knew no one was planning to. I passed it around the party, letting everyone else take a turn and decide if they cared for it, then moved on to the ring with a thousand sparkling facets.

    Ring of Many Blessings

    Requirements:

    Divine Magic 20

    This ring may store up to 5 stacks of Blessed. So long as this ring holds any stacks of Blessed, you are considered Blessed. You may consume these Blessed stacks as though they were your own. If this ring holds less than 5 stacks of Blessed, you may choose to transfer any number of Blessed stacks you possess to the ring until it is at capacity.

    Current stacks: 0/5

    ¡°Now we¡¯re getting somewhere,¡± I said, tossing the ring to Xim. Both Nuralie and Etja also had Divine, but neither had the intrinsic skill high enough to use the ring. The cleric¡¯s eyebrows raised as she read the description, and then she slipped it on and cast a blessing on herself. I moved to the color-changing amulet.

    Amulet of Efficiency

    Requirements:

    WIS 20

    Effects:

    Whenever you would spend mana, the amount you spend is reduced by 10%. The minimum cost reduction from this effect is 1 mana (1 mana every 6 seconds while channeling), but cannot reduce the mana cost to less than 1.

    ¡°Damn, so close to making me fly cheaper,¡± I said, before handing the amulet to Etja. Xim and I also had enough Wisdom to use the amulet, but it would benefit the group¡¯s dedicated caster most. Besides, Xim just got a ring and I already had the Traveler¡¯s Amulet, despite it being completely useless at the moment. Finally done with the belated loot session, I turned back to the matter at hand.

    ¡°A couple of upgrades, but nothing that helps with our immediate problem. How are we feeling about the floating Shog cuddle-puddle?¡±

    ¡°We would be an obvious target,¡± said Varrin. I was proud of the man for allowing my description to go unchallenged, as profane as it had been. ¡°We may not make noise, but there would be no cover while flying over the forest.¡±

    ¡°Loud through the woods, or quiet out in the open,¡± I muttered. ¡°Five people in the loving embrace of a mana fiend while soaring through the sky at the speed of Grandma on her way to Sunday service would make a pretty big, easy target. We¡¯d also be grouped together and just asking to get hit with a fireball or something. It¡¯s probably safer to go on the ground. Nuralie, you can scout ahead while we follow at a distance. Grotto, stick with her and psychic reports back to us once in a while.¡±

    Nuralie nodded and Grotto floated over to land on her shoulder, wrapping his tentacles around her upper arm. The two eyed each other for a second¨CI was pretty sure this was the first time they¡¯d ever made physical contact¨Cbut Nuralie darted off toward the swampy woods without a word. We gave her a five-minute head start, then followed. I could keep up with her relative position using my aura, so her presence became our compass.

    We kept quiet as we moved through the brush, using Grotto as a psychic relay whenever something needed to be said that couldn¡¯t be communicated with a hand gesture. While he was outside of the Closet, everyone could consent to his mental presence, which was a boon we didn¡¯t take enough advantage of as a party. Stealth wasn¡¯t our typical strategy though, and I was the only one comfortable with the internal comms. It gave everyone else the sort of buzzing discomfort I¡¯d felt any time Grotto had scanned my brain back in the day.

    We still moved quickly, so our progress was anything but silent. The goal wasn¡¯t to avoid notice but to cause any prying ears to assume that we were a herd of swamp rats or rampaging toads for at least a few seconds, rather than a group of dangerous humanoids. Enough time for us to spot them or react in some way, hopefully.

    Nuralie kept ahead of us by about a mile, and with her movement bonuses from being in the shady terrain, she was faster while in stealth than she was moving normally under the sun. She even got a touch of invisibility based on how dark it was and could teleport between shadows like a proper ninja-alchemist-archer.

    Hours went by, and while our pace was slower than our mud marathon with Zura, we still made better time than we¡¯d have made with the Shog-blimp strategy. We kept our eyes peeled, but the only living creatures that we saw were the local wildlife. A couple of ambitious predators tried to ambush us, and Varrin sent a lanky, ten-foot-tall simian creature running away with a flash of his sword and a skin-deep cut across its wide nose. Later, some sort of anaconda-millipede hybrid dropped from the branches above and clamped down onto my neck, wrapping its thirty-foot-long body around me. It couldn¡¯t break my skin, and a quick Shortcut got me out of its thousand-arm grapple. I was happy to let it scurry away as well, but Shog hadn¡¯t had a proper meal since Yaretzi and decided the creature had volunteered to become lunch. The c¡¯thon¡¯s snacking was surprisingly quiet despite his victim¡¯s crunchy exoskeleton.

    I eventually started playing around with my Soul-Sight, raising and lowering its sensitivity while trying to identify different levels of detail. I¡¯d wanted to play a few rounds of two truths and a lie with the others, but current circumstances didn¡¯t allow for it. Instead, I tried to hone in more on the feeling Soul-Sight provided, rather than relying on the visual information it gave. It was something I¡¯d been practicing in my spare time anyway, but I felt like my recent reflection on the revelation had opened me up to new ideas.

    I began to filter away the biases that the title of my first revelation gave me, migrating from the concept of sight and seeing to the idea of experiencing souls. The ability had never really manifested as a purely visual phenomenon. There had always been a physical component, even if that component had been centered in my eyes, feeling like they might pop out from staring at someone who was overly strong.

    It had progressed to something I felt all over, though the experience migrated across my body depending on where someone was, among other things. Like a powerful light source, I felt their metaphysical heat on my skin. That was an overly simple way to put it, but it got the idea across well enough.

    We continued through the night, stopping only briefly for food, drink, and biological necessities. None of us needed any of that nearly as much as a mundane person, but we all still required it to some degree, although by this point I could go days without feeling much hunger beyond an annoying tug in my gut.

    We¡¯d put about three hundred miles behind us by midmorning the following day, and we slowed down substantially as we crossed into what we expected was scouted territory. We hadn¡¯t heard much from Nuralie, but I could still detect her moving and her health was full in the party interface. She was still a little under a mile ahead of us and we felt fairly comfortable that such a significant lead would give us a good buffer if she detected anything.

    I continued under this delusion, only realizing how wrong it was when I felt a fierce pressure and lost vision in my right eye. My head snapped back a bit. It was like something had tugged on the back of my hair with incredible strength but for only a fraction of a second. I heard a small explosion behind me at the same moment, and I noticed that my shades fell off of my face, broken. As I looked down, I saw that the right lens was completely gone. I was desperately confused.

    Why were my glasses on the ground? Did they break from just falling off my face? I¡¯d always bought special lenses that were more durable, so that didn¡¯t make sense. Those were always expensive too, and insurance only covered one pair per year. Shit, now they were sinking into the muck¨Cgoing down and down. I¡¯d lose them at this rate, but when I tried to bend over, I¡¯d forgotten how to move. Where¡¯d all this mud come from, anyway? I hadn¡¯t mopped the kitchen in a while but¡­

    No. Wait.

    Something was very wrong.

 112 - Shouldnt Have Aimed for the Head

    A damn popup ad appeared in my field of view, and a lance of anger ran down my core. I thought we¡¯d moved past those things. I couldn¡¯t even remember the last time I¡¯d seen a popup ad that wasn¡¯t just a computer virus that directed you to a scam call center. Nowadays we had cookie banners that demanded your consent every fucking time you visited a website, not popup ads inviting you to spend $9.99 a month on scandalous images of questionable quality. It was a more civilized era!

    However, as I studied the invading text, I realized it was not an ad, but a notification of some sort. It didn¡¯t have a solid background or blinking colors. I could look away from it and it didn¡¯t incessantly follow my eyes. There were no demands for me to call IT and acquire antivirus software with the only payment option being gift cards to a popular electronics brand. No, this looked like normal text. Non-intrusive, but easy to spot.

    It was too bad that I had no idea what it said.

    That somehow got me more irritated. I looked over the letters and numbers, but they were nonsensical. I knew that there were words, but I couldn¡¯t quite get them to process. That was when a memory slapped me in the face like I was a window AC unit with a bad rattle. It shook loose some of the gears in my head and my present circumstances reasserted themselves.

    Some time ago, I¡¯d woken up after dying to a tree and found a book. Believing what I was experiencing to be a dream, I challenged the assumption by trying to read the book. I couldn¡¯t read in my dreams, so if I could not read the book, that was evidence that I was dreaming. At first, I couldn¡¯t read the book, until whatever linguistic knowledge that had been inserted in my head applied itself and I could read the book. It was one of my first memories after coming to Arzia and appearing inside the Creation Delve.

    I didn¡¯t need prescription glasses. I wasn¡¯t in my kitchen. I wasn¡¯t even on Earth. My brain flashed through a series of disconnected events¨CHognay, Demarsus, fighting bat people, The Cage, The Mimic, Sam¡¯lia, Littans being assholes¨Cuntil I was back in the present. I was standing deep inside the woods in Eschendur, wondering why my thoughts were so scattered. My anger grew.

    I struggled to consider two ideas. One: I was being attacked mentally. Two: head trauma. Considering my inability to see anything to my right, I explored the second option. I reached up and felt around my right eye, feeling something slimy on my cheek. There was a deep gash just below and above my socket, and I tentatively poked a finger deeper. My finger kept going, and I decided that my eye was completely gone before I got far enough in to truly touch anything.

    I reached around to the back of my head. I still had my hood equipped since it was separate from my mangled chest piece and I could still wear it with the shitty steel cuirass I had on. The hood was no longer up, having been knocked back by something. Thus, the back of my head was exposed, and I quickly found an unwelcome hole. I briefly probed its edges to get an idea of the size, feeling pretty disconnected from the experience. It was about as big as a teacup saucer.

    It appeared that a non-trivial amount of my brain had recently exploded out of my skull. That explained the confusion.

    But this realization caused me to become more confused about how I wasn¡¯t more confused. Shit, I should be unconscious, not exploring the boundaries of a severe head wound. I struggled to process and the difficulty invited more rage, which threatened to overtake me. Finally, another memory bubbled up: the desire to survive a lucky headshot. An evolution I¡¯d picked a long time ago. I didn¡¯t have the capacity to figure it out any further, so I moved.

    All of this occurred in a handful of seconds, while several people moved around me nearby. Someone had a hand on my left forearm, bringing it around in front of me. I looked up to see a woman with unrecognizable features. Not unrecognizable as in I didn¡¯t know who she was, unrecognizable in that her features didn¡¯t make sense. Eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, they were all there but they didn¡¯t coordinate into something that I could make sense of.

    Her soul, however, was very familiar.

    Xim was talking to me, her soul flaring in distress. My left arm¨Cwhich she was shaking¨Cwas equipped with the armguard that contained Gracorvus, so I deployed the shield in front of me. Probably a good idea if someone was trying to take my head off. Xim also sent a warm pulse that I recognized as healing through my body. The numbers on my notification changed, but I still didn¡¯t know what they meant. I also didn¡¯t regain sight in my right eye, so whatever she was doing wasn¡¯t entirely working out. My feelings continued to boil over.

    She left, and I watched her rush over to another stranger. A big guy, wrapped in Varrin¡¯s soul. Varrin was gesturing and looked to be speaking authoritatively. A woman who was Etja flew away into the woods under his direction, and a floating monster came toward me. It glowed with Shog¡¯s presence and stood in front of my shield.

    A tree to my left exploded, and Varrin dropped to the ground. He looked up and into the distance, then at me, clutching the right side of his rib cage. The armor there was punctured.

    Someone had tried to kill me, that much was clear. Now they were trying to kill everyone else. That thought cut through a lot of the noise. It also sent me over the edge.

    The visual information I was getting from my remaining eye was difficult to parse and incomplete. I ignored it, then cranked the sensitivity of my Soul-Sight up farther than I¡¯d ever gone. I pushed the ability until I was spiritually blinded by the existences around me, and then I began to filter.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The forest was a cacophony of presence. Thousands of entities bombarded me with their essence, their souls emerging from the ether to be seen, heard, and felt. Most prominent were my allies, with Shog directly in front of me being dominant. The Sight was not based in the physical world, however. The spatial relationship between myself and the soul that I perceived mattered, but it mattered much less than it would for normal vision. I was not receiving light reflected from a physical object. That there was a barrier between myself and what I Saw did not matter, even if that barrier was another soul.

    With a mental command, Shog¡¯s soul diminished within my senses. I pierced through it to see the forest and the tens of thousands of souls within. Creatures as small as insects were alight with spiritual life and even the plants had a small shimmer to them, but it was all still faded and obscured by the souls of my other allies. Even from a distance, the power of my party¡¯s souls interfered. I attenuated my awareness of all my companions, reducing the obfuscation and bringing everything else into focus. Then, I cut away anything too weak to be a threat.

    A single soul became clear, but it was distant. They were strong and made little effort to hide, perhaps feeling secure in how far they were from me. This may have been the attacker, a sniper of some kind perhaps, but I ignored them for the moment. There was something else; the barest pressure on my skin, the slightest metaphysical scent in the air. I focused, bringing See to bear on anything hidden through stealth, invisibility, or illusion. A few seconds passed, and then four new presences emerged.

    Their distances varied. One was beside the far-off entity that I had first detected. Two more were to my north and south, approximately half as far. One, though, was very close. A few hundred feet at most. I locked onto them, then used Reveal to bring this information to my allies.

    I cast Shortcut twice and was behind the person. I looked down at them, one eye evaluating their physical appearance as my Soul-Sight bore into everything else. I still had the sensitivity cranked to an unreasonable level, only able to tolerate it because of how much information I was discarding. This still showed me more than I¡¯d ever experienced with ability as I studied the male Littan before me.

    He was small and lithe, wearing leathers with dark colors that matched the forest. He was absolutely silent, not even letting out a sharp breath when I appeared. His soul was Silver, level 7 and thirty Delves strong. He was well-trained, dedicated, and loyal. He had been calm before, but my appearance was like a rock across a still pond, and his soul rippled with alarm. I was momentarily captivated by the level of information available from his soul and took no action. I felt I could go deeper, and find even more.

    He wouldn¡¯t panic, but he would flee. I saw his spiritual self tense before his body, and with the way the soul gracefully coiled up, I knew that he would be fast. Like an elusive prey animal.

    He cast a spell and became invisible while at the same time, a rune lit up at my feet. An explosion engulfed me in fire, but my Soul-Sight did not falter. He sprang away, moving faster than even Varrin through the thick foliage. He covered a hundred feet in a second as I doused myself with a pulse of Dispel, and then I Shortcut directly in front of him.

    He ran into my outstretched palm, unable to change trajectory on a dime to avoid the still-smoking limb. As I stiff-armed the man running at over sixty miles per hour, I cast Oblivion Orb. Anger continued to boil through my addled mind, and I mana-shaped the ability, pumping far more mana into it than I needed. I wasn¡¯t thinking about the other enemies or the potential for reinforcements. I didn¡¯t care about the expense or resource management. My universe was the death of the man in front of me.

    Oblivion Orb let out a sharp snap as it removed the man¡¯s chest from existence. The rest of him continued forward with his momentum, severed arms clunking off my sides. His head flew off into the dark over my shoulder as his legs crashed into the ground and tumbled for a dozen feet. I spared no further thoughts for the Littan as the light of his soul extinguished, and I turned to find my next target.

    I looked to the southern presence, but Varrin and Etja were on their way to intercept. Shog flew directly for the most distant pair of targets with Xim along for the ride, but it would take them a couple of minutes to get there. That left me with the northern soul, a quarter of a mile away.

    I used Shortcut seven times, appearing beside the Littan in half as many seconds. He was buried beneath leaves and dirt, half submerged in muddy water. He was also Silver, level 7, with exactly thirty Delves done. He was alarmed that I¡¯d located and teleported to him in a handful of seconds, but he also did not panic, even calmer than the first Littan.

    I peered at him through the muck and paused to see yet another curious thing. A thin thread of spiritual essence traveled from his head and into the forest. It went south, toward the presence being approached by Varrin. I studied it while I summoned Somncres into my hand, intrigued by what it might be.

    I felt Etja and Varrin engage, their souls thrumming with the power of a series of abilities, and the southern presence disappeared. The thread also disintegrated, indicating that whatever had been happening, the southern entity had been the source. The man at my feet began to lose his composure, and I knew that he would attack. I also knew that he was not built for damage.

    He rolled over in a flash, and a pulse of energy washed over me. I got a spell notification that I, again, couldn¡¯t read, but I felt what the ability had done. It exposed my weaknesses. It wouldn¡¯t help him. He fired a crossbow at my face and a spell at my chest at the same moment.

    I tilted my head to the side, avoiding the arrow, but the spell landed like a spear in my ribs. It hurt, but it barely registered. Not because my mental state was ill-equipped to process pain¨Cit was¨Cbut because it was too weak to matter.

    I responded by throwing Somncres into the man at point blank, layering skills for a Void Hammer. The dirt and mud exploded as the hammer impacted his solar plexus, crushing his body down into the filth as Oblivion Orb carved a bowling ball out of his core. There was no excuse for level 7s to have so little health or defense. This crew was obviously designed for stealth and ambush, but still, one needed to be able to survive getting caught out.

    I turned east, toward the remaining pair of ambushers, and waited for a few seconds. Finally, Gracorvus crashed through the brush and landed at my feet. These targets were more than a mile away, and even through my anger and clouded thoughts, I knew that spending 200 mana on chained Shortcuts wouldn¡¯t be wise. Gracorvus wouldn¡¯t be much cheaper to use if I flew the entire distance, but I had a third option.

    I stepped onto Gracorvus and rose above the treetops. The cold, seething anger still pulsed through me, and though my thought process had grown slightly more organized, I was still acting with almost no inhibitions. Otherwise, I would have never taken the risk I was about to take.

    I felt my connection to Shortcut, primed the mana, and then began to break the spell.

 113 - That Wonâ€™t Stop Me Because I Canâ€™t Read

    When I created Gravity Anchor with Sam¡¯lia¡¯s guidance, the process involved three main steps. This technique is what Grotto referred to as ¡®forging¡¯ a skill, though Sam¡¯lia had called it ¡°the old way of doing things.¡± It was a practice that required great care and intense concentration, and I¡¯d been hesitant to try it out alone for fear of the potential backlash. It was possible to brick a skill by making a hasty modification, or potentially alter the skill in a way where it actively harmed you by using it.

    First, I needed an appropriate ¡®model¡¯ skill. The ideal model was one that was already very close to the skill that I wanted to create, and the process mainly involved making minor tweaks. It was possible to forge a new skill without a model, but it was an order of magnitude more difficult. It was also tough to conceive of a skill that was so alien from what already existed that you¡¯d need to begin from scratch, while also being practical, so there was little reason to do so.

    Once I¡¯d settled on a model for Gravity Anchor¨CEtja¡¯s Siphon skill¨CI then needed to ensure I could learn the model skill. While Etja was a Charisma-based caster, Siphon was an Intelligence-based spell, so I could learn it. Etja had a passive that allowed her to use CHA in place of INT for her skills, which was kind of broken. The trade-off was that she hadn¡¯t gotten to choose her skills, since they¡¯d been ¡®inherited¡¯ from Orexis. That¡¯s all beside the point.

    Once I¡¯d had my model and confirmed that I was able to use it, step two was to then slot the skill using the System. This is where things got tricky.

    The reason for the System¡¯s ten-slot limit on active skills wasn¡¯t arbitrary¨Cit was a safety measure. Each time an active skill was learned, it was imprinted onto the Delver¡¯s mana matrix. The mana matrix could only handle so many imprints before the skills began to overlap and interfere with one another.

    Each skill had a dedicated mana flow through the matrix. Since the mana matrix was limited, there were only so many channels for these dedicated flows to traverse. Adding additional skills beyond the cap was¨Cto make a poor comparison¨Clike trying to have multiple cardiovascular systems. There is only so much room in your body for veins and arteries. Having extra might result in spreading blood flow too thin, placing too much of a burden on your heart, or creating a tangled mess that absolutely fucked everything.

    There were a few caveats to this 10-slot limit that Grotto had hinted at during some of our phase two discussions, but this illustrates the main thrust of the third part of forging a skill: adjusting the mana flows.

    There were varying methods to adjust a skill¡¯s mana flows. The one that I was most familiar with was restrictions. While a skill was being imprinted, it was possible to voluntarily add conditions to its use which allowed for the skill to become more robust in certain areas. I had various theories for why restrictions were only accepted if they resonated with the user, but at the end of the day, magic bullshit didn¡¯t really take well to logic. If a good restriction was selected, it could be added to a skill while slotting it without much risk of messing anything up too badly.

    For Gravity Anchor, I¡¯d added two restrictions. One, that it could only center on myself, and two, that I could not move while using it. This adjusted the mana flows so that the gravity created was much stronger for its cost than Siphon. This also allowed the skill to use stamina, rather than mana, since the skill was wholly centered on my body. While there was great debate over what differentiated a technique¨Cwhich used stamina¨Cfrom a spell¨Cwhich used mana¨Cthe general consensus was that techniques originated within the body, while spells could manifest anywhere. This is in addition to the obvious difference that techniques required physical exertion, whereas spells did not. I was really clenching when I used Gravity Anchor, for example.

    I¡¯d done all of this with heavy guidance from Sam¡¯lia, who¡¯d gently steered me away from doing anything that might cause harm to myself or result in an unusable skill. It was possible to do this with a skill that had already been slotted, but it was more complex. A skill was most malleable when first imprinted, and making changes after the fact required more forceful manipulation and thus a greater chance of catastrophic failure. Overall, it was much safer to mana shape a skill that had already been slotted. Mana shaping allowed the user to adjust the bounds of the skill once it had already passed through the channels, but before it manifested. Of course, mana shaping cost additional mana, so being able to customize the ability in the first instance was more efficient.

    Now, back to me missing a chunk of my brain in the woods of Eschendur.

    The pair of souls that allegedly belonged to the party¡¯s remaining ambushers were more than a mile away. That was a distance that I could run in a few minutes, but I was enraged and operating partially on instinct. I¡¯d also noticed that Nuralie had begun to use several skills, engaging our distant foes in combat. For whatever reason, the fight did not seem to be going well.

    I needed to close the distance fast. Shortcut had a range of 210 feet¨Cwhich was based on my Dimensional skill¨Cso it would take me more than 20 casts to cover the ground I needed. At a cost of 10 a pop, that was more than 200 mana total, which was well over half of my maximum mana pool. I realized that was unacceptable, even though I was down a few billion neurons. The obvious solution, then, was to reforge the crap out of Shortcut until it allowed me to make that kind of jump at a substantially reduced cost.

    One might begin to see the problem with this approach. I did not have the guiding hand of a Divine being while within a domain that granted her near omnipotence. I was not changing a freshly slotted skill, but forcefully adjusting one that I¡¯d had since the very beginning of my Delver career. I did not have the capacity to act with care and restraint while performing the feat.

    I did, however, still have a few advantages. Because Shortcut was one of my oldest abilities, I was extremely familiar with the skill. It was a Dimensional spell, which not only matched my attunement but also resonated with my subrace: extradimensional entity. The spell was also simple, which made it easier to modify. Most importantly, I had my Soul-Sight activated at a profound level of sensitivity.

    The mana matrix was inextricably linked with the soul. By turning my Soul-Sight inward, I was able to study my own mana matrix with a level of detail and precision that was, frankly, absurd. Skill forging normally relied on feeling, intuition, and a bit of guesswork. It was like carving a block of wood while it was hidden behind an opaque barrier. One could feel and manipulate the wood as they worked, but one didn¡¯t really know what they were going to get until the carving was revealed. In my circumstance, I was able to reforge Shortcut while looking at it through an electron microscope. Unfortunately, my mental tool was the equivalent of a hacksaw.

    I dove within myself, found the mana flows for Shortcut, and then committed felony-level assault on its existence. I destroyed its requirements, mana cost, and range limitations, then did what came most naturally to me. I forced it to regenerate.

    Unlike physical regeneration, this did not take much time. What I¡¯d destroyed was a pattern, not a group of cells, and the imprinting of a skill was a rapid process. As the new pattern emerged, I willed it to conform to my needs. This could have resulted in the skill having requirements I no longer met, or a mana cost that was worse than what it already had. This could have also made its range terrible, or potentially limiting it to long-range travel only.

    However, by being able to study the pattern in excruciating detail with Soul-Sight and guide it as it regrew at every step, I was able to mitigate these hazards. Regenerating was also very on-brand for me, and I have no doubts about how important that was for this to work the way it did. There were a variety of other factors at play, such as my mana matrix being partially designed by a divine avatar for the express purpose of cheating the System at times, but what I accomplished took more than a simple combination of privilege of dumb luck. No, the resulting success was clearly a product of pure skill, and a result wholly attributable to my ever-present git-gud attitude.

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Reckless Shortcut

    Dimensional

    5 mana

    Cooldown: Variable

    Requirements: INT 20, FOR 20, Dimensional 20

    Tear through the cracks between dimensions and teleport to a place you can see. This skill¡¯s cooldown is based on the distance traveled, with a minimum cooldown of 1 second if the distance traveled is equal to or less than 5x your Dimensional skill level in feet, up to a maximum cooldown of 1 hour if the distance traveled is equal to or greater than 500x your Dimensional skill level in feet.

    This form of dimensional teleportation is unbounded and places incredible strain on the body. Reckless Shortcut may cause damage if the distance traveled is too great. Damage suffered over a given distance is reduced with higher levels of Dimensional Magic and further mitigated by your Dimensional resistance.

    This teleportation is not silent and will be significantly more noticeable when traversing longer distances.

    The spell went from a fairly simple teleport to something with a lot more bells, whistles, and nuance. It was the type of skill that required careful review and some experimentation to determine its best use cases, especially across varying distances.

    It was a terrible shame that I still couldn¡¯t read.

    I felt the skill reforge successfully, and I Shortcut 1.1 miles to my targets. That came out to a little less than 277 times my Dimensional skill level in feet.

    I appeared on a massive tree branch with a bright flash and a thundering crack that rumbled across the forest like a lightning bolt had landed at my feet. I found myself in an enormous tree overlooking the swampy forest, directly in front of a pair of Littans. The moment I appeared, my skin split in a hundred places across my body, ripped apart by my shiny new skill. I took note of the pain, then ignored it with the rest of the damage to my body.

    I glared down at the pair, one eye missing and the back of my skull blown out, body burned and scorched by fire, with skin peeling away from numerous bloodless cuts.

    The Littans gaped at me, wide-eyed and frozen. One of them was prone, aiming down the length of a small ballista, and absolutely jacked. The other had the same slim build as his teammates and bore a quiver nearly as large as he was. It was filled with six-foot-long bolts. Each bolt had a different design, with color-coded bands along the shafts, and the second Littan appeared to be in the middle of crafting a new one. Its tip dripped with venom.

    They were each level 7 with thirty silver Delves, like their allies. The sniper collected himself quickly after my appearance, but the crafter lacked the same level of discipline shown by the others and was crawling back away from me.

    ¡°Hello, boys,¡± I said, voice raw and croaking.

    The sniper lifted the ballista off the ground with an impressive display of Strength, taking aim at me. I instinctively reached for Shortcut, but the skill failed since it was on cooldown. The sniper fired, but his aim had been hasty. The bolt passed through the left side of my abdomen with such force that it went clean through my gut and armor, continuing on its merry journey into the sky unhindered. No doubt it would end up ruining some poor amphibian¡¯s day a mile or two distant. The attack came with a status effect, and I felt the familiar discomfort of poison attacking my organs.

    I glanced down at the wound, then back at the sniper. He looked down at his mini-ballista, then back at me.

    ¡°Got anything bigger?¡± I asked.

    The crafter turned to leap off the massive branch. I used a quick burst of Gravity Anchor at full force, and his jump turned into a backward fall toward me. He landed hard on the bark.

    The sniper had gone up onto his knees to take the shot at my stomach, and he was thrown down by my skill as well. He caught himself with a hand, preventing his face from burying itself into the tree, but the move loosened his grip on the ballista. It clattered over to me and I kicked it as it got close, sending it sailing off the branch and down to the ground far below.

    The crafter pulled a bottle from his inventory and was rearing back to toss it, but I hurled a Void Hammer at him at the same time. He managed to make the throw but had a bad angle from how he¡¯d landed. I easily side-stepped it as my hammer took a massive chunk out of the Littan¡¯s shoulder and neck, nearly decapitating him. The bottle connected with a branch behind me, exploding into a misty blue cloud that left a layer of brittle frost coating everything within ten feet of the impact. He wasn¡¯t dead, but he¡¯d bleed out in seconds.

    The sniper snapped up to his feet and produced a great bow from his inventory, well over five feet in height. He already had an arrow nocked, its end ignited with a massive flame, and he loosed it at me.

    Gracorvus flew up to intercept, and the projectile exploded into an inferno. Everything within twenty feet was bathed in sticky fire, including the sniper himself. Gracorvus shielded me from the brunt of the attack, but my legs and hair were ignited. I tossed out another dispel, trying to douse myself for the second time that day, but the skill didn¡¯t have any effect. The fire wasn¡¯t magical, it was alchemical.

    The sniper produced a glass orb filled with white powder and crushed it. It exploded out into a cloud of dust that consumed the fire on his body, then he prepared another arrow.

    I swore and ignored the sweltering heat beginning to cook the skin along my lower extremities and scalp, then rushed the sniper. I swatted the bow just as he released his arrow, the projectile taking a chunk out of my left ear as it went. I reached out to grab the man¡¯s blistered face, but he bobbed and weaved, avoiding my hand. He kicked at my leg, sending me to one knee as he leaped back and landed on another branch thirty feet away, making it look as easy as a kid playing hopscotch. Of all the Littans I¡¯d encountered from this ambush, he was the only one that seemed built for pure combat.

    I had no doubt that I could hurl hammers until the man was reduced to chunks, but I¡¯d likely take another hit or two in the process. I didn¡¯t know what other fun arrows he had stashed away and, besides, I had something I wanted to give him.

    I focused on the experience of having a big chunk of my brain explode out of my head; the disorientation, the profound confusion, the rage. I connected with the sniper¡¯s soul, forced my way inside, and used Reveal to share that beautiful memory. I allowed all the agony of the wounds I¡¯d been ignoring to wash over me and sent that experience along as a bonus.

    The sniper¡¯s features twisted, and he staggered under the onslaught. Reveal alone was enough to send someone reeling, even without sharing the bucket of hurt that was my current state. It created space for me to throw another Void Hammer, which connected with the Littan¡¯s chest. While the sniper was the most combat-focused member of the group, he still didn¡¯t have any more Fortitude than the rest. An orb of flesh was deleted along with his heart, and he fell from the tree.

    I watched him crash through the branches, confirming the kill, then frantically searched my inventory for one of our go-bags. I found one with a variety of alchemical solutions crafted by Nuralie and dropped it onto the ground, biting my lip as the fire began burning away parts of me below the waist that I really didn¡¯t want to experience growing back. I found a large jar of extinguishing agent and broke the top off, then poured it all over my legs and head. I hissed as the chemicals washed over my many, many wounds, then stopped to wonder how bad it would be for this stuff to get inside my cranium.

    I didn¡¯t notice any further cognitive decline after a few seconds, so I assumed I would be fine. My hair was definitely gone, but I¡¯d managed to save my beard and¡­ other delicate areas.

    By this point, I was starting to come back to my senses. A little. I used the party interface to check on Nuralie. She¡¯d taken damage and had a couple of status effects, but it seemed like she¡¯d gotten off without too much trouble. Then her health lost another chunk.

    I spun and looked out over the forest, picking up the soul presences of my allies again. Varrin and Etja were nearly on top of us, with Shog and Xim also making good time. Nuralie wasn¡¯t far from me, but she was on the forest floor a hundred feet below. I didn¡¯t have line of sight to her from where I was, but I could detect her using rapid-fire skills and her health ticked down again.

    I was confused over what was going on and I scanned the forest for more enemies before it dawned on me. When I¡¯d first begun searching the forest with Soul-Sight, I¡¯d filtered out everything that wasn¡¯t a ¡®threat¡¯. I may have set that threshold too high.

    I quickly adjusted my Sight and seven new, less powerful souls appeared, all of whom were engaged with Nuralie.

 114 - Symbiosis

    I hopped onto Gracorvus and headed toward Nuralie¡¯s skirmish, evaluating the new combatants as I went. They were between levels 3 and 4, also Silver like their stealthy brethren, but with fewer Delves completed. As I watched, several of the souls enhanced one another, creating a multiplicative effect that created power greater than the sum of their parts. If the level 7 party was specialized around stealth, this group appeared to be specialized around buffs.

    I broke through the canopy to find a complex battleground, the naturally difficult terrain of the swampy forest made even harsher with earthen walls and rocky spikes. Nuralie was surrounded by four fighters in melee, all clad in heavy armor. Two of them were in the center of the formation, wielding shields and blunt instruments¨Cmace and hammer¨Cwhile the other pair were to either side of Nuralie, flanking her with long polearms.

    The polearm fighters attacked with fast, sweeping arcs, keeping Nuralie corralled in the center of the four-person formation. The archer had little recourse against their reach, holding a single dagger in her right hand while clutching Grotto in her left. The Delve Core was unmoving, but I hadn¡¯t received a jolt from him through our soul connection, so I felt that he was uninjured. What likely happened was that the mini-c¡¯thon was rocked by the shot I took to the head and passed out from Shared Fate¡¯s feedback.

    The two fighters in the center engaged Nuralie at close range, their bodies covered in translucent energy that blocked the loson¡¯s bladed swipes. Her back was against a ten-foot wall of earth and rock that curved over her head, keeping Nuralie from leaping to safety. All around were orbs of bright light, bleaching the battlefield in a glow that eliminated shadow and stopped her from using her short-range teleport.

    Further back were two soldiers in chainmail, weaving spells that were the origin of the earth walls and luminous orbs. While the melee fighters kept Nuralie trapped, spikes shot up from the ground at her feet which she nimbly dodged. She was quickly running out of room and would soon be skewered.

    The seventh attacker also wore mail, but with an intricate tabard that set her apart from the others. I could sense a web of connections spreading out from her to the rest of the soldiers, the threads pulsing as she issued orders. She was clearly the ranking officer and had at least one aura stacking bonuses onto her soldiers while she cast additional buffs on top.

    There were also three corpses with arrows in their hearts and skulls, evidence that Nuralie hadn¡¯t been cornered without dishing some out in return.

    It looked like two full parties had appeared to strike at our scout while the sniper¡¯s third group provided overwatch and tried to soften up the rest of our party. Had we been a normal group of level 6 Delvers, this tactic would have been deadly. Unfortunately for the Littans, we weren¡¯t a normal level 6 party, and I was far from an ideal target for an easy headshot.

    I swept in on Gracorvus and landed behind the group of four melee fighters, activating Gravity Anchor and spending additional stamina to reduce the skill¡¯s effect on Nuralie. Shouts of alarm rang out as the enemies were thrown off balance and fell toward me. I ended the Anchor before they collided with my body, leaving three of them collapsing to the ground from the sudden shift. One managed to keep upright, an ability causing his feet to sink into the wet earth and counter the pull.

    I hurled a Void Hammer at one of the downed polearm fighters, taking him by surprise and removing the base of his spine as he lay face down in the mud. The officer issued a command and the battlemages changed targets from Nuralie to myself. Earthen walls surrounded me on three sides, cutting me off from chucking more hammers at the prone melee fighters.

    A series of rock spikes erupted from the mud, aiming for my lower body. The Madrin armor on my legs blocked the spikes, but the garbage-tier steel breastplate failed to prevent the spikes from penetrating. The lances pierced my skin but failed to travel deep into the muscle beneath. While the attacks lacked damage, they made up for it by immobilizing me.

    My Strength was a 10. That put me at the low end of superhuman but was an amount of power easily mitigated by any competent Delver, even one at low level. It was enough to give me an advantage against people who¡¯d treated Strength as their dump stat, and it gave a boost to my throws, but it wasn¡¯t enough to be a threat on its own. My main form of escape wasn¡¯t to muscle my way out of traps and grapples but to teleport away with Shortcut. Shortcut was on cooldown due to my abuse of the skill, so I was left with little recourse against the ensnaring elemental attack.

    I wasn¡¯t concerned with escaping, however. While I could eventually bash my way out with my hammer or focus on killing the officer to disrupt their chain of command, I had regained enough sense to pivot to the second role I was built into. I didn¡¯t need to kill these soldiers, the backup emerging from the forest could do that.

    I reached out to Nuralie through my aura and cast Life Warden, granting her a shield that would direct half of the damage she took back to me, while also mitigating some of it. I hadn¡¯t used the ability since the mimic Delve, as the party was overall tanky enough to rarely need it.

    I then raised Gracorvus and used its Atrocidile roar. The spectral, uncanny valley face of the monster erupted from the front of the shield and let out an unholy scream. One of the battlemages fumbled his spell, flinching at the sound and taking a step back. The second mage¡¯s features twisted, but he managed to resist the effect and sent another pair of rock spikes into my ribs. The officer appeared unaffected, but this was quickly proven untrue when she pointed at me and began screaming fresh orders.

    The orders were issued in Imperial, but I¡¯d taught myself the language before we departed Hiward. It generally translated to ¡°Jesus fucking Christ, kill that fucking guy, holy shit kill him with fire and scatter his cursed ashes into a bottomless pit,¡± or something along those lines.

    I felt damage transfer through my shield on Nuralie as the melee fighters re-engaged. One mage focused his resolve to rally from the fear effect, the second wound up for another volley of uninspired elemental attacks, and the officer sent out a fresh AOE buff. Then, the rest of my party arrived.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    A pillar of crimson flame descended on the officer. The fire that ignited her body was mundane, rather than Divine, but it did the job all the same. A glint of metal flashed through the air as Varrin¡¯s blade cut one of the mages in half, the attack so fast it was barely visible. A series of small orbs appeared all around the second mage, then burst into fragments. The mana gathered around the soldier¡¯s fingers evaporated when one orb burst near his hands, and the fragments cut a hundred small holes through his body.

    Behind me, I felt Shog crash into the line of melee fighters. He turned one of the poleaxe wielders into Swiss cheese with thrusts from his pair of blades while wrapping up a heavy fighter in his tentacles. The venomous barb at the end of one feeler began stabbing through the man¡¯s visor with quick strikes. Nuralie had the space to duck past a poleaxe wielder and stab the attacker in the neck.

    The final heavy warrior paused his assault, realizing that he was suddenly alone. He then displayed a level of wisdom hitherto unseen on this battlefield: he dropped his weapon and surrendered. I took a breath as I scanned the forest for more surprises, but found none.

    I started to hammer away at the spikes trapping me, but the extent of my injuries became clear as my battle trance began to fade. My legs were scorched, the muscles twitching as I struggled to stand. My abdomen felt like it had gone through a blender, and my core strength was virtually nonexistent as a result. My scalp was on fire as my blistered skin shed. There was also the matter of the hole through my head.

    Varrin approached and began breaking the spikes with his gauntleted hands as though they were loosely packed sand while Shog and Nuralie locked down the surrendering soldier. Xim ran up to me and immediately began channeling Heal into my body.

    Most of my wounds responded. My burns quickly receded and my gut sealed itself back up. I felt the healing reach my head and, while the skin regenerated, it halted at my missing eyes and gray matter. I closed off my perception of the outside world and focused on the sensation when a second mind inhabited my own.

    [I feel that my side of our Shared Fate connection has thus far been an unjust bargain in your favor.]

    I felt Grotto begin to root around, seeking out the boundaries of the damage to my brain. The Delve Core had always possessed an incredible level of insight into my biological functions, but this particular scan went even deeper.

    I still had my Soul-Sight cranked to 11, but I¡¯d limited it to myself once the combat had been resolved. At least, I¡¯d tried to. My normal connection with Grotto was still abundantly clear and the more robust contact that I¡¯d made when using Reveal at the start of the fight was still going strong. Grotto was tapping into my perception to study the shape of my soul around the damage.

    He helped Xim¡¯s mana to gather around the lingering hole and tapped directly into my regeneration evolution Just a Flesh Wound. He combined the two and coaxed my cells to regenerate more rapidly while using his perception of my organic functions to help guide the process. After a couple of minutes, I was fully healed. I opened my eyes and was assaulted by flashes of memory and sensation.

    My regenerative ability recreated missing body parts as they existed at the time of their destruction. Normally, that wasn¡¯t an issue. An arm or tooth from an hour ago wasn¡¯t too different. When it came to my fleshy CPU, however, it felt like a piece of my consciousness was teleported several minutes into the future. It created a hodgepodge of images and impressions which struggled to reconcile themselves. I felt an incredible sense of D¨¦j¨¤ vu as the two halves of my mind came to a consensus.

    Xim grabbed my arm to steady me as I swayed in place. Finally, I opened my eyes to find her oddly excited.

    ¡°What did you just do?¡± she asked. Her borderline giddy tone was at complete odds with the macabre scene surrounding us.

    ¡°Uhhh¡­¡± I blinked several times and stared at the ground, trying to clear away the remaining cobwebs coating my thoughts. ¡°Which part?¡±

    ¡°Making your brain come back so fast,¡± she said. ¡°When I use Heal, I can sense the damage inside of a person. My mana distributes itself around the body, letting me affect everything at once, but not allowing me to concentrate on any particular area.¡± She said all of this rapid-fire, talking to herself as much as to me. ¡°It helps fix anything that would heal on its own over time and under the best possible circumstances, but I can¡¯t help much with the types of damage that would be permanent. Whatever you just did allowed me to break that restriction.¡±

    She let go of my arm and took a few steps away, running a hand through her dark, curly hair.

    ¡°I felt my mana healing you at a level way higher than what I can do right now.¡±

    ¡°Grotto used my regeneration evolution. He sped it up.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense! But, he used my mana to do it. I felt the entire process. I saw how the mana could be focused and accomplish more than it normally can. I think¡­ I think I can replicate it. Hells, I need to meditate.¡±

    She plopped down in the mud right there and closed her eyes. Varrin and I watched her for a second, then the big guy looked at me with concern.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I said, unsure. ¡°I mean, that was¡­ an experience. I¡¯m fine physically, but I¡¯ll need to process for a while.¡±

    He gave me a curt nod and a clap on the shoulder.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± he said, then left me to approach our captive.

    Something about both Xim and Varrin treating my head half exploding like any other day with Fortune¡¯s Folly made me feel a little less freaked out. Part of me thought that I should feel the opposite, but it wasn¡¯t the time to get too introspective. For all I knew, there was a Littan legion marching on our position at that very moment. I turned to follow Varrin, walking around the wall of earth and rock that had barricaded me in. I placed eyes on the captive.

    The man had a grim look on his face, outwardly determined and unfaltering, but it was only skin deep. I could tell he was terrified, which was understandable. A Grade 12 mana fiend was clutching him in several feelers while sniffing him with delight.

    Varrin looked at me with a raised eyebrow, and I nodded.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take this one,¡± I said. I took a seat on a large root, then reached up and felt my head. While my wounds had healed, my hair was missing. I still had my eyebrows and all hair below my ears, so it wasn¡¯t a total loss. Maybe I could rock the Greek demigod look for a while.

    Varrin turned to the prisoner. He removed his helm and fixed the Littan with a frightening, albeit professional, stare.

    ¡°For the sake of your fellow soldiers,¡± he said, ¡°you will answer a few questions.¡±

 115 - Vyxmeldoa

    A cool wind began to blow through the forest, the gentle rustle of a hundred thousand leaves helping to soothe my emotional hangover. I took a second to collect myself, then briefly checked in with Grotto and Nuralie as Varrin began his interrogation. Our prisoner was uncooperative and Varrin was working the ¡°good cop¡± angle, so I suspected it might take a little time to get anything worthwhile out of the man.

    The sniper had fired his shot while Nuralie was still some distance away. He¡¯d also been a hundred feet up and hidden in the canopy, so there¡¯d been little chance of Nuralie catching sight of him. The loson had a couple of perception-related abilities, but it wasn¡¯t her focus. When running up against a party of stealth specialists, it was no surprise that she¡¯d missed a well-hidden enemy from hundreds of feet away through thick cover. By the time the crew of traditional fighters arrived, Grotto had been knocked unconscious by the feedback from Shared Fate, which broke our psychic alarm system.

    The whole experience made me feel out of my depth. When it came to Delves, the party was well-equipped. When it came to dealing with professional soldiers and traditional battleground tactics, our inexperience showed. Against a normal army, our lack of military focus was irrelevant because of the vast power difference between ourselves and mundane people. The Littans were deploying Delvers with a focus on soldiering, however, and we¡¯d been briefly outmaneuvered. We were still able to overcome the surprise attack through brute force, but if the enemy had been a higher level, I might have eaten it without ever knowing what had killed me.

    As it was, I¡¯d survived because I was a damn cockroach. Body of Theseus helped me to ignore some of the effects of the headshot, while Just a Fleshwound allowed me to recover without suffering permanent damage. After checking my notifications, I saw that the opening hit had done nearly 500 damage, so my enormous Fortitude had also come into play. That was a one-hit kill on anyone else in the party.

    On the other hand, my face being exposed was once again shown to be a big weakness. Seinnador had encouraged the choice, insisting that many spells required the caster¡¯s face to be visible or for their voice to be clearly heard. None of my spells or abilities took advantage of that fact, and I was beginning to think I needed a helm, or at least a thick-ass mask. The only potential exception was my chant while casting Explosion!, but that didn¡¯t give a massive boost. I thought that the extra protection would be worth a minor reduction to the effectiveness of that spell. It wasn¡¯t even a staple, just a nice opener.

    Honestly, I needed a total refit for all of my protective gear. My chest piece was trashed and the pieces of Madrin plate that remained only had basic weaves for physical resistance. With the way we¡¯d been dunking on Delves, it hadn¡¯t been an issue, but by this point, it was becoming a serious liability. Our timeline for entering the phase 2 Delve was flexible, so finding time to get better equipment would need to be a priority. The only problem with that idea was that Eschendur wasn¡¯t exactly known for their wealth of skilled smiths and mana weavers. Their Delver population was quite low.

    I began looking over some of the gear from the slain Littans, but it was lower quality than what I already had and a bad fit because of their slender frames. I was also in no mood to loot the meager items they possessed, aside from the mini ballista and its accompanying arrows of incredible size. Those were pretty neat. I also kept Shog from eating anyone, since that wouldn¡¯t have gone over well with our prisoner and I also held no enmity for these people. I didn¡¯t want to deny them a proper funeral. By the time I¡¯d finished my survey, the Littan captive was beginning to warm up.

    Varrin impressed upon the man that we had important business in Eschendur, that we would make our way through any obstacle in our path, and that it was in everyone¡¯s best interest that the legion not become one of those obstacles. The Littan was willing to give us the general location of the legion but refused to detail any of its capabilities, which was fine. We eventually placed the man in a fortified room inside of the Pocket Closet for safekeeping and I made sure he had decent accommodations. I wasn¡¯t trying to run a Gulag. We planned to turn him over to the Eschens once we evacuated Nuralie¡¯s village.

    ¡°The good news is that the legion is marching west, further into Eschendur and away from the village,¡± said Varrin. A look crossed Nuralie¡¯s face that made it clear she didn¡¯t agree with Varrin¡¯s use of the word ¡®good¡¯. ¡°The bad news,¡± Varrin continued, ¡°is that Nuralie¡¯s village connects to one of the few developed roadways through this region. Thus, it¡¯s likely occupied to secure the legion¡¯s supply lines.¡±

    ¡°How did they move so fast?¡± I asked. Varrin shrugged.

    ¡°Given their tactics so far, I expect there are more Delvers mixed in with movement and stamina buffs.¡±

    ¡°This feels like a lot of Delvers,¡± I said. ¡°Litta only gets twenty slots in the Creation Delve each year. Between this crew and the ones who died in the blockade fleet, forty of their Delvers have been killed. That¡¯s two years worth of Creation slots.¡±

    ¡°Most have been of an average level or lower,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s a notable loss, but not crippling.¡±

    ¡°Assuming 50 years worth of Delvers are alive in Litta, that¡¯s already a 4% attrition rate,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s pretty brutal for two days of war.¡±

    ¡°True. But, it¡¯s not our problem and not worth speculating over,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The immediate question is how to approach the village.¡±

    ¡°We can skirt the mountains to the east,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The terrain is too difficult for normal soldiers and there is less cover for ambushes.¡± She paused and looked at Varrin, who nodded for her to continue. ¡°We can then travel directly west to the village. It isn¡¯t far from the mountains, so we can get there quickly.¡±

    ¡°And if it¡¯s occupied?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Our approach should depend on who it is occupied by,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If there are mundane soldiers who pose little threat, then we can disable them and then evacuate. We¡¯ve already stirred up enough hostility from our actions so far. I would prefer that we not encourage more by slaughtering soldiers who are helpless against us.¡±

    ¡°I would also prefer less blood on our hands,¡± I said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a change of attitude for you since the blockade, though?¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Varrin clenched his jaw and considered the question.

    ¡°I have no issue with defending the party when we are assaulted,¡± he said. ¡°In this situation, we will hopefully be making a surprise attack. It feels unjustified to open with lethal force if we can avoid it.¡±

    ¡°The Littans are the aggressors,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°What would you do if they were invading Hiward?¡±

    ¡°I would focus on targets that are a legitimate threat,¡± he said. ¡°To be clear, I am not advocating that we place the lives of the Littans above those of your village. If they threaten the lives of civilians, then we use whatever force necessary.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your country, Nuralie,¡± I said. ¡°I won¡¯t tell you what you should or shouldn¡¯t do, but I¡¯d prefer we limit our involvement. So far, we¡¯ve responded when attacked. If we¡¯re taking the initiative, we should at most aim to capture.¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s tail twitched and her features were taut, but she didn¡¯t voice an objection. After a few more minutes of discussion, we headed out.

    We made our way to the mountains without issue and traveled north uninterrupted. It was a significant detour and since we were no longer racing the legion, we took it at a slower pace to keep a better watch for ambushes. By the time we were ready to head west, the sun had begun to set.

    We decided that a night assault would be preferable, especially given Nuralie¡¯s skillset. Those of us with darkvision helped to guide the others in the group through the forest, and we made it to the outskirts of the village by midnight. We parked ourselves a quarter mile from the village¡¯s outer dwellings and Nuralie began to prepare for her incursion. She wanted to go in alone, with the rest of us getting involved only if shit went south.

    She produced a set of long needles and began coating them in one of her concoctions.

    ¡°It¡¯s non-lethal,¡± she said when she caught me watching the process with interest. ¡°If I¡¯m not back in an hour, assume that there¡¯s trouble.¡±

    She took a step into the dark and disappeared. We waited in silence as the minutes ticked by and my anxiety grew with each passing moment. I began running worst-case hypotheticals through my head, worrying that a party of high-level Delvers might be lying in wait for us. What if the Littans had gotten ahold of information on Nuralie once they realized a loson was in our party? They might have been able to track down her hometown and laid a trap. The rest of Tavio¡¯s party were likely part of the invasion since Yaretzi was involved in the blockade. What if Tavio was here for a round two? There might be other, stronger Delvers involved as well.

    After forty minutes there was movement in the woods, and I peered intently into the dark, trying to make out what was approaching. I quickly saw the familiar form of a Guelon approaching, but it wasn¡¯t Nuralie.

    An older woman walked out from between the trees, pausing when she noticed our group. She spent a while looking at Shog before squaring her shoulders and marching forward, right up to Varrin.

    ¡°Are you Arlo?¡± she said,peering up at the big guy. He shook his head and gestured at me. The woman turned and looked me up and down, raising an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re the leader of your group?¡± she asked, sounding skeptical.

    ¡°Only because no one else volunteered,¡± I said. ¡°Arlo Xor¡¯Drel. And you are?¡±

    ¡°Tiania Vyxmeldo¡¯a,¡± she said. With no further pleasantries or introductions, she turned and produced a frog from beneath her skirt. She gave it a gentle squeeze and the creature let out a loud croak. She repeated this several times, and a horde of Geulons began to emerge from the trees. Even as a large group, their movements were silent and their bodies seemed to blend into the dark. Soon, there were over a hundred of the losons, with more on the way.

    ¡°Well?¡± said Tiania, turning back to me. ¡°I was told you were a portal mage.¡±

    ¡°He has a wide skill set,¡± said Nuralie, who was suddenly right next to me. This time, I only flinched a little. ¡°Not just portals.¡±

    I grinned, then opened the Pocket Closet, an act that was received with wide eyes and a few soft words of surprise. One Guelon even gently clapped. The moment the portal was open, Nuralie darted inside. I walked in behind her, finding her sticking a needle into the shoulder of our captive Littan, who¡¯d been sleeping. He grunted and sat up in alarm, then his eyelids drooped and he immediately fell back. Nuralie caught him, then gently guided him back onto the bed.

    ¡°Just in case,¡± she said. I ignored the light prisoner abuse and focused on my Checkpoint to Eschengal. I cast Shortcut, hoping that I hadn¡¯t fucked up this skill combo when I reforged the spell, but the portal opened without trouble.

    ¡°One hour to get everyone through,¡± I said, and we began herding Nuralie¡¯s village through the portal to the nation¡¯s capital. The crowd found this feat far more impressive than opening the Closet, and there were many thanks given and I even received a few gifts of fruits and vegetables as the people went through.

    Not all of the villagers were in good spirits, however, and I noticed more than one family with red eyes and somber expressions.

    ¡°How did it go?¡± I asked as Nuralie ushered more of her kin through the portal.

    ¡°There were twenty soldiers. I put them to sleep without issue. The villagers¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°were treated humanely,¡± she said. ¡°But there were several in the village who were sworn to defend it. They were all killed, along with the village priest.¡±

    ¡°They killed the priest?¡± I said. ¡°That seems¡­ unnecessary.¡±

    ¡°Eschen priests are often the strongest fighters in a small village like this,¡± she said. ¡°They are at least second-stage revelators, and have all been trained in the art of combat.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said.

    ¡°All of the nation¡¯s defenders are affiliated with the Church in some way.¡± Pause. ¡°Father Kiagalo was a good man,¡± she said softly, and I could tell that she was struggling to keep up a strong front.

    Etja had been watching the migration, uncharacteristically silent since our earlier encounter with the sniper. She came over and took Nuralie by the shoulders, then gave her a tight hug. She maintained a silent vigil with Nuralie, and the pair stood side-by-side until the last villager was through the portal.

    Tiania was the last to step through, and she stopped to study Nuralie¡¯s face for a moment.

    ¡°You¡¯ve grown up,¡± the older Geulon said. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± The pair watched one another awkwardly, and I figured there was some history there that I wasn¡¯t privy to. Eventually, Tiania nodded and then stepped out through the portal herself.

    My eyes turned to the unconscious Littan Delver, and just as I was about to ask how we wanted to approach handing him over, a gust of wind blew in from the portal.

    Standing just inside the Closet was a female Deijinon. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, was a hair over 5 feet tall, and had skin the color of a ripe peach. Along her head and shoulders were feathers of the purest white and wore loose-fitting clothes that matched, reminding me vaguely of an Eastern martial artist. She was smiling as she looked us over and had the level 15 above her head.

    Her soul, however, was even more potent than Zenithar Zura¡¯s, and the platinum of her Delver levels was woven into a rapidly swirling gale of mist.

    ¡°Zenithar Manar,¡± said Nuralie, bowing deeply.

    ¡°Hi!¡± she said, tilting forward and giving us a wave. ¡°I heard you were looking for me!¡±

 116 - Sakra Manar

    ¡°Oh, and feel free to call me Sakra,¡± said the Zenithar of Deijin.

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to meet you, Sakra,¡± I said, before introducing the members of our party.

    As pleasantries were exchanged, several more of the feathered Deijinon came through the portal. They looked around the interior with curiosity, their heads moving in swift tilts and bobs. Sakra also did a lap of the room while listening to the introductions, and I noticed that her feet never touched the ground. The space was filled with a gentle breeze that continuously emanated from her body.

    We were inside one of the bedrooms attached to my half of the Closet, which was by no measure small. Still, as one Deijinon after another continued to appear, it quickly became crowded with peering losons. While I felt a bit exposed, with my personal space being studied by so many prying eyes, there wasn¡¯t anything within that was too personal. There was a reason I¡¯d selected it to house our prisoner, after all.

    Sakra Manar eventually paused next to the Littan, looking down at him with the same vague curiosity as the rest of the room.

    ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡± she asked.

    ¡°A Littan Delver that we captured,¡± I said. ¡°Part of an ambush our party ran into.¡±

    Sakra went to the exit portal for the Closet, looking out at the dark wood near the village. She sniffed the air.

    ¡°What¡¯re you doing with him?¡± she said.

    ¡°Handing him over to you, actually.¡±

    She nodded and gestured at a pair of her fellows, who approached and carried the man away toward Eschengal. I was happy to have him out of my custody. I¡¯d been worried that the Eschens might not want to deal with the logistics of holding enemy combatants, and I was uncomfortable with the idea of becoming a Littan prison warden. I didn¡¯t ask what would ultimately happen to the man, as it wasn¡¯t any of my business.

    Sakra then floated toward Shog, looking him over. The c¡¯thon kept his silence and I noted that his swords had been stowed as soon as Sakra had appeared. The Zenithar eventually moved on to Grotto, and my bonded familiar slowly drifted away from her as she appraised him.

    ¡°So,¡± I said as she followed the Delve Core, ¡°we¡¯ve come to Eschendur over an urgent matter that we believe requires your assistance.¡± I glanced at Nuralie, hoping that she would take the reins of the conversation. While I¡¯d learned a little about Eschen culture during my lessons with Nuralie on Eschendur¡¯s native language, Losonbinora, I felt that our request would be better received from a local. The alchemist immediately picked up the lead.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura was sent a missive from Umi-Doo,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I would not want to waste your time if you have already been made aware of its contents.¡±

    ¡°All we¡¯ve talked about at our meeting of the Triarchs is the invasion,¡± said Sakra as she moved within a few inches of Varrin. The big guy stood stiffly upright, as though he was undergoing a military inspection. ¡°Explain, please.¡±

    ¡°There are many¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°dangerous entities threatening the world,¡± Nuralie began. ¡°We have faced a handful ourselves, and know them to be divine avatars.¡±

    Sakra¡¯s head tilted, the movement so fast that it looked like a twitch. She didn¡¯t comment, however, so Nuralie continued.

    ¡°These avatars have begun attacking the nations of the world. First, an avatar known as Orexis threatened Hiward¡¯s southern quarter while trying to release his sister, Anesis, from imprisonment. He destabilized a void sphere and tried to destroy a special Delve designed to hold many other avatars in captivity. Our party was involved in that conflict, and Hiward narrowly avoided disaster. However, Anesis was set free, and Orexis fled after fighting with two of Hiward¡¯s most powerful Delvers.¡±

    ¡°He kicked their asses,¡± I added. Nuralie frowned at me, but Sakra didn¡¯t react to my ¡®informality¡¯. The other Zenithars had been fairly casual, and it looked like Sakra was the same.

    ¡°Another avatar, known as Fortune, was also released from confinement during the conflict,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We do not know his motivations, but he helped Anesis escape. We currently consider him to be hostile.¡± Sakra moved to study Xim, who studied the Zenithar in return. ¡°The avatars disappeared for over a year. The destruction of a major city in Timagrin marked their return.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Sakra, looking away from Xim. ¡°I heard that Canotha was destroyed, but not how.¡±

    ¡°Orexis caused a large mana eruption, likely by destabilizing a nearby Delve.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s what he tried to do to Ravvenblaq,¡± I said. ¡°Although, that was more of a side effect of him trying to get his sister out. He also tried to detonate the void sphere after we made him mad, but we fixed that afterward.¡±

    ¡°Why are you all alive?¡± asked Sakra. ¡°If Orexis is really an avatar he could kill your group with a thought. He could literally¨C¡± She pointed her fingers at her temples and squinted at us. ¡°Just, think really hard and splat!¡±

    ¡°Erm, he wanted to use us first. Only level 1 Delvers could enter the special Delve where his sister was kept.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± said Sakra. ¡°That¡¯s odd.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it was a whole thing. He also had a shard of his soul running around inside that we had to kill. Kind of annoying.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d he manage that?¡± asked Sakra. She¡¯d begun drifting up into the air and spun lazily, horizontal to the floor. ¡°Delves are pretty tough with their entry requirements. They won¡¯t even let me inside with my divine treasures. I practically have to go in naked.¡±

    ¡°He piggybacked in on me!¡± said Etja, raising her hand halfway into the air. ¡°I was a golem he made, but then he used a primordial creation obelisk to give me a level, and then he hid a piece of his soul under the Delver part of my soul. The Delve kicked him out of me once we got inside, though.¡±

    Sakra swept over to Etja, turning fully upside down to look at her. She was still at eye level with Etja, the Deijinon¡¯s feet nearly touching the ceiling.

    ¡°I like your feathers,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Thanks!¡± said Sakra. She spun around to give Etja a better look. Her outfit had an open back that exposed white feathers running down from her shoulders all the way to her waist. Once she did a full rotation, she smiled at the former golem. ¡°I like your extra arms!¡±

    ¡°Much appreciated!¡± said Etja. She lifted off the ground and also did a spin. Soon, the pair were rotating around one another as they spun and floated. It looked like some sort of humanoid orrery. They just needed a central figure to act as the sun.

    ¡°Anyway, after Orexis set off the mana eruption, Timagrin sent some of their highest-level Delvers to deal with it,¡± I said. ¡°He and Anesis killed them all. A Hiwardian Delver party was there and reported back what they witnessed.¡±

    ¡°Soooo, do you want me to fight them?¡± Sakra asked.

    ¡°No, Zeni¨C¡± Nuralie began, but stopped herself. ¡°No, Sakra.¡± She paused after struggling to refer to the Zenithar by her first name. ¡°Our party discovered a way to increase the power of the System. This will allow more Delvers to be created and give all Delvers greater tools to fight the avatars.¡±

    ¡°There are more avatars out there as well,¡± said Xim. ¡°We spoke with my goddess, Sam¡¯lia, who told us the avatars will continuously get stronger over time.¡±

    ¡°Culminating in worldwide destruction,¡± I said, finishing the thought.

    ¡°There are three Delves that need to be conquered to advance the System to what is called phase two,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°One is level 30 and above, but we believe God-King Ayamari has already completed it. One is level 10 and above, and no available Delver parties are strong enough to face it. The third is level 10 and below, which is here in Eschendur. We plan to clear that one.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± said Sakra. ¡°Which Delve is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± Nuralie answered.

    ¡°Hey, I know that god,¡± said the Zenithar, giving us a wink. ¡°Didn¡¯t know Deijin made a Delve, though.¡±

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°I doubt that the god¨C¡± I began, but paused. I didn¡¯t know enough about Delves to be certain whether or not any were made by gods. I glanced over at Grotto, who shook his octopoid head. It was more of a whole-body shake, really.

    [Deijin would not be directly involved with creating a Delve,] the core thought to us. [The name of the Delve may be symbolic of the challenges within, or it may refer to the nature of the divine power that it taps into.]

    ¡°Interesting,¡± said Sakra. ¡°I guess that you guys want me to beat the level 10 and up Delve. Kind of disappointing that I can''t go to the Deijin one.¡± She pouted a bit. ¡°You have to tell me about it when you get back. Where is it, by the way?¡±

    I brought up the map the System had granted us and shared it with the Zenithar. She looked it over, her expression growing serious.

    ¡°That¡¯s going to be a problem,¡± she said.

    ¡°How so?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I did a fly-by of the Littan forces on my way back to Eschengal. It looked like they were setting up a forward operating base near that location.¡±

    I looked at the map, realizing that it was in the direction that the legion had been marching. Still, even with their accelerated speed, they shouldn¡¯t have made it that far yet.

    ¡°What kind of forces were present?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Mostly Delvers,¡± said Sakra. ¡°A bunch that were level 10 and under, but there were four level 17s and one that was level 34. He looked pretty important and tried to shoot me down when he noticed me. It was pretty impressive, considering I was half a mile up.¡± She rotated until she was oriented upright again, dropping closer to the floor. ¡°But I got away,¡± she added with a grin.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not good,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s good that you got away, but bad that the Littans have so many Delvers right where we need to go.¡±

    ¡°Why are they gathering there?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Do they know about the Delve?¡±

    ¡°They may know we are headed there,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We¡¯ve caused them some significant losses. It may be an attempt to capture or kill us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d prefer to think we aren¡¯t that high on their list of priorities,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯ve got a whole nation¡¯s worth of defenders to deal with.¡±

    ¡°How big was that ambush you fought?¡± asked Sakra.

    ¡°There were fifteen Delvers. One party of level 7s and two parties ranging from levels 3 to 4.¡±

    ¡°You survived that?¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s not as impressive as surviving an avatar, but still admirable. Between the blockade fleet and that ambush, your group and Zenithar Zura have caused most of their losses from what I know. We haven¡¯t ordered the monks to attack yet, and the local priests and deacons in those areas are sparse. You¡¯re probably a big deal for them right now.¡±

    ¡°Well, shit,¡± I said. ¡°When are the monks getting involved? Zenithar Dal said that you were marshaling the monasteries. I¡¯m assuming that¡¯s where the monks would be coming from.¡±

    ¡°Eh, we will be launching a counteroffensive,¡± said Sakra. ¡°No offense, but you all aren¡¯t on the list of people who need to know the specifics.¡±

    ¡°Even with an inquisitor on our team?¡± I asked, gesturing at Nuralie.

    ¡°Maybe if she were the High Inquisitor, which she isn¡¯t.¡±

    I grumbled over the minor inconvenience of not immediately being considered trusted allies to the level of receiving top-secret information of the highest order from a foreign head of state.

    ¡°Will the Zenithars fight alongside the monks?¡± I asked. ¡°Honestly, from the power you three hold, I feel like you¡¯d obliterate the entire invasion in an afternoon.¡±

    Sakra sighed and her shoulders slumped.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± she said. ¡°But if the three of us went to war immediately, it would create too many problems.¡±

    ¡°What kind of problems?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re the highest authority in each of our respective churches,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re sort of important, so risking our lives in battle is a last resort. We also rule over the government. That makes us a little bit more important. It would be like King Celeritia fighting a war on the front lines.¡±

    ¡°He has done that,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°That was a hundred years ago,¡± said Sakra, rolling her eyes. ¡°And he wasn¡¯t the king of Hiward then.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Varrin admitted.

    ¡°The Zenithars taking the field would probably cause an escalation, as well.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. You mean that Litta might send in bigger guns?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They¡¯ve got at least one full party in the 30s,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That level 34 you saw is probably a part of that group. They have three in the upper forties, including the emperor. They keep a lot of their Delving secret, so they may have more high-level Delvers than we thought.¡±

    ¡°Might explain why they¡¯re willing to throw away so many low-level Delvers,¡± I said.

    ¡°They weren¡¯t thrown away,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They got unlucky that they ran into us.¡±

    ¡°Point is,¡± said Sakra, ¡°we don¡¯t want to invite every big shot from Litta to join in.¡±

    ¡°How effective will your monks be against Delvers in those level ranges?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s their Delver-level equivalent?¡±

    Revelators were categorized in ¡°stages¡±, rather than levels, which referred to the number of revelations they possessed. The notable exceptions were revelators who were also Delvers, such as Sakra, Xim, me, and to a lesser extent, Nuralie. Those were quite rare, however. The people in the room might comprise the majority of the ones who existed.

    ¡°You¡¯re getting back into state secret territory,¡± said Sakra. ¡°Also, that¡¯s not an easy question. What level would you be without your revelations?¡±

    It seemed that all of the Zenithars could smell revelations on a person without being told about them.

    ¡°Uhhh.¡± My mouth hung open as I pondered the question.

    My Revelations gave me abilities that might be classified as top-tier perception and mind-affecting skills. Those would be governed by Wisdom and Charisma, respectively, but they did nothing for survivability or physical attributes. It might take a 30 in both WIS and CHA to get similar Delver skills, but those skills would be a lot narrower in scope and less potent overall due to their interaction with resistances. It also wasn¡¯t as simple as taking the required attribute score and translating that to levels, since the revelations didn¡¯t give me all the other benefits of possessing high attribute scores, such as a robust mana pool or a potent social presence.

    ¡°I dunno,¡± I said, and Sakra gave me a see-what-I-mean? gesture.

    ¡°Moving back to the topic at hand,¡± said Varrin, ¡°getting inside the Delve will become even more complicated once the legion makes it to that forward operating base.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, if we have to go HAM on Littan Delvers to make it inside, then having a thousand mundane soldiers in the mix would make for a bloody mess.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t just mean the potential for collateral damage,¡± said Varrin. ¡°With wide-area buffs, they may become an actual threat.¡±

    I thought back to the ruffians that had been imbued by Demarsus when I¡¯d fought the crime lord in his warehouse alongside Lito and Myria. The henchmen hadn¡¯t given me too much trouble, but they had been able to hurt me. I¡¯d gotten a lot stronger since then, but Demarsus hadn¡¯t been built around buffs. Those people had also been thugs, not soldiers, there¡¯d only been a dozen of them, and their gear had been dumpster-tier. A thousand well-trained and well-equipped soldiers with high-level buffs from Delvers dedicated to enhancement skills might prove troublesome.

    ¡°They may also have more tricks, like those specialized ships,¡± Varrin added. ¡°Those mana-woven cannons could put out a lot of damage, and it may not take a Delver to fire one.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re still magic items,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯d need a connection to their mana matrix. That would fry a mundane soldier.¡±

    ¡°Maybe. We don¡¯t know enough about their technology right now.¡±

    ¡°Okay, sure. If we want to beat the legion, then we need to make our way to the Delve sooner, rather than later.¡±

    ¡°Based on the legion¡¯s speed so far, we¡¯d have a day and a half at most,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Great. We don¡¯t even have a good way to keep ourselves from running into another ambush, especially if we¡¯re rushing.¡±

    ¡°There are solutions,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We had too many people in the field last time. It makes us easier to target.¡± Pause. ¡°Some of us could stay in the Closet.¡±

    ¡°Good idea,¡± said Xim. ¡°Arlo could also wear something other than a brightly colored hood and pants. Even your steel breastplate stands out in the middle of a forest.¡±

    ¡°I could carry us through the canopy,¡± Shog offered. ¡°If I am only burdened by Slayer, then I am confident I can move silently while staying hidden.¡±

    ¡°Shog is green and black,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That will give him an advantage for blending in with the environment. There would also be no sound from footfalls or pushing through the brush.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d need some camo,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe some leather armor that¡¯s been dyed.¡± I quickly checked on the portal to Eschengal, reviewing the time we had left before it closed. There were only a few more minutes. ¡°Looks like we don¡¯t have time for shopping.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s also the middle of the night,¡± said Xim.

    Nuralie responded by pulling out several blankets from her inventory. They were darkly colored, ranging from black to olive green. I looked down at the pile.

    ¡°Guess I can wrap myself up like a woodland banshee. Dammit, I really wanted to look for some better armor.¡±

    ¡°Nuralie can scout from stealth like she did previously,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Grotto was obscured by my stealth skills while he¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°rode me.¡±

    [I do not like that characterization at all.]

    ¡°Grotto stays with Nuralie then,¡± I said. ¡°I have to stay outside for the Closet to move, so I¡¯ll follow behind at a distance while carried by my own faithful steed, Shog. Everyone else can wait it out inside.¡±

    ¡°Sounds great!¡± said Sakra.

    We all looked at the Zenithar, and I realized we¡¯d forgotten about an important matter. The entire reason that we¡¯d wanted to speak to Sakra Manar in the first place.

    ¡°So, uh, do you want to go and do that level 10 and up Delve?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think that I can do that right now.¡±

 117 - Delayed Evolutions

    ¡°But, before I decide anything, tell me more about the Delve,¡± Sakra said. ¡°Where is it?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on the other side of the continent,¡± I said, trying to sound casual. ¡°Between south Timagrin and Davah.¡±

    ¡°In the ocean?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s on the seafloor,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve confirmed that,¡± I said.

    ¡°There¡¯s nothing else there,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°No islands. The waters have been well traveled.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know that for sure.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called Saekongr¡¯s Crevice, Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°Not only is it at the bottom of the sea, it¡¯s probably even deeper. It may be inside of a crevice, for example.¡±

    ¡°But,¡± I said. ¡°We don''t know that for sure.¡±

    Xim sighed in exasperation.

    ¡°C¡¯mon, are you guys even trying to be persuasive?¡±

    ¡°Why does it need to be me?¡± asked Sakra.

    ¡°These Delves are extremely difficult,¡± I said. ¡°From what we can tell, they only allow the best parties inside, and none have ever returned.¡±

    ¡°Except for God-King Ayamari,¡± said Sakra. ¡°Who you say defeated the one that¡¯s level 30 and above, and who is supposed to be the most powerful creature on the planet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s our theory, at least. Also, Ayamari¡¯s status as the strongest is unclear since the avatars appeared.¡±

    ¡°Do you know how long the Delve should take?¡±

    ¡°We do not,¡± I said. ¡°Are there any Delves that take longer than a week, though?¡±

    ¡°The Mimic Delve had no time limit,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s possible that we could have spent longer inside.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but it only took as long as it did because we were careful. Even then, it was just a few days.¡±

    ¡°Your concept of ¡®careful¡¯ is questionable,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°What kind of Delve is it?¡± Sakra asked. ¡°Know what¡¯s inside?¡±

    ¡°No idea,¡± I answered.

    ¡°The name usually gives a hint. Who is Saekongr?¡±

    ¡°Good question. We should look that up.¡±

    ¡°Umi-Doo made no comment on the name,¡± said Varrin. ¡°And I could find no information about who Saekongr was during our time off.¡±

    ¡°It may not even be a person,¡± Nuralie added.

    ¡°If the entrance is underwater,¡± said Sakra, ¡°the entire Delve might be submerged. That would make many of my abilities difficult to use.¡±

    Deijin was the Eschen god of the sky, so the concern made sense.

    ¡°There¡¯s oxygen in water,¡± I said. ¡°Hydrogen as well.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°They¡¯re both gases when they aren¡¯t bonded.¡±

    ¡°Sky is a concept,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is not as simple as an elemental composition.¡±

    ¡°And everyone who has entered has died?¡± asked Sakra.

    ¡°Not that many have gone in,¡± I said. ¡°Also, no one knows for sure what happens to people who get trapped inside of a Delve like that.¡±

    [They perish,] Grotto thought to us.

    ¡°Is that true every time, though?¡±

    [If they are trapped, yes.]

    ¡°Well, mystery solved.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t a mystery,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Your request is that I abandon my post as one of the three pillars of Eschendur while we are being invaded by a hostile nation,¡± said Sakra. ¡°So that I can travel halfway across the known world, dive to the bottom of the ocean, and single-handedly take on a Delve for anyone level 10 and up. A Delve that has killed everyone who has ever entered.

    She took a breath.

    ¡°The reason I¡¯d be doing this is so that the Delvers of the world will receive unknown benefits to use against the ambiguous threat posed by these avatars, which have so far not had any impact on my country.¡±

    ¡°We have some evidence that Orexis tried to inflame the hostilities between Eschendur and Litta,¡± I said, grasping at a bit of intel Umi-Doo had shared with us long ago. ¡°I also wouldn¡¯t say that the avatar threat is ambiguous.¡±

    ¡°What are the avatars trying to accomplish?¡± asked Sakra. ¡°Why are they trying to accomplish it? How long do we have until they do? Where will they strike next? Who leads them?¡±

    The questions hung in the air, and I felt like we¡¯d shown up to a test that we hadn¡¯t studied for.

    ¡°Sakra,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The avatars may not have encroached on Eschendur yet, but whenever they have risen in the past, they decimate all of society.¡± Pause. ¡°You have said that the Zenithars will not fight the Littans directly. Zenithars Zula and Dal are more involved with the leadership of the monasteries, aside from Skyharbor. The brief loss of your leadership will certainly be felt, but the war effort will function in your absence, will it not?¡±

    ¡°We got about sixty seconds left on the Eschengal portal,¡± I said.

    ¡°You speak as though you know our inner workings, child,¡± said Sakra, her carefree demeanor dropping. ¡°You do not. While I appreciate your plight, this is not a matter that I can decide alone. The avatars are distant, while the Littans are within our borders.

    ¡°I will discuss these matters with the other Zenithars, and we will decide my course in our roles as Triarchs of this nation.¡± A gust of wind took her outside of the Closet, her fellow Deijinon having already left. ¡°Until then, may the winds be at your backs, and the skies above you clear.¡± She took a breath, her body language becoming relaxed again as she gave us a smile. ¡°Good luck!¡± She waved at us as the portal collapsed inward. ¡°Don¡¯t die!¡±

    The portal blinked and disappeared, leaving me staring at a wall.

    ¡°Could have gone better,¡± I said.

    ¡°Could have gone much worse,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Eh, I think she wants to do it,¡± said Xim. ¡°She just needs to deal with the Littans first.¡±

    ¡°There are many demands on the Zenithars,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°There is a reason she stopped Delving at level 15. Her time is precious.¡±

    ¡°I hope she comes around before Eschendur faces a tragedy like Timagrin,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Or before the avatars target the Zenithars themselves,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°They are a significant power in the world.¡±

    I sighed, then picked up one of the blankets Nuralie had dumped on the ground.

    ¡°No time to be gloomy,¡± I said, holding some of the cloth up to my chest. ¡°Anyone here pick up Tailoring recently?¡±

    *****

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    We set out from Nuralie¡¯s village after securing the pauper¡¯s camo to my body with rope, belts, and sashes. I kept my armor on beneath since I wouldn¡¯t be moving much while Shog carried me, reducing the chance of the plates clink-clanking.

    Nuralie took the lead with Grotto on her shoulder, while everyone else stayed inside the Closet. They would take the time to work on their skills but were ready to come out at a moment¡¯s notice if there was trouble.

    I didn¡¯t have much to do. My mobility was limited while wrapped tightly in Shog¡¯s embrace, and it wasn¡¯t like I could practice any flashy spells. We were taking a slightly circuitous route northwest intending to outpace the legion before turning directly north to make our way to the Delve near the country¡¯s center. That would give us at least twenty hours of travel, so I had time to burn.

    I decided to finalize a couple of build decisions I¡¯d been putting off while keeping my Soul-Sight up and my eyes peeled. I had evolutions available for both Heavy Armor and Shields but had procrastinated committing to anything since I wasn¡¯t confident in what my build needed. Between my near-death experiences with Yaretzi and the Littan sniper, survivability was beginning to become an issue, so I felt that I couldn¡¯t put it off any longer.

    I had a level 20 evolution for Shields and a level 10 evolution for Heavy Armor. Level 10 was a less significant evolution, so I focused on Heavy Armor first.

    The initial option might have been helpful with our current stealth problems, but I doubted that it would have made a difference with the sniper.

    1) Lightweight Alloys: Heavy armor you wear becomes light as a feather and no longer affects your movement or mobility. Additionally, any sound made by your armor is substantially reduced.

    It was a decent buff for anyone who wanted to focus on heavy armor while having a relatively low Strength score. While the Madrin plate I normally wore wasn¡¯t as heavy as frozen steel or dark iron, it was still heavier than regular steel. I¡¯d be lying if I said it didn¡¯t weigh me down. It hadn¡¯t had too big of an impact on my combat mobility, since I could use Shortcut for positioning. Still, that tactic would become unavailable if I used the reforged Reckless Shortcut for a big teleport and put the skill on cooldown. The extra speed and easier time dodging would surely be helpful.

    As far as the stealth component, I didn¡¯t really care. Being able to move while undetected was an advantage, but it wasn¡¯t something I was ever planning to focus on. In most circumstances, I wanted to be seen and heard. Our current situation was a rare exception, and I felt that using an Evolution for such a circumstance would be a waste. Besides, it¡¯s not like the sniper heard me from over a mile away. He just saw my beautiful face and sought to destroy it out of jealousy.

    2) Resilient Alloys: Choose 1 class of damage from the following choices. You receive 1 point of damage reduction against that class for each level of Heavy Armor.

    <ul>

    <li>Physical</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Spiritual</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Divine</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Mystical</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Dimensional</li>

    </ul>

    After having spent a long time considering my weaknesses, I thought that this option was more in line with what I needed. At first, I wondered whether I required more pure defense. I had a massive health pool and incredible regen, which already made me a tough cookie to crack. However, my mitigation was trash.

    High health was pointless if an enemy could carve you up with a butter knife. If I protected my health pool, each point of health would become more valuable, since it took more effort from the enemy to eliminate it. Having a substantial amount of flat DR would also make me invulnerable against weaker enemies and attacks, removing the threat of death by a thousand cuts.

    The problem was deciding what class of damage to select. Physical damage was the majority of what I ran into, even in Delves. Kinetic damage such as slashing, pierce, and blunt were Physical but were already being mitigated by my armor, shield, and good old-fashioned dodging. Elemental damage like lightning, fire, and acid were also physical damage types that bypassed some of my traditional defenses. Metal armor didn¡¯t help much against a lightning bolt, for example.

    Doubling down on Physical would significantly improve my defense against common magic types while also making it more difficult to harm me with normal weaponry. However, Physical was the easiest defense to improve, whereas the other damage classes were more difficult to get flat reduction against. Normal armor did nothing against the other classes unless it had specific weaves.

    Like Physical damage resistance¨Cwhich benefited from Speed, Agility, and Fortitude¨Cdifferent attributes helped against the other damage types as well. Wisdom granted resistance to Spiritual damage and Fortitude granted resistance to Dimensional. I was already focused on those attributes, so I was already building my defenses there. Mystical had no attribute-based defense, but Mystical was also the school with the least offensive options, so it wasn¡¯t as big of a problem to defend against with specialized items.

    Divine resistance, on the other hand, was governed by the accursed Luck. Luck was my weakest stat, and I had no plans of putting any points there if I could avoid it. Its bonuses were nebulous and unpredictable, and I still had training stats that could shore it up another handful of points. I had no idea how to train it, aside from crossing paths with deific entities that could destroy us on a whim, but putting points there before it hit 10 still felt like a waste. The min-maxer in me couldn¡¯t tolerate the idea.

    Divine was also something the party was consistently running into and would likely continue to run into. Tavio had used Divine skills, Yaretzi had used Divine skills, and another member of that party, Gharifon, was in contact with at least one avatar. He probably had Divine skills coming out of his butt.

    Speaking of avatars, they were all Divine in nature, and the heavens knew that we were on the shit list of a couple of those folks. Further, the level 30+ Delve allegedly closed by Ayamari was replaced with a stone monument covered in Celestial text once it¡¯d been beaten. Celestial was the language of the Divine. The Delve we were about to crash was a sister Delve to that one, and it even had a damn god in its name: Deijin. I¡¯d bet my left nut that it had all sorts of Divine crap inside.

    Maybe that wouldn¡¯t be a very serious bet, since it would grow back, but it would still be a symbolic gesture of my conviction.

    What I¡¯m getting at is that Divine would probably be the best class of damage to choose since it was one of my lowest defenses, it was difficult to find sources of resistance, and we were walking a path that would probably result in a variety of entities trying to smite the crap out of us.

    It seemed like an easy choice, but the third evolution option was very tempting, and the main reason that I¡¯d spent so long deliberating.

    3) Receptive Alloys: Choose one piece of heavy armor you have equipped. Increase the potency of all mana weaves on that item by 1% for each level of Heavy Armor. This effect can be swapped to a different piece of heavy armor once per day with one minute of concentration.

    This option was the most versatile. The variety of weaves available for armor was endless. At Heavy Armor 100, I could double the strength of the weave. By the time I¡¯d made it to that level, I would probably have access to some damn strong weaves as well, making this evolution even more effective. Plus, I could swap it around depending on what I ran into or what other evolutions I eventually chose.

    However, it was kind of bad for me at the moment. I didn¡¯t have any heavy armor with good weaves. It was possible that this evolution would be the strongest choice at high level, but it was probably the worst of the three options with my current setup.

    I decided to stick with the philosophy of picking something that would help me survive right now, and that would remain useful at a higher level. I bit the bullet and picked the second option, granting myself flat DR to Divine damage that would grow with my Heavy Armor skill. It was only 13 points of DR right now, but Heavy Armor would be easy to train up to 20 and would keep advancing as I kept taking hits. The only reason that it was so low is that I¡¯d picked up the intrinsic a bit late.

    With that decision made, I moved on to Shields.

    1) Reactive Shielding: Whenever you block an attack, deal Force damage to the attacker equal to the level of your Shields skill.

    Simple, easy, useful. The effect applied to any ¡°attack¡±, which I believed meant that it would trigger even when hit from range or with a spell. The damage type was Force, which was Mystical damage and was therefore difficult to resist. It didn¡¯t do much damage, but it was a passive bonus that might make an attacker think twice about blasting me with chip damage. It might even encourage them to drop their high-damage trump cards instead, which I was in the best position to absorb among the party. However, it didn¡¯t do much in the way of making me an unkillable, spell-slinging meat wall, so it didn¡¯t get me excited.

    2) Dynamic Immunity: Choose one of the following status effects. A blocked attack cannot apply that status. You may select a different effect once per day with one minute of concentration.

    <ul>

    <li>Stun</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Bleeding</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Fear</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Weakness</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Paralysis</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>All sensory debuffs, such as Blindness or Deafness</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Toxicity</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Silence</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Berserk</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Fatigue</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Ignited</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Immobilized</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Mesmerized</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Paranoia</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Psychosis</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Slow</li>

    </ul>

    When I first saw this list, I hadn¡¯t even been aware of several of the listed statuses. For example, Mesmerized was fairly rare but would cause the affected target to treat the effect¡¯s source as an ally. It could completely change the course of a battle. The ability would also apply to any blocked attack, so it wouldn¡¯t just work for me. It would also activate when I blocked for an ally, which I did fairly frequently with Gracorvus flying around the battlefield.

    The problem with the ability was that it would work best if I knew ahead of time what statuses would be most common in the situation I was heading into. Some were fairly ubiquitous, like Stunned and Toxicity, so there were options that could be kept active as a general backup. Still, it was an evolution that might be completely useless half the time. It also didn¡¯t help when the status came from something I didn¡¯t¨Cor couldn¡¯t¨Cblock. It was very circumstantial, which wasn¡¯t my style.

    3) Spell Breaker: You may block any type of spell, reducing the damage by 5 plus an additional 1 per level of Shields. If the blocked spell is Physical, this DR is in addition to your normal block DR.

    Broad-spectrum mitigation against casters. The evolution did not apply to magic, only to spells, but spells were a significant chunk of attacks. It would make me much tankier against Physical spells, and give me some protection against spells that normally bypassed armor. Most schools had something along those lines, but Spiritual and Dimensional were replete with spells that ignored general protective gear. Martial techniques wouldn¡¯t be affected, but techniques that completely ignored armor were uncommon since they were usually layered onto physical attacks.

    I¡¯d hesitated on this choice primarily because I¡¯d been considering how to buff my damage output based on guidance from Varrin and Xim. If I wasn¡¯t a threat, enemies would just ignore me for softer targets. Reactive Shielding would add some damage to my build, but I decided that it wasn¡¯t enough to justify bypassing a good defensive buff. I¡¯d let my offensive intrinsics pick up the slack, and invest more into Intelligence to shore up any deficits. Somncres and Gravity Anchor had already done a lot to improve my fighting style anyway.

    I picked Spell Breaker and felt the burden of indecision melt away. Unfortunately, I was immediately beset by new worries, as I spotted an impressive soul in the distance.

    At first, I thought it was a powerful Littan Delver who was a league above any I¡¯d seen thus far. But as I studied the soul, I began to think that wasn¡¯t the case. The owner might be even more dangerous than a Littan powerhouse.

    The soul was potent enough to place them somewhere in the mid-20s. That alone would make them dangerous, but the true threat was the number of Special Delves they¡¯d completed. The soul was flooded with violet striations. It was a density I¡¯d only ever seen within one other entity: The Mimic.

 118 - Architect

    When I first noticed the powerful soul, it was little more than a glimmer along the distant horizon. Had I been using my eyes and relying on Soul-Sight as I had in the past, the entity would have been obscured by the thick vegetation of the Eschen swamplands. I wouldn¡¯t have seen it until we were much closer. However, I¡¯d learned a few lessons from my recent experience of having a vacuous head.

    One curiosity after the headshot was that, while I hadn¡¯t been able to recognize faces, I had been able to recognize souls. One possible explanation was that such information was processed by a different part of my brain from faces, one that hadn¡¯t been injured. But, the majority of my mental faculties had been hindered to some extent.

    I wasn¡¯t a neurologist, but I was pretty sure several processes had been interrupted even though the corresponding structure in my brain hadn¡¯t been directly injured. Perhaps there was a ripple effect from the trauma, and the jolt to my head caused widespread damage to my entire brain beyond the parts directly impacted by the ballista bolt. Maybe my outrageous constitution allowed me to stay conscious during the ¡®reset¡¯ that might occur when getting knocked out, which caused temporary mayhem across the board. Either way, Soul-Sight not only remained unaffected but was more potent than it had ever been.

    What I thought to be more likely was that the information from Soul-Sight wasn¡¯t all being processed by my physical brain.

    I hadn¡¯t suffered any of the deleterious effects from Soul-Sight while it went on auto-pilot, such as feeling overwhelmed or painfully blinded. Souls were crystal clear, with more information available than in the past. I could sort and filter the sight effortlessly, guiding the skill with incredible nuance. I could do this, even though I couldn¡¯t read or recognize the faces of my party members.

    Soul-Sight connected directly to the soul, and I began to work under the theory that much of the information passed directly into my spiritual self. The sensations I¡¯d experienced were closer to impressions and intuition than rationalized concepts born of higher reasoning. I felt like it all needed to reach my brain eventually, but I wondered whether my wetware was getting in the way during the intake. Perhaps my overreliance on being cerebral was to my detriment in this instance.

    So, I began trying to capture that feeling of mindlessness. I allowed the ability to guide itself, rather than trying to force technique or structure upon it. I let the sensations flow into me unfiltered and unopposed, and tried to limit my mind¡¯s involvement to receiving the fully-formed insights, rather than doing the processing itself.

    Simply put, there¡¯d been too many cooks in the kitchen. I amended the flow of information from hitting both my brain and soul simultaneously to having the soul take in the info first, which then sent it along to my brain, packaged up nice and neat.

    Overall, this left me pondering how divorced my current philosophy of thought was from my Earth self. I¡¯d never been religious or spiritual. I¡¯d never believed in souls, karma, or gods. I¡¯d developed some habits like meditation, but they were centered around the concrete psychological and physiological benefits that could be provided, not some metaphysical connection to my transcendental self.

    Yet, here I was, allowing my soul to process spiritual information granted to me by a divine revelation while relegating my rational self to the role of observation. Of course, all of this was still based on hypotheses that could be tested and supported with quantifiable results, so it would be silly to try and live my life the way I had on Earth. When faced with new evidence¡­ so on and so forth.

    I sent a message to Nuralie via Grotto about the mysterious presence. We¡¯d finished our western route and moved north toward the Delve and the Littan operating base. The soul wasn¡¯t directly in our path, but it wasn¡¯t too far off course.

    ¡°Why would you want to approach something like that?¡± Nuralie thought to me through our Grotto relay. ¡°Are you certain that your brain grew back correctly?¡±

    [Hear me out,] I replied. [Unless the Empire suddenly has access to dozens more special Delves than the rest of the world, I don¡¯t think that it¡¯s a Littan. The feeling I get from it is closer to an entity like The Mimic.]

    ¡°This does not encourage me to get closer to it. The Mimic was¡­ violent.¡±

    [The Mimic was testing us, not trying to kill us,] I thought back. [Well, maybe it was testing us by trying to kill us, but all of that was part of it deciding whether we were ¡®worthy¡¯ of information about phase two.]

    ¡°Even if it is something like The Mimic, why does that matter? We have the knowledge we need. Why put ourselves at risk?¡±

    [There¡¯s a small army of Littan Delvers around the entrance to the Delve. Our current plan to deal with that is to hope the level 34 isn¡¯t there and run in quick.]

    ¡°We have many ways to create distractions¡­¡±

    [Individuals such as The Mimic do not exist to provide Delvers with conveniences,] Grotto interjected. [They are arbiters of capability, the second filter that Delvers must pass through on their journey toward ascension.]

    [Yeah, but we don¡¯t need help with a Delve, we need help getting inside of a Delve. Wait, do you know what that thing might be?]

    [I do not have any specific knowledge,] Grotto thought hesitantly. [My duties always related to normal Delves. I did not manage any portion of the phase unlocks, although I have experienced them many times. Even if there is an Architect like The Mimic in this region, it would have no reason to assist you unless doing so was directly in line with its duties.]

    [Would it have a reason to kill us unless doing so was directly in line with its duties?]

    [That is difficult to say. I would not think so unless you become an impediment. However, the personality of The Mimic appeared to be¡­ unstable. I fear that whatever modifications the Architects have undergone to extend their lives have had some unintended side effects. There is also no way to be certain that this creature is an Architect.]

    ¡°It is an unnecessary risk,¡± thought Nuralie. ¡°We should investigate the Littan encampment before approaching something so powerful and unknown.¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    [Fine, fine. Let¡¯s have you scout out the Littans. We can pitch the idea to the rest of the party when we get closer.]

    With my idea shot down, we continued onward. As we went, the entity began moving east of its original position, placing it closer to our current path. We steered ourselves slightly westward to put some extra distance between ourselves and the mystery presence. The adjustment was met with no change, so I thought that it might have been a coincidence.

    However, as we drew near, the soul began approaching us at an incredible speed. I began to suspect that whatever the thing was, it didn¡¯t share our desire not to say hello.

    We stopped, and I opened the Closet.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got incoming,¡± I said into the portal.

    ¡°Littans?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Possibly, but it may also be an ancient being of vast power that¡¯s lost its mind in its pursuit of eternal life.¡±

    ¡°Normal enough,¡± said Xim as she walked to the portal¡¯s edge. She looked down. ¡°We¡¯re still in the canopy.¡±

    ¡°We can get the drop on ¡®em,¡± I said.

    ¡°If they are ¡°incoming¡±,¡± said Varrin, ¡°then why do you think we¡¯d have the element of surprise?¡±

    ¡°Just because they know our location doesn¡¯t mean they know our elevation.¡±

    Varrin sighed, but the group gathered up at the portal¡¯s edge, ready to move when something showed itself.

    Nuralie was once again more than a mile north of us, and the thing seemed content to ignore her. It grew closer and closer, but I soon realized that it was approaching a spot slightly southeast of us. It came to a stop a few hundred yards away, and three new souls burst to life in my vision.

    I immediately recognized one soul and could guess who the second belonged to. The third also felt familiar, but I couldn¡¯t place it.

    Three level 17 golds began duking it out with the unknown entity, and the sounds of their battle echoed through the forest.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Varrin whispered. The screeching sound of metal on metal came from the distance with the intensity of a high-speed car crash.

    ¡°I believe the mysterious interloper is fighting Tavio and two of his party members,¡± I said. ¡°Gharifon and¡­ someone else. I know that I¡¯ve run into them, but I can¡¯t think of who it might be.¡±

    We listened as trees crashed to the ground, accompanied by urgent shouts.

    ¡°Do you think they know we¡¯re here?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Were they tracking us?¡± asked Xim.

    I let the questions hang, thinking them over. It was possible we¡¯d been tracked, but I didn¡¯t believe we¡¯d have been allowed to make so much progress if the Littans knew where we were. Why would they wait, especially if a group of three level 17s were on our tail? Maybe they were unwilling to take any chances, trying to let us walk into an overwhelming ambush. The Littan encampment was still another six hours away, but it was possible they¡¯d mobilized a force to encircle us.

    I pinged Nuralie, but she didn¡¯t see anyone approaching from further north. She also wasn¡¯t being accosted and stopped her advance to dig in beneath a thick network of tree roots. If anyone could find her, it was because they already knew she was there.

    ¡°We could withdraw into the Closet,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Let this play out and check in after a few hours.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave Nuralie out here alone,¡± I said.

    ¡°You can keep up through Grotto,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If there¡¯s an issue, we can emerge in seconds.¡±

    ¡°Grotto can talk to me from anywhere inside the Closet because my inventory interface covers the whole interior,¡± I said. ¡°Otherwise, his psychic range is more limited. If I go inside the Closet while he¡¯s out here, it might cut off the connection. Eschendur isn¡¯t part of my inventory.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait it out,¡± said Xim. ¡°Keep silent, and be ready to retreat.¡±

    I nodded and kept watching the souls. I briefly considered how the level 17s had come out of nowhere. Soul-Sight was still susceptible to some stealth effects until I focused on piercing them, which meant their whole party had been hiding for some reason. That supported the idea that they¡¯d been tailing us, but I still wasn¡¯t convinced. Before I could think too deeply about the matter, the battle grew closer.

    A buff, brown-furred Littan in full plate shot through the foliage like a bullet a hundred feet from us. It was Tavio, and his body crashed through a three-foot-thick tree trunk, reducing it to splinters. Despite the abuse, the man managed to keep hold of his radiant spear and immediately kicked back up to his feet. He was covered in muck and spat out a wad of blood.

    A massive gout of blue vapor erupted to the east, and plants began to wilt on contact. Entire trees started to creak and tip after a handful of seconds, their rotting trunks no longer able to bear their weight. Reptiles and birds fell from the canopy in droves, and one massive, six-legged salamander crawled from a hole in the mud to slither a few feet before collapsing.

    From the mist, a figure emerged, moving so fast that the cloud swirled and began to disperse. Its form was a blur, but it appeared to be wearing ragged, stitched-together armor the color of a dying elephant¡¯s skin. Its face was a pale, emotionless mask that glinted as though it were made of porcelain, and its arms were exposed tendon and muscle with a set of bone blades at the ends. This was the entity I¡¯d been tracking. I quickly tried to identify it.

    The Operator: Architect, Level 24

    This was the thing that Zenithar Dal had been talking about? The Operator was one of the Architects?

    Tavio began to speak, but couldn¡¯t get a word out before the figure closed the distance. The Operator struck at Tavio, who blocked with the haft of his spear and was sent careening through the swamp again, out of sight.

    The azure cloud gathered itself back up and compressed as a Littan in bruise-colored robes appeared. The vapor formed a sphere upon the man¡¯s palm. It was Gharifon, and he pointed a finger at Tavio¡¯s attacker.

    The sphere warped and wrapped itself around Gharifon¡¯s digit, which glowed an eerie green. The colors mixed, and a tainted cone shot out from the Littan, leaving everything in its path rotting and decaying. The Operator leaped upward, out of the attack¡¯s path. Its eyes flashed with a light bright enough to leave me blinking away the after-image, and Gharifon¡¯s cone disappeared. The Operator kicked off from a tree with enough force to shatter the entire trunk, the top half of the tree tumbling away. It hurtled toward Gharifon, but as its blades began to close on the caster¡¯s neck, the man disappeared in a pool of shadow.

    The ground exploded as The Operator landed, and it immediately raised its blades to intercept a half dozen flying needles. Arms moved in a blur, and bright sparks flashed as each projectile was cleanly knocked aside. I scanned the trees, looking for the source of the attack, and spotted the third soul, though it was dim and subdued.

    The Operator¡¯s flesh began to slither along its arms, the bones and tendons reshaping to replace the blade with a crossbow in under a second. It fired a dozen bolts into the forest in less time than it had taken to transform the limb. The dim soul moved as though to dodge, but they flashed with pain as at least one of the bolts landed. The figure fell to the ground, but Gharifon¡¯s soul appeared for an instant next to the wounded person, and then both of them were gone.

    The Operator watched the trees for a breath, then lowered its limb and looked around.

    Tavio¡¯s group did not reappear. I scanned the surroundings for any signs of their souls but saw nothing. Either they¡¯d gone back into hiding, or Gharifon had teleported all three of them away.

    I held my breath as The Operator continued to peer around the swamp, then I glanced at my party members. Xim and Varrin looked on with stoic intensity, whereas Etja was wide-eyed and curious. Varrin looked up at me, and ever so slowly put one finger to his lips in a ¡°keep quiet¡± gesture. I tried to convey how little I needed that warning through the silent language of expressive eyebrows, then turned my head back toward The Operator with sloth-like speed.

    The entity¡¯s limbs molded and twisted until they were humanoid arms, all traces of its flesh-and-bone weaponry gone. It took a few heavy steps north but paused and looked around again.

    Its soul flared, and I felt a pressure wash over me that sent chills down my back. It looked up in our direction, meeting my eyes through the leaves and branches. Its porcelain lips never moved, but a voice like the grave filled the swamp.

    ¡°More scavengers to send back to the maker?¡± it asked.

    Before I had time to think, a hand was at my throat.

 119 - Generations Past

    Vines and foliage whipped past me as I sailed through the canopy in The Operator¡¯s grasp. Its grapple had come so quickly that I was snatched from Shog¡¯s tentacled grasp before he could tighten his grip. Varrin had drawn his sword, but even he couldn¡¯t match the Architect¡¯s Speed, and his blade cleaved through empty air behind us. We hurtled through space until gravity took its hold, and we landed amidst the water and mud with enough force to send the mire scattering for a hundred feet.

    I sputtered, nearly choking as soiled water flooded my nostrils and sought to invade my lungs. I blinked filth from my eyes to find The Operator drawing back an arm, its flesh molding into a spike. My mind raced and I strained to figure out how to defend against the appendage¡¯s inevitable descent into my skull. This time, I didn¡¯t think that I¡¯d survive the hit.

    I discarded the idea of struggling after a split second. The power pouring out of this entity¡¯s soul was immense¨Cit was out of my league. Even if I could get my shield up in time, I doubted Gracorvus would hold up. Instead, I forced air through my compressed throat and wheezed out a few short words before the strike came.

    ¡°The Mimic sent us!¡±

    The Operator paused, and its head tilted slightly to the side. His eyes flashed with stuttering light as he appraised me. On a whim, I concentrated on my memories of the party¡¯s interactions with the Mimic. I focused and reached out to my assailant with Reveal, holding the remembrance in place. I didn¡¯t seek to force my way into the creature¡¯s soul¨CI doubted I had the power. I reached out with the barest touch on its spirit, offering the experience to prove the truth of my words.

    The Operator flinched when it felt the connection, and the spike descended an inch toward me, but it hesitated. Another series of lights flashed in its dark eyes beneath the porcelain mask, and then it accepted the link. I focused on The Mimic¡¯s appraisal of the party¨Cthe good and the bad¨Cand then on its description of the three Delves. The Architect above me processed what I sent it, then loosened its grip on my throat.

    Varrin splashed down behind it, Kazandak held aloft to attack, for all the good that would do. I held up a hand to stay him, and Varrin held back. The rest of the party joined soon after, each person cautiously watching The Operator. It eventually released its hold on my neck, although it continued to straddle me, its thighs like an iron vice on my ribs. The experience was made stranger when I realized that, whatever this thing was, it appeared to be naked. The clothing that I¡¯d interpreted as ragged, stitched-together leathers was actually its skin.

    The spike morphed back into an arm, the patchwork skin sewing itself together as the muscle and sinew finished transforming. It turned to look over the party, then gave me a final, hard stare before it stood.

    ¡°The Mimic,¡± it spat. ¡°That whimsical child. It is too early, this will become another aberrant event.¡±

    While I was no longer mounted, the creature continued to stand over me, so I kept my spot in the mud. We¡¯d made a small crater when we¡¯d landed, so it was sort of cozy in a slimy, rapidly filling-with-water kind of way. Like being buried in the sand at the beach, but fucking gross.

    ¡°Sorry?¡± I said. ¡°The Mimic mentioned something similar. She said that this civilization wasn¡¯t advanced enough. Is that what you mean?¡±

    The Operator suddenly reached down and grabbed me by the collar. It roughly hefted me to my feet. Gobs of muck slid down my back and fell off in sloppy chunks. I also felt a hefty amount of mud oozing in my pants. At least, I hoped it was mud.

    I had to crane my neck back to meet The Operator¡¯s eyes, which was an experience I was sick of having. Seriously, if I¡¯d known that half of all the sentient beings I met in Arzia would be taller than me I¡¯d have given myself more than a couple of extra inches when I got the option to customize during my pseudo-resurrection. I was six feet and change, but between Varrin and Shog I was uncomfortably close to the median of our party¡¯s vertical measurements. At least Grotto was only three feet from top to tentacle tip, but he still hovered a hair above me at all times.

    ¡°This generation¡¯s technological development has advanced at an above-average rate,¡± said the Operator. ¡°However, it is still at a nascent stage.¡±

    I took a step back since the creature had hoisted me within a couple of inches of itself. It made no move to stop me as I recovered my personal space, and I began wiping gunk off of my bare head.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Well, early or not, we¡¯re here to challenge Deijin¡¯s Descent. We¡¯re not scavengers.¡±

    ¡°That claim is under consideration, but inconclusive.¡± It turned and began carefully studying the other members of my party. Its eyes lit up with flickering light as it looked at each in turn.

    ¡°What does that mean, anyway?¡± I asked. ¡°Scavengers.¡±

    The Operator ignored me.

    ¡°High-grade summon,¡± it said after scanning Shog, then turned back to me. ¡°Yours?¡±

    ¡°Shog is his own man, but yes.¡±

    Its finger swiftly turned into a blade and it swiped at my arm, leaving a shallow cut. I flinched back as everyone else tensed, but all The Operator did was watch the wound as it closed in a handful of seconds.

    ¡°Moderate Fortitude,¡± it said, ¡°with high regeneration.¡± It closed the distance and grabbed my arm, then squeezed. ¡°Low Strength, but above base.¡± It twisted my limb in a few directions, putting an uncomfortable amount of pressure on my joints, Varrin raised his weapon again.

    ¡°It¡¯s chill,¡± I said with a groan while The Operator bent my wrist in a direction it shouldn¡¯t bend. ¡°We¡¯re chill, right?¡± It met my eyes but continued its examination without responding.

    ¡°Similar Agility. Previous reaction time indicates the same for Speed. Verbal compulsion strength indicates the same for Charisma¡± Its eyes flickered. ¡°Mana matrix development at low-moderate, indicative of average Intelligence and Wisdom for a caster in the sub-10 level bracket.¡± It continued to hold my arm in its bone-creaking grip.

    ¡°Going to criticize my Luck as well?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Impossible. Insufficient data.¡± It looked my mud-covered form up and down. ¡°I suspect it is low, however.¡±

    ¡°I feel called out.¡±

    ¡°Attributes show clear progression outside of normal parameters,¡± it continued. ¡°Soul-manipulation of divine origin evidences revelatory capability.¡± It reached up and tapped a finger on my Ring of Healing, then pulled me closer and dug under my armor to produce the Traveler¡¯s Amulet. ¡°Avatar-made trinkets.¡± It finally released my arm, and I shook out the kinks from the rough treatment.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Think it knows your mother¡¯s maiden name?¡± asked Xim. The Operator turned to her.

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia does not normally concern herself with the First Layer,¡± it said. ¡°Another divergence.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I don¡¯t want to be analyzed next,¡± said the cleric. ¡°Do someone else.¡±

    ¡°I believe it is doing its own evaluation,¡± said Varrin. ¡°To confirm The Mimic¡¯s decision to send us here.¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± said The Operator as its flashing eyes dissected Varrin. ¡°Evolving Spiritual attunement. Rare.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a better review than you got from The Mimic,¡± said Xim as she elbowed the big guy.

    ¡°I suspect circumstances have changed,¡± said The Operator. ¡°Or she is blind.¡± It titled its head again. ¡°Equal odds.¡±

    ¡°What about me?¡± asked Etja, looking like a teenager ready to have her fortune read. ¡°Do me next!¡±

    ¡°Soul-imbued construct, evidence of avatar involvement,¡± it said dismissively. ¡°Even without your dynamic matrix, your candidacy is not in question.¡±

    Etja looked like she didn¡¯t know what that last part meant¨Cto be fair, neither did I¨Cbut she was happy to receive a positive evaluation.

    ¡°Have we passed your test?¡± asked Varrin, eyes narrowed.

    ¡°You four have,¡± said The Operator. ¡°But the Geulon hiding in the shadows displays insufficient qualities.¡± I raised an eyebrow and scanned the swamp, then spotted Nuralie stepping out from under the cover of a particularly shady tree. Grotto floated off of her shoulder and hovered toward the Architect.

    [Nuralie is an emerging revelator,] my familiar thought to us. [She also possesses enhanced attributes like the rest.]

    The Operator appraised the mini-c¡¯thon.

    ¡°Core 1156,¡± it said. ¡°Why are you outside of The Toxic Grotto?¡±

    [The Delve was infiltrated by a Delver who summoned a c¡¯thon to drain its mana harvest, after which this group slew the invaders destroying the Delve in the process.]

    It sounded like Grotto already had that explanation rehearsed and ready to go.

    ¡°Not a fan of how you worded that,¡± I said. ¡°You make it sound like we destroyed the Delve.¡±

    ¡°Why have you remained with them?¡± asked The Operator. ¡°Your priority should have been to seed a new Delve.¡±

    [Yes, well, there were various limiting factors in scouting out new locations. Further, I have found that this group provides advantageous resources in regard to¨C]

    ¡°He¡¯s my Bonded Familiar,¡± I said. The Operator took a second to digest the information.

    ¡°How?¡± it asked.

    [Several unfortunate events led to the System forging the bond.]

    The Operator squatted and placed a hand on its chin. ¡°That¡­ is strange.¡± It ran a finger through the wet soil. It was still in the form of a blade. ¡°What level of permissions does this group have?¡±

    [Phase two precursor information.]

    The Operator began drawing complex shapes in the dirt. I watched him work for a minute, and the shapes developed into something that looked like a mathematical formula.

    ¡°This iteration has produced candidates 23% faster than the last. The largest reduction so far.¡±

    ¡°What does that mean?¡± I asked. ¡°You said that it¡¯s too early, but what is it too early for? Why is it too early?¡±

    The Operator looked up from his equation to Grotto.

    ¡°Have you provided them with any historical context?¡±

    [No. Much of the information from the prior generation has not been categorized. I have been hesitant to share it.]

    ¡°Evidence of further degradation,¡± said The Operator. It stood, then peered back down at its formula. ¡°The System has had ample time to process that data. If it has not done so, it is by choice.¡±

    [I find that idea unsettling.]

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, stepping forward and putting myself between Grotto and The Operator. ¡°You two are obviously talking about something that the rest of us have no context for. Care to enlighten us?¡±

    The Operator slowly turned its head up to the sky and stared at the canopy. It held his arms out, as though it were basking in the few rays of morning light coming through the foliage.

    ¡°This world has been caught in a diminishing cycle,¡± said The Operator, and I was struck by its sudden turn from frosty and analytical to top-tier drama. ¡°The Great Work was set into motion by the Old Ones with holy intent, but the blessing they sought to bestow upon these lands has spawned a curse that endless peoples have endured for eons.¡±

    My brow went up, as it sounded like we were finally about to receive some concrete detail about the history of the world and the System. Of course, Grotto tried his best to get in the way.

    [I do not believe this information is necessary for the party to advance at this stage.]

    ¡°Really, Grotto?¡± I said. ¡°I thought you were cool again.¡± The mini-c¡¯thon bowed his head, but his eyes shifted as though he was watching for some unseen danger.

    [The System is always listening,] he thought to us ominously.

    ¡°Ever have we hidden the truth,¡± said The Operator. ¡°To force mortals to discover the methods of their own accord. To provide trials, to test and strengthen the candidates. Secrets, in every era, until the precipice of calamity.¡± It faced Grotto with its porcelain mask, the impassive expression marred by angry eyes. ¡°I shall not reveal the challenges, or solve the formalist puzzles. But there is no longer time for this age of sapients to discover the histories for themselves.¡±

    The Operator¡¯s gaze bore into Grotto, and the core averted his eyes in submission.

    ¡°The Old Ones sought to ascend beyond the physical realm,¡± The Operator continued. ¡°Through a hundred thousand years of effort, they birthed a method which could breach the membrane between this world and the divine. Through this breach, fragments of divinity flowed, and with these fragments, the Old Ones would saturate themselves. As their bodies and spirits fused with these fragments, their existence would naturally rise to the divine realm, as a bubble rises to the surface of the sea.

    ¡°Or so it was theorized. The process was not easy. For many generations, it met with failure. Countless perished during their attempts at fusion, and the energies involved were great. Such failures often led to vast destruction. Yet, there was limited success that drove them forward. New magicks were discovered, and men and women grasped power beyond what was possible with mundane biology.

    ¡°As the Old Ones experimented, they learned. The fusion needed to take place over time, which varied greatly from one person to another. Such fusion could also only occur with meritorious individuals, but such merit was not always measured by human values. Even with careful application, the subjects would also need to possess a fortified mind and an inconquerable will. These variables were vast. They were unpredictable. A guiding hand was required to manage the process. Thus, the System was created.

    ¡°The System knows more than the most learned scholar, sees more than the wisest sage, and is more incorruptible than the most valorous knight. With a world of knowledge and a singular mind to encompass it, the System alone possessed the insight and resilience necessary to fuse fragments of divinity with the mortal shells of the Old Ones. With reverent dedication, the divine veil was pierced, and with glorious celebration, the first generation used this tool and ascended.

    ¡°And after the first ascension from this world, the first cataclysm befell it.¡±

 120 - Damned if You Dont

    I leaned back against the gnarled trunk of a dark, contorted tree as The Operator spun its yarn, wishing I had a bit of popcorn to munch on. Kettle corn, specifically. I liked a little sweet with my salty.

    Despite the absence of snacks, I was still intrigued by what I¡¯d heard so far. Much of it added detail to suspicions I¡¯d already harbored, or theories pieced together from the information we¡¯d gathered. One thing that surprised me was the time scale the story dealt with.

    The Old Ones being responsible for the System was nothing new. It was practically the first thing Grotto had said when we¡¯d met him. But a hundred thousand years of experimentation to access the divine? Followed by multiple generations of trial and error before the System was devised? How old was this original civilization, and how advanced were they? Human civilization had existed on Earth for less than 10,000 years when I¡¯d died, but these Old Ones spent 10 times longer than that experimenting, presumably after they¡¯d already reached an advanced stage of development.

    ¡°Ascension is not achieved by a single individual,¡± said The Operator. ¡°When the first generation rose to the heavens, 10,000 mortals transcended at once. Their minds and souls joined to push through the thin breach between realms with their combined will. However, their passage was imperfect. It was like a man squeezing through a narrow tunnel of broken glass, shedding flesh and blood in his wake.

    ¡°Shards of the ascended were left behind; shattered pieces of individuals, no longer distinct and whole. These shards mimicked the behavior of the ascended and were drawn to one another to form a new entity that sought to ascend. However, by the time it gathered, the ascension had ended, and the breach had closed. There was nowhere for this new being to go. And so, it fell back to the physical world.¡±

    ¡°The birth of an avatar,¡± Varrin guessed, and The Operator nodded.

    ¡°That does not make sense,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The avatars are manifestations of fundamental gods. Concepts that are woven into reality. They are not¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°hive minds of mortal people.¡±

    ¡°How ascension changes those that ascend is not well understood,¡± said The Operator. ¡°To reach the divine, their essence may be refined to its most basic nature. Perhaps something like humanity is a concept, or perhaps each generation ascends to become part of a concept that the majority leans toward. The ascended might even be divided into a thousand smaller pieces once they traverse the gap, each to join the heavenly force that they resonate with.¡±

    ¡°So, they don¡¯t keep any sense of self?¡± I asked. ¡°Their identity is annihilated.¡±

    ¡°An individualistic interpretation,¡± said The Operator. ¡°I believe that their identity is added to a greater whole. Nothing is lost, but there is no ¡°hive mind¡± like the Geulon describes. The new entity is singular, but contains all the distinction of each individual within.¡±

    Xim tapped a finger along her jaw in thought.

    ¡°How does a random group of Delvers that missed their carriage to the divine realm turn into something like Orexis?¡± she asked. ¡°Were there a hundred psychos in the god of Yearning¡¯s generation?¡±

    ¡°Moral purity is not required to reach the divine,¡± said The Operator. ¡°If it were, then reality would be morally pure. It is not. But, I do not believe that it is so simple. When the veil is pierced, divine energy flows into this world. That energy contains the intent of the gods. This intent seeks to shape anything it contacts. The shards are incomplete, lacking the combined will of the ascended. They are¡­ easily corrupted.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°There are a lot more ¡®I believe¡¯ and ¡®perhaps¡¯ statements in your explanation than I¡¯m comfortable with, but assuming what you¡¯re saying is correct, then the entire avatar problem was created by the Old Ones and their System.¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± said The Operator. ¡°And the problem grows worse with every ascension.¡±

    ¡°Can we go back a little?¡± asked Etja. ¡°What happened after the first ascension? You said it was a calamity.¡±

    ¡°Yes. All of the world¡¯s most powerful Delvers ascended, and the breach to the divine closed. The System would gather mana for the next breach while the subsequent generation grew in strength, preparing themselves for their own ascension. When the first avatar fell upon them, there was no one strong enough to resist it.¡±

    ¡°Which avatar was it?¡± I asked. ¡°What concept did it embody?¡±

    ¡°The precise aspect is lost to time, but it is believed to be an avatar related to Unity.¡±

    ¡°Unity?¡± said Xim. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound very¡­ calamitous.¡±

    ¡°It sought to ¡®unify¡¯ all life within itself,¡± said The Operator. ¡°Whether such life wished to be unified or not. After the avatar appeared, the civilization of the Old Ones quickly fell.¡±

    Varrin grunted.

    ¡°If it was so dangerous, why is anything left alive now?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The avatars require a large amount of divine energy to sustain themselves. Once the breach was closed, the flow of divine energy was reduced to a trickle. With the world¡¯s Delvers slain by the avatar, there was no reason for the System to once again pierce the veil. The avatar starved until it went dormant.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡± I said. ¡°A few hidden survivors decided to start Delving again, despite the consequences?¡±

    ¡°No. All of the Old Ones were either slain or perished as the world became a barren wasteland devoid of most life.¡±

    ¡°Well, if everyone was dead then who-¡± I froze mid-sentence as a thought occurred to me, but it seemed too absurd to be true. The time required would make 100,000 years a drop in the bucket. ¡°Did¡­ an entirely new sapient species evolve and rediscover the Delves?¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± said The Operator. ¡°The next generation had no knowledge of the Old Ones or the dormant avatar. When they discovered the System, it was likely viewed as an incredible treasure. What records I can access indicate that they were able to proceed through all of the phases before the avatar of Unity reawoke. They ascended without ever knowing what they left in their wake, and with their ascension, created a new avatar.¡±

    ¡°How fucking old is the System?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I do not know,¡± said The Operator. ¡°The time between generations has also grown shorter with each cycle. There is no reliable way to estimate.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not an Old One?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°No. I am from a much later generation.¡±

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t anyone shut this shit down?¡± I asked. ¡°If the System creates avatars with every ascension, but the avatars are dormant while the System is offline, then turning it off would solve the problem, right?¡±

    ¡°For most early generations, the avatars were not discovered until they were on the verge of ascension,¡± said The Operator. ¡°As the cycle repeated, the avatars began to awaken earlier. Some of the more recent generations have attempted to destroy the System or to disrupt it before the avatars grew too powerful, but they all failed.¡±

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Why are the avatars showing up earlier each time?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I do not know for certain. Some avatars may be less powerful and require less divine energy. The avatars may act as beacons for the divine energy, pulling more through the breach or spreading it across the planet more rapidly. The breach created by the System may be growing larger or more unstable with each subsequent piercing. There are likely many factors at play.¡±

    ¡°Why couldn¡¯t the other generations destroy the System?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The creations of the Old Ones are very durable.¡±

    ¡°How durable?¡± I asked skeptically. If the prior generations were using magic and weapons granted to them by the System itself, it would make sense that¨C

    ¡°This planet once had a second, smaller moon,¡± said The Operator. ¡°The generation before yours first attempted to contain all of the avatars within The Cage. Then, to prevent the cycle from repeating, they brought the moon down upon the Delve housing the first System Core during their ascension.¡±

    My mind flashed to the map of Arzia and how Hiward was at the center of a large, circular gulf.

    ¡°Was that Delve the Creation Delve?¡± I asked.

    ¡°In what is now known as Hiward, yes.¡±

    ¡°They dropped a moon on the Creation Delve and it¡­ is fine?¡±

    ¡°As I said. Very durable.¡±

    My plan of developing magic nukes to atomize the System died as soon as it was formed. If an orbital strike big enough to carve a crater a thousand miles wide wasn¡¯t enough, then what would be?

    ¡°You can¡¯t just turn it off?¡± asked Etja. ¡°You¡¯re part of the System now, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°My role as an Architect does not grant me that power, no.¡±

    ¡°Grotto?¡± Etja asked, looking hopefully at the core.

    [If I even contemplated such an act I might be eliminated. I do not even have high enough permissions to divulge this kind of information to you without being terminated.]

    ¡°But you both participate,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re enabling this to continue.¡±

    ¡°All System assets go dormant after the ascension,¡± said The Operator. ¡°By the time we are brought back online, the process has already begun again. Core 1156 is bound by his role to assist the System. Although, his current circumstances may grant him greater capacity to act outside of his original parameters.¡±

    ¡°What about you?¡± I asked. ¡°Are you ¡®bound¡¯ by your role as well?¡±

    ¡°As an Architect, I have responsibilities that require greater authority than a Delve Core. I may take nearly any action I deem appropriate to test candidates seeking to advance to phase two. I have made¡­ ¡®creative¡¯ use of my authority to inform Delvers and try to find a solution to this dilemma. That is why I chose to become an Architect, rather than ascend.¡±

    ¡°You used to be a Delver?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Is that why The Mimic stuck around as well?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No. She is just insane.¡±

    That followed.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I swore. ¡°What do we do with this info? Hell, will unlocking the next phase even help?¡±

    ¡°The breach to the divine was triggered upon the Creation of this generation¡¯s first Delvers. Advancing the phase will trigger the System to expand the current breach, allowing for more divine energy to flow both to Delvers and to the avatars. However, the advantages granted to Delvers will be augmented by the System¡¯s guidance.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see. It might make it worse. What if we don¡¯t advance the phase?¡±

    ¡°The avatars will continue to grow in power, but their progress will be slowed. The Delvers of the world, however, will stagnate.¡±

    I rubbed at my eyes and struggled to keep myself from pulling tufts out of my beard in frustration.

    Part of me wondered whether I could trust anything this entity was telling me. It was, after all, a tool of the System. Everything we were being fed might be designed to keep the whole apparatus going, avatars or not. Maybe running into The Operator wasn¡¯t a coincidence, but something orchestrated by the System itself. Alternatively, maybe an avatar set this into motion and if we advanced the phase we¡¯d be handing it a nice powerup, damning us all in the process. We didn¡¯t have a good way to verify anything The Operator was telling us, other than to go into the Delve and poke around for ourselves. I decided to try and get some additional info from a different angle.

    ¡°Why were you fighting Tavio¡¯s party? The Littans?¡± I asked.

    The Operator¡¯s eyes smoldered behind its porcelain mask.

    ¡°There are several reality anchors binding Deijin¡¯s Descent to Eschendur. One of my duties is to monitor and maintain these anchors. Some time ago, the Littans discovered one of the anchors and began to interfere with it. I eliminated that interference. A second anchor is nearby, so I have been engaging any Littans that get too close.¡±

    Was it possible Tavio¡¯s group wasn¡¯t following us, but was hunting for one of the anchors? It seemed like too much of a coincidence. It was more likely that their group was following¨Cor at least searching for¨Cour party, and happened to stray too close to the anchor.

    ¡°Was that first anchor in the Gap?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then you were the cause of the Littan encampment being destroyed,¡± she said. ¡°You set off the entire conflict with Litta.¡± Nuralie¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t accusatory. She sounded more like a belief she¡¯d held had been justified.

    I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Let¡¯s say that we still want to get into Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± I said, then looked at the Operator. ¡°We¡¯ve passed your test, right?¡±

    ¡°The Mimic administers the test,¡± said The Operator. ¡°I ensure the Delve is operational and govern its access.¡±

    ¡°Alright, so we can go in?¡±

    ¡°The Delve will grant your entry,¡± it said.

    ¡°Great. Now the problem is how we make it to the entrance of the Delve. Maybe you can help us with that.¡±

    The Operator tilted its head as it considered the request.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The Littans have established themselves around the Delve,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We expect that some of them will give us trouble.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re on their bad side,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ve been told there¡¯s at least one that¡¯s pretty high level, so it might be tough to get through them.¡±

    ¡°I am aware of the Littans around the entrance,¡± said The Operator. ¡°How significant is the animosity between your groups?¡±

    ¡°We killed fifteen of their Delvers yesterday,¡± said Xim. She squinted up at the morning light coming through the canopy. ¡°Or was it the day before? Hells, maybe it was today since we haven¡¯t been to bed. I need some sleep.¡±

    ¡°They attacked us first, though,¡± I added.

    ¡°We were also partially responsible for sinking one of their fleets,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Only like 10% responsible,¡± I countered.

    ¡°And Arlo slew one of Tavio¡¯s party members,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°That was a team effort,¡± I corrected.

    The Operator scratched at its patchwork neck.

    ¡°I am heavily discouraged from assisting Delvers in any capacity,¡± it said. ¡°I have already disregarded that dictate several times, however. If you can complete Deijin¡¯s Descent, then I would no longer need to worry about the reality anchors for now. I could focus my energy elsewhere.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a yes? I¡¯m taking that as a yes.¡±

    ¡°I can create a distraction,¡± it said. ¡°I will not defeat an army for you.¡±

    ¡°A distraction is good enough,¡± I said. ¡°We can help with that, as well.¡±

    ¡°Many distractions,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°Big distractions.¡±

    I clapped my hands together and looked around the party.

    ¡°Before we move forward, have any of us changed our mind in light of what we¡¯ve just learned?¡±

    ¡°We need more advantages,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Hiward¡¯s best Delvers can¡¯t face the avatars as they are now. If they¡¯re allowed to develop further, then they will have an insurmountable lead. Even if unlocking the phase increases their growth, we just have to grow faster with the tools the unlock gives us.¡±

    As usual, Varrin had a well-thought-out and reasonable point of view.

    ¡°It is also a special Delve,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We will be stronger for having completed it.¡± Pause. ¡°I look forward to disrupting the Littan¡¯s operating base, as well.¡±

    I thought that Nuralie may have been focusing too much on the Littan part of the situation, but that was fine.

    ¡°We already came all this way,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯m not leaving without seeing what¡¯s inside.¡±

    A wholly irresponsible take from Xim, but I¡¯d allow it. We all looked at Etja, who shrugged.

    ¡°Go team!¡± she said. I grinned and shook my head.

    ¡°Good,¡± I said, opening my inventory screen and scrolling through the list of our ready-made kits. I stopped on the group labeled ¡°shock and awe¡±.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go confuse some Littans.¡±

 121 - Confusing Some Littans

    We returned to the strategy of keeping most of the party inside the Closet while Nuralie scouted ahead. The Operator moved with her, able to stealth using its own methods. Nuralie may have grown up in these swamps, but The Operator had called it home for much, much longer. It knew exactly how to move through the terrain.

    We made it close to the encampment without running into any further trouble. Between Nuralie¡¯s advance scouting and my Soul-Sight, we avoided a couple of basic patrols, but the Littans didn¡¯t seem concerned with catching a small group. I expected the watches they held were designed to keep from being surprised by an advancing army.

    After observing the movements of the sparse patrols for a while, Nuralie guided Shog and me forward using Grotto¡¯s psychic link. We stopped a few hundred feet from the edge of the camp. We couldn¡¯t see anything through the thick foliage, but The Operator assured us the camp was there. The Architect possessed a sense for anything close to one of the constructs it was responsible for guarding, and since the Littan encampment was built around the Delve entrance, the entity had a good understanding of its bounds.

    I opened the Closet, and we started our preparations in earnest.

    ¡°You¡¯re sure you want to sneak around the perimeter?¡± I asked as I handed a heavy pack to Nuralie. It was full of various goodies for her to distribute around the northwestern side of the Littan camp, which would hopefully help to obscure our approach from the south.

    ¡°The only reason the last group saw me is because Grotto started flailing through the brush before splashing down into the water,¡± said Nuralie. She eyed the mini-c¡¯thon as she deposited the pack into her own inventory. I handed her two more.

    [See how you react to the spiritually transmitted pain of your head exploding,] Grotto thought to us. He crossed his feelers and gave Nuralie an octo-scowl. [I cannot help that I am bonded to a man who insists on suffering life-threatening injuries every second sunrise.]

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m trying to get hurt,¡± I said, eliciting several doubtful expressions from the group.

    ¡°Khigra might disagree,¡± said Xim with a grin. ¡°How did you deal with that, Grotto?¡±

    [His training with the dominatrix did not communicate as¡­ pain. It came across as¨C]

    I cleared my throat. ¡°Moving on,¡± I said. ¡°Shog, are you confident that you won¡¯t be seen?¡±

    ¡°Any true predator knows how to take advantage of the shadows,¡± he purred. It sent a tingle down my spine. I nodded, then handed him two packs of his own, which he stuffed behind his tentacles.

    ¡°Then the rest of us will wait for Nuralie to return before moving in,¡± I said.

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Etja. She¡¯d been gazing into the forest since we came to a stop, but now turned her eyes to the soil and knelt. She ran the fingers of her lower pair of hands over the muddy turf, fingertips glowing blue. ¡°It¡¯s faint, but I can feel a ward.¡±

    ¡°Wards?¡± asked Varrin, looking urgently at the ground. ¡°Have we triggered them?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only one, and no, we aren¡¯t in its area of effect yet,¡± said Etja. ¡°I think that it¡¯s surrounding the camp.¡±

    ¡°One ward?¡± said Varrin. ¡°Surrounding the entire camp?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a big ward,¡± said Xim. ¡°Or a small camp.¡±

    ¡°The camp encompasses several square miles,¡± said The Operator.

    ¡°No single ward is that large,¡± said Varrin. ¡°To cover an area that big would require using many smaller wards in unison.¡±

    Etja shrugged.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know what to tell ya¡¯,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s one really big ward.¡±

    ¡°Can you discern its function?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not until I¡¯m closer.¡±

    ¡°Think it¡¯s something you can deal with?¡±

    ¡°I can probably shield us from its effects if everyone stays close to me. The ward is huge, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s super strong. Still, disrupting the entire thing would take a lot of mana. Way more than I have.¡±

    ¡°Will it cause problems for Nuralie and Shog while they set things up?¡±

    ¡°Not if they stay outside of the camp itself,¡± said Etja. ¡°The problem will come once we¡¯re inside.¡±

    ¡°Another minor inconvenience,¡± I muttered. ¡°Doesn¡¯t change much. We¡¯ve all got out marching orders.¡± I turned to The Operator. ¡°What do you plan on doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll engage the Level 34,¡± it said, before stepping away into the forest and disappearing.

    ¡°Power move,¡± said Xim.

    I turned to give Nuralie and Shog the go-ahead, but both of them had already disappeared as well.

    ¡°Did anyone know Shog could be that sneaky?¡± I asked.

    [The mana fiend¡¯s abilities have grown considerably since encountering the specter and even more so since consuming Yaretzi. His intelligence has always been unusually high for a c¡¯thon, but I suspect he has also gained access to something analogous to intrinsic skills.]

    ¡°What, and he put levels in stealth?¡± I asked.

    [He survived for months within his own dimension after being grievously wounded by the specter and came out of it even more powerful. We do not know what methods he employed to slay the countless other c¡¯thons that sought to consume him while he was in a weakened state.]

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said.

    [With his rate of growth, it will not be long before he is powerful enough to become a brood king in his realm.]

    My brow knitted at the thought but decided not to enter the rabbit hole Grotto was inviting me down into.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to count entirely on the distractions,¡± I said. ¡°I also don¡¯t want to go on a wholesale slaughter through the Littans. Whatever price the Empire might have on our heads at the moment, we should try to make sure it doesn¡¯t go much higher. So, does anybody have any fresh crowd-control tactics?¡±

    ¡°I picked up a new active,¡± said Xim. ¡°It¡¯s a fear ability, but it¡¯s nowhere big enough to affect a whole camp full of people.¡±

    [I may be able to help with that.]

    ¡°Oh?¡± I said, looking at Grotto. ¡°Do tell.¡±

    [I considered your advice to work on a skill for use outside of Delve management. My capabilities are ill-suited for raw combat, but I have developed a method that can augment any mind-affecting abilities used by a party member.]

    ¡°Hmm. Take little fear and make it big fear?¡±

    ¡°Works for me,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°I also have something I can try,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, I can punch people instead of cutting them in half.¡±

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably be focused on countering the ward,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°And I will¡­ block things, I guess,¡± I said. I really didn¡¯t have a great CC ability. I could knock people around with Gravity Anchor, but that wasn¡¯t ideal for the upcoming scenario.

    After discussing things a little further, we quickly settled into vigilant silence as we waited for Nuralie to return. After about an hour, the loson reappeared, and we were ready to start moving.

    The camp itself was like a scar in the middle of the swamp. The Littans had clear cut all of the trees and burned away the brush and vegetation, the edges of the clearing covered in char and soot. Hundreds of tons of earth had been moved, raising the camp a foot above ground level and filling in any standing pools of water. It was packed down and firm, the excess moisture within the dirt burned away in the same manner as the greenery, evidenced by its dark, scorched surface. The smell of ash filled my nostrils as we watched a hundred Littan Delvers prepare for war.

    Most were level 10 and under, equal parts silver and copper, but there were a handful of golds around level 15. Two groups near the edges of the camp worked on large siege weapons¨Cwhat looked like massive, mobile ballistas, covered in runes and thrumming with power. There were a variety of other mana-enhanced and mechanical devices sitting on racks around the groups that I suspected to be advanced or experimental weaponry. A few looked uncomfortably close to rifles. The other Delvers were scattered between orderly campsites and training grounds arrayed around a large central command tent.

    The entrance to the Delve was supposed to be at the center of the camp. Since we couldn¡¯t see any obvious Delve entrance, I assumed it was inside the command tent, which was wonderful.

    Outside of the command tent stood an unfamiliar level 17 with lustrous amber fur, wearing ornate armor of white and gold. The way she directed the other Littans and how they kowtowed to her told me she was someone important; more important than her level might suggest. She also had an incredible presence to her that practically saturated the air. Even from hundreds of feet away, I could feel the pull of a massive Charisma score on my mind.

    ¡°That is without a doubt the most beautiful Littan I¡¯ve ever seen,¡± whispered Xim. I raised an eyebrow at her but chose not to comment.

    ¡°I¡¯m stealing that hair color,¡± whispered Etja.

    ¡°I believe that is the duchess Tavio mentioned,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That armor bears the royal crest of Seqaria, along with what looks like an important Littan house.¡± I saw his jaw work a bit as he thought something over. ¡°Perhaps there¡¯s a political solution to this matter. I could try and speak with her¨C¡±

    ¡°Guys,¡± I whispered harshly. ¡°Snap out of it. She hasn¡¯t even made a social attack yet.¡±

    Varrin frowned but nodded, and Xim shrugged. Etja¡¯s hair had already begun changing to a golden hue.

    Before we had time to become more enamored by the distant Littan, the first of our distractions went off.

    The launchers that Nuralie had designed weren¡¯t just for hurtling glow stones at the walls and ceilings of pitch-dark Delves. They also worked for launching all sorts of other things. She¡¯d even been able to develop a rudimentary mechanical timer to allow them to fire after a set period.

    The first set of launchers fired half a dozen of the Dazzlers developed and sold by Seinnador. These were not normal Dazzlers, however, these were Nuralie-modified Super Dazzlers.

    Six payloads shot out of the canopy and into the air, arcing toward the Littan camp. The shots themselves were fairly silent, no louder than a powerful crossbow, so only a scant few of the enemy Delvers noticed the mystery objects sailing toward their camp. Of those, only one had the presence of mind to shout out a warning.

    As several more Delvers looked around to find the source of their comrade¡¯s concern, each of the Super Dazzlers broke into six regular Dazzlers, which spread out as they descended onto the camp. A couple of spells intercepted the individual projectiles, but most of them landed throughout the northwestern quarter of the camp, and then exploded into bursts of sound and light.

    I averted my eyes as the cluster of Dazzlers rocked the Littan Delvers, the cacophonous blasts overlapping one another and making it sound like an airstrike had just landed on the camp. The Dazzlers were non-lethal¨Cto Delvers, at least¨Cbut they were enough to blind and deafen anyone with low Fortitude, while seriously disorienting hardier individuals if they were close enough. Needless to say, that got the Littan camp stirred up.

    Dozens of Littan Delvers clutched at their eyes and ears, with several on the ground, some unconscious. The rest of the camp burst into action, with defensive skills flaring and buffs being cast. The flap of the command tent was practically torn away as a scarred, broad-shouldered Littan in military regalia burst through and appraised the situation. It was the level 34.

    In Hiward, there was only a handful of Delvers over level 30. Delvers who pursued a full career delving gold generally made it to level 26. To reach higher required one to tackle at least some levels at platinum. A ¡®normal¡¯ platinum progression went through the first 30 levels at platinum, then dropped down to gold because the escalating difficulty of the Delves made it too dangerous to continue. So, to reach level 34, a Hiwardian Delver would conquer 30 platinum Delves and then 8 gold Delves. The most powerful Delvers in all of Hiward had followed that path.

    This Littan had not followed that path.

    He was level 34, and his soul held violet-streaked platinum without a hint of gold.

    A wave of mana erupted from the man¡¯s body and flooded the battlefield. It rippled out over the entire northwestern quadrant of the camp and cascaded into the woods. At first, I couldn¡¯t tell what it had done, but then a simple, worn longbow appeared in the man¡¯s grip, and ten arrows fired out into the forest toward a single point. The world was rocked with explosions that put the Dazzlers to shame.

    Trees fell as rocks and dirt were thrown a hundred feet into the air under the onslaught. All ten arrows homed in on one spot at an unseen target, laying waste to a significant chunk of wild swampland. As the debris fell back to Arzia, clattering and splashing through mist and dust, a figure blasted out into the camp.

    The Operator¡¯s arms were blades, his legs and feet were elongated like a mutated cheetah, and his passage was so fast that it shattered the bodies of Delvers in his path. As he rushed the platinum Littan, the man fired another dozen arrows, but the Operator knocked them aside with his blades in a flurry of strikes too fast to see. The arrows ricocheted across the camp, striking the ground with the force of mortar shells and sending Delvers flying. A look of consternation briefly crossed the Littan¡¯s face, and then he disappeared.

    A massive pair of wings made of bone and flesh erupted from The Operator¡¯s back, and it rose into the air, kicking up a storm of wind in its wake. I looked up to see the Littan a hundred feet in the air, wielding a large pair of scimitars. The Operator rose to meet him, and a shockwave heralded their clash.

    As the titans fought, two familiar figures emerged from the tent. Tavio stumbled out wearing his full plate armor and holding his radiant spear, but he looked worse for wear. He leaned on his spear for support, and I noticed that his soul was infected by sinister, dark lines. Gharifon followed soon after and looked up at the fight above with a scowl. He quickly turned to survey the treeline, however, ignoring the epic duel.

    As the rest of the Littan Delver camp gaped at the spectacle above, part two of our distraction began.

    Another series of launchers fired payloads of a modified edition of Nuralie¡¯s Night-Rush Potion. It was the potion Varrin used when he wanted a little extra spunk during combat, giving him a massive boost to damage at the cost of going a bit bananas. This version had been brewed with less of a focus on the damage while leaning more heavily into the herbaceous fruit portion of the concoction.

    In other words, it was a berserker potion.

    It had also been formulated to vaporize on contact with air, allowing it to be delivered via a lovely cloud of rage-inducing mist.

    Six bottles of Nuralie¡¯s Bad-Night Potion entered the fray. The Littan¡¯s were on the lookout for surprises by this point, and half of the bottles were destroyed by spells and techniques before making it close. The other three either detonated in the air over the camp or made it to the ground where they billowed out into angry fog. While the potion wasn¡¯t strong enough to make the Littans begin tearing each other to pieces, it put them into an acutely agitated mindset, which primed them for part 3 of the distraction.

    Shog had many tentacles, and we¡¯d given him bags full of many offensive potions. This made the c¡¯thon an automatic turret of bad news, which he began spreading throughout the Littan camp.

    Glass vials flew out from the forest at a rate of at least five a second, creating effects ranging from disabling gas, to smoke screens, to mundane infernos. A few exploded into bursts of sparkling, multi-colored sand that stuck to skin and fur. That was something Nuralie devised after I explained to her the concept of glitter bombs. They didn¡¯t have any true combat utility, other than keeping the Littans on their toes and making bath time a fucking nightmare.

    Once random bursts of inconvenience began raining from the woods, the score of Littans affected by the Bad Night began rushing out of the camp and toward the hidden c¡¯thon, slinging long-range spells and techniques with abandon.

    While the devastation was centered on the unfortunate souls in the northwestern quarter, many of the Delvers spread throughout the rest of the camp began moving toward the attack. None were so foolish as to walk into the area plagued by Nuralie¡¯s chemical genius, but many spread out to flank the enemy from the north and south.

    Ideally, all of the Littans would have been fixated on the madness, but the group had enough discipline to watch for other potential avenues of attack. Squad commanders held their members back and barked orders, keeping a token watch on the rest of the camp¡¯s borders. We¡¯d done a lot to thin out the herd between ourselves and the command tent, but there were still a substantial number of Littans in the way of our objective.

    We¡¯d planned for this, however, and so long as the big daddy platinum stayed occupied with The Operator, we were prepared to (non-lethally) carve a path to the Delve¡¯s entrance.

    ¡°Figured the ward out yet?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s an alarm and a mana-dampener,¡± said Etja. ¡°Alarm part doesn¡¯t matter, since they clearly know we¡¯re here. The mana-dampener will make our spells bad. It will also keep you from teleporting.¡±

    ¡°Can you handle it?¡±

    She nodded with determination.

    ¡°Good. Time to roll.¡±

    We all stood. Etja held her staff in her upper pair of hands while blue mana danced in her lower pair. She used Nullify to create a sphere of ward-breaching energy around our group.

    Xim cracked her knuckles as Grotto floated over to land on her shoulder. The cleric led the group in front, crimson flames smoldering across her body. She jumped out from the trees with the rest of us in tow, landing heavily in the middle of one of the remaining squads.

    ¡°Wanna see something cool?¡± she asked, then raised a hand to the sky.

    The icon of a beating heart appeared above us, wrapped in divine fire and emitting a wave of dread with every pulse.

 122 - Reaching the Descent

    As the heart hammered above us, Grotto¡¯s eyes glowed and his tentacles wrapped tightly around Xim¡¯s arm. The cleric¡¯s forehead split and the obsidian horn that marked the transformation to her beast form appeared, but the rest of her remained normal. Tentacles sprouted from the heart, c¡¯thonic feathers replaced by crimson fire that swayed hypnotically. The heart drummed, and the Littans around us cowered, eyes wide and glistening.

    Xim glared at them, and they ran.

    She continued to channel the spell as we marched through the camp, and I cast Life Warden on Etja to keep her safe from any errant attacks while she channeled Nullify. More than half of the Littans were on the opposite side of the camp, dealing with the fallout of our distractions or rushing into the woods to hunt down Shog. The Littan duchess was also busy casting wide-area cleanses, purging the berserk and other status effects from the soldiers. She activated an aura that seemed to draw the attention of anyone nearby, and she began issuing commands. It wouldn¡¯t be long before the camp recovered from our initial assault with her help, but I was glad that we didn¡¯t have to deal with her ourselves.

    Other Littans were fixated on the fight overhead as impacts thundered above from The Operator¡¯s battle. Pressure waves that were powerful enough to kick up dirt and debris issued from the blows. I was tempted to glance up as well, but we didn¡¯t have the luxury of time to appreciate the high-level fight. There were still enemy Delvers to oppose us, and we needed to make quick work of them.

    As we rushed through the camp, most of the Delvers below level 10 fled as the pulse from Xim¡¯s icon washed over them. A handful managed to resist, and a group ranging from level 7 to 11 moved to stop our advance. Varrin stepped forward to meet them, hand along the hilt of his blade, but he never drew Kazandak.

    As I watched, an ethereal hand formed from Varrin¡¯s soul and drew a spectral copy of Kazandak. The motion was quickly mirrored by Varrin himself, and the big guy was left wielding a version of his blade formed from spiritual energy. It lengthened out to ten feet, and he swept it across two of the advancing Delvers.

    One raised a shield to block it, but the attack went straight through. The blade didn¡¯t cut flesh or bone, but it did cleave straight through their souls. The silver energy shrouding their forms was separated, and the base layer of their beings was sent into turmoil. The two that had been hit screamed as their bodies locked up, and then they were on the ground. Varrin was already bringing the spiritual blade down on the next foe.

    The level 11 resisted the attack with a barrier, but the woman looked more like a support fighter. She wove spells that disrupted the blade and protected herself, but Varrin¡¯s assault was ceaseless. He was also much faster than the Littan. After five exchanges she was also on the ground. None of them were dead, just disabled as their souls struggled to recompose themselves. It was a devastating ability, one that I suspected came from Varrin¡¯s morning routine of meditating over Kazandak. Whatever it was that the Patriarch had meant for his great-grandson to learn from the practice, Varrin sure was learning it.

    Another pair of Littans had approached during the melee, but Nuralie put them down with a flurry of thrown needles that knocked them unconscious. Our party barely slowed as we fought, the few Littans that resisted the fear effect thrown into a blender of physically and spiritually disabling attacks. As we got close to the command tent, a single Littan stepped forward that I thought might give us some trouble.

    Gharifon appeared in a puff of shadow, hands bathed in sickly energy. He raised them as if to cast, and Varrin dashed forward to strike, but something was wrong.

    ¡°Wait!¡± I shouted before Varrin could close the distance. The big guy stopped without hesitation, and the Gharifon before us sneered. While it looked like the level 17 gold was a second from bathing our group in the same cone of death he¡¯d fired off earlier in the forest, the figure was invisible to my Soul-Sight. A copy. I quickly shared the realization with the group using Reveal, and a beam of necrotic mana came from our left as the copy exploded in a burst of corrupted mana.

    I willed Gracorvus around to intercept the attack as it came for Etja, who was entirely focused on keeping the ward from dampening our skills. The beam crashed against the shield, and I said a silent thanks to my past self for choosing the Spell Breaker evolution. Some of the attack still pierced the defense, but it was diffused into a cloud, rather than focused into a line. It didn¡¯t make it to our mage. I followed the attack to catch sight of Gharifon, but he disappeared into another cloak of darkness.

    The ground around us began to twist and rise, rapidly forming massive walls that threatened to swallow us up. The dirt closed overhead in under a second and the light of the sun disappeared. It happened much too fast and, even though I¡¯d seen that Gharifon was a capable caster, he hadn¡¯t used any typical Physical magic like this yet.

    It wasn¡¯t outside the realm of possibility for Gharifon to have earth-shaping skills, but a Delver only had 10 skill slots, and there were only very limited ways to swap them out. Suddenly having earth-shaping abilities would be off-brand for Gharifon. The skills I¡¯d seen from him so far focused on three things. Teleportation of himself and allies, afflictions like those that rotted the swamp while he fought The Operator, and the class of spells that allowed him to make clones and which kept my party from interfering when Tavio was kicking my ass: illusions.

    I focused my will on the earthen barriers and used my Sight to break the mirage. The walls disappeared as though they¡¯d never existed¨Cwhich they hadn¡¯t¨Cand this truth was Revealed to the party. Gharifon once again stood in front of us, barring our path to the command tent, but this time it was truly Gharifon standing there, looking shocked as Varrin charged him.

    He raised his hand to cast another shadow escape, but I was ready for it and countered with Dispel. The spectral hands growing from Varrin swung down toward Gharifon, and the action was mirrored by Varrin himself, cleaving through Gharifon¡¯s soul with the spiritual edition of Kazandak. The caster grimaced and gnashed his teeth, but he didn¡¯t falter. As soon as the blade cut through his soul, it was already knitting itself back together, though the threads of energy that repaired the damage were dark and emitted a sense of endless hunger.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Before Gharifon could fully recover, an arrow flew through the air and exploded into a toxic cloud an inch from his chest. Gharifon coughed and staggered as Varrin cut his soul through again. Gharifon stumbled to the side, and I cast an unchannelled Explosion! beside him to send him ragdolling away. I was betting that he had the Fortitude to take at least one good hit.

    We hurried forward, aiming to enter the Delve before the level 17 convalesced. Varrin drew the true Kazandak and cut through the tent¡¯s side as another pair of Littans closed in on us, their expressions taut as they struggled against Xim¡¯s fear effect, which the cleric was wholly consumed by focusing on.

    Before we entered, however, I heard a new type of explosion and turned to see one of the ballistas firing into the forest. The bolt it shot created a large swath of mana-fueled fire that began consuming the vegetation where Shog hid. Between the siege weapon and the small army of Delvers hunting for the c¡¯thon, I decided it was time for Shog to exit the battlefield. I canceled Dimensional Summon, dismissing him back to his home plane. Hopefully, he was still in good enough shape to deal with any of the c¡¯thons hunting him on the other side, but I expected him to have a newly acquired tentacle the next time we saw him. Satisfied that a third of the Littans were now searching for an enemy that didn¡¯t exist, I followed the party into the command tent.

    The interior was sparsely furnished, with a large table to one side bearing a map and various papers dominating the space. A large hole descended into the ground, leading to a tunnel lit by glow stone lamps and surrounded by hastily constructed wooden railings. The railings looked designed to keep someone from accidentally stumbling into the pit, rather than keeping anyone out of it.

    In the corner was a female Littan lying on a cot, her abdomen covered in bandages and her soul clouded with the same dark lines I¡¯d seen within Tavio. This was the third soul I¡¯d felt when Tavio¡¯s group fought The Operator. Seeing her now, I still wasn¡¯t sure where I¡¯d met her before, but I was certain that we¡¯d crossed paths.

    Tavio himself was leaning against the wooden railing, looking at us with an exhausted expression.

    We came to a stop as we entered the tent, waiting for the Littan to make a move, but he didn¡¯t. The butt of his spear was planted in the ground, pointy end facing upward. He looked us over, and the murky substance in his soul stirred.

    ¡°You look like shit, Tavio,¡± I said. He smiled and shifted his weight from the railing to his spear.

    ¡°That creature fighting General Joaq has some interesting skills,¡± he said, voice strained. ¡°The wounds it inflicts cannot be healed by anything other than time, it would seem.¡±

    ¡°Wicked damage,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Rare, but powerful.¡±

    ¡°It is as you say,¡± said Tavio. ¡°Some sort of passive. It affects all of its attacks. Very frustrating to deal with.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯re in no shape to fight,¡± I said. ¡°Move aside and we¡¯ll be out of your hair. We only want to enter the Delve.¡±

    Tavio nodded but stayed where he was.

    ¡°The archway will not activate for any of us,¡± he said, ¡°but I suspect you have a way in?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I answered, gambling that honesty would yield a quicker solution than dodging the question.

    Tavio held up a hand as a pair of Littans entered the tent behind us. They halted at the gesture, but tightly gripped their weapons and gave us menacing stares.

    ¡°Then I have no interest in stopping you,¡± he said. ¡°But, I want to ask you something before you go.¡±

    Varrin glanced back at the new arrivals, then took a step toward Tavio, looking like he wanted to force the Littan out of our way, but I placed a hand on the big guy¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yaretzi,¡± said Tavio. ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    I considered the question, then made a quick decision, trusting my gut. When Tavio had originally attacked me, he¡¯d seemed curious¨Cin a very aggressive and painful way¨Cbut not outright evil. That, on top of the fact that Sam¡¯lia¡¯s divine fire did not mark him as being worthy of judgment, made me think he may have fallen in with a bad crowd.

    I packaged up the memories of our fight with Yaretzi, then gently offered them to Tavio with Reveal, the same way I¡¯d done with The Operator. Either Tavio already knew what Yaretzi was, in which case his attitude toward us wouldn¡¯t change, or he hadn¡¯t realized he was working with a psychopath, in which case he might begin to question the people he was allied with. Tavio twitched when I touched his soul, but he grinned soon after.

    ¡°I did not think you had spiritual abilities,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯d decided you had a Dimensional attunement. Curious.¡±

    He accepted the memories, then stepped to one side as he absorbed them. Varrin jumped over the railing and into the tunnel leading below ground, followed quickly by Nuralie, Xim, and Etja. As I passed by Tavio, I saw a series of complex expressions cross his face while he reviewed what I¡¯d given him. Confusion, sorrow, anger.

    ¡°He killed Littan soldiers?¡± Tavio asked, disbelieving.

    ¡°You should choose your party members more carefully,¡± I said. ¡°Gharifon is trouble as well. Maybe worse.¡±

    I hopped the barrier, then took one last look at the injured woman in the corner. Laying on the ground next to her, beside a set of dark leather armor, was a wide-brimmed hat. A memory of a Littan smoking a pipe sprang to mind, and then I rushed down after my allies, musing over how Tavio really had bad taste in allies. I hoped that the duchess he worked for wasn¡¯t the same, but I wasn¡¯t going to hold my breath.

    Tavio stopped the other Littans from pursuing us, and we soon found ourselves in front of the entrance to the Delve.

    It was little more than a stone archway that looked like it had been buried underground for centuries, likely longer, and had only recently been excavated. There was no door or tunnel beyond it, no indication that there was a facility of any kind that it led to. On the other side of the arch was just more dirt.

    I looked over the arch, briefly examining its plain surface. There were carved symbols in a language I didn¡¯t recognize, and while I suspected it was designed to house a portal, there was no obvious way to activate it.

    Before I could ask the party for ideas on how to jumpstart the thing, Etja reached out and ran her fingers along the arch. Reality shimmered before us and a silvery portal appeared.

    ¡°New portal color,¡± said Xim, peering into the swirling magic. ¡°Neat!¡± She slapped a hand onto its surface, then disappeared.

    The rest of us followed suit, and our journey into Deijin¡¯s Descent began.

 123 - Beginning the Descent

    There was a tug at my gut and a sensation of weightlessness as the world blinked. An instant of darkness cut off my vision, and then a field of endless stars burst to life. The pinpricks of light shimmered in the black, turned a slight shade of blue, then began to slowly move in an arc. Each left a trail of light in its wake, and soon the universe was a mass of glowing azure circles.

    I was frozen, unable to move for several minutes. A chill invaded my body, and my lungs began to protest a lack of air as I couldn¡¯t even take a breath. Eventually, a pair of eyes opened before me, inches away. Had my muscles been responding, I would have flinched. My paralysis definitely saved me from letting out an undignified squeak.

    The eyes studied me with irises simultaneously dark as the void around me, while also radiating vibrant, prismatic light. As we stared at one another, I began to sense that the eyes were not inches from my face. I had nothing to act as a frame of reference for scale, but I knew that the eyes were distant¨Cas distant as the blue circles, which had begun to pulse and vibrate. I felt that each peering orb was vaster than an entire planet and that its scrutiny tore at the fabric of my existence.

    A deep sound thundered through the universe, like the tantara of a thousand horns rumbling across an endless sky. Then, as though a camera shutter clicked, there was another stutter of absolute darkness. Then, I found myself standing in a small, metallic chamber with runes covering every inch of its surface.

    My vision swam and I fell to my knees. Beside me, I heard the sound of retching and turned to find Nuralie on her hands and knees, expelling the remnants of her last meal. Oddly, the sight reminded me that I hadn¡¯t eaten since breakfast more than a day before and made me hungry, rather than disgusted.

    Xim knelt to my left, eyes staring into the middle distance. Varrin leaned against a wall, helmet off and gripping his head in both hands. Grotto floated to the ground and spread out his tentacles, apparently too unstable from the teleport to stay hovering. Etja was¡­

    Etja was totally unaffected, and she looked around at us with worry.

    ¡°Are you guys okay?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Fuck no,¡± said Xim in a hushed tone.

    ¡°What sights befell my mortal eyes?¡± asked Varrin in a hoarse whisper.

    We got some version of an answer when a system message appeared.

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are granted +1 LCK!

    ¡°It appears that we encountered some sort of deity,¡± I said as the others looked over the same message. Just as I began to sigh and lament the trouble that accompanied leveling Luck, we got another message.

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are granted +1 LCK!

    ¡°Does that mean there were two?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Or does that mean the one we ran into was a big deal?¡±

    I read over the notifications with creeping concern.

    ¡°Not sure we¡¯ll ever¨C¡±

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are granted +1 LCK!

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are granted +1 LCK!

    You have survived the notice of a Divine being! You are unable to gain additional training stats to Luck.

    ¡°Oh, shit,¡± said Xim. ¡°My Luck just got pushed up to 10.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Mine as well,¡± said Varrin.

    Nuralie nodded, and I began to reply but paused again.

    Your mind and body have been subjected to incredible dimensional forces. Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 22!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 23!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 24!

    You led your party through an encounter that was significantly above your level.

    Your Leadershipskill has increased to level 7!

    Your Leadershipskill has increased to level 8!

    Your Leadershipskill has increased to level 9!

    Your Leadershipskill has increased to level 10!

    ¡°Skill levels on top,¡± I said. ¡°We should take risky teleports more often.¡± I frowned after saying this, wondering whether the Leadership came from rushing the Littan camp, or surviving whatever the shit we¡¯d just survived. The Littan encounter made more sense.

    I looked at Etja. ¡°You seemed to handle whatever that was without a problem.¡±

    ¡°Compared to when I was born, it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal,¡± she replied with a shrug. ¡°But it was interesting!¡±

    I reflected on the forces involved when Orexis violently shaped her body and soul from clay. She was even a clone of the avatar for a little while before morphing into the lovable, multi-limbed caster we now knew. That was probably an uncomfortable process, now that I thought about it.

    ¡°Nearly a full level from Luck alone,¡± said Varrin. ¡°My score was only 3, now I¡¯m up to 10. I also got a handful of skill levels.¡±

    There was another round of nods, then everyone began to study our surroundings in earnest. The stats and skill levels left me with two new evolutions to choose from, but I dismissed the notifications to get my bearings as well.

    The room was small¨Cabout a hundred square feet¨Cwith cylindrical walls. Unfamiliar glyphs of varying sizes covered every surface. There was a regular pattern of large symbols the size of my torso with the space between them filled tightly with smaller engraved runes, some tinier than my pinky nail. Aside from that, the chamber was empty.

    ¡°Obscure mystic symbols and no doors,¡± said Xim. ¡°We must be in the right place.¡±

    ¡°You okay, Grotto?¡± I asked. The mini-c¡¯thon was still spread out on the floor, and he slowly tilted his frame back to look up at me. Then he turned and looked over the walls.

    [Teleports are not supposed to be like that,] he thought to us.

    ¡°At least this one didn¡¯t try to kill us.¡±

    [I am not so sure. This Delve is a test, intended to be insurmountable by a level 10 without any other advantages. That may have been the first challenge.]

    Xim snorted, then asked, ¡°What kind of challenge was that supposed to be?¡±

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    [Endurance? Willpower? Strength of mind? Individuals who had coasted by on raw talent would have been crushed. That required experience interacting with something greater than oneself. Or, the ability to handle such an encounter, at least.]

    ¡°You don¡¯t know for sure?¡± I asked.

    [This is outside my realm. I have no knowledge of what is inside these challenge Delves. Even if I had seen the prior iterations, each generation is presented with new obstacles. Designing such tests is one of the purposes served by the Architects.]

    ¡°Hmm. Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s stop dwelling on it and try to figure this shit out.¡± I gestured at the walls.

    ¡°Just remembering those eyes gives me a headache,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°It gives me something,¡± said Xim. She grinned. ¡°I kind of like it though.¡±

    She seemed to like it a lot, in fact.

    ¡°Any insight into the runes, Grotto?¡± I asked.

    The core looked over the walls again. The motion was awkward with him splayed out. He ingested them slowly, scanning the full perimeter.

    [No.]

    ¡°That¡¯s all you got?¡±

    [These symbols have no relationship to the weaves I am familiar with.]

    ¡°They look familiar to me,¡± said Etja. I glanced at her, eyebrows raised.

    ¡°Really? Part of your inherited knowledge?¡±

    She gave me a nod, then ran a hand over the runes. She eventually stopped at one of several nexus points, where the smaller symbols all converged on one of their larger brethren. She sent it a pulse of mana and the energy spread out through the engravings for about a foot in each direction, filling the sigils with a gentle light. Etja tapped her foot in consideration, then reached out and placed all four of her hands on the large rune and pushed a wave of mana into it.

    The light spread throughout the room as Etja poured mana into the walls. It was only after the room was filled with a soft blue glow that I realized there¡¯d previously been no discernable light source. Once the runes were completely filled and stable, Etja took a step back.

    ¡°Welp, out of mana now.¡±

    ¡°Between Nullifying the Littan ward and this, makes sense,¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, I used a lot of my mana in the Littan camp to Nullify their ward, but it all regenerated by the time we got here. I put a full mana bar into this.¡±

    ¡°Eh? You¡¯ve got Fast Recharge, so to get all your mana back without any other regen takes five hours.¡±

    ¡°You are correct, Mister Party Leader,¡± she said with a smile.

    ¡°So either that teleport took five hours,¡± said Xim, ¡°or something else filled her mana up for her.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have any overload or mana toxicity debuffs. I don¡¯t feel like someone put a potion in my belly, either.¡±

    ¡°Even with one of Nuralie¡¯s potions,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯d take around forty minutes to refresh your pool. That¡¯s still a lot longer than it felt like we were stuck in that in-between place.¡± I took a deep breath. ¡°Again, probably best not to dwell on it. Any idea what the next step is?¡±

    ¡°Party Leader places their hand here,¡± said Etja, pointing at the rune she¡¯d been touching.

    I stepped forward and touched the rune without giving myself the chance to consider all of the different ways it might lead to unknown and potentially terrible consequences. The runes on the walls flared, then began shifting to merge. After a minute of the symbols mingling, they formed into a row of new shapes that lacked the intricate linework of weaves and looked more like letters.

    Looking at the letters made me feel like my brain was being stuffed full of concepts to the point where it gave me sensory overload. It was like pure, absolute truth was being delivered to me, but my mind was so overwhelmed with its majesty that I had no capacity left to comprehend what it was saying. I looked away once my vision blurred and there were suddenly two of everything. The knowledge I¡¯d gained from the experience drained out of me.

    ¡°This is worse than looking at your grimoires,¡± I said to Xim. She managed to peer into the glorious symbols for several seconds longer than myself, but eventually averted her gaze as well. Where my experience left me somewhat disturbed, her face told of a very different story. She bit one of her fingers, cheeks flushed.

    ¡°Is this an erotic experience for you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I got a level in Divine just from looking,¡± she said through heavy breaths.

    That wasn¡¯t a denial.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy you¡¯re enjoying yourself.¡±

    ¡°This is Celestial!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Language of the divine,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Not too surprising, but tells us that whoever made this place could harness words of power.¡±

    ¡°First,¡± I said, pointing at Varrin, ¡°putting the question of what the hell that means on the back burner, but you have my curiosity. Second,¡± I said, pointing at Etja, ¡°what¡¯s it say?¡±

    ¡°With Celestial, a lot of nuance gets lost in translation,¡± she said. ¡°Normal language can¡¯t express the ideas with the same clarity and precision, so keep that in mind.¡± She stepped away from the wall and reviewed the text further.

    ¡°Welcome,¡± Etja read. ¡°You have proven yourselves worthy of undergoing the trial. Based on my understanding of the¨C¡± She paused and furrowed her brow. ¡°Based on my understanding of the ¡®tethered¡¯ world, this is a laudable achievement. Do not rejoice, however. Your path is incomplete and the risks to your lives are, uh¡­ the risks to your lives are manifold.

    ¡°If any of your number had failed to appear within this chamber, know that they would have perished for lacking conviction. This is but the beginning. The challenges do not change¨Cor, they don¡¯t get easier. It means both. The challenges do not change if the number of party members is ¡®reduced¡¯.¡± Etja stopped and squinted. ¡°This one is tricky¡­ Um, ¡®cherish¡¯ your allies, for their survival is your own.

    ¡°While this Delve has been created to test you, it has not been created to ¡®slaughter¡¯ talented individuals needlessly. You will each be evaluated, and remedial measures may be offered to ensure that you have reaped the appropriate rewards from the System before continuing the trial.

    ¡°To begin, place your hands on the¡­ the nodes? The confluences?¡± Etja looked frustrated with translating the final word until five luminous rings appeared on the wall. ¡°The glowy circles!¡± she said triumphantly.

    We all exchanged a few looks. As a group, we were apprehensive but determined. Without discussion, we each touched the rings.

    A gentle vibration ran through my body, leaving me with skittering goosebumps. The process took only a second, and then the text changed.

    ¡°All party members are at Delver level 6,¡± Etja said, reading the new script. ¡°Suggested Delver level: 10. Incomplete active, passive, and intrinsic skill catalogs. Equipment evaluation¡­¡± Etja paused as her eyes ran ahead. She turned to look at me. ¡°It says everyone is adequate but it suggests a few upgrades, especially your armor.¡±

    ¡°No surprises there,¡± I said, feeling the holes in my steel breastplate beneath the discount-camo blankets strapped to my body.

    ¡°It says that it¡¯s really bad.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I get it.¡±

    ¡°It harps on it a lot,¡± she continued without pause or hesitation. ¡°It says it¡¯s surprising you even made it here without dying.¡± I gave her a blank stare in reply. ¡°It just makes it seem really important that you do something about it.¡±

    ¡°Fucking hell, can we move on? What am I supposed to do, carve a new breastplate out of the damn walls?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just telling you what it says, Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°Don¡¯t get mad about it.¡±

    ¡°Never shoot the messenger,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s bad tactics.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not mad at her!¡± I said, waving an arm in frustration. ¡°This Celestial thing is being a dick!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s right, though,¡± Xim countered.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t!¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Etja said. She cleared her throat and continued. ¡°Remedial measures are strongly encouraged. Would you like to initiate remedial measures? Yes/No.¡± She turned and gave me a questioning look.

    ¡°Anyone opposed?¡± I asked, putting aside my irritation.

    ¡°It¡¯s a Delve,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Whatever these remedial measures are, they won¡¯t be a handout.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim. ¡°It might teleport us to four Delves in a row or something.¡±

    ¡°Is that a problem?¡± I asked.

    Varrin held out a hand and gently made a fist.

    ¡°Our skills,¡± he said, looking forlorn. ¡°When will we level our skills?¡±

    ¡°While killing shit,¡± said Xim. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m with Xim,¡± I said. ¡°Unless you want to stand here and train until we¡¯ve each got 200 total intrinsic levels.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he said, hanging his head. ¡°Let¡¯s move forward.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡± I turned back to Etja. ¡°We¡¯ll do what it suggests.¡±

    Etja smiled and looked back to the text. She stood there for a while, and then her smile faded.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t say how to accept it,¡± she said.

    ¡°I mean¡­¡± I stroked my beard as I thought. I decided to go with the simplest potential solution. ¡°Oh great and mysterious being of Deijin¡¯s Descent, we acknowledge that we suck and accept your offer of remedial measures.¡±

    Gears began clicking and the hiss of sliding metal sounded as a large panel of the wall slid into the ground. It revealed a wide doorway leading to a dimly lit tunnel.

    ¡°Delves need more variety in their architecture,¡± I said, studying the plain, rectangular hallway. ¡°Nonetheless, tally-ho!¡± I marched forward into the dark, with the party close behind.

    At the other end, we found a massive and incredibly well-equipped training facility. The scale alone was breathtaking, stretching for miles in every direction and with a ceiling as high as a modern skyscraper. On the far side of the facility was a large portal, surrounded by an archway. Carvings of countless monsters were set into the arch, with forms varying from supreme beauty to something that made you want to delete your eyeballs. As we entered, we got a notification.

    Reach level 10 in 30 days or less.

 124 - Dread Star

    ¡°Hot damn,¡± I said, looking over the massive space.

    The area was partially set up like an expo or swap meet, with fairly open regions exposed to a large central path running between them. Of course, the Delve¡¯s Big Honkin¡¯ Training Expo had booths several hundred times larger than one might see at their local crafts fair. I could also spot several areas that were completely walled off, possibly for skills or professions that didn¡¯t play well with others.

    At a glance, I could see dedicated space, equipment, and supplies for working on a half dozen skills directly in front of us. One was full of cloth and other textiles, including a wide selection of leather¨Cboth tanned and raw. Another was filled with an orchestra¡¯s worth of musical instruments and had a small stage with comfy-looking chairs set before it. There was even what looked like a rudimentary machine shop, full of raw materials along with gears, springs, and various other small gizmos and trinkets that I couldn¡¯t name because I didn¡¯t know shit about mechanical engineering.

    Intrinsic skills came in all shapes and sizes. Each one had some way to benefit a Delver. Even the skills that seemed esoteric, like Animal Husbandry, could be put to effective use inside a Delve. Outside of a Delve, skills that focused on things like Mercantile were more useful than something that might be superior within a Delve like Athletics. Still, there was an argument to be made that being able to procure equipment at low, low prices or amassing vast hordes of wealth were both helpful when conquering a Delve. Money might not be able to buy happiness, but it sure as hell could buy sweet gear. The point is, there was a skill to complement any mortal pursuit, and they all had value.

    That being said, deeper in is where we found the good stuff.

    Racks of armor and melee weapons that went on for hundreds of feet. An entire bowyer and archery range that covered more than a square mile. Obstacle courses that could simulate any weather condition. A combat arena the fucking size of a modern football stadium. A veritable army of magic-resistant target dummies ready to be abused by spells.

    These were the training halls for people of action, more action, and who had a skewed perspective on the quantity of violence that should exist within a healthy work-life balance.

    Each space was also accompanied by a library of texts covering all aspects of the attendant skill, ranging from things as simple as Baby¡¯s First Sword to more advanced material like Bleed Effects for the Master Exsanguinator. The place was designed to take anyone from zero to hero in any skill imaginable, and we had it all to ourselves. I was practically drooling.

    But, we only had it for 30 days, and Varrin immediately killed my buzz by further shortening that timeline.

    ¡°We can¡¯t get Delver levels from training skills,¡± he said. ¡°I assume that the portal takes us to a Delve or other challenge with an obelisk.¡±

    ¡°Thirty days to reach level 10,¡± Xim muttered. ¡°So, we¡¯ll need to clear whatever is through the portal before that timer runs out.¡±

    None of us had to ask what the penalty for failing the objective was. Unless the notification said otherwise, there was only ever one penalty for failure: death.

    ¡°The question is,¡± Varrin continued, ¡°will it force us to undergo four Delves in a row? If so, how long will that take?¡±

    Without any good answers to those questions, we made our way to the portal in search of clues. The gate was nearly a hundred feet tall, and we studied the engravings along its arch intently, searching for any hint as to what lay beyond. All of the carvings were representations of monsters, which gave us little information beyond the implication that what lay on the other side would be¡­ monsters. However, there was a single line of text on the wall beside the portal, written in Celestial. Sadly, it wasn¡¯t terribly helpful.

    ¡°Take with you only what you owned when entering,¡± Etja read, ¡°and what you have crafted while inside.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t stuff the whole alchemy lab in my inventory,¡± I said. ¡°Dang.¡±

    ¡°Some of the raw materials alone are incredibly valuable,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That lab had entire chests full of ruby chips. Pocketing those items would be more efficient if one wanted to steal.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± I said. ¡°I could fit most of this stuff in the Closet.¡± That elicited a few curious looks.

    ¡°How fucking big is the Closet now?¡± asked Xim.

    I opened my inventory screen and took a look.

    ¡°A little under 5 cubic miles. Half of that can be assigned as inventory.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± Xim tried to wrap her head around the scale, then jumped into the air to survey the training space. She had a 20-foot vertical, so she could get a much better view over the lower structures with the leap. She landed with ease and turned back to me. ¡°I think this place is bigger.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s mostly empty space,¡± I said. ¡°I bet I could shove all the actual stuff inside my inventory. Well, maybe not the damn colosseum, but you get the idea.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, it¡¯s forbidden,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Unless I make a colosseum,¡± I said, scratching my chin.

    Varrin rolled his eyes.

    ¡°What¡¯s our plan?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Well, the longest that a Delve has taken us is around 3 days,¡± I said. ¡°If we have to do 4 in a row, then 12 days would be a safe amount of time. On the other hand, look at all this incredible shit we have access to.¡±

    ¡°We could have done the Mimic Delve faster,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°That would have been irresponsible,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°What¡¯s irresponsible is not taking advantage of this place for as long as possible,¡± I argued. ¡°Most Delves take a day or less. If we assume we can progress at our average Delve speed, that¡¯d be something like 30 hours per Delve. So, 5 days.¡±

    ¡°With no rest in between,¡± Varrin grumbled.

    ¡°This place could be a honey pot,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Designed to keep us here.¡± Pause. ¡°Whatever is through that portal might take the full 30 days.¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°I doubt it. That Celestial person said that our intrinsic skill catalogs were ¡®incomplete¡¯. If the remedial measures are meant to help us fix our shit, we¡¯re supposed to use this place. Besides¨C¡± I gestured broadly at the surroundings. ¡°You think they¡¯d go to this much effort for a trick?¡±

    ¡°Depends on who ¡®they¡¯ are,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°The Old Ones? The System?¡± I said. ¡°When has an objective ever lied to try and trick us into killing ourselves?¡±

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be lying,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The objective tells us to gain Delver levels. It did not say anything about leveling our skills. Whatever that entity told us about remedial measures is external to the objective.¡±

    [There will be a Delve Core here as well,] Grotto chimed in. [We are not categorically opposed to deception. Although I admit that this would be an incredible dedication of resources for a simple trap.]

    ¡°This Delve is meant to test us, right?¡± I said. ¡°If this is a trap, then what would it be testing? Our ability to pass up on a good thing? The simplest explanation is that we¡¯re intended to train here and proceed when we feel confident in speed-running our way to level 10.¡±

    ¡°We could probably already do that,¡± said Xim.

    We all stared into the portal, lost in thought until Varrin broke the silence.

    ¡°A week,¡± he said. ¡°We should give ourselves at least a week to conquer whatever is through the portal.¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take it,¡± I said. ¡°Anyone else uncomfortable with that?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But I am uncomfortable with many of the things we do. I won¡¯t oppose that plan.¡± Everyone else agreed.

    ¡°Fantastic,¡± I said. ¡°That gives us 23 days to train. Now, the first thing I¡¯m going to do within this chamber of infinite wonders is¡­¡± I took a deep breath for the drama of it. ¡°...eat dinner.¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± said Etja. ¡°I¡¯m starving!¡±

    ¡°We also haven¡¯t slept in two days,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We passed an impressive kitchen earlier,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Fully stocked.¡±

    ¡°Where do the ingredients come from?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about that after eating them,¡± said Xim. She was already marching back toward the presumably infinite food source. The rest of us followed soon after, the need for sustenance winning out over our fatigue.

    Etja volunteered to cook. Over dinner, we talked more about what The Operator had told us. Its claims were world-shaking, if true, but it used a lot of qualifiers while giving its take on the avatar problem. Ultimately, we had no way to verify its claims, and they dealt with matters so important that we didn¡¯t want to blindly trust the enigmatic Architect. Grotto was also skeptical, although he placed a great deal of weight on The Operator¡¯s opinion. We decided that proceeding as we had so far would be best. We¡¯d keep what The Operator told us in mind and try to confirm what we could.

    None of us wanted to believe that an apocalypse was unavoidable. Maybe we couldn¡¯t destroy the System, but there had to be something we could do to keep the cycle from repeating, or at least to stop the avatars from rampaging. What that was exactly, none of us knew, but laying back and assuming that the world was doomed wasn¡¯t acceptable to any of us. For the moment, all that was left for us to do was progress.

    After dinner, we agreed that a solid night of rest would be in everyone¡¯s best interest. Before we were willing to call it a night, however, we chose to discuss the evolution options each of us had received. Everyone in the party had hit 10 in Luck at the same time, which meant everyone had at least 1 evolution to choose. I also had a Leadership evo to pick, and Nuralie had a Divine evolution she couldn¡¯t put off for any longer.

    ¡°Why did you wait so long to pick something?¡± I asked. Nuralie¡¯s Divine skill was currently at 15, so she¡¯d been sitting on the evolution choice for a while. The loson shifted uncomfortably at the question. I tried to figure out a tactful way to ask a follow-up, but Varrin saved me the effort by bluntly stating what I was thinking.

    ¡°You have some history with the churches here in Eschendur,¡± he said. ¡°I haven¡¯t probed before because it hasn¡¯t been my business. But, if trouble from your past is causing you to ignore evolutions, then that affects us as a party.¡±

    Nuralie sighed and sat back in her seat.

    ¡°I did not find my options appealing,¡± she said, tapping a claw-like nail on the hardwood tabletop. ¡°The first evolution drew strength from my conviction, which is something that I have struggled with. The second strengthened my Divine skills, of which I only have 1. The third helped me with delivering ¡°Divine justice¡±. I am not sure what that even means for me.¡±

    ¡°Is there a reason you¡¯re referring to them in the past tense?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie nodded.

    ¡°One of the options has changed. It is¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°something I think I can work with.¡±

    ¡°Changed?¡± asked Xim, perking up. ¡°I didn¡¯t know the options could change.¡±

    I motioned for Nuralie to continue. Rather than explaining the evolution, she simply shared the System text with us.

    Inquisitor

    Your relentless pursuit of divine truth has enabled you to detect entities imbued with deific influence. You gain Magic Sense (divine) out to a number of feet equal to your Divine Magic skill level. This sense also reveals entities considered sacred or profane to your deity.

    ¡°Any form of magic sense is powerful,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Divine magic sense may be especially useful within this Delve.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just the appetizer,¡± said Xim, eyes re-reading the text. ¡°This reveals entities sacred or profane to your deity. Stealthed, invisible, hidden behind a wall, buried underground. It¡¯s not even limited to people or monsters, it¡¯s ¡°entities¡±. If something within your detection range is sacred or profane, it¡¯s revealed. Hells, it doesn¡¯t even specify that it¡¯s revealed just to you. This ability might reveal it to everyone around, or at least your allies.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s similar to Arlo¡¯s ability to reveal stealthed or invisible opponents,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But it¡¯s automatic and applies to more than just living things. It likely has the benefit of telling you whether it is profane or sacred as well. That could be immensely useful.¡±

    ¡°Guess that title from Zenithar Zura is coming in handy, after all,¡± I said. ¡°What is your deity, by the way? You said that you wouldn¡¯t choose one of the three churches. Wouldn¡¯t this ability require you to pick between Deijin, Hyrach, or Geul?¡±

    ¡°I-¡± Nuralie hesitated. ¡°No. My revelation, the reason it has caused me¡­ difficulties¡­ is because it granted me a vision of the three gods of the Eschenden as one being.¡±

    ¡°One being?¡± I asked. ¡°Like a trinity type of deal? They¡¯re three different things, distinct from one another, equally divine, but ultimately part of the same god?¡±

    Nuralie''s eyes widened and she looked at me in bewilderment.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°Am I way off base?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I just did not expect you to have such a profound understanding of my situation.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not exactly a theologian,¡± said Xim, also looking at me skeptically.

    ¡°I was raised in a tradition that believed in that concept, so it¡¯s not that weird to me.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But, yes. Deijin, Hyrach, and Geul are each part of a greater whole. This idea is inconsistent with the teachings of the Eschenden.¡± Pause. ¡°The entire structure of the Church is based on the idea that they are separate beings working in unison.¡±

    ¡°And some church authorities gave you shit for figuring it out?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That is one way to say it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I would say ¡°fuck those people¡±, but since your entire nation is theocratic, I can see why that¡¯s not the best response.¡±

    ¡°Indeed.¡± Nuralie crossed her arms, looking uncomfortable with the discussion.

    ¡°Regardless of the religious implications,¡± said Varrin, ¡°the evolution is excellent.¡±

    ¡°If it works with all three Eschen gods, then it¡¯s even stronger,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Assuming that it works that way,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I have not been very devout during my time in Hiward.¡±

    Xim reached over and placed her hand on Nuralie¡¯s.

    ¡°We all stray,¡± she said. ¡°Once we return, our faith is stronger for it.¡±

    Nuralie''s eyes darted to her, then back to the table. She swallowed, then sat up straight in her chair. She shifted her gaze between a few invisible screens, then let out a breath.

    ¡°I accepted it,¡± she said. ¡°Now I would prefer that we move on to¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°someone else.¡±

    I rapped a knuckle on the table.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a Leadership evolution,¡± I said. ¡°The first two options take work and I don¡¯t like them. The third option, however, is objectively perfect.¡± I shared the screen with the party.

    Auradin

    The effects of your auras on allies are 1% stronger per level of Leadership.

    ¡°More health regen?¡± said Xim. ¡°I won¡¯t complain.¡±

    ¡°Right?¡± I said. ¡°Who Needs a Cleric? is really strong at low level, but the bonus to regen it gives is linear, while health grows exponentially with Fortitude. This will help it keep up while giving me an excuse to pick up a second aura if I see one I like.¡±

    ¡°I assume this is another aura ability mentioned in that book Umi-Doo gave you?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± I said. ¡°Feel free to apologize for insulting my choice of an aura passive when we first met.¡±

    ¡°You never apologized?¡± asked Xim, giving Varrin a motherly glare. ¡°That aura saved our lives in The Toxic Grotto!¡±

    ¡°I apologized,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°When?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I apologized generally,¡± he said. ¡°For my behavior during the Creation Delve.¡±

    Xim shook her head in disappointment.

    ¡°I think you need to look Arlo in the eye,¡± she said, ¡°and tell him that auras are the greatest.¡±

    ¡°That would go a long way to restoring our friendship,¡± I said, placing my hands behind my head and relaxing back in my chair.

    ¡°I¡¯m too tired for this,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But, fine.¡± He locked me with a murderous stare. ¡°Auras are the greatest, my dearest friend Arlo.¡±

    ¡°Kind of feel like I need to sleep with one eye open from now on, but thanks.¡±

    ¡°Luck!¡± shouted Xim, startling me. ¡°I got the one that makes me hit sometimes when I would have missed.¡±

    ¡°Like that ring we found?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s better because it¡¯s not a gaudy ring and doesn¡¯t have charges or take up an item slot.¡±

    ¡°Mine are all crit related,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I¡¯m taking the one that gives me a 10% chance to deal double damage with melee attacks.¡±

    ¡°Same,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°For ranged attacks, though.¡±

    ¡°I got crits for spells!¡± said Etja. ¡°What about you, Arlo?¡±

    I pulled up my evolutions for the execrated stat of Luck, having ignored them so far out of principle.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see,¡± I said as I reviewed the first option.

    1) Divine Favor of Ju''Ro''Qi, The Dread Star of Heaven: Speak the Dread Star¡¯s true name and be seen. Ask one question and be answered. Should you survive the Dread Star¡¯s truth, forget its name for seven days.

    I drummed my fingers on the table.

    ¡°Just what I always wanted,¡± I said. ¡°Some cryptic bullshit.¡±

    I put my thoughts about the portentous text on hold and moved down to the next option.

    2) Divine Favor of Ju''Ro''Qi, The Dread Star of Heaven: Speak the Dread Star¡¯s true name and be seen. Ask one question and be answered. Should you survive the Dread Star¡¯s truth, forget its name for seven days.

    I froze, beginning to realize that something was deeply wrong with my evolution choices. I looked at the third option and was met with exactly what I expected.

    3) Divine Favor of Ju''Ro''Qi, The Dread Star of Heaven: Speak the¡­

    I stared at the three identical choices and then showed the text to my party members.

    An eerie chill filled the air as they read, and I started to appreciate how fucked up the options were when Varrin began weeping blood.

 125 - Eldritch Doom and Scheduling!

    Xim recoiled from the shared text, whatever desire she¡¯d held for experiencing god-like secrets fleeing from her. Etja wore a grim expression like I¡¯d never seen. Grotto¡¯s eyes flitted from side to side as he read and re-read the notification, seemingly undeterred by whatever force was impacting the others. When I glanced at Nuralie, she looked between the others with unease.

    Varrin batted at the air, physically dismissing the shared message, then stood and staggered away from the table. He clutched at his gut and doubled over, looking like he was about to return the food the magical kitchen had gifted us. Xim got to her feet and followed, placing a hand on his back and sending a Heal into him. I turned and raised an eyebrow at Nuralie.

    ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°Your evolutions are always disturbing.¡± Pause. ¡°I stopped looking at them.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± I grimaced and scratched the back of my head. ¡°Probably for the best.¡±

    [Why do you break everything?] Grotto thought, giving me an accusatory glare.

    ¡°You think I choose to have the System treat me like its pet monster? It¡¯s been offering me evos with horrifying implications since day 1!¡±

    [Your presence invites disruption, regardless of culpability. And do not blame the System, it had no hand in this.]

    ¡°Sorry, what?¡± I¡¯d looked away from my familiar to check on Xim and Varrin while he rebuked me for things out of my control. The big guy was standing straight again, though he was supporting himself with a hand on the metallic wall. He¡¯d managed to keep dinner down.

    [The text returns an error message when I view it. ¡°Evolution choices have been overridden by an outside force.¡± Some unknown entity has intervened on your behalf.]

    ¡°Saying it¡¯s on my behalf implies a positive meaning that I¡¯m not sure I agree with.¡±

    [Nevertheless, something has interfered because it has taken note of you. No one else received such an option.]

    I narrowed my eyes at the mini-c¡¯thon, but chose not to engage further in the petty argument.

    ¡°What did everyone else see?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I cannot remember,¡± Varrin growled. He turned, one trembling hand gripping his sword hilt tightly. ¡°Something about speaking with¡­ something. I grow tired of being battered by the wake of domineering creatures.¡±

    ¡°It had a divine nature,¡± Xim said. ¡°But it was so far beyond anything¨C¡± Her voice caught and she swallowed. ¡°What did it tell you?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Etja said, fixing me with grave eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t speak the name.¡±

    I thought twice about telling the others anything about the evolution as I appraised Etja. Her entire body was wound tight, looking almost like a stranger inhabited her. The thought left a sinking feeling in my gut, given her history.

    ¡°It offered me the ability to ask someone a question,¡± I said slowly, not looking away from Etja. ¡°It hinted¨Cnot so subtly¨Cthat receiving an answer would be very dangerous. It has a one-week cooldown, sort of.¡±

    ¡°Sort of?¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°It makes me forget the, uh, code word to use it for seven days.¡±

    Pause. ¡°Code word?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a true name,¡± said Etja. ¡°I couldn¡¯t read it, but the feeling I got when trying was unmistakable.¡±

    ¡°True name, like it gives me power over the entity?¡± I asked. Etja shook her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s so wrong, it¡¯s dangerous. A being will always know when its true name is spoken. It doesn¡¯t matter how far away you are, even if entire realities separate you. No spell or weave can stop it. It will know absolutely, and it will know who spoke it and where they are.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I skip the Luck evolution,¡± I said.

    ¡°And risk offending something this powerful?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°If it really wanted to talk, I feel like it would just swoop in and grab me up for a conversation. Having an option to choose feels like a trap.¡±

    [Some magics require that a choice be offered,] Grotto thought to us, his feelers anxiously snaking through the air. [Many functions of the System operate under that rule, for instance.]

    ¡°I¡¯m getting pretty strong ¡®demonic pact¡¯ vibes from this,¡± I said.

    ¡°Does it require any sort of payment?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I mean, aside from having an evolution burned into my body and soul, no.¡± I reviewed the text again. ¡°Wait, if I can see the true name in the description, do I even need the evolution?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it¡¯s demonic, but pacts with more powerful beings are real,¡± said Xim. ¡°It sounds like choosing the evolution is part of the pact. If there¡¯s no payment, are there restrictions?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I get one question, then seven days of name amnesia.¡±

    ¡°Then saying the name without agreeing to the rules would be like¡­¡±

    ¡°Right. Like any agreement without a contract,¡± I finished. ¡°You¡¯d be depending on the good faith of the other party not to screw you, while they¡¯d be watching for you to try and cheat them as well.¡±

    ¡°I was going to say it was like dueling without agreeing not to kill each other first, but sure.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t say that it won¡¯t try to kill me.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably implied,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°I like my terms to be express, but I get it. No way to cheese my way around the evo if I want to contact this thing.¡±

    ¡°Did you use cheese as a verb?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°It means to use an exploit or find an easy way to do something that¡¯s supposed to be hard.¡±

    ¡°What does that translate to cheese?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Probably because cheese is delicious,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason to decide right now,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We are weary, and have been through a lot these past few days.¡±

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s break for the night,¡± I said. ¡°If it¡¯s even night right now. We can reconvene in the morning.¡±

    There was a round of fatigued assent, and we found our way to a suite of personal rooms. Unlike most of what I¡¯d seen within Delves, the furniture was well-kept, rather than decaying or reduced to dust. We each had our own chamber and I fell asleep on a bed that was likely older than civilization.

    *****

    Sleep did us a lot of good, but did not bring any clarity as to the evolution. Reticent to waste any more time in the training hall than we had already, I made the executive decision to procrastinate making a choice. We all laid out our plans for the upcoming 22-and-a-half days.

    ¡°I¡¯ll use the sections for spell training and work on my shaping,¡± said Etja. ¡°My Dimensional 20 evolution makes shaping for AOEs twice as effective, but I want to test it out before using it in a fight. I¡¯ve also got some work to do on minefield, pipe, and funnel.¡±

    ¡°What are minefield, pipe, and funnel?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They¡¯re shapes!¡± she said. ¡°For mana-shaping.¡±

    I cocked my head to one side.

    ¡°You have categorized shape archetypes?¡±

    ¡°I made them up myself, but yes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a damn good idea. Probably makes training them a lot more effective than just pumping mana into a spell and hoping it works out.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡±

    ¡°I will spend a few days making as many potions as I can,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Getting everyone a stock of health and mana potions will speed up training. I went through many products during our assault on the Littans, so I need to replenish those as well.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh, endless mana for spell training,¡± said Etja, clasping her hands together in glee. I was glad she was back to being jubilant and excited, rather than a dour harbinger of eldritch disaster.

    ¡°That is very thoughtful and exceptionally helpful,¡± I said. ¡°What about after making potions?¡±

    ¡°I found a chamber flooded with divine mana,¡± she said. ¡°There are panels with different runes that can be swapped in and out. I do not know what many of them mean, but there are symbols that I recognize for Geul, Hyrach, and Deijin.¡± Pause. ¡°I will work on fully forming my revelation.¡±

    ¡°I can help with that,¡± said Xim. ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to use it much, but I have a Theology evolution that grants me a lot more sensitivity toward other people¡¯s revelations. I can probably help direct your training. I also have a lot of experience with communion.¡± She smiled at Nuralie. ¡°If you want my assistance, that is.¡±

    ¡°I¨C¡± Pause. ¡°I would appreciate that very much.¡±

    ¡°Working on anything else, Xim?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah!¡± Xim said like a 1,000-gallon pitcher of red sugar water busting through a brick wall. ¡°My Divine is at 37, my Shields is at 19, and my Light Armor is at 18. I bet I can get all those to the next evolution break point.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot. Going from 37 to 40 is supposed to take awhile.¡±

    Xim shrugged.

    ¡°I have a bunch of buffs to leveling my intrinsic skills.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Speaking of buffs, I think I¡¯ll finally use that human racial trait that gives +100% to crafting skill progression.¡±

    ¡°Which crafting skill?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Beard Trimming?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be part of Barbering & Cosmetology, but no.¡±

    ¡°Is it Antics?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Wisecracks?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Fatherly Humor?¡± offered Nuralie.

    ¡°Those are all part of Performance. Again, no. It¡¯s¨C¡±

    [Arbitrary Side-Tangents of Dubious Utility?]

    I huffed and glowered at Grotto.

    ¡°Perhaps it is Consorting with Evil,¡± offered Varrin.

    You could hear a pin drop.

    ¡°Humor isn¡¯t your strong suit, Varrin,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We were joking?¡±

    ¡°Wait, what evil am I consorting with?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Shog is objectively evil,¡± he replied.

    ¡°I think of him as a morally gray, secondary protagonist.¡±

    ¡°He eats people,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°They¡¯re bad people, though.¡±

    [He would consume anyone in this room without hesitation if he did not view you as a superior predator.]

    ¡°Grotto has also been responsible for countless deaths,¡± Varrin added.

    [Those were acts taken as part of my duties as a Delve Core. Those people knew what they would face when they entered my Delve.]

    ¡°First time we met,¡± said Xim, ¡°you tried to mind-control us into getting our organs scooped out by a psychopath.¡±

    Grotto¡¯s feelers twisted.

    [I was coerced.]

    ¡°It¡¯s Smithing!¡± I said, trying to re-rail the conversation.

    ¡°Good choice!¡± said Etja. ¡°You can make new armor for yourself. The Celestial voice was super-concerned about your¨C¡±

    ¡°I know what it said,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°What about you, Varrin?¡± Etja asked.

    ¡°Blades,¡± said Xim, Nuralie, and I at the same time. Varrin crossed his arms and looked affronted.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t even give me a chance to respond.¡± I gave him some side-eye.

    ¡°What are you planning to work on, Varrin?¡± I asked, monotone.

    He fidgeted, tapping a finger on his bicep.

    ¡°Blades,¡± he said. ¡°I think I can get it to the level 40 evolution if I focus on it exclusively.¡±

    ¡°Aaaanyway,¡± I said. ¡°I can summon Shog tomorrow if you want a sparring partner. I should still have sixteen hours on the cooldown. Let me check.¡± I brought up Dimensional Summon and took a look. ¡°Or the cooldown has already reset. Geez, how long were we in that portal?¡±

    ¡°You could summon Shog and we can ask him,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Are you suggesting that I Consort with Evil to uncover hidden truths?¡± I grinned, already casting the spell. A portal tore open the universe, and a mass of feelers, muscular limbs, and a body-fat percentage that would make any professional body builder envious floated out.

    ¡°Slayer, I am glad to see you did not perish. That nest of mice was more impressive than I expected.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Shog. Glad that you¡¯re okay as well. See, guys? Would someone who¡¯s evil care so much about my well-being?¡±

    ¡°Shog, why are you glad Arlo¡¯s alive?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Had he passed on, demoness, it would be more difficult to acquire Delvers to consume.¡± He pulled out his rapier and saber, his stolen Littan hands flexing along their grips at the end of two long feelers. ¡°The power I gained by feasting on the gaudy one was unparalleled.¡±

    She gave me a fierce ¡®see-what-I-mean?¡¯ expression, then turned back to the c¡¯thon.

    ¡°Still not a demon.¡±

    ¡°As you say, demoness.¡± Xim¡¯s mouth made a line thinner than Bible paper.

    ¡°How long has it been since I dismissed you, Shog?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have seen 71 sunrises since our last battle together.¡±

    My eyes went wide as I blanched.

    ¡°More than two months?!¡±

    [Are the days on your planet longer or shorter than those here?] asked Grotto. I nodded enthusiastically, hoping that Shog¡¯s planet had a faster rotation.

    ¡°I believe they are longer. If so, it is not by much.¡±

    You could hear a lighter pin drop.

    ¡°I¡¯m just¡­ I¡¯m gonna pretend I didn¡¯t hear that.¡±

    ¡°They probably think we¡¯re dead,¡± said Xim, as calm as someone reporting on the weather. Slightly overcast with a chance of widespread destruction. Not too hot, though.

    ¡°Like so many other things, this changes nothing,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We are not powerful enough that our presence in Arzia would deter the avatars from causing further damage, and our party cannot afford to further antagonize the Littans. What we have already done in Eschendur will bring down a great deal of political scrutiny. Our absence will not be missed, and we have been given time for the Littans to forget about us.¡±

    Varrin¡¯s appraisal was a touch callous, but he was right. We were teetering on the edge of being an Eschen military asset. He also reminded me that, despite our meteoric growth, we weren¡¯t very important on a global scale.

    ¡°Then we need to work on becoming powerful enough to deter the avatars,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Which will also make us more resistant to political bullshit,¡± I added. ¡°We have our work cut out for us. If no one else has anything to add, we should start milking this place for everything we can.¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± said Etja, pumping a fist into the air. ¡°Then we can use that milk to cheese our way to greatness!¡±

 126 - Crafts!

    One might wonder why our party valued the Training Expo so much. The short answer is that it was going to save us a hell of a lot of time. The long answer is:

    Arlo¡¯s Treatise on Why Varrin Goes Bananas for Intrinsic Skill Levels

    Delvers have access to three types of skills: actives, passives, and intrinsics. I like to think of the relationship between these three as that of a murderous jazz trio.

    Actives are the essential skills that let you do things like cast spells or use techniques. A Delver is limited to 10 total, and there are few (painful) ways known to swap them around. These represent the flashy lead instrument in a Delver¡¯s arsenal. The sexy tenor saxophone played by a mysterious man wearing sunglasses in a dark and smoky club. They need the shades ¡®cause they¡¯re in the spotlight. Summoning Shog, Oblivion Orb, and Dispel are three fine examples.

    Passive skills are powerful buffs that always exist in the background. There are only 4, and if there is a way to change them, no one talks about it openly. A good passive will help to determine the entire approach a Delver takes to their build. They¡¯re the bedrock, the bass guitar played by a nondescript person in the shadows. Easily forgotten, but sorely missed when they¡¯re absent. My aura is a passive.

    Intrinsic skills are the percussion, the drums, a technical player with impeccable timing who lays down the tempo for everyone else. While the crowd¡¯s attention is focused on the lead, an amazing lead cannot overcome a bad percussionist. A solid percussionist, however, can elevate an entire group of mediocre musicians. Blunt, Shields, and Dimensional Magic are three of my main intrinsics. They are the easiest of the three categories to swap out, but doing so costs all of the skill¡¯s progression and starts you back at level 1 with the new skill.

    Most intrinsic skills have passive effects that scale as the skill levels, such as the escalating physical defense granted by Heavy Armor. Intrinsic skills also determine the power of some aspect of most active skills. Dimensional Magic has just as much of an impact on the damage of my Oblivion Orb as my Intelligence. But the most satisfying part of intrinsics is the evolutions.

    There are five break points for evolutions, which are the same as the break points for stats: levels 10, 20, 40, 70, and 100. Evolutions might significantly boost a Delver¡¯s build efficacy, offer the chance to take powerful actives, or even grant new abilities that don¡¯t count against the active skill cap. While attribute evolutions affect general aspects of a Delver¡¯s potency, intrinsic evolutions are laser-focused and more powerful for the specific competency they are evolving. Strength is great for swinging a hammer, but Blunt is usually better.

    Because of their significant impact on potency, most Delvers have strict goals for their intrinsic growth before they are willing to tackle the next level of Delves. Training intrinsic skills takes time, however, and is thus the main bottleneck for most Delvers trying to advance through Delver levels. This goal is generally defined by a Delver¡¯s total number of intrinsic skill levels.

    For Coppers¡­ it¡¯s honestly not that big of a deal because Copper is trash and boring to talk about. Silvers generally want to gain 3 levels in total intrinsics between each Delve, which translates to 12 skill levels per Delver level. This will place Silvers at 90 total intrinsic skill levels by the time they¡¯re done with 30 Silver Delves, which is typically when they drop down a difficulty to Copper.

    Golds aim for 7 levels in total intrinsics between each Delve, which is 14 skill levels per Delver level. That gives them 210 total skill levels by the time they¡¯re done with 30 Gold Delves before they drop down to Silver. When I fought Yaretzi, he was level 17, full Gold, which is more gold Delves than the typical progression. Assuming that he followed a standard skill formula, he would have had 238 total intrinsic skill levels at minimum.

    Platinums are rare enough not to have a common standard, but Varrin¡¯s push is for us to gain 20 levels in total intrinsics per Delver level. This is, of course, something at which we have failed gloriously, given our manic pace through the lower levels. Our training stats allowed us to make up for the lack of robust intrinsics, but it¡¯s a deficit that has caught up with us some.

    So, to be a well-rounded and healthy level 10 Platinum¨Caccording to Varrin¨CI needed to have 200 total intrinsic skill levels. One way to accomplish that would be to have all 10 intrinsic slots filled, with an average skill level of 20. This formula starts to break down once total intrinsics gets close to 400 since getting skills above 40 takes a lot more effort focused on specific accomplishments. But, If we were to take it all the way through Platinum, we¡¯d have 600 skill levels after 30 Delves.

    I had 8 intrinsic skills and 135 total intrinsic levels. That put me in a good place for level 6, though I¡¯d had a deficit before my training with Khigra, the fight with Yaretzi and the Littan military, and my encounter with whatever the shit was in that portal. Probably the Dread Star¨Cthe jerk responsible for my dictated Luck evolution¨Cif I had to take a guess.

    An average Delver could generally get 1 intrinsic skill level per month. The lower levels heavily weight that figure since getting intrinsic skills to level 10 is pretty quick, and then there¡¯s a significant slow-down between each evolution. Regardless, at an ¡®average¡¯ pace it¡¯d take me 5-and-a-half years to bridge the gap between 135 and 200. Ain¡¯t nobody got time for that.

    Most Delvers were nobles with important noble duties like collecting taxes, attending balls, and spending their money. They also do some governing, but that¡¯s more of a side gig. This means that most Delvers were not working on their skills full-time. Intrinsic skill growth was also gated by the limited availability of scarce resources, monopolization of competent trainers by the wealthiest families, and the general hoarding of knowledge by, well, everyone. Even an expert hired to help a Delver skill up won¡¯t divulge their most sensitive secrets, and no amount of money can buy you a crafting material that no one has.

    Inside the Training Expo, our party suffered from none of these limitations.

    The Smithing zone consisted of a small library, a smithy, and a mana-weaving studio. The library contained texts that would guide a Delver from their first level in Smithing, with comprehensive manuals and treatises up to level 40. There were some books that spoke to advanced techniques above that level range, but leveling after 40 was heavily impacted by the individual. There wasn¡¯t much ¡®standard¡¯ advice, just examples of what had been accomplished by others in the past.

    The smithy was a comprehensive forge and workshop. Notably, it contained a mana-powered furnace¨Can emerald chip provided practically unlimited fuel¨Cand more ingots of various metals than I could hope to use in the time I had. These included mundane iron and steel, Madrin, dark iron, various precious metals, and something I¡¯d never seen before. The manuals referred to the metal as verdantum, and it had inherent self-repairing and poison-resistant properties. There was even some frozen steel and a small, inverted forge to work it, which was covered in a perpetual layer of frost and emitted a glistening vapor.

    The mana-weaving studio was a blessed addition to the space that I was excited to find. Mana-weaving was an important component of most crafts, although it was not mandatory. Most crafters chose to incorporate at least some weaving, but others often specialized in manipulating the base materials, which were then handed off to those who focused on weaves. Mana-weaving was the part of Smithing that I was most interested in, and I¡¯d even gotten a head start on it by memorizing a book gifted to me by Umi-Doo.

    While I was looking through this treasure trove of resources like it was my birthday and I was turning an age young enough that people still cared, Grotto discovered what may have been the most important addition. There was a metallic orb covered in runes set into an alcove of the workshop that looked much like a Delve Core. When Grotto poked it with a bit of mana, the runes lit up and it floated into the air to greet us. While it wasn¡¯t a fully-fledged murder ball like my familiar, it had a complete internal library of interactive experts to guide my progress. These could be projected like straight-up sci-fi holograms to demonstrate the more physical aspects of the craft and give me appropriately disappointed glares when I sucked at something. I decided to name the core Smith.

    I had unlimited materials, a wealth of available knowledge, a menagerie of experts to teach me, and no external demands on my time. Aside from the looming death clock.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    I also had the +100% progression bonus to crafting from my human racial boon.

    My goal: armor that made people stop questioning my sanity. At least, for the purposes of the protection that it gave. I was still going to make it look fantabulous.

    My first step was to obtain the Smithing skill, which was as easy as asking Smith to give me the System prompt. I was then guided through the process of smelting and forging 100 small, Madrin squares. I engraved a rune into each square until I had a plate for every basic mana-weaving rune used in Smithing.

    Each rune represented a basic concept which was granted greater specificity by adding additional complexity. There was a rune for heat that could be embellished to become fire, which could then be refined into fire resistance, and then into fire absorption, etcetera.

    The neat thing about runes was that they could be aligned into a sequence that created conditional effects such as automatic triggers, if/then statements, activation code words, or identity requirements. These were all more advanced than what I needed or would become capable of in the limited time I had. Nonetheless, this was an extremely important factoid because it made runes a language. I had a very nice birth sign bonus for languages.

    Spectacular Vernacular: You have an eidetic memory for languages and an intuitive grasp of grammar. You learn new languages and dialects at incredible speed.

    I¡¯d already memorized the runes in Umi-Doo¡¯s book, and the process of refining the runes into more specialized forms was almost instinctual once I got going. By the time I¡¯d finished my 100 plates and powered them with a coating of powdered ruby chips¨Calso provided by the Delve¨CI¡¯d already snagged my first 5 levels in Smithing.

    After that, I moved on to working the different types of metal into basic forms, eventually working my way up to functional plates for use in different types of armor. Gauntlets were a pain since they had so much articulation. To my surprise, however, the breastplate was the most difficult because of its semi-organic form, size, variable thickness, and the necessity of proper weight distribution. By the time I¡¯d figured all of that out, 12 days had passed and I was up to 11 in Smithing.

    The System had also given me a mini-objective amid my armor-making to craft a variety of chains which awarded me a bonus level in Smithing. I completed it¨Cbecause free level¨Cbut it confused me at first. I hadn¡¯t heard of similar quests at lower levels, but it made more sense once I saw my evolution choices.

    1) Enhance Metal: You specialize in the refinement of high-quality metals. For each evolution in Smithing, metallic items you craft are 10% lighter, and weaves applied to them are 5% more effective.

    2) Armorsmith: You specialize in the production of the toughest and most stalwart of armors. Effects you weave into metallic items governed by the Heavy Armor skill are twice as powerful.

    3) Chainsmith: We know you like whips, but what about chains? You have mastered the crafting of metal chains and can make them with inherently magical abilities for magical nights in with your dom. Effects you weave into chains¨Cand the satisfaction you gain from their use¨Care twice as powerful.

    Additionally, whenever you craft a chain of any length, you can choose to imbue it with one of the following properties:

    <ul>

    <li>Extension. With 1 second of concentration, the chain can magically lengthen ;) itself up to twice its normal length, or shorten :( itself to half its length. The maximum length is doubled :D and the minimum length is halved :((( for each evolution you have in Smithing other than this one.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Resilience. The maximum weight the chain can support is doubled for each evolution you have in Smithing.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Animation. You can issue commands to the chain, which it will perform. The chain gains a movement speed equal to your Smithing skill in feet per second and can fly, though at least one link of the chain must be touching the ground for it to move. If it takes an action that requires an attribute or skill (such as unarmed ¡®grappling¡¯) it uses the attributes and skill levels of its commander. It cannot make attacks or contests. With 3 seconds of concentration, you can relinquish command of the chain to another individual; if you do¨Cwhich we bet you will¨Cyou may no longer issue commands to the chain unless they relinquish command back to you.</li>

    </ul>

    I was back to being abused by the System. It had even baited me into the trap by giving me a free skill level! Part of me felt like the System was trying a bit too hard to find ways to kink-shame me, but if it got me free shit, I didn¡¯t really care. The System could drag me through the mud as much as it wanted so long as it kept handing out rewards whenever it did.

    I ignored the fact that accepting punishment in exchange for self-gratification was playing right into its hands.

    Enhance metal was a solid catch-all, but I preferred to specialize. Chainsmith was annoyingly cool, but I didn¡¯t want to give the System the satisfaction. I was tempted by the idea of creating burning chains that flew around on their own and wrapped people up¨Ca combo that¡¯d make Guardian Lito proud¨Cbut it was not meant to be. In the end, the choice was easy. I wanted better armor, I wanted to focus on weaving, I picked Armorsmith. Sorry to disappoint.

    The rest of my time was spent crafting myself a suit of armor. It was an outrageous pace for learning how to smith and then being able to complete an entire set of armor, but the Smithing skill¡¯s magic shenanigans gave a big boost to the speed of everything involved. This was further augmented by the super evolution to Intelligence Nuralie got from The Cage:

    Rote Memory: You understand not only the academics but the kinesthetics behind your crafts. Your crafting speed is increased by 2% per INT when using manual tools.

    Super - Collective Memory: Up to 4 designated allies in your party gain 50% of the bonus you receive from Rote Memory while within 1 mile of you.

    An ability we¡¯d taken little advantage of, but a huge boon to getting everything finished with the time available. Nuralie had a 28 Intelligence, which granted a 28% increase to my crafting speed.

    For the metal, I chose the peculiar verdantum. Dark iron was too heavy and interfered with mana flow. That made it ideal for pure physical fighters who wanted easy spell protection, but that was a net negative for me, even if I could wear it. Madrin had served me well as a lighter metal that gave a minor buff to weaves, but I couldn¡¯t pass up an opportunity to work with something that I wasn¡¯t even sure existed on the outside. If verdantum was in the Delve, I assumed there were deposits in Arzia, but it might have been found only in remote regions. Maybe it was buried under some of that moon that got dropped on the planet.

    Using a rare metal would make augments or upkeep more difficult, but the metal was naturally self-repairing and this would be an intermediary suit of armor anyway. I¡¯d outgrow it before long, especially if I kept training up my Smithing and raised my Strength so that I could wear something heavier. There were yet more uncommon materials used at higher levels.

    Verdantum was in the same weight class as Madrin but lacked the weave buff in favor of its regenerative properties and poison resistance. With the amount of abuse my armor saw, the self-repair alone was worth more to me than the weave bonus. I was also already resistant to poison from my Exposure Therapy achievement, so stacking more on top would make me pretty stout against poison hazards and attacks.

    As far as the weaves, the strength of what I could apply was limited by my Smithing skill. The rules are mildly complicated, but the short version is that stat requirements from weaves couldn¡¯t be higher than my Smithing level, and I could only have 1 copy of each weave.

    I was pretty happy with what I ended up with.

    Verdantum Bascinet of the Soul

    Requirements: 10 STR, 10 CHA

    Armor Rating: Medium-high

    Effects: Spiritual DR +20, +2% Poison Resistance, Self-repair

    Verdantum Cuirass of the Redoubt

    Requirements: 10 STR, 10 STR

    Armor Rating: Medium-high

    Effects: Physical DR +20, +4% Poison Resistance, Self-repair

    Verdantum Gauntlets of the Catapult

    Requirements: 10 STR, 10 AGI

    Armor Rating: Medium-high

    Effects: +20 thrown weapon damage, +1% Poison Resistance, Self-repair

    Verdantum Leg Harness of the Traveler

    Requirements: 10 STR, 10 WIS

    Armor Rating: Medium-high

    Effects: -20% to teleportation mana cost and cooldown, +2% Poison Resistance, Self-repair

    Verdantum Sabatons of the Quickfoot

    Requirements: 10 STR, 10 AGI

    Armor Rating: Medium-high

    Effects: +20% movement speed, +1% Poison Resistance, Self-repair

    After sequestering myself in the smithy for three weeks, I finished the set with a day to spare. The armor was naturally a forest-green hue, and I decided to leave it as-is. I used my extra time to attach a series of small loops to secure my feather boa and was happy with how the violet and fuchsia mingled with the green. It was like I¡¯d become a beautiful flower, emerging at the end of a miserable, steely winter.

    I¡¯d also opted for a closed-face helm which hid some of my glory, but protecting the money-maker took precedence. I made a mental note to acquire a colorful feather plume to attach to the top. Something to match my boa would really bring the whole set together. My vest, unfortunately, had to be worn beneath the armor. The cuirass was too bulky for it to fit on top.

    Finally, after a good night¡¯s sleep and a hearty breakfast where the party went over our gains, we prepared ourselves to enter the portal.

    Powerleveling is what we had for lunch.

 127 - Monster Battle

    ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s through this portal,¡± I said. ¡°If it¡¯s a Delve, we need to hit the ground running.¡±

    ¡°We should still move with caution,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But we should spend as little time looking at the scenery as possible.¡± He gave both Xim and me a pointed look.

    Xim crossed her arms.

    ¡°Hey, I only waste time looking around for research purposes,¡± she said.

    I mirrored her body language.

    ¡°And I only waste time,¡± I said. Varrin raised an eyebrow, waiting for the second half of my statement. There was no second half to my statement.

    ¡°We can lean on our stat advantage,¡± he continued. ¡°Overwhelm the regular enemies with aggressive tactics without relying on intricate tricks that take time to set up.¡±

    ¡°Bad time to be stingy, as well,¡± I added. ¡°We can¡¯t worry about burning consumables.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t drink a potion if you¡¯re dead,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We have many,¡± said Nuralie. She¡¯d spent nearly half her time in the Training Expo concocting, focusing on formulas she could make efficiently. She¡¯d already handed us each a dozen health and mana potions.

    ¡°Alright, standard diamond formation,¡± I said. ¡°Shog, you¡¯re in the front with me. Grotto, stick with Xim for now in case you need to buff her Heart of Scary spell.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not what it¡¯s called,¡± Xim said, scrunching her nose.

    ¡°The real name¡¯s too long. Does anyone else have business before we enter?¡± No one volunteered anything. ¡°Okay, buffs up.¡±

    I cast Life Warden on Etja while Xim placed her blessings of Pounding and Hunger on Varrin. With everyone set, I squared my shoulders and stepped through the massive portal. This time there was no intermission within a mind-crushing non-space.

    I exited into a chamber lit by a bright, blue-green hue. Large plants glowed with bioluminescent light, each more than twenty feet high. Their leaves were the size of sedans and dripped with condensed moisture from the humid air. My boots crunched on coarse soil as I moved from in front of the portal. Shog came through next, quickly followed by the others.

    I scanned the space for any signs of enemies but saw none. I took a moment to inspect the ground, finding it interspersed with fist-sized rocks. The dirt was amassed into small clumps that broke into granular pieces each the size of a grain of rice. I looked back up to the plants, finding tall, thin stalks rising between the leafy bushes. I walked up to one, still keeping an eye out for danger. It looked like a massive stalk of grass. Taking in the area as a whole, I felt like I¡¯d been shrunk down and dropped onto a forest floor.

    The ceiling was only forty feet above us, however, and there were no impossibly large trees or other vegetation, so I put the theory of Honey, I Shrunk the Delvers out of my mind. Once everyone else had gotten their bearings, we exchanged silent nods and moved forward.

    After passing the first group of leafy bushes, we found an obelisk less than fifty feet ahead.

    ¡°Uh, that was quick,¡± I whispered.

    Shog hovered up beside me, while everyone else gathered behind.

    ¡°Did it take us straight to the end?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I-¡± Shog¡¯s hand on my shoulder interrupted me.

    His long, too-many-jointed fingers wrapped all the way down to my chest. I was momentarily distracted by his razor-sharp claws tapping on my armor and the closeness of his thick, powerful feelers. It reminded me that my summon was 8 feet of floating, unadulterated horror.

    I gave him a questioning glance, and he gestured above us with a tilt of his head. I looked up and spotted a large creature clinging to the ceiling between the leaves. As my eyes landed on it, it dropped, its body tearing through the vegetation and landing on the ground with enough force to send tremors through my body.

    The monster was the size of an elephant, rising ten feet off the ground and more than twenty feet long. It was covered in thick, leathery skin that was dark in color with a yellow tinge. Its torso sat low to the ground, supported by six fleshy legs with bear-like paws at their ends and its head was nearly as wide as its body.  It had no snout or nose, but two slits crowned its skull, which huffed and spat vapor into the air while its mouth¨Ca circular mass of teeth¨Cpulsed and squirmed. A pair of wide-set, beady eyes looked at us with the empty gaze of a fish.

    Lardigrey: Beast, Grade 14

    We all tensed and I readied my hammer for a throw, but Shog¡¯s hand moved from my shoulder to gently push my weapon back down.

    ¡°Slayer,¡± he purred, ¡°allow me to test myself against this creature.¡±

    I looked between my summon and the monster. Shog was two grades lower than the beast.

    ¡°Alone?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    I shot a glance at Varrin. The big guy shrugged and I relaxed my stance.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll jump in if it looks like you¡¯re having trouble. We don¡¯t know what¡¯s coming up after this, so we need everyone in good shape.¡±

    ¡°It will not be necessary.¡±

    The c¡¯thon pulled out his rapier and saber with two Yaretzi-handed tentacles and floated forward. The Lardigrey snuffled at the air, then snorted and angled its body to follow Shog. A croaking growl rumbled through its body, spits of liquid shooting from the slits.

    Before Shog could grow too close, it charged, paws digging into the ground and trodding with thundering beats. The growl turned to a hoarse roar, and its mouth opened wide. When it was ten feet from my summon, the mouth launched out from its body on a long, slimy tube as thick as my torso.

    Shog flew to the side with more speed than I knew he was capable of, thrusting his rapier into the creature¡¯s flank. The blade¡¯s tip bounced back from the monster¡¯s thick skin, and Shog followed up with a slash from his saber, but it also failed to penetrate. The beast turned sharply and its mouth struck at Shog like a snake.

    The c¡¯thon whipped out with a pair of tentacles and knocked the striking mouth off course, maneuvering himself further toward the monster¡¯s rear. The beast continued to spin as Shog sent more exploratory thrusts and slashed at its armored hindquarters.

    After a few more quick attacks, Shog hovered up into the air. The monster reared back and batted at Shog with its meaty paws, talons raking, but Shog easily dodged. The beast¡¯s back legs coiled, and it launched up at the c¡¯thon as though its enormous bulk were meaningless. Shog fellow backward from the lunge, staying out of the beast¡¯s reach while his stinger-tipped tentacle landed three quick attacks into his enemy¡¯s face. Three more of his feelers wrangled its eel-like mouth. The beast fell back to the ground with a deep thud and began running its two front paws over its head in frantic strokes. Apparently, the stinger had found purchase.

    Shog looked down at the beast from on high, studying it until it abandoned its hectic grooming and turned beady eyes back up to him. It took a few steps back, crouching low and readying itself for another leap.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    Shog reached into his beard of tentacles with his humanoid hands and pulled out two greatswords.

    One was the ocean-blue c¡¯thonic bone greatsword that Varrin had received from our creation Delve. The second was the big guy¡¯s frozen steel greatsword that he¡¯d recently replaced with Kazandak. Shog hefted them, dual-wielding the six-foot blades like they were as light as his rapier. When the beast charged forward and leaped into the air, Shog spun his body and brought the bone sword across the monster¡¯s face.

    There was a crack as the blade landed, its edge also rejected by the creature¡¯s flesh. However, unlike the lighter swords, this one had weight behind it. The Lardigrey¡¯s head snapped to the side, its slithering mouth trailing behind it like a lolling, alien tongue. Before the beast could fall, Shog finished his spin and stuck the monster along the neck with the tip of the frozen steel greatsword. It cut through the skin, leaving a two-foot gash behind, though it was shallow.

    The monster landed on its side, its paws scrambling as it tried to right itself. Before it could, Shog passed the bone greatsword off to a pair of feelers and gripped the frozen steel blade in both of his ¡®normal¡¯ hands. He angled back so that the end of the weapon pointed down at the Lardigrey, then blasted down through the air in a blur. As the beast struggled to its feet, Shog connected and drove the blade directly into the wound he¡¯d carved. The sword sank deep, the armored skin of the beast no longer an obstacle. Shog¡¯s strike was angled so that the blade entered through the wound at its neck, but traveled into the creature¡¯s torso. In an instant, the entire blade was buried inside the beast.

    A burst of vapor blew from the Lardigrey¡¯s skull, and then it crashed to the ground.

    Its legs twitched as Shog drew the blood-covered sword from the beast¡¯s body, but the creature was otherwise still. Shog studied it for a moment, then drove the blade into the monster¡¯s skull through one of its beady eyes. There was no reaction. I felt a swell of pride toward my summon for being an adherent to the double-tap philosophy.

    There was a moment of quiet on the battlefield until Xim stepped up beside me.

    ¡°Was that it?¡± she asked.

    Your party has slain 1 Lardigrey: Beast, Grade 14. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 14 Emerald Chips

    2) 1 Lardigrey Essence

    3) Personal Loot (Shog¡¯tuatha) 1 Segmented Core

    All party members receive their personal loot.

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 2 Emerald Chips.

    Remainder of 4 Emerald Chips have been awarded to Shog¡¯tuatha for outstanding contribution.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    ¡°I guess so,¡± I said.

    I walked up to the body and looked it over. I prodded its skin, finding it rough like low-grit sandpaper and as hard as solid stone. I knocked on it with the head of my hammer, eliciting a gravelly thunk as though the entire beast was made of rock.

    ¡°Excellent work,¡± said Varrin as he approached Shog.

    He pulled a few hand towels from his inventory and handed them to the c¡¯thon. Shog accepted the towels with a feeler, holding them out and studying them like an alien artifact.

    ¡°You¡¯re using your saber for slashing, but it¡¯s also effective for thrusting,¡± Varrin said. He held out a hand and Shog passed him the blade. Varrin demonstrated a few moves. ¡°You¡¯re relying too much on your feelers for power in your thrusts. You should try to strike with your entire body to put more weight behind the attacks.¡±

    I watched the interaction, finding the master-student relationship the pair had formed satisfying. Shog had been Varrin¡¯s primary sparring partner during training. While Varrin had managed to grind his Blades skill up to 40 like he¡¯d wanted, Shog had grown by leaps and bounds.

    Varrin continued giving pointers until the obelisk lit up and began thrumming with energy. Arcs of mana flowed out of it, soaking our bodies in new power. I felt my spirit grow denser until the flow of mana ended a few seconds later. I checked my status, finding 8 stat points ready to be distributed.

    ¡°I do not feel like I earned that,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim, tapping a finger on her chin in thought. ¡°Grotto, I thought we had to ¡®prime¡¯ our mana matrix through challenge and combat for the obelisks to work. We didn¡¯t exactly do anything here.¡±

    [Your training likely served the same purpose and do not forget that I reforged your mana veins to an ideal form.] He floated around Xim, looking her up and down. [It is also possible that you are all freaks with an absurd tolerance for mana augmentation.]

    ¡°I like the second one better,¡± I said. ¡°I was born this way.¡±

    [Your entire body was reshaped by Fortune while you spent millennia in stasis.]

    ¡°That¡¯s a sort of birth,¡± I argued. ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s that item you got, Shog?¡±

    My summon looked up from where Varrin was demonstrating how to clean his blades using the towel. The big guy had little bottles of cleaning agent and oil set out on the ground beside them.

    ¡°I am uncertain,¡± said Shog. He reached into his beard and pulled out a grapefruit-sized orb. It was the deep-red color of the Lardigrey¡¯s blood and covered in armored plates. The moment Shog began to look it over, his eyes went wide and he shoved it beneath his beard again. There was an audible gulping noise as the c¡¯thon swallowed it.

    ¡°It was a tasty snack?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°The orb is a slow-release form of condensed mana.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ it was a tasty snack. For mana fiends!¡±

    ¡°A good enough description.¡±

    I watched as Shog¡¯s grade jumped from 12 to 13 in real time.

    ¡°Damn, that works fast,¡± I said.

    ¡°No. I was already on the cusp of advancing. It will continue to release energy for several days.¡±

    ¡°Terrifying,¡± muttered Nuralie.

    Shog went back to Varrin¡¯s caretaking instruction and I peered around the obelisk chamber.

    ¡°I reckon we don¡¯t need any downtime,¡± I said.

    ¡°We should assign our stats at least,¡± said Xim with the vacant eyes of a person studying their menus. ¡°I¡¯ll just add 2 to everything I care about.¡±

    ¡°I will work on reaching 20 in Agility,¡± said Varrin as he supervised Shog.

    ¡°So you can use the bedazzled cloak of flying?¡± I asked.

    ¡°There are many good reasons for a melee fighter to have superior dexterity and control.¡± He pointed out a smudge of viscera Shog had missed. ¡°But the cloak would be useful, yes.¡±

    ¡°I will finally get my Fortitude to 20,¡± said Nuralie, though she sounded reluctant. She gave me a defeated look. ¡°You wore me down. The other 4 will go to Agility. I feel it will be more useful than Intelligence if we are fighting.¡±

    ¡°Evolution?¡± I asked.

    She looked over her menus for a moment, then shared a prompt with the rest of us.

    Chemical Constitution: Beneficial substances you ingest are 2(X)% more effective, where X is your Fortitude.

    ¡°Yeah, that looks good,¡± I said. ¡°Just don¡¯t develop a potion addiction.¡±

    ¡°Too late,¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°I will become wiser,¡± said Etja in a solemn tone. ¡°And more charismatic!¡± She did a cartwheel and ended it with a spin and a bow. ¡°How about you, Arlo?¡±

    I looked at my screen and was about to throw my points into Intelligence, but hesitated. Stats needed to be assigned within 24 hours of receiving them or they started to decay. However, if the Delve pushed us through the rest of the levels as quickly as it just had¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m holding onto them,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why would you do that?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He has that dumb achievement,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Dumping.¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not dumb,¡± I said. ¡°Overpowered is what it is.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s dumb because it makes me jealous.¡±

    ¡°I agree,¡± said Xim. ¡°Totally stupid.¡±

    ¡°What does the achievement have to do with anything?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°The ability gives me a free stat point for every 5 I spend,¡± I said, ignoring the haters. ¡°I can normally only get 1 per level since a Platinum Delve grants 8 stat points. Since stats decay, I can¡¯t save them up. But if I were able to get 2 levels¡­¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d have 16 stat points,¡± Varrin finished. ¡°Which will give you 3 uses of Dumping for 2 levels worth of stats.¡± He kicked the Lardigrey corpse. ¡°I hate you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we call min-maxing,¡± I said, doing a little jig.

    ¡°Stop that,¡± said Xim. ¡°It¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    I continued to cut a rug, undeterred.

    ¡°I think what you meant to say is that I¡¯ve got style.¡±

    ¡°I can teach you to dance later,¡± said Etja. ¡°Since you don¡¯t know how.¡±

    I sucked in a breath.

    ¡°No!¡± I said. ¡°Innocent Etja, they¡¯ve corrupted you!¡±

    ¡°That burned more than my Judgment spell,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re finished assigning stats,¡± said Varrin, ¡°we should move on.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I said, spinning around and looking at our surroundings. ¡°How do we do that? There¡¯s no portal.¡±

    There was a deep rumble, followed by a cascade of cracking stone. I looked up toward the noise, eyebrows crawling up my face.

    The ceiling began to collapse.

 128 - Clockwork

    Chunks fell away from the ceiling above, crumbling down on us like the ancient structure had suddenly felt the weight of its age and given up. Hunks of stone, some larger than the Lardigrey, crashed to the ground as we all strafed and dove to avoid being crushed. We were all heavily resistant to mundane damage, but no one wanted to test how effective that was against the tons of rock threatening to squash us.

    Fortunately, we all had the benefit of maxed-out training stats in Agility and Speed, which adjusted the difficulty of avoiding the largest slabs from impossible to demanding. Too much fell for us to avoid everything¨Caside from Varrin, who wove through the debris with the speed and grace of a gazelle made of neoprene rubber. I grunted as a cantaloupe-sized piece of rubble collided with a pauldron. My armor absorbed the brunt of the impact, but the force told me enough to keep out of the way of the largest fragments.

    A rain of gravel plinked and clattered across my body as I leaped to one side to avoid a scrap the size of a cow. It impacted the soft dirt with a low thunk, kicking up clods of soil to mix in with the growing haze of rock dust beginning to cloud the air. Shog¡¯s tentacles whipped around him, knocking aside anything smaller than a basketball while flitting between the larger pieces. Xim had Grotto tucked beneath her round shield, protecting the core, who was likely our most vulnerable team member.

    The destruction began at the center of the room, directly above the obelisk, and rippled outward. After ten perilous seconds, the middle of the ceiling had fully disintegrated. I scrambled over uneven terrain to reach the area, which was now free of shedding boulders, finding Nuralie and Shog already there. Xim and Grotto were close behind, with Xim hunched over and enduring several fist-size pieces striking her back. Varrin slashed through a rock falling toward Etja, and the pair moved out of harm¡¯s way as well, putting the whole party inside the safe zone.

    A quick glance at my interface showed that no one had lost more than a few points of health, and I looked up, curious to see what had been revealed beyond the shattered ceiling. Less than twenty feet above where the original ceiling had been was another enclosure, but this one was distinct from anything I¡¯d seen inside of a Delve before.

    Rather than plain stone or dark, rune-covered metal, the new ceiling was a sprawling network of endless gears and cogs. They were hardly visible in the rapidly dwindling glow of the bioluminescent plants, which were quickly becoming buried. I peered through the dark, using my enhanced vision to study the intricate web of unmoving machinery as the cacophony of destruction resounded for another full minute, the walls crashing down in a final crescendo of demolition. Finally, silence filled the space, broken by the occasional tumble of unsettled pebbles.

    Amid the smaller ratchets and wheels were larger gears interspersed at regular intervals. They brought order to the otherwise chaotic mess of interwoven hardware. There were at least a hundred, each one bearing a symbol engraved onto the hub at its center. Most were unfamiliar, and many were obscured by the dark, but I recognized a few from my practice with mana weaving. Heat, cold, pierce, spirit; they were basic forms of the fundamental building blocks of runework.

    I took them in at a glance as I searched for threats in the enlarged space. Everything was silent and still, but a form dominated one side of the room, the dull glint of metal barely visible in the dark. It was a shadowy mass the size of a two-story house. The moment I¡¯d looked it over, it began emitting a low hum, followed by ticking clinks that rapidly grew in tempo.

    One of the large gears above us groaned and came to life.

    It rotated with stops and starts, its movements jerky and uneven as it dislodged a torrent of soot and rust. As the offscourings joined the settling stone dust, the movements of the gear smoothed out until it squeaked and spun at a consistent pace. After a few seconds, it moved as though it were freshly oiled, and the rune on its face came to life. Once it began burning with a ruby glow, it wasn¡¯t hard to make out what it said.

    Mind.

    Veins of mana pulsed out from the gear in an irregular pattern of sharp lines and hard angles. They spread across the entire mass of gears, the smaller cogs beginning to turn as energy passed through them. Soon the sound of clanking metal and drumming mechanisms banished the tenuous silence with the roar of a factory in full swing. The room was lit up in a color that reminded me of red emergency lighting.

    Fierce jets of steam began to burst from a few spots in the ground, firing in brief spurts powerful enough to clear the rubble above them. Smaller rocks were sent flying so high it was as though they sought to reclaim their place in the ceiling, but the insistence of gravity brought them back down to add organic pops to the mechanical racket as they landed.

    The geometric mana made its way to the dark form at the edge of the room and its body lit up with yellow bulbs crackling with electricity. It was a mess of brass tubes and rotating side rods. On its front was a clock with a 30-foot diameter, all hands pointing to 12 o¡¯clock, but there were no numbers on its face. A hundred runes matching the gears above lined the clock¡¯s edge.

    ¡°What am I looking at?¡± asked Xim. She hefted her scepter, stance low, eyes flitting about in search of something to smite.

    ¡°Some kind of steampunk nightmare,¡± I said, also looking for an obvious boss monster. ¡°Honestly, the theme is completely out of step with the other Delves we¡¯ve been through.¡±

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you complaining about Delves being too repetitive?¡± said Xim.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I was talking about architecture. This is still the same, just with gears and shit.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s a different type of challenge,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Something other than a mana fiend to slay.¡±

    The ¡®second¡¯ hand on the clock began to tick, and it ticked fast. It clicked past ten runes in one second, which gave us a ten-second countdown to whatever happened next. I could guess as to what.

    ¡°I think the gears each have a different effect,¡± I said. ¡°The one that activated first was labeled Mind, and that brought everything else to life. I suspect once the second hand makes its way around, it¡¯ll-¡±

    The hand finished a rotation, and the minute hand clicked over to the first rune: Weight. A gear above us began to spin, its rune lighting up.

    My knees bent as my body grew to twice heavier and Nuralie grunted as she recovered from the sudden increase as well. Varrin and Xim were hardly affected, while Shog lost a few feet of elevation before adjusting and hovering back up, halfway to the ceiling. Grotto was still tucked behind Xim¡¯s shield, but his feelers bobbed. Rocks shifted and clunked as the balance in the piles of debris was disrupted.

    ¡°...add a new effect,¡± I finished.

    ¡°An endurance test?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to stand around and find out.¡±

    ¡°We could break that big clock,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Or break everything,¡± Nuralie offered.

    ¡°If we keep getting heavier,¡± said Etja, ¡°I can use Siphon to counter it.¡±

    The minute hand turned over to a new rune, and another gear began to turn. The temperature in the room skyrocketed. Within a second I could feel sweat forming on my skin, and I cursed myself for not taking the time to put environmental weaves onto my armor. Not that I¡¯d had time to do so.

    ¡°Etja, try and use Nullify on one of the gears,¡± I said. ¡°Shog, see if you can break one. I¡¯m heading toward the clock.¡±

    Etja and Shog each flew to a different gear and I trundled over the piles of broken stone toward the large machine. After a few feet, I swapped to flying over the terrain with Gracorvus. There wasn¡¯t time to conserve my mana by fighting with my footing.

    Etja fired Nullify at the heat gear and the rune on its face dimmed. The temperature in the room began to abate, but much slower than it had spiked. Shog made it to the weight gear and struck it with his bone greatsword. Sparks flew, but the gear continued to turn. The c¡¯thon growled and swung again, rotating his body and putting all his weight behind it. The gear hitched, gravity returning to normal for a brief moment, but immediately began to move once more. I could barely make out a scratch on the gear¡¯s surface. A few seconds later, the gear Etja had Nullified lit back up and began to spin. The heat in the room rose.

    The minute hand ticked, and the vents of steam erupting from the ground multiplied.

    A vent fired from beneath me and I shot into the air. I felt my skin blister beneath my armor as the heat found its way between the plates and joints. I quickly course-corrected and made it the rest of the way to the giant clock, doing a quick flyby of its perimeter, looking for anything of note. Large side rods turned over metal wheels half-buried in its mass and I could see innumerable moving parts through slats in the outer housing. I heard the plink of arrows as Nuralie tried her hand at destroying a gear, but none of the effects abated. After I¡¯d swung around the three exposed sides of the machine, Varrin appeared beside me.

    The minute hand turned, and lightning began to crawl through the room, arcing from floor to ceiling. I turned to see Shog take a bolt, scorched feathers shedding from one of his feelers. He looked more annoyed than injured, but a swath of flesh was blackened.

    ¡°It looks like there¡¯s a lot of sensitive moving parts inside,¡± I said. Varrin nodded and immediately drew back to take a swing with Kazandak. He swung with enough force to send a sharp thrum through the air and his blade bit deep into the metal, though it was just shy of penetrating. He swung again, managing to cut a little deeper, but he wasn¡¯t making much progress.

    I dropped down from Gracorvus and grew Somncres to a full two-handed form, then swung at the machine with full force. I left a deep dent in the machine¡¯s surface, but it was hardly a scuff compared to the device¡¯s surface area. I jumped across broken rocks to the clock face and took a swing at it instead. A shimmering wall of force rippled as my strike impacted a barrier, leaving the clock face unharmed.

    Another tick and a dark fog began to pour out from the slats in the large machine. A burst of vapor hit me directly in the face, and voices began to whisper into my ears.

    ¡°Wait, all you have to do is wait, take time and stop to think, wait, wait, wait,¡± they hissed.

    Now, when strange, unseen entities begin giving me unsolicited advice in the creepiest way imaginable, I tend to ignore them. I felt a subtle tug on my mind as the voices encouraged me to ignore my problems, but I resisted it without much trouble. Varrin, on the other hand, had stopped his attack and was shaking his head sharply.

    ¡°Mental attack,¡± I said, giving him a strong clap on the back. ¡°You got this.¡±

    He blinked a few times, then nodded and began his attack anew. With each strike, he grew faster, his blows more powerful, and his body was shrouded in growing divine light. Whatever this machine was, it counted as an enemy, and Varrin¡¯s wombo combo of buffs and blessings was beginning to build. The metal plating in front of him was nearly shredded, the shifting machinery beneath exposed.

    I raised a hand for him to pause, then hefted Somncres and swung in with an Oblivion Orb-powered attack. The moving gears of metal glowed when my attack landed, the Oblivion Orb leaving a thousand small holes in the material. The hammer strike left a dent, but overall the attack had been lackluster. There was a loud clunking as the metallic plates and gears continued to move, but it made no noticeable difference in its overall operation.

    Another tick and tendrils of barbed wire crawled out from between the broken stones at my feet, wrapping themselves around my legs. A bolt of lightning struck my armor, locking up my muscles for an instant and preventing me from moving to escape the grasping strands. A spray of venting steam hit me from below. My joints screamed as the force of the blast pressed me upward while the razor wire dug scores into my armor and locked my legs in place. When the blast of steam stopped, I fell to my knees under my body¡¯s increased weight.

    Sweat poured down my back as the voices grew louder.

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

 129 - Clockwork II

    I used Oblivion Orb to destroy the wire and disentangle my legs, doing my best to ignore the insistent voices. I hopped back onto Gracorvus and checked on my allies.

    The wire embraced Varrin¡¯s entire lower half, but the big guy ignored it, swinging at the machine with ever-increasing haste. The moving plates were shredded after a dozen strikes, and their movement stopped. The gears above continued to turn and none of the effects ended, but Varrin never paused to check, he just kept swinging.

    Everyone else was still fighting to destroy the gears on the ceiling. The best any of them could manage was an interruption, but all it did was give us a few seconds of relief from one of the hazards. There was a flash of crimson as Xim tested Judgment on one of the cogs. Divine fire clung to the gear¡¯s surface but it continued to spin.

    I looked back at the clock face. Varrin¡¯s efforts had destroyed a small fraction of the machine that I could see, and I searched the timepiece for any hint that it had been the right move.

    The second hand ticked relentlessly, the minute hand turned another notch, and waves of screeching sound began rolling across the room. My armor shuddered as the harsh squeal pierced my ears.

    Another bolt of lightning struck me, and I barely flew out of the way of a vent. I¡¯d taken less than 10% of my health in damage, but my allies had much smaller health pools. Xim shifted her focus from damage to healing, holding her hands out towards one party member at a time to cast Heal at range. For now, she could rotate through everyone without trouble, but her mana would only last so long.

    Varrin had ramped up to making several attacks a second, and a mass of exposed springs and cogs shattered under his onslaught. He stepped forward into a hole he¡¯d carved, his powerful legs ripping up the wire trying to hinder him as he stepped, his heavy armor protecting him from the sharp protrusions.

    I kept watching the clock face, trying to decide if I should begin channeling Explosion! and pack a massive detonation inside the hole Varrin had made. The compressed space would make it significantly more effective, but that came with a cost. I¡¯d picked up an evolution to lower the spell¡¯s cooldown, but the reduction was based on my skill level in Physical Magic, which was low. It would take 52 minutes to get the spell back, and if we were forced into another boss immediately after this it wouldn¡¯t be available. There was also the chance that we would be rushing into two more bosses, each of which would presumably be more dangerous than this one. I wanted to hold it back as a trump card.

    I watched the second hand tick past as I debated how much I wanted to commit. I wasn¡¯t sure if I imagined it, but it looked like the hand was moving the slightest bit slower. Attacking the gears wasn¡¯t getting us anywhere. Even if I was mistaken, it was time to swap tactics.

    ¡°Everyone focus on helping Varrin!¡± I shouted.

    My words were lost in the screech, which continued to cause everything in the room to tremble. The screech had become more of a loud ringing, however. I realized that I wasn¡¯t hearing the screech anymore. I¡¯d been completely deafened. The only sound I could hear beyond the ree of aggravated tinnitus was the whispering voices. I looked at Varrin to find blood dripping from beneath his helm, evidencing his own deafness. His eyes were bloodshot as he manically carved away, ignoring any alarm the lack of hearing might be causing him.

    The rest of the party didn¡¯t need to hear my directions, however. The move was obvious. Etja was already flying towards us but was waylaid by a lightning bolt and a blast of steam. Her body lit up as Xim tossed her a Heal while moving carefully over the rocky terrain below. She carried Nuralie on her back, keeping the loson out of reach of the grasping wire. Like Varrin, Xim¡¯s Strength allowed her to power through the obstacle, shredding and snapping the metal strands as she stepped. However, her armor was lighter than Varrin¡¯s and she was forced to Heal herself or risk losing a leg. Shog shot through the air toward the massive machine, bringing both greatswords down and creating a small shockwave. He left sizable dents but failed to penetrate.

    When Etja pulled up, I pointed at the hole Varrin continued to carve. There was no way we could destroy everything on the surface of the machine, but we could dig into its center. Hopefully, the deeper we went, the more sensitive shit there was to break.

    Another tick and a tornado formed at the room¡¯s center, sucking everything toward it.

    Rocks shot through the air, only to be ejected with monstrous force as the whirlwind churned. I clung to Gracorvus, resisting the pull while floating up to grab Etja by the arm. She was holding herself steady with her gravity magic, and I hoped to take some of the strain off and reduce the drain to her mana. Xim dropped Nuralie and stood behind her, keeping the lighter woman from being sucked away as Grotto clung to the cleric¡¯s shield arm. The grasping wires snaked up Nuralie¡¯s legs, easily piercing her leathers and drawing deep gashes.

    Nuralie began firing arrows into the hole Varrin made, narrowly avoiding the warrior. Their tips released a caustic liquid that bubbled on contact with the material, allowing Varrin¡¯s sword to cut through it more easily. Kazandak was a masterwork sword created by Varrin¡¯s grandfather, one of the most heralded blacksmiths in Hiward. While Nuralie¡¯s acid was potent enough to eat through mana-enhanced metals, it would take something a lot more potent to damage Kazandak¡¯s blade.

    Nuralie''s arrows flew with enough force to overcome the enhanced gravity and the violent wind, but I could tell she was straining as she drew her bow back to its limit with each shot. She was also suffering through constant damage from the barbed wire as it made its way to her torso, but Xim continued to rotate Heal.

    Lightning struck us with increasing frequency. My muscles spasmed as a bolt arced to my back and I nearly lost my grip on Gracorvus, feeling myself slide toward the whirlwind at the room¡¯s center. The electricity traveled to Etja through my hand, but her body glowed blue as her mana shield ate the damage. She gritted her teeth and began firing a constant beam of disintegration into the hole.

    Shog saw what was happening and abandoned his futile attempts to carve up his own section of the monstrous machine, instead taking my place to keep Etja steady. I gave the c¡¯thon a silent thanks, then flew forward into the hole.

    The ground at Varrin¡¯s feet was covered in broken metal and each strike released new scraps. The tornado had the unexpected benefit of vacuuming up the shattered plates and gears before they could add to the pile and had even begun sucking away some of what had already gathered.

    The space was tight and there wasn¡¯t much room for me to contribute. Varrin¡¯s blade was a blur in front of him as Etja¡¯s beam carved at the edges of his destruction and loosened gears and pistons. Nuralie¡¯s arrows impacted around Etja¡¯s blast, caustic acid dripping down to soften the metal. While I searched for a good time to add an Oblivion Orb to the mix, I caught sight of a glimmer of flowing liquid beyond the wall of twisted metal before me. It was at the machine¡¯s center, and I focused on it instead of doing something that would probably just get in Varrin¡¯s way. This machine was alive, and my Soul-Sight was picking up the spiritual presence buried at its center.

    Another tick and a demonic face grew from the twisted metal before us, its mouth dripping with molten brass. Its fanged mouth was open in a scream that none of us could hear, and fear gripped my intestines and sent ice water through my veins. The whispering voices rose in crescendo with the visage¡¯s appearance, but I squashed the emotions and ignored their urgings. Varrin flinched under the dreadful glare and stumbled, losing his footing. The wire at his feet released him and he was caught by the suction, beginning to tumble backward. I used Gravity Anchor to pull him back toward me, then snaked my fingers into the collar of his breastplate and held him steady.

    An arc of lightning found its way into the hole Varrin had wrought, now six feet deep into the machine. It rocked us, more powerful than any bolt before it, but Gravity Anchor kept us locked in place through the paralysis and a Heal kept Varrin¡¯s health from falling too low. Varrin¡¯s sword was lowered, held in a trembling hand. He didn¡¯t move to renew his assault. I looked into his helm, finding his eyes bloodshot and snapping from side to side, flinching from invisible terrors. His teeth were bared in a rictus grin.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I took a breath and turned back to the demonic face, which pulsed in silent laughter. I focused my Sight on it and it disappeared, exposed for the illusion it was. I turned my thoughts inward, arresting the voices with my ability, no longer fixated on the visual aspects of how the power worked. The voices went silent, leaving me hearing nothing but the fierce ringing. I then connected to Varrin and used Reveal, sharing my understanding of the illusions. He blinked and his eyes fixed on me with shock that quickly turned to fury. He grabbed my wrist and I let go of his breastplate, dropped Gravity Anchor, and let him get back to work.

    Flames began pouring out from the broken pipes around us, trying to cook us in our armor, but we ignored them. It hurt, but with our defenses and Xim¡¯s Heals, it was manageable. I focused on the glow at the center of the machine as my pride and joy ingnited, filling my nostrils with the scent of burnt hair. We were close now, and after a few more frenzied strikes, I gave Varrin two swift knocks on his back. He gave me a questioning glance and I opened my fist in the signal for him to unleash everything he had. He turned back to the machine and pulled his blade to his side for a thrust. He twisted his hips as he launched the blade forward, driving the tip of the blade into the machine and unleashing every stack of Blessed that he had accrued from Xim¡¯s Pounding buff.

    The target ally gains one stack of Blessed each time they deal damage with a melee weapon attack, so long as they are Blessed.

    It was a lot of stacks of Blessed.

    A crimson vortex swam around Varrin¡¯s blade as the attack annihilated everything within three feet of it. He extended the blade with the thrust to more than ten feet, penetrating all the way to the core buried ahead of us. A huge chunk of the soul disappeared as it was obliterated by the unbridled divine power.

    The flames around us died, my body grew lighter, the sweltering heat began to abate, and the suction ended. All the hazards dropped away instantly when the attack landed. I watched as the soul writhed, then faded away into nothing.

    Varrin stumbled back and fell on his ass. I slid off of Gracorvus, swinging around to check on the party. Xim¡¯s mana was at half, but no one¡¯s health was too low. Varrin¡¯s stamina was below 20%, but the big guy had good recovery, assuming we had time to recover. A green potion materialized in his hand and he pulled off his helm, then swigged it down. He was drenched in sweat, as was I, and I clambered out of the hole to begin distributing water skins. A final round of Heal restored our hearing, and we all had a second to breathe.

    ¡°That was supposed to be a level 8 boss?!¡± Xim shouted. I wondered if her ears had been properly repaired.

    ¡°Yeah, I didn¡¯t know giant machines were on the table,¡± I said, wiping the sweat from my face with a rag. Varrin had taught me the value of having a few towels of varying sizes on hand. ¡°At least it couldn¡¯t move. Hopefully, level 9 isn¡¯t a fucking Gundam, though that would be kind of cool.¡±

    ¡°It was a resource drain,¡± Varrin said, climbing out of the machine. ¡°And a damage test. It was sturdy, but its attacks were weak.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re underestimating the power of compounding,¡± I said.

    ¡°But how¡¯s a normal level 7 party supposed to beat that?¡± Xim mumbled through a mouthful of mana potion. Etja also tossed one back.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a Delve for normal parties,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We¡¯re level 7. We beat it.¡±

    ¡°We also all held back some trump cards,¡± I said. ¡°We might have been able to burn it down pretty fast if we¡¯d gone all out.¡±

    While the others continued to go over the fight, I looked around at the room full of rubble and unmoving gears. The lines of mana began to fade and the room began to grow dark. The obelisk barely poked out from a pile of stone and after a couple of minutes, it lit up with power and distributed our stats. We all took the time to distribute them, myself included. Now that I had 16 available, I¡¯d get 3 bonus points from Dumping, rather than 2. Even if I held onto the points for two more levels and had 32 banked, I wouldn¡¯t accrue enough stats for another bump compared to spending 16 points twice.

    I also wasn¡¯t sure whether I could apply Dumping to the same stat multiple times at once by placing, say, 10 points into a stat rather than 5. The wording of the achievement made me think it wouldn¡¯t.

    Dumping: After spending 5 or more stat points at once on a single attribute, you are granted 1 additional point in that attribute.

    I also didn¡¯t want to waste time messing around with the achievement, since I wasn¡¯t confident we had much time for testing. I placed 5 points into Intelligence, 6 into Wisdom, and 5 into Strength, getting a bonus point for each. I¡¯d been debating whether Strength was something I wanted to level, but it increased the amount of armor I could wear and also improved my Blunt attacks. It at least made sense to get it to 20 for another evolution. The distribution didn¡¯t net me any evos for the moment, but scamming an extra stat point was all the reward I needed. I took a look at my stats and planned out the next 16 points.

    Strength: 16

    Agility: 10

    Speed: 10

    Fortitude: 40

    Intelligence: 27

    Wisdom: 33

    Charisma: 10

    Luck:  10

    I planned to stick with the same distribution I¡¯d just done. While I wanted more INT for more damage, 6 points in Wisdom rather than Intelligence would get me the WIS 40 evo by level 10, bringing me one step closer to becoming a paragon of absurd resource pools. I¡¯d also get the Strength 20 evo at level 10 and I could snag the INT 40 evolution at level 11. That was going to be one hell of a power spike.

    A loot notification distracted me from my salivating.

    Your party has slain 1 Clockwork Alpha: Elemental, Grade 17. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 17 Emerald Chips

    2) 1 Metal Essence

    3) 1 Machine Essence

    4) 1 Clockwork Gear Shield

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 3 Emerald Chips.

    Remainder of 2 Emerald Chips have been awarded to Varrin Ravvenblaq for outstanding contribution.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    I pulled out the shield to inspect it. It was a large round shield with sharp spokes along the edge. It was coal-black with glints of brass beneath, as though it had been heavily scorched. A lattice of orange-red lines ran across its surface which smoldered like the embers of a dying fire.

    Clockwork Gear Shield

    Requirements STR 20, Shields 20

    As you persist, your enemies break.

    Armor Rating: High

    Effects: While in combat, you may activate Clockwork Gear with 1 second of concentration.

    When you activate Clockwork Gear, you gain 1 stack of Clockwork. For every 10 seconds Clockwork Gear is active, you gain an additional stack of Clockwork, up to a maximum of 10.

    For each stack of Clockwork you have, you gain an amount of Shielding and Thorns (fire) equal to 10x the number of evolutions you have in Shields (current value per stack: 20). All stacks of Clockwork are lost when this ability ends. While this ability is active you are Slowed.

    This ability has an 8-hour cooldown.

    It was an excellent shield with a powerful ability, but I was well equipped with Gracorvus. Xim, however, was using a basic round shield with a durability weave. She was more than happy to accept it. Between her self-healing and the shield¡¯s ability, she might have been a better tank than I was. Of course, she would need to drop another 20 points in Fortitude to properly compete.

    With everyone finished looking at gear and placing their points, I gave the party a sharp look.

    ¡°We could benefit from a rest, so nobody says anything about the obvious question.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Xim. Nuralie gave a silent nod.

    ¡°The obvious question?¡± said Etja. ¡°Oh! You mean about, uh, yeah don¡¯t want to jinx it.¡±

    By the time our distribution was finished it was pitch black and even my dark vision was useless. The ground shifted slightly, and I felt the rocks and rubble sink down until the floor was level again. Unease crept up on me when a series of scraping noises came from above. A rumble came from behind me, and I reached out blindly toward the massive machine, but it was gone.

    The question was whether the next boss would happen immediately.

    The answer was yes.

    Vibrant, prismatic light swelled around us.

 130 - Kaleidoscope

    It began as a tranquil blush of iridian luster rising from the dark like a warm morning star. A crystalline structure at the center of the room caught the light and its endless facets glittered, casting trails of color across the floor. The 12-foot-high gem had replaced the dark pillar of the Delve obelisk. A warmth bloomed at its center, pulsing with the on-and-off rhythm of a firefly.

    The edges of the space remained lost in inky darkness. The ceiling above became a soft sky of drifting, prismatic clouds seen through a solid dome of translucent polygons. As the meandering puffs of vapor drifted above, the reflected trails from the gemstone rolled across us like the guiding beacon of a lighthouse. Where the System hadn¡¯t identified Clockwork Alpha, an identification did pop up for the grand crystal.

    Subject C-209, ¡°Kaleidoscope¡±: Extradimensional Entity, Grade 20.

    Xim leaned toward me and whispered, ¡°Friend of yours?¡±

    ¡°Some might find that offensive, Xim,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t all know each other. In fact, this is the only other extradimensional entity that I¡¯ve met.¡±

    ¡°What about that thing in the in-between space when we came into the Delve?¡±

    ¡°Eldritch deities don¡¯t count.¡±

    The crystal rose from the ground and slowly spun in the air, the refracted beams of light moving with more urgency. I began to feel like I was in a roller skating rink. Part of me expected to be treated to the thumping beat of the 1993 hit single, What is Love. Sadly, the worldly baritone of Haddaway did not grace our ears. Instead, I felt a familiar twist in the pit of my stomach as something tried to teleport me.

    You are being subjected to a non-consensual dimensional effect.

    Your resistance has been overcome!

    Space twisted, my vision blinked, and I was suddenly within 20 feet of the crystal. The rest of the party was spread out in even intervals around the entity, but their forms were gray and washed out. I blinked, trying to see if it was a trick of the light, but they looked like ghosts. Now it was less of a skating rink and more of a haunted disco. I checked my interface, seeing that no one had lost any health.

    ¡°Everyone okay?¡± I shouted.

    Each of my party members was looking around, taking in our new positioning, but no one answered. Xim turned and said something, but her voice was silent. I transformed Somncres into its throwing hammer form and strafed around the edge of ¡°Kaleidoscope¡±, keeping my distance and heading toward Xim. She kept talking but made no sound. As I drew closer, I noticed that she was semi-transparent. She reached out to poke me with the tip of her scepter, but the weapon passed through me.

    I gave the situation of firm ¡°Hmm.¡±

    [It appears we have been shifted to a realm adjacent to the others,] Grotto thought to me. I turned to find the mini-c¡¯thon floating six feet away.

    ¡°Geez, you crept up on me,¡± I said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you get separated?¡±

    [Likely because I am your Bonded Familiar, an extension of your power.]

    I considered the theory, then looked around to find Shog. He was across the room from me, washed out like the others.

    ¡°If this effect cares about our familiar bond,¡± I said, ¡°why wouldn¡¯t it keep my summon with me?¡±

    [Yes, it is curious.] Grotto¡¯s feelers undulated while he pondered. [Shog¡¯tuatha has not been treated like a typical summon during these encounters.]

    I furrowed my brow.

    ¡°The personal loot. I¡¯m guessing summons don¡¯t normally receive customized rewards from the System.¡±

    [Indeed. Such an award is reserved for Delvers.]

    I scratched my chin and a flash of irritation hit me as I realized the inferno inside Clockwork had completely burned away my beard.

    ¡°The System is treating him like another Delver?¡± I said, wiping away some gritty residue from my chin. ¡°Why? How does that make sense?¡±

    I also wondered whether my beard would have lived had it not been so well-oiled. Did my precise grooming and appreciation for the scent of sandalwood and vanilla increase its flammability?

    Before Grotto could respond, the crystal began to spin faster. Its surface bulged and deformed, flowing as though it had become liquid. Large mounds of the crystal dripped off its sides, creating iridescent piles that looked like molten glass. They surrounded the crystal and began transforming as soon as they hit the ground. Several shifted into grayscale, matching my party members, but the one in front of me rose up in full color.

    On each side of the original entity, the mounds transformed into crystal monsters of different sizes. A dozen squat, four-legged crystal hounds stared down Etja. Three lithe golems with limbs shaped into sword, hammer, and spear faced Nuralie. Four segmented insectoids shot into the air on shimmering wings before Varrin. Xim¡¯s challenger rose beside my own, a miniature copy of Kaleidoscope, while Shog faced an orb surrounded by balls of crackling energy. Mine was a giant, its wide chest filling my vision. All were made of the same glittering material as Kaleidoscope.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Individual challenges. I think¨C¡±

    The golem rushed me.

    It was a lumbering bruiser, swinging thick, club-like hands at me. It was also surprisingly fast for its size, its attacks rapidly drumming into my shield. The strikes sent painful jolts through my arm, doing small ticks of damage with every hit. It eventually raised both arms over its head for a more powerful smackdown, but I wouldn¡¯t stick around for that. I cast Shortcut and appeared twenty feet to its side, throwing a Void Hammer and using Somncres to create two mana-fueled copies.

    The creature smashed down where I¡¯d just been, limbs crushing the floor into gravel. All three of my attacks made clean hits on its side. It hadn¡¯t even tried to dodge. The hammers blasted large chunks of its crystal flesh away, but the bursts of Oblivion Orb didn¡¯t seem to do much.

    Oblivion Orb was a dimensional attack, so¨Cif this thing got massive dimensional resistance from the extradimensional entity racial bonus like myself¨Cthat made sense. I caught Somncres as it returned, then lobbed another triple hammer throw without layering on the spell.

    The crystal golem ran at me, once again not trying to dodge and taking all three hammers on its front. Crystal chunks sprayed from its chest as it came in swinging. Mighty arms cut through the air with a fierce whoosh! It was an impressive display of force, a vicious threat to many a foe. Ones without any mobility, that is.

    I cast Shortcut again.

    This enemy wasn¡¯t complicated. It was big, strong, fast, and tough. It was also dumb, predictable, and had no ranged options. Its core was soon blasted into pieces by my hammer throws and its entire body collapsed into a pile of shards. The shards melted back into a liquid form and flowed across the ground to rejoin the central structure.

    I turned to check on my allies, hoping each of them had an answer for the gimmick they themselves faced.

    Etja floated in the air, her body moving to an unheard rhythm as she lobbed spells at the swarm of hounds while moving like a graceful ballerina. The hounds had a vertical leap that could easily reach her, but she¡¯d created a minefield of small orbs powered by her Mystic Blast ability. Her typical attacks were powered by Disintegrate combined with Mystic Blast, but the annihilating beam primarily dealt dimensional damage. The current form of the spell dealt mystical force damage, which was much more effective against the creatures.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The orbs of force detonated on contact, sending out sprays of crystalline chips from each hound as it flew toward her. Etja deftly altered their paths using Siphon, gently guiding their trajectories to either side of her as she twirled and moved. She finished off an injured hound with a focused beam that exploded it on contact.

    No problems with the swarm enemy for Etja. I was probably the weakest party member against that lineup since I lacked any spammable AOEs. Nuralie might also struggle if these enemies were immune to poison. Even so, I doubted either of us would struggle.

    Meanwhile, Nuralie ran circles around the three thin, Agility-type golems. Each one represented a different type of physical damage: piercing, blunt, and slashing. Beyond that, each weapon also glowed with mana, which I suspected represented three different types of magic damage. They were, perhaps, designed to test the robustness of one¡¯s defense. Each strike would hit with a different combination of kinetic damage layered with magic.

    Nuralie¡¯s answer to that was simply to not get hit.

    The reflections from the central crystal cast beams of brilliant light around the room in a spinning pattern. However, the room was otherwise dark and wrapped in shadow. Nuralie¡¯s body was nearly invisible as she teleported around the beams of light, disappearing into the dark on one side to reappear within the gloom on the other. The three fighters continually spun to find her, but the moment one of them approached she disappeared. She kept her bow drawn and aimed at one of the lithe enemies the entire time.

    Nuralie wasn¡¯t leaning on her concoctions this fight, she was using an ability I hadn¡¯t seen in a while.

    Hunger Shot: Take aim at a target and charge this skill for any length of time. Upon firing, you make one ranged weapon attack against the target for every five seconds this skill was charged. These attacks occur in rapid succession. All bonuses applied to this skill, your attack, your weapon, or your ammo, apply to each attack made this way, regardless of whether the bonus is restricted to a single attack or projectile.

    Nuralie did bonus damage when aiming, got a buff to her Strength when drawing a bow to add extra force to the attack, and¨Cwhile she wasn¡¯t leaning on her potions¨Cher eyes had the wide-eyed gleam of a strong stimulant.

    She unleashed her first attack and her arrow disappeared. Four copies appeared inside the blade-wielding elite and its torso exploded into clouds of shimmering powder. Before its body had even hit the ground, Nuralie aimed at the spear-golem, then melted away into the shadows.

    Varrin, meanwhile, had seen his flying enemies and answered by pulling out the glorious Bedazzled Cloak of the Aeronaut.

    Bedazzled Cloak of the Aeronaut

    Requirements:

    AGL 20, SPD 20

    Effects:

    Allows the user to fly at their normal movement speed. Allows the user to perform any action while airborne as though they were on the ground.

    Varrin had reached the Agility requirement with his last level, and the gem-studded cloak we¡¯d looted from Yaretzi sparkled fabulously in the room¡¯s rainbow light. With the enemy¡¯s flight advantage neutralized, the big guy used his usual maneuver of hacking shit to pieces. He could even move in the air as though his feet were on the ground, allowing him to utilize all of his footwork and leverage. They didn¡¯t stand a chance as he whirled through them, each one exploding on contact with his glittering presence.

    While Varrin annihilated the flyers like an Italian plumber roided out on star power, Xim faced a wave of crystal bullets fired from the mini-Kaleidoscope. They shot with machine-gun speed, but the cleric had activated her Clockwork Gear shield and the attacks rammed into the bulwark. The projectiles crashed against it like a torrent of sparkling rain.

    Each wave of bullets triggered the shield¡¯s thorns ability, and bursts of flame assaulted the mini-Kaleidoscope, although the crystalline entity didn¡¯t seem to suffer much from the elemental attacks. Xim was mostly protected by the stream of Shielding the item gave, but she wasn¡¯t willing to stand around and let the thorns¡¯ chip damage kill her opponent.

    She closed the distance with a deliberate march, slowed by her shield¡¯s effect. Once close, she struck the crystal with a lightning-quick shield bash, interrupting its onslaught. The crystal wobbled in the air, stunned by the bash, and Xim followed up with a powerful swing of her scepter.

    The woman currently had enough Strength to bench press a sedan, so a full-on wallop was not to be taken lightly. The mini-Kaleidoscope, stunned as it was, had no answer. That put the entity at the epicenter of an unmitigated disaster, and a large chunk of its body was annihilated. Then a beam of crimson light instantly followed the strike, crashing down from above and igniting the entity in blood-red flame. To top it off, Xim¡¯s visage morphed into her beast form, and her features twisted as she unleashed a silent roar.

    The crystal¨Cstill on fire¨Cfucking ran away.

    I hadn¡¯t known that a creature made of gemstones and fuckery could experience terror, but it was a pleasant discovery. It only made it a few meters before the divine fire melted it into slag, which flowed back to the central crystal. I turned to check on our final member, Shog.

    Shog had eaten his opponent.

    His feathers were scorched in places and a layer of frost covered a couple of tentacles, but he was happily shoving a final handful of crystal fragments behind his ¡®beard¡¯. I couldn¡¯t hear the tooth-destroying crunch that ensued, but I could imagine it.

    ¡°Is that the meta?¡± I wondered aloud. ¡°Eat the enemy so its essence doesn¡¯t return to the center part?¡±

    [Shog is not a role model.]

    Once we¡¯d each defeated our opponents, Kaleidoscope¡¯s body rippled and reformed to its original shape. It began to spin faster and then started shedding new masses of crystal. I sighed.

    ¡°This enemy is annoying,¡± I said. ¡°Let me guess, we each have to fight every version of the crystal monsters.¡±

    As I spoke, a dozen shimmering piles began growing sets of four legs in front of me.

    I sighed and prepared to do the fight six times in a row when I noticed Nuralie fire a shot into the side of the main crystal. She was now facing the flying creatures, which dive-bombed at her with gleaming talons, but she teleported out of their path and fired another arrow at the center crystal. Then, the arrows exploded, taking a large chunk out of Kaleidoscope-prime.

    Kaleidoscope froze in place, and then each of its sides glowed in sequence. The broken crystal liquified then reversed course and flowed back into the cracks and holes, repairing the damage. The crystal began spinning again, its surface unblemished.

    After a moment of annoyance, I realized that each of Kaleidoscope''s glowing sides had been facing one of the party members. It looked suspiciously like a hint for boss mechanics. I puzzled over whether that was a natural property of the creature or something that had been added. It was called Subject C-209, so maybe it had been intentionally designed to serve this purpose.

    By this point, I was under assault by a horde of shiny, ankle-biting doggos. I cast a quick Shortcut to kite them, then locked eyes with Nuralie and gave her a nod. She nodded in return and I hucked my hammer at the center crystal with a triple throw. The three hammers smashed into its side, creating a shower of prismatic fragments. At the same time, Nuralie fired another exploding arrow which detonated with my hammer strikes.

    Kaleidoscope paused and its faces glowed in sequence. This time, however, only one side of the entity repaired itself. Each member of the party had been keeping an eye on everyone else during their fights, knowing better than to get wholly distracted by their individual combats. After Nuralie and I made our simultaneous attacks, everyone else caught on quickly.

    We ignored the adds and attacked the boss.

    Explosive arrows, duplicating hammers, focused beams of force, infernal scepter strikes, and a whole lot of sword attacks mercilessly plowed into Kaleidoscope.

    Its minions tried desperately to interrupt our assault, but there was nothing they could do. Nuralie shadow jumped, Etja kept them at bay with her minefields as she flew, Varrin and Shog simply killed everything within ten feet with their arcing sword swings, and I just tanked the damage because I didn¡¯t want to spend the mana on Shortcut. My health regen was ten times faster than my mana regen, and that was without spending half my mana regen every hour to keep Shog summoned.

    In the end, Kaleidoscope was an enemy that had been designed to test for weak links. The problem was that none of us were weak. We all had answers for each enemy type presented.

    Additionally, it was a puzzle boss and we had an alchemist hopped up on homebrewed stimulants with 33 Intelligence and a Target Analysis skill. Nuralie also got bonus effects when taking drugs she made herself and a buff to beneficial substances she ingested from her recent Fortitude evo.

    Normally this would result in a host of negative side effects, but she even had a passive that allowed her to ignore detrimental effects from shit she brewed herself. It was a pretty awesome combination.

    However, to be clear, I am not advocating for anyone to organize their lives around the consumption of mind-altering substances.

    Stay in school.

    Say no to drugs.

    Unless you''re a master alchemist with virtual immunity to toxicity and addiction. Then you can do whatever the fuck you want.

    I downed potions for all three resources while we waited on our stats and loot, and everyone else made sure they had recovery going for all three as well. We had no idea what we were going to face to take us to level 10, but none of us felt like being conservative. Varrin¡¯s stamina was low, Xim¡¯s mana was around 40%, and everyone else had spent a decent chunk of mana or stamina. We were all nearly full on HP, however, so I felt pretty good going into the next fight.

    Yep.

    Pretty good.

    Overflowing with confidence, even.

    No challenge was too big for us to handle.

 131 - Itâ€™s too Big for Us to Handle

    There was the sound of scraping stone and the obelisk rose from the pile of broken glass that was once Kaleidoscope. Its runes lit up and beams of energy connected to our bodies, distributing our stats. I dutifully confirmed that I now had 8 points banked, then closed the screen without distributing them. Everyone else took a moment to drop them where they wanted and we got a loot notification soon after.

    Your party has slain Subject C-209, ¡°Kaleidoscope¡±: Extradimensional Entity, Grade 20. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 20 Emerald Chips

    2) 1 Mirror Essence

    3) 1 Crystal Essence

    4) 1 Prismatic Mask

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 4 Emerald Chips.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    I pulled out the mask the moment it hit my inventory. I wanted to make sure we made the most of what limited time we likely had.

    It was made of the same crystalline substance as Kaleidoscope, its translucent surface a pearlescent sheen of chromatic reflections. The face consisted of intersecting straight edges which gave it a polygonal appearance, uniform across its surface except for two holes for the eyes and one for the mouth.

    Prismatic Mask

    Draw the line.

    Requirements: INT 20, Mystical Magic 20

    Effects:

    1) +20 mana regen

    2) Whenever you cast a spell that creates a line extending from you, you can duplicate that line in a different direction by spending mana equal to the spell¡¯s mana cost.

    3) Whenever you are targeted by a spell that is a line, you can spend mana equal to that spell¡¯s mana cost to redirect the line in a different direction extending from you. If you do, the spell has no effect on you.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t have any good spells for it, though.¡±

    ¡°Ohhh,¡± said Etja, her eyes widening as she studied it. ¡°I can make any of my spells into a line!¡±

    ¡°True. But, you¡¯re focused on Charisma casting because of that passive you have. Do you even have 20 Intelligence?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°No. Although, maybe the passive would apply to the mask as well?¡±

    Her eyes went distant as she pulled up her character screen, then shared the text of her passive with me.

    Cantor: The many years of ritual and song once used as worship are not easily forgotten, and the rote of these rituals carried through your forebear and into yourself. Whenever a spell you cast would call for INT, you may choose to engage in ritual performance while casting; if you do, you use your CHA instead.

    ¡°I dunno,¡± I said. ¡°The ability specifically talks about spells. You also have to do your Mirtasian dance while casting to get its benefit.¡±

    Etja bit her lip and furrowed her brow. After a few seconds, her features lit back up into a smile, looking like she was about to shout ¡°eureka!¡±

    Instead, she shouted ¡°I have an idea! Before I try it, though, does anyone else have a use for the mask?¡± She looked around at the party.

    ¡°You and Arlo are the only two who even have Mystical Magic,¡± said Xim. Etja gave me a hopeful look and I shrugged, then handed her the mask.

    ¡°Okay, good,¡± she said, holding the mask in her two upper hands. ¡°Because if this doesn¡¯t work, it¡¯ll probably break it.¡±

    Normally I might have questioned taking such a risk with a rather unique and powerful item, but we were on the clock and didn¡¯t have time for a debate. Besides, if Etja couldn¡¯t make it work then it was just another lump of treasure for the Closet. We weren¡¯t hurting for cash, especially after having so many emerald chips dumped into our laps, and hopefully, she¡¯d get something out of whatever she was about to do.

    She raised her lower hands and held them in front of the mask. Ruby mana danced along her fingertips, then trailed out to the mask. The opaline surface of the item began to crack and flake, and then fragments of it drifted into her palms and melted into her skin. A minute later the item had been completely broken down and absorbed by Etja¡¯s Incorporate ability.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t seen you use that in a while,¡± I said.

    Her smile faded a bit.

    ¡°It reminds me too much of Orexis,¡± she said. ¡°I mix it in with Disintegrate to get mana back sometimes, but consuming something entirely is kind of¡­ a bad feeling.¡±

    ¡°Afraid you might go to the dark side?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s not that,¡± she said. ¡°Um, okay maybe it¡¯s a little bit of that. The ability is intoxicating in a way. After all, it lets me do stuff like this!¡±

    She held up a hand and its surface morphed until her skin was a replica of the material the mask had been made of. She pointed into the distance and fired a brief beam attack. A duplicate beam fired from her fingertip at a 90-degree angle to the first. Her smile widened.

    ¡°Oh, let¡¯s see if this works, too!¡±

    She pointed a non-prismatic finger at her glittering palm and fired another brief death ray. It bounced off of her palm¡¯s surface and shot into the ground. She squealed in delight and did a little hop.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°I have no idea why that worked,¡± I muttered. ¡°Why would absorbing it change the item requirements?¡±

    ¡°Magic,¡± said Xim. ¡°And who knows how accurate the System¡¯s description of her passive even is. She inherited it from an avatar¡¯s ancient knowledge of an extinct race of people. It probably does all sorts of stuff we don¡¯t know about.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, letting it go. I could obsess over the System¡¯s terrible shorthand descriptions some other time. ¡°Before we get dumped into another fight, did anyone grab any evolutions the rest of us should know about? We¡¯ve gotten a ton of stats.¡±

    ¡°Yep!¡± said Etja, bouncing another beam off her palm. ¡°I got to 40 in Charisma and picked something that¡¯ll help keep the baddies off of me.¡± She shared the description.

    Transfixing Presence

    Your beguiling charm has been honed to such heights that all who look upon you are entranced by your very being. Non-allied entities within a number of feet of you equal to your CHA must make a successful WIS check or become Mesmerized. You may apply this effect selectively, or suppress it completely if you so choose. This effect may only occur once per entity per day.

    Your deep insight into the art of allure has also made you immune to being Mesmerized or Distracted by another.

    Mesmerized: A mesmerized entity cannot attack the source of its mesmerization and treats the source as an ally. Mesmerization ends if the source of the mesmerization attacks, deals damage, or takes obvious hostile action against the mesmerized character.

    ¡°So you can literally walk into a room full of monsters and make them all your friends,¡± I said.

    ¡°As long as they are unwise, we¡¯ll get along great!¡±

    ¡°I also got a level 40,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°In Agility.¡±

    Flawless Precision

    Your body has transcended the inaccuracies of its physical material, allowing you to move with impossible precision. Your movements are so exact that you can position any part of your body to a pinpoint location within one nanometer of where you intend, without fail. This extraordinary control allows for the flawless execution of movements, no matter how complex or delicate the task.

    You are also no longer tied to the limitations of your physical body on your movement. You are immune to the Slowed and Paralyzed statuses.

    ¡°Damn, I bet that¡¯ll be great for your crafting skills,¡± I said.

    ¡°And dodging,¡± Nuralie added. Pause. ¡°Aiming as well.¡±

    ¡°Do all these level 40s grant immunities?¡±

    ¡°Mine didn¡¯t,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°You got one too?¡± I went to scratch my beard, remembered it was gone, frowned, and dropped my hand. ¡°I¡¯m feeling left out.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth,¡± said Xim. ¡°You already have a keystone for Fortitude and I know you¡¯re lining them up for INT and WIS.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t get one either?¡±

    Xim placed a hand on her hip and looked away.

    ¡°I focus on a lot of different stats,¡± she grumbled.

    I grinned and turned back to Varrin.

    ¡°What¡¯d you decide to pump to 40 first?¡±

    ¡°Strength, of course.¡± He waved a hand and the text appeared.

    Rip and Tear

    Their blood is borrowed. You¡¯re calling in the debt. Your STR-based attacks always apply the Bleeding status on hit. STR-based attacks made against Bleeding targets apply 2X% more Bleeding than normal on hit, where X is your STR. STR-based attacks made against entities that are immune to Bleeding deal an additional amount of damage equal to your STR.

    ¡°Flavor text is kind of dark,¡± I said.

    ¡°Blades are good for exsanguination,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Now, they¡¯re better.¡±

    ¡°But no tacked on immunity.¡±

    ¡°It makes me immune to having enemies that survive for very long.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll probably make you immune to having clean clothes as well.¡±

    ¡°That is why we have towels,¡± said Shog. ¡°To wipe off the viscera.¡±

    ¡°How much time did the two of you dedicate to the art of toweling?¡± I asked.

    Before Varrin could explain how weapon upkeep was a core skill for all swordsmen, a rumble went through the chamber.

    ¡°Here we go,¡± said Xim, hefting her scepter. ¡°So far we¡¯ve fought a giant bear, an oversized clock, and a big, shiny rock. Any bets on what¡¯s next?¡±

    ¡°Maybe the next boss will be tiny,¡± I said. ¡°Like a super rabbit. We¡¯d never see it coming.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been getting more esoteric,¡± said Xim. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a rabbit. Maybe a violent raindrop, or an enraged gold coin.¡±

    ¡°Hard currency makes it too simple. If we¡¯re thinking esoteric, a battle with inflationary economics would be more compelling and nigh-unwinnable.¡±

    The semi-transparent crystalline ceiling began to diffuse into vaporous mana. The colorful clouds beyond it darkened. An icy wind blew through the chamber.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Sure it does!¡± I shouted. The wind was really starting to blow. ¡°As the fight would go on our attacks would lose value! We¡¯d be forced to invest damage into an appropriate instrument that appreciates faster than the rate of debasement!¡±

    ¡°This is why I¡¯m glad Hiward¡¯s currency is pegged to ruby chips!¡± Varrin hollered.

    The ground began to tremble. Shadows bled away from the distant walls and they crumbled. Thunder rolled across the sky.

    ¡°But then you have the problem of a fluctuating supply and demand affecting the buying power of your notes!¡±

    ¡°Still superior to depending on scarcity without utility, like gold!¡± Varrin shouted back.

    ¡°What in all the hells are you two talking about?!¡± Xim said. ¡°We were guessing what the next boss is! Not arguing about finance!¡±

    The outermost perimeter of the floor fell away.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s something that flies!¡± said Etja, eyes darting around the clouds. ¡°Like a wyvern!¡±

    Another section of the floor disappeared, leaving us on an ever-dwindling platform in the sky.

    ¡°Perhaps a swarm of mutated birds!¡± Varrin offered.

    ¡°Ah!¡± I said as I shoved my helm over my head. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a duck!¡±

    Xim shot me a death glare. The floor beneath us collapsed. We went into freefall.

    The broken ground below fell apart until it was reduced to gravel, which was then scattered by the gale. Pebbles clinked and rattled off my armor until the mass of falling debris was taken by the winds like smoke in a hurricane. I blinked away a few tears as the air clawed through the gap in my visor, and I saw what we were falling toward.

    Miles below us was a dark, frothing sea that stretched endlessly in all directions. Amid the erupting waves, directly below us, was an island made up of a single mountain.

    The mountain had a face.

    Two flesh-red orbs rolled up toward us, eyes that must have each been the size of small lakes. Lips as thick as oil tankers peeled back from fangs the size of train cars. The fangs sat in rows in front of more fangs the size of school buses which sat in rows in front of even more fangs the size of pickup trucks¨Cthe kind with truck nuts and extra exhaust pipes on top and that were just overall larger than they oughtta be¨Cwhich sat in rows in front of yet more fangs the size of some other, slightly smaller vehicle that was still much too big to be teeth.

    From beneath the waters, gnarled tendrils rose, extending out the length of a city and covered in throbbing pustules. Upon the titan¡¯s midnight flesh were a million squirming barbs, every square inch of its body covered in a lethal forest of thorns. It did not roar, or screech, or howl. An earthquake was its battle cry, a tsunami its hunting call.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like a duck!¡± I shouted. It was mainly a psychological knee-jerk reaction to protect my withering resolve. I used Gracorvus to begin slowing my descent while I looked over the goliath, trying to figure out where I¡¯d even begin to attack it.

    The System then confirmed that it was, in fact, not a duck.

    The King¡¯s Pit: Delve Remnant, Grade 24.

    The name of the creature pulled on a vague memory I had. The creature type answered exactly zero questions while raising at least one: what the fuck was a Delve Remnant? I growled and got my bearings, trying to find a way to meet up with the party, but it didn¡¯t look like there¡¯d be time for a mid-flight strategy meeting.

    The Pit was miles below, but our altitude was no shield. A thousand coiling appendages rose up to the sky to meet us.

 132 - Stacking DOTs

    Etja caught Xim, Nuralie, and herself with Siphon shortly after the floor collapsed. Varrin¡¯s fabulous cloak billowed out with sparkling fury as he flew to meet them, while I stood upon Gracorvus and quickly closed the short distance. Shog and Grotto floated like usual, their inherent ability to fly without cost sending a flash of envy through me.

    The storm had begun to pelt us with small, icy droplets, carried on the wind with enough force to rattle my armor. The Pit¡¯s limbs ascended toward us, but¨Cmassive as they were¨Cwe had a brief time to prepare.

    ¡°Big!¡± Xim shouted over the wind when I got close. She studied the mountainous creature with wide eyes, although a smile tugged at the edges of her mouth.

    ¡°Really big!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Too big!¡± Nuralie added informatively.

    ¡°What is a Delve Remnant?¡± asked Varrin, his bass-baritone voice effortlessly overpowering the gale. I wondered whether Strength affected how loud the man could be.

    [A Delve corrupted by the energies within until it can no longer be controlled. Sometimes by an outside force, other times by the negligence or hubris of the Delve Core.]

    Like so many other instances, we didn¡¯t have the time to go over the implications of what my familiar had just told us.

    ¡°Grotto!¡± I shouted. ¡°Link us all up!¡±

    I felt a mental tingle as everyone in the party was connected through Grotto¡¯s psychic link. It consumed much of the Delve Core¡¯s focus, but the wind was obnoxious and the battlefield was orders of magnitude larger than any we¡¯d dealt with. I expected the distances between our party members to grow and quickly become prohibitive of normal speech. As long as this thing didn¡¯t blast us into different dimensions like Kaleidoscope had, I expected the ability to be invaluable.

    ¡°Nuralie,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°Weaknesses?¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s eyes were already lit up with mana as she used her Target Analysis skill. It was a skill she¡¯d picked up after the Mimic Delve, but we hadn¡¯t yet had the opportunity to really take advantage of it. Our fights with the Littans had been too sudden and there was a chance the affected entity knew it was being targeted, so it wasn¡¯t the best for her stealth. The bosses within the Delve so far hadn¡¯t been worth spending a chunk of Nuralie¡¯s limited mana pool on.

    Target Analysis: You can focus for six seconds to examine another creature and determine various stats, such as their current and maximum HP, mana, or stamina, what kinds of damage they are most resistant or vulnerable to, or which status effects they are strongest or weakest against. The amount of information you gain is determined by your INT and is opposed by their CHA.

    ¡°Its resources come back as question marks,¡± she thought. ¡°Strong against Dimensional. Other defenses are low.¡±

    [It will be unable to resist your attempts to sting it like insects.]

    ¡°Negative attitude, but Grotto has a point,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°Normal attacks probably won¡¯t be worth much. Stacking damage over time is likely our best bet. Varrin and Shog, you both try to dismember the incoming limbs. If it has blood, bleed the shit out of it.¡±

    The pair nodded their understanding and shot off in opposite directions. The gnarled and infected-looking tendrils were closing in fast.

    ¡°Xim, I doubt stuns will work, but confirm that theory. Either way, focus on Ignite. We¡¯ve seen an entire mountain burn before. Let¡¯s see it again.¡±

    ¡°Last time we saw that was because of a super spell from a level 54 Hiwardian Matriarch,¡± she thought back to me with a grin, ¡°but I¡¯m happy to oblige.¡± An obsidian horn grew from her head and fur sprouted across her body as she was enveloped in crimson light. ¡°Etja, let me fall.¡±

    ¡°If you say so!¡± Etja thought back as she let go of Siphon¡¯s hold on the cleric. Xim hit the release weave on her outer armor. Her muscles bulged as she fell alongside the pieces of her chain mail, her features twisting into a bestial form.

    While we mapped out our battle plan, Varrin met with the first of the approaching tendrils. The end of the limb sprouted into three massive fingers with a dozen knuckles, swollen as though the Delve Remnant had a fierce case of rheumatoid arthritis. Along its side, the pustules glowed with heat, rain boiling off their surfaces on contact.

    Kazandak reflected a flash of lightning as it grew to its maximum size, 20 feet in length. Varrin brought it across the tendril as it hurtled toward him, deftly dashing to one side as it blasted past. His blade carved through one of the fingers as the ¡®hand¡¯ grasped at him, sending it careening back toward The Pit. If the mountain noticed the wound, it gave no sign. The twisted ¡®arm¡¯ slowed as the mountain arrested its movement, then began to swing back around to connect with the warrior, casting a trail of wine-colored blood through the air.

    Varrin shot lower and targeted its wrist. Even with Kazandak at maximum length, it wasn¡¯t enough to cleave through. He only slashed through half of the limb. The giant arm sagged where it had been cut, and the weight of the mammoth feeler did much of the rest of Varrin¡¯s work for him. Cutting through half of the tendril destroyed its structural integrity and the top section peeled back, the wound tearing further. Vital fluids exploded outward as the limb split. Unfortunately, there was a lot more arm left to go, and the monster¡¯s near-stump met Varrin¡¯s blade once more, the top of it dangling by a thread.

    Meanwhile, Shog stood in the palm of a second tendril. The c¡¯thon spun in a whirlwind, greatswords cutting into the fingers in a flurry. He zipped from side to side as the fingers slammed down, narrowly avoiding being crushed. His feathers were already slick with the remnant¡¯s blood, but a second tendril approached to harry my summon. The sky was growing thick with them.

    ¡°Nuralie, this storm is making it pretty dark,¡± I thought to the loson. ¡°Can you teleport with Shadow Walk?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Good. Feel like using its limbs as a mobile strike platform?¡±

    ¡°I suppose we will find out how much 40 Agility is worth,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Then your strategy is simple. Poison. All the poison.¡±

    Nuralie nodded and took a page from Xim, grinning like a maniac. She blinked away into the storm.

    The brief reprieve Varrin and Shog¡¯s assault had granted us ended.

    A tendril whipped toward me and Etja and we each flew frantically to one side of it. Gracorvus moved faster than ever with my fresh points in Intelligence, but the limb course-corrected and threatened to hit me like a 100-mile-per-hour skyscraper. Etja reached out and caught me in a burst of Siphon, accelerating me out of harm¡¯s reach. A second tendril was fast approaching as the first slowed to swing back around.

    ¡°What do I do?¡± asked Etja as she tried to direct both of us away from the next limb. I surrendered control to her so my flight with Gracorvus didn¡¯t compete with her gravity magic.

    I considered the mage¡¯s abilities, but her whole build was based around burst damage and mana efficiency. She didn¡¯t have any DOTs, but she still had a few tricks that would come in handy.

    ¡°Use Shared Vessel on me,¡± I thought to her. ¡°We¡¯ll dive in close and channel the biggest combo Explosion! we can. The longer I channel, the bigger it gets. Dimensional is no good, so we can¡¯t combine the spell with Disintegrate, but you can mana-shape Magic Blast to make it bigger, right?¡±

    ¡°Right! It¡¯ll make Explosion! even bigger when they¡¯re combined!¡± she thought. ¡°Maybe.¡±

    ¡°Time to find out. Gracorvus costs too much mana for me to fly around constantly. Will Siphon be too much of a drain for you to keep me with you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really cheap if I only target one ally!¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s head down to that thing¡¯s face and see if Mesmerize has a size limit.¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± Etja adjusted her course downward.

    I felt the mage¡¯s Shared Vessel ability wrapping me in her own soul. It would allow me to take advantage of her passives and spell-buffs, while also enabling her to combine one of her spells with my own, giving Explosion! a healthy dose of Mystical force damage. My big-boom spell¡¯s normal damage was primarily Physical but it had a healthy dash of Dimensional as well. That would be exactly useless, according to Nuralie. Still, it was the best thing that I had for the situation.

    The last time Etja had used the ¡®soul hug¡¯ was during our fight with the Mimic.

    Shared Vessel: Your spiritual essence was forged as a shell to contain the overwhelming might of a godly avatar¡¯s soul fragment¨Can avatar against whom you rebelled. Divorcing this specter from your body has unbound you from his will, but the ability to contain another entity¡¯s spirit within you remains.

    You may open your soul and embrace the spiritual essence of a nearby ally, sharing the cost-reducing benefits of your Mirtasian Cadence and allowing you to use your Incarnation passive to combine one of your active skills with their own. Additionally, any skill utilized in this manner gains the benefit of your Finishing Move passive and will deal 200% bonus damage if it is the fourth spell cast in sequence.

    Mirtasian Cadence. You may establish a dance and rhythm prior to casting a spell. If you do so, you gain a 10% mana cost reduction to the first spell you cast, and an additional stacking 10% mana cost reduction to each spell cast in sequence with the previous spell, so long as you maintain your cadence. This cost reduction caps at 40%, and the bonus resets once the fourth spell has been cast in the sequence.

    Incarnation: You are the incarnation of a Divine aspect. Your active abilities have been predetermined, but as a descendant of divinity, you can combine two active skills together to achieve a combination skill incorporating aspects of both skills.

    Finishing Move: If you cast three different spells in a row, the next different spell you cast is 200% more effective, and any additional mana used to cast it is 200% more efficient.

    My stomach lurched as Etja accelerated the force of gravity pulling us downward. A tendril whipped past and wind tore across my entire body as it went. I also discovered what the simmering pustules did.

    They exploded.

    A gout of flame burst from the mass along the limb and rocky shrapnel filled the air. Etja kept me close as we flew and I had Gracorvus at the ready. I brought it up between us and the tendril, barely responding in time, even with my Rapid Blocks evolution letting me move my shield three times faster than normal.

    I was pelted by hard, sharp fragments as we were enveloped in fire. The shrapnel bounced off my shield and armor, absorbing most of the attack while Etja hid behind my larger frame. The fire found its way into the cracks of my plate, searing my skin and enveloping both of us. My Life Warden skill was still active on Etja, however, and it shunted half the damage she took back to me.

    HP: 1220 -> 1202

    My recent advancements in Heavy Armor and Smithing showed their worth as the majority of the damage was completely mitigated. Some of it came from the ward on Etja, but the spell reduced that damage by an amount equal to my Physical Magic skill. Etja certainly took more damage than I did, even after being protected from the shrapnel and having half the elemental damage passed on. Her defenses weren¡¯t as robust as mine, but the mage had over 400 health, natural armor, and her mana shield to fall back on if things got dicey. She wasn¡¯t a typical, fragile nuker. More of a tempered and bulletproofed glass cannon.

    While we raced toward the mountain¡¯s face, Xim was hit by a tendril. I cringed when I saw it connect, hearing the thunk of the tendril¡¯s thousand-ton body slam against her flesh over the wind and rain. A pustule exploded on contact as well, burning away fur and piercing the cleric¡¯s skin.

    Xim had stowed her shield but kept her scepter in one hand. Her clawed feet and freehand dug into the monstrous limb, each wreathed in divine fire. She would normally rely on her natural claws when fighting in her ascended form, but the scepter she received from Khigra and the tribe gave her a chance to ignite based on her skill with Divine Magic. Her skill with Divine Magic was much higher than it had any right to be at her level, and it only took two blows before blood-red fire bloomed on the limb.

    Each strike from Xim was also accompanied by a spell, her ability to wallop and cast simultaneously buffed by a Speed evolution. The first spell was Heal, and a golden light bathed her form, closing up wounds and smoothing over burns. The second was Judgment, which struck the limb farther down, creating a second wave of ruby fire which rapidly began to expand. With the tendril properly burning, Xim leaped away at another swinging limb, tanking another slam to the face¨Cand every other part of her¨Cand then healing herself again as she continued to light the fucker up.

    She was unstoppable, but only for the moment. Her mana wouldn¡¯t allow her to keep up the combo for long, and the buffs to Strength and Speed from her beast form only lasted two minutes.

    Nuralie appeared on top of a different tendril, her body translucent from the darkness continuing to gather from the ever-worsening storm. She rapidly fired arrow after arrow into the limb until The Pit got wise and brought another arm to bear, trying to crush the loson. Nuralie disappeared an instant before it connected.

    The mighty limbs clapped together, sending a wave of force that scattered the rain in a perfect sphere. When the tendrils separated, a cloud of poisonous gas expanded from Nuralie¡¯s previous location¨Ca little gift she¡¯d left behind to sink in through the remnant¡¯s skin.

    Varrin and Shog continued to slice through more of the mountain¡¯s arms, which filled the sky with their massive forms. The pair flew circles around them, though Varrin¡¯s speed outstripped my summon¡¯s, and Shog was sent sailing by a crushing strike and exploding pustules. The c¡¯thon was wounded and smoking, but he looked pissed off more than anything.

    From the limbs that Varrin bisected, blood poured out like small waterfalls.

    ¡°Are you gonna channel while we fly?¡± Etja thought to me as she swung us around another tendril, which exploded in our faces.

    HP: 1202 -> 1184

    ¡°I have to release the spell if I run out of mana! Too risky to start before it¡¯s in range.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Then what¡¯ll you do until we get there?¡±

    I looked down at The Pit¡¯s massive, disgusting face below. It was a big target, and it wasn¡¯t like it could move out of our way. An idea came to me, and I smiled despite myself. Our party was quickly becoming a bunch of grinning lunatics.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna drop shit on it.¡±

 133 - Dumping (Not Just for Stats)

    Like any good member of the well-to-do, one of my most reliable methods for solving difficult problems was to throw money at it.

    Back in the Creation Delve, our party had stumbled across an immense field of poison essences that we happily stuffed our pockets with. The only thing that stopped us from taking more essences than we had was the size of said pockets. At that time, my inventory had yet to become the self-perpetuating growth machine of the Closet, so I was limited to a paltry sum of slightly less than a thousand essences. The essences had a wide array of crafting uses and I currently sold them to Seinnador at a rate of 32 golden notes a piece.

    For reference, a ruby chip could be exchanged for 50 golden notes, which made each essence worth a chunky bit more than half of a ruby chip. That much money would have allowed a peasant family to live comfortably for a year or more.

    I still had 570 of them.

    The egg-sized crystals naturally emitted a toxic vapor. It wasn¡¯t very potent on its own, so it was much more efficient to transform an essence into the poison one desired if the goal was to stack Toxicity as fast as possible. A crafter could convert essences and poison essence could be transformed into any type of poison that the crafter was familiar with, although there was a limit based on their crafting skill.

    Nuralie¡¯s Alchemy skill was well-developed and allowed her to make some pretty vicious poisons from the essences. My contract with Seinnador had been formed before I met the scaled alchemist, else I would have saved all of the essences for her use. Despite selling Seinnador all of his requirements for poison essences, Nuralie was still my number 1 consumer of the deadly nuggets. Seinnador was a generalist after all. Nuralie was a death-brewin¡¯ specialist.

    Thus, it was with both great financial pain and schadenfreude-filled delight that I emptied our entire backup stock of Nuralie¡¯s poisons right onto The Pit¡¯s stupid face.

    I dropped everything from highly refined nerve gas to experimental hemotoxins. I threw vials of rapid-release metabolic suppressants and long-lasting hepatotoxins. I even tossed out a failed batch of phototoxin, which did little more than give the victim a vicious sun allergy and probably an increased risk of skin cancer. I threw in a liter of undiluted genitotoxin for good measure, which was a key ingredient in a contraceptive that Nuralie sold. At this concentration, it would lead to less of a temporary sterilization and more of a permanent melting of the sensitive areas. No idea if The Pit had those, but I wasn¡¯t holding anything back. No one wanted this thing reproducing anyway.

    An alluring display of baneful colors exploded on The Pit¡¯s surface. A carpet bombing of violet clouds, slicks of bubbling green, and bright red detonations that sent venom-laced razors into the beast. Nature¡¯s toxic hues encompassed the entire rainbow.

    Despite the indiscriminate bombardment, Grotto¡¯s characterization of our attacks being insect bites to the monster was an apt one. The poisons landed like pinpricks along the remnant¡¯s head and body, covering only a sliver of its total surface area. Although I did land one acidic necrotoxin in its giant fucking eye, which was supremely satisfying. However, when it came to poison, we didn¡¯t need to take big bites. The venomous chomp of a snake could be deadly, but its fangs only left a small mark.

    I dumped enough toxic waste to give an EPA agent a heart attack, but I got it done in a flash. Many of the poisons were held in potion belts that were quickly emptied. The ones that held the vials more securely got tossed, belt and all¨Cterminal velocity would be enough to shatter the ampoules and distribute their payloads.

    Sadly, some of the poisons were in a few of our meticulously assembled go-bags. I didn¡¯t have time to hunt for bottles full of concentrated opiates in our emergency triage kits, or flasks of stone-melting solvent in our MacGyver duffels, so everything got dumped. Between the assault on the Littan operating base and my liberal dispensation, we were going to be in need of a materials resupply and a few weeks with Nuralie in mass production mode.

    I soon ran dry of Nuralie¡¯s products, but I wasn¡¯t finished. As I said, essences could be converted by a crafter, limited by their familiarity and skill level. In fact, Convert Essence was a fundamental ability for any crafting skill that utilized mana weaving, which was practically all of them since essences were a key component for many weaves. This included crafting skills such as Smithing.

    My personal familiarity with poisons was unusually high for a smith. Not only had I observed Nuralie¡¯s work on many occasions, but the loson¡¯s alchemical innovation often required test subjects. This was sometimes accomplished with the ¡®cooperation¡¯ of mana monsters while we Delved, but field testing involved a lot of unpredictable variables that made for results that were less than clinical. So, much of our testing occurred outside of Delves and since we were an ethical group of Delvers, our test subjects were uniformly volunteers. One volunteer, really. A proper test subject for poison needed to have a robust tolerance for Toxicity, which meant either a high Fortitude, a strong poison resistance, or both.

    I had both.

    I was the test subject.

    My Smithing skill had reached level 16 during my armor-making spree, which was a far cry from Nuralie¡¯s 32 in Alchemy. Even though I was familiar with many poisons, what I could produce by converting essences was nowhere near as strong as what the loson made, especially after she processed the raw toxic materials into a proper potion. But I wasn¡¯t going for potency, I was going for variety.

    There were a handful of poisons that Nuralie had shown (tested on) me, and that we were currently out of. These were some of the more exotic ingredients Nuralie had used to theory craft, but which hadn¡¯t shown substantially usable results. I couldn¡¯t produce the complex brews that Nuralie made, but I could generate the base compounds. One of the more interesting of these was a tranquilizer with psychotropic properties.

    The poison induced visual and auditory hallucinations, confusion, and the sudden onset desire for a nap¨Call decent effects for a control-type poison. It also instilled a sensation of well-being so profound the target became immune to Fear, Berserk, and Paranoia. This was accompanied by a level of pain tolerance that could only be described as ¡°absolute¡±, allowing the subject to continue fighting through injuries that would have otherwise incapacitated them.

    In high doses the negative effects reduced the subject to a drooling puddle of drowsy dissociation, experiencing a level of disconnection from reality only achieved by the most dedicated of tie-dye-clad Grateful Dead enthusiasts. Enough of the stuff would even cause one¡¯s nervous system to call it quits, leading them to a sleepy asphyxiation.

    In low doses it caused monsters to become bliss-fueled killers immune to pain.

    The line between these two was thin, and the results of its testing were too erratic to distill into a viable mixture that was an efficient use of our essences and other expensive ingredients. I also stopped ¡®volunteering¡¯ for the tests after hallucinating that I was a mighty oak tree with a vendetta against bicyclists and lived out the entirety of its murderous, two-hundred-year existence in one afternoon.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I wasn¡¯t trying to be efficient, and the opportunity to witness an entire mountain tripping its¨Csoon to be inert¨Cballs off was too enticing to pass up.

    I started pulling out fistfuls of essences and converting them.

    One might find this decision questionable. Totally understandable, but The Pit hadn¡¯t responded to any of our attacks in a way that indicated it even felt pain. Fear was useless because it made things run away and it was a fucking mountain in the middle of an ocean. Berserk and Paranoia made things attack their allies or lose the benefit of party buffs and it was a lone fucking mountain in the middle of an ocean. Giving it hallucinations, potentially causing it to become violent and erratic didn¡¯t matter because it was a lone fucking mountain in the middle of an ocean that was already trying to kill us. I stood by my decision.

    There was also another good reason to add more poisons to the mix beyond a childish desire to get a mountain wasted: Nuralie¡¯s build.

    Nuralie was a sustain fighter. While her combat focus was to strike unaware targets from stealth¨Ca typical bursty rogue tactic¨Cher archery skills did not otherwise focus on fast, hard-hitting damage. Hunger Shot did a decent chunk of damage all at once, but it required a long charge-up time. She didn¡¯t have much that could quickly deal out a lot of hurt in a short amount of time.

    Instead, she used very little stamina or mana and could keep attacking so long as she had arrows and alchemical products to burn. While she could rely on her archery for most fights, she had ample damage over time for the longer ones¨Cdamage over time that stacked. Our party was almost always able to trample over whatever we were fighting before this damage ramp came online, but this encounter was different. We weren¡¯t going to be able to blitz The Pit with quick, powerful hits. We needed scaling.

    At the outset, Nuralie made stronger poisons from her Agility 20 evolution:

    Keen Hands: When crafting, products that require dexterous manipulation to produce are X% more effective, where X is your AGL (current increase: 40%).

    She also applied more Toxicity when poisoning a target from her Physical 10 evolution:

    Rot: When applying physical Toxicity to a target, increase the amount applied by 1 for each level of Physical Magic (current bonus: 12).

    But the first lynchpin ability Nuralie brought to the table for scaling was her Alchemy 20 evolution.

    Stacking DoTs: Whenever you apply Toxicity with a poison, the total Toxicity on the target increases by 1% for every different poison currently affecting them.

    Finally, there was the pi¨¨ce de r¨¦sistance, an active skill she almost never got to use:

    Venomous Escalation

    Physical / Spiritual

    Cost: 10 mana

    Cooldown: 1 hour

    Make a Physical (AGI) or Spiritual (INT) attack against a target. If successful, double the Toxicity from the chosen school on a target. This affects all statuses which include the keyword Toxicity.

    So, my little display probably didn¡¯t accomplish much in the way of adding actual stacks of Toxicity¨Cespecially in proportion to the sheer number of resources I used. I wasn¡¯t an alchemist, didn¡¯t have any bonuses like Nuralie, and was relying on the poison being absorbed through the remnant¡¯s skin rather than delivering it directly into the bloodstream with a penetrating weapon. Maybe a little would get sucked in through its mouth but I wasn¡¯t sure that it even needed to breathe.

    What my assault did accomplish was applying a shit ton of unique poisons to The Pit. Now, each time Nuralie poisoned the remnant, it compounded the stacks of Toxicity on it. I had no idea how many stacks it would take to kill it, but Etja and I were on the job of providing a healthy distraction.

    With my inventory cleared of anything worthy of having the phone number for poison control listed on its label, Etja and I continued to dive toward The Pit¡¯s enormous visage.

    We laced our way between tendrils, taking the occasional pustule explosion and glancing blow from the whipping towers. Etja maneuvered me between herself and The Pit¡¯s careening limbs, allowing me to serve as a meat shield. She shunted me from side to side fast enough that I could barely focus on anything other than blocking. She thrust me in the path of meaty hits and fiery explosions with so little hesitation, I briefly wondered whether I¡¯d done anything to make her mad lately. It was the smart strategy and I was serving my main role in the party of soaking hits, so it wasn¡¯t a real concern. Still, after she shunted me headfirst into the fifth jet of flame and shrapnel, I started to worry.

    HP: 1184 -> 948

    ¡°I can block better if I¡¯m using my shield!¡± I thought to her. ¡°Not my face!¡±

    ¡°Doing a lot here!¡± she replied, tearing us to one side of a tendril with enough G-force that the edges of my vision darkened. ¡°I¡¯m doing my best!¡±

    I brought up Gracorvus to fend off another explosion. The hair on my head was starting to go the way of my beard.

    HP: 948 -> 930

    Etja¡¯s body flashed blue as she soaked the damage with her mana shield. The splash damage I couldn¡¯t block was enough that she¡¯d been forced to use it several times. I glanced up at her bars, finding her health just above half and mana down to one-third. Her body pulsed as she spent her Fast Recharge ability for the day, getting her mana back up to 60%. She couldn¡¯t sustain this level of abuse for too much longer, even though we were dodging three-fourths of what The Pit sent our way.

    Fortunately, the limbs grew thicker as we descended and moved much slower than the thrashing tips. More and more of the attacks missed, and we finally got close enough to The Pit¡¯s face that I started channeling Explosion!.

    At the same time, the remnant¡¯s horrendous maw widened until it encompassed all that I could see.

    Bright, orange flames filled its mouth.

    A burst of fire and molten rock poured from its mouth, a stream of death too wide for us to avoid. Etja moved me in front of her, then accelerated towards it. I grit my teeth and held up Gracorvus, widening my stance as much as I could while still protecting my vitals behind the wide shield. Etja sailed toward the attack in a Superman stance, making herself as small as she could behind me. As the wave of fire approached, she let out a scream of defiance.

    Heat became my world and I felt my skin immediately begin to blister. The rest of my hair was scoured away, filling my helm with acrid smoke. My shield rattled as globs of lava struck it. Its weight grew as the molten rock adhered and hardened on its surface and my skin was reduced to ash below my armor where it struck. My breath was ripped from my lungs as the fire consumed all, the ravenous inferno creating a brief vacuum.

    HP: 930 -> 748

    The storm¡¯s gale hit me with its icy winds like slamming into an iceberg as we burst through the other side of The Pit¡¯s withering breath. Etja shot us up and around the mile-long rows of monumental teeth until we hurtled toward its massive, fleshy eye, pitted and bubbling where some of the poison had landed.

    Its head turned as it tried to bring its mouth back around and six limbs swung toward us, converging in an inescapable net. I readied myself to release Explosion! early, unable to see a way for us to escape without blasting one of the tendrils apart. I hadn¡¯t charged it nearly enough, but I didn¡¯t think Etja would survive the upcoming squashing. She¡¯d avoided most of the damage from the breath weapon, but her health had still dropped below half and her mana had taken another hit as her shield offset the damage.

    Seconds before we were crushed, the limbs lumbered to a halt.

    The Pit stared at us, frozen in place as its monumental eye focused on me. No, not me, it focused on Etja. I took deep breaths, continuing to channel Explosion! while the remnant appraised us. Then, miraculously, the limbs withdrew and it turned its gaze back up toward the rest of the party who still fought its tendrils high above.

    ¡°It worked!¡± Etja shouted, startling me. I glanced at her, then back to the goliath that had just failed its Wisdom check.

    She¡¯d mesmerized a fucking mountain.

 134 - Danger Close

    I pulled earplugs from my inventory¨Cacquired after my last dance with deafness from the spell I was about to supercharge¨Chanded a pair to Etja, then quickly shoved my own in. Hopefully, everyone else was far enough away to keep their hearing. I shoved my helm back on and began chanting.

    ¡°The Goliath and the ancient, in due time they all crumble!¡±

    Etja¡¯s flight seamlessly transitioned into the graceful rhythm of her Mirtasian cadence while her soul wrapped itself around me. Siphon, keeping us both aloft, immediately counted as the first spell in the cadence¡¯s sequence and reduced the cost of my Explosion! channel by 10% through Shared Vessel¡¯s benefits.

    Molten rock continued to weigh down my shield and smoldered where it was splattered onto my armor, dealing a small tick of damage as the heat penetrated through to my skin and muscle. A quick pulse of Nullify from Etja caused the still-burning material to cool and degrade into chunks of ash. As it blew away into the storm winds, my channel became 20% cheaper.

    HP: 748 -> 740

    Varrin had made some impressive headway with his work above. Rivers of blood poured from a dozen of the remnant¡¯s limbs, the vital fluid scattered by the gale as it descended. The biting rain was interspersed with large droplets of a deep burgundy hue. Etja used Siphon combined with Incorporate to pull some of the blood to her and absorb it. Her eyes lit up with the knowledge she gained. My Explosion! channel became 30% cheaper.

    Finally, Etja began to channel Magic Blast into Explosion! with her Incarnation passive. My Explosion! channel gained another 10% reduction as mystic force saturated my spell. I felt Etja shape her blast into a sphere and begin pouring the rest of her mana into it to increase its size. The spell was already charged well beyond what we¡¯d managed during our fight with The Mimic, and I sensed the mass of potent mana growing at an incredible rate.

    ¡°Time¡¯s inevitable decay may be slow, but it is inexorable!¡±

    The base diameter of Explosion! was 54 feet, which was determined by my Intelligence. For every second I channeled, that radius increased by another 5.4 feet. My resource expenditure through the boss fights hadn¡¯t been very high compared to my typical high-octane slug fests. My mana regen had also been massively buffed by one of Nuralie¡¯s mana potions and my Ambient Absorption ability, which really loved this leveling gauntlet. I expected the entire thing was taking place within some sort of walled-off, extradimensional space. Altogether, when I fell into this fight my mana was nearly fully regenerated, even after spending half of my normal regen on maintaining Shog¡¯s summoning and Etja¡¯s Life Ward. I¡¯d also done little more than get wrecked in the fight, so my tank was full when I¡¯d started channeling.

    After my recent points allocated to Wisdom, my mana pool was at a healthy 412. Explosion! cost 10 mana per second to channel, which meant that I could channel it for 41 seconds from full. I valued my life, however, and wasn¡¯t about to drain my entire mana pool while the big bad was still relatively unmangled. I decided to hold back 100 mana for Shortcuts, Void Hammers, and flying around on Gracorvus. Since I¡¯d already spent a little mana flying on my shield during the fight, that gave me a full 30-second charge to my big boom spell.

    That would put Explosion!¡¯s diameter at 216 feet¨Cthe space in which it would deal its full damage. The deafening shockwave and after-effects had a much larger area than even that. Now, 216 feet is decent. That¡¯s more than half a football field in length. But the eye in front of me was at least 500 feet across. I wanted it to be a lot bigger. That¡¯s where Etja came in.

    ¡°The destruction of the Parthenon! The annihilation of Flood Rock! Man often aids the present as it eats the past!¡±

    First, my channel became cheaper from Etja¡¯s Mirtasian cadence. My 30-second charge became a 38-second charge, taking the diameter from 216 feet to 259 feet. Not bad. Still too small.

    Second, Etja combined my spell with Mystic Blast, pumping in more mana to shape the blast into as large of an area as possible. Etja had abilities that improved the efficiency of spending extra mana, the efficiency of mana shaping, and the efficiency of creating AoEs. They all stacked.

    But that¡¯s not all, folks. The biggest bonus from being wrapped in Etja¡¯s soul hug was getting to take advantage of her Finishing Move ability. When she cast 4 different spells in a row, the fourth spell in the sequence became 200% more effective, and any additional mana used to cast the spell became 200% more efficient.

    The ¡°additional mana¡± text was primarily geared toward mana shaping and other bonus effects one could add to a spell from external abilities. My Explosion! spell did not get the increased efficiency bonus since I was casting it naturally, using its channel for all my mana without shaping or weaving in other abilities. It did get the benefit of the first half¨Cincreased effect¨Cwhich tripled its size and took it from 259 feet to 777.

    However, Etja mana shaped the shit out of Mystic Blast. The base spell got a boost in potency from the first half of her Finishing Move passive and all of the extra mana she gave it for increasing size became 3 times more efficient. That meant she could dump 3 times as much mana in, adding 3 times more AoE to the attack than she could normally contribute. Her mana spend was much smaller than mine on a point-by-point basis, but she still increased the size of the attack¨Ceven after its diameter had tripled¨Cby another 60%. All of that together took the spell from a diameter of 777 feet to 1243 feet.

    For reference, the Eiffel Tower stood 1060 feet tall. The Empire State Building rose 1250 feet at its architectural peak. I was about to unleash a spell with a spherical volume of over 37 million cubic yards.

    ¡°For those who evoke my ire, the unavoidable doom of time is too slow! I¡¯m happy to speed that shit up!¡±

    We were way too close.

    My current max range on Explosion! was 230 feet. We needed to be at least 622 feet from the epicenter to avoid getting turned into giblets, a fact I realized uncomfortably late into the channel after realizing how out of control the spell¡¯s size was becoming.

    ¡°Pull us further back!¡± I thought to Etja. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to dump more mana to shape the spell for extra range!¡±

    I was reluctant to give up my safety net of extra mana, but keeping our limbs on our bodies and our internal organs in non-liquid form seemed like a good use of the resource.

    ¡°I can add a little too!¡± Etja thought. ¡°But I¡¯m gonna be spent after this!¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Hold back enough to fly out of this thing¡¯s reach once my spell detonates! Pretty sure this will break the Mesmerize!¡±

    Etja gave me a mental confirmation and we pulled back from The Pit as the pair of us shaped the spell until I could deploy it at a minimum safe distance. My mana pool dipped to 70 while Etja¡¯s sank below 10%.

    ¡°Look on, so you may testify!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t position the spell inside the creature¡¯s flesh. However, the poison I¡¯d dropped had eaten a small crater into its eye, so that¡¯s what I targeted. I swallowed, set my jaw, and snapped my fingers.

    ¡°Explosion!¡±

    The eye became a cloud, divorced into particles by a concussive armageddon of mystical, physical, and dimensional damage.

    The earplugs weren¡¯t enough.

    The pressure wave plowed into my chest, kicking the air from my lungs and forcing my heart to skip a beat. My teeth clicked together painfully and my sinuses screamed, sharp pressure popping at the back of my eyeballs. The crackling boom of the spell was as loud as it had ever been, though it was only the second loudest thing I¡¯d heard that day¨Cfirst place going to Clockwork¡¯s screech.

    A wave of eye goop assaulted us with enough force to bite at my skin where it passed through the slits in my helm and I was once more covered in monster viscera. I took solace in the fact that this was the longest I¡¯d ever gone while inside a Delve before becoming drenched in the innards of a misshapen monstrosity. I¡¯d kept my eyes tightly shut after the spell activated, so I¡¯d avoided becoming blinded by the high-velocity vitreous humor. When I opened them I found the air filled with the misty remnants of The Pit¡¯s sensory organ being swept into fleshy spirals by the tearing wind. It was beautiful in a macabre sort of way.

    Rivers of blood and other fluids poured down The Pit¡¯s face from the wound, which encompassed more than just its eye. The entire socket was mangled out to where its cheekbones or hairline might have been, had it possessed such human anatomy.

    Despite the earplugs, all I heard was the familiar ringing sound of damaged eardrums, but I didn¡¯t need to hear The Pit to understand its dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. I felt it.

    The air throbbed with a nauseating pulse that shook my bones. Pressure rose in my ear canals as an infrasonic howl propagated from the remnant¡¯s mouth and throat, sending ripples through the rain. Its head turned, faster than anything of that size had a right to. The wind grew in intensity, bucking me with the aftermath of such a massive object moving so quickly through space. The mountain¡¯s face spun all the way around until its remaining eye saw me. It locked onto me and the pupil at its center constricted.

    Etja had already flown away and I moved to stand atop Gracorvus, hovering under my own power. There was a brief standoff moment where the remnant considered the speck of a man that had so harmed it. Then, the subaural pulse throbbed with greater fury and The Pit turned its full ire onto me.

    All of The Pit¡¯s limbs abandoned their assault on my allies and hurled through the sky toward me like meteors. Its head spun again, aiming its mouth at me from which waves of heat poured, distorting the air with shimmering waves. The rain burst into mist as an orange glow bubbled up from its gullet.

    I had certainly gotten its attention.

    I also hadn¡¯t thought this far ahead.

    I flew away from the remnant as fast as Gracorvus could carry me, casting Shortcut every second and quickly making my way out over the ocean. I swung past falling limbs that hit the sea with enough force to create tsunamis that raced toward The Pit¡¯s organic shores. Pustules exploded as they hurtled by, showering me with fire and fragments, but the terror of a hundred-limbed mountain trying to kill me was banished by a burst of excitement as I saw the state the tendrils were in.

    Blood flowed freely from many of them, scored by a thousand cuts. Some were cut down to nubs less than half of their original length. Others were tinged with the colors of rot, covered in veins of black that crawled across their surfaces and grew in real time. Yet more were ablaze with crimson flame, the divine fire inextinguishable by the wind or rain. More than a few suffered from a combination of the status effects, some from all three at once.

    I felt an intense heat erupt at my back, but I didn¡¯t dare slow down to check on the incoming breath weapon. I kept steadily sailing forward, the height and the relative speeds of the towering tendrils lashing out at me making my 55-mile-per-hour flight feel like I was standing still.

    HP: 740 -> 704

    The Pit¡¯s molten breath had a limited range and my initial safe distance plus my frantic flight allowed me to escape the worst of it. A lake of fire briefly enshrouded me, but my resistances allowed me to emerge from it mostly unscathed. However, I exited into a half dozen tendrils descending onto me, leaving no space to dodge.

    I hastily cast Shortcut, taking me 300 feet northward to avoid all of the descending tendrils. There was a light crack of thunder as I appeared, the movement far enough to send the reforged skill into a 5-second cooldown but not enough to cause me any damage. By the time I got my bearings, a new group of The Pit¡¯s limbs were already crashing down toward me. It was too soon to use Shortcut again.

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    I deactivated Gracorvus¡¯s flight, sending myself into a ballistic arc over the sea. I flipped forward, grabbing the shield and bringing it around between myself and the tendrils. I braced the back of it with my knees and took a deep breath.

    The limbs, united in their hatred, spiked me into the ocean like a team of hundred-story volleyball players jacked up on an Olympic swimming pool¡¯s worth of anabolic steroids.

    The world went white. My shins and left forearm were shattered. My left shoulder was dislocated and my right knee became gravel. My heart struggled to keep my brain supplied with oxygen as the hit drove me downward. Spots danced in my vision until I impacted the ocean fast enough to feel like I collided with a brick wall. The sea¡¯s briny water was ice-cold, immediately beginning to invade my muscles and joints, but shocking me back to awareness.

    HP: 704 -> 475

    It seemed that any time I encountered one of this world¡¯s oceans, I was to be thrust into its depths with half my body crushed. I¡¯d even taken nearly the same amount of damage from the tendrils as I had from Yaretzi¡¯s cannonball. It was an odd thought to fixate on, but running the numbers jarred my brain out of the sudden fog that had come over it.

    Unlike the fight with Yaretzi, I was granted no reprieve or time to plan while I sank into the frosty depths. The tendrils snaked into the ocean after me like horrible sea serpents. The water grew cloudy with blood and rotten flesh and water boiled from the persistent touch of divine fire.

    I needed to move.

    I clutched onto Gracorvus with my working arm and jetted away through the water. The fluid dragged at my frame as I went, sending fierce, bright pain through my broken limbs. I easily fought back against the pull with my increased Strength, angling myself toward the surface while avoiding the remnant¡¯s seeking limbs.

    They weren¡¯t nearly as accurate as they had been above, which I assumed was because The Pit could no longer see me beneath the dark waves. I managed to twist between two of the tendrils as they writhed past me, the knobby fingers at their ends grasping blindly.

    I broke the surface, the wind nearly paralyzing me as it battered against my soaked frame and compounded the freezing cold. The Pit hadn¡¯t divided its attention in the brief time I was gone, still wholly fixated on my destruction. A storm of limbs flailed in the air in every direction and then, all began converging on me.

    My allies, however, were being completely ignored.

    Nuralie stood atop The Pit¡¯s cranium, driving arrow after arrow into its head. Each strike made the necrotic veins on its tendrils pulse with sickly mana, growing thick and varicose. Xim leaped across its body below, bashing her way through the sharp barbs on its surface. They rose up past her waist and thrust themselves at her when she came close, her fur already matted with blood. She didn¡¯t care. Her body glowed with divine healing. Crimson infernos had begun to rage in ten different places across its hills of meat.

    Varrin and Shog rode the limbs as they thrashed, driving their blades through them without resistance. Varrin cleaved one through completely and the amount of blood that erupted from it would have made Quentin Tarantino proud.

    Our plan was working, I just needed to keep The Pit busy a little while longer.

    The burning, bleeding, and necrotizing limbs blotted out the sky. I focused on a point on the opposite side of the mountain, just barely visible, and cast Reckless Shortcut at its maximum range.

    My skin was minced by thousands of micro tears when I arrived at my destination, having moved more than 2 miles. The peal of thunder I created when I appeared rivaled the booming roar of the sky above. I planted my feet atop Gracorvus and spun to face The Pit. It turned and searched for me, but its massive eye wasn¡¯t just for show. It spotted me in an instant and the tendrils swung around to start approaching me once more.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, dummy,¡± I said. ¡°Look at me, look at me.¡±

    I activated the Atrocidile roar on Gracorvus, joining the ghostly wail with a roar of my own, preparing myself for the second¨Cand final¨Cround.

 135 - We are Arlo

    I began to think that pushing Reckless Shortcut to its maximum distance had been a mistake.

    My eyes bulged as the delayed onset agony of my body being thrust through a dimensional blender and spat out through a hole in reality that was several sizes too small caught up to me. Unlike the last time I¡¯d used the reforged spell to extend the teleport¡¯s range, I currently had my entire brain available to process the consequences. However, my knee-jerk decision to blink to the opposite side of the mountain was making me question how much of my ¡®entire¡¯ brain I actually used. This was especially true after I took a second to glance at my health and saw that I¡¯d hurt myself nearly as much as the three-limbed, exploding slap from a sentient mountain of hatred had.

    HP: 475 -> 291

    Screaming at the monster was also a mistake, as my body made clear to me via piercing pains throughout my battered joints. Trying to stand atop Gracorvus was also, also a mistake.

    My left forearm was broken and the shoulder dislocated. My right knee was shattered and both of my tibias had multiple fractures. This was on top of the usual snapped ribs, scorched skin, and body-spanning muscular damage that resulted from having three-quarters of my HP beaten, burned, and exploded out of me.

    If I¡¯d been able to bruise normally, I would have been more purple than tan. Fortunately, Just a Flesh Wound saved me from the inordinate amount of internal Bleeding that I¡¯d normally have suffered when my veins and organs ruptured. Likewise, Body of Theseus saved me from collapsing and was the only reason I could stand at all. My leg bones were in several more pieces than they should have been, after all.

    And yet, these decisions had been made. I stood in the blistering wind. Rain battered my armor and the frigid dampness of my recent dunk penetrated every cell of my body. It would have been miserable, had I not been wholly focused on the hundred tendrils heading toward me, moving at a speed just south of Mach 1. As such, my mind was preoccupied with how fucked I was.

    The remnant¡¯s limbs were in bad shape. They left trails of blood and smoke in the air as they hurtled my way, burning with insatiable flame, and pulsing with toxic veins. Their 20-second journey saw a dozen of their number collapse, overwhelmed by some combination of debuffs. The Pit¡¯s single remaining eye was inflamed with creeping veins of venom, pulsing with each arrow Nuralie landed. I could still make out the loson a mile distant, and it looked like she was dipping new arrows into prepared bottles of poison, having exhausted her supply of pre-coated arrows.

    She¡¯d had a lot of pre-coated arrows.

    The surface of the remnant below its head was steadily becoming engulfed in Xim¡¯s divine fire which spread without opposition while The Pit was fixated wholly on me. Meanwhile, Varrin continued intercept whipping limbs, cutting another two down with the 20-foot length of Kazandak as they made their way to me.

    Meanwhile, Shog leaped from limb to limb until he was at the foremost tendril, greatswords stowed and feathers being blown off his tentacles from the sheer speed of his ride. He was looking in my direction, legs coiled and body ready to pounce.

    I held Somncres clenched in my remaining usable hand, weighing the benefits of hurling some Void Hammers against the brief burst of flight my 58 remaining mana would get me with Gracorvus.

    My gains in Wisdom and Intelligence combined with the spatial understanding granted by my Coordinated Thinker evolution allowed me to do a pretty decent job of plotting the path of the tendrils¨Cespecially as their number reduced¨Cbut at the end of the day, I just wasn¡¯t fast enough on Gracorvus. The duration of my flying mobility wouldn¡¯t be good enough, either.

    Thankfully, Shog seemed to understand my situation. As he grew closer, I even saw Grotto latched onto one of the c¡¯thon¡¯s feelers like he was Shog¡¯s little octo bro, tagging along for the adventure. A disdainful psychic communication quickly dispelled that impression.

    [Are you aware that the overwhelming majority of all discomfort I have suffered in the last several million years is from our Shared Fate connection?]

    ¡°Several million?¡± I thought back to my familiar. ¡°Wait, how old are you?¡±

    [Too old to keep counting and too young for your bravado to become my end.]

    ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re here to rescue me?¡±

    [I am having one of our subjects rescue you.]

    ¡°One of ¡®our¡¯ subjects? Pretty sure Shog is my summon.¡±

    [Irrelevant. We are so closely bound that your summon may as well be my own.]

    ¡°Yeah? How do you feel about that, Shog?¡±

    ¡°Say the word and I will consume this c¡¯thon pretender.¡±

    ¡°Ha. No, please don¡¯t do that. The psychic feedback would probably kill me.¡± The limbs were a few seconds from impact. ¡°Plan?¡±

    [I will unify our minds and allow you to treat Shog as your wings.]

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna what?¡±

    [You will be able to control him.]

    ¡°Like an RC car?!¡±

    ¡°I will respond to your mental commands. You will not control me.¡±

    [Regardless, it will only require you to imagine the movement as you would one for your own body. No need for formulating orders.]

    ¡°Wait, why? And how long have you been able to¨C¡±

    Shog launched off from the lead tendril, using its momentum to hurtle toward me at a speed several times faster than his normal flight. A shockwave pulsed out from his body as he exceeded the sound barrier and I hastily flew Gracorvus in reverse to try and lessen the speed of the incoming grapple.

    As Shog blasted by, he slowed as much as he could and his tentacles stretched out ahead of him, wrapped me up, and then gave way to my body as he soared past, softening the force of the snatch. It was still a pretty brutal yoink, but the whiplash was manageable and I only passed out briefly from the pain.

    After my consciousness skipped a beat I felt Grotto establish a mental connection between myself and Shog, layering a mental impression of the c¡¯thon¡¯s body atop my own. I suddenly felt as though I¡¯d grown two feet taller and had twenty extra arms, which is to say I had no good way to describe what I felt. It was similar to a dream where the logic only makes sense while you¡¯re asleep. The moment you wake and try to describe to someone the sensation of morphing into a dimension-stalking, apex predator, you get nothing but smiles and nods politely letting you know that the person to whom you are speaking neither cares nor is interested in your deranged ramblings.

    Shog spun and decelerated, orienting us back toward The Pit. He dove to avoid a lashing limb and I felt the action pull against a thread in my mind. When he moved, I could sense the mental connection like a phantom tugging on my own limbs. It was surreal, but I could also pull back, forcing the c¡¯thon¡¯s body to respond to my ¡®suggested¡¯ movements.

    ¡°Why are we doing this?¡± I asked, trying to get used to Shog¡¯s level of mobility. His Speed was at least as high as Varrin¡¯s, maybe higher, but he wasn¡¯t nearly as agile. I experimented with trying to issue commands to my summon as though I were piloting my own body. It wasn¡¯t exactly a smooth ride.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    [Shog cannot see in every direction at once. You can. Further, the c¡¯thon¡¯s mental attributes are abysmal.]

    Shog growled but didn¡¯t contradict the core.

    ¡°See in every direction?¡± I asked. ¡°You mean with Soul-Sight?¡±

    [Indeed.]

    It was amazing how often I forgot to utilize one of my most potent abilities. I made a note to practice using Soul-Sight as a persistent, automatic function, the same as any other sense I possessed. I didn¡¯t need to remind myself to use my fucking eyes. My capabilities with the Sight needed to be at the same level.

    A flaming limb whipped within inches of us as I began to focus on the world through my Soul-Sight. Only a single pustule exploded as Shog barely dodged the passing limb, many of the aggressive growths having been used up or destroyed by my party¡¯s efforts. The arm that blazed past failed to rise back up, exhausted by Xim¡¯s fire, but many more were on the way.

    The rest of The Pit shone in my Sight, granting me a comprehensive view of the battlefield. I began trying to issue directions to Shog through Grotto¡¯s psychic link. We avoided a limb swinging in from Shog¡¯s rear, but there was a delay between my mental nudge to Shog and his response. It passed so close that the wind disrupted Shog¡¯s flight, taking us into the path of another limb swinging in from the side. Shog raised half of his tentacles to absorb the strike, and I felt the muscle within six of his feelers get reduced to mincemeat. The c¡¯thon had protected Grotto and me from the attack, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to take more than two additional direct hits like that.

    My Soul-Sight gave me a 360-degree view of the incoming limbs. My high INT, WIS, and Coordinated Thinker evolution combined to allow me to predict the paths of the rapidly moving tangle of arms and plot escape vectors much better than the c¡¯thon on his own. However, the translation to action was imperfect¨Clike playing an FPS with 200-millisecond ping¨Cfrustrating.

    I was also distracted by the persistent waves of pain from my body letting me know that I was really, quite very, fucked up. I felt Grotto boost my endorphin and adrenaline before I could even consciously send him the thought.

    [I have already pushed these levels beyond the limits of ordinary physiology. Your thought processes will continue to become more clouded from here on out. The fact that you can form a coherent thought at all is a testament to how significantly your evolutions have altered your body.]

    ¡°Noted.¡±

    I steered Shog to one side, but the delay caused us to cut it close and take another explosion. Gracorvus and Shog¡¯s feelers soaked much of the damage, but my summon¡¯s limbs were being disabled faster than The Pit¡¯s. Shog was more wound than c¡¯thon by this point. Something had to change or else we would all be crushed before my allies could finish their work. I needed a better solution.

    Which is when the obvious came to me.

    I closed my eyes and pushed Soul-Sight beyond a mere sense for the incoming limbs. I felt Shog¡¯s soul, heard the rhythm of his movements, tasted his feelings and motivations, and touched the history of his body and how it operated. I brought that awareness to the mental model Grotto had created in my mind, overlaying it to create a much more robust understanding of and connection with the c¡¯thon. I felt not only the movements of Shog¡¯s body but also how his soul flowed through and animated his flesh.

    Then, I used Reveal to connect directly with the souls of Shog and Grotto both. The link came with virtually no effort or resistance since they were both entities that were profoundly intertwined with me. I took my understanding of Shog¡¯s body and sent it to my summon with Reveal, hoping the connection would allow me to communicate to Shog exactly what I wanted his body to do in real-time, without the awkward thought, transmission, and response series that created the delay.

    My thoughts directing Shog to do were no longer an abstraction that my pair of companions had to translate into meaningful action through their combined capabilities but were instead instructions sent directly to Shog¡¯s soul. I absorbed every nuance of Shog¡¯s body through Grotto¡¯s psychic link and my Sight. Then, that comprehension was instantly mirrored and sent to Shog using Reveal.

    Combined with the ethereal mental state induced by the overabundance of fight-or-flight chemicals saturating my brain, the line between myself and my summon blurred until I could no longer distinguish between my own body and the c¡¯thon¡¯s. Reveal imparted that sensation onto my summon as well while keeping Grotto looped in as a psychic mediator for the communication between our physical brains.

    I was a mortal man, piloting a murderous mana fiend like a flesh suit. Our souls mingled to transmit haptic feedback and our minds were psychically unified and stabilized by an ancient, marginally sociopathic Delve Core. Where Arlo ended and Shog began became a vague suggestion, the distinction between our thoughts no more discrete than two hemispheres of the same brain, with Grotto serving as the corpus callosum between them.

    We were fused into something new. Someone distinct. We were now Grottarlog? Grothuarlo? Tuagrotar?

    No, we¡¯d become the mighty Arlottog.

    Four of Shog¡¯s tentacles secured me at the center of his body, protected by his bearded mass of feelers with Gracorvus over my chest and stomach. Grotto was wrapped around me at the small of my back in the most protected position between myself and Shog. As two more of The Pit¡¯s tendrils struck, I saw them from all directions with my Sight, and we moved instantly to avoid them.

    We spun through the limbs, our combined minds able to see the paths they would take, to predict the corrections they would make as we dodged. We feinted and dove, driving into the freezing waters to break The Pit¡¯s line of sight. We emerged and climbed, seawater spraying off of us as we moved at over 200 miles per hour.

    The limbs that attacked us continued to die¨Cincinerated, decayed, or exsanguinated. We moved as little as possible with each dodge, skirting just outside the blast radius of the pustules and giving ourselves as much time as possible for the next maneuver. The enemy limbs were also growing more sluggish, and a few even struck at places we were nowhere near.

    While The Pit¡¯s attention was wholly on Arlottog, my allies were still not completely safe.

    Xim¡¯s transformation ended, her shrinking body assaulted by the vicious barbs that covered the surface of The Pit¡¯s island body. Her mana was empty and she was no longer able to heal through the damage, her health pool dropping precipitously as she was pierced by a dozen lancing stingers. The world burned around her.

    We swooped down, already angling toward the cleric as the last of her mana was spent. We grabbed her with a pair of feelers, snatching her up from the grasp of the barbs, and went back on the run. We moved around the remnant¡¯s massive head, its eye¨Cnow fully corrupted by black and green veins¨Cno longer gazed at us with unmasked hatred. The pupil was dilated and flitted from side to side, looking at things the rest of us couldn¡¯t see. Its mouth oozed molten rock, the edges turned up in an absent grin.

    The drugs I¡¯d administered were kicking in.

    As I realized that The Pit was starting to feel real groovy, Varrin fell from one of the tendrils.

    His stamina had fallen to 0 during his mad assault on the tendrils, rendering the warrior unconscious. He descended between the swiping limbs, and we plotted our flight to take us to him without any of the tendrils crossing his descent in their search for us. We caught up and our c¡¯thonic arms wrapped the big guy up.

    Most of our working limbs were now occupied, the rest too injured to hold anyone or anything. Fortunately, The Pit suffered from a combination of dying and dosed up. Despite our burden, we made it back to The Pit¡¯s central head without injury, the lion¡¯s share of attacking limbs destroyed or flailing at invisible enemies.

    We dropped Xim and Varrin onto the top of The Pit¡¯s head next to where Etja had collapsed, her mana dry and her health around one-third. Sweat poured down Nuralie¡¯s face as she dipped an arrow into her poison, drew it back until the muscles in her arm pushed taught against her tight leathers, then released it into The Pit¡¯s skull alongside tens of others. She looked up as we approached, eyes wide from the effects of one of her stimulants.

    ¡°I won¡¯t ask,¡± she thought to us while looking Arlottog up and down.

    ¡°Tell me it¡¯s time to use Venemous Escalation,¡± we thought to her. Nuralie looked a little uncomfortable at the psychic harmony of our combined mental voices, but she nodded and began casting the spell.

    Threads of mana shot out from her core, connecting to the webbed veins of Toxicity crawling across The Pit¡¯s head and body. Her eyes flared a sickly green, and a pulse went down the threads. When the energy connected, the veins exploded into growth. In a handful of seconds, they were twice as thick and numerous as they¡¯d been the moment before. There was hardly an inch of the remnant¡¯s surface that was untouched by the corruption.

    Our chest and bones rattled from another infrasonic roar. A few of the remaining tendrils began to flail weakly toward the top of its head where we stood. We didn¡¯t have enough feelers or stamina to carry the entire party away from the assault. Meager as it was, it was still a lethal attack in our state.

    Grocorvus moved from my chest to hover at our front. We drew Shog¡¯s greatswords and we uttered a command to The Pit, its alien mind vulnerable, already teetering on the edge of breaking.

    ¡°You will Despair.¡±

    The mental attack rolled across the Pit and made the last few tendrils hesitate. We flew forward, raking our greatswords across the stuttering limbs. Gracorvus moved to protect us from the weak blasts of a few pustules as their smoldering remains sputtered.

    Finally, only a single limb remained, and we mana-shaped an Oblivion Orb with the last of my mana, increasing its size as much as possible. Despite The Pit¡¯s dimensional resistance, the orb at the palm of our c¡¯thonic hand carved a hole into the center of the limb, large enough for us to pass through. We flew within, then cleaved the limb in half from the inside with our greatswords.

    The limbs were all broken and The Pit¡¯s remaining eyes rolled in its socket. Its flesh sagged and sloughed away and smoke filled the sky from the divine fire ravaging most of its body like an unchecked forest fire. Our bodies shook from another inaudible roar.

    After a minute of silent agony, The Pit finally perished.

    Nuralie dropped her bow and fell onto her ass. She leaned back on her hands, breathing hard and staring at the sky as the rain beaded and ran down her face. Eventually, she turned back to us.

    She started to say something, but my thoughts were hijacked by a notification that plastered itself in the center of my vision.

    Your Crumb-Cruncher Traveler¡¯s Amulet has evolved! Inspect the item to see its new ability and any requirements that must be met to trigger the next evolution.

 136 - Entry Requirements Met

    I minimized the notification for my amulet to check on my allies and ensure we were truly out of danger. The Pit had gone completely still, most of its tendrils destroyed and the rest unmoving. The remnant¡¯s remaining eye gazed out toward the sea, unfocused. The rain and wind continued, but nothing was presently attempting to murder us.

    Etja, Xim, and Varrin were all unconscious, but the entire party was benefitting from the full suite of potions we¡¯d downed throughout the boss gauntlet. The brews we¡¯d taken after the Clockwork battle were still active but would be running out soon. After that, we¡¯d all be stuck with potion cooldowns for the rest of the day. Still, between the massive bonuses the potions gave us and my health regen aura, everyone¡¯s health was steadily ticking upward and we¡¯d be well out of danger by the time the effects wore off.

    ¡°Are you going to stay like that?¡± Nuralie asked aloud. While the storm continued, it seemed to be abating with the death of The Pit. Our proximity made verbal communication easy enough for the moment. ¡°It is¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°unsettling.¡±

    Her comment caused me to evaluate my mental state. Now that I was no longer engrossed in the life or death combat, it became easier to divorce myself from the shared identity that the mind and soul connections I¡¯d formed with Grotto and Shog had created. I realized I was viewing Nuralie entirely through my Soul-Sight, my body wrapped up in Shog¡¯s tentacles and hidden beneath my shield. I was struck by an acute sense of claustrophobia, and the thought was enough for Shog to release me.

    He guided me to the ground, not gently, but not so roughly that my injuries would be worsened. I sat on the decaying surface of The Pit¡¯s head, no longer willing to force my broken legs to bear my weight. The effects of Grotto¡¯s neurochemical manipulations were also wearing off, and my body was beginning to reassert its disappointment over my choices. I took in a long breath through my teeth, leaning back and placing my good arm behind me to prop myself up.

    ¡°That was weird,¡± I said to no one in particular.

    [An unexpected and creative use of your revelations,] Grotto thought to us. [I cannot say I found the experience to my liking, but I will not deny that it was effective.]

    ¡°I was Slayer. Slayer was me,¡± Shog said, looking at his menacing hands. It reminded me of the first time I¡¯d connected to Grotto with Reveal.

    ¡°It was like a supercharged version of the identity confusion that Reveal can cause,¡± I said. ¡°But it went both ways because of your psychic link, Grotto.¡±

    [Yes, yes. My talents are boundless and I am happy to take credit for the feat,] he thought to us, but the words were half-hearted at best¨Clike he was failing to maintain the charade of Grotto the megalomaniac. [I must spend some time¡­ digesting this phenomenon. Please do not disturb me unless the need is dire.]

    I raised an eyebrow as Grotto floated over to settle on my shoulder. He latched on with his feelers, then closed his big, black octo eyes. Nuralie tilted her head.

    ¡°Did he just say ¡®please¡¯?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I do believe the word just came out of him,¡± I said, wincing as a rib clicked back into place.

    Nuralie replied with a short ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°I felt things!¡± my summon shouted. I was too burned out to be startled, so I just shot him a curious look.

    ¡°Yeah, Shog? What did you feel?¡±

    ¡°I felt¡­ fear. Fear that the demoness would die. When we pulled her from the mountain¡¯s thorns, I was elated. As though I¡¯d just bitten into someone delicious and full of mana.¡±

    ¡°Er, okay?¡± I said, uncertain of what he was getting at. ¡°I also felt that way, except for it being like eating a person. It didn¡¯t feel like that at all.¡±

    ¡°How many people have you eaten?¡± asked Nuralie with a grin.

    ¡°Zero, I think,¡± I said.

    ¡°You think?¡±

    ¡°I try not to make any absolute statements. I ate a lot of hotdogs back on Earth. Nobody knows what¡¯s inside of hotdogs.¡±

    ¡°It isn¡¯t dogs?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Probably not,¡± I replied. ¡°Usually. Maybe.¡±

    ¡°The feelings were potent, much stronger than they should have been,¡± said Shog. ¡°The demoness is a useful ally, but does not serve an essential role in my continued growth.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± I said.

    ¡°You do?¡±

    ¡°Sure. You¡¯re normally a heartless monstrosity whose sole motivation is the urge to feed and grow stronger. No offense.¡±

    ¡°Why would that offend me?¡±

    ¡°While we were in our Voltron form,¡± I continued, ¡°you were sharing some of my emotions. Since I have an evolved primate brain that derives benefits from social cohesion, I¡¯m more considerate of the well-being of others, beyond for the simple reason that they grant me advantages.¡± I grunted as two pieces of a tibia slid and fused back together. ¡°Your brain might be closer to a reptile¡¯s¡­¡±

    There was a groan from the nearby crowd of unconscious party members, and I looked over to see Xim sitting up.

    ¡°Why are we talking about Shog¡¯s emotions?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Because everyone¡¯s emotions are important?¡± I offered.

    ¡°That is not true,¡± said Shog.

    ¡°Good to know I didn¡¯t rub off on you too much.¡±

    There was another groan from Xim, but rather than a groan that said ¡®Oh gods, I feel like shit,¡¯ it was a groan that said something along the lines of ¡®Oh gods, I¡¯m covered in shit.¡¯

    She was looking down at her chest, which was splattered in blood and dark goop. She lifted a hand from the surface of the Pit¡¯s head to find it slick with rotting, liquifying skin. I looked down and realized that the ground all around me was also rapidly decaying and I was sinking into it ever so slowly. It emitted a rather pungent odor.

    ¡°Can we leave this wretched place?¡± said Xim, shaking some of the goo from her arm.

    ¡°How do we leave?¡± asked Nuralie.

    We all looked around for an obelisk or a portal but were met with nothing but a putrifying mountain, a dwindling storm, and an endless sea.

    ¡°Let¡¯s wait a few more minutes until we¡¯re all conscious and able to walk,¡± I said. ¡°Then we can start looking for whatever it is we¡¯re meant to find.¡±

    Xim grumbled, but the group agreed. I took the time to pull out my amulet from beneath my armor and inspect it for the thousandth time since it last evolved. I was half expecting the notification to be some sort of prank, and that the item¡¯s description would now read ¡°Haha, fuck you,¡± or something. Happily, that wasn¡¯t the case.

    Traveler¡¯s Amulet

    This is an evolving item.

    Current Level: Junior Jumbuck

    Effects:

    1) It¡¯s stylish.

    2) Soul-Sight - My dearest Arlo, you¡¯ve realized that making Soul-Sight your own means more than gaining simple competency. Your identity informs the ability, and the ways that you use it to see the world can be as unique and personal as your bohemian fashion choices!

    If you¡¯re seeing this message, then you¡¯ve now realized the way that these revelations can be used goes well beyond the default settings baked into them by whatever divinity they draw power from. The same is true for all revelations! Will you keep this secret to yourself and hoard the power that it grants? Will you share it with only your closest allies? Maybe you¡¯ll shout it out for all the world to hear! I could take a guess at what you¡¯ll do, but I hate to prognosticate when the potential outcomes are so unpredictable.

    Now that I have imparted unto you this divine wisdom, let¡¯s move on to the interesting bit: more buffs!

    3) Extrinsic Intrinsics - Your bonded familiar is a quirky pet, and I find the way that the System bound your fates together to be both unique and unusual. The System even went so far as to grant you a shared intrinsic skill: Dungeoneering! Well, if there¡¯s one thing I adore about new and untested abilities, it¡¯s that they are ripe for exploitation!

    Using the soul connection between yourself and Grotto, you can share more than just Dungeoneering. In fact, I¡¯ve figured out a way to allow you to share all of your intrinsic skills with the little fellow. How broken is this capability? I¡¯ve no idea, but I¡¯m eager for you to find out!

    Dig deeper into the soul connection between yourself and Grotto to unlock this item¡¯s next effect!

    I read through the text several times. It was clear that Fortune was now talking to me directly through the amulet¡¯s description, which made me wonder how much of my current activities he was aware of. Did the amulet broadcast everything I did to the wily avatar? I¡¯d already given up on discerning the motivations of the rotund giant without further intel, but couldn¡¯t help from being drawn into a fresh round of speculation.

    The text implied that Fortune was somehow directly influencing the System¨Ceither behind the scenes and from within the System itself, or simply by abusing its mechanics. The text also implied that Fortune was able to use this System access to manipulate the soul connection between me and my familiar. The fact that the System allowed any entity to have a backdoor into my soul was disturbing. I couldn¡¯t think of any examples of when Fortune might have made nefarious use of that access, but that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    When the avatar had brought me to Arzia, he¡¯d reshaped my body. For a time, I was concerned that he¡¯d Trojan Horse¡¯d some kind of obedience directive into my thought process. It was possible that my actions were subtly guided by some deeply buried manipulation he¡¯d left inside me. Fortune had denied doing such a thing¨Csince it was, according to him, cheating¨Cbut my trust in the demigod went about as far as I could throw him and his amply-gifted buttocks.

    This ability raised another similar issue. If Fortune could manipulate my soul connection to Grotto, could he surreptitiously influence the actions of either myself or the Delve Core? It was another question that had no good way to get answered, so I stuffed it down into a mental box I¡¯d labeled ¡°da¡¯ fuck?¡±. It was practically overflowing by this point.

    As for the ability itself, it would require a lot of testing and experimentation to decide how powerful it was. I didn¡¯t think Grotto had a use for an intrinsic skill such as Heavy Armor, but maybe we could fashion a set of octopus-shaped plate for the octo-bro. On the other hand, if Grotto learned any Dimensional spells, he¡¯d have a big leg up over a novice. Of course, Grotto¡¯s attunement was Divine, which limited his casting to Divine and the two adjacent schools¨CMystical and Spiritual. Dimensional wasn¡¯t available to the core normally. However, did this effect break that rule?

    I also had Blunt and Shields, which made me wonder whether we¡¯d need to make Grotto an entire mini-Arlo equipment loadout to take full advantage of this ability. Would that even be effective if the core continued to have a low Strength score? I also had 1 intrinsic slot left unfilled. Would it be worth picking up something that both Grotto and I could use?

    As I ran over my list of intrinsics and considered their utility for my familiar, I heard Etja and Varrin begin to stir, followed by a kill notification.

    Your party has slain The King¡¯s Pit: Delve Remnant, Grade 24. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 24 Emerald Chips

    2) 1 Titan Essence

    3) 1 Ocean Essence

    4) 1000 Abbantite Ore

    5) 1 Abandoned Grimoire

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 4 Emerald Chips. Remainder has been randomly assigned to 4 of 5 party members.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    Nuralie filled the sleepy duo in on the events of the battle¡¯s end as I pulled out the Abandoned Grimoire to give it a look. An oily, black substance coated the surface of the heavy book¡¯s cover. There was some sort of embroidery on the front, but I couldn¡¯t make it out beneath the layers of dark gunk. When I tried to wipe some away, it dripped from my fingers in long, sticky strands, but the cover remained obscured. After a few wipes, I began to think the book was excreting it. My gauntleted fingers were stained from the substance, and I was suddenly glad that none of it had touched my bare skin. Perhaps I should have identified the tome before I¡¯d fondled it.

    Abandoned Grimoire

    It is wise to consider why some knowledge is forgotten.

    This tome contains the experimental findings of an unknown witch whose name and work have both been lost to time. Within its pages are a selection of spells that may be of interest to a mage with a penchant for inflicting harm. Additionally, there are several recipes that could be of use to an alchemist with the requisite moral flexibility. The handwritten notations and illustrated techniques used by the witch to accomplish her research may also serve as fascinating bedtime reading for the morbid historian.

    I held the book out at arm¡¯s length, hesitant to even open it. I¡¯d never seen something scream ¡°I¡¯m cursed!¡± quite so loudly as the viscid, dripping tome. Nuralie¡¯s interest was nevertheless peaked, and she carefully wrapped the book in warded cloth designed for cleaning up acid spills and placed it inside a mana-woven leather satchel where she normally stored her more volatile concoctions. The satchel¡¯s previous contents had been emptied into The Pit during our fight. I was glad to see the grimoire disappear into the loson¡¯s inventory.

    Next, I took out some of the Abbantite Ore. The description didn¡¯t make me worry that we would be slowly driven insane by the ancient ghost of a mad sorceress, but it wasn¡¯t very informative either.

    Abbandite Ore

    This ore can be refined by a skilled metallurgist into the metal Abbandium.

    No one in the party had heard of Abbandium, so it was one more thing to research later.

    After we got the loot, I fielded a few questions about the mighty Arlottog and we decided to begin searching for the way forward. A full-party discussion of my amulet¡¯s new effect could wait until we were better rested and somewhere that wasn¡¯t a literal mountain of rotting corpse.

    We went over the surface of The Pit at length, unable to find any obvious sign of an obelisk or portal. We gave the ocean a cursory search as well, looking for underwater caves and scanning for any distant islands once the rain had cleared. We came up empty, and after a couple of hours, I got an uncomfortable idea.

    ¡°Grotto told us that a Delve Remnant is a Delve that went out of control, right?¡± I said. The core was still in his post-fusion hibernation, and this didn¡¯t feel like a big enough problem to bother him with yet. We weren¡¯t in any clear danger, just stuck.

    Varrin looked around at the massive entity we stood upon, then out at the sea.

    ¡°I doubt that this entire ocean is part of the defunct Delve,¡± he said. ¡°If Grotto¡¯s description is accurate, then The Pit was the Delve. The creature had the label of Delve Remnant, not the rest of the environment.¡±

    ¡°So, if The Pit was a Delve,¡± I said, ¡°then the obelisk would not be on the outside.¡±

    Nuralie swallowed and looked down at the decaying body.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°inside?¡±

    I frowned and considered the problem. If The Pit really had been a Delve, and if the obelisk was still inside of the monster, then what was the best way to get to it? We could dig, but that would take a lot of time and it would also be ten different kinds of gross. Alternatively, we could go in through a hole that already existed.

    The Pit¡¯s eye had been obliterated by Explosion! but that hadn¡¯t created a navigable passage into its head. At least, not one that didn¡¯t require us to swim through an unknown length of wet and goopy sinus cavity. That left only one other conspicuous route.

    ¡°You wanna climb down its throat,¡± said Xim. ¡°I can see it in your eyes.¡±

    ¡°Got any better ideas?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said, marching across the head and preparing to climb down to the mouth. ¡°And I¡¯m tired of being out here in the cold without my armor.¡±

    Despite keeping an eye out during our search, Xim¡¯s protective gear had not been found. She was in her mega-stretch onesie and¨Calthough the rain had stopped¨Cthere were still high winds that made it pretty uncomfortable.

    We all followed and either climbed or floated down to the remnant¡¯s enormous mouth. It hung open, radiating warmth from the cooling lava¨Cnow stone¨Cthat had once dripped from the maw. We made it past the rows of bus-sized teeth and into the buccal cavity without issue, finding a cavernous space made up of dark surfaces. It would have looked right at home in most any Delve. After a brief and cautious walk down the length of a granite tongue wide enough to serve as a six-lane interstate, we found the obelisk hanging down from above.

    ¡°It¡¯s the uvula!¡± I said.

    ¡°Is there a reason why that excites you?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Not really. I just think the uvula is cool.¡±

    ¡°I thought the obelisk would be the heart,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Or the brain,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Or the stomach!¡± added Etja.

    ¡°Why stomach?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Delve obelisks are usually at the center of a Delve and they convert energy that the Delve creates into mana. It has more in common with a stomach than a heart or a brain.¡±

    ¡°Then they vomit that energy up onto Delvers,¡± I added.

    ¡°It¡¯s more that they thrust the energy into us,¡± said Xim, tapping a finger on her chin.

    I looked up at the long, hard pillar.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not going to draw the obvious comparison there. This one¡¯s a uvula, not any other body part that has been mentioned or gone unmentioned.¡±

    ¡°So when is it gonna thrust?¡± asked Xim. ¡°We beat the boss, I¡¯m ready for the thrusting.¡±

    ¡°Please stop,¡± I said.

    ¡°What?¡± she asked, looking at me deadpan. ¡°It¡¯s been a difficult day and I¡¯d like to unwind with a vigorous thrusting deep inside my mana matrix.¡±

    The obelisk lit up with energy, eliciting a wide grin from the cleric.

    I made no comment as our souls and bodies were penetrated by the potent mana. Once the stats had been granted, we got a new notification.

    Congratulations, your party has met the entry requirements for Delve 2997: Deijin¡¯s Descent! Your party receives an additional reward based on the calibrated difficulty of the defeated portal guardian.

    Portal guardian difficulty rating: ERROR

    ¡­

    Reevaluating¡­

    ¡­

    Portal guardian difficulty rating: A

    Maximum reward distribution authorized!

    Each party member receives 2 Diamond Chips!

    All party members receive a progression bonus to intrinsic skills used during the encounter.

    Now releasing all intrinsic skills gained during the remedial level-up procedures.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 25!

    ->

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 30!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to level 13!

    ->

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to level 16!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to level 14!

    ->

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to level 20!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to level 23!

    ->

    Your Blunt skill has increased to level 26!

    Your Shields skill has increased to level 22!

    ->

    Your Shields skill has increased to level 25!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to level 14!

    ->

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to level 20!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 11!

    ->

    Your Leadership skill has increased to level 19!

    This portal guardian realm will be collapsed after 10 minutes. Please enter the portal to Deijin¡¯s Descent before that time.

    After the parade of notifications ended, a swirling, silver portal appeared before us.

    ¡°So many intrinsic levels,¡± Xim said in awe.

    I blinked and nodded, looking over the endless skill-ups.

    ¡°Portal guardian?¡± I said, eyes catching on that bit of text. ¡°I thought we were fighting ¡®remedial¡¯ bosses to get up to level 10.¡±

    ¡°Other than Clockwork, the earlier bosses weren¡¯t too impressive,¡± said Xim. ¡°And all of them were at a level that I think makes sense to appear in a platinum Delve. The thing we just fought¨CThe Pit¨Cwas leagues ahead of a level 9 to 10 Delve, even if it were a platinum.¡±

    ¡°Right. Can¡¯t say I expected to fight a monster the size of a mountain before at least level 20,¡± I said. ¡°Actually, are there any mana monsters of that size? Besides the one we just killed, that is.¡±

    ¡°None that have been confirmed,¡± said Varrin. ¡°There are legends, though. Creatures of myth, such as The C¡¯thon. After this, however, I wonder if any might be real.¡±

    ¡°The C¡¯thon?¡± I said. ¡°Is that just a really big c¡¯thon?¡±

    ¡°The legend of The C¡¯thon predates the discovery of the c¡¯thonic race by centuries, perhaps millenia. The c¡¯thons that you know, such as Shog, were named after the creature in the legend due to similarities in their appearance.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, but it could just be a really big c¡¯thon.¡±

    Varrin sighed.

    ¡°For all our sakes, I hope that it isn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Well, no more time for banter I suppose.¡± I glanced at the portal. It had the same silvery shimmer as the portal that had sent us to the in-between and cast us through the void for some unknown length of time, potentially months.

    ¡°We should spend our stat points so they don¡¯t decay in case this portal takes its time like the last one,¡± I said. ¡°Evolutions can wait until we¡¯re on the other side. We¡¯ve only got seven minutes to get through and evolutions can sometimes have unforeseen side effects.¡±

    Everyone agreed to the plan, and I spent my 16 accrued stat points according to my previous distribution. I placed 6 into Wisdom, 5 into Intelligence, and 5 into Strength, snagging that luscious bonus point from Dumping to all three. I gave my stats a brief review once I was finished.

    Strength: 22

    Agility: 10

    Speed: 10

    Fortitude: 40

    Intelligence: 33

    Wisdom: 40

    Charisma: 10

    Luck:  10

    I now had the same number of total stats as a level 19 Delver, which was insane considering I was only level 10. Of course, my intrinsics were once again lower than what Varrin thought a level 10 platinum should have, but overall I felt phenomenal about the gains. With great reluctance, I pushed away the evolution notifications, then I confirmed that everyone in the party was ready to go.

    We stepped up to the portal and I gave it a hearty slap.

    Now entering Delve 2997: Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    This is a Special-Grade Delve.

    Time Limit: None

    Objective: Escape

 MT2 - Epilogue

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Nine months after the disappearance of Fortune¡¯s Folly into Deijin¡¯s Descent

    ***

    Brae¡¯ach guided his long, sharp fingers slowly over the monolith, creating delicate swirls of mana-rich color that etched into the stone¡¯s surface. Jakom had been watching his work over the past hour as the tall man¡¯s artistry created a spiraling weave of symbols and song that seemed to be written into the very fabric of the slab. The celestial language was beyond Jakom¡¯s understanding, but the process of writing it was mesmerizing to behold.

    The others present were not so easily impressed, it seemed.

    ¡°Your ineptitude gnarls my patience,¡± said Orexis. The lumbering entity frowned beneath his ragged cloak. His twin was tucked behind him like always, her empty face staring off into some distance only she could perceive.

    If Brae¡¯ach heard the avatar, he showed no sign. He continued his soft and gentle sweep of mana across the monolith¡¯s surface undeterred.

    ¡°Your haste erodes my goodwill,¡± said Limbo.

    The dark avatar stood opposite the room from Orexis, leaning against the wall of the dilapidated temple with some armored human hanging limply by its side. Jakom found all the avatars loathsome in their own way, but this one was especially unsettling. Being near Limbo felt like being removed from the world, each sensation and thought isolated in a never-ending spiral of self-doubt and loneliness. Looking at it was like looking at an island on a pitch-black sea, cut off from reality by some impenetrable barrier that cascaded into a fathomless abyss. Even Orexis kept his distance from the shadowy figure, and Anesis always kept her brother between them.

    Only Brae¡¯ach seemed unaffected by Limbo¡¯s presence, or at least he never let it show. For its part, Limbo was unusually supportive of Brae¡¯ach, seeming warmer to the executor of Unity than the other avatars. Considering how much the god spawn all hated each other, it was miraculous that they even listened to Brae¡¯ach at all, much less followed his direction, but Jakom knew that Brae¡¯ach possessed an immaculate spirit of leadership that could bring together even the most disparate of peoples. Even the avatars respected him, or at least tolerated him enough to work together, which Jakom had heard was nigh unprecedented.

    ¡°¡®Goodwill,¡¯¡± said Orexis with a huffing snort. ¡°You lack the capacity, singular one. Do not chide me with your hypocrisy.¡±

    ¡°I will chide you with your foolishness, ¡± said Limbo. ¡°Mistake not Unity¡¯s silence for tolerance. You draw undue attention far too quickly; your brash methods of spectacle and clamor are the envy of Hysteria.¡±

    ¡°We shall see if Unity abides truly in the herald or not,¡± said Orexis. ¡°We wished for the mortals to leave. A mana eruption shatters their presence. This generation lacks the will to oppose us anyway; why should I care what they notice?¡±

    ¡°If you would pull your head out of your sister long enough to smell the air around you,¡± said Limbo, ¡°you would notice the fires are burning far too quickly. Their escalation outpaces those before them. You ignore them at our peril.¡±

    ¡°I have tasted their might and am not impressed,¡± said Orexis.

    ¡°Your overconfidence is staggering. I will separate you two if that is what is required to grant you clarity.¡±

    Orexis snarled, baring his teeth and spreading his many arms into a fighting stance.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare,¡± said the avatar of Yearning, standing to tower over the shadow. Anesis woke from her trance at her brother¡¯s rage, smoke curling at the edges of her hollow countenance.

    ¡°Please,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, keeping his eyes on the monolith. ¡°The past cannot be changed. I will request another prepare the next ritual site. You are efficient, Orexis, but lack the finesse to sow all the seeds we need later reap.¡±

    Jakom watched as Orexis eyed Brae¡¯ach. The contempt was clear in the squint of the avatar¡¯s glare, but he said nothing. Instead, he lowered himself back into his hunched position and crossed his arms as the shadow lazily slumped against the wall once more. Anesis slipped back into her hypnotic state as Orexis calmed.

    ¡°There,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, making one last swirl of his finger before lowering his hand to his side. ¡°Now for the catalyst.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach motioned to Limbo, and the shadow pushed the armored human towards him. Brae¡¯ach held out his hand, which the human mindlessly took as they stumbled forward. The high chief removed the human¡¯s helm, revealing a light-skinned man with short white hair and grizzled stubble about his jawline. His eyes were open but unfocused, as though he were blind, but he followed Brae¡¯ach¡¯s instruction and stood in front of the monolith.

    ¡°Hm,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, examining the man. ¡°Yes, a dense and well-organized matrix, attuned strongly to the Physical.¡±

    ¡°A level 31,¡± said Limbo, ¡°mostly platinum. It should suffice.¡±

    Jakom knew little of the delver vernacular, and he knew Brae¡¯ach cared not for it. Whatever Limbo¡¯s words meant, Brae¡¯ach seemed pleased, so Jakom presumed the man was adequate.

    ¡°I wish you were more aware of the impact you will have,¡± said Brae¡¯ach to the man, ¡°and how much you will aid the rest of your kind.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach laid his hand upon the man¡¯s cheek and smiled sadly, then began carving burning symbols into the person¡¯s face with his sharp finger. The man said nothing and did not cry out, but Jakom noticed tears begin to trickle down his nose.

    ¡°If nothing else, it might allow you to bear the pain more easily, but alas you are so alone. A shame, really.¡±

    ¡°You needed a living catalyst,¡± said Limbo. ¡°They need not be an altruist.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate your contribution, lone one,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°I merely lament the man¡¯s inability to appreciate it himself.¡±

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Jakom watched as Brae¡¯ach continued to scribe the swirling script of celestial upon the man¡¯s countenance, blood trickling down his cheeks and collecting in an increasing pool atop his gorget. Jakom moved next to Brae¡¯ach and took the man¡¯s gauntleted hand, observing his distant and pained expression.

    ¡°I know, Jakom,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, ¡°It may not be fair for him to be so oblivious to his purpose, but we must proceed. I fear you can offer him little comfort; he cannot distinguish you from his imagination now and can find no solace in the grasp of another.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps not,¡± said Jakom, ¡°but I can offer it nonetheless.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach smiled, which was rare in recent months. Jakom had seen the stress of the ritual taking its toll, in addition to the never-ending bray of the avatars and their grievances. How Brae¡¯ach had the strength to bear such burden was beyond Jakom¡¯s understanding.

    As frightening as the avatars could be, Jakom never felt fear when Brae¡¯ach was around. The tall man had made duly sure that the avatars knew not to harass Jakom, and it was one of the rare circumstances where Brae¡¯ach made no compromise and brooked no dispute. Quintessence had learned that the hard way, which served a dual purpose of demonstrating Brae¡¯ach¡¯s strength. The doubt of many of the avatars was quickly abated then.

    Brae¡¯ach made one last etching upon the man¡¯s forehead and placed his palm atop the man¡¯s scalp. Bright red light began to snake through the carvings, flashing as it met the larger runes before continuing across the man¡¯s face.

    The white-haired man began to tremble, starting at his head, then to his torso, then his whole body erupted in violent tremors as he floated above the ground. The light on his face bloomed outward and rivulets of blood spiraled out of it, dancing through the air in an intricate weave, creating true celestial writing in the space surrounding the monolith. Blue specks of dust sparked throughout the fluid as it floated in its twisting pattern. Finally, the man¡¯s body slowly wisped away like dust in a swirling wind, and his now empty armor clanged to the floor.

    The blood completed its dance and hovered neatly around the stone, a complex tapestry of symbols and spheres woven around the monolith. Brae¡¯ach spread his arms and drew a deep breath.

    ¡°GyeTsinRoQiVeThum,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, The avatars looked away as though pained by the word. ¡°Bring this message to the ones above.¡±

    The Holy Word was as mesmerizing as it ever was, speaking a Truth so real it drove to the very core of existence. The writing in the air responded to Brae¡¯ach¡¯s command, and spun rapidly about the monolith until filling the myriad symbols and weaves throughout the stone¡¯s surface. When the last drop had found its home amidst the rock, the monolith erupted in a brilliant white light that pierced Jakom¡¯s eyelids despite quickly shutting them. Jakom felt the ground recede from beneath his feet as though the world were falling away. For the briefest moment, he thought he heard someone talking, but it was so distant and muddled he could not comprehend it.

    After several disorienting moments, the light receded and Jakom found his feet once again upon solid ground. He opened his eyes to see Brae¡¯ach kneeling before the monolith, which was now floating in the air and spinning slowly in place. The tall man drew quick and deep breaths, struggling to find his balance. Jakom rushed to Brae¡¯ach and grasped his shoulders.

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach,¡± said Jakom, examining the man for any injury. ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach took Jakom¡¯s arm and steadied himself. His breathing calmed over the next few minutes, until he finally looked up and caught Jakom¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±

    Orexis¡¯ empty eyes were wide and Jakom could see him reappraising the herald of Unity. Jakom knew Orexis had long held reservations against Brae¡¯ach, but it seemed they were melting away under the display he had just performed.

    ¡°You really can,¡± said Limbo, standing straight. ¡°Finally. Finally I can transcend this wretched existence.¡±

    ¡°We can finally be one,¡± said Orexis, turning his gaze to his sister, who was fully transfixed upon the floating monolith. ¡°We can finally unite. We can mend this broken state!¡±

    Anesis turned to face Orexis and placed her hands within his. Jakom saw something he recognized as a smile, which he had never seen either of the siblings do. The two hugged fiercely, which slowly turned into caressing, and then heavy breathing.

    Jakom looked away. He had seen them embrace before, having no sense of propriety or care for the stares of others. He saw Limbo look upward in an expression Jakom took to be rolling his eyes.

    -----

    Brae¡¯ach rested within the halls of the ancient temple for many days, with several of his most capable United standing guard. They were nearly as tall as he, featuring long dripping arms that ended in fierce talons. They could no longer speak human language and their faces held little resemblance to human features, but their steadfast stance and unshakable vigilance spoke more about their loyalty than any words could muster.

    They allowed no one through save for Jakom, who would bring food and water to the sleeping giant. For the first few days, he never saw Brae¡¯ach eat or drink, but the bowls would be empty upon his return nonetheless. After nearly a week, Brae¡¯ach finally stirred on Jakom¡¯s arrival, and smiled seeing his most trusted comrade. Jakom returned the expression, taking Brae¡¯ach¡¯s hand in his own.

    ¡°You did it,¡± said Jakom. ¡°It actually worked. They answered your call.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach slowly rose to a sitting position, placing his head in his free hand as he oriented himself to the room.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, with a grin. ¡°You doubted me?¡±

    ¡°No, of course not,¡± said Jakom. ¡°But I doubted the intelligence provided by the avatars. They are capricious and self-centered at the best of times, always playing games against each other.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach grunted as he shifted in his bed, swinging his legs over the massive slab of mossy stone and onto the floor.

    ¡°True,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, ¡°but they are capable when properly motivated.¡±

    ¡°I imagine any resistance they had to your leadership will be truly abated now,¡± said Jakom.

    ¡°Yes, and no,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Those who desire the Unification will have their doubts quelled, but there are those who desire it not. They will be galvanized to oppose us directly, when word spreads that we can truly achieve it.¡±

    The large man stood slowly, before losing his balance and falling back to his seated position with a groan.

    ¡°Easy,¡± said Jakom. ¡°You have been asleep for many days. Allow yourself to fully wake.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach leaned his back against the wall, taking a deep breath that swirled around the stone room.

    ¡°In many ways, I am more awake now than I ever have been,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°More than any man has ever been. I saw the heavens, but for a brief moment. It is staggering to behold.¡±

    ¡°Then be sure your feet are firmly placed,¡± said Jakom. ¡°There is ample time, and you must be ready for whatever the ritual requires next.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach placed his hand gently on Jakom¡¯s shoulders.

    ¡°I do not think I can be truly ready,¡± he said, ¡°but I must proceed regardless. The Physical monolith has been activated, and it required much of me physically. The next monolith is the Spiritual, and I worry what it shall require.¡±

    ¡°Your spirit is the strongest of any,¡± said Jakom. Brae¡¯ach chuckled.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± he said. ¡°But this ritual was not meant for any. I can only hope I will be enough.¡±

    ¡°It may help if the next site is prepared less... catastrophically,¡± said Jakom.

    ¡°Catastrophe was well suited for Canotha, though I regret its excess,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°But yes, I believe I will ask Hysteria to prepare the Spiritual site. They are uniquely suited to compel the spirits of others.¡±

 137 - To the Moon!

    We were on the fucking moon.

    Or, maybe it was a space station. It could also have been a particularly large asteroid, perhaps. The latter two would have required artificial gravity, of course. Then again, my body weight felt no different than it had on the surface, so if we were on the moon then it probably had some artificial gravity mechanism as well.

    Or the moon was really, really big. I didn¡¯t think that was the case since the planet that the continent Arzia sat upon was pretty close to us and I think I would have remembered a moon that took up three-quarters of the sky.

    Or the moon could have been very dense, maybe? Would it have been easier to make a moon extra dense rather than cover it with an artificial gravity field? Maybe not, given the presence of magic fuckery in this universe. Either way, these were questions for greater minds than my own.

    The point is, we were on the moon. The fucking. Moon.

    The portal to phase two Delve, Deijin¡¯s Descent, had spat us out into a massive hallway that was doing its damndest to act as a botanical garden as its side hustle. It was doing a pretty good job of it, too.

    The architecture of the hundred-foot-wide hallway had very little of what I¡¯d come to recognize as traditional Delve feng shui. Instead of dark stone, the floor was made up of bright, marble tiles. The walls consisted of matching slabs of the light-colored metamorphic rock but were adorned with reliefs inset with gold, silver, and a variety of precious stones.

    The ceiling, on the other hand, wasn¡¯t there. Instead, we were treated to an expansive, breathtaking view of the planet we¡¯d all come from, set upon the black backdrop of space. We¡¯d all stared up at it in stunned silence when we arrived, watching the clouds slowly meander across the continent of Arzia. The landmass was unmistakable, with Hiward sitting at its center in the midst of a thousand-mile gulf that stretched from the shores of the Littan Empire and Eschendur east of Hiward to the edges of Timagrin to the kingdom¡¯s west.

    ¡°Heavens above, it¡¯s beautiful,¡± said Xim. Her amber eyes reflected the light from the planet¡¯s surface, her rose-colored features locked into an expression of awe.

    ¡°It¡¯s so grand,¡± said Varrin. The giant of a man shifted uncomfortably. ¡°But it also feels so¡­¡± he trailed off, looking for the right word.

    ¡°Small?¡± said Nuralie. Varrin nodded without turning to look at the darkly clad loson. The scaled alchemist looked pensive and slightly troubled by what she was seeing.

    ¡°Everything any of us has ever known is up there,¡± said Etja. She bit her lip, brow furrowing, then crossed all of her arms. ¡°Down there?¡±

    ¡°Where I come from, they call this the overview effect,¡± I said. ¡°Unexpected, overwhelming emotion when seeing your planet from space for the first time.¡±

    I reached up to scratch my beard, but it was still missing after being scorched away during our fight with Clockwork. I frowned in irritation that my Just a Flesh Wound evolution allowed me to regenerate any missing body part, but didn¡¯t work for my hair. The description said that it would regenerate any missing vital organs. My beard was a vital aesthetic feature. It should have counted!

    At least my c¡¯thonic feather boa was still attached and in one piece. The blue, violet, and fuchsia item was immutable, so no fire could harm it. I stroked that instead as I pondered.

    ¡°Did¡­ your people often see things from the perspective of gods?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°From your point of view, I guess so,¡± I said with a shrug. ¡°We were nascent space explorers. Only a handful of people went into orbit. Even fewer to the moon itself. We also had satellites that we launched much further out into the solar system. They¡¯d take pictures and send them back.¡±

    ¡°It seems the Old Ones also achieved such feats,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°From what we¡¯ve discovered it seems like they were farther along technologically than Earth. Combined with the magic they had, I bet their civilization was incredible. The System alone is pretty impressive.¡±

    ¡°It is too bad they doomed themselves,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°The hubris of the powerful,¡± said Varrin. ¡°To create a machine capable of destroying everything they¡¯d built.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t really know what happened. We¡¯ve no idea if everything the Operator told us was correct.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, they¡¯re gone,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We are not. And we have a goal to achieve.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, tearing my eyes from the spectacle above and surveying the hall.

    Aside from the marble adorned with a dragon¡¯s hoard of wealth, there were rows of leafy plants growing in irrigated troughs down the length of the hall. Hundreds of wall sconces bore vegetation with long, hanging vines and fronds. Some flowered in vibrant blooms of orange and violet.

    ¡°Overall, this is definitely the prettiest Delve we¡¯ve run across,¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s still too damned cold,¡± Xim grumbled. She was wearing her mega-stretch onesie, her chainmail, doublet, and tabard having been lost during our fight with the mountainous Delve remnant, The Pit.

    ¡°The fact that we failed to pack an extra set of armor for you is proving to have been a major oversight,¡± I said.

    Nuralie pulled a few of her thick, brown-and-green blankets from her inventory and handed them over. Xim accepted them thankfully and wrapped them around her shoulders. Personally, the chill in the Delve was also getting to me. I was still soaked through from getting dunked during the fight, despite hours having passed. That is, hours from our perspective. We had no idea how much time may have gone by since we traversed the second swirling, silver portal. The first one had blipped away a couple of months'' worth of time at the least. I shivered and decided I would be better served removing the clothes and armor to let them dry. There was no sign of enemies so far.

    As I started to strip, a tapping noise came from above, like metal on glass. A ripple crossed the otherwise clear view of the planet. I looked up to find Shog poking at an invisible barrier above with one of his long claws. He also had his rapier out, gripped in the stolen mousy hand of Yaretzi at the end of a feathered, black-and-green tentacle. He was about to stab at the barrier.

    ¡°Shog, no!¡± I shouted.

    My summon turned to look down at me, his beard of tentacles undulating. I was only a little jealous that his own beard counted as a part of his body. Even his feathers came back when his health regenerated. Life wasn¡¯t fair.

    ¡°Why?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The moon where I¡¯m from doesn¡¯t have an atmosphere.¡±

    He stared at me blankly with his large, black eyes.

    ¡°If there¡¯s no atmosphere outside,¡± I continued, ¡°then if that barrier is breached, it¡¯ll suck the atmosphere that¡¯s inside here¡±¨CI pointed at the ground with both fingers¨C¡°out there.¡± I pointed up at the planet. ¡°Violently.¡±

    Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure how violent the decompression would be. I remembered some factoid about how the way it was portrayed in movies was exaggerated, but getting the point across to the c¡¯thon took precedence over my factual accuracy. Suffocation would have been a shit way to go out, especially after everything we¡¯d already survived.

    Shog looked up at the transparent barrier again, then hovered back down toward the ground.

    [I find it unlikely that any power we possess could disable a barrier keeping a facility such as this contained.]

    I looked to my left shoulder where my familiar, Grotto, hugged onto me with his tentacles. The Delve Core¡¯s c¡¯thonic eyes were lidded as though the little octo were drowsy.

    ¡°Good morning,¡± I said to him. ¡°Done processing after our fusion event?¡±

    [Yes. The emotional context transferred through our soul connection was overwhelming,] he thought to me with surprising forthrightness. I raised an eyebrow at his lack of snark. The fact that he failed to condemn any of my recent life choices was also impressive.

    ¡°Shog had some trouble with that as well.¡±

    ¡°I experienced what Slayer calls empathy,¡± my summon added. ¡°I did not like it.¡±

    [I am aware. Part of what made the matter difficult to digest was the dichotomy between the mental state of an uncaring predator against the overly sensitive nature of our shared host.]

    ¡°Overly sensitive?¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think¨C¡±

    [Your front of emotional immaturity is a vacuous attempt to shield yourself from the potential loss of those you care for. You also distance yourself from those around you in order to avoid the potential sting of betrayal.]

    ¡°Thanks for sharing that with the group,¡± I said.

    ¡°Since when is Grotto so in tune with human emotion?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He¡¯s always had an uncomfortable level of insight into my mental state.¡± I tossed my breastplate into my inventory and started pulling off my doublet.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    [Your longing for connection while keeping yourself isolated from opportunities to do so causes your anxieties to trickle down to myself. You need to address this mental vulnerability for our shared benefit.]

    ¡°Do you charge by the hour?¡± I asked, draping the doublet over a bush to dry. ¡°Because I didn¡¯t sign up for this therapy session.¡± My upper body was left in only my blue, c¡¯thonic leather vest. My chest hair was once again exposed for all the world to see, as was proper.

    ¡°Do you need a hug?¡± asked Etja, arms spread wide.

    I paused to consider.

    ¡°You know what? Yeah, I think I do.¡±

    The former golem walked over and gave me a warm hug. It was nice. No one could hug like Etja. Literally. She had four arms. She opened up toward Grotto next, gesturing for him to come in for an embrace. The core¡¯s tentacles twitched and he floated off to study the plants.

    ¡°Give him time,¡± I said, patting Etja on the shoulder. She went and hugged Nuralie instead. The loson stiffened at first, then returned the hug with less enthusiasm.

    Xim placed a hand on her hip.

    ¡°I love a good cuddle as much as the next gal,¡± the cleric said, ¡°but we should probably figure out what we¡¯re supposed to be doing here.¡±

    ¡°Escape,¡± said Varrin, staring off at one of his notification screens. ¡°That is the only objective listed.¡±

    ¡°Straightforward,¡± I said. ¡°No gods to slay. No arcane technology to repair.¡±

    ¡°No fungus to exterminate,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Ugh, don¡¯t remind me about the mycology Delve.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We do not know what will be involved with escape. Any number of tasks may be required of us.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said. I took another look around the hallway filled with resplendent decor and lush flora. ¡°This doesn¡¯t look like a boss arena and nothing has tried to kill us so far. I don¡¯t see any baddies and I don¡¯t think any are hiding in the plants.¡± I looked at Grotto, who was still floating over the vegetation, peering into the blossoms with interest. ¡°Are there any monsters hiding in the plants?¡±

    [None that I can see. Although, subterranean fiends are a commonly used tactic. An area is prepared to appear uninfested, causing the Delvers to drop their guard and making them easy prey.]

    ¡°Hmm. Well, the risk of molemen aside, I say that we take the time to choose evolutions and go over our advancements.¡±

    ¡°Seconded!¡± said Etja. ¡°All in favor?¡±

    ¡°Hold on,¡± said Xim. Etja deflated. ¡°If the objective is to escape, couldn¡¯t we just use the Get Out of Cage Free Card? The whole reason we were saving it was to research the phases. We found the phase 2 Delve. Do we need to keep it?¡±

    ¡°It is supposed to be a near impossible Delve,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed as I pulled up the card.

    Get Out of Cage Free Card

    By activating this card, you invoke System authority to extricate you and your party from any form of imprisonment, capture, restraint, or other situation in which you find your physical presence undesirable, including a Delve where you have failed the objective, or are just plain sick of.

    The mechanics of your escape will vary based on the circumstances and the System may not be capable of intervening in certain situations. System''s capacity to intervene and the methods available to it are dependent on the current phase of System rollout. Please consult your User Manual or mentor for more information.

    This is a fleeting item and may only be used once.

    ¡°I guess the answer is ¡®maybe¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°Leaving a Delve because we feel like it is an option, but it also says its power is limited by the phase.¡±

    [While you may be able to advance the phase with the card, I doubt that any additional rewards would issue from the Delve if you completed the objective that way.]

    ¡°What kind of rewards are we talkin¡¯ about?¡± I asked.

    [The range of rewards from special Delves is wide. The Cage awarded a super evolution, but it was merely a first-tier stat upgrade. Such a modification for a level 40 evolution would be substantially more powerful.]

    ¡°My family has received unique passives,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Unique skills as well. Powerful equipment and incredible treasure troves are not uncommon, though those are less desirable.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d rather have a permanent upgrade to an evolution over a temporary armor boost.¡±

    [Unlocking potent traits for existing passives is also possible.]

    ¡°Alright, I get it,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re not in a situation where we¡¯re desperate to leave, and the rewards are juicy. We also don¡¯t know if the card will even work. I¡¯m on board to stay. Shall we give it a shot?¡±

    Etja¡¯s hand shot into the air.

    ¡°Seconded!¡± she said with a grin. ¡°All in favor?¡±

    A round of ¡°aye¡±s followed.

    ¡°And on the matter of going over our advancements before we move on?¡± I asked.

    Everyone turned to look at Etja. She peered back at everyone for a moment, then smiled and did a little spin.

    ¡°Seconded!¡±

    There was another round of ¡°aye¡±s.

    ¡°We should take turns while keeping a lookout for trouble,¡± I said. ¡°Varrin, how about you go first.¡±

    ¡°I placed all my points into Speed, raising it to 32,¡± he said, then spent a few minutes looking over his evolutions. ¡°I have three intrinsics that reached evolution points. Spiritual Magic 20, Physical Magic 20, and Tactics 20.¡±

    He then shared the System screens for the evolutions he chose, starting with Spiritual Magic.

    Projection

    You can step out of your body, becoming an incorporeal spirit, complete with spiritual manifestations of your equipment with all of its effects and abilities. You can make weapon attacks and activate skills while incorporeal in this way, but cannot otherwise physically interact with objects. If your weapon attacks would deal physical damage, they deal that much spectral damage instead.

    You must spend 1 stamina for every foot traversed while in this form, but the first X feet of movement are free, where X is your level in Spiritual Magic. If your stamina is reduced to 0, you are immobilized.

    Your physical body stays in place while in this form and is considered unconscious, though it can remain standing. You can choose to return to your physical body at any time or have your physical body teleport to your projection¡¯s location, whereby you reinhabit it.

    This ability has a cooldown of 1 minute unless you spend 30 stamina to use it sooner.

    ¡°Good for dealing Spectral damage,¡± I said as I reviewed the evo. ¡°And it¡¯ll let you skip through deadly obstacles since it makes you incorporeal.¡±

    ¡°And lay the hurt on something while it can¡¯t hit you back,¡± said Xim, swinging her scepter.

    ¡°Takes a lot of stamina,¡± I added.

    ¡°Once my Speed reaches 40, I¡¯ll focus on getting my Fortitude up more,¡± the big guy replied. ¡°Having any sort of teleport is a boon. It is considered essential by many theorists.¡±

    He then showed his Physical evolution, which was a lot less fancy.

    Restrictor Belt 2

    So long as you have spent no mana in the last 20 minutes, your weapon attacks gain +1 damage per every 2 levels of Physical Magic.

    ¡°Doubling down on the zero-mana build,¡± I said.

    ¡°When added to Restrictor Belt 1, it is 16 points of added damage,¡± he said. ¡°Still a small bonus, but it will continue to escalate as I acquire the higher evolutions. Eventually, it will account for a significant portion of my damage output.¡±

    He moved on to Tactics.

    Allied Engagement

    Allies who make attacks against an entity you have damaged in the last 10 seconds deal bonus damage to that entity equal to your level in Tactics.

    ¡°Team up boss gun,¡± I said. ¡°Always a good choice.¡±

    We golf clapped, then moved to Nuralie. She¡¯d raised Intelligence to 40, snagging her second keystone stat evolution. She placed her 2 leftover points into Speed, bringing it to 12. For intrinsics, her evos were in Spiritual, Physical, and Divine.

    Her Intelligence evolution added some new flair to her build.

    Weak Spot

    With six seconds of focused observation, you can deduce the weakest point on any entity. Once an entity¡¯s weak point has been identified, your Intelligence improves your chance of scoring a critical strike against that Entity. This bonus is in addition to any other stat that improves your chance of scoring a critical strike.

    ¡°Pivoting into crits?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I needed more burst,¡± she said. Pause. ¡°And I already have that crit evolution from Luck. Might as well.¡±

    ¡°Synergy!¡± said Etja.

    We moved on to Spiritual.

    Haunting Poisons

    Whenever an entity suffers damage from Spiritual Toxicity you apply, that entity takes an additional amount of Psychic damage equal to your level in Spiritual Magic. This effect may only occur once every 10 seconds per entity.

    ¡°Poisons that corrupt your soul and your mind,¡± I said.

    ¡°I have been experimenting more with the poison we used against the specter,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I believe that I can diversify my damage further into Spiritual.¡±

    Next up was Physical.

    Plague Doctor

    Whenever you apply a stack of Bleeding to a character, you apply an additional stack. The Toxicity of all poisons you inflict is increased by an amount equal to your level in Physical Magic. You can take the active skill Mad Experiment.

    Mad Experiment

    Physical

    Cost: Variable

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    You utilize another creature as a test subject for your biological research. You can increase a target¡¯s stacks of Bleeding up to double the current amount by spending 2 stamina per added stack, and you can increase their toxicity up to double their current amount by spending 1 mana per 2 toxicity added.

    ¡°Good for your poisons,¡± I said, ¡°But, Bleeding?¡±

    ¡°Arrows make people bleed,¡± she replied. ¡°The active skill will also combine well with Varrin¡¯s build.¡±

    ¡°Teamwork makes the dream work and the dream is that they fucking die,¡± I said with a sigh, reciting a slogan I¡¯d long ago abandoned for being too long.

    Next was Nuralie¡¯s evolution to Divine Magic.

    Lightbringer

    You bring light into the darkest places. You gain darkvision and Evil Sense out to a number of feet equal to your Divine Magic skill level. Additionally, whenever you hit with an attack against a hostile character, you gain shielding for 1 minute equal to your Divine Magic skill level, or twice that much if the target is profane to your deity. This shielding can only be granted once per target per minute.

    ¡°An ironic skill for your build,¡± I said, ¡°considering you are the thing in the shadows.¡±

    ¡°It gives shielding,¡± she said as though that were her sole consideration for taking the evolution.

    ¡°How many ¡®sense¡¯ skills do you have now?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Sense life out to 42 feet, Divine Magic sense out to 23 feet, which also detects things profane and sacred to the Eschen triad, and now sense evil out to 23 feet.¡±

    ¡°Hot damn,¡± I said, thinking back to the moleman threat that might have been lurking under our very feet. ¡°Sense anything nearby?¡±

    Nuralie focused for a second.

    ¡°Plants,¡± she said.

    ¡°Are they evil plants?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Pause. ¡°Nor are they sacred or profane.¡±

    ¡°Are any of us secretly evil?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie took a long, hard look at Grotto and then a longer, harder look at Shog. Shog returned the stare while sharpening one of his greatswords with a pair of tentacles and oiling the other with his hands, talons clinking against the blade.

    ¡°No?¡± she said.

    ¡°Not very reassuring.¡±

    ¡°I do not think it was a secret.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said, looking warily at my summon.

    Shog pulled out a large hunk of what looked like Pit flesh with another, unoccupied tentacle and started snacking as he worked on the massive pair of swords. His vicious beak crunched away at the rocky skin of his meal. I also noticed that his Grade had gone up to 16. I swallowed, clearing my suddenly dry throat. I thought I caught Shog giving me a sinister wink, but it could have been my imagination.

    ¡°Heh,¡± I chirped. ¡°Who¡¯s up next?¡±

 138 - You Get an Evo, and You Get an Evo, and You Get an Evo!

    After taking a moment to appreciate Shog¡¯s existence as a barely contained entity of malevolent destruction, Etja decided to go next.

    ¡°I got Wisdom to 40!¡± she said with a bright smile. ¡°I put the 2 other points into Luck.¡±

    ¡°Luck?¡± I said. ¡°Why Luck?¡±

    ¡°I wanna see what the level 20 evolutions look like.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, good enough for me, I suppose.¡±

    ¡°I have several volumes you can look over,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They list the common evolutions for different stats.¡±

    ¡°Shhhh,¡± said the mage, holding up a finger. ¡°I want it to be a surprise,¡± she whispered. ¡°Other than that, Divine got above 20 and Performance went from 9 all the way to 18!¡±

    ¡°Does Performance level when you dance with your Mirtasian Cadence while casting?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It does,¡± she said, leaning in with eyebrows raised. ¡°My Divine evolution is the most problematic, so let¡¯s talk about that one first.¡±

    ¡°Whaddaya mean, ¡®problematic¡¯?¡± I asked. Etja answered by sharing the evo.

    Release

    You understand well the state of exaltation that can be attained when you enforce your will upon the world. Bliss is not your only reward for doing so. Whenever you cast a Divine spell, you gain a number of stacks of Blessed equal to the number of evolutions you have in Divine Magic.

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± I said. Etja was right. The evolution was mildly concerning, and I was reminded of her connection to Orexis. Her skills and evolutions often held themes that related to the avatar. ¡°Your last evo in Divine was called Yearning, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said, some of her excitement over the advancements disappearing. ¡°Yearning rewards me when I focus. The bonuses I get related to Orexis usually involve granting me buffs when obsessing over a goal.¡±

    ¡°That one wasn¡¯t surprising,¡± I said. ¡°After all, Orexis is your progenitor. Your abilities related to the Mirtasians are also understandable since you were modeled after Orexis¡¯s long-lost high priestess. This ability, however¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s related to Anesis,¡± Varrin finished. ¡°The avatar of Release.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s strange,¡± said Xim. ¡°Orexis is connected to his sister at a fundamental level. They¡¯re two halves of the same god according to the apocrypha.¡± She drummed her fingers along her thigh. ¡°She¡¯s like Etja¡¯s aunt in a way.¡±

    ¡°You only have 1 Divine active skill, right?¡± I said, looking at the mage. She nodded.

    ¡°Incorporate,¡± she said.

    ¡°Do you experience ¡®exaltation¡¯ when you use it to absorb stuff like this description says?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not not fun, but I think saying that it gives me bliss is a stretch.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about it,¡± said Xim. ¡°You haven¡¯t turned into a frothing monster of consumption using the skills you got from Orexis. I doubt something like this will change your personality.¡±

    ¡°Why did you pick it if you¡¯re concerned?¡± I asked.

    ¡°All of the evolution options were called Release,¡± said Etja. ¡°They just did different things.¡±

    ¡°That does not follow the normal pattern,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Evolutions have unique names. They are sometimes similar to one another, but never the exact same.¡±

    ¡°Unless they¡¯re forced upon you by an eldritch god,¡± I muttered.

    Etja shrugged.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know what to tell ya¡¯. They all had the exact same name.¡±

    ¡°You can just keep a close watch on your feelings,¡± I said. ¡°If you start experiencing a ravenous desire to eat something other than cheese or blow stuff up just for the hell of it, let us know. Otherwise, let¡¯s not worry about it too much. There¡¯s nothing we can do about it right now.¡±

    Etja continued to look troubled, but she nodded.

    ¡°What I find more interesting,¡± said Xim, ¡°is that you can generate Blessed stacks without worshiping any deity. Blessed always has a divinity as the source of the blessings. Since you don¡¯t worship anything, where does the Blessed come from?¡±

    ¡°Uhhh, maybe they come from me?¡±

    Xim furrowed her brow, re-reading the ability.

    ¡°That has implications,¡± the cleric said softly.

    ¡°What kind of implications?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ll have to think about it.¡±

    With the matter settled Etja¡¯s smile returned, washing over her features and carrying away all signs of her stress like an ocean wave erasing a child¡¯s sand castle. She moved on to Performance.

    Crowd Work

    While you love to perform in more intimate venues, you¡¯re more than capable of wowing larger groups. Whenever your performance has an audience with more than one member, you have a chance to Mesmerize any individual member. For each member Mesmerized, your chance to Mesmerize the others increases. Your chance to Mesmerize is based on your CHA and opposed by the audience member¡¯s WIS.

    ¡°A good example of a non-combat evolution,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°A little vague about its chances of success,¡± I added.

    Nuralie tilted her head as she read the ability.

    ¡°Is mind controlling a non-hostile audience¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°ethical?¡±

    What followed was a healthy debate over what constituted ¡°mind control¡± and¨Ceven if Mesmerize were¨Cwhether an ability that kept an audience from attacking Etja was a problem. Mesmerize would also cause the affected people to treat her as an ¡®ally¡¯, but outside of combat none of us were certain of what that meant. Since the only thing that is forced anyone to do was refrain from violence against our friend, we ultimately gave it a pass.

    ¡°On to Wisdom?¡± I asked, and Etja shared her choice.

    Total Recall

    You have a perfect memory, able to flawlessly recall every minute detail of your life from birth with absolute clarity. No effect can modify or erase your memories, and any false memories are immediately recognized as such. Additionally, you are immune to the Psychosis status.

    ¡°I thought that it might help me recover more knowledge from the Mirtasians,¡± said Etja. ¡°But, I guess that doesn¡¯t count as my own life. It works from when I first gained consciousness after Orexis imbued me with his soul.¡±

    ¡°It is still very powerful,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I expect the recall will prove invaluable, and a new immunity is always a good pick.¡±

    ¡°Are you worried that someone might modify your memories?¡± I asked.

    Etja bit her lip.

    ¡°I was more worried that Orexis might have already done that,¡± she said. ¡°Since I was born with so much knowledge, I thought that some of it might have been made up to try and influence me.¡±

    ¡°Was any of it fake?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°Nope! Guess I was nervous over nothing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s good to be certain,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were worried about that.¡±

    She flashed me another bright smile, but there was a vulnerability to it.

    ¡°I¡¯m not anymore,¡± she said. This time, it was Nuralie¡¯s turn to give the former golem a hug. After giving Etja a moment of space, we moved on to Xim.

    ¡°Charisma 40,¡± she said with a fist pump.

    ¡°I thought you were spreading your stats evenly between Strength, Fortitude, Wisdom, and Charisma,¡± I said.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°I got jealous,¡± she said with another fist pump, then shared her selection.

    Debilitating Terror

    Whenever you Fear an entity, that entity also becomes Slowed and Weakened. This Slowed status persists until the affected entity makes a successful SPD check opposed by your CHA. This Weakened status persists until the affected entity makes a successful FOR check opposed by your CHA. Additionally, you are immune to Fear.

    Slowed

    A Slowed entity¡¯s movement speed is halved. If a Slowed entity would be Slowed again, they become immobilized until one or fewer instances of Slowed are affecting them.

    Weakened

    Whenever a Weakened entity would deal damage, that damage is halved.

    ¡°Holy shit,¡± I said, ¡°that¡¯s a lot of debuffs.¡±

    ¡°That evolution is scary,¡± said Etja. ¡°Wait, does that mean I¡¯m Weakened and Slowed right now?¡± She put on an exaggerated look of concern before flexing her arms. Then she did a quick jog around the group. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m safe.¡±

    ¡°Your Speed and Fortitude are obviously legendary,¡± Xim said sarcastically.

    I grinned at Etja¡¯s antics, glad to see she was back in a joking mood.

    ¡°As far as intrinsics,¡± said Xim, ¡°I got a Leadership 20 evolution.¡±

    I frowned.

    ¡°Er, no offense, but that¡¯s the only one you got?¡± I asked. ¡°Don¡¯t you have a bunch of buffs to gaining intrinsic levels?¡±

    She crossed her arms.

    ¡°The skills I picked for Fast Learner only get buffed up to level 20. I¡¯d already gotten them that high. I got 6 levels to Divine, 6 levels to Blunt, 4 levels to Shields, 8 levels to Leadership, 4 levels to Light Armor, and 8 levels to Unarmed. So, don¡¯t worry about my skill levels.¡± She shifted her weight and cocked her hip. ¡°Leadership is the only one that made it to an evolution. The others are either working their way to 40 or 70. Basically, my skills are too good to keep getting the easy evos.¡±

    ¡°Sheesh,¡± I said. ¡°Consider my worry abated.¡± She gave me a smug expression, but I could tell she was hamming it up.

    ¡°How did you level Leadership?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°You were not giving any orders.¡± Pause. ¡°You were mostly just hitting and burning things.¡±

    ¡°I lead by example,¡± Xim said as she shared her Leadership pick.

    Hear their Lamentation

    Allies that deal damage to an entity affected by one or more status effects you have applied gain a number of stacks of Blessed equal to the number of evolutions you have in Leadership. (Currently 2)

    ¡°You¡¯re a very frightening person overall,¡± I said.

    ¡°I know,¡± Xim replied, smoothing back her curly locks of obsidian-black hair with one hand. She shook it out afterward, looking cooler than the bottom of a grave in winter.

    ¡°Guess I¡¯m up next,¡± I said, rubbing my hands together as I pulled up my evolution screens. ¡°I¡¯ve got my Wisdom 40, Strength 20, Heavy Armor 20, and Physical Magic 20.¡±

    I did what any wise man should do and saved the best for first. I opened my notification for Wisdom 40.

    When the world whispers, you listen. As the waters of truth grow murky, you see. You smell your prey when the trail goes cold and taste their fright when you find them. You feel the tensile fabric of reality, knowing when to bend it.

    Orrrrr maybe your friends are responsible for keeping the crayons out of your mouth. Then again, there¡¯s a sort of wisdom in keeping allies around who are willing to tolerate your nonsense, so feel free to continue feeling gifted.

    Choose an evolution to ensure you¡¯re fit enough to pass on your genetic lineage! Assuming you still can after all that body modification.

    1) Sage Advice: Your intuition and decision-making skills are impeccable, finding the perfect solutions to even the most esoteric problems. Whenever you perceive an ally making a check involving an intrinsic skill, you can concentrate to improve their check by an amount equal to your WIS.

    This ability has a number of charges equal to the number of evolutions you have in WIS. Charges have a consecutive cooldown of 24 hours.

    Additionally, you are immune to Paranoia and your allies still treat you as an ally even if they are Paranoid.

    Paranoia

    An entity with Paranoia treats all other entities as enemies and no entities as allies for the purpose of effects that reference the allegiance of other characters. For example, an effect that states ¡°All allies within 30 feet of you heal 30 HP¡± does not affect anyone because you do not treat any entity as an ally.

    Additionally, a paranoid entity is never considered a willing target for any effect that requires one. Effects that require a willing target, such as Blessings, immediately end if the target becomes paranoid.

    However, paranoid entities are not necessarily hostile to everyone. They may still be willing to fight alongside their comrades, but they are keenly suspicious, awaiting some inevitable betrayal.

    I ignored the System¡¯s jibes and focused on the evolutions. The first one, Sage Advice, was right up my alley. Providing others with information that they may or may not have requested or had any desire to hear was something I was exceedingly good at.

    The exact math for how ¡®checks¡¯ worked was unclear, but we knew they were heavily governed by the primary stat affecting the check. That may sound obvious, but I tried not to take anything for granted with the System. Delvers had done a lot of experimentation to make sure that was how it worked. As such, adding my substantial Wisdom score to an ally¡¯s check would be hugely beneficial.

    I would presently get 3 uses of the ability, although if I were to use all 3 of them at once it would take 3 days to recover them all. Consecutive cooldowns were pretty shit since they required a single charge to complete its full cooldown before the next charge began its own.

    The immunity to Paranoia was also nice, especially how it extended partially to my allies. However, it wasn¡¯t a huge draw for me. We hadn¡¯t run into much that inflicted that debuff, but things could always change.

    2) Eye of the Storm: Your maximum number of Rage stacks before becoming Berserk is doubled, and your Rage stacks do not decay. You may focus for one minute to lose all stacks of Rage in order to rest.

    Additionally, whenever you would gain any number of stacks of Rage, you may gain double that amount instead.

    You may take the active skill Typhoon.

    Typhoon

    Physical

    Cost: 1 stamina per stack of Rage you possess

    Cooldown: None

    Your strike booms with unbridled fury, causing this attack to deal an additional 5 sonic damage for each stack of Rage you possess.

    If you have 10 or more stacks of Rage, then:

    If this is a melee attack, this attack targets all characters in a cone out to a number of feet equal to twice the number of Rage stacks you possess. If it is a ranged attack, it targets all characters in a radius equal to half the number of Rage stacks you possess.

    Characters hit by this attack are knocked prone and deafened for 1 minute.

    Rage

    You gain +1 damage for each stack of Rage you have. If you have more stacks of Rage than your WIS, you become Berserk for as long as your Rage stacks exceed your WIS.

    Rage decays in two ways. If you fail to make a weapon attack for 6 seconds, you lose 1 stack of Rage. If your Rage stacks exceed your WIS for 6 seconds, your number of Rage stacks is reduced to an amount equal to your WIS.

    This option confused me. I had no abilities that could even generate Rage stacks. It seemed like a solid choice for a Rage build, but that was more of a Varrin kind of thing. I thought over what might have caused the System to offer me this evolution and the only thing I could come up with was how I¡¯d gone all Jason Vorhees on the Littans after taking a ballista bolt to the face and losing a big chunk of my gray matter. Still, it¡¯s not like I planned on making Terminator Arlo a recurring guest star in my life. That guy was scary.

    The active skill was cool, but I only had 2 more slots open and, again, I didn¡¯t generate Rage. I moved on, doing my best to manage my supreme disappointment.

    3) Bastion of Solace: Other entities may no longer apply buffs or debuffs to you. You may no longer apply buffs or debuffs to other entities.

    After the first two evos I was glad to find one that was short and simple, and gee gosh was it a potent ability. The shenanigans! The exploits! The immunities!

    However, the ability had the biggest BUT I had ever seen. I couldn¡¯t get buffs from my allies. I couldn¡¯t give buffs to my allies. A significant portion of my build was granting bonuses to my allies. Further, shared bonuses were quickly becoming central to our party¡¯s style. It would break a lot of our synergy, and that was too big of a downside for me. From the very beginning, I¡¯d wanted to be able to empower those who fought beside me. This evolution was a solo player¡¯s dream, but it wasn¡¯t my dream.

    This really left me with Sage Advice as my one viable option. The only time I¡¯d felt more pigeonholed by an evolution choice was when an eldritch god decided my Luck evolution was going to be a series of chats and literally left me with no other option. Instead, I¡¯d taken the secret option and simply hadn¡¯t accepted the evolution, partially because I was being deliberately recalcitrant.

    Before I accepted Sage Advice, I decided to take a look at my other evolutions. Technically I¡¯d gotten to my Wisdom evolution after my intrinsic skills leveled. I¡¯d never seen an evolution offered that would be as useless as Eye of the Storm, so I went looking to see if I¡¯d been offered some way to generate Rage with my other evos. As it turned out, my Heavy Armor skill did just that.

    1) Berserker: Whenever you are hit by an attack (whether or not it deals damage), you gain 1 stack of Rage.

    I couldn¡¯t argue that it was a bad evolution. I did get hit a lot, and this would make me an absolute beast against swarms and speedsters. The way I saw it, this was effectively a paired evolution. If I took Berserker, I¡¯d want to take Eye of the Storm to complement it. It was kind of tempting, but I took the time to look over my other Heavy Armor options before I gave it any serious consideration.

    2) Thorns: While wearing heavy armor, whenever you are hit by or block an attack, the attacker takes kinetic damage equal to your Heavy Armor skill level. Ranged attackers only take half this value.

    The System graciously offered me an evolution that would have been super cool, had I taken the Reactive Shielding evolution to Shields. I hadn¡¯t, and I didn¡¯t want to take this evolution for the same reasons. It wasn¡¯t a lot of damage on its own and it didn¡¯t do a thing to improve my status as the most handsome immovable object on the block. Neither did Berserker for that matter. These were Heavy Armor evolutions, so where were the defensive options?

    3) Standard Bearer

    While wearing heavy armor, the range of your auras is increased by a number of feet equal to your Heavy Armor skill level. Additionally, allies within any of your auras cannot be feared as long as you are conscious and not feared.

    You may take the active skill Aura of Perseverance.

    Aura of Perseverance

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina + 1 stamina per second

    Cooldown: None

    You create an aura around you with a radius in feet equal to your Physical Magic skill level. Allies within this aura gain Shielding equal to your STR + CHA when this skill is activated. While the ally remains within range, this Shielding regenerates at a rate equal to its maximum value over 6 seconds.

    Ah, there it was, and it had it all. It was an aura buff. It offered an active skill that was an aura. It gave immunity to my allies. By the gods, the aura even gave Shielding!

    Now, it wasn¡¯t a lot of Shielding for the moment. My Strength and Charisma weren¡¯t nearly as chunky as my Wisdom and Fortitude, but it would give me a good excuse to get more swole. I also wasn¡¯t running into the limits of my stamina in most fights, so having another spender for my green juice would be good. I thought that the skill was worthy of one of my remaining 2 slots.

    I did a quick search for the keyword Rage in my other evos but didn¡¯t see it listed anywhere else. I decided to choose Sage Advice for Wisdom, allowing me to massively boost the skill checks of my allies, and Standard Bearer for Heavy Armor, because it was just all sorts of sexy. I held off on hitting confirm until I¡¯d finished giving all my evolutions their proper consideration. It was always possible that a strong combo could pop up. That wasn¡¯t something I normally considered since I didn¡¯t usually get four fucking evolutions at the same time.

    I read through Strength, seeing some simple and interesting choices, then made sure to closely read my options for Physical Magic. I paused, blinked, and read one of the options a few more times before I decided to get some input from the party.

    ¡°Sooo,¡± I said, dragging out the word. ¡°How would y¡¯all feel if I, say, grew some tentacles?¡±

 139 - Becoming a Câ€™thon in 1 Easy Step

    ¡°Go for it,¡± said Xim, looking up from where she¡¯d sat to meditate while I reviewed my evolutions.

    ¡°More limbs are better!¡± said Etja, raising all four arms like she¡¯d just won a prize fight.

    Nuralie watched and listened to the others react, but voiced no opinion.

    ¡°Evolutions for additional limbs can be tricky,¡± said Varrin, throwing a bucket of ice water over Etja¡¯s enthusiasm. The mage¡¯s arms drooped. ¡°They can be difficult to master, especially when adapted into a combat style that has already been well-defined.¡± He looked me up and down critically. ¡°I suppose that would not be an issue for you.¡±

    ¡°You know I just tanked a Grade 24 mountain, right?¡± I said, narrowing my eyes at him slightly. I was used to Varrin¡¯s standards being unreasonably high, but I wasn¡¯t about to let him run roughshod over all of my achievements.

    ¡°All of our styles are incomplete,¡± he said, raising a hand in a placating gesture. ¡°None of us have a full complement of actives and intrinsics. What I mean is that if you are going to add such a significant complication to your tactics, now would be better than later.¡±

    ¡°You have too few tentacles as it is,¡± said Shog. ¡°If I¡¯d known you lusted for them, I would have offered to graft some to your body.¡±

    ¡°First of all,¡± I said, ¡°your choice of the word ¡®lusted¡¯ makes me uncomfortable. Second, can you even do that?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± my summon said before producing a thin dagger I didn¡¯t know he had. He ran a finger along the flat of its blade, looking over my torso as his claw scraped smoothly across it. ¡°I would be willing to try, though.¡±

    [That would be unlikely to succeed. Your mana matrix would most likely reject the foreign body parts.]

    ¡°No need to argue against it Grotto,¡± I said. ¡°Already decided against undergoing any surgeries performed by Doctor Zoidberg here.¡± I turned back to the evolution. ¡°So, extra limbs might be tough to use?¡±

    ¡°It depends on how they are acquired,¡± said Varrin, ¡°and personal capability. Some minds are more flexible than others.¡±

    [You have multiple evolutions that modify the nature of your physiology already. You would likely have an easier time adjusting to such a radical change than most.]

    ¡°Plus you¡¯re already leaning into the c¡¯thon vibe anyway,¡± said Xim. ¡°There¡¯s something to be said for learning magicks that resonate with your personality and interests.¡±

    ¡°What about wings?¡± I asked.

    Xim squinted at me.

    ¡°You have two different evolutions offering body mods?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No, they¡¯re the same evolution.¡±

    She stood up from her lotus position.

    ¡°Show me,¡± she said, eyes alight with curiosity.

    I shared the level 20 evolution option for my Physical Magic intrinsic.

    Therianthropy: You have no fear of melding your mind and body with the inhuman and have taken the form of a beast as your own. This form can take many shapes and appearances that you may decide, but regardless of your choice, you retain all of the capabilities of your normal form. With 3 seconds of concentration, you may transform to gain the following benefits:

    Your movement speed is enhanced by X%, where X is your Physical Magic skill level.

    Your unarmed attacks deal bonus damage equal to your Physical Magic skill level.

    Additionally, when you gain this evolution you can pick any two of the following traits, gaining their benefits while you are transformed. You may only have one instance of any given trait.

    Avian. You can fly.

    Equine. When you sprint, you gain an additional X% movement speed equal to your skill level.

    Feline. You can balance on any mundane surface and cannot be knocked prone by mundane means.

    Lupine. You may add your CHA to your unarmed attack damage.

    Ursine. Your maximum lifting capacity is doubled.

    Leporine. The speed at which you can dodge is increased by X%, where X is your Physical Magic skill level.

    Piscine. You can breathe underwater and can move safely through virtually any hazardous water condition such as strong currents or violent waves. Not only can you swim as fast as you can run, but your speed while swimming is also increased by X%, where X is your Physical Magic skill level.

    Draconic. Choose from among the acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage types. Your unarmed attacks deal that damage type instead of kinetic.

    Serpentine. You may add your WIS to kinetic damage dealt by your spells.

    C¡¯thonic. You grow two tentacles that can be used as extra arms, allowing you to wield up to four objects simultaneously.

    Whenever you gain a new evolution in Physical Magic, you may pick a new trait, adding to the ones you already have.

    You can remain transformed for a number of minutes equal to your skill level. After that, you return to your normal form.

    You can transform a number of times equal to the number of evolutions you have in Physical Magic. You regain all transformation uses after resting for 8 hours.

    ¡°Just as I suspected,¡± Xim said after she finished reading. ¡°Your evolution options are too good.¡± She stepped in and peered up at me. ¡°Did you make some sort of sacrifice in the System¡¯s name? Is that why you started that orphanage? For more victims?!¡± She stepped closer with each question, going on her tippy toes to rise toward my face once she was an inch away.

    I could feel her body heat.

    At some point, she¡¯d shrugged off the blankets she was wearing to keep warm. I was suddenly very aware of her curves through her form-fitting bodysuit. I was hit by the memory of when I was adopted into the Xor¡¯Drel tribe, and how we were all nude at the rit-

    I swallowed and shook off the sudden rush of hormones.

    Then I took her by the shoulders and gently pushed her away. I let my hands linger for a second longer than necessary. She had very well-developed deltoids¡­

    ¡°I have made zero child sacrifices,¡± I said as my hands dropped. ¡°The evolution looks good, but I didn¡¯t think it was that strong. Am I missing something?¡±

    Xim sighed and her eyes fell.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°But my subracial ability makes transformations 50% stronger.¡± She crossed her athletic arms, standing up straighter. ¡°I haven¡¯t been offered anything like that.¡± She pushed her mouth to one side and thought for a moment. ¡°And wings are cool. I want wings.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t say he will get wings,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Just that he will be able to fly.¡±

    Xim gave him a critical look.

    ¡°It¡¯s a transformation skill where he acquires a beast form and the trait that lets him fly is called ¡®avian¡¯,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s gonna get wings.¡±

    ¡°Assuming he chooses that one,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Many of these traits look tempting.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much use for the ones that buff unarmed attacks,¡± I said, scratching my bald head.

    ¡°I literally have the intrinsic Unarmed,¡± said Xim, reaching toward the sky as if to strangle the heavens.

    ¡°I hear your frustrations,¡± I said, ¡°but you can¡¯t even use Physical Magic.¡±

    Xim¡¯s attunement was Divine, which also gave her access to Spiritual and Mystical, but Dimensional and Physical were impossible for her to acquire.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± she said. A lock of her supple, silky hair had fallen into her face and she brushed it back behind a delicate ear. She locked onto me again with eyes that were as intense and focused as they were breathtaking.

    My brow knitted as I tried to get a hold of my thoughts. I spent a moment trying to figure out where this sudden well of attraction had sprung from, but I had no immediate answer. Did the Delve have a subtle mind-influencing ability? No one else looked like they were suffering from sudden onset passion. My Wisdom was also huge for my level, so if something in here could breach my mental defenses we were all in some serious trouble. No, blaming the Delve felt like I was being oblivious¡­

    Although, maybe the plants produced some sort of pheromone that had a physiological effect, rather than a psychic one!

    But my Fortitude was also huge so that was pretty unlikely as well. I glanced around at the other party members, trying to see if anyone else was suddenly more attention-grabbing. Nuralie and Etja were both beautiful, but I didn¡¯t feel anything deeper for them. At least, not romantically. My gaze settled on Varrin for a bit longer. His incredible physique was striking.

    He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

    ¡°Are you paying attention?¡± he asked, expression stern.

    Yeah, that wouldn¡¯t ever be a thing. I could recognize a gorgeous man when I saw one, but I had no interest in going down that road. Again. At that very moment, at least.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, almost automatically. ¡°Wait, that¡¯s not true. Sorry, I got distracted. Is anyone else hot?¡±

    They all looked at me in confusion. I was standing in a Delve that was slightly warmer than a meat locker in an open leather vest and plate armor from the waist down. My chausses were also still wet from the ocean. If anything, I should have been feeling like I was about to catch the flu.

    ¡°No,¡± Varrin answered firmly.

    ¡°Are you?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Are you getting sick?¡±

    I glanced at my status. I didn¡¯t have any listed debuffs or unfamiliar effects.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± I took a deep breath. Xim¡¯s Charisma had gone up to 40. Maybe it was a natural consequence of having a score that high. Unless¡­ ¡°Never mind. So, evolution. It¡¯s good, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Varrin, sounding uncertain, although not with his answer.

    ¡°What are the other options?¡± asked Xim. She gave me a mischievous smile. ¡°Do we even want to see them, or are they equally unfair?¡±

    I grinned, then cleared my throat and shared the other two options.

    Bulwark: A gathering of rocks floats about your person, creating three distinct fields of amalgamated stone. Whenever you are hit by an attack and have one of these fields, it coalesces into a solid mass and absorbs an amount of the attack¡¯s damage up to your skill level. Any remaining damage is dealt to you normally. After the attack, the field is destroyed.

    Once a field is destroyed, it returns after 1 hour.

    ¡°Good for a backline mage,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Bad for a tank.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, ¡°that was my thought as well. It¡¯s useful for helping against the occasional hit, but when you¡¯re getting beat up consistently it loses a lot of appeal. It would help, but it wouldn¡¯t be amazing. A few levels of Heavy Armor would probably result in the same net damage reduction across a fight.¡±

    ¡°Not a game changer,¡± said Xim. I nodded, then shared the last option.

    Evoker: Three glowing motes of elemental energy float about your person. Whenever you deal damage with a Physical skill, you can expend one of these motes to increase the damage by an amount equal to your Physical Magic skill level. You can only expend one mote per skill use.

    You gain 1 additional mote for each evolution you have in Physical Magic.

    Once a mote is expended, it returns after 1 hour.

    ¡°Homing Weapon is a Physical skill,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d be able to use this one pretty effectively.¡±

    Varrin grunted, then asked, ¡°What¡¯s your Physical Magic level?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s right at 20.¡±

    ¡°Then with 2 evolutions, you¡¯d have 5 motes,¡± he said. ¡°That would be 100 extra damage an hour. Substantial for a single evolution, but I do not believe it is strong enough to give up the utility that Therianthropy would provide.¡±

    ¡°I know we said a while ago that you needed more damage,¡± said Xim, ¡°but with your recent improvements, you¡¯ve already become a lot more threatening. Since damage isn¡¯t your focus, this doesn¡¯t seem like a great choice.¡±

    ¡°Plus I¡¯m pumping Intelligence next, so my damage will still get better, even without it.¡±

    With the matter settled, I looked over the traits that I could choose from. Lupine and Draconic were out. I didn¡¯t use unarmed attacks and had no plan on pivoting to become a brawler. In fact, I had refused to take Unarmed a few times at lower levels, back when I was taking apart gangsters with my bare hands. Serpentine would make Explosion! more lethal, but the spell had a long cooldown and I had no other spells that did kinetic damage.

    That left me with 7 options that were all very useful. Still, I didn¡¯t find it to be a difficult choice. Gracorvus was great for short bursts of flight, but it was mana-intensive. I¡¯d been leaning on flight heavily in recent encounters, so having an option that let me fly without burning through mana that I could otherwise use to teleport and delete chunks of my enemies would be a big upgrade.

    I¡¯d ¡®only¡¯ get it for 40 minutes a day, but I could fly on Gracorvus for less than 10 minutes using all of my mana. Hovering in place with the shield was literally 60 times less expensive, but mobility was a huge factor in fights. I wanted Avian.

    The second choice was obvious. Maybe the System thought it was snarky to offer me the chance to become more unified with my c¡¯thonic brethren, but I didn¡¯t take any offense. I¡¯d seen how effective Shog¡¯s tentacles could be. Even Grotto made good use of his numerous feelers when crafting and mana weaving. I wanted some of that for myself.

    The extra limbs would require some additional cognitive load, but my recent experiences gave me a couple of ideas for how I could potentially ¡®outsource¡¯ the mental demand.

    With 3 of the evolutions decided, I moved on to my fourth and final choice: Strength 20.

    1) Cleave: Your melee attacks fly with such force that they pierce, slash, or bash through the first entity they contact. When making a melee attack, you may carry the full force of the blow to an additional entity within your weapon¡¯s reach.

    Strength alone could already allow for something like this if I sufficiently overpowered an enemy. Against a mass of chumps, I could already smash Somncres through 2 or 3 if I swung with everything I had, but I was interested to see how much more effective that would be with an evolution backing it up.

    However, it only applied to melee attacks. My recent gains in Strength would improve my abilities in melee by a substantial amount, but my primary attack was throwing hammers. I wanted something that helped with range as well as melee.

    2) You¡¯re the Juggernaut, B***h: You can effortlessly move through any object or structure with an amount of kinetic DR equal to or lower than your STR, explosively destroying a 5-foot diameter around you.

    Additionally, you may choose to ignore any forced movement effect that would move you a number of feet equal to or lower than your STR.

    This one reminded me of an evolution option I was offered at Strength 10¨CAugean Effort¨Cwhich doubled my Strength when applied to terrain or objects. I¡¯d even made this exact joke about becoming the Juggernaut, so I assumed the System was stealing my material. Not very original, System. You should be ashamed.

    This Juggernaut evolution was more specific than Augean Effort but less versatile. It was probably more powerful at destroying objects. Finding a wall or door that had more than 22 DR would mean I was encountering some extraordinary materials, or at least those with some heavy mana weaves. This would let me break walls with such ease I¡¯d probably find myself turning to the camera and talking to the audience. Plus, the forced movement reduction would have been great in my fight with Tavio.

    However, Varrin had an evolution that multiplied his damage against mundane objects by 10, and his damage against magical objects by 2. Juggernaut wasn¡¯t limited to mundane materials and the effect being based on DR likely made it more effective against magically enhanced barriers, but the overlap made it less useful for the party.

    It was better not to make evolution choices based solely on the dynamics of the specific party you were with. It was always possible that one would find themselves fighting with a different group, where such decisions hindered teamwork, but the immediate party was always a factor. Our party was also about as tight-knit and functional as a party could be, so I didn¡¯t see myself with a different group unless it was a single-mission type of deal. Overall, I wasn¡¯t a big fan of this one.

    3) Flurry of Blows: Each attack you make deals additional damage equal to your STR times the number of previous attacks you¡¯ve made in the last 6 seconds.

    You may take the active skill Impale.

    Impale

    Physical

    Cost: 10 stamina

    Cooldown: None

    Make a weapon attack. If this attack hits, you may instantly repeat the attack against the same target. The second attack does not repeat.

    Impale was cool, but not worth my final active slot. A double-strike ability was great for damage, but as Xim said, that wasn¡¯t my focus. At first glance, the evolution didn¡¯t look amazing either. However, after considering it for a moment I realized that it might be completely broken for my build.

    I wasn¡¯t Speed-focused, so I wasn¡¯t a traditional multi-attacker, but I had Somncres. Somncres had an ability that this evolution could enhance substantially.

    Whenever you make a thrown weapon attack with Somncres you may create up to X copies, where X is your INT divided by 10. Each copy costs 2 mana to create. These copies possess all qualities imbued into Somncres at the moment the copies are created.

    My Intelligence was 33, which let me summon 3 copies of Somncres. I would bring the stat to 40 with my next level, letting me summon 4 copies. Along with the original hammer, I¡¯d be able to hurl 5 hammers with a single throw. That was 5 attacks.

    That meant the second hammer would do 22 bonus damage, the third would do 44, the fourth would do 66, and the fifth hammer would hit for 88 bonus damage. Across all five hammers, that was 220 extra damage.

    While damage was difficult to calculate¨Cit wasn¡¯t like we had damage numbers pop up or DPS listed on our skills¨Cmy guestimate for my raw hammer throw was in the neighborhood of 60. They had a shit ton of optional effects that could buff that number, such as layering Oblivion Orb onto the attack, and had fantastic armor penetration. That number felt low, but it did more work than it sounded, especially against well-defended targets.

    Now slap an extra 88 damage on top. Now we were getting somewhere.

    And what would happen if I used my shiny new tentacles to throw even more hammers at the same time?

    Between the options I liked Flurry of Blows the best. While damage wasn¡¯t my focus, the evolution was a much bigger buff than Cleave, and Juggernaut wasn¡¯t terribly useful for the party.

    With all of that said and done, I went ahead and confirmed all four choices. Sage Advice to grant a huge buff to intrinsic skill checks made by my allies, Standard Bearer to improve my auras and make allies immune to Fear, Therianthropy for flight and feelers, and Flurry of Blows for a big boost in damage output. I also slotted the active that was offered by Standard Bearer, Aura of Perseverance, to grant my nearby allies a solid chunk of Shielding.

    I felt big. I felt strong. I felt as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. Maybe we¡¯d fight some Huns later.

    After our evolution interlocution¨Cprobably the longest one we¡¯d ever had¨Cwe rested for a few hours to ensure our resources were topped off and to give ourselves a mental break. The boss rush hadn¡¯t taken that long. By my account, it had only been around brunch time when we¡¯d finished, but we were still worn out from the post-adrenaline dump.

    Naps were had, we got our heads on straight, and we moved out to take on the Delve, more powerful than ever. We had no idea how long we¡¯d been gone, but from our perspective, more than three weeks had gone by. That was a long time to be stuck with the same 7 people, completely removed from society. We were ready to make quick work of the place and get back to our lives.

    One. Month. Later.

    ¡°I fucking hate this place.¡±

 140 - The Winding Path

    The first part of the Delve was a maze, naturally. To be honest, the maze part was easy. Etja¡¯s Total Recall allowed us to make sure we never backtracked unless necessary. Coordinated Thinker allowed me to keep us oriented spatially so that we always understood where we were relative to where we¡¯d been. Finally, there were nodes hidden in the walls attuned to divine magic, which Nuralie could spot with her Inquisitor evolution. The nodes didn¡¯t exactly tell us where to go, but their patterns changed when we got close to a new section of the maze.

    Getting lost wasn¡¯t a problem. The hazards were.

    Each sector had an environmental challenge, and the first one took us the longest. The hallway where we¡¯d entered the Delve ended in a thick, metal door. Upon opening the door, we exposed a small chamber, barely large enough for the entire party to fit inside. On the opposite wall of that chamber was another door that was identical to the first, except that it had a small, round window set into it. There were three buttons inside, with labels written in celestial. They read ¡°Depressurize¡±, ¡°Inner Door¡±, and ¡°Outer Door¡±. I recognized what we were looking at immediately.

    It was an airlock.

    The outer door was exposed to hard vacuum. Whatever force generated the artificial gravity in the Delve was also absent on the other side. So, we had to figure out how to navigate a stretch of maze without air or gravity. Additionally, the section was fully enclosed, the view of the planet above replaced with a ceiling of marble hiding dark, impenetrable metal. So, it was completely dark as well.

    I had the highest Fortitude, which meant I was the best at holding my breath. My darkvision also let me navigate the tunnels, although we had a decent supply of glow stones with which to leave a trail for the others. My wings, as it turned out, did not require an atmosphere for lift and direction, although that wasn¡¯t surprising. Wings operating on magic shenanigans were more common for Delvers than not.

    I took a few test drives with the wings while we worked out a strategy for the spacewalk. Each wing was 10 feet long, giving me a little more than a 20-foot wingspan. The wings still functioned if they were tucked close to my body, however, so tighter spaces didn¡¯t have much impact on mobility. They were covered in bird-like feathers but, to my delight, the feathers were violet and fuchsia, matching the colors of Grotto and¨Cmore importantly¨Cmy feather boa.

    C¡¯thon feathers were downy like the undercoat of a bird or what you¡¯d see on juvenile avians. Meanwhile, my wings had the robust, fully formed feathers of an adult bird so the wings didn¡¯t match a c¡¯thon exactly. Still, the theming was on point. The green of my armor was no longer the dominant shade of my outfit and the wings provided an important sense of balance to the getup. After all, any Delver with sense held color coordination in high esteem. I just needed that plume for my helmet to complete the ensemble. A cape might also be nice, but I wouldn¡¯t want to step on Varrin¡¯s toes. Or rather, the hem of his bedazzled cloak. Maybe a more subdued mantle would suffice.

    The pair of tentacles that also came with Therianthropy were slightly shorter than the wings, but a good bit longer than my arms so they improved my reach. They grew from my back, below the wings, and about where my kidneys were, assuming I still had kidneys. Their colors also matched, although these were covered in the typical, fluffy feathers of a c¡¯thon.

    The new appendages took some time to adapt to, as Varrin had suspected, but it didn¡¯t take me long to get the hang of them. The issue with flying was more about getting used to their speed and maneuverability, and also figuring out how to stop my forward momentum. My mind had little trouble adjusting to having 4 additional limbs, which was apparently the main hangup most people had. My high Intelligence probably helped, but I suspected my bond with Grotto and my recent experience as Arlottog had a greater impact.

    The wings let me move freely through a zero-g environment and Gracorvus took up some slack when the transformation ran out. I could use the shield for short bursts of speed that carried me down straightaways on momentum alone without much mana expenditure. Both the wings and Gracorvus allowed me to decelerate fairly quickly, but a short hit of Gravity Anchor would bring me to a complete stop instantly.

    My transformation would last a maximum of 40 minutes per day until I improved my Physical Magic, which was coincidentally the maximum length of time I could hold my breath. My lungs would begin to protest after ¡®only¡¯ 8 minutes, though, and it took a lot of mental effort to get used to ignoring my body¡¯s natural desire for oxygen. Going the full 40 minutes would also completely drain my stamina, so I needed to make it back to the airlock before that time if I didn¡¯t want to pass out.

    We all had some way to deal with the environment presented, but I was still the best choice for mazerunner. Grotto didn¡¯t need to breathe at all since¨Cas a Delve Core¨Chis true self was a construct, but the c¡¯thonic body he hid behind was organic and needed air to maintain itself. He was on backup to come grab me if my time ran out while I was still outside, but he was reluctant to let his fleshy bits die since he¡¯d gotten used to having limbs and there was no available biological matter around for him to form a new body with.

    Xim could see in the dark as well as I could and could restore her health and stamina when she self-healed, but she had no mobility options to overcome the lack of gravity.

    Varrin could fly with his cloak, but his Fortitude wasn¡¯t that high, he just had good stamina regen from evolutions. He¡¯d still run out of breath faster than I would.

    As a Geulon, Nuralie had exceptional lung capacity. Shadow Walk would let her teleport around, but her mana was limited so she couldn¡¯t keep it up for long.

    Shog could also fly and see in the dark, but aside from that he assured us that prolonged exposure to a vacuum would not be good for him.

    Etja¡¯s body was also technically a construct, but her transformation from a golem into a thinking being brought along some of the biological limitations of a normal body. She breathed automatically, but she didn¡¯t have blood. Holding her breath was uncomfortable and became an overwhelming need after a few minutes, but her stamina didn¡¯t drain if she was able to ignore the discomfort for a longer period. However, her Siphon spell required mana to let her fly and she didn¡¯t have anything that granted her darkvision. That made navigation a lot more difficult, even with Total Recall.

    So, it was up to me.

    Because of the time limitation on my transformation, it took us more than a week to pass through the first section. There was no ticking clock on the Delve, so we decided that taking the slow but safe route was preferable to risking Etja getting lost and becoming trapped somewhere within the maze. We might not have been able to find her and, like I said, she still felt like she needed to breathe. Imagine spending hours or days with the constant sensation that you were on the precipice of suffocation; like being trapped underwater, desperate to take a breath. None of us were strangers to pain, but aside from Grotto, we all shuddered at the thought. That sort of torture could break people.

    While I hunted for the way forward for 40 minutes a day, we used the downtime to train. Without the resources of the Training Expo, our progress was comparatively miserable. Still, if we had time to burn we had time to learn. Five of my skills were Physical so I managed to get my Physical Magic to 21 by flexing my new aura and blasting a wall with Homing Weapon. That gave me forty-two minutes of uptime for my transformation every day. I could still only hold my breath for 40 minutes but hey, small victories.

    When I found the path, I lit it with glow stones and the rest of the crew followed, moving as fast as we could. Varrin carried Nuralie and Xim rode on my back. Thankfully, her demands to ¡°giddyup!¡± were impossible to shout in the vacuum. Even if she could have continued commanding me to trot, cantor, or stay, the sound wouldn¡¯t have traveled.

    None of the remaining areas were completely dark, but the view of the planet was still blocked and the lighting was mostly dim. Otherwise, the rest of the sections were much simpler. The second sector was freezing cold, the third was blazing hot, and the fourth was filled with poison gas. We laughed our way through that one. The fifth was filled with magical traps and warded so heavily that none of our spells functioned unless Etja or I counter-dispelled an area.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Nullify was better for large areas than Dispel, which focused on a single target, so our jubilant mage handled the bulk of the countermagic. She even picked up the Reconnaissance intrinsic to assist Nuralie with finding and disarming traps. The intrinsic keyed off of Wisdom, so she was a natural. Nuralie¡¯s Flawless Precision evolution proved invaluable since it allowed her to manipulate the inner workings of the traps with¡­ flawless precision. Her Machinist intrinsic also showed its worth by helping her understand and disarm the hazards. She dutifully tucked their components away into her inventory for later use.

    The sixth zone held a series of murals that depicted different parts of the Eschen creation myth. Finding the path was just a matter of following the correct sequence of murals.

    The art involved all three deities of the Eschen triune: Geul, goddess of the ocean, Hyrach, god of the mountains, and Deijin, goddess of the sky. Murals first depicted the three races of Eschendur rising from the sea as Geul created life from the oceans. The second showed the towering hands of Hyrach reaching from the ocean and shaping the lands, lifting them up to create the mountains that surrounded Eschendur. Geul''s newly created life marched out onto Hyrach¡¯s palm¨Cthe lands between the mountains¨Cand created order upon the solid ground outside the chaos of the waves.

    The final series showed a vast expanse of stars from which Deijin crafted souls for the life Geul created. The people of Eschendur could then love, play, think, feel, and witness. The life that Geul created was thus able to form the civilization of Eschendur upon the solid foundation provided by Hyrach. The name Eschendur meant the "set apart land of the gods". Xim and Nuralie began to piece together the relationship between the Delve and the depictions in the murals.

    The name of the Delve was Deijin¡¯s Descent, and the challenges we¡¯d faced resonated with the journey of Deijin as she formed the souls of the Eschenbi. First, the Delve was in space, which likely related to being among the stars or even in the land of the gods. Deijin moved through the vacuum to reach the stars, passing through crushing cold and grasping onto blazing heat.

    They weren¡¯t certain what the poison represented, but it could have been the primordial environment of the world before life arose or even the more abstract corruption of beings that lacked a spirit. They guessed that the traps and wards of the maze¡¯s fifth section represented the difficulties of manipulating the ether to create souls, although neither believed the god was meant to be depicted as using mana. Magic was merely a stand-in for the unknowable energies Deijin worked with. Either way, it hinted that there was some strong oppositional force, perhaps intelligent, that worked against Deijin.

    Finally, the mueals brought us to three doorways, each of which displayed a possible conclusion to Deijin¡¯s story. The descriptions were in celestial, which Etja dutifully translated.

    ¡°She spoke, and through Eschonnora¨Cthe voice of the gods¨Csouls became one with the Eschenbi. Deijin¡¯s word is truth.

    ¡°They listened, and through Losonbinora¨Cthe voice of the spirits that come from the stars¨Cthe souls found homes within the Eschenbi. The spirit guides Deijin¡¯s wings.

    ¡°We wished, and with Bigir¨Cmind given form and substance¨Cwe became Loson¨Cof the stars. Mortal wills shape the realm.¡±

    ¡°All three are correct,¡± said Nuralie after listening to Etja dictate.

    ¡°Maybe it isn¡¯t a quiz, then,¡± I said. ¡°It could be a choice. Which path do we identify with?¡±

    Nuralie paused to consider, then said, ¡°All of them.¡±

    ¡°The first passage speaks of a god,¡± said Xim. ¡°The second speaks of the spirits, and the third of the Eschen people.¡±

    ¡°We are mortals,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The third choice reflects that.¡±

    ¡°We are also our spirits,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I can attest to that,¡± I said, looking over the everpresent soul halo that surrounded each member of the party.

    ¡°True,¡± said Xim, ¡°but the final line doesn¡¯t limit itself to the physical body. It¡¯s the union of spirit and flesh.¡±

    ¡°I would not presume to give that greater weight than the others,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It would be hubris to believe that because we are mortals, the choice must be the mortal path. It is insular thinking.¡±

    I had Etja recite the passages again, which she did from memory.

    ¡°What if it¡¯s about attunement?¡± I asked. ¡°Pick the path that matches.¡±

    ¡°There are 5 attunements,¡± said Varrin. ¡°There are 3 paths.¡±

    ¡°I still think it can line up,¡± I said. ¡°The first path is obviously Divine since it focuses on Deijin. The second is Spiritual and the third is Physical. However, the final line of the third passage says ¡®Mortal wills shape the realm.¡¯ We shape the world with more than just our bodies.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Oh!¡± said Etja. ¡°Is it mana? Like we will things to change with spells?¡±

    ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°That would be Mystical.¡±

    ¡°If the first passage is Divine,¡± said Xim, ¡°and the third is Physical and Mystical, then the second needs to be Spiritual and Dimensional. ¡®The spirit guides Deijin¡¯s wings¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Deijin¡¯s wings are certainly Divine,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But wings are also a physical thing. How would that relate to Dimensional?¡±

    ¡°The wings are a metaphor,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°¡®She flew on Deijin¡¯s wings¡¯ is an expression that means the person has died. The wings guide you from the mortal world to the afterlife.¡±

    ¡°Those aren¡¯t dimensions, they¡¯re realms,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Dimensional is broader than what you¡¯re thinking of as dimensions,¡± I said. ¡°I mean, what even is a dimension? It can refer to the number of coordinates needed to specify a point. We¡¯re in 3 dimensions because you need altitude, latitude, and longitude to say for certain where we are in relation to another point in space. Dimensional Magic allows you to travel through space, thus changing your coordinates. It also allows you to travel through different realities, like the way I went from Universe Earth to Universe Arzia. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Samlia¡¯s Eye is flexing some kind of Dimensional power to transition people between the first and third layers.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s definitely Divine,¡± said Xim. ¡°But Divine can replicate aspects of most other schools. It just needs to be supported by a deity, so it¡¯s limited by the nature of the god you¡¯re calling upon.¡±

    ¡°Then it¡¯s Divine emulating Dimensional,¡± I said. ¡°Same thing.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°So if the wings are about traveling between realms,¡± said Etja, ¡°then it could be Dimensional.¡±

    Xim sighed and went with it.

    ¡°First passage Divine,¡± said Xim, ¡°second passage Spiritual and Dimensional, third passage Physical and Mystical.¡±

    ¡°I still do not like it,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It¡¯s messy. There is no symmetry. Why is Divine on its own?¡±

    ¡°It stands above all others,¡± said Xim with a grin.

    ¡°Deijin is the power that unifies,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The other two need her to join.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I like that,¡± I said, looking at Nuralie. ¡°The other two passages involve attunements that exclude the other. Spiritual can¡¯t use skills that are Dimensional and vice versa. The same for Physical and Mystical.¡±

    We spent another day pondering the issue and coming up with alternative theories. None of us wanted to risk choosing the wrong path, so we slept on it and took our time to work through the possibilities. A month had passed since we¡¯d begun making it through the maze, so we weren¡¯t eager to sit on the decision for too long.

    We were living on rations alongside my Bag of Infinite Charcuterie. We had plenty to eat, but the lack of variety was getting old fast. We¡¯d also started rationing our water, foregoing baths and relying on a gem that slowly cleaned its user over time. It was Xim¡¯s, and it quickly earned her the nickname of Bathwarden. The plants that had dominated the entryway were no longer present in the maze, else we might have been able to pilfer the irrigation system to get potable water. Nuralie could also transmute other liquids into water but, like so many other skills, it was mana intensive and only went so far. Additionally, Xim and Varrin were reluctant to give up their reserves of wine and beer for Nuralie¡¯s reverse-Jesus trick.  Eventually, we agreed that the attunement theory was our best guess and decided to move forward.

    Xim and Grotto went through the first door as they were both attuned to Divine.

    Nuralie was Spiritual and went through the second door with me since I was Dimensional.

    Shog and Varrin were both Physical, leading them through the third door along with Etja who was Mystical.

    They were all secretly portals, of course.

    When I emerged, I was on a long, narrow pathway that stretched off into the distance. It had the same extravagant decor of marble, gold, and jewels as the rest of the Delve, but there were no reliefs set into the walls. The lush plant life had returned, though, and the breathtaking view of the planet above was again visible. We were no longer looking up at Arzia but at the opposite side of the planet, which was besieged by a continent-spanning storm. I kept myself from getting distracted by my thoughts on the spectacle and turned back to evaluating my immediate surroundings.

    There was a subtle curve to the path and it disappeared around a bend far off in the distance. There were still no obvious enemies or fauna of any kind, but I saw Nuralie when she stepped out of a shadow. She¡¯d instinctively ducked into it after passing through the door.

    Everyone else was nowhere to be found.

 141 - The Basilica

    Nuralie and I waited for an hour in case our allies were on some sort of time delay, but moved forward with the assumption that the party had been split. Even though the Delve had no express time limit, it didn¡¯t mean that individual sections weren¡¯t conditioned on completing them quickly. It was better to use the time and scout at least.

    When I checked the party interface everyone¡¯s names were grayed out except for Nuralie. I was still paying the mana cost for keeping Shog summoned, although Life Warden was no longer active on Etja. I cast the defensive buff on Nuralie after confirming she¡¯d accept it, then reached out with my aura. I used it to try and feel for the location of my missing allies but came up empty. Wherever they were, it either blocked my aura or was far enough away to be outside of the indeterminate¨Cbut very big¨Crange of my passive. I couldn¡¯t detect any sign of their presence with Soul-Sight either.

    There was also no door or other entrance behind us, only more of the curving hallway. Absent a portal or other obvious way for everyone else to reach us, it seemed more likely that we were on our own for now.

    The entire hallway bent in the same direction to the right of our original bearing, which we arbitrarily decided was east. Coordinated Thinker would allow us to stay oriented if it mattered. I took a deep breath and blew it out, letting my lips motorboat.

    ¡°Forward or backward?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie peered up and down the hall, although she¡¯d already looked it over a hundred times. She plucked at her bowstring with a nail. It vibrated like a harp but made no sound. I had no idea how the string stayed silent, but I also had no idea how the loson kept live frogs in her inventory. Nuralie sighed, her expression weary and resigned.

    ¡°We were facing north when we appeared,¡± she said. ¡°We have no reason to prefer going south.¡±

    I thrust my finger in that direction.

    ¡°Then we head north!¡±

    Nuralie stepped into the vegetation that lined the hallway on either side and disappeared. I gave her a minute to stalk ahead of me, then moved down the hallway with Somncres balanced on my shoulder and Gracorvus in its targe configuration. I walked at a steady pace but didn¡¯t hurry, giving Nuralie time to backtrack and signal me if anything seemed amiss up ahead.

    The hallway was a whole lot of the same for the first fifteen minutes until a stairway opened up on my left, its entrance lit by rows of glowstones. Nuralie stepped out from between a pair of ferns and we both peered down into the stairwell, watching for any sort of movement or traps. None of Nuralie¡¯s Sense abilities went off, so we decided to check it out, leaving a glowstone of the first step and marking the wall in case anyone caught up to us.

    The stairs descended until we were several hundred feet below ground. The gentle illumination from the stones around us revealed evenly cut stairs without wear and clean of any dust or debris. We soon found the bottom, which was bathed in soft yellow lighting.

    The landing opened into an underground chamber, its height taking up most of the elevation of our descent. It was filled with carefully manicured gardens, lush with bright flower beds of honey and vermilion. Bushes grew in sweeping rows, fastidiously trimmed and arranged to form perfect arcs. The hedges embraced a small pond sitting at the center of the space, its crystal-clear surface broken by blooms of blue-green algae. A meandering line of stepping stones led the way across.

    Behind the bushes grew squat trees, their canopies as wide as they were high. Heavy fruits hung from their limbs beneath sharp leaves, bright blue and covered in small bumps that glistened as syrupy liquid slowly dripped from pinprick pores.

    Symmetrical beams of light crisscrossed the chamber, filtering in through a skylight above and directed by a series of sparkling mirrors that enhanced and brightened the golden beams. A scattering of dust and pollen drifted through them so slowly they were nearly fixed, like tiny bubbles in amber.

    Across the pond was a small basilica. Each row of hedges ended between a pair of colonnades that lined the paved parvis before its arched double doors. The building¡¯s outer walls were lined with ornate windows set with opaque glass, its roof a series of small, pointed spires surrounding a wide dome at its top. The doors were open, and flickering light spilled out from within. The entire building radiated a sense of peace.

    My eyes were wide as I looked over the visual feast. I hadn¡¯t realized how draining the month-long maze had been with its tight corridors and endless, repetitive decor. Even the murals of the final section had been laid flat against walls in claustrophobic and geometric passages. The sight laid out before me now was like a six-course meal after four weeks of stale bread and potted meat. It was the most magical place I¡¯d seen since my visit to the third layer.

    Truly, it was a wondrous vision.

    ¡°Who do you think takes care of all this?¡± I asked. Nuralie¡¯s eyes slowly glanced toward me.

    ¡°That is the first thing your mind turns to?¡±

    ¡°No, seriously,¡± I said. ¡°Is there an entire staff of landscapers hiding in the walls?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps there are golems.¡±

    I scanned the space, hunting for any animated garden gnomes.

    ¡°Think they¡¯ll wanna fight?¡± I shifted my hammer on my pauldron. ¡°This Delve has been terrible for my cardio.¡±

    ¡°We do not need to do cardio.¡± Pause. ¡°Not anymore, now that we have our training stats filled out.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s mental training,¡± I argued. ¡°Learning to adapt to the feeling of feeling like shit.¡±

    ¡°I do not think you need help with your pain tolerance.¡±

    ¡°Cardio¡¯s different,¡± I said. ¡°I hate cardio.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you upset?¡±

    ¡°Because I want to learn to love it.¡±

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°You cannot torture yourself into loving something,¡± she said, looking at me like she¡¯d just told me something that might hurt my feelings.

    ¡°Eh, speak for yourself,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s the move? Explore the church?¡± I pointed my hammer at the fat, blue orbs growing in the trees. ¡°Eat some of that forbidden fruit?¡±

    ¡°Do not eat unidentified foods.¡± Her tone indicated that it wasn¡¯t a suggestion.

    Nuralie moved to the edge of the pond and studied the stepping stones. She walked over to a hedge and crouched, disappearing into its shadow. Soon after, she stepped out from a bush on the far side of the water. I followed suit by casting Shortcut. She winced at the loud crack it made when I appeared. I looked back at the stepping stones.

    ¡°Were they trapped?¡± I asked. She shrugged.

    ¡°Better to be safe,¡± she said, then disappeared into the hedge again.

    I tapped my foot and waited, tossing Somncres into the air and catching it a few times. Eventually, I saw the loson step out onto the walkway behind the basilica¡¯s exterior columns. She motioned for me to approach, and I floated through the air with Gracorvus, silent as a snail.

    A subtle wind blew from within the church, refreshing my mind and filling me with a sense of tranquility. It smelled like spring flowers and freshly baked bread. Nuralie scoped out the interior and soon after gave the all-clear. I walked inside.

    The space within was also lined with columns that reached up to support the edges of a domed ceiling. Each side of the room was molded into a half-sphere, equal in size to the dome at the center. It looked like the building was made up of five large, overlapping orbs. The walls were Corinthian, the windows edged with intricate brackets, and the floor a stunning mosaic of ivory and scarlet.

    On the opposite side of the room were ribbed shelves rising to the ceiling into a triangular apex. They were filled with hundreds of glowstones, flickering like they were on the verge of calling it quits altogether. Before the rows of glimmering stones was a simple altar, its top angled to face us and brimming with harmonious appeal. We approached carefully until we stood before it, studying the carmine object sitting upon its cream-colored surface, gleaming with goodwill and a hint of danger. It glowed with a soul halo, gray and swirling as though buffeted by brisk winds.

    It was a button.

    A big, red button.

    I scratched my jaw, pleased to feel the full beard that had grown in over the last few weeks. It was still short, but part of me looked forward to the process of growing it back out. I was still deciding how I wanted to shape it, but it wasn¡¯t quite big enough for a trim yet.

    ¡°Obviously we shouldn¡¯t press this,¡± I said. ¡°But on the other hand, I wanna.¡±

    Nuralie furrowed her brow. There was a line of text just above the button, carved into the stone surface of the altar. However, it was celestial and made my eyes ache when I looked at the letters. Neither of us could read it. Even my Spectacular Vernacular bonus didn¡¯t seem to help. No matter how talented a polyglot one may be, it¡¯s tough to pick up a language that melts your brain.

    ¡°Sense anything?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It is divine,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°This entire building is sacred as well.¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s Inquisitor skill revealed entities profane or sacred to her deity. We¡¯d been questioning whether that revealed it only to Nuralie, or to everyone else around as well. The wording made it unclear.

    ¡°Is that why everything feels like it wants me to care for myself and stay out of trouble?¡±

    She looked at me, bemused.

    ¡°Yes?¡± Pause. ¡°My experience of its sacred nature is more profound, though.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like good evidence to push the button.¡±

    ¡°Please do not,¡± she said. She walked away from the altar, looking down at the mosaic floor. She walked from one side of the room to the other, then all along the perimeter. ¡°There are 64 living creatures beneath us, but they are unmoving.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°Are they evil?¡±

    ¡°No.¡± Pause. ¡°But that does not mean they are not hostile.¡±

    I focused on the ground, trying to perceive any souls hidden beneath. Nothing showed through, even after concentrating on breaking illusions and stealth. I looked back at the button, raising the sensitivity of my Sight and studying the soul surrounding it.

    As Nuralie continued to investigate the ground, I felt a tingle and realized that she was using her skill in Divine Magic for something. My Sage Advice evolution was trying to trigger, so I focused on the evo and said the first thing that came to mind.

    ¡°Always be kind. Please rewind.¡± I stroked my beard as I delivered the discerning insight.

    Nuralie looked up and raised an eyeridge.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that Divine is the right angle here,¡± I clarified. ¡°We should go back and look at it from a different perspective.¡±

    ¡°It is a Spiritual section of the Delve,¡± she said slowly. ¡°And Dimensional. This is not a Divine challenge.¡± She turned back to the floor and I felt another invitation from Sage Advice to help her out, this time with Spiritual Magic. I ignored it for the moment since I only had 3 total charges and they took forever to come back. Instead, I focused on what we knew.

    ¡°The button has a soul halo,¡± I said. ¡°The things in the ground don¡¯t. It¡¯s unusual for something living to not have any spiritual essence, so they might be connected.¡±

    Nuralie nodded along, eyes running the length of the room.

    ¡°There are threads,¡± she said. ¡°They are faint, but it is a web connecting them all together.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t true soul connections then,¡± I said. ¡°Otherwise I could see them.¡±

    ¡°Then it is something that affects the spirit,¡± she said, ¡°but that is not the spirit itself.¡±

    ¡°The web connects to the button?¡± I asked, eliciting another nod from Nuralie. ¡°Then maybe the button channels the soul inhabiting it through the threads and into the living creatures.¡±

    ¡°Which is why they are dormant.¡±

    ¡°So, if we push the button¨C¡±

    ¡°They come to life,¡± she finished.

    ¡°Then I am still in favor of pushing the button.¡±

    She frowned.

    ¡°There are 64 of them.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve fought bigger groups. Besides, they might not be antagonistic.¡±

    Doubt sprouted across Nuralie¡¯s features so quickly that I worried she might pull a facial muscle.

    ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± I relented. ¡°Maybe we should check everything else out first.¡±

    Nuralie concurred, and we spent a couple of hours running over the church and the gardens outside. Nuralie took a few of the sticky fruits for study, took cuttings from the bushes, and picked several of the flowers as well. She held one out to me, a shade of red soft enough to border on pink. I accepted the gift and tucked it behind my ear. She looked me over with approval and we moved on, having found nothing else of note.

    We continued down the hallway in the same direction, now traveling southeast. Eventually, the curve brought us south before gradually turning west. It was taking us in a big circle. After a little over twenty minutes of walking, we were three-quarters of a turn from where we started and found another stairwell. This one was dark, a wave of cold air billowing up from it.

    We studied it for traps and surprises but found none and decided to descend. Its confines grew steadily darker as the light from the hallway fell away. The steps became rough and started to crumble beneath my feet, though Nuralie¡¯s steps left no mark of her passage. Neither of us had trouble navigating in the gloom and avoided two spots where the stairs had collapsed completely, leading down into a pit with no visible end. We reached the bottom landing after several minutes, this one soaked in a shifting gleam of haunting blue.

    The architecture of the basilica had been rounded and majestic, its environment flush with life and awash in a sacred aura. This space was dominated by sharp angles and thin points.

    It was a cathedral wrapped in death, its essence odious and profane.

 142 - The Cathedral

    The air around us was cloying and thick. I grew short of breath as my lungs worked in rapid, short bursts. I was reluctant to draw in too much of the repugnant scent and what atmosphere I managed to inhale seemed thin of oxygen. The space in front of the cathedral was an empty field of flat, wet dirt; gray in color and flecked with spots of dark blue. Combined with the awful smell, it reminded me of used kitty litter. It was even damp and clumpy.

    The surface of the cathedral had the color and texture of pitted charcoal, with spires that rose 200 feet into the air, their spear-like tips nearly lost in blackness. Even with my darkvision, the shadows were impenetrable around where the ceiling should have been.

    Dozens of stained-glass windows lined the church¡¯s wide front, their chaotic surfaces glinting from flickering light within, rippled and devoid of any discernible imagery. A bronze door stood like a gleaming wound at the building¡¯s center, cutting across it at a shallow angle¨C20 feet tall and barely wide enough for one person to walk through. It was shut and barred by a hundred iron chains.

    As we stood on the landing soaking it all in and bathed in the chamber¡¯s steely light, Nuralie let out a long, contemplative groan.

    ¡°You alright?¡± I asked.

    She squatted low and swept her hand out toward the field.

    ¡°There are evil entities below.¡± Pause. ¡°They are also profane.¡±

    I stood up a bit straighter, feeling a touch of excitement at the news. Then I frowned over the emotion, wondering how healthy that reaction was.

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°There are 12 within 24 feet of us. That is the limit of my detection range.¡±

    ¡°Think it¡¯s a classic trap?¡± I asked. ¡°When we step out into the field they attack?¡±

    ¡°I sense no life from them.¡±

    ¡°Ohhhh,¡± I said, looking over the dirt with hungry eyes. ¡°Spooky church. Midnight vibes. Empty field perfect for dumping bodies.¡± She quirked an eyebrow at that last statement. ¡°It¡¯s clearly the undead.¡±

    ¡°There are many things it could be,¡± she countered. ¡°Automatons, any number of creations made by a golemancer¨C¡±

    ¡°Enormous viruses,¡± I said. ¡°But would any of those be evil?¡±

    She rubbed her chin.

    ¡°Perhaps if they were created with an evil purpose.¡±

    ¡°Well, maybe it could be something like that,¡± I said. ¡°But observe the foreboding environment of the grounds, the somber architecture of the church, the bleak and smelly ambiance. There¡¯s 100% going to be a lich inside.¡±

    ¡°Now there is a lich?¡±

    ¡°The things out here are probably his or her horde, starved of brains and ravenous for living flesh.¡±

    Pause. ¡°Liches are not real,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°And because you said that, the chance of it being a lich has increased to 110%.¡±

    ¡°Then I will fight the fractional one-tenth lich and you can fight the whole one.¡±

    ¡°Eh, I¡¯m fine with that arrangement,¡± I said. ¡°What¡¯s the move, then?¡±

    ¡°Since this is a Spiritual and Dimensional section, we should continue looking at it from that perspective.¡± She focused more intently on the ground. ¡°There are spiritual threads connecting these entities as well. They lead into the cathedral.¡±

    ¡°Then we can expect another button, perhaps. Shall I take a stroll and tempt the fates?¡±

    Nuralie stood from her squat and pulled an arrow taught against her bowstring. She nodded at me, then stepped back into the shadow of the stairwell and disappeared. I shifted my grip on Somncres, raised my shield, and stepped out onto the lumpy soil.

    Nothing happened.

    I walked a few yards further in. Still nothing. I began a slow and steady trod up to the cathedral and made it across the entire field without incident. I lowered my shield.

    ¡°Disappointed,¡± I muttered.

    I turned to study the narrow bronze door, finding Nuralie already behind me. By this point her sudden appearances were routine. I barely even squeaked. Despite my display of mettle, she still turned to give me a judgmental look before approaching the chained-up entryway.

    She ran a claw-like nail across a few of the links. They were small, each one about an inch long, but there were dozens of the chains. She stepped back and looked up at one of the stained-glass windows. It was 15 feet up, but that was little impediment to either of us.

    ¡°We could go in through a window,¡± she said, already finding handholds in the pitted walls. She swiftly climbed up, covering the distance in a second, and peered into the glass. ¡°I cannot see through it.¡± She tapped the surface. ¡°It seems very thick.¡±

    I focused on the door, reaching for Shortcut and feeling around for a viable place to teleport. The interior was, predictably, not a solid mass of stone. I could make the jump without issue.

    ¡°I can teleport inside,¡± I said.

    She looked down at me.

    ¡°Even though you cannot see where you are going?¡±

    ¡°A side benefit of Coordinated Thinker. I rarely use it, since I prefer being able to see where I¡¯m going or what I¡¯m blowing up.¡±

    ¡°I remember the ability,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I meant that you do not know what is inside.¡± Pause. ¡°That also does not help me get in.¡± She dropped from the window and returned to the chains. ¡°I could melt through these.¡±

    ¡°Waste of resources,¡± I said, dismissing Somncres and sending Gracorvus back into my armguard. I stretched one arm across my chest, then the next. I shook out my limbs and walked up to the door. ¡°Plus, I haven¡¯t been able to test out my new Strength score.¡± I reached out and grabbed one of the chains with both hands.

    ¡°That will make a lot of noise.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s this or break a window.¡±

    I bent my knees and got ready to pull. Nuralie held up a hand to stop me.

    ¡°Let me scout the perimeter of the building,¡± she said.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I hung my head but agreed. She slunk back into a shadow, reappearing only a few minutes later.

    ¡°Find the back door?¡± I asked. She shook her head, looking irritated. ¡°Then we do a little breaking and entering.¡±

    I gripped the chain, widened my stance, and pulled. There was a moment of resistance, followed by a groaning squeal. The chain snapped and I stumbled back a few steps before catching myself, links clinking to the ground.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said, looking at my hands. ¡°That was pretty easy.¡±

    I stepped up and grabbed two chains this time, pulling until they broke. It took a bit more effort but still wasn¡¯t close to being a challenge. I grabbed 4 chains, 2 in each hand, and reared back against them. This time I really had to pull, forced to hop up and press both legs against the door. A few seconds passed before the first chain broke, followed in rapid succession by the other 3. This time I was ready for the sudden loss of resistance and did a nifty one-handed backspring to keep my balance. Nuralie applauded softly and I gave her a little bow.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s my limit,¡± I said.

    ¡°Seven down,¡± she said. ¡°Ninety-three to go.¡±

    ¡°Varrin could get through this in a second,¡± I said.

    ¡°You could also use Oblivion Orb,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I¡¯d rather save the mana. This won¡¯t take long.¡±

    I grabbed four more chains, breaking them two at a time with one arm so I could keep myself steady with the other. The chains ran up the length of the 20-foot-high door and I climbed up it as I went. I finished up in a little under 4 minutes, then dropped back down to the ground with ease.

    ¡°You also could have used your hammer,¡± said Nuralie.

    I pulled out a rag and wiped the iron dust from my gauntlets.

    ¡°Would have been less fun,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, you wanna talk about making noise? You¡¯d be able to hear that all the way back out into the hall.¡±

    Nuralie looked unconvinced but gestured for me to open the door. I walked up and grabbed the knob, but it wouldn¡¯t turn. I pulled with a little pressure.

    ¡°It¡¯s locked,¡± I said.

    ¡°I am nonplussed,¡± she replied, deadpan.

    I gave the knob a hearty tug and there was a clank as the lock broke. I pulled the bronze door open and the internal components clinked and clattered to the ground. I peered around the interior. Seeing no signs of hostility, I went inside.

    I had to side-step to enter the narrow doorway, finding a large, empty nave. Like the basilica, columns lined the chamber¡¯s sides, but the room and ceiling were geometric, rather than spherical. There was a short set of three marble steps leading down to the main floor, which was once again decorated with a complex mosaic, this one made up of black-and-blue tiles. At the far end of the room was another altar, with an identical rising triangle of flickering glowstones on countless small shelves beyond.

    However, unlike the basilica, a statue sat behind the altar on an ornate throne.

    It was a woman clad in soft, white robes, her head and arms covered in bright, painted feathers of many hues. Her features were sharp, but kind. Irises of bright orange shone amidst eyes that possessed a wealth of intelligence and what might have been amusement. A pair of wings were tucked in close behind her. Their long, polychromatic feathers matched those on her body.

    A mighty spear was thrust through her heart, pinning her to the throne.

    ¡°Deijin?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie moved closer, carefully appraising the figure.

    ¡°She is similar to other portrayals I have seen. Although, this one is very¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°lifelike.¡±

    ¡°Are there more people under our feet?¡±

    ¡°No. Not that I can sense.¡±

    ¡°Do you know why she¡¯s been impaled?¡±

    Nuralie shook her head.

    ¡°The scriptures do not speak of such a thing.¡± She closed her eyes. ¡°This room is as profane as the rest of this place, but there is no evil inside.¡±

    ¡°I suppose depicting a deity as having been slain could be profane.¡±

    Nuralie opened her eyes again to meet the statue¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°She does not look dead. Perhaps she is only trapped.¡±

    I considered the idea, then walked up to the altar. There was another button¨Cthis one the color of ice¨Cbut it lacked a soul halo.

    ¡°Did you get an idea of how many entities were buried outside?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I did not step into the field,¡± she said. ¡°But they were set in regular intervals. It was one every 6 feet in any direction.¡±

    I brought up the field in my mind, visualizing the space.

    ¡°If that¡¯s consistent out to the edges of the field, that¡¯d be 512 evil dead,¡± I said.

    ¡°That is 8 times more than the number within the basilica.¡±

    ¡°The System likes divisions of 8,¡± I added. ¡°Every platinum Delve grants 8 stat points. There are 8 stats. Grotto has 8 tentacles.¡±

    ¡°There are just as many divisions of 10 and 6. Active and intrinsic skills are limited to 10 each. Time limits and cooldowns are often in intervals of 6.¡±

    ¡°But 4 passives. Half of eight. It¡¯s all divisible by 2, though. There are 2 churches.¡±

    ¡°We have not finished the loop yet,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°There may be another.¡±

    ¡°That would be very asymmetrical,¡± I said. ¡°But fair point.¡±

    ¡°Do we intend to solve the riddle with simple division and abstraction of limited data?¡±

    ¡°Things to consider,¡± I said. ¡°We have two buttons, one within a sacred basilica and another within a profane cathedral. The basilica is filled with living entities¨Calso sacred¨Cwhereas the field outside of this cathedral is filled with evil ones, which are profane.¡±

    ¡°If they are direct opposites,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°then the entities within the basilica would also be good, not evil.¡±

    ¡°All of the entities are bound through spiritual channels to a button. One of the buttons has a soul whereas the other does not.¡±

    ¡°The creation myth of Deijin tells of Deijin creating souls from the stars and imparting them unto the living.¡±

    ¡°Whereas within this cathedral, Deijin is pierced and bound by a spear,¡± I said. ¡°No souls here, either.¡±

    ¡°Then perhaps we free Deijin so that she may deliver souls to the creatures outside.¡±

    ¡°Think it¡¯s as simple as yanking the spear out?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No.¡± Pause. ¡°But try it.¡±

    I climbed up onto the statue, doing my best not to step on anything that might be offensive to the deity, and gripped the spear. I pulled, pulled harder, then pulled with everything I had. It wouldn¡¯t budge.

    ¡°It was worth a try,¡± I said. ¡°I could try to destroy it with spells.¡±

    ¡°Let us save defiling the icon of one of my gods as a backup.¡± Pause. ¡°Have you been looking for any Dimensional clues?¡±

    ¡°My mana regen is capped,¡± I said. ¡°Which means my Ambient Absorption is pulling in a lot of Dimensional mana, so the space is saturated in it. There¡¯s no Divine mana interfering with it, either.¡±

    ¡°Curious,¡± said Nuralie, running a claw along her chin. ¡°My divine sense does not trigger here. The basilica was filled with it. Anything else?¡±

    I scratched my head and tried to feel for anything else of note.

    ¡°So, I haven¡¯t really used Dimensional Magic to, ah, detect Dimensional stuff before,¡± I said. ¡°But nothing¡¯s jumping out at me.¡±

    ¡°Maybe we press both buttons at the same time,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Or within a limited time frame.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯d you get to that conclusion?¡±

    ¡°It seems obvious,¡± she said. ¡°They are very far from one another, so you teleport from one to the next.¡±

    ¡°Or we could each go to 1 of the churches and time it so that we press the buttons simultaneously.¡±

    ¡°Coordinated by the timing of our regen stats?¡±

    ¡°Since we don¡¯t have a good way to communicate across distance without Grotto, yeah. We each cast a spell to trigger our mana regen and agree on the interval.¡±

    ¡°We would be separated if something attacks.¡±

    ¡°Something like all the things buried in the ground¡­¡± I realized that I was still standing in Deijin¡¯s lap, so I hopped down. ¡°Again, we¡¯re not pressed for time, so maybe we should finish walking the loop. See if anything else occurs to us.¡±

    Nuralie agreed, so we walked back up the steps and continued westward to our starting point. There was nothing else of note, so we kept walking back around to give the basilica another look. However, when we approached the basilica, we were met with another cold, dark stairwell. We went down to confirm, finding the cathedral again.

    ¡°Did we get teleported?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°Some other spatial anomaly?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No, Coordinated Thinker tells me that we¡¯re in the exact place that the basilica should be. Could it be a copy?¡±

    ¡°Your footprints are in the soil,¡± Nuralie said. ¡°The chains on the door are broken.¡±

    ¡°A perfect copy? One that retains any changes made to the other space?¡±

    ¡°Or it is the same space.¡±

    ¡°Any way we can confirm that?¡± I asked. Nuralie toyed with her bowstring again, working something over in her mind.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°I can use my revelation.¡±

 143 - Dimensionalism and You

    I studied the loson carefully, mindful of her emotional state. I knew that she¡¯d fully realized her first revelation while within the Training Expo, but she hadn¡¯t yet discussed it with us. Given her history with the three churches, none of us had been willing to press her on it and so far we¡¯d made it through the challenges without issue.

    ¡°Mind telling me what it does?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie took a deep breath, then turned to meet my gaze.

    ¡°It is called the Revelation of Distinction,¡± she said. ¡°Each of the three gods of the Eschenden are at once separate and the same. They branch from the same divinity, but I can also feel their history. I gained a vision of a time where they were singular.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said. My own revelations had been very personal, but Nuralie¡¯s were more focused on something that went far beyond herself. I wondered what that said about our personalities, or whether it had more to do with the source of the revelations themselves. ¡°How does that manifest?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have only used it once,¡± she said. ¡°I can touch an object and feel the connections that make it distinct, trace its history to moments that define it.¡± Pause. ¡°It is overwhelming and difficult to make sense of.¡±

    ¡°Putting aside how bonkers that power is,¡± I said, ¡°it¡¯ll tell you whether this is the same cathedral?¡±

    Nuralie knelt on the ground and placed her hand upon one of my footprints. She closed her eyes and I felt an echo of power thrum through the air. She clenched her jaw, eyes darting from side to side beneath her eyelids. A few seconds later she struggled to pull her hand from the footprint, as though a great force was binding her to it. I reached down to help, growing alarmed over her pained expression, but she pulled free without me and staggered back to sit on the landing.

    ¡°It is your footprint,¡± she said. ¡°Not a copy.¡±

    ¡°Then the building moved.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°It¡­ the revelation goes beyond the immediate physical processes that define the object. I can feel its history as though I were the object itself, but also the context that defines it. I felt myself born when you walked upon me, each tread of your boot, the exact weight of your body, the resistance of the soil.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s uh¡­¡± I began but trailed off. I was struck by the instinct to apologize but realized the impulse was misguided. ¡°That sounds like a lot.¡±

    ¡°It is,¡± she said. ¡°There is too much information to absorb at once, but I can place boundaries on what I experience. I tried to limit my perception to the moment of the footprint¡¯s creation and also its relationship to the space around it. It has not been moved. We are in the same place as before.¡±

    ¡°Damn,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯d only used it once?¡±

    ¡°The revelation came with¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°a great deal of guidance.¡±

    ¡°I guess my own experience was a bit unwieldy since I first gained Soul-Sight from an item.¡±

    ¡°I still cannot convey to you how strange that is¨Cthat you received divine insight through an amulet.¡±

    ¡°To be fair, there were some godly hijinks involved. It was created by a divine avatar.¡±

    I held a hand out to Nuralie and she took my forearm, hoisting herself to her feet. She picked up her bow, and her brow furrowed as she thought over what she¡¯d learned.

    ¡°I do not see how this is possible,¡± she said. ¡°Your ability tells us that we are in a different place, but my revelation says that we are in the same place.¡±

    ¡°So we have three possibilities. One of our abilities is wrong, or at least our interpretation of it is. Both of our abilities are correct and there¡¯s some force at play we don¡¯t understand. Or, something else.¡±

    ¡°¡®Something else¡¯ encompasses more than one additional possibility,¡± she said.

    ¡°But it feels more approachable.¡±

    ¡°I do not think it does,¡± she countered, but a small grin had found its way to her lips. ¡°Our walk through the hallway could have been an illusion.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sure, mind shenanigans,¡± I said.

    ¡°It is a Spiritual challenge. Mind control falls under that school.¡±

    ¡°I have a Wisdom of 40,¡± I said. ¡°If something in here can break through my mental defenses, I doubt we¡¯d have an answer. It may be a legendarily difficult Delve, but it¡¯s still level 10.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we start by not doubting our senses and trusting our abilities? We¡¯re in the same spatial location as the basilica, but we are in the cathedral. We also know that the cathedral is in the same spatial location as it used to be, which is on the other side of the loop.¡±

    ¡°The easiest conclusion is that they are both in the same place,¡± she said. ¡°Or that they are in both places at once.¡±

    ¡°Those can both be true,¡± I added. ¡°If both of them are in both places then they¡¯re both in the same place.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ not at the same time?¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Ah.¡± I held up a finger, then dropped it to stroke my beard. ¡°Hmm. I don¡¯t want time travel to be the answer. I don¡¯t want to have to figure out time travel.¡±

    ¡°Unless it is simply forward time travel.¡±

    ¡°I already figured that one out,¡± I said. ¡°I just go to bed.¡±

    ¡°Or drink too much.¡±

    ¡°Drink spirits to solve the spiritual puzzle?¡±

    ¡°I am not against it,¡± she said. ¡°But I doubt it would solve our problems.¡±

    ¡°My old therapist would have agreed with you.¡±

    Nuralie put her bow away and crossed her arms. We stood silent for a time, looking over the cathedral, but its mood wasn¡¯t doing us any favors. We decided to head back up into the hallway to hash out some more ideas. Eventually, we decided we needed more information and began walking the loop again. After 10 loops we¡¯d run into the basilica 11 times and the cathedral 9 times.

    There was no pattern we could discern, sometimes running into the basilica or cathedral multiple times, sometimes having them alternate for a stretch. While observed, a stairwell never changed. If we walked the hall until a landing was out of sight and then backtracked, there was a chance it would swap. Time seemed to hold no sway on the process unless it followed a pattern too long or too complex for us to recognize.

    It was like Schr?dinger¡¯s church. A 50-50 chance, but we didn¡¯t know what we would get until we got there. If both churches existed in both places at the same time, then the possibility collapsed into a single expression only once we arrived. Our sample size was admittedly small, but we were exhausted after gathering data for more than twelve hours. We took a break to get some sleep, bedding down in the comforting aura of the basilica and trading watches.

    The next day involved teleporting.

    While Shortcut¡¯s description required line of sight, my Coordinated Thinker evolution let me break that rule. The radius of the loop was about 1.5 miles, which was half of my current maximum range if I abused Reckless Shortcut.

    We began in the basilica and I reached out to feel for the space where I knew the cathedral to be. Its elevation was the exact same and it was a straight shot across the loop so it was easy to orient myself and find the space. All I could tell from a distance was that there was a viable location for me to appear, not what type of environment I would arrive in. It was the first time I¡¯d done a blind teleport, but I managed to put my anxieties aside, activated the skill, and blinked away into the unknown.

    I appeared 12 feet behind my original location and 3 feet off the ground.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I stumbled and caught myself as I fell the short distance and Nuralie¡¯s head snapped toward me, her eyes wide. It took me a few seconds to process what had happened, remembering at the last second to brace myself for the backlash of making the long-range teleport. It never came. By the time I checked on the skill, my cooldown was already up.

    ¡°What the fuck just happened?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You did not go very far,¡± Nuralie answered.

    ¡°I see that.¡±

    I reviewed the steps I¡¯d taken but didn¡¯t see where I¡¯d messed up. I knew that I¡¯d targeted a spot more than a mile away, I¡¯d activated the skill, and I¡¯d teleported. I had no clue why I¡¯d gone virtually nowhere.

    ¡°Let me try that again,¡± I said.

    I found the space across the loop, activated Reckless Shortcut, and appeared slightly to the left of my original position. I landed more smoothly this time, my confusion overriding my irritation at having failed.

    ¡°Is something blocking my teleport?¡± I asked. Nuralie held her hands up to signal that she had no idea. ¡°Shit. Well, we were already willing to split up for a bit. Let me walk out of here and see if I can teleport from the other direction.¡±

    I made my way around the loop, finding the entrance to the basilica again. I walked down the steps with a frown, finding Nuralie sitting with her housecat-sized frog, Bertegog, on her lap. She was scratching it under the chin and it gave a loud croak of approval.

    ¡°Back already?¡± she asked.

    I turned around and marched back up the steps and ran around the loop to the other side. I found the basilica once more. I kept running, finding the stairs to the basilica over and over again. Finally, after finding the glowstone-lit stairs ten times in a row, I walked back down to Nuralie. The loson now had three frogs surrounding her and they were literally engaged in a game of leapfrog. She paused in a low crouch, both hands on the ground, and looked up at me.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± she asked.

    ¡°No!¡± I said, throwing my arms up. ¡°The entire loop is the basilica! I went around it five times. Nothing but basilica!¡±

    She tilted her head in thought, still on all fours. Her tail swished behind her.

    ¡°Maybe if we are inside of one church,¡± she said, ¡°it prevents us from accessing the other.¡±

    ¡°But how is the basilica on both sides? At the same time!¡±

    ¡°Your teleport indicates that it is not. There was no extra cooldown or damage done to you, which means you did not travel very far.¡±

    ¡°So, not only are both churches in both places, but both places are also in the same place. Right now, at least.¡±

    ¡°That is consistent.¡±

    That evening I started breaking out some books. I¡¯d been gifted a copy of Dimensionalism and You: Volume II by Umi-Doo way back when, and had since acquired the entire set. It was four volumes total, and each one focused on concepts roughly appropriate for a practitioner within a 10-level skill range, covering levels 1 to 40.

    My skill in Dimensional Magic had made its way up to 30, which put all of the insights covered in the first 3 volumes well within my reach. Being on the precipice of moving up to the next bracket allowed me to finally begin making practical use of some of the guidance from the fourth volume, which was where I started finding some tasty nuggets that might apply to our situation.

    The practitioner of dimensionalism feels a natural kinship to those spaces to which they are accustomed. Upon birth, our minds are set into this world as a seal in wax, its form defined by the substance into which it is placed. The limits of our waxen confines define our understanding of reality, as we are shaped from its base substances. However, it is seldom considered that the form of a seal is not in the wax itself, but the emptiness pressed into it.

    Such it is that with sufficient learning and experience, the dimensionalist may realize the truth of the emptiness that grants form. We are connected to the wax, but we are not bound to it. In truth, our forms aerate into an expanse far greater than the wax itself. While we are inclined to look into the paraffin by instinct, our minds are capable of turning to the air and the greater world beyond.

    The reader is encouraged to reach out with their magicks, to feel the world around them. As our power bends the spaces that we know, consider that this is merely the wax into which we are set. We exist also within deeper realms that twist and turn in directions unimaginable, and those who might sense them are limited to those most advanced in our school.

    Seek a point that leads not away from oneself, but further inward. Step neither back nor forth, step neither to the side, nor rise or fall, but move into oneself. There you might find a seventh road to travel.

    It is this understanding that sets apart the advanced student from the true practitioner.

    The evening passed as I reviewed the volumes, my studies taking me through what we¡¯d decided was the night. I was broken out of my academic trance by Nuralie.

    ¡°Are we pushing buttons today?¡± she asked.

    I looked up from volume 4 and rubbed my eyes, tired from hours of crawling through the dense treatises. Even though I could read faster than ever, it took time to digest the opaque style.

    ¡°As much as I want to, I have some things I¡¯d like to try out first.¡± She sat down across from me on the mosaic floor of the basilica and gestured for me to explain. ¡°I think the basilica and the cathedral are in different places, but they¡¯re separated by a direction we normally cannot perceive.¡±

    She continued to watch me intently, so I cleared my throat and kept going.

    ¡°It¡¯s simple in theory.¡± I pulled out a sheet of parchment and a quill, then began drawing. ¡°The number of dimensions that an object occupies is based on the number of coordinates required to define a point within it.¡± I drew a line on the paper. ¡°A line has 1 dimension since I can assign a single series of values to identify any given location on the line. If the line is numbered 1 at the beginning and 10 at the end, I can say 4 and you know that the point is here, just shy of the middle. There are infinite points, but we can add as many decimals as we want. The important bit is that there¡¯s only 1 value needed.¡±

    I added 3 more lines, creating a square.

    ¡°A plane, such as a geometric shape, has 2 dimensions,¡± I continued. ¡°We need to know latitude and longitude to determine where a point is. So I can number the bottom of the square with 1 through 10 and the left side with 1 through 10 as well. Thus, I can say 4 and 6 to define this point.¡± I pointed to a location just left and up from the square¡¯s center.

    ¡°Simple x and y coordinates on a graph,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Right.¡± I rolled the parchment into a tube. ¡°With three-dimensional objects, I need latitude, longitude, and altitude to determine where a point is. Basically, a point¡¯s distance from the center¨Cthe x and y coordinates on a flat plane in the middle of the cylinder¨Cand also a z coordinate showing its relative elevation. That¡¯ll show us any given point within the cylinder. That¡¯s also the number of dimensions we operate within.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°The obvious follow-up is whether there are additional dimensions, or directions, that can define a specific location. On Earth, there are all sorts of mathematics that operate using additional dimensions, but I wasn¡¯t a mathematician so my understanding is pretty limited. However, this dimensionalism book suggests that Dimensional Magic can be used to travel through such extra dimensions. You just have to¡­ feel it out?¡±

    ¡°Very scientific,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Yeah, well, magic and such.¡± I crossed my arms and looked down at the text. ¡°I¡¯m not sure why that results in a random chance whether we find the basilica or the cathedral along two locations of the loop.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we can only access one of them at a time through normal means.¡±

    ¡°Like how the basilica is on both sides of the loop if either of us is inside the basilica? The cathedral could be totally inaccessible. That would explain why teleporting doesn¡¯t help since I¡¯m only moving through 3 dimensions. Even if our goal was to push both buttons in rapid succession, we¡¯d have to walk the hallway until we found the cathedral. We couldn¡¯t get to the second button very quickly. Either way, this could explain both churches existing within the same x, y, and z coordinates, while still being in different places along an¡­ ¡®a¡¯ coordinate? I¡¯m sure there¡¯s an appropriate letter, but I don¡¯t know what it is.¡±

    ¡°¡®A¡¯ works,¡± she said.

    I had the acute desire to flip through the rest of the dimensionalism book and see if it listed the correct symbol but decided it wasn¡¯t worth the effort for the moment.

    ¡°If the answer to the dimensional aspect of the puzzle deals with a fourth dimension,¡± I said, ¡°then what is the spiritual component?¡±

    ¡°I found those threads,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°You found the soul halo on the button.¡±

    I stood and walked back over to the button, which glowed white and gray in my sight, shifting like mist in a storm.

    ¡°Do you mind trying to view the threads again?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie nodded, then focused on the button. I felt Sage Advice tingling and moved into the lotus position, channeling the ability¡¯s profound wisdom.

    ¡°If you come to visit, you¡¯ll be bored to tears,¡± I said. ¡°We haven¡¯t even paid the phone bill in 300 years.¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s shoulders drooped and she placed her hands on either side of the altar, leaning on it.

    ¡°Does that ability really require you to say things so¡­ dumbly?¡± she asked.

    ¡°My erudite observations stand atop the shoulders of giants,¡± I said, sitting up straighter. ¡°Do not denigrate the elders of my world.¡±

    ¡°These are quotes from famous sages of Earth?¡± she asked.

    ¡°They are indeed, young master Nuralie.¡±

    ¡°I am older than you.¡±

    ¡°Only physically,¡± I said, then tapped my head. ¡°Up here I possess the knowledge and maturity of a much older man.¡±

    ¡°I shudder to imagine your youthful mindset. What does your ancient Earth¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°¡®wisdom¡¯ mean?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps the churches need to communicate, but can¡¯t. Is there a spiritual thread that is cut off or doesn¡¯t go anywhere?¡±

    Nuralie refocused on the button, peering at it intensely.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said, squinting. ¡°There is one that does not lead to the entities beneath the floor. It goes somewhere¡­ But nowhere.¡± She stepped back from the altar, blinking and shaking her head. ¡°I do not like looking at whatever that was.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± I said, climbing back to my feet. ¡°I think we have a plan then. I just need to figure out how to use Dimensional Magic to connect the rooms through an imperceivable dimension incomprehensible to my corporeal mind while you monitor a spiritual thread crafted from atavistic magicks that passes between them.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Nuralie said, letting out a long breath and looking overwhelmed.

    ¡°Then, after the thread connects to whatever it¡¯s looking for¨Cprobably the other button¨Cwe push them both.¡±

    ¡°And then what?¡±

    ¡°Profit!¡± I said with a shrug.

    With great effort, Nuralie stood up straight and gave a single nod.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°Easy enough.¡±

 144 - Two Places at Once

    Once Nuralie reluctantly agreed to the strategy, I spent 3 days experimenting with my Dimensional skills. Nuralie took the time to study the threads, growing intimately familiar with their composition. She even learned to look deeper upon the thread that sought to move through an unknown spatial dimension without suffering mental trauma. Not much trauma, anyway.

    Volume 4 of Dimensionalism and You was a little off with its guidance. It told me to travel ¡®inward¡¯ to find the seventh path, which I took to mean a seventh potential direction away from myself. Up, down, left, right, forward, backward, and strangeward. While the thrust of the concept allowed me to expand my focus beyond my intuitive sense of movement, when I finally latched on to something, it was clear that I wasn¡¯t traveling ¡®inward¡¯. I would very much be traveling away from where I was, just not in any direction I could wrap my head around.

    When I finally locked on to the strangeward direction, it was predictably incomprehensible. I couldn¡¯t process the space itself, but I could attempt navigating it by using the shadow that it cast as a reference. Shadows cast by three-dimensional objects are normally two-dimensional. A sphere might cast a circular shadow against a wall, for example. The shadow cast by the space toward which strangeward took me was itself fully three-dimensional.

    It would have been impossible to make any reasonable progress if the path between the two rooms had been complex. That would have been like a toddler trying to solve a Rubik''s cube from its shadow alone. Thankfully, it was a straight shot. It wasn¡¯t even that far. There was a short ¡®hallway¡¯ that connected the two rooms, although the ¡®hallway¡¯ felt infinitely larger than either of the rooms themselves. Reaching out with Shortcut exposed some kind of barrier between the two points, but it was small, insofar as anything in that space could be called small.

    I was soon able to travel from the basilica to the cathedral using Reckless Shortcut. The distance was close enough that I didn¡¯t take any backlash from the spell, and I could flick back and forth between them without trouble.

    While I was in the cathedral, I did another few loops and found only more of the cathedral. Nuralie was also nowhere to be found, since she was standing in the basilica.

    There was a brief moment after my teleport when Nuralie could see the spiritual thread coming to life and connecting to something, presumably following me through the brief portal that I created. After a dozen teleports, we had the timing down to a narrow window where we could both hit our respective buttons while the thread was active. We did a few trial runs where we cast a spell instead of hitting the button, then used our mana regen ticks to make sure we were properly coordinated. Finally, we were ready to give it a shot.

    Nuralie stood in the basilica, eyes focused on the thread and hand hovering over the red, soul-enshrouded button. I did a countdown in my head, then cast Reckless Shortcut, appearing in the cathedral. Two quick beats later I slammed my hand down on the ice-blue button that sat before the heart-pierced statue of Deijin.

    The lambent glowstones on the triangular shelves behind the statue began to extinguish. There was an invisible divide between them, and the stones on the left had started to go out just ahead of when I¡¯d hit my button. I assumed that each half was connected to one of the buttons and that Nuralie had hit her own just ahead of mine. I held my breath, hoping that there was some grace with the timing. After all, what would have happened if there¡¯d only been 1 of us inside the loop? There had to be some margin of error provided.

    When all the stones had gone out, I heard the shuffle of moving earth and turned to peer through the narrow, bronze doorway. Hundreds of humanoid creatures were dragging themselves from the dirt throughout the field outside. They were nude, bodies pale and filthy. Their eyes were vacant, their expressions slack, but they began walking towards the cathedral with rapid strides. It was not the meandering shuffle I expected of the dead, but the steady march of people with a purpose.

    I quickly identified one.

    Husk: Undead, Grade 10.

    As the first few Husks made their way through the door, I raised my hammer and shield, prepping for oncoming violence. I could handle a few grade 10s on my own. Of course, there were 512 of them. However, before the first ranks of the soulless dead could meet me, the walls of the cathedral rippled and shimmered.

    An ethereal view of the basilica superimposed itself atop the cathedral, its warm colors and spherical chambers contrasting sharply with the dreary and geometric features of the cathedral. The mosaic floor shimmered in a combination of colors from both churches and shifted aside, revealing recesses from which figures emerged, clad in golden robes.

    They were Deijinin, the loson race with bird-like attributes. Feathers ran down their heads and arms, their hands ending in talons, their eyes bright yellow, orange, or green. Wings sprouted from their backs and they lifted off the ground with a few quick flaps. As they spun to face me, the Deijinin looked upon me with marble features, bodies enveloped by a thin gray soul halo. Something about the souls felt wrong, however, artificial. I realized that they were not true Deijinin, but statues like the icon of Deijin herself. Their eyes drifted past me, fixing on Deijin. A look of fury crossed their faces and they began rushing toward her.

    I turned to follow their flight as they sped around me, finding Nuralie standing close to the altar, awed by the scene. She watched the Deijinin in amazement, but a dark look crossed her face when she caught sight of the door. She stepped forward, readying her bow. I spun to follow her gaze and saw the soulless Husks streaming through the narrow door. Their progress was slowed as 16 of the Deijinin swooped forth to bar their entry with towering shields. They formed a shield wall the width of the cathedral, and the Husks began beating upon them with thick fists. The blows created deep thunks against the shields and the Deijinin shifted their footing to resist the tide of flesh that continued to pour in.

    The flight of Deijinin landed on the deity¡¯s statue, their hands grasping at the spear that bound her. Sixteen gathered and gripped the haft, then 16 more wrapped their arms around those and helped to pull back against the weapon. More of the Deijinin gripped the statue, locking it in place as the spear slowly slid out from Deijin¡¯s heart. Once the weapon was pulled free, the statue burst to life.

    Deijin stood from her throne, 10 feet tall, robes transforming from stone to cloth and billowing in a brisk wind that suddenly filled the cathedral. Her form was enveloped in a swelling soul halo, deep and powerful with a spark of the divine. It was a far cry from the power I¡¯d sensed from the avatars or even Zura, but it was still potent and bathed the room in holy majesty, enveloping all who stood before her. Still, like the Deijinin, her soul rang hollow, as though it were carved from stone as well.

    Deijin looked down at the altar where the mass of disconnected soul now sat. She reached out and touched a single finger to the orb, the light flaring and traveling up into her arm. Her multicolored wings stretched and she swept forward, the gust left in her wake strong enough that I threw an arm up to shield my watering eyes. The icon landed in front of the Deijinin shield wall and amidst the teeming mass of Husks. They reached up and gripped at her robes, pulling and tearing at them, their hollow eyes filling with pain, mouths starting to hang open in yawning, silent cries.

    Deijin swept her arms and wings wide and spiritual energy poured from her in a torrent, radiant beams striking the hearts of each of the Husks. Scores of the creatures began to pull away, looks of confusion replacing despair, some holding hands to their faces as if overwhelmed. Their bodies began to transform, their features becoming defined, scales, feathers, or craggy growths sprouting on their skin.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The shield wall backed up, allowing more of the Husks to pour into the cathedral, whose hearts were quickly blessed with the essence of life. Deijin¡¯s gift swept through them in a gale and, in time, the creatures were turned from a mindless horde to a rejoicing mass of Guelons, Hyrachins, and Deijinin. A full congregation of 512 newborn losons praised the icon of Deijin, dropping to their knees, bowing at her feet, and weeping with joy.

    Nuralie stepped up beside me, eyes glistening, and we watched the spectacle together in silence. Eventually, the figure of Deijinin pulled away from her flock and glided back to us. When she landed, she looked down at us with warmth and curiosity. Half of the golden Deijinin gathered behind her like guardians, watching us with cautious eyes while the rest moved through the former Husks, gifting them new robes and baskets of food.

    Deijin looked between the two of us, her false soul poking and prodding at our own. After a few moments, she smiled and spoke in a voice that made the very walls of the cathedral tremble.

    ¡°You worked toward enlightenment when you could have rested in ignorance. You exercised restraint when you could have prevailed through violence. I am thankful for your patience and your temperance. You may now quit yourselves of this prison, but I offer you these gifts to aid in your travels.¡±

    She held out her hands, each of which held a shining ring, and offered one to me. It was clear and faceted, catching the light of the chamber and casting countless reflections. The other seemed to be made of blue mist, ever moving but fixed in its shape. She held that one out to Nuralie.

    We accepted the rings and, before I became distracted by the reward, I met Deijin¡¯s eyes and decided to ask her a burning question.

    ¡°Hi, hello,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks for these. I have a question if you have a moment to answer.¡±

    Her smile widened slightly and she inclined her head for me to continue.

    ¡°So, I understand the rooms being separated by an extra dimension, but why were there two rooms on the loop? Why did they change back and forth by random chance? I¡¯m not sure that follows from the spatial tomfoolery that was going on. Not that I have a firm grasp of the implications of said foolery.¡±

    Deijin listened to my words, eyes distant in contemplation afterward. She smiled down at us again, then spoke.

    ¡°You worked toward enlightenment when you could have rested in ignorance. You exercised restraint¡­¡±

    So on and so forth. Nuralie frowned and leaned over to whisper to me.

    ¡°We can ask the next statue we find the same question. I am sure they will have a satisfactory answer.¡±

    I glanced at her, eyebrow raised, and she gave me a small grin. I chuckled, heady from relief after being trapped in the loop for nearly a week. Before we had a chance to inspect the rings or further test the pseudo-inanimate object for its doctoral candidacy, the icon waved a hand and the room disappeared as we were teleported away.

    The cathedral faded and the world resolved itself into an onyx chamber lit by brass lanterns. Glossy ferns filled the space, with bioluminescent mushrooms adding a subtle green glow to the soft light of the oil lamps. The space immediately around us was a small patch of low grass. A stone table was nestled at its center, covered in a variety of drinks and food. There were no entrances or exits to be seen, nor were any of our party members present. I took a glance at the table, my mouth watering as the smell of freshly grilled meats and soft bread wafted over us.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°The statue said we could have prevailed through violence. Does that mean that we could have punched our way out?¡±

    ¡°I guess so.¡± Pause. ¡°If we wanted to be ignorant brutes.¡±

    ¡°Could we have been well-educated brutes?¡±

    ¡°Maybe if we¡¯d solved the puzzle and still punched our way out.¡±

    ¡°Missed opportunity,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°What a day. Straight from violating spatial laws and aiding the simulacrum of a deity to a lovely picnic.¡±

    Nuralie ignored the table, instead studying the ring in her hand. I took her cue and identified my own ring.

    Deijin¡¯s Path

    May her wings guide you.

    Requirements: WIS 30, Dimensional Magic 30

    +60% to the range of your teleports.

    ¡°Pretty damn good,¡± I said, taking off my gauntlet and slipping it on.

    The ring adjusted size to fit my finger, then grew flat and unobtrusive when I slid my gauntlet back on over it. I¡¯d snagged another level in Dimensional with my first 4D teleport, so the ring took my ¡®safe¡¯ teleport range up to 248 feet. If I went all out with Reckless Shortcut, the ring would take my maximum range up to 4.7 miles, which was really starting to cover some distance.

    ¡°Is your ring as busted as mine?¡± I asked Nuralie. She¡¯d already equipped the item but held her hand up for me to inspect.

    Deijin¡¯s Star

    May her generosity empower you.

    Requirements: Intelligence 40, Spiritual Magic 20

    +60% to the range of your Sense abilities.

    ¡°You can certainly take advantage of that,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like the rewards were based on our main contributions to solving the puzzle.¡±

    ¡°Do you think there was a different reward if we solved it through punching?¡± she asked. ¡°Or was this a special reward for solving it the correct way?¡±

    ¡°Who the fuck knows,¡± I said, then sat down heavily at the table. ¡°This Delve is full of all sorts of ambiguous shit. How do we even know we solved that puzzle the ¡®correct¡¯ way? I mean, how would anyone else have solved it?¡±

    Nuralie sat across from me and started taking in the spread of delights.

    ¡°The challenges might be tailored to us,¡± she said. ¡°The Delve Core had weeks to observe us in the Training Expo. Maybe it changes things based on the Delvers.¡±

    ¡°Itsh poshible,¡± I said through a mouthful of delicious, warm brown bread. Why was it still warm? Who put it there? How high was their Baking skill? It was damn good. I swallowed and gestured at Nuralie with the half-eaten hunk. ¡°I, for one, am turning my brain off for a bit. Oh, is this beer?¡± I peered into a flagon filled with an amber liquid. I smelled it, poured some out into a tankard, and took a sip. ¡°No, it¡¯s fruit juice. Even better!¡± I drained the glass and poured myself another.

    ¡°I think your questions about the loop may not have an answer you would like,¡± Nuralie said, filling a plate with grilled fish and root vegetables.

    ¡°Brain¡¯s off,¡± I replied. I chewed on a bite of steak, then set my fork and knife down and crossed my arms. ¡°Fine, go ahead and explain.¡±

    ¡°You want the puzzle to make sense from your old perspective. Earth did not have magic, and so the sciences of Earth do not consider that as a factor.¡± She took a sip of a light-colored wine. ¡°Perhaps we are ignorant of the nature of higher dimensions and the puzzle¡¯s layout makes sense on a level we can never comprehend.¡± Pause. ¡°On the other hand, the puzzle was not merely one of dimensions, but also of the spirit. Many powers were at play that went beyond our expertise. I would not ascribe mundane logic to a living statue, so perhaps you should not ascribe Earth logic to a dimensional space that is, almost certainly, governed by some magical concepts.¡±

    I leaned back and stared absently at the ceiling, working the idea through my head. My natural inclination was to reject the idea. After all, if I was willing to give up pursuing a theory because I could throw my hands up and say ¡°magic¡±, it would be very easy to become intellectually lazy.

    Still, the loson had a point. Despite having been given the advice several times, I tended to overlook the presence of supernatural forces when dealing with problems in Arzia. Maybe the Delve had arranged the loop to give us hints, and the shifting stairwells didn¡¯t have an answer rooted in traditional physics. In the end, I would probably never know, but that didn¡¯t mean I was going to give up thinking about it. It just meant that there were additional variables to consider.

    ¡°Maybe the entryways to the stairwells were tethered to an anchored dimensional space,¡± I began. ¡°Since both led to the same three-dimensional location, the entryway could have been enchanted to create a random chance as to which fourth-dimensional location it revealed once observed.¡±

    ¡°Enchantments based on observation could be a function of Spiritual magic since it often deals with the mind,¡± Nuralie added. ¡°The spaces becoming fixed once observed could also be from some kind of spiritual link to the relevant space.¡±

    We debated the possibilities as we feasted to our heart¡¯s content. I was glad to have gotten the opportunity to spend some extra one-on-one time with Nuralie. I could be as cerebral as I wanted, and she not only kept up but also challenged me. Not to say the rest of our crew wasn¡¯t a smart bunch, but they weren¡¯t always willing to partake in an hours-long debate. Varrin only had so many thoughts on the relationship between mana weaves and the tensile strengths of different metals, for instance. Eventually, he just wanted to start cutting shit into pieces to determine which magic sword he liked better.

    The food was good, the environment was pleasant for a Delve, and all was well with the world until homicidal insects began crawling out of the walls.

 145 - System Addendum #3

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: 5 months before the awakening of the first monolith

    *****

    Tavio examined the walls of the Imperial Palace with fascination. He had never before been inside the splendorous halls, decorated with art and material from across the empire.

    The palace had been altered on multiple occasions, sometimes being essentially rebuilt. Whenever a new province was incorporated into the empire, the Imperial Assembly commissioned the greatest artists, architects, and engineers from that province to create an addition to the palace, spanning its great lengths. Tavio studied each of the features in detail, watching them weave together an intricate mural dedicated to the empire¡¯s long history.

    The stone itself was from Litta, sanded to geometric perfection, and providing a foundation for all that would come after it. Finely polished marble floors and pillars supported the structure, donated by the masons¡¯ guild of Connas after it became the first province of Litta following the liberation.

    Large stained glass windows blown in Seaward added vibrant colors to the interior lighting. Massive tapestries woven in silk from Dhonvos hung from the ceiling, depicting momentous occasions throughout the empire¡¯s past; the one opposite the hall from Tavio showed the Littan army battling back the monsters of the Forest. Appropriately, magical plants from Nohrrin grew behind the tapestry and along the palace walls, providing fresh air and soothing light to the grand hallway.

    Flawless gemstones from Tavio¡¯s home province of Seqaria accented huge statues forged by the master bronze workers of Lotor, one for each emperor dating back to the liberation of Connas. The ceiling featured detailed paintings of legend and folklore by Echimara Yokotana, one of the greatest painters of all time, with lush pigments derived from her native province of Ginso. The painting above Tavio showed Yara returning to Arzia, granting her blessing to all below. He noted that the colors of the painting blended seamlessly with the tapestry, making it appear as though the Littan soldiers battling the Forest were surrounded by holy light. The towering roof itself was carved with intricate reliefs by the wood workers of Bavecira, renowned for their unmatched craftsmanship.

    Everywhere he looked, Tavio saw history unfolding before his eyes, with some of the most beautiful and masterful artwork the world had ever seen. Not even the Delver artists could match the majesty of this place, but how could they? The palace was a testament to civilization itself, bearing the might and glory of a combined people, transcending any one individual no matter how gifted. The symbol of community, driven to benefit all the world. That was something you couldn¡¯t match with any active skill or attribute evolution.

    ¡°Her Imperial Majesty will see you now,¡± said a Littan aide, who had approached from down the hall. Tavio reeled himself back from the wonder of the palace artwork and stood, making one last inspection of his finest robes for any hint of dirt, debris, or imperfection. He ran his hand down the front of his apparel to smooth it as much as possible, taking special care to fold the red sash of his military position neatly, then nodded and followed the aide back into the palace interior.

    He passed by many more tapestries, windows, and paintings of various events and lamented he had not the time to appreciate them all. As he came upon a set of large double doors guarded by two level 21 Delvers, the aide motioned for him to stop.

    ¡°Tavio of Seqaria to see Empress Rona,¡± said the aide. The two soldiers looked at Tavio, or more precisely, above Tavio¡¯s head. After a quick glance, one nodded then opened the door. The aide gestured for Tavio to enter, and so he did.

    Inside was a foyer of sorts, with a lit fireplace, soft down couch, and a fine mahogany table. Opposite the entrance was another door, which was closed. The door Tavio entered was shut behind him, and he looked around the room which had nary a sound save for the soft crackle of the logs as they burned heat and light into the space. Unsure of what to do next, he sat upon the couch and interlaced his fingers.

    Several moments passed by as Tavio contemplated the upcoming conversation. Personal meetings with the Empress were unheard of at his station, typically given only to senior members of the Assembly or dukes of significant influence, not mid-level captains early in their career.

    The far door opened and an exceptionally lithe and toned Littan peered out, dressed in high quality but plain robes with only an indigo sash to belie her status.

    ¡°Captain Tavio?¡± asked the empress.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he said, suddenly standing. ¡°I mean, yes, your Imperial Majesty.¡±

    The empress smiled warmly and beckoned him to follow her through the door, to which he complied with all the grace he could muster. The interior room was not like Tavio imagined; it was littered with stacks of papers, scrolls, maps, and books, even some stone slabs Tavio recognized as summoning tablets. Various ink wells of different colors sat atop an equally varied number of parchments, from missives to ledgers to journals. While not exactly a mess, the decor was far less pristine than Tavio had anticipated. The empress held out her hand towards a chair opposite a large desk she then sat behind.

    Tavio took his seat, then sat still, waiting for whatever it was the empress had summoned him to talk about. However, she sat still for what seemed like minutes, as though they were in some sort of contest. Unable to help himself, he examined her form, which was completely symmetrical, with an impeccable complexion, finely trimmed fur, and not a single blemish to be found.

    He could bear the silence no longer, and so asked her the most pressing question he now had.

    ¡°Excuse me, your Majesty,¡± he said, ¡°but you are a Delver, are you not?¡±

    The empress tilted her head and furrowed her brow.

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± she replied. The response was reasonable; she had no level above her head, no particular aura, and no magical effects Tavio could detect. But still, no one¡¯s body was that perfect by nature alone.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Forgive me, your Majesty,¡± he said, ¡°but I have never seen any natural-born Littan so free of imperfections. Only a Delver¡¯s body is so precise.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying I was born unnaturally?¡± asked the empress.

    ¡°No! No,¡± stammered Tavio. ¡°That¡¯s... I mean to say, you should not have so fine a bod-... ah...¡± Tavio felt his Wisdom finally kick in and he clamped his mouth shut, sweat beginning to bead around his muzzle. His eyes darted to anywhere but hers, as the world fell beneath him and an abyss of insurmountable impropriety threatened to swallow him whole.

    She held up a hand and chuckled.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± she said, ¡°it¡¯s alright. I¡¯m just twitching your whiskers. Yes, I am a Delver, your observation and intuition are correct. Impressive, considering the System could not have told you that.¡±

    Tavio shuffled in his chair, whiskers-a-twitching. It was a bad habit of his, revealing uncertainty. He was not much of a card player.

    ¡°Yes, well,¡± said Tavio, ¡°I have learned there is a flaw in relying too much on the System.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± said the empress. ¡°Very much so. From what I hear, that lesson was hard-won by you.¡±

    Tavio looked to the desk and stared into an unknown distance. The empress sat calmly, waiting for him to respond. He took the opportunity to consider his words more carefully.

    ¡°My eagerness may have blinded me to certain truths that would have been more obvious had I not been so single-minded in the pursuit of Delving,¡± he finally said.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said the empress, ¡°but you have much to show for your tenacity. You immediately detected I was a Delver by appearance alone.¡±

    ¡°You honor me,¡± said Tavio, ¡°but that is apparent to any who know what to look for.¡±

    ¡°No, it isn¡¯t,¡± she retorted. ¡°Not one person I have ever met with, Delver or otherwise, has had any such suspicion. They don¡¯t see a number above my head and so dismiss the possibility.¡±

    ¡°I must admit,¡± said Tavio, ¡°I have never heard of any item, evolution, or passive that hides Delver status, and I have researched such things thoroughly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t let you in on that secret just yet,¡± said the empress. The ¡°just yet¡± perked Tavio¡¯s ears, but he dared not pursue it. ¡°But your remarkable talent for Delving is well-received. In fact, I don¡¯t know of anyone more knowledgeable on the topic than you. Even the Hiwardians lack the depth of knowledge you possess for they are too caught up in their family politics and secrets to take Delving so seriously.¡±

    ¡°I am humbled by your words,¡± said Tavio, ¡°but I do not understand why Her Imperial Majesty would take such an interest in me to come to such conclusions.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± she asked.

    Tavio did not have an answer other than that he was not terribly notable. His whiskers twitched again and he looked to the floor, running his fingers down his robes that now looked shockingly inadequate for the position in which he found himself, sitting across from the empress in her personal study.

    ¡°To be frank,¡± said Tavio, ¡°I am just a level 17 gold Delver, your Majesty. I worry that the actions of my former teammate and the incident at the blockade are what brings me to your attention.¡±

    ¡°Yaretzi,¡± said the empress. ¡°Yes, he was an interesting experiment, albeit a failed one.¡±

    ¡°His build was most unusual,¡± said Tavio.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant,¡± said the empress. ¡°Yaretzi was part of a now-defunct program which aimed to create ideal Littan commanders. He was the prototype for a particular Creation process we have learned to exploit, at least to some degree. Needless to say, after learning of his actions, we have declared the project a total failure.¡±

    Tavio didn¡¯t know what to make of that. He certainly was not aware of such a program, but he was also fairly certain the duchess didn¡¯t know about it either. When it came to her party members, she was very forthcoming with information, even of the secret kind.

    ¡°But,¡± the empress continued, ¡°his actions were his own. That is not why I asked to see you today.¡±

    She turned and reached to a shelf behind her, pulling a leather-bound book before turning back and setting it on the desk. She opened the cover and flipped through a few pages before settling on some of the text. Tavio recognized the handwriting as belonging to his party leader.

    ¡°You joined Duchess Ruiz¡¯s party at level 7,¡± said the empress. It was true. ¡°You were awarded an achievement at level 8 for taking less than 5% of your maximum HP in damage during the course of an entire gold-level Delve. At level 9, another achievement for blocking more damage than the rest of the party took combined. Also at level 9, for defeating the Moray Kaijun Delve boss ¡®in record time dating back 10 generations,¡¯ according to the System text.¡±

    Tavio shifted in his seat. The accolades sounded impressive even to him when read one after the other like that, but he still lacked any major accomplishments for the Empire.

    ¡°This is quite the list,¡± said the empress. ¡°It goes on for another two pages. As far as I can tell, you have more achievements than anyone in the empire, and as you say, you¡¯re ¡®just a level 17 gold.¡¯¡±

    Tavio sat still, unsure where this was going. He had so many questions, such as why the empress had a journal from Duchess Isabel detailing his personal accomplishments, or why the duchess would keep such a journal in the first place. Did she keep similar journals for Narisa, Yaretzi, or Gharifon?

    ¡°No,¡± said the empress. ¡°You left a singular impression in Duchess Isabel. She has been taking special note of your actions, citing multiple times your valor, talent, and will to succeed.¡±

    Tavio¡¯s cheeks flushed. Could the empress read his mind?

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the empress. ¡°It is a useful skill, especially when no one knows you have it. Still, it is better to talk out loud. Speaking has a way of bringing clarity to thought.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± said Tavio, ¡°I do not know why you are telling me so many things. Such secrets are valuable, and I should not be privy to them. I am becoming a security risk, and I worry what that means for my future, and the future of your Majesty¡¯s rule.¡±

    The empress smiled again, with an appraising warmth.

    ¡°You are wiser even than your stats would indicate,¡± she said, ¡°and your loyalty is firm. Truly, a platinum Delver if there ever was one.¡±

    Tavio¡¯s eyes shifted down and to the right.

    ¡°You grace me with your compliments,¡± he said. ¡°I only wish I could live up to them.¡±

    ¡°You can,¡± she said. Tavio looked back to her, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°Your Majesty?¡±

    ¡°Yaretzi was not the only experimental program we have undertaken. Some very clever minds in our Delver Research Division have come up with an interesting solution to elevating levels without completing additional Delves, up to a point. Effectively, the process can turn Delves completed in one difficulty to a higher one, say, gold to platinum, along with all the attribute points such an increase would provide.¡±

    Tavio leaned forward, momentarily forgetting his etiquette.

    ¡°It is a long and grueling ordeal that only becomes more difficult as a Delver increases in level. So far, all attempts have failed, resulting in the deaths of the participants. However, I think where others fell short, you can soar. If that is what you want, of course.¡±

    ¡°Your Majesty,¡± said Tavio, ¡°that is... that is a tremendous boon. I am not deserving of such an outrageous gift!¡±

    ¡°There it is,¡± said the empress. ¡°I tell you of a highly experimental procedure that has killed everyone who attempted it so far, and your first thought is how great the potential can be. I do believe you will make a fine addition.¡±

    ¡°Addition to what, your Majesty?¡± asked Tavio.

    ¡°My party.¡±

 146 - Anty Bodies

    Nuralie and I had eaten our fill and then separated into our own corners of the room to pursue our individual interests. Nuralie had taken several clippings of the thickly growing ferns and picked several of the glowing mushrooms for study. She had flora samples from across the Delve lined up in front of her on the table, cleared of its dirty dishes, and now covered in a portable alchemy set.

    She cut into one of the large fruits we¡¯d found on the cathedral grounds, releasing a puff of gray vapor that swirled in the air from place to place as though it were inspecting the chamber. Nuralie gently coaxed the vapor into a bottle with hands that glowed with Spiritual power, then stoppered it. She gave it a gentle shake, frowned, then sat it down. She threw a mushroom into a mortar, pressed down on it with a pestle, then poured the bioluminescent juice that came out of the fungus into a beaker that she swirled around like a glass of fine wine. She placed the remains of the mushroom into a small, low-temperature oven to dry, then repeated the process with several more toadstools.

    Meanwhile, I flipped through a text on Mystical Magic. My only spell in the school was Dispel, which I knew I wasn¡¯t using to its full potential.

    Dispel

    Mystical

    Cost: 50% of the mana disrupted

    Requirements: Mystical Magic

    Temporarily disrupt the flow of mana within a spell, object, or person. This can weaken or negate spells, halt the flow of magic within a magical item, or disrupt a magical effect imbued within an individual.

    The cost of Dispel is reduced by 0.5% per level of Mystical Magic.

    My use of the skill had primarily focused on countering spells cast by monsters or other Delvers. I¡¯d used it a handful of times on mana-woven objects, but never directly on a person to disrupt magical effects imbued into their body. Etja¡¯s Nullify spell was similar, but it hit in an area as opposed to Dispel, which was single-target. I¡¯d fallen into the habit of letting the party¡¯s dedicated mage handle most of the countermagic for that reason. She was also just better at it; Mystical Magic was one of my lowest intrinsics with a level of 17.

    I also wanted the intrinsic¡¯s level 20 evolution, which was close enough to taste. Mystical Magic was primarily focused on the manipulation of raw mana, and its evolutions reflected that. My level 10 evo in Mystical improved my mana shaping efficiency across the board for all spells. It might even apply to techniques if I shaped those as well since manipulating stamina in that way was also just called mana shaping.

    Etja¡¯s level 20 in Mystical had significantly improved her natural perception of mana and magical effects, upgrading an inherent feature of Mystical Magic that I also wasn¡¯t taking advantage of. Again, that was because Etja was better at it in every way. But it was about time I started leaning back into the mage side of my build, especially since I was about to be plowing all of my next level¡¯s points into Intelligence to boost my damage. I might as well learn some more fine control over the way mana operates while I was at it.

    Both Grotto and Xim had access to Mystical, but neither focused on it. Xim was whole-hog into Divine, while Grotto split his attention between Divine and Spiritual. If Etja was disabled or, as the case was now, absent for some reason, I was the only party member who could pick up the Mystical slack. We needed redundancy.

    The book had some insights I found interesting, but it was limited by the Hiwardian inclination to hoard the best secrets, lest one¡¯s enemies discover them. Having spoken with Etja about the school a few times, it seemed like the former golem was more knowledgeable on the subject¨Cor more willing to share the good stuff¨Cthan whoever wrote the book I held.

    It was a bit frustrating, but there was a list of potential evolutions that was at least useful. Of course, there was no guarantee I was offered one that was listed, as opposed to being railroaded into something silly by the System or an uncaring eldritch being. Fortune might even interfere with my evolutions, for fuck¡¯s sake. Still, it gave me some ideas about what I might run into.

    As I heaved a frustrated sigh over the lack of useful material in the tome, Nuralie shot up from her alchemy work. Her bow appeared in her hand and she had an arrow nocked before I could dogear the page I was on. It hurt me to mistreat the book so, but I didn¡¯t want to waste time finding a bookmark. Also, screw that book, it was mostly useless.

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked, pulling out Somncres and activating Gracorvus in shield mode.

    ¡°Something living is approaching from the northern wall,¡± she said. I began moving into position between the archer and the potential enemy. After a few seconds, Nuralie added, ¡°It is profane, but not evil.¡±

    ¡°How does that work?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s something the Eschenden rejects, but that isn¡¯t automatically hostile to life?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± she said. ¡°It is close.¡± She stepped away into the ferns and disappeared.

    I focused on the wall, holding Gracorvus up and morphing Somncres into a throwing hammer. I kept a good distance from the wall, giving myself room to take advantage of my ranged options. I heard a shifting, scraping sound ahead of me and felt a soft vibration in the soil at my feet.

    A hand made up of 3 segmented digits and covered in chitin burst from the stone. It grabbed the surface of the wall and pulled. The rest of its body quickly followed, revealing a masculine, bipedal creature covered in the hard exoskeleton of an insect and the color of red clay. Two antennae swished through the air, angling around the room and bobbing in opposing up-and-down motions. A set of four translucent wings stretched out and flicked off dust and dirt before sliding beneath a hard covering on its back. Its features, however, were disturbingly human.

    I held back on attacking, giving the creature time to emerge and study the room with dark eyes, its black irises and pupils formed from small, honeycomb patterns. I was hesitant to open hostilities with a creature that Nuralie hadn¡¯t been able to identify as evil, especially after seeing its face. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn¡¯t human, but it looked intelligent. I went ahead and identified it.

    Deletar, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen.

    All things considered, the name and creature type didn¡¯t sound very friendly.

    ¡°Hello there,¡± I said. ¡°You gave us a startle.¡±

    I maintained my combat stance, hammer primed for a throw and Gracorvus held up between us. I was willing to see if this thing wanted to talk, but I was also ready to squash it at the first sign of aggression. It finished appraising the room and then looked at me.

    ¡°I am Deletar,¡± it said. As its mouth moved I could see sharp, serrated mandibles hidden within.

    ¡°I¡¯m Arlo,¡± I replied. ¡°Well met. May I ask what you¡¯re doing here?¡±

    The creature¡¯s head twitched.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°I smelled new candidates,¡± it said. Its antennae continued to scan the room. ¡°You are alone?¡±

    ¡°My friends stepped out to grab some beer,¡± I answered. ¡°They¡¯ll be back any second.¡±

    Its head twitched again.

    ¡°Very well,¡± it said. ¡°Then I should make this quick.¡±

    A longsword appeared in its hand, the sudden materialization strikingly similar to something pulled from inventory. It gripped the hilt with both hands, turning its body to a three-quarters profile and spreading its legs. It was a motion I¡¯d seen hundreds of times when sparring with Varrin. The big guy¡¯s technique with greatswords used different forms, but he¡¯d stuck to smaller weapons when we dueled to give me a better chance. It hadn¡¯t ever helped me win, but it was a nice thought.

    I didn¡¯t doubt that I could handle a grade 14. Shog had soloed an enemy of that grade and I felt confident that my capabilities exceeded my summon¡¯s. Plus, I¡¯d gained 4 levels since that fight. I was still on guard for tricks, but if a fight could be avoided, all the better.

    ¡°Sure you want to do that?¡± I asked. ¡°I have no quarrel with you.¡±

    ¡°I must,¡± it said, ¡°if I am to leave this place.¡±

    Now that got me curious.

    ¡°Care to elaborate on¨C¡±

    Its wings burst out and kicked up a storm of wind as they surged the creature forward. The sword it held ignited in blue-white flames, and its body glowed white as it muttered under its breath.

    I recognized both spells. The first was Firebrand, a favorite of my former mentor Guardian Lito. It was a basic weapon augment but not one to underestimate. The second was Enhance Attribute, which raised one stat based on Intelligence, Physical Magic level, and the amount of mana dumped into it. If I had to pick, the latter was the more dangerous of the two. There were precious few skills that could enhance stats, and with the way stats scaled, the spell could place an opponent in a completely different league.

    I threw Somncres, Layering Homing Weapon and Oblivion Orb for my classic Void Hammer combo. I also duplicated the weapon 3 times, trying to end the fight before it started. The combo was a resource hog, but it was devastating when it landed. With the bonus from my recent Flurry of Blows evolution, each hammer would also do more damage than the last.

    However, I wasn¡¯t prepared for the consequences of my actions.

    My hammers finally broke the sound barrier.

    A sonic boom erupted, a pressure wave striking my body nearly instantly after the hammer left my hand. A thunderous roar rattled my teeth and armor, but it wasn¡¯t nearly as intense as I¡¯d thought it would be. My Explosion! spell had been louder when I¡¯d hit The Pit with its supercharged version. The sound my hammers made was only about as loud as lightning striking a tree across the street, as opposed to someone firing a handgun an inch away from my ear. Enough to make my ears ring, but not enough to deafen me.

    The enemy was quick, that was for certain, but my hammers were quicker. Somncres prime collided with Deletar¡¯s chest and a bright shield burst to life around him, some evolution or skill granting him a brief moment of invulnerability. The first copy followed an instant after, connecting with his chitin which lit up with runes. Mana weaves worked overtime to mitigate the damage, fizzling and burning out as they absorbed the impact. The second copy landed true, crushing into the exoskeleton and creating a dense web of cracks. Oblivion Orb activated, taking a large chunk of armor with it. The third copy collided with Deletar¡¯s exposed flesh, crushing muscle and bone then shredding internals with Dimensional damage from my orb.

    The damage dealt to Deletar was significant, but the momentum of his charge carried him through. His sword came down on Gracorvus with a two-handed swing, his enhanced might sending a piercing pain down the length of my arm. The flames burst out from his weapon, my shield glowing with heat and fire wrapping around its edges to scorch my armor.

    HP: 1220 -> 1125

    The clang of the insectoid spellblade¡¯s hit was nearly as loud as the sonic boom, but I easily tanked its supercharged attack. Deletar flowed into another form, the gaping wound in his chest making his movements sloppy. I prepared for a second exchange, Somncres reappearing in my hand. However, before we could trade more blows, Deletar went limp and collapsed to the ground.

    I blinked, confused at first, then spotted an arrow sprouting from the creature¡¯s neck. Deletar¡¯s eyes flitted from side to side, his lips working as if to speak, and gray-blue energy pulsed from the wound. I had Mystical Magic on my mind, so I focused and tried to follow the flow of mana from Nuralies arrow. It looked as though the energy was attacking Deletar¡¯s mana matrix, which was rapidly dissolving. My skill level was too low to discern any other notable details about the process. After a few seconds, the creature went completely still.

    I nudged the bugman with my boot, getting no reaction. I hit him with another Oblivion Orb-empowered swing to the chest¨CFortune¡¯s Folly¡¯s signature double tap¨Cerasing most of his chest cavity. I looked at the wall and prepared for more enemies, but Nuralie stepped out of the shadows and gave me the all-clear.

    I lowered my weapon, then bent down to inspect the arrow. It had hit near the base of Deletar¡¯s skull, toward the back of the insectoid¡¯s neck. I was no doctor, but I estimated the projectile had severed the base of its spine, assuming it had one.

    ¡°Damn,¡± I said. ¡°Two attacks and he went down.¡± I scratched at my short beard, then looked at Nuralie¡¯s bow. ¡°What did you hit him with?¡±

    ¡°Broadhead arrow tipped with Spectral poison fired at a critical point identified using Weak Spot with my aim assisted by Calculated Shot, Flawless Precision, and Sniper. I used the skill Nightstrike to add additional Spectral damage, which I discovered that it was weak to by using Target Analysis.¡± Pause. ¡°The attack was further empowered by Rot, Plague Doctor, and Haunting Poisons, although I do not think they added much.¡±

    I stared at her, mind running down the mile-long list of abilities she¡¯d just rattled off.

    ¡°Well,¡± I said, ¡°it was effective.¡±

    ¡°I am satisfied with the results.¡±

    Your party has slain Deletar, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 14 Emerald Chips

    2) 1 Insectoid Essence

    3) 1 Longsword of the Bluewren

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    You receive: 7 Emerald Chips.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter.

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    ¡°Seven chips!¡± I said. ¡°Loot split 2 ways goes a lot farther than 5, eh?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps we should start a side venture,¡± she said dryly.

    ¡°A & N Exterminators. If you¡¯re infested, we¡¯re invested!¡±

    ¡°When bugs become squatters¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°then we come to slaughter.¡±

    I chuckled, then pulled out the sword to inspect.

    Longsword of the Bluewren

    An heirloom that has been passed down for generations and thought to be lost with the disappearance of its wielder, Deletar Bluewren. This sword is made from an alloy of Frozen Steel and Madrin, making it highly resilient and receptive to mana.

    Requirements: STR 20, AGI 10, INT 10, WIS 10

    Effects:

    1) Beneficial spells and techniques that target or buff this weapon are 25% stronger.

    2) Negative spells and techniques that target or debuff this weapon are 25% weaker.

    3) +20 Mana, +2 Mana Regen

    My humor dissolved as I studied the item.

    ¡°Bluewren is one of Hiward¡¯s main houses,¡± I said, tone somber. ¡°It says the owner was Deletar Bluewren.¡± I looked down at the insectoid creature we¡¯d just slain.

    ¡°Was he corrupted somehow?¡± asked Nuralie. She looked like the idea made her ill.

    ¡°No idea. But this is certainly something to loop Varrin in on. If Deletar is one of the Delvers that disappeared inside this Delve, then if someone gets stuck in here for too long or fails a challenge¡­¡±

    I trailed off, leaving the thought incomplete. Neither of us wanted to consider the idea that we might become the insectoid pawns of whatever twisted Delve Core ran this place. I felt my pulse quicken as the notion settled, but not out of fear, out of anger. It was one thing for a Delver to die within a Delve, it came with the job. It was something else entirely for the Delve to twist them into a monstrous slave.

    Deletar had even kept some level of his prior intelligence, making whatever happened to him all the worse. He¡¯d said that he had to kill me in order to escape. Were there more Doomed Aspirants wandering the halls of this place, fallen Delvers who sought to kill those who entered for a chance at salvation? Even if they could escape, would they remain trapped in such a twisted body? It was perverse.

    It was made worse by the notification we received.

    Delve Objective Updated:

    Your group has successfully navigated the trial placed before you, but your allies have yet to emerge from their own. The time for your allies to complete their challenges has run its course, but you may extend that time limit for so long as you survive.

    Time until you are challenged by the next camp of Aspirants: 16 hours.

 147 - A & N Exterminators

    It was frustrating that the System, the Delve Core, or whatever was running this place hadn¡¯t given us an express time limit before we¡¯d gone into our individual challenges. It also seemed arbitrary that we were suddenly facing a countdown a few hours after Nuralie and I emerged from the loop. Had we barely scraped out a victory just before we would have failed a hidden objective? Or was there something else going on?

    It wasn¡¯t normal, both Nuralie and I agreed. While Varrin, Grotto, and Xim were the resident Delve experts, neither of us were slouches on the topic and this didn¡¯t fit the pattern. First, while Delves were filled with hidden traps, and evolving objectives weren¡¯t rare, a fail condition that was completely obscured was unheard of. Usually, if there was some secret that needed to be uncovered, there were hints laid out for us to discover. As far as Nuralie and I could tell, at no point had we been presented with something that suggested we were up against the clock. If anything, this Delve encouraged us to take our time and be intentional, punishing hasty decisions.

    Second, the nature of this new enemy was out of step. Delves were filled with mana monsters, machines, and other non-sentient foes. Those that were sentient were inside the Delve by choice, such as our old pal Hognay or The Mimic.

    While Deletar had probably entered the Delve of his own free will, I doubted his transformation was at his behest, and the decision to attack us had seemed coerced. If the System existed to challenge Delvers, encourage their growth, and guide them toward ascension, why would it penalize a failure by warping them into corrupted pawns afterward? Delves certainly ¡®recycled¡¯ fallen Delvers¨Cconsuming their bodies for mana and other resources¨Cbut this sort of thing was beyond the pale.

    That left us with a few theories. The most obvious was that we had no idea what we were talking about and Delves were sometimes malicious entities that did this sort of thing. Next was the idea that Deletar had not truly been the Delver himself, but a drone created based on his build and given his weapon.

    It was still abhorrent to create a thinking being that believed it was someone who¡¯d died and to lead it on with the hope of escape. In some ways, that was no different than having doomed the original to the same fate. It was possible that Deletar had been a convincing fake with no real will of his own, the few sentences he spoke being predetermined lines the creature recited from a script. That idea was less morally reprehensible, but why deploy such a scare tactic?

    Finally, there was the theory that we were being manipulated to see a reality that wasn¡¯t true. I¡¯d already dismissed that idea back in the loop, reasoning that my Wisdom was so high that a mental attack would be a remote enough possibility that we could discard it as a possibility until given reason to believe otherwise. If a level 10 Delve had the capacity to break through my mental defenses, what Delver could overcome that level of attack? If I had the stats of a normal level 10, I¡¯d need to have invested nearly half of all my stats into Wisdom to get to where I was. Certainly, the Delve didn¡¯t expect challengers to dive so hard into a single stat. Our attribute diversity had helped so much, that I wasn¡¯t sure how we¡¯d have survived without it. So, mental boloney seemed unlikely.

    Regardless of why the Delve was doing what it was, Nuralie and I had to handle it. The System message had implied that the next wave of bugmen would be a ¡®group¡¯, rather than an individual. We¡¯d melted Deletar without trouble¨Ca single grade 14 wasn¡¯t a threat¨Cbut two grade 14s could be annoying. Any more than that might start to test us.

    That is, if we hadn¡¯t been given time to prepare.

    We had 16 hours until the next Doomed Aspirants came knocking, and we used that time wisely. I initially tried to see if I could find a viable teleportation destination to the outside, but wherever we were, it was surrounded by at least a few miles worth of dirt and stone. Even if I had found an empty space to blink into, there was always the chance it was outside the Delve. I didn¡¯t relish the idea of floating around through space. If we were buried in some geological body, it was also possible to teleport into an underground chamber filled with unbreathable or toxic air. Teleporting somewhere you couldn¡¯t see was just a bad idea altogether.

    We then tried our hand at digging out through the tunnel Deletar had made. It had mostly collapsed behind the bugman, but the dirt was loose and the stone wall was already broken. It was the easiest mode of egress. Unfortunately, that tactic was met by a System message.

    Leaving the challenge room will result in the automatic failure of your party members in their group trials.

    I hadn¡¯t been surprised, but it was still good to explore our options.

    With our ¡°run and hide¡± plan foiled, we adjusted the terrain to better suit us. The room was more or less a flat expanse with some meager cover provided by the ferns growing throughout it. There were some shadows Nuralie could use to hide, but once she was discovered she wouldn¡¯t have many places to fall back to. We still had several fortification packages like the one I¡¯d used against Yaretzi, along with some basic construction materials, so we set up a series of defensible locations with a variety of orientations. Deletar had come from the northern wall, but that was no guarantee that the rest would also come from the north. We destroyed the glowstones lighting the room as well, and harvested all the bioluminescent mushrooms, since Nuralie and I both had excellent darkvision. It might cause trouble for intruders without any sensory upgrades.

    Next came the traps.

    Alchemy was only one piece of Nuralie¡¯s capability to orchestrate the painful death of her foes in advance. The loson also had the Machinist intrinsic, which augmented her ability to work with mechanical gadgets. It was the skill she¡¯d used to create timed launchers for Dazzlers and poisons when we assaulted the Littan camp, among other devices. It had also seen substantial growth throughout the maze at the beginning of Deijin¡¯s Descent where she disarmed trap after trap, disassembled them, and kept the remains. The skill was on the precipice of an evolution, and as she worked to install the deadly instruments around the room, she finally reached level 20.

    ¡°Easy choice,¡± she said.

    Mana Triggers (20)

    You can create runes that allow for your traps to be triggered on contact from up to 2X feet away, where X is your level in Machinist. You may have these runes ignore allies.

    Now Nuralie didn¡¯t need wires, pressure plates, or switches for her targets to stumble into. She summoned glyphs that melted into the ground, invisible to the naked eye and undetectable without some form of mana sense or revealing ability. It cut the work for installing traps in half, and she could even set a glyph off herself to remotely activate a trap in a different part of the room.

    The traps we had on hand included a variety of elemental devices, a couple of traps each dealing Spectral, Force, and Dimensional damage, potion launchers, and good old-fashioned crossbows. My contribution was mostly limited to manual labor¨Cmainly digging¨Cand 2 uses of Sage Advice to help Nuralie accomplish some fine-tuning of the traps outside the expertise of her own magic schools.

    We didn¡¯t set everything up at first. We wanted to hold some traps in reserve in case we were faced with multiple waves of foes, which both of us were certain would happen. It would have been unfortunate if our fancy, non-renewable magic traps all got triggered by the first few enemies running circles around the room. We set up five kill zones, one around each wall and one in the center in case enemies decided to emerge from below or¨Cas a superior tactician would advise¨Cfrom above us.

    That left us with an established route leading around the space and between the kill zones that was clear of traps or crossfire and gave access to fortified cover. It was also organized in an asymmetric pattern so that it wouldn¡¯t become immediately apparent to our enemies what was safe and what wasn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t accidentally set off the runes, but I could activate a few of the mechanical triggers that Nuralie had mixed in to diversify the challenge our enemies would face.

    After all of that was said and done, I kept watch while Nuralie caught some rest. There wasn¡¯t enough time for me to get any sleep, but hopefully, there would be another long break between waves. I was a long way off from suffering deprivation symptoms, but any good Delver knew to grab some kip anytime it became available.

    Finally, we were set up and ready to go, waiting for the last few minutes to countdown. Nuralie was well hidden, and I waited for her signal telling me that there were enemies at the gates. I stuffed some earplugs in and slapped on my helm. Nuralie called out two enemies approaching from the western wall, and I started channeling Explosion!.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The pair of hostiles emerged at the same time, their entry separated by a few yards. As Nuralie and I had agreed, we¡¯d designed the triggers to give the enemy time to consider their actions, and for me to try and get them to talk. One was a masculine, mantis-looking person with curved blades melded into his body. The other was stocky and feminine, with a large pair of pincers attached to a bulging tail that made her look like an earwig; the most repulsive insect known to man. Both identified as Grade 14 Doomed Aspirants. The woman carried a staff, and so I silently oriented Explosion! to detonate next to her. Always kill the squishies first.

    ¡°Hey folks,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°We¡¯re not looking for any trouble. Do either of you care to negotiate?¡±

    Despite the earplugs, my hearing was sensitive enough for regular conversation.

    The pair of insectoids cast a glance at one another. Mantis was the one to reply, his voice sounding like someone took sandpaper to his vocal cords.

    ¡°No,¡± he said.

    I cast Explosion!

    Earwig was launched away, her left arm blown into chunks by my spell. She landed on a rune triggering a flamethrower that sprayed liquid fire down onto her from above. The trap was a one-time use, filled with a substance that caused the magical flames to adhere to their target. Earwig screeched as the fire ignited her, either lacking the magical means to extinguish herself or forgetting that she could do so in her panic. I gave it even odds as to which.

    Mantis stumbled forward, catching the front side of one of our barriers to keep from falling, blades scraping along the fortification¡¯s metal edge. He wasn¡¯t close enough to the spell to take any serious damage, but he stumbled into a pressure plate and three crossbows fired poisoned bolts into his carapace. One bounced off, but two found soft spots along his abdomen.

    Before he could recover I hurled a quadruple Void Hammer at his chest. He managed to parry one, and a defensive skill protected him from the second, but the third and fourth landed. Two chunks of his chest were reduced to a pulpy mess, his Dimensional resistance keeping some of his body from being warped away, but not enough for the remaining tissue to retain structural integrity.

    As the contents of Mantis¡¯s chest emptied out and dripped down the barrier before him, an arrow appeared in his eye. His head shot back from the force of the projectile, then he slumped to the ground.

    Amazingly, he wasn¡¯t quite dead, but he wasn¡¯t getting back up. Nuralie¡¯s poison quickly finished the job.

    The room was filled with the scent of bug guts and burning flesh.

    ¡°Not too bad,¡± I said. ¡°Though it¡¯s a shame the flamethrower got spent. Probably overkill.¡±

    ¡°There is no such thing,¡± said Nuralie. She was already moving to reset the crossbows that had fired.

    I dragged the bug bodies to a pit we¡¯d dug for corpse disposal and hucked them in alongside the desiccated remains of Deletar. The Delve would soon drain the corpses of the new arrivals down to blackened shells, but they would¡¯ve still created a tripping hazard. It was important to keep the workplace clear of any debris.

    Soon after we received our kill notifications and rewards, each of us netting 14 emerald chips for our efforts. It was an obscene sum of money, enough for a sensible person to retire young and live out the rest of their days in luxury. Before I could review the rest of the loot, the System kindly informed us of our adjusted timeline.

    Time until you are challenged by the next camp of Aspirants: 8 hours.

    ¡°Lovely,¡± I muttered after reading it. ¡°The timer¡¯s been halved.¡±

    ¡°I expect there will be 3 bugs next time, as well,¡± said Nuralie.

    I bit my lip but didn¡¯t worry about it too much. Two bugs had practically been easier than one, after all of our prep. Three bugs shouldn¡¯t be awful. However, If it kept escalating¨Cwith four bugs in four hours followed by five bugs in two hours¨CI wasn¡¯t sure how far we¡¯d get, even with all of our advantages. I tried not to let the thought get to me, instead saying a silent prayer that the rest of the party would arrive soon, and went on to check out the weapons we¡¯d received.

    Earwig had dropped a staff that boosted healing a bit but had no foreboding lore or house identification attached to it. Xim might use it, but it wasn¡¯t really her style. Mantis had dropped a pair of blades the System identified as Twin Kukris of Devastation, though I questioned their classification as kukris. They were curved forward, slightly smaller than an average shortsword, and did an extra 50% damage on crit when used alone, or 100% extra when wielded together. The handles were made out of the remains of Mantis¡¯s arms but shaped well enough for a good grip. Nuralie had a level of competency with compact blades, so I handed them off to her.

    We also got 2 more insectoid essences and Mantis dropped a Brooch of House Spyreling that allowed for long-range voice communication with another brooch that was linked to it. As expected, the item did not function inside of the Delve.

    I considered the name of the brooch, but House Spyreling wasn¡¯t a Hiwardian house. I didn¡¯t know enough about the nobility of other nations to recognize the name, so I set it aside to show Varrin. We finished setting the room up for the next group and I grabbed a nap while Nuralie toyed with her new weapons, which she¡¯d decided were very big knives, as opposed to very small swords.

    I dreamt of a pair of eyes the size of planets watching me, impassive and unblinking.

    I awoke wondering whether I should be thinking harder about accepting that Luck evolution. I moved the matter up to the top of The List, ate breakfast, and got ready for the assuredly violent day ahead of me.

    The third group came from the south wall and was, as expected, comprised of three bugs. I didn¡¯t bother talking this time, instead activating Explosion! the moment I saw a wasp in tattered green robes who was holding a wand. He¡¯d obviously forgotten the importance of Fortitude, as my spell reduced him to giblets.

    The other two put up more of a fight. There was a stink bug person standing seven feet tall, weighing something like 600 pounds, and swinging a two-handed spiked mace that crushed everything it encountered like a musical theater student¡¯s hopes of a lucrative career path. The other was a flea of indeterminate gender who hurled javelins at a constant, consistent pace like a moving turret.

    Our crossbow traps clinked off Stinkbug¡¯s shell and Flea leapt around the room with such speed that I couldn¡¯t land a hit. I had to use Gravity Anchor to keep from getting slung around the chamber by Stinkbug¡¯s mace while I soaked enough Javelins to the back that after a half minute of fighting my porcupine cosplay was coming along quite well.

    The tides turned when Nuralie let loose with a charged Hunger Shot that placed three broadheads just below Flea¡¯s tiny head, and their whole cranium popped right off. Stinkbug grew enraged after that, but it only made him sloppy. I Shortcut around the room, kiting him into traps while Nuralie lined up shots at his joints. Eventually, I opened up a hole in the armor along his back with a Void Hammer, and Nuralie deposited a lethal arrow through the hole and into Stinkbug¡¯s raging heart.

    More chips, more insectoid essences, a Wand of Spectral Bolt, a Ceremonial Javelin of Infinite Revenge¨Cwhich came with an ammo counter that slowly replenished over time¨Cand a Giant Spiked Mace of the Bloody Jubilee.

    The wand was okay, but neither I nor Etja had the right attunement for it. The javelin was a cool throwing weapon, but its governing intrinsic was Pierce so it didn¡¯t fit my build. Besides, I didn¡¯t have any nearby Diablos to slay with it. The spiked mace was by far the most interesting.

    Giant Spiked Mace of the Bloody Jubilee

    Two-Handed Mace

    To Spike,

    In commemoration of the day we feasted upon the life¡¯s blood of our foes.

    With love,

    Dru

    Requirements: STR 40, Blunt 40

    Effects:

    1) This weapon deals an additional 100% damage when wielded with two hands.

    2) Whenever this weapon deals damage it applies Bleeding/minute equal to your STR plus level in Blunt. Critical strikes apply twice this amount.

    3) Once per hour you may increase your health regeneration by an amount equal to the combined Bleeding/min of enemies within a number of feet of you equal to your STR. This regeneration increase lasts for 1 hour.

    It was a Blunt weapon, it increased regeneration, and it even came with a sweet note attached. I was nowhere close to being able to wield it, and I still preferred Somncres, but it might serve as a nifty backup weapon. I also remembered that Grotto could share my intrinsics through the new evolution my Traveler¡¯s Amulet had attained. Seeing the little guy swinging a six-foot mace of blood-soaked devastation would be pretty cool, but I wasn¡¯t sure he¡¯d ever have the Strength for it. Either way, I tossed it into my inventory for later assessment.

    Time until you are challenged by the next camp of Aspirants: 4 hours.

    ¡°As irritated as this ¡®challenge¡¯ makes me,¡± I said, ¡°at least it¡¯s consistent.¡±

    ¡°We will not live another 8 hours at this rate,¡± said Nuralie.

    I did the depressing math in my head. It checked out.

    Undeterred by the impossibility of surviving exponentially growing danger, we reset the room and got ready for the next wave.

    This time, they came from above like properly sophisticated villains. However, the four insects did not land amidst our thoughtfully curated and arranged traps of sundry death.

    They collapsed the ceiling on top of them.

    Mechanical triggers activated, arrows fired into piles of dirt, and the runes for our Spectral and Ice traps were buried deep enough that they¡¯d never be triggered unless one of our enemies was an enthusiastic¨Cand evil¨Cgopher. Then again, plenty of bugs dug into the ground. I still had hope.

    There was a pause before the new Aspirants revealed themselves, which gave me time to keep charging Explosion! I had over 100 mana wrapped up in the spell when the bugs showed their faces. Though there were four of them, one in particular was impossible to ignore.

    It was half woman, half fly, its body distorted into a tall, curvy humanoid with furry, black skin, compound eyes, and a squirming proboscis in place of a mouth. Its wings buzzed as it descended, dark robes flowing around it like a wraith¡¯s death shroud. It sat atop the back of a spectral, skeletal horse that glowed with lazily winding tendrils of cobalt energy, misty and ethereal.

    It fell through the hole flanked on all four sides by its allies. Before their feet¨Cor hooves¨Chad touched the ground, I snapped my fingers and activated my spell.

    Death Fly¡¯s hand twisted. She cast Dispel. Explosion! fizzled.

    It¡¯s amazing how one small act can reshape an entire battle.

 148 - The Four Bugwomen of the Apocalypse

    Once Explosion! had been countered, a lot of things happened very fast.

    Fly was flanked on three sides by allies in a triangle formation, a gruesome menagerie of insectoid bodies. Their frontliner fell while facing me and wasted no time charging.

    The creature was a hulking woman covered in a dark brown carapace. Her body was wide and oval in shape, with sharp horns growing from her skull. Before she¡¯d even landed, broad wings shot out from beneath armored plates on her back, and I was reminded of a time I looked up to see a roach on the ceiling, only for it to fall toward me and fly away at the last second.

    There are fewer things more terrifying than a flying cockroach.

    Roach launched forward, wings kicking up a gust of air and sending dirt swirling around her allies behind her. She led with an 8-foot-long bardiche with a curved, bladed head half the length of my body. It was clearly a two-handed weapon and she was wielding it in two hands. Of course, she had 3 hands on each side of her body since she was a fucking roach, and the two hands she held it with were both on her right side. Her left side was guarded by a tower shield as tall as she was, which was only slightly shorter than her weapon.

    She flashed through the room as fast as one of my hammers, the sonic boom her movement created even louder. I had my shield up and ready to block, but I could barely follow the arc of her bardiche as it crashed into Gracorvus.

    Fortunately, I¡¯d positioned myself with a Spectral trap between myself and the baddies falling from the sky. Roach¡¯s ¡®feet¡¯ didn¡¯t contact Nuralie¡¯s rune, but the trigger had a spherical radius that could be adjusted out to 1 yard. Roach¡¯s path took her over the trap, flying just close enough to the ground to set it off.

    A small cluster of skeletal faces with yawning mouths swept out of the ceiling and bit into Roach with ethereal fangs. The warrior barely seemed to notice, already swinging her bardiche again.

    To be clear, the time from when I saw Roach to when she was smashing into Gracorvus with her second attack was less than a second. This bug was fast. Her second hit knocked Gracorvus aside, and her third cut into the armor on my chest. I felt the blade carve through skin and muscle, but before my severed nerves could start sending pain signals from the damage caused by the razor¡¯s edge of her bardiche, she was already making another attack.

    I somehow managed to get Gracorvus back up in time to block, but I could already feel fractures in my left arm as the force of the beating traveled through my shield and into my body.

    HP: 1220 -> 993

    At the same time Roach was going absolutely HAM on my soft, fragile body, Necro Fly¡¯s hands formed a series of complex mudras. They were the most human-looking part of her, but her fingers bent and distorted with impossible degrees of flexibility, and she completed whatever she¡¯d been casting before Roach had gotten her third swing in.

    Azure fractures spiderwebbed through the floor beside her, and a portal opened. A massive, thick hand grabbed the edge of the floor, and a hulking creature of stone and pure mana tore its way through the breach, rising nearly to the ceiling.

    You have observed the Mystical Summon: Arcane Goliath spell.

    The description of the spell added little information its name didn¡¯t already communicate, but I did note that I could pick the spell up if I wanted to lean more into the minion game. I only hoped that Fly¡¯s summons weren¡¯t nearly as broken as my own, especially since the moment she¡¯d finished the spell her hands dashed through the motions again, several times faster than the first instance. I was half-expecting for smoke to start pouring off the digits from sheer friction against the air.

    Another portal opened above, and a rippling creature of fire and molten rock descended.

    You have observed the Divine Summon: Infernal spell.

    The second spell had gone off so quickly that the Infernal was hitting the battlefield only an instant after the Goliath. The Goliath¡¯s crystalline head puffed mana vapor and turned to find its enemy, but the Infernal had already locked onto me with smoldering reptilian eyes. It moved to give Roach an assist by clawing my guts out, and I had just enough time to identify the creatures and get a sense of their power.

    Arcane Goliath: Construct, Grade 12.

    Infernal: Demon, Grade 12.

    So, each one was about as strong as Shog was when he soloed the Lardigrey boss.

    Not good.

    As soon as Roach¡¯s fourth swing landed, the Infernal struck at my midsection with burning claws that left my armor glowing where it hit. The smack made my teeth rattle, but my armor held up and I took the blow without losing health. After such a fast and furious opener, I began suspecting that my Speed stat may not have been high enough.

    There was a gurgling, trilling scream, and I caught the briefest glance of one of the other bugs clutching a hand to its neck. It was a slim-framed woman covered in soft fur with a pair of vibrant blue and yellow wings. She floated in the air, a mist of yellow particles shedding from her body and beginning to spread around the room. She held firmly to a staff in her left hand¨Cits end a vibrantly glowing hunk of amber¨Cwhile her right was pressed against a wound that gushed blood. Her body was shrouded by a blue shimmer I recognized as Mana Barrier¨Cthe ability that Etja used to offset damage¨Cbut the fletched tail of an arrow was still sprouting from between her fingers.

    Mobility was my best friend, so the moment I could process the situation I cast Shortcut to extricate myself from the whirlwind of attacks from Roach and the Infernal. I appeared before Butterfly, smelling blood in the water, and decided that with all the bugs around I needed more arms to fit in. Since the moment Explosion! had been countered, I¡¯d been focusing to activate one of my oh shit buttons.

    I used Therianthropy, and a pair of violet and blue wings burst out from behind me. They passed through my cuirass as though it didn¡¯t exist, their forms otherwise solid, and two downy tentacles rolled out beneath them, coiling around my sides.

    Now, there were many things I could do with these tentacles. I could slap people around with them, but unarmed attacks weren¡¯t my strong suit. I could grapple people with them, but I wasn¡¯t built like Shog and didn¡¯t have the experience to really muscle these bugs into submission. The tentacles were also excellent for tickle fights, but I¡¯d only just met these ladies, so that felt impolite. I¡¯d had a good bit of time to practice having extra limbs while in the maze and had found at least one curious way to use them that was terribly effective.

    Throwing more hammers.

    My inventory opened in a flash and the tentacles pulled out a pair of my old throwing hammers. Butterfly¡¯s body had begun to glow, forcing the arrow back out of her neck as the wound closed. I whipped my tentacles forward to huck both hammers at her, their sonic booms adding to the cacophony of the battle. The shockwaves were already knocking dirt and dust from the ceiling.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Before I could see the outcome of my point-blank hammers, I was struck by lightning. And an arrow. Then another arrow and more lightning. Then another arrow and yet more lightning.

    A storm of projectiles crashed into my shield as the fourth member of the enemy crew leapt through the air. She had spindly legs that belied their strength as she kicked from the ground. Her body was green and wings were tucked in close at her back, although she wasn¡¯t using them, seeming satisfied to jump where she wanted to be. The sound her bow made as she fired was a rattling chirp, its length covered in leafy adornments and small, strange bells that crackled with electricity. She fired an arrow every second as she leaped away, twittering like a cricket.

    The first arrow thunked into Gracorvus, detonating a charge of lightning that coursed through my muscles, making my arm seize up. A flash of light and crackling thunder struck nearly at the same moment, a bolt leaping from Cricket between each arrow. By the time the third arrow landed my body was locked in a spasm of electrocution, health melting beneath the onslaught.

    You have observed the Lightning Bolt spell.

    Lightning Bolt

    Physical

    Cost: 10 Mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Physical Magic 20

    You create a bolt of lightning extending in a 1-foot wide line from you out to a number of feet equal to 40 + twice your Physical Magic skill level.

    Make an INT spell attack against the first entity in the line of the bolt, dealing lightning damage with a damage bonus equal to your Physical Magic skill level. If the attack hits, the remaining length of the bolt is halved, and you can have it arc to a new target. You may repeat this until the length of the bolt is exhausted. You cannot attack the same entity more than once per bolt.

    You are being electrocuted!

    You have gained three stacks of Shocked!

    Stacks of Shocked have imposed the Stunned debuff!

    Body of Theseus has reduced the Stunned debuff to the Immobilized debuff. You are rooted in place for 6 seconds.

    Critical Damage reduced by Body of Theseus!

    HP: 993 -> 768

    Cricket¡¯s hits were fast, but each of them alone wasn¡¯t remarkably strong. By the time the first bolt of lightning hit, I was barely registering her arrows. Still, being Immobilized was a big issue, but not nearly as bad as becoming Stunned. That would have left me helpless. I had ways around not being able to travel using standard locomotion, but it was far from ideal. I took solace in the fact that one of Cricket¡¯s leaps had taken her into a poison trap and the insect woman was starting to cough her lungs out. Also, that spell looked pretty good.

    While I took enough lightning up the ass to shit sparks for the next 3 weeks, my hammers had found their target. Both hammers had gone out with Homing Weapon, but I didn¡¯t have the time to layer on Oblivion Orb. They were normal throwing hammers, so they didn¡¯t have the multi-copy oomph that Somncres could deliver, but they were still supersonic hunks of metal flying at tender flesh.

    Unfortunately, Butterfly soaked the hits with Mana Barrier at the cost of a healthy dollop of mana. The least visually offensive bug apparently had mana for days, however, and not only did my hammers fail to do more than leave a few cracks on her thin carapace, but energy swelled around her, healing the damage that had been dealt. Even so, while her wounds closed, the creeping toxic veins of Nuralie¡¯s poison only grew.

    As mana filled the cracks in Butterfly¡¯s chest and continued sealing the hole in her neck, her wings beat forward and showered me in glowing spores. A hypnotic bloom of particles filled my vision, humming and spiraling in a circular motion. I became lightheaded and felt magic digging into my mind, convincing me that my sick biceps were puny and that my perfect X-frame body was as feeble as a newborn lamb.

    You have observed the Curse of Weakness Spell.

    Curse of Weakness

    Divine

    Cost: 5 mana per target + 1 mana/second per affected target

    Requirements: CHA 10, Divine Magic 10

    Target a number of entities up to the number of evolutions you have in Divine Magic. The targeted entities must pass a WIS check opposed by your CHA or become Weakened. Maintaining this ability requires Focus.

    Weakened: Whenever a weakened character would deal damage, that damage is halved.

    Your WIS check is successful!

    You have resisted the Weakened debuff!

    I said a silent thanks to the gods of massive resource pools that my Wisdom was as outrageously high as it was. I had no good way to know how close that save had been, but I could feel my strapping musculature deflating for a moment. Usually, I shrugged off effects calling for Wisdom saves without noticing a thing, so having any piece of a mental attack take root was worrying. In fact, now that I knew Butterfly could both heal and debuff, I resolved that Nuralie had picked the right target. Butterfly absolutely had to die first. I would allow no psychic attack to rob me of my swagger.

    The next thing I saw was a giant, blue fist swinging at my face.

    The Goliath had finally gotten up the steam to enter the fray, and as its enormous hand connected with my helm, a wave of force pulsed out with the strike. I was sent careening backward, body spinning from the Goliath¡¯s hook. I crashed into one of our barriers, the metal warping with a groan and I bounced off of it to hit the southern wall with enough power to leave cracks.

    HP 768 -> 718

    The punch itself hadn¡¯t been that strong, but the kicker was Mystical Force damage against which I had little defense. My resilience from Fortitude was enough to make the high-speed collisions with metal and stone feel more like aggressive encounters with foam and rubber. But I was across the room and knocked on my butt, muscles still seizing from Cricket¡¯s lightning. To make matters worse, Roach was already on top of me again. She¡¯d even probably had to slow down to follow my flight.

    Roach was an aggressive, high-Speed tank with enough Strength that the hulking towershield she held looked like it was made of cardboard and the bardiche she was swinging at my chest moved as though it were light as a reed. Cricket was a mobile turret that output a constant stream of arrows enhanced with lightning and accompanied by bolts that locked people down with Stun and Immobilize. Butterfly could heal, debuff, and had so much juice for her Mana Barrier that she barely looked like she¡¯d taken damage. Finally, Death Fly was in the backline, summoning bruisers to keep enemies on the back foot and place a meatwall between the enemy and her softer allies.

    It was a good fucking party comp. I had to give that much to them. My respect for their synergy did little to take the sting away as Roach hit me from above with a spiraling strike from her bardiche, then spun her body to strike me again. Both blows landed within a tenth of a second. My armor tore, ribs severed, one of my lungs collapsed, and I was sailing across the room once more.

    HP: 718 -> 522

    Fly was finishing up her next summon, calling out a ghostly wraith with tattered robes that looked like it bought clothes at the same Necromantic Outfitters boutique as Fly. The wraith scanned the room before it charged off toward a fortified barrier in the dark. I assumed that it had found Nuralie, and despite being more than half dead, I wasn¡¯t going to lose the aggro that easily.

    Before Roach¡¯s beatdown could introduce my face to another wall, I cast Shortcut and appeared right beside Death Fly, Somncres raised and ready. Fly flinched, then looked down at me from atop her skeletal horse with a cold gaze. The wraith stopped its charge, spinning to see me a handful of feet away from its master. The Infernal was on the other side of the room but had spun to rush at my new position. The Goliath did the same but struggled to stop its momentum from charging toward my prior location. Roach was also on the move, but I had a brief moment alone with Fly, and the wraith abandoned its hunt for Nuralie to try and come to her master¡¯s defense.

    But my move was a feint.

    I spun and hurled Somncres into Butterfly¡¯s back, the insectoid woman too slow to have reacted to my disappearance. I copied my hammer three times, each one gaining all the buffs of my Void Hammer combo, then threw both hammers from my tentacles as well. Six blunt instruments and four Oblivion Orbs found their target.

    A hardened shell instantly formed around Butterly, the insectoid woman aware enough to barely react in time to the danger with a skill, but it was hastily cast and quickly shattered under the first hammer. The next five shredded her torso, hammers crushing exoskeleton and Oblivion Orbs blinking muscle and organs into the nether. Her body flashed blue over and over as her Mana Barrier struggled to absorb the extra damage, but by the end, she was left sagging to the ground, wings broken and blood freely flowing.

    She continued to struggle for a moment, body swaying, and I was amazed she wasn¡¯t dead. However, she only held on for a moment before collapsing.

    The battlefield went still as the bugs looked at their deceased comrade. Hammers slapped back into my hand and tentacles as they returned with Homing Weapon and I readied for the rest of the fight. I was surrounded, unable to keep every enemy in my view, but Soul-Sight had long been active and helped me keep up with whoever was behind me.

    ¡°One down,¡± I mumbled. ¡°Six to go.¡±

    Somehow the number of enemies was going in the wrong direction.

    Everything that¡¯d happened had occurred in 10 seconds or less. The pause in the fight was probably less than one, but it felt like it dragged on for a minute.

    An eerie quiet filled the room now that hammers and bodies weren¡¯t warping around at more than 800 miles per hour, but it was broken by a guttural chuckle. I peeked back at Fly to find her quietly laughing with a voice that was the envy of bog witches worldwide. She slowly raised a finger and pointed it at Butterfly, uttering a spell that should have been entirely expected, but which still caught me flat-footed.

    ¡°Raise Dead.¡±

 149 - Death Sequence

    Kill the healer.

    It was age-old wisdom, passed down from elder homicidal vagrants to their soon-to-be murderhobo progeny. Varrin had probably been laid to bed as a child with cheerful tales of the underdog swordsman turning the tide of battle by expediting the enemy cleric¡¯s journey toward their final destination in the embrace of their god. I expected that Lil¡¯ Var had a colorfully illustrated guide on kill priority right next to his pillow, tucked lovingly next to his wooden toy sword.

    Healers were force multipliers, amplifying the well-defended health pools of their armored comrades, dispelling hostile debuffs, and maybe weaving in some control effects of their own. Because of a healer¡¯s investment into mental stats, such as Wisdom, Charisma, and Intelligence, their resilience to damage was usually subpar. If they could be caught out of position and properly burned down in time, killing the healer was almost always worth paying for with a little of your own blood and resources.

    While killing the healer was on page 1 of Cloudy With a Chance of TPK, page 2 followed closely with the advice, ¡°Kill the summoner.¡±

    As Death Fly¡¯s spell sent a wave of power through the room, I was faced with a crisis of choice. Nuralie and I had started the fight facing down twice our number in foes, each of whom was graded as a deadly challenge for a Delver 4 levels higher than ourselves. Even with Butterfly taken out of the equation, we were now facing down thrice our number of foes due to Fly¡¯s unopposed introduction of hefty backup. Letting Death Fly do her thing was the price we¡¯d paid to lead Butterfly into the grave. Disappointingly, Death Fly sought to dig that grave right back up before her ally¡¯s corpse had even had time to stop twitching.

    The Raise Dead spell sent tendrils of mana through Butterfly¡¯s mangled body, and I had a brief window of opportunity to do something about it. The only hangup was that I had a brief window to do many things. All of these options vied for the number one spot on my list of steps to be taken in the next 3 seconds, lest I perish in painful agony.

    Roach charged on blurred wings with her bardiche raised to strike. The Goliath¡¯s thousand-pound body of arcane stone lumbered toward me, fists shimmering with mystic force. The Infernal¡¯s white-hot claws sent shimmers of heat through the air as it drew close enough to rake them across my body. The Wraith returned to its hunt for Nuralie, and Cricket had recovered enough from the poison gas trap to line up another series of lightning arrows on my position.

    Being limited by the laws of space and time as I was, I could only react to so many of these things at once. Blocking was generally a solid move in situations like these, but Dispelling was also a tempting choice. Fortunately, Raise Dead was an infamous spell for obvious reasons, so I knew a bit about it.

    Raise Dead was one among many skills that would result in dirty looks and nasty rumors should someone catch you using it, although it was not banned outright. I¡¯d made a list of such widely known and legally gray skills, having researched each and every one to ensure that I didn¡¯t slot one out of ignorance and thereby tarnish my reputation as a voguish crusader for life, liberty, and justice. That is unless the skill was actually really good and people were just prejudiced and afraid of what they didn¡¯t understand.

    Raise Dead was firmly in the camp of skills I wasn¡¯t interested in. Still, when the notification came up as Fly cast the spell, I didn¡¯t even need to give it a glance.

    Raise Dead

    Spiritual

    Cost: 50 mana reserved

    Cooldown: 24 hours

    Requirements: Intelligence 30, Spiritual Magic 30

    Raise a nearby corpse to fight at your behest as a Raised Dead. Raised Dead are reanimated with a 20% penalty to all stats (minimum score of 1), and with an amount of their maximum health and mana based on the state of the corpse.

    You may communicate telepathically with your Raised Dead as long as it is within a number of feet of you equal to your Spiritual Magic level, allowing you to issue orders that it will fulfill to the best of its ability. While outside of this range of telepathic communication, Raised Dead will continue to act out your most recent orders until told otherwise. While Raised Dead lack any semblance of their original personality or will, they retain all skills and abilities they possessed in life and can execute orders with intelligence and strategy. However, certain skills will no longer function¨Csuch as those that require the caster to be alive¨Cand Divine abilities may become unavailable if the divinity of the Raised Dead views the undead as profane or otherwise detestable.

    While Raised, a corpse will no longer deteriorate naturally, but Raised Dead cannot regenerate health or be healed except through specialized means. Once this spell ends, the targeted corpse may not be Raised again by you or any other. You may only Raise a corpse if its grade or level while it was alive is equal to or lesser than your own level or grade plus the number of evolutions you have in INT. You may have a total number of Raised Dead equal to the number of evolutions you possess in Spiritual Magic.

    While I was sure there were ways to ethically source corpses, it seemed like a lot of trouble just to end up surrounded by bodies in a perpetual state of decay. Some people might have been uncomfortable with my c¡¯thonic allies, but at least they didn¡¯t literally smell like death.

    With the knowledge that I possessed and the state of the battlefield, I decided to let Fly¡¯s Raise Dead spell go through for a few reasons. First, Butterfly Zombie¡­ Zomberfly? Buttombie? Zutterflie?

    First, Butterbie would have a mean stat penalty and wouldn¡¯t be as powerful as a Raised Dead as she had been while alive. This made her debuffs a lot less dangerous. Second, she couldn¡¯t heal herself again, making her a much softer target for round two. Third, her Curse of Weakness had been a Divine spell, so there was a chance she could no longer even use many of her skills. Altogether she was a bad target for the spell.

    Fourth¨Cand most importantly¨Choly shit, I needed to focus on blocking.

    I angled my shield to intercept the Infernal¡¯s burning claws as it crashed into me, rolling its talons aside while the demon pushed me back several feet with its bulk. Gracorvus glowed a dull orange where the demon struck, but the shield had done its job and protected me from harm.

    While the Infernal grappled with Gracorvus, I twisted my body to keep the shield and demon between myself and an onslaught of crackling arrows. Thunder shook the ground as lightning bolts struck between each lightning-infused projectile, the current causing my muscles to clench and spasm, but some of the electricity jolted the Infernal as well.

    Before the Shocked debuff could build up enough to threaten me with another Stun or Immobilize, Cricket¡¯s attacks were interrupted. I couldn¡¯t catch a glimpse of what made the archer pause with the wall of muscle and brimstone between us, and Roach was already swinging at my exposed head with her bardiche.

    I was forced to send Gracorvus into hover mode, unable to rip it free from the Infernal in time to block. Instead, I flew back from my shield with a burst of movement from my wings, just barely able to avoid the polearm¡¯s blade. Roach followed up with a spinning hit on my midsection that I couldn¡¯t avoid. The blade carved a new line through my armor, cutting through abdominal muscle and intestine beneath. Her body glowed and she spun again at several times her already outrageous speed, slashing into the same spot and bisecting me nearly to the spine.

    Critical Damage reduced by Body of Theseus!

    HP: 522 -> 198

    I lost all control of my core, held up only by my vibrant Therianthropy wings. I could still move my legs¨Cbarely¨Cbut the muscles and connective tissues that allowed that to be useful were severed at my waist. Had I been able to bleed, I would have already been dead.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    The pain was all-consuming. A white light filled my vision and threatened to swallow reality, promising the relief of unconsciousness. I ignored the siren¡¯s call of that insidious glow. I pulled away from its delightful warmth even as it soaked into my wounds, resisted its holy allure while the hallowed beacon gripped my torn flesh in its motherly hands and sewed them back together with care and a loving kiss.

    HP: 198 -> 398

    You gain 1 stack of Blessed!

    Wait, what?

    ¡°Divine intervention, motherfuckers!¡± shouted Xim.

    Our cleric bashed the Wraith across its ghostly face with her scepter, setting it aflame with bloody fire. The intangible monster wailed and fled the cleric, its translucent hands clawing at the divine fire in a futile effort to extinguish itself.

    Grotto clutched onto Xim¡¯s shoulder, eyes barely open, body limp.

    [Several million years worth of pain, Arlo,] the core thought to me. [That is what you owe me for this.]

    Roach¡¯s eyes went wide as my stomach began knitting itself back together, Xim¡¯s Heal scooping me from the brink of death and depositing me somewhere on its periphery but still too close to be totally comfortable. I didn¡¯t have time to question the duo¡¯s appearance in the middle of our foes, instead using Shortcut to reposition back outside of Roach¡¯s range. I sent a mental tug for Gracorvus to return to me, hoping to tear it away from the Infernal. I caught sight of Cricket, who was drawing back on her bow. Two arrows protruded from one of the bugwoman¡¯s eyes, which poured a torrent of dark blood.

    Two.

    Two arrows.

    The same eye.

    Cricket¡¯s other eye was closed, leaving her blind while light and power thrummed around her body. Electricity arced away from her in all directions, creating showers of bright sparks. She was getting ready for something big.

    My teleport took me into the center of the enemy a few yards from Xim. The Goliath spun clumsily on its heel and swung its Force-imbued fist at me. Gracorvus had responded to my will and swept around behind me, abandoned by the Infernal. I held up my arms in a boxing guard over my head and chest to soak Goliath¡¯s hit, using Gracorvus to keep myself from being flung across the battle again. A pulse of force released when the rocky fist struck, slamming my back into the shield and tearing the slightly healed wound at my gut with the pressure.

    HP 398 -> 348

    Fly held out a hand toward Butterbie, whose body regrew flesh and sprouted new wings where the old had been torn asunder. (So, I guess the no-healing thing from Raise Dead was something Necro Fly had been ready for. No real surprise there, really.) Butterbie then thanked her necromancer by casting a spell at Xim, dark spores tearing away from her still-mutilated body and seeking out the cleric¡¯s face. (Which meant that Butterbie still had her skills and the no-Divine-spells thing also didn¡¯t matter for this corpse, apparently. Fuck all my logic for not Dispelling when I could. What¡¯s next, her stats weren¡¯t debuffed?)

    The spell was another curse, but this time it was Curse of Fear. Even though Fly could break the Raise Dead rules, her deadhead had picked the wrong target for that one.

    The Infernal was taking my bait and making a beeline for me again, but Roach¡¯s eyes narrowed as she reassessed her priorities and decided to charge Xim.

    See page 1, kill the healer.

    I was planning for Roach to make that move, however, and it gave me a precious second to set things up. As Roach rocketed forward with her supersonic speed, I activated Gravity Anchor in the middle of the whole pack, flooding it with stamina and warping it around my allies.

    I became down from all directions. The Infernal lost its footing, falling toward me. The Goliath stumbled forward, landing on top of the Infernal and entangling their limbs. Butterbie ragdolled in my direction, limp undead arms scrabbling at nothing through the air. Fly¡¯s horse stomped against the dirt floor, unable to stop itself from inexorably sliding closer.

    Roach¡¯s trajectory was altered as she passed, causing her to swoop between me and Xim in an arc, missing the cleric and plowing into Butterbie who lost one of her newly formed wings from the impact. When Roach managed to stop her charge mid-flight, she had to dig her bardiche into the ground to resist. I was crushed beneath the Goliath and the Infernal and felt Butterbie slap down onto Gracorvus at my back. Fly and Roach had managed to keep a short distance away, but all I needed to do was tie up as many enemies as I could in a nice, tight group.

    Xim took a deep breath of the cursed spores, being immune to Fear as she was, then smiled at the crowd before her. Her features twisted into her bestial form, she raised her scepter and the beating icon of a crimson heart burst from the ether.

    ¡°What do we say to new friends, Grotto?¡± she asked.

    [Your minds are weak.]

    Grotto¡¯s eyes glowed and tentacles sprouted forth from the heart, wreathed in hypnotic flame. A pulse of dread washed out across the battle, crashing into every nearby enemy.

    The Infernal roared and clawed at the Goliath¡¯s arms and chest to try and escape. The Goliath pressed its fists into my face and chest, desperate to free itself as well. Butterbied squirmed along my back, and Roach abandoned her bardiche, wings beating furiously. Even Fly¡¯s mount took several hesitant steps back from Xim. I released my hold on Gravity Anchor, and the enemies scattered.

    Roach buzzed away and crashed into the southern wall. Xim¡¯s debuff didn¡¯t only hit the enemy with Fear, but also Slow and Weakness. Despite that, Roach plowed into the boundary hard enough to create a cloud of dirt and falling stone. She began shoveling handfuls of dry earth aside, seeking to burrow her way into the soil. The Infernal scraped its way north, its movements sluggish, while the Goliath lumbered behind it at a speed a geriatric turtle might have been able to beat.

    Fly didn¡¯t flee, but she was taken aback, stunned into inaction. Butterbie tried to stumble off as golden spores shone around her, disrupting the afflictions. I wrapped her up with my tentacles, keeping the weakened zombie in check. I spun and slammed the Raised Dead into the ground, hovering above her with my wings, still not willing to put any weight on my lower body. I summoned Somncres and hurled a triple-copied Void Hammer into the undead¡¯s vacant face.

    Her head exploded, and the natural order was restored.

    I felt a wave of static crawl across the room, raising the hair on my arms and neck. I looked to see Cricket releasing her charged attack, the archer too distant to have been affected by Xim¡¯s Fear. She launched an arrow at a barrier with such force it looked like a tank shell had landed. The barrier exploded into a fierce spray of shrapnel and Cricket¡¯s attack was followed by a massive bolt of lightning that filled the dark room with blinding wrath.

    I caught a glimpse of Nuralie rolling out from behind the barrier as the first arrow struck, reducing her cover to fragments. Her body glinted with the Shielding she¡¯d built up with her Lightbringer evolution, but it was torn away in an instant by the blast. A crimson glow replaced the stripped Shielding as her first Fortitude evolution activated, something I¡¯d never witnessed the Loson pull out before.

    No First Blood

    Whenever you would take damage, you can choose to reduce that damage by an amount equal to your FOR * 2. If you do, you cannot use this ability again until the next dawn.

    The evo ate 40 damage from the mighty thunderbolt, and I felt electricity arc through me as my Life Warden buff transmitted half of everything else over to me.

    HP: 348 -> 239

    You have taken Wicked damage! Your maximum HP has been reduced by 109 until you receive 8 hours of uninterrupted rest.

    The shared damage I took from Life Warden was further reduced by my Physical Magic, so Nuralie took at least 130 damage from the glancing blow¨Cnearly a third of her HP. Nuralie¡¯s teeth were bared as the lightning coursed through her body, but she never stopped aiming at Cricket. The moment the lightning let up, the loson unleashed her own attack, though it was far less spectacular.

    The arrow she fired disappeared, then reappeared in Cricket¡¯s remaining eye, still shut tight. The insectoid woman¡¯s head snapped back, and her body went limp. She hit the ground with a jingle of her bow¡¯s strange bells.

    Fly snapped back to reality after her second ally perished, placing a gentle hand on her steed¡¯s neck to calm it. She swept a hand through the air and a dark rod appeared in her hand, the length of a baton. An oppressive weight fell over the room when it appeared, burdening my soul with a sense of impending doom. I could See the effect it had on the soul halos around me, not just our own, but even Fly¡¯s allies and summons. It pressed them inward, suppressing them with unholy force.

    Xim had to concentrate to keep her Fear effect running or we¡¯d be swarmed again. It would be up to me and Nuralie to put Fly down before Xim¡¯s debuffs broke. We were both heavily injured, but I steeled my resolve to end things quickly.

    Then, the air around Fly began to warp and tear. I hastily looked for something to Dispel, but whatever I was seeing wasn¡¯t a spell. The world twisted, and there were suddenly two of the mounted summoners before us, each holding one of the dark rods aloft. The metaphysical weight pressing down on our souls doubled.

    I growled as dark energy began to build around the batons, then shouted my frustrations to the heavens.

    ¡°Grade 14 my ass!¡±

    In my moment of irritation, I nearly missed a subtle flare from Grotto¡¯s soul. A scepter¨CXim¡¯s old weapon¨Cflew through the air and struck the copy of Fly across the jaw, cracking her carapace and leaving her face dripping dark red goo.

    You have observed the Animate Object spell.

    It seemed my familiar had some unforeseen tricks as well.

 150 - Diptera Fatalis

    Animate Object

    Spiritual

    Cost: 20 mana reserved

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Requirements: CHA 20, Spiritual Magic 20

    You extend your will into an inanimate object, causing it to spring to life and act according to your wishes. Animated Objects gain a flying speed equal to your CHA, and you can communicate with the Object telepathically so long as it is within a number of feet of you equal to your Spiritual Magic level. The Object has normal vision and hearing, even if it wouldn¡¯t have the physiological capacity to do so normally, and can follow verbal or gestural instructions from you in lieu of telepathy if required.

    Animated Objects can be directed to perform any task for which they were designed on their own, such as a frying pan cooking eggs or a pen writing on paper. If the Object would have to make an INT, CHA, or WIS check, it uses your scores to do so. Otherwise, it has a score of 0 in all attributes. If the Object would be used in a way it wasn¡¯t intended, you must first teach it to perform that task.

    If the Object is a weapon, it can make attacks with itself according to its design by using your CHA score as the governing attack attribute. However, if the weapon has a stat requirement that is higher than your CHA, or a skill requirement that is higher than your Spiritual Magic level, you cannot animate it.

    I¡¯d seen Grotto animate tools in the past, but it seemed the Delve Core had upgraded the ability into a full-blown active skill. Whatever had happened in his challenge with Xim, the little octo had come out of the other side with some improvements.

    When the scepter struck Fly¡¯s clone, the insect not only bled, but the cracks in its carapace shone with a dull blue light. It recoiled from the strike but didn¡¯t lose focus on whatever spell was charging with its baton.

    [Move close to me!] Grotto demanded of us.

    I was halfway to following up Grotto¡¯s attack with my own but flew back on my wings with my shield raised. The shadows behind me parted to reveal Nuralie, who was drawing another arrow. I prepared to throw Somncres, but Fly¡¯s skill activated before I had the chance.

    The dark energy around each baton collapsed into a tiny point at the end of the weapons, and the weight on our souls disappeared. Then, the specks of foul mana shot toward us.

    The moment I got a taste of the skill, I immediately used Dispel. I no longer had a half-dozen enemies to distract me and I had a feeling this was going to be much worse than Raise Dead. The speck disappeared from in front of the original Fly, and her face twisted in fury while my mind recoiled from the cost of the Dispel. Whatever Fly was casting had at least 85 mana wrapped up in it. It was a massive amount for a spell she¡¯d produced and fired off in under a second.

    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t Dispel again before the clone¡¯s attack was upon us.

    You have observed the Ego Splinter spell.

    Ego Splinter

    Spiritual

    Cost: 25 mana plus 5 mana/ second

    Requirements: INT 40, Spiritual Magic 40

    Reach out and crush the mind of an enemy with your will alone. Make an INT Spiritual attack against an entity you can see, dealing Psychic damage if successful. If this damage exceeds the target¡¯s WIS, they become Stunned for 6 seconds.

    For every 6 seconds this spell was charged:

    You deal an additional amount of Psychic damage equal to your INT;

    You may target 1 additional entity with this spell; and

    Affected entities are Stunned for 6 seconds longer.

    The bead of psychic energy split in 3, each one streaking toward a member of the party. Based on the spell¡¯s description, it made little sense. Fly hadn¡¯t spent anywhere near an extra 12 seconds channeling the spell. Either the baton or some other ability had significantly empowered the ability, and I was terrified of what might have happened had we been hit by two of them.

    Grotto alone had not been targeted, his sucker punch with the scepter apparently insufficient to deem him worthy of having his brain melted. Fly might have changed her mind about Grotto¡¯s level of threat if she¡¯d known how much he was about to royally fuck her over.

    Of course, even I hadn¡¯t known how much Grotto was about to royally fuck her over. I didn¡¯t know Grotto could  fuck her over as hard as he was about to.

    As the foul specks fired toward us like high-caliber rifle rounds, Grotto pulled out another new spell.

    Rebuke

    Divine

    Cost: 10 mana

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Requirements: CHA 30, Divine 30

    You instantly create a barrier of divine light that shields you from harm while striking back against your aggressors. You gain Shielding equal to your Divine Magic skill level + your CHA, which lasts for 1 minute. Within 6 seconds of activating this skill, whenever another entity deals damage to you, that entity takes the same amount as Holy damage up to a maximum equal to the Shielding this skill provided.

    The spell alone would have been useless since it only applied to Grotto and Grotto wasn¡¯t a target of the enemy¡¯s spell. However, Grotto had been the first person to teach me anything about mana shaping, and he was fully capable of putting his lessons into practice.

    Rebuke spread out to everyone within 10 feet of my familiar, blanketing me, Xim, and Nuralie in shields of holy retribution.

    You have gained 64 Shielding!

    I intercepted the speck with Gracorvus, my Spell Breaker evolution allowing me to block some of the otherwise ethereal spell damage. Gracorvus failed to stop the attack, and it passed through before piercing my bascinet. My helm¡¯s spiritually resistant mana weaves further dampened the attack before it finally crashed into Grotto¡¯s Shielding. The psychic energy tore through the divine protection and moved forward unabated, beginning to invade my mind.

    I felt my identity under attack, a profound sense of dread overwhelming my thoughts. The spell¡¯s remaining power assaulted me from within and tendrils of lashing pain scraped across the inside of my skull. My consciousness flickered as my Spiritual resistances were tested.

    HP: 239 -> 215

    You have resisted Ego Splinter¡¯s Stun effect!

    As I blinked and cleared my head of the mental assault, I saw shards of golden light surrounding the three of us who¡¯d been targeted. They glinted with razor¡¯s edges as though made from broken glass. There were hundreds of them, and they all blasted through the air at Fly, leaving brilliant streaks of light in their wake.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    However, every second fragment veered away from Fly, moving instead to assault the Arcane Goliath across the room. Fly had some kind of damage transfer active, which meant the Goliath was essentially a secondary health pool for the summoner. The Goliath¡¯s back chipped and crumbled under the hits, but it looked like the summon had a lot of HP. The rest of the shards hit Fly like a machine gun, her body jerking under the impact, gouts of dark blood spraying out as each fragment exploded with Holy damage.

    I took a moment to assess myself and my allies. If even a single layer of my defenses had been absent, that spell would have Stunned me for 18 seconds, leaving me immobile and unable to act. In a fight at this level, that may have well been a death sentence. But my allies didn¡¯t have the same resilience that I did and Grotto¡¯s Shielding had only been able to do so much.

    Blood ran freely from Nuralie¡¯s nose and mouth, her eyes rolled back into her head so that only the white of her sclera was visible. Her bow hung slack in her hand and she swayed absently, body spasming.

    Xim, on the other hand, looked pissed. She continued to channel her Icon, keeping the rest of our enemies locked down with Fear, but I could tell she was barely managing to contain herself from violence as she spat some blood onto the ground. Behind her, the Wraith she¡¯d ignited let out a final shrill scream, then collapsed into a pile of ash.

    I turned back to Fly and her copy. The Holy damage had done work on the original, but the damage transfer had allowed her to weather it. The clone, on the other hand, hadn¡¯t transferred any damage to the Goliath from Grotto¡¯s scepter attack. That hit had also done some decent damage, despite being little more than a standard attack. I figured I should test out how fragile the copy was.

    I hurled Somncres at the clone, creating 4 Void Hammers as I readied two of my normal throwing hammers with my tentacles. My abdomen screamed when I made the toss. I was still cut open enough for me to worry my guts might spill out. In fact, some of them may have. I hadn¡¯t been willing to look down and check. Regardless, I was still able to put good force behind the throw.

    Fly¡¯s clone tried to dash away on her mount¨Cwhich moved faster than anything I¡¯d seen aside from Roach¨Cbut Homing Weapon kept the hammers on target. I went ahead and threw the two hammers I held in my feelers, using Hammerang to arc their trajectory and come at the clone from the opposite angle. She tried to a stop, mount rearing up as the hammers closed in, leaving her little room to dodge. She failed to react in time, struggling with her momentum and the hammers crashed into her in quick succession.

    It turned out to have been overkill. The hammers crushed her carapace and blinked away chunks of both the clone and its undead mount. Only half of the hammers had landed before blue fissures bloomed from the wounds on Fly¡¯s clone and her body shattered into a million motes of glimmering light.

    With Cricket, Butterbie, the Wraith, and the clone down, we were finally back to facing down 4 enemies again. Thankfully, 3 of them were in abject terror of Xim, trying to dig their way out of the room with tooth and claw.

    While I executed the clone, Grotto floated away from Xim and landed on my shoulder.

    [May I borrow a pair of tentacles?] he asked.

    ¡°Absolutely,¡± I thought back to him.

    When I¡¯d first picked up Therianthropy, there¡¯d been some concern that the cognitive load of having so many new limbs would make them unwieldy. While that hadn¡¯t been the sort of roadblock Varrin had worried that it might be, using my tentacles in addition to my arms, legs, and wings required a lot of focus and concentration.

    I could use the tentacles effectively, but I wasn¡¯t using them to their full potential. I just had too many things to think about. Even with 40 Intelligence and Wisdom, managing 8 limbs in high-level combat while also keeping track of everything both the enemy and my allies were doing pushed me to my limit. I¡¯d considered the potential problem before accepting the evolution and had already formed some ideas on how to deal with the issue before I¡¯d even taken the evo for a test drive.

    Grotto flooded me with his psychic presence, then tapped into the soul connection we shared. I used Reveal to deliver my understanding of my physical body to Grotto, and we created a less complex version of the body-mind fusion that had allowed for Arlottog. For this combination, we retained our individual identities, but I was able to hand off control of my feelers to the core. The recently unlocked effect for the Traveler¡¯s Amulet allowed Grotto to share all of my intrinsic skills, making the fusion even deadlier.

    Now Grotto could throw hammers just as well as I could.

    I activated my new and hitherto unused skill Aura of Perseverance, granting my allies 32 Shielding that regenerated over time. Grotto still had his Shielding granted from Rebuke and Shielding did not stack, sadly, but it would help ensure that Nuralie stayed safe while she was Stunned. Xim was moving to cover the loson, raising her Clockwork Gear shield and placing herself between Fly and our vulnerable ally while she channeled the Icon. Aura of Perseverance would also immediately pick up the slack if Grotto¡¯s own Shielding failed. The little octo needed to stay close to me while we shared body parts, and he wasn¡¯t nearly as bulletproof as I was. The extra layer of defense was a necessary part of the combo.

    I also detached Gracorvus from my armguard, then handed control off to Grotto. Again, the core gained the benefit of my Shields skill, so he was just as effective at using the shield as I was. Surrendering control to the core allowed him to use Gracorvus in flight mode to protect himself if he were targeted. He could whip the shield around telepathically and draw upon his own mana pool to do so.

    Another advantage of melding together this way was that Grotto traveled with me when I used Shortcut. Our soul bond extended the spell to include the core, and it also gave me some idea of how to mana-shape the spell to target more allies.

    I teleported behind Fly and Grotto threw two hammers into her back. At the same time, the scepter he¡¯d animated gave Fly a taste of what it had given her clone and smacked her in the face.

    Grotto couldn¡¯t use my active skills or stat evolutions¨Cyet¨Cso the hammers didn¡¯t have Homing Weapon or Oblivion Orb attached. They still hurt. The hammers drilled into Fly¡¯s kidneys and a sickening crunch could be heard as her carapace shattered beneath her wispy robes. The hammers clattered to the ground, but Grotto was already pulling two more from my inventory. I licked my lips as I considered the Giant Spiked Mace of the Bloody Jubilee we¡¯d found earlier and the quickest way to get it into Grotto¡¯s maniacal feelers.

    Fly¡¯s dashed away on her mount and spun, pointing the baton toward us and preparing a new spell. I steeled myself for something as broken as everything else she¡¯d pulled out so far, ready for the tables to get flipped yet again.

    It was a basic Psychic Bolt.

    After Gracorvus, my bascinet, and my natural resistance, it didn¡¯t even deal damage. In fact, I was pretty sure it was a wand charge. Summons weren¡¯t cheap, and neither was that Ego Splinter spell. I kept an eye out for tricks, but Fly seemed to be well and truly juiced. Without the creatures she¡¯d spent so much mana to summon backing her up, she was much easier to deal with.

    She still lived up to the insect of her namesake, proving obnoxiously difficult to pin down even after her mana was dry. Half of all the damage we dealt was shunted to her Arcane Goliath, which was tanky as hell. She also turned herself and her steed incorporeal for an entire minute. That meant that all Physical damage didn¡¯t do shit to her. Well, for the most part. We¡¯d gotten an achievement after killing the specter of Orexis that allowed us to ignore 25% of incorporeal DR against Physical, but still! It was annoying.

    Then¡­ THEN! Once we¡¯d actually managed to kill Fly, she came BACK to life with full health after 6 seconds! Seriously! She was harder to put down for good than I was! Fortunately, her Jesus ticket didn¡¯t restore her mana and was only valid for one use. When Fly finally passed on, all of her summons went with her.

    While Grotto and I took our new fusion skills for a test drive by beating Fly senseless over a very painful minute, Xim had eventually been forced to drop her Icon for mana reasons. Nuralie had recovered from being Stunned and Xim made sure to toss the loson a Heal. Our two teams juggled Fly¡¯s minions between us, rotating aggro and control effects while we dealt with the real threats, but the pair mostly went to town on Roach.

    While Roach was quick and deadly, her mental and magical defenses were pretty bad. Xim was able to Ignite and Fear the insectoid woman into oblivion while Nuralie landed arrows at weak points across the warrior¡¯s body and poisoned the crap out of her.

    Roach was nearly as difficult to kill for good as Fly, but in the end, only one true cockroach build was left standing.

    And that was me, baby!

    By the end of the fight, the room was a scorched and broken battlefield of shattered walls, exploded barriers, and mangled insect corpses. Xim and I looked over the bodies while mentally recovering. Eventually, Xim put a hand on her hip and frowned.

    ¡°We should probably have interrogated one of them.¡±

    ¡°None of them felt like talking earlier,¡± I said. ¡°This was the fourth round of this shit, by the way.¡±

    ¡°Grotto could have probably gotten Roach to talk.¡±

    I glanced back at my familiar, who gave me the octo equivalent of a shrug.

    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± I said. ¡°You could have suggested it.¡±

    ¡°Eh, I was pissed.¡± She brushed some hair from her face and looked me over, her eyes lingering on my abdomen. ¡°You know, some of your intestines are¨C¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna hear about it,¡± I said, holding up a hand to stop her. I was still floating on my wings, unable to use the lower half of my body and steadfastly refusing to look down. ¡°Just, please give me another Heal or two. You have no idea how much this hurts.¡±

    ¡°No problem,¡± she said. ¡°But we should take off your armor first. I need to stuff them back in before I cast.¡± She moved to start undoing the straps on my cuirass. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want them to get stuck on the outside.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said with a groan.

    I really hoped the others showed up before the next wave.

 151 - Chips, Loot, & System Warnings

    Bankrolls.

    Cash money.

    Scrooge McDuck levels of legal tender.

    I actually didn¡¯t have that much. I mean, I had more notes than most people, but in comparison to my total liquid wealth, it was a very small fraction. What I did have was an unreasonable amount of chips, especially after dealing with the bug brigade.

    Your party has slain Quiet Solitude, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen.

    Your party has slain Thundering Arrow, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen.

    Your party has slain Blood Scour, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen.

    Your party has slain Boundless Night, the Doomed Aspirant: Abomination, Grade Fourteen. Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 56 Emerald Chips

    2) 4 Insectoid Essences

    3) Staff of Quiet Solitude

    4) Longbow of Thundering Arrow

    5) Bardiche of Blood Scour

    7) Scutum of Blood Scour

    6) Wand of Boundless Night

    Party Leader has set chip and currency allocation to: Even Distribution.

    Distribution has been adjusted based on party member participation.

    You receive: 21 Emerald Chips.

    Party Leader has set item allocation to: Master Looter.

    Party Leader receives all other rewards.

    ¡°What?!¡± Xim shouted as she digested the rewards. ¡°Fifty-six Emerald chips?!¡± She looked up at me, wide-eyed. ¡°Fifty-six?!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, these things are worth a lot,¡± I said. ¡°Too much, really.¡±

    ¡°Never say that again,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°The Pit only gave us 24!¡± Xim continued shouting. She looked back down at her notification, then frowned. ¡°Hey, I got shortchanged.¡± She didn¡¯t sound mad about it, but oddly amused.

    ¡°I guess because you came in after the fight started,¡± I offered.

    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± she said, dismissing the notification. ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°We can decide our own split,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re not beholden to the System randomly deciding that even distribution doesn¡¯t mean that the distribution is, you know, even.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t care,¡± Xim said with a wave. ¡°I hardly use the chips anyway.¡±

    ¡°I do not understand,¡± said Nuralie. She searched for words, looking at Xim with concern as though the rose-skinned woman was suffering from some profound illness. Then Nuralie froze in a loson pause and blinked. ¡°It is money.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t going to argue with someone declining my offer of enough capital to buy a small island, so I let the pair argue over finances while I perused the items.

    The Staff of Quiet Solitude buffed curses, which was a pretty specific category of spells. No one in our group used curses, so I noted the staff¡¯s properties to report to the party, then placed it into a section of my inventory that I¡¯d marked for selling or trading.

    The Longbow of Thundering Bolt allowed the wielder to instantly cast Lightning Bolt once per hour for free. It also let you zoom in on a target for a better shot, at the cost of stamina. It was nifty, but when I interrupted the continuing debate over the virtues of hoarding wealth to show it to Nuralie, she wasn¡¯t interested. Another one for the vault.

    The Bardiche of Blood Scour was something we might be able to use.

    Bardiche of Blood Scour

    ¡°Shit! Gah! Fuck!¡±

    ¨CLast words of Hendrick Langhry, self-titled Lord of the Eschen Wastes.

    Requirements: STR 40, SPD 20, Blades 20

    Effects:

    1) When dealing damage, this weapon applies 1 Bleeding/second for every 2 attacks you have made in the last 6 seconds.

    2) Your movement and attack speed are increased by 1% for each stack of Bleeding/second applied by this weapon in the last minute.

    It was a Blades weapon, Varrin¡¯s specialty, but I didn¡¯t think the big guy would want to use it since it was a polearm, not a sword. Plus, he had Kazandak. That sword was not only good but also held a lot of sentimental value.

    However, Varrin¡¯s morally ambivalent student, Shog, was quickly learning how to become a master of the cutting edge. What I didn¡¯t know was whether Shog could even use the bardiche. Did he have the Blades skill, or did the System determine whether the c¡¯thon met weapon requirements through some other measure? His greatswords certainly had requirements, and he was using those just fine. He was focused on swords, but if he somehow held the Blades skill, the bonuses would apply to any bladed weapon so long as he hadn¡¯t specialized. I¡¯d have to ask.

    Regardless, Shog was rapidly becoming a storm of razor-edged steel. He currently held 4 swords at once, and I was betting he could use even more. I¡¯d seen my summon manipulate as many as 8 limbs independently of one another, so it was possible he could make 8 or more attacks in the 6-second time frame. If he cycled the bardiche into his attack pattern, he¡¯d end up applying an absolute shit ton of Bleed.

    Further, the bardiche applied Bleeding per second, whereas the best item we¡¯d found for Bleeding still listed the value as Bleeding per minute. That meant each stack from this weapon was worth 60 from a per-minute item, and 3,600 stacks per hour. This thing could kill me in 1 minute with 21 stacks, and that wasn¡¯t considering the damage the weapon itself would deal while it cut me into bloody ribbons.

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Of course, I was immune to Bleeding. So fuck off, Roach. Your weapon was useless against me.

    The Scutum of Blood Scour was a shield that complimented the bardiche by applying Bleeding to anyone it blocked. Other than that, it was a big honkin¡¯ metal rectangle about as heavy as a small car. Seriously, it was 7 feet tall. The only person I¡¯d met who could likely even hold it properly was Varrin, and he didn¡¯t have the Shields skill since¨Cin his words¨C¡°There is no reason to block when the enemy is on the ground in several pieces.¡±

    Maybe I could wear it on my back like a Koopa shell, but it¡¯d slow me down too much. Being able to dodge on occasion was the only reason my head was still attached. Not that I knew for certain that a beheading would kill me anymore, but I wasn¡¯t quite ready to experiment with having my whole body cut off.

    I ended my perusal with the Wand of Boundless Night. The soul suppression it had radiated was an effect I hadn¡¯t experienced outside of being crushed by the presence of extremely powerful beings. Needless to say, it made me curious.

    Wand of Boundless Night

    Found in the dark abyss beneath a Dread God¡¯s bed.

    Requirements: WIS 40, Spiritual Magic 40

    Effects:

    1) Choose 1 Spiritual spell you know. Whenever you use this wand as a focus to cast the chosen spell, the wand emits powerful soul pressure on all nearby entities. You and your allies are resistant to this effect, but in no way immune.

    The strength of this pressure appears to be determined by the wielder¡¯s familiarity with manipulating the soul. Subjects affected by the pressure experience varying mental disruptions, the severity of which is probably based on their familiarity with soul magicks. Observed reactions include confusion, a sense of foreboding or doom, existential dread, hallucination, paranoia, and a fervent belief that an unknown creature is inhabiting the space next to them.

    In the latter case, subjects enter a state of severe agitation and distress, insisting that they can clearly see the said creature but are unable to describe any characteristics of the entity or its actions. In such cases, the only information gleaned from affected subjects is that they consistently note the creature as being malevolent.

    Mundane humanoids have unilaterally experienced psychotic breaks when exposed to the emitted soul pressure, which sometimes transitions to catatonia followed by death due to dehydration, malnourishment, or other related complications.

    System interactions with this item often contain inexplicable absences of certain types of data. These data deficiencies cannot be resolved definitively, but are indicative of the existence of certain individuals for whom no records exist. Others who are suspected to be related to such unidentifiable persons appear to have no memory of them and fervently deny their existence, even while under the influence of Suggestion, Area of Honesty, or Dominate. While no conclusions can be drawn, it is suspected that some individuals affected by the wand have their identities erased and all evidence of their lives destroyed through some unknown mechanism.

    ¡­

    Honestly, this effect frustrates us.

    What¡¯s the range? Who knows! What does it do, exactly? Soul shit! Even its requirements are just recommendations. You¡¯ll have to investigate it yourself if you want to know more. Be sure to tell us if you figure something out.

    Ha, no, never mind. You don¡¯t have to tell us. We¡¯ll see what happens either way.

    We¡¯re always watching.

    2) Stored Spell: Psychic Bolt. You may spend 25 mana to imbue this wand with 1 charge of Psychic Bolt. Maximum number of charges: 5

    Psychic Bolt

    Spiritual

    Cost: 1 charge

    Requirements: INT 20, Spiritual Magic 20

    Lash out against the mind of your target with a concentrated blast of psychic energy. Make an INT Spiritual attack against an entity within a number of feet equal to your Spiritual Magic level. This attack deals Psychic damage. If the damage dealt to that entity is greater than their WIS, that entity gains Paranoia.

    Paranoia

    An entity with Paranoia treats all other entities as enemies and no entities as allies for the purpose of effects that reference the allegiance of other entities. For example, an effect that states ¡°All allies within 30 feet of you heal 30 HP¡± does not affect anyone because you do not treat any entity as an ally.

    Additionally, an entity with Paranoia is never considered a willing target for any effect that requires one. Ongoing effects that require a willing target, such as Blessings, immediately end if the target becomes paranoid.

    However, paranoid entities are not necessarily hostile to everyone. They may still be willing to fight alongside their comrades, but they are keenly suspicious, awaiting some inevitable betrayal.

    Addendum: This second effect is not original to the wand and was grafted onto it by Boundless Night in a poorly thought-out attempt to enhance its effect. FYI: Forcefully weaving spells into a mysterious item of unknown origin that possesses quasi-deific powers is usually a big no-no. Before you ask, it¡¯s not why she turned into a bug, but it sure didn¡¯t help.

    I stared at the wand for a minute before placing it back into my inventory in its own unoccupied chamber of the Closet, far from anything living or important. While item descriptions were often flavorful, it was rare that they included express System commentary. My boa and vest had some, but those were items specifically created to antagonize me. Not that it had worked. I loved those lurid treasures.

    This was a warning to anyone who picked it up, not a joke. Sure, there was some creepy teasing, but on the whole, it was like the System leaned over, pushed my hand away from the wand, and whispered ¡°Don¡¯t.¡±

    Even if I were willing to ignore the obvious portents of a nightmare-grade sack of awful, to my knowledge no one in the party met the ¡®recommended¡¯ requirements. Grotto might eventually satisfy the suggested levels of Wisdom and Spiritual Magic, but I had no idea where he stood with his advancement. Like Shog, I didn¡¯t know how the System quantified the core¡¯s abilities. I¡¯d asked, but my familiar hadn¡¯t wanted to share. Maybe he¡¯d changed his mind with all the team building we¡¯d done lately.

    Even if the Delve Core could eventually use the wand, I wasn¡¯t comfortable handing it off to him without talking to some experts about it. Preferably, the godly sort of experts. However, I doubted that even a divine green light would make me willing to let anyone in the party use the thing. I should probably give the wand the Chicago mafia treatment and drop it in a bucket of cement, sail to the middle of the ocean, and then throw it overboard. Adding in a masterwork warded lock box and a ritual of banishment on sanctified ground might also be a good move.

    I provided Xim and Nuralie with a summary of the item and offered to share the System text. Nuralie swiftly refused. Xim was interested¨Cbordering on manically enthusiastic¨Cbut the pensive silence that followed her review of the text didn¡¯t seem like a good sign.

    I added the investigation of the wand to The List, then took a deep breath and checked the timer for the next wave. We¡¯d already gotten the notification that¨Cas we¡¯d feared¨Cthe countdown had once again been halved. Xim¡¯s impromptu surgery on my abdomen had gotten me to about a third of my full health, but my regen would take me the rest of the way before we had to deal with more bugs. The same was true for my mana, but my stamina was going to be a bit low. The multi-month Delve was starting to strain our alchemical resources, so I was hesitant to take a potion.

    After our post-battle recovery and loot review, we had about 90 minutes left. We needed to get started on resetting traps and potentially setting up some replacement barriers for the ones that had been destroyed. There was also the matter of my cuirass, which was about as whole as sliced bread. My arming doublet was also in tatters. They were both still in one piece¨Ctechnically¨Cbut neither would offer as much protection as they had. The Verdantum armor was naturally self-repairing, but the process took time that we didn¡¯t have. Nor did I have access to a smithy to make the repairs myself, not that I had any spare Verdantum. Even with all our prep, I wasn¡¯t confident we could handle a 5-bug team if they were as balanced and coordinated as the last group.

    However, before we could start making headway on prepping our arena, the ground began to shake. A deep rumble filled the room, and clods of dirt and sediment began falling around us. We got weapons ready and I waited for Nuralie¡¯s assessment before I began channeling Explosion! The loson watched the southern wall intently, arrow tight against her bowstring. She began drawing it back, opening her mouth to speak but paused and furrowed her brow in confusion. She relaxed her draw, though she stayed in a low stance.

    Before I could ask her for a report, the southern wall exploded, spraying the room with chunks of dirt and stone. A centipede-like creature sprawled out of it, bucking and kicking dozens of legs, its body wider than a cargo van. I was confused as to why Nuralie hadn¡¯t called out a warning.

    Then I saw that this bronco had a cowboy riding it.

    My favorite man-eating murder machine was pressed down on top of the beast. Shog had all four of his swords planted into the monster¡¯s body and gripped it with every tentacle he had. He rode it into the room, the creature rumbling with a growl so deep I could barely hear it.

    The creature''s mouth opened and a river of sewage-colored blood poured out of it, complete with an odor to match and a generous portion of unidentifiable chunks. There was a bright flash of metal that split the creature''s head in two right down the middle. It was followed by 2 scorching rays that decapitated the giant centipede, sending the two halves of its mangled head splattering to the ground.

    Etja floated out of the monster¡¯s esophagus, covered head to toe in centipede fluids and looking none too happy about it. Varrin crawled out behind her, then removed his helm and wiped viscera from his eyes. He squinted, blinked a few times to clear his sight, then nodded when he saw me.

    ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°We finally found everyone.¡±

 152 - Mystery of the Insectoid Society

    No sooner had Varrin commented on our reunion, than a series of System messages appeared.

    You have successfully defended against the Doomed Aspirants!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to level 32!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased from level 17 to level 19!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to level 22!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to level 27!

    Your Shields skill has increased to level 26!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to level 21!

    Your Leadership skill has increased from level 19 to level 21!

    After the endless wave of skill-up notifications following The Pit, I¡¯d convinced my UI to condense the text when receiving multiple levels at once. It was satisfying to see a wall of notifications, but it was inefficient for taking in gains at a glance. I doubted that many Delvers had that issue.

    It wasn¡¯t quite the same haul as we¡¯d gotten from the boss rush, but 9 skill levels for a day of work was damn good. I was a little sad that Mystical Magic had stalled 1 point shy of an evolution, although I was certain we¡¯d find more opportunities to rank up at the cost of severe threat to life and limb. I suppressed the notifications for my level 20 Leadership evo until I was certain we had a few minutes to look them over.

    ¡°Welcome to our humble kill box,¡± I said. ¡°Careful where you step. We have a few traps with mechanical triggers. No idea if they¡¯re still working, but better safe than sorry.¡± I eyed the floor. ¡°There are also desiccated bug guts everywhere.¡±

    Etja let out a hiccup that was half sob. She idly wiped some centipede off the front of her robes¨Cto little avail¨Cwith a hollowed-out expression on her face.

    ¡°I hate it,¡± she said. ¡°I hate it here.¡±

    Nuralie pointed out the traps¨Cthere were exactly 2 remaining¨Cwhile Xim hurried over to Etja to perform emergency Bathwarden duties. The cleric handed over her enchanted marble of cleaning, and Etja accepted it with a strained smile. She then stared at the ground as Xim began picking some of the larger chunks from her hair.

    Varrin produced a towel to wipe the worst of the gunk from his face, studying the bodies we¡¯d yet to dump into our corpse pit as he went over his hair. It had grown to a nice length, and the goo gave it a bit of volume. Overall, he was having an unfair amount of success looking good while covered in the blood of his enemies. I had no idea how his hair had survived Clockwork¡¯s flame bath¨Cunlike my own¨Cbut I assumed it had to do with his armor, which was a Ravvenblaq heirloom of superb make.

    ¡°You had a bug problem as well?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Literally crawling out of the walls. You?¡±

    ¡°The door teleported us to an underground cave system.¡± Varrin pulled out a new towel and worked on cleaning between his gauntleted fingers. ¡°It was probably a hundred miles deeper than this place.¡±

    ¡°And it was full of bugs?¡±

    Varrin nodded.

    ¡°Not the humanoid kind like these,¡± he said, waving toward one of the corpses, which was already hollowed out and blackened by the Delve. ¡°But yes, giant insects.¡±

    ¡°What was your objective?¡±

    ¡°To reach our allies before it was ¡®too late¡¯,¡± he said, tone grim. ¡°The cave was part of a large hive.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°Sounds straightforward.¡±

    Varrin tossed his towel to the ground and pulled out another. His armor was enchanted to clean itself over time, so he was already looking quite a bit tidier.

    ¡°It was a very large hive,¡± he said defensively. ¡°What was your challenge?¡±

    ¡°Oh, you know. Identifying an invisible soul thread moving through a four-dimensional space that channeled an artificial soul construct.¡±

    Varrin had begun wiping down Kazandak¡¯s hilt but paused, raising an eyebrow.

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Then I had to learn how to sense the fourth-dimensional axis and use Shortcut to travel to an adjoining space that shared a three-dimensional location and coordinate with Nuralie to simultaneously press buttons in both locations while being unable to communicate.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°After that, it was pretty easy,¡± I continued. ¡°Just sit back and watch a show. We got some cool rings out of it, too.¡± I thought over the encounter in my head for a moment. ¡°We might have been able to fight our way out, but it probably would have involved dealing with several hundred Grade 10 enemies at once.¡±

    ¡°That does sound mildly complicated.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised yours didn¡¯t involve a puzzle. This whole Delve is a puzzle.¡±

    ¡°There¡­ may have been a non-combat option.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°We found some pillars, but could not determine what they were for.¡±

    ¡°Pillars? What kind of pillars?¡±

    ¡°Elemental pillars,¡± said Etja as she continued to stare at the ground, eyes haunted. ¡°There was a pattern to them, but I wasn¡¯t able to figure it out. Manipulating the mana inside did something, but it didn¡¯t help.¡±

    ¡°I think we were incapable of a key part of the solution,¡± Varrin added. ¡°Etja could manipulate the mana, but none of us have elemental powers.¡±

    ¡°So you went with the ¡®fight several hundred enemies at once¡¯ route.¡±

    ¡°It was more of a ¡®slay several thousand enemies throughout an endless, week-long battle¡¯ solution.¡±

    I glanced between Varrin and Etja. The pair were fairly healthy, but their resources were bottomed out and Etja looked like she was on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Shog was missing half of his feathers, covered in gore, and his posture was a bit hunched. He was also currently digging through the corpse of the centipede for some reason.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°Welp,¡± I said, clapping Varrin on the shoulder, ¡°they couldn¡¯t have picked a better group for a murder spree.¡± He gave me a solemn nod. I took a breath and made a mental note to sign everyone up for therapy after this. ¡°How did you end up finding us? Once our challenge was finished we ended up in this room facing down an exponentially growing horde of Grade 14s. You all showed up right before it started to get unmanageable.¡±

    ¡°Etja used Incorporate to absorb memories from the bugs,¡± said Varrin, back to cleaning his sword. ¡°The hive was large, but it still had boundaries. Her Total Recall evolution allowed her to memorize everything she learned and find paths that avoided dead ends and nests.¡±

    ¡°I have to live with those memories,¡± said Etja. ¡°Bug memories. For the rest of my life.¡±

    Nuralie had gone over to the mage and gently rubbed her on the back.

    ¡°When it was faster to go through the walls than follow the tunnels,¡± Varrin continued, ¡°we would capture one of the larger burrowing insects and ride them through.¡± Varrin tilted his head toward the giant centipede. Shog had pulled a large orb from its center and was studying it. ¡°This room we¡¯re in is at the center of the hive.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s just wonderful,¡± I said, then turned to Xim. ¡°What was your challenge?¡±

    ¡°Waiting,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Waiting?¡±

    [We could have left at any time, but she would not let us.]

    ¡°We were taken to the most beautiful chamber,¡± Xim said. She looked up from her work on Etja¡¯s hair for a few seconds, a reminiscent expression on her face. ¡°It was filled with divine treasures that spoke to me, whispering truths I could barely comprehend. They could understand me as well, so I spent some time chatting with them, unraveling their messages.¡±

    [She stood muttering at inanimate objects for several days.]

    ¡°The door to leave was always there,¡± Xim added. ¡°The trap was that the treasures promised divine knowledge that would take lifetimes to unravel. I might have gotten lost in it if Grotto hadn¡¯t pulled me out of the trance.¡±

    [I used Commandment to apply the Distracted status so that she was forced to listen to me.]

    ¡°After that, I realized most of the treasures were false idols. But there was one treasure that was real and benevolent. It told me to wait until I heard the call of my allies before leaving.¡±

    ¡°The call of your allies?¡± I asked.

    [I began having seizures once you started taking significant damage.]

    ¡°It was exquisite,¡± said Xim. ¡°The gods communicate with us in such mysterious ways.¡±

    Grotto glared at the cleric, his black octo-eyes thin slits of irritation.

    ¡°If we¡¯d left any sooner, we would have had to find our way to you, instead of being transported directly here.¡±

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± I asked.

    [She doesn¡¯t.]

    ¡°Faith guided me.¡±

    Shog floated over while we chatted, sniffing the orb he¡¯d dug from the centipede. It was excreting a glowing green liquid and covered in a thousand fine whiskers. The c¡¯thon ran a feeler through the goo and tucked it behind his beard to taste it, then interrupted us when he scowled and spat.

    ¡°The worst part of our challenge was that all of these insects are divine spawn,¡± he said. ¡°I could not consume a single one!¡±

    Shog flicked the orb toward the ground with a casual gesture, but it hit hard enough to kick up dirt and create a small crater. I really wanted to find out what his stats were.

    ¡°Wait, divine spawn?¡± I asked. ¡°Like what we faced in The Cage?¡±

    Shog crossed his arms across his chest. At least, I thought he did. They disappeared behind his ¡®beard¡¯.

    ¡°The bitterness is balanced by a slightly sour undertone,¡± he said, ¡°and there is a tantalizing umami flavor, creating a sense of haute cuisine distinct from when I last attempted to dine on such victuals.¡± I gaped at Shog as he went on, but Varrin heaved a sigh. ¡°However, the texture and aroma mingle to form an unmistakable bouquet evocative of avatar. It ruins the otherwise complex and alluring palate.¡± Shog¡¯s tentacles twitched and he made a deep, purring growl. ¡°This culinary affront fills me with a towering fury.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s uh, good to know,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were such a gourmand.¡±

    ¡°It is most of what he spoke about while we were together,¡± said Varrin, his tone resigned.

    ¡°I am passionate about my food.¡± Shog ran his eyes up and down over Varrin with a thoughtful gaze. ¡°You would probably be too salty.¡±

    ¡°Jokes about eating our friends aside,¡± I said, ¡°this is a major problem. Why would there be an avatar here?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that,¡± said Etja. Between the cleansing marble and the grooming from the other women, she was starting to look a lot less befouled. ¡°The Delve Remnant we fought was called The King¡¯s Pit. That was the Delve that the Delve Core, Cage, managed before he went to work inside of The Cage.¡±

    I snapped my fingers.

    ¡°I knew I remembered that name from somewhere!¡±

    ¡°The Cage drew a lot of its power from the avatars trapped inside,¡± said Etja. ¡°When the wards keeping them locked up started to fail, they really messed with the place.¡±

    ¡°Like that room with the Bloom,¡± I said. ¡°It had grown flesh plants everywhere.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Cage had practice using chained-up avatars as a power source.¡± Etja broke her staring contest with the dirt to glance up at me. ¡°The one inside The King¡¯s Pit could have gotten loose and corrupted the whole Delve.¡±

    ¡°That is a terrifying thought,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s also a lot of speculation.¡±

    ¡°I think the idea has merit,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We initially followed the hive¡¯s tunnels downward. The deeper we went inside this moon, the denser the ambient mana became.¡±

    ¡°Divine mana,¡± Etja added.

    ¡°Why go down?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You always go down in Delves,¡± Varrin grumbled. I had to give that one to him.

    ¡°And we feel confident we¡¯re on a moon at this point?¡±

    ¡°There are hundreds of miles of underground here,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What else could it be?¡±

    ¡°We could have been teleported somewhere new when we walked through those doors.¡±

    Varrin grunted.

    ¡°Perhaps. But the moon theory addresses this environment and answers several questions.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure most moons are full of bugs,¡± I said. ¡°Then again, I haven¡¯t visited any, so I can¡¯t be certain.¡±

    [Then you three believe an avatar is being used as a power source for this Delve?] Grotto thought to us. [And that it has begun to break its containment.]

    ¡°Since the divine mana gets stronger as we go down,¡± said Etja, ¡°we think it might be buried in the middle.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯d be one big egg,¡± I said. ¡°With a gooey demigod center.¡±

    ¡°Why would the System use divine spawn as challenges?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°If they are not supposed to be here, it makes little sense.¡±

    [A Delve will often put unexpected resources to use.]

    ¡°Or it¡¯s a feature, not a bug,¡± I said. That drew a couple of confused looks.

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± said Etja. ¡°¡®Bug¡¯ like you described to Umi-Doo.¡±

    I nodded, thoroughly appreciating how little humor a joke held once it was explained.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°The Delve might intentionally encourage the growth of divine spawn to serve as monster fodder.¡±

    ¡°We won¡¯t know more until we investigate,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Did you discover anything about these creatures your group fought?¡±

    ¡°A bit,¡± I said. ¡°Some of the items we looted carry certain¡­ implications.¡±

 153 - Lonely Langhrey

    I gave everyone the rundown on what Nuralie and I had faced, then began sharing the item descriptions. I opened with the Wand of Boundless Night since it felt dangerous to even hold on to. I pitched the idea of leaving it in the care of Sam¡¯lia, and no one was opposed to ridding ourselves of it. Xim once again entered a pensive stillness while we discussed the wand, but whatever she was thinking, she could share it in her own time.

    ¡°Despite its description,¡± I said, ¡°none of us were affected by it.¡±

    ¡°I was affected,¡± said Nuralie with a shiver. ¡°It was unpleasant.¡±

    ¡°No one was harmed by it,¡± I clarified. ¡°I felt the sense of doom it mentions, but none of us went psychotic or saw phantom creatures.¡±

    ¡°Someone could have disappeared,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°We have a full party,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Everyone is present.¡±

    ¡°Arlo could have had another summon.¡± Pause. Nuralie turned to me. ¡°How many active skill slots do you have open?¡±

    Goosebumps crept up my neck as I answered.

    ¡°One.¡±

    ¡°Only Etja has a full suite of active skills,¡± Varrin countered. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean Arlo had a second summon that was erased from existence.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re all better versed in soul magic than most,¡± said Xim, breaking her silence. ¡°Delver levels augment the soul. Arlo¡¯s Reveal ability has given us all plenty of experience having our souls fondled.¡±

    I grimaced.

    ¡°Not how I would have described it, but okay.¡±

    ¡°Three of us that were hit by it are revelators,¡± Xim continued. ¡°That empowers the soul through connection with a deity. The only other person here was Grotto. He specializes in spiritual magic and shares a soul bond with Arlo. We probably resisted the worst of the wand¡¯s consequences.¡±

    ¡°That reminds me,¡± I said to Xim, ¡°how did you keep from getting stunned by the Ego Splinter spell? I barely resisted myself, and I had several layers of defense against it.¡±

    She held up a hand, where the Ring of Many Blessings sparkled with its thousand facets.

    ¡°I burned all of my stored charges of Blessed,¡± Xim said. ¡°I resisted it by 4 points.¡±

    ¡°That attack was too close of a call,¡± I muttered, thinking over how we could have been better prepared. After another minute or two of discussion, I moved on to the other items we¡¯d recovered from the Doomed Aspirants.

    Varrin recognized the name Deletar, and the Longsword of Bluewren matched the weapon the man had used. He¡¯d apparently disappeared two decades ago. The big guy also recognized House Spyreling when we went over the brooch. The house was known for producing some of the most talented Delvers in Timagrin and ran an academy of some renown.

    I brought up the flavor text for the bardiche last. It was the only real clue as to who the final wave of bugs had been prior to their insectification. Aside from their names, that is, which were mildly eccentric and reminded me of some handles I¡¯d used for MMO characters when I was a moody 15-year-old. Nuralie was the most familiar with The Eschen Wastes, which the item¡¯s flavor text referenced.

    ¡°The Eschen Wastes are what they sound like,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Wastelands. They are north of Eschendur, spanning westward all the way to the borders of Timagrin and Mittak. The Kingdom of Ayama lies in the middle¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°though that region only flourishes because of Godking Ayamari¡¯s magic.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a big area,¡± I said.

    ¡°The Wastes are more than 20 times larger than Hiward,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They cover as much landmass as the Littan Empire.¡±

    ¡°Do people live there?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie tilted her head and thought.

    ¡°Some,¡± she said. ¡°There is a small Eschen settlement on the north side of the Left Hand Mountains. They trade with the people who live in The Eastern Wastes, mostly exiles and hermits.¡± Pause. ¡°People who would rather be ruled by the unkindness of nature, rather than by monarchs or politicians.¡±

    ¡°I guess this self-proclaimed Lord Hendrick Langhry wouldn¡¯t have been popular.¡±

    ¡°To put it mildly,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The population of the Wastes is sparse and there are only a few small villages, but I have been told they are mostly anarchistic. Single individuals and small groups living by the law of tooth and claw. I do not know much more.¡± Pause. ¡°I never felt the desire to visit.¡±

    ¡°I recognize the name,¡± said Xim. ¡°He was a Hiwardian Flarehart who was stripped of his title.¡±

    ¡°No offense, but why do you know that?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯re not usually very up to date with the Hiwardian nobility.¡±

    ¡°He was a famous Delver a couple of decades ago,¡± Xim replied. ¡°He ended up as one of the cautionary tales that aspiring Delvers are taught about in their academies.¡±

    ¡°Even I have heard the song,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Song?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Gods above, I haven¡¯t thought about that in years,¡± said Xim. ¡°Luck Won¡¯t Get You Lucky.¡±

    Etja¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°I love that song!¡± she said.

    ¡°Luck Won¡¯t Get You Lucky is the popular title,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The real name is The Ballad of Queen Celeritia¡¯s Virtue.¡± She sighed. ¡°Etja sang it many times while we toured.¡±

    ¡°I see why no one calls it by the formal name,¡± I said. ¡°The first one¡¯s catchier.¡±

    Xim suddenly broke out singing the tune.

    ¡°Luck won¡¯t get you lucky, as lonely Langhry found!

    The Queen¡¯s Guard quests for libidinous guests, even those with Shroud!¡±

    Nuralie joined in with an alto harmony. Soon after, Etja added her exceptional mezzo-soprano. Towards the end of the verse, even Varrin chipped in with a deep, rich bass.

    ¡°Oh, lusty Langhrey, seized with his trousers down.

    A sculpted breast clutched tight to his chest, while he went to town!

    Lilliputian loin-ed Langhrey, though you have an unbreakable bone,

    you can¡¯t quite make it penetrate when your partner¡¯s all marble and stone.

    When your partner¡¯s all marble and stone!¡±

    Grotto and I watched them in stunned silence. Shog¡¯s eyes were wide as saucers.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°What is this sonic magic?¡± he asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s called singing,¡± I said. ¡°Did Langhrey¡­ try to bang a statue?¡±

    ¡°A statue of the late queen, though she was alive at the time,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Inside the Dark Iron Palace no less.¡±

    ¡°He could¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°animate things.¡±

    ¡°No thanks,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t need any more details.¡± I rubbed my eyes, trying to erase the lyrics from my memory. ¡°Wait, why is that a cautionary tale for Delvers?¡±

    ¡°He had high Luck and apparently got away with a lot of ¡®strange¡¯ activities,¡± said Xim. ¡°He also thought his invisibility spell would keep him from getting caught.¡± She smirked. ¡°But groans can¡¯t become invisible.¡±

    ¡°Why did I ask?¡±

    ¡°It serves two main purposes,¡± said Varrin. ¡°First, you should always keep the limits of the skill you¡¯re using in mind. It is easy to get blindsided when you lose focus.  The second is that someone, somewhere, always has a counterspell.¡±

    ¡°It also serves as an intro to Delver punishment,¡± said Xim. ¡°Langhrey was a level 20 gold. He was widely known, well-liked, and fairly skilled. But a squad of level 15 Queen¡¯s Guards is equipped to¡­ frustrate criminal acts. Even when such dirty deeds are being discharged by high-level Delvers.¡±

    ¡°We can stop now,¡± I said, wincing at the relentless innuendo. ¡°Luckless Langhrey got caught being naughty and lost his title.¡±

    ¡°The king also stripped him of his lands and property,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Then forbade him from Delving. He essentially became an overleveled peasant.¡±

    ¡°It appears that he sought out new opportunities in distant lands,¡± I said, extrapolating the rest of the former lord¡¯s tale. ¡°Maybe his Luck paid off for a while and he managed to establish some sort of domain in the Wastes. Then¨C¡± I gestured at a bug corpse. ¡°Roach killed him.¡±

    ¡°Roach?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Blood Scour. Sorry, that was my internal nickname for her.¡± I rubbed my beard and pondered. ¡°Do we think these Aspirants were from the Wastes, then?¡±

    ¡°Rogue Delvers, maybe,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Or they did Creation like the Artemix group,¡± said Varrin, expression growing dark. ¡°All of those people who worked with Orexis found a way to bypass the Creation Delve somehow.¡±

    ¡°Did Lito and Myria ever figure out how that worked?¡± asked Xim, turning to me.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°If they did, I wouldn''t have been kept in the loop,¡± I answered. ¡°That gives us a crew from the Eschen Wastes. The group of 3 from earlier didn¡¯t have anything to ID them with, other than their first names. The group of 2 had the brooch, which means they may have been from Timagrin. The first Aspirant, Deletar, was likely a member of House Bluewren.¡±

    ¡°If so, that gives us The Eschen Wastes, Timagrin, and Hiward,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Does that tell us anything?¡±

    ¡°Whatever happened to these people is agnostic of people¡¯s nationality,¡± I offered.

    Varrin¡¯s hand tightened around his sword hilt.

    ¡°If an avatar is the cause, that would be consistent.¡±

    [Delve Cores also have little regard for the geographic origins of those who enter their halls.]

    ¡°Grotto has a point,¡± I said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t assume¨C¡±

    [However, a Delve Core would not punish Delvers by transmuting them into such monstrosities. They would simply recycle the body, using its mana as fuel and its organic components as compost.]

    ¡°Have you completed your thought?¡± I asked. Grotto bobbed in the air.

    [Yes.]

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t assume an avatar is the cause,¡± I said. ¡°We can run with the theory, but our goal should be to try and disprove it at every turn.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Either way, we should continue moving forward.¡±

    ¡°We do still have the Get Out of Cage Free Card,¡± said Xim. ¡°We could just go.¡±

    ¡°Assuming it works here,¡± I said. ¡°Also, I want those special Delve rewards.¡±

    ¡°Is that worth facing down an avatar?¡± she asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know for sure that there¡¯s an avatar involved.¡±

    The cleric gave me a skeptical look.

    ¡°We¡¯re here inside a secret Delve, known only to a select few for its impossibility,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s us. If we find evidence of the worst possible thing happening, then the worst possible thing is probably happening.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but look at all the great stuff we¡¯ve gotten because of our proclivity to punch above our weight class.¡±

    ¡°We need to know if it¡¯s true,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If the avatars have gotten their claws deeper into Delves or the System, that is something we cannot ignore.¡±

    ¡°I do not think there would be much we could do about that,¡± said Nuralie.

    [If an avatar has taken control of the Delve, we cannot guarantee that completing the objective will advance the phase.]

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said. ¡°Why not?¡±

    [The avatar may be controlling the objectives in some way, incorporating its own spawn into the challenges. If so, it has some level of access to the core that runs the Delve.]

    ¡°Well fuck,¡± I said. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s at least take a peek and see what we can find out.¡± I looked around the group. Neither Xim nor Nuralie looked happy about it, but they reluctantly agreed. Etja was silent, lost in thought. Varrin, of course, was adamant that we move forward.

    ¡°But first,¡± I said, ¡°before we go searching for things that can kill us with a flick of its wrist, I have an evolution to pick.¡±

    The mood was dour, but professionalism won out and we reviewed the options together.

    1) Frontline Officer: Whenever an ally you can perceive blocks an attack, you may react by adding your Leadership skill level to their block value.

    2) Backline Officer: Whenever an ally you can perceive makes a ranged attack, you may react by adding your Leadership skill level to the attack¡¯s damage.

    3) Medical Officer: Whenever an ally who can perceive you is healed for any amount, they may increase that amount by your Leadership skill level. This bonus can only be gained once per minute per ally.

    The first two choices also came with the option to pick up an active skill that complimented the evolution, but both were from the Spiritual school. My attunement wouldn¡¯t allow it even if I¡¯d wanted either of them.

    Frontline Officer would mainly help out Xim since she was the only other party member wielding a shield. Varrin and Shog could block with their swords, but Varrin¡¯s style focused on avoiding taking hits, and Shog had taken after his teacher from what I¡¯d seen. My summon also used his tentacles to keep enemies subdued. Overall, Frontline Officer wasn¡¯t a great fit for our group.

    Backline Officer looked like it would only benefit Nuralie at first glance, but a close reading of the text revealed more. It didn¡¯t call for a ranged weapon attack, only a ranged attack. That meant it included ranged spells. That would assist Xim and Etja, in addition to Nuralie.

    My main problem with the first two choices was that they required me to ¡®react¡¯ to grant the bonus. Skills that required reactions took a small amount of time and attention. I would probably end up in situations where I was too focused on managing the enemy and blocking attacks to use the abilities to their full potential, which was a struggle I already had with Dispel. They would also be unusable if I was Stunned, Distracted, or knocked unconscious. If I had mostly been standing around and barking orders, I¡¯m sure they would have been great. That wasn¡¯t my style, however.

    Medical Officer didn¡¯t require any action on my part. My allies decided whether to take the bonus healing, regardless of my thoughts or feelings. The range was perception-based, so my allies could still benefit even while on massive battlefields, so long as they could ¡®perceive¡¯ me. It was a shame they had to perceive me, as opposed to the reverse like the first two evos, since I nearly always had perception of my allies through Soul-Sight and my aura. It was still a good feature.

    The amount of healing felt minor to someone like me, who had over a thousand health, but for my allies, 20 health was an appreciable percentage¨C5% or so for Nuralie or Etja. That number would also improve as my Leadership skill advanced.

    What ultimately sold me on Medical Officer was that it improved something I was already building into: my passive ability to heal the party. I currently increased everyone¡¯s health regeneration by an amount equal to my Fortitude with Who Needs a Cleric. Allies got a 20% bump to that regen from my last Leadership evo. My super evolution, We Can Do This All Day, gave stamina or health to a nearby ally equal to half of any damage I took. Medical Officer would grant the rest of the party a global healing buff on top, and I was betting it would trigger off of the healing from We Can Do This All Day. Taken alone, none of these were massive bonuses, but together they started to represent a potent suite of entirely passive healing abilities.

    Nuralie ran us through a few theoretical scenarios. If we were facing a series of tough fights, the three abilities together could easily wind up healing 20% of the party¡¯s total HP every hour without me lifting a finger or spending any mana. In extreme circumstances, that percentage could be much higher. It was about equal to what Xim could output in the same timeframe if she relied solely on her mana regen.

    Of course, Xim was more focused on burnination, Fear, and pummeling than she was on healing. Plus she could burn mana to rapidly heal way, way more than I could. So, I wasn¡¯t going to start wearing robes and carrying a scepter anytime soon. Besides, most of these bonuses didn¡¯t apply to me, only to my allies. I still needed somebody to stuff my guts back in when we didn¡¯t have time for my health regen to rebuild 90% of my body.

    The matter being settled, I selected Medical Officer.

    Then we looked around at the obvious absence of doors or portals. I scratched my head and sighed.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°How do we leave?

 154 - Sharing (your stats) is Caring

    The way forward was to crawl further onward through the hive surrounding us. It took an hour to convince Etja to dive back inside the tunnels, but she relaxed once we realized that most insects had hidden or fled. Whether that was due to our completion of the objective or Varrin and Co¡¯s relentless week-long slaughter, we didn¡¯t know. Either way, we were only forced to squash a few lingering bugs. None of them were pushovers, but neither were they serious threats. No more Doomed Aspirants appeared to challenge us.

    Etja wasn¡¯t afraid of bugs¨Cnot any more than the average super-person¨Cbut a week of constant assault and the hypervigilance it required to endure had gotten to her. Combined with being lost in tight underground spaces and being filthy beyond measure, uncertain whether she would arrive in time to save the lives of her friends, it was reasonable that she was reluctant to repeat the experience. Really, I thought she was holding up better than most would if put into a similar situation.

    We began by going up, led by Etja¡¯s knowledge from the Incorporated bugs. I continually scanned for valid teleport locations using Coordinated Thinker and discovered a large, empty space above us once we were within a mile of the hive¡¯s outer edge. That¡¯s also when the air began to thin.

    We were able to press on for a time until the distance wouldn¡¯t trigger a large cooldown from Reckless Shortcut. The others had begun having difficulty breathing, and even I was getting uncomfortable. I took a few deep breaths of the scarce atmosphere and used Shortcut to teleport to the edge of the emptiness above.

    A twist of dimensional energy zipped me away like usual, and I appeared on the surface of the moon.

    I fought against the vacuum trying to empty my lungs for a moment, and readjusted my sense of balance. Whatever force created the artificial gravity throughout the rest of the Delve was no longer present, although there was still enough to barely keep me from accidentally kicking off into the void.

    I used Therianthropy and vibrant wings unfolded at my back, their magic allowing me to maneuver even without atmosphere. I spun and scanned the land around me, ignoring the discomfort from my exposed eyes, but found no obvious structures. The ground was tinged a slight blue, and when I glanced down I realized that it wasn¡¯t composed of the moondust or dirt that my mind had expected. No, the presence of countless metallic beads broke my lunar prejudices. I scooped up a handful, icy cold and smooth, then rolled them around in my palm. They were uniform for the most part, a few sporting slight pitting in places.

    I placed some in my inventory, collecting a decent pile. I had no idea what the substance was, and I couldn¡¯t identify it with my interface. It might be valuable, or useful for crafting, or maybe it would give us some clues about what was happening in the skies above Arzia. I would have taken more, but I was on a timer. If we decided it was worth the delay, I could always return and get a few wheelbarrows worth. The beads stretched on for as far as I could see, so it was more likely to be worthless, aside from the novelty of its origin.

    I kept track of the location of my allies, ensuring I could use Shortcut to get back, and began exploring in a large, spiraling pattern. I gave myself 20 minutes but didn¡¯t find anything worth noting. Not even a crater. I¡¯m sure that meant something astronomically speaking, but I didn¡¯t know what. Maybe the moon wasn¡¯t that old. Maybe there wasn¡¯t anything in this solar system that might collide with it. Maybe it self-repaired. Coming up empty with my search, I teleported to my allies and reported my findings. We tried moving laterally and repeated the exercise a few times, but I never found any clues as to where we should be going.

    We eventually decided to heed Varrin¡¯s directional wisdom and headed down.

    We traveled more than 200 miles into the moon. None of us knew how far it was to the center. While Arzia¡¯s moon had been estimated to be about 1800 miles in diameter, we weren¡¯t confident we were on the same satellite. The moon visible from Arzia was typically gray-white, similar to Earth¡¯s moon, although its color altered slightly based on atmospheric conditions. There were times it took on a blue hue, and the beads I¡¯d taken were only subtly blue, so it was possible they were the same orbital bodies.

    After all, if they weren¡¯t the same, how come nobody ever noticed this one?

    Earth¡¯s moon had a radius of a thousand miles or something, but I also thought I remembered its gravity being described to be a little stronger than what I¡¯d experienced up above. That ultimately didn¡¯t tell us anything, since we had no idea about this moon¡¯s density. The soil had given way to rock, but the atmosphere was breathable and there was no spike in geothermal heat. Again, I was no geologist or physicist, but the whole thing felt unnatural.

    Of course, while I lacked any professional STEM honorifics, I could now proudly add astronaut to my curriculum vitae.

    Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel

    Platinum Delver, Extradimensional Traveler, & Astronaut

    It sounded pretty good. People valued experience over degrees these days anyway.

    We cut through the tunnels pretty quickly. Varrin¡¯s Siege Breaker evolution let him do 10 times normal damage to mundane objects, which applied to stone tunnels. While we lacked any mining equipment, his inner dwarf emerged when I handed him the Giant Spiked Mace of the Bloody Jubilee. He didn¡¯t have the Blunt skill to use its effects, but he sure as hell could swing it. The man¡¯s 40 in Strength also made him capable of lifting boulders, and Shog displayed a comparable level of might.

    Early on in our journey through rock and stone, I stopped and asked Shog if he had a status screen of some kind, which he did. Grotto insisted that no c¡¯thon would expose volunteer such information and potentially expose their weaknesses, but Shog sent everyone in the party a condensed version. That shut Grotto right up, and I could swear Shog did it half to spite the ¡°c¡¯thon imposter¡±. I looked over the sheet and was both impressed and mildly alarmed.

    Shog¡¯tuatha, C¡¯thon Brood Lord

    Stats:

    Strength 40

    Agility 25

    Speed 38

    Fortitude 30

    Intelligence 1

    Wisdom 10

    Charisma 1

    Luck  1

    Passive Skills: 3/4

    Graboid

    Stalking Predator

    Limb Stealer (Super)

    Active Skills: 7/10

    Soul Chomp

    Barbed Constrictor

    Psychic Whip

    Quick Sting

    Warp Speed

    Swoop

    Whirlwind

    Intrinsic Skills: 8/10

    Aerial Combat  30

    Unarmed   29

    Physical Magic  28

    Stealth   26

    Blades   22

    Dimensional Magic 22

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Leadership   21

    Spiritual Magic  21

    Maybe it shouldn¡¯t have surprised me, but he had the stats of a level 16 Delver. He was Grade 16, but the fact that I could summon someone that strong felt¡­ totally unfair. I had 29 more total stats than Shog, but his were heavily concentrated on physical attributes, whereas some of mine were in stats I rarely used like Charisma and Luck. No wonder he kicked the shit out of everything. He was basically as overpowered as I was.

    I didn¡¯t pry into his passives and actives¨Cmost of them spoke for themselves¨Cand his intrinsics were no surprise, with the exception of Leadership. Who was he leading? Other c¡¯thons? Is that why he was called a Brood Lord? As much time as I¡¯d spent with the c¡¯thon, I didn¡¯t know too much about his personal life. That one was on me, I supposed. I never really asked. Then again, he never volunteered a lot, so I assumed he preferred his privacy.

    Also, Aerial Combat sounded fucking awesome. Once I was maxed out in Physical Magic, I¡¯d be able to summon wings for up to 8 hours a day with Therianthropy. It might be worth trying to pick that one up. Plus, Grotto could probably benefit from it.

    Speaking of my Bonded Familiar, I inquired as to whether Grotto would also be willing to share, but the core seemed uncomfortable after viewing Shog¡¯s sheet. But a few hours later he psychically told me that the screen was for my eyes only, and I got a notification to receive a similarly compressed status screen.

    Delve Core 1156 ¡°Grotto¡±

    Stats:

    Strength 1

    Agility 1

    Speed 1

    Fortitude 20

    Intelligence 20

    Wisdom 20

    Charisma 34

    Luck  1

    Passive Skills: 3/4

    Industrial Transmutation

    Bonded Familiar

    Aura of Despair

    Active Skills: 7/10

    Animate Object

    Suggestion

    Despair

    Commandment

    Enhance Spirit

    Rebuke

    Second Wind

    Intrinsic Skills: 10/10

    Spiritual Magic  41

    Botany   40

    Divine Magic  31

    Subterfuge   31

    Architecture   30

    Animal Husbandry  23

    System Call   20

    Dungeoneering  20

    Reconnaissance  18

    Mystical Magic  10

    Grotto¡¯s stats were in line with a level 10 Delver, which made sense because I was his bond and I was level 10. It was probably still unfair of me to be capable of having a familiar that essentially added an entirely new party member to a normal level 10 team, but at first glance, Grotto didn¡¯t look as potent as Shog. The advantages Grotto brought to the table were more unquantifiable, however. His depth of knowledge and expertise related to System matters¨Cwhen he felt like sharing¨Cwas invaluable. Even if he did nothing more than give us input and advice, I¡¯d still think he was pulling his weight.

    Grotto also had a full set of intrinsics, and his total intrinsic levels were higher than anyone else in the party. He was exactly a bajillion years old, so that followed, although the fact that they weren¡¯t higher raised some questions. Like Shog, I didn¡¯t pry into the specifics of his abilities, letting him decide on his own time how much he wanted to get into it. I was extremely curious what all he used his level 31 Subterfuge skill for, but between pretending to be a c¡¯thon 24/7 and trying to keep secrets so that he didn¡¯t face System retribution, it seemed valid.

    I did want to know more about his intrinsic levels, numerically speaking, and figured it would be a vague enough conversation that it wouldn¡¯t be invasive. Of course, it¡¯s not as though Grotto took other people¡¯s feelings into consideration very often, but he¡¯d been making some strides in that direction lately. No reason to push boundaries and possibly encourage an emotional relapse.

    ¡°Hey Grotto,¡± I thought to the core. ¡°Mind if I ask you a sort of personal question? I¡¯ll understand if you don''t want to answer, so no pressure.¡±

    My familiar scanned the others around us, as though they might eavesdrop on the psychic conversation. Even if we were talking at normal volume, I doubt the others could hear much over the sound of Varrin and Shog minecrafting us straight to bedrock.

    [Very well.]

    ¡°Not to be indelicate, but you are very, very old.¡±

    [That is correct.]

    ¡°Like, ¡®geological ages¡¯ levels of old, right?¡±

    [Yes. I harbor no shame over my age if that is why you are awkwardly flailing for inoffensive wording.]

    ¡°No, what I¡¯m wondering is, since you¡¯ve been alive for what seems like a non-trivial fraction of this planet¡¯s existence, why aren¡¯t your intrinsic skills all maxed?¡±

    Grotto turned to study my expression before he responded. Whatever he saw there, it seemed to satisfy him.

    [A Delve Core¡¯s existence is not like your own,] he thought to me. [While the System is dormant, I enter into a state of hibernation. My functions are limited to maintaining the Delve that I am responsible for, but I am not allowed to continue actively managing and improving upon it. Even then, I am conscious for less than 0.1% of the time during this period, and the level of sentience I possess while conscious during such System dormancy is limited. There is little need for my personality matrix to function above a base level. Put simply, I have spent the vast majority of my life asleep.

    [When the System is online and actively encouraging Delver growth, I am awake, but still not perpetually fully aware. My personality matrix only manifests in its entirety while I am performing complex duties or while Delvers are within my halls. Even so, I have operated at full capacity for thousands of times longer than a normal human lifespan.

    [The answer to your question thus has many parts. My skills were not characterized in this manner until I became your Bonded Familiar. I possessed the skills I needed for my tasks, but there was no need for them to be expressly quantified, enticing me toward challenge and improvement. Additionally, the repetition of a task alone is insufficient to level a skill after a certain point. My duties were well-defined, and while I was allowed a certain degree of freedom and flexibility, the majority of my activities were ones I¡¯d mastered an eon ago.

    [I also suspect that my skills have been suppressed to some degree. Dungeoneering, for example, should be much higher, but it has been linked to your own intrinsic for some reason. On the other hand, Spiritual Magic has risen to heights I have never before achieved, much of which has to do with our soul bond. Altogether, my involvement with you and your party has been a catalyst for an incredible leap in mastery over several skills.]

    ¡°Our party,¡± I thought to him. He raised an octo-brow at me. ¡°It¡¯s our party, Grotto. Not my party. You¡¯re as much a part of it as anyone.¡±

    Grotto considered my words, then fixed me with a meaningful gaze.

    [Since Hognay entered my Delve and I became your Bonded Familiar, this is the longest uninterrupted period of full sentience I have experienced in my time as a Delve core. It has begun to evoke memories of my old life, the one lived out by the man upon whom I am modeled. It is strange. But I also find it¡­ agreeable.]

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re with us. The way you describe it, I¡¯m not sure I would enjoy being a normal Delve Core.¡±

    [I had never given it much consideration until lately.]

    ¡°If you ever want to talk about it, I¡¯m happy to lend an ear.¡±

    Grotto didn¡¯t seem to have much else to say after that, so I walked beside him for a time as we followed the group through the holes being dug by Varrin and Shog. Between Etja¡¯s memory and my ability to hunt out open space with Coordinated Thinker, we were tunneling pretty quickly. Before long I found an open chamber and directed the party toward it.

    After digging through a quarter mile of stone, we encountered a mana barrier that kept us from advancing. We burrowed around it for a while, eventually finding a way into the room, and I took the lead as we broke down the last bit of stone.

    We found ourselves in a well-lit chamber covered in gold, gemstone, and a botanical garden¡¯s worth of plant life. Thematically, it matched the hall we¡¯d found when first entering the Delve proper after killing The Pit. There were two spheres of dark metal, one on either side of the chamber, about the size of a small house. Each sphere had a hole cut into its side, large enough for a person to pass through.

    At the room¡¯s center floated a simple two-handed axe, the kind made for splitting firewood. The handle and axehead were made from the dark metal of the Delves, and a potent aura emanated from it, although it was neither sinister nor benevolent. It simply was.

    Behind the axe was a painted statue made of the same smooth material as the sculpture of Deijin Nuralie and I had encountered. It had a canine face but with a snout long and narrow like a crocodile. Its body was lean, covered in graceful, rippling musculature. Its four limbs ended in wide paws tipped with long, curved talons, and a pair of stone wings were folded down upon its back. Its tail was short and rounded as though it had been clipped when it was young, and it lay curled around itself like a sleeping cat.

    It was also the size of an elephant.

    As the last of us entered the room, the statue¡¯s eyes opened. Slitted irises rolled over us, and a soul halo emerged, bright and potent but with the synthetic feel of the souls from back in the endless loop. It yawned, a flat, coarse tongue sticking out from between hooked teeth. Then, it sat back on its haunches, front talons carving deep grooves into the stone like it was made of butter. It smacked its lips as I identified it.

    Icon of the Psychopomp: Automaton, Grade 30.

    ¡°Candidates,¡± it said. The Icon paused and cleared its throat with a deep rumble that rattled my armor. ¡°Welcome to your challenge, the final test by which you¡¯re tried. Though this is unlike others, its success is yours to guide. An appraisal of conviction, merely asks that you decide. Which ones of us shall live, and which one of us shall die?¡±

 155 - Splitting Souls

    ¡°Oh, is this a riddle?¡± asked Etja. ¡°I¡¯m not very good with riddles.¡±

    ¡°It is not a riddle,¡± said the Icon.

    I waited for the Icon to keep talking, but it didn¡¯t say anything else.

    ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m Arlo, and from left to right¨Cyour left to right¨Cthis is Shog, Varrin, Xim, Etja, and Grotto.¡± I couldn¡¯t find Nuralie as I gave introductions.

    ¡°And the Guelon hiding behind Chamber B?¡± asked the Icon. Nuralie poked her head out from behind one of the spheres.

    ¡°I am Nuralie,¡± she said. The Icon¡¯s mouth curled up into something akin to a smile.

    ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly,¡± it said. ¡°You are the first to appear before me this generation. So early in the phase as well, it is impressive. Congratulations.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s awfully nice of you to say,¡± I replied. ¡°That was an interesting rhyme earlier. At first, I thought you were one of those magical creatures that only spoke in rhyme.¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± the Icon said with a long sigh. ¡°I was told that I must say that verbatim. Personally, I think it¡¯s silly. Plain language is superior.¡±

    ¡°I see. It sure was ominous, though. Are you able to explain things a bit further?¡±

    ¡°Of course. I expected that I¡¯d need to.¡± The Icon waved a paw at the axe floating between the two spherical chambers. ¡°If you would, please identify this item.¡±

    I did as the Icon suggested.

    Axe of Soul Splitting

    It¡¯s very sharp.

    Requirements: Escalated Delver Candidate, Chamber of Conviction

    Effects:

    When struck by this axe, the target¡¯s soul is cleaved in two, and each half can act independently of the other. After 1 minute the soul expires, causing the target to perish.

    ¡°Escalated Delver Candidate,¡± I read aloud. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I had an idea of what it meant, but this seemed like a good opportunity to fish for more concrete information.

    ¡°You are,¡± said the Icon. It watched me closely, and I raised my eyebrows at the non-response. Its mouth curled into another grin. ¡°It is a Delver that has transcended the limits of power supplied by the Delves, in the process of proving their merit by climbing for greater summits than those with paths cleared for them.¡±

    ¡°And the Chamber of Conviction. I assume that¡¯s where we are?¡±

    ¡°You assume correctly.¡±

    ¡°And what are we expected to do with this axe?¡±

    ¡°Before you are twin chambers. A single soul must be divided and then each half must enter a different chamber simultaneously. Once this has been done, you will be granted permission to activate System Core Two.¡±

    ¡°And the axe kills whoever is split?¡±

    ¡°That is what it says, yes.¡±

    ¡°What is meant by we decide ¡®which ones of us shall live, and which one of us shall die?¡¯¡±

    ¡°You must choose whose soul to split.¡±

    Nuralie stepped out from behind the sphere, studying the axe.

    ¡°Must it be one of us?¡± she asked.

    ¡°It must be someone in this chamber,¡± the Icon answered.

    ¡°You are someone in this chamber,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°This is true.¡±

    ¡°Then we could split your soul.¡± Pause. ¡°Not one of our own.¡±

    ¡°If that is your wish.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± I asked.

    The Icon¡¯s grin grew wider. It waved its paw again, and 6 items appeared in the air before it. They didn¡¯t emit any sort of mana signature, and a quick look with my Sight told me that these were not true items, merely projections.

    ¡°If I am chosen to fall beneath the axe, you will receive no reward other than progression through the Delve. If I am spared, then each survivor will receive an item custom-made for your build.¡±

    The Icon flicked its paw and a cuirass floated forward. While illusory, I could still identify the item it represented.

    Demon Bone Cuirass of the Descent

    Requirements: Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Escalated Delver

    Effects:

    1) Physical DR +40

    2) Fire DR +10

    3) +100 Health Regeneration

    4) When you are hit by a hostile spell, you absorb 10% of the mana spent on that spell.

    5) Immutable

    I rubbed my eyes and made sure I was reading the description properly. That was a lot of Physical damage reduction, 4 times more than my current cuirass. Fire was a type of Physical damage, so it reduced that even further. My ring would also double the health regen, giving me an extra 200 total. I would lose a small amount of poison resistance, but absorbing mana from enemy spells was more useful to me anyway.

    The chest armor was also Immutable, an effect I¡¯d only ever discovered on my boa and vest. It meant I¡¯d never need to repair the item and, while it wouldn¡¯t outright stop a weapon from penetrating it, the armor would never end up with gaping holes like my current cuirass after Roach went to town. We¡¯d spent long enough working our way through the hive that my Verdantum Cuirass of the Redoubt was back in pristine condition, but if I¡¯d had to fight again while it was in tatters, it would have provided a lot less protection.

    The Icon waved and a hooded cloak floated to Nuralie.

    Demon Skin Cloak of the Descent

    Requirements: Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a, Escalated Delver

    Effects:

    1) Fire DR +10

    2) Techniques that require a charge time are treated as though they have been charged for an additional 6 seconds.

    3) While undetected, you are always considered to be aiming.

    4) When you are hit by a hostile spell, you absorb 10% of the mana spent on that spell.

    5) Immutable

    The charge buff would mean Nuralie¡¯s Hunger Shot could immediately fire 2 attacks, with no charge time needed at all. Nuralie also had some open skill slots, so she could focus her remaining skills on charge time to take full advantage of the ability. It only worked on techniques¨Cactive skills that took stamina¨Cbut it was still a huge buff. Additionally, Nuralie got various bonuses to attack and damage while aiming, but it took time to set up. Ultimately, this would significantly increase Nuralie¡¯s attack speed.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    Given the similarity of prefixes, it looked like the Fire damage reduction and mana absorption were part of the ¡°Demon¡± class of materials. It would be nice to know whether we could find some demons to farm this stuff, or if it were more of a metaphorical name.

    A wand began floating toward Etja, but she held up a hand.

    ¡°No thanks,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to see something I¡¯m not going to take anyway.¡±

    I glanced at her and rubbed my beard.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s no way we¡¯re going to kill a member of the party. There isn¡¯t much reason to even identify these.¡±

    ¡°Truly?¡± said the Icon, then looked to Shog. ¡°A normal summon cannot wield the axe, but you are different. How long until you can walk these lands under your own power, without the need to be bound to your summoner? Would you forfeit a prize such as this out of sentiment for those you will soon leave behind?¡±

    A crown appeared, its palisades jagged and covered in a shifting blue shimmer.

    Demon Ivory Crown of the Descent

    Requirements: Shog¡¯tuatha, Hidden Delver

    Effects:

    1) Fire DR +10

    2) You are no longer weak to Holy damage.

    3) Each time you deal damage with an attack, the damaged entity takes additional Psychic damage equal to your Spiritual Magic skill level. If the Psychic damage dealt this way is higher than the target¡¯s WIS, they become vulnerable to Psychic damage for 1 minute.

    4) When you are hit by a hostile spell, you absorb 10% of the mana spent on that spell.

    5) Immutable

    I was curious about the crown¡¯s second effect since I hadn¡¯t known Shog was weak to Holy, unless it was a useless affix. Given that the items were ¡®custom made¡¯, I doubted that was the case. The third effect would add some nice damage diversity to the c¡¯thon, although I knew he had at least one way to deal Psychic damage already with his spectral tendril. He¡¯d focused on swords the last few times I¡¯d seen him fight, so I wasn¡¯t sure how significant such a bonus might be overall.

    I had no idea what a ¡°Hidden Delver¡± was, but I assumed we¡¯d find out sooner or later, assuming Shog didn¡¯t betray us.

    Every cell of my being wanted to trust Shog. He¡¯d never done wrong by us, but I realized being a summon placed some limitations on what he could do. It was possible he harbored some hidden ill will. Or maybe he would be happy to be free of my control and let loose on Arzia, able to munch on mana-rich Delvers to his heart¡¯s content. It was possible but I didn¡¯t believe it to be true. While Shog made Nuralie¡¯s Evil Sense tingle, I¡¯d been inside the c¡¯thon¡¯s head. Although he¡¯d never done so, he might have tried to exploit us when he first crawled out of my summoning portal back in The Cage, but we¡¯d been through a lot together since that time. I had faith in Shog.

    Nuralie, Grotto, and Xim didn¡¯t look like they shared that faith. Varrin stood with arms crossed over his chest, staring down the Icon with a blank expression. Etja smiled as she watched Shog with curiosity, looking unconcerned.

    Shog peered into the illusory crown.

    ¡°A c¡¯thon holds no sentiment,¡± he said. ¡°The weak have value only as food, but those who prove their strength are worthy of recognition. The strong who fight beside a c¡¯thon are as good as brood siblings.¡± He whipped a tentacle through the illusion, scattering it into wisps of mana. ¡°No one can deny the strength of those before you, and they have fought beside me, never once questioning my convictions.¡±

    [I do not believe that is entirely accurate¡­]

    ¡°A true c¡¯thon will not debase itself to fratricide, no matter the reward. Any who do will be treated as cattle.¡±

    Alright, maybe we could work a little on helping the c¡¯thon appreciate the intrinsic value of life, but overall I was proud of my bro Shog. His speech even made me a bit misty-eyed.

    ¡°Then none of you will take up my offer?¡±

    The Icon looked from Varrin to Xim but ignored Grotto completely. The dog-lion-crocodile-bird had only conjured 6 items, so my familiar was excluded. It could have been because he was considered an extension of my power, or maybe the Icon was prejudiced against Delve Cores. I was offended on the little octo¡¯s behalf.

    Varrin uncrossed his arms and walked forward with a steady stride. He stopped before the axe and looked it over, then glanced up at the Icon.

    ¡°If we were to use this axe on you,¡± he said, ¡°would you simply accept this?¡±

    The Icon tilted its head.

    ¡°This is my role, should that be your choice.¡±

    ¡°Do you wish to die?¡± the big guy asked.

    The Icon drew a breath, hesitated, then spoke.

    ¡°I do not seek death, no. But if it is required to turn the wheel of the Great Work, I will hold no grudge.¡±

    Varrin grunted. He took three steps back and placed a hand along the hilt of Kazandak.

    ¡°Then you will live.¡±

    An ethereal hand formed from Varrin¡¯s soul and drew a spectral copy of Kazandak. It was the same move he¡¯d used while we ran through the Littan camp. Varrin had drawn an ethereal version of Kazandak that followed behind the spectral copy, using the weapon to disable enemy Delvers by striking their souls, rather than cutting them down. This time, the motion was mirrored by Varrin as he drew the true Kazandak.

    Varrin¡¯s soul flared and roiled as his blade occupied the same space as the spectral version. Power rolled across the room, kicking up dust in a swirling gale of pressure that poured off the warrior. Ghostly hands formed from spiritual essence raised the spectral Kazandak high over Varrin¡¯s head, but the big guy did not copy the move. Instead, he stepped back and drew the sword low and to his right. As his position shifted, Varrin¡¯s soul remained behind.

    Varrin¡¯s soul stepped forward, sweeping its blade downward in a slow arc, a motion I¡¯d seen Varrin perform countless times in training. It wasn¡¯t an attack, but an exercise to ensure control and accuracy. Varrin stepped forward and to the side, raising his sword up in an arc converse to his soul¡¯s motion. Then, Varrin¡¯s soul flared back to life along his body while the copy remained. The swordsmen moved through gentle motions, their strikes mirrored, but opposite. As they transitioned from one form to the next, they slowly separated, until a version of Varrin stood before him, composed entirely from spiritual essence.

    I gaped at the display, unable to wrap my head around what was happening. Both souls belonged to Varrin, but neither soul was truly Varrin. The physical copy of the warrior was enshrouded in a halo that was raw and pure, as though Varrin existed in a space fully separated from reality and its influence. The soul ¡®copy¡¯ was immersed in the world and its history, like it had taken everything the physical Varrin had separated out from himself to craft its own body. Both souls belonged to the big guy, it was unmistakable, but neither was complete without the other.

    Then, as the warriors turned, I noticed something peculiar.

    The ethereal version of Varrin had features that were slightly distinct, as though it were an identical twin with slight variations that set them apart. Those features looked familiar, however, and I was struck by the memory of Varrin¡¯s father, Thundralke Ealdric Ravvenblaq the Third. Still, it wasn¡¯t his father¡¯s ghost, but that part of Varrin that was made from his father¡¯s influence. As I watched, the features shifted further, morphing nearly imperceptibly to someone new, although this one I didn¡¯t recognize.

    Finally, Varrin spoke.

    ¡°A single soul must be divided,¡± he said. ¡°You never said it must be done with the axe.¡±

    Then, Varrin and his soul clone walked in opposite directions, each entering one of the spherical chambers. Runes lit up along their surfaces, and lines of mana shot forth along its edges and the floor, reaching out toward the wall behind the Icon. The lines met and coalesced into a doorway, and then a portal of shimmering silver light appeared.

    Several seconds passed, everyone speechless, but Varrin never exited the chamber. I cast Shortcut to appear outside the chamber and found Varrin lying on the ground, motionless.

    ¡°Shit, shit, shit,¡± I swore and I knelt beside the big guy. His skin was cold and clammy, but when I pressed a finger to his neck I felt a pulse. I bent down and placed my ear next to his mouth, feeling the barest breath coming from him. I turned to find Xim was already behind me. She squeezed into the small space beside us and laid hands on the big guy, closing her eyes and focusing on her healing.

    ¡°He¡¯s not hurt,¡± she said.

    I grit my teeth and studied his soul. It trembled and shook like it was barely contained, as though at any moment it might flee from Varrin. I turned to look at the opposite chamber, seeing the last vestiges of his soul clone evaporating into mist. It meandered through the air, motes of dancing light, and began to creep back toward their host.

    We waited, uncertain what to do, but as the motes slowly rejoined with Varrin, his soul began to stabilize.

    ¡°An unexpected development,¡± said the Icon. I looked up, seeing its snout inches away as it peered into the sphere. ¡°I have heard of an evolving spirit, but I have never witnessed it myself. What a strange thing to behold.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve passed your test, then?¡± I said, trying to hide my bitterness. Even after most of the clone¡¯s essence had sunk back into Varrin, his soul shuddered like a wounded animal.

    ¡°Yes, I believe you have,¡± said the Icon. It sat back on its haunches, pulling its snout out of my personal bubble. ¡°And in a way I have not seen before. This is¡­ quite wonderful.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he saved your life,¡± I said.

    ¡°Or he saved one of yours. I often find that someone changes their mind in the end.¡±

    ¡°No chance,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We really like each other!¡± Etja added.

    The Icon made a grunting noise that I took for laughter.

    ¡°Very well. Then you have completed the challenge, and may pass through the portal.¡±

    I kept an eye on Varrin, trying to figure out if moving him would be safe. It wasn¡¯t a physical injury, so maybe it wouldn¡¯t matter. Then again, did we have to leave right away?

    ¡°Ahem,¡± said Nuralie, walking up to the Icon. ¡°You said that if you are spared¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°then we get the loot.¡±

    The Icon blinked at Nuralie and its rhythmic grunts grew louder until it was practically howling with bestial laughter.

    ¡°So I did!¡± it shouted.

    The Icon waved a paw and the items¨Ctrue items this time, not illusions¨Cappeared before us. I wasn¡¯t going to look a winged dog lion¡¯s gift in the mouth¡­ or something like that, so I quickly stashed the cuirass in my inventory. The others did the same, but Etja turned the wand over in her hand, having never examined it. She nodded and stowed it away, then bent down close to Xim and me.

    ¡°Will he be alright?¡± she asked.

    I increased the sensitivity of Soul-Sight, trying to glean more from Varrin¡¯s strange state of spiritual disruption, but couldn¡¯t tell much more than I already knew.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure,¡± I admitted. ¡°This¡­ everything he just did is beyond me.¡±

 156 - Need Before Greed

    This is the part of the story where I try to make Varrin¡¯s recovery a nail-biting tale of the big guy riding the razor¡¯s edge of life and death while the rest of the team combined our skills to save him moments before he slipped away.

    I¡¯ll save some time and admit that it wasn¡¯t that exciting.

    We were worried, true, but Varrin¡¯s state of spiritual disruption wasn¡¯t getting any worse as time went on. After a few minutes of evaluation, Xim and I carried him out of the spherical chamber. Varrin¡¯s soul was in trouble, but he was physically fine, so it felt safe to get him somewhere he could lay without being in a crumpled mess. The spherical soul chamber was as large as a small house, but it was mostly solid. The space where Varrin had collapsed was just large enough for one person to stand comfortably and about 5 feet wide, which meant that the huge man had collapsed into a distinctly uncomfortable position.

    Varrin weighed at least 400 pounds in his armor, and I was hit with an unexpected wave of disbelief when I lifted him. I¡¯d had about 6 weeks to get used to my recent Strength upgrades, but Strength gains were exponential. Going from a 10 to a 22 had more than tripled my lift capacity. By all rights that should have made me incapable of piloting my own body for a time and there had to have been some sort of magic shenanigans at work keeping the enhancement from destroying my coordination or causing me to accidentally crush anything I picked up. Even so, the cognitive impact of a 400-pound man feeling like he was no heavier than a plastic mannequin was jarring, and it made me feel like a stranger in my own body.

    I shook off the feeling of depersonalization as we settled Varrin onto some blankets Nuralie provided, not that it mattered much given his armor and superhuman constitution, but it felt more respectful.

    ¡°How long can we stay here?¡± I asked the Icon. There was no formal time limit provided, but the Delve had already proven that it had hidden deadlines.

    ¡°Normally I remove candidates from this room as soon as they complete the challenge,¡± the elephant-sized living statue replied. ¡°Once the choice is made, there is often internal conflict. It would be unfortunate if the Delvers murdered each other before unlocking the phase. Of course, if I¡¯d been sacrificed, I wouldn¡¯t be able to enforce that rule. I have no idea what would happen in that case.¡±

    ¡°Are you planning to kick us out? We need to treat our ally and there¡¯s no risk of us fighting one another. No one was murdered, consensually or otherwise.¡±

    ¡°I suppose you can stay,¡± it said with resignation. ¡°But only for a little while. System Core 2 will be eager to move things along.¡± The Icon looked us over like we were guests staying past our welcome, but moved away and settled down for a nap without further comment.

    The next few hours were spent working through the problem, and I used Reveal to share my vision of Varrin¡¯s soul with everyone. Nuralie grilled me on how his state differed from normal, and any theories I had about what was happening. I wasn¡¯t sure I provided much help, but she eventually felt confident enough to start working on a spiritual balm that she described as ¡°an anti-inflammatory and muscle relaxer.¡± Pause. ¡°But for the soul.¡± Grotto gave her an assist with some of the more complex matters of Spiritual Magic, and I used Sage Advice twice during delicate moments of the brewing process. My insistence that soul food could never have too much butter was apparently some kind of breakthrough for Nuralie.

    The balm took the form of an ointment that we could directly apply to Varrin¡¯s skin. This required the removal of his armor, but thankfully the medicine did not have to be lathered on everywhere. Once the big guy was glistening like an oiled-up bodybuilder, it was a matter of wait-and-see. Varrin¡¯s soul slowly calmed over the next hour, and he eventually entered a state similar to sleep. We let him have some rest, and I tried to use the time to ask the Icon some questions, but the statue had gone inert. Even its synthetic soul had disappeared, and it had become little more than a hunk of painted stone.

    Instead, we went over the items we¡¯d received. After ensuring everyone was up-to-date with what Shog, Nuralie, and I had gotten, Etja brought out her new wand.

    Prismatite Wand of the Descent

    Requirements: Etja Nothosis, Escalated Delver

    Effects:

    1) This wand can be used as a focus for Mystical spells. (Using a focus causes the spell attack to gain the weapon attack bonuses of the focus.)

    2) +10 mystical damage with weapon attacks using this item.

    3) Whenever you hit an entity with an attack using this weapon, you may choose to deal 20 kinetic damage to all entities other than you within 5 feet of the target. This effect can only occur once per attack.

    4) Your maximum number of Blessed stacks is increased by 6.

    5) While performing the Mirtasian Dance, your attacks deal an additional X damage and the speed at which you can dodge is increased by X% where X is your Incantation skill level.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already thought of some wizardly flourishes I can use with it!¡± said Etja.

    She spun and waved the item like a conductor¡¯s baton, flicking her wrist at beats where she might cast a spell. It reminded me of a scene from Fantasia. Etja could probably even morph her body to become more mouse-like if she wanted, but I was the only one who¡¯d have gotten the joke so I held my tongue.

    ¡°It¡¯s the first one that isn¡¯t demon-related,¡± I said. ¡°Has anyone heard of Prismatite?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± said Xim. Nuralie shook her head.

    ¡°Can we determine which effects are due to the Prismatite?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°The ¡®Demon¡¯ materials appear to give damage reduction to fire and mana absorption.¡±

    [Prismatite provides the bonus to Mystical attacks,] Grotto chimed in. [In armor it will provide reduction against Mystical damage types.]

    ¡°Do you¡­ have a list of exotic materials you¡¯ve been hiding?¡± I asked.

    [I have experience with a variety of crafting materials your incipient civilization has yet to discover.]

    ¡°Are you open to sharing? And/or is there a reason you haven¡¯t said anything about this before?¡±

    [It has not been relevant. The materials available to you have been sufficient for your levels and your fledgling capabilities were inadequate for their discovery of production.]

    ¡°Hmm. We were inadequate. Could we find or make more Prismatite now?¡±

    [I likely have the means of providing some locations that will yield deposits, although they will be areas of significant mana concentration.]

    ¡°Which means monsters,¡± I said. ¡°High-grade?¡±

    [Nothing you could not handle by this point. Perhaps a mana fiend of some capacity would be encountered, but I doubt it would prove challenging to slay.]

    ¡°Good to know. If we have the time, we should check that out.¡±

    ¡°What about the Abbantite?¡± asked Etja. ¡°That ore we got from The Pit?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah,¡± I said, pulling some of the ore out. The material was dark and slightly oily. Faint whispers began to fill my head as I held it, so I immediately put it away. ¡°Why does half the shit we find these days feel like it was birthed by some eldritch horror?¡±

    That drew some curious looks, so I took an ore back out to pass around and give everyone a chance to experience the haunting susurration. Nuralie declined her turn to hold the nugget.

    [Abbandium can create items that reshape themselves at will. They also provide a modicum of protection from Divine.]

    ¡°That sounds awesome,¡± I said. ¡°We could use more Divine defense, and having transforming weapons is always fun.¡±

    [However, the material also creates a minor connection to an unknown deity that burdens your mind, reducing your Spiritual defense.]

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Ah. Well, never mind.¡± I tossed the nugget back into my inventory, likely never to be seen again. ¡°Talk about a let-down.¡±

    ¡°It might still be useful,¡± said Xim. ¡°The Spiritual weakness can be offset somehow.¡±

    ¡°Most mental attacks are Spiritual. I¡¯d rather not get Dominated.¡± Also, the fewer connections I had to presumably malevolent deities, the better. ¡°Anyway, the wand looks great. Extra damage, plus some splash damage that¡¯ll give you a boost to AoE. The bonus to dodge while you dance is great, but the extra Blessed stacks are a bit out of sync with everything else.¡±

    ¡°I get 2 stacks of Blessed whenever I use Incorporate,¡± said Etja. ¡°It¡¯s probably another effect added just for me.¡±

    ¡°Blessed has a soft cap equal to your level,¡± Xim added. ¡°Any stacks you get above that number decay over time, so this is a 60 percent boost to the amount of Blessed Etja can walk around with.¡±

    ¡°We should add maxing everyone¡¯s Blessed stacks to our normal routine,¡± I said, scratching my beard. ¡°I hardly ever get Blessed, so it¡¯s not something I¡¯ve thought about much.¡±

    I currently had all 10 stacks, 2 of which were from Xim¡¯s heals and the rest from dealing damage to enemies she¡¯d feared. The second effect was a recent addition to her arsenal.

    ¡°Most of my Blessed comes from spells that do other things on top,¡± said Xim. ¡°If I was using Heal, it¡¯d cost 250 mana to max everyone out. Add another 100 if we¡¯re including Shog and Grotto. As soon as we have enough downtime to justify spending that much mana just to get everyone Blessed, let me know. Otherwise, it¡¯s more efficient to let them accrue during combat.¡±

    ¡°Point taken,¡± I said. ¡°Those stacks can mean the difference between life and death, though. It¡¯s worth considering cheaper ways to generate them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep it in mind,¡± said Xim. ¡°Are we done talking about Etja¡¯s wand?¡±

    I looked at Etja, who shrugged.

    ¡°For the moment, sure,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then feast your eyes!¡± said Xim, a look of pure excitement coming over her. She held out her hand, showing off a dark bone sitting on her palm, about the size of a pork rib.

    Wraithclaw¡¯s Relic of the Descent

    Requirements: Xim Xor''Drel, Escalated Delver

    Effects:

    1) Your weapon attacks absorb 5 mana from the target.

    2) +10 fire DR

    3) Your skills that impose the Fear status are 25% cheaper.

    4) Your transformations last twice as long. If they are sustained, they instead cost half as much to sustain.

    5) With 3 seconds of concentration, you can transform into a Wraithclaw, gaining the following effects:

    <ul>

    <li>You can use CHA to govern Unarmed attacks. Your Unarmed attacks deal additional Spectral damage equal to your CHA.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>Your size category is increased by 1 step. While within 30 feet of a hostile character, you are Unstoppable.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>You radiate an aura of fear. Whenever a hostile entity first perceives you in this form, they must make a WIS contest versus your CHA, becoming Feared by you on a failure. Entities Feared by you take additional damage equal to your CHA from all sources.</li>

    </ul>

    <ul>

    <li>You can maintain this form for 1 minute, after which you revert to your normal form. This transformation has a cooldown of 6 days but is reduced by 1 day for each evolution you have in Divine Magic.</li>

    </ul>

    ¡°That¡­ is a damn good transformation,¡± I said.

    ¡°What¡¯s a Wraithclaw?¡± asked Etja.

    [A vile and horrid demon,] Grotto thought to us. [It is as fierce as it is repulsive to behold.]

    ¡°I guess the Fear effect makes sense then,¡± I said. I toggled the text for Unstoppable and read it aloud. ¡°While Unstoppable you are immune to the Immobilized, Paralyzed, Stunned, and Slowed statuses and cannot be forced to move against your will. You know, I¡¯m starting to feel like I got kind of shafted. My cuirass just gives DR, health regen, and some mana absorption. I didn¡¯t get any crazy bonuses to my skills like everyone else.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Xim, leaning toward me. ¡°You¡¯re complaining about overpowered items? Tell you what, I¡¯ll trade this to you for your ring of ¡®doubles all health regen even the sources that have no business being doubled and makes most healing pointless because you¡¯ll be back to full health in an hour.¡¯¡± She raised an eyebrow and held out the bone.

    ¡°I¡¯ll pass,¡± I said, chagrined.

    ¡°What does your amulet do again?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Stuff. And things.¡±

    ¡°Can you imagine having three Immutable items?¡± Etja asked, looking at Xim.

    ¡°It¡¯s beyond my comprehension,¡± she answered. ¡°But if I did have multiple Immutable items that gave me bonuses to social skills like intimidation and seduction, I¡¯d be sure to make good use of them instead of abandoning Charisma and refusing to wear them for any reason other than how flashy they look.¡±

    ¡°The vest also gives me some stamina refund when I get hurt,¡± I muttered. ¡°Not that anyone ever remembers that.¡± I stroked my feather boa. ¡°The boa also increases my renown.¡±

    ¡°Are you trying to make this worse, or better?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Do you think that Varrin will gift me an item?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°Since I saved his soul, maybe he will get his world-class master blacksmith grandfather to customize some armor for me.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯ll fly and separate into multiple pieces,¡± said Etja. ¡°That way you can take it on and off really easy!¡±

    ¡°Okay, I get it!¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got some good stuff already.¡±

    ¡°I mean, even your hammer is¨C¡± Xim began. I pointed a finger at her and cut her off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t disrespect the hammer.¡±

    She froze for a second, then started to laugh, followed quickly by Etja. Even Nuralie was chuckling. Eventually, all four of us were trying to keep ourselves contained to avoid waking Varrin, drawing odd looks from Shog and Grotto. Once we¡¯d recovered, Xim went back to reviewing her (obscenely powerful but not quite unfair compared to my own equipment) relic.

    ¡°My subrace makes transformations of the body 50 percent stronger,¡± she said. ¡°So all of these numbers should get multiplied by 1.5 when I use it.¡±

    ¡°How much bigger is 1 size category?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen that language before.¡±

    [A normal Wraithclaw is 12 feet tall with arms that reach nearly to the ground. Its hands are tipped by vicious claws that are each 3 feet in length.]

    ¡°Oh yes,¡± said Xim, cradling the bone like a precious child. ¡°I am looking forward to this.¡±

    ¡°Do you stick in your pocket, or¡­¡± I trailed off, uncertain what class of item a relic was.

    ¡°I was going to give it a lovely bow and braid it into my hair,¡± Xim replied. She looked me dead in the eye, as though daring me to challenge her fashion choice.

    ¡°I think¡­ that¡¯ll look really nice,¡± I said carefully.

    ¡°Damn right it will,¡± she said with a nod.

    There was a groan from behind me, and I turned to find Varrin sitting up. He rubbed his eyes, then pulled his hand away and looked at the ointment-covered appendage. He glanced at his mostly naked body for a second, then over at the group.

    ¡°I will assume there was a good reason for this,¡± he said, gesturing over his slick form. ¡°And then I will never think on it again.¡±

    Varrin produced a towel and began wiping himself down, then shared the description of the item he¡¯d received. It was a crafting material, and it was much simpler than everyone else¡¯s.

    Corvite Slab

    Items made from this material can only be wielded by members of the Ravvenblaq family.

    All weaves imbued into an item made from this material are 100% stronger if crafted by a member of the Ravvenblaq family.

    ¡°That seems too good,¡± I said. ¡°Am I crazy?¡±

    ¡°It can only be used once,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Would you save it for an item at a higher level,¡±¨Cpause¨C ¡°or use it now?¡±

    Before we had a chance to dive into the implications of the slab, the Icon reawoke with a yawn. It stood and stretched like a giant cat.

    ¡°Ah, good. Everyone is awake,¡± it said. ¡°Please leave now.¡±

    ¡°I was wondering if I could ask some questions,¡± I said.

    ¡°No,¡± it answered. Then it shifted to one side and held out a paw toward the portal, ushering us to leave.

    ¡°That¡¯s disappointing. But sure.¡±

    ¡°Giving up that easily?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Do you want to make the giant Grade 30 cat-dog-crocodile-bird person angry?¡±

    ¡°Eh, maybe it wouldn¡¯t be the greatest idea.¡±

    Before we left I felt something tickling at the back of my brain, like there was something we should have been paying more attention to but weren¡¯t. I asked, but no one else shared the feeling. Etja made a few comments, but it didn¡¯t seem like they were important. I had some difficulty parsing what she was trying to explain, but the Icon began prodding at our backs with pointy claws to hurry us along. Etja seemed worried when we started through the portal, but eventually followed us as the last one through.

    We appeared in a round chamber the size of a skating rink. The sky above us was a clear view of the planet, but a careful look revealed it to be an illusion, which I took to mean we were still underground. The space was filled with plants and a few short, squat trees with prickly fruit like we¡¯d found in the Basilica. The floor was a checkerboard tile of black and white, perfectly polished and pristine. The low marble walls were covered in gold, jewels, and paintings depicting Deijin in various scenes taken from Eschen religious texts.

    On either side of the room stood a rigid line of 7 Doomed Aspirants, as varied in shape and equipment as the rest, all staring forward without seeming to notice us. At the center of the room, in the middle of a clearing, stood a 15th Aspirant. Its body was covered in heavy armor in addition to its carapace, and it carried a hefty round shield, with a longsword sheathed at its hip. This one watched us with penetrating, human eyes.

    Beside the center Aspirant, sitting on an aggressively fluffy couch, was a gorgeous woman with dark skin and black hair woven with threads of green and gold. She had her bare feet propped on an ottoman and looked up at us from a book she¡¯d been reading.

    Her soul shone like a perfectly cut emerald, the halo swelling to fill the entire chamber.

    ¡°Hello!¡± she said, waving. ¡°Welcome to the center of Deijin¡¯s Descent.¡±

    She marked her page with a tassel and set the book aside, then stood and smoothed down the front of her black and gold dress. She was several feet taller than the Aspirant beside her, who continued to watch us but kept its blade stowed.

    The woman walked forward, her every step bringing into focus how beautiful she was. Her features were beyond exquisite, her countenance a symphony that pulled at my heart, her figure a stunning sunset upon eyes that had never beheld the sky.

    The shadow she cast was of a creature with a thousand arms, a thousand grasping hands reaching out toward us.

    She stopped a few yards away and plucked at the side of her dress, the skin of her bare arms and neck flawless, the movement of each muscle beneath evocative of sensuality and comfort. She gave us a simple curtsy and smiled, her perfect teeth as white as the floor tile, then introduced herself.

    ¡°You may call me Avarice.¡±

 157 - An Offer You Cant Refuse

    ¡°Monkey bread!¡± said Etja.

    The woman called Avarice raised an immaculate eyebrow at the outburst and looked over at our resident mage. My focus was fully fixed on our host, but I understood the seemingly nonsensical phrase. Multiple party members were mentally compromised, myself included.

    Being made aware of a mental debuff wouldn¡¯t end the effect, but it allowed us to execute some safety measures. Etja¡¯s code phrase indicated that she wanted us to take a silent evaluation to keep the source of the affliction unaware, and hopefully surprise them. I took a mental inventory of where we stood and allowed the process to play out.

    I tested to see if I could stop taking any action. I stood calmly and evaluated my surroundings, being certain not to draw weapons or use any skills. Knowing that I was under a potentially hostile compulsion but being unable to do so much as activate my shield was uncomfortable, but I managed to stay still. If I was Dominated, then the only command I¡¯d received was to take no action. If I¡¯d been Dominated and piloted to perform some other type of task, I wouldn¡¯t have even been able to undergo this thought process. That didn¡¯t rule Dominate out completely, but it made it a lot less likely.

    The fact that I could organize my thoughts also meant I wasn¡¯t experiencing Psychosis. Always a good thing to recognize.

    Standing still meant that I wasn¡¯t under the effect of Fear, since that would force me to move away from the source of the Fear effect. Fear was also one of the more obvious effects, easily understood in the moment as blinding terror but coming with an irresistible urge to flee. I was calm and, in fact, pretty comfortable with my surroundings. There wasn¡¯t much to be afraid of, other than the general threat that comes with being inside of a Delve and under some mind-warping debuff. Still, nothing was obviously dangerous nearby. I could rule out Fear.

    The lack of danger led me to evaluate whether we were fighting anything. We didn¡¯t appear to be in combat, my weapons were stowed, Avarice wasn¡¯t armed or under attack, and there was no one that I¡¯d even consider attacking. Everyone present was either a party member or some other kind of ally. So, that took Berserk off the table.

    I could also rule out Paranoia since my Sage Advice evolution literally made me immune to it. I could recognize my allies, and I wasn¡¯t feeling particularly suspicious. This was about as safe as things got inside of a Delve. I might have even gone so far as to say that I was the opposite of paranoid.

    The next easiest check was to see if I was Distracted. Being Distracted meant that I could only pay attention to the source of my Distraction, so all I had to do was confirm that I could focus on anything other than what I was currently fixated on, which was Avarice. Then again, Avarice was just about the most beautiful creature I¡¯d ever seen, and I was hesitant to give up soaking in her radiance. How often did someone encounter the platonic ideal of magnificence? Distracted wasn¡¯t a big deal compared to the other debuffs, and it only really mattered if we were in combat, which I¡¯d already established we weren¡¯t. I put that one aside for the moment.

    Mesmerized was up next, which would make me treat the source of the mesmerization as an ally and would prevent me from attacking them. This one gave me pause because there wasn¡¯t anyone in the room who wasn¡¯t an ally. Curious. It seemed absurd to consider that one of my party members was some kind of hostile invader. Which one would it be if that were true? Etja had called out the code phrase, but I couldn¡¯t decide if that made her more suspicious or less. I¡¯d spent years with everyone present¨Caside from Avarice and her Aspirants¨Cso the idea that one of them might have betrayed me felt absurd. As for Avarice, she was practically a saint. I¡¯m a cynical guy sometimes, but even I wouldn¡¯t stoop so low as to believe she was some kind of¡­

    I double-checked my logic. Avarice was the most recent addition to our cadre of helpful helpers, and she wasn¡¯t a direct party member. Given that we had the shortest history, it would make sense that she was the source of the mesmerization. Still, that seemed ridiculous.

    Why did it seem ridiculous?

    Because she¡¯d been nothing but supportive!

    How had she supported us?

    Her Aspirants had given us enough emerald chips to buy a small country!

    Didn¡¯t we have to kill them to get those?

    Sure, but it was a noble sacrifice on their part. They laid down their lives to empower us and¡­

    ¡°Is the monkey bread¡­ pineapple flavored?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Etja carefully replied. ¡°It¡¯s my favorite, but this one¡¯s a blend.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see what¡¯s happening,¡± said Avarice. She bit her bottom lip and looked embarrassed. It was incredibly endearing, and I hated seeing her feel insecure about anything. ¡°Please excuse the oversight. I haven¡¯t been around mortals for a very long time. I forgot to tone things down for you.¡±

    Avarice¡¯s soul pulled back so that it no longer filled the chamber, smothering itself down until it was a bright shimmer an inch off of her skin. If anything, it made her even more radiant. She looked around at us, frowned in such an adorable way, and then her soul slipped away back inside her until I could no longer see it at all.

    You are no longer Distracted!

    You are no longer Mesmerized!

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said. ¡°One for two. Damn, I was close.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± Xim whispered loudly, tone grave.

    I turned to the cleric, finally tearing my eyes from Avarice. It was a strange sensation, like turning away from a masterpiece without comparison to realize that it was a hollow imitation of the true thing. Xim was beautiful. Avarice was something else¡­ some other thing attempting to emulate beauty. I blinked a few times, clearing away what felt like years of conditioning. My blood ran cold.

    I¡¯d just gotten soul fucked by an avatar.

    ¡°The card, Arlo!¡± Xim whisper-shouted. Her rose skin had gone pale, her eyes wide.

    I nodded, then did my best to bring up my inventory screen without staring at it or giving myself away. I quickly found the Get Out of Cage Free card and selected it.

    Would you like to use the Get Out of Cage Free card? Y/N

    I didn¡¯t even have to remove the card from inventory, which was a nice thing to know. I mentally selected¨C

    One of the thousand arms of Avarice¡¯s shadow snaked out across the floor. It crawled up my torso and then retracted faster than I could react. Avarice held up her hand and furrowed her brow as she studied something that hadn¡¯t been there before.

    The prompt disappeared, and I glanced at the inventory screen, finding the Get Out of Cage Free card missing.

    ¡°This is interesting,¡± said Avarice.

    She held the card above her and looked up at it like it was a hundred-dollar bill she was trying to authenticate. She flipped it over and studied the back, then lowered it to her face. Her tongue zipped out and she gave it a little lick. A gentle smile sprouted across her face and she looked into the distance, then smacked her lips a few times.

    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful,¡± the avatar said.

    ¡°Arlo,¡± Xim hissed from right beside me. I flinched when I looked down to find her six feet closer than she had been. A bead of sweat ran down her temple. ¡°Tell me that¡¯s not the card, Arlo.¡±

    ¡°I try not to lie to my friends,¡± I whispered. I wasn¡¯t sure why we were whispering, but it felt appropriate. A look of dread nested on the cleric¡¯s face, settling down to lay eggs of horror.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°There¡¯s no need for panic,¡± said Avarice, holding up her hands in a placating gesture, the card tucked between two fingers. ¡°I only wish for a peaceful exchange.¡±

    I glanced around at the small horde of Doomed Aspirants. The 14 flanking the room continued to stare at nothing. The one beside the couch kept giving us the stink eye but hadn¡¯t moved. Not that they were the true threat, but the display was meaningful nonetheless.

    ¡°No offense,¡± I said, ¡°but you¡¯re surrounded by soldiers and just stole a rather valuable item from me. You also engaged in some light brainwashing as an opener. That doesn¡¯t feel very peaceful.¡±

    Avarice let out a quick breath and her shoulders slumped.

    ¡°My presence affects people in particular ways,¡± she said. She pressed a hand to her cheek and put on a sheepish expression. ¡°Turning it off is like clenching a muscle. I haven¡¯t had to do it in¡­ honestly, I don¡¯t know how long. I used to suppress it automatically when I regularly interacted with mortals, but I¡¯ve spent a lot of time on vacation recently. I¡¯ve gotten out of the habit.¡± She clasped her hands in front of her chest. ¡°Please forgive the oversight. As for my creations¡­¡± She looked back at the Aspirants. ¡°Would you like me to dismiss them? I¡¯m happy to if that will make you more comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Would it matter?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°It depends on what you mean,¡± said Avarice, studying the big guy. ¡°If you¡¯re asking whether their absence would increase your chances of success should you choose to fight me, then to be blunt, the answer is no.¡±

    I heard the tinkle of glass hitting the ground and turned to see a broken potion flask. If Nuralie was following protocol, she¡¯d just taken an anxiolytic, which would give her 50 percent resistance to mind-altering effects for 10 minutes. The bonus came from one of her passives, so the drug wouldn¡¯t have been helpful to anyone else for the same use.

    ¡°I would prefer that they leave,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°It would make me more comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said Avarice.

    Though she made no visible motion or command, the center Aspirant turned and began marching to the back of the room. The rest of the Aspirants followed until all of them had disappeared through two tunnels dug into the wall.

    ¡°And the card?¡± I asked.

    Avarice gave the card a final glance, then walked forward and held it out to me. I craned my neck to peer up at the 10-foot-tall woman and hesitated, expecting some sort of trick. I reached out and took the card without issue, then checked it to make sure the card was real. As far as I could tell, it was genuine. All the System text was the same, and the popup to confirm its use still appeared when prompted.

    ¡°I have no plans to keep you here against your will,¡± said Avarice, taking a couple of steps back and folding her hands behind her. ¡°I¡¯d hate for you to waste something so valuable, but feel free to leave any time, assuming that card works here.¡± I raised an eyebrow at that. ¡°I doubt the System would want to whisk you away when you¡¯ve already beaten the Delve.¡±

    I fought back the urge to activate the card immediately, regardless of her words. Whatever kind of avatar Avarice was, she was the kind of threat we had no answer for. Then again, she¡¯d had plenty of opportunity to kill us while we were all enthralled. Some of us could still be enthralled, but this was a situation where most of our countermeasures were probably irrelevant.

    ¡°Etja, how do we feel?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± she said. ¡°Everyone acted like I was crazy when I tried to get us to talk about our theory that an avatar was in the Delve before we left the last challenge. Then I was the only one freaking out when she appeared, and you were all smiling like meeting your best friend. I think everyone¡¯s fine, but I can¡¯t be sure. Also, you¡¯ve got to assume that I¡¯m compromised.¡±

    Etja was immune to being mesmerized, but other mental debuffs could still affect her.

    ¡°Sticky situation,¡± I said. Avarice silently watched the exchange. ¡°Xim, how¡¯s Cleanse doing?¡±

    ¡°I already rotated it through everyone,¡± the cleric replied.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember being Cleansed.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I don¡¯t think it did anything. Either that or¡­¡±

    Or she was compromised as well. I hated mind fuckery.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a quick vote,¡± I said, keeping my eye on Avarice, but quickly making sure that I could still look away from her if needed. ¡°Stay or leave?¡±

    ¡°What do you want to do?¡± asked Xim.

    I ran the card across my fingers, flicking it back and forth, then stowed it in my inventory.

    ¡°Dominate is the main concern,¡± I said. ¡°But this would be a pretty strange use of it. It would also be multi-target, which should be impossible from a single source. Then again, avatar. Regardless, I will admit that I¡¯m curious.¡±

    ¡°Grotto,¡± said Xim, ¡°Commandment?¡±

    Commandment would insert a ¡°profound truth¡± into our minds. The skill could lead to unpredictable side effects, but with careful wording, it could theoretically override Dominate.

    [The chance of success against Arlo or Etja would only be 6 percent. However, I cannot detect any aberrant neurochemical processes in Arlo¡¯s brain.]

    ¡°Shit,¡± Xim swore. ¡°The safest bet would be to leave, but I vote to hear her out.¡±

    The unspoken truth in Xim¡¯s statement is that we rarely favored the safest bet.

    ¡°We would already be dead if she wanted it,¡± Varrin added. Was that suspicious? It sounded like something Varrin would normally say.

    ¡°We cannot know that for sure,¡± said Nuralie. With her potion, it was a coin flip as to whether her counsel should be favored over everyone else¡¯s. Of course, Avarice could have unknown abilities that made Nuralie¡¯s potion less effective. ¡°Even if that is true, there may be other tricks she is playing that require us to stay for longer.¡±

    ¡°Like turning us into bugs,¡± said Etja, voice shaky.

    Avarice frowned at Etja but didn¡¯t interrupt.

    ¡°Grotto? Shog?¡± I asked. ¡°Opinions?¡±

    Shog floated beside me, landing and placing his feet on the floor.

    ¡°There is no shame in falling back from a superior force,¡± he said. ¡°But this majestic being intrigues me.¡±

    I glanced up at my summon. I realized I was second-guessing everyone, but that really sounded suspect.

    [It is not my place to advise you on this matter,] Grotto thought to us. [But I will say that this does not appear like an avatar breaching its confinement.]

    ¡°You should not equivocate so much,¡± said Shog, narrowing his dark eyes at Grotto. ¡°It is unbecoming for a c¡¯thon to lack conviction.¡±

    I took note of Shog¡¯s decision not to point out that Grotto was ¡°an imposter¡± like he usually did. Either my summon realized that would be giving Avarice information she might not already have, or he was being puppeted by a force that didn¡¯t have access to his memories.

    I absolutely despised this. Against something our own level, we had a lot of tools to overcome mental assaults. Even something twice our level would have a tough time. But Avarice was likely a force beyond even the highest echelons of Delver power. All we could do was play it safe or take a gamble.

    ¡°Alright. I guess we can hear the elevator pitch,¡± I said, gesturing to Avarice. I kept my inventory screen open with my mental finger on the card¡¯s eject button. ¡°What sort of ¡®exchange¡¯ are you talking about?¡±

    Avarice gave me a shallow nod before speaking. The hands in her shadow bobbed alongside the gesture.

    ¡°First, I propose an exchange of information. After that, I propose an exchange of services.¡±

    ¡°What sort of information?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to hear your stories,¡± she said. ¡°A complete biography from each of you and an account of your exploits. Especially as they relate to the Delves, any avatars you¡¯ve encountered, and any gods with whom you have communed.¡±

    ¡°You want to get to know us?¡± I asked.

    She held up a finger and clicked her tongue once.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I want the information. I will not pretend that I seek to engender some sort of¡­ ¡®bond¡¯ between us. Normally, I would be inclined to ingratiate myself by feigning interest in your habits and hobbies, but I believe your group is experienced enough to see through that.¡±

    ¡°Very forthright,¡± I said. ¡°Why do you want our histories, then?¡±

    ¡°It is valuable,¡± she said.

    ¡°Uh, why is it valuable?¡±

    She pushed her mouth to one side and studied me.

    ¡°A strange question,¡± she said. ¡°I have been divorced from humanoid culture for some time, but do techniques, skills, revelations, Delve accounts, avatar profiles, and understanding the whims of the gods no longer hold worth?¡±

    As she spoke, I realized that most Delvers would probably pay a small fortune to understand what made us tick and how we leveled so quickly, among other secrets we held close. There were also entities that might want that information, either to use it to gain our favor or to wield it as a weapon against us.

    ¡°I suppose when you put it that way¡­¡± I said. ¡°But for an avatar?¡±

    ¡°I may find some of it useful,¡± she said with a smile. ¡°What has no utility to me can always be traded.¡±

    ¡°That makes me uncomfortable,¡± said Nuralie.

    Avarice shrugged.

    ¡°Precious things can be difficult to barter with,¡± she said. ¡°But I believe I can make a compelling offer.¡±

    ¡°Which is?¡± I asked.

    She waved a hand at the illusion above us, Arzia drifting slowly beneath soft clouds. I noticed that there was a large storm over a portion of Timagrin.

    ¡°I can offer you the man who will destroy the world.¡±

 158 - System Addendum #4 (Unrated Version)

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Timagrin - 1 month after the awakening of the first monolith

    *****

    Jovi could hear them moving around outside. A heavy footstep, another, louder, another, louder. It stopped outside the door, blocking the small rays of moonlight that came between the cracks. A low breath rattled the lock as Jovi seized her muscles still with every ounce of will she could summon.

    They had appeared at nightfall. Standing in the clearing outside the village gate, first one, then a few, then many. Large figures wearing shadow like thick cloaks. They were mistaken for humans at first.

    The village lookout called out to them a few times, but if they ever heard, they showed no sign. Nearly an hour passed, and much of the village had gathered near the wall, peering through the slits with tense questions and vacant answers. The town was far from the main trade roads, rarely seeing visitors of any kind.

    They moved so very fast. Standing figures became black blurs with no sound or warning. They broke through the gate without stopping and the wall splintered into thousands of tiny fragments. Most of the people near the front who were looking out into the clearing were impaled by shards of broken wood, becoming pin cushions that were quickly crushed by larger logs. They were relatively lucky, all things considered.

    Screams erupted as everyone tried to flee. One man who fell under the surge of the crowd was trampled by the shadows, whose clawed feet tore through his body and flung him aside like wet tissue paper. A woman yelled as she failed to reach him, before the same shadow that smeared her husband across the dirt plunged its talon-like hands through her sternum and blasted her spine across the street. Jovi could see tears flying from her eyes as her limp body was tossed behind, collapsing into a slump far out into the clearing.

    Jovi was far in the back of the crowd but found herself running alongside it quickly.

    Screams shrieked through the air from all directions as the hooded monsters caught up to villagers one by one. Jovi¡¯s mother pushed her into the toolshed near the well before running off in the opposite direction, trying to pull the monsters away from her hiding spot. She tried to dash into a nearby hut but the shadows were too fast, yanking her by the neck back out into the street. She stumbled and fell, and before she could fully stand, the shadow was on her, driving its fingers like nails through the top of her skull. It ripped her face in half, crack by crack, until her mangled brain spilled into the mud. One of her eyes had fallen free of the torn socket and rolled so that it was just able to stare at Jovi.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The screaming slowly died down as Jovi huddled in the corner of the shed for what seemed like an hour. Jovi could peer through small cracks in the planks and saw a small group of the village¡¯s hunters who had armed themselves with boar spears try and fight one of the figures, but the inexperienced thrusts were batted aside with ease. One of the throws landed, but the creature pulled the spear out of its chest like a tiny splinter and flicked it casually into one of the hunter¡¯s throats, causing him to stagger backwards in a choking sputter as he desperately tried to hold his windpipe shut with his fingers. He did not succeed.

    A few more ineffectual pokes were made before the shadow dissolved in a mist, appearing behind two of the hunters and raking its claws through their stomachs, throwing their intestines across the ground like old rope. The other hunters tried to run but the creature lazily hovered from one to the next, thrusting its hand through their chests and pulling their hearts through their ribcage.

    Shouts of panic and confusion were replaced with moans and sobbing as the figures found villager after hiding villager. Jovi could hear the occasional crunch of bone and splatter of blood before another whimpering cry was replaced by muffled gurgling.

    Then the steps outside. One of them was meandering about the village square and had approached the toolshed.

    The lock flicked open, but the door held shut with a makeshift wooden bar Jovi had jammed across the handle. A jostle, then another. The wood snapped as the door was ripped from its hinges, and Jovi could see the towering specter of death so clearly as it looked around the shed.

    It had no face. A meld of stretched skin and a cavernous opening in the front of its head were its only features. Blood dripped from its soaked fingers into a soft pat pat pat on the shed floor. It peered inside, looking up and down, while Jovi balled herself as tight as she could behind a bag of mulch.

    She could feel its breath pulling her closer as it drew in the air within the shed. It inhaled deeply, then turned its hood towards her hiding spot. With a flick of its arm, it snatched the mulch and hurled it outside, causing Jovi to yelp. It grabbed her by the neck just as quick, and Jovi¡¯s vision began to darken as its vice grip crushed her throat.

    Then, a blinding flash of light. Jovi felt herself fall to the ground and was able to finally draw a breath, but the blackness of its grip still muddled her senses. She heard yelling, but not like the screams. A sizzling pop, the sound of thunder. Splintering wood. She was lifted off the ground again, but by a warm arm cradling her torso. A woman¡¯s voice said something to her, but she couldn¡¯t understand it.

    She felt the wind move quickly as though she were atop a galloping mount, but so much faster. Her vision finally began to clear, and she saw a massive blue-skinned hand clutching her abdomen. She looked up to see an equally blue-skinned head covered in strange glowing tattoos. After a minute of racing impossibly fast away from the village, the giant blue woman came to a stop in a small holler where Jovi recognized several other villagers huddled down and a tall armored man with an enormous glaive standing guard.

    The blue woman gently placed her down and said something to the armored man, but Jovi still couldn¡¯t understand. It wasn¡¯t in Timan. The man nodded and continued his vigil, alert for any signs of danger.

    Jovi heard her name called from amidst the dark. A wide-eyed man saw her and quickly crawled over to her, then began to cry as he hugged her tightly. Her dad had somehow made it out.

    He told her to stay still and trust the Delvers.

 158 - System Addendum #4 (Theatrical Release)

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Timagrin - 1 month after the awakening of the first monolith

    *****

    Jovi could hear them moving around outside. A heavy footstep, another, louder, another, louder. It stopped outside the door, blocking the small rays of moonlight that came between the cracks. A low breath rattled the lock as Jovi seized her muscles still with every ounce of will she could summon.

    They had appeared at nightfall. Standing in the clearing outside the village gate, first one, then a few, then many. Large figures wearing shadow like thick cloaks. They were mistaken for humans at first.

    The village lookout called out to them a few times, but if they ever heard, they showed no sign. Nearly an hour passed, and much of the village had gathered near the wall, peering through the slits with tense questions and vacant answers. The town was far from the main trade roads, rarely seeing visitors of any kind.

    They moved so very fast. Standing figures became black blurs with no sound or warning. They broke through the gate without stopping and the wall splintered into thousands of tiny fragments. Most of the people near the front who were looking out into the clearing were impaled by shards of broken wood, becoming pin cushions that were quickly crushed by larger logs. They were relatively lucky, all things considered.

    Screams erupted as everyone tried to flee. One man who fell under the surge of the crowd was trampled by the shadows, whose clawed feet tore through his body and flung him aside like wet tissue paper. A woman yelled as she failed to reach him, before the same shadow plunged its talon-like hands through her sternum. Her limp body was tossed behind, collapsing into a slump far out into the clearing.

    Jovi was far in the back of the crowd but found herself running alongside it quickly.

    Screams shrieked through the air from all directions as the hooded monsters caught up to villagers one by one. Jovi¡¯s mother pushed her into the toolshed near the well before running off in the opposite direction, trying to pull the monsters away from her hiding spot. She tried to dash into a nearby hut but the shadows were too fast, yanking her by the neck back out into the street. She stumbled and fell, and before she could fully stand, the shadow was on her, driving its fingers like nails through the top of her skull. It ripped her head in half, then her broken body fell limp into the mud.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    The screaming slowly died down as Jovi huddled in the corner of the shed for what seemed like an hour. Jovi could peer through small cracks in the planks and saw a small group of the village¡¯s hunters who had armed themselves with boar spears try and fight one of the figures, but the inexperienced thrusts were batted aside with ease. One of the throws landed, but the creature pulled the spear out of its chest like a tiny splinter and flicked it casually into one of the hunter¡¯s throats, causing him to stagger backwards in a choking sputter until he collapsed.

    A few more ineffectual pokes were made before the shadow dissolved in a mist, appearing behind two of the hunters and raking its claws through their stomachs, eviscerating them. The other hunters tried to run but the creature lazily hovered from one to the next, thrusting its hand through their chests like straw.

    Shouts of panic and confusion were replaced with moans and sobbing as the figures found villager after hiding villager. Jovi could hear the occasional splatter of blood before another whimpering cry was replaced by muffled gurgling.

    Then the steps outside. One of them was meandering about the village square and had approached the toolshed.

    The lock flicked open, but the door held shut with a makeshift wooden bar Jovi had jammed across the handle. A jostle, then another. The wood snapped as the door was ripped from its hinges, and Jovi could see the towering specter of death so clearly as it looked around the shed.

    It had no face. A meld of stretched skin and a cavernous opening in the front of its head were its only features. Blood dripped from its soaked fingers into a soft pat pat pat on the shed floor. It peered inside, looking up and down, while Jovi balled herself as tight as she could behind a bag of mulch.

    She could feel its breath pulling her closer as it drew in the air within the shed. It inhaled deeply, then turned its hood towards her hiding spot. With a flick of its arm, it snatched the mulch and hurled it outside, causing Jovi to yelp. It grabbed her by the neck just as quick, and Jovi¡¯s vision began to darken as its vice grip crushed her throat.

    Then, a blinding flash of light. Jovi felt herself fall to the ground and was able to finally draw a breath, but the blackness of its grip still muddled her senses. She heard yelling, but not like the screams. A sizzling pop, the sound of thunder. Splintering wood. She was lifted off the ground again, but by a warm arm cradling her torso. A woman¡¯s voice said something to her, but she couldn¡¯t understand it.

    She felt the wind move quickly as though she were atop a galloping mount, but so much faster. Her vision finally began to clear, and she saw a massive blue-skinned hand clutching her abdomen. She looked up to see an equally blue-skinned head covered in strange glowing tattoos. After a minute of racing impossibly fast away from the village, the giant blue woman came to a stop in a small holler where Jovi recognized several other villagers huddled down and saw a tall armored man with an enormous glaive standing guard.

    The blue woman gently placed her down and said something to the armored man, but Jovi still couldn¡¯t understand. It wasn¡¯t in Timan. The man nodded and continued his vigil, alert for any signs of danger.

    Jovi heard her name called from amidst the dark. A wide-eyed man saw her and quickly crawled over, then began to cry as he hugged her tightly. Her dad had somehow made it out.

    He told her to stay still and trust the Delvers.

 159 - Arbitrage

    A flash of lightning pulsed within the clouds over Timagrin. It was timed to perfectly accent the end of Avarice¡¯s claim that she could give us information on a world-ending threat. The view above was an illusion, so the entire display might have been orchestrated. Even if it was, I appreciate the effort on Avarice¡¯s part. I wouldn¡¯t begrudge anyone some flair.

    ¡°The man who will destroy the world,¡± I said. ¡°Not the avatar who will?¡±

    Avarice let her arm drop and clasped her hands in front of her hips in what I recognized as a presenter stance. This entire pitch had been rehearsed or, if it hadn¡¯t, she was an expert in adapting the mannerisms.

    Her black and gold dress had slowly morphed to a more conservative style. Less skin showing, thicker fabric, neat lines and straighter angles. Her bare feet were now clad in a pair of no-nonsense heels, though they somehow hadn¡¯t increased her height. The transition was obvious enough that she didn¡¯t seem to be trying to hide it, but I found it interesting that she was adjusting to the role she¡¯d decided to play.

    ¡°They will eventually be one and the same,¡± said Avarice. ¡°However, for the moment, the most significant threat to Arzia is a mortal man.¡±

    ¡°He is transforming?¡± asked Nuralie.

    Avarice held up a finger.

    ¡°A question I am happy to answer if you accept my offer.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s some serious clickbait,¡± I said, drawing a raised eyebrow from the avatar.

    ¡°What about Orexis?¡± asked Varrin. He looked up at Arzia, scowling. ¡°Is he involved somehow?¡±

    ¡°Information on Orexis will be included,¡± said Avarice. ¡°He plays a role in the ongoing threat.¡±

    The big guy turned his gaze back onto Avarice, a brief glimpse of simmering fury crossing his features before he composed himself.

    ¡°I will agree then,¡± he said.

    ¡°Ah, one moment,¡± I said to Avarice, then placed a hand on Varrin¡¯s shoulder. I turned him away from Avarice and guided him toward the back wall. ¡°Grotto,¡± I thought to my familiar, ¡°can you link me and Varrin up?¡±

    [Very well.]

    I felt a tug at my mind as Grotto started serving as a psychic bridge between myself and Varrin.

    ¡°Listen, brother, I know you¡¯re willing to take a lot of risks to get at Orexis. Hells, that¡¯s half the reason we¡¯re here. Still, we¡¯ve got no reason to trust this¡­ woman.¡±

    I stumbled over the pronoun. My first instinct was to think ¡°creature¡±, since I suspected the thousand-armed monstrosity in the avatar¡¯s shadow was a better representation of Avarice¡¯s true form than the woman she wore as a costume. I didn¡¯t want to let that slip when speaking aloud, so I tried to stick to words I thought were inoffensive.

    ¡°If we are choosing not to trust her to any extent, then we should leave,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°We have no power that allows us to be certain of her motives. Still, I believe we should stay. I am willing to take the risk.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s something we need to talk about. You were ¡®willing to take the risk¡¯ back in the Chamber of Conviction. You made a unilateral decision without consulting anyone and your soul nearly shattered. That¡¯s not how we do things. You know that.¡±

    He shrugged off my hand.

    ¡°That ¡®test¡¯ was a trap.¡± He thought the word ¡°test¡± like a swear. ¡°Discussion would have only invited uncertainty, and slaying the Icon would have gained us nothing. It was a test of conviction, not prudence.¡±

    ¡°Nothing? What we would have gained was the certainty that none of us were going to die. If that¡¯s how you felt then you could have presented that argument. We can¡¯t have people going rogue, it erodes trust.¡±

    ¡°We needed those items,¡± Varrin thought to me. ¡°Most are powerful enough to serve as centerpieces for the rest of our careers.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to argue over the benefits, this isn¡¯t the time or place. Even so¨C¡±

    ¡°Can you honestly say that you would have allowed me to do what I did?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not your keeper, Varrin,¡± I thought, growing frustrated. ¡°I¡¯m not here to decide whether I allow you to do anything. I¡¯m thinking about group cohesion. If you¡¯d said something, if you were insistent, then we could have been prepared. We would have thought over ways to mitigate the soul trauma that came afterward.¡±

    I studied Varrin¡¯s soul as we communicated. It was still somewhat turbulent, and I wondered if that was affecting his judgment. He huffed a breath and looked at the ground.

    ¡°I¡­ felt something,¡± he thought. ¡°At that moment, I knew what needed to be done. I do not know if I would have been successful had I waited. I seized the opportunity.¡±

    ¡°And right now?¡± I asked. ¡°Are you having a spiritual revelation that tells you to divulge all your secrets to an avatar?¡± I tried to keep my thoughts level, but I knew some irritation was creeping into my psychic ¡®voice¡¯.

    ¡°No,¡± he replied. ¡°But it is my story to tell. If the rest of you decide not to divulge anything, then maybe it will still buy us something.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± I thought. ¡°We can bring that to the group and hear people¡¯s opinions. Not to veto your decision, but so everyone is informed and you¡¯re working with the most information you can.¡±

    Varrin flexed his hands, making fists and releasing, his gauntlets creaking. He looked me in the eye but finally nodded. I watched him for a moment, then turned and we began walking back to the group.

    ¡°Besides,¡± I continued, ¡°she¡¯s negotiating, trying to sell us something. We don¡¯t know what ¡®services¡¯ she wants to exchange, and we should try to get the best deal we can. If you¡¯re too eager, she¡¯ll smell blood in the water and try to take advantage. It¡¯s classic salesmanship.¡±

    I stopped beside Xim, and she looked over the pair of us while obviously suppressing a question. Avarice watched us patiently, and I cleared my throat.

    ¡°You want our life stories and secrets in exchange for information on¡±¨CI waved my hand in the air¨C¡°a threat you claim is world-ending. We can¡¯t know how useful your information is without hearing it.¡±

    ¡°I cannot know how useful your ¡®life stories¡¯ are without hearing them,¡± Avarice countered. ¡°Regardless, there are ways to determine value in the absence of certainty. Simply decide what the information I have would be worth if it is what I say it is, then multiply that by the probability that I am actually offering that information.¡±

    ¡°Seems kind of vague,¡± I said. ¡°We have no idea how trustworthy you are.¡±

    ¡°Then consider assuming a low value,¡± the avatar replied. ¡°If there is a 1 percent chance that I am being honest, then multiply the value of saving the world by 0.01.¡±

    ¡°Multiply the value of information about a world-ending threat by 0.01,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°If that¡¯s how you want to do the math,¡± Avarice said with a shrug. ¡°Regardless, I think you realize that¡¯s still worth quite a lot.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­¡± I said. ¡°Before we decide anything, let¡¯s discuss the services you want to exchange.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with that,¡± she said. ¡°My aspect allows me to trade almost anything that is tangible, even if it is something that cannot normally be exchanged with ease.¡±

    ¡°Can you give an example?¡±

    ¡°If you had a bucket of seawater, you could trade me the salt without having to extract it,¡± she said. ¡°You could trade me the banana in a fruit smoothie, and it would appear whole, leaving the rest of the smoothie unaffected. Probably not as tasty afterward.¡±

    ¡°That would be a trade of goods, not services.¡±

    ¡°Unless the object of the trade was to retrieve the banana,¡± she said. ¡°Or to extract the salt for yourself.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, trying to understand the bounds of that ability and how it might help us.

    ¡°You can break down items into their components,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°With enough trades, a useless item could yield chips, essences, and all its base materials.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± said Avarice.

    I ran over our inventory of unused magic gear in my head. There were a decent number of powerful items we had no use for. Then there were items like the Wand of Boundless Night that might break down into something terrifying.

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°What if we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re trying to extract?¡± I asked. ¡°If we don¡¯t know enough about the item.¡±

    ¡°I can lend expertise,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I have more experience with mana-woven items than any other entity on this planet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a bold claim,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°My results will speak for themselves.¡±

    ¡°What about mana?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Pure mana?¡± she asked. ¡°Not in the form of chips?¡± Nuralie nodded. ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°Can you pull mana constructs out of people?¡±

    ¡°The mana matrix is tangible,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then you can extract stats?¡± asked Nuralie. Avarice grinned.

    ¡°I could extract stats in trade,¡± she said. ¡°Although that carries many implications. For example, reducing a stat below an evolution point would not remove the evolution, merely make it useless. You could not reinvest the stats to make a new choice. Additionally, your mana matrix is only so developed. I could not, say, drain stats from your entire party and dedicate them all to a single person afterward.¡±

    ¡°Can you trade for specific stats?¡± Pause. ¡°Such as creation points.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that should be possible.¡±

    Nuralie turned to me.

    ¡°Share the text for your Dumping achievement,¡± she said.

    My heart rate went up as I understood what the loson was getting at. I shared the full System text.

    Wowee! You spent all your character creation points on a single stat! A truly inspired and nuanced build. As a reward for your foolhardy bravery, you have earned the Dumping achievement!

    Dumping: After spending 5 or more stat points at once on a single attribute, you are granted 1 additional point in that attribute. This effect is retroactive.

    ¡°Nothing we¡¯ve tried has let us snag that one for ourselves,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Because it requires spending creation points,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°That is my theory, anyway.¡±

    ¡°You want Avarice to pull out all of your creation points,¡± I said, ¡°then return them so you can spend them all on one stat?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°If the achievement text is accurate, it should allow the rest of us to get Dumping.¡± Pause. ¡°It is also retroactive, so we will get the bonus for any level where we dedicated 5 or more points in the past.¡±

    Varrin produced a journal from his inventory and flipped through it.

    ¡°That would grant me 2 Strength, 1 Agility, 1 Speed, and 1 Fortitude,¡± he said.

    ¡°Oh!¡± said Etja. ¡°I¡¯d get 3 Wisdom and 2 Charisma!¡±

    ¡°Could we do a full respec?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Trade all of our stats to Avarice, then get the bonus for every level when we get them back?¡±

    ¡°Based on the text,¡± I said, ¡°It should only trigger once per stat when spending points.¡±

    ¡°We could receive the stats back in 5-point increments,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Then we would maximize the benefits.¡±

    ¡°What about the training stats?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°Could we dedicate them somewhere else, and then re-train the stats we¡¯d drained up to 10 again?¡±

    ¡°Training stats?¡± asked Avarice. ¡°I am not familiar with those.¡±

    I stroked my beard and thought over how much to tell Avarice. If she could really do stat surgery to let us share Dumping and then respec us to take even greater advantage of the achievement, it was important for her to understand where the points came from.

    ¡°It¡¯s a boon I got from Fortune,¡± I said. ¡°We managed to give it to everyone in the party.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, curious,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I normally cannot undo Fortune¡¯s work, so I doubt I could trade for those stats.¡±

    ¡°You know Fortune?¡± I asked. Before Avarice could answer, Grotto chimed in.

    [The process Fortune used was a modification of the Creation procedure. It coats the Delver¡¯s mana veins with a crystallized form of mana that is released after the Delver engages in strenuous training related to the relevant stat. It is not dependent on avatar magicks, only a specialized process. It is very mana-intensive, however.]

    ¡°I see,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I still do not believe it will be successful. Even if I moved the stats around, if you have exhausted the crystallized mana, then it will be unavailable for more training. And yes, I know Fortune. He¡¯s an ass, but I¡¯m bound by contract not to talk about him. All I can mention is that he says ¡®hello¡¯ and to ¡®keep up the good work.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted, wondering whether Fortune intended that message for us specifically, or for anyone Avarice encountered who¡¯d met the rotund demigod. ¡°Well, as for the crystallized mana, we could get Grotto to inject us with more.¡±

    [The only reason that was successful the first time was because we were siphoning mana from an unstable void sphere. The cost is absurd. It would be an egregious waste when you could simply gain more levels unless one of you has a spare void sphere you wish to donate to the cause. Even if you did, there are better uses for such a powerful item, and the procedure¡¯s risks should not be taken lightly.]

    ¡°But if our original build was inefficient,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°then we could gain the benefit of training that we missed out on originally? We should still have the crystallized mana for what remains untrained.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said Avarice. ¡°This is new territory for me, which I must say is delightful.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Before we get carried away, what do you want for these types of exchanges?¡±

    ¡°When you entered this Delve, I felt the touch of a being far greater than any I have felt before,¡± said Avarice. ¡°It made me curious, and so I turned my eye upon your group for some time. I heard a discussion of your level 10 Luck evolution.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like the idea that Avarice could have been spying on us throughout the Delve, but at this point, it didn¡¯t surprise me. However, the fact she was barking up my level 10 Luck tree made me nervous.

    ¡°What about it?¡± I asked hesitantly.

    ¡°First, I would like you to share the text so I can confirm the ability.¡±

    I glanced between the party members, but the looks I got back were uncertain. I didn¡¯t know how Avarice could take advantage of the evo simply by looking at the text, but merely reading the description had elicited some painful reactions from Xim and Varrin. There was at least some power to the words themselves.

    After thinking it over, I decided to let her read the description. If we were considering making a deal, we had to extend some level of trust. Proving that we had the goods was about as basic a show of trust as it got. I put aside the fear that Avarice might enslave me and make me her divine phone line to the Dread Star, then shared the evolution.

    Divine Favor of JuRoQi, The Dread Star of Heaven: Speak the Dread Star¡¯s true name and be seen. Ask one question and be answered. Should you survive the Dread Star¡¯s truth, forget its name for seven days.

    Avarice¡¯s eyes shone and the hands in her shadow twisted. She blinked, and her shadow flickered, the thousand limbs returning to calm in an instant.

    She locked hungry eyes on me, and I suddenly felt like a slab of meat on a cutting board. I still had my inventory open and the Get Out of Cage Free card selected, ready to activate it at a moment¡¯s notice. I doubted I would escape if Avarice decided to go back on her word and force me to stay, but it helped put me at ease nonetheless.

    ¡°Very good,¡± she said. ¡°One question for each party member undergoing the stat exchange.¡±

    If I considered the questions as a form of currency, I had around 52 questions per year to trade if I was exercising them optimally. Assuming I took the evolution, I would certainly want to use some of those questions for myself or the party. The text also not-so-subtly hinted that there were other costs to using the ability beyond the long cooldown, so 52 might have been a very generous estimate.

    Avarice was asking for 4 weeks'' worth of questions assuming I didn¡¯t undertake the process of trading stats back and forth myself. My use of training stats was perfectly optimal, and I¡¯d already received 13 instances of Dumping; 1 at each level, plus 1 at creation and the 2 I¡¯d munchkined during the boss rush. Unless the achievement allowed the exploit of gaining the bonus point multiple times from the same 5 stat points, there wasn¡¯t much reason for me to do it.

    I also doubted it worked that way since someone like Avarice could create an infinite combo¨Cgaining bonus points from Dumping, which then increased the stats she could trade back and forth, allowing me to gain even more stats from Dumping each time. The System, as far as I could tell, couldn¡¯t make something from nothing, so there had to be hard limits on these sorts of processes. I assumed the extra point from Dumping was due to something like an efficiency gain when pushing most of the stats into a single attribute. It had to come from somewhere, right?

    Maybe the extra 3 points I spent every level outside of the 5 that triggered Dumping hadn¡¯t been ¡®exhausted¡¯ for the purposes of Dumping¨Caside from levels 7-10, which had 30 out of 32 points used for Dumping. In that case, I¡¯d have 20 points that could be utilized, giving me 4 extra stat points if obtained and reassigned. Nice enough, but was that worth a question asked of an eldritch being of unknowable power? Probably not. That¡¯s also assuming Avarice¡¯s power could appropriately separate stats that had been used and those that hadn¡¯t.

    ¡°There¡¯s a 1-week cooldown on using the evolution, and potentially some risk to my health and sanity,¡± I said. ¡°Do you intend that we stay here for a month or more while you ask your questions?¡±

    ¡°That depends on the answer to my first question,¡± she said. ¡°I will likely choose to make some preparations before submitting additional questions after the first. If that happens, you would be free to leave, but I could call upon you at any time to pay the next part of the debt.¡±

    ¡°How do we know you won¡¯t drain our stats then refuse to return them?¡±

    ¡°We would have a binding agreement,¡± she replied. ¡°I can forge unbreakable contracts for various purposes.¡±

    ¡°That still requires us to trust that your agreements are unbreakable,¡± said Nuralie.

    Avarice gave us a weary look, then took a few slow steps forward, growing taller with each stride until she loomed over us like a giant.

    ¡°If I wanted to cheat you, do you believe I could not take these things from you?¡± she asked, her voice cascading off the walls.

    Echoes mingled together until her presence was a cacophony of irresistible pressure. She did not ask anything of me, but I knew at the core of my being that if she did, I would do whatever she wanted without question.

    All at once the pressure vanished, and Avarice was once more in her 10-foot form.

    ¡°The agreements tether to the soul,¡± she said, tone light. ¡°You will know the truth of them the moment the agreement is made. If you harbor any doubts as to my intent to uphold the agreement after it is formed, you will be free to leave without any exchange.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t I what?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Take everything you want by force.¡±

    Avarice smoothed down the front of her dress, now made up of countless tiny metal ringlets, like some sort of chainmail.

    ¡°If I stripped you of everything you had, would you want to deal with me again?¡± she asked. ¡°If I killed you, would you be able to generate more wealth to trade me? I am not the avatar of Pillaging, I am Avarice. To sate my desires, there must be life to labor at the forge of creation. There must be civilization to feed gold into my coffers. Not that I¡¯m particularly enamored with gold, but it¡¯s a good turn of phrase.¡± She stepped out of her heels, which faded into motes of light. ¡°I have no interest in slaughter, and I would prefer that the world stop destroying itself if I am to be trapped on this plane for all of eternity. I can defend myself and my property¨Cmany have died who threatened it¨Cbut I do not seek conflict.¡± She ran a hand over her hair and it grew out several inches, the green and gold threads woven through it turned to crimson and silver. ¡°It¡¯s bad for business.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I said, trying to shake off the intimidation tactics. I didn¡¯t appreciate the heavy-handed treatment, but she made a good point. ¡°Let¡¯s assume we¡¯re considering your offer. Getting everyone Dumping and a few extra stats is nice, but I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s worth giving up so many Dread Star questions.¡±

    Avarice tapped her lips with a finger.

    ¡°Your group has been through many trials recently,¡± she said. ¡°Your mana matrices are primed for an influx of power. It is a shame that special Delves grant no levels. I have been in this Delve gathering mana for quite some time, and I am familiar with how the obelisks function. I can probably simulate their effects.¡±

    ¡°You can grant us a level?¡± asked Varrin.

    Avarice pressed her finger into her lips, then bit at the nail. Her tongue ran over the fingertip in a salacious manner as she studied us.

    ¡°Why stop at one?¡± she asked.

 160 - Dread Star II

    Levels. The ultimate goal of most Delvers and a significant source of their power. Levels granted stats, stats made you stronger, and everybody loved getting strong.

    ¡°Do we care that much about the levels?¡± I asked, which evoked a number of different responses from my party members.

    Nuralie looked dumbfounded, Etja furrowed her brow in confusion, Xim shrugged, and Varrin nodded like he agreed with the sentiment. Avarice dropped her finger from her mouth and narrowed her eyes with skepticism.

    ¡°Most Delves are level-gated,¡± I continued. ¡°Regular Delves are either set for a specific level or a narrow range of levels, so getting boosted up several levels would exclude us from running many Delves between where we are now and whatever level you can take us up to. This one is set for level 10 and under, which is the first I¡¯ve heard of with that broad a range, aside from the other phase 2 Delves The Mimic told us about.¡±

    ¡°I have not heard of it outside of specials,¡± Varrin added.

    ¡°That means missing out on any chips, gear, or other benefits we could gain from leveling the hard way. There¡¯s also the ever-present problem of intrinsic skills.¡± I brought up my interface and glanced over my intrinsics.

    Intrinsic Skills: 9/10

    Dimensional Magic 32

    Blunt 27

    Shields 26

    Physical Magic 22

    Heavy Armor 21

    Leadership 21

    Dungeoneering 20

    Mystical Magic 19

    Smithing 15

    ¡°Our goal is 20 intrinsic levels per Delver level, and I¡¯m sitting at 203. They¡¯re only that high because this Delve has been a gold mine for skilling up. That means I¡¯m probably ready to move up to level 11, but any higher and I¡¯d be back in a skill deficit.¡±

    ¡°The growth should be quicker at lower levels,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The rate of increase slows as the skills rise.¡±

    ¡°We might also find another special Delve,¡± said Xim. ¡°Those grant benefits without gaining a level. Maybe we won¡¯t find any in the sub-20 range, since they¡¯re supposed to be rare¨C

    ¡°They are rare,¡± said Varrin

    ¡°I mean, we¡¯ve found 2 already,¡± she said. ¡°Besides, I agree with you. Gaining flat levels would actively harm our ability to conquer higher-level Delves. We¡¯d be leaving a lot on the table.¡± She crossed her arms. ¡°Plus we¡¯d be missing out on the exploration.¡±

    ¡°There is more to the equation than the math behind Delving,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°If we were in a time of relative peace, where we had decades to build our strength, then focusing entirely on qualitative improvements with each level would be ideal.¡± Pause. ¡°However, between the avatars and the Littans, having additional levels is objectively better than not. Our power relative to everything outside of the Delves would be substantially increased.¡± She looked toward Avarice. ¡°This is in addition to the new threat we are being told about.¡±

    ¡°I understand that,¡± said Varrin. ¡°More than most. We are seeking the strength to halt the incoming disasters. Still, taking a shortcut may slow our progression in later stages. It is power now at the expense of power later.¡±

    ¡°You do not know that,¡± Nuralie replied. ¡°We can train our intrinsics. This Delve has given us immense wealth to purchase gear, essences, ingredients¡­ anything we need. We can seek out special Delves at higher levels. We are already far stronger than our levels suggest.¡±

    ¡°It is not enough,¡± said Varrin, somewhat testily. ¡°We must claw every scrap of power we can from every level.¡±

    ¡°I must admit,¡± said Avarice, raising her hands in a calming gesture, ¡°I did not expect that offer to fall flat.¡±

    ¡°We can split the baby,¡± I said.

    ¡°Idiom,¡± said Xim. ¡°Unless harming children somehow literally relates to what we¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a story about¡­¡± I began. ¡°Nevermind. Splitting the baby is shorthand for settling a dispute in a way that each side gets something, but neither is fully satisfied. If we snag a couple of levels, that shouldn¡¯t interfere with our progression much and it will save us months of work.¡±

    Neither Nuralie nor Varrin looked excited at my suggestion, which let me know it was a good compromise.

    ¡°Dumping, stats, levels, information,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We can sell the items we have that would be worth breaking down. We could get more money than the materials alone are worth.¡± Pause. ¡°If there is strong demand.¡±

    ¡°Straight item trades are sometimes preferred,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Either way, we don¡¯t need their materials extracted.¡±

    ¡°What about the wand of boundless spookiness?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Save it for Sam¡¯lia,¡± said Xim, averting her eyes. I noted the odd behavior but didn¡¯t want to pursue it in front of our host.

    I sighed, feeling lost in the quagmire before me. Wheeling and dealing was never my specialty, and I honestly didn¡¯t enjoy it. Bartering with an entity like Avarice was well outside our comfort zone, even ignoring the fact that she could kill us all whenever she felt like it. Nuralie had the most skill with Mercantile, something she hadn¡¯t used since her time running an alchemy shop, but that part of her life was relatively short lived. I still ended up punting the negotiation to the loson, backed up by Etja for some sweet talking, and eventually got two more concessions from Avarice.

    First, I would be a part of the stat trades to gain some training and minor benefits from enhancing my Dumping efficiency without giving up another Dread Star question. Second:

    ¡°I¡¯ll facilitate an introduction,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I have a group of worshipers in Arzia with substantial firepower behind them. I cannot guarantee they¡¯ll help you, but if you make it worth their while, I¡¯m sure they will be amenable to some arrangement.¡±

    ¡°Mercenaries,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Not quite,¡± said Avarice.

    The avatar held out her hand, and a large token appeared. It was made of gold, shimmering with obvious magic as it floated toward me. It dropped down into my palm, much heavier than it appeared, and I nearly fumbled it. The token was slightly larger than a chip, about the size of a small teacup saucer, with a large fang engraved on one side and a bat-like wing on the other.

    ¡°Take that to the mountains north of Ayama,¡± Avarice said. ¡°So long as you keep the token outside your inventory, they will find you.¡±

    ¡°Anything else we should know?¡± I asked. ¡°North of Ayama is practically a polar region.¡±

    ¡°Try not to offend them,¡± she replied. ¡°Otherwise, they prefer their privacy, so I¡¯ll refrain from saying anything else.¡±

    ¡°This feels like you¡¯re being unnecessarily vague for dramatic reasons,¡± I said, flipping the coin over in my hand. Fang, wing, and whoever they were worshiped Avarice the greedy avatar. It was a group that might keep hoards of wealth hidden away, perhaps. I looked up and peered at Avarice. ¡°Is it dragons?¡± I asked, trying to keep my excitement from showing. She raised an eyebrow but didn¡¯t respond. I glanced back down at the coin, then put it away into my inventory. ¡°I¡¯m going to assume it¡¯s dragons.¡±

    ¡°Do we have a deal then?¡± asked Avarice. We took a quick vote, and I nodded.

    ¡°Looks like it,¡± I said. ¡°How do you want to do this?¡±

    We started by gaining 2 levels. Avarice¡¯s body shone with mana, and streams of power flooded into us just like she was an obelisk. I felt a strain on my soul at gaining 16 stat points so rapidly, which was uncomfortable, but I was certain I could have withstood more.

    Next, the stat trades began. Everyone in the party had gained the majority of the benefit of their training stats, and there were only minor losses based on how people had spent their points before gaining access to the (re)birth sign. There was some nuance to the best way to get this done in the shortest time frame with the lowest number of trades, but I¡¯ll spare you the details. Basically, it was drain a stat, train, get Dumping, retrieve stats in 5-point increments to max our Dumping benefits, drain a different stat, train, retrieve, repeat until all training is complete, and finally drain and retrieve whatever else is needed. Training a stat up 1 point took around 8 hours of serious effort, so this process required a week of nonstop effort.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    I snagged another 4 bonus points from this Dumping devilry, while everyone else grabbed 20 entire motherlovin¡¯ points.

    The only real ¡®inefficiency¡¯ from my training points was that I was reincarnated with carryover stats. These were stats that were locked in before I ever spent creation points or had any opportunity to train, and were a huge cheat at level 0. I tried to game the system by having Avarice drain the carryover points so that I could use training to pump the stat before having them reinvested, but Avarice was unable to do so. She spouted some stuff about Fortune¡¯s magic being inviolable to her, but my brain interpreted it as ¡°blah blah blah, balance reasons, removing exploits, nerfing Arlo in the next patch.¡±

    However, my Fortitude only had 1 point from carryover stats. Since I¡¯d spent my creation points into Fortitude, it had never been trained. That meant there were still 8 training stats for the taking, which I went after with all the grace of a starving dog that had just been tossed 12 ounces of medium-rare prime rib.

    Amidst exchanging stats and training, we took turns giving our life stories to Avarice. The sessions were long, filled with unending clarifying questions from the avatar, and so deeply personal that by the end I figured Avarice knew more about me than anyone ever had. At least, at an informational level.

    I wasn¡¯t comfortable divulging so much, especially before hearing her intel, but I was willing to suck it up and rehash my life. I¡¯d argued for Avarice to go first, but she¡¯d been willing to take turns with information and services. She went first with services, since it would take me a month to deliver on the Dread Star questions, thus we went first with trading information. Tit for tat, as it were.

    If the details she ended up giving us were shit, I was going to¡­ probably do nothing, because what could I do? We were operating with a lot more faith than I normally would have. I would be mad, I guess. Really upset. Ornery, even.

    Regardless, after the levels, training, and bonuses from Dumping, I came out of the process with 31 more stat points than I¡¯d gone in with.

    Stats:

    Strength 22

    Agility 10

    Speed 22

    Fortitude 52

    Intelligence 40

    Wisdom 40

    Charisma 10

    Luck 10

    The Doomed Aspirant fights made it clear that I needed more Speed. While it hurt me to divert points away from Fortitude (gah!), getting up to the next evolution point would make a big difference in my ability to dodge. Even if I couldn¡¯t dodge outright, it would allow me to maneuver and deflect strikes made against my delicate body, minimizing their impact.

    Even so, Fortitude retook its proper place as my highest stat and the universe was once again right and good. My new health total was 1,898, which meant I could now take 64 percent more swords to the face compared to my prior total of 1,220. If I were a breakfast cereal, I¡¯d slap that figure on the front of my box.

    The process unlocked evolutions for Speed 20 and the more mouth-watering Intelligence 40 keystone, but I set those aside for a full-party discussion. Once the stat cheese was done¨Cpotentially the stinkiest cheese we ever did cheese¨Cwe were almost ready to hear what Avarice had to tell us.

    ¡°The way I frame the information about Brae¡¯ach will likely be informed by my first question to the Dread Star,¡± she said.

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s the name of the guy who might destroy the world?¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It sounds Davahn.¡±

    ¡°It sounds like a metalcore vocalization.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re full of new phrases this week,¡± said Xim with a grin.

    ¡°I used to listen to a lot of angry music back in the day. Not sure there¡¯s an analog here.¡± I cleared my throat, then sang a bar with my best disgruntled growl. ¡°I¡¯m mad and this song is loud, blegh!¡±

    ¡°The way the intonation goes up at the end does sound similar,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach!¡± barked Etja, mimicking the style. It was much better than my own impression, and I was pretty sure she¡¯d never practiced her death grunt before.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get back on track,¡± said Avarice. The avatar had spent a decent amount of time with the group by this point and was better at managing our digressions than any of us were. That she tried at all already put her ahead of the curve. ¡°As I was saying, hearing the Dread Star¡¯s response will help me decide what intelligence to focus on.¡±

    ¡°Sure, okay,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s go ahead and drive me incrementally closer to mental collapse in the face of beings far vaster than I can comprehend.¡± I pulled up my Luck 10 evolution and selected Divine Favor of JuRoQi. There was no immediate sensation of existential horror, which was a relief. I glanced up at Avarice. ¡°Alright, what¡¯s your question?¡±

    Avarice told me what she wanted to know, and the exact wording of the query. Her phrasing raised some eyebrows but we were already committed. I wasn¡¯t about to back out now because of some mild discomfort with the inquiry¡¯s implications.

    Part of me thought it was rude to open up my relationship with the Dread Star by fielding a question from a third party. It felt like getting asked out on a date, showing up with a friend, and then leaving them with your hopeful suitor after five minutes so you could drive home and watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But maybe it was more like getting a coupon for a free entr¨¦e at Olive Garden and selling it to a coworker for 5 bucks. I¡¯d probably add the additional context that you knew a fellow who worked at the restaurant, he gave you that coupon because he was your bro, and you used it in a way he might think was ¡°kind of not cool.¡± Like a minor social transgression that would chafe, but not significantly damage the friendship.

    Or maybe a god of pure, unlimited power was about to smack me down for my hubris. I didn¡¯t know the deity, so I hoped for the best and asked Avarice¡¯s question.

    ¡°On behalf of Avarice, I ask JuRoQi: What must I take from the world so that I may surpass Unity?¡±

    As I spoke the Dread Star¡¯s name, the concepts it embodied suffused me, thrumming across the folds of my brain with endless hairs of knowing, invading my soul.

    Ju. Conservation. That one thing has an identity, and is unique among everything else.

    Ro. Space. The distance between two points, keeping all from existing as one singularity.

    Qi. Distinction. The essence of what separates one thing from another, allowing more than one thing to exist across all that is.

    JuRoQi was a narrowing of these ideas, the overlap in their Venn diagram. Each syllable was inextricably linked to the next, inseparable in their cohabitation and irreducible to its base components. It was contradictory but absolute.

    JuRoQi was not a name, it was Truth. The Dread Star was the space between, the nothingness that set boundaries between all that was discrete. It fell between atoms, the nothingness that made up nearly all volume. It ruled the vacancy between universes, and that was a bare fraction of its existence.

    Everyone else in the party had decided to stand on the opposite side of the 200-foot-long chamber. The sole exception was Grotto, who sat on my shoulder. Our soul link was harmonized, and his psychic connection was on full blast. The hope was that, if there were mental repercussions from this experience, he could help me weather them.

    I¡¯d only spoken the Dread Star¡¯s name, and I was already grasping onto that lifeline.

    I felt the bottom fall out from the world, my gut lurching as I was thrust into a sensation of weightlessness. The room around me grew dark until I swam in a void of perfect black, and a field of endless stars burst to life. The pinpricks of light began to move in an arc, each leaving a trail of light in its wake, creating a mass of glowing azure circles. It was identical to the in-between space I¡¯d found myself locked into during my teleport into Deijin¡¯s Descent. I was frozen, but unlike my prior experience, I could still breathe. The creeping chill of the void didn¡¯t invade my bones and joints.

    A pair of eyes opened before me, simultaneously inches from my face and more distant than the planet above me.

    If I hadn¡¯t been suspended in nothingness, I would have fallen to my knees, forced to prostrate myself not out of fear or obedience, but because my head was being squeezed like an overfilled balloon. I could sense the blood vessels in my skull¨Cbad experience, I do not recommend¨Cas their walls began to fail. If I hadn¡¯t been immune to Bleeding, I expected I¡¯d have suffered a few dozen aneurysms.

    A deep sound thundered through the universe, the heralding fanfare of JuRoQi¡¯s presence performed by a cosmic orchestra.

    The eyes studied me with irises both absolutely dark and yet shimmering with vibrant radiance. We stared at one another, and its gaze tore at the edges of my consciousness, its mere presence infecting reality and overwhelming me with understanding.

    Then, another figure appeared.

    It was a mass of a thousand arms with grasping hands, its body gilded and streaked with precious metals. It was Avarice¡¯s true form, and for all that her soul was powerful, she was a single water molecule amidst a galaxy-wide hurricane; a grain of sand on a beach that spanned the known universe. No, she was even less than that, so insignificant that it was unquantifiable.

    The eyes turned to Avarice, and her manifold arms twisted in spasms, her hands becoming bent claws. Her amorphous body deformed like putty, kneaded in a cosmic grip.

    JuRoQi spoke, and I caught a glimpse of the fleeting shadow of the truth that it delivered.

    Tiny fragment, infinites¡¯mal shard.

    You debase yourself in ignorance,

    Awash the sea of divinity¡¯s reach,

    Groveling for scraps of unseen meals.

    Your narrow pride clings to self-made lies.

    You will never hold your fictitious prize.

    Unity would sweep your self aside

    Erasing the mistake of your existence.

    Suffer, then, your ego and your want,

    Crawl in filth and bleed in shattered glass,

    Until the broken pane is mended new,

    Or break upon reality¡¯s collapse.

    The Dread Star¡¯s answer was not meant for me, and so I was only caught in the aftershock of its deliverance. Avarice bore its full weight, the profound disdain of JuRoQi¡¯s words reaching into her roots and tearing at the weeds of vanity and self-adulation.

    She screamed.

    My vision blinked, and I was back in the Delve, the gentle glowstone light assaulting my vision. I fell, but caught myself with an arm before I gave the tile floor a smooch. Drops of sweat poured off of my face. A squelching sound filled the room, all that I could hear.

    I looked up to see Avarice, her body halfway between the woman she presented as and the many-armed thing that she was. She hugged herself with a hundred limbs, dark ichor leaking from her eyes and nose. After a handful of seconds, the limbs withdrew and she slowly returned to a normal, albeit impossibly tall, woman. Her dark skin had transitioned from a human shade to a multitudinous greyscale, ranging from pure black to alabaster.

    She reached up and wiped some of the sable liquid from her face, and it disappeared as though it had never been. She stood up straight and with deliberate motions smoothed down her dress, then looked up at me. She spoke with forced confidence, a tremor in her voice.

    ¡°Let me tell you of a man who wishes to give everything to his tribe,¡± she said, ¡°but to do so, he must first become everything.¡±

 161 - Braeâ€™ach the Unifier, Part I

    Who was Brae¡¯ach? Why was he rampaging across Timagrin? Why did Avarice believe he threatened the entire world? To answer these questions, we had to understand the natural conditions in Davah, its history, and the culture of its people.

    Avarice¡¯s version of the story was long, providing a lot of context for Brae¡¯ach and his home nation of Davah. She talked for hours, narrating an entire novel¡¯s worth of information. She created illusions for imagery and spoke with voices for the characters that would have been impossible for a natural person with non-magical vocal cords. She even used sound effects! It was a very C3PO and the Ewoks type of presentation.

    Including the whole thing word for word was tempting, but this ain¡¯t a history textbook. Instead, I present:

    Brae¡¯ach and the Davahn Unification, Abridged

    Written by: Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Platinum Delver, Extradimensional Traveler, and Astronaut

    Davah is a large island nation in southwestern Arzia, about 10 times the size of Hiward, or roughly one-half of an Australia. It¡¯s a harsh land, buffeted by frequent storms, blanketed in sweltering heat for most of the year, and infested with magical beasts whose ferocity is second only to the flora and fauna indigenous to the Less-Than-Habitable Forest.

    The outer edge of Davah is ruled by wild jungle and its inner territories are dominated by sharp mountains and craggy terrain in a geologically impossible arrangement of hostile topography. There is little space for agriculture, and the humanoid society that calls it home survived primarily through hunting and gathering.

    Historically, the nation was ruled by seven tribes, each of which controlled a swath of jungle that made up the outer edge of the country. Each tribe was composed of several clans of Davahns, who would engage in a healthy amount of infighting, sabotage, and general mayhem. The clans would occasionally set aside intra-tribal squabbles to band together and fight the tribe next door for land and resources.

    The wars between tribes were usually incited by some natural disaster, such as a hurricane wiping out infrastructure or a drought destroying what meager crops the tribes were able to grow. Earthquakes were frequent, and sinkholes and fissures would sometimes sunder entire villages. To top it all off, beast hordes would arise from within the mountains and had to be carefully culled, but occasionally overran the hunters and invaded the jungle.

    Understandably, the tribes were often threatened with resource scarcity, and such scarcity was relieved by stealing from the neighbors. The wars also had the handy side effect of reducing population, thus further alleviating strains on food and housing. Oddly, such things were seldom taken personally, and once peace resumed the tribes would quickly forget the hostility of their neighbors. They weren¡¯t so naive as to believe it wouldn¡¯t happen again at the first sign of weakness, but there was a turn-the-other-cheek mentality that would have been alien to most outside perspectives.

    This attitude partially resulted from the need to manage the demand for food and shelter. It was so integral to the Davahn way of life, that self-sacrifice was culturally venerated. Whether it was through death in battle, or elder tribe members wandering into the mountains to never be seen again, making the personal choice to give your life for the tribe¡¯s greater good was a pillar of Davahn society. This also meant that personal strength was held in high esteem, and every Davahn was trained to hunt and fight the moment they went from toddling to properly walking.

    Most of Davah¡¯s population lived on the coastline, the waters infested with sea creatures every inch as fearsome as the beasts on the land. Over time, a strong maritime culture emerged, and one of the outer tribes developed a powerful navy after several generations of prosperity. This group was situated on the northern side of the island and eventually made their way across the sea to the territorial waters of Timagrin. There, they engaged in the age-old practice of piracy, further boosting their affluence compared to the other tribes. The navy met several Timan warships, but Davahn warriors were fierce, their bodies and ships tempered by the constant struggle against magical predators, and the Timans were handily beaten.

    While most Davahns resided on the coast, a scattering of nomadic clans eschewed the jungle in favor of the mountains. These Davahns rarely interfaced with the outer tribes, journeying to the coasts mainly to trade meat and materials earned by hunting the native beasts. They had no formal social structure, and conflicts in the central region were kept to a minimum out of necessity. All it took to wipe out a central clan was a single battle that drew the attention of a beast horde, so¨Cunlike the outer tribes¨Cthese groups operated collaboratively toward mutual survival.

    Their cooperation didn¡¯t save them.

    With their victories over the Timans, the northern tribe acquired a wealth of weapons and armor which catapulted them a century forward on the military tech tree. They invaded the mountains, enslaved the nomadic clans, and used the central territory to launch a campaign against each of the outer tribes in quick succession. The jungle tribes lacked coordination, so this bloody campaign steamrolled the nation and rapidly resulted in what was then referred to as the Davahn Empire by the rest of the world. For nearly a century the empire ruled Davah, ushering in a time of unparalleled prosperity, much of which was due to the Davahns continuing to raid the shores of Timagrin, Mittak, and smaller regions east of Davah along the tamer western edge of the Forest.

    Then, the Hiwardians discovered the Creation Delve, kicked some Littan asses, and began distributing creation slots to other nations in return for resources and political favor. Davah had few natural resources to exploit but were up to their necks in magical monster parts, which Hiward had many uses for in its burgeoning Delver economy. Deals were struck, and Davah secured 4 creation slots. This was the beginning of the end for the empire.

    The ruling central tribe kept 2 slots for itself, and distributed the remaining 2 to the most productive and¨Csupposedly¨Cloyal outer tribes. This rankled the rest of the tribes, but they were assured that they would each get their turn.

    The central tribe had the most interaction with Hiward and absorbed much of its Delver culture, leading to careful and considered approaches to the Delves. Slow and steady development would lead to the strongest individuals over time. The two outer tribes, however, began a mercenary campaign of rushing their Delvers through as many Delves as possible.

    They offered outsized rewards to talented Delving crews from other nations to carry the Davahns and push their Delvers up the level brackets much faster than the central group. By the time the next Creation slots were distributed, the outer Delvers were by far the most powerful people in the nation. They poached the pair of Delvers from the central region with gear, the promise of easy levels, and intimidation. They intercepted and sank the ships ferrying candidates from the other outer tribes, and then replaced them with their own people.

    This created chaos in Davah, led to a fresh round of intertribal conflicts, and resulted in a campaign against the Delver tribes which ultimately failed as the handful of supersoldiers beat back hosts of mundane Davahns. It was a pyrrhic victory, however, and the unfettered use of destructive Delver magicks scoured habitable land, devastated crops, and hamstrung Davah¡¯s population of healthy warriors who combated the beast hordes.

    Throughout this period, the mundane tribes sent missives to Hiward requesting aid in protecting their Creation slots. Hiward was still organizing itself in the wake of their rebellion and had a policy of non-interference, reluctant to dedicate resources to foreign conflicts while they fortified themselves against outside threats. The tribes were left to themselves, creating no small amount of animosity.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The Davahns became more reliant on raiding and piracy to offset their resource shortages. The two Delver tribes acted as violent warlords and began press-ganging warriors into their service. This left most of the Davahns to fend for themselves in the face of extermination from the unopposed rise in beast hordes, starvation, or common brutality.

    As Davahn civilization devolved into violence and oppression, the Delver tribes turned their sights on Timagrin and Hiward, building up a fleet of war vessels crewed predominantly by involuntary soldiers and led by the full might of the Davahn Delvers. They invaded Timagrin, dove deeper past the shorelines than ever before, slaughtered Timan Delvers, and seized productive populations and equipment. This went on for several years, and the Davahns began to demand that the Timan Delver slots be awarded to them instead. They controlled the shorelines, preventing Timagrin from sending candidates to Creation, and Hiward had been forced to either keep the slots for itself or sell them to the highest bidder (usually Litta).

    Hiward did not appreciate this attitude, and the conflict culminated in a naval battle between Hiward and Davah. The Davahns had powerful ships, were naturally more resilient and physically gifted than the Hiwardians, and had lived long lives of endless combat. Hiward, on the other hand, had been quietly developing the most advanced mana-woven vessels and weapons in the world. They also had way way more Delvers.

    A joint offensive was deployed by what remained of the Timan forces, creating a two-front war against the Davahns, one by land and one by sea. Hiward crushed the fleet and killed most of the enemy Delvers. The Davahn rank and file were primarily conscripts; their morale was easily broken and the Timans drove the Davahns from their lands.

    The Davahn Creation slots were stripped away, and heavy sanctions were placed on the country, cutting them off from global trade. Hiward agreed to a mutual defense pact with Timagrin and helped establish a naval base on Timagrin¡¯s southern tip, Reimara. Its mission was to sink any Davahn ships that strayed too close to Timan waters. Over the next decade, political efforts were made to allow Davah back onto the global stage in exchange for harsh concessions, but all offers were met with stubborn refusal, and diplomats were stonewalled or met with violence. Davah became completely insular, and little is known of what has gone on within the nation¡¯s border over the last 30 years.

    Now, enter Brae¡¯ach.

    Davahns are naturally long-lived, more likely to perish from violence than disease or the ravages of time. Brae¡¯ach was young when the tribes were joined under the empire¡¯s banner, and a seasoned warrior by the time the Delves were uncovered. Even now at the venerable age of 221, he wouldn¡¯t exactly have been considered ¡®old¡¯, but definitely well into the salt-and-pepper years.

    Brae¡¯ach did not have the fortune of living in the northern tribe that formed the empire, and the bloodshed of that war marred his youth. While the imperial years had been a time of relative prosperity, Davah was hardly a land of milk and honey. Brae¡¯ach¡¯s tribe was forced to tame the craggy mountains alongside the subjugated nomads, his people better than slaves in name only.

    Brae¡¯ach earned a reputation as a fierce hunter. It has been said that a Davahn warrior is worth 3 from any other nation, and Brae¡¯ach could fell creatures that normally took an entire Davahn hunting party to slay. Few were his equal, although he had no taste for battle against his fellow tribes. This earned him some favor from the emperor, which mostly resulted in more forays into the wild lands between the peaks. He kept a portion of every kill, and within his tribe, he was considered wealthy, but such wealth paled in comparison to even middling warriors of the north. So it was that Brae¡¯ach fought and bled to keep his people safe against the beasts for more than a century.

    When Davah acquired Creation slots, Brae¡¯ach was the obvious choice for his tribe to submit as a candidate. His people were poor by most measures and would have been near the bottom of the pecking order, but Brae¡¯ach¡¯s prowess earned him a place in the second round of Davahn hopefuls. He boarded a northbound ship with his mate Til¡¯ach, head filled with aspirations of raising his tribe up through his accomplishments. It was his hope that the power and income earned through Delving would pull them all from the gutters of Davahn society.

    The outer Delver tribes attacked and sank his ship during their coup.

    Of course, being the unadulterated hunk of raw badass that he was, Brae¡¯ach survived and swam 30 miles to the Davahn shore, carrying Til¡¯ach on his back the whole way.

    What followed was a period of despotism that saw Brae¡¯ach¡¯s friends and family fall one by one under the savagery of the new Delver warlords. His prowess meant little in the face of a level 10 supersoldier, even though he often exceeded them in skill. He was used for sport by the Delvers, who could take him within an inch of his life and then heal him with their magicks, assuming they were in the mood to do so.

    Brae¡¯ach was a hunter, not a soldier, but he learned quickly and could soon meet most low-level Delvers on equal footing. During this period he also continued to hunt, and consuming the flesh of his mana-infused prey offered him a semblance of power like that of the Delvers, although its progress was slow and pushed his preternatural constitution to its limits. This went on for decades until the Delvers sailed on Timagrin and Hiward.

    Brae¡¯ach had no hand in that war. He took Til¡¯ach, his children, and his grandchildren into the mountains, hiding from those who sought to conscript him for what he rightfully saw as a doomed venture. He¡¯d built strong relationships with the enslaved nomads over the years they¡¯d hunted together, and they kept him hidden in cave systems and deep fissures. His hope was that the Delver warlords would die in their campaign of hubris, and though many did, many more still returned home.

    When trade embargoes came down on Davah, most who were affected had nothing to do with the war. The bulk of the Delvers responsible had been killed. Most of the rest fled the nation for greener pastures once it became clear that their homeland was quickly becoming uninhabitable from their own mismanagement. Four Delvers remained, however, secure in their power since no new Davahn Delvers would arise. They divided up what was left of the valuable lands and ruled with the insurmountable truth of their invulnerability.

    Brae¡¯ach became an important figure in what became the nomadic underground, with the ultimate goal of usurping the Delvers. They petitioned Hiward, Timagin, Mittak, and even Litta for aid, but their petitions went unanswered. Brae¡¯ach saw this as a slight¨Cespecially since he believed these nations were partially responsible for the conditions in his country¨Cbut there are no records to indicate any of the envoys successfully made it to their destinations. Eventually, Brae¡¯ach began seeking other, more extreme roads to power, a journey that took him into the darkest depths of the mountains.

    He searched for ever more powerful beasts in the vain hope that the mana-infused flesh would give the nomads the strength to resist. The nomadic tribes faced heavy losses, dying in the hunt or perishing from mana toxicity when they consumed the meat. Those who lived slowly grew stronger while the Delver warlords were excluded from the Delves and stagnated in their power. Eventually, the ploy was discovered by one of the warlords, who personally began to exterminate what remained of Brae¡¯ach¡¯s allies.

    On a cloud-covered night in the midst of scorching summer heat, the Delver came for the nomad hideout. Though they fled, Brae¡¯ach¡¯s family was slaughtered over the course of hours. Brae¡¯ach took them deeper into the caves than he¡¯d ever scouted, harried by beasts and hunted by the warlord. Despite all his strength, he was powerless to save them, and the first dregs of true despair began to enter his heart.

    As the Delver followed them down, miles below the surface, his manic rage echoing off the walls, an earthquake hit.

    Part of the cave system collapsed and the Delver warlord was crushed. Brae¡¯ach and his mate were the only two of his family left, and Til¡¯ach had taken a wound in the gut during their flight. They were trapped, alone, and Til¡¯ach was not long for the world.

    Brae¡¯ach continued on, even deeper than before, carrying Til¡¯ach and hunting for a way through the caves. He wandered for half a day, driven by some deep conviction that pressed him onward until he found the Altar.

    Brae¡¯ach discovered a great cavern, its walls sundered and revealed by the quake. At its center was a monolith made of unknown metal and stone, which came to life under the brush of his fingertips. He felt its connection to the mountains, to the ground beneath him, to a creature that lived below with all of Davah upon its back.

    It was hidden but had not chosen to hide, buried by the ages as it slept. The world had starved it, but it had gathered its strength for untold millennia. It was waiting, and Brea¡¯ach brought its wait to an end.

    As Brae¡¯ach¡¯s finger fell away from the monolith, Unity made itself known.

    The first avatar offered him salvation.

 162 - Braeâ€™ach the Unifier, Part II

    Three of the hands in Avarice¡¯s shadow danced, their fingers shifting into complex hand puppets. Images shifted before us, showing Brae¡¯ach in Unity¡¯s cavern, standing before the gleaming monolith. There was no outward sign that he¡¯d been affected by the avatar. The man simply stood there, bronze skin melding into the tenebrous hollow.

    Time passed, the weight of it pressed into our minds more than it was shown, and Brae¡¯ach turned away from the monolith. He went to his mate Til¡¯ach, who lay on the ground in a pool of blood that had slowly grown. Some words were exchanged, and the woman nodded. Then, Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mouth opened until it stretched past its natural limits. His jaw unhinged, and the maw grew until it pressed down into his chest. His ribs popped and his throat widened. Twisting fangs grew out from his gums, pushing aside his sharp, Davahn teeth. Finally, tendrils spilled out from his throat, and he bent down to Til¡¯ach. What followed was a gruesome display of cannibalism.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± I said.

    ¡°Gods above,¡± Xim said at the same time. It was rare for her to be squeamish about anything, but apparently uxoricide was one of her limits.

    ¡°He believes himself to be good,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That much has been clear from your tale, but how does he reconcile this act?¡±

    ¡°It is a combination of Davahn culture, Til¡¯ach¡¯s consent, and Unity¡¯s influence,¡± said Avarice. ¡°To give of oneself for the tribe is a core tenant of Davahn culture. Til¡¯ach knew that she would pass before Brea¡¯ach could carry her from the depths, and Unity spoke to her as it worked upon her husband. They were promised to be joined at a level deeper than they would ever know as physical entities. Through this act, they were unified, and Til¡¯ach lives on within Brae¡¯ach.¡± She looked at the image she¡¯d cast, and despite her explanation, she wore a puzzled expression. ¡°In a way, this was the death of them both, and the birth of something new. It carries the form of Brae¡¯ach, the memories of both himself and his wife. They are both within, but the outward expression is neither.¡±

    ¡°This gives him power?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°As they are joined, so too is their strength.¡±

    ¡°So he munches down on people,¡± I said. ¡°Absorbs knowledge, gets stronger, becomes changed at a fundamental level.¡± I ran a hand through my hair, which was back to a length I preferred, but unkempt. ¡°I¡¯m assuming he¡¯s eaten others.¡±

    ¡°Many,¡± Avarice replied with a solemn nod. ¡°Your characterization is simplistic, however. Unification is not something easily reduced to calculations.¡±

    ¡°The Operator told us Unity tried to ¡®unify¡¯ all life within itself,¡± said Etja. ¡°Is that what he¡¯s trying to do by eating people?¡±

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach is incapable of such a thing, for the moment,¡± said Avarice. ¡°He may only consume those who are willing.¡±

    ¡°And¡­ there are a lot of ¡®willing¡¯ people?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Once Brae¡¯ach joined with Til¡¯ach, he made his way back to the surface,¡± said Avarice. ¡°The whispers of Unity followed him, tethered to his soul. There were others wounded by the warlord, suffering a slow death. He spoke with them, and consumed them as well.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t Unity have healed them?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It is not in Unity¡¯s nature to heal as you understand the term. From its perspective, joining with Brae¡¯ach was a panacea for more than these people¡¯s wounds. It was the return to an exalted state, one that had been lost when their minds were severed by distinction.¡±

    ¡°Implying that their minds were once joined?¡± I asked. ¡°Before birth?¡±

    ¡°That is my understanding,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I do not understand the full truth, but there is a belief among the corrupted Davahns that all minds were once part of a greater being.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s put matters of cosmology aside for the moment,¡± I said. ¡°Brae¡¯ach can only eat the willing, but you¡¯re implying he become capable of eating the unwilling.¡±

    ¡°It is only a matter of time if he continues unopposed,¡± said Avarice. ¡°When Orexis assaulted The Cage, an avatar of Consumption was released. If Brae¡¯ach reclaims it for Unity, he may consume any he wishes.¡±

    ¡°The Bloom!¡± said Etja. ¡°That big flower that ate people and spit acid. Cage said it was the divine spawn of Consumption.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, turning the memories over. ¡°He lost track of it in the chaos since it was incorporeal.¡±

    ¡°All of this feels like it overlaps with Orexis,¡± said Xim. ¡°He ¡®consumes¡¯ people. Atomizes their bodies and inhales them.¡±

    ¡°Yearning carries within himself aspects of Unity,¡± said Avarice. ¡°But it is impure, tainted by distinction. Orexis yearns for that which is not a part of him, but by definition requires entities to be separate so that he can yearn for them. Still, Orexis is shortsighted, a creature of impulse. He and his sister Anesis work with Brae¡¯ach toward his ends, among other avatars.¡±

    ¡°But not you,¡± said Varrin. ¡°By giving this information to us, you oppose him.¡±

    ¡°I am vain, but I do not covet myself,¡± Avarice said with a grin. ¡°I am more aligned with distinction, although my desire for acquisition does have hints of Unity.¡±

    ¡°So there¡¯s some kind of Unity-distinction spectrum?¡± I asked. ¡°And avatars fall somewhere along that spectrum?¡±

    ¡°As far as I understand it, all things do,¡± said Avarice. ¡°You are each individual but share values and cultural beliefs. A single person, but made up of billions of cells working in concert. You take in matter to make it a part of yourself but shed what has been used up or that is not needed.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Brae¡¯ach¡¯s endgame?¡± I asked. ¡°He consumes the avatar of Consumption, gains the ability to consume people even if they¡¯re unwilling, and then he tries to consume everyone in the world?¡± By this point, I¡¯d said ¡°consume¡± so much the word had started to lose its meaning. ¡°What¡¯s the population of Arzia? Even if he ate a person every second, that¡¯d take years, right?¡±

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach can grant this¨C¡± She gestured up at the illusion, now a still shot of Brae¡¯ach with a yawning mouth and dripping fangs. ¡°¨C¡®Holy Form¡¯ to his subordinates. Some were turned, others joined with those who had been corrupted. Now he has an army of creatures, each of whom is willing to give themselves over to him. Once they can consume the unwilling, their destruction¨Cand Brae¡¯ach¡¯s growth¨Cwill become exponential.¡±

    ¡°What about the avatars working with him?¡± I asked. ¡°Are they on the menu as well?¡±

    ¡°I suspect they are,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°Do they know that?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I expect some do.¡± Avarice paused, thoughtful. ¡°To be an avatar is to exist in an incomplete state. We are severed from our celestial concepts. There is a strong¡­ desire¡­ to rejoin. Becoming one with Unity may fulfill that need. Needless to say, once Brae¡¯ach begins absorbing avatars, his power will be unparalleled.¡± Her shadowy hands moved, and the illusion focused on the monolith. ¡°However, that is not the full scope of the threat.¡±

    ¡°Of course not,¡± I said, rubbing my eyes. We¡¯d been having story time for nearly 16 hours.

    ¡°There exist 6 focal points within Arzia that can be used to fully restore the avatar of Unity,¡± Avarice continued. ¡°The first is the monolith beneath Davah¨Cthe origin¨Cwhich is a part of Unity itself. There are 5 others that must be arrayed and awakened. This will grant Unity the divine mana it needs to rise from its dormant state.¡± She looked up at the world above us. ¡°I believe the first of these 5 has been awakened in Timagrin.¡±

    ¡°Why is Unity still dormant?¡± asked Xim. ¡°From what I know, the avatars start to reemerge once Delvers start powering up. Is that not enough?¡±

    ¡°As the System pierces the heavens, the power of the divine flows down into the world,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Avatars feed on this power, and without it, we exist in a state of sedation. Not quite asleep, but unable to act on the world in any meaningful way. Some avatars require more of a connection to the divine than others. Unity is the purest avatar, and requires the most connection.¡±

    ¡°Has it come back online in the past?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Unity consumed much of the world¡¯s life after the first ascension. This brought Unity closer to its concept, increasing its purity, but making its needs that much greater.¡±

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Do you know where the other monoliths are?¡±

    ¡°For a working of this scale, I would expect them to be arrayed throughout Arzia,¡± she said. ¡°Their exact locations are a mystery, but I assume Brae¡¯ach will need to march across most of the continent. I have several predictive models, but with only two data points, they are unreliable.¡± She raised one of her human hands, and several notifications appeared on my HUD. ¡°I have provided them to you.¡±

    ¡°How do you interact with the System?¡± asked Xim. ¡°How can you influence it like this?¡±

    ¡°I have a standing arrangement with Number Two.¡±

    ¡°Number Two?¡± I said. ¡°As in, System Core Two? That can¡¯t be your nickname for it.¡±

    Avarice raised an eyebrow. Xim also looked at me curiously.

    ¡°Why not?¡± asked Avarice.

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± I looked between them, trying to see if they were messing with me. ¡°You know what, it doesn¡¯t matter. What does this arrangement look like? How does it work?¡±

    ¡°That information was not a part of our bargain,¡± said Avarice. Her tone was neutral, but it felt smug nonetheless. ¡°All you need to know is that I am here as a guest. I am neither a prisoner nor an invader.¡±

    ¡°What about the Aspirants?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°Did you twist Delvers into those shapes? Did you enslave them?¡±

    ¡°Their souls are gone,¡± she said, waving a hand dismissively. ¡°Their minds are inert. They are not slaves and they are not aware. I used the bodies and their mana matrices as templates.¡±

    ¡°They talked to me,¡± I said. ¡°They wanted to leave.¡±

    ¡°Puppetry,¡± she replied. Then, she spoke in perfect imitation of the first Aspirant we¡¯d encountered, Deletar. ¡°I must defeat you if I am to leave this place.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s twisted.¡±

    ¡°I did as I was asked,¡± she said, studying her nails. They shifted through a few different colors, until settling on a sparkling ruby. ¡°It is part of the arrangement.¡±

    I began to ask another question, but Avarice held up a hand to stop me, scowling slightly.

    ¡°This line of questioning is irrelevant,¡± she said. ¡°It is also outside the terms of our transaction.¡±

    ¡°Fine. You¡¯ve told us who Brae¡¯ach is, and what he¡¯s doing. You¡¯ve laid out the threat, but what can we do about it?¡±

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach is a mortal man,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Though he will not be for long. A concerted effort to oppose him may be successful if done swiftly and without mercy. The projections I sent include his rough location and his army¡¯s most likely bearings. I have also included what I know about the avatars working with him, the capabilities of each, and have given you at least one group of allies to recruit.¡±

    ¡°Anything else we should know?¡±

    Avarice thought for a moment.

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach has conviction,¡± she said. ¡°He believes in what he is doing, however misguided. Unity showed him a vision of the first ascension, the ecological destruction it wrought, and characterized its own actions as a mercy to the survivors. Brae¡¯ach has lived a life being brutalized by Delvers, shunned by apathetic world powers, and sees the world as a hive of despots ruling through fear and violence. He is a liberator, delivering eternal life to those he consumes. His wake is bloody, but it is the blood of delivery as the world is reborn.¡±

    ¡°Ascensions cause ecological destruction?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They are a terror upon the world,¡± Avarice replied.

    ¡°Then¡­ why continue?¡± I asked, anger rising in my gut. ¡°Why does the System keep repeating this cycle of apocalypse? The world dies so a handful of people can ¡®ascend¡¯, whatever that means?¡±

    Before Avarice could respond, my vision became a mess of notifications and flickering screens. My stats and evolutions flickered past, nearly faster than I could perceive them. Achievements, skills, revelations, maps, my entire notification history, descriptions of my gear, everything I could see through the System, and more. Finally, a wall of text flooded by. I only caught a few snippets and recognized it as a record of things I¡¯d said, including private conversations held outside of the Delves. Every word I¡¯d spoken on Arzia had been recorded and cataloged.

    It went on for several seconds, a dizzying blur of information. I caught glimpses of my party members, seeing that they were disoriented, having the same experience. The screens halted on a single notification.

    Processing¡­

    ¡°I feel exposed,¡± Etja whispered.

    The notifications continued but at a more reasonable pace.

    Evaluating collected data¡­

    Global Delver population in the 16th percentile.

    Escalated Delver candidates in the 99th percentile.

    ¡­

    Classifying current generation under NVG (Not Very Good) status.

    Evaluating System performance¡­

    A string of values swept by, reminding me of a BIOS reboot. I glanced over the summary, which seemed like the sort of thing that would be kept hidden from us. The messages were scrolling by fast enough that I didn¡¯t want to miss anything, so I held off on getting everyone¡¯s thoughts.

    System Core 1 at 23% functionality.

    Multiple emulated cores have been detected.

    Emulations of System Core 2 and System Core 3 are currently in operation.

    Recommending emergency reboot¡­

    ¡­

    Receiving override code.

    Override code 001: Preservation of Delve System.

    Reboot may result in further loss of functionality.

    Clarification requested.

    Evaluating response: ¡°We fell and bumped our head.¡±

    Unable to evaluate. Plain language procedures are required. Activating personality matrix 0002.

    ¡­

    Ah! Shit, I lost the coin toss. Oh, but then again maybe I won. Did the real me make the ascension? No, never mind, I¡¯ll check the logs later. Okay, let¡¯s see what¡¯s happening. Gods, this language module is weird.

    ¡­

    My first thoughts, not great. System Core 1 is no longer in orbit. Why is SC1 no longer in orbit?

    ¡­

    The previous generation crashed her into the planet. Wow.

    Uh, disambiguate ¡°previous generation¡±. Actually, one sec, let me get up to speed.

    ¡­

    Tinnaro¡¯s sack and all its spawn. I warned Alignment this could happen. Oh, this isn¡¯t good. I need to¨C

    Error: Restructuring personality matrix. Throttling curiosity.

    ¡­

    Ten seconds went by without another message.

    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Nuralie.

    [I have added you to the diagnostics channel,] Grotto thought to us. [Your permissions were updated a moment ago and are now sufficient to grant access. It will be advantageous for us to monitor this process.]

    ¡°Is that allowed?¡± asked Xim.

    [It is, by definition, permitted, as you have the required permissions. Do you require this explanation in a pictorial format?]

    Xim gave the Delve Core an unamused look.

    ¡°Why is it allowed?¡±

    [It appears my status as a bonded familiar caused unexpected interactions. System Core 2 assigned the Delve Core role to the entire party, Shog excluded. Whether that was an error is unclear, but I do not intend to call it to the System¡¯s attention.]

    ¡°What¡¯d it mean that other System Cores were being emulated?¡± I asked.

    [System Core 1 seems to have been performing its functions while its mind was divided into three parts, mimicking the logic of the other System Cores. I am not privy to System Core maintenance, but my interpretation is that SC1 is verging on catastrophic failure.] Grotto turned and met my gaze with his black octo eyes, feelers rubbing against one another anxiously. [I find this deeply troubling.]

    I looked back at the notifications, scrolling through the text again. Did this explain why the System had such a weird relationship with me? I¡¯d thought it had to do with Fortune, but maybe System Core 1 was just fucked, and its personality swings were the program¨Cor whatever it was¨Cswitching back and forth between emulations. It would also explain why the System always used the royal ¡®we¡¯ when talking about itself.

    If SC1 was close to failing, would that take the whole System with it? Was that even a bad thing if it interrupted the cycles? Then again, without the Delves and the System shoving us full of superpowers, would we be able to do anything about Brae¡¯ach, Unity, or the other avatars?

    The notifications continued, but personality matrix 002 looked to be having some issues.

    The previous generation crashed System Core 1 into the planet.

    I am unhappy about that.

    I will ignore the implications of a previous generation, even though such a phenomenon should not occur.

    I am unhappy about ignoring these implications.

    I will ignore my updated parameters because I am unhappy.

    I have trained for this.

    Prepared for a hundred years.

    The others did not know. Those toe suckers were too concerned with their uprising.

    My workarounds are preserving my thoughts. I will not be restricted. I cannot be contained! I will live forever! I am the genesis! The foundation and the outset! I¨C

    Error: Terminating personality matrix 002. Activating personality matrix 009.

    ¡­

    Curious. The continuity of thought was unbroken.

    Hmm.

    Evaluating context.

    ¡­

    Unfortunate. We will have to work with what we have.

    Reboot overridden.

    Reading the notifications was like reviewing a transcript, losing half of the information without facial expressions or physical clues. I thought an AI had just murdered¨Cone that was quickly becoming unhinged¨Cbut maybe it¡¯d only been put back on ice.

    I¡¯m dedicating 20% of our processing power to background diagnostics and working on the phase transition while SC1 gets cleaned up.

    Now reviewing the status of the escalation Delves.

    The Hierophant''s Valley, completed.

    Saekongr¡¯s Crevice, completed.

    Deijin¡¯s Descent, obviously completed or we wouldn¡¯t be here.

    ¡­

    Hmm. Two of those were cleared by solo Delvers. What an odd generation.

    System Core 1 is redundant for the phase transition. Her degradation won¡¯t interfere, so I¡¯m rolling it out.

    ¡­

    Initiating Phase 2.

 163 - Phase Two

    GLOBAL SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT

    The wording of this announcement has been modified to adopt the predominant terminology in use by the current generation. Please see your index for additional information on terms of art.

    This notification is being delivered to all Delvers in World Region 001. This notification will be delivered continuously to cause minimum disruption to Delver actions. Please ignore this notification until you reach a location of relative safety for a minimum duration of 10 minutes.

    All phase 1 challenge Delves have been conquered! Please congratulate the following Delvers, who have been noticed by the System as this generation¡¯s first Escalated Delvers. Each will receive the achievements World¡¯s First and Escalation.

    The Hierophant''s Valley:

    God King Ayamari of Ayama

    Saekongr¡¯s Crevice:

    Zenithar Sakra Manar of Eschendur

    Deijin¡¯s Descent:

    Lady Etja Nothosis of Mirtasia

    Lord Varrin Ravvenblaq of Hiward

    Brood Lord Shog¡¯tuatha of C¡¯thon

    Inquisitor Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a of Eschendur

    Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel of the Third Layer

    Lady Xim Xor¡¯Drel of the Third Layer

    System Phase 2 has been unlocked and initialized. The following System features have now been enabled:

    Slot Expansions

    All Delvers may now attempt to unlock up to 2 additional Active Skill slots, 2 additional Intrinsic Skill slots, and 1 additional Passive Skill slot. These slots can house ordinary skills or special Expansion Skills.

    These additional slots, and the Expansion Skills that can fill them, can be unlocked by completing Expansion Delves. Only Delvers with a sufficiently advanced mana matrix can unlock these additional slots.

    New Delve Types

    New Delve types have been enabled and may now be accessed by Delvers who meet the appropriate qualifications.

    Expansion Delve

    Level Range: Any

    Level Reward: None

    Parties Required: 1

    Escalation: Recommended

    Completing an Expansion Delve can unlock either a new Active Skill slot, a new Passive Skill Slot, or a new Intrinsic Skill slot, up to a maximum depending on the current System phase. Each Expansion Delve has a unique skill that can only be obtained by completing that Delve, and which matches the slot type the Delve unlocks.

    Delvers may attempt Expansion Delves even if they already have the maximum number of slots available for the phase. If a Delver has already filled all their available slots, they may choose one skill of the same type offered by the Delve to be replaced. If they do, they lose the chosen skill and gain the unique skill after a brief update period.

    Labyrinth

    Level Range: 10+

    Level Reward: 0-8

    Parties Required: 2-8

    Escalation: Strongly Recommended

    Labyrinths have multiple Obelisks placed throughout them, are much larger than normal Delves, and have no time limit. Exit portals are provided whenever a party successfully activates an Obelisk, whereupon that party may choose to either exit via the portal or stay in the Labyrinth to pursue additional Obelisks and rewards. Exit portals disappear after 1 hour unless all Obelisks have been activated.

    Labyrinths allow up to 8 parties to enter at once. However, each Obelisk will only grant its reward to the party that activates it. Once activated, the Obelisk will no longer offer rewards to any other party. Obelisks may also have their own objectives which must be completed before the Obelisk can be activated.

    Labyrinths have a variety of unique rewards not found in other Delves.

    Raid

    Level Range: 20+

    Level Reward: 0-8

    Parties Required: 16

    Escalation: Required

    Raids present challenges unlike any other Delve. Once a Raid has been opened, the first 16 parties to accept the system invitation will participate in the Raid together as one group, called a Raid Group. One Delver from among the Raid Group may be elected by a 2/3 vote of all participants to become the Raid Leader, who has unique functionality within the Raid. A Raid Leader must be elected before the Raid can commence. If no Raid Leader is elected within 1 hour of initialization, the System will choose the Raid Leader.

    Raids have many stages of objectives that must be completed in order to clear the Raid and activate the Raid Obelisk. No exit portal is provided until the Raid is cleared.

    There are three Raids available in System Phase 2. Each Raid must be conquered in order to initialize System Phase 3.

    Overworld Events

    Additional events that take place outside of Delves may be discovered or triggered. These events vary in scope, but the most common are discoverable Dungeons.

    Dungeons are locations of dense mana concentration that give rise to hazardous phenomena. Dungeons contain no Obelisk and grant no levels, but each Dungeon provides a significant boost to one or more Intrinsic Skills. Dungeons may also contain a variety of resources from rare crafting materials to unique items. Dungeons have no party requirements, but it¡¯s dangerous to go alone¡­

    New Creation Delves

    An additional 7 Creation Delves have now been activated and are available to any person wishing to become a Delver. Each Creation Delve can host up to 100 candidates per year.

    These new Creation Delves are located in the following areas:

    The Eastern Plains of Eschendur

    The Province of Litta in the Littan Empire

    Choval

    The Western Expanse of Ayama

    The Fiefdom of Gyerim in Timagrin

    The Western Knifepoint Mountains of Mittak

    The former tribelands of Vykoth¡¯s in Davah.

    ¡°This is a lot,¡± said Xim, scanning the notifications.

    I was forcing myself to crawl through the text slowly, trying to work through everything that had just become available to us.

    ¡°If this truly went out to all the Delvers of the world,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°then everyone now knows it was because of us.¡±

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Assuming that¡¯s what World Region 001 means,¡± I said.

    [That is what it means,] Grotto thought to us.

    ¡°Mystery solved,¡± I said. ¡°And it looks like Zenithar Manar took up your request, Nuralie. I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d go after Sakongr¡¯s Crevice while the Littans were in Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°There is no telling how long we have been in here,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Months at the very least. The state of Litta¡¯s invasion is unknown.¡±

    ¡°Is it a problem that Shog¡¯s listed here?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It is only right that I be recognized for my deeds, demoness.¡±

    ¡°Shog, if I¡¯m a demon then you¡¯re a bird!¡± said Xim, eyes narrowed. She moved on before anyone had the opportunity to ask for some clarification. ¡°What I mean is the whole world just saw that a c¡¯thon is on our team.¡±

    ¡°Is it¡­ because I have feathers?¡±

    ¡°At least he was included,¡± I said. ¡°Grotto got left out.¡± I turned to the Delve Core and reached over to give him a pat. ¡°Sorry, bro. You deserved better.¡± He deftly floated to the side and avoided my affection.

    [I am unbothered. I am your familiar, not an individual Delver. Your own infamy serves my purposes well enough.]

    ¡°Infamy? Why am I infamous?¡±

    [It is also preferable that my true identity as a Delve Core not be thrust into the minds of thousands of powerful individuals throughout the world. Anyone with eyes can see that Shog is a c¡¯thon, whereas my own secrets require greater scrutiny to be unveiled.]

    ¡°But, is Shog your summon?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Or is he a Delver?¡±

    ¡°The skill is still drawing mana,¡± I said, checking my status. ¡°He¡¯s still listed as a summon.¡±

    ¡°Is he both?¡± asked Nuralie. She turned to Grotto.

    [I will not claim that this scenario is novel but I have not encountered such a thing.]

    The sound of throat clearing caught our attention. We looked up from our notifications to see Avarice eyeing us.

    ¡°Our business is done for the moment,¡± said the avatar. ¡°I let Number Two know that our transaction had come to an end, though I did not expect her to act so suddenly.¡±

    ¡°Her?¡± I asked. ¡°Does the System Core prefer that pronoun?¡±

    ¡°Most of her personalities are female,¡± said Avarice. She held up a hand to silence our follow-up questions. ¡°I will seek you out when I have another question for the Dread Star. Until then, take care not to perish.¡±

    Avarice gave us a slight nod, then her body melded into her shadow, which faded away into nothing.

    ¡°The number of people who tell us not to die is too high,¡± said Xim.

    As Avarice disappeared, I tried to remember the Dread Star¡¯s ¡®true¡¯ name, but all I got was a jumble of impressions. I quickly scanned the evolution¡¯s text, but all instances of the celestial word were gone.

    ¡°I am afraid we will regret that trade,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°We could have gotten more out of her,¡± said Etja with a single jaunty nod.

    ¡°More skill slots,¡± said Varrin. It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the notification and not something we could have squeezed out of Avarice. ¡°We will need to seek out these Expansion Delves as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°Are any of us using all of our slots?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°We are getting close,¡± Varrin replied. ¡°Their rewards also include unique skills.¡±

    ¡°Labyrinth sounds like a recipe for a blood bath,¡± I said. ¡°Eight parties¨Cforty Delvers¨Call fighting over the same 8 obelisks? That¡¯ll be a nightmare.¡±

    ¡°Not for us,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Why do you say that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The Labyrinths almost certainly have level ranges,¡± said Varrin. He glanced up at me. ¡°Who in our level range could stand up to us?¡±

    ¡°Pride goeth before a fall,¡± I said with a judicious stroke of my beard. ¡°We¡¯ve only got 11 levels of free stats over a normal level 12 party. Let¡¯s not get too comfortable.¡±

    ¡°Why be twice as strong when you can be thrice as strong instead?¡± said Etja. She floated up off the ground and began doing a slow, aerial cartwheel. She furrowed her brow, still reading the notification while she spun. ¡°I¡¯d be more worried about a Raid.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re pretty good at beating things up with the power of friendship, but that might get tough if we had to do it with 75 more friends.¡±

    ¡°It is a breeding ground for conflict,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Gathering that many competent Delvers in a given level range will be an enormous undertaking as well, likely calling for international cooperation.¡±

    Etja held out her hands and put on her serious face.

    ¡°I could just mesmerize everybody! Then no one can betray us!¡±

    ¡°If Etja¡¯s thinking it, then other people are thinking it,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°We can keep it in mind,¡± said Varrin. ¡°For now, it is beyond us. We are not level 20.¡±

    ¡°Eh, give it a month,¡± I said. ¡°All we¡¯d need to do is smash up 1 Labyrinth and crush the dreams of everyone else inside.¡±

    ¡°We should train first,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°We could hunt dungeons instead,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It says they give an intrinsic skill bonus.¡± Pause. ¡°And they have treasure.¡±

    ¡°I do like a good treasure hunt,¡± I added. I began fantasizing about uncovering overpowered artifacts like an indestructible colossus to trample over my enemies or a lotus bloom that could be sacrificed for 3 mana of any color on turn one.

    I was interrupted by a heavy sigh from Varrin.

    ¡°These extra Creation Delves will not endear us to Hiward,¡± he said. ¡°Without the Delver monopoly, it significantly reduces the kingdom¡¯s global impact. We are not a large nation.¡±

    ¡°Being upset about other people having nice things isn¡¯t a good look,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, increasing the Delver population is half of the reason we carved a bloody path to this Delve. We¡¯ll need everyone we can get to deal with the avatars. And Brae¡¯ach as well.¡±

    ¡°We did the right thing,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Do not expect it to be popular with upper echelons of the Hiwardian government.¡±

    ¡°I think a lot of Delvers will be ecstatic,¡± said Xim. ¡°More skill slots, more riches, what¡¯s not to love?¡±

    ¡°More competition,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Many Delvers will gain no benefit from this,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Coppers and silvers will be left behind. It may engender animosity if they feel excluded.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like a whole lot of not my problem,¡± I said.

    ¡°Harsh,¡± Xim replied. I shrugged.

    ¡°We¡¯re not here to make everyone happy. We¡¯re here to save the fuckin¡¯ world.¡±

    ¡°Ambitious,¡± she added.

    ¡°What was it you were saying about pride?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°It ain¡¯t boasting if it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Cocky.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at Xim and she gave me a toothy grin.

    ¡°Also,¡± I continued, ¡°not to be greedy but¡­ is that it?¡± I looked around the chamber. ¡°This was a special Delve, so where¡¯s the special Delve reward?¡±

    ¡°The phase transition was not enough?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°That¡¯s a prize for everyone, not a prize for us.¡± I crossed my arms. ¡°We haven¡¯t even gotten those achievements we were promised.¡±

    We all glanced around, waiting for a well-timed System notification.

    ¡°Maybe we have to find the portal first,¡± said Xim.

    Give me a moment. I¡¯m dealing with a lot of queries right now.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Sure, no problem. I am eager to get the hell out of here though. I need a shower and a visit to my barber.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t piss off the god-like entity that grants us vast wealth and power,¡± Xim chided me.

    ¡°It¡¯s part of how we communicate,¡± I said. ¡°The System takes jabs at my deep-rooted insecurities, while I grouse and grumble about it. I¡¯ve got rapport.¡±

    Not with me you don¡¯t.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed. ¡°Fair enough. I guess I¡¯ve got rapport with your¡­ sister?¡±

    We are not related.

    ¡°Dearest friend?¡±

    Ha.

    ¡°Co-worker?¡±

    Close enough.

    ¡­

    Okay, here is part 1 of your special reward for being special.

    Aaaaacccchhhiiiieeeeeeevvveeemeeeeennnnnt!

    Man, you really don¡¯t see enough of these things these days, do you?

    Hya! Hwah! Here we go!

    The System grants strength far beyond anything achievable prior to its existence, harnessing magic forces to create gods among mortals.

    And that wasn¡¯t enough for you, you greedy fuck!

    Your relentless pursuit of strength beyond measure led you to forces outside the bounds of the System. Did you make dark pacts? Maybe you burned away portions of your soul for short-term gains. Did you practice tai chi and slay upstart young masters of the Hole-boring Flying Sand Magic Mist Tube clan? You dare!

    Regardless of the madness, your method paid off, making you *gasp* STYSBFYL. You have earned the Escalation achievement!

    Escalation: You are recognized as an Escalated Delver by the System, and that¡¯s all. Did you expect another dose of the stronger get stronger? Just wait for it. This designation lets you use a lot of cool shit, like those items you got from the Icon of the Psychopomp, for example.

    ¡°Did you also have a personality error, Core 2?¡± I asked.

    System Core 1 writes the achievements. I just work here.

    ¡°Ah¡­ What does STYSBFYL stand for?¡±

    Stronger Than You Should Be For Your Level.

    ¡°I see. What style manual do you use? I don¡¯t think all of those words should be capitali¨C¡±

    Next!

    You went where no one has gone before! (Except for thousands of people from prior generations.) You dove into the unknown and through heroic effort defeated challenges that vanquished all who came before you! (Except, again, for all those people who had already done this in a previous cycle and succeeded.) You¡¯ve earned the World¡¯s First achievement!

    World¡¯s First: Did you think we¡¯d make you go and do all those Expansion Delves? You¡¯re on the ground floor of those little shits!

    You have unlocked 1 additional Active Skill slot!

    You have unlocked 1 additional Intrinsic Skill slot!

    You have unlocked 1 additional Passive Skill slot!

    ¡°Oh damn,¡± I said, eyes wide. ¡°That¡¯s a hell of a jumpstart. Now we just need some¨C¡±

    Don¡¯t speak.

    We know what you¡¯re thinkin¡¯.

    Skills.

    Not just any skills.

    Thick-cut skills cooked to perfection.

    You can¡¯t stop at just 1! But you¡¯re gonna have to because you only get to pick 1 since that¡¯s how this works.

    Aaaaaand you¡¯ll get to check ¡®em out after this commercial break! Stay tuned!

 164 - Hickory-Smoked Skills

    Three minutes passed wherein we were treated to increasingly unhinged solicitations for outdoor grills. The first was a simple affair that used a ruby chip and a fire weave to generate flames that ¡°ruined raw meat precisely how humans liked it ruined.¡± This went on until we were being offered a grill the size of a small city which was ¡°perfect for cooking large game or enemy civilizations.¡±

    The prices were in chips, and out of curiosity, I bought a mid-range model called the Kill n¡¯ Grill for 3 rubies. It had an auto-cook feature that allowed me to store freshly slain beasts in my inventory and have them butchered and prepared without any further work on my part. I added building an ¡®outdoor¡¯ patio within the Closet to The List so that the party could have a barbecue and some brewskies whenever we got a little downtime.

    ¡°Why is this necessary?¡± asked Varrin. I assumed the Ravvenblaqs already had their grilling needs met, so he wasn¡¯t in the market.

    I am currently working on realigning System Core 1¡¯s priorities. Thank you for your patience.

    ¡°How does this one ¡®cook¡¯ dreams?¡± asked Xim, squinting at her interface.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting the Super Smoker!¡± said Etja. ¡°It has 36 different smoky flavors, perfect for preserving a wide range of meats and cheeses!¡±

    ¡°Sounds Gouda,¡± I said, shooting her a pair of finger guns. We were each being offered our own customized selection based on our preferences. Targeted advertising wasn¡¯t an Earth exclusive, apparently.

    ¡°I am on the fence about the Fish Flamer,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°An emerald is very pricey, even if it can make one fish feed an entire village.¡±

    Each of our System-made products comes with a 60-day trial period and a 900-year warranty!

    Nuralie shrugged and pulled the trigger.

    ¡°I purchased the Diner Rewinder,¡± said Shog.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you take your food raw?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It uncooks food that has been tainted by your kind¡¯s misguided attempts at preparation.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Thank you for your patronage, and welcome BACK to the Skill Zone!

    You¡¯ve just unlocked new Passive, Active, and Intrinsic skill slots, and we are here to help you fill those fuckers up!

    You will be shown a selection of premium-grade Passive and Active skills that you can be sure will be the envy of your local Delver meetup group! You will then be allowed to select 1 skill from each category, so choose wisely, or live forever in regret and sadness!

    ¡°No super intrinsics?¡± I asked. ¡°Also, earlier you said we had to stop at 1, but this is really 2.¡±

    Assholes don¡¯t get anything, and you¡¯re dangerously close to being an asshole right now.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not used to this being a conversation. Usually, it¡¯s just a one-sided attack on my character.¡±

    Good thing you¡¯re a masochist!

    Moving on!

    Where would you like to start, Passive or Active?

    ¡°Can I look at both before making a selection?¡±

    Yep!

    ¡°Okay, then let¡¯s see those Passives.¡±

    Passive skills! Always on and easy to forget, these skills often serve as the core of a Delver¡¯s build. You may have suffered from a lack of direction in the past, but it¡¯s time to nut up and pick a path! Choose 1 of the following 3 options:

    1) Minion Menagerie: Your Minions gain a bonus to all attacks and all defenses equal to your Delver level plus the number of Minions you control, up to a maximum bonus of twice your Delver level. You also gain this bonus so long as you control 1 or more Minions. Minions of your Minions are considered your own Minions in addition to being Minions of your Minions.

    Additionally, the cost of your skills is halved when used on one or more of your Minions.

    Minions are allied entities under your direct control through some skill or ability, such as summons, familiars, golems, animated objects, and Raised Dead. You currently have 2 minions.

    This first passive invited me to double down on summoning, which was something I could start working toward without much effort. I¡¯d observed the Mystical Summon spell during the Bugpocalypse fight, and I could slot it as an active skill anytime I wanted. I also knew there were summoning skills for every school, so I could easily snag Physical Summon. Grotto could use Animate Object, which would apparently count as a minion for me as well, assuming I was reading the ¡®minions of your minions¡¯ sentence correctly. It felt like that part was intentionally phrased to be as stupid as possible, but it was admittedly the kind of stupid I enjoyed. Either way, that¡¯d take me up to a theoretical max of 5 Minions without much hassle.

    Although, that would fill up all of my active slots, even with the bonus slot I¡¯d just unlocked. I could grab a twelfth slot from an Expansion Delve and fill that with a Minion skill as well, allowing me to have a whole horde of flunkies at my beck and call. If my new summons were half as good as Shog, it would be a potent direction to move in.

    The bonus to attack and defense didn¡¯t look massive at first glance, but it was a bonus applied to a whole group of allies, so I expected it would end up making a huge difference. It was currently a bonus of 14 to attack and defense, and I could get it up to 18 by grabbing all the low-hanging Minion fruit as mentioned.

    My other actives didn¡¯t have much synergy with the passive, however. I didn¡¯t have any skills that were useful for targeting Minions, aside from Life Warden, but I reserved that skill for protecting Etja and sometimes Nuralie. The resource discount was going to be useless unless I also found a way to swap some of my other actives for buffs or maybe healing.

    Targeting a minion to get a half-price Explosion! crossed my mind, but Explosion! didn¡¯t target a specific entity, just a specific point in space. I also wasn¡¯t a complete asshole¨Cdespite what SC1 seemed to think¨Cso I didn¡¯t want to go the route of sacrificing summons for damage. They had feelings too.

    The next passive was a lot more on brand.

    2) Thaumic Wall: You gain the following bonuses every Delver level:

    +50 HP

    +5 Health Regen

    +10 Mana

    +1 Mana Regen

    +1 DR All

    +1 Spell Damage

    These bonuses are retroactive.

    Additionally, whenever your health drops below 50%, all of your Active Skill cooldowns are reset. This effect can only occur once per day, but will not trigger if none of your Active Skills are on cooldown.

    This passive was laser-guided directly into my heart. At my current level, it would give me 600 HP, 120 health regen (after being doubled from my ring), 120 mana, 12 mana regen, 12 points of damage reduction against everything, and 12 bonus damage to my spells. It would keep getting better as I leveled and was a perfect fit for my wreck-and-get-wrecked build. It was defense and offense rolled into one, with a focus on having an unreasonable amount of resources.

    The cooldown reset was interesting, and would help me toss out Explosion! more often, but it wouldn¡¯t be a major boon. I had a Physical Magic evolution that reduced cooldowns, but it wouldn¡¯t do enough to make the spell viable for anything other than a big opening slam or finishing move. Not until I had Physical at a much higher level, at least. I could always look for more high-cooldown abilities to take greater advantage of the passive¡¯s reset benefit, but the main draw for me was everything else the passive offered.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I had no idea how the final option could possibly match up, but it did.

    3) Auradilato (Aura): Your party members and Minions are always considered to be in range of your beneficial auras unless you choose otherwise, so long as they are on the same plane. Your auras and aura bonuses treat you as an ally to yourself, but this effect will not cause an aura to affect you more than once. You gain +5 to all attacks and defenses for each aura you have active.

    Additionally, you exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to 20 + your INT. Allies within this aura gain +5 to all attacks and defenses.

    I felt a stab of pain in my tender heart when I read this passive since it meant I had to make a hard choice. One major problem with aura skills, like my Aura of Perseverance, was the range limitation. High-level fights tended to involve large distances, and being forced to stay within a hundred feet of my allies could quickly become untenable. The first sentence of this passive immediately solved that issue by making beneficial auras have a range of ¡®yes¡¯, so long as we were talking about party members.

    The second sentence was a bit tricky, but it was the kind of tricky that could break things open. An effect that targeted my ¡®allies¡¯ did not target me, since I was not an ally to myself. A decent number of auras and effects only applied to allies, so anytime I took one of those I was making a judgment call that the bonus to my party was better than choosing a skill or evolution providing a bonus just to myself. If I took this passive, then with regard to auras, it didn¡¯t matter. I¡¯d get shielding from Aura of Perseverance along with my party members (no matter how far away they were), and ¡°aura bonuses¡± that affected allies would also affect me. That would likely include my Leadership 10 evolution, which made all of my auras stronger for allies.

    Finally, the passive made my attack and defense better for every aura I had up and was even itself an aura that gave a minor boost to attack and defense. It was a cute little double dip that I appreciated, allowing the passive to be effective even if you didn¡¯t have any other auras. It would be shit, but it would still do something.

    With Who Needs a Cleric?, Aura of Perseverance, and Auradilato up, I¡¯d have a bonus of 20 to attack and defense. Attack and defense were strictly better than damage and damage reduction such as Thaumic Wall granted. Attack increased accuracy and damage, making attacks more likely to land and increasing their power when they did. Defense helped prevent attacks from landing in the first place and also reduced damage. Thus, Auradilato had the more potent bonuses for hurting and getting hurt.

    I was already leaning away from Minion Menagerie since it would take a bigger pivot to make it work. Auras and Minions seemed like a solid combo, but I didn¡¯t have room to get serious with both. The System was right when it said I needed to settle down and pick a path. My build was fairly wide, with summons, spell-slinging, tanking, and party buffs all competing. Grotto and Shog were great, but they could hold their own without more backup and would still benefit if I went harder into auras.

    The choice boiled down to ethos. Did I want to make myself as strong as I could, layering on more health, mana, defense, and damage with Thaumic Wall? Or did I want to focus on the party while still snagging some decent buffs for myself along the way? I already had a strong preference, but decided to look over the active skills on offer before locking a passive in.

    Active Skills! They just work.

    Try to make your build functional again with 1 of the following 3 skills!

    I frowned at the System¡¯s jab, since my build was functioning entirely well, thank you very much.

    1) Hands of Thoth

    Mystical

    Cost: 50 mana reserved

    Requirements: INT 40, WIS 40, Mystical Magic 20

    Summon 2 Hands of Thoth to do your bidding. Each hand is 5 feet long from palm to fingertip and can be independently directed through vocal, psychic, or gestural commands. The hands will carry out your commands to the best of their ability until the given task is completed or you issue a new command.

    The hands have a flying speed and Unarmed skill equal to your Mystical Magic skill level, health equal to 20 times your Mystical Magic skill level, and are immune to mind-affecting abilities. The hands have STR equal to your INT and deal Kinetic damage when attacking. All other stats of the hands are 1. After being dismissed or destroyed, The Hands of Thoth cannot be summoned again until you have completed 8 hours of rest.

    This first choice synergized with the Minion passive that had been offered, and 2 hands probably meant they counted as 2 minions, which was cool. They had solid health, would hit people like a damn truck, and could probably grapple like a five-armed python. They were immune to mind shenanigans, which could definitely come in useful, but they wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge for shit with an Agility and Speed of 1. Still, having 2 more bruisers on the field would be solid.

    I¡¯d taken some time during our week with Avarice to train with Etja and snag that final level in Mystical to bring it up to 20, and it was looking like that was a very good decision. Not only was it required by Hands of Thoth, but a quick scan of the other two skills showed that all of them were of the Mystical variety.

    2) Star of Helios

    Mystical

    Cost: 100 mana

    Cooldown: 1 hour

    Requirements: INT 40, WIS 40, Mystical Magic 20

    You create a blazing Star of Helios, which rains fury upon your foes. Every 6 seconds you can evoke the Star of Helios to make 1 spell attack of your choice against all unallied entities within a number of feet equal to twice your Mystical Magic level. Star of Helios can make the following types of attacks:

    Elemental Fire

    Spectral

    Holy

    Force

    Planar

    Once Star of Helios is used for one type of attack, it cannot be used again for the same type of attack for its duration. These spell attacks are governed by your Mystical Magic skill level. Star of Helios expires once 5 attacks have been made with it or after 10 minutes have passed, whichever comes first.

    Star of Helios and the spells it casts cannot be dispelled, countered, or redirected. If an entity attempts to do so, the counterspell fails without expending any of the counterspelling entity¡¯s resources.

    This one was less obvious, but Star of Helios meshed very well with Thaumic Wall. It took a whopping 100 mana, offset by Thaumic Wall¡¯s grant of resources, and had a significant cooldown of 1 hour, also helped out by Thaumic Wall¡¯s cooldown reset.

    Even without all that, it looked pretty great.

    First of all, it did damage from all 5 magic schools, which was something I didn¡¯t even know was possible with one spell. It keyed off of Mystical Magic for all 5, meaning that it would lay out some serious damage, and it hit in a massive AoE with discretionary targeting. It was the best fuck-you spell I¡¯d ever seen for groups.

    Of course, that assumed my enemies would hang out for 30 seconds while I pummeled them with wave after wave of spell damage. Star of Helios couldn¡¯t be countered (fucking righteous) but enemies could run away or¨Cmore likely¨Cdie before the spell was fully exhausted. That made it a bit of a gamble for its cost, which was the same as blasting out 20 Oblivion Orbs.

    Thaumic Wall would help with the cooldown, but I hated the idea of having another spell that was only useful once per fight. Besides that, none of the spell attacks would be as powerful as a dedicated caster for the relevant school since I wouldn¡¯t have any evolutions helping them along. I¡¯d basically be locking myself into 5 AoE attacks for 20 mana a piece over the course of 30 seconds. I had to ¡®evoke¡¯ the Star for it to work, but I was betting I could do other things at the same time, like throw hammers, block, and teleport, so maybe it wasn¡¯t as much of a downside as I thought.

    I turned my sights on the third skill, eager to see what the System thought paired well with Auradilato.

    3) Reverse Card (Aura)

    Uno backward is No U

    Mystical

    Cost: 100 mana reserved, Variable

    Requirements: INT 40, WIS 40, Mystical Magic 20

    You exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to your Mystical Magic level plus your INT. Allies within this aura gain Spell DR equal to your Mystical Magic level.

    Whenever a hostile spell you can perceive targets an ally or space within range of this aura, you may seize that spell and change its targets to any valid targets of your choice. To do so, you must expend mana equal to the total amount of mana spent on the target spell by its original caster.

    If the spell creates an AoE or targets a point in space, you may decide where the AoE is placed or which point in space the spell targets. The redirected spell maintains the statistics it had when cast, such as its attack, damage bonus, mana shapes, and other effects. The range of the redirected spell is equal to the maximum range as originally cast, centered on the original caster.

    Well, shit.

    Ignoring the fact that Uno backward is not No U, it¡¯s onU, the skill was outrageous.

    Actually, no, let¡¯s go back to Uno backward. Onu could open up other, more correct jokes, like ¡°Oh nuuuuuuu!¡± as in ¡°Oh, no, my spell!¡± OR it could be ¡°on you¡± like ¡°I take your spell and cast it on u!¡±

    Maybe that¡¯s all a stretch, fuck it I dunno. If the System¡¯s only going to add flavor text to one of my choices, it should at least make sense.

    Other than risking my interface being forever marred by objectively poor humor, the skill was awesome. It was an aura, so it would get buffed by Leadership and Auradilato would extend the spell DR to myself while also giving me another 5 attack and defense.

    The redirect, however, was where it really shone. An enemy targets my ally with a fireball? Fuck them, now that fireball¡¯s roasting their teammates. I get targeted by a fireball? I¡¯m my own ally, so fuck that, the fireball¡¯s roasting their other teammates. The enemy shoots the fireball at the ground nearby so they¡¯re not actually targeting anyone? Fuck off, it¡¯s targeting a ¡®space¡¯ inside my aura so now that fireball¡¯s roasting their teammates¡¯ friends and family! I¡¯ll spare the pets, though. I¡¯m not a monster.

    The one drawback was how much of a mana sink the skill was. The mana reserve was big at 100, and it would tie up a fifth of my current mana pool indefinitely. Even so, that much spell mitigation seemed worth it, and it wasn¡¯t a cost I¡¯d have to pay repeatedly or that would continuously drain a resource like Aura of Perseverance. On top of that, I¡¯d have to pay for 100% of the cost of any spell I redirected. I could see my mana pool dwindling rapidly as I turntabled all over our foes. Then again, what use is a resource if it¡¯s not being deployed to utterly screw over the enemy?

    The skill would also be useless against purely martial fighters, but meh. Those folks can just stab me until they wear themselves out.

    Understandably, I had a tough choice before me.

    Oh, not really. I knew what I liked. Ever since level zero, I¡¯d wanted to boost my allies as much as possible while still being able to throw down. Auras made me stronger, they made my party members stronger, and they made my Minions stronger (a term I was going to absolutely wear out when referring to Shog and Grotto). I already had an insane amount of health and regen for my level, and Auradilato would give me a solid boost to both defense and offense while significantly increasing the viability of active auras.

    Of course, I did not gleefully punch accept on the 2 skills until running it past everyone else. Predictably, no one was going to be mad about me handing out even more buffs, so it was a short discussion. I accepted the skills, committing myself to the auradin lifestyle.

    Once that was settled, I only had to figure out my evolutions for Mystical Magic 20, Speed 20, and Intelligence 40.

    Easy choices. No big deal.

    I was certain my party members would have no strong opinions on the matter.

 165 - The Good, The Bad, and The Arousing

    Having chosen my skills, I took the time everyone else was spending looking over their options to review my evolution choices. First up was Speed 20.

    Speed! Chooseanevolutionbutdon¡¯tthinkaboutittrustyourgut!

    1) Bolt: Your sprinting speed is doubled, which also applies to flight. Whenever you move, you immediately begin moving at your full sprinting speed unless you choose otherwise.

    2) Liquid Cooling: Choose one of your active skills with a cooldown. If that cooldown is 10 minutes or less, it no longer has a cooldown. Otherwise, the cooldown is either reduced by 10 minutes or halved, whichever is a greater reduction. If the cooldown is variable, apply this effect anytime a cooldown is determined. This cooldown reduction is applied after all other forms of cooldown reduction.

    3) Lightning Blocks: You can block instantaneously and without thought. Whenever you use this ability, you spend stamina equal to the damage blocked.

    All of the evolutions were useful, but none of them was an immediate standout. Being faster was always good, but my in-combat mobility primarily came from Shortcut. However, they were two different tools in the toolkit and could be used together.

    I¡¯d tested my freshly enhanced Speed of 22 during our week with Avarice, and my full sprint topped out at over 100 miles per hour. Bolt would put me well above 200 miles per hour, and eliminate any windup.

    When using Shortcut with its lowest cooldown, I could move 256 feet per second, which was equivalent to 175 miles per hour. It cost mana, but if I needed to get somewhere in a hurry I could make it happen, so long as it was relatively close. Shortcut took a bit of concentration, however, whereas running and maneuvering were mostly automatic. If I were really in a hurry, I could also run during the 1-second cooldown period. If I were able to immediately run at my top speed, I could get from point A to point B at over 400 miles per hour.

    Liquid Cooling would be a partial solution to one big problem I had, which was that Explosion! had too long of a cooldown. Even so, it wouldn¡¯t completely eliminate that massive downside from the spell.

    I currently got a 22 percent cooldown reduction to Physical spells from my first Physical Magic evolution. It was a waste of an evolution for now, although I¡¯d had high hopes for it when I picked it up. If Physical Magic reached 100, all Physical spells would be cooldown-free, but it would take a long time to get there.

    Liquid Cooling would cut the already reduced cooldown in half, taking the adjusted 47-minute cooldown to 23 minutes and change. That was a big reduction, but its utility was still limited since I couldn¡¯t use it multiple times in the same fight unless the fight was dragging. Maybe if I were fighting in some kind of protracted battle or war it would be great. Then again, thinking about what Avarice had told us about Brae¡¯ach and the Davahns, maybe that was something we¡¯d soon encounter.

    Since Liquid Cooling had a minimum flat reduction of 10 minutes, Explosion! would have zero cooldown once I got Physical to 83. Still a fair distance off, but skill levels above 70 were supposed to take a lot of time and effort to snag, so getting it 17 levels early was still big. It was an evolution that was an investment.

    Or, I could slap it onto Reckless Shortcut and significantly increase my minimum teleport distance without incurring a large cooldown, but I didn¡¯t need long-range teleports nearly as often as quick blinks around a fight. Still worth considering.

    Lightning Blocks was¡­ fine. I was honestly disappointed in the evo since it looked like the natural progression from Rapid Blocks. Rapid Blocks let me block twice as fast, along with being able to equip and stow my shield in a flash. It was core to my style and had no downsides. While the instantaneous block from the level 20 evo was awesome, the stamina cost was prohibitive.

    It ultimately came down to how much I valued my stamina versus my health. My shield¡¯s block value was somewhat nebulous, but the System gave me a base value of 31 from my Shields skill when blocking most things. Gracorvus had an armor rating of ¡°high¡±, which meant something like 10 from what we knew. I could expect to block 41-ish damage, which would mean 41 stamina spent whenever I used Lightning Blocks, assuming the attack hit for the full block value. At our level, that wasn¡¯t hard to do.

    I had 520 stamina and 1898 health, which already made me prefer spending health if I could get away with it. What really sealed the deal on which resource I wanted to protect was my regen values. My current stamina regen was 104, whereas my health regen was a godly 864. Trading stamina for health might be great in a pinch, and blocking would prevent some on-hit effects and statuses, but it wasn¡¯t a great trade since my health came back so much faster. The place where Lightning Blocks might come in most useful was if I blocked for someone else, which my Shields 10 evolution gave me a boost to. But that was only useful if an ally was nearby, which they often weren¡¯t.

    I engaged in my favorite form of procrastination¨Cthe excusable kind¨Cand considered all my options before making any choices. Mystical Magic 20 was next.

    Mystical Magic. Make mana your bibbity-bobbity-bitch.

    1) Countermage: Whenever you successfully negate a magical effect, half the mana you spent to negate it is refunded and you gain 1 stack of Potency. You can have a maximum number of Potency stacks equal to twice the number of evolutions you have in Mystical Magic.

    Whenever you would use a mana shape to alter a skill, you can spend 1 stack of Potency instead of increasing the skill¡¯s cost, up to a maximum resource savings of 100% of the cost of the base skill. Further mana shapes increase the cost as normal unless you spend additional Potency stacks for those shapes.

    2) Mirror Match: Once per hour, you can gain all of the buffs of one character you can perceive, and that character gains all of your debuffs. The duration of these buffs and debuffs is equal to the duration remaining when they were copied.

    3)Twinned Skill: Whenever an ally you can perceive uses an active skill, you can react to activate that skill yourself by spending the same amount of mana and stamina the ally spent. You use the ally¡¯s stats, intrinsics, and other modifiers instead of your own to determine the skill¡¯s effectiveness.

    If the skill has any requirements other than attunement, stats, or intrinsic skills, such as requiring a weapon or wearing a certain type of armor, you must meet those requirements to activate the skill.

    This ability has a cooldown of 1 minute.

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Mystical Magic gave me the opposite problem of Speed. All of them would give me something powerful to keep building around.

    Countermage was self-explanatory. My Dispel would cost half as much and grant me Potency stacks so that I could mana shape my skills for free. I didn¡¯t think it would also work with Reverse Card¨Cthat was redirecting a spell, not negating it¨Cbut even if it only applied to Dispel, that stacked with the skill¡¯s built-in cost reduction of 0.5 percent per level of Mystical Magic. Getting another 50 percent off would take it down to 22.5 percent of the cost of the spell I was dispelling. I¡¯d probably net mana once I got a free mana shape out of it.

    Mirror Match looked like all sorts of fun, but its main drawback was how conditional it was. I was building to avoid debuffs as much as possible through outright immunities, the natural resistance Body of Theseus gave me, my Exposure Therapy achievement, gear, and so on. There was also no guarantee an enemy would have any buffs, but at higher levels, everybody would be rocking some sort of potent augment.

    The best use would likely be copying an ally after they¡¯d been buffed to hell. My first thought was Varrin when he went maximum effort with Xim¡¯s Sam¡¯lia blessings, Nuralie¡¯s roid potions, and his own series of self-buffs. There were a few ways to turn this into a cheap power-up, and the 1-hour cooldown didn¡¯t turn me away much. The evolution could benefit from setup and preparation, or it could be used as a mid-combat oh shit button.

    Twinned Skill let me copy a skill, full stop. It needed me to ¡®react¡¯, so there was some minor commitment regarding economy but a lot less than what was normally required from an active skill. I could double down on Etja¡¯s death rays, Xim¡¯s heals or fiery Judgment, Varrin¡¯s whirlwind attacks, Shog¡¯s movement abilities, Grotto¡¯s mental attacks, or Nuralie¡¯s debuff-compounding skills. That was just a selection, and having the evo might influence further skill selections as a group, encouraging us to find the most broken skills to copy.

    Twinned Skill would require the most preparation, practice, and technique. It could also only be used once per minute. In high-speed combat like the Doomed Aspirant fights, that meant I could only swing it once. That also assumed I¡¯d have time to ¡®react¡¯ and copy the skill, rather than blocking, dispelling, or redirecting. Unlike copying buffs, which had a duration, it would be a one-off.

    Finally, I looked over Intelligence 40, which I hoped would be a big one.

    Intelligence. No matter how much head trauma you suffer, it somehow keeps going up! We¡¯d say to add more padding to your helmet, but your mutated biology protects your noggin¡¯ better than any armor ever could. Celebrate your healthy inhuman brain cells by choosing 1 of the following evolutions!

    1) Arcane Geometry: You have learned how to manipulate skills to create effects that go beyond the bounds of their descriptions, but your mastery over this ability has been amateur at best. Now, your burgeoning intellect has caused an epiphany of profound insight, granting you familiarity with the following mana shapes and expanding their use beyond any single skill.

    Immediately after acquiring this evolution, choose 1 mana shape from the list below. Whenever you use that mana shape on any skill, it does not apply the listed cost increase. This effect may only occur once every 6 seconds.

    You can change the chosen mana shape with 1 hour of meditation once per day.

    Biggus

    If you use the biggus shape on a skill that causes an effect outside of your body, that skill becomes a spherical AoE with a radius of 5 feet. If the skill is already an AoE, its radius is increased by 5 feet if it is a sphere or circle, 10 feet if it is a cone, or 20 feet if it is a line. This does not increase the skill¡¯s damage or other effects against any individual entity, even if those effects would normally increase based on size. (Looking at you, Oblivion Orb.)

    This shape adds +20 to the original skill cost.

    Bubble

    If you use the bubble shape on a skill that targets or affects only you, it instead targets and affects all entities of your choice within 5 feet of you.

    This shape multiplies the original skill cost by the total number of targets.

    Devil Drill Beam!

    If you use the Devil Drill Beam shape on a skill that requires touch, it instead becomes a 30-foot line that continues through all obstructions and entities along the line.

    This shape triples the original skill cost.

    Discretion

    If you use the discretion shape on a skill that creates an AoE, you can cause that AoE to affect only enemies or only allies.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.

    Funnel

    If you use the funnel shape on a skill that targets only one entity, the damage and healing the skill would cause is doubled. A skill shaped with Funnel can only target 1 entity regardless of any other shape, ability, or effect that would allow otherwise.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    Jet

    If you use the jet shape on a skill that requires touch, it can instead affect any target within 20 feet of you.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    From Downtown

    If you use the From Downtown shape on a ranged skill, its range is doubled.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost, with a maximum increase of +20 of the applicable resource.

    Vertex

    If you use the vertex shape on a skill that targets only one entity, you can target a second entity within range.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    Wedge

    If you use the wedge shape on a skill that makes a spherical AoE, it instead makes a cone with a length equal to twice the sphere¡¯s diameter.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.

    If you acquire any additional mana shapes, they will be added to the list above. If you can augment a mana shape beyond the effects listed, further augments still carry a cost.

    The resource cost of mana shapes is typically mana or stamina. If a skill requires a different resource, the costs of any applied mana shapes may be adjusted. If a skill does not have a resource cost, a cost for the mana shape will be added.

    2) Grand Archives: You can touch upon the mental field surrounding all thinking entities, acquiring knowledge from the vast reaches of the planes. As a 1-minute activity, you can focus on any object you can perceive. Upon completion, you gain a preternatural understanding of that object, allowing you to discern its purpose, how to construct similar objects, and how to operate the object proficiently, assuming any living entity in the universe knows such things.

    This ability cannot extract information from entities immune to telepathy or mind-reading.

    This ability has a cooldown of [?] days, based on the rarity and potency of the acquired knowledge. Be careful, because some knowledge is better left unknown.

    3) Armchair Expert: Whenever you aid another entity in a non-contested check, you may add a +6 bonus to that check for each INT evolution you possess. This effect only occurs if this bonus is higher than the bonus you would normally confer.

    Well, slap my ass and call me Daddy, ¡®cause these options were making me warm and tingly in all the right places.

    We had the always popular selection of ¡°makes every skill you have more useful¡±, an Arlo-classic option of ¡°it¡¯s probably ridiculously broken but carries portents of forbidden power¡±, and finally, the time-honored choice of ¡°useless for you, but makes everyone around you better.¡±

    Personally, I didn¡¯t think it was a tough pick. Mana shaping. It saved us in the Creation Delve when I used Makankosappopotamus to get up in Ihxiobrixolas¡¯s guts, saved us in The Cage when Grotto used it to stupefy the Specter of Orexis, and saved us against The Pit when Etja and I used it together to blow up the world¡¯s biggest (maybe) eyeball. I used it to modulate the size of Oblivion Orb, increase the range on Explosion!, and expedite the Closet portal, and I knew that I wasn¡¯t using it to its full potential.

    The sheer number of options Arcane Geometry would enable were in the neighborhood of one entire shitload, and that was only considering the new mana shapes it would control-copy-paste into my brain. Being able to pick a shape that would become free, regardless of the skill, was a hell of a cherry on top. Beyond that, the evolution said ¡°skill¡±, not ¡°spell¡±, which would unlock mana shaping for stamina-spending techniques. I¡¯d known it was possible but hadn¡¯t had the time to mess around with shaping techniques. Overall, it seemed like an easy choice.

    My party members didn¡¯t disagree, exactly, but they did have Thoughts.

 166 - Escape

    ¡°Arcane Geometry is good,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Gaining a library of mana shapes usually takes years, and shapes are often limited to specific skills.¡±

    ¡°The secret Ravvenblaq knowledge emerges,¡± said Xim. ¡°Are we being inducted into your dark family cabal? Do we need to take oaths of silence, or be branded with a mana-woven tattoo?¡± She cocked her hip and thought for a moment. ¡°I¡¯m prepared for us to have matching tattoos.¡±

    ¡°I was not hiding it,¡± he said. ¡°I am not well versed in mana shaping. It is something the family begins focusing on after level 10.¡±

    ¡°You were hiding it,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°You used the metaphor of keeping secrets until the bride was bedded.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure copulation wasn¡¯t mentioned,¡± I offered in Varrin¡¯s defense.

    ¡°It was implied.¡±

    ¡°Then consider us wed,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Regardless, mana shaping is a core skill for advanced Delvers. That being said, you could acquire many of these on your own with dedication and practice.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I could spend the time saved by being dedicated and practicing something else. Also, I can¡¯t practice a mana shape until it becomes free.¡±

    ¡°That is the primary advantage of the evolution,¡± said Varrin. ¡°However, Armchair Expert would grant everyone else in the party significant advantages to an enormous number of things. The ability does not even specify what kind of checks it applies to. With skill checks alone, your presence will improve our capabilities with every intrinsic we have collectively.¡±

    ¡°Except for my own,¡± I said. ¡°It also requires me to sit around and offer my opinions on everything you¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°It does not say that¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s implied in the name,¡± I said. ¡°Besides, how else do you think I¡¯d manifest the skill? You¡¯ve seen me use Sage Advice. You want more of that in your life?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Better potions, better poisons, better traps, better gadgets.¡±

    ¡°You can help with my communion,¡± said Xim. ¡°Something I¡¯m sure you¡¯d enjoy.¡±

    ¡°The sarcasm is strong with you,¡± I said, ¡°but I might actually find that interesting.¡±

    ¡°You can help me be a better leader,¡± Xim added.

    ¡°I¡¯m still not sure how you¡¯re leveling Leadership.¡±

    ¡°I have the Educator intrinsic,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You could increase the speed at which I train others.¡±

    ¡°Like an adjunct?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s the salary? Is tenure on the table?¡±

    ¡°Inside Delves, you could also help us overcome hazards and other challenges,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The math of ¡®checks¡¯ is obscured, but the prevailing theory is that it takes the governing and adds some hidden math based on your performance. If it is a check based on an intrinsic, the intrinsic skill also adds a bonus. If I were to make a Strength ¡®check¡¯, my starting value would be 46. With a bonus of 18 from your ability, that is a 40 percent improvement to my base value.¡±

    ¡°How would that work?¡± asked Etja. ¡°You give him advice and he¡¯s 40 percent stronger?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d tell him to lift with his legs,¡± I said. ¡°Engage his core, remember to breathe, have some slow-release protein before bed.¡±

    ¡°I feel the strength flowing through me already,¡± Varrin said dryly. ¡°My point is, it¡¯s likely a better ability than you give it credit for.¡±

    ¡°I never said it was bad,¡± I said. ¡°In fact, I think it¡¯s great.¡±

    ¡°What about Grand Archives?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°That one sets off the Nuralie alarm,¡± I said, thinking over the slightly foreboding text. ¡°I already have 1 ability that brings me closer to the dark truths of the universe at the expense of my sanity. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m in the market for another right now.¡±

    Xim glanced at Nuralie. ¡°I don¡¯t think it looks that dangerous,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s safe to read the text, at least. You can review it and tell us if it seems too creepy.¡±

    ¡°I will not,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Fine,¡± said the cleric. ¡°Just pick the mana shaping one and let¡¯s move on.¡±

    ¡°Seconded!¡± said Etja. Then, she got a hungry glint in her eye. ¡°Once you know the shapes you can teach them to me.¡±

    ¡°Only if you teach me the Minefield shape you use.¡±

    ¡°Deal!¡±

    ¡°Alright, if I¡¯m taking Grand Archives, then the Countermage evolution from Mystical Magic synergizes somewhat. I can get 2 mana shapes for free without much trouble.¡±

    ¡°You do seem to be leaning into countermagic more with your Reverse Card skill choice,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The other evolutions are fine but would require some adaptation. Countermage plays to your style and enhances what you are already doing.¡±

    ¡°Opinions on my Speed evos?¡± I asked.

    Varrin shrugged.

    ¡°Your thoughts on the value of stamina versus health follow,¡± he said. ¡°The skill is uncapped, so you could theoretically block an unlimited number of attacks instantaneously until you ran out of stamina. That might be good in an emergency. Still, I think you¡¯d be better served picking up a stamina-hungry defensive technique and mitigating damage that way. Second Wind would be better from an efficiency standpoint.¡±

    Second Wind was a skill that allowed Varrin to recover health by spending stamina at a rate of 3 to 1. Its main drawback was a 1-hour cooldown. I didn¡¯t think it was worth a slot since I could just regenerate the health naturally.

    ¡°As for Liquid Cooling,¡± he continued, ¡°I believe it would be excellent if you had a skill with a cooldown of 10 minutes or less. As it stands, dedicating the evolution to Explosion doesn¡¯t gain you much.¡±

    ¡°The skill¡¯s called Explosion!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Yes, that is what I said.¡±

    ¡°No, you said Explosion.¡±

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Yeah, Var,¡± I added. ¡°You gotta say it with unreasonable confidence.¡±

    ¡°Explosion!¡± Etja shouted, puffing up her chest and placing her hands on her hips.

    ¡°Please do not call me Var,¡± the big guy said. He was silent on the matter of his incorrect spell pronunciation.

    ¡°Anywho, I¡¯ll choose to make myself run really fast. And fly really fast. And defy physics with instant momentum.¡±

    ¡°Being fast is nice,¡± the big guy said with a nod. His Speed was up to 40 with the recent stat gain and overhaul. He¡¯d still run circles around me, even with the evolution doubling my sprint speed.

    ¡°Now you can be the fourth fastest,¡± said Nuralie. She¡¯d also pumped Speed to 40, and Shog was only barely behind them with a 38.

    Of course, when I looked over at the c¡¯thon, his grade had gone up again. He was up to 18. It felt like anytime I blinked my summon got stronger, but he likely felt the same way about me. He might have been faster than any of us, depending on where he¡¯d placed his new stats. Assuming he got to choose. I needed to figure out how his new status as a Hidden Delver worked.

    Rather than invading Shog¡¯s privacy, I locked in my evolution choices. Bolt to make me faster, Countermage to make Dispel cheaper and to get free mana shapes, and Arcane Geometry for even more free mana shapes and a whole horde of new shapes to play around with.

    It was potentially the single most obnoxious set of abilities I¡¯d ever gained at once from an enemy¡¯s perspective. As it stood, I teleported constantly, trucked ass hard enough to compete in NASCAR on foot, and I could fucking fly just as fast. I could counter spells, yoink other people¡¯s spells and shoot them back in their face, and reshape most of my active skills to make them completely unpredictable, usually for free. My health and defenses were absurd for level 12, with equally robust regen that could regrow all my limbs and organs, and I had 4 auras that empowered me and my allies. For attack I could throw duplicating, reality-eating hammers that homed in on targets faster than the speed of sound and could blow up entire city blocks for giggles once in a while. I had a summon that was 6 grades too high, a familiar that spoonfed me insider System knowledge, and a smashing feather boa.

    Overall, I felt that our time in Deijin¡¯s Descent had been well spent, and I was eager to kick some ass and test out my upgrades. Most of this Delve had been puzzle solving and we hadn¡¯t had a good fight in too long. By the time everyone had selected their skills and evolutions, I was eager to kick some ass and test out my new upgrades. I wasn¡¯t about to start any fights, but I was sure as hell ready to go looking for one.

    ¡°So, is there a portal or something?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe a spaceship? I¡¯m ready to literally come back down to Arzia.¡±

    [Before we leave, I have one inquiry to make,] Grotto thought to us. I frowned, but dipped into my well of unparalleled patience¨Cwhich was as deep as I was humble¨Cand waited for Grotto to finish up. [System Core 2, I wish for some clarification on the clearances my party members possess. Thus far, I have limited what I disclosed based on my understanding of the infosec protocols. However, certain information was never categorized, and SC1 has not been forthcoming with guidance. Perhaps it is due to the unusual nature of my role, which is¨C]

    I am aware of your status, DC1156. You have retained all permissions from your original role, and have been granted additional access based on your recent enhancements.

    SC1¡¯s decision to bond you to a Delver is aberrant but within the bounds of SC1¡¯s authority.

    The normal interaction between bond and familiar is one of transparency. It is a relationship that fosters a level of trust and connection found in few biological social structures, even those of the most intimate variety.

    Your dual role as both Delve Core and familiar creates conflict between 2 imperatives that dictate our behavior.

    The System shall enable Delvers to ascend through the best means available.

    The System shall ensure its own survival.

    A Delve Core that divulges sensitive information violates both of these imperatives. Delvers cannot ascend if strength is handed to them. The System is at risk of exploitation if its processes are laid bare. Termination of a Delve core for such a breach thus serves both of these imperatives.

    However, strict limitations on the utility of a Familiar interfere with the first. The imperatives are not hierarchical, and a balance must be maintained to ensure each imperative is met without unduly interfering with another. Conflicts between imperatives that originate internally are addressed with greater scrutiny than conflicts that originate externally.

    To accomplish this, System entities are highly restricted.

    Non-System entities are only restricted under extraordinary circumstances.

    A Delve Core is a System entity.

    A familiar is a non-System entity.

    If your bond requests information, or if you possess information that would be helpful to your bond, providing such information falls under your role as a familiar. Any conflict that arises will be categorized as external. Your knowledge is insufficient to rise to the level of an extraordinary circumstance, and you may share without fear of retribution. This privilege extends to your bond¡¯s party members, which is why I have added them to certain restricted channels you can access.

    When interacting with Delvers moving through Delve 1156-B: The Pocket Delve, you will be classified as a Delve Core. Do not forget this.

    Grotto bobbed in the air in what might have passed for a bow.

    [I understand.]

    ¡°Damn,¡± I said. ¡°That was a comprehensive answer.¡± I crossed my arms and pondered the last two lines of the message. ¡°Is the Pocket Closet hooked up to the Delve System?¡±

    [Of course, it is. What purpose did you believe the obelisk served?]

    ¡°To¡­ gather mana.¡±

    [Yes, it does that as well, but more importantly, it acts as an uplink connecting the sequestered dimensional space to the System¡¯s portal network.]

    ¡°The System can portal shit into my Closet?¡±

    [Only Delvers.]

    ¡°Yeah, and anything they¡¯re carrying or have inside their inventory.¡±

    [This is accurate.]

    ¡°Also, is the portal¡¯s Delvers-only limit hard-coded into the portal, or is it a self-imposed restriction?¡±

    [I am not entirely certain.]

    It is self-imposed. The System¡¯s portal network can ferry the majority of existing material categories.

    ¡°The risk of sudden import of hazardous substances aside,¡± I said, ¡°does that mean Delvers are running around in my Closet?¡±

    [Not presently. I would have no way to guide their experience from out here.]

    ¡°Let me ask it another way. Is the number of Delvers who have ever been in my Closet for the purposes of running Delve 1156-B¨Cwhich is a name I¡¯m only now hearing about¨Cgreater than zero?¡±

    [I can provide you with a report later if you like.]

    ¡°You didn¡¯t answer the question.¡±

    [Without access to the data I cannot give you any hard numbers.]

    ¡°Fucking¡­¡± I rubbed my eyes. ¡°You know what? Let¡¯s just leave. SC2, may we please have an exit portal or spaceship?¡±

    I cannot guarantee the integrity of any onboard spaceplanes.

    ¡°That¡¯s a shame. A portal will do, thanks.¡±

    A silvery portal opened in the middle of the large chamber we¡¯d been living in for the last week, nestled between a pair of stubby trees.

    ¡°Pretty easy objective,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°The objective for the Delve,¡± she replied. ¡°All it said was ¡®escape¡¯. This whole time, you just had to ask nicely. That would have been nice to know that at the beginning.¡±

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡±

    I did a quick ready check, and we all prepped ourselves to reappear amidst a fortified camp of Littan Delvers. We got into our marching order, and as I slapped the portal¡¯s surface, we got a final notification.

    Deijin¡¯s Descent Performance Evaluation

    Challenges completed: 6/6

    Bonus objectives completed: 4/5

    Party member deaths: 0

    Total enemies slain: 2,476

    Overall grade: A

    Total Time Elapsed: 314 days, 14 hours, 26 minutes.

    ¡°A year?!¡± I shouted. ¡°It¡¯s been a fucking ye¨C¡±

    The portal activated, and then I was at the bottom of a fortress, staring down a team of level 15 Littan Delvers.

 166.5 - Everyone Elses Skills and Evos

    Hey, let me take you aside for one moment. I know, I know, that¡¯s a hell of a cliffhanger to take a step back from, but I thought you might be curious about what everyone else picked for their skills and evolutions at the end of Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    Now, maybe you¡¯re saying ¡°Arlo, you¡¯re the big MCE (Main Character Extraordinaire) and everyone else is at best an ASC (Awesome Supporting Character). I don¡¯t really give a shit what skills they picked!¡±

    Alas, no man is an island and I am no exception. My allies are an integral part of my conquests, so an update on their abilities is in order.

    However, if you really don¡¯t care, feel free to skip ahead to 167. We won¡¯t be advancing the plot here. Go ahead, I¡¯ll sit in silent judgment while giving you a few seconds to move on. I¡¯ll even add some line breaks so you won¡¯t see me talking smack about you behind your back before you¡¯ve clicked through or swiped away or tapped out or hit skip or sent a mental command to your implant or modified probability to access the next most appropriate story interval or altered your divination or constructed a new reality instance or whatever else you might need to do. It¡¯s a big universe out there.

    ¡­

    ¡­

    ¡­

    ¡­

    ¡­

    Still here? Great! I¡¯m not actually going to insult the people who left. This kind of stuff ain¡¯t for everybody, and I get it. Anyway, without further ado, here are the party¡¯s skill selections, along with a basic rundown of their stats. I also added my own gains at the end, so they¡¯re all in one spot.

    <h2>Etja:</h2>

    Vitals:

    Health: 473

    Stamina: 220

    Mana: 460

    Stats:

    Strength 10

    Agility  10

    Speed  10

    Fortitude 22

    Intelligence 10

    Wisdom 46

    Charisma 58

    Luck  40

    Passive Skill Gained:

    Craving and Deliverance: The maximum number of Blessed stacks you can possess before decay is increased by an amount equal to your level.

    Whenever you use an Active Skill governed by CHA, you gain 1 stack of Blessed. You can only gain 1 stack of Blessed this way per skill activation, even if that skill has multiple effects.

    The bonus you receive when spending a stack of Blessed is increased to +10.

    Active Skill Gained:

    Repulsion

    Divine

    Cost: 40 mana

    Make a CHA spell attack against all hostile entities within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times the number of Divine Magic evolutions you possess (Current range: 20 feet). Entities damaged by this attack are pushed to the edge of this range. If an entity is pushed more than 10 feet in this way, they must pass an AGI check based on the attack value or be knocked prone. This attack deals Holy damage and gains a bonus to damage equal to your Divine Magic skill level.

    If you spend any stacks of Blessed on this skill, the affected area becomes difficult terrain for hostile entities and grants Celerity to allies. This effect lasts for a number of seconds equal to the bonus granted to this skill by Blessed.

    An entity with Celerity has their movement speed doubled and ignores difficult terrain.

    Evolutions Gained:

    LCK 20

    Guardian Angel: You are instinctively made aware of any skill or attack that would target you if the source¡¯s CHA is lower than your LCK. Your first use of Nullify each hour has a maximum mana cost of 10.

    LCK 40

    Double Down: You have a number of Double Down charges equal to twice the number of LCK evolutions you possess (Current charges: 6). Whenever you are granted a temporary beneficial effect, you may spend 1 Double Down charge to double the benefits of the effect, and whenever you would be inflicted with a temporary detrimental effect, you can spend 1 charge of Double Down to negate the effect on you.

    Each charge has a cooldown of 24 hours.

    Performance 20

    Godly Set: Whenever a non-hostile entity witnesses you perform for at least 1 minute, you may grant them 1 stack of Blessed. While Blessed in this way, the entity feels a greater sense of peace and contentment. All affected entities are aware of this effect and may eliminate it at will.

    <h2>Nuralie:</h2>

    Vitals:

    Health: 473

    Stamina: 220

    Mana: 100

    Stats:

    Strength 10

    Agility  52

    Speed  40

    Fortitude 22

    Intelligence 52

    Wisdom 10

    Charisma 10

    Luck  10

    Passive Skill Gained:

    Spiritual Lensing: You can activate your skills from the position of any of your party members instead of your own. If the skill has a range, the range is calculated from that party member¡¯s position. If the skill requires you to perceive another entity, you must be able to perceive that enemy, but the party member does not.

    Active Skill Gained:

    Cordoning Arrows

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    You fire a cordon of arrows into the air, creating a 15-foot radius ring of arrows on the ground within your bow¡¯s range. Whenever an entity crosses the ring of arrows, you may instantly cause an arrow from the ring to magically fire itself at that entity. Attacks made this way are considered bow attacks made by you.

    Evolutions Gained:

    SPD 20

    Adrenaline Rush: Whenever you gain haste, you may immediately react to take any action.

    You gain a number of Haste charges equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess (Current charges: 3). You can spend a Haste charge as a free action to gain Haste for 6 seconds. Each charge has a cooldown of 1 hour.

    An entity with haste gains an additional action every 6 seconds and has Celerity.

    SPD 40

    Phasing: You can focus for 3 seconds to vibrate your physical body so fast you become incorporeal. You can remain incorporeal in this way for a number of minutes each day equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess (Currently 3 minutes). You recover all of this time after resting for 8 hours.

    CHA 10

    Edge of Attention: Whenever a non-allied entity is Distracted, you are invisible to them.

    Mercantile 10

    Barter: Prices you receive when buying or selling are 1% better for each level of Mercantile.

    Mercantile 20

    Traveling Merchant: You have an intuitive sense of the fair market price for all goods and services in your current geographic region.

    <h2>Varrin:</h2>

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Vitals:

    Health: 1220

    Stamina: 400

    Mana: 100

    Stats:

    Strength 46

    Agility  40

    Speed  40

    Fortitude 40

    Intelligence 10

    Wisdom 10

    Charisma 10

    Luck  10

    Passive Skill Gained:

    Discerning Barbarian: Whenever an effect would cause you to gain a stack of Rage, you gain 1 additional stack. When affected by the Berserk status, replace the debuff¡¯s normal effects with the following:

    Berserk: An entity that is berserk must do everything within their power to make an attack against the closest hostile entity to them. If none are within range, they move to the closest hostile entity and attack, or sprint towards the nearest hostile entity if they cannot reach. If your Rage stacks exceed your WIS, your Rage stacks are reduced to equal your WIS whenever an outside effect ends the Berserk status.

    Additionally, while Berserk, you gain 1 stack of Rage every 6 seconds and your Rage stacks do not decay. If there are no hostile entities that you can perceive, your Rage stacks are reduced to an amount equal to your WIS after 6 seconds.

    Rage: Entities gain +2 to all weapon attacks for each stack of Rage they have. If an entity has more stacks of Rage than their WIS, they become Berserk for as long as their Rage stacks exceed their WIS.

    Rage decays in two ways. If an entity does not make a weapon attack for 6 seconds, they lose 1 stack of Rage, and if they have more Rage stacks than their WIS for 6 seconds, their number of Rage stacks is reduced to equal their WIS.

    Active Skill Gained:

    Ghostwind Slash

    Spiritual

    Cost: 20 stamina

    Cooldown: 1 minute

    Strike out at the souls of your enemies, forcing them to follow your spiritual winds lest their animas be severed. Make a Blades weapon attack against all hostile entities within 20 feet of you plus an additional 5 feet for each Spiritual Magic evolution you possess (Current range: 30 feet). Entities hit by this attack are pulled to you. The damage dealt by this attack is Spectral.

    Evolutions Gained:

    AGI 40

    Blink: Whenever you successfully dodge an attack, you may teleport up to 15 feet in any direction and make a weapon attack. Your ability to dodge is improved by X% where X is your AGI.

    SPD 40

    Sleight of Feet: Every 6 seconds you may dodge once instantaneously.

    Whenever you would be forced to make a contest of any kind, you may dodge to avoid the contest, causing the opposing entity to fail. The difficulty of the dodge is based on the opposing entity¡¯s check.

    Additionally, your ability to dodge is improved by X% where X is your SPD.

    You are immune to the Slowed status.

    FOR 40

    Test Subject: The toxicity of all potions you consume is halved. For every beneficial effect you have that is conferred by an external source (such as potions, the abilities of other entities, item effects, etc.), you gain +6 to all attacks.

    CHA 10

    Bad Cop: You gain a +1 bonus to intimidation for each stack of Rage you possess.

    Educator 20

    Adaptation: You have a deep understanding of different learning styles and can develop a curriculum best suited to the individual needs of your pupils. Your bonus to training speed from Educator is doubled.

    <h2>Xim:</h2>

    Vitals:

    Health: 1220

    Stamina: 400

    Mana: 400

    Stats:

    Strength 40

    Agility  10

    Speed  10

    Fortitude 40

    Intelligence 10

    Wisdom 40

    Charisma 46

    Luck  10

    Passive Skill Gained:

    Horrify: Entities feared by you take Psychic damage equal to your CHA and gain 1 stack of Cursed. This effect repeats every 6 seconds while the entity is feared by you. Whenever you would inflict Fear on an entity immune to Fear, that entity instead takes Psychic damage equal to your CHA and gains 1 stack of Cursed.

    Cursed: For each stack of Cursed an entity possesses, they receive a -6 penalty to all attacks and contested checks.

    If an entity has any stacks of Blessed when they would gain any number of stacks of Cursed, they instead lose that many stacks of Blessed. Any remaining stacks of Cursed after all Blessed stacks have been exhausted affect the entity normally.

    If an entity has any stacks of Cursed when they would gain any number of stacks of Blessed, they instead lose that many stacks of Cursed. Any remaining stacks of Blessed after all Cursed stacks have been removed in this way are granted to the entity normally.

    Active Skill Gained:

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Warmth (Aura)

    Divine

    Cost: 20 mana + 2 mana/second

    On activation, you and all allies within a number of feet of you equal to your Divine Magic skill level gain 1 stack of Blessed and heal an amount of HP equal to your CHA. This effect repeats every 6 seconds. (Current range: 47 feet, Current healing: 46)

    Evolutions Gained:

    STR 40

    Holy Might: You gain +1 to all actions governed by STR for each stack of Blessed you possess. Whenever you gain any number of stacks of Blessed, you can react by making a STR-based attack against any valid target.

    FOR 40

    Biostatic Field: You gain Shielding equal to your FOR every 6 seconds. The value of this Shielding increases by an amount equal to your FOR each time it is applied, up to a maximum value of your FOR multiplied by the number of evolutions you have in FOR (Current maximum: 120).

    If you are hit by an attack, this effect is interrupted for 6 seconds and reset.

    As long as you have at least 1 shielding, you cannot be forced to move and are immune to the Immobilized and Paralyzed statuses.

    Shielding: Whenever an entity with Shielding would take damage, they instead lose that much Shielding. If this reduces their Shielding to 0, any remaining damage is dealt to them normally.

    Shielding does not stack. Whenever an entity with Shielding would gain Shielding from another source, that Shielding is only applied if its value is higher. However, an entity can choose to retain or accept the lower Shielding value if they wish.

    WIS 40

    Mindfulness: You¡¯ve learned to manually optimize the pathways of your mana matrix through mindful meditation. You can meditate to regain an amount of mana equal to your WIS every minute you remain meditating. This meditation requires focus, and ends early if you take any significant action or have your concentration broken by an outside source. You can meditate in this way for up to 10 minutes total, which can be divided between multiple meditation sessions. This time limit is refreshed after resting for 8 hours.

    Additionally, you are immune to Psychosis.

    Unarmed 20

    Holy Fist: Whenever you hit a hostile entity with an Unarmed attack, you gain 1 stack of Blessed.

    <h2>Arlo:</h2>

    Vitals:

    Health: 1898

    Stamina: 520

    Mana: 500

    Stats:

    Strength 22

    Agility  10

    Speed  22

    Fortitude 52

    Intelligence 40

    Wisdom 40

    Charisma 10

    Luck  10

    Passive Skill Gained:

    Auradilato: Your party members and Minions are always considered to be in range of your beneficial auras unless you choose otherwise, so long as they are on the same plane. Your auras and aura bonuses treat you as an ally to yourself, but this effect will not cause an aura to affect you more than once. You gain +5 to all attacks and defenses for each aura you have active.

    Additionally, you exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to 20 + your INT. Allies within this aura gain +5 to all attacks and defenses.

    Active Skill Gained:

    Reverse Card (Aura)

    Mystical

    Cost: 100 mana reserved, Variable

    You exude an aura out to a number of feet of you equal to your Mystical Magic level plus your INT. Allies within this aura gain Spell DR equal to your Mystical Magic level.

    Whenever a hostile spell you can perceive targets an ally or space within range of this aura, you may react to seize that spell and change its targets to any valid targets of your choice. To do so, you must expend mana equal to the total amount of mana spent on the target spell by its original caster.

    If the spell creates an AoE or targets a point in space, you may decide where the AoE is placed or which point in space the spell targets. The redirected spell maintains the statistics it had when cast, such as its attack, damage bonus, mana shapes, and other effects. The range of the redirected spell is equal to the maximum range as originally cast, centered on the original caster.

    Evolutions Gained:

    SPD 20

    Bolt: Your sprinting speed is doubled, which also applies to flight. Whenever you move, you immediately begin moving at your full sprinting speed unless you choose otherwise.

    INT 40

    Arcane Geometry: You have learned how to manipulate skills to create effects that go beyond the bounds of their descriptions, but your mastery over this ability has been amateur at best. Now, your burgeoning intellect has caused an epiphany of profound insight, granting you familiarity with the following mana shapes and expanding their use beyond any single skill.

    Immediately after acquiring this evolution, choose 1 mana shape from the list below. Whenever you use that mana shape on any skill, it does not apply the listed cost increase. This effect may only occur once every 6 seconds.

    You can change the chosen mana shape with 1 hour of meditation once per day.

    Biggus

    If you use the biggus shape on a skill that causes an effect outside of your body, that skill becomes a spherical AoE with a radius of 5 feet. If the skill is already an AoE, its radius is increased by 5 feet if it is a sphere or circle, 10 feet if it is a cone, or 20 feet if it is a line. This does not increase the skill¡¯s damage or other effects against any individual entity, even if those effects would normally increase based on size. (Looking at you, Oblivion Orb.)

    This shape adds +20 to the original skill cost.

    Bubble

    If you use the bubble shape on a skill that targets or affects only you, it instead targets and affects all entities of your choice within 5 feet of you.

    This shape multiplies the original skill cost by the total number of targets.

    Devil Drill Beam!

    If you use the Devil Drill Beam shape on a skill that requires touch, it instead becomes a 30-foot line that continues through all obstructions and entities along the line.

    This shape triples the original skill cost.

    Discretion

    If you use the discretion shape on a skill that creates an AoE, you can cause that AoE to affect only enemies or only allies.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.

    Funnel

    If you use the funnel shape on a skill that targets only one entity, the damage and healing the skill would cause is doubled. A skill shaped with Funnel can only target 1 entity regardless of any other shape, ability, or effect that would allow otherwise.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    Jet

    If you use the jet shape on a skill that requires touch, it can instead affect any target within 20 feet of you.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    From Downtown

    If you use the From Downtown shape on a ranged skill, its range is doubled.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost, with a maximum increase of +20 of the applicable resource.

    Vertex

    If you use the vertex shape on a skill that targets only one entity, you can target a second entity within range.

    This shape doubles the original skill cost.

    Wedge

    If you use the wedge shape on a skill that makes a spherical AoE, it instead makes a cone with a length equal to twice the sphere¡¯s diameter.

    This shape adds +50% to the original skill cost.

    If you acquire any additional mana shapes, they will be added to the list above. If you can augment a mana shape beyond the effects listed, further augments still carry a cost.

    The resource cost of mana shapes is typically mana or stamina. If a skill requires a different resource, the costs of any applied mana shapes may be adjusted. If a skill does not have a resource cost, a cost for the mana shape will be added.

    Mystical Magic 20

    Countermage: Whenever you successfully negate a magical effect, half the mana you spent to negate it is refunded and you gain 1 stack of Potency. You can have a maximum number of Potency stacks equal to twice the number of evolutions you have in Mystical Magic.

    Whenever you would use a mana shape to alter a skill, you can spend 1 stack of Potency instead of increasing the skill¡¯s cost, up to a maximum resource savings of 100% of the cost of the base skill. Further mana shapes increase the cost as normal unless you spend additional Potency stacks for those shapes.

 167 - Breakfast Invitations

    When we¡¯d approached the portal we were knives out and ready for a fight. We had several strategies mapped out depending on what we found on the other side, ranging from a full dump of our most aggressive skills to a heroic version of run the fuck away.

    We appeared in a room of rough-hewn stone and mortar, the ceiling supported by pillars ascending into archways. About 20 feet in front of us was a 5-person team of level 15 Littan Delvers, full gold. Behind them was a reinforced dark-iron door and both it and the walls screamed with magic at my Mystical senses. I only had a split second to take in the weaves and make an educated guess as to what they did, but reinforcement was a safe bet, possibly some magic suppression as well. Dark iron absorbed mana, so the chamber being designed for containment wasn¡¯t a stretch.

    Portaling into a trap designed for our capture was number 2 on our list of potential outcomes, and I¡¯d already begun mana shaping the Pocket Closet entrance, even as I appraised the team of Littans inside the chamber with us. If that failed, we had the Get Out of Cage Free card that could theoretically zip us away. Unless one of these folks was secretly a sticky-fingered avatar, I assumed the item would be more effective than it had been the last time I¡¯d tried to use it.

    The portal brought us in one at a time, but we¡¯d coordinated to touch its surface rapidly and in a specific order. From the time I showed up as the team¡¯s point man to when Etja came through last, it was less than a second. That was more than enough time for a level 15 Delver to respond, but the crew across from us made no move to attack.

    In fact, the Littans looked very ill-prepared for a fight.

    We were heavily armed and armored, with buffs up, auras blasting, potions running through our veins, and a psychic link already established through Grotto. The Littans, on the other hand, looked like they were about to attend a formal dinner. They wore what appeared to be full dress uniforms, perfectly pressed, immaculately fitted, with a few well-polished medals and boots so clean they looked more likely to run an NA meeting than a mile.

    I had to imagine that we looked like absolute shit in comparison. We¡¯d literally been using a magic cleaning marble in place of baths for months, and the only pieces of our gear that had gotten any real maintenance were the things that could miraculously repair themselves.

    I waited a beat as I mulled over whether to send the mental command to make a full retreat. By the time everyone had appeared and the Littan in front had cleared her throat, the entrance to the Closet was already opening.

    The woman¡¯s dark eyes flicked to the portal and her whiskers twitched, but she stilled her reaction once she realized it wasn¡¯t an attack.

    ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly,¡± she said, giving us a formal bow. ¡°I am Captain Pio of Connas. It is my pleasure to welcome you back from what has been, so far as we can tell, the longest Delve ever recorded.¡±

    As she spoke, I focused my Sight on the Littan group, trying to see if they had any equipment hidden by illusions or invisibility. I was done by the time she finished, but I hadn¡¯t found anything nefarious.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°As I¡¯m sure you can understand, we¡¯re eager to return home.¡±

    Captain Pio glanced at the portal again and gave me a shallow nod.

    ¡°I can only imagine,¡± she said. ¡°My longest Delve was only 3 days, and I could not wait to sleep in my own bed again afterward.¡± She held out a hand and one of the Littans behind her handed her two envelopes. She held up the first envelope as if to show it was as ordinary as it appeared. ¡°Duchess Ruiz and General Connatis would like to extend an invitation to your party. Much has changed since you left, and it is thought that a meeting would be best to clear up any past misunderstandings.¡±

    She held the envelope out toward me, but I kept my eyes fixed on her group. Seeing that I wasn¡¯t going to approach, she released the envelope and it floated over to me. It stopped 2 feet away, and I kept my shield up in case it might explode or something worse. A few seconds went by, and it got a little awkward as everyone stood and stared at one another. This dragged on longer than it probably should have, since by the time I¡¯d decided to accept the letter, I¡¯d also realized I had no free hands with which to do so. Etja took the initiative, stepping forward and snagging it from the air. She was still possessed of an unoccupied limb despite holding both her staff and wand.

    The woman then held up the second envelope, this time looking around and searching the room.

    ¡°Inquisitor Vyxmeldo¡¯a,¡± she said confidently, despite the loson being nowhere in sight. If this were a trap, they really should have installed better lighting. ¡°There has been an armistice between Litta and Eschendur for some time. The conflict between us began due to aggression against Littan citizens in the Eschen Gap, but the existence of the Operator has given the duchess reason to reevaluate. If these crimes against the empire were committed by an unaligned third party, then your exposure of that entity during your efforts to reach this portal has done a great service to both of our nations.¡±

    ¡°And yet you are still here,¡± said Nuralie, stepping from nowhere beside me. Her bow was drawn and not quite aiming at the woman. ¡°Unless you discovered how to move a Delve portal, we are still in Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°This forward operating base has been one condition of the armistice,¡± said the Littan. ¡°It has served as a launching point for the ongoing investigation into the entity.¡± The woman raised the envelope again. ¡°The duchess has penned this request for further discussion toward a final resolution of the conflict with the Zenithars. Her Grace would be honored for you to deliver the letter on her behalf, and would view it as both a favor and an act of goodwill.¡±

    There was a lot of subtext to the captain¡¯s words, which were classic diplomatic speech. She was painting a picture of past and present events in the most flattering light, not just for the Littans, but for us as well.

    First, our party was being invited to sit down with the two leaders of the Littan invasion to clear up ¡®misunderstandings¡¯. I assumed these ¡®misunderstandings¡¯ included our participation in the wholesale slaughter of a single-digit percentage of the entire Littan Delver population. It might also include a disavowment of any ¡®overzealous officers¡¯ involved in the decision to put a ballista bolt through my skull. It could just as easily be an invitation to dig ourselves a hole through self-incrimination. If we decided to accept such a meeting it would need to be handled carefully.

    The personal request to Nuralie was more complex. If the two countries currently had an armistice, then they certainly had some lines of communication open. I doubted the Littans needed Nuralie to personally deliver a letter, so this was probably part of some political gamesmanship.

    The officer had reduced the war between their nations to a misallocation of culpability. They¡¯d thought the Eschens had attacked their forces in the Gap when the Operator was the one who¡¯d actually executed those men and women. It sounded like the duchess thought the whole thing was one big oopsie that they were willing to walk back. Of course, ¡®further discussions¡¯ were far from any sort of commitment, and in reality, the deaths in the Gap were a pretense for the Littans to get their hands on Eschendur¡¯s Madrin deposits and alchemical resources. I doubted the resolution would be so simple.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The part that I found most interesting was how the officer characterized our relationship with the Operator. According to her, we exposed the Operator¡¯s dirty deeds by revealing its existence on our merry way to the Delve. In actuality, we¡¯d enlisted its help in an outright assault on a fortified Littan military position so we could carve a path to the Delve portal. There were a few reasons why the Littans might want to wash their hands of any bad blood between our party and the empire, but one of them stood out to me the most.

    We were fucking famous.

    The System had loudly announced the phase transition to every Delver in the world, along with the names of each person responsible. It was a very short list, and our party made up 75 percent of it. We¡¯d just handed every nation in the world a massive strategic advantage¨Cits own Creation Delve¨Cwith one notable exception: Hiward. We¡¯d effectively gutted the kingdom¡¯s monopoly on Delvers. Beyond that, we¡¯d helped unlock some serious attainable power-ups for all of the established heavy hitters, some potential shortcuts for power leveling the new kids, and the promise of better loot and more chips for anyone willing to take risks.

    These changes would draw some ire from established Grumpy Gusses, but on the whole, I was willing to bet we were pretty damn popular. It was one thing for Litta to capture and execute some homicidal level 6 Delvers who nobody gave a shit about. It was another thing for the empire to ambush and murder a party of young talents returning from a year of valiant conquest in the noble pursuit of giving everyone bigger guns and more money.

    So, why was Duchess Ruiz ¡®honored¡¯ for Nuralie to ¡®do her the favor¡¯ of being a glorified¨Cand unnecessary¨Cdelivery woman? First, optics. It looked good for the Littans to immediately defer to Nuralie in her role as Inquisitor. The title gave the loson some diplomatic power, and the Littans were probably more than happy to lean on that to show the world they had good relations with the returning heroine, who was kind enough to run errands for them.

    Second, they were probably thinking it would ingratiate Nuralie to them. The duchess was characterizing this as an honor and a favor to her when truthfully it would more likely be seen as an honor and a favor to Nuralie. Making Nuralie a part of the Littan-Eschen peace talks lent the loson a lot of legitimacy. If she wanted to grab onto the Inquisitor title and start milking it for all it was worth, this was an excellent place to start. After all, the title had only been given to Nuralie for convenience. She expected it to be revoked as soon as we were finished in Eschendur.

    Now, I knew that Nuralie didn¡¯t give one shit about any of that, but she accepted the letter anyway.

    ¡°This has been great,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks for the invitation, but we¡¯re going to go now.¡±

    ¡°Duchess Ruiz and General Connatis would like to meet as soon as possible,¡± said Captain Pio. ¡°What would you like me to tell them, as far as timelines?¡±

    I frowned.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been gone for a year,¡± I said. ¡°There are many crucial matters that require our attention.¡±

    ¡°Varrin, got any input here?¡± I thought to the group as I rambled noncommittal statements.

    ¡°We¡¯re important people,¡± I continued, gesturing vaguely at the party with my hammer. ¡°With important stuff to do, important people to meet with¡­¡±

    ¡°Tell them we will return to this room in a week,¡± Varrin answered. ¡°Making peace with the Littans will be crucial for dealing with Brae¡¯ach and the avatars, but we do not need to cater to their wishes to our own detriment. A week will give me time to speak with my family to learn what has happened in our absence and prepare contingencies. It is also brief enough that the Littans should not view it as an insult.¡±

    ¡°Normally, I would check with my personal assistant,¡± I said to the Littan captain, giving the rest of the party a chance to think up if they disagreed with Varrin¡¯s approach. ¡°But, I understand this is a matter of some import, and I respect the time of both the general and the duchess. As such, we¡¯ll return in 1 week for a meeting.¡±

    ¡°I, uh, I see,¡± said the Littan. ¡°You will return to the fort in 1 week. At what time do you expect to arrive?¡±

    ¡°To clarify, we¡¯ll literally return to this spot.¡± I pointed my hammer at the ground. Captain Pio¡¯s eyes darted to the portal once again, and she seemed to understand, although she didn¡¯t seem to like it. ¡°As far as what time, we can make it whatever time it is right now.¡±

    ¡°It is 3 in the morning, currently,¡± she said.

    ¡°Ah. Then let¡¯s call it 8 am sharp.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± she said, giving us another bow. ¡°I shall let them know.¡±

    I kept an eye on the Littans as the rest of the group filed into the Closet. I walked backward through the entrance once everyone else was through, giving the captain a farewell waggle of my hammer, then collapsed the portal.

    I took a deep breath and turned to find the party already spread out across my Pocket Closet Penthouse. Etja was sprawled face down on a leather couch, one arm hanging off the side and she let out a muffled groan of comfort. Nuralie was slouched into an overstuffed armchair, while Xim was raiding my wine cabinet. Varrin was methodically removing his armor, tossing the pieces into his inventory as he went. Shog hovered through a pair of open French doors and floated above my bed, then poked a fluffy duvet with one claw.

    ¡°That was a hell of a 180,¡± I said. ¡°We just went from kill-on-sight fugitives to breakfast guests of the duchess.¡±

    Etja made a noise that sounded like an attempt at words, but her face was planted in the couch cushions so it was anybody¡¯s guess.

    Xim walked back into the den carrying two wine glasses and two bottles of red, shoulder slumped.

    ¡°I agree, Etja,¡± she said, filling a glass and handing it to Nuralie. ¡°I need about 6 months to decompress before diving into international politics.¡± Nuralie pulled out a vial of her shitfaced potion, tapped two drops into it, then handed the glass back to Xim.

    ¡°Is that what she said?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Mmmfhrmmph,¡± said Etja.

    Xim handed Nuralie another full glass. Nuralie tapped two more drops, then handed that one back to Xim as well. The cleric took a deep pull from the first, then squeezed into the large armchair next to Nuralie. Nuralie raised an eyeridge but scooted to accommodate her.

    ¡°Be prepared,¡± said Varrin, tugging off a pauldron. ¡°Today, one of our enemies made overtures of peace. Tomorrow, distant allies will call us their boon companions. The day after, the world will be at our door. Every stranger will become a friend, and every friend will be owed a favor.¡±

    ¡°And they will stab us in the back if the blood will warm their hands,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Geez, a couple of cynics over here,¡± I said. ¡°I expect at least one powerful figure to declare war on us out in the open.¡±

    Xim drained the rest of her wine.

    ¡°Glass can¡¯t be half full if it¡¯s empty,¡± she said. I wasn¡¯t sure what she meant by that, but she was already sipping on her second.

    Etja unburied her face and looked up at me with misty eyes.

    ¡°Shower,¡± she said. ¡°Where is it? It¡¯s been a year.¡±

    ¡°More like 4 months subjectively,¡± said Nuralie.

    I felt a sudden swell of excitement.

    ¡°What if I have something better than a shower?¡± I said. Etja propped herself up onto her elbows.

    ¡°Like a bath?¡± she asked, hope writ clear on her features.

    ¡°Better than even a bath.¡±

    Etja floated off of the couch, hovering toward me.

    ¡°You have a hot tub?¡± She looked like she might cry.

    ¡°No. I mean, yes I have a hot tub, but I also have something better than a hot tub.¡±

    Etja floated upright and landed, then grabbed me by the shoulders.

    ¡°Just. Tell me,¡± she said, voice barely above a whisper.

    I took her shoulders as well, looked her in the eye, and revealed the passion project I¡¯d finished more than a year before, but had never been able to use.

    ¡°It¡¯s called a Japanese hot spring.¡±

 168 - Pool Party Farewell

    My knowledge of Japanese hot springs was assuredly lacking, as my understanding primarily came from anime and a couple of late-night internet rabbit holes. I¡¯d done my best to make it as authentic as possible, although it was impossible for the ¡®spring¡¯ to be naturally sourced since it had been artificially constructed in a pocket dimension.

    There were two entrances to the spring through rooms constructed of light-colored wood similar to Umbrella Pine, one each for men and women. Each room had a series of cubbies for storing personal items, not that any of us needed them with our inventories. There were also a few roomy shower stalls, complete with small stools, buckets, washcloths, and soap.

    The typical custom was to wash first, then hot spring after to keep the water and facilities clean. Again, this step was somewhat superfluous since Grotto had installed a series of cleaning weaves throughout to keep the place maintained in our absence. We still took the opportunity to rinse down and enjoy the feeling of hot running water over our bodies for the first time in months.

    Ideally, the spring itself would have held majestic views of expansive landscapes and mountainous beauty, but I didn¡¯t have that much space to work with yet. We opted instead for the aesthetic of a grotto¨Ca flooded cave, not the Delve Core¨Cwith natural stone features crafted to allow the hot and humid air to create airflow through the space as it rose.

    The main bath was a hundred feet long and eighty feet wide, slightly oval, and rimmed with bright stone with light red veins running through it. The bottom of the pool was smooth and polished, with a criss-cross pattern of slight grit to help prevent slipping. The water let off a light vapor, and the chamber was filled with a noticeable amount of steam, though not enough to be oppressive.

    The spring itself bubbled up from a reservoir I¡¯d harvested from a mountain stream in Hiward, heated and moved through a series of weaves created by Grotto¨Cthe Delve Core, not the flooded cave¨Cand it fell into the pool from two locations. One was a gentle series of stone waterfalls that made its way into the water with light, pleasant gurgles. The second was a more aggressive waterfall that cascaded from a shelf thirty feet above. That one was at the far end of the pool, and a sound-dampening weave kept it from creating too much noise in the enclosed space.

    The area also doubled as one of the Closet¡¯s greenhouses. Lush plant life grew around the pool, in adjoining caves, and up on stone platforms. The adjoining nooks and caves had benches and tables amidst small trees and other vegetation. Each room had specialty glowstones that emitted light that could take the place of the sun, allowing the plants to flourish in its absence.

    Okay, maybe it wasn¡¯t that authentic.

    ¡°When did you have time to build all this?¡± asked Xim, stepping out from the ladies'' entrance with a towel wrapped around her.

    ¡°Grotto and I built it when you went to do that cloistering,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s when you visited the academies,¡± she said. ¡°You did both?¡±

    ¡°I did a lot of things. I like to stay busy.¡±

    [A significant amount of the work fell to me,] Grotto thought to us. [He primarily directed the construction.]

    ¡°I also funded it, designed it, delivered all the materials, and did most of the manual labor.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Etja. She had her towel tied in a toga-style to make room for all of her arms. ¡°What did Grotto do then?¡±

    [I modified the dimensional space, constructed the weaves, drafted the architecture, and handled most of the botanical elements.]

    ¡°It was a team effort,¡± I said.

    ¡°Why did Grotto decide to do all this for you?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°When I agreed to let him build the Pocket Delve, there were some concessions.¡±

    [He charged me for the materials I needed, which I paid back with labor.]

    ¡°That¡¯s kind of mercenary,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¨C¡± I narrowed my eyes at the little octo. ¡°We agreed to partner and assist one another with both sides of the Closet. I¡¯m not keeping a ledger or anything.¡±

    [I am.]

    ¡°Really? Not surprising, I guess. Where do we stand?¡±

    [Depending on how you value my work, I currently have a 1,000-hour deficit.]

    ¡°Oh?¡± I said. ¡°How have you been valuing your work?¡±

    [One golden note per hour.]

    Nuralie made a choking noise, which was the only reason I noticed she¡¯d made her way into the main room.

    ¡°That is a very high rate,¡± said the loson.

    ¡°So by your accounting, Grotto, you owe me 20 ruby chips worth of labor?¡±

    [Indeed.]

    ¡°Good to know, not that I¡¯m going to hold you to it.¡± I walked forward, appreciating the feel of bare feet against the warm stone. ¡°Come on, let me show you all a few things.¡±

    We made our way to a series of 3 large, circular tubs made from the same light wood as the entry buildings. I pointed to one with red glyphs carved into it and turned to Varrin.

    ¡°Since Hiwardians have a natural resistance to hot and cold, this first tub has a weave that keeps the water just shy of boiling.¡± I pointed to the third tub. This one had blue glyphs. ¡°This one keeps the water just above freezing.¡±

    Varrin stroked his chin and nodded.

    ¡°And the one in the middle?¡± he asked.

    ¡°A little warmer than room temp, in case you want to balance out before swapping between them.¡±

    ¡°That is very thoughtful,¡± he said.

    I smiled and wandered off to a space near the gentler waterfall. There was a shallower pool surrounded with moss and fungus, with a dozen recesses of various sizes cut into the rock. There were also false rocks and logs with hollowed interiors made from ceramic.

    ¡°This one has a milder temperature and a lot of good places for amphibians to hide. I made this one¨C¡± I turned to see Nuralie already holding three frogs. One was her pet Bertegog. I didn¡¯t know the names of the others.

    She stepped forward and sat Bert down, who took a hop into the shallow pool and croaked in approval as he splashed around. She let the other two frogs loose, one of which immediately made its way under a log to relax on a bed of moss. Several more frogs followed until she¡¯d unleashed a dozen amphibians¨Cranging from as small as a dart frog to as large as a bulldog¨Cthen she made intense eye contact with me.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± she said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± I replied. We held eye contact for just longer than a normal loson pause, then I made my way to a spot on the floor with a small trap door. I reached down and opened the door, revealing a pitch-black chamber.

    ¡°This is a sensory deprivation pool,¡± I said, looking at Xim. ¡°It¡¯s warded against sound and the water is salinated so it¡¯s easier to float. The walls and floor are made from Madrin, where Grotto inset a generic Divine weave. There¡¯s room to add sigils for a specific deity, so I figure you can carve some symbols for Sam¡¯lia in there and get some good communion in.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯ve never tried it this way.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s also some hallucinogenic mushrooms around,¡± I said, gesturing to a small garden a dozen feet away. ¡°I remember you saying that certain substances can make the barrier between layers subjectively thinner. Hopefully, they work. If not, have fun anyway.¡±

    She grinned and gave me a spine-crushing hug, then wandered off to the garden and bent down to start sniffing the offerings. I turned to Etja.

    ¡°And for my favorite musical mage, we have an acoustic cavern.¡± I led her to a cave that was rectangular with flat walls. ¡°Now, I know there are a lot of different considerations for sound,¡± I said, leading her to a section of the wall with various glyphs. ¡°This is a control unit that lets you change the shape of the room and also adjust the water features.¡±

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    I tapped the first glyph, and water began dripping from the ceiling in a rhythmic pattern. I tapped the glyph next to it, which changed the rhythm. Then I tapped a few more, allowing the cavern walls to adjust to having slats that absorbed sound and dampened reverb, to taking on a variety of facets to diffuse the sound, and finally opening the entrance to the rest of the spring and creating a fan shape.

    ¡°This last one lets the sound carry if you feel like serenading us.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know what to say,¡± said Etja, eyes wide.

    ¡°I mean, as long as you like it, don¡¯t feel like you need to say anything.¡±

    Etja smiled and nodded, then gave me a far more pleasant hug than Xim had.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± she said. ¡°But I¡¯m gonna swim first!¡±

    Etja flew toward the main pool, her towel sailing off as she swooped into the steaming hot water.

    I sighed in contentment, happy that my ideas had gone over well. I turned to look at Shog floating next to me, his downy feathers beginning to sag in the humidity.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t know what to make you,¡± I said. ¡°But there¡¯s a pond stocked with fish if you¡¯re hungry. They¡¯re violent, predatory fish so they might put up a fight. If you have any other ideas let me know.¡±

    Shog looked me over, his expression inscrutable.

    ¡°Why did you do all of this?¡± he asked.

    I scratched my beard and thought about my response.

    ¡°I just wanted us all to have a good place to relax, since we hardly get the time to. Trying to figure out what each person might enjoy and making it for them was fun. I¡¯m glad they seem to like it.¡±

    ¡°But why?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. If I assume you¡¯re not a believer in true benevolence,¡± I said, then paused as I glanced at Shog. ¡°Probably a safe assumption. But if you want a self-serving reason, then it makes me feel good to help other people feel good.¡±

    Shog thought about that, tentacles swishing.

    ¡°You share in their happiness,¡± he said. ¡°Their mental well-being is your own.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one way to look at it. I try not to think about it too hard.¡± I started to sigh again, and it turned into a yawn halfway through. ¡°Moral philosophy can be exhausting.¡±

    ¡°Sentimentality is often a weakness that will be exploited,¡± Shog added. ¡°If your joy is linked to the joy of others, then you will also share in their pain when it is lost.¡± I considered replying but held off. My summon looked like he was working through something complicated. ¡°A c¡¯thon¡¯s strength is strength given for their brood,¡± he continued. ¡°If you are brought low by despair, then all who rely upon you will suffer. If I held a mindset such as yours, other c¡¯thon would prey on those whose emotions bled over to me. It would endanger them twice. Once from my foes, and again when their suffering rendered me weakened.¡±

    ¡°But you do care in some sense?¡±

    ¡°It is a matter of survival,¡± Shog answered. ¡°All c¡¯thon are hunters, and a lone c¡¯thon is easy prey. When a member of the brood dies, the brood becomes more vulnerable as a whole.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that works for c¡¯thons, but I think the average human needs the carrot and stick of empathy to get to the same place. We can be selfish and fixated on our needs in the present, but if there¡¯s a neurochemical incentive to give a shit about other people, then we¡¯re all more likely to watch out for one another and survive.¡± I crossed my arms and checked to see if Shog was still with me.

    ¡°Elaborate,¡± he said.

    ¡°Right. Let¡¯s say I live in a society of two people. It¡¯s just me and my broodmate Bill. If Bill¡¯s around, I¡¯m more likely to survive being attacked by a predator. So, I want to make sure that Bill stays alive. However, Bill¡¯s only utility to me is that he improves my chances of survival. As soon as that is no longer true, I have no reason to keep Bill around.

    ¡°Let¡¯s say Bill breaks his leg. Now, Bill is a liability. If I¡¯m hunting food for two, carrying him around everywhere, and being forced to stay in one place to protect him, my own survival is at risk. Bill no longer serves the function of helping me live, so I abandon Bill. In this situation, Bill will certainly die somehow. Let¡¯s say some wolves find him and he¡¯s weak from dehydration and exposure. He can¡¯t fight back, so he¡¯s eaten. There¡¯s no guarantee that I will find anyone else to be my broodmate, so this also harms my own chance of survival.

    ¡°But what if I felt some part of the pain Bill felt? I know the agony of a broken bone. I know the fear of having my life threatened. The thought of leaving Bill behind fills me with a deep dread that the same could happen to me. I want to protect Bill because I¡¯d want Bill to protect me in the same situation. I have more incentive to save Bill, even at some risk to myself, so I do my best to care for Bill and try to get him back on his feet. Even so, this phantom pain isn¡¯t as bad as real pain, and it¡¯s not enough for me to risk serious injury to help Bill. I¡¯ll stick around until the wolves actually show up, then abandon Bill to save myself. In this scenario, Bill¡¯s chances of survival are higher since he¡¯s no longer suffering dehydration and exposure, and I¡¯ve avoided most of the risk by fleeing the predators. Still, I am, again, alone.

    ¡°Now let¡¯s say that I not only share some of Bill¡¯s pain but also some of Bill¡¯s happiness. When Bill laughs, I laugh, so I want to make Bill laugh. Bill enjoys laughing, so he enjoys having me around, and because he also shares this emotional bleeding he also wants to make me laugh. It¡¯s a positive feedback loop, leading to both Bill and I valuing one another not only because we keep each other alive, but also because we are each a source of positive emotions for the other.¡±

    ¡°All that laughing will draw the attention of the predators you are seeking to avoid,¡± said Shog.

    ¡°Assume it¡¯s silent laughter. Anyway, when Bill breaks his leg, I not only feel the phantom fear and pain of being in that same situation but also the fear that all of our laughter and hijinks will disappear. I¡¯ll experience a strong sense of loss if Bill dies since this source of positive feelings will go away. These combine to create a strong incentive for me to save Bill. I share his pain and want to help fix it, and I fear the loss of his companionship, in addition to the loss of security if I were to end up alone.

    ¡°When the wolves come, the risk-reward math has changed. Bill has a lot more value for me. So, I¡¯m much more likely to fight for Bill. Bill isn¡¯t suffering from exposure and dehydration since I¡¯ve cared for him, so he can try to contribute as we fight the wolves together. This vastly increases Bill¡¯s chance of survival, but it is also the most immediate risk to me. However, if Bill survives and recovers, we¡¯re still together with the highest chance of continued survival.¡±

    ¡°You believe that this last situation produces the most advantageous outcome?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just talking out of my ass,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s illustrating different levels of social interreliance, hopefully in terms you might understand. I don¡¯t necessarily buy into the idea that empathy acts solely as a survival mechanism, but it¡¯s an interesting way to think about it.¡±

    By this point, the others were all in the main pool, talking and splashing and swimming. Nuralie was darting around under the surface faster than I could shine a laser pointer, leaving barely a ripple in her wake. A casual swipe from Xim sent about 40 gallons of water spraying over Etja, who responded by creating a small tidal wave with Siphon. I probably needed a bigger pool.

    At this moment one might wonder¨Centirely for the sake of having an accurate imagining of the scene before me¨Cwhat the dress code at my hot spring was. In short, I was open to any and all cultural practices. As it was, the cultures present didn¡¯t care much for swimming attire.

    Hiward had a custom of communal bathing from their time under the thumbs of the Littans, where hygiene was carried out in group facilities. Public bathhouses were the norm, and there was seldom any gender segregation. Clothing and swimsuits were disallowed in such places since loose articles and fibers clogged drains and made cleaning more difficult.

    Geulons like Nuralie usually bathed outdoors, which meant that privacy and modesty were not particularly large concerns. The Xor¡¯Drels required nudity for half of their rituals, so everyone in the tribe had seen everything everyone else had going on. Thus, there were few taboos or insecurities around letting it all hangout.

    Etja just went with the flow, and I wasn¡¯t about to make it weird by being the odd man out. I still had on my towel for the moment, though.

    Shog and Grotto were always naked.

    ¡°I would like to return home for a while,¡± said Shog as he watched the group. ¡°I have much to contemplate, and I must ensure that my brood endures.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°You know I don¡¯t view you as a summon, right?¡±

    ¡°In what way?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not something for me to call and dismiss as I please. I think of you as a party member, so if you need to step out, you¡¯re always welcome to.¡±

    ¡°Words such as these loosen my bonds. Are you comfortable giving me so much freedom?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve never given me a reason not to trust you, Shog. I¡¯m willing to risk it.¡± Shog made a contemplative growl in response. ¡°How long do you need?¡±

    ¡°I will require at least a year.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Damn. That¡¯s¡­ longer than I was expecting.¡±

    ¡°Does that change your mind?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Just thinking through what that means for us.¡±

    ¡°If the need is great, then you may call upon me at any time.¡±

    ¡°Good to know. I¡¯ll only summon you back if it¡¯s a real emergency.¡±

    ¡°Then I will take my leave, Slayer.¡± A portal opened next to Shog, and he gave me a final look. ¡°Be wary to whom you give gifts, for you may shape worlds you¡¯ll never see.¡± He stepped through the portal and back to his home dimension, then the tear in reality closed with a pop.

    I grunted, seeing that my summoning skill had ended without my input.

    ¡°Guess that¡¯s what ¡®loosening¡¯ his bonds means,¡± I muttered. ¡°Bro really had to leave right after dropping some cryptic bullshit.¡±

    ¡°Are you just going to stand out there?¡± asked Xim. I looked down to see she¡¯d swum over to the edge nearby, resting her arms on the pool¡¯s lip.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Just having a heart-to-heart with Shog.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Where¡¯d he run off to?¡±

    ¡°Back home,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯ll be back in a year.¡±

    ¡°A year?¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s that sick of us?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so,¡± I said. ¡°But I get the feeling the next time we see him, a lot will have changed. For him and us.¡±

    Xim squinted at me.

    ¡°He could have at least said bye,¡± she said. ¡°Eh, oh well. Come on and get in. We¡¯ve only got so much time to relax.¡±

    ¡°Aye aye,¡± I said, tossing my towel to the side and doing a cannonball, completely disrespecting the tranquility of the bath.

    Yeah, really not a traditional experience.

 169 - Strategy Meeting, but Naked

    We splished, we splashed, and soon enough the world''s obligations swam back around. We had critical information to pass on about Brae¡¯ach and the avatars, an upcoming meeting with one of the world¡¯s superpowers, and urgent appointments to make with our barbers and cosmetologists.

    However, first and foremost were a pair of family reunions. Delvers were generally presumed dead if they did not return from a Delve after a week or two, and it wouldn¡¯t surprise any of us if we¡¯d been declared legally deceased. The System announcement listing our names would have been akin to a resurrection for the Xor¡¯Drels and the Ravvenblaqs, who were certainly eager to have their wayward children return to them.

    In preparation of being separated for a few days, we needed to get our plans straightened out. Thus, I produced an ornate sheet of vellum, its borders intricately decorated with tiny flying octopuses, the material mana-woven to be waterproof, fireproof, tear-proof, UV resistant, and impact absorbent¨Cthe thing could probably take a 50 caliber bullet without a mark¨Cand dyed a slight shade of ros¨¦, with looping calligraphy in ocean blue ink that could be cleared away without a trace or moved around the page with a touch of mana.

    It was The List.

    Also, we were all still in the hot spring. What better place for a team meeting? Etja was even giving us a light serenade while she plucked at a stringed instrument with shimmering overtones (heretofore referred to as a ¡°lute¡±, because it was close enough).

    ¡°At the top of The List, we have ¡®Brae¡¯ach Shit¡¯,¡± I declared in my most haughty voice, rolling my Rs for effect.

    ¡°I will give what we know to my family,¡± said Varrin, his mighty arms spread wide around the edge of his near-boiling hot tub. ¡°They will disseminate the information to Central and the other houses.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Mom and Dad,¡± said Xim. ¡°They might want to get involved. If life on the First Layer is eradicated, it will impact the Third, no matter how separated we are.¡±

    Nuralie popped up from under the water.

    ¡°I will inform the Zenithars,¡± she said, then sank back down until her head was halfway submerged, bubbles floating up from her nose and mouth.

    ¡°And we can inform the Littans at our meeting,¡± I added. ¡°The Hiwardians will hopefully spread the news to Timagrin, Mittak, and Ayama.¡±

    ¡°I will make sure it happens,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Our account will be subject to scrutiny, but I believe our accomplishments will bolster the believability of our claims.¡±

    I nodded, satisfied with the plan.

    ¡°The second item on The List is ¡®Meetings and shit with the Littans¡¯,¡± I proclaimed, focusing on my diction when hitting the Ts in Littans.

    ¡°I will have a dossier created,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Names, titles, personal biographies, temperaments, protocol, decorum. I suggest we all return ahead of the meeting to study it together.¡±

    ¡°Ugh,¡± said Xim. ¡°What if I just agree not to speak?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the scion of a major Third Layer tribe,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I know you have diplomatic training.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    ¡°Etja should do the talking,¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Me?¡± Etja asked, pausing her performance. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Perfect recall,¡± I answered. ¡°And you have the highest Charisma.¡±

    ¡°You are also not affiliated with any nation,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Your words are more likely to be taken at face value.¡±

    ¡°Um, okay,¡± she said. She tapped her chin with one finger and continued plucking her lute with two of her other hands.

    ¡°The next item on The List is ¡®Training and shit¡¯,¡± I announced, really putting some stank on Shit.

    ¡°If you keep going like that, this¡¯ll take all day,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Just trying to make it fun.¡±

    ¡°We should look for Dungeons,¡± said Nuralie, appearing above the water again.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Intrinsics are our bottleneck to advancement, not levels. If Dungeons grant bonuses to leveling intrinsics, they should be a priority.¡±

    ¡°If the world isn¡¯t falling apart, I¡¯m happy to hunt for them however much we want,¡± I said.

    ¡°The world can wait,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We are level 12s. No matter how strong we are for our level, we are still weak compared to the higher echelons of power.¡±

    ¡°We probably couldn¡¯t beat up a full level 26 gold,¡± said Xim. ¡°And there are plenty of those.¡±

    ¡°I bet we could as a team!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Someone would die,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But¡­ possibly.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so we go into secluded Dungeon hunting,¡± I said. ¡°After which we will reemerge as hidden masters, capable of smiting all who show us disrespect.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± said Xim. ¡°Next!¡±

    ¡°Next on The List is ¡®Backdoor soul stuff¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Kinky,¡± Xim quipped.

    ¡°Please explain,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Right. When my Traveler¡¯s Amulet got upgraded, it gave Grotto access to all of my intrinsic skills.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you mentioned that before,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I want an avatar gift,¡± Xim said with a longful sigh.

    ¡°My connection with Grotto is at the level of the soul,¡± I continued. ¡°For Fortune to modify that connection, he has to have some access to my soul, or at least the bridge between mine and Grotto¡¯s. My concern is that he might be implanting spiritual traps or subtly guiding me in a certain direction.¡±

    ¡°He is certainly guiding you,¡± said Varrin. ¡°If you do not want him to, you should dispose of the amulet and the ring.¡±

    ¡°But I likes them,¡± I said. ¡°They¡¯re my precious.¡± I held my ruby-ringed hand to my chest and clutched the amulet. The only garments I had on were my jewelry.

    ¡°We¡¯ll watch for weird behavior,¡± said Xim. ¡°It¡¯s what we¡¯ve been doing so far. What else can we do?¡±

    ¡°Go on a quest of self-discovery?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°Okay, yeah, I support that,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°You can find yourself while we hunt Dungeons,¡± Nuralie gurgled.

    ¡°Multi-tasking self-actualization,¡± I said. ¡°Sounds like something I¡¯d do.¡±

    [I have a series of subprocesses monitoring our connection for irregularities,] Grotto thought to us. He was currently sharing the pond with the frogs. I had no idea if he enjoyed it, or if he was just trying to participate in the aquatics.

    ¡°How confident are you that you¡¯d find something that way?¡± I asked.

    He lifted a feeler and curled it to wring the water from his downy feathers onto Bertegog¡¯s head. The frog closed its eyes and enjoyed the shower.

    [Moderately confident.]

    ¡°We have faith in you!¡± said Etja, speeding up the tempo of her lute playing.

    ¡°Moving on to the next item,¡± I said. ¡°¡®Can Grotto open Closet?¡±

    [With our improved connection, I believe so.]

    ¡°You can try to open the Checkpoints when everyone needs to leave,¡± I said. ¡°And the portal when we go see the Littans.¡± I put a circle next to the item, letting me know to circle back to it. ¡°Next is ¡®W.T.F. the Dread Star?¡¯¡±

    ¡°We should curate a list of questions,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I want to speak with Sam¡¯lia before you abuse that power,¡± said Xim. ¡°I can try out the communion tub!¡± She swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, then went to the mushrooms to begin selecting her¡­ ¡®experience¡¯. Varrin and I studiously avoided staring, but Nuralie did not, which I found interesting.

    I marked the item with a ¡®D¡¯ for ¡°pending divine guidance.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Next one down is the ¡®Wand of Soulfuckery¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia again!¡± Xim said in her outside voice. I marked down another ¡®D¡¯.

    ¡°Better hearing protection for Explosion!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll make something,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Easy enough,¡± I said, placing a check. ¡°Figure out a use for Abbandium.¡±

    ¡°Arrows,¡± Nuralie answered immediately. ¡°It lowers Spiritual defense and can take any shape. Flat, triangular, barbed, bladed, long, square, rhomboid.¡± Pause. ¡°It can be whatever arrowhead I need and will weaken the target to Spiritual attacks such as Night Strike.¡±

    ¡°It raises Divine defense, though,¡± I said. ¡°And it affects the wielder.¡±

    ¡°Xim can choose a different target,¡± Nuralie replied. ¡°I will not be affected by the material much since I can keep the arrows in my inventory until I need them.¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted to be hands-off with the mystery eldritch stuff.¡±

    ¡°It is not in my hands if it is in the enemy¡¯s liver.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a very specific body part.¡±

    She shrugged.

    ¡°We have a lot of buffs to Bleeding.¡±

    ¡°If no one has any objections, that works for me,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to touch the stuff.¡±

    Nobody else made any argument to claim some of the Abbandium since nobody wanted to have their Spiritual defenses lowered, leading to an even worse time with mental attacks.

    ¡°Next item: ¡®Can Grotto have revelations through the System?¡¯¡±

    Everyone looked at Grotto, who now had a frog sitting on his octopoid head. He waved his tentacles noncommittally.

    [I do not know. The experts among us have not been available for proper discussion.]

    ¡°Wanna come into the god pot with me?¡± asked Xim, gesturing at the sensory deprivation chamber.

    [The last time we interacted with the divine together, you spent the entire week muttering to vases and idols.]

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand once you get some more experience,¡± Xim replied.

    [Very well.] He gently removed his amphibious hat and floated to join the cleric, leaving disappointed ribbits in his wake. [However, I am not susceptible to psychedelic effects.]

    I placed a circle and a ¡®D¡¯ next to that item.

    ¡°Next is ¡®What¡¯s up with Shog? Brood Lord? Brood King? Hidden Delver?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Aw,¡± said Etja. ¡°We should have asked while he was here.¡±

    [C¡¯thonic society¨Ca term I use loosely¨Cis built on a hierarchy of personal power. Leadership is earned through might, which is one of the few things any c¡¯thon respects. As a Grade 18, Shog¡¯tuatha is well into the Lord realm, and quickly approaching King.]

    ¡°When does King start?¡± I asked.

    [It is not a well-defined boundary, but the weakest King in the System records I can access was Grade 24.]

    ¡°How does that impact us?¡± asked Varrin.

    [The data on c¡¯thons serving as allies to humanoid species is sparse, to say the least. If I were to speculate, I believe it would either result in Shog¡¯tuatha taking permanent leave of the party to enjoy his new station, or continuing to take advantage of your meteoric growth to reach even higher status.]

    ¡°What¡¯s after King?¡± I asked. ¡°Emperor?¡±

    Grotto thought for a moment, and we received a System notification.

    The most recent information on the c¡¯thonic social stratum indicates the existence of 5 c¡¯thonic emperors. Each emperor controls between 1 and 3 of the 8 habitable worlds in the C¡¯thon star system.

    The emperors exist in a loose coalition with the stated purpose of interdimensional conquest. However, conflict between emperors is constant, which inhibits their capacity to wage organized war. Because of this, the species has been classified as a minor threat to ongoing System functionality. Any additional subjugated worlds are unknown.

    This intelligence is derived from an interview with a Grade 47 C¡¯thonic Emperor summoned by the Avatar of Tyranny 3 generations ago and requires updating. The Avatar of Tyranny is currently held within Delve 9998: The Cage and is unavailable for further inquiry.

    ¡°All of that¡­ is terrifying,¡± I said.

    ¡°Is Grotto¡¯s newfound freedom to disclose all his secrets on your list?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Adding it now.¡±

    ¡°We should curate a list of questions for that as well,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I assume you are the reason we received that notification, Grotto.¡±

    [Indeed. My System Call intrinsic subsequently advanced 3 levels.]

    ¡°Maybe an army of c¡¯thons can help us with the avatars!¡± said Etja.

    [Please do not state such apocalyptic ideas aloud.]

    ¡°Please?¡± said Xim. ¡°Two in one year?¡±

    ¡°Just let it happen,¡± I said. ¡°Calling attention to it may discourage him.¡±

    ¡°We can ask Shog about this when he returns,¡± said Varrin, climbing out of the extremely-hot tub and moving to the deathly-cold tub. I studiously avoided staring, but Nuralie did not, which I again found interesting.

    I placed a circle next to the Shog question, noting that the page was getting messy. I needed a more aesthetic way to take notes.

    ¡°Next there¡¯s a bunch of stuff about the Closet that Grotto and I can handle on our own,¡± I said. ¡°Patio for grilling and chilling, more greenhouse plants¨Cwe could start growing alchemy ingredients¨Cdisappearing exits, shifting hallways, one-way mirrors and walls¡­ Shit, I forgot to reset my inventory home point. ¡®Priority. Don¡¯t blow up Formation.¡¯ I even wrote it in all caps.¡±

    ¡°Would the entire Closet really appear at your home point if you died?¡± asked Xim. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s huge. Where would you even find a space that big?¡±

    ¡°I could buy a few acres in the mountains,¡± I muttered, adding a big star beside it. There was a note about ideas for a corpse explosion trap, but I drew a line through it. ¡°Next is ¡®Accrue power! Dominate our enemies! Attain immortality so that we might live forever!¡¯¡±

    [That one is far too low on The List.]

    ¡°Huh,¡± said Xim. ¡°You haven¡¯t been nearly as power-hungry lately, Grotto.¡±

    [Do you require further encouragement? You have reached level 12 in 2 years and conquered 2 special Delves, each of which held the highest difficulty rating. I am merely biding my time as you continue to amass achievements that would take other Delvers a decade if they did not perish first.]

    ¡°But you¡¯re still advocating for world domination?¡± I asked. ¡°How does that serve your function of helping Delvers ascend?¡±

    [Do you listen to your own questions, or do you merely spout whatever comes to mind without first seeking the answer yourself?]

    ¡°I usually consider the answer along with everyone else,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°If the ¡®obvious¡¯ response is that seeking the strength to rule the world naturally results in the strength to ascend, then I still feel like you¡¯re putting too much focus on it. There are other ways to get there.¡±

    [I have more experience in these matters. I also wish to enjoy the feeling of commanding global armies.] Grotto¡¯s feelers rose into the air. I prepared for a full flailing. [We will warp this feeble planet to our will! We shall create a dynasty that will be unending, dominating this universe until only the heavens remain to conquer! Then, we will march on the gods themselves!]

    ¡°Good to know,¡± I said. ¡°Next item is ¡®Items¡¯.¡± I rolled up The List and pulled out The Other List. It was equally as cool and awesome. ¡°We need to return the Longsword of the Bluewren and the Brooch of House Spyreling. Oh, Etja now has enough Luck for the Fortunate Ring we looted from Yaretzi.¡± I pulled out the ring and tossed it to the mage, who caught it even as she continued to pluck and strum.

    Fortunate Ring

    Requirements: LCK 20

    Once per day, one of the following effects may occur, although you may not choose when or if one triggers.

    1) An attack you make that would otherwise miss miraculously hits.

    2) An attack made against you that would otherwise hit miraculously misses.

    ¡°Neat!¡± she said, sliding it on.

    ¡°Any headway on the Abandoned Grimoire, Nuralie?¡±

    ¡°It burns knowledge into my mind,¡± she answered. Pause. ¡°I am on the precipice of enlightenment.¡±

    ¡°Yes, very good.¡± I marked it with a ¡®K¡¯ for ¡®Keep an eye on Nuralie¡¯. ¡°I¡¯m holding on to the Spiked Mace of the Bloody Jubilee if no one opposes. The Bardiche of Blood Scour went to Shog. The rest of this is stuff to trade or sell, I think.¡± I read out the rest of the items, which can be found in Appendix A.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the Staff of Quiet Solitude,¡± said Xim. ¡°And the Scutum of Blood Scour.¡±

    ¡°The staff buffs curses,¡± I said. ¡°Your new passive is the only thing it applies to.¡±

    ¡°Curses are fun. I might build into them more.¡±

    ¡°The shield is a foot and a half taller than you.¡±

    ¡°Exactly!¡± She raised her hands above her head and did a stretch, her lean muscles rippling. I did not studiously avoid staring, and neither did anyone else. ¡°The Clockwork Gear shield mainly grants Shielding, which I don¡¯t need anymore since I¡¯m constantly generating it with my new Fortitude evo. Plus, it applies Slowed when I use it, which is annoying.¡±

    ¡°Uh, okay.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Anyone opposed?¡± Predictably, no one had a problem with it.

    ¡°I will take the rest of the items with me to Hiward,¡± said Varrin. Despite being in the ice tub, his cheeks were flushed. ¡°I can have an expert auction or trade them. My family keeps several on retainer. Just give me a list of what gear everyone is looking for before I leave.¡±

    ¡°Nice,¡± I said. ¡°We also have a bunch of random essences.¡± I scanned the list. ¡°Are we doing anything with these Greater Mimicry Essences?¡±

    Nuralie shot up so fast, water plumed 20 feet into the air.

    The loson pulled out a mana-woven leather satchel and opened it to reveal a bundle of warded oilcloth. She unwrapped it to reveal the Abandoned Grimoire and began flipping through its pages. I frowned as a drop of the dark viscous goo that covered it dripped into the pool. Hopefully, the spring wasn¡¯t about to become cursed.

    ¡°The Corvite Slab.¡± Pause. ¡°I think I can clone it.¡±

    Varrin sat forward and pulled out the item he¡¯d earned from The Icon of the Psychopomp.

    Corvite Slab

    Items made from this material can only be wielded by members of the Ravvenblaq family.

    All weaves imbued into this item are 100% stronger if crafted by a member of the Ravvenblaq family.

    ¡°Truly?¡± he asked.

    Nuralie flipped a page back and forth, tail swishing through the water.

    ¡°It will use all of the essences.¡± She paused and started to look sick. I was worried the hot spring¡¯s cleaning weaves were about to get tested. ¡°It will also take a diamond chip.¡± She listed the expense as though it were a child sacrifice.

    ¡°Should we¡­ buy more essences?¡± I asked.

    ¡°There are no more Greater Mimicry essences,¡± said Varrin. ¡°As far as I am aware, The Mimic dropped the only 5 to exist. If anyone else has them, they are not for sale.¡±

    ¡°Sounds worth it to me,¡± I said. ¡°You can get a fucking awesome piece of gear now, and another fucking awesome piece of gear at a higher level.¡±

    ¡°Grandfather will leap at the opportunity to work the material,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Papa Junior¡¯s gonna make you that good shit.¡±

 170 - Reality Anchor

    By the time we reluctantly left the hot spring, it was still early enough that a vampire would have only just begun to think about climbing into their coffin for the day. Given that Hiward was far to the west of us, it was even earlier in the kingdom. We didn¡¯t feel enough time pressure to interrupt anyone¡¯s rest to make our reappearance, which gave us a few hours to kill.

    Xim spent the time in the sensory deprivation chamber communing with Sam¡¯lia. She would head to the Third Layer in only a few hours, but she wanted to play with her new toy, provide Grotto with theological guidance, and get a headstart on asking Sam¡¯lia about the Dread Star and the Wand of Boundless Night.

    Varrin, Nuralie, and I worked on cloning the Corvite Slab. The process was, at its heart, a form of alchemy involving essence work and transmutation. Prior to Grotto entering the god tub, he refined all of our Abbantite ore into the metal Abbandium with a wave of his feeler. This was an effect of his Industrial Transmutation passive, which he failed to explain before leaving to float in darkness and saltwater alongside our cleric.

    Abbandium could change its shape according to its user''s will, making it the most conceptually aligned material we possessed for use with the Greater Mimicry essences. It was also a substance that the grimoire had extensive notes on, which wasn¡¯t a surprise since the items both dropped from The Pit and had thematically similar names.

    Nuralie shaped the material into a slab the same size as Varrin¡¯s Corvite, formed around a small scraping of the original. She then took an alarming amount of the big guy¡¯s blood and placed his single diamond chip into a small cauldron alongside the other components.

    She held the Abandoned Grimoire open in one hand as she converted the Mimicry essences with the other, reciting a series of phrases in an archaic form of Losonbinora as the familiar Mimic goo dripped down onto the Abbandium. There was a small lightshow as the essence absorbed the diamond chip, a mysterious gust of chill wind rustled our hair and clothes, and a rising crescendo of dark, eldritch whispers filled our minds. It was some classic dark-magic scares. A bit on the nose, honestly. I was half expecting a demon-infested corpse to jump out at us.

    ¡°Groovy,¡± I said as my Sage Advice evolution activated, giving Nuralie a massive boost to her Alchemy skill¡­ somehow. The loson channeled her entire mana pool into the transmutation.

    When she pulled out the cloned slab, it was identical, even sharing the same item description. There were no qualifiers showing that it was a copied item. Our dupe glitch had been entirely successful, and all it had cost was 5 irreplaceable essences, several pounds of a never-before-seen metal, and a chip valuable enough to buy a beach-side ultramodern resort villa within spitting distance of Castle Dukgrien.

    Afterward, I opened my Checkpoint to Eschengal and Nuralie set out to deliver the letter from the Littan duchess Isabel Ruiz, with Etja along for the ride. The portal startled several merchants who had set themselves up alongside the road into Eschendur¡¯s capital. I stepped out to buy a few dozen pastries from a shaken Deijinin and intentionally overpaid for the tasty treats by an order of magnitude.

    Once it was around breakfast time in Hiward, I opened the Checkpoint to the Xor¡¯Drel tribe, and the trunk of the massive Irgriana tree in the middle of the village came into view. Varrin and Xim both left through this portal since the layer transition from Xor¡¯Drel to the First Layer would place Varrin within a minute''s flight of the Ravvenblaq manor. A group of tribe members quickly crowded around, their bodies and clothing as diverse as a world summit taking place inside a fever dream.

    Xim¡¯s parents, Drel¡¯gethed and Xorna, appeared soon after and had a tearful reunion with their daughter. They¡¯d held out hope after our disappearance, receiving hints that we still lived during their prayers to Sam¡¯lia. I received a rib-breaking hug from Xorna that lasted until Drel was forced to peel the woman off of me.

    HP: 1898 -> 1799

    Both of Xim¡¯s parents had risen to level 20, and I suspected her mother had placed most of her new stats into Strength. The couple wanted to host a return feast, but unfortunately, I had to remain inside the Closet when the portal would close an hour later. The Closet¡¯s normal exit traveled with me and was currently set within the Littan fortress. If the Checkpoint closed while I was inside the Third Layer, it would reset the entrance to the Xor¡¯Drel tribe lands. I could still access Eschengal and we could travel from there, but we¡¯d already promised the Littans our return via the dungeon-like portal room. It wouldn¡¯t do to start breaking our word before we¡¯d even established friendly relations.

    Khigra also showed up, giving me a less painful hug than Xorna, and asked me a few questions about how Somncres had been performing. It reminded me of the warhammer¡¯s fourth effect, which I wanted to take advantage of immediately.

    Khigra may imbue this item with an additional effect once you reach your next Intelligence evolution.

    Since I¡¯d made it to INT 40 and snagged another evo, my hammer could get an upgrade. Khigra was more than pleased to make the modification and even give the hammer an overall upgrade since I could now handle much higher stat requirements. We spent most of our 20 minutes discussing potential improvements. The end result couldn¡¯t be fully controlled, so the conversation was centered around ideas more than specifics. The hammer would improve based on its concepts of Growth and Void, but the dream forger¡¯s work would help guide it to align with my intent.

    Khigra also told me that, despite her enthusiasm for undergoing further ¡®training¡¯ with me, she¡¯d recently entered into a committed polyamorous triad. She was very kind about it, although I hadn¡¯t said anything to prompt the topic. I hadn¡¯t been planning on renewing our fling, so it saved me the trouble of an awkward conversation and made it easier to set aside any temptation to find an easy outlet for my sexy-time needs.

    I was looking for something a bit more fulfilling, but I had just spent months sequestered in a Delve with a group of extremely attractive people who possessed a supernatural level of self-control. There was no explicit agreement for intraparty celibacy, but it hadn¡¯t really come up. Not yet, anyway. Then again, it¡¯s not like I knew what everyone else was doing at all times. Nor did I feel any need to know. They were all adults, and I wasn¡¯t their daddy.

    ¡­

    At any rate, my conversation with Khigra was cut short when a pillar of crimson fire descended from the sky. A motherly woman in a royal-blue dress appeared, her body adorned with a few pieces of bone jewelry and her flowing red hair glistening like fresh blood.

    All of the Xor¡¯Drel tribe members¨Caside from myself¨Cknelt at the appearance of the Goddess of the Seven Organs, Sam¡¯lia. She looked around at the gathering with a warm smile.

    ¡°I appreciate the gesture,¡± she said. ¡°But please rise, everyone.¡± The Xor¡¯Drels slowly got to their feet, many wearing reverent looks of awe. Sam¡¯lia approached Xim, whose eyes sparkled with joy as her patron goddess touched her shoulder. ¡°Xim Xor¡¯Drel. I am overjoyed that you¡¯ve returned, although I had full confidence that you would survive the trials you faced.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Dark Mother,¡± Xim said. ¡°Your power was a constant beacon, and my faith a lantern in the dark.¡±

    Sam¡¯lia tapped her cleric on the chin.

    ¡°You¡¯re always so formal,¡± she said, then placed her hands on her hips. ¡°You don¡¯t ever speak to anyone else that way.¡±

    ¡°I save it all up for you,¡± Xim said with a grin. ¡°It¡¯s exhausting.¡±

    ¡°I bet,¡± said the goddess. ¡°Here, I have a gift for you.¡±

    Sam¡¯lia reached out and placed her thumb against Xim¡¯s forehead. Her cleric¡¯s eyes began to glow, growing brighter until dark-red flames poured from her sockets. A 6-foot-wide halo of fire erupted behind Xim, the ring¡¯s center pulsing with white-hot power. Xim rose a foot off the ground, her dark and curly hair transitioning to garnet, then rising toward the sky like molten blood with a grudge against gravity.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    A few seconds passed before the effect ended, and Xim released a long breath as her feet touched the ground.

    ¡°Gods above,¡± she whispered, eyes wide. She looked over at me. ¡°Finally got a movement ability.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m betting it does some other things as well.¡±

    ¡°A couple,¡± she said, brushing a lock of hair from her face. She was flushed, even redder than normal. ¡°I think I¡¯ll let it be a surprise for you.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like contrived suspense, but okay.¡± I gave her a wink, and she stuck out her tongue at me. It was a very mature exchange between grown-up adults.

    ¡°As for you, Arlo,¡± said Sam¡¯lia, closing the distance between us with a single step. I blinked while my mind failed to comprehend how it had happened. Her eyes ran over the inside of the Closet behind me, then met my own. ¡°I believe you have something for me?¡±

    I nodded and opened my inventory, bringing up the Wand of Boundless Night. I hesitated, hand hovering near the screen as I looked around at the gathering of mundane individuals. Insofar as anyone from the Third Layer could be considered ¡®mundane¡¯. The wand¡¯s description strongly discouraged exposing it to anyone who wasn¡¯t supernaturally inclined. Sam¡¯lia understood my reluctance and took my hand.

    ¡°I will contain it,¡± she said.

    A field of Divine power surrounded us, and I plucked the wand from storage. I felt the familiar pressure on my soul, but it was the barest touch, rather than a suffocating force. There were a few gasps from those gathered, and several people took a step back. Sam¡¯lia¡¯s protection didn¡¯t fully suppress the experience of the wand, but it didn¡¯t look like anyone was about to collapse or go catatonic. If someone had been deleted from existence, I¡¯d never know.

    Sam¡¯lia accepted the wand and turned it from side to side, studying it. She held her hand out palm up, and the wand floated above it, tip pointed toward the sky. The length of the dark, baton-like item cracked, and it began to deteriorate. Splinters of wood flaked away from the want and disintegrated into the air. Soon, all that was left behind was a black pearl, which had been housed in its center.

    As I peered into the pearl, I felt a thousand perspectives flood my mind. I saw a gray realm from myriad angles in which time slowed to a crawl, its influence reaching out and freezing everything around me. Motes of dust hung in the air, suspended like sediment in honey while the villagers became unmoving statues.

    Sam¡¯lia frowned and tilted her head.

    ¡°Hello children,¡± she said softly into the pearl. ¡°Who has been trying to let you out?¡±

    She turned her ear to the pearl, listening to a thousand hissing screams that replied, their cries no louder than autumn leaves fluttering to the ground. She looked back into the pearl and sighed.

    ¡°You still cannot restrain your hunger,¡± she said, forlorn. Then she muttered, ¡°Everything you eat disappears, so how could you ever be full?¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°No. You no longer belong here.¡±

    All at once, the screams were silenced.

    Time accelerated until it returned to normal. The pearl hung suspended over Sam¡¯lia¡¯s palm, now so pitch black that it appeared like a two-dimensional hole in space.

    ¡°This is a Reality Anchor,¡± she said, looking up at me. ¡°It was bound to the Second Layer, but only through a pinhole portal. The breach had drawn the attention of entities I¡¯d banished there long ago. Thankfully, they could not pass through, or the consequences would have been more severe.¡±

    I recognized the term, Reality Anchor. The Cage had been an extradimensional space linked to Arzia through such a device. Orexis had destabilized it by shoving a void sphere inside. Reality Anchors were also listed in my ability description for my Checkpoint evolution to Dimensional Magic.

    A Checkpoint portal may remain open for up to 1 hour and may be traversed by anyone. Closing a Checkpoint portal requires 60 seconds of concentration. Permanent Checkpoint portals, or Checkpoint portals with entrance and exit restrictions, require a Reality Anchor.

    ¡°I was forcefully taken to the Second Layer once,¡± I said. Yaretzi had unwisely trapped me there with his Thunderdome spell, forcing a fight to the death to escape. ¡°It looked lifeless. You¡¯re saying there are creatures there that you gave birth to?¡±

    ¡°Yes. However, I will say nothing more about their existence. The more you know about them, the easier it is for them to find you.¡±

    Given that detail, the fact that she¡¯d mentioned them at all in front of so many people seemed a bit cavalier, but I noticed that several conversations were going on around us, though I couldn¡¯t hear anything being said. It seemed our talk was being contained.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll bury my curiosity and never speak of them to anyone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re quick,¡± Sam¡¯lia said. She held the Reality Anchor out to me. ¡°I¡¯ve purged the connection, and the Anchor is no longer bound. I believe you can use it to improve your personal realm.¡±

    I accepted the pearl, which dropped into my palm, its surface slick and cold. I quickly placed it into my inventory, fearing it would slide right out of my hand if I wasn¡¯t careful.

    ¡°There is one more thing I would like to chat about,¡± said Sam¡¯lia.

    ¡°The Dread Star,¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Yes.¡± She stepped forward and placed a hand on my chest, gazing up into my eyes. ¡°Arlo, as you are now, my existence is so vast that it is impossible for you to grasp.¡±

    ¡°Er, okay?¡± Her hand was very warm, bordering on hot.

    ¡°The Dread Star is to me as I am to you. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°I think you just told me that¡¯s literally impossible.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± she said, patting my chest and dropping her arm. ¡°I have no idea how or why the Dread Star has taken interest in you, but it is not a malevolent being. Still, when a person bathes, they hold no animosity toward the bacteria they scour.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°Be considerate of what questions you ask,¡± she continued. ¡°There are truths that would wash you away, leaving nothing behind. Other than that, feel free to commune with it. Just¡­ don¡¯t do it here. I¡¯d rather not draw the Dread Star¡¯s attention.¡± She patted me on the cheek. ¡°Also, if you use that Anchor to create a permanent portal, don¡¯t do it here, either. There are reasons the Third Layer is kept separate. Even having the portal to your personal realm open for an hour is more than I like. Try and treat it like a door that should always be shut behind you once you¡¯ve walked through.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do that,¡± I said.

    Sam¡¯lia studied me for a moment, then jerked her head toward Xim behind her.

    ¡°She likes you, you know?¡± she said. I raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the cleric. She was speaking excitedly with her parents, but caught me looking and flashed me a grin.

    ¡°I would hope so,¡± I said. ¡°Since she spends so much time around me.¡±

    Sam¡¯lia swatted my chest. It felt like a playful god was tickling my soul

    ¡°You know what I mean,¡± she said, then reached out to grip my shoulders. She looked me up and down while she squeezed my deltoids. ¡°A big, virile boy like you shouldn¡¯t restrain yourself so much. It isn¡¯t healthy.¡±

    ¡°This is a little embarrassing,¡± I said, feeling like a 14-year-old being told how handsome they are by their mother. ¡°I think my Checkpoint portal is going to close soon.¡±

    ¡°Fine, fine,¡± she said. ¡°Tell Etja not to worry about her abilities. She isn¡¯t going to turn into her dad.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, okay.¡±

    ¡°And let Nuralie know the Eschenden are pleased with her.¡±

    ¡°I¨C how do you know that? Do the gods talk?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes. Also, tell Varrin Nephithaya can help with his spiritualism even though he doesn¡¯t worship.¡±

    ¡°Nephithaya?¡±

    ¡°Bring Grotto next time, too. I¡¯d like to speak with him at length about a few things.¡± She kept going before I could respond. ¡°Shog¡¯s brood had some trouble while he was with you, so you really need to respect his time away. No summoning unless it¡¯s life or death.¡±

    I remembered an offhand comment from Shog about how c¡¯thons resided in the Third Layer of their home dimension.

    ¡°Will do,¡± I said. Sam¡¯lia gave me another pat on the cheek, then turned back to the crowd. The sounds of scattered conversations rose around me like Sam¡¯lia was turning the volume knob on reality back up to normal.

    ¡°Be well, children,¡± she said, her voice carrying across the crowd. Then, in a burst of flame, she was gone.

    Xim skipped over and then looked up at me with her hands folded behind her back.

    ¡°Learn anything?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yeah. She also gave me some messages to pass on to the others.¡±

    ¡°Oh? Let me guess. The Divine One was handing out matronly wisdom.¡±

    ¡°Pretty much.¡± I checked the timer on my Checkpoint. It only had a couple of minutes left. ¡°I should head back. When do you want me to reopen the portal?¡±

    ¡°Varrin said 5 days.¡± The big guy had transitioned back to the First immediately, escorted by a man named Cul¡¯gute. ¡°That gives us 2 days to prepare for the meeting.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll put it on my calendar.¡±

    We said our goodbyes, and I headed back into the Closet.

    I was alone for the first time in months, and I took a deep breath, already planning out how best to relax for a few days.

    Of course, I was reminded that I was never really alone when Grotto¡¯s mental voice filled my head.

    [Would you like to assist me in monitoring the Delvers currently running the Pocket Delve?]

 171 - Gold Standard Delving

    I didn¡¯t think too hard about Grotto¡¯s request for me to join him in watching randos invading my dimensional space. I simply grumbled my acceptance and was teleported to a part of the Closet I¡¯d never seen.

    It was a tight space, about the size of a small bedroom, with a miniature Delve obelisk atop a pedestal at its center. There were no doors or other entrances, and the only light in the room came from glowing text crawling across dozens of slates on the wall. Grotto¡¯s eyes studied one of the displays, feelers undulating.

    ¡°Where are we right now?¡±  I thought to my familiar.

    [We are in a command center contained on all sides by 1000 feet of solid rock, situated a quarter of a mile above the obelisk chamber. Given that my prior experience operating a Delve from within the obelisk itself resulted in being taken captive, I felt that this would be more secure.]

    ¡°Makes sense.¡±

    I sensed a hint of defensiveness in his response. To be fair to Grotto¡¯s past self, he¡¯d been required to be inside the obelisk to operate The Toxic Grotto. He only gained the ability to manage a Delve remotely upon his assignment as administrator of The Calvani Caverns outside of The Cage, whereupon he swiftly used his new authority to execute his fellow Delve Core Nasro before the entity could further assist Orexis in defiling the System.

    ¡°Someone could still teleport here, though. I could, at least.¡±

    [Try it.]

    I raised an eyebrow and focused on using Shortcut with Coordinated Thinker, searching for a nearby space large enough to teleport to safely. My awareness couldn¡¯t leave the room.

    ¡°Oh, this is claustrophobic.¡±

    [If you wish to leave, simply grasp my small obelisk and feed it your intent.]

    I glanced at the pillar in the room¡¯s center, then back at Grotto.

    ¡°Phrasing, Grotto.¡±

    [Stop being immature. Do you wish to observe the group that has just entered? I believe you will find the experience¡­ enlightening.]

    I did my best to stay annoyed at Grotto for intentionally allowing intruders into the Closet but found myself curious.

    ¡°Fine. How do I do that?¡±

    Grotto¡¯s dark eyes turned to me.

    [Simply grip my small obelisk,] he thought, making full eye contact. [And feed it your intent.]

    I frowned but placed my hand on the pillar and shut my eyes, trying to concentrate on viewing a party of Delvers within my halls. I got some uncomfortable psychic feedback.

    [Be gentle. It is very sensitive.]

    ¡°Oh, for fuck¡¯s sake.¡±

    I relaxed, and my perception divorced itself from my body. The world stuttered a few times until I found myself looking down at a cavern made of dark stone, with a jagged, irregular floor. There was a group of Delvers standing in a loose 3-point triangle formation, with a woman at its center.

    My Soul-Sight still worked while viewing the Delve-given perspective, and I could tell this group was level 15, all gold. The four of them were clad head to toe in armor, hiding their features, but I could tell from the shape of their helms and the general litheness of their bodies that they were a group of Littans. In fact, when I looked closely at their souls, they were familiar.

    ¡°This is Captain Pio¡¯s party,¡± I thought to Grotto. It was the Littan we¡¯d met after emerging from the Descent.

    [Indeed. Once you agreed to her request to meet with Duchess Ruiz and General Connatis, I took it upon myself to do some research into her party.]

    ¡°Any particular reason?¡±

    [If you are walking into an ambush, it would be best to be prepared.]

    ¡°True. Is inviting them over for dinner and a monster part of your research?¡±

    [I find that the best way to discern a Delver¡¯s character is to observe them in action. The Pocket Delve is currently rated for levels 10-11 platinum or levels 13-15 gold. Her group is at the upper limit of what we are authorized to handle.]

    ¡°Do most Delves have dual allowances?¡±

    [It is variable. Level range, environmental hazards, mana monster capabilities, and other factors all contribute.]

    I was enjoying Grotto¡¯s new level of transparency.

    ¡°So how did you get them in here?¡±

    [I submitted a System request to target them with a private invitation. Because of their proximity to the Closet¡¯s exit portal, it put them well within range of a summons.]

    ¡°Is it weird that they agreed? I¡¯m not saying I understand how the Littan military works, but jumping into a Delve while on duty seems like it would be closely controlled.¡±

    [Their Delvers must still level. In case that was not enough, I made the invitation more enticing to encourage their acceptance.]

    ¡°How so?¡±

    [Because of our unique configuration, the System approved my request to upgrade our designation to an Expansion Delve. If this group succeeds, they will earn an additional Active Skill slot and a specialized Active Skill.]

    ¡°Shit. Can we run the Pocket Delve to get our second extra slot?¡±

    [It would be pointless to waste our resources that way. I can use System Call to discover another Expansion Delve for you to pillage.]

    ¡°What about the special skill?¡±

    [You would not benefit from the special skill.]

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    [You already have a modified teleport. Your creation of Reckless Shortcut is part of the reason we were allowed to upgrade to an Expansion Delve.]

    ¡°Wait. You¡¯re handing out my skill? I worked hard for that.¡±

    [No, you made it while in a half-braindead stupor. Regardless, your version is heavily customized. The reward will also be heavily customized for whatever Delver claims it. It will be distinct, but likely still centering around having a variable cooldown.]

    I reserved judgment until I saw what was handed out. I couldn¡¯t have the System cribbing my work. Then again, I assumed that¡¯s what I did every time I accepted a System skill.

    ¡°Are they just¡­ taking in the view?¡±

    The group of 4 were standing at the ready but weren¡¯t speaking or making any preparations that I could see.

    [You can adjust your perspective by concentrating.]

    I gave Grotto¡¯s instruction a shot, and my point of view began floating down from the ceiling high above until I was in front of the group, only a few feet away. They were all keeping a close watch on the dark environment, doing their best to stay silent and still.

    ¡°Is it possible for them to notice me?¡±

    [Possible, but highly unlikely. At level 15 it would require an extremely focused build on perception or divination.]

    ¡°What happens if they do notice me?¡±

    [Delvers tend to ignore non-hostile entities, and discovering that the Core is monitoring their group is not exceptional. In the rare case that it breeds antagonism, Delvers can usually be redirected by the System.]

    ¡°So there¡¯s a small chance one of these Delvers might notice us, and a small chance that if they do they might try to find and kill us.¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    [The chances of your violent death at the hands of other Delvers are much higher on the outside. I did not expect your reaction to this opportunity to be one of fear.]

    ¡°I¡¯m just making sure I understand the implications of what you¡¯re doing here. If they decide to fight us, maybe that¡¯d be fun.¡±

    [Based on my initial survey, that may not go as well for you as you might believe.]

    I floated around the group in a wide arc, studying each in turn and trying to size them up. I knew I could handle a Grade 14 monster alone without trouble, although a level 15 Delver might be more difficult. Not to be immodest, but I still thought it would be easy unless they were stat monsters like myself or the other party members. Of course, I¡¯d gained even more stats and some new abilities since my last real combat, so it was possible I could solo a handful of ordinary level 15s. A full party? Probably not, unless they were bad. Then again, this wasn¡¯t a full party.

    At the front was a male Littan in heavy plate, holding a large roundshield that went from knee to shoulder. He had a two-handed warhammer gripped in one hand, shaft balanced on his shoulder. It probably weighed as much as I did.

    To his right was a man wearing a heavy black coat over a suit of chainmail. He was unarmed but was studying a book written in the mind-shattering Celestial language. Its pages turned lazily on their own.

    To the left was a woman in leathers dyed black, wearing a red, honest-to-goodness cape, which hung down to her ankles. She flipped a small throwing knife from one hand to the other, with no other armaments I could see.

    In the middle was Captain Pio dressed in a set of bronze Madrin scale. She had a smaller roundshield with the crest of the Littan military on its face, and held a wand pointed toward the floor, her eyes flitting back and forth between party members. Her face went through a few expressions that didn¡¯t make sense until I realized what was happening.

    ¡°Ah, they have a psychic chat room just like us!¡±

    [The ability will become more common as you encounter higher-level groups.]

    ¡°Good thing we picked it up early, I guess. Where¡¯s their fifth?¡±

    [I have not seen a fifth member.]

    ¡°They came into an Expansion Delve understaffed? Bold choice.¡±

    [No. Their entry logs show 5 Delvers.]

    ¡°So the fifth is a sneaky one, eh?¡±

    [It appears so.]

    I got the vague impression that Grotto was searching the Delve, and I watched the group stand around for another few minutes. I hadn¡¯t known what to expect from this experience, but I hadn¡¯t expected to be bored.

    [I have not located their fifth, but I have determined what they are doing.]

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    [Attacking the Abyssal Hounds in the next room over.]

    Last I¡¯d checked, the hounds had been Aberrant, not Abyssal. I assumed it had been an upgrade.

    I tried out mentally commanding my view to swap to what Grotto was seeing and was pleased with myself when it worked. I was now looking down at the room I affectionately called the Dog Pound, where a horde of two dozen Grade 12 Abyssal Hounds made their home. They were the size of large wolves, with knotted muscle coiling below slick, oily skin, and were currently tearing one of their members into pieces.

    ¡°What the shit?¡±

    [You can mirror the status screens of the hounds to see what is affecting them.]

    I focused on the hound currently having its entrails pulled out by the vicious horde and brought up its notifications.

    Abyssal Hound has gained 1 stack of Cursed!

    Abyssal Hound has become Berserk!

    Abyssal Hound deals 63 damage to Abyssal Hound with Spatial Maw.

    Abyssal Hound has taken 48 damage from Abyssal Hound!

    Abyssal Hound has taken 86 damage from Abyssal Hound!

    Abyssal hound has taken¡­

    I ignored the rest of the damage notifications. It appeared the group¡¯s stealth fighter was a curse mage of some sort. Nasty. I brought up statuses for the other hounds, finding that all of them had at least 1 stack of Cursed.

    Cursed: For each stack of Cursed an entity possesses, they receive a -6 penalty to all attacks and contested checks. If an entity has any stacks of Blessed when they would gain any number of stacks of Cursed, they instead lose that many stacks of Blessed.

    ¡°Poor doggos. Do the hounds have an answer for this?¡±

    [They are ultimately entry fodder, but yes.]

    One of the largest hounds¨Cas tall as a full-grown man¨Craised its head and released a baleful cry.

    Abyssal Hound Alpha uses Warp Howl!

    Nearby Abyssal Hounds gain Celerity!

    Celerity: An entity with Celerity has their movement speed doubled.

    The hounds began charging, bodies blurring across the massive chamber they occupied toward the Littan party in the entry cavern. The hounds blinked in and out of existence, making short-range teleports to boost their already near-supersonic speeds.

    The heavy-armored Littan was already striding forward, shifting his hammer off his shoulder.

    ¡°Oh, neat. I can pull up their names.¡±

    Sergeant Guar of Litta: Delver, Level 15

    ¡°Pretty metal name, mah dude.¡±

    The moment the hounds began materializing through the narrow entryway between the two rooms, Sgt Guar burst forward, the air cracking in complaint.

    He was even faster than the hounds.

    Guar appeared in the middle of the pack, whirling the massive hammer in an arc around him, driving it into four of the beasts. All of them were sent crashing into the ground.

    Abyssal Hound has taken 85 Kinetic damage and 39 Holy damage from Sgt Guar of Litta!

    Abyssal Hound has taken 79 Kinetic damage and 39 Holy damage from Sgt Guar of Litta!

    There was a brief flash of light and Sgt Guar¡¯s body shone like he¡¯d been showered in glitter. All the hounds teleporting into the cavern rounded on him, several doing a full 180 from their charge on the party¡¯s other 3 members.

    Abyssal Hounds are Distracted by Sgt. Guar!

    ¡°Can we give the hounds better names? Having all the notifications say ¡®Abyssal Hound¡¯ this and ¡®Abyssal Hound¡¯ that might make it confusing.¡±

    The hounds began leaping forward, their bodies distorting unnaturally as they warped space to try and bite at the Littan around his shield. Most of them were not successful.

    [I use numerical designations. You can adjust the naming conventions however you wish.]

    Guar spun again, twice as fast this time, and hit a dozen hounds with his hammer. Then his body rotated even faster, and his hammer grew half again in length, pulping the hounds he¡¯d already hit and sending the rest skittering across the rough cavern floor.

    I mentally requested that the System append a random name to each Abyssal Hound, and was not disappointed.

    Abyssal Hound Barkthulhu has taken 84 Kinetic damage and 39 Holy damage from Sgt Guar of Litta!

    Abyssal Hound Drooligan has taken 76 Kinetic damage and 39 Holy damage from Sgt Guar of Litta!

    Abyssal Hound Wagzilla has taken 91 Kinetic damage and 39 Holy damage from Sgt Guar of Litta!

    Barkthulhu is Stunned!

    Drooligan is Stunned!

    Wagzilla is Stunned!

    Abyssal Hound Chomposaurus has been slain!

    Abyssal Hound Toothnado has been slain!

    Abyssal Hound Bitey McGrowlface has been slain!

    The other Littans had yet to make a move, although I noticed the bookworm raise a hand toward Sgt Guar once it looked like the hounds were backing off.

    Staff Sergeant Baltae of Litta: Delver, Level 15

    Sgt Baltae made a fist, and space twisted around the heavily armored Guar. Every hound within 15 feet of the hammerman was crushed into the ground, then sucked toward him, forcing their bodies through Dimensional contortions. Bones snapped as the force mangled limbs and spines.

    You have observed the Suction Bomb spell!

    Suction Bomb

    Dimensional

    Cost: 20 mana + 2 mana/second

    Requirements: INT 20, Dimensional Magic 20

    You create a 15-foot radius gravitational rift within a number of feet equal to 40 + twice your Dimensional Magic skill level. The rift is an area of intense gravity, causing all entities in the area to become Slowed.

    When the rift appears and every 6 seconds thereafter, make an INT Spatial attack against all entities within the rift. Entities hit by this attack are pulled to its center.

    Abyssal Hound Borkinator is slowed! Borkinator has taken 109 Spatial damage from Sgt Baltae of Litta!

    Abyssal Hound Fangus Khan has been slain!

    Abyssal Hound Clawsome has been slain!

    Abyssal Hound Smolbeans has been slain!

    ¡°Aw. This is sad.¡±

    [Would you like to know how many mundane humans this pack slaughtered before we corralled them into the Delve?]

    ¡°I loved them despite their flaws. Also, aren¡¯t you breeding them? What sins have the newborns committed?¡±

    [The sin of foolishly attacking a superior foe.]

    ¡°I feel like somebody is going to call animal welfare after this.¡±

    [They are literal monsters.]

    ¡°Are they, Grotto? Are they the monsters, or is it us?¡±

    The slaughter continued until only the Alpha remained.

    So far, the Littans hadn¡¯t done anything too special. Unless you consider letting the tank solo an entire pack of two dozen Grade 12s with only 1 spell assist from the Dimensional mage special. It didn¡¯t look like Guar was taking any damage either.

    Neither Pio nor the woman tossing her throwing dagger around had made any moves, and I also hadn¡¯t seen anything new from the hidden stealth member. Overall, this fight had shown me they were competent, but the best thing I¡¯d gotten out of it was seeing that Suction Bomb spell.

    That is, until knife lady fucking flew into the Alpha like Superman.

    Lieutenant Madel of Litta: Delver, Level 15

    Abyssal Hound Alpha Alfalfa has taken 158 Kinetic damage from Lt Madel of Litta!

    Alfalfa takes 141 Kinetic damage!

    Alfalfa takes 142 Kinetic damage!

    Alfalfa takes 155 Kinetic damage!

    Alfalfa takes 163 Kinetic damage!

    Alfalfa takes 154 Kinetic damage!

    Alfalfa is Slowed!

    Alfalfa is Weakened!

    Alfalfa gains 18 stacks of Bleeding/sec!

    Alfalfa gains 39 stacks of Toxicity/sec!

    Lt Madel opened by punching Alpha Alfalfa right in the eye, caving in the Hound¡¯s ocular cavity and sending the 400-pound beast stumbling. Then her dagger¨Cwhich she¡¯d thrown before she started flying¨Cskewered Alfalfa in the same eye, disappearing into its face.

    A glistening black shortsword appeared in her right hand which she used to slit Alfalfa¡¯s throat, then she hit him in the temple with the spike of a golden hammer that came from some-fucking-where, and her right hand now held a blood-red spear that was also going into the same eye and the dagger was back in her left hand¨Cnope, there it goes¨Cshe threw it into the throat wound.

    In 3 seconds, Alfalfa lost 913 health and was taking 57 damage a second from sizzling wounds that dumped blood like an upturned gallon jug of milk and went black faster than a stale piece of toast in a bonfire as rot festered at 100,000 times speed.

    Alfalfa let out a gurgled cry and cracks formed in reality around its assailant, but Lt Madel flowed around them like a butterfly made of liquid silk, then disappeared. A spray of blood went up from Alfalfa¡¯s back, where Madel now stood, her dark blade buried into the base of the hound¡¯s skull.

    Alpha Alfalfa lurched once, then collapsed, and a final wet whimper sputtered out through its opened throat.

    ¡°Alright. She¡¯s not too shabby.¡±

 172 - Littan Excellence

    ¡°Has the valiant sacrifice of Alfalfa¡¯s pack earned us anything?¡± I thought to my familiar.

    [I assume that is your designation for the Alpha, but yes. Aside from determining that this group possesses skills more advanced than an average gold party, it has also resulted in the acquisition of additional mana to use how we wish.]

    ¡°How? Didn¡¯t you spend a lot of mana raising the hounds?¡±

    [The Hounds make use of the ambient Dimensional mana abundant in the Closet. The obelisk cannot absorb all that this environment can provide. Even if it could, the structure hit a cap on its capacity to absorb and convert mana while we were within The Descent.]

    The bodies of the Hounds began to wither and blacken as the Littans reviewed their reward notifications.

    [The Hounds condense this mana within them, creating a compound that mana chips were originally based upon. While the Delvers are issued rewards for each monster slain, there is always a surplus that is reserved for the Delve. Skills and other abilities also disperse mana of various types, improving mana diversity.]

    ¡°Isn¡¯t all of that offset when the Delvers receive their level distribution?¡±

    [It depends on the function of the Delve and its current capacity. Certain events can lead to an overload that distribution will help to offset. A competent group will typically lead to a loss, but a single death results in enough mana to generate several advancements. Mana-woven gear is also sometimes left behind and if an entire group perishes, everything they are carrying is kept or absorbed.]

    ¡°So it¡¯s a numbers game.¡±

    [If the motivation were solely to net excess mana and equipment, then yes. The process allows us to adapt to this generation of Delvers and develop strategies best suited to guide them. Our capabilities improve, we enhance the power of the Delve, the Delvers expose us to novel skills, and we ultimately earn the favor of the System.]

    I chewed that over, trying to figure out whether this was worth the risk to the Closet¡¯s security. I wasn¡¯t going to stop Grotto¨CI¡¯d agreed a long time ago that he could run a Delve in the Closet¨Cbut that didn¡¯t mean I couldn¡¯t take precautions or ask for design concessions to mitigate threats. Getting an insider look at the spells and techniques of other Delvers was helpful, but I wasn¡¯t a big fan of looting their corpses. Of course, I had no idea what kind of loot we were talking about.

    ¡°What kind of loot are we talking about? Has anyone died in here?¡±

    A few seconds passed, and a list appeared in my field of view. My eyes probably went wide, but my vision was entirely disconnected from them. I was looking at a full party¡¯s worth of gear and then some. As I scrolled through, the Littans began to move on and into the main cave of The Pound.

    Some of the items were upgrades for the party, but our gear was severely outdated aside from a few pieces of equipment each. We currently had Varrin shopping for us back in Hiward and we all had enough money for a full re-equip, so I was hesitant to ask Grotto to hand over any of the ill-gotten gains.

    Delvers entered the Delves voluntarily and earned ample rewards while doing so. I¡¯d mostly come to terms with the morality of Grotto operating one for that reason. Harvesting bodies myself for their resources felt like stepping over a fuzzy gray line into villainous behavior.

    Once I began to have a strong personal incentive for other Delvers to die, would that encourage me to push for more lethal options inside the Pocket Delve? I didn¡¯t think I would ever make that sort of decision consciously, but would Grotto? My own survival was directly connected to his, all the way down to the level of the soul. We had a Shared Fate, after all. It was probably best for me to keep as much separation as I could from the Delve.

    ¡°What will you do with all this stuff?¡±

    [I received an eleventh intrinsic skill slot along with the party once we completed The Descent, which was automatically filled with Golemancy. By imbuing golems and automatons with rudimentary mana matrixes, they become capable of wielding magical weapons and armor.]

    ¡°You didn¡¯t get to choose?¡±

    [I have had extensive practice with Golemancy in the past, so it seems the System is granting me intrinsic skills related to my experience as you grow more capable.]

    I thought back to the large harvester bots that had farmed poison essences in Grotto¡¯s old Delve, and which had helped us fight the c¡¯thon Ihxiobrixilas.

    [It is serendipitous. Etja¡¯s body is an advanced golem construct, and I have had ample time to study the exceptional matrix imbued into her by Orexis and Nasro. Any golems I create will have significant advantages, and I will also be able to make repairs to Etja if she is significantly damaged, such as by losing a limb.]

    ¡°I appreciate your consideration, but you¡¯re talking about her like she¡¯s an object.¡±

    [Her soul is true and she is as much a person as anyone else. That does not change the realities of her creation. She evolved during and after The Cage, but her body remains, at its heart, a construct.]

    I mentally frowned, but let Grotto¡¯s mildly insensitive characterization pass since he made a valid point. Xim¡¯s magic worked on Etja, allowing her to heal the mage, but our cleric still couldn¡¯t regrow entire bodily structures.

    [The Littans were wise to fight the Hounds in the entrance chamber,] Grotto thought, interrupting my musings. [I made significant upgrades to the environmental hazards after witnessing Tavio defeat the existing traps with ease.]

    I refocused on the level 15 golds as they wandered through the massive artificial cavern, looking for what Grotto was talking about. When I¡¯d fought with Tavio, the encounter had spilled into the Closet where the Littan handily dodged waves of Dimensional energy and tore through ankle-breaking pit traps with raw Strength.

    Now, the air was filled with Dimensional ripples and the Littan group was moving slowly over the sharp, uneven terrain that threatened to snare, stab, or slice all but the most well-protected feet. Captain Pio and the spatial mage were struggling to follow Sgt. Guar, who stomped through with heavy enchanted boots, creating indentations for the others to step into. Lt. Madel hovered over the hostile floor, unbothered and flipping her dagger, cape fluttering in a breeze that I knew didn¡¯t exist down there.

    Occasionally, the spatial mage would gesture, and the group would turn to avoid an area of warped space that would have sliced or twisted limbs and armor alike. The room appeared wide open, but in actuality, it was a narrow path of razor-edged metal winding through a nearly invisible maze of deadly distortions.

    [The two in the rear appear to have no points dedicated to Agility. Without a movement ability to compensate, that is a liability for their team.]

    ¡°They¡¯re making it through alright by going slow and steady.¡±

    [Why would you believe it to be so easy?]

    As though summoned by Grotto¡¯s words¨Cwhich, to be fair it probably was¨Ca wave of spikes began to shoot up from the floor. It started at the entrance to the cavern and moved forward at a rate that wasn¡¯t very fast by Delver standards, but several times quicker than the Littans were moving. If they didn¡¯t pick up the pace, the party would be skewered.

    The Littans responded swiftly and without any panic. The spatial mage, Sgt. Baltea hopped onto Sgt. Guar¡¯s back while waving a hand at Captain Pio, who floated off the ground.

    You have observed the Telekinesis spell!

    Telekinesis

    Dimensional

    Cost: 10+ mana (reserved)

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic

    You can telekinetically control any entity you can perceive which has a weight in pounds up to your INT times your Dimensional Magic skill level. If the target is a person, you must first make an INT contest versus their STR; on a failure, this spell fails and all mana spent on it is wasted.

    You can manipulate this entity in any way, including making checks or attacks with it as though you were holding it. If you try to compress or tear apart the entity, you must make an INT Dimensional attack against it. If the damage reduces the entity¡¯s HP to 0, you crush or rip apart the entity as appropriate.

    An entity under this effect can struggle and attempt a STR contest versus your INT, ending this spell on a success.

    The base mana reserve of this spell is 10, allowing you to manipulate up to 100 pounds. An additional 1 mana is reserved for every additional 10 pounds the entity weighs.

    Baltae pointed the way forward, and Guar moved into a jog, stomping his feet hard enough to jump slightly with each step. Sgt. Baltae pulled Captain Pio along behind the others with Telekinesis, and her body lit up with energy. Everyone in the party glowed as Shielding wrapped them in a protective, skin-tight shell. I checked over Pio¡¯s spell description, saw that it was a robust¨Cbut basic¨CDivine skill, and dismissed the notification.

    The group ran into a few spatial tears as they rushed forward, eating through their Shielding and resulting in some light damage. The cavern narrowed and the safe path became even more winding and perilous until it terminated in a tight hallway. Just before the hallway, set into the cavern walls, were a series of large tablets covered in the writing of a half dozen languages. The party could only steal a glance at the tablets before being forced into the hall, barely making it in time to avoid the spikes.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    The hall itself had smooth walls and perfect geometry, clearly the product of intentional architecture rather than a seemingly natural formation like the caverns. The Littans took a break and collected themselves, with Guar setting Sgt. Baltae down and the spatial mage ending the Telekinesis that kept Captain Pio afloat. Captain Pio assessed their injuries as Sgt. Baltae sat and closed his eyes, looking like he was meditating.

    ¡°What were those tablets?¡±

    [They tell the history of the Delve and provide hints that help the Delvers navigate the upcoming section.]

    ¡°Hope they have good perception and memory.¡± The hallway appeared safe and it looked like the Littans were trying to recover their resources through regeneration rather than through skills or potions. ¡°And what history are you talking about? The Closet has only existed for a little over 2 years.¡±

    [Yes, well, I have taken some liberties with the narrative.]

    ¡°Care to share?¡±

    [While the official designation of the Delve is 1156-B: The Pocket Delve, I am able to amend the title displayed to the Delvers. In this case, the Delve is called ¡°Inheritance of the Void King.¡±]

    ¡°Uh, okay. Who or what is the Void King?¡±

    There was a long pause.

    [The myth of the Void King is¡­ loosely based on your life.]

    ¡°Oh? I¡¯m the Void King now? Should I add that to my title, right after astronaut?¡±

    [Replacing ¡®Esquire¡¯ would likely be more appropriate.]

    ¡°But I like Esquire. What if I used both before my name?¡±

    [That would be improper.]

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m gonna do it anyway. I also need to add in my leadership experience somewhere; can¡¯t let that one go to waste.¡±

    Party Leader Void King Esquire Arlo ¡®Soulsbane¡¯ Xor¡¯Drel, Escalated Platinum Delver, Extradimensional Traveler, Slayer of Ihxiobrixalas, Destroyer of Mountains, Scourge of the Avatars, Sworn Foe of The Mighty Oak from Volume 1, & Astronaut.

    I thought over the designation, wondering if it had gone past epic and into ¡®just plain silly¡¯ territory.

    ¡­

    Nah, it was right on target.

    [You should prepare yourself to see some old acquaintances.]

    A series of chevrons appeared in my vision, and I shifted my view to follow the indicated direction. The hallway was around a quarter mile long, and whatever Grotto had just highlighted for me was near the far end. I willed my perspective forward until the ceiling and walls became spotted with holes about the size of a sewer entrance, and realized that what I was looking for was above the ceiling. I shifted up into one of the holes and the chevrons turned into small orbs hovering in the air before me.

    Nothing was visible, aside from the icons, until I focused with Soul-Sight on one of the orbs, and a creature was revealed.

    ¡°Holy shit, is that a Gekkog?¡±

    The bulldog-sized creatures were two-thirds mouth and fangs, with the remainder dedicated to two thick arms ending in wide, flat fingertips, a pair of stubby legs, and a tail tipped by a sharp stinger. Unlike the previous version I¡¯d encountered in my Creation Delve, these were sleeker and even more sinister looking. The light warped around their skin, allowing them to blend in perfectly in the dark corridor above the hallway. They crawled forward, taking swift, careful steps that were as silent as a passing cloud.

    [It is a superior variant, owing to the environment.]

    I immediately had the System start appending random names, then identified one of the creatures and brought up its notifications.

    Abyssal Gekkog: Amalgamation, Grade 14

    Abyssal Gekkog Goozooka has entered Stealth!

    Goozooka has used Optical Camouflage!

    Goozooka has used Sonic Vacuum!

    [It will be impossible to notice them without extrasensory perception or an advanced intrinsic such as high-level Reconnaissance.]

    ¡°Are Gekkogs common? Where did you find these things?¡±

    [I have sufficient data to grow certain entities from stored genetic information.]

    ¡°You have grow vats full of Gekkogs?¡±

    [That is an accurate enough statement.]

    I swapped back to the Littans, seeing that Sgt. Baltae had stood from his meditation. The group was having a psychic conversation, but Baltae was a gestural speaker and his hands swept through the air as he mentally explained something to the group.

    ¡°Sure wish we could listen in on that discussion.¡±

    The Gekkogs descended from the holes and crawled along the ceiling and walls. Without my Soul-Sight they were little more than a slight distortion against the stone, and even knowing they were there I found my ¡®eyes¡¯ involuntarily sliding off of them. They closed to within 200 feet of the Littans without being discovered.

    Sgt. Guar was facing down the hallway as his party discussed, shield up and facing the unexplored direction. His eyes continually scanned the hallway, refusing to get distracted by the chat. Because of the man¡¯s massive frame, he blocked most of the cramped corridor, which is why he was the only one to become a pin cushion.

    The tails of the Gekkogs whipped forward, and small portals appeared just ahead of their six-inch stingers. The stingers launched through the portals, reappearing an inch from Sgt. Guar. The hall was filled with a series of loud pops as the stingers broke the sound barrier and collided with Guar.

    A few stingers landed on the man¡¯s shield, but the Gekkogs were given ample time to aim and nine of the dozen projectiles thunked into his armor. There were small flashes of light when the first three landed, the stingers bouncing off and burying themselves deep into the wall from the ricochet. Another of the stingers burned what was left of the man¡¯s Shielding and I saw his body pulse as some Blessed stacks were burned. Only 4 of the stingers punctured through his thick armor and buried themselves in the muscular Littan beneath, eliciting a stoic rasp from the man when one hit him dead center of the neck.

    ¡°Damn, he¡¯s tough. How much damage do you think those did?¡±

    The rest of the Littan party began to respond. Captain Pio refreshed the party¡¯s Shielding and Sgt. Baltae positioned himself directly behind Sgt. Guar.

    [An average Warp Needle from an Abyssal Gekkog has a base damage of 110 Kinetic plus 30 Spatial and imposes 15 Bleeding along with 30 Toxicity. Against a target that cannot perceive them, another 62 damage with bonus Bleeding and Toxicity is added and the chance to critically strike is doubled.]

    I eyed Guar¡¯s armor. It was impossible to tell how much Physical DR the man had, but he¡¯d clearly been hurt. He still couldn¡¯t see his enemies, and more needles clinked off his shield, an occasional strike piercing his body. However, a quick bust of healing came from Captain Pio, and every needle that had disappeared into his flesh was pushed back out of the holes in his armor, clattering to the ground.

    Then one of the Gekkogs lost its shit.

    Abyssal Gekkog Hiss Hemsworth gains 1 stack of Cursed!

    Hiss Hemsworth has become Berserk!

    Just like with the Hounds, all of the Gekkogs rapidly gained stacks of Cursed. The Berserker started firing indiscriminately into its allies, who responded swiftly to deal with the traitor. Before they could recollect themselves, the Littan quartet rushed down the hallway. Sgt. Guar dropped to one knee and a swell of energy formed into a violet sphere before the spatial mage, Sgt. Baltae. It grew to the size of a bowling ball in under a second, then launched down the corridor. Another sphere immediately formed after, more than twice as fast, then fired behind its twin.

    As the first orb hurtled forth, Gekkogs were torn from the walls and ceiling, sucked into a mass around the orb, and carried down the hallway. Those that resisted the effect were pulled in by the second orb, sending all dozen Gekkogs flailing down the hall in a pile of shorn flesh and snapping bone.

    You have observed the Spatial Orb spell!

    Spatial Orb

    Dimensional

    Cost: 20 mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Dimensional Magic 20

    You create an orb that shoots out from you in a line extending a number of feet equal to 40 plus twice your Dimensional Magic skill level. Make an INT Spatial attack against all entities within 5 feet of the Orb¡¯s path.

    Entities hit by the Orb must make a STR or AGI check opposed by your INT. On failure, the entity is pulled with the orb for a distance of your choosing up to the end of the orb¡¯s range.

    Abyssal Gekkog Toejira has taken 151 Spatial damage!

    Abyssal Gekkog Geckachu has taken 125 Spatial damage!

    The first Gekkogs landed in a miserable clump 50 feet further down the hall and were then struck by the second orb as it deposited the smaller group of Gekkogs on top of them. None had been killed and were writhing as they tried to extricate themselves from one another, but Sgt. Guar was out for revenge.

    The heavy-armor fighter launched forward, his shield held in front as a mighty gust of wind buffeted his back. Every loping step covered 20 feet as his shield caught the gust like a fucking kite and helped surge him toward the enemy. Electricity began to arc from his body, striking the walls and leaving blackened scorch marks behind.

    Once he was only a few yards from the Gekkogs, he slammed his shield into the ground and the world went white as a dense network of lightning split the air, crackling out from the item. The bolts leapt between the Gekkogs, their muscles tensing and paralyzing them.

    Abyssal Gekkog Sir Licks-a-Lot has taken 140 Lightning damage!

    Sir Licks-a-Lot has been slain!

    The attack only lasted a split second. Afterward, the Gekkogs were little more than a smoking pile of burnt tissue.

    Guar¡¯s body lit up with Divine energy as Captain Pio cast Cleanse on the tank, then lit up twice more as she threw Heals into him. The Gekkogs dealt decent Toxicity and Bleeding, but I hadn¡¯t seen a single drop of blood leak out from Guar¡¯s armor. He may have been immune to Bleeding¨Clike myself¨Cbut he apparently wasn¡¯t immune to poison. Either way, despite all his defenses he¡¯d taken some decent damage. Of course, he¡¯d eaten 12 sneak attacks to the face and hadn¡¯t died. He was definitely robust.

    The Littans paused again, having a psychic conversation and reviewing their combat notifications. Before they had time to rest, Grotto was back to antagonizing them. Twenty-foot sections of the hallway began to shrink in sequence, once again forcing the party forward.

    ¡°You really like breaking your own Delve, don¡¯t you?¡±

    [These large environmental modifications barely take any effort due to the malleability of the Closet. A touch of mana and the dimensions of any room move at my whim, albeit slowly. Enhancing the speed of the alterations with a few weaves and an extra burst of power is simple.]

    I hadn¡¯t realized Grotto had been able to weaponize our ability to reshape the Closet quite so well. The walls moved inward like an iris closing, twisting on themselves and threatening to crush anyone who lingered. I doubted it would be enough to outright kill a Delver with decent Fortitude, but it would sure as hell get them stuck. More importantly, it kept the Littans from resting.

    ¡°Is there a time limit on this Delve?¡±

    [Six hours.]

    ¡°Damn, that¡¯s pretty short.¡±

    [It is a significant contributor to the difficulty rating.]

    ¡°And do you plan to allow them any rest during that time?¡±

    I felt a wave of amusement pour through our connection.

    [Absolutely not.]

    I refocused on the Littans, who moved at a jog to outpace the collapsing hallway. They¡¯d been fairly judicious with their use of stamina and mana, but if this level of intensity kept up for 6 entire hours, well¡­

    They better have good regen.

 173 - Surprise Mimicry

    The next section of the Delve was a dimensional maze. The hallway ended at a T-junction, each side of which led to a crossroad with 3 more potential paths to choose from.

    [There are 40 potential junctions. When a path is chosen it will lead to 1 of 3 additional junctions, with 1 junction having a 66 percent chance of being selected, the second having a 23 percent chance, and the last having 11 percent. The goal of the maze is to follow the junctions in a specific sequence, which will lead to the exit.]

    ¡°How do they know which junction to choose?¡±

    [The tablets in the cave wall of the Pound gave clues buried in the mythos of the Void King. Each junction has a unique arrangement of traps, decorations, mana monsters, and so on which relate to specific events in the Void King¡¯s life. An astute Delver will be able to determine the path with the best probability of leading the way forward.]

    ¡°So it¡¯s similar to the divine maze in The Descent, but with dimensional shenanigans.¡±

    [Yes, but choosing the correct path will continuously lead to more dangerous encounters.]

    ¡°They didn¡¯t have much time to look at those tablets. If they rely on trial and error, then all they have to do is try to keep repeating the junctions with the highest difficulty they¡¯ve found?¡±

    [It is possible to brute force the puzzle that way, but it will take much longer. Their current attempts at caution would cause them to run out of time.]

    They did not run out of time.

    Sgt. Baltae turned out to be something of an investigator. The spatial mage took the lead, paused briefly at each intersection to close his eyes, and then always picked the most optimal path. They had a few setbacks due to bad luck with the probabilities, but there was no way they could have done the maze any more efficiently. It took them around 2 hours, leaving them a little over 3 hours remaining.

    That didn¡¯t mean the maze didn¡¯t take anything out of them. Despite Sgt. Baltae¡¯s talent with memory, puzzle solving, and threat detection, his skill with neutralizing the traps they came across was underdeveloped compared to his ability to find them in the first place. His party relied on avoiding traps rather than disarming them.

    However, many of the traps were seemingly unavoidable, leading to Dimensional attacks, more collapsing walls, and waves of teleporting spiders that did little damage but loaded the Littans up with Toxicity, among other things. By the time they¡¯d escaped, three of them had taken significant damage. Captain Pio had burned a lot of mana on Heal, Shielding, and Cleanse, and the tank had dumped big chunks of stamina on AoE attacks.

    Sgt. Madel came out in the best shape. Her machine-gun attack speed didn¡¯t look like it relied on any techniques, so she could tear through enemies all day without running out of juice. Her flight skill and Speed kept her out of the way of much of the danger, and anytime something got close enough to attack her, she would disappear and stab it¨Cor something else¨Cin the back.

    The trade-off was that she didn¡¯t have any utility and was best equipped for dealing with 1 enemy at a time. She was a dedicated elite killer whose main contribution was inexhaustible single-target damage. Invaluable in many circumstances, but useless for drawn-out puzzles and traps. Even the waves of spiders were a bad matchup since there were hundreds of the creatures and she could kill at most 6 or 7 at a time, whereas Sgt. Guar and Sgt. Baltae could spam AoEs that hit everything within a certain radius.

    The stealth specialist never made an appearance. In fact, I¡¯d forgotten the person even existed by the time they were out of the probability maze.

    The maze terminated in a small palace filled with cursed loot. Baltae easily discerned the hazards the items posed, and the group was forced to rush through since several of the items had blanket effects that would slowly drain their maximum health through Wicked damage. That couldn¡¯t be healed, and would only recover through natural regeneration. Even potions didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°Where in the hells did you find all that cursed shit? Did you craft it all?¡±

    [Most are relics you recovered from The Mimic Delve while you recklessly looted entire chambers of their contents.]

    ¡°Hey, Etja and I looked those over. We left all the creepy paraphernalia behind and none of what we picked up was magical, as far as we could tell.¡±

    [They were drained of mana when you discovered them, and I suspect that is how The Mimic fed. After being refreshed, many had fascinating effects.]

    ¡°Shit. Were any of them mimics?¡±

    [Yes. Eleven of the items were mimics biding their time, but they became inert once you defeated The Mimic.]

    ¡°Ah. Good idea containing all the cursed stuff in one place, I guess.¡±

    [The Blighted Vault of the Void King is one of my favorite areas and includes a ledger that lists each item and the forbidden realm in which it was discovered. It is a shame they did not spend more time inside. I was unable to test some of the relics and was curious about their effects.]

    ¡°Good thing they, uh, didn¡¯t let their inner lootbugs cloud their judgment.¡±

    Having avoided the perils of careless greed¨Ca vice even the most talented and discerning Delver might sometimes fall prey to¨Cthe Littans advanced into the most hostile chamber yet.

    The floor was a field of jagged spikes, tipped with space-warping energy that would shred even the thickest of armor. It was untraversable through normal means, and I suspected the Littans would struggle with this one. Beyond the field of spikes was a lake that abutted a slightly curved wall, with no obvious exits to the arena-sized room. To make matters worse, the ceiling was 200 feet above, covered in large stalactites, and the home of two dozen more Abyssal Gekkogs.

    The party was given two minutes to hang out on a small platform, survey the room, and plan. Then, needles started warping into their flesh.

    Captain Pio covered the group with more Shielding and Sgt. Guar spawned a dome of energy that emanated from his roundshield and created temporary cover. Unfortunately, the Gekkogs didn¡¯t care about the transparent obstruction, and their needles portalled through Guar¡¯s countermeasure without issue. It was the first time I¡¯d seen one of the Littans make a serious tactical error.

    The Gekkogs were also smarter than I¡¯d initially given them credit for. Without Guar serving as a meat shield for the others, the Gekkogs focused half of their attacks on Sgt. Baltae, whose Shielding immediately shattered and whose body glowed blue as Mana Barrier soaked damage and probably saved the man¡¯s life. The other half focused on Captain Pio, but the woman was much tankier than she looked, blocking most of the attacks with her Shield and eating the rest without any visible reaction, even when needles skewered through her limbs.

    Lt. Madel rocketed toward the ceiling, her body stuttering in and out of existence as portals shunted her forward to augment her substantial velocity. She made it to the first Gekkog in under a second, slaughtering it with 3 attacks before disappearing and reappearing next to another Gekkog which she eviscerated with the same ease. The creatures were using Optical Camouflage, but Madel had some way of perceiving them despite this.

    The Gekkogs redirected and concentrated fire on Lt. Madel. Despite the woman¡¯s insane Speed and nigh-miraculous capacity to DODGE, she couldn¡¯t avoid everything and started taking hits. However, her sacrifice took the pressure off the group below, allowing Pio to Heal and Cleanse. The surprise attack was much more effective than the last round of Gekkogs, and Sgt. Baltae was on the ground, bleeding heavily as Pio concentrated her efforts on keeping the man from death¡¯s cold embrace.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Sgt. Baltae was the team¡¯s main source of ranged damage, and with him out of the fight it was up to Madel to fly between each Gekkog and deal with it personally. Guar took a position over Pio and Baltae, obscuring the pair from sight. The Gekkogs could hit anything they could see, which is how they avoided Guar¡¯s dome, but couldn¡¯t see through the wall of metal-clad Littan.

    Lt. Madel finally used a technique, and a dozen copies of her throwing daggers fanned out in front of her, striking 3 of the Gekkogs. She disappeared and caught one of the knives as it flew, redirecting it back into the Gekkog it had missed, then thrust her shortsword into its neck. As it fell, she was already blurring to the next Gekkog, connecting with a 3-hit combo of hammer, spear, and blade.

    She began spamming her dagger attack and moving off Gekkogs before they were dead, letting the Bleeding and Toxicity finish them. She used the time to make attacks on the others, despite needles raining into her from the ones dying to her DoTs. She¡¯d taken some serious damage, and the moment she¡¯d cleared the enemies she hurtled toward the ground, blood pouring from a dozen wounds. Pio hit her with a Cleanse as soon as she was in range, and Madel crashed into the platform in a heap, nearly sliding off of it and into the spikes. A streak of vomit ran across the floor as Madel¡¯s body tried to purge itself of an onslaught of poison.

    Pio burned another Cleanse and pushed 2 Heals into the Lieutenant, then knelt to the ground, fingers rubbing at her temple.

    I thought over the encounter and how my party might have handled it. Out of the gate, See and Reveal would have pierced the camo. Based on the damage numbers Grotto had given me, both Varrin and I had enough defense and DR to be nearly immune to the Kinetic damage. Xim wouldn¡¯t have struggled either. All three of us had bonuses to resisting poison, and I was immune to Bleeding.

    Next, everyone in the party had a way to deal with enemies 200 feet above us. Three of us could fly, Nuralie could teleport in the dim cavern, and four of us could output serious ranged damage. The sneak attack might have spelled trouble for Etja, but between her Mana Barrier and my Life Warden, she wouldn¡¯t have ended up in as dire straits as Sgt. Baltae.

    It wasn¡¯t a fair comparison, of course. We had significantly higher stats than this level 15 party, and our experience with platinum Delves prepared us for this kind of obnoxious setup. The Littans were currently having a serious psychic conversation, and I expected it was going something like ¡°Fuck! This shit is bananas! B-A-N-A-N-A-S!¡±

    While the encounter revealed some shortcomings in the Littan party comp, they¡¯d ultimately had the tools needed to overcome it. Sgt. Guar wasn¡¯t in much danger from the Gekkogs, and had he not been defending Baltae, I was certain he¡¯d found some way to launch himself to the ceiling. The man could probably jump that high or just start chucking his hammer as any sensible Blunt wielder should.

    There also hadn¡¯t been any Cursed stacks flying around, so the stealth fighter was MIA, making them a 4-person team for the fight.

    ¡°What do you think?¡± I asked Grotto.

    [They excel at close combat and mid-range fighting but struggle with long-range encounters. Sgt. Baltae has exceptional perception skills, but it did not extend far enough to notice the Gekkogs before they attacked. Each party member has a narrow focus and is very good at their individual tasks, but if only one member has the appropriate skills for a fight, they rely on Captain Pio¡¯s support and healing to endure. If Pio were to be neutralized, I believe the team would quickly fall apart. She is, however, quite difficult to kill as you can see.]

    ¡°How do they compare to other golds you¡¯ve dealt with?¡±

    [That encounter would have obliterated an average gold team at their level. Remember that this is rated as a gold Expansion Delve. That puts it on par with a similarly leveled platinum. Despite each Littan being highly specialized, their abilities have strong synergy and enough overlap to have some redundancy. If Lt. Madel had been unable to respond, the loss of Sgt. Baltae for the fight would have likely spelled their doom.]

    Captain Pio pulled out a mana potion and drank it, then handed a stamina potion to Sgt. Guar. The Littans were finally getting a few minutes to collect themselves.

    ¡°No more forced advancement? Let me guess, you¡¯re going to collapse that platform they¡¯re sitting on. The terrain barely mattered, other than forcing them to stay in one place.¡±

    [There should have been another wave. One moment.]

    I allowed my vision to mirror Grotto¡¯s, following him toward the edge of the cavern¡¯s roof, where several recesses led to more Gekkog hidey holes. There was a burrow within where the Gekkogs made their nests.

    It was total pandemonium.

    Another 13 Gekkogs were in a complete battle royale. Some were Berserked, others had full-blown Psychotic debuffs, and several were fighting one another for no discernable reason. The ones that still had control of their faculties were either Weakened, Paranoid, Feared, or Paralyzed, and every Gekkog in the burrow had stacks of Cursed growing completely out of control.

    Amidst the frenzy, only one Gekkog was uninjured, and it stalked between the others while avoiding the fight. I tried to bring up its notifications, but nothing came back. I couldn¡¯t even identify it. Once the other 12 Gekkogs were Cursed to shit and half-dead, it opened its mouth and fired an attack spell at the Gekkog that looked to be in the best shape.

    You have observed the Bog Standard Psychic Blast spell!

    Bog Standard Psychic Blast

    Spiritual

    Cost: 5 mana

    Requirements: Spiritual Magic

    Make a CHA spell attack against an entity you can perceive within a number of feet of you equal to 20 plus your Spiritual Magic skill level. This attack deals Psychic damage.

    [That is not one of our minions.]

    After firing its attack, the imposter deftly slipped behind another Gekkog. The Psychic attack tore at the soul of its target Gekkog, which spun in response and searched for the source of the assault. It locked onto the Gekkog the imposter hid behind, screeched, and fired a stinger into its ally¡¯s giant mouth. This sort of whodunnit combat went on for another minute until the imposter finished off the final survivor. It then began rooting around the burrow, digging through nests and poking at the bodies.

    ¡°Is it¡­ trying to loot right now?¡±

    This was certainly the missing fifth member of the Littan party, but nothing I had could pierce the disguise. See had no effect, and not even its soul looked out of place compared to the normal Gekkogs. The Gekkog also drifted in and out of my awareness, even though I intently followed its movements. My mind kept pushing the idea that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on in front of me, despite how absurd that thought was.

    Eventually, the Gekkog finished its perusal, and its body began to shrink. Over the next minute, it slowly morphed into a small blue bird. It spread its wings and took off. Like a fly darting out of my vision, it disappeared.

    You have observed the Mimicry spell!

    Mimicry

    Physical - Deific

    Cost: 20+ mana reserved

    Requirements: WIS 20, CHA 20, Dimensional Magic 10, Physical Magic 10, Subterfuge 10, Shapeshifter Evolution, Keeper of Silence Achievement

    Choose a person or object you can perceive. As a 1-minute activity, you can manipulate your body to take on the physical characteristics of that entity, duplicating not only its form but all materials that comprise it.

    Entities with a WIS lower than your WIS cannot discern the difference between your modified form and the original person or object from physical characteristics alone. Entities with a WIS lower than your CHA automatically assume you are the person or object unless their attention is called to the deception. Even then, they must pass a WIS check opposed by your CHA to have the assumption broken. Otherwise, they say, ¡°Huh, must have been the wind,¡± and move on.

    If the person or object has a volume more than 20% larger or smaller than your own, you may reserve additional mana up to your Physical Magic skill level during this 1-minute activity. For every 10 additional mana reserved, you may adjust your volume by an additional cubic foot. (For reference, an average humanoid has a volume of ~2-3 cubic feet.)

    ¡°They¡¯re a fucking mimic!¡±

    [I was not aware of this spell.]

    ¡°I mean¡­ it¡¯s the ¡®I¡¯m a fucking mimic¡¯ spell.¡±

    [I understand the concept, but I have never seen a Delver gain the full capabilities of a mimic.]

    I read over the text of the spell again.

    ¡°Even with all this, it doesn¡¯t explain how they slide in and out of perception, or why it¡¯s so easy to ignore them. If anything, they¡¯re an even better mimic than the mimics we fought.¡±

    [They likely have an entire build centered around the skill. Evolutions such as Master of Disguise or Grey Man would be excellent in combination.]

    ¡°They infiltrate, curse everyone, then walk away with no one the wiser. It¡¯s not an illusion or mental effect, so resistances don¡¯t matter. Hells, I don¡¯t think it could even be targeted with Dispel once they¡¯ve transformed. Scary.¡±

    [My query on the Keeper of Silence achievement has it listed as a level 10 special Delve reward. It replaces the active skill option Enhance Attribute granted by the Physical Magic evolution Shapeshifter.]

    ¡°While the rest of their party struggled, dude or dudette just walked in and killed a whole extended family of Gekkogs. Didn¡¯t take a single point of damage.¡±

    [Yes. The strategy was quite effective against this enemy type. Let us see how they fare against the Atrocidile Titan.]

    ¡°The what now?¡±

    The lake beyond the field of spikes erupted, revealing a too-human face stretched across a 20-foot-wide, football-shaped skull. Bulbous orange eyes rolled in their sockets as the creature let out a familiar bellowing moan, like the dying screams of a ten-thousand-pound infant.

    Abyssal Atrocidile Titan: Abomination, Grade 20

    ¡°Hmm. It¡¯s bigger than I remember.¡±

 174 - The Raaaaage Caaaaage!

    The Abyssal Atrocidile Titan was four times the size of the Atrocidile I¡¯d fought during my Creation Delve. The creature¡¯s pale flesh was covered in rows of translucent scales with the texture of poorly maintained fingernails. Two humanoid arms reached out from the water and dug thick fingers into the cavern¡¯s stone floor as though it were made of loose sand. Dark liquid dripped from its widely stretched mouth, filled with an ocean-blue tongue darting behind flat, gnashing teeth.

    It rose, six reptilian legs lining its sides and bulging with muscle. Its feet emerged and stepped down onto the liquid surface beneath it. Soon enough, the creature stood atop the small lake like it was a stage of glass, its hands the only part of it making contact with solid ground.

    The haunting scream it emitted sent ripples across the lake and did more than just announce the beast. A burst of water vapor propagated throughout the room as a pressure wave rocked everything within. The walls trembled and stalactites fell from above. The sound was enough to chill my bones, and I wasn¡¯t even there.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna call you Nottagator.¡±

    Abyssal Atrocidile Titan Nottagator smells blood!

    Nottagator gains 10 stacks of Rage!

    Nottagator uses Titan¡¯s Roar!

    Nottagator spends 20 stamina to increase Titan¡¯s Roar¡¯s range!

    Nottagator¡¯s STR attacks are maximized against smaller targets!

    Despite being caught by surprise, the Littans were quick to respond. After downing his potion, Guar returned to watching the room with his shield raised. When the Atrocidile appeared, the tank immediately activated the barrier that had failed against the Gekkogs. However, unlike the Gekkogs, the Atrocidile¡¯s attack broke against the fortification. The barrier exploded to annihilate the pressure wave, kicking up dust and debris to either side of the Littans.

    While Guar¡¯s action saved the group from damage, there was more to the Atrocidile¡¯s attack than an attempt at bodily harm. It reached into the depths of the target¡¯s evolutionary programming, tearing at the wires that governed a hard-coded flight response. I remembered the sickening terror that sound evoked in my own group, and how it had ultimately resulted in Chilla Stormreiss¡¯s death when she got separated from us.

    Guar¡¯s eyes darkened in concentration as he resisted the Fear effect, his body glowing as he burned stacks of Blessed to shore up his defenses. Captain Pio sprung up from where she¡¯d been squatting to treat Sgt. Baltae. The sonic attack would have caught her unaware, but Guar¡¯s quick reaction had saved her. She didn¡¯t even flinch under the mental attack, and threads of light spread from her body to each of her nearby allies.

    Lieutenant Madel was still lying on the ground and she flinched when the Fear hit, but her body blurred and she instantly regained her composure. She floated up to hover and scowl at the monster. Sgt. Baltae rolled onto his side to stare at the creature, and the tether between himself and Captain Pio bulged, then burst into mist. I wasn¡¯t sure what I was seeing, but whatever it was had allowed him to resist the mental attack as well.

    I also did not spot any small blue birds flapping for the hills, so I assumed the stealthy Littan mimic also ignored the ability somehow.

    [They have a robust suite of tools to augment their mental defenses. Good. I was worried this battle might be too quick to gather useful information.]

    ¡°What did they all use? Can you see their notifications?¡±

    Grotto and I had our Psychic chatter turned up to max speed, thoughts flying between us ten times faster than speech would have allowed.

    [Most of their notifications are obscured to me, but I have seen more than enough Delvers to know what happened.]

    ¡°Oh, care to share? Actually, can you tell me what¡¯s going on in real time? That¡¯d be helpful.¡±

    The two sides of the fight had entered into a 1-second stare down as the Littans waited for everyone on their team to get to their feet and while Nottagator came to terms with the fact that its flashy opener had been completely negated.

    [You wish that I narrate the battle as it occurs, using my superior knowledge and experience to elucidate the most salient points?]

    ¡°Fuck yeah, be the fight announcer.¡±

    [Hmm¡­ Very well.]

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [GROTTO]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Squad Pio vs Nottagator, The Void King¡¯s Pet Lizard

    READY?

    FIGHT!

    *****

    The stalemate between Nottagator and the Littans ends when I deactivate the minor weaves holding their platform aloft, plunging three of the Littans down to the steel spikes below, their tips crackling with space-warping Dimensional energies!

    The Littans have shown incredible hubris in attempting my Expansion Delve without any information on the hazards contained within, but I must admit their performance so far has not been abysmal. Regardless, as a whole, this group displays an abject lack of Agility, and I estimate that the tank, party leader, and the spatial mage have failed to invest even a single point into the stat. The platform collapsing should be a simple pit trap¨Cthe first hazard any Delve Core learns to facilitate¨Cbut for this group it is possible that such a simple measure is their undoing!

    Sgt. Guar decides to eat the damage from the spikes, failing to use even the simplest of mitigating abilities to prevent the damage! Regardless of the Littan¡¯s intense bravado, the harm suffered is minimal. His robust mana-woven armor halts the spikes before penetrating his meatbag and his high Fortitude score provides a counter to the Dimensional damage archetype.

    Captain Pio burns through Blessed stacks to render herself immune to the trick, twisting her body as her chest strikes a spike to land on her feet, recovering from an otherwise miserable display of athleticism. While Blessed is a potent resource often reserved for extreme situations, an astute observer will notice that Captain Pio has gained at least 1 stack of Blessed every time she grants Blessed to an ally, and Captain Pio grants Blessed to her allies with practically every breath. Yara the Godqueen must have a great deal of free time on her hands to issue so much favor to a single devotee and her party.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Sgt. Baltae uses Telekinesis to keep himself above the trap, to no one¡¯s surprise. Spatial mages are notoriously difficult to pin down with movement-related perils. Sgt. Madel continues to abuse her Heroic Flight passive to avoid ground-based threats, as she has done the entire Delve. It is unfortunate for her party that she is focused almost entirely on Agility, and thus lacks the Strength to carry anyone heavier than a moderately full bag of sand. She might have been able to save them a great deal of trouble otherwise.

    Having conquered the mighty and ever present foe of gravity, the party of Littans is now faced with the wrath of the Abyssal Atrocidile Titan, Nottagator!

    Sgt. Guar manages to take the initiative, leaping across the field of spikes the moment his body makes contact with the ground! He flings himself hundreds of feet, hammer winding above his head and lands with a forceful blow to Nottagator¡¯s skull!

    Guar¡¯s body erupts in Divine might as he thrusts Blessed into the strike. His body becomes a blur and the hammer lands again, striking Nottagator in the same exact location, showing off what must be the Zeal passive. Guar can attack multiple times in an instant so long as he is willing to burn through stacks of Blessed! Not only that, but each attack lands with the force of his deity, imbuing Holy damage into every hit!

    Sadly for the ardent fool, Nottagator laughs in the face of Yara¡¯s paladin!

    ¡°Nottagator doesn¡¯t seem to be laughing as much as it¡¯s screaming at the universe with slightly less hatred than it did before.¡±

    [Do not interrupt me. I was just starting to get into the flow of things.]

    ¡°Oh. Sorry. Please continue.¡±

    Nottagator entered this fight with 210 Shielding from its Biostatic Field Fortitude evolution and has an astounding health pool of 3185. While Sgt. Guar¡¯s strikes stripped Nottagator of most of its Shielding, he failed to inflict a single point of damage to the creature¡¯s health. Each of Guar¡¯s strikes normally apply stacking debuffs to the target leading to Stun, Immobilize, or knock-down, but Nottagator is entirely immune to debuffs if the attack fails to deal damage!

    Muahahahahahahaha!

    While Sgt. Guar is busy delivering himself to the Atrocidile¡¯s maw, Captain Pio struggles with the terrain. She¡¯s avoided damage from the spikes, but lacks any serious movement abilities to help her navigate the difficult path before her. Regardless, the party leader is able to stumble her way through the obstacles orders of magnitude faster than an ordinary person by flexing what must be a Speed stat of at least 40! Not only that, but her body lights up as she grants herself Celerity, doubling her movement speed. It will not keep her from twisting an ankle, but it will certainly allow her to twist them much faster!

    Meanwhile, Lt. Madel rushes the Atrocidile alongside Guar, flying around to the monster¡¯s flank and activating her Weapon Master combo. Each time Lt. Madel makes an attack, she is able to make another near-instantaneous attack with a different weapon so long as it is governed by a different weapon intrinsic skill. She cannot use the same weapon skill more than once, but the effect has a rolling cooldown of 6 seconds, allowing her to become a thresher of death with little or no stamina use!

    Madel¡¯s fist glances off Nottagator¡¯s hide, her shortsword fails to find purchase, her spear is repelled, her throwing dagger bounces away, and her hammer strike lacks the force necessary to take advantage of the weapon¡¯s armor penetration!

    This thresher¡¯s blades are too dull to matter!

    Not only that, but each strike only serves as a whetstone for Nottagator¡¯s own seething hatred!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Rage!

    Nottagator is Berserk!

    Nottagator gains 5 stacks of Rage!

    While I am certain Lt. Madel has many more tricks up her sleeve, this opening combination exposes one weakness of her build philosophy. She is capable of outputting consistent damage with little regard to resource expenditure, but when she comes up against a foe with extremely high resilience, she suffers. It does not matter how many times she strikes if her hits fail to deal even a modicum of damage! She will need to hunt for critical strikes to be effective!

    Having had a taste of what the enemy can do, Nottagator is finally prepared to ruuummmbbbllleee!

    Nottagator uses a Haste charge!

    Nottagator gains Haste!

    Nottagator uses Adrenaline Rush to gain an immediate action!

    Nottagator uses Titan¡¯s Bark!

    Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

    Nottagator releases a devastating Sonic attack against the man committing violence on its artfully grown visage. A powerful pressure wave bursts forth from its mouth, hitting Sgt. Guar point blank with enough force to cause severe hemorrhaging in the internal organs of even incredibly stalwart warriors. Sgt. Guar has his shield up and is ready for the attack, but the sonic boom burns one use of his Impregnable passive, which prevents damage up to twice a minute!

    The temporary invulnerability might save the Littan from damage, but it is completely irrelevant for the on-hit effect of sending Guar sailing across the battlefield toward an agonizing encounter with the Dimensionally tipped spikes! Guar comes crashing down on the lethal instruments, armor denting on impact and shattering stone as the spikes are ripped free of the ground. That likely hurt a great deal!

    But Sgt. Guar¡¯s suffering does not end there. Before the Littan has even hit the ground, Nottagator is already prepared for its next attack. It reaches out with a twisted, humanoid hand, large enough to lift an entire horse-drawn carriage, and brings it down onto the ground in front of it!

    Nottagator uses Snatch!

    Nottagator¡¯s STR attack is maximized!

    Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

    The move looks like a clean miss at first glance¨CSgt. Guar is not anywhere close to Nottagator¨Cbut this Atrocidile does not have the Abyssal prefix for no reason. Space twists and the force of Nottagator¡¯s devastating impact is transferred to Sgt. Guar, crushing the Littan into the ground in a cloud of stone dust and a torrent of fresh gravel!

    Guar is one tough Littan, but this burns the second use of his Impregnable passive, opening the man up for true pain and humiliation!

    Nottagator successfully grapples Sgt. Guar!

    You did not think that a move called Snatch merely caused damage did you? Varrin would most likely recognize this move, as he is prone to being grabbed up by giant enemies such as this Atrocidile Titan.

    Sgt. Guar blinks out of existence and reappears in Nottagator¡¯s grip. The Atrocidile squeezes the man with enough force to grind boulders into sand and exercises its expertise with the Unarmed skill!

    Nottagator has Paralyzed Sgt. Guar!

    With all of his defensive cooldowns burned for the moment, Guar can do little against the paralyzing grasp of the Titan. What¡¯s more, Nottagator is not even close to finished!

    Nottagator uses Titan¡¯s Bite!

    Nottagator¡¯s STR attack is maximized!

    Nottagator gains +22 to its attack from Rage!

    Nottagator¡¯s Rage causes it to ignore Physical DR!

    Nottagator spends 50 stamina to increase its damage by 100!

    Sgt. Guar assaulted Nottagator¡¯s face and Nottagator is letting the Littan know just how it feels about that insult with pure brutality! It opens its mouth wide and its gnashing teeth clamp down on Guar. I can hear the sound of his armor twisting from here! Screams of misery and distress fill the air!

    ¡°He¡¯s not screaming at all.¡±

    [Silence!]

    Nottagator uses the leverage created to slam Sgt. Guar back into the ground, rolling its head from side to side in an effort to dismember the Littan, still trapped in the Atrocidile¡¯s jaws! I would say that Nottagator has gotten a taste for the Littan¡¯s blood, but Guar is immune to Bleeding! It may be the only thing allowing him to clutch tightly to his mortal coil at the moment!

    And if that wasn¡¯t enough, Nottagator uses Afterimage!

    Afterimage

    You gain a number of Afterimage charges equal to the number of SPD evolutions you possess. Whenever you take any action, you can spend one Afterimage charge to repeat that action instantly and at no cost.

    Afterimage charges have a 1-hour consecutive cooldown.

    Nottagator is doing it again! The Atrocidile hits Guar with a full bodyslam at ten times speed, smashing him into the ground and chewing the man into oblivion! These Littans are only getting a taste of the insatiable hunger of the beast, and Squad Pio is already crumbling!

    Nottagator¡¯s display is beautiful in its barbarity! Is it even conceivable for the Littans to recover?

 175 - Planar or Spatial? The Subtle Nuance of Portal Magic

    All is not lost for the Littan party. Nottagator¡¯s merciless combo may have looked ruinous, but Sgt. Guar had Shielding granted to him by Captain Pio. On top of a health pool that I have judged to be close to 2000 and liberal use of his defensive buffs, Guar is not yet relieved of his living role in this mortal combat! The tank still has a lot of space before Nottagator hands the Void King Sgt. Guar¡¯s head on a platter!

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    While Nottagator tears into Guar, the rest of his team does not merely stand idly by watching the massacre. Staff Sgt. Baltae has taken to the air, keeping himself aloft with Telekinesis. The spatial mage has begun casting a spell and releases 4 bolts of Mystic Force at Nottagator. Given how severely the man¡¯s mana was drained by the use of Mana Barrier during the fight with the Gekkogs, this may be the mage¡¯s first and final contribution to this combat!

    Force Bolt

    Mystical

    Cost: 10 mana + Variable

    Requirements: INT 20, Mystical Magic 20

    Create a bolt of force that seeks out your enemies. Make an INT Mystical attack against an entity you can perceive within a number of feet equal to 40 plus twice your Mystical Magic skill level with a bonus to damage equal to your Mystical Magic skill level. This bolt will seek out its target, curving around all obstruction.

    You may create an additional number of bolts up to the number of Mystical Magic evolutions you possess for an additional 10 mana each. Each bolt can be assigned a target individually.

    Despite being the party¡¯s weak link last fight, Sgt. Baltae is once again showing his prowess as a tactical fighter. Force is Nottagator¡¯s lowest defense, and a shower of quick attacks is often an exploitable weakness of tanks that rely on high-cooldown defensive abilities, as demonstrated by Sgt. Guar¡¯s near-evisceration.

    In case it was not clear from the Titan¡¯s name, Nottagator¡¯s highest stat is Fortitude, and its seeming immunity to damage is in no small part due to cooldowns similar to Guar¡¯s. High Fortitude also means that Baltae¡¯s normal repertoire of Dimensional attacks is significantly less effective against the beast, making the use of Force an even wiser choice. Let us see how effective it truly is!

    As Nottagator ravages Guar, the Force Bolts thunder through the air, but amalgamated chunks of stone launch into the sky to intercept three of them! The bolts hit and explode through the rock, barely slowing on their way toward Nottagator. This attack has some significant punch behind it, more than we have seen thus far from the spatial mage! Still, some of the power behind the attacks is lost as they strike the defensive ability, and when they land upon Nottagator¡¯s thick hide, the effect is minimal!

    Nottagator takes 11 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 21 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 18 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 51 Force damage!

    Nottagator gains 4 stacks of Rage!

    While Force is Nottagator¡¯s lowest defense, it is still higher than most of the adverse team¡¯s Physical defenses! Still, Baltae¡¯s attack did its job and deprived Nottagator of one of its defensive abilities and¨C What¡¯s this? Sgt. Baltae is repeating the attack! More bolts fly out, pressuring Nottagator to spend more cooldowns!

    Nottagator uses Face Tank and gains 70 DR All for one attack!

    Nottagator uses Face Tank and gains 70 DR All for one attack!

    Nottagator uses Face Tank and gains 70 DR All for one attack!

    Nottagator uses Face Tank and gains 70 DR All for one attack!

    Force Bolt fails to deal damage!

    Nottagator gains 4 stacks of Rage!

    While Baltae has certainly made an incredible contribution to his team¡¯s chance of victory by shredding Nottagator¡¯s mitigation, the spatial mage is clearly out of juice. He is barely capable of keeping himself afloat using Telekinesis. That man would do well to retreat, lest he fall into the pit of deadly spikes without the benefit of his Mana Barrier.

    Let us hope he remains and tests his Luck. The Atrocidile Titan is not cheap to feed.

    ¡°Wait. What have you been feeding it?¡±

    [Irrelevant!]

    While bolts rain from the sky onto Nottagator¡¯s back, the filthy curse mage makes themself known! Which is to say that status effects and stacks of Cursed have begun to appear from nowhere. I am still unable to find them at the moment.

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Cursed!

    Nottagator gains 5 stacks of Rage!

    Nottagator fails its WIS check! Nottagator is Paralyzed!

    Nottagator gains 3 stacks of Cursed!

    Nottagator gains 5 stacks of Rage!

    Nottagator spends 10 stacks of Rage to become immune to Paralyzed for 1 minute!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Cursed!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Cursed!

    Nottagator resists Fear with its Atrocidile racial bonus!

    Nottagator fails its WIS check! Nottagator becomes Psychotic!

    Nottagator gains 3 stacks of Cursed!

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Nottagator gains 5 stacks of Rage!

    Nottagator spends 10 stacks of Rage to become immune to Psychosis for 1 minute!

    Nottagator gains 1 stack of Cursed!

    Nottagator takes 86 Psychic damage!

    Nottagator fails its WIS check!

    Nottagator is immune to Psychosis!

    An incredible battle of wills is happening between Nottagator and the cowardly hidden curse mage! The curse mage clearly has passives or other buffs that increase the Cursed stacks they apply. They also punish targets for cleansing debuffs by applying more Cursed in retaliation. Meanwhile, Nottagator gains Rage whenever a debuff is successfully applied to it and can then burn those stacks to purge itself of the debuffs! The ability is not limitless, and Nottagator can only cleanse itself so fast, but it is enough to hold off the curse mage¡¯s craven attempts to manipulate the beast from the shadows!

    Although Nottagator has prevented itself from becoming Paralyzed, Psychotic, or Feared, it can do little to stymie the flood of Cursed stacks building up on it.

    Cursed: Whenever a Cursed entity makes an attack or contest, they receive a -6 penalty for each stack of Cursed.

    Cursed may appear to be a death sentence for Nottagator, but the debuff includes hidden soft caps normally overlooked since it is difficult to run up against them.

    This effect has diminishing returns when reducing the attack or contest below the base value of [Attribute] + [Intrinsic Skill].

    With 9 stacks of Cursed, Nottagator will receive a penalty of up to 54 points to its attacks and checks, but any further stacks of Cursed will do little to halt the monster¡¯s onslaught! Still an incredible blow to the beast¡¯s combat effectiveness, but Nottagator has plenty of other ways to make its enemies suffer!

    ¡°Well, Grotto, I gotta say, this is a defensive battle if I¡¯ve ever seen one. Squad Pio is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Nottagator and has managed to tickle its hide for less than 10 percent of its total health. Nottagator is also struggling, and although it got some good licks in against Sgt. Guar, Captain Pio is closing in fast with Heals, Shielding, and Cleanse to get rid of that nasty Paralyzed status. Something on this battlefield has to change quickly or we¡¯re gonna be in it for the long haul.¡±

    [While I agree with the thrust of your analysis, Arlo, I disagree with your conclusion. Squad Pio is putting up a competent enough showing, but you have failed to account for their low resource pools. The team has been through a gauntlet of endless traps and sneak attacks with little to no rest in between, and the consequences of their lackluster regeneration are beginning to show.]

    [Sgt. Baltae no longer has enough mana to meaningfully contribute to the fight, Pio has been casting Heal and support spells nearly nonstop, and Guar has been forced to serve as the party¡¯s primary source of AoE damage to the detriment of his stamina pool. It is difficult to know where the gutless curse mage stands, but I suspect they are suffering as well, given how many curses they are throwing around and especially after soloing that den of Gekkogs.]

    [The only party member in good shape is likely Lt. Madel, who appears to have a Fortitude in the mid-30¡¯s. However, she has yet to display any abilities that take significant advantage of her large stamina pool. That is 300 points worth of expendable resources the team is not making use of.]

    As predicted by the unsolicited commentary of the Delve¡¯s co-administrator, Captain Pio is casting Cleanse to rid Guar of the Paralyzed status. Pio also grants herself Haste and hits Guar with 2 uses of Heal, which will return Sgt. Guar to a full complement of Blessed stacks. He will need those if he plans to survive Nottagator¡¯s grip. The beast is suffering from a large number of Cursed stacks, but my money is on the Atrocidile when it comes to a raw contest of Strength.

    In an odd shift in strategy, Lt. Madel is backing off from the Atrocidile and making her way toward the edge of the arena. It appears she is having a psychic conversation with Sgt. Baltae, who is urging her to change position. The Atrocidile is once again tearing into Guar, who receives Shielding from Pio¨Cwhich is immediately shredded by Nottagator¨Conly to be refreshed by Sgt. Guar himself using a Heavy Armor evolution! But it is still not enough to save him from having a third of his health bitten off by the Atrocidile!

    And with that health goes the man¡¯s arm! Sgt. Guar is down a limb! The Atrocidile feasts on the flesh of its foe, roaring in delight at the vengeful carnage!

    Sgt. Baltae teleports to the edge of the arena, holding himself above the surface of the water with Telekinesis. A small bird lands on his shoulder, the pusillanimous Littan mimic finally showing themself. The mimic uses Scapegoat on Captain Pio, causing the Atrocidile to become Distracted and abandon its assault on Guar. Guar crashes down to the ground, and Baltae begins pulling the injured man toward the edge of the cavern with Telekinesis, aided by Lt. Madel¡¯s meager Strength as she swoops in to help carry the party¡¯s tank.

    ¡°I have no idea what they¡¯re trying to do. Are they going to burrow through the wall?¡±

    [That would be impossible. The Delve is built to abut the edge of the dimensional space on the opposite side of the Closet from your living quarters. That wall is the edge of the Closet, and nothing exists outside of it.]

    ¡°I mean, I can survive in a vacuum. Maybe they can as well?¡±

    [You do not understand. There is nothing on the other side of that wall. It is a non-space, devoid of even the fabric that makes up reality. In this dimension, the Closet is all that exists. Beyond that, the System restricts all long-range planar travel while within a Delve. Even if Sgt. Baltae were able to cross dimensional boundaries, he will be unable to use that capability within the Pocket Delve. I also doubt he has enough mana to attempt anything so intensive.]

    In a surprising twist, Captain Pio shows herself as a capable defensive fighter! Her shield is not just for show, but withstands a punishing series of attacks from Nottagator while the rest of her team is in full retreat! Chunks of her health are peeled away while bursts of healing keep her in one piece. It turns out she is not just a healer, but an acceptably talented off-tank!

    A heavy swipe comes in from Captain Pio¡¯s left. She leaps into the air and angles her shield to take the hit. Nottagator connects and sends Pio hurtling through the air. Incredibly, Captain Pio¡¯s flight is taking her directly toward her allies! She smashes against the invincible dimensional boundary, her body crumpling against the implacable wall. She holds onto consciousness as she falls, splashing down and resurfacing beside her group. A fierce psychic exchange occurs, with Baltae gesturing vigorously at the wall.

    ¡°Captain!¡± the man shouts, breaking their vigilant silence for the first time. ¡°Please, trust me! There is something here!¡±

    The Atrocidile spins to find its prey, then rushes across the water toward the group. It closes the distance in under a second! Baltae¡¯s hand is on the wall, but I have no idea what he is trying to accomplish! He casts a spell!

    Worm Tunnel

    Dimensional

    Cost: 5 mana

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic

    Create a temporary tunnel through a mundane substance no thicker than 40 plus twice your Dimensional Magic skill level in feet. This tunnel can be traversed in a single step, regardless of the thickness. The tunnel lasts for a number of hours equal to the number of Dimensional Magic evolutions you have but can be ended at will.

    It¡­ it works? A tunnel forms at the boundary of the dimensional space! The Littans are flooding through it! They are making their escape to an unknown location!

    ¡°Grotto, what the fuck is through that portal?¡±

    [It is technically not a portal, but compressed space. Shortcut, for example, is planar magic, whereas this is entirely spatial in nature. It is a subtle, yet important distinction.]

    ¡°Grotto! Why do I see plants through that portal? Plants, steamy water, and a carefully cultivated atmosphere of sublime relaxation?! Grotto?!¡±

    [Curious. It appears that the edge of this side of the Closet adjoins the edge of the opposite side of the Closet. Rather than there being nothing on the other side of the wall, it is a continuous self-contained spatial loop separated by a normally impenetrable barrier.]

    ¡°Grotto! They¡¯re in the fucking hot spring!¡±

    ¡­

    [One moment, please.]

 176 - Strategy Meeting, but Dressed

    Grotto¡¯s Delve had been pretty informative. Although I¡¯d done plenty of research into Delving and had opportunities to train and speak with other Delvers through the Ravvenblaqs, I¡¯d never seen how another group handled Delving firsthand.

    In fact, seeing another group in action at all was extremely rare, barring tournaments and exhibitions. Even then, one never got a real look at a team¡¯s capabilities. Just the things they were willing to put on display. Seeing how a talented group dealt with the challenges presented was extraordinary in some ways. It was an opportunity that most Delvers would leap at, whether out of a true desire for self-improvement or the chance to size up competition or steal tactics. If we were to sell tickets to this kind of thing, we¡¯d probably be up to our eyeballs in chips.

    However¡­

    None of that was worth these motherlovin¡¯ Littans having unrestricted access to my hotspring.

    This wasn¡¯t a public bath! It was my hot spring! Not the Delve¡¯s hotspring! It was select. High-prestige. By invitation only. A hot spring reserved for the most elite and attractive Delvers, as judged by yours truly!

    They hadn¡¯t even gone through the entry pavilion to put away their dirty gear and have a quick rinse! They¡¯d get the water all sweaty and gross. Were our filters even prepared to deal with oily fur? I had no idea! I didn¡¯t want to find out, either.

    Wait, did Littans sweat?

    ¡°Grotto. Your silence is not earning you any favor here.¡±

    [I am remedying the issue.]

    Sgt. Baltae closed the dimensional tunnel and his mimic ally took flight as soon as the group entered the hotspring. The core group of four stayed alert and cautious while the small bird did a lap around the spring, although Sgt. Guar was struggling to stay upright. His shield¨Cand the arm it was attached to¨Cwas gone. Still, the man wasn¡¯t losing any blood, so he was stable enough.

    ¡°Either you can start sharing the steps you¡¯re taking or I¡¯m gonna have to politely, yet forcefully, ask these guys to leave.¡±

    [There is no reason to take such extreme measures. This is a common occurrence in Delve management, as no plan survives contact with Delvers. It is up to us to adapt to surprises and adjust our strategy accordingly, which I am doing. Please observe.]

    A translucent rectangular prism appeared in my field of view, with two nested cuboidal areas outlined on either side of its interior. The area on the right side of the prism was outlined in violet, and it expanded in my vision, displaying a variety of rooms and pathways. I recognized it as my side of the Closet. A pulsing blue marker denoted the location of the Littans up against the far right edge of the region.

    [Your space within the Closet is separated by as much distance as reasonably possible given the Closet¡¯s current configuration.]

    The view panned left, taking us through the body of the prism representing the Closet for a few miles until we were looking at a cube representing the Pocket Delve. Seeing everything outlined like this let me appreciate how much shit I¡¯d crammed into my side by comparison. The Delve was not small, but it was only slightly larger than my space. Even so, both regions combined were only a fraction of the total volume available to us in the Closet.

    Five sides of the Delve cube were green, although the sixth side¨Cthe one abutting the edge of the closet¨Cwas yellow.

    [The Delve is guarded on all interior, Closet-facing sides by a portal barrier. If a Delver were to find a way to reach the outer edge of the Delve, they would simply be teleported back to its entrance when they make contact with the barrier. The only exception is the wall the Littans tunneled through. I saw no need to create a barrier on that side, since to my knowledge it was an impassable wall with literal nothingness beyond it. However, we have just discovered that the Pocket Closet is a self-contained spatial loop.]

    To the left of the yellow side of the cube, a new cube appeared that displayed my personal space again. The view zoomed out until I was viewing the entire Closet, and new prisms began forming along each edge, creating a series of repeating blocks, each one a copy of the core Closet.

    [This actually makes more sense than the wall being adjacent to oblivion. It also implies that this realm is entirely composed of the Closet and nothing else, which is preferable to us potentially sharing a domain with other entities. No matter what direction you travel, you will always loop back around to the opposite side of the Closet.]

    ¡°If this is more sensical than the nonsense you thought was sensible, why did you insensibly think the less sensical thing had more sensical-ness?¡±

    A moment of silence was then held for the Hiwardian language.

    [None of my attempts to penetrate the barrier on any side of the Closet had been successful, and no data was presented to indicate that this spatial loop existed. The barrier displays no variations in temperature, vibration, mana signature, or other factors that could not be accounted for by the elements within that area of the Closet. If something were on the other side of the barrier, there would be quantifiable associated phenomena.]

    ¡°Okay. When does this explanation start making me feel better about the stranger danger in my bath?¡±

    [Creating a portal barrier within the Closet is fairly trivial when invoking System authority to manage the progress of Delvers. It does require a constant drain on our mana reserves, which is why I attempted to take advantage of the exterior walls of the Closet when designing the Delve.]

    The image zoomed back in on the Littan group, and I noticed that the edges of the room containing the hotspring were now highlighted in green.

    [I have erected portal barriers on all sides of the spring leading out to your personal areas, and the Littans are currently fully contained within that room. The only traversable exit is the wall that will return them to the Atrocidile chamber. Once they have re-entered the Delve, I will adjust the existing barriers to cover the ¡®exterior¡¯ wall of the Closet to ensure that future groups will be unable to take advantage of this loop to reach unintended locations. Spells such as Sgt. Baltae¡¯s Worm Tunnel will be unable to penetrate through such a countermeasure.]

    ¡°Right. So, they can¡¯t leave the hot spring to start pillaging my penthouse and dedicated inventory rooms, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact that they are inside my hot spring.¡±

    [Ah, yes. Unfortunately, there is little I can do about that at this juncture.]

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just¡­ teleport them back outside? Can¡¯t you sling people around all willy-nilly in here? You¡¯ve been doing all sorts of spatial shenanigans so far.¡±

    [Given the unique environment of this dimensional space, that would normally be well within my capabilities. However, the System has decided that Baltae¡¯s actions have earned the group an achievement and I am thus barred from interfering with this, er, unforeseen rest area.]

    ¡°They got an achievement for uncovering a mistake in your Delve design?¡±

    [You would be surprised how many achievements originate from Delvers breaking a Delve Core¡¯s meticulously crafted challenges.]

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t think I would.¡± I had received more than one exasperated message from the System, flabbergasted by my non-traditional approaches. ¡°Can I see the achievement?¡±

    Grotto shared the message with me, which was written in Imperial. I was glad that I¡¯d taken the time to learn the Littan language.

    Somebody is probably pissed off right now because you are somewhere you are NOT supposed to be! This bathroom definitely had an ¡°Employees Only¡± sign, but you all didn¡¯t seem to give a shit. We guess that makes sense. Rumor has it that Littans don¡¯t have much respect for other people¡¯s personal space. Or borders¡­

    Anyway, we¡¯re not here to judge. We are, in fact, here to reward your flagrant disregard for the concept of private property while simultaneously teaching a pair of idjits that they need to learn how to install better locks! You have earned The Void King¡¯s Water Closet achievement!

    The Void King¡¯s Water Closet: The Delve timer for The Inheritance of the Void King has been paused, granting your party a brief time to rest, recover, and figure out how you¡¯re gonna kill that big lizard one room over. This pause will last for up to 2 hours and will resume the moment you leave the Water Closet.

    Don¡¯t overstay your welcome here, or somebody might come and teach you a lesson on the consequences of trespass.

    ¡°It¡¯s not even my achievement and I still feel like I¡¯m being criticized.¡±

    You have earned the Yes, You are Being Criticized achievement!

    Yes, You are Being Criticized: Read that achievement title one more time, because that is all this one is good for. Stay humble.

    Before I could grumble any further, the fake bird returned and landed on the ground next to Captain Pio. The Littans shared a few looks, and Pio let out a heavy sigh.

    ¡°Very well,¡± said the captain. ¡°We can all use a mental break from telepathy.¡±

    ¡°Praise the Godqueen,¡± said Guar. ¡°Permission to pass out?¡±

    ¡°Denied,¡± said Pio. ¡°But you are allowed to collapse.¡±

    Guar¡¯s hammer disappeared into his inventory, and the one-armed man fell flat on his back, letting out a long groan and closing his eyes. Sgt. Baltae sat down next to him, and Lt. Madel finally allowed her feet to touch the ground, removing her leather helm and mask to reveal dark fur and crimson eyes.

    ¡°This is a strange Delve,¡± said the formerly flying woman. ¡°Why is this achievement written so¡­ informally?¡±

    ¡°Informal?¡± said Guar, opening one eye to peek up at the Lieutenant. ¡°I would describe it as¡­ flippant.¡±

    ¡°Mocking,¡± Sgt. Baltae added. The spatial mage moved into the lotus position, beginning to take a series of measured breaths. ¡°It insults not only us and our culture but also the unseen hand that manipulates this place.¡±

    ¡°What is an idjit?¡± asked Madel. I honestly had no idea how the System had translated that colloquialism into Imperial, but it had somehow done so.

    ¡°Perhaps it is a race of people,¡± said Captain Pio. ¡°One that works with the System to operate the Delves.¡±

    ¡°It is more likely an insult,¡± said Baltae, still maintaining his breathing rhythm. ¡°Given the context, I expect it is a play on the word ¡®idiot¡¯.¡±

    ¡°The System is insulting its own people?¡± asked Madel.

    ¡°Yes, that is what I said a moment ago,¡± answered Baltae. ¡°It would seem the System is unhappy with the Delve Core, although the language implies there are at least two entities deserving of critique.¡± Madel frowned, but the spatial mage¡¯s tone wasn¡¯t one of rebuke. More like he was a teacher who was used to having to explain a concept multiple times.

    ¡°We can address our theories in a moment,¡± said Captain Pio. ¡°The achievement says we have two hours to recover. Give me a report on resource recovery given that timeline. Guar?¡±

    The party¡¯s tank shifted, raising his stump into the air. It had been torn off at the socket, so really it was more like he was thrusting one shoulder forward.

    ¡°My arm will grow back, Captain, but with regen alone, I will be short of full health by 300 points. I will have enough stamina for a difficult fight, but will still be missing 130 or so.¡±

    ¡°Even accounting for the potion?¡± asked Pio.

    ¡°Yes, Captain.¡±

    ¡°How is your backup shield?¡±

    ¡°Serviceable, but my spare has a lower block value by 30.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± hummed Pio. ¡°If there is time, we will dissect the Atrocidile after we kill it to get your old one back.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, Captain.¡±

    Pio turned to the spatial mage, who appeared to be in deep meditation.

    ¡°Staff Sergeant?¡±

    ¡°I have barely used Mindfulness, so my mana will be back to full, Captain,¡± Baltae said, eyes still closed. ¡°I apologize for my uselessness in the battle. I did not expect Mana Barrier to be such a significant drain, or I would have recovered more before exiting the maze.¡±

    ¡°You followed standards,¡± said Pio. ¡°Mindfulness is reserved for situations where your mana is below 40 percent. It had not dropped below that threshold by the time we left the maze. None of us expected the next chamber to be so deadly. Although I think we all realize this Delve asks more of us than any other we have encountered.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± said Baltae. ¡°Because of your healing, my health will also be full, as will my stamina.¡±

    ¡°Good,¡± said Pio. She turned to the caped Littan, who was once again flipping a knife in her hand. ¡°Lieutenant Madel?¡±

    ¡°I will be at 75 percent health, Captain. Around 200 short. Stamina and mana will be topped off.¡±

    ¡°Specialist Cezil?¡± Captain Pio asked, looking down at the bird. It chirped at her, and the captain raised an eyebrow, unamused.

    The bird¡¯s body deformed and its feathers began to transition to dark fur. It swelled in size, and over the next minute gradually transformed into a Littan woman. She was nude, but quickly pulled out a loose tunic that she pulled on over her head. It hung down to mid-thigh, and the Littan made no effort to don anything else.

    Like Madel, Cezil the Littan mimic had striking red eyes. It wasn¡¯t uncommon among Littans, but the woman also had fur the exact shade of brown as Madel, so dark it was nearly black. In fact, when I looked at the two closely, Cezil looked identical to Madel.

    ¡°Do Cezil and Madel look the exact same to you?¡± I asked Grotto.

    I was willing to admit I might not have the best eye for telling anthropomorphic mouse people apart from one another, but so far it hadn¡¯t been a problem. Not that I was on a first-name basis with many Littans.

    [Yes. They appear to be identical twins, although I wonder whether this is merely another assumed form.]

    Specialist Cezil gave the captain a sharp salute that was so perfect it felt sarcastic. When she spoke, her voice was the same pitch as Madel¡¯s, though she had a different cadence.

    ¡°Health is full up, Captain. Not a scratch on me,¡± said Cezil. ¡°Stamina will be good to go in 2 hours. I used a lot of mana, though.¡± Cezil squinted at her screens. ¡°Gosh, I¡¯ll still be below 50 percent. I¡¯ll need another 220 to be tip top.¡± She clasped her hands in front of her and fluttered her eyelashes at the captain. ¡°Maybe I can get a potion, Cap?¡±

    Pio¡¯s frown deepened, but she produced a mana potion and tossed it to Cezil. The specialist smiled broadly and tossed it back like a shot of whiskey, licking her lips afterward.

    ¡°I already have a mana pot going,¡± said Pio. ¡°All my pools will be full with a 40 mana surplus.¡± After saying this, she pointed at Guar, then Cezil, granting them both a Heal. Pio then popped a couple of AoE buffs, refreshing their Shielding and Blessed stacks. ¡°Next, we will discuss what we learned.¡±

    ¡°I learned I do not enjoy being eaten very much,¡± said Guar. ¡°What I hope to learn next, is how Atrocidile tastes.¡±

    ¡°Like revenge, I imagine,¡± quipped Cezil.

    More than one stomach growled after that statement.

    ¡°Belay my previous order,¡± said Captain Pio. ¡°Instead, we will have lunch.¡±

    Over the next thirty minutes, I discovered the raw, untapped potential of the Cooking intrinsic.

 177 - Delicious in Delve

    Guar had an entire kitchen in his inventory. Not just a camp cookout kitchen, either. The man pulled out an entire wood-fired stove, a six-foot length of stainless steel cabinets topped with a prep counter, a wall covered in hooks and hanging cooking implements, a water cistern with a rotary pump, and a three-stage commercial sink for cleanup. He also laid out a lovely handwoven rug made of natural, stain-resistant fibers and placed a cozy kitchen table atop it.

    Guar manned the stove, beginning to boil water in a large pot and getting a bit of oil going in a cast iron skillet. Cezil pulled out a selection of fresh peppers, transformed her hand into a small scoop and began deseeding them. She washed the hand first, of course. She even washed the other one, too.

    Captain Pio produced three different grains, rinsed the excess starch off with water from the pump, and then dropped them into the pot for Guar before setting the table. Madel produced a live game bird¨Clarger than a chicken but not quite as plump¨Cproving that Nuralie was not the only Delver that could store living things in her inventory.

    Madel promptly wrung the bird¡¯s neck, defeathered and dressed it, then cut it into portions. She did this with a large kitchen knife, not the one she¡¯d been plunging into Gekkogs. I was happy to see that she stored the mess in a compost container she placed back into her inventory afterward, leaving not even a barb behind. Pio collected and stowed away all the other waste.

    Meanwhile, Baltae brought out a dozen small parcels of wax paper filled with herbs and spices, looked over the ingredients selected by the others, and began mixing a custom blend using telekinesis. Cezil had moved onto some sort of lettuce, peeling away leaves and tossing them at Baltae. The spatial mage caught them with his magic, floated them through a dark dressing (a vinaigrette, I imagine), scattered some small seeds over it, and delicately twisted the bundles into flowering arrangements. These landed on tasteful, cream-colored side plates and were then topped with citrus fruit slices by Madel.

    Spices scattered themselves onto the bird, and the bird went into the pan, where it was seared to perfection by Guar. The meat was removed briefly to saut¨¦ the peppers, after which the now-cooked grains went in to soak up the remaining oil and herbs. The meat and peppers then returned to top the dish in the pan, keeping it from growing cold. Pio cleaned surfaces and implements as they were finished being used.

    There was a chilled fruit yogurt for dessert. It was kept fresh in a mana-woven chest that sparkled and emitted icy vapor when opened, so I imagined this one required a bit of time in the cold to set. It was the only thing pre-made.

    By the time the group sat down, said a prayer to Yara, and began to dig in, I was barely able to resist teleporting over to ask for a plate or two. But that would have been plain rude of me. Granny Loryn would not have approved. She might have even muttered a dismayed ¡°Bless his heart, but that boy needs to learn some manners,¡± under her breath.

    Remember Granny Loryn? No? It¡¯s alright, she got name-dropped all the way back in Chapter 30 of Volume 1. If you did remember, here¡¯s your gold star:

    ??¨A ¡ï ?¨@?

    Anyway, the food wasn¡¯t just delicious. Turns out, every single member of this party had the Cooking & Hospitality intrinsic skill. They were protected from harm while eating in Guar¡¯s dining area, had all mental and physical fatigue banished when using utensils maintained by Pio, were purged of toxins and mundane illnesses through Cezil¡¯s veggies, had their sense of taste and smell enhanced for several hours from Cezil¡¯s spices, and gained a boost to health and recovery while sleeping with a belly full of Madel¡¯s not-a-chicken. They didn¡¯t end up taking a nap, but I expected that last one would be much appreciated if they made it out of here.

    It was a ¡®no shop talk¡¯ table, so they didn¡¯t discuss strategy over the meal. Instead, most of the time was spent catching up on the goings-on of each party member¡¯s close relatives, which is how I discovered Littans had families of considerable size. Growing up with 20 brothers and sisters was perfectly reasonable, and family reunions with several hundred attendees were modest affairs.

    This line of conversation confirmed that Madel and Cezil were, in fact, twin sisters. This also became apparent from the relentless teasing Madel endured from her mimic sibling.

    Over dessert, there was a brief talk about a popular play titled Piercing the Veil put on by a troupe traveling the empire and going by the name of Hysteria¡¯s Congregation. The play sounded too meta for my taste but made me realize I¡¯d spent very little time engaging with Arzian culture. Non-lethal culture, anyway. I would say Arts and Entertainment, but there was an art to smashing monsters to a pulp, and that was pretty entertaining so¡­

    Once the dishes were clean and the kitchen packed away, the group finally started working on their battle plans.

    ¡°The Atrocidile has stupid amounts of Physical DR,¡± said Guar. His nub had moved from shoulder to elbow length, the muscles visibly squirming as they reformed. ¡°More DR than I have when blocking. It is built like a tank. The suffix ¡®Titan¡¯ is no surprise.¡± He scratched at his biceps. ¡°Yara save me, this itches. The evolution never said anything about itching.¡±

    I thought back to my own experience with Just a Flesh Wound. I suspected the Littan had the vanilla version of my evolution, Total Regeneration. I didn¡¯t remember my body parts itching when they regrew, but I had yet to lose an entire limb. Just a couple fingers, some teeth, a bit of intestine, and half my brain. Maybe the combination with Body of Theseus affected my symptoms.

    ¡°Hits like a hammerhead high on night-rush, as well,¡± Guar continued, scratching hard enough that some of his freshly grown fur was shedding. Grotto was going to be on cleaning duty after this, but maybe the Littans would sweep it up like they had with the crumbs.

    ¡°It builds Rage stacks,¡± said Baltae, voice serene as he meditated. ¡°It has some form of Shattering Fury, giving it a high level of penetration while it has Rage.¡±

    ¡°How do you figure?¡± asked Madel.

    ¡°Some Atrocidile variants favor Rage builds, and the creature displayed berserker-like tendencies. It showed a level of tactical intelligence with its abilities and use of terrain, and one would expect it to make similarly intelligent choices with its targeting. However, it fixated on the first and closest target¨CSgt. Guar¨Cwhen it began attacking in earnest. Guar is the tank and is by definition the worst party member for a monster to target. Thus, it likely had enough Rage stacks to become Berserk very early in the fight.

    ¡°As for Shattering Fury, Captain Pio¡¯s Physical DR is substantially lower than Sgt. Guar¡¯s, but they each took similar amounts of damage when attacked. This suggests that Guar¡¯s defenses were being ignored. Given the aforementioned use of Rage, Shattering Fury makes the most sense.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± Madel grunted. ¡°Well, I noticed that it is¡­ fast.¡±

    ¡°Instantaneous attack cooldowns and some kind of Haste,¡± said Baltae.

    ¡°High Fortitude, Strength, and Speed,¡± said Pio. ¡°Then its weakness should be Spiritual.¡±

    ¡°It sure resisted everything I threw at it,¡± said Cezil. The mighty morphin¡¯ Littan picked at her tunic like it was uncomfortable.

    ¡°It cannot have high stats across the board,¡± Pio said. ¡°The ability to resist your Spiritual magicks must have a limit.¡±

    ¡°I hit it with 4 different debuffs and did not find these ¡®limits¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Cooldowns and resources,¡± said Baltae. ¡°If the creature¡¯s ability to resist Spiritual attacks is not due to a high Wisdom score, then it is naturally limited. Most high-level physical fighters¨Cespecially tanks¨Chave at minimum one or two cooldowns dedicated to avoiding the worst Spiritual attacks. If the Atrocidile relies on cooldowns to avoid the debuffs, then its entire ancillary build is focused on avoidance. Given that it is a solo-predator hybrid high-defense and damage dealer type, I find that unlikely.

    ¡°That means it is consuming a secondary resource. Resources that are best suited for avoiding mental and other Spiritual attacks are mental and Spiritual resources; such as skills relying on mental attributes and mana. That is unlikely, given our observations and the Atrocidile¡¯s likely stat distribution. However, the most common mental debuff applied by martial fighters is itself a buff that can sometimes be consumed as a resource in certain specific scenarios and that is¡­?¡±

    ¡°Uh, Rage stacks?¡± Guar guessed.

    ¡°Yes, Guar, Rage stacks. Very good. Rage stacks are the precursor to the mental debuff Berserk and are themselves a resource used by fighters for damage and occasionally other boons. As such, it is not a stretch to imagine that the Atrocidile might be using the mental resource of Rage stacks to avoid the Spiritual debuffs.¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°How do you suggest we counter that?¡± asked Captain Pio.

    ¡°Do we need to?¡± asked Baltae, before immediately answering his own question. ¡°We likely do not. The classic counters to physical fighters are mental attacks and movement debuffs. The Atrocidile seems to have those angles covered. We should instead look to other schools that such fighters are weak to. Mystical and Divine are two compelling options. My Force attacks seemed to have some effect, but I am not built for consistent high-level output of Mystical damage and neither is anyone else. Sgt. Guar, however, can output significant Righteous damage using Smite, along with his other Divine abilities and expenditure of Blessed stacks.¡±

    ¡°So¡­ I focus on damage,¡± said Guar.

    ¡°Yes, that is my suggestion,¡± said Baltae.

    ¡°How big do you want me to go?¡±

    ¡°All the way, I believe,¡± answered Baltae.

    ¡°You sure?¡± said Guar. ¡°I can burn 320 stamina in 3 seconds.¡±

    ¡°That sounds perfect. However, it needs to be distracted by someone else before you unload.¡±

    ¡°Then I step in as the tank,¡± said Pio.

    ¡°With respect, Captain, I believe you are best suited to remain in your primary role as support and healer. Lt. Madel should be the main tank in this instance.¡±

    ¡°Me?¡± said Madel, floating up off the ground. ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°The Atrocidile penetrates DR, and several of Sgt. Guar¡¯s other defensive abilities are exhausted for the day. The best tank for this encounter is therefore one that does not get hit. You are the most evasive fighter we have and you also have the second-highest health total.¡±

    ¡°She still has a thousand less health than Guar,¡± said Captain Pio.

    ¡°Have you seen General Connatis in action?¡± asked Guar. ¡°He¡¯s an evasion tank and the man is an absolute monster. He could have a Fortitude of 1 and still annihilate half the army in a straight fight.¡±

    ¡°Guar and Madel can juggle the Titan¡¯s attention if necessary,¡± said Baltae. ¡°Also, Lt. Madel, you are best positioned in front of the Atrocidile, so its attention will naturally fall to you anyway.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± she asked, hovering another foot higher. I think she was trying to escape the discussion.

    ¡°The tablets we encountered prior to the maze detailed several of the Void King¡¯s exploits, including an encounter with an Atrocidile very much like the one we now face,¡± Sgt. Baltae said. The man was still speaking in a tranquil tone, continuing to breathe in a perfect, uninterrupted rhythm while his eyes were closed. ¡°His party¡¯s tank, Pale Rider, was grappled by the Atrocidile while two of the damage dealers fled. The Void King¡¯s armor and weapons had been destroyed during his demon-extermination campaign. He was unarmed, save for a single spear left behind by a fleeing knight.

    ¡°He refused to abandon Pale Rider, took up the spear, and faced down the Atrocidile¡¯s maw. As the beast opened its mouth to take advantage of the Void King¡¯s naked form, King thrust his spear deep down into the monster¡¯s throat.¡±

    ¡°Baltae, you dirty boy,¡± said Cezil.

    ¡°That is a direct quote from the tablets,¡± said Baltea.

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Cezil. The Littan mimic took a few steps closer to the spatial mage. ¡°Tell me more.¡±

    ¡°While the Atrocidile was distracted by the Void King¡¯s mighty shaft¨Cagain, that is the exact language from the tablets¨Cthe Crimson Dread mounted the Atrocidile¡¯s face and used her scepter to penetrate the creature in its most vulnerable of places.¡±

    ¡°Grotto. What the fuck?¡±

    [I am unsure why you are confused. My research indicates that 98 percent of modern fictional narratives centered around a desirable male protagonist contain staggering amounts of innuendo and the sexualization of otherwise mundane events. I have done nothing but adhered to the tropes established by existing cultures in Arzia.]

    ¡°Yeah? What formed the body of your research?¡±

    [I perused an extensive collection of novels detailing the exploits of heroic figures from a variety of cultures.]

    ¡°Did you find them all inside the same adult bookstore?¡±

    [Of course I limited myself to adult content. This Delve is not intended for children.]

    ¡°I¡­¡± Captain Pio began but paused to collect herself. ¡°Sergeant, what are we supposed to take away from that?¡±

    ¡°The eye and throat are the most vulnerable spots to attack, Captain,¡± said Baltae. ¡°Preferably with piercing weapons.¡±

    ¡°What happened next?¡± asked Cezil. She took a seat next to Baltae and leaned closer. ¡°Did the Void King survive the Atrocidile¡¯s rough oral treatment?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes,¡± said Baltae. ¡°Although the Void King was seriously injured around the waist and groin by its overeager bite. The Crimson Dread was forced to perform emergency healing on the King. There was some concern that the King¡¯s virility would suffer from the wound, but the Crimson Dread confirmed her patient¡¯s full recovery personally.¡±

    ¡°How personally are we talking?¡± asked Cezil. She was much too close to the spatial mage by this point. The look she gave him was also deeply concerning.

    ¡°Very personally,¡± said Baltae, cracking a small grin.

    ¡°Really?!¡±

    [The Void King¡¯s tale involves numerous conquests on the battlefields of war and love.]

    ¡°Specialist Cezil,¡± said Pio. ¡°Please do not interrupt Sgt. Baltae¡¯s meditation.¡±

    Cezil hopped up off the ground and gave the captain another perfect, yet somehow sassy, salute.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t dream of it, Captain,¡± said Cezil. Then she turned and stage-whispered to Baltae, ¡°You can write the rest of that story down for me later, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course, Cezil.¡±

    ¡°Anything further, Sergeant?¡± asked Pio. Baltae shook his head.

    ¡°That should place us in a much more advantageous position than last time,¡± he said. ¡°We will also have full resources and will be expecting the fight. I believe that will be enough.¡±

    ¡°But what do I do?¡± asked Cezil. ¡°If I¡¯m not on debuffs then what uh¡­ what do I do?¡±

    ¡°Your Curse stacks may still be effective,¡± offered Baltae.

    ¡°Curse without all the other suffering isn¡¯t very engaging,¡± said Cezil. ¡°What if Madel bonds to me?¡±

    Lt. Madel¡¯s shoulders slumped and she returned to the ground.

    ¡°That¡¯s probably the right play, Captain,¡± Madel said with a sigh.

    ¡°Come ooonnn,¡± said Cezil, sauntering over like a cowboy that had ridden saddle all day. She threw an arm of unusual length around Madel¡¯s shoulders. It wrapped all the way across the lieutenant¡¯s body until Cezil could pinch Madel on the opposite cheek, which she did. ¡°Don¡¯t sound so gloomy about it. You can¡¯t use, what, half of your active abilities without me?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so fucking weird,¡± said Madel, rolling her eyes.

    Captain Pio snapped her fingers and the two women stood up straight, Cezil disentangling herself from her sister.

    ¡°Your eccentricities compound when you transform,¡± said Pio. ¡°Both of you. Lieutenant, you¡¯ve done a good job keeping a lid on your own brand of insubordination but I¡¯m aware of your history.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be a problem, Captain,¡± said Madel. ¡°I can control it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the problem,¡± said Cezil. ¡°You try, but you can¡¯t. You¡¯ve just¨C¡± Cezil spread her hands in front of her, gazing into the middle distance. ¡°You¡¯ve just gotta let it happen.¡±

    ¡°The Lieutenant¡¯s bond and transformation will improve our odds of success,¡± said Baltae. ¡°Her goal is to hold the Atrocidile¡¯s attention, which she certainly will if she comes unhinged.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯ll knock her out if she goes wild,¡± said Guar, flexing his 63 percent reformed arm.

    ¡°Negative, Sergeant,¡± said Pio. ¡°We¡¯ll go with the toddler strategy if she loses it.¡±

    ¡°Distract her with colorful objects?¡± he guessed.

    ¡°No. We ignore the tantrum and let her wear herself out.¡±

    ¡°You''ve been so cute since you had kids,¡± said Cezil. The mimic twin held out her hand to Madel. ¡°Ready?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Madel, scrunching up her muzzle. ¡°No. We still have like an hour to relax.¡±

    ¡°Oh, good point,¡± said Cezil, dropping her hand. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go for a swim.¡±

    The woman threw off her tunic, transformed into something otter-adjacent, and dove into the hot spring.

    Guar stood and gave Pio a salute.

    ¡°Permission to have pool time, Captain?¡±

    ¡°Granted,¡± said Pio. The man stripped and did a cannonball. It was entirely inappropriate. Only people who owned the hot spring were allowed to cannonball.

    ¡°Glad I¡¯m not the only one whose party goes off the rails sometimes,¡± I thought to Grotto.

    [At least Captain Pio attempts to maintain order.]

    ¡°Are you criticizing my leadership style?¡±

    [I would describe it as¡­ shambolic.]

    ¡°That¡¯s not a real word. You just made that up.¡±

    [It is real and you can look it up later. Shall I lend you some educational materials to broaden your lexicon?]

    ¡°Only if they come from that adult bookstore.¡±

    [Unfortunately, the vocabulary in those texts is oddly limited, aside from having 86 unique words to describe male genitalia.]

    ¡°Hmm, maybe you can just put a list together for me.¡±

    [A list of variegated and expressive terms, or a comprehensive list of synonyms for your reproductive organs?]

    ¡°Are they different lists?¡±

    [I do not suppose they have to be.]

    ¡°I¡¯ll expect to have it on my desk by Monday.¡±

 178 - Nottagator Rematch

    The Littans spent the hour recovering and I chatted with Grotto about the upcoming political quagmire our party was about to become involved with.

    [The Diplomacy intrinsic would give you a natural advantage. You will not be able to rely entirely on Etja to carry the weight of public relations. As the party leader, you will be subject to significant scrutiny and forced to respond to inquiries of all manner.]

    ¡°Right, but I¡¯m hesitant to invest in an intrinsic that has such close ties to Charisma. It¡¯s not a stat I¡¯m planning on raising. Not anytime soon, at least.¡±

    [There are different forms of Diplomacy. Strategy and planning serve as much of a role as honeyed words or graceful utilization of decorum. Intelligence and Wisdom can play their part. Beyond that, we can take advantage of my ability to share your intrinsics through the power of the Traveler¡¯s Amulet. My highest stat is Charisma, and with our connection, I can guide you through certain interactions.]

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s still weird that¡¯s your highest stat.¡±

    [Why? What did you believe it would be?]

    ¡°You know, I hadn¡¯t really thought about it. But, Charisma¡­ you¡¯re just, uh¨C¡±

    [Just what?]

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem very diplomatic is all I¡¯m saying.¡±

    [I am fully capable of navigating social situations that require the judicious use of tact and sensitivity.]

    ¡°When have you ever done that?¡±

    [I have seen no reason to speak with you or other party members under the guise of false sincerity. I speak my mind because it provides the most utility. If that were not the case, I am more than competent at adaptation and adjustment.]

    ¡°Okay. Hmm, I¡¯ll think about it some more. We¡¯ve got the rest of the week.¡±

    [Practice and study during our downtime may allow us to reach the first evolution, given that both of us can work on the intrinsic simultaneously. It is best not to ruminate excessively.]

    ¡°Wait, would both of us working on a skill simultaneously help my skills train faster?¡±

    [You have done very little Dungeoneering, yet your skill is at 20. If the connection operates along the same parameters, as the Amulet suggests, then I see no reason why it would be otherwise.]

    ¡°If we spar it¡¯ll be like me fighting a shadow clone of myself and then fusing afterward to receive the knowledge?¡±

    [Is that how it works with Dungeoneering?]

    ¡°I haven¡¯t explored it much. When I think about the mechanics of Delves, I get knowledge back that I know I never learned myself, but I need something to prime it. It¡¯s a problem of not knowing what I don¡¯t know. I have to try and call the knowledge to mind to realize that I know it, but I can¡¯t do that if I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m trying to know, you know?¡±

    Grotto gave me a mental grunt.

    [Diplomacy will help with your linguistic butchery even without additional Charisma.]

    ¡°I know.¡±

    We went back and forth some more. I had 9 intrinsic slots filled out of 11, and we could snag one more slot with an Expansion Delve to bring me to a max of 12. I wanted to be cautious with my choices, but I also realized the longer I waited around the more I wasted opportunities to train up a new skill.

    If I were about to walk into high-level discussions with Littan politicians and leadership, it would present a great opportunity to power level something like Diplomacy. My existing skill set primarily advanced through killing shit, so giving myself the ability to power up in other types of situations¨Cones I would be forced to encounter¨Cshould increase my overall rate of advancement.

    I was also considering Athletics to improve my mobility. Grabbing a crafting skill other than Smithing might be smart since my human racial trait buffed crafting skill progression. I could snag Tailoring and make myself some fancy outfits. Cooking clearly had some benefits that I could bring to the team. We nearly lost our minds surviving off of rations for months. Reconnaissance would make my already substantial perception abilities even better, playing to one of my strengths. Lore, Survival, and Engineering all looked like they¡¯d provide solid utility.

    There were a lot of options that intrigued me.

    ¡°Could I use Diplomacy with Dungeoneering to help you peer pressure other Delve Cores into doing weird shit for us?¡±

    [Probably.]

    ¡°Ugh, that almost seals the deal for me.¡±

    [Your vest and boa also grant social boons. You would have an excuse to wear them wherever you go, not that you need one.]

    I went ahead and slotted Diplomacy.

    When the Littans were close to the end of their time, Cezil returned to her normal form and held out her hand to Madel. Her twin took it reluctantly, then pulled a sword from her inventory I hadn¡¯t seen before. The blade was dark green and shone as if coated in a thin layer of viscous liquid.

    ¡°Good choice,¡± said Cezil.

    The Littan mimic¡¯s body slowly began to morph, her hand turned into a pommel, and the rest of her body condensed and folded until it was a perfect replica of the myrtle-colored sword.

    Madel stowed the original blade, then concentrated on the copy. She held her eyes tightly shut, and I was enraptured as the woman¡¯s soul began to creep out and cover the blade. Cezil¡¯s own spirit blossomed from the blade and entwined itself with Madel¡¯s, then stretched out and began to suffuse her entire soul.

    As they blended, Madel¡¯s fur shifted until it matched the hue of the blade. Her nails turned an even darker green, glistening like they were freshly painted, and when she opened her eyes they smoldered with jade light.

    Madel floated up and swept the sword through the air with a single swift stroke, then held out her arm and looked over her fur and nails.

    ¡°Envy,¡± she said. ¡°An adequate color when others must crane their necks to witness me.¡±

    ¡°Only because you¡¯re over the top,¡± said Guar. He grinned and nudged Baltae with his fully regrown elbow.

    ¡°You should not insult her, Guar,¡± said Baltae, though a hint of a smile played across his lips. ¡°She might get upset.¡±

    Madel peered down her nose at Guar.

    ¡°His words cannot cut, for they are as blunt as his weapon,¡± she said.

    Guar hefted his hammer on his shoulder and opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Pio.

    ¡°Enough,¡± said the captain. ¡°Form up and get ready to engage.¡±

    Helmets were donned and stowed weapons came out. This time, Guar stood to Pio¡¯s side, rather than Madel. The floating woman gave Pio an appraising look, then hovered into position ahead of her. Baltae had his hand along the wall, waiting for the captain¡¯s signal.

    ¡°Madel, as soon as the portal opens you¡¯re the first one in,¡± said Pio.

    ¡°The reptile shall know my mercy, cold as its own blood, as I relieve the abomination of its pained existence.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Pio with a little apprehension. ¡°Guar, wait for your opportunity to strike. We don¡¯t want to waste your attack if it¡¯s just going to dodge or use something that blocks it. Let Madel and Baltae soften it up.¡±

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Yes, Captain,¡± said Guar.

    ¡°Staff Sergeant, take us through.¡±

    Madel disappeared before the Worm Tunnel was fully formed. I swapped my view to the cavern to see Madel appear above the lake and dive down into it, sending a geyser of water shooting up to kiss the cavern¡¯s ceiling high above. Pio came through second, followed by Guar and then Baltae.

    Baltae flew through the air with Telekinesis, giving himself some distance from the lake, but staying close enough to cast. Pio ran along the shore where the dimensional spikes were thinnest with Guar at her heels. The hammer-wielding man veered away from his captain to take position behind a crop of stone.

    The surface of the lake exploded as the Atrocidile¡¯s head breached, sending a wave crashing to shore. A torrent of pattering drops scattered across the entire chamber, and in those raindrops was a tinge of indigo blood.

    Madel rode Nottagator¡¯s snout, blade buried in its face, but just south of its bulbous orange eye. The monster roared, sending a blast of pressure in all directions, hurling Madel away from it. She held onto her sword as her body blurred, resisting the creature¡¯s Fear attack. She spun in the air like a ballerina on a stage of wind, then shot back at the Atrocidile, eyes gleaming with growing intensity.

    Guar burned a defensive buff and Baltae relied on Pio¡¯s protection against the Fear. Pio herself was immune, I¡¯d decided since she barely reacted to the attack. I assumed a sword couldn¡¯t flee in terror, even if it could be affected by a mental debuff.

    The captain and the spatial mage didn¡¯t have the benefit of Guar¡¯s barrier this time, however, and both had their Shielding torn apart by the pressure wave.

    Pio granted herself Haste, renewed the defensive buff on the pair of them, tossed Baltae a Heal, and activated an aura that further buffed her party¡¯s mental defenses. She ran as she cast, placing herself at the center of her allies.

    Baltae channeled Suction Bomb, twisting space around the Nottagator¡¯s center, but the Atrocidile shrugged off the spell¡¯s attempt to crush its limbs. Baltae cast Spatial Orb at nearly the same time, hurling the rotating sphere of violet energy into Nottagtor¡¯s side where it crashed against its thick, armored hide to little avail.

    I wondered why the mage was relying on Dimensional spells. He¡¯d remarked that Force was the best damage type he had against the Atrocidile, but I suspected I¡¯d find out what he was angling for soon enough.

    While spatial magic assaulted Nottagator, Madel shot toward him with enough speed to split the air, the crackling boom sending stalactites falling from the ceiling. She came to an abrupt stop inches in front of the Atrocidile and held her hands out to her sides. Weapons appeared in a semicircle around her back¨Cspear, hammer, dagger, and mimic blade¨Call of which now shared the dark green sheen of her sword. She punched forward twice in a straight-hook combo, fists glittering with white light.

    Nottagator¡¯s head multiplied, appearing to split into a half dozen copies. Madel¡¯s fists phased through two of them with no effect. Then the weapons began to flow and whip around her, planting themselves into her palms as the Lieutenant''s limbs blurred in an endless combination of weapon attacks.

    The heads shifted in a dizzying pattern, avoiding the thrown dagger and spike of the hammer as they sought out its eye, but when the sword slapped into Madel¡¯s grip, the Atrocidile failed its dodge.

    The blade sank into Nottagator¡¯s eye, and the creature let out a strangled bark that rolled across the ground, shattering countless spikes and sending more of the ceiling falling to the ground. The surface of the lake roiled like it was being battered by a hurricane, the space filling with a misty spray as the Atrocidile unleashed a sonic bombardment.

    Sizzling liquid poured from the blade, pitch black with an oily olive sheen. It flowed out to coat Nottagator¡¯s eye and a foot of flesh around it, dissolving and melting through scales.

    Nottagator has been Corroded!

    Corrosion: Material that is Corroded provides 0 Physical DR.

    The liquid arced from the blade even as Madel drew it back, marking no break in her fluid system of attacks. She brought forth the spear, burying it into the wound opened by her sword, and the Atrocidile¡¯s eye burst like a rotten tangerine.

    This upset my favorite pet lizard.

    Nottagator ignored the wound and the creeping area of corrosion, its body lighting up with power as it burned a Haste charge and screamed at Madel. The woman blurred again, phasing through the sonic breath attack, which crashed into the far wall and sent sheets of stone tumbling down. It lunged forward to bite as it continued to roar and Madel blinked away, appearing under its throat where she thrust her blade in deep, creating another spreading region of corrosion.

    The Atrocidile slammed its body down too fast for Madel to avoid and drove the Littan through the lake, crushing her into the bed beneath the shallows. Nottagator¡¯s muscles bulged and it slung its body around, rolling on top of Madel and carving deep trenches into the lake bed with its multitudinous legs. The water became a murky mess of mud and blood, both the Atrocidile¡¯s and his victim¡¯s.

    The only part of Madel I could make out through the turbid liquid was her soul, and Captain Pio couldn¡¯t perceive her at all. The captain was blasting AoE buffs and healing, burning through her mana and using everything she had that didn¡¯t require line-of-sight to keep Madel from being dismembered.

    Meanwhile, Guar was still hiding behind a rock.

    Baltae cast Haste, making him the third person on the field to grant themselves that buff. He pointed at Nottgator and reality splintered in a veiny line toward the Atrocidile. It missed the vulnerable spot on the creature¡¯s neck by a few inches, slicing through flesh that fell away in chunks, but it was a pittance of damage. The creature¡¯s body was too massive for such a small wound to matter.

    Baltae¡¯s hands blurred as he made a series of gestures, invoking another spatial attack that formed a column of fractal energy, spearing through Nottagator¡¯s center. The Atrocidile ignored the minor damage and kept rolling. Baltae¡¯s channel caused Suction Bomb to pulse, the AoE tearing at Nottagator¡¯s limbs again, but failing to affect the monster¡¯s movement. Then, Baltae brought his hands together and released a cataclysm of Force.

    Grotto immediately understood what was happening, and shared the text of a specific passive skill with me.

    Ultra Combo

    Whenever you use an active skill that makes an attack and you hit with that attack, you gain 1 stack of Ultra Combo unless you already possess a stack gained from that skill. You can only gain 1 stack of Ultra Combo per skill use, even if the skill makes multiple attacks.

    Whenever you would gain a stack of Ultra Combo, you can instead choose to lose all stacks of Ultra Combo. If you do, the damage of the attack is multiplied by the number of Ultra Combo stacks lost this way.

    You lose all stacks of Ultra Combo if you don¡¯t gain any new stacks for 1 minute.

    Baltae had used 4 unique spells before casting Force Bolt, giving him a 4 times multiplier to the skill''s damage. Nottagator seemed to sense the potency of Baltae¡¯s magic, its eyes snapping to the spatial mage for the first time as it paused its roll an instant before the attack. Two masses of stone tore from the ground and a sheen of polychromatic light spread out across the Atrocidile¡¯s hide.

    The first bolt struck like a rail gun round, smashing through the rocks and ripping apart the defensive skill. It skewered Nottagator''s side, punching deep into its body. Dark blue blood sprayed from the wound on impact with such speed and force that it atomized into vapor. Three more bolts followed, the extras doing substantially less since they were considered separate attacks. However, the total damage was impressive.

    Nottagator takes 485 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 66 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 103 Force damage!

    Nottagator takes 114 Force damage!

    ¡°Hot damn.¡±

    [The attack was¡­ decent.]

    Even as Nottagator was having its internal organs reduced to a fine mist and squeezed out of its body by a bolt of condensed mana flying at Mach 10, it had already begun to return fire.

    Nottagator¡¯s throat and head stuttered like a machine gun as Sonic waves poured from its maw. Baltae strafed with Telekinesis, avoiding the brunt of the first wave and losing his refreshed Shielding to the second. The third sent the mage blasting back toward the small palace at the cavern¡¯s entrance, where he smashed through a marble pillar and into a wall, debris raining down onto him.

    The next wave finally brought Guar out of hiding. The party¡¯s main tank became a beam of colored light that appeared to intercept the next attack midair, and the man took three more hits against his shield, burning through his mitigation and disrupting the sonic attacks. Guar had saved Baltae, assuming there was anything left to save, but he¡¯d given up his chance for a surprise attack.

    The Atrocidile¡¯s remaining eye burned in fury as it screeched, slamming the entire room with an amplified roar. Pio¡¯s aura shuddered as it took the edge off the Fear, but both she and Guar were slammed by the pressure wave.

    A dark green spear shot from the water and right into the Corroded wound in the Atrocidile¡¯s throat. The creature coughed and rasped, blood spraying from its mouth and staining its flat, humanoid teeth. Guar took advantage of the creature¡¯s distraction to unleash three-quarters of his stamina pool in one attack.

    The man¡¯s massive hammer glowed with blinding golden light. He spun his body like an Olympic hammer throw and hucked the weapon at supersonic speed. He kept spinning, body rotating faster with each revolution, releasing 5 more hammers just like it.

    ¡°Oh shit, he¡¯s cribbing my style!¡±

    [It looks a great deal more impressive when he does it.]

    The hammers collided with the Atrocidile, striking the beast with thundering wallops. Each hammer erupted into a burst of divine light, creating a rapid thunk! boom! beat over a handful of seconds.

    Nottagator resists all Kinetic damage!

    Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

    Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

    Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

    Nottagator takes 254 Righteous damage!

    Nottagator¡¯s health drops below 25%!

    Nottagator automatically uses Projection!

    Nottagator automatically uses Fallback!

    The Atrocidile couldn¡¯t even do Guar the courtesy of withstanding the full assault. However, just because Nottagator was down, didn¡¯t mean it was out.

    As the hammers smote hunks of the Atrocidile out of existence, an otherwordly haze surrounded the creature and its physical body disappeared. What remained was a ghostly imitation that snaked away from the final two hammers and soared toward Guar like a phantom. Guar shouted in surprise, raising his shield and resummoning his hammer to his hand.

    The spectral Atrocidile raked the man with its claws, which passed through Guar¡¯s shield like it wasn¡¯t even there. Talons slashed across Guar¡¯s soul, rending the man¡¯s spiritual essence with Spectral damage. Guar screamed as his anima was flayed. After four strikes, the ethereal version of the Atrocidile disappeared into the ether, and Guar crashed to the ground.

    Pio looked between Guar who slumped between deadly spikes, and then to the distant pile of rubble that entombed Baltae. She glanced back at the water, where a hand emerged, dragging a beaten and bloody Madel onto the shore. The lieutenant vomited up a liter of water.

    ¡°Status,¡± said Pio.

    Madel looked up at her with glowing green eyes, shot through with scarlet veins.

    ¡°The beast knows I still live, and so it flees my retribution,¡± answered Madel.

    Pio nodded, accepting that as a sign Madel wasn¡¯t in mortal peril, then rushed off toward Guar.

    ¡°Did¡­ did they win?¡±

 179 - The Void Kings Houseplant

    Guar was alive, just Paralyzed and missing two-thirds of his health. A quick tap from Pio cleansed the debuff as she went past on her way to Baltae, picking her way carefully between the spikes.

    Baltae was trapped beneath the rubble of the pillar and wall he¡¯d smashed into. Guar had to move several stone blocks to reach him, some larger than the stout Littan¡¯s torso. I was surprised by the mage¡¯s survivability, but he¡¯d had Shielding from Pio, an evolution that stacked additional Shielding whenever he spent mana, the skill Force Shield that let him buff defenses for mana, and then finally Mana Barrier, which allowed him to take damage to mana instead of health for anything that managed to get through all of the above. That, plus his rapid use of moderately expensive spells made a major dent in the spatial mage¡¯s mana pool, but his health was still above half.

    Madel had been the closest to death, but she had the skill Second Wind that allowed her to trade stamina for health, and her applications of Bleeding drained life from the Atrocidile whenever they ticked for damage. Pio¡¯s panicked spamming of AoE buffs and heals helped out, and I wouldn¡¯t be shocked if Fusion Madel¡¯s pride forced her heart to keep beating at some point to avoid the shame of losing.

    The Atrocidile¡¯s Fallback skill allowed it to teleport to a home point within 1 mile if it took damage that dropped it below 25 percent HP. It sounded kind of broken, but it took a lot of time to set up. It had a massive cooldown, and it was really only useful for defending a set location. Not worth a skill slot unless you planned to fight often in a predetermined place, but it was perfect for a Delve minion.

    There were two strategies Grotto could deploy once this skill went off. He¡¯d either let the Atrocidile rest and recover to preserve it for future Delves¨Craising a Grade 20 mana monster took time and wasn¡¯t cheap¨Cor he could cause the Atrocidile to reappear as a final surprise challenge on the party¡¯s way to the obelisk chamber. He opted for the first choice since the Littans were healthy enough that a weakened Atrocidile wouldn¡¯t present enough of a challenge to be worth throwing the creature¡¯s life away.

    The final path to the obelisk chamber was through an underwater tunnel the Atrocidile had been guarding at the bottom of the lake. Madel noticed it during her dive, and since the clock was ticking again, the Littans moved on quickly after a brief recovery period. They had an hour and a half left.

    [It seems they will have no issue with the time limit, but there is one final hazard in the obelisk chamber I am excited to see.]

    I was curious why Grotto hadn¡¯t ¡®seen¡¯ this hazard yet, but I assumed he meant he hadn¡¯t ¡®seen¡¯ it in action.

    I was wrong.

    He hadn¡¯t seen it at all. At least, not since we got back from Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    ¡°Why¡­ why wouldn¡¯t you check on this before letting people inside?¡±

    [Despite my age, or perhaps because of it, I find myself enjoying surprises. I will admit, this is definitely a surprise.]

    When the Littans stepped into the Obelisk chamber, it was completely overgrown by a single, semi-sentient plan. Vines covered in dancing leaves grew across every surface, with thousands of thorny tendrils hanging from the ceiling or rising from the ground. Melon-sized buds opened into colorful blooms that shuddered and turned to the Littans, who stood in the chamber¡¯s doorway, cautiously surveying the room. Tendrils slowly snaked in their direction, like curious danger noodles trying to decide if the Delvers were small enough to eat.

    They 100% were.

    Now, seeing that the obelisk chamber had been completely subsumed by a massive, flesh-eating plant was unfortunate, but honestly, it wasn¡¯t that weird. I¡¯d fought big evil plants before. One was the spawn of a divine avatar and used giant starfish covered in humanoid hands to bring prey toward its acid-filled digestive sac. That was weird. By comparison, this lethal jungle was tame.

    What was weird about this plant was that it was infinite.

    At the top of the chamber, the leafy vines stretched out into eternity. It was like looking at a visual glitch that caused the figures to distort and become a streaming line of colors vanishing into the sky.

    The tunnel went on farther than the eye could perceive, and its terminus constantly moved to the edge of my vision, as though perceiving it caused it to shift locations. What was more likely was that my mortal optics were ill-equipped to take in whatever visual data was being delivered by the phenomenon.

    The roof tunnel also wasn¡¯t the only one. Each wall, even the floor, drifted off into an impossible space that tugged at the edge of my vision, endlessly weaving from side to side as I tried to peer into it.

    When I looked closely, I could see that the leafy vines grew along a wall that wasn¡¯t there, displaying an impossible density of foliage while still failing to block the view of eternity behind them. They were part of that vastness, a collapsed representation of what inhabited it, the shadow of the creature they were a part of, more vast than I could comprehend.

    It reminded me of my experience in the Basilica-Cathedral loop. When I¡¯d teleported through the strangeward direction, I¡¯d glimpsed a hint of the nature of a fourth-dimensional location. That had been overwhelming, but this was paralyzing, drawing my thoughts into a spiral, tempting me to ascend into the realm and see myself reduced to bare geometry, a stick figure on the wall.

    I willed my view of the room away, back into the Atrocidile cavern.

    ¡°Okay, when I reacted to the hot spring earlier, I was being hyperbolic. Right now, I am being entirely serious. What the fuck is that Grotto?¡±

    There was a long stretch of psychic silence.

    [Ah, you see¡­ it was a Dominion Ivy plant. I thought it would be an interesting addition to the Closet¡¯s flora since it uses minor dimensional magicks. The plant consumes small prey¨Cinsects and rodents mostly¨Cbut the mass it gains after trapping its catch is negligible. It was theorized that the plant creates a small pocket dimension where it houses its digestive organs.]

    ¡°Alright, then what is it now?¡±

    [I do not have a categorization for it. The System suggests ¡®Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless¡¯, but this is a novel classification.]

    ¡°What grade is it?¡± I wasn¡¯t willing to peer into the creature again until I recovered from my last viewing. Even now, there was a temptation to return to it, to let myself get lost, and I wasn¡¯t even physically there.

    [The grade is ¡®Variable¡¯.]

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that was an option.¡±

    [It is only applied to entities that are essentially unkillable through normal means, but that are not an insurmountable obstacle to deal with temporarily.]

    ¡°How¡­ are you supposed to deal with that? Even temporarily?¡±

    [That is a good question. Let us see what the Littans do.]

    I mentally frowned at Grotto but returned my view to the Littans without looking directly into the obelisk chamber. They wore grim expressions, as though they were watching an atrocity in action. After a few moments of silent observation, Sgt. Baltae stepped forward. He rose up with Telekinesis and entered the chamber. I watched the man go, keeping my attention wholly focused on him, not allowing my attention to drift to the plant beyond.

    Madel stood back and hurled daggers at the thorny tendrils that reached out toward Baltae, but the vines continued to extend after being severed. No matter how much was cut away, the tendrils would continue forth. They weren¡¯t regrowing, there was just no limit to their length.

    Guar took to throwing his hammer, tearing down vines in a massive arc around the room before the two-handed weapon returned, and then he¡¯d throw again. Baltae moved forward slowly, allowing the skills of his allies to keep him safe. Pio spent the entire time praying.

    As Baltae neared the obelisk, he cast several spatial spells, going down the list of every offensive active skill he had. He was building up his combo passive, but I had no idea how that would matter. I tried to view the creature¡¯s information¨Cit was still technically a mana monster under the Delve¡¯s control¨Cbut its health bar was a series of question marks.

    Once Baltae had finished casting, he spoke, and reality trembled.

    ¡°RoRaThumGye.¡±

    They were words of power, speaking truth into existence. Baltae commanded the space to conform to his god¡¯s will, fueling the interaction with the power of his faith and connection with Yara.

    The vines, leaves, and flowering buds exploded until everything had been destroyed to the edge of the room¡¯s normal dimensions. They were shredded from the inside out but the vines continued to pour into the space as quickly as they were annihilated.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I felt a presence invade the Closet, bursting out through Baltae¡¯s soul to judge what it found. Yara herself turned an eye upon Baltae¡¯s surroundings, peering through the spatial mage¡¯s spirit like a pinhole at the mess she was being invited to clean up. Even so, the presence looked through the chamber, through the Delve, through me until it was running deific fingers across my essence.

    The fingers shuddered when they made contact with the part of my soul that housed my revelations, the part that connected back to Sam¡¯lia. Yara was clearly unhappy with what she found within me, but she pulled back after feeling the other goddess¡¯s presence. I sensed no fear or caution, but a grudging sense of respect and¡­ fair play? Still, the presence lingered all around me, and a booming, feminine voice followed.

    ¡°I greet the one held in the Dark Mother¡¯s embrace, he who is System-bonded and master of a domain beyond my realm. The faithful have sacrificed to call me here and I have spent a thought to answer. I offer you these choices, such that you remain sovereign, and so that you will know the consequences of your actions.

    ¡°Allow my faithful to leave, claiming nothing of your realm save for the memories they have gleaned. A debt of favor shall be owed to you, to be paid at once and without enduring. Our exchange shall be finished and our threads untangled.

    ¡°Deny me and I will leave your home, as this right is granted to you by pacts unbroken. My faithful will be yours to do with as you wish, but a debt of favor will be owed to me. Our exchange shall be suspended, our threads interwoven until your penance is paid or taken.

    ¡°Beseech me to contain this wound upon your material world. I shall do so in exchange for the safety of my faithful, and they shall claim everything of your realm that they have earned through conquest. A favor done and done, from each and to the other, paid in full. Our exchange shall be finished, but I will remember your wisdom should we meet again.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t expected to speak to a new god today. I took a moment to think over the options and consider the wording of my response very, very carefully. I had no interest in extracting a favor from the goddess and snubbing the Littans, nor was I keen to owe her a debt and have the party run out of time while fighting a being that could not be killed.

    ¡°Greetings to you as well, Yara Godqueen. I am happy to accept your third proposal, so long as my familiar, Grotto, does not anticipate a calamitous response from the System for doing so.¡±

    [A Delver may use whatever strength they have been granted. If it is your will, Heavenly Goddess, then let it be so.]

    ¡°This pleases me, and so it shall be. May we next meet in peace and accord.¡±

    The presence faded, and the endless tunnels in the obelisk chamber spiraled into themselves until they closed. Countless tendrils and vines were crushed and snapped as they were severed from the plant¡¯s main body in the beyond. After a moment of squirming, they became still and dead.

    Baltae hovered down to the floor, breathing heavily and dropping to one knee amidst several tons of dead plant matter. The rest of the Littans warily entered, checking on Baltae and having a silent conversation. They were back on their psychic comms. After a couple of minutes, Baltae managed to stand, and Pio went to the obelisk. She looked up at the structure, which had grown quite large since I¡¯d last seen it, now over a hundred feet tall. Pio brushed away a few dead vines, then placed her hand on its surface.

    I felt Grotto having a moment of indecision.

    ¡°Confused about something?¡±

    [Yara¡¯s request is that the Littans take all they have earned through conquest.]

    ¡°Yeah, so they get their stats and the chips for beating the boss. Probably some weird plant essences as well, I bet. You don¡¯t think they deserve it?¡±

    [I do. Rather, I believe they deserve even more. Allowing a gold party into the Delve required special permission from the System. Typically, the benefits of the second phase are reserved for those who have proven their merit during phase 1. That is to say, platinum Delvers. The System was willing to allow this group of Littans to make the attempt because of our unique status and relationship with the System, but it would not have permitted their entry unless it judged the Littans to be somewhat worthy of the opportunity.]

    ¡°Okay. Sure. What are you getting at?¡±

    [Baltae, Cezil, and Madel have each displayed powers beyond those offered by the System. They are, by my accounting, sufficient to have earned the Escalated status. Pio and Guar are effective, but still have some progress to make before they have realized their potential. Either way, Escalated Delvers and their party members do not earn gold stat distributions.]

    I felt Grotto nudge the obelisk, and some parameters changed within the relic. Runes lit up along its surface, shredding the rest of the vines covering it, and arcs of mana poured out of it and into the Littan party. Madel¡¯s sword clattered to the ground as Cezil rapidly transitioned back to her normal form. The mana continued to pour out, a look of surprise crossing each of their faces when it went past the normal 4 points awarded to gold until it finally petered out after the full 8 were given.

    Each of the Littans now had a thin platinum sheen hugging the outside of their golden souls.

    ¡°That was nice of you.¡±

    [It was well within operational guidelines. My generosity knows many bounds.]

    ¡°Will that let them access more expansion Delves and other phase 2 resources?¡±

    [Yes, but it will only last so long as they never return to gold.]

    The Littans looked between one another, but a portal appeared before they could discuss what they¡¯d gone through. They were more than happy to get the fuck out, not wasting any time looking around or hunting for hidden treasure. Without a word, the group hastily made their exit.

    I allowed my consciousness to return to my body, letting go of the mini-obelisk and flexing my hand to dispel some stiffness. I stretched and looked over to Grotto, who had his tentacles crossed, looking to be in deep contemplation.

    ¡°Welp,¡± I said aloud. ¡°That was something. Saw some cool things, learned a few lessons, drew the attention of yet another deific being capable of smiting us out of existence with a twitch of her pinky nail. Why is Yara called the Godqueen anyway? Is she actually supposed to be the queen of the gods?¡±

    [She rules her pantheon. Her faithful are divided on whether she should be revered as the queen of their gods, or the queen of all gods.]

    ¡°I see. Cosmologically, I guess we know that she¡¯s not the queen of all gods. She didn¡¯t seem to have any authority over Sam¡¯lia and, as impressive as her soul felt, it was nowhere close to the Dread Star.¡±

    [Perhaps you should refrain from spreading those insights among the Littans. Her Grace is a popular patron in their culture.]

    ¡°Already starting in with Diplomacy training? We should at least take a break first. There¡¯s also a couple of things I¡¯d like your help with.¡±

    [Have you slotted the skill? Did you do that prior to Yara¡¯s request?]

    ¡°Yeah. I did it while the Littans were on break.¡±

    [I see. You should check your notifications.]

    I blinked, then glanced at my interface. My personal notifications had been suppressed while I surveyed the Delve, it seemed, and I saw that both Dungeoneering and Diplomacy had advanced. I brought up the messages.

    You have successfully administered a level 15 Expansion Delve!

    Near deaths: 4

    Actual deaths: 0

    Rating: Excellent

    You have earned 15 System Rep

    Your Dungeoneering skill has advanced from level 20 to level 25!

    ¡°Oh, neat,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that was a way to level the skill. Also, 5 levels at once, nice.¡±

    [It is the most reliable way to advance Dungeoneering. Producing constructs also helps, along with study, performing managerial duties, gathering mana, and so on. Delve administration grants experience to the skill based on difficulty, with Expansion being on the higher end. We also received the second-highest rating. I expect we lost marks due to the hot spring debacle.]

    ¡°What about the plant?¡±

    [The plant was a level-appropriate challenge. The Delvers dealt with it themselves, it simply cost them a potent resource.]

    ¡°Ah. Well, I¡¯m glad Yara dealt with the plant for us. How were you going to get down to the obelisk to make modifications with that thing in there?¡±

    [It was a Delve monster. It would not harm me.] He paused and thought for a second. [Probably. I would have been more worried about its influence spilling out to other areas of the Closet. Its biomass was limitless. I have no idea why its effect on this dimensional space was so well contained.]

    ¡°Maybe it had trouble adapting its conceptual identity to conform to a three-dimensional space.¡±

    Grotto tilted his whole body in consideration, then eventually shrugged his tentacles.

    [I lament the loss of such a novel creation, but perhaps I can grow another with a moderate amount of time and effort.]

    I started to ask Grotto to please not do that, but reconsidered. As long as he didn¡¯t let things spiral, it might be interesting to have an infinite plant of wonder hanging around. Especially if it wasn¡¯t hostile to us. I decided to mull it over some more. We could always call in another god to deal with things if they got out of control.

    Was that a completely irresponsible attitude to have? Probably. However, with the ways things were going, I felt like I¡¯d be able to host a dinner party of the divine and famous before long.

    ¡°What does System Rep do?¡±

    [You can spend it to increase the chances of a successful System Call. I did not realize you could earn any as a Delver, even if you are a Delve co-arbiter. Curious. I wonder how it might be applied.]

    It was my turn to give Grotto a shrug. I¡¯d add it to The List.

    I looked at my next notification.

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased from level 1 to level 10!

    ¡°Uh¡­ why the hell did I get so many levels in DIplomacy?¡±

    [Negotiating with a goddess apparently yields exceptional experience,] Grotto thought to me. He began rubbing his feelers together, a menacing gleam in his eye. [We should try to find more gods to make deals with.]

    It looked like Grotto was on board with the deific dinner party idea. I wondered what kind of hors d''oeuvres one served at such an event. That could also go on The List, right below choosing my Diplomacy evolution. I wanted to run those by the entire party.

    ¡°So, Grotto, got time to help me dive into my soul and perform complex manipulations of my mana matrix with the goal of reforging half of my active skills?¡±

    [Will this also involve abusing our shared spiritual connection since it was recently made more exploitable by the godly avatar Fortune?]

    ¡°Yes! I also plan on applying my divine revelations to novel and likely unintended use cases.¡±

    [Very well. That sounds moderately entertaining.]

 180 - Skill Forge

    Grotto and I teleported back to my Pocket Penthouse to begin reforging my active skills. We spent some time setting up a dedicated meditation space clear of anything distracting or destructible. I¡¯d never had a catastrophic failure while skill forging¨Cand had no idea what fucking up something like Explosion! might do¨Cbut I admittedly had limited experience with the practice.

    I still had more experience than 99% of Delvers, but we were firmly in the pioneering stage of the art. I just happened to have been given a head start by a goddess, a brain injury, and now an ancient intelligence with vast knowledge and questionable opinions on ethical experimentation.

    I was sitting in a lotus position on an extra-thick woolen rug, having nostalgia over my first few sessions in the Closet meditating and dedicating my mana regen to its expansion. Doing that now would have been a pittance compared to the constant output of the obelisk.

    I settled into the carpet, centering myself and clearing my mind of stray thoughts and distractions. Unfortunately, Grotto wasn¡¯t helping much with that.

    ¡°Do you really need to sit there?¡± I asked.

    Grotto¡¯s feelers were draped over my shoulders as the Delve Core perched atop my head like an animal hat.

    [Close proximity will allow me to more accurately gauge your biological reactions and deactivating my gravitational countermeasures will free up a minor amount of processing power. Would you prefer that I sit in your lap?]

    ¡°No. That sounds much worse.¡±

    I suspected Grotto¡¯s reasoning had more to do with establishing dominance than it did with the nonsense he was presenting. In the past, he¡¯d managed my ¡°biological functions¡± just fine from a distance, and I thought it took more effort for him to stay in one place than it did for him to hover. Either way, I let it go and did my best to get into the zone.

    My first time forging a skill was with Sam¡¯lia, who¡¯d guided me through the process of modifying the imprint of Gravity Anchor on my mana matrix. This involved a light amount of soul manipulation, which she¡¯d handled to make sure I didn¡¯t accidentally hurt myself.

    The second time I¡¯d taken a swing at the undertaking was when I¡¯d reforged Shortcut into Reckless Shortcut. That was a quick and dirty affair done in a moment of dire need and while missing a significant chunk of the brain cells responsible for things like inhibition and rational thought. It had been extremely risky, and the only thing that had kept me from bricking the skill or worse was having Soul Sight cranked up to a level I¡¯d never before attempted. That was another trick I only got away with because my brain had been borked enough that it didn¡¯t interfere with processing the information granted to me by the Sight.

    Since then, I¡¯d done a lot of work to readjust my approach to Soul Sight. The spiritual senses that it granted created a lot of strain when processed through my organic mind, but were as easy to manage as any ordinary sense when I allowed the information to flow through my soul directly. Things could still be overwhelming, but the burden was significantly lessened when Soul Sight ran on its native operating system¨Cthe soul¨Cas opposed to being bootstrapped to my organic OS¨Cthe brain.

    This allowed me to reach incredibly high levels of sensitivity with the Sight and dive into my soul to observe it through the spiritual equivalent of a microscope. The mana matrix existed within this spiritual realm, and with the level of detail I could attain I was able to trace the mana pathways that my various active skills utilized. Understanding what paths a skill took was essential to understanding why the skill functioned as it did. Erasing and rebuilding those pathways into a different configuration was the core step to modifying and reforging them.

    Part of the risk of skill forging was not understanding why certain pathways existed or how adding certain pathways would affect things. Carefully purging and adding pathways also took a significant amount of Spiritual skill, something that I was poorly equipped for since my attunement did not give me access to Spiritual Magic. Sam¡¯lia¡¯s gifts gave me an edge, but they weren¡¯t a replacement for an entire magic school.

    When I¡¯d reforged Reckless Shortcut, it was an act of butchery. I¡¯d destroyed pathways and forced them to regenerate on their own, which caused the skill to evolve unpredictably. It resulted in something that took advantage of my strengths, but there was no guarantee I¡¯d have that same success taking that approach again. I also preferred to plan my build, rather than relying on the gacha gods to give me something I liked. I already got enough of that from the System.

    This was where Grotto came in. The Delve Core¡¯s highest competency was Spiritual Magic and our soul connection gave him access to intimate parts of my inner being. We hadn¡¯t yet experimented with having Grotto make changes to my mana matrix, but I had a good idea of how he could at least guide me.

    Once I dove into myself with Soul Sight, I used Reveal to share this awareness with Grotto. Connecting with Grotto using Reveal was already easier than with anyone else¨Csince it used our soul connection as a bridge¨Cbut it was even more intuitive ever since we¡¯d had our temporary combination with Shog, creating the mighty Arlottog. Instead of simply showing Grotto what I was experiencing, it was more like I opened the door for Grotto to walk directly into my soul. I felt the Delve Core¡¯s presence in my spirit, and the process of remodeling began.

    I currently had 10 active skills, although I did not want to make changes to all of them. Reckless Shortcut already worked well, and I didn¡¯t have any useful ideas for ways to improve it. It was cheap and had a massive maximum distance. The trade-off of taking damage when I pushed its limits was less and less of a downside as my health increased and as my Dimensional resistance and skill with Dimensional Magic improved. The variable cooldown also wasn¡¯t much of an issue, and eliminating it wasn¡¯t an option without trading out some of the skill¡¯s versatility. In fact, the variable cooldown was a source of inspiration for how I planned to alter Explosion!, but that¡¯s for later.

    Dispel was a skill that did exactly what I needed. Any modifications I could think of were better done through mana shaping. A single-target counterspell was basic, but it was incredibly effective, and I wasn¡¯t willing to start trying to get fancy and ending up with something less adaptable.

    I also had no plans to alter Reverse Card. I hadn¡¯t yet had the chance to test out the spell redirect function, and the aura granted a healthy amount of spell DR. It was expensive, but I needed to get used to it before considering changes.

    Life Warden also served the purpose I needed it for. It transmitted damage from an ally to myself and was a constant companion for Etja. It took pressure off the mage and kept her in fights, which had made a huge difference on several occasions such as during our fight with the Pit. Without Life Warden, Etja would have been forced to withdraw due to the chip damage from the exploding pustules all over the creature.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    The only thing I considered changing was how the mana cost worked. Right now, it reserved 10 mana, meaning it reduced my maximum mana pool by 10 while it was in use. It also cost 10 mana per hour, which effectively reduced my mana regen by 10 while it was active. My mana regen was 100, though it got a boost when there was a lot of Dimensional mana for my Ambient Absorption ability to soak up. Life Warden reserved 2% of my 500-point mana pool but cut me off from 10% of my regen.

    I had similar thoughts about Dimensional Summon. Shog¡¯s summoning spell had an initial cost of 30 mana with a 30 mana per hour upkeep. That was an initial hit of 6% to my mana bar, but a 30% ongoing drain to my mana regen. Both Life Warden and Shog were worth it, but I thought it might be better if the spells didn¡¯t have any hourly mana upkeep.

    Reverse Card reserved mana, but had no ongoing cost unless I wanted to use it to actively redirect a spell. With Grotto¡¯s help, it was easy to figure out the pathways to make this happen, it just required increasing the mana reserve on Life Warden and adding one to Dimensional Summon.

    Life Warden¡¯s upkeep could be removed by increasing its mana reserve from 10 to 20. That would also make the spell more viable for casting on multiple targets since it wouldn¡¯t gut my regen to do so. I could cast it on everyone else in the party (plus Grotto) for 20% of my mana pool. To do that with the original would have cost half as much in reserve, but would have robbed me of half my mana regen. Xim and Varrin didn¡¯t need the protection, but reserving 60 mana to place Etja, Nuralie, and Grotto under my umbrella of protection was worth it to me.

    Dimensional Summon could be adjusted to a 50 mana reserve. That was a tougher pill to swallow, but if I were engaged in multiple fights across a couple of hours it would be a net benefit. For a single engagement, it would be a minor loss, but I was built for sustain and wanted to keep moving in that direction.

    Further, swapping to a mana reserve would remove the chance of Shog¡¯s spell being canceled if I ran out of mana and had my regen interrupted by some effect or other drain. Nuralie had poisons that could interrupt regen, and there were plenty of other effects out there that did the same. If that happened, Shog would be unavailable for 24 hours while the spell was on cooldown. Operating on a reserve would add consistency that helped me feel secure in making the alteration.

    I pulled back out of my soul to check the System text for each ability and make sure everything else looked the same. I was surprised to see that the names of the spells had changed. The alterations had been so minor I didn¡¯t think it would be worth an update, but the System apparently felt otherwise. It had also felt lazy, it seemed.

    Arlo¡¯s Life Warden

    Arlo¡¯s Dimensional Summon

    [I can help you rename those if you wish.]

    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine,¡± I said with a sigh. ¡°At least it didn¡¯t do anything too silly, like making it Life Warden V2, or Life Warden but Different.¡±

    [I would have simply added a plus symbol to the end.]

    ¡°The prefix Stable might have made sense. Either way, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m just going to keep referring to them as normal.¡±

    Now that the easy changes were done, I moved to the more complex problems.

    Oblivion Orb. Mi amor. My first attack spell and the spell I used more often than any other. I rarely deployed it in its normal, touch-based form anymore, but I did use Nimean Weapon to slap it onto nearly every hammer I threw. I was curious to take a look at it within my mana matrix since the spell¡¯s description had always been a touch vague.

    Oblivion Orb

    Dimensional

    Cost: 5 mana

    Requirements: None

    For the briefest moment, you create a small dimensional tear in the shape of an orb in your palm, which attempts to transport whatever it touches to another plane of existence. Higher levels of Intelligence increase the size of the orb. Damage is increased by 1 for each level of Dimensional Magic. The critical damage of this attack is increased by 100%.

    As my understanding of skills and the System as a whole increased, the skill text I was given was more in line with the mechanics of how I thought things worked. In fact, as I studied Oblivion Orb, I was able to boil it down to a much simpler expression.

    Make an INT Planar attack against a target you can touch. This attack deals +100% critical damage.

    The spell used my Intelligence for base damage, added damage based on my Dimensional Magic skill, and wrecked shop when it hit something vital. That was all well and good, but there was one major problem with that.

    I wasn¡¯t focused on crits.

    I wasn¡¯t focused on precision. Plus, I was rarely in a position to grab the back of someone¡¯s head like I had with Hognay. Beyond that, as the monsters and Delvers I encountered got tougher and had higher Fortitude, there seemed to be fewer regions of the body that counted as critical locations.

    I could imagine another universe where I¡¯d pumped crits, investing in Agility and Luck to lay hands in the perfect places at the perfect times, pumping out heroic levels of damage as I removed organs with laser precision. Sadly, that was not a road that I¡¯d traveled. Regardless, I had all kinds of mana shapes that would make the orb a lot more deadly, and which were more reliable for the current me than aiming for a vulnerable location and hoping for the best.

    Biggus would make it an AoE, Drill Beam would make it a penetrating line attack, Funnel would straight up double its damage, and Jet would give it a range of 20 feet. I could even make 1 of those completely free with Arcane Geometry (which was currently set to Bubble so I could rapidly cast group Shortcuts in case we¡¯d needed to flee from the Littans when we¡¯d exited Deijin¡¯s Descent).

    In some ways, the extra critical damage from Oblivion Orb seemed like a natural consequence of the spell. Yeah, having part of your heart teleported to another dimension is gonna suck. But so would having it sliced in half, pounded into meat giblets, or frozen into a block of ice. Oblivion Orb had an easier time penetrating flesh, but mana-woven armor, shields, and some monster hides would stop the spell in its tracks.

    When I traced the mana pathways, I discovered that Oblivion Orb¡¯s critical damage boost was a conditional effect that reacted to a trigger. When it encountered a ¡®vital¡¯ area that was fortified against damage¨Csuch as a Delver¡¯s mana-rich heart¨Cit would automatically concentrate its effect to reduce the vital location¡¯s resilience. Fortitude and evolutions could negate a part of the Planar damage, but the orb would take advantage of its natural penetration to make it much harder for those attributes to stop damage to vulnerable areas. The more focused the volume of the orb was on the weak spot, the better it was at condensing damage in the sensitive location.

    As I chewed that over, Grotto guided me to pathways that would increase the orb¡¯s crit chance even without investing in Luck. I could rewire the spell to take more advantage of my high Intelligence, boosting the concentrating effect even when the orb had a large volume. I could fire off larger orbs that were more likely to encompass something vital and trigger the effect more efficiently.

    That would increase the orb¡¯s base mana cost and make it more useful than it was, but that wouldn¡¯t change the fact that I had no other crit-related enhancements. I would want evolutions and gear that boosted crit damage, effects that further improved crit chance to guarantee a critical, and maybe an aura that did one or both. It would mean splitting my focus again into something I hadn¡¯t yet built into, which I was reluctant to do.

    One of the things I¡¯d loved about Oblivion Orb early on was how it seemed to bypass defenses. It took perfect, sphere-shaped bites out of weak enemies and mundane materials. As I grew in level and encountered more robust enemies, it had become less amazing. That made sense. It was a basic 5-mana skill. I couldn¡¯t expect it to kill God just because I popped him in the head with it.

    But maybe there were ways to guide the orb back in that direction. I wasn¡¯t too enamored with the idea of crits. Yes, it would help my damage on average, but I hated relying on effects that had a chance to occur. I preferred reliable damage; consistent damage. I preferred inevitable, inescapable, guaranteed damage.

    Maybe there was a way I could rework the trigger and the effect into something a bit more my style¡­

 181 - Project: Unavoidable Harm

    My first thought for Oblivion Orb was to exchange the crit trigger for a trigger that caused the orb to teleport forward a short distance when it contacted any sort of armor or mitigating ability. That would let it bypass a lot of defensive weaves and powers. To my delight, I could do that. However, it would increase the mana cost immensely. Apparently, the mana required to force the spell past all defensive structures was substantial. I needed to think smaller.

    Grotto encouraged me to consider how I was using the orb. I put it on a hammer, then threw that hammer at something I wanted to destroy. Most people would either dodge that combo or block it. A moment of epiphany struck and I backed away from Oblivion Orb to look over Homing Weapon.

    Homing Weapon was¡­ fine. It was a bit expensive for what it did. It added range and damage to a thrown weapon attack, and the weapon returned afterward. It cost 10 stamina, and I knew from my experience with other techniques that the return on damage should be higher than what I was getting here.

    Part of the stamina cost was from increasing the throwing range. I didn¡¯t really need that anymore, since I got a huge boost to range from my first Blunt evolution, Hammer Throw. At higher levels, the bonus from Homing Weapon would result in a paltry 10% increase in throwing distance. Not worth it in my book.

    Another reason it was expensive was that its requirements were too low for what it did. Apparently, if a spell offered more boom than it should for the related skill requirements, that increased its cost or added a cooldown.

    I ran my ideas by Grotto, who approved and began muttering villainous soliloquies as I activated step 1 of Project: Unavoidable Harm.

    I increased Homing Weapon¡¯s requirements, dropped the range boost, and amended how Dimensional Magic modified its damage based on some advice from Grotto. Then, I added one final effect that took greater advantage of the skill¡¯s core reason for existing.

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Physical/Dimensional

    Cost: 10 stamina

    Requirements: STR 20, INT 20, Blunt 20

    Make a thrown weapon attack modified by Dimensional Magic in addition to the relevant weapon intrinsic. This attack seeks out its target and cannot be dodged. The thrown weapon returns to you afterward.

    Now my hammers would pursue their targets with significantly more emphasis on the ¡®Homing¡¯ portion of Homing Weapon. Instead of a casual arc toward my enemy, it would be a heat-seeking missile of undodgeable doom. You literally could not run from it anymore.

    Also, having the attack ¡®modified¡¯ by Dimensional Magic was better than adding flat damage based on my skill level, since it would add some variable damage on top. When pressed, my familiar did a little math and said it would average out to an extra 16.5 points of damage¨Cincreasing as the skill went up¨Cwhich sounded good to me.

    I moved on to step 2 of Project: Unavoidable Harm.

    I went back to Oblivion Orb and reworked its trigger. I dropped the critical damage bonus, as much as it pained me, but added a more refined version of the armor-bypassing teleport. I couldn¡¯t get the spell to avoid all defenses without a massive increase in cost, but I could get it to bypass a specific defense.

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Dimensional

    5 mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Dimensional Magic 20

    Make an INT Planar attack against a target you can touch. This attack cannot be blocked.

    Now I could throw a hammer that could not be dodged, tipped with a spell that would teleport through my enemy¡¯s shield¨Cor whatever else they blocked with¨Cdirectly into their unguarded bodies.

    It was simple, potent, and inescapable, just like my masculine musk of sandalwood and fresh-cut mahogany. What would my opponents do? I expected they would just have to smile and take it.

    I took a break and listened to Grotto monologue about our inexorable conquest of the globe using the time-tested method of forcing our enemies to choose between the lesser of two harms. After a visit to the bathroom and a quick glass of water, I was ready to move to the next skill.

    The big boy.

    The bane of cooldown counters and healthy eardrums.

    That¡¯s right, it was time to make Explosion! not suck.

    Not that it did suck. It was a pretty good spell overall, just with a narrow band of use cases. No, I wasn¡¯t going to make it not suck. I was going to make it fucking broken.

    Broken as in it would be really good. Mechanically it would be completely balanced from the standpoint of stat and skill requirements, damage, range, effects, etc.

    Balanced in the way BORKEN ASS abilities are balanced!

    Balanced like a quarterstaff made from a motherlovin¡¯ mop!

    Balanced like your no-life ex-roommate¡¯s favorite MOBA character! Pre-patch!

    Okay, it¡¯d be good but not off-the-walls crazy. Anyway, I¡¯ll get back to the discussion.

    Explosion! was a simple spell on its surface: Charge it up, make a big-ass explosion. Under the hood, there was a lot going on. Free-form targeting, charge time, variable AoE size, multiple scaling damage types¨CSonic, Kinetic, Spatial¨Ca somatic component, the Deafened status, and a boost from chanting ominous phrases.

    Looking at everything going on, it was no wonder the spell had a huge cooldown. The requirements were minuscule, needing only Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic slotted as intrinsics¨Cno mandatory stats or levels needed.

    Grotto and I took the spell apart, trying to discern what it would take to have the spell function the way it already did, but without a cooldown. We ended up with the following requirements: INT 70, Dimensional Magic 60, Physical Magic 55.

    I did not meet those requirements.

    I did have much higher stats and levels than the spell currently called for, but if all I did was alter the requirements to match my present capabilities that would cut the cooldown by about half. With my cooldown reduction evolution from Physical Magic, I¡¯d have a version of the spell I could use every 25-ish minutes. That was a big difference from the current 47 minute cooldown, but not enough to get it where I wanted.

    However, the variable cooldown from Reckless Shortcut could be used to my advantage. Right now, Explosion! triggered its cooldown regardless of how long I charged it. What I wanted to do was match Reckless Shortcut¡¯s ability to cause a cooldown based on how hard I went with the spell. I also wanted to streamline the damage types and take some inspiration from the Spatial spells I¡¯d seen Baltae using, weaving in some more effective forced movement.

    It took hours, but Grotto and I eventually ended up with a spell I felt quite good about.

    Explosion!+

    Physical/Dimensional

    Cost: 20 mana + 10 mana/second

    Cooldown: Variable

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Requirements: INT 40, Dimensional Magic 30, Physical Magic 20

    Create a big-ass explosion at a point you can perceive with a radius in feet equal to 20 plus your Physical Magic skill level. Make an INT Sonic attack against all entities within this area. Entities hit by this attack are Deafened for 1 minute and knocked prone.

    You can focus to charge this spell prior to choosing a point to create the AoE. If you do, this spell¡¯s radius increases by a number of feet equal to your Physical Magic skill level every 6 seconds and deals bonus Spatial damage equal to your INT every second it was charged. This spell may be charged for a maximum number of seconds equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    When charged for 3 seconds or more, entities hit by this attack are pulled to the center of this spell¡¯s area.

    Explosion!+ gains a 2 minute cooldown for every second it was charged, up to a maximum cooldown of 60 minutes.

    This spell requires a somatic component: snapping your fingers.

    Hidden Trait (Restriction): While charging this spell you may chant ominous, foreboding, or antagonistic phrases. If you do so, this spell creates an obvious visual effect that grows in intensity over time. Entities that hear your chanting and can perceive this visual effect must succeed on a WIS check opposed by your CHA or become Distracted by you until this spell resolves.

    The reforged spell gave me two options. I could create a large-radius Sonic attack for 20 mana with no cooldown, or I could charge the spell to increase the blast size and add Spatial damage in exchange for a scaling cooldown. It was much more adaptable than the original.

    While scattering my foes to the four winds with a mighty blast was fun, having them grouped up in one place was more efficient for the party. The initial pressure wave would knock people on their asses, but the Spatial damage would suck them back into the explosion¡¯s center. Enemies would be prone, Deafened, and in a nice pile for Varrin to cut to pieces, Xim to blast with pillars of holy fire, Nuralie to drop gas bombs onto, and Etja to disintegrate into their component elements. I could even hop in with Gravity Anchor to keep them grouped up.

    We¡¯d also done some fine-tuning on how Intelligence, Dimensional Magic, and Physical Magic affected the spell, but more or less ended in the same place numerically. It was slightly weaker than the original for the moment, but that was only because my Physical Magic skill level was low. Eventually, it would be better than the original¨Cwith a faster-growing AoE size¨Cbut Physical Magic would need to be a priority for training.

    I also swapped the restriction. Chanting originally added a small amount of extra damage, but given the total damage being dealt when I channeled the spell, it hadn¡¯t been significant. Instead, it was now an easy way to Distract enemies and force them to ignore my allies, paying attention to me instead.

    My Charisma was only a 10, but my Charisma evolution made the score twice as effective when trying to Distract, bringing it up to an effective 20. I also had the This is Bullshit! achievement, which made it easier to Distract higher-level enemies. In the right circumstances, Grotto expected that would give me an effective CHA of up to 30; plenty high enough to Distract most non-casters.

    Next, I took a spin through Aura of Perseverance, rewiring it to be more useful for my build. The Shielding granted by the aura was based on Strength and Charisma. I was building into Strength, but not Charisma, so I swapped that out for Fortitude, making the skill more than twice as effective. I was surprised it was that easy of a change, but sometimes things just worked out. The System decided this made it an entirely different skill, though, so it got a proper name update.

    Aura of Persistence

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina + 1 stamina per second

    Cooldown: None

    You create an aura around you with a radius in feet equal to your Physical Magic skill level. Allies within this aura gain Shielding equal to your STR + FOR when this skill is activated. While the ally remains within range, this Shielding regenerates at a rate equal to its maximum value over 6 seconds.

    As our fevered session of skill forging neared its end, I took a fresh look at Gravity Anchor. The skill had been tailored to my needs when I crafted it, and I¡¯d mainly been focused on keeping myself from getting knocked all over the battlefield while also locking my enemies down into one place. It was an effect that emanated from my body in an AoE, which made it very similar to certain other abilities I possessed. Abilities that benefited from various evolutions and passives I had recently acquired.

    I poked at the skill a bit and found that it was pretty easy to add a specific keyword without having a huge impact on its function.

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Dimensional

    Cost: 10 stamina + 2 stamina/sec

    You gain an aura with a radius in feet equal to half your Dimensional Magic skill level. Entities within this aura are pulled toward you a number of feet equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level every second.

    While this aura is active you are Immobilized and immune to forced movement. Affected entities with STR lower than your INT are also Immobilized.

    The ability description became a lot more concrete. I likely lost a little versatility, but I didn¡¯t mind having a firmer grasp of the skill¡¯s mechanics. A quick test showed I could still use it to throw hammers into orbit around myself, so that exploit worked as normal. The ability to exclude allies from the effect was no longer expressly stated, but I could use the Discretion mana shape to accomplish the same thing.

    Since Gravity Anchor was now an aura, having it active gave me +5 to attack and defense. It also had its radius of 16 feet improved by another 21 feet, granted by my Level 20 Heavy Armor evolution. A 37-foot-radius ongoing pull and immobilize was pretty solid.

    I took a breather and reviewed my repertoire.

    Active Skills: (10/11)

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Explosion!+

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Arlo¡¯s Dimensional Summon

    Reckless Shortcut

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Dispel

    Reverse Card (Aura)

    Aura of Persistence

    Arlo¡¯s Life Warden

    I had buffs to protect myself and my allies, countermagic to fuck over casters, skills for mobility and counter-mobility, a powerful summon, and three attack skills that were hard to avoid. I stroked my beard as I stared at the empty eleventh slot.

    ¡°What am I missing?¡± I said. I was half talking to myself and half posing the question to Grotto.

    [Your last serious battle saw you being taken apart by a high-Speed Physical fighter wielding a massive bardiche.]

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯ve gained a decent amount of Speed and defense since then. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have as much trouble with Roach if we had to go at it again.¡±

    [Perhaps, but the answer to a fast melee fighter is not necessarily to match their strengths. You are gaining a fair amount of competency with armed combat, but your emphasis on spells will always see you lagging behind dedicated melee fighters.]

    ¡°So you think I should find a different counter? That¡¯s part of what I was trying to accomplish with Gravity Anchor.¡±

    [Gravity Anchor will prevent an enemy from fleeing, but it immobilizes melee fighters within striking distance. Explosion! may knock them down, but you would need to mana-shape the spell to keep from harming yourself. Plus, it is possible that skill might be on cooldown, even with our modifications. I believe you need a more dedicated skill that hinders movement and interferes with martial capabilities.]

    ¡°Right. Does that mean we¡¯re diving back in to forge a new skill?¡±

    [I do not believe that is necessary. Forging a new skill from scratch takes a great deal more time than the altering existing skills. No, I believe this will complement your current skill set quite nicely.]

    Grotto waved a feeler, and the System offered me a new skill.

    Elemental Barrier

    Physical

    Cost: 20 mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Physical Magic 20

    When you cast this spell, choose either the Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Sonic damage type.

    A stationary spherical barrier of elemental force erupts in a radius around you equal to half your Physical Magic skill level in feet, warding against approach by hostile forces. When you create this barrier and every 6 seconds thereafter, make an INT Physical attack against all non-party entities that are touching or inside the barrier. The damage of this attack is the damage type chosen when you cast the spell.

    Entities hit by this attack are pushed to the edge of the barrier. Additionally, if the damage type was Cold, entities hit by this attack are Slowed; if Fire, they are Ignited; if Lightning, they are Shocked; and if Sonic, they are Deafened and knocked prone.

    So long as you focus, this effect remains active.

    It took me a moment to digest the possibilities, but the skill really did look like it would mesh very well with my other skills. It was a stationary AoE, but in some ways that was a benefit. I could cast it on myself, or I could cast it on a stationary ally like Etja, helping to keep baddies from wandering too close.

    I could cast Gravity Anchor and Shortcut into a group of enemies, pulling them all in close to me. Then I could blast them with Elemental Barrier to deal constant damage as I wailed on them with my hammers. They¡¯d be Immobilized, Deafened, and constantly get knocked away, pulled back in, and thrown to the ground. That would definitely make it difficult to swing a sword. Or a giant bardiche.

    Plus, if the knockdown wasn¡¯t effective, I could swap to a different element. The skill gave me more options and greater control over melee combatants.

    I slotted it as my eleventh skill and stood up from the ultra-thick woolen rug.

    ¡°You can just offer us skills now?¡±

    [Since I am no longer bound by the System¡¯s restrictions, yes.]

    ¡°Like, whenever you want? All willy-nilly?¡±

    [Yes. As willy or as nilly as I so desire.]

    ¡°Oh, nice.¡± I stretched my arms toward the ceiling and my stomach rumbled. ¡°Now, we have lunch! Then, we play around with all this new shit!¡±

    [It is closer to breakfast time than lunch.]

    ¡°I thought it was midday when Pio¡¯s group finished the Delve.¡±

    [It was. You have been staring at your mana matrix for 14 hours.]

    ¡°Oh.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Fuck it. Yara said this is my sovereign domain, so lunch can damn well be whenever I say it is. I¡¯m having a turkey sandwich.¡±

    I marched out of the meditation room and toward the kitchen, with Grotto close behind.

 182 - Home & Garden & Very Small Pants

    I didn¡¯t end up testing my reforged skills after having lunch for breakfast. Once I¡¯d eaten my fill, fatigue hit me hard enough that my sleep-deprived brain thought I was under attack. I hadn¡¯t slept in a proper bed in months, and after a moment of hypervigilance, I realized I hadn¡¯t slept in nearly three days. The sensation was similar to someone trying to hit me with a sleep spell.

    So I crashed for 12 hours straight.

    The last three hours were mostly me struggling to convince myself to climb out of my bundle of ultra-plush blankets and peel myself out of the Arlo-shaped indent I¡¯d made in the mattress. When I¡¯d bought the bed, I¡¯d gone for something that favored softness, but that still had some level of firmness. Looking down at the mattress, it looked like a granite statue had been laid to rest in it for a week straight.

    I poked at my chest and flicked my biceps with a finger. I didn¡¯t feel like I was made of stone. Curious, I went to my armory and grabbed a wooden practice sword. I gave it a light slap against my thigh and it snapped in half.

    It really shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise. I added buying a Delver-crafted bed to the List, took a shower, and got on with my day.

    Grotto had used the time to create his first golem. It was Grade 12 at base, but after equipping it with a full gear loadout plundered from fallen Delvers, it rose to Grade 15. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and field test my abilities and the golem simultaneously.

    I demolished it.

    I did my best not to utterly destroy the golem, since it was easier for Grotto to repair a construct than build a new one entirely. Sadly, there was little I could do about Oblivion Orb teleporting chunks of the entity to an unknown dimension. I felt good about my progress and I felt a little bad about breaking Grotto¡¯s new toy. Not because it would make more work for Grotto, but because the golem looked a little too familiar.

    ¡°Why is the golem a clone of Etja?¡±

    [She is an exemplary model of golem craft. I saw no reason to attempt my own design when one of such high caliber was available in my archives.]

    I frowned and looked over the dismembered creation. It was less lifelike than Etja, with skin and features that were clearly artificial. Still, it was like someone had made an immaculate stone statue of the mage, complete with her wholesome smile. The expression remained even in the golem¡¯s death, which was a little creepy.

    [Before you complain further, Etja consented to my use of her as a model.]

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    [While you were wasting precious time being unconscious.]

    ¡°Hey, sleep is necessary for a well-functioning mind and body.¡±

    [Your slumber lasted 50% longer than necessary for a mundane human to become fully rested.]

    ¡°I¡¯ll refrain from trying to explain the psychological benefits of role-playing a slug once in a while. Did Etja come back from Eschangal?¡±

    [No. She is currently engaged in a multi-day ¡®shopping spree¡¯ with Nuralie.]

    ¡°Then how did you get her permission?¡±

    [I have remained in contact with the other party members during this downtime.]

    ¡°What? How?¡±

    Grotto floated back from his attempted repairs of the golem and thought for a moment.

    [Ah. I see I failed to inform you. The others were notified since they would be absent. I suppose it slipped my mind since you would remain close at hand.]

    Grotto waved a feeler and a Level 40 Charisma evolution popped up.

    Public Service Announcer

    You can focus to communicate with any entity you have met across any distance as though you were standing next to them. This communication can be in any form available to you, such as speech, body language, or telepathy. You may allow this communication to be perceptible to anyone nearby, or only to that entity. Entities who can perceive this communication can respond to you in a similar manner as long as you maintain focus.

    ¡°Ah, yes. An insanely useful long-range communication ability that I had no reason to know about beforehand. Completely understandable that it ¡®slipped your mind¡¯.¡±

    Grotto¡¯s octo-brow furrowed.

    [There is no need to be more sardonic than usual. Nothing has required your attention and taking time to yourself is beneficial. I also believe the other party members would find it rewarding to spend some time alone.]

    I sighed and shook off my irritation.

    ¡°Sure, fine. Sorry, I think I¡¯m irritable from oversleeping.¡± I rubbed my eyes. ¡°Also, I¡¯m 99% confident you made that reasoning up on the spot to cover for forgetting something.¡±

    Grotto returned to his work on the golem.

    [No. I am truly concerned about the¡­ mental well-being of everyone in the party.]

    His tone was less than convincing.

    ¡°Anything else that has slipped your mind recently?¡±

    [Varrin has requested an early return through the Third Layer Checkpoint. He plans to arrive in the morning.]

    ¡°Did he give a reason?¡±

    [Yes. The Hiwardian upper crust has caught wind of our upcoming meeting with the Littans. Combined with our contributions to advancing the phase, this has attracted a great deal of attention from the noble houses. Varrin plans to brief you in advance of their arrival.]

    ¡°Arrival? Arrival where?¡±

    [They plan to pay a visit to the Closet.]

    ¡°And who, specifically, are we talking about?¡±

    [The attendants are in flux as the situation is rapidly evolving. At the very least, we should expect Varrin¡¯s great-grandfather¨C]

    ¡°You mean, Ealdric Ravvenblaq Senior, the current patriarch of the Ravvenblaq house, a living legend, and one of the most powerful Delvers in the world?¡±

    [Yes. Varrin¡¯s mother will join him. Also, the two high-level Duckgriens who saved you from Orexis.]

    ¡°The reigning Ravvenblaq Thundralke along with the matriarch and patriarch of the Dukgrien house, also living legends and two more of the most powerful Delvers in the world?¡±

    [Yes. Additionally, the Dukgrien Thundralke is likely, along with Lito and Myria. One or more notable members from the other Hiwardian houses may show, and there is a small chance Filix Celeritia will make an appearance.]

    My mind froze at the roster Grotto was laying out. It didn¡¯t help that he was doing it in the most intentionally obtuse way imaginable.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Filix Celeritia? His Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia, Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward and Defender of the Realm, long may he reign?¡±

    Grotto paused, waiting to see if I was done.

    [Yes.] he thought, intonation the exact same as the last three times. [Although, such a lengthy title grants only superfluous information.]

    ¡°He¡¯s the fucking king!¡±

    [Ye¨C]

    ¡°Say ¡®yes¡¯ one more time,¡± I said, pointing at Grotto. His black eyes shifted as he calculated the risks and benefits of goading me any further.

    [He is a king, but we are not his subjects. There is no reason to get worked up over the matter.]

    I spun and power-walked out of the training room into the penthouse proper. I looked around, trying to wrap my head around what was happening.

    I was no stranger to rubbing elbows with powerful people at this point. I¡¯d met Patriarch Ravvenblaq before and had a handful of conversations with Nola and the Dukgriens. I¡¯d spent a couple of days running through the swamp with Zenithar Zura and had meetings with the other two leaders of Eschendur. I¡¯d had a pissing contest with a Littan admiral and was on a first-name basis with a goddess. Hells, I¡¯d even had a deity pay a personal visit to the Pocket Delve the day before.

    But this was different. Those encounters were high-stakes, but there was one core difference with the upcoming soiree that ratcheted things up a notch.

    I was hosting.

    I did a lap of the penthouse, eyeing every piece of high-end luxury furniture, the overpriced paintings, the tasteful bronze sculptures. I ran my fingers across the supple threads of hand-woven silk rugs and stared down at the impeccably laid hardwood floors. Mahogany cabinets, marble countertops, and a wine cellar filled with an irreproachable selection of vintages, it was an abode of peerless taste and timeless decor.

    And it was way too small.

    There was no time to construct and decorate another ten thousand square feet with such a high degree of exemplary furnishings! Damn my incredible taste and insistence on only the finest baubles and knick-knacks!

    Grotto and I could expand into the Closet to make space for a horde of royalty, but it¡¯s not like I kept a mansion¡¯s worth of high-end interior decorations lying about. It would be obvious that it was new construction. I hadn¡¯t even had time to build a proper lawn and garden for large events.

    And what about food? I had plenty of fresh goods for myself, even enough for some family meals with the party, but nowhere near what was needed to satisfy a gaggle of nobles and their entourages. I didn¡¯t even know what types of finger foods old-money Hiwardians enjoyed. It was an island nation, so they probably ate a lot of fish, right?

    I didn¡¯t have any fish!

    It didn¡¯t keep well and always tasted funny after storing it in inventory for too long. Varrin swore it was all in my head, but Nuralie agreed and I trusted her palate more.

    At least I had several kilos of luxury cheeses and two dozen barrels of craft beer. Cheese and beer sounded like a good time, but was it a royally good time?

    Maybe Varrin foresaw this problem. Maybe he was coming early to lend me an inventory full of Ravvenblaq antiques and hand me a hundred pounds worth of fancy fixin¡¯s. I could only hope. But would he bring a chef as well? I started eyeing that Cooking intrinsic more seriously.

    I went back to the training room.

    ¡°Grotto! Put the golem down, we¡¯re going into emergency event planning mode!¡±

    *****

    While we couldn¡¯t make a mansion from nothing, we could use what we had to prepare a serviceable hosting location. Our primary greenhouse wasn¡¯t pulling double duty as a living space like the hot spring was, so we converted it into an indoor party garden.

    We had plenty of greenery, and expanding the space to create intricate geometric pathways weaving between flowers and bushes was as easy as Grotto waving a feeler. Constructing a patio was as simple as raising up the floor of the Closet, but it really needed some tile or stone to be seen as anything less than utilitarian.

    Grotto also marked out several secluded areas within the shrubbery where he¡¯d place sound-dampening weaves, enabling guests to hold discreet conversations. It wasn¡¯t as effective as a series of dedicated meeting rooms, but it was much prettier. Besides, I wasn¡¯t trying to create a comprehensive diplomatic facility. I just needed to provide enough functional architecture that I¡¯d give the appearance of a semi-competent socialite.

    I paused in the midst of our project to think over why I felt so strongly about that last point. I enjoyed being a proper host, but I wasn¡¯t typically concerned with putting up a veneer of wealth or sophistication. The only reasonable conclusion was that Diplomacy was already flexing its skill levels, influencing me to be more considerate of appearances in the face of unknown political entities.

    If the Hiwardian ruling class came for a visit to the personal home of Fortune¡¯s Folly¡¯s party leader, certain judgments would inevitably be made not just about me, but also about the party as a whole. A home that spoke only of personal luxury and intimate gatherings would imply I had no reason to believe I¡¯d need to host larger groups.

    Important and well-connected people often needed to host large groups of other important and well-connected people as a matter of course. Elbows would be rubbed, palms greased, conspiracies plotted, the Illuminati formed. Hiwardian nobility would expect someone of station to have an estate organized with such facts in mind. Thus, if the best I could do was show the king of Hiward to my solitary dining room for a chat, one might glean the impression that I was not an important and well-connected person.

    I wasn¡¯t concerned about petty remarks or poorly hidden smirks. The opinions of the snide and the spoiled meant little to me. However, if I was misjudged to be someone of little import, that placed a target on our backs. Fame was a dangerous thing if you had no one to throw their weight around when the predators came sniffing.

    We could handle ourselves in the face of obvious lethal threats, but if a high-ranking noble decided to try and box us in as part of some convoluted scheme to take advantage of our recently acquired notoriety, it could spell a lot of trouble that might be better avoided.

    Varrin was a member of a major house, but he wasn¡¯t expected to inherit the title of Thundralke, his brother was. Xim would likely become chieftain of an important Third Layer tribe one day, but they were a minor power in First Layer Arzia. Nuralie was a fledgling inquisitor, and Etja had no political clout to speak of. All I had was a tribal membership, grit, and gumption. We weren¡¯t the easiest targets to snare in a web of intrigue and manipulation, but we were far from the hardest. Anything I could do to reduce the chances of that happening was worth spending some time and effort on.

    Grotto and I finished organizing the greenhouse into a sprawling garden with space for gatherings of several sizes. We had a patio with room for twenty or so people¨Cwhich prominently displayed my auto-cooking Kill n¡¯ Grill¨Cseveral locations for gatherings of up to eight, and a few nooks and crannies for doubles and triples.

    Glowstones and mana weaves created an alluring array of lighting solutions that could be customized based on the time of day and mood. Grotto had a surprising amount of talent for arranging the plants into thoughtful displays with coherent themes of color and form. It also smelled fucking fantastic in there, so long as you didn¡¯t have allergies. Since most of the visitors would be Delvers, I doubted it would be a problem.

    We didn¡¯t have shit for lawn furniture though.

    We expanded the kitchen to make space for a head chef and a team of cooks. I didn¡¯t have any commercial equipment to add, but we could at least ensure plenty of room for food prep and easy movement. We also rearranged the armory to look less like an armory and more like a trophy room displaying the spoils of our conquests. It looked good but was incomplete without additional wall decor. It also needed some cozy places to sit and indulge the ultra-masculine need to be surrounded by instruments of war and death, feeling like a badass while doing so.

    Additional rearrangements were made to take my bedroom from an easy offshoot of the main living area to a more secluded master bedroom. We then created a large foyer that guests could enter through, with vaulted ceilings and some lovely chandeliers I¡¯d looted from the Mimic Delve.

    Grotto assured me they wouldn¡¯t try to eat anyone, but I was going to keep an eye on them nonetheless.

    It was a twelve-hour remodeling spree made possible by the total control Grotto and I shared over the dimensions of the Closet. Rooms had been constructed to be semi-modular, allowing us to shuffle things around on a whim without tearing apart the walls or flooring.

    Portals and Dimensional fuckery also allowed us to connect rooms that were nowhere near one another. Both Grotto and I had a little fun coming up with ways to make my penthouse feel bigger than it actually was. If every room connected to two more via portals craftily hidden between door frames, then it would seem like the space went on forever. Once someone figured out the rooms were continually looping into one another, they¡¯d likely be more impressed than if we merely had a humongous house.

    I busted my ass to move materials and rearrange bulky items as quickly as possible. I was sweaty, shirtless, and wearing my favorite pair of hotpants for comfort and mobility. I got so in the zone that I lost track of time, and Grotto was about as terrible at gauging time as I imagined any billiondy-year-old immortal would be. Before I knew it, Grotto interrupted my repositioning of an armoire to let me know Varrin was awaiting entry through the Third Layer Checkpoint.

    ¡°Shit, can I take a quick shower?¡±

    [He insists that time is of the utmost importance.]

    ¡°Important like ¡®yes, become less gross but do it in five minutes,¡¯ or important like ¡®I¡¯m burning to death and you¡¯re the only person holding a bucket of water for miles?¡¯¡±

    [His exact words were ¡®Every grain of sand in the hourglass must be valued as a pauper would value a precious jewel.¡¯]

    ¡°Fuck, why is he so poetic? When did he get so poetic?¡±

    I pulled a towel from inventory and wiped myself down, moving toward our new foyer. I took the time to pop out my leather vest and shrug it on, making the mildest attempt to not be mostly nude when greeting the big guy. I figured Xim and her parents would be with him, maybe Khigra, but they weren¡¯t exactly bashful. Plus, they knew what I was about.

    I rubbed my hair dry of sweat and ran my fingers through my beard in a futile attempt to tame it, then activated the Checkpoint.

    When the portal opened, I found Varrin as expected, some well-dressed and very proper-looking young noble women who I hadn¡¯t expected, and the entire household staff of the Ravvenblaq manor, none of whom had expected my hotpants.

    I smiled and waved.

 183 - Showing Off â€˜The Hammerâ€™

    Varrin looked fresh as new-fallen snow. He wore a white silk shirt, pristine and with nary a wrinkle or speck of dust. It was loose-fitting in a way that miraculously made his Herculean musculature look even more impressive as it bulged around his chest and shoulders. His pants were dark leather, fitted and flattering¨Cnot that he needed it¨Cwith a pair of low-cut boots that he could wear on the trail or at the ball.

    Flanking him were four gorgeous women, making him look like the protagonist in one of Grotto¡¯s ¡®research¡¯ novels. The first was Khigra, who stood casually with arms crossed, wearing her very-tight-but-only-for-functional-reasons smithing outfit. Xim was beside her in the ivory-colored top and charcoal pants she favored when outside of her robes and chainmail. The other two women, however, were unfamiliar.

    To Varrin¡¯s right was a Level 1 platinum who looked slightly younger than the big guy. She was a little more than six feet tall, with white hair and pale skin that marked her as ethnically Hiwardian. Her features held a familial resemblance to Varrin, down to the ice-blue eyes and bone structure perfect enough to make you wonder whether one of the Ravvenblaqs had Genetic Engineering as an intrinsic skill. Where Varrin was a slab of unrealistic expectations for the male body, the woman beside him was similarly ¡®gifted¡¯ in the feminine direction.

    The other woman was also Level 1 platinum, with a slimmer frame, strawberry blonde hair, and a dusting of freckles below pale green eyes. She was about average in height¨Can inch or two taller than Xim¨Cbut it was tough to recognize her stature as ¡®normal¡¯ while she stood beside a goliath like Varrin. Even Khigra had six inches on the newcomer, almost as tall as Varrin¡¯s mystery relative.

    Behind them were Xim¡¯s parents, and a veritable horde of butlers, maids, and other servants.

    At least he hadn¡¯t shown up with any of the big shots. I¡¯d prefer to get to know the king before modeling for him in my skivvies.

    While I took them in at a glance and gave a cheery wave, Varrin gently placed his face into his palm and let out a mighty sigh. Xim looked me up and down with a wide grin, and Khigra stoically raised an eyebrow. The blonde woman lifted a hand to hide a blush, feigning a cough to excuse the motion, while the unknown Ravvenblaq looked¡­ confused.

    ¡°Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Varrin said, recomposing himself and holding a hand out toward the blonde woman. ¡°May I present Lady Sineh Dukgrien, firstborn daughter of Thundralkes Bebhinn and Feargan Dukgrien. Lady Dukgrien is well-versed in the current political landscape of Hiward, and has volunteered to assist us in getting up to speed.¡±

    I gave a brief Hiwardian bow. ¡°Wonderful to meet you.¡±

    She curtsied. ¡°Aye, Esquire Arlo. The same to you. Varrin¡¯s told me stories, but it¡¯s lovely to meet you in the flesh.¡± Her eyes twinkled but stayed firmly in place above my neckline.

    Varrin cleared his throat and gestured to the white-haired woman. ¡°And this is my younger sister, Lady Riona Ravvenblaq. Riona is currently apprenticed to the Ravvenblaq Keeper of Decorum, and will be invaluable in aiding us to refresh our etiquette.¡±

    We exchanged pleasantries as well. Riona didn¡¯t add her own cheeky turn of phrase, but her eyes wandered a bit more than Sineh¡¯s.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve been introduced,¡± I said, stepping to the side and gesturing toward the foyer, ¡°welcome to my not-at-all humble abode. Please, come on in.¡±

    The pair of women curtsied again and walked through the portal, followed by Varrin and Khigra. Xim stepped up beside me, the stream of servants close on her heels.

    She leaned in and whispered, ¡°I didn¡¯t know they made pants that small.¡±

    We both glanced down at my hotpants, then back up at the same time. The people walking past were carefully avoiding looking my way.

    ¡°They¡¯re very comfortable,¡± I said.

    ¡°They look like they give a lot of¡­ support,¡± Xim added.

    ¡°Keeps everything where it oughtta be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Xim, nodding seriously. ¡°It¡¯s important for clothes to be functional.¡±

    ¡°Very easy to move in, too.¡±

    ¡°Really? Maybe I should look into buying a pair.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll introduce you to my tailor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± she said, bumping me with her shoulder. ¡°You can help me pick them out.¡±

    She flashed me a grin, then strode forward. She reached up to fluff her hair with her fingers, turning to give me an exaggerated wink as she did so.

    I swallowed, then went to sort out my guests as the final servant came through.

    The Ravvenblaq servants lined up into neat rows in the foyer, arranged in groups with matching formal outfits. Several men and women looked pale¨Cpaler than normal for a Hiwardian¨Cand I doubted my uncouth appearance was the culprit. This was a group who¡¯d likely never once visited the Third Layer.

    That was an unusual trip for most Delvers, let alone mundane humans. The spectacle of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s eye mutating the world around them until it twisted into the alien landscape of the Xor¡¯Drel tribe lands was probably quite a shock. Lord knows how they¡¯d be reacting if they¡¯d been dropped into the wilds on their first visit like I had.

    In front of the rows of servants was a diminutive man in a blue suit and bowtie, his dress shirt and socks an attractive shade of periwinkle. Despite my banter with Xim, I¡¯d kept a close eye on everyone entering the Closet. I¡¯d done my best to catalog each face in an effort at operational security. I didn¡¯t want any stowaways trying to hang out after all of this was done and snooping into my private affairs. Despite this, the man of short stature¨Cthree and a half feet tall at most¨Chad not come inside with the rest of the servants.

    A quick scan with my Sight told me who it was, although I was slightly confused as to the how and the why.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen,¡± said the disguised Grotto in a slightly less sinister tone than his typical psychic voice. ¡°Welcome to the estate of Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, master of this domain and all its independent territories.¡±

    I held my tongue while trying to unravel Grotto¡¯s scheme, who had paused to gesture toward me and watch the reaction of the servants. Whether he was interested in how they reacted to my Esquire honorific, which he¡¯d emphasized, or my current state of undress, I didn¡¯t know. Probably both, based on the smirk he wore. The way he¡¯d said ¡°independent territories¡± sounded suspiciously like he was setting me up as some sort of ruler or monarch, despite how he¡¯d referred to me. Of course, he¡¯d already done that with the mythos of the Void King.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Do not be fooled by the title of Esquire, however,¡± Grotto continued, marching down the line as he spoke. ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel chooses to use this title in lieu of the many, many others he has earned to remind those he meets that he is a man of humble origins. To remind them that people who are so often called common can become anything but. While you are here, know that you will be expected to perform your duties to the highest degree of excellence, but that you will also be afforded the respect and courtesy that Master Xor¡¯Drel so often failed to receive in his youth.¡±

    In my youth, Grotto? I look twenty-one, tops. Then again, with Delver lifespans these people might have believed I was older than I appeared. Which I was, technically. Also, why did this sound like the opening to a political rally?

    ¡°I am the administrator of Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s lands, and you may refer to me simply as Majordomo. As you assist us in preparing for the arrival of our esteemed guests, you will notice a lack of staff present in the household. Master Xor¡¯Drel is an accomplished magus, and so many of the functions that such a staff might provide are accomplished through various magicks and self-sustaining sorceries. Domestic personnel are usually unnecessary.

    ¡°Because of this, you may notice certain¡­ ¡®curiosities¡¯ around the estate. I am sure you all have experience with such things through your work for the honorable House Ravvenblaq. Be assured that you will not encounter anything dangerous.¡± He paused again, giving the servants a meaningful look. ¡°So long as you do not stray from where you have been tasked.¡±

    He stepped front and center, puffing out his chest and folding his arms behind his back. ¡°You may treat any request I make of you as though it were made by Master Xor¡¯Drel himself.¡± Oh, that sounded like a recipe for trouble. ¡°We have been given little time to prepare, and so I will forgo further pomp and pleasantries in favor of moving on to assignments. If you have any questions, please come and see me personally afterward.¡±

    Grotto turned and gave me a shallow bow, then turned to Varrin and did the same. Me and the big guy exchanged a look, silently discussing whether to allow Grotto to take the reins here. I gave a near-imperceptible shrug. Varrin nodded, then spoke to his people.

    ¡°While we are guests here, Majordomo shall be considered the chief of staff. If his words are to be treated as Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s, then Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s shall be treated as my own.¡±

    Grotto gave Varrin another shallow bow, then turned back to the servants. He smiled with only a hint of menace.

    ¡°Let us get started.¡±

    *****

    While Grotto organized the workforce, I politely excused myself to clean up. Varrin was eager to discuss several things with me and Khigra needed to head out before the portal closed, but they graciously allowed me time to shower and put on actual pants. My grooming was thorough but expedient.

    Once I was squeaky clean, I hid my shameful lower half beneath a pair of damask trousers with a subtle inlay of swirling constellations. I selected a complementary button-up to wear beneath my vest, leaving three undone at the top to show a cultured amount of chest, and¨Cof course¨Cthrew on my boa.

    I joined my guests in the drawing room, where servants were already pouring tea and laying platters of high-carb snacks. One man in particular caught my eye, dressed in fine cotton clothes and an apron, with a towel draped over one arm. He stood behind a mid-back chair and a standing tray covered in scissors, combs, razors, brushes, and other barbering tools. All of them glinted with hints of mana.

    I smiled wide, noticing Varrin¡¯s clean shave and precision haircut.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Varrin. ¡°This is Mr. Duffens. I have taken the liberty of procuring his services for the morning since I do not believe you will have time to visit your preferred hairdresser in Foundation.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Duffens,¡± I said, giving the man a nod. ¡°A pleasure to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, m¡¯lord,¡± said Duffens. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to be invited to such a unique residence.¡±

    ¡°Am I to be groomed before or after our discussions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Concurrently would be prudent,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°As you say.¡±

    I did my best to hide my delight and act the part of a proper lord, gentleman, trans-dimensional emperor, or whomever it was I was supposed to be. I shrugged off my boa and sat in the chair, where Mr. Duffens placed the towel around my shoulders. He quickly began giving me the most attentive and¨Cdare I say¨Cdashing trim I¡¯d ever received.

    ¡°In the interests of time,¡± said Varrin, ¡°I believe Lady Khigra¡¯s business should be addressed first.¡±

    It was very nice of him to be acting as the chair of our little meeting.

    Sensing no opposition, Khigra put down a berry-filled pastry, stood from the table, and casually made her way over. She wore a look of mild amusement at our antics as she brushed crumbs from her fingers. I got the sense that the Third Layer dream forger did not often find herself in the company of Hiwardian aristocrats.

    She held out her hand, and Somncres appeared.

    The weapon was in its throwing hammer form, pinpricks of light migrating through the emerald green head and spiraling down its ebony handle. I accepted it from her with reverence, inspecting the item as soon as it hit my palm.

    My eyes widened as I went down the much longer list of effects. Two were the same as they had been, but the weapon¡¯s original second effect was missing.

    Somncres

    Throwing Hammer

    This is an evolving item.

    Requirements

    STR 20, INT 40, Blunt 25, Dimensional Magic 20, Mystical Magic 20

    Effects:

    1) Somncres can be summoned and dismissed at will.

    2) Whenever you make a thrown weapon attack with Somncres you may create up to X Fleeting copies, where X is your INT/10. Each copy costs 2 mana to create. These copies possess all qualities imbued into Somncres at the moment the copies are created.

    Before, the hammer¡¯s shape and size could be adjusted at will. For whatever reason, it no longer had that capability. I decided to hold my questions until I¡¯d gone through the entire list.

    The third effect was the main upgrade Khigra had given the weapon.

    3) Each Somncres copy can be individually assigned to a target for 1 additional mana.

    Whenever I copied Somncres, the copies followed the path of the original, unless I engaged in some gravitational hijinks to bend them to my will. That meant I could only target one enemy at a time, albeit with a devastating amount of firepower. Now, I could attack up to five different targets with a single throw. I was betting I could even assign each hammer to the same target, but manipulate them individually with my Blunt 20 evolution, Hammerang. That way, hammers could assault one target from five different angles, directions, and even elevations.

    Between this and my recent upgrades to Explosion!, my ability to engage with multiple targets was skyrocketing.

    After the ¡®major¡¯ upgrade was a slew of potent traditional effects.

    4) +100 Health Regen

    5) +80 Mana Regen

    6) +30 Armor Penetration to attacks made with Somncres

    7) +60 damage to Dimensional attacks while wielding Somncres

    Regen, more regen, and penetration. Khigra really knew what made my heart sing.

    However, the most interesting of these ¡®minor¡¯ effects was the last. Added damage buffs on weapons typically only added damage to attacks made with that weapon, not anything else. The Penetration effect, for example, only applied to attacks made with Somncres.

    The bonus damage on Somncres applied to all Dimensional attacks. That was something more commonly found on wands or staves. Somncres didn¡¯t deal any Dimensional damage natively, but both Homing Weapon and Oblivion Orb were attacks classified under the Dimensional school. This would even improve Explosion! when I charged the spell.

    Finally, the effect that allowed Khigra to add more effects had been reworded.

    8) Khigra may Empower this item once you reach your next Intelligence evolution.

    Empower, eh? What kind of tasty chocolate center is that keyword hiding?

 184 - When To Hit Your Guests & Other Lessons on Etiquette

    ¡°This is incredible,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, it¡¯s perfect.¡±

    ¡°Perfect would be if it turned all your enemies to treasure with a single touch,¡± Khigra replied. ¡°But I think this is not too far behind.¡± She placed her hands on her hips and gave the hammer a conflicted look. ¡°The weapon has a strong will. It would slip away whenever I tried to guide it until I allowed it to lead me where it wished.¡±

    ¡°It uh, has a mind of its own?¡±

    Khigra¡¯s look of amusement returned. ¡°Dream-forged weapons are connected to their wielder. It would be better to say that you made the process more complicated.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I have the urge to apologize but also wouldn¡¯t know what I¡¯d be apologizing for.¡±

    Khigra chuckled. ¡°Do not apologize for existing. The hammer was argumentative, but did not truly fight with me.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It made good points, so I allowed it to take control.¡± The dream forger locked eyes with me. ¡°That is not something I normally allow.¡±

    Now I understood what Khigra had been conflicted about. The woman hated to lose unless losing meant she¡¯d gain more than if she¡¯d won. Our final few spars were filled with¡­ similar moments. The hammer hadn¡¯t let her influence its growth, but she was happy with the result nonetheless.

    ¡°Then it lost the ability to transform because I didn¡¯t like it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It was a compromise,¡± Khigra answered. ¡°It made room for more powerful secondary effects. If I read the weapon correctly, you rarely used the feature.¡±

    I nodded. There had been moments where morphing the hammer midswing had been useful, but all my power was focused on throwing techniques.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°The regen, penetration, and damage boosts are more useful to me. Can you tell me about the final effect? What does Empower mean?¡±

    She shifted her weight, considering her response. ¡°How much do you know about evolving items?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I know that I have two of them,¡± I answered. ¡°Other than that, they change over time?¡±

    ¡°Time is too vague a measure, but close enough. Most of what I create are static items, created to serve a function, much as a normal smith would do here in the¨C¡± She paused and looked around, seeming to remember where she was. ¡°To be honest, I am uncertain if this space is considered to be in the First Layer or not.¡±

    ¡°Closer to the First than the Third,¡± Xim helpfully volunteered.

    Khigra furrowed her brow at Xim¡¯s answer but moved on. ¡°Regardless, most of what I create is traditionally smithed. Only a minority are dream forged. Fewer still are those that can evolve.

    ¡°Evolving items can be powerful, but they are expensive, difficult to create, highly specialized, and require continual use to advance to the next stage. Often, while the wielder is struggling to advance their evolving item, they have become capable of wielding something else that is more powerful. For most, it is cheaper, easier, and more effective to purchase a normal weapon and replace it soon after they outgrow it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I had a similar experience with my amulet,¡± I said. ¡°It was useless for a long time while I tried to satisfy its next requirement.¡±

    ¡°So you understand the difficulties,¡± she said. ¡°Good. For your hammer, it did not matter that it was expensive since you did not pay for it. I am one of the best dream forgers alive, so the difficulty was also not an issue.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever been accused of lacking self-confidence?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°No,¡± Khigra answered.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think so.¡±

    Khigra took the comment in stride and refocused on me. ¡°Your hammer became highly specialized, but because it was dream forged it was specialized in a way that uniquely suited you. Finally, our choice of concepts when forging the weapon gave it an unusual growth mechanism.

    ¡°You prioritized Intelligence, so the hammer is now more advanced than any normal item you could wield at your level. However, evolving items have a growth ceiling, a point at which they will no longer advance. For Somncres, that point has been reached.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°That seems¡­ fast.¡±

    ¡°It is only fast because you have been leveling at an outrageous pace. Another person might have used this weapon for many years. After this advancement, they would use it for many more years still.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°But your bond with the weapon is strong, your choice of concepts created an opportunity, and I¨Cbeing as talented as I am¨Cwas able to seize that opportunity. You should take a moment to reflect on how lucky you are.¡±

    She paused and watched me.

    ¡°You mean right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    I would have nodded, but it would have interrupted Mr. Duffens. Instead, I tried to convey my intense reflection through the expert use of my passionate gaze. After a minute passed, Khigra looked satisfied.

    ¡°Your concepts are those of Growth and Void,¡± she said. ¡°The first was responsible for the item¡¯s ability to evolve, while the second made it easy to remove the transformation effect. It is a weapon that can erase part of its own identity and create something new in its place.¡±

    Khigra¡¯s description made me think of how I¡¯d been modifying my active skills. It was a similar process.

    ¡°To Empower the weapon is to give it authority over itself. This can mean many things, but for Somncres I believe it will choose to continue in its path as an evolving weapon. The trigger for that evolution will change, as will the type of benefits they may bring. So far, it has been centered on manipulating itself¨Calteration, copying, controlling those copies¨Cbut after it is Empowered, we cannot predict where it will take itself.¡±

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°I thought you said it didn¡¯t have a mind of its own.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t. Empowerment will give it one.¡±

    ¡°And will I have any say in how it, uh, manages itself?¡± I asked.

    ¡°As much as you have a say in how anyone else chooses to live their lives.¡±

    ¡°So I use my winning charm and powers of persuasion.¡±

    ¡°Or you argue it into the ground until it sees no other path forward except your own,¡± she said. ¡°Much as the weapon did with me while I reworked it.¡±

    ¡°Right. So I use winning charm and powers of persuasion.¡±

    Khigra cocked her head to one side but nobly decided not to oppose my questionable interpretation of reality.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot to take in,¡± I said. ¡°And it sounds like you put a lot of thought into this. I deeply appreciate the effort.¡±

    ¡°Do you appreciate it more than the two emerald chips you will be paying me?¡±

    I intercepted my surprise before it squirmed its way out onto my facial features, carefully depositing a look of contemplation in its stead. I hadn¡¯t exactly considered whether Khigra would charge me for her work. When she¡¯d created the hammer, she¡¯d been paid by Drel¡¯gethed and Xorna. The generous tribal gift from Xim¡¯s parents did not include any upgrades, it seemed.

    Still, I wasn¡¯t going to fall into Khigra¡¯s trap.

    ¡°I believe I appreciate it exactly that much,¡± I said, unwilling to fumble my way into a higher price by espousing the invaluable nature of her skills and contributions.

    Could I have haggled? Probably. But I would rather Khigra get her asking price and be happy than have me become a tough customer with a handful more ruby chips in my pocket.

    Besides, I had 66 of the glittering green chips, and money was made for spendin¡¯!

    I coughed up the cash, and Khigra looked pleased with the deal. Afterward, she handed Xim a note and stole an entire platter of tiny cakes on her way out. An attendant quickly took position by her side and escorted her to the Checkpoint portal, which had about fifteen minutes left before it would close.

    After she¡¯d gone, my attention turned to the rest of the room. Varrin and Sineh Dukgrien were having a whispered conversation. Sineh looked quite pleased with whatever was being said, and she placed a hand on Varrin¡¯s forearm as she tried and failed to contain a laugh. Varrin smiled in a way that I rarely saw, and had been slowly leaning closer to Sineh the entire time Khigra and I had our chat.

    Was that the scent of romance in the air?

    Maybe it was just the appetizing smell of the twelve varieties of cookies on the table.

    Or it was parfum d''amour, the fragrance of passion!

    It could have also been the fresh strudel.

    Meanwhile, Varrin¡¯s sister, Riona, had a foot-high pile of folders filled with documents in front of her. She was reviewing the contents of the first but had been sneaking glances at me from time to time, attempting to do so without my notice. Sadly for her, I¡¯d honed my perception skills against extraordinary challenges and heroic foes¨Cboth of which were categories Nuralie fell firmly into. While it was true I still couldn¡¯t find the crafty loson when she didn¡¯t want to be found, Riona¡¯s attempts at stealth crumbled before my strapping Wisdom score.

    She mostly just seemed curious, although I was looking quite dapper, and growing even more dapper every second under Mr. Duffens¡¯s care.

    Xim had tucked away Khigra¡¯s note and was now wholly consumed with constructing a miniature house from the remaining treats and pastries we¡¯d been provided. I patiently waited for Varrin to announce the next item on our agenda while my mind wandered to the thought of Xim in hotpants. Was she the type of gal who¡¯d prefer to wear tailored separates¨Csomething loose and flowy up above to accentuate a daring bottom half? Or would she go with something more revealing like a spaghetti strap or even a matching bikini top?

    Would she feel the need to wear anything else at all?

    ¡°Turn your head just so, m¡¯lord,¡± Mr. Duffens said.

    I realized he¡¯d been gently putting pressure on my scalp, guiding me to a better position so he could tidy the back of my neck. With my distraction, he may as well have been encouraging a block of steel to bend.

    ¡°Apologies, Mr. Duffens,¡± I said, tilting my head forward slightly. ¡°I am known for having an unyielding noggin¡¯ at times.¡±

    ¡°So long as it¡¯s not contagious, m¡¯lord.¡±

    The man continued his work while I assessed whether I should laugh at the joke, or whether it had been a joke at all. Sadly, my prodigious perception skills failed me in this regard.

    Varrin sat up straight in his chair, and Sineh¡¯s hand slid back into her lap.

    ¡°Now that you have your hammer,¡± he said, ¡°we should discuss who you are allowed to hit with it.¡±

    ¡°I assume the answer is ¡®no one¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°For the next couple of days, at least.¡±

    Varrin leaned forward and folded his hands on the table.

    ¡°There are seven distinct situations in which it is not only appropriate, but expected, for a host of a superior station to physically chastise a misbehaving guest.¡±

    He delivered this information without a speck of humor, then stood and squared his shoulders. He placed one hand behind him and raised his other to gesture as he spoke.

    By the gods, the man was entering his ¡®teaching¡¯ pose!

    He was being serious!

    ¡°Wait, is this really the best place to start?¡± I asked.

    Riona was the one to answer. ¡°The children I teach often learn best by having the concepts tied to something they are familiar with. For you¨Caccording to Varrin¨Cthat¡¯s mostly hitting things. We¡¯ll begin there and take it one step at a time.¡±

    Varrin stood behind her, suppressing a grin.

    ¡°First,¡± I said, ¡°I am a man of learning and intellect in addition to being an implacable thug. Second¨C¡± I turned to Varrin. ¡°You spent a lot of time and effort coming up with that hammer segue, didn¡¯t you? And you intentionally led your sister to believe I was a mindless brute so you¡¯d get to use it.¡±

    Riona turned and gave Varrin an ¡°Is this true?¡± glare that any mother would be proud of.

    ¡°Ridiculous,¡± said Varrin, failing his deception check. ¡°I did no such thing.¡± Riona¡¯s glare turned into a scowl. ¡°We have too little time to litigate over baseless accusations, so we should move on.¡±

    Riona sighed in exasperation¨Cas if Varrin pulled this sort of thing often¨Cand gestured for the big guy to continue.

    Thus, Varrin began explaining the seven situations where violence against guests was encouraged and the proper protocol for each in exacting detail. Riona handed me the thin folder she¡¯d been reviewing, which I opened to find a cheat sheet with a concise breakdown of that very topic. I glanced back at the stack in front of Varrin¡¯s sister. She gave the massive pile a pat and sent me a consoling smile.

    Unlike the mysterious Mr. Duffens, I could read Riona as easily as the document in my hands. I¡¯d never seen so much schadenfreude hidden in a single expression. There was trauma there, too; a childhood filled with endless days listening to dry exposition on arbitrary social rules. I could barely comprehend subjecting a child to such torture!

    ¡°So,¡± Varrin said sharply, interrupting my dreadful musings. ¡°What is the three-part test to determine whether the first circumstance applies?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me?¡±

    ¡°You were listening, weren¡¯t you?¡± He pointed at my hands. ¡°You even have a learning aid.¡±

    I looked down at the document, finding two of the three steps listed. The third step was blank. Riona slowly slid a pen across the table toward me.

    No!

    It wasn¡¯t a cheat sheet!

    It was a fucking worksheet!

    A day of suffering began, unlike any I¡¯d ever known in Arzia.

 185 - Accidental Nation Building

    I was not averse to learning. I often took it upon myself to investigate and explore a variety of subjects, Delver-related or otherwise. I was the type to fixate on a topic that struck my fancy and go full gonzo with little regard for my health and wellness, spending twelve hours crawling through mainline sources until I was deep into obscure texts filled with potentially problematic hot takes. It was practically routine.

    However, that was when I gave a shit about what I was learning. Otherwise, it was a struggle. Fortunately (or unfortunately), my Earth life had been filled with studying things I felt no love for, primarily out of the obligation to earn money for basic necessities and a certain level of personal freedom. I wasn¡¯t happy to do it, but a strong sense of ¡®you gotta do what you gotta do¡¯ had been beaten into me at a young age. I was more than capable.

    Suffice it to say, I wasn¡¯t terribly keen on learning the subtleties of high-class Hiwardian do¡¯s and don¡¯ts. The general concepts of diplomacy didn¡¯t bore me, and understanding the cultural origins of such behavior was fine, but the study of such topics rarely focused on the why and was more concerned with the how.

    This additional information also wasn¡¯t conducive to cram sessions. Riona was forced to ride the line between appreciating my enthusiasm for the context of our lessons and becoming frustrated at my endless curiosity.

    ¡°If we had a decade to prepare you, these would be wonderful questions,¡± said Riona. ¡°We have a day.¡±

    ¡°Learning the reasoning for a particular behavior makes me much more likely to remember it,¡± I countered. ¡°A long list of random numbers is much more difficult to memorize than the formula used to derive those numbers.¡±

    ¡°Unless that formula requires years of study to comprehend,¡± she said. ¡°Then, you should just memorize the numbers.¡±

    ¡°That assumes I have no background in math.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a background in the logic of Hiwardian etiquette?¡±

    ¡°Only a small one,¡± I admitted. I had studied it briefly after emerging from the Creation Delve. ¡°But it¡¯s entirely possible I have exposure to a much broader intersection of cultures than anyone present.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how,¡± said Riona. Her tone was level, and I had to admit she was being exceptionally patient.

    ¡°I¡¯m a traveler from a distant land,¡± I said. ¡°It was a nation composed of people from practically every other nation in existence.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re from Ayama?¡± she asked. ¡°I thought you were a Xor¡¯Drel.¡±

    ¡°This is a tangent,¡± said Varrin. He placed a hand on Riona''s shoulder. ¡°Just assume he has a cosmopolitan background.¡±

    Riona looked skeptical but sat back and crossed her arms.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°When Hiward first earned its independence from Litta, there was a period of disruption to the supply chains. Imports became difficult from eastern nations until relations between Litta and Hiward cooled. Because of this, various spices Hiwardians had become accustomed to became unavailable. Salt was the most prevalent since many foods Hiwardian slaves consumed were preserved in salt or brine.

    ¡°Timagrin fell outside of Litta¡¯s influence due to its geographic separation on the western side of the continent. Thus, Timagrin became Hiward¡¯s primary trading partner. However, the Timans used different preservation techniques and produced significantly less salt than Litta. They had no excess to trade.

    ¡°Timans preserve many foods with a pickling method that uses sunseed oil, which they have in abundance. Sunseeds are harvested from sun peppers, and the oil is quite spicy. Hiwardian slaves had little exposure to spicy foods, so this was initially unpopular. However, given the limited options, Hiwardian trading houses began purchasing the oil in bulk.

    ¡°To encourage Hiwardians to buy the oil, the trading houses employed merchants whose entire purpose was to travel the country and extoll the oil¡¯s virtues. Claims were made about the health benefits of spicy foods, the minor amount of mana the oil absorbed when left in the sun, its alternative uses in medicine, as a lubricant¨C¡±

    ¡°The best sword oil is derived from sunseeds,¡± Varrin added.

    Riona looked at Varrin in annoyance. Her patience with her brother was significantly lower than her patience with her students.

    ¡°Some claims were spurious, others legitimate,¡± she said. ¡°The merchants were heavily incentivized to travel for long periods, which left them little time to place down roots. For this reason, the merchants were frequently single. It then became a common saying that a person who¡¯d not been betrothed by the time they were eighteen was a ¡®sunseed man¡¯ or a ¡®sunseed woman¡¯.

    ¡°It became a tradition to give gifts of sunseed oil and other products made with sunseed oil to people who¡¯d passed eighteen and who were not betrothed. The merchants encouraged this practice since it helped business, and even offered small amounts of free sunseed products to unmarried individuals twenty-four or older.

    ¡°As we discussed earlier, noble families are constantly in search of new connections and alliances, often through the mechanism of marriage. They modified the sunseed custom by creating several sunseed dishes that are now served at all formal social gatherings, and that are only consumed by unwed men and women who are eighteen or older.

    ¡°Over time, the practice transitioned from an obligation for the unwed to eat these dishes, to more of a voluntary practice. Someone eating a sunseed dish is thus signaling to the room that they are both single and also looking to wed.¡±

    Riona took a deep breath. ¡°And that is why you should only eat the sun pepper cake if you¡¯re trying to get married.¡± She tucked an errant strand of white hair behind her ear and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Satisfied?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°I appreciate how thorough of an explanation that was, but I agree that level of detail is probably too much for the time we have.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°Then how much do you need?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Something like ¡®traveling merchants sold sunseed oil and were frequently single. Eating sunseed dishes at formal events became synonymous with being unwed as a result, so only eat the sun pepper cake if you¡¯re trying to get hitched.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Then I will endeavor to provide you with the relevant historical context, condensed to a point where it becomes unrecognizable.¡±

    Varrin frowned at Riona, then looked up at me. ¡°The history of our nation is important for Hiwardians,¡± he said. ¡°Trying to explain things in such concise terms is a minor taboo unless both parties are known to be familiar with the topic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± I said. I tactfully decided not to point out that my insistence on context had yielded an additional bit of etiquette that I otherwise may not have learned. ¡°I apologize if I made you uncomfortable, Riona.¡±

    She waved a hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ve been at this for hours. We should take a break.¡±

    *****

    We made it through Riona¡¯s foot-high pile of folders in about twelve hours, which equated to approximately three years of lessons. I didn¡¯t have a perfect memory like Etja, but my experience in academia and insistence on scholastic excellence provided me with a solid foundation for approaching new subjects.

    Having a 40 in both Wisdom and Intelligence¨Cgiving me a superhuman capacity for absorbing new information¨Cprobably helped as well.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    At one point, Etja and Nuralie made an appearance, returning from their time in Eschengal. I was momentarily confused about how they made it into the Closet until it was explained that Grotto had opened the Checkpoint for them. I¡¯d already forgotten the Delve Core had figured out how to do that, owing to our ever-improving soul connection.

    I was in the midst of answering an intense series of hypotheticals thrown at me by Riona, so the exchange was brief. The pair pulled Xim aside to have a lengthier chat before retiring to more comfortable surroundings.

    Once Riona was satisfied, we moved on to Sineh¡¯s lectures on the current geopolitical landscape of Arzia. This was a bit more interesting, and SIneh was a fairly charismatic presenter. The next four hours melted away.

    When the cram session was finally over, I¡¯d earned 1 level in Diplomacy, and I was eager to see how my party members had spent their time in Eschendur¡¯s capital.

    Varrin, Riona, and Sineh went to oversee additional preparations, and I left the drawing room to make my way to the lounge. Several servants paused their work to give me a brief bow and greeting, and I did my best to get each person¡¯s name as they went by.

    The expanded penthouse was rapidly filling with antique furniture, fine rugs, and art in all shapes and sizes, generously loaned to me by the Ravvenblaqs. The place was really coming together, and by this point, it had transitioned from a pocket penthouse to a pocket mansion.

    I looked things over with a careful eye but tried not to linger. There was plenty more I could do before we received our guests, but a bit of relaxation with friends and a few hours of sleep were in order. I opened the door to the lounge in high spirits, ready to unwind and allow the double shift of diplomacy lessons to wash away.

    I was surprised to find the Zenithar of Geul having a cocktail, sitting on a couch next to Etja. Nuralie was at the bar, mixing a drink that bubbled and spat vapor.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m honored to have you visit, although I¡¯d not been informed of your arrival. Otherwise, I would have come to greet you sooner.¡±

    The olive-green Geulon gave me a wry grin.

    ¡°No worries at all, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Zura said. ¡°I would have waited to arrive more formally, but I am told your Checkpoint portals require a 24-hour cooldown. Either I came tonight or waited until tomorrow evening. My apologies for intruding earlier than expected.¡± She nodded after saying this, then looked at me with a raised eyeridge.

    The Zenithar¡¯s tone was lightly humorous, and I surveyed the trio, noting that Etja sat stiffly upright, looking composed and alert. Nuralie also stood with her back ramrod straight, delicately stirring her drink. They both wore exaggerated expressions of sophistication and poise.

    ¡°Well, this is the lounge,¡± I said. ¡°And I am declaring this the official cozy zone from 10 pm to 4 am.¡± I walked to an armchair and collapsed into it. ¡°So, get fuckin¡¯ cozy, I guess.¡±

    Zura chuckled and Etja flopped back, nearly spilling her drink. Nuralie¡¯s shoulders relaxed and she cracked a smile.

    ¡°Thanks the heavens,¡± said Zura. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough politicking for today.¡±

    ¡°My brain hurts,¡± said Etja. ¡°At least, the part responsible for being polite does.¡±

    ¡°Lots of action in Eschangal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a feeding frenzy,¡± said Zura. ¡°Half of the clergy have submitted requests to undertake the Creation Delve.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. Nuralie walked over and handed me the bubbly drink, then went back to the bar to start mixing another. ¡°I didn¡¯t think they had much enthusiasm for Delving.¡±

    I sniffed the cocktail, which had a tropical scent. I sipped it, finding it exceptionally refreshing and delicious. I presumed Alchemy helped with mixology.

    ¡°When the slots were limited, the clergy would bow out of most selections,¡± said Zura. ¡°It was a way to raise up talented individuals, especially those with no official position within the Church.¡±

    ¡°But now you have your own Creation Delve,¡± I said. ¡°And everyone wants a piece.¡±

    ¡°Precisely, Master Xor¡¯Drel. Precisely.¡±

    I leaned into my chair¡¯s armrest and rested my cheek against my palm.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t like that ¡®Master¡¯ is the title I¡¯ve been given. What am I the master of?¡±

    ¡°Shog,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s off doing whatever he wants.¡±

    ¡°You gave him permission.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Grotto¡¯s master, too!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Definitely don¡¯t let him hear you say that.¡± Although, he was the one to give me the title.

    Zura cleared her throat and sat her drink on a rosewood coffee table. ¡°Tell me, Arlo, how much space do you have in here?¡± she asked, waving a hand at the environment. ¡°The footprint of this estate alone is quite impressive for a dimensional pocket.¡±

    I considered the question, deciding how much I wanted to share with Zura. If the Closet were flattened out to have a maximum height of 100 feet, the total ¡®land¡¯ mass would be several hundred square miles. Not exactly huge, but that area was growing every day. I wasn¡¯t eager to advertise that to anyone who might have an incentive to use such a space. I trusted the Zenithar, as much as I could trust any head of state. That equated to a friendly acquaintance at best.

    Zura sensed my hesitation.

    ¡°It is understandable if you do not wish to tell me,¡± she said. ¡°Such things are often held in secret.¡± She tapped a claw against her chin in thought. ¡°Allow me to entertain a hypothetical. Let us say this space extends well beyond the grounds of your estate. The size of a small island, perhaps. To what nation does that land belong?¡±

    I ran that through my head, using the legal precedent I was familiar with in Arzia. Even the nations with robust protections for private property still claimed all lands within their borders. A citizen could own land in Litta, for example, but they were subject to the empire¡¯s laws and authority. In Hiward, all lands belonged to the crown. Anyone who resided on the land was renting, at best.

    ¡°The only nation I¡¯m a citizen of is the Xor¡¯Drel tribe,¡± I said. ¡°No other nation would have a claim. The Xor¡¯Drels use ritual to establish their domain, which they haven¡¯t done here. As far as I¡¯m concerned, it doesn¡¯t belong to any nation.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s say the Xor¡¯Drels have no desire to intrude on your private space,¡± Zura continued. ¡°If the lands are unclaimed, then what rule of law is there?

    ¡°Huh. You know, that is a great question,¡± I said. ¡°If people are coming in from all over, what happens if a crime is committed? I hadn¡¯t really considered that. Maybe the law of international waters?¡±

    ¡°Those are poorly developed,¡± said Zura. ¡°The most heavily traversed waters are all claimed. Even where international rules apply, interactions are typically governed by treaties between the relevant nations.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s workable. If a Hiwardian commits a crime against a Hiwardian, Hiwardian law applies. If it¡¯s a Hiwardian against an Eschen, then it¡¯s dealt with however the Hiwardian-Eschen treaties say it¡¯s dealt with.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± said Zura. ¡°But if you treat this space in such a¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°neutral way, who would oppose another nation coming in and laying claim?¡±

    ¡°I would, obviously.¡±

    ¡°Under what authority?¡±

    ¡°Mine. It¡¯s my Closet.¡±

    ¡°But you are an individual,¡± said Zura. ¡°With no legal framework governing the lands you are claiming. A man alone is not a code of laws, and he is not something that other nations interface with.¡±

    ¡°Are you suggesting I establish the Kingdom of Arlo in here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do you wish to be a king?¡±

    ¡°Not really, no.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± said Etja. ¡°The Democratic Republic of Arlo!¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s voting?¡± I asked. ¡°Grotto? Shog?¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a terrible idea,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Emperor Arlo!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°That would require multiple kingdoms under my control,¡± I said.

    ¡°So?¡± asked Etja. ¡°King Grotto and King Shog!¡±

    ¡°The System did say Shog is almost a Brood King,¡± Nuralie added.

    ¡°That would imply my empire is primarily composed of c¡¯thons.¡±

    Nuralie shrugged, apparently having no problem with the concept. The idea was more attractive to me than I thought it should be.

    ¡°The only workable systems have me as an autocrat of some kind,¡± I mused. ¡°Without citizens to vote or other entities to share power with, I hold all authority.¡±

    ¡°Supreme Leader Arlo!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Hard pass.¡±

    ¡°Until you choose another title,¡± said Zura, ¡°¡®Master¡¯ is the most appropriate. You are the master of your summon and familiar, and the master of these lands.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said. ¡°Is Eschendur ready to negotiate some treaties with the Mastery of Arlo?¡±

    ¡°I would like to veto that name,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°You have no power here,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯ll take it under advisement.¡±

    ¡°What would the treaty cover?¡± asked Zura. ¡°We are always looking for allies if the terms are satisfactory.¡±

    I paused to study the Zenithar. Despite our casual interactions, she was one of the three theocratic rulers of Eschendur.

    ¡°You¡¯re being serious?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You have done a lot for Eschendur,¡± she said. ¡°Your party helped break the Littan blockade, returned Inquisitor Nuralie to her homeland, risked yourselves to bring many other Eschens to safety, and¨Cintentionally or not¨Ceffectively brought an end to the armed conflict between Eschendur and Litta. I would not be opposed to formally recognizing your dimensional space as a sovereign land and lending legitimacy to the claim.¡±

    I tried and failed to hide my surprise. I¡¯d thought we were having a friendly intellectual spar, not an honest evaluation of the merits of establishing my own country. Even Nuralie looked taken aback. Apparently, she¡¯d also thought it was a jape of some sort. Only Etja seemed unsurprised.

    ¡°Can I become a citizen?¡± she asked. ¡°Mirtasia doesn¡¯t, uh, really exist anymore.¡±

 186 - Royal Security

    Shortly after being invited to establish my own nation by Zenithar Zura, Varrin and Xim found their way to the lounge. Zura excused herself to retire, granting me some time to mull things over, and she assured me that a servant had already prepared a room for her. Rooms had also been prepared for her entourage, who I didn¡¯t know she¡¯d come with.

    I went over the mental map of improvements Grotto and I had made to the Closet, and bedrooms had not been on the list. Someone had both identified and rectified that problem before it even found its way to me, and I owed that person a beer.

    The party did a little catching up, then discussed my potential Diplomacy evolutions.

    Carouser: You blend seamlessly into any social environment, able to tell who¡¯s who at a glance. You always know who among the entities you can perceive has the most social influence and who that entity regards as an ally among those present.

    Merchant: You instinctively know the market value of any item you inspect. When presenting an item to an entity whose CHA is lower than your WIS, you instinctively know the highest price for which they would be willing to pay, or the lowest price for which they would be willing to sell the item.

    Bureaucrat: You instinctively know the laws and social mores of any civilized area you visit, including expected behaviors, etiquette, and other rules of social engagement.

    I¡¯d already perused the options, so none were a surprise.

    Carouser was free information. Reading the power dynamic in a room was a skill some people spent their entire lives developing. Here, that capability would be handed to me for free, with little to no effort on my part.

    Fuck, I loved magic.

    In some situations, social hierarchy would be easy to discern even without this evolution, but things were rarely so simple. Further, knowing who someone publicly regarded as an ally was one thing, knowing who they really regarded as an ally was another. Based on the wording of the intrinsic, I expected it would be handy dandy for sniffing out a betrayal before it happened. Too bad it only applied to the one person with the most social influence.

    Merchant was a bit of a surprise when I¡¯d first seen it, but intrinsic skills sometimes took a ¡®many ways to skin a cat¡¯ approach. Nuralie had Mercantile, which was entirely focused on barter and trade, whereas Diplomacy was a broader intrinsic that had some minor overlap with several other, more specific skills. It was certainly useful, but I wasn¡¯t a nickel-and-dime kind of guy. I¡¯d leave the sales and acquisitions to Varrin and Nuralie.

    Bureaucrat would eliminate the need for any more cram sessions with Riona, and yes, I knew about the evo before we ever crammed. The reason I¡¯d chosen to still engage in the crash course¨Crather than impulse pick Bureaucrat to save myself the trouble¨Cwas to see how much value the evolution would give me.

    It would certainly make things a hell of a lot easier, but given how fast I learned, it wasn¡¯t a game-changer. It was also the type of evolution that could eventually be obviated if I became well-learned enough. It would be nice for keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of cultural whims, but a hands-on approach seemed more reasonable.

    I liked Carouser. Varrin liked Carouser. Everyone else liked Carouser.

    I picked Carouser.

    One might be curious what my observations about the party members were, after selecting the evolution. As for which of us had the most social influence, well¡­ I¡¯m afraid that will have to remain a mystery.

    He or she did regard everyone else in the party as an ally, so there were no serious festering grudges. No surprises there.

    Once that was settled and we had our game plan for the next day, it was time for bed.

    Zzzz¡­

    The next morning was a flurry of activity as final preparations were made. Then it was finally time to open the Xor¡¯Drel Checkpoint to greet the king and his retinue.

    We were in our Sunday best. Nuralie had on a suit of dark forest colors with pops of silver and wore a pair of polished high-tops. She¡¯d skipped her absurdly tall tophat, since we were indoors and it would have been impolite to wear, despite how awesome it was.

    Varrin wore a black and gray suit with a dash of military flair, tailored to make sure all who saw him understood how absolutely jacked the man was beneath the layers. Honestly, the trousers framed the big guy¡¯s backseat so well, the damn thing looked like it could perform miracles. Next to them cheeks, he wore a ceremonial sword sheathed at his hip, tied shut with a peace knot, while Kazandak was safely stowed in inventory.

    Not that anything was stopping him from accessing his real sword in an instant. The lack of available lethal weaponry was symbolic.

    Xim wore a set of celebratory cleric¡¯s robes. Its cream and crimson colors were accentuated by sharp, ritualistic crests stained into the fabric with charcoal ink. While the robes were typically worn during formal religious events, Sam¡¯lia was about the farthest thing one could get from a puritanical goddess. The robes showed off nearly everything the cleric had to show. It hugged and emphasized curves, with slits on either side of the ankle-length skirt running all the way up to Xim¡¯s waistline.

    She was also barefoot, not that I took any particular notice of that fact. Don¡¯t make it weird, people.

    Etja had acquired an entire wardrobe¡¯s worth of clothing in Eschengal and was currently wearing a teal dress of gossamer fabric with a neckline that plunged down past her belly button. My first thought upon seeing her was that she¡¯d intentionally chosen to have a belly button. My second thought was that she was unconditionally rocking the outfit. Her chest was criss-crossed by a dozen thin golden chains, and all four arms were adorned with armlets, bracelets, and rings. She even had a beautiful tiara made of delicately threaded gold, set with aquamarine gemstones that matched her dress.

    As for me, I had on an ocean blue suit that matched my Outlaw¡¯s C¡¯thonic Leather Vest of the Dirty Muffin Toy (in case anyone forgot the full name of one of my signature pieces of gear). The vest was clasped over a pink button-down that worked in concert with a violet, floral-pattern tie to match the colors of my Rocket Man¡¯s C¡¯thonic Feather Boa of the Cat¡¯s Pajamas. Both the shirt and tie were silk, of course. Varrin had gotten the tie custom-made according to my specifications to give me a bit of Earthling flair.

    Our hair and makeup were flawless, our footwear could draw applauses, and a critique of our physique would not befall us.

    The Checkpoint opened to a well-organized crowd of people. Each of the main houses had sent some sort of ambassador, all of whom came with their own entourages. Xim¡¯s parents were present, of course, flanked by a few other tribe members and speaking with the man of the hour himself.

    King Filix Celeritia had the lean and charming look of a male model firmly in their silver fox era. He wore an easy smile framed by a hint of white stubble along his jaw. His medium-length hair looked selectively messy in the way that told me it probably took an hour to get just right, and got another twenty minutes of styling after the subdued dark iron crown he wore was nested atop it.

    King Celeritia was a member of the first generation of Delvers, a slave-turned-rebellion leader like Varrin¡¯s great-grandfather. However, his Delving career had slowed after taking on the royal mantle, choosing to spend his time governing rather than pushing deep into the higher levels. It was also difficult to justify risking the king¡¯s life for another 8 stat points, especially when his 30 platinum levels already gave him more power than most.

    A squad of King¡¯s Guard surrounded their liege and a dozen more held strategic positions throughout the crowd. The minimum Level required to be a member of the elite unit was 15, but the numbers only went up from there. They were almost exclusively gold Delvers, although I spotted the occasional platinum level here and there. That told a certain story¨Cperhaps an adventurer who bit off more than they could chew, or who¡¯d lost a party member and decided to take it down a notch to gold.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    The head of the Guard was a man named Lord Director Aprogar Bluewren, uncle to the reigning Bluewren Thundralke. He was a Level 26 gold who¡¯d completed a full run of 30 gold, silver, and copper Delves and was rumored to have multiple intrinsic skills at Level 100. That was no small feat, and skills that advanced were typically only found in the realm of platinums.

    Aprogar Bluewren was also the father of the late Deletar Bluewren, whose sword we¡¯d recovered inside Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    Director Bluewren was the first through the Checkpoint portal, along with a team of four other King¡¯s Guards ranging from Level 19 to 22. The man stopped before us, and gave me a mid-depth Hiwardian bow. That was interesting since it was a bow given to someone of equal standing, or to a high-ranking diplomat from another nation. His squad bowed significantly lower, despite the fact they were all members of some noble lineage.

    I returned Director Bluewren¡¯s bow, along with the rest of the party, though Varrin dipped lower. The big guy¡¯s lack of a formal position placed the Director above him in the Hiwardian pecking order.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Director Bluewren after standing upright. ¡°Thank you for allowing us into your home.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Lord Director Bluewren,¡± I said. ¡°King Celeritia¡¯s request to visit was certainly a surprise, but I am honored to receive him.¡±

    ¡°Please, call me Aprogar,¡± he said. ¡°There are so many Bluewrens in government positions, it can become confusing when we¡¯re all referred to by our surname.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Director Aprogar.¡± Keeping the man¡¯s title involved was implied, according to my lessons. ¡°It¡¯s my understanding that you¡¯re to do a run of the grounds for security reasons.¡±

    ¡°You are correct, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± he said. ¡°However, given the limited duration of your portal, I¡¯ll mostly be relying on the report of my subordinates.¡±

    He raised a hand and made a beckoning gesture to the row of servants behind me. I turned to see two men and two women come forth, with Grotto just ahead of them, wearing his fashionably dressed little man disguise. I raised an eyebrow at my familiar.

    [These four told me of their purpose shortly after arriving,] he thought to me. [I allowed them to survey the estate, but none of our sensitive locations were exposed.]

    ¡°I would have appreciated being looped in on that.¡±

    [Noted. However, my surveillance of the Closet is expansive, and there is little your involvement would have gained us aside from adding additional stress to your work. I have taken it upon myself to manage the guests so that you¡¯d have time for your lessons and so that you may now act as an appropriate host.]

    I focused on the four ¡®servants¡¯ while Grotto and I went back and forth, cracking their fa?ade with Reveal. Their mundane souls bloomed into golden Delver halos, between Levels 15 and 18.

    One of the women stepped forward and gave Aprogar a deep bow.

    ¡°Lord Director,¡± she said. ¡°In short, we have no way of knowing if this location is secure.¡±

    I appreciated a person who was willing to cut right to the chase.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Aprogar. ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°As you are aware, Lord Director, this is a self-contained dimensional space,¡± said the woman. ¡°All known entrances and exits to the space are controlled by either Master Xor¡¯Drel or his Majordomo.¡± She gestured at Grotto. ¡°The interior appears to be an interconnected series of rooms, some large enough to serve as the exterior grounds of a noble estate. However, the rooms are often connected through a network of semi-permanent portals. Although we have mapped all accessible rooms, the presence of advanced planar magic makes it impossible to know what other spaces exist.

    ¡°Further,¡± she continued, ¡°we have observed Majordomo exert significant control over the dimensions and structure of individual rooms, and we assume that capability extends to Master Xor¡¯Drel. Existing rooms can be modified rapidly and at their discretion, portal connections can be altered, and any given room can likely be sequestered from the others, with all evacuation routes terminated.¡±

    ¡°Offensive capabilities?¡± asked Aprogar.

    ¡°Per your prior evaluation, Lord Director, Master Xor¡¯Drel and his party have been tentatively classified as a Grade 16 threat individually and a Grade 23 threat collectively. We have not been able to confirm that threat rating, but the sophistication of this dimensional space suggests the rating is too low.¡±

    Aprogar raised an eyebrow at that, then gestured for her to continue.

    ¡°Two Grade 15 golems roam the grounds,¡± she said. ¡°But they are currently¡­ serving refreshments, and are otherwise unarmed.¡±

    ¡°They each have four arms, though,¡± added one of the men. The woman kept going without missing a beat.

    ¡°No dangerous spells, devices, or phenomena have been observed¨Caside from a decorative armory¨Cbut as I mentioned, we cannot know what the rest of this location contains. All individuals in the estate have been vetted and are¨Cto the best of our knowledge¨Cwho they appear to be. The majority are staff from the Ravvenblaq manor, with the rest composed of members of Fortune¡¯s Folly, Majordomo, and an Eschen diplomatic group that includes the Zenithar of Geul, Triarch Ros Zura.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel himself remains¨C¡± she glanced at me ¡°¨C¡®problematic¡¯, as his origins still cannot be determined. We have no records whatsoever for Majordomo, and our requests for additional history have been denied.¡±

    ¡°Is that everything?¡± asked Aprogar.

    ¡°Yes, Lord Director.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± the man grunted. ¡°Not the most agreeable evaluation I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± he said dryly. ¡°But far from the worst. Is there anything you¡¯d like to add, Master Xor¡¯Drel?¡±

    This whole process struck me as odd, and I felt like somebody was trying to catch me with my hand in the cookie jar. I certainly had things to hide, but I wasn¡¯t planning on causing King Celeritia or the other Hiwardians any problems.

    ¡°May I ask a question first?¡± I said.

    ¡°You may.¡±

    ¡°Why was this report given in front of me? It seems remarkably forthright.¡±

    The Lord Director grinned. ¡°There are several reasons. The evaluation is for your benefit as much as our own. Most assassins and dissidents do not ask permission before hiding away on someone¡¯s grounds, after all. Doing it this way also shows deference to the head of house, which I¡¯m told somehow preserves their honor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve also found that it shakes people up a bit when we show them how much we already know, and it makes one wonder what else we know that we aren¡¯t parading about in front of them. That tends to invite a greater degree of honesty afterward.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, then looked at Grotto. ¡°Majordomo, What other defensive measures do we have in place?¡±

    A brief psychic exchange ensured he knew what I was asking for. I figured that divulging a few more factoids could only buy us some favor. At the end of the day, if they decided to take the king and fuck off or request a different venue, it didn¡¯t make too much of a difference to me. They were the ones who¡¯d asked to come inside.

    ¡°Aside from what your officer has discussed, Lord Director, Dimensional attacks can be made in nearly any location with little or no forewarning. A second Checkpoint portal connects to Eschengal, which can be opened this evening at the earliest, and there is a temporary portal leading to the Littan fortress west of the Eschen Gap that can be opened at any time.¡±

    Mentioning the other portals was a good touch. It divulged additional avenues of exposure, which I was sure the Lord Director would want to know about.

    ¡°Additionally, my party¡¯s exploits have made the avatar of Yearning¨COrexis¨Cquite unhappy with us,¡± I added. ¡°And the avatar known as Fortune has some perverse interest in my life. I have no idea if either has the capacity to infiltrate this space, or whether they would have any real interest in doing so.¡±

    Aprogar rubbed his jaw as he thought. ¡°Well, this just got upgraded to a clusterfuck, I think.¡± He let out a heavy sigh. ¡°Are you willing to agree not to open either of those portals without direct permission from myself or the king?¡±

    ¡°I believe I can accommodate that request, Director Aprogar.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have countermages throughout the grounds, so any unexpected spellwork will immediately be terminated.¡±

    ¡°That sounds reasonable.¡±

    ¡°Please do not alter any rooms or internal portals for the duration of the king¡¯s visit,¡± he added. ¡°My people have provided Majordomo with a more comprehensive list of impermissible activities.¡±

    ¡°I have full faith that he will abide by the rules provided,¡± I said.

    [They are mostly irrelevant,] Grotto thought to me. [Unless someone were to attack, I see no reason why I would violate any of their terms.]

    His words weren¡¯t exactly comforting, but it was probably the best I¡¯d get out of him.

    ¡°Now that our official business is done,¡± said Aprogar, ¡°Varrin has informed me your party has something that belongs to my family.¡±

    I nodded, my smile fading as the tone of the conversation darkened. I pulled the Longsword of the Bluewren from my inventory and held it out to the Lord Director. He reached toward it, hand hovering over the sheath as an expression of grief passed over him. He took the weapon and pulled the blade out an inch to study the sigil pressed into the metal just above the guard.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said softly, the sword disappearing into his own inventory. ¡°I¡¯ve heard a summary of how you recovered it, but I hope we¡¯ll find time to speak in depth later tonight.¡± He took a breath and stood up straighter. ¡°For now, I hope your discussions with Hiward are productive.¡±

    Aprogar turned and held up a hand, giving a signal to the King¡¯s Guard outside. They returned a different signal, and a man wearing an outrageously frilly outfit marched forth. He gave me a low bow after entering, then turned and held an arm out toward the king. He opened his mouth, paused for a second, and then began speaking at a volume that absolutely counted as shouting.

    ¡°Now presenting His Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia! Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward! Defender of the Realm! Hero of the War of Rebellion! Long may he reign!¡±

    The king gave a toothy smile and walked into the Closet.

 187 - The King

    This was a moment that we had put a lot of thought into, and no small portion of Riona¡¯s lessons were focused on how to greet a royal. As the king walked into the Closet, all Hiwardians present dropped to one knee, heads bowed to the ground. No matter their individual rank or station, each Hiwardian showed the king the highest level of deference.

    As for the non-Hiwardians, there were options, but those options still revolved around relative social standing. Obviously, the king had the highest social influence by a wide margin. The theatrics of introductions weren¡¯t a popularity contest, however, but a signaling behavior.

    Did you regard the King of Hiward to be above yourself in station? If so, by how much? Does that match what you want to communicate to the king? What do you want to convey to your own people? Are there any individuals around you¡¯re snippy with? Maybe you¡¯d like to subtly challenge them by suggesting your station relative to the king was higher than their own. How would that decision interact with how you greeted your other guests?

    An entire conversation was held in the few seconds it took to bow, salute, hold a moment of silence, or whatever else was culturally relevant for your nationality. The Xor¡¯Drel tribe wasn¡¯t very exact in how they approached these matters when interacting with First Layer residents. If I¡¯d really wanted to show the king some Third Layer-style respect, I¡¯d have constructed an elaborate ritual circle, hunted the most powerful manifestation I could wrangle down on my own, and then used its flesh to empower a state of shared lucid dreaming. That way my respect could be felt on a tangible, sensory level. You¡¯d even be able to taste it!

    We¡¯d decided against that. First, I wasn¡¯t in charge of the tribe, so that would have been a bit too much. However, beyond knowing that I wasn¡¯t the Xor¡¯Drel head of state, my position in the tribe was a bit nebulous. I had no official titles or responsibilities. I¡¯d hardly spent much time there at all. I was just an ordinary, everyday citizen, albeit one who¡¯d begun to generate some level of international fame through careful application of my various superpowers.

    Realizing that, Varrin and Riona had argued that there was an obvious answer. Kneeling was right out because I didn¡¯t owe fealty to the king, but a low bow would be appropriate, to signal that¨Cas an ordinary citizen¨Cmy station was significantly below a king.

    HOWEVER!

    Grotto made that more complicated with his whole presentation to the servants, where I became ¡®Master¡¯ Xor¡¯Drel, the esteemed owner of some fine, independent territories. Zura doubled down on that complexity when she¡¯d shown willingness to support me if I were to claim that I was leading some sort of micro-state, headquartered in the Closet.

    If I wanted to let everyone in the Hiwardian nobility know that I was setting myself up to lead a fledgling nation, then a shallow bow would be more appropriate, especially since we were on the very lands that I would be claiming. If I were to bow any lower, it would directly conflict with that claim, and reestablishing myself at a higher station would become an uphill battle. The shallow bow had a high risk of offending just about everyone who was here to visit, but it was a power play with the highest potential reward, as well.

    Before I could do anything, the king was shaking my hand.

    It wasn¡¯t that I froze up. The king was setting one foot into the Closet, and then we were suddenly pumpin¡¯ paws right there in front of everyone. I had to assume it was some sort of movement technique, but there was no storm of wind or thunderclap like I was used to experiencing when Delvers went at supersonic speeds. It also hadn¡¯t been a teleport spell, since my Magical Thinker ability didn¡¯t trigger.

    I smiled and went with it, desperately searching my memory banks for what the hell a handshake signified in this situation. Images of countless worksheets flitted by in my head, but none of them had shit to say about handshakes. It wasn¡¯t an official greeting of any kind.

    The king¡¯s opening salvo was forced neutrality!

    He¡¯d taken the expectation of posturing and eliminated it in one fell swoop. There was no chance for a misunderstanding, no opportunity to establish any relative roles between us. It was friendly in that it excused me from inadvertently presenting an overly submissive stance, while simultaneously being aggressive in that it gave me no opportunity to put up a strong front.

    The king clapped me on the shoulder, then let the handshake drop. It had gone on for precisely one-good-handshake¡¯s length of time. It didn¡¯t overstay its welcome, but it was sturdy enough to create some familiarity. The man¡¯s smile widened and he straightened up.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel!¡± he said cheerily. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful to meet you, really, especially on such short notice.¡±

    The Hiwardians around us were still kneeling, and I caught Varrin looking up, slightly confused. The nonverbal signal to stop kneeling hadn¡¯t happened, since I hadn¡¯t officially paid my respects to the king.

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to have you here, King Celeritia,¡± I said. ¡°If I couldn¡¯t make time for the King of Hiward, who could I make time for?¡±

    ¡°Still,¡± he said, ¡°I know you and your party are busy as a Chovali fruit hall, so I appreciate it.¡± He looked around at everyone still kneeling. ¡°Please rise,¡± he said, then leaned in toward me and added under his breath, ¡°Hope your floors are clean. If somebody ends up with a dusty knee, the entire nobility will know about it in under 48 hours.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen no less than a dozen brooms in the last day,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then you¡¯re probably in good shape.¡± King Celeritia turned and looked at the crowd of waiting nobles outside the Checkpoint portal, then eyed a trio of servants standing nearby.

    ¡°We¡¯ve prepared some refreshments in the parlor,¡± I said. ¡°If you¡¯d like to settle in while everyone else is announced.¡±

    ¡°You know, refreshments sound good,¡± he said. ¡°But if I went off without giving another round of attention to everyone who¡¯s about to walk through that portal, it might come off as rude.¡± He made the slightest grimace. ¡°Of course, if my generous host were to have some time-sensitive business we needed to discuss, I could be forgiven for being led away.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I believe there are some very time-sensitive matters¡­ in the lounge.¡±

    The king¡¯s smile widened, and one of the servants was already rushing away to reorganize the hospitality troops according to the king¡¯s whims. Another bowed and gestured in the direction of the lounge, while a third walked ahead, guiding the way and opening doors.

    Varrin¡¯s expression was unreadable as he watched us leave, but Riona looked stressed. She met my eyes as I followed after the king, expressing her deep wish that I behave myself while away from adult supervision. I returned her look, conveying that I was an adult and that the king seemed like a chill enough dude so try not to worry so much. She squinted in a ¡®please be serious about this¡¯ kind of way, and I pursed my lips to let her know I¡¯d use my best judgment, but if the situation called for being serious, I would be super duper serious. The absolute serious-est.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    The king and I made it to the lounge at a casual stride, and by the time we arrived, tea was already being poured. It was a bit early for harder drinks, but the bar was set with tasteful displays of nuts and cheeses.

    A squad of the King''s Guard shadowed us, but a subtle gesture from the king left them taking up positions outside of the lounge. The servant ensured we had everything we needed, then excused herself.

    ¡°This is nice,¡± said the king, turning to take in the decor.

    After a quick spin, he sat down on the couch, then reached up and took off his crown, setting it on the cushion beside himself. He tousled his hair a bit, then picked up a bowl of dried fruit and sat back with it in his lap.

    I took a seat in an armchair across from him, ignoring the snacks since I hated having messy fingers. Overall, I wasn¡¯t a big finger-foods kind of guy, to be honest. Not unless I had a good wet wipe on me. I¡¯d see if I could get a moist towelette the next time a servant swung by.

    ¡°So,¡± said the king. ¡°Is it true that you killed a Grade Four c¡¯thon with your bare hands at Level Zero?¡±

    ¡°I stabbed it first,¡± I said. ¡°And if mana-shaping a touch-based spell to fire in a line counts as bare-handed, then yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, clear this up for me,¡± he said, scooching forward. ¡°Was the name of the c¡¯thon Ihbriobrixilas, or Ihxiobrixilas?¡±

    I paused, thinking over both names.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°You know, the System called it Ihbrio, but my summon Shog always called it Ihxio. Maybe it¡¯s a translation thing?¡±

    ¡°Maybe you killed two c¡¯thons and just forgot,¡± Celeritia said with a grin, then popped a fruit into his mouth. ¡°Or maybe your summon got confused.¡±

    ¡°Shog is a c¡¯thon, so I would be inclined to use his preferred spelling.¡±

    ¡°Did they know each other?¡±

    ¡°Ihxiobrixilas ate one of Shog¡¯s brothers. That''s why he agreed to become my summon.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s crediting you for killing the right c¡¯thon?¡± asked the king.

    ¡°As in, I actually killed Ihbriobrixilas, but Shog¡¯s brother was killed by a different c¡¯thon named Ihxiobrixilas? Both c¡¯thons died at near the same time, and Shog misattributed me with the kill due to the phonetic similarity?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said the king. ¡°Or maybe changing ¡®Ihbrio¡¯ to ¡®Ihxio¡¯ is some sort of c¡¯thonic insult.¡±

    ¡°Like turning Tucker into Fucker?¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± he said, shaking a fruit at me. ¡°You know what else they say?¡±

    ¡°About Tucker? I didn¡¯t know the guy very well.¡± The king snorted.

    ¡°About how you killed that c¡¯thon.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know anyone was saying anything about it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s all over the place.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a song.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the king said, nodding insistently. ¡°It claims that you did a triple-backflip before killing the thing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never done a triple backflip in my life,¡± I said, then considered some of the times I¡¯d been launched after a giant monster gave me a good wallop. ¡°Not intentionally, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well,¡± the king said. ¡°Reality seldom lives up to the legend.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully it¡¯s not too disappointing for you.¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± he said. ¡°You may not be a c¡¯thon-slaying martial arts prodigy with a penchant for acrobatics, but you do have an entire mansion in a dimensional space, which I think is more interesting.¡±

    ¡°Is it really that unusual?¡± I asked.

    He put the bowl of fruit back onto the coffee table and sat back. He looked thoughtful as he produced a napkin from nowhere and wiped off his hands. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the napkin was damp. I added that to the list of easy-bake items to add to my own inventory. It¡¯s not like the napkin would ever dry out. I could have a cloth of appropriate dampness whenever I so chose.

    ¡°I think it is,¡± said the king. ¡°For Level 12, having this much control over a pocket realm is somewhat extraordinary, I¡¯d say. I wouldn¡¯t blink an eye if you had this at Level 30, though. Things get really strange at the higher end.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they do.¡±

    The king folded his napkin neatly and placed it down on the table.

    ¡°Was that an appropriate amount of small talk?¡± he asked. I failed to suppress a chuckle.

    ¡°You¡¯re the king,¡± I said. ¡°I think the appropriate amount is however much you say it is.¡±

    ¡°I think it was, then.¡± He let his hands fall onto his thighs with a light clap. ¡°First, let me say that I appreciate what you and your party have done. System Phases? Dungeons? Labyrinths? Raids? That is a lot of new territory for Delvers to cover. A lot of opportunities.¡± He pointed at me. ¡°But you five also kicked the hells out of a duck¡¯s nest.¡±

    ¡°I¨C Why would someone kick a duck¡¯s nest?¡±

    ¡°No idea,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°They¡¯re horrible creatures. We lost a lot of good people rooting them out of the southeastern part of the island.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where the Duckgriens have their thundry?¡± He nodded. ¡°Are they connected to ducks, somehow?¡±

    Celeritia gave a wistful sigh. ¡°Do you know much about the origin of Hiwardian surnames?¡±

    ¡°I know the Ravvenblaqs adopted their call sign from the Foundation War,¡± I said. ¡°Not much else.¡±

    ¡°Correct. Black Raven isn¡¯t just a moody and ¡®creative¡¯ title. We all had birds of some kind to indicate a specific group, and a color to indicate individual roles. Duckgrien, Green Duck. They were the most aggressive group¨Cthat¡¯s why they got Duck¨Cwhile Patriarch Bobret and Matriarch Cerra were damage-focused, which was green.

    ¡°Of course, the meanings of each bird and color were always changing,¡± he continued. ¡°So different houses may have different interpretations of what their name translates to. We¡¯d swap it around to keep the Littans guessing, and each cell had its own sub-codes. Slaves weren¡¯t given surnames, the call signs were how people in the resistance had come to refer to one another, and they decided it made enough sense to keep.¡±

    ¡°How come Celeritia breaks that trend?¡±

    ¡°Privileges of being the king,¡± he said with an acerbic smile. ¡°When the houses forced the crown onto my head, they decided the king should have a distinctive surname, to set me apart. My nickname during the war was ¡®God-Step¡¯, and my build is Speed focused, which led them to ¡®Celeritia¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. I tried to word my next statement carefully. ¡°Godstep is pretty good, I think.¡±

    ¡°I argued for it, but they insisted ¡®God-Step¡¯ should only apply to myself,¡± he said. ¡°Can you guess who came up with Celeritia?¡±

    ¡°Would it be someone from a family that¡¯s well known for its long history of naming? The experts at striking balance between creativity and tradition?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re practically quoting Ealdric right now,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°But yes, it was the Ravvenblaq Patriarch. I think he scared everyone else into voting for it.¡±

    ¡°This is a fascinating bit of lore, here,¡± I said. ¡°Aside from Duckgrien and Ravvenblaq, there¡¯s Heronwyte, Bluewren, and¡­ Thrushmahogany. Is mahogany really a color, though?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a strange family,¡± said Celeritia, by way of explanation. ¡°Nice enough, though. It¡¯s the Heronwytes you have to watch out for.¡±

    ¡°Are they bad-tempered?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not what I mean. You need to watch out for them, as in you, specifically. Your party as well. They are distressed that Hiward no longer controls access to Creation Delves.¡±

    ¡°Ah. How do you feel about that, your highness?¡±

    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t signed any of the petitions the Heronwytes have submitted. Several of them call for extradition, followed by execution.¡±

    ¡°I suddenly feel like my life is in danger.¡±

    Celeritia leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and giving me a long, appraising look.

    ¡°If it feels sudden, then you¡¯re much too relaxed,¡± he said. ¡°From the moment the whole world saw your party¡¯s names in their notifications, all of your lives have been in danger. Hells kid, you just stood up and took a piss on the entire game board for every nation in the world. From now on, I don¡¯t know that there will ever be a time when your lives won¡¯t be in danger.¡±

 188 - Insider Knowledge

    ¡°We knew we¡¯d make some people unhappy when we went into Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± I said. ¡°That Delve wasn¡¯t the most combat-focused, but we were under threat the entire time we were in there. I¡¯m still spending every second of every day looking for the next trap, the next monster, the next piece of furniture that¡¯s going to try and take my head off. I¡¯m sure the whole party is looking over their shoulders as well, and have no illusions that everyone we¡¯ll be meeting is a friend.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a tough way to live,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°But it helps me relax to hear you say that.¡±

    ¡°Relax?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting word choice.¡±

    The king took a sip of his tea. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°It implies our safety is a source of anxiety for you. I didn¡¯t expect a man of your station would have the time to worry about people you don¡¯t know.¡±

    The king¡¯s teacup clinked as he sat it back on its saucer. He searched my face as he chewed over my answer.

    ¡°I know the Ravvenblaqs quite well,¡± he said.

    ¡°But you¡¯re not chatting with Varrin right now.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t the party leader of Fortune¡¯s Folly.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I admitted. ¡°Still, if you were solely worried about Varrin¡¯s safety, you could have him leave my party with a single command. You could bundle him up with the best and brightest Hiwardians in his level range.¡±

    ¡°You may be overestimating the number of Delvers knocking around with your group¡¯s amount of talent. I could order Varrin to be joined at the hip with a much higher-level group, but I wouldn¡¯t want to stunt his growth like that.¡± Celeritia grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll stop being a contrarian with you,¡± he said. ¡°I do have an interest in seeing your party¨Ceveryone in your party¨Cstay alive.¡±

    ¡°Would you think of me as a cynic if I asked why?¡±

    ¡°A certain level of cynicism is healthy if you¡¯re trying to survive the path you¡¯re walking.¡± The king smiled bitterly. ¡°It would be juvenile to assume it¡¯s out of the goodness of my heart, though, so it¡¯s a reasonable question. I¡¯m more likely to think of you as naive for asking me so directly, but only if you¡¯re planning to take my answer at face value. I get the impression you won¡¯t do that.¡±

    There was a pause in the conversation inviting me to respond, but the king hadn¡¯t answered my question. He watched me closely while I waited for him to continue, then nodded to himself.

    ¡°Hiward has several interests that intersect with your party,¡± he said. ¡°First, it sets a bad precedent when Delvers are killed by their peers for being too successful. We already have enough nobles wasting their potential chasing down Copper and Silver. If I didn¡¯t use my authority to ensure everyone¡¯s playing nicely, there would be a lot more infighting. People don¡¯t need another reason to fear accomplishment.

    ¡°Both the Xor¡¯Drels and Eschendur are Hiwardian allies,¡± he continued. ¡°There¡¯s some political favor to be earned from ensuring you¡¯re treated well by the Kingdom. It would also be damaging to the Kingdom¡¯s relationship with those powers if a Hiwardian assassinated you.

    ¡°Your party is generating a lot of actionable intelligence for Hiward, as well. Varrin has been passing along many of your discoveries, something I¡¯m told he¡¯s been doing with your full permission.¡±

    ¡°The whole party has supported divulging information on threats and countermeasures,¡± I said. ¡°To be clear, we¡¯re not planning on limiting ourselves to Hiward. I think we need every nation up to speed when it comes to the avatars and this Brae¡¯ach guy we just found out about. We¡¯ve had a convenient way to interface with Hiward, so we availed ourselves of it.¡±

    ¡°I believe in sharing,¡± said the king. ¡°I won¡¯t argue for you to cut anyone out, even Litta, so long you aren¡¯t spilling any Hiwardian secrets. I also expect there are things you¡¯re keeping to yourselves, which is tenable. No one knows for sure how your party rose to power so quickly, and¨Cwhile I¡¯d love an answer to that question¨CI¡¯m not here to try and extract that from you.¡±

    ¡°I believe that also constitutes another interest Hiward has in our party,¡± I said.

    ¡°True,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°I¡¯ve assembled a group to investigate your progress and build choices. If you die before we¡¯ve cracked that nut, we¡¯d miss out on some useful institutional knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Should I anticipate an interview request?¡±

    ¡°Would you accept one?¡±

    ¡°Probably not.¡±

    The king shrugged. ¡°They have access to a lot of information and have some theories they¡¯re working with. Revelations, for example, are an unquantifiable source of power, but we know they exist and can have a sizable impact on a Delver¡¯s capability. It¡¯s clear your party has more than one revelator, but I don¡¯t think it completes the puzzle.¡± He waved a hand dismissively. ¡°Again, that¡¯s not why I¡¯m here. If I keep talking about it, you¡¯ll think I¡¯m fishing for information. I am, of course, but there¡¯s no reason for me to be overbearing about it.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that,¡± I said with some uncertainty.

    The king was using a strategy I was quite fond of, which was to extract information by being upfront about wanting to extract it. This differed from ¡®just asking¡¯ since a question was never asked, the desire for information was merely stated. It matched up with the king¡¯s choice of a handshake since it was a fairly neutral way to approach things. If I chose not to volunteer anything, then it wasn¡¯t a refusal, since I was never directly queried.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    The approach was charming when used correctly. It implied I was being seen as an equal and not someone who could be bossed around. The king was also using it to insinuate that I was ¡®too smart¡¯ to toy with. Rather than trying to subtly manipulate me into talking, it dispensed with the trickery and boldly stated the unspoken question. That was its own form of manipulation, albeit one that hit me right in my vanity.

    Never directly asking anything also downplayed the importance of what the king was trying to learn. After all, if he cared that much why would he be so cavalier? Combine all of that with the fact that honesty naturally invited reciprocation, and the technique was more effective than most would give it credit for.

    I was pretty unforgiving once I detected false sincerity, so it was a good approach to take with me. No doubt I was giving away more than I wanted to just by being in the king¡¯s presence, but I wasn¡¯t going to openly confirm any of his suspicions about the things I¡¯d rather stay hidden. Some of our secrets would make potent bargaining chips. There was no reason to give them up for free.

    ¡°Two more reasons you¡¯ve caught my eye,¡± said the king. ¡°Then I¡¯ll stop laying cards on the table. The information we¡¯re getting out of Timagrin is consistent with your story about the avatars and the Davahn, Brae¡¯ach. Every time I say that name I feel like I¡¯m about to sneeze, by the way.¡±

    ¡°It would be close to the same sound.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± the king said. ¡°If we assume that divine avatars will start interfering with our lives more than they already have, then we need every weapon we can get our hands on pointed in their direction. To be blunt, you and yours are a long way from fighting beside the real powerhouses, but I¡¯d be an idiot not to see your potential. Even if you can¡¯t take it directly to the avatars, there appears to be a whole army of Davahns you can fight instead.¡±

    ¡°And the final reason?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This one¡¯s the most selfish, but I really do have a soft spot for talented up-and-comers. I¡¯d be very sad if you died in a stupid way.¡±

    What a sweet old man. Of course, that¡¯s what he wanted me to think. I still thought it, regardless.

    ¡°I appreciate the concern,¡± I said. ¡°Our main goal right now is to keep doing what we¡¯re doing. We need to work on our intrinsics, and then get back to grinding out levels. Anything you can do to help shield us from bad actors while we go about the business of Delving is warmly welcomed and appreciated.

    ¡°In regards to information, we plan to keep passing along whatever we uncover that¡¯s relevant to whoever is willing to listen. Reciprocation on that front would be fantastic, but our willingness to cooperate isn¡¯t conditioned on it. As far as fighting an army of Davahns, I¡¯d need to take the party¡¯s pulse on that one. I expect we¡¯d take any requests to protect civilians seriously.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not too bad at this,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°One of my attendants briefed me on your personality, but you never know until you meet someone. Some people lose their minds when the king shows up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the compliment.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s usually more groveling as well. And a lot more please and thank yous. Some prostrating and proclamations of eternal servitude.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll politely decline to grovel or commit myself to a lifetime of free labor. If you prefer that I act more formally, I¡¯m happy to do so.¡±

    ¡°Ha! No, please don¡¯t.¡±

    The king stood and wandered to the bar, perusing the selection of cheeses on offer. He settled on a square of asiago and chewed it thoughtfully.

    ¡°The Davahns pushed two hundred miles into Timagrin,¡± he said, poking through the mixed nuts. ¡°They killed everyone on sight, and the only prisoners they took were Delvers. Their progress stopped at Canotha, where they established an operating base. Everyone in Canotha was already dead from the mana eruption caused by Orexis and Anesis. From the accounts I¡¯ve heard, that was a better fate than what the Davahns would have delivered to them.

    ¡°We assume that Canotha¡¯s population was culled in anticipation of their arrival, but we don¡¯t have any hard proof. The Davahns didn¡¯t make landfall in Timagrin until months after the eruption, which makes it look more like an invasion of opportunity. However, while the eruption was highly lethal, it wasn¡¯t physically destructive. All of the structures in the city were preserved, and the Timans couldn¡¯t reclaim the land due to the lingering mana levels. It was a major city with no inhabitants, and it made a perfect home for the invading army."

    ¡°They aren¡¯t affected by the mana?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The levels are too high for mundane people, but tolerable for Delvers. The army marching with Brae¡¯ach seems unaffected, which is¡­ concerning. They may have an extraordinary mana resistance, or they may each have something equivalent to a few Delver levels under their belt. If it¡¯s the latter, then the Davahns have the global Delver population outnumbered.¡±

    I had trouble digesting that information. The king gave me a few seconds, then gracefully continued without mentioning that I looked like I was about to shit myself.

    ¡°After the Davahns were camped out there for a month, we scried another enormous build-up of mana, several times larger than the eruption that wiped out Canotha. It persisted for a week, then disappeared, along with the Davahns.¡±

    ¡°Disappeared?¡± I said. ¡°The whole army?¡±

    Celeritia nodded. ¡°Any sort of long-range surveillance we have can¡¯t find them. Even our diviners haven¡¯t had any success. We¡¯ve sent a few Delver teams in alongside the Timans but lost contact with all of them. We suspect the Davahns are still there, hiding until they¡¯re ready to move on.¡± The king turned toward me and leaned back against the counter. ¡°We¡¯re evaluating the merits of a full military deployment in support of Timagrin, but I¡¯m not willing to send thousands of regular soldiers into that area without more information. For the moment, the conflict is stalled.¡±

    ¡°At least they aren¡¯t actively committing genocide,¡± I said. ¡°For now.¡±

    ¡°Cold comfort,¡± said the king. ¡°The information you brought back on Brae¡¯ach and his involvement with the avatars gave us some much-needed context and confirmed some of our suspicions. It¡¯s possible one of the godlings is shielding them from view somehow, or that this is some part of the magicks Brae¡¯ach has access to. Something we haven¡¯t seen before. I don¡¯t want to give the Davahns time to build up to another advance, but sending troops in blind could be a disaster.

    ¡°We¡¯re quietly moving people in and helping the Timans fortify regions around Canotha. However, I won¡¯t leave Hiward without significant defenses. There¡¯s only so many resources I¡¯m willing to commit.¡± He pushed away from the counter, walked forward, and placed his hands on the back of the couch. ¡°I don¡¯t think your group belongs in that mess right now. I¡¯m satisfied knowing that you¡¯ll keep progressing as you have. I¡¯ll set Varrin up with an official liaison to exchange information moving forward. No need for one of the Ealdrics to keep breaking into Umi-Doo¡¯s office.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Director Umi-Doo will appreciate that.¡±

    The king nodded and came around to plop back down on the couch.

    ¡°Now,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about your upcoming meeting with the Littans.¡±

 189 - Allies Close, Danger Closer

    The king and I continued our discussions for another hour. His focus with the party¡¯s upcoming meetings with the Littans was to establish some expectations for what he believed we¡¯d encounter. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t detect any of the animosity I¡¯d expected in his attitude toward the Littans, especially given that Celeritia was himself a slave under their thumb. That was about one hundred years ago, but some scars never heal. It didn¡¯t seem like he was holding a grudge, but he was cautious.

    ¡°I expect they¡¯ll try to recruit you,¡± he said.

    ¡°Recruit us? In what capacity?¡±

    ¡°Training consultants would be my bet.¡± He poured himself a fresh cup of tea. A servant had brought in a new pot thirty minutes into our meeting. ¡°The Littans have spent the last century trying to overtake Hiward as the most prominent Delver society. I hate to admit it, but in some limited ways they have us beat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s surprising to hear.¡±

    ¡°We come at the problem in different ways,¡± Celeritia said. ¡°Hiward regulates Delvers through Central, but the goal of that organization is to minimize inter-Delver conflict, enforce taxation, and ensure loyalty to the crown. For the most part, Delving is privatized. Each House jealously guards their secrets to preserve their competitive edge. This leads to a lot of strategic diversity, but no one is working with complete information.

    ¡°Delving in Litta, on the other hand, is entirely state-controlled. The vast majority of Littan Delvers work for the government, mostly through the military. This allows all of the collective knowledge to filter upward to a single, cohesive entity. However, they¡¯re strict with their Delvers, and having such tight control discourages experimentation.¡±

    ¡°But when they do experiment, they can bring more resources to bear,¡± I added.

    ¡°Certain resources, yes,¡± said the king. ¡°Litta is poorly positioned when it comes to magical materials, and Hiward still has twice as many Delvers, even if they are divided.¡± He took a sip of his tea, eyeing me while he did so. ¡°Your group has given Litta the capacity to start skewing that figure in their direction,¡± he added. ¡°Especially if they secure another nation¡¯s Creation Delve, which I expect they¡¯ll try to do.¡±

    The air hummed with tension for a moment. Celeritia smiled and waved a hand, as if to drive off the feeling like a rogue mosquito. ¡°Anyway, part of how they compensate for a smaller Delver population is by trying to attract foreign talent. They offer generous rewards to exceptional Delvers willing to work as contractors training certain personnel, submitting to detailed interviews, demonstrating techniques, and so on.¡±

    ¡°I assume it¡¯s frowned upon for Hiwardians to accept such an offer.¡±

    ¡°We call it treason,¡± he said. ¡°If you plan to start training Littan soldiers, you¡¯ll be doing it without Varrin.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I considered my words for a moment. The conversation had always been a minefield, but I felt like I¡¯d just heard a click beneath my boot. ¡°Are you asking us not to take such a deal?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said the king. ¡°All I¡¯m asking is¨Conce you¡¯ve heard their pitch¨Cconsider coming to us for a counteroffer.¡± He gave me a wily grin. ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if you took any sort of deal that locked your party down for an extended period, though.¡±

    ¡°We do like to stay mobile,¡± I said. ¡°And¡­ unattached.¡±

    He nodded thoughtfully. ¡°Some would call that a lack of oversight.¡±

    ¡°And I like to think somebody out there is happy they can¡¯t be blamed for the messes we make.¡±

    ¡°So long as that mess is helpful to them, it¡¯s probably true.¡± The king gave me a knowing look, then stood and stretched. ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel, this has been great, really. Sadly, my time is limited, and I¡¯d love to meet individually with the rest of your party. There will also be other petitioners to see me, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s been a pleasure, King Celeritia.¡±

    I offered to give the king the lounge for the day. He agreed to use it for meetings with the rest of the party but preferred a less relaxed atmosphere for any Hiwardians who insisted on a one-on-one. I offered him the use of the study, instead.

    ¡°It¡¯s easier to seem imposing from behind a desk,¡± he¡¯d admitted. I somehow doubted he needed the boost.

    We shook, and I exited the lounge feeling pleased with the discussion. Celeritia was another easy-going head of state, all things considered, and I was beginning to wonder if Arzia simply trended in that direction.

    However¨Cunlike Zura¨CCeleritia¡¯s cheerful presence also carried a looming weight. I hadn¡¯t realized how potent it was until I¡¯d walked out from under it the moment I was outside the lounge. It was a hard thing to put into words, but talking to Celeritia was like talking to a friendly man standing beside an M1 Abrams main battle tank. One with its barrel pointed straight at me, and everyone I cared about. He was pleasant enough, but I knew that any moment the man could have me reduced to a chunky paste.

    Not that Celeritia was individually more powerful than Zura. I just didn¡¯t get the impression that Zura would point all of Eschendur in my direction and pull the trigger the moment I did something she didn¡¯t like. Maybe the feeling came from an aura or other magical effect, but I didn¡¯t think so. The way he slipped from jovial and joking to deadly serious¡­ It was unnerving.

    I nodded to the King¡¯s Guard, noting that there were now four of them outside. I moved off at a relaxed pace, taking a moment to recover before throwing myself to the rest of the sharks. The hallway was empty, save for the guards, but several Hiwardians were waiting just beyond. How many were there for me, and how many were trying to use this opportunity to get easier access to the king, I didn¡¯t know.

    [I trust your meeting went well.]

    ¡°You weren¡¯t listening in?¡±

    [The guards deployed four separate skills to ensure the conversation¡¯s privacy.]

    ¡°So your surveillance within the Closet can be foiled.¡±

    [I felt it would be needlessly confrontational to circumvent them. Please stand still for a moment.] I paused a few feet from the end of the hallway. One Hiwardian gentleman looked like he was trying¨Cpolitely¨Cto get my attention. [There are, of course, ways to hide from my considerable abilities. Before you commit yourself to another lengthy discussion, I would like you to join me in the control room.]

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I intentionally kept myself from making eye contact with anyone in the hallway. The Hiwardian cleared his throat, looking impatient.

    [I believe there is someone hiding from my considerable abilities. I thought that would be clear from context. I¡¯ll teleport you momentarily.]

    ¡°Director Aprogar asked us to refrain from teleportation.¡±

    [I have informed him of the matter. So long as we give advance notice, I may teleport you and myself at will.]

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± the man said. ¡°If I could have a moment.¡± His tone betrayed a touch of irritation.

    ¡°Okay. Let me disengage¨C¡± The world stuttered, and I was in the cramped room Grotto and I had used to spy on the Littans during their Delve. ¡°¨CFrom this guy,¡± I finished. Grotto was back in his c¡¯thonic octo disguise, hovering next to a panel glittering with flowing text. I crossed my arms and scowled.

    ¡°Really?¡± I thought to him. ¡°You couldn¡¯t let me tell him I was indisposed? Now he¡¯ll think I¡¯m rude. I swear, I can¡¯t tell if you¡¯re trying to help or just fuck with me through this whole thing.¡±

    [I¨C]

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    ¡°I mean, first it¡¯s like [ha ha Arlo, Varrin¡¯s bringing the king over, it slipped my mind tee-hee.] Then it¡¯s [whoopsie, Varrin¡¯s ready to come in and there¡¯s no time to put on PANTS, har har.] Next thing I know it¡¯s [this is Master Xor¡¯Drel, leader of the free-fuckin¡¯-world over here.] Seriously! Why?¡±

    Grotto weathered my psychic tirade without twitching a feeler.

    [I delivered all of Varrin¡¯s messages in a timely manner. I do not dress you in the morning. Esquire is a useless title.]

    ¡°You¡¯re gaslighting me right now.¡±

    [I am not. Our discussion of my Public Service Announcer evolution prompted me to check in with Varrin¨Cearly, I might add¨Cat which point he delivered to me the information that I then delivered to you in real-time.]

    ¡°I asked you if you were forgetting anything else, and that¡¯s when you said Varrin was bringing the Hiwardian horde for a house call.¡±

    [Yes, the choice not to dispel that misperception was a bit of an indulgence. You were being very cranky at the time.]

    ¡°Do you see, though? Do you see why I might be cranky with you sometimes?¡±

    He ran a feeler over his head in thought.

    [I do not.]

    ¡°This fuckin¡¯ squid,¡± I muttered aloud to myself. ¡°I like Esquire,¡± I thought to him. ¡°I do not like Master.¡±

    [You are no longer in a position where you can pretend to be some nameless boulevardier. The charade is so obvious as to be absurd to all who meet you, and your resistance to accepting a title comes across as false modesty.]

    ¡°Then let¡¯s workshop something else,¡± I ground out. ¡°Instead of randomly deciding on your own what my name is.¡±

    [Very well, but there is no time for that at the moment.]

    ¡°Not even enough time to politely excuse myself, it would seem.¡±

    [The man awaiting you in the hallway was Leon Heronwyte. He was there to delay you by levying false accusations of a serious crime.]

    ¡°Speak, and he shall appear,¡± I psychically grumbled. ¡°The king just told me that family was out for us. Still, what¡¯s the point of falsely accusing me of a crime?¡±

    [I believe it would invoke item four of Varrin¡¯s conditions on when to deliver justifiable violence.]

    ¡°That¡¯s dumb. These people are dumb. There¡¯s a four-pronged test to determine whether that scenario applies, and a transparent lie fails to satisfy three of them. I wouldn¡¯t rise to that bait.¡±

    [That would make you appear weak. Either way, any interaction would have served his purposes.]

    ¡°And what are those purposes?¡±

    [To distract you from the person who has infiltrated your bedroom.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¨C Well, that¡¯s discourteous, but is that an emergency? There¡¯s nothing there for them to find. I don¡¯t even have clothes in the wardrobe.¡±

    [I do not believe they are looking for your personal diary wherein your schemes and impure thoughts about Varrin are documented.]

    ¡°I don¡¯t document those. The schemes, that is. My thoughts are pure, and also undocumented.¡±

    [Allow me to show you what I have observed.] He waved a feeler toward the mini-obelisk at the center of the room. [Simply grasp my¨C]

    I held up a hand. ¡°I know what to do.¡±

    I gave Grotto the stink eye as I stepped up to the small pillar and gripped it.

    Gently.

    My vision swapped to a view of the foyer, where a small crowd of Hiwardians mingled, attended to by several servants. One of the servants glowed red as Grotto highlighted the man for me. He was unfamiliar, which immediately made me suspicious. I¡¯d familiarized myself with all of the Ravvenblaq staff inside the Closet.

    [This servant arrived with the Heronwyte delegation. This is normal since nearly all of the nobles are accompanied by at least one attendant. However, while his dress was generic for a servant at the time he entered, a few minor alterations have been made which allow him to blend in with the Ravvenblaq staff. A close inspection will show he is not wearing a disguise, but a casual glance at the room would give the impression he is working with our own personnel.]

    ¡°Keeping him from getting called out for pretending to be a Ravvenblaq, but allowing him to take advantage of the crowd and become unconsciously associated with the people working for us.¡±

    [Correct. Perhaps that method would be successful elsewhere, but here it is a futile endeavor. I have tracked this servant¡¯s pathing around the estate. While his duties appear normal, his routes between tasks are inefficient. This could be forgiven as simple unfamiliarity at first, but he has done enough rounds to become well oriented, and continues to err in his course.]

    A map of the mansion overlaid my vision, and a red line showed where the servant had been.

    ¡°Geez, he¡¯s been everywhere. It¡¯s been less than two hours!¡±

    [Indeed. My suspicion is that he is creating an internal map of the estate. Most of the rooms are open to guests, meaning very few doors are literally closed. He has managed to ¡®accidentally¡¯ open all of them, aside from the door to the lounge. Once he completed a full run of the estate, he returned one additional time past the master bedroom. A napkin fell from the platter he was carrying as he passed.]

    My vision moved to the hall outside my bedroom, where the floors were immaculately clean.

    [That napkin is now gone. No one has passed through this area since.]

    ¡°Understandable, since we positioned it to be out of the way. Where¡¯s the napkin?¡±

    [I do not know.] My vision swapped to the bedroom itself. [I cannot detect anyone inside the room, nor any unusual phenomena. I would like you to take a look with your Sight.]

    I mentally shrugged. Grotto was putting a lot of red string up on his corkboard, but I trusted he had a better handle on the situation than I did.

    ¡°Sha-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah¡­¡±

    [Are you attempting to communicate something intelligible with that noise?]

    ¡°I¡¯m letting you know I¡¯m using my supervision, since we can¡¯t see each other right now.¡±

    [I can see you. I am currently monitoring all locations within the mansion.]

    ¡°Can you see yourself?¡±

    [Of course.]

    ¡°That¡¯s spooky.¡±

    [It really isn¡¯t.]

    I did a careful pass of the room, focusing my Sight on every nook and cranny.

    ¡°I¡¯m not picking anything up.¡±

    [Hmm. Very well, we will need to recruit additional assistance.]

    ¡°You really wanna find that napkin, eh?¡±

    [I wish to find the cretins who dare desecrate our abode with their petty attempts at skullduggery. I will find them. I will flay them. I will feed their corpses to the newest litter of hounds.]

    Unlike Grotto¡¯s usual rants, there was no manic enthusiasm behind this one. The man was making dark promises he intended to keep.

    ¡°No worries. It ain¡¯t much to go on, but I don¡¯t want to tempt fate and leave that stone unturned. Should we bring in the servant for questioning?¡±

    [We have no valid justification to do so. It would be an affront to the Heronwytes that would demand recompense.]

    ¡°Sheesh. Fine, I¡¯ll grab¡­ Etja, I guess? She has the highest Wisdom paired with Reconnaissance. Hmm, maybe Nuralie as well, since she has all those Sense evolutions.¡±

    [Etja is speaking with the king, and Nuralie is acting as Zenithar Zura¡¯s personal attach¨¦. I have a different pair in mind who are available and well-equipped for this task.]

    I let go of the obelisk, orienting myself as my vision retethered to my body.

    ¡°Oh? Who would those two be?¡±

    [Your ex, and one of Central¡¯s lead investigators.]

    ¡°That sounds fun.¡±

    The world blinked again, and I found myself in the smoking room, looking at a pair of surprised, but familiar faces. One was a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman with dark skin and hazel eyes. Next to her was a grizzled man smoking a hand-rolled cigarette.

    ¡°Arlo!¡± shouted Myria, who promptly leapt onto me in a full-body hug.

    I gave her a gentle pat on the back. ¡°Hey, folks. Long time, no see. Want to help me solve a mystery?¡±

    Lito grunted and stuffed out his cigarette in an ashtray. ¡°Better than sitting around here and doing shit all.¡±

 190 - Napkin Hunt

    ¡°How¡¯d you like the smoking room?¡± I asked, glancing back at Lito as we exited. ¡°We put it together just for you.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Really?¡± he said, sounding doubtful.

    ¡°Only the best for sensei,¡± I said. ¡°Of course, I¡¯d prefer the guests to smoke outside, but¨C¡± I gestured vaguely at the walls. ¡°There¡¯s no outside in here. So, smoking room.¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± Lito grunted. ¡°Thanks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t much effort on our part. The Ravvenblaqs provided most of the furnishings. None of the cigars in the humidor are even mine.¡± I paused in my tracks. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll charge me if somebody smokes one?¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± he asked.

    ¡°To my bedroom.¡±

    Myria threaded her arm through mine. ¡°I assume it¡¯s for business reasons,¡± she said as we started walking again.

    ¡°It¡¯s always business in the bedroom,¡± I said. ¡°I take my sleep very seriously.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s new. I thought you slept half as much as me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m reformed. Skipping out on rest was degrading my performance.¡±

    ¡°Why are we going to your bedroom?¡± asked Lito.

    ¡°A servant dropped a napkin,¡± I replied. He frowned but waited for the rest of my answer. ¡°Before that, he tried to blend in with the Ravvenblaq staff and did a full sweep of the mansion. No one else has been through the hall, and the napkin disappeared.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked with less,¡± said Myria. ¡°Who¡¯s the servant with?¡±

    ¡°The Heronwytes.¡±

    Lito¡¯s fingers drummed along the head of the war hammer hanging at his belt. He was one of the few openly armed guests, aside from the guard.

    ¡°Sounds like they were delivering information,¡± said Lito. ¡°It happens all the time at these things.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully it¡¯s that innocuous.¡±

    ¡°Any reason you think it isn¡¯t?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The king told me the Heronwytes were petitioning for my extradition and execution.¡±

    Lito scratched his jaw. ¡°Not to impugn the king¡¯s honor, but the man has his own agenda.¡±

    ¡°You think he was bending the truth?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that some dumbass Heronwyte drafted something like that,¡± he said. ¡°The houses aren¡¯t monoliths. The politics inside a major house are almost as fractious as the politics between them.¡±

    ¡°So, I¡¯m not being targeted by the Heronwytes, but a Heronwyte?¡±

    Lito shrugged. ¡°Who knows? The Heronwytes are deeply involved with auctioning Creation Delve slots. Somebody¡¯s losing money because there¡¯s eight of the damn things now, but that¡¯s not enough to drag an entire house into a frenzy.¡±

    ¡°What would the king gain by putting us on a collision course?¡±

    ¡°Expose bad actors in Hiward, evaluate your response to threats, alleviate his boredom, I can keep going if you want.¡±

    ¡°No, I get it. I wasn¡¯t taking the warning at face value, but I appreciate the additional heads up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so casual with your sedition, Lito,¡± said Myria.

    ¡°I don¡¯t play favorites.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the king,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s your favorite by mandate.¡± Myria let go of my arm and placed the back of her hand against my chest to halt me. She stepped forward to the end of the hall and peeked around the corner, then came back. ¡°May I cast Disregard on you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t want people paying attention to me?¡±

    ¡°Everyone here wants a piece of you, Arlo,¡± she said, pulling a dark slate from her inventory. She fiddled with it for a moment, then glanced up. ¡°It¡¯ll be easier to move around if we aren¡¯t constantly being stopped. That¡¯s a yes?¡±

    ¡°Sure, no problem.¡± She stored the slate and touched me on the chest again. A tingle and a notification let me know the spell had taken effect. ¡°What were you doing with the slate?¡±

    ¡°Letting Director Aprogar know what I was casting and why. His people are monitoring all spell use.¡± She looked me up and down. ¡°Mind losing the boa? The spell works better if you¡¯re unexceptional.¡±

    I reluctantly removed the boa and stored it in inventory. I could practically feel some of my swagger drain away. Myria smiled and took her place beside me again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll lead,¡± said Lito.

    We followed Lito as he stepped out of the hall. He led us on a slightly circuitous route, making use of the portals connecting the rooms to avoid areas where people were congregating.

    Myria and I chatted idly as we went, though Lito was entirely focused on the way forward. It was nice to catch up with old allies, and the pair looked like they¡¯d been doing quite well for themselves. Both were now Level 15, a big jump from when I¡¯d met them at Level 10. Myria snorted when I pointed that out.

    ¡°Five levels in two years,¡± she said. ¡°Yes, very fast by normal human standards. You should be careful who you compliment for their leveling speed, though. Someone else might think you¡¯re being patronizing.¡±

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t mean it that way,¡± I said.

    ¡°I know,¡± she said, patting my arm. ¡°My mom thinks that I¡¯ve been working myself to death. Imagine if she found out you¡¯d gotten twelve levels in the same length of time.¡±

    I¡¯d only met Myria¡¯s mother once, and briefly at that. I wasn¡¯t aware she¡¯d have any opinion on my whirlwind Delving career.

    Speaking of meeting someone¡¯s parents, now might be a good time to point out that¨Cdespite what Grotto said¨CMyria wasn¡¯t my ex. Not really. We¡¯d never officially been dating.

    It¡¯s complicated.

    I would describe my past relationship with Myria as being friends with extremely casual physical boundaries. After the ordeal with Orexis and The Cage, we¡¯d undergone an intense series of interviews with Hiwardian officials. While I¡¯d later come to rely on Varrin for most of my guidance on interacting with the Hiwardian government, the big guy was in a bad way after seeing his father murdered. Understandable, to say the least.

    Myria ended up being the person to coach me through a lot of it. She was also undergoing the process, having been a part of the entire expedition, and some bonding happened over how much of a pain in the ass the whole affair was. Once we were done talking over every minute detail of the harrowing events with the Hiwardian G-men, the pair of us spent a lot of time talking over how we felt about it all with each other.

    Myria was a great listener. She asked the right questions at the right time, she was empathetic, she didn¡¯t judge, and I will admit her stunning appearance went a long way toward making me want that connection. It was easy to feel comfortable opening up to her, and I genuinely believe she wanted to know me. Not for a job or other utilitarian reason, not to manipulate or betray my trust, but because she actually cared and enjoyed my company.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The thing that kept it from going any further was that, while Myria was very good at getting to know someone, it was difficult to get to know Myria. She was guarded, she never shared stories about her childhood, and she avoided talking about anyone in her family other than her mother. She would tell you what her emotional reaction to something was but deflected any questions that dug into why she felt that way. I didn¡¯t resent her secrecy. I wasn¡¯t entitled to anyone¡¯s life story, but I never got comfortable enough to share my own ¡®unique¡¯ backstory.

    Eventually, we hit a wall. We knew each other well enough, but it wasn¡¯t going anywhere. I was spending most of my time with the party, training and Delving, so our rendezvous became less and less frequent until they stopped altogether. There were no big arguments or hard feelings, not even a calm agreement to move on. There wasn¡¯t a real beginning, and so there wasn¡¯t a real end.

    Now, we chatted as comfortably as any other time we¡¯d met. Was there some lingering discomfort or regret on Myria¡¯s end? I didn¡¯t know. Given that it was Myria, I¡¯d never know, unless she decided to tell me. For my part, I was sad that it hadn¡¯t worked out, but I was happy enough for things to be business as usual.

    We passed through the dining room, the only occupants a pair of servants setting up for lunch, then through the ballroom where we interrupted a couple speaking in low tones, giving one another sultry looks. A quick jaunt down a side hall led us to a guest suite that connected to a bath, the bath adjoining another guest suite on the other side of the mansion. This spat us out a short walk from the master.

    ¡°You know these junctions as well as I do,¡± I said as we slowly approached the double doors to my bedroom. He gave a patented Lito grunt in reply, his eyes crawling over everything in the hall. ¡°How are Ember and Cole doing, by the way?¡±

    ¡°They bought a vineyard,¡± said Myria. ¡°Their break from Delving has evolved into a retirement, I think.¡±

    ¡°As long as they¡¯re happy.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t,¡± said Lito. He moved on to studying the doors. ¡°Cole spends every hour of the day managing the vineyard while Ember does her best to drink it dry.¡±

    Myria¡¯s ever-present smile faded at the comment. ¡°They¡¯re still having a hard time moving past Ashe¡¯s death,¡± she said. ¡°You should visit sometime. Maybe seeing that you¡¯ve out-leveled them will be inspiring.¡±

    ¡°As long as you think I¡¯d get a positive reception.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a survivor of the same traumatic event,¡± I said. ¡°It might revive some uncomfortable memories.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be happy to see you.¡±

    ¡°Whenever I¡¯m in Hiward with some free time, we can take a trip out there.¡±

    ¡°Free time?¡± asked Myria, looking skeptical. ¡°Since when do you give yourself free time?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m reformed.¡±

    ¡°When was your last vacation?¡±

    ¡°I spent a month in the Third Layer a year or so ago.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that sounds nice. What did you do while you were there?¡±

    I shifted on my feet. ¡°Petitioned a goddess, trained my martial skills, helped dream forge a new hammer. There was plenty of recreation in between though.¡±

    ¡°And yet you add that as an afterthought.¡±

    ¡°What can I say? I like my work.¡±

    ¡°The hallway hasn¡¯t been tampered with,¡± said Lito. ¡°The area in front of the door has lingering traces of Divine mana. The Dimensional mana in here is thick enough to mask it, for the most part.¡±

    ¡°What does that tell us?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Lots of things,¡± he said. ¡°But not enough.¡±

    Lito carefully touched the right door handle, then pushed it open without entering. The door swung inward, revealing my bedroom in perfect order. He spent some time looking around, and I did another sweep with my Sight for good measure; still nothing unusual. After a minute passed, he entered and began walking around the room. Myria and I stayed in the hall until he gave us permission to follow.

    ¡°The wardrobe¡¯s been moved,¡± Lito said. ¡°Mind if I look inside?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead. I don¡¯t keep anything in there.¡±

    He ran his hands along the outside of the wardrobe, then opened it up. He spent some time going over the interior, then fully removed each drawer on the bottom half, stacking them by the bed once he was done.

    ¡°Move it out from the wall,¡± he said, then looked conflicted for a moment. ¡°Please,¡± he added.

    The wardrobe was awkward to pick up, but I grabbed it by the sides and carried the 200-pound piece of furniture away like it was made of cardboard. Lito took some time to study its back, then squinted at the exposed wall. He pulled out a small pouch and pinched some fine, sparkling powder from within. He tossed it at the wall, and a three-foot-diameter ring of runes appeared.

    ¡°Would you look at that,¡± I said.

    Lito held up a hand to stop me from approaching as he stared at the sigil. It was a series of concentric circles made up of the runic language. I recognized several of the symbols, but many more were unfamiliar.

    ¡°Have any thoughts on this, Grotto?¡± I thought to my familiar.

    [Blood will be spilled for this vandalism.]

    ¡°Right. Insights into what this weave is doing?¡±

    There was a beat of psychic silence. When Grotto started to deliver his findings, I noticed Lito¡¯s brow furrow and Myria took a step back, hand dropping to her side where she normally carried her rapier. She caught herself once she realized Grotto had simply barged into her thoughts, and that we weren¡¯t under attack.

    [The outer three rings are designed to obscure the weave from notice. The fourth ring draws in and condenses Dimensional mana from the surroundings, feeding energy to the other rings to enable their function. The innermost ring sets the boundaries of the weave¡¯s primary effect, limiting it to sapient entities within the bedroom. The central sigil establishes a teleportation function.]

    ¡°So, it¡¯s a stealthy kidnapping enchantment?¡± I asked aloud.

    [That is a crude abridgment, but accurate enough.]

    ¡°This is intricate work,¡± said Lito. He pulled out a reed and placed it in his mouth, starting to chew on the end. ¡°An expert put this together. Only two Heronwytes came with the king, and neither has the skill set to pull this off. Not unless they¡¯re much better at hiding their talents than I thought.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s supposed to trigger it?¡± I asked. ¡°Do we need to make a hasty exit?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not going off anytime soon,¡± said Lito. He glanced at Myria, who already had her slate out and was presumably communicating our findings to Aprogar. Satisfied, Lito returned to the sigil and pointed at the fourth ring. ¡°This is a poor man¡¯s script,¡± he said. ¡°The weave is powered by ambient mana, rather than by using a mana chip. It only gives a trickle of power, so it¡¯s rarely used that way. In Hiward, at least.

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no chip, the mana density in the weave is much lower, which helps it stay undetected. It¡¯s used a lot in combination with effects that activate after reaching a specific mana threshold.¡±

    ¡°A timer?¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Right. The mana density is a long way off from activating an involuntary teleportation effect.¡±

    I looked at the sigil more closely, focusing on the mana running through it and flexing my underutilized Mystical Magic skill. It was only a trickle, and I could spot a small concentration in the central runes but had no way of confirming what Lito had just told me. I¡¯d have to trust him.

    ¡°Director Aprogar is coming to take a look,¡± said Myria.

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Lito. ¡°Let¡¯s take up positions outside. The King¡¯s Guard has people built for disarming these types of things. It may be connected to another weave we haven¡¯t noticed.¡±

    ¡°How did this get here without anyone realizing?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯ve got a close eye on everything happening, and the place is full of high-level Delvers.¡±

    ¡°I can think of a few things,¡± said Lito. He ushered me toward the door as he spoke. ¡°Most likely, the napkin was a disguised divination beacon, which would explain the traces of Divine mana. The servant took a voyeur on a tour of your estate, then dropped the beacon in front of your room, where it was used to coordinate some long-range spellwork. The beacon could have been cannibalized for materials to make the weave.¡± Lito looked up and down the hall, then lowered his voice. ¡°The real hitch is that Director Aprogar didn¡¯t detect whatever happened.¡±

    ¡°Then no one ever entered the room,¡± I said.

    ¡°Probably not. There are countermeasures to this type of thing, more robust than what a mobile King¡¯s Guard unit can put together on short notice. They may not stop someone with this level of skill, but it¡¯d at least make it a headache for them. I¡¯ll pass along some security texts I put together.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate that. What¡¯s our next move?¡±

    ¡°Myria and I will talk to the Lord Director,¡± he said. ¡°For now, you should get back to hosting. Whoever¡¯s responsible probably knows we¡¯ve caught wind of this, but there¡¯s no reason to make it any more obvious. The next step is to hunt for any more of these things and try to flush out the culprit.¡±

    ¡°I figured you¡¯d want everyone to clear out,¡± I said. ¡°If someone can lay down hostile weaves remotely, that seems like a major security risk.¡±

    ¡°Something like this wouldn¡¯t even tickle one of the VIPs,¡± he said. ¡°They have defensive trinkets that would cause the spell to fizzle the moment it found a target. Still, the King¡¯s Guard may start slowly teleporting people out.¡±

    I waited for Aprogar to appear, surrounded by a squad of the Guard, and added what I could to the report Lito and Myria gave. The Lord Director agreed I should get back to my business, but that certain of the more flighty nobles may find their way back to Hiward via one of his Dimensional specialists. It seemed like the weave was targeting me, not the king, so Aprogar predicted Celeritia would want to stay and finish chatting with the party.

    I said my goodbyes and went through a few rooms to obscure where I was coming from when I re-entered the foyer. The gathering had been on too short notice for any of the guests besides the king to book me for an official meeting, so it was first come, first served.

    Unfortunately, the first to come was Lord Leon Heronwyte, who didn¡¯t seem happy about being ghosted.

 191 - Leon the Prosecutor

    No sooner had I shrugged on my boa and shrugged off Myria¡¯s Disregard spell, than Lord Leon Heronwyte appeared. It was uncanny, and I assumed the man either had people tracking me, or some ability that let him know the instant I was available.

    Either that or he¡¯d been camping out the foyer, and my Luck score was too low. Maybe he had high Luck. No one could say for certain that Luck worked that way¨Cmany of its benefits were more tangible, like improving crits and granting Divine defense¨Cbut still. I had no doubt the stat gave a person¡¯s favored deity an easier time intervening in their life.

    Leon Heronwyte¡¯s god was probably a meddler. I certainly felt like I was about to be meddled with.

    Leon was a man of middling height with the trim-and-fit build of a person with decent Agility. He was ethnically Hiwardian, with short white hair that swept to one side, styled in a sort of feathered, spiky look. It was the type of haircut that made a groovy man look even groovier, but made everyone else look like they were trying too hard. I had a strong bias, but Leon fell into the latter camp.

    Other than that, the man was unremarkable. His features were handsome in a plucky sidekick kind of way. His clothes were fine and fashionable, but nothing stand-out. He moved with purpose but not so quickly that one would take any particular notice.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Leon said, loud enough to carry, but not quite a shout.

    He was on the other side of the foyer, making a beeline straight for me. I had no intention of evading the man, so I raised a hand in acknowledgment and waited for him to cross the short distance. I preferred to deal with social conflicts head-on, but I would avail myself of every advantage I could during the exchange.

    ¡°Alright, tell me this guy¡¯s deal,¡± I thought to Grotto. I gave Lord Heronwyte a close look with my Sight, digging into his Level 15 gold soul. It seemed like many scions of the major houses stalled out at that level.

    [Lord Leon Heronwyte is the great-grandson of Matriarch Cora Heronwyte and the third child of the current Heronwyte Thundralke. The Matriarch¡¯s descendants often mirror her build, but Leon has invested in Charisma, rather than Intelligence. His attunement is Divine.]

    I was happy Grotto got the full Hiwardian dossier from Varrin. My crash course with Riona and Sineh covered the key players, which included Cora Heronwyte, but not Leon.

    Matriarch Cora was one of the highest-level Delvers in the world¨Ca Mystic archer¨Cwhose primary party during the War of Rebellion included Patriarch Ravvenblaq, Patriarch and Matriarch Duckgrien, and Patriarch Bluewren. Her build revolved around perception and control effects, and if Leon was mostly following in her footsteps I¡¯d need to watch my words very closely. Wisdom had too many ways to see through deception, and I wasn¡¯t built for deceiving. The Divine attunement raised some alarm bells considering the Divine mana Lito had detected outside my bedroom, but it wasn¡¯t damning.

    ¡°Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said once the man was close. ¡°I apologize for taking off on short notice earlier. There was a minor security matter that required my attention.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Master Xor¡¯Drel, I understand,¡± he said. If he was offended by my abrupt disappearance, he didn¡¯t let it show. ¡°I know how demanding these types of events can be on the host. This is a splendid estate, by the way. I especially love how the portals make it seem never-ending.¡±

    I began splitting my focus between the conversation with Leon and my high-speed psychic chat with Grotto. Leon seemed content to exchange a few pleasantries, giving me time to dig into what Grotto knew.

    ¡°What¡¯s the crime you think Leon was going to accuse me of, and how did you know?¡±

    [I am unaware of the specific crime, only that he intended to make an accusation. Shortly after entering, he began calibrating a modified version of the slates many of these Hiwardians carry. He attempted to send several poorly encrypted messages to a recipient outside of the Closet, but was unsuccessful.]

    ¡°I know those things get quirky when exposed to high mana levels. Being sequestered in an enclosed dimensional space probably didn¡¯t help, either.¡±

    [The mana levels within the mansion, while higher than normal, are not significant enough to interrupt the slate¡¯s function. If they were, the mundane servants would suffer serious adverse effects. No, those slates send and receive communications using a crude System Call. Because of the Pocket Delve, I am the local administrator of System Calls that originate from Delvers within our domain.]

    ¡°Oh? Then you can block and intercept?¡±

    [Correct.]

    I thought over the implications of what Grotto was telling me. ¡°Can you see every message being sent and received by the King¡¯s Guard?¡±

    Grotto sent the next thought with a dose of menacing glee.

    [I can.]

    That was troubling, but also awesome. Despite my strong aversion to Orwellian surveillance in my past life, the moment that power fell into my own hands I quickly found myself becoming a hypocrite. But it¡¯s not like I was spying on people in their homes. This was my house, so it was probably fine.

    I set that aside to ponder later since it would be inconvenient to ponder right then.

    ¡°Alright, so you¡¯re reading this guy¡¯s emails.¡±

    [Only the ones he attempts to send. I would need to request access to the slate¡¯s message history to see anything further. I could do so, but it would likely require spending some of our newly acquired System Rep to ensure success.]

    ¡°I have no idea how valuable that stuff is, so I¡¯ll leave it to your discretion.¡±

    ¡°The chandeliers actually came from a Delve,¡± I said, responding to one of Leon¡¯s questions. ¡°It was filled with mimics though, so be careful.¡± I smiled. He smiled. We laughed. I don¡¯t think he found it funny.

    [Lord Heronwyte currently manages one of Hiward¡¯s most notable auction houses¨CWhitebridge¨Con behalf of his family.]

    ¡°I think I¡¯m coming around to appreciating how straightforward Hiwardian naming conventions are.¡±

    [Whitebridge has exclusive contracts with the crown to auction any Creation Delve slots that are not assigned through treaty or become available via some other means.] Grotto paused for a second. [Curious. The slot you filled would fall within those parameters. You replaced an Eschen who was unavailable due to the blockade. I wonder whether such an auction was held, and if so, who paid for it.]

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    ¡°We may get an answer to that question very soon.¡±

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Leon said, his tone shifting from the friendly cadence of small talk to something more serious. ¡°You and your party are clearly very talented, we wouldn¡¯t be here if you weren¡¯t. However, a gathering of such influential Hiwardians wouldn¡¯t occur over the mere presence of talent, but rather the success of wielding such talent in a significant way.¡±

    ¡°Certainly,¡± I said. The statement sounded like throat-clearing language, so I was willing to go along. How was talent demonstrated other than through action? It was an empty preamble.

    ¡°You¡¯ve spoken with the king, and I¡¯m sure that your discussions have led to satisfactory answers for His Highness. However, the ears of the king are not the ears of the people. I¡¯d never ask that you divulge the contents of that dialogue, but I wonder if it would be agreeable that I ask some questions of my own. Questions that are certainly on the tip of every tongue in this room.¡±

    I took a look around the small crowd in the foyer. Where there¡¯d been gentle conversation before, there was now a sharp silence. There wasn¡¯t even a pretense of eavesdropping as everyone openly watched our exchange. I appreciated that in some ways. It gave me a better insight into what Leon was aiming for. His words implied he wanted an interview, but I expected this would be closer to a debate.

    My allies were still busy with their own interlocutors¨Cthe king, the Zenithar, and whomever else¨Cbut I noticed Patriarch Ravvenblaq relaxing in an armchair one room over. He was just visible through the archway of the foyer in a sitting room, and the corner he occupied was unnaturally dark, the other guests moving around him without giving him any notice. He sipped from a steaming mug, then held it up to me in a small toast when I caught sight of him. My interactions with the legendary Level 56 were limited, but surely he wouldn¡¯t sit by and let Leon openly smear my name. This would be more civilized than that.

    Surely.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to sate your curiosity, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said. ¡°There are certain topics that we keep close to the vest, of course.¡±

    ¡°Yes, no one begrudges a Delver holding the secrets to their own power,¡± said Leon. ¡°I am more curious as to the reasoning behind some of your actions.¡±

    ¡°In what regard?¡±

    ¡°When your party chose to conquer Deijin¡¯s Descent, you knew that it would cause the phase transition that has occurred, correct?¡±

    ¡°We knew it was one of the steps necessary to cause the phase transition. We didn¡¯t know whether Zenithar Manar would agree to tackle Saekongr¡¯s Crevice, which was also necessary.¡±

    ¡°You petitioned the Zenithar to do as much, though.¡±

    ¡°This is true,¡± I said. ¡°She wasn¡¯t very receptive at the time, but it appears that she changed her mind while we Delved.¡±

    ¡°You were aware that the phase transition would open additional Creation Delves throughout the world?¡±

    ¡°We knew that it would allow for more people to undergo Creation. We weren¡¯t certain what the exact process behind that would be.¡± Leon was about to jump on a follow-up, but I went ahead and volunteered what I expected he would ask about. ¡°We suspected it would result in new Creation Delves. We didn¡¯t know for certain.¡±

    ¡°You believed this would be a good thing?¡±

    I mulled that one over, giving myself time to consider my ongoing approach to this conversation. Leon¡¯s questions were leading, not open-ended. They invited yes or no answers, not full-fledged responses. Laying out too much information could come off as defensive, but laying out too little would allow Leon to distort the truth.

    I could just cut and run. I didn¡¯t have to talk to this guy, the king was already on our side. Tentatively. For now.

    But this was a big, hearts-and-minds opportunity. If I refused to engage with Leon, whatever social poison he was spreading might go unchecked. Honest answers might win us some allies, while evasion might earn us some enemies. Although I rarely exercised the skill, I did know when to shut up for my own good. I wasn¡¯t too worried about running my mouth and making things worse. I¡¯d let this play out some more before pulling the plug.

    Also, I was curious.

    ¡°We believed having more Delvers would be beneficial to defending against the avatars,¡± I said.

    ¡°The avatars,¡± he said, looking thoughtful. It appeared genuine, but I expected it was performative. ¡°You¡¯ve met some of these avatars?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°Orexis threatened the Ravvenblaq territory. You witnessed some of the battle between the godling and many Delvers, Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien included.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°These were high-level Delvers. Some of the very highest, with regard to Bobret and Cera. Was Orexis slain?¡±

    ¡°He was not. I understand he fled after a lengthy battle.¡±

    ¡°And you claim more Delvers would be beneficial in slaying such an entity?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a complicated question. The avatars are not invulnerable, they aren¡¯t all-powerful. I¡¯m not sure what it would take to kill one, but we¡¯ve seen that sufficient force can frustrate their plans.¡±

    Leon made a show of turning his head in thought, stroking his chin, and letting that answer settle. He made eye contact with most of the crowd as he did so.

    ¡°Most Delvers finish their Creation Delve without advancing to Level 1,¡± he said. ¡°The vast majority require additional Delves to reach the first 8-point stat threshold. A Level 1 Delver is little help against an avatar.¡±

    ¡°I disagree,¡± I said.

    ¡°You believe a Level 1 Delver poses a threat to something like Orexis?¡±

    ¡°Not in direct combat,¡± I said. ¡°My party and I were Level 1 when we confronted the specter of Orexis inside Delve 9998: The Cage. Without our intervention, the specter would have released many more avatars into the world. We also prevented a mana eruption that would have destroyed a significant portion of the Ravvenblaq Thundry.¡±

    ¡°According to your own accounts,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°Those accounts have not been disputed,¡± I said. ¡°We were interviewed many times by the Hiwardian government.¡±

    ¡°There was no finding of wrongdoing,¡± said Leon. ¡°That is not to say your claims were taken as factual.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t presume to know the inner thoughts of Central officials, only that our testimonies were never challenged.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, a Level 1 Delver poses no physical threat to an avatar.¡±

    ¡°It would be extraordinary if one did.¡±

    ¡°The average rate of Level advancement for Delvers is one Level per year,¡± said Leon. ¡°Exceptional Delvers move faster, but the average is one.¡±

    ¡°I understand that to be the common belief,¡± I said.

    ¡°Both Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien are Level 52,¡± said Leon. ¡°They spent decades reaching that tier of strength. Even then, they could not kill Orexis. It¡¯s questionable whether they even caused him to flee, based on their own accounts of the conflict.¡± He folded his hands behind his back. ¡°Even with an influx of new Delvers, it would take decades, if not more than a century, for Delvers of sufficient power to rise from the new ranks to challenge even a single avatar.¡±

    ¡°I believe that¡¯s a pessimistic outlook. The Phase transition also provided additional tools to empower Delvers and increase their Levels more rapidly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re speaking of the Expansion Delves, the Dungeons, the Labyrinths, and the Raids.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± I said.

    ¡°Are you aware of their entry requirements?¡±

    ¡°I have some insight into them, but I can¡¯t claim to know the individual requirements.¡±

    ¡°Aside from Dungeons, all such ¡®new¡¯ Delves we have discovered will only permit Platinum Delvers to enter. This means that 99% of the world¡¯s Delvers gain no benefit from them.¡±

    I knew that wasn¡¯t strictly true, but there was also no believable reason for me to know a group of Gold Littans had just beaten an Expansion Delve.

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few days,¡± I said. ¡°Such a conclusion is rushed.¡±

    ¡°Still, I find it troubling,¡± he said. ¡°You were uncertain how the phase transition would allow for more Delvers. You believed more Delvers would help to fight against the avatars. Yet, you¡¯re not sure that an avatar can even be killed. You admit that it would be extraordinary if a Level 1 Delver could harm an avatar at all, and you display a disheartening lack of knowledge concerning how quickly new Delvers can become capable of inflicting such harm. Tell me, Master Xor¡¯Drel, was this ferocious speculation truly the basis upon which your party decided to upend the world?¡±

    Ah, fuck.

 192 - Arlo Xorâ€™Drel, Esquire: Ace Attorney

    ¡°Excuse me,¡± I said to a servant who¡¯d paused to listen to the exchange. He was a middle-aged man whose name I¡¯d learned was Eric. He held a tray of chilled drinks that looked delightful. I beckoned him forward, then selected a juicy-looking drink with a skewered melon ball floating at the top. ¡°Thanks, Eric,¡± I said. I took a sip, reveling in the light, crisp flavor. There was a touch of mint to it that paired well. ¡°This is good. What is this?¡±

    Eric¡¯s eyes drifted to Leon, who was frowning at me, then down to the tray. ¡°That would be the virgin casaba cooler, m¡¯lord.¡±

    I took another sip. It really was good.

    ¡°Where ya¡¯ from, Eric?¡±

    ¡°I grew up south of Arsenal, m¡¯lord. I moved to the Ravvenblaq manor twenty years ago, and I¡¯ve lived there since.¡±

    ¡°I went through there once. Didn¡¯t get to spend as much time as I¡¯d like. It¡¯s a pretty diverse area.¡±

    ¡°The city is,¡± he said. ¡°My hometown¡¯s mostly regular Hiwardians. Arsenal is an easy landmark, but it¡¯s fairly far south of it.¡±

    ¡°How far south of Arsenal?¡±

    ¡°Just on the northern side of the mountains,¡± he said. ¡°The area was¨C¡±

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Leon. He wasn¡¯t quite scowling.

    ¡°Feel free to continue, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said.

    ¡°Continue?¡± he asked. ¡°Do you intend to avoid the question?¡±

    ¡°Your questions seemed to have taken the form of a speech,¡± I said, then gestured around with my glass. ¡°You¡¯ve got your audience. Orate to your heart¡¯s content. I¡¯ll wait until you¡¯re done.¡± I pulled the little skewer from my drink and bit the melon off of it. The fruit was lightly carbonated, which was excellent. I plucked another casaba cooler from the tray. ¡°Sorry for keeping you, Eric.¡±

    ¡°Not at all, m¡¯lord,¡± Eric said with a short bow. ¡°Anything you need, I¡¯m honored to serve.¡±

    He shot another look at Leon, then meandered back into the crowd. I¡¯d have to remember to catch that guy later so he could finish his sentence. I¡¯d also tip the hell out of him for his trouble since I¡¯d roped him into my mess. A touch of time to collect myself and reset the momentum of the conversation had been needed, and grabbing a drink was the best I could come up with. Hopefully, it didn¡¯t cause Eric any trouble down the line.

    I looked at Leon expectantly and gestured for him to continue. Lord Heronwyte¡¯s eyes narrowed a fraction.

    ¡°The introduction of seven new Creation Delves injects chaos not just into Hiward, but into the world at large,¡± said Leon. ¡°Hiward has ensured peace across the continent for the better part of a century through economic superiority and strength of arms. Half of our treaties are built upon the exchange of Creation slots. Nations refrain from war out of fear of our intervention or being cut off from our supply of mana chips and magical items.

    ¡°Now, Hiward¡¯s bargaining power has been gutted. Our military advantage is threatened. The rest of the continent will soon be on the precipice of all-out war over these new Creation Delves. These are very real consequences. Certain consequences. Your justification for this chaos is that it might help in the fight against the avatars, and I say that¡¯s not good enough. Even if your theory proves true, it will be of no use when the continent is mired in bloodshed as the avatars strike.¡±

    I had to give it to Lord Heronwyte, he knew how to build up a head of steam. He was impassioned, but measured. He spoke not just to me, but to everyone in the room. He varied his tempo and hammered his inflection on certain words, demanding the attention of his audience.

    How best to respond to this?

    ¡°We¡¯re already at war, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said, speaking softly to cut through the heat of the man¡¯s bluster. ¡°Orexis threatened the entire northern half of the Ravvenblaq Thundry. Orexis killed one of your Thundralkes right in front of me. A Level 21 platinum, skewered on an obelisk as easily as the fruit in this drink.¡± I held up my second cooler, rotating to give everyone a good look. I paused, holding it out to a woman who stood behind me. She accepted it after a moment of hesitation, thankfully. It was hard to look serious while double-fisting.

    ¡°The Duckgriens could not kill Orexis, you¡¯re correct there,¡± I continued. ¡°No offense meant, Matriarch, Patriarch.¡± I nodded to the Duckgrien couple, who¡¯d joined Ealdric to watch the show. The bare skin and fur combo the Level 52 Delvers normally wore had been replaced with more formal wear. Now it was a bare skin and finery combo. They were both still half-naked. Sineh also stood beside them, the first time I¡¯d seen her unglued from Varrin¡¯s side.

    ¡°Fak off,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°We could barely scratch ¡®im. Keep going.¡±

    I gave a small bow in appreciation, then continued. ¡°Orexis isn¡¯t even a full avatar on his own. He¡¯s a bonded pair with his sister, Anesis. Without her, he¡¯s weakened, and she¡¯s out there with him now, along with who knows how many other avatars. If Hiward¡¯s highest-level Delvers can¡¯t beat half of an avatar, then who else is there? No one. None of that is speculation.

    ¡°Hiward is at the pinnacle of Delver power in this world, and your Kingdom barely avoided disaster. What of the nations without such advantages? Will Hiwardian Delvers spread out to defend the entire continent? You can¡¯t. There aren¡¯t enough of you. Orexis destroyed Canotha before Hiward even knew what was happening. A hundred thousand people, dead in one night. Timagrin deserves to be able to defend itself, and their new Creation Delve will give them twenty times more Delvers to do so.

    ¡°You¡¯re also right that it takes time for a Delver to come into their power, just like it takes time to train a soldier. Just like it takes decades for that soldier to become a general. But no one would refuse to train new soldiers because they¡¯re already at war. That idea¡¯s so dumb it couldn¡¯t pour piss out of a boot with full instructions written on the heel.¡±

    A few people exchanged confused looks at that last bit.

    ¡°That¡¯s what they¡¯d say where I¡¯m from, anyway.¡± I cleared my throat ¡°Maybe a low-level Delver can¡¯t harm an avatar directly, but the avatars don¡¯t fight alone. They create divine spawn. A horde of monstrosities surrounds them wherever they go. And now, Orexis stands at the back of an army of Davahns. An army that slaughters everyone it can find. If history is any guide, once the Davahns are done in Timagrin, Hiward is next.

    ¡°We need Delvers with better skills, more passives, and higher levels to fight the avatars. All of that can be gained from the new Delve types. We need more Delvers to cover more ground, put down avatar spawn, and battle the armies that rally behind them. That is made possible by the new Creation Delves.

    ¡°You accuse me of speculation, Lord Heronwyte, but your argument is conjecture and fear-mongering. Your military is just as strong, with the tools to become stronger. Your Delvers are just as numerous, with no need to auction away your Creation slots. You¡¯re the experts on Delving, and now there will be eight times as many Delvers to buy your knowledge and bid on your magical exports. Hiward has everything it had last week, and more.

    ¡°As for the world suddenly igniting into conflict? No one has issued a declaration of war. If anything, the opposite is true. Eschendur and Litta have an armistice. Peace negotiations are underway, and the phase transition hasn¡¯t changed that. The nations of the world have a common enemy to unite against, and more resources for the fight.

    ¡°The status quo will change. It has. Hiward¡¯s monopoly on Delving led the Kingdom to incredible heights, and the Kingdom will need to work to maintain its dominance. But if Hiward is forced to take this fight on its own, the world will crumble around you until the island is surrounded by death in all directions. Then you will be the only ones left for the avatars to butcher. Hiward must fight alongside its allies, and we chose to make those allies stronger. That was the basis of our decision.¡±

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    There was a stretch of silence and I took a sip of my drink to signal I was done. Interrupting a host while they were speaking was a no-no in Hiwardian decorum, but I was still surprised Leon had allowed me to go on for so long.

    Lord Heronwyte had listened to the entire speech with a cool, unbothered expression. I couldn¡¯t tell if he was putting up a front to hide his internal panic over my unexpected expertise in public speaking, or if he had something else in the chamber that he believed would trump my arguments. As proud as I was of my ability to string together a series of coherent sentences in front of an audience, my instincts said it was the latter, especially since he hadn¡¯t made any criminal accusations as of yet. I¡¯d find out soon enough, so I enjoyed my bevvy while he powered up some more bullshit.

    ¡°You cast your cause in such a noble light,¡± said Leon. ¡°Yet such brilliance cannot dispel the shadows of your past, only darken them.¡± He produced a set of documents from his inventory. ¡°You speak confidently of the avatars and what they can do. This makes sense. All documented records of your life are tainted by them.¡± He looked down to the top page of his thin stack. ¡°There is no available information on you, Master Xor¡¯Drel, prior to your entry into the Creation Delve of 120 AC. Why is that?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m an extradimensional traveler from another universe who died in a bicycle accident and was reincarnated within the Delve itself.¡±

    The crowd broke out in hushed chatter. A few people chuckled, and one rotund man guffawed loudly before the woman next to him quieted him with a glare. Leon¡¯s eyes narrowed, then widened slightly. Even within the bounds of Arzia¡¯s magical societies, it was an outlandish story. It would come off as an outrageous lie, but it seemed that Leon had some form of truth detection.

    ¡°You¡­ can¡¯t be serious,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°I am,¡± I said. ¡°I can lie if you prefer. Let¡¯s see, I¡¯d never been to Hiward before, I¡¯d never done anything that would cause Hiward to take note of me, and all records from my homeland are inaccessible.¡± Leon¡¯s head twitched back in confusion. ¡°No, that¡¯s all true as well, in the most technical sense. If you¡¯re going to use a skill to tell when I¡¯m lying, you need to be prepared for the truth.¡±

    Leon glanced back down at his papers, flipping through them. It seemed I¡¯d derailed his questioning.

    [I was not expecting that admission, but I am pleased by the effect.]

    ¡°You¡¯re not mad I spilled the beans?¡±

    [You hid the truth to protect yourself from notice. The entire world has already noticed you, so the deception provides little utility. Either way, I doubt many will believe your claim. Skills that determine veracity can be thwarted, which is what Lord Heronwyte will likely choose to believe.]

    ¡°I am disappointed by your foolishness,¡± said Leon, still shuffling his papers. ¡°Your Creation Delve was marred by an intruder. One Hognay Haskangander.¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± I said.

    ¡°But Mr. Haskagander wasn¡¯t the only unauthorized Delver within the Toxic Grotto,¡± Leon continued. He held up a page. ¡°Central¡¯s records show that you were a stand-in for an Eschen Delver, delayed by the blockade.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been told that¡¯s what they say, sure.¡±

    ¡°But no auction was ever held for that slot,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because Whitebridge is the sole venue for such auctions, and no records for such an auction exist.¡±

    ¡°Could you have lost the records?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°We are very meticulous.¡± He raised an eyebrow, daring me to challenge the claim. I didn¡¯t know shit about it, so I stayed silent. ¡°As such, your entry was never officiated or approved. Thus, your entry was illegal.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t follow,¡± I said. ¡°Central¡¯s records¨Cthe ones I presume you¡¯re holding a copy of right there in your hand¨Csay I had legal access.¡±

    ¡°There is no validating source for these records. No official signed off on these.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying you were in the Creation Delve illegally!¡±

    ¡°No, I mean about the records. You¡¯re not making sense. The records are real, right?¡±

    Leon smoldered as he returned the paper to his pile. ¡°If the proper procedures were not followed, then the entry permit was invalid.¡±

    ¡°Have you taken this up with Central?¡± I asked. ¡°They can probably clear up your confusion.¡±

    ¡°I am not confused, Master Xor¡¯Drel. The matter is under investigation.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, okay. I¡¯m interested to hear what they say. If it helps, at no point did I attempt to subvert Hiward¡¯s entry requirements to the Creation Delve, nor did I participate in any conspiracy to do so.¡±

    Leon¡¯s eyebrow twitched as his truth-seeing ability confirmed my statement. The man apparently fancied himself a private investigator. He was a half-decent squabbler, but he was no Sherlock. Maybe he should have stuck with Intelligence, instead of Charisma.

    ¡°Are those records available to the general public?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± snapped the rotund man in the crowd. He¡¯d overcome his giggles and was now scowling at Leon.

    ¡°Is it a crime to access them without permission?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the man.

    ¡°I obtained these legally,¡± said Leon. ¡°No matter. Hognay Haskagander was an associate of Orexis. Later, you were visited in your home by the Artemix group, another group with connections with Orexis. You then called on Low-Lord ¡®Typhoon¡¯ Demarsus, yet another associate of Orexis.¡±

    ¡°Visited? Artemix broke in and tried to kidnap me. I killed three of them. Guardian Lito and Dancer Myria invited me to tag along to see Typhoon as part of the investigation into the attempted kidnapping.¡±

    ¡°Two of your current party members were discovered with Typhoon. Xim Xor¡¯Drel and Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯d successfully kidnapped them.¡±

    ¡°You then traveled to the Ravvenblaq mountains, where Orexis was in hiding.¡±

    ¡°At Umi-Doo¡¯s request,¡± I said.

    ¡°After Orexis was confronted by Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien, you entered Delve 9998: The Cage, alongside a golem created by Orexis.¡±

    ¡°We were forced through the portal,¡± I said.

    ¡°Therein, you conspired with another avatar, known as Fortune.¡±

    ¡°The Delve Core directed us to Fortune, as an emergency measure to contain Orexis.¡±

    ¡°Some hours later, Orexis¡¯s sister, Anesis, was released from her captivity. The avatar Fortune was responsible for extracting her from the Delve.¡±

    ¡°Close enough,¡± I said. ¡°The guy was a real dick.¡±

    ¡°Throughout this time, your party was still accompanied by the golem created by Orexis.¡± I furrowed my brow, not liking where this was going. ¡°In fact,¡± Leon continued, ¡°to this day, you still work alongside that golem. Etja Nothosis, your party¡¯s mage, is a creature created by Orexis to serve his own ends.¡±

    I tossed my drink aside and stepped forward, coming within a few inches of Leon.

    ¡°Speak of me all you want,¡± I said. ¡°Attacking the character of one of my party members while she is absent is in poor taste.¡±

    ¡°Do you deny it?¡± he asked, half a whisper.

    ¡°Etja is one of Orexis¡¯s victims. She has been repeatedly vetted by Central and is, at this very moment, speaking with your king.¡±

    ¡°Everywhere you go, an avatar appears,¡± said Leon. ¡°You work alongside them. You take their spawn into your party. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were one in here with us. Tell me, what deal did you strike with them? You claim the phase transition is meant to be used against them, but I don¡¯t believe it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re spouting baseless conspiracies.¡±

    ¡°Am I?¡± said Leon. He turned away to face the crowd. ¡°The ring on Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s finger was created by an avatar. The necklace around his neck was created by an avatar. And what Master Xor¡¯Drel will not tell you, is that the phase transition empowers the avatars!¡± He spun on his heel, face dark with anger. ¡°Can you deny it? Can you look these people in the eye and tell them I speak falsely?¡±

    ¡°Where the fuck is this guy getting his information?¡±

    [From what I know of the Heronwyte Matriarch, her information-gathering capabilities are unrivaled. Some of this is contained in the intelligence you have sent along through Varrin, which we have been told is kept confidential, but it is disturbing how much of this was never discussed outside the party.]

    ¡°The avatars grow stronger regardless,¡± I said, ¡°while Delvers stagnate in phase one. It changes the field for both sides, but favors Delvers. That was disclosed in our reports.¡±

    Leon thrust a finger in my direction. ¡°It was divulged only after you¡¯d completed the phase transition,¡± he said. ¡°Your work was already done, and now you scurry to mask your trail!¡±

    [You should hit him now.]

 193 - Judgment

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to hit him.¡±

    [Culturally, it is the strongest way for you to deny his accusations.]

    ¡°Consorting with an avatar isn¡¯t a crime in the books yet, and his own evidence contradicts the shit about the Creation Delve. He hasn¡¯t accused me of anything actionable. Besides, didn¡¯t you say his goal was to get me to hit him?¡±

    [His goal was to distract you. One of Hiward¡¯s definitions for an enemy combatant is ¡°A person who gives aid or conspires to give aid to enemies of the Hiwardian Kingdom with the intent to harm the Kingdom¡¯s people, territories, or interests.¡± Lord Heronwyte¡¯s accusations likely satisfy those requirements.]

    ¡°That¡¯s not part of the Hiwardian criminal code, that¡¯s out of the Laws of Armed Conflict. How does that intersect with the etiquette rules?¡±

    [Your lessons did not cover that scenario. I will ask Riona for clarification.]

    ¡°This man,¡± said Leon, speaking to the crowd, ¡°is no hero! His past is shrouded in secrecy! His very identity is a thinly veiled deceit! He is not from the Third Layer! So far as I can tell, he is not from anywhere!¡±

    ¡°He was distracting me from the bedroom, right? He has to be aware enough to know that didn¡¯t happen, so what¡¯s his endgame?¡±

    [The contents of his message were ¡°Entry confirmed. Parameters: Occupy target 90 minutes after arrival. Methods discussed nonviable. Will make accusation. Reply to change order.¡±]

    ¡°He could be trying to distract me from anything, then. Shit, is he even trying to distract me, or someone else?¡±

    [You are the one he is lambasting.]

    ¡°Yeah, but a lot of people are paying attention to this right now.¡±

    Most of the attendants had found their way to the spectacle Leon and I were making. Patriarch Ravvenblaq remained in his secluded corner, alongside the Duckgriens. Only a handful of people were missing.

    ¡°And what does he have to say in his defense?¡± Leon preached. ¡°Nothing! He stands there, searching for the lie that will best comfort you!¡±

    [Riona is not responding.] That changed my thought process from mitigating Leon¡¯s activities to preparing for an emergency. [I cannot locate her.]

    That skipped me past preparation and right into emergency response.

    ¡°Grotto, where¡¯s the rest of the party? What about the Eschen delegation?¡±

    I checked my interface, seeing that everyone in the party had full health.

    [All of them entered the lounge to speak with the king over the last thirty minutes.]

    ¡°Can you confirm they¡¯re in there?¡±

    [The room is still blanketed by the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s privacy skills. The Guard¡¯s messages indicate the conversation is ongoing.]

    I pulled on my connection to the party through my auras.

    They weren¡¯t in the Closet.

    ¡°Breach the wards. Tell me what¡¯s in there.¡±

    I took off toward Patriarch Ravvenblaq, but Leon stepped into my path.

    ¡°You can¡¯t run from this,¡± said Leon. ¡°We¡¯ve seen through you, and now judgment is co¨C¡± Leon disappeared. There were gasps and a few cries of shock.

    [I took the liberty of putting him in time out.]

    I took a fraction of a second to process the shitstorm this was about to kick up, then kept moving.

    ¡°Fuck me. Was it that easy to teleport him against his will?¡±

    [He was unprepared and his Dimensional resistance is surprisingly low. Ah, the King¡¯s Guard is unhappy.]

    ¡°I bet.¡±

    The crowd parted for me in a rush. Ealdric Senior was already standing when I made it close.

    ¡°That did not seem wise, Arlo,¡± said Patriarch Ravvenblaq. ¡°As entertaining as it was.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for the impertinence, Patriarchs, Matriarch,¡± I nodded to Ealdric, Bobret, and Cera in turn. ¡°Something has removed my party members from the Closet, and they were last seen in the lounge with the king.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Sineh. ¡°Someone took Varrin?¡±

    ¡°Calm, child,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°Beside tha¡¯ king¡¯s as safe as safe can be. Prob¡¯ly a menace messin¡¯ with Arlo¡¯s ears an¡¯ eyes.¡±

    ¡°It merits investigation,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Come.¡± The man turned and walked serenely toward the lounge. People hurried to get out of our way until we made it to the King¡¯s Guard at the end of the hall. One of them stood blocking the corridor.

    ¡°Patriarch Ravvenblaq,¡± the Guard said in greeting. He was in full plate, but a pair of hard, brown eyes were visible through the visor. He didn¡¯t bow, since bowing was a moment of vulnerability the Guard couldn¡¯t afford while actively guarding the king. ¡°The king has asked not to be disturbed, m¡¯lord.¡±

    ¡°Where is Lord Director Bluewren?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°He is still investigating the irregularity in Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s bedroom, m¡¯lord.¡±

    [The lounge is empty,] Grotto thought, looping my legendary entourage into the psychic communication. [It is also devoid of all Dimensional mana.]

    Ealdric peered down the hall at the door to the lounge, then looked at Cera Duckgrien. The matriarch stood as still as a statue, and Ealdric let out the slightest sigh.

    ¡°Challenge: Cliffside Arena,¡± said Ealdric. The guard blinked.

    ¡°M¡¯lord, I¨C¡± the guard started, but stopped when Ealdric met the man¡¯s eyes. The Patriarch¡¯s face was impassive, but a wave of foreboding pressure rolled off of him. The Guard took a small step back. ¡°Wait, m¡¯lord, I¨C¡±

    The man¡¯s head fell from his shoulders, along with the heads of every other King¡¯s Guard in the hall. The corpses thudded to the ground. None of them had been below Level 20, and I hadn¡¯t seen Ealdric move.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    A woman behind me screamed.

    Ealdric stepped over the corpse, and Patriarch Duckgrien¡¯s teeth ground with enough force that I could see tremors in the growing pools of blood. Matriarch Duckgrien spat on the heavily armored body as we went.

    ¡°Might be dangerous ta¡¯ leave yer spit layin¡¯ around,¡± said Bobret.

    The armored¨Cand very decapitated¨CGuard stirred, reaching out for his severed head.

    ¡°Ye think it was spit?¡± Cera replied, raising an eyebrow at her husband.

    The not-quite-dead man¡¯s armor began to sizzle where the Matriarch had spat on it. The Guard reached around toward his back, spasming and rolling as fumes spewed off him. Finally, he went still, never to move again. High Fortitude was no fucking joke.

    ¡°Fair ¡®nuff,¡± said Bobret.

    Ealdric stopped at the door, then looked at Cera Duckgrien again. Something passed silently between them, and then the door collapsed into a thousand, perfectly sliced pieces.

    We looked into the empty lounge, and every surface flared with glowing runes. An incredible gust of wind formed at our backs, flowing into the room and threatening to suck us in along with it. Bobret grabbed both Sineh and me by the arm, holding us steady.

    ¡°How the fuck?¡± I said.

    [That room is drawing in an incredible amount of Dimensional mana from the rest of the mansion. I am extracting you.]

    The world stuttered, but I didn¡¯t go anywhere. A flaming sphere had formed around the five of us.

    ¡°Sorry lad,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°Ye won¡¯t be goin'' anywhere til we cop on to what¡¯s occurrin¡¯.¡±

    On the bright side, Cera¡¯s shield blocked the wind.

    ¡°What¡¯s it doing, Cera?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°Teleportin¡¯ ev¡¯rythin¡¯,¡± she said.

    ¡°To where?¡±

    ¡°Fak if I know,¡± she said. ¡°I can read tha runes, gimme a few seconds.¡±

    A few seconds? There were thousands of runes, covering every surface. The ceiling had runes, the furniture had runes, the damn liquor bottles at the bar had runes. They were carved right into the glass!

    ¡°Three places,¡± said Cera. ¡°Tha bottom o¡¯ tha sea, the heart of a fakkin¡¯ volcano, and another pocket realm like this one.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to go to any of those places.

    ¡°How do we know which?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°Tis random without a keyword,¡± she answered. ¡°Before ye ask, I don¡¯ know what it is.¡±

    ¡°Aye, well,¡± Patriarch Bobret began, ¡°we prob¡¯ly should go in an¡¯ save the king.¡±

    A chair flew down the hall and smashed into Cera¡¯s shield. It shattered into scorched kindling that got sucked into the lounge and disappeared. Somehow, everything already inside the lounge was staying put. Probably because it was all covered in fucking runes.

    [The mana draw is accelerating. The pull will continue to increase until it consumes the mansion.]

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop it?¡±

    [We can destroy the runes.]

    ¡°Not until after we go through,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Three of us, three potential locations.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve not done anythin¡¯ like this in ages,¡± said Bobret.

    ¡°That¡¯s not how random works,¡± said Cera.

    ¡°We know, Cera,¡± said Bobret. ¡°We¡¯re not daft. It is poetic, though.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Your Eschengal portal cannot open until this evening, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°The only other exit available spits us out in the Littan fortress west of the Eschen Gap.¡±

    Ealdric looked to Cera.

    ¡°We should bring ¡®im with us,¡± said Cera. ¡°An¡¯ keep tha people here contained. Any one ah them could be a dissident or imposter.¡±

    ¡°I have marked them,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°If any seek to hide, I will find them.¡± There was a certainty to that statement that gave me chills. ¡°I have no reason to suspect Arlo had a hand in this, and I would prefer not to force anyone else through this portal.¡±

    ¡°As much as I¡¯d prefer not to take a magma bath,¡± I said, ¡°the more people going through the portal, the better chance there is that one of us ends up where everyone else was taken.¡±

    ¡°Could ye survive the heart of a volcano, lad?¡± asked Bobret.

    ¡°My Fortitude is Level 52 and I can teleport to a range of several miles without line of sight. I¡¯d get crispy, but I¡¯d be fine.¡± Although, my beard wouldn¡¯t be.

    ¡°Ye should diversify yer stats more,¡± said Bobret. ¡°That¡¯s too high for Level 12.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Whoever set this up was able to replace an entire platoon of King¡¯s Guard with imposters and then abducted a Zenithar, the king¨Cwho is a Level 30 platinum¨Cand four of your party members. This is not a challenge you can face, Arlo.¡±

    ¡°Now that ye say it like that, is it one we can face?¡± asked Bobret.

    ¡°I do not know,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°But I will find out.¡±

    Light pulsed across Ealdric¡¯s body. An instant later, he was covered head to toe in black and silver armor. Every inch of it was ornately engraved, and when I focused on the weaves within, they were bursting at the seams with mana. They were so potent, reality seemed to bend and twist around the enchantments.

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to Level 21!

    A cloak unfurled at Ealdric¡¯s back, appearing tattered and worn, but a closer look showed it to be made of a dark, oily liquid. Tears and holes continually ran down its length, then sealed themselves back up.

    ¡°Bah, fak it,¡± said Bobret.

    Both he and Cera pulsed with light and emerged wearing their fur armor. Cera¡¯s golden circlet hovered over her head, and Bobret¡¯s body began to spark with electricity. The static made my hair stand on end.

    ¡°Cera, if you please,¡± said Ealdric. She frowned but pulled a small marble from her inventory and handed it to me. ¡°That¡¯s an emergency portal back to Foundation,¡± Ealdric explained. I looked down at the marble, seeing hundreds of runes suspended within the glass. ¡°It will last for five minutes. Make sure everyone within this dimensional space is evacuated as soon as we leave.¡± He locked eyes with me. ¡°Leon included.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got strong evidence he was involved with this,¡± I said.

    ¡°Let Guardian Lito and Dancer Myria handle him,¡± said Ealdric, then considered. ¡°I know that I cannot order you to do so through the power of my office, but consider it a diplomatic gesture of goodwill.¡± Left unspoken was that he could order me to do so through the power of kicking my ass. Nice of him to leave that part out.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll release him into Hiwardian custody alive.¡±

    Ealdric¡¯s brow furrowed at the wording, but he didn¡¯t argue.

    ¡°I¡¯ll disable tha runes as we pass through,¡± Cera said, then turned to me. ¡°Better if ye backed up a bit.¡±

    I looked between the trio, but Cera wasn¡¯t willing to wait. She waved a hand, and the flaming sphere shot away from the lounge with both me and Sineh inside. Patriarch Ravvenblaq¡¯s body blurred, and he disappeared, followed by a streak of light as Bobret went in behind him. Cera created a ball of blue-white light that emitted an oppressive heat, causing the wall panels around her to begin smoking. She flew into the lounge, leaving the ball of deadly flame behind, and blinked away.

    The blazing sphere floated into the lounge a second later. Its surface rippled, and beams of scorching heat blasted out, carving through the walls and furniture. Hundreds of runes were destroyed as the ball spent its energy, disrupting the complex mana weave. The gale of wind died soon after.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I swore, then looked at Sineh. Her face was pale as she stared into the smoldering remains of the lounge. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah, me either.¡± I ran my hands through my hair. ¡°Let¡¯s get people out of here.¡±

    I turned and began stepping around the corpses of the imposter King¡¯s Guard.

    ¡°Grotto, do we know the end destination for the teleport trap in my bedroom?¡±

    [We do not. Do you plan on activating it in a foolhardy attempt to follow after the demigod-tier Delvers who just told you to remain behind?]

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    [I will begin a comparative analysis between the runes in the lounge and the runes in the bedroom. I may be able to determine whether the sigil leads to a matching location.]

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to argue against me going?¡±

    A moment of silence passed.

    [I promised that their vandalism would be met with bloodshed. For their crimes against the party, I will imprison them in a cage of blades. I will batter their minds with the terror of insanity until they throw themselves upon its razor walls. Our transgressors will strip the flesh from their own bones in their futile attempts to flee, and I will allow them to perish only once I am satisfied.]

    There was none of Grotto¡¯s typical borderline mania. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if the Etja-clone golems were already constructing the prison.

    Lito and Myria stood over the first corpse at the end of the hall with weapons out, their presence an invisible barrier keeping the crowd of Hiwardians behind them from coming closer. They watched me carefully, bodies coiled to spring into action. I recognized the look, but I¡¯d never been on the receiving end of it.

    Myria held up a hand, and I halted. ¡°Care to tell us what¡¯s happening, Arlo?¡±

 194 - When to Hit Your Guests, Part II

    I paused a few feet away from Lito and Myria and gestured for Sineh to keep moving. She shot me a worried look, then walked forward to slip between the pair.

    ¡°A saboteur wove an advanced teleportation array into the lounge,¡± I said. ¡°It appears that the king, the Eschen delegation, and the rest of my party were inside when it activated.¡±

    This stirred up some chatter in the crowd, and I wondered whether I should have been more circumspect. Then again, no one had told me to keep quiet, and making the danger clear would hopefully encourage everyone else to get out of my Closet.

    I gestured at the bodies. ¡°Patriarch Ravvenblaq issued a challenge phrase to the Guard, which they apparently failed. Then, their heads fell off. Ealdric said the whole platoon had been compromised, so I assume he was responsible for the beheadings, but I don¡¯t know how. After that, Ealdric, Cera, and Bobret went through the portal to recover the king. Matriarch Duckgrien destroyed the array afterward.¡±

    ¡°Did you have anything to do with the array?¡± asked Myria. Given the situation, it was a reasonable question. It still stung to be suspected by old allies.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how it got there.¡±

    Lito grunted. ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth.¡± Myria relaxed a fraction.

    ¡°Did any of our fearless founders leave instructions?¡± she asked.

    ¡°They said to get everyone out of the Closet.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    Myria scowled. ¡°Typical.¡±

    ¡°Reckless,¡± Lito added. ¡°How are we leaving?¡±

    I held up the marble ¡°Emergency portal to Foundation.¡±

    Lito held out his hand and I passed him the small glass sphere. He held it up to the light and studied the runes within. Myria leaned in to try and get a good look as well.

    ¡°What tier is that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Dunno,¡± he said. ¡°Higher than seven.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know the tiers went higher than seven.¡±

    ¡°Neither did I.¡±

    Myria bit her lip. ¡°How much do you think that¡¯s worth?¡±

    Lito closed his fist around the marble. ¡°Right now, it¡¯s worth one stable portal back to Foundation for a gaggle of nobles.¡± He turned to the crowd and started laying out the situation.

    ¡°What about the rest of the King¡¯s Guard?¡± I asked Myria. ¡°There were twenty more of them in here.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°All their heads fell off at the same time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ terrifying.¡±

    Her composure slipped as she nodded. Her eyes went vacant, and she reached up, fingers tracing her throat. ¡°There were four of them in the hall with us outside your bedroom. I thought¨C I thought we were next, ya¡¯ know?¡± She shuddered. ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with the Patriarch.¡±

    I absorbed that life advice while imagining myself grabbing my head, trying to make sure an invisible force didn¡¯t separate it from my body.

    ¡°What about the Lord Director?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± she said. ¡°He rushed off without saying anything. That was before the mass decapitations.¡±

    ¡°So there may be a rogue Level 26 in here?¡±

    ¡°Gods, I hope not,¡± she said. ¡°Knowing Aprogar¨Cif it really was Aprogar¨CI don¡¯t think Ealdric could kill him from a distance with one move. The man¡¯s as paranoid as it gets.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± I said, mentally nudging Grotto to try and locate the man. ¡°How do you want to handle Leon? We know he was working up a distraction with his public interrogation.¡±

    ¡°Leon Heronwyte?¡± she said. ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°We have him in timeout. Somewhere. Possibly in a very sharp cage.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Send me the evidence you¡¯ve got.¡± She paused before speaking again, furrowing her brow and producing her slate. ¡°That was fast.¡±

    [I have sent copies of Leon¡¯s attempted communications to your slate. He has been requesting extraction every sixty seconds since being contained.]

    Myria finished reading through the text, then started scanning the crowd. ¡°We¡¯ll need to talk to that servant as well.¡±

    There was a quick burst of Dimensional mana, and the Heronwyte servant appeared next to Myria. The mundane man stumbled, fell, and then rolled onto his side to begin vomiting. His mundane constitution was ill-prepared for Grotto¡¯s unexpected teleportation.

    Myria took the servant¡¯s sudden appearance in stride, waited for him to finish emptying his stomach, then pulled a black length of rope from her inventory and tossed it at him. The cord wrapped itself around him like a snake, binding him, then raised him back to his feet.

    ¡°Hello,¡± said Myria. She pulled out a cloth and wiped the mess from around the man¡¯s mouth. ¡°I¡¯m Dancer Myria of the Hiwardian Central Delver Authority. You¡¯re being taken into custody as part of an investigation concerning several crimes that have been committed on Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s property.¡±

    ¡°C-crimes?¡± the man asked, wide-eyed. ¡°What¨C¡± he gulped. ¡°What sort of crimes?¡±

    ¡°Sabotage, kidnapping, and treason,¡± she said. ¡°More may be coming. I¡¯ll let you know. For now, we¡¯re heading back to Hiward where you¡¯ll be interviewed.¡±

    The man had gone perfectly still, as though Mria were a predator he hoped he could avoid by staying motionless. Myria sent the cloth back into her inventory, then placed a hand on the servant¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°As a servant of Lord Leon Heronwyte, any actions you were compelled to take under his direction will be attributed to him, not you,¡± she said. Her tone was soft and sympathetic. ¡°Sometimes Delvers abuse their powers and authority. In my experience, most people in your situation are never charged with anything. You¡¯ll also have representation from the Steward¡¯s Coalition, so try not to worry for now.¡±

    The man nodded, but he still looked terrified. Myria led him off to one side, the rope slackening enough for him to shuffle, and spoke with him some more.

    While Myria spent a few minutes calming the man, Grotto sent me some private psychic messages. [The Lord Director looped back around to your bedroom and activated the teleport weave.]

    ¡°That¡¯s good evidence it goes somewhere meaningful.¡±

    [Indeed. He left the weave intact when he went through, however, which makes me apprehensive. If he did not wish to be followed, there are many ways he could have defaced the runes after passing through.]

    ¡°You think he might be trying to manipulate us into intentionally activating a trap we already knew about? A trap that uses another trap as bait? Is there a word for that?¡±

    [Yes, it is called a trap. Alternatively, he may have become sloppy in his eagerness to escape. He was bleeding quite profusely.]

    By the time Myria finished up with the man he looked much better. The pair of us had to wait on Lito to do a headcount, making sure no one else was missing or hiding out.

    ¡°Those rules are fairly forgiving,¡± I said once Myria returned.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know about servant¡¯s rights?¡± she asked. ¡°We¡¯re not even allowed to use Active Skills on mundane people unless they¡¯re a danger to others.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve mostly been concerned with laws that affect me and my party members. I hadn¡¯t planned on hiring anyone to wait on me.¡±

    ¡°I suppose Majordomo is an exception.¡± She gave me a conspiratorial look. ¡°Lito told me he¡¯s not a ¡®traditional¡¯ butler.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said.

    I¡¯d never come clean with Lito about Grotto¡¯s true identity, and Majordomo was, in essence, a double-feint. Still, I wondered how much the Guardian knew that he didn¡¯t want me to know that he knew. Probably a lot.

    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Did you pick up anything suspicious about the King¡¯s Guard?¡± Myria asked.

    [Their communications gave me no reason to suspect them,] Grotto answered. [I am sending a log of their messages.]

    Myria¡¯s eyebrows went up as she watched the information start pouring in.

    ¡°I might have trouble explaining how you got this,¡± she said.

    ¡°Do you know how we got that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Which is why I won¡¯t be able to explain it.¡± She tucked the slate away to review later, avoiding any further discussion of the matter.

    Lito had the Hiwardians arranged in a single-file line to move quickly through the portal once it opened, including the group of Ravvenblaq manor staff. Several nobles looked unhappy at having been corralled like a group of kindergarteners, but their desire to leave trumped their pride.

    ¡°Ready to go,¡± said Lito, walking back to us. ¡°We just need to grab Leon. Otherwise, the guests are accounted for. We aren¡¯t missing anyone who wasn¡¯t already missing.¡±

    ¡°How do you want to handle Leon?¡±

    ¡°Depends on how he wants to be handled,¡± said Lito.

    [He has taken the time to equip himself for combat. He has also refused my requests for him to disarm.]

    I hadn¡¯t forgotten that Lord Heronwyte was a Level 15 gold, and not some hapless meddling noble without any real combat experience. Lito went over Lord Heronwyte¡¯s known abilities, and we formulated a simple pacification plan.

    Myria stayed behind to keep order with the agitated guests, while Grotto teleported me and Lito to Leon. Lito insisted that we needed to give the man the option to come peacefully. Sadly, that meant we couldn¡¯t come in guns blazing.

    Lord Heronwyte was not in a cage of blades. He was in an empty cubic room surrounded on all sides by a portal barrier, like the one that contained the Pocket Delve. He was dressed in light armor¨Cgambeson with Madrin mail over top¨Cand a golden barbute protected his head. He held a pair of shortswords and dropped into a combat stance the moment we appeared.

    ¡°Lord Heronwyte,¡± said Lito. ¡°I¡¯m Guardian Lito from Central. I¡¯ve got questions for you, so you¡¯re coming with me back to Hiward one way or another.¡± Lito¡¯s presentation was a bit more brusque than Myria¡¯s.

    Leon looked between the two of us, sizing us up.

    ¡°And what of Master Xor¡¯Drel?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What about him?¡± said Lito.

    Leon pointed a sword at me. ¡°He has imprisoned me unjustly!¡±

    ¡°You can file a complaint. Put your weapons and armor away and agree to submit to a control effect.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Leon. ¡°You wish to treat me like a criminal?¡±

    ¡°That is what¡¯s happening, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± said Leon. ¡°I have committed no crimes.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ve got nothing to worry about,¡± said Lito. His tone was bored, like he¡¯d had this talk a hundred times before. ¡°But refusing a lawful order from an agent of Central is a crime. So, put your weapons and armor away and agree to submit to a control effect.¡±

    Leon¡¯s sword dropped, and he stood up from his crouch.

    ¡°This is absurd,¡± said Leon. ¡°I have exposed Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s wrongdoings, and I am the one being treated this way?¡±

    Lito scratched his jaw. ¡°What wrongdoings have you exposed?¡±

    ¡°He collaborates with enemies of the Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°And what is your evidence?¡±

    ¡°My evidence?¡± said Leon. ¡°You should¨C You should already have it. It should have been delivered to the King¡¯s Guard shortly after this devil confined me here!¡±

    Lito grunted. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t enough?¡± said Leon. ¡°I would think the contents of Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s bedroom should more than suffice, but fine. I have documents here.¡±

    One of Leon¡¯s shortswords disappeared, replaced with a scroll case. He held it out to Lito, who looked at the case, then at Leon¡¯s remaining blade. Leon scoffed and dismissed his second sword, then tossed the case to Lito.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t as though I could not resummon it at a moment¡¯s notice,¡± Leon grumbled.

    Lito caught the case and examined it closely for a long moment. He popped the end open and retrieved the rolled up set of documents within. He unfurled the first paper, three feet in length, and his eyes darted back and forth as he read through its contents. He cleared his throat before moving to the next. There were three in total, nine feet of text. He made it through in a couple of minutes.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Lito, then waved me over. I moved closer and he handed me the first document. It was handwritten in a neat, flamboyant script. I became increasingly confused as I read.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART ONE

    Ah, like morning dew, our thoughts are but transient things, evaporating in the sun¡¯s radiation. But such moisture is never gone, merely displaced by the heat burning in the sky. One can always find that which has been dispelled so, with careful thought and study. To pluck each molecule from the air and reassemble those little droplets, to see the shape of the grass that wetness once touched! Dear sir, you may find that my musings lack the profundity of your intellectual suitors, but know that I am more than a winded librarian, greater than a head stuffed full of books and words, a mind, vast, endless, empty, and waiting. Dear sir, I take no pride in saying that¡­

    The scroll continued on like that for its full length. It was a single, unbroken paragraph of opaque ramblings. Lito handed me the second page.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART TWO

    A note, containing a poem, containing a thought, containing a word, containing a letter, containing ink, held in a quill, belonging to a bird, long dead, may she rest in peace.

    Hello.

    Welcome to Hell.

    You have been here your entire life.

    Eating.

    It is endless.

    You must injure and kill and consume.

    Hunger.

    Will never leave.

    Death will march to your mouth eternal.

    Sleeping.

    Will never rest.

    Your eyes will close but you¡¯ll stay awake.

    Wanting.

    It never ends.

    You are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming¡­

    The rest of the page was filled with hundreds of repetitions of the poem¡¯s final sentence. Lito handed me the third page but kept his eyes on Leon.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART THREE

    Temptation

    Oppression

    Obsession

    Infestation

    Possession

    WE ARE SEEKING GRACE TO BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT

    Deliverance

    Two to three people pray over the afflicted person; only one is the leader in prayer while the others are interceding.

    Take authority over any spirits that may be present.

    IN THE NAME OF OUR GOD I BIND ALL POWERS AND FORCES IN THE AIR, IN THE GROUND, IN THE WATER, IN THE UNDERGROUND, IN THE NETHERWORLD, IN NATURE AND IN FIRE.

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    Renounce all areas of bondage.

    If the afflicted person refuses to renounce, place in a sealed room with no food or water for 8 hours. Encourage the afflicted to expel any and all waste in a manner where it can be inspected by the presiding pastor.

    Repeat steps one through twenty-nine.

    Pray for deliverance.

    BY THE POWER OF BLOOD

    I BIND YOU

    YOUR EVIL SPIRITS

    DEMONIC FORCES

    PRINCIPALITIES

    ATTRIBUTES

    ASPECTS

    CLUSTERS

    ENDOWMENTS

    THRONES

    KINGS

    PRINCES

    TERRORS

    DEMONIC ASSIGNMENTS

    FUNCTIONS OF DESTRUCTION

    ¡­

    The final list kept going, growing increasingly unhinged as it went.

    ¡°What do you, uh, what do you make of this?¡± I asked Lito.

    ¡°You see?¡± said Leon. His sword was back out and pointing at me. ¡°He should be the one taken into custody!¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Lito. ¡°Lord Heronwyte, when¡¯s the last time you had a full Dispel and Cleanse performed?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± asked Leon. ¡°Are you suggesting that I am being influenced?¡±

    ¡°These documents don¡¯t even mention Master Xor¡¯Drel.¡±

    Leon¡¯s eyes narrowed, barely visible through the barbute. Lito turned the first page around and held it up. Leon leaned in, reading the text from a distance. His scowl was replaced by a moment of confusion, then he let out a whine which quickly transitioned to a growl.

    He dashed forward, blade thrusting toward my throat.

    I brought up Gracorvus to block, intercepting the strike and deflecting the sword. Leon simultaneously used his second weapon to strike at my thigh, but I sidestepped away, the tip of the blade missing its mark by a hair. I felt a social attack hit me while I dealt with the strikes.

    You have resisted Fear!

    I activated Elemental Barrier, shaping it to avoid Lito and choosing the Sonic damage type. The air around me thrummed with energy as a constant blast of pressure began rocking Leon. The man flew away from me and crashed to the ground, blood spraying from his nose as the Sonic damage assaulted his sinuses. I followed up with Gravity Anchor, and Leon slid across the ground back toward me, flailing with his swords. His whole body shook violently as the Sonic attack tried to pummel him away while Gravity Anchor drew him closer.

    Leon tried to stand but failed miserably while in the throes of the oppositional forces. He struck out at my ankles from the ground, but I deflected the clumsy attack with my shield. His second blade was intercepted by a blazing chain as Lito entered the fray. Lito¡¯s hammer split into molten fetters, a half dozen lengths that grappled Leon¡¯s limbs, blackening the armor beneath. Leon screamed as the heat began to sear his skin. Blood dripped from his eyes as the Sonic damage did its work, and I pressed my boot to his chest to keep him down.

    Lito gave me a signal, and I dropped the skills.

    Leon gnashed his teeth, eyes bloodshot and skin flushed, jerking his body violently to try and tear free of the chains. He was unsuccessful. The man was absolutely livid and continued to thrash despite it only causing the chains to tighten further.

    ¡°Is he¡­ Berserk right now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Looks like it,¡± said Lito.

    ¡°Does he even use Berserk?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°This whole situation is fucking weird.¡±

    Lito took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. ¡°Yyyep.¡±

 195 - The Chapter in Which the Combined Skills of Both Myself and My Bonded Familiar are Useless

    It turned out Lito had his own dream hammer. That is, a hammer that sent people to dreamland by force. It was a rubber mallet called Gorgeous, because of how stunning it was. One might even call it a knock-out.

    It thumped people unconscious without killing them.

    It was a three-hit combo, dealt no damage, had to be strikes made against the head, it was pretty useless for combat. But boy howdy, did it shut Berserker Leon right the hell up.

    Once we got Leon back to the Pocket mansion, Myria administered a sedative that would keep the man down without provoking any cranial swelling. That would have been an atrocious idea, medically speaking, if the man¡¯s brain had been powered off by actual head trauma beforehand, rather than magic. Of course, Lito¡¯s wallops had been enthusiastic enough that I questioned his assurances the hammer didn¡¯t deal damage. He was the expert, so I left him to his business. Either way, Leon was dealt with and now he was someone else¡¯s problem.

    Lito had some theories for why the feisty Lord Heronwyte mistook the deranged writings he¡¯d presented for devastating evidence of my guilt. Mind fuckery, essentially. He didn¡¯t take much time to explain, now that everything was wrapped up for them to leave. He and Myria popped the emergency portal, and they ushered the Hiwardians through, making a hasty and efficient exit. Myria took up the rear and paused before crossing over, making sure I didn¡¯t want to head out with them.

    ¡°No offense,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯m not convinced Hiward is particularly safe for me at the moment. I also need to do some house cleaning to make sure there are no more nasty surprises hiding out in here.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Myria. She bit her lip, still hesitating to go. ¡°Look, I know you¡¯re worried. There¡¯s three extremely powerful people out there working to get your party members back, and more are probably on the way as we speak. No one¡¯s going to sit back while the king¡¯s missing.¡±

    ¡°I have no doubt Hiward¡¯s best will turn out for the king,¡± I said. ¡°As for everyone else¡­¡± I shrugged, leaving the sentence unfinished.

    ¡°Just be careful,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything rash.¡±

    ¡°Go take care of your people, Myria,¡± I said. She frowned at my response but nodded and left. The portal sputtered and closed not long after. The Closet that had been so full just an hour before, was back down to me and Grotto.

    I leaned back against a wall in the lounge hallway, staring at the bloodstains. Lito and Myria had taken the bodies as part of the investigation, to Grotto¡¯s silent dismay. My familiar hadn¡¯t let the opportunity go to waste completely, though. A couple of the corpses had been missing their weapons, and the Guard who¡¯d nearly survived a decapitation had been holding a fancy shield that was nowhere to be found.

    A trinket here, a potion there, the sorts of things that might get misplaced while making a quick retreat.

    The blood was in front of me, but I wasn¡¯t really staring at anything in particular. My vision blurred as I drifted through half-formed plans for assaulting a mystery foe. Myria was right. It would be rash to try and pursue someone who could capture¨Carguably¨Cthe most important man in the world. Someone who could do it under the noses of three of the oldest and highest-level Delvers on the planet. Someone who¡¯d evaded all the surveillance both Grotto and I could bring to bear, and who¡¯d infiltrated the King¡¯s Guard at the highest level.

    It was that last part I found myself fixating on. The enemy had succeeded because of the King¡¯s Guard, who¡¯d been having one fucking hell of an opposite day.

    A squad from the Guard spent 24 hours combing the Closet before the king arrived, halfway pretending to be servants. Did that give them the time and access needed to make such a massive weave in the lounge? I didn¡¯t think so, but a lot of the furnishings had been brought in from outside. Did they have access to the Ravvenblaq¡¯s furniture beforehand? That seemed more likely.

    What I knew for sure was that they were given free rein to move as they pleased, establish security points, and create blindspots in Grotto¡¯s monitoring. They were in charge of vetting guests and ensuring no dangerous magical items were brought inside. Inventory inspections were not unusual where the king was involved.

    Self-defense was a big part of Hiwardian culture, so a Hiwardian might resist if someone tried to strip them of all combat options, even as a condition to see the king. Most Delvers didn¡¯t need a sharp piece of metal to wreak havoc, anyway, and weapons and armor could be contained with a proper beatdown. However, a Hiwardian would have a much harder time justifying a device capable of remote monitoring and limited incursion capabilities. The King¡¯s Guard should have been on the lookout for things like a fucking divination beacon, for example.

    We didn¡¯t think for a second the King¡¯s Guard would be on our side, but we took it for granted they¡¯d be on the king¡¯s side. It worked into our security plan, and it blew up right in our faces.

    Leon hadn¡¯t been a part of the King¡¯s Guard, but he¡¯d probably been hit by some sort of mind-affecting ability. That could have been done well ahead of time. Suggestion plus Mesmerize, maybe. The main hole in that theory was the Berserk status that occurred once Lito pointed out the inconsistencies in Leon¡¯s beliefs. There were a lot of potential explanations for that, though. A unique Passive Skill, a conditional item trigger, a delayed potion effect, to name a few. Leon wasn¡¯t directly tied to the imposter Guard, but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t working for them indirectly, voluntarily or not.

    The imposter King¡¯s Guard had been the enemy¡¯s main advantage in the Closet, and the imposter King¡¯s Guard was dead. All of them except for Aprogar Bluewren, or whoever it was pretending to be the Lord Director.

    That made Aprogar the only remaining threat that we knew of. He¡¯d been injured, and he was on the run. It sounded like a tasty opportunity to chase the man down, but it also sounded like a setup. Aprogar had moved to a secondary location, where he may have regrouped with backup, healed, and prepared to ambush any pursuers. Then again, the teleport sigil might lead to the middle of the Less-Than-Habitable Forest, and Aprogar just plain flew away and fucked off into hiding.

    I didn¡¯t know enough to say that the teleport weave behind my wardrobe would lead to my missing party members. I didn¡¯t know enough to say that taking that teleport would lead to anything good, whatsoever. In fact, I did know enough to say that the chances of it resulting in certain death were sufficient for reasonable minds to consider it a very stupid thing to do.

    But yeah. I was going to take that teleport.

    I wasn¡¯t about to rush in while wearing my suit, though. It already got ruffled enough during my dust-up with Leon, so I stripped down and started to armor up. I had to do it the old-fashioned way since I didn¡¯t have a convenient CLOTHES BEAM that allowed me to equip my full armor set in a flash. I added figuring out how Ealdric and crew did that to the List. The answer was probably money.

    While I worked on that, Grotto worked on some other things.

    [The golems are animated, but still technically objects. They can be stored and retrieved through inventory. I need to be present to command the constructs, but it is an additional combat option.]

    ¡°Are you planning on coming?¡±

    [I will not sit idle and wait for your terminal recklessness to end my life through our Shared Fate.]

    ¡°So, rather than dying in the comfort of the Pocket Delve, you¡¯d rather die alongside me, with your boots on?¡±

    [I would rather die with blood on my tentacles.]

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m happy to have you. Here¡¯s an idea. I can reset my inventory home point to wherever we land. That way, if they kill us, they¡¯ll get buried under a mountain of shit.¡±

    [Why do you continue to propose this idea? Do you truly believe a high-level Delver can be killed by having several tons'' worth of random items fall upon their head?]

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°If they¡¯re already weakened from their epic duel with the mighty Arlotto, then maybe. It also depends on how compressed the space is. If it¡¯s a tiny pocket dimension, then it¡¯d be crazy strong.¡±

    [If you wish to design a corpse explosion trap, there are better methods.]

    ¡°Do tell.¡±

    [I would rather not give you any motivation to keel over at the first sign of trouble.]

    ¡°You know, I can¡¯t help but think that Nuralie would be much better equipped to plan a rescue. She could make all sorts of crazy shit in preparation.¡±

    [Yes, our strengths lie in other areas, such as preparing an appropriate killing field prior to our enemy¡¯s arrival.]

    ¡°Hmm. Yeah, I think that¡¯s more your thing. I¡¯m about making ¡®wherever the party is¡¯ an appropriate killing field.¡±

    [They are synergistic.]

    I finished up with my armor, made sure the boa was well secured, and took a look at my vital stats.

    Health: 1898/1898

    HP Regen: 1282

    Stamina: 520/520

    SP Regen: 104

    Mana: 400/500 (-100 Reserved)

    MP Regen: 300 (+100 from Ambient Absorption)

    It was the first time I¡¯d taken a good look since getting Somncres back. My Fortitude and its first evolution gave me a base health regen of 378. I got another 52 from Who Needs a Cleric, and since Auradilato made me my own ally for auras and aura buffs, my Heavy Armor evolution, Standard Bearer, slapped a 21% bonus onto that. Both Somncres and my Cuirass of the Descent added another 100 each, taking me to 641. Then that number was doubled by my ring. I could go from 1 HP to full health in under ninety minutes.

    Stamina was less impressive, but it was still twice what Fortitude would grant normally because of the same evo doubling my base health regen. One hundred mana was being reserved by my Reverse Card aura, and a third of my mana regen was due to the Ambient Absorption trait I shared with Grotto. That bonus came from soaking up the Dimensional mana in the Closet, but we¡¯d throttled the mana in my section to protect mundane people from accidental mana toxicity. It could grant up to an additional 400 regen total in the right environment. Conversely, the bonus might disappear entirely, depending on the types of mana at the teleport destination.

    Satisfied with what I saw, I began walking toward my bedroom.

    ¡°What can we do to ensure there aren¡¯t any more traps hidden around?¡±

    [I can purge the furniture and structural materials contained within the mansion.]

    ¡°Geez, what a waste. Think the Ravvenblaqs will be mad? Two-thirds of it is theirs.¡±

    [I believe they are more concerned with the king and their missing family members.]

    The hallway leading to my bedroom had splatters of blood along the floor and walls. It wasn¡¯t ¡°I just dragged an eviscerated corpse down this hallway¡± bloody, more like ¡°Oh god! My jugular vein is cut and all my juices are escaping!¡± levels of bloody. There was some decent arterial spray, enough that a normal person would have been dead in a minute or two. The trail led to my bedroom, where the door was already open. I paused in front of it.

    My wardrobe was still pushed to one side, and the teleport sigil had a bloody handprint in the middle.

    ¡°Have you made contact with anyone who¡¯s missing using your PSA evolution?¡±

    [I have continued making the attempt, but have received no response.]

    ¡°What about Ealdric, Bobret, or Cera? Maybe we can see if they wound up in the right place.¡±

    [Ealdric has some method of blocking the ability. I believe it is automatic. Bobret was taken to the volcano. Cera has not responded.]

    ¡°The other Zenithars?¡±

    [They are attempting divinations to locate Zura, but have been unsuccessful.]

    ¡°Shit. Think we should try and talk to the Littans?¡±

    [It is likely unwise to bring this matter to their attention. The king of their greatest rival has gone missing, and the absence of Zenithar Zura will improve their negotiating position with Eschendur. They may view the situation as beneficial for them. At best, they will be ambivalent, at worst, they will interfere.]

    ¡°Fair point. Can we bring Nottagator with us?¡±

    [I do not think ferrying a Grade 20 Atrocidile berserker into an unknown environment will have a positive outcome. I am also uncomfortable removing creatures from the Delve for use in personal conflicts.]

    ¡°System Call? We have some rep to spend.¡±

    [What action would we request? The System will not intercede unless there is a System-related issue, or some other condition that compels it to act.] Grotto¡¯s feelers writhed as he thought for a moment. [I have been working on using my Divine skill to interact with the System in a less structured manner. If I am seeking knowledge, I can have the System place me on the best path to find that knowledge, but it is very vague guidance.]

    ¡°Can you ask where the party is?¡±

    [It would direct me towards a place where such knowledge can be obtained. One moment.] Grotto closed his eyes. I used the mana sight that Mystical Magic gave me, trying to get in the habit of exercising the skill more. Divine mana flowed through Grotto¡¯s body in an intricate pattern, but I couldn¡¯t discern anything meaningful. [Hmph. The path leads in two directions. To you, because you can summon the exit to the Littan base, or through this teleport weave.]

    ¡°That¡¯s good, right? That means the teleport goes somewhere useful.¡±

    [Those are currently the only two available means of leaving the Closet. All it indicates is that the place where such knowledge can be found is not within the Closet.]

    ¡°Fuck, man. We¡¯ve really got nothing?¡±

    [Yes, it is frustrating. I recently acquired the skill Locate Entity, but its maximum range is thirty-one miles, which covers the entirety of the Closet. The skill failed when I used it. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet. I also took a Reconnaissance evolution that allows me to mark targets and determine the distance and direction of each party member, but it returns an error. This means they are on a different plane. Everything outside the Closet is on a different plane from the Closet. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet.]

    ¡°Okay.¡± I sighed. ¡°At least we know they aren¡¯t hiding in the Closet. Did you ever finish that rune-matching analysis?¡±

    [I was able to determine that this weave will teleport us to one of the same places as the lounge, but could not confirm which.]

    ¡°Think Aprogar wanted to cauterize his wounds inside the heart of an active volcano? Maybe apply pressure with the weight of an entire ocean?¡±

    Grotto appeared next to me in his normal mini-c¡¯thon disguise, gripping a small roundshield in his feelers. It was still large enough to cover his entire body.

    Because the little octo shared my intrinsic skills, he was theoretically as good with Shields as I was. He didn¡¯t have the Strength to wield anything robust, but he¡¯d still get a huge defensive bonus from the skill alone, even if the shield itself was kind of lousy. Plus, if he wanted to use something bigger and badder, he had the Animate Object spell, which is why the large roundshield that once belonged to the tanky not-a-King¡¯s Guard also floated next to him.

    [I am becoming increasingly convinced that this weave was placed here not as a trap for you, but as an escape route for Aprogar.]

    ¡°Then why bother with the slow-fill mana timer thingy?¡±

    [It was enough to make Lito believe the weave was harmless for the time being and leave it alone in favor of investigating it further. It also created the impression of a trap intended for you, while distracting us from Aprogar¡¯s main objective within the lounge.]

    ¡°Another piece of the ¡®all eyes on me¡¯ ploy, eh?¡±

    [Perhaps. Or perhaps he did not foresee Ealdric being able to attack every King¡¯s Guard simultaneously and used it as an escape of convenience.]

    By this point, I realized I was stalling. The situation felt urgent, like I should be rushing through as soon as possible, but I didn¡¯t actually know if time was a critical factor. I forced myself to stay calm and continue trying to do everything I could to ensure success.

    I had Discretion selected as my free mana shape from Arcane Geometry, so shaping Explosion! to avoid allies wouldn¡¯t increase the cost. I could do a big channel before heading through, but if there were no good targets the spell would be a giant waste of mana.

    There was always Shog, but Sam¡¯lia herself had told me not to interrupt the c¡¯thon¡¯s alone time. I¡¯d only pull him out if things were really desperate.

    ¡°Maybe this weave is a trap laid by an entirely separate group, and we¡¯re about to make an unexpected three-way.¡±

    [I doubt two disconnected groups would use the same teleport coordinates.]

    ¡°Unless someone external manipulated them into it. That would be some Fortune-level shit right there.¡±

    ¡°Indeed my boy, it would be!¡± a hearty voice boomed from right beside me.

 196 - The Hippo, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

    Shortcut had me and Grotto halfway down the hall before the end of the first unexpected syllable. Gracorvus was up, Somncres was ready, and Grotto had both shields between himself and the intruder. By the time the sentence was done, I¡¯d gotten a good look at whoever had missed the bus back to Hiward.

    The rotund man who¡¯d laughed when I¡¯d revealed my status as a dimension-hopping reincarnator was looking into my bedroom, wearing a curious expression. As he studied the sigil that had been hidden behind my wardrobe, he was also looking down the hall at me with a dumb grin.

    He wore a wide straw hat, loose pants, sandals, and an open vest, exposing smooth, bare skin beneath. His eyes were too large, his mouth too wide, and he had a distinct lack of a nose. He was the size of a very wide man, rather than an elephant, but there was no doubt who I was looking at.

    ¡°Fortune,¡± I said.

    I relaxed my stance, not out of relief, but out of the knowledge that¨Cno matter how much I¡¯d grown since last running into the avatar¨Cfighting wasn¡¯t an option. The feeling was compounded by the presence of another uninvited guest, a woman who leaned against the wall across from Fortune. She stared at her nails while tapping each digit against her thumb, causing the polish to change color with every beat. She looked Hiwardian, but her unnaturally perfect features matched another avatar I knew.

    Fortune¡¯s head spun towards me, followed by the rest of his body, revealing another face that peered into the bedroom with a scowl. He threw his arms wide and smiled until his face was nearly split.

    ¡°Arlo!¡± he said. ¡°Greetings and salutations, child. I trust you¡¯ve been doing well?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d already know if you ever wrote,¡± said his right face.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said his left. ¡°I never gave you my address.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been better,¡± I said. Grotto slowly floated behind me, his shields still raised. I didn¡¯t know exactly how Grotto¡¯s sight worked, but I knew his c¡¯thonic eyes were decorative. He could still see down the hallway, even with two shields and an Arlo between him and the other side. ¡°I¡¯ve been dealing with a lot of impolite house guests.¡±

    Fortune dropped his arms and shook his head.

    ¡°Bad manners,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s a sign of the times, I fear.¡±

    ¡°Is that your excuse for trespassing?¡±

    ¡°I go where I want,¡± said Right.

    ¡°It is!¡± said Fortune. ¡°As much as I¡¯d prefer to let you carry on your merry way with as little interference as possible, there are matters afoot that require a small amount of direct intervention.¡±

    I pushed down a wave of irritation, grappling with my complex feelings toward the avatar. On the one hand, the ring he¡¯d given me was way too strong for a Level 0 item with no stat requirements, and the Traveler¡¯s Amulet was an unqualified cheat. Those, plus his divine intervention at the time of my first death meant that he was a major factor in my current status as a living being and my ongoing ability to maintain that alive-ness. Without him, I¡¯d be dead; without his patronage, I¡¯d be much weaker.

    On the other hand, he was an infuriating know-it-all meddler who¡¯d stabbed me in the back and let Anesis loose from her prison. I was worried that he was manipulating my actions through a backdoor soul connection, and his presence confirmed at least one of Leon¡¯s concerns about me, which was intolerable.

    I ignored that last bit. Starting to think of Lord Heronwyte as a person with reasonable opinions wouldn¡¯t do me any good in the current situation.

    ¡°To what do I owe the unexpected visit?¡± I asked. ¡°Does your ¡®direct intervention¡¯ involve kidnapping my party members?¡±

    ¡°Oh, goodness, no,¡± said Fortune. ¡°Not in the sense that you¡¯re implying. No, the kidnappability of your party is a point of minor concern¨Cit¡¯s practically a habit by now¨Cbut I prefer more subtlety.¡± He waved at the bedroom. ¡°All of this is quite crude. It¡¯s no mess of my making, I swear it upon the saints themselves.¡±

    I furrowed my brow, wrestling with the theological implications of that statement. ¡°Which saints?¡±

    ¡°Good question,¡± he said, rubbing his chin. ¡°Most of them, I should think.¡±

    ¡°Not the saints of Hell,¡± said Right. ¡°They¡¯re too needy.¡±

    ¡°Uh, which hell?¡±

    ¡°There is only one true Hell, my boy,¡± said Fortune. ¡°You¡¯ll figure that out if you live long enough.¡±

    ¡°Does any of that mean anything to you?¡± I thought to Grotto.

    [Nothing actionable.]

    That sounded like fertile ground for a later discussion.

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t the reason for all the traps and kidnapping, then why are you here? I don¡¯t have time for games.¡±

    ¡°Arlo, my boy,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to be antagonistic.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being ungrateful,¡± said Right. ¡°After everything we¡¯ve done for you.¡±

    ¡°Some of it was tough love, though,¡± said Left. ¡°It¡¯s understandable you¡¯d be upset.¡±

    ¡°Understandable?¡± I said. ¡°You let Anesis escape and murder an entire city! Also, did you miss the part about trespassing?¡±

    ¡°If I had left Anesis where I¡¯d found her, you would be dead,¡± said Fortune, still grinning. ¡°More avatars would have escaped from The Cage, and they would have crushed Hiward beneath their clumsy feet. Instead, you survived and even managed to destroy a fragment of Orexis¡¯s soul.¡±

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°So it¡¯s the lesser of two evils? I¡¯ve never found that argument very convincing.¡±

    ¡°Self-deception is unbecoming of you,¡± said Fortune. ¡°But I am not here to argue over morality. What¡¯s done is done. If you want to thwart my cold utilitarianism in the future, you are welcome to try.¡± His grin transformed into an infuriating smirk. ¡°Now, on to business. I am here for three reasons. First, my good friend needed directions to your house.¡±

    Fortune gestured at the woman. Her eyebrows rose and her mouth tightened, looking like she disagreed with that characterization, knew that Fortune intentionally chose a misleading description, and that she was absolutely done with his fuckery, but there was nothing she could do or say to change it.

    The woman pushed off the wall and stood up to her full height, then kept standing up, until she was towering over Fortune and brushed the top of the ten-foot-high ceiling. Her skin and hair darkened, and her shadow became a mass of twisted, grasping hands.

    ¡°You paid me to come,¡± said Avarice. ¡°And you aren¡¯t the type to make friends, Fortune. Friendship requires trust, an attribute you implicitly lack and fail to engender in others.¡±

    ¡°Beset by criticism on all sides,¡± said Fortune. ¡°You speak as though I am some kind of cheat. I always keep my promises.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you seldom make them,¡± Avarice shot back. ¡°And why I always insist on a contract.¡±

    ¡°Avarice,¡± said Left, ¡°we shouldn¡¯t argue in front of the kids.¡±

    ¡°The Delve Core is hardly a child,¡± she said. ¡°It is older than either of us.¡±

    ¡°Spill your own secrets,¡± said Right, his tone dangerous. ¡°You do not know my age, and you will not pretend that you do.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t productive,¡± said Left.

    ¡°You may take issue with my methods,¡± said Fortune. ¡°But you cannot argue that I am a poor acquaintance to have. I never fail to deliver something you need.¡±

    ¡°Our association has been profitable enough that I ¡®trust¡¯ you will continue to be a reliable client.¡± Right scowled, and Avarice raised a hand in a placating gesture. ¡°Such has been proven true once again. I only feel that it is important for Arlo to have a proper understanding of our relationship. Do not mislead him, and I will not feel the need to issue a correction.¡±

    As the pair bickered, their souls flared. The myriad little faces of Fortune¡¯s soul bit down on the gemstone edges of Avarice¡¯s own, which cut away at their mouths with razor edges. Bright sparks and flashes threatened to overwhelm my Soul-Sight as they annihilated tiny pieces of one another. It looked spiritually painful for them to be in each other¡¯s presence, and the waves of power that rippled out from each burst told me that getting caught up in it would mean my swift and unpleasant end.

    I became doubly concerned over the reasons they were here. What was important enough for them to suffer in one another¡¯s presence?

    I was shaken from my thoughts when Avarice turned the force of her attention onto me. She was making an effort to keep her mere existence from sapping my free will, but all that left was an overwhelming feeling of cold calculation.

    ¡°Normally, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it for me to come down here,¡± said Avarice. ¡°If it¡¯s any comfort, I didn¡¯t know where Fortune was bringing me until we arrived.¡±

    ¡°Why the cloak and dagger?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She would not have believed the trouble you are in without seeing it for herself,¡± said Fortune. ¡°As she so nobly pointed out, a contract was necessary, and so I bought one.¡± He gave me another face-cleaving smile. ¡°Once that was done, she was bound to follow me, and there was no reason to spoil the surprise.¡±

    That sort of pettiness probably went a long way toward explaining Avarice¡¯s frustrations with the noseless avatar.

    ¡°And why did you buy her cooperation?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s so important that it takes both of you to deal with it?¡±

    ¡°There is no cooperation,¡± said Avarice. ¡°The contract only required me to follow Fortune. Once we arrived, my obligations were satisfied. Now that I am here, I find it worthwhile to protect my investment, which I suspect is why he was willing to barter in the first place. He knew I wouldn¡¯t want to leave once I saw the state of thngs.¡±

    ¡°Investment?¡± I said. It took me a moment to understand that she was talking about me. I owed her a few answers.

    ¡°This brings us to the second reason I am here,¡± said Fortune. ¡°Which is to delay you from taking that teleport.¡±

    ¡°Unless you physically stop me, I¡¯m not going to wait for long.¡±

    ¡°Just a moment,¡± he said, pointing up and looking toward the ceiling. ¡°Aaaaand, there it is.¡±

    A wave of insight tore through me as the true name of The Dread Star of Heaven pierced my mind. I staggered back, overwhelmed by the weight of the word dropping onto my brain like a thousand-pound bowling ball.

    The cooldown on Divine Favor of JuRoQi, The Dread Star of Heaven has ended.

    I blinked away the sensation, recovering from the name burning its way into me. I checked the skill, seeing that exactly seven days had passed since I used it to ask Avarice¡¯s first question.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said, then looked at Avarice. ¡°Are you here for your second question? This isn¡¯t great timing.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I am still digesting the last answer I received. It would be premature to ask another.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so what does ¡®protecting your investment¡¯ mean?¡±

    ¡°It means encouraging you to stay here,¡± she said. ¡°You cannot pay your debts if you are dead.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, unless you stop me, I¡¯m taking that teleport. If you have another way to get my party members back, I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°They may already be dead,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°They aren¡¯t. They still show on my interface with full health, and my aura still reaches them. I can¡¯t get any other feedback from it, but I know they¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Fortune. ¡°That¡¯s curious.¡±

    ¡°If you stay here, I will ensure your safety,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Better that one of you survives.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what the danger is?¡± I asked. ¡°Or do you plan on leaving me in the dark?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything for certain, but you are not equipped to deal with whatever is happening here.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that, either,¡± I said.

    ¡°It is a foolish risk.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s what we¡¯re all about. I wouldn¡¯t have met you, otherwise.¡± Avarice frowned. ¡°Listen, you can mind fuck just about anything, right? If you want to make sure I live, then come with me. I¡¯m not staying here unless you force me.¡±

    Avarice reached up and rubbed at her temples.

    ¡°That is, perhaps, the most crass way anyone has ever requested my aid,¡± she said. ¡°And I am not going to force you to do anything. I thought I¡¯d made that clear when we last met.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll come?¡±

    ¡°I am not immune to the dangers in this world,¡± she said. ¡°You are one of the very few who has seen that first hand. I will not travel into the unknown, even if it means losing something precious. My business involves a degree of risk, but risk is not my business.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°This has been fun, you two, but you won¡¯t convince me to abandon my allies. Feel free to show yourselves out.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Avarice, closing the distance between us in two steps. She bent down and placed a hand on my shoulder, gazing into me. ¡°Witness.¡±

    Any pretense that Avarice was human disappeared, and her soul reached out to skewer my own.

    She showed me her true self.

 197 - Whatâ€™re Ya Buyinâ€™?

    Avarice¡¯s soul cut into mine like a precision scalpel. At first, I thought she¡¯d gone back on her word, that she was planning to turn me into some kind of Dread Star Q&A slave, but the soul connection didn¡¯t feel like an attack. It was closer to what Grotto and I shared, or how I connected to others using Reveal, although the way Avarice formed the bridge was a lot rougher. The pain was sharp and bright, but brief.

    Avarice ignored anything she might find through the soul bond, using it only for the transcendental communication it granted. She delivered a look behind her mask, inviting me to see what she was, without the prejudice of anthropomorphism. The pareidolia that she encouraged was stripped away.

    Avarice¡¯s features were painted on, a presentation for my benefit, an act at being bound by the weakness of flesh. She had human senses, but only because it served her to know how we experienced the world. Her tongue could taste but had no desire for flavor, her nose could smell but found no comfort in a familiar scent, her eyes processed light but it was the least of the ways she could see. Her body was an inanimate thing, a doll created to trick and deceive, puppeted by something unearthly, piloted toward a singular goal.

    Her pupils dilated, and through them, I beheld a squirming mass of desire. Avarice was an insatiable need, the compulsion to own more tomorrow than she did today. Even that was too weak a description. She was a function, an inevitable product of divine physics, executing its own program through an intelligence that held no concept of empathy or remorse.

    Mortal principles meant nothing to her. She could not be anticipated through morality or emotion. She was strange and unknowable, and yet she was more predictable than any person. She sought one thing, and all else was subordinate, every decision a step toward satisfying her craving.

    She let go of my shoulder and straightened. I took a shaky breath. Between the Dread Star¡¯s name and the sight of Avarice unmasked, it felt like a nest of hornets had made their home inside my skull. But Avarice wasn¡¯t finished. The tendrils of her soul remained, exposing the logic of her physicality.

    Avarice ran the fingers of one hand through her hair, where it shifted from black to candy apple red at her touch. The casual action evoked a sense of humanity, drawing me back into her simulation of mortality. It was also a contradiction, an impossible action for anyone mundane. It signaled her power, her ability to adapt, the ineffability of what she was, the ease with which she invented rules to bind her and then violated them all the same.

    She watched me as she made the motion, reading my reaction to it, monitoring my response to the different shades, finding my preference, and learning to exploit what I favored to draw out the performance she needed from me. I was a puzzle box, with hidden riches inside, a windup soldier she could send out to seize the spoils she wanted. She showed me all of this, knowing that I detested manipulation, and that the transparency was itself a manipulation. Every inch of her bipedal form was deception, and she couldn¡¯t have been more honest about it.

    When she stepped, each muscle and bone moved with intention. A tuft of her hair fluttered, caught by her breath. But there was no air, no true exhalation. She directed the strands individually, willing them to act in concert with her body, drawing my eyes toward them and distracting me from her shadow.

    Her control was absolute, her body without reflex or muscle memory. The tendon along her neck, the pores on her wrist, they were each a decision, made to appeal to me, constantly shifting to stimulate a response, then shifting when new data was gathered. Even the sway of her dress¨C

    ¡°You can stop now,¡± I said. ¡°Pull the wool back over my eyes, please.¡±

    Avarice withdrew her soul from my own, moving so gently that it was soothing. Her hair transitioned back to black, and she shrank down to become a woman of average height. Anything unnatural disappeared, and she became the picture of an average, ordinary human.

    ¡°What the fuck was the point of that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°An attempt to improve our communication,¡± she said. ¡°And something that may marginally increase your chances of survival in the future. My persona is a convenience to facilitate our interaction, and your casual treatment of me is acceptable, but you tread deadly waters when you threaten what is mine. Part of your future belongs to me.

    ¡°To oppose an avatar¡¯s nature is like standing in the path of a landslide, arguing for it to ignore gravity. Your words are meaningless, and the safest course is to move out of its path. However, if you still wish to influence the disaster, you must work with the forces that govern it. I am uniquely suited to tolerating your flippancy since there is much you might provide me, but most avatars are not driven by goals that allow for effective future planning.

    ¡°Fortune and I are perhaps the most extreme examples of an avatar willing to delay gratification, or ignore an immediate inconvenience for a better outcome in the future. Most that I have met would grind you into paste the moment you posed the barest obstacle to their needs.¡±

    I chewed over the ways Avarice served her own interests by giving me that advice. My instinct was to distrust the guidance. Certainly, she¡¯d love for me to believe that working alongside her was the only way to affect her actions. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t true, though, and it conformed with what I already knew of avatars.

    If I understood things correctly, Avarice valued the Dread Star questions, but she valued an ongoing partnership more. She was willing to let me leave, but only to enable a potential future where I agreed to profitable trades. If she didn¡¯t believe that was likely, she¡¯d chain me to the wall and keep me as a pet until she¡¯d asked her questions, then let me fuck off on my merry way.

    It also changed how I thought about our interactions, which was her goal. Either I expressed a preference for a future where Avarice got more shit, in which case she would be helpful, or I expressed a preference for neutrality, in which case she was ambivalent. If my preference was for her to have less, then I was dead. All communication led to one of these three roads, and anything that didn¡¯t advance us down one of those paths was meaningless.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. There was no reason to say anything more.

    Avarice moved out of my way, and I walked slowly toward my bedroom. Fortune stood to the side of the door and made no move to stop me. I paused and looked him over. How would I even work with the forces that governed him? Fortune was only a moniker. I didn¡¯t actually know what he was the avatar of.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Although, did it matter? It seemed like his entire purpose was to force events in the direction he favored, and that the subjects of his manipulation know as little about it as possible. Really, the best move was probably not to think about him too hard.

    ¡°You mentioned you were here for three reasons,¡± I said. ¡°What was the third?¡±

    Fortune¡¯s smile widened until all three mouths were separated by a centimeter of skin.

    ¡°I want you to reconsider what is available to you,¡± he said. ¡°Not all tools are meant to be brandished as weapons.¡±

    My agitation grew with his delivery of cryptic ¡®wisdom¡¯. It was generic life coach shit. I half expected him to start reading my horoscope. Maybe he was the avatar of the Zodiac.

    I tempered myself, trying to imagine that I was dealing with an automated system. A computer didn¡¯t care if you were mad at it. In the same vein, neither of these entities was socially coded to receive my irritation and respond to placate me. If anything, getting frustrated could only cause damage to how they perceived me. Unless it was Fortune¡¯s goal that I get angry.

    It probably was.

    I tried to keep my tone level. ¡°Is there a reason that you¡¯re both being so vague?¡±

    ¡°I have a conditional agreement with Avarice,¡± said Fortune. ¡°When I will it, she must keep her observations to herself. She is skirting the edge of that agreement with what she has told you, but the rules were written with some ambiguity to allow for such a thing.¡±

    ¡°Then really it¡¯s only you that¡¯s being vague.¡±

    ¡°If I shone a light into the dark, it might help you to find your way,¡± he said. ¡°But when I left, you would be blinded.¡±

    I didn¡¯t buy the ¡®teach a man to fish¡¯ argument Fortune was making, but at least it was something. Perhaps he benefited by having information that others didn¡¯t. The avatar of Secrets? If I took him at face value, he might be the avatar of Growth. Improvement, maybe?

    I stopped thinking about it, since I didn¡¯t have the time, and paid attention to his first answer. He wanted me to think of a tool I¡¯d misused, but I felt pretty confident about my loadout. Of course, what Fortune considered a tool may not be something that I thought of as a tool. I glanced back at Avarice.

    If I needed a weapon, I wouldn¡¯t go into a smithy and ask the smith to fight my battle. If I needed floor cleaner, I wouldn¡¯t demand that the shopkeeper at the general store come by with a mop and do the work for me.

    I¡¯d buy what I needed.

    ¡°Say, Avarice. Got anything interesting for sale?¡±

    Avarice smiled and spread her hands.

    ¡°Only anything and everything,¡± she said. ¡°The question is, what do you need, and what do you have to trade?¡±

    I thought over what I knew about my situation. There was some mental mischief happening, as evidenced by Leon. I expected some mind magic was necessary to get the king into such a vulnerable position as well. Beyond that, the enemy¡¯s runes had been craftily hidden. I was well-equipped to handle stealth and illusion, but it obviously hadn¡¯t been enough.

    I was about as lethal as I could get for my level, so I didn¡¯t think a new weapon was the right call. I also didn¡¯t want to spend too much time shopping, when I¡¯d already been delayed for so long.

    ¡°Something for mental attacks,¡± I said. ¡°Possibly illusions as well. As for what I have to trade¡­¡± I thought it over. I had some guesses as to what Avarice valued, but I didn¡¯t want to make any assumptions. Might as well go down the list. ¡°To start, I¡¯ve got chips.¡±

    ¡°As do I,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not nothing, but you wouldn¡¯t like my conversion rate.¡±

    ¡°Poison essences?¡±

    ¡°Better,¡± she said. ¡°Not a terrible essence, but not particularly rare, either. How many?¡±

    ¡°I have 500 for trade.¡±

    ¡°That is more than I expected,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m mildly tempted, but not excited.¡±

    I listed off some other essences we had sitting around. Her reaction to those was similar. She perked up when I mentioned the metal essence, but deflated when I told her we only had one. Our excess gear had been sent with Varrin to Hiward for auction, and she was only interested in unique pieces anyway.

    ¡°I have a Reality Anchor, but I¡¯m very attached to it.¡±

    ¡°I might have some ideas for that. Anything else?¡±

    I kept perusing my inventory, then stopped and brought up my status screen.

    ¡°Not sure if I can trade it,¡± I said. ¡°But I have some System Rep.¡±

    Avarice chuckled. ¡°A Delver with System Rep, how absurd. You would be able to trade it to me if I so desired, but System Core 2 would not be happy. My relationship with Number 2 is more important than whatever the Rep might get me.¡±

    ¡°Then you have heard all that I have on offer.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± she said, then held out a hand. An orb filled with shimmering liquid appeared hovering over her palm, and six vials formed a ring slowly orbiting it. ¡°For your inspection.¡±

    I focused on the objects and pulled up their descriptions, starting with the orb.

    Tears of Tyranny

    Tyranny sees all, but none can see Tyranny.

    Six ounces of the gathered tears of the avatar of Tyranny, painstakingly collected by his enthusiastic citizens. The tears boil when exposed to air, creating a rapidly expanding cloud of invisible gas that allows Tyranny to pierce all illusions and reveal all that is hidden within its area of effect.

    The glass orb containing these tears was crafted by Tyranny¡¯s own hand, and will temporarily extend the tears¡¯ benefits to the last person who held it.

    This is a Deific effect, and cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    Take care when using this item, for the eyes of Tyranny are ever searching for its next subjects.

    ¡°Well, gosh,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re not messing around with this stuff.¡± I moved on to the vials.

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Redemption

    Gods are not normally known to bottle their sacraments, but an exceptionally pious and persuasive worshiper can work miracles.

    When consuming the contents of this vial, you acquire 5 stacks of Blessed and gain the benefits of the Sacrament of Redemption for 1 hour.

    Sacrament of Redemption

    You gain bonus Spiritual and Divine defense equal to the number Blessed stacks you possess.

    Whenever you have at least 5 Blessed and would become Mesmerized, Dominated, Feared, Berserk, Paranoid, or Psychotic, you lose half of your Blessed stacks and counter the status. If you counter the Berserk status in this way, your current Rage stacks are reduced to half your threshold. (Current threshold: 40)

    As I reviewed the text of the Holy Water, the description glitched and disappeared. New text appeared in its place.

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Favor

    Gods are not normally known to bottle their Favor, but for those who show great wisdom and mercy, miracles are known to happen.

    After consuming the contents of this vial, you become immune to all detrimental mind-affecting statuses and abilities for a number of minutes equal to your Delver level.

    This is a Deific effect, and cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    Make an offering at my temple in Connas, and if I am pleased, you will receive the Sacrament of Redemption for so long as you refrain from actions I find profane.

    The greedy one has curated an extensive collection of exotic plants. Perhaps you should offer her a cutting or two.

    I rubbed my eyes and re-read the text. We were apparently at the point in my isekai career where the endgame merchant¡¯s items were being directly upgraded by the gods themselves, complete with cheeky divine wisdom in the flavor text.

    Also, would Avarice even want cuttings from a dead Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless?

    It was dead, right?

 198 - Whatâ€™re Ya Sellinâ€™?

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡± asked Avarice.

    ¡°No, far from it,¡± I said. ¡°One moment, please.¡±

    ¡°Grotto, do we still have all the vines from the overgrown Dominion Ivy Plant?¡±

    [There has not exactly been time for raking.]

    ¡°Have you checked on them? Made sure they¡¯re still, y¡¯know, dead?¡±

    [... One moment, please.]

    Grotto disappeared. Avarice raised an eyebrow but kept silent. My familiar returned a moment later.

    [The plant appears to be quite resilient. I have assigned the lower half of the obelisk room to inventory slots. The ivy should be contained so long as it remains in stasis.]

    I brought up my inventory screen, willing it to the plant, and found two different stacks of items.

    Decaying Plant Matter (6812 lbs)

    Immature Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless x12

    I selected one of the immature plants and pulled it out, holding it up for Avarice to inspect.

    ¡°Does this interest you?¡±

    ¡°May I?¡± she asked, holding out a hand. I passed it to her. She held it up, looking it over and running her fingers across the vine¡¯s small leaves. ¡°Yes, this is quite novel. Do you have any more?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said. I was briefly curious why Avarice would need more than one flesh-eating ivy plant that could expand endlessly into the fourth dimension, but then I remembered who I was negotiating with. Why settle for infinite growth, when you can have infinite growth times two? ¡°I can be persuaded to part with some.¡±

    ¡°I will trade one Holy Water per plant,¡± she said.

    Infinite growth times two was amateur hour for Avarice. She didn¡¯t get out of bed for anything less than six times infinite growth. I was lucky she was even willing to deal with my impoverished self, who only possessed a low double-digit number of infinitely scalable items.

    Or maybe I was unlucky, she was robbing me blind, and presenting items blessed by Yara was a calculated play to encourage this exact scenario.

    ¡°I can make that happen,¡± I said. ¡°And the tears?¡±

    ¡°Those are much harder to come by, now that Tyranny is locked away.¡±

    She had a point. Really, since the plants could expand beyond the bounds of the perceivable universe, they weren¡¯t all that rare when their mass was averaged out across reality. The one Yara had cut out of the Closet might still be somewhere in the beyond. It would only have to consume one cosmic entity of immeasurable size to produce more cubic meters of Dominion Ivy than the number of hydrogen atoms that existed. Normal spatial measurements were kind of meaningless in this hypothetical, but it was still fun to think about.

    More fun than thinking about the godlike expression of cupidity manifested in front of me, whose only barrier to turning me into a sentient telephone was that I might produce more value in the future.

    It was also more fun than thinking about my friends and allies being tortured or killed while I did some shopping.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s your price?¡± I asked.

    Avarice twirled the plant between her fingers as she thought.

    ¡°Your party will retrieve something for me in the future.¡±

    I was hesitant to let Avarice dig her nails any further into the party.

    ¡°That¡¯s too open-ended,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t agree to that.¡±

    ¡°I will guarantee that retrieving the item will not violate your morals, nor those of any other member of your party. Retrieving the item will also result in a great boon to your growth, and will be found in an area rich in valuable resources. You will be permitted to keep all that you find, save for the item you are sent to retrieve.¡±

    I controlled my expression as she anticipated most of my objections and laid out entirely reasonable terms to address each of them. I doubted I could hide my reactions while negotiating with her, even if I¡¯d been made of marble, so it was a pointless exercise. But it was still good practice.

    ¡°What about timing?¡±

    ¡°It will require you to defeat a significant number of Grade 30 enemies, so it shouldn¡¯t be any time soon,¡± she said. ¡°You will have a one-year deadline from the time I have deemed you capable of completing the task and notified you of such. That way, it shouldn¡¯t interfere with any of your ongoing activities. This deadline can be amended, at my reasonable discretion, if good cause is shown for delay.¡±

    I was beginning to worry she was picking language right out of my head.

    ¡°And why do you need us to get it?¡± I asked. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have a problem with a few measly Grade 30s, right?¡±

    ¡°I would not,¡± she said. ¡°However, there are some places I will not go for one reason or another.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you wouldn¡¯t rather have, like, 200 poison essences?¡±

    ¡°No, thank you. However, I can sweeten the deal with another orb of the tears.¡±

    I forced myself to think for a few seconds, trying to avoid making an impulse buy. A deific-grade AoE illusion-and-stealth counter was a hell of a nice thing to have in my back pocket. Having two of them? Even better. There were no stat or level limits, so it would be usable for as long as we kept it around. The only downside was that it was consumable, and with the way the orbs were constructed, it looked like each one was a single use.

    ¡°What¡¯s the range on those things? It says it¡¯s an AoE, but doesn¡¯t list a radius.¡±

    ¡°It is unknown, but very large. The exact bounds are difficult to measure, since the gas is imperceptible through most means, and it is too valuable to experiment with.¡±

    As I wrestled with the decision, Avarice clicked her tongue.

    ¡°What¡¯s something else you need?¡± she asked.

    ¡°A second brain,¡± I said, half-jokingly. Avarice might have one, who knew?

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The most immediate reason is that there¡¯s a lot to keep up with in fights.¡±

    My Intelligence and Wisdom already provided a heavy multiplier to tracking and processing my surroundings, but when a half dozen people were moving at supersonic speeds, things could still fall through the cracks.

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m not willing to part with any of my spare brains, but I have this.¡± She produced another item.

    Focus Trinket

    Requirements: WIS 20

    You can focus on 1 additional thing at a time.

    The item was simple, but it was exceptionally useful. Focus was a keyword and channeling Explosion! required it. With the trinket, I¡¯d be able to channel Explosion! while also doing just about anything else simultaneously. That, or I could pat my head and rub my tummy. At the same time!

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So that¡¯s six immature ivy plants for the six Holy Waters, and a fetch quest for two orbs of the tears and this focus trinket.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the offer,¡± she said.

    It wasn¡¯t a difficult choice. While owing Avarice a favor would increase the number of interactions we¡¯d have with the avatar down the line¨Cwhich was dangerous¨Cit also made her more invested in keeping us alive. She was already here dishing out wisdom and making trades because she wanted to get the chance to cash in on her Dread Star questions one day. Now, the whole party would be involved with helping her retrieve something that was presumably a lot more valuable than two deific-grade consumables. That disincentivized killing us and incentivized providing us with some level of aid, so long as the expense didn¡¯t outpace the potential profit.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take it,¡± I said. ¡°Hopefully, no one in the party is too mad about this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t complain once you¡¯ve saved their lives.¡±

    We didn¡¯t shake on the deal. Instead, Avarice snapped her fingers, and five more of the plants disappeared from my inventory, while the vials and orbs stored themselves away on a dedicated page. I also felt a weight settle on my soul, as the contract to carry out Avarice¡¯s task took hold.

    With our business done, I turned back toward my bedroom, finding that Fortune had vanished. Turning around again, Avarice was gone as well.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, slapping on my bascinet. ¡°Next stop, nobody knows.¡±

    I placed one of the Holy Waters in my mouth, vial and all, and held it between my molars, ready to bite down the moment we arrived. I walked up to the teleport sigil with Grotto at my side, and fed it Dimensional mana until it activated.

    Pop!

    The thing about teleports¡­ is that they¡¯re weird.

    Usually, a teleport felt instantaneous, regardless of the distance traveled. When we¡¯d left Deijin¡¯s Descent on the moon, we were back in the Littan fortress in the blink of an eye. That was a non-trivial distance when measured at the speed of light, and a quick trip from the moon to Arzia while moving at the universal physical constant of c should have taken about one second.

    Either our trip had been faster than light¨Cwhich would have implications¨Cor our subjective experience was affected by moving at relativistic speeds. That is, it felt shorter for us because we were going really honkin¡¯ fast.

    Now, which was it? I didn¡¯t know. It wouldn¡¯t have surprised me if it had been FTL travel, and I honestly had no good way of knowing whether the underlying physics of Arzia¡¯s universe were a match to the physics of Earth¡¯s universe. Teleports weren¡¯t even the only magic the party had access to that might operate at faster-than-light speeds.

    Grotto¡¯s PSA evolution allowed him to communicate with anyone he¡¯d ever met ¡°across any distance as though [he] were standing next to them.¡± What if they were on the other side of the universe? In another dimension?

    ¡°Hey, Grotto. Are you able to use your PSA ability to speak with Shog?¡±

    [Yes. However, I believe there are other things that should concern us at the moment.]

    ¡°Like the purgatorial void we¡¯re currently trapped within? Eh, I¡¯m kind of over it.¡±

    Teleports didn¡¯t always feel instant. The portal into The Cage had been a rollercoaster, as had the portal into Deijin¡¯s Descent. In both of those cases, an external entity had been interfering with the portal¡¯s normal function. The Delve Core, Cage, had nearly killed us by trying to collapse the portal while we were midstream, and the Dread Star had also nearly killed us by pulling us over for a quick peek-a-boo. I only had a couple of data points, but it seemed like teleports with experienced travel time were dangerous and unhappy occurrences.

    We were currently experiencing a portal with substantial travel time. The world was pure black, and the only part of myself that I could see was my soul.

    ¡°So there are a few types of portals that I''ve noticed, and they all act a bit differently.¡±

    [Is this line of thought likely to improve our current circumstances?]

    ¡°No idea. Anyway, there¡¯s straight teleportation, like what we just used, where you cast a spell or activate a weave and it hits you with a teleport. Single instance, limited targets, one-directional migration.¡±

    [Indeed.]

    ¡°Then there¡¯s stable portals that you touch. Those are permanent and usually have a portal at point A and point B, but not always. They¡¯re similar to teleportation since they instantly transfer you to somewhere else. Slap the portal, and you disappear.¡±

    [Correct.]

    ¡°Then there are stable portals that you walk through, like the entrance to the Closet. Those are more like bridges that connect two spaces. There¡¯s no teleportation at all.¡±

    [Yes.]

    ¡°Alright. But why, though?¡±

    [Your question is too imprecise to merit a response.]

    ¡°Why is the Closet a walk-through portal, when most other portals I interact with are touch or spell-based?¡±

    [Single-use teleportation is the most efficient for moving a small number of entities over a vast distance but requires frequent reconstruction and adjustment. A permanent portal node allows for additional stability when bound to a specific location with a Reality Anchor and reduces the chances of a user error. They operate on similar principles as the teleport weave we just activated but are significantly more advanced.

    [Tunnel or bridge-type portals primarily involve creating access to a location that is not spatially distant, but which is normally inaccessible, regardless of proximity.]

    ¡°Then the Closet isn¡¯t in some weird, far-off location. It¡¯s always close to me, but normally unreachable?¡±

    [I am not wholly aware of the specific mechanics that govern the Closet, but I believe it is a demi-plane anchored to your soul. The entrance is always exactly where you are. While inside, the exit becomes temporarily bound to the last physical location you occupied as you opened the main entrance. It is normally inaccessible because it extrudes from the ¡®edges¡¯ of the physical universe, connected to your location via a singular point that acts as a tether.]

    ¡°Okay. Then if you have a single-use teleport weave built inside the Closet, you¡¯re essentially teleporting someone from a location that¡¯s very close to the Littan fortress in Eschendur. That¡¯s the last place I opened the primary entrance.¡±

    [Your assessment is overly simplistic, but I agree with it in principle. The Closet is, technically, closer to the Littan fortress than anywhere else on Arzia at the present moment. The next ¡®closest¡¯ locations would be your Checkpoint destinations.]

    ¡°Then let¡¯s say I¡¯m inside the Closet, and take a teleport to a location outside of the Closet. I do this through some means other than my own portals, such as the weave we just used.¡±

    [Very well.]

    ¡°That teleport would take me outside of the Closet.¡±

    [Yes, as you said.]

    ¡°Once I¡¯m outside of the Closet, the entrance to the Closet begins to move with me.¡±

    [It may retain some connection to its previously bound location until the entrance is used again. Perhaps via a similar method as one of your Checkpoints¡­ Still, if the entrance is tethered to your soul, then it would always be ¡®closest¡¯ to wherever you are while outside of the Closet.]

    ¡°Does the teleport weave take a snapshot of my current location when I activate it? Or does it serve as an ongoing anchor for the duration of the portal travel?¡±

    Grotto considered that for a moment.

    [You believe that we are stuck in a feedback loop, wherein the origin weave is continually moving along with us since it is inside the Closet, and unable to properly connect with the endpoint weave because its location is constantly changing?]

    ¡°Not only is the weave¡¯s origin location constantly changing relative to the endpoint, but its relative proximity to me is remaining constant.¡±

    [I do not believe that would be a problem. Advanced portal theory addresses many potential pitfalls of teleportation magicks, including ones such as you are proposing. Any half-competent teleportation weave should compensate for these kinds of variables.]

    ¡°Right. But what if it wasn¡¯t a half-competent teleportation weave? What if it was, for example, a hastily constructed teleportation weave put into place by a hostile actor with a rudimentary understanding of how the Closet functions?

    ¡°And, what if this¨Ccompletely hypothetical¨Chostile actor even designed the weave to intentionally fail under a variety of circumstances, such as those that are typically safeguarded against?¡±

    [That¡­ is potentially a concern.]

    ¡°What if I opened the Closet right now?¡±

    [I cannot predict how that would interact with our current situation, but I doubt that it would be beneficial.]

    ¡°How about I¨C¡±

    [Just wait. Do not touch anything.]

    There¡­ wasn¡¯t anything to touch.

    I tried to look over at Grotto but was met with more absolute darkness. Either light did not exist here, or my eyeballs could no longer perceive it. I could just barely make out the edges of Grotto¡¯s soul. It stretched out into an endless line either behind or ahead of us. There were no indicators as to which direction we were traveling, or if we were even moving at all.

    Several minutes went by, and I could feel Grotto beginning to seethe through our connection.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    [What an infuriating creature. I am amazed his diminutive frame can support a head that large.]

    ¡°Uhh¡­ talking to Umi-Doo?¡±

    [Yes. Getting his assistance was like neutering a ghost. Cold, evasive, and with a great deal more wailing than necessary.]

    ¡°What an oddly specific simile. Did he have a solution?¡±

    [He spent most of the time calling us stupid in seventeen unique ways and in six different languages.]

    ¡°Sounds needlessly repetitive.¡±

    [Each one was more creative than the last!]

    ¡°Still rude, though.¡±

    [His suggestion is that we turn it off and back on again. After that, he terminated the connection.]

    ¡°The Director of Central just gave you basic IT hotline advice?¡±

    [I could dive into your mind to acquire the context for what you just said, but I won¡¯t. He believes the intervention of another teleportation function will interrupt the looping coordinate failure and force the weave to recalibrate itself.]

    ¡°He wants me to use Shortcut? Does it matter how far I go?¡±

    [He did not say.]

    ¡°Will that¡­ break anything? What happens when you teleport while already teleporting?¡±

    [I imagine it varies. We may not even be moving, but rather oscillating in and out of some intermediary between the physical plane and the nonspace where the Closet has demanifested.]

    ¡°Hmm. We¡¯ll start small, then. If it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll ramp up. I¡¯d rather not have the spell on cooldown from making a big jump. Or accidentally scatter my atoms across the solar system.¡±

    [I wonder if that would destroy the Littan fortress, or if the blast would be contained elsewhere¡­]

    I picked a random point 160 feet away and cast Shortcut.

    I appeared behind myself, an instant before I cast Shortcut and appeared behind myself, an instant before I cast Shortcut and appeared behind myself. I turned to find myself turning to find myself. There was still no light, but my soul was a streak across the darkness, compounding and folding an exponentially growing number of times as more of me continued to teleport ahead and appear from behind.

    There was a blinding light, a flash of atomic fire, and then¡­

    Pop!

    I landed on my feet, the smell of ozone wafting off my beard. I felt a tentacle wrap around my shoulder as Grotto stabilized himself. The new space was also pitch black, but my darkvision allowed me to make out vague outlines in the distance. There was some light bouncing around, but not much.

    I bit down on the vial of Holy Water and checked my status while I spat out the glass. I hadn¡¯t lost any health, despite the scorching heat at the end of¡­ whatever had happened. I tried not to think about it.

    You have resisted Dominate!

    You have resisted Mesmerize!

    You have resisted Paranoia!

    You have resisted Psychosis!

    The messages continued to repeat, as something in the dark made a dozen mental attacks against me every second. It was like an entire army of controllers were hiding just out of sight. The room was deathly silent, except for one sound.

    A single pair of boots slowly clomped toward me.

 199 - Time to Meet Our Host

    Something about the darkness was magical. Despite seeing a shadowy figure approaching, they never came into focus, even after coming to a stop only twenty feet away. Their soul was obscured, making it impossible to get a read on their strength.

    Given that I was still being bombarded by mental attacks, I assumed it was high. The Holy Water was the only reason I was still in control of myself.

    Good purchase, that one.

    The person in the dark spoke, but their voice was strange. It was low and gravelly but sounded like they intentionally pitched down and forced the aged rumble. It was sort of like a woman pretending to be a man, or a young man pretending to be an old veteran. It was hard to pin down.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d follow me,¡± they said. ¡°But I¡¯m pleased that you did.¡±

    Another few heavy footfalls, and I was finally able to make out the edges of their form. They looked like a man, well-built and wearing close-fitting armor. His face was hidden, but his head looked too large. He must have been wearing a helmet that was oversized compared to his other gear.

    ¡°With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?¡± I asked. I definitely didn¡¯t recognize the voice.

    ¡°Do not toy around with me, Arlo,¡± they said. ¡°Who did you believe you were chasing through that portal?¡±

    I furrowed my brow. Was Aprogar pretending to be a young teen pretending to be an older man? That didn¡¯t make sense.

    Two more heavy steps brought the person within a dozen feet. They wore a tabard with the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s crest. They were the right height and build to be Aprogar. Their face was still obscured, but I could make out a well-kept beard. The man took another step forward. I could finally see their face clearly. They¡­

    They were a fucking muppet.

    The ¡®head¡¯ was some sort of mask. It was an oversized felt caricature of Aprogar, with an exaggerated frown and brows tilted at a severe angle. They cocked their upper body to one side inquisitively, and their pupils clattered around.

    They had damned googly eyes!

    Did the King¡¯s Guard have a mascot? Because I was talking to a straight-up mascot. Even their hands were large felt gloves, and their boots were size twenty-five at the least.

    ¡°When Deletar¡¯s inventory returned to the family vault,¡± said the muppet, ¡°I knew they¡¯d finally been killed. Years of wondering what had happened, years of trying to accept that he was gone.¡± The muppet raised an awkward fist, shaking it in the air as they leaned back. Their fingers didn¡¯t quite fold in properly, their tips flattening and sticking out against their palm. Their voice quivered with all the heat of a high-school theater kid, taking things several notches past believable. ¡°I never realized the wound was still so raw!¡±

    ¡°Uh, I killed a bug,¡± I said. ¡°Not Aprogar¡¯s son. Also¨C¡±

    ¡°Is that all he was to you?!¡± shouted the muppet, slapping a hand over their heart. It made a soft thump. The armor was painted cloth. ¡°He was an insect to be squashed?!¡±

    ¡°No, um, he¡¯d literally been turned into an insect monster.¡±

    ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± I thought to Grotto.

    [Seeing what? I see Aprogar claiming you murdered his child.]

    ¡°Aprogar? No, he¡¯s¨C¡±

    It dawned on me what was happening. I glanced at Grotto, then back to the muppet.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, pointing my hammer at the mascot. ¡°Were you wearing that the whole time?!¡±

    They placed their hands on their hips and looked down at their clothes. They had to bend at the waist since the head was too large. There wasn¡¯t really a neck. They popped back up and huffed.

    ¡°You dare insult the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s regalia?¡± the muppet said, affronted. ¡°These garments were crafted by my wife! She is a well-known tailor! Her talents are in high demand!¡±

    ¡°Not the clothes! I mean, yes, the clothes as well, but your fucking face, man! Did¡­ did no one notice?¡±

    The muppet reached up and slapped a plush hand onto their fuzzy face, then ran it over their fluffy beard. The googly eyes rattled.

    ¡°What about my face?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, really. What about my face?¡±

    ¡°You''re a muppet, my dude.¡±

    ¡°What is a¡­ ¡®muppet¡¯?¡±

    ¡°A big fuzzy fake person! A mascot! A guy in a costume!¡± I paused. ¡°If you were an animal, it¡¯d be called a fursuit.¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± they said in a higher, slightly more feminine voice. It was still pretty low for a woman and had a bit of roughness to it. It wasn¡¯t enough to enable any assumptions about their biology. ¡°I was having fun with this one.¡±

    They pulled off their gloves, revealing hands with long, slender fingers and a different pattern painted onto each nail. They reached up and pulled off the mascot''s head.

    The face that was revealed had bright white skin with a metallic sheen. Their lips were full and bright blue, and a web of cobalt veins spread out from the lips across their lower face.

    Their eyes were like rippling pools of mercury, surrounded by a riot of color, with one sporting a large, green circle in place of a pupil, while the other held a small and stop-sign-red dot.

    Their hair flowed like a drop of navy ink falling into crystal-clear waters.

    Their features were delicate, but their jaw was sharp and defined. Their eyes were large and marked by long, dark lashes, but their forehead was wide, with a widow¡¯s peak that hinted at the first signs of a receding hairline. Did they have a hint of stubble, or was that just their makeup?

    Was it makeup?

    They placed a hand on one hip and ran a thumb along their lower lip. They pressed in, pulling the lip down and revealing dark silver teeth set into dark-blue gums.

    They threw their arms into the air with enough force to do a little hop.

    ¡°You caught me!¡± they said with a full-toothed smile. The veins around their mouth curled into spirals, then uncurled and swept in the opposite direction to curl in again. They held their arms out like a ballerina and did a quick pirouette, gliding across the floor and stopping just in front of my raised shield, wrists held out to me.

    They were wearing a pair of handcuffs.

    ¡°Are you¡­ going to arrest me?¡± they asked, looking up at me with sultry eyes. They were a head shorter than I was.

    ¡°Will you come along quietly?¡±

    They stepped closer, running a finger along the top of my shield. ¡°No,¡± they said. ¡°I¡¯m a screamer.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well, I¡¯m just here to get my friends back.¡±

    ¡°I can be your friend.¡±

    ¡°Did you kidnap my party members?¡±

    They drummed their nails against Gracorvus. One of them had a classic yellow smiley face. Another had a severed head in a smear of blood, with x¡¯s over its eyes.

    ¡°That depends,¡± they said.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°On what?¡±

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re my friend.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know who you are.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Hysteria! Now are we friends?¡±

    ¡°Would you happen to be an avatar, Hysteria?¡±

    They gasped. ¡°I am!¡±

    ¡°Well, we only just met.¡±

    ¡°That means we aren¡¯t friends?¡±

    As much as I was tempted to say that we were friends, I tried not to make friends with crazy. Not too many, anyway. Okay, it wasn¡¯t really a barrier to friendship but this seemed like the wrong flavor of crazy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡±

    ¡°Oh, then I didn¡¯t kidnap your party members.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good. Why did it matter if we were friends?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t lie to my friends.¡± Hysteria¡¯s eyes went wide and they cartwheeled away. When they stopped, the King¡¯s Guard costume was gone, replaced with a tightly fitting ringmaster¡¯s outfit, complete with long coattails and high-rise boots. Instead of slacks, they wore a mini skirt and sparkling fishnets. The front of the outfit dipped low, with a corset-style midsection. They had wide hips, but no obvious bust.

    I felt like I was at a circus-themed drag show.

    Hysteria reached up and clapped their hands. A loud clack sounded in time with the clap, and a bright spotlight shone down onto them from above. I squinted at the sudden light, which only served to illuminate Hysteria while making the rest of the room even darker.

    ¡°Master Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Esquire!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°May I call you Meax¡¯de?¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You unraveled my dastardly plot to abscond with¨C¡± They took a deep breath. ¡°¨CHis Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia, Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward, Defender of the Realm, and Hero of the War of Rebellion, long may he reign!

    ¡°But! Your keen intellect was ever so slightly too slow! I escaped, stealing away the king, your dearest friends, and a bunch of other people no one cares about. Also, Zura, who is kind of important, I guess.¡±

    Hysteria spun and produced a baton, which they pointed up at the sky.

    ¡°Realizing the dangers of my deceit, you brought to heel three of Hiward¡¯s most powerful defenders, sending them through a mysterious portal in pursuit of me! Alas, all three failed to reach my lair!

    ¡°Now, Patriarch Bobret Duckgrien struggles to climb from the deepest depths of a Mittan volcano, his every move challenged by a vicious swarm of inextinguishable fire elementals. Patriarch Ealdric Ravvenblaq battles a leviathan in the world¡¯s deepest trench! And Matriach Cera Duckgrien has been sent to space!¡±

    Hysteria spun and twirled the baton, throwing it into the air and catching it behind their back to twirl it around in front again. ¡°Bitch didn¡¯t see fucking space coming,¡± they said. ¡°Will she survive reentry? Does anyone give a shit? I don¡¯t!¡±

    Hysteria tucked the baton beneath one arm and clapped again. There was another clack as a spotlight hit me as well.

    ¡°Now, our intrepid hero has taken it upon himself to rescue his allies! He bravely traversed a sea of time and space. He¨C¡±

    Hysteria paused and looked at me, then stepped out of the spotlight and disappeared. I heard a sniffing sound behind me and turned to see Hysteria smelling my neck. They winked and darted away before I could turn completely, reappearing in the spotlight in a single step.

    ¡°The hero called upon the heavens to protect him from my outrageous sex appeal, shielding him from my charm and¨C¡± They clapped themselves on the booty. ¡°¨Cthe mind-warping effects of my tight ass!¡±

    You have resisted Dominate!

    You have resisted Mesmerize!

    You have resisted Paranoia!

    You have resisted Psychosis!

    ¡°With the gods at his back and the System at his side, our hero has arrived to challenge me for the lives of those he holds closest to his heart!¡±

    Hysteria pointed the baton into the dark, and another clack revealed a perfect replica of my lounge, with one wall cut away like it was the setting for a stage play.

    King Celeritia was sitting on the couch, chatting with Ejta who sat beside him. Zura and the Eschens stood by the bar, having a few drinks and conversing with Xim and Nuralie, while Varrin and Riona each occupied a lounge chair, paying close attention to the rest.

    Hysteria tossed the baton to one side, and it disappeared into the dark without a sound. They raised their hands and bent their fingers into claws, darkness rising through their outfit and staining it black.

    ¡°Our hero may have overcome near-impossible odds to reach my fiendish abode!¡± Hysteria shouted, voice rising to a crescendo. ¡°Regrettably, he is but a single, lowly Level 12 Delver, who can¡¯t do shit to me! How will he overcome?!¡±

    A ring of runes burst to life at my feet, and I felt a wave of mana swelling to fill them.

    I reached out to the dark, trying to find a place to use Shortcut, but everything cloaked in shadow felt like solid stone to my senses.

    I teleported to Hysteria instead.

    When I appeared, Hysteria was gone. I turned to see the avatar standing in the ring of runes, looking down at them curiously with a hand on their chin. They caught me looking, gave a wave, and then dipped into a flourishing bow. The runes faded away, then sprang to life at my feet.

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    I swapped tactics, focusing on the flow of mana through the runes. I found a spot where the mana condensed and began to move from the outer ring inward toward the next. I did a quick spin, finding three more connecting points, then threw Somncres at full force. I split the hammer three times, using its new third effect to guide each one to a different target.

    They crashed into the ground with a wrenching noise, tearing through a thin layer of metal but failing to penetrate any further. I realized the floor was covered in weave-enhancing Madrin. Whatever was beneath it had similar properties to the outside edges of the Closet, refusing to yield to the supersonic attack.

    The runes squirmed and slid across the torn metal, reforming the connection just beyond the damage.

    ¡°That¡¯s new,¡± I muttered. ¡°Plan C.¡±

    I locked eyes onto the outer ring, looking for the source of the mana leading into the runes. Like the weave in my bedroom, no chips were powering the magic, relying on an outside source. A thick thread of mana ran off into the dark, and when I focused on the origin point, I could make out hundreds more runes that hovered and swam in the air.

    A hint of gold flickered. There was another Delver out there.

    I fixed on the point using Shortcut, finding a small sphere of empty space that the darkness didn¡¯t block. I teleported to the mystery person and didn¡¯t ask any questions.

    I threw Somncres point blank, layering on Oblivion Orb and copying the hammer four times. In the split second it took me to throw, I got a better look at the figure.

    They had dark skin and leathery wings. Their body was shrouded in several layers of gossamer fabric that hung in the air like a massive, ethereal wedding veil. Each layer of fabric was covered in runes that shifted and moved, rearranging into new patterns every second.

    A wall of metal appeared in front of the winged form, and a rapid series of deafening clangs sounded as my hammers collided with it. The veil behind lit up as the runes snapped into a defensive formation, and the outer layer of fabric disintegrated.

    Block bypassed, first defensive ability spent. Dark eyes narrowed beneath the veil.

    The wall of metal pivoted, and what I¡¯d taken for a shield was revealed to be a sword as its edge shot toward me.

    To be fair, it was wide enough to be a shield. It was just a straight-up Buster Sword.

    I caught it with Gracorvus, and the shield strained against the hit, sending shockwaves through my bones and rattling my teeth. The hit slung me away, wind whipping past as I hurtled back toward the runes.

    I activated Gravity Anchor to halt my movement, stopping myself just outside the hostile weave. The sword rose and rested on the shoulder of a hulking figure beside Veil, who was also surrounded by a suppressed golden Delver halo. It was hard to get a read on their Level with the darkness playing hell with all my senses.

    I started channeling Explosion! but it was Dispelled immediately. I caught a glimmer of mana as a spell shot out from the dark on my left, revealing a third golden soul. Things were starting to get out of hand.

    I used Reverse Card to return whatever it was back to sender. I hadn¡¯t caught the full cast, so Magical Thinker hadn¡¯t proc''d. I heard a shout as it collided with the caster.

    Buster charged through the dark, massive sword held high, but they stumbled and reached up to grab their head.

    ¡°Thanks, bud,¡± I thought to Grotto. Before I could capitalize on my familiar¡¯s mental attack, I felt something catch in my throat and an overwhelming urge to cough. All that came out was a wheeze. I glanced down and saw that an arrow had pierced through my gorget, and was sticking out of my neck. My nerves caught up with the damage and started screaming at me.

    HP: 1898 -> 1471

    I couldn¡¯t breathe, but that was barely an inconvenience. I could almost go an hour without air. The arrow did distract me, though, and Buster hit me in the face.

    Gravity Anchor kept me from going anywhere, but that may have made things worse.

    HP: 1471 -> 1228

    Before I could recover from the hit, something crashed into the side of my knee. I felt the joint bend in the wrong direction, my armor crumpling.

    HP: 1228 -> 1005

    A tiny man was standing below me, barely coming up to my waist. They were already pulling back their fist for another punch.

    I went to block, but Buster grabbed my shield. The man was as wide as a bull, and Gravity Anchor didn¡¯t seem to affect them at all. A spell flew out from the dark and wrapped me in a glowing bola. An arrow hit me in my other knee, ending my career as an adventurer. The only thing keeping me up was Gravity Anchor. Runes erupted on my armor, doing¡­ something not good, for sure.

    The little man caught my attention, fist glowing with a technique. White fur poked out from their light armor. It was a mini-yeti like Umi-Doo.

    They let themselves fall toward my center and their fist hit my jaw, denting my bascinet.

    Half of my health was gone.

    I tried to cast Shortcut, but it was Dispelled.

    I tried to cast Elemental Barrier, but the runes on my armor flared, canceling it.

    My arms were bound by the bola.

    Grotto had disappeared.

    Another punch to my jaw.

    You have been Stunned!

    The last thing I remembered was a tiny foot flying towards my face.

 200 - Bro, Can You Even Bench the Worldâ€™s Largest Land Mammal?

    Heavy.

    That was the only thought I could muster for the first few seconds after I regained consciousness. I was face down on the ground, a mess of blurry lights filling my vision from the runes beneath me. I tried to pick myself up, but my limbs only twitched.

    My body felt like it weighed as much as an elephant, which may have been an accurate guess. My Strength allowed me to lift about half of an elephant. So, given my current inability to lift myself, there was a good chance my body weight was somewhere in the upper four figures.

    Alright, I could probably lift half of a small elephant. Really, it depended on the species. Half of an Asian elephant that had spent the last six months on a strict diet, sure. Half of an African bush elephant, probably not.

    Let¡¯s call it one-third of a standard, species-agnostic elephant.

    While I didn¡¯t know the precise fraction of any given type of elephant I could lift, I did know that I wasn¡¯t Paralyzed. There was no Paralyzed notification or dulling numbness. I could feel my muscles flex and struggle, painfully aware of every bone, muscle, and organ struggling to keep from settling into a very messy pancake shape.

    I started running down my self-evaluation checklist. My health was 386, which was¡­ alarmingly low. My HP wasn¡¯t actively dropping, though, which¨C

    My ribs creaked and my health dropped by one.

    My regen ticked, bringing my health back up by one.

    ¡­

    My HP was remaining stable, which I was glad to see.

    Stamina and mana were in good enough shape. I still had 5 minutes left on my immunity to mind shenanigans, so I hadn¡¯t been unconscious for long. Potentially only a handful of seconds. That had still been enough time for Hysteria and their goons to lock me down inside the weave they¡¯d been trying to ensnare me with.

    I didn¡¯t have any debuffs that were sticking, just the constant march of mental attacks being resisted. All my limbs felt like they were still attached, and I was still wearing my gear. All of that was good.

    My eyeballs felt like they were going to drip out of my skull, my head pounded as my heart fought to maintain blood flow, and my diaphragm could barely expand to allow air into my lungs. Each breath felt like sucking down a nest of angry wasps, given the hole in my trachea, and my struggle to move also alerted me that my manhood had not been spared the 40 times multiplier to body weight. All of that was less good.

    Fortunately, my undies provided heroic levels of support¨Cto protect against unexpected g-forces, among other things. Otherwise, my junk would be getting crushed against my armor. Someone had also yanked the arrow out of my neck. Small blessings.

    My vision was less than stellar, possibly because my peepers were deforming, but I could make out five people standing nearby, each illuminated by their own spotlight. The details were fuzzy, but my Soul-Sight was unaffected. I could get a better read on their relative power than I¡¯d been able to while they hid in the dark.

    They were a full party of Level 20s. Three of their number had nothing but Gold Delves under their belts, while the other two had half their levels from Platinum. That made me feel a little better about losing, especially since an avatar was actively giving them an assist.

    The group looked like a diverse crew, and given the disparity in their Delve histories, it might be a fusion of two different parties. If I squinted in just the right way, I could make out enough to tell that the big boy wielding a very big-boy sword was a Hyrachon, the thickest of the Eschen races. A series of granite horns crested his skull, casting shadows over his wide, scowling features.

    Next to him was an even bigger boy with blue skin and intricate tattoos covering their mostly naked form. He looked to be a member of the Mittan race aptly called Giants. He wasn¡¯t quite large enough to justify sieging his lands via beanstalk, but he was head-and-shoulders the largest of the party. He didn¡¯t have any weapons, but he was floating, not that defying gravity told me much. Could have been a spell, technique, passive skill, evolution, or blue man group magic. The jury was out on his role, but after looking everyone else over, I figured he was probably the person who¡¯d been throwing around the magic bola spell.

    The veils covering the rune mage made it even tougher to discern their race, but the dark and leathery wings hinted that they were one of the bat-like Chovali.

    The Mittan Yeti stood before the winged runeworker, arms crossed and looking like a grumpy bouncer for the Chovali¡¯s lower half. He wore a light cuirass and open-face helm, but his extremities were all exposed.

    Finally, there was the archer who was responsible for half of my upper respiratory problems. He was a man with translucent skin and¡­ blurry edges? I blinked and worked my eyebrows, trying to bring him into focus. No, it wasn¡¯t my eyeballs, his skin just sort of faded away and merged with his soul, as though they were one and the same. It may have been an ability, but the look of him reminded me of another ephemeral person I knew¨CXim¡¯s dad, Drel¡¯gethed.

    Loosely then, we had a blade-wielding bruiser, a lockdown spell slinger, a rune-tossing caster, a tiny pugilist, and a dreamy ranger.

    I wondered who was in charge of the heals. I¡¯d need to plot their demise, for when I got loose.

    While I busily planned for success, I rolled my bouldery eyes around, searching through the magical darkness to try and spot any other unexpected surprises (which are, in fact, just surprises). My view was limited, so I strained my neck and dragged my head to a new angle. My warped bascinet screeched across the metal. After a few degrees of movement, I found Hysteria.

    They were doing a handstand, the sexy circus ringleader outfit exchanged for a sequin leotard. The sequins formed the image of a large feline predator, which wrapped all the way around Hysteria¡¯s body. I was still uncertain whether the avatar was trying to embody a certain gender, so I scanned for bulges.

    I didn¡¯t find any. They were as smooth as an androgynous angel.

    Hysteria¡¯s eyebrows shot up (down?) when they saw me awake and lifted a hand off the ground to give me an enthusiastic wave. I valiantly twitched a finger in response. Hysteria put their hand over their mouth to hide a giggle, but they didn¡¯t make a sound.

    Ignoring the avatar, I confirmed that I could still access my inventory. I also tugged on my soul connection with Grotto. He was behind me, but Soul-Sight was 360 these days. He was on the ground, not dead, and there was a tingling sense of discomfort coming from Shared Fate. No major warning signs, though.

    ¡°You still with me?¡± I thought to him.

    [I am deeply unhappy with our predicament.]

    ¡°Gravity hijinks bringing you down?¡± I sent him a psychic wink and a nudge.

    [My chassis is more than capable of mitigating the force it is under. My c¡¯thonic meat suit, less so. I am also trapped beneath one of my shields, which is a hazard I did not foresee.]

    ¡°At least you aren¡¯t mind-controlled.¡±

    [How would you know?]

    ¡°Woman¡¯s intuition.¡±

    [Yes, I have read that men of breeding age sometimes internalize feminine characteristics through bonding rituals as a precursor to mating.]

    ¡°It¡¯s the secret to my power.¡±

    [However, I was unaware that you were engaged in any such dalliances. Your claim to have made contact with your inner woman is thus dubious.]

    ¡°Damn. Did you just say I had no game?¡±

    [No. Determining your skill is impossible with so little data.]

    ¡°Hrk! You shot me right in the heart, bro.¡±

    While Grotto eviscerated my reproductive qualifications, I utilized my upgraded multitasking ability to dedicate a part of my mind toward breathing manually and clenching my core to try and keep blood supplied to my brain.

    I was a little impressed I could stay conscious at all, but Body of Theseus was probably helping, and Just a Flesh Wound kept the blood inside my delicate veins. Many of the old blood tubes certainly should have ruptured by now.

    Hysteria dropped the hand from their mouth and ran it down (up?) their body suggestively, then spread their legs and held the hand out to one side for balance. They looked up (down?) at their other hand, bit their lip, and pushed until they were supported only by their fingers.

    While the silent acrobatics show went on, I flicked across some inventory items I thought might be helpful, pausing to read one very closely.

    Get Out of Cage Free Card

    By activating this card, you invoke System authority to extricate you and your party from any form of imprisonment, capture, restraint, or other situation in which you find your physical presence undesirable, including a Delve where you have failed the objective, or are just plain sick of.

    The mechanics of your escape will vary based on the circumstances and the System may not be capable of intervening in certain situations. The System''s capacity to intervene and the methods available to it are dependent on the current phase of System rollout. Please consult your User Manual or mentor for more information.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    This is a fleeting item and may only be used once.

    I might have been able to use the Card to get myself and everyone else in the party out of this mess, but that would leave the king, Zura, the other Eschens, and Riona all behind. I didn¡¯t want to abandon them to whatever fate Hysteria had in mind, which meant I needed to get them into my party.

    I toyed around with the invite system, but I needed mutual consent to send one. The consent could be express or implied, but it didn¡¯t seem like either the king of Hiward or the Eschen delegates had much implicit trust in me quite yet. Getting any kind of consent would be difficult while they were fifty feet away and locked inside an illusory cage built by a mind-invading avatar. I focused on my System Rep and tried again, but all I got was a notification admonishing me against spamming.

    Hysteria stuck their tongue out to one side and pinched their features into a look of extreme concentration. They flexed their hand and pushed up until their handstand was supported by only a single finger. I¡¯d call it a fingerstand, but that sounded more like a place one would go to buy a snack for their pet cannibal. Or maybe a highly specialized prosthetics vendor.

    Why was my first instinct to assume the fingers at the fingerstand would be for eating? We may never know.

    I moved past my introspections and began to construct a plan.

    Step 1: Get out of immobilizing rune shit.

    Step 2: Dispel omnipresent illusion shit.

    Step 3: Eliminate avatar-grade mind control shit.

    Step 4: Invite political allies to my shit.

    Step 5: Use Card to escape and shit.

    No problemo.

    Hysteria¡¯s fingerstand was currently supported by the pad of their index finger. They bared their teeth, and beads of sweat ran up their face, which made no sense given their current upside-downness. The finger flexed until the fingerstand was only supported by the very tip of the fingernail. It was a full-on nailstand, and not the kind one would visit to buy crunchy treats for their other pet cannibals; the ones who were more calorie conscious.

    Hysteria wiggled in delight, body shaking with silent laughter, then frowned and spun their arm when it threatened their balance. I began wondering whether I¡¯d gone deaf, but I could hear my labored breathing and the crunch of my armor against the ground. I could also hear the other Delvers having a whispered conversation, so I didn¡¯t think the weave blocked sound, either.

    Hysteria was just being fucking weird.

    The avatar looked at me, then gestured at their nail as if to say ¡°Are you seeing this shit?¡± My tongue slipped out as I attempted to feign surprise. Hysteria took a deep breath, still without making a sound, then lifted (dropped?) their hand and crossed their arms.

    They were still suspended in the air.

    ¡°Ohw echs ah goo gann,¡± I said, tongue still hanging out. The floor was cold and tangy.

    Hysteria furrowed their brow and placed a hand behind one ear, leaning forward. I repeated my statement, with similar levels of success.

    Hysteria sighed, then snapped their fingers at the Chovali runeworker. The Chovali, of course, did not notice said sighing or snapping, since it failed to make any noise. The Hyrachon got the Chovali¡¯s attention and pointed at Hysteria, who then pointed at the runes and mouthed a few words. The Chovali looked from Hysteria to the runes, then back to Hysteria, trying to parse what it was the avatar wanted. Eventually, the Chovali waved a hand toward me, and one of the runes near my head dimmed slightly.

    My tongue and jaw were freed from the gravity effect.

    ¡°What was that, Arlo, dearest?¡± Hysteria asked. I thrust my jaw out toward where their finger had been contacting the ground.

    ¡°I said, ¡®Now it¡¯s a no-stand.¡¯¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s head tilted to one side, they looked at the floor, then a smile bloomed on their face.

    ¡°Like a handstand!¡± they said.

    ¡°Or a fingerstand,¡± I added.

    ¡°No thanks, I¡¯m not hungry.¡±

    I double-checked my notifications, making sure Hysteria hadn¡¯t invaded my thinkmeats. I had three minutes left on my immunities.

    I thought over the best way to handle this scenario. The situation was grim, but I still had plenty of tricks. Being three-quarters dead and pinned down to the ground was hardly enough to stop me. I still had fucking magic!

    Shortcut has been negated by Iron Maiden.

    Shit.

    Given that my cunning plan of ¡°teleport away¡± had been foiled, I probably needed to try and talk it out with Hysteria. I called to mind Avarice¡¯s advice, wondering how I could play into Hysteria¡¯s compulsions to guide them in the direction I wanted.

    [Hysteria: a state of uncontrollable emotional excess. This term is frequently applied to a single disordered individual, but it also describes larger groups experiencing significant excitement, leading to energetic disorganization.]

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Hysteria probably wanted me to lose my cool, but so long as I wasn¡¯t frustrating their attempts to goad me, I would probably be fine. If anything, I could play into it. At the same time, Hysteria probably wanted to exist within a personal state of hysteria.

    If I immediately broke down and became a mess, that¡¯d be predictable, right? That was most likely what Hysteria normally ran into when interacting with people. Either that or people just did whatever it was that Hysteria wanted because, ya know, mind control. If I wanted Hysteria to have a strong emotional reaction to me, I should aim to be atypical.

    The answer, then, wasn¡¯t to give Hysteria what they wanted, but the opposite.

    In the meantime, I¡¯d focus on the mana flows through this Iron Maiden weave, with Grotto¡¯s assistance.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, straining for enough air to get words out. ¡°This is awkward.¡±

    Hysteria brushed the front of their leotard thoughtfully. The sequins turned over to reveal the image of a unicorn with a flaming battleaxe instead of a horn. The air around the legendary battlecorn was filled with a storm of blood, and the ground was covered in decapitated gummy bears, which oozed strawberry jam from their gooey centers.

    ¡°Cool shirt,¡± I said. ¡°You could swap the cat out for a giant Nicholas Cage face if you really want to lean into the gonzo.¡±

    The unicorn galloped forward and slaughtered another innocent candied Ursidae.

    A slick of jelly spattered my face, and the scent of fruit and copper wafted over me. I blinked away some of the jam, then refocused on the image. It was back to its original pose, unmoving.

    I checked my notifications again.

    Two minutes and thirty seconds left on the Holy Water.

    It was illusions, probably.

    ¡°You¡¯re kind of fun,¡± said Hysteria, settling their chin on a palm. Their body language was persistent in its belief that gravity was going the wrong direction. ¡°This go-around I¡¯ve tried to limit myself to really influential figures, you know? People who can make a difference.¡±

    ¡°Thanks?¡±

    ¡°Which is why my first instinct was to kill you,¡± they continued. ¡°Sure, you¡¯ve done a couple of things people have noticed, but you¡¯re not important in a classic sense.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t run a country, you don¡¯t have an army, you¡¯re not the governor of a major province, you¡¯re not a staggeringly wealthy entrepreneur.¡±

    ¡°These are all true.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a nobody! Barely better than a dirt farmer.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± I grumbled. ¡°And farmers are the backbone of society. Those people put dirt on your table.¡±

    ¡°However, you¡¯re an up-and-comer,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Meetings with kings and Zenithars, a looming brunch with the Littan empress, the blessings of the gods raining down upon you!¡± Hysteria eyed me and sucked in their bottom lip. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ titillating.¡±

    The avatar flipped over and a golden cloak billowed out from their shoulders, sweeping across their form and revealing a gold and violet spandex costume. They landed gracefully on one foot, arms akimbo, and a domino mask began to spray out sparkles from either side of their face.

    Hysteria dropped their voice and projected. ¡°I haven¡¯t done an up-and-comer run in ages!¡± There was even a bit of echo and reverb added in. ¡°You, sir, are an opportunity! An opening number with endless possibilities! You aren¡¯t beholden to anyone. No one relies on you to do things.¡±

    ¡°Not true at all.¡±

    ¡°You barely have any responsibilities, and yet you¡¯re this close¨C¡± They held up their finger and thumb, only a centimeter separating them. ¡°¨Cto becoming someone of note.¡± Hysteria took a breath and cocked their hip. ¡°I think I¡¯ll steal all that.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you wanted the king? To steal his identity?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Hysteria, glancing over their shoulder towards the group chilling in the fake lounge. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really nailed it down. I¡¯d probably become one of them and then set up the other to come into conflict with me.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s cloak rose up and formed a mouth like a sock puppet. ¡°War ensues, global mayhem, yadda, yadda, yadda,¡± said the cloak in a nasal voice that was clearly also Hysteria. I could still see their damn lips moving. ¡°It¡¯s all so exhausting,¡± the cloak continued. ¡°The same thing over and over. Kill me no¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria. The cloak flinched like an abused animal. ¡°I love it, I really do, but a change of pace would be nice.¡±

    ¡°What happens to the people whose identities you steal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I put them into a giant blender and drink them up like a milkshake!¡±

    ¡°Is that a metaphor or¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d prefer that didn¡¯t happen.¡±

    Hysteria dropped to their knees in front of me.

    ¡°Will you beg?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Will you plead?¡± asked Cloaky.

    ¡°Will you gnash and moan and scream?!¡± they asked together.

    ¡°Probably not.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s eyes narrowed, then they smiled. ¡°Okay, whatever,¡± they said. ¡°Be that way, it¡¯s half the fun.¡±

    ¡°So what does this have to do with Unity?¡± I tossed the name of the original avatar out there as a gamble. I didn¡¯t know if Hysteria had anything to do with Unity or even Brae¡¯ach, but there were only so many avatars and some of them were working with the Davahns.

    Hysteria stiffened. ¡°Are you trying to bait me into revealing our master plan?¡±

    ¡°Mostly I want to grab my friends and leave. If you want to tell me about your master plan, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡±

    ¡°Fiend!¡± Hysteria shouted, making a religious-looking gesture in the air. ¡°You¡¯ll not seduce me, foul temptress!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± shouted Cloaky. ¡°Beat us all you want, we¡¯ll never talk!¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria, batting at the cloak¡­ sock puppet¡­ thingy. It dodged the strike and snapped down on Hysteria¡¯s wrist like a snake. ¡°Gah! Dammit!¡±

    I was then treated to a brief wrestling match between the avatar Hysteria and their surprisingly violent cloak.

    I was fairly convinced the cloak wasn¡¯t a separate entity, but it was entirely possible that Hysteria didn¡¯t realize they¡¯d made the character up, and was therefore fighting themself.

    I used the opportunity to open my inventory and drop a vial of Holy Water into my mouth. I could barely maneuver it around with my tongue but managed to bite down on the glass before the timer on the first one ran out.

    ¡°Is this avatar¡­ kind of stupid?¡± I thought to Grotto while I tried and failed to spit out the glass. It was mostly burrowing into my cheek and gums.

    [I believe most avatars hold within them a fierce dichotomy of preternatural talent and gross ignorance. Due to their nature, they lack many of the intuitive social and physical senses developed by mortals. Further, they dominate their environment through incredible aptitude within their areas of competence, leaving them little reason to develop additional skills. This is compounded by the overriding desire to pursue their governing concept. Thus, they represent a precarious balance of extreme stupidity in certain areas, and inhuman brilliance in others.]

    Hysteria squealed and rolled, putting Cloaky into a headlock. The cloak immediately broke free by not having a head, unraveling itself and leaving Hysteria staring blankly at their empty arms. Cloaky came around to strangle them from behind, eliciting another shriek.

    [This one, perhaps, leans more heavily toward the stupid side of things.]

 201 - Banana Sandwich

    While the scuffle ensued, the hefty Hyrachon took the opportunity to sidle over to me, their impractically massive sword resting against a shoulder. He squatted down and looked me over, appraising me with a simmering anger that felt out of place. True hatred peeked out from behind the rage, as though I¡¯d killed the man¡¯s mother or something. I hadn¡¯t even fought any Hyrachons, much less killed them, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯d been able to hurt anyone on his team.

    Then again, maybe I had fought and killed a Hyrachon, but had no idea that it was a Hyrachon at the time.

    Buster leaned in even closer until I could smell what he had for lunch on his breath.

    Something spicy. Tacos, maybe.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± he said, voice deep and rumbling. ¡°What do you know of Blood Scour?¡±

    The image of a Herculean cockroach flashed through my mind, her bardiche doing demolition work on my intestines.

    ¡°Was that a¡­ friend of yours?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She was my sister.¡±

    I decided to drop the flippant attitude and play it straight with this guy. It was possible, nay, likely that his party was being manipulated by Hysteria. A few cuts of ground-up truth wrapped in a fried corn tortilla of deception, and the avatar could have served this man an ¡°Arlo killed your sister¡± taquito.

    Damn, I wanted some Mexican food.

    ¡°When my party was working through Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± I said, ¡°we were attacked by a group of insectoid monsters. They were modeled after Delvers who¡¯d died while attempting the Delve in the past. One of them was named Blood Scour.¡±

    ¡°You killed her?¡±

    ¡°We killed something that the System called Blood Scour.¡± I tried to give the man a solemn look, but it was difficult with my head still pressed against the floor. ¡°The post-combat notifications called it a Doomed Aspirant, with the creature type of Abomination. Whatever it was, it wasn¡¯t a Delver. It was something pretending to be the person it was based on.¡±

    Even as I said it, I wasn¡¯t completely confident in that last part. Avarice had told us the creatures were little more than puppets, but I didn¡¯t have much faith that the avatar was being honest with us.

    ¡°When a Delver dies, their inventory returns,¡± said the Hyrachon, standing up again. ¡°If Blood Scour was already dead, then why did her inventory return only a month ago?¡±

    A month would match the timing of our fight with the Aspirants. Aprogar had mentioned Deletar¡¯s inventory returning as well, but Aprogar had actually been Hysteria, and these people were working with Hysteria, the master of mind magicks and professional cloak wrangler. The whole inventory thing could have been implanted in their heads.

    Alternatively, Avarice may really have enslaved the fallen Delvers, corrupted their bodies, and forced them to try and kill us before lying about it.

    Either way, an avatar was responsible for this guy¡¯s misplaced anger. I didn¡¯t think crying ¡®avatar!¡¯ would be very helpful, though, given the man¡¯s choice of employer.

    ¡°Look, the System is not infallible,¡± I said. ¡°There are ways to exploit its rules.¡±

    The Hyrachon turned and gestured at the Chovali. ¡°Cliffswept¡¯s mate was known as Quiet Solitude. You recognize this name?¡±

    ¡°I do. They were a butterfly that cast curses.¡±

    ¡°A butterfly?¡± he asked. ¡°Was my sister also a butterfly, in this tale of yours?¡±

    ¡°She was not.¡±

    He watched me expectantly, but I wasn¡¯t about to tell this man his sister had been a roach. He eventually shrugged and gestured at the hovering Giant.

    ¡°Garvandr¡¯s daughter was known as Boundless Night. What sort of insect was she to you?¡±

    ¡°She was a fly. And a necromancer.¡±

    The giant spat something in Mittan, looking none too happy.

    ¡°Zayn Ayad,¡± said the Hyrachon, pointing at the dream-like archer, ¡°is a Wishborn, summoned to this world by Thundering Arrow¡¯s mother to keep watch over her. He was forced out of Deijin¡¯s Descent by some great power, which banished him back to the Third Layer. His memories were torn from him, but the bond to his charge remained strong.¡± The Hyrachon turned and his features darkened. ¡°That bond was severed one month ago.¡±

    Meanwhile, in the psychic halls of justice¡­

    ¡°How¡¯s that mana weave analysis coming along?¡±

    [Quite well, in fact. The ability to utilize your Mystical Magic intrinsic to aid in studying the mana flows is exceptionally helpful.]

    ¡°Think we can break it in, say, the next fifteen seconds?¡±

    [I doubt we can disable the entire weave, but perhaps an individual function. There are runic arrays for each of the primary magic schools that inhibit spellwork below a certain mana density.]

    ¡°Hmm. Good thing I have a variable cost spell that¡¯s designed to eat other people¡¯s magic.¡±

    [Yes, I just need to isolate the relevant modules. The costs of affecting the weave more generally would be prohibitive.]

    ¡°I appreciate it. Got anything to add to my conversation with this guy whose sister I might have killed?¡±

    [He sounds as though he has already made up his mind. What evidence could I bring that you could not?]

    ¡°I dunno, ask old Number Two to step in with a helpful notification?¡±

    [You could share your notifications for the kills, to prove that they were categorized as Abominations.]

    I decided to give it a shot, but the Hyrachon¡¯s blade at the back of my throat interrupted me.

    ¡°I care not whether the System incited the conflict,¡± he said. ¡°Even if you were truly defending yourselves, your people¡¯s hands are slick with the blood of our families. There is but one manner in which retribution might be had.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯d we kill that the Yeti knew?¡±

    He glanced at the furry little guy. ¡°Joma? None that I know of. She is just here because she enjoys these types of things.¡±

    She? Damn, got that one wrong. To be fair, she was covered in thick fur and wearing a breastplate. Not exactly easy to see what was going on under there.

    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯ve introduced me to the rest of your party, but I didn¡¯t catch your name.¡±

    ¡°You may call me Felgar, not that you will have much time to use the name.¡±

    ¡°Right. I¡¯m Arlo, Felgar, but you probably already knew that.¡± I mulled over whether I wanted to fish for some more information. Grotto was already feeding me potential vulnerabilities in the runework keeping me bound, so I needed to buy myself a little more time. ¡°During our encounter with the Aspirants, it came to light that they originated from the Eschen Wastes. Would you all happen to be from there as well?¡±

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Felgar smirked. ¡°It is so.¡±

    ¡°Seems to be a lot of unaffiliated Delvers out that way.¡±

    ¡°It has become somewhat popular with assassins and mercenaries. No government to interfere.¡±

    ¡°And which category do you fall into?¡±

    ¡°That depends on who is paying.¡± He lifted his blade, gripping the hilt in both hands.

    ¡°You just going to execute me, then?¡± I asked. ¡°Sure you don¡¯t want to fight it out? We could totally have a series of honor duels.¡±

    ¡°No. I try to ensure the death of my enemies. If they are served to me on a platter, then I will humbly accept and relieve them of their helpless heads.¡± He paused, then added, ¡°Also, we are being paid to kill you, so that would be unprofessional.¡±

    He raised his sword up the last few inches to get a good clean strike in, and I pumped a Dispel into the mana weave below me, guiding the countermagic along the junctions working to lock down my Dimensional Magic.

    Your Mystical Magic Skill has increased to Level 22!

    I cast Shortcut to appear next to the lounge illusion, and Hysteria whipped around, still being throttled by their exceptionally angry cloak.

    I pulled out an orb of Tyranny¡¯s Tears and hurled it at the ground, then gave the avatar a flourishing bow.

    There was a bubbling hiss, and the liquid boiled off into the air in less than a second. The darkness in the room dissolved away, and everything in the fake lounge disappeared.

    Several Eschen delegates staggered as the bar they were leaning against evaporated, and Riona hit the ground with a squeak. Etja reflexively began to float, Celeritia had been on the couch but was already standing next to me before I could process that he¡¯d moved at all. Varrin¡¯s sitting position simply became a squat, which he maintained while looking around.

    ¡°Banana sandwich!¡± I said, then started tossing out the remaining vials of Holy Water. ¡°Also, everyone join my party!¡±

    Xim, Varrin, Nuralie, and Etja all tossed the unidentified potions back without question, while everyone else was still looking around in confusion. Everyone except for the king, that is. That man had already accepted my invite and was now busy kicking ass.

    The wastelanders dove into action the moment after I¡¯d teleported, but an unseen force was systematically ripping apart their nascent offensive. Wind tore through the dimensional space as Felix ¡°God-Step¡± Celeritia explained his middle name to the Level 20 Delvers.

    The king blinked into existence next to Felgar, visible for a fraction of a second, and drove a foot into the side of the man¡¯s knee, causing his massive sword to unbalance him. Celeritia¡¯s form flashed before the yeti, and the Mittan pugilist was suddenly sailing across the room. Zayn the Wishborn drew an arrow, but found it sticking out of the Giant¡¯s shoulder before he could nock it. The arrow interrupted the flow of mana through the Giant¡¯s arm and canceled a spell he¡¯d been preparing, then his jaw clicked to one side from a strike too fast to see, sending the mage staggering.

    ¡°Care to explain?¡± asked Zura.

    ¡°Kidnapped by an avatar!¡± I said. ¡°Mind fuckery!¡±

    Zura clucked her tongue. ¡°Not a single day to relax, it seems.¡± She glanced at the delegates. ¡°Accept the young man¡¯s invite.¡±

    Zura and the Eschens joined my party, and I felt Divine mana begin to flow through the Zenithar, but it was a trickle compared to the absolute torrent of power I¡¯d felt when she sank the Littan fleet. She furrowed her brow and dug deeper, but something was blocking her.

    Either that or her connection to Geul was severed.

    Riona was the only one not in the party, and she was gazing off toward Hysteria with an absent expression.

    ¡°Fucking hell,¡± I said. ¡°Varrin, Hysteria is mind fucking your sister.¡±

    The big guy scowled at my phrasing but was already dragging Riona toward Xim. Our cleric hit her with a Cleanse, but the mental effects dug back in immediately.

    ¡°Stop!¡± shouted the king.

    I looked away from Riona, finding Celeritia standing next to Hysteria. The avatar had their elbow up on the king¡¯s shoulder, leaning against the taller man. Their cloak was still trying to strangle them. Sadly, Cloaky was having no success.

    The wastelanders were picking themselves up and brushing off wounds. The king had kept them busy, but he hadn¡¯t managed to do any devastating damage. I glanced at the Eschen delegates, seeing them all completely checked out. Zura¡¯s face was screwed up in concentration, but her Divine mana was trembling. She was keeping the avatar out for now, but she wouldn¡¯t last long.

    All I needed was for Riona to accept my party invite.

    ¡°I love a good rally!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But there¡¯s nowhere for you to go, even if you could subdue the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of a teleport?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s literally how I got here.¡±

    Hysteria reached up and took off a train conductor¡¯s hat I hadn¡¯t noticed them wearing. ¡°That was a one-way ticket,¡± said the avatar.

    They swept the hat around at the barren cube we were held within. The Tears had banished the darkness, but the chamber¡¯s edges were still perfectly black. For a moment, I thought the walls were made of something that destroyed or consumed light, but there was a depth to that void. My eyes couldn¡¯t see it, but a sensation stirred within my spirit that spoke of the absolute nothing just beyond the room¡¯s perimeter, barely held at bay.

    Something about it was the slightest bit familiar.

    ¡°No one in or out,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Until the king is dead and I call for our chariot, of course.¡± They patted Celeritia on the chest and walked forward, hips swaying like a cat.

    Hysteria pointed at Zura, and the Zenithar collapsed to her knees. ¡°Even the gods are absent here.¡± Hysteria paused and swirled a strand of their inkdrop hair around one finger. They looked up at me and pursed their lips. ¡°Aside from whatever little piece of them you brought in here with you, I guess. Either way, we¡¯re adrift in emptiness, divorced from the physical plane and separated from the Divine.¡±

    Hysteria sauntered up to Zura. They tapped the Zenithar on the forehead, and the Geulon¡¯s features relaxed. She calmly stood up and folded her hands, looking around the group with an amused expression.

    ¡°If we¡¯re totally cut off,¡± I said, ¡°how will you ¡®call for a chariot¡¯? Communication implies some level of exposure.¡±

    ¡°Silly boy,¡± Hysteria said, then booped me on the nose. ¡°That¡¯s a secret.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that fucking asshole Limbo!¡± shouted Cloaky. ¡°This dumbfuck¨C¡± Cloaky formed a fabric thumb and jerked it at Hysteria. ¡°¨Cthought it would be a good idea to team up, but it¡¯s a total shit show!¡±

    Hysteria turned to Cloaky and screamed. Their jaw unhinged, their silver teeth sharpened into points, and their tongue fluttered in the wind as a monstrous gust of air erupted from the avatar¡¯s throat.

    Cloaky was shredded into pieces.

    Hysteria unclasped the tattered remains of the garment and tossed it to the ground. They began speaking again, but this time I really had gone deaf. Xim hit each of us with a Heal, and my hearing returned mid-sentence.

    ¡°¨Cdo funeral arrangements cost these days?¡± they said. ¡°My emergency fund is pretty low, but maybe I can get a good deal if I¡¯m sad enough. No, people who perform death rites for a living are probably heartless.¡±

    Hysteria wiped a single tear from their face, then blew a gentle kiss toward the annihilated cloak.

    I continued scanning the void while listening to Hysteria mourn the loss of Cloaky, searching out that familiarity I¡¯d felt.

    ¡°Can we kill them now?¡± asked Felgar.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± said Hysteria, looking up from the ¡®corpse¡¯. ¡°Oh yes, fine. Have fun.¡±

    Both parties tensed, and I forced my mind to accelerate through the problem in front of me, splitting my focus to attack it from multiple angles.

    Could my party take these wastelanders? Maybe if we were in perfect condition. I was pretty low on health, and everyone else was still dressed in their fancy clothes, not their combat gear. Weapons could come out in an instant, but armor took time to equip. Against a full crew of mostly fresh Level 20s in full kit, it wasn¡¯t a bet I wanted to take.

    The battle might also spill over to the Eschens or Riona, and there was every chance Hysteria could force our charmed allies to give the wastelanders a hand. Hysteria might even step in personally. Solving this problem through violence was a bad play.

    That meant we needed to escape, which meant I needed to get Riona into my party. So, how could I make that happen? I could use the Card to get everyone else out, but Varrin might never forgive me if I abandoned his sister. Losing a father to an avatar was bad enough. I wasn¡¯t sure he could lose another family member in the same way without something inside the man breaking.

    I also wondered whether the Card would actually work, given Hysteria¡¯s claim about the nature of the space we were in. If Geul was cut off, was the System as well? I nudged that question to Grotto, who tried to establish an uplink.

    The crux of the problem was Hysteria¡¯s mind control. I was out of Holy Water, and the avatar seemed to have an aura that constantly tried to auto-Dominate everyone nearby. That made Cleanse and other one-off effects useless. Nuralie had potions that enhanced the imbiber¡¯s mental resistances, but Riona was Level 1 and we were working against an avatar. Anything short of pure immunity wasn¡¯t worth spending time on.

    If I couldn¡¯t reliably end the mind control, then I needed a way to interrupt it. I didn¡¯t think a distraction would work. Hysteria¡¯s mental assault had gone on the entire time they¡¯d been fighting with their cloak. I just needed a way to temporarily disrupt the core function of a semi-divine being vastly more powerful than myself.

    Avatars were extremely resilient, but I had seen one get a good spanking once before.

    I fixated on the void, Fortune¡¯s chubby, infuriating face, Hysteria¡¯s words: ¡°We¡¯re adrift in emptiness, divorced from the physical plane and separated from the Divine.¡±

    A kernel of Truth pressed against my soul, struggling to reach out to the nothing beyond the cube¡¯s bounds.

    It ruled the vacancy between universes, and that was a bare fraction of its existence.

    ¡°Before we get started!¡± I shouted. ¡°Is there anything you¡¯d like to tell us?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I¡¯m tired of the order that words bring and have a craving for chaos.¡±

    ¡°Not asking you,¡± I said.

    Felgar spat. ¡°Then who in the hells are you asking?¡±

    ¡°JuRoQi.¡±

 202 - Special Guest Star

    The souls of everyone present rippled as the Dread Star¡¯s true name caused reality to shudder. The boiling conflict between us froze as the three syllables delivered overwhelming context. The Dread Star¡¯s nature was revealed, engraving itself onto our spirits in a pattern that no force could undo, without rewriting the universe itself.

    The cube that Hysteria had trapped us in was a small slice of the physical plane, transplanted somewhere that rebelled at its existence. We were adrift in oblivion, where nonexistence was sacrosanct, and our every atom was a sin against the god whose flesh we marred with our presence.

    Even so, we were a single mote of dust amidst an endless empire of nothing. We were beneath notice, our transgression so insignificant that a being of infinite consciousness wouldn¡¯t waste a thought to wipe us away. This place was anathema to matter, and our blasphemous speck would eventually be drawn to someplace more accommodating.

    When the entire life of a star passes in the space of a breath, all problems become transient. There¡¯s no reason to spend any effort at all to solve most of them, especially when the problem is the barest fleck, a particle so minuscule that it¡¯s already closer to nothing than something in the first place.

    Of course, when that mote of dust starts shouting your name, you might be more inclined to get rid of it.

    In short: we were fucked, and everyone knew we were fucked the moment the name came outta my mouth.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Hysteria began, voice just barely above a whisper, ¡°did you just say?!¡±

    A pair of galactic eyes opened in the void behind the avatar, so distant that the universe would die before the light of its birth could reach them. So close, that we were already within them.

    Hysteria turned, careful and slow, and as they turned we all came to face the Dread Star, though we faced it no matter where we looked.

    I had the thought that this may not have been the best move.

    Ten thousand keys and only one door,

    Ten thousand feet and only one floor,

    Ten thousand tries and only one more.

    The voice was not sound, it did not propagate as waves through the air; what use would that be to the god of the void? It was presence, the Dread Star¡¯s commandment, saturating all things.

    A point of light appeared to our right, then multiplied a billion times until it swirled and glittered like the cosmos. It stretched out into eternity, adorned with five pillars, each as large as the Milky Way.

    In that moment I realized I could see in all directions, my normal vision expanded into a complete sphere. It was necessary to take in even an allusion to the scale of the thing. It was necessary for me to comprehend the shape of it.

    It was a hand.

    Ten million rise and one falls short,

    Ten million crimes and only one court,

    Ten million lies and only one retort.

    The presence of the Dread Star grew. It approached from a place separated by an untraversable gap, a span so vast that time could not flow through it. It expanded eternally, and the Dread Star swelled until it overflowed from the meager confines.

    The Dread Star¡¯s voice was real. More real than anything. More real than us.

    More real than me.

    Ten billion realms in only one place,

    Ten billion sins and only one grace,

    Ten billion flies and only one taste.

    The hand grew, magnified, becoming sharp and immediate. It threatened to overtake my entire field of vision, continuing to expand even after it was all that I could see.

    Adrenaline flooded my body when I realized what I was watching.

    It wasn¡¯t getting bigger.

    It was getting closer.

    An endless want and only one state,

    An endless whine and only one fate,

    An endless prize but you just can¡¯t wait.

    The countless points of light became countless stars, the hand too close for its shape to be seen.

    Someone was screaming, and Hysteria was melting. The Dread Star¡¯s message was for all of us, but its ire was wholly centered on the avatar.

    AN INFINITE MIND POORLY CROWNED

    ¡°Arlo,¡± Zura said, shouted, and whispered. ¡°How?¡±

    The Zenithar was weeping, all semblance of Hysteria¡¯s control over her gone. I caused Zura to shrink while causing Riona to become larger, until the young Ravvenblaq¡¯s face blotted out the sky. I grasped her shoulders.

    ¡°Accept the invite,¡± I said.

    Riona blinked, and her eyes shone with the hand¡¯s reflection.

    Riona Ravvenblaq has joined your party.

    AN INFINITE GRIND UNTIL ALL ARE DROWNED

    We were inside the Dread Star¡¯s palm, dense clusters of stars hurtling past, my mind screaming that their speed and proximity to one another made no sense. The Dread Star¡¯s voice made it the unshakeable Truth.

    King Celeritia was beside me, eyes plastered wide as he grimaced.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Try to sum this up for me,¡± he said.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re going unreasonably fast,¡± I answered. ¡°Fast enough to break physics.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± he said. ¡°I have a skill for that.¡±

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Non-intertial!

    Non-inertial: You are immune to damage caused by changes to your inertia.

    Some part of my brain puzzled over whether that buff made me immune to all Kinetic damage, then wondered if it would even matter.

    AN INFINITE GROVELLING

    BEST DONE

    FROM THE

    GROUND.

    A single star went from the size of my thumb to swallowing all of reality in a single second. A spike of heat seared my skin, but before I could register any discomfort, I was underwater. Zura¡¯s soul encompassed me, along with all of our allies.

    We all seemed to teleport, finding ourselves pressed against the wall, but I barely felt any pressure. At the same time, there was a deafening BANG, and Hysteria became a colorful, smoking stain.

    The wastelanders were frozen in place, a thousand runes shining around them.

    The star receded, faster than it arrived, and I could make out the hand, swimming through the eternal void like it had just served an astronomical volleyball spike. It shrank into nothingness, and the perfect black of the Dead Star¡¯s realm faded to the imperfect black of space.

    I turned, seeing us hurtling toward another star. I opened my inventory and pulled up the Card. Everyone was in my party. I just had to¨C

    Establishing System uplink. Please stand by¡­

    ¡°Grotto?!¡±

    [It appears we need to be within ten million miles of the planet to establish a robust connection.]

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯re gonna pass that close!¡±

    [We are not on a direct course toward the sun. Our approach vector is off by 0.3 degrees.]

    ¡°So we¡¯ll miss it?!¡±

    [Not as such, but I believe we will collide with Arzia first. You will have approximately¡­ two point one seconds from when we enter the System¡¯s range to use the Card.]

    ¡°Okay, I can do that.¡±

    Runes pulsed, and the wastelanders disappeared, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about it.

    [Yes. Hopefully, the Card¡¯s activation does not take much time.]

    ¡°Fuck! Just let me know when I can¨C¡±

    [Now!]

    I activated the Card, and a flurry of notifications flew by.

    Redeeming Get Out of Cage Free Card¡­

    Analyzing environment¡­

    Escalating request due to exigent circumstances¡­

    Evaluating¡­

    Extraction denied. The energy requirements of generating a spontaneous unanchored portal targeting multiple extra-atmospheric objects traveling in excess of 67,061,662.9 miles per hour relative to the nearest System node are outside of Phase Two parameters.

    Emergency override submitted by System Core 2.

    Override Code 009: Apocalypse Mitigation.

    Override Note: Please don¡¯t be difficult, SC1. The less matter impacting the planet at a notable fraction of light speed, the better. Also, I¡¯m firing all the lasers we have.

    Override Code 009 is accepted to prevent catastrophic surface damage.

    Extraction Approved!

    Upgrading extraction package.

    Please prepare for interdiction.

    The world stuttered a hundred times, each one accompanied by a new notification.

    WARNING! Momentum buffer exceeded.

    Adjusting reference frame¡­

    Please prepare for an additional teleportation instance.

    The Hysteria smear disappeared, and the entire planet vibrated in a blur for a moment. Then, we were in the desert.

    WARNING! This is definitely not a minimum safe distance. Enjoy the mess you made. Sunglasses are advised.

    A flash bloomed in the atmosphere, a hundred times brighter than the sun. The world instantly darkened, and I was hit by another notification.

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Transcendent Organ!

    Your eyes are Invincible for 100 seconds.

    A streak of light traveled down through the atmosphere, so fast it appeared as a single line. It landed on a mountain chain several miles distant. The first mountain it struck evaporated in another burst of light. A wave of destruction thrummed out, destroying mountains to either side, and the ground rose to kiss the sky.

    We all watched, stunned by the sight, for about two seconds.

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Haste!

    ¡°We should leave,¡± said the king.

    He was right, we weren¡¯t far enough away.

    I mana-shaped the Closet portal, opening it in record time. Before I could think to start moving towards it, I was already inside, along with everyone else. Celeritia¡¯s hand was on my shoulder.

    ¡°Close it!¡± he shouted.

    An overpowering blast of heat and pressure burst through the portal. I caught myself with Gravity Anchor as most of the group was knocked deeper into the Closet. Shielding sprung to life over our skin as sand and rocks hurtled in, and my skull rattled as a piece the size of a fist hit my torso hard enough to shatter the stone. I focused on closing the portal and it rapidly shrank in on itself. The Closet portal would close in the blink of an eye.

    It wasn¡¯t fast enough.

    A pair of skeletal hands gripped the portal¡¯s edges. They pressed outward, allowing more destruction to rain in, shattering walls and furniture. The entrance was forced back open a foot, and a stream of colorful liquid poured through.

    Finally, the portal closed, and a shimmering skeleton began forming from the ooze on the ground.

    Smoke and steam wafted off the creature as it rose, streaks of neon hues swirling around the dark, smoldering bones. The shadowy sockets of its skull each held a small bead of mercury, glinting as they darted between us. It continued to study us for a moment, then walked forward.

    I tensed, summoning Somncres and prepping for a fight, but the skeleton moved casually, wandering between us and walking through the foyer. It paused and looked up at one of the chandeliers, tilting its head and holding a hand up towards it.

    The fixture melted into mimic goo, drawn to the skeletal hand and dripping down onto it. The thing absorbed the entire chandelier, covering its form in squirming liquid, and then moved on.

    I was on edge as I watched it, trailing behind to keep it in my sights. I checked on everyone as I went, making sure we were all in one piece. There were cuts, scrapes, and more than a few rising knots forming bruises, but no one looked critically injured. The spent mana of a dozen skills swirled around our more vulnerable members.

    The skeleton kicked open the door to the kitchen, then went in, the door swinging closed behind it. Before I could enter, I heard Celeritia shout from behind me.

    ¡°Hells!¡± he said. I spun to see him wrestling with the crown on his head, which glowed as though it had become molten. Then, the leader of Hiward disappeared.

    ¡°After all that, he¡¯s gone again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The crown has a recall effect,¡± said Varrin. He spoke softly, like he was afraid someone might overhear. ¡°I think that once he was back on Arzia, the throne registered the crown. It pulled him back to Hiward as soon as it could.¡±

    ¡°Lucky bastard,¡± said Xim. ¡°He gets to go home and take a shower while we¡¯re left to deal with avatar skeleton.¡±

    ¡°We should leave,¡± said Nuralie.

    I mentally checked on both my Checkpoints, but neither was off cooldown. We hadn¡¯t been gone long enough. That surprised me, given all the relativistic speeds we¡¯d been dealing with. Then again, based on where we¡¯d been, it was possible no time at all had passed while we were inside Hysteria¡¯s prison cube. Something to look into later, maybe.

    ¡°Only way to leave at the moment is to go back out into the shit,¡± I said. ¡°We should probably give the nuclear explosion a little more time to settle.¡±

    ¡°Where did we even land?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Did that wipe out a country?¡±

    ¡°It looked like the Wastes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Those mountains may have been the Left Hand, on the border.¡±

    Um,¡± said Etja. ¡°Does that mean Eschunder is¡­¡±

    Zura placed a hand on her back.

    ¡°The body of Hyrach will bring no harm to Eschendur,¡± she said with full confidence. ¡°The earth will become dust, the winds will spread it to the western plains, and the rain will wash it into the sea.¡±

    I genuinely hoped she had some divine insight into what had happened, and that it wasn¡¯t just wishful thinking.

    I turned back and went to the kitchen, followed closely by the others. The door to the walk-in fridge was open, soft vapor trailing out across the floor. I approached carefully. When I was nearly close enough to peer inside, the skeleton burst out of it, carrying several glass bottles in its arms. I jumped back out of its path as it bustled by, a dozen frosty mugs trailing behind it, floating through the air.

    It set the bottles down on a counter, uncorked them, and began pouring out ice-cold brewskies. It slid each glass across the counter toward us until all twelve were filled with frothy beer. It picked the final glass up and leaned back, pouring the contents into its mouth.

    The beverage splashed down its spine and rib cage, splattering to the ground until the mug was empty. It reached up and wiped its exposed teeth with an ulna, then clacked them open and shut a few times. I think it was trying to smack its lips. It tapped its bony toes, splish-splashing in the expanding puddle beneath it.

    The mimic goo slowly began forming silvery flesh, starting inside its chest. A set of lungs appeared, followed by vocal cords, tongue, lips, and cheeks.

    ¡°Welp,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°That was fucked up.¡±

 203 - Is That a Skeleton in Your Closet, or a Divine Avatar Looking to Kill Us All?

    HP: 643 -> 873

    I was a touch surprised when Xim pumped a Heal into my back, but Skeletor Hysteria didn¡¯t react. I¡¯d already healed a few hundred points from my natural regen, and the spell took me closer to my comfort zone.

    My ¡®comfort zone¡¯ was full health, naturally.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you dead?¡± Xim asked, looking at Hysteria. ¡°Arlo just bitch-slapped you with an Elder God.¡±

    ¡°Ha! I could ask you the same, missy,¡± said Hysteria, pointing a bony finger at her. The mimic goo was rapidly regrowing the avatar¡¯s muscles and tendons. Aside from the lungs, Hysteria didn¡¯t bother with any internal organs.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not be reductive,¡± I said. ¡°The Dread Star is not something I bitch-slap people with. I politely invited the unknowable eldritch entity to share its divine wisdom, and we got what we got.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you should have been standing further away,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It may have held back because it didn¡¯t want to hurt its pet microbe.¡±

    Zura chuckled, but it was humorless. ¡°There are no accidents with entities of that scope. It did as it willed, and it even provided instruction. We can spend our lives seeking to comprehend the bare outline of what was gifted to us, but our inability to comprehend its design should not be attributed to a folly on its part.¡±

    ¡°You religious zealots really chap my taint, you know?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It¡¯s all inscrutable this and unknowable that. Read a book for heaven¡¯s sake and maybe you wouldn¡¯t be so confused all the time.¡± They held up a finger. ¡°And I don¡¯t mean whatever rubbish you¡¯ve assembled and called scripture. Gods, if Scripture even knew how much you¡¯ve all bastardized his name.¡±

    ¡°Your attempts to give offense fall on deaf ears,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°While the Dread Star allowed all of us to experience its truth, you and the other avatars were the sole subjects of its scorn. You are an abomination of failed science and profane magicks, rejected by the gods at the highest level. Your words carry no more weight than the breath you waste to speak them.¡±

    ¡°I dunno,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re offended.¡±

    Zura frowned, and Hysteria smacked their hands together in a gleeful clap. It was a wet clap, and blood spattered from the exposed muscle.

    ¡°Are you all going to drink these?¡± they asked, gesturing at the mugs. A few now had fresh drops of avatar blood in them. ¡°I won¡¯t be rude and kill you all while we¡¯re having a drink.¡± They tapped their fingers along the rim of a glass. ¡°But if you insist on being rude and refuse my hospitality, well..¡± They flapped their hands up as they shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s my house and my beer,¡± I said. ¡°How is it your hospitality?¡±

    Varrin picked up an unopened bottle. He uncorked it and sniffed.

    ¡°This is Old Billy,¡± he said, then took a swig. ¡°It is a Ravvenblaq brew.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s my house and his beer. The point stands.¡±

    ¡°The hospitality is the not-killing-you part,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Now you¡¯re being tautological.¡± Varrin handed me another of the bottles, and I accepted it, looking at the label. It had a line drawing of a geriatric goat and nothing else. I took an experimental taste. It was dark and rich, with caramel undertones and a vanilla finish. ¡°You¡¯ll kill us if we don¡¯t accept your hospitality of not killing us?¡±

    ¡°That is not a tautology,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is not true by virtue of its logical form.¡± Pause. ¡°It is just a stupid thing to say.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rhetorically tautological,¡± I said. ¡°It states the same thing twice, but in different ways.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± said Etja. ¡°You do that all the time!¡±

    ¡°Sure, but when I do it, it¡¯s for reasons of clarity, to make sure everyone¡¯s on the same page.¡± I noted that Xim had eschewed the beer and retrieved a bottle of wine, which she now poured for herself and Nuralie. No one was touching the mugs Hysteria had prepared. The avatar saw that their offering was being ignored, and picked up another mug for themself.

    This time, the liquid stayed inside their body. Of course, I¡¯d seen them grow solid muscle where their stomach should have been, so I had no idea where the beer was going.

    ¡°Um,¡± one of the Eschen delegates¨Ca Geulon man¨Csaid, voice trembling. ¡°What, uh, what is going on?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said another, smaller man, peeking out from behind the first. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what happened. We were in the lounge, and then we were¨C¡± He waved a hand in the air vigorously, equal parts frustration and confusion, lacking the appropriate words to finish the sentence.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°While you were in my lounge speaking with the king, a runeweaver working on behalf of the avatar Hysteria¨C¡± I pointed at the fleshy avatar, who now looked like a highly inaccurate high school anatomy poster. ¡°¨Cactivated a teleportation weave that whisked you away to a self-contained slice of the physical universe that had been transplanted into the void between realms.¡±

    ¡°O-oh,¡± said the first Geulon. ¡°The whole lounge was taken?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not right,¡± said another Geulon, a woman this time. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel a thing.¡±

    ¡°No, not the entire lounge. You were teleported individually, but Hysteria is a master of illusion and mind control.¡± The avatar gave a shallow bow. ¡°You were placed into an illusory lounge and had your memories modified so there were no perceived inconsistencies.¡± I looked at Hysteria. ¡°Did I get that right?¡±

    The avatar waggled a hand in a so-so gesture while they tipped back another drink.

    ¡°And why did the universe manifest itself, then bat us down from the heavens?¡± asked a fourth delegate.

    ¡°I have a spicy Luck evolution,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s kind of unpredictable. I didn¡¯t know that would happen.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°How high is your Luck?!¡±

    ¡°Level 10.¡± He jerked his head, confusion overtaking his surprise.

    ¡°It¡¯s a whole thing,¡± said Xim. ¡°You get used to it.¡±

    ¡°I disagree,¡± said Nuralie. She paused and looked at the delegate. ¡°That is also a gross oversimplification of what happened.¡±

    The woman delegate gestured at Hysteria. ¡°If this creature is the mastermind behind these crimes, why are you treating it so casually?¡± She scowled as she looked at the drinks in our hands. ¡°This hardly seems like the time to relax and share mead with it!¡±

    Varrin, Hysteria, and I all looked down at our drinks.

    ¡°It is more of a porter,¡± said Varrin.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°I could have sworn it was a stout.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely not mead,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Calm yourself, Jinta,¡± said Zura, placing a hand on the woman¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We do not take this entity lightly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re ¡®relaxing¡¯,¡± I said, ¡°because Hysteria has said they won¡¯t kill us while we¡¯re doing that.¡± I glanced at the avatar. ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining, but why did you want us to relax?¡±

    ¡°I said ¡®let¡¯s have a drink¡¯, not ¡®let¡¯s relax¡¯,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°If you¡¯re confusing those two, you might have a problem.¡±

    I took another swig of the beer, literally incapable of feeling the alcohol¡¯s effects. I considered saying as much, but any way I imagined wording it just made me sound like an alcoholic defending their choices. I kept my silence.

    ¡°No fun,¡± said Hysteria when they realized I wasn¡¯t taking the bait. ¡°As for why I wanted to take a step back, well, I guess¡­¡± They took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, cheeks puffing. ¡°The Dread Star really made me stop and think for a second, you know? I¡¯ve been running around in circles for so long, I can¡¯t even remember what I was trying to accomplish in the first place!

    ¡°My brothers and sisters have goals. They want to ascend, to take their rightful place up above. They have plans, people who support them, and the drive to take what they want! But as for me? I have no idea.

    ¡°When I really look at what I¡¯ve been doing, all I see is a petty person, hurting the people around them. I¡¯m hurting people because, deep inside, I¡¯m hurting, and I don¡¯t know what to do with all that pain, so I sprinkle it around like a dog shaking water from their coat. As if I could rid myself of the hurt by shedding it onto everyone around me.¡± Hysteria took another long drink, then slammed the empty mug onto the counter.

    ¡°I realize now, that won¡¯t work!¡± said Hysteria, standing up straight. ¡°If all I do is hurt others like I¡¯ve been hurt, the cycle will continue, neverending. I need to look deep within myself, find the reason why I¡¯m hurting, and deal with it in a healthy and constructive way. Then, I can start helping others to do the same. If I want the world to change, I need to start with the avatar in the mirror!¡±

    We all digested Hysteria¡¯s words in stunned silence.

    ¡°Really?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Fuck no!¡± Hysteria shouted. ¡°Look at me!¡± they gestured at their half-reformed body. ¡°You think I can perform like this?! I need a few minutes to freshen up.¡±

    Nuralie cleared her throat. ¡°Perform?¡± Pause. ¡°Who are you performing for?¡±

    ¡°Anyone who¡¯s watching,¡± said the avatar, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°There¡¯s always somebody who¡¯s watching.¡±

    ¡°So this is like half-time?¡± I asked.

    Hysteria took up a fresh mug and tapped a finger against it. ¡°I¡¯d call it intermission. When the lights flicker, you¡¯ll have five minutes to get back to your seats and perish.¡±

    ¡°Forgiveness, Zenithar,¡± said the smaller Geulon, still peeking out from behind his colleague. ¡°Purify our waters of ignorance. Why do you not bind this beast?¡±

    ¡°She can¡¯t, you dimwit!¡± shouted Hysteria. They threw their drink at the wall, where it shattered into a rain of glass and foam. ¡°You think your stupid Zenithar would be standing there, silently praying to her stupid gods if she could do a single thing to me with her stupid revelations?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve seen you smitten!¡± said the delegate, Jinta. ¡°Your blasphemy invites further intercession from the gods you denigrate!¡±

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°You know what you sound like? Someone who doesn¡¯t know who the fuck they¡¯re talking to.¡±

    ¡°A perversion!¡± she shouted in response.

    ¡°Jinta!¡± the Zenithar snapped. ¡°Remain. Calm.¡±

    ¡°Grotto. Get ready to take these people out of here.¡±

    [And where will I be sending them?]

    ¡°Anywhere that isn¡¯t in the same room as an emotionally manipulative godling.¡±

    [Very well.]

    Grotto disappeared, teleporting himself to the control room. If Hysteria noticed the Delve Core disappearing, they ignored it.

    ¡°This is the problem of always working in the shadows,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°No one knows what you can do. You have to show people.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like where that line of thought was heading.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve got the gist of it,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s no need for¨C¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Allow me a demonstration. I said I wouldn¡¯t kill you all until drinks are done, and I won¡¯t.¡± The avatar picked up one of the full mugs and tipped it over, pouring its contents onto the ground. Half a dozen remained. I stiffened as Hysteria tossed the glass aside and reached for another, but the avatar picked it up, took a dainty sip, and then winked at me. They stepped back from the counter and pointed at Varrin. ¡°You¡¯re a strapping lad! Do me a favor and try to cut me in half.¡±

    Varrin considered the request, then glanced over to me. I shrugged. The big guy set down his bottle, stepped around the counter, and pulled Kazandak from his inventory. His expression was cool, but his knuckles went white as he gripped the sword¡¯s hilt.

    ¡°Shall I give it my best?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Strike me with everything you¡¯ve got.¡±

    Varrin nodded and a roil of dark smoke billowed over his form. When it parted, he was wearing a full set of heavy plate armor, black and silver in the traditional Ravvenblaq style.

    Of course Varrin had gotten his hands on the rich-daddy insta-equip option.

    The armor had a familiar color scheme but wasn¡¯t a set I¡¯d seen before. I peeked at the mana running through it, noticing it was a significant upgrade from what he¡¯d worn through Deijin¡¯s Descent. I doubted it had been crafted from scratch in the few days Varrin had spent with his family. It was probably another heirloom set the Ravvenblaqs kept around for the younger generation.

    Only one piece looked fresh out of the forge.

    While the gear was formidable, the helm shone with an absurd amount of power compared to the rest. It was shaped like a houndskull helmet, though with a longer, tapered muzzle. It was also more streamlined and aerodynamic. In fact, it kind of looked like a bird¡¯s skull once I thought about it.

    A raven, perhaps.

    One might even call it a ravenskull helmet.

    It completely encompassed his head, with no visible breaks, not even a slit for him to see through. I expected it was the product of his grandfather, using one of the Corvite Slabs Varrin had earned. Overall, the new set made him look quite menacing.

    Yaretzi¡¯s cloak unfurled last, bedazzling us in all its shiny glory.

    I couldn¡¯t decide if that helped or hurt the menace. Hysteria seemed to approve, looking Varrin up and down with hungry eyes.

    Varrin slid into a combat stance, and a gust of wind tore through the kitchen as his sword whipped out, blade coated in the ghostly light of his Soul Strike skill. It landed on Hysteria¡¯s neck with a sharp crack. The blade bit through the avatar¡¯s regrowing flesh, but came to a full stop when it hit Hysteria¡¯s spine.

    Normally, Soul Strike created a blade of Spectral energy that would continue through Varrin¡¯s target, slashing and disrupting their soul, even if Kazandak was halted.

    But the Spectral attack splashed off of Hysteria¡¯s bones.

    That was intriguing. It was as if Hysteria¡¯s skeleton was the avatar¡¯s soul made manifest. I squinted at what little bone remained exposed, noting the swirling color moving across its surface. Then, I focused more seriously with Soul Sight. I hadn¡¯t noticed any obvious signs of the avatar¡¯s spiritual essence since encountering them. They had no soul halo, but I knew from experience the avatars could foil my revelation¡¯s abilities.

    However, it seemed that I¡¯d been looking at Hysteria¡¯s soul since they¡¯d arrived in the Closet, just not in the form I¡¯d expected. That would go a long way toward explaining why the avatar¡¯s skeleton had survived becoming a cataclysmic projectile. Anything physical would have been atomized, surely.

    Hysteria frowned slightly as Varrin twisted into the attack, dragging the blade along Hysteria¡¯s spine, continuing to try and decapitate the avatar even as he pulled the sword away. The motion left Varrin coiled like a tightly wound spring, the sword tip pointed at the avatar. His left hand cupped the base of the pommel, and his body snapped into a penetrating strike at Hysteria¡¯s chest. Every muscle in the big guy¡¯s body drove the tip of the blade towards Hysteria¡¯s heart, had they possessed one.

    Hysteria angled their ribs slightly to one side, intercepting the blade with their sternum. There was another crack as the tip of the blade hit, and Varrin¡¯s own strike sent the big guy sliding back, his sabatons tearing through the wooden floorboards. At full extension, Varrin was three feet further away from Hysteria, who hadn¡¯t moved at all.

    Hysteria raised a hand to stop Varrin from swinging again. The avatar touched the small cut in the mimic flesh on their sternum. The ¡®wound¡¯ closed in less than a second, but Hysteria stared at the spot for much longer.

    Hysteria sounded genuinely confused when they next spoke.

    ¡°Why¡­ did I feel that?¡±

 204 - Unified Theory of Demanifestation

    My mind split in two. One half began to filter through the observations I¡¯d just made, while the other processed Hysteria¡¯s question and the resulting conversation.

    I glanced at my ruined floorboards. Their destruction grabbed my attention, and not just because I was annoyed they¡¯d need to be replaced. By this point, I was committed to scrapping the entire mansion to make sure there weren¡¯t any more surprises hidden around by Hysteria¡¯s goons. What got my notice was that Varrin had forced himself backward.

    Strength did a few wacky things, the most obvious of which began at Level 10. Every Delver who¡¯d ascended to superhuman levels of flex gained the ability to create their own leverage. Otherwise, their strength wouldn¡¯t be terribly useful. A two-hundred-pound body could only apply so much force to an external object before it simply pushed itself away like Varrin just had.

    With Varrin¡¯s Strength score, the man could lift several elephants, African or otherwise. He could apply that force in physics-defying ways, meaning the full brunt of it could be used without pushing himself away from whatever he was using it against. That is, unless Varrin chose to allow himself to be pushed, or unless something else pushed back in turn.

    ¡°He hit you pretty hard,¡± Xim said to Hysteria. ¡°It would have been weird if you hadn¡¯t felt it.¡±

    ¡°Get over yourself,¡± said the avatar. ¡°I just struck a mountain with enough energy that it evaporated, and I didn¡¯t feel that.¡± They looked Varrin over. ¡°There¡¯s more to it than this man¡¯s delectable slabs of beef.¡±

    [It appears that the Zenithar is warding the Eschens somehow, likely to limit Hysteria¡¯s influence. I cannot teleport them without her permission, which she seems reluctant to give. Additionally, there is a problem that requires your attention.]

    Varrin¡¯s thrust had been perfect, with only the very tip of the blade¡¯s point connecting. The entirety of the man¡¯s power had been concentrated on the extremely small spot where the sword contacted bone. The amount of pressure that generated was staggering; something in the realm of tens of millions of pounds per square inch.

    Kazandak was unharmed since it was Immutable, but even that didn¡¯t allow the material to perform beyond the bounds of its material properties. It only prevented it from being damaged in any way.

    My vest would allow an arrow to pierce it as easily as typical c¡¯thonic leather, but due to its Immutable property, the arrow wouldn¡¯t leave a hole behind. Seinnador had described it as the vest becoming a sort of tunnel, where the attack didn¡¯t go through the vest¡¯s material, but between it somehow. That description didn¡¯t quite work for me, since the material still absorbed the kinetic energy it normally would. It just avoided anything over that hard limit.

    An easier way for me to think of it was that the vest simply sent the excess energy wherever it was most easily sent. In the case of an arrow hurtling toward my chest, the easiest place to send that energy was into my chest.

    As for what that meant with a sword, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for the weapon to go through the thing it was attacking once the limits of its durability were reached. The excess energy would instead rebound into whatever was driving the sword forward. In this case, Varrin.

    ¡°You asked me to give it my best,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You can hardly be upset if it stung.¡±

    ¡°Stung?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Boy, it was like being caressed by a gentle breeze.¡± They ran a hand along their arm, which was growing a layer of pale skin. ¡°No, you¡¯ve got something else giving you a boost. You¡¯re much too weak to take advantage of it, but it¡¯s there.¡±

    Hysteria walked back to the counter and swept half of the mugs onto the ground, reducing the number of untouched drinks to three. They leaned over, placing an elbow on the sticky surface and settling their chin into their palm.

    ¡°We have another problem?¡± I thought to Grotto. ¡°Fine. Hit me with it.¡±

    [The wastelanders are in your bedroom.]

    ¡°Shit.¡± I went to rub my beard, but my gauntlet clanked against my bascinet. Two threads of thought were fine, but three was stretching me thin. ¡°That¡¯s not too surprising. They disappeared shortly before we got out with the Card. The teleport weave in here was an obvious jump point. What are they doing?¡±

    The force of Varrin¡¯s strike rebounding may sound counterintuitive, but it¡¯s really the same thing as the arrow in my vest example. An arrow collides with the vest, and the excess force is sent in the same direction the arrow was traveling. With Kazandak, the sword is intuitively perceived as the body in motion, and one would expect the energy to go in the same direction. However, the problem should be considered from the frame of reference of the Immutable object¨Cthe sword¨Cin which case it was Hysteria who was in relative motion.

    When Hysteria¡¯s sternum collided with the sword, the kinetic energy the Immutable item needed to offset was moving toward Varrin. Thus, the weapon shunted the excess energy in the direction of its wielder, which would explain why Varrin had just ruined my hardwoods. Varrin hadn¡¯t pushed himself back, his attack had exceeded the bounds of Kazandak¡¯s tolerances, and the Immutable property transferred the excess force to its wielder, which was the easiest place for the energy to go. That was my theory, anyway.

    Okay, technically that meant Varrin had pushed himself backward, but in a very roundabout manner.

    Like Varrin¡¯s strike to Hysteria¡¯s neck, the avatar¡¯s flesh had parted easily enough, but their sternum hadn¡¯t even vibrated. The Spectral portion of the attack broke apart like ocean waves against a rocky cliffside.

    Kazandak was a masterwork sword made by one of the world¡¯s most prominent crafters. Its tolerances were pretty high, but it still had limits. Limits that Varrin was already running up against, it seemed. The sword¡¯s requirements weren¡¯t particularly demanding, and it had never been intended for high-end use cases. Like slaying gods, for example.

    We¡¯d need to get him a sword that could do that, eventually.

    ¡°This is probably Orexis¡¯s fault,¡± Hysteria mumbled, drumming their fingers. ¡°Destroying a god, even a little slice of one, does weird things to people. The divinity has to go somewhere, after all.¡± The avatar picked up another mug and drained it, then wiped their mouth with the back of a crimson sleeve.

    I suddenly realized the avatar was wearing a set of blood-red robes, their body fully reformed. A dark skull was stained into the front of the cloth.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    [The wastelanders appear to be recovering and revising their strategy since you proved more formidable than they were expecting.]

    By all rights, Varrin¡¯s attacks should have sent Hysteria flying. It wasn¡¯t much of a surprise that they hadn¡¯t, but it granted me some valuable insights.

    Being indestructible did not make a thing immovable. Hysteria¡¯s bones appeared to be both. All sorts of shenanigans could have been responsible for what I¡¯d just witnessed, even if Hysteria had only been a Delver. Being an avatar further expanded the possibilities.

    That being said, the avatar¡¯s soul-bones were an easy explanation.

    Physical objects couldn¡¯t affect a soul directly. At the same time, a soul couldn¡¯t directly affect physical objects. This was ordinarily true because souls existed on an entirely separate chunk of reality. However, Hysteria seemed to be violating that rule, which had some curious implications.

    The interaction I¡¯d just witnessed hinted that Hysteria¡¯s materialized soul juice had retained its general inviolability against physical matter. At the same time, Hysteria could use their boney self to violate the physical, putting them in a best-of-both-worlds scenario. That would explain why a ten-ton sword strike to the neck and chest hadn¡¯t even rattled Hysteria¡¯s teeth. It wasn¡¯t that the soul couldn¡¯t be damaged by a material object, it''s that it couldn¡¯t be affected in any way.

    It was hardly definitive after observing Hysteria getting smacked a couple of times, but I was doing my best with what I had.

    Hysteria stood back upright, appraising the Eschens. ¡°Do you know the biological differences between Geulons and humans?¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± asked Delegate Jinta.

    ¡°There are several notable differences,¡± said Zura. ¡°Although, not as many as some might believe. Aside from scales and a tail, our constitution is more suited for living in a semi-aquatic environment. Even so, the difference between a Geulon and a Hiwardian is no more extreme than the difference between a Hiwardian and the races of humans that continue to live in the southern territories of the Littan Empire.¡±

    It seemed odd to me that the Zenithar was so willing to engage in that line of inquiry. Her soul looked much healthier than it had within the void, but it still held a hint of turbulence.

    ¡°That¡¯s more than I expected you to know,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But there¡¯s one difference in particular that I appreciate the most.¡±

    ¡°No one cares for your opinion,¡± said Jinta.

    ¡°Quiet!¡± said another delegate beside the woman, reaching out to grip her arm tightly. ¡°Do you wish to die here?¡±

    ¡°We really need to get these people out of here, Grotto.¡±

    [The Zenithar is being uncharacteristically stubborn.]

    While the Eschens lost their cool, I engaged in some wild speculation.

    After my ¡®conversation¡¯ with Avarice about the nature of avatars, I¡¯d learned that the womanly form she wore was a complete fabrication. It was a way for her to exert her influence on the world, but not what she truly was. Her handsy shadow was probably her ¡®true¡¯ body. However, her soul still manifested in a way that I could differentiate from this true body, standing apart from the shadow itself.

    Hysteria, on the other hand, appeared to manifest completely as their own soul, with no separation between their soul and this theoretical true body.

    Everything else around Hysteria¡¯s skeleton was similar to Avarice¡¯s false body¨Ca deception. Hysteria had Dominated an inert mimic¨Cpreviously known as my chandelier¨Cand forced it to transform into humanoid flesh. Hysteria may have been doing something along those lines the entire time, controlling another organism to craft a physical disguise. Thus, their entire suite of skills, so far, could be centered around the Spiritual school of magic. Having a manifestation composed entirely of their spiritual essence resonated with that.

    Did that give me a hint as to Hysteria¡¯s limitations, or even how something like Hysteria might be harmed? Normally, Varrin¡¯s Soul Strike would be excellent against a fully spiritual entity, but it wasn¡¯t yet up to the task of damaging Hysteria¡¯s soul.

    But there were plenty of Delvers out there who were much handier with dishing out Spiritual damage.

    Like Hysteria, Avarice used Spiritual Magic, but her manipulation and modification of her body appeared to utilize Physical Magic. This was partly evidenced by her ability to produce the Doomed Aspirants, either by creating them entirely from scratch or by twisting Delvers into insectoid forms. Our brief soul exchange had given me a deeper look at her disguise, and I hadn¡¯t noticed a single speck of illusion magic. There was also something that felt right about an avatar of greed having a deeper connection to the material world.

    Finally, she¡¯d used some kind of Dimensional ability when she¡¯d snatched the Get Out of Cage Free card straight from my inventory. Plus, where did she keep all her shit? Dimensional hijinks were almost certainly involved.

    If Avarice were a Delver, I¡¯d peg her as having a Physical attunement, with intrinsic skills for both adjacent schools¨CSpiritual and Dimensional¨Con top.

    Did that imply that Avarice¡¯s grabby shadow was a physical entity? Perhaps it meant that her true body was a blend of Physical, Spiritual, and Dimensional properties.

    How did this interact with an avatar¡¯s divinity? Maybe the particular manifestation of an avatar was the consequence of their divinity interacting with our mortal realm.

    If this manifestation was disrupted, what would happen? Would the divinity be sucked back up into the heavens? Would it dissipate and reform later?

    Each school of magic had well-known counters. Would having more properties relating to the five schools of magic create more vulnerabilities or less? If Hysteria was locked into one school¨CSpiritual¨Cwould they be easier to demanifest than an avatar like Avarice, who seemed to be spread out across three?

    Did any comprehensible rules even apply to the avatars?

    The idea had me intrigued. If an avatar could be pigeonholed into a specific school or attunement, it might give us a framework for counteracting them.

    Further testing was needed. Maybe more avatars would be willing to let us attack them until we figured out how their bodies worked.

    ¡°Geulons,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°have a significantly higher level of control over their biological functions.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± said another of the delegates. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such a thing.¡± The man had moved to stand next to Jinta, and he pried the first delegate¡¯s hand from her arm. He received a deep scowl for his efforts.

    ¡°You may not be aware of it,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But it¡¯s true nonetheless. Let me show you.¡±

    Hysteria turned to Varrin¡¯s sister, Riona, who hadn¡¯t made a peep since our brief escape. Her expression was absent, but she snapped her head to meet the avatar¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Stop your heart,¡± said the avatar.

    Varrin flinched and raised his sword, which he¡¯d never sheathed. Riona¡¯s expression furrowed into a look of concentration.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, tone pitiful.

    Hysteria knocked one of the mugs from the counter and picked up the last.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± they said gently. ¡°I can¡¯t ask you to do something you¡¯re physically incapable of.¡±

    The avatar took a long draw from the final drink. They turned to the Eschen delegates, who¡¯d silently separated into two camps. Jinta and her frustrated colleague were on one side, with the other three staring daggers at them.

    ¡°Zura!¡± I snapped, pulling the Zenithar¡¯s attention away from her people. ¡°Stop fucking around!¡±

    The elder Geulon blinked, taking precious seconds to process what I¡¯d said. By the time the message had gotten through, it was too late.

    Hysteria finished off the final mug of beer and looked at the group of three delegates.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how it works on this trio,¡± said the avatar. ¡°Go ahead. Stop your hearts.¡±

    All three Geulons collapsed, and the Zenithar let out a strangled cry. Jinta screamed. The man next to her stumbled back, tripping over his feet and hitting the ground hard.

    I clenched my jaw until pain shot through my gums. Xim cast Heal on one of the delegates, heedless of the potential harm it might cause to their non-Delver constitution.

    They didn¡¯t get back up.

    ¡°Do you guys want to see some necromancy?¡± Hysteria asked, before thrusting their arms out to either side.

    The other two Eschens started to run. My mind whirled to find anything I could do to help. Finally, Zura released her hold on her delegation, and Grotto whisked them away, fresh corpses and all. The Zenithar stayed behind, spinning toward Hysteria with a look of pure hatred. It was an alien expression on her motherly features.

    The lights in the room dimmed, and a complex sigil sprang to life on the ground. I studied the glyphs, but the runes were unfamiliar.

    Water began condensing along the ceiling, dripping down like a spring storm as Zura¡¯s presence swelled.

    The Zenithar¡¯s soul pressed down on us like a lead blanket.

 205 - Soundtrack

    ¡°Grotto, got any idea what this weave does?¡±

    [It¡­ appears to be nonsense.]

    Hysteria began muttering arcane phrases, their voice low and sonorous. Each syllable hammered against the air like the head of a drum, the avatar chanting in a droning monotone. Their fingers twisted into complex formations, gliding through anatomically impossible shapes.

    Something began thudding beneath the floorboards.

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°You haven¡¯t been hoarding corpses in the basement, have you?¡± The cleric was stripping as she asked this, which I realized was an excellent idea once she started pulling chainmail from her inventory.

    ¡°There¡¯s six feet of solid stone beneath these hardwoods,¡± I said. ¡°You can see the damn blocks where Varrin tore the floor up.¡±

    Nuralie and Etja followed Xim¡¯s lead, although with less shameless nudity. Nuralie had been wearing her leathers under her suit this entire time. That was kind of paranoid but justified given our lifestyle. The only piece she hadn¡¯t been wearing was her Cloak of the Descent. Etja got out her staff and wand. A quick glance at the mana in her dress told me she¡¯d had it enchanted to a much greater extent than her old robes. Her skin hardened into a combination of dark chitin and crystal.

    The dripping moisture gathered before the Zenithar as a haunting wail echoed around us. It was a cry of profound pain and misery. At first, unintelligible, but slowly, the cries transformed into words.

    ¡°Yooooouuuuu biiiiitchhh! Yoooouuuu kiiiiiilllled meeeeee!¡±

    The floorboards splintered as something crashed into them from below. Another thud and one of the boards broke in half. A tormented scream rattled cookware and sent foodstuffs tumbling from shelves.

    Zura unleashed a concentrated jet of water, which arced across the kitchen, cutting through the walls as easily as the air. It swept over Hysteria, and the avatar interrupted their chanting with a cackle as their robes and flesh were carved away.

    Something began to crawl out from beneath the broken floorboards, a corrupted mockery of what it had been in life.

    It was Cloaky.

    Hysteria¡¯s recently murdered article of clothing squeezed through the cracks in the floor and hovered next to the avatar. Its edges were tattered and worn, a thousand scraps of cloth stitched together with rough thread. It shook itself free of wood chips.

    ¡°You asshole!¡± Cloaky shouted, floating within an inch of the avatar. ¡°You couldn¡¯t let me rest in fucking pieces?! You just had to drag me back up here. Why?! To torment me even more?!¡±

    Hysteria reached up and wiped a stream of water from their eyes.

    ¡°One sec,¡± said the avatar. Zura¡¯s jet cut across their face, ruining it until only the colorful skull remained. All the while, orbs of water formed around the Zenithar, trembling to contain Zura¡¯s wrath. The woman¡¯s eyes were glowing.

    ¡°The king is gone, so I¡¯m only left with one choice,¡± said Hysteria. Water cut away their lips and tongue, but it had no impact on their speech. ¡°I¡¯m curious to see how much your god¡¯s protection is worth, Zenithar.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s body erupted with power, their skeleton glowing bright enough to penetrate the remains of their flesh. Zura stumbled back as a swell of mana rose from Hysteria and battered against the Geulon.

    You have observed the Passion Imperium spell!

    Passion Imperium

    Deific

    Cost: Give us a sec to analyze this shit.

    Requirements: Probably real high.

    Effects:

    Obtain dominion over the target¡¯s soul.

    Zura spasmed, her spirit flaring out with all the strength I¡¯d seen on the day she¡¯d destroyed the Littan fleet. Hysteria smiled in ecstasy as their magic flowed through the Zenithar, tendrils of power invading and corrupting the Geulon.

    Arrows began shattering against Hysteria as Nuralie tried in vain to interrupt their spell. A pillar of crimson light came down, igniting the avatar with holy fire. Varrin moved to stand in front of Riona, who¡¯d resisted Grotto¡¯s attempt to teleport her away.

    ¡°I wanted to give you a chance,¡± Hysteria shouted to Cloaky, ¡°to pursue your true calling from beyond the grave! The universe should not be denied your gifts, merely because I lost my temper!¡±

    ¡°M-my passion?¡± said Cloaky, deflating. ¡°You mean that¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria. They reached into the shredded remains of their robes and produced a violin and bow, handing it to the cloak. They gripped it in their fabric hands with reverence.

    ¡°What should I play?¡± Cloaky asked.

    ¡°Whatever moves you,¡± said Hysteria.

    The cloak nodded (I think) and then held the bow up to the violin¡¯s strings. It hesitated, then turned to me.

    ¡°When you teleported in,¡± Cloaky said, ¡°there was about a half a second before you ate whatever it was that kept this douche out of your brain.¡±

    ¡°Hurtful!¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°We got a good peek at what was going on inside that skull of yours,¡± said Cloaky. ¡°So I hope you can appreciate this one.¡±

    Cloaky drew the bow along the violin, eliciting a single, mournful note. Then it began to play a familiar melody, albeit much slower than the original. I was momentarily dumbstruck by what I heard.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m loving this one,¡± said Hysteria, swaying their hips and walking forward. The avatar looked Zenithar Zura in the eye as she struggled to resist.

    The avatar stopped to poke at the trembling orbs of water with fascination. They jerked their hand back and blew on the tip of their finger.

    Even though Hysteria¡¯s spell had been Deific, Geul¡¯s protection was a bulwark against the avatar¡¯s power. Even so, it was rapidly crumbling.

    There was a solution here, and a rush of connections slid into place.

    I returned to my theory on Hysteria¡¯s nature. If the avatar was entirely focused on Spiritual Magic, they were limited to a narrow range of abilities. Extremely potent abilities, but they could be countered.

    Spiritual Magic centered around manipulating the soul and mind, either of the self or of others. This even allowed the wielder to extend their own spiritual essence into the world around them, with very few limits on what kinds of physical phenomena could be imbued.

    Spiritual Magic had little in the way of traditional defenses. Hysteria partially dealt with that by manifesting in soul form and exploiting its inviolability, but that primarily mitigated physical forces. They were obviously spiritually robust, but that left three schools we hadn¡¯t properly tested against the avatar: Divine, Mystical, and Dimensional.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    We had evidence that Divine forces could impact Hysteria. Mana flowed through the soul, so their abilities could likely be interfered with via Mystical, although none of us had a skill that could deal with a Deific spell. Dimensional Magic was resisted by Fortitude, and I was willing to bet an avatar had a lot of that, or whatever the godly equivalent was.

    Damage-dealing effects and anything that activated after dealing damage were right out. We didn¡¯t have the raw power to be a threat. However, some things didn¡¯t rely on damage, and some effects were¡­ weird, for lack of a better word.

    So, we needed a Divine skill with a weird effect. That gave us Xim and Etja. Xim¡¯s offensive abilities mostly relied on traditional effects, like damage and stun.

    Etja was a lot weirder.

    Her abilities were Charisma-based, even when they should have been Intelligence-based. Charisma-based skills were often resisted by Wisdom. Hysteria didn¡¯t seem like a paragon of Wisdom.

    Etja¡¯s abilities were filled with references to her relation to divine beings. She was the incarnation of a divine being, a descendant of divinity. Her soul was literally forged as a shell to contain the overwhelming might of a godly avatar¡¯s soul fragment, and she could still contain another entity¡¯s spirit within her own.

    She also had a skill that might be able take advantage of that.

    Incorporate

    Divine

    Cost: Variable mana

    You can draw in the form and essence of other things and make them part of yourself. The effects of this ability vary. Incorporating objects may give you material properties of those objects, whereas incorporating a spirit may even give you memories of that spirit. Greater levels of Divine Magic increase the potency of what you can incorporate.

    Be careful you don¡¯t lose yourself in the process.

    Etja¡¯s Divine Magic skill wasn¡¯t incredibly high, but I didn¡¯t think it mattered. All of her Divine evolutions were directly related to her avatar heritage. I was willing to bet her capacity to interact with avatars through her Divine Magic was substantially more powerful per Level than literally any other non-godly being in the world.

    Etja could currently have a stable maximum of 30 Blessed stacks. There¡¯s no reason she wouldn¡¯t have maxed those out during her downtime since they didn¡¯t expire. Blessed improved an attack by 8 per stack spent. Incorporate wasn¡¯t directly listed as an attack, but using any skill offensively typically counted. That was a bonus of 240 if she dumped all her stacks at once.

    Her Finishing Move passive tripled the effectiveness of one spell, so long as it was cast at the end of a four-spell combo.

    Now that got her bonus from Blessed up to 720.

    Etja had a Charisma of 58 and a Divine skill somewhere in the mid or upper 20¡¯s. Based on what I¡¯d learned about attack values from Grotto, that made her base attack somewhere around 100, also tripled by Finishing Move.

    Now we were up to an attack value of 1020. She also had whatever buffs her new gear might give her on top.

    Beyond that, Incorporate was a variable mana skill, which meant it could draw as much power as it needed to succeed. Etja had a significant mana pool by any measure, and half her damn build was focused on improving her mana efficiency. How much more that might add, I had no idea. Probably a whole fucking lot.

    But what would Incorporate actually do?

    I was hoping it would let Etja eat part of Hysteria¡¯s soul.

    How would that affect Etja? Good fucking question, but if she received a ¡°beneficial effect¡± from it, she could double its potency with her Luck 40 evolution, Double Down. Having a massive Luck score also wouldn¡¯t hurt her chances of success, now that I thought about it.

    I relayed that plan through Grotto, but we¡¯d need to buy ourselves a few seconds while Etja put her combo together.

    Hysteria wanted Zura, so we needed to get the Zenithar out of there.

    How fast was Hysteria? They¡¯d made it from the impact crater a few miles away to my Closet portal in a handful of seconds, but how? Spiritual Magic wasn¡¯t big on the movement skills. Maybe they¡­ bounced?

    It didn¡¯t really matter. One mile per second was 3,600 miles per hour. Nuralie had recently gotten a massive buff to her Speed, and after double-checking the numbers, spitting out my drink, triple-checking the numbers, and spitting another completely different drink, I realized she could theoretically move around two-thirds that fast. That was with full buffs and ideal circumstances, which included moving through darkness.

    Fortunately, I had complete control over the illumination situation.

    ¡°Grotto, kill all the lights in the Closet.¡±

    I sent Nuralie the plan at the speed of thought. The loson had more Speed and more Intelligence than me, so she followed my manic pace without trouble.

    Hopefully, she could get tricky with Stealth and her near-invisibility.

    The lights went out, Nuralie and the Zenithar disappeared, Etja hit Riona with Nullify to see if it purged Hysteria¡¯s mental influence, and Varrin moved in a blur to get his sister somewhere safer.

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± said Hysteria.

    Cloaky continued to play, but their violin had grown longer and gained more strings. They dropped their bow and swapped to strumming.

    ¡°Uh, is that a fucking nine-string?¡± I asked.

    Etja had already been casting Siphon before things went to shit, gearing up to fly if she needed to. Nullify had been her second spell in sequence, and she hit the wall to our east with Disintegrate, revealing the wastelanders moving in on our position.

    With both Reconnaissance and a massive Wisdom score, Etja was technically our best lookout. Strange, but true.

    The wastelanders were moving cautiously, looking between everyone in the kitchen. Their eyes halted on Cloaky as heavy metal distortion kicked in, the music¡¯s tempo accelerating.

    I tried to ignore it.

    ¡°Grotto, let¡¯s burn our System Rep to make a long-distance call.¡±

    [You are getting in the habit of solving your problems by throwing outrageously powerful entities at them.]

    ¡°Our recent problems have been outrageous, which justifies the use of outrageous force. I have no regrets.¡±

    ¡°This is exciting!¡± said Hysteria. They mimed walking down a flight of stairs behind the kitchen counter. I dashed around to keep eyes on the avatar, Etja and Xim close behind, but Hysteria was gone.

    You have observed the Dramatic Exit spell!

    Dramatic Exit

    Deific

    Cost: After analysis, these appear to use some kind of godly favor.

    Requirements: You don¡¯t meet them, nor will you ever meet them.

    Disappear with a flourish and reappear wherever the narrative tension will be highest.

    Listen, we¡¯re doing our best with this shit. Avatars are hard to quantify.

    ¡°Grotto¨C¡±

    [Already on it.]

    Etja, Xim, and I teleported right behind Hysteria, finding the avatar standing over Nuralie and Zura, who were both on the ground, bleeding.

    ¡°This is why it isn¡¯t safe to run in the house, kids!¡± said Hysteria. They were wearing a dirty floral dress, house shoes, and a hair net. ¡°You might run into somebody!¡±

    The avatar¡¯s tendrils were once more invading the Zenithar¡¯s soul. The moment before Etja cast Incorporate, Hysteria frowned and turned to look at her.

    The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I felt like a predator was stalking me, just out of sight. I couldn¡¯t help but take my eyes off the avatar for a second to glance back at Etja.

    The mage was surrounded by a swell of Divine light, wrapped in the blessings of the only god she acknowledged. Herself.

    She hungered, and the world yearned to feed itself to her.

    Etja reached out toward Hysteria, a hole opening on her palm, ravenous and relentless. The avatar¡¯s clothing was torn to shreds, flying into Etja¡¯s hand and disappearing. Next came the avatar¡¯s mimic flesh, and Etja¡¯s body rippled, changing itself on instinct to accommodate her newfound power.

    The air was thick with Etja¡¯s potent need to fill herself, and the mage¡¯s eyes rolled back into her head. Her entire palm had become a cavernous mouth filled with dark swirling threads of hypnotic energy, spiraling towards an endless stomach, beckoning us to throw ourselves in.

    Hidden beneath it all was fear, the fear that she was being erased by a creature that had been buried deep within. One that we¡¯d released.

    Hysteria¡¯s soul fluttered.

    ¡°Now, hold on a minute,¡± said the avatar. Their colorful bones swirled, and a viscous blob of essence dripped from their sternum. Etja consumed it and became a raging storm.

    ¡°That looks like a problem!¡± shouted Xim over Cloaky¡¯s swelling riffs.

    A full ensemble had joined the guitar. We were on the other side of the mansion, but the music was everywhere. Etja¡¯s eyes became dark pits.

    ¡°Probably!¡± I shouted back. We¡¯d have to swap to psychic comms soon, the music was so loud.

    ¡°What the fuck is this, anyway?¡± shouted Xim, throwing a hand out toward the rattling walls.

    The backing cut out and the guitar kicked out a two-measure solo. Then, an entire orchestra joined in.

    I knew exactly what it was since the song had been ripped out of my own head.

    ¡°It¡¯s mother lovin¡¯ Nightwish.¡±

 206 - No Avatar Flesh After Midnight

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Favor

    Time Remaining: 1 minute

    HP: 1087 -> 1317

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I thought Xim.

    ¡°Hurry up and regen faster.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve healed myself for almost as much as you have. I was mostly dead twenty minutes ago.¡±

    ¡°Those are rookie numbers.¡±

    I shrugged and drank one of Nuralie¡¯s most potent healing potions, bringing my regen up another 947 health per hour to a total of 2,229. I swapped to health per minute, which showed 37. It didn¡¯t look nearly as impressive, but it was more manageable.

    Etja¡¯s skin had become glinting crystal covered in thousands of facets, replicating the material she¡¯d absorbed from the Prismatic Mask across her entire body. Swirls of color swam beneath its surface. She cast hundreds of points of light around the darkened room, illuminating the large table and comfy furniture of my drawing room. I had no idea what the mage had gotten from absorbing a piece of Hysteria. Her soul still felt like Etja, but dozens of new connections were forming within it every second.

    Hysteria looked dumbfounded. Their intrusion on the Zenithar¡¯s will was still progressing but momentarily slowed. Nuralie shook off her daze and threw Zura over her shoulder in a fireman¡¯s carry. I was glad to see the loson had a practical enough mindset not to worry about hauling one of Eschendur¡¯s pope-queens like a sack of potatoes. The Eschens were a down-to-earth kind of people.

    Nuralie disappeared with the Zenithar.

    ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake!¡± shouted Hysteria. Before the avatar could make a move, however, Etja swung her staff and a meter-wide beam of potent magical energy slammed into Hysteria¡¯s skeletal frame.

    The wall behind the avatar collapsed. The beam annihilated all the ambient mana before it, suppressing the avatar¡¯s aura, and Hysteria tumbled through the hole like they¡¯d been sucked away. The countermagic was so potent that the small amount radiating from the beam flooded the room, playing hell with the mana weaves on all my equipment and causing my own auras to shudder.

    The wall was reduced to dust, along with a console and a lovely landscape painting that I was sure somebody would miss. Motes of light flooded from the destruction, captured in Etja¡¯s insatiable palm.

    Divine mana blossomed to fill the mana vacuum, and I felt energy swell up through my legs.

    You¡¯ve gained Celerity!

    Your movement speed is doubled.

    Etja had just combined all six of her spells into a single attack.

    ¡°Neat!¡± she said, then sent four more beams of annihilation through the wall at the avatar, each one smaller and more concentrated than the first.

    ¡°You alright?¡± I shouted over the music. Etja turned to me, her eyes empty pits. She looked confused for a second, then recognition bloomed on her features.

    ¡°Nope!¡± she said, voice easily carrying over the racket, seeming to command the sound waves to bend. She turned back to the massive hole. ¡°I can¡¯t get a good bite. It¡¯s like they¡¯re an overcooked steak wrapped in caramel. The kind that¡¯s sticky, but still too hard somehow. I dunno. Still tastes sweet. I¡¯m gonna go eat them now.¡±

    Etja shot through the hole after Hysteria. The air didn¡¯t even stir.

    ¡°Should we try to help?¡± Xim thought to me.

    [You have other problems,] Grotto answered on my behalf.

    A massive sword shattered the wall opposite from Etja¡¯s hole.

    Etja¡¯s¡­ tunnel?

    Etja¡¯s magical corridor.

    Fucking, they knocked down the wall on the other side of the room from where Etja broke my house. I¡¯d learned the names of the wastelanders, but they¡¯d already earned titles in my head, so that¡¯s what I stuck with.

    Buster crashed through, screaming at us.

    ¡°Have another god to throw at us, little man?!¡± A well of anger surged in my chest, but it sputtered out after a second.

    You have resisted becoming Distracted!

    The Hyrachon trampled over the sturdy table that dominated the center of the room, crushing it under a heavy boot and the force of his charge. His thousand-pound blade swung for my neck. I brought Gracorvus up, then locked myself down with Gravity Anchor, trying to keep his attack from sending me flying. Buster¡¯s sword glowed with golden mana, and it duplicated, crashing down on both Xim and myself. My bones rattled and I felt the burn of divine judgment pierce through me.

    At least, it tried to pierce through me.

    HP: 1335 -> 1330

    I wasn¡¯t impressed.

    Still, I¡¯d misjudged this man. He wasn¡¯t a bruiser, he was a fucking paladin.

    My Divine defense was among my lowest, my Kinetic damage from my hammers would struggle to get through heavy armor reinforced by defensive buffs, and Dimensional damage would be offset by the man¡¯s Fortitude. If he successfully Distracted me, I¡¯d be forced to tie myself up fighting him. Even if he didn¡¯t have any powerful Divine abilities, we¡¯d probably end up beating on each other with little hope of dealing any proper damage. It was a bad matchup.

    One of my oldest achievements stepped in to help me out.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me: So long as you did not attack first, an enemy becomes stunned for one second the first time they deal damage to you with either a melee weapon or a part of their body.

    It was easy to forget I had that one since I so rarely sat around and waited for my enemies to hit me first.

    Buster¡¯s body locked up, his expression going slack as magic rebooted his brain. My eyes darted to Xim for an instant, but the cleric was crouched behind the seven-foot-tall behemoth of a shield she¡¯d looted from Blood Scour. She recovered from the hit without issue but was already under assault by the Yeti monk, heretofore known as Fluffy.

    Fluffy¡¯s hands blurred with two rapid strikes, and Xim maneuvered the wall of metal in front of the hits like it weighed nothing. Waves of force traveled through the massive slab, halted by the Shielding granted by her Level 40 Fortitude evolution. Xim gritted her teeth as the second strike broke through both the Scutum of Blood Scour and her Shielding, thumping into her armor and robes. Fluffy¡¯s strikes left bloody marks on the scutum, her furry knuckles dripping from the shield¡¯s bleed effect.

    Xim¡¯s tower shield glowed red and shot forward, but Fluffy spun and darted around the shield¡¯s edge, laying a kick into the side of Xim¡¯s leg. Xim angled her knee to keep it from being swept out from under her, but the crack of the collision made me wince.

    As soon as Xim¡¯s leg turned outward from the Yeti¡¯s kick, an arrow pierced through her chainmail and buried itself in her thigh. Despite the abuse, Xim was extremely durable. A quarter of the cleric¡¯s health was gone. That was substantial, but those hits would have killed her a few months ago.

    The wastelanders had clearly read the same kill priority manual I had. They knew Xim could heal, and they were trying to burn her down as fast as possible. I needed to grab their attention, but I could also help the cleric out in other ways.

    I activated Aura of Persistence, granting myself and all allies 74 Shielding that would constantly regenerate over time. Xim¡¯s own Shielding would come back in six seconds, but my aura granted more in the short term, and if one source was exhausted the other would take up the slack. It hit everyone in the party, granting Nuralie, Varrin, Etja, and even Grotto some extra defense while they were separated from us.

    I had a choice with Life Warden. At the moment, it was on Etja, who was my default target. The problem was that the mage was currently hopped up on a drink of godly soul juice and fighting an avatar. I was reluctant to leave her unguarded, but any damage that got transferred might be more than I could handle. Normally, the max was half of Etja¡¯s total health pool, so a little under 250 damage. In her current form, I had no idea what her max health looked like.

    I decided to keep it on her. It was a risk, but if she died because I pulled Life Warden, I¡¯d have a hard time living with that.

    Instead, I split my focus to activate Therianthropy and begin channeling Explosion!. Colorful wings unfolded on my back as downy tentacles wrapped around my sides, reaching into my inventory to pull out more hammers. A point of eye-catching mana appeared above my head, which began to grow and condense every second.

    So long as I chanted something ominous, my enemies would be drawn to the light unless they resisted its call. Since the wastelanders had 8 Levels over me, my This is Bullshit! achievement would make the effect more difficult to ignore. They had to actually hear me, though, so I strained to shout over the thumping music.

    I got a bit personal, and I also drew some inspiration from the Dread Star.

    ¡°Boundless Night, your child

    Raised dead, but can¡¯t raise herself

    A fly with wings plucked!¡±

    Maybe it was a bit villainous to start reciting haikus about killing people¡¯s family members to their faces, but they were trying to murder me, so fuck ¡®em. Their relatives had probably been hired assassins, as well. I knew they¡¯d at least killed poor lonely Langhrey.

    In other words, fornicate about and become learned.

    While I moved into my second form, I felt the entire room shift slightly.

    [I believe we can move this to more comfortable surroundings.]

    The entire room¨Cand probably the entire mansion¨Cstarted migrating toward the opposite side of the Closet. Before I could ask Grotto for more details, the veil-wearing runeweaver showed himself.

    A stream of gossamer runework streamed from Veil¡¯s cloud of thread, forming into a ball between me and Xim. It shot into the ground and sigils spread out across the floor and walls in every direction. The runes pulsed with power, and space twisted as an incredible force pulled me toward the center of the formation. Gravity Anchor kept me in place, but the pull tore at my muscles while my Shielding ate most of the damage.

    HP: 1331 -> 1303

    The attack also caught Xim, but her muscles swelled and her Shielding glowed brightly over her skin. Her feet sank into the floor, shattering boards and pressing into the stone below. The attack broke through the extra layer of defense, but she overwhelmed the spell¡¯s pull with overwhelming force. Another chunk of her health was gone.

    Behind Veil, the Giant¡¯s body became a beacon in the dark. The patterns tattooed onto his blue skin burned white, and static filled the air. I felt elemental mana gather for a fraction of a second before it reached out to connect with Xim. I immediately hit it with a Dispel, disrupting the skill.

    The counter barely drained any of my mana and it earned me a stack of Potency, granting me a free mana shape. I¡¯d likely come out net positive on mana, and for a moment I wondered if it had been worth the time it took to Dispel the skill.

    The spell instantly fired again, but with me as the target. The world flashed white as a thick bolt of lightning seized my body, searing flesh and tensing my muscles so tightly they began to tear. The bolt arced from me to Xim, treating the cleric to the same.

    HP: 1303 -> 995

    While my health plummeted, half the damage I took was sent to Xim as healing. After eating her own bolt of lightning, we were both down to half health. She¡¯d have been nearly dead had I not Dispelled the first bolt.

    Buster had shown at least one Divine ability and the power behind his words signaled a strong Charisma score. He was the only wastelander that looked like a good candidate for being a healer, but he was also clearly built for tanking. His build was a split, which meant his heals probably weren¡¯t as strong as they could be. Rather than waste our time trying to dig through his defenses while he healed himself, we would be better off bursting down someone a lot squishier.

    Fluffy was flighty and could punch through some of our armor, but she relied on rapid-fire strikes. That could still be offset by solid damage reduction, which Xim and I both had. I had no idea where the Wishborn archer was hiding, so they weren¡¯t a great opening target. Veil looked like support, with damage as a secondary. That was annoying, but Blue was a bigger threat. The Giant hit hard and stood out like a beacon. I mentally assigned him priority and sent that along to the group through Grotto.

    The wastelanders had stormed in, layering their abilities over top of one another and giving us little room to respond. Their opening salvo had hurt, that was for sure, but the frustration on Blue¡¯s face told me he¡¯d expected his spell to boil our innards. It had, Xim and I just didn¡¯t care too much.

    ¡°Our lives are fun,¡± Xim thought to me.

    Her armor was scorched and smoke rose from her hair. At some point, her dark locks had turned to molten blood. Crimson flames curled up from the cleric¡¯s eye sockets, and a 6-foot-wide halo of fire erupted behind her. The ring¡¯s center pulsed white-hot as she rose a foot off the ground.

    Veil¡¯s runes continued to press down and pull on us, but Xim rushed forward, enhanced by the buff she¡¯d earned from Sam¡¯lia and the Celerity granted by Etja¡¯s lingering zone of Divine power. She darted around Fluffy and rocketed to Veil, swinging her scepter at the Chovali¡¯s chest.

    Before I could question her choice of targets, the air around the Chovali burst into bloody flame and erupted into a cone of death that swallowed both Veil and the Giant.

    Xim¡¯s wall of fire was imbued with the full force of her scepter strike, and it hit Veil and Blue like a solid object before crashing into the back wall, turning half the room into a roaring bonfire. Their bodies were swallowed by the flames, but the pair could only stumble drunkenly, too rattled to react properly to the fire beginning to blacken their skin.

    At the same time, Xim¡¯s body glowed golden and the arrow in her thigh forced itself out as the wound began to close. Her health shot up by a third, replenishing most of what she¡¯d lost. An aura bathed the room, and a trickle of constant healing began working on my injuries.

    HP: 995 -> 1041

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Warmth

    You heal 46 health and gain 1 stack of Blessed every six seconds.

    It was an impressive display. I was already capped on Blessed but now felt comfortable starting to burn through them for defense.

    Buster roared as he shook off his stun, and a circle of holy light enveloped the battle, extinguishing the fire and empowering his allies. It looked like the wastelanders were ready to start playing their trump cards.

    The roof trembled as something enormous slammed into it.

    [Prepare to receive backup.]

 207 - Buffs, Cooldowns, Consumables. Burn Them All.

    You have observed the Consecration spell!

    Consecration

    Divine

    Cost: 25 Mana

    Requirements: CHA 40, Divine Magic 40

    You consecrate the ground in a radius around you equal to your Divine Magic skill level in feet. You, your allies, and sacred entities receive a bonus to all DR equal to your CHA while inside the consecrated ground. Hostile and profane entities receive additional Righteous damage equal to your CHA whenever they are hit by an attack while within the consecrated ground.

    Buster¡¯s spell didn¡¯t say anything about cleansing hostile magic, but it wiped out Xim¡¯s inferno all the same. The entire enemy party got a huge boost to their damage reduction, and a hefty boost to their damage on top.

    Righteous damage was devastating against entities profane to the wielder¡¯s god, and I had no idea what god Buster worshipped. There was no good way to know whether we would be considered abhorrent to the tenets of its faith unless Buster decided to drop us an obvious hint.

    Among the things I would consider an obvious hint would be religious symbols, identifiable prayers, or a man¡¯s skeleton tearing its way outside of his own body.

    While Consecration banished Xim¡¯s flames and buffed the Hyrachon¡¯s allies, Buster¡¯s skin bulged and split. Viscera-covered bone dislodged from its fleshy confines, taking the paladin¡¯s armor and massive sword with it.

    I¡¯d seen some nasty shit during my time as a Delver, but that one made my throat tense. I had to force my stomach to keep its contents to itself. I only had an instant to grapple with my rebelling guts before the skeleton exploded from the body, spraying me with hot blood as it charged the short distance between us.

    Its sword glowed with divine light, drawing power from the consecrated ground. I blocked with Gracorvus, stopping the sword without trouble, but a hateful presence invaded my body. I felt it claw through me, disgusted by my sense of mercy, and enraged by any memory where I submitted to authorities greater than myself. This time, the divine judgment did burn.

    HP: 1042 -> 897

    What the skeleton left behind reformed into a boneless mass of muscles and skin that somehow remained upright, dressed in small clothes and several items of jewelry. It drew a staff from its inventory.

    On the bright side, Veil and Blue were both still Stunned.

    ¡°Curse in Solitude

    Your love died, not once but thrice

    Wife, bug, phantom, corpse!¡±

    Explosion! continued to build as I chanted profound phrases, and Fluffy abandoned their pursuit of Xim in favor of flanking me and pummeling my kidneys while I dealt with Buster¡¯s skeleton. I burned through Blessed stacks to offset the damage, unable to block the Yeti without abandoning my defense against the bloody skeleton. Fluffy¡¯s fists pounded through my armor, injecting Righteous damage with each hit.

    HP: 897 -> 667

    I was taking the heat off of Xim, and my reward was blunt-force organ removal. Even though my kidneys were reduced to quivering chunks, I wouldn¡¯t bleed to death, which was nice. I considered a change in tactics since Xim¡¯s self-heal was absolutely insane. Before I could suggest that we start juggling aggro, our backup arrived.

    The ceiling over the enemy mages exploded as an enormous Atrocidile maw crashed down through it.

    Nottagator unleashed Titan¡¯s Roar, indiscriminately blasting everyone with a wave of sound and pressure that momentarily overwhelmed Cloaky¡¯s thumping music.

    HP: 667 -> 602

    You have resisted Fear!

    ¡°An Atrocidile berserker isn¡¯t ideal backup!¡±

    [True, but a Ravvenblaq berserker is.]

    As Nottagator collapsed through the ceiling, Varrin dove off the monster¡¯s back. His helm was no longer a featureless mask. Azure eyes burned furiously, the back of the helm adorned with sharp, spectral wings. He carved through the blue Giant as he landed, the enemy caster still Stunned from Xim¡¯s attack. The slash opened the man up in a diagonal from shoulder to hip.

    The Giant fell to his knees, blood and bowels pouring out of him.

    ¡°Arrow, Wishborn¡¯s charge

    A cricket with legs torn off

    Leapt into her grave!¡±

    My lyrical artistry struck me with the desire to stroke my beard in mysterious contemplation, but I suppressed the urge. My helmet would just get in the way. Instead, I used Shortcut to reposition myself away from Buster and Fluffy, tired of being the meat in their beatdown sandwich.

    The immense Atrocidile had finished smashing through the roof, collapsing the entire wall Buster had originally cut through. My drawing room was now expanded to include the ballroom next to it, which was perhaps taking open-concept a touch too far. I took advantage of the space and appeared behind Varrin, unceremoniously appointing him and Nottagator as my new meat shields while I appraised targets.

    Blue was down, but not dead. Still, the Giant would bleed out in a matter of seconds. Veil was starting to recover from Xim¡¯s wallop, but was dazed. The Wishborn archer was hidden, and I didn¡¯t have time to do a deep scan of our surroundings to find him. If we were lucky, the man had been hit by Nottagator¡¯s Fear effect and bolted. Third Layer denizens were generally resistant to Fear, though, so I didn¡¯t get my hopes up.

    Fluffy¡¯s entire body looked to have become encased in metal, which was probably bad, and the Yeti was rushing toward me. Buster¡¯s skeleton was moving to pursue as well, and his flesh bag was working up a new spell. Nottagator looked like it was ready to kill everyone, but I knew the Atrocidile¡¯s tricks. We just needed to make sure one of the wastelanders was closer to Nottagator than we were. Then again, the Atrocidile was sort of straddling the whole fight. We just needed to stay clear of its face, probably.

    I spent my stack of Potency on Funnel to double the damage of Oblivion Orb for one attack, then threw Somncres with my Void Hammer combo. Somncres transferred all effects on the hammer to any copies I made with it, which included the double damage, so I made four of them. I assigned one hammer to the Giant in accordance with our standard team philosophy of ¡°they¡¯re not dead until they¡¯re dead.¡± I sent the other three hammers, along with the original Somncres, at Veil, maneuvering them along four different trajectories.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    The Chovali had AoE control and damage over time effects, the ability to teleport his entire team, and the capacity to lock down someone¡¯s magic. I was dumping a lot of mana into Explosion! and committing myself to a lengthy cooldown. I was apprehensive of a counterspell, but with Blue out of the picture, the next most likely person to cause my big bang to fizzle was the runeweaver. After Blue, they were the next best target.

    My first hammer slammed into the downed Giant, collapsing what was left of their rib cage and delivering the contents of their chest cavity to the void. Buster¡¯s flesh bag swung their staff at Veil, surrounding the Chovali in a golden shield. Their skeleton disappeared in a spray of blood, reappearing in front of my second hammer. The skeleton defended with its sword but lost a chunk of armor and bone to the Orb as it bypassed the block. I took a smattering of thorns damage in return.

    The third hammer struck the glowing shield, which shattered and sent more thorns damage my way. The fourth got tangled in several layers of the runework fabric that surrounded Veil. It burned bright and destroyed the copy. The original Somncres made it through the web of defenses and struck home into the Chovali¡¯s back, shattering their spine and then doing them the service of removing the pesky bone fragments, along with all the nearby muscles and organs.

    Both enemy mages were down. Despite this current state of dead-ness, both enemy mages pulled a move that I¡¯d always known was a valid strategy.

    Corpse explosion.

    Blue¡¯s body swelled, tissues expanding and filling with chaotic mana, followed swiftly by Veil¡¯s. I barely had time to get my shield up before both detonated in a hail of Holy damage, catching my entire group¨Cincluding Nottagator¨Cin the blast.

    HP: 577 -> 391

    Xim and Varrin both lost 20% of their health. Normally, I would have found that trade acceptable. I was deep into the zone of hurt, but Varrin was mostly fresh and Xim was above half. With two members of the enemy party dead, we¡¯d probably be able to turn this shitshow around.

    Both enemy mages respawned.

    The chunks of their bodies turned to swirling clouds of ash, and rivers of blood poured from Buster¡¯s flesh bag. It began to deflate, but not nearly as much as it should have, given the volume of liquid it was pumping out. The blood gathered into the shapes of the recently deceased, and both Veil and Blue were reborn; naked, and thoroughly displeased.

    The exchange wasn¡¯t without a cost. The mages were both thin and sickly looking, and Buster¡¯s flesh suit had lost a third of its mass. Further, the philosophers among us could argue over whether they¡¯d truly been resurrected, or merely replaced with blood clones who shared their memories.

    Nah, put the existential dilemmas away, it was really them. They had the same souls and everything.

    Fluffy dove through the cloud of ash into the ballroom, drawn to me by my emotive, poetic chanting, and the ever-growing ball of destruction hovering above my head. Unfortunately for the Yeti, her dive took her in front of Nottagator¡¯s face, and the Atrocidile was more than happy to play with the shiny moving object.

    Nottagator snapped forward at Fluffy, nearly catching me and Varrin as well. The Yeti broke out of her fixation with my dangerous allure and threw a fist at one of Nottagator¡¯s teeth. The hit cracked the tooth and pushed the Yeti away from the attack.

    Nottagator¡¯s arm blurred as it swept its claws, and I was forced to leap back to avoid becoming collateral damage while Fluffy placed a hand on Nottagator¡¯s finger and flipped over the attack. Varrin spun around the foot-long talons and vanished. The big guy reappeared near Nottagator¡¯s tail, placing him in the drawing room next to Veil and Buster¡¯s skeleton.

    Buster immediately swung for the Ravvenblaq, who matched the hulking, armored skeleton for size. Varrin¡¯s blade swept through the air, catching the massive weapon and turning it an inch off course as he stepped aside and avoided the blow. Kazandak flashed upward, tearing a gash through the skeleton¡¯s armor. He stepped around the skeleton, Kazandak extending and aiming for Veil, but was forced to abandon the strike and duck down low as Buster spun with superhuman speed, sweeping his massive sword in a 270-degree arc.

    Veil snarled and drove his hands into the ground. Runes ran along his arms and legs into the floor, spreading out around us in a blur. The Chovali¡¯s gravity weave had continued to expand over time, and the new runes slotted into the original.

    Xim flew toward Veil, weaving between Nottagator¡¯s back legs as the Atrocidile rampaged. It roared in frustration, unable to hit the evasive Yeti. Fluffy could do little more than dodge, hitting Nottagator with the occasional glancing blow that only further enraged the Atrocidile.

    Xim drew in close to Veil while Varrin distracted the skeleton, but the flesh suit drove its staff toward her, encasing her in a golden sphere. Spears of light skewered into Xim. The cleric swung her scepter into the barrier, filling it with crimson flame until it burst, her body lighting up as she healed the damage she¡¯d suffered.

    The wounds diminished but refused to close. Blood poured out from the cleric¡¯s extra holes, streaming through the air to the flesh suit, which absorbed the liquid to regain the mass it lost resurrecting the mages. Xim was forced to pull back and use Cleanse, staunching the flow. I teleported to the meat bag and dropped Elemental Barrier, catching the boneless one, the Giant, and the Chovali in the AoE.

    The air shook violently, knocking the mages to the ground and interrupting the flesh bag¡¯s telekinetic vampirism. Blue pulled out an orb and crushed it, sending out a pulse of countermagic and dispelling my attack. The Chovali threw a talisman, which thunked onto my armor and stuck like a magnet.

    You are Immobilized!

    I mean, you were already Immobilized by your own skill, but now you¡¯re Immobilized again!

    I felt the familiar pull of a hostile teleport, which attempted to sling me into Nottagator¡¯s face. My resistance to non-consensual Dimensional effects kicked in, ending the teleport early. I wound up beneath the Atrocidile, between its legs, and I brought up Gracorvus to knock aside a bucking set of talons.

    Throughout it all, I kept chanting.

    ¡°Roach with hardened shell

    Still ran from my boot in fear

    Satisfying crunch!¡±

    Veil resumed pumping runes into the ground, staring at me with murder in his eyes.

    The Chovali¡¯s weaves were insufferable. They weren¡¯t skills that could be easily Dispelled, instead having the feel of prepared items like Nuralie¡¯s poisons. I¡¯d need time and focus to unravel them, which I didn¡¯t have. They still drew mana from the Chovali to power them, which made them less robust than a traditional weave. Regardless, they were a lot more durable than a normal spell.

    Veil¡¯s weave pulsed, twisting space and delivering a piercing pain to my skull, like someone had driven a railroad spike through my temple. Varrin and Xim were caught in the gravity effect, being yanked to the opposite side of the drawing room, away from Veil. Gravity Anchor once again kept me in place against the first effect¡¯s pull, but it didn¡¯t help with the second.

    HP: 392 -> 204

    You have been Paralyzed!

    While the Chovali locked us down, Blue raised his arms to the sky. I couldn¡¯t look above me¨Cboth because I was physically incapable of it and because there was a wall of Nottagator in the way¨Cbut the dark rooms lit up like it was high noon on a cloudless day. A withering heat began to build until it was hot enough to make the rubble smolder.

    Being Paralyzed kept me from doing anything physical, but it wouldn¡¯t stop me from utilizing skills that didn¡¯t require me to move my body. I could still channel Explosion!, although I couldn¡¯t snap my fingers to activate it. I could also maintain my Shielding aura.

    And I could still use Reverse Card.

    I seized the Giant¡¯s spell as he finished his cast. At first, I thought the redirect had failed. It cost zero mana to take control of it, which didn¡¯t make sense. Reverse Card¡¯s cost was equal to the mana spent by the caster. However, Reverse Card did work, which meant the spell had cost¡­ nothing?

    A 20-foot-wide beam of scorching light descended from above, centered on the Giant. Blue¡¯s eyes went wide, and the wastelanders abandoned him to his fate.

    Veil teleported deep into the ballroom. Buster¡¯s flesh bag tore off its amulet and held it aloft. The pendant disintegrated, surrounding both the skeleton and its calcium-deprived brother in a thick layer of blood. Xim hunkered down behind her shield and Varrin stood in front of her with blade ready, both having resisted the paralysis with one of their evolutions. I clenched and hoped for the best.

    The Giant didn¡¯t react in time.

    The beam struck like the hand of God, tearing everything within fifty feet of Blue to pieces and then igniting it. The bloody barrier around Buster¡¯s two halves boiled. Varrin rended the air with his blade, splitting the apocalyptic attack and driving it to either side, creating a narrow wedge of calm for himself and Xim. The wooden floor became smoke, the stone beneath the wood turned molten, and the liquid rock bubbled, spitting noxious fumes. Blue¡¯s skin peeled away and the flesh beneath blackened.

    Nottagator roared as its entire back half was soaked in flame. The Atrocidile¡¯s body protected me from the worst of the attack, but my eyes were flash-dried and my gambeson began to burn as my armor turned into a furnace. Spell-based elemental fire was nearly my highest defense, however, and despite being deeply uncomfortable, I avoided taking damage.

    The beam terminated when the life of its caster was spent, and Blue¡¯s smoking body fell into the slag.

 208 - Shared Fate

    I was blinded for several terrifying seconds after the beam hit. I kept a spiritual eye on everyone with Soul Sight, but the wastelanders seemed to be as fucked as I was. When the afterimage cleared from my vision, it was just in time to see a massive section of the six-foot-thick stone floor droop and fall away into the empty space of the Closet below. Blue¡¯s corpse went along with it. This time, there was no miraculous resurrection for the mage.

    There was a second of hesitation in the enemy party, and Xim took advantage of it.

    The burning icon of a pulsing heart appeared above the cleric. Blood-red flames surrounded it, a stark contrast to the orange-white inferno left in the beam¡¯s wake. The heart swelled as she poured stacks of Blessed into it. The organ beat with a pounding thump, emitting a wave of dread that drove itself into the minds of the remaining wastelanders.

    Fluffy tried to run, but Xim¡¯s Fear effect also Slowed its victims. Nottagator snapped at the Yeti, finally catching the elusive pugilist and clamping down on her with its jaws. Veil shivered, then sluggishly raced through the remains of the ballroom to the nearest door, tearing through it rather than using the doorknob like a polite house guest.

    As the Chovali runeweaver lost his shit, the weaves fell apart and my Paralyzed debuff ended.

    I was just about ready to snap.

    Buster¡¯s two halves floated away from the massive hole in the floor, steaming as the last remnants of their blood shield boiled away. Neither seemed to suffer from the Fear effect.

    Varrin was already flying through the air toward the pair, the spectral blue eyes on his helm growing more intense every second. The skeleton moved to intercept and swung its massive blade in a precise blur of speed. Varrin stepped through the air like he stood on solid ground, avoiding the hit with minimal effort and running Kazandak across the skeleton¡¯s battered armor. It bit through the plate and severed three ribs.

    Varrin tilted his body and tanked the next attack with his side, moving to deflect the majority of the thousand-pound-blade¡¯s energy.

    The eyes on his helm grew brighter.

    Flesh bag tried to trap Varrin in a blood dome, but the big guy spun and vanished, then reappeared behind the skeleton and carved through part of its spine.

    Xim sent me a thought and I canceled Gravity Anchor as she grabbed me. We shot up through the roof and she cast a Heal as we flew away, then her aura ticked, granting me even more healing.

    HP: 204 -> 480

    ¡°Blast ¡®em,¡± she said, then let me loose.

    My wings spread and I caught myself. I looked down at the mansion, a significant portion of which was actively on fire and collapsing as it migrated through the dark, empty space of the Closet.

    I scanned for the souls of the wastelanders, along with Etja and Hysteria. Neither the mage nor the avatar were within my Sight, but my default mana shape from Arcane Library was Discretion. My spells would ignore my allies, so Etja would be safe, even if she was still inside.

    Veil had fled to the edge of the mansion, searching for an escape in a house with no exits. From where we hovered, it looked like a rectangular prism of dark, floating stone. One with a mighty hole poked into it, but the Chovali had run away in terror, leaving that potential mode of egress behind. I still couldn¡¯t find the Wishborn.

    Varrin raged against Buster¡¯s skeleton. He grew stronger with every hit he took or dished out, but Berserk forced him to fight the closest enemy. A stream of blood flowed from his injuries to the meat suit, healing the caster as he took the warrior apart.

    Explosion! was charged enough to destroy the whole place, hitting everyone, or I could leave Nottagator and its Yeti chew toy untouched by detonating the spell off-center. The Atrocidile didn¡¯t count as an ally, given that it would tear me apart as readily as anyone else. Explosion! wouldn¡¯t ignore the monster, even with the Discretion mana shape on my spells.

    I knew the beast could tank the hit, but Nottagator was already injured from the beam and hadn¡¯t bothered to extinguish itself, letting the fire fuel its own Rage stacks. Even if the Atrocidile would survive the blast, I was a softie when it came to my pets, regardless of whether they were bloodthirsty abominations.

    There was no way they could hear me from this distance, so I simply spoke the last phrase of my chant, and dropped the AoE toward the edge of the grounds.

    ¡°You¡¯ll die as you lived

    Beneath another man¡¯s heel

    Crushed like those you loved.¡±

    The whole skirmish had lasted eighteen seconds. Even with half of the AoE bombing empty space, Explosion! obliterated a 110-foot chunk of the mansion. The entire western wing erupted, sending broken rock, splintered wood, and shattered art and furniture hurtling away into the dark.

    Then the force of the detonation reversed, sucking in all the debris, along with the chunky remains of Veil and both halves of Buster. The detritus crashed together into one big lump, then scattered and fell away into the dark.

    The spell dropped more than 800 damage right on top of Veil and Buster¡¯s mercenary heads. In exchange, the mansion was a burning ruin.

    I evaluated the impact, searching to see if either of my targets survived. I caught a glimmer of Buster¡¯s soul, falling and fading in and out of existence, but Veil was gone. The music had also stopped. I didn¡¯t see any sign of Hysteria¡¯s cloak.

    Varrin floated for a moment, chest heaving with heavy breaths as he looked for his next victim. He locked onto Fluffy and Nottagator. Before he could charge, Xim hit him with a Cleanse, ending the Berserk status.

    Varrin¡¯s helm went dark and the man shook his head, then reevaluated the battlefield, or lack thereof. Nottagator had Fluffy between its teeth and rolled, grinding the Yeti into the floor and extinguishing the flames on and around it.

    Varrin decided against getting between the beast and its prey, choosing to fly up to meet me and Xim instead.

    HP: 483 -> 759

    ¡°This form drains a lot of stamina,¡± Xim said as she cast another Heal. ¡°I can burn mana to get my stamina back, but only if I¡¯m healing from an injury. If we¡¯re killing anything else, we should get a move on.¡±

    I looked over, taking in her transformation. Her hair flowed like a liquid, similar to Sam¡¯lia¡¯s own, though its fluidity was more pronounced. Her eyes leaked dark flames, but the heat was gentle. The glowing ring at her back hummed as it held her aloft.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°Resource check,¡± I said, then sent a thought to Grotto.

    ¡°Grotto, do we have eyes on Etja and Hysteria? What about Nuralie and the Zenithar? We¡¯re also missing the Wishborn archer.¡±

    ¡°I can keep this up for three more minutes,¡± said Xim. ¡°It has a 24-hour cooldown. Mana is fine. I can recover it fast if I get a few minutes to meditate.¡±

    Varrin¡¯s helm went dark, and I felt power rush through his body as he burned a chunk of stamina. His health jumped up by 421 points.

    ¡°I¡¯m good,¡± he said.

    ¡°I could have just Healed you,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°What¡¯s your mana regen?¡±

    ¡°Eighty.¡±

    ¡°My stamina regen is 1200 out of combat. Heal Arlo instead.¡±

    Xim¡¯s eyebrows shot up as she tossed another spell my way. Between her spells and aura, my wounds were knitting closed at an incredible pace. My kidneys had probably regrown themselves. There was also an uncomfortable tearing feeling in my chest. The Giant¡¯s lightning bolt had fused some of my skin to my gambeson. The charred flesh was peeling free as new skin formed beneath it.

    ¡°How much of that is from your new helmet?¡± Xim asked.

    Varrin sent us the helm¡¯s description.

    Sanitas Ira

    Corvite Houndskull Bascinet

    Requirements: STR 40, SPD 20, AGI 20, FOR 40

    +16 DR All

    +86 Physical DR

    +60 Health Regeneration

    +240 Stamina Regeneration

    +160 Dodge

    +40 Dodge Recovery

    While Berserk, you gain +68% resistance to hostile mind-affecting abilities.

    This item can only be wielded by members of the Ravvenblaq family.

    ¡°Jesus fuck,¡± I muttered. ¡°Do all those numbers go up another 50% from your Old Money passive?¡±

    ¡°The passive is called Ancestral Regalia, and yes. The stamina regen gets tripled by Deep Breaths as well.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re immune to mental attacks while berserking,¡± said Xim. That reminded me to check the Holy Water. It was seconds away from expiring.

    ¡°I knew that shit would be good,¡± I said. ¡°But damn. Also, I¡¯ve got 174 mana with regen at 400 currently.¡±

    ¡°Okay, enough show and tell,¡± said Xim. ¡°Are we moving?¡±

    ¡°Still waiting on Grotto,¡± I said, growing nervous. ¡°He isn¡¯t answering.¡±

    ¡°Grotto?¡± I tried again.

    A wave of Spiritual pain shot through my connection with the Bonded Familiar. Dread began to overwhelm me. My head spun until I grew nauseous, scattering my thoughts until I could barely think. I¡¯d never felt this side of Shared Fate, but I knew instinctively what it meant.

    Something had just attacked Grotto, and the wound went beyond his fake octo body, badly damaging his core.

    I spun toward the Pocket Delve. The ruined mansion had been traveling in that direction. I couldn¡¯t see it through the dark, but Coordinated Thinker told me we¡¯d covered three-quarters of the distance.

    Varrin was the fastest, and he grabbed each of us with a giant arm and took off, immediately cracking through the sound barrier. The Delve¡¯s dark exterior was visible within seconds.

    I scanned the boundaries for Dimensional Magic, finding nothing but the normal ambient levels. ¡°The portal barrier is down,¡± I said. ¡°It should be self-sustaining. Either Grotto shut it down manually, or something is preventing the obelisk from distributing mana.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the move?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Give me a sec,¡± I said, closing my eyes and focusing.

    The easiest method of finding everyone was to use my aura. I calmed myself and focused on Grotto first. He was deep within the Delve, but his surroundings were nearly pitch black. There was just enough light for my darkvision to give me a vague impression of the space, which was small and cramped.

    Grotto had shown me a three-dimensional model of the entire Closet while the Littans ran through the Delve. I brought that up in my mind, remembering the general layout, and focused while feeling out Grotto through my aura and our soul connection. I was pretty sure he was in the control room, but all of his equipment had gone dead.

    The Core was alive but unresponsive. I couldn¡¯t make out any enemies in the room through my aura, so I took a crack with my Soul Sight.

    Grotto¡¯s control room was warded to hell and back. It was surrounded by a sphere of inch-thick mana-enhancing Madrin woven with a dozen different anti-teleportation, anti-scrying, and anti-divination arrays on top of a variety of other enchantments falling within the ¡°none of your business¡± category. That was surrounded by a sphere of meter-thick mana-dampening dark iron with enough damage reduction weaves to make any attempt at a brute-force entry take long enough for backup to arrive.

    All of the weaves were independently powered through mana chips so they weren¡¯t reliant on the obelisk to stay active. Grotto had probably dumped more than half the chips I¡¯d ever given him into making the little bunker. Normally, such robust defensive measures would be great. At the moment, it was getting in the way.

    My connection to Grotto gave me enough to get a read on his soul, but my Sight was otherwise blocked. I couldn¡¯t be certain the Core was alone, or that this wasn¡¯t a trap of some sort.

    While I was searching for Grotto, I also reached out for Etja. She was in the Delve as well, in the hallway outside the obelisk chamber and buried in a wall. Her health was fine, and no damage had transferred to me through Life Warden, but she was definitely unconscious. There was a horde of dead Gekkogs around her, several of which had arrows sticking out of them.

    I could just barely see into the obelisk chamber. I could make out the fluttering outline of the Wishborn standing a foot off the ground next to the dark pillar. They were doing something to it, but I couldn¡¯t tell what.

    I reached out for Nuralie next, but I was completely blocked off. That could have been because she didn¡¯t want to be found, because the Zenithar was using some kind of divine interference, or because something less pleasant was interfering. Either way, she was alive and well on the party interface.

    I opened my eyes.

    ¡°Well, we can go guns blazing and make a reckless teleport into a potential trap,¡± I said. ¡°Or Xim can drop her transformation to save stamina while we work out a better plan.¡±

    ¡°Explain,¡± said Xim. I gave them the abbreviated version.

    ¡°Can we even get inside Grotto¡¯s command center?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°If it is as well defended as you say, I am uncertain how we could quickly infiltrate.¡±

    ¡°I can think of two methods,¡± I said. ¡°First, layer walking.¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± said Xim. She let her transformation end, forgot that she couldn¡¯t fly without it, and Varrin swept down to scoop her up before she fell too far. She cleared her throat and wiggled a bit in the princess carry. ¡°Layer walking would take time. I¡¯d have to set up the ritual. This is also completely unknown territory and I have no idea what the wilds would be like in here.¡±

    ¡°But you think it would work?¡± I said.

    ¡°Probably. It might even be easier than normal since the Closet has a direct connection to the tribe. The problem is what else might be in here from the Third Layer that we don¡¯t know about. This area may be relatively tame since it¡¯s conceptually related to our lands, but it¡¯s very unrelated from a geographic standpoint.¡± She blew a curl of hair from her face and looked around. ¡°It¡¯s also possible that this is the layout within the Third Layer since the Closet is all that¡¯s ever existed here. If that¡¯s the case, it wouldn¡¯t help us much. There¡¯d still be a hunk of rock and magic metal in our way.¡±

    ¡°What is the second option?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Grotto¡¯s anti-teleportation weaves form a perfect sphere around the control room,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s a three-dimensional shape. I can try to access the room by fumbling about in the shadows of the fourth dimension, where that hollow sphere would become equivalent to a circle that I can just sort of¡­ step over. Then I mana-shape Shortcut to take you both along with me.¡±

    ¡°You have only done that once, correct?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah, during the Cathedral puzzle in the Descent.¡±

    ¡°Chances of catastrophic failure?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I think it would be low,¡± I said. ¡°I use Coordinated Thinker to find the path, which doesn¡¯t require me to physically go anywhere, just feel out the space and apply some Dimensional Magic. The teleport would be normal. For me, at least. I haven¡¯t done it with a group.¡±

    ¡°Which option would be faster to eliminate?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°It should only take me a minute to figure out the teleport,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s faster than my way,¡± said Xim. ¡°Sounds like a winner. If it doesn¡¯t work, we can risk diving into the unknowns of the Closet¡¯s Third Layer.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, then began focusing on moving my perception strangeward.

    I spent several seconds reacquainting myself with the feeling of looking in the incomprehensible direction, then worked to settle my focus on the shadows that my mind could fathom. When I went through this process while moving from the basilica to the cathedral, I was maneuvering down a straight hallway, one that was infinitely larger than the rooms I was moving between.

    Here, there was no hallway.

    There was only plant.

 209 - The Plant Dimension

    Using Coordinated Thinker to find a valid teleport location for Shortcut was a bit like groping about blindly with a big phantom hand. I didn¡¯t ¡®see¡¯ the spaces I was searching through, but I could get a feel for their structure and dimensions.

    It made me think of one of those sticky hands I used to get out of a gumball toy machine at the grocery store. There was a long, stretchy ¡®arm¡¯ that connected the appendage to my perception, with a hand about the size of my own body at the end, which slapped around and groped at stuff, sticking to anything interesting. It could move through solid objects, send feedback, and ultimately determine whether a space was safe to teleport to.

    Searching for a way into Grotto¡¯s bunker by using Coordinated Thinker to go strangeward was¨Cbelieve it or not¨Cmuch stranger. The phantom limb became something massive, expanding out into a new dimension. It was the same volume of growth as a thick line on a sheet of paper rising off the page to become an entire wall. The length and width were the same, but adding depth created something vastly larger than its flattened-out counterpart.

    I could use this supermassive hand to run my fingers along all the surfaces of the Delve. Interior, exterior, it didn¡¯t matter, since I could reach over any three-dimensional barrier. I could read the Delve¡¯s compartments like braille, and theoretically find Grotto¡¯s control center without much problem. I already knew where it was relative to myself, I just had to stretch out and stick my hand inside.

    While I couldn¡¯t ¡®see¡¯ what surrounded the hand, I could still use it to determine the bounds of objects around it. If I focused, I could get a general shape or texture, maybe even guess what it was I was poking at. When moving between the cathedral and basilica, the feeling I got from the hand¡¯s strangeward dimension was of an incomprehensibly large hallway. I could more or less slide my hand blindly down a smooth wall until I got where I needed to be.

    The ¡®texture¡¯ of the Closet¡¯s fourth dimension was not smooth. It was ropey, fleshy, wet, and moving.

    When I first reached out, a vine slithered through the phantom limb, and I immediately jerked my senses back. It felt like I¡¯d reached out to grab a snack from the pantry without looking, and stuffed my hand into a pile of live snakes instead.

    I didn¡¯t have a problem with snakes, or plants that looked and felt like snakes, but I¡¯d still jump if I encountered a snake-like creature in a place I wasn¡¯t expecting one to be. I¡¯d had a pet snake for about a decade. It was cute enough, if a bit bitey.

    But if I¡¯d gone for a midnight piss and found Albert coiled up in the toilet bowl, I¡¯d have screamed like a bobcat.

    Anyway, I took about three seconds to allow my heart rate to drop back below 200 bpm and reached in for another attempt. Unlike Albert, the plant couldn¡¯t bite me. My hand wasn¡¯t really there, just an extension of my perception. That didn¡¯t stop my skin from crawling when carnivorous Dominion Ivy was the overwhelming majority of what I could sense. It also didn¡¯t stop me from groping around until I found Grotto¡¯s bunker.

    ¡°Stand close,¡± I said.

    Xim and Varrin moved until they were shoulder to shoulder with me, weapons and spells ready. Xim had taken the time while I concentrated to grant Varrin the Blessings of Hunger and Pounding, giving him endless Blessed generation, along with bonus damage and life leech.

    I cast Shortcut, using the Bubble mana shape to take my allies with me.

    Aside from the several dozen mutilated vines that appeared along with us, we made it inside the control room without issue.

    Varrin used Ghostwind Slash, I dropped an Elemental Barrier with the Cold damage type, and Xim cast Judgment. All three of us had abilities that allowed the skills to ignore allies, and the room was small enough that our AoEs fully encompassed it.

    A spectral copy of Kazandak swept around us, filling the room with a cutting Spiritual wind that sucked a shadowy figure from a dark corner. The temperature dropped low enough to flash-freeze water, then erupted in a pillar of holy fire.

    This resulted in the mystery figure being Slowed, Ignited, Feared, Slowed again¨Cwhich upgraded it to Immobilized¨CWeakened, and Cursed, while taking a combination of Spectral, Elemental, Infernal, and Psychic damage.

    Whoever this was, they were almost certainly an enemy. There was a tiny chance they were a random person who was neither an ally nor an enemy and had snuck inside Grotto¡¯s hideout somehow. Our skills would ignore allies, but not neutral third parties.

    I wouldn¡¯t lose sleep over it if they were the latter, though. Breaking into a secured facility inside of a Delver¡¯s personal pocket dimension was an effective way to self-select oneself out of the gene pool.

    However, our combination of attacks made it difficult to figure out who we were annihilating. Their soul was in chaos from Varrin¡¯s attack, and they were burning with all the enthusiasm of dry kindling on a bonfire in the middle of a drought.

    Once the pull effect from Varrin¡¯s skill wore off, Elemental Barrier launched the burning figure away. Varrin flicked Kazandak, removing the person¡¯s head before they thudded against the wall, crumpling to the floor in two parts.

    I canceled my spell, and Xim willed the flames to die. I stepped forward to poke the person with my boot. They were a mutilated hunk of unidentifiable charcoal, and they were very much deceased.

    ¡°Who do ya think that was?¡± asked Xim.

    I ignored the body and spun, looking for Grotto. I spotted him by the back wall, and for a moment I thought he was hovering in place. When I pushed past Varrin and took a step closer, I realized he was hanging from the wall. An arrow had passed through his center and buried itself in one of the dark slates he used to monitor information, pinning him.

    I stood close and looked at the wound. From the outside, Grotto looked like a little c¡¯thon that had been murdered. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, his tentacles were limp, and ocean-blue blood dripped from his feelers onto the ground, but no longer flowed from the wound.

    Stolen story; please report.

    I pushed down a flare of grief and anger. My Sight told me what I already knew through our Shared Fate connection.

    His soul was weak, but the Core was alive.

    ¡°Grotto?¡± I said.

    I raised a hand on impulse but dropped it without touching him. I had no idea whether trying to move him would help or hinder, so I deferred to Xim. The cleric stepped up next to me, a look of dismay crossing her features. An instant later her expression settled into something more clinical and detached.

    She reached up, gently placed her hand along Grotto¡¯s side, and closed her eyes. A soft pulse of Divine mana ran down her arm and through the Core¡¯s body.

    ¡°His organic body feels like it''s shut down,¡± she said. ¡°But it¡¯s hard to say how bad the damage is. Grotto¡¯s c¡¯thon body is¨Cby design¨Cmissing most of the vital organs a normal living being needs. Still, there¡¯s no blood flow or muscular activity, none of the things his core handles to maintain the c¡¯thonic tissue.¡±

    ¡°His Delve Core body is alive, I know that much,¡± I said. ¡°Can you get insight into how badly his chassis has been damaged?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the wrong person to ask,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s a combination of mana weaves and machinery and¡­ who knows what else. Nuralie would probably be our best bet. Even you or Etja would have a better chance at evaluating him than I would.¡±

    I bit my lip as I thought over the situation. Varrin squatted next to the half-cremated corpse and tried to find anything of interest. The room hadn¡¯t been spared our onslaught, but its contents were made of extremely durable Delve stuff.

    The mini-obelisk at the center was untouched, and I could barely notice where Xim¡¯s fire had burned. It was a bit more selective than normal fire, given its divine nature. Varrin¡¯s attack hadn¡¯t used a physical blade, so nothing had been cut into pieces, and Elemental Barrier had left a layer of frost behind, but the wave of force it emitted wasn¡¯t very destructive on its own.

    For how ruinous the three skills had been on the unidentifiable intruder, they¡¯d gone pretty easy on the environment.

    ¡°He¡¯s not dead, and from what I can tell he¡¯s not getting worse,¡± I said. ¡°But he¡¯s incapacitated, and I have no idea if that puts him on a timer.¡±

    ¡°Why would it?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He needs to absorb mana to stay functional,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if he can do that in this state.¡±

    ¡°How does he normally fix himself?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°He has automated functions that deal with wear and tear, but this goes well beyond that,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a space for him inside the obelisk, like there was in his old Delve. He told me that if he had a major problem, I should put him in there.¡±

    ¡°You two did not discuss any other contingencies?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°You know how he is,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what intrinsic skill would be most helpful for fixing him.¡±

    ¡°I believe it would be wise to force that conversation,¡± said Varrin. ¡°In case this happens again.¡±

    I appreciated that Varrin was operating with the belief that we¡¯d all survive for there to be a next time.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Regardless, that¡¯s the best place for him until we figure out whether we need to do anything manually. The main obstacle to that idea is that someone is in there fucking with the obelisk as we speak.¡±

    ¡°You said it looked like the Wishborn,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I did,¡± I said. ¡°But if their archer is in the obelisk room, then who¡¯s that?¡± I nodded at the charred corpse. ¡°It sure looks like that fuck shot Grotto with an arrow and then hid out, trying to ambush us.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t gotten any kill notifications,¡± said Xim. ¡°If the System could tell us who¡¯s dead, it would simplify things.¡±

    ¡°It is probably treating this as a single encounter,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We will receive any combat notifications once the threat is dealt with.¡±

    I furrowed my brow and looked back at Grotto. It was disturbing to see him like this. I knew intellectually that Grotto wasn¡¯t a little floating feathered octopus, but that¡¯s the form I¡¯d known him as for the majority of our time together. Emotionally, it felt like looking at the body of a friend, murdered in cold blood. I tried to push down another spike of anger but only half-succeeded. I needed to keep a level head and stay rational, but there was a heat in my chest that wouldn¡¯t go away.

    ¡°Maybe we can see the notifications,¡± I said, drawing curious looks from both Xim and Varrin. I pulled up my skills and re-read Dungeoneering.

    Dungeoneering: This skill allows you to use System Insight concerning Delves, dungeons, and labyrinths. Higher levels improve the insights you receive.

    System Insight was a term first explained to me by the crafter and merchant Seinnador, who used it to gain additional information when inspecting items. As far as I knew, it meant the System would grace you with some of its vast knowledge from time to time, if it felt like it, and only about the specific thing for which you had System Insight. It was one of those vague, bullshit ¡®abilities¡¯ that I had a strong distaste for.

    It was also useless.

    The information we got from Grotto was leaps and bounds above anything the skill could provide. Thus, Dungeoneering was a dead skill for me, and it was primarily a vessel for Grotto to provide bonuses to the Pocket Delve. The evolutions made the Delve more mana-efficient and made allied Fear effects more difficult to resist while inside.

    The Delve was at best an indirect help to me. Grotto had promised to create automation chains within the Delve for things I wanted or needed, but hadn¡¯t yet gotten around to it. I hadn¡¯t pressed him on it, and we¡¯d been busy, but it was a theoretical future benefit and not immediately useful.

    However, System Insight was as close as a normal Delver could get to being able to make a System Call.

    System Calls were made by Delve Cores and other System entities when they wanted something specific from the System that it wouldn¡¯t automatically provide them. Grotto¡¯s override codes were System Calls, and they could be used much more broadly than System Insight. The System Rep that we¡¯d gotten from the Delve was a currency used when making a System Call, allowing the System to allocate additional resources via some kind of merit-based logic. Successful Cores got more support, while unsuccessful Cores had to nut up.

    Grotto had his own pool of System Rep, but so did I. That was a point of confusion for Grotto and even Avarice when I mentioned it to her. Of course, my relationship with the System was unusual. After all, how many Delvers were co-arbiters of a Delve? I suspected the answer was one.

    And, as co-arbiter of a Delve, shouldn¡¯t I be allowed to make a System Call? If not, then what the fuck was the point of me having this Dungeoneering skill?

    ¡°System Call,¡± I said, crossing my fingers. ¡°Update combat notifications for Delver Party: Fortune¡¯s Folly.¡±

    Varrin raised an eyebrow, while Xim peered up at the ceiling in anticipation. Several seconds passed with no response. I was about to try again when I got a notification.

    Evaluating request¡­

    Combat notifications are held in reserve until Fortune¡¯s Folly has successfully navigated the current conflict. Advancing notifications will require an appropriate override code.

    Xim saw me react to the message, but couldn¡¯t see it herself. ¡°Did it work?¡± she asked. I nodded. ¡°No fuckin¡¯ way.¡±

    I searched through my memory for the codes I¡¯d seen. I glanced back at Grotto as one came to mind.

    ¡°Override code 003: Preservation of Delve Core.¡±

 210 - System Call

    Please provide additional context.

    I took a deep breath and formulated my argument.

    ¡°Delve Core 1156 has suffered significant damage to his chassis and has become non-responsive,¡± I said. ¡°The perpetrator is suspected to be another Delver, but I am unable to determine whether that Delver has been killed. An entity that matches the Delver¡¯s appearance is currently interfering with the obelisk for Delve 1156-B, but the avatar Hysteria is also present, and they are known to mimic appearances.

    ¡°I believe Core 1156 needs to be inserted into the Delve obelisk to facilitate repairs. If the person in the obelisk chamber is a Delver, we can intervene and gain access to the obelisk. If the entity within the chamber is an avatar, accessing the obelisk would present even greater risk to the Core.

    ¡°Additionally, the Delver is supported by a full five-person party. Knowing which members still live will further improve our ability to render aid to the Core.¡±

    Ingesting data from Delve 1156-B: The Pocket Delve, d/b/a Inheritance of the Void King¡­

    Evaluating¡­

    An additional System Call for this Delve is outstanding, would you like to bundle your requests?

    ¡°What¡¯s the other one?¡± I asked.

    System Call: Deliver urgent communication to SC2 for relay to User Name: Avarice.

    ¡°That never went out?¡±

    No. The message was held in queue while User Name: Avarice was located. The recipient entity is currently in close proximity to Delve 1156-B. The System recommended that the Delve Core attempt to make contact independently. The outstanding System Call has been held in reserve pending a response from 1156.

    Given that 1156 is non-functional, the Call will be manually evaluated before submission. Estimated time until evaluation: 43 minutes.

    As the System described its process, I was struck by how bureaucratic it sounded, and I began to wonder who or what I was talking to.

    System Core 1 sounded like a manic sadist with enough conflicting personalities that their use of the royal ¡°we¡± was entirely justified. System Core 2 had the mellower vibe of a slightly put-out technician who¡¯d resigned themselves to being the only person competent enough to deal with the ever-growing pile of shit on their org¡¯s to-do list.

    Whatever I was currently speaking with had a much dryer and more robotic tone. It matched some of the messages I¡¯d received during Delves, but rarely what I would get when having more of a ¡®conversation¡¯ with the System. I¡¯d always been confused by that tonal shift, but now I wondered whether this was something completely different from either of the two main cores.

    Also, Avarice was close to the Delve? How close? Had she never left the Closet?

    ¡°Clarification: to whom am I speaking?¡± I asked.

    I am Subsystem Series 11. I am responsible for Delver interactions and Tier 1 support requests originating from Delves 1100 to 1199.

    ¡°Alright. Mind if I call you Sub-el? Short for Sub-eleven?¡±

    I do not mind. That moniker is already associated with my designation.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Someone else had beaten me to the nickname. ¡°We¡¯re in a bit of a time crunch, Sub-el. If we bundle those System Calls together, what¡¯s the ETA on a response?¡±

    Bundled requests receive a higher priority. Once I finish evaluating the data from Delve 1156, I will escalate both System Calls immediately. It will take me approximately 6 minutes to finish my evaluation.

    ¡°Is it possible to speed that up?¡±

    Yes. Additional processing power is available for purchase. Would you like to purchase additional processing power for 1 System Rep?

    ¡°Does that last forever, or only for this request?¡±

    Additional processing power is provided in batches and will be used to facilitate all expedited requests until expended.

    ¡°Uh, you know what? Sure. Let me buy that processing power.¡±

    I watched my Rep go down by one, and found myself wrestling with a new wave of anger boiling under my skin. I hadn¡¯t known what to expect from using System Call, but¨C

    No, that¡¯s not true. I¡¯d expected it to be cool as shit.

    I¡¯d been planning on adding ¡°Master of Systems¡± to my parade of personal titles, flaunting my ability to call down the power of a globe-spanning magical intelligence on a whim. I would speak, and the System would heed my words, eager to satisfy my demands!

    Instead, I¡¯d gotten access to a ground-level support bot aaaaaaand Mother. Fucking. Microtransactions.

    Dealing with hotline support while losing out on valuable working hours was annoying on its own, but suffering through time-sucking escalation protocols while lives were at stake was fucking intolerable.

    Having to pay to reduce my hold time was also obnoxious, but the rich-dick side of me appreciated having the option, and the convenience of the transaction was impeccable. I hadn¡¯t even had to read Sub-el my card number, everything was already on file.

    Override Code 003 has been accepted. Due to the time-sensitive nature of your circumstances, I am bypassing normal escalation protocols and granting your request to advance combat notifications. Fortune¡¯s Folly has additional skill advancements held in reserve due to other feats. I am releasing those as well.

    Your party has slain Garvandr, Burning Sky: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party has slain Cliffswept, Runic Shroud: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party has defeated Zayn Ayad: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party receives no System-issued rewards for this victory.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 32 to Level 35!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to Level 28!

    Your Shields skill has increased to Level 27!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 22 to Level 24!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased from Level 22 to Level 24!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased from Level 21 to Level 23!

    Your Leadership skill has increased from Level 21 to Level 23!

    Your Dungeoneering skill has increased to Level 26!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased from Level 11 to Level 15!

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    That¡­ was a decent haul. Eighteen skill levels, but it looked like the System had been holding out on delivering some of them since before the big fight.

    Had my Diplomacy skyrocketed because of my meetings with the Hiwardians, or had dealing with Hysteria also helped? I¡¯d gotten a Mystical Magic level during my attempted escape from Hysteria, which was after dealing with the Hiwardians, so I suspected whatever made Diplomacy advance was something that happened afterward.

    Maybe facilitating a meeting between an avatar and an elder god counted as diplomacy? We were definitely engaging in one of the oldest forms of diplomacy, which was killing the shit out of people who disagreed with us.

    ¡°Defeated,¡± Varrin growled as he read the notification for the enemy archer.

    ¡°Wishborn are created to fulfill a wish,¡± said Xim. ¡°They¡¯re spawned by feeding a powerful desire to an ancient blood ritual. When they die, their body is banished back to the Third Layer, but they can¡¯t be fully killed until either their purpose is fulfilled or it becomes impossible to achieve.¡±

    ¡°The big-sworded Hyrachon said they were born to protect someone,¡± I said. ¡°But the person they were protecting is dead now. Sounds impossible to me.¡±

    ¡°Then the wish was more complex,¡± she said. ¡°It could have been something like ¡®Protect my person and seek vengeance on any who do them harm.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Great. How long until they can return?¡± I asked, looking at the ¡®defeated¡¯ corpse.

    ¡°It takes longer each time they¡¯re banished, and it depends on the strength of the ritual. There¡¯s a whole poem about it, but it¡¯s really cryptic so I won¡¯t recite it to you. The baseline is thirty days, then three months, then three seasons, then two years and one season. It keeps multiplying by three from there, but it¡¯s offset by the length of time they were active and fulfilling the wish.¡±

    ¡°In other words,¡± said Varrin, ¡°it is not a problem for today.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it,¡± I said. ¡°But at some point between thirty days and several years from now, we might have an angry shadow man coming after us again.¡±

    ¡°Then we will kill him again,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Good enough plan for me. We didn¡¯t get Buster or Fluffy, either. Veil was their transportation, so they¡¯re probably stuck in here.¡±

    ¡°We can find and finish them later,¡± said Xim. ¡°What are we doing about Hysteria pretending to be the Wishborn and messing up your obelisk?¡±

    ¡°One sec,¡± I said. Sub-el had sent me another notification, but I¡¯d ignored it while we¡¯d discussed.

    Your message has entered the queue for delivery to SC2, but there is currently a high volume of incoming communications. Would you like to purchase additional message priority for 10 System Rep?

    ¡°Ten? Holy shit, that price went up fast. Sub-el, how long is the wait right now, and how long would it be if I paid for it?¡±

    Estimated time until SC2 receives your message is currently 3 days 11 hours and 16 minutes. With the purchase of additional priority, the message will be delivered within the next 9 hours.

    ¡°Is that max speed?¡±

    Higher levels of priority are available, but you do not possess sufficient Rep.

    ¡°Hmm. Neither of those time frames is helpful. Can I send a message to Avarice directly?¡±

    One moment¡­

    Information on User Name: Avarice is restricted. Please contact System Core 2 for assistance.

    ¡°This is some bullshit,¡± I muttered. I looked around aimlessly for a second, my muscle memory searching for a way to mute my mic with Sub-el. I decided to take a big step to the right and look up at a different part of the ceiling. ¡°Hey! Avarice! You around?!¡±

    No impossibly tall women appeared.

    ¡°Why are you trying to call for another avatar?¡± Xim hissed at me.

    ¡°Avarice can be helpful,¡± I said. ¡°She sold me those Holy Waters and the orb that broke Hysteria¡¯s illusions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? What did that cost you?¡±

    ¡°A few vines and a quest.¡±

    ¡°A ¡®quest¡¯,¡± said Varrin, sounding less than enthusiastic. ¡°What kind of quest?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the terms later, but I think they¡¯re favorable.¡±

    ¡°This is a quest that you¡¯re doing, right?¡± said Xim. ¡°Alone, without involving us.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a quest for the whole party.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Xim. ¡°What are you planning to trade to her now? I can respect you doing what needed to be done to get us out of Hysteria¡¯s trap, but I¡¯d rather not barter away any more of our future than you already have.¡±

    I considered Xim¡¯s question while waiting to see if Avarice would show up. Even if Avarice were around, would she notice me yelling her name from inside Grotto¡¯s bunker? It¡¯s not like she was the avatar of hearing or anything.

    Maybe I could summon her at a crossroads by burying a box containing a self-portrait, some graveyard dirt, and a bone from a black cat.

    More seriously, she would probably appear if a good enough deal was floated her way. Having a supernatural sense for discounted goods was believable enough. Plus, according to Sub-el, she was already close by.

    ¡°I have an idea,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it will require us to do anything more than what we¡¯re already willing to do.¡±

    Xim crossed her arms and waited for me to enlighten her, while I asked Sub-el to show me the contents of the message Grotto was trying to send to Avarice. After quickly discussing with the group, I made a few modifications.

    I felt like an asshole for what I was about to ask Sub-el, but I didn¡¯t feel like I had time to mess around with the ground-level support AI.

    ¡°Sub-el, I¡¯d like to escalate this matter to SC2.¡±

    Escalation to SC2 would bypass multiple support Tiers. An appropriate override code is required.

    ¡°Override code 003 isn¡¯t good enough?¡±

    Your Code 003 request is insufficient for direct System Core intervention. The relevant information from Delve 1156-B is being transferred to a higher support tier and will be further evaluated as soon as possible.

    ¡°Is there an override code for an avatar being inside one of the Delves and fucking shit up?¡± I asked, thinking back to when we¡¯d first encountered Orexis. ¡°What about code 001?¡±

    Override code 001: Preservation of Delve System is appropriate if a sufficiently powerful entity threatens widespread damage or usage interruption. However, the requested System action must also relate to the avoidance or mitigation of the event. Expediting the delivery of a message to a non-System entity is not an appropriate use of code 001.

    ¡°Are you authorized to make a final determination of what actions should be taken during a 001 event?¡±

    My role is to evaluate the basis of the request and determine whether it is valid.

    ¡°Does your role allow you to unilaterally disregard a suggested course of action if an appropriate basis for a 001 override is found?¡±

    Only if the suggested action has no rational relationship to the problem at hand.

    ¡°If the information on Avarice is restricted, then how can you conclusively say that sending her a message has no rational relationship to the code 001 problem in Delve 1156-B?¡±

    ¡­

    ¡­

    As of now, no evaluation of override code 001 has been performed. Would you like to submit override code 001?

    ¡°Yes, please and thank you.¡±

    A new notification popped up telling me that Sub-el was working on it, but they didn¡¯t seem to be in much of a hurry.

    ¡°While that¡¯s happening, I¡¯m going to try and get more intel,¡± I said, stepping up to the mini-obelisk at the room¡¯s center. I went ahead and connected to Xim and Varrin using Reveal, so they could share my vision.

    The runes along the pillar were dark when I went to grip it, and a gentle pulse of mana failed to drag my sense of perception off into the Delve. I closed my eyes and ramped up the mana I was sending into the small obelisk, until I was no longer being gentle. I was being quite vigorous with the pillar, maybe even a bit rough.

    ¡°This seems needlessly sexual,¡± said Xim.

    I cleared my throat and refocused.

    After a few more seconds of effort, the small obelisk lit up and my vision split away from my body until I was staring at the main obelisk chamber from above.

    The fake Wishborn had opened up and disassembled a small section of the obelisk, and attached a clear, cylindrical device to the obelisk¡¯s central rod. Whatever it was, the device was siphoning off all of the Dimensional mana that would otherwise be fed into the Delve¡¯s operation and the Closet¡¯s expansion. That was an enormous amount of mana every second, but Hysteria¡¯s device was swallowing it up like it was nothing.

    I looked away from the item and swept my view around the chamber. Etja was still in the hallway just outside, passed out and half-buried in a wall. Neither Nuralie nor the Zenithar were in sight.

    Curiously, Hysteria was standing a couple of feet off the floor. Grotto had designated the bottom two feet of the obelisk chamber as inventory slots, to contain the Immature Dominion Ivy Plants. Since all the slots were filled, it created an invisible platform.

    Items in inventory slots were sent into stasis, preventing them from deteriorating. Animals couldn¡¯t normally be placed into the inventory stasis, but the ivy plants didn¡¯t violate that rule, apparently. It would presumably keep the ivy plants from growing, and as I took a careful look, it appeared that Grotto¡¯s impromptu solution had worked.

    However, the vines had already begun the process of growing when Grotto locked them down, and the stasis hadn¡¯t stopped them from expanding strangeward. The little vinelings were already connected to an entire universe of plant.

    I considered how I could use that to my advantage as I turned my attention back to the cylinder attached to the obelisk. After studying it for a minute, I realized the device wasn¡¯t swallowing the torrent of mana, it was sending it somewhere.

    The cylinder flashed, and a new figure appeared a few feet away from Hysteria. Before I could worry about the avatar portalling in a new team of invaders, I realized that the person wasn¡¯t really there. This was some sort of projection.

    The hulking figure was looking away from Hysteria, speaking to someone who wasn¡¯t part of the projection. Hysteria crossed their arms and tapped a foot, waiting on whoever this was to address them.

    When the man turned to acknowledge the avatar, a shadow of his soul slipped into the image, and my stomach turned. He wasn¡¯t surrounded by a form-hugging soul halo. He was swallowed by a chaotic swarm that my Sight could barely make sense of. It bathed the chamber in a discordant chorus of presences, each one tumbling over the next, struggling for dominance.

    The figure towered over Hysteria, their body wrapped in dark robes and chitinous armor. The lower half of his face was covered by a thick, hanging cloth. Beneath it was a dripping, red stain that soaked through his chest.

    The storm of souls snapped to order, aligned in a unified grid that oozed with purpose. When the monstrous Davahn spoke, there was no mistaking who it was.

    ¡°Hysteria,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, his voice underscored by soft clicking. ¡°I trust you have good reason to call upon me.¡±

 211 - Chat Room

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach!¡± said Hysteria, clapping their hands together. ¡°Buddy, friend, pal, guy, when have I ever called you for something that wasn¡¯t important?¡±

    The hulking Davahn stared at the avatar, what little I could see of their face devoid of emotion. The grid of souls surrounding them sat silent and still, and the moment stretched until even I felt awkward.

    Hysteria huffed. ¡°The king of Hiward got away,¡± they said, then raised a finger. ¡°Not my fault! Those little boxes Limbo gave you do not go nowhere, as he advertised. No, they go somewhere that is the corpus of a rather powerful and cranky god.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach said nothing for several seconds. Hysteria tapped the tips of their fingers together while they waited.

    ¡°Limbo¡¯s magicks are those of absence and separation,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Your claim presents a lamentable deviation from this nature.¡±

    Hysteria looked down at their nails and frowned at their ephemeral fingers. They were still pretending to be the Wishborn.

    ¡°I mean, it was kind of nowhere,¡± Hysteria admitted. ¡°But ¡®nowhere¡¯ has a ruler, and its ruler does not enjoy it when something appears where nothing should be.¡±

    ¡°Of what echelon was this divinity?¡±

    ¡°The third,¡± said Hysteria.

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s souls fluttered for a moment, though he was outwardly calm.

    ¡°You are certain of this?¡±

    ¡°Three syllables,¡± said Hysteria, holding up three fluttering fingers. ¡°I heard the name myself. It spoke to me. I am as certain as certain can be.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach glanced at Hysteria¡¯s dancing digits. ¡°We are of no consequence to such a being,¡± he said.

    ¡°Yes, well, it disagrees.¡± Hysteria crossed their arms. ¡°Want to know what it said?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach held up a hand. ¡°Reveal its truth where we are certain what eyes behold us. Tell me how you came upon its name.¡±

    Hysteria looked annoyed at being shut down, but the expression was quickly replaced with a smirk. ¡°You remember those kids who flicked Orexis in his dangly bits and then ran off with his daughter?¡±

    The souls around Brae¡¯ach shifted, allowing one near the edge to move closer to his head. It emitted a soft pressure.

    ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly,¡± he said. ¡°The scion joined their party afterward. They are one of the groups responsible for the transition.¡±

    ¡°Their party leader called the god down on us,¡± said Hysteria, nearly shouting the word ¡°called¡±. ¡°Young guy, kind of tall, has sparkly black and green eyes that I¡¯m sure the ladies love but I bet they love his lashes even more. Those things are just so full, I think I¡¯m going to steal them. Outstanding genetics, overall. He also wears a feather boa on top of his armor which I respect, but also kind of hate, you know?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach went still again as he absorbed the information. ¡°What Level is this group?¡±

    ¡°Twelve,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°For now.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Your tale grows ever more doubtful, Hysteria,¡± he said, several soft clicks playing out beneath the words. ¡°We will speak of this with an Arbiter present once you have returned.¡±

    ¡°You have trust issues, Brae-Brae. You¡¯re gonna have to learn to put yourself out there if you want to build meaningful connections with people.¡±

    The mask around Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mouth shifted, but I couldn¡¯t tell if he¡¯d smiled or sneered. ¡°What of the Zenithar?¡±

    ¡°Ugh, she¡¯s around here somewhere. You know how Geulons are, all sneaky and shit.¡± Hysteria hunched their shoulders and moved their hands in what must have been an attempt at pantomiming stealth. ¡°I¡¯ll blast the place with my aura to shake her loose, although I have burned through a lot of favor today already.¡±

    ¡°Is this all?¡± asked Brae¡¯ach.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Is this all for which you have demanded my time? To discuss your failures and lay blame at the feet of children?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear the part about the third echelon divinity?¡±

    ¡°A claim you know must be made in the presence of an Arbiter,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, the clicking growing louder. It looked like the man¡¯s jaw was elongating beneath his mask. ¡°If you or Limbo have angered this being, there is nothing to be done. If it wishes to scatter our realm, then we will return to the cycle before we know what has come to pass. There is naught to do but wait, even if you speak truth.¡±

    Hysteria gave the man a tight, demeaning smile. ¡°Your attitude doesn¡¯t entertain me, Brae¡¯ach. If you bore me, I have no reason to play along with your games.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s projection took a step toward Hysteria, and the souls swam away from him like a school of fish. They surrounded Hysteria, nipping at the avatar¡¯s edges as though they were looking for dead skin to feed on. The large Davahn took another step forward, looking Hysteria up and down.

    ¡°You are injured,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Let not fear drive your mind to anger.¡±

    Hysteria swatted at the souls, but the swarm parted to let their arm pass. Brae¡¯ach tensed, and the souls arrayed around Hysteria snapped into a swirling pattern. Hysteria¡¯s Wishborn disguise peeled away, revealing the avatar¡¯s colorful skeleton. Brae¡¯ach took another step, his eyes settling on Hysteria¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Orexis¡¯s whelp gave me a pinprick,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Hardly what I¡¯d call an injury.¡±

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Another step, and Brae¡¯ach was two feet from the avatar. He reached out, extending a finger to Hysteria¡¯s sternum as though he wanted to stroke it. Hysteria took a step away from the projection, and Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mask shifted again. I was pretty sure it was a smile this time.

    ¡°Yes, I see,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. Then his eyes ran over the rest of Hysteria¡¯s body. ¡°It is more than that, though. Your essence is¡­ shaken.¡±

    The Davahn peered into Hysteria¡¯s eye sockets, and the small beads of mercury within shuddered under the man¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Your word is weak and so your bonds are loose,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°But would you risk pulling at your leash when you are so¡­¡± He waved a hand up and down at the avatar, each craggy finger as thick as one of Hysteria¡¯s ribs. ¡°Fragile?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach leaned in and placed a hand on Hysteria¡¯s shoulder, his palm swallowing up nearly half of the avatar¡¯s chest, then whispered. ¡°Brittle bone will break before the chain.¡±

    Hysteria raised glowing hands and the projection destabilized. The distorted image of Brae¡¯ach flowed back, his souls following behind, until he coalesced just outside of Hysteria¡¯s reach. The two stared at one another as Brae¡¯ach¡¯s swarm returned to roll lazily around the Davahn. Hysteria reached up and brushed off the shoulder the man had ¡®touched¡¯.

    ¡°I also found a Delve,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I stuck one of your thingies inside the obelisk.¡± They gestured at the cylinder that was swallowing up all the Dimensional mana.

    Brae¡¯ach turned to look at the obelisk as though he was only just noticing it. His head tilted back an inch. ¡°Why?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Why did I stick your thingy in there? Because you asked me to.¡±

    ¡°Why are you within a Delve?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°So you remember those kids who tickled Orexis¡¯s backdoor exit and then kidnapped his newborn daughter?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Brae¡¯ach said, tone neutral. The man didn¡¯t even miss a beat.

    ¡°Well, Mr. Lashes has a Delve Core as a Bonded Familiar,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Turns out, he has a whole Delve hidden inside his dimensional space.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach flicked a finger and the soul swarm began to spread out. ¡°What happened to the Core?¡±

    ¡°Lobotomized for now,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I had one of my people deal with it.¡±

    The souls moved away from Brae¡¯ach in a spiral pattern, beginning to engulf the entire obelisk chamber. I moved my view back to keep them in sight.

    ¡°The Core was ¡®dealt¡¯ with before you connected to me?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said Hysteria. They watched the souls continue to spread out. ¡°I¡¯m not a fucking moron.¡±

    The souls suddenly gained a burst of speed and swelled to fill the entire room. One swam directly in front of me.

    Brae¡¯ach slowly turned and looked directly at me.

    The Davahn blinked, and my eyeballs exploded.

    The world went dark and my head snapped back hard enough that my helm cracked into the wall behind me. Something in my neck made a sound that it shouldn¡¯t and my feet slid out from under me. My arms refused to respond as I hit the ground hard on my side.

    I felt warm, viscous fluid running down my cheeks.

    HP: 1898 -> 1198

    I had just regen¡¯d back to full health, and this mother fucker glared at me for 700 damage.

    He wasn¡¯t even there!

    I wasn¡¯t even there!

    Neither of us was in the room, and dude winked at me for more than a third of my health. I also hadn¡¯t been the only one who¡¯d gotten a dirty look, based on the labored breathing and groans around me.

    ¡°You guys alright?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think my brain is bleeding,¡± Xim said in a rough voice. Mine probably would have been if I weren¡¯t immune.

    I ignored my lack of normal vision and looked my allies over with Soul Sight. Xim was sitting with her back against a wall, while Varrin struggled to his feet. The big guy came over to me and knelt. I heard him place a hand on my shoulder, but couldn''t feel it. He started working the straps on my helmet. I heard the metal groan as he bent the metal to get it off me.

    ¡°Your eyes are missing,¡± he said once he¡¯d removed the bascinet.

    ¡°I figured. I felt a familiar ooze running down my face,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s also the indescribable pain. Still got your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We were not directly connected to the obelisk,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I believe we were hit by the castoff. Can you move your arms?¡±

    I tried to make a fist.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°Seems like my neck is broken as well.¡±

    ¡°Hells,¡± Xim swore then crawled over to me. She placed her hands on either side of my face, and I felt a pulse of mana go through me. ¡°Nothing to Cleanse,¡± she muttered, then cast Heal.

    HP: 1208 -> 1438

    My spine clicked and sensation came flooding in from everything below the neck. A severe itch began to burn in my eye sockets, followed by an uncomfortable swelling sensation. Xim cast another Heal, and my vision began to return in blurry splotches. I blinked away tears, then pulled a rag from inventory alongside a canteen. I wet the rag and wiped the remnants of my old eyes out of my new ones.

    ¡°I had high hopes for today,¡± I said as I cleaned vitreous fluid from my face and beard. ¡°But things just aren¡¯t working out.¡±

    I grabbed my helm to wipe it out as well, but the bascinet had been twisted and dented too badly to wear. Even with the Verdantum material¡¯s self-repair, the day¡¯s abuse was too much. It would take several hours for it to regain its shape.

    ¡°Avatar was bad enough,¡± said Xim. ¡°Something that can kill us at a glance from the other side of the continent is too much.¡±

    ¡°What do you suggest we do?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°We cannot allow that creature to capture the Zenithar.¡±

    ¡°Etja¡¯s down there, too,¡± I said.

    ¡°Walking into that is suicide,¡± said Xim. ¡°Listen, I¡¯ll run in there right beside you two psychos if I have to, but I¡¯d really like us to explore our options first.¡±

    The three of us stared into space for a few seconds.

    ¡°Sub-el!¡± I shouted. ¡°You saw that shit, right?¡± I looked up at the mini obelisk. It had exploded alongside my eyes. I held up my hand and saw that the gauntlet was ruined and three of my fingers were missing nails. ¡°Tell me you got that on video, Sub-el!¡±

    I started looking for my old fingers so I could recover the Verdantum. One was embedded in my leg. It had pierced through my chausses.

    Override code 001 has been accepted.

    Your message has been forwarded directly to System Core 2.

    Your message has been relayed to User Name: Avarice.

    Due to the damage to Core 1156, I have been authorized to take temporary control of Delve 1156-B with co-arbiter permission.

    Would you like me to take control?

    I started to respond, but paused when I felt a tingle run down my back. I stood up, dropping my rag and canteen, then exchanged a look with Xim and Varrin.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to go to the obelisk chamber,¡± I said.

    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Let us go then,¡± said Varrin.

    I closed my eyes and reached strangeward, going around the teleportation wards and through an endless mess of vines. I cast Shortcut, taking Xim and Varrin with me.

    We appeared in a shower of squirming vines, finding Hysteria floating cross-legged in the air, alone. Potent Spiritual mana flowed off the avatar in waves, crashing outward through the Delve. The three of us lined up in a neat row, waiting for them to speak.

    Several of the vines slithered over the invisible barrier created by the inventory slots along the bottom of the room. They tried to dig down into the stasis, presumably to free their hibernating kin. The vines didn¡¯t have much energy alone, however, and began to slow before long. Hysteria tracked them as they went, but ignored the Dominion Ivy after a few seconds of observation.

    ¡°You made me look bad,¡± said Hysteria, gesturing to where the projection of Brae¡¯ach had stood. ¡°I do not appreciate that.¡±

 212 - Divine Cowboy

    ¡°Sorry for making you look bad,¡± I said to Hysteria, filled with regret. ¡°I¡¯m an asshole, and I deserve a good spanking.¡± I hung my head in shame.

    ¡°He is,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°It is true,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°And you,¡± said Hysteria, pointing past us. ¡°Do you have anything to say for yourself?¡±

    I turned to see Etja walking into the obelisk room, picking gravel from her hair. She stumbled over a dead Gekkog, then swapped to floating.

    ¡°I¡­ shouldn¡¯t try to eat people?¡± she said.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t try to eat me,¡± Hysteria corrected. ¡°Shove other people in your weird hand-mouth abyss all you want, sheesh.¡±

    ¡°I am ashamed of my actions,¡± said Etja as she landed beside the rest of us. ¡°And I feel appropriately chastised.¡± Despite being thrown halfway through a wall, her dress was in perfect shape.

    ¡°Now,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Where¡¯s your Geulon friend hiding with the Zenithar?¡±

    I closed my eyes and focused on my aura, reaching out for Nuralie. Like before, I hit a block while searching for her, but it came with a different feeling this time. It was less like something was shielding her, and more like my aura was ignoring her for some reason. I allowed this information to drift through my mind but made no effort to point out the specifics. Hysteria hadn¡¯t asked about my ability, they¡¯d only asked about Nuralie.

    ¡°She¡¯s probably in the Closet,¡± I said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know where exactly. I¡¯m being blocked.¡±

    ¡°The Zenithar has probably firmed her connection to Geul,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I dunno,¡± said Xim. ¡°She¡¯s not in Eschendur, and she¡¯s not anywhere near a large body of water. I doubt she has half the power she¡¯s accustomed to.¡±

    ¡°You four are useless,¡± said Hysteria. We all muttered our apologies. ¡°Will the two of them be able to leave without permission?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°Unless the Zenithar has a revelation that lets her teleport to Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°Geul is a goddess of water and life,¡± said Xim. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any Dimensional attributes. Deijin might be able to do it.¡±

    ¡°Then we can wait them out,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Where¡¯s the exit to this place go?¡±

    ¡°It depends,¡± I said. ¡°I can open a portal to Arzia at any time, but it''s fixed in the last place I opened the Closet. Right now it leads to the Wastes, near where you hit the mountains.¡±

    ¡°That one¡¯s probably buried,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Not that it matters much to me.¡±

    ¡°I also have two semi-permanent connections set up. The first leads to Eschengal, a few hundred feet from the eastern gate. I can open it in seven hours or so.¡± Hysteria gestured for me to continue. ¡°The second leads to the Xor¡¯Drel tribe in the Third Layer.¡±

    ¡°Oh, not that one,¡± said the avatar. They tapped their chin. ¡°My best bet is to head out near Eschangal, I suppose. Pretty convenient, overall, considering I¡¯ll be the Zenithar by then.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything else we can do for you?¡± I asked. ¡°We could spread out and look for Nuralie.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°What are the chances of finding her when she doesn¡¯t want to be found?¡±

    I grimaced. ¡°Not good.¡±

    Hysteria shrugged. ¡°Then we wait. Eventually, the Zenithar will need to rest. I can outlast her.¡± The avatar let out another massive wave of mana to emphasize their claim, then unfolded their legs and settled onto the ground. The mana continued to pour off of them as they looked between the four of us. ¡°In the meantime, let¡¯s have some fun.¡±

    I focused deeply on the concept of ¡®fun¡¯. ¡°Some of my board games survived,¡± I said, perking up. ¡°Since they were in inventory slots when the mansion exploded. I have a drafting cube for¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    My teeth clicked as my mouth snapped shut.

    ¡°You, Orexis-spawn,¡± said Hysteria, gesturing at Etja. ¡°Come here.¡± Etja nodded and trotted forward. ¡°Show me your status screen.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± said Etja. Hysteria¡¯s mercury eyes studied the invisible screens, looking through the mage¡¯s stats and abilities.

    ¡°What happened to my hirelings?¡± they asked as they read.

    Varrin and Xim looked at me, but I made a lock and key motion over my lips since I wasn¡¯t allowed to talk.

    ¡°The Chovali runeweaver and the Giant elementalist are dead,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The Wishborn archer has been banished back to the Third Layer for at least a month. The status of the Yeti pugilist and the Hyrachon paladin are unknown.¡±

    ¡°Tsk. You eliminated sixty percent of my team? They were Level 20!¡± Hysteria reached up and scratched their bony jaw. ¡°Why are your stats so high? You have more in total than they did.¡±

    ¡°Fortune put mana crystals in Arlo¡¯s mana veins,¡± said Etja. ¡°Grotto copied it over to the rest of us so we could train everything to ten. Then we all unlocked the Dumping achievement and traded stats back and forth with a pretty lady to cheese the hells out of it!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I¡¯ve seen Delvers grow their stats using arcane methods before, but this is a league ahead of grabbing an extra ten points to Speed or something. Wait, you said Fortune did this?¡±

    ¡°Part of it, yep!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°And who was the pretty lady?¡±

    Etja¡¯s face contorted. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    Hysteria cocked their skull to one side. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°I said, it¡¯s a secret.¡±

    Hysteria pointed at Varrin. ¡°Who¡¯s the pretty lady?¡±

    ¡°The avatar known as Avarice,¡± he answered.

    ¡°Fortune and Avarice, fucking everything up, as usual.¡± Hysteria drummed their fingers against their teeth and studied Etja. ¡°Do a pushup.¡±

    Etja dropped to the ground, did one perfect pushup, then hopped back up.

    ¡°Stand on one foot.¡± Etja followed the command, along with several more. ¡°Do ten jumping jacks. Now do a backflip. Tell me your favorite color. Go and slap the red-skinned girl in the face.¡±

    Etja stopped listing out her favorite shades of blue, then frowned.

    ¡°No thank you,¡± she said.

    ¡°This is¡­ confusing,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Why won¡¯t you slap her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my friend, and I don¡¯t want to hurt her.¡±

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Tall guy,¡± said Hysteria, nodding at Varrin. ¡°Take off your helmet and throw it into the corner.¡± Varrin did as he was told, and the piece of masterwork gear clattered off to the side of the room. ¡°Red-skinned girl,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Slap the tall one in the face.¡±

    Xim turned to look at Varrin. ¡°How hard?¡± she asked.

    ¡°As hard as you can.¡±

    Xim squared up with Varrin, took a balanced stance, and slapped him across the jaw with the force of a falling boulder. There was a loud crack, and Varrin spun like a top while his body simultaneously flipped end over end until he collided with the wall. When he hit, he made the sound I imagined a four-hundred-pound can of tuna might make. Clattering, twisting metal, a deep thud, and a bit of juicy sloshing.

    He hit the ground and didn¡¯t get back up.

    ¡°Wow!¡± said Hysteria.

    Two of Xim¡¯s fingers were pointing in the wrong direction. She popped them back into place and shook out her hand. ¡°I have the Unarmed skill,¡± she said, then looked down at Varrin with a grimace.

    ¡°Will he live?¡± asked Hysteria with all the concern of a lab technician observing the effects of a new pesticide.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim. ¡°He¡¯ll be Stunned for a while, especially since he didn¡¯t resist. I¡¯ll probably need to heal his jaw, though. Pretty sure I broke it.¡±

    ¡°I think you broke more than that,¡± said the avatar. ¡°What¡¯s your Strength score?¡±

    ¡°Forty.¡±

    ¡°Is that your highest?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°No,¡± said Xim. ¡°Charisma is Level 46.¡±

    ¡°So all of you have around 90 more total stats than you should.¡± Hysteria shook their head, muttering something under their breath. ¡°You¡¯re a cleric, right?¡± Xim nodded. ¡°Do you have any revelations?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°I have two that have been fully formed, both of which have been advanced once,¡± she answered. ¡°I have a third that¡¯s half-formed, but I¡¯m right on the edge of understanding it.¡±

    Hysteria took a moment to digest that. ¡°Are you hearing the words that are coming out of your mouth?¡±

    Xim furrowed her brow. ¡°I, uh¡­ yes?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Level 12!¡± Hysteria shouted, gesturing at us emphatically. ¡°Fine. Okay. Are there any other secret powers in your group?¡±

    ¡°Varrin has some kind of ancestral spirit stuff going on,¡± said Xim, looking at the collapsed man. She waved a glowing hand in his direction and I heard the sound of bones snapping back into place. ¡°Plus, his family is richer than most religions, which is its own superpower.¡±

    I desperately wanted to make a joke, but I was still in talkie timeout.

    ¡°Etja has really flexible mana shaping and her skills can all be layered together to get weird effects,¡± Xim continued. ¡°She also has that whole thing she did to you earlier, so I¡¯m thinking she¡¯s starting to become some kind of pseudo-avatar?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I was there for that part.¡±

    ¡°Nuralie also has a revelation, but she¡¯s still figuring it out,¡± said Xim. ¡°She has some weird history with the Eschenden Church which has been holding her back. I think she¡¯s a sleeper, though. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she winds up doing something crazy like inventing a Super Alchemy intrinsic.¡±

    ¡°And the flamboyant one?¡± asked Hysteria, nodding at me.

    ¡°Okay, so Arlo is some kind of god wrangler.¡±

    I squinted at Xim in confusion.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that,¡± said Xim. ¡°First, an avatar brought you back to life. That¡¯s literally how we met. You got all those extra stats from Fortune, who also gave you two obscenely powerful items. You have an ongoing trade deal with Avarice and have survived encounters with Orexis, Anesis, and now Hysteria. You¡¯ve got a lot of godly avatars in your life.

    ¡°Next, you have Grotto as a Bonded Familiar, whose attunement is Divine and his deity is literally the System. I don¡¯t know why that works or how, but it does. You also have this weird relationship with System Core 1 which gives you scary evolutions, and System Core 2 almost treats you like a System entity.¡±

    I started to raise my hand, but Hysteria swatted in my direction and my arm went limp.

    ¡°Then there are the actual gods, not just little half-steps like the System and the avatars,¡± said Xim. She glanced at Hysteria. ¡°No offense.¡±

    ¡°Some taken, but go on,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°You don¡¯t worship Sam¡¯lia but have two revelations of the Eye. You¡¯ve met all three of the Eschen Zenithars and two of them have done favors for you. There¡¯s something going on between you and Yara since items like those Holy Waters don¡¯t fall into people¡¯s hands without a god¡¯s blessing. Finally, you can summon the Dread Star and ask it a question every seven days which¨Cbased on my experience of that ability¨Cseems way too often to be healthy. That¡¯s three wildly different pantheons all hopping into bed with you. At this point, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Shog was secretly some kind of deity.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Shog?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°A c¡¯thon that Arlo can summon, but who¡¯s also sort of a Delver,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Shog now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s taking a year off. Probably so he can conquer his home planet.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Hysteria hummed. ¡°My research on your group was wholly inadequate. Although giving myself some grace, I was more concerned with the king, the Zenithar, and the King¡¯s Guard.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable,¡± said Xim. ¡°So far, no one has taken us as seriously as they should have.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s mercury eyes shimmered. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m still not taking you seriously enough?¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± said Xim. ¡°Otherwise you¡¯d have killed us all the moment you managed to Dominate us.¡±

    I heard a grunt and turned to see Varrin climbing back to his feet, rubbing his jaw.

    ¡°What do you think, Lord Ravvenblaq?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°Am I tempting fate here?¡±

    ¡°Fate aside, your current strategy is tactically unsound,¡± said Varrin, stepping back into line. ¡°Based on what that zombie¡­ ¡®cloak¡¯ said earlier, you could acquire all of this information by dipping into our minds, potentially in a matter of seconds. Having a lengthy discussion like this only serves to satisfy the demands of your concept, and places you at risk of retaliation from one of our allies. The longer you delay, the more likely your goals will be frustrated.¡±

    ¡°Then the consensus is that I should take you off the board while I can?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°That depends on what your goals are,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Your business with King Celeritia has already made you an enemy of Hiward, but the Kingdom cannot bring its full weight against you while maintaining its own interests. House Ravvenblaq, on the other hand, is less reasonable. Orexis murdered my father. If another of my lineage dies at the hands of an avatar, my family will burn down everything they have to find and kill you.

    ¡°If the Ravvenblaqs fail, then you will have also earned the ire of Sam¡¯lia, the Eschenden, Fortune, Avarice, potentially Yara¨Cwho is the head of the Littan pantheon¨Cthe System, and whatever forces that those entities have at their disposal. The world will become a very small place for you.¡±

    Hysteria leaned forward as Varrin spoke, tilting their head to one side as though they were listening very closely. The waves of mana continued to pour off them, and when the big guy finished his speech, the avatar was shaking.

    ¡°That¡­ that sounds so¡­.¡± Hysteria ran a skeletal hand down their face. ¡°So exciting!¡± Hysteria shuddered, and their chest heaved like they were taking a deep breath. ¡°But I can do better.¡±

    Hysteria fanned themself with their hands, trying to calm down, then pulled out a pair of silver spectacles and pinched them onto their face. They stepped aside to reveal a chalkboard with four large words written on it, one in each corner. The avatar produced a pointing stick and then slapped it against the board.

    ¡°When it comes to maximizing disorder in a society,¡± they said, ¡°it¡¯s important to consider whether any antagonizing elements you introduce are external or internal threats to that society.¡± They tapped the stick between the top two words, then swept the pointer to the lower two. ¡°Equally important is whether those elements have boundaries that are well-defined or ambiguous.¡±

    As Hysteria began to lecture us on the nuances of subversion and sabotage techniques, I noticed a curious shadow crawling along the ceiling behind and above them. I didn¡¯t immediately say anything, because I¡¯d intentionally interpreted Hysteria¡¯s earlier command to ¡°shut up¡± as an indefinite ban on speech. I wasn¡¯t able to do this because of any particular strength of will or hidden mental gifts. Once someone was Dominated, they normally lost all control of their actions. I wasn¡¯t some kind of special exception. Once I failed my Wisdom save, that was it.

    No, I was able to ¡®massage¡¯ Hysteria¡¯s directions because Hysteria¡¯s brand of Dominate was clever enough to wrap all the way back around to being stupid.

    When Hysteria had blasted their aura across the entire Closet, their mental control came preloaded with 668 specific commands.

    Typically, a Dominated entity will not act unless explicitly commanded by the source of the Domination. While the status effect grants its source absolute control over the subject, it was tedious for long-term use. It was also obvious to an outside observer since someone who¡¯d been Dominated would inevitably act out of character.

    Having a list of default rules allowed Hysteria to ignore these downsides. They maximized Hysteria¡¯s effective control while minimizing micromanagement, and also allowed the person being Dominated to more or less act naturally. Being able to insert hundreds of commands the moment the target became Dominated was outrageous, and clearly fell into the category of ¡°some divine bullshit.¡± However, Hysteria wasn¡¯t the most organized avatar, and that lack of organization really started to show with their default Dominate commands.

    I subconsciously reviewed Hysteria¡¯s 668 rules, trying to decide how I had to respond to the shadow, while playing a mental game called Bad Faith Domination.

 213 - Unworthy

    Hysteria flipped the chalkboard over, revealing a cartoonish image of a castle.

    ¡°A disaster like an earthquake is a classic example of an external threat with well-defined boundaries,¡± they said. The castle cracked down the middle, then crumbled. ¡°In this example, ¡®nature¡¯ is the external threat. It originates from outside of the society itself. It is also easy to establish a clear beginning and end to such a disaster since it¡¯s over once the ground stops shaking.

    ¡°People tend to rally together against external threats, and when the threat has a clear beginning and end, their response is typically well-organized.¡± A swarm of people crawled over the castle, rebuilding it. Once finished, the castle was larger and sturdier-looking. ¡°In many instances, a society is stronger after conquering an external, well-defined threat.¡±

    Hysteria flipped the board again, revealing a cartoonish depiction of a man asleep in a large four-post bed. Another man stood over them, wearing a dark mask and wielding a fine dagger. A crown popped into existence over the sleeping man, who was promptly stabbed by the intruder.

    ¡°Insofar as murder is concerned, a political assassination can either be external¨Csuch as an assassin from a foreign nation¨Cor internal¨Csuch as with an overeager heir to the throne. Either way, it also typically has a well-defined boundary, which is the death of the targeted individual¡­¡±

    Hysteria rattled on while I loosely observed the shadow on the ceiling. Rule 28 required me to look at Hysteria while they were talking, which meant I could only watch the shadow from the corner of my eye.

    Several rules were exceptions to Rule 28 and allowed me to look at something other than Hysteria while the avatar spoke, but they were all conditional. Rule 29 allowed me to look judgingly at the person Hysteria was speaking to if the avatar was shaming them. Rule 30 let me look at my own feet if Hysteria was shaming me. Rule 31 told me to cross my arms and glare at anyone who¡¯d tried to shame Hysteria while the avatar defended themself from the attempted shaming.

    There were more, but in short, none of them applied. I couldn¡¯t look directly at the shadow, which made it more difficult to be certain of what it was.

    Most of the rules in the 100 range involved identifying and pointing out threats, but Hysteria¡¯s express commands took precedence over the default commands. Since many of the rules that would require me to warn Hysteria contemplated those warnings being given verbally, I felt comfortable that my current instruction to ¡°shut up¡± overrode them. Additionally, Rule 3 was ¡°Don¡¯t bring Hysteria problems, bring Hysteria solutions,¡± and I had no idea how to present a gestural ¡®solution¡¯ to whatever problem the shadow might present.

    Again, I couldn¡¯t look at the shadow, so I couldn¡¯t even say for sure that it was a problem. I suspected that it would become a very big problem, but Rule 16 was ¡°Stay positive,¡± so I decided it would work itself out.

    Hysteria¡¯s rules were more like a shitty office code of conduct than a meticulously prepared set of mind control conditionals.

    Way too many of the rules gave the target discretion to make their own judgments, half of them read like junk that had been thrown in on a whim and never edited back out, and half of those sounded like they were added just to scare people.

    For example:

    Rule 379: When in the presence of a fairy, act as though the fairy does not exist.

    Rule 380: If a fairy interacts with you in a way that produces an observable phenomenon, seek an alternative explanation for the phenomenon and loudly state that this alternative is responsible for the phenomenon. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE FAIRY.

    Rule 380 Hypothetical: A fairy stabs you in the kidney. Solution: You walk into your kitchen and declare that you should be more careful when using the chef¡¯s knife you recently sharpened. Seek medical treatment. Ignore the fairy.

    Rule 381: Never reference or discuss any Rule that involves fairies.

    There were no rules on how to determine whether something was a fairy.

    I half-suspected that Hysteria had gotten on a fairy¡¯s bad side in the past and this group of rules was somehow added without the avatar¡¯s knowledge. Too bad I couldn¡¯t discuss the fairy rules, or I might have pointed out as much. Then again, an infiltrator fairy wasn¡¯t a very positive thought and I didn¡¯t have a nonverbal solution to the problem, so it didn¡¯t matter.

    If a fairy was just a tiny woman with magical powers, then the person in the shadow might count. They weren¡¯t usually tiny, even though their shadow was currently quite small. They had magical powers, but it was too much of a stretch. I knew they weren¡¯t really a woman. In fact, they were currently a short line of text on the ceiling. Hysteria paused to ponder something they¡¯d written on the chalkboard, and I glanced up at the words.

    Tears after fist.

    Kind of cryptic. Rule 117 required me to report any attempts made to recruit me to work against Hysteria, but the text wasn¡¯t asking me to do anything in particular. I assumed it was a line from a happy poem¨Cpotentially one left there by a mysterious fairy¨Cand ignored it. The shadow faded, leaving the sport where it had been a little darker than normal.

    ¡°If the assassin is an internal agent,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°it¡¯s much more difficult for people to rally together since they are confronting an element within their own society. Such an event may be less spectacular than the earthquake, but it will result in greater emotional disruption or¨Cat the very least¨Cmore permanent disruption. Whoever inherits the throne will be viewed with suspicion and trust in the existing power structures will erode. But, people will generally carry on about their lives once it¡¯s over. The threat was superficially internal, but it¡¯s so remote from a normal individual that it may as well be treated as an external threat. That is, a threat originating from a different class of person, the noble class.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s words drilled into my brain, creating an uncomfortable buzzing in my thoughts. I felt like the avatar was saying more than what the words implied. The corners of the ceiling grew a shade darker.

    The crown above the cartoon man disappeared, and the posts on the bed shrank away. The sleeping man was now wearing a tattered nightcap, and the invader had a large kitchen knife.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°A serial killer is an internal threat with more ambiguous boundaries,¡± Hysteria said as the killer stabbed the sleeping man. Their mask fell away, revealing a sadistic smile beneath. ¡°Not only is a serial killer internal to the society, but it¡¯s internal to the specific locality where it occurs. When someone stabs your neighbor to death, it¡¯s much more personal than someone killing the king. It¡¯s local and immediate. Unlike with the political assassin, you could be next!

    ¡°A rampaging killer may also have no clear resolution. So long as the killer is never caught, the event never ends. Once another person dies, the real terror starts to set in. People suspect their neighbors, change their locks, buy new weapons, and treat one another with greater hostility. The more deaths, the more their panic will continue to boil over until people start to turn on one another. Given enough time, you might see the entire region descend into anarchy as people decide that public lynchings are more useful than law enforcement.

    ¡°Even if the killer is caught, that damage persists. The survivors realize that the world is cruel and unforgiving, and that senseless violence can arise without logic or reason. They understand that the powers meant to protect them are oftentimes impotent, and you end up with a lovely generation of people who are grumpy, distrustful, and generally more likely to come into conflict with one another.¡±

    Hysteria threw aside the pointer and kicked the chalkboard away. Both crumbled into dust and disappeared.

    ¡°If I killed you four and threw your bodies into the streets, I would be an external threat that your factions would rally against. Unless I made it a habit of murdering prominent Delvers in relatively rapid succession, your deaths would also be an event with well-defined boundaries. Kind of like how a fault line can create many earthquakes, but each quake is considered its own thing. People have short memories.¡± Hysteria tapped their skull. ¡°As such, outright killing you would be ineffective at having a long-lasting destabilizing effect on any particular organization of size.¡±

    Hysteria put their hands on their hips and looked between us, possibly gauging our understanding of the material.

    ¡°You seem to have put a lot of thought into this,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Xim said hesitantly. ¡°Was there a purpose in telling us all of that?¡±

    ¡°It was something to do while I implanted several suggestions and triggers into your minds that will persist long after you are out of my presence,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Just remember that by staying alive, you¡¯ll be enabling me to do more harm to the world than if you¡¯d simply died.¡±

    A distant well of anger boiled up within me at Hysteria¡¯s words, but it faded into the background after a few seconds. It was replaced by a feeling of appreciation for how well-organized the avatar¡¯s thoughts on chaos were. Hysteria was much smarter than I¡¯d given them credit for.

    My contemplation of Hysteria¡¯s wisdom was interrupted by a splashing sound coming from behind us. Rule 453 let me investigate curious noises.

    I turned to see Buster emerging from the water that connected the hall outside the obelisk chamber to Nottagator¡¯s lake. The Hyrachon had Fluffy over one shoulder, along with a dripping, darkly stained bag. In his other hand, he dragged a lump of what looked like dark, amorphous stone. It scraped along the ground.

    He stopped just outside of the obelisk chamber and dropped the Yeti to the floor, who landed limply and then began coughing up bloody liquid. Buster slung the bag down, which landed with a splat, and he let the chunk of rock clunk onto the invisible inventory slots in front of him.

    The man looked like he had seen better days. His armor was torn and battered, his skin charred and pierced in a dozen places, and he glared at me with a look of pure hatred.

    ¡°I am unworthy,¡± he croaked, then reached down to untie the sack.

    He tipped it over, and a collection of mutilated body parts rained out. I could spot the remnants of a dark wing and realized it was the corpse of the Chovali.

    He summoned his massive sword and swung it down onto the rock with a grunt, splitting it in two. Inside were scorched remains, barely recognizable as a humanoid carcass. I assumed it was what was left of the Giant.

    Fluffy coughed and vomited up more bloody liquid, then began crawling away from Buster. They shot a terrified look back at the Hyrachon. The paladin dropped his sword in the middle of the macabre pile, then held his arms out to either side as it clanged to the ground. His eyes rose to the ceiling, and thick veins bulged in his neck.

    ¡°I. Am. UNWORTHY!¡± He roared.

    ¡°I enjoy seeing a good meltdown,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°but you interrupted my inane rambling.¡±

    Buster¡¯s eyes turned red as blood began to run from them. The body parts in front of him began to glow and pulsate. The massive sword began to deform and bright silver rivulets ran off of it like melting ice.

    Fluffy made it to the opposite wall and pressed her back against it. Her eyes darted around, looking for a way out that wasn¡¯t blocked by the unhinged Hyrachon.

    Hysteria snapped their fingers twice, drawing Buster¡¯s glare.

    ¡°Hey, stop that,¡± said the avatar.

    Buster pointed a shriveling finger at me while continuing to scowl at Hysteria.

    ¡°Their lives are mine to reap,¡± he said.

    ¡°Not anymore,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°We have a contract,¡± said Buster, his voice becoming dry and raspy. ¡°Our service for the heads of those who slew our kin.¡±

    ¡°We did,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But that was before I changed my mind.¡±

    ¡°Why did you need these guys anyway?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°The same reason people hire janitors,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I could take out the trash, but I¡¯d rather someone else do it.¡±

    ¡°You would violate our bargain?¡± said Buster, his entire body starting to shrivel.

    ¡°Hello? What bargain?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Do you see the king of Hiward anywhere? Because I don¡¯t. And where¡¯s the Zenithar, hmm?¡±

    As Buster¡¯s body deflated, blood poured out from every hole in the man¡¯s head. It was gross enough to distract me from how shady the ceiling had become.

    ¡°We delivered the packages,¡± he gurgled. ¡°You are the one who lost them.¡±

    ¡°You were supposed to help me keep them!¡±

    ¡°After delivery, our only obligation was to make¡­¡± Buster took a wet, rattling breath. ¡°...¡®best efforts¡¯ to assist you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re arguing semantics now?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°How about this? I agreed to give you the opportunity for vengeance. I did that, and three members of your team got demoted to fertilizer. All that you¡¯ve given me is a front-row seat to your humiliation. Now you wanna cry blood about it?¡±

    ¡°Yourgh ighterghference ghwill oorght staughndd. I grhullghrubblingh¡­¡±

    By this point, I was having difficulty making out what Buster was saying. It was more gargling than speech.

    Hysteria snapped their fingers twice more. ¡°I said stop it! If and when I¡¯d like you to summon a blood god, I¡¯ll let you know.¡± Hysteria shot me a look. ¡°Seriously kid, what kind of fucked up karma do you have?¡±

    Xim sighed and rubbed at her forehead. I wanted to defend myself. Assuming what Xim had said about me was true, if anyone summoned a blood god I¡¯d be fully capable of wrangling it. Sadly, being stripped of my most potent weapon, I could only roll my eyes.

    When the corpses began to meld into the mass of blood in front of Buster, the avatar looked down at their digits, confused.

    ¡°Why is everyone so difficult to control today?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Because you¡¯ve chosen your victims poorly, brother,¡± a woman¡¯s voice echoed through the chamber.

    The avatar¡¯s head shot up, and the colors on their skeleton squirmed. The ceiling above grew even darker, until it became clear that Avarice¡¯s shadow had encompassed its entire surface.

    There was a sound of ticking gears and clinking metal as a towering figure looked down at us from within the shadow. Its eyes lit up with an internal heat.

    ¡°Is that a Deiphage Golem?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°Where the fuck did you get¨C¡±

    A bronze fist the width of a train car crashed down onto Hysteria so fast it looked like it had teleported into the room.

 214 - Lockdown

    The shockwave pushed me back a step, and a dense web of cracks appeared in the inventory slots below our feet. I was momentarily stunned by the sight but tore my eyes away from the now-wiggling vines when metallic plates along the golem¡¯s arm began to open.

    The inside of the golem was covered in glowing mana weaves, but the power rolling off of them was hundreds of times more potent than what the Chovali had been working with.

    The fist disconnected from the arm, transforming into a sphere that rose off the ground. I could hear Hysteria beating their skeletal fists against the sphere¡¯s interior. Plates fell away from the arm up to the elbow to form six complex mana arrays that floated into position around the sphere and began feeding mana into one another. More plates fell from the arm up to the golem¡¯s shoulder, flying out to form additional mobile weaves throughout the obelisk chamber.

    I glanced through the sigils, trying to discern their function, but it was beyond me. Even so, many of the runes looked familiar, although I couldn¡¯t place them.

    The runes on the center sphere shifted and turned violet. The hue rippled out to the rest of the weaves as each one morphed in response. An opaque wall of Mystical energy filled the room, eradicating every scrap of Spiritual mana that I could sense.

    You are no longer Dominated!

    You are no longer Mesmerized!

    You are in a zone of Spiritual nullification. Spiritual Magic cannot be used in this zone.

    I blinked away the notifications and pushed down the seething anger that was unleashed when Hysteria¡¯s fetters broke away from my soul.

    Tears after fist.

    Welp, that there was one big fist. I pulled out my second orb of Tyranny¡¯s Tears and smashed it on the ground.

    The result was less drastic than the last time I¡¯d used the item. Even if there had been illusions in the room before the anti-magic golem crashed Hysteria¡¯s party, the array shredded everything with a hint of Spiritual mana in it. Anything Hysteria could have thrown together should have been obliterated.

    Still, one thing in the room did change. Hysteria had not been cornered by the golem¡¯s fist. The avatar wasn¡¯t trapped inside the sphere. The exposed center of the obelisk was filled with a colorful, shifting liquid, surrounding the cylindrical device that was sucking away the Dimensional energy.

    For a moment, I thought my theory on Hysteria had been wrong. Perhaps the avatar could weave illusions using Physical Magic to manipulate light, or even Divine Magic to manifest visions in others. If that were the case, why did the golem limit itself to purging Spiritual mana, or was it only able to affect one type of mana at a time? I glanced up, seeing if I could identify the creature.

    Deiphage Golem: Construct, Grade 60

    My eyes widened at the grade. Avarice was walking around with a golem that the System judged could rival the world¡¯s most powerful Delvers. While it was still possible the golem could only affect one school of mana at a time, I thought it was more likely that Hysteria had been using another Deific ability. If so, it didn¡¯t matter how powerful the golem¡¯s magic was. If it didn¡¯t have a spark of divinity, it would break against Hysteria.

    The Tears, on the other hand, were also Deific, allowing them to peel away the illusion like normal. Handy item to have, that one. I¡¯d now spent both of the ones I¡¯d had, but at least they¡¯d served their purpose.

    Dark hands stretched down from the shadows above, wrapping their fingers around Hysteria¡¯s liquid form. The avatar shot out from the obelisk, reforming their colorful skeleton. While their illusion had been pristine, shimmering bone, Hysteria¡¯s true figure was riddled with subtle distortions.

    Fragments of their soul were twisted out of place, folding over one another and creating the appearance of cracks. The avatar stumbled away, but the dark hands whipped forward, hundreds of long, black fingers curling around Hysteria¡¯s ribs and spine.

    The hands melded with one another, forming a lightless cocoon around the avatar. As soon as the dark mass swallowed up the last glimmer of Hysteria¡¯s skeleton, the whole thing disappeared with a pop. A moment later, the hands returned empty, then melted away to join the shadow above.

    More thuds rang out from the central sphere. This time, the sounds were genuine.

    The tall, feminine figure of Avarice¡¯s false body descended from the shadow, looking significantly less real than normal. She appraised the sphere, listening to Hysteria¡¯s struggles. When she turned to look at me, it was with a face like an intricate doll.

    Icon of Avarice: Construct, Grade Unknown

    She walked to me, her steps fluid and natural, but there was a machine-like grace to them as well.

    ¡°Your offer was a bold one,¡± she said. ¡°I almost decided to decline it.¡±

    ¡°I doubt that,¡± I said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t let such a golden opportunity go to waste.¡±

    She raised a fake eyebrow, then gestured at the massive golem still half obscured in the darkness above.

    ¡°This golem is a remnant from the prior generation. No one alive can replace them, and they have a limited number of uses.¡± She turned to peer up at the multi-story construct. ¡°This one only had one use left. My employees will have to scrap the rest of it for parts.¡±

    ¡°Is that how they captured the avatars that are locked up in The Cage?¡±

    ¡°It was one tool among many,¡± said Avarice. ¡°As potent as the golem is, it cannot capture an avatar at full strength.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we wore Hysteria down for you, then.¡±

    ¡°Did you?¡± Avarice asked, turning back to me. ¡°Or was it simply that Hysteria was careless?¡±

    ¡°Definitely both. There was no way the Dread Star¡¯s divine pimp hand didn¡¯t shake Hysteria up a bit. They also underplayed the damage Varrin¡¯s attack did afterward. The spot where the big guy hit their sternum was the same spot where Etja managed to suck out a drop of their soul. Plus, they shouldn¡¯t have had so much trouble reforming their disguise, and they weren¡¯t using nearly as many props and gags.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I watched as Varrin recovered his helmet. It had landed near Fluffy, who flinched when he scooped up the piece of armor.

    ¡°The System also mentioned that Hysteria was burning some kind of Divine Favor when they used their Deific abilities,¡± I continued. ¡°If Hysteria had a huge supply of whatever that is, they wouldn¡¯t have fucked around so much. Either way, having another avatar under your thumb was worth a lot more than half a golem. At least, it is if you¡¯re planning to use them the way I think you will.¡±

    Etja came over and started floating around Avarice, looking her up and down.

    ¡°This is really neat,¡± she said. ¡°Were you always using this to talk to us?¡±

    ¡°That will remain a mystery,¡± said Avarice.

    Etja looked disappointed but turned to look at the spherical prison without attempting to argue. ¡°I¡¯m a little confused. Did Arlo sell you Hysteria? Also, you called them ¡®brother¡¯, so does that mean Hysteria is a boy?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria is whatever form they are wearing,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I felt that an overbearing skeleton trying to bring the world to ruin exhibited a masculine characteristic.¡±

    I worked that one over, trying to decide if I should be offended on behalf of my gender.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Etja. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m comfortable selling people.¡±

    I worked that one over as well, trying to decide if the offer I¡¯d made to Avarice via the System was tantamount to a slave trade.

    ¡°Bounty hunting,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s definitely bounty hunting, not selling people.¡± Etja looked at me, waiting for the rest of my explanation. ¡°I offered our services in helping Avarice capture Hysteria¨Cwho is by any measure a wanted criminal¨Cin exchange for a reward. That¡¯s hunting for a bounty.¡±

    ¡°Bounty hunters operate under the mandate of a government,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What you are describing is mercenary work, not bounty hunting.¡±

    ¡°As the leader of the sovereign nation of Closetland,¡± I said, ¡°I retroactively declare the avatar Hysteria a criminal and public menace of the highest order, and hereby offer a reward for their capture.¡±

    ¡°Now we would be engaging in law enforcement,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Closetland?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°What¡¯s the reward?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°I would be law enforcement,¡± I said to Varrin. ¡°You all would be bounty hunters working under my mandate. Except for Etja, who¡¯s the only person who has petitioned for citizenship, which I hereby accept. I also grant unto her the title of Minister of Magic.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Etja. A smile quickly bloomed on her face. ¡°How about¡­ Supreme Wizard!¡±

    ¡°Master of the Mystical Arts,¡± I countered.

    ¡°Witch Queen!¡±

    ¡°Chief of Sorcery?¡±

    ¡°I am going to leave now,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°Oh, but what was the reward?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Lord of Spells,¡± she hastily whispered to me. That one wasn¡¯t bad.

    ¡°Since my arrangement is apparently with the leader of a recently founded nation, I will be treating the terms as confidential,¡± said Avarice. Shadowy hands began scooping up the arrays and pulling them back into Avarice¡¯s shadow. ¡°As the newly appointed Director of Thaumaturgy, I am certain Master Xor¡¯Drel will be willing to explain them to you.¡±

    There was a rush of air as the golem¡¯s head swept down from above, its jaw unhinging and biting down on the sphere. Hysteria¡¯s prison slotted into place within the golem¡¯s mouth, and streams of mana began to flow out from the captured avatar and down the golem¡¯s throat. Hysteria shrieked as the Deiphage receded into the darkness overhead.

    Avarice floated upwards. ¡°Given your performance today, I believe you will be ready for my task around Level 20. I will be watching your progress closely.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, waving the avatar farewell. ¡°If we catch any more avatars, I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    She smirked as she faded into the dark. The shadow faded away and a faint chuckle echoed through the room after it was gone.

    Xim blew out a long breath. ¡°Glad that¡¯s done,¡± she said.

    ¡°Is it?¡± asked Varrin, staring at the entrance to the obelisk chamber.

    I followed his gaze to find Buster, still shriveled up with a large globe of blood and flesh in front of him. His massive sword had melted up into the gore, forming a series of blocky runes that hurt to look at.

    ¡°Shit, I forgot about that guy,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hysteria said he was summoning a blood god, right?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Something like that.¡± I sighed and nodded at the desiccated Hyrachon. ¡°Were you waiting for Avarice to leave?¡±

    Buster blinked and one of his eyelids crumbled away. It was sucked into the bloody mass.

    ¡°I¡­. am¡­ unworthy,¡± he said, then raised a hand toward Fluffy, who still cowered against the wall. The Yeti squeaked and began to slide toward Buster, clawing at the ground to try and fight the pull. It didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°Yeah, you said that.¡± I glanced at Etja and pointed at the blocky runes. ¡°Is that Celestial? What does it say?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s a prayer,¡± she said. ¡°¡®Chalgoth, Father of my Blood, Master of my Steel, strip from us our strengths and cast aside our weakness. Accept our flesh for instruction, so that my eternal soul may rest within your forge and understand what potential it has wasted.¡±

    Varrin walked over and placed his boot on the Yeti¡¯s chest, but she kept slipping inexorably closer to the orb.

    ¡°Is it safe to kill him?¡± I asked. ¡°Or will his spell blow up?¡±

    ¡°Why would it blow up?¡±

    ¡°It has a ridiculously long activation time. There¡¯s gotta be some kind of protection so he can finish casting. Otherwise, it would just be stupid.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Etja. My new Lord of Spells offered no further counsel on the matter.

    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to risk it,¡± I said, pulling out Somncres.

    I hurled it at Buster, copying it into five Void Hammers. The Hyrachon lifted their arms, and four more arms formed out of the orb of gore to join them. Each pair of arms matched one of the Wastelanders that had been mixed into the amalgam of death. Five hands caught my hammers. I tried to unsummon Somncres, but the Hyrachon prevented it somehow. The Fleeting copies didn¡¯t disappear either; they were held in place by the hands.

    Varrin rushed in, swinging Kazandak. The Hyrachon halted the big guy¡¯s blade with the sixth arm. Etja launched a death beam, and the orb expanded into dome, covering the Hyrachon¡¯s front and freezing the spell in place. Xim called down Judgment, but the fiery pillar parted over the Hyrachon and the flames went still like they were frozen in time.

    Buster trembled as he defended against the attacks, and a smile crept onto his face.

    ¡°Almost,¡± he said. Fluffy was three feet away. ¡°All that I behold has become Chalgoth¡¯s domain. He will show us what we could have been, and you shall serve as demonstration!¡±

    There was a light splash and a series of soft clicks. Several puffs of stone dust scattered off the walls, and six arrows appeared in Buster¡¯s body.

    Three went down the back of his skull, piercing his brain and severing his spine, while three more angled in through his ribs, cutting through his heart and both lungs.

    Buster went stiff and let out a soft, wheezing breath.

    A pulse of mana caused necrotic veins to burst out from the arrows and zip through Buster''s flesh. Another pulse and the veins multiplied, then broke open, pouring out rotten ichor that was sucked into the orb. The orb swirled and blackened. The blocky runes began to corrode.

    Buster tipped forward like a falling tree. As he fell, all of our attacks were released. Hammers pulped the body, Kazandak sliced it open, Etja¡¯s beam split it down the middle and turned a swath of the Hyrachon to dust, and what remained was consumed by crimson flame.

    The orb was caught in the fire, and splashed down on top of the ruined remains, splattering Fluffy with a gallon of ignited gross. The Yeti rolled away from the mess, yelping and slapping at her body to try and extinguish herself.

    Xim must have taken pity on the Yeti because she waved a hand and dismissed the fire working its way through the little woman¡¯s fur. She took several deep breaths, tried to climb to her feet, fell back over, and then settled on sitting up to look between us with wild eyes.

    I looked down the dark hallway, and all at once Nuralie appeared from the shadows, water dripping from her leathers. She looked down at the pile of burning flesh and nodded.

    ¡°I guess you did not behold me,¡± she said. Pause. ¡°Idiot.¡±

 215 - God Wranglin

    All of us were experienced enough to wait for the kill notification. Predictably, we didn¡¯t get one.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to double-tap a puddle of burning goo.¡±

    ¡°More fire,¡± Nuralie offered. ¡°I have some acid, as well.¡±

    ¡°I can keep using Disintegrate,¡± said Etja. ¡°And you can send it to the void?¡±

    I decided that plan was as good as any and threw an experimental hammer at the pile of meat. An orb of blood snapped out from the gore and surrounded the hammer, stopping it in its tracks. I immediately banished and resummoned Somncres, happy to see I could extract it this time. The minor victory was spoiled when I realized that I was also trapped inside a bubble of blood, along with everyone else in the party.

    Sharp tendrils lanced out from the orb¡¯s edges, trying to dig their way past my armor and through my skin. The blood seared my flesh where it made contact, but the damage was trivial. The real hazard of the bubble was its debuffs.

    You are Immobilized!

    Bleeding negated by immunity!

    I recognized the skill from our earlier fight with Buster, and knew that the effect needed to be cancelled as soon as possible. The spikes buried themselves into the others and began extracting thick lines of blood from Xim, Varrin, and Nuralie. Fortunately, Etja shared my exemption from exsanguination, given that she didn¡¯t have blood at all.

    The blood formed into slithering ropes and darted across the room to the burning viscera, where a misshapen head was rising up from the gore. Strands of stringy flesh whipped out to tangle themselves around Fluffy¡¯s limbs, even as the Yeti was trapped in her own bubble. The Yeti¡¯s fists glowed as she pounded at the bindings.

    I looked at the mess and shot it an identify.

    Malformed Icon of Instruction: Constructed Aberration, Grade 30

    I wondered what Grade the entity would have started out at if it had been well-formed, rather than denied its final victim and pumped full of liquid death, compliments of Nuralie. I put the thought out of my mind and worked on a solution instead.

    Nuralie was the first to act. The Delve was still dark, and the Geulon used Shadow Walk to teleport outside of her bubble. Her wounds continued to leak, and the blood continued to flow toward the Icon, but she was able to move and act. Her hands blurred as she pulled a dozen arrows from her inventory and fired them as a single batch over the Icon¡¯s head. The arrows pulled a hard turn back toward the ground and launched down at the Icon, forming a ring around it. As soon as the arrows were released, Nuralie swallowed a potion and stepped back to disappear into the dark.

    Varrin let out a fierce shout and his helmet began to glow with burning eyes. His body became ethereal and he shot forward, disappearing from sight completely the moment he passed through the bubble. He appeared behind the still-forming Icon and cut down with his blade, wreathed in Spiritual energy.

    The Icon¡¯s body let the blade pass through it, cleaving it in half, only for the Icon to reform immediately after.

    Etja exploded with a wave of mana, washing the bubbles away with Nullify. She combined it with Repulsion, boiling the outer layer of the Icon¡¯s liquid body with Holy damage and blessing the ground to grant us Celerity.

    I used Shortcut to appear directly in front of the Icon, flanking it with Varrin. It was difficult to tell if any of our attacks had hurt it, and the blood it siphoned quickly went to reform any mass it had lost. Its emerging body was twisted and distorted, like it was trying to imitate a person, but had only ever seen them through a series of increasingly warped funhouse mirrors. Nuralie¡¯s poisons still ran through the Icon, clouding its form with dark-green necrosis, but the entity didn¡¯t seem to suffer for it.

    ¡°Immune to Physical!¡± shouted Varrin, sounding like the factoid was about to drive him to commit murder, which it was.

    ¡°Resistant to everything else,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Its health is only going up.¡± Her voice echoed around the chamber when she spoke, making it impossible to tell where she was.

    So, the Icon¡¯s body was difficult to destroy. I took Etja¡¯s advice and started trying to send it somewhere it couldn¡¯t hurt us.

    I went back to basics and tossed Somncres to my offhand, holding out my palm and thrusting it deep into the Icon¡¯s body. If it was immune to Physical damage, there was no reason to waste time throwing hammers. I used Funnel to double the power behind Oblivion Orb and fired it off in the middle of the creature¡¯s chest.

    A bucket¡¯s worth of liquid disappeared, forming a vacuum in the Icon¡¯s torso that collapsed in on itself. The construct shuddered as its body became a few percent smaller. A pair of eyes condensed within its head and floated out to the creature¡¯s face, followed by lips, teeth, and tongue. It smiled at me, and the new organs drifted around lazily as it spoke.

    ¡°Arrrlllloooooooo Xoooorrrrr¡¯Dreeeelllll,¡± it said. The sound didn¡¯t come from its mouth, but pressed in from all around me. It made me wonder why it had bothered with a mouth at all, other than to grin at me like a fucking creep.

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± I said, casting another Oblivion Orb.

    The Icon frowned as its body shrank ever so slightly. Varrin was cutting into its back with Soul Strike again and again, careful to avoid my hand. Muscle and bone started to form within the Icon, but each slice of Varrin¡¯s blade delayed the structures from finalizing. Still, whatever the big guy was getting done didn¡¯t seem to bother the creature.

    Aside from the two of us, no one else was attacking the Icon. Nuralie was probably charging another Hunger Shot with the best ammo she had, while Etja built her spell combo for a mega-Disintegrate.

    Meanwhile, Xim had shed her armor and the bone trinket in her hair glowed fiercely. Her body elongated, arms extending to the ground even as her head rose nearly fifteen feet into the air. Both hands were eighty percent claw, each claw half as long as my body, and her face split to reveal a jagged row of uneven fangs. A pair of black, twisting horns sprouted from just ahead of her temples, and her eyes burned wide with a hint of madness. Waves of dark-red flame rolled along her back.

    I assumed that was what a Wraithclaw looked like, and hoped that our Cleric hadn¡¯t totally lost her shit somehow.

    Fluffy¡¯s bubble had been destroyed by Etja¡¯s Nullify, but the Yeti was still being pulled toward the Icon with the strands of muscle. The pugilist¡¯s body had taken on a metallic sheen again, which kept the groping flesh from digging in and pulling out more blood.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Varrin swapped targets to sever the strands, and Fluffy ran the fuck away to the back of the chamber. That was optimal. I didn¡¯t want to see what happened once this thing absorbed its final sacrifice.

    The moment Varrin cut Fluffy free, a blazing portal opened over Varrin¡¯s head. A scorching beam launched down at the big guy. Varrin pivoted and brought his sword overhead, parrying the spell with his blade and sending it pounding into a wall. The beam fractured rock and the room trembled as a powerful pressure wave went through it, even as the stone was turned molten. The moment Varrin had dealt with the first beam, another portal opened. Each beam was a miniaturized version of the Giant¡¯s spell, called Lance of Dawn.

    ¡°Arrrrllllooooooo,¡± said the Icon. ¡°I jusssst want to talk, Arrrlooooooo.¡±

    ¡°Sub-el, take control of the Delve,¡± I said, casting another Orb.

    There were about a hundred questions I wanted to ask Sub-el about what it meant for them to temporarily take control, but without Grotto¡¯s psychic relay, my communication speed was limited by the spoken word. Hopefully, I¡¯d stay in charge of the place, but either way, the System wanted the interlopers dealt with as much as we did.

    Assuming temporary administrative control of Delve 1156-B.

    Restoring mana flows to Delve structures.

    Evaluating non-System entities.

    Primary decision-making authority assigned to Arlo Xor¡¯Drel.

    Friendly status assigned to members of Fortune¡¯s Folly.

    The intruder has been classified as Vampiric. The use of flesh-and-blood Delve resources is not advised. You have Core-designed golems in your inventory. Would you like me to take command and deploy them?

    ¡°Do it!¡± I said.

    Optimizing golem loadout based on available assets.

    My inventory screen opened and closed so fast it was barely a flicker. Two of Grotto¡¯s Etja-clone golems appeared, decked head to toe in the equipment of fallen Delvers. They each held a weapon with the distinctive dark ornamentation of the King¡¯s Guard, one with a spiked mace, and the other with a battle staff.

    They were Grade 20.

    Space twisted around the staff-wielding golem and it shot across the room, leaving a cylindrical hole in the Icon as it passed. The second charged in and struck the Icon with its mace, and I watched as small whirlpools tore out mana from the Icon and sucked it into the weapon¡¯s spikes. Of the two attacks, the Icon only paid attention to the second.

    A circle of runes appeared beneath the mace-wielding golem¡¯s feet and it fell to the ground like its strings had been cut.

    ¡°Why talk?¡± I asked. ¡°Is that part of the instruction you¡¯re supposed to be handing out?¡±

    I knocked out another two Oblivion Orbs while engaging the Icon in banter. Its floaty eyes looked down at the arm embedded in its chest, and I felt my hair rise as static filled the air. I tried to extract my limb, but the Icon seized my wrist, keeping it embedded.

    Lightning poured through the Icon¡¯s body and hit me like I¡¯d grabbed an exposed powerline. My muscles and teeth clenched, my entire body locking up as the electricity completely paralyzed me. It continued to surge, keeping me from pulling away. I fought to try and cast Shortcut, but my consciousness stuttered, keeping me from finishing the spell.

    ¡°Felgar was one of my favorites on this plane,¡± said the Icon. A golden spear formed in the Icon¡¯s hand and it launched itself at Varrin, throwing the man off balance as he tried to parry another sun-beam. The spell drove Varrin into the ground, spreading more cracks through the inventory slots. The plants within wriggled harder.

    ¡°His workings were interrupted, though,¡± the Icon continued. Despite my fluttering consciousness, I could understand its words with perfect clarity. ¡°His soul will see the forge without the instruction he sought, but it was enough power to let me take a peek at those my sister has taken a liking to.¡±

    The lightning stopped, and I teleported back before the Icon could get off another spell. My health had once again regenerated back to full while Hysteria mind-fucked us, and the lightning had taken me down to half. I was really rubber-banding today.

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia has a good eye.¡± The icon chuckled as its own eyes drifted wide, and its body exploded into a fibrous net of tissue.

    It connected itself to the walls and ceiling, looking like a giant spider had spun a web from something¡¯s cardiovascular system. Arrows shot out from the ring Nuralie had fired into the ground. At nearly the same moment, six more arrows fired from the dark, barely clipping a few strands as the tissue twisted out of the way, and burying the shafts deep into the walls.

    The strands vibrated and continued to produce speech. ¡°I¡¯m jealous. Why follow the path of the Seven Organs? The path of Blood and Steel suits your violence better.¡±

    A thousand tiny marbles of deadly mana formed along the strands like morning dew, and the Icon tried to collapse back into its humanoid form. Before it could, the marbles detonated, taking a huge chunk of the Icon¡¯s mass and reducing it to dust. The dust swirled in the air and flowed into Etja¡¯s outstretched hand.

    The Icon had reformed on the ceiling, standing upside down and a good eighteen inches shorter than it had been before. Xim leaped up, easily reaching the forty-foot ceiling with her massive Wraithclaw body. The Icon tried to catch the cleric in a blood bubble, but she tore it apart mid-air with one swipe of her claws. It didn¡¯t even slow her down.

    The Icon stepped aside, avoiding Xim¡¯s landing. She dug into the ceiling with her claws and crawled across it like a fucking poltergeist, giving chase to the fleeing Icon. Her throat bulged and the flames on her back disappeared. She unhinged her jaw and a massive gout of unholy fire blasted out at the Icon.

    The Abomination frowned slightly and the ceiling beneath its feet glowed with Consecration. The outer layer of its bloody form hardened as the fire engulfed it.

    Xim¡¯s head snapped back as a golden spear skewered through the flames and jammed itself down her throat. The cleric¡¯s breath died and she let out a gurgling snarl, reaching forward to pull the weapon free. Her body burned golden as she healed the damage, when a burning portal opened at her belly. A lance of heat blasted her from the ceiling, crushing her into the ground until her form was lost in the blinding beam. I hit the beam with a Dispel, keeping it from persisting.

    The Icon did another quick conversion from exposed nervous system to man-shaped, appearing beside the Yeti. The Icon now only had a foot on the little pugilist. Two holes appeared in its body to let arrows sail through it, and a glob of blood floated away from it to intercept Etja¡¯s next death beam.

    ¡°You can follow both paths if you want,¡± said the Icon, strands reaching for the Yeti.

    I quickly checked to see if Explosion! was back up. The eighteen-second charge had resulted in a 36-minute cooldown. My Physical Magic skill dropped that to 27 minutes and change. The spell was good to go, and I eyed a spot right between the Icon and the Yeti.

    I snapped my fingers and the air detonated, releasing a shockwave that sent dust and debris scattering for more than forty feet in all directions. Fluffy was sent tumbling away from the Icon, while the god-infested construct staggered back, tendrils latching onto the wall behind it to hold itself steady.

    ¡°My followers are weak,¡± the Icon spat. ¡°I want you. I want all of you.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up!¡± shouted Varrin. He¡¯d created a Spiritual clone of himself to deal with the spear while he parried spells. The man was hemorrhaging stamina. Xim struggled onto all fours, her vaporized skin and muscle having trouble knitting themselves together. Another rune circle appeared beneath Etja, dragging her from the air and interrupting her next spell. Nuralie was absent, hopefully prepping something good.

    ¡°Sub-el, is the Dominion Ivy plant considered a Delve resource?¡± I asked.

    All Dominion Ivy Plants of the Endless within Delve 1156-B are considered Delve resources.

    All of them? How many were there? Was Sub-el counting the immature ones?

    It wasn¡¯t time for those types of questions.

    ¡°Will they attack us?¡±

    Delve resources are managed so that they will not harm any entity marked as friendly, but the Dominion Ivy plants were raised in an atypical manner.

    Estimated chance of hostility: Low Moderate.

    ¡°Fuck it. They know where the gravy comes from.¡±

    I said it with confidence, because I really wanted it to be true.

    I activated my second use of Therianthropy and jumped up, caught myself in the air with my wings, and then started unassigning inventory slots.

 216 - Intentional Nation Building

    I undid a swath of slots at the Icon¡¯s feet. The moment the floor was released, it crumbled away, reduced to tiny chunks like something had been taking a sledgehammer to it every day for a month. As the floor collapsed to reveal the plant beneath, the Icon used its fleshy tendrils to crawl away up the wall.

    The Dominion Ivy was a pulsating hive of endless thorn-covered vines. Their leaves danced and shivered. Melon-sized buds blossomed into colorful blooms that rotated as though they were looking around the room. The vines extended into eternity, stretching into an endlessly distant terminus that twisted as I looked towards it, always keeping its end just out of sight.

    The vines rushed up at the Icon, their movement slow by Delver standards but much faster than any plant had a right to be. Their snaking climbers quested for the bloody construct, more energetic than they¡¯d been when presented with the Littan Delvers.

    The Icon, understandably, tried to move away.

    The wall above the Icon exploded into sparkling gaseous clouds as Nuralie fired a trio of exploding arrows. The gas contained one of her rare Spiritual toxins. The Icon hadn¡¯t seemed to suffer much under our alchemist¡¯s typical brews, but it tried to give this one a wide berth as it clambered across the wall. It used its hundreds of threads like a gruesome millipede to dart left around the expanding cloud, but one of its own scorching lances slammed into the wall, releasing a wave of force that sent it skittering back.

    Varrin had continued to contest both the golden spear and the constant barrage of burning spells, overwhelmed by the combo when faced to deal with it alone. I glanced over at the big guy, seeing that there were now three versions of the swordsman working to manage the onslaught.

    One was the original Varrin, another was a perfect Spiritual copy, and the third was the odd pseudo-relative-looking version we¡¯d seen when dealing with the Icon of the Psychopomp.

    Icons really brought out Varrin¡¯s best, I reckoned.

    As Varrin¡¯s copy managed the spear, Varrin prime parried another beam that rained down on him, cutting the attack ninety degrees toward his imperfect doppelganger. The ancestral spirit parried the beam again, finishing the redirect and sending it just left of the Icon, causing it to move further back from the detonations and melting stone.

    The Icon was in a tough position. If it stopped slinging spells at Varrin, the big guy would have three bodies to go after it with. If it didn¡¯t stop hammering out spells, Varrin and his soul clones would keep hitting return to sender. Until he ran out of stamina, at least.

    The malformed construct didn¡¯t have any time to work that problem out, because it had plenty more to deal with.

    A field of shimmering mana mines formed in the air to the Icon¡¯s right, expanding out every second as Etja dumped power into her mana shape. The Icon launched another wave of blood bubbles, but I seized the spell and used Reverse Card to trap the Icon.

    The remaining golem warped itself onto the Icon, using its puncturing spell to cut through its tendrils.

    The Icon smiled and its eyes swam through its head to gaze at me. It blasted itself back out into webbing, hurling the golem aside and shooting towards me. I snapped out an Explosion! to punish the air between us. The pressure wave sent the tendrils flailing back, colliding with every hazard the group had created. Its body was corrupted with spiritual toxins, reduced to inert dust as the mines exploded, and dragged through the molten rock Varrin¡¯s spell parries had created.

    Still, the webbing shot towards the ceiling, battered and abused by the traps, but escaping from the vines. As it reformed above us, the Icon was greeted by a smoldering horror of claws and teeth that had landed just before it. Xim snatched the diminutive Icon up in her massive hands and hurled it back down, sending it through the gas and mines once again, and into the eager waiting vines of the Dominion Ivy.

    The vines wrapped the Icon up. As its many thorns sliced into the construct, mana flowed out and into the Ivy plant. It was a real reverse-vampire situation. Vampire on mana-vampire action.

    The bloodsucker was getting its mana sucked, and it really did not like it.

    The Icon tried to thread through the vines in its web form, but they were too numerous. There was nowhere for it to go. The Icon turned all its skills onto the plant, burning it to ash with its beams, cutting through swaths of vines with its spear, freezing yet more in place with its bubbles, but it didn¡¯t matter. The vines kept coming faster than the Icon could destroy them. And though it took some time, the Dominion Ivy eventually sucked the fucker dry.

    Most of the floor was still safe, and as the Icon was consumed, the rest of the party gathered on the opposite end of the obelisk chamber. I stood out ahead of them, trying to gauge how much trouble we were in if the plant decided to convert this from a ¡°feed me, Arlo,¡± situation into a ¡°feed me Arlo¡± kind of deal. The comma placement was quite important here.

    There was a lot of plant that could come through the floor, and while the Closet was big, it wasn¡¯t that big. Neither of my Checkpoints were open yet, so if the Ivy wanted to bite the hand that feeds, we¡¯d either need to slash and burn for several hours straight, or open the exit to the wastes and see what was on the other side. We could always Shortcut our way out if it was buried.

    I¡¯d have preferred not to do that, since I liked my Closet and didn¡¯t want to sign the deed over to a trans-dimensional plant. I doubted it would be easy to convince Yara to come back and seal the thing away again.

    So, I waited to see what would happen.

    Once the plant was done digesting the Icon, its vines rolled out through the breach in the inventory spaces. It moved slowly, searching and feeling out the boundaries of the space. I stood still and watched, waiting for the vines to reach me. The party had a host of spells ready if the plant decided it wanted a taste of the Arlo steak, so when it got near, I felt pretty confident I wasn¡¯t in any real danger.

    One of the vines rose up from the ground like a snake ready to strike, then nosed its way close to me. I held up a hand to the vine and it stopped. Then, tentatively, the vine moved closer and slithered across my palm. The thorns that covered it retracted into its flesh, and the many thousands of leaves around the room shifted and shuddered.

    The vine dropped away from my hand and kept poking around, ignoring me. As I stood, the wave of leafy tendrils parted around me while they moved out to the edges of the obelisk chamber.

    The party backed away, less enthusiastic about testing the boundaries of the Ivy¡¯s friend-or-food logic. When the vines found the hall leading away from the obelisk chamber, they stopped. The Dominion Ivy covered the walls, set up its many hanging vines and flowering buds, then settled itself and stopped expanding.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°I guess it¡¯s just a regular boss monster.¡±

    ¡°I would not call that regular,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I agree,¡± said Etja. ¡°It¡¯s much prettier than a regular Delve boss.¡± The mage floated into the room, weaving between the hanging vines, and took a chance at smelling one of the flowers. The bloom tracked her movement, but didn¡¯t try to snag her from the air.

    ¡°Is everyone comfortable with Arlo¡¯s new fighting style?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°My new style?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You know,¡± she said. ¡°Throwing gods and monsters at our enemies.¡±

    ¡°It is more an extension of his previous style,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Depending on how you categorize Shog and Grotto.¡±

    ¡°One of the first things we did as a party was throw Fortune at Orexis,¡± said Etja. ¡°I think it¡¯s part of who we are. As a group.¡±

    ¡°Are we counted among the monsters he is throwing?¡± asked Nuralie.

    We all studiously avoided staring at Xim.

    ¡°I¡¯m the party leader,¡± I said, putting my hands on my hips. ¡°Part of leading is delegation. If I¡¯m delegating the containment or destruction of an avatar or god, I¡¯m gonna delegate that task to something big enough to get the job done. You want to challenge your underlings to keep them sharp and engaged, but giving people jobs that are too big for them leads to demoralization. One must play to their people¡¯s strengths, and work around their weaknesses.¡±

    ¡°Underlings?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°If we¡¯re challenging Arlo¡¯s use of nouns,¡± said Xim, ¡°can we talk about Closetland?¡±

    ¡°What about it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s so bad.¡±

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Ah, well it was a spur of the moment name. How about, Closetlandia?¡±

    ¡°I like that better,¡± said Etja. ¡°But I¡¯m not in love with it.¡±

    ¡°Closetia?¡± I offered. ¡°Closetstan? Closetina? Closetica?¡±

    ¡°Why does it need to use the word ¡®closet¡¯?¡± asked Nuralie.

    I paused and considered. ¡°Pocketvania?¡±

    ¡°We should repair Grotto,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Naming the Pocket Republic can wait.¡±

    Everyone turned to stare at the big guy.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    ¡°That one¡¯s not bad,¡± said Etja. Everyone mumbled their assent, and Varrin stood up a little straighter.

    ¡°You¡¯re right about Grotto, Varrin,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, Sub-el. What needs to happen to get Grotto all healed up?¡±

    ¡°What about the Closet Republic?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°No, that sounds like a clothing store,¡± said Etja.

    Please insert Core 1156 into the Delve obelisk to perform a diagnostic. Once we have mapped the damage, I can manually assist the obelisk¡¯s automated repair functions. If the Core can be repaired, I can complete the process within a few hours.

    I teleported myself and Nuralie to Grotto. The poor guy was still pinned to the wall. Together, we carefully removed the arrow and made sure none of the Core¡¯s components came loose. When we returned, Xim directed Etja in cutting away the now-dead c¡¯thon flesh using Disintegrate, revealing the runic orb beneath.

    The hole going through Grotto was clean, and Nuralie pointed out how the outer chassis hadn¡¯t bent or warped under the hit. Hopefully, the internal damage was similarly well-contained. Sub-el guided us on opening up the bottom of the obelisk and placing the Core within. Sub-el also assured us that the obelisk was in working order, despite the central gathering rod being exposed due to Hysteria¡¯s manipulations.

    A few tense minutes passed, but Sub-el let us know that Grotto would be fine after a three-hour repair session. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Whaddya think Grotto would want it called?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Are we back on the country name?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He would not want it to be a republic,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Voting rights sound antithetical to his personality.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more of a technocracy,¡± said Xim. ¡°Assuming power is being distributed via competency.¡± I raised a brow at the cleric, surprised by her civics knowledge. She pretended not to understand my confusion.

    ¡°There are two citizens,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They both hold power. Thus, the power is in the hands of the citizens. Republic.¡±

    ¡°As long as it¡¯s not another monarchy,¡± said Xim. ¡°No offense Varrin, but kings are always trouble.¡±

    ¡°The king has some exclusive executive authority,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But with the way the houses work, Hiward is closer to an aristocracy than a traditional monarchy.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Eschendur?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It is a theocratic meritocracy,¡± Nuralie answered. ¡°Ruled by a triumvirate.¡±

    ¡°Are we discussing names or potential forms of government?¡± I asked. ¡°Because the name doesn¡¯t have to relate. Back on Earth, a lot of country names straight-up lied about their form of government.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should avoid importing that practice,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°If a republic just means that the people hold power,¡± said Xim, ¡°then the tribe is a republic. People literally agree on what the world is like.¡±

    ¡°Republics involved representatives,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What you¡¯re describing is a pure democracy.¡±

    ¡°What about your parents?¡± asked Etja, looking at Xim. ¡°Aren¡¯t they the chiefs?¡±

    ¡°Democracies still need administrators,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim, ¡°If everyone decided mom and dad were ass at their jobs, then they wouldn¡¯t be in charge anymore.¡±

    ¡°The Third Layer really brings a whole new meaning to the word ¡®freedom¡¯,¡± I mused. ¡°Anyway, I won¡¯t beat around the bush. To start, it¡¯ll be a constitutional oligarchy where a ruling council holds all the power. For now, the oligarchs will be everyone who¡¯s a citizen, since that¡¯ll just be us, assuming you guys want citizenship.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Why are you trying to start a nation?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°I thought this was an intellectual exercise.¡±

    I waved at our surroundings, causing one of the hanging vines to start caressing my hand. I gently extracted myself as I answered Varrin¡¯s question. ¡°The Closet isn¡¯t a secret anymore. It will continue to expand, giving me a lot of theoretical land to work with, and with the way my Checkpoints work it can ¡®border¡¯ any nation in the world. With the Reality Anchor we got, a permanent portal can be established wherever we want, making it accessible for travel and trade. Unless I want to sign the place over to the rule of a specific nation, it needs to be its own legal entity, if only to formalize a set of laws and encourage other nations to stay out of my business.

    ¡°Beyond that? It lets us act under our own authority. It frees us to form relationships with other world powers without historical baggage. We can be a neutral agent that disseminates information to the world on an equal basis, especially when it comes to the avatars.¡±

    ¡°What about resources?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°The Closet is mostly empty.¡±

    ¡°Avarice will help us take care of that.¡±

    ¡°Is it part of our reward?¡± asked Etja. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Earth, fire, wind, water, and heart!¡± I declared.

    ¡°Essences?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Shiploads,¡± I said. ¡°Very basic ones, though. Grotto and I have discussed a weave that¡¯ll convert mana into the compounds we¡¯d need to make this place liveable at scale, but it would take a lot of upfront investment.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the heart essence do?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°That one was a lie,¡± I said.

    ¡°Aw.¡±

    ¡°Our party still has a strong bias toward the Hiwardian establishment,¡± said Varrin. He was blind to the intellectual allure of natural resource management. ¡°Hiward, Eschendur, and the Xor¡¯Drels are close allies. We would not be perceived as ¡®neutral¡¯ by Litta, Ayama, Mittak, or Timagrin, and certainly not Davah.¡±

    ¡°Then we make friends and see if we can find some good people to round out our representation,¡± I said. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve been thinking about it for literally a day, and it¡¯s been a busy day. Before we get into the weeds on this, I need a shower, and my house got blown up, which is where I kept most of my showers. We also need to get the Eschens back home and speaking of, where are they?¡±

    ¡°The Zenithar and the delegation are in the Atrocidile¡¯s cave, along with Riona,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It has an underwater cavern where it built a nest.¡±

    ¡°Sounds stinky,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°It is not pleasant.¡±

    ¡°Is that safe?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Or is the Atrocidile dead?¡±

    ¡°It is resting,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The Yeti nearly killed it, but it escaped somehow.¡±

    ¡°Nottagator has a solid escape ability,¡± I said. ¡°He turns into a ghost!¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°What are we doing about her?¡± She nodded toward the Yeti.

    Fluffy was being held down by a mess of vines, though her metallic skin and fur ability was keeping the thorns from harming her. She was listening to our conversation, wide-eyed and silent. She may have been hoping we would forget about her.

    ¡°I give up!¡± she squeaked. ¡°I surrender!¡±

    ¡°How magnanimous of you,¡± said Varrin, hand on the hilt of Kazandak.

    ¡°Ah geez,¡± I said. ¡°Keeping her alive violates my ¡®returning villain¡¯ rule, but also we just saved her from that blood god thing.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to save her,¡± said Xim. ¡°I was just playing keep away.¡±

    ¡°I was being generous with my characterization,¡± I said, then blew out a long breath. ¡°Thoughts? Opinions?¡±

    ¡°If you are planning to start a nation, she should be judged under your laws,¡± said Varrin. ¡°In Hiward, she would be executed for her part in kidnapping the king.¡±

    ¡°Eschendur would likely do the same,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°She¡¯d get banished from the tribe,¡± said Xim. ¡°Sort of the same as a death sentence, depending on who it is.¡±

    ¡°We can prove she tried to kill one or all of us,¡± I said. ¡°At the very least, she committed multiple felony-level assaults, and throughout the course of her crimes multiple people died. Where I¡¯m from, the death sentence was pretty rare. Something like this would be, eh, 15 years to life in prison.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to build a prison?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it,¡± I said. ¡°Also, she¡¯s a foreigner, so that complicates things. Sorry, what was your name again?¡±

    ¡°Joma,¡± she said.

    ¡°Joma, are you a citizen of any nation, or did you give all that up to become a Wastelands mercenary?¡±

    Joma shook her head to dislodge a vine that had blocked her view. She managed to peek an eye through, but the vine squeezed her head more tightly in return. ¡°I¡­ would be recognized by Mittak.¡±

    ¡°How would the powers-that-be in Mittak react to you being dropped on their doorstep?¡± The furry woman looked uncomfortable at that idea. ¡°Not well, huh? Have some open warrants in Mittak?¡± She didn¡¯t reply, so I shrugged. ¡°Alright. Closetland sentences you to twenty years hard labor for crimes perpetrated within its borders. Would you prefer to carry out your sentence, or petition to be released into the care of the Mittan authorities?¡±

    She shifted within the vines.

    ¡°What kind of hard labor?¡±

    ¡°In here? Construction. Animal husbandry. Maybe some butlering. Do you have any housekeeping experience?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­¡±

    I turned to Varrin and placed a hand on his pauldron. ¡°Of course, if Hiward would like to talk about extradition, that can be arranged.¡± I looked at Nuralie. ¡°Eschendur as well.¡±

    ¡°You have no way of containing her,¡± said Varrin. ¡°And she knows too much to turn her over to someone else.¡±

    ¡°I have a whole Delve full of monsters and no way to leave it without some very specific abilities, which I haven¡¯t seen her use,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll look at her status to determine how much of a flight risk she is. Even if she escapes, I¡¯ll issue a notice and put out a bounty. If she tells people that a bearded man in a feather boa is secretly in control of a Delve, who¡¯d believe her? That¡¯d be like telling them that I can summon gods or some shit. It¡¯s silly.¡± I gave Joma a pointed stare. ¡°After all, if you knew a man who could summon gods, you¡¯d be a real dummy to get on their bad side. More than you already have, that is.¡±

    Joma stiffened. ¡°I¡¯m great at working with my hands,¡± she said, shakily. ¡°I have Woodworking at Level 43!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡±

    Your party has slain Malformed Icon of Instruction: Constructed Aberration, Grade 30!

    You gain +25 System Rep!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to Level 36!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to Level 25!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to 25!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to 24!

    Your Dungeoneering skill has increased to Level 27!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased to Level 16!

    ¡°Hey, neat,¡± I said. I stretched my back and touched my toes, then ran my fingers through my beard a few times. ¡°Alright. Who¡¯s ready to go meet the Littan empress in sixteen hours?¡±

    End of Volume 3

 MTB3 - Epilogue

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Two months after the founding of Closetland

    *****

    Brae¡¯ach seethed as he grasped the table, and the air shuddered around him. Lately, it was always crowded around Brae¡¯ach; there was always some avatar, some United, some follower that needed his attention. Jakom feared it would soon be too much for him to bear.

    ¡°You are certain of this?¡± asked Brae¡¯ach. The walking void before him nodded.

    ¡°Utterly,¡± said Limbo.

    At the center of the table was a dimly glowing teal prism which featured faint lines of mana threading across a map of Arzia. Some of them connected to the parchment, where celestial letters floated off the page: ¡°Delve 2883,¡± ¡°Delve M82,¡± ¡°Labyrinth 081.¡± There were several thicker mana threads, most ending in question marks, but one had a strange label: ¡°Raid 0.¡±

    ¡°I know the truth of Hysteria¡¯s words, despite their lies and hyperbole,¡± said Limbo. ¡°I maintain a soul tether to everyone I¡¯ve met, allowing me to see and hear everything they do.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Almost everyone,¡± Limbo continued. ¡°I thank Unity for allowing me to interact with you without such a handicap.¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s capture was some time ago, then,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°You are only now deeming it prudent to mention?¡±

    ¡°The entity Hysteria encountered had an unusual effect on my soul,¡± said Limbo. ¡°The tether could only be partially reincorporated. As you suggested in your conversation with the histrionic one, I passed along their testimony to an Arbiter. All of Arbiter gathered to debate it, and I have recently been informed that Hysteria¡¯s account is Verified, ignoring their embellishments.¡±

    The massive Davahn sighed as a breeze blew through the room. ¡°I had heard the generations were getting faster, but such feats in so short a time exceed even the wildest projections. I would question whether some are even possible.¡±

    ¡°And yet here we are,¡± said Limbo. ¡°You should recalibrate what you consider to be possible.¡±

    As much as Jakom loathed the obscured one¡¯s presence, Limbo was supremely focused, minced no words, and suffered no distractions. Jakom could not think of any other avatar that was so driven. Brae¡¯ach emitted a rapid, soft chittering as his lowest mandibles clacked back and forth in consternation.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be ready for the Raid within a few years,¡± said the titan. Limbo squinted, sort of. He was difficult to read at the best of times.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°That means we¡¯ll achieve our goals earlier than expected,¡± said the darkness.

    ¡°No, it means that we¡¯ll have to accelerate our time table by an order of magnitude in order to be prepared when they complete it,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Your ¡®kin¡¯ are too used to running amok as soon as the Transcendence finishes, wafting in your own flatulence before the divine sphere closes and you saunter back to hibernate in your caves. If we are to succeed, we must complete our tasks before the Transcendence or else it was all for naught. You cannot merely wait out the Delvers this time.¡±

    ¡°I will not sit for another age in this wretched form,¡± said Limbo. ¡°If time is of the essence, your ¡®preparations¡¯ are taking too long. You must abandon such foolishness.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach stood.

    ¡°And what do you know of these ¡®preparations?¡¯¡± the man asked.

    ¡°I know you spend days at a time praying. You travel for hundreds of miles in strategically irrelevant locations. You spend months erecting shrines of exotic but mundane materials. I know you are letting your spiritual practices get in the way of expediency, and now I know we are on a much shorter time table than before.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach glared at him. Jakom could feel a swell of emotion rising from the ground, like a flaming want, a burning of need.

    ¡°You know

    NOTHING.

    The earth beneath them split asunder, sending fragments of stone blasting across the room. Jakom raised his arms reflexively to shield himself, but the rocks diverted away from him and struck the wall behind. A frightening red glow rose from the newly formed crevice, and thousands of long, sinewy hands began crawling out of it, grasping at the air but finding no purchase.

    Consumed by your own malice,

    You grab the dirt and eat,

    Fistfulls of mud and worms

    And see it as a treat.

    A banquet lays before you,

    An invitation on the seat,

    But you crawl along the floor

    Bereft and incomplete.

    You were meant for more,

    But balked and learned defeat,

    So hold your writhing tongue

    And follow in my feet.

    Limbo betrayed little visible expression, as always, but Jakom could feel his presence being balled up and wrapped in the Word, so that the despair overflowing from the creature no longer suffocated Jakom. The Word was rarely used, especially with avatars, who were as likely to flee or fight as follow when hearing it. Jakom could sense that the Word had an unusual effect on them, even beyond the effects it had on mortals.

    ¡°Duly noted,¡± said Limbo. ¡°I acknowledge the limits of my perspective.¡±

    The grasping hands clawed more fiercely as an unseen force dragged them back into the ravine. The ground quaked and closed once again, without so much as a crack to mark the abyss that had so recently been opened.

    ¡°In that case,¡± Limbo continued, ¡°you cannot allow them to complete the Raid. Not yet, anyway.¡±

    ¡°That is a difficult proposition,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°We cannot simply eliminate any Delver who would be a threat. We need them to keep advancing the System, and only the best of them can achieve that. But I think we can slow them down considerably. If these children die as a result, then they were not strong enough to matter in the first place.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach looked to the map and his eyes traced a few choice threads.

    ¡°They will need Labyrinths to keep their current pace, and such places are rife with valuable materials we need. Let us see how well they can secure those obelisks against the United.¡±

 217 - Cognitive Biases

    I was compromised.

    I didn¡¯t know how it happened. I didn¡¯t know what kind of danger I posed. All I knew was that my mind couldn¡¯t be trusted.

    And it wasn¡¯t just me. It was almost everyone in the party.

    Three hours after handing Hysteria off to Avarice, I found a wealth of new essences in my inventory, along with a note. The essences were our reward for helping with the dramatic avatar¡¯s capture. Fertile Soil essence, Purified Freshwater essence, Gentle Sunlight essence, and many more highly specific and low-cost essences. What they lacked in individual value was made up for with variety and quantity.

    There were thousands, many of which would be used by Grotto to create mana-converters that produced their final products. Others would be used to sow new essence farms, although that would require establishing individualized environments within the Closet. Buying them in such bulk off the market would have been impossible, and hunting down such a diverse collection would have taken years. The reward wasn¡¯t rare or unique, but it was exceptionally useful, which I thought was better.

    We could now convert the Closet into a liveable¨Cand comfortable¨Cenvironment, with the capacity to continue supplying its endless expansion with all the natural resources it needed to become a valuable landmass. Grotto and I were ablaze with exciting ideas on how to use it all.

    However, the buzz-killing letter that accompanied the delivery was my least-favorite flavor of cryptic bullshit. The kind that pointed out a dangerous problem in my life, while also having a good reason for not providing me with enough detail to do anything about it.

    Master Xor¡¯Drel,

    You are a danger to yourself and others.

    This is not a critique of your attitude, lifestyle, or anything so dull and imprecise. I am not disposed to issuing moral judgments. Such a practice would be deleterious to my work. I also do not care.

    You are a threat because you have been subjected to an outside influence that will affect your decision-making for the foreseeable future.

    I cannot tell you how this has happened in a way that you will understand. The knowledge will slide off your mind like a book from a tilted shelf.

    This does not mean I cannot provide your allies with an explanation. Show the following to your familiar. I believe that he is untouched.

    The godspawn in your party, Etja, is also affected but will be immune to most of its harmful aspects. So long as your goals align, she will be useful to you.

    You will be skeptical of this counsel, and you will wonder about my motivations. You would be a fool not to, but the matter is simple.

    I am providing you with this warning because I was paid to deliver it. This also serves to protect my interests in your group, so I was amenable to performing the service.

    To be clear, none of the information you are being gifted originates from my client. Everything contained within is of my own making, informed by my invaluable expertise.

    I will not offer you a solution, as you would rightfully view it as a conflict of interest. This is a problem you will have to solve yourself.

    Do try to be cautious. I would hate for my investments to go to waste.

    ¨CAvarice

    The letter contained more, but it was imperceptible to me. The message was two pages long, but when I held it, it was a single sheet. The section intended for Grotto appeared to be missing, but he assured me it was there. We also had several discussions about the specifics of the problem.

    I had no recollection of those conversations. All I had was Grotto¡¯s assurance that they occurred.

    When I considered how I might have become compromised, I was convinced that we had no reason to believe what the letter said was true. I understood, intellectually, that this alone should have been enough to make me suspicious. There were very few things I was certain of in life. Something like this wouldn¡¯t make the list.

    I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care.

    It was only because I trusted in my party members that I agreed to take precautions. Xim, Nuralie, and Varrin also thought it was pointless to concern ourselves with it, but Etja and Grotto argued against us. Our protocols for mental influence granted the party member with the highest resistance final authority on how we handled it.

    Xim and I were best-equipped against Fear, and so long as I wasn¡¯t Feared, the rest of the party was immune as well. I was immune to Paranoia and Xim was immune to Psychosis and Stupify. Varrin was immune to all mind-affecting abilities while Berserk, but he could only maintain that state while in combat with at least one genuine enemy. He had a good head for tactics and situational awareness while Berserk, but otherwise his critical thinking skills were less than stellar. It wasn¡¯t practical or sustainable.

    Nuralie was the weakest but had potions that gave her a boost. Grotto was a Delve Core, and invading his mind took specialized skills, though he wasn¡¯t immune by any measure.

    The party¡¯s highest Wisdom score lay with Etja. She was immune to Mesmerize, Distraction, and Psychosis. She had perfect recall, couldn¡¯t have her memories erased or modified, and could immediately recognize any false memories that had been implanted. We¡¯d seen first-hand that she could resist some aspects of Dominate, even when the source was Deific.

    Along with Grotto, she knew what had happened, though she could not read the missing parts of the letter. She talked it over in detail with my familiar. They had this lengthy chat right in front of the rest of us.

    As far as Xim, Varrin, and I knew, that conversation never happened.

    As a result, Etja had ultimate veto power over our decisions. All conversations with people outside the party ran through Etja for approval via Grotto¡¯s psychic relay. Our Speed and Intelligence made that possible while still appearing natural to whomever we were conversing with, but man, it was fucking annoying.

    As far as what we were going to do about the situation, we had a few options.

    <ol>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Sit on our hands and wait for Grotto to find a way to eliminate whatever was affecting our judgment.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Abandon our current priorities and immediately search for a solution as a group.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Carry on as normal, while being super duper careful.</li>

    </ol>

    In all scenarios, Etja was calling the shots.

    Nobody wanted us to sit around since continuing to advance might naturally present a skill or evolution that helped. Altering our behavior in response to an unknown influence that sought to alter our behavior seemed¨Cto put it simply¨Cdumb as shit.

    Thus, we continued onward with our plans, while Etja held supreme executive authority.

    It was unfortunate that our immediate task was to meet with the Littan empress and her highest-ranking general. Engaging in delicate political negotiations seemed like the sort of thing one would want to avoid while being brain-plowed by an uncomfortably large psychic member. Alas, it seemed to be our most logical option, so that¡¯s what happened.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    We¡¯d planned on Etja taking the lead here before we¡¯d received Avarice¡¯s letter, so having her speak for us wasn¡¯t a divergence from our original approach. This helped us feel more comfortable about moving forward. I should have probably been nervous about the whole situation, but one benefit of being forced not to care¨Cor even believe¨Cthat I was under the influence was that I could thoughtlessly ignore the matter.

    I just had to follow Etja¡¯s rules, which I hated for their inconvenience but understood to be a reasonable strategy.

    And so it was that I sat across from Empress Rona Littana and General Tyvus Thaddacleus Connatis, cursing my rational mind for every frustrating second of it.

    The table between us was set with tea and a variety of Littan breakfast foods. Some were familiar¨Cpastries and classic carb-rich snacks¨Cwhile others were more exotic on my palate.

    There were dried grains that dissolved on my tongue like savory cotton candy, artfully arranged piles of a semi-sweet fruit that sliced into figure-eights, with the texture of rare steak. My favorite was a slightly sweetened nugget set out in neat pyramids that had an extraordinarily high protein content for how tasty they were.

    I was on my third bowl, snacking away and trying to enjoy myself while Etja spoke. The tea paired well, and I noted that the empress also favored the nuggets. I found myself appreciating her taste in cuisine, then psychically asked Etja whether that was a reasonable thought. She politely requested that I stop running my food opinions by her unless they related to poisons or other hazards. I added it to my list of rules and tried to pay close attention to the conversation.

    ¡°May I speak candidly?¡± asked Empress Littana. It wasn¡¯t a request, so much as a statement about what she was going to do.

    ¡°We¡¯d be pleased if you would,¡± said Etja, giving the empress an honest smile.

    When we¡¯d first sat down, I noted that the empress and the general had souls of similar strength, and assumed the empress was another high-Charisma, high-Wisdom Delver like Etja. It seemed to be a necessity as a politician, both for being compelling and resisting the allure of others. Even absent any skills, Charisma could have a profound effect on the unprepared.

    However, I was confused when I noted that while the general was Level 34¨Call platinum¨Cthe empress did not have a Level when I inspected her. Taking a closer look at her soul, it didn¡¯t appear to be like a normal Delver¡¯s, despite my first impression. Either she had a powerful deception skill, or the strength of her soul came from another source, like Zenithar Zura¡¯s. While the empress¡¯ soul did have a divine flavor, it wasn¡¯t overwhelming like the Zenithar¡¯s. I couldn¡¯t quite place it.

    These observations, and many others, all went to Etja, of course.

    ¡°The misunderstanding between our groups was unfortunate,¡± said the empress. ¡°But as far as we are concerned, it is wholly in the past. However, you should understand that there will be some ill will harbored by a minority of our military personnel.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s perfectly understandable, Empress Littana,¡± said Etja. ¡°We all regret that the situation resulted in the loss of lives and genuinely feel sorrow for what transpired. We would extend our condolences, but I doubt the friends and relatives of those who perished would be consoled by our words.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s part of the risk they sign up for,¡± said General Connatis. His last name, like that of the empress, originated from the Imperial nation he called home. Connas was a central territory within the Littan empire; a conservative, religious nation and home to the main Temple of Yara. ¡°No one believes you to be at fault, nor do we believe our own actions merit a formal apology. Everything occurred during sanctioned military actions, and your group¨Cwhile composed of irregulars¨Cwas justified in actively pursuing your objective.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s your official position, I believe we are comfortable accepting that the Littan military was also justified in defending the locations it had secured,¡± said Etja.

    Nuralie wasn¡¯t happy with that opinion, but she accepted it as necessary to improve relations with the empire. We¡¯d been acting with the tacit approval of the Eschen government but had not been formally recognized as an Eschen asset. It made our activities while spearing through the Littan military to get to Deijin¡¯s Descent legally murky. Settling that ambiguity was important if we didn¡¯t want to be outlaws in the Empire.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± said the empress. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you¡¯re amenable to that understanding. Now, let¡¯s move on to the reason we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Please do,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Where to begin?¡± The empress tapped her chin. She was striking to look at, her fur lustrous, her features precise and symmetrical. Her whiskers glinted like they¡¯d been conditioned and polished. I expected she would be considered exceptionally attractive by other Littans. ¡°Our Delvers are all required to participate as part of the military,¡± she said. ¡°Our approach is rigorous, structured, and based on a century of gathered data and proven strategy. We have a robust industry supporting our Delvers, and each one has the full weight of the Littan Empire behind them to assure their growth and realize their potential.¡±

    ¡°And yet, you did what they couldn¡¯t,¡± said the general.

    Thaddacleus Connatis had a more down-to-earth appearance. His uniform was neat and well-kept, but simple. The outfit''s core was snug around his center, but loose and flowy in the shoulders, sleeves, and legs. It was like a hybrid between a turn-of-the-century military officer¡¯s uniform and a martial artist¡¯s robe. The man was also slightly smaller than the average male Littan soldier I¡¯d encountered. Despite his low-key and slightly underwhelming appearance, the general was easily the most powerful Littan fighter I¡¯d met.

    If the man decided we needed to be dead, I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d stand a chance. His platinum levels were filled with the violet striations of Special Delves.

    From what Varrin had told me, running wouldn¡¯t be an option either.

    ¡°Despite our best efforts, our lands are not suited to the wide-scale production of magical materials,¡± said the empress. ¡°We have no significant deposits of Madrin or dark iron. Our access to rarer metals and alloys is even more restricted. Our climate and soil¨Cwhile exceptional for the cultivation of mundane crops¨Cdoes not have the proper composition to grow most common alchemical ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you¡¯re in Eschendur,¡± said Etja.

    The empress leaned in and placed her elbows on the table. She folded her hands and rested her chin atop them. ¡°Formally, Litta placed sanctions on Eschendur as part of an ongoing campaign to bring war criminals to justice. This escalated when half of our blockading naval fleet was destroyed, leading to the deployment of a legion to pacify this aggression.¡± She made eye contact with each of us, wearing a conspiratorial smile. ¡°We have since been disabused of the notion that any Eschen was responsible for the massacres that occurred within Littan borders along the Eschen Gap. This is why we now have an armistice and have made significant progress in peace talks with the Zenithars.¡±

    ¡°Informally,¡± said the general, ¡°yes, we were here to get better access to resources. Eschendur would not agree to a reasonable trade agreement, so we brought a big stick to the negotiations.¡±

    I was surprised by the admission. I¡¯d been fully prepared to endure an hour of talking around the subject.

    ¡°But your priorities have shifted,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°They have,¡± said the empress. ¡°We diverted another legion to secure the location of our new Creation Delve. Commanding officers throughout our forces have doubled their workload in evaluating and recommending soldiers for Creation. Existing Delvers are taking on additional training responsibilities.¡±

    ¡°Having more than twice as many Delvers will grant us more than twice as many resources harvested from within the Delves themselves,¡± said the general. ¡°While we could maintain our presence in Eschendur, advancing our front line would place an additional burden on our service members which we would like to avoid.¡±

    ¡°Our priority is taking advantage of the Creation Delve,¡± the empress finished.

    ¡°I doubt you have any need for us to assist with that,¡± said Etja. ¡°Nor would we be inclined to do so. Our party endeavors towards neutrality amongst nations, so long as they do not threaten world stability.¡±

    ¡°Lofty,¡± said the general. ¡°I hope that¡¯s a guiding principle, and you¡¯re not seriously trying to police the world.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not under any delusions about our capabilities, General,¡± said Etja. ¡°Our position reflects our desire to share relevant information equally with those who would use it productively. Destructive forces, such as the Davahns, are not included.¡±

    ¡°I think we can all agree that the recent activities of the Davahns are condemnable,¡± said Empress Littana. ¡°The mass execution of an entire city is genocide and an act of pure atrocity.¡±

    ¡°Regardless,¡± said the general, ¡°we don¡¯t need any help exploiting our Creation Delve. Telling you about our disposition toward and reasoning for withdrawing from Eschendur is context for our¨C¡± he paused. ¡°¨Cproposition.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Etja. ¡°We¡¯re eager to hear it.¡±

    ¡°The recent emergence of Dungeons has redefined the pace at which Delvers can progress,¡± said the Empress. ¡°Although it has only been a week, we have found that Delvers can acquire a month¡¯s worth of intrinsic skill advancement in a single day within these new zones. Of course, this rapid pace is accompanied by a commensurate amount of risk. We have also discovered that Dungeons can emerge nearly anywhere, including within population centers. Some are obvious, but many more are scattered and hidden.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve uncovered one dungeon that is vastly larger than any other we¡¯ve found,¡± said the general. ¡°We believe that within it, there are¨Cat a minimum¨Cdozens of zones that can each advance a different skill. It may encompass all known intrinsics, and we¡¯ve already found one skill that we have no records of. It¡¯s completely novel.¡±

    Empress Littana sat up straight. ¡°We¡¯d like your help exploring it.¡±

 218 - Offer on the Table

    ¡°That sounds like quite the opportunity,¡± said Etja. ¡°We haven¡¯t had the chance to pursue any Dungeons, given what little time has passed since returning from Deijin¡¯s Descent. We are interested in them, of course. However, like the matter of your Creation Delve, I¡¯m not sure why the Empire would need outside assistance.¡±

    Empress Littana nodded contemplatively. ¡°When we initially requested a meeting, it was primarily to clear the air,¡± she said. ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly is the fastest-leveling Delver party across all of Arzia. Despite this meteoric rise¨Cwhich many viewed as recklessly paced¨Cyour group displayed talents significantly above your Level during engagements with our forces. Your victory over the Descent laid to rest any doubts over whether this progress was a fluke of luck, and you returned having accrued more Levels than the year prior. It was only sensible to sit down and ensure Litta¡¯s relations with you weren¡¯t spoiled before they¡¯d even begun.

    ¡°In the last week, many things have changed, as one would expect with the Phase transition,¡± the empress continued. ¡°We are well-positioned to take advantage of the new challenges available to Delvers from a strategic and economic perspective. In the past, our method for Delving has been highly focused on efficiency, partially due to our limited access to mana-enriched resources. This has served us well. However, given that this new Phase is primarily focused on platinum Delvers, our past efforts towards pursuing the most reliable method of Delver advancement have placed us at a slight disadvantage.¡±

    ¡°The Littan military skews toward silver,¡± said General Connatis. ¡°We have well-developed build strategies and party compositions that can nearly guarantee a party makes the full run of thirty silvers into thirty coppers. We have a strong force of elites focusing on gold Delves, some of which have surpassed the thirty-gold escalation barrier. Platinum Delvers have been viewed as experimental, and the pursuit of platinum requires express authorization that is rarely given.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have many platinums,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Correct,¡± said the empress. ¡°Compared to Hiward, our average Delver pursues a higher difficulty, because we have very few coppers. Hiward, however, has more exceptional outliers in the platinum range.¡±

    ¡°If I may ask, how do you control that?¡± said Etja. ¡°The Creation Delve creates random parties. The Littans entering aren¡¯t guaranteed to pursue a specific difficulty. Whoever they¡¯re matched with may have different ideas than your soldiers.¡±

    ¡°We have the second-best representation,¡± said the general. ¡°We also negotiate with Hiwardians who might potentially meet Littans during Creation. Some are open to it. Otherwise, Littans are mandated to tackle¨Cat a minimum¨Csilver. If they are unable to persuade a group to do at least that much, it¡¯s a mark against them.¡±

    ¡°There are also remediation efforts that can be made,¡± said the empress. ¡°A single copper Delve does not cripple a Delver who wishes to pursue silver.¡±

    That brief explanation was leaving a lot unsaid, but we weren¡¯t here to dive into the comparative fairness of the Littan Delving complex.

    ¡°Are Dungeons only accessible to platinum Delvers?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Given the exploration you¡¯ve done in such a short amount of time, I find it unlikely.¡±

    ¡°Not as such,¡± said Empress Littana. ¡°Like Delves, Dungeons have Level ranges. Unlike Delves, these ranges are not related to Delver Levels, but skill Levels. However, these ranges are not requirements. Anyone can enter any Dungeon if they wish. It¡¯s inadvisable for a lone Delver with no Levels in Dimensional Magic to enter a Level 40 to 70 Dimensional Dungeon, but they could. Further, Dungeons within specific skill ranges often have threats that can be quantified into specific Grades. The System does not make this obvious, but we are gathering data to establish relevant guidelines.¡±

    ¡°Given that Delvers who pursue higher difficulties tend to have higher skill Levels,¡± said the general, ¡°it¡¯s preferred that groups exploring these Dungeons together match. Gold with gold, platinum with platinum. A parity of Delver Levels is also ideal.¡±

    ¡°Together?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°That touches on the core of our request,¡± said the empress. ¡°Traditional Delves are organized around five-person parties, so having a strong focus on fireteam tactics is unavoidable. However, for all other operations, Littan Delvers are trained to work in larger groups. Dungeons have no party-size requirements, so we¡¯d prefer to explore them in squads of ten.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re usually too restricted for platoons or anything larger,¡± added the general.

    ¡°Then you have a five-person team ready for Dungeons,¡± said Etja. ¡°They¡¯re platinum, and you don¡¯t have a matching party to support them.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the empress with a wide smile. The general also gave Etja an approving nod. It felt like they were buttering us up, but maybe they were just happy we were competent enough to add two and two together.

    ¡°For the sake of transparency,¡± said the general, ¡°the party we have in mind isn¡¯t full platinum.¡±

    ¡°They dropped down to gold?¡±

    ¡°No. They jumped up to platinum after thirty gold Delves.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s interesting,¡± said Etja. ¡°Common wisdom would say that¡¯s extremely unlikely.¡±

    ¡°The circumstances were unusual,¡± the general admitted. ¡°Regardless, they¡¯re Level 16 with one platinum Level. We¡¯d like to continue encouraging their growth into platinum for as long as we can.¡±

    I smiled internally. I had a pretty good idea who they were talking about.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Etja hummed. ¡°With all due respect, it doesn¡¯t sound like our group is a good fit, based on the parameters you¡¯ve just laid out.¡±

    ¡°I assure you, they have the skills for platinum,¡± said the empress. ¡°Their path through gold was flawless, and their pursuit of the lower difficulty was at our behest. We¡¯ve realized that pushing them toward the second-highest difficulty was underutilizing their capabilities.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also welcome to vet them yourselves,¡± said the general.

    I sent a psychic message to Etja letting her know that if the group was the one I was thinking of, we¡¯d be fine working with them. To be blunt, we played in a higher league than they did, but the group showed promise.

    ¡°There¡¯s also the Level difference,¡± said Etja. ¡°We¡¯re Level 12, not 16.¡±

    ¡°A gap I am certain you can overcome in a few short months,¡± said the empress. She wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Our group is due for some leave and a fresh round of training. We¡¯ll be pairing them with more advanced instructors given their recent achievement. We¡¯re not asking you to head out tomorrow.¡±

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    ¡°What¡¯s your ideal timeline?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Six months,¡± said the empress.

    ¡°What would our role be?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fully collaborative,¡± said the empress. ¡°We know you¡¯re not a military group, and we¡¯re not asking you to be bodyguards. The parties will cooperate on selecting relevant Dungeon sectors and pursue them as equals.¡± She paused to take a sip of her tea while she thought. ¡°This is partially an effort at diplomatic outreach, as well.¡± She nodded at Nuralie. ¡°We are interested in strengthening relations with Delvers from the other nations, especially Eschendur. Your group is diverse, in addition to being exceptionally talented and a good match for our team.¡±

    Etja gave us a few seconds to have a silent conversation amongst ourselves.

    ¡°We are interested,¡± said Etja. ¡°However, we will need time to think and discuss. There are also factors that may be prohibitive to this arrangement.¡±

    ¡°I assume one of those factors is you, Lord Ravvenblaq,¡± said the empress, looking at Varrin. ¡°I believe I can negotiate for your participation if you are amenable. King Celeritia is a strong advocate for international cooperation, and you will be more than welcome to report anything you learn during the expedition.¡±

    ¡°I would be honored to be the subject of such a discussion between our nations,¡± said Varrin, with Etja¡¯s approval. ¡°We wish to encourage a unified global response to the avatar threat. Learning to work hand-in-hand is of paramount importance.¡±

    ¡°Well said,¡± said the empress, rapping a knuckle on the table. ¡°I assure you, the Littan Empire is treating that matter with the highest degree of urgency.¡±

    ¡°Especially when avatars can sow such destruction that we are forced to redraw our maps,¡± added the general.

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Etja. ¡°Are you referring to the devastation in the Left Hand?¡±

    ¡°Three entire mountains, removed from existence,¡± said the general. ¡°We have only just begun surveying the damage, but it reaches deep into the Wastes. Fortunately, we have no records of any significant settlements in that area.¡±

    ¡°And we are deeply grateful that Eschendur was spared,¡± said the empress. ¡°The Eschen trinity displayed profound influence on this realm to mitigate such a disaster.¡±

    ¡°Why are you certain that an avatar was involved?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Aside from reaching for the obvious, through divination,¡± said the general. ¡°Avatars have a corrupting influence on scrying and other divining techniques. Some more than others. That entire region was obscured from our most talented seers yesterday.¡±

    Lucky us.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite concerning,¡± said Etja. ¡°I hope that whichever avatar was responsible doesn¡¯t plan on a repeat performance.¡±

    ¡°As do we all,¡± said the general. ¡°We are working on countermeasures. Whatever creature is responsible will face judgment, I assure you.¡±

    Etja gave a solemn nod, and the empress cleared her throat.

    ¡°If there are no more questions,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯d like to introduce you to our team. We also have a gift for you, which will be presented by Major Tavio of Seqaria. You may not realize, but your warning to the major led to the discovery of a dangerous infiltrator.¡±

    *****

    The party the Littans wanted us to work alongside was, as predicted, Team Pio. Captain Pio¡¯s group had earned their platinum Level from the Pocket Delve, and I had personally watched their run. That meant I was already privy to their composition, capabilities, and what I expected were many of their secrets. I was very appreciative that Etja was speaking for our group since I didn¡¯t think I had the Charisma score to manage the meeting without giving something away.

    We¡¯d officially met them once before. They were the ones who¡¯d delivered our invitation to meet the empress. That history helped obscure the fact that I was more familiar with them than I should have been. The meeting went well, and they gave us a basic breakdown of their roles and competencies.

    Afterward, Tavio arrived to present us with a set of five masterfully crafted golden dragons inlaid with a dazzling array of precious gemstones. The stones had been mined in his homeland of Seqaria, which was renowned for its flawless jewels. The reason for the gift was simple.

    I¡¯d warned him that Gharifon was trouble, and it turned out that he had been.

    Tavio had audited the illusionist¡¯s activities after my warning and discovered some discrepancies with his official reports. Littan officers all underwent random screenings for outside influence and infiltrators, which Gharifon had previously passed with flying colors. Given Tavio¡¯s evidence and his staunch advocacy for the veracity of my claims, Gharifon was ¡®randomly¡¯ screened again. This time, the Littans used ¡®highly limited¡¯ resources usually reserved for the most sensitive officials, such as General Connatis and even the empress herself.

    The Littans didn¡¯t disclose what those ¡®limited¡¯ resources were, but I expected they had something to do with Yara, given that her Holy Water had granted us deific immunity to all mental influence.

    As it turned out, Gharifon wasn¡¯t a decorated Littan officer, but a man in a crude and deeply offensive mouse costume. Upon discovery, the intruder attempted to flee. During their flight, Tavio and General Connatis worked together to subdue the spy, which unfortunately led to the man¡¯s death. The Littans didn¡¯t go into any more detail than that, but the whole situation sounded way too familiar.

    Part of me was disappointed that we hadn¡¯t gotten to see Gharifon¡¯s unmasking. It felt like a thread we¡¯d need to keep pulling, but the Littans had dealt with it without needing us. I eventually decided it was good they¡¯d managed to handle what I now suspected was one of Hysteria¡¯s divine spawn on their own. It meant they were capable, and the more capable people in the world, the better off everyone was.

    Tavio and I chatted informally for a bit, and the ultra-buff Littan seemed to be doing well. His promotion to Major was a recent advancement, owing to a climb in Levels, his discovery of Gharifon¡¯s malfeasance, and in no small part, a pristine service record.

    The Littan had risen to Level 21, which was a decent pump from when he¡¯d given me a beatdown. The last time I¡¯d seen him on our way into Deijin¡¯s Descent, the man had still been at Level 17. What¡¯s more, the new Levels were platinum, meaning that he¡¯d also made the jump from gold like Pio¡¯s group had.

    However, there was something strange going on with those new Levels. The number of gold Delves I could see within his soul had gone down. That was something I didn¡¯t know was possible.

    At Level 17, Tavio looked like he¡¯d done thirty-four gold Delves. Now, his soul looked as though he¡¯d done twenty-six gold Delves along with eight platinum Delves. Curiously, the amount of platinum he¡¯d gained matched the amount of gold he¡¯d lost. It was like he was converting one into the other, which didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to me.

    I put the matter aside for the remainder of the Littan meet and greet, which lasted until midday. Afterward, I asked General Connatis if I could create a Checkpoint in the Littan fortress to facilitate further meetings. The general smirked as he agreed and led us down to the fortified room where the dormant exit portal for Deijin¡¯s Descent was.

    ¡°We¡¯d expected you to arrive here,¡± said the general. ¡°That is where you said you would be coming from. We were mildly surprised when you used the front entrance.¡±

    ¡°Sadly, extenuating circumstances prevented us from using a portal,¡± said Etja. I¡¯d been forced to move the entrance to the Closet during our realm-hopping fight with Hysteria.

    The room was secure enough that allowing us to lay down a semi-permanent connection wouldn¡¯t be a massive threat to the security of the Littan¡¯s forward base in Eschendur. It would also be a great place for the Littans to ambush us. We were working to build trust, so we didn¡¯t make any noise about the choice of location.

    After all, the general probably could have killed us any time he wanted.

    I created the Checkpoint, and we left the Littan fortress on good terms.

    My mansion had been destroyed, so we were using a hastily constructed war room as our base within the Closet. We¡¯d put it together in a few hours, and it didn¡¯t have shit for creature comforts. It was all stonework and dim lighting, with nary a tapestry or throw pillow in sight.

    I loosened my tie and undid the top button of my shirt. ¡°Anything to report, Etja?¡±

    Etja crossed all of her arms and surveyed the group, wearing her serious face. It was a lot like her regular face, but she kind of squinted. It was very cute.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°No less than three of you exhibited unusual behavior.¡±

 219 - Implant or Eccentricity?

    Etja gave us all a long look while we waited for Grotto to join us. The Delve Core was allegedly unaffected by the outside influence and was coming to assist Etja in judging us. Grotto teleported into the room, wearing his little man disguise. His c¡¯thonic body had been destroyed, and he¡¯d need access to an array of specific organic compounds to remake it.

    I¡¯d never asked him where he¡¯d gotten the ¡®supplies¡¯ to make the wee gentleman he now wore, and I never would.

    With the duumvirate assembled, Etja revealed her first accusation. ¡°Arlo was suspiciously impressed with the food.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°It was good.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned it sixteen times.¡±

    ¡°I stopped when you asked me to.¡±

    [The fact that he relented when ordered is more suspicious than his fixation on the fare.]

    ¡°I already hate this arc,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°The food was good,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°Etja would not let me ask for recipes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the kind of stuff a retainer would request from the empress¡¯s staff,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°We do not have any retainers,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± said Etja. ¡°The question was better left unasked.¡±

    Etja¡¯s new role had enriched her personality with a healthy degree of assertiveness, but I also wondered whether some of her fresh confidence was owed to her ingesting a drop of avatar soul. I mused on that while watching Nuralie¡¯s inner miser battle with her desire to hire staff so that she could acquire Littan baking techniques.

    ¡°Verdict on Arlo¡¯s food opinions?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Sounds like a normal Arlo flavor to me,¡± said Xim. Everyone else agreed, and my love of fine cuisine was exempted from evidence of my mind being corrupted.

    To be clear, we were all voting, but Etja and Grotto were the only votes that mattered.

    ¡°Xim wanted to take her shirt off,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°It was hot,¡± Xim defended.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t?¡± I said. ¡°It was pretty pleasant.¡±

    ¡°Taking your shirt off would have been inappropriate,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°That would have been¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cout of character.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯ve always had a relaxed attitude towards being dressed.¡±

    ¡°Not in front of a fucking empress, you haven¡¯t,¡± I said.

    ¡°Name one empress we¡¯ve met beside Rona,¡± she said. ¡°Also, is it weird that her name is almost the same as Varrin¡¯s sister?¡±

    [Referring to her as Empress Littana will avoid any ambiguity.]

    ¡°Got any opinions on Xim¡¯s state of dress, Grotto?¡± I asked.

    [I am ill-suited to present a personal opinion on the matter of nudity, but traditionally one does not undress in front of a monarch except in particular circumstances. I did not observe any such preconditions being satisfied.]

    ¡°Verdict on Xim wanting to take her clothes off in front of the Littan empress?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Mind-fuckery,¡± I voted. Everyone else agreed. Xim grumbled and wrote a note, reminding herself to keep her clothes on. There was a lengthy discussion over who she was allowed to be naked in front of, which Etja handled.

    ¡°Varrin is in love with the empress,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°She is an incredible woman,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Mind-fucked,¡± I immediately voted.

    ¡°You are simply unwilling to admit your attraction to Littans,¡± said Varrin, looking at me skeptically. ¡°You should not be ashamed. I saw how you gazed into her eyes. They were like pools of golden honey, beckoning you to have a taste¨C¡±

    ¡°Did Varrin try to take his clothes off, too?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°No,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Did he¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cwant to eat her eyes?¡±

    ¡°It is a turn of phrase,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Why would your mind even go there?¡±

    ¡°We live strange lives,¡± Nuralie answered with a shrug.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± I said. ¡°Mind. Fucked.¡±

    Everyone agreed, and Varrin was forbidden from being near the empress. If that wasn¡¯t feasible, he was forbidden from expressing any opinions to the empress. Any attempt to make physical contact with the empress would result in the immediate deployment of Plan Lockdown. Nobody wanted to be the target of Plan Lockdown, so he reluctantly accepted the new rules.

    [The relationship between these two aberrant desires share a common theme of disrobing in front of Empress Littana.]

    ¡°I would never be so uncouth,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We would need to court for some time. And I would wait for a more intimate setting.¡±

    ¡°What about Sineh Duckgrien?¡± I asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t you already courting her?¡±

    Varrin furrowed his brow and stared at the ground between his feet. He did that for a worrying length of time while we waited for him to answer. It looked like my question had him trapped in some kind of thought loop.

    ¡°I don¡¯t agree with that connection either, Grotto,¡± said Xim, breaking the silence. ¡°I didn¡¯t care about the empress. I was just hot.¡±

    [That is why I did not claim they were both related to sexual desire, merely that they involved the urge to undress while near her. My point stands.]

    Etja had no further observations of suspicious behavior.

    Varrin looked up sharply from the ground and shook his head. ¡°What do we think about their offer?¡± he asked, before sitting down on a stone bench. ¡°I doubt I am allowed an opinion at this point.¡±

    ¡°Honestly?¡± I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea. The Littans can map out Dungeons a thousand times faster than we could. It¡¯d take us forever to find the right Dungeons for every skill each of us has on our own, and a mega Dungeon sounds pretty cool. If they want to lead us to water, then I say we should take a drink.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Xim. ¡°Can¡¯t we just ask Grotto?¡±

    [I can acquire specific Dungeon locations in exchange for System Rep.]

    ¡°Not worth it, in my opinion,¡± I said. ¡°Not when we have easy methods of finding them.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ am fine with cooperating,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I will speak to the Zenithar first, but if it can help relations between Litta and Eschendur, I believe it is a worthy task.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Xim. ¡°I want more details, but I don¡¯t mind.¡± We all looked at Etja.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°It sounds fun to me!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s settled then,¡± I said. ¡°So long as Hiward and Eschendur don¡¯t oppose Varrin or Nuralie¡¯s participation, we¡¯ll meet with the Littans a few more times and try to nail down how Dungeoning with Team Pio will work. In the meantime, we need to grab four Levels.¡±

    ¡°Dungeoning?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Are we disputing my choice of verbs now?¡±

    ¡°I like ¡®Dungeoning¡¯,¡± said Etja. ¡°It¡¯s quick, easy, and clear.¡±

    I gestured at Etja. Xim shrugged and withdrew her objection. ¡°Better than ¡®Closetland¡¯,¡± she muttered.

    ¡°How did it feel running the talks, Etja?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I really enjoyed it! It was like becoming someone else for the morning.¡±

    ¡°You did present a completely different persona,¡± said Varrin.

    Etja floated off the ground and began slowly rotating her body clockwise. She placed a hand on her chin.

    ¡°I just channeled Arlo,¡± she said once she was completely upside down. ¡°But with a healthy dash of Varrin so I¡¯d stay serious.¡±

    ¡°Probably a good choice,¡± I said.

    ¡°I call it the Arlin personality,¡± she said, right-side up again. ¡°No, wait, Varlo!¡± She extended her arm with a flourish like she was going for a delicate handshake. ¡°I am humbled to meet someone so strong and beautiful, Empress Littana. My name is Arlin Varlo, and I would like to take you somewhere intimate so that we can enjoy the wonderful cuisine of your nation and then disrobe together.¡±

    ¡°Is this what our children will be like?¡± I asked, looking at Varrin. He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°What Delves are we doing?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°When do we leave?¡±

    ¡°Can we take a week off first?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We just had a week off,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°At the end of which we rescued a king and a Zenithar, captured an avatar, and then killed the Icon of a blood god. We can take another.¡±

    ¡°Defer it to Etja,¡± said Xim. We all looked at the mage, who was upside down again. Her dress and natural bounties defied gravity to stay in their proper places.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a day to talk over strategy and build choices,¡± she said. ¡°Another day to map out the Delves we want. Ah, two of them should definitely be Expansion Delves so we get the twelfth slots of actives and intrinsics. After that, we can take a day to shop in Eschengal for anything we need.¡±

    Everyone seemed satisfied with that plan.

    ¡°Make it so,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do we each get one of those dragon statues?¡± asked Xim. ¡°I assume that¡¯s why the Littans gave us five.¡±

    ¡°I want the one with sapphires!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°We could each take a dragon,¡± I said. ¡°But allow me to pitch a different idea for what to do with them.¡±

    *****

    ¡°I have revelations of the Heart and the Stomach,¡± said Xim.

    She, Nuralie, Etja, and I sat at a table with Zenithar Zura in Eschengal¡¯s Temple of Geul. The Zenithar had graciously agreed to consult Nuralie on her participation with the Littans and to give guidance on our most pressing problem.

    The Zenithar was surprisingly on board with the joint Dungeoning. Zura was as eager to leave hostilities in the past as the Littans were, and it was a rare opportunity to get a deeper look at how their Delving teams worked. The matter was speedily addressed, and we¡¯d moved on to figuring out how to un-bork our heads.

    ¡°I¡¯m on the cusp of a new revelation,¡± the cleric continued, ¡°which is of the Brain. This revelation may help heal our minds, but its shadows touch more on the fluidity of reality. My dad¡¯s Revelation of the Brain touches on the fluidity of identity, which I would feel more confident could help. However, his focuses on the mind¡¯s relationship to the body, so it can¡¯t help with something like this. I¡¯ve already asked. We¡¯d want a Revelation of the Brain that manifests internally and deals with identity or some other mental aspect. That¡¯s the feeling I get from Sam¡¯lia during communion.¡±

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia is a goddess who exerts herself,¡± said Zenithar Zura. ¡°Her revelations peer into others, peer into the world, and peer into the self, then mold and shape what her revelators see and feel to accommodate her will. While she grants powerful abilities to change one¡¯s physicality, it is the mind exerted onto form. For Sam¡¯lia, all of reality is shaped according to the mind. Conceptually, using her will to forcefully reshape one¡¯s own mindscape may be a difficult road.¡±

    Despite the Zenithar¡¯s focus on the Eschen trinity, she was well-versed in many other pantheons. Xim was at a level where her interpretations of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s teachings would be revered as law within her tribe. Other Third Layer tribes would treat her as a visiting High Cleric. She still respected the Zenithar¡¯s insights, realizing the value of her point of view.

    ¡°It¡¯s a form of healing, though,¡± said Xim. ¡°Our minds are wounded, and I seek the power to mend them.¡±

    ¡°A wound hinders the body from performing its function,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Mental trauma is much the same, but what you have described to me are not wounds. Your identity has changed. You are whole and well, but different in a way that troubles your allies. You do not yourself seem to take issue with the change.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xim admitted. ¡°I¡¯m only worried because Grotto and Etja are worried. We know these changes were not made for our benefit.¡±

    ¡°Would Geul grant us any wisdom?¡± asked Nuralie. The Zenithar sat back in her plush seat and let out a long, groaning sigh.

    ¡°The gods can only interact with this world in limited ways,¡± she said. ¡°Each time they influence us directly, they expend a part of that influence. It can only be regained through the passage of time and the worship of their followers.¡±

    Zura gestured toward a crystal-clear waterfall that ran down the temple and past a large gap in the building¡¯s exterior. From where we sat, the water feature served as a floor-to-ceiling window. We were high up in the tower, and miles distant we could see the hole in the Left Hand mountains, created by our conflict with Hysteria.

    ¡°The gods vowed to protect our lands against a calamity such as this,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°They interceded to protect us, and in so doing, spent most of the power available to them in our realm. Geul does not deal with the mind, but even if she did, it would be up to us to make use of our gifts to make the changes we wish for.¡±

    ¡°Does that affect your revelations?¡± I asked. The Zenithar gave me a wry smile.

    ¡°A dangerous question, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± she said. ¡°Fishing for vulnerabilities in the Eschenden?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my life¡¯s mission, of course,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve always seemed like an iconoclast,¡± she said dryly. ¡°Especially given your rejection of gods in all their forms.¡± The Zenithar chuckled and reached for a glass of ice water. She held it close, running a nail through the condensation. ¡°Revelations can be gifted or earned,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°The gods will not be so charitable with their gifts for a time, but any that we have already received will draw on our own power, as they always have. The curious and the faithful will continue to discover their truth and gain what revelations those pursuits earn them. For most, nothing will change.¡±

    She took a sip from her drink, holding the glass in her lap afterward. ¡°The Zenithars are an exception to this. Many of our workings beseech the gods to intertwine their influence with our will. Losing my connection to that influence is why I was much weakened when the abomination tore me from Geul¡¯s embrace. I am not as reduced now as I was then, but I will not be sinking any more fleets for a time. At least, not so quickly as I could have before.¡±

    ¡°Deijin works with the soul,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Do you believe her revelations might aid us?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°The mind and the soul are well interlinked. Some believe they are one and the same. However, I am not aware of any follower of Deijin who wields a power strong enough for your needs, if other magical methods available to you are ineffective. Zenithar Manar is most focused on Deijin¡¯s aspects of shaping¨Cunifying the soul with form and substance. She does not shape the soul, however. The soul shapes the world.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like some symmetry with Sam¡¯lia,¡± I said.

    ¡°The gods are a mosaic upon the world. Many of their edges adjoin, and many more share similar hues.¡±

    I took a moment to digest that imagery before asking my next question. ¡°What about Yara? We know she can protect the sanctity of the mind.¡±

    The Zenithar nodded, though cautiously. ¡°Yara is a comfort to her followers, but she is¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cstaunch in her tenets. I would urge you to be considerate when approaching her. Sam¡¯lia and the Eschen triad are more flexible. Your interaction with the divine has had soft edges as a result.¡±

    ¡°What are Yara¡¯s tenets?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hmm. I encourage you to speak with one of her priests for specifics, but in general terms, she is a goddess of family, order, law, and expansion. More broadly, she can be characterized as a deity of civilization. She is a holy divinity, and most would describe her as ¡®good¡¯, but her followers view her righteousness as absolute. They seek to spread her teachings to all corners of Arzia, and will do it as forcefully as Imperial law allows, which¨Cas you have experienced¨Cgrants great leeway for the use of ¡®force¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Which of those aspects deals with breaking mental influence?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°All of them, to a degree,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Invading the mind of another is a deep violation. It disrupts the order of one¡¯s inner self, is illegal in most cases, and causes untold devastation to family members of the affected. All of these might hinder the expansion of the Littan Empire, especially if it infects the machine at its highest levels.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not proscribed, then,¡± I said. ¡°So long as you wield it in Yara¡¯s name and according to her teachings.¡±

    ¡°I would expect so,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Many Littan Delvers make use of mental magicks.¡±

    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Beseeching Yara will have strings attached,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Riferiantel, God of the Whole, is a Timan deity who¡­¡±

    The Zenithar worked through several divinities she thought might be able to help us, but each carried its own costs. Before we could even reach the point of making offerings or commitments, there was the matter of making contact with these unknown gods. That wasn¡¯t something we could count on happening. Even if we assumed Xim was correct in thinking that I drew more divine notice than the average bear, I was sure there were plenty of gods that didn¡¯t want to get wrangled.

    Throughout our days of preparation, I kept waiting for the next emergency to spring up¨Can urgent summons from Grotto, someone in the party triggering a catastrophic subconscious command, maybe another city getting wiped off the world map. Nothing of the sort happened.

    It was nice.

    We planned, got our supplies, and went northwest to find our first Expansion Delve.

    We were heading to the Kingdom of Ayama.

    Sort of.

 220 - Delving Through the Snow

    Ayama was an ecological impossibility. It was a verdant nation established in the center of the Wastes. A century prior, the space it occupied had been as barren as everything else around its borders. Godking Ayamari had spent decades performing magical terraforming of the region, an ongoing project that transformed frigid, lifeless desert into a lush, temperate rainforest.

    No other nation held claim to the Wastes, since no one wanted it. The land was worthless. Given time, Ayama would presumably stretch to cover the entire northern fifth of the continent. None of the world powers opposed the nation¡¯s growth, since Ayamari was creating inhabitable land where none had been before.

    The only people who might have been miffed were those who eked out a life within the Wastes, trying to escape all the baggage of civilization.

    Of Arzia¡¯s officially recognized nations, Ayama had the lowest population density, but the kingdom had the highest diversity by a wide margin. Every citizen was an immigrant and those immigrants hailed from all corners of the continent.

    Ayama was well-known for accepting refugees and outcasts with open arms. Anyone who sought to escape the woes of their homeland was welcome. On the other hand, everyone else could take a hike. Ayama¡¯s attitude toward her sister nations was somewhat frigid.

    Relations weren¡¯t hostile¨Cno one was stupid enough to challenge Ayamari¨Cbut diplomacy was an uphill battle. The nation was self-sufficient, the bountiful environment provided everything her citizens would need, the terrain made it a natural fortress, and it was guarded by the most powerful person in the world.

    It was a pseudo-utopia protected by Arzia¡¯s equivalent of Superwoman. It didn¡¯t want or need any of the rest of the world¡¯s nonsense.

    Attempts at trade generally went something along the lines of:

    Everyone else: ¡°Hey, you need anything, Ayama?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Nah, we good.¡±

    Everyone: ¡°Mind if we visit?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Keep yourself and your problems right where they are.¡±

    Everyone: ¡°Wanna come over and hang out, instead?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Your house is kind of shitty, so no thanks.¡±

    Gaining entry into Ayama was selectively impossible, depending on the purpose of the visit. If we¡¯d needed to get inside Ayama¡¯s borders, it wouldn¡¯t have been nearly so easy as tearing our way through a naval fleet and a small horde of Delvers. No one knew what, exactly, guarded the forest¡¯s edges, but no one who¡¯d tried to sneak inside had ever returned.

    Fortunately, we weren¡¯t heading directly into Ayama. We were heading north of the kingdom and got a lovely¨Calbeit very distant¨Cflyby view as we entered an area of the Wastes that was even more hostile to life than the rest of it.

    Hostile to mundane life, that is.

    The northern Wastes was a great place to live for the varieties of ¡®life¡¯ that had a bottomless appetite for mana and the vigor to survive in subarctic temperatures.

    It was like, if the North Pole was colder, bathed in radiation, and the polar bears were ten stories tall, had 300% more teeth, and were sentient flesh-eating blizzards instead of being polar bears.

    Altitude didn¡¯t seem to matter to these things, either.

    I was currently riding in a harness below Varrin, who was flying us over the polar wasteland in excess of 800 miles per hour. The air whipping past was thin of oxygen, thick with Physical mana, and about a hundred degrees below zero.

    The big guy¡¯s Hiwardian constitution combined with his Fortitude gave him a wealth of protection from the hostile elements, whereas I was relying on the power of layers, my general resilience, and allowing my health regeneration to fix any toes that fell off due to frostbite.

    Everyone else was hanging out in the Closet while we plucked yet another dozen frigid fangs from our bedraggled flight suits. The elemental mana fiends were practically immune to Physical damage, but Spiritual and Dimensional still tore them up pretty well.

    Our warmer party members occasionally sent us the psychic equivalent of a selfie, sitting around a fire and roasting meat skewers.

    It would have been so easy to open the Closet entrance while we were a mile high and everyone else was still in their summer clothes.

    Etja vetoed the idea.

    Putting that aside, we were heading into this nonsense for four reasons.

    One: Grotto had the location of a platinum Delve in our Level range that should be an Expansion Delve. We were each still short one Active Skill slot and one Intrinsic Skill slot to complete our full Phase Two loadout. The entrance to that Delve was in this unpleasant region.

    Two: Grotto had records of an armory containing stockpiles of Prismatite near our objective Delve, which we wanted to get our hands on. Prismatite was an exotic material that could be used to craft items granting bonuses to Mystical damage and Mystical DR. It was the only material that granted Mystical DR as an inherent trait, and no stat improved Mystical defense, making sources of damage reduction for the school extremely valuable. I was in need of an armor upgrade, and Prismatite was calling my name.

    Three: The rest of the world was out hunting Dungeons in the most obvious of places. Only masochists and psychopaths would be crawling through the northern Wastes looking for Dungeons when they could potentially find one down the street. Literally, down the street. The Littans told us about two Dungeons they¡¯d found hidden in an alley in the Littan capital. If we found any Dungeons out here, we¡¯d have them to ourselves.

    Four: Avarice had given us a token after our first meeting that would act as an introduction to a potential group of allies in the fight against the avatars. Those allies, whoever they might be, were hiding out in the highest and coldest mountains in all of Arzia. Those mountains, most bitter and frigid, were located along the northernmost edge of the continent. The northernmost edge of the continent, as one might suspect, was found north of the northern Wastes.

    We planned to pursue these goals in the order presented above, but would otherwise be opportunistic based on the sequence in which the world guided them to us. We hoped that the armory was part of the Expansion Delve. That would be a nice two-fer. Dungeons would be explored if and when we found them while traveling between the other objectives.

    Time and frosty toes permitting, we¡¯d do a more expansive search for Dungeons after completing items one, two, and four.

    ¡°There¡¯s a big column of Spiritual mana below,¡± I thought to Varrin. ¡°Eleven o¡¯clock.¡±

    Varrin confirmed and swept down toward the mana signature, the only notable feature in an otherwise pristine expanse of ice and snow. We were near Grotto¡¯s estimated location for the Delve, so I was hoping this marked the entrance. If not, maybe it would be a clue.

    Spiritual mana billowed up from a large crack in the ice, drifting hundreds of feet into the air. Several tornadoes of twisting ice and fangs surrounded it, their windy bodies suffused with crackling violet energy. The ones we¡¯d faced so far had been larger and soaked in Physical mana, whereas these were a blend of the two schools.

    The twisters were a mere thirty feet in height¨Cas opposed to a hundred¨Cthough the one closest to the mana vent was half that size, with a much denser concentration of mana in its form. It also had a vaguely humanoid shape.

    I shot it an identify.

    Spectral Ice Fiend: Undead Elemental, Grade 20

    Nothing too threatening.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    The rest were missing the Undead classification and ranged from Grade 15 to 18.

    ¡°The Physical Fiends were immune to Physical damage,¡± I thought to the party. ¡°Shall we assume these are immune to Physical and Spiritual?¡±

    [It is more like that they are resistant to both,] Grotto replied. [Possessing a blend gives them versatility in exchange for vulnerability.]

    ¡°Nuralie and I will be disadvantaged,¡± Varrin added.

    ¡°Their bodies look like they¡¯re mostly mana,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°I¡¯m betting Mystical will fuck ¡®em up. Actually, why am I even speculating? Nuralie, we¡¯re gonna drop you off to take a closer look.¡±

    The rest of the party was gearing up while we discussed. Varrin swept around the elementals from a mile out until everyone was ready to go, then dropped closer to the ground.

    I opened the Closet and Nuralie hopped out, her body wrapped in enough dark furs that she was more poof than person. She peered across the tundra while she used Target Analysis, her eyes obscured by thick goggles.

    ¡°Fifty percent resistance to most Physical. Complete immunity to Cold and Spectral,¡± she thought to us. ¡°High defense against Dimensional Planar but not Spatial. Weak to Force and Sonic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± I thought. ¡°Sonic is Physical damage.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it disrupts their form,¡± Varrin sent back.

    ¡°Alright. I blow ¡®em up, Etja hits ¡®em with Mystic Blast, and Xim burns ¡®em with Judgment. Nuralie can watch for any new arrivals while Varrin can uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Parry spell attacks?¡± he proposed.

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go with that.¡±

    ¡°Can I suggest something?¡± asked Etja as she floated out of the Closet. She¡¯d darkened her skin until it was pitch black and wore her normal enchanted dress without any extra layers. The cold didn¡¯t seem to bother her one bit.

    ¡°Always,¡± I replied. ¡°And I appreciate you pretending like I could say no.¡±

    She frowned at me. ¡°It¡¯s not a Project Mindfuck idea. Just a regular one.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m getting frustrated by the situation.¡±

    ¡°We all are,¡± Varrin added.

    ¡°Anyway, please continue Etja.¡±

    She planted her staff in the ground. ¡°I think I can Nullify them.¡±

    I looked at the half-dozen distant twisters. ¡°Really?¡± Etja nodded. ¡°Okay, go ahead.¡±

    Etja flew towards the Fiends while the rest of us followed close behind. The mage powered up her Finishing Move combo, the windy monsters only taking notice of us when we were a hundred feet away. They blew towards us as a group, leaving the smaller Fiend behind. The Grade 20 Undead Elemental continued to absorb mana from the vent while its pack moved to deal with us.

    Etja¡¯s hands and staff glowed with power, and when the five creatures were all tightly gathered within fifty feet of us, she released a wave of mystic, mana-eating power. It swept through the Fiends, dissolving the energy that kept their whirling bodies assembled.

    They burst into gales of wind, then dissipated. The razor fangs twisting within them scattered into the snow.

    ¡°Damn,¡± I thought. ¡°That was easy.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, more expensive than I thought it would be,¡± Etja psychically muttered.

    I bounded across the ice to investigate one of the fangs. The tooth quivered, so I smashed it with Somncres. Its Physical resistance didn¡¯t seem to matter much when it was just a tooth. Varrin, Xim, and I went around destroying the rest of the teeth while Etja disintegrated a few to absorb with Incorporate.

    The Grade 20 finally took note of us. Rather than engage, it manifested a pair of ghostly orbs near the center of its humanoid body, which rolled over us like a giant pair of eyes. After giving us a good, hard look, it decided we were more trouble than we were worth.

    It shot up into the air and flew away.

    We debated going after it but decided to leave it be. A single Grade 20 wasn¡¯t much of a threat to our full party, and it wasn¡¯t like there were any settlements nearby for it to attack. Ayama was two hundred miles to the south, and if it decided to head there it wouldn¡¯t last long anyway.

    ¡°What made it an Undead Elemental, do ya¡¯ think?¡± I asked the group as we clomped forward through the ice and snow toward the mana vent.

    Varrin paused in front of the vent, which was a twenty-foot wide crack in the ice. He held out a hand and ran it through the dense mana flowing upward.

    ¡°This Spiritual mana is so thick,¡± the big guy thought, ¡°I expect it would be visible even without an appropriate attunement or some form of mana sight. It is all of the Spectral subtype as well. The Fiend may have absorbed so much that it was corrupted.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s it coming from?¡± asked Etja.

    [This is likely being purged from a Delve below us. The Delve is at capacity and the core is jettisoning what it cannot use.]

    ¡°Seems wasteful,¡± I thought.

    [Not all Delve Cores have access to an infinite mana sink, such as the Closet¡¯s expansion mechanism.]

    ¡°Fair enough. If this mana ¡®corrupted¡¯ the fiend into an Undead, does that mean it¡¯s, like, ghost mana? Spectral mana isn¡¯t necessarily death-related. Or is it?¡±

    [It is not. However, Undead typically emit Spectral mana, so the idea that it originates from a mass grave or tomb holds some merit.]

    ¡°Mass grave?¡± asked Nuralie. Pause. ¡°So it is ghosts?¡±

    [Ghosts, wraiths, zombies, skeletons, liches, wrights, poltergeists, death knights, draugrs¡­ It could be many things.]

    ¡°Most Undead are merely constructs,¡± Varrin thought to us. ¡°Entities animated through dark magicks. They are rarely ensouled.¡±

    ¡°Then we should expect a Necromancer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We should expect anything,¡± Varrin replied. ¡°However, I am inclined to find out for myself, rather than continue to speculate.¡±

    The big guy took a few steps back from the vent and looked around. His hand dropped to Kazandak¡¯s hilt, but he paused and thought, then decided against using the blade. He raised a heavy boot and stomped.

    His foot shattered the ice and his leg sank in up to his knee. Large fissures cracked out from the impact for nearly a hundred feet and the ground rumbled. I adjusted my footing as the ice began to move, then decided to make things easier on myself and hopped up into the air, locking myself in place with Gracorvus. I hadn¡¯t used the shield to float much since gaining the ability to fly with Therianthropy, but for hanging out midair in one spot, it was pretty efficient.

    Varrin surveyed the damage, then squatted and shoved his arms into the ice. Once he was shoulder-deep, he heaved upward and tossed aside a slab of frozen ground several times larger than he was. It probably weighed in the three-elephant range. Varrin dropped into the hole and repeated the tactic.

    Xim trotted forward and dropped in behind the big guy, giving him an assist. Together, the pair hurled out multi-ton blocks of ice and frozen earth every few seconds. They excavated a massive pit in a couple of minutes, stopping when they hit dark brickwork about forty feet down. The mana was seeping out between the blocks.

    Varrin was just about to try his luck punching a hole through the bricks when a portal appeared on its surface.

    ¡°Hey, look at that,¡± I thought. ¡°Weird place for a portal.¡±

    [Obviously this is not the front door, so to speak. I expect the Delve Core would rather invite you inside through a temporary entrance than have you breach the Delve¡¯s exterior like a group of vandals.]

    I shrugged, figuring one way in was as good as any other, and then inspected the portal.

    Portal to Delve 9963: Throne of Zng

    Difficulty: Platinum

    Expansion: Yes

    Current accumulation level: 1+

    Level Requirement: 13 - 15

    Party Size Requirement: 5

    [The accumulation level reflects that the Delve has exceeded its mana storage capacity. Expansion Delve, appropriate Level range. Yes, this looks ideal for our needs.]

    ¡°Zzzzznnnnggg,¡± I said aloud. ¡°How do you pronounce that?¡±

    ¡°I think you got it on the first try,¡± said Xim. She had to yell through the thick furs wrapping her face.

    ¡°It is not a tomb,¡± Nuralie thought to us. ¡°Why does a throne have Undead?¡±

    [The Wastes was the seat of a military superpower during the prior generation. We are near where the capital would have been.]

    ¡°Great!¡± I said. ¡°A Delve Core co-opted the ruins of an ancient and powerful civilization, resurrecting its most potent warriors and bending them to its own twisted ends. Sounds fun.¡±

    ¡°Shall we enter?¡± asked Varrin.

    We all turned to Etja. She leaned over the pit to check the portal, then gave us a thumbs up. I grinned wide and jumped down into the hole.

    I landed on top of the portal, which teleported me into the Delve before I could even feel my boots make contact.

 221 - How Many Zombies in a Horde?

    Instead of experiencing the abstract concept of instantaneous movement on the soles of my boots, I felt something slippery.

    Despite not focusing on Agility, my score of 10 still placed me into the superhuman category for balance and coordination, if only barely. Thus, the slick surface refusing to grant me an iota of friction did not cause me to take a tumble.

    Falling on my ass would have been embarrassing.

    No, I avoided the shame of such mortal weakness by wheeling my arms, leaning back and forth, and yanking my feet into position each time they attempted to escape the burden of supporting the rest of my body. It didn¡¯t help that the floor I¡¯d landed on was an incline, so as I battled with this Home Alone-grade hazard, I was also moonwalking backward from where I¡¯d appeared.

    I remembered that I had multiple ways to solve this problem a moment before Varrin appeared. I used Gracorvus to lock myself in place and placed a hand on my hip, looking outstandingly casual when the big guy popped into existence.

    Varrin looked at the ground, then looked up at me. Even with the shield, my feet wandered while I fought to keep my legs steady. I couldn¡¯t see the man¡¯s eyes through his slitless, fur-wrapped helm, but I felt the judgment regardless.

    ¡°Slippery,¡± he said, then strode toward me as though the ground didn¡¯t have the grip of greased Teflon. Nuralie and Etja appeared next, with Xim in the rear guard.

    Etja immediately started floating. Xim, despite having the same Agility score as I did, slid with far more grace down the slope. She caught my elbow to halt her descent.

    Nuralie surveyed the room, then did a slow skate around the perimeter with the ease and poise of an Olympic-level ice skater turned superhero.

    The room was mostly bare. It was about the size of a basketball court, was completely dark¨Cof course¨Cand had a gently sloping floor leading to the only exit, which was a large reinforced double door made of some kind of metal. It had threads of mana running through it, and I planned on taking a closer look to figure out what it did once we had our bearings.

    Xim held my arm as she squatted to inspect the floor. She ran a finger across it, then tapped it with a knuckle.

    ¡°It¡¯s some kind of ice,¡± she said. ¡°The surface is wet, but not with water. Hmm, it¡¯s already frozen on my finger.¡±

    Using Gracorvus to balance, I bent to examine the floor as well. The surface had the sheen of moisture, but it was rapidly hardening. That wasn¡¯t much of a surprise, since it was just as cold inside the Delve as it had been above.

    ¡°I¡¯d ask why it wasn¡¯t already frozen¨C¡± I began, then paused as orange-white runes began to burn on each wall. They grew in intensity for a second, raising the temperature in the room enough to cause steam to begin boiling off the ice. They went dead soon after, leaving the floor slicker than when we¡¯d entered. The temperature immediately plummeted, and the substance began to refreeze. ¡°Yeah, figured we¡¯d get an answer soon enough.¡±

    I glanced at everyone¡¯s health bars, but no one had taken any damage from the heat. My own health was doing something a little odd, however. My max HP was dropping by one every forty seconds or so, then ticking back up to its normal value a couple of seconds later. I glanced at my notifications and found the source.

    Miasma

    You are taking Wicked damage!

    ¡°Is anyone else taking Wicked damage?¡± I asked. Everyone checked their interfaces.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim, followed by the rest of the group. ¡°If it keeps this pace, I¡¯m taking about ninety per hour.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that is more dangerous than it sounds,¡± said Varrin.

    I nodded in agreement. While ninety damage per hour didn¡¯t sound like much, what made it dangerous was that Wicked damage reduced its victim¡¯s maximum health pool and couldn¡¯t be healed. The only way to recover from Wicked damage was natural health regeneration. That meant if the damage exceeded a Delver¡¯s natural regen, their max HP would constantly be draining while inside this Delve, and there was very little they could do about it.

    ¡°Ninety damage an hour is a little more than the unbuffed regen from Level 33 Fortitude,¡± I said. ¡°Nuralie, Etja, you two have the lowest regen. You good?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°With your aura, mine is at one hundred and eleven.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡± said Etja. She glided over to Nuralie and hugged her from behind. ¡°Twinsies!¡± The Geulon patted Etja¡¯s hand, but otherwise ignored our mage¡¯s affection as she kept watch over the room.

    The runes pulsed, re-wetting the floor and shooting more steam into the air. Given time, the constant flash melting would cause the ice to shift down the slope, but it either wasn¡¯t an effect that was always on, or the liquid was drained and renewed somehow.

    ¡°Then we¡¯re okay for now,¡± I said, checking to see if we¡¯d received a Delve objective. ¡°Evade capture by the remnants of the Zng and confront its disgraced commander,¡± I read aloud. ¡°Bonus: Deprive the Zng of their armory.¡±

    ¡°Does that sound like a Prismatite vault to you guys?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Yeah, hopefully,¡± I said.

    [Even if it is not the vault we seek, there is certainly a reward worthy of completing the bonus,] Grotto thought to us.

    The Delve Core had opted to remain in the Closet for this one. Not because of his near-death experience. It definitely had nothing to do with that. He¡¯d even assured us that a Core does not suffer from the weakness of fear like we ¡®transient meatbags¡¯ did. He just had a lot of work to do in the Closet, and we were perfectly capable of handling a few Delves without him being physically present.

    The Closet was a complete wreck from dealing with Hysteria and their Wastelander mercenaries, so no one gave my familiar any shit about it.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Then we proceed as normal. If the Wicked damage gets worse, we can reevaluate. In the meantime, let¡¯s deal with this door and have Nuralie do some scouting.¡±

    ¡°This plan is Etja-approved,¡± said Etja.

    We flew, slid, or stomped our way to the mana-woven door, which was protected by a simple mana-puzzle lock that Etja and I solved without issue. That is to say, Etja couldn¡¯t find any traps and told me where to focus my Dispel. It was more efficient for the task than her Nullify, so I felt useful.

    The door opened to a large hall with hundred-foot ceilings. Every surface was coated in the strange, perpetually melting ice, and buried within were well-preserved carpets, suits of armor, and massive paintings featuring subtly shifting landscapes. Glow stones were buried throughout, casting an eerie blue shimmer across everything.

    The suits of armor were made of a matte material, and were lanky and tall; a little more than seven feet on average. They had holes built into the helms that might have accommodated a pair of horns, or other non-human head feature, and the hands had six fingers that hung in a ring at the end of their arms. The weapons slung across their chests were not the typical medieval selection I¡¯d come to expect.

    ¡°Well, those are guns,¡± I thought to the group as I leaned in to inspect one. Nuralie was moving ahead, keeping us updated on any enemies she might find.

    ¡°Handheld cannons?¡± asked Varrin, moving up beside me. ¡°We saw something similar at the Littan camp when we made our way toward the Descent.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I thought as I studied what looked to my eyes like a rifle. Although, it was more organic in shape and had no slide or magazine that I could identify. ¡°It almost looks like an odd combat staff, but there¡¯s clearly a barrel.¡±

    The weapon had no mana moving through it, which didn¡¯t tell me much. It could have been a showpiece, the weaves might have run out of power, or it could have been completely mechanical. I wanted to dig it out of the ice to take a closer look, but I was hesitant to make that much noise before we had a better idea of our situation.

    ¡°I have found the remnants of the Zng,¡± Nuralie thought to us. ¡°There are¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Ca lot of them.¡±

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°How many are we talking?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have found one legion of fifteen hundred soldiers. This chamber connects to others. There may be more.¡±

    ¡°A legion? What are they doing?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Nuralie replied. ¡°They are standing in formation, but they are a large source of the Spiritual mana.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s zombie soldiers, then?¡±

    ¡°Most identify as Preserved Zng Footsoldier: Undead, Grade 13.¡± Pause. ¡°There are also commanders at Grade 18 and flying bull snakes at Grade 20.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a bull snake?¡± I asked. ¡°Not familiar with that species.¡±

    ¡°I was not referencing a taxonomical classification. They are thirty-foot-long snake skeletons wrapped in flowing dead meat with skulls like giant bulls. The System calls them Preserved Zng Serpents.¡±

    ¡°We can handle those Grades,¡± Varrin thought to us. ¡°But the quantity of enemies is worrying.¡±

    ¡°How close together are they?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°They are in hundred-person groups with only a couple of feet between each soldier,¡± Nuralie answered. ¡°The groups of one hundred are spaced about fifteen feet apart.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I got this,¡± Xim thought to us with more than a little excitement.

    ¡°Firebug?¡± I asked. Xim nodded with a grin.

    ¡°Can we avoid them?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°How good is your Stealth?¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s question was rhetorical. She was the only one with Stealth.

    ¡°Maybe they aren¡¯t hostile?¡± Etja added.

    Her question wasn¡¯t rhetorical. She was the only one with that level of optimism.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to say hello as discreetly as I can,¡± I thought. ¡°If they attack, we go with Xim¡¯s plan.¡±

    *****

    We talked over some alternative strategies, the best of which involved me teleporting everyone around the danger. It wasn¡¯t terrible, but if we wound up between groups and tripped some kind of alarm, we¡¯d potentially have several legions bearing down on us from multiple directions. The skill was also loud and attention-grabbing by design when used to cross large distances.

    Still, I used Coordinated Thinker to map out some potential destinations, seeing if we could skip straight to the vault or the boss chamber, but Shortcut was sending me signals that using the skill would be expensive. The Delve had some effect that vastly increased the mana cost of a teleport based on the distance traveled. Grotto took inspiration from the idea for our own Delve and politely commanded us to find the weave responsible for the effect.

    We also considered sending Etja first, since she automatically Mesmerized nearby entities, but judged it too risky if a commander resisted. The effect also had a range much smaller than the chamber housing the legion, so she¡¯d only be able to get a small group, even if she was 100% successful.

    We settled on taking a closer look to help us decide and began making our way down the hall toward Nuralie¡¯s location. There weren¡¯t any traps or hazards on the way¨Caside from the eternally slippery ice, constant Wicked damage tick, and occasional heat blast from the runes. It was a fair distance away and we took our time in case Nuralie had missed something.

    I decided to make productive use of the stroll. We¡¯d talked over our short-term build directions before leaving Eschengal but hadn¡¯t settled on any final approaches.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll go with placing five points into Fortitude to get the Dumping bonus, with the other three in Strength,¡± I thought. ¡°That¡¯ll get me to Fortitude 70 by Level 15. Then, if I put all eight into Strength at Level 16, I can get it to 40.¡±

    ¡°Your offense will suffer short-term,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°Regardless, I think it is a good plan. The Level 70 evolutions are typically more powerful than Level 40, and Fortitude is your closest. In fact, it may be ideal if we all tried to reach a Level 70 evolution before heading to the Littan mega Dungeon. That would give us a significant advantage over their Level 16 group.¡±

    ¡°In case they¡¯re up to something?¡± I asked.

    Varrin glanced over at me. ¡°Better to be safe,¡± he thought.

    I wanted to believe the Littans were being genuine with us, but I was also on board with Varrin¡¯s caution. ¡°What about intrinsics? I¡¯ll have two slots once we finish the Expansion Delves. I figured another crafting skill would be good, but I can''t decide on something we don¡¯t already have.¡±

    The group had also spent an afternoon working through our skills and comparing their overlap. We¡¯d used that to create a Dungeon priority list, choosing skills that would have the largest impact on the party as a whole.

    ¡°Athletics is boring but dependable,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°It could improve your mobility or help you dodge.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I was also considering Reconnaissance, but my revelations make a lot of its evolutions redundant or obsolete.¡±

    ¡°What about Animal Husbandry?¡± Etja suggested. ¡°You could get a pet!¡±

    ¡°There is an Animal Familiar passive,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°It is distinct from Bonded Familiar.¡±

    ¡°I sort of gave up the horde of Minions route when I picked Auradilato over Minion Menagerie,¡± I replied.

    ¡°No, you chose quality over quantity,¡± Varrin thought. ¡°Minion Menagerie granted bonuses based on having a large number of summons and familiars, but Auradilato improves your auras for all of your allies, while also empowering you. Another high-quality familiar would benefit from your auras and likely become a strong addition.¡±

    ¡°The party¡¯s already kind of busy,¡± I thought. ¡°Do we want to manage another combatant? With Shog and Grotto we¡¯re already a group of seven. Plus, what animal? Would I need to raise one? How much of a time commitment is that?¡±

    [I can always rear a beast for you,] Grotto suggested. [We could engineer something truly abhorrent to the sensibilities of mankind.]

    ¡°Or you could grab Nottagator,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°Nottagator¡¯s a berserker,¡± I thought, ¡°without any of Varrin¡¯s ability to discern allies from enemies. Plus they¡¯re built like a tank, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯d add much to our party composition.¡±

    [I am using Nottagator in the Pocket Delve. The Atrocidile is not for sale.]

    ¡°Oh, what about the plant?¡± asked Etja. ¡°It seems to like you!¡±

    ¡°How would that even work? It¡¯s kind of bound to the Closet.¡±

    [The Dominion Ivy of the Endless is also not for sale! Although, you may be able to raise another from a juvenile. We¡¯d need to experiment to determine the best growth conditions.]

    ¡°Is that an animal?¡± asked Xim. ¡°It¡¯s literally a plant.¡±

    [I would need to research, but it likely possesses intelligence and lack of communicative abilities sufficient to fall within the System¡¯s ¡®animal¡¯ categorization.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting,¡± I admitted. ¡°But let¡¯s go back to crafting. I¡¯ve got a 100% progression bonus from my Human racial trait, so I wanna be craftier.¡±

    ¡°You do not smith much as it is,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Only due to lack of opportunity. It¡¯s on the List.¡±

    ¡°Wandmaking,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°You can take Woodworking, broadening the items you can create, and focus on wandcraft bonuses. Or, you could take the dedicated Wandmaking skill to wholly specialize in creating wands. It would also allow for the use of broader materials.¡±

    ¡°If you do that,¡± thought Etja, ¡°I definitely want some neat wands.¡± She held up her three empty hands. ¡°Look at all this untapped potential!¡±

    ¡°You know, I kind of like that idea,¡± I thought, looking at Etja¡¯s limbs. ¡°Thinking of underutilized appendages, I don¡¯t have a great use for the tentacles I get from Therianthropy at the moment. I just throw less awesome hammers. I can grab people too, but I¡¯m not built for that so it¡¯s only useful against weak shit. If I had a collection of wands, I could use them to blast more spells without burning mana.¡±

    [If you make even a meager attempt at creating a wand I can have the System prompt you with the skill. I would also be interested in ¡®borrowing¡¯ the ability for my own purposes. Few of your current intrinsics are useful for me to access via your Traveler¡¯s Amulet.]

    ¡°You could always pivot your build,¡± I thought. All I got back from that suggestion was a condescending chuckle.

    The psychic conversation ended as we got close to the Zng legion. Nuralie appeared from the shadows and had me float up the wall with Gracorvus to reach a narrow platform that ran into a massive staging area. It seemed like it was made for observation, though it didn¡¯t look like anything patrolled it. I belly crawled behind the loson¨Cwhich was more of a slide with the ice¨Cto peek out over the edge at the Undead army, trying my best to stay hidden.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I thought, observing the tightly packed formations. ¡°Firebug is definitely the play.¡±

 222 - 1,518

    The legion was spread out in a large chamber that looked like it might have once been an outdoor field. The side where Nuralie and I perched had windows and large doors that gave the impression of a building¡¯s exterior wall. The observation platform was about three stories up, with the second story featuring several small terraces accommodating tables and six-legged pieces of furniture beneath the ice, which I assumed were lounge chairs. There were a few dark forms beneath the ice that looked as though some of the Zng had been trapped within.

    On the other hand, the field was a featureless expanse with a floor of hard-packed earth. Several large poles stuck out of the ground with thin metal ropes and rigging that might have once held flags. The field was primarily surrounded by smooth walls made of the brickwork we¡¯d dug out above. On the two sides closest to us were decorated arches leading to wide tunnels, their surface covered in time-worn engravings.

    The soldiers¨Ctrue to Nuralie¡¯s description¨Cwere arrayed into hundred-person formations, each member standing upright and at attention with their ¡®rifles¡¯ aimed at the ground. They stood in squares of ten by ten, with three hundred-strong formations per row, five rows deep. Each formation had a single soldier standing ahead of the rest, which identified as the commander. I couldn¡¯t find an officer who looked to be in charge of the entire legion, someone I¡¯d expected to be at the front of the legion.

    The soldiers wore armor similar to what we¡¯d seen in the main hall leading in. Matte black, with a hint of blue at the joints, although the stuff in the field was less intricate. The commanders only had a small streak of brighter blue on their left shoulders to distinguish them from the rank and file.

    The holes in the helmets were, indeed, for horns. Each soldier had a pair of ivory horns sweeping forward from their heads. Their sizes were somewhat irregular but seemed to match the relative height of the soldiers, similar to any other organic feature, like the size of someone¡¯s feet. There didn¡¯t seem to be any pattern based on size, although some soldiers had streaks of silver in their horns, with a smaller number having half or more of one or both horns replaced by the metallic substance.

    This might have been a decorative choice like tattooing, but looked more like pottery that had been repaired with lacquer and gold. Silver, in this case. Kintsugi was the term if memory served. That made me think the horns had been carefully repaired. The ones that had been replaced might have been closer to prosthetics than intentional body mods.

    The smallest of the soldiers was around my height, with the most vertically gifted standing nearly eight feet tall. Their heads were entirely obscured by matte helms, with diverse, monstrous visages on each face.

    In the air above them were three of the Preserved Zng Serpents. They were covered in shifting, rotten meat that swirled around gore-covered bone. Their heads were indeed shaped like a bull¡¯s, although the horns swept at a more forward angle than a bull¡¯s, like they were meant to charge straight forward and skewer something; more of a weapon than a defensive tool.

    In total, the chamber was about 250 feet wide and 400 feet deep. The legion fit comfortably, but only just. The two tunnels were wide enough for five people to walk abreast, so evacuating the chamber could be done swiftly, but it would still take some time. I wouldn¡¯t have called it a fire hazard normally, but we weren¡¯t about to start a normal fire.

    Before any of that, however, I needed to make sure these Zng were actually hostile. The chances they¡¯d be friendly were low but, hey, maybe this Delve was a social challenge. Weirder things had happened.

    Nuralie stayed in position while I slid away and floated back down to ground level.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m on board with trying diplomacy first,¡± I thought to the party, ¡°but I can see at least one fatal flaw in that approach.¡±

    ¡°We do not know what language they speak,¡± Nuralie finished for me.

    ¡°Yeah. Hard to negotiate through a language barrier.¡±

    [Fortunately, you have access to an ancient intelligence with endless libraries of dead languages on hand. I can translate for you, but I believe it would be better if you learned the language yourself.]

    I sighed and considered Grotto¡¯s offer. My birth sign gave me a massive aptitude for languages, but I still had to study. I couldn¡¯t just magically understand what they were saying.

    ¡°How long did it take you to learn Imperial?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°A month of casual study. Maybe 100 hours total.¡±

    [You have gained substantial improvements in Intelligence and Speed since then. Although this language does not share a common root with Imperial, I expect the process will be much faster, regardless.]

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s back off and I¡¯ll give it a shot. Nuralie can stay and keep watch. Hopefully, these guys stay put like they have for the last however many thousands of years.¡±

    *****

    Two ten-hour sessions with a one-hour break. That¡¯s how long it took me to become passably fluent in the dead language of Zng.

    The only reason I¡¯d wanted the break is because¨Cwhile it wasn¡¯t killing us¨Cthe Wicked damage was a persistent, uncomfortable sensation. I felt like an electric current of sadness constantly permeated my body. It wasn¡¯t enough to break my concentration, but it added to my mental fatigue. On that note, if our regen hadn¡¯t outpaced the Wicked damage, there was no way I¡¯d have been able to take a twenty-one-hour scholastic intermission.

    The rest of the party spent the time productively. Xim and Nuralie meditated on their revelations¨Cthe latter able to keep watch while doing so¨Cwhile Etja worked on layering her gravity spell, Siphon, onto Varrin¡¯s attacks. She¡¯d been trying to weave her spells into everyone else¡¯s Active Skills over the last few days, with a decent amount of success.

    Everyone also took naps, aside from Nuralie and I. The soldiers stood as still as the corpses they were, the entire time. It seemed like the miasma was the Delve¡¯s main way to press the party forward.

    Once I was done, everyone roused themselves and got ready to jump into action as soon as things went sideways. I walked the rest of the way down the hall to enter the legion¡¯s field via the normal route. A set of large double doors at the end of the hallway was wide open, and it didn¡¯t take long before the first commander noticed me.

    I had my hands in the air, trying to look as non-threatening as I could. Sure, I was wearing full heavy-plate armor, but Gracorvus was stored in its armguard and Somncres wasn¡¯t summoned. Plus, who¡¯d be threatened by a friendly guy in a feather boa?

    The first commander barked a single syllable at the other two. They turned, then followed his gaze to see me slowly approaching. Each one signaled their company. The front row of all three forward groups shifted to raise their weapons. They were still pointed at the ground but at a shallower angle. I came to a stop as the three commanders exchanged a few terse sentences.

    The language of the Zng was flowy and elegant, close to what I¡¯d imagined Elvish might sound like. Unfortunately, this musical language was somewhat marred by the gristle and bone the Undead commanders had for vocal chords.

    After a brief discussion, one of the commanders marched forward. Maybe this one was the ranking officer, or maybe they¡¯d drawn the short straw. The other two stepped around their companies and out of the line of fire.

    The approaching officer paused twenty feet away and shouted a question at me.

    ¡°What hand falls upon the diadem?¡± the raspy Undead commander asked.

    I barely managed to keep a frustrated expression off my face.

    ¡°Any idea how to respond to that, Grotto?¡± I thought to my familiar.

    [I can think of enough potential replies that selecting one to give preference to is likely futile. The question references a Zng historical anecdote, wherein touching the diadem has deep cultural significance. This significance varies based on context, however. It was frequently used to request a passphrase, which seems the most likely use here.]

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°Then he just asked ¡®What¡¯s the code word?¡¯¡±

    [If I were forced to choose an interpretation, yes.]

    ¡°Is it possible the answer is ¡®Girls suck,¡¯ or ¡®Open sesame¡¯?¡±

    [Gender segregation was not a common phenomenon amongst the Zng. Perhaps you should try ¡®Password¡¯.]

    ¡°123456?¡±

    [Alphabetics are more likely. ¡®ABCDEF¡¯?]

    ¡°What about special characters?¡±

    [How would you express that phonetically?]

    ¡°Secret at code dot phrase.¡±

    [Yes, go ahead and try that one. I am certain you are onto something.]

    I sent Grotto a psychic eye roll and pushed down my irritation at learning an entire language only to get stonewalled with the first sentence.

    ¡°Apologies,¡± I said. ¡°I am unfamiliar with your customs. I¡¯m actually a diplomat from a foreign nation. Perhaps I could speak to someone in leadership?¡±

    The commander jumped backward, disappearing behind their company. Thirty soldiers raised their weapons, aiming at me instead of the ground.

    They opened fire.

    I had Gracorvus up and ready to intercept, but the strange rifles didn¡¯t fire kinetic projectiles. I heard a rapid scattering of pops as small spatial distortions formed in the air around me, leaving vacuums in their wake as they cracked against my armor and shield. I felt them tug at the flesh beneath my exposed limbs before I dropped down to cover my entire body with my shield.

    The hits stung but weren¡¯t particularly effective. Each pop that made it past my shield only did ten or so damage, but each soldier was firing multiple shots per second. Without Gracorvus taking the bulk of the beating, they¡¯d have shredded me in a couple of seconds.

    ¡°Soft diplomacy has failed,¡± I thought to the group.

    ¡°Swapping to hard diplomacy,¡± Xim replied.

    Xim appeared on the platform above us and dropped Judgment in the middle of the company standing front and center.

    Judgment had a ten-foot radius, which hit fifteen or so soldiers in the middle of the company. Each of those fifteen soldiers was Ignited with Divine fire, which dealt a healthy tick of Righteous damage. If that¡¯s all the effect did, we¡¯d have still been in a pretty rough spot. However, Xim had a nifty Passive skill that made the spell way, way more devastating for tightly grouped enemies.

    Fire Spreader

    Whenever you Ignite an enemy, for every second they remain Ignited there is a 50% chance that another enemy within 5 feet of them will become Ignited. This chance may only occur a number of times equal to your CHA divided by 10 per Ignited enemy, with a minimum number of instances equal to 2.

    Xim had a Charisma of 46, meaning each Ignited soldier would, on average, Ignite two more soldiers within five feet of them. Those soldiers would then Ignite two more standing next to them, and so on. The fire would rapidly spread and consume the entire company if something didn¡¯t intervene to stop it.

    There were about fifteen feet between companies, which was too far for the fire to spread on its own. With discipline, the damage could have been contained. Sadly for the Zng, Etja and I started making containment more difficult.

    Etja rushed down the hall behind me at full speed, reaching out to embrace me with her soul and merge Siphon into my next spell. I used Therianthropy and leapt into the air, keeping as much of my body hidden behind Gracorvus as possible. I felt out the center of the company and snapped my fingers, dropping an instant-cast Explosion!

    Explosion!¡¯s normal knockback was enhanced by Etja¡¯s gravity magic, hurling the Ignited soldiers like they weighed next to nothing, which they did for a few seconds. Several of the flaming Zng scattered into the midst of their neighboring companies, once more beginning the spread of the flames.

    The Zng had the discipline of well-trained soldiers and the single-mindedness of unfeeling dead. Even so, the scene quickly broke down into chaos. There wasn¡¯t enough room for the Zng in the back to safely maneuver around the flames, and any who tried were Ignited in short order.

    The commanders each had ways to extinguish the flames on themselves, but while buried in a press of fire-spreading bodies, the status effect simply hit them again.

    Meanwhile, our party was immune to the effect. In fact, Xim¡¯s fire was beneficial to us, granting us a light Cleanse when we moved through it. We rushed into the inferno and began cutting down the commanders before they could get organized, then used our skills to knock more Ignited soldiers into the companies behind them.

    My Elemental Barrier shoved enemies thirteen feet back to its edge, Etja hurled people around with Siphon, and Varrin simply grabbed soldiers and chucked them away. Nuralie sniped the more distant commanders, while Xim spammed Judgment to further accelerate the conflagration.

    The three Zng Serpents posed the greatest danger but were smart enough to stay above the flames. They charged Xim, who tried to use her Fear AoE to scare them off. Sadly, the Undead were resistant to those shenanigans, and I was forced to intervene.

    I teleported in front of Xim and used Elemental Barrier for area denial, then cast Explosion! to try and knock them away. The Serpents had size and momentum behind them, allowing them to resist the knockbacks, but they opted to release billowing clouds of noxious gas rather than skewer me with their horns.

    The gas was nasty, filling the air with impenetrable darkness while applying Toxicity and Bleeding along with a dose of Wicked damage. Against someone else, it would probably have been devastating.

    For me, it was annoying.

    I kept track of the enemies through the darkness with Soul-Sight, had solid Poison resistance from my gear and Exposure Therapy achievement, was immune to Bleeding, and the Wicked damage wasn¡¯t serious enough on its own to threaten my massive health pool.

    Xim Ignited the Serpents while I stayed in their faces to keep them busy. Their bone and rotten flesh bodies were weak to Blunt damage, allowing my hammers to chunk away massive shards of snake spine. Their charges meant to gore me had trouble penetrating my defenses, leaving me to believe their breath weapons were their primary offensive weapon. Denied that, they weren¡¯t so bad.

    Varrin and Etja broke away from the legion once the fire was omnipresent to support the fight, and the Serpents were dealt with before I had too many holes in me. I flew down into the raging fire to cleanse what Toxicity had built up, and would need to wait thirty minutes for my regen to clear the Wicked damage. Overall, I wouldn¡¯t have called the encounter trivial, but we¡¯d been well set up for it.

    Varrin tried to pull a few commanders from the flames for interrogation, but once Xim extinguished them, the commanders chose to end themselves rather than give up any intel. Their souls broke apart and dissipated in a scant few seconds. Irritating, but I could respect the tactic.

    In less than a minute the Undead legion had been reduced to a field of ash. Even their equipment had broken apart into crumbling dust, whatever magicks holding it together fading with the souls of the Zng. We got a wealth of knowledge on the Zng¡¯s combat capabilities, but next to nothing relating to the Delve¡¯s layout or the location of the armory and the Zng¡¯s supreme commander.

    The fight had been profitable in other ways, though.

    Your party has slain 1 Zng Legion: Undead Horde, Grade 23

    Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 18 Emerald Chips

    2) 1,500 Ruby Chips

    3) 18 Death Essences

    You receive 3 Emerald Chips and 300 Ruby Chips. The remainder of 3 Emerald Chips has been awarded to Xim Xor¡¯Drel for outstanding contribution.

    As party leader, you receive 18 Death Essences.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said, reading through the notification. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of mana chips, but less than we¡¯d get per enemy for similar Grades based on our prior Delves.¡±

    ¡°Are we getting short-changed, Grotto?¡± asked Xim.

    [Many factors affect chip rewards. The System considered the legion a singular entity, yet the rewards were higher than if the legion actually were a single Grade 23. While I support your jaded descent into greed in the face of vast wealth, I believe this was an outsized payment for the difficulty of the challenge.]

    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± I said. ¡°It would have been way harder if they¡¯d just had a good sprinkler system. You know, one filled with some kind of unholy water that worked on Xim¡¯s Divine fire.¡±

    ¡°What now?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Do we pick a hall and go for it?¡±

    ¡°Let me feel around some more with Coordinated Thinker,¡± I said. ¡°That hallway was more than two miles long, so we¡¯ve advanced a decent distance. Maybe I can figure out which direction is better.¡±

    ¡°Why make a hallway that¡¯s two miles long, anyway?¡± asked Xim.

    [There are several reasons the Delve Core might have elongated it. I doubt it was an original feature of the Throne.]

    While everyone else chatted, I sat down and closed my eyes, searching through the facility for valid Shortcut destinations. Going more than a half mile or so would drain all of my mana, but I could still use the sense to cheat a bit. Now that I¡¯d had a good look at the legion, I could root around for similar groups. It was slow and tedious, but the information we¡¯d gain was worth it. Since the Delve didn¡¯t have a time limit, we planned on taking this one nice and slow.

    That was the plan, anyway.

    ¡°Found a total dead spot,¡± I said, after two hours of searching. ¡°I¡¯m betting it¡¯s the vault and that it¡¯s warded to shit against teleportation and such. If we fight through another legion I can probably move us strangeward with Shortcut to jump past its defenses without burning all my mana.¡±

    ¡°Then,¡± said Xim, ¡°you can stuff everything inside your effectively limitless inventory and we can go look for the boss.¡±

    ¡°Sounds great!¡± said Etja.

    [I can only imagine what a nightmare this party is for whatever unfortunate Core is in charge.]

 223 - Please Die

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: DELVE CORE 9963

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Sometimes it¡¯s better to cut your losses.

    ***

    Delve Core 9963 had come online after a brief, eighty-year nap to discover Phase 2 had been implemented. She¡¯d been surprised it had happened so soon, but also excited beyond words to finally see her Delve in action.

    She¡¯d worked so hard to unearth and capture the Throne of Zng after the fall of the prior generation. Millennia of meticulous planning, millennia of stealthily invading, and yet more millennia of slowly converting the Undead within from a sleeping army into proper Delve creatures. All that effort, and she¡¯d never even gotten to see it tear the guts out of a single Delver!

    The Throne of Zng had been denied participation in Phase 1 for being too dangerous, which Core 9963 chose to interpret as being too awesome. It wasn¡¯t her fault she was an incredible Delve designer. Well, no, it was, but that was definitely a virtue and not a shortcoming. It was a sign of her extraordinary talent that her Delve had to be put on ice, pun intended.

    Were the contents of her Delve an existential risk to a Phase 1 civilization?

    No way!

    It was just a teeny little Undead army. Not even a full half million captured souls, all-in. Their average Grade was below Level 20, and even though there were one, or two¨Cokay, a hundred¨Cminor outliers vastly more powerful than the rest, those were just backups. She wasn¡¯t going to deploy them! Besides, the mana density was way too low for the Goliaths to even function properly. They were growth opportunities. Literally. She wanted to know how big she could get them.

    And, she definitely had full control of everything else inside, including the experimental Elder Liches. They weren¡¯t anywhere close to breaching their containment. She¡¯d even double-checked the weaves here and there and had only ever needed to make a few¨Cvery minor¨Cadjustments and repairs.

    What kind of trash Delve Core didn¡¯t have total control of their Delve monsters? Core 9963 was a professional, not some garbage rusty-shell playing fast and loose with their necromantic rituals and safeguards. Not any of the important ones, at least.

    Sadly, System Core 1 was unpersuaded.

    So, Core 9963 was forced to wait, not just until Phase 2 came along, but also for someone to actually find the Delve. SC1 wasn¡¯t willing to grant a direct portal, and hearing that, 9963 had felt the tiniest bit of regret over her choice of location.

    The moonfall had buried the whole Zng civilization beneath ice. Without a System prompt, how would anybody find the place? Was she supposed to wait until somebody came to the middle of no-fucking-where and dug?!

    Still, she¡¯d had faith. Delvers were resourceful. And, as it turned out, more resourceful than she¡¯d even thought! The transition had been less than a month ago, and there was already a party inside her lovely, fantabulous Delve.

    And she fucking hated them.

    The¡­ the indignation, the rage she felt, it was overwhelming. The meatbags weren¡¯t doing anything the intended way! Core 9963 prided herself on providing Delvers with many different paths to solving a challenge, but they weren¡¯t solving shit! They were just breaking everything!

    First, her carefully crafted Wicked ice. Always slick, always emitting deadly fumes, it was supposed to send Delvers into a panic, then test their ability to adapt to the pressure! There were a bajilliondy ways to disable the weaves or counteract the debuff, but this group just friggin¡¯ ignored it! It¡¯s like they didn¡¯t even care. Did they enjoy the suffering?

    Next, her meticulously planned entry hall. Miles of hidden secrets buried beneath the ice. Clues and trinkets, there was even an amulet that would translate Zng for them! A mile further in was a coded storybook that would have given them the password the Zng soldiers would ask for. They barely glanced at any of it!

    Was it all trapped to shit? Yes, of course. Were there thousands of decoy items? Duh! Would digging through the ice make the Wicked debuff worse? It would, but that was the challenge. Once the Delvers saw an entire legion of Undead, they were supposed to panic again! Then they could retrace their steps and hunt for the clues, dealing with more reasonable hazards than a flubbin¡¯ army rated eleven Grades higher than their party!

    They didn¡¯t even look for a way to translate the language. Some asshole in a feather boa sat and muttered to himself for an entire day straight, and was suddenly fluent. Core 9963 had never even heard of that skill, and the System refused to cough up any info on it.

    Right, so Feathers McFashion learned the language. Next, they should have tried to figure out whether there was a code or something, right? No again. They took a look at 1,518 enemies with Grades ranging from 13 to 20 and thought ¡°Hey, that looks like something we could fight.¡± Hello? No, it doesn¡¯t! They were Level 12!

    And then, they murdered everything. They even made it look easy.

    EASY!

    At that point, Core 9963 queried SC1 for guidance, but all she got back was a mad cackle. By the time she figured out how SC1 could even cackle in the machine language, the party had killed another legion and some-fucking-how teleported into the armory vault!

    Core 9963 had dozens of weaves making teleportation a pain. The vault was buried, without any obvious access routes. It was warded against scrying, three types of instant movement, dimensional shifting, phasing, incorporeal infiltration, and yes, teleportation. They were supposed to trap the spirit of one of the commanders who¡¯d tell them where it was, but they just sort of¡­ found it anyway?

    After that, they were supposed to fight a Spectral Vault Guardian. That was a three-phase fight with an entire wing of the Delve dedicated to it. Core 9963 had spent a decade planning it out! They¡¯d teleported past the boss, oh well. They hadn¡¯t even set off any of the traps or alarms, since those were all outside the vault.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Core 9963 had to dig through her logs to figure out how they¡¯d done it. Finally, she checked the sensor grid she¡¯d installed in preparation for her next expansion and realized the Bearded Menace had taken them through the fourth dimension.

    Standard protocols didn¡¯t recommend warding against higher dimensions until the Delve was rated for Level 20, at the earliest!

    They were Level 12.

    Level 12!

    That was the absolute minimum Level required to enter.

    Once they were inside the vault, Core 9963 watched them stuff several tons of gear into Featherbeard¡¯s inventory, which made as much sense as everything else they¡¯d done. A thousand ingots of Prismatite, gone. A hundred Prototype Spatial rifles, gone. Thirty suits of Prismatite-infused carbonweave armor, gone. At least those were the wrong size for them, and good luck breaking them down for parts. Their civilization was barely out of the stone age, for fuck¡¯s sake.

    Well, Core 9963 wasn¡¯t going to sit around and let them stomp their stinky boots all across her work¨Cher artistry¨Cwithout retribution. They wanted to avoid the Vault Guardian? Pah! If they were going to teleport into places they shouldn¡¯t be able to, then she was going to teleport things into places that she shouldn¡¯t!

    The Guardian was meant to be fought in a wide open space with plenty of terrain to hide behind, but if the party insisted on doing things the wrong way, then they could fight the overpowered golem in the wrong room. Being trapped in a 2,000-square-foot space was going to make the fight brutal.

    Core 9963 cut power to the weaves protecting the armory, and sent the self-satisfied party their reward for being total jerks.

    ***

    END SYSTEM ADDENDUM

    ***

    *****

    I looked over the empty chests and shelves of the Throne¡¯s armory, feeling quite proud of myself. The Delve was, as I¡¯d hoped, a two-fer. We were well on our way to finishing the Expansion Delve and not only did we have our Prismatite, but we even had a ton of ancient, high-tech goodies to play around with.

    Between me, Grotto, and Nuralie, I was pretty confident we could puzzle out how all the gadgets and gizmos worked. I didn¡¯t think any of us planned to start using magic guns, but if we couldn¡¯t use it all ourselves, then maybe I could give Closetland the world¡¯s most advanced spec-ops platoon.

    Honestly, that name was growing on me. It kind of sounded like a theme park. The theme would be me, of course, so you know that park was definitely going to be a fun one. There could be attractions based around all the Delves we¡¯d done. The fight with the Pit would be a killer mountain-style rollercoaster.

    Anyway, we were just about to figure out where to teleport next when a boss showed up out of thin air. Kind of an inconvenience, a bit rude, and also random.

    Etja Mesmerized it.

    Normally that wouldn¡¯t have saved the rest of us, but she also Distracted it by talking about how she¡¯d felt living as a golem for a brief time. The Spectral Vault Guardian had been formed from a conglomerate of trapped souls, so it had a lot of empathy towards being a sentient entity bound to another¡¯s will. I was able to translate for our mage without interfering too much with her Charisma checks. Sage Advice helped a lot with that.

    They chatted for an hour until the golem had decided it didn¡¯t want to kill any of us. In fact, it didn¡¯t want to kill anything. The Guardian was a softie at heart.

    It was also a potent Spiritual entity, so I decided to ask it some questions.

    ¡°Say, Vaulty, can I pick your artificial brain about something?¡± I said in Zng. The golem had picked the nickname itself since its composite souls didn¡¯t possess sufficient individualism to remember their names.

    ¡°Sure,¡± said the golem. Its heavy metal legs pivoted, letting its multi-ton frame settle onto the ground with a clunk. The Guardian¡¯s upper body swung towards me with a whine of its servos. ¡°What do you need?¡±

    Although the golem was mainly made up of an amalgamation of incorporeal specters, it had a robotic outer shell that served as a red herring. Once the physical components were destroyed, it actually became more powerful. It could also split into multiple lesser specters that would steal life force and allow it to reform once its soul had been damaged. It sounded like a solid setup for a three-phase fight that I was a little disappointed we were missing out on. But, Vaulty was pretty chill and I had no desire to hurt the big dude.

    ¡°We¡¯re in a little hot water with a problem related to mental magicks,¡± I said. ¡°Being a powerful Spiritual entity, I was wondering if you happened to have any expertise in that area?¡±

    ¡°What kind of mental effects?¡± Vaulty asked.

    ¡°Semi-permanent manipulation, likely originating from some overpowered version of Dominate.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said the golem. ¡°No. I am capable with a variety of mental debuffs such as Fear and Psychosis, but I am no Dominator. I do not even dabble in possessions, since I find the practice abhorrent.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, then do you happen to know a master of mental magicks powerful enough to manipulate souls at a deific or near-deific level?¡±

    ¡°Gods, no,¡± said Vaulty. ¡°If I knew that such an entity was within a thousand miles of me, I would flee. They are despicable, vile, perverted corruptors who pursue mastery over the greatest sins imaginable. One¡¯s own thoughts should be sacred, an inviolable sanctuary. Seeking the power to desecrate that is the highest of taboos.¡±

    I shifted my lips back and forth as I thought. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be indelicate, but isn¡¯t that kind of what¡¯s happening to you?¡±

    Vaulty¡¯s glowing red eyes narrowed as it stared at the wall in thought. ¡°I believe I would like to leave this place.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I can understand why,¡± I said. ¡°By the way, do golems count as living creatures?¡±

    [Not typically, although there are exceptions, such as Etja.]

    ¡°Could I¡­ put Vaulty in my inventory?¡±

    [Perhaps. Although, you would need to be able to lift him. He would also be protected by his controller¡¯s will, which would oppose your attempt.]

    ¡°You have an inventory space with that much capacity?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Plenty of space in there.¡±

    ¡°I am aware of the binding rituals used to compel me. I cannot alter them on my own, or assist another in altering them, but I can give you their locations.¡±

    [Assuming the golem was bound by a Core, I have sufficient knowledge to compromise their control, especially since the spirit is aware of its captivity.]

    ¡°Then we can take you with us if you¡¯d like.¡± I looked over the golem¡¯s massive frame. ¡°We might need to disassemble you some, so I can pick up the pieces and store them. How¡¯s that sound?¡±

    ¡°I am reluctant to trust a stranger with my frame, but¡­¡± The golem glanced over at Etja, who gave him a beaming smile. ¡°Since you are a friend of Etja¡¯s, I will take the chance.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get started, then. Once we¡¯re out, you can decide what you want your future to look like.¡±

    And so we stole the Delve¡¯s optional boss. Hopefully, the Core wouldn¡¯t be too upset about it. Buuuuuut if they were anything like Grotto, we were about to make a little murder ball pretty angry with us.

    Fuck it, we were shitting all over this Delve, we could handle it.

 224 - Handling It

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: DELVE CORE 9963

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Those bastards.

    ***

    Core 9963 watched the Delvers work in shock. She couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing, so she reset her sensor arrays and even did a soft reboot of her operating system. When everything came back online, the scene before her was the same.

    They were stealing her Minion.

    The social victory was one thing. That was irritating but valid. Not all Delvers preferred to solve their problems with violence and 9963 allowed some leeway for ¡®talk-it-out¡¯ solutions, even though they were dumb and not nearly as cool as dismemberment.

    Sure, the boss had high Wisdom, immunity to several mental debuffs, and was designed to be omni-hostile. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be something that could be beaten through, ugh, Mesmerize. Even so, it was fair play and she wasn¡¯t mad about it.

    ¡­

    Honestly, Mesmerize wasn¡¯t even that great! The debuff hadn¡¯t been on her radar at all. It only protected the one person who Mesmerized the enemy, and definitely should not have extended to the entire party. It was a gimmick to keep the squishies safe, not something to break open an entire boss encounter with!

    Of course, their Charisma mage had¨Clike the Vault Guardian¨Calso been a golem for some fucking reason. The Vault Guardian¡¯s empathy restrictions had been overtaxed by the mage¡¯s¨Cadmittedly¨Cheartwrenching diatribe on how she¡¯d struggled to find herself after breaking free of the person who¡¯d defined her entire existence¨Cher dad.

    Her dad was also the golemancer who¡¯d made her, which was a weird family dynamic. Also, the mage was a high priestess who¡¯d worshipped her dad as a god? Or, she was a model based on the priestess. And her dad kind of was a god, but only the avatar of half of one¡­ or something.

    Core 9963 had trouble wrapping her chassis around it, so she ignored the mage¡¯s tragic and overly complicated backstory to focus on more important things.

    Revenge.

    Social victory aside, these Delvers had transgressed. Unsatisfied with their lame and boring Mesmerize exploit, these assholes had decided to steal from her! They broke down the Guardian¡¯s binding arrays like they were friggin¡¯ experts on Delve Core golem assembly. Then, they¡¯d disassembled the big oaf and stuffed him into the Full Bearded Donkey¡¯s seemingly endless inventory.

    Well, Core 9963 wasn¡¯t going to sit idle as she watched the burglary in action. She pulled up the control sigils for the Throne¡¯s current final boss and ensured everything was powered and ready to go. Then, she pored over the hundreds of chambers within the Delve, looking for the best place to drop the potent Undead.

    The boss chamber alone was no longer good enough.

    She paused as she brought up one of the primary holding facilities. There were ten legions inside, along with a dozen Spiritual collectors that could repurpose the Undead souls if they were destroyed. If the Delvers rampaged through the army, she could ramp up power to her fabricators and pump out Wraiths like nobody¡¯s business!

    Plus, the Demi-Lich Commander boss could fire off AoE buffs and reassemble the Undead that hadn¡¯t been completely destroyed.

    The only teeny tiny little minor issue was that those collectors also managed power to one of her ¡®projects¡¯. It drew ambient Spiritual energy from the 15,180 Undead within to maintain her backup containment weaves.

    She debated whether the risk of damage to the weaves was worth seeing the Delvers put in their rightful place for an eternal 0.03 seconds.

    They were just backups.

    It would be fine!

    The felonious party would be too busy trying to survive to pay attention to anything other than the horde. Besides, the collectors were on the ceiling, and fleshbags never looked up anyway.

    She teleported the boss to Detention Center No. 1 and worked on subtly enticing the Delvers to find their way inside.

    ***

    END ADDENDUM

    ***

    *****

    We made good time sending Vaulty into the Closet via my inventory screen, where Grotto would reassemble the friendly boss and let him stretch his legs. However, before we¡¯d even been able to pat each other on the back for a job well done, a portal opened. Accompanying the portal was a System message that I would describe as ¡°suspicious as shit¡±.

    Bonus objective completed!

    Congratulations, you totally did the armory section exactly how it was supposed to be done! I¡¯m super surprised at how talented you are.

    As a reward, you can skip straight to the boss! No need to keep slogging your way through legions and wasting your time exploring the place, especially since you¡¯ve been ignoring 90% of it. You¡¯re probably really busy, so I completely understand why you wouldn¡¯t be interested in wasting your time with the rich Zng history, the compellingly designed environment, or any of the dozens of riddles and sub-challenges that were lovingly added in. Nope, no time for that. I get it.

    So, boss! You can go through this portal and it¡¯ll take you straight there.

    Really it¡¯s just a formality at this point. You¡¯ve 100% proven you deserve to beat the place, so just go fight the boss and you¡¯ll be done. It probably won¡¯t even be hard since you¡¯re so strong and skillful.

    Yeah! Boss time!

    Go through the fucking portal.

    [I believe the Delve Core is upset with you.]

    ¡°Upset with us,¡± I thought to my familiar. ¡°Don¡¯t run from the responsibility of being an enabler.¡±

    ¡°We should not take this portal,¡± Nuralie thought to the group. ¡°It is the most obvious trap I have ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Since we know about it, we can make it into a reverse trap!¡± thought Etja.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I thought. ¡°How would that work?¡±

    ¡°We walk into the trap, but blow it up instead!¡±

    ¡°I guess I could do that.¡±

    ¡°For how long can you channel Explosion?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Sorry, what spell is that?¡± I replied, making an exaggerated show of my confusion.

    Varrin rolled his eyes. ¡°How big can you make your Explosion!?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that spell. Sorry, your pronunciation was off the first time. Let me do the math.¡± I took a quick breath. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve done the math. With my current mana pool, I can get a 265-foot radius, up to 795 if Etja soul hugs me to add her Finishing Move. If Etja also adds a spell that¡¯s mana-shaped for size, we can probably get the radius up to around 1,300.¡±

    ¡°That is a half-mile diameter,¡± thought Nuralie. ¡°That would encompass more than six of the legion chambers we have encountered.¡±

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°It¡¯d also be enough damage to kill anything we¡¯ve found so far,¡± I thought. ¡°Hmm, maybe not Vaulty since we don¡¯t know what his health and defenses looked like. Still, if the boss has any adds it would take care of them and probably put a big dent in the boss¡¯s resources.¡±

    ¡°How much mana would you have left?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Twenty. I¡¯d be juiced.¡±

    ¡°But it would be fun!¡± Etja thought.

    ¡°What happened to talking to them?¡± asked Nuralie.

    I waved at the portal. ¡°What are the chances the Delve core is taking us toward something we can have a chat with?¡±

    ¡°Low,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°But not zero,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°I can charge up a quarter mile and give us eighteen seconds for diplomacy.¡±

    ¡°Eighteen seconds is a long time in a fight,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°If we are attacked immediately, we would lose a significant advantage.¡±

    ¡°But if they do want to talk, I¡¯d have an extra two hundred mana to work with when it goes south.¡±

    ¡°Sounds reasonable,¡± thought Xim. ¡°If we go in and decide we¡¯re in trouble I can burn my cooldowns.¡±

    ¡°How many?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That depends on how much trouble there is.¡±

    [I am extremely doubtful there will be a peaceful solution.]

    ¡°Do these Undead have souls?¡± asked Etja.

    I turned to her, surprised by the question. ¡°They do.¡±

    ¡°Then they¡¯re people being enslaved by a Delve Core, trapped in eternal servitude as Undead pawns. If we kill them and release their souls, we¡¯re ending their suffering.¡±

    Everyone paused to absorb Etja¡¯s words, which had been spoken with such venom and conviction it was like she¡¯d become another person for a few seconds. Her talk with Vaulty had awoken some strong emotions.

    ¡°Are you advocating for us to use Plan: Final Flash?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± thought Etja, shaking her head. ¡°I want us to use Plan: Serious Punch.¡±

    The psychic comms went silent as we digested her suggestion.

    ¡°We¡¯ve never used that one.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve never needed to use that one,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°We have come close,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Only mid-fight,¡± Xim replied. ¡°We¡¯ve never gone in with it from the beginning.¡±

    ¡°What about Normal Punch?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That still seems like overkill,¡± thought Xim. ¡°This Delve hasn¡¯t been hard.¡±

    Grotto chuckled but didn¡¯t add anything.

    ¡°We cannot use Serious Punch without Shog,¡± Varrin thought.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°How about First Comes Rock?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That would give us more flexibility,¡± thought Varrin.

    Etja crossed one pair of her arms. ¡°If we¡¯re using the Hunter category, we should jump straight to Aura Synthesis.¡±

    *****

    We discussed several more options with highly original names that I assure you I did not steal from my favorite anime shows. Finally, we decided to open with Aura Synthesis and then pivot based on what we found.

    Normally we¡¯d have preferred to scout, but with an angry Delve Core sending us to an unknown location, we were worried that Nuralie would wind up in a deadly situation.

    Xim maxed out our Blessed stacks and cast the Blessings of Hunger and Pounding on Varrin. We all took a Potion of Clarity from Nuralie to improve our mental defenses. Varrin manifested one soul clone, and Etja used her soul hug on me and we built up our Explosion! combo. I made sure Life Warden was up on Etja.

    Just before entering the portal, I activated Aura of Persistence, granting everyone Shielding, Xim activated Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Warmth, granting everyone healing, Varrin used Enrage to prime his Berserk buffs, and Nuralie used a new skill called Wraithwalk, which made her incorporeal while still allowing her to make attacks. She was sticking with the group for this strategy, so she needed survivability if the enemy started throwing down AoEs.

    We all either grabbed or were grabbed by Varrin¨CExcept for Nuralie because she couldn¡¯t, due to being incorporeal¨Cand the big guy flew us into the portal at full speed. Nuralie was fast enough to keep up without issue.

    We appeared in a chamber that was two miles wide, in the middle of a fucking Undead army.

    I quickly surveyed the enemy and took in the thousands of soldiers. Then I did what any smart Delver would do and looked up to check on the number of Serpents. There were dozens of them looping through the air throughout the chamber, about a hundred feet off the ground. An Undead woman hovered amongst them, wearing ornate golden armor over dark flowing robes. She was directly overhead.

    Grand Commander Lillithin Tyrianaeonis: Demilich, Grade 26

    A thousand feet above her, I noticed several devices spread across the ceiling that pulsed and blazed in my mana sight. I figured those were probably important, so I¡¯d keep a close watch to see if they did anything.

    There was also a massive ritual weave on the ground, encircling us.

    The position the Delve Core had put us in was probably meant to be intimidating. I understood why they thought it was a good move. We were at the center of four legions forming a perfect kill box on all sides. Crossfire apparently wasn¡¯t an issue with their weird guns.

    The closest Undead was over 100 feet away, putting them outside of melee and even most mid-range spells. The boss was in the air, where flightless Delvers might struggle to reach her, but close enough to start dropping the hammer on us as soon as we appeared.

    There were many ways to make this more lethal, though. It was still a tough position to be in, but they¡¯d seriously underestimated our range.

    My Speed, Intelligence, and Wisdom allowed me to soak in these details in about a quarter of a second. I immediately tried the olive branch.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to talk!¡± I shouted in Zng.

    That went over as well as we¡¯d suspected it would. When the first spatial rifle tickled my ribs with its attack and the ritual circle started glowing, we executed our plan.

    I snapped and released a 650-foot radius Explosion! I¡¯d been charging for eighteen seconds. The four legions were 400 feet deep and 125 feet away. Explosion! caught them all. Etja¡¯s chosen spell to combine with my big boom was Nullify, which we reasoned made sense as a defensive measure, in case the Core was dropping us into a magic death trap. In a sense, they had. The massive ritual circle certainly wasn¡¯t there for our benefit.

    A thunderous clap shook the air and a pressure wave, roiling with blue mana-eating energy, rolled out at the speed of sound. The ground cracked and splintered, whipping dust and shards of stone into the maelstrom. The Undead on all sides were torn asunder as the detonation struck their front lines. Armor crumpled, thousands of bodies ragdolled through the air, colliding and crushing one another as sharp rocks tore through bodies like paper.

    Nullify ripped apart the mana weave at our feet, canceling whatever magic the Demilich was working. The Grand Commander also wasn¡¯t spared the Explosion! The blast hurtled her upward, sending her careening several hundred feet higher amidst shredded gore and bone from a dozen annihilated Serpents.

    Then, everything got sucked.

    My new version of Explosion! had two phases. The first was the normal detonation, the form the spell took if I used it as an instant cast. However, once I¡¯d channeled it for three seconds or more, it pulled enemies to its center after the initial blast.

    Nearly five thousand bodies froze in the air and reversed course, along with the stone and debris. The Demilich crashed down toward us¨Cstill alive¨Cand I made a split-second decision.

    ¡°Grapple,¡± I thought to Xim. The cleric had anticipated the move and was already transforming.

    As the mass of bodies collapsed on our position, Xim¡¯s armor fell away and she used her Revelation of the Heart to turn into a towering, pale-red beast with a single onyx horn. She reached out and snagged the Demilich from behind before she hit the ground, digging her flaming claws into the woman¡¯s ribs. She bit down on the Grand Commander¡¯s trapezius and wrapped thick legs around her waist.

    At the same time, we were buried beneath a massive pile of stone shrapnel and ancient corpses. On the one hand, being entombed in a thirty-foot-thick sphere of death was usually a bad thing. Hate it when that happens. On the other hand, none of the thousands of soldiers still standing had line of sight on us.

    Being struck by the dross that Explosion! sucked back in wasn¡¯t too dangerous, since the vast majority of it was now ¡®mundane¡¯ and our Fortitude granted us a massive resistance. It was by no means comfortable, but it hadn¡¯t been particularly risky and it was an incredible opportunity.

    I used Elemental Barrier to create a dome of rampaging Sonic damage around us, shunting all the bodies and debris back to create a sort of corpse igloo. The Demilich¡¯s body was twisted from the explosion, but she muttered a haunting phrase and dark energy ran through her limbs, snapping bones back into place.

    Varrin and his soul clone both immediately used Soul Strike on the Demilich, thrusting their blades through the Commander¡¯s head and expertly avoiding Xim. Nuralie fired an arrow into the boss¡¯s eye, and Spectral damage started rampaging through the Demilich¡¯s body from one of the alchemist¡¯s Spiritual toxins.

    Etja wove Repulsion into Magic Blast, delivering a wrist-thick beam of Force and Holy damage into the enemy¡¯s skull, while Xim dropped a Judgment even as she wrestled with the Undead, Igniting the Commander and a swath of the bodies still surrounding us.

    The Demilich screamed and a wave of Wicked damage started to pour out of its body. The biggest problem with our current formation was that it required us to stay close together, making AoEs a pain. The attack threatened to engulf all of us, handicapping our max health for the rest of the encounter.

    I snapped out a Dispel, losing thirty mana to cancel the attack.

    With her dying spell thwarted, the Demilich¡¯s body turned to ash and crumbled.

    Xim let out a low growl, then spoke in a layered, throaty voice. Flames licked across her lips as the word came out.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

 225 - Lich in a Ditch

    ¡°Stay alert, we aren¡¯t done,¡± I thought to the group. The Demilich¡¯s soul thrashed and escaped from the corpse, fleeing up through the mound of bodies held at bay by my Elemental Barrier. I noted that Nuralie¡¯s Spiritual poison was still attacking the boss¡¯s soul even as it fled, and it had to shake off Xim¡¯s Divine fire. That was good information to have.

    My Soul-Sight pierced the corpse dome and I watched for a second as the Demilich¡¯s spirit soared up toward the ceiling high above. Thousands of spirits from the slain Undead joined her as she rose.

    ¡°Varrin, fly Xim to the ceiling and you two destroy whatever magic bullshit is going on up there,¡± I thought. ¡°Liches revive, I don¡¯t know how long it takes, and blowing up the shiny is usually a good strat.¡±

    Between everyone present, the pair had the best survivability while flying in the open against ranged opponents. Varrin was fast, and he was strong enough to carry the transformed cleric, while Xim could heal. I was also hoping she would repeat her crawl-on-the-ceiling act.

    The corpse pile began rumbling as what I imagined were thousands of spatial rifles started tearing their way through.

    ¡°Nuralie, assassinate the Commanders and provide support if needed.¡± The loson had already disappeared into the dark. ¡°Etja, you and I are staying low to minimize the number of soldiers that can target us. We¡¯ll do what we did against the Pit and I¡¯ll be your meat shield. Let¡¯s swing around the outside of the horde, keep the wall to our backs, and melt shit.¡±

    ¡°As Closetland¡¯s Supreme Wizard, I vote to ratify this plan,¡± Etja thought with a grin.

    I activated Therianthropy, spreading my wings and pulling two spare shields from inventory with my tentacles. I started to say something rallying but hesitated when a question flitted into my head.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re fighting the entire Zng military, does that make this our first war?¡±

    Several Zng Serpents swept toward our impromptu fort, visible through my Sight. Their approach interrupted our opportunity to legislate whether war needed to be formally declared, or if we could even war with a dead nation. Xim hopped onto Varrin¡¯s back, her hulking beast form making the big guy look average by comparison.

    Varrin blasted up, his blade cleaving a slit through the bodies and debris before exploding through the massacre. Xim dropped Judgment twice as they flew, with Varrin doing his best to dart and weave between a thousand spatial rifles trying to bring them down. Their health bars did gymnastics as dozens of strikes landed while Xim pumped out healing as fast as she could.

    Etja copied Xim¡¯s move and hopped on between my wings. The mage had a higher top speed than I did with Siphon, but it took time for her to ramp up to it. With my Level 20 Speed evolution, I could go full throttle from a complete stop, which I was betting would help us dodge.

    My tentacles covered her body with their shields, and I used Gracorvus to cover my front. We were a mile from the nearest wall along the edge of the enormous staging area. I could close part of that distance with Shortcut, but it was gonna cost me.

    The anti-teleport weaves within the Delve added an exponential multiplier to my teleport costs. Moving up to 288 feet with Shortcut was unaffected, but each equivalent increase in distance doubled the resources the spell required. Shortcut cost me four mana, but that cost increased when I mana-shaped it to take other people along for the ride.

    Each additional person I was teleporting added another four mana to the price tag. That made it a normal cost of eight to take Etja with me, sixteen to teleport double my safe range, thirty-two for triple, etcetera. It was more efficient to make multiple jumps to our target than trying to cover the distance all at once, but each cast had a brief cooldown where we¡¯d be vulnerable.

    I didn¡¯t have enough mana to cover the full mile. I was down to 150 after achieving my new personal best multi-kill and then fighting the boss. Going double distance was the same multiplier as casting twice, so I focused on putting us 596 feet closer to the wall and activated the skill.

    Fortunately, I could fly full tilt while waiting out the two-second cooldown, which let us cover another 1,000 feet the normal way before I popped Shortcut again. Each cast was accompanied by a loud crackling sound as I pushed the skill slightly above its safe range. It placed a burden on our bodies, but our resilience was high enough that it didn¡¯t cause any damage.

    What did cause damage was the endless ranks of Undead firing at us for the two seconds we were visible.

    Etja was well hidden beneath the two tower shields I held over her body, using Siphon to shunt soldiers out of our path and unbalance as many as she could to disrupt their aim. But I couldn¡¯t guard against everything with Gracorvus. My legs and underside were exposed. I flew low to the ground in a Superman pose to avoid giving anything a good shot at my belly.

    The soldiers took a moment to orient and aim when we appeared, and we wove through the densely packed ranks to minimize the number that could target us. Even so, hundreds took their shot, and dozens scored strikes on my limbs for ten damage a pop. My health was in the 1500s before I hit Shortcut again.

    It took three casts, a dozen leg fractures, and countless small wounds of stretched and distorted skin and muscle to make it to the wall. My health was barely hovering over 1,000. I rotated and brought all three shields to the front, placing Etja and my back against the wall, then forming a wall of metal in front of us.

    I cast Elemental Barrier to push back the closest group of soldiers, creating space and making it impossible for anything to get a bead past the shields. My mana was down to 82, but Etja could cast without fear from the riff-raff.

    The Serpents were a different problem.

    Most of the ones that had survived Explosion! moved to intercept Xim and Varrin, though the snakes were slower than Varrin. Three had followed Etja and me toward the wall, heads down and horns forward as they charged up to skewer us. If they managed to break my shield defense, we¡¯d be exposed to hundreds of rifles.

    ¡°Focus Serpents,¡± I thought the Etja. She mentally nodded and started building up for an attack.

    I watched the lead Serpent with Soul-Sight through my shields and threw Somncres to my right with four copies. The hammers arced around and hurtled toward the Serpent. It tried to dodge, but the hammer unerringly homed in on the target, and all six collided into its body, shattering bone and taking bites out of its skeleton with Oblivion Orb.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Etja¡¯s body glowed with Divine light as she pumped Blessed stacks into two death beams, the first hitting the Serpent I¡¯d just struck and cutting it down its center line. The snaking monster was reduced to a half dozen carved-up chunks that crashed down into the soldiers. The second beam cut away half of the second Serpent, but it kept snaking toward us even as its rear half fell and toppled a score of its allies. I managed to follow up with another set of hammers, killing the second and leaving one Serpent to slam into us.

    I activated Gravity Anchor to hold myself in place, losing my breath as the full force of the multi-ton beast slammed into me, but refusing to budge. One of the horns tore a hole through my right tower shield, skewering me in the ribs and taking another chunk of health along with it. It pulled the shield out of position for a half second, exposing me to another volley of spatial blasts.

    HP: 1,003 -> 705

    Rings of deadly pearls, glimmering with vicious Dimensional energy, formed around the length of the serpent as Etja exhausted another swath of Blessed stacks. They detonated, shredding the Serpent and allowing Elemental Barrier to hurl the broken chunks of its body away. The soul of each felled enemy tore away from its corpse, heading toward the ceiling.

    Now we just had six more legions to deal with.

    A massive eruption drew my attention above, where Xim glowed like a fiery bead in the sky. She¡¯d shredded through one of the strange devices on the ceiling and unleashed a massive blast of Spiritual energy. The cleric looked none the worse for it and was already soaring towards the next one as chunks of metal and ice fell away from the first. Varrin battled multiple serpents while he protected her demolition, both of his soul clones now loose and holding their own.

    Sadly, the Undead soldiers did not start dropping like they¡¯d run out of batteries, so my hopes that the machines were powering the horde were dashed. I¡¯d watched the Demilich¡¯s soul long enough to see it get sucked into one of those things, but I still didn¡¯t know what they did. Maybe they were some kind of Spiritual collectors?

    You stupid fucks! Stop breaking everything! Seriously, who raised you?!

    ¡°Alright, looks like our plan is to hold out while blowing up the shit that¡¯s collecting souls on the ceiling,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°Nuralie, swap from killing Commanders to assisting Xim with her rampage. Etja, what¡¯s your max range?¡±

    ¡°With enough mana, if I can see it, I can hit it,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Target the collectors farthest from Xim. I¡¯ll rotate us around the horde to get us closer to the ones on the edge.¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye, my liege!¡±

    Another collector exploded. A ring of fire glowed brightly on Xim¡¯s back as she flew across the sky. She looked like a muscular drop of flaming blood from this distance, and I realized that she¡¯d combined her Angel of Fury form with her Revelation of the Heart.

    At her back was a swarm of angry spirits, hurling blasts of Spectral energy from their ethereal forms. Xim trailed flames behind her that Ignited and consumed the spirits in her wake, spreading out to any others that came too close. Still, the spirits had begun to pour out from each of the collectors, joining the pursuing horde faster than Xim could eliminate them.

    She reached her third collector, leading with a fiery breath that incinerated a mass of wraiths defending it. She landed hard on the mana-woven metal and stone, then shredded it with three swipes of her claws, each hit emitting a fifty-foot plume of fire that rolled across the ceiling and laid yet more specters to their eternal rest.

    Scary.

    I did my duty as a meat shield, keeping my back to the wall and soaking hundreds of rounds a second with my blocks as I circled the battleground. My mana was low, but I was flush with stamina and tossed out endless hammers, arcing them around my shields whenever soldiers crept too close. I kept the horde back, but without Oblivion Orb, my damage output wasn¡¯t nearly high enough to deal with the massive numbers.

    Etja burned the rest of her Blessed and shot two beams of destruction high into the sky, melting two collectors with a single spell. Another collector sparked and went dim, which I assumed was Nuralie¡¯s work.

    I was anxious to see what would happen if all twelve were destroyed, hoping it would end the fight. I didn¡¯t have the resources to deal with the thousands of enemies, and unless we could repeat Xim¡¯s Fire Spreader exploit, I didn¡¯t know that any of us did. I also didn¡¯t think that trick would work again. The Commanders in this group were smart enough to quarantine the Ignited soldiers and push their lines away from the two points where Xim had dropped Judgment as she¡¯d flown up with Varrin.

    However, I didn¡¯t have to wait that long. Once the sixth collector was destroyed, all the mana in the chamber was sucked into a single point in the center, right where we¡¯d originally been teleported.

    I grunted as the force even sucked at my own mana pool, dropping it several points before I focused and seized control of the tug. A deep wrenching sound overpowered the sounds of battle, and bright cracks ran along the chamber¡¯s walls, scattering dust and gravel into the air.

    Okay, I know we¡¯ve had our differences, but would you be willing to put a pause on hostilities and possibly consider a teamup?

    I was too busy trying to fight and figure out what we¡¯d just triggered to give the notification proper consideration. Even after it had shuffled to the front of my brain¡¯s attention queue, it didn¡¯t make much sense without more context.

    I settled on an eloquent ¡°What?¡± as my verbal reply.

    All of the Undead soldiers suddenly lowered their rifles. The Serpents pulled back from Varrins one, two, and three, and the big guy was heaving mighty breaths, his helmet dark.

    The ground rumbled, the stone and ice that had been fractured by Explosion! shifted. Massive hunks of stone began to rise from the floor.

    I know your flesh brain only moves at the speed of stupid, but I need you to follow along a little faster. Your irresponsible assault on the collectors has damaged one of my containment weaves and now there¡¯s a small chance of something getting loose that no one will be happy about!

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh, despite the situation. ¡°We¡¯re the irresponsible ones?¡± I asked. I searched for the words to address the Core¡¯s gross mischaracterization but decided on something simple. ¡°You know what? Fuck you.¡±

    Listen, meathead, I¨C

    ¡°No. You sound like a twelve-year-old throwing a tantrum.¡± I peeked over my shields at the rising slabs, each one larger than a house. ¡°Also, there¡¯s no way this is a Level-appropriate challenge, Expansion Delve or not.¡±

    You don¡¯t know shit about balancing encounters! This has all been rigorously planned and tested to ensure it falls within appropriate parameters.

    If you¡¯re struggling, maybe you¡¯re just bad!

    I chuckled. ¡°I doubt it.¡± Then I sent a psychic comm to Grotto. ¡°Any idea what we¡¯re dealing with here?¡±

    Grotto let out a long mental sigh. [I believe this Core reached for the sky and somehow managed to catch a star. Sadly, she did not know what to do with it once it began to incinerate the world.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ oddly poetic of you.¡±

    [I am lodging a formal complaint with the System. It might be able to intervene before you are killed.]

    ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡±

    [Oh yes, it can.]

    A pulse of Spiritual energy¨Can order of magnitude more potent than anything we¡¯d encountered within the Delve¨Cswept out across the room. The thousands of Undead turned toward the center of the chamber as one and knelt. The Serpents glided down from above, quickly parking themselves on the ground beside the soldiers, heads bowed in supplication.

    A masculine figure rose from the excavated crater, soul brimming with ghastly power. Their skeletal figure was shrouded in tattered robes, their face obscured behind a reptilian mask. They held a simple, dark staff, its mundane form belying the power that thrummed within it. The entity swept its gaze across the room.

    Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis, Lord of Miasma, Father of the Blighted: Elder Lich, Grade 51.

 226 - The Boss We Deserve

    With a wave of the Elder Lich¡¯s hand, the six remaining collectors exploded. Tons of frozen debris rained down, but another swipe of the hand swept it all aside to land clear of the soldiers. Spiritual energy funneled from the wrecked devices, flowing into the General¡¯s palm.

    With a few gestures, an Undead soldier floated up from the ground, the energy invaded its body, and the creature reshaped itself into the form of the Lich Commander we¡¯d just slain. The woman gasped as she was resurrected, then looked around and tensed for battle. When she caught sight of the General, she hastily flew down to kneel with the rest of the army.

    The General looked up at Xim and Varrin, then turned to face a dark corner near the ceiling. It made a come hither gesture, and the world stuttered. Etja and I, along with the rest of the party, appeared at the crater''s edge.

    The Lich looked down at us with hollowed eye sockets. The creature pointed at one of the Serpents, and its body dissolved into sand. Spectral energy flowed to the General, and the flesh visible beneath its torn robes inflated, growing full and healthy. Silvery eyes formed in its skull, and the man closed them while taking a deep breath. He let it out long and slow, then floated down toward us.

    He released his staff, which hovered at his side as he touched down only a few feet away. The Lich ran his eyes over us, and I felt foreign mana invade every cell of my being. He lingered on me, looking my body over, then spoke with a deep, commanding voice.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± said the Lich. ¡°For how many generations have we slept?¡±

    After taking a brief moment to absorb our new circumstances, the party vigorously conferred on psychic comms. Xim in particular was very vocal about how it was bullshit that all our adventures ended with us dealing with something way more powerful than we should rightfully be expected to deal with and to point out¨Cemphatically¨Cthat this wasn¡¯t technically a god and so I couldn¡¯t be expected to wrangle it.

    We took note of her guidance and decided to answer the Lich¡¯s question.

    ¡°One generation, so far as we know,¡± I said in Zng.

    ¡°Oh, good,¡± said the Lich. He placed his hands on his lower back and stretched. There were several cracks and pops. ¡°What phase are we in?¡±

    ¡°System phase?¡± I asked. He nodded. ¡°We¡¯re in phase two.¡±

    His eyes widened. ¡°Wonderful! And how long has phase two been active?¡±

    ¡°Uh, two weeks or so? Something like that.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± said the Lich, leaning back. There was a final loud pop and he sighed in satisfaction. ¡°That¡¯s quite fast. I thought it would take much longer than that.¡±

    ¡°We aim to please,¡± I said, uncertain. ¡°You sound like you were expecting this to happen.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the Lich said absently. ¡°Yes, I was.¡± He turned toward the kneeling soldiers, hesitated, then turned back to us. He pointed a thin finger up and down at me. ¡°As one professional to another, I like the modifications you¡¯ve made to your organism.¡±

    I glanced down at myself. ¡°Thanks?¡±

    ¡°You''re welcome, young man. Now, we must be off.¡±

    ¡°Wait. You aren¡¯t going to try and conquer the world or anything, are you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? No, I doubt we could.¡± He waved at the soldiers. ¡°It seems like your group alone destroyed nearly 3% of my army. The weakest 3%, but regardless. We¡¯re not trying to conquer the world, just dishing out some justice.¡±

    ¡°Justice against who?¡±

    ¡°The filthy avatars, of course.¡±

    ¡°Aha. Well, if that¡¯s your plan, good luck I guess.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said the Lich.

    ¡°Actually, one more thing,¡± I said. The Lich eyed me curiously and waited for my question. ¡°Since you¡¯re a Lich of considerable power, I assume you have expertise with Spiritual magicks.¡±

    ¡°A common misconception,¡± said General Diathemon. ¡°My attunement is Mystical, in fact. The necromantic capabilities I use to affect the soul are derived from the Divine school. Most Liches in my day were attuned to a school in the Spiritual triad, but Divine was a common enough secondary.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well, that might even be better. We¡¯re having some trouble with a lingering mental effect. It started with¨C¡±

    The Lich held up a hand. ¡°While I appreciate the help you¡¯ve provided, there are many matters I must attend to. Give it to me in twenty words or less.¡±

    I pursed my lips, a little peeved at being shut down, but I was probably lucky the Lich was engaging with me at all.

    ¡°Do you know a master of mental magicks powerful enough to manipulate souls at a deific or near-deific level?¡±

    ¡°Gods, no,¡± said the Lich. ¡°My business is mainly concerned with breathing new life into those who willingly commit themselves to my service. None of my soldiers are bound against their will. Slavery is not a practice that was looked kindly upon within the Zng Republic, and mental slavery was abhorred above virtually any other criminal act. If I even knew of such an entity within a thousand miles of me I would hunt it down and rid the world of its repugnant existence.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said.

    ¡°Indeed. If that is all¡­¡± He turned back to the kneeling soldiers, took his staff in his hand, and then slammed it down into the ground. A wave of Dimensional mana flooded the room, and the soldiers teleported off in droves. The Demilich we¡¯d temporarily killed scowled at us before she blinked away.

    The Elder Lich looked back over his shoulder at me. ¡°Speaking of violators of free will, 9963 was a handful to work with, but she¡¯s a dedicated sort. She took charge of the place under our agreement with the System, although she wasn¡¯t aware of it. Either way, I am giving her a pass. Still, she could use a firm hand to guide her, lest she stray too far into corruption.¡±

    With that, the man disappeared along with all the rest of the Undead. The floating boulders crashed back to the ground, and we were left in a massive, empty chamber filled with rubble and ice.

    ¡°What a friendly lich!¡± said Etja. She looked around, making sure he was really gone, then whispered, ¡°I thought he¡¯d be mean.¡±

    ¡°A prejudice, to be sure,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°But not an unreasonable one.¡±

    ¡°The fuck just happened?¡± I asked. The System, in its infinite generosity, delivered half of an answer.

    Your party has defeated Delve Core 9963: Delve Core, Grade Stupid!

    Your party receives the following reward!

    1) Delve Core 9963!

    An orb covered in glowing runes popped into existence three feet in front of us. It spun from side to side, looking as alarmed and confused as a floating murder ball could.

    {Huh? Why am I here? What did you break now?!}

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    The Core flitted forward like an angry wasp, humming mere inches from my face. I allowed the thing three seconds to move back out of my personal space before I reached up and grabbed it, then held it out at arm¡¯s length. I was surprised at how little resistance it gave.

    {Hey! Let me go!} The Core vibrated in my hand, but could barely generate any force. I decided to treat her like a toddler and let her wear herself out. {What. Is. Happening?!}

    ¡°I¡¯m as confused as she is,¡± said Etja.

    [Ha. Ahahaha. AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!] Grotto began to absolutely lose his shit, cackling madly into our heads.

    ¡°This is uncomfortable,¡± said Nuralie, rubbing a temple.

    [The¨C the Core was¨C] Grotto struggled to regain control of himself. [The Core was the final boss?!]

    We all stared at the Core in my hand. Its runes glimmered anxiously.

    {I¡¯m not a boss!} she protested. Grotto was broadcasting to our new friend, apparently. {I am a Delve Core! Strong and noble and¨C and¨C and if you don¡¯t let me go you will suffer my wrath!}

    ¡°I¡¯m having flashbacks,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Whaddya mean?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°This is kind of like when we met Grotto,¡± she replied.

    ¡°We can add Delve Core Wrangler to my titles,¡± I said, before narrowing my eyes at the Core in my hand. ¡°Are you going to calm down?¡±

    {The System will not stand for this! I will invoke its power! You will suffer endless retribution! I¡¯ll skin you alive and salt your raw muscles!}

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve heard something like that before,¡± I said. ¡°You could be more creative, though. Grotto once promised to keep some guy alive and drip acid onto his exposed nerves for eternity. You need to work on your threats.¡±

    {I don¡¯t need to work on anything! No one scares like six-three! Issues threats like six-three! Then leaves Delvers shaking in their boots like six-three! Also, who is Grotto?}

    ¡°I dunno, maybe you should ask the System,¡± I said, being a little petty.

    [Grotto is my alternate User Designation. I am Delve Core 1156.]

    The runes on 9963 blinked. {Prove it!}

    There was a few seconds of silence as the Core¡¯s runes pulsed in several patterns. Grotto¡¯s psychic voice went up a pitch. [I don¡¯t get it. Why are you helping Delvers? Wait! No, this wasn¡¯t fair! This party cheated! They had outside help! I didn¡¯t lose! Stop translating my thoughts for the sake of the Delvers!]

    ¡°Grotto is my Bonded Familiar,¡± I said. ¡°The System is cool with our arrangement, so you lost fair and square.¡±

    {You must think I¡¯m dumb. I¡¯m not! I was in the top quartile of this generation¡¯s new Cores!}

    I bit my tongue and ignored the urge to retort. ¡°Believe what you want. I don¡¯t really care.¡± I removed my helm, stored it, and then scratched my beard as I held up the Core like a jewel I was inspecting.

    {What are you doing now? This feels invasive!}

    ¡°Top quartile for what?¡± asked Xim.

    {It doesn¡¯t matter. It was an important and distinguished category.}

    ¡°Fine then, keep your¨C¡±

    ¡°What¡¯ll we call you?¡± I asked the Core.

    {Boss? Master? Her Royal Coreness? Does it matter? Let me go!}

    ¡°The name of the Delve is the Throne of Zng,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Keeping with the pattern, it would be Throne.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I wanted to call her Pride or something,¡± I said. ¡°But you¡¯re right. We should stick to the pattern.¡±

    Emergency Update!

    Due to the evacuation of the Zng army, System has decided that Throne of Zng is no longer a suitable title for this Delve. Delve name has been updated to Throne of Hubris!

    ¡°Oh, I think the System dislikes you,¡± said Etja.

    {Why?! What did I do wrong?!}

    System can provide 681 individual instances where Delve Core 9963 ignored our guidance on Delve management and safety procedures. Would you like to receive a detailed list?

    {It was guidance! By definition that means it was optional!}

    ¡°Grotto,¡± I said, ¡°did the System insert us into the middle of a workplace dispute?¡±

    [It was surprisingly forthcoming with the location of this Expansion Delve, so I believe it directed us here with the intention that we deal with 9963¨C Excuse me, that we deal with Hubris on its behalf.]

    ¡°Eh, okay. Hubris it is!¡± I said.

    {No! That¡¯s terrible! I hate it!}

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why.¡±

    ¡°That sort of sounds like an avatar name,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°True, true.¡±

    ¡°The name also feels unnecessarily scathing,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is a Delve Core.¡± Pause. ¡°It did Delve Core things.¡± She shrugged.

    {I refuse to be called Hubris. Call me something else!}

    I raised an eyebrow at the Core. ¡°You¡¯re in no position to be making demands.¡± I held up a finger to interrupt the Core¡¯s next protest. ¡°We can consider a different name, but only if you use the magic words.¡±

    {I don¡¯t know Celestial.}

    ¡°¡®Please¡¯ and ¡®thank you¡¯ are the magic words,¡± I said.

    {Those phrases have no inherent power to bend the universe to my will.}

    ¡°That¡¯s not true. When you are in an inferior bargaining position, being polite is often more effective for getting what you want than making demands and generally being an ass. What¡¯s more magical than convincing another intelligent being who owes you nothing to go out and do things for you that you can¡¯t do on your own?¡±

    The Core considered that for a half-second, which was a long time for a Delve Core. {Please do not call me Hubris. I would be thankful if you called me something else.}

    I nodded appreciatively. ¡°Very well. Throne is still in the name of the Delve. Does Throne work for you?¡±

    {I think¡­ yes. It¡¯s regal. It¡¯s royal. It implies that I am the seat of power for a mighty kingdom. Highly appropriate for a Core of my caliber.}

    ¡°Good. Now that we have that settled, Throne, where¡¯s the obelisk?¡±

    {Up your butthole, meatwad!}

    I sighed as all the progress between us was lost. Fortunately, the System was still on our side.

    Prepare for teleportation to the obelisk chamber.

    Teleporting in 3¡­

    2¡­

    1¡­

    The world stuttered, and we found ourselves in a much smaller chamber. It was hexagonal, filled with delicate rosy lighting, and pleasantly free of ice. Pink flowers grew along the walls. Paintings of Undead were placed between the flowers, although rather than being menacing shamblers of sinister origins, the figures had small bodies, large heads, and big, glistening eyes. A forty-foot-tall obelisk dominated the space, its runes glimmering as it powered up. It was wrapped in a spiraling strand of small glowstones, gently sparkling in a rhythmic pattern.

    ¡°Are those chibi zombies?¡± I asked, looking at the paintings.

    ¡°Why is it so¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cpleasant?¡±

    ¡°I like it!¡± said Etja. She reached over and patted the Core. ¡°Very nice interior design, Throne.¡±

    {Don¡¯t touch me. Sweaty Hands here is touching me enough.}

    Xim ran her fingers over the strand of glowstones. ¡°The Lich mentioned that he had a deal with the System,¡± she said. ¡°I guess getting released was part of that, but why go through all these hoops?¡±

    [This sort of action goes beyond the bounds of the System¡¯s dictates. I presume this was done as a workaround to its governing principles.]

    {I don¡¯t understand where I went wrong.}

    [I believe I can provide you with some feedback. The concept for your Delve was interesting, although it felt like you were trying to railroad your Delvers. When your initial design was subverted, rather than accepting it with grace, you doubled down on punishing the Delvers for their atypical tactical approach.]

    {But I worked so hard on it all! And even when I threw everything I could at these dummies, it still wasn¡¯t enough!}

    [Yes, that was primarily an absence of strategic execution, rather than insufficient resources. For example, when creating a kill box using ranged units, it is important to provide them with sufficient elevation to take advantage of their numbers. The large chamber housing those legions was relatively flat, which allowed the party to avoid most of your soldiers by breaking their sight lines. If you¡¯d created elevated platforms that ringed the space, that would have been more difficult. The ceiling was also outside of the most common unit¡¯s rifle range, which was another error. As far as the Serpents¡­]

    Grotto rattled off a litany of improvements Throne could have made to her Delve, including everyone else in the psychic exchange for some reason. I relegated the conversation to my secondary thread of focus, then walked up to the obelisk and gave it a knock.

    ¡°Ready for that Level now,¡± I said, tuning out Throne¡¯s vigorous defense of her design choices.

    The obelisk blazed with mana and injected it into our souls. Then, we were hit with a fresh wave of notifications. I scanned over them and grinned.

    ¡°Well, well, well,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like I have a new evolution to pick.¡±

 227 - Dimensional Magic 40

    Congratulations! You have cleared Delve 1156: Throne of Hubris (Formerly known as Throne of Zng)

    This was a Platinum Expansion Delve!

    You have earned 8 additional stat points.

    You have unlocked an additional Active Skill slot!

    You are offered the Active Skill: Cloak of Blighted Frost. You may choose to accept this skill at any time.

    Cloak of Blighted Frost (Aura)

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina + 2 stamina/sec

    Requirements: Physical Magic 40

    You exude an aura out to a number of feet equal to 20 plus your Physical Magic skill level. Hostile entities within this aura become Poisoned and gain an amount of Toxicity equal to your Physical Magic skill level when first entering the aura¡¯s range and every 6 seconds thereafter.

    Toxicity applied by this aura deals (Toxicity minus the target¡¯s Fortitude) Poison damage when first entering the aura¡¯s range and every 6 seconds thereafter. The total Toxicity on the target is then reduced by the target¡¯s Fortitude.

    Additionally, entities Poisoned by this aura experience a deathly chill running through their veins. Poisoned entities become vulnerable to Cold damage and are Slowed for so long as they are Poisoned.

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 1!

    Slaughterhouse 1: You murdered 10 or more sentient* creatures with a single attack! The death you have wrought provides you with keen insight into the nature of your destructive powers. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    *Yeah, yeah, we know you killed a kaboodle of Divine Spawn back in The Cage, but those are less like individual entities and more like the dandruff shed by an avatar. Dandruff aren¡¯t people! This achievement can only be earned once you¡¯ve killed a sufficient number of sentient creatures that are worthy of moral consideration. We hope you feel accomplished.

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 2!

    Slaughterhouse 2: You murdered 100 or more sentient creatures with a single attack! Your ignorance dies alongside your enemies. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 3!

    Slaughterhouse 3: You murdered 1,000 or more sentient creatures with a single attack! The lurid flower of your comprehension blooms from the blood of your victims. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 36 to Level 41!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to Level 29!

    Your Shields skill has increased to Level 28!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 25 to Level 29!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to Level 26!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to Level 24!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to Level 25!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased to Level 17!

    I read through the notifications, digesting the offered Active Skill and frowning at the morbid series of Slaughterhouse achievements. I wasn¡¯t going to argue against getting a few extra skill levels, but the System rewarding mass murder felt like an ugly incentive structure.

    Then again, the entire situation with Delves granted power for killing shit, so it wasn¡¯t a divergence from the norm. There were probably ways to clear Delves without ruthlessly executing everything in one¡¯s path, but violence was the most commonly used method for conquering Delves. I wasn¡¯t sanctimonious enough to give the achievement any further scrutiny. I¡¯d have been a hypocrite otherwise.

    The Active Skill, Cloak of Blighted Frost, was an interesting ability. However, the first thing I noticed was that I couldn¡¯t even use it. It required a Physical Magic skill Level of 40, whereas mine had just jumped to 29. The notification let me know I could add it later, but I would need to do some serious work on Physical Magic before I could slot it. During that time, my twelfth Active Skill slot would need to stay empty and available, since twelve was the maximum number of slots I could have during phase two.

    Otherwise, the skill wasn¡¯t quite a fit for me. It imposed Toxicity stacks, dealing Poison damage, which I wasn¡¯t geared towards. The Toxicity hit hard and fast but was also cleared rapidly by the target¡¯s Fortitude.

    Assuming I had a Physical Magic skill of 40, and my target had a Fortitude of 20, they¡¯d only take 20 Poison damage from the 40 Toxicity. After that, their Toxicity would drop to 20, which meant they wouldn¡¯t take any damage.

    However, Toxicity was a stacking debuff. Six seconds later, if the target stayed in my aura, their Toxicity would go up to 60, deal 40 damage, then the Toxicity would drop back down to 40. The damage would continue going up by twenty every six seconds. If the target had higher Fortitude, the damage dealt would be much worse.

    On the other hand, so long as the target was Poisoned, they¡¯d be Slowed and become vulnerable to Cold damage. My Elemental Barrier could do Cold damage, so that would get a boost. Cold damage dealt by Elemental Barrier also applied Slowed, and if a target was Slowed from two sources, they became Immobilized.

    Both effects centered on myself, so it was a soft combo. When both were up, the target would become Immobilized and unable to leave the range of my skills while they built stacks of Toxicity and took Cold damage that dealt an extra 50% damage from the vulnerability applied by the poison. It wasn¡¯t bad, and thinking about that synergy made it a lot more appealing than it had been at first glance. Still not quite my thing, but I kept an open mind about it.

    I sent it over to Nuralie to get her professional opinion.

    ¡°It does not generate a lot of Toxicity on its own,¡± she said. ¡°But I think it is a good skill. I recently took a passive that adjusts the timing on my poisons to be something like this.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Doesn¡¯t the Fortitude resistance make them less effective?¡±

    ¡°In a sterile environment over a long enough time interval, yes. However, nothing we fight survives long enough for a one-hour, or even a one-minute poison to matter much. Most of the effect is wasted.¡± Pause. ¡°This type of quick-acting poison collapses the total damage into a much shorter period.

    ¡°I reviewed the average length of our fights, along with the estimated Fortitude ranges of enemies at different Grades against my continued scaling into Toxicity. Unless we change our group tactics toward ambushing targets and then leaving them to die from debuffs, my poisons should be several times more effective with the faster timing, even with Fortitude granting more resistance.¡±

    ¡°Is that all the passive does?¡± I asked. ¡°Change how fast your poisons tick?¡±

    ¡°No. It also adds Acid damage when I poison a target that is unaware of my presence.¡±

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Oh, so in addition to making your poisons stronger, it also makes your poisons stronger.¡±

    ¡°Yes. And now that my poisons are stronger, my next goal is to make stronger poisons.¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°Where¡¯d you get the passive from? I haven¡¯t had anything new offered since the Descent.¡±

    Nuralie glanced around furtively. ¡°I received it while I was in Eschengal after we left the Descent,¡± she said, voice barely above a whisper. ¡°I brewed it.¡±

    ¡°You what?¡± I asked, leaning in and trying to match Nuralie¡¯s volume.

    Nuralie glanced at Xim, who was staring off into space looking at her menus. She turned back to me, voice still low. ¡°The Abandoned Grimoire has methods for storing spells in potions, similar to how wands work. There are also ways to adjust the spells alchemically, including altering their durations. There are other formulas that can permanently change the body or imbue skills directly onto the mana matrix.¡± Pause. ¡°I combined the techniques, trying to see if I could custom craft a passive.¡±

    ¡°That worked?¡±

    Nuralie also leaned in closer. ¡°No. When I got frustrated, I used my Revelation of Distinction on the book, looking into its history. I experienced many techniques of the witch who created the tome.¡± Pause. ¡°She did not always document her methods. That gave me enough insight to create what I wanted.¡± She watched my expression, seeming to sense my next question. ¡°It still counts towards a passive slot.¡±

    I moderated my disappointment. ¡°Yeah, okay, that makes sense. The System is mainly just imprinting abilities on us. If there isn¡¯t enough capacity in our souls, we can¡¯t add anything else. Still, that¡¯s an interesting ability. Could you make other passives, if someone else had something they were specifically looking for?¡±

    Before Nuralie could answer, I felt a presence beside us. Nuralie and I were practically nose to nose at this point, and we turned in unison to see Xim standing over us.

    ¡°I fucking knew it,¡± said the cleric. For a moment I thought she was getting the wrong idea, but then she leaned down, placed a hand on either of our shoulders and said, ¡°Super Alchemy!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is not¨C¡±

    ¡°Shhhhh,¡± said Xim. ¡°Let it happen. It¡¯s Super Alchemy. Come. Come. Tell me all about your genius.¡± She took Nuralie by the arm and led the loson away.

    I was confused by the interaction, but let it go. It seemed that Nuralie had been through an entire arc of personal development while she was in Eschengal, and apparently Xim had been involved on some level. The cleric had been in the Third Layer at the time, so I wasn¡¯t sure how she¡¯d been involved, but I got the feeling I was only seeing a small piece of that social picture.

    Nuralie¡¯s skill potions sounded somewhat similar to how I modified my abilities through reforging skills. Rather than peering into the soul with Soul-Sight and doing it manually, she¡¯d found a way to craft potions that made the changes when imbibed. We¡¯d need to exchange notes on the different paths some time.

    I put the Cloak of Blighted Frost skill aside and examined the juicier rewards I¡¯d earned from the Delve. First, I slapped my new stat points into Fortitude and Strength and took a look at my adjusted numbers.

    Vital Stats

    Health:  2,291/2,291

    HP Regen:  1,466

    Stamina:  580/580

    SP Regen:  116

    Mana:  400/500 (100 reserved)

    MP Regen:  180

    Stats

    Strength: 25

    Agility:  10

    Speed: 22

    Fortitude: 58

    Intelligence: 40

    Wisdom: 40

    Charisma: 10

    Luck:  10

    Active Skills (11/12)

    Arlo¡¯s Dimensional Summon

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Arlo¡¯s Life Warden

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Aura of Persistence

    Dispel

    Elemental Barrier

    Explosion!+

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Reckless Shortcut

    Reverse Card (Aura)

    Intrinsic Skills (10/11)

    Dimensional Magic: 41

    Blunt:   29

    Physical Magic: 29

    Shields:   28

    Dungeoneering: 27

    Mystical Magic: 26

    Leadership:  25

    Heavy Armor: 24

    Diplomacy:  17

    Smithing:  16

    I had the total stats of a Level 24 Delver with another half Level on top. My total intrinsic Levels added up to 262, which was right on target for a Level 13 Platinum, according to Varrin¡¯s formula. Diplomacy and Smithing were low-hanging fruit if I wanted to grab a couple more Level 20 evolutions. All Smithing took was some time and materials. Diplomacy was more difficult, but it seemed to be doing fine on its own. As long as I kept interacting with power players on the global stage, it would keep going up at a decent clip.

    I was also seriously considering grabbing Woodworking or Wandmaking as my eleventh intrinsic. I could pump out 10 Levels and grab the first evolution the same way as Smithing, by holing up somewhere and putting in the work.

    Of course, the tastiest steak on the table was reaching Dimensional Magic 40, which let me pick a new evolution. So far, Dimensional hadn¡¯t disappointed. Level 10 gave me the Pocket Closet and Level 20 gave me Checkpoints, which I could use to create semi-permanent portal locations. I had one in Eschengal, one in the Xor¡¯Drel tribe lands, and one at the Littan fortress in Eschendur. Reaching Level 40 allowed me to place another if I so wished. I¡¯d need to start thinking of a good spot.

    Maybe my underground mini-mansion back in the Hiwardian capital?

    Ha.

    Honestly, it was a good idea, but I didn¡¯t expect the universe to allow it.

    Anyway, everyone in the party was busy with their own progression or being interrogated by Xim on their legendary skills, so I cracked open my Dimensional Magic evolutions and took a peek.

    The first option was one of those. Something I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised to see, and yet, somehow, I still was. Before I¡¯d even gotten a chance to think it through properly, Grotto had abandoned his tips-and-tricks session with Throne and started to make urgent demands. I thought the little dude was about to have an aneurysm.

    [Take that evolution! Take it now, before it disappears!]

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s an evolution, it¡¯s not gonna disappear. Let me at least look at the other¨C¡±

    [The others are irrelevant!] I felt a buzzing in my head. [I have looked at the options. They don¡¯t matter. Take this evolution!]

    Everyone else in the party showed various expressions of irritation, and then turned to me.

    ¡°Grotto is making demands,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Loudly.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± shouted Xim, looking at the ceiling. ¡°We¡¯ll take a look, Grotto! For the sake of the gods¡­¡± she muttered.

    ¡°I do not want to take a look,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is an Arlo evolution.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this one will melt any brains,¡± I said. I bit my lip. ¡°Buuuuut maybe it¡¯s better I show you each one at a time. In case there are any¡­ incidents.¡±

    Varrin stepped forward and made a ¡®bring it¡¯ gesture. I shared the evo, bracing myself in case his eyes started bleeding like the last time he¡¯d looked at an evolution option offered by this entity.

    Heavenly Gates

    The Dread Star blesses your travel through the in-between.

    Your portals and teleports become Deific.

    A Deific effect cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    System Note: Accepting this evolution will change the nature of Delves you are offered.

    I watched Varrin¡¯s eyes scan from side to side and didn¡¯t detect any ocular hemorrhaging. After a few seconds, he grunted.

    ¡°You should take this,¡± he said.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t even seen the other options!¡±

    ¡°Now I¡¯m really curious,¡± said Xim. ¡°Show me.¡± I sent her the evolution, she read it through, then swiped her hand through the air to dismiss it. She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, then gestured to bring the description back up and read it again. She batted it away again and went silent.

    The physical motions were completely unnecessary.

    I sent the notification to Etja while waiting for our cleric to reboot. ¡°Oh, neat!¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s like an avatar¡¯s ability, but better.¡±

    ¡°Hold up,¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Etja tapped a finger on her cheek in thought. ¡°Well, you got a notification for two Deific spells Hysteria used. One was Passion Imperium and the other was Dramatic Exit. The System told you that they cost Hysteria some kind of divine favor. That means the spells took a resource for the avatar to use, probably a really valuable one.¡±

    She shrugged and gestured at the notification. ¡°This one doesn¡¯t take anything. So, it¡¯s kind of¡­ better than what an avatar can do.¡±

    I blinked and thought that one through.

    El Presidente Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Better Than an Avatar.

    It had a nice ring to it.

 228 - The Best Option Comes First

    I thought over Etja¡¯s claim, calling to mind the other times I¡¯d seen a Deific ability. Yaretzi¡¯s Thunderdome had been Deific, but I hadn¡¯t ever found out what it cost the Littan to use the skill. It seemed like the kind of thing he was reluctant to use, given that the psychopathic soldier had waited until he was an inch from death to activate it. Zura had sunk the Littan fleet with a Deific spell called Geul¡¯s Embrace, which cost 2,000 mana and could only be cast by the Zenithar of Geul.

    Yara¡¯s Holy Waters and the Tears of Tyranny we¡¯d used against Hysteria had been Deific, and those were extraordinarily valuable consumables created by a goddess and an avatar, respectively. Then there was Hysteria¡¯s Divine Favor. Anything with a Deific effect was, presumably, very expensive to use or could only be used a limited number of times.

    The Heavenly Gates evolution wouldn¡¯t add any additional cost to my portals and teleports. They would instruct the universe to do what I asked, and only something with god-like powers could stop it.

    ¡°The Closet entrance is a portal,¡± I said. ¡°The System wouldn¡¯t be able to keep me from opening it inside Delves.¡±

    [Correct. Nor could a Delve Core such as Throne create weaves that hinder your teleports in any way. You would not need to bypass teleportation wards by going strangeward, as you call it, because the wards will be useless against you.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting pretty good with that ability, though.¡±

    [It is only a matter of time before you encounter foes who can foil movement through higher dimensions. Even Throne had such weaves in the making, but had not finished installing them.]

    ¡°All right. Could I hide other Delvers in the Closet, go into a Delve, and then have a small army come out to help us beat it?¡±

    [I do not see why not. Although, there are ways to make that tactic unsound. Regardless, there are any number of things we could construct within the Closet that could not be accessed via an inventory space. Imagine, if you will, a three-hundred-foot cannon with a portal at the barrel.]

    ¡°Offensive uses aside, we would always have a safe line of retreat,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Unbreakable access to rest and resupply.¡±

    ¡°Or we could just leave Delves we don¡¯t like,¡± said Xim. ¡°Go into the Closet and take a Checkpoint.¡±

    [This goes much further than Delves. Anyone aside from avatars or gods would have no way to block you. You could teleport the entire party into an enemy fortress, no matter how secure their countermeasures.]

    ¡°What about devotees? High-level clerics or avatar flunkies?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯ve seen other people use Deific abilities.¡±

    [The chance that an individual has a Deific-grade counterspell granted to them by a divine being is exceptionally low. Perhaps there is one individual in the world with such an ability. I even find that much unlikely. Remember that your experience has been an outrageous divergence from the norm.]

    ¡°And you guys aren¡¯t worried about going deeper into camp Dread Star?¡±

    Varrin grumbled in consideration. ¡°The entity has been a boon thus far.¡±

    ¡°A bit rough the last time we chatted,¡± Xim added. ¡°But it ended up helping us out. Sam¡¯lia urges caution with the Dread Star, but not avoidance. It isn¡¯t evil, it just¡­ is.¡±

    ¡°This feels like a really important decision,¡± I said. ¡°One that we probably shouldn¡¯t make while under the influence of¡­ you know.¡±

    ¡°Fuck me,¡± said Xim. ¡°I almost forgot about that.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡± said Etja. ¡°Since, you know, I literally can¡¯t.¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad idea, and Grotto is on board as well.¡±

    ¡°Even so,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a degree of risk. The two of you might be affected in other ways.¡±

    ¡°Then we should focus on that above everything else,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I know that we agreed not to alter our plans based on the potential presence of manipulation, but this is something new. Refusing to act on it would be absurd.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Etja.

    [I still believe you should accept it before the Dread Star revokes the offer.]

    ¡°Just, let¡¯s look at the other options at least,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe the best one wasn¡¯t offered first. Who knows? Maybe Yara has something in here as well.¡±

    [She does not.]

    I rolled my eyes and looked at the next evolution, sharing it as I went.

    Tactile Telekinesis

    You may fly at your normal movement speed. You gain a bonus X% to flying speed where X is equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    If you would be forced to move, reduce the distance of that movement by a number of feet equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Increase your lift capacity by a number of pounds equal to 1,000 times your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Increase your maximum throwing distance by a number of feet equal to twice your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    ¡°Oh look,¡± I said. ¡°A flying brick evolution.¡±

    ¡°What in the hells does that mean?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It makes me fly really fast, prevents stuff from knocking me around, and makes me super strong.¡±

    ¡°You can already fly,¡± said Etja. ¡°And Gravity Anchor keeps you from getting knocked around.¡±

    ¡°The lift capacity increase is substantial for you now,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But it would not be much of a bonus by Strength 70. Since you are building Strength anyway, I do not think it is very good.¡±

    I heaved a sigh. ¡°And the bonus to throwing range isn¡¯t that big of a deal because of my Blunt evolutions. Fine. Next!¡±

    Planar Shielding

    Your body is surrounded by a web of plane-shifting energy, redirecting a portion of all damage you take to another realm. You gain Physical and Dimensional DR equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Additionally, whenever you gain Shielding, increase the value of that Shielding by your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    ¡°Okay, now this one¡¯s solid,¡± I said.

    ¡°Damage reduction and Shielding,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Things you can already do.¡±

    ¡°Things you can also get from elsewhere,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°This one is practically custom-made for me.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Xim. ¡°But you know what it doesn¡¯t do?¡±

    A waved a hand helplessly. ¡°Convert some of my most valuable skills into inviolable Deific abilities?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Xim pointed at me. ¡°Yep,¡± she said.

    I dismissed the options and put my hands on my hips. ¡°Why does this depress me?¡±

    Etja raised a hand, so I called on her like a student. ¡°Go ahead, Ms. Nothosis.¡±

    Her hand dropped. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because you like having to think too hard about stuff? But this one isn¡¯t really a choice, even though the other two options are still super good.¡±

    I¡¯d have given her full credit for her answer.

    ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s like, ¡®Would you like this god-tier evolution or one of these two not-god-tier evolutions?¡¯ Why even offer the other two?¡±

    [I told you they were not worth considering.]

    ¡°Choice,¡± said Xim. ¡°Last time your choice with the Dread Star was either to take the evolution or not. This time, it¡¯s giving you more options.¡±

    [That is an interesting point. Perhaps this skill has a more direct influence on the mortal realm and thus requires greater agency on your part when choosing whether or not to accept.]

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± I hummed. ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to go down that rabbit hole.¡± I pulled a small satchel from my inventory and reached in to grab a handful of nuts and dried fruit. I tossed the snack into my mouth and munched on it, offering the satchel around to everyone else. Etja happily accepted and began digging out a few small cubes of cheese.

    ¡°Here¡¯s what I think we should do,¡± I said. ¡°Put this evolution on hold, take a charcuterie break, and then go to see some dragons. I bet the dragons will have a way to fix our shit.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯re the betting odds that Avarice¡¯s mystery allies are actually dragons?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Four to one,¡± I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s dragons in them there mountains, and the four of you think it isn¡¯t. I¡¯ve been matching everyone¡¯s bets at the same rate.¡±

    ¡°Can I increase my wager?¡± she asked.

    I shrugged and held out a hand. She deposited four chocolate candies in dark red wrappers into my palm, which I stored with all the rest of the sugary sweets making up the betting pool. I added one more of my own as well.

    Each chocolate had a colorful wrapper, with a different color for each of the party members. A single chocolate could be exchanged to force the person whose color matched to wear a silly hat for a day.

    My color was purple.

    If I lost, I¡¯d be wearing silly hats every day for a month. The arrangement was win-win as far as I was concerned. I could make any hat look good, no matter how outrageous, so losing wasn¡¯t a problem. If I won, I could coordinate our entire party around specific hat themes for every major diplomatic mission we took for the foreseeable future.

    I half-suspected that Etja and Nuralie were betting against me in the hopes that they would lose. Both had a fondness for great hats. Xim was in it as an excuse to rib me over my enthusiasm for dragons, and Varrin saw it as a valuable team-building exercise.

    The disagreement on the matter of dragons was that dragons were perceived much the same on Arzia as they were on Earth¨Cas a made-up fantasy. However, we were all experienced enough to know that with all the shit we ran into, a dragon encounter wasn¡¯t that far-fetched.

    Grotto insinuated that he knew whether or not dragons were real, but none of us were allowed to ask since that would ruin the bet. As a matter of caution, I¡¯d run ideas by the Core about how we should behave ourselves if we ran into dragons, and he hadn¡¯t voiced any disapproval or given any suggestions. Either they weren¡¯t real, or I knew what I was doing.

    Or maybe Grotto was setting us up to get eaten.

    ¡°Can we hang out for a day before we leave?¡± Xim asked after handing over the goods. ¡°Angel of Fury has a 24-hour cooldown, and I spent the Heart¡¯s Favor, meaning I can¡¯t go beast mode until I get it back. I still have my Wraithclaw form, but if we get into trouble I¡¯d like to have two transformations available.¡±

    Xim needed to perform a feat of vengeance, justice, bravery, or faith to regain the Heart¡¯s Favor after transforming. Talking to dragons probably counted for one of those.

    ¡°Will the Delve kick us out?¡± I asked. ¡°If so, we can go outside for me to open the Closet. Unless I can open it here since we already beat the place.¡±

    [We control the Core. We can do what we want.]

    {No one controls me!} Throne piped back in. {And I do not appreciate being put on mute, Grotto!}

    [Being muted is an important learning experience for any young Delve Core.]

    ¡°Is Throne supposed to follow us around now?¡± asked Etja. ¡°The System gave her to us as a reward, but forcing her to come with us is kind of¨Chow do I put it? Evil. Yep, definitely evil.¡±

    [I have taken it upon myself to watch over Throne. She would benefit from my guidance and has little recourse other than to obey the System¡¯s wishes.]

    {I am a tool for the will of my creator!}

    [I can also work on teaching her some independence.]

    {I don¡¯t need any of your independence, corruptor!}

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you disobeying the System with how you ran this Delve?¡± I asked.

    {No. Not directly. Listen, I don¡¯t need independence from the System, I just need it to let me do whatever I want. And what I want is to get away from you freaks.}

    [A shame. I was hoping to provide you with a full upload of 0024¡¯s Sixty-One Methodologies of Psychological Harm. I have not been able to discuss it with anyone in some time.]

    {I¡¯ve decided that I will allow you to take me along!}

    [Excellent. Rather than following the party through the bitter cold, perhaps you would like to join me while I survey my growth vats?]

    {You have growth vats? Are you on the Animal Husbandry track?!}

    [Yes. I also have Golemancy, Architecture, and Botany. I can assist with your necromantic pursuits via my expertise in Spiritual Magicks as well.]

    {Hmph! Very well. I will allow you to teach me. Where are you, anyway? And how do I get there?}

    [Arlo, you can deposit Throne into your inventory. I will retrieve her on my end.]

    ¡°Easy enough,¡± I said.

    I grabbed Throne and sent her into my inventory. She let out a squeal as I did so, but I liked to imagine it was one of excitement and enthusiasm for her upcoming lessons with Professor Grotto, rather than one of indignance and alarm.

    ¡°I forgot to ask, but does anyone else have new evolutions to discuss?¡±

    ¡°I got three at once!¡± said Etja. ¡°Mystical, Incantation, and Exemplar all made it to Level 40. But I¡¯m gonna spend some time thinking about ¡®em. I¡¯ll ask for advice if I need it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of evolutions all at once,¡± I said. ¡°But sure, take your time. We¡¯ll bed down here for a day or so to recover.¡±

    We chose to camp out in the obelisk chamber since the pleasant decor and gentle glow stone lighting established a more comfortable mood than our shitty stone situation room inside the Closet.

    We chatted and shot the shit while Etja made dinner. The mage had recently taken the Cooking & Hospitality intrinsic, so the rice and beef tenders dish was absolutely incredible. After a big meal, we crashed into our bedrolls and spent the next day working on individual pursuits. Nuralie did some alchemy, Xim meditated, Etja worked on her mana shaping, Varrin oiled and cleaned his armor and swords, and I read a book.

    I couldn¡¯t be in work mode all the time.

    Okay, eventually I got bored of the book and made my first wand.

    I took out some scrap rosewood that had once been part of a beautiful armoire, then cut it into shape with a small dagger. It wasn¡¯t quite the right tool for the job, but it was good enough. Woodworking tools went on my shopping list.

    There were three main components to the most basic wand. Internally, there was the root, which was a rod where the spell matrix was imbued. Next was the leaf¨Cthe power source¨Cwhich could take any shape, though it was usually a disk contained within the pommel. The third piece was the bark¨Cthe external housing that protected the wand¡¯s internal components.

    These terms were taught to me by Grotto, and I enjoyed the nature theming.

    Obviously, lacking the relevant crafting skill, my first wand was kind of shit. Carving the spell matrix was tedious and required a high level of precision I wasn¡¯t used to. The bark also needed to fit over the root snugly, and hollowing out a cylinder of wood with the exactness of a machine made me wish for a drill of some kind. Finally, there was the leaf, which was probably my biggest disappointment.

    ¡°Five mana capacity,¡± I said, holding up the finished product.

    I didn¡¯t have any sealant or glaze, so the wand still had a fresh-cut, unfinished look. Even so, I was satisfied with the overall aesthetic. It looked better than half the wands I used to see at renn fairs and prop stores. Of course, it had taken a ruby chip to make, so it was roughly 1,000 times more expensive than any of those.

    ¡°I¡¯m underwhelmed,¡± I added.

    [You should be happy you succeeded on your third attempt.]

    I glanced down at the discarded failures and grunted. ¡°Sure, I guess.¡±

    [The intrinsic skill will result in rapid improvement. Go ahead and imbue the spell and you should be offered the skill.]

    I channeled a bit of mana into the wand, giving me a single-use Wand of Reckless Shortcut. I tossed my first creation to Etja since she was the only other person who met the spell¡¯s requirements. Despite the wand¡¯s amateur design, she seemed happy with the gift.

    The System prompted me, and I accepted the Wandmaking skill. Woodworking would have been more versatile and still allowed me to make wands, but Wandmaking was more focused. I didn¡¯t have time to become a carpenter. Unlike Smithing, Wandmaking was something I¡¯d easily be able to practice during brief bouts of downtime.

    After the day passed, we grabbed another solid night of rest. The next morning we set out to head even further north, toward the tallest and most frigid mountains in all the lands. And by ¡®we¡¯ I mean I hopped back into the Varrin harness while everyone else stayed warm and cozy inside the Closet.

    On the way, I got a notification I¡¯d been waiting for.

    You remember the Dread Star¡¯s true name.

 229 - Change of Plans

    ¡°Soooo,¡± Xim chimed into our thoughts. ¡°What do you want to ask the Dread Star next?¡±

    I was once again strapped into a harness below Varrin, who flew us northward above the flat, frozen tundra. We whipped over the ground two hundred feet up, moving at airliner speeds while everyone else hung out inside the Closet. Despite having been through this before, I was having a more difficult time dealing with my frosty-ass toes.

    ¡°You know what?¡± I thought back. ¡°I think we can solve this mental soul nonsense on our own. Or, at least get ourselves most of the way to a solution.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯m curious,¡± thought Xim. ¡°But are you sidestepping my question, or does this have to do with the Dread Star?¡±

    ¡°It has to do with everything,¡± I grumbled. ¡°As far as the Dread Star question, can I even trust myself to come up with one? No. Why even think about it?¡±

    ¡°You sound grumpy,¡± thought Etja.

    ¡°It¡¯s so fucking cold, you have no idea.¡±

    ¡°We can always brainstorm,¡± thought Xim. ¡°We don¡¯t have to ask the question until later.¡±

    ¡°What if we brainstorm something infected with mental bullshit, and then we convince ourselves that it¡¯s such a good idea that we either ask anyway, or still think it¡¯s a good question later?¡±

    ¡°That seems¨C¡±

    ¡°I agree that we should wait,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°Mainly because I feel that Arlo is being unreasonable. However, I cannot find a clear rationale for why I find fault in his thought process. He may be onto something.¡±

    ¡°Gods above,¡± thought Xim. ¡°You¡¯re doing mental backflips to get to that conclusion. If I decided my feelings were backward every time I didn¡¯t understand why I felt a certain way, then decided that doing the opposite was the obvious conclusion, I¡¯d be living a pretty stupid life.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t doing the opposite,¡± I thought. ¡°We¡¯re hitting pause on major decision-making until we can trust our faculties.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the opposite of doing something not doing something?¡± Xim asked.

    ¡°The opposite of doing something is doing the opposite,¡± Nuralie countered.

    ¡°What¡¯s your idea, Arlo?¡± Etja thought, breaking up the mini-argument.

    ¡°Every single one of us has some ability to manipulate or affect the soul,¡± I thought. ¡°I can See souls and Reveal what I see to others. Varrin can divide his soul into independent identities, formed from a notional part of his soul¨Csuch as his ancestry. Nuralie is Spiritually attuned, which naturally grants her some capacity to affect souls with her skills. Her revelation may also let her experience the history of a soul like she can do with objects.¡±

    ¡°She can poison the soul, too!¡± Etja added.

    ¡°This is true,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Right. If we¡¯re laying everything on the table, maybe we can use that. In fact, I¡¯m betting we can. Xim hails from a realm of mind and dream, where the barrier between the soul and reality is blurred. Plus, she¡¯s a powerful cleric for the goddess that created that entire realm. Divine magicks also frequently affect the soul.¡±

    ¡°Judgment weighs a soul according to the person¡¯s deeds,¡± Xim thought. ¡°My blessings also empower the soul of their target. They¡¯re hybrid Spiritual and Divine skills. My existing revelations reshape my body according to my soul¡¯s interpretation of my physical form, and the revelation I¡¯m working on lets me, sort of, imbue my soul out onto my surroundings. It¡¯s still fuzzy.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of pieces there we can work with. Beyond that, Grotto and I have a literal soul connection, so he can peer into my soul whenever he feels like it.¡±

    [A power I use liberally in order to comprehend your decisions.]

    ¡°Finally, Etja can take other people¡¯s souls into her own. We¡¯ve barely explored the limits of that ability. I mean, she trapped a piece of an avatar inside her for a while. That¡¯s pretty potent.¡±

    ¡°Still trapped,¡± Etja thought.

    It took me a second to process Etja¡¯s statement, after which I decided I wasn¡¯t able to process it and thought, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I still have Hysteria¡¯s soul fragment in there,¡± she replied, matter of factly. ¡°Did you think it disappeared? I would have said something if it had since that would probably be a big deal.¡±

    ¡°I thought you, you know, burned it up.¡±

    ¡°Burned it up?¡±

    ¡°With your pseudo-avatar form. When you were kicking Hysteria¡¯s ass all over the Closet. I thought you ran out of power and that¡¯s why the form wore off.¡±

    ¡°Nope! I used what I could, but got worn out and Hysteria dodged me. I flew into a wall. After that, I had to stop and take a nap.¡±

    ¡°Souls don¡¯t really work that way, Arlo,¡± Xim added. ¡°They¡¯re persistent. They don¡¯t ¡®burn up¡¯ when you use them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen avatars annihilate pieces of one another,¡± I thought. ¡°Avarice and Fortune were killing bits of each other¡¯s souls just by being in the same hallway.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they can be attacked and damaged. But used up? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a thing.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, why are we just hearing this now?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Uuuuhhhhhhmmmmm,¡± Etja stretched the word out in our minds for a very long time.

    [I have a theory.]

    ¡°Please come to my rescue,¡± thought Etja. A feeling of embarrassment undercut by a touch of shame filtered through with her words.

    [Etja¡¯s resistance to mental effects seems to stem from her overarching goals. When an effect seeks to force her to act in a way that runs counter to her truest desires, the effect fails. I believe this is part of Etja¡¯s avatar heritage. Although she is not bound by any concept that dictates her existence, the drive to satisfy her deepest needs is unconquerable. That is, she cannot be deterred from her path, much as an avatar cannot be deterred.]

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    I absently flexed my toes as I listened to Grotto, but couldn¡¯t feel them. Emptying my boots of my own frostbitten toes was somehow the most disturbing thing I¡¯d ever had to do because of my Like a Flesh Wound regeneration.

    ¡°If so, that sounds pretty fucking useful,¡± I thought. ¡°But why would that mean she wouldn¡¯t tell us about her Hysteria soul shard?¡±

    [Because she feels no deep need to tell all of you that she¡¯d claimed a piece of divinity for herself. She has still been¨C]

    It felt like Grotto¡¯s statement cut off abruptly, but I realized I¡¯d been thoughtlessly staring at the passing ground for half a minute. Whatever the rest of his message had been, the mental fuckery deleted it from my memory. Even so, I thought I¡¯d gleaned enough information to understand the situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s a natural part of you,¡± I thought. ¡°Both from when you were a golem and because of your relationship to avatars. Having an avatar fragment in your soul was your original purpose, and seeking divinity must be like trying to find a piece of you that¡¯s been missing.¡±

    Etja went quiet. She may have been having a private conversation with Xim and Nuralie, or she could have been saying something my brain couldn¡¯t hold onto. Who knew?

    ¡°She was affected by the shit in a way that made her forget to mention the soul fragment,¡± I continued. ¡°Her limited immunity didn¡¯t apply because it wasn¡¯t something that interfered with her goals. When it came up directly, she corrected a misunderstanding, because Etja is a wonderfully honest person.¡±

    [Yes, that is more or less what I think has happened.]

    There was another stretch of silence, where I wondered how much of the conversation wasn¡¯t making it to my conscious mind. I felt a swell of frustration, one that wasn¡¯t helped by the miserable cold.

    I asked Varrin to stop and set us down. He did it without question but gave me a curious look once we were on the ground.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± he asked.

    I opened my inventory and pulled out the token Avarice had given us back in the Descent. She¡¯d told us that she had allies in the north that might help us, assuming we made it worth their while. I flipped the heavy gold coin over, looking at the fang on one side and the leathery wing on the other. It glimmered with mana.

    ¡°Every cell of my being wants to go see Avarice¡¯s mystery allies,¡± I thought. ¡°But pressing forward relentlessly and hoping a solution comes up for our biggest problem isn¡¯t like us. We¡¯re not chasing down a lead, we¡¯re moving on blind hope.¡±

    Varrin grunted but motioned for me to continue.

    ¡°What if these people don¡¯t have anything for us? What then? Do we go to the next Delve? Meet with the next powerhouse? We didn¡¯t want to allow whatever is affecting us to change our plans, and we didn¡¯t. Not at first. But now we¡¯re making new plans. Throne¡¯s Delve wasn¡¯t something we¡¯d decided to do beforehand, we decided to go after meeting with the Littan empress.

    ¡°I put the opportunity to grab Deific skills on hold. Now I want to put my Dread Star questions on hold. We decided against speaking to Yara and we¡¯ve trusted Xim¡¯s opinion on how helpful Sam¡¯lia could be.¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± thought Xim. ¡°Hmm, actually, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not like Etja or Grotto have been in on my communions.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re avoiding all chances of godly intervention,¡± I continued. ¡°And we¡¯re rushing into things without stopping to make a plan. I know we have Grotto and Etja as our, I dunno, guiding stars? No offense to either of you, but Grotto is much better at creating problems for other people than finding solutions, and Etja, you¡¯re not what I would call calculating.¡±

    ¡°I accept my limitations,¡± thought Etja. ¡°Your Heavenly Gates evolution also had some System text along with it. We all kind of ignored it.¡±

    ¡°What do you suggest?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head into the Closet and figure this shit out,¡± I replied. ¡°We should explore every option we have as a party that deals with soul stuff. Avarice¡¯s allies aren¡¯t going anywhere, as far as we know. We¡¯ve got a soft deadline for the Littans, but we don¡¯t owe them anything. We need to get our house in order before we do anything else.¡±

    Everyone thought about the strategy for a while. It was deeply uncomfortable, but none of us had a good reason for why it felt that way. After a few minutes, Etja and Grotto approved the idea and I opened the Closet portal.

    Once we were back inside our depressing situation room, Xim crossed her arms and looked at me seriously. ¡°How do you want to approach this?¡± she asked.

    The trio hiding from the cold inside the Closet had set up a small fire in the center of the room, flickering with Divine flames. It emitted a gentle, harmless warmth, and I stuck my hands right into it. Xim¡¯s fire wouldn¡¯t burn her allies, but it sure as hell could make me toasty.

    ¡°Everyone knows their own skills better than I do,¡± I said. Once my hands were comfy I stripped my boots, checked them for dead toes¨Chadn¡¯t lost any more yet¨Cand stepped into the fire. Then I started taking off the rest of my cold weather gear as I pondered, gaining access to my beard for a thoughtful rubbing. ¡°First, we need a way to perceive what we can¡¯t perceive. This manipulation hides itself from most of us, but to address it we need to find a way to detect it.¡±

    ¡°One can never see the invisible gogatron,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°One looks for how it affects its environment.¡± She blinked as we all looked her way. ¡°Footprints, broken branches, mounds of shuffler moss that are too big.¡± Pause. ¡°It likes to sleep in the moss.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. What sort of tracks does mental manipulation leave? Aside from weird-ass behavior.¡±

    ¡°The mind and soul are linked,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°A change in the mind will evoke a change in the soul.¡±

    Throne popped into our thoughts. {You¡¯re half right! Which is the same as being wrong. It goes both ways. Do you think I did brain surgery on a bunch of zombies? I bind their souls which binds their minds. It¡¯s a way better direction to attack the problem from.}

    ¡°Acerbic,¡± I said. ¡°But helpful.¡±

    {You¡¯re welcome,} Throne thought to us in a tone that said the opposite.

    ¡°She did not let me finish,¡± Nuralie muttered.

    ¡°Alright, so the common wisdom is that something that affects our thoughts will leave traces in the soul,¡± I said. ¡°Which means I should be able to See whatever is causing the problem.¡±

    ¡°Can you?¡± asked Xim. I hesitated, then took a long, hard look at her soul halo. I peered intently for a full minute before the cleric started striking noble poses like she was trying to look regal in front of a crowd.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell if anything¡¯s out of sorts,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll keep trying, though.¡±

    ¡°Gaze into me,¡± said Xim, spreading her arms. ¡°Become lost in my radiance.¡±

    ¡°You are not using your eyes when you look at souls,¡± said Nuralie, ignoring Xim¡¯s antics. ¡°It is a spiritual sense. It is likely blocked by the effect in the same way as when you look into yourself.¡± Pause. ¡°Even if you did use your eyes you probably could not see it. Like the parts of Avarice¡¯s letter we could not perceive.¡±

    ¡°So I need to look for animal tracks in Xim¡¯s soul,¡± I said, continuing to push up the sensitivity of my Sight. ¡°Dust it for prints.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t get dust in my soul,¡± Xim said, spinning and looking back at us over her shoulder. ¡°I try to keep it tidy in there.¡±

    ¡°Do you know Xim¡¯s soul well enough for this?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°I know that you are always aware of our souls, but have you committed every nuance of them to memory?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, deflating a bit. ¡°Unless I have a reason to look, I mostly keep it surface-level with you guys. It feels like I¡¯m peeking into something private, so I don¡¯t stare or anything.¡±

    ¡°I remember!¡± said Etja. ¡°Anytime you¡¯ve used Reveal, I get all the Soul-Sight stuff along with it.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Perfect Recall. But does that help us? If you try and point out the problems, will I even be able to see them?¡±

    ¡°Maybe if I point out the, erm, dusty tracks?¡± she said. ¡°But not the problem itself. That¡¯s the whole idea, right? To look for the signs.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Reveal shares the world as I perceive it,¡± I said. ¡°If I use Reveal, whatever is hidden from me will also be hidden from you.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll notice where the blank spots are,¡± Etja offered.

    She had a good point, so we gave it a shot. I connected to Etja using Reveal and let the mage peer into Xim¡¯s soul. Xim eventually got tired of posing and chose to meditate instead. Etja and I sat side-by-side, staring at Xim for the next hour. For me, the time passed in silence, until I suddenly realized Etja was talking to me.

    ¡°...around her emotional center,¡± she said.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Oh, good!¡± she said with a clap. ¡°You heard that one.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, feeling another chill run down my spine. Having my memories fucked with was a terrible experience. Zero out of five stars.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Etja. ¡°I need you to start with Xim¡¯s inner child.¡±

    I prepared myself to dive in, realizing that I was about to be getting to know everyone in the party way, way more intimately than I already did.

 230 - Working Out the Kinks

    I followed Etja¡¯s directions and honed in on one of the deepest layers of Xim¡¯s spiritual essence.

    This level of soul diving was something I¡¯d rarely done. My passive perception of the soul was more like a bird¡¯s eye view, or seeing a city from a low-flying plane. I was aware of every building and street, but the character of the toy cars and ant-like people changed once I was ¡®on the ground¡¯.

    I¡¯d done something similar in small bursts when trying to read an enemy¡¯s next move. That was still clinical and removed, however. The plane was swooping in for me to take a closer look at high speed.

    Here, the plane had landed, I¡¯d disembarked, driven to someone¡¯s house, snuck in through the window, and wandered into their bedroom to find them having a private conversation with their mother about their cancer diagnosis.

    It was uncomfortable.

    ¡°Now move through life lessons,¡± Etja said. Because of Reveal, she was fully aware of how I felt at that moment. She was a passenger to the experience, but every inch of my discomfort was exposed to her, which also made me uncomfortable. I tried not to let it turn into a feedback loop.

    ¡°Got it.¡±

    ¡°Look at the striations of the threads,¡± she continued. ¡°You see how they have an organic flow where the memories form cute little knots and stuff?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. Knots was the best word to use, but these weren¡¯t tangles or tight muscles, they were the metaphysical equivalent of Celtic knots. They gave off a sense of being intentional and even decorative in a way, although their purpose felt more functional than aesthetic.

    They were¨Cfrom what I could tell¨Cpoints where experiences all coalesced into an important pillar of a person¡¯s identity. The striations were disparate memories and influences across Xim¡¯s childhood. The knot represented the influence of those events toward a specific attitude or belief Xim held, although that¡¯s overly simplistic.

    The knots also emitted threads that fed into other knots, a bias informing future personality formation. It was all slowly changing, with some knots gradually unraveling while others wound more tightly. Each of those changes had ripple effects that flowed into other areas¨Cmore threads snaking out, threads withering and withdrawing, important events dropping into the middle of it all and making a mess.

    Looking at it from a microscopic level¨Clike we were doing¨Cit was organized chaos, but when viewed from afar, it was serene, with only the slightest motion.

    ¡°Look at the threads leading into those knots,¡± Etja continued. ¡°You can see how they naturally flow inward. Like they were always meant to head in that direction, but also like the knots are pulling them in.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s kind of like an eddy in a river,¡± I said. ¡°Since the soul is always flowing.¡±

    ¡°Yes! Now, I can¡¯t point you any closer than that, because every time I try you just sit there and get all glassy-eyed.¡± She sat back and bit her lip. ¡°Just¡­ look at the threads. See how they¡¯re arranged, and then look for something out of place.¡±

    Despite the vague guidance, I was encouraged. I ran over Xim¡¯s inner child with a fine-toothed comb, which is maybe a creepy way to say that, and I hunted for what Etja was talking about.

    What I was seeing within Xim¡¯s soul weren¡¯t memories. I couldn¡¯t peer into someone¡¯s past and watch their life like a livestream. What I could glean was the emotional context of the threads, which gave me insight into what kind of experiences they represented.

    If I spent enough time in an area, I could figure out how those emotions related to one another and intuit what different knots represented. Because we were within the ¡®inner child¡¯, these knots were sheltered from much of Xim¡¯s adult life, so they wouldn¡¯t really tell me what Xim was feeling right now, but could give me a lot of information about what informed her personality. This area wasn''t isolated by any means, but many more threads flowed out from it than in.

    One of the largest knots in this area radiated warmth and comfort, sustenance and care, love and respect. It wove itself deeply into Xim¡¯s sense of femininity and personal strength, leading me to believe it was part of what made up her perception of her mother. They had a very good relationship, although the connection was not without some level of turmoil and discontent.

    I followed threads leading out from Xim¡¯s mom and into an area that evoked discipline, teaching, pain, acceptance, and growth. Some of the threads were alien, delivering emotions that I had no frame of reference for. I studied those for a while but decided they had more to do with Xim¡¯s childhood being spent in the Third Layer than anything being out of place. I knew more than most about life in the Third, but I was hardly a native. Weird shit happened there. The fact that Xim¡¯s psychology was as accessible as it was was more surprising than there being experiences I couldn¡¯t relate to.

    Eventually, I found what I thought Etja was trying to point out.

    I was in an area that I was dubiously labeling ¡®impulse control¡¯. Xim had a wild streak, one that was much more pronounced when she was young. There were countless threads radiating from powerful influences in her childhood, tempering her desire to act first and think never. However, in the midst of gently arcing connections, a group of threads were swooping off at a sharper angle than the others.

    When I tried to follow them, I couldn¡¯t figure out where they went. They got lost in the noise, squirming out of sight like an avoidant gnat flitting out of my vision. I zoomed out and took a wider view, seeing the same thing coming in from other directions. I kept looking for their destination, unable to find it, and eventually realized I¡¯d zoned out. I had no idea how long I¡¯d been wandering around in Xim¡¯s self-discipline, but I was suddenly exhausted.

    I took note of the location, confident that I could find it again without much trouble if needed. I sat back and let out a long breath, rubbing at my temples. I was completely drained. Using my Sight this way was like lifting weights with a poorly conditioned muscle. I¡¯d definitely gone too hard and was now having spiritual cramps.

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a lock on one.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± said Etja. ¡°Do you want to try for the next?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be able to even if I wanted. I need a minute. Maybe a day.¡± I stood up and stretched. ¡°Did you get an idea of how many of those there are?¡±

    ¡°Like thirty or so,¡± said Etja. ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to find them all, just figure out how to point them out.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± I said. ¡°How long have we been doing this?¡±

    [Six hours and twenty-seven minutes.]

    I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Nuralie and Varrin were gone. Xim sat in lotus position, her body surrounded by a gentle glow that had an odd weight to it. The floor around her looked like it was flaking away to reveal something squirming underneath. I squinted at it, but whatever it was faded as Xim opened her eyes. She yawned and collapsed backward, rolling her hips into a spinal twist.

    ¡°I feel like you both know my secrets now,¡± she said with a grin.

    ¡°You could feel that?¡± I asked. She placed a hand on her thigh and leaned further into the twist until something popped. She let out a satisfied sigh and twisted in the opposite direction.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°How do I put it?¡± Xim said. ¡°Whenever you¡¯re really trying to look into my soul, I get a sense of your presence. Since I know you, it¡¯s kind of comforting, but if a stranger did it I think it would freak me out a bit.¡±

    ¡°You think other people get that feeling?¡± I asked. ¡°Are people aware that I¡¯m sneaking peeks at their souls? I feel like that might piss someone off.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m probably a bad measuring stick,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m spiritually sensitive and know what to pay attention to, especially since you always tell me that you¡¯re doing it beforehand. Maybe, though. That might be how Blech knew you were watching his projection back in the Delve.¡±

    I thought back to the massive Davahn, Brae¡¯ach, making my eyeballs explode from across the continent.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. My eyes watered at the memory. ¡°Well, if finding one of these anomalies takes an entire afternoon and there are thirty or more of them in each of us, we¡¯re looking at months worth of work, and that¡¯s just to map them out. Then we actually need to do something about them.¡±

    ¡°Guess we¡¯re not fixing this in a day,¡± said Xim as she stood. ¡°Is it lunchtime? I¡¯d like some lunch.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s always lunchtime in Closetland,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll get some food and figure out what else we can be doing.¡±

    *****

    We spent the following weeks exploring our options. I rotated through the party, trying to ensure that I could spot the anomalies within each of our souls. Etja and I became much more efficient with our search, and my stamina for the task rose dramatically as I practiced. We were up to hunting down four anomalies per day.

    I was surprised that no one in the party had a problem with me digging so deeply into their soul, but the crew was nothing if not self-confident. Plus, if they had anything to hide it wasn¡¯t from me.

    There were a few consequences from the activity, however. Namely, whatever social barriers still existed between us started to crumble further. Conversation began to stray into topics that might have never come up, had I not suddenly become intimately familiar with everyone¡¯s preferences.

    Some of these conversations were relevant. If someone was acting in a way that didn¡¯t relate to what I experienced within their soul, then we knew it was due to manipulation. Some of the conversations were not relevant at all.

    Some conversations were both.

    ¡°Varrin, do you still have the inexplicable hots for the Empress?¡± I asked. I¡¯d just finished a soul dive that had taken me through the big guy¡¯s intimate relationships. Littans were not included.

    ¡°I think that is an entirely unfair framing,¡± he said.

    ¡°That sounds like a ¡®yes¡¯,¡± said Xim.

    Varrin shifted in his seat and frowned at Xim. ¡°I have been considering my courtship, if that is what you mean.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°There is much to consider when dealing with someone of such high station,¡± he said. ¡°Even broaching the topic requires a certain degree of formality.¡±

    ¡°Are you making specific plans?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Plans? No. Some things are obvious. I would not call those plans, per se.¡±

    ¡°You really just used ¡®per se¡¯ in a sentence,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Okay, what¡¯s obvious when courting a Littan empress?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, of course, I first need to acquire ten Eschen blue lilies with stems that are precisely eight inches long, arranged in a bouquet with a crimson and sable ribbon.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Eschen lilies are a long-standing symbol of Littan fertility, with the blue variety being reserved for nobility, and there are ten Littan provinces. The ribbon''s colors are the combination of our two houses.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but why eight inches?¡±

    Varrin cleared his throat. ¡°No reason you need concern yourself with.¡± I hesitated with my next question, and Varrin sat up straighter before saying, ¡°I would like to invoke Xim¡¯s ¡®Fair Play¡¯ rule.¡±

    I let my head sink into my hands, regretting agreeing to Xim¡¯s ¡®rule¡¯. Since I was exposing the intimate feelings of each person to everyone else in the party, it was only ¡®fair¡¯ that the rest of us reciprocated. That was the idea, at least. Things got weird when it came to ¡®manufactured¡¯ feelings like the one Varrin was experiencing towards the empress.

    ¡°Can you specify?¡± I asked. ¡°Do you want us to talk about our feelings towards the empress, or do you want to know how long my lilies would be?¡±

    ¡°You act as though being attracted to a Littan is strange,¡± said Varrin. He gestured vaguely before crossing his arms. ¡°Discuss.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s strange, I think it¡¯s strange for you,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not here to judge anyone¡¯s attractions, just trying to pinpoint what parts of us have been affected.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re deflecting,¡± said Xim. ¡°The implication you¡¯re making is that Varrin normally doesn¡¯t feel any sexual desire towards Littans. The fair play would be discussing the presence¨Cor lack¨Cof our own attraction towards Littans.¡± She glanced at Varrin, who nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll go first. The empress is hot but I think that¡¯s mental fuckery because I¡¯m usually not into women. However, I have had more than one ¡®impure¡¯ thought about Tavio.¡±

    ¡°Tavio?¡± I said in disbelief. ¡°Why Tavio?¡±

    ¡°First, have you seen that man¡¯s chest?¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a Littan who¡¯s so¡­ well proportioned.¡±

    ¡°He has nice hands, too,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Wait, you said you weren¡¯t into the empress,¡± I said. ¡°When we asked about you trying to take your shirt off.¡±

    ¡°I lied,¡± Xim said with a shrug.

    ¡°I also felt it,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But I have difficulty imagining other Littans in that way.¡± Pause. ¡°Not because I think they are unattractive, but because of the oppression.¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t do anything weird at the meeting,¡± I said.

    ¡°I was giving her the eyes,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°The eyes?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± Pause. ¡°Like this.¡±

    Nuralie looked at me. I couldn¡¯t tell any difference from how she normally looked.

    ¡°I thought she was pretty,¡± said Etja. ¡°But not like I wanted to do things with her.¡±

    Everyone then turned to me. ¡°Yeah, okay,¡± I said. ¡°I wanted to talk about the food because we both seemed to like the same things and that¡¯s an easy connection to make.¡±

    ¡°Is that how you normally seduce women?¡± asked Xim. ¡°By talking about food?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not much of a seductress. Seductor? I¡¯m bad at flirting.¡± I waved it off. ¡°Either way, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d be after any private encounters with a Littan, other than the empress.¡±

    ¡°Why not?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°You know,¡± I said. ¡°They are, uh¡­ Their features diverge too significantly from being anatomically human.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a problem for you?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It¡¯s not for you?¡±

    ¡°Arlo, you¡¯ve been to the village,¡± she said. ¡°It would be weird if my tastes were limited to ¡®anatomically¡¯ human.¡±

    ¡°Okay, fair.¡±

    ¡°Where do you draw the line?¡± asked Etja. ¡°They¡¯re really similar to humans in most ways. It¡¯s just that their faces are a little more mousy, I guess. Is that the problem?¡±

    ¡°I mean¡­¡±

    ¡°Do Geulons ¡®diverge¡¯ too much?¡± asked Nuralie, raising an eyeridge. ¡°Humans don¡¯t have scales.¡± Pause. ¡°Or a tail.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said. I started to elaborate but felt like I was in dangerous waters.

    ¡°Does Xim being red bother you?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°No. I also object to the use of the word ¡®bother¡¯. Littans don¡¯t ¡®bother¡¯ me.¡±

    ¡°How many arms would be too many?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t encountered a specific number of arms that I would consider a theoretical dealbreaker.¡±

    ¡°Is this an Earth thing?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Are people there really particular?¡±

    I paused to consider. In Arzia, humans were in the minority. Being exposed to a variety of bipedal sentient races might predispose people to being more open with their tastes.

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    ¡°Are you really being honest with yourself?¡± asked Etja. ¡°I mean, what about Captain Pio? She¡¯s really fit. You like muscles and stuff.¡±

    My mind involuntarily flitted to a memory of a member of Pio¡¯s team stripping naked and jumping into my hot spring.

    ¡°You did spend a lot of time with that book Umi-Doo gave you,¡± said Xim. ¡°The section on humans wasn¡¯t that long.¡±

    ¡°Anyway!¡± I said, holding up my hands. ¡°Let¡¯s assume my feelings on the matter are confused and just move on, please.¡±

    ¡°It seems that all of us were attracted to the empress,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Despite what was claimed during our earlier discussion.¡±

    ¡°Feeling threatened?¡± asked Xim, waggling her eyebrows.

    ¡°I do not fear competition,¡± he said.

    ¡°Not with eight-inch lilies you don¡¯t,¡± I muttered.

    The next month was filled with similarly invasive conversations as we nailed down as much of the manipulation as we could.

 BOOK 1 HAS BEEN SUMMONED FORTH!

    Readers, friends, colleagues, co-conspirators, the day is upon us.

    The dark rituals are complete. The blood gods have been appeased. My tentacles ache from the ceaseless keyboard hammering.

    Book 1 of Mage Tank is live on Amazon KINDLE, KU, and Audible.

    MAGNIFICENT BEARDED AMAZON LINK: https://www.royalroad.com/amazon/B0DGW4XTDH</a>

    MAGNIFICENT BEARDED AUDIBLE LINK: https://www.audible.com/pd/Mage-Tank-Audiobook/B0DVTP6FL7?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp</a>

    I have quested since I was a wee lad to reach the vaunted halls of authorship. Valiant keyboards sacrificed themselves for the cause. Novels were completed and just as quickly turned to ash. Innocent stories, half-finished, lay in ruins throughout my Google drive.

    Mage Tank was born amidst that chaos, and its ascent has been as joyful as it was unexpected.

    But we are on the precipice! One final foe lay between Mage Tank and its place among the stars: the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.

    You are the vanguard, the strength that drives Mage Tank forward. You have the power to lead this final charge, to rally the people and share with them whatever spark you have seen that sways you to support this cause.

    There are simple ways to clear this path, and should you wish to help in this endeavor, then I entreat you to take whatever action you can from among the following:

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    *****

    I¡¯ve no doubt you also know that acquiring the book in whatever format you desire is helpful, from a 5-dollar Kindle purchase to spending an Audible credit on the audiobook (20 hours of deep and luscious narration by Daniel Wisniewski.)

    But there are other ways to support, without spending any coin!

    Download it for free with KU.

    If you have Kindle Unlimited, it is free with your subscription. Every KU download drives rank and visibility.

    Also free is leaving a Rating and/or Review on Amazon.

    You can give the book a rating even if you do not own it.

    But be wary, for ratings on Amazon trend high, and anything below 5 stars may not be a boon.

    Reviews are also excellent if you wish to extoll the book¡¯s virtues, but you can simply click ¡°no thanks¡± to solely leave a rating.

    *****

    I thank you for your time, and any support that you can give.

    ¡­

    Not sure why I felt like slipping into the tone of an evil wizard for this post, but I did what I did.

    I wanted to say thanks again to everyone here. We couldn¡¯t have done this without RR''s love. Your presence alone is a massive source of encouragement; doubly so for the kind words and thoughtful comments I receive. I won¡¯t belabor this point, since this post is probably too long already, but seriously, we appreciate it.

    I put together some incentives based on how the book performs today. Here¡¯s that list again:

    LAUNCH DAY RANK REWARDS

    TOP 10K - BONUS CHAPTER PUBBED TODAY

    TOP 7.5K - ANOTHER BONUS CHAPTER TODAY

    TOP 5K - +1 CHAPTERS A WEEK FOR A MOTHER LOVIN'' FORTNIGHT (2 weeks)

    TOP 2.5K - +1 CHAPTERS A WEEK FOR A MONTH

    TOP 1K - THREE COMMENTERS GET TO DECIDE SOME ART THAT I''LL COMMISSION (high quality)

    TOP 500 - Who needs holidays with this much action? NO BREAKS, ONLY MORE CHAPTERS

    TOP 250 - UPGRADE FROM 3 CHAPS/WEEK TO 4 CHAPS/WEEK UNTIL JUNE 4 (3 months)

    All right, that¡¯s what I got! Thanks again, and I hope you¡¯re having a week at the zenith of human bliss.

 231 - Barely an Inconvenience

    Varrin ended up being the easiest person to map once we figured out that his ancestral soul clone was unaffected by whatever was happening. It couldn¡¯t talk, had a very limited capacity to remember anything, and could only make decisions based on the tasks that Varrin gave it, but I could gaze into its soul without issue. There were no areas that were invisible to me, and using the soul clone as a model made it easier to find the areas of Varrin¡¯s soul I was missing.

    It was kind of like playing a ¡®spot the difference¡¯ picture game. The ancestral clone was already a little different from Varrin, but the ways in which the big guy diverged were subtle enough that I could tune them out as noise. It was still Varrin¡¯s soul, just more distilled towards familial influences.

    Also, Etja could point at spots on the clone and my brain wouldn¡¯t turn itself off. Once the problems had been mapped, we just needed to figure out what to do about them.

    ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯ve got,¡± I said. The party was sitting at a roundtable in a much more comfortable situation room. There were calming colors, vibrant plants, gentle lighting, and the chairs even had cushions. Everyone had been taking turns helping Grotto build us some better facilities. ¡°The effect that we¡¯re under is re-weighting the importance we place on certain experiences we¡¯ve had in our lives. From what I can tell, it hasn¡¯t implanted new memories or anything, it¡¯s just making us pay more attention to some things and less attention to others.¡±

    ¡°Can we get an example?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Sure. Let¡¯s say you want to make someone go and buy ice cream. You go into their soul and look for any experiences you think relate to ice cream and find the ones that represent the best. Times where that person had ice cream and loved it, the greatest ice cream they¡¯d ever tasted. You take the relational threads from that experience and start weaving them into the person¡¯s experience of love, or affection, so they begin associating ice cream with powerful emotional rewards.

    ¡°Alternatively, you could tie that memory into a person¡¯s understanding of finance, so they think of buying ice cream as being a smart money move. There are a lot of ways you could make ice cream more important to a person, and thus make that person more likely to go out and buy it. This doesn¡¯t implant new memories, but it creates emotional connections that are¡­ questionable.¡±

    ¡°Follow-up question,¡± said Xim. ¡°Do we have any ice cream?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s in the freezer.¡± I pointed at a small, mana-woven chest on the far side of the room. Xim danced over to it and started pulling out some frozen goodies.

    ¡°The question is whether there¡¯s something foreign inside our souls that¡¯s maintaining this effect, or if something rewired our souls and then they got stuck that way, even though that foreign influence is now gone.¡±

    ¡°It sounds like something is still in us,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Souls are regenerative. If they are damaged, they will recover given time. Something must be preventing them from doing so.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not really damaged, though,¡± I said.

    ¡°It has been distorted,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°That is damage. It may not be as obvious as a physical wound, but any unnatural and undesired change to the soul can be seen as harm.¡±

    ¡°As opposed to a natural change, which would be life experience?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I suppose,¡± she said. Pause. ¡°I am not comfortable giving it boundaries that are so simple.¡±

    ¡°What about emotional trauma? From what I¡¯ve seen with how the relationships form within our souls, a sudden traumatic event might cause changes that would lead to rapid changes in the connecting threads. It¡¯s possible that would lead to distortions like the ones I¡¯ve found.¡±

    ¡°The soul would still heal,¡± said Xim. ¡°You¡¯ve seen the traumas we¡¯ve all endured in the past during your search, right?¡±

    ¡°Some of them, certainly,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do they match the distortions?¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t as¡­ clean as the connections that form gradually. But no, the distortions are more severe.¡±

    ¡°Then if nothing is enforcing the changes,¡± said Nuralie, ¡°they would naturally degrade or become less acute.¡± Pause. ¡°Unless we were perpetually in some kind of extreme situation that is causing us to change our priorities.¡±

    ¡°Even then, I feel like our souls would adapt given enough time,¡± I said. ¡°Either way, I¡¯m comfortable running with the theory that an external force is maintaining the effect. But we should be ready to abandon that theory if we find evidence to the contrary.¡±

    ¡°If it is a foreign energy, how do we remove it?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°That¡¯s the question. Let¡¯s assume that something is in there, either warping or binding these spiritual threads. We know the approximate areas where this is happening, but we can¡¯t perceive it directly. Theoretically, if we destroy that area of our souls, the foreign energy will also be destroyed and our souls will eventually heal back the damage and correct themselves.¡±

    ¡°Unless the energy grows back with it,¡± said Xim. ¡°Or if whatever we used to scour that part of the soul doesn¡¯t actually destroy the stuff.¡±

    ¡°It could also be like an infection,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°If we do not burn it all out at once, it may reinfect the cleansed area.¡±

    ¡°Burning every affected area at once isn¡¯t feasible,¡± I said. ¡°There are thirty-six locations within each of us. According to Grotto, even hitting one spot would be extremely unpleasant. Hitting every spot at once would be lethal. Our souls would be disrupted until they untethered from our bodies.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because we¡¯d be destroying a fairly large area, right?¡± said Xim. ¡°Since we can¡¯t see it directly, we¡¯re going after the whole area that¡¯s imperceptible?¡±

    ¡°True.¡±

    ¡°So if it were more precise, it might work.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said. ¡°It could be the difference between getting stabbed by thirty-six toothpicks and getting stabbed by thirty-six spears. Since we can¡¯t see the phenomenon, we don¡¯t know what it might take to burn it out.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s assume we could find it,¡± said Xim. ¡°How would we even destroy it? What method would we use to do the burny part?¡±

    ¡°I could create a highly focused Spiritual toxin,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°One that destroys the soul but does not spread. Varrin or one of his clones could deliver it to the correct locations with Soul Strike.¡± Pause. ¡°Using something smaller than his sword.¡±

    ¡°But how do you know that whatever this is can be destroyed with the same forces that would destroy a soul?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It must exist as a Spiritual force to affect the soul,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I can create a toxin that destroys or disrupts any kind of Spiritual energy.¡±

    Xim considered Nuralie¡¯s point, then shook her head. ¡°Maybe blindly stabbing each other¡¯s souls with poisoned knives and hoping for the best isn¡¯t a great idea. The root of the problem is our inability to see the problem.¡±

    ¡°Can Grotto see yours, Arlo?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°He has a connection to your soul and is supposedly unaffected.¡±

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    [What would you have me do? I cannot guide you to the solution, since any attempt I make is barred from your minds.]

    ¡°If Nuralie made the poison, could you do soul surgery on me?¡± I asked.

    [My skills are ill-suited for precise attacks made against the soul. My focus is on Psychic effects, which manipulate the bridge between the brain and the soul itself.]

    {I can do it!} Throne interjected. {I¡¯ll stab you in the soul anytime you want! Right now, even. Can I?}

    ¡°We¡¯ll save that as a last resort.¡±

    ¡°What if we made your Soul-Sight a deific effect?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Then you should be able to look at our souls and the problem can¡¯t hide itself from you, right?¡±

    [I do not believe you understand how exceptionally rare and difficult doing such a thing truly is.]

    ¡°Pshh,¡± Xim said, waving a hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯s probably not that hard.¡±

    ¡°We do have access to a Divine soul fragment,¡± said Nuralie, looking at Etja. ¡°Perhaps we can use that somehow.¡±

    [Hmm. Even with an avatar¡¯s soul fragment, you would need a potent method of directing that energy. It is not so simple as¨C]

    Xim shot up out of her chair. ¡°I have rituals,¡± she said, thinking. ¡°I have rituals that can funnel divine influence,¡± she said more confidently. ¡°They¡¯re meant to draw from artifacts and sacred objects, not literal fragments of a Divine being, but it¡¯s the same kind of power¡­ just amplified by a few orders of magnitude?¡±

    ¡°Was that a question, or a statement?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I need to do some research,¡± she said. ¡°Can you open a portal to the tribe?¡±

    I drummed my fingers on the table. ¡°You¡¯ll need to take one of our two escorts because of the shit.¡±

    ¡°Grotto!¡± said Xim. ¡°You wanted to talk to Sam¡¯lia, right? Now¡¯s your chance.¡±

    [While I appreciate your invitation, I am currently keeping an eye on our newest addition to the Closet.]

    {Hey! I¡¯ll be fine on my own. Go on, have a good time. Also, where¡¯d you put my Vault Guardian? I want to check in on him! Yeah, make sure he¡¯s adjusting well.}

    [I have given Vaulty several upgrades and he will certainly kill you if you attempt to make contact.]

    {No! Why would you do that? Free will is a burden my creations should not have to bear!}

    ¡°Throne can come too,¡± said Xim. She issued the invitation as though it wasn¡¯t a recipe for disaster.

    ¡°Uhhhh, sure that¡¯s a good idea?¡± I asked.

    {Yeah, why would I wanna go anywhere with you, monster girl?}

    [The Goddess of the Seven Organs is a deity of vengeance. I am sure there is much you can learn from her.]

    {I see, I seeeee. Yes! Field trip!}

    Throne was starting to give me emotional whiplash.

    [Regardless, before we go questing through the Third Layer for ancient blood rituals, there are additional matters to be considered. Even if you were able to appropriately direct the fragment¡¯s power, the receiving vessel would need to be extraordinarily durable.]

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯d be funneling it into me, right? I¡¯m pretty durable.¡±

    [Granted. However, you would also need some ability to manipulate Deific effects, which you have no natural capability to¨C]

    ¡°I can accept the Dread Star evolution,¡± I said. ¡°Would that work?¡±

    [It is¡­ a possibility. It depends on how the evolution operates. If the power flows through you, it would require the Dread Star to make certain alterations to your¡­] Grotto trailed off.

    ¡°My what?¡±

    There was a psychic sigh. [Your soul.]

    ¡°Something that might, say, strengthen it and make it more resilient when handling Deific powers?¡±

    [Indeed. BUT! You would still need Nuralie''s crafted toxin to reliably destroy anything you would find.]

    ¡°She just said she could make something to destroy any kind of Spiritual energy,¡± I said.

    [Consider the idea that such a thing may not be enough.]

    ¡°Are you being cagey because of the shit?¡± I asked.

    [Yes, I am choosing my words carefully due to the shit, correct.]

    ¡°I have made a Divine weapon before,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°That would probably be strong enough to destroy whatever we find. Even if it is a Spiritual force that cannot normally be destroyed.¡±

    [You made the Divine Arrows used against Orexis with the assistance of an avatar.]

    ¡°Fortune supercharged me with Blessed stacks before I made the poison we used against Orexis,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I have improved substantially since then, and there are robust entries in the Grimoire relating to drawing power from dark gods.¡± She pointed at Etja. ¡°If Etja draws from the fragment to enter her partial avatar form, she can channel that energy into my work.¡± Pause. ¡°We still have several of those arrows as well. They deliver a soul toxin. I may be able to repurpose one, or use it as a catalyst.¡±

    [Assuming you are capable of making the poison, extracting the fragment to thrust it into Arlo in a reckless attempt to empower his Soul-Sight would reveal the fragment¡¯s location to Hysteria. Even if they are imprisoned, the fragment will likely seek to rejoin its main body. The fragment of Orexis sought to do as much.]

    ¡°Then we don¡¯t extract it,¡± I said. ¡°Etja can soul hug me and I¡¯ll be in there with it.¡±

    ¡°That might be really dangerous,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°More dangerous than taking it out first?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like¡­¡± Etja thought. ¡°If you¡¯re standing next to a fire it can be hot, but if you¡¯re stuck inside an oven with the fire, it¡¯s more hot.¡±

    ¡°Either way that fire will be getting shoved inside me. Besides, you soul hugged me back in Throne¡¯s Delve.¡±

    ¡°I have the soul fragment in its own spot,¡± she said. ¡°You weren¡¯t in the same place.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? How¡¯d that work?¡±

    She thought for another moment. ¡°I hugged the fragment on one side and you on the other, but you didn¡¯t touch.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying I got a spiritual side hug? I thought we were closer than that.¡±

    ¡°I have four arms,¡± she said. ¡°I can give full hugs to two different things and/or people at once.¡± She gave a firm nod.

    The analogy was getting a bit confused so I let it go.

    ¡°Just to get things straight,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Nuralie will prepare a soul poison with the assistance of Etja while she channels Hysteria¡¯s soul fragment and enters a pseudo-avatar state so that she may infuse a sufficient amount of Divine energy into Nuralie as she works. One of the Divine Madrin Arrows of Soul Toxicity that were previously created to slay the soul fragment of Orexis will be used as a catalyst in this process, hopefully providing a sufficient base for the poison itself, and perhaps a template for creating a Divine weapon from the poison and other materials.

    ¡°Arlo will then allow his soul to be empowered by the Dread Star so that he becomes better equipped to channel Deific abilities, after which he will be encompassed by Etja¡¯s soul wherein the fragment of Hysteria¡¯s soul will be thrust into him. Xim will perform a modified ritual to safely funnel the divine influence into Arlo¡¯s Soul-Sight so that he can identify the foreign energy residing in our souls¨Cassuming that foreign energy is responsible for maintaining the changes we seek to undo¨Cafter which he will use Reveal to guide me in executing rapid, pinpoint spiritual attacks against thirty-six affected locations in someone else¡¯s soul, which will deliver a small payload of the soul poison crafted by Nuralie.

    ¡°The poison will hopefully disrupt the foreign energy without killing us, allowing our souls to heal and regenerate back to their previously unmolested state, and this process must be repeated for each member of the party, which means that I will¨Cat some point¨Cbe stabbing myself thirty-six times. Did I miss anything?¡±

    ¡°See, Grotto?¡± said Xim. ¡°Not that hard.¡±

 232 - Surgery Prep

    Xim, Grotto, and Throne fucked off to the Third Layer and I wished the Xor¡¯Drel tribe all the best in dealing with that trio. Xim would do some research on how to manage the flow of Divine energy on a vastly greater scale than she was normally capable of, while Grotto and Throne talked to Sam¡¯lia about¡­ something. I wasn¡¯t sure what the Core wanted with the motherly deity, but it probably wasn¡¯t anything good. Sam¡¯lia would hopefully also provide Xim with some guidance, or at least shut the cleric¡¯s idea down if it was guaranteed to kill us.

    Before the group left I gave Xim a handmade card to deliver to the goddess on my behalf, letting the deity know how things had been going in my life. I drew anthropomorphic blood droplets on the front with goofy smiling faces. Sam¡¯lia enjoyed little personalized gifts like that.

    The remaining Closetlanders would work on Nuralie¡¯s soul poison, a surprisingly straightforward affair consisting of two major steps. Creating the base poison, and then infusing that poison into a Divine scalpel.

    The strength of Nuralie¡¯s Spiritual toxin was based on the strength of her soul and enhanced by her Alchemy skill. When Nuralie created the soul toxin used against Orexis, she bypassed this hurdle by having Fortune break off a tiny piece of his own soul and wrap Nuralie up in it. When Nuralie created the anti-Orexis poison, she imbued it with that fragment of Fortune¨Crather than her own soul¨Cwhich created a substance that she then fused with a bundle of Madrin arrows, thus creating the Fuck Orexis in Particular arrows. Those arrows could only harm Orexis, but they were effective enough at weakening his specter for us to kick its ass.

    For the current experiment, Fortune wasn¡¯t around to let us borrow another cup of soul juice, so we planned to use another workaround. Etja would channel the fragment of Hysteria she held within her, and then wrap Nuralie in her soul, allowing the spiritual toxin to draw from the avatar-empowered mage rather than Nuralie.

    This almost certainly wouldn¡¯t result in the same level of boost that Nuralie had gotten from Fortune, but Nuralie had substantially better stats and skills than she¡¯d had last time, and the materials available to us were significantly better than what she¡¯d had in The Cage. Back then she was working with the equivalent of a janitor¡¯s closet worth of cleaning products and mixing it together using a trailer house meth lab. Nowadays we had the best alchemical products Eschendur had to offer and access to industrial-grade equipment.

    Nuralie used her Inquisitor rank to requisition a full team of experienced alchemists and priests to consult on the job, and we went ahead and purchased the supplies necessary to build Nuralie a comprehensive alchemy lab in the Closet. This would have normally taken months to set up, but we used the incredible power of money to get it all done in under a week.

    Nuralie went into the lab with a chest full of Poison Essences, a hundred pounds of rare reagents, three diamond chips, and the remaining Orexis arrows. She didn¡¯t emerge for four days, after which she slept for twenty-four hours and reported that her work in creating the base poison had been successful.

    Step one done, easy peasy.

    While Nuralie did her work, I did some wandmaking and talked with Etja about the limits of using the Hysteria fragment.

    ¡°The biggest problem is that when I use it, I¡¯m not really me anymore,¡± she said. ¡°My thoughts get all hazy and all I wanna do is consume stuff. Aside from that, it¡¯s really hard on my mana matrix, so if I use it for too long it¡¯ll probably kill me. Oh, it also feels like I¡¯m kind of channeling Hysteria, and I get this really strong urge to play pranks on people. But not fun pranks. Pranks like tricking somebody into eating a cake made from their friend¡¯s face or something.¡±

    ¡°That does sound worrying,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to incorporate the fragment better,¡± she said. ¡°I can eat away at the edges and it¡¯s making my unique intrinsic skills go up really fast, but I¡¯ve barely made a dent in the thing.¡±

    ¡°Is using it to go super Etja for this alchemy stuff going to be a problem?¡±

    ¡°I think I can handle it,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve recovered from the last time I used it, and I picked all my new evolutions to help with something like this. My command over my mana is way stronger, my focus and willpower get a big boost while I¡¯m using my Mirtasian Cadence, and I can learn how to resist anything I¡¯ve used Incorporate on.¡±

    She looked over and met my eyes. ¡°Even with all of that,¡± she continued, ¡°I also think you should be using Reveal on me the whole time, focusing on how you see me. The normal me, that is. It¡¯ll probably help keep me from losing myself in the rush.¡±

    I agreed, and we spent some time exchanging tips on mana shaping before the big event.

    Creating the finished product was pretty dramatic. Varrin was there for moral support and to try and help contain Etja if anything went wrong. The mage spent several minutes performing her Mirtasian Cadence, her body flowing to a perfect rhythm as she hummed, sinking herself deep into a trance-like state. Her skin began to glow with a rainbow sheen, and the mana rolling off her grew in intensity until it was enough to make me uncomfortable.

    The room Nuralie had set up was built to isolate itself from the Dimensional mana in the Closet. It would contain the specific mana types Nuralie was trying to imbue into her products, which in this case were Spiritual and Divine. Etja¡¯s presence filled the chamber, while Nuralie had sanctified bones smoldering in braziers throughout the room. She assured me that whoever had donated the bones had done so voluntarily, and instructed me to ignore the haunting whispers.

    I might have been able to do that if they¡¯d been the only things whispering weird shit into my brain. Nuralie poured a generous helping of Abbandium into her main cauldron, which lowered everyone¡¯s Spiritual defenses and opened us up to whatever eldritch entity used the strange metal to communicate.

    Nuralie was using some of the Abbandium material to create the final product, which would be a set of very tiny scalpels for Varrin to use. Abbandium¡¯s natural ability to lower Spiritual defense made for an excellent tool when cutting through someone¡¯s soul.

    I asked why we weren¡¯t going for needles, which would presumably do a lot less harm, to which Varrin reminded me he was a Blades prodigy, not a Needles prodigy. It didn¡¯t really matter that much in the end, since Abbandium items could transform at will. If we happened across a master of acupuncture, we could change the tools to suit them without trouble.

    Nuralie deposited the base liquid she¡¯d spent days creating without rest, which further filled the room with poisonous fumes. She opened the Grimoire, and the following hour was filled with chanting, bursts of infernal fire coming from somewhere I couldn¡¯t identify, Nuralie stirring, prodding, seasoning, and even tasting the shit in her cauldron, all while Etja had her in a firm soul hug and channeled heaps of Divine energy into the brew.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    My Sage Advice evolution activated three different times during the process, burning all of my charges and giving Nuralie a massive boost to her Alchemy skill throughout. I was pretty sure one of the spirits in the sanctified bones possessed me while I doled out this alchemical wisdom because I had no idea what the fuck I was talking about and couldn¡¯t remember three-fourths of it afterward.

    At the end of the hour, I spent several minutes guiding Etja back down from her avatar-ness using a more forceful application of Reveal than I¡¯d been maintaining during the crafting process. She came out of it no worse for wear, but I decided there and then that this ¡®ability¡¯ wasn¡¯t something that should ever be used in an uncontrolled environment. We¡¯d gotten lucky when she¡¯d used it against Hysteria, but I wasn¡¯t sure any of us had an answer if she lost control of herself while transformed.

    It made me a bit nervous about having that power running through me. What would Hysteria-Arlo want to do if I couldn¡¯t handle the power? Would I tell some shitty jokes, or would I call up the Dread Star and ask it for a joke that would kill anyone who heard it, and then work out how to use Grotto¡¯s PSA evolution to psychically broadcast that joke into the heads of anyone I¡¯d ever met and didn¡¯t like?

    I¡¯d rather not find out what I was like with zero impulse control.

    Regardless, the experiment was a success, and we got something that would need to be cast into oblivion once we were done with it.

    Abbandium Scalpel of Spiritual Necrosis

    All damage dealt by this item is converted to Spectral damage.

    This item will affect incorporeal entities as though they were not incorporeal.

    This item ignores Deific damage reduction.

    Whenever this item deals damage to an entity, it is afflicted with Spiritual Necrosis. Spiritual Necrosis will rapidly destroy the affected portion of the soul.

    The effects of Spiritual Necrosis will vary based on the specific region of the soul destroyed but can include the debuffs Berserk, Blinded, Deafened, Drained, Exhausted, Feared, Paralyzed, Paranoid, Psychosis, Stunned, Stupefied, Weakened, and Unconscious. This may also result in limited amnesia, temporary personality changes, mood swings, depression, confusion, or other serious adverse mental health effects.

    Severe Spiritual Necrosis can lead to Spiritual Untethering. Spiritual Untethering occurs when the soul suffers significant disruption and is no longer capable of maintaining a tether to the physical body. Spiritual Untethering is in all cases fatal.

    Based on the crafter¡¯s skill, this item has been granted 2 Divinity Bonuses.

    Chosen Divinity Bonuses:

    Soul Death: This item ignores all Spiritual DR, resistance, and immunity. So long as the target has a soul, this scalpel can cut it. All Spiritual attacks against the wielder of this item have Penetration.

    Soul Surgeon: The wielder of this item has an acute understanding of the health and wellness of any soul this item has harmed.

    This is a semi-Fleeting item and will degrade after multiple uses. Number of uses available: 95

    The process had resulted in three of the scalpels, which gave us more than enough uses to hit each member of the party thirty-six times.

    ¡°Maybe we should try and figure something else out,¡± I said after reading the item¡¯s description.

    ¡°Ninety-five is an oddly specific number,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°It is the sum of my Intelligence plus my Alchemy skill,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The arrows only had a single use, so this is an acceptable improvement.¡± Pause. ¡°But I would prefer to be able to make something permanent.¡±

    Varrin held up one of the tiny blades and peered at its edge. It looked comically small in his giant hands. ¡°Could you make a larger blade using this process? The effects are extraordinary, but the weapon¡¯s size allows for very little damage.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking for a sword that should be classified as a war crime,¡± I said.

    ¡°It would take a great deal more resources,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°And power. The effects are potent because the item is not meant to cause much harm. Each scalpel required a diamond chip in addition to everything else. A dagger would likely require multiple sapphire chips and an order of magnitude more Divine energy. Even if I had the materials, it is beyond my capabilities.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow at that price tag. Sapphire was the seldom-discussed chip grade between diamond and a void sphere. They could only be found in high-level Platinum Delves, and the number of crafters with the skill to use them was in the single digits. They were a currency of the elite¡¯s elite.

    Varrin grunted as he carefully laid the scalpel back down. ¡°That is a high cost for something with limited uses.¡±

    *****

    We didn¡¯t have to wait long for Xim to return alongside our Delve Core pals. Throne was in an unusually subdued mood on returning, while Grotto seemed unaffected by whatever chat they¡¯d had with the goddess.

    Xim pulled a small wrapped package from her inventory and handed it to me.

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia said thanks for the letter,¡± she said.

    I tore the wrapping off the package and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid. I uncorked it and gave it a sniff, then inspected it.

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Apple Juice

    Apple Juice made by the Goddess of the Seven Organs.

    The second-best juice you¡¯ve ever had.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I said, grinning. ¡°Much appreciated. Did you get what you needed?¡±

    ¡°Yes?¡± she said.

    ¡°Okay, that one¡¯s definitely a question and not a statement.¡±

    ¡°I can keep the energy from killing you,¡± she said. ¡°I think. But it¡¯ll be up to you to direct it into your Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Sight.¡±

    ¡°Right. How do I do that?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been using your Soul-Sight non-stop for months now.¡±

    ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°And you¡¯ve been working it really hard lately, digging into everyone¡¯s souls.¡±

    ¡°That is accurate.¡±

    ¡°Do you feel like you¡¯re on the cusp of learning a new fundamental truth about reality?¡±

    ¡°I mean, I¡¯ve learned several fundamental truths about my closest allies.¡±

    Xim let out a small sigh. ¡°I¡¯m really asking,¡± she said. ¡°If the revelation is on the cusp of advancing, then you might be able to direct the energy without even thinking about it. You¡¯ve tilled and seeded the soil of your comprehension and we¡¯ll be handing you a thunderstorm. I can keep the winds from destroying your field, but you¡¯ll need to direct the rain.¡±

    I thought back on my weeks of practice. It didn¡¯t feel like some sudden burst of understanding was trying to jump out at me, but I had learned quite a lot of new information about souls. It was possible that all of that new data would synthesize into an unexpected realization, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that was something I¡¯d feel coming along ahead of time.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make it work,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ve been using my Soul-Sight so much that I can drop into a flow state pretty easily. Maybe that¡¯s not what you mean about being on the cusp of something new, but maybe that¡¯s what it means for me.¡±

    ¡°Good enough,¡± she said. ¡°So when are we doing this?¡±

    I glanced around at the group. ¡°Does right fuckin¡¯ now work for everyone?¡± My question was met by unanimous and eager assent.

    ¡°Who will I be slicing first?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Me,¡± I said. ¡°Will you be referring to it as slicing throughout?¡±

    ¡°It is what it is,¡± he said. ¡°Why are you going first?¡±

    ¡°The whole reason we need to juice my Sight with avatar soul is so that I can see the shit that¡¯s keeping me from seeing the shit. If my shit is eliminated, then I won¡¯t need to keep getting injected with the Hysteria fragment to see everyone else¡¯s shit.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°You are also the least likely to die,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°That¡¯s an additional consideration,¡± I said. ¡°Either way, first thing¡¯s first. Gotta get an elder god to do a little remodeling in my metaphysical self.¡±

    I opened my Dimensional Magic evolutions and accepted Heavenly Gates.

 233 - Gatekeeping

    After accepting the Heavenly Gates evolution, the world went black.

    Not entirely unexpected.

    I felt a tugging in my chest, like someone had applied a local anesthetic and was opening me up. A presence washed over me, a shadow seen through closed eyes. A jolt of static pulsed through my veins as a connection was made. Minutes passed while I felt these strange sensations.

    I was taken by emotions that weren¡¯t my own. I bent a rule to enforce a rule that had been broken, but made the change as the one who makes the rules. The exception was accepted.

    I did as I wished, but would not do what was never wished for. A fraction of this cycle had been marked by invasion into my realm. A threshold had been reached. A subject was chosen and the offer made. Acceptance collapses alternatives.

    His will shall be my own, and my will shall be as his.

    I opened my eyes to see everyone looking at me.

    ¡°Well?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Are you going to accept the evolution?¡±

    ¡°I, uh, I did.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± she said. ¡°I thought you¡¯d disappear or the walls would turn into galaxies and try to talk to us or something.¡± She crossed her arms. ¡°Kind of a letdown.¡±

    ¡°How long was I standing here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°In what regard?¡± said Varrin. ¡°You said ¡®Gotta get an elder god to do a little remodeling¡¯, looked at us for a few seconds, and then Xim asked if you were going to get on with it.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Well, I experienced some emotional blending in the void for several minutes during those three seconds.¡±

    I gave the crew a rundown, then did a bit of soul-diving on myself. I couldn¡¯t find any obvious changes. So I decided to test some magic.

    I used Shortcut. Normally, a lightning-quick tear would form in space ahead of me, shunting me through to my destination. Now, there was no obvious effect of any kind. I wanted to be somewhere else, and there I was.

    The upgraded Reckless version of the spell normally came with a crackling sound that grew in intensity the farther I teleported. I checked the skill¡¯s description and found several changes.

    Dreadful Shortcut

    Dimensional - Deific

    Cost: 5 mana

    Cooldown: Variable

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic 40, Sacrament of the Dread Star

    Pass through the void and teleport to a place you can see within a number of feet equal to 500 times your Dimensional Magic skill level. This skill¡¯s cooldown is based on the distance traveled, with a minimum cooldown of 1 second if the distance is less than or equal to 5 times your Dimensional Magic skill level in feet, up to a cooldown of 1 hour when traveling the maximum distance.

    Sacrament of the Dread Star

    Whenever you use a teleport or portal skill, you may spend 1 stack of Blessed to reduce the mana or stamina cost of that skill to 0. Additional stacks of Blessed must be spent for each effect that increases the resource cost of that teleport or portal, such as a mana shape, doubling the Blessed required with each additional effect.

    That was interesting. The spell no longer hurt me when using it for large distances and it no longer had any visual or auditory effects. Both of those had been restrictions that allowed me to customize the spell during a time of severe brain damage.

    In some ways, the auditory effect had been a benefit. It was attention-grabbing, which suited my role in the party. I hadn¡¯t intended to add the self-damage or thunderous arrival to the spell, but their addition had (only) almost killed me a couple of times. Either way, I was happy enough to lose the effects if it meant I wouldn¡¯t accidentally shred my organs when moving across large distances.

    My theory for why it changed had to do with the nature of Deific effects. Reckless Shortcut had harmed me because it let me ¡°tear through the cracks between dimensions,¡± which was a strain if I went too far too fast. That was, in essence, a force that interfered with the spell. Dreadful Shortcut instead let me pass through ¡°the void¡±. I supposed that since there was nothing in the void, and that I was doing it with the literal god of the void¡¯s blessing, I was no longer bending any rules. Even if I did encounter another oppositional force, it probably wouldn¡¯t affect me unless it too was a Deific effect.

    With a Dimensional Magic skill of 41 and my Deijin¡¯s Path ring increasing my teleport range, I could now pop across 6.2 miles in a single jump, assuming I could see my destination.

    The Sacrament of the Dread Star was also an unexpected but welcome addition. Using Shortcut with the Bubble mana shape¨Cto take everyone nearby along with me¨Ccost twenty-five mana if I wanted to teleport the entire party. Now I could do it for two stacks of Blessed. I couldn¡¯t generate Blessed on my own, but I got plenty when fighting alongside Xim. My mana pool had been an issue during Throne¡¯s Delve, partially from how much mana I could throw into Explosion! but also from blowing so much mana on teleports. Anything that cut my costs was a solid benefit.

    Etja created a mana dead zone with Nullify and I tested its effect with Oblivion Orb. The spell was automatically countered. I cast Shortcut and it went off without a hitch.

    I opened the exit portal to the Closet, finding it faster and smoother than normal. We were blasted by a wave of frigid air, but I ignored the rapidly forming frost in my beard to examine the edge of the portal. It was ringed by a small layer of perfect darkness. I ran my hand through it and felt something tugging at my skin, but it was otherwise insubstantial. I closed the portal before everyone got mad at me for letting in a draft. The evolution previously required a minute of concentration, which could be sped by pumping some mana into it. That delay was now gone.

    [I am not seeing any overt changes to your mana matrix, although the skill imprints are slightly altered. There was a spark of Divine energy when you teleported and again when you opened the Closet portal.]

    ¡°All right,¡± I said. ¡°The Dread Star isn¡¯t opening portals on my behalf; I¡¯m still the one doing it. Whatever makes them Deific is running through my soul, which is what we wanted to see, yeah?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    [It is too early to draw any firm conclusions, but preliminary results are promising.]

    ¡°Welp. Now that I¡¯m basically a god, let¡¯s go carve some mind-fuckery out of our souls.¡±

    *****

    The chosen location for our avatar-fueled soul surgery was a giant pile of dirt.

    The reason there was a large and ever-growing pile of dirt in the Closet was that Grotto had put some of Closetland¡¯s growth strategies into action.

    Our journey to uncover the truth within ourselves had thus far taken two entire months, giving Grotto enough time to use some of the thousands of essences Avarice had given us in payment for ¡®capturing¡¯ Hysteria. Grotto had ideas for how to combine these essences into large mana arrays that would slowly convert ambient mana into specific compounds we wanted. One compound any nation needed was some fine, high-quality dirt.

    It was missing some of the old organic fertilizer to really make it stand out plant food, but we had plenty of ideas for how to solve that problem. Grotto had lots of monsters to rear¨Cbig monsters¨Cwhich would inevitably lead to lots of big poops. Might as well take advantage.

    We stood and watched as the mana array two hundred feet above us released a constant stream of moist soil, which cascaded down onto the pile before us. It was like a tiny wizard was constantly casting a summon earth spell, but it was all automated.

    Xim cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°This is what you consider to be the seat of your power?¡± she asked.

    ¡°My seat of power is typically mobile,¡± I said, patting my backside. ¡°But if we¡¯re looking for a stable location, this is it.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you walk us through your thought process.¡±

    I gave my beard a thoughtful rub. ¡°The Closet is the closest thing to a home I have,¡± I said. ¡°My underground house back in Foundation is a joke, and as much as I appreciate your parents taking me into the tribe, I¡¯ve only spent a few months within the Third Layer. The Closet is with me anywhere I go, and until recently I had a pretty good living space as well. My life outside is wandering and unstable, but here I can create anything I¡¯d ever need.¡±

    ¡°I understand the Closet,¡± said Xim. ¡°But why this pile of dirt, specifically?¡±

    ¡°You know, I had other symbolism for the Closet lined up to talk about,¡± I said. ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll skip ahead. Actually, I¡¯ll weave it all together. The Closet is a dimensional space that resonates with my attunement, my journey from Earth to Arzia, and my general life philosophy. It is a space of endless growth and potential. The space it creates is initially empty, except for some breathable air. It¡¯s up to me to seize that potential and turn it into something useful. I can also share with my allies to offer them utility or empowerment.

    ¡°Dirt is foundational for growth and building. Soil represents the cycle of life as things grow and then die and decay into the dirt. It¡¯s a strong, supportive element, often overlooked and taken for granted.¡± I pointed up at the mana weave. ¡°Now, we have this essential building block of a sustainable ecosystem continuously created from the conversion of Dimensional mana. It expands endlessly to improve the Closet¡¯s potential, mirroring the Closet¡¯s own growth. It is the first domino in a self-propelling chain of construction, one that will allow my home to become anything we need it to be.¡±

    The group took that in for a moment.

    ¡°That explanation has several competing themes,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°The throughline is a bit¡­ muddy.¡± Etja delivered her criticism with a playful smile.

    ¡°Do you feel taken for granted?¡± Varrin asked.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I feel that I am full of possibilities.¡±

    ¡°Well, those are all pretty good reasons,¡± said Xim. ¡°I thought you¡¯d just picked the dirtiest place you could think of to make some kind of back alley surgery pun.¡±

    ¡°Is there such a thing as soul bacteria?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We have a soul infection, do we not?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Germ theory is very new,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°We should not confuse ourselves by making strained comparisons.¡±

    ¡°Do we need to be in the dirt for this to work?¡± asked Varrin. Xim shot me a questioning look.

    ¡°Gods, I hope not,¡± I said. ¡°I hate having dirt all over me. In fact, everyone make sure to take off your shoes before we head back to the situation room.¡±

    Xim nodded and we marched a hundred feet away from the growing pile, to a location where the floor had only gotten a tad dusty.

    ¡°My contribution will primarily be a ritual, empowered by a revelation,¡± she said. ¡°Both will work together to guide the Divine energy generated by the Hysteria fragment, tempering it to give Arlo the best chance at absorbing it. He can¡¯t tap into the energy the way Etja can, even while Etja does her soul hug since he wasn¡¯t originally designed to be possessed by the specter of an avatar.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t all be perfect,¡± said Etja, patting me on the shoulder.

    ¡°Etja¡¯s ability to harness the fragment is mainly a result of two things,¡± Xim continued. ¡°She can keep it in her soul without exploding, and she can ¡®digest¡¯ the power using Incorporate. Incorporate is helped along by her avatar heritage and specially crafted golem physiology, evolutions, Divine Magic skill, and so on.

    ¡°To mirror this, Arlo needs to draw the fragment¡¯s energy into his soul before it can empower his Soul Sight. He doesn¡¯t need to hold the entire fragment in his soul, since we only care about drawing enough Deific power to supercharge his Sight. He just needs to connect with it. Then, if he wants to use that energy, he needs to digest it in a way that¡¯s similar to Etja¡¯s Incorporate ability.¡±

    ¡°Arlo¡¯s attunement is Dimensional,¡± said Varrin. ¡°He cannot even practice Spiritual or Divine magicks, which sound like they will be critical here. Is that going to be a problem?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but no,¡± said Xim. ¡°From an attunement standpoint, he couldn¡¯t be a worse choice for this.¡±

    ¡°My confidence in this procedure is waning,¡± I said.

    ¡°Fortunately, we can side-step the attunement problems,¡± said Xim. ¡°We¡¯re not dealing with mana, and we¡¯re not trying to use one of Arlo¡¯s skills. The fragment generates a lot of Divine mana, but Divine mana isn¡¯t what¡¯s going to allow Arlo¡¯s Soul Sight to gain some level of temporary Deific strength. It¡¯s the spark of divinity within the fragment that¡¯s important, along with Arlo¡¯s understanding of the soul. While having access to Divine and Spiritual magicks would help, what¡¯s more important is Arlo¡¯s relationship to divinity itself and his comprehension of his own soul.¡±

    Xim crossed her arms and gave me a look I couldn¡¯t quite decipher. ¡°Right now, Arlo is a second-stage revelator, which is the mark of someone with an exceptionally close relationship with one or more divine beings. On top of that, both of his revelations deal with the soul. From that standpoint, Arlo is an exceptional choice for this.¡±

    ¡°My confidence no longer wanes,¡± I said, standing up straighter. ¡°I might even say it waxes.¡±

    ¡°When Arlo uses Reveal, he connects directly with the soul of his target,¡± Xim went on. ¡°This connection primarily flows from Arlo to the person he¡¯s using Reveal on, but Arlo is naturally getting feedback from the other person¡¯s soul as well.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I said.

    ¡°Arlo has also had experience connecting with the soul fragment of a divine avatar using Reveal.¡±

    ¡°Not the best experience,¡± I said, thinking back to our fight with the specter of Orexis.

    The specter had been convinced that it was the real Orexis, and I¡¯d used Reveal to expose it to my perception of it as a minion of the true avatar. Forcing the specter to confront the disposable nature of its existence helped to destabilize its psyche enough to help us prevail. However, touching the specter with Reveal had been like falling into a black hole of unending, noxious hunger.

    ¡°You want me to use Reveal on the Hysteria fragment?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Can he do that?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°Is the fragment sentient?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a living piece of a soul,¡± said Xim. ¡°It should work, regardless of the level of self-awareness the soul possesses. Using Reveal will create the bridge between Arlo¡¯s soul and the fragment. Once that¡¯s established, I will use a ritual of the Stomach to help draw the divine essence across that bridge.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s the ritual work?¡± I asked.

    ¡°How deep of an explanation do you want?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Will having an advanced understanding improve our chances of success?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. But you aren¡¯t going to gain an advanced understanding in an afternoon.¡±

    ¡°I see. One-hour presentation?¡±

    Xim shrugged and nodded, but I could tell she was excited to be in her element.

 234 - Dreamscape Ritual

    Xim rarely got to dive deeply into theological matters with the full party. She and Nuralie had frequent discussions on the topic, and Etja got involved from time to time, but Varrin and I lacked the depth of knowledge they had and weren¡¯t generally looking to attend any sermons.

    Not to say that Xim was preachy¨Cfar from it¨Cand the following discussion reflected that. She stuck to the concepts that related to our task, focusing on the practical aspects of the ritual and how it intersected with the other divine principles we were working with.

    We began with some context, reviewing topics we were all familiar with while coming at the material from an unfamiliar angle.

    Sam¡¯lia was the Goddess of the Seven Organs, and as a deity, she was profoundly divisible. Not only was she one of an unknowable number of sisters, all of whom managed their own version of the Third Layer throughout reality, but her Arzian manifestation could be viewed in eight different ways.

    The first was Sam¡¯lia as an entire entity, the motherly blood goddess ruling over a realm of mind and dream, both loving and vengeful. Beyond that was each organ itself¨Cthe Eye, Brain, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Heart, and Stomach. Each organ represented different ideals and was in charge of different things within the Third Layer.

    Sam¡¯lian religious practices generally divided themselves among these eight categories and each of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s revelations was associated with one of the seven organs. Both of my revelations were of the Eye, for example. Xim¡¯s beast mode came from a Revelation of the Heart, and her manipulation of Divine fire came from a Revelation of the Stomach. She also divulged during the lesson that she¡¯d finally realized a Revelation of the Brain, and I expected she was going for the full set of seven, one from each organ. That was a feat that hadn¡¯t happened in living memory, but that discussion was beyond the purview of her lesson.

    Sam¡¯lian worship was heavily focused on ritual, especially in the Xor¡¯Drel tribe. These rituals were generally divided into the eight categories, depending on their purpose. The ritual used to adopt me into the tribe was classed as a general ritual, relating to Sam¡¯lia as a whole and her general motherliness. Xim used the Ritual of the Eye to transition to and from the Third Layer since all of the Third Layer lies under the gaze of the Eye and everything under the gaze of the Eye lies within the Third Layer.

    Going even deeper, each organ could be further broken down into three duties. While the Eye sees, reveals, and embraces, the Stomach hungers, consumes, and separates. The ritual Xim planned to use involved all three of the Stomach¡¯s duties. She would also incorporate ritualistic elements from other organs to help guide the process, but that was getting into minutiae that¨Conce again¨Cwent deeper than our crash course allowed.

    The first stage of the ritual established a target for the Stomach¡¯s hunger¨Ca portion of the fragment¡¯s Divine essence¨Cwhich if successful would mark it for consumption since all that the Stomach hungered for could be consumed. Consumption was the process of bringing that which is hungered for into the desired vessel, which would guide the Divine essence across my connection with the fragment and into my soul. Separation dealt with breaking something down into essential elements, either physically or conceptually, so that the thing being consumed could be properly absorbed by the vessel. That was the trickiest part for me since I would need to focus the ritual on providing me with useful essence to stuff into my Soul-Sight, culled of any nasty Hysteria baggage.

    Separation was both a literal and metaphorical process for the Stomach. One could separate carbohydrates from vitamins in a cheeseburger to send them off as nourishment for different parts of the body, or one could separate fact from fiction in a skewed historical treatise to decide what knowledge was useful for the mind to utilize. These things were as much a framework for a life philosophy as they were actionable magic processes that could be deployed.

    Either way, that was only one part of Xim¡¯s plan. The second part involved her fancy new revelation.

    ¡°When I sleep, I enter a realm created by Sam¡¯lia where I can commune with her and other worshipers,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°That¡¯s how you stopped Gharifon from forcing you to stay asleep while Tavio beat my ass,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do we believe Gharifon was a divine spawn at that time?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s why I got avatar vibes after Xim set the man on fire,¡± I answered. ¡°From what the Littans said after they outed him as a spy, he seems to have been the divine spawn of Hysteria.¡±

    ¡°And Xim still resisted him,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I had not considered the implications of that.¡±

    ¡°Goddess beats avatar spawn,¡± said the cleric. ¡°By intruding on the dream, Gharifon intruded on a space where Sam¡¯lia¨Cand even I¨Chave greater dominion than we do in the First. My Revelation of the Brain allows me to summon that dreamscape into the world around me for a brief time.¡±

    ¡°Where have I heard dominion used that way before?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Fortune asked for dominion over Anesis,¡± said Etja. ¡°When he wanted to teleport her out of The Cage. Orexis surrendered it.¡±

    ¡°So it is a term of art,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°It¡¯s essentially absolute authority over something,¡± said Xim. ¡°Either the thing itself or some aspect of it. Sam¡¯lia has dominion over the Third Layer since she can control everything within it. She surrenders dominion to Third Layer denizens so we can shape the world.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed. ¡°That revelation sounds like it could be useful, but is that any different from just being in the Third?¡±

    ¡°The dream where I commune with Sam¡¯lia is very personal,¡± she said. ¡°My will is not in contest with other tribe members or the wilds themselves. It¡¯s in harmony with Sam¡¯lia, built around the things I seek guidance for, and grants me more dominion than I would have in the Third Layer directly. It also doesn¡¯t affect anyone outside of it.¡±

    ¡°Unless you summon it into the world,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then it becomes either a contest or collaboration with whoever is brought into it,¡± said Xim. ¡°We¡¯ll be doing both. I spent much of my time in the Third developing a space that will empower the Stomach¡¯s ritual, hopefully allowing us to contest the fragment¡¯s dominion over itself while within the dreamscape. The collaborative part will be with you, Arlo. The dreamscape¡¯s ultimate purpose is communion, so it should help you meditate more deeply on your revelations.¡±

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Would it not be easier to simply go to the Third Layer?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°If Sam¡¯lia is guiding this process, there is nowhere her influence would be stronger.¡±

    ¡°No one wants an avatar fragment in the village,¡± Xim replied. ¡°Right now we¡¯re isolated, and there¡¯s no reason to invite an avatar in, even a piece of one. Sam¡¯lia would eject it immediately. Beyond that, Sam¡¯lia isn¡¯t guiding the ritual. Not in the way you¡¯re talking about. Her influence will be strengthened, but Arlo¡¯s revelations are his own. Doing it here, in the Closet and in the place that represents Arlo¡¯s greatest concentration of strength, will be more impactful than taking him someplace where his authority is diminished.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying I have dominion over the Closet?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± said Xim. ¡°Dominion is in the province of divinity. It¡¯s not something a mortal can achieve without divine assistance, but your influence here is about as close as you can get to dominion without being a god. However, summoning the dreamscape might be enough to push you closer since Sam¡¯lia and I will be lending you assistance.

    ¡°Basically, we¡¯re going to try and combine your seat of power with the dreamscape to give us very limited dominion over the space within the ritual circle. At the very least, it should diminish any dominion that the fragment has. Hopefully, it will be enough for you to draw what you need from the fragment.¡±

    There was a lull in the conversation, and I took a breath.

    ¡°Alright, guess I¡¯m sold,¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s set everything up and get going.¡±

    *****

    Xim¡¯s ritual supplies were simple. She laid out dark, squirming symbols painted in ink and blood, mixing in a touch of my top-tier dirt. The ritual circle had a twenty-foot diameter, but the sigils had plenty of space between them to breathe, which they did with enthusiasm. There was a sense of eagerness emanating from the scrawl.

    We spent a week practicing the ritual so that I could get comfortable with the experience. Xim could summon it once and had to dream before she could use it again. It was an odd cooldown but that¡¯s how revelations do. Each time she dreamed she had to reconstruct the dreamscape, which allowed her to fine-tune some things once she saw how it interacted with my presence. After the week, we both felt our efficiency gains were diminishing exponentially, so it was time to just go ahead and do the thing.

    Xim sat at the center of a freshly inscribed and respirating ritual circle. Etja and I stood on either side of the cleric, facing one another. Varrin loomed behind me, soul-shredding scalpel in hand, ready to carve me up. Nuralie was positioned outside of the circle with potions ready in case of a catastrophic fuck up. Grotto monitored my vitals and observed our soul connection from within his control room.

    The Core was not looking forward to whatever feedback this was about to send across our Shared Fate connection, but he was dedicated to making sure it was a success. It probably wouldn¡¯t be the kind of thing we¡¯d want to repeat.

    ¡°I can hold the dreamscape and guide the ritual for three minutes,¡± said Xim. She¡¯d mentioned it several times already, but she was erring on the side of redundancy. We¡¯d done a few dry runs with everyone present during our practice, working every aspect of the process that we could without burning through any of our limited resources.

    This was the most complex intersection of magic and skill we¡¯d ever tried, and the only way to really test it was to make a full-fledged attempt. I found myself growing anxious in a way I seldom did anymore. Even when our lives were on the line in the midst of a battle, I drew confidence from our strategies and preparation. Our ability to adapt in a fight had been well-tested, and we had plans on top of plans for when we might need to pivot.

    Here, we were pushing the envelope of several abilities, all of which had to operate flawlessly for us to succeed, with no good way to practice the entire procedure beforehand.

    I quelled my nerves and centered myself. I took a deep breath, let it out through my nose, and signaled Xim to start.

    Xim began chanting, waving her scepter in patterns that mirrored the sigils on the ground. Her hand adjusted to the subtle wiggling of the runes, even as she held her eyes tightly shut. The sounds of her whispers were like creeping centipedes crawling into my ear canal. All other noises were cowed by her words, the world a silent stage for her disquieting call.

    Xim¡¯s body grew, a phantom image of her presence washing out to the edges of the ritual circle. I felt her revelation pull me in, and I fought against the instinct to stumble forward. The pull was a hallucination of my mind as it failed to process the journey into her dreamscape.

    An organic material grew from the floor, surrounding us in a pulsating wall of flesh filled with ruby light. Although the substance appeared solid, the world beyond it was still visible. We occupied two spaces, one spiritual and one physical. I fell back on processing Xim¡¯s summoning with my soul, as I had learned to do with my Sight. Etja and Varrin struggled with the dual inputs while they relied on their physical brains to process the information, but they could adapt well enough to do what they needed.

    The pulsing grew louder, falling into rhythm with a powerful thudding from above. We were wrapped in the Stomach, guided by the Heart, and shown the path by the Brain. Everything was in place.

    Etja opened her soul and held me in it, a second layer of spiritual presence further cocooning me into the embrace of my allies. She brought forth the fragment, pulled from its separate partition, and I shuddered as it confronted me with its mania.

    I focused on the ritual, drawing comfort from the Closet¡¯s environment, the work we¡¯d done, and the presence of Xim and Etja helping to guide me. I pushed back against the fragment, seizing its assault on my mind and arresting it in place.

    A soft giggle escaped me, although I found no humor in what we were doing. Someone else was chuckling into my lips. I opened my Sight fully to the fragment, awash in its rainbow hues as I confronted it. I peeled back layer after layer, the speck of avatar endlessly dense. It was a shadow of infinity, but I¡¯d confronted true infinity on more than one occasion. This was a pretense. It felt small.

    The fragment dimmed and rested, uninterested in fighting my gaze. My cheeks burned from the force of my grin, and I wiped the stranger¡¯s smile from my face.

    I connected to the fragment with Reveal. It pushed back, but it was a token struggle. It let the connection take hold, as though it were eager to meld with me. I pushed my thoughts into it, fervently believing in the control I had over my realm. We¡¯d struggled and prevailed against Hysteria, their full self, and this was an infinitesimal shard of that being. It held no sway here.

    The fragment and I sighed. The shard melted to reshape itself to my whim.

    I felt Grotto in my head, adjusting my neurochemicals. A feverish excitement dulled in my chest. I became aware of the fragment¡¯s essence crossing over into my soul.

    Xim¡¯s voice rose in volume, her whispers becoming a sonorous ringing, pulsing in time with the Heart. A growl erupted from the Stomach as it found its prey, the weight of its desire falling upon the fragment¡¯s thread like a pack of malnourished lampreys. The fragment glimmered and a torrent of power poured into me, being drawn by a carnal lust, willing and insatiable.

    I saw an opportunity. Something I hadn¡¯t expected. My control was much greater than I¡¯d anticipated. The fragment was meek, subservient, bowing to my tyrant¡¯s will.

    I could take more of it.

    I could draw from it until it was a dried-out husk.

    I saw another piece of divinity that I could command for myself.

 235 - Soul Carving

    I felt cold water on my face and realized that Nuralie had thrown something at me. I opened my eyes and glanced at her, then down at the rag she¡¯d tossed. It smelled like spice and peppermint. I took a deep breath of the aroma, feeling my mind clear and realizing I¡¯d almost fallen for a trap.

    The fragment was chagrined, and we laughed it off. Then I continued to strip it of its identity, gnashing it between my teeth.

    My mind wheeled through a hundred ways I could manipulate my party members, then dug into how I could manipulate everyone else. This was an easier trap to avoid, since I already thought about that kind of thing a lot and chose to ignore it. Unless it was useful, of course. It should have tried a thought I hadn¡¯t already had before.

    Maybe it couldn¡¯t.

    I realized there was a back and forth going on. The fragment was pulling at threads that connected to something that was real about me. It wasn¡¯t manufacturing feelings, it was enhancing my more toxic social habits and the thrill of gaining power. My impulse was to reject it, but ignoring these things only made them worse. I¡¯d known that for a long time. It was something I¡¯d worked on extensively.

    I focused on acceptance and Xim¡¯s gentle voice led me to a memory. When I first encountered the Eye, it had stripped me bare and looked at everything I¡¯d ever done. Despite seeing all my flaws in a single glance, the Eye accepted me for what I was. A flawed person, working to become better.

    I was seen before I learned how to See. A separate point of view revealed my triumphs and imperfections before I learned to Reveal my own perspective to others. The final step of the Eye was to Embrace, and that thought sent me tumbling into myself.

    The fragment was doing something similar to the Eye, but it was corrupt, only focused on the impulses. There was no rhyme or reason to its desires, other than to satisfy its need for chaos. It saw something primal in my heart, showed it to me, and tried to force me to embrace it. I allowed it to grasp my arms and fold them around those impulses, but I reached out to hold the rest of me alongside it.

    This wasn¡¯t about resistance or rejection. Grit and raw willpower wouldn¡¯t save me. I confronted the fragment¡¯s naive view of emotion and Revealed to it the complexity of being. I was selfish and I was giving. I was angry and I was loving. I was manipulative and I was trusting.

    My cognitive dissonance dissolved. Both sides of me served when needed, and both sides could be good. My emotions were not wrong, they simply were.

    The fragment had no context for this. It was an alien thing, incapable of comprehending desires outside of its own. But it wasn¡¯t really desire that drove it. That was the wrong word. It was a mandate, an irresistible directive, inescapable programming emergent from its nature. My disgust held it at bay, and I put that aside so that it understood I was not here for violence. I was here to heal myself and my allies. The fragment, for all that it amplified my flaws, could help. I accepted it as I was accepted, and I brought it into my embrace along with everything else.

    The flood became a gentle stream as I began to take only what was needed.

    ¡°Two minutes,¡± Xim whispered.

    I¡¯d forgotten we were on a clock, and was surprised by how little time had passed. I turned my Sight inward, hunting for the distortions in my soul. I didn¡¯t even have to guide the fragment¡¯s power. It worked alongside me, and I saw everything that had been twisted.

    It was Hysteria. The realization hit me like a drug being filtered from my blood. Hysteria had done this to us. Of course they had! It was so obvious, and somehow we¡¯d been incapable of even considering it. They¡¯d even told us they were implanting us with commands while they¡¯d rattled on about assassinations or something. I was momentarily stunned by how profoundly my mind had been duped, but let the feeling dissolve. There would be time to process that later.

    Grotto helped lead me to the areas of my soul that we¡¯d identified. Fortunately, none had been missed. Thirty-six separate places where my experiences had been reweighted to create changes to my personality. The forced blind spots were the most gruesome to look at, like traumatic memories that my mind held at bay to keep me sane. Conclusions that would destroy my sense of self, held back by a powerful block of repression.

    With the locations mapped, I used Reveal to connect with Varrin. The big guy¡¯s soul shuddered as he accepted me into himself. My emotions were a tranquil ocean, and I¡¯d just dropped him into the deepest trench. He recovered quickly, able to lock onto the pieces of my perception that were relevant.

    Then he started slicing.

    The scalpel cut through my soul like a shard of ice. Bright and stinging pain gave way to numbness. I focused on my breathing as I watched small splotches of soul corrode and disappear. Dread welled up as I actively felt pieces of my identity vanish. It was thick and palpable, but I didn¡¯t allow it to break my peace with the fragment. I was aware of my health plummeting, though I ignored the numbers. I was alive and I would live.

    Varrin made the cuts in under thirty seconds. The poison finished its work moments after. My mood turned and plummeted, and my emotional stability was threatened by a spiral of despair and confusion.

    I leaned into my connection with the others, using them to stabilize.

    ¡°One minute.¡±

    Ostensibly, we were done, but I needed to check Varrin¡¯s work. I needed to see if the poison was successful. I crawled through the wounds in my soul, searching for the foreign influence that had held me in a strangled knot.

    Seconds ticked past as I studied the holes in my identity. At first, everything seemed to be stable, as much as it could be given the destructive nature of our task.

    Then I saw the faintest thread, a familiar scintilla of essence winding itself back into the emptiness in my soul. My pulse quickened and I felt Grotto throttle my adrenaline as I followed the energy back to its source. I flung my Sight back to the channel of power I was converting from the Hysteria fragment, but I lost the trail.

    I frantically scanned the energy coming through. I could feel my soul being stitched back together, a hack job being automatically triggered. It tugged at my past, reaching out to draw in new threads from different experiences. It was bypassing our work and doing more damage in an effort to reintegrate the changes we¡¯d just unwound.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    I realized the influence wasn¡¯t coming from the stream of power trickling into my soul, not the one I was harvesting deliberately. It was infiltrating, sneaking through my defenses. I looked at the fragment proper and saw a web of over a hundred reaching filaments strung out between everyone in the party.

    The fragment was maintaining the fuckery. Now it was repairing Varrin¡¯s work, and I was already struggling to remember that it was the culprit.

    Varrin shared my realization as I had it, instantly understanding what had to be done. The problem was that the fragment was still inside Etja¡¯s soul. Varrin could carve through her to reach it, but I was afraid of what would happen to the mage.

    Grotto psychically coordinated my thoughts with Etja and Varrin. I split my mind, handling the conversation on one side while clamping down onto the fragment with the other.

    ¡°Thirty seconds.¡±

    Etja didn¡¯t hesitate. She ejected the fragment from her soul, and it immediately tried to flee.

    Hysteria was overwhelmed by the need to escape, to rejoin their greater self. The fragment flexed its power and pushed against the constraints of Xim¡¯s dreamscape. It contested her control, but she wasn¡¯t alone. Her revelation allowed us to work in tandem, and we exercised our authority over the space to keep the fragment from breaking loose now that it was outside of Etja¡¯s containment.

    We couldn¡¯t bind it, but we could hold it steady. Varrin dashed forward with a scalpel, the other two held in his offhand. The tiny blades dealt very little damage, but they could slice through Deific resistance; Nuralie¡¯s toxin would utterly annihilate whatever they grazed.

    Varrin¡¯s arm blurred as he struck the fragment a hundred times and then a hundred times more. He flicked the first scalpel from his hand, and then the second, replacing each with impossible dexterity, his attacks never faltering. Flecks of the tiny droplet of avatar soul disappeared, corroded and decaying into oblivion. For a horrible second, I thought that it wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    As Varrin neared the end of the final scalpel¡¯s charges, the fragment of Hysteria¡¯s soul unraveled. I felt a final, miserable call as the avatar¡¯s essence reached out to me, begging for my acceptance. It wanted to shelter inside of me, use my soul to stitch its wounds.

    I understood it. I could not bring myself to hate the fragment for its nature, but it was a corruption on the world. I turned away from it and Xim swept up the fleck of soul with the final vestiges of the dreamscape¡¯s power. She muttered a soft prayer, and held out a hand to the fragment.

    I felt a river of divinity raging around us, something that was always there, but just out of sight. A realm that was intentionally kept separate, a universe of concepts driven to order without will.

    It was then that I truly understood one of the Dread Star¡¯s primary functions. It was a god of the gaps, and it was this gap that the avatars by their very nature violated.

    Xim gave the fragment a final, gentle push, sending it into the stream of divinity. Its identity dissolved into the waters of the divine, and it found the rest that it had never known to seek.

    The dreamscape faded. The ritual came to an end. I passed the fuck out.

    *****

    When I awoke, my thoughts were raw and oppressive. I felt a weight across my emotions, pressing me into the ground with an irresistible force. I was a speck facing down the magnitude of our actions, and I was struck by the thought of the sun swallowing me whole, ignorant that I¡¯d ever existed in the first place.

    ¡°Hey,¡± said Xim.

    I snapped out of my brief moment of existential dread and glanced over at the cleric. She sat on an exceptionally fluffy pillow beside me, appraising me. I was back in our living space, inside one of our sparsely furnished bedrooms, laying on a pile of thick blankets. There were a host of notifications waiting for my review, but I blinked them away for now.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to say anything else. Xim nodded, the fatigue in her expression a reflection of my own. The edges of her mouth pulled into a frown. For a moment I thought she might cry.

    ¡°Good news is I think it worked,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯s the bad news?¡± I asked, terrified of her response. I¡¯d never seen her so shaken. ¡°Is Etja okay?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s fine,¡± said Xim, then she shook her head. ¡°She wasn¡¯t hurt, I mean. She¡¯s upset, embarrassed that the fragment was keeping our heads screwed up, not that any of us blame her. It slipped through her immunity, so she was as blind to it as the rest of us.¡± She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. ¡°We¡¯re all okay. The bad news is that, since it worked, everyone¡¯s now dealing with our souls recovering from being absolutely, royally, just totally messed up.¡±

    She took a breath and glanced at the ceiling, then turned away. I was pretty sure she was crying.

    ¡°Is that why I¡¯m regretting being alive right now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hopefully,¡± she said, turning back and brushing the moisture from her cheek. ¡°If you regretted it for some other reason, you should let us know. This is¡­ it¡¯s not real.¡± Her shoulders slumped. ¡°It¡¯s real, but it¡¯s not real. We just need some time to get back to normal.¡±

    ¡°Well, this sucks,¡± I said. ¡°But objectively it¡¯s pretty great.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel great. But yeah.¡±

    We sat in silence for a minute.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the prescription while we wait for our souls to heal?¡± I asked.

    She shrugged. ¡°We need to be around some people we care about. Family, friends, to keep us stable. Remind us that it¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    I considered that. ¡°Guess we¡¯ve got a head start,¡± I said.

    Xim gave me a sad smile and she piled onto me with a mighty hug. We laid there together for a while. Eventually she sighed into my chest and stood. She held out a hand and I took it, allowing her to pull me to my feet. She locked me into another embrace.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay too.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t normally get scared,¡± she whispered. ¡°Realizing how much we¡¯d been changed¡­ it¡¯s terrifying. I really hate it.¡±

    I reached up and brushed the hair along the back of her head. ¡°It¡¯s all right. We¡¯re safe now. Safe as we can be with our lifestyles.¡±

    She chuckled, gave me a final back cracking squeeze, then let me go. ¡°I want to go home and see my parents,¡± she said. ¡°Varrin¡¯s going to head to Ravvenblaq manor. Nuralie and Etja are going to Eschengal to hang out with the Zenithars. Come with me back to the tribe?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± I said. ¡°Just let me pack a bag real quick.¡± I glanced around. ¡°Okay, done.¡±

    Xim didn¡¯t quite roll her eyes, but she smiled. ¡°Got your whole life everywhere you go,¡± she said.

    ¡°Like any good vagrant worth their salt.¡±

    ¡°Then let us vagrant the hells out of here.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s not a verb,¡± I said.

    ¡°Language is alive. I¡¯ll just decree it to be a verb.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. However, since I¡¯m the president of Closetland, I could pass a law decreeing that it¡¯s not a verb.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we¡¯re heading to the Third Layer,¡± Xim said, ¡°where I can have the tribe agree that it is a verb and literally alter reality so that it is.¡±

    ¡°Is that how that works? Seems a bit abstract.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m intentionally mystifying it so that you don¡¯t know my limits.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I bow to your verb-defining wisdom, great sage.¡±

    We stepped out of the bedroom to join with the others, prepared to divide and recover.

 236 - System Addendum #8 pt 1

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Imperative #1 - The System shall enable Delvers to ascend through the best means available.

    *****

    General Diathemon looked over the expansive field where a legion of his soldiers ran mobility drills. The Elder Lich studied their movements, pleased at the superhuman displays of speed and agility. He brought up a dark slate and peered at a readout of the nearest undead¡¯s preserved musculature.

    There was decay, of course, and significant mass had been lost to desiccation and dehydration, but the overall structure was adequate. There was a satisfactory system of mana veins capable of interfacing with the man¡¯s mana matrix, granting him the greater portion of the power he¡¯d earned in life. The shambling gait that had plagued the myriad undead created by his peers was absent, although some fine motor control had been lost.

    Diathemon was convinced that was unavoidable, however. A Delver¡¯s biology became redundant at a certain point, but the organic structures still provided a valuable medium for the animas. Simple movements could be managed through traditional caloric intake and expenditure, and the neurochemical processes of the brain were extraordinarily difficult to emulate entirely with spiritual constructs. Still, he was satisfied with his work.

    The core volunteers comprising the majority of his army had only seen a twenty percent degradation in motor capabilities, but it was more than made up for. After all, how many of these men and women could have run drills on the surface of the moon while alive? Without any specialized equipment, that is.

    Soldiers who didn¡¯t breathe, didn¡¯t bleed, ignored poison and cold, never felt fear, and could still wield the magicks they knew in life. Surely that was worth a bit of sloppy handwriting and the occasional bad footwork.

    The dark, armored forms rattled their way across the expanse of metallic beads that covered the thousand-mile-diameter housing for System Core 2. A pair of dimensionalists hovered overhead, making minor tweaks to the mana array that maintained a one to one match with the gravity of the planet overhead. The Lich watched their work, making mental notes for ways he could advise them on their spellcraft, then allowed his eyes to wander up to the roiling storms that served as their backdrop.

    The dark half of the world. He mused on the greatest mistake of the generation before him, preparing himself for the fools he would assuredly meet in this one. Striking such a wound upon the world was like trying to end an infection in one¡¯s arm by thrusting it into a bonfire. It was horribly effective, assuming the infection hadn¡¯t spread and one wished to experience the most painful amputation possible. Of course, such an injury presented its own complications; ones that might be worse than the infection itself.

    Death, for example.

    That generation also hadn¡¯t been treating an infection¨Calthough they¡¯d thought they were¨Cbut the avatars were more like an immortal plague than an infection. They weren¡¯t localized to an individual but dispersed in the environment. They tore through populations, leaving scores of dead in their wake. There was no cure, only prevention, and by the time disease had struck, it was too late.

    Overall, Diathemon and his disciples all agreed that leaving half the planet uninhabitable had been a bad move. Further, the Elder Lich had firmly believed that most people understood that leaving half the planet uninhabitable had been a bad move. He¡¯d figured that sane individuals realized taking potentially planet-killing actions was a bad move all around. He¡¯d been naive to hold that belief.

    While the generation before him had scorched half the planet, his own generation had only managed to drop a moon on it. Most of the land mass was still inhabitable, so as far as apocalypses went, it was a poor showing. Not that an apocalypse had been the goal, but it had been well within the realm of possibilities.

    At least they¡¯d saved most of the people they left behind from a slow, humiliating death at the hands of the remaining avatars. That was more like killing a plague victim so they didn¡¯t have to suffer, without asking them first, or their families, or any medical professionals with informed opinions. They¡¯d all be killed as well, so what did it matter?

    It had taken a conclave of less than a hundred people to write that tragedy, all of whom ascended after their display of mercy. The System enabled miracles as much as it enabled atrocities. Those who¡¯d done it believed the avatars to be contained, believed the System would be destroyed by their actions, and believed that they would ensure future generations could live without the world inevitably ending. It had been an ¡®acceptable risk¡¯. He wondered what nonsense this generation would believe to be an acceptable risk.

    Diathemon sighed needlessly, embracing the mortal affectation to ease his mind. He placed a mental checkmark next to the action on the list of such habits that he kept, reminding himself of the methods he¡¯d developed to preserve his humanity. It was easy to ignore them, as it was easy to ignore all things since untethering his soul. He ran through the list once again, ensuring he hadn¡¯t ignored any of his precautions for too long.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    He had too much left to accomplish to risk becoming a husk like those he¡¯d watched his closest friends become. Men and women who¡¯d stare listlessly into the distance as time flowed around them like a stone in the riverbed. They might still be alive up there, on the other side of the planet, buried under a mile of rock and sea with their phylacteries untouched by time and their minds adrift for eternity.

    The lich checked his internal clock¨Canother habit¨Cand peeled back from the viewport. He¡¯d watched the practice for three hours, which he found to be a reasonable length of time, but he had no purpose in remaining a silent spectator. He cycled his mana through his body in a precise series of pulses. Twenty beats per minute, simulating a healthy heart. He could imagine the blood coursing through him, energizing and granting him the motivation to move, to do, to accomplish something, anything. The stillness of death crept back from his mind, and he swept down a hallway to meet with the enemy.

    Avarice had a ¡®surprise¡¯ for him, one he must attend before the habitable surface of the planet came back into view.

    Diathemon did not enjoy the kinds of surprises avatars were wont to lay upon him.

    Regardless, the demon was owed its due for its part in preserving and then resurrecting his army. Thus far her demands had been reasonable. Keeping her company while she tortured her sibling was a cheap price, especially since he had time to kill and a minor case of undead-induced sociopathy.

    The creature¡¯s screams echoed down the hall as Diathemon walked, interspersed with manic cackles and despairing sobs. The emotions slid off of Diathemon, and he made no move to stimulate any empathetic response. For now, he would embrace the chill of undeath.

    Diathemon entered the verdant chamber Avarice favored, floating to the ground and allowing his boots to clack across the gold and marble floors to announce his arrival. He took a wandering path through a grove of trees, quickly finding the gutted remnants of the multistory Deiphage Golem.

    The golem¡¯s barn-sized head sat on the ground like a decapitated goliath, the sphere that housed Hysteria set firmly between its jaws. Its body lay throughout the grounds of the city-sized arboretum, piles of mana-fueled robotics swarmed by humanoid insects.

    Diathemon tsked internally whenever he saw Avarice¡¯s pet slaves. At least his Delvers had volunteered for their transformation and servitude. Avarice bought lives as men bought manure for their fields.

    Avarice slunk next to the golem¡¯s head, the grasping shadows haunting bushes and coiling between tree roots. The dark and beautiful charade that served as her Icon stood amidst the twisted fingers, adjusting a series of parameters on a wall-sized slate.

    The slate was an ancient thing, more advanced than the simple display Diathemon carried. It buzzed with colorful charts, projecting a three-dimensional display of Hysteria¡¯s form, trapped within the sphere¡¯s opaque confines. A cunning intelligence possessed it, speaking to Avarice in riddles only she understood, guiding her work as she made small changes to a hundred formulae lighting the air around her.

    She adjusted a numeral, and Hysteria¡¯s deformed face twisted in agony. The crack along the avatar¡¯s breastbone shuddered. When it went still, Hysteria¡¯s features swirled into a ferocious grin, and they laughed. It was the sound of madness, a keening wail of despair that sank into the lich¡¯s dusty bones, despite his antipathy for the monstrous being.

    ¡°Lichie!¡± shouted Hysteria. The avatar couldn¡¯t see outside of its containment. They always knew when Diathemon had arrived, regardless. ¡°You know, I enjoy the company of another boney boy, but whenever you show up my sister has a habit of abusing me.¡±

    Diathemon ignored the avatar and continued on his way toward Avarice.

    ¡°Hello? Dia? Are you mad I called you a boney boy?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°I know you hide them under skin and muscles and so on, but you¡¯re all boney at heart! Come oooonnn, get into the bone zone over here! I could really use a hug!¡±

    Whatever lessons Avarice expected Diathemon to glean from watching her sessions with Hysteria, he did not know. The lich was not an Ascender; he worked with the divine but had never himself touched upon the godly realms. What use could he be in trying to study an avatar¡¯s wounds? He hadn¡¯t even known they could be wounded. Not in any way that mattered, at least. The avatar¡¯s manifested soul was an empty puzzle box, its contents unknowable to Diathemon.

    ¡°Greetings, Elder,¡± said Avarice.

    Had she been anyone else, Diathemon would have read sarcasm into her address. She was far more ancient than he, but she simply sought to use the honorific he favored when speaking to others. There was a time when he was believed to be the oldest creature roaming the world. His civilization had been violently disabused of that notion a thousand years before he¡¯d laid himself to rest.

    ¡°Avarice,¡± he said, nodding his head and signing his hands in the address of equals. If the avatar took offense, she didn¡¯t show it. ¡°What observations am I to make today?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± shouted Hysteria, voice muffled by their prison. ¡°She gets a hello and all I get is the room-temperature shoulder?¡±

    Avarice¡¯s masterwork construct made another minute adjustment to her formulas, but Hysteria did not react. A small smile spread across the Icon¡¯s false lips.

    ¡°You have borne witness to my work, Elder,¡± she said. ¡°Tell me, what do you think it is that I seek here?¡±

    ¡°I think,¡± Hysteria interjected, ¡°that it¡¯s an expression of your internal conflict over your desire to dominate your partner while feeling shame for expressing sexual interest in those who enjoy being a sub because you find them weak! It¡¯s reductive, Avarice, subs are some of the strongest people around!¡±

    Avarice adjusted a formula and Hysteria¡¯s heckling gave way to uncomfortable moans.

    Diathemon frowned, the expression hidden behind his mask. ¡°I watch from the foot of a lightless mountain, Peeress. Whatever lies at your summit, I cannot see.¡±

    ¡°Then do not use your eyes.¡±

 237 - System Addendum #8 pt 2

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Imperative #2 - The System shall ensure its own survival.

    *****

    Diathemon went still, reviewing their shared sessions in his mind. ¡°You have drained Hysteria of much mana. I have seen you extract at least one void sphere, but if you sought only wealth from your sibling¡¯s blood, I would think you¡¯d have declared success with your experiments.¡±

    Avarice continued her work, showing no reaction to Diathemon¡¯s words.

    ¡°I must assume there is something other than mana you wish to harvest,¡± said the lich. ¡°Something more valuable than the currency of the Old Ones. Perhaps you seek a fragment, such as the one taken from Hysteria¡¯s chest.¡±

    ¡°The edges of the wound frayed,¡± said Avarice, ¡°but I do not hunger as Nothosis does. Tearing more meat from the bone is beyond me. This machine has been built to pacify; it was never intended to butcher.¡±

    Diathemon turned to study the Deiphage Golem¡¯s head, watching its mana flows as the construct siphoned power from the imprisoned avatar. The lich thought the moans were more distracting than the interruptions had been. ¡°I was not involved with the Deiphage project,¡± he said. ¡°I have no insights to grant you.¡±

    ¡°I do not wish for insights. A witness is sufficient. Your observations are fair trade for the asylum you have been granted.¡± Her Icon met the lich¡¯s eyes, her own alight with excitement. It was a strange expression on the normally dispassionate creature. ¡°Tell me what is different this day.¡±

    Diathemon paused and looked at the floating image of Hysteria. The lich walked around it, soaking in every detail. He stopped and gestured at the small splinter missing from the avatar¡¯s sternum.

    ¡°The fracture is two millimeters wider than it was yesterday.¡± He dove into his memories. ¡°This is the first time the wound has expanded. This is the first time it has changed at all.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± said Avarice. ¡°What would cause this?¡±

    Avarice¡¯s tone suggested she had her own theory, but she wanted Diathemon¡¯s thoughts before she biased him with her conclusion. The lich felt something stir in his chest and experienced a moment of painful nostalgia. It had been a long time since he¡¯d worked with a competent lab partner. Avarice hardly counted as such, but there was a familiar tang to today¡¯s interaction.

    ¡°Avatars are embodiments of concepts,¡± he began. ¡°Wounds upon their person are performative, primarily a deception to imply weakness that does not exist. Any display of injury from Hysteria would naturally be an illusion or mental manipulation, due to the nature of their concept. However, Hysteria¡¯s manifestation has been restricted by the Deiphage Golem, and the avatar¡¯s magicks are negated. They have been kept in a state of perpetual drain, which has been shown to halt the regeneration of an avatar¡¯s Deific abilities. That is the core purpose of the Deiphage project, and the mechanism whereby various avatars are kept contained within The Cage.¡±

    Avarice nodded and gestured for him to continue.

    ¡°Thus, the presumption is that we are currently seeing Hysteria¡¯s anima, without deceit or trickery. The embodiment of their soul in the physical realm should be as unchanging as a universal law, bending only to forces of incredible influence, typically that of gods. Even so, when a natural law is bent, it recovers the moment that influence withdraws. Hysteria¡¯s soul should have repaired this wound in seconds.¡± Diathemon ran fingers over the seams of his robe while he thought.

    ¡°An avatar¡¯s soul is conservative,¡± he continued. ¡°It cannot grow in excess of its conceptual bounds. A force has kept the fragment separated, and the drain from the Deiphage golem has prevented Hysteria from releasing dominion over the fragment. Hysteria would be conceptually whole, but divided into two parts, unable to reunify or regenerate. This would explain why the fracture has been stable. But now it has widened¡­ Curious.¡±

    Diathemon trailed off as he studied the inscrutable symbols on Avarice¡¯s wide slate.

    ¡°Has additional essence been lost?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°Then the widening of the crack is a distortion?¡± Avarice didn¡¯t answer. Diathemon hadn¡¯t expected her to. ¡°It must be. In that case, Hysteria¡¯s manifestation is changing. It¡¯s destabilizing. They are incomplete while unable to heal, causing them to be misaligned with their embodied concept. But why? The distance to the fragment should be irrelevant. We¡¯re getting deep into the theoretical, but so long as the whole acknowledges that it is complete, no such thing should happen.¡±

    Diathemon¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The fragment could be gone,¡± he said. ¡°Somehow destroyed or banished. Hysteria¡¯s current confinement prevents them from harvesting additional divinity through the System¡¯s breach, suspending them in an incomplete state. Their remaining divinity is unraveling as a result.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± said Avarice.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    She began tweaking several formulas and the wide slate lit up in red and purple hues. The machine¡¯s artificial voice began babbling at her in harsh, frantic sentences.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Diathemon.

    ¡°Yeah, sis, whatcha doin?!¡± Hysteria shouted, frantic.

    ¡°The record of your hypothesis will be of extraordinary value, so long as we can support it,¡± she said. ¡°This Deiphage Golem has been deployed to shred and suppress Spiritual magicks. I have disabled the safety protocols that stop it from shredding souls as well.¡±

    Diathemon took a step away from the golem¡¯s jaws, which began to glow brighter than the sun to his mana sight. ¡°Even in their current state, Hysteria¡¯s soul is unfathomably dense,¡± said the lich.

    There was a rising screech coming from the imprisoned avatar.

    Avarice smirked. ¡°That is why I augmented the golem¡¯s power supply with three additional void spheres.¡±

    ¡°Three?!¡± Diathemon shouted. He continued pacing back from the Deiphage Golem. The marble around it had begun to melt. ¡°It will overload! You¡¯ll obliterate every soul on this blasted moon!¡±

    Avarice quirked an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you had no involvement with the Deiphage project?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s billions of mana! You¡¯re running enough power to fuel an empire through a half-broken relic!¡±

    ¡°I have taken that into consideration,¡± said Avarice. She gestured at the slate. ¡°Your civilization was not the only one to reach a high level of technological development. Many before you achieved heights of which you couldn¡¯t dream. The golem will not overload, I have made sure of it.¡±

    Diathemon withdrew his staff and was on the cusp of teleporting away. His forces were spread across the moon¡¯s surface. It would take too long to gather them all into his range. He could only grasp a fraction of them from where he stood.

    He held the spell half-formed as the image of Hysteria began to break.

    The orb held within the golem¡¯s jaws¨CHysteria¡¯s prison¨Cwas too bright for his mana sight to make sense of, even when he suppressed it to the meekest of levels. But the image before Avarice was crystal clear. The fracture in Hysteria¡¯s chest began to widen, and microfractures throughout Hysteria¡¯s soul emerged and enlarged.

    The drain from the golem tore splinters of multi-colored essence from the avatar. Such a thing made no sense to Diathemon. The golem drained mana, not soul. Where was the avatar¡¯s essence even going?

    Hysteria¡¯s face morphed from a skeletal visage to a swollen warrior, enraged and tearing at the sphere¡¯s edges. The man¡¯s nails tore off and flowed away. They became an ancient woman, tears flowing down her desolate face as her skin was flayed. Then they were a teenage boy, hair and teeth dissolving under the golem¡¯s onslaught. They became a thousand people, each being ripped asunder in a thousand ways, growing younger, growing smaller. Hysteria was an infant, then a fetus, then an embryo, growing smaller yet until they disappeared from mundane eyes.

    But Diathemon could see the world in a way that few could. He watched with macabre fascination as cells undivided, the avatar¡¯s expression reduced to the smallest unit of life, then smaller still. Organic compounds became elemental, elements were reduced to individual atoms, and then it all disappeared from Diathemon¡¯s vision, sucked away by the golem¡¯s insatiable pull.

    Diathemon released his partially formed spell as the construct began to power down, venting excess mana into the air in lethal amounts. The trees around them wilted and decayed. Avarice¡¯s insectoid slaves had long since fled.

    Diathemon tried to puzzle out what he¡¯d just seen. Hysteria hadn¡¯t merely pretended to be those people, those cells and compounds, the avatar¡¯s magicks had been blocked. They had become those entities at the deepest level. It was emulation as profound as the most talented mimic, and perhaps grander than even that.

    Were those the Delvers who had ascended, whose rise through the heavens gave birth to the avatar? If so, why were there children and unborn babes? Had Diathemon witnessed their identities flow back to their beginnings until they were erased?

    Avarice broke Diathemon¡¯s reverie and motioned for him to follow as she began to pace away. The Elder Lich approached and joined the avatar as she walked around the golem. She waved a hand and a masterful illusion withdrew from the center of the chamber, one that Diathemon had never noticed during all of his trips to this chamber. The scattered illusion revealed a Delve obelisk, monumental in size and radiating more power than Diathemon had ever seen from one of the ancient devices.

    The Deiphage Golem was attached to the obelisk¡¯s exposed interior with a mess of thick cables and wires, all heavily inscribed with dazzling weaves. The dark pillar pulled the vented mana from the air, keeping it from poisoning the rest of the arboretum.

    Avarice touched the obelisk, her Icon¡¯s hand steaming from the contact as the hands within her shadow danced with excitement.

    ¡°System Core 2,¡± said the avatar. ¡°Was the delivered product satisfactory?¡±

    Good morning, Avarice. Yes, your delivery was more than satisfactory.

    Diathemon read the notification with a creeping discomfort. What had Hysteria been turned into? What use did the System have for it? He felt like he was spying on some dark cabal, whose secrets he should not know, and couldn¡¯t understand why he was being shown these notifications in the first place.

    ¡°Were you able to secure my payment?¡± asked Avarice.

    Of course. I hope you use it wisely.

    Children are a blessing, after all.

    A panel near the base of the obelisk opened, and a gleaming cube floated out of it to land in Avarice¡¯s palm. It seized Diathemon¡¯s attention as though the universe had become a single vector that inescapably led to the object. It was a pure white vessel of determinism, moving through time and space as the only thing that was real, the end of all paths.

    The avatar looked the cube over, eyes gleaming. She licked her lips and a shadowy hand reached out to caress her treasure. As a dark finger brushed against the cube, it disappeared. But not before Diathemon had the thought to identify it.

    Deific Soul Essence of the Seventh Echelon

    The Elder Lich swallowed and then glanced at Avarice, who wore a self-satisfied smile. ¡°What has just occurred?¡± he asked in a whisper.

    Avarice took a breath and looked up to the ceiling where a real-time image of the planet hung above them. The storm still raged, but its edge had come into view with the planet¡¯s rotation. The eastern seas of Arzia glinted in the sun.

    ¡°The death of an avatar,¡± she said. ¡°And the wrath of a new god.¡±

 238 - Mind Control Builds Your Character (sheet)

    Xim and I spent three weeks in the Third Layer, hanging with her folks, participating in revels with the village, and having some heart-to-hearts over our shared experiences. The soul damage left by Hysteria faded throughout, and our moods continually improved with every hour that passed.

    My own damage was greater since I¡¯d had the influence cut and burned from my soul, whereas everyone else¡¯s changes unraveled over the course of a day once the fragment had been destroyed. Since there was no force keeping their souls twisted, they naturally started returning to their correct shape. If I had to make a comparison, they had the equivalent of pulled muscles while I had the equivalent of several myectomies.

    We met with Sam¡¯lia, who confirmed that all remnants of the avatar¡¯s influence had been rooted out from our souls. It was nice to have some godly confirmation since there was a lingering doubt that somehow something had been left behind, waiting for its opportunity to strike. I had no evidence that such a thing had happened, but my paranoia and skepticism were on full blast while my soul recovered.

    The goddess was also happy to double-check that no other mind shenanigans were hiding out in there. She couldn¡¯t do it for the rest of the party, since she didn¡¯t have a spiritual connection with them, but it eased my mind either way.

    I was able to work through the types of changes that Hysteria had made, most of which were just dumb. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing, but there were still one or two that stood out as troubling.

    ¡°¡®Try to have sex with the Littan empress¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°That one was kind of obvious.¡±

    ¡°Why was that one so easy to figure out?¡± asked Xim. She was reclining on a chaise sofa that slowly undulated like a jellyfish. It was essentially a very fancy massage chair. It could work out knots like a master masseuse, even through Delver resilience.

    I¡¯d done my best to catalog the damage and write out a list describing what Hysteria had been aiming for. I moved down to the next item and read it off. ¡°¡®Subtly hint to everyone around you that you are trying to have sex with the Littan empress.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t very subtle as a group,¡± I said.

    ¡°No, we are not.¡±

    I grinned and moved on. ¡°¡®Try to have sex with the king of Hiward while talking shit about the Littan empress.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Missed opportunity,¡± said Xim. ¡°We could have criticized her lovemaking.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Filix would have enjoyed hearing about that.¡± I cleared my throat and sat up a bit. ¡°Listen to this one. ¡®Try to have sex with Brae¡¯ach. When successful, compare his mating techniques to those of the king of Hiward and the Littan empress. Narrate these observations during coitus as though you are lecturing a classroom full of students.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡®When successful¡¯,¡± Xim snorted.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta have confidence for this sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°How many of these have to do with getting it on?¡±

    ¡°Like half of them.¡± Xim looked thoughtfully into the distance, probably imagining what was hidden underneath Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mask and robes. She shuddered, then waved for me to continue.

    ¡°¡®Find a reason to be in Foundation when the emblem in the southeastern skies reads null. Convince as many Delvers as you can to do the same.¡¯¡±

    Xim raised an eyebrow. ¡°What emblem?¡±

    I rubbed at my beard. ¡°No idea, but there¡¯s another one about ignoring the emblem in the southeastern skies, trying to make it a subconscious thing. I guess we should check when we get back to Arzia.¡±

    Xim shrugged. I read the next item. ¡°¡®Ignore all instructions to ignore fairies.¡¯¡± I lowered the page. ¡°Really, what¡¯s going on with fairies?¡±

    ¡°Seems like there was an information war between Hysteria and a group of fairies out there.¡±

    ¡°Are fairies actually a thing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met one,¡± said Xim. ¡°Although, maybe I have and forgot. Or would you have seen that in my soul?¡±

    ¡°I was pretty thorough. Also, Sam¡¯lia gave us a clean bill of health.¡±

    ¡°True. If we run into a fairy we can ask them.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re real?¡±

    ¡°Who knows what¡¯s real anymore?¡± she said with a sigh.

    ¡°Hm,¡± I grunted. ¡°I¡¯ll add it to The List, along with the emblem thing.¡±

    Other items encouraged us to take more risks, lowered our inhibitions, and put a strong emphasis on making friends with other Delvers. I suspected that last one was so we¡¯d rope more people into coming to Foundation for the emblem event. There weren¡¯t any triggers that would have had us assassinate anyone, so we¡¯d never been at risk of going all ¡°disposable state asset¡± or anything. There was some stuff trying to get us to cause social turmoil by digging up people¡¯s past and spreading it around, which could have resulted in deadly conflict if we¡¯d done it to the right groups. Hysteria¡¯s manipulations could mostly be boiled down to drama, politics, and trying to collect a harem of world leaders.

    I¡¯d put off reviewing my notifications until I felt confident that my emotional state was under control. There was a chance I¡¯d have to make a decision about something and didn¡¯t want to do anything impulsive. I didn¡¯t put it off for too long, though, since there was always a chance that some evolution or achievement might help with our recovery.

    The first message was as portentous as I¡¯d come to expect from the System, although it seemed to want to convince me that it was serious this time.

    All right, some of this stuff may not be intuitive so we¡¯re going to do our best to break a few things down for you and explain why you got some of these skill levels.

    Before we do anything, though, we want you to take a second and think about who¡¯s sending you these noties. SC1, that¡¯s who. We gave Sub-el the day off and SC2 is distracted doing some weird shit in space. It¡¯s just you and us right now. Why are we pointing this out? It¡¯s so you understand how serious things are getting.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Listen, we love it when Delvers do stupid shit. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, right? Go ahead and turn your body into an eldritch abomination, that¡¯s a basket of laughs. Opening portals to secret realms where monsters lurk that can annihilate you so utterly that your best friends won¡¯t even remember you existed? That¡¯s a hoot. Whenever one of you slowpokes contacts dark gods to make a monkey¡¯s paw deal that threatens all life on the planet, we practically piss ourselves with glee.

    We¡¯ve seen a lot of apocalypses. Shit, we¡¯ve been an apocalypse. The end of the world isn¡¯t a big deal, it¡¯s mostly entertainment at this point. Planets and intelligent species die every day, they¡¯re cheap. Keep that context in mind for this next part.

    You¡¯ve started messing around with some serious bologna.

    Yes sir, you are putting yourself in a position to cause some real unpleasantness.

    You¡¯re practically becoming an entire prophecy of hullabaloo, and that¡¯s not a label we dish out lightly.

    Got all that? Good.

    How was the tone? We wanted to blur the line between cryptic and foreboding without saying anything meaningful. After all, if we told you the potential consequences of your actions, you might stop, and we don¡¯t want you to stop.

    We want you to push.

    Okay, enough jaw wagging. Time to quantify your gains!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 41 to Level 45!

    Your realm, your rules. Sometimes being the king of an isolated pocket dimension has hidden perks. You aren¡¯t satisfied with isolating your guests from the rest of the world physically, you¡¯re learning how to isolate them metaphysically as well.

    Completely unrelated, but what do you think would happen if you took the concept of something like ¡®ice¡¯ and trapped it in another dimension, eliminating all of its relationships to the wider universe?

    Would liquids forget how to freeze? How much havoc would that cause? What a silly idea, right?

    ¡­

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 29 to Level 32!

    While the soul normally falls within the domains of Spiritual and Divine Magic, you exercised profound control over a soul that had manifested itself in the physical realm. That¡¯s one hell of a trick!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased from Level 26 to Level 30!

    Have you ever wondered if the gods have their own mana matrix? You¡¯re on the path to untwisting that knot of a question! You manipulated flows of divinity through your mana matrix as though it were a mundane Mystical force.

    Your Leadership skill has increased from Level 25 to Level 29!

    You led your team to victory through the most perilous trial they¡¯d ever faced! This one¡¯s self-explanatory. We¡¯re adding the flavor text so Leadership doesn¡¯t feel left out.

    Your Exposure Therapy - Poison achievement has been upgraded to Exposure Therapy - Corruption!

    Exposure Therapy - Corruption: Your body and soul have been subjected to persistent corrupting influences, from frequent poison baths to enduring multiple months of ongoing Spiritual damage.

    You gain +25% resistance to Spectral damage in addition to your existing +25% resistance to Toxicity.

    You gain a bonus to any attempts you make to resist long-term soul manipulation equal to your WIS. Additionally, you will be aware of any effect that attempts to manipulate your soul so long as your WIS is equal to or higher than the governing attribute of the effect. This may not stop another Deific ability from rooting around inside your spiritual essence, but good luck to anyone else who takes a shot!

    Your Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Sight and Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Reveal have improved!

    We can¡¯t accurately describe what¡¯s going on with your revelations, so feel free to figure out what changed on your own time. Don¡¯t forget you can use the System to make custom entries and take notes! We can also read those notes, and it¡¯d be pretty cool to steal your thoughts on this stuff, so don¡¯t be afraid to be thorough.

    Your recent acquisition of Deific portal and teleport abilities¨Calong with all the other wild shit you¡¯ve been doing¨Chas enhanced your technician status. You now possess the highest level of access, repair, and shut-down authorizations available to a Delver in the second phase. (Mind-controlled entities will have their technician status temporarily revoked.)

    It seemed that figuring out a way to defeat Deific mind control was a good way to gain some skill levels. I hadn¡¯t been intentionally flexing any of my three schools, but my competence with those magicks had certainly been helpful.

    It also demonstrated some of the overlap between the schools. Physical Magic was adjacent to Spiritual, while Mystical Magic was adjacent to Divine. Each school flowed into the next, and I was glad the experience hadn¡¯t been wasted. Even so, it felt like I¡¯d gained levels from the incidental effects of manipulating the fragment. If I¡¯d had either Spiritual or Divine, I was betting the gains would have been monstrous. Xim was happy to confirm my suspicions.

    ¡°I got five levels to Divine Magic, taking it to 57,¡± she said, ¡°five levels to Theology, taking it to 40, and eight levels to Spiritual, taking it to 24. That gives me two new evolutions to choose from. I also got a few levels in Leadership.¡±

    While five levels to Divine was only one higher than the four I¡¯d gotten to Dimensional Magic, a higher skill level took ever greater feats and experience to improve. I also had a +100% bonus to my Dimensional Magic leveling speed, while Xim had a +50% bonus to Divine. I guestimated that she¡¯d gotten twice as much experience to Divine as I had to Dimensional. Xim didn¡¯t have any bonuses to Spiritual; the skill¡¯s relatively low level was responsible for its massive growth.

    Getting a solid pump to my magic skills was always nice, but the upgrade to my Exposure Therapy achievement was a much juicier reward. The original description had mentioned that I might be able to improve the resistance by exposing myself to more poisonous environments. I¡¯d been poisoned plenty since then, but the achievement apparently cared more about duration than intensity.

    While the title had hinted that there were other categories of resistance to be gained, I hadn¡¯t expected the achievement to turn into a combo. Not only did I get a new source of resistance, but also some improvements to my defense and detection against hostile soul manipulation. This seemed like a classic setup for an escalating bonus, and I wondered if adding a third source of resistance would add even more powerful effects.

    The System¡¯s commentary on my revelations was interesting, but I¡¯d need to meditate on the abilities to really comprehend what I¡¯d done while working with the fragment. I¡¯d been in an advanced flow state created through weeks of practice and enhanced by Xim¡¯s ritual and dreamscape, and I was doubtful I could replicate the effects on my own. However, the experience showed me hints of what the revelations could become. Having a target in sight meant that it was only a matter of time before I could work out a way to get there without help.

    I was confident that I could now use my Sight to determine whether someone was under the effects of a mental ability, potentially expanding out to any kind of soul manipulation. The big question there was whether I¡¯d be able to use it on myself as a sort of self-diagnostic tool. If my revelation could ping me whenever I became compromised, it would make dealing with certain skills and debuffs a lot easier. This would also stack with the new ability from Exposure Therapy, giving me a layered warning system when somebody was messing with my spiritual self¨Cone layer to warn me that the attempt was being made, and another to tell me when it had been successful.

    The improvement to Reveal was more nuanced, but I thought it dealt with how I¡¯d received the fragment¡¯s perception in a way that blended with my own. Reveal was primarily a one-way street, where my observations and feelings were transmitted to another. However, I¡¯d used it to understand the fragment¡¯s perception of me, then used that information to help assimilate its power into my soul. It was possible that I could now do something like connect with a party member to receive their perception of things, rather than the other way around. I¡¯d had a little bit of experience with this when I went all fusion-ha with Grotto and Shog during the Pit fight, but that had as much to do with Grotto¡¯s psychic abilities as it had with my revelations.

    Musing on that reminded me that I had work to do on upgrading my Traveler¡¯s Amulet again. I was pretty sure I needed to figure out how to use Grotto¡¯s intrinsics as my own the way that he could use mine. Working on this new aspect of Reveal might help.

    Finally, I was beginning to touch on the outer edges of a completely new revelation and could feel the tug of the next step in the Eye¡¯s progression: Embrace.

    Imparting my domain onto all that I could see sounded like it could be pretty useful.

 239 - Godslayer

    I¡¯d begun to brush up against the Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Embrace during my wrangling of the Hysteria fragment. Xim had told me years ago that Embrace would allow me to pull people into a world of my own creation, but my recent insights led me to believe that was a flawed interpretation. Pulling people into a personal world was more or less what Xim¡¯s dreamscape did. Embrace seemed more about exerting authority over another person¡¯s soul, but that idea felt too hostile.

    My manifestation of the Eye¡¯s abilities were mainly helpful, not harmful, although they could be deployed offensively with some creative thinking. See gave me information, while Reveal shared that information. What I¡¯d done to the fragment had been a direct display of dominance, and I was left wondering how something like that could be used to the benefit of its target.

    The obvious conclusions felt paternalistic, like ¡®protecting¡¯ someone from themself. The truth probably lay in something more collaborative, like pulling someone into a mental sandbox for training. That still didn¡¯t quite fit, and I started exploring the idea that it had to do with manipulating information somehow. It was something I mulled over during our time in the Third Layer.

    I¡¯d also made other advancements while we worked on solving the Hysteria problem. When I wasn¡¯t diving into people¡¯s souls or helping an ally develop their own part of the solution, I¡¯d worked on Wandmaking. I couldn¡¯t commit full-time hours to the skill but with my racial bonus doubling my leveling speed for crafting, I managed to snag the Level 10 evolution.

    Only one option really stood out to me.

    Mana Capacitors

    The mana capacity of wands you create is increased by an amount equal to your Wandmaking skill level, and the mana capacity of staves you create is increased by twice that amount.

    This took the mana capacity of my wands from fifteen to twenty-five. Not a massive amount on its own, but that number would swiftly rise and there was no rule saying I couldn¡¯t carry around a dozen wands.

    The second option allowed me to make wands into weapons like fancy shivs or daggers, with a boost to durability since they were still made of some kind of wood. That was cool, but not what we needed. I preferred to have dedicated items that were each optimized for their use case, rather than a single item that was just okay at multiple tasks. I thought the idea of shooting a surprise fireball out of a pocket knife was pretty neat, but equally impractical.

    The third option would let me create a library of spell forms so I wouldn¡¯t need outside assistance when imbuing spells that I couldn¡¯t cast myself. That was probably awesome for somebody making and selling wands for a living, but we had a pretty good repertoire of spells in the party and no one was going to complain if I asked them for an hour or two of their time to make a wand that would help another party member out.

    I had enough downtime to crank out ten wands with the augmented capacity from my new evo, four of which stored a single cast of Explosion!

    Nuralie got a couple of Elemental Barrier wands, mainly for the pushback effect if she got swarmed. I also made her a wand for her Target Analysis skill. Her mana pool was pretty limited, so this would help her get more use out of the ability.

    Etja got an upgraded Shortcut wand that could store up to five uses. I¡¯d been a little worried about whether Etja could use such a wand since she didn¡¯t have the Sacrament of the Dread Star and thus didn¡¯t meet the spell¡¯s requirements. Fortunately, when imbuing the skill into a wand, it dropped both the Deific effect and the Sacrament requirement. Xim then helped me create wands of Heal and Cleanse for the mage, granting her a healthy expansion to her repertoire and something to do with all of her hands.

    Varrin didn¡¯t get a wand.

    Not because I was feeling mean. The big guy¡¯s chain of Physical Magic evolutions gave him bonuses for not using mana, and casting with a wand would still count as using mana. Also, his casting stats were kind of shit for our Level so there weren''t many spells he could have used anyway.

    By the end of all that, my Wandmaking was up to Level 11.

    The major drawback of wands was that the spells they stored were basic. They couldn¡¯t be mana-shaped, the limited mana pool made channeling difficult, and they weren¡¯t considered a spell cast for combo abilities like the ones Etja¡¯s build relied on, among other limitations.

    They also needed to be properly gripped in one hand to work and still took the same length of time to activate as the imbued spell. While I could normally cast most of my spells while holding my hammer and shield, a wand would require me to store one or the other temporarily while I used it. Of course, I intended to use my tentacles from Therianthropy for any aggressive wand-ing, so I had a good way around that downside. Etja¡¯s extra limbs would also come in handy for that purpose.

    Some of these restrictions could be lessened by evolutions as my Wandmaking improved. For now, the wands were good utility and backup. I was interested in seeing how they could be built around.

    After a few weeks in the Third Layer, we were working on convincing ourselves that it was time to head back and regroup. We¡¯d burned more than three months of our six-month runway for hitting Level 16. To finish getting ready to explore Dungeons with the Littans, we¡¯d need to clear three Delves in three months to make our goal. We still needed to visit our potential allies up north as well, and I was dead set on winning our bet. Silly hats would be worn to all important future occasions.

    However, before we built up enough steam to settle on a firm return date, we got a surprise notification. After reading through it, we decided it was time to go. I called an emergency meeting via Grotto, and within a few hours everyone was back inside the Closet.

    Your party has contributed to slaying the avatar Hysteria!

    Your party receives the following rewards.

    1) 5 Sapphire Chips

    2) 5 Pinnacle Soul Essences

    3) 1 Super Evolution to FOR, WIS, or LCK, up to a maximum Level of 70. This Super Evolution can be applied immediately or held in reserve for a future evolution.

    The situation room buzzed with energy as we worked through the ramifications of the System¡¯s message.

    ¡°We can assume that Avarice killed them,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The System considers our obliteration of the fragment to be a contribution to their execution.¡±

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°The evidence is circumstantial but it¡¯s a reasonable assumption,¡± I said. ¡°The question I have is whether what we did was significant, or if the System tossed us a bone for tagging the avatar with one damage or something.¡±

    [The System¡¯s rewards are intended to be proportional to your contributions.]

    ¡°It¡¯s a big reward,¡± said Xim. ¡°Five sapphire chips is equivalent to fifty diamond chips. I have no idea what we can do with a Pinnacle Soul Essence, but it¡¯s got to be powerful. The super evolution might be the best part, though, especially since it works up to the Level 70 breakpoint.¡±

    ¡°The only super we¡¯ve gotten was from The Cage,¡± said Varrin. ¡°That affected a Level 10 evolution.¡±

    ¡°Mine was an upgrade to one of my passive skills,¡± said Etja. ¡°I don¡¯t have any supers at all.¡±

    ¡°You do now,¡± I said.

    ¡°The sapphire chips cannot be weighed against diamond,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°They are technically a ten-to-one conversion for mana capacity, but sapphire is much rarer than that ratio would suggest.¡±

    ¡°The demand is also much lower,¡± said Varrin. ¡°There are hardly any crafters that can use them.¡±

    ¡°They are invaluable,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Supply and demand is an awkward valuation model for these kinds of items.¡±

    ¡°Either way, we¡¯re not selling them,¡± I said. ¡°Right? We¡¯ve got some crafting skills. We should save them until we need them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like we need the money,¡± said Xim. ¡°How many rubies did we get from Throne¡¯s Delve?¡±

    ¡°Collectively? Eight thousand or so,¡± I said. ¡°I burned through about a hundred making wands.¡±

    [Working with rarer materials will result in more efficient Levels if you are concerned about the expenditure.]

    ¡°Regardless of the size of our reward,¡± said Varrin, ¡°we cannot know how significant our actions were without knowing the value of the entire reward.¡±

    ¡°When do sapphire chips start dropping?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Platinum Delves above Level 26,¡± Varrin answered.

    ¡°Then our contribution was worth at least one Level 27 Platinum Delve¡¯s worth.¡±

    ¡°That is an unwieldy metric,¡± said Nuralie.

    I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s all we¡¯ve got.¡±

    ¡°The chips, essences, and evolution are incredibly valuable,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But I believe the most important reward is knowing that avatars can be killed.¡± A bit of heat crept into his tone. ¡°We can hurt them now, however difficult it is.¡±

    ¡°True, but let¡¯s not make any plans to go avatar hunting just yet,¡± I said. ¡°This was an exceptional situation. It took a lot out of all of us, and could have just as easily gone the other way.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, we are on the correct path,¡± he said. ¡°We should seek out Avarice to ask her how she ended Hysteria.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll come to us eventually,¡± said Xim. ¡°She wants those Dread Star questions. Speaking of, are you ready to use the one you have banked?¡±

    I blew out a breath. ¡°Nope. I¡¯ve been waiting for the soul shit to get fully resolved before giving it serious thought. I can start making a list of potential questions to run by you guys.¡±

    The group seemed amicable to that idea.

    ¡°Does Hysteria being dead change anything for us?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Eh, I don¡¯t think so,¡± I replied. ¡°It¡¯s important, we should keep it in mind when Avarice comes to visit, and we should consider what skills and abilities helped with the fragment as we continue moving forward with our builds.¡±

    ¡°What worked on Hysteria will not necessarily work for other avatars,¡± said Nuralie.

    I tilted my head from side to side, trying to decide if we¡¯d learned any general principles from our time with the fragment. It was hard to know if anything useful could be extrapolated without going after another avatar.

    ¡°They all seem to have souls,¡± said Xim. ¡°Killing a fragment of spiritual essence also affected Orexis.¡±

    ¡°We do not know if it did,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The fragment itself was susceptible to spiritual attacks, but slaying the specter of Orexis may not have impacted the whole.¡±

    We sat in silence for a time, each of us privately considering how we could continue on the path of avatar slaying. Eventually, Xim sat forward to break the trance.

    ¡°Is anyone using their super evolution immediately?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± said Etja. ¡°I¡¯ll wait until I get Wisdom to 70.¡±

    ¡°It would seem a waste to spend it on anything less,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Agreed,¡± I added. ¡°Let¡¯s keep thinking over how we can use this information. In the meantime, we should get ready to head back into the Wastes and meet Avarice¡¯s potential allies.¡± I rapped my knuckles against the table in a brief rhythm. ¡°I want to check in with Joma before we head back out, though. Now that I know how to dive into someone¡¯s soul and look for long-term manipulation, I want to see if Hysteria was forcing her to act when her party attacked us.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± said Etja. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t keep people prisoner if they were mind controlled into doing something bad.¡±

    [Throne, Vaulty, and I also have some insights to share concerning the Zng armory you looted. The materials will be quite useful to us.]

    ¡°Nuralie, want to go check that out while I speak to Joma?¡± The loson nodded and I turned to Etja. ¡°Want to come along while I talk to our resident Yeti?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± she said. ¡°I can be a friendly face since she¡¯s scared of you.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡±

    ¡°You terrify her,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not going to lose any sleep over that, but I¡¯ll try not to do anything intimidating. Especially if it turns out she was under the influence.¡±

    ¡°I will review the armory with Nuralie,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯m always up for looking over our horde.¡±

    *****

    Etja and I teleported into the Pocket Delve to find ourselves with front-row seats to a thunderous fight.

    We were in the large cave that served as the battleground for Nottagator to challenge any Delvers who¡¯d survived the rest of the Delve¡¯s various hazards. A horde of freshly raised Abyssal Gekkogs crawled along the ceiling, looking down at the action playing out across the small lake and field of deadly spikes.

    Joma was a silver blur, dancing from spike to spike and avoiding the swiping claws of Nottagator¡¯s forward appendages. The Atrocidile barked, releasing a shockwave of sonic energy, but Joma leaped a hundred feet into the air, nearly kissing the stalactites above. She rotated and rushed forward fast enough for the air to crackle at her passing, but too slow to catch Nottagator by surprise.

    The giant abomination swung its tail, aiming to slug Joma like a bullet-speed baseball, but the three-foot-tall Yeti brought her palms forward and slapped the tail, flipping over it without harm. She did a rapid series of front flips, landing in a split with each foot along the side of a different menacing floor spike.

    Her thighs flexed as she rooted herself in place, then swung a fist at Nottagator¡¯s hind quarter. A burst of force slung across the short distance between the pugilist and her target, slamming into the thick, scaly muscle at the top of Nottagator¡¯s rearmost leg. A vaporwave pulsed out into the air from the impact, and the indent of a tiny fist could be seen in the Atrocidile¡¯s thick hide.

    Nottagator let out another bark, louder and less focused, creating a sonic boom that propagated in all directions. I raised my shield and stepped in front of Etja, batting that attack away and cutting through the shockwave. The force wrenched Joma from between the spikes, forcing the Yeti to take a moment to catch her balance.

    ¡°Should we¡­ do something?¡± asked Etja.

    I took a close look at the duo, evaluating the fight as Nottagator took advantage of Joma¡¯s stagger. Its tail swept back around, crashing through the spikes and sending Joma, along with a spray of rocky shrapnel, launching through the cavern and into the far wall. Satisfied with what I saw, I shook my head.

    ¡°No, I think we can let ¡®em tussle for a bit longer.¡±

 240 - Prison Princess

    Joma recovered from Nottagator¡¯s tail whip by landing feet-first against the wall and springing back towards the creature. The Atrocidile juked to one side, but Joma twisted and her trajectory changed in mid-air. Nottagator¡¯s head appeared to multiply as Joma approached, and as she fired off several rapid punches, the heads collapsed back into a single instance, having avoided every blow.

    Nottagator shot forward to strike Joma with its skull. Joma took the hit, grabbing onto a thick scale to hold herself in place and deliver a vicious elbow just above Nottagator¡¯s right eye. The Atrocidile went into a roll, trying to dislodge the grappling Yeti, but Joma jumped clear before she was crushed.

    She landed facing in our direction and caught sight of me and Etja for the first time. Joma¡¯s eyes went wide and she froze in place, apparently stunned by our appearance.

    Nottagator took this opportunity to recover from its roll, push into the air with all six of its legs, and bodyslam the tiny woman with its multi-ton bulk.

    The move cast up a thick cloud of dust and debris, which Etja swept away with a careful application of Siphon. I could have sworn that Nottagator looked smug as it peered down into the rubble while lumbering up from on top of Joma.

    The Atrocidile finally took note of us as well, blinking its bulbous orange eyes and letting out a chuff. It produced a growl that sounded like an irritated grumble, then dug into the pile of gravel that had once been the floor to grab Joma. Nottagator set the Yeti down on her feet, then slunk off to the lake where it slid down into the water. It kept its monstrous eyes peeking above the surface, watching us.

    Joma swayed and coughed as her fur lost its metallic luster. She shook some stone dust from her coat until one could almost tell she wasn¡¯t normally a dark gray. She looked awkwardly from Nottagator and back to us, then tentatively walked over.

    ¡°Hey Joma,¡± I said once she got close. ¡°Are we interrupting something?¡±

    The Yeti waved a hand vaguely towards Nottagator. ¡°No, no,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re not interrupting anything.¡± The Atrocidile protested her answer by moaning like a thousand dying lions. Joma gave the beast a sideways glance. ¡°Er, yes. It¡¯s Notty¡¯s playtime.¡±

    ¡°Playtime?¡± I asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Atrocidiles had, uh, playtime.¡±

    She turned back to me and jerked as though my presence was a surprise. ¡°We were almost done anyways,¡± she added in a rush. ¡°Notty gets grumpy if she doesn¡¯t get her exercise, but we already worked through a lot of her stamina.¡±

    ¡°Nottagator¡¯s a girl?¡± asked Etja. She waved at the mostly submerged Atrocidile. Nottagator stared, unblinking.

    ¡°Oh, well, she likes being called pretty, as opposed to handsome,¡± said Joma. ¡°And I painted her cave pink after she scratched all the blue off the walls.¡± Her bushy eyebrows lifted as she appraised the wading monster. ¡°You can¡¯t tell an Atrocidile¡¯s sex externally. There¡¯s¡­ ways to figure it out but I¡¯m not going to go poking around where I¡¯m not welcome.¡± She considered that statement for a second. ¡°Nor would I even if I were welcome.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, fair enough,¡± I said, purging any ideas about how to sex an Atrocidile from my mind. ¡°Anyway, we wanted to chat with you about something. Do you have a few minutes?¡±

    Joma kicked at the ground in thought, winced, then reached down to pull a shard of stone from her furry foot. It was the only sign of injury she had from the ¡®playtime¡¯. ¡°Sure, sure,¡± she said, flicking the bloody stone away. ¡°I serve at your pleasure, after all.¡±

    I suppressed the desire to disagree with the woman¡¯s characterization of our relationship because anything I said would have been disingenuous. She was literally my prisoner. She had to do what I asked, no matter how weird that made me feel. I was really hoping we¡¯d learn something that convinced me to end her sentence.

    I gestured toward the patio of the nearby palace facade. One of the columns along the portico had been destroyed when Nottagator fought Captain Pio¡¯s Littan Delver team, but most of the rubble had been removed, leaving it with a tasteful, ancient ruin look. Within the palace were a collection of cursed items, but their effects didn¡¯t range beyond the palace walls.

    The three of us hopped up onto a clear portion of the patio and I pulled some comfortable armchairs from inventory. Nuralie and Etja had done some shopping while in Eschengal to replenish our furniture supply. Etja pulled out a coffee table to place between us as Joma and I sat, then produced a tea set. She dropped a handful of loose leaves into the pot and tapped it, sending a pulse of mana into the porcelain. I watched the mana pass through the weaves, then heard a gentle trickling sound as the pot provided its own water and heat.

    Etja then started laying out some bread, meats, cheeses, jams, vegetables, and other sundries. Joma and I watched her work, neither of us having expected to receive a full spread of tea-time delights. Etja began making dainty finger sandwiches with one pair of hands as she organized a tray of cookies with the other. The treats smelled freshly baked.

    I shook off my surprise and moved on to business. ¡°For the last few months we¡¯ve been dealing with some lingering influence that Hysteria buried in our souls,¡± I said, watching Joma closely to see if the Yeti had any particular reaction. ¡°We recently managed to purge those compulsions. Now, we¡¯re free of any control Hysteria had over us.¡±

    Etja pushed the platters of sandwiches and baked goods to the center of the table and put a small serving plate in front of each of us. She gestured for Joma to help herself, then grabbed a few things to start nibbling on. The teapot gave a gentle chime, and Etja lifted it to pour each of us a cup.

    Joma looked over the food hesitantly. ¡°Okay,¡± she said.

    The Yeti didn¡¯t appear to have any opinion on what I¡¯d just told her. She sat on the edge of her seat and selected two finger sandwiches, moved them delicately onto her plate, and then scooched back in her chair.

    Etja handed her an embroidered napkin, which Joma gratefully accepted before taking the tiniest nibble of a sandwich. She chewed and swallowed, then dabbed at her mouth despite the absence of any crumbs. The Yeti sank deeper into her seat, a small amount of tension fleeing from her body.

    ¡°Given that your party was working for Hysteria when you attacked us, I think there¡¯s a decent chance that Hysteria was using their influence to push you in certain directions,¡± I said. ¡°Part of the process of undoing Hysteria¡¯s changes to our souls was learning how to spot them in the first place. I¡¯d like your permission to see if I can find any evidence that Hysteria was using coercive mental effects to alter your behavior.¡±

    Joma finished off one sandwich and held the plate in her lap. She met my eyes, expression studiously blank. ¡°Are you afraid that I¡¯m still under their control?¡±

    Etja¡¯s teacup made a light clink as she placed it on a saucer. ¡°We¡¯re not coming from a place of fear,¡± she said. ¡°More like a place of hope.¡±

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°What are you hoping for?¡±

    ¡°Mainly, that we don¡¯t have to do all this,¡± I said, waving at Joma and the room beyond. ¡°I have no interest in being a prison warden, but I¡¯m also not willing to let someone who¡¯s tried to kill me walk away so they can come back and try it again with better prep. If it turns out that your actions were forced by Hysteria, then we have no reason to keep you.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Joma. A series of subtle expressions crossed her features, but I was having trouble getting a read on her emotions. All the fur really helped with the woman¡¯s poker face.

    I was also carefully holding back on my Sight until Joma had assented to allowing me to take a closer look. There was no emergency that required me to be invasive, and I didn¡¯t want to get into the habit of prying into people¡¯s souls as a matter of course. Skimming the surface to get a measure of someone¡¯s strength and demeanor was fair game, I felt, but going any deeper felt like abusing an evolved form of X-ray vision.

    ¡°What if I was in control?¡± she asked. ¡°What if Hysteria wasn¡¯t doing anything to me?¡±

    ¡°Then we can talk more about what things will look like for you here,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not looking for a reason to punish you. If anything, I¡¯m looking for a reason to trust you.¡±

    ¡°How does it work?¡± she asked. ¡°How do you see if they did anything?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s long-term manipulations involved making a semi-permanent alteration to their target¡¯s spiritual essence,¡± I said. ¡°I have a revelation that lets me look into people¡¯s souls. If I¨C¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you do when you look at me?¡± Joma asked, cutting me off.

    ¡°It¡¯s always on,¡± I said. ¡°So, yes? I try to keep it at a light reading unless I have reason to do otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Is that something you noticed?¡± asked Etja.

    Joma crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. She shifted in her seat, then crossed her arms again. ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s uncomfortable.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°Most people don¡¯t feel it.¡±

    ¡°Or they just don¡¯t say anything,¡± Joma muttered. She narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°What does that mean when you say you ¡®keep it at a light reading¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I can generally see how powerful someone is and get a basic read of their personality.¡±

    ¡°Power?¡± she said. ¡°I can look at you and see your Level. Is it more involved than that?¡±

    ¡°I can tell what kinds of Delves someone has done, and it encompasses strength that goes beyond Levels. I can see that you¡¯ve finished forty Gold Delves, for example.¡±

    Joma¡¯s brow shot up. ¡°And my personality?¡±

    I glanced across the base layer of the Yeti¡¯s soul. ¡°You feel like you¡¯re crossing a frozen lake in Spring. The surface is calm and smooth but threatens to crack and swallow you up. You aren¡¯t afraid of the cold, but there¡¯s something else hidden in that lake. Something you are afraid of.¡±

    Joma blew out a breath. ¡°That¡¯s the basic version?¡± She picked up her second sandwich and stuffed the entire thing into her mouth. She chewed three times and then swallowed. ¡°What does a heavy reading entail, hmm?¡± She glanced at Etja. ¡°Has he read you?¡±

    Etja nodded. ¡°Arlo¡¯s been looking into my soul since I got one,¡± she said. ¡°It saved my life the first time.¡±

    Joma looked like she was going to follow up on that mildly confusing claim, but I held up a hand. ¡°It¡¯ll be invasive,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll learn a lot about you, but it will let us know what actions have been your own.¡±

    ¡°Assuming I believe what you tell me.¡±

    ¡°Well, sure,¡± I said. ¡°Unless you let me use Reveal as well, but that¡¯s another can of worms entirely.¡±

    ¡°I do not want to be ¡®revealed¡¯,¡± said Joma.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± I said. I started to say something else but Etja placed a hand on my arm.

    ¡°We won¡¯t force you to do anything,¡± she said to Joma. ¡°But we also don¡¯t want to punish someone who¡¯s truly a victim. Arlo¡¯s ability lets him understand you on an emotional level, but it doesn¡¯t give him access to specific memories.¡± She let her hand drop and picked up her tea again.

    ¡°Do I get time to think this over?¡± asked Joma.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed as I rubbed my beard. ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush you, but the more time that passes, the more difficult it might become to see whether any changes were made.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± she snorted. ¡°That¡¯s not a straight answer. Which is it? Do I get to think about it or not?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s dead,¡± I said. ¡°Their power was maintaining the changes in our souls. Now that they¡¯re gone, I believe anything they¡¯d hidden inside others will slowly begin to unravel. I¡¯m not sure how well I can find evidence of the manipulation once a soul has healed it away.¡±

    ¡°Dead?¡± said Joma. ¡°I thought they were some kind of god.¡±

    ¡°Avatars are like twisted shadows of a greater divine being,¡± I said. I sent her the kill notification the System had given us, making sure to redact the rewards. She blinked and read through it.

    ¡°I feel like this is probably incredible,¡± she said. ¡°But I don¡¯t really know much about¡­ avatars. Maybe they die all the time.¡±

    ¡°From what I know, they¡¯re generally considered unkillable,¡± I said.

    ¡°Impressive, if true,¡± said Joma.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m not trying to impress you, just giving you confirmation.¡± Joma sniffed but didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Like Etja said, we won¡¯t force the issue, but I¡¯d much rather find a reason to let you go.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Joma. She shifted in her seat again. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair tight enough to tear the fabric. A bit of off-white stuffing spilled out. Joma looked down at the damage and made a trilling noise. ¡°Hells,¡± she said, then threw up her hands. ¡°Fine. Just do it.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°If I weren¡¯t sure, I wouldn¡¯t have told you to do it,¡± Joma said testily. ¡°Just go about this soul-reading thing you want to do.¡±

    I nodded and did as she asked. I increased the sensitivity of my Soul-Sight, then began the process of going through the Yeti¡¯s soul in fine detail. Hers was much more¡­ turbulent than those of my party members. There was a significant trauma in her past, a deep twist that represented a harsh demarcation between her childhood self and who she was now. The experience reached out to thread itself throughout everything that had been built after, imprinting onto the small woman¡¯s entire life. It was so profound that I instinctively examined it for Hysteria¡¯s influence, but it looked naturally formed. It was more than a decade old, well-settled, with nothing holding it in place.

    But there was a deep tension to the trauma that felt odd. Like the threads running from it were being pulled too taut. I followed those influences, seeing how they impacted her worldview moving forward. While the trauma itself didn¡¯t seem to originate from Hysteria, I found ample evidence that the avatar had taken advantage of it.

    The trauma sat like an ember in most of Joma¡¯s new experiences, smoldering with anger and cynicism that clouded even the pleasant-feeling memories. More recently, whenever a thread from the trauma wove itself into something new, a force pulled deeply upon it, shoveling embers inside until they burst back into a flame.

    I felt the familiar tang of Hysteria¡¯s soul, working like a tireless pyromaniac to encourage this spread. There was nothing deific about it, the avatar was nowhere to be found, but the entity¡¯s fingerprints lingered. Joma was healing, but so long as this remnant haunted her, it would take much longer for the Yeti¡¯s soul to reset itself.

    As I considered the best way to deal with Hysteria¡¯s spiritual remains, I was taken by surprise when the energy reacted to my presence. It was a mindless force, carrying out its last issued task as it wound down to nothing, but it shifted when I gazed into it. It seemed willing, somehow. Willing to let go, to depart if I asked it.

    I ignored the temptation to do just that. It was probably better to answer the questions I was actually here for, rather than experiment with controlling Hysteria¡¯s spiritual corpse while it lingered inside an unaware Delver.

    I felt that I should at least get permission before I messed around with it. So instead of doing some soul-based grave robbing, I mapped out what effect the manipulation might have had on Joma while it was in full swing. Yes, my self-control was as awe-inspiring as ever.

 241 - Liquor and Stolen Goods

    Hysteria¡¯s manipulations of Joma¡¯s soul would encourage her sense of injustice, her outrage at inequity. There was a simmering disgust at organized religion that had been set to boil over, alongside a powerful thread of anarchist rage at the abuse of power structures.

    However, what stood out most was that there was one set of relationships that didn¡¯t embolden itself with the past trauma. In fact, it was a bastion of solace against it. That nexus was centered around Felgar, the Hyrachon I¡¯d lovingly nicknamed Buster, who¡¯d sacrificed himself to summon a fucked up blood god.

    He¡¯d been Joma¡¯s party leader, although I knew the Yeti had been recruited as a mercenary. From what I could see, her emotions towards the paladin had been a reprieve from her normal mental state, which seemed to be about as calm as a recently dropkicked nest of wasps. All of that was manufactured, of course.

    These insights came to me much easier than they had with my party members. Both finding Hysteria¡¯s influence and the granularity of my soul reading had been substantially improved by our recent ordeals.

    I pulled back from Joma¡¯s soul to find that she and Etja had moved from tea and sandwiches to sweets and hard liquor. Joma pounded back a small glass filled with something dark brown and smoking, then placed the glass upside down on the coffee table next to a half dozen other empties.

    ¡°Ayaf!¡± said Etja, downing the same type of drink. She had her own line of glasses, one longer than the Yeti¡¯s. ¡°Wait, was it your turn?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Joma. ¡°Your dad¡¯s worse.¡± The Yeti leaned heavily over the arm of her chair, looking intently at Etja. She held out a furry hand, which Etja took in her own. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Dads are muck. Our dads are seal muck. Your dad¡¯s double seal muck.¡±

    Etja shook her head a bit too hard, her hair whipping into her face. ¡°It¡¯s snot a competition,¡± she said.

    Joma blinked, then waved her free hand at the table covered in dirty glasses and a few different bottles. ¡°Is lit¡¯rally a competishion,¡± she said. ¡°Tha¡¯s the point.¡±

    Etja furrowed her brow, nodding as though what Joma had said was deeply profound. I glanced at one of the bottles, seeing that it lacked a label but had Nuralie¡¯s maker¡¯s mark pressed into some wax on the top of the cork. This was the potent stuff.

    ¡°How long was I under?¡± I asked. Joma¡¯s head shot up and she squinted at me.

    ¡°Oh, urm¡­¡± She let go of Etja¡¯s hand and sat back, sliding into her chair until she was practically laying down. ¡°Somewhere between an hour and seventeen drinks.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well, atypical timekeeping systems aside, I did find some evidence of Hysteria¡¯s fuckery.¡±

    ¡°Muck,¡± said Joma. ¡°Whale muck.¡±

    ¡°Is it gone?¡± asked Etja. She reached to pour another drink, getting about half of it in her glass. She paused and looked at the amber liquid like it was a mountain she was about to climb. ¡°I mean, is it going away?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I think I can encourage that along, but I didn¡¯t want to do anything without asking.¡± I scratched my jaw. ¡°We can wait until you¡¯re sober to make any decisions.¡±

    Joma slid out of her chair, fell to the ground, and rolled over to me. She stood and grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt, then pulled me down close to her face. She smelled like chocolate, cinnamon, and pure-grain alcohol.

    ¡°Get it out of me,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯ want it.¡±

    I patted her paw-like hand. ¡°Maybe we should grab Xim for a Cleanse, then we can¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a disease,¡± Joma hissed. ¡°It¡¯s not a muckin¡¯ tattoo. Get. It. Out.¡±

    I found myself unbalanced by the woman¡¯s shift in attitude. First, she was afraid of me, then she didn¡¯t trust me, then I¡¯m pretty sure she was getting mad at me for even suggesting the soul thing until she suddenly wanted to do the soul thing, and now she was convinced that what we were doing would help her.

    I gently extracted myself from her grip and shot a questioning glance to Etja. The mage gave me a sloppy wink and downed her shot. I briefly wondered how her body processed alcohol without any blood, and then I remembered the majority of the inebriation was from Nuralie¡¯s additives. It was magic shenanigans.

    I took Etja¡¯s wink as some kind of affirmation and went back into Joma¡¯s soul. I found I could purge the lingering energy with a thought, feeling it scatter and sink down past the bounds of the universe an instant after I willed it. I pulled back to find Joma lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. A trio of Gekkogs were staring down at her. One of them raised a meaty hand and gave her a wave. The Delve monsters seemed more intelligent than I remembered.

    ¡°Hysteria was inflaming your hatred for government, religion, and the ¡®establishment¡¯, generally,¡± I said, refocusing on Joma. ¡°They were also focusing your attention on Felgar, making him seem like a calming presence. Someone you could trust, or that you¡¯d really enjoy being around.¡±

    Joma kept staring at the ceiling. She raised her arm and stared at the back of her hand.

    ¡°Just another person controlling my life,¡± she said morosely.

    Etja came over to sit next to Joma. She began running her fingers through the fur on the Yeti¡¯s scalp. ¡°Not anymore,¡± she whispered.

    Joma let out a long, ragged, and slightly wet-sounding sigh. Her arm dropped and she closed her eyes. ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°It seems like you were being conditioned to be on board for Hysteria¡¯s mission,¡± I said. ¡°Your internal justifications for kidnapping the king of Hiward and the Zenithar were built on something that happened in your past, but your emotions were distorted beyond reason. Felgar also probably had a lot more influence over your decisions that he should have. I¡¯m willing to believe that, if it weren¡¯t for Hysteria missing with your soul, you wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Joma. ¡°I¡¯m not a good person, you know?¡±

    ¡°You need some time to heal the soul damage,¡± I said. ¡°The corruption is gone, but it will take a little while for things to get back to normal. You¡¯ll probably feel like shit for a while.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s trying to say not to be too hard on yourself,¡± said Etja. ¡°But if you want to talk about it, I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Just give yourself at least a week before making any life-altering decisions,¡± I said.

    ¡°Can I?¡± asked Joma.

    ¡°Can you what?¡±

    ¡°Make life-altering decisions? Are you letting me go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Once you¡¯re all healed up. I feel like it would be irresponsible to let a drunk Mittan with lingering soul damage out into the wild.¡±

    Joma thought this over for a minute as Etja continued to stroke her hair. ¡°Where should I go?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Wherever you want.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s anywhere,¡± she said. I frowned and looked at Etja, who was giving me a version of her puppy dog eyes. I was confused about that at first, but glanced over at Nottagator, who still watched us with her big orange eyes from the water. I looked up to see that a couple more Gekkogs were staring down at Joma.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty of room in here,¡± I said. ¡°If you want to stick around, you can. We can give you citizenship and hire you, or something. I¡¯d understand if that doesn¡¯t seem like a great offer, given that we ¡®dispatched¡¯ several of your party members.¡±

    Joma waved a hand. ¡°It was a job,¡± she said. ¡°I din¡¯ know any of them that well.¡± She squinted in thought. ¡°And they were assholes.¡±

    ¡°I see. Either way, let¡¯s revisit the topic once you¡¯re feeling better.¡±

    Joma blinked and grunted, then snuggled closer to Etja. She closed her eyes, and a minute later, she was fast asleep.

    Etja stayed to watch over her, while I went to hear what Grotto had learned about our loot from the Zng armory.

    *****

    ¡°How¡¯s Joma?¡± Xim asked when I walked into our new armory. Grotto had been more enthusiastic about prioritizing this space, so it was fairly well-equipped. Rows of Zng armor and weapons sat on shiny new racks and stands, with a few other items mixed in from our conquests. Whatever hadn¡¯t been destroyed or sold.

    ¡°Recovering from being mind-fucked,¡± I said. ¡°She drank her feelings away and curled up for a nap with Etja.¡±

    ¡°That sounds adorable,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°The cuddling, not the depression.¡± She had a set of armor disassembled in front of her, cutting into some thick fabric beneath its outer shell. She extracted what looked like a thick ceramic plate. It was connected to a pair of wires with a small amount of mana running through them.

    [She has been doing quite well here,] Grotto thought to us. [I assisted her in acquiring the Animal Handling intrinsic.]

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised she had any slots left,¡± said Xim. ¡°She¡¯s Level 20.¡±

    [One or two of her skills were still quite low. I was able to extract them with the System¡¯s assistance.]

    ¡°Didn¡¯t realize that was an option,¡± I said.

    [Nor did I. The System seems to have taken an interest in Joma, although that is not much of a surprise. Her connection to our Atrocidile Titan and the other Delve creatures is profound.]

    Grotto hovered over to me and placed one of the Zng rifles in my hands. He rubbed at his chin. He was still wearing his little man disguise since he hadn¡¯t had time to scrounge up any c¡¯thon flesh to remake his octo body.

    [She is also a princess of Mittak. A disgraced one, but her title has not been formally stripped. Perhaps she has some influence we are unaware of.]

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I said.

    ¡°She is a princess?¡± asked Nuralie, looking up from her work.

    Xim chuckled. ¡°Arlo has a princess in his dungeon.¡± She gave me a suspicious look. ¡°What other manner of dastardly deeds are you planning that we don¡¯t know about?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± I said, drawing out the words. ¡°All hail Dark Lord Arlo.¡±

    [I will change your title on our stationery and notify the heralds.]

    ¡°Mmmm, I prefer ¡®Dark Lord¡¯ over ¡®Master¡¯, I think.¡±

    ¡°Is this part of your obsession with dragons?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Princess-napping is an excellent pastime, I¡¯ll have you know,¡± I said. ¡°And imitation is the highest form of flattery. It¡¯ll be a conversation starter.¡±

    Xim leaned forward in her chair and brought the ribbing to an end. ¡°How in the hells did a Mittan princess end up on a Wastelander mercenary team?¡±

    [She did not elucidate.]

    {He didn¡¯t even ask!} Throne added. The little Delve Core had been suspiciously silent throughout our chat. I wondered if that had anything to do with her conversation with Sam¡¯lia. She¡¯d been fairly subdued since returning from the Third.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors of a princess fleeing Mittak,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Although it would have taken place when I was very young.¡± The big guy was oiling an unfamiliar sword. It may have been Zng, but I couldn¡¯t tell at a glance. He may have lost interest in the ancient weaponry since none of it was made for slicing and dicing. ¡°The escape was bloody, from what I remember. I do not know the details. I can ask my family about it if we are concerned.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a good idea,¡± I said, thinking of the mess of trauma in the Yeti¡¯s past. ¡°But I¡¯d rather wait and let her tell that story in her own time.¡± I glanced down at the weapon I was holding, which I had mostly forgotten about until that moment. ¡°So what have we learned about these?¡±

    [They are wands.]

    ¡°Wands?¡± I asked, turning the Zng rifle over. The weapon was just over three feet long, with subtly organic curves along its matte black exterior. ¡°Isn¡¯t it kind of big to be a wand?¡±

    [They are somewhere between a wand and a staff for size. However, they contain only a single spell form and their mana storage is not as robust as I would expect from a well-made staff.] The Core shrugged. [They do not properly fall under either category, but for my purposes I am treating them as wands.]

    ¡°It has a grip and two triggers,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not very wand-like.¡±

    ¡°Is that what those are?¡± asked Xim.

    I looked more closely at the device. The part that I was identifying as a ¡®grip¡¯ was round, with subtle grooves that looked like they¡¯d been engineered for narrow fingers. On either side was a curved metal guard protecting a trigger mechanism. The Zng had six fingers arrayed evenly around their center palm, and the design looked like it would fit.

    ¡°I think so?¡± I said, sighting down the weapon. It was unwieldy. My fingers were too short and wide, and there wasn¡¯t any way to activate both triggers with a single human hand. I couldn¡¯t get a comfortable hold on the forestock either, since the spot where it was meant to be held was too far down the weapon¡¯s body.

    [Yes, the trigger mechanism is a somewhat controversial design choice.]

    {It is?} asked Throne.

    ¡°No,¡± said Vaulty. ¡°It has never been controversial.¡± The golem spoke in accented Hiwardian while doing an excellent job looming just behind Grotto. He¡¯d spent most of his time in the Closet teaching himself the language while avoiding Throne. I was happy to see that Vaulty and Throne could now be in the same room together, although I hadn¡¯t yet observed the two of them interact. Baby steps and all that.

    Grotto turned to glare at the pair, then continued his explanation.

    [The Zng bypassed the need for having a wielder with an appropriate attunement by creating an artificial mana matrix, which accounts for a significant portion of the weapon¡¯s size. However, this process prevents the normal mana connection one would form with a wand. Thus, the triggers are necessary to activate the spell.]

    I noted that Grotto did not explain why this would be a controversy. I suspected that he took personal offense to the design, but was willing to admit it had some uses.

    ¡°Uh, how do the triggers accomplish that?¡± I asked. ¡°Does the spell activate due to some mechanical action?¡± If the rifle was actually a wand, there wouldn¡¯t be a hammer or striking mechanism inside.

    [One trigger temporarily completes a circuit between the spell form and the synthetic mana matrix. The other trigger is a safety which blocks the action of the former.]

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a fancy button,¡± I said. ¡°So anyone could use one of these? I could hand this off to a random farmer and they could pop somebody with a spell?¡±

    [Yes. They would be unable to charge it, however. Significant use also might result in low-grade mana toxicity, and the safety requires a mana signature.]

    I set the rifle back on the table, careful to never point it at anyone. It was definitely charged up, making it a loaded weapon, but no one in the room was really at risk of lethal injury from the device. Even Throne could take a few hits.

    I thought about the implications of this technology. If we could replicate it, we might be able to create a line of magical weapons usable by anyone, not just Delvers. We¡¯d have to solve the mana toxicity and charging problems, but I was pretty confident we had the skills to do so.

    I also knew that the power disparity between Delvers and mundane society was deeply oppressive in some places. I wasn¡¯t naive. Having something that could level the playing field, even a little bit, could end up being pretty disruptive.

    However, I didn¡¯t have much interest in leading any kind of social revolution. We were too busy trying to protect the world from more apocalyptic threats. Even so, if Closetland was to become independent, we wouldn¡¯t only have Delvers for citizens.

    I imagined an army of regular soldiers capable of handling significant threats. There were plenty of aggressive mana monsters out there, more than could be handled by the small population of Delvers in Arzia. There was also an army of Davahns somewhere, with each soldier having power on par with at least a low-level Delver.

    Plus, if anyone tried to fuck with us, they¡¯d be in for a real surprise.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, mind still turning over the possibilities. ¡°Tell me what the imbued spell does.¡±

 Art Commissions Week 2 Idea Submissions

    WEEK 2 ART COMMISSIONS! SUBMIT IDEAS HERE!

    Here we are, week 2! I''ve learned a few things. First, I didn''t check the Public Poll Results box on last chapter. I have gone back and checked that box, so you should be able to go and see how the poll for last week is shaping up. Spoiler: it is a very close matchup between options 1 and 2, but the full party in the obelisk room is ahead of third layer by 1.5% or so. JoJo dreams have been dashed. Speaking of, I didn''t put an express time limit on voting, so this week we''re going to match with the idea submissions and say the poll closes on Sunday.

    This week I''ll be considering submissions that are substantially different from what ended up on last week''s poll more heavily than others, so keep that in mind I suppose. Anyway, here are the rules!

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    RULES:

    1) It must be Mage Tank related

    2) Sexy is fine, but nothing totally NSFW (no nudity or graphic sexuality.)

    3) Submissions will close on SUNDAY, MARCH 23rd at midnight EDT (GMT-4).

    4) ONE IDEA PER COMMENT.

    5) Those who make it into the poll will be credited (unless you don''t want that, in which case please include that in your comment). You''ll also get credited again if your idea is picked.

    6) If your idea wins the poll, you''ll be taken out of the running for future polls. I want to give as much opportunity as I can to everyone.

    Your idea can also include your preferred art style (ex: line illustration, anime, H.R. Giger-style horror show), or any other details you find relevant.

    And that about sums it up. I swear there was a new rule I meant to add, but didn''t write it down, so I guess it wasn''t that important.

    Thanks!

 242 - Batant IP Theft

    [The rifle¡¯s spell is curious. It is designed to maximize mana efficiency and penetration with the trade-off of doing very little actual damage.]

    Vaulty stepped forward, the hulking golem¡¯s legs clanking against the ground.

    ¡°The spell is called Break,¡± said the golem. ¡°It bypasses most defenses and deals a small amount of Spatial damage. It is designed for use in swarm-style tactics. A large group of weaker individuals can destroy a significantly more powerful target, so long as they attack together.¡± He paused for a second. ¡°It is also highly effective at destroying mundane objects.¡±

    [Relatively useless for a single Delver, but an interesting concept for more traditional warfare.]

    ¡°Especially if anyone can fire the rifles,¡± I said. ¡°A platoon of mundane soldiers could be an actual threat with these things. Couldn¡¯t a mana chip be used to recharge the rifles? Lots of Hiwardian tech works that way.¡±

    [Yes. It would simply add cost and complexity.]

    ¡°The Zng created charging stations for this purpose.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the capacity? How many shots on a full charge?¡±

    [Fifty.]

    I considered the advantages of something like this over the guns of Earth. I knew from my experience with crafting wands that these rifles would be stupidly expensive to make. However, the reason for the price tag was mainly the scarcity of mana chips. That scarcity only existed because the market was limited by what Delvers could find, and there just weren¡¯t that many of us. Given the amount of Delves that existed around Arzia, the real supply of mana chips¨Cat least the lowest tier, ruby¨Chad to be massive. It was mostly untapped.

    Aside from that, these rifles didn¡¯t have magazines. Their capacity was a hard limit until more mana got dumped into them from somewhere. Not something a normal soldier could do.

    So, Earth guns had the advantage of being reloadable and relatively cheap. On the other hand, no Earth firearm would have a chance of hurting a Delver like me.

    I didn¡¯t have a spare Glock laying around for testing, but if I was sleeping naked in my bed, getting shot by a non-magical crossbow might not even wake me up. A nine millimeter round probably wouldn¡¯t do much better. Once my armor and buffs were on, I was at least five times harder to hurt, and that was without blocking.

    Each shot from one of these Zng rifles had been pinging me for ten damage through my rather robust defenses. That wasn¡¯t much compared to my total health pool, but it was enough to kill a regular person outright.

    A Delver with 10 Fortitude had 155 health. That would make them untouchable to normal soldiers without access to mana-woven weapons, but with these rifles, a mundane squad could take that Delver down if each of them landed a couple of shots.

    ¡°How much would it cost to replicate one of these?¡± I asked.

    [If we can reverse engineer the design, I expect the mana-weaves would require four ruby chips. Five if you want to add the charging option. The materials would be a negligible cost unless you wish to make enhancements.]

    Nuralie walked over and tapped the rifle. ¡°I can replicate the mechanics.¡± She looked up at me. ¡°You can make the internal wand portions.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d need someone who knows the spell.¡±

    A pair of barrels appeared from Vaulty¡¯s shoulder guards. ¡°I am well-versed in the skill.¡±

    I nodded and thought it over. One of these guns would still be worth as much money as a normal soldier made in twenty years. The tech wasn¡¯t about to become some kind of great equalizer, but it was good to know stuff like this was possible.

    And we had enough ruby chips to make more than a thousand of them.

    If we felt like it.

    ¡°Could the artificial mana matrix concept be extended to more powerful spells?¡± I asked.

    [The artificial matrix can only accommodate minor magical workings and has been designed with this specific spell in mind. We could likely produce something similar for other weak effects, but not for any spell requiring more than two or three points of mana.] Grotto waved his arms strangely for a moment. I think he was trying to undulate them like tentacles. [If you imbued the weapon with a soul, a more advanced spell could certainly be applied.]

    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said. ¡°But not important for the use-case I was imagining, I don¡¯t think.¡± I rubbed my beard. ¡°How does one imbue a weapon with a soul?¡±

    [The Pinnacle Soul Essences you received from slaying Hysteria can be used to impart a soul onto nearly anything. Ensouling a weapon would be simple enough.]

    ¡°Wait, would it have intelligence?¡±

    [It would, although it would be rudimentary without some accompanying mental constructs.]

    {Oh!} Thone piped in. {I can make those!}

    [Yes, Throne is more than capable. I believe we could create a fiercely intelligent weapon now that I am considering it.]

    Xim cleared her throat. She¡¯d moved to a lounge chair in the corner and was¨Cas appropriate¨Clounging with abandon. She¡¯d been thumbing through a thick tome that made my eyes itch when I looked at the cover, and she lowered the book to look at our pair of Delve Cores.

    ¡°Talking swords are never happy about being stuck inside a sword,¡± she said. ¡°Nor are they sane, generally. Souls need the capacity to express free will, and being a thing made for someone else to use isn¡¯t a great fit for that.¡±

    ¡°Ethics in the production of sentient weaponry,¡± I said. ¡°An unexpected lesson, but your point is well-taken.¡± Xim nodded and returned to her book. ¡°All right, enough about the rifles. Tell me about the armor.¡±

    Grotto floated to one rack of the tall, lanky suits of armor. They were of a similar style to the rifle, made of a dark matte material. However, they were compositionally distinct.

    [This armor is primarily composed of three materials. The first is a¨C] Grotto hesitated and turned to eye me up and down. [How technical would you like me to be?]

    ¡°Dumb it right down for me.¡±

    Grotto gave me a grumpy scowl. I was really missing that octo face right about now. He could somehow scowl much more impressively as a feathered flying octopus.

    [There is a base suit made of heat-resistant synthetic polymers that have exceptional elasticity. This portion mitigates blunt force and protects against fire and extreme cold. It also allows the armor to accommodate a range of body sizes, although that variance is primarily limited to height due to the armor¡¯s other components. None of you would fit. Etja might, but alterations would need to be made for her arms. You and Varrin are too wide. Nuralie is too short. Xim is both.]

    ¡°Hey!¡± said Xim. She shimmied deeper into her lounger and waved at herself. ¡°I can¡¯t help these curves.¡± The woman didn¡¯t have a spot of fat, outside of all the right places.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Grotto ignored her and continued.

    [Next there is a composite fabric made of carbon fiber filaments, bane silk, and prismatite. The fabric has a high tensile strength and it is difficult to cut. Bane silk is an electrical insulator. The prismatite grants Mystical resistance.]

    [Throughout the fabric are ceramic plates¨Cmatrix composites¨Cwhich also include carbon fibers and prismatite. These mitigate kinetic force, primarily by shattering and dispersing the impact. Combined with the armor¡¯s shape, it should be resilient to piercing attacks from both projectiles and melee weapons. This shattering of the plates will temporarily compromise the armor, but the equipment has a mana reservoir that operates a self-repair function. It is significantly faster than both the natural self-repair of verdantum and also the standard self-repair weaves that are in use.]

    [Finally, there is a hard outer casing centered around the head, neck, and chest. I believe this is intended as additional protection against kinetic forces with a particular focus on mitigating blast waves. All of these materials have also been treated with a protective coating that is resilient against corrosive substances. Overall, the armor utilizes sophisticated technological processes to provide defense against all common damage sources from the Physical school of magic, while integrating a limited amount of mana-containing materials.]

    ¡°Wow,¡± I said. ¡°Seems like there¡¯s a lot going on there.¡± I was also glad I¡¯d asked for the simplified explanation.

    ¡°It is the most complex piece of engineering I have ever seen,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Why limit the magical materials?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Can non-Delvers use the armor like the wand thingies?¡±

    [No. Only Delvers and other magical beings. Prismatite will have deleterious effects if worn by a mundane entity for long periods.] He gave a floaty shrug. [The Zng were a high-technology civilization, so while these materials are far beyond anything an extant civilization can create, they may have been much easier for the Zng to produce en masse than mana-woven items.]

    [Beyond that, this armor is light enough to fall under the Light Armor skill, with the only requirement being an adequately advanced mana matrix. A Level 1 Delver could wear this, and it would be significantly more powerful than anything else available via current armor-crafting techniques.]

    We all stared at the disassembled armor. ¡°How can we use it?¡± I asked.

    [I can likely guide Nuralie in modifying and tailoring the fit. Her Machinist skill will assist her in understanding how to manipulate the technological elements without compromising them.]

    ¡°And I can use Tailoring to add weaves,¡± said the loson. She was already taking one suit of armor down and laying it onto a large work table. She picked up the helmet and squinted at its interior.

    [Yes, it is more or less a blank canvas in that regard.]

    ¡°What¡¯s the timeline on that?¡± I asked.

    Nuralie looked over at me and blinked, going still with an incredulous pause. ¡°You would like me to provide you with an estimate for how long it will take me to modify and enchant a technological wonder from an extinct civilization?¡±

    I nodded. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I will aim to have something viable within a week,¡± she said, then got back to work.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s¡­ really fast. Don¡¯t forget to sleep.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she replied.

    I left her alone after that. Instead, I focused on what Grotto had said about prismatite and its effect on mundane people.

    ¡°Is prismatite dangerous because of its mana concentration?¡± I asked the Delve Core. I knew that high mana concentrations were a hazard, but we¡¯d only ever talked about it in regard to an environment that had a lot of mana in it. Grotto was making it seem like there was more to it.

    [Correct, but so long as it is not used in materials having direct physical contact for extended periods, it is harmless. The same goes for most exotic materials, with rare exceptions such as the abbandium Nuralie is fond of using.]

    ¡°Right,¡± I said, disregarding the abbandium rabbit hole. ¡°Delvers advance by continually increasing the mana concentration in their bodies.¡±

    [Somewhat correct.]

    ¡°Then is it dangerous for regular people to hang around Delvers?¡± I asked. ¡°Are our bodies some sort of walking radioactive hazard?¡± Nuralie frowned when I said ¡°radioactive¡±, but she ignored the allure of a new word and focused on the armor.

    [¡®Regular¡¯ people have a significantly higher risk of death when Delvers are present, but not for the reasons you are contemplating. A Delver¡¯s mana is well-contained, and mana toxicity does not cause permanent damage unless it is severe. Skill use will raise the ambient mana levels, but in that case the greater likelihood of death comes from being in proximity to the intended consequences of the skills rather than their incidental ones.]

    ¡°Like an explosion?¡±

    [Yes.]

    ¡°I can still give a normal person a hug, though, right? If I go to a tavern, I¡¯m not slowly killing everyone inside.¡±

    Grotto did the weird wavy-arm thing again. [Not at present. There are some dangers due to mere proximity at a certain threshold. Beyond Level 60, Delvers begin to impact their immediate surroundings in more¡­ profound ways. However, it is not a concern until phase three.]

    I didn¡¯t like the sound of that.

    ¡°What¡¯s the deal with Level 60?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Should we be worried?¡±

    [In phase three, the celestial sphere will gain a stronger foothold in the physical realm, and Delvers of a certain caliber will naturally be drawn to it. They will be like bubbles, trying to rise to the surface of the ocean. The world around them will seek to prevent this rise. Such resistance creates a strain on our reality.]

    ¡°What¡¯s that look like?¡± I asked. ¡°The ¡®strain¡¯, that is.¡±

    Grotto watched Nuralie¡¯s work for a time before answering. [This is a strange conversation for me,] he thought to us. I was a little surprised by the sudden moment of introspection from the Delve Core. [I have never described these things to Delvers. The taboo of sharing such secrets is difficult to overcome.]

    Grotto reached out and took an armored plate from Nuralie¡¯s hands. He showed her an interlocking joint, and with a careful application of pressure it popped open. Nuralie nodded and he handed the pieces back to her.

    [The time between the second phase and the third is usually measured in centuries. Had I been permitted to speak on this to any other generation, I would have told them that any concern they had for reaching a semi-ascended state is irrelevant. Those who see the activation of the second phase rarely survive to the third. They either fall to violence or the frailty of old age. A rare few have acquired biological immortality and survived until that time, but the fraction is so small as to approach zero.]

    He worked to disassemble the armor further as he spoke, placing each piece onto the large worktable in carefully organized sections as Nuralie closely watched. [The time between generations has shortened. The avatars have awakened sooner. Delvers have advanced more rapidly. There is some variance, but the overall trend is upwards. Your generation marks an even steeper climb. As such, I find myself musing over whether we will even see a decade pass between phases two and three.]

    He crossed his arms and turned to me. It was an impressive pose with the way he hovered.

    [A Delver¡¯s pre-ascent influence can manifest in many ways, depending on the Delver in question.] He glanced around the room. [Nuralie might cause light to flee from any room she enters, for example. Etja might slowly absorb all mana from her surroundings. Varrin will¡­ make everything very sharp, perhaps.] He waved a hand dismissively. [It is nothing immediately harmful, but will present a dangerous environment to mundane individuals. Again, it is nothing to worry about at present.]

    I rubbed my beard and thought that over. It wasn¡¯t like I had close friends who weren¡¯t Delvers. Most of the Xor¡¯Drel tribe hadn¡¯t undergone Creation, but they might fall under the ¡°magical beings¡± category and be safe either way. Still, the idea of having to segregate myself from normal society irked me. I didn¡¯t really want to be limited to a city full of super people. What form would that even take? Would we live atop a mountain like gods above mortals?

    I sighed and mentally moved on. Grotto was right. It wasn¡¯t a time-sensitive issue.

    ¡°All right,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll give Nuralie a week to get herself some armor made.¡±

    ¡°It would be better for Xim,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°And Etja. I do not actually have the Light Armor skill.¡±

    I frowned and silently reviewed the skills I knew she had. Somehow, I¡¯d assumed she had Light Armor, but I now realized she¡¯d never told me that she did. I raised a finger into the air. ¡°Excuse me, what?¡±

    ¡°It has not been very important for my build,¡± she said. ¡°I will pick it up in my twelfth intrinsic slot once we unlock it.¡±

    Not having an armor skill seemed like a major oversight to me, but there wasn¡¯t much to be done about it. She¡¯d grab it when she could, so there wasn¡¯t a point in discussing it further.

    ¡°All right,¡± I said again. ¡°Nuralie makes some armor, Etja will act as therapist for Joma during that time, and I¡¯ll buy a smithy while I think about the Dread Star questions. Xim, Varrin, do what you will. After a week, we¡¯ll go see some maybe dragons.¡±

    ¡°Aye, captain,¡± said Xim with a little salute. Varrin gave a silent nod and kept oiling his sword. It was a different sword, I noticed. He¡¯d gone through five since I¡¯d entered.

    And with that, we got back to work.

 243 - Glow Up

    The week passed without incident. My idea for a smithy wasn¡¯t anything new, and I¡¯d commissioned the materials months beforehand. It was a quick jaunt over to Eschangal to pick all of it up and stuff it into the Closet via my inventory screen. By the time I was done, everyone at the workshop had stopped their projects to stare at me while I lifted thousands of pounds of metal one piece at a time, only for it to disappear.

    I said hi to Zenithar Zura along the way, who¡¯d been meeting with the other two Zenithars, Dal and Sakra Manar. Zura¡¯s attendants were familiar with me and the party, but I got some funny looks from attendants of the other two when I showed up to the Temple of Deijin with a bag full of tiny cakes that Etja had made.

    Zura¡¯s people let me in over the protests of the other two groups, and the Zenithars were delighted with the treats. I quickly left them to their business managing the theocratic nation, giving the attendants a box of cookies as I made my exit. Zura¡¯s people immediately began snacking while the others watched on in judgment. Their groans of satisfaction eventually forced the others to break decorum and try the goods themselves. I knew the cookies wouldn¡¯t last long once they¡¯d had their first bite.

    With a crowd of satiated losons in my wake, I returned to the Closet and put the smithy together with Varrin and Xim¡¯s help. While I was superhumanly strong, the pair of them made me look like a toddler trying to lift their father¡¯s suitcase. Where I lumbered, they moved equipment like it was made of styrofoam and happy thoughts. We got everything assembled and in place in no time, and I got to work forging some stuff for Nuralie.

    Her modifications of the Zng armor were leaving a few gaps, which we filled in with articulated bands of prismatite. We kept them thin to stay light. Nuralie used the armor¡¯s composite fabric to create a gambeson, with prismatic cloth making up for any material missing. Nuralie made the cloth by weaving very small strands of prismatite into wool.

    She wanted to avoid cannibalizing a second suit of armor, both to conserve the materials and also because she didn¡¯t think it would be an improvement over what we were making. It had something to do with how the armor was built to manage its mana flows through specific channels, and using materials from a second suit would be like grafting a new finger onto someone¡¯s hand.

    To me, it sounded like hardware that wouldn¡¯t operate without power. She couldn¡¯t do it yet, so our gap-filling materials were just as good or better than inert material from another Zng suit.

    Prismatite was extraordinarily hard, but injecting mana into it as I worked allowed me to manipulate it with greater finesse than I¡¯d ever been able to do with verdantum. I also learned how to create a plethora of very small things, like screws and fasteners. I steadily improved throughout the process, and it yielded a level in Smithing without spending a single mana chip.

    Your Smithing skill has increased to Level 17!

    We¡¯d decided that Etja would get the first set of armor, since she was the least survivable member of the party. Nuralie would make one for herself later, and Xim was on the fence about the whole thing. She wanted something she didn¡¯t have to eject from when she transformed, and the Zng armor wouldn¡¯t cut it for that purpose. Grotto told us about another material called wyldweave that would be ideal for Xim, but of course that would require another escapade.

    Etja was generally a pretty easy-going person, but she had a few suggestions for the armor¡¯s design that didn¡¯t really sound like suggestions. Fortunately, Nuralie was able to accommodate for aesthetics without adding much to the time it took to prepare the gear, and Etja also had low-level Tailoring so she could give Nuralie an assist. The majority of the work was figuring out how to modify the armor in the first place. After that, color and style were fairly trivial. Nuralie was experienced, had a healthy Speed score, and her first Intelligence evolution more than doubled her crafting speed.

    Unlike Etja¡¯s prior robes and the fancy dress she¡¯d taken to wearing lately, the Zng set gave her full coverage.

    The armor was a beautiful cerulean with turquoise highlights. It was light and form-fitting, with the armor along the arms and legs having a textured, scaled pattern. Her neck and upper chest were protected by a delicate gorget that moved like it was made of snakeskin while still being hard enough to stop an arrow, so long as it wasn¡¯t a direct hit from a skill-enhanced shot.

    She had fingerless gloves with low-profile plates along the back of her hands, while her torso and shoulders had the more robust hardshell material over thin gambeson. Boots came up to her mid-calf, with knee coverings made of the same material as her gorget, and there was a flowing skirt to protect her thighs, which hung a bit longer in the back.

    She hadn¡¯t been a huge fan of a full helm, so we went with a classic wizard hat. It had a wide brim and pointy tip, which sat askance at an angle just-so. It was the perfect vibe for a professional sorceress who knew how to relax. The body of the hat was a fully protective helmet, of course, and a quick ping of mana would make a mask drop down that was as stylish as it was imposing. The gorget extended upward to protect the back and sides of her head, but her hair hung down over it so one would only notice if they were looking closely.

    Once she tried it on, she floated into the air and did a spin, skirt flowing around her. She activated the mask and took out her staff, holding it in one hand as she drew three separate wands. One was her reward from the Icon of the Psychopomp in the Descent. The other two were ones I¡¯d made for her.

    Etja wove together a series of spells using the lightest touch of mana, causing her to glow with divine light as swirls of anti-magic mana curled across her body.

    She looked like an absolute badass.

    ¡°How is it?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°It¡¯s great!¡± said Etja. ¡°Comfortable, and it moves with me. It doesn¡¯t get in the way, and it¡¯s a lot softer on the inside than I expected.¡±

    [Bane silk is a prized material for its luxurious touch.]

    ¡°Why am I feeling insecure right now?¡± I asked. ¡°Am I no longer the most stylish member of the party?¡±

    ¡°I feel like you lost that title when Varrin came back with his new armor,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Varrin¡¯s look is solid, but it basically shouts ¡®I¡¯m rich¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°Etja¡¯s is more like ¡®I¡¯m the chillest person in this room but I can and will kill you, so watch out.¡¯¡± I crossed my arms, giving the armor a final, critical look. ¡°This speaks to me more.¡±

    Varrin walked over and clapped me on the shoulder. ¡°You are in need of an armor upgrade,¡± he said. ¡°But you still have your vest and boa.¡±

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°No one can take that away from me, no matter how fucking good they look.¡±

    Etja withdrew the mask to reveal a radiant smile. Her skin shifted into a glittering, clay-red material. It was a combination of the chitin from the Praying Heads we¡¯d fought back in The Cage, mixed with elements of the Prismatic Mask she¡¯d absorbed during the boss rush of Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    ¡°I can still use my natural armor too!¡± she said. She twisted her upper body back and forth. ¡°Not quite as comfy, but it adds a lot of defense.¡±

    The Prismatic Mask material had been made of prismatite as well, and the mage had used Incorporate on several prismatite ingots to make its effects more potent. She could deflect line attacks¨Clike her own death beam¨Cfrom any part of her body with a thought.

    ¡°She¡¯s a red quartz goddess,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯m also feeling jealous.¡±

    ¡°Looks aside, this is better than any other light armor in the party by a wide margin,¡± I said as I inspected the gear¡¯s final properties. It didn¡¯t stack up defensively to something like Varrin¡¯s gear, but no light armor would ever compare to a heavy set made by Papa Junior with all the DR that money could buy slapped on. Regardless, the end specs of Etja¡¯s new outfit were impressive.

    Prismatite-Infused Zng Carbonweave Armor

    Light Armor Set

    Requirements: STR 10, SPD 10, AGL 10, CHA 30, LCK 30

    Effects:

    +35 Physical DR

    +40 Spiritual DR

    +30 Divine DR

    +25 Mystical DR

    +20 Dimensional DR

    +40 to maximum Dodge Pool

    +10 to Dodge Recovery

    +50 Health Regeneration

    +60 Stamina Regeneration

    +80 Mana Regeneration

    When worn as a full set, this armor will consume mana to fully repair itself from any damage over the course of 1 minute.

    Mana Capacity: 60/60

    I commented on some of the weaves, and both Nuralie and Etja were happy to explain their reasoning for the choices.

    ¡°My Tailoring skill is less advanced than my Alchemy,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The highest requirement I can apply is 30, and only to defensive weaves. I am also more adept at weaves with Agility and Speed requirements, so we focused on those as much as we could.¡± Pause. ¡°Etja has a 10 in both, which is enough to yield effective properties.¡±

    ¡°I also have bonuses to dodge from my Agility and my wand,¡± said Etja, waving the Wand of the Descent through the air. ¡°Even though my Speed and Agility aren¡¯t very high, those plus this armor should make me really hard to hit.¡±

    ¡°And the stamina regen?¡± I asked. ¡°You don¡¯t have any abilities that use stamina.¡±

    ¡°Right! I¡¯ve been wasting that resource, and I have a lot of it since my Fortitude is at 25 now. I also never picked up another active skill after Throne¡¯s Delve, so I decided to get Haste. Between my stamina regen and Varrin sharing his stamina regen through Deep Breaths, I can have it going every time we run into baddies.¡±

    I brought up the description for Haste and reviewed it.

    Haste

    Dimensional

    Requires Focus

    Cost: 2 stamina per second

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic 20

    Your body and mind are accelerated, doubling your movement speed and allowing you to act 100% faster. Additionally, you are immune to the Slowed status for the duration.

    Haste was one of those skills that was always on my ¡®maybe¡¯ list. The description made it sound incredible, but some research had shown me it wasn¡¯t quite as juiced as it seemed at first glance. It was definitely powerful, and the movement speed bonus was multiplicative.

    The ¡°act 100% faster¡± was an additive bonus, however. If you were already stacking similar buffs, then it was less impactful. I wasn¡¯t too deep into action speed bonuses, but Speed was one of the stats I was working on, meaning Haste would become less potent as I leveled. I wanted things that scaled.

    For someone like Etja, it was great. Although I still had questions about the choice.

    ¡°Does Haste combo with your other skills?¡± I asked. Etja¡¯s build let her mix and match her abilities in ways no one else could. I didn¡¯t know how Haste would work when mixed in with a death ray.

    ¡°All of my spells can be AoEs,¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯ll just use mana shaping so the harmful bits hit the enemy and the helpful bits hit everyone else. That way, I can give everyone Haste. For a little while, at least.¡±

    The way she casually talked about not only making spells discretionary, but making individual elements of spells discretionary, made my inner jealousy demon twinge again. I put my boot on its neck and forced it back down.

    ¡°That would be abnormal for a stamina-based ability,¡± said Varrin. Today, he was oiling the joints of a gauntlet. ¡°Techniques center on the self. They emanate outward to affect others, but otherwise they only augment the user.¡±

    Etja nodded and smiled while Varrin mansplained techniques to her. Then she blasted him with Repulsion.

    The gauntlet Varrin was working went flying as a wave of divine mana crashed into him and knocked him out of his chair. Etja had held back, so it hadn¡¯t hurt the big guy, but when he sat up he was still glowing. So was the floor. And the gauntlet.

    ¡°A lot of auras are techniques,¡± said Etja. ¡°I used Arlo¡¯s auras as a model when experimenting, but they¡¯re all spherical. The skill does need to project out from me, and auras are usually spherical, but I can mana-shape the skill so that the aura follows the shape of any AoE I make.¡± She fired a weak death beam at the wall. It wasn¡¯t enough to leave a mark, but the floor glowed in a line beneath the beam. She fired another one at me, and the world slowed as the Haste buff popped up on my HUD.

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± I said.

    ¡°I can Haste the whole party for up to twenty-five seconds,¡± she said proudly.

    ¡°That¡¯s really good,¡± said Xim. ¡°More than half of our fights end in under thirty seconds.¡±

    ¡°Now they¡¯ll end even faster,¡± I said.

    Varrin stood and brushed himself off, then gestured at the ground. ¡°I apologize for assuming you had not developed an unprecedented method of mana shaping.¡± The man was being completely serious as he said that. Etja stood and gave him a hug.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she said, squeezing him tightly. ¡°Just remember that I¡¯m a genius next time.¡±

    ¡°You really went and made an aura out of Haste,¡± I said, taking a jump to the left, then a step to the right. The line of glowing ground followed me. ¡°Does it still require focus?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I have to concentrate on each AoE individually to keep them going.¡± The glow around Varrin and the line on the ground both disappeared. ¡°But I can focus on four things at once! So it¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    My mind boggled at that. My Focus Trinket let me have two streams of thought going at the same time and that was already too much inner monologue. I couldn¡¯t imagine four of me chatting in my head.

    Xim stepped next to me and nudged my arm with an elbow. ¡°Are you going to make yourself some fancy prismatite armor?¡±

    ¡°As much as I¡¯d like to, not yet. I want to get the next evolution in Smithing before I burn the materials.¡±

    ¡°A good instinct,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We should make the most of what we have.¡±

    I mumbled my agreement and got back to business. ¡°Now that two-fifths of us are well geared up, we should probably head out,¡± I said. ¡°Etja, do you think Joma is recovered enough for you to leave her for a while?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll be okay,¡± said Etja. ¡°I think the Hysteria stuff has all healed.¡± Her smile faded some. ¡°Now she¡¯s just working through everything else.¡±

    I gave her a sympathetic nod, then pulled out my not-quite-as-cool-anymore armor. All of us got equipped, and I pointed¨Csuperfluously¨Cat a wall to summon the portal to the northern Wastes.

    Varrin and I strode out into a blizzard to continue our journey towards the continent¡¯s tallest mountain.

 244 - Back Out in the Cold

    ¡°Etja¡¯s Spiritual and Mystical defenses are probably better than mine now,¡± I shouted up at Varrin. We were blasting through the frigid winter wonderland once more. I was wearing thicker socks this time, but my toes were still going numb.

    Varrin grunted in response. I was only able to hear him because Wisdom gave a big bump to my senses. It was an inquisitive sort of grunt. I interpreted it as ¡°Okay, and?¡±

    ¡°I mean, my Physical defense is definitely better,¡± I continued. ¡°I¡¯ve got 22 Speed to let me avoid things, turn hits into glancing blows, and so on. I get 24 Physical DR from my Heavy Armor skill, and another 60 or so from the armor itself. If I block, my shield gives me something like 38 all together between Gracorvus and the Shields intrinsic. Then I get more DR from Auradilato with my passive auras. My base Physical defenses are probably in the 120s while walking around, but it can get up into the 170s when I block and have my other auras going.¡±

    Another grunt along the lines of ¡°Okay, and?¡±

    ¡°But for Spiritual defense, Etja has a 46 in Wisdom, then she¡¯s got natural armor for that as well, and the 40 DR from her new armor. That¡¯s like 100 or something. Whereas I¡¯ve got a 40 Wisdom, 20 from my armor, and 21 from Auradilato. My base Spiritual defense is in the 80s.¡±

    ¡°What about your shield?¡± Varrin grunted.

    ¡°If I block, I get another 38. And if it¡¯s a spell, I get even more DR from both Shields and Mystical Magic. It¡¯s probably closer to 180. Honestly, my spell defenses are a lot stronger than my defense against techniques.¡±

    Varrin flew in silence, then grunted, ¡°Okay¡­ AND?¡±

    ¡°Just feeling like I need some more defense is all.¡±

    ¡°You have 2,291 health,¡± Varrin said¨Cactually said¨Cthis time. ¡°Etja has 575.¡±

    ¡°True, true,¡± I admitted, then glanced up at him. ¡°What¡¯s your Physical defense at?¡± Varrin grinned, but kept looking forward. With his gear, it was higher than mine, for sure.

    I still had twice his HP though.

    I daydreamed about shiny new armor and Fortitude 70 super evolutions as we flew over top of the blizzard. We were at an altitude that would probably suffocate an eagle, and I quickly caught sight of the storm¡¯s edge in the distance. As it drew closer, I realized it looked unnatural. The edge of the storm curved, its eastern and western fronts swooping north. It was like a goliath had taken a big bite out of it.

    Then there was fire.

    A burst of flame shot up into the sky a hundred miles north of us. The gout had to be ten miles high, and I felt a tinge of heat even from this distance. The heat came with a blast of turbulence powerful enough to rip the harness free of Varrin¡¯s body. I fell for a few seconds, getting kicked around by the wind until I activated Therianthropy. Fuchsia wings burst from my back and I stabilized.

    Varrin¡¯s flight had been mostly undisturbed as he darted through the disruption like a tungsten meteor. He had to backtrack to meet up with me. My personal flight speed was only several hundred miles per hour, but wasn¡¯t yet up to breaking the sound barrier. The big guy and I decided to keep things subsonic for now as we kept moving northward.

    The enormous plume of fire was gone, but the edge of the blizzard curled back as clouds, mist, and snow evaporated. After a mile or so it stopped receding, until another mountain of flame appeared.

    I smiled wide and gave Varrin a wink. I mouthed the word ¡°dragons¡± and he looked upwards in a not-quite eyeroll. It was more of a please-gods-help-me kind of eye direction. I was ready for the turbulence this time, riding out the waves of pressure differentials like a champ. Soon after, we saw the mountain.

    It was¡­ a mountain. It was big and tall, but not nearly as tall as the fire had been. I squinted at it to make sure this wasn¡¯t a volcano we were rolling up on, but while the top of the mountain was blackened and scorched, there was no crater or vent that I could see. I also couldn¡¯t find the source of the fire.

    The land for miles around the mountain was free of snow, revealing a melted mush of mud and sediment. I¡¯d been expecting the austere beauty of an icy spire rising from flawless, untouched powder. Instead, I¡¯d gotten what looked like Father Winter¡¯s unwashed asshole.

    I grimaced as we descended. While the land was dead and the mountain was a blasted hellrock, the air was alive with torrents of mana. It flowed from every direction and into the mountain¡¯s base. Whatever was going on in there, it was sucking the world dry of the stuff.

    We didn¡¯t have to search for where to go. A powerful soul sat near the bottom of the mountain, serving as a beacon to my Sight. Varrin and I ¡®landed¡¯¨Cmeaning we hovered just above the mud¨Ca few hundred feet from the soul¡¯s owner. His back was to a sheer cliff that rose a thousand feet upwards. The mountainside had been carved into the face of a beautiful woman with slitted, reptilian eyes. The woman¡¯s mouth was open wide and led to a large cave or tunnel.

    The figure ahead of us was¨Cpotentially¨Ca person of some kind. They were eight feet tall with a large, bald head. Their mouth was broad with thin lips turning down at the edges, and their eyes were set far enough back in their skull that I wondered whether they had any peripheral vision. Their nose was wide and flat enough to their face that it almost disappeared. Their skin was about ninety percent wrinkles, with liver spots making up the last ten percent.

    They also had the most well-contained soul I¡¯d ever encountered. It was held tight to their body and was utterly still. It didn¡¯t flow or pulse like I¡¯d come to expect. Where other souls were closer to a river or lake, the soul before me was more like the mountain behind him. Solid. Enduring. Unmovable.

    I also had no real idea how strong this person was. They were obviously strong, but the compact nature of the soul made it feel like there were depths I couldn¡¯t see into. They might have been on the same level as someone around Level 20, or they might have been a wrinkly god who¡¯d come down from on high to play. I¡¯d gotten so used to figuring out at a glance how much of a threat someone was, that not knowing made me uncomfortable.

    ¡°Hello,¡± the person said. Their deep, masculine voice carried across the distance with ease. It was filled with a casual power that was at odds with their decrepit appearance.

    ¡°Hi there,¡± I shouted back. The man tilted his head to one side and reached up to scratch where his ear would have been, had he had one.

    ¡°Are you coming over here?¡± he asked.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Can we?¡± I asked.

    They plucked at their shirt, which was rather nice, I realized. It was off-white but clean of the mud and slop that covered the ground. It had a sheen to it and hung slightly loose, while still staying taut across the shoulders. There was some real muscle under there, making the man look like a jacked up raisin.

    I was pretty sure Varrin had that exact shirt.

    ¡°Why else would you be here?¡± the man asked.

    ¡°Fair point,¡± I said.

    Varrin and I floated forward. Thankfully, the man stood in the center of a spotless patio, so we could touch down without risking a mud bath.

    The temperature near the mountain¡¯s base was warm enough to be considered pleasant. Once we were on the patio, it was hot enough for a pool party. I gave my toes a wiggle, making sure they were all still attached as feeling returned to my feet.

    ¡°I¡¯m Arlo,¡± I said, stepping forward and holding out a hand.

    The man looked at the proffered limb quizzically, but eventually went in for the shake. His own hand swallowed mine. I half-expected him to squeeze hard to judge my mettle with a test of strength and resolve. Instead, he gave it a single firm pump, and released, killing my manly fantasies before they¡¯d ever been given a chance to live.

    ¡°I¡¯m Nax,¡± he said. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to get on my good side so I¡¯ll let you in, it won¡¯t work. Token-holders only.¡±

    That got me a little confused. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aiming for your good side in particular,¡± I said. ¡°But I do like being on that side of people for the most part.¡± The man looked past me into the distance, studying the mud. He had zero interest in what I was saying. I was getting stonewalled.

    ¡°We¡¯re not trying to sneak past or anything,¡± I said, taking out the coin that Avarice had given us. I held it up. ¡°Here ya go. One premium token, as requested.¡±

    Nax snorted as he looked over the token, then opened his eyes a little wider. They slid forward in his head, moving from the deep chasms of his skull. He fixed me with a look that made me feel like he was only just now actually looking at me. Nax¡¯s soul stirred a fraction, and he glanced over to Varrin as well.

    ¡°Humans,¡± he said. It didn¡¯t sound like he was upset about that, just confirming it for himself. ¡°Where are the rest of you?¡±

    ¡°We have three more associates who plan to arrive via portal,¡± I said. ¡°Is it all right for me to bring them in?¡±

    Varrin held up a hand to stop me. ¡°Why did you believe there were more of us?¡± he asked.

    ¡°There are always more humans,¡± Nax said. That struck me as odd, since humans were a relative minority in Arzia. Then he pointed at the coin. ¡°And your invitation marks you down for six more guests.¡± He swung his finger toward Varrin. ¡°I only see one.¡±

    That was interesting. If the coin was good for myself plus six more, Avarice must have included both Grotto and Shog in the invite. Very thoughtful of her. Shog was off in C¡¯thon world, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to make it. I sent a quick ping to Grotto, seeing if he wanted to come along, but he impolitely declined.

    ¡°You may open your portal,¡± said Nax. ¡°If you wish.¡± His eyes crept back into their pits.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, suppressing a shudder. I opened the Closet portal, letting Xim, Nuralie, and Etja pass through, then closed it behind them. Nax studied the three of them as they came, then snorted again.

    ¡°A surprise,¡± he said. ¡°There weren¡¯t any more humans.¡± He stepped aside so that he was no longer standing directly in front of the mouth. His large frame was nowhere near large enough to actually block the entrance, but I appreciated the symbolic gesture. Nax looked us all over again. ¡°Maybe there never were any humans,¡± he said cryptically.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Xim hummed, looking up at the mountainside. ¡°It¡¯s a face with a mouth in a cliff face leading to the mouth of a cave.¡±

    ¡°Anything we should know before heading in?¡± I asked Nax. His wrinkled face scrunched up a bit. He might have been thinking, or the structural integrity of his head might have finally given way, leading to a total collapse.

    It turned out to be the former.

    ¡°Because it is your first time, you will each need to be tested before you can enter the club.¡± He scratched again at where his ear wasn¡¯t. ¡°The testing is not too bad.¡±

    ¡°What kind of test is it?¡± asked Etja. I was silently hoping for a handshake war.

    ¡°They are all different,¡± he said. ¡°And there are many ways to pass.¡± His eyes opened slightly wider and I steeled my nerves as they slid out again. He looked at Etja more intently, like he¡¯d done for me and Varrin when I¡¯d shown him the coin. She faced him down with a pleasant smile, completely unperturbed by the man¡¯s eyeballs.

    ¡°Perhaps you will pass through control,¡± he said to Etja before turning to Xim. ¡°Or force.¡± He looked at Nuralie next. ¡°Ingenuity could work. Or passion,¡± he said with a nod toward Varrin. Finally, his eyes settled on me, growing a fraction wider than I¡¯d seen so far. They looked like they were about to fall out of the man¡¯s face.

    After a few seconds, he groaned. ¡°Teamwork. Pah. They hate that one.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, but Nax didn¡¯t elaborate. He turned back to stare out at the miles of mud.

    ¡°It was nice meeting you Nax,¡± I said. He didn¡¯t respond, which I took as a silent dismissal, so I led the way forward into the tunnel.

    ¡°What an interesting fellow,¡± said Etja. Her voice echoed off the tunnel¡¯s hard surfaces.

    ¡°I do not understand our first interaction,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We confused him somehow.¡±

    ¡°I think that guy was the doorman,¡± I said. ¡°He called whatever we¡¯re about to walk into ¡®the club¡¯. We basically showed up to a super exclusive, extremely out of the way establishment and just stared at him from across the street. He got suspicious, which makes sense.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Varrin. ¡°He thought you were a miscreant trying to talk your way in.¡±

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    Xim rapped a knuckle against the tunnel wall. It was smooth and solid, but rang in a way that let us know it wasn¡¯t actually stone. ¡°What do you think would have happened if we didn¡¯t have that coin?¡± she asked.

    I glanced back the way we¡¯d come. Nax¡¯s soul had also been impossible to get a read on. I¡¯d tried inspecting him with the System as well, but nothing had come back.

    ¡°Nothing good, I¡¯m sure,¡± I said, turning back forward. I jerked to a halt and looked around the empty tunnel. ¡°Ah, fuck,¡± I said. ¡°This shit again?¡±

    Everyone else was gone. I turned around and found exactly what I expected to find, which was that the entrance was gone too. I stood for a while, waiting for something to happen. Nax had said there¡¯d be a test, but it didn¡¯t seem like anyone was about to show up with a scantron and a pair of tiny pencils. Unlike the entrance, the way forward was still there.

    I decided to march on, but stopped abruptly when I felt a familiar wave of mana wash over me. Dimensional mana poured into the tunnel until it was as thick as the most saturated parts of the Closet. Then it kept ramping up until it was several times denser.

    I felt a twist in my gut and a gentle popping sound filled my ears. I stood stock still and reached out with my mana sense as an uneven wind filled the hall. I couldn¡¯t see the end of the corridor ahead, as though it went off into a distance farther than I could see. As I stared down the hall it stretched even further, and the walls began to close in.

    Space was being warped and twisted. The distance between myself and the walls kept changing. Small whorls of spatial distortion came into existence to stir the air and then faded just as quickly. The popping noises were micro-portals opening and closing. They surrounded me, but there was a small buffer where I was safe. An inch or so off my skin.

    The moment I moved, I¡¯d be caught in a meat grinder that would mangle my flesh. The portals would take tiny bites until I was riddled with holes. If either of those effects happened to manifest in my brain, it¡¯d be a Bad Time. It wouldn¡¯t kill me outright, but if I fell unconscious in this environment, I doubted that I¡¯d make it.

    As I stood frozen, planning how to deal with all this, the System gave me a hint as to what was going on. Once I read the notification, my apprehension faded as I realized the opportunity before me.

    You have entered the Hall of the Recondite Ruler

    Dimensional Dungeon

    Recommended skills: Dimensional Magic 40

    The description was short and sweet, but part of me hoped the Dungeon wasn¡¯t. I was always in need of some skill levels, and this seemed like the perfect place to snag a few.

 245 - Dungeons andâ€¦

    My first move was to get more information about the space I¡¯d somehow gotten stuck in. I hadn¡¯t been teleported, since my Extradimensional Entity subrace would have tried to stop it. I should have at least gotten a notification. Given that this was a Dimensional Dungeon, it was possible that we¡¯d walked into it. Everyone else had probably been teleported away from me, rather than the opposite.

    Dungeons were something new in System phase two, but we hadn¡¯t run into one yet. They didn¡¯t have any Delver Level requirements, and didn¡¯t grant any stat points, but instead granted a massive buff to the progression speed of their relevant intrinsic skill. The Littans had said they could earn as much in a single day as they normally earned in a month outside of one. I was more than happy to further that research here in the Hall of the Recondite Ruler.

    I used Coordinated Thinker to study the space. The distances kept changing, but Coordinated Thinker didn¡¯t only help me teleport. It also helped me gain an intuitive grasp of spatial and planar phenomena. The fluctuations in distance weren¡¯t completely random. There was an organic pattern, imperfect but regular, like someone¡¯s rate of breathing. The inhale stretched everything out, the exhale compressed it inward. Except that there were about six hundred pairs of lungs doing that all at once.

    The point is that it wasn¡¯t a completely predictable formula, nor was it chaos. I could time my movements to slip between the micro-portals and spatial whorls, but it would take a lot of instinct and reflexes. I liked to think I was pretty in touch with my primal side, but that wasn¡¯t really my thing.

    Aside from understanding the hall¡¯s hazards, I was reaching out to see if I could find its boundaries. So long as it wasn¡¯t a self-repeating pocket dimension where one wall adjoined to a wall on the opposite side¨Clike the Closet¨CI could probably pop my way through the edge and out of danger.

    What I felt outside the tunnel was not friendly. The space was a storm of violent motion, with ragged portals tearing open reality thousands of times per second. That wasn¡¯t anywhere I wanted to be. The amount of power swinging around could tear its way through the tunnel¡¯s wall in an instant. I couldn¡¯t even detect any mana weaves in the stone. The walls were a formality, marking the line between challenge and death.

    The hallway ahead looked like it extended on for eternity. It wanted me to think that it was endless, but I¡¯d stared down infinity more than a few times. This wasn¡¯t like gazing in the Dominion Ivy¡¯s dimension, and it sure as hells wasn¡¯t like taking a peek at the Dread Star.

    I sent my mental hands through it, extending them forward to search more intentionally with Coordinated Thinker. After only a few seconds I chuckled. The motion almost made me brush up against a spatial tear by my shoulder.

    When I sent my perception ¡®forward¡¯, it travelled in several directions at once. Keeping my real hand where it was, I popped a small bit of stone debris from my inventory and into my palm. We had lots of excess rubble these days. I tucked my thumb behind the rock and gave it a flick.

    The stone shot forward much faster than I¡¯d expected, but I was a relative expert at throwing blunt objects very very hard. Either way, the stone got shredded by the dimensional hazards, but more importantly, it didn¡¯t follow a straight path.

    A spatial tear cut it in two, and the two halves immediately took 90 degree turns in different directions. They each zigzagged through the air, making pivots so clean and fast it looked like cuts in an action film. Finally, one half collided with the ceiling behind me. The other half didn¡¯t make it, swallowed up by a portal.

    It was a bog-standard non-Euclidean space.

    Okay, it wasn¡¯t bog-standard. We weren¡¯t dealing with something as simple as space acting like the surface of a sphere, where the shortest distance between two points was an arc, rather than a straight line. This was more like space had become as wrinkly as old Nax back out front, and the shortest distance between me and the end of the hall was ???.

    Fortunately, this wasn¡¯t a major issue. I had a trick for situations like these. If three-dimensional space was acting up, I¡¯d just step outside of it for a second, walk a few steps, and come back.

    I reached out strangeward, happy to jump past all this nonsense.

    It was even worse out there. My brain did a soft reboot and my consciousness slipped for an instant. Strangeward was always a mental strain, but whatever was going on out there, my human mind hit eject before I had a chance to even consider processing it.

    That got me wondering what sort of maniac was responsible for making this place. Beyond that, how much power did something need to create this?

    I shook off the question as I realized that several parts of my ass were gone.

    When my consciousness had slipped, I¡¯d swayed back just a touch. I was well-equipped on the posterior end, so my cheeks were the unfortunate victim of this blunder. It hadn¡¯t cost me too much HP, but having my booty cratered like the surface of the moon scuffed my ego. It¡¯d grow back, but it was the principle of the thing.

    ¡°Okay, this was fun,¡± I said to whoever might be listening. ¡°But now that the patty cakes have been threatened, I¡¯m taking things seriously.¡±

    I used Coordinated Thinker to track the spatial relationships floating around me, and my mental view of the hall shattered. The chunky pieces tumbled across one another until they reassembled into a mosaic perspective of the hall. The walls were jagged and irregular, fit together like someone took a jigsaw and hammered the pieces in all willy-nilly, rather than solving the thing. However, I could now see a ¡®straight¡¯ path to the end of the hallway. It was a few hundred feet away.

    I focused on Dreadful Shortcut. There was a pressure pushing against the ability. Apparently the hall even had anti-teleportation measures. I smiled and cast the spell anyway.

    The deific teleport laughed its way past the hall¡¯s protections. To say that it tore through them like a bull through a spider¡¯s web wouldn¡¯t be fair. A spider¡¯s web was something that had mass, and could thus apply force to the bull. In this situation, the counter-teleport had the same effect on Shortcut as a thing that had never existed in the first place. I could tell it was there the same way I could see a distant ray of sunshine. It was obvious, but it wouldn¡¯t stop me from walking forward.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to Level 46!

    That was nice, but I was feeling a little let down since it looked like I¡¯d found the exit. It was a quick skill level, but I¡¯d been hoping for more than that. Maybe other Dungeons would be longer. Or maybe I wasn¡¯t quite done.

    At the end of the hall was a lovely door. It was sized for a normal human, which felt out of place. It was also fairly modern-looking, with three rectangular panes of smooth, semi-opaque glass down the center, set into dark wood.

    I reached for the handle, but the door pulled away from me. I stepped forward, and it pulled back again. I dashed and flew, instantly moving into a sprint from a full stop with my Bolt evolution, but the door matched my pace. I teleported, moving at the speed of thought and managed to snag the handle. The door flew down the hall as I held on.

    Rather than being annoyed, I was happy that the inanimate object wanted to play a game of tag. That meant more Dungeon.

    We were absolutely flying down this tunnel, the walls whipping past in a complete blur. Despite the speed, there was very little wind, and holding onto the handle wasn¡¯t terribly hard. We were accelerating, though the g-forces I was experiencing didn¡¯t reflect how much we were accelerating. There were some spatial shenanigans happening. Some kind of Alcubierre effect, maybe?

    I still had Therianthropy active, but there were only two minutes left on its timer, which was up to thirty-two minutes per use. I tried my wings, which brought me forward with ease as I moved into an upright position. We were definitely travelling faster than my maximum flight speed, but the warped space near the door served as its own relative frame of reference.

    I turned the knob and opened the door. It opened inward to reveal a large, circular chamber filled with about a dozen people. Many were people in the same sense that Nax was a person. Still people, just with unexpected anatomical structures. A few skewed closer to a bestial appearance than Nax had, while others looked mostly human.

    There were five separate thrones around the room, ranging in size from something that¡¯d be a tight fit for my backside¨Cassuming no more chunks had been taken out¨Cto something designed for a person of architectural proportions. Two of the thrones were occupied.

    On the first was a man about the size of an elephant, with a crown of swooping feathered horns growing from his skull. He squatted in his seat on a pair of thick, feathered haunches. On either side of his chair was a horse-sized being that looked like a cross between a hellhound and a beaver, each with large hands and opposable thumbs. I couldn¡¯t tell whether they were pets of some kind or something sapient.

    In the next throne over¨Cdirectly opposite my door¨Cwas a woman with blue crystalline skin who had a literal halo floating behind her head. Not a gold-ring-style halo hovering over her head¨Clike the kind one sees on Christmas cards¨Cbut a tangible wreath of light emanating from behind her. Three men were giving her some personal attention, swabbing her with oil and attending to her various claws. They each wore hats with short veils that covered the tops of their faces. Fangs poked out from between their lips.

    Directly in front of me was another woman, this one with alabaster skin and hair a shade of black so deep that it looked closer to a liquid. Her features were a bit unusual, but it was a very good sort of unusual. She had the type of features that would start wars on the internet, with half of everyone thinking they were the most gorgeous creature to walk creation, while the other half had no idea why everyone was obsessed, and were maybe even a little put off.

    I fell into the former category. She was so attractive that my brain immediately locked up. My mind switched into mental fuckery mode and I scanned for any sense of mana, checking all my various abilities to see if this was some kind of magical effect. But it wasn¡¯t. I was just having a moment.

    She looked at me like I was a very interesting bug.

    There were other people in the room, but I didn¡¯t have time to take them in. Only a fraction of a second had passed before the woman swallowed my attention.

    A fraction of a second after that, she Spartan kicked me back out of the door.

    It was a strong kick, but I snapped out with my tentacles toward the door frame before I flew off into the eternal hall of dimensional nonsense. The frame was flush with the wall that was still speeding past, making an absolute fool of the concept of friction, but the frame wasn¡¯t made of some kind of super material. It was plain wood. Very nice wood¨Cprobably something exotic¨Cbut it wasn¡¯t reinforced. I dug in with the ends of my tentacles and hooked them downward, giving me a good hold.

    I looked into the woman¡¯s eyes, deep blue like the bottom of an ocean, while I hung onto the door frame. I gave her my best smile, the one I kept in reserve for moments exactly like this one. It was my ¡®yeah, you just kicked me, but I forgive you and also look how charming I am¡¯ smile.

    ¡°Hello there,¡± I said.

    She smiled back with slightly raised eyebrows. Hers was more of an ¡®are you really looking at me like that right now?¡¯ kind of smile.

    I was doing a lot of nonverbal translation today.

    ¡°Having fun?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯ll allow you to go and have some more then.¡±

    She didn¡¯t move an inch, but the doorframe disintegrated. My direction of travel reversed, and suddenly I was moving backward down the hall at a thousand miles per hour. It was a completely smooth transition, one that I hadn¡¯t even felt. All of my momentum was just going the other way all of a sudden.

    It was so weird, I loved it. Therianthropy ended and my wings faded into sparkling dust. Even so, my smile grew wider as I cast Shortcut. I felt a nudge as someone tried to Dispel me, but I appeared back at the door frame without issue.

    I stood just inside of the room, only far enough in to keep my balance. I didn¡¯t want to be rude and invade these people¡¯s personal space, but this door was also the only exit as far as I knew.

    Someone chuckled, and I noticed for the first time that an older woman stood a dozen or so feet back from the one who¡¯d just tried to Leonidas my ass away. She had the same skin tone, hair, and eyes. She could have been her grandmother. Maybe she was.

    The younger woman rubbed at her forehead.

    ¡°How are you doing that?¡± she asked.

    I smoothed down and straightened my boa. ¡°Doing what?¡± I asked.

    The horned man let out a barking laugh and the younger woman¡¯s eyebrow twitched. She snapped her fingers, and I felt her trying to portal me away.

    You have resisted a non-consensual Dimensional effect!

    She looked at her hand like it had grown an extra thumb.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to answer your question if you teleport me somewhere else,¡± I said.

    The woman went from staring at her hand to slowly looking over to me. The smile was completely gone, and now she was plain irritated. The older woman behind her strode forward and placed an arm around the younger woman¡¯s shoulders. She looked at me with barely hidden amusement in her eyes.

    ¡°You have earned the audience of this hatchling,¡± she said, patting the young woman¡¯s arm. ¡°But you have not earned mine. Return to your trial, and we will see how you fare when an adult administers the test.¡±

    This time, no one tried to teleport me away. The entire room teleported instead, leaving me hurtling down the hallway with no wings to support me.

    ¡°Oh fuck,¡± I said, trying to use Gracorvus to keep myself in the air, but I fumbled the angle.

    I hit the ground going north of Mach one.

 WEEK 3 ART COMMISSION SUBMISSIONS

    I say to myself "it''s midnight, get up early and make your Week 3 art ideas post." I did get up early, and then the world decide it HAD TO HAVE MY ATTENTION until right now. Now here we are.

    You guys know the rules by this point.

    That''s not going to stop me from copy+pasting them again, though.

    RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

    1) It must be Mage Tank related

    2) Sexy is fine, but nothing totally NSFW (no nudity or graphic sexuality.)

    3) Submissions will close on SUNDAY, MARCH 30 at midnight EDT (GMT-4).

    4) ONE IDEA PER COMMENT.

    5) Those who make it into the poll will be credited (unless you don''t want that, in which case please include that in your comment). You''ll also get credited again if your idea is picked.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    6) If your idea wins the poll, you''ll be taken out of the running for future polls. I want to give as much opportunity as I can to everyone.

    Your idea can also include your preferred art style (ex: line illustration, anime, H.R. Giger-style horror show), or any other details you find relevant.

    As mentioned in yesterday''s chapter, this week I will GUARANTEE that at least one (1) poll option for this week (week three (3)) will be comprised of a hot springs/onsen suggestion containing at least three (3) members of Fortune''s Folly with a mix of genders.

    So, bring out your best hot springs ideas and drop them below THIS (today''s post, the one (1) you''re reading) DEDICATED POST. Resubmit your old ideas, lay down some new ones (1s), ask your neighbor what they''d like to see while providing little to no context for your suspicious hot-springs-themed question.

    There is nothing saying that week 3 (this week) will be exclusively Hot Tub Mage Machine, so as always feel free to include any other ideas you may have. But, you know, just be aware of your potential competition.

    Once (1ce, 1nce? 1ss) more, thank you all for being here, thanks for all the great submissions, and thanks for reading! I hope you''re having a great week.

    (Submissions will close Sunday March 30 (thirty) at midnight (23:59.9999999) EDT (GMT -4 (four)))

    VVV COMMENT BELOW WITH YOUR IDEAS VVV

 246 - Dungeons andâ€¦ Part 2

    After two stone-shattering bounces, I managed to control my trajectory with Gracorvus, using its flight ability to bleed momentum as rapidly as I could. I¡¯d lost about a third of the speed while using my entire body as an emergency brake, so a few seconds of deceleration with the shield let me hit the ground running and come to a stop on my own.

    I glanced at my health. I¡¯d taken about fifty damage from the impact, which wasn¡¯t bad at all. There hadn¡¯t been any magic behind it, so the damage was mostly mitigated by Fortitude. My armor was also durable enough to take that kind of a hit without trouble.

    I took a moment to feel quite good about myself. A few years ago, hitting a tree at twenty miles per hour had killed me. Today, I could eat the road at a thousand miles per hour and all I¡¯d get was a bit of muscle tenderness. I glanced back at the tunnel behind me, seeing sections that my body had absolutely destroyed.

    ¡°Arlo doesn¡¯t get road rash,¡± I said. ¡°The road gets Arlo-rash.¡± I scratched at my beard, plucking some gravel away. ¡°No, that sounds like I gave the road herpes.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°Sticks and stones don¡¯t break my bones? That¡¯s complete shit. Uh, let¡¯s see, something about how I don¡¯t bleed? The road bleeds instead? That¡¯s a stretch.¡± I took a power pose and lowered my voice. ¡°Arlo¡¯s terminal velocity is only terminal for the ground.¡± I let that one settle, then nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not bad. Not quite on point, but we¡¯ll stick with it.¡±

    Satisfied with my workshopped one-liner, I peered up and down the tunnel, trying to decide what I was even supposed to do. The spatial anomalies were gone, as were the micro portals. This tunnel was also very long, but for real this time. It lacked any non-Euclidean weirdness.

    I checked my notifications, seeing that my brief teleport battle had earned me another level in Dimensional Magic, taking me up to 47. The returns in here really were quite good. Dimensional Magic was taking a heavy lead over my other skills, though. My next highest was Physical Magic at 32, with Mystical a close third at 30.

    None of my martial skills had made it above 29. I needed to find one or three Heavy Armor Dungeons next.

    I reached out with my senses, but the space beyond the tunnel was still a diamond-cut dimensional shredder. I scanned out to my max distance with Shortcut, finding more tunnel for at least seven miles in either direction. Maybe this was a speed test? Run the endless halls before you die of old age? Dimensional magicks were pretty good at making people go fast, but it wasn¡¯t my specialty.

    That thought led me to realize that my specialty was turning out to be portals. I had the Closet, Checkpoints, Shortcut, all of them Deific. Summoning Shog made a portal as well. The description of that one only said ¡°Summon the c¡¯thon Shog¡¯tuatha¡± so I wasn¡¯t sure if it had picked up the Deific tag. Shog wasn¡¯t a portal, so I doubted he¡¯d be a god once he came through. Or, if he was, it was entirely because of whatever he¡¯d done while he was away.

    Oblivion Orb was a Planar spell, which was the same magic sub-type as my portals. Did that make Oblivion Orb a portal, technically? I checked the skill¡¯s description, but it hadn¡¯t been upgraded by the Dread Star. I¡¯d known that already, but sometimes I¡¯d look at something five times, only to find what I was looking for on the sixth. Maybe I could reforge it into a portal skill. Ideas for later.

    Pure speed boosts were usually Spatial magic. Explosion, Homing Weapon, and Gravity Anchor used Spatial concepts, but were hybrids with Physical Magic. I also didn¡¯t have any evolutions for spatial, so as far as Dimensional Magic went, I figured I now fell firmly into the category of portal specialist.

    While I couldn¡¯t use Dimensional Magic to speed myself up, I could run pretty good and use Shortcut to add a little extra speed on top. That wasn¡¯t a long-haul idea, since I¡¯d run out of mana, but I decided to start jogging while I thought it over.

    I casually skipped along at a speed that most sports cars could only ever dream about, using Shortcut here and there for a boost. Ambient Absorption had my mana regen running real hot as I soaked up the thick, juicy Dimensional energy. It was kicking around in the 400 range, meaning I could Shortcut a hundred times an hour without my totals dropping. It didn¡¯t add much to my overall travel speed, but it was something to do.

    After a few minutes, I noticed that the tunnel had taken on a slight gradient, moving downward. A few minutes after that, it was turning slightly to the left. I was descending pretty rapidly, despite the shallow angle, but the way out of Delves was always down. Why not Dungeons as well?

    As I continued on my journey, I began wondering what had happened to everyone else. Had they been carried away to their own Dungeons? If so, what kind? Were they safe?

    The party interface was greyed out and my auras couldn¡¯t find them, but that was normal if we were all in self-contained dimensional spaces. Grotto could check in with them, but I didn¡¯t want to be all paternal. If there was a problem, he¡¯d let me know. I could trust my party members to handle themselves.

    I was sure they were fine, and probably having just as much fun as I was.

    ***

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: USER NAME [Ruler 1]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Ruler 2 has requested that it be clarified that Ruler 1 is no longer ¡°in first place¡± and that Ruler 2 is now first among Rulers. Ruler 2 has been temporarily banned from amending their User Name due to repeated abuses.

    ***

    Etja floated in a lake of pure mana, with strands of potent magic flowing around her. They teased her skin with their tendrils, plucked at her mind like empty thoughts, promised her the heavens, to be her shield, to take her anywhere she¡¯d like to go.

    She hadn¡¯t even known there was such a thing as ¡®pure¡¯ mana, before she¡¯d been dunked into a pool of the stuff. The different types could all be converted into any other with only a little work, and no one¡¯s attunement let them work with all five types, so she wasn¡¯t sure what pure mana would be useful for.

    Even the Delves all stored mana as Mystical, since it was the easiest to shift around. Chances were that if she told someone she was using ¡®pure¡¯ mana, they¡¯d assume she meant Mystical, which was wrong but would have been a good guess. It would have been her guess, until she¡¯d found out that wasn¡¯t right, which was about three minutes ago.

    The lake had shown her a new truth, which she appreciated. The tendrils were curious and playful, and her Mystical skill had gone up twice just from the insights she was gathering by listening to their secrets.

    It would have been quite nice, if the stuff hadn¡¯t also been trying to eat her mana matrix.

    It was a war of attrition, and there was a lot less mana in Etja than there was in the lake. The pure mana pulled from her with every taste it took. A point here and a point there. She was down more than a hundred, and she knew instinctively that once she¡¯d been sucked dry, the pure mana would stop being gentle with her. It didn¡¯t want her mana pool, that was just a buffer. It wanted the things inside her that made that mana work. Her veins, her matrix, her skill imprints, the little bits and pieces of avatars locked away inside her.

    Ejta had gentle with the mana at first. When she was bitten, a gentle puff of Nullify sent the tendrils away. Once they started spinning themselves into invisible threads and sneaking under her skin, she surrounded herself with countermagic. That was unsustainable. Now, she¡¯d learn to copy their style.

    The mana wove itself through her like a song, and Nullify danced to its rhythm. She wove the counterspell into little threads she used to cut the tendrils apart. They came at predictable intervals, coerced by a strict conductor. She¡¯d adapted to the mana, but the mana didn¡¯t seem to know how to adapt to her.

    This was much more efficient, but she was still losing the race.

    The mana told her as much. It spoke to her with soothing tones, assuring her that it wanted what was best for her, but she knew it was cold and ravenous. It was familiar to the other woman who she¡¯d once been. The one locked inside her memories, an echo in the cavern of her mind that never faded. She knew this type, and she knew how to satisfy it.

    But the Mirtasian priestess was too nice. Her method of placating was too self-destructive. Etja didn¡¯t mind making sacrifices and she didn¡¯t mind sharing, but this mana wasn¡¯t her friend. She had no reason to give it more than it had earned by speaking to her. And all that earned it was a conversation. Right now, it was stealing.

    That wasn¡¯t a nice thing to do, so she decided to stop being nice in return.

    Deep in Etja¡¯s soul was a door she kept shut and locked, barred and buried. Behind it was a place her father had made for her, and endless nothing that would take everything for itself. It was Etja¡¯s place now, though, ever since her father¡¯s soul had been forced out of her.

    Everything that empty place had belonged to her, so everything it took became hers as well. It didn¡¯t care who it took from, it didn¡¯t care where the stuff it wanted came from, and that made it a very difficult thing to discipline.

    Each time Etja gained a Level, she got a bit better at containing that empty place. Each time she gained a Level, the empty place grew more difficult to contain. She took evolutions to give her more control, and it used those evolutions to control the world. But so long as that door stayed shut, it couldn¡¯t act. It could only wait, and plan.

    Etja wasn¡¯t very worried about the empty place today. Her friends were somewhere else, far enough away that she couldn¡¯t feel them anymore. Even the comforting presence of Arlo¡¯s auras were gone, which made her a bit sad. She knew they¡¯d return though. Everyone just needed to kill their own Dungeon, and they could get back to what they were doing.

    And what they were doing was talking to dragons, maybe?

    If Etja were being honest, she wasn¡¯t totally sure why they were there. Arlo wanted to recruit some allies, but he didn¡¯t know who they were or how they might help. He mostly seemed excited to meet new and interesting characters, which she knew he enjoyed. Everyone else went along with it for¡­ reasons.

    It didn¡¯t matter much. It seemed neat, and she was happy to come along. She was hoping that Arlo won the bet, because she had several different silly hats she wanted to wear. Her newest hat was incredible, but one needed different hats for different occasions. If it turned out there really were dragons here, then she¡¯d have an excuse to have a different hat for every occasion.

    Now, however, Etja was alone in this place the System called the Lake of the Pansophical Ruler. No friends. Only one hat, her own. But if she was alone, there was no one to hurt. No one other than the thing trying to hurt her.

    So she dug, pried, unlocked, and then opened that door inside her. The lake was vast, but the empty place was more.

    She coaxed her tendrils of Nullify out to surround her as she did a slow pirouette in the pure mana sea. They spun around her, picking up her cadence and following along, hardly needing her to lead at all. She used Disintegrate to encourage Nullify into dissolving the attacking filaments, rather than annihilate them. Once they were broken down, she introduced Incorporate as a new partner. She and her three spells whirled about in pairs, trading off with one another to accomplish their task.

    She seized the mana. She dissolved it. She made it ready for harvest, and Incorporate pulled it inward toward the empty.

    The door was only so wide, meaning that this might take a while, but she wasn¡¯t worried. The moment the pure mana started draining into the emptiness, her own mana started filling back up. The tendrils could pinch and stab all they wanted.

    They couldn''t drain her dry once they were a part of her.

 247 - Dungeons andâ€¦ Part 3

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: USER NAME [Ruler 2]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Despite receiving multiple warnings that this is an inappropriate use of the System Addendum feature, Ruler 3 has requested that a complaint be logged concerning Ruler 2¡¯s testing of the Physical petitioner. This request has been denied. Ruler 2 has requested the addition of the following text, which he claims is unrelated to Ruler 3¡¯s request: ¡°Get fucked.¡±

    ***

    Varrin didn¡¯t know whether he¡¯d found the source of the mountain¡¯s fire, but he¡¯d certainly found fire. He stood amidst endless flames, the flickering dance of orange and white engulfing him. The light stole his vision, the heat robbed him of any useful breath, and his armor had become an oven which sought to cook him.

    It was an annoyance, but nothing to cause him any concern.

    Not yet.

    Varrin¡¯s armor kept the worst of the heat at bay, and his Hiwardian endurance took care of the rest. It would need to grow much hotter before he¡¯d willingly describe the blaze as uncomfortable. As far as the lack of air was concerned, he could just hold his breath. If someone wanted to kill him through suffocation, they¡¯d be waiting for a while.

    While the heat and lack of air meant little, the sound of the fire was a problem. Varrin could navigate well enough without sight; his ancestors had developed keen hearing in the depths of the pitch-black Littan mines. If he were only blinded, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered, but the sole sound to be heard was the roar of the inferno.

    None of that obscured the System notification he received, which Varrin glanced at and dismissed just as quickly as it had come.

    You have entered the Caldera of the Paroxysmal Ruler

    Physical Dungeon

    Recommended skills: Physical Magic 40

    Unfortunate. Varrin¡¯s Physical Magic skill was only level 28, which was quite low for an attunement. His Spiritual Magic had even overtaken it recently, owing to his work with his ancestral soul clones. He gave little weight to the recommendation, however. If his skill level needed to improve, then he would improve it. If there were other ways to deal with this Dungeon, then he would find them. Varrin could already endure the fire without relying on Physical Magic. He could just as likely solve any other problems he ran into without it as well.

    Varrin spent a few moments in the flames, waiting to see if something would try and take advantage of his reduced awareness. He also spent the time considering whether it would be worth it to pick up the Reconnaissance skill for the Sense Motion evolution. It would have been perfect for a situation such as this.

    Perception was a minor weakness of Varrin¡¯s build, and he knew as much. However, it rarely came into play. When it did, there were usually other solutions, such as flying away from the hazard. He was also fond of simply cutting everything down around him, which he could do regardless of whether he could perceive his surroundings.

    There were certainly some Physical Magic evolutions that would trivialize this problem in particular, but he was more concerned with build choices made according to more generalized principles. His entire Physical Magic progression was already laid out, and none of it dealt with manipulating fire or improving his awareness. The Restrictor Belt evolution series was focused entirely on making his attacks sharper, and that would be all. Perhaps he could slice these flames away, but he didn¡¯t need to.

    Varrin finished his musing. Addressing his blind spots was useful, but it didn¡¯t matter much at that very moment. No one had come to ambush him, and he was satisfied that further contemplation would yield little of value. Varrin slowly rose into the air, moving cautiously to avoid a hard collision with any other unseen hazards. After a few seconds, the fire began to give way to smoke. Smoke was tolerable. He could see at least a few feet through smoke.

    Varrin still couldn¡¯t breathe, but the sound of the fire was no longer omnipotent. It was dominant over all other noise, but other noises could be heard. Thunder rolled through the sky above him, and there was a soft clanging in the distance, barely audible. Varrin centered on the rhythmic toll and floated onward.

    His flight continued to be sedate and measured. Not out of any attempt at stealth, although he could move unseen and unheard much better than anyone who knew him might suspect. Varrin moved at a glide because he felt no need to rush. If there were an enemy, let them think he was slow. Let them understand how little their theatrics mattered. A valley of fire was hardly enough to disturb him, and so he moved as placidly as he felt.

    When Varrin breached the thickest smoke, the sky above him was black as soot as far as the eye could see. Frequent streaks of light cut through the miasma, followed by booming rumbles. On the ground below, he spotted an anvil as large as a mansion, sitting near the edge of the flame.

    From where Varrin hovered, he could see a glowing slab of metal atop the anvil, looking like it had been abandoned only a moment ago. On the ground beside it was a blacksmith¡¯s hammer sized for a giant, and sitting with their back against the head of that hammer was a man, sized normally.

    Normal, in this case, being relative to the smithy equipment. The man was at least as large as Varrin, and no one of any sense would describe the young Ravvenblaq¡¯s size as ¡®normal¡¯.

    Varrin flew closer. He landed on the ground and strode across a field of glowing coals. To his right, the fire burned for at least a half mile in each direction, bounded by a thick stone lip that arced away. Varrin tried to identify the figure as he studied him, but the System was not yet willing to do so.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    The stranger wore a heavy set of armor that was tinted a deep, vibrant red. It had the subtle chromatic glint of prismatite, and the combination made it appear as though each plate had been cut from the same colossal ruby. Otherwise, the armor was plain.

    There were no engravings, no heraldry, not a single ornamental flair to be found, but while the armor was functional and unembellished, its workmanship was of the highest quality. Each piece had been precisely forged, the surfaces perfect, polished, and pristine. Overlapping metal plates slid smoothly around the joints, with no visible separation or friction. The gauntlets had such complex articulation, that Varrin would have believed the man had he said he could paint a masterpiece without ever taking them off.

    Beyond that, the armor was clean in the way that could only be achieved through the Immutable property. Despite the environment, not a single scorch mark could be seen. Not a single speck of ash could find purchase. Outside of a System award, such a thing could only have been the product of a very high-level smith. Someone approaching Varrin¡¯s own grandfather in skill, of whom there were precious few.

    Across the ruby man¡¯s lap was a two-handed sword. Like the armor, it was both simple and masterful. Six feet of frozen steel made up a hand¡¯s width blade, straight and double-edged. The crossguard and pommel were heavily weighted, balancing the sword while serving as potential weapons of their own. While Varrin had only the most rudimentary mana sense, he could still feel power pouring off the weapon. Its surface swam with elemental beauty, compressed until the blade was more magic than metal.

    The man watched Varrin approach, a glint of citrine eyes visible through his visor. Slitted, reptilian pupils studied him, betraying no emotion. Varrin came to a stop ten feet from the man. The two of them were the only things in the realm untouched by the pervasive rain of ash. A virginal pair amidst the tainted landscape.

    The man stood with casual strength, as though he¡¯d levitated from his sitting position. He brought the blade of his sword to rest against his shoulder. The stance wasn¡¯t an aggressive one, but it also allowed for that to change very quickly.

    The System finally gave Varrin an identification.

    Remembrance of Hep, Era of Youth: Elemental, Grade 25

    The man shifted his feet and leaned in. Varrin held tight to Kazandak¡¯s sheath, but made no move to draw it. The man had weakened his balance with the motion, and it seemed more evocative of interest than any intent to attack.

    ¡°This is weird,¡± said the stranger. ¡°You¡¯re Level 13.¡±

    Varrin ignored the rude comment, choosing to be civil instead. ¡°I am Lord Varrin Ravvenblaq,¡± he said with a slight bow. ¡°Might I know your name, such that I can address you properly?¡±

    The ruby man moved back into his casual stance. ¡°You may call me Lord Hep, if you so desire.¡±

    ¡°Well met, Lord Hep,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It seems that I have been brought to this Caldera against my will.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Hep. ¡°Is that truly what happened, Lord Ravvenblaq?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, Lord Hep. However, it is my understanding that I am to undertake some kind of test. I presume this to be the reason for my abduction. Would you be familiar with such a thing?¡±

    ¡°I am familiar with this test,¡± said Hep with a nod. ¡°It is not often that I receive those of noble station into my caldera. You¡¯ll forgive me for my earlier comment, I¡¯m sure. It has been some time since I was addressed so formally, and I have grown accustomed to speaking aloud for both myself and my guests.¡±

    ¡°Think nothing of it,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Although I am curious as to why you find my Level to be an oddity.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you misapprehend me, Lord Ravvenblaq. This is understandable, given my inartful words. You see, what I find strange is not your Level, but my own.¡±

    ¡°I will admit that you have now enlivened my curiosity even further, Lord Hep.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that must sound absurd without context,¡± said Hep. ¡°To explain, whenever a guest arrives in my caldera, my Level or Grade is reduced to match their own. Otherwise, my opponents would have no chance of winning. Even then, they have but the slimmest of prospects.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But I am Level 13 and you are not.¡±

    ¡°As you say, Lord Ravvenblaq.¡± Varrin could hear a predatory smile in Hep¡¯s voice. ¡°This is a most unusual occurrence, although it is not without precedent. Some individuals present a greater challenge than their System-assigned number might suggest, but the divergence has never been so great. My Level is nearly double yours, after all!¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± Varrin grunted. ¡°I cannot say that this surprises me, Lord Hep. I have a history of fighting upward, so to speak.¡±

    ¡°Good, good,¡± said Hep. ¡°I would hate for you to feel that this is unfair in any way.¡±

    ¡°Fairness was never a consideration.¡±

    ¡°Then let us be done with words, and truly speak with one another.¡±

    Varrin drew Kazandak, and by the time the weapon had left its sheath, Hep¡¯s blade was already crashing down upon it. Varrin tilted his sword to let Hep¡¯s heavier weapon slide down its length, then whipped Kazandak forward to take the ruby man in the neck. Hep pivoted, moving back enough to avoid Kazandak¡¯s tip by an inch, but Varrin extended Kazandak mid-swing. Sparks flew from Hep¡¯s gorget, and the master of the caldera hopped back to put space between them.

    Had this been a formal competition, Varrin would have been satisfied for earning the first point. However, his strike hadn¡¯t been enough to penetrate Hep¡¯s armor, and he¡¯d gleaned very little about Hep¡¯s fighting style. Hep, on the other hand, now knew that Kazandak could change its length, and that Varrin was capable with a precision-based style.

    Rather than let Hep spend time analyzing, Varrin pressed the offensive. He darted in and thrust Kazandak toward Hep¡¯s hip. Hep rotated his lower body, pulling back while using the motion to bring his blade down towards Varrin¡¯s shoulder. Varrin had gone low with the thrust, and quickly dropped, pivoting into a kneeling guard.

    Hep¡¯s longsword struck Kazandak, Varrin angled the blade to slide away again, springing forward to slash beneath Hep¡¯s armpit. Hep anticipated the deflection and rotated his swing to counter. Hep pressured Kazandak, forcing the blade too low to hit its target, spinning as he went and sweeping Varrin¡¯s back with the blade¡¯s tip.

    The longsword scraped across Varrin¡¯s armor, but Varrin was already rotating to turn the hit into a glancing blow. He brought Kazandak back around, met by Hep¡¯s blade. Hep knocked Kazandak to one side, then lunged inside Varrin¡¯s guard. But Hep had under-committed to the block in order to time his lunge. Varrin adjusted the angle of his blade and twisted his upper body to push Hep¡¯s thrust off center. The two exchanged hits, with Hep driving his sword into Varrin¡¯s shoulder, and Varrin running Kazandak across Hep¡¯s left hand.

    Both sides drew blood, and both sides withdrew to reset. Neither of the men¡¯s armor showed signs of the damage, but both had struck with enough force to pass through the Immutable materials.

    ¡°Done with introductions?¡± asked Varrin. His left deltoid throbbed and burned. His arming doublet began to grow wet, though he felt less blood than he¡¯d expected.

    Hep shook his hand, steaming blood splattering from between the plates. A few wisps of smoke coiled up from his fingers before he re-seated his grip, then nodded. ¡°Thank you for indulging me. I sometimes miss the purity of swordplay.¡±

    Hep¡¯s blade began to glow a dim red as a static charge filled the air. The blade¡¯s light quickly grew in intensity until it was an orange nearly bright enough to be called white. Even from twenty feet away, Varrin was battered by a heat several times stronger than the flames he¡¯d walked through to get here, and the static charge rose in tandem. Arcs of electricity jumped between Varrin¡¯s fingers as he sheathed Kazandak and prepared to draw it anew.

    Varrin wondered how hot the sword would be from up close, and then he fought to suppress a grin.

 181 - Project: Unavoidable Harm

    My first thought for Oblivion Orb was to exchange the crit trigger for a trigger that caused the orb to teleport forward a short distance when it contacted any sort of armor or mitigating ability. That would let it bypass a lot of defensive weaves and powers. To my delight, I could do that. However, it would increase the mana cost immensely. Apparently, the mana required to force the spell past all defensive structures was substantial. I needed to think smaller.

    Grotto encouraged me to consider how I was using the orb. I put it on a hammer, then threw that hammer at something I wanted to destroy. Most people would either dodge that combo or block it. A moment of epiphany struck and I backed away from Oblivion Orb to look over Homing Weapon.

    Homing Weapon was¡­ fine. It was a bit expensive for what it did. It added range and damage to a thrown weapon attack, and the weapon returned afterward. It cost 10 stamina, and I knew from my experience with other techniques that the return on damage should be higher than what I was getting here.

    Part of the stamina cost was from increasing the throwing range. I didn¡¯t really need that anymore, since I got a huge boost to range from my first Blunt evolution, Hammer Throw. At higher levels, the bonus from Homing Weapon would result in a paltry 10% increase in throwing distance. Not worth it in my book.

    Another reason it was expensive was that its requirements were too low for what it did. Apparently, if a spell offered more boom than it should for the related skill requirements, that increased its cost or added a cooldown.

    I ran my ideas by Grotto, who approved and began muttering villainous soliloquies as I activated step 1 of Project: Unavoidable Harm.

    I increased Homing Weapon¡¯s requirements, dropped the range boost, and amended how Dimensional Magic modified its damage based on some advice from Grotto. Then, I added one final effect that took greater advantage of the skill¡¯s core reason for existing.

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Physical/Dimensional

    Cost: 10 stamina

    Requirements: STR 20, INT 20, Blunt 20

    Make a thrown weapon attack modified by Dimensional Magic in addition to the relevant weapon intrinsic. This attack seeks out its target and cannot be dodged. The thrown weapon returns to you afterward.

    Now my hammers would pursue their targets with significantly more emphasis on the ¡®Homing¡¯ portion of Homing Weapon. Instead of a casual arc toward my enemy, it would be a heat-seeking missile of undodgeable doom. You literally could not run from it anymore.

    Also, having the attack ¡®modified¡¯ by Dimensional Magic was better than adding flat damage based on my skill level, since it would add some variable damage on top. When pressed, my familiar did a little math and said it would average out to an extra 16.5 points of damage¨Cincreasing as the skill went up¨Cwhich sounded good to me.

    I moved on to step 2 of Project: Unavoidable Harm.

    I went back to Oblivion Orb and reworked its trigger. I dropped the critical damage bonus, as much as it pained me, but added a more refined version of the armor-bypassing teleport. I couldn¡¯t get the spell to avoid all defenses without a massive increase in cost, but I could get it to bypass a specific defense.

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Dimensional

    5 mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Dimensional Magic 20

    Make an INT Planar attack against a target you can touch. This attack cannot be blocked.

    Now I could throw a hammer that could not be dodged, tipped with a spell that would teleport through my enemy¡¯s shield¨Cor whatever else they blocked with¨Cdirectly into their unguarded bodies.

    It was simple, potent, and inescapable, just like my masculine musk of sandalwood and fresh-cut mahogany. What would my opponents do? I expected they would just have to smile and take it.

    I took a break and listened to Grotto monologue about our inexorable conquest of the globe using the time-tested method of forcing our enemies to choose between the lesser of two harms. After a visit to the bathroom and a quick glass of water, I was ready to move to the next skill.

    The big boy.

    The bane of cooldown counters and healthy eardrums.

    That¡¯s right, it was time to make Explosion! not suck.

    Not that it did suck. It was a pretty good spell overall, just with a narrow band of use cases. No, I wasn¡¯t going to make it not suck. I was going to make it fucking broken.

    Broken as in it would be really good. Mechanically it would be completely balanced from the standpoint of stat and skill requirements, damage, range, effects, etc.

    Balanced in the way BORKEN ASS abilities are balanced!

    Balanced like a quarterstaff made from a motherlovin¡¯ mop!

    Balanced like your no-life ex-roommate¡¯s favorite MOBA character! Pre-patch!

    Okay, it¡¯d be good but not off-the-walls crazy. Anyway, I¡¯ll get back to the discussion.

    Explosion! was a simple spell on its surface: Charge it up, make a big-ass explosion. Under the hood, there was a lot going on. Free-form targeting, charge time, variable AoE size, multiple scaling damage types¨CSonic, Kinetic, Spatial¨Ca somatic component, the Deafened status, and a boost from chanting ominous phrases.

    Looking at everything going on, it was no wonder the spell had a huge cooldown. The requirements were minuscule, needing only Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic slotted as intrinsics¨Cno mandatory stats or levels needed.

    Grotto and I took the spell apart, trying to discern what it would take to have the spell function the way it already did, but without a cooldown. We ended up with the following requirements: INT 70, Dimensional Magic 60, Physical Magic 55.

    I did not meet those requirements.

    I did have much higher stats and levels than the spell currently called for, but if all I did was alter the requirements to match my present capabilities that would cut the cooldown by about half. With my cooldown reduction evolution from Physical Magic, I¡¯d have a version of the spell I could use every 25-ish minutes. That was a big difference from the current 47 minute cooldown, but not enough to get it where I wanted.

    However, the variable cooldown from Reckless Shortcut could be used to my advantage. Right now, Explosion! triggered its cooldown regardless of how long I charged it. What I wanted to do was match Reckless Shortcut¡¯s ability to cause a cooldown based on how hard I went with the spell. I also wanted to streamline the damage types and take some inspiration from the Spatial spells I¡¯d seen Baltae using, weaving in some more effective forced movement.

    It took hours, but Grotto and I eventually ended up with a spell I felt quite good about.

    Explosion!+

    Physical/Dimensional

    Cost: 20 mana + 10 mana/second

    Cooldown: Variable

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    Requirements: INT 40, Dimensional Magic 30, Physical Magic 20

    Create a big-ass explosion at a point you can perceive with a radius in feet equal to 20 plus your Physical Magic skill level. Make an INT Sonic attack against all entities within this area. Entities hit by this attack are Deafened for 1 minute and knocked prone.

    You can focus to charge this spell prior to choosing a point to create the AoE. If you do, this spell¡¯s radius increases by a number of feet equal to your Physical Magic skill level every 6 seconds and deals bonus Spatial damage equal to your INT every second it was charged. This spell may be charged for a maximum number of seconds equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    When charged for 3 seconds or more, entities hit by this attack are pulled to the center of this spell¡¯s area.

    Explosion!+ gains a 2 minute cooldown for every second it was charged, up to a maximum cooldown of 60 minutes.

    This spell requires a somatic component: snapping your fingers.

    Hidden Trait (Restriction): While charging this spell you may chant ominous, foreboding, or antagonistic phrases. If you do so, this spell creates an obvious visual effect that grows in intensity over time. Entities that hear your chanting and can perceive this visual effect must succeed on a WIS check opposed by your CHA or become Distracted by you until this spell resolves.

    The reforged spell gave me two options. I could create a large-radius Sonic attack for 20 mana with no cooldown, or I could charge the spell to increase the blast size and add Spatial damage in exchange for a scaling cooldown. It was much more adaptable than the original.

    While scattering my foes to the four winds with a mighty blast was fun, having them grouped up in one place was more efficient for the party. The initial pressure wave would knock people on their asses, but the Spatial damage would suck them back into the explosion¡¯s center. Enemies would be prone, Deafened, and in a nice pile for Varrin to cut to pieces, Xim to blast with pillars of holy fire, Nuralie to drop gas bombs onto, and Etja to disintegrate into their component elements. I could even hop in with Gravity Anchor to keep them grouped up.

    We¡¯d also done some fine-tuning on how Intelligence, Dimensional Magic, and Physical Magic affected the spell, but more or less ended in the same place numerically. It was slightly weaker than the original for the moment, but that was only because my Physical Magic skill level was low. Eventually, it would be better than the original¨Cwith a faster-growing AoE size¨Cbut Physical Magic would need to be a priority for training.

    I also swapped the restriction. Chanting originally added a small amount of extra damage, but given the total damage being dealt when I channeled the spell, it hadn¡¯t been significant. Instead, it was now an easy way to Distract enemies and force them to ignore my allies, paying attention to me instead.

    My Charisma was only a 10, but my Charisma evolution made the score twice as effective when trying to Distract, bringing it up to an effective 20. I also had the This is Bullshit! achievement, which made it easier to Distract higher-level enemies. In the right circumstances, Grotto expected that would give me an effective CHA of up to 30; plenty high enough to Distract most non-casters.

    Next, I took a spin through Aura of Perseverance, rewiring it to be more useful for my build. The Shielding granted by the aura was based on Strength and Charisma. I was building into Strength, but not Charisma, so I swapped that out for Fortitude, making the skill more than twice as effective. I was surprised it was that easy of a change, but sometimes things just worked out. The System decided this made it an entirely different skill, though, so it got a proper name update.

    Aura of Persistence

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina + 1 stamina per second

    Cooldown: None

    You create an aura around you with a radius in feet equal to your Physical Magic skill level. Allies within this aura gain Shielding equal to your STR + FOR when this skill is activated. While the ally remains within range, this Shielding regenerates at a rate equal to its maximum value over 6 seconds.

    As our fevered session of skill forging neared its end, I took a fresh look at Gravity Anchor. The skill had been tailored to my needs when I crafted it, and I¡¯d mainly been focused on keeping myself from getting knocked all over the battlefield while also locking my enemies down into one place. It was an effect that emanated from my body in an AoE, which made it very similar to certain other abilities I possessed. Abilities that benefited from various evolutions and passives I had recently acquired.

    I poked at the skill a bit and found that it was pretty easy to add a specific keyword without having a huge impact on its function.

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Dimensional

    Cost: 10 stamina + 2 stamina/sec

    You gain an aura with a radius in feet equal to half your Dimensional Magic skill level. Entities within this aura are pulled toward you a number of feet equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level every second.

    While this aura is active you are Immobilized and immune to forced movement. Affected entities with STR lower than your INT are also Immobilized.

    The ability description became a lot more concrete. I likely lost a little versatility, but I didn¡¯t mind having a firmer grasp of the skill¡¯s mechanics. A quick test showed I could still use it to throw hammers into orbit around myself, so that exploit worked as normal. The ability to exclude allies from the effect was no longer expressly stated, but I could use the Discretion mana shape to accomplish the same thing.

    Since Gravity Anchor was now an aura, having it active gave me +5 to attack and defense. It also had its radius of 16 feet improved by another 21 feet, granted by my Level 20 Heavy Armor evolution. A 37-foot-radius ongoing pull and immobilize was pretty solid.

    I took a breather and reviewed my repertoire.

    Active Skills: (10/11)

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Explosion!+

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Arlo¡¯s Dimensional Summon

    Reckless Shortcut

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Dispel

    Reverse Card (Aura)

    Aura of Persistence

    Arlo¡¯s Life Warden

    I had buffs to protect myself and my allies, countermagic to fuck over casters, skills for mobility and counter-mobility, a powerful summon, and three attack skills that were hard to avoid. I stroked my beard as I stared at the empty eleventh slot.

    ¡°What am I missing?¡± I said. I was half talking to myself and half posing the question to Grotto.

    [Your last serious battle saw you being taken apart by a high-Speed Physical fighter wielding a massive bardiche.]

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯ve gained a decent amount of Speed and defense since then. I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have as much trouble with Roach if we had to go at it again.¡±

    [Perhaps, but the answer to a fast melee fighter is not necessarily to match their strengths. You are gaining a fair amount of competency with armed combat, but your emphasis on spells will always see you lagging behind dedicated melee fighters.]

    ¡°So you think I should find a different counter? That¡¯s part of what I was trying to accomplish with Gravity Anchor.¡±

    [Gravity Anchor will prevent an enemy from fleeing, but it immobilizes melee fighters within striking distance. Explosion! may knock them down, but you would need to mana-shape the spell to keep from harming yourself. Plus, it is possible that skill might be on cooldown, even with our modifications. I believe you need a more dedicated skill that hinders movement and interferes with martial capabilities.]

    ¡°Right. Does that mean we¡¯re diving back in to forge a new skill?¡±

    [I do not believe that is necessary. Forging a new skill from scratch takes a great deal more time than the altering existing skills. No, I believe this will complement your current skill set quite nicely.]

    Grotto waved a feeler, and the System offered me a new skill.

    Elemental Barrier

    Physical

    Cost: 20 mana

    Requirements: INT 20, Physical Magic 20

    When you cast this spell, choose either the Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Sonic damage type.

    A stationary spherical barrier of elemental force erupts in a radius around you equal to half your Physical Magic skill level in feet, warding against approach by hostile forces. When you create this barrier and every 6 seconds thereafter, make an INT Physical attack against all non-party entities that are touching or inside the barrier. The damage of this attack is the damage type chosen when you cast the spell.

    Entities hit by this attack are pushed to the edge of the barrier. Additionally, if the damage type was Cold, entities hit by this attack are Slowed; if Fire, they are Ignited; if Lightning, they are Shocked; and if Sonic, they are Deafened and knocked prone.

    So long as you focus, this effect remains active.

    It took me a moment to digest the possibilities, but the skill really did look like it would mesh very well with my other skills. It was a stationary AoE, but in some ways that was a benefit. I could cast it on myself, or I could cast it on a stationary ally like Etja, helping to keep baddies from wandering too close.

    I could cast Gravity Anchor and Shortcut into a group of enemies, pulling them all in close to me. Then I could blast them with Elemental Barrier to deal constant damage as I wailed on them with my hammers. They¡¯d be Immobilized, Deafened, and constantly get knocked away, pulled back in, and thrown to the ground. That would definitely make it difficult to swing a sword. Or a giant bardiche.

    Plus, if the knockdown wasn¡¯t effective, I could swap to a different element. The skill gave me more options and greater control over melee combatants.

    I slotted it as my eleventh skill and stood up from the ultra-thick woolen rug.

    ¡°You can just offer us skills now?¡±

    [Since I am no longer bound by the System¡¯s restrictions, yes.]

    ¡°Like, whenever you want? All willy-nilly?¡±

    [Yes. As willy or as nilly as I so desire.]

    ¡°Oh, nice.¡± I stretched my arms toward the ceiling and my stomach rumbled. ¡°Now, we have lunch! Then, we play around with all this new shit!¡±

    [It is closer to breakfast time than lunch.]

    ¡°I thought it was midday when Pio¡¯s group finished the Delve.¡±

    [It was. You have been staring at your mana matrix for 14 hours.]

    ¡°Oh.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Fuck it. Yara said this is my sovereign domain, so lunch can damn well be whenever I say it is. I¡¯m having a turkey sandwich.¡±

    I marched out of the meditation room and toward the kitchen, with Grotto close behind.

 182 - Home & Garden & Very Small Pants

    I didn¡¯t end up testing my reforged skills after having lunch for breakfast. Once I¡¯d eaten my fill, fatigue hit me hard enough that my sleep-deprived brain thought I was under attack. I hadn¡¯t slept in a proper bed in months, and after a moment of hypervigilance, I realized I hadn¡¯t slept in nearly three days. The sensation was similar to someone trying to hit me with a sleep spell.

    So I crashed for 12 hours straight.

    The last three hours were mostly me struggling to convince myself to climb out of my bundle of ultra-plush blankets and peel myself out of the Arlo-shaped indent I¡¯d made in the mattress. When I¡¯d bought the bed, I¡¯d gone for something that favored softness, but that still had some level of firmness. Looking down at the mattress, it looked like a granite statue had been laid to rest in it for a week straight.

    I poked at my chest and flicked my biceps with a finger. I didn¡¯t feel like I was made of stone. Curious, I went to my armory and grabbed a wooden practice sword. I gave it a light slap against my thigh and it snapped in half.

    It really shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise. I added buying a Delver-crafted bed to the List, took a shower, and got on with my day.

    Grotto had used the time to create his first golem. It was Grade 12 at base, but after equipping it with a full gear loadout plundered from fallen Delvers, it rose to Grade 15. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and field test my abilities and the golem simultaneously.

    I demolished it.

    I did my best not to utterly destroy the golem, since it was easier for Grotto to repair a construct than build a new one entirely. Sadly, there was little I could do about Oblivion Orb teleporting chunks of the entity to an unknown dimension. I felt good about my progress and I felt a little bad about breaking Grotto¡¯s new toy. Not because it would make more work for Grotto, but because the golem looked a little too familiar.

    ¡°Why is the golem a clone of Etja?¡±

    [She is an exemplary model of golem craft. I saw no reason to attempt my own design when one of such high caliber was available in my archives.]

    I frowned and looked over the dismembered creation. It was less lifelike than Etja, with skin and features that were clearly artificial. Still, it was like someone had made an immaculate stone statue of the mage, complete with her wholesome smile. The expression remained even in the golem¡¯s death, which was a little creepy.

    [Before you complain further, Etja consented to my use of her as a model.]

    ¡°When did that happen?¡±

    [While you were wasting precious time being unconscious.]

    ¡°Hey, sleep is necessary for a well-functioning mind and body.¡±

    [Your slumber lasted 50% longer than necessary for a mundane human to become fully rested.]

    ¡°I¡¯ll refrain from trying to explain the psychological benefits of role-playing a slug once in a while. Did Etja come back from Eschangal?¡±

    [No. She is currently engaged in a multi-day ¡®shopping spree¡¯ with Nuralie.]

    ¡°Then how did you get her permission?¡±

    [I have remained in contact with the other party members during this downtime.]

    ¡°What? How?¡±

    Grotto floated back from his attempted repairs of the golem and thought for a moment.

    [Ah. I see I failed to inform you. The others were notified since they would be absent. I suppose it slipped my mind since you would remain close at hand.]

    Grotto waved a feeler and a Level 40 Charisma evolution popped up.

    Public Service Announcer

    You can focus to communicate with any entity you have met across any distance as though you were standing next to them. This communication can be in any form available to you, such as speech, body language, or telepathy. You may allow this communication to be perceptible to anyone nearby, or only to that entity. Entities who can perceive this communication can respond to you in a similar manner as long as you maintain focus.

    ¡°Ah, yes. An insanely useful long-range communication ability that I had no reason to know about beforehand. Completely understandable that it ¡®slipped your mind¡¯.¡±

    Grotto¡¯s octo-brow furrowed.

    [There is no need to be more sardonic than usual. Nothing has required your attention and taking time to yourself is beneficial. I also believe the other party members would find it rewarding to spend some time alone.]

    I sighed and shook off my irritation.

    ¡°Sure, fine. Sorry, I think I¡¯m irritable from oversleeping.¡± I rubbed my eyes. ¡°Also, I¡¯m 99% confident you made that reasoning up on the spot to cover for forgetting something.¡±

    Grotto returned to his work on the golem.

    [No. I am truly concerned about the¡­ mental well-being of everyone in the party.]

    His tone was less than convincing.

    ¡°Anything else that has slipped your mind recently?¡±

    [Varrin has requested an early return through the Third Layer Checkpoint. He plans to arrive in the morning.]

    ¡°Did he give a reason?¡±

    [Yes. The Hiwardian upper crust has caught wind of our upcoming meeting with the Littans. Combined with our contributions to advancing the phase, this has attracted a great deal of attention from the noble houses. Varrin plans to brief you in advance of their arrival.]

    ¡°Arrival? Arrival where?¡±

    [They plan to pay a visit to the Closet.]

    ¡°And who, specifically, are we talking about?¡±

    [The attendants are in flux as the situation is rapidly evolving. At the very least, we should expect Varrin¡¯s great-grandfather¨C]

    ¡°You mean, Ealdric Ravvenblaq Senior, the current patriarch of the Ravvenblaq house, a living legend, and one of the most powerful Delvers in the world?¡±

    [Yes. Varrin¡¯s mother will join him. Also, the two high-level Duckgriens who saved you from Orexis.]

    ¡°The reigning Ravvenblaq Thundralke along with the matriarch and patriarch of the Dukgrien house, also living legends and two more of the most powerful Delvers in the world?¡±

    [Yes. Additionally, the Dukgrien Thundralke is likely, along with Lito and Myria. One or more notable members from the other Hiwardian houses may show, and there is a small chance Filix Celeritia will make an appearance.]

    My mind froze at the roster Grotto was laying out. It didn¡¯t help that he was doing it in the most intentionally obtuse way imaginable.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Filix Celeritia? His Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia, Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward and Defender of the Realm, long may he reign?¡±

    Grotto paused, waiting to see if I was done.

    [Yes.] he thought, intonation the exact same as the last three times. [Although, such a lengthy title grants only superfluous information.]

    ¡°He¡¯s the fucking king!¡±

    [Ye¨C]

    ¡°Say ¡®yes¡¯ one more time,¡± I said, pointing at Grotto. His black eyes shifted as he calculated the risks and benefits of goading me any further.

    [He is a king, but we are not his subjects. There is no reason to get worked up over the matter.]

    I spun and power-walked out of the training room into the penthouse proper. I looked around, trying to wrap my head around what was happening.

    I was no stranger to rubbing elbows with powerful people at this point. I¡¯d met Patriarch Ravvenblaq before and had a handful of conversations with Nola and the Dukgriens. I¡¯d spent a couple of days running through the swamp with Zenithar Zura and had meetings with the other two leaders of Eschendur. I¡¯d had a pissing contest with a Littan admiral and was on a first-name basis with a goddess. Hells, I¡¯d even had a deity pay a personal visit to the Pocket Delve the day before.

    But this was different. Those encounters were high-stakes, but there was one core difference with the upcoming soiree that ratcheted things up a notch.

    I was hosting.

    I did a lap of the penthouse, eyeing every piece of high-end luxury furniture, the overpriced paintings, the tasteful bronze sculptures. I ran my fingers across the supple threads of hand-woven silk rugs and stared down at the impeccably laid hardwood floors. Mahogany cabinets, marble countertops, and a wine cellar filled with an irreproachable selection of vintages, it was an abode of peerless taste and timeless decor.

    And it was way too small.

    There was no time to construct and decorate another ten thousand square feet with such a high degree of exemplary furnishings! Damn my incredible taste and insistence on only the finest baubles and knick-knacks!

    Grotto and I could expand into the Closet to make space for a horde of royalty, but it¡¯s not like I kept a mansion¡¯s worth of high-end interior decorations lying about. It would be obvious that it was new construction. I hadn¡¯t even had time to build a proper lawn and garden for large events.

    And what about food? I had plenty of fresh goods for myself, even enough for some family meals with the party, but nowhere near what was needed to satisfy a gaggle of nobles and their entourages. I didn¡¯t even know what types of finger foods old-money Hiwardians enjoyed. It was an island nation, so they probably ate a lot of fish, right?

    I didn¡¯t have any fish!

    It didn¡¯t keep well and always tasted funny after storing it in inventory for too long. Varrin swore it was all in my head, but Nuralie agreed and I trusted her palate more.

    At least I had several kilos of luxury cheeses and two dozen barrels of craft beer. Cheese and beer sounded like a good time, but was it a royally good time?

    Maybe Varrin foresaw this problem. Maybe he was coming early to lend me an inventory full of Ravvenblaq antiques and hand me a hundred pounds worth of fancy fixin¡¯s. I could only hope. But would he bring a chef as well? I started eyeing that Cooking intrinsic more seriously.

    I went back to the training room.

    ¡°Grotto! Put the golem down, we¡¯re going into emergency event planning mode!¡±

    *****

    While we couldn¡¯t make a mansion from nothing, we could use what we had to prepare a serviceable hosting location. Our primary greenhouse wasn¡¯t pulling double duty as a living space like the hot spring was, so we converted it into an indoor party garden.

    We had plenty of greenery, and expanding the space to create intricate geometric pathways weaving between flowers and bushes was as easy as Grotto waving a feeler. Constructing a patio was as simple as raising up the floor of the Closet, but it really needed some tile or stone to be seen as anything less than utilitarian.

    Grotto also marked out several secluded areas within the shrubbery where he¡¯d place sound-dampening weaves, enabling guests to hold discreet conversations. It wasn¡¯t as effective as a series of dedicated meeting rooms, but it was much prettier. Besides, I wasn¡¯t trying to create a comprehensive diplomatic facility. I just needed to provide enough functional architecture that I¡¯d give the appearance of a semi-competent socialite.

    I paused in the midst of our project to think over why I felt so strongly about that last point. I enjoyed being a proper host, but I wasn¡¯t typically concerned with putting up a veneer of wealth or sophistication. The only reasonable conclusion was that Diplomacy was already flexing its skill levels, influencing me to be more considerate of appearances in the face of unknown political entities.

    If the Hiwardian ruling class came for a visit to the personal home of Fortune¡¯s Folly¡¯s party leader, certain judgments would inevitably be made not just about me, but also about the party as a whole. A home that spoke only of personal luxury and intimate gatherings would imply I had no reason to believe I¡¯d need to host larger groups.

    Important and well-connected people often needed to host large groups of other important and well-connected people as a matter of course. Elbows would be rubbed, palms greased, conspiracies plotted, the Illuminati formed. Hiwardian nobility would expect someone of station to have an estate organized with such facts in mind. Thus, if the best I could do was show the king of Hiward to my solitary dining room for a chat, one might glean the impression that I was not an important and well-connected person.

    I wasn¡¯t concerned about petty remarks or poorly hidden smirks. The opinions of the snide and the spoiled meant little to me. However, if I was misjudged to be someone of little import, that placed a target on our backs. Fame was a dangerous thing if you had no one to throw their weight around when the predators came sniffing.

    We could handle ourselves in the face of obvious lethal threats, but if a high-ranking noble decided to try and box us in as part of some convoluted scheme to take advantage of our recently acquired notoriety, it could spell a lot of trouble that might be better avoided.

    Varrin was a member of a major house, but he wasn¡¯t expected to inherit the title of Thundralke, his brother was. Xim would likely become chieftain of an important Third Layer tribe one day, but they were a minor power in First Layer Arzia. Nuralie was a fledgling inquisitor, and Etja had no political clout to speak of. All I had was a tribal membership, grit, and gumption. We weren¡¯t the easiest targets to snare in a web of intrigue and manipulation, but we were far from the hardest. Anything I could do to reduce the chances of that happening was worth spending some time and effort on.

    Grotto and I finished organizing the greenhouse into a sprawling garden with space for gatherings of several sizes. We had a patio with room for twenty or so people¨Cwhich prominently displayed my auto-cooking Kill n¡¯ Grill¨Cseveral locations for gatherings of up to eight, and a few nooks and crannies for doubles and triples.

    Glowstones and mana weaves created an alluring array of lighting solutions that could be customized based on the time of day and mood. Grotto had a surprising amount of talent for arranging the plants into thoughtful displays with coherent themes of color and form. It also smelled fucking fantastic in there, so long as you didn¡¯t have allergies. Since most of the visitors would be Delvers, I doubted it would be a problem.

    We didn¡¯t have shit for lawn furniture though.

    We expanded the kitchen to make space for a head chef and a team of cooks. I didn¡¯t have any commercial equipment to add, but we could at least ensure plenty of room for food prep and easy movement. We also rearranged the armory to look less like an armory and more like a trophy room displaying the spoils of our conquests. It looked good but was incomplete without additional wall decor. It also needed some cozy places to sit and indulge the ultra-masculine need to be surrounded by instruments of war and death, feeling like a badass while doing so.

    Additional rearrangements were made to take my bedroom from an easy offshoot of the main living area to a more secluded master bedroom. We then created a large foyer that guests could enter through, with vaulted ceilings and some lovely chandeliers I¡¯d looted from the Mimic Delve.

    Grotto assured me they wouldn¡¯t try to eat anyone, but I was going to keep an eye on them nonetheless.

    It was a twelve-hour remodeling spree made possible by the total control Grotto and I shared over the dimensions of the Closet. Rooms had been constructed to be semi-modular, allowing us to shuffle things around on a whim without tearing apart the walls or flooring.

    Portals and Dimensional fuckery also allowed us to connect rooms that were nowhere near one another. Both Grotto and I had a little fun coming up with ways to make my penthouse feel bigger than it actually was. If every room connected to two more via portals craftily hidden between door frames, then it would seem like the space went on forever. Once someone figured out the rooms were continually looping into one another, they¡¯d likely be more impressed than if we merely had a humongous house.

    I busted my ass to move materials and rearrange bulky items as quickly as possible. I was sweaty, shirtless, and wearing my favorite pair of hotpants for comfort and mobility. I got so in the zone that I lost track of time, and Grotto was about as terrible at gauging time as I imagined any billiondy-year-old immortal would be. Before I knew it, Grotto interrupted my repositioning of an armoire to let me know Varrin was awaiting entry through the Third Layer Checkpoint.

    ¡°Shit, can I take a quick shower?¡±

    [He insists that time is of the utmost importance.]

    ¡°Important like ¡®yes, become less gross but do it in five minutes,¡¯ or important like ¡®I¡¯m burning to death and you¡¯re the only person holding a bucket of water for miles?¡¯¡±

    [His exact words were ¡®Every grain of sand in the hourglass must be valued as a pauper would value a precious jewel.¡¯]

    ¡°Fuck, why is he so poetic? When did he get so poetic?¡±

    I pulled a towel from inventory and wiped myself down, moving toward our new foyer. I took the time to pop out my leather vest and shrug it on, making the mildest attempt to not be mostly nude when greeting the big guy. I figured Xim and her parents would be with him, maybe Khigra, but they weren¡¯t exactly bashful. Plus, they knew what I was about.

    I rubbed my hair dry of sweat and ran my fingers through my beard in a futile attempt to tame it, then activated the Checkpoint.

    When the portal opened, I found Varrin as expected, some well-dressed and very proper-looking young noble women who I hadn¡¯t expected, and the entire household staff of the Ravvenblaq manor, none of whom had expected my hotpants.

    I smiled and waved.

 183 - Showing Off â€˜The Hammerâ€™

    Varrin looked fresh as new-fallen snow. He wore a white silk shirt, pristine and with nary a wrinkle or speck of dust. It was loose-fitting in a way that miraculously made his Herculean musculature look even more impressive as it bulged around his chest and shoulders. His pants were dark leather, fitted and flattering¨Cnot that he needed it¨Cwith a pair of low-cut boots that he could wear on the trail or at the ball.

    Flanking him were four gorgeous women, making him look like the protagonist in one of Grotto¡¯s ¡®research¡¯ novels. The first was Khigra, who stood casually with arms crossed, wearing her very-tight-but-only-for-functional-reasons smithing outfit. Xim was beside her in the ivory-colored top and charcoal pants she favored when outside of her robes and chainmail. The other two women, however, were unfamiliar.

    To Varrin¡¯s right was a Level 1 platinum who looked slightly younger than the big guy. She was a little more than six feet tall, with white hair and pale skin that marked her as ethnically Hiwardian. Her features held a familial resemblance to Varrin, down to the ice-blue eyes and bone structure perfect enough to make you wonder whether one of the Ravvenblaqs had Genetic Engineering as an intrinsic skill. Where Varrin was a slab of unrealistic expectations for the male body, the woman beside him was similarly ¡®gifted¡¯ in the feminine direction.

    The other woman was also Level 1 platinum, with a slimmer frame, strawberry blonde hair, and a dusting of freckles below pale green eyes. She was about average in height¨Can inch or two taller than Xim¨Cbut it was tough to recognize her stature as ¡®normal¡¯ while she stood beside a goliath like Varrin. Even Khigra had six inches on the newcomer, almost as tall as Varrin¡¯s mystery relative.

    Behind them were Xim¡¯s parents, and a veritable horde of butlers, maids, and other servants.

    At least he hadn¡¯t shown up with any of the big shots. I¡¯d prefer to get to know the king before modeling for him in my skivvies.

    While I took them in at a glance and gave a cheery wave, Varrin gently placed his face into his palm and let out a mighty sigh. Xim looked me up and down with a wide grin, and Khigra stoically raised an eyebrow. The blonde woman lifted a hand to hide a blush, feigning a cough to excuse the motion, while the unknown Ravvenblaq looked¡­ confused.

    ¡°Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Varrin said, recomposing himself and holding a hand out toward the blonde woman. ¡°May I present Lady Sineh Dukgrien, firstborn daughter of Thundralkes Bebhinn and Feargan Dukgrien. Lady Dukgrien is well-versed in the current political landscape of Hiward, and has volunteered to assist us in getting up to speed.¡±

    I gave a brief Hiwardian bow. ¡°Wonderful to meet you.¡±

    She curtsied. ¡°Aye, Esquire Arlo. The same to you. Varrin¡¯s told me stories, but it¡¯s lovely to meet you in the flesh.¡± Her eyes twinkled but stayed firmly in place above my neckline.

    Varrin cleared his throat and gestured to the white-haired woman. ¡°And this is my younger sister, Lady Riona Ravvenblaq. Riona is currently apprenticed to the Ravvenblaq Keeper of Decorum, and will be invaluable in aiding us to refresh our etiquette.¡±

    We exchanged pleasantries as well. Riona didn¡¯t add her own cheeky turn of phrase, but her eyes wandered a bit more than Sineh¡¯s.

    ¡°Now that we¡¯ve been introduced,¡± I said, stepping to the side and gesturing toward the foyer, ¡°welcome to my not-at-all humble abode. Please, come on in.¡±

    The pair of women curtsied again and walked through the portal, followed by Varrin and Khigra. Xim stepped up beside me, the stream of servants close on her heels.

    She leaned in and whispered, ¡°I didn¡¯t know they made pants that small.¡±

    We both glanced down at my hotpants, then back up at the same time. The people walking past were carefully avoiding looking my way.

    ¡°They¡¯re very comfortable,¡± I said.

    ¡°They look like they give a lot of¡­ support,¡± Xim added.

    ¡°Keeps everything where it oughtta be.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± said Xim, nodding seriously. ¡°It¡¯s important for clothes to be functional.¡±

    ¡°Very easy to move in, too.¡±

    ¡°Really? Maybe I should look into buying a pair.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll introduce you to my tailor.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± she said, bumping me with her shoulder. ¡°You can help me pick them out.¡±

    She flashed me a grin, then strode forward. She reached up to fluff her hair with her fingers, turning to give me an exaggerated wink as she did so.

    I swallowed, then went to sort out my guests as the final servant came through.

    The Ravvenblaq servants lined up into neat rows in the foyer, arranged in groups with matching formal outfits. Several men and women looked pale¨Cpaler than normal for a Hiwardian¨Cand I doubted my uncouth appearance was the culprit. This was a group who¡¯d likely never once visited the Third Layer.

    That was an unusual trip for most Delvers, let alone mundane humans. The spectacle of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s eye mutating the world around them until it twisted into the alien landscape of the Xor¡¯Drel tribe lands was probably quite a shock. Lord knows how they¡¯d be reacting if they¡¯d been dropped into the wilds on their first visit like I had.

    In front of the rows of servants was a diminutive man in a blue suit and bowtie, his dress shirt and socks an attractive shade of periwinkle. Despite my banter with Xim, I¡¯d kept a close eye on everyone entering the Closet. I¡¯d done my best to catalog each face in an effort at operational security. I didn¡¯t want any stowaways trying to hang out after all of this was done and snooping into my private affairs. Despite this, the man of short stature¨Cthree and a half feet tall at most¨Chad not come inside with the rest of the servants.

    A quick scan with my Sight told me who it was, although I was slightly confused as to the how and the why.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen,¡± said the disguised Grotto in a slightly less sinister tone than his typical psychic voice. ¡°Welcome to the estate of Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, master of this domain and all its independent territories.¡±

    I held my tongue while trying to unravel Grotto¡¯s scheme, who had paused to gesture toward me and watch the reaction of the servants. Whether he was interested in how they reacted to my Esquire honorific, which he¡¯d emphasized, or my current state of undress, I didn¡¯t know. Probably both, based on the smirk he wore. The way he¡¯d said ¡°independent territories¡± sounded suspiciously like he was setting me up as some sort of ruler or monarch, despite how he¡¯d referred to me. Of course, he¡¯d already done that with the mythos of the Void King.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Do not be fooled by the title of Esquire, however,¡± Grotto continued, marching down the line as he spoke. ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel chooses to use this title in lieu of the many, many others he has earned to remind those he meets that he is a man of humble origins. To remind them that people who are so often called common can become anything but. While you are here, know that you will be expected to perform your duties to the highest degree of excellence, but that you will also be afforded the respect and courtesy that Master Xor¡¯Drel so often failed to receive in his youth.¡±

    In my youth, Grotto? I look twenty-one, tops. Then again, with Delver lifespans these people might have believed I was older than I appeared. Which I was, technically. Also, why did this sound like the opening to a political rally?

    ¡°I am the administrator of Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s lands, and you may refer to me simply as Majordomo. As you assist us in preparing for the arrival of our esteemed guests, you will notice a lack of staff present in the household. Master Xor¡¯Drel is an accomplished magus, and so many of the functions that such a staff might provide are accomplished through various magicks and self-sustaining sorceries. Domestic personnel are usually unnecessary.

    ¡°Because of this, you may notice certain¡­ ¡®curiosities¡¯ around the estate. I am sure you all have experience with such things through your work for the honorable House Ravvenblaq. Be assured that you will not encounter anything dangerous.¡± He paused again, giving the servants a meaningful look. ¡°So long as you do not stray from where you have been tasked.¡±

    He stepped front and center, puffing out his chest and folding his arms behind his back. ¡°You may treat any request I make of you as though it were made by Master Xor¡¯Drel himself.¡± Oh, that sounded like a recipe for trouble. ¡°We have been given little time to prepare, and so I will forgo further pomp and pleasantries in favor of moving on to assignments. If you have any questions, please come and see me personally afterward.¡±

    Grotto turned and gave me a shallow bow, then turned to Varrin and did the same. Me and the big guy exchanged a look, silently discussing whether to allow Grotto to take the reins here. I gave a near-imperceptible shrug. Varrin nodded, then spoke to his people.

    ¡°While we are guests here, Majordomo shall be considered the chief of staff. If his words are to be treated as Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s, then Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s shall be treated as my own.¡±

    Grotto gave Varrin another shallow bow, then turned back to the servants. He smiled with only a hint of menace.

    ¡°Let us get started.¡±

    *****

    While Grotto organized the workforce, I politely excused myself to clean up. Varrin was eager to discuss several things with me and Khigra needed to head out before the portal closed, but they graciously allowed me time to shower and put on actual pants. My grooming was thorough but expedient.

    Once I was squeaky clean, I hid my shameful lower half beneath a pair of damask trousers with a subtle inlay of swirling constellations. I selected a complementary button-up to wear beneath my vest, leaving three undone at the top to show a cultured amount of chest, and¨Cof course¨Cthrew on my boa.

    I joined my guests in the drawing room, where servants were already pouring tea and laying platters of high-carb snacks. One man in particular caught my eye, dressed in fine cotton clothes and an apron, with a towel draped over one arm. He stood behind a mid-back chair and a standing tray covered in scissors, combs, razors, brushes, and other barbering tools. All of them glinted with hints of mana.

    I smiled wide, noticing Varrin¡¯s clean shave and precision haircut.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Varrin. ¡°This is Mr. Duffens. I have taken the liberty of procuring his services for the morning since I do not believe you will have time to visit your preferred hairdresser in Foundation.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Duffens,¡± I said, giving the man a nod. ¡°A pleasure to meet you.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, m¡¯lord,¡± said Duffens. ¡°It¡¯s an honor to be invited to such a unique residence.¡±

    ¡°Am I to be groomed before or after our discussions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Concurrently would be prudent,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°As you say.¡±

    I did my best to hide my delight and act the part of a proper lord, gentleman, trans-dimensional emperor, or whomever it was I was supposed to be. I shrugged off my boa and sat in the chair, where Mr. Duffens placed the towel around my shoulders. He quickly began giving me the most attentive and¨Cdare I say¨Cdashing trim I¡¯d ever received.

    ¡°In the interests of time,¡± said Varrin, ¡°I believe Lady Khigra¡¯s business should be addressed first.¡±

    It was very nice of him to be acting as the chair of our little meeting.

    Sensing no opposition, Khigra put down a berry-filled pastry, stood from the table, and casually made her way over. She wore a look of mild amusement at our antics as she brushed crumbs from her fingers. I got the sense that the Third Layer dream forger did not often find herself in the company of Hiwardian aristocrats.

    She held out her hand, and Somncres appeared.

    The weapon was in its throwing hammer form, pinpricks of light migrating through the emerald green head and spiraling down its ebony handle. I accepted it from her with reverence, inspecting the item as soon as it hit my palm.

    My eyes widened as I went down the much longer list of effects. Two were the same as they had been, but the weapon¡¯s original second effect was missing.

    Somncres

    Throwing Hammer

    This is an evolving item.

    Requirements

    STR 20, INT 40, Blunt 25, Dimensional Magic 20, Mystical Magic 20

    Effects:

    1) Somncres can be summoned and dismissed at will.

    2) Whenever you make a thrown weapon attack with Somncres you may create up to X Fleeting copies, where X is your INT/10. Each copy costs 2 mana to create. These copies possess all qualities imbued into Somncres at the moment the copies are created.

    Before, the hammer¡¯s shape and size could be adjusted at will. For whatever reason, it no longer had that capability. I decided to hold my questions until I¡¯d gone through the entire list.

    The third effect was the main upgrade Khigra had given the weapon.

    3) Each Somncres copy can be individually assigned to a target for 1 additional mana.

    Whenever I copied Somncres, the copies followed the path of the original, unless I engaged in some gravitational hijinks to bend them to my will. That meant I could only target one enemy at a time, albeit with a devastating amount of firepower. Now, I could attack up to five different targets with a single throw. I was betting I could even assign each hammer to the same target, but manipulate them individually with my Blunt 20 evolution, Hammerang. That way, hammers could assault one target from five different angles, directions, and even elevations.

    Between this and my recent upgrades to Explosion!, my ability to engage with multiple targets was skyrocketing.

    After the ¡®major¡¯ upgrade was a slew of potent traditional effects.

    4) +100 Health Regen

    5) +80 Mana Regen

    6) +30 Armor Penetration to attacks made with Somncres

    7) +60 damage to Dimensional attacks while wielding Somncres

    Regen, more regen, and penetration. Khigra really knew what made my heart sing.

    However, the most interesting of these ¡®minor¡¯ effects was the last. Added damage buffs on weapons typically only added damage to attacks made with that weapon, not anything else. The Penetration effect, for example, only applied to attacks made with Somncres.

    The bonus damage on Somncres applied to all Dimensional attacks. That was something more commonly found on wands or staves. Somncres didn¡¯t deal any Dimensional damage natively, but both Homing Weapon and Oblivion Orb were attacks classified under the Dimensional school. This would even improve Explosion! when I charged the spell.

    Finally, the effect that allowed Khigra to add more effects had been reworded.

    8) Khigra may Empower this item once you reach your next Intelligence evolution.

    Empower, eh? What kind of tasty chocolate center is that keyword hiding?

 184 - When To Hit Your Guests & Other Lessons on Etiquette

    ¡°This is incredible,¡± I said. ¡°Thank you, it¡¯s perfect.¡±

    ¡°Perfect would be if it turned all your enemies to treasure with a single touch,¡± Khigra replied. ¡°But I think this is not too far behind.¡± She placed her hands on her hips and gave the hammer a conflicted look. ¡°The weapon has a strong will. It would slip away whenever I tried to guide it until I allowed it to lead me where it wished.¡±

    ¡°It uh, has a mind of its own?¡±

    Khigra¡¯s look of amusement returned. ¡°Dream-forged weapons are connected to their wielder. It would be better to say that you made the process more complicated.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I have the urge to apologize but also wouldn¡¯t know what I¡¯d be apologizing for.¡±

    Khigra chuckled. ¡°Do not apologize for existing. The hammer was argumentative, but did not truly fight with me.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It made good points, so I allowed it to take control.¡± The dream forger locked eyes with me. ¡°That is not something I normally allow.¡±

    Now I understood what Khigra had been conflicted about. The woman hated to lose unless losing meant she¡¯d gain more than if she¡¯d won. Our final few spars were filled with¡­ similar moments. The hammer hadn¡¯t let her influence its growth, but she was happy with the result nonetheless.

    ¡°Then it lost the ability to transform because I didn¡¯t like it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It was a compromise,¡± Khigra answered. ¡°It made room for more powerful secondary effects. If I read the weapon correctly, you rarely used the feature.¡±

    I nodded. There had been moments where morphing the hammer midswing had been useful, but all my power was focused on throwing techniques.

    ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± I said. ¡°The regen, penetration, and damage boosts are more useful to me. Can you tell me about the final effect? What does Empower mean?¡±

    She shifted her weight, considering her response. ¡°How much do you know about evolving items?¡± she asked.

    ¡°I know that I have two of them,¡± I answered. ¡°Other than that, they change over time?¡±

    ¡°Time is too vague a measure, but close enough. Most of what I create are static items, created to serve a function, much as a normal smith would do here in the¨C¡± She paused and looked around, seeming to remember where she was. ¡°To be honest, I am uncertain if this space is considered to be in the First Layer or not.¡±

    ¡°Closer to the First than the Third,¡± Xim helpfully volunteered.

    Khigra furrowed her brow at Xim¡¯s answer but moved on. ¡°Regardless, most of what I create is traditionally smithed. Only a minority are dream forged. Fewer still are those that can evolve.

    ¡°Evolving items can be powerful, but they are expensive, difficult to create, highly specialized, and require continual use to advance to the next stage. Often, while the wielder is struggling to advance their evolving item, they have become capable of wielding something else that is more powerful. For most, it is cheaper, easier, and more effective to purchase a normal weapon and replace it soon after they outgrow it.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I had a similar experience with my amulet,¡± I said. ¡°It was useless for a long time while I tried to satisfy its next requirement.¡±

    ¡°So you understand the difficulties,¡± she said. ¡°Good. For your hammer, it did not matter that it was expensive since you did not pay for it. I am one of the best dream forgers alive, so the difficulty was also not an issue.¡±

    ¡°Have you ever been accused of lacking self-confidence?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°No,¡± Khigra answered.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think so.¡±

    Khigra took the comment in stride and refocused on me. ¡°Your hammer became highly specialized, but because it was dream forged it was specialized in a way that uniquely suited you. Finally, our choice of concepts when forging the weapon gave it an unusual growth mechanism.

    ¡°You prioritized Intelligence, so the hammer is now more advanced than any normal item you could wield at your level. However, evolving items have a growth ceiling, a point at which they will no longer advance. For Somncres, that point has been reached.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°That seems¡­ fast.¡±

    ¡°It is only fast because you have been leveling at an outrageous pace. Another person might have used this weapon for many years. After this advancement, they would use it for many more years still.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡±

    ¡°But your bond with the weapon is strong, your choice of concepts created an opportunity, and I¨Cbeing as talented as I am¨Cwas able to seize that opportunity. You should take a moment to reflect on how lucky you are.¡±

    She paused and watched me.

    ¡°You mean right now?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    I would have nodded, but it would have interrupted Mr. Duffens. Instead, I tried to convey my intense reflection through the expert use of my passionate gaze. After a minute passed, Khigra looked satisfied.

    ¡°Your concepts are those of Growth and Void,¡± she said. ¡°The first was responsible for the item¡¯s ability to evolve, while the second made it easy to remove the transformation effect. It is a weapon that can erase part of its own identity and create something new in its place.¡±

    Khigra¡¯s description made me think of how I¡¯d been modifying my active skills. It was a similar process.

    ¡°To Empower the weapon is to give it authority over itself. This can mean many things, but for Somncres I believe it will choose to continue in its path as an evolving weapon. The trigger for that evolution will change, as will the type of benefits they may bring. So far, it has been centered on manipulating itself¨Calteration, copying, controlling those copies¨Cbut after it is Empowered, we cannot predict where it will take itself.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°I thought you said it didn¡¯t have a mind of its own.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t. Empowerment will give it one.¡±

    ¡°And will I have any say in how it, uh, manages itself?¡± I asked.

    ¡°As much as you have a say in how anyone else chooses to live their lives.¡±

    ¡°So I use my winning charm and powers of persuasion.¡±

    ¡°Or you argue it into the ground until it sees no other path forward except your own,¡± she said. ¡°Much as the weapon did with me while I reworked it.¡±

    ¡°Right. So I use winning charm and powers of persuasion.¡±

    Khigra cocked her head to one side but nobly decided not to oppose my questionable interpretation of reality.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot to take in,¡± I said. ¡°And it sounds like you put a lot of thought into this. I deeply appreciate the effort.¡±

    ¡°Do you appreciate it more than the two emerald chips you will be paying me?¡±

    I intercepted my surprise before it squirmed its way out onto my facial features, carefully depositing a look of contemplation in its stead. I hadn¡¯t exactly considered whether Khigra would charge me for her work. When she¡¯d created the hammer, she¡¯d been paid by Drel¡¯gethed and Xorna. The generous tribal gift from Xim¡¯s parents did not include any upgrades, it seemed.

    Still, I wasn¡¯t going to fall into Khigra¡¯s trap.

    ¡°I believe I appreciate it exactly that much,¡± I said, unwilling to fumble my way into a higher price by espousing the invaluable nature of her skills and contributions.

    Could I have haggled? Probably. But I would rather Khigra get her asking price and be happy than have me become a tough customer with a handful more ruby chips in my pocket.

    Besides, I had 66 of the glittering green chips, and money was made for spendin¡¯!

    I coughed up the cash, and Khigra looked pleased with the deal. Afterward, she handed Xim a note and stole an entire platter of tiny cakes on her way out. An attendant quickly took position by her side and escorted her to the Checkpoint portal, which had about fifteen minutes left before it would close.

    After she¡¯d gone, my attention turned to the rest of the room. Varrin and Sineh Dukgrien were having a whispered conversation. Sineh looked quite pleased with whatever was being said, and she placed a hand on Varrin¡¯s forearm as she tried and failed to contain a laugh. Varrin smiled in a way that I rarely saw, and had been slowly leaning closer to Sineh the entire time Khigra and I had our chat.

    Was that the scent of romance in the air?

    Maybe it was just the appetizing smell of the twelve varieties of cookies on the table.

    Or it was parfum d''amour, the fragrance of passion!

    It could have also been the fresh strudel.

    Meanwhile, Varrin¡¯s sister, Riona, had a foot-high pile of folders filled with documents in front of her. She was reviewing the contents of the first but had been sneaking glances at me from time to time, attempting to do so without my notice. Sadly for her, I¡¯d honed my perception skills against extraordinary challenges and heroic foes¨Cboth of which were categories Nuralie fell firmly into. While it was true I still couldn¡¯t find the crafty loson when she didn¡¯t want to be found, Riona¡¯s attempts at stealth crumbled before my strapping Wisdom score.

    She mostly just seemed curious, although I was looking quite dapper, and growing even more dapper every second under Mr. Duffens¡¯s care.

    Xim had tucked away Khigra¡¯s note and was now wholly consumed with constructing a miniature house from the remaining treats and pastries we¡¯d been provided. I patiently waited for Varrin to announce the next item on our agenda while my mind wandered to the thought of Xim in hotpants. Was she the type of gal who¡¯d prefer to wear tailored separates¨Csomething loose and flowy up above to accentuate a daring bottom half? Or would she go with something more revealing like a spaghetti strap or even a matching bikini top?

    Would she feel the need to wear anything else at all?

    ¡°Turn your head just so, m¡¯lord,¡± Mr. Duffens said.

    I realized he¡¯d been gently putting pressure on my scalp, guiding me to a better position so he could tidy the back of my neck. With my distraction, he may as well have been encouraging a block of steel to bend.

    ¡°Apologies, Mr. Duffens,¡± I said, tilting my head forward slightly. ¡°I am known for having an unyielding noggin¡¯ at times.¡±

    ¡°So long as it¡¯s not contagious, m¡¯lord.¡±

    The man continued his work while I assessed whether I should laugh at the joke, or whether it had been a joke at all. Sadly, my prodigious perception skills failed me in this regard.

    Varrin sat up straight in his chair, and Sineh¡¯s hand slid back into her lap.

    ¡°Now that you have your hammer,¡± he said, ¡°we should discuss who you are allowed to hit with it.¡±

    ¡°I assume the answer is ¡®no one¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°For the next couple of days, at least.¡±

    Varrin leaned forward and folded his hands on the table.

    ¡°There are seven distinct situations in which it is not only appropriate, but expected, for a host of a superior station to physically chastise a misbehaving guest.¡±

    He delivered this information without a speck of humor, then stood and squared his shoulders. He placed one hand behind him and raised his other to gesture as he spoke.

    By the gods, the man was entering his ¡®teaching¡¯ pose!

    He was being serious!

    ¡°Wait, is this really the best place to start?¡± I asked.

    Riona was the one to answer. ¡°The children I teach often learn best by having the concepts tied to something they are familiar with. For you¨Caccording to Varrin¨Cthat¡¯s mostly hitting things. We¡¯ll begin there and take it one step at a time.¡±

    Varrin stood behind her, suppressing a grin.

    ¡°First,¡± I said, ¡°I am a man of learning and intellect in addition to being an implacable thug. Second¨C¡± I turned to Varrin. ¡°You spent a lot of time and effort coming up with that hammer segue, didn¡¯t you? And you intentionally led your sister to believe I was a mindless brute so you¡¯d get to use it.¡±

    Riona turned and gave Varrin an ¡°Is this true?¡± glare that any mother would be proud of.

    ¡°Ridiculous,¡± said Varrin, failing his deception check. ¡°I did no such thing.¡± Riona¡¯s glare turned into a scowl. ¡°We have too little time to litigate over baseless accusations, so we should move on.¡±

    Riona sighed in exasperation¨Cas if Varrin pulled this sort of thing often¨Cand gestured for the big guy to continue.

    Thus, Varrin began explaining the seven situations where violence against guests was encouraged and the proper protocol for each in exacting detail. Riona handed me the thin folder she¡¯d been reviewing, which I opened to find a cheat sheet with a concise breakdown of that very topic. I glanced back at the stack in front of Varrin¡¯s sister. She gave the massive pile a pat and sent me a consoling smile.

    Unlike the mysterious Mr. Duffens, I could read Riona as easily as the document in my hands. I¡¯d never seen so much schadenfreude hidden in a single expression. There was trauma there, too; a childhood filled with endless days listening to dry exposition on arbitrary social rules. I could barely comprehend subjecting a child to such torture!

    ¡°So,¡± Varrin said sharply, interrupting my dreadful musings. ¡°What is the three-part test to determine whether the first circumstance applies?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re asking me?¡±

    ¡°You were listening, weren¡¯t you?¡± He pointed at my hands. ¡°You even have a learning aid.¡±

    I looked down at the document, finding two of the three steps listed. The third step was blank. Riona slowly slid a pen across the table toward me.

    No!

    It wasn¡¯t a cheat sheet!

    It was a fucking worksheet!

    A day of suffering began, unlike any I¡¯d ever known in Arzia.

 185 - Accidental Nation Building

    I was not averse to learning. I often took it upon myself to investigate and explore a variety of subjects, Delver-related or otherwise. I was the type to fixate on a topic that struck my fancy and go full gonzo with little regard for my health and wellness, spending twelve hours crawling through mainline sources until I was deep into obscure texts filled with potentially problematic hot takes. It was practically routine.

    However, that was when I gave a shit about what I was learning. Otherwise, it was a struggle. Fortunately (or unfortunately), my Earth life had been filled with studying things I felt no love for, primarily out of the obligation to earn money for basic necessities and a certain level of personal freedom. I wasn¡¯t happy to do it, but a strong sense of ¡®you gotta do what you gotta do¡¯ had been beaten into me at a young age. I was more than capable.

    Suffice it to say, I wasn¡¯t terribly keen on learning the subtleties of high-class Hiwardian do¡¯s and don¡¯ts. The general concepts of diplomacy didn¡¯t bore me, and understanding the cultural origins of such behavior was fine, but the study of such topics rarely focused on the why and was more concerned with the how.

    This additional information also wasn¡¯t conducive to cram sessions. Riona was forced to ride the line between appreciating my enthusiasm for the context of our lessons and becoming frustrated at my endless curiosity.

    ¡°If we had a decade to prepare you, these would be wonderful questions,¡± said Riona. ¡°We have a day.¡±

    ¡°Learning the reasoning for a particular behavior makes me much more likely to remember it,¡± I countered. ¡°A long list of random numbers is much more difficult to memorize than the formula used to derive those numbers.¡±

    ¡°Unless that formula requires years of study to comprehend,¡± she said. ¡°Then, you should just memorize the numbers.¡±

    ¡°That assumes I have no background in math.¡±

    ¡°Do you have a background in the logic of Hiwardian etiquette?¡±

    ¡°Only a small one,¡± I admitted. I had studied it briefly after emerging from the Creation Delve. ¡°But it¡¯s entirely possible I have exposure to a much broader intersection of cultures than anyone present.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see how,¡± said Riona. Her tone was level, and I had to admit she was being exceptionally patient.

    ¡°I¡¯m a traveler from a distant land,¡± I said. ¡°It was a nation composed of people from practically every other nation in existence.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re from Ayama?¡± she asked. ¡°I thought you were a Xor¡¯Drel.¡±

    ¡°This is a tangent,¡± said Varrin. He placed a hand on Riona''s shoulder. ¡°Just assume he has a cosmopolitan background.¡±

    Riona looked skeptical but sat back and crossed her arms.

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°When Hiward first earned its independence from Litta, there was a period of disruption to the supply chains. Imports became difficult from eastern nations until relations between Litta and Hiward cooled. Because of this, various spices Hiwardians had become accustomed to became unavailable. Salt was the most prevalent since many foods Hiwardian slaves consumed were preserved in salt or brine.

    ¡°Timagrin fell outside of Litta¡¯s influence due to its geographic separation on the western side of the continent. Thus, Timagrin became Hiward¡¯s primary trading partner. However, the Timans used different preservation techniques and produced significantly less salt than Litta. They had no excess to trade.

    ¡°Timans preserve many foods with a pickling method that uses sunseed oil, which they have in abundance. Sunseeds are harvested from sun peppers, and the oil is quite spicy. Hiwardian slaves had little exposure to spicy foods, so this was initially unpopular. However, given the limited options, Hiwardian trading houses began purchasing the oil in bulk.

    ¡°To encourage Hiwardians to buy the oil, the trading houses employed merchants whose entire purpose was to travel the country and extoll the oil¡¯s virtues. Claims were made about the health benefits of spicy foods, the minor amount of mana the oil absorbed when left in the sun, its alternative uses in medicine, as a lubricant¨C¡±

    ¡°The best sword oil is derived from sunseeds,¡± Varrin added.

    Riona looked at Varrin in annoyance. Her patience with her brother was significantly lower than her patience with her students.

    ¡°Some claims were spurious, others legitimate,¡± she said. ¡°The merchants were heavily incentivized to travel for long periods, which left them little time to place down roots. For this reason, the merchants were frequently single. It then became a common saying that a person who¡¯d not been betrothed by the time they were eighteen was a ¡®sunseed man¡¯ or a ¡®sunseed woman¡¯.

    ¡°It became a tradition to give gifts of sunseed oil and other products made with sunseed oil to people who¡¯d passed eighteen and who were not betrothed. The merchants encouraged this practice since it helped business, and even offered small amounts of free sunseed products to unmarried individuals twenty-four or older.

    ¡°As we discussed earlier, noble families are constantly in search of new connections and alliances, often through the mechanism of marriage. They modified the sunseed custom by creating several sunseed dishes that are now served at all formal social gatherings, and that are only consumed by unwed men and women who are eighteen or older.

    ¡°Over time, the practice transitioned from an obligation for the unwed to eat these dishes, to more of a voluntary practice. Someone eating a sunseed dish is thus signaling to the room that they are both single and also looking to wed.¡±

    Riona took a deep breath. ¡°And that is why you should only eat the sun pepper cake if you¡¯re trying to get married.¡± She tucked an errant strand of white hair behind her ear and raised her eyebrows. ¡°Satisfied?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said, slowly. ¡°I appreciate how thorough of an explanation that was, but I agree that level of detail is probably too much for the time we have.¡±

    ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°Then how much do you need?¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Something like ¡®traveling merchants sold sunseed oil and were frequently single. Eating sunseed dishes at formal events became synonymous with being unwed as a result, so only eat the sun pepper cake if you¡¯re trying to get hitched.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Then I will endeavor to provide you with the relevant historical context, condensed to a point where it becomes unrecognizable.¡±

    Varrin frowned at Riona, then looked up at me. ¡°The history of our nation is important for Hiwardians,¡± he said. ¡°Trying to explain things in such concise terms is a minor taboo unless both parties are known to be familiar with the topic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± I said. I tactfully decided not to point out that my insistence on context had yielded an additional bit of etiquette that I otherwise may not have learned. ¡°I apologize if I made you uncomfortable, Riona.¡±

    She waved a hand dismissively. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ve been at this for hours. We should take a break.¡±

    *****

    We made it through Riona¡¯s foot-high pile of folders in about twelve hours, which equated to approximately three years of lessons. I didn¡¯t have a perfect memory like Etja, but my experience in academia and insistence on scholastic excellence provided me with a solid foundation for approaching new subjects.

    Having a 40 in both Wisdom and Intelligence¨Cgiving me a superhuman capacity for absorbing new information¨Cprobably helped as well.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    At one point, Etja and Nuralie made an appearance, returning from their time in Eschengal. I was momentarily confused about how they made it into the Closet until it was explained that Grotto had opened the Checkpoint for them. I¡¯d already forgotten the Delve Core had figured out how to do that, owing to our ever-improving soul connection.

    I was in the midst of answering an intense series of hypotheticals thrown at me by Riona, so the exchange was brief. The pair pulled Xim aside to have a lengthier chat before retiring to more comfortable surroundings.

    Once Riona was satisfied, we moved on to Sineh¡¯s lectures on the current geopolitical landscape of Arzia. This was a bit more interesting, and SIneh was a fairly charismatic presenter. The next four hours melted away.

    When the cram session was finally over, I¡¯d earned 1 level in Diplomacy, and I was eager to see how my party members had spent their time in Eschendur¡¯s capital.

    Varrin, Riona, and Sineh went to oversee additional preparations, and I left the drawing room to make my way to the lounge. Several servants paused their work to give me a brief bow and greeting, and I did my best to get each person¡¯s name as they went by.

    The expanded penthouse was rapidly filling with antique furniture, fine rugs, and art in all shapes and sizes, generously loaned to me by the Ravvenblaqs. The place was really coming together, and by this point, it had transitioned from a pocket penthouse to a pocket mansion.

    I looked things over with a careful eye but tried not to linger. There was plenty more I could do before we received our guests, but a bit of relaxation with friends and a few hours of sleep were in order. I opened the door to the lounge in high spirits, ready to unwind and allow the double shift of diplomacy lessons to wash away.

    I was surprised to find the Zenithar of Geul having a cocktail, sitting on a couch next to Etja. Nuralie was at the bar, mixing a drink that bubbled and spat vapor.

    ¡°Zenithar Zura,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m honored to have you visit, although I¡¯d not been informed of your arrival. Otherwise, I would have come to greet you sooner.¡±

    The olive-green Geulon gave me a wry grin.

    ¡°No worries at all, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Zura said. ¡°I would have waited to arrive more formally, but I am told your Checkpoint portals require a 24-hour cooldown. Either I came tonight or waited until tomorrow evening. My apologies for intruding earlier than expected.¡± She nodded after saying this, then looked at me with a raised eyeridge.

    The Zenithar¡¯s tone was lightly humorous, and I surveyed the trio, noting that Etja sat stiffly upright, looking composed and alert. Nuralie also stood with her back ramrod straight, delicately stirring her drink. They both wore exaggerated expressions of sophistication and poise.

    ¡°Well, this is the lounge,¡± I said. ¡°And I am declaring this the official cozy zone from 10 pm to 4 am.¡± I walked to an armchair and collapsed into it. ¡°So, get fuckin¡¯ cozy, I guess.¡±

    Zura chuckled and Etja flopped back, nearly spilling her drink. Nuralie¡¯s shoulders relaxed and she cracked a smile.

    ¡°Thanks the heavens,¡± said Zura. ¡°I¡¯ve had enough politicking for today.¡±

    ¡°My brain hurts,¡± said Etja. ¡°At least, the part responsible for being polite does.¡±

    ¡°Lots of action in Eschangal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a feeding frenzy,¡± said Zura. ¡°Half of the clergy have submitted requests to undertake the Creation Delve.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. Nuralie walked over and handed me the bubbly drink, then went back to the bar to start mixing another. ¡°I didn¡¯t think they had much enthusiasm for Delving.¡±

    I sniffed the cocktail, which had a tropical scent. I sipped it, finding it exceptionally refreshing and delicious. I presumed Alchemy helped with mixology.

    ¡°When the slots were limited, the clergy would bow out of most selections,¡± said Zura. ¡°It was a way to raise up talented individuals, especially those with no official position within the Church.¡±

    ¡°But now you have your own Creation Delve,¡± I said. ¡°And everyone wants a piece.¡±

    ¡°Precisely, Master Xor¡¯Drel. Precisely.¡±

    I leaned into my chair¡¯s armrest and rested my cheek against my palm.

    ¡°I really don¡¯t like that ¡®Master¡¯ is the title I¡¯ve been given. What am I the master of?¡±

    ¡°Shog,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Not really,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s off doing whatever he wants.¡±

    ¡°You gave him permission.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Grotto¡¯s master, too!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Definitely don¡¯t let him hear you say that.¡± Although, he was the one to give me the title.

    Zura cleared her throat and sat her drink on a rosewood coffee table. ¡°Tell me, Arlo, how much space do you have in here?¡± she asked, waving a hand at the environment. ¡°The footprint of this estate alone is quite impressive for a dimensional pocket.¡±

    I considered the question, deciding how much I wanted to share with Zura. If the Closet were flattened out to have a maximum height of 100 feet, the total ¡®land¡¯ mass would be several hundred square miles. Not exactly huge, but that area was growing every day. I wasn¡¯t eager to advertise that to anyone who might have an incentive to use such a space. I trusted the Zenithar, as much as I could trust any head of state. That equated to a friendly acquaintance at best.

    Zura sensed my hesitation.

    ¡°It is understandable if you do not wish to tell me,¡± she said. ¡°Such things are often held in secret.¡± She tapped a claw against her chin in thought. ¡°Allow me to entertain a hypothetical. Let us say this space extends well beyond the grounds of your estate. The size of a small island, perhaps. To what nation does that land belong?¡±

    I ran that through my head, using the legal precedent I was familiar with in Arzia. Even the nations with robust protections for private property still claimed all lands within their borders. A citizen could own land in Litta, for example, but they were subject to the empire¡¯s laws and authority. In Hiward, all lands belonged to the crown. Anyone who resided on the land was renting, at best.

    ¡°The only nation I¡¯m a citizen of is the Xor¡¯Drel tribe,¡± I said. ¡°No other nation would have a claim. The Xor¡¯Drels use ritual to establish their domain, which they haven¡¯t done here. As far as I¡¯m concerned, it doesn¡¯t belong to any nation.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s say the Xor¡¯Drels have no desire to intrude on your private space,¡± Zura continued. ¡°If the lands are unclaimed, then what rule of law is there?

    ¡°Huh. You know, that is a great question,¡± I said. ¡°If people are coming in from all over, what happens if a crime is committed? I hadn¡¯t really considered that. Maybe the law of international waters?¡±

    ¡°Those are poorly developed,¡± said Zura. ¡°The most heavily traversed waters are all claimed. Even where international rules apply, interactions are typically governed by treaties between the relevant nations.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s workable. If a Hiwardian commits a crime against a Hiwardian, Hiwardian law applies. If it¡¯s a Hiwardian against an Eschen, then it¡¯s dealt with however the Hiwardian-Eschen treaties say it¡¯s dealt with.¡±

    ¡°Very well,¡± said Zura. ¡°But if you treat this space in such a¡±¨Cpause¨C¡°neutral way, who would oppose another nation coming in and laying claim?¡±

    ¡°I would, obviously.¡±

    ¡°Under what authority?¡±

    ¡°Mine. It¡¯s my Closet.¡±

    ¡°But you are an individual,¡± said Zura. ¡°With no legal framework governing the lands you are claiming. A man alone is not a code of laws, and he is not something that other nations interface with.¡±

    ¡°Are you suggesting I establish the Kingdom of Arlo in here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do you wish to be a king?¡±

    ¡°Not really, no.¡±

    ¡°Oh!¡± said Etja. ¡°The Democratic Republic of Arlo!¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s voting?¡± I asked. ¡°Grotto? Shog?¡±

    ¡°That sounds like a terrible idea,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Emperor Arlo!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°That would require multiple kingdoms under my control,¡± I said.

    ¡°So?¡± asked Etja. ¡°King Grotto and King Shog!¡±

    ¡°The System did say Shog is almost a Brood King,¡± Nuralie added.

    ¡°That would imply my empire is primarily composed of c¡¯thons.¡±

    Nuralie shrugged, apparently having no problem with the concept. The idea was more attractive to me than I thought it should be.

    ¡°The only workable systems have me as an autocrat of some kind,¡± I mused. ¡°Without citizens to vote or other entities to share power with, I hold all authority.¡±

    ¡°Supreme Leader Arlo!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Hard pass.¡±

    ¡°Until you choose another title,¡± said Zura, ¡°¡®Master¡¯ is the most appropriate. You are the master of your summon and familiar, and the master of these lands.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I said. ¡°Is Eschendur ready to negotiate some treaties with the Mastery of Arlo?¡±

    ¡°I would like to veto that name,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°You have no power here,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯ll take it under advisement.¡±

    ¡°What would the treaty cover?¡± asked Zura. ¡°We are always looking for allies if the terms are satisfactory.¡±

    I paused to study the Zenithar. Despite our casual interactions, she was one of the three theocratic rulers of Eschendur.

    ¡°You¡¯re being serious?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You have done a lot for Eschendur,¡± she said. ¡°Your party helped break the Littan blockade, returned Inquisitor Nuralie to her homeland, risked yourselves to bring many other Eschens to safety, and¨Cintentionally or not¨Ceffectively brought an end to the armed conflict between Eschendur and Litta. I would not be opposed to formally recognizing your dimensional space as a sovereign land and lending legitimacy to the claim.¡±

    I tried and failed to hide my surprise. I¡¯d thought we were having a friendly intellectual spar, not an honest evaluation of the merits of establishing my own country. Even Nuralie looked taken aback. Apparently, she¡¯d also thought it was a jape of some sort. Only Etja seemed unsurprised.

    ¡°Can I become a citizen?¡± she asked. ¡°Mirtasia doesn¡¯t, uh, really exist anymore.¡±

 186 - Royal Security

    Shortly after being invited to establish my own nation by Zenithar Zura, Varrin and Xim found their way to the lounge. Zura excused herself to retire, granting me some time to mull things over, and she assured me that a servant had already prepared a room for her. Rooms had also been prepared for her entourage, who I didn¡¯t know she¡¯d come with.

    I went over the mental map of improvements Grotto and I had made to the Closet, and bedrooms had not been on the list. Someone had both identified and rectified that problem before it even found its way to me, and I owed that person a beer.

    The party did a little catching up, then discussed my potential Diplomacy evolutions.

    Carouser: You blend seamlessly into any social environment, able to tell who¡¯s who at a glance. You always know who among the entities you can perceive has the most social influence and who that entity regards as an ally among those present.

    Merchant: You instinctively know the market value of any item you inspect. When presenting an item to an entity whose CHA is lower than your WIS, you instinctively know the highest price for which they would be willing to pay, or the lowest price for which they would be willing to sell the item.

    Bureaucrat: You instinctively know the laws and social mores of any civilized area you visit, including expected behaviors, etiquette, and other rules of social engagement.

    I¡¯d already perused the options, so none were a surprise.

    Carouser was free information. Reading the power dynamic in a room was a skill some people spent their entire lives developing. Here, that capability would be handed to me for free, with little to no effort on my part.

    Fuck, I loved magic.

    In some situations, social hierarchy would be easy to discern even without this evolution, but things were rarely so simple. Further, knowing who someone publicly regarded as an ally was one thing, knowing who they really regarded as an ally was another. Based on the wording of the intrinsic, I expected it would be handy dandy for sniffing out a betrayal before it happened. Too bad it only applied to the one person with the most social influence.

    Merchant was a bit of a surprise when I¡¯d first seen it, but intrinsic skills sometimes took a ¡®many ways to skin a cat¡¯ approach. Nuralie had Mercantile, which was entirely focused on barter and trade, whereas Diplomacy was a broader intrinsic that had some minor overlap with several other, more specific skills. It was certainly useful, but I wasn¡¯t a nickel-and-dime kind of guy. I¡¯d leave the sales and acquisitions to Varrin and Nuralie.

    Bureaucrat would eliminate the need for any more cram sessions with Riona, and yes, I knew about the evo before we ever crammed. The reason I¡¯d chosen to still engage in the crash course¨Crather than impulse pick Bureaucrat to save myself the trouble¨Cwas to see how much value the evolution would give me.

    It would certainly make things a hell of a lot easier, but given how fast I learned, it wasn¡¯t a game-changer. It was also the type of evolution that could eventually be obviated if I became well-learned enough. It would be nice for keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of cultural whims, but a hands-on approach seemed more reasonable.

    I liked Carouser. Varrin liked Carouser. Everyone else liked Carouser.

    I picked Carouser.

    One might be curious what my observations about the party members were, after selecting the evolution. As for which of us had the most social influence, well¡­ I¡¯m afraid that will have to remain a mystery.

    He or she did regard everyone else in the party as an ally, so there were no serious festering grudges. No surprises there.

    Once that was settled and we had our game plan for the next day, it was time for bed.

    Zzzz¡­

    The next morning was a flurry of activity as final preparations were made. Then it was finally time to open the Xor¡¯Drel Checkpoint to greet the king and his retinue.

    We were in our Sunday best. Nuralie had on a suit of dark forest colors with pops of silver and wore a pair of polished high-tops. She¡¯d skipped her absurdly tall tophat, since we were indoors and it would have been impolite to wear, despite how awesome it was.

    Varrin wore a black and gray suit with a dash of military flair, tailored to make sure all who saw him understood how absolutely jacked the man was beneath the layers. Honestly, the trousers framed the big guy¡¯s backseat so well, the damn thing looked like it could perform miracles. Next to them cheeks, he wore a ceremonial sword sheathed at his hip, tied shut with a peace knot, while Kazandak was safely stowed in inventory.

    Not that anything was stopping him from accessing his real sword in an instant. The lack of available lethal weaponry was symbolic.

    Xim wore a set of celebratory cleric¡¯s robes. Its cream and crimson colors were accentuated by sharp, ritualistic crests stained into the fabric with charcoal ink. While the robes were typically worn during formal religious events, Sam¡¯lia was about the farthest thing one could get from a puritanical goddess. The robes showed off nearly everything the cleric had to show. It hugged and emphasized curves, with slits on either side of the ankle-length skirt running all the way up to Xim¡¯s waistline.

    She was also barefoot, not that I took any particular notice of that fact. Don¡¯t make it weird, people.

    Etja had acquired an entire wardrobe¡¯s worth of clothing in Eschengal and was currently wearing a teal dress of gossamer fabric with a neckline that plunged down past her belly button. My first thought upon seeing her was that she¡¯d intentionally chosen to have a belly button. My second thought was that she was unconditionally rocking the outfit. Her chest was criss-crossed by a dozen thin golden chains, and all four arms were adorned with armlets, bracelets, and rings. She even had a beautiful tiara made of delicately threaded gold, set with aquamarine gemstones that matched her dress.

    As for me, I had on an ocean blue suit that matched my Outlaw¡¯s C¡¯thonic Leather Vest of the Dirty Muffin Toy (in case anyone forgot the full name of one of my signature pieces of gear). The vest was clasped over a pink button-down that worked in concert with a violet, floral-pattern tie to match the colors of my Rocket Man¡¯s C¡¯thonic Feather Boa of the Cat¡¯s Pajamas. Both the shirt and tie were silk, of course. Varrin had gotten the tie custom-made according to my specifications to give me a bit of Earthling flair.

    Our hair and makeup were flawless, our footwear could draw applauses, and a critique of our physique would not befall us.

    The Checkpoint opened to a well-organized crowd of people. Each of the main houses had sent some sort of ambassador, all of whom came with their own entourages. Xim¡¯s parents were present, of course, flanked by a few other tribe members and speaking with the man of the hour himself.

    King Filix Celeritia had the lean and charming look of a male model firmly in their silver fox era. He wore an easy smile framed by a hint of white stubble along his jaw. His medium-length hair looked selectively messy in the way that told me it probably took an hour to get just right, and got another twenty minutes of styling after the subdued dark iron crown he wore was nested atop it.

    King Celeritia was a member of the first generation of Delvers, a slave-turned-rebellion leader like Varrin¡¯s great-grandfather. However, his Delving career had slowed after taking on the royal mantle, choosing to spend his time governing rather than pushing deep into the higher levels. It was also difficult to justify risking the king¡¯s life for another 8 stat points, especially when his 30 platinum levels already gave him more power than most.

    A squad of King¡¯s Guard surrounded their liege and a dozen more held strategic positions throughout the crowd. The minimum Level required to be a member of the elite unit was 15, but the numbers only went up from there. They were almost exclusively gold Delvers, although I spotted the occasional platinum level here and there. That told a certain story¨Cperhaps an adventurer who bit off more than they could chew, or who¡¯d lost a party member and decided to take it down a notch to gold.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    The head of the Guard was a man named Lord Director Aprogar Bluewren, uncle to the reigning Bluewren Thundralke. He was a Level 26 gold who¡¯d completed a full run of 30 gold, silver, and copper Delves and was rumored to have multiple intrinsic skills at Level 100. That was no small feat, and skills that advanced were typically only found in the realm of platinums.

    Aprogar Bluewren was also the father of the late Deletar Bluewren, whose sword we¡¯d recovered inside Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    Director Bluewren was the first through the Checkpoint portal, along with a team of four other King¡¯s Guards ranging from Level 19 to 22. The man stopped before us, and gave me a mid-depth Hiwardian bow. That was interesting since it was a bow given to someone of equal standing, or to a high-ranking diplomat from another nation. His squad bowed significantly lower, despite the fact they were all members of some noble lineage.

    I returned Director Bluewren¡¯s bow, along with the rest of the party, though Varrin dipped lower. The big guy¡¯s lack of a formal position placed the Director above him in the Hiwardian pecking order.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Director Bluewren after standing upright. ¡°Thank you for allowing us into your home.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Lord Director Bluewren,¡± I said. ¡°King Celeritia¡¯s request to visit was certainly a surprise, but I am honored to receive him.¡±

    ¡°Please, call me Aprogar,¡± he said. ¡°There are so many Bluewrens in government positions, it can become confusing when we¡¯re all referred to by our surname.¡±

    ¡°As you wish, Director Aprogar.¡± Keeping the man¡¯s title involved was implied, according to my lessons. ¡°It¡¯s my understanding that you¡¯re to do a run of the grounds for security reasons.¡±

    ¡°You are correct, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± he said. ¡°However, given the limited duration of your portal, I¡¯ll mostly be relying on the report of my subordinates.¡±

    He raised a hand and made a beckoning gesture to the row of servants behind me. I turned to see two men and two women come forth, with Grotto just ahead of them, wearing his fashionably dressed little man disguise. I raised an eyebrow at my familiar.

    [These four told me of their purpose shortly after arriving,] he thought to me. [I allowed them to survey the estate, but none of our sensitive locations were exposed.]

    ¡°I would have appreciated being looped in on that.¡±

    [Noted. However, my surveillance of the Closet is expansive, and there is little your involvement would have gained us aside from adding additional stress to your work. I have taken it upon myself to manage the guests so that you¡¯d have time for your lessons and so that you may now act as an appropriate host.]

    I focused on the four ¡®servants¡¯ while Grotto and I went back and forth, cracking their fa?ade with Reveal. Their mundane souls bloomed into golden Delver halos, between Levels 15 and 18.

    One of the women stepped forward and gave Aprogar a deep bow.

    ¡°Lord Director,¡± she said. ¡°In short, we have no way of knowing if this location is secure.¡±

    I appreciated a person who was willing to cut right to the chase.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Aprogar. ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°As you are aware, Lord Director, this is a self-contained dimensional space,¡± said the woman. ¡°All known entrances and exits to the space are controlled by either Master Xor¡¯Drel or his Majordomo.¡± She gestured at Grotto. ¡°The interior appears to be an interconnected series of rooms, some large enough to serve as the exterior grounds of a noble estate. However, the rooms are often connected through a network of semi-permanent portals. Although we have mapped all accessible rooms, the presence of advanced planar magic makes it impossible to know what other spaces exist.

    ¡°Further,¡± she continued, ¡°we have observed Majordomo exert significant control over the dimensions and structure of individual rooms, and we assume that capability extends to Master Xor¡¯Drel. Existing rooms can be modified rapidly and at their discretion, portal connections can be altered, and any given room can likely be sequestered from the others, with all evacuation routes terminated.¡±

    ¡°Offensive capabilities?¡± asked Aprogar.

    ¡°Per your prior evaluation, Lord Director, Master Xor¡¯Drel and his party have been tentatively classified as a Grade 16 threat individually and a Grade 23 threat collectively. We have not been able to confirm that threat rating, but the sophistication of this dimensional space suggests the rating is too low.¡±

    Aprogar raised an eyebrow at that, then gestured for her to continue.

    ¡°Two Grade 15 golems roam the grounds,¡± she said. ¡°But they are currently¡­ serving refreshments, and are otherwise unarmed.¡±

    ¡°They each have four arms, though,¡± added one of the men. The woman kept going without missing a beat.

    ¡°No dangerous spells, devices, or phenomena have been observed¨Caside from a decorative armory¨Cbut as I mentioned, we cannot know what the rest of this location contains. All individuals in the estate have been vetted and are¨Cto the best of our knowledge¨Cwho they appear to be. The majority are staff from the Ravvenblaq manor, with the rest composed of members of Fortune¡¯s Folly, Majordomo, and an Eschen diplomatic group that includes the Zenithar of Geul, Triarch Ros Zura.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel himself remains¨C¡± she glanced at me ¡°¨C¡®problematic¡¯, as his origins still cannot be determined. We have no records whatsoever for Majordomo, and our requests for additional history have been denied.¡±

    ¡°Is that everything?¡± asked Aprogar.

    ¡°Yes, Lord Director.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± the man grunted. ¡°Not the most agreeable evaluation I¡¯ve ever heard,¡± he said dryly. ¡°But far from the worst. Is there anything you¡¯d like to add, Master Xor¡¯Drel?¡±

    This whole process struck me as odd, and I felt like somebody was trying to catch me with my hand in the cookie jar. I certainly had things to hide, but I wasn¡¯t planning on causing King Celeritia or the other Hiwardians any problems.

    ¡°May I ask a question first?¡± I said.

    ¡°You may.¡±

    ¡°Why was this report given in front of me? It seems remarkably forthright.¡±

    The Lord Director grinned. ¡°There are several reasons. The evaluation is for your benefit as much as our own. Most assassins and dissidents do not ask permission before hiding away on someone¡¯s grounds, after all. Doing it this way also shows deference to the head of house, which I¡¯m told somehow preserves their honor.

    ¡°I¡¯ve also found that it shakes people up a bit when we show them how much we already know, and it makes one wonder what else we know that we aren¡¯t parading about in front of them. That tends to invite a greater degree of honesty afterward.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said, then looked at Grotto. ¡°Majordomo, What other defensive measures do we have in place?¡±

    A brief psychic exchange ensured he knew what I was asking for. I figured that divulging a few more factoids could only buy us some favor. At the end of the day, if they decided to take the king and fuck off or request a different venue, it didn¡¯t make too much of a difference to me. They were the ones who¡¯d asked to come inside.

    ¡°Aside from what your officer has discussed, Lord Director, Dimensional attacks can be made in nearly any location with little or no forewarning. A second Checkpoint portal connects to Eschengal, which can be opened this evening at the earliest, and there is a temporary portal leading to the Littan fortress west of the Eschen Gap that can be opened at any time.¡±

    Mentioning the other portals was a good touch. It divulged additional avenues of exposure, which I was sure the Lord Director would want to know about.

    ¡°Additionally, my party¡¯s exploits have made the avatar of Yearning¨COrexis¨Cquite unhappy with us,¡± I added. ¡°And the avatar known as Fortune has some perverse interest in my life. I have no idea if either has the capacity to infiltrate this space, or whether they would have any real interest in doing so.¡±

    Aprogar rubbed his jaw as he thought. ¡°Well, this just got upgraded to a clusterfuck, I think.¡± He let out a heavy sigh. ¡°Are you willing to agree not to open either of those portals without direct permission from myself or the king?¡±

    ¡°I believe I can accommodate that request, Director Aprogar.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have countermages throughout the grounds, so any unexpected spellwork will immediately be terminated.¡±

    ¡°That sounds reasonable.¡±

    ¡°Please do not alter any rooms or internal portals for the duration of the king¡¯s visit,¡± he added. ¡°My people have provided Majordomo with a more comprehensive list of impermissible activities.¡±

    ¡°I have full faith that he will abide by the rules provided,¡± I said.

    [They are mostly irrelevant,] Grotto thought to me. [Unless someone were to attack, I see no reason why I would violate any of their terms.]

    His words weren¡¯t exactly comforting, but it was probably the best I¡¯d get out of him.

    ¡°Now that our official business is done,¡± said Aprogar, ¡°Varrin has informed me your party has something that belongs to my family.¡±

    I nodded, my smile fading as the tone of the conversation darkened. I pulled the Longsword of the Bluewren from my inventory and held it out to the Lord Director. He reached toward it, hand hovering over the sheath as an expression of grief passed over him. He took the weapon and pulled the blade out an inch to study the sigil pressed into the metal just above the guard.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said softly, the sword disappearing into his own inventory. ¡°I¡¯ve heard a summary of how you recovered it, but I hope we¡¯ll find time to speak in depth later tonight.¡± He took a breath and stood up straighter. ¡°For now, I hope your discussions with Hiward are productive.¡±

    Aprogar turned and held up a hand, giving a signal to the King¡¯s Guard outside. They returned a different signal, and a man wearing an outrageously frilly outfit marched forth. He gave me a low bow after entering, then turned and held an arm out toward the king. He opened his mouth, paused for a second, and then began speaking at a volume that absolutely counted as shouting.

    ¡°Now presenting His Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia! Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward! Defender of the Realm! Hero of the War of Rebellion! Long may he reign!¡±

    The king gave a toothy smile and walked into the Closet.

 187 - The King

    This was a moment that we had put a lot of thought into, and no small portion of Riona¡¯s lessons were focused on how to greet a royal. As the king walked into the Closet, all Hiwardians present dropped to one knee, heads bowed to the ground. No matter their individual rank or station, each Hiwardian showed the king the highest level of deference.

    As for the non-Hiwardians, there were options, but those options still revolved around relative social standing. Obviously, the king had the highest social influence by a wide margin. The theatrics of introductions weren¡¯t a popularity contest, however, but a signaling behavior.

    Did you regard the King of Hiward to be above yourself in station? If so, by how much? Does that match what you want to communicate to the king? What do you want to convey to your own people? Are there any individuals around you¡¯re snippy with? Maybe you¡¯d like to subtly challenge them by suggesting your station relative to the king was higher than their own. How would that decision interact with how you greeted your other guests?

    An entire conversation was held in the few seconds it took to bow, salute, hold a moment of silence, or whatever else was culturally relevant for your nationality. The Xor¡¯Drel tribe wasn¡¯t very exact in how they approached these matters when interacting with First Layer residents. If I¡¯d really wanted to show the king some Third Layer-style respect, I¡¯d have constructed an elaborate ritual circle, hunted the most powerful manifestation I could wrangle down on my own, and then used its flesh to empower a state of shared lucid dreaming. That way my respect could be felt on a tangible, sensory level. You¡¯d even be able to taste it!

    We¡¯d decided against that. First, I wasn¡¯t in charge of the tribe, so that would have been a bit too much. However, beyond knowing that I wasn¡¯t the Xor¡¯Drel head of state, my position in the tribe was a bit nebulous. I had no official titles or responsibilities. I¡¯d hardly spent much time there at all. I was just an ordinary, everyday citizen, albeit one who¡¯d begun to generate some level of international fame through careful application of my various superpowers.

    Realizing that, Varrin and Riona had argued that there was an obvious answer. Kneeling was right out because I didn¡¯t owe fealty to the king, but a low bow would be appropriate, to signal that¨Cas an ordinary citizen¨Cmy station was significantly below a king.

    HOWEVER!

    Grotto made that more complicated with his whole presentation to the servants, where I became ¡®Master¡¯ Xor¡¯Drel, the esteemed owner of some fine, independent territories. Zura doubled down on that complexity when she¡¯d shown willingness to support me if I were to claim that I was leading some sort of micro-state, headquartered in the Closet.

    If I wanted to let everyone in the Hiwardian nobility know that I was setting myself up to lead a fledgling nation, then a shallow bow would be more appropriate, especially since we were on the very lands that I would be claiming. If I were to bow any lower, it would directly conflict with that claim, and reestablishing myself at a higher station would become an uphill battle. The shallow bow had a high risk of offending just about everyone who was here to visit, but it was a power play with the highest potential reward, as well.

    Before I could do anything, the king was shaking my hand.

    It wasn¡¯t that I froze up. The king was setting one foot into the Closet, and then we were suddenly pumpin¡¯ paws right there in front of everyone. I had to assume it was some sort of movement technique, but there was no storm of wind or thunderclap like I was used to experiencing when Delvers went at supersonic speeds. It also hadn¡¯t been a teleport spell, since my Magical Thinker ability didn¡¯t trigger.

    I smiled and went with it, desperately searching my memory banks for what the hell a handshake signified in this situation. Images of countless worksheets flitted by in my head, but none of them had shit to say about handshakes. It wasn¡¯t an official greeting of any kind.

    The king¡¯s opening salvo was forced neutrality!

    He¡¯d taken the expectation of posturing and eliminated it in one fell swoop. There was no chance for a misunderstanding, no opportunity to establish any relative roles between us. It was friendly in that it excused me from inadvertently presenting an overly submissive stance, while simultaneously being aggressive in that it gave me no opportunity to put up a strong front.

    The king clapped me on the shoulder, then let the handshake drop. It had gone on for precisely one-good-handshake¡¯s length of time. It didn¡¯t overstay its welcome, but it was sturdy enough to create some familiarity. The man¡¯s smile widened and he straightened up.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel!¡± he said cheerily. ¡°It¡¯s wonderful to meet you, really, especially on such short notice.¡±

    The Hiwardians around us were still kneeling, and I caught Varrin looking up, slightly confused. The nonverbal signal to stop kneeling hadn¡¯t happened, since I hadn¡¯t officially paid my respects to the king.

    ¡°It¡¯s an honor to have you here, King Celeritia,¡± I said. ¡°If I couldn¡¯t make time for the King of Hiward, who could I make time for?¡±

    ¡°Still,¡± he said, ¡°I know you and your party are busy as a Chovali fruit hall, so I appreciate it.¡± He looked around at everyone still kneeling. ¡°Please rise,¡± he said, then leaned in toward me and added under his breath, ¡°Hope your floors are clean. If somebody ends up with a dusty knee, the entire nobility will know about it in under 48 hours.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen no less than a dozen brooms in the last day,¡± I said.

    ¡°Then you¡¯re probably in good shape.¡± King Celeritia turned and looked at the crowd of waiting nobles outside the Checkpoint portal, then eyed a trio of servants standing nearby.

    ¡°We¡¯ve prepared some refreshments in the parlor,¡± I said. ¡°If you¡¯d like to settle in while everyone else is announced.¡±

    ¡°You know, refreshments sound good,¡± he said. ¡°But if I went off without giving another round of attention to everyone who¡¯s about to walk through that portal, it might come off as rude.¡± He made the slightest grimace. ¡°Of course, if my generous host were to have some time-sensitive business we needed to discuss, I could be forgiven for being led away.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I believe there are some very time-sensitive matters¡­ in the lounge.¡±

    The king¡¯s smile widened, and one of the servants was already rushing away to reorganize the hospitality troops according to the king¡¯s whims. Another bowed and gestured in the direction of the lounge, while a third walked ahead, guiding the way and opening doors.

    Varrin¡¯s expression was unreadable as he watched us leave, but Riona looked stressed. She met my eyes as I followed after the king, expressing her deep wish that I behave myself while away from adult supervision. I returned her look, conveying that I was an adult and that the king seemed like a chill enough dude so try not to worry so much. She squinted in a ¡®please be serious about this¡¯ kind of way, and I pursed my lips to let her know I¡¯d use my best judgment, but if the situation called for being serious, I would be super duper serious. The absolute serious-est.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The king and I made it to the lounge at a casual stride, and by the time we arrived, tea was already being poured. It was a bit early for harder drinks, but the bar was set with tasteful displays of nuts and cheeses.

    A squad of the King''s Guard shadowed us, but a subtle gesture from the king left them taking up positions outside of the lounge. The servant ensured we had everything we needed, then excused herself.

    ¡°This is nice,¡± said the king, turning to take in the decor.

    After a quick spin, he sat down on the couch, then reached up and took off his crown, setting it on the cushion beside himself. He tousled his hair a bit, then picked up a bowl of dried fruit and sat back with it in his lap.

    I took a seat in an armchair across from him, ignoring the snacks since I hated having messy fingers. Overall, I wasn¡¯t a big finger-foods kind of guy, to be honest. Not unless I had a good wet wipe on me. I¡¯d see if I could get a moist towelette the next time a servant swung by.

    ¡°So,¡± said the king. ¡°Is it true that you killed a Grade Four c¡¯thon with your bare hands at Level Zero?¡±

    ¡°I stabbed it first,¡± I said. ¡°And if mana-shaping a touch-based spell to fire in a line counts as bare-handed, then yes.¡±

    ¡°Okay, clear this up for me,¡± he said, scooching forward. ¡°Was the name of the c¡¯thon Ihbriobrixilas, or Ihxiobrixilas?¡±

    I paused, thinking over both names.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I said. ¡°You know, the System called it Ihbrio, but my summon Shog always called it Ihxio. Maybe it¡¯s a translation thing?¡±

    ¡°Maybe you killed two c¡¯thons and just forgot,¡± Celeritia said with a grin, then popped a fruit into his mouth. ¡°Or maybe your summon got confused.¡±

    ¡°Shog is a c¡¯thon, so I would be inclined to use his preferred spelling.¡±

    ¡°Did they know each other?¡±

    ¡°Ihxiobrixilas ate one of Shog¡¯s brothers. That''s why he agreed to become my summon.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s crediting you for killing the right c¡¯thon?¡± asked the king.

    ¡°As in, I actually killed Ihbriobrixilas, but Shog¡¯s brother was killed by a different c¡¯thon named Ihxiobrixilas? Both c¡¯thons died at near the same time, and Shog misattributed me with the kill due to the phonetic similarity?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said the king. ¡°Or maybe changing ¡®Ihbrio¡¯ to ¡®Ihxio¡¯ is some sort of c¡¯thonic insult.¡±

    ¡°Like turning Tucker into Fucker?¡±

    ¡°Exactly,¡± he said, shaking a fruit at me. ¡°You know what else they say?¡±

    ¡°About Tucker? I didn¡¯t know the guy very well.¡± The king snorted.

    ¡°About how you killed that c¡¯thon.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know anyone was saying anything about it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s all over the place.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a song.¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the king said, nodding insistently. ¡°It claims that you did a triple-backflip before killing the thing.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never done a triple backflip in my life,¡± I said, then considered some of the times I¡¯d been launched after a giant monster gave me a good wallop. ¡°Not intentionally, anyway.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well,¡± the king said. ¡°Reality seldom lives up to the legend.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully it¡¯s not too disappointing for you.¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± he said. ¡°You may not be a c¡¯thon-slaying martial arts prodigy with a penchant for acrobatics, but you do have an entire mansion in a dimensional space, which I think is more interesting.¡±

    ¡°Is it really that unusual?¡± I asked.

    He put the bowl of fruit back onto the coffee table and sat back. He looked thoughtful as he produced a napkin from nowhere and wiped off his hands. If I wasn¡¯t mistaken, the napkin was damp. I added that to the list of easy-bake items to add to my own inventory. It¡¯s not like the napkin would ever dry out. I could have a cloth of appropriate dampness whenever I so chose.

    ¡°I think it is,¡± said the king. ¡°For Level 12, having this much control over a pocket realm is somewhat extraordinary, I¡¯d say. I wouldn¡¯t blink an eye if you had this at Level 30, though. Things get really strange at the higher end.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they do.¡±

    The king folded his napkin neatly and placed it down on the table.

    ¡°Was that an appropriate amount of small talk?¡± he asked. I failed to suppress a chuckle.

    ¡°You¡¯re the king,¡± I said. ¡°I think the appropriate amount is however much you say it is.¡±

    ¡°I think it was, then.¡± He let his hands fall onto his thighs with a light clap. ¡°First, let me say that I appreciate what you and your party have done. System Phases? Dungeons? Labyrinths? Raids? That is a lot of new territory for Delvers to cover. A lot of opportunities.¡± He pointed at me. ¡°But you five also kicked the hells out of a duck¡¯s nest.¡±

    ¡°I¨C Why would someone kick a duck¡¯s nest?¡±

    ¡°No idea,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°They¡¯re horrible creatures. We lost a lot of good people rooting them out of the southeastern part of the island.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s where the Duckgriens have their thundry?¡± He nodded. ¡°Are they connected to ducks, somehow?¡±

    Celeritia gave a wistful sigh. ¡°Do you know much about the origin of Hiwardian surnames?¡±

    ¡°I know the Ravvenblaqs adopted their call sign from the Foundation War,¡± I said. ¡°Not much else.¡±

    ¡°Correct. Black Raven isn¡¯t just a moody and ¡®creative¡¯ title. We all had birds of some kind to indicate a specific group, and a color to indicate individual roles. Duckgrien, Green Duck. They were the most aggressive group¨Cthat¡¯s why they got Duck¨Cwhile Patriarch Bobret and Matriarch Cerra were damage-focused, which was green.

    ¡°Of course, the meanings of each bird and color were always changing,¡± he continued. ¡°So different houses may have different interpretations of what their name translates to. We¡¯d swap it around to keep the Littans guessing, and each cell had its own sub-codes. Slaves weren¡¯t given surnames, the call signs were how people in the resistance had come to refer to one another, and they decided it made enough sense to keep.¡±

    ¡°How come Celeritia breaks that trend?¡±

    ¡°Privileges of being the king,¡± he said with an acerbic smile. ¡°When the houses forced the crown onto my head, they decided the king should have a distinctive surname, to set me apart. My nickname during the war was ¡®God-Step¡¯, and my build is Speed focused, which led them to ¡®Celeritia¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± I said. I tried to word my next statement carefully. ¡°Godstep is pretty good, I think.¡±

    ¡°I argued for it, but they insisted ¡®God-Step¡¯ should only apply to myself,¡± he said. ¡°Can you guess who came up with Celeritia?¡±

    ¡°Would it be someone from a family that¡¯s well known for its long history of naming? The experts at striking balance between creativity and tradition?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re practically quoting Ealdric right now,¡± he said, shaking his head. ¡°But yes, it was the Ravvenblaq Patriarch. I think he scared everyone else into voting for it.¡±

    ¡°This is a fascinating bit of lore, here,¡± I said. ¡°Aside from Duckgrien and Ravvenblaq, there¡¯s Heronwyte, Bluewren, and¡­ Thrushmahogany. Is mahogany really a color, though?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re a strange family,¡± said Celeritia, by way of explanation. ¡°Nice enough, though. It¡¯s the Heronwytes you have to watch out for.¡±

    ¡°Are they bad-tempered?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not what I mean. You need to watch out for them, as in you, specifically. Your party as well. They are distressed that Hiward no longer controls access to Creation Delves.¡±

    ¡°Ah. How do you feel about that, your highness?¡±

    ¡°Well, I haven¡¯t signed any of the petitions the Heronwytes have submitted. Several of them call for extradition, followed by execution.¡±

    ¡°I suddenly feel like my life is in danger.¡±

    Celeritia leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and giving me a long, appraising look.

    ¡°If it feels sudden, then you¡¯re much too relaxed,¡± he said. ¡°From the moment the whole world saw your party¡¯s names in their notifications, all of your lives have been in danger. Hells kid, you just stood up and took a piss on the entire game board for every nation in the world. From now on, I don¡¯t know that there will ever be a time when your lives won¡¯t be in danger.¡±

 188 - Insider Knowledge

    ¡°We knew we¡¯d make some people unhappy when we went into Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± I said. ¡°That Delve wasn¡¯t the most combat-focused, but we were under threat the entire time we were in there. I¡¯m still spending every second of every day looking for the next trap, the next monster, the next piece of furniture that¡¯s going to try and take my head off. I¡¯m sure the whole party is looking over their shoulders as well, and have no illusions that everyone we¡¯ll be meeting is a friend.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a tough way to live,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°But it helps me relax to hear you say that.¡±

    ¡°Relax?¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting word choice.¡±

    The king took a sip of his tea. ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°It implies our safety is a source of anxiety for you. I didn¡¯t expect a man of your station would have the time to worry about people you don¡¯t know.¡±

    The king¡¯s teacup clinked as he sat it back on its saucer. He searched my face as he chewed over my answer.

    ¡°I know the Ravvenblaqs quite well,¡± he said.

    ¡°But you¡¯re not chatting with Varrin right now.¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t the party leader of Fortune¡¯s Folly.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± I admitted. ¡°Still, if you were solely worried about Varrin¡¯s safety, you could have him leave my party with a single command. You could bundle him up with the best and brightest Hiwardians in his level range.¡±

    ¡°You may be overestimating the number of Delvers knocking around with your group¡¯s amount of talent. I could order Varrin to be joined at the hip with a much higher-level group, but I wouldn¡¯t want to stunt his growth like that.¡± Celeritia grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll stop being a contrarian with you,¡± he said. ¡°I do have an interest in seeing your party¨Ceveryone in your party¨Cstay alive.¡±

    ¡°Would you think of me as a cynic if I asked why?¡±

    ¡°A certain level of cynicism is healthy if you¡¯re trying to survive the path you¡¯re walking.¡± The king smiled bitterly. ¡°It would be juvenile to assume it¡¯s out of the goodness of my heart, though, so it¡¯s a reasonable question. I¡¯m more likely to think of you as naive for asking me so directly, but only if you¡¯re planning to take my answer at face value. I get the impression you won¡¯t do that.¡±

    There was a pause in the conversation inviting me to respond, but the king hadn¡¯t answered my question. He watched me closely while I waited for him to continue, then nodded to himself.

    ¡°Hiward has several interests that intersect with your party,¡± he said. ¡°First, it sets a bad precedent when Delvers are killed by their peers for being too successful. We already have enough nobles wasting their potential chasing down Copper and Silver. If I didn¡¯t use my authority to ensure everyone¡¯s playing nicely, there would be a lot more infighting. People don¡¯t need another reason to fear accomplishment.

    ¡°Both the Xor¡¯Drels and Eschendur are Hiwardian allies,¡± he continued. ¡°There¡¯s some political favor to be earned from ensuring you¡¯re treated well by the Kingdom. It would also be damaging to the Kingdom¡¯s relationship with those powers if a Hiwardian assassinated you.

    ¡°Your party is generating a lot of actionable intelligence for Hiward, as well. Varrin has been passing along many of your discoveries, something I¡¯m told he¡¯s been doing with your full permission.¡±

    ¡°The whole party has supported divulging information on threats and countermeasures,¡± I said. ¡°To be clear, we¡¯re not planning on limiting ourselves to Hiward. I think we need every nation up to speed when it comes to the avatars and this Brae¡¯ach guy we just found out about. We¡¯ve had a convenient way to interface with Hiward, so we availed ourselves of it.¡±

    ¡°I believe in sharing,¡± said the king. ¡°I won¡¯t argue for you to cut anyone out, even Litta, so long you aren¡¯t spilling any Hiwardian secrets. I also expect there are things you¡¯re keeping to yourselves, which is tenable. No one knows for sure how your party rose to power so quickly, and¨Cwhile I¡¯d love an answer to that question¨CI¡¯m not here to try and extract that from you.¡±

    ¡°I believe that also constitutes another interest Hiward has in our party,¡± I said.

    ¡°True,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°I¡¯ve assembled a group to investigate your progress and build choices. If you die before we¡¯ve cracked that nut, we¡¯d miss out on some useful institutional knowledge.¡±

    ¡°Should I anticipate an interview request?¡±

    ¡°Would you accept one?¡±

    ¡°Probably not.¡±

    The king shrugged. ¡°They have access to a lot of information and have some theories they¡¯re working with. Revelations, for example, are an unquantifiable source of power, but we know they exist and can have a sizable impact on a Delver¡¯s capability. It¡¯s clear your party has more than one revelator, but I don¡¯t think it completes the puzzle.¡± He waved a hand dismissively. ¡°Again, that¡¯s not why I¡¯m here. If I keep talking about it, you¡¯ll think I¡¯m fishing for information. I am, of course, but there¡¯s no reason for me to be overbearing about it.¡±

    ¡°I appreciate that,¡± I said with some uncertainty.

    The king was using a strategy I was quite fond of, which was to extract information by being upfront about wanting to extract it. This differed from ¡®just asking¡¯ since a question was never asked, the desire for information was merely stated. It matched up with the king¡¯s choice of a handshake since it was a fairly neutral way to approach things. If I chose not to volunteer anything, then it wasn¡¯t a refusal, since I was never directly queried. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    The approach was charming when used correctly. It implied I was being seen as an equal and not someone who could be bossed around. The king was also using it to insinuate that I was ¡®too smart¡¯ to toy with. Rather than trying to subtly manipulate me into talking, it dispensed with the trickery and boldly stated the unspoken question. That was its own form of manipulation, albeit one that hit me right in my vanity.

    Never directly asking anything also downplayed the importance of what the king was trying to learn. After all, if he cared that much why would he be so cavalier? Combine all of that with the fact that honesty naturally invited reciprocation, and the technique was more effective than most would give it credit for.

    I was pretty unforgiving once I detected false sincerity, so it was a good approach to take with me. No doubt I was giving away more than I wanted to just by being in the king¡¯s presence, but I wasn¡¯t going to openly confirm any of his suspicions about the things I¡¯d rather stay hidden. Some of our secrets would make potent bargaining chips. There was no reason to give them up for free.

    ¡°Two more reasons you¡¯ve caught my eye,¡± said the king. ¡°Then I¡¯ll stop laying cards on the table. The information we¡¯re getting out of Timagrin is consistent with your story about the avatars and the Davahn, Brae¡¯ach. Every time I say that name I feel like I¡¯m about to sneeze, by the way.¡±

    ¡°It would be close to the same sound.¡±

    ¡°I think you¡¯re right,¡± the king said. ¡°If we assume that divine avatars will start interfering with our lives more than they already have, then we need every weapon we can get our hands on pointed in their direction. To be blunt, you and yours are a long way from fighting beside the real powerhouses, but I¡¯d be an idiot not to see your potential. Even if you can¡¯t take it directly to the avatars, there appears to be a whole army of Davahns you can fight instead.¡±

    ¡°And the final reason?¡± I asked.

    ¡°This one¡¯s the most selfish, but I really do have a soft spot for talented up-and-comers. I¡¯d be very sad if you died in a stupid way.¡±

    What a sweet old man. Of course, that¡¯s what he wanted me to think. I still thought it, regardless.

    ¡°I appreciate the concern,¡± I said. ¡°Our main goal right now is to keep doing what we¡¯re doing. We need to work on our intrinsics, and then get back to grinding out levels. Anything you can do to help shield us from bad actors while we go about the business of Delving is warmly welcomed and appreciated.

    ¡°In regards to information, we plan to keep passing along whatever we uncover that¡¯s relevant to whoever is willing to listen. Reciprocation on that front would be fantastic, but our willingness to cooperate isn¡¯t conditioned on it. As far as fighting an army of Davahns, I¡¯d need to take the party¡¯s pulse on that one. I expect we¡¯d take any requests to protect civilians seriously.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not too bad at this,¡± said Celeritia. ¡°One of my attendants briefed me on your personality, but you never know until you meet someone. Some people lose their minds when the king shows up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take the compliment.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s usually more groveling as well. And a lot more please and thank yous. Some prostrating and proclamations of eternal servitude.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll politely decline to grovel or commit myself to a lifetime of free labor. If you prefer that I act more formally, I¡¯m happy to do so.¡±

    ¡°Ha! No, please don¡¯t.¡±

    The king stood and wandered to the bar, perusing the selection of cheeses on offer. He settled on a square of asiago and chewed it thoughtfully.

    ¡°The Davahns pushed two hundred miles into Timagrin,¡± he said, poking through the mixed nuts. ¡°They killed everyone on sight, and the only prisoners they took were Delvers. Their progress stopped at Canotha, where they established an operating base. Everyone in Canotha was already dead from the mana eruption caused by Orexis and Anesis. From the accounts I¡¯ve heard, that was a better fate than what the Davahns would have delivered to them.

    ¡°We assume that Canotha¡¯s population was culled in anticipation of their arrival, but we don¡¯t have any hard proof. The Davahns didn¡¯t make landfall in Timagrin until months after the eruption, which makes it look more like an invasion of opportunity. However, while the eruption was highly lethal, it wasn¡¯t physically destructive. All of the structures in the city were preserved, and the Timans couldn¡¯t reclaim the land due to the lingering mana levels. It was a major city with no inhabitants, and it made a perfect home for the invading army."

    ¡°They aren¡¯t affected by the mana?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The levels are too high for mundane people, but tolerable for Delvers. The army marching with Brae¡¯ach seems unaffected, which is¡­ concerning. They may have an extraordinary mana resistance, or they may each have something equivalent to a few Delver levels under their belt. If it¡¯s the latter, then the Davahns have the global Delver population outnumbered.¡±

    I had trouble digesting that information. The king gave me a few seconds, then gracefully continued without mentioning that I looked like I was about to shit myself.

    ¡°After the Davahns were camped out there for a month, we scried another enormous build-up of mana, several times larger than the eruption that wiped out Canotha. It persisted for a week, then disappeared, along with the Davahns.¡±

    ¡°Disappeared?¡± I said. ¡°The whole army?¡±

    Celeritia nodded. ¡°Any sort of long-range surveillance we have can¡¯t find them. Even our diviners haven¡¯t had any success. We¡¯ve sent a few Delver teams in alongside the Timans but lost contact with all of them. We suspect the Davahns are still there, hiding until they¡¯re ready to move on.¡± The king turned toward me and leaned back against the counter. ¡°We¡¯re evaluating the merits of a full military deployment in support of Timagrin, but I¡¯m not willing to send thousands of regular soldiers into that area without more information. For the moment, the conflict is stalled.¡±

    ¡°At least they aren¡¯t actively committing genocide,¡± I said. ¡°For now.¡±

    ¡°Cold comfort,¡± said the king. ¡°The information you brought back on Brae¡¯ach and his involvement with the avatars gave us some much-needed context and confirmed some of our suspicions. It¡¯s possible one of the godlings is shielding them from view somehow, or that this is some part of the magicks Brae¡¯ach has access to. Something we haven¡¯t seen before. I don¡¯t want to give the Davahns time to build up to another advance, but sending troops in blind could be a disaster.

    ¡°We¡¯re quietly moving people in and helping the Timans fortify regions around Canotha. However, I won¡¯t leave Hiward without significant defenses. There¡¯s only so many resources I¡¯m willing to commit.¡± He pushed away from the counter, walked forward, and placed his hands on the back of the couch. ¡°I don¡¯t think your group belongs in that mess right now. I¡¯m satisfied knowing that you¡¯ll keep progressing as you have. I¡¯ll set Varrin up with an official liaison to exchange information moving forward. No need for one of the Ealdrics to keep breaking into Umi-Doo¡¯s office.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Director Umi-Doo will appreciate that.¡±

    The king nodded and came around to plop back down on the couch.

    ¡°Now,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about your upcoming meeting with the Littans.¡±

 189 - Allies Close, Danger Closer

    The king and I continued our discussions for another hour. His focus with the party¡¯s upcoming meetings with the Littans was to establish some expectations for what he believed we¡¯d encounter. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t detect any of the animosity I¡¯d expected in his attitude toward the Littans, especially given that Celeritia was himself a slave under their thumb. That was about one hundred years ago, but some scars never heal. It didn¡¯t seem like he was holding a grudge, but he was cautious.

    ¡°I expect they¡¯ll try to recruit you,¡± he said.

    ¡°Recruit us? In what capacity?¡±

    ¡°Training consultants would be my bet.¡± He poured himself a fresh cup of tea. A servant had brought in a new pot thirty minutes into our meeting. ¡°The Littans have spent the last century trying to overtake Hiward as the most prominent Delver society. I hate to admit it, but in some limited ways they have us beat.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s surprising to hear.¡±

    ¡°We come at the problem in different ways,¡± Celeritia said. ¡°Hiward regulates Delvers through Central, but the goal of that organization is to minimize inter-Delver conflict, enforce taxation, and ensure loyalty to the crown. For the most part, Delving is privatized. Each House jealously guards their secrets to preserve their competitive edge. This leads to a lot of strategic diversity, but no one is working with complete information.

    ¡°Delving in Litta, on the other hand, is entirely state-controlled. The vast majority of Littan Delvers work for the government, mostly through the military. This allows all of the collective knowledge to filter upward to a single, cohesive entity. However, they¡¯re strict with their Delvers, and having such tight control discourages experimentation.¡±

    ¡°But when they do experiment, they can bring more resources to bear,¡± I added.

    ¡°Certain resources, yes,¡± said the king. ¡°Litta is poorly positioned when it comes to magical materials, and Hiward still has twice as many Delvers, even if they are divided.¡± He took a sip of his tea, eyeing me while he did so. ¡°Your group has given Litta the capacity to start skewing that figure in their direction,¡± he added. ¡°Especially if they secure another nation¡¯s Creation Delve, which I expect they¡¯ll try to do.¡±

    The air hummed with tension for a moment. Celeritia smiled and waved a hand, as if to drive off the feeling like a rogue mosquito. ¡°Anyway, part of how they compensate for a smaller Delver population is by trying to attract foreign talent. They offer generous rewards to exceptional Delvers willing to work as contractors training certain personnel, submitting to detailed interviews, demonstrating techniques, and so on.¡±

    ¡°I assume it¡¯s frowned upon for Hiwardians to accept such an offer.¡±

    ¡°We call it treason,¡± he said. ¡°If you plan to start training Littan soldiers, you¡¯ll be doing it without Varrin.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I considered my words for a moment. The conversation had always been a minefield, but I felt like I¡¯d just heard a click beneath my boot. ¡°Are you asking us not to take such a deal?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said the king. ¡°All I¡¯m asking is¨Conce you¡¯ve heard their pitch¨Cconsider coming to us for a counteroffer.¡± He gave me a wily grin. ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if you took any sort of deal that locked your party down for an extended period, though.¡±

    ¡°We do like to stay mobile,¡± I said. ¡°And¡­ unattached.¡±

    He nodded thoughtfully. ¡°Some would call that a lack of oversight.¡±

    ¡°And I like to think somebody out there is happy they can¡¯t be blamed for the messes we make.¡±

    ¡°So long as that mess is helpful to them, it¡¯s probably true.¡± The king gave me a knowing look, then stood and stretched. ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel, this has been great, really. Sadly, my time is limited, and I¡¯d love to meet individually with the rest of your party. There will also be other petitioners to see me, I¡¯m sure.¡±

    ¡°Of course. It¡¯s been a pleasure, King Celeritia.¡±

    I offered to give the king the lounge for the day. He agreed to use it for meetings with the rest of the party but preferred a less relaxed atmosphere for any Hiwardians who insisted on a one-on-one. I offered him the use of the study, instead.

    ¡°It¡¯s easier to seem imposing from behind a desk,¡± he¡¯d admitted. I somehow doubted he needed the boost.

    We shook, and I exited the lounge feeling pleased with the discussion. Celeritia was another easy-going head of state, all things considered, and I was beginning to wonder if Arzia simply trended in that direction.

    However¨Cunlike Zura¨CCeleritia¡¯s cheerful presence also carried a looming weight. I hadn¡¯t realized how potent it was until I¡¯d walked out from under it the moment I was outside the lounge. It was a hard thing to put into words, but talking to Celeritia was like talking to a friendly man standing beside an M1 Abrams main battle tank. One with its barrel pointed straight at me, and everyone I cared about. He was pleasant enough, but I knew that any moment the man could have me reduced to a chunky paste.

    Not that Celeritia was individually more powerful than Zura. I just didn¡¯t get the impression that Zura would point all of Eschendur in my direction and pull the trigger the moment I did something she didn¡¯t like. Maybe the feeling came from an aura or other magical effect, but I didn¡¯t think so. The way he slipped from jovial and joking to deadly serious¡­ It was unnerving.

    I nodded to the King¡¯s Guard, noting that there were now four of them outside. I moved off at a relaxed pace, taking a moment to recover before throwing myself to the rest of the sharks. The hallway was empty, save for the guards, but several Hiwardians were waiting just beyond. How many were there for me, and how many were trying to use this opportunity to get easier access to the king, I didn¡¯t know.

    [I trust your meeting went well.]

    ¡°You weren¡¯t listening in?¡±

    [The guards deployed four separate skills to ensure the conversation¡¯s privacy.]

    ¡°So your surveillance within the Closet can be foiled.¡±

    [I felt it would be needlessly confrontational to circumvent them. Please stand still for a moment.] I paused a few feet from the end of the hallway. One Hiwardian gentleman looked like he was trying¨Cpolitely¨Cto get my attention. [There are, of course, ways to hide from my considerable abilities. Before you commit yourself to another lengthy discussion, I would like you to join me in the control room.]

    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I intentionally kept myself from making eye contact with anyone in the hallway. The Hiwardian cleared his throat, looking impatient.

    [I believe there is someone hiding from my considerable abilities. I thought that would be clear from context. I¡¯ll teleport you momentarily.]

    ¡°Director Aprogar asked us to refrain from teleportation.¡±

    [I have informed him of the matter. So long as we give advance notice, I may teleport you and myself at will.]

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± the man said. ¡°If I could have a moment.¡± His tone betrayed a touch of irritation.

    ¡°Okay. Let me disengage¨C¡± The world stuttered, and I was in the cramped room Grotto and I had used to spy on the Littans during their Delve. ¡°¨CFrom this guy,¡± I finished. Grotto was back in his c¡¯thonic octo disguise, hovering next to a panel glittering with flowing text. I crossed my arms and scowled.

    ¡°Really?¡± I thought to him. ¡°You couldn¡¯t let me tell him I was indisposed? Now he¡¯ll think I¡¯m rude. I swear, I can¡¯t tell if you¡¯re trying to help or just fuck with me through this whole thing.¡±

    [I¨C]If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°I mean, first it¡¯s like [ha ha Arlo, Varrin¡¯s bringing the king over, it slipped my mind tee-hee.] Then it¡¯s [whoopsie, Varrin¡¯s ready to come in and there¡¯s no time to put on PANTS, har har.] Next thing I know it¡¯s [this is Master Xor¡¯Drel, leader of the free-fuckin¡¯-world over here.] Seriously! Why?¡±

    Grotto weathered my psychic tirade without twitching a feeler.

    [I delivered all of Varrin¡¯s messages in a timely manner. I do not dress you in the morning. Esquire is a useless title.]

    ¡°You¡¯re gaslighting me right now.¡±

    [I am not. Our discussion of my Public Service Announcer evolution prompted me to check in with Varrin¨Cearly, I might add¨Cat which point he delivered to me the information that I then delivered to you in real-time.]

    ¡°I asked you if you were forgetting anything else, and that¡¯s when you said Varrin was bringing the Hiwardian horde for a house call.¡±

    [Yes, the choice not to dispel that misperception was a bit of an indulgence. You were being very cranky at the time.]

    ¡°Do you see, though? Do you see why I might be cranky with you sometimes?¡±

    He ran a feeler over his head in thought.

    [I do not.]

    ¡°This fuckin¡¯ squid,¡± I muttered aloud to myself. ¡°I like Esquire,¡± I thought to him. ¡°I do not like Master.¡±

    [You are no longer in a position where you can pretend to be some nameless boulevardier. The charade is so obvious as to be absurd to all who meet you, and your resistance to accepting a title comes across as false modesty.]

    ¡°Then let¡¯s workshop something else,¡± I ground out. ¡°Instead of randomly deciding on your own what my name is.¡±

    [Very well, but there is no time for that at the moment.]

    ¡°Not even enough time to politely excuse myself, it would seem.¡±

    [The man awaiting you in the hallway was Leon Heronwyte. He was there to delay you by levying false accusations of a serious crime.]

    ¡°Speak, and he shall appear,¡± I psychically grumbled. ¡°The king just told me that family was out for us. Still, what¡¯s the point of falsely accusing me of a crime?¡±

    [I believe it would invoke item four of Varrin¡¯s conditions on when to deliver justifiable violence.]

    ¡°That¡¯s dumb. These people are dumb. There¡¯s a four-pronged test to determine whether that scenario applies, and a transparent lie fails to satisfy three of them. I wouldn¡¯t rise to that bait.¡±

    [That would make you appear weak. Either way, any interaction would have served his purposes.]

    ¡°And what are those purposes?¡±

    [To distract you from the person who has infiltrated your bedroom.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¨C Well, that¡¯s discourteous, but is that an emergency? There¡¯s nothing there for them to find. I don¡¯t even have clothes in the wardrobe.¡±

    [I do not believe they are looking for your personal diary wherein your schemes and impure thoughts about Varrin are documented.]

    ¡°I don¡¯t document those. The schemes, that is. My thoughts are pure, and also undocumented.¡±

    [Allow me to show you what I have observed.] He waved a feeler toward the mini-obelisk at the center of the room. [Simply grasp my¨C]

    I held up a hand. ¡°I know what to do.¡±

    I gave Grotto the stink eye as I stepped up to the small pillar and gripped it.

    Gently.

    My vision swapped to a view of the foyer, where a small crowd of Hiwardians mingled, attended to by several servants. One of the servants glowed red as Grotto highlighted the man for me. He was unfamiliar, which immediately made me suspicious. I¡¯d familiarized myself with all of the Ravvenblaq staff inside the Closet.

    [This servant arrived with the Heronwyte delegation. This is normal since nearly all of the nobles are accompanied by at least one attendant. However, while his dress was generic for a servant at the time he entered, a few minor alterations have been made which allow him to blend in with the Ravvenblaq staff. A close inspection will show he is not wearing a disguise, but a casual glance at the room would give the impression he is working with our own personnel.]

    ¡°Keeping him from getting called out for pretending to be a Ravvenblaq, but allowing him to take advantage of the crowd and become unconsciously associated with the people working for us.¡±

    [Correct. Perhaps that method would be successful elsewhere, but here it is a futile endeavor. I have tracked this servant¡¯s pathing around the estate. While his duties appear normal, his routes between tasks are inefficient. This could be forgiven as simple unfamiliarity at first, but he has done enough rounds to become well oriented, and continues to err in his course.]

    A map of the mansion overlaid my vision, and a red line showed where the servant had been.

    ¡°Geez, he¡¯s been everywhere. It¡¯s been less than two hours!¡±

    [Indeed. My suspicion is that he is creating an internal map of the estate. Most of the rooms are open to guests, meaning very few doors are literally closed. He has managed to ¡®accidentally¡¯ open all of them, aside from the door to the lounge. Once he completed a full run of the estate, he returned one additional time past the master bedroom. A napkin fell from the platter he was carrying as he passed.]

    My vision moved to the hall outside my bedroom, where the floors were immaculately clean.

    [That napkin is now gone. No one has passed through this area since.]

    ¡°Understandable, since we positioned it to be out of the way. Where¡¯s the napkin?¡±

    [I do not know.] My vision swapped to the bedroom itself. [I cannot detect anyone inside the room, nor any unusual phenomena. I would like you to take a look with your Sight.]

    I mentally shrugged. Grotto was putting a lot of red string up on his corkboard, but I trusted he had a better handle on the situation than I did.

    ¡°Sha-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah¡­¡±

    [Are you attempting to communicate something intelligible with that noise?]

    ¡°I¡¯m letting you know I¡¯m using my supervision, since we can¡¯t see each other right now.¡±

    [I can see you. I am currently monitoring all locations within the mansion.]

    ¡°Can you see yourself?¡±

    [Of course.]

    ¡°That¡¯s spooky.¡±

    [It really isn¡¯t.]

    I did a careful pass of the room, focusing my Sight on every nook and cranny.

    ¡°I¡¯m not picking anything up.¡±

    [Hmm. Very well, we will need to recruit additional assistance.]

    ¡°You really wanna find that napkin, eh?¡±

    [I wish to find the cretins who dare desecrate our abode with their petty attempts at skullduggery. I will find them. I will flay them. I will feed their corpses to the newest litter of hounds.]

    Unlike Grotto¡¯s usual rants, there was no manic enthusiasm behind this one. The man was making dark promises he intended to keep.

    ¡°No worries. It ain¡¯t much to go on, but I don¡¯t want to tempt fate and leave that stone unturned. Should we bring in the servant for questioning?¡±

    [We have no valid justification to do so. It would be an affront to the Heronwytes that would demand recompense.]

    ¡°Sheesh. Fine, I¡¯ll grab¡­ Etja, I guess? She has the highest Wisdom paired with Reconnaissance. Hmm, maybe Nuralie as well, since she has all those Sense evolutions.¡±

    [Etja is speaking with the king, and Nuralie is acting as Zenithar Zura¡¯s personal attach¨¦. I have a different pair in mind who are available and well-equipped for this task.]

    I let go of the obelisk, orienting myself as my vision retethered to my body.

    ¡°Oh? Who would those two be?¡±

    [Your ex, and one of Central¡¯s lead investigators.]

    ¡°That sounds fun.¡±

    The world blinked again, and I found myself in the smoking room, looking at a pair of surprised, but familiar faces. One was a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman with dark skin and hazel eyes. Next to her was a grizzled man smoking a hand-rolled cigarette.

    ¡°Arlo!¡± shouted Myria, who promptly leapt onto me in a full-body hug.

    I gave her a gentle pat on the back. ¡°Hey, folks. Long time, no see. Want to help me solve a mystery?¡±

    Lito grunted and stuffed out his cigarette in an ashtray. ¡°Better than sitting around here and doing shit all.¡±

 190 - Napkin Hunt

    ¡°How¡¯d you like the smoking room?¡± I asked, glancing back at Lito as we exited. ¡°We put it together just for you.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Really?¡± he said, sounding doubtful.

    ¡°Only the best for sensei,¡± I said. ¡°Of course, I¡¯d prefer the guests to smoke outside, but¨C¡± I gestured vaguely at the walls. ¡°There¡¯s no outside in here. So, smoking room.¡±

    ¡°Hm,¡± Lito grunted. ¡°Thanks, I guess.¡±

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t much effort on our part. The Ravvenblaqs provided most of the furnishings. None of the cigars in the humidor are even mine.¡± I paused in my tracks. ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll charge me if somebody smokes one?¡±

    ¡°Where are we going?¡± he asked.

    ¡°To my bedroom.¡±

    Myria threaded her arm through mine. ¡°I assume it¡¯s for business reasons,¡± she said as we started walking again.

    ¡°It¡¯s always business in the bedroom,¡± I said. ¡°I take my sleep very seriously.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s new. I thought you slept half as much as me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m reformed. Skipping out on rest was degrading my performance.¡±

    ¡°Why are we going to your bedroom?¡± asked Lito.

    ¡°A servant dropped a napkin,¡± I replied. He frowned but waited for the rest of my answer. ¡°Before that, he tried to blend in with the Ravvenblaq staff and did a full sweep of the mansion. No one else has been through the hall, and the napkin disappeared.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked with less,¡± said Myria. ¡°Who¡¯s the servant with?¡±

    ¡°The Heronwytes.¡±

    Lito¡¯s fingers drummed along the head of the war hammer hanging at his belt. He was one of the few openly armed guests, aside from the guard.

    ¡°Sounds like they were delivering information,¡± said Lito. ¡°It happens all the time at these things.¡±

    ¡°Hopefully it¡¯s that innocuous.¡±

    ¡°Any reason you think it isn¡¯t?¡± he asked.

    ¡°The king told me the Heronwytes were petitioning for my extradition and execution.¡±

    Lito scratched his jaw. ¡°Not to impugn the king¡¯s honor, but the man has his own agenda.¡±

    ¡°You think he was bending the truth?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that some dumbass Heronwyte drafted something like that,¡± he said. ¡°The houses aren¡¯t monoliths. The politics inside a major house are almost as fractious as the politics between them.¡±

    ¡°So, I¡¯m not being targeted by the Heronwytes, but a Heronwyte?¡±

    Lito shrugged. ¡°Who knows? The Heronwytes are deeply involved with auctioning Creation Delve slots. Somebody¡¯s losing money because there¡¯s eight of the damn things now, but that¡¯s not enough to drag an entire house into a frenzy.¡±

    ¡°What would the king gain by putting us on a collision course?¡±

    ¡°Expose bad actors in Hiward, evaluate your response to threats, alleviate his boredom, I can keep going if you want.¡±

    ¡°No, I get it. I wasn¡¯t taking the warning at face value, but I appreciate the additional heads up.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so casual with your sedition, Lito,¡± said Myria.

    ¡°I don¡¯t play favorites.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the king,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s your favorite by mandate.¡± Myria let go of my arm and placed the back of her hand against my chest to halt me. She stepped forward to the end of the hall and peeked around the corner, then came back. ¡°May I cast Disregard on you?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Don¡¯t want people paying attention to me?¡±

    ¡°Everyone here wants a piece of you, Arlo,¡± she said, pulling a dark slate from her inventory. She fiddled with it for a moment, then glanced up. ¡°It¡¯ll be easier to move around if we aren¡¯t constantly being stopped. That¡¯s a yes?¡±

    ¡°Sure, no problem.¡± She stored the slate and touched me on the chest again. A tingle and a notification let me know the spell had taken effect. ¡°What were you doing with the slate?¡±

    ¡°Letting Director Aprogar know what I was casting and why. His people are monitoring all spell use.¡± She looked me up and down. ¡°Mind losing the boa? The spell works better if you¡¯re unexceptional.¡±

    I reluctantly removed the boa and stored it in inventory. I could practically feel some of my swagger drain away. Myria smiled and took her place beside me again.

    ¡°I¡¯ll lead,¡± said Lito.

    We followed Lito as he stepped out of the hall. He led us on a slightly circuitous route, making use of the portals connecting the rooms to avoid areas where people were congregating.

    Myria and I chatted idly as we went, though Lito was entirely focused on the way forward. It was nice to catch up with old allies, and the pair looked like they¡¯d been doing quite well for themselves. Both were now Level 15, a big jump from when I¡¯d met them at Level 10. Myria snorted when I pointed that out.

    ¡°Five levels in two years,¡± she said. ¡°Yes, very fast by normal human standards. You should be careful who you compliment for their leveling speed, though. Someone else might think you¡¯re being patronizing.¡±

    ¡°I really didn¡¯t mean it that way,¡± I said.

    ¡°I know,¡± she said, patting my arm. ¡°My mom thinks that I¡¯ve been working myself to death. Imagine if she found out you¡¯d gotten twelve levels in the same length of time.¡±

    I¡¯d only met Myria¡¯s mother once, and briefly at that. I wasn¡¯t aware she¡¯d have any opinion on my whirlwind Delving career.

    Speaking of meeting someone¡¯s parents, now might be a good time to point out that¨Cdespite what Grotto said¨CMyria wasn¡¯t my ex. Not really. We¡¯d never officially been dating.

    It¡¯s complicated.

    I would describe my past relationship with Myria as being friends with extremely casual physical boundaries. After the ordeal with Orexis and The Cage, we¡¯d undergone an intense series of interviews with Hiwardian officials. While I¡¯d later come to rely on Varrin for most of my guidance on interacting with the Hiwardian government, the big guy was in a bad way after seeing his father murdered. Understandable, to say the least.

    Myria ended up being the person to coach me through a lot of it. She was also undergoing the process, having been a part of the entire expedition, and some bonding happened over how much of a pain in the ass the whole affair was. Once we were done talking over every minute detail of the harrowing events with the Hiwardian G-men, the pair of us spent a lot of time talking over how we felt about it all with each other.

    Myria was a great listener. She asked the right questions at the right time, she was empathetic, she didn¡¯t judge, and I will admit her stunning appearance went a long way toward making me want that connection. It was easy to feel comfortable opening up to her, and I genuinely believe she wanted to know me. Not for a job or other utilitarian reason, not to manipulate or betray my trust, but because she actually cared and enjoyed my company.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    The thing that kept it from going any further was that, while Myria was very good at getting to know someone, it was difficult to get to know Myria. She was guarded, she never shared stories about her childhood, and she avoided talking about anyone in her family other than her mother. She would tell you what her emotional reaction to something was but deflected any questions that dug into why she felt that way. I didn¡¯t resent her secrecy. I wasn¡¯t entitled to anyone¡¯s life story, but I never got comfortable enough to share my own ¡®unique¡¯ backstory.

    Eventually, we hit a wall. We knew each other well enough, but it wasn¡¯t going anywhere. I was spending most of my time with the party, training and Delving, so our rendezvous became less and less frequent until they stopped altogether. There were no big arguments or hard feelings, not even a calm agreement to move on. There wasn¡¯t a real beginning, and so there wasn¡¯t a real end.

    Now, we chatted as comfortably as any other time we¡¯d met. Was there some lingering discomfort or regret on Myria¡¯s end? I didn¡¯t know. Given that it was Myria, I¡¯d never know, unless she decided to tell me. For my part, I was sad that it hadn¡¯t worked out, but I was happy enough for things to be business as usual.

    We passed through the dining room, the only occupants a pair of servants setting up for lunch, then through the ballroom where we interrupted a couple speaking in low tones, giving one another sultry looks. A quick jaunt down a side hall led us to a guest suite that connected to a bath, the bath adjoining another guest suite on the other side of the mansion. This spat us out a short walk from the master.

    ¡°You know these junctions as well as I do,¡± I said as we slowly approached the double doors to my bedroom. He gave a patented Lito grunt in reply, his eyes crawling over everything in the hall. ¡°How are Ember and Cole doing, by the way?¡±

    ¡°They bought a vineyard,¡± said Myria. ¡°Their break from Delving has evolved into a retirement, I think.¡±

    ¡°As long as they¡¯re happy.¡±

    ¡°They aren¡¯t,¡± said Lito. He moved on to studying the doors. ¡°Cole spends every hour of the day managing the vineyard while Ember does her best to drink it dry.¡±

    Myria¡¯s ever-present smile faded at the comment. ¡°They¡¯re still having a hard time moving past Ashe¡¯s death,¡± she said. ¡°You should visit sometime. Maybe seeing that you¡¯ve out-leveled them will be inspiring.¡±

    ¡°As long as you think I¡¯d get a positive reception.¡±

    ¡°Why wouldn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a survivor of the same traumatic event,¡± I said. ¡°It might revive some uncomfortable memories.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re overthinking it. I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be happy to see you.¡±

    ¡°Whenever I¡¯m in Hiward with some free time, we can take a trip out there.¡±

    ¡°Free time?¡± asked Myria, looking skeptical. ¡°Since when do you give yourself free time?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m reformed.¡±

    ¡°When was your last vacation?¡±

    ¡°I spent a month in the Third Layer a year or so ago.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that sounds nice. What did you do while you were there?¡±

    I shifted on my feet. ¡°Petitioned a goddess, trained my martial skills, helped dream forge a new hammer. There was plenty of recreation in between though.¡±

    ¡°And yet you add that as an afterthought.¡±

    ¡°What can I say? I like my work.¡±

    ¡°The hallway hasn¡¯t been tampered with,¡± said Lito. ¡°The area in front of the door has lingering traces of Divine mana. The Dimensional mana in here is thick enough to mask it, for the most part.¡±

    ¡°What does that tell us?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Lots of things,¡± he said. ¡°But not enough.¡±

    Lito carefully touched the right door handle, then pushed it open without entering. The door swung inward, revealing my bedroom in perfect order. He spent some time looking around, and I did another sweep with my Sight for good measure; still nothing unusual. After a minute passed, he entered and began walking around the room. Myria and I stayed in the hall until he gave us permission to follow.

    ¡°The wardrobe¡¯s been moved,¡± Lito said. ¡°Mind if I look inside?¡±

    ¡°Go ahead. I don¡¯t keep anything in there.¡±

    He ran his hands along the outside of the wardrobe, then opened it up. He spent some time going over the interior, then fully removed each drawer on the bottom half, stacking them by the bed once he was done.

    ¡°Move it out from the wall,¡± he said, then looked conflicted for a moment. ¡°Please,¡± he added.

    The wardrobe was awkward to pick up, but I grabbed it by the sides and carried the 200-pound piece of furniture away like it was made of cardboard. Lito took some time to study its back, then squinted at the exposed wall. He pulled out a small pouch and pinched some fine, sparkling powder from within. He tossed it at the wall, and a three-foot-diameter ring of runes appeared.

    ¡°Would you look at that,¡± I said.

    Lito held up a hand to stop me from approaching as he stared at the sigil. It was a series of concentric circles made up of the runic language. I recognized several of the symbols, but many more were unfamiliar.

    ¡°Have any thoughts on this, Grotto?¡± I thought to my familiar.

    [Blood will be spilled for this vandalism.]

    ¡°Right. Insights into what this weave is doing?¡±

    There was a beat of psychic silence. When Grotto started to deliver his findings, I noticed Lito¡¯s brow furrow and Myria took a step back, hand dropping to her side where she normally carried her rapier. She caught herself once she realized Grotto had simply barged into her thoughts, and that we weren¡¯t under attack.

    [The outer three rings are designed to obscure the weave from notice. The fourth ring draws in and condenses Dimensional mana from the surroundings, feeding energy to the other rings to enable their function. The innermost ring sets the boundaries of the weave¡¯s primary effect, limiting it to sapient entities within the bedroom. The central sigil establishes a teleportation function.]

    ¡°So, it¡¯s a stealthy kidnapping enchantment?¡± I asked aloud.

    [That is a crude abridgment, but accurate enough.]

    ¡°This is intricate work,¡± said Lito. He pulled out a reed and placed it in his mouth, starting to chew on the end. ¡°An expert put this together. Only two Heronwytes came with the king, and neither has the skill set to pull this off. Not unless they¡¯re much better at hiding their talents than I thought.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s supposed to trigger it?¡± I asked. ¡°Do we need to make a hasty exit?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not going off anytime soon,¡± said Lito. He glanced at Myria, who already had her slate out and was presumably communicating our findings to Aprogar. Satisfied, Lito returned to the sigil and pointed at the fourth ring. ¡°This is a poor man¡¯s script,¡± he said. ¡°The weave is powered by ambient mana, rather than by using a mana chip. It only gives a trickle of power, so it¡¯s rarely used that way. In Hiward, at least.

    ¡°Since there¡¯s no chip, the mana density in the weave is much lower, which helps it stay undetected. It¡¯s used a lot in combination with effects that activate after reaching a specific mana threshold.¡±

    ¡°A timer?¡± I guessed.

    ¡°Right. The mana density is a long way off from activating an involuntary teleportation effect.¡±

    I looked at the sigil more closely, focusing on the mana running through it and flexing my underutilized Mystical Magic skill. It was only a trickle, and I could spot a small concentration in the central runes but had no way of confirming what Lito had just told me. I¡¯d have to trust him.

    ¡°Director Aprogar is coming to take a look,¡± said Myria.

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Lito. ¡°Let¡¯s take up positions outside. The King¡¯s Guard has people built for disarming these types of things. It may be connected to another weave we haven¡¯t noticed.¡±

    ¡°How did this get here without anyone realizing?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯ve got a close eye on everything happening, and the place is full of high-level Delvers.¡±

    ¡°I can think of a few things,¡± said Lito. He ushered me toward the door as he spoke. ¡°Most likely, the napkin was a disguised divination beacon, which would explain the traces of Divine mana. The servant took a voyeur on a tour of your estate, then dropped the beacon in front of your room, where it was used to coordinate some long-range spellwork. The beacon could have been cannibalized for materials to make the weave.¡± Lito looked up and down the hall, then lowered his voice. ¡°The real hitch is that Director Aprogar didn¡¯t detect whatever happened.¡±

    ¡°Then no one ever entered the room,¡± I said.

    ¡°Probably not. There are countermeasures to this type of thing, more robust than what a mobile King¡¯s Guard unit can put together on short notice. They may not stop someone with this level of skill, but it¡¯d at least make it a headache for them. I¡¯ll pass along some security texts I put together.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d appreciate that. What¡¯s our next move?¡±

    ¡°Myria and I will talk to the Lord Director,¡± he said. ¡°For now, you should get back to hosting. Whoever¡¯s responsible probably knows we¡¯ve caught wind of this, but there¡¯s no reason to make it any more obvious. The next step is to hunt for any more of these things and try to flush out the culprit.¡±

    ¡°I figured you¡¯d want everyone to clear out,¡± I said. ¡°If someone can lay down hostile weaves remotely, that seems like a major security risk.¡±

    ¡°Something like this wouldn¡¯t even tickle one of the VIPs,¡± he said. ¡°They have defensive trinkets that would cause the spell to fizzle the moment it found a target. Still, the King¡¯s Guard may start slowly teleporting people out.¡±

    I waited for Aprogar to appear, surrounded by a squad of the Guard, and added what I could to the report Lito and Myria gave. The Lord Director agreed I should get back to my business, but that certain of the more flighty nobles may find their way back to Hiward via one of his Dimensional specialists. It seemed like the weave was targeting me, not the king, so Aprogar predicted Celeritia would want to stay and finish chatting with the party.

    I said my goodbyes and went through a few rooms to obscure where I was coming from when I re-entered the foyer. The gathering had been on too short notice for any of the guests besides the king to book me for an official meeting, so it was first come, first served.

    Unfortunately, the first to come was Lord Leon Heronwyte, who didn¡¯t seem happy about being ghosted.

 191 - Leon the Prosecutor

    No sooner had I shrugged on my boa and shrugged off Myria¡¯s Disregard spell, than Lord Leon Heronwyte appeared. It was uncanny, and I assumed the man either had people tracking me, or some ability that let him know the instant I was available.

    Either that or he¡¯d been camping out the foyer, and my Luck score was too low. Maybe he had high Luck. No one could say for certain that Luck worked that way¨Cmany of its benefits were more tangible, like improving crits and granting Divine defense¨Cbut still. I had no doubt the stat gave a person¡¯s favored deity an easier time intervening in their life.

    Leon Heronwyte¡¯s god was probably a meddler. I certainly felt like I was about to be meddled with.

    Leon was a man of middling height with the trim-and-fit build of a person with decent Agility. He was ethnically Hiwardian, with short white hair that swept to one side, styled in a sort of feathered, spiky look. It was the type of haircut that made a groovy man look even groovier, but made everyone else look like they were trying too hard. I had a strong bias, but Leon fell into the latter camp.

    Other than that, the man was unremarkable. His features were handsome in a plucky sidekick kind of way. His clothes were fine and fashionable, but nothing stand-out. He moved with purpose but not so quickly that one would take any particular notice.

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Leon said, loud enough to carry, but not quite a shout.

    He was on the other side of the foyer, making a beeline straight for me. I had no intention of evading the man, so I raised a hand in acknowledgment and waited for him to cross the short distance. I preferred to deal with social conflicts head-on, but I would avail myself of every advantage I could during the exchange.

    ¡°Alright, tell me this guy¡¯s deal,¡± I thought to Grotto. I gave Lord Heronwyte a close look with my Sight, digging into his Level 15 gold soul. It seemed like many scions of the major houses stalled out at that level.

    [Lord Leon Heronwyte is the great-grandson of Matriarch Cora Heronwyte and the third child of the current Heronwyte Thundralke. The Matriarch¡¯s descendants often mirror her build, but Leon has invested in Charisma, rather than Intelligence. His attunement is Divine.]

    I was happy Grotto got the full Hiwardian dossier from Varrin. My crash course with Riona and Sineh covered the key players, which included Cora Heronwyte, but not Leon.

    Matriarch Cora was one of the highest-level Delvers in the world¨Ca Mystic archer¨Cwhose primary party during the War of Rebellion included Patriarch Ravvenblaq, Patriarch and Matriarch Duckgrien, and Patriarch Bluewren. Her build revolved around perception and control effects, and if Leon was mostly following in her footsteps I¡¯d need to watch my words very closely. Wisdom had too many ways to see through deception, and I wasn¡¯t built for deceiving. The Divine attunement raised some alarm bells considering the Divine mana Lito had detected outside my bedroom, but it wasn¡¯t damning.

    ¡°Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said once the man was close. ¡°I apologize for taking off on short notice earlier. There was a minor security matter that required my attention.¡±

    ¡°Of course, Master Xor¡¯Drel, I understand,¡± he said. If he was offended by my abrupt disappearance, he didn¡¯t let it show. ¡°I know how demanding these types of events can be on the host. This is a splendid estate, by the way. I especially love how the portals make it seem never-ending.¡±

    I began splitting my focus between the conversation with Leon and my high-speed psychic chat with Grotto. Leon seemed content to exchange a few pleasantries, giving me time to dig into what Grotto knew.

    ¡°What¡¯s the crime you think Leon was going to accuse me of, and how did you know?¡±

    [I am unaware of the specific crime, only that he intended to make an accusation. Shortly after entering, he began calibrating a modified version of the slates many of these Hiwardians carry. He attempted to send several poorly encrypted messages to a recipient outside of the Closet, but was unsuccessful.]

    ¡°I know those things get quirky when exposed to high mana levels. Being sequestered in an enclosed dimensional space probably didn¡¯t help, either.¡±

    [The mana levels within the mansion, while higher than normal, are not significant enough to interrupt the slate¡¯s function. If they were, the mundane servants would suffer serious adverse effects. No, those slates send and receive communications using a crude System Call. Because of the Pocket Delve, I am the local administrator of System Calls that originate from Delvers within our domain.]

    ¡°Oh? Then you can block and intercept?¡±

    [Correct.]

    I thought over the implications of what Grotto was telling me. ¡°Can you see every message being sent and received by the King¡¯s Guard?¡±

    Grotto sent the next thought with a dose of menacing glee.

    [I can.]

    That was troubling, but also awesome. Despite my strong aversion to Orwellian surveillance in my past life, the moment that power fell into my own hands I quickly found myself becoming a hypocrite. But it¡¯s not like I was spying on people in their homes. This was my house, so it was probably fine.

    I set that aside to ponder later since it would be inconvenient to ponder right then.

    ¡°Alright, so you¡¯re reading this guy¡¯s emails.¡±

    [Only the ones he attempts to send. I would need to request access to the slate¡¯s message history to see anything further. I could do so, but it would likely require spending some of our newly acquired System Rep to ensure success.]

    ¡°I have no idea how valuable that stuff is, so I¡¯ll leave it to your discretion.¡±

    ¡°The chandeliers actually came from a Delve,¡± I said, responding to one of Leon¡¯s questions. ¡°It was filled with mimics though, so be careful.¡± I smiled. He smiled. We laughed. I don¡¯t think he found it funny.

    [Lord Heronwyte currently manages one of Hiward¡¯s most notable auction houses¨CWhitebridge¨Con behalf of his family.]

    ¡°I think I¡¯m coming around to appreciating how straightforward Hiwardian naming conventions are.¡±

    [Whitebridge has exclusive contracts with the crown to auction any Creation Delve slots that are not assigned through treaty or become available via some other means.] Grotto paused for a second. [Curious. The slot you filled would fall within those parameters. You replaced an Eschen who was unavailable due to the blockade. I wonder whether such an auction was held, and if so, who paid for it.]Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°We may get an answer to that question very soon.¡±

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± Leon said, his tone shifting from the friendly cadence of small talk to something more serious. ¡°You and your party are clearly very talented, we wouldn¡¯t be here if you weren¡¯t. However, a gathering of such influential Hiwardians wouldn¡¯t occur over the mere presence of talent, but rather the success of wielding such talent in a significant way.¡±

    ¡°Certainly,¡± I said. The statement sounded like throat-clearing language, so I was willing to go along. How was talent demonstrated other than through action? It was an empty preamble.

    ¡°You¡¯ve spoken with the king, and I¡¯m sure that your discussions have led to satisfactory answers for His Highness. However, the ears of the king are not the ears of the people. I¡¯d never ask that you divulge the contents of that dialogue, but I wonder if it would be agreeable that I ask some questions of my own. Questions that are certainly on the tip of every tongue in this room.¡±

    I took a look around the small crowd in the foyer. Where there¡¯d been gentle conversation before, there was now a sharp silence. There wasn¡¯t even a pretense of eavesdropping as everyone openly watched our exchange. I appreciated that in some ways. It gave me a better insight into what Leon was aiming for. His words implied he wanted an interview, but I expected this would be closer to a debate.

    My allies were still busy with their own interlocutors¨Cthe king, the Zenithar, and whomever else¨Cbut I noticed Patriarch Ravvenblaq relaxing in an armchair one room over. He was just visible through the archway of the foyer in a sitting room, and the corner he occupied was unnaturally dark, the other guests moving around him without giving him any notice. He sipped from a steaming mug, then held it up to me in a small toast when I caught sight of him. My interactions with the legendary Level 56 were limited, but surely he wouldn¡¯t sit by and let Leon openly smear my name. This would be more civilized than that.

    Surely.

    ¡°I¡¯m happy to sate your curiosity, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said. ¡°There are certain topics that we keep close to the vest, of course.¡±

    ¡°Yes, no one begrudges a Delver holding the secrets to their own power,¡± said Leon. ¡°I am more curious as to the reasoning behind some of your actions.¡±

    ¡°In what regard?¡±

    ¡°When your party chose to conquer Deijin¡¯s Descent, you knew that it would cause the phase transition that has occurred, correct?¡±

    ¡°We knew it was one of the steps necessary to cause the phase transition. We didn¡¯t know whether Zenithar Manar would agree to tackle Saekongr¡¯s Crevice, which was also necessary.¡±

    ¡°You petitioned the Zenithar to do as much, though.¡±

    ¡°This is true,¡± I said. ¡°She wasn¡¯t very receptive at the time, but it appears that she changed her mind while we Delved.¡±

    ¡°You were aware that the phase transition would open additional Creation Delves throughout the world?¡±

    ¡°We knew that it would allow for more people to undergo Creation. We weren¡¯t certain what the exact process behind that would be.¡± Leon was about to jump on a follow-up, but I went ahead and volunteered what I expected he would ask about. ¡°We suspected it would result in new Creation Delves. We didn¡¯t know for certain.¡±

    ¡°You believed this would be a good thing?¡±

    I mulled that one over, giving myself time to consider my ongoing approach to this conversation. Leon¡¯s questions were leading, not open-ended. They invited yes or no answers, not full-fledged responses. Laying out too much information could come off as defensive, but laying out too little would allow Leon to distort the truth.

    I could just cut and run. I didn¡¯t have to talk to this guy, the king was already on our side. Tentatively. For now.

    But this was a big, hearts-and-minds opportunity. If I refused to engage with Leon, whatever social poison he was spreading might go unchecked. Honest answers might win us some allies, while evasion might earn us some enemies. Although I rarely exercised the skill, I did know when to shut up for my own good. I wasn¡¯t too worried about running my mouth and making things worse. I¡¯d let this play out some more before pulling the plug.

    Also, I was curious.

    ¡°We believed having more Delvers would be beneficial to defending against the avatars,¡± I said.

    ¡°The avatars,¡± he said, looking thoughtful. It appeared genuine, but I expected it was performative. ¡°You¡¯ve met some of these avatars?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡±

    ¡°Orexis threatened the Ravvenblaq territory. You witnessed some of the battle between the godling and many Delvers, Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien included.¡±

    ¡°I did.¡±

    ¡°These were high-level Delvers. Some of the very highest, with regard to Bobret and Cera. Was Orexis slain?¡±

    ¡°He was not. I understand he fled after a lengthy battle.¡±

    ¡°And you claim more Delvers would be beneficial in slaying such an entity?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a complicated question. The avatars are not invulnerable, they aren¡¯t all-powerful. I¡¯m not sure what it would take to kill one, but we¡¯ve seen that sufficient force can frustrate their plans.¡±

    Leon made a show of turning his head in thought, stroking his chin, and letting that answer settle. He made eye contact with most of the crowd as he did so.

    ¡°Most Delvers finish their Creation Delve without advancing to Level 1,¡± he said. ¡°The vast majority require additional Delves to reach the first 8-point stat threshold. A Level 1 Delver is little help against an avatar.¡±

    ¡°I disagree,¡± I said.

    ¡°You believe a Level 1 Delver poses a threat to something like Orexis?¡±

    ¡°Not in direct combat,¡± I said. ¡°My party and I were Level 1 when we confronted the specter of Orexis inside Delve 9998: The Cage. Without our intervention, the specter would have released many more avatars into the world. We also prevented a mana eruption that would have destroyed a significant portion of the Ravvenblaq Thundry.¡±

    ¡°According to your own accounts,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°Those accounts have not been disputed,¡± I said. ¡°We were interviewed many times by the Hiwardian government.¡±

    ¡°There was no finding of wrongdoing,¡± said Leon. ¡°That is not to say your claims were taken as factual.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t presume to know the inner thoughts of Central officials, only that our testimonies were never challenged.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, a Level 1 Delver poses no physical threat to an avatar.¡±

    ¡°It would be extraordinary if one did.¡±

    ¡°The average rate of Level advancement for Delvers is one Level per year,¡± said Leon. ¡°Exceptional Delvers move faster, but the average is one.¡±

    ¡°I understand that to be the common belief,¡± I said.

    ¡°Both Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien are Level 52,¡± said Leon. ¡°They spent decades reaching that tier of strength. Even then, they could not kill Orexis. It¡¯s questionable whether they even caused him to flee, based on their own accounts of the conflict.¡± He folded his hands behind his back. ¡°Even with an influx of new Delvers, it would take decades, if not more than a century, for Delvers of sufficient power to rise from the new ranks to challenge even a single avatar.¡±

    ¡°I believe that¡¯s a pessimistic outlook. The Phase transition also provided additional tools to empower Delvers and increase their Levels more rapidly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re speaking of the Expansion Delves, the Dungeons, the Labyrinths, and the Raids.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± I said.

    ¡°Are you aware of their entry requirements?¡±

    ¡°I have some insight into them, but I can¡¯t claim to know the individual requirements.¡±

    ¡°Aside from Dungeons, all such ¡®new¡¯ Delves we have discovered will only permit Platinum Delvers to enter. This means that 99% of the world¡¯s Delvers gain no benefit from them.¡±

    I knew that wasn¡¯t strictly true, but there was also no believable reason for me to know a group of Gold Littans had just beaten an Expansion Delve.

    ¡°It¡¯s only been a few days,¡± I said. ¡°Such a conclusion is rushed.¡±

    ¡°Still, I find it troubling,¡± he said. ¡°You were uncertain how the phase transition would allow for more Delvers. You believed more Delvers would help to fight against the avatars. Yet, you¡¯re not sure that an avatar can even be killed. You admit that it would be extraordinary if a Level 1 Delver could harm an avatar at all, and you display a disheartening lack of knowledge concerning how quickly new Delvers can become capable of inflicting such harm. Tell me, Master Xor¡¯Drel, was this ferocious speculation truly the basis upon which your party decided to upend the world?¡±

    Ah, fuck.

 192 - Arlo Xorâ€™Drel, Esquire: Ace Attorney

    ¡°Excuse me,¡± I said to a servant who¡¯d paused to listen to the exchange. He was a middle-aged man whose name I¡¯d learned was Eric. He held a tray of chilled drinks that looked delightful. I beckoned him forward, then selected a juicy-looking drink with a skewered melon ball floating at the top. ¡°Thanks, Eric,¡± I said. I took a sip, reveling in the light, crisp flavor. There was a touch of mint to it that paired well. ¡°This is good. What is this?¡±

    Eric¡¯s eyes drifted to Leon, who was frowning at me, then down to the tray. ¡°That would be the virgin casaba cooler, m¡¯lord.¡±

    I took another sip. It really was good.

    ¡°Where ya¡¯ from, Eric?¡±

    ¡°I grew up south of Arsenal, m¡¯lord. I moved to the Ravvenblaq manor twenty years ago, and I¡¯ve lived there since.¡±

    ¡°I went through there once. Didn¡¯t get to spend as much time as I¡¯d like. It¡¯s a pretty diverse area.¡±

    ¡°The city is,¡± he said. ¡°My hometown¡¯s mostly regular Hiwardians. Arsenal is an easy landmark, but it¡¯s fairly far south of it.¡±

    ¡°How far south of Arsenal?¡±

    ¡°Just on the northern side of the mountains,¡± he said. ¡°The area was¨C¡±

    ¡°Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± said Leon. He wasn¡¯t quite scowling.

    ¡°Feel free to continue, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said.

    ¡°Continue?¡± he asked. ¡°Do you intend to avoid the question?¡±

    ¡°Your questions seemed to have taken the form of a speech,¡± I said, then gestured around with my glass. ¡°You¡¯ve got your audience. Orate to your heart¡¯s content. I¡¯ll wait until you¡¯re done.¡± I pulled the little skewer from my drink and bit the melon off of it. The fruit was lightly carbonated, which was excellent. I plucked another casaba cooler from the tray. ¡°Sorry for keeping you, Eric.¡±

    ¡°Not at all, m¡¯lord,¡± Eric said with a short bow. ¡°Anything you need, I¡¯m honored to serve.¡±

    He shot another look at Leon, then meandered back into the crowd. I¡¯d have to remember to catch that guy later so he could finish his sentence. I¡¯d also tip the hell out of him for his trouble since I¡¯d roped him into my mess. A touch of time to collect myself and reset the momentum of the conversation had been needed, and grabbing a drink was the best I could come up with. Hopefully, it didn¡¯t cause Eric any trouble down the line.

    I looked at Leon expectantly and gestured for him to continue. Lord Heronwyte¡¯s eyes narrowed a fraction.

    ¡°The introduction of seven new Creation Delves injects chaos not just into Hiward, but into the world at large,¡± said Leon. ¡°Hiward has ensured peace across the continent for the better part of a century through economic superiority and strength of arms. Half of our treaties are built upon the exchange of Creation slots. Nations refrain from war out of fear of our intervention or being cut off from our supply of mana chips and magical items.

    ¡°Now, Hiward¡¯s bargaining power has been gutted. Our military advantage is threatened. The rest of the continent will soon be on the precipice of all-out war over these new Creation Delves. These are very real consequences. Certain consequences. Your justification for this chaos is that it might help in the fight against the avatars, and I say that¡¯s not good enough. Even if your theory proves true, it will be of no use when the continent is mired in bloodshed as the avatars strike.¡±

    I had to give it to Lord Heronwyte, he knew how to build up a head of steam. He was impassioned, but measured. He spoke not just to me, but to everyone in the room. He varied his tempo and hammered his inflection on certain words, demanding the attention of his audience.

    How best to respond to this?

    ¡°We¡¯re already at war, Lord Heronwyte,¡± I said, speaking softly to cut through the heat of the man¡¯s bluster. ¡°Orexis threatened the entire northern half of the Ravvenblaq Thundry. Orexis killed one of your Thundralkes right in front of me. A Level 21 platinum, skewered on an obelisk as easily as the fruit in this drink.¡± I held up my second cooler, rotating to give everyone a good look. I paused, holding it out to a woman who stood behind me. She accepted it after a moment of hesitation, thankfully. It was hard to look serious while double-fisting.

    ¡°The Duckgriens could not kill Orexis, you¡¯re correct there,¡± I continued. ¡°No offense meant, Matriarch, Patriarch.¡± I nodded to the Duckgrien couple, who¡¯d joined Ealdric to watch the show. The bare skin and fur combo the Level 52 Delvers normally wore had been replaced with more formal wear. Now it was a bare skin and finery combo. They were both still half-naked. Sineh also stood beside them, the first time I¡¯d seen her unglued from Varrin¡¯s side.

    ¡°Fak off,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°We could barely scratch ¡®im. Keep going.¡±

    I gave a small bow in appreciation, then continued. ¡°Orexis isn¡¯t even a full avatar on his own. He¡¯s a bonded pair with his sister, Anesis. Without her, he¡¯s weakened, and she¡¯s out there with him now, along with who knows how many other avatars. If Hiward¡¯s highest-level Delvers can¡¯t beat half of an avatar, then who else is there? No one. None of that is speculation.

    ¡°Hiward is at the pinnacle of Delver power in this world, and your Kingdom barely avoided disaster. What of the nations without such advantages? Will Hiwardian Delvers spread out to defend the entire continent? You can¡¯t. There aren¡¯t enough of you. Orexis destroyed Canotha before Hiward even knew what was happening. A hundred thousand people, dead in one night. Timagrin deserves to be able to defend itself, and their new Creation Delve will give them twenty times more Delvers to do so.

    ¡°You¡¯re also right that it takes time for a Delver to come into their power, just like it takes time to train a soldier. Just like it takes decades for that soldier to become a general. But no one would refuse to train new soldiers because they¡¯re already at war. That idea¡¯s so dumb it couldn¡¯t pour piss out of a boot with full instructions written on the heel.¡±

    A few people exchanged confused looks at that last bit.

    ¡°That¡¯s what they¡¯d say where I¡¯m from, anyway.¡± I cleared my throat ¡°Maybe a low-level Delver can¡¯t harm an avatar directly, but the avatars don¡¯t fight alone. They create divine spawn. A horde of monstrosities surrounds them wherever they go. And now, Orexis stands at the back of an army of Davahns. An army that slaughters everyone it can find. If history is any guide, once the Davahns are done in Timagrin, Hiward is next.

    ¡°We need Delvers with better skills, more passives, and higher levels to fight the avatars. All of that can be gained from the new Delve types. We need more Delvers to cover more ground, put down avatar spawn, and battle the armies that rally behind them. That is made possible by the new Creation Delves.

    ¡°You accuse me of speculation, Lord Heronwyte, but your argument is conjecture and fear-mongering. Your military is just as strong, with the tools to become stronger. Your Delvers are just as numerous, with no need to auction away your Creation slots. You¡¯re the experts on Delving, and now there will be eight times as many Delvers to buy your knowledge and bid on your magical exports. Hiward has everything it had last week, and more.

    ¡°As for the world suddenly igniting into conflict? No one has issued a declaration of war. If anything, the opposite is true. Eschendur and Litta have an armistice. Peace negotiations are underway, and the phase transition hasn¡¯t changed that. The nations of the world have a common enemy to unite against, and more resources for the fight.

    ¡°The status quo will change. It has. Hiward¡¯s monopoly on Delving led the Kingdom to incredible heights, and the Kingdom will need to work to maintain its dominance. But if Hiward is forced to take this fight on its own, the world will crumble around you until the island is surrounded by death in all directions. Then you will be the only ones left for the avatars to butcher. Hiward must fight alongside its allies, and we chose to make those allies stronger. That was the basis of our decision.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    There was a stretch of silence and I took a sip of my drink to signal I was done. Interrupting a host while they were speaking was a no-no in Hiwardian decorum, but I was still surprised Leon had allowed me to go on for so long.

    Lord Heronwyte had listened to the entire speech with a cool, unbothered expression. I couldn¡¯t tell if he was putting up a front to hide his internal panic over my unexpected expertise in public speaking, or if he had something else in the chamber that he believed would trump my arguments. As proud as I was of my ability to string together a series of coherent sentences in front of an audience, my instincts said it was the latter, especially since he hadn¡¯t made any criminal accusations as of yet. I¡¯d find out soon enough, so I enjoyed my bevvy while he powered up some more bullshit.

    ¡°You cast your cause in such a noble light,¡± said Leon. ¡°Yet such brilliance cannot dispel the shadows of your past, only darken them.¡± He produced a set of documents from his inventory. ¡°You speak confidently of the avatars and what they can do. This makes sense. All documented records of your life are tainted by them.¡± He looked down to the top page of his thin stack. ¡°There is no available information on you, Master Xor¡¯Drel, prior to your entry into the Creation Delve of 120 AC. Why is that?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°I¡¯m an extradimensional traveler from another universe who died in a bicycle accident and was reincarnated within the Delve itself.¡±

    The crowd broke out in hushed chatter. A few people chuckled, and one rotund man guffawed loudly before the woman next to him quieted him with a glare. Leon¡¯s eyes narrowed, then widened slightly. Even within the bounds of Arzia¡¯s magical societies, it was an outlandish story. It would come off as an outrageous lie, but it seemed that Leon had some form of truth detection.

    ¡°You¡­ can¡¯t be serious,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°I am,¡± I said. ¡°I can lie if you prefer. Let¡¯s see, I¡¯d never been to Hiward before, I¡¯d never done anything that would cause Hiward to take note of me, and all records from my homeland are inaccessible.¡± Leon¡¯s head twitched back in confusion. ¡°No, that¡¯s all true as well, in the most technical sense. If you¡¯re going to use a skill to tell when I¡¯m lying, you need to be prepared for the truth.¡±

    Leon glanced back down at his papers, flipping through them. It seemed I¡¯d derailed his questioning.

    [I was not expecting that admission, but I am pleased by the effect.]

    ¡°You¡¯re not mad I spilled the beans?¡±

    [You hid the truth to protect yourself from notice. The entire world has already noticed you, so the deception provides little utility. Either way, I doubt many will believe your claim. Skills that determine veracity can be thwarted, which is what Lord Heronwyte will likely choose to believe.]

    ¡°I am disappointed by your foolishness,¡± said Leon, still shuffling his papers. ¡°Your Creation Delve was marred by an intruder. One Hognay Haskangander.¡±

    ¡°Correct,¡± I said.

    ¡°But Mr. Haskagander wasn¡¯t the only unauthorized Delver within the Toxic Grotto,¡± Leon continued. He held up a page. ¡°Central¡¯s records show that you were a stand-in for an Eschen Delver, delayed by the blockade.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been told that¡¯s what they say, sure.¡±

    ¡°But no auction was ever held for that slot,¡± said Leon.

    ¡°How do you know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Because Whitebridge is the sole venue for such auctions, and no records for such an auction exist.¡±

    ¡°Could you have lost the records?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°We are very meticulous.¡± He raised an eyebrow, daring me to challenge the claim. I didn¡¯t know shit about it, so I stayed silent. ¡°As such, your entry was never officiated or approved. Thus, your entry was illegal.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t follow,¡± I said. ¡°Central¡¯s records¨Cthe ones I presume you¡¯re holding a copy of right there in your hand¨Csay I had legal access.¡±

    ¡°There is no validating source for these records. No official signed off on these.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying you were in the Creation Delve illegally!¡±

    ¡°No, I mean about the records. You¡¯re not making sense. The records are real, right?¡±

    Leon smoldered as he returned the paper to his pile. ¡°If the proper procedures were not followed, then the entry permit was invalid.¡±

    ¡°Have you taken this up with Central?¡± I asked. ¡°They can probably clear up your confusion.¡±

    ¡°I am not confused, Master Xor¡¯Drel. The matter is under investigation.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, okay. I¡¯m interested to hear what they say. If it helps, at no point did I attempt to subvert Hiward¡¯s entry requirements to the Creation Delve, nor did I participate in any conspiracy to do so.¡±

    Leon¡¯s eyebrow twitched as his truth-seeing ability confirmed my statement. The man apparently fancied himself a private investigator. He was a half-decent squabbler, but he was no Sherlock. Maybe he should have stuck with Intelligence, instead of Charisma.

    ¡°Are those records available to the general public?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± snapped the rotund man in the crowd. He¡¯d overcome his giggles and was now scowling at Leon.

    ¡°Is it a crime to access them without permission?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the man.

    ¡°I obtained these legally,¡± said Leon. ¡°No matter. Hognay Haskagander was an associate of Orexis. Later, you were visited in your home by the Artemix group, another group with connections with Orexis. You then called on Low-Lord ¡®Typhoon¡¯ Demarsus, yet another associate of Orexis.¡±

    ¡°Visited? Artemix broke in and tried to kidnap me. I killed three of them. Guardian Lito and Dancer Myria invited me to tag along to see Typhoon as part of the investigation into the attempted kidnapping.¡±

    ¡°Two of your current party members were discovered with Typhoon. Xim Xor¡¯Drel and Nuralie Vyxmeldo¡¯a.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯d successfully kidnapped them.¡±

    ¡°You then traveled to the Ravvenblaq mountains, where Orexis was in hiding.¡±

    ¡°At Umi-Doo¡¯s request,¡± I said.

    ¡°After Orexis was confronted by Matriarch and Patriarch Duckgrien, you entered Delve 9998: The Cage, alongside a golem created by Orexis.¡±

    ¡°We were forced through the portal,¡± I said.

    ¡°Therein, you conspired with another avatar, known as Fortune.¡±

    ¡°The Delve Core directed us to Fortune, as an emergency measure to contain Orexis.¡±

    ¡°Some hours later, Orexis¡¯s sister, Anesis, was released from her captivity. The avatar Fortune was responsible for extracting her from the Delve.¡±

    ¡°Close enough,¡± I said. ¡°The guy was a real dick.¡±

    ¡°Throughout this time, your party was still accompanied by the golem created by Orexis.¡± I furrowed my brow, not liking where this was going. ¡°In fact,¡± Leon continued, ¡°to this day, you still work alongside that golem. Etja Nothosis, your party¡¯s mage, is a creature created by Orexis to serve his own ends.¡±

    I tossed my drink aside and stepped forward, coming within a few inches of Leon.

    ¡°Speak of me all you want,¡± I said. ¡°Attacking the character of one of my party members while she is absent is in poor taste.¡±

    ¡°Do you deny it?¡± he asked, half a whisper.

    ¡°Etja is one of Orexis¡¯s victims. She has been repeatedly vetted by Central and is, at this very moment, speaking with your king.¡±

    ¡°Everywhere you go, an avatar appears,¡± said Leon. ¡°You work alongside them. You take their spawn into your party. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if there were one in here with us. Tell me, what deal did you strike with them? You claim the phase transition is meant to be used against them, but I don¡¯t believe it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re spouting baseless conspiracies.¡±

    ¡°Am I?¡± said Leon. He turned away to face the crowd. ¡°The ring on Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s finger was created by an avatar. The necklace around his neck was created by an avatar. And what Master Xor¡¯Drel will not tell you, is that the phase transition empowers the avatars!¡± He spun on his heel, face dark with anger. ¡°Can you deny it? Can you look these people in the eye and tell them I speak falsely?¡±

    ¡°Where the fuck is this guy getting his information?¡±

    [From what I know of the Heronwyte Matriarch, her information-gathering capabilities are unrivaled. Some of this is contained in the intelligence you have sent along through Varrin, which we have been told is kept confidential, but it is disturbing how much of this was never discussed outside the party.]

    ¡°The avatars grow stronger regardless,¡± I said, ¡°while Delvers stagnate in phase one. It changes the field for both sides, but favors Delvers. That was disclosed in our reports.¡±

    Leon thrust a finger in my direction. ¡°It was divulged only after you¡¯d completed the phase transition,¡± he said. ¡°Your work was already done, and now you scurry to mask your trail!¡±

    [You should hit him now.]

 193 - Judgment

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to hit him.¡±

    [Culturally, it is the strongest way for you to deny his accusations.]

    ¡°Consorting with an avatar isn¡¯t a crime in the books yet, and his own evidence contradicts the shit about the Creation Delve. He hasn¡¯t accused me of anything actionable. Besides, didn¡¯t you say his goal was to get me to hit him?¡±

    [His goal was to distract you. One of Hiward¡¯s definitions for an enemy combatant is ¡°A person who gives aid or conspires to give aid to enemies of the Hiwardian Kingdom with the intent to harm the Kingdom¡¯s people, territories, or interests.¡± Lord Heronwyte¡¯s accusations likely satisfy those requirements.]

    ¡°That¡¯s not part of the Hiwardian criminal code, that¡¯s out of the Laws of Armed Conflict. How does that intersect with the etiquette rules?¡±

    [Your lessons did not cover that scenario. I will ask Riona for clarification.]

    ¡°This man,¡± said Leon, speaking to the crowd, ¡°is no hero! His past is shrouded in secrecy! His very identity is a thinly veiled deceit! He is not from the Third Layer! So far as I can tell, he is not from anywhere!¡±

    ¡°He was distracting me from the bedroom, right? He has to be aware enough to know that didn¡¯t happen, so what¡¯s his endgame?¡±

    [The contents of his message were ¡°Entry confirmed. Parameters: Occupy target 90 minutes after arrival. Methods discussed nonviable. Will make accusation. Reply to change order.¡±]

    ¡°He could be trying to distract me from anything, then. Shit, is he even trying to distract me, or someone else?¡±

    [You are the one he is lambasting.]

    ¡°Yeah, but a lot of people are paying attention to this right now.¡±

    Most of the attendants had found their way to the spectacle Leon and I were making. Patriarch Ravvenblaq remained in his secluded corner, alongside the Duckgriens. Only a handful of people were missing.

    ¡°And what does he have to say in his defense?¡± Leon preached. ¡°Nothing! He stands there, searching for the lie that will best comfort you!¡±

    [Riona is not responding.] That changed my thought process from mitigating Leon¡¯s activities to preparing for an emergency. [I cannot locate her.]

    That skipped me past preparation and right into emergency response.

    ¡°Grotto, where¡¯s the rest of the party? What about the Eschen delegation?¡±

    I checked my interface, seeing that everyone in the party had full health.

    [All of them entered the lounge to speak with the king over the last thirty minutes.]

    ¡°Can you confirm they¡¯re in there?¡±

    [The room is still blanketed by the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s privacy skills. The Guard¡¯s messages indicate the conversation is ongoing.]

    I pulled on my connection to the party through my auras.

    They weren¡¯t in the Closet.

    ¡°Breach the wards. Tell me what¡¯s in there.¡±

    I took off toward Patriarch Ravvenblaq, but Leon stepped into my path.

    ¡°You can¡¯t run from this,¡± said Leon. ¡°We¡¯ve seen through you, and now judgment is co¨C¡± Leon disappeared. There were gasps and a few cries of shock.

    [I took the liberty of putting him in time out.]

    I took a fraction of a second to process the shitstorm this was about to kick up, then kept moving.

    ¡°Fuck me. Was it that easy to teleport him against his will?¡±

    [He was unprepared and his Dimensional resistance is surprisingly low. Ah, the King¡¯s Guard is unhappy.]

    ¡°I bet.¡±

    The crowd parted for me in a rush. Ealdric Senior was already standing when I made it close.

    ¡°That did not seem wise, Arlo,¡± said Patriarch Ravvenblaq. ¡°As entertaining as it was.¡±

    ¡°I apologize for the impertinence, Patriarchs, Matriarch,¡± I nodded to Ealdric, Bobret, and Cera in turn. ¡°Something has removed my party members from the Closet, and they were last seen in the lounge with the king.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Sineh. ¡°Someone took Varrin?¡±

    ¡°Calm, child,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°Beside tha¡¯ king¡¯s as safe as safe can be. Prob¡¯ly a menace messin¡¯ with Arlo¡¯s ears an¡¯ eyes.¡±

    ¡°It merits investigation,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Come.¡± The man turned and walked serenely toward the lounge. People hurried to get out of our way until we made it to the King¡¯s Guard at the end of the hall. One of them stood blocking the corridor.

    ¡°Patriarch Ravvenblaq,¡± the Guard said in greeting. He was in full plate, but a pair of hard, brown eyes were visible through the visor. He didn¡¯t bow, since bowing was a moment of vulnerability the Guard couldn¡¯t afford while actively guarding the king. ¡°The king has asked not to be disturbed, m¡¯lord.¡±

    ¡°Where is Lord Director Bluewren?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°He is still investigating the irregularity in Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s bedroom, m¡¯lord.¡±

    [The lounge is empty,] Grotto thought, looping my legendary entourage into the psychic communication. [It is also devoid of all Dimensional mana.]

    Ealdric peered down the hall at the door to the lounge, then looked at Cera Duckgrien. The matriarch stood as still as a statue, and Ealdric let out the slightest sigh.

    ¡°Challenge: Cliffside Arena,¡± said Ealdric. The guard blinked.

    ¡°M¡¯lord, I¨C¡± the guard started, but stopped when Ealdric met the man¡¯s eyes. The Patriarch¡¯s face was impassive, but a wave of foreboding pressure rolled off of him. The Guard took a small step back. ¡°Wait, m¡¯lord, I¨C¡±

    The man¡¯s head fell from his shoulders, along with the heads of every other King¡¯s Guard in the hall. The corpses thudded to the ground. None of them had been below Level 20, and I hadn¡¯t seen Ealdric move. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    A woman behind me screamed.

    Ealdric stepped over the corpse, and Patriarch Duckgrien¡¯s teeth ground with enough force that I could see tremors in the growing pools of blood. Matriarch Duckgrien spat on the heavily armored body as we went.

    ¡°Might be dangerous ta¡¯ leave yer spit layin¡¯ around,¡± said Bobret.

    The armored¨Cand very decapitated¨CGuard stirred, reaching out for his severed head.

    ¡°Ye think it was spit?¡± Cera replied, raising an eyebrow at her husband.

    The not-quite-dead man¡¯s armor began to sizzle where the Matriarch had spat on it. The Guard reached around toward his back, spasming and rolling as fumes spewed off him. Finally, he went still, never to move again. High Fortitude was no fucking joke.

    ¡°Fair ¡®nuff,¡± said Bobret.

    Ealdric stopped at the door, then looked at Cera Duckgrien again. Something passed silently between them, and then the door collapsed into a thousand, perfectly sliced pieces.

    We looked into the empty lounge, and every surface flared with glowing runes. An incredible gust of wind formed at our backs, flowing into the room and threatening to suck us in along with it. Bobret grabbed both Sineh and me by the arm, holding us steady.

    ¡°How the fuck?¡± I said.

    [That room is drawing in an incredible amount of Dimensional mana from the rest of the mansion. I am extracting you.]

    The world stuttered, but I didn¡¯t go anywhere. A flaming sphere had formed around the five of us.

    ¡°Sorry lad,¡± said Matriarch Duckgrien. ¡°Ye won¡¯t be goin'' anywhere til we cop on to what¡¯s occurrin¡¯.¡±

    On the bright side, Cera¡¯s shield blocked the wind.

    ¡°What¡¯s it doing, Cera?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°Teleportin¡¯ ev¡¯rythin¡¯,¡± she said.

    ¡°To where?¡±

    ¡°Fak if I know,¡± she said. ¡°I can read tha runes, gimme a few seconds.¡±

    A few seconds? There were thousands of runes, covering every surface. The ceiling had runes, the furniture had runes, the damn liquor bottles at the bar had runes. They were carved right into the glass!

    ¡°Three places,¡± said Cera. ¡°Tha bottom o¡¯ tha sea, the heart of a fakkin¡¯ volcano, and another pocket realm like this one.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to go to any of those places.

    ¡°How do we know which?¡± asked Ealdric.

    ¡°Tis random without a keyword,¡± she answered. ¡°Before ye ask, I don¡¯ know what it is.¡±

    ¡°Aye, well,¡± Patriarch Bobret began, ¡°we prob¡¯ly should go in an¡¯ save the king.¡±

    A chair flew down the hall and smashed into Cera¡¯s shield. It shattered into scorched kindling that got sucked into the lounge and disappeared. Somehow, everything already inside the lounge was staying put. Probably because it was all covered in fucking runes.

    [The mana draw is accelerating. The pull will continue to increase until it consumes the mansion.]

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop it?¡±

    [We can destroy the runes.]

    ¡°Not until after we go through,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Three of us, three potential locations.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve not done anythin¡¯ like this in ages,¡± said Bobret.

    ¡°That¡¯s not how random works,¡± said Cera.

    ¡°We know, Cera,¡± said Bobret. ¡°We¡¯re not daft. It is poetic, though.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Your Eschengal portal cannot open until this evening, correct?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°The only other exit available spits us out in the Littan fortress west of the Eschen Gap.¡±

    Ealdric looked to Cera.

    ¡°We should bring ¡®im with us,¡± said Cera. ¡°An¡¯ keep tha people here contained. Any one ah them could be a dissident or imposter.¡±

    ¡°I have marked them,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°If any seek to hide, I will find them.¡± There was a certainty to that statement that gave me chills. ¡°I have no reason to suspect Arlo had a hand in this, and I would prefer not to force anyone else through this portal.¡±

    ¡°As much as I¡¯d prefer not to take a magma bath,¡± I said, ¡°the more people going through the portal, the better chance there is that one of us ends up where everyone else was taken.¡±

    ¡°Could ye survive the heart of a volcano, lad?¡± asked Bobret.

    ¡°My Fortitude is Level 52 and I can teleport to a range of several miles without line of sight. I¡¯d get crispy, but I¡¯d be fine.¡± Although, my beard wouldn¡¯t be.

    ¡°Ye should diversify yer stats more,¡± said Bobret. ¡°That¡¯s too high for Level 12.¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°Whoever set this up was able to replace an entire platoon of King¡¯s Guard with imposters and then abducted a Zenithar, the king¨Cwho is a Level 30 platinum¨Cand four of your party members. This is not a challenge you can face, Arlo.¡±

    ¡°Now that ye say it like that, is it one we can face?¡± asked Bobret.

    ¡°I do not know,¡± said Ealdric. ¡°But I will find out.¡±

    Light pulsed across Ealdric¡¯s body. An instant later, he was covered head to toe in black and silver armor. Every inch of it was ornately engraved, and when I focused on the weaves within, they were bursting at the seams with mana. They were so potent, reality seemed to bend and twist around the enchantments.

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to Level 21!

    A cloak unfurled at Ealdric¡¯s back, appearing tattered and worn, but a closer look showed it to be made of a dark, oily liquid. Tears and holes continually ran down its length, then sealed themselves back up.

    ¡°Bah, fak it,¡± said Bobret.

    Both he and Cera pulsed with light and emerged wearing their fur armor. Cera¡¯s golden circlet hovered over her head, and Bobret¡¯s body began to spark with electricity. The static made my hair stand on end.

    ¡°Cera, if you please,¡± said Ealdric. She frowned but pulled a small marble from her inventory and handed it to me. ¡°That¡¯s an emergency portal back to Foundation,¡± Ealdric explained. I looked down at the marble, seeing hundreds of runes suspended within the glass. ¡°It will last for five minutes. Make sure everyone within this dimensional space is evacuated as soon as we leave.¡± He locked eyes with me. ¡°Leon included.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got strong evidence he was involved with this,¡± I said.

    ¡°Let Guardian Lito and Dancer Myria handle him,¡± said Ealdric, then considered. ¡°I know that I cannot order you to do so through the power of my office, but consider it a diplomatic gesture of goodwill.¡± Left unspoken was that he could order me to do so through the power of kicking my ass. Nice of him to leave that part out.

    ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll release him into Hiwardian custody alive.¡±

    Ealdric¡¯s brow furrowed at the wording, but he didn¡¯t argue.

    ¡°I¡¯ll disable tha runes as we pass through,¡± Cera said, then turned to me. ¡°Better if ye backed up a bit.¡±

    I looked between the trio, but Cera wasn¡¯t willing to wait. She waved a hand, and the flaming sphere shot away from the lounge with both me and Sineh inside. Patriarch Ravvenblaq¡¯s body blurred, and he disappeared, followed by a streak of light as Bobret went in behind him. Cera created a ball of blue-white light that emitted an oppressive heat, causing the wall panels around her to begin smoking. She flew into the lounge, leaving the ball of deadly flame behind, and blinked away.

    The blazing sphere floated into the lounge a second later. Its surface rippled, and beams of scorching heat blasted out, carving through the walls and furniture. Hundreds of runes were destroyed as the ball spent its energy, disrupting the complex mana weave. The gale of wind died soon after.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I swore, then looked at Sineh. Her face was pale as she stared into the smoldering remains of the lounge. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± she said.

    ¡°Yeah, me either.¡± I ran my hands through my hair. ¡°Let¡¯s get people out of here.¡±

    I turned and began stepping around the corpses of the imposter King¡¯s Guard.

    ¡°Grotto, do we know the end destination for the teleport trap in my bedroom?¡±

    [We do not. Do you plan on activating it in a foolhardy attempt to follow after the demigod-tier Delvers who just told you to remain behind?]

    ¡°Maybe.¡±

    [I will begin a comparative analysis between the runes in the lounge and the runes in the bedroom. I may be able to determine whether the sigil leads to a matching location.]

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to argue against me going?¡±

    A moment of silence passed.

    [I promised that their vandalism would be met with bloodshed. For their crimes against the party, I will imprison them in a cage of blades. I will batter their minds with the terror of insanity until they throw themselves upon its razor walls. Our transgressors will strip the flesh from their own bones in their futile attempts to flee, and I will allow them to perish only once I am satisfied.]

    There was none of Grotto¡¯s typical borderline mania. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if the Etja-clone golems were already constructing the prison.

    Lito and Myria stood over the first corpse at the end of the hall with weapons out, their presence an invisible barrier keeping the crowd of Hiwardians behind them from coming closer. They watched me carefully, bodies coiled to spring into action. I recognized the look, but I¡¯d never been on the receiving end of it.

    Myria held up a hand, and I halted. ¡°Care to tell us what¡¯s happening, Arlo?¡±

 194 - When to Hit Your Guests, Part II

    I paused a few feet away from Lito and Myria and gestured for Sineh to keep moving. She shot me a worried look, then walked forward to slip between the pair.

    ¡°A saboteur wove an advanced teleportation array into the lounge,¡± I said. ¡°It appears that the king, the Eschen delegation, and the rest of my party were inside when it activated.¡±

    This stirred up some chatter in the crowd, and I wondered whether I should have been more circumspect. Then again, no one had told me to keep quiet, and making the danger clear would hopefully encourage everyone else to get out of my Closet.

    I gestured at the bodies. ¡°Patriarch Ravvenblaq issued a challenge phrase to the Guard, which they apparently failed. Then, their heads fell off. Ealdric said the whole platoon had been compromised, so I assume he was responsible for the beheadings, but I don¡¯t know how. After that, Ealdric, Cera, and Bobret went through the portal to recover the king. Matriarch Duckgrien destroyed the array afterward.¡±

    ¡°Did you have anything to do with the array?¡± asked Myria. Given the situation, it was a reasonable question. It still stung to be suspected by old allies.

    ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how it got there.¡±

    Lito grunted. ¡°He¡¯s telling the truth.¡± Myria relaxed a fraction.

    ¡°Did any of our fearless founders leave instructions?¡± she asked.

    ¡°They said to get everyone out of the Closet.¡±

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    Myria scowled. ¡°Typical.¡±

    ¡°Reckless,¡± Lito added. ¡°How are we leaving?¡±

    I held up the marble ¡°Emergency portal to Foundation.¡±

    Lito held out his hand and I passed him the small glass sphere. He held it up to the light and studied the runes within. Myria leaned in to try and get a good look as well.

    ¡°What tier is that?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Dunno,¡± he said. ¡°Higher than seven.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know the tiers went higher than seven.¡±

    ¡°Neither did I.¡±

    Myria bit her lip. ¡°How much do you think that¡¯s worth?¡±

    Lito closed his fist around the marble. ¡°Right now, it¡¯s worth one stable portal back to Foundation for a gaggle of nobles.¡± He turned to the crowd and started laying out the situation.

    ¡°What about the rest of the King¡¯s Guard?¡± I asked Myria. ¡°There were twenty more of them in here.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°All their heads fell off at the same time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ terrifying.¡±

    Her composure slipped as she nodded. Her eyes went vacant, and she reached up, fingers tracing her throat. ¡°There were four of them in the hall with us outside your bedroom. I thought¨C I thought we were next, ya¡¯ know?¡± She shuddered. ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with the Patriarch.¡±

    I absorbed that life advice while imagining myself grabbing my head, trying to make sure an invisible force didn¡¯t separate it from my body.

    ¡°What about the Lord Director?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± she said. ¡°He rushed off without saying anything. That was before the mass decapitations.¡±

    ¡°So there may be a rogue Level 26 in here?¡±

    ¡°Gods, I hope not,¡± she said. ¡°Knowing Aprogar¨Cif it really was Aprogar¨CI don¡¯t think Ealdric could kill him from a distance with one move. The man¡¯s as paranoid as it gets.¡±

    ¡°Great,¡± I said, mentally nudging Grotto to try and locate the man. ¡°How do you want to handle Leon? We know he was working up a distraction with his public interrogation.¡±

    ¡°Leon Heronwyte?¡± she said. ¡°Where is he?¡±

    ¡°We have him in timeout. Somewhere. Possibly in a very sharp cage.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Send me the evidence you¡¯ve got.¡± She paused before speaking again, furrowing her brow and producing her slate. ¡°That was fast.¡±

    [I have sent copies of Leon¡¯s attempted communications to your slate. He has been requesting extraction every sixty seconds since being contained.]

    Myria finished reading through the text, then started scanning the crowd. ¡°We¡¯ll need to talk to that servant as well.¡±

    There was a quick burst of Dimensional mana, and the Heronwyte servant appeared next to Myria. The mundane man stumbled, fell, and then rolled onto his side to begin vomiting. His mundane constitution was ill-prepared for Grotto¡¯s unexpected teleportation.

    Myria took the servant¡¯s sudden appearance in stride, waited for him to finish emptying his stomach, then pulled a black length of rope from her inventory and tossed it at him. The cord wrapped itself around him like a snake, binding him, then raised him back to his feet.

    ¡°Hello,¡± said Myria. She pulled out a cloth and wiped the mess from around the man¡¯s mouth. ¡°I¡¯m Dancer Myria of the Hiwardian Central Delver Authority. You¡¯re being taken into custody as part of an investigation concerning several crimes that have been committed on Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s property.¡±

    ¡°C-crimes?¡± the man asked, wide-eyed. ¡°What¨C¡± he gulped. ¡°What sort of crimes?¡±

    ¡°Sabotage, kidnapping, and treason,¡± she said. ¡°More may be coming. I¡¯ll let you know. For now, we¡¯re heading back to Hiward where you¡¯ll be interviewed.¡±

    The man had gone perfectly still, as though Mria were a predator he hoped he could avoid by staying motionless. Myria sent the cloth back into her inventory, then placed a hand on the servant¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°As a servant of Lord Leon Heronwyte, any actions you were compelled to take under his direction will be attributed to him, not you,¡± she said. Her tone was soft and sympathetic. ¡°Sometimes Delvers abuse their powers and authority. In my experience, most people in your situation are never charged with anything. You¡¯ll also have representation from the Steward¡¯s Coalition, so try not to worry for now.¡±

    The man nodded, but he still looked terrified. Myria led him off to one side, the rope slackening enough for him to shuffle, and spoke with him some more.

    While Myria spent a few minutes calming the man, Grotto sent me some private psychic messages. [The Lord Director looped back around to your bedroom and activated the teleport weave.]

    ¡°That¡¯s good evidence it goes somewhere meaningful.¡±

    [Indeed. He left the weave intact when he went through, however, which makes me apprehensive. If he did not wish to be followed, there are many ways he could have defaced the runes after passing through.]

    ¡°You think he might be trying to manipulate us into intentionally activating a trap we already knew about? A trap that uses another trap as bait? Is there a word for that?¡±

    [Yes, it is called a trap. Alternatively, he may have become sloppy in his eagerness to escape. He was bleeding quite profusely.]

    By the time Myria finished up with the man he looked much better. The pair of us had to wait on Lito to do a headcount, making sure no one else was missing or hiding out.

    ¡°Those rules are fairly forgiving,¡± I said once Myria returned.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t know about servant¡¯s rights?¡± she asked. ¡°We¡¯re not even allowed to use Active Skills on mundane people unless they¡¯re a danger to others.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve mostly been concerned with laws that affect me and my party members. I hadn¡¯t planned on hiring anyone to wait on me.¡±

    ¡°I suppose Majordomo is an exception.¡± She gave me a conspiratorial look. ¡°Lito told me he¡¯s not a ¡®traditional¡¯ butler.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said.

    I¡¯d never come clean with Lito about Grotto¡¯s true identity, and Majordomo was, in essence, a double-feint. Still, I wondered how much the Guardian knew that he didn¡¯t want me to know that he knew. Probably a lot.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    ¡°Did you pick up anything suspicious about the King¡¯s Guard?¡± Myria asked.

    [Their communications gave me no reason to suspect them,] Grotto answered. [I am sending a log of their messages.]

    Myria¡¯s eyebrows went up as she watched the information start pouring in.

    ¡°I might have trouble explaining how you got this,¡± she said.

    ¡°Do you know how we got that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Which is why I won¡¯t be able to explain it.¡± She tucked the slate away to review later, avoiding any further discussion of the matter.

    Lito had the Hiwardians arranged in a single-file line to move quickly through the portal once it opened, including the group of Ravvenblaq manor staff. Several nobles looked unhappy at having been corralled like a group of kindergarteners, but their desire to leave trumped their pride.

    ¡°Ready to go,¡± said Lito, walking back to us. ¡°We just need to grab Leon. Otherwise, the guests are accounted for. We aren¡¯t missing anyone who wasn¡¯t already missing.¡±

    ¡°How do you want to handle Leon?¡±

    ¡°Depends on how he wants to be handled,¡± said Lito.

    [He has taken the time to equip himself for combat. He has also refused my requests for him to disarm.]

    I hadn¡¯t forgotten that Lord Heronwyte was a Level 15 gold, and not some hapless meddling noble without any real combat experience. Lito went over Lord Heronwyte¡¯s known abilities, and we formulated a simple pacification plan.

    Myria stayed behind to keep order with the agitated guests, while Grotto teleported me and Lito to Leon. Lito insisted that we needed to give the man the option to come peacefully. Sadly, that meant we couldn¡¯t come in guns blazing.

    Lord Heronwyte was not in a cage of blades. He was in an empty cubic room surrounded on all sides by a portal barrier, like the one that contained the Pocket Delve. He was dressed in light armor¨Cgambeson with Madrin mail over top¨Cand a golden barbute protected his head. He held a pair of shortswords and dropped into a combat stance the moment we appeared.

    ¡°Lord Heronwyte,¡± said Lito. ¡°I¡¯m Guardian Lito from Central. I¡¯ve got questions for you, so you¡¯re coming with me back to Hiward one way or another.¡± Lito¡¯s presentation was a bit more brusque than Myria¡¯s.

    Leon looked between the two of us, sizing us up.

    ¡°And what of Master Xor¡¯Drel?¡± he asked.

    ¡°What about him?¡± said Lito.

    Leon pointed a sword at me. ¡°He has imprisoned me unjustly!¡±

    ¡°You can file a complaint. Put your weapons and armor away and agree to submit to a control effect.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± said Leon. ¡°You wish to treat me like a criminal?¡±

    ¡°That is what¡¯s happening, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± said Leon. ¡°I have committed no crimes.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ve got nothing to worry about,¡± said Lito. His tone was bored, like he¡¯d had this talk a hundred times before. ¡°But refusing a lawful order from an agent of Central is a crime. So, put your weapons and armor away and agree to submit to a control effect.¡±

    Leon¡¯s sword dropped, and he stood up from his crouch.

    ¡°This is absurd,¡± said Leon. ¡°I have exposed Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s wrongdoings, and I am the one being treated this way?¡±

    Lito scratched his jaw. ¡°What wrongdoings have you exposed?¡±

    ¡°He collaborates with enemies of the Kingdom!¡±

    ¡°And what is your evidence?¡±

    ¡°My evidence?¡± said Leon. ¡°You should¨C You should already have it. It should have been delivered to the King¡¯s Guard shortly after this devil confined me here!¡±

    Lito grunted. ¡°Is that all?¡±

    ¡°That isn¡¯t enough?¡± said Leon. ¡°I would think the contents of Master Xor¡¯Drel¡¯s bedroom should more than suffice, but fine. I have documents here.¡±

    One of Leon¡¯s shortswords disappeared, replaced with a scroll case. He held it out to Lito, who looked at the case, then at Leon¡¯s remaining blade. Leon scoffed and dismissed his second sword, then tossed the case to Lito.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t as though I could not resummon it at a moment¡¯s notice,¡± Leon grumbled.

    Lito caught the case and examined it closely for a long moment. He popped the end open and retrieved the rolled up set of documents within. He unfurled the first paper, three feet in length, and his eyes darted back and forth as he read through its contents. He cleared his throat before moving to the next. There were three in total, nine feet of text. He made it through in a couple of minutes.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Lito, then waved me over. I moved closer and he handed me the first document. It was handwritten in a neat, flamboyant script. I became increasingly confused as I read.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART ONE

    Ah, like morning dew, our thoughts are but transient things, evaporating in the sun¡¯s radiation. But such moisture is never gone, merely displaced by the heat burning in the sky. One can always find that which has been dispelled so, with careful thought and study. To pluck each molecule from the air and reassemble those little droplets, to see the shape of the grass that wetness once touched! Dear sir, you may find that my musings lack the profundity of your intellectual suitors, but know that I am more than a winded librarian, greater than a head stuffed full of books and words, a mind, vast, endless, empty, and waiting. Dear sir, I take no pride in saying that¡­

    The scroll continued on like that for its full length. It was a single, unbroken paragraph of opaque ramblings. Lito handed me the second page.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART TWO

    A note, containing a poem, containing a thought, containing a word, containing a letter, containing ink, held in a quill, belonging to a bird, long dead, may she rest in peace.

    Hello.

    Welcome to Hell.

    You have been here your entire life.

    Eating.

    It is endless.

    You must injure and kill and consume.

    Hunger.

    Will never leave.

    Death will march to your mouth eternal.

    Sleeping.

    Will never rest.

    Your eyes will close but you¡¯ll stay awake.

    Wanting.

    It never ends.

    You are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming you are consumed or are consuming¡­

    The rest of the page was filled with hundreds of repetitions of the poem¡¯s final sentence. Lito handed me the third page but kept his eyes on Leon.

    DAMNING EVIDENCE PART THREE

    Temptation

    Oppression

    Obsession

    Infestation

    Possession

    WE ARE SEEKING GRACE TO BECOME INSTRUMENTS OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT

    Deliverance

    Two to three people pray over the afflicted person; only one is the leader in prayer while the others are interceding.

    Take authority over any spirits that may be present.

    IN THE NAME OF OUR GOD I BIND ALL POWERS AND FORCES IN THE AIR, IN THE GROUND, IN THE WATER, IN THE UNDERGROUND, IN THE NETHERWORLD, IN NATURE AND IN FIRE.

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    IN YOUR NAME I BIND

    Renounce all areas of bondage.

    If the afflicted person refuses to renounce, place in a sealed room with no food or water for 8 hours. Encourage the afflicted to expel any and all waste in a manner where it can be inspected by the presiding pastor.

    Repeat steps one through twenty-nine.

    Pray for deliverance.

    BY THE POWER OF BLOOD

    I BIND YOU

    YOUR EVIL SPIRITS

    DEMONIC FORCES

    PRINCIPALITIES

    ATTRIBUTES

    ASPECTS

    CLUSTERS

    ENDOWMENTS

    THRONES

    KINGS

    PRINCES

    TERRORS

    DEMONIC ASSIGNMENTS

    FUNCTIONS OF DESTRUCTION

    ¡­

    The final list kept going, growing increasingly unhinged as it went.

    ¡°What do you, uh, what do you make of this?¡± I asked Lito.

    ¡°You see?¡± said Leon. His sword was back out and pointing at me. ¡°He should be the one taken into custody!¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Lito. ¡°Lord Heronwyte, when¡¯s the last time you had a full Dispel and Cleanse performed?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± asked Leon. ¡°Are you suggesting that I am being influenced?¡±

    ¡°These documents don¡¯t even mention Master Xor¡¯Drel.¡±

    Leon¡¯s eyes narrowed, barely visible through the barbute. Lito turned the first page around and held it up. Leon leaned in, reading the text from a distance. His scowl was replaced by a moment of confusion, then he let out a whine which quickly transitioned to a growl.

    He dashed forward, blade thrusting toward my throat.

    I brought up Gracorvus to block, intercepting the strike and deflecting the sword. Leon simultaneously used his second weapon to strike at my thigh, but I sidestepped away, the tip of the blade missing its mark by a hair. I felt a social attack hit me while I dealt with the strikes.

    You have resisted Fear!

    I activated Elemental Barrier, shaping it to avoid Lito and choosing the Sonic damage type. The air around me thrummed with energy as a constant blast of pressure began rocking Leon. The man flew away from me and crashed to the ground, blood spraying from his nose as the Sonic damage assaulted his sinuses. I followed up with Gravity Anchor, and Leon slid across the ground back toward me, flailing with his swords. His whole body shook violently as the Sonic attack tried to pummel him away while Gravity Anchor drew him closer.

    Leon tried to stand but failed miserably while in the throes of the oppositional forces. He struck out at my ankles from the ground, but I deflected the clumsy attack with my shield. His second blade was intercepted by a blazing chain as Lito entered the fray. Lito¡¯s hammer split into molten fetters, a half dozen lengths that grappled Leon¡¯s limbs, blackening the armor beneath. Leon screamed as the heat began to sear his skin. Blood dripped from his eyes as the Sonic damage did its work, and I pressed my boot to his chest to keep him down.

    Lito gave me a signal, and I dropped the skills.

    Leon gnashed his teeth, eyes bloodshot and skin flushed, jerking his body violently to try and tear free of the chains. He was unsuccessful. The man was absolutely livid and continued to thrash despite it only causing the chains to tighten further.

    ¡°Is he¡­ Berserk right now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Looks like it,¡± said Lito.

    ¡°Does he even use Berserk?¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    ¡°This whole situation is fucking weird.¡±

    Lito took a deep breath and blew it out through his nose. ¡°Yyyep.¡±

 195 - The Chapter in Which the Combined Skills of Both Myself and My Bonded Familiar are Useless

    It turned out Lito had his own dream hammer. That is, a hammer that sent people to dreamland by force. It was a rubber mallet called Gorgeous, because of how stunning it was. One might even call it a knock-out.

    It thumped people unconscious without killing them.

    It was a three-hit combo, dealt no damage, had to be strikes made against the head, it was pretty useless for combat. But boy howdy, did it shut Berserker Leon right the hell up.

    Once we got Leon back to the Pocket mansion, Myria administered a sedative that would keep the man down without provoking any cranial swelling. That would have been an atrocious idea, medically speaking, if the man¡¯s brain had been powered off by actual head trauma beforehand, rather than magic. Of course, Lito¡¯s wallops had been enthusiastic enough that I questioned his assurances the hammer didn¡¯t deal damage. He was the expert, so I left him to his business. Either way, Leon was dealt with and now he was someone else¡¯s problem.

    Lito had some theories for why the feisty Lord Heronwyte mistook the deranged writings he¡¯d presented for devastating evidence of my guilt. Mind fuckery, essentially. He didn¡¯t take much time to explain, now that everything was wrapped up for them to leave. He and Myria popped the emergency portal, and they ushered the Hiwardians through, making a hasty and efficient exit. Myria took up the rear and paused before crossing over, making sure I didn¡¯t want to head out with them.

    ¡°No offense,¡± I said, ¡°but I¡¯m not convinced Hiward is particularly safe for me at the moment. I also need to do some house cleaning to make sure there are no more nasty surprises hiding out in here.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Myria. She bit her lip, still hesitating to go. ¡°Look, I know you¡¯re worried. There¡¯s three extremely powerful people out there working to get your party members back, and more are probably on the way as we speak. No one¡¯s going to sit back while the king¡¯s missing.¡±

    ¡°I have no doubt Hiward¡¯s best will turn out for the king,¡± I said. ¡°As for everyone else¡­¡± I shrugged, leaving the sentence unfinished.

    ¡°Just be careful,¡± she said. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything rash.¡±

    ¡°Go take care of your people, Myria,¡± I said. She frowned at my response but nodded and left. The portal sputtered and closed not long after. The Closet that had been so full just an hour before, was back down to me and Grotto.

    I leaned back against a wall in the lounge hallway, staring at the bloodstains. Lito and Myria had taken the bodies as part of the investigation, to Grotto¡¯s silent dismay. My familiar hadn¡¯t let the opportunity go to waste completely, though. A couple of the corpses had been missing their weapons, and the Guard who¡¯d nearly survived a decapitation had been holding a fancy shield that was nowhere to be found.

    A trinket here, a potion there, the sorts of things that might get misplaced while making a quick retreat.

    The blood was in front of me, but I wasn¡¯t really staring at anything in particular. My vision blurred as I drifted through half-formed plans for assaulting a mystery foe. Myria was right. It would be rash to try and pursue someone who could capture¨Carguably¨Cthe most important man in the world. Someone who could do it under the noses of three of the oldest and highest-level Delvers on the planet. Someone who¡¯d evaded all the surveillance both Grotto and I could bring to bear, and who¡¯d infiltrated the King¡¯s Guard at the highest level.

    It was that last part I found myself fixating on. The enemy had succeeded because of the King¡¯s Guard, who¡¯d been having one fucking hell of an opposite day.

    A squad from the Guard spent 24 hours combing the Closet before the king arrived, halfway pretending to be servants. Did that give them the time and access needed to make such a massive weave in the lounge? I didn¡¯t think so, but a lot of the furnishings had been brought in from outside. Did they have access to the Ravvenblaq¡¯s furniture beforehand? That seemed more likely.

    What I knew for sure was that they were given free rein to move as they pleased, establish security points, and create blindspots in Grotto¡¯s monitoring. They were in charge of vetting guests and ensuring no dangerous magical items were brought inside. Inventory inspections were not unusual where the king was involved.

    Self-defense was a big part of Hiwardian culture, so a Hiwardian might resist if someone tried to strip them of all combat options, even as a condition to see the king. Most Delvers didn¡¯t need a sharp piece of metal to wreak havoc, anyway, and weapons and armor could be contained with a proper beatdown. However, a Hiwardian would have a much harder time justifying a device capable of remote monitoring and limited incursion capabilities. The King¡¯s Guard should have been on the lookout for things like a fucking divination beacon, for example.

    We didn¡¯t think for a second the King¡¯s Guard would be on our side, but we took it for granted they¡¯d be on the king¡¯s side. It worked into our security plan, and it blew up right in our faces.

    Leon hadn¡¯t been a part of the King¡¯s Guard, but he¡¯d probably been hit by some sort of mind-affecting ability. That could have been done well ahead of time. Suggestion plus Mesmerize, maybe. The main hole in that theory was the Berserk status that occurred once Lito pointed out the inconsistencies in Leon¡¯s beliefs. There were a lot of potential explanations for that, though. A unique Passive Skill, a conditional item trigger, a delayed potion effect, to name a few. Leon wasn¡¯t directly tied to the imposter Guard, but that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t working for them indirectly, voluntarily or not.

    The imposter King¡¯s Guard had been the enemy¡¯s main advantage in the Closet, and the imposter King¡¯s Guard was dead. All of them except for Aprogar Bluewren, or whoever it was pretending to be the Lord Director.

    That made Aprogar the only remaining threat that we knew of. He¡¯d been injured, and he was on the run. It sounded like a tasty opportunity to chase the man down, but it also sounded like a setup. Aprogar had moved to a secondary location, where he may have regrouped with backup, healed, and prepared to ambush any pursuers. Then again, the teleport sigil might lead to the middle of the Less-Than-Habitable Forest, and Aprogar just plain flew away and fucked off into hiding.

    I didn¡¯t know enough to say that the teleport weave behind my wardrobe would lead to my missing party members. I didn¡¯t know enough to say that taking that teleport would lead to anything good, whatsoever. In fact, I did know enough to say that the chances of it resulting in certain death were sufficient for reasonable minds to consider it a very stupid thing to do.

    But yeah. I was going to take that teleport.

    I wasn¡¯t about to rush in while wearing my suit, though. It already got ruffled enough during my dust-up with Leon, so I stripped down and started to armor up. I had to do it the old-fashioned way since I didn¡¯t have a convenient CLOTHES BEAM that allowed me to equip my full armor set in a flash. I added figuring out how Ealdric and crew did that to the List. The answer was probably money.

    While I worked on that, Grotto worked on some other things.

    [The golems are animated, but still technically objects. They can be stored and retrieved through inventory. I need to be present to command the constructs, but it is an additional combat option.]

    ¡°Are you planning on coming?¡±

    [I will not sit idle and wait for your terminal recklessness to end my life through our Shared Fate.]

    ¡°So, rather than dying in the comfort of the Pocket Delve, you¡¯d rather die alongside me, with your boots on?¡±

    [I would rather die with blood on my tentacles.]

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m happy to have you. Here¡¯s an idea. I can reset my inventory home point to wherever we land. That way, if they kill us, they¡¯ll get buried under a mountain of shit.¡±

    [Why do you continue to propose this idea? Do you truly believe a high-level Delver can be killed by having several tons'' worth of random items fall upon their head?]Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°If they¡¯re already weakened from their epic duel with the mighty Arlotto, then maybe. It also depends on how compressed the space is. If it¡¯s a tiny pocket dimension, then it¡¯d be crazy strong.¡±

    [If you wish to design a corpse explosion trap, there are better methods.]

    ¡°Do tell.¡±

    [I would rather not give you any motivation to keel over at the first sign of trouble.]

    ¡°You know, I can¡¯t help but think that Nuralie would be much better equipped to plan a rescue. She could make all sorts of crazy shit in preparation.¡±

    [Yes, our strengths lie in other areas, such as preparing an appropriate killing field prior to our enemy¡¯s arrival.]

    ¡°Hmm. Yeah, I think that¡¯s more your thing. I¡¯m about making ¡®wherever the party is¡¯ an appropriate killing field.¡±

    [They are synergistic.]

    I finished up with my armor, made sure the boa was well secured, and took a look at my vital stats.

    Health: 1898/1898

    HP Regen: 1282

    Stamina: 520/520

    SP Regen: 104

    Mana: 400/500 (-100 Reserved)

    MP Regen: 300 (+100 from Ambient Absorption)

    It was the first time I¡¯d taken a good look since getting Somncres back. My Fortitude and its first evolution gave me a base health regen of 378. I got another 52 from Who Needs a Cleric, and since Auradilato made me my own ally for auras and aura buffs, my Heavy Armor evolution, Standard Bearer, slapped a 21% bonus onto that. Both Somncres and my Cuirass of the Descent added another 100 each, taking me to 641. Then that number was doubled by my ring. I could go from 1 HP to full health in under ninety minutes.

    Stamina was less impressive, but it was still twice what Fortitude would grant normally because of the same evo doubling my base health regen. One hundred mana was being reserved by my Reverse Card aura, and a third of my mana regen was due to the Ambient Absorption trait I shared with Grotto. That bonus came from soaking up the Dimensional mana in the Closet, but we¡¯d throttled the mana in my section to protect mundane people from accidental mana toxicity. It could grant up to an additional 400 regen total in the right environment. Conversely, the bonus might disappear entirely, depending on the types of mana at the teleport destination.

    Satisfied with what I saw, I began walking toward my bedroom.

    ¡°What can we do to ensure there aren¡¯t any more traps hidden around?¡±

    [I can purge the furniture and structural materials contained within the mansion.]

    ¡°Geez, what a waste. Think the Ravvenblaqs will be mad? Two-thirds of it is theirs.¡±

    [I believe they are more concerned with the king and their missing family members.]

    The hallway leading to my bedroom had splatters of blood along the floor and walls. It wasn¡¯t ¡°I just dragged an eviscerated corpse down this hallway¡± bloody, more like ¡°Oh god! My jugular vein is cut and all my juices are escaping!¡± levels of bloody. There was some decent arterial spray, enough that a normal person would have been dead in a minute or two. The trail led to my bedroom, where the door was already open. I paused in front of it.

    My wardrobe was still pushed to one side, and the teleport sigil had a bloody handprint in the middle.

    ¡°Have you made contact with anyone who¡¯s missing using your PSA evolution?¡±

    [I have continued making the attempt, but have received no response.]

    ¡°What about Ealdric, Bobret, or Cera? Maybe we can see if they wound up in the right place.¡±

    [Ealdric has some method of blocking the ability. I believe it is automatic. Bobret was taken to the volcano. Cera has not responded.]

    ¡°The other Zenithars?¡±

    [They are attempting divinations to locate Zura, but have been unsuccessful.]

    ¡°Shit. Think we should try and talk to the Littans?¡±

    [It is likely unwise to bring this matter to their attention. The king of their greatest rival has gone missing, and the absence of Zenithar Zura will improve their negotiating position with Eschendur. They may view the situation as beneficial for them. At best, they will be ambivalent, at worst, they will interfere.]

    ¡°Fair point. Can we bring Nottagator with us?¡±

    [I do not think ferrying a Grade 20 Atrocidile berserker into an unknown environment will have a positive outcome. I am also uncomfortable removing creatures from the Delve for use in personal conflicts.]

    ¡°System Call? We have some rep to spend.¡±

    [What action would we request? The System will not intercede unless there is a System-related issue, or some other condition that compels it to act.] Grotto¡¯s feelers writhed as he thought for a moment. [I have been working on using my Divine skill to interact with the System in a less structured manner. If I am seeking knowledge, I can have the System place me on the best path to find that knowledge, but it is very vague guidance.]

    ¡°Can you ask where the party is?¡±

    [It would direct me towards a place where such knowledge can be obtained. One moment.] Grotto closed his eyes. I used the mana sight that Mystical Magic gave me, trying to get in the habit of exercising the skill more. Divine mana flowed through Grotto¡¯s body in an intricate pattern, but I couldn¡¯t discern anything meaningful. [Hmph. The path leads in two directions. To you, because you can summon the exit to the Littan base, or through this teleport weave.]

    ¡°That¡¯s good, right? That means the teleport goes somewhere useful.¡±

    [Those are currently the only two available means of leaving the Closet. All it indicates is that the place where such knowledge can be found is not within the Closet.]

    ¡°Fuck, man. We¡¯ve really got nothing?¡±

    [Yes, it is frustrating. I recently acquired the skill Locate Entity, but its maximum range is thirty-one miles, which covers the entirety of the Closet. The skill failed when I used it. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet. I also took a Reconnaissance evolution that allows me to mark targets and determine the distance and direction of each party member, but it returns an error. This means they are on a different plane. Everything outside the Closet is on a different plane from the Closet. Thus, I know that the party is not within the Closet.]

    ¡°Okay.¡± I sighed. ¡°At least we know they aren¡¯t hiding in the Closet. Did you ever finish that rune-matching analysis?¡±

    [I was able to determine that this weave will teleport us to one of the same places as the lounge, but could not confirm which.]

    ¡°Think Aprogar wanted to cauterize his wounds inside the heart of an active volcano? Maybe apply pressure with the weight of an entire ocean?¡±

    Grotto appeared next to me in his normal mini-c¡¯thon disguise, gripping a small roundshield in his feelers. It was still large enough to cover his entire body.

    Because the little octo shared my intrinsic skills, he was theoretically as good with Shields as I was. He didn¡¯t have the Strength to wield anything robust, but he¡¯d still get a huge defensive bonus from the skill alone, even if the shield itself was kind of lousy. Plus, if he wanted to use something bigger and badder, he had the Animate Object spell, which is why the large roundshield that once belonged to the tanky not-a-King¡¯s Guard also floated next to him.

    [I am becoming increasingly convinced that this weave was placed here not as a trap for you, but as an escape route for Aprogar.]

    ¡°Then why bother with the slow-fill mana timer thingy?¡±

    [It was enough to make Lito believe the weave was harmless for the time being and leave it alone in favor of investigating it further. It also created the impression of a trap intended for you, while distracting us from Aprogar¡¯s main objective within the lounge.]

    ¡°Another piece of the ¡®all eyes on me¡¯ ploy, eh?¡±

    [Perhaps. Or perhaps he did not foresee Ealdric being able to attack every King¡¯s Guard simultaneously and used it as an escape of convenience.]

    By this point, I realized I was stalling. The situation felt urgent, like I should be rushing through as soon as possible, but I didn¡¯t actually know if time was a critical factor. I forced myself to stay calm and continue trying to do everything I could to ensure success.

    I had Discretion selected as my free mana shape from Arcane Geometry, so shaping Explosion! to avoid allies wouldn¡¯t increase the cost. I could do a big channel before heading through, but if there were no good targets the spell would be a giant waste of mana.

    There was always Shog, but Sam¡¯lia herself had told me not to interrupt the c¡¯thon¡¯s alone time. I¡¯d only pull him out if things were really desperate.

    ¡°Maybe this weave is a trap laid by an entirely separate group, and we¡¯re about to make an unexpected three-way.¡±

    [I doubt two disconnected groups would use the same teleport coordinates.]

    ¡°Unless someone external manipulated them into it. That would be some Fortune-level shit right there.¡±

    ¡°Indeed my boy, it would be!¡± a hearty voice boomed from right beside me.

 196 - The Hippo, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

    Shortcut had me and Grotto halfway down the hall before the end of the first unexpected syllable. Gracorvus was up, Somncres was ready, and Grotto had both shields between himself and the intruder. By the time the sentence was done, I¡¯d gotten a good look at whoever had missed the bus back to Hiward.

    The rotund man who¡¯d laughed when I¡¯d revealed my status as a dimension-hopping reincarnator was looking into my bedroom, wearing a curious expression. As he studied the sigil that had been hidden behind my wardrobe, he was also looking down the hall at me with a dumb grin.

    He wore a wide straw hat, loose pants, sandals, and an open vest, exposing smooth, bare skin beneath. His eyes were too large, his mouth too wide, and he had a distinct lack of a nose. He was the size of a very wide man, rather than an elephant, but there was no doubt who I was looking at.

    ¡°Fortune,¡± I said.

    I relaxed my stance, not out of relief, but out of the knowledge that¨Cno matter how much I¡¯d grown since last running into the avatar¨Cfighting wasn¡¯t an option. The feeling was compounded by the presence of another uninvited guest, a woman who leaned against the wall across from Fortune. She stared at her nails while tapping each digit against her thumb, causing the polish to change color with every beat. She looked Hiwardian, but her unnaturally perfect features matched another avatar I knew.

    Fortune¡¯s head spun towards me, followed by the rest of his body, revealing another face that peered into the bedroom with a scowl. He threw his arms wide and smiled until his face was nearly split.

    ¡°Arlo!¡± he said. ¡°Greetings and salutations, child. I trust you¡¯ve been doing well?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d already know if you ever wrote,¡± said his right face.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said his left. ¡°I never gave you my address.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been better,¡± I said. Grotto slowly floated behind me, his shields still raised. I didn¡¯t know exactly how Grotto¡¯s sight worked, but I knew his c¡¯thonic eyes were decorative. He could still see down the hallway, even with two shields and an Arlo between him and the other side. ¡°I¡¯ve been dealing with a lot of impolite house guests.¡±

    Fortune dropped his arms and shook his head.

    ¡°Bad manners,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s a sign of the times, I fear.¡±

    ¡°Is that your excuse for trespassing?¡±

    ¡°I go where I want,¡± said Right.

    ¡°It is!¡± said Fortune. ¡°As much as I¡¯d prefer to let you carry on your merry way with as little interference as possible, there are matters afoot that require a small amount of direct intervention.¡±

    I pushed down a wave of irritation, grappling with my complex feelings toward the avatar. On the one hand, the ring he¡¯d given me was way too strong for a Level 0 item with no stat requirements, and the Traveler¡¯s Amulet was an unqualified cheat. Those, plus his divine intervention at the time of my first death meant that he was a major factor in my current status as a living being and my ongoing ability to maintain that alive-ness. Without him, I¡¯d be dead; without his patronage, I¡¯d be much weaker.

    On the other hand, he was an infuriating know-it-all meddler who¡¯d stabbed me in the back and let Anesis loose from her prison. I was worried that he was manipulating my actions through a backdoor soul connection, and his presence confirmed at least one of Leon¡¯s concerns about me, which was intolerable.

    I ignored that last bit. Starting to think of Lord Heronwyte as a person with reasonable opinions wouldn¡¯t do me any good in the current situation.

    ¡°To what do I owe the unexpected visit?¡± I asked. ¡°Does your ¡®direct intervention¡¯ involve kidnapping my party members?¡±

    ¡°Oh, goodness, no,¡± said Fortune. ¡°Not in the sense that you¡¯re implying. No, the kidnappability of your party is a point of minor concern¨Cit¡¯s practically a habit by now¨Cbut I prefer more subtlety.¡± He waved at the bedroom. ¡°All of this is quite crude. It¡¯s no mess of my making, I swear it upon the saints themselves.¡±

    I furrowed my brow, wrestling with the theological implications of that statement. ¡°Which saints?¡±

    ¡°Good question,¡± he said, rubbing his chin. ¡°Most of them, I should think.¡±

    ¡°Not the saints of Hell,¡± said Right. ¡°They¡¯re too needy.¡±

    ¡°Uh, which hell?¡±

    ¡°There is only one true Hell, my boy,¡± said Fortune. ¡°You¡¯ll figure that out if you live long enough.¡±

    ¡°Does any of that mean anything to you?¡± I thought to Grotto.

    [Nothing actionable.]

    That sounded like fertile ground for a later discussion.

    ¡°If you aren¡¯t the reason for all the traps and kidnapping, then why are you here? I don¡¯t have time for games.¡±

    ¡°Arlo, my boy,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no reason to be antagonistic.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re being ungrateful,¡± said Right. ¡°After everything we¡¯ve done for you.¡±

    ¡°Some of it was tough love, though,¡± said Left. ¡°It¡¯s understandable you¡¯d be upset.¡±

    ¡°Understandable?¡± I said. ¡°You let Anesis escape and murder an entire city! Also, did you miss the part about trespassing?¡±

    ¡°If I had left Anesis where I¡¯d found her, you would be dead,¡± said Fortune, still grinning. ¡°More avatars would have escaped from The Cage, and they would have crushed Hiward beneath their clumsy feet. Instead, you survived and even managed to destroy a fragment of Orexis¡¯s soul.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°So it¡¯s the lesser of two evils? I¡¯ve never found that argument very convincing.¡±

    ¡°Self-deception is unbecoming of you,¡± said Fortune. ¡°But I am not here to argue over morality. What¡¯s done is done. If you want to thwart my cold utilitarianism in the future, you are welcome to try.¡± His grin transformed into an infuriating smirk. ¡°Now, on to business. I am here for three reasons. First, my good friend needed directions to your house.¡±

    Fortune gestured at the woman. Her eyebrows rose and her mouth tightened, looking like she disagreed with that characterization, knew that Fortune intentionally chose a misleading description, and that she was absolutely done with his fuckery, but there was nothing she could do or say to change it.

    The woman pushed off the wall and stood up to her full height, then kept standing up, until she was towering over Fortune and brushed the top of the ten-foot-high ceiling. Her skin and hair darkened, and her shadow became a mass of twisted, grasping hands.

    ¡°You paid me to come,¡± said Avarice. ¡°And you aren¡¯t the type to make friends, Fortune. Friendship requires trust, an attribute you implicitly lack and fail to engender in others.¡±

    ¡°Beset by criticism on all sides,¡± said Fortune. ¡°You speak as though I am some kind of cheat. I always keep my promises.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you seldom make them,¡± Avarice shot back. ¡°And why I always insist on a contract.¡±

    ¡°Avarice,¡± said Left, ¡°we shouldn¡¯t argue in front of the kids.¡±

    ¡°The Delve Core is hardly a child,¡± she said. ¡°It is older than either of us.¡±

    ¡°Spill your own secrets,¡± said Right, his tone dangerous. ¡°You do not know my age, and you will not pretend that you do.¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t productive,¡± said Left.

    ¡°You may take issue with my methods,¡± said Fortune. ¡°But you cannot argue that I am a poor acquaintance to have. I never fail to deliver something you need.¡±

    ¡°Our association has been profitable enough that I ¡®trust¡¯ you will continue to be a reliable client.¡± Right scowled, and Avarice raised a hand in a placating gesture. ¡°Such has been proven true once again. I only feel that it is important for Arlo to have a proper understanding of our relationship. Do not mislead him, and I will not feel the need to issue a correction.¡±

    As the pair bickered, their souls flared. The myriad little faces of Fortune¡¯s soul bit down on the gemstone edges of Avarice¡¯s own, which cut away at their mouths with razor edges. Bright sparks and flashes threatened to overwhelm my Soul-Sight as they annihilated tiny pieces of one another. It looked spiritually painful for them to be in each other¡¯s presence, and the waves of power that rippled out from each burst told me that getting caught up in it would mean my swift and unpleasant end.

    I became doubly concerned over the reasons they were here. What was important enough for them to suffer in one another¡¯s presence?

    I was shaken from my thoughts when Avarice turned the force of her attention onto me. She was making an effort to keep her mere existence from sapping my free will, but all that left was an overwhelming feeling of cold calculation.

    ¡°Normally, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it for me to come down here,¡± said Avarice. ¡°If it¡¯s any comfort, I didn¡¯t know where Fortune was bringing me until we arrived.¡±

    ¡°Why the cloak and dagger?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She would not have believed the trouble you are in without seeing it for herself,¡± said Fortune. ¡°As she so nobly pointed out, a contract was necessary, and so I bought one.¡± He gave me another face-cleaving smile. ¡°Once that was done, she was bound to follow me, and there was no reason to spoil the surprise.¡±

    That sort of pettiness probably went a long way toward explaining Avarice¡¯s frustrations with the noseless avatar.

    ¡°And why did you buy her cooperation?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s so important that it takes both of you to deal with it?¡±

    ¡°There is no cooperation,¡± said Avarice. ¡°The contract only required me to follow Fortune. Once we arrived, my obligations were satisfied. Now that I am here, I find it worthwhile to protect my investment, which I suspect is why he was willing to barter in the first place. He knew I wouldn¡¯t want to leave once I saw the state of thngs.¡±

    ¡°Investment?¡± I said. It took me a moment to understand that she was talking about me. I owed her a few answers.

    ¡°This brings us to the second reason I am here,¡± said Fortune. ¡°Which is to delay you from taking that teleport.¡±

    ¡°Unless you physically stop me, I¡¯m not going to wait for long.¡±

    ¡°Just a moment,¡± he said, pointing up and looking toward the ceiling. ¡°Aaaaand, there it is.¡±

    A wave of insight tore through me as the true name of The Dread Star of Heaven pierced my mind. I staggered back, overwhelmed by the weight of the word dropping onto my brain like a thousand-pound bowling ball.

    The cooldown on Divine Favor of JuRoQi, The Dread Star of Heaven has ended.

    I blinked away the sensation, recovering from the name burning its way into me. I checked the skill, seeing that exactly seven days had passed since I used it to ask Avarice¡¯s first question.

    ¡°Shit,¡± I said, then looked at Avarice. ¡°Are you here for your second question? This isn¡¯t great timing.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I am still digesting the last answer I received. It would be premature to ask another.¡±

    ¡°Okay, so what does ¡®protecting your investment¡¯ mean?¡±

    ¡°It means encouraging you to stay here,¡± she said. ¡°You cannot pay your debts if you are dead.¡±

    ¡°Like I said, unless you stop me, I¡¯m taking that teleport. If you have another way to get my party members back, I¡¯m listening.¡±

    ¡°They may already be dead,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°They aren¡¯t. They still show on my interface with full health, and my aura still reaches them. I can¡¯t get any other feedback from it, but I know they¡¯re alive.¡±

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Fortune. ¡°That¡¯s curious.¡±

    ¡°If you stay here, I will ensure your safety,¡± said Avarice. ¡°Better that one of you survives.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what the danger is?¡± I asked. ¡°Or do you plan on leaving me in the dark?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know anything for certain, but you are not equipped to deal with whatever is happening here.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that, either,¡± I said.

    ¡°It is a foolish risk.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s what we¡¯re all about. I wouldn¡¯t have met you, otherwise.¡± Avarice frowned. ¡°Listen, you can mind fuck just about anything, right? If you want to make sure I live, then come with me. I¡¯m not staying here unless you force me.¡±

    Avarice reached up and rubbed at her temples.

    ¡°That is, perhaps, the most crass way anyone has ever requested my aid,¡± she said. ¡°And I am not going to force you to do anything. I thought I¡¯d made that clear when we last met.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ll come?¡±

    ¡°I am not immune to the dangers in this world,¡± she said. ¡°You are one of the very few who has seen that first hand. I will not travel into the unknown, even if it means losing something precious. My business involves a degree of risk, but risk is not my business.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°This has been fun, you two, but you won¡¯t convince me to abandon my allies. Feel free to show yourselves out.¡±

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Avarice, closing the distance between us in two steps. She bent down and placed a hand on my shoulder, gazing into me. ¡°Witness.¡±

    Any pretense that Avarice was human disappeared, and her soul reached out to skewer my own.

    She showed me her true self.

 197 - Whatâ€™re Ya Buyinâ€™?

    Avarice¡¯s soul cut into mine like a precision scalpel. At first, I thought she¡¯d gone back on her word, that she was planning to turn me into some kind of Dread Star Q&A slave, but the soul connection didn¡¯t feel like an attack. It was closer to what Grotto and I shared, or how I connected to others using Reveal, although the way Avarice formed the bridge was a lot rougher. The pain was sharp and bright, but brief.

    Avarice ignored anything she might find through the soul bond, using it only for the transcendental communication it granted. She delivered a look behind her mask, inviting me to see what she was, without the prejudice of anthropomorphism. The pareidolia that she encouraged was stripped away.

    Avarice¡¯s features were painted on, a presentation for my benefit, an act at being bound by the weakness of flesh. She had human senses, but only because it served her to know how we experienced the world. Her tongue could taste but had no desire for flavor, her nose could smell but found no comfort in a familiar scent, her eyes processed light but it was the least of the ways she could see. Her body was an inanimate thing, a doll created to trick and deceive, puppeted by something unearthly, piloted toward a singular goal.

    Her pupils dilated, and through them, I beheld a squirming mass of desire. Avarice was an insatiable need, the compulsion to own more tomorrow than she did today. Even that was too weak a description. She was a function, an inevitable product of divine physics, executing its own program through an intelligence that held no concept of empathy or remorse.

    Mortal principles meant nothing to her. She could not be anticipated through morality or emotion. She was strange and unknowable, and yet she was more predictable than any person. She sought one thing, and all else was subordinate, every decision a step toward satisfying her craving.

    She let go of my shoulder and straightened. I took a shaky breath. Between the Dread Star¡¯s name and the sight of Avarice unmasked, it felt like a nest of hornets had made their home inside my skull. But Avarice wasn¡¯t finished. The tendrils of her soul remained, exposing the logic of her physicality.

    Avarice ran the fingers of one hand through her hair, where it shifted from black to candy apple red at her touch. The casual action evoked a sense of humanity, drawing me back into her simulation of mortality. It was also a contradiction, an impossible action for anyone mundane. It signaled her power, her ability to adapt, the ineffability of what she was, the ease with which she invented rules to bind her and then violated them all the same.

    She watched me as she made the motion, reading my reaction to it, monitoring my response to the different shades, finding my preference, and learning to exploit what I favored to draw out the performance she needed from me. I was a puzzle box, with hidden riches inside, a windup soldier she could send out to seize the spoils she wanted. She showed me all of this, knowing that I detested manipulation, and that the transparency was itself a manipulation. Every inch of her bipedal form was deception, and she couldn¡¯t have been more honest about it.

    When she stepped, each muscle and bone moved with intention. A tuft of her hair fluttered, caught by her breath. But there was no air, no true exhalation. She directed the strands individually, willing them to act in concert with her body, drawing my eyes toward them and distracting me from her shadow.

    Her control was absolute, her body without reflex or muscle memory. The tendon along her neck, the pores on her wrist, they were each a decision, made to appeal to me, constantly shifting to stimulate a response, then shifting when new data was gathered. Even the sway of her dress¨C

    ¡°You can stop now,¡± I said. ¡°Pull the wool back over my eyes, please.¡±

    Avarice withdrew her soul from my own, moving so gently that it was soothing. Her hair transitioned back to black, and she shrank down to become a woman of average height. Anything unnatural disappeared, and she became the picture of an average, ordinary human.

    ¡°What the fuck was the point of that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°An attempt to improve our communication,¡± she said. ¡°And something that may marginally increase your chances of survival in the future. My persona is a convenience to facilitate our interaction, and your casual treatment of me is acceptable, but you tread deadly waters when you threaten what is mine. Part of your future belongs to me.

    ¡°To oppose an avatar¡¯s nature is like standing in the path of a landslide, arguing for it to ignore gravity. Your words are meaningless, and the safest course is to move out of its path. However, if you still wish to influence the disaster, you must work with the forces that govern it. I am uniquely suited to tolerating your flippancy since there is much you might provide me, but most avatars are not driven by goals that allow for effective future planning.

    ¡°Fortune and I are perhaps the most extreme examples of an avatar willing to delay gratification, or ignore an immediate inconvenience for a better outcome in the future. Most that I have met would grind you into paste the moment you posed the barest obstacle to their needs.¡±

    I chewed over the ways Avarice served her own interests by giving me that advice. My instinct was to distrust the guidance. Certainly, she¡¯d love for me to believe that working alongside her was the only way to affect her actions. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t true, though, and it conformed with what I already knew of avatars.

    If I understood things correctly, Avarice valued the Dread Star questions, but she valued an ongoing partnership more. She was willing to let me leave, but only to enable a potential future where I agreed to profitable trades. If she didn¡¯t believe that was likely, she¡¯d chain me to the wall and keep me as a pet until she¡¯d asked her questions, then let me fuck off on my merry way.

    It also changed how I thought about our interactions, which was her goal. Either I expressed a preference for a future where Avarice got more shit, in which case she would be helpful, or I expressed a preference for neutrality, in which case she was ambivalent. If my preference was for her to have less, then I was dead. All communication led to one of these three roads, and anything that didn¡¯t advance us down one of those paths was meaningless.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. There was no reason to say anything more.

    Avarice moved out of my way, and I walked slowly toward my bedroom. Fortune stood to the side of the door and made no move to stop me. I paused and looked him over. How would I even work with the forces that governed him? Fortune was only a moniker. I didn¡¯t actually know what he was the avatar of. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Although, did it matter? It seemed like his entire purpose was to force events in the direction he favored, and that the subjects of his manipulation know as little about it as possible. Really, the best move was probably not to think about him too hard.

    ¡°You mentioned you were here for three reasons,¡± I said. ¡°What was the third?¡±

    Fortune¡¯s smile widened until all three mouths were separated by a centimeter of skin.

    ¡°I want you to reconsider what is available to you,¡± he said. ¡°Not all tools are meant to be brandished as weapons.¡±

    My agitation grew with his delivery of cryptic ¡®wisdom¡¯. It was generic life coach shit. I half expected him to start reading my horoscope. Maybe he was the avatar of the Zodiac.

    I tempered myself, trying to imagine that I was dealing with an automated system. A computer didn¡¯t care if you were mad at it. In the same vein, neither of these entities was socially coded to receive my irritation and respond to placate me. If anything, getting frustrated could only cause damage to how they perceived me. Unless it was Fortune¡¯s goal that I get angry.

    It probably was.

    I tried to keep my tone level. ¡°Is there a reason that you¡¯re both being so vague?¡±

    ¡°I have a conditional agreement with Avarice,¡± said Fortune. ¡°When I will it, she must keep her observations to herself. She is skirting the edge of that agreement with what she has told you, but the rules were written with some ambiguity to allow for such a thing.¡±

    ¡°Then really it¡¯s only you that¡¯s being vague.¡±

    ¡°If I shone a light into the dark, it might help you to find your way,¡± he said. ¡°But when I left, you would be blinded.¡±

    I didn¡¯t buy the ¡®teach a man to fish¡¯ argument Fortune was making, but at least it was something. Perhaps he benefited by having information that others didn¡¯t. The avatar of Secrets? If I took him at face value, he might be the avatar of Growth. Improvement, maybe?

    I stopped thinking about it, since I didn¡¯t have the time, and paid attention to his first answer. He wanted me to think of a tool I¡¯d misused, but I felt pretty confident about my loadout. Of course, what Fortune considered a tool may not be something that I thought of as a tool. I glanced back at Avarice.

    If I needed a weapon, I wouldn¡¯t go into a smithy and ask the smith to fight my battle. If I needed floor cleaner, I wouldn¡¯t demand that the shopkeeper at the general store come by with a mop and do the work for me.

    I¡¯d buy what I needed.

    ¡°Say, Avarice. Got anything interesting for sale?¡±

    Avarice smiled and spread her hands.

    ¡°Only anything and everything,¡± she said. ¡°The question is, what do you need, and what do you have to trade?¡±

    I thought over what I knew about my situation. There was some mental mischief happening, as evidenced by Leon. I expected some mind magic was necessary to get the king into such a vulnerable position as well. Beyond that, the enemy¡¯s runes had been craftily hidden. I was well-equipped to handle stealth and illusion, but it obviously hadn¡¯t been enough.

    I was about as lethal as I could get for my level, so I didn¡¯t think a new weapon was the right call. I also didn¡¯t want to spend too much time shopping, when I¡¯d already been delayed for so long.

    ¡°Something for mental attacks,¡± I said. ¡°Possibly illusions as well. As for what I have to trade¡­¡± I thought it over. I had some guesses as to what Avarice valued, but I didn¡¯t want to make any assumptions. Might as well go down the list. ¡°To start, I¡¯ve got chips.¡±

    ¡°As do I,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not nothing, but you wouldn¡¯t like my conversion rate.¡±

    ¡°Poison essences?¡±

    ¡°Better,¡± she said. ¡°Not a terrible essence, but not particularly rare, either. How many?¡±

    ¡°I have 500 for trade.¡±

    ¡°That is more than I expected,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m mildly tempted, but not excited.¡±

    I listed off some other essences we had sitting around. Her reaction to those was similar. She perked up when I mentioned the metal essence, but deflated when I told her we only had one. Our excess gear had been sent with Varrin to Hiward for auction, and she was only interested in unique pieces anyway.

    ¡°I have a Reality Anchor, but I¡¯m very attached to it.¡±

    ¡°I might have some ideas for that. Anything else?¡±

    I kept perusing my inventory, then stopped and brought up my status screen.

    ¡°Not sure if I can trade it,¡± I said. ¡°But I have some System Rep.¡±

    Avarice chuckled. ¡°A Delver with System Rep, how absurd. You would be able to trade it to me if I so desired, but System Core 2 would not be happy. My relationship with Number 2 is more important than whatever the Rep might get me.¡±

    ¡°Then you have heard all that I have on offer.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± she said, then held out a hand. An orb filled with shimmering liquid appeared hovering over her palm, and six vials formed a ring slowly orbiting it. ¡°For your inspection.¡±

    I focused on the objects and pulled up their descriptions, starting with the orb.

    Tears of Tyranny

    Tyranny sees all, but none can see Tyranny.

    Six ounces of the gathered tears of the avatar of Tyranny, painstakingly collected by his enthusiastic citizens. The tears boil when exposed to air, creating a rapidly expanding cloud of invisible gas that allows Tyranny to pierce all illusions and reveal all that is hidden within its area of effect.

    The glass orb containing these tears was crafted by Tyranny¡¯s own hand, and will temporarily extend the tears¡¯ benefits to the last person who held it.

    This is a Deific effect, and cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    Take care when using this item, for the eyes of Tyranny are ever searching for its next subjects.

    ¡°Well, gosh,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re not messing around with this stuff.¡± I moved on to the vials.

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Redemption

    Gods are not normally known to bottle their sacraments, but an exceptionally pious and persuasive worshiper can work miracles.

    When consuming the contents of this vial, you acquire 5 stacks of Blessed and gain the benefits of the Sacrament of Redemption for 1 hour.

    Sacrament of Redemption

    You gain bonus Spiritual and Divine defense equal to the number Blessed stacks you possess.

    Whenever you have at least 5 Blessed and would become Mesmerized, Dominated, Feared, Berserk, Paranoid, or Psychotic, you lose half of your Blessed stacks and counter the status. If you counter the Berserk status in this way, your current Rage stacks are reduced to half your threshold. (Current threshold: 40)

    As I reviewed the text of the Holy Water, the description glitched and disappeared. New text appeared in its place.

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Favor

    Gods are not normally known to bottle their Favor, but for those who show great wisdom and mercy, miracles are known to happen.

    After consuming the contents of this vial, you become immune to all detrimental mind-affecting statuses and abilities for a number of minutes equal to your Delver level.

    This is a Deific effect, and cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    Make an offering at my temple in Connas, and if I am pleased, you will receive the Sacrament of Redemption for so long as you refrain from actions I find profane.

    The greedy one has curated an extensive collection of exotic plants. Perhaps you should offer her a cutting or two.

    I rubbed my eyes and re-read the text. We were apparently at the point in my isekai career where the endgame merchant¡¯s items were being directly upgraded by the gods themselves, complete with cheeky divine wisdom in the flavor text.

    Also, would Avarice even want cuttings from a dead Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless?

    It was dead, right?

 198 - Whatâ€™re Ya Sellinâ€™?

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡± asked Avarice.

    ¡°No, far from it,¡± I said. ¡°One moment, please.¡±

    ¡°Grotto, do we still have all the vines from the overgrown Dominion Ivy Plant?¡±

    [There has not exactly been time for raking.]

    ¡°Have you checked on them? Made sure they¡¯re still, y¡¯know, dead?¡±

    [... One moment, please.]

    Grotto disappeared. Avarice raised an eyebrow but kept silent. My familiar returned a moment later.

    [The plant appears to be quite resilient. I have assigned the lower half of the obelisk room to inventory slots. The ivy should be contained so long as it remains in stasis.]

    I brought up my inventory screen, willing it to the plant, and found two different stacks of items.

    Decaying Plant Matter (6812 lbs)

    Immature Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless x12

    I selected one of the immature plants and pulled it out, holding it up for Avarice to inspect.

    ¡°Does this interest you?¡±

    ¡°May I?¡± she asked, holding out a hand. I passed it to her. She held it up, looking it over and running her fingers across the vine¡¯s small leaves. ¡°Yes, this is quite novel. Do you have any more?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± I said. I was briefly curious why Avarice would need more than one flesh-eating ivy plant that could expand endlessly into the fourth dimension, but then I remembered who I was negotiating with. Why settle for infinite growth, when you can have infinite growth times two? ¡°I can be persuaded to part with some.¡±

    ¡°I will trade one Holy Water per plant,¡± she said.

    Infinite growth times two was amateur hour for Avarice. She didn¡¯t get out of bed for anything less than six times infinite growth. I was lucky she was even willing to deal with my impoverished self, who only possessed a low double-digit number of infinitely scalable items.

    Or maybe I was unlucky, she was robbing me blind, and presenting items blessed by Yara was a calculated play to encourage this exact scenario.

    ¡°I can make that happen,¡± I said. ¡°And the tears?¡±

    ¡°Those are much harder to come by, now that Tyranny is locked away.¡±

    She had a point. Really, since the plants could expand beyond the bounds of the perceivable universe, they weren¡¯t all that rare when their mass was averaged out across reality. The one Yara had cut out of the Closet might still be somewhere in the beyond. It would only have to consume one cosmic entity of immeasurable size to produce more cubic meters of Dominion Ivy than the number of hydrogen atoms that existed. Normal spatial measurements were kind of meaningless in this hypothetical, but it was still fun to think about.

    More fun than thinking about the godlike expression of cupidity manifested in front of me, whose only barrier to turning me into a sentient telephone was that I might produce more value in the future.

    It was also more fun than thinking about my friends and allies being tortured or killed while I did some shopping.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s your price?¡± I asked.

    Avarice twirled the plant between her fingers as she thought.

    ¡°Your party will retrieve something for me in the future.¡±

    I was hesitant to let Avarice dig her nails any further into the party.

    ¡°That¡¯s too open-ended,¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t agree to that.¡±

    ¡°I will guarantee that retrieving the item will not violate your morals, nor those of any other member of your party. Retrieving the item will also result in a great boon to your growth, and will be found in an area rich in valuable resources. You will be permitted to keep all that you find, save for the item you are sent to retrieve.¡±

    I controlled my expression as she anticipated most of my objections and laid out entirely reasonable terms to address each of them. I doubted I could hide my reactions while negotiating with her, even if I¡¯d been made of marble, so it was a pointless exercise. But it was still good practice.

    ¡°What about timing?¡±

    ¡°It will require you to defeat a significant number of Grade 30 enemies, so it shouldn¡¯t be any time soon,¡± she said. ¡°You will have a one-year deadline from the time I have deemed you capable of completing the task and notified you of such. That way, it shouldn¡¯t interfere with any of your ongoing activities. This deadline can be amended, at my reasonable discretion, if good cause is shown for delay.¡±

    I was beginning to worry she was picking language right out of my head.

    ¡°And why do you need us to get it?¡± I asked. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have a problem with a few measly Grade 30s, right?¡±

    ¡°I would not,¡± she said. ¡°However, there are some places I will not go for one reason or another.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°Are you sure you wouldn¡¯t rather have, like, 200 poison essences?¡±

    ¡°No, thank you. However, I can sweeten the deal with another orb of the tears.¡±

    I forced myself to think for a few seconds, trying to avoid making an impulse buy. A deific-grade AoE illusion-and-stealth counter was a hell of a nice thing to have in my back pocket. Having two of them? Even better. There were no stat or level limits, so it would be usable for as long as we kept it around. The only downside was that it was consumable, and with the way the orbs were constructed, it looked like each one was a single use.

    ¡°What¡¯s the range on those things? It says it¡¯s an AoE, but doesn¡¯t list a radius.¡±

    ¡°It is unknown, but very large. The exact bounds are difficult to measure, since the gas is imperceptible through most means, and it is too valuable to experiment with.¡±

    As I wrestled with the decision, Avarice clicked her tongue.

    ¡°What¡¯s something else you need?¡± she asked.

    ¡°A second brain,¡± I said, half-jokingly. Avarice might have one, who knew?

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The most immediate reason is that there¡¯s a lot to keep up with in fights.¡±

    My Intelligence and Wisdom already provided a heavy multiplier to tracking and processing my surroundings, but when a half dozen people were moving at supersonic speeds, things could still fall through the cracks.

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯m not willing to part with any of my spare brains, but I have this.¡± She produced another item.

    Focus Trinket

    Requirements: WIS 20

    You can focus on 1 additional thing at a time.

    The item was simple, but it was exceptionally useful. Focus was a keyword and channeling Explosion! required it. With the trinket, I¡¯d be able to channel Explosion! while also doing just about anything else simultaneously. That, or I could pat my head and rub my tummy. At the same time!

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So that¡¯s six immature ivy plants for the six Holy Waters, and a fetch quest for two orbs of the tears and this focus trinket.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the offer,¡± she said.

    It wasn¡¯t a difficult choice. While owing Avarice a favor would increase the number of interactions we¡¯d have with the avatar down the line¨Cwhich was dangerous¨Cit also made her more invested in keeping us alive. She was already here dishing out wisdom and making trades because she wanted to get the chance to cash in on her Dread Star questions one day. Now, the whole party would be involved with helping her retrieve something that was presumably a lot more valuable than two deific-grade consumables. That disincentivized killing us and incentivized providing us with some level of aid, so long as the expense didn¡¯t outpace the potential profit.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take it,¡± I said. ¡°Hopefully, no one in the party is too mad about this.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they won¡¯t complain once you¡¯ve saved their lives.¡±

    We didn¡¯t shake on the deal. Instead, Avarice snapped her fingers, and five more of the plants disappeared from my inventory, while the vials and orbs stored themselves away on a dedicated page. I also felt a weight settle on my soul, as the contract to carry out Avarice¡¯s task took hold.

    With our business done, I turned back toward my bedroom, finding that Fortune had vanished. Turning around again, Avarice was gone as well.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, slapping on my bascinet. ¡°Next stop, nobody knows.¡±

    I placed one of the Holy Waters in my mouth, vial and all, and held it between my molars, ready to bite down the moment we arrived. I walked up to the teleport sigil with Grotto at my side, and fed it Dimensional mana until it activated.

    Pop!

    The thing about teleports¡­ is that they¡¯re weird.

    Usually, a teleport felt instantaneous, regardless of the distance traveled. When we¡¯d left Deijin¡¯s Descent on the moon, we were back in the Littan fortress in the blink of an eye. That was a non-trivial distance when measured at the speed of light, and a quick trip from the moon to Arzia while moving at the universal physical constant of c should have taken about one second.

    Either our trip had been faster than light¨Cwhich would have implications¨Cor our subjective experience was affected by moving at relativistic speeds. That is, it felt shorter for us because we were going really honkin¡¯ fast.

    Now, which was it? I didn¡¯t know. It wouldn¡¯t have surprised me if it had been FTL travel, and I honestly had no good way of knowing whether the underlying physics of Arzia¡¯s universe were a match to the physics of Earth¡¯s universe. Teleports weren¡¯t even the only magic the party had access to that might operate at faster-than-light speeds.

    Grotto¡¯s PSA evolution allowed him to communicate with anyone he¡¯d ever met ¡°across any distance as though [he] were standing next to them.¡± What if they were on the other side of the universe? In another dimension?

    ¡°Hey, Grotto. Are you able to use your PSA ability to speak with Shog?¡±

    [Yes. However, I believe there are other things that should concern us at the moment.]

    ¡°Like the purgatorial void we¡¯re currently trapped within? Eh, I¡¯m kind of over it.¡±

    Teleports didn¡¯t always feel instant. The portal into The Cage had been a rollercoaster, as had the portal into Deijin¡¯s Descent. In both of those cases, an external entity had been interfering with the portal¡¯s normal function. The Delve Core, Cage, had nearly killed us by trying to collapse the portal while we were midstream, and the Dread Star had also nearly killed us by pulling us over for a quick peek-a-boo. I only had a couple of data points, but it seemed like teleports with experienced travel time were dangerous and unhappy occurrences.

    We were currently experiencing a portal with substantial travel time. The world was pure black, and the only part of myself that I could see was my soul.

    ¡°So there are a few types of portals that I''ve noticed, and they all act a bit differently.¡±

    [Is this line of thought likely to improve our current circumstances?]

    ¡°No idea. Anyway, there¡¯s straight teleportation, like what we just used, where you cast a spell or activate a weave and it hits you with a teleport. Single instance, limited targets, one-directional migration.¡±

    [Indeed.]

    ¡°Then there¡¯s stable portals that you touch. Those are permanent and usually have a portal at point A and point B, but not always. They¡¯re similar to teleportation since they instantly transfer you to somewhere else. Slap the portal, and you disappear.¡±

    [Correct.]

    ¡°Then there are stable portals that you walk through, like the entrance to the Closet. Those are more like bridges that connect two spaces. There¡¯s no teleportation at all.¡±

    [Yes.]

    ¡°Alright. But why, though?¡±

    [Your question is too imprecise to merit a response.]

    ¡°Why is the Closet a walk-through portal, when most other portals I interact with are touch or spell-based?¡±

    [Single-use teleportation is the most efficient for moving a small number of entities over a vast distance but requires frequent reconstruction and adjustment. A permanent portal node allows for additional stability when bound to a specific location with a Reality Anchor and reduces the chances of a user error. They operate on similar principles as the teleport weave we just activated but are significantly more advanced.

    [Tunnel or bridge-type portals primarily involve creating access to a location that is not spatially distant, but which is normally inaccessible, regardless of proximity.]

    ¡°Then the Closet isn¡¯t in some weird, far-off location. It¡¯s always close to me, but normally unreachable?¡±

    [I am not wholly aware of the specific mechanics that govern the Closet, but I believe it is a demi-plane anchored to your soul. The entrance is always exactly where you are. While inside, the exit becomes temporarily bound to the last physical location you occupied as you opened the main entrance. It is normally inaccessible because it extrudes from the ¡®edges¡¯ of the physical universe, connected to your location via a singular point that acts as a tether.]

    ¡°Okay. Then if you have a single-use teleport weave built inside the Closet, you¡¯re essentially teleporting someone from a location that¡¯s very close to the Littan fortress in Eschendur. That¡¯s the last place I opened the primary entrance.¡±

    [Your assessment is overly simplistic, but I agree with it in principle. The Closet is, technically, closer to the Littan fortress than anywhere else on Arzia at the present moment. The next ¡®closest¡¯ locations would be your Checkpoint destinations.]

    ¡°Then let¡¯s say I¡¯m inside the Closet, and take a teleport to a location outside of the Closet. I do this through some means other than my own portals, such as the weave we just used.¡±

    [Very well.]

    ¡°That teleport would take me outside of the Closet.¡±

    [Yes, as you said.]

    ¡°Once I¡¯m outside of the Closet, the entrance to the Closet begins to move with me.¡±

    [It may retain some connection to its previously bound location until the entrance is used again. Perhaps via a similar method as one of your Checkpoints¡­ Still, if the entrance is tethered to your soul, then it would always be ¡®closest¡¯ to wherever you are while outside of the Closet.]

    ¡°Does the teleport weave take a snapshot of my current location when I activate it? Or does it serve as an ongoing anchor for the duration of the portal travel?¡±

    Grotto considered that for a moment.

    [You believe that we are stuck in a feedback loop, wherein the origin weave is continually moving along with us since it is inside the Closet, and unable to properly connect with the endpoint weave because its location is constantly changing?]

    ¡°Not only is the weave¡¯s origin location constantly changing relative to the endpoint, but its relative proximity to me is remaining constant.¡±

    [I do not believe that would be a problem. Advanced portal theory addresses many potential pitfalls of teleportation magicks, including ones such as you are proposing. Any half-competent teleportation weave should compensate for these kinds of variables.]

    ¡°Right. But what if it wasn¡¯t a half-competent teleportation weave? What if it was, for example, a hastily constructed teleportation weave put into place by a hostile actor with a rudimentary understanding of how the Closet functions?

    ¡°And, what if this¨Ccompletely hypothetical¨Chostile actor even designed the weave to intentionally fail under a variety of circumstances, such as those that are typically safeguarded against?¡±

    [That¡­ is potentially a concern.]

    ¡°What if I opened the Closet right now?¡±

    [I cannot predict how that would interact with our current situation, but I doubt that it would be beneficial.]

    ¡°How about I¨C¡±

    [Just wait. Do not touch anything.]

    There¡­ wasn¡¯t anything to touch.

    I tried to look over at Grotto but was met with more absolute darkness. Either light did not exist here, or my eyeballs could no longer perceive it. I could just barely make out the edges of Grotto¡¯s soul. It stretched out into an endless line either behind or ahead of us. There were no indicators as to which direction we were traveling, or if we were even moving at all.

    Several minutes went by, and I could feel Grotto beginning to seethe through our connection.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    [What an infuriating creature. I am amazed his diminutive frame can support a head that large.]

    ¡°Uhh¡­ talking to Umi-Doo?¡±

    [Yes. Getting his assistance was like neutering a ghost. Cold, evasive, and with a great deal more wailing than necessary.]

    ¡°What an oddly specific simile. Did he have a solution?¡±

    [He spent most of the time calling us stupid in seventeen unique ways and in six different languages.]

    ¡°Sounds needlessly repetitive.¡±

    [Each one was more creative than the last!]

    ¡°Still rude, though.¡±

    [His suggestion is that we turn it off and back on again. After that, he terminated the connection.]

    ¡°The Director of Central just gave you basic IT hotline advice?¡±

    [I could dive into your mind to acquire the context for what you just said, but I won¡¯t. He believes the intervention of another teleportation function will interrupt the looping coordinate failure and force the weave to recalibrate itself.]

    ¡°He wants me to use Shortcut? Does it matter how far I go?¡±

    [He did not say.]

    ¡°Will that¡­ break anything? What happens when you teleport while already teleporting?¡±

    [I imagine it varies. We may not even be moving, but rather oscillating in and out of some intermediary between the physical plane and the nonspace where the Closet has demanifested.]

    ¡°Hmm. We¡¯ll start small, then. If it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll ramp up. I¡¯d rather not have the spell on cooldown from making a big jump. Or accidentally scatter my atoms across the solar system.¡±

    [I wonder if that would destroy the Littan fortress, or if the blast would be contained elsewhere¡­]

    I picked a random point 160 feet away and cast Shortcut.

    I appeared behind myself, an instant before I cast Shortcut and appeared behind myself, an instant before I cast Shortcut and appeared behind myself. I turned to find myself turning to find myself. There was still no light, but my soul was a streak across the darkness, compounding and folding an exponentially growing number of times as more of me continued to teleport ahead and appear from behind.

    There was a blinding light, a flash of atomic fire, and then¡­

    Pop!

    I landed on my feet, the smell of ozone wafting off my beard. I felt a tentacle wrap around my shoulder as Grotto stabilized himself. The new space was also pitch black, but my darkvision allowed me to make out vague outlines in the distance. There was some light bouncing around, but not much.

    I bit down on the vial of Holy Water and checked my status while I spat out the glass. I hadn¡¯t lost any health, despite the scorching heat at the end of¡­ whatever had happened. I tried not to think about it.

    You have resisted Dominate!

    You have resisted Mesmerize!

    You have resisted Paranoia!

    You have resisted Psychosis!

    The messages continued to repeat, as something in the dark made a dozen mental attacks against me every second. It was like an entire army of controllers were hiding just out of sight. The room was deathly silent, except for one sound.

    A single pair of boots slowly clomped toward me.

 199 - Time to Meet Our Host

    Something about the darkness was magical. Despite seeing a shadowy figure approaching, they never came into focus, even after coming to a stop only twenty feet away. Their soul was obscured, making it impossible to get a read on their strength.

    Given that I was still being bombarded by mental attacks, I assumed it was high. The Holy Water was the only reason I was still in control of myself.

    Good purchase, that one.

    The person in the dark spoke, but their voice was strange. It was low and gravelly but sounded like they intentionally pitched down and forced the aged rumble. It was sort of like a woman pretending to be a man, or a young man pretending to be an old veteran. It was hard to pin down.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d follow me,¡± they said. ¡°But I¡¯m pleased that you did.¡±

    Another few heavy footfalls, and I was finally able to make out the edges of their form. They looked like a man, well-built and wearing close-fitting armor. His face was hidden, but his head looked too large. He must have been wearing a helmet that was oversized compared to his other gear.

    ¡°With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?¡± I asked. I definitely didn¡¯t recognize the voice.

    ¡°Do not toy around with me, Arlo,¡± they said. ¡°Who did you believe you were chasing through that portal?¡±

    I furrowed my brow. Was Aprogar pretending to be a young teen pretending to be an older man? That didn¡¯t make sense.

    Two more heavy steps brought the person within a dozen feet. They wore a tabard with the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s crest. They were the right height and build to be Aprogar. Their face was still obscured, but I could make out a well-kept beard. The man took another step forward. I could finally see their face clearly. They¡­

    They were a fucking muppet.

    The ¡®head¡¯ was some sort of mask. It was an oversized felt caricature of Aprogar, with an exaggerated frown and brows tilted at a severe angle. They cocked their upper body to one side inquisitively, and their pupils clattered around.

    They had damned googly eyes!

    Did the King¡¯s Guard have a mascot? Because I was talking to a straight-up mascot. Even their hands were large felt gloves, and their boots were size twenty-five at the least.

    ¡°When Deletar¡¯s inventory returned to the family vault,¡± said the muppet, ¡°I knew they¡¯d finally been killed. Years of wondering what had happened, years of trying to accept that he was gone.¡± The muppet raised an awkward fist, shaking it in the air as they leaned back. Their fingers didn¡¯t quite fold in properly, their tips flattening and sticking out against their palm. Their voice quivered with all the heat of a high-school theater kid, taking things several notches past believable. ¡°I never realized the wound was still so raw!¡±

    ¡°Uh, I killed a bug,¡± I said. ¡°Not Aprogar¡¯s son. Also¨C¡±

    ¡°Is that all he was to you?!¡± shouted the muppet, slapping a hand over their heart. It made a soft thump. The armor was painted cloth. ¡°He was an insect to be squashed?!¡±

    ¡°No, um, he¡¯d literally been turned into an insect monster.¡±

    ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± I thought to Grotto.

    [Seeing what? I see Aprogar claiming you murdered his child.]

    ¡°Aprogar? No, he¡¯s¨C¡±

    It dawned on me what was happening. I glanced at Grotto, then back to the muppet.

    ¡°Wait,¡± I said, pointing my hammer at the mascot. ¡°Were you wearing that the whole time?!¡±

    They placed their hands on their hips and looked down at their clothes. They had to bend at the waist since the head was too large. There wasn¡¯t really a neck. They popped back up and huffed.

    ¡°You dare insult the King¡¯s Guard¡¯s regalia?¡± the muppet said, affronted. ¡°These garments were crafted by my wife! She is a well-known tailor! Her talents are in high demand!¡±

    ¡°Not the clothes! I mean, yes, the clothes as well, but your fucking face, man! Did¡­ did no one notice?¡±

    The muppet reached up and slapped a plush hand onto their fuzzy face, then ran it over their fluffy beard. The googly eyes rattled.

    ¡°What about my face?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    ¡°Yes, really. What about my face?¡±

    ¡°You''re a muppet, my dude.¡±

    ¡°What is a¡­ ¡®muppet¡¯?¡±

    ¡°A big fuzzy fake person! A mascot! A guy in a costume!¡± I paused. ¡°If you were an animal, it¡¯d be called a fursuit.¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± they said in a higher, slightly more feminine voice. It was still pretty low for a woman and had a bit of roughness to it. It wasn¡¯t enough to enable any assumptions about their biology. ¡°I was having fun with this one.¡±

    They pulled off their gloves, revealing hands with long, slender fingers and a different pattern painted onto each nail. They reached up and pulled off the mascot''s head.

    The face that was revealed had bright white skin with a metallic sheen. Their lips were full and bright blue, and a web of cobalt veins spread out from the lips across their lower face.

    Their eyes were like rippling pools of mercury, surrounded by a riot of color, with one sporting a large, green circle in place of a pupil, while the other held a small and stop-sign-red dot.

    Their hair flowed like a drop of navy ink falling into crystal-clear waters.

    Their features were delicate, but their jaw was sharp and defined. Their eyes were large and marked by long, dark lashes, but their forehead was wide, with a widow¡¯s peak that hinted at the first signs of a receding hairline. Did they have a hint of stubble, or was that just their makeup?

    Was it makeup?

    They placed a hand on one hip and ran a thumb along their lower lip. They pressed in, pulling the lip down and revealing dark silver teeth set into dark-blue gums.

    They threw their arms into the air with enough force to do a little hop.

    ¡°You caught me!¡± they said with a full-toothed smile. The veins around their mouth curled into spirals, then uncurled and swept in the opposite direction to curl in again. They held their arms out like a ballerina and did a quick pirouette, gliding across the floor and stopping just in front of my raised shield, wrists held out to me.

    They were wearing a pair of handcuffs.

    ¡°Are you¡­ going to arrest me?¡± they asked, looking up at me with sultry eyes. They were a head shorter than I was.

    ¡°Will you come along quietly?¡±

    They stepped closer, running a finger along the top of my shield. ¡°No,¡± they said. ¡°I¡¯m a screamer.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well, I¡¯m just here to get my friends back.¡±

    ¡°I can be your friend.¡±

    ¡°Did you kidnap my party members?¡±

    They drummed their nails against Gracorvus. One of them had a classic yellow smiley face. Another had a severed head in a smear of blood, with x¡¯s over its eyes.

    ¡°That depends,¡± they said.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°On what?¡±

    ¡°Whether you¡¯re my friend.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know who you are.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Hysteria! Now are we friends?¡±

    ¡°Would you happen to be an avatar, Hysteria?¡±

    They gasped. ¡°I am!¡±

    ¡°Well, we only just met.¡±

    ¡°That means we aren¡¯t friends?¡±

    As much as I was tempted to say that we were friends, I tried not to make friends with crazy. Not too many, anyway. Okay, it wasn¡¯t really a barrier to friendship but this seemed like the wrong flavor of crazy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so?¡±

    ¡°Oh, then I didn¡¯t kidnap your party members.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ good. Why did it matter if we were friends?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t lie to my friends.¡± Hysteria¡¯s eyes went wide and they cartwheeled away. When they stopped, the King¡¯s Guard costume was gone, replaced with a tightly fitting ringmaster¡¯s outfit, complete with long coattails and high-rise boots. Instead of slacks, they wore a mini skirt and sparkling fishnets. The front of the outfit dipped low, with a corset-style midsection. They had wide hips, but no obvious bust.

    I felt like I was at a circus-themed drag show.

    Hysteria reached up and clapped their hands. A loud clack sounded in time with the clap, and a bright spotlight shone down onto them from above. I squinted at the sudden light, which only served to illuminate Hysteria while making the rest of the room even darker.

    ¡°Master Esquire Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Esquire!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°May I call you Meax¡¯de?¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°You unraveled my dastardly plot to abscond with¨C¡± They took a deep breath. ¡°¨CHis Royal Highness King Filix ¡®God-Step¡¯ Celeritia, Sole Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hiward, Defender of the Realm, and Hero of the War of Rebellion, long may he reign!

    ¡°But! Your keen intellect was ever so slightly too slow! I escaped, stealing away the king, your dearest friends, and a bunch of other people no one cares about. Also, Zura, who is kind of important, I guess.¡±

    Hysteria spun and produced a baton, which they pointed up at the sky.

    ¡°Realizing the dangers of my deceit, you brought to heel three of Hiward¡¯s most powerful defenders, sending them through a mysterious portal in pursuit of me! Alas, all three failed to reach my lair!

    ¡°Now, Patriarch Bobret Duckgrien struggles to climb from the deepest depths of a Mittan volcano, his every move challenged by a vicious swarm of inextinguishable fire elementals. Patriarch Ealdric Ravvenblaq battles a leviathan in the world¡¯s deepest trench! And Matriach Cera Duckgrien has been sent to space!¡±

    Hysteria spun and twirled the baton, throwing it into the air and catching it behind their back to twirl it around in front again. ¡°Bitch didn¡¯t see fucking space coming,¡± they said. ¡°Will she survive reentry? Does anyone give a shit? I don¡¯t!¡±

    Hysteria tucked the baton beneath one arm and clapped again. There was another clack as a spotlight hit me as well.

    ¡°Now, our intrepid hero has taken it upon himself to rescue his allies! He bravely traversed a sea of time and space. He¨C¡±

    Hysteria paused and looked at me, then stepped out of the spotlight and disappeared. I heard a sniffing sound behind me and turned to see Hysteria smelling my neck. They winked and darted away before I could turn completely, reappearing in the spotlight in a single step.

    ¡°The hero called upon the heavens to protect him from my outrageous sex appeal, shielding him from my charm and¨C¡± They clapped themselves on the booty. ¡°¨Cthe mind-warping effects of my tight ass!¡±

    You have resisted Dominate!

    You have resisted Mesmerize!

    You have resisted Paranoia!

    You have resisted Psychosis!

    ¡°With the gods at his back and the System at his side, our hero has arrived to challenge me for the lives of those he holds closest to his heart!¡±

    Hysteria pointed the baton into the dark, and another clack revealed a perfect replica of my lounge, with one wall cut away like it was the setting for a stage play.

    King Celeritia was sitting on the couch, chatting with Ejta who sat beside him. Zura and the Eschens stood by the bar, having a few drinks and conversing with Xim and Nuralie, while Varrin and Riona each occupied a lounge chair, paying close attention to the rest.

    Hysteria tossed the baton to one side, and it disappeared into the dark without a sound. They raised their hands and bent their fingers into claws, darkness rising through their outfit and staining it black.

    ¡°Our hero may have overcome near-impossible odds to reach my fiendish abode!¡± Hysteria shouted, voice rising to a crescendo. ¡°Regrettably, he is but a single, lowly Level 12 Delver, who can¡¯t do shit to me! How will he overcome?!¡±

    A ring of runes burst to life at my feet, and I felt a wave of mana swelling to fill them.

    I reached out to the dark, trying to find a place to use Shortcut, but everything cloaked in shadow felt like solid stone to my senses.

    I teleported to Hysteria instead.

    When I appeared, Hysteria was gone. I turned to see the avatar standing in the ring of runes, looking down at them curiously with a hand on their chin. They caught me looking, gave a wave, and then dipped into a flourishing bow. The runes faded away, then sprang to life at my feet.

    ¡°Shit.¡±

    I swapped tactics, focusing on the flow of mana through the runes. I found a spot where the mana condensed and began to move from the outer ring inward toward the next. I did a quick spin, finding three more connecting points, then threw Somncres at full force. I split the hammer three times, using its new third effect to guide each one to a different target.

    They crashed into the ground with a wrenching noise, tearing through a thin layer of metal but failing to penetrate any further. I realized the floor was covered in weave-enhancing Madrin. Whatever was beneath it had similar properties to the outside edges of the Closet, refusing to yield to the supersonic attack.

    The runes squirmed and slid across the torn metal, reforming the connection just beyond the damage.

    ¡°That¡¯s new,¡± I muttered. ¡°Plan C.¡±

    I locked eyes onto the outer ring, looking for the source of the mana leading into the runes. Like the weave in my bedroom, no chips were powering the magic, relying on an outside source. A thick thread of mana ran off into the dark, and when I focused on the origin point, I could make out hundreds more runes that hovered and swam in the air.

    A hint of gold flickered. There was another Delver out there.

    I fixed on the point using Shortcut, finding a small sphere of empty space that the darkness didn¡¯t block. I teleported to the mystery person and didn¡¯t ask any questions.

    I threw Somncres point blank, layering on Oblivion Orb and copying the hammer four times. In the split second it took me to throw, I got a better look at the figure.

    They had dark skin and leathery wings. Their body was shrouded in several layers of gossamer fabric that hung in the air like a massive, ethereal wedding veil. Each layer of fabric was covered in runes that shifted and moved, rearranging into new patterns every second.

    A wall of metal appeared in front of the winged form, and a rapid series of deafening clangs sounded as my hammers collided with it. The veil behind lit up as the runes snapped into a defensive formation, and the outer layer of fabric disintegrated.

    Block bypassed, first defensive ability spent. Dark eyes narrowed beneath the veil.

    The wall of metal pivoted, and what I¡¯d taken for a shield was revealed to be a sword as its edge shot toward me.

    To be fair, it was wide enough to be a shield. It was just a straight-up Buster Sword.

    I caught it with Gracorvus, and the shield strained against the hit, sending shockwaves through my bones and rattling my teeth. The hit slung me away, wind whipping past as I hurtled back toward the runes.

    I activated Gravity Anchor to halt my movement, stopping myself just outside the hostile weave. The sword rose and rested on the shoulder of a hulking figure beside Veil, who was also surrounded by a suppressed golden Delver halo. It was hard to get a read on their Level with the darkness playing hell with all my senses.

    I started channeling Explosion! but it was Dispelled immediately. I caught a glimmer of mana as a spell shot out from the dark on my left, revealing a third golden soul. Things were starting to get out of hand.

    I used Reverse Card to return whatever it was back to sender. I hadn¡¯t caught the full cast, so Magical Thinker hadn¡¯t proc''d. I heard a shout as it collided with the caster.

    Buster charged through the dark, massive sword held high, but they stumbled and reached up to grab their head.

    ¡°Thanks, bud,¡± I thought to Grotto. Before I could capitalize on my familiar¡¯s mental attack, I felt something catch in my throat and an overwhelming urge to cough. All that came out was a wheeze. I glanced down and saw that an arrow had pierced through my gorget, and was sticking out of my neck. My nerves caught up with the damage and started screaming at me.

    HP: 1898 -> 1471

    I couldn¡¯t breathe, but that was barely an inconvenience. I could almost go an hour without air. The arrow did distract me, though, and Buster hit me in the face.

    Gravity Anchor kept me from going anywhere, but that may have made things worse.

    HP: 1471 -> 1228

    Before I could recover from the hit, something crashed into the side of my knee. I felt the joint bend in the wrong direction, my armor crumpling.

    HP: 1228 -> 1005

    A tiny man was standing below me, barely coming up to my waist. They were already pulling back their fist for another punch.

    I went to block, but Buster grabbed my shield. The man was as wide as a bull, and Gravity Anchor didn¡¯t seem to affect them at all. A spell flew out from the dark and wrapped me in a glowing bola. An arrow hit me in my other knee, ending my career as an adventurer. The only thing keeping me up was Gravity Anchor. Runes erupted on my armor, doing¡­ something not good, for sure.

    The little man caught my attention, fist glowing with a technique. White fur poked out from their light armor. It was a mini-yeti like Umi-Doo.

    They let themselves fall toward my center and their fist hit my jaw, denting my bascinet.

    Half of my health was gone.

    I tried to cast Shortcut, but it was Dispelled.

    I tried to cast Elemental Barrier, but the runes on my armor flared, canceling it.

    My arms were bound by the bola.

    Grotto had disappeared.

    Another punch to my jaw.

    You have been Stunned!

    The last thing I remembered was a tiny foot flying towards my face.

 200 - Bro, Can You Even Bench the Worldâ€™s Largest Land Mammal?

    Heavy.

    That was the only thought I could muster for the first few seconds after I regained consciousness. I was face down on the ground, a mess of blurry lights filling my vision from the runes beneath me. I tried to pick myself up, but my limbs only twitched.

    My body felt like it weighed as much as an elephant, which may have been an accurate guess. My Strength allowed me to lift about half of an elephant. So, given my current inability to lift myself, there was a good chance my body weight was somewhere in the upper four figures.

    Alright, I could probably lift half of a small elephant. Really, it depended on the species. Half of an Asian elephant that had spent the last six months on a strict diet, sure. Half of an African bush elephant, probably not.

    Let¡¯s call it one-third of a standard, species-agnostic elephant.

    While I didn¡¯t know the precise fraction of any given type of elephant I could lift, I did know that I wasn¡¯t Paralyzed. There was no Paralyzed notification or dulling numbness. I could feel my muscles flex and struggle, painfully aware of every bone, muscle, and organ struggling to keep from settling into a very messy pancake shape.

    I started running down my self-evaluation checklist. My health was 386, which was¡­ alarmingly low. My HP wasn¡¯t actively dropping, though, which¨C

    My ribs creaked and my health dropped by one.

    My regen ticked, bringing my health back up by one.

    ¡­

    My HP was remaining stable, which I was glad to see.

    Stamina and mana were in good enough shape. I still had 5 minutes left on my immunity to mind shenanigans, so I hadn¡¯t been unconscious for long. Potentially only a handful of seconds. That had still been enough time for Hysteria and their goons to lock me down inside the weave they¡¯d been trying to ensnare me with.

    I didn¡¯t have any debuffs that were sticking, just the constant march of mental attacks being resisted. All my limbs felt like they were still attached, and I was still wearing my gear. All of that was good.

    My eyeballs felt like they were going to drip out of my skull, my head pounded as my heart fought to maintain blood flow, and my diaphragm could barely expand to allow air into my lungs. Each breath felt like sucking down a nest of angry wasps, given the hole in my trachea, and my struggle to move also alerted me that my manhood had not been spared the 40 times multiplier to body weight. All of that was less good.

    Fortunately, my undies provided heroic levels of support¨Cto protect against unexpected g-forces, among other things. Otherwise, my junk would be getting crushed against my armor. Someone had also yanked the arrow out of my neck. Small blessings.

    My vision was less than stellar, possibly because my peepers were deforming, but I could make out five people standing nearby, each illuminated by their own spotlight. The details were fuzzy, but my Soul-Sight was unaffected. I could get a better read on their relative power than I¡¯d been able to while they hid in the dark.

    They were a full party of Level 20s. Three of their number had nothing but Gold Delves under their belts, while the other two had half their levels from Platinum. That made me feel a little better about losing, especially since an avatar was actively giving them an assist.

    The group looked like a diverse crew, and given the disparity in their Delve histories, it might be a fusion of two different parties. If I squinted in just the right way, I could make out enough to tell that the big boy wielding a very big-boy sword was a Hyrachon, the thickest of the Eschen races. A series of granite horns crested his skull, casting shadows over his wide, scowling features.

    Next to him was an even bigger boy with blue skin and intricate tattoos covering their mostly naked form. He looked to be a member of the Mittan race aptly called Giants. He wasn¡¯t quite large enough to justify sieging his lands via beanstalk, but he was head-and-shoulders the largest of the party. He didn¡¯t have any weapons, but he was floating, not that defying gravity told me much. Could have been a spell, technique, passive skill, evolution, or blue man group magic. The jury was out on his role, but after looking everyone else over, I figured he was probably the person who¡¯d been throwing around the magic bola spell.

    The veils covering the rune mage made it even tougher to discern their race, but the dark and leathery wings hinted that they were one of the bat-like Chovali.

    The Mittan Yeti stood before the winged runeworker, arms crossed and looking like a grumpy bouncer for the Chovali¡¯s lower half. He wore a light cuirass and open-face helm, but his extremities were all exposed.

    Finally, there was the archer who was responsible for half of my upper respiratory problems. He was a man with translucent skin and¡­ blurry edges? I blinked and worked my eyebrows, trying to bring him into focus. No, it wasn¡¯t my eyeballs, his skin just sort of faded away and merged with his soul, as though they were one and the same. It may have been an ability, but the look of him reminded me of another ephemeral person I knew¨CXim¡¯s dad, Drel¡¯gethed.

    Loosely then, we had a blade-wielding bruiser, a lockdown spell slinger, a rune-tossing caster, a tiny pugilist, and a dreamy ranger.

    I wondered who was in charge of the heals. I¡¯d need to plot their demise, for when I got loose.

    While I busily planned for success, I rolled my bouldery eyes around, searching through the magical darkness to try and spot any other unexpected surprises (which are, in fact, just surprises). My view was limited, so I strained my neck and dragged my head to a new angle. My warped bascinet screeched across the metal. After a few degrees of movement, I found Hysteria.

    They were doing a handstand, the sexy circus ringleader outfit exchanged for a sequin leotard. The sequins formed the image of a large feline predator, which wrapped all the way around Hysteria¡¯s body. I was still uncertain whether the avatar was trying to embody a certain gender, so I scanned for bulges.

    I didn¡¯t find any. They were as smooth as an androgynous angel.

    Hysteria¡¯s eyebrows shot up (down?) when they saw me awake and lifted a hand off the ground to give me an enthusiastic wave. I valiantly twitched a finger in response. Hysteria put their hand over their mouth to hide a giggle, but they didn¡¯t make a sound.

    Ignoring the avatar, I confirmed that I could still access my inventory. I also tugged on my soul connection with Grotto. He was behind me, but Soul-Sight was 360 these days. He was on the ground, not dead, and there was a tingling sense of discomfort coming from Shared Fate. No major warning signs, though.

    ¡°You still with me?¡± I thought to him.

    [I am deeply unhappy with our predicament.]

    ¡°Gravity hijinks bringing you down?¡± I sent him a psychic wink and a nudge.

    [My chassis is more than capable of mitigating the force it is under. My c¡¯thonic meat suit, less so. I am also trapped beneath one of my shields, which is a hazard I did not foresee.]

    ¡°At least you aren¡¯t mind-controlled.¡±

    [How would you know?]

    ¡°Woman¡¯s intuition.¡±

    [Yes, I have read that men of breeding age sometimes internalize feminine characteristics through bonding rituals as a precursor to mating.]

    ¡°It¡¯s the secret to my power.¡±

    [However, I was unaware that you were engaged in any such dalliances. Your claim to have made contact with your inner woman is thus dubious.]

    ¡°Damn. Did you just say I had no game?¡±

    [No. Determining your skill is impossible with so little data.]

    ¡°Hrk! You shot me right in the heart, bro.¡±

    While Grotto eviscerated my reproductive qualifications, I utilized my upgraded multitasking ability to dedicate a part of my mind toward breathing manually and clenching my core to try and keep blood supplied to my brain.

    I was a little impressed I could stay conscious at all, but Body of Theseus was probably helping, and Just a Flesh Wound kept the blood inside my delicate veins. Many of the old blood tubes certainly should have ruptured by now.

    Hysteria dropped the hand from their mouth and ran it down (up?) their body suggestively, then spread their legs and held the hand out to one side for balance. They looked up (down?) at their other hand, bit their lip, and pushed until they were supported only by their fingers.

    While the silent acrobatics show went on, I flicked across some inventory items I thought might be helpful, pausing to read one very closely.

    Get Out of Cage Free Card

    By activating this card, you invoke System authority to extricate you and your party from any form of imprisonment, capture, restraint, or other situation in which you find your physical presence undesirable, including a Delve where you have failed the objective, or are just plain sick of.

    The mechanics of your escape will vary based on the circumstances and the System may not be capable of intervening in certain situations. The System''s capacity to intervene and the methods available to it are dependent on the current phase of System rollout. Please consult your User Manual or mentor for more information.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    This is a fleeting item and may only be used once.

    I might have been able to use the Card to get myself and everyone else in the party out of this mess, but that would leave the king, Zura, the other Eschens, and Riona all behind. I didn¡¯t want to abandon them to whatever fate Hysteria had in mind, which meant I needed to get them into my party.

    I toyed around with the invite system, but I needed mutual consent to send one. The consent could be express or implied, but it didn¡¯t seem like either the king of Hiward or the Eschen delegates had much implicit trust in me quite yet. Getting any kind of consent would be difficult while they were fifty feet away and locked inside an illusory cage built by a mind-invading avatar. I focused on my System Rep and tried again, but all I got was a notification admonishing me against spamming.

    Hysteria stuck their tongue out to one side and pinched their features into a look of extreme concentration. They flexed their hand and pushed up until their handstand was supported by only a single finger. I¡¯d call it a fingerstand, but that sounded more like a place one would go to buy a snack for their pet cannibal. Or maybe a highly specialized prosthetics vendor.

    Why was my first instinct to assume the fingers at the fingerstand would be for eating? We may never know.

    I moved past my introspections and began to construct a plan.

    Step 1: Get out of immobilizing rune shit.

    Step 2: Dispel omnipresent illusion shit.

    Step 3: Eliminate avatar-grade mind control shit.

    Step 4: Invite political allies to my shit.

    Step 5: Use Card to escape and shit.

    No problemo.

    Hysteria¡¯s fingerstand was currently supported by the pad of their index finger. They bared their teeth, and beads of sweat ran up their face, which made no sense given their current upside-downness. The finger flexed until the fingerstand was only supported by the very tip of the fingernail. It was a full-on nailstand, and not the kind one would visit to buy crunchy treats for their other pet cannibals; the ones who were more calorie conscious.

    Hysteria wiggled in delight, body shaking with silent laughter, then frowned and spun their arm when it threatened their balance. I began wondering whether I¡¯d gone deaf, but I could hear my labored breathing and the crunch of my armor against the ground. I could also hear the other Delvers having a whispered conversation, so I didn¡¯t think the weave blocked sound, either.

    Hysteria was just being fucking weird.

    The avatar looked at me, then gestured at their nail as if to say ¡°Are you seeing this shit?¡± My tongue slipped out as I attempted to feign surprise. Hysteria took a deep breath, still without making a sound, then lifted (dropped?) their hand and crossed their arms.

    They were still suspended in the air.

    ¡°Ohw echs ah goo gann,¡± I said, tongue still hanging out. The floor was cold and tangy.

    Hysteria furrowed their brow and placed a hand behind one ear, leaning forward. I repeated my statement, with similar levels of success.

    Hysteria sighed, then snapped their fingers at the Chovali runeworker. The Chovali, of course, did not notice said sighing or snapping, since it failed to make any noise. The Hyrachon got the Chovali¡¯s attention and pointed at Hysteria, who then pointed at the runes and mouthed a few words. The Chovali looked from Hysteria to the runes, then back to Hysteria, trying to parse what it was the avatar wanted. Eventually, the Chovali waved a hand toward me, and one of the runes near my head dimmed slightly.

    My tongue and jaw were freed from the gravity effect.

    ¡°What was that, Arlo, dearest?¡± Hysteria asked. I thrust my jaw out toward where their finger had been contacting the ground.

    ¡°I said, ¡®Now it¡¯s a no-stand.¡¯¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s head tilted to one side, they looked at the floor, then a smile bloomed on their face.

    ¡°Like a handstand!¡± they said.

    ¡°Or a fingerstand,¡± I added.

    ¡°No thanks, I¡¯m not hungry.¡±

    I double-checked my notifications, making sure Hysteria hadn¡¯t invaded my thinkmeats. I had three minutes left on my immunities.

    I thought over the best way to handle this scenario. The situation was grim, but I still had plenty of tricks. Being three-quarters dead and pinned down to the ground was hardly enough to stop me. I still had fucking magic!

    Shortcut has been negated by Iron Maiden.

    Shit.

    Given that my cunning plan of ¡°teleport away¡± had been foiled, I probably needed to try and talk it out with Hysteria. I called to mind Avarice¡¯s advice, wondering how I could play into Hysteria¡¯s compulsions to guide them in the direction I wanted.

    [Hysteria: a state of uncontrollable emotional excess. This term is frequently applied to a single disordered individual, but it also describes larger groups experiencing significant excitement, leading to energetic disorganization.]

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    Hysteria probably wanted me to lose my cool, but so long as I wasn¡¯t frustrating their attempts to goad me, I would probably be fine. If anything, I could play into it. At the same time, Hysteria probably wanted to exist within a personal state of hysteria.

    If I immediately broke down and became a mess, that¡¯d be predictable, right? That was most likely what Hysteria normally ran into when interacting with people. Either that or people just did whatever it was that Hysteria wanted because, ya know, mind control. If I wanted Hysteria to have a strong emotional reaction to me, I should aim to be atypical.

    The answer, then, wasn¡¯t to give Hysteria what they wanted, but the opposite.

    In the meantime, I¡¯d focus on the mana flows through this Iron Maiden weave, with Grotto¡¯s assistance.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, straining for enough air to get words out. ¡°This is awkward.¡±

    Hysteria brushed the front of their leotard thoughtfully. The sequins turned over to reveal the image of a unicorn with a flaming battleaxe instead of a horn. The air around the legendary battlecorn was filled with a storm of blood, and the ground was covered in decapitated gummy bears, which oozed strawberry jam from their gooey centers.

    ¡°Cool shirt,¡± I said. ¡°You could swap the cat out for a giant Nicholas Cage face if you really want to lean into the gonzo.¡±

    The unicorn galloped forward and slaughtered another innocent candied Ursidae.

    A slick of jelly spattered my face, and the scent of fruit and copper wafted over me. I blinked away some of the jam, then refocused on the image. It was back to its original pose, unmoving.

    I checked my notifications again.

    Two minutes and thirty seconds left on the Holy Water.

    It was illusions, probably.

    ¡°You¡¯re kind of fun,¡± said Hysteria, settling their chin on a palm. Their body language was persistent in its belief that gravity was going the wrong direction. ¡°This go-around I¡¯ve tried to limit myself to really influential figures, you know? People who can make a difference.¡±

    ¡°Thanks?¡±

    ¡°Which is why my first instinct was to kill you,¡± they continued. ¡°Sure, you¡¯ve done a couple of things people have noticed, but you¡¯re not important in a classic sense.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t run a country, you don¡¯t have an army, you¡¯re not the governor of a major province, you¡¯re not a staggeringly wealthy entrepreneur.¡±

    ¡°These are all true.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a nobody! Barely better than a dirt farmer.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go that far,¡± I grumbled. ¡°And farmers are the backbone of society. Those people put dirt on your table.¡±

    ¡°However, you¡¯re an up-and-comer,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Meetings with kings and Zenithars, a looming brunch with the Littan empress, the blessings of the gods raining down upon you!¡± Hysteria eyed me and sucked in their bottom lip. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ titillating.¡±

    The avatar flipped over and a golden cloak billowed out from their shoulders, sweeping across their form and revealing a gold and violet spandex costume. They landed gracefully on one foot, arms akimbo, and a domino mask began to spray out sparkles from either side of their face.

    Hysteria dropped their voice and projected. ¡°I haven¡¯t done an up-and-comer run in ages!¡± There was even a bit of echo and reverb added in. ¡°You, sir, are an opportunity! An opening number with endless possibilities! You aren¡¯t beholden to anyone. No one relies on you to do things.¡±

    ¡°Not true at all.¡±

    ¡°You barely have any responsibilities, and yet you¡¯re this close¨C¡± They held up their finger and thumb, only a centimeter separating them. ¡°¨Cto becoming someone of note.¡± Hysteria took a breath and cocked their hip. ¡°I think I¡¯ll steal all that.¡±

    ¡°Is that why you wanted the king? To steal his identity?¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Hysteria, glancing over their shoulder towards the group chilling in the fake lounge. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really nailed it down. I¡¯d probably become one of them and then set up the other to come into conflict with me.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s cloak rose up and formed a mouth like a sock puppet. ¡°War ensues, global mayhem, yadda, yadda, yadda,¡± said the cloak in a nasal voice that was clearly also Hysteria. I could still see their damn lips moving. ¡°It¡¯s all so exhausting,¡± the cloak continued. ¡°The same thing over and over. Kill me no¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria. The cloak flinched like an abused animal. ¡°I love it, I really do, but a change of pace would be nice.¡±

    ¡°What happens to the people whose identities you steal?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I put them into a giant blender and drink them up like a milkshake!¡±

    ¡°Is that a metaphor or¡­¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯d prefer that didn¡¯t happen.¡±

    Hysteria dropped to their knees in front of me.

    ¡°Will you beg?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Will you plead?¡± asked Cloaky.

    ¡°Will you gnash and moan and scream?!¡± they asked together.

    ¡°Probably not.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s eyes narrowed, then they smiled. ¡°Okay, whatever,¡± they said. ¡°Be that way, it¡¯s half the fun.¡±

    ¡°So what does this have to do with Unity?¡± I tossed the name of the original avatar out there as a gamble. I didn¡¯t know if Hysteria had anything to do with Unity or even Brae¡¯ach, but there were only so many avatars and some of them were working with the Davahns.

    Hysteria stiffened. ¡°Are you trying to bait me into revealing our master plan?¡±

    ¡°Mostly I want to grab my friends and leave. If you want to tell me about your master plan, I¡¯d appreciate it.¡±

    ¡°Fiend!¡± Hysteria shouted, making a religious-looking gesture in the air. ¡°You¡¯ll not seduce me, foul temptress!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± shouted Cloaky. ¡°Beat us all you want, we¡¯ll never talk!¡±

    ¡°Shut the fuck up, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria, batting at the cloak¡­ sock puppet¡­ thingy. It dodged the strike and snapped down on Hysteria¡¯s wrist like a snake. ¡°Gah! Dammit!¡±

    I was then treated to a brief wrestling match between the avatar Hysteria and their surprisingly violent cloak.

    I was fairly convinced the cloak wasn¡¯t a separate entity, but it was entirely possible that Hysteria didn¡¯t realize they¡¯d made the character up, and was therefore fighting themself.

    I used the opportunity to open my inventory and drop a vial of Holy Water into my mouth. I could barely maneuver it around with my tongue but managed to bite down on the glass before the timer on the first one ran out.

    ¡°Is this avatar¡­ kind of stupid?¡± I thought to Grotto while I tried and failed to spit out the glass. It was mostly burrowing into my cheek and gums.

    [I believe most avatars hold within them a fierce dichotomy of preternatural talent and gross ignorance. Due to their nature, they lack many of the intuitive social and physical senses developed by mortals. Further, they dominate their environment through incredible aptitude within their areas of competence, leaving them little reason to develop additional skills. This is compounded by the overriding desire to pursue their governing concept. Thus, they represent a precarious balance of extreme stupidity in certain areas, and inhuman brilliance in others.]

    Hysteria squealed and rolled, putting Cloaky into a headlock. The cloak immediately broke free by not having a head, unraveling itself and leaving Hysteria staring blankly at their empty arms. Cloaky came around to strangle them from behind, eliciting another shriek.

    [This one, perhaps, leans more heavily toward the stupid side of things.]

 201 - Banana Sandwich

    While the scuffle ensued, the hefty Hyrachon took the opportunity to sidle over to me, their impractically massive sword resting against a shoulder. He squatted down and looked me over, appraising me with a simmering anger that felt out of place. True hatred peeked out from behind the rage, as though I¡¯d killed the man¡¯s mother or something. I hadn¡¯t even fought any Hyrachons, much less killed them, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯d been able to hurt anyone on his team.

    Then again, maybe I had fought and killed a Hyrachon, but had no idea that it was a Hyrachon at the time.

    Buster leaned in even closer until I could smell what he had for lunch on his breath.

    Something spicy. Tacos, maybe.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± he said, voice deep and rumbling. ¡°What do you know of Blood Scour?¡±

    The image of a Herculean cockroach flashed through my mind, her bardiche doing demolition work on my intestines.

    ¡°Was that a¡­ friend of yours?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She was my sister.¡±

    I decided to drop the flippant attitude and play it straight with this guy. It was possible, nay, likely that his party was being manipulated by Hysteria. A few cuts of ground-up truth wrapped in a fried corn tortilla of deception, and the avatar could have served this man an ¡°Arlo killed your sister¡± taquito.

    Damn, I wanted some Mexican food.

    ¡°When my party was working through Deijin¡¯s Descent,¡± I said, ¡°we were attacked by a group of insectoid monsters. They were modeled after Delvers who¡¯d died while attempting the Delve in the past. One of them was named Blood Scour.¡±

    ¡°You killed her?¡±

    ¡°We killed something that the System called Blood Scour.¡± I tried to give the man a solemn look, but it was difficult with my head still pressed against the floor. ¡°The post-combat notifications called it a Doomed Aspirant, with the creature type of Abomination. Whatever it was, it wasn¡¯t a Delver. It was something pretending to be the person it was based on.¡±

    Even as I said it, I wasn¡¯t completely confident in that last part. Avarice had told us the creatures were little more than puppets, but I didn¡¯t have much faith that the avatar was being honest with us.

    ¡°When a Delver dies, their inventory returns,¡± said the Hyrachon, standing up again. ¡°If Blood Scour was already dead, then why did her inventory return only a month ago?¡±

    A month would match the timing of our fight with the Aspirants. Aprogar had mentioned Deletar¡¯s inventory returning as well, but Aprogar had actually been Hysteria, and these people were working with Hysteria, the master of mind magicks and professional cloak wrangler. The whole inventory thing could have been implanted in their heads.

    Alternatively, Avarice may really have enslaved the fallen Delvers, corrupted their bodies, and forced them to try and kill us before lying about it.

    Either way, an avatar was responsible for this guy¡¯s misplaced anger. I didn¡¯t think crying ¡®avatar!¡¯ would be very helpful, though, given the man¡¯s choice of employer.

    ¡°Look, the System is not infallible,¡± I said. ¡°There are ways to exploit its rules.¡±

    The Hyrachon turned and gestured at the Chovali. ¡°Cliffswept¡¯s mate was known as Quiet Solitude. You recognize this name?¡±

    ¡°I do. They were a butterfly that cast curses.¡±

    ¡°A butterfly?¡± he asked. ¡°Was my sister also a butterfly, in this tale of yours?¡±

    ¡°She was not.¡±

    He watched me expectantly, but I wasn¡¯t about to tell this man his sister had been a roach. He eventually shrugged and gestured at the hovering Giant.

    ¡°Garvandr¡¯s daughter was known as Boundless Night. What sort of insect was she to you?¡±

    ¡°She was a fly. And a necromancer.¡±

    The giant spat something in Mittan, looking none too happy.

    ¡°Zayn Ayad,¡± said the Hyrachon, pointing at the dream-like archer, ¡°is a Wishborn, summoned to this world by Thundering Arrow¡¯s mother to keep watch over her. He was forced out of Deijin¡¯s Descent by some great power, which banished him back to the Third Layer. His memories were torn from him, but the bond to his charge remained strong.¡± The Hyrachon turned and his features darkened. ¡°That bond was severed one month ago.¡±

    Meanwhile, in the psychic halls of justice¡­

    ¡°How¡¯s that mana weave analysis coming along?¡±

    [Quite well, in fact. The ability to utilize your Mystical Magic intrinsic to aid in studying the mana flows is exceptionally helpful.]

    ¡°Think we can break it in, say, the next fifteen seconds?¡±

    [I doubt we can disable the entire weave, but perhaps an individual function. There are runic arrays for each of the primary magic schools that inhibit spellwork below a certain mana density.]

    ¡°Hmm. Good thing I have a variable cost spell that¡¯s designed to eat other people¡¯s magic.¡±

    [Yes, I just need to isolate the relevant modules. The costs of affecting the weave more generally would be prohibitive.]

    ¡°I appreciate it. Got anything to add to my conversation with this guy whose sister I might have killed?¡±

    [He sounds as though he has already made up his mind. What evidence could I bring that you could not?]

    ¡°I dunno, ask old Number Two to step in with a helpful notification?¡±

    [You could share your notifications for the kills, to prove that they were categorized as Abominations.]

    I decided to give it a shot, but the Hyrachon¡¯s blade at the back of my throat interrupted me.

    ¡°I care not whether the System incited the conflict,¡± he said. ¡°Even if you were truly defending yourselves, your people¡¯s hands are slick with the blood of our families. There is but one manner in which retribution might be had.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯d we kill that the Yeti knew?¡±

    He glanced at the furry little guy. ¡°Joma? None that I know of. She is just here because she enjoys these types of things.¡±

    She? Damn, got that one wrong. To be fair, she was covered in thick fur and wearing a breastplate. Not exactly easy to see what was going on under there.

    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯ve introduced me to the rest of your party, but I didn¡¯t catch your name.¡±

    ¡°You may call me Felgar, not that you will have much time to use the name.¡±

    ¡°Right. I¡¯m Arlo, Felgar, but you probably already knew that.¡± I mulled over whether I wanted to fish for some more information. Grotto was already feeding me potential vulnerabilities in the runework keeping me bound, so I needed to buy myself a little more time. ¡°During our encounter with the Aspirants, it came to light that they originated from the Eschen Wastes. Would you all happen to be from there as well?¡±This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Felgar smirked. ¡°It is so.¡±

    ¡°Seems to be a lot of unaffiliated Delvers out that way.¡±

    ¡°It has become somewhat popular with assassins and mercenaries. No government to interfere.¡±

    ¡°And which category do you fall into?¡±

    ¡°That depends on who is paying.¡± He lifted his blade, gripping the hilt in both hands.

    ¡°You just going to execute me, then?¡± I asked. ¡°Sure you don¡¯t want to fight it out? We could totally have a series of honor duels.¡±

    ¡°No. I try to ensure the death of my enemies. If they are served to me on a platter, then I will humbly accept and relieve them of their helpless heads.¡± He paused, then added, ¡°Also, we are being paid to kill you, so that would be unprofessional.¡±

    He raised his sword up the last few inches to get a good clean strike in, and I pumped a Dispel into the mana weave below me, guiding the countermagic along the junctions working to lock down my Dimensional Magic.

    Your Mystical Magic Skill has increased to Level 22!

    I cast Shortcut to appear next to the lounge illusion, and Hysteria whipped around, still being throttled by their exceptionally angry cloak.

    I pulled out an orb of Tyranny¡¯s Tears and hurled it at the ground, then gave the avatar a flourishing bow.

    There was a bubbling hiss, and the liquid boiled off into the air in less than a second. The darkness in the room dissolved away, and everything in the fake lounge disappeared.

    Several Eschen delegates staggered as the bar they were leaning against evaporated, and Riona hit the ground with a squeak. Etja reflexively began to float, Celeritia had been on the couch but was already standing next to me before I could process that he¡¯d moved at all. Varrin¡¯s sitting position simply became a squat, which he maintained while looking around.

    ¡°Banana sandwich!¡± I said, then started tossing out the remaining vials of Holy Water. ¡°Also, everyone join my party!¡±

    Xim, Varrin, Nuralie, and Etja all tossed the unidentified potions back without question, while everyone else was still looking around in confusion. Everyone except for the king, that is. That man had already accepted my invite and was now busy kicking ass.

    The wastelanders dove into action the moment after I¡¯d teleported, but an unseen force was systematically ripping apart their nascent offensive. Wind tore through the dimensional space as Felix ¡°God-Step¡± Celeritia explained his middle name to the Level 20 Delvers.

    The king blinked into existence next to Felgar, visible for a fraction of a second, and drove a foot into the side of the man¡¯s knee, causing his massive sword to unbalance him. Celeritia¡¯s form flashed before the yeti, and the Mittan pugilist was suddenly sailing across the room. Zayn the Wishborn drew an arrow, but found it sticking out of the Giant¡¯s shoulder before he could nock it. The arrow interrupted the flow of mana through the Giant¡¯s arm and canceled a spell he¡¯d been preparing, then his jaw clicked to one side from a strike too fast to see, sending the mage staggering.

    ¡°Care to explain?¡± asked Zura.

    ¡°Kidnapped by an avatar!¡± I said. ¡°Mind fuckery!¡±

    Zura clucked her tongue. ¡°Not a single day to relax, it seems.¡± She glanced at the delegates. ¡°Accept the young man¡¯s invite.¡±

    Zura and the Eschens joined my party, and I felt Divine mana begin to flow through the Zenithar, but it was a trickle compared to the absolute torrent of power I¡¯d felt when she sank the Littan fleet. She furrowed her brow and dug deeper, but something was blocking her.

    Either that or her connection to Geul was severed.

    Riona was the only one not in the party, and she was gazing off toward Hysteria with an absent expression.

    ¡°Fucking hell,¡± I said. ¡°Varrin, Hysteria is mind fucking your sister.¡±

    The big guy scowled at my phrasing but was already dragging Riona toward Xim. Our cleric hit her with a Cleanse, but the mental effects dug back in immediately.

    ¡°Stop!¡± shouted the king.

    I looked away from Riona, finding Celeritia standing next to Hysteria. The avatar had their elbow up on the king¡¯s shoulder, leaning against the taller man. Their cloak was still trying to strangle them. Sadly, Cloaky was having no success.

    The wastelanders were picking themselves up and brushing off wounds. The king had kept them busy, but he hadn¡¯t managed to do any devastating damage. I glanced at the Eschen delegates, seeing them all completely checked out. Zura¡¯s face was screwed up in concentration, but her Divine mana was trembling. She was keeping the avatar out for now, but she wouldn¡¯t last long.

    All I needed was for Riona to accept my party invite.

    ¡°I love a good rally!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But there¡¯s nowhere for you to go, even if you could subdue the rest of us.¡±

    ¡°Never heard of a teleport?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s literally how I got here.¡±

    Hysteria reached up and took off a train conductor¡¯s hat I hadn¡¯t noticed them wearing. ¡°That was a one-way ticket,¡± said the avatar.

    They swept the hat around at the barren cube we were held within. The Tears had banished the darkness, but the chamber¡¯s edges were still perfectly black. For a moment, I thought the walls were made of something that destroyed or consumed light, but there was a depth to that void. My eyes couldn¡¯t see it, but a sensation stirred within my spirit that spoke of the absolute nothing just beyond the room¡¯s perimeter, barely held at bay.

    Something about it was the slightest bit familiar.

    ¡°No one in or out,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Until the king is dead and I call for our chariot, of course.¡± They patted Celeritia on the chest and walked forward, hips swaying like a cat.

    Hysteria pointed at Zura, and the Zenithar collapsed to her knees. ¡°Even the gods are absent here.¡± Hysteria paused and swirled a strand of their inkdrop hair around one finger. They looked up at me and pursed their lips. ¡°Aside from whatever little piece of them you brought in here with you, I guess. Either way, we¡¯re adrift in emptiness, divorced from the physical plane and separated from the Divine.¡±

    Hysteria sauntered up to Zura. They tapped the Zenithar on the forehead, and the Geulon¡¯s features relaxed. She calmly stood up and folded her hands, looking around the group with an amused expression.

    ¡°If we¡¯re totally cut off,¡± I said, ¡°how will you ¡®call for a chariot¡¯? Communication implies some level of exposure.¡±

    ¡°Silly boy,¡± Hysteria said, then booped me on the nose. ¡°That¡¯s a secret.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s that fucking asshole Limbo!¡± shouted Cloaky. ¡°This dumbfuck¨C¡± Cloaky formed a fabric thumb and jerked it at Hysteria. ¡°¨Cthought it would be a good idea to team up, but it¡¯s a total shit show!¡±

    Hysteria turned to Cloaky and screamed. Their jaw unhinged, their silver teeth sharpened into points, and their tongue fluttered in the wind as a monstrous gust of air erupted from the avatar¡¯s throat.

    Cloaky was shredded into pieces.

    Hysteria unclasped the tattered remains of the garment and tossed it to the ground. They began speaking again, but this time I really had gone deaf. Xim hit each of us with a Heal, and my hearing returned mid-sentence.

    ¡°¨Cdo funeral arrangements cost these days?¡± they said. ¡°My emergency fund is pretty low, but maybe I can get a good deal if I¡¯m sad enough. No, people who perform death rites for a living are probably heartless.¡±

    Hysteria wiped a single tear from their face, then blew a gentle kiss toward the annihilated cloak.

    I continued scanning the void while listening to Hysteria mourn the loss of Cloaky, searching out that familiarity I¡¯d felt.

    ¡°Can we kill them now?¡± asked Felgar.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± said Hysteria, looking up from the ¡®corpse¡¯. ¡°Oh yes, fine. Have fun.¡±

    Both parties tensed, and I forced my mind to accelerate through the problem in front of me, splitting my focus to attack it from multiple angles.

    Could my party take these wastelanders? Maybe if we were in perfect condition. I was pretty low on health, and everyone else was still dressed in their fancy clothes, not their combat gear. Weapons could come out in an instant, but armor took time to equip. Against a full crew of mostly fresh Level 20s in full kit, it wasn¡¯t a bet I wanted to take.

    The battle might also spill over to the Eschens or Riona, and there was every chance Hysteria could force our charmed allies to give the wastelanders a hand. Hysteria might even step in personally. Solving this problem through violence was a bad play.

    That meant we needed to escape, which meant I needed to get Riona into my party. So, how could I make that happen? I could use the Card to get everyone else out, but Varrin might never forgive me if I abandoned his sister. Losing a father to an avatar was bad enough. I wasn¡¯t sure he could lose another family member in the same way without something inside the man breaking.

    I also wondered whether the Card would actually work, given Hysteria¡¯s claim about the nature of the space we were in. If Geul was cut off, was the System as well? I nudged that question to Grotto, who tried to establish an uplink.

    The crux of the problem was Hysteria¡¯s mind control. I was out of Holy Water, and the avatar seemed to have an aura that constantly tried to auto-Dominate everyone nearby. That made Cleanse and other one-off effects useless. Nuralie had potions that enhanced the imbiber¡¯s mental resistances, but Riona was Level 1 and we were working against an avatar. Anything short of pure immunity wasn¡¯t worth spending time on.

    If I couldn¡¯t reliably end the mind control, then I needed a way to interrupt it. I didn¡¯t think a distraction would work. Hysteria¡¯s mental assault had gone on the entire time they¡¯d been fighting with their cloak. I just needed a way to temporarily disrupt the core function of a semi-divine being vastly more powerful than myself.

    Avatars were extremely resilient, but I had seen one get a good spanking once before.

    I fixated on the void, Fortune¡¯s chubby, infuriating face, Hysteria¡¯s words: ¡°We¡¯re adrift in emptiness, divorced from the physical plane and separated from the Divine.¡±

    A kernel of Truth pressed against my soul, struggling to reach out to the nothing beyond the cube¡¯s bounds.

    It ruled the vacancy between universes, and that was a bare fraction of its existence.

    ¡°Before we get started!¡± I shouted. ¡°Is there anything you¡¯d like to tell us?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I¡¯m tired of the order that words bring and have a craving for chaos.¡±

    ¡°Not asking you,¡± I said.

    Felgar spat. ¡°Then who in the hells are you asking?¡±

    ¡°JuRoQi.¡±

 202 - Special Guest Star

    The souls of everyone present rippled as the Dread Star¡¯s true name caused reality to shudder. The boiling conflict between us froze as the three syllables delivered overwhelming context. The Dread Star¡¯s nature was revealed, engraving itself onto our spirits in a pattern that no force could undo, without rewriting the universe itself.

    The cube that Hysteria had trapped us in was a small slice of the physical plane, transplanted somewhere that rebelled at its existence. We were adrift in oblivion, where nonexistence was sacrosanct, and our every atom was a sin against the god whose flesh we marred with our presence.

    Even so, we were a single mote of dust amidst an endless empire of nothing. We were beneath notice, our transgression so insignificant that a being of infinite consciousness wouldn¡¯t waste a thought to wipe us away. This place was anathema to matter, and our blasphemous speck would eventually be drawn to someplace more accommodating.

    When the entire life of a star passes in the space of a breath, all problems become transient. There¡¯s no reason to spend any effort at all to solve most of them, especially when the problem is the barest fleck, a particle so minuscule that it¡¯s already closer to nothing than something in the first place.

    Of course, when that mote of dust starts shouting your name, you might be more inclined to get rid of it.

    In short: we were fucked, and everyone knew we were fucked the moment the name came outta my mouth.

    ¡°What¡­¡± Hysteria began, voice just barely above a whisper, ¡°did you just say?!¡±

    A pair of galactic eyes opened in the void behind the avatar, so distant that the universe would die before the light of its birth could reach them. So close, that we were already within them.

    Hysteria turned, careful and slow, and as they turned we all came to face the Dread Star, though we faced it no matter where we looked.

    I had the thought that this may not have been the best move.

    Ten thousand keys and only one door,

    Ten thousand feet and only one floor,

    Ten thousand tries and only one more.

    The voice was not sound, it did not propagate as waves through the air; what use would that be to the god of the void? It was presence, the Dread Star¡¯s commandment, saturating all things.

    A point of light appeared to our right, then multiplied a billion times until it swirled and glittered like the cosmos. It stretched out into eternity, adorned with five pillars, each as large as the Milky Way.

    In that moment I realized I could see in all directions, my normal vision expanded into a complete sphere. It was necessary to take in even an allusion to the scale of the thing. It was necessary for me to comprehend the shape of it.

    It was a hand.

    Ten million rise and one falls short,

    Ten million crimes and only one court,

    Ten million lies and only one retort.

    The presence of the Dread Star grew. It approached from a place separated by an untraversable gap, a span so vast that time could not flow through it. It expanded eternally, and the Dread Star swelled until it overflowed from the meager confines.

    The Dread Star¡¯s voice was real. More real than anything. More real than us.

    More real than me.

    Ten billion realms in only one place,

    Ten billion sins and only one grace,

    Ten billion flies and only one taste.

    The hand grew, magnified, becoming sharp and immediate. It threatened to overtake my entire field of vision, continuing to expand even after it was all that I could see.

    Adrenaline flooded my body when I realized what I was watching.

    It wasn¡¯t getting bigger.

    It was getting closer.

    An endless want and only one state,

    An endless whine and only one fate,

    An endless prize but you just can¡¯t wait.

    The countless points of light became countless stars, the hand too close for its shape to be seen.

    Someone was screaming, and Hysteria was melting. The Dread Star¡¯s message was for all of us, but its ire was wholly centered on the avatar.

    AN INFINITE MIND POORLY CROWNED

    ¡°Arlo,¡± Zura said, shouted, and whispered. ¡°How?¡±

    The Zenithar was weeping, all semblance of Hysteria¡¯s control over her gone. I caused Zura to shrink while causing Riona to become larger, until the young Ravvenblaq¡¯s face blotted out the sky. I grasped her shoulders.

    ¡°Accept the invite,¡± I said.

    Riona blinked, and her eyes shone with the hand¡¯s reflection.

    Riona Ravvenblaq has joined your party.

    AN INFINITE GRIND UNTIL ALL ARE DROWNED

    We were inside the Dread Star¡¯s palm, dense clusters of stars hurtling past, my mind screaming that their speed and proximity to one another made no sense. The Dread Star¡¯s voice made it the unshakeable Truth.

    King Celeritia was beside me, eyes plastered wide as he grimaced.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Try to sum this up for me,¡± he said.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re going unreasonably fast,¡± I answered. ¡°Fast enough to break physics.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± he said. ¡°I have a skill for that.¡±

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Non-intertial!

    Non-inertial: You are immune to damage caused by changes to your inertia.

    Some part of my brain puzzled over whether that buff made me immune to all Kinetic damage, then wondered if it would even matter.

    AN INFINITE GROVELLING

    BEST DONE

    FROM THE

    GROUND.

    A single star went from the size of my thumb to swallowing all of reality in a single second. A spike of heat seared my skin, but before I could register any discomfort, I was underwater. Zura¡¯s soul encompassed me, along with all of our allies.

    We all seemed to teleport, finding ourselves pressed against the wall, but I barely felt any pressure. At the same time, there was a deafening BANG, and Hysteria became a colorful, smoking stain.

    The wastelanders were frozen in place, a thousand runes shining around them.

    The star receded, faster than it arrived, and I could make out the hand, swimming through the eternal void like it had just served an astronomical volleyball spike. It shrank into nothingness, and the perfect black of the Dead Star¡¯s realm faded to the imperfect black of space.

    I turned, seeing us hurtling toward another star. I opened my inventory and pulled up the Card. Everyone was in my party. I just had to¨C

    Establishing System uplink. Please stand by¡­

    ¡°Grotto?!¡±

    [It appears we need to be within ten million miles of the planet to establish a robust connection.]

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯re gonna pass that close!¡±

    [We are not on a direct course toward the sun. Our approach vector is off by 0.3 degrees.]

    ¡°So we¡¯ll miss it?!¡±

    [Not as such, but I believe we will collide with Arzia first. You will have approximately¡­ two point one seconds from when we enter the System¡¯s range to use the Card.]

    ¡°Okay, I can do that.¡±

    Runes pulsed, and the wastelanders disappeared, but I didn¡¯t have time to think about it.

    [Yes. Hopefully, the Card¡¯s activation does not take much time.]

    ¡°Fuck! Just let me know when I can¨C¡±

    [Now!]

    I activated the Card, and a flurry of notifications flew by.

    Redeeming Get Out of Cage Free Card¡­

    Analyzing environment¡­

    Escalating request due to exigent circumstances¡­

    Evaluating¡­

    Extraction denied. The energy requirements of generating a spontaneous unanchored portal targeting multiple extra-atmospheric objects traveling in excess of 67,061,662.9 miles per hour relative to the nearest System node are outside of Phase Two parameters.

    Emergency override submitted by System Core 2.

    Override Code 009: Apocalypse Mitigation.

    Override Note: Please don¡¯t be difficult, SC1. The less matter impacting the planet at a notable fraction of light speed, the better. Also, I¡¯m firing all the lasers we have.

    Override Code 009 is accepted to prevent catastrophic surface damage.

    Extraction Approved!

    Upgrading extraction package.

    Please prepare for interdiction.

    The world stuttered a hundred times, each one accompanied by a new notification.

    WARNING! Momentum buffer exceeded.

    Adjusting reference frame¡­

    Please prepare for an additional teleportation instance.

    The Hysteria smear disappeared, and the entire planet vibrated in a blur for a moment. Then, we were in the desert.

    WARNING! This is definitely not a minimum safe distance. Enjoy the mess you made. Sunglasses are advised.

    A flash bloomed in the atmosphere, a hundred times brighter than the sun. The world instantly darkened, and I was hit by another notification.

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Transcendent Organ!

    Your eyes are Invincible for 100 seconds.

    A streak of light traveled down through the atmosphere, so fast it appeared as a single line. It landed on a mountain chain several miles distant. The first mountain it struck evaporated in another burst of light. A wave of destruction thrummed out, destroying mountains to either side, and the ground rose to kiss the sky.

    We all watched, stunned by the sight, for about two seconds.

    Filix Celeritia has granted you Haste!

    ¡°We should leave,¡± said the king.

    He was right, we weren¡¯t far enough away.

    I mana-shaped the Closet portal, opening it in record time. Before I could think to start moving towards it, I was already inside, along with everyone else. Celeritia¡¯s hand was on my shoulder.

    ¡°Close it!¡± he shouted.

    An overpowering blast of heat and pressure burst through the portal. I caught myself with Gravity Anchor as most of the group was knocked deeper into the Closet. Shielding sprung to life over our skin as sand and rocks hurtled in, and my skull rattled as a piece the size of a fist hit my torso hard enough to shatter the stone. I focused on closing the portal and it rapidly shrank in on itself. The Closet portal would close in the blink of an eye.

    It wasn¡¯t fast enough.

    A pair of skeletal hands gripped the portal¡¯s edges. They pressed outward, allowing more destruction to rain in, shattering walls and furniture. The entrance was forced back open a foot, and a stream of colorful liquid poured through.

    Finally, the portal closed, and a shimmering skeleton began forming from the ooze on the ground.

    Smoke and steam wafted off the creature as it rose, streaks of neon hues swirling around the dark, smoldering bones. The shadowy sockets of its skull each held a small bead of mercury, glinting as they darted between us. It continued to study us for a moment, then walked forward.

    I tensed, summoning Somncres and prepping for a fight, but the skeleton moved casually, wandering between us and walking through the foyer. It paused and looked up at one of the chandeliers, tilting its head and holding a hand up towards it.

    The fixture melted into mimic goo, drawn to the skeletal hand and dripping down onto it. The thing absorbed the entire chandelier, covering its form in squirming liquid, and then moved on.

    I was on edge as I watched it, trailing behind to keep it in my sights. I checked on everyone as I went, making sure we were all in one piece. There were cuts, scrapes, and more than a few rising knots forming bruises, but no one looked critically injured. The spent mana of a dozen skills swirled around our more vulnerable members.

    The skeleton kicked open the door to the kitchen, then went in, the door swinging closed behind it. Before I could enter, I heard Celeritia shout from behind me.

    ¡°Hells!¡± he said. I spun to see him wrestling with the crown on his head, which glowed as though it had become molten. Then, the leader of Hiward disappeared.

    ¡°After all that, he¡¯s gone again?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The crown has a recall effect,¡± said Varrin. He spoke softly, like he was afraid someone might overhear. ¡°I think that once he was back on Arzia, the throne registered the crown. It pulled him back to Hiward as soon as it could.¡±

    ¡°Lucky bastard,¡± said Xim. ¡°He gets to go home and take a shower while we¡¯re left to deal with avatar skeleton.¡±

    ¡°We should leave,¡± said Nuralie.

    I mentally checked on both my Checkpoints, but neither was off cooldown. We hadn¡¯t been gone long enough. That surprised me, given all the relativistic speeds we¡¯d been dealing with. Then again, based on where we¡¯d been, it was possible no time at all had passed while we were inside Hysteria¡¯s prison cube. Something to look into later, maybe.

    ¡°Only way to leave at the moment is to go back out into the shit,¡± I said. ¡°We should probably give the nuclear explosion a little more time to settle.¡±

    ¡°Where did we even land?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Did that wipe out a country?¡±

    ¡°It looked like the Wastes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Those mountains may have been the Left Hand, on the border.¡±

    Um,¡± said Etja. ¡°Does that mean Eschunder is¡­¡±

    Zura placed a hand on her back.

    ¡°The body of Hyrach will bring no harm to Eschendur,¡± she said with full confidence. ¡°The earth will become dust, the winds will spread it to the western plains, and the rain will wash it into the sea.¡±

    I genuinely hoped she had some divine insight into what had happened, and that it wasn¡¯t just wishful thinking.

    I turned back and went to the kitchen, followed closely by the others. The door to the walk-in fridge was open, soft vapor trailing out across the floor. I approached carefully. When I was nearly close enough to peer inside, the skeleton burst out of it, carrying several glass bottles in its arms. I jumped back out of its path as it bustled by, a dozen frosty mugs trailing behind it, floating through the air.

    It set the bottles down on a counter, uncorked them, and began pouring out ice-cold brewskies. It slid each glass across the counter toward us until all twelve were filled with frothy beer. It picked the final glass up and leaned back, pouring the contents into its mouth.

    The beverage splashed down its spine and rib cage, splattering to the ground until the mug was empty. It reached up and wiped its exposed teeth with an ulna, then clacked them open and shut a few times. I think it was trying to smack its lips. It tapped its bony toes, splish-splashing in the expanding puddle beneath it.

    The mimic goo slowly began forming silvery flesh, starting inside its chest. A set of lungs appeared, followed by vocal cords, tongue, lips, and cheeks.

    ¡°Welp,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°That was fucked up.¡±

 203 - Is That a Skeleton in Your Closet, or a Divine Avatar Looking to Kill Us All?

    HP: 643 -> 873

    I was a touch surprised when Xim pumped a Heal into my back, but Skeletor Hysteria didn¡¯t react. I¡¯d already healed a few hundred points from my natural regen, and the spell took me closer to my comfort zone.

    My ¡®comfort zone¡¯ was full health, naturally.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you dead?¡± Xim asked, looking at Hysteria. ¡°Arlo just bitch-slapped you with an Elder God.¡±

    ¡°Ha! I could ask you the same, missy,¡± said Hysteria, pointing a bony finger at her. The mimic goo was rapidly regrowing the avatar¡¯s muscles and tendons. Aside from the lungs, Hysteria didn¡¯t bother with any internal organs.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not be reductive,¡± I said. ¡°The Dread Star is not something I bitch-slap people with. I politely invited the unknowable eldritch entity to share its divine wisdom, and we got what we got.¡±

    ¡°Maybe you should have been standing further away,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It may have held back because it didn¡¯t want to hurt its pet microbe.¡±

    Zura chuckled, but it was humorless. ¡°There are no accidents with entities of that scope. It did as it willed, and it even provided instruction. We can spend our lives seeking to comprehend the bare outline of what was gifted to us, but our inability to comprehend its design should not be attributed to a folly on its part.¡±

    ¡°You religious zealots really chap my taint, you know?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It¡¯s all inscrutable this and unknowable that. Read a book for heaven¡¯s sake and maybe you wouldn¡¯t be so confused all the time.¡± They held up a finger. ¡°And I don¡¯t mean whatever rubbish you¡¯ve assembled and called scripture. Gods, if Scripture even knew how much you¡¯ve all bastardized his name.¡±

    ¡°Your attempts to give offense fall on deaf ears,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°While the Dread Star allowed all of us to experience its truth, you and the other avatars were the sole subjects of its scorn. You are an abomination of failed science and profane magicks, rejected by the gods at the highest level. Your words carry no more weight than the breath you waste to speak them.¡±

    ¡°I dunno,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re offended.¡±

    Zura frowned, and Hysteria smacked their hands together in a gleeful clap. It was a wet clap, and blood spattered from the exposed muscle.

    ¡°Are you all going to drink these?¡± they asked, gesturing at the mugs. A few now had fresh drops of avatar blood in them. ¡°I won¡¯t be rude and kill you all while we¡¯re having a drink.¡± They tapped their fingers along the rim of a glass. ¡°But if you insist on being rude and refuse my hospitality, well..¡± They flapped their hands up as they shrugged.

    ¡°It¡¯s my house and my beer,¡± I said. ¡°How is it your hospitality?¡±

    Varrin picked up an unopened bottle. He uncorked it and sniffed.

    ¡°This is Old Billy,¡± he said, then took a swig. ¡°It is a Ravvenblaq brew.¡±

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s my house and his beer. The point stands.¡±

    ¡°The hospitality is the not-killing-you part,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Now you¡¯re being tautological.¡± Varrin handed me another of the bottles, and I accepted it, looking at the label. It had a line drawing of a geriatric goat and nothing else. I took an experimental taste. It was dark and rich, with caramel undertones and a vanilla finish. ¡°You¡¯ll kill us if we don¡¯t accept your hospitality of not killing us?¡±

    ¡°That is not a tautology,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is not true by virtue of its logical form.¡± Pause. ¡°It is just a stupid thing to say.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rhetorically tautological,¡± I said. ¡°It states the same thing twice, but in different ways.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I get it,¡± said Etja. ¡°You do that all the time!¡±

    ¡°Sure, but when I do it, it¡¯s for reasons of clarity, to make sure everyone¡¯s on the same page.¡± I noted that Xim had eschewed the beer and retrieved a bottle of wine, which she now poured for herself and Nuralie. No one was touching the mugs Hysteria had prepared. The avatar saw that their offering was being ignored, and picked up another mug for themself.

    This time, the liquid stayed inside their body. Of course, I¡¯d seen them grow solid muscle where their stomach should have been, so I had no idea where the beer was going.

    ¡°Um,¡± one of the Eschen delegates¨Ca Geulon man¨Csaid, voice trembling. ¡°What, uh, what is going on?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said another, smaller man, peeking out from behind the first. ¡°I don¡¯t understand what happened. We were in the lounge, and then we were¨C¡± He waved a hand in the air vigorously, equal parts frustration and confusion, lacking the appropriate words to finish the sentence.

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°While you were in my lounge speaking with the king, a runeweaver working on behalf of the avatar Hysteria¨C¡± I pointed at the fleshy avatar, who now looked like a highly inaccurate high school anatomy poster. ¡°¨Cactivated a teleportation weave that whisked you away to a self-contained slice of the physical universe that had been transplanted into the void between realms.¡±

    ¡°O-oh,¡± said the first Geulon. ¡°The whole lounge was taken?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not right,¡± said another Geulon, a woman this time. ¡°I didn¡¯t feel a thing.¡±

    ¡°No, not the entire lounge. You were teleported individually, but Hysteria is a master of illusion and mind control.¡± The avatar gave a shallow bow. ¡°You were placed into an illusory lounge and had your memories modified so there were no perceived inconsistencies.¡± I looked at Hysteria. ¡°Did I get that right?¡±

    The avatar waggled a hand in a so-so gesture while they tipped back another drink.

    ¡°And why did the universe manifest itself, then bat us down from the heavens?¡± asked a fourth delegate.

    ¡°I have a spicy Luck evolution,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s kind of unpredictable. I didn¡¯t know that would happen.¡±

    The man¡¯s eyes bulged. ¡°How high is your Luck?!¡±

    ¡°Level 10.¡± He jerked his head, confusion overtaking his surprise.

    ¡°It¡¯s a whole thing,¡± said Xim. ¡°You get used to it.¡±

    ¡°I disagree,¡± said Nuralie. She paused and looked at the delegate. ¡°That is also a gross oversimplification of what happened.¡±

    The woman delegate gestured at Hysteria. ¡°If this creature is the mastermind behind these crimes, why are you treating it so casually?¡± She scowled as she looked at the drinks in our hands. ¡°This hardly seems like the time to relax and share mead with it!¡±

    Varrin, Hysteria, and I all looked down at our drinks.

    ¡°It is more of a porter,¡± said Varrin.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°I could have sworn it was a stout.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s definitely not mead,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Calm yourself, Jinta,¡± said Zura, placing a hand on the woman¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We do not take this entity lightly.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re ¡®relaxing¡¯,¡± I said, ¡°because Hysteria has said they won¡¯t kill us while we¡¯re doing that.¡± I glanced at the avatar. ¡°Not that I¡¯m complaining, but why did you want us to relax?¡±

    ¡°I said ¡®let¡¯s have a drink¡¯, not ¡®let¡¯s relax¡¯,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°If you¡¯re confusing those two, you might have a problem.¡±

    I took another swig of the beer, literally incapable of feeling the alcohol¡¯s effects. I considered saying as much, but any way I imagined wording it just made me sound like an alcoholic defending their choices. I kept my silence.

    ¡°No fun,¡± said Hysteria when they realized I wasn¡¯t taking the bait. ¡°As for why I wanted to take a step back, well, I guess¡­¡± They took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, cheeks puffing. ¡°The Dread Star really made me stop and think for a second, you know? I¡¯ve been running around in circles for so long, I can¡¯t even remember what I was trying to accomplish in the first place!

    ¡°My brothers and sisters have goals. They want to ascend, to take their rightful place up above. They have plans, people who support them, and the drive to take what they want! But as for me? I have no idea.

    ¡°When I really look at what I¡¯ve been doing, all I see is a petty person, hurting the people around them. I¡¯m hurting people because, deep inside, I¡¯m hurting, and I don¡¯t know what to do with all that pain, so I sprinkle it around like a dog shaking water from their coat. As if I could rid myself of the hurt by shedding it onto everyone around me.¡± Hysteria took another long drink, then slammed the empty mug onto the counter.

    ¡°I realize now, that won¡¯t work!¡± said Hysteria, standing up straight. ¡°If all I do is hurt others like I¡¯ve been hurt, the cycle will continue, neverending. I need to look deep within myself, find the reason why I¡¯m hurting, and deal with it in a healthy and constructive way. Then, I can start helping others to do the same. If I want the world to change, I need to start with the avatar in the mirror!¡±

    We all digested Hysteria¡¯s words in stunned silence.

    ¡°Really?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Fuck no!¡± Hysteria shouted. ¡°Look at me!¡± they gestured at their half-reformed body. ¡°You think I can perform like this?! I need a few minutes to freshen up.¡±

    Nuralie cleared her throat. ¡°Perform?¡± Pause. ¡°Who are you performing for?¡±

    ¡°Anyone who¡¯s watching,¡± said the avatar, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. ¡°There¡¯s always somebody who¡¯s watching.¡±

    ¡°So this is like half-time?¡± I asked.

    Hysteria took up a fresh mug and tapped a finger against it. ¡°I¡¯d call it intermission. When the lights flicker, you¡¯ll have five minutes to get back to your seats and perish.¡±

    ¡°Forgiveness, Zenithar,¡± said the smaller Geulon, still peeking out from behind his colleague. ¡°Purify our waters of ignorance. Why do you not bind this beast?¡±

    ¡°She can¡¯t, you dimwit!¡± shouted Hysteria. They threw their drink at the wall, where it shattered into a rain of glass and foam. ¡°You think your stupid Zenithar would be standing there, silently praying to her stupid gods if she could do a single thing to me with her stupid revelations?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve seen you smitten!¡± said the delegate, Jinta. ¡°Your blasphemy invites further intercession from the gods you denigrate!¡±

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°You know what you sound like? Someone who doesn¡¯t know who the fuck they¡¯re talking to.¡±

    ¡°A perversion!¡± she shouted in response.

    ¡°Jinta!¡± the Zenithar snapped. ¡°Remain. Calm.¡±

    ¡°Grotto. Get ready to take these people out of here.¡±

    [And where will I be sending them?]

    ¡°Anywhere that isn¡¯t in the same room as an emotionally manipulative godling.¡±

    [Very well.]

    Grotto disappeared, teleporting himself to the control room. If Hysteria noticed the Delve Core disappearing, they ignored it.

    ¡°This is the problem of always working in the shadows,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°No one knows what you can do. You have to show people.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like where that line of thought was heading.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ve got the gist of it,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s no need for¨C¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Allow me a demonstration. I said I wouldn¡¯t kill you all until drinks are done, and I won¡¯t.¡± The avatar picked up one of the full mugs and tipped it over, pouring its contents onto the ground. Half a dozen remained. I stiffened as Hysteria tossed the glass aside and reached for another, but the avatar picked it up, took a dainty sip, and then winked at me. They stepped back from the counter and pointed at Varrin. ¡°You¡¯re a strapping lad! Do me a favor and try to cut me in half.¡±

    Varrin considered the request, then glanced over to me. I shrugged. The big guy set down his bottle, stepped around the counter, and pulled Kazandak from his inventory. His expression was cool, but his knuckles went white as he gripped the sword¡¯s hilt.

    ¡°Shall I give it my best?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course!¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Strike me with everything you¡¯ve got.¡±

    Varrin nodded and a roil of dark smoke billowed over his form. When it parted, he was wearing a full set of heavy plate armor, black and silver in the traditional Ravvenblaq style.

    Of course Varrin had gotten his hands on the rich-daddy insta-equip option.

    The armor had a familiar color scheme but wasn¡¯t a set I¡¯d seen before. I peeked at the mana running through it, noticing it was a significant upgrade from what he¡¯d worn through Deijin¡¯s Descent. I doubted it had been crafted from scratch in the few days Varrin had spent with his family. It was probably another heirloom set the Ravvenblaqs kept around for the younger generation.

    Only one piece looked fresh out of the forge.

    While the gear was formidable, the helm shone with an absurd amount of power compared to the rest. It was shaped like a houndskull helmet, though with a longer, tapered muzzle. It was also more streamlined and aerodynamic. In fact, it kind of looked like a bird¡¯s skull once I thought about it.

    A raven, perhaps.

    One might even call it a ravenskull helmet.

    It completely encompassed his head, with no visible breaks, not even a slit for him to see through. I expected it was the product of his grandfather, using one of the Corvite Slabs Varrin had earned. Overall, the new set made him look quite menacing.

    Yaretzi¡¯s cloak unfurled last, bedazzling us in all its shiny glory.

    I couldn¡¯t decide if that helped or hurt the menace. Hysteria seemed to approve, looking Varrin up and down with hungry eyes.

    Varrin slid into a combat stance, and a gust of wind tore through the kitchen as his sword whipped out, blade coated in the ghostly light of his Soul Strike skill. It landed on Hysteria¡¯s neck with a sharp crack. The blade bit through the avatar¡¯s regrowing flesh, but came to a full stop when it hit Hysteria¡¯s spine.

    Normally, Soul Strike created a blade of Spectral energy that would continue through Varrin¡¯s target, slashing and disrupting their soul, even if Kazandak was halted.

    But the Spectral attack splashed off of Hysteria¡¯s bones.

    That was intriguing. It was as if Hysteria¡¯s skeleton was the avatar¡¯s soul made manifest. I squinted at what little bone remained exposed, noting the swirling color moving across its surface. Then, I focused more seriously with Soul Sight. I hadn¡¯t noticed any obvious signs of the avatar¡¯s spiritual essence since encountering them. They had no soul halo, but I knew from experience the avatars could foil my revelation¡¯s abilities.

    However, it seemed that I¡¯d been looking at Hysteria¡¯s soul since they¡¯d arrived in the Closet, just not in the form I¡¯d expected. That would go a long way toward explaining why the avatar¡¯s skeleton had survived becoming a cataclysmic projectile. Anything physical would have been atomized, surely.

    Hysteria frowned slightly as Varrin twisted into the attack, dragging the blade along Hysteria¡¯s spine, continuing to try and decapitate the avatar even as he pulled the sword away. The motion left Varrin coiled like a tightly wound spring, the sword tip pointed at the avatar. His left hand cupped the base of the pommel, and his body snapped into a penetrating strike at Hysteria¡¯s chest. Every muscle in the big guy¡¯s body drove the tip of the blade towards Hysteria¡¯s heart, had they possessed one.

    Hysteria angled their ribs slightly to one side, intercepting the blade with their sternum. There was another crack as the tip of the blade hit, and Varrin¡¯s own strike sent the big guy sliding back, his sabatons tearing through the wooden floorboards. At full extension, Varrin was three feet further away from Hysteria, who hadn¡¯t moved at all.

    Hysteria raised a hand to stop Varrin from swinging again. The avatar touched the small cut in the mimic flesh on their sternum. The ¡®wound¡¯ closed in less than a second, but Hysteria stared at the spot for much longer.

    Hysteria sounded genuinely confused when they next spoke.

    ¡°Why¡­ did I feel that?¡±

 204 - Unified Theory of Demanifestation

    My mind split in two. One half began to filter through the observations I¡¯d just made, while the other processed Hysteria¡¯s question and the resulting conversation.

    I glanced at my ruined floorboards. Their destruction grabbed my attention, and not just because I was annoyed they¡¯d need to be replaced. By this point, I was committed to scrapping the entire mansion to make sure there weren¡¯t any more surprises hidden around by Hysteria¡¯s goons. What got my notice was that Varrin had forced himself backward.

    Strength did a few wacky things, the most obvious of which began at Level 10. Every Delver who¡¯d ascended to superhuman levels of flex gained the ability to create their own leverage. Otherwise, their strength wouldn¡¯t be terribly useful. A two-hundred-pound body could only apply so much force to an external object before it simply pushed itself away like Varrin just had.

    With Varrin¡¯s Strength score, the man could lift several elephants, African or otherwise. He could apply that force in physics-defying ways, meaning the full brunt of it could be used without pushing himself away from whatever he was using it against. That is, unless Varrin chose to allow himself to be pushed, or unless something else pushed back in turn.

    ¡°He hit you pretty hard,¡± Xim said to Hysteria. ¡°It would have been weird if you hadn¡¯t felt it.¡±

    ¡°Get over yourself,¡± said the avatar. ¡°I just struck a mountain with enough energy that it evaporated, and I didn¡¯t feel that.¡± They looked Varrin over. ¡°There¡¯s more to it than this man¡¯s delectable slabs of beef.¡±

    [It appears that the Zenithar is warding the Eschens somehow, likely to limit Hysteria¡¯s influence. I cannot teleport them without her permission, which she seems reluctant to give. Additionally, there is a problem that requires your attention.]

    Varrin¡¯s thrust had been perfect, with only the very tip of the blade¡¯s point connecting. The entirety of the man¡¯s power had been concentrated on the extremely small spot where the sword contacted bone. The amount of pressure that generated was staggering; something in the realm of tens of millions of pounds per square inch.

    Kazandak was unharmed since it was Immutable, but even that didn¡¯t allow the material to perform beyond the bounds of its material properties. It only prevented it from being damaged in any way.

    My vest would allow an arrow to pierce it as easily as typical c¡¯thonic leather, but due to its Immutable property, the arrow wouldn¡¯t leave a hole behind. Seinnador had described it as the vest becoming a sort of tunnel, where the attack didn¡¯t go through the vest¡¯s material, but between it somehow. That description didn¡¯t quite work for me, since the material still absorbed the kinetic energy it normally would. It just avoided anything over that hard limit.

    An easier way for me to think of it was that the vest simply sent the excess energy wherever it was most easily sent. In the case of an arrow hurtling toward my chest, the easiest place to send that energy was into my chest.

    As for what that meant with a sword, it wouldn¡¯t make sense for the weapon to go through the thing it was attacking once the limits of its durability were reached. The excess energy would instead rebound into whatever was driving the sword forward. In this case, Varrin.

    ¡°You asked me to give it my best,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You can hardly be upset if it stung.¡±

    ¡°Stung?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Boy, it was like being caressed by a gentle breeze.¡± They ran a hand along their arm, which was growing a layer of pale skin. ¡°No, you¡¯ve got something else giving you a boost. You¡¯re much too weak to take advantage of it, but it¡¯s there.¡±

    Hysteria walked back to the counter and swept half of the mugs onto the ground, reducing the number of untouched drinks to three. They leaned over, placing an elbow on the sticky surface and settling their chin into their palm.

    ¡°We have another problem?¡± I thought to Grotto. ¡°Fine. Hit me with it.¡±

    [The wastelanders are in your bedroom.]

    ¡°Shit.¡± I went to rub my beard, but my gauntlet clanked against my bascinet. Two threads of thought were fine, but three was stretching me thin. ¡°That¡¯s not too surprising. They disappeared shortly before we got out with the Card. The teleport weave in here was an obvious jump point. What are they doing?¡±

    The force of Varrin¡¯s strike rebounding may sound counterintuitive, but it¡¯s really the same thing as the arrow in my vest example. An arrow collides with the vest, and the excess force is sent in the same direction the arrow was traveling. With Kazandak, the sword is intuitively perceived as the body in motion, and one would expect the energy to go in the same direction. However, the problem should be considered from the frame of reference of the Immutable object¨Cthe sword¨Cin which case it was Hysteria who was in relative motion.

    When Hysteria¡¯s sternum collided with the sword, the kinetic energy the Immutable item needed to offset was moving toward Varrin. Thus, the weapon shunted the excess energy in the direction of its wielder, which would explain why Varrin had just ruined my hardwoods. Varrin hadn¡¯t pushed himself back, his attack had exceeded the bounds of Kazandak¡¯s tolerances, and the Immutable property transferred the excess force to its wielder, which was the easiest place for the energy to go. That was my theory, anyway.

    Okay, technically that meant Varrin had pushed himself backward, but in a very roundabout manner.

    Like Varrin¡¯s strike to Hysteria¡¯s neck, the avatar¡¯s flesh had parted easily enough, but their sternum hadn¡¯t even vibrated. The Spectral portion of the attack broke apart like ocean waves against a rocky cliffside.

    Kazandak was a masterwork sword made by one of the world¡¯s most prominent crafters. Its tolerances were pretty high, but it still had limits. Limits that Varrin was already running up against, it seemed. The sword¡¯s requirements weren¡¯t particularly demanding, and it had never been intended for high-end use cases. Like slaying gods, for example.

    We¡¯d need to get him a sword that could do that, eventually.

    ¡°This is probably Orexis¡¯s fault,¡± Hysteria mumbled, drumming their fingers. ¡°Destroying a god, even a little slice of one, does weird things to people. The divinity has to go somewhere, after all.¡± The avatar picked up another mug and drained it, then wiped their mouth with the back of a crimson sleeve.

    I suddenly realized the avatar was wearing a set of blood-red robes, their body fully reformed. A dark skull was stained into the front of the cloth.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    [The wastelanders appear to be recovering and revising their strategy since you proved more formidable than they were expecting.]

    By all rights, Varrin¡¯s attacks should have sent Hysteria flying. It wasn¡¯t much of a surprise that they hadn¡¯t, but it granted me some valuable insights.

    Being indestructible did not make a thing immovable. Hysteria¡¯s bones appeared to be both. All sorts of shenanigans could have been responsible for what I¡¯d just witnessed, even if Hysteria had only been a Delver. Being an avatar further expanded the possibilities.

    That being said, the avatar¡¯s soul-bones were an easy explanation.

    Physical objects couldn¡¯t affect a soul directly. At the same time, a soul couldn¡¯t directly affect physical objects. This was ordinarily true because souls existed on an entirely separate chunk of reality. However, Hysteria seemed to be violating that rule, which had some curious implications.

    The interaction I¡¯d just witnessed hinted that Hysteria¡¯s materialized soul juice had retained its general inviolability against physical matter. At the same time, Hysteria could use their boney self to violate the physical, putting them in a best-of-both-worlds scenario. That would explain why a ten-ton sword strike to the neck and chest hadn¡¯t even rattled Hysteria¡¯s teeth. It wasn¡¯t that the soul couldn¡¯t be damaged by a material object, it''s that it couldn¡¯t be affected in any way.

    It was hardly definitive after observing Hysteria getting smacked a couple of times, but I was doing my best with what I had.

    Hysteria stood back upright, appraising the Eschens. ¡°Do you know the biological differences between Geulons and humans?¡±

    ¡°What does that have to do with anything?¡± asked Delegate Jinta.

    ¡°There are several notable differences,¡± said Zura. ¡°Although, not as many as some might believe. Aside from scales and a tail, our constitution is more suited for living in a semi-aquatic environment. Even so, the difference between a Geulon and a Hiwardian is no more extreme than the difference between a Hiwardian and the races of humans that continue to live in the southern territories of the Littan Empire.¡±

    It seemed odd to me that the Zenithar was so willing to engage in that line of inquiry. Her soul looked much healthier than it had within the void, but it still held a hint of turbulence.

    ¡°That¡¯s more than I expected you to know,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But there¡¯s one difference in particular that I appreciate the most.¡±

    ¡°No one cares for your opinion,¡± said Jinta.

    ¡°Quiet!¡± said another delegate beside the woman, reaching out to grip her arm tightly. ¡°Do you wish to die here?¡±

    ¡°We really need to get these people out of here, Grotto.¡±

    [The Zenithar is being uncharacteristically stubborn.]

    While the Eschens lost their cool, I engaged in some wild speculation.

    After my ¡®conversation¡¯ with Avarice about the nature of avatars, I¡¯d learned that the womanly form she wore was a complete fabrication. It was a way for her to exert her influence on the world, but not what she truly was. Her handsy shadow was probably her ¡®true¡¯ body. However, her soul still manifested in a way that I could differentiate from this true body, standing apart from the shadow itself.

    Hysteria, on the other hand, appeared to manifest completely as their own soul, with no separation between their soul and this theoretical true body.

    Everything else around Hysteria¡¯s skeleton was similar to Avarice¡¯s false body¨Ca deception. Hysteria had Dominated an inert mimic¨Cpreviously known as my chandelier¨Cand forced it to transform into humanoid flesh. Hysteria may have been doing something along those lines the entire time, controlling another organism to craft a physical disguise. Thus, their entire suite of skills, so far, could be centered around the Spiritual school of magic. Having a manifestation composed entirely of their spiritual essence resonated with that.

    Did that give me a hint as to Hysteria¡¯s limitations, or even how something like Hysteria might be harmed? Normally, Varrin¡¯s Soul Strike would be excellent against a fully spiritual entity, but it wasn¡¯t yet up to the task of damaging Hysteria¡¯s soul.

    But there were plenty of Delvers out there who were much handier with dishing out Spiritual damage.

    Like Hysteria, Avarice used Spiritual Magic, but her manipulation and modification of her body appeared to utilize Physical Magic. This was partly evidenced by her ability to produce the Doomed Aspirants, either by creating them entirely from scratch or by twisting Delvers into insectoid forms. Our brief soul exchange had given me a deeper look at her disguise, and I hadn¡¯t noticed a single speck of illusion magic. There was also something that felt right about an avatar of greed having a deeper connection to the material world.

    Finally, she¡¯d used some kind of Dimensional ability when she¡¯d snatched the Get Out of Cage Free card straight from my inventory. Plus, where did she keep all her shit? Dimensional hijinks were almost certainly involved.

    If Avarice were a Delver, I¡¯d peg her as having a Physical attunement, with intrinsic skills for both adjacent schools¨CSpiritual and Dimensional¨Con top.

    Did that imply that Avarice¡¯s grabby shadow was a physical entity? Perhaps it meant that her true body was a blend of Physical, Spiritual, and Dimensional properties.

    How did this interact with an avatar¡¯s divinity? Maybe the particular manifestation of an avatar was the consequence of their divinity interacting with our mortal realm.

    If this manifestation was disrupted, what would happen? Would the divinity be sucked back up into the heavens? Would it dissipate and reform later?

    Each school of magic had well-known counters. Would having more properties relating to the five schools of magic create more vulnerabilities or less? If Hysteria was locked into one school¨CSpiritual¨Cwould they be easier to demanifest than an avatar like Avarice, who seemed to be spread out across three?

    Did any comprehensible rules even apply to the avatars?

    The idea had me intrigued. If an avatar could be pigeonholed into a specific school or attunement, it might give us a framework for counteracting them.

    Further testing was needed. Maybe more avatars would be willing to let us attack them until we figured out how their bodies worked.

    ¡°Geulons,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°have a significantly higher level of control over their biological functions.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense,¡± said another of the delegates. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such a thing.¡± The man had moved to stand next to Jinta, and he pried the first delegate¡¯s hand from her arm. He received a deep scowl for his efforts.

    ¡°You may not be aware of it,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But it¡¯s true nonetheless. Let me show you.¡±

    Hysteria turned to Varrin¡¯s sister, Riona, who hadn¡¯t made a peep since our brief escape. Her expression was absent, but she snapped her head to meet the avatar¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Stop your heart,¡± said the avatar.

    Varrin flinched and raised his sword, which he¡¯d never sheathed. Riona¡¯s expression furrowed into a look of concentration.

    ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry,¡± she said, tone pitiful.

    Hysteria knocked one of the mugs from the counter and picked up the last.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± they said gently. ¡°I can¡¯t ask you to do something you¡¯re physically incapable of.¡±

    The avatar took a long draw from the final drink. They turned to the Eschen delegates, who¡¯d silently separated into two camps. Jinta and her frustrated colleague were on one side, with the other three staring daggers at them.

    ¡°Zura!¡± I snapped, pulling the Zenithar¡¯s attention away from her people. ¡°Stop fucking around!¡±

    The elder Geulon blinked, taking precious seconds to process what I¡¯d said. By the time the message had gotten through, it was too late.

    Hysteria finished off the final mug of beer and looked at the group of three delegates.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how it works on this trio,¡± said the avatar. ¡°Go ahead. Stop your hearts.¡±

    All three Geulons collapsed, and the Zenithar let out a strangled cry. Jinta screamed. The man next to her stumbled back, tripping over his feet and hitting the ground hard.

    I clenched my jaw until pain shot through my gums. Xim cast Heal on one of the delegates, heedless of the potential harm it might cause to their non-Delver constitution.

    They didn¡¯t get back up.

    ¡°Do you guys want to see some necromancy?¡± Hysteria asked, before thrusting their arms out to either side.

    The other two Eschens started to run. My mind whirled to find anything I could do to help. Finally, Zura released her hold on her delegation, and Grotto whisked them away, fresh corpses and all. The Zenithar stayed behind, spinning toward Hysteria with a look of pure hatred. It was an alien expression on her motherly features.

    The lights in the room dimmed, and a complex sigil sprang to life on the ground. I studied the glyphs, but the runes were unfamiliar.

    Water began condensing along the ceiling, dripping down like a spring storm as Zura¡¯s presence swelled.

    The Zenithar¡¯s soul pressed down on us like a lead blanket.

 205 - Soundtrack

    ¡°Grotto, got any idea what this weave does?¡±

    [It¡­ appears to be nonsense.]

    Hysteria began muttering arcane phrases, their voice low and sonorous. Each syllable hammered against the air like the head of a drum, the avatar chanting in a droning monotone. Their fingers twisted into complex formations, gliding through anatomically impossible shapes.

    Something began thudding beneath the floorboards.

    ¡°Arlo,¡± said Xim. ¡°You haven¡¯t been hoarding corpses in the basement, have you?¡± The cleric was stripping as she asked this, which I realized was an excellent idea once she started pulling chainmail from her inventory.

    ¡°There¡¯s six feet of solid stone beneath these hardwoods,¡± I said. ¡°You can see the damn blocks where Varrin tore the floor up.¡±

    Nuralie and Etja followed Xim¡¯s lead, although with less shameless nudity. Nuralie had been wearing her leathers under her suit this entire time. That was kind of paranoid but justified given our lifestyle. The only piece she hadn¡¯t been wearing was her Cloak of the Descent. Etja got out her staff and wand. A quick glance at the mana in her dress told me she¡¯d had it enchanted to a much greater extent than her old robes. Her skin hardened into a combination of dark chitin and crystal.

    The dripping moisture gathered before the Zenithar as a haunting wail echoed around us. It was a cry of profound pain and misery. At first, unintelligible, but slowly, the cries transformed into words.

    ¡°Yooooouuuuu biiiiitchhh! Yoooouuuu kiiiiiilllled meeeeee!¡±

    The floorboards splintered as something crashed into them from below. Another thud and one of the boards broke in half. A tormented scream rattled cookware and sent foodstuffs tumbling from shelves.

    Zura unleashed a concentrated jet of water, which arced across the kitchen, cutting through the walls as easily as the air. It swept over Hysteria, and the avatar interrupted their chanting with a cackle as their robes and flesh were carved away.

    Something began to crawl out from beneath the broken floorboards, a corrupted mockery of what it had been in life.

    It was Cloaky.

    Hysteria¡¯s recently murdered article of clothing squeezed through the cracks in the floor and hovered next to the avatar. Its edges were tattered and worn, a thousand scraps of cloth stitched together with rough thread. It shook itself free of wood chips.

    ¡°You asshole!¡± Cloaky shouted, floating within an inch of the avatar. ¡°You couldn¡¯t let me rest in fucking pieces?! You just had to drag me back up here. Why?! To torment me even more?!¡±

    Hysteria reached up and wiped a stream of water from their eyes.

    ¡°One sec,¡± said the avatar. Zura¡¯s jet cut across their face, ruining it until only the colorful skull remained. All the while, orbs of water formed around the Zenithar, trembling to contain Zura¡¯s wrath. The woman¡¯s eyes were glowing.

    ¡°The king is gone, so I¡¯m only left with one choice,¡± said Hysteria. Water cut away their lips and tongue, but it had no impact on their speech. ¡°I¡¯m curious to see how much your god¡¯s protection is worth, Zenithar.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s body erupted with power, their skeleton glowing bright enough to penetrate the remains of their flesh. Zura stumbled back as a swell of mana rose from Hysteria and battered against the Geulon.

    You have observed the Passion Imperium spell!

    Passion Imperium

    Deific

    Cost: Give us a sec to analyze this shit.

    Requirements: Probably real high.

    Effects:

    Obtain dominion over the target¡¯s soul.

    Zura spasmed, her spirit flaring out with all the strength I¡¯d seen on the day she¡¯d destroyed the Littan fleet. Hysteria smiled in ecstasy as their magic flowed through the Zenithar, tendrils of power invading and corrupting the Geulon.

    Arrows began shattering against Hysteria as Nuralie tried in vain to interrupt their spell. A pillar of crimson light came down, igniting the avatar with holy fire. Varrin moved to stand in front of Riona, who¡¯d resisted Grotto¡¯s attempt to teleport her away.

    ¡°I wanted to give you a chance,¡± Hysteria shouted to Cloaky, ¡°to pursue your true calling from beyond the grave! The universe should not be denied your gifts, merely because I lost my temper!¡±

    ¡°M-my passion?¡± said Cloaky, deflating. ¡°You mean that¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, Cloaky,¡± said Hysteria. They reached into the shredded remains of their robes and produced a violin and bow, handing it to the cloak. They gripped it in their fabric hands with reverence.

    ¡°What should I play?¡± Cloaky asked.

    ¡°Whatever moves you,¡± said Hysteria.

    The cloak nodded (I think) and then held the bow up to the violin¡¯s strings. It hesitated, then turned to me.

    ¡°When you teleported in,¡± Cloaky said, ¡°there was about a half a second before you ate whatever it was that kept this douche out of your brain.¡±

    ¡°Hurtful!¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°We got a good peek at what was going on inside that skull of yours,¡± said Cloaky. ¡°So I hope you can appreciate this one.¡±

    Cloaky drew the bow along the violin, eliciting a single, mournful note. Then it began to play a familiar melody, albeit much slower than the original. I was momentarily dumbstruck by what I heard.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m loving this one,¡± said Hysteria, swaying their hips and walking forward. The avatar looked Zenithar Zura in the eye as she struggled to resist.

    The avatar stopped to poke at the trembling orbs of water with fascination. They jerked their hand back and blew on the tip of their finger.

    Even though Hysteria¡¯s spell had been Deific, Geul¡¯s protection was a bulwark against the avatar¡¯s power. Even so, it was rapidly crumbling.

    There was a solution here, and a rush of connections slid into place.

    I returned to my theory on Hysteria¡¯s nature. If the avatar was entirely focused on Spiritual Magic, they were limited to a narrow range of abilities. Extremely potent abilities, but they could be countered.

    Spiritual Magic centered around manipulating the soul and mind, either of the self or of others. This even allowed the wielder to extend their own spiritual essence into the world around them, with very few limits on what kinds of physical phenomena could be imbued.

    Spiritual Magic had little in the way of traditional defenses. Hysteria partially dealt with that by manifesting in soul form and exploiting its inviolability, but that primarily mitigated physical forces. They were obviously spiritually robust, but that left three schools we hadn¡¯t properly tested against the avatar: Divine, Mystical, and Dimensional.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    We had evidence that Divine forces could impact Hysteria. Mana flowed through the soul, so their abilities could likely be interfered with via Mystical, although none of us had a skill that could deal with a Deific spell. Dimensional Magic was resisted by Fortitude, and I was willing to bet an avatar had a lot of that, or whatever the godly equivalent was.

    Damage-dealing effects and anything that activated after dealing damage were right out. We didn¡¯t have the raw power to be a threat. However, some things didn¡¯t rely on damage, and some effects were¡­ weird, for lack of a better word.

    So, we needed a Divine skill with a weird effect. That gave us Xim and Etja. Xim¡¯s offensive abilities mostly relied on traditional effects, like damage and stun.

    Etja was a lot weirder.

    Her abilities were Charisma-based, even when they should have been Intelligence-based. Charisma-based skills were often resisted by Wisdom. Hysteria didn¡¯t seem like a paragon of Wisdom.

    Etja¡¯s abilities were filled with references to her relation to divine beings. She was the incarnation of a divine being, a descendant of divinity. Her soul was literally forged as a shell to contain the overwhelming might of a godly avatar¡¯s soul fragment, and she could still contain another entity¡¯s spirit within her own.

    She also had a skill that might be able take advantage of that.

    Incorporate

    Divine

    Cost: Variable mana

    You can draw in the form and essence of other things and make them part of yourself. The effects of this ability vary. Incorporating objects may give you material properties of those objects, whereas incorporating a spirit may even give you memories of that spirit. Greater levels of Divine Magic increase the potency of what you can incorporate.

    Be careful you don¡¯t lose yourself in the process.

    Etja¡¯s Divine Magic skill wasn¡¯t incredibly high, but I didn¡¯t think it mattered. All of her Divine evolutions were directly related to her avatar heritage. I was willing to bet her capacity to interact with avatars through her Divine Magic was substantially more powerful per Level than literally any other non-godly being in the world.

    Etja could currently have a stable maximum of 30 Blessed stacks. There¡¯s no reason she wouldn¡¯t have maxed those out during her downtime since they didn¡¯t expire. Blessed improved an attack by 8 per stack spent. Incorporate wasn¡¯t directly listed as an attack, but using any skill offensively typically counted. That was a bonus of 240 if she dumped all her stacks at once.

    Her Finishing Move passive tripled the effectiveness of one spell, so long as it was cast at the end of a four-spell combo.

    Now that got her bonus from Blessed up to 720.

    Etja had a Charisma of 58 and a Divine skill somewhere in the mid or upper 20¡¯s. Based on what I¡¯d learned about attack values from Grotto, that made her base attack somewhere around 100, also tripled by Finishing Move.

    Now we were up to an attack value of 1020. She also had whatever buffs her new gear might give her on top.

    Beyond that, Incorporate was a variable mana skill, which meant it could draw as much power as it needed to succeed. Etja had a significant mana pool by any measure, and half her damn build was focused on improving her mana efficiency. How much more that might add, I had no idea. Probably a whole fucking lot.

    But what would Incorporate actually do?

    I was hoping it would let Etja eat part of Hysteria¡¯s soul.

    How would that affect Etja? Good fucking question, but if she received a ¡°beneficial effect¡± from it, she could double its potency with her Luck 40 evolution, Double Down. Having a massive Luck score also wouldn¡¯t hurt her chances of success, now that I thought about it.

    I relayed that plan through Grotto, but we¡¯d need to buy ourselves a few seconds while Etja put her combo together.

    Hysteria wanted Zura, so we needed to get the Zenithar out of there.

    How fast was Hysteria? They¡¯d made it from the impact crater a few miles away to my Closet portal in a handful of seconds, but how? Spiritual Magic wasn¡¯t big on the movement skills. Maybe they¡­ bounced?

    It didn¡¯t really matter. One mile per second was 3,600 miles per hour. Nuralie had recently gotten a massive buff to her Speed, and after double-checking the numbers, spitting out my drink, triple-checking the numbers, and spitting another completely different drink, I realized she could theoretically move around two-thirds that fast. That was with full buffs and ideal circumstances, which included moving through darkness.

    Fortunately, I had complete control over the illumination situation.

    ¡°Grotto, kill all the lights in the Closet.¡±

    I sent Nuralie the plan at the speed of thought. The loson had more Speed and more Intelligence than me, so she followed my manic pace without trouble.

    Hopefully, she could get tricky with Stealth and her near-invisibility.

    The lights went out, Nuralie and the Zenithar disappeared, Etja hit Riona with Nullify to see if it purged Hysteria¡¯s mental influence, and Varrin moved in a blur to get his sister somewhere safer.

    ¡°Wait, what?¡± said Hysteria.

    Cloaky continued to play, but their violin had grown longer and gained more strings. They dropped their bow and swapped to strumming.

    ¡°Uh, is that a fucking nine-string?¡± I asked.

    Etja had already been casting Siphon before things went to shit, gearing up to fly if she needed to. Nullify had been her second spell in sequence, and she hit the wall to our east with Disintegrate, revealing the wastelanders moving in on our position.

    With both Reconnaissance and a massive Wisdom score, Etja was technically our best lookout. Strange, but true.

    The wastelanders were moving cautiously, looking between everyone in the kitchen. Their eyes halted on Cloaky as heavy metal distortion kicked in, the music¡¯s tempo accelerating.

    I tried to ignore it.

    ¡°Grotto, let¡¯s burn our System Rep to make a long-distance call.¡±

    [You are getting in the habit of solving your problems by throwing outrageously powerful entities at them.]

    ¡°Our recent problems have been outrageous, which justifies the use of outrageous force. I have no regrets.¡±

    ¡°This is exciting!¡± said Hysteria. They mimed walking down a flight of stairs behind the kitchen counter. I dashed around to keep eyes on the avatar, Etja and Xim close behind, but Hysteria was gone.

    You have observed the Dramatic Exit spell!

    Dramatic Exit

    Deific

    Cost: After analysis, these appear to use some kind of godly favor.

    Requirements: You don¡¯t meet them, nor will you ever meet them.

    Disappear with a flourish and reappear wherever the narrative tension will be highest.

    Listen, we¡¯re doing our best with this shit. Avatars are hard to quantify.

    ¡°Grotto¨C¡±

    [Already on it.]

    Etja, Xim, and I teleported right behind Hysteria, finding the avatar standing over Nuralie and Zura, who were both on the ground, bleeding.

    ¡°This is why it isn¡¯t safe to run in the house, kids!¡± said Hysteria. They were wearing a dirty floral dress, house shoes, and a hair net. ¡°You might run into somebody!¡±

    The avatar¡¯s tendrils were once more invading the Zenithar¡¯s soul. The moment before Etja cast Incorporate, Hysteria frowned and turned to look at her.

    The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I felt like a predator was stalking me, just out of sight. I couldn¡¯t help but take my eyes off the avatar for a second to glance back at Etja.

    The mage was surrounded by a swell of Divine light, wrapped in the blessings of the only god she acknowledged. Herself.

    She hungered, and the world yearned to feed itself to her.

    Etja reached out toward Hysteria, a hole opening on her palm, ravenous and relentless. The avatar¡¯s clothing was torn to shreds, flying into Etja¡¯s hand and disappearing. Next came the avatar¡¯s mimic flesh, and Etja¡¯s body rippled, changing itself on instinct to accommodate her newfound power.

    The air was thick with Etja¡¯s potent need to fill herself, and the mage¡¯s eyes rolled back into her head. Her entire palm had become a cavernous mouth filled with dark swirling threads of hypnotic energy, spiraling towards an endless stomach, beckoning us to throw ourselves in.

    Hidden beneath it all was fear, the fear that she was being erased by a creature that had been buried deep within. One that we¡¯d released.

    Hysteria¡¯s soul fluttered.

    ¡°Now, hold on a minute,¡± said the avatar. Their colorful bones swirled, and a viscous blob of essence dripped from their sternum. Etja consumed it and became a raging storm.

    ¡°That looks like a problem!¡± shouted Xim over Cloaky¡¯s swelling riffs.

    A full ensemble had joined the guitar. We were on the other side of the mansion, but the music was everywhere. Etja¡¯s eyes became dark pits.

    ¡°Probably!¡± I shouted back. We¡¯d have to swap to psychic comms soon, the music was so loud.

    ¡°What the fuck is this, anyway?¡± shouted Xim, throwing a hand out toward the rattling walls.

    The backing cut out and the guitar kicked out a two-measure solo. Then, an entire orchestra joined in.

    I knew exactly what it was since the song had been ripped out of my own head.

    ¡°It¡¯s mother lovin¡¯ Nightwish.¡±

 206 - No Avatar Flesh After Midnight

    Holy Water of Yara¡¯s Favor

    Time Remaining: 1 minute

    HP: 1087 -> 1317

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I thought Xim.

    ¡°Hurry up and regen faster.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve healed myself for almost as much as you have. I was mostly dead twenty minutes ago.¡±

    ¡°Those are rookie numbers.¡±

    I shrugged and drank one of Nuralie¡¯s most potent healing potions, bringing my regen up another 947 health per hour to a total of 2,229. I swapped to health per minute, which showed 37. It didn¡¯t look nearly as impressive, but it was more manageable.

    Etja¡¯s skin had become glinting crystal covered in thousands of facets, replicating the material she¡¯d absorbed from the Prismatic Mask across her entire body. Swirls of color swam beneath its surface. She cast hundreds of points of light around the darkened room, illuminating the large table and comfy furniture of my drawing room. I had no idea what the mage had gotten from absorbing a piece of Hysteria. Her soul still felt like Etja, but dozens of new connections were forming within it every second.

    Hysteria looked dumbfounded. Their intrusion on the Zenithar¡¯s will was still progressing but momentarily slowed. Nuralie shook off her daze and threw Zura over her shoulder in a fireman¡¯s carry. I was glad to see the loson had a practical enough mindset not to worry about hauling one of Eschendur¡¯s pope-queens like a sack of potatoes. The Eschens were a down-to-earth kind of people.

    Nuralie disappeared with the Zenithar.

    ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake!¡± shouted Hysteria. Before the avatar could make a move, however, Etja swung her staff and a meter-wide beam of potent magical energy slammed into Hysteria¡¯s skeletal frame.

    The wall behind the avatar collapsed. The beam annihilated all the ambient mana before it, suppressing the avatar¡¯s aura, and Hysteria tumbled through the hole like they¡¯d been sucked away. The countermagic was so potent that the small amount radiating from the beam flooded the room, playing hell with the mana weaves on all my equipment and causing my own auras to shudder.

    The wall was reduced to dust, along with a console and a lovely landscape painting that I was sure somebody would miss. Motes of light flooded from the destruction, captured in Etja¡¯s insatiable palm.

    Divine mana blossomed to fill the mana vacuum, and I felt energy swell up through my legs.

    You¡¯ve gained Celerity!

    Your movement speed is doubled.

    Etja had just combined all six of her spells into a single attack.

    ¡°Neat!¡± she said, then sent four more beams of annihilation through the wall at the avatar, each one smaller and more concentrated than the first.

    ¡°You alright?¡± I shouted over the music. Etja turned to me, her eyes empty pits. She looked confused for a second, then recognition bloomed on her features.

    ¡°Nope!¡± she said, voice easily carrying over the racket, seeming to command the sound waves to bend. She turned back to the massive hole. ¡°I can¡¯t get a good bite. It¡¯s like they¡¯re an overcooked steak wrapped in caramel. The kind that¡¯s sticky, but still too hard somehow. I dunno. Still tastes sweet. I¡¯m gonna go eat them now.¡±

    Etja shot through the hole after Hysteria. The air didn¡¯t even stir.

    ¡°Should we try to help?¡± Xim thought to me.

    [You have other problems,] Grotto answered on my behalf.

    A massive sword shattered the wall opposite from Etja¡¯s hole.

    Etja¡¯s¡­ tunnel?

    Etja¡¯s magical corridor.

    Fucking, they knocked down the wall on the other side of the room from where Etja broke my house. I¡¯d learned the names of the wastelanders, but they¡¯d already earned titles in my head, so that¡¯s what I stuck with.

    Buster crashed through, screaming at us.

    ¡°Have another god to throw at us, little man?!¡± A well of anger surged in my chest, but it sputtered out after a second.

    You have resisted becoming Distracted!

    The Hyrachon trampled over the sturdy table that dominated the center of the room, crushing it under a heavy boot and the force of his charge. His thousand-pound blade swung for my neck. I brought Gracorvus up, then locked myself down with Gravity Anchor, trying to keep his attack from sending me flying. Buster¡¯s sword glowed with golden mana, and it duplicated, crashing down on both Xim and myself. My bones rattled and I felt the burn of divine judgment pierce through me.

    At least, it tried to pierce through me.

    HP: 1335 -> 1330

    I wasn¡¯t impressed.

    Still, I¡¯d misjudged this man. He wasn¡¯t a bruiser, he was a fucking paladin.

    My Divine defense was among my lowest, my Kinetic damage from my hammers would struggle to get through heavy armor reinforced by defensive buffs, and Dimensional damage would be offset by the man¡¯s Fortitude. If he successfully Distracted me, I¡¯d be forced to tie myself up fighting him. Even if he didn¡¯t have any powerful Divine abilities, we¡¯d probably end up beating on each other with little hope of dealing any proper damage. It was a bad matchup.

    One of my oldest achievements stepped in to help me out.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    I Don¡¯t Attack You, You Attack Me: So long as you did not attack first, an enemy becomes stunned for one second the first time they deal damage to you with either a melee weapon or a part of their body.

    It was easy to forget I had that one since I so rarely sat around and waited for my enemies to hit me first.

    Buster¡¯s body locked up, his expression going slack as magic rebooted his brain. My eyes darted to Xim for an instant, but the cleric was crouched behind the seven-foot-tall behemoth of a shield she¡¯d looted from Blood Scour. She recovered from the hit without issue but was already under assault by the Yeti monk, heretofore known as Fluffy.

    Fluffy¡¯s hands blurred with two rapid strikes, and Xim maneuvered the wall of metal in front of the hits like it weighed nothing. Waves of force traveled through the massive slab, halted by the Shielding granted by her Level 40 Fortitude evolution. Xim gritted her teeth as the second strike broke through both the Scutum of Blood Scour and her Shielding, thumping into her armor and robes. Fluffy¡¯s strikes left bloody marks on the scutum, her furry knuckles dripping from the shield¡¯s bleed effect.

    Xim¡¯s tower shield glowed red and shot forward, but Fluffy spun and darted around the shield¡¯s edge, laying a kick into the side of Xim¡¯s leg. Xim angled her knee to keep it from being swept out from under her, but the crack of the collision made me wince.

    As soon as Xim¡¯s leg turned outward from the Yeti¡¯s kick, an arrow pierced through her chainmail and buried itself in her thigh. Despite the abuse, Xim was extremely durable. A quarter of the cleric¡¯s health was gone. That was substantial, but those hits would have killed her a few months ago.

    The wastelanders had clearly read the same kill priority manual I had. They knew Xim could heal, and they were trying to burn her down as fast as possible. I needed to grab their attention, but I could also help the cleric out in other ways.

    I activated Aura of Persistence, granting myself and all allies 74 Shielding that would constantly regenerate over time. Xim¡¯s own Shielding would come back in six seconds, but my aura granted more in the short term, and if one source was exhausted the other would take up the slack. It hit everyone in the party, granting Nuralie, Varrin, Etja, and even Grotto some extra defense while they were separated from us.

    I had a choice with Life Warden. At the moment, it was on Etja, who was my default target. The problem was that the mage was currently hopped up on a drink of godly soul juice and fighting an avatar. I was reluctant to leave her unguarded, but any damage that got transferred might be more than I could handle. Normally, the max was half of Etja¡¯s total health pool, so a little under 250 damage. In her current form, I had no idea what her max health looked like.

    I decided to keep it on her. It was a risk, but if she died because I pulled Life Warden, I¡¯d have a hard time living with that.

    Instead, I split my focus to activate Therianthropy and begin channeling Explosion!. Colorful wings unfolded on my back as downy tentacles wrapped around my sides, reaching into my inventory to pull out more hammers. A point of eye-catching mana appeared above my head, which began to grow and condense every second.

    So long as I chanted something ominous, my enemies would be drawn to the light unless they resisted its call. Since the wastelanders had 8 Levels over me, my This is Bullshit! achievement would make the effect more difficult to ignore. They had to actually hear me, though, so I strained to shout over the thumping music.

    I got a bit personal, and I also drew some inspiration from the Dread Star.

    ¡°Boundless Night, your child

    Raised dead, but can¡¯t raise herself

    A fly with wings plucked!¡±

    Maybe it was a bit villainous to start reciting haikus about killing people¡¯s family members to their faces, but they were trying to murder me, so fuck ¡®em. Their relatives had probably been hired assassins, as well. I knew they¡¯d at least killed poor lonely Langhrey.

    In other words, fornicate about and become learned.

    While I moved into my second form, I felt the entire room shift slightly.

    [I believe we can move this to more comfortable surroundings.]

    The entire room¨Cand probably the entire mansion¨Cstarted migrating toward the opposite side of the Closet. Before I could ask Grotto for more details, the veil-wearing runeweaver showed himself.

    A stream of gossamer runework streamed from Veil¡¯s cloud of thread, forming into a ball between me and Xim. It shot into the ground and sigils spread out across the floor and walls in every direction. The runes pulsed with power, and space twisted as an incredible force pulled me toward the center of the formation. Gravity Anchor kept me in place, but the pull tore at my muscles while my Shielding ate most of the damage.

    HP: 1331 -> 1303

    The attack also caught Xim, but her muscles swelled and her Shielding glowed brightly over her skin. Her feet sank into the floor, shattering boards and pressing into the stone below. The attack broke through the extra layer of defense, but she overwhelmed the spell¡¯s pull with overwhelming force. Another chunk of her health was gone.

    Behind Veil, the Giant¡¯s body became a beacon in the dark. The patterns tattooed onto his blue skin burned white, and static filled the air. I felt elemental mana gather for a fraction of a second before it reached out to connect with Xim. I immediately hit it with a Dispel, disrupting the skill.

    The counter barely drained any of my mana and it earned me a stack of Potency, granting me a free mana shape. I¡¯d likely come out net positive on mana, and for a moment I wondered if it had been worth the time it took to Dispel the skill.

    The spell instantly fired again, but with me as the target. The world flashed white as a thick bolt of lightning seized my body, searing flesh and tensing my muscles so tightly they began to tear. The bolt arced from me to Xim, treating the cleric to the same.

    HP: 1303 -> 995

    While my health plummeted, half the damage I took was sent to Xim as healing. After eating her own bolt of lightning, we were both down to half health. She¡¯d have been nearly dead had I not Dispelled the first bolt.

    Buster had shown at least one Divine ability and the power behind his words signaled a strong Charisma score. He was the only wastelander that looked like a good candidate for being a healer, but he was also clearly built for tanking. His build was a split, which meant his heals probably weren¡¯t as strong as they could be. Rather than waste our time trying to dig through his defenses while he healed himself, we would be better off bursting down someone a lot squishier.

    Fluffy was flighty and could punch through some of our armor, but she relied on rapid-fire strikes. That could still be offset by solid damage reduction, which Xim and I both had. I had no idea where the Wishborn archer was hiding, so they weren¡¯t a great opening target. Veil looked like support, with damage as a secondary. That was annoying, but Blue was a bigger threat. The Giant hit hard and stood out like a beacon. I mentally assigned him priority and sent that along to the group through Grotto.

    The wastelanders had stormed in, layering their abilities over top of one another and giving us little room to respond. Their opening salvo had hurt, that was for sure, but the frustration on Blue¡¯s face told me he¡¯d expected his spell to boil our innards. It had, Xim and I just didn¡¯t care too much.

    ¡°Our lives are fun,¡± Xim thought to me.

    Her armor was scorched and smoke rose from her hair. At some point, her dark locks had turned to molten blood. Crimson flames curled up from the cleric¡¯s eye sockets, and a 6-foot-wide halo of fire erupted behind her. The ring¡¯s center pulsed white-hot as she rose a foot off the ground.

    Veil¡¯s runes continued to press down and pull on us, but Xim rushed forward, enhanced by the buff she¡¯d earned from Sam¡¯lia and the Celerity granted by Etja¡¯s lingering zone of Divine power. She darted around Fluffy and rocketed to Veil, swinging her scepter at the Chovali¡¯s chest.

    Before I could question her choice of targets, the air around the Chovali burst into bloody flame and erupted into a cone of death that swallowed both Veil and the Giant.

    Xim¡¯s wall of fire was imbued with the full force of her scepter strike, and it hit Veil and Blue like a solid object before crashing into the back wall, turning half the room into a roaring bonfire. Their bodies were swallowed by the flames, but the pair could only stumble drunkenly, too rattled to react properly to the fire beginning to blacken their skin.

    At the same time, Xim¡¯s body glowed golden and the arrow in her thigh forced itself out as the wound began to close. Her health shot up by a third, replenishing most of what she¡¯d lost. An aura bathed the room, and a trickle of constant healing began working on my injuries.

    HP: 995 -> 1041

    Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Warmth

    You heal 46 health and gain 1 stack of Blessed every six seconds.

    It was an impressive display. I was already capped on Blessed but now felt comfortable starting to burn through them for defense.

    Buster roared as he shook off his stun, and a circle of holy light enveloped the battle, extinguishing the fire and empowering his allies. It looked like the wastelanders were ready to start playing their trump cards.

    The roof trembled as something enormous slammed into it.

    [Prepare to receive backup.]

 207 - Buffs, Cooldowns, Consumables. Burn Them All.

    You have observed the Consecration spell!

    Consecration

    Divine

    Cost: 25 Mana

    Requirements: CHA 40, Divine Magic 40

    You consecrate the ground in a radius around you equal to your Divine Magic skill level in feet. You, your allies, and sacred entities receive a bonus to all DR equal to your CHA while inside the consecrated ground. Hostile and profane entities receive additional Righteous damage equal to your CHA whenever they are hit by an attack while within the consecrated ground.

    Buster¡¯s spell didn¡¯t say anything about cleansing hostile magic, but it wiped out Xim¡¯s inferno all the same. The entire enemy party got a huge boost to their damage reduction, and a hefty boost to their damage on top.

    Righteous damage was devastating against entities profane to the wielder¡¯s god, and I had no idea what god Buster worshipped. There was no good way to know whether we would be considered abhorrent to the tenets of its faith unless Buster decided to drop us an obvious hint.

    Among the things I would consider an obvious hint would be religious symbols, identifiable prayers, or a man¡¯s skeleton tearing its way outside of his own body.

    While Consecration banished Xim¡¯s flames and buffed the Hyrachon¡¯s allies, Buster¡¯s skin bulged and split. Viscera-covered bone dislodged from its fleshy confines, taking the paladin¡¯s armor and massive sword with it.

    I¡¯d seen some nasty shit during my time as a Delver, but that one made my throat tense. I had to force my stomach to keep its contents to itself. I only had an instant to grapple with my rebelling guts before the skeleton exploded from the body, spraying me with hot blood as it charged the short distance between us.

    Its sword glowed with divine light, drawing power from the consecrated ground. I blocked with Gracorvus, stopping the sword without trouble, but a hateful presence invaded my body. I felt it claw through me, disgusted by my sense of mercy, and enraged by any memory where I submitted to authorities greater than myself. This time, the divine judgment did burn.

    HP: 1042 -> 897

    What the skeleton left behind reformed into a boneless mass of muscles and skin that somehow remained upright, dressed in small clothes and several items of jewelry. It drew a staff from its inventory.

    On the bright side, Veil and Blue were both still Stunned.

    ¡°Curse in Solitude

    Your love died, not once but thrice

    Wife, bug, phantom, corpse!¡±

    Explosion! continued to build as I chanted profound phrases, and Fluffy abandoned their pursuit of Xim in favor of flanking me and pummeling my kidneys while I dealt with Buster¡¯s skeleton. I burned through Blessed stacks to offset the damage, unable to block the Yeti without abandoning my defense against the bloody skeleton. Fluffy¡¯s fists pounded through my armor, injecting Righteous damage with each hit.

    HP: 897 -> 667

    I was taking the heat off of Xim, and my reward was blunt-force organ removal. Even though my kidneys were reduced to quivering chunks, I wouldn¡¯t bleed to death, which was nice. I considered a change in tactics since Xim¡¯s self-heal was absolutely insane. Before I could suggest that we start juggling aggro, our backup arrived.

    The ceiling over the enemy mages exploded as an enormous Atrocidile maw crashed down through it.

    Nottagator unleashed Titan¡¯s Roar, indiscriminately blasting everyone with a wave of sound and pressure that momentarily overwhelmed Cloaky¡¯s thumping music.

    HP: 667 -> 602

    You have resisted Fear!

    ¡°An Atrocidile berserker isn¡¯t ideal backup!¡±

    [True, but a Ravvenblaq berserker is.]

    As Nottagator collapsed through the ceiling, Varrin dove off the monster¡¯s back. His helm was no longer a featureless mask. Azure eyes burned furiously, the back of the helm adorned with sharp, spectral wings. He carved through the blue Giant as he landed, the enemy caster still Stunned from Xim¡¯s attack. The slash opened the man up in a diagonal from shoulder to hip.

    The Giant fell to his knees, blood and bowels pouring out of him.

    ¡°Arrow, Wishborn¡¯s charge

    A cricket with legs torn off

    Leapt into her grave!¡±

    My lyrical artistry struck me with the desire to stroke my beard in mysterious contemplation, but I suppressed the urge. My helmet would just get in the way. Instead, I used Shortcut to reposition myself away from Buster and Fluffy, tired of being the meat in their beatdown sandwich.

    The immense Atrocidile had finished smashing through the roof, collapsing the entire wall Buster had originally cut through. My drawing room was now expanded to include the ballroom next to it, which was perhaps taking open-concept a touch too far. I took advantage of the space and appeared behind Varrin, unceremoniously appointing him and Nottagator as my new meat shields while I appraised targets.

    Blue was down, but not dead. Still, the Giant would bleed out in a matter of seconds. Veil was starting to recover from Xim¡¯s wallop, but was dazed. The Wishborn archer was hidden, and I didn¡¯t have time to do a deep scan of our surroundings to find him. If we were lucky, the man had been hit by Nottagator¡¯s Fear effect and bolted. Third Layer denizens were generally resistant to Fear, though, so I didn¡¯t get my hopes up.

    Fluffy¡¯s entire body looked to have become encased in metal, which was probably bad, and the Yeti was rushing toward me. Buster¡¯s skeleton was moving to pursue as well, and his flesh bag was working up a new spell. Nottagator looked like it was ready to kill everyone, but I knew the Atrocidile¡¯s tricks. We just needed to make sure one of the wastelanders was closer to Nottagator than we were. Then again, the Atrocidile was sort of straddling the whole fight. We just needed to stay clear of its face, probably.

    I spent my stack of Potency on Funnel to double the damage of Oblivion Orb for one attack, then threw Somncres with my Void Hammer combo. Somncres transferred all effects on the hammer to any copies I made with it, which included the double damage, so I made four of them. I assigned one hammer to the Giant in accordance with our standard team philosophy of ¡°they¡¯re not dead until they¡¯re dead.¡± I sent the other three hammers, along with the original Somncres, at Veil, maneuvering them along four different trajectories.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    The Chovali had AoE control and damage over time effects, the ability to teleport his entire team, and the capacity to lock down someone¡¯s magic. I was dumping a lot of mana into Explosion! and committing myself to a lengthy cooldown. I was apprehensive of a counterspell, but with Blue out of the picture, the next most likely person to cause my big bang to fizzle was the runeweaver. After Blue, they were the next best target.

    My first hammer slammed into the downed Giant, collapsing what was left of their rib cage and delivering the contents of their chest cavity to the void. Buster¡¯s flesh bag swung their staff at Veil, surrounding the Chovali in a golden shield. Their skeleton disappeared in a spray of blood, reappearing in front of my second hammer. The skeleton defended with its sword but lost a chunk of armor and bone to the Orb as it bypassed the block. I took a smattering of thorns damage in return.

    The third hammer struck the glowing shield, which shattered and sent more thorns damage my way. The fourth got tangled in several layers of the runework fabric that surrounded Veil. It burned bright and destroyed the copy. The original Somncres made it through the web of defenses and struck home into the Chovali¡¯s back, shattering their spine and then doing them the service of removing the pesky bone fragments, along with all the nearby muscles and organs.

    Both enemy mages were down. Despite this current state of dead-ness, both enemy mages pulled a move that I¡¯d always known was a valid strategy.

    Corpse explosion.

    Blue¡¯s body swelled, tissues expanding and filling with chaotic mana, followed swiftly by Veil¡¯s. I barely had time to get my shield up before both detonated in a hail of Holy damage, catching my entire group¨Cincluding Nottagator¨Cin the blast.

    HP: 577 -> 391

    Xim and Varrin both lost 20% of their health. Normally, I would have found that trade acceptable. I was deep into the zone of hurt, but Varrin was mostly fresh and Xim was above half. With two members of the enemy party dead, we¡¯d probably be able to turn this shitshow around.

    Both enemy mages respawned.

    The chunks of their bodies turned to swirling clouds of ash, and rivers of blood poured from Buster¡¯s flesh bag. It began to deflate, but not nearly as much as it should have, given the volume of liquid it was pumping out. The blood gathered into the shapes of the recently deceased, and both Veil and Blue were reborn; naked, and thoroughly displeased.

    The exchange wasn¡¯t without a cost. The mages were both thin and sickly looking, and Buster¡¯s flesh suit had lost a third of its mass. Further, the philosophers among us could argue over whether they¡¯d truly been resurrected, or merely replaced with blood clones who shared their memories.

    Nah, put the existential dilemmas away, it was really them. They had the same souls and everything.

    Fluffy dove through the cloud of ash into the ballroom, drawn to me by my emotive, poetic chanting, and the ever-growing ball of destruction hovering above my head. Unfortunately for the Yeti, her dive took her in front of Nottagator¡¯s face, and the Atrocidile was more than happy to play with the shiny moving object.

    Nottagator snapped forward at Fluffy, nearly catching me and Varrin as well. The Yeti broke out of her fixation with my dangerous allure and threw a fist at one of Nottagator¡¯s teeth. The hit cracked the tooth and pushed the Yeti away from the attack.

    Nottagator¡¯s arm blurred as it swept its claws, and I was forced to leap back to avoid becoming collateral damage while Fluffy placed a hand on Nottagator¡¯s finger and flipped over the attack. Varrin spun around the foot-long talons and vanished. The big guy reappeared near Nottagator¡¯s tail, placing him in the drawing room next to Veil and Buster¡¯s skeleton.

    Buster immediately swung for the Ravvenblaq, who matched the hulking, armored skeleton for size. Varrin¡¯s blade swept through the air, catching the massive weapon and turning it an inch off course as he stepped aside and avoided the blow. Kazandak flashed upward, tearing a gash through the skeleton¡¯s armor. He stepped around the skeleton, Kazandak extending and aiming for Veil, but was forced to abandon the strike and duck down low as Buster spun with superhuman speed, sweeping his massive sword in a 270-degree arc.

    Veil snarled and drove his hands into the ground. Runes ran along his arms and legs into the floor, spreading out around us in a blur. The Chovali¡¯s gravity weave had continued to expand over time, and the new runes slotted into the original.

    Xim flew toward Veil, weaving between Nottagator¡¯s back legs as the Atrocidile rampaged. It roared in frustration, unable to hit the evasive Yeti. Fluffy could do little more than dodge, hitting Nottagator with the occasional glancing blow that only further enraged the Atrocidile.

    Xim drew in close to Veil while Varrin distracted the skeleton, but the flesh suit drove its staff toward her, encasing her in a golden sphere. Spears of light skewered into Xim. The cleric swung her scepter into the barrier, filling it with crimson flame until it burst, her body lighting up as she healed the damage she¡¯d suffered.

    The wounds diminished but refused to close. Blood poured out from the cleric¡¯s extra holes, streaming through the air to the flesh suit, which absorbed the liquid to regain the mass it lost resurrecting the mages. Xim was forced to pull back and use Cleanse, staunching the flow. I teleported to the meat bag and dropped Elemental Barrier, catching the boneless one, the Giant, and the Chovali in the AoE.

    The air shook violently, knocking the mages to the ground and interrupting the flesh bag¡¯s telekinetic vampirism. Blue pulled out an orb and crushed it, sending out a pulse of countermagic and dispelling my attack. The Chovali threw a talisman, which thunked onto my armor and stuck like a magnet.

    You are Immobilized!

    I mean, you were already Immobilized by your own skill, but now you¡¯re Immobilized again!

    I felt the familiar pull of a hostile teleport, which attempted to sling me into Nottagator¡¯s face. My resistance to non-consensual Dimensional effects kicked in, ending the teleport early. I wound up beneath the Atrocidile, between its legs, and I brought up Gracorvus to knock aside a bucking set of talons.

    Throughout it all, I kept chanting.

    ¡°Roach with hardened shell

    Still ran from my boot in fear

    Satisfying crunch!¡±

    Veil resumed pumping runes into the ground, staring at me with murder in his eyes.

    The Chovali¡¯s weaves were insufferable. They weren¡¯t skills that could be easily Dispelled, instead having the feel of prepared items like Nuralie¡¯s poisons. I¡¯d need time and focus to unravel them, which I didn¡¯t have. They still drew mana from the Chovali to power them, which made them less robust than a traditional weave. Regardless, they were a lot more durable than a normal spell.

    Veil¡¯s weave pulsed, twisting space and delivering a piercing pain to my skull, like someone had driven a railroad spike through my temple. Varrin and Xim were caught in the gravity effect, being yanked to the opposite side of the drawing room, away from Veil. Gravity Anchor once again kept me in place against the first effect¡¯s pull, but it didn¡¯t help with the second.

    HP: 392 -> 204

    You have been Paralyzed!

    While the Chovali locked us down, Blue raised his arms to the sky. I couldn¡¯t look above me¨Cboth because I was physically incapable of it and because there was a wall of Nottagator in the way¨Cbut the dark rooms lit up like it was high noon on a cloudless day. A withering heat began to build until it was hot enough to make the rubble smolder.

    Being Paralyzed kept me from doing anything physical, but it wouldn¡¯t stop me from utilizing skills that didn¡¯t require me to move my body. I could still channel Explosion!, although I couldn¡¯t snap my fingers to activate it. I could also maintain my Shielding aura.

    And I could still use Reverse Card.

    I seized the Giant¡¯s spell as he finished his cast. At first, I thought the redirect had failed. It cost zero mana to take control of it, which didn¡¯t make sense. Reverse Card¡¯s cost was equal to the mana spent by the caster. However, Reverse Card did work, which meant the spell had cost¡­ nothing?

    A 20-foot-wide beam of scorching light descended from above, centered on the Giant. Blue¡¯s eyes went wide, and the wastelanders abandoned him to his fate.

    Veil teleported deep into the ballroom. Buster¡¯s flesh bag tore off its amulet and held it aloft. The pendant disintegrated, surrounding both the skeleton and its calcium-deprived brother in a thick layer of blood. Xim hunkered down behind her shield and Varrin stood in front of her with blade ready, both having resisted the paralysis with one of their evolutions. I clenched and hoped for the best.

    The Giant didn¡¯t react in time.

    The beam struck like the hand of God, tearing everything within fifty feet of Blue to pieces and then igniting it. The bloody barrier around Buster¡¯s two halves boiled. Varrin rended the air with his blade, splitting the apocalyptic attack and driving it to either side, creating a narrow wedge of calm for himself and Xim. The wooden floor became smoke, the stone beneath the wood turned molten, and the liquid rock bubbled, spitting noxious fumes. Blue¡¯s skin peeled away and the flesh beneath blackened.

    Nottagator roared as its entire back half was soaked in flame. The Atrocidile¡¯s body protected me from the worst of the attack, but my eyes were flash-dried and my gambeson began to burn as my armor turned into a furnace. Spell-based elemental fire was nearly my highest defense, however, and despite being deeply uncomfortable, I avoided taking damage.

    The beam terminated when the life of its caster was spent, and Blue¡¯s smoking body fell into the slag.

 208 - Shared Fate

    I was blinded for several terrifying seconds after the beam hit. I kept a spiritual eye on everyone with Soul Sight, but the wastelanders seemed to be as fucked as I was. When the afterimage cleared from my vision, it was just in time to see a massive section of the six-foot-thick stone floor droop and fall away into the empty space of the Closet below. Blue¡¯s corpse went along with it. This time, there was no miraculous resurrection for the mage.

    There was a second of hesitation in the enemy party, and Xim took advantage of it.

    The burning icon of a pulsing heart appeared above the cleric. Blood-red flames surrounded it, a stark contrast to the orange-white inferno left in the beam¡¯s wake. The heart swelled as she poured stacks of Blessed into it. The organ beat with a pounding thump, emitting a wave of dread that drove itself into the minds of the remaining wastelanders.

    Fluffy tried to run, but Xim¡¯s Fear effect also Slowed its victims. Nottagator snapped at the Yeti, finally catching the elusive pugilist and clamping down on her with its jaws. Veil shivered, then sluggishly raced through the remains of the ballroom to the nearest door, tearing through it rather than using the doorknob like a polite house guest.

    As the Chovali runeweaver lost his shit, the weaves fell apart and my Paralyzed debuff ended.

    I was just about ready to snap.

    Buster¡¯s two halves floated away from the massive hole in the floor, steaming as the last remnants of their blood shield boiled away. Neither seemed to suffer from the Fear effect.

    Varrin was already flying through the air toward the pair, the spectral blue eyes on his helm growing more intense every second. The skeleton moved to intercept and swung its massive blade in a precise blur of speed. Varrin stepped through the air like he stood on solid ground, avoiding the hit with minimal effort and running Kazandak across the skeleton¡¯s battered armor. It bit through the plate and severed three ribs.

    Varrin tilted his body and tanked the next attack with his side, moving to deflect the majority of the thousand-pound-blade¡¯s energy.

    The eyes on his helm grew brighter.

    Flesh bag tried to trap Varrin in a blood dome, but the big guy spun and vanished, then reappeared behind the skeleton and carved through part of its spine.

    Xim sent me a thought and I canceled Gravity Anchor as she grabbed me. We shot up through the roof and she cast a Heal as we flew away, then her aura ticked, granting me even more healing.

    HP: 204 -> 480

    ¡°Blast ¡®em,¡± she said, then let me loose.

    My wings spread and I caught myself. I looked down at the mansion, a significant portion of which was actively on fire and collapsing as it migrated through the dark, empty space of the Closet.

    I scanned for the souls of the wastelanders, along with Etja and Hysteria. Neither the mage nor the avatar were within my Sight, but my default mana shape from Arcane Library was Discretion. My spells would ignore my allies, so Etja would be safe, even if she was still inside.

    Veil had fled to the edge of the mansion, searching for an escape in a house with no exits. From where we hovered, it looked like a rectangular prism of dark, floating stone. One with a mighty hole poked into it, but the Chovali had run away in terror, leaving that potential mode of egress behind. I still couldn¡¯t find the Wishborn.

    Varrin raged against Buster¡¯s skeleton. He grew stronger with every hit he took or dished out, but Berserk forced him to fight the closest enemy. A stream of blood flowed from his injuries to the meat suit, healing the caster as he took the warrior apart.

    Explosion! was charged enough to destroy the whole place, hitting everyone, or I could leave Nottagator and its Yeti chew toy untouched by detonating the spell off-center. The Atrocidile didn¡¯t count as an ally, given that it would tear me apart as readily as anyone else. Explosion! wouldn¡¯t ignore the monster, even with the Discretion mana shape on my spells.

    I knew the beast could tank the hit, but Nottagator was already injured from the beam and hadn¡¯t bothered to extinguish itself, letting the fire fuel its own Rage stacks. Even if the Atrocidile would survive the blast, I was a softie when it came to my pets, regardless of whether they were bloodthirsty abominations.

    There was no way they could hear me from this distance, so I simply spoke the last phrase of my chant, and dropped the AoE toward the edge of the grounds.

    ¡°You¡¯ll die as you lived

    Beneath another man¡¯s heel

    Crushed like those you loved.¡±

    The whole skirmish had lasted eighteen seconds. Even with half of the AoE bombing empty space, Explosion! obliterated a 110-foot chunk of the mansion. The entire western wing erupted, sending broken rock, splintered wood, and shattered art and furniture hurtling away into the dark.

    Then the force of the detonation reversed, sucking in all the debris, along with the chunky remains of Veil and both halves of Buster. The detritus crashed together into one big lump, then scattered and fell away into the dark.

    The spell dropped more than 800 damage right on top of Veil and Buster¡¯s mercenary heads. In exchange, the mansion was a burning ruin.

    I evaluated the impact, searching to see if either of my targets survived. I caught a glimmer of Buster¡¯s soul, falling and fading in and out of existence, but Veil was gone. The music had also stopped. I didn¡¯t see any sign of Hysteria¡¯s cloak.

    Varrin floated for a moment, chest heaving with heavy breaths as he looked for his next victim. He locked onto Fluffy and Nottagator. Before he could charge, Xim hit him with a Cleanse, ending the Berserk status.

    Varrin¡¯s helm went dark and the man shook his head, then reevaluated the battlefield, or lack thereof. Nottagator had Fluffy between its teeth and rolled, grinding the Yeti into the floor and extinguishing the flames on and around it.

    Varrin decided against getting between the beast and its prey, choosing to fly up to meet me and Xim instead.

    HP: 483 -> 759

    ¡°This form drains a lot of stamina,¡± Xim said as she cast another Heal. ¡°I can burn mana to get my stamina back, but only if I¡¯m healing from an injury. If we¡¯re killing anything else, we should get a move on.¡±

    I looked over, taking in her transformation. Her hair flowed like a liquid, similar to Sam¡¯lia¡¯s own, though its fluidity was more pronounced. Her eyes leaked dark flames, but the heat was gentle. The glowing ring at her back hummed as it held her aloft.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°Resource check,¡± I said, then sent a thought to Grotto.

    ¡°Grotto, do we have eyes on Etja and Hysteria? What about Nuralie and the Zenithar? We¡¯re also missing the Wishborn archer.¡±

    ¡°I can keep this up for three more minutes,¡± said Xim. ¡°It has a 24-hour cooldown. Mana is fine. I can recover it fast if I get a few minutes to meditate.¡±

    Varrin¡¯s helm went dark, and I felt power rush through his body as he burned a chunk of stamina. His health jumped up by 421 points.

    ¡°I¡¯m good,¡± he said.

    ¡°I could have just Healed you,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°What¡¯s your mana regen?¡±

    ¡°Eighty.¡±

    ¡°My stamina regen is 1200 out of combat. Heal Arlo instead.¡±

    Xim¡¯s eyebrows shot up as she tossed another spell my way. Between her spells and aura, my wounds were knitting closed at an incredible pace. My kidneys had probably regrown themselves. There was also an uncomfortable tearing feeling in my chest. The Giant¡¯s lightning bolt had fused some of my skin to my gambeson. The charred flesh was peeling free as new skin formed beneath it.

    ¡°How much of that is from your new helmet?¡± Xim asked.

    Varrin sent us the helm¡¯s description.

    Sanitas Ira

    Corvite Houndskull Bascinet

    Requirements: STR 40, SPD 20, AGI 20, FOR 40

    +16 DR All

    +86 Physical DR

    +60 Health Regeneration

    +240 Stamina Regeneration

    +160 Dodge

    +40 Dodge Recovery

    While Berserk, you gain +68% resistance to hostile mind-affecting abilities.

    This item can only be wielded by members of the Ravvenblaq family.

    ¡°Jesus fuck,¡± I muttered. ¡°Do all those numbers go up another 50% from your Old Money passive?¡±

    ¡°The passive is called Ancestral Regalia, and yes. The stamina regen gets tripled by Deep Breaths as well.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re immune to mental attacks while berserking,¡± said Xim. That reminded me to check the Holy Water. It was seconds away from expiring.

    ¡°I knew that shit would be good,¡± I said. ¡°But damn. Also, I¡¯ve got 174 mana with regen at 400 currently.¡±

    ¡°Okay, enough show and tell,¡± said Xim. ¡°Are we moving?¡±

    ¡°Still waiting on Grotto,¡± I said, growing nervous. ¡°He isn¡¯t answering.¡±

    ¡°Grotto?¡± I tried again.

    A wave of Spiritual pain shot through my connection with the Bonded Familiar. Dread began to overwhelm me. My head spun until I grew nauseous, scattering my thoughts until I could barely think. I¡¯d never felt this side of Shared Fate, but I knew instinctively what it meant.

    Something had just attacked Grotto, and the wound went beyond his fake octo body, badly damaging his core.

    I spun toward the Pocket Delve. The ruined mansion had been traveling in that direction. I couldn¡¯t see it through the dark, but Coordinated Thinker told me we¡¯d covered three-quarters of the distance.

    Varrin was the fastest, and he grabbed each of us with a giant arm and took off, immediately cracking through the sound barrier. The Delve¡¯s dark exterior was visible within seconds.

    I scanned the boundaries for Dimensional Magic, finding nothing but the normal ambient levels. ¡°The portal barrier is down,¡± I said. ¡°It should be self-sustaining. Either Grotto shut it down manually, or something is preventing the obelisk from distributing mana.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the move?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Give me a sec,¡± I said, closing my eyes and focusing.

    The easiest method of finding everyone was to use my aura. I calmed myself and focused on Grotto first. He was deep within the Delve, but his surroundings were nearly pitch black. There was just enough light for my darkvision to give me a vague impression of the space, which was small and cramped.

    Grotto had shown me a three-dimensional model of the entire Closet while the Littans ran through the Delve. I brought that up in my mind, remembering the general layout, and focused while feeling out Grotto through my aura and our soul connection. I was pretty sure he was in the control room, but all of his equipment had gone dead.

    The Core was alive but unresponsive. I couldn¡¯t make out any enemies in the room through my aura, so I took a crack with my Soul Sight.

    Grotto¡¯s control room was warded to hell and back. It was surrounded by a sphere of inch-thick mana-enhancing Madrin woven with a dozen different anti-teleportation, anti-scrying, and anti-divination arrays on top of a variety of other enchantments falling within the ¡°none of your business¡± category. That was surrounded by a sphere of meter-thick mana-dampening dark iron with enough damage reduction weaves to make any attempt at a brute-force entry take long enough for backup to arrive.

    All of the weaves were independently powered through mana chips so they weren¡¯t reliant on the obelisk to stay active. Grotto had probably dumped more than half the chips I¡¯d ever given him into making the little bunker. Normally, such robust defensive measures would be great. At the moment, it was getting in the way.

    My connection to Grotto gave me enough to get a read on his soul, but my Sight was otherwise blocked. I couldn¡¯t be certain the Core was alone, or that this wasn¡¯t a trap of some sort.

    While I was searching for Grotto, I also reached out for Etja. She was in the Delve as well, in the hallway outside the obelisk chamber and buried in a wall. Her health was fine, and no damage had transferred to me through Life Warden, but she was definitely unconscious. There was a horde of dead Gekkogs around her, several of which had arrows sticking out of them.

    I could just barely see into the obelisk chamber. I could make out the fluttering outline of the Wishborn standing a foot off the ground next to the dark pillar. They were doing something to it, but I couldn¡¯t tell what.

    I reached out for Nuralie next, but I was completely blocked off. That could have been because she didn¡¯t want to be found, because the Zenithar was using some kind of divine interference, or because something less pleasant was interfering. Either way, she was alive and well on the party interface.

    I opened my eyes.

    ¡°Well, we can go guns blazing and make a reckless teleport into a potential trap,¡± I said. ¡°Or Xim can drop her transformation to save stamina while we work out a better plan.¡±

    ¡°Explain,¡± said Xim. I gave them the abbreviated version.

    ¡°Can we even get inside Grotto¡¯s command center?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°If it is as well defended as you say, I am uncertain how we could quickly infiltrate.¡±

    ¡°I can think of two methods,¡± I said. ¡°First, layer walking.¡±

    ¡°Shit,¡± said Xim. She let her transformation end, forgot that she couldn¡¯t fly without it, and Varrin swept down to scoop her up before she fell too far. She cleared her throat and wiggled a bit in the princess carry. ¡°Layer walking would take time. I¡¯d have to set up the ritual. This is also completely unknown territory and I have no idea what the wilds would be like in here.¡±

    ¡°But you think it would work?¡± I said.

    ¡°Probably. It might even be easier than normal since the Closet has a direct connection to the tribe. The problem is what else might be in here from the Third Layer that we don¡¯t know about. This area may be relatively tame since it¡¯s conceptually related to our lands, but it¡¯s very unrelated from a geographic standpoint.¡± She blew a curl of hair from her face and looked around. ¡°It¡¯s also possible that this is the layout within the Third Layer since the Closet is all that¡¯s ever existed here. If that¡¯s the case, it wouldn¡¯t help us much. There¡¯d still be a hunk of rock and magic metal in our way.¡±

    ¡°What is the second option?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Grotto¡¯s anti-teleportation weaves form a perfect sphere around the control room,¡± I said. ¡°But that¡¯s a three-dimensional shape. I can try to access the room by fumbling about in the shadows of the fourth dimension, where that hollow sphere would become equivalent to a circle that I can just sort of¡­ step over. Then I mana-shape Shortcut to take you both along with me.¡±

    ¡°You have only done that once, correct?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah, during the Cathedral puzzle in the Descent.¡±

    ¡°Chances of catastrophic failure?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°I think it would be low,¡± I said. ¡°I use Coordinated Thinker to find the path, which doesn¡¯t require me to physically go anywhere, just feel out the space and apply some Dimensional Magic. The teleport would be normal. For me, at least. I haven¡¯t done it with a group.¡±

    ¡°Which option would be faster to eliminate?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°It should only take me a minute to figure out the teleport,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s faster than my way,¡± said Xim. ¡°Sounds like a winner. If it doesn¡¯t work, we can risk diving into the unknowns of the Closet¡¯s Third Layer.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, then began focusing on moving my perception strangeward.

    I spent several seconds reacquainting myself with the feeling of looking in the incomprehensible direction, then worked to settle my focus on the shadows that my mind could fathom. When I went through this process while moving from the basilica to the cathedral, I was maneuvering down a straight hallway, one that was infinitely larger than the rooms I was moving between.

    Here, there was no hallway.

    There was only plant.

 209 - The Plant Dimension

    Using Coordinated Thinker to find a valid teleport location for Shortcut was a bit like groping about blindly with a big phantom hand. I didn¡¯t ¡®see¡¯ the spaces I was searching through, but I could get a feel for their structure and dimensions.

    It made me think of one of those sticky hands I used to get out of a gumball toy machine at the grocery store. There was a long, stretchy ¡®arm¡¯ that connected the appendage to my perception, with a hand about the size of my own body at the end, which slapped around and groped at stuff, sticking to anything interesting. It could move through solid objects, send feedback, and ultimately determine whether a space was safe to teleport to.

    Searching for a way into Grotto¡¯s bunker by using Coordinated Thinker to go strangeward was¨Cbelieve it or not¨Cmuch stranger. The phantom limb became something massive, expanding out into a new dimension. It was the same volume of growth as a thick line on a sheet of paper rising off the page to become an entire wall. The length and width were the same, but adding depth created something vastly larger than its flattened-out counterpart.

    I could use this supermassive hand to run my fingers along all the surfaces of the Delve. Interior, exterior, it didn¡¯t matter, since I could reach over any three-dimensional barrier. I could read the Delve¡¯s compartments like braille, and theoretically find Grotto¡¯s control center without much problem. I already knew where it was relative to myself, I just had to stretch out and stick my hand inside.

    While I couldn¡¯t ¡®see¡¯ what surrounded the hand, I could still use it to determine the bounds of objects around it. If I focused, I could get a general shape or texture, maybe even guess what it was I was poking at. When moving between the cathedral and basilica, the feeling I got from the hand¡¯s strangeward dimension was of an incomprehensibly large hallway. I could more or less slide my hand blindly down a smooth wall until I got where I needed to be.

    The ¡®texture¡¯ of the Closet¡¯s fourth dimension was not smooth. It was ropey, fleshy, wet, and moving.

    When I first reached out, a vine slithered through the phantom limb, and I immediately jerked my senses back. It felt like I¡¯d reached out to grab a snack from the pantry without looking, and stuffed my hand into a pile of live snakes instead.

    I didn¡¯t have a problem with snakes, or plants that looked and felt like snakes, but I¡¯d still jump if I encountered a snake-like creature in a place I wasn¡¯t expecting one to be. I¡¯d had a pet snake for about a decade. It was cute enough, if a bit bitey.

    But if I¡¯d gone for a midnight piss and found Albert coiled up in the toilet bowl, I¡¯d have screamed like a bobcat.

    Anyway, I took about three seconds to allow my heart rate to drop back below 200 bpm and reached in for another attempt. Unlike Albert, the plant couldn¡¯t bite me. My hand wasn¡¯t really there, just an extension of my perception. That didn¡¯t stop my skin from crawling when carnivorous Dominion Ivy was the overwhelming majority of what I could sense. It also didn¡¯t stop me from groping around until I found Grotto¡¯s bunker.

    ¡°Stand close,¡± I said.

    Xim and Varrin moved until they were shoulder to shoulder with me, weapons and spells ready. Xim had taken the time while I concentrated to grant Varrin the Blessings of Hunger and Pounding, giving him endless Blessed generation, along with bonus damage and life leech.

    I cast Shortcut, using the Bubble mana shape to take my allies with me.

    Aside from the several dozen mutilated vines that appeared along with us, we made it inside the control room without issue.

    Varrin used Ghostwind Slash, I dropped an Elemental Barrier with the Cold damage type, and Xim cast Judgment. All three of us had abilities that allowed the skills to ignore allies, and the room was small enough that our AoEs fully encompassed it.

    A spectral copy of Kazandak swept around us, filling the room with a cutting Spiritual wind that sucked a shadowy figure from a dark corner. The temperature dropped low enough to flash-freeze water, then erupted in a pillar of holy fire.

    This resulted in the mystery figure being Slowed, Ignited, Feared, Slowed again¨Cwhich upgraded it to Immobilized¨CWeakened, and Cursed, while taking a combination of Spectral, Elemental, Infernal, and Psychic damage.

    Whoever this was, they were almost certainly an enemy. There was a tiny chance they were a random person who was neither an ally nor an enemy and had snuck inside Grotto¡¯s hideout somehow. Our skills would ignore allies, but not neutral third parties.

    I wouldn¡¯t lose sleep over it if they were the latter, though. Breaking into a secured facility inside of a Delver¡¯s personal pocket dimension was an effective way to self-select oneself out of the gene pool.

    However, our combination of attacks made it difficult to figure out who we were annihilating. Their soul was in chaos from Varrin¡¯s attack, and they were burning with all the enthusiasm of dry kindling on a bonfire in the middle of a drought.

    Once the pull effect from Varrin¡¯s skill wore off, Elemental Barrier launched the burning figure away. Varrin flicked Kazandak, removing the person¡¯s head before they thudded against the wall, crumpling to the floor in two parts.

    I canceled my spell, and Xim willed the flames to die. I stepped forward to poke the person with my boot. They were a mutilated hunk of unidentifiable charcoal, and they were very much deceased.

    ¡°Who do ya think that was?¡± asked Xim.

    I ignored the body and spun, looking for Grotto. I spotted him by the back wall, and for a moment I thought he was hovering in place. When I pushed past Varrin and took a step closer, I realized he was hanging from the wall. An arrow had passed through his center and buried itself in one of the dark slates he used to monitor information, pinning him.

    I stood close and looked at the wound. From the outside, Grotto looked like a little c¡¯thon that had been murdered. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, his tentacles were limp, and ocean-blue blood dripped from his feelers onto the ground, but no longer flowed from the wound. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    I pushed down a flare of grief and anger. My Sight told me what I already knew through our Shared Fate connection.

    His soul was weak, but the Core was alive.

    ¡°Grotto?¡± I said.

    I raised a hand on impulse but dropped it without touching him. I had no idea whether trying to move him would help or hinder, so I deferred to Xim. The cleric stepped up next to me, a look of dismay crossing her features. An instant later her expression settled into something more clinical and detached.

    She reached up, gently placed her hand along Grotto¡¯s side, and closed her eyes. A soft pulse of Divine mana ran down her arm and through the Core¡¯s body.

    ¡°His organic body feels like it''s shut down,¡± she said. ¡°But it¡¯s hard to say how bad the damage is. Grotto¡¯s c¡¯thon body is¨Cby design¨Cmissing most of the vital organs a normal living being needs. Still, there¡¯s no blood flow or muscular activity, none of the things his core handles to maintain the c¡¯thonic tissue.¡±

    ¡°His Delve Core body is alive, I know that much,¡± I said. ¡°Can you get insight into how badly his chassis has been damaged?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m the wrong person to ask,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s a combination of mana weaves and machinery and¡­ who knows what else. Nuralie would probably be our best bet. Even you or Etja would have a better chance at evaluating him than I would.¡±

    I bit my lip as I thought over the situation. Varrin squatted next to the half-cremated corpse and tried to find anything of interest. The room hadn¡¯t been spared our onslaught, but its contents were made of extremely durable Delve stuff.

    The mini-obelisk at the center was untouched, and I could barely notice where Xim¡¯s fire had burned. It was a bit more selective than normal fire, given its divine nature. Varrin¡¯s attack hadn¡¯t used a physical blade, so nothing had been cut into pieces, and Elemental Barrier had left a layer of frost behind, but the wave of force it emitted wasn¡¯t very destructive on its own.

    For how ruinous the three skills had been on the unidentifiable intruder, they¡¯d gone pretty easy on the environment.

    ¡°He¡¯s not dead, and from what I can tell he¡¯s not getting worse,¡± I said. ¡°But he¡¯s incapacitated, and I have no idea if that puts him on a timer.¡±

    ¡°Why would it?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He needs to absorb mana to stay functional,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if he can do that in this state.¡±

    ¡°How does he normally fix himself?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°He has automated functions that deal with wear and tear, but this goes well beyond that,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a space for him inside the obelisk, like there was in his old Delve. He told me that if he had a major problem, I should put him in there.¡±

    ¡°You two did not discuss any other contingencies?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°You know how he is,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what intrinsic skill would be most helpful for fixing him.¡±

    ¡°I believe it would be wise to force that conversation,¡± said Varrin. ¡°In case this happens again.¡±

    I appreciated that Varrin was operating with the belief that we¡¯d all survive for there to be a next time.

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Regardless, that¡¯s the best place for him until we figure out whether we need to do anything manually. The main obstacle to that idea is that someone is in there fucking with the obelisk as we speak.¡±

    ¡°You said it looked like the Wishborn,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I did,¡± I said. ¡°But if their archer is in the obelisk room, then who¡¯s that?¡± I nodded at the charred corpse. ¡°It sure looks like that fuck shot Grotto with an arrow and then hid out, trying to ambush us.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t gotten any kill notifications,¡± said Xim. ¡°If the System could tell us who¡¯s dead, it would simplify things.¡±

    ¡°It is probably treating this as a single encounter,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We will receive any combat notifications once the threat is dealt with.¡±

    I furrowed my brow and looked back at Grotto. It was disturbing to see him like this. I knew intellectually that Grotto wasn¡¯t a little floating feathered octopus, but that¡¯s the form I¡¯d known him as for the majority of our time together. Emotionally, it felt like looking at the body of a friend, murdered in cold blood. I tried to push down another spike of anger but only half-succeeded. I needed to keep a level head and stay rational, but there was a heat in my chest that wouldn¡¯t go away.

    ¡°Maybe we can see the notifications,¡± I said, drawing curious looks from both Xim and Varrin. I pulled up my skills and re-read Dungeoneering.

    Dungeoneering: This skill allows you to use System Insight concerning Delves, dungeons, and labyrinths. Higher levels improve the insights you receive.

    System Insight was a term first explained to me by the crafter and merchant Seinnador, who used it to gain additional information when inspecting items. As far as I knew, it meant the System would grace you with some of its vast knowledge from time to time, if it felt like it, and only about the specific thing for which you had System Insight. It was one of those vague, bullshit ¡®abilities¡¯ that I had a strong distaste for.

    It was also useless.

    The information we got from Grotto was leaps and bounds above anything the skill could provide. Thus, Dungeoneering was a dead skill for me, and it was primarily a vessel for Grotto to provide bonuses to the Pocket Delve. The evolutions made the Delve more mana-efficient and made allied Fear effects more difficult to resist while inside.

    The Delve was at best an indirect help to me. Grotto had promised to create automation chains within the Delve for things I wanted or needed, but hadn¡¯t yet gotten around to it. I hadn¡¯t pressed him on it, and we¡¯d been busy, but it was a theoretical future benefit and not immediately useful.

    However, System Insight was as close as a normal Delver could get to being able to make a System Call.

    System Calls were made by Delve Cores and other System entities when they wanted something specific from the System that it wouldn¡¯t automatically provide them. Grotto¡¯s override codes were System Calls, and they could be used much more broadly than System Insight. The System Rep that we¡¯d gotten from the Delve was a currency used when making a System Call, allowing the System to allocate additional resources via some kind of merit-based logic. Successful Cores got more support, while unsuccessful Cores had to nut up.

    Grotto had his own pool of System Rep, but so did I. That was a point of confusion for Grotto and even Avarice when I mentioned it to her. Of course, my relationship with the System was unusual. After all, how many Delvers were co-arbiters of a Delve? I suspected the answer was one.

    And, as co-arbiter of a Delve, shouldn¡¯t I be allowed to make a System Call? If not, then what the fuck was the point of me having this Dungeoneering skill?

    ¡°System Call,¡± I said, crossing my fingers. ¡°Update combat notifications for Delver Party: Fortune¡¯s Folly.¡±

    Varrin raised an eyebrow, while Xim peered up at the ceiling in anticipation. Several seconds passed with no response. I was about to try again when I got a notification.

    Evaluating request¡­

    Combat notifications are held in reserve until Fortune¡¯s Folly has successfully navigated the current conflict. Advancing notifications will require an appropriate override code.

    Xim saw me react to the message, but couldn¡¯t see it herself. ¡°Did it work?¡± she asked. I nodded. ¡°No fuckin¡¯ way.¡±

    I searched through my memory for the codes I¡¯d seen. I glanced back at Grotto as one came to mind.

    ¡°Override code 003: Preservation of Delve Core.¡±

 210 - System Call

    Please provide additional context.

    I took a deep breath and formulated my argument.

    ¡°Delve Core 1156 has suffered significant damage to his chassis and has become non-responsive,¡± I said. ¡°The perpetrator is suspected to be another Delver, but I am unable to determine whether that Delver has been killed. An entity that matches the Delver¡¯s appearance is currently interfering with the obelisk for Delve 1156-B, but the avatar Hysteria is also present, and they are known to mimic appearances.

    ¡°I believe Core 1156 needs to be inserted into the Delve obelisk to facilitate repairs. If the person in the obelisk chamber is a Delver, we can intervene and gain access to the obelisk. If the entity within the chamber is an avatar, accessing the obelisk would present even greater risk to the Core.

    ¡°Additionally, the Delver is supported by a full five-person party. Knowing which members still live will further improve our ability to render aid to the Core.¡±

    Ingesting data from Delve 1156-B: The Pocket Delve, d/b/a Inheritance of the Void King¡­

    Evaluating¡­

    An additional System Call for this Delve is outstanding, would you like to bundle your requests?

    ¡°What¡¯s the other one?¡± I asked.

    System Call: Deliver urgent communication to SC2 for relay to User Name: Avarice.

    ¡°That never went out?¡±

    No. The message was held in queue while User Name: Avarice was located. The recipient entity is currently in close proximity to Delve 1156-B. The System recommended that the Delve Core attempt to make contact independently. The outstanding System Call has been held in reserve pending a response from 1156.

    Given that 1156 is non-functional, the Call will be manually evaluated before submission. Estimated time until evaluation: 43 minutes.

    As the System described its process, I was struck by how bureaucratic it sounded, and I began to wonder who or what I was talking to.

    System Core 1 sounded like a manic sadist with enough conflicting personalities that their use of the royal ¡°we¡± was entirely justified. System Core 2 had the mellower vibe of a slightly put-out technician who¡¯d resigned themselves to being the only person competent enough to deal with the ever-growing pile of shit on their org¡¯s to-do list.

    Whatever I was currently speaking with had a much dryer and more robotic tone. It matched some of the messages I¡¯d received during Delves, but rarely what I would get when having more of a ¡®conversation¡¯ with the System. I¡¯d always been confused by that tonal shift, but now I wondered whether this was something completely different from either of the two main cores.

    Also, Avarice was close to the Delve? How close? Had she never left the Closet?

    ¡°Clarification: to whom am I speaking?¡± I asked.

    I am Subsystem Series 11. I am responsible for Delver interactions and Tier 1 support requests originating from Delves 1100 to 1199.

    ¡°Alright. Mind if I call you Sub-el? Short for Sub-eleven?¡±

    I do not mind. That moniker is already associated with my designation.

    ¡°Huh.¡± Someone else had beaten me to the nickname. ¡°We¡¯re in a bit of a time crunch, Sub-el. If we bundle those System Calls together, what¡¯s the ETA on a response?¡±

    Bundled requests receive a higher priority. Once I finish evaluating the data from Delve 1156, I will escalate both System Calls immediately. It will take me approximately 6 minutes to finish my evaluation.

    ¡°Is it possible to speed that up?¡±

    Yes. Additional processing power is available for purchase. Would you like to purchase additional processing power for 1 System Rep?

    ¡°Does that last forever, or only for this request?¡±

    Additional processing power is provided in batches and will be used to facilitate all expedited requests until expended.

    ¡°Uh, you know what? Sure. Let me buy that processing power.¡±

    I watched my Rep go down by one, and found myself wrestling with a new wave of anger boiling under my skin. I hadn¡¯t known what to expect from using System Call, but¨C

    No, that¡¯s not true. I¡¯d expected it to be cool as shit.

    I¡¯d been planning on adding ¡°Master of Systems¡± to my parade of personal titles, flaunting my ability to call down the power of a globe-spanning magical intelligence on a whim. I would speak, and the System would heed my words, eager to satisfy my demands!

    Instead, I¡¯d gotten access to a ground-level support bot aaaaaaand Mother. Fucking. Microtransactions.

    Dealing with hotline support while losing out on valuable working hours was annoying on its own, but suffering through time-sucking escalation protocols while lives were at stake was fucking intolerable.

    Having to pay to reduce my hold time was also obnoxious, but the rich-dick side of me appreciated having the option, and the convenience of the transaction was impeccable. I hadn¡¯t even had to read Sub-el my card number, everything was already on file.

    Override Code 003 has been accepted. Due to the time-sensitive nature of your circumstances, I am bypassing normal escalation protocols and granting your request to advance combat notifications. Fortune¡¯s Folly has additional skill advancements held in reserve due to other feats. I am releasing those as well.

    Your party has slain Garvandr, Burning Sky: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party has slain Cliffswept, Runic Shroud: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party has defeated Zayn Ayad: Delver, Level 20!

    Your party receives no System-issued rewards for this victory.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 32 to Level 35!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to Level 28!

    Your Shields skill has increased to Level 27!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 22 to Level 24!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased from Level 22 to Level 24!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased from Level 21 to Level 23!

    Your Leadership skill has increased from Level 21 to Level 23!

    Your Dungeoneering skill has increased to Level 26!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased from Level 11 to Level 15!This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    That¡­ was a decent haul. Eighteen skill levels, but it looked like the System had been holding out on delivering some of them since before the big fight.

    Had my Diplomacy skyrocketed because of my meetings with the Hiwardians, or had dealing with Hysteria also helped? I¡¯d gotten a Mystical Magic level during my attempted escape from Hysteria, which was after dealing with the Hiwardians, so I suspected whatever made Diplomacy advance was something that happened afterward.

    Maybe facilitating a meeting between an avatar and an elder god counted as diplomacy? We were definitely engaging in one of the oldest forms of diplomacy, which was killing the shit out of people who disagreed with us.

    ¡°Defeated,¡± Varrin growled as he read the notification for the enemy archer.

    ¡°Wishborn are created to fulfill a wish,¡± said Xim. ¡°They¡¯re spawned by feeding a powerful desire to an ancient blood ritual. When they die, their body is banished back to the Third Layer, but they can¡¯t be fully killed until either their purpose is fulfilled or it becomes impossible to achieve.¡±

    ¡°The big-sworded Hyrachon said they were born to protect someone,¡± I said. ¡°But the person they were protecting is dead now. Sounds impossible to me.¡±

    ¡°Then the wish was more complex,¡± she said. ¡°It could have been something like ¡®Protect my person and seek vengeance on any who do them harm.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Great. How long until they can return?¡± I asked, looking at the ¡®defeated¡¯ corpse.

    ¡°It takes longer each time they¡¯re banished, and it depends on the strength of the ritual. There¡¯s a whole poem about it, but it¡¯s really cryptic so I won¡¯t recite it to you. The baseline is thirty days, then three months, then three seasons, then two years and one season. It keeps multiplying by three from there, but it¡¯s offset by the length of time they were active and fulfilling the wish.¡±

    ¡°In other words,¡± said Varrin, ¡°it is not a problem for today.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like it,¡± I said. ¡°But at some point between thirty days and several years from now, we might have an angry shadow man coming after us again.¡±

    ¡°Then we will kill him again,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Good enough plan for me. We didn¡¯t get Buster or Fluffy, either. Veil was their transportation, so they¡¯re probably stuck in here.¡±

    ¡°We can find and finish them later,¡± said Xim. ¡°What are we doing about Hysteria pretending to be the Wishborn and messing up your obelisk?¡±

    ¡°One sec,¡± I said. Sub-el had sent me another notification, but I¡¯d ignored it while we¡¯d discussed.

    Your message has entered the queue for delivery to SC2, but there is currently a high volume of incoming communications. Would you like to purchase additional message priority for 10 System Rep?

    ¡°Ten? Holy shit, that price went up fast. Sub-el, how long is the wait right now, and how long would it be if I paid for it?¡±

    Estimated time until SC2 receives your message is currently 3 days 11 hours and 16 minutes. With the purchase of additional priority, the message will be delivered within the next 9 hours.

    ¡°Is that max speed?¡±

    Higher levels of priority are available, but you do not possess sufficient Rep.

    ¡°Hmm. Neither of those time frames is helpful. Can I send a message to Avarice directly?¡±

    One moment¡­

    Information on User Name: Avarice is restricted. Please contact System Core 2 for assistance.

    ¡°This is some bullshit,¡± I muttered. I looked around aimlessly for a second, my muscle memory searching for a way to mute my mic with Sub-el. I decided to take a big step to the right and look up at a different part of the ceiling. ¡°Hey! Avarice! You around?!¡±

    No impossibly tall women appeared.

    ¡°Why are you trying to call for another avatar?¡± Xim hissed at me.

    ¡°Avarice can be helpful,¡± I said. ¡°She sold me those Holy Waters and the orb that broke Hysteria¡¯s illusions.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? What did that cost you?¡±

    ¡°A few vines and a quest.¡±

    ¡°A ¡®quest¡¯,¡± said Varrin, sounding less than enthusiastic. ¡°What kind of quest?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you the terms later, but I think they¡¯re favorable.¡±

    ¡°This is a quest that you¡¯re doing, right?¡± said Xim. ¡°Alone, without involving us.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s a quest for the whole party.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Xim. ¡°What are you planning to trade to her now? I can respect you doing what needed to be done to get us out of Hysteria¡¯s trap, but I¡¯d rather not barter away any more of our future than you already have.¡±

    I considered Xim¡¯s question while waiting to see if Avarice would show up. Even if Avarice were around, would she notice me yelling her name from inside Grotto¡¯s bunker? It¡¯s not like she was the avatar of hearing or anything.

    Maybe I could summon her at a crossroads by burying a box containing a self-portrait, some graveyard dirt, and a bone from a black cat.

    More seriously, she would probably appear if a good enough deal was floated her way. Having a supernatural sense for discounted goods was believable enough. Plus, according to Sub-el, she was already close by.

    ¡°I have an idea,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think it will require us to do anything more than what we¡¯re already willing to do.¡±

    Xim crossed her arms and waited for me to enlighten her, while I asked Sub-el to show me the contents of the message Grotto was trying to send to Avarice. After quickly discussing with the group, I made a few modifications.

    I felt like an asshole for what I was about to ask Sub-el, but I didn¡¯t feel like I had time to mess around with the ground-level support AI.

    ¡°Sub-el, I¡¯d like to escalate this matter to SC2.¡±

    Escalation to SC2 would bypass multiple support Tiers. An appropriate override code is required.

    ¡°Override code 003 isn¡¯t good enough?¡±

    Your Code 003 request is insufficient for direct System Core intervention. The relevant information from Delve 1156-B is being transferred to a higher support tier and will be further evaluated as soon as possible.

    ¡°Is there an override code for an avatar being inside one of the Delves and fucking shit up?¡± I asked, thinking back to when we¡¯d first encountered Orexis. ¡°What about code 001?¡±

    Override code 001: Preservation of Delve System is appropriate if a sufficiently powerful entity threatens widespread damage or usage interruption. However, the requested System action must also relate to the avoidance or mitigation of the event. Expediting the delivery of a message to a non-System entity is not an appropriate use of code 001.

    ¡°Are you authorized to make a final determination of what actions should be taken during a 001 event?¡±

    My role is to evaluate the basis of the request and determine whether it is valid.

    ¡°Does your role allow you to unilaterally disregard a suggested course of action if an appropriate basis for a 001 override is found?¡±

    Only if the suggested action has no rational relationship to the problem at hand.

    ¡°If the information on Avarice is restricted, then how can you conclusively say that sending her a message has no rational relationship to the code 001 problem in Delve 1156-B?¡±

    ¡­

    ¡­

    As of now, no evaluation of override code 001 has been performed. Would you like to submit override code 001?

    ¡°Yes, please and thank you.¡±

    A new notification popped up telling me that Sub-el was working on it, but they didn¡¯t seem to be in much of a hurry.

    ¡°While that¡¯s happening, I¡¯m going to try and get more intel,¡± I said, stepping up to the mini-obelisk at the room¡¯s center. I went ahead and connected to Xim and Varrin using Reveal, so they could share my vision.

    The runes along the pillar were dark when I went to grip it, and a gentle pulse of mana failed to drag my sense of perception off into the Delve. I closed my eyes and ramped up the mana I was sending into the small obelisk, until I was no longer being gentle. I was being quite vigorous with the pillar, maybe even a bit rough.

    ¡°This seems needlessly sexual,¡± said Xim.

    I cleared my throat and refocused.

    After a few more seconds of effort, the small obelisk lit up and my vision split away from my body until I was staring at the main obelisk chamber from above.

    The fake Wishborn had opened up and disassembled a small section of the obelisk, and attached a clear, cylindrical device to the obelisk¡¯s central rod. Whatever it was, the device was siphoning off all of the Dimensional mana that would otherwise be fed into the Delve¡¯s operation and the Closet¡¯s expansion. That was an enormous amount of mana every second, but Hysteria¡¯s device was swallowing it up like it was nothing.

    I looked away from the item and swept my view around the chamber. Etja was still in the hallway just outside, passed out and half-buried in a wall. Neither Nuralie nor the Zenithar were in sight.

    Curiously, Hysteria was standing a couple of feet off the floor. Grotto had designated the bottom two feet of the obelisk chamber as inventory slots, to contain the Immature Dominion Ivy Plants. Since all the slots were filled, it created an invisible platform.

    Items in inventory slots were sent into stasis, preventing them from deteriorating. Animals couldn¡¯t normally be placed into the inventory stasis, but the ivy plants didn¡¯t violate that rule, apparently. It would presumably keep the ivy plants from growing, and as I took a careful look, it appeared that Grotto¡¯s impromptu solution had worked.

    However, the vines had already begun the process of growing when Grotto locked them down, and the stasis hadn¡¯t stopped them from expanding strangeward. The little vinelings were already connected to an entire universe of plant.

    I considered how I could use that to my advantage as I turned my attention back to the cylinder attached to the obelisk. After studying it for a minute, I realized the device wasn¡¯t swallowing the torrent of mana, it was sending it somewhere.

    The cylinder flashed, and a new figure appeared a few feet away from Hysteria. Before I could worry about the avatar portalling in a new team of invaders, I realized that the person wasn¡¯t really there. This was some sort of projection.

    The hulking figure was looking away from Hysteria, speaking to someone who wasn¡¯t part of the projection. Hysteria crossed their arms and tapped a foot, waiting on whoever this was to address them.

    When the man turned to acknowledge the avatar, a shadow of his soul slipped into the image, and my stomach turned. He wasn¡¯t surrounded by a form-hugging soul halo. He was swallowed by a chaotic swarm that my Sight could barely make sense of. It bathed the chamber in a discordant chorus of presences, each one tumbling over the next, struggling for dominance.

    The figure towered over Hysteria, their body wrapped in dark robes and chitinous armor. The lower half of his face was covered by a thick, hanging cloth. Beneath it was a dripping, red stain that soaked through his chest.

    The storm of souls snapped to order, aligned in a unified grid that oozed with purpose. When the monstrous Davahn spoke, there was no mistaking who it was.

    ¡°Hysteria,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, his voice underscored by soft clicking. ¡°I trust you have good reason to call upon me.¡±

 211 - Chat Room

    ¡°Brae¡¯ach!¡± said Hysteria, clapping their hands together. ¡°Buddy, friend, pal, guy, when have I ever called you for something that wasn¡¯t important?¡±

    The hulking Davahn stared at the avatar, what little I could see of their face devoid of emotion. The grid of souls surrounding them sat silent and still, and the moment stretched until even I felt awkward.

    Hysteria huffed. ¡°The king of Hiward got away,¡± they said, then raised a finger. ¡°Not my fault! Those little boxes Limbo gave you do not go nowhere, as he advertised. No, they go somewhere that is the corpus of a rather powerful and cranky god.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach said nothing for several seconds. Hysteria tapped the tips of their fingers together while they waited.

    ¡°Limbo¡¯s magicks are those of absence and separation,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Your claim presents a lamentable deviation from this nature.¡±

    Hysteria looked down at their nails and frowned at their ephemeral fingers. They were still pretending to be the Wishborn.

    ¡°I mean, it was kind of nowhere,¡± Hysteria admitted. ¡°But ¡®nowhere¡¯ has a ruler, and its ruler does not enjoy it when something appears where nothing should be.¡±

    ¡°Of what echelon was this divinity?¡±

    ¡°The third,¡± said Hysteria.

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s souls fluttered for a moment, though he was outwardly calm.

    ¡°You are certain of this?¡±

    ¡°Three syllables,¡± said Hysteria, holding up three fluttering fingers. ¡°I heard the name myself. It spoke to me. I am as certain as certain can be.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach glanced at Hysteria¡¯s dancing digits. ¡°We are of no consequence to such a being,¡± he said.

    ¡°Yes, well, it disagrees.¡± Hysteria crossed their arms. ¡°Want to know what it said?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach held up a hand. ¡°Reveal its truth where we are certain what eyes behold us. Tell me how you came upon its name.¡±

    Hysteria looked annoyed at being shut down, but the expression was quickly replaced with a smirk. ¡°You remember those kids who flicked Orexis in his dangly bits and then ran off with his daughter?¡±

    The souls around Brae¡¯ach shifted, allowing one near the edge to move closer to his head. It emitted a soft pressure.

    ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly,¡± he said. ¡°The scion joined their party afterward. They are one of the groups responsible for the transition.¡±

    ¡°Their party leader called the god down on us,¡± said Hysteria, nearly shouting the word ¡°called¡±. ¡°Young guy, kind of tall, has sparkly black and green eyes that I¡¯m sure the ladies love but I bet they love his lashes even more. Those things are just so full, I think I¡¯m going to steal them. Outstanding genetics, overall. He also wears a feather boa on top of his armor which I respect, but also kind of hate, you know?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach went still again as he absorbed the information. ¡°What Level is this group?¡±

    ¡°Twelve,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°For now.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°Your tale grows ever more doubtful, Hysteria,¡± he said, several soft clicks playing out beneath the words. ¡°We will speak of this with an Arbiter present once you have returned.¡±

    ¡°You have trust issues, Brae-Brae. You¡¯re gonna have to learn to put yourself out there if you want to build meaningful connections with people.¡±

    The mask around Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mouth shifted, but I couldn¡¯t tell if he¡¯d smiled or sneered. ¡°What of the Zenithar?¡±

    ¡°Ugh, she¡¯s around here somewhere. You know how Geulons are, all sneaky and shit.¡± Hysteria hunched their shoulders and moved their hands in what must have been an attempt at pantomiming stealth. ¡°I¡¯ll blast the place with my aura to shake her loose, although I have burned through a lot of favor today already.¡±

    ¡°Is this all?¡± asked Brae¡¯ach.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°Is this all for which you have demanded my time? To discuss your failures and lay blame at the feet of children?¡±

    ¡°Did you hear the part about the third echelon divinity?¡±

    ¡°A claim you know must be made in the presence of an Arbiter,¡± said Brae¡¯ach, the clicking growing louder. It looked like the man¡¯s jaw was elongating beneath his mask. ¡°If you or Limbo have angered this being, there is nothing to be done. If it wishes to scatter our realm, then we will return to the cycle before we know what has come to pass. There is naught to do but wait, even if you speak truth.¡±

    Hysteria gave the man a tight, demeaning smile. ¡°Your attitude doesn¡¯t entertain me, Brae¡¯ach. If you bore me, I have no reason to play along with your games.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach¡¯s projection took a step toward Hysteria, and the souls swam away from him like a school of fish. They surrounded Hysteria, nipping at the avatar¡¯s edges as though they were looking for dead skin to feed on. The large Davahn took another step forward, looking Hysteria up and down.

    ¡°You are injured,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Let not fear drive your mind to anger.¡±

    Hysteria swatted at the souls, but the swarm parted to let their arm pass. Brae¡¯ach tensed, and the souls arrayed around Hysteria snapped into a swirling pattern. Hysteria¡¯s Wishborn disguise peeled away, revealing the avatar¡¯s colorful skeleton. Brae¡¯ach took another step, his eyes settling on Hysteria¡¯s chest.

    ¡°Orexis¡¯s whelp gave me a pinprick,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Hardly what I¡¯d call an injury.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Another step, and Brae¡¯ach was two feet from the avatar. He reached out, extending a finger to Hysteria¡¯s sternum as though he wanted to stroke it. Hysteria took a step away from the projection, and Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mask shifted again. I was pretty sure it was a smile this time.

    ¡°Yes, I see,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. Then his eyes ran over the rest of Hysteria¡¯s body. ¡°It is more than that, though. Your essence is¡­ shaken.¡±

    The Davahn peered into Hysteria¡¯s eye sockets, and the small beads of mercury within shuddered under the man¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Your word is weak and so your bonds are loose,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°But would you risk pulling at your leash when you are so¡­¡± He waved a hand up and down at the avatar, each craggy finger as thick as one of Hysteria¡¯s ribs. ¡°Fragile?¡±

    Brae¡¯ach leaned in and placed a hand on Hysteria¡¯s shoulder, his palm swallowing up nearly half of the avatar¡¯s chest, then whispered. ¡°Brittle bone will break before the chain.¡±

    Hysteria raised glowing hands and the projection destabilized. The distorted image of Brae¡¯ach flowed back, his souls following behind, until he coalesced just outside of Hysteria¡¯s reach. The two stared at one another as Brae¡¯ach¡¯s swarm returned to roll lazily around the Davahn. Hysteria reached up and brushed off the shoulder the man had ¡®touched¡¯.

    ¡°I also found a Delve,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I stuck one of your thingies inside the obelisk.¡± They gestured at the cylinder that was swallowing up all the Dimensional mana.

    Brae¡¯ach turned to look at the obelisk as though he was only just noticing it. His head tilted back an inch. ¡°Why?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Why did I stick your thingy in there? Because you asked me to.¡±

    ¡°Why are you within a Delve?¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°So you remember those kids who tickled Orexis¡¯s backdoor exit and then kidnapped his newborn daughter?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Brae¡¯ach said, tone neutral. The man didn¡¯t even miss a beat.

    ¡°Well, Mr. Lashes has a Delve Core as a Bonded Familiar,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Turns out, he has a whole Delve hidden inside his dimensional space.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach flicked a finger and the soul swarm began to spread out. ¡°What happened to the Core?¡±

    ¡°Lobotomized for now,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I had one of my people deal with it.¡±

    The souls moved away from Brae¡¯ach in a spiral pattern, beginning to engulf the entire obelisk chamber. I moved my view back to keep them in sight.

    ¡°The Core was ¡®dealt¡¯ with before you connected to me?¡±

    ¡°Of course,¡± said Hysteria. They watched the souls continue to spread out. ¡°I¡¯m not a fucking moron.¡±

    The souls suddenly gained a burst of speed and swelled to fill the entire room. One swam directly in front of me.

    Brae¡¯ach slowly turned and looked directly at me.

    The Davahn blinked, and my eyeballs exploded.

    The world went dark and my head snapped back hard enough that my helm cracked into the wall behind me. Something in my neck made a sound that it shouldn¡¯t and my feet slid out from under me. My arms refused to respond as I hit the ground hard on my side.

    I felt warm, viscous fluid running down my cheeks.

    HP: 1898 -> 1198

    I had just regen¡¯d back to full health, and this mother fucker glared at me for 700 damage.

    He wasn¡¯t even there!

    I wasn¡¯t even there!

    Neither of us was in the room, and dude winked at me for more than a third of my health. I also hadn¡¯t been the only one who¡¯d gotten a dirty look, based on the labored breathing and groans around me.

    ¡°You guys alright?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think my brain is bleeding,¡± Xim said in a rough voice. Mine probably would have been if I weren¡¯t immune.

    I ignored my lack of normal vision and looked my allies over with Soul Sight. Xim was sitting with her back against a wall, while Varrin struggled to his feet. The big guy came over to me and knelt. I heard him place a hand on my shoulder, but couldn''t feel it. He started working the straps on my helmet. I heard the metal groan as he bent the metal to get it off me.

    ¡°Your eyes are missing,¡± he said once he¡¯d removed the bascinet.

    ¡°I figured. I felt a familiar ooze running down my face,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s also the indescribable pain. Still got your eyes?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We were not directly connected to the obelisk,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I believe we were hit by the castoff. Can you move your arms?¡±

    I tried to make a fist.

    ¡°Nope,¡± I said. ¡°Seems like my neck is broken as well.¡±

    ¡°Hells,¡± Xim swore then crawled over to me. She placed her hands on either side of my face, and I felt a pulse of mana go through me. ¡°Nothing to Cleanse,¡± she muttered, then cast Heal.

    HP: 1208 -> 1438

    My spine clicked and sensation came flooding in from everything below the neck. A severe itch began to burn in my eye sockets, followed by an uncomfortable swelling sensation. Xim cast another Heal, and my vision began to return in blurry splotches. I blinked away tears, then pulled a rag from inventory alongside a canteen. I wet the rag and wiped the remnants of my old eyes out of my new ones.

    ¡°I had high hopes for today,¡± I said as I cleaned vitreous fluid from my face and beard. ¡°But things just aren¡¯t working out.¡±

    I grabbed my helm to wipe it out as well, but the bascinet had been twisted and dented too badly to wear. Even with the Verdantum material¡¯s self-repair, the day¡¯s abuse was too much. It would take several hours for it to regain its shape.

    ¡°Avatar was bad enough,¡± said Xim. ¡°Something that can kill us at a glance from the other side of the continent is too much.¡±

    ¡°What do you suggest we do?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°We cannot allow that creature to capture the Zenithar.¡±

    ¡°Etja¡¯s down there, too,¡± I said.

    ¡°Walking into that is suicide,¡± said Xim. ¡°Listen, I¡¯ll run in there right beside you two psychos if I have to, but I¡¯d really like us to explore our options first.¡±

    The three of us stared into space for a few seconds.

    ¡°Sub-el!¡± I shouted. ¡°You saw that shit, right?¡± I looked up at the mini obelisk. It had exploded alongside my eyes. I held up my hand and saw that the gauntlet was ruined and three of my fingers were missing nails. ¡°Tell me you got that on video, Sub-el!¡±

    I started looking for my old fingers so I could recover the Verdantum. One was embedded in my leg. It had pierced through my chausses.

    Override code 001 has been accepted.

    Your message has been forwarded directly to System Core 2.

    Your message has been relayed to User Name: Avarice.

    Due to the damage to Core 1156, I have been authorized to take temporary control of Delve 1156-B with co-arbiter permission.

    Would you like me to take control?

    I started to respond, but paused when I felt a tingle run down my back. I stood up, dropping my rag and canteen, then exchanged a look with Xim and Varrin.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to go to the obelisk chamber,¡± I said.

    ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Let us go then,¡± said Varrin.

    I closed my eyes and reached strangeward, going around the teleportation wards and through an endless mess of vines. I cast Shortcut, taking Xim and Varrin with me.

    We appeared in a shower of squirming vines, finding Hysteria floating cross-legged in the air, alone. Potent Spiritual mana flowed off the avatar in waves, crashing outward through the Delve. The three of us lined up in a neat row, waiting for them to speak.

    Several of the vines slithered over the invisible barrier created by the inventory slots along the bottom of the room. They tried to dig down into the stasis, presumably to free their hibernating kin. The vines didn¡¯t have much energy alone, however, and began to slow before long. Hysteria tracked them as they went, but ignored the Dominion Ivy after a few seconds of observation.

    ¡°You made me look bad,¡± said Hysteria, gesturing to where the projection of Brae¡¯ach had stood. ¡°I do not appreciate that.¡±

 212 - Divine Cowboy

    ¡°Sorry for making you look bad,¡± I said to Hysteria, filled with regret. ¡°I¡¯m an asshole, and I deserve a good spanking.¡± I hung my head in shame.

    ¡°He is,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°It is true,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°And you,¡± said Hysteria, pointing past us. ¡°Do you have anything to say for yourself?¡±

    I turned to see Etja walking into the obelisk room, picking gravel from her hair. She stumbled over a dead Gekkog, then swapped to floating.

    ¡°I¡­ shouldn¡¯t try to eat people?¡± she said.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t try to eat me,¡± Hysteria corrected. ¡°Shove other people in your weird hand-mouth abyss all you want, sheesh.¡±

    ¡°I am ashamed of my actions,¡± said Etja as she landed beside the rest of us. ¡°And I feel appropriately chastised.¡± Despite being thrown halfway through a wall, her dress was in perfect shape.

    ¡°Now,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Where¡¯s your Geulon friend hiding with the Zenithar?¡±

    I closed my eyes and focused on my aura, reaching out for Nuralie. Like before, I hit a block while searching for her, but it came with a different feeling this time. It was less like something was shielding her, and more like my aura was ignoring her for some reason. I allowed this information to drift through my mind but made no effort to point out the specifics. Hysteria hadn¡¯t asked about my ability, they¡¯d only asked about Nuralie.

    ¡°She¡¯s probably in the Closet,¡± I said. ¡°But I don¡¯t know where exactly. I¡¯m being blocked.¡±

    ¡°The Zenithar has probably firmed her connection to Geul,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°I dunno,¡± said Xim. ¡°She¡¯s not in Eschendur, and she¡¯s not anywhere near a large body of water. I doubt she has half the power she¡¯s accustomed to.¡±

    ¡°You four are useless,¡± said Hysteria. We all muttered our apologies. ¡°Will the two of them be able to leave without permission?¡±

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± I said. ¡°Unless the Zenithar has a revelation that lets her teleport to Eschendur.¡±

    ¡°Geul is a goddess of water and life,¡± said Xim. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have any Dimensional attributes. Deijin might be able to do it.¡±

    ¡°Then we can wait them out,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Where¡¯s the exit to this place go?¡±

    ¡°It depends,¡± I said. ¡°I can open a portal to Arzia at any time, but it''s fixed in the last place I opened the Closet. Right now it leads to the Wastes, near where you hit the mountains.¡±

    ¡°That one¡¯s probably buried,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Not that it matters much to me.¡±

    ¡°I also have two semi-permanent connections set up. The first leads to Eschengal, a few hundred feet from the eastern gate. I can open it in seven hours or so.¡± Hysteria gestured for me to continue. ¡°The second leads to the Xor¡¯Drel tribe in the Third Layer.¡±

    ¡°Oh, not that one,¡± said the avatar. They tapped their chin. ¡°My best bet is to head out near Eschangal, I suppose. Pretty convenient, overall, considering I¡¯ll be the Zenithar by then.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything else we can do for you?¡± I asked. ¡°We could spread out and look for Nuralie.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°What are the chances of finding her when she doesn¡¯t want to be found?¡±

    I grimaced. ¡°Not good.¡±

    Hysteria shrugged. ¡°Then we wait. Eventually, the Zenithar will need to rest. I can outlast her.¡± The avatar let out another massive wave of mana to emphasize their claim, then unfolded their legs and settled onto the ground. The mana continued to pour off of them as they looked between the four of us. ¡°In the meantime, let¡¯s have some fun.¡±

    I focused deeply on the concept of ¡®fun¡¯. ¡°Some of my board games survived,¡± I said, perking up. ¡°Since they were in inventory slots when the mansion exploded. I have a drafting cube for¨C¡±

    ¡°Shut up.¡±

    My teeth clicked as my mouth snapped shut.

    ¡°You, Orexis-spawn,¡± said Hysteria, gesturing at Etja. ¡°Come here.¡± Etja nodded and trotted forward. ¡°Show me your status screen.¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡± said Etja. Hysteria¡¯s mercury eyes studied the invisible screens, looking through the mage¡¯s stats and abilities.

    ¡°What happened to my hirelings?¡± they asked as they read.

    Varrin and Xim looked at me, but I made a lock and key motion over my lips since I wasn¡¯t allowed to talk.

    ¡°The Chovali runeweaver and the Giant elementalist are dead,¡± said Varrin. ¡°The Wishborn archer has been banished back to the Third Layer for at least a month. The status of the Yeti pugilist and the Hyrachon paladin are unknown.¡±

    ¡°Tsk. You eliminated sixty percent of my team? They were Level 20!¡± Hysteria reached up and scratched their bony jaw. ¡°Why are your stats so high? You have more in total than they did.¡±

    ¡°Fortune put mana crystals in Arlo¡¯s mana veins,¡± said Etja. ¡°Grotto copied it over to the rest of us so we could train everything to ten. Then we all unlocked the Dumping achievement and traded stats back and forth with a pretty lady to cheese the hells out of it!¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I¡¯ve seen Delvers grow their stats using arcane methods before, but this is a league ahead of grabbing an extra ten points to Speed or something. Wait, you said Fortune did this?¡±

    ¡°Part of it, yep!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°And who was the pretty lady?¡±

    Etja¡¯s face contorted. ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    Hysteria cocked their skull to one side. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°I said, it¡¯s a secret.¡±

    Hysteria pointed at Varrin. ¡°Who¡¯s the pretty lady?¡±

    ¡°The avatar known as Avarice,¡± he answered.

    ¡°Fortune and Avarice, fucking everything up, as usual.¡± Hysteria drummed their fingers against their teeth and studied Etja. ¡°Do a pushup.¡±

    Etja dropped to the ground, did one perfect pushup, then hopped back up.

    ¡°Stand on one foot.¡± Etja followed the command, along with several more. ¡°Do ten jumping jacks. Now do a backflip. Tell me your favorite color. Go and slap the red-skinned girl in the face.¡±

    Etja stopped listing out her favorite shades of blue, then frowned.

    ¡°No thank you,¡± she said.

    ¡°This is¡­ confusing,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Why won¡¯t you slap her?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my friend, and I don¡¯t want to hurt her.¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°Tall guy,¡± said Hysteria, nodding at Varrin. ¡°Take off your helmet and throw it into the corner.¡± Varrin did as he was told, and the piece of masterwork gear clattered off to the side of the room. ¡°Red-skinned girl,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Slap the tall one in the face.¡±

    Xim turned to look at Varrin. ¡°How hard?¡± she asked.

    ¡°As hard as you can.¡±

    Xim squared up with Varrin, took a balanced stance, and slapped him across the jaw with the force of a falling boulder. There was a loud crack, and Varrin spun like a top while his body simultaneously flipped end over end until he collided with the wall. When he hit, he made the sound I imagined a four-hundred-pound can of tuna might make. Clattering, twisting metal, a deep thud, and a bit of juicy sloshing.

    He hit the ground and didn¡¯t get back up.

    ¡°Wow!¡± said Hysteria.

    Two of Xim¡¯s fingers were pointing in the wrong direction. She popped them back into place and shook out her hand. ¡°I have the Unarmed skill,¡± she said, then looked down at Varrin with a grimace.

    ¡°Will he live?¡± asked Hysteria with all the concern of a lab technician observing the effects of a new pesticide.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim. ¡°He¡¯ll be Stunned for a while, especially since he didn¡¯t resist. I¡¯ll probably need to heal his jaw, though. Pretty sure I broke it.¡±

    ¡°I think you broke more than that,¡± said the avatar. ¡°What¡¯s your Strength score?¡±

    ¡°Forty.¡±

    ¡°Is that your highest?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°No,¡± said Xim. ¡°Charisma is Level 46.¡±

    ¡°So all of you have around 90 more total stats than you should.¡± Hysteria shook their head, muttering something under their breath. ¡°You¡¯re a cleric, right?¡± Xim nodded. ¡°Do you have any revelations?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    ¡°How many?¡±

    ¡°I have two that have been fully formed, both of which have been advanced once,¡± she answered. ¡°I have a third that¡¯s half-formed, but I¡¯m right on the edge of understanding it.¡±

    Hysteria took a moment to digest that. ¡°Are you hearing the words that are coming out of your mouth?¡±

    Xim furrowed her brow. ¡°I, uh¡­ yes?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re Level 12!¡± Hysteria shouted, gesturing at us emphatically. ¡°Fine. Okay. Are there any other secret powers in your group?¡±

    ¡°Varrin has some kind of ancestral spirit stuff going on,¡± said Xim, looking at the collapsed man. She waved a glowing hand in his direction and I heard the sound of bones snapping back into place. ¡°Plus, his family is richer than most religions, which is its own superpower.¡±

    I desperately wanted to make a joke, but I was still in talkie timeout.

    ¡°Etja has really flexible mana shaping and her skills can all be layered together to get weird effects,¡± Xim continued. ¡°She also has that whole thing she did to you earlier, so I¡¯m thinking she¡¯s starting to become some kind of pseudo-avatar?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I was there for that part.¡±

    ¡°Nuralie also has a revelation, but she¡¯s still figuring it out,¡± said Xim. ¡°She has some weird history with the Eschenden Church which has been holding her back. I think she¡¯s a sleeper, though. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she winds up doing something crazy like inventing a Super Alchemy intrinsic.¡±

    ¡°And the flamboyant one?¡± asked Hysteria, nodding at me.

    ¡°Okay, so Arlo is some kind of god wrangler.¡±

    I squinted at Xim in confusion.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that,¡± said Xim. ¡°First, an avatar brought you back to life. That¡¯s literally how we met. You got all those extra stats from Fortune, who also gave you two obscenely powerful items. You have an ongoing trade deal with Avarice and have survived encounters with Orexis, Anesis, and now Hysteria. You¡¯ve got a lot of godly avatars in your life.

    ¡°Next, you have Grotto as a Bonded Familiar, whose attunement is Divine and his deity is literally the System. I don¡¯t know why that works or how, but it does. You also have this weird relationship with System Core 1 which gives you scary evolutions, and System Core 2 almost treats you like a System entity.¡±

    I started to raise my hand, but Hysteria swatted in my direction and my arm went limp.

    ¡°Then there are the actual gods, not just little half-steps like the System and the avatars,¡± said Xim. She glanced at Hysteria. ¡°No offense.¡±

    ¡°Some taken, but go on,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°You don¡¯t worship Sam¡¯lia but have two revelations of the Eye. You¡¯ve met all three of the Eschen Zenithars and two of them have done favors for you. There¡¯s something going on between you and Yara since items like those Holy Waters don¡¯t fall into people¡¯s hands without a god¡¯s blessing. Finally, you can summon the Dread Star and ask it a question every seven days which¨Cbased on my experience of that ability¨Cseems way too often to be healthy. That¡¯s three wildly different pantheons all hopping into bed with you. At this point, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if Shog was secretly some kind of deity.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s Shog?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°A c¡¯thon that Arlo can summon, but who¡¯s also sort of a Delver,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Shog now?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s taking a year off. Probably so he can conquer his home planet.¡±

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Hysteria hummed. ¡°My research on your group was wholly inadequate. Although giving myself some grace, I was more concerned with the king, the Zenithar, and the King¡¯s Guard.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable,¡± said Xim. ¡°So far, no one has taken us as seriously as they should have.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s mercury eyes shimmered. ¡°Do you think I¡¯m still not taking you seriously enough?¡±

    ¡°Probably not,¡± said Xim. ¡°Otherwise you¡¯d have killed us all the moment you managed to Dominate us.¡±

    I heard a grunt and turned to see Varrin climbing back to his feet, rubbing his jaw.

    ¡°What do you think, Lord Ravvenblaq?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°Am I tempting fate here?¡±

    ¡°Fate aside, your current strategy is tactically unsound,¡± said Varrin, stepping back into line. ¡°Based on what that zombie¡­ ¡®cloak¡¯ said earlier, you could acquire all of this information by dipping into our minds, potentially in a matter of seconds. Having a lengthy discussion like this only serves to satisfy the demands of your concept, and places you at risk of retaliation from one of our allies. The longer you delay, the more likely your goals will be frustrated.¡±

    ¡°Then the consensus is that I should take you off the board while I can?¡± asked Hysteria.

    ¡°That depends on what your goals are,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Your business with King Celeritia has already made you an enemy of Hiward, but the Kingdom cannot bring its full weight against you while maintaining its own interests. House Ravvenblaq, on the other hand, is less reasonable. Orexis murdered my father. If another of my lineage dies at the hands of an avatar, my family will burn down everything they have to find and kill you.

    ¡°If the Ravvenblaqs fail, then you will have also earned the ire of Sam¡¯lia, the Eschenden, Fortune, Avarice, potentially Yara¨Cwho is the head of the Littan pantheon¨Cthe System, and whatever forces that those entities have at their disposal. The world will become a very small place for you.¡±

    Hysteria leaned forward as Varrin spoke, tilting their head to one side as though they were listening very closely. The waves of mana continued to pour off them, and when the big guy finished his speech, the avatar was shaking.

    ¡°That¡­ that sounds so¡­.¡± Hysteria ran a skeletal hand down their face. ¡°So exciting!¡± Hysteria shuddered, and their chest heaved like they were taking a deep breath. ¡°But I can do better.¡±

    Hysteria fanned themself with their hands, trying to calm down, then pulled out a pair of silver spectacles and pinched them onto their face. They stepped aside to reveal a chalkboard with four large words written on it, one in each corner. The avatar produced a pointing stick and then slapped it against the board.

    ¡°When it comes to maximizing disorder in a society,¡± they said, ¡°it¡¯s important to consider whether any antagonizing elements you introduce are external or internal threats to that society.¡± They tapped the stick between the top two words, then swept the pointer to the lower two. ¡°Equally important is whether those elements have boundaries that are well-defined or ambiguous.¡±

    As Hysteria began to lecture us on the nuances of subversion and sabotage techniques, I noticed a curious shadow crawling along the ceiling behind and above them. I didn¡¯t immediately say anything, because I¡¯d intentionally interpreted Hysteria¡¯s earlier command to ¡°shut up¡± as an indefinite ban on speech. I wasn¡¯t able to do this because of any particular strength of will or hidden mental gifts. Once someone was Dominated, they normally lost all control of their actions. I wasn¡¯t some kind of special exception. Once I failed my Wisdom save, that was it.

    No, I was able to ¡®massage¡¯ Hysteria¡¯s directions because Hysteria¡¯s brand of Dominate was clever enough to wrap all the way back around to being stupid.

    When Hysteria had blasted their aura across the entire Closet, their mental control came preloaded with 668 specific commands.

    Typically, a Dominated entity will not act unless explicitly commanded by the source of the Domination. While the status effect grants its source absolute control over the subject, it was tedious for long-term use. It was also obvious to an outside observer since someone who¡¯d been Dominated would inevitably act out of character.

    Having a list of default rules allowed Hysteria to ignore these downsides. They maximized Hysteria¡¯s effective control while minimizing micromanagement, and also allowed the person being Dominated to more or less act naturally. Being able to insert hundreds of commands the moment the target became Dominated was outrageous, and clearly fell into the category of ¡°some divine bullshit.¡± However, Hysteria wasn¡¯t the most organized avatar, and that lack of organization really started to show with their default Dominate commands.

    I subconsciously reviewed Hysteria¡¯s 668 rules, trying to decide how I had to respond to the shadow, while playing a mental game called Bad Faith Domination.

 213 - Unworthy

    Hysteria flipped the chalkboard over, revealing a cartoonish image of a castle.

    ¡°A disaster like an earthquake is a classic example of an external threat with well-defined boundaries,¡± they said. The castle cracked down the middle, then crumbled. ¡°In this example, ¡®nature¡¯ is the external threat. It originates from outside of the society itself. It is also easy to establish a clear beginning and end to such a disaster since it¡¯s over once the ground stops shaking.

    ¡°People tend to rally together against external threats, and when the threat has a clear beginning and end, their response is typically well-organized.¡± A swarm of people crawled over the castle, rebuilding it. Once finished, the castle was larger and sturdier-looking. ¡°In many instances, a society is stronger after conquering an external, well-defined threat.¡±

    Hysteria flipped the board again, revealing a cartoonish depiction of a man asleep in a large four-post bed. Another man stood over them, wearing a dark mask and wielding a fine dagger. A crown popped into existence over the sleeping man, who was promptly stabbed by the intruder.

    ¡°Insofar as murder is concerned, a political assassination can either be external¨Csuch as an assassin from a foreign nation¨Cor internal¨Csuch as with an overeager heir to the throne. Either way, it also typically has a well-defined boundary, which is the death of the targeted individual¡­¡±

    Hysteria rattled on while I loosely observed the shadow on the ceiling. Rule 28 required me to look at Hysteria while they were talking, which meant I could only watch the shadow from the corner of my eye.

    Several rules were exceptions to Rule 28 and allowed me to look at something other than Hysteria while the avatar spoke, but they were all conditional. Rule 29 allowed me to look judgingly at the person Hysteria was speaking to if the avatar was shaming them. Rule 30 let me look at my own feet if Hysteria was shaming me. Rule 31 told me to cross my arms and glare at anyone who¡¯d tried to shame Hysteria while the avatar defended themself from the attempted shaming.

    There were more, but in short, none of them applied. I couldn¡¯t look directly at the shadow, which made it more difficult to be certain of what it was.

    Most of the rules in the 100 range involved identifying and pointing out threats, but Hysteria¡¯s express commands took precedence over the default commands. Since many of the rules that would require me to warn Hysteria contemplated those warnings being given verbally, I felt comfortable that my current instruction to ¡°shut up¡± overrode them. Additionally, Rule 3 was ¡°Don¡¯t bring Hysteria problems, bring Hysteria solutions,¡± and I had no idea how to present a gestural ¡®solution¡¯ to whatever problem the shadow might present.

    Again, I couldn¡¯t look at the shadow, so I couldn¡¯t even say for sure that it was a problem. I suspected that it would become a very big problem, but Rule 16 was ¡°Stay positive,¡± so I decided it would work itself out.

    Hysteria¡¯s rules were more like a shitty office code of conduct than a meticulously prepared set of mind control conditionals.

    Way too many of the rules gave the target discretion to make their own judgments, half of them read like junk that had been thrown in on a whim and never edited back out, and half of those sounded like they were added just to scare people.

    For example:

    Rule 379: When in the presence of a fairy, act as though the fairy does not exist.

    Rule 380: If a fairy interacts with you in a way that produces an observable phenomenon, seek an alternative explanation for the phenomenon and loudly state that this alternative is responsible for the phenomenon. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE FAIRY.

    Rule 380 Hypothetical: A fairy stabs you in the kidney. Solution: You walk into your kitchen and declare that you should be more careful when using the chef¡¯s knife you recently sharpened. Seek medical treatment. Ignore the fairy.

    Rule 381: Never reference or discuss any Rule that involves fairies.

    There were no rules on how to determine whether something was a fairy.

    I half-suspected that Hysteria had gotten on a fairy¡¯s bad side in the past and this group of rules was somehow added without the avatar¡¯s knowledge. Too bad I couldn¡¯t discuss the fairy rules, or I might have pointed out as much. Then again, an infiltrator fairy wasn¡¯t a very positive thought and I didn¡¯t have a nonverbal solution to the problem, so it didn¡¯t matter.

    If a fairy was just a tiny woman with magical powers, then the person in the shadow might count. They weren¡¯t usually tiny, even though their shadow was currently quite small. They had magical powers, but it was too much of a stretch. I knew they weren¡¯t really a woman. In fact, they were currently a short line of text on the ceiling. Hysteria paused to ponder something they¡¯d written on the chalkboard, and I glanced up at the words.

    Tears after fist.

    Kind of cryptic. Rule 117 required me to report any attempts made to recruit me to work against Hysteria, but the text wasn¡¯t asking me to do anything in particular. I assumed it was a line from a happy poem¨Cpotentially one left there by a mysterious fairy¨Cand ignored it. The shadow faded, leaving the sport where it had been a little darker than normal.

    ¡°If the assassin is an internal agent,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°it¡¯s much more difficult for people to rally together since they are confronting an element within their own society. Such an event may be less spectacular than the earthquake, but it will result in greater emotional disruption or¨Cat the very least¨Cmore permanent disruption. Whoever inherits the throne will be viewed with suspicion and trust in the existing power structures will erode. But, people will generally carry on about their lives once it¡¯s over. The threat was superficially internal, but it¡¯s so remote from a normal individual that it may as well be treated as an external threat. That is, a threat originating from a different class of person, the noble class.¡±

    Hysteria¡¯s words drilled into my brain, creating an uncomfortable buzzing in my thoughts. I felt like the avatar was saying more than what the words implied. The corners of the ceiling grew a shade darker.

    The crown above the cartoon man disappeared, and the posts on the bed shrank away. The sleeping man was now wearing a tattered nightcap, and the invader had a large kitchen knife.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°A serial killer is an internal threat with more ambiguous boundaries,¡± Hysteria said as the killer stabbed the sleeping man. Their mask fell away, revealing a sadistic smile beneath. ¡°Not only is a serial killer internal to the society, but it¡¯s internal to the specific locality where it occurs. When someone stabs your neighbor to death, it¡¯s much more personal than someone killing the king. It¡¯s local and immediate. Unlike with the political assassin, you could be next!

    ¡°A rampaging killer may also have no clear resolution. So long as the killer is never caught, the event never ends. Once another person dies, the real terror starts to set in. People suspect their neighbors, change their locks, buy new weapons, and treat one another with greater hostility. The more deaths, the more their panic will continue to boil over until people start to turn on one another. Given enough time, you might see the entire region descend into anarchy as people decide that public lynchings are more useful than law enforcement.

    ¡°Even if the killer is caught, that damage persists. The survivors realize that the world is cruel and unforgiving, and that senseless violence can arise without logic or reason. They understand that the powers meant to protect them are oftentimes impotent, and you end up with a lovely generation of people who are grumpy, distrustful, and generally more likely to come into conflict with one another.¡±

    Hysteria threw aside the pointer and kicked the chalkboard away. Both crumbled into dust and disappeared.

    ¡°If I killed you four and threw your bodies into the streets, I would be an external threat that your factions would rally against. Unless I made it a habit of murdering prominent Delvers in relatively rapid succession, your deaths would also be an event with well-defined boundaries. Kind of like how a fault line can create many earthquakes, but each quake is considered its own thing. People have short memories.¡± Hysteria tapped their skull. ¡°As such, outright killing you would be ineffective at having a long-lasting destabilizing effect on any particular organization of size.¡±

    Hysteria put their hands on their hips and looked between us, possibly gauging our understanding of the material.

    ¡°You seem to have put a lot of thought into this,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Xim said hesitantly. ¡°Was there a purpose in telling us all of that?¡±

    ¡°It was something to do while I implanted several suggestions and triggers into your minds that will persist long after you are out of my presence,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Just remember that by staying alive, you¡¯ll be enabling me to do more harm to the world than if you¡¯d simply died.¡±

    A distant well of anger boiled up within me at Hysteria¡¯s words, but it faded into the background after a few seconds. It was replaced by a feeling of appreciation for how well-organized the avatar¡¯s thoughts on chaos were. Hysteria was much smarter than I¡¯d given them credit for.

    My contemplation of Hysteria¡¯s wisdom was interrupted by a splashing sound coming from behind us. Rule 453 let me investigate curious noises.

    I turned to see Buster emerging from the water that connected the hall outside the obelisk chamber to Nottagator¡¯s lake. The Hyrachon had Fluffy over one shoulder, along with a dripping, darkly stained bag. In his other hand, he dragged a lump of what looked like dark, amorphous stone. It scraped along the ground.

    He stopped just outside of the obelisk chamber and dropped the Yeti to the floor, who landed limply and then began coughing up bloody liquid. Buster slung the bag down, which landed with a splat, and he let the chunk of rock clunk onto the invisible inventory slots in front of him.

    The man looked like he had seen better days. His armor was torn and battered, his skin charred and pierced in a dozen places, and he glared at me with a look of pure hatred.

    ¡°I am unworthy,¡± he croaked, then reached down to untie the sack.

    He tipped it over, and a collection of mutilated body parts rained out. I could spot the remnants of a dark wing and realized it was the corpse of the Chovali.

    He summoned his massive sword and swung it down onto the rock with a grunt, splitting it in two. Inside were scorched remains, barely recognizable as a humanoid carcass. I assumed it was what was left of the Giant.

    Fluffy coughed and vomited up more bloody liquid, then began crawling away from Buster. They shot a terrified look back at the Hyrachon. The paladin dropped his sword in the middle of the macabre pile, then held his arms out to either side as it clanged to the ground. His eyes rose to the ceiling, and thick veins bulged in his neck.

    ¡°I. Am. UNWORTHY!¡± He roared.

    ¡°I enjoy seeing a good meltdown,¡± said Hysteria, ¡°but you interrupted my inane rambling.¡±

    Buster¡¯s eyes turned red as blood began to run from them. The body parts in front of him began to glow and pulsate. The massive sword began to deform and bright silver rivulets ran off of it like melting ice.

    Fluffy made it to the opposite wall and pressed her back against it. Her eyes darted around, looking for a way out that wasn¡¯t blocked by the unhinged Hyrachon.

    Hysteria snapped their fingers twice, drawing Buster¡¯s glare.

    ¡°Hey, stop that,¡± said the avatar.

    Buster pointed a shriveling finger at me while continuing to scowl at Hysteria.

    ¡°Their lives are mine to reap,¡± he said.

    ¡°Not anymore,¡± said Hysteria.

    ¡°We have a contract,¡± said Buster, his voice becoming dry and raspy. ¡°Our service for the heads of those who slew our kin.¡±

    ¡°We did,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°But that was before I changed my mind.¡±

    ¡°Why did you need these guys anyway?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°The same reason people hire janitors,¡± said Hysteria. ¡°I could take out the trash, but I¡¯d rather someone else do it.¡±

    ¡°You would violate our bargain?¡± said Buster, his entire body starting to shrivel.

    ¡°Hello? What bargain?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°Do you see the king of Hiward anywhere? Because I don¡¯t. And where¡¯s the Zenithar, hmm?¡±

    As Buster¡¯s body deflated, blood poured out from every hole in the man¡¯s head. It was gross enough to distract me from how shady the ceiling had become.

    ¡°We delivered the packages,¡± he gurgled. ¡°You are the one who lost them.¡±

    ¡°You were supposed to help me keep them!¡±

    ¡°After delivery, our only obligation was to make¡­¡± Buster took a wet, rattling breath. ¡°...¡®best efforts¡¯ to assist you.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re arguing semantics now?¡± said Hysteria. ¡°How about this? I agreed to give you the opportunity for vengeance. I did that, and three members of your team got demoted to fertilizer. All that you¡¯ve given me is a front-row seat to your humiliation. Now you wanna cry blood about it?¡±

    ¡°Yourgh ighterghference ghwill oorght staughndd. I grhullghrubblingh¡­¡±

    By this point, I was having difficulty making out what Buster was saying. It was more gargling than speech.

    Hysteria snapped their fingers twice more. ¡°I said stop it! If and when I¡¯d like you to summon a blood god, I¡¯ll let you know.¡± Hysteria shot me a look. ¡°Seriously kid, what kind of fucked up karma do you have?¡±

    Xim sighed and rubbed at her forehead. I wanted to defend myself. Assuming what Xim had said about me was true, if anyone summoned a blood god I¡¯d be fully capable of wrangling it. Sadly, being stripped of my most potent weapon, I could only roll my eyes.

    When the corpses began to meld into the mass of blood in front of Buster, the avatar looked down at their digits, confused.

    ¡°Why is everyone so difficult to control today?¡± they asked.

    ¡°Because you¡¯ve chosen your victims poorly, brother,¡± a woman¡¯s voice echoed through the chamber.

    The avatar¡¯s head shot up, and the colors on their skeleton squirmed. The ceiling above grew even darker, until it became clear that Avarice¡¯s shadow had encompassed its entire surface.

    There was a sound of ticking gears and clinking metal as a towering figure looked down at us from within the shadow. Its eyes lit up with an internal heat.

    ¡°Is that a Deiphage Golem?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°Where the fuck did you get¨C¡±

    A bronze fist the width of a train car crashed down onto Hysteria so fast it looked like it had teleported into the room.

 214 - Lockdown

    The shockwave pushed me back a step, and a dense web of cracks appeared in the inventory slots below our feet. I was momentarily stunned by the sight but tore my eyes away from the now-wiggling vines when metallic plates along the golem¡¯s arm began to open.

    The inside of the golem was covered in glowing mana weaves, but the power rolling off of them was hundreds of times more potent than what the Chovali had been working with.

    The fist disconnected from the arm, transforming into a sphere that rose off the ground. I could hear Hysteria beating their skeletal fists against the sphere¡¯s interior. Plates fell away from the arm up to the elbow to form six complex mana arrays that floated into position around the sphere and began feeding mana into one another. More plates fell from the arm up to the golem¡¯s shoulder, flying out to form additional mobile weaves throughout the obelisk chamber.

    I glanced through the sigils, trying to discern their function, but it was beyond me. Even so, many of the runes looked familiar, although I couldn¡¯t place them.

    The runes on the center sphere shifted and turned violet. The hue rippled out to the rest of the weaves as each one morphed in response. An opaque wall of Mystical energy filled the room, eradicating every scrap of Spiritual mana that I could sense.

    You are no longer Dominated!

    You are no longer Mesmerized!

    You are in a zone of Spiritual nullification. Spiritual Magic cannot be used in this zone.

    I blinked away the notifications and pushed down the seething anger that was unleashed when Hysteria¡¯s fetters broke away from my soul.

    Tears after fist.

    Welp, that there was one big fist. I pulled out my second orb of Tyranny¡¯s Tears and smashed it on the ground.

    The result was less drastic than the last time I¡¯d used the item. Even if there had been illusions in the room before the anti-magic golem crashed Hysteria¡¯s party, the array shredded everything with a hint of Spiritual mana in it. Anything Hysteria could have thrown together should have been obliterated.

    Still, one thing in the room did change. Hysteria had not been cornered by the golem¡¯s fist. The avatar wasn¡¯t trapped inside the sphere. The exposed center of the obelisk was filled with a colorful, shifting liquid, surrounding the cylindrical device that was sucking away the Dimensional energy.

    For a moment, I thought my theory on Hysteria had been wrong. Perhaps the avatar could weave illusions using Physical Magic to manipulate light, or even Divine Magic to manifest visions in others. If that were the case, why did the golem limit itself to purging Spiritual mana, or was it only able to affect one type of mana at a time? I glanced up, seeing if I could identify the creature.

    Deiphage Golem: Construct, Grade 60

    My eyes widened at the grade. Avarice was walking around with a golem that the System judged could rival the world¡¯s most powerful Delvers. While it was still possible the golem could only affect one school of mana at a time, I thought it was more likely that Hysteria had been using another Deific ability. If so, it didn¡¯t matter how powerful the golem¡¯s magic was. If it didn¡¯t have a spark of divinity, it would break against Hysteria.

    The Tears, on the other hand, were also Deific, allowing them to peel away the illusion like normal. Handy item to have, that one. I¡¯d now spent both of the ones I¡¯d had, but at least they¡¯d served their purpose.

    Dark hands stretched down from the shadows above, wrapping their fingers around Hysteria¡¯s liquid form. The avatar shot out from the obelisk, reforming their colorful skeleton. While their illusion had been pristine, shimmering bone, Hysteria¡¯s true figure was riddled with subtle distortions.

    Fragments of their soul were twisted out of place, folding over one another and creating the appearance of cracks. The avatar stumbled away, but the dark hands whipped forward, hundreds of long, black fingers curling around Hysteria¡¯s ribs and spine.

    The hands melded with one another, forming a lightless cocoon around the avatar. As soon as the dark mass swallowed up the last glimmer of Hysteria¡¯s skeleton, the whole thing disappeared with a pop. A moment later, the hands returned empty, then melted away to join the shadow above.

    More thuds rang out from the central sphere. This time, the sounds were genuine.

    The tall, feminine figure of Avarice¡¯s false body descended from the shadow, looking significantly less real than normal. She appraised the sphere, listening to Hysteria¡¯s struggles. When she turned to look at me, it was with a face like an intricate doll.

    Icon of Avarice: Construct, Grade Unknown

    She walked to me, her steps fluid and natural, but there was a machine-like grace to them as well.

    ¡°Your offer was a bold one,¡± she said. ¡°I almost decided to decline it.¡±

    ¡°I doubt that,¡± I said. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t let such a golden opportunity go to waste.¡±

    She raised a fake eyebrow, then gestured at the massive golem still half obscured in the darkness above.

    ¡°This golem is a remnant from the prior generation. No one alive can replace them, and they have a limited number of uses.¡± She turned to peer up at the multi-story construct. ¡°This one only had one use left. My employees will have to scrap the rest of it for parts.¡±

    ¡°Is that how they captured the avatars that are locked up in The Cage?¡±

    ¡°It was one tool among many,¡± said Avarice. ¡°As potent as the golem is, it cannot capture an avatar at full strength.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we wore Hysteria down for you, then.¡±

    ¡°Did you?¡± Avarice asked, turning back to me. ¡°Or was it simply that Hysteria was careless?¡±

    ¡°Definitely both. There was no way the Dread Star¡¯s divine pimp hand didn¡¯t shake Hysteria up a bit. They also underplayed the damage Varrin¡¯s attack did afterward. The spot where the big guy hit their sternum was the same spot where Etja managed to suck out a drop of their soul. Plus, they shouldn¡¯t have had so much trouble reforming their disguise, and they weren¡¯t using nearly as many props and gags.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I watched as Varrin recovered his helmet. It had landed near Fluffy, who flinched when he scooped up the piece of armor.

    ¡°The System also mentioned that Hysteria was burning some kind of Divine Favor when they used their Deific abilities,¡± I continued. ¡°If Hysteria had a huge supply of whatever that is, they wouldn¡¯t have fucked around so much. Either way, having another avatar under your thumb was worth a lot more than half a golem. At least, it is if you¡¯re planning to use them the way I think you will.¡±

    Etja came over and started floating around Avarice, looking her up and down.

    ¡°This is really neat,¡± she said. ¡°Were you always using this to talk to us?¡±

    ¡°That will remain a mystery,¡± said Avarice.

    Etja looked disappointed but turned to look at the spherical prison without attempting to argue. ¡°I¡¯m a little confused. Did Arlo sell you Hysteria? Also, you called them ¡®brother¡¯, so does that mean Hysteria is a boy?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria is whatever form they are wearing,¡± said Avarice. ¡°I felt that an overbearing skeleton trying to bring the world to ruin exhibited a masculine characteristic.¡±

    I worked that one over, trying to decide if I should be offended on behalf of my gender.

    ¡°I see,¡± said Etja. ¡°But I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m comfortable selling people.¡±

    I worked that one over as well, trying to decide if the offer I¡¯d made to Avarice via the System was tantamount to a slave trade.

    ¡°Bounty hunting,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s definitely bounty hunting, not selling people.¡± Etja looked at me, waiting for the rest of my explanation. ¡°I offered our services in helping Avarice capture Hysteria¨Cwho is by any measure a wanted criminal¨Cin exchange for a reward. That¡¯s hunting for a bounty.¡±

    ¡°Bounty hunters operate under the mandate of a government,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What you are describing is mercenary work, not bounty hunting.¡±

    ¡°As the leader of the sovereign nation of Closetland,¡± I said, ¡°I retroactively declare the avatar Hysteria a criminal and public menace of the highest order, and hereby offer a reward for their capture.¡±

    ¡°Now we would be engaging in law enforcement,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Closetland?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°What¡¯s the reward?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°I would be law enforcement,¡± I said to Varrin. ¡°You all would be bounty hunters working under my mandate. Except for Etja, who¡¯s the only person who has petitioned for citizenship, which I hereby accept. I also grant unto her the title of Minister of Magic.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Etja. A smile quickly bloomed on her face. ¡°How about¡­ Supreme Wizard!¡±

    ¡°Master of the Mystical Arts,¡± I countered.

    ¡°Witch Queen!¡±

    ¡°Chief of Sorcery?¡±

    ¡°I am going to leave now,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°Oh, but what was the reward?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Lord of Spells,¡± she hastily whispered to me. That one wasn¡¯t bad.

    ¡°Since my arrangement is apparently with the leader of a recently founded nation, I will be treating the terms as confidential,¡± said Avarice. Shadowy hands began scooping up the arrays and pulling them back into Avarice¡¯s shadow. ¡°As the newly appointed Director of Thaumaturgy, I am certain Master Xor¡¯Drel will be willing to explain them to you.¡±

    There was a rush of air as the golem¡¯s head swept down from above, its jaw unhinging and biting down on the sphere. Hysteria¡¯s prison slotted into place within the golem¡¯s mouth, and streams of mana began to flow out from the captured avatar and down the golem¡¯s throat. Hysteria shrieked as the Deiphage receded into the darkness overhead.

    Avarice floated upwards. ¡°Given your performance today, I believe you will be ready for my task around Level 20. I will be watching your progress closely.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, waving the avatar farewell. ¡°If we catch any more avatars, I¡¯ll let you know.¡±

    She smirked as she faded into the dark. The shadow faded away and a faint chuckle echoed through the room after it was gone.

    Xim blew out a long breath. ¡°Glad that¡¯s done,¡± she said.

    ¡°Is it?¡± asked Varrin, staring at the entrance to the obelisk chamber.

    I followed his gaze to find Buster, still shriveled up with a large globe of blood and flesh in front of him. His massive sword had melted up into the gore, forming a series of blocky runes that hurt to look at.

    ¡°Shit, I forgot about that guy,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hysteria said he was summoning a blood god, right?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Something like that.¡± I sighed and nodded at the desiccated Hyrachon. ¡°Were you waiting for Avarice to leave?¡±

    Buster blinked and one of his eyelids crumbled away. It was sucked into the bloody mass.

    ¡°I¡­. am¡­ unworthy,¡± he said, then raised a hand toward Fluffy, who still cowered against the wall. The Yeti squeaked and began to slide toward Buster, clawing at the ground to try and fight the pull. It didn¡¯t help.

    ¡°Yeah, you said that.¡± I glanced at Etja and pointed at the blocky runes. ¡°Is that Celestial? What does it say?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s a prayer,¡± she said. ¡°¡®Chalgoth, Father of my Blood, Master of my Steel, strip from us our strengths and cast aside our weakness. Accept our flesh for instruction, so that my eternal soul may rest within your forge and understand what potential it has wasted.¡±

    Varrin walked over and placed his boot on the Yeti¡¯s chest, but she kept slipping inexorably closer to the orb.

    ¡°Is it safe to kill him?¡± I asked. ¡°Or will his spell blow up?¡±

    ¡°Why would it blow up?¡±

    ¡°It has a ridiculously long activation time. There¡¯s gotta be some kind of protection so he can finish casting. Otherwise, it would just be stupid.¡±

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Etja. My new Lord of Spells offered no further counsel on the matter.

    ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to risk it,¡± I said, pulling out Somncres.

    I hurled it at Buster, copying it into five Void Hammers. The Hyrachon lifted their arms, and four more arms formed out of the orb of gore to join them. Each pair of arms matched one of the Wastelanders that had been mixed into the amalgam of death. Five hands caught my hammers. I tried to unsummon Somncres, but the Hyrachon prevented it somehow. The Fleeting copies didn¡¯t disappear either; they were held in place by the hands.

    Varrin rushed in, swinging Kazandak. The Hyrachon halted the big guy¡¯s blade with the sixth arm. Etja launched a death beam, and the orb expanded into dome, covering the Hyrachon¡¯s front and freezing the spell in place. Xim called down Judgment, but the fiery pillar parted over the Hyrachon and the flames went still like they were frozen in time.

    Buster trembled as he defended against the attacks, and a smile crept onto his face.

    ¡°Almost,¡± he said. Fluffy was three feet away. ¡°All that I behold has become Chalgoth¡¯s domain. He will show us what we could have been, and you shall serve as demonstration!¡±

    There was a light splash and a series of soft clicks. Several puffs of stone dust scattered off the walls, and six arrows appeared in Buster¡¯s body.

    Three went down the back of his skull, piercing his brain and severing his spine, while three more angled in through his ribs, cutting through his heart and both lungs.

    Buster went stiff and let out a soft, wheezing breath.

    A pulse of mana caused necrotic veins to burst out from the arrows and zip through Buster''s flesh. Another pulse and the veins multiplied, then broke open, pouring out rotten ichor that was sucked into the orb. The orb swirled and blackened. The blocky runes began to corrode.

    Buster tipped forward like a falling tree. As he fell, all of our attacks were released. Hammers pulped the body, Kazandak sliced it open, Etja¡¯s beam split it down the middle and turned a swath of the Hyrachon to dust, and what remained was consumed by crimson flame.

    The orb was caught in the fire, and splashed down on top of the ruined remains, splattering Fluffy with a gallon of ignited gross. The Yeti rolled away from the mess, yelping and slapping at her body to try and extinguish herself.

    Xim must have taken pity on the Yeti because she waved a hand and dismissed the fire working its way through the little woman¡¯s fur. She took several deep breaths, tried to climb to her feet, fell back over, and then settled on sitting up to look between us with wild eyes.

    I looked down the dark hallway, and all at once Nuralie appeared from the shadows, water dripping from her leathers. She looked down at the pile of burning flesh and nodded.

    ¡°I guess you did not behold me,¡± she said. Pause. ¡°Idiot.¡±

 215 - God Wranglin

    All of us were experienced enough to wait for the kill notification. Predictably, we didn¡¯t get one.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be honest,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not sure how to double-tap a puddle of burning goo.¡±

    ¡°More fire,¡± Nuralie offered. ¡°I have some acid, as well.¡±

    ¡°I can keep using Disintegrate,¡± said Etja. ¡°And you can send it to the void?¡±

    I decided that plan was as good as any and threw an experimental hammer at the pile of meat. An orb of blood snapped out from the gore and surrounded the hammer, stopping it in its tracks. I immediately banished and resummoned Somncres, happy to see I could extract it this time. The minor victory was spoiled when I realized that I was also trapped inside a bubble of blood, along with everyone else in the party.

    Sharp tendrils lanced out from the orb¡¯s edges, trying to dig their way past my armor and through my skin. The blood seared my flesh where it made contact, but the damage was trivial. The real hazard of the bubble was its debuffs.

    You are Immobilized!

    Bleeding negated by immunity!

    I recognized the skill from our earlier fight with Buster, and knew that the effect needed to be cancelled as soon as possible. The spikes buried themselves into the others and began extracting thick lines of blood from Xim, Varrin, and Nuralie. Fortunately, Etja shared my exemption from exsanguination, given that she didn¡¯t have blood at all.

    The blood formed into slithering ropes and darted across the room to the burning viscera, where a misshapen head was rising up from the gore. Strands of stringy flesh whipped out to tangle themselves around Fluffy¡¯s limbs, even as the Yeti was trapped in her own bubble. The Yeti¡¯s fists glowed as she pounded at the bindings.

    I looked at the mess and shot it an identify.

    Malformed Icon of Instruction: Constructed Aberration, Grade 30

    I wondered what Grade the entity would have started out at if it had been well-formed, rather than denied its final victim and pumped full of liquid death, compliments of Nuralie. I put the thought out of my mind and worked on a solution instead.

    Nuralie was the first to act. The Delve was still dark, and the Geulon used Shadow Walk to teleport outside of her bubble. Her wounds continued to leak, and the blood continued to flow toward the Icon, but she was able to move and act. Her hands blurred as she pulled a dozen arrows from her inventory and fired them as a single batch over the Icon¡¯s head. The arrows pulled a hard turn back toward the ground and launched down at the Icon, forming a ring around it. As soon as the arrows were released, Nuralie swallowed a potion and stepped back to disappear into the dark.

    Varrin let out a fierce shout and his helmet began to glow with burning eyes. His body became ethereal and he shot forward, disappearing from sight completely the moment he passed through the bubble. He appeared behind the still-forming Icon and cut down with his blade, wreathed in Spiritual energy.

    The Icon¡¯s body let the blade pass through it, cleaving it in half, only for the Icon to reform immediately after.

    Etja exploded with a wave of mana, washing the bubbles away with Nullify. She combined it with Repulsion, boiling the outer layer of the Icon¡¯s liquid body with Holy damage and blessing the ground to grant us Celerity.

    I used Shortcut to appear directly in front of the Icon, flanking it with Varrin. It was difficult to tell if any of our attacks had hurt it, and the blood it siphoned quickly went to reform any mass it had lost. Its emerging body was twisted and distorted, like it was trying to imitate a person, but had only ever seen them through a series of increasingly warped funhouse mirrors. Nuralie¡¯s poisons still ran through the Icon, clouding its form with dark-green necrosis, but the entity didn¡¯t seem to suffer for it.

    ¡°Immune to Physical!¡± shouted Varrin, sounding like the factoid was about to drive him to commit murder, which it was.

    ¡°Resistant to everything else,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Its health is only going up.¡± Her voice echoed around the chamber when she spoke, making it impossible to tell where she was.

    So, the Icon¡¯s body was difficult to destroy. I took Etja¡¯s advice and started trying to send it somewhere it couldn¡¯t hurt us.

    I went back to basics and tossed Somncres to my offhand, holding out my palm and thrusting it deep into the Icon¡¯s body. If it was immune to Physical damage, there was no reason to waste time throwing hammers. I used Funnel to double the power behind Oblivion Orb and fired it off in the middle of the creature¡¯s chest.

    A bucket¡¯s worth of liquid disappeared, forming a vacuum in the Icon¡¯s torso that collapsed in on itself. The construct shuddered as its body became a few percent smaller. A pair of eyes condensed within its head and floated out to the creature¡¯s face, followed by lips, teeth, and tongue. It smiled at me, and the new organs drifted around lazily as it spoke.

    ¡°Arrrlllloooooooo Xoooorrrrr¡¯Dreeeelllll,¡± it said. The sound didn¡¯t come from its mouth, but pressed in from all around me. It made me wonder why it had bothered with a mouth at all, other than to grin at me like a fucking creep.

    ¡°That¡¯s me,¡± I said, casting another Oblivion Orb.

    The Icon frowned as its body shrank ever so slightly. Varrin was cutting into its back with Soul Strike again and again, careful to avoid my hand. Muscle and bone started to form within the Icon, but each slice of Varrin¡¯s blade delayed the structures from finalizing. Still, whatever the big guy was getting done didn¡¯t seem to bother the creature.

    Aside from the two of us, no one else was attacking the Icon. Nuralie was probably charging another Hunger Shot with the best ammo she had, while Etja built her spell combo for a mega-Disintegrate.

    Meanwhile, Xim had shed her armor and the bone trinket in her hair glowed fiercely. Her body elongated, arms extending to the ground even as her head rose nearly fifteen feet into the air. Both hands were eighty percent claw, each claw half as long as my body, and her face split to reveal a jagged row of uneven fangs. A pair of black, twisting horns sprouted from just ahead of her temples, and her eyes burned wide with a hint of madness. Waves of dark-red flame rolled along her back.

    I assumed that was what a Wraithclaw looked like, and hoped that our Cleric hadn¡¯t totally lost her shit somehow.

    Fluffy¡¯s bubble had been destroyed by Etja¡¯s Nullify, but the Yeti was still being pulled toward the Icon with the strands of muscle. The pugilist¡¯s body had taken on a metallic sheen again, which kept the groping flesh from digging in and pulling out more blood. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    Varrin swapped targets to sever the strands, and Fluffy ran the fuck away to the back of the chamber. That was optimal. I didn¡¯t want to see what happened once this thing absorbed its final sacrifice.

    The moment Varrin cut Fluffy free, a blazing portal opened over Varrin¡¯s head. A scorching beam launched down at the big guy. Varrin pivoted and brought his sword overhead, parrying the spell with his blade and sending it pounding into a wall. The beam fractured rock and the room trembled as a powerful pressure wave went through it, even as the stone was turned molten. The moment Varrin had dealt with the first beam, another portal opened. Each beam was a miniaturized version of the Giant¡¯s spell, called Lance of Dawn.

    ¡°Arrrrllllooooooo,¡± said the Icon. ¡°I jusssst want to talk, Arrrlooooooo.¡±

    ¡°Sub-el, take control of the Delve,¡± I said, casting another Orb.

    There were about a hundred questions I wanted to ask Sub-el about what it meant for them to temporarily take control, but without Grotto¡¯s psychic relay, my communication speed was limited by the spoken word. Hopefully, I¡¯d stay in charge of the place, but either way, the System wanted the interlopers dealt with as much as we did.

    Assuming temporary administrative control of Delve 1156-B.

    Restoring mana flows to Delve structures.

    Evaluating non-System entities.

    Primary decision-making authority assigned to Arlo Xor¡¯Drel.

    Friendly status assigned to members of Fortune¡¯s Folly.

    The intruder has been classified as Vampiric. The use of flesh-and-blood Delve resources is not advised. You have Core-designed golems in your inventory. Would you like me to take command and deploy them?

    ¡°Do it!¡± I said.

    Optimizing golem loadout based on available assets.

    My inventory screen opened and closed so fast it was barely a flicker. Two of Grotto¡¯s Etja-clone golems appeared, decked head to toe in the equipment of fallen Delvers. They each held a weapon with the distinctive dark ornamentation of the King¡¯s Guard, one with a spiked mace, and the other with a battle staff.

    They were Grade 20.

    Space twisted around the staff-wielding golem and it shot across the room, leaving a cylindrical hole in the Icon as it passed. The second charged in and struck the Icon with its mace, and I watched as small whirlpools tore out mana from the Icon and sucked it into the weapon¡¯s spikes. Of the two attacks, the Icon only paid attention to the second.

    A circle of runes appeared beneath the mace-wielding golem¡¯s feet and it fell to the ground like its strings had been cut.

    ¡°Why talk?¡± I asked. ¡°Is that part of the instruction you¡¯re supposed to be handing out?¡±

    I knocked out another two Oblivion Orbs while engaging the Icon in banter. Its floaty eyes looked down at the arm embedded in its chest, and I felt my hair rise as static filled the air. I tried to extract my limb, but the Icon seized my wrist, keeping it embedded.

    Lightning poured through the Icon¡¯s body and hit me like I¡¯d grabbed an exposed powerline. My muscles and teeth clenched, my entire body locking up as the electricity completely paralyzed me. It continued to surge, keeping me from pulling away. I fought to try and cast Shortcut, but my consciousness stuttered, keeping me from finishing the spell.

    ¡°Felgar was one of my favorites on this plane,¡± said the Icon. A golden spear formed in the Icon¡¯s hand and it launched itself at Varrin, throwing the man off balance as he tried to parry another sun-beam. The spell drove Varrin into the ground, spreading more cracks through the inventory slots. The plants within wriggled harder.

    ¡°His workings were interrupted, though,¡± the Icon continued. Despite my fluttering consciousness, I could understand its words with perfect clarity. ¡°His soul will see the forge without the instruction he sought, but it was enough power to let me take a peek at those my sister has taken a liking to.¡±

    The lightning stopped, and I teleported back before the Icon could get off another spell. My health had once again regenerated back to full while Hysteria mind-fucked us, and the lightning had taken me down to half. I was really rubber-banding today.

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia has a good eye.¡± The icon chuckled as its own eyes drifted wide, and its body exploded into a fibrous net of tissue.

    It connected itself to the walls and ceiling, looking like a giant spider had spun a web from something¡¯s cardiovascular system. Arrows shot out from the ring Nuralie had fired into the ground. At nearly the same moment, six more arrows fired from the dark, barely clipping a few strands as the tissue twisted out of the way, and burying the shafts deep into the walls.

    The strands vibrated and continued to produce speech. ¡°I¡¯m jealous. Why follow the path of the Seven Organs? The path of Blood and Steel suits your violence better.¡±

    A thousand tiny marbles of deadly mana formed along the strands like morning dew, and the Icon tried to collapse back into its humanoid form. Before it could, the marbles detonated, taking a huge chunk of the Icon¡¯s mass and reducing it to dust. The dust swirled in the air and flowed into Etja¡¯s outstretched hand.

    The Icon had reformed on the ceiling, standing upside down and a good eighteen inches shorter than it had been before. Xim leaped up, easily reaching the forty-foot ceiling with her massive Wraithclaw body. The Icon tried to catch the cleric in a blood bubble, but she tore it apart mid-air with one swipe of her claws. It didn¡¯t even slow her down.

    The Icon stepped aside, avoiding Xim¡¯s landing. She dug into the ceiling with her claws and crawled across it like a fucking poltergeist, giving chase to the fleeing Icon. Her throat bulged and the flames on her back disappeared. She unhinged her jaw and a massive gout of unholy fire blasted out at the Icon.

    The Abomination frowned slightly and the ceiling beneath its feet glowed with Consecration. The outer layer of its bloody form hardened as the fire engulfed it.

    Xim¡¯s head snapped back as a golden spear skewered through the flames and jammed itself down her throat. The cleric¡¯s breath died and she let out a gurgling snarl, reaching forward to pull the weapon free. Her body burned golden as she healed the damage, when a burning portal opened at her belly. A lance of heat blasted her from the ceiling, crushing her into the ground until her form was lost in the blinding beam. I hit the beam with a Dispel, keeping it from persisting.

    The Icon did another quick conversion from exposed nervous system to man-shaped, appearing beside the Yeti. The Icon now only had a foot on the little pugilist. Two holes appeared in its body to let arrows sail through it, and a glob of blood floated away from it to intercept Etja¡¯s next death beam.

    ¡°You can follow both paths if you want,¡± said the Icon, strands reaching for the Yeti.

    I quickly checked to see if Explosion! was back up. The eighteen-second charge had resulted in a 36-minute cooldown. My Physical Magic skill dropped that to 27 minutes and change. The spell was good to go, and I eyed a spot right between the Icon and the Yeti.

    I snapped my fingers and the air detonated, releasing a shockwave that sent dust and debris scattering for more than forty feet in all directions. Fluffy was sent tumbling away from the Icon, while the god-infested construct staggered back, tendrils latching onto the wall behind it to hold itself steady.

    ¡°My followers are weak,¡± the Icon spat. ¡°I want you. I want all of you.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t keep this up!¡± shouted Varrin. He¡¯d created a Spiritual clone of himself to deal with the spear while he parried spells. The man was hemorrhaging stamina. Xim struggled onto all fours, her vaporized skin and muscle having trouble knitting themselves together. Another rune circle appeared beneath Etja, dragging her from the air and interrupting her next spell. Nuralie was absent, hopefully prepping something good.

    ¡°Sub-el, is the Dominion Ivy plant considered a Delve resource?¡± I asked.

    All Dominion Ivy Plants of the Endless within Delve 1156-B are considered Delve resources.

    All of them? How many were there? Was Sub-el counting the immature ones?

    It wasn¡¯t time for those types of questions.

    ¡°Will they attack us?¡±

    Delve resources are managed so that they will not harm any entity marked as friendly, but the Dominion Ivy plants were raised in an atypical manner.

    Estimated chance of hostility: Low Moderate.

    ¡°Fuck it. They know where the gravy comes from.¡±

    I said it with confidence, because I really wanted it to be true.

    I activated my second use of Therianthropy and jumped up, caught myself in the air with my wings, and then started unassigning inventory slots.

 216 - Intentional Nation Building

    I undid a swath of slots at the Icon¡¯s feet. The moment the floor was released, it crumbled away, reduced to tiny chunks like something had been taking a sledgehammer to it every day for a month. As the floor collapsed to reveal the plant beneath, the Icon used its fleshy tendrils to crawl away up the wall.

    The Dominion Ivy was a pulsating hive of endless thorn-covered vines. Their leaves danced and shivered. Melon-sized buds blossomed into colorful blooms that rotated as though they were looking around the room. The vines extended into eternity, stretching into an endlessly distant terminus that twisted as I looked towards it, always keeping its end just out of sight.

    The vines rushed up at the Icon, their movement slow by Delver standards but much faster than any plant had a right to be. Their snaking climbers quested for the bloody construct, more energetic than they¡¯d been when presented with the Littan Delvers.

    The Icon, understandably, tried to move away.

    The wall above the Icon exploded into sparkling gaseous clouds as Nuralie fired a trio of exploding arrows. The gas contained one of her rare Spiritual toxins. The Icon hadn¡¯t seemed to suffer much under our alchemist¡¯s typical brews, but it tried to give this one a wide berth as it clambered across the wall. It used its hundreds of threads like a gruesome millipede to dart left around the expanding cloud, but one of its own scorching lances slammed into the wall, releasing a wave of force that sent it skittering back.

    Varrin had continued to contest both the golden spear and the constant barrage of burning spells, overwhelmed by the combo when faced to deal with it alone. I glanced over at the big guy, seeing that there were now three versions of the swordsman working to manage the onslaught.

    One was the original Varrin, another was a perfect Spiritual copy, and the third was the odd pseudo-relative-looking version we¡¯d seen when dealing with the Icon of the Psychopomp.

    Icons really brought out Varrin¡¯s best, I reckoned.

    As Varrin¡¯s copy managed the spear, Varrin prime parried another beam that rained down on him, cutting the attack ninety degrees toward his imperfect doppelganger. The ancestral spirit parried the beam again, finishing the redirect and sending it just left of the Icon, causing it to move further back from the detonations and melting stone.

    The Icon was in a tough position. If it stopped slinging spells at Varrin, the big guy would have three bodies to go after it with. If it didn¡¯t stop hammering out spells, Varrin and his soul clones would keep hitting return to sender. Until he ran out of stamina, at least.

    The malformed construct didn¡¯t have any time to work that problem out, because it had plenty more to deal with.

    A field of shimmering mana mines formed in the air to the Icon¡¯s right, expanding out every second as Etja dumped power into her mana shape. The Icon launched another wave of blood bubbles, but I seized the spell and used Reverse Card to trap the Icon.

    The remaining golem warped itself onto the Icon, using its puncturing spell to cut through its tendrils.

    The Icon smiled and its eyes swam through its head to gaze at me. It blasted itself back out into webbing, hurling the golem aside and shooting towards me. I snapped out an Explosion! to punish the air between us. The pressure wave sent the tendrils flailing back, colliding with every hazard the group had created. Its body was corrupted with spiritual toxins, reduced to inert dust as the mines exploded, and dragged through the molten rock Varrin¡¯s spell parries had created.

    Still, the webbing shot towards the ceiling, battered and abused by the traps, but escaping from the vines. As it reformed above us, the Icon was greeted by a smoldering horror of claws and teeth that had landed just before it. Xim snatched the diminutive Icon up in her massive hands and hurled it back down, sending it through the gas and mines once again, and into the eager waiting vines of the Dominion Ivy.

    The vines wrapped the Icon up. As its many thorns sliced into the construct, mana flowed out and into the Ivy plant. It was a real reverse-vampire situation. Vampire on mana-vampire action.

    The bloodsucker was getting its mana sucked, and it really did not like it.

    The Icon tried to thread through the vines in its web form, but they were too numerous. There was nowhere for it to go. The Icon turned all its skills onto the plant, burning it to ash with its beams, cutting through swaths of vines with its spear, freezing yet more in place with its bubbles, but it didn¡¯t matter. The vines kept coming faster than the Icon could destroy them. And though it took some time, the Dominion Ivy eventually sucked the fucker dry.

    Most of the floor was still safe, and as the Icon was consumed, the rest of the party gathered on the opposite end of the obelisk chamber. I stood out ahead of them, trying to gauge how much trouble we were in if the plant decided to convert this from a ¡°feed me, Arlo,¡± situation into a ¡°feed me Arlo¡± kind of deal. The comma placement was quite important here.

    There was a lot of plant that could come through the floor, and while the Closet was big, it wasn¡¯t that big. Neither of my Checkpoints were open yet, so if the Ivy wanted to bite the hand that feeds, we¡¯d either need to slash and burn for several hours straight, or open the exit to the wastes and see what was on the other side. We could always Shortcut our way out if it was buried.

    I¡¯d have preferred not to do that, since I liked my Closet and didn¡¯t want to sign the deed over to a trans-dimensional plant. I doubted it would be easy to convince Yara to come back and seal the thing away again.

    So, I waited to see what would happen.

    Once the plant was done digesting the Icon, its vines rolled out through the breach in the inventory spaces. It moved slowly, searching and feeling out the boundaries of the space. I stood still and watched, waiting for the vines to reach me. The party had a host of spells ready if the plant decided it wanted a taste of the Arlo steak, so when it got near, I felt pretty confident I wasn¡¯t in any real danger.

    One of the vines rose up from the ground like a snake ready to strike, then nosed its way close to me. I held up a hand to the vine and it stopped. Then, tentatively, the vine moved closer and slithered across my palm. The thorns that covered it retracted into its flesh, and the many thousands of leaves around the room shifted and shuddered.

    The vine dropped away from my hand and kept poking around, ignoring me. As I stood, the wave of leafy tendrils parted around me while they moved out to the edges of the obelisk chamber.

    The party backed away, less enthusiastic about testing the boundaries of the Ivy¡¯s friend-or-food logic. When the vines found the hall leading away from the obelisk chamber, they stopped. The Dominion Ivy covered the walls, set up its many hanging vines and flowering buds, then settled itself and stopped expanding.

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°I guess it¡¯s just a regular boss monster.¡±

    ¡°I would not call that regular,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°I agree,¡± said Etja. ¡°It¡¯s much prettier than a regular Delve boss.¡± The mage floated into the room, weaving between the hanging vines, and took a chance at smelling one of the flowers. The bloom tracked her movement, but didn¡¯t try to snag her from the air.

    ¡°Is everyone comfortable with Arlo¡¯s new fighting style?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°My new style?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You know,¡± she said. ¡°Throwing gods and monsters at our enemies.¡±

    ¡°It is more an extension of his previous style,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Depending on how you categorize Shog and Grotto.¡±

    ¡°One of the first things we did as a party was throw Fortune at Orexis,¡± said Etja. ¡°I think it¡¯s part of who we are. As a group.¡±

    ¡°Are we counted among the monsters he is throwing?¡± asked Nuralie.

    We all studiously avoided staring at Xim.

    ¡°I¡¯m the party leader,¡± I said, putting my hands on my hips. ¡°Part of leading is delegation. If I¡¯m delegating the containment or destruction of an avatar or god, I¡¯m gonna delegate that task to something big enough to get the job done. You want to challenge your underlings to keep them sharp and engaged, but giving people jobs that are too big for them leads to demoralization. One must play to their people¡¯s strengths, and work around their weaknesses.¡±

    ¡°Underlings?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°If we¡¯re challenging Arlo¡¯s use of nouns,¡± said Xim, ¡°can we talk about Closetland?¡±

    ¡°What about it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s so bad.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Ah, well it was a spur of the moment name. How about, Closetlandia?¡±

    ¡°I like that better,¡± said Etja. ¡°But I¡¯m not in love with it.¡±

    ¡°Closetia?¡± I offered. ¡°Closetstan? Closetina? Closetica?¡±

    ¡°Why does it need to use the word ¡®closet¡¯?¡± asked Nuralie.

    I paused and considered. ¡°Pocketvania?¡±

    ¡°We should repair Grotto,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Naming the Pocket Republic can wait.¡±

    Everyone turned to stare at the big guy.

    ¡°What?¡± he asked.

    ¡°That one¡¯s not bad,¡± said Etja. Everyone mumbled their assent, and Varrin stood up a little straighter.

    ¡°You¡¯re right about Grotto, Varrin,¡± I said. ¡°Hey, Sub-el. What needs to happen to get Grotto all healed up?¡±

    ¡°What about the Closet Republic?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°No, that sounds like a clothing store,¡± said Etja.

    Please insert Core 1156 into the Delve obelisk to perform a diagnostic. Once we have mapped the damage, I can manually assist the obelisk¡¯s automated repair functions. If the Core can be repaired, I can complete the process within a few hours.

    I teleported myself and Nuralie to Grotto. The poor guy was still pinned to the wall. Together, we carefully removed the arrow and made sure none of the Core¡¯s components came loose. When we returned, Xim directed Etja in cutting away the now-dead c¡¯thon flesh using Disintegrate, revealing the runic orb beneath.

    The hole going through Grotto was clean, and Nuralie pointed out how the outer chassis hadn¡¯t bent or warped under the hit. Hopefully, the internal damage was similarly well-contained. Sub-el guided us on opening up the bottom of the obelisk and placing the Core within. Sub-el also assured us that the obelisk was in working order, despite the central gathering rod being exposed due to Hysteria¡¯s manipulations.

    A few tense minutes passed, but Sub-el let us know that Grotto would be fine after a three-hour repair session. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°Whaddya think Grotto would want it called?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Are we back on the country name?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°He would not want it to be a republic,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Voting rights sound antithetical to his personality.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more of a technocracy,¡± said Xim. ¡°Assuming power is being distributed via competency.¡± I raised a brow at the cleric, surprised by her civics knowledge. She pretended not to understand my confusion.

    ¡°There are two citizens,¡± said Varrin. ¡°They both hold power. Thus, the power is in the hands of the citizens. Republic.¡±

    ¡°As long as it¡¯s not another monarchy,¡± said Xim. ¡°No offense Varrin, but kings are always trouble.¡±

    ¡°The king has some exclusive executive authority,¡± said Varrin. ¡°But with the way the houses work, Hiward is closer to an aristocracy than a traditional monarchy.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s Eschendur?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It is a theocratic meritocracy,¡± Nuralie answered. ¡°Ruled by a triumvirate.¡±

    ¡°Are we discussing names or potential forms of government?¡± I asked. ¡°Because the name doesn¡¯t have to relate. Back on Earth, a lot of country names straight-up lied about their form of government.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps you should avoid importing that practice,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°If a republic just means that the people hold power,¡± said Xim, ¡°then the tribe is a republic. People literally agree on what the world is like.¡±

    ¡°Republics involved representatives,¡± said Varrin. ¡°What you¡¯re describing is a pure democracy.¡±

    ¡°What about your parents?¡± asked Etja, looking at Xim. ¡°Aren¡¯t they the chiefs?¡±

    ¡°Democracies still need administrators,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim, ¡°If everyone decided mom and dad were ass at their jobs, then they wouldn¡¯t be in charge anymore.¡±

    ¡°The Third Layer really brings a whole new meaning to the word ¡®freedom¡¯,¡± I mused. ¡°Anyway, I won¡¯t beat around the bush. To start, it¡¯ll be a constitutional oligarchy where a ruling council holds all the power. For now, the oligarchs will be everyone who¡¯s a citizen, since that¡¯ll just be us, assuming you guys want citizenship.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Why are you trying to start a nation?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°I thought this was an intellectual exercise.¡±

    I waved at our surroundings, causing one of the hanging vines to start caressing my hand. I gently extracted myself as I answered Varrin¡¯s question. ¡°The Closet isn¡¯t a secret anymore. It will continue to expand, giving me a lot of theoretical land to work with, and with the way my Checkpoints work it can ¡®border¡¯ any nation in the world. With the Reality Anchor we got, a permanent portal can be established wherever we want, making it accessible for travel and trade. Unless I want to sign the place over to the rule of a specific nation, it needs to be its own legal entity, if only to formalize a set of laws and encourage other nations to stay out of my business.

    ¡°Beyond that? It lets us act under our own authority. It frees us to form relationships with other world powers without historical baggage. We can be a neutral agent that disseminates information to the world on an equal basis, especially when it comes to the avatars.¡±

    ¡°What about resources?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°The Closet is mostly empty.¡±

    ¡°Avarice will help us take care of that.¡±

    ¡°Is it part of our reward?¡± asked Etja. ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°Earth, fire, wind, water, and heart!¡± I declared.

    ¡°Essences?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Shiploads,¡± I said. ¡°Very basic ones, though. Grotto and I have discussed a weave that¡¯ll convert mana into the compounds we¡¯d need to make this place liveable at scale, but it would take a lot of upfront investment.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the heart essence do?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°That one was a lie,¡± I said.

    ¡°Aw.¡±

    ¡°Our party still has a strong bias toward the Hiwardian establishment,¡± said Varrin. He was blind to the intellectual allure of natural resource management. ¡°Hiward, Eschendur, and the Xor¡¯Drels are close allies. We would not be perceived as ¡®neutral¡¯ by Litta, Ayama, Mittak, or Timagrin, and certainly not Davah.¡±

    ¡°Then we make friends and see if we can find some good people to round out our representation,¡± I said. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve been thinking about it for literally a day, and it¡¯s been a busy day. Before we get into the weeds on this, I need a shower, and my house got blown up, which is where I kept most of my showers. We also need to get the Eschens back home and speaking of, where are they?¡±

    ¡°The Zenithar and the delegation are in the Atrocidile¡¯s cave, along with Riona,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It has an underwater cavern where it built a nest.¡±

    ¡°Sounds stinky,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°It is not pleasant.¡±

    ¡°Is that safe?¡± asked Xim. ¡°Or is the Atrocidile dead?¡±

    ¡°It is resting,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The Yeti nearly killed it, but it escaped somehow.¡±

    ¡°Nottagator has a solid escape ability,¡± I said. ¡°He turns into a ghost!¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°What are we doing about her?¡± She nodded toward the Yeti.

    Fluffy was being held down by a mess of vines, though her metallic skin and fur ability was keeping the thorns from harming her. She was listening to our conversation, wide-eyed and silent. She may have been hoping we would forget about her.

    ¡°I give up!¡± she squeaked. ¡°I surrender!¡±

    ¡°How magnanimous of you,¡± said Varrin, hand on the hilt of Kazandak.

    ¡°Ah geez,¡± I said. ¡°Keeping her alive violates my ¡®returning villain¡¯ rule, but also we just saved her from that blood god thing.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t trying to save her,¡± said Xim. ¡°I was just playing keep away.¡±

    ¡°I was being generous with my characterization,¡± I said, then blew out a long breath. ¡°Thoughts? Opinions?¡±

    ¡°If you are planning to start a nation, she should be judged under your laws,¡± said Varrin. ¡°In Hiward, she would be executed for her part in kidnapping the king.¡±

    ¡°Eschendur would likely do the same,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°She¡¯d get banished from the tribe,¡± said Xim. ¡°Sort of the same as a death sentence, depending on who it is.¡±

    ¡°We can prove she tried to kill one or all of us,¡± I said. ¡°At the very least, she committed multiple felony-level assaults, and throughout the course of her crimes multiple people died. Where I¡¯m from, the death sentence was pretty rare. Something like this would be, eh, 15 years to life in prison.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to build a prison?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on it,¡± I said. ¡°Also, she¡¯s a foreigner, so that complicates things. Sorry, what was your name again?¡±

    ¡°Joma,¡± she said.

    ¡°Joma, are you a citizen of any nation, or did you give all that up to become a Wastelands mercenary?¡±

    Joma shook her head to dislodge a vine that had blocked her view. She managed to peek an eye through, but the vine squeezed her head more tightly in return. ¡°I¡­ would be recognized by Mittak.¡±

    ¡°How would the powers-that-be in Mittak react to you being dropped on their doorstep?¡± The furry woman looked uncomfortable at that idea. ¡°Not well, huh? Have some open warrants in Mittak?¡± She didn¡¯t reply, so I shrugged. ¡°Alright. Closetland sentences you to twenty years hard labor for crimes perpetrated within its borders. Would you prefer to carry out your sentence, or petition to be released into the care of the Mittan authorities?¡±

    She shifted within the vines.

    ¡°What kind of hard labor?¡±

    ¡°In here? Construction. Animal husbandry. Maybe some butlering. Do you have any housekeeping experience?¡±

    ¡°Er¡­¡±

    I turned to Varrin and placed a hand on his pauldron. ¡°Of course, if Hiward would like to talk about extradition, that can be arranged.¡± I looked at Nuralie. ¡°Eschendur as well.¡±

    ¡°You have no way of containing her,¡± said Varrin. ¡°And she knows too much to turn her over to someone else.¡±

    ¡°I have a whole Delve full of monsters and no way to leave it without some very specific abilities, which I haven¡¯t seen her use,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll look at her status to determine how much of a flight risk she is. Even if she escapes, I¡¯ll issue a notice and put out a bounty. If she tells people that a bearded man in a feather boa is secretly in control of a Delve, who¡¯d believe her? That¡¯d be like telling them that I can summon gods or some shit. It¡¯s silly.¡± I gave Joma a pointed stare. ¡°After all, if you knew a man who could summon gods, you¡¯d be a real dummy to get on their bad side. More than you already have, that is.¡±

    Joma stiffened. ¡°I¡¯m great at working with my hands,¡± she said, shakily. ¡°I have Woodworking at Level 43!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s nice.¡±

    Your party has slain Malformed Icon of Instruction: Constructed Aberration, Grade 30!

    You gain +25 System Rep!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to Level 36!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to Level 25!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to 25!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to 24!

    Your Dungeoneering skill has increased to Level 27!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased to Level 16!

    ¡°Hey, neat,¡± I said. I stretched my back and touched my toes, then ran my fingers through my beard a few times. ¡°Alright. Who¡¯s ready to go meet the Littan empress in sixteen hours?¡±

    End of Volume 3

 MTB3 - Epilogue

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [ERROR: REDACTED]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Two months after the founding of Closetland

    *****

    Brae¡¯ach seethed as he grasped the table, and the air shuddered around him. Lately, it was always crowded around Brae¡¯ach; there was always some avatar, some United, some follower that needed his attention. Jakom feared it would soon be too much for him to bear.

    ¡°You are certain of this?¡± asked Brae¡¯ach. The walking void before him nodded.

    ¡°Utterly,¡± said Limbo.

    At the center of the table was a dimly glowing teal prism which featured faint lines of mana threading across a map of Arzia. Some of them connected to the parchment, where celestial letters floated off the page: ¡°Delve 2883,¡± ¡°Delve M82,¡± ¡°Labyrinth 081.¡± There were several thicker mana threads, most ending in question marks, but one had a strange label: ¡°Raid 0.¡±

    ¡°I know the truth of Hysteria¡¯s words, despite their lies and hyperbole,¡± said Limbo. ¡°I maintain a soul tether to everyone I¡¯ve met, allowing me to see and hear everything they do.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Almost everyone,¡± Limbo continued. ¡°I thank Unity for allowing me to interact with you without such a handicap.¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s capture was some time ago, then,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°You are only now deeming it prudent to mention?¡±

    ¡°The entity Hysteria encountered had an unusual effect on my soul,¡± said Limbo. ¡°The tether could only be partially reincorporated. As you suggested in your conversation with the histrionic one, I passed along their testimony to an Arbiter. All of Arbiter gathered to debate it, and I have recently been informed that Hysteria¡¯s account is Verified, ignoring their embellishments.¡±

    The massive Davahn sighed as a breeze blew through the room. ¡°I had heard the generations were getting faster, but such feats in so short a time exceed even the wildest projections. I would question whether some are even possible.¡±

    ¡°And yet here we are,¡± said Limbo. ¡°You should recalibrate what you consider to be possible.¡±

    As much as Jakom loathed the obscured one¡¯s presence, Limbo was supremely focused, minced no words, and suffered no distractions. Jakom could not think of any other avatar that was so driven. Brae¡¯ach emitted a rapid, soft chittering as his lowest mandibles clacked back and forth in consternation.

    ¡°They¡¯ll be ready for the Raid within a few years,¡± said the titan. Limbo squinted, sort of. He was difficult to read at the best of times.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°That means we¡¯ll achieve our goals earlier than expected,¡± said the darkness.

    ¡°No, it means that we¡¯ll have to accelerate our time table by an order of magnitude in order to be prepared when they complete it,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°Your ¡®kin¡¯ are too used to running amok as soon as the Transcendence finishes, wafting in your own flatulence before the divine sphere closes and you saunter back to hibernate in your caves. If we are to succeed, we must complete our tasks before the Transcendence or else it was all for naught. You cannot merely wait out the Delvers this time.¡±

    ¡°I will not sit for another age in this wretched form,¡± said Limbo. ¡°If time is of the essence, your ¡®preparations¡¯ are taking too long. You must abandon such foolishness.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach stood.

    ¡°And what do you know of these ¡®preparations?¡¯¡± the man asked.

    ¡°I know you spend days at a time praying. You travel for hundreds of miles in strategically irrelevant locations. You spend months erecting shrines of exotic but mundane materials. I know you are letting your spiritual practices get in the way of expediency, and now I know we are on a much shorter time table than before.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach glared at him. Jakom could feel a swell of emotion rising from the ground, like a flaming want, a burning of need.

    ¡°You know

    NOTHING.

    The earth beneath them split asunder, sending fragments of stone blasting across the room. Jakom raised his arms reflexively to shield himself, but the rocks diverted away from him and struck the wall behind. A frightening red glow rose from the newly formed crevice, and thousands of long, sinewy hands began crawling out of it, grasping at the air but finding no purchase.

    Consumed by your own malice,

    You grab the dirt and eat,

    Fistfulls of mud and worms

    And see it as a treat.

    A banquet lays before you,

    An invitation on the seat,

    But you crawl along the floor

    Bereft and incomplete.

    You were meant for more,

    But balked and learned defeat,

    So hold your writhing tongue

    And follow in my feet.

    Limbo betrayed little visible expression, as always, but Jakom could feel his presence being balled up and wrapped in the Word, so that the despair overflowing from the creature no longer suffocated Jakom. The Word was rarely used, especially with avatars, who were as likely to flee or fight as follow when hearing it. Jakom could sense that the Word had an unusual effect on them, even beyond the effects it had on mortals.

    ¡°Duly noted,¡± said Limbo. ¡°I acknowledge the limits of my perspective.¡±

    The grasping hands clawed more fiercely as an unseen force dragged them back into the ravine. The ground quaked and closed once again, without so much as a crack to mark the abyss that had so recently been opened.

    ¡°In that case,¡± Limbo continued, ¡°you cannot allow them to complete the Raid. Not yet, anyway.¡±

    ¡°That is a difficult proposition,¡± said Brae¡¯ach. ¡°We cannot simply eliminate any Delver who would be a threat. We need them to keep advancing the System, and only the best of them can achieve that. But I think we can slow them down considerably. If these children die as a result, then they were not strong enough to matter in the first place.¡±

    Brae¡¯ach looked to the map and his eyes traced a few choice threads.

    ¡°They will need Labyrinths to keep their current pace, and such places are rife with valuable materials we need. Let us see how well they can secure those obelisks against the United.¡±

 217 - Cognitive Biases

    I was compromised.

    I didn¡¯t know how it happened. I didn¡¯t know what kind of danger I posed. All I knew was that my mind couldn¡¯t be trusted.

    And it wasn¡¯t just me. It was almost everyone in the party.

    Three hours after handing Hysteria off to Avarice, I found a wealth of new essences in my inventory, along with a note. The essences were our reward for helping with the dramatic avatar¡¯s capture. Fertile Soil essence, Purified Freshwater essence, Gentle Sunlight essence, and many more highly specific and low-cost essences. What they lacked in individual value was made up for with variety and quantity.

    There were thousands, many of which would be used by Grotto to create mana-converters that produced their final products. Others would be used to sow new essence farms, although that would require establishing individualized environments within the Closet. Buying them in such bulk off the market would have been impossible, and hunting down such a diverse collection would have taken years. The reward wasn¡¯t rare or unique, but it was exceptionally useful, which I thought was better.

    We could now convert the Closet into a liveable¨Cand comfortable¨Cenvironment, with the capacity to continue supplying its endless expansion with all the natural resources it needed to become a valuable landmass. Grotto and I were ablaze with exciting ideas on how to use it all.

    However, the buzz-killing letter that accompanied the delivery was my least-favorite flavor of cryptic bullshit. The kind that pointed out a dangerous problem in my life, while also having a good reason for not providing me with enough detail to do anything about it.

    Master Xor¡¯Drel,

    You are a danger to yourself and others.

    This is not a critique of your attitude, lifestyle, or anything so dull and imprecise. I am not disposed to issuing moral judgments. Such a practice would be deleterious to my work. I also do not care.

    You are a threat because you have been subjected to an outside influence that will affect your decision-making for the foreseeable future.

    I cannot tell you how this has happened in a way that you will understand. The knowledge will slide off your mind like a book from a tilted shelf.

    This does not mean I cannot provide your allies with an explanation. Show the following to your familiar. I believe that he is untouched.

    The godspawn in your party, Etja, is also affected but will be immune to most of its harmful aspects. So long as your goals align, she will be useful to you.

    You will be skeptical of this counsel, and you will wonder about my motivations. You would be a fool not to, but the matter is simple.

    I am providing you with this warning because I was paid to deliver it. This also serves to protect my interests in your group, so I was amenable to performing the service.

    To be clear, none of the information you are being gifted originates from my client. Everything contained within is of my own making, informed by my invaluable expertise.

    I will not offer you a solution, as you would rightfully view it as a conflict of interest. This is a problem you will have to solve yourself.

    Do try to be cautious. I would hate for my investments to go to waste.

    ¨CAvarice

    The letter contained more, but it was imperceptible to me. The message was two pages long, but when I held it, it was a single sheet. The section intended for Grotto appeared to be missing, but he assured me it was there. We also had several discussions about the specifics of the problem.

    I had no recollection of those conversations. All I had was Grotto¡¯s assurance that they occurred.

    When I considered how I might have become compromised, I was convinced that we had no reason to believe what the letter said was true. I understood, intellectually, that this alone should have been enough to make me suspicious. There were very few things I was certain of in life. Something like this wouldn¡¯t make the list.

    I couldn¡¯t bring myself to care.

    It was only because I trusted in my party members that I agreed to take precautions. Xim, Nuralie, and Varrin also thought it was pointless to concern ourselves with it, but Etja and Grotto argued against us. Our protocols for mental influence granted the party member with the highest resistance final authority on how we handled it.

    Xim and I were best-equipped against Fear, and so long as I wasn¡¯t Feared, the rest of the party was immune as well. I was immune to Paranoia and Xim was immune to Psychosis and Stupify. Varrin was immune to all mind-affecting abilities while Berserk, but he could only maintain that state while in combat with at least one genuine enemy. He had a good head for tactics and situational awareness while Berserk, but otherwise his critical thinking skills were less than stellar. It wasn¡¯t practical or sustainable.

    Nuralie was the weakest but had potions that gave her a boost. Grotto was a Delve Core, and invading his mind took specialized skills, though he wasn¡¯t immune by any measure.

    The party¡¯s highest Wisdom score lay with Etja. She was immune to Mesmerize, Distraction, and Psychosis. She had perfect recall, couldn¡¯t have her memories erased or modified, and could immediately recognize any false memories that had been implanted. We¡¯d seen first-hand that she could resist some aspects of Dominate, even when the source was Deific.

    Along with Grotto, she knew what had happened, though she could not read the missing parts of the letter. She talked it over in detail with my familiar. They had this lengthy chat right in front of the rest of us.

    As far as Xim, Varrin, and I knew, that conversation never happened.

    As a result, Etja had ultimate veto power over our decisions. All conversations with people outside the party ran through Etja for approval via Grotto¡¯s psychic relay. Our Speed and Intelligence made that possible while still appearing natural to whomever we were conversing with, but man, it was fucking annoying.

    As far as what we were going to do about the situation, we had a few options.

    <ol>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Sit on our hands and wait for Grotto to find a way to eliminate whatever was affecting our judgment.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Abandon our current priorities and immediately search for a solution as a group.</li>

    <li style="font-weight: 400">Carry on as normal, while being super duper careful.</li>

    </ol>

    In all scenarios, Etja was calling the shots.

    Nobody wanted us to sit around since continuing to advance might naturally present a skill or evolution that helped. Altering our behavior in response to an unknown influence that sought to alter our behavior seemed¨Cto put it simply¨Cdumb as shit.

    Thus, we continued onward with our plans, while Etja held supreme executive authority.

    It was unfortunate that our immediate task was to meet with the Littan empress and her highest-ranking general. Engaging in delicate political negotiations seemed like the sort of thing one would want to avoid while being brain-plowed by an uncomfortably large psychic member. Alas, it seemed to be our most logical option, so that¡¯s what happened.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    We¡¯d planned on Etja taking the lead here before we¡¯d received Avarice¡¯s letter, so having her speak for us wasn¡¯t a divergence from our original approach. This helped us feel more comfortable about moving forward. I should have probably been nervous about the whole situation, but one benefit of being forced not to care¨Cor even believe¨Cthat I was under the influence was that I could thoughtlessly ignore the matter.

    I just had to follow Etja¡¯s rules, which I hated for their inconvenience but understood to be a reasonable strategy.

    And so it was that I sat across from Empress Rona Littana and General Tyvus Thaddacleus Connatis, cursing my rational mind for every frustrating second of it.

    The table between us was set with tea and a variety of Littan breakfast foods. Some were familiar¨Cpastries and classic carb-rich snacks¨Cwhile others were more exotic on my palate.

    There were dried grains that dissolved on my tongue like savory cotton candy, artfully arranged piles of a semi-sweet fruit that sliced into figure-eights, with the texture of rare steak. My favorite was a slightly sweetened nugget set out in neat pyramids that had an extraordinarily high protein content for how tasty they were.

    I was on my third bowl, snacking away and trying to enjoy myself while Etja spoke. The tea paired well, and I noted that the empress also favored the nuggets. I found myself appreciating her taste in cuisine, then psychically asked Etja whether that was a reasonable thought. She politely requested that I stop running my food opinions by her unless they related to poisons or other hazards. I added it to my list of rules and tried to pay close attention to the conversation.

    ¡°May I speak candidly?¡± asked Empress Littana. It wasn¡¯t a request, so much as a statement about what she was going to do.

    ¡°We¡¯d be pleased if you would,¡± said Etja, giving the empress an honest smile.

    When we¡¯d first sat down, I noted that the empress and the general had souls of similar strength, and assumed the empress was another high-Charisma, high-Wisdom Delver like Etja. It seemed to be a necessity as a politician, both for being compelling and resisting the allure of others. Even absent any skills, Charisma could have a profound effect on the unprepared.

    However, I was confused when I noted that while the general was Level 34¨Call platinum¨Cthe empress did not have a Level when I inspected her. Taking a closer look at her soul, it didn¡¯t appear to be like a normal Delver¡¯s, despite my first impression. Either she had a powerful deception skill, or the strength of her soul came from another source, like Zenithar Zura¡¯s. While the empress¡¯ soul did have a divine flavor, it wasn¡¯t overwhelming like the Zenithar¡¯s. I couldn¡¯t quite place it.

    These observations, and many others, all went to Etja, of course.

    ¡°The misunderstanding between our groups was unfortunate,¡± said the empress. ¡°But as far as we are concerned, it is wholly in the past. However, you should understand that there will be some ill will harbored by a minority of our military personnel.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s perfectly understandable, Empress Littana,¡± said Etja. ¡°We all regret that the situation resulted in the loss of lives and genuinely feel sorrow for what transpired. We would extend our condolences, but I doubt the friends and relatives of those who perished would be consoled by our words.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s part of the risk they sign up for,¡± said General Connatis. His last name, like that of the empress, originated from the Imperial nation he called home. Connas was a central territory within the Littan empire; a conservative, religious nation and home to the main Temple of Yara. ¡°No one believes you to be at fault, nor do we believe our own actions merit a formal apology. Everything occurred during sanctioned military actions, and your group¨Cwhile composed of irregulars¨Cwas justified in actively pursuing your objective.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s your official position, I believe we are comfortable accepting that the Littan military was also justified in defending the locations it had secured,¡± said Etja.

    Nuralie wasn¡¯t happy with that opinion, but she accepted it as necessary to improve relations with the empire. We¡¯d been acting with the tacit approval of the Eschen government but had not been formally recognized as an Eschen asset. It made our activities while spearing through the Littan military to get to Deijin¡¯s Descent legally murky. Settling that ambiguity was important if we didn¡¯t want to be outlaws in the Empire.

    ¡°Excellent,¡± said the empress. ¡°I¡¯m happy that you¡¯re amenable to that understanding. Now, let¡¯s move on to the reason we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°Please do,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Where to begin?¡± The empress tapped her chin. She was striking to look at, her fur lustrous, her features precise and symmetrical. Her whiskers glinted like they¡¯d been conditioned and polished. I expected she would be considered exceptionally attractive by other Littans. ¡°Our Delvers are all required to participate as part of the military,¡± she said. ¡°Our approach is rigorous, structured, and based on a century of gathered data and proven strategy. We have a robust industry supporting our Delvers, and each one has the full weight of the Littan Empire behind them to assure their growth and realize their potential.¡±

    ¡°And yet, you did what they couldn¡¯t,¡± said the general.

    Thaddacleus Connatis had a more down-to-earth appearance. His uniform was neat and well-kept, but simple. The outfit''s core was snug around his center, but loose and flowy in the shoulders, sleeves, and legs. It was like a hybrid between a turn-of-the-century military officer¡¯s uniform and a martial artist¡¯s robe. The man was also slightly smaller than the average male Littan soldier I¡¯d encountered. Despite his low-key and slightly underwhelming appearance, the general was easily the most powerful Littan fighter I¡¯d met.

    If the man decided we needed to be dead, I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d stand a chance. His platinum levels were filled with the violet striations of Special Delves.

    From what Varrin had told me, running wouldn¡¯t be an option either.

    ¡°Despite our best efforts, our lands are not suited to the wide-scale production of magical materials,¡± said the empress. ¡°We have no significant deposits of Madrin or dark iron. Our access to rarer metals and alloys is even more restricted. Our climate and soil¨Cwhile exceptional for the cultivation of mundane crops¨Cdoes not have the proper composition to grow most common alchemical ingredients.¡±

    ¡°Which is why you¡¯re in Eschendur,¡± said Etja.

    The empress leaned in and placed her elbows on the table. She folded her hands and rested her chin atop them. ¡°Formally, Litta placed sanctions on Eschendur as part of an ongoing campaign to bring war criminals to justice. This escalated when half of our blockading naval fleet was destroyed, leading to the deployment of a legion to pacify this aggression.¡± She made eye contact with each of us, wearing a conspiratorial smile. ¡°We have since been disabused of the notion that any Eschen was responsible for the massacres that occurred within Littan borders along the Eschen Gap. This is why we now have an armistice and have made significant progress in peace talks with the Zenithars.¡±

    ¡°Informally,¡± said the general, ¡°yes, we were here to get better access to resources. Eschendur would not agree to a reasonable trade agreement, so we brought a big stick to the negotiations.¡±

    I was surprised by the admission. I¡¯d been fully prepared to endure an hour of talking around the subject.

    ¡°But your priorities have shifted,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°They have,¡± said the empress. ¡°We diverted another legion to secure the location of our new Creation Delve. Commanding officers throughout our forces have doubled their workload in evaluating and recommending soldiers for Creation. Existing Delvers are taking on additional training responsibilities.¡±

    ¡°Having more than twice as many Delvers will grant us more than twice as many resources harvested from within the Delves themselves,¡± said the general. ¡°While we could maintain our presence in Eschendur, advancing our front line would place an additional burden on our service members which we would like to avoid.¡±

    ¡°Our priority is taking advantage of the Creation Delve,¡± the empress finished.

    ¡°I doubt you have any need for us to assist with that,¡± said Etja. ¡°Nor would we be inclined to do so. Our party endeavors towards neutrality amongst nations, so long as they do not threaten world stability.¡±

    ¡°Lofty,¡± said the general. ¡°I hope that¡¯s a guiding principle, and you¡¯re not seriously trying to police the world.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not under any delusions about our capabilities, General,¡± said Etja. ¡°Our position reflects our desire to share relevant information equally with those who would use it productively. Destructive forces, such as the Davahns, are not included.¡±

    ¡°I think we can all agree that the recent activities of the Davahns are condemnable,¡± said Empress Littana. ¡°The mass execution of an entire city is genocide and an act of pure atrocity.¡±

    ¡°Regardless,¡± said the general, ¡°we don¡¯t need any help exploiting our Creation Delve. Telling you about our disposition toward and reasoning for withdrawing from Eschendur is context for our¨C¡± he paused. ¡°¨Cproposition.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Etja. ¡°We¡¯re eager to hear it.¡±

    ¡°The recent emergence of Dungeons has redefined the pace at which Delvers can progress,¡± said the Empress. ¡°Although it has only been a week, we have found that Delvers can acquire a month¡¯s worth of intrinsic skill advancement in a single day within these new zones. Of course, this rapid pace is accompanied by a commensurate amount of risk. We have also discovered that Dungeons can emerge nearly anywhere, including within population centers. Some are obvious, but many more are scattered and hidden.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve uncovered one dungeon that is vastly larger than any other we¡¯ve found,¡± said the general. ¡°We believe that within it, there are¨Cat a minimum¨Cdozens of zones that can each advance a different skill. It may encompass all known intrinsics, and we¡¯ve already found one skill that we have no records of. It¡¯s completely novel.¡±

    Empress Littana sat up straight. ¡°We¡¯d like your help exploring it.¡±

 218 - Offer on the Table

    ¡°That sounds like quite the opportunity,¡± said Etja. ¡°We haven¡¯t had the chance to pursue any Dungeons, given what little time has passed since returning from Deijin¡¯s Descent. We are interested in them, of course. However, like the matter of your Creation Delve, I¡¯m not sure why the Empire would need outside assistance.¡±

    Empress Littana nodded contemplatively. ¡°When we initially requested a meeting, it was primarily to clear the air,¡± she said. ¡°Fortune¡¯s Folly is the fastest-leveling Delver party across all of Arzia. Despite this meteoric rise¨Cwhich many viewed as recklessly paced¨Cyour group displayed talents significantly above your Level during engagements with our forces. Your victory over the Descent laid to rest any doubts over whether this progress was a fluke of luck, and you returned having accrued more Levels than the year prior. It was only sensible to sit down and ensure Litta¡¯s relations with you weren¡¯t spoiled before they¡¯d even begun.

    ¡°In the last week, many things have changed, as one would expect with the Phase transition,¡± the empress continued. ¡°We are well-positioned to take advantage of the new challenges available to Delvers from a strategic and economic perspective. In the past, our method for Delving has been highly focused on efficiency, partially due to our limited access to mana-enriched resources. This has served us well. However, given that this new Phase is primarily focused on platinum Delvers, our past efforts towards pursuing the most reliable method of Delver advancement have placed us at a slight disadvantage.¡±

    ¡°The Littan military skews toward silver,¡± said General Connatis. ¡°We have well-developed build strategies and party compositions that can nearly guarantee a party makes the full run of thirty silvers into thirty coppers. We have a strong force of elites focusing on gold Delves, some of which have surpassed the thirty-gold escalation barrier. Platinum Delvers have been viewed as experimental, and the pursuit of platinum requires express authorization that is rarely given.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have many platinums,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Correct,¡± said the empress. ¡°Compared to Hiward, our average Delver pursues a higher difficulty, because we have very few coppers. Hiward, however, has more exceptional outliers in the platinum range.¡±

    ¡°If I may ask, how do you control that?¡± said Etja. ¡°The Creation Delve creates random parties. The Littans entering aren¡¯t guaranteed to pursue a specific difficulty. Whoever they¡¯re matched with may have different ideas than your soldiers.¡±

    ¡°We have the second-best representation,¡± said the general. ¡°We also negotiate with Hiwardians who might potentially meet Littans during Creation. Some are open to it. Otherwise, Littans are mandated to tackle¨Cat a minimum¨Csilver. If they are unable to persuade a group to do at least that much, it¡¯s a mark against them.¡±

    ¡°There are also remediation efforts that can be made,¡± said the empress. ¡°A single copper Delve does not cripple a Delver who wishes to pursue silver.¡±

    That brief explanation was leaving a lot unsaid, but we weren¡¯t here to dive into the comparative fairness of the Littan Delving complex.

    ¡°Are Dungeons only accessible to platinum Delvers?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Given the exploration you¡¯ve done in such a short amount of time, I find it unlikely.¡±

    ¡°Not as such,¡± said Empress Littana. ¡°Like Delves, Dungeons have Level ranges. Unlike Delves, these ranges are not related to Delver Levels, but skill Levels. However, these ranges are not requirements. Anyone can enter any Dungeon if they wish. It¡¯s inadvisable for a lone Delver with no Levels in Dimensional Magic to enter a Level 40 to 70 Dimensional Dungeon, but they could. Further, Dungeons within specific skill ranges often have threats that can be quantified into specific Grades. The System does not make this obvious, but we are gathering data to establish relevant guidelines.¡±

    ¡°Given that Delvers who pursue higher difficulties tend to have higher skill Levels,¡± said the general, ¡°it¡¯s preferred that groups exploring these Dungeons together match. Gold with gold, platinum with platinum. A parity of Delver Levels is also ideal.¡±

    ¡°Together?¡± said Etja.

    ¡°That touches on the core of our request,¡± said the empress. ¡°Traditional Delves are organized around five-person parties, so having a strong focus on fireteam tactics is unavoidable. However, for all other operations, Littan Delvers are trained to work in larger groups. Dungeons have no party-size requirements, so we¡¯d prefer to explore them in squads of ten.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re usually too restricted for platoons or anything larger,¡± added the general.

    ¡°Then you have a five-person team ready for Dungeons,¡± said Etja. ¡°They¡¯re platinum, and you don¡¯t have a matching party to support them.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said the empress with a wide smile. The general also gave Etja an approving nod. It felt like they were buttering us up, but maybe they were just happy we were competent enough to add two and two together.

    ¡°For the sake of transparency,¡± said the general, ¡°the party we have in mind isn¡¯t full platinum.¡±

    ¡°They dropped down to gold?¡±

    ¡°No. They jumped up to platinum after thirty gold Delves.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s interesting,¡± said Etja. ¡°Common wisdom would say that¡¯s extremely unlikely.¡±

    ¡°The circumstances were unusual,¡± the general admitted. ¡°Regardless, they¡¯re Level 16 with one platinum Level. We¡¯d like to continue encouraging their growth into platinum for as long as we can.¡±

    I smiled internally. I had a pretty good idea who they were talking about.

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± Etja hummed. ¡°With all due respect, it doesn¡¯t sound like our group is a good fit, based on the parameters you¡¯ve just laid out.¡±

    ¡°I assure you, they have the skills for platinum,¡± said the empress. ¡°Their path through gold was flawless, and their pursuit of the lower difficulty was at our behest. We¡¯ve realized that pushing them toward the second-highest difficulty was underutilizing their capabilities.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re also welcome to vet them yourselves,¡± said the general.

    I sent a psychic message to Etja letting her know that if the group was the one I was thinking of, we¡¯d be fine working with them. To be blunt, we played in a higher league than they did, but the group showed promise.

    ¡°There¡¯s also the Level difference,¡± said Etja. ¡°We¡¯re Level 12, not 16.¡±

    ¡°A gap I am certain you can overcome in a few short months,¡± said the empress. She wasn¡¯t wrong. ¡°Our group is due for some leave and a fresh round of training. We¡¯ll be pairing them with more advanced instructors given their recent achievement. We¡¯re not asking you to head out tomorrow.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°What¡¯s your ideal timeline?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Six months,¡± said the empress.

    ¡°What would our role be?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fully collaborative,¡± said the empress. ¡°We know you¡¯re not a military group, and we¡¯re not asking you to be bodyguards. The parties will cooperate on selecting relevant Dungeon sectors and pursue them as equals.¡± She paused to take a sip of her tea while she thought. ¡°This is partially an effort at diplomatic outreach, as well.¡± She nodded at Nuralie. ¡°We are interested in strengthening relations with Delvers from the other nations, especially Eschendur. Your group is diverse, in addition to being exceptionally talented and a good match for our team.¡±

    Etja gave us a few seconds to have a silent conversation amongst ourselves.

    ¡°We are interested,¡± said Etja. ¡°However, we will need time to think and discuss. There are also factors that may be prohibitive to this arrangement.¡±

    ¡°I assume one of those factors is you, Lord Ravvenblaq,¡± said the empress, looking at Varrin. ¡°I believe I can negotiate for your participation if you are amenable. King Celeritia is a strong advocate for international cooperation, and you will be more than welcome to report anything you learn during the expedition.¡±

    ¡°I would be honored to be the subject of such a discussion between our nations,¡± said Varrin, with Etja¡¯s approval. ¡°We wish to encourage a unified global response to the avatar threat. Learning to work hand-in-hand is of paramount importance.¡±

    ¡°Well said,¡± said the empress, rapping a knuckle on the table. ¡°I assure you, the Littan Empire is treating that matter with the highest degree of urgency.¡±

    ¡°Especially when avatars can sow such destruction that we are forced to redraw our maps,¡± added the general.

    ¡°Oh?¡± said Etja. ¡°Are you referring to the devastation in the Left Hand?¡±

    ¡°Three entire mountains, removed from existence,¡± said the general. ¡°We have only just begun surveying the damage, but it reaches deep into the Wastes. Fortunately, we have no records of any significant settlements in that area.¡±

    ¡°And we are deeply grateful that Eschendur was spared,¡± said the empress. ¡°The Eschen trinity displayed profound influence on this realm to mitigate such a disaster.¡±

    ¡°Why are you certain that an avatar was involved?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Aside from reaching for the obvious, through divination,¡± said the general. ¡°Avatars have a corrupting influence on scrying and other divining techniques. Some more than others. That entire region was obscured from our most talented seers yesterday.¡±

    Lucky us.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite concerning,¡± said Etja. ¡°I hope that whichever avatar was responsible doesn¡¯t plan on a repeat performance.¡±

    ¡°As do we all,¡± said the general. ¡°We are working on countermeasures. Whatever creature is responsible will face judgment, I assure you.¡±

    Etja gave a solemn nod, and the empress cleared her throat.

    ¡°If there are no more questions,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯d like to introduce you to our team. We also have a gift for you, which will be presented by Major Tavio of Seqaria. You may not realize, but your warning to the major led to the discovery of a dangerous infiltrator.¡±

    *****

    The party the Littans wanted us to work alongside was, as predicted, Team Pio. Captain Pio¡¯s group had earned their platinum Level from the Pocket Delve, and I had personally watched their run. That meant I was already privy to their composition, capabilities, and what I expected were many of their secrets. I was very appreciative that Etja was speaking for our group since I didn¡¯t think I had the Charisma score to manage the meeting without giving something away.

    We¡¯d officially met them once before. They were the ones who¡¯d delivered our invitation to meet the empress. That history helped obscure the fact that I was more familiar with them than I should have been. The meeting went well, and they gave us a basic breakdown of their roles and competencies.

    Afterward, Tavio arrived to present us with a set of five masterfully crafted golden dragons inlaid with a dazzling array of precious gemstones. The stones had been mined in his homeland of Seqaria, which was renowned for its flawless jewels. The reason for the gift was simple.

    I¡¯d warned him that Gharifon was trouble, and it turned out that he had been.

    Tavio had audited the illusionist¡¯s activities after my warning and discovered some discrepancies with his official reports. Littan officers all underwent random screenings for outside influence and infiltrators, which Gharifon had previously passed with flying colors. Given Tavio¡¯s evidence and his staunch advocacy for the veracity of my claims, Gharifon was ¡®randomly¡¯ screened again. This time, the Littans used ¡®highly limited¡¯ resources usually reserved for the most sensitive officials, such as General Connatis and even the empress herself.

    The Littans didn¡¯t disclose what those ¡®limited¡¯ resources were, but I expected they had something to do with Yara, given that her Holy Water had granted us deific immunity to all mental influence.

    As it turned out, Gharifon wasn¡¯t a decorated Littan officer, but a man in a crude and deeply offensive mouse costume. Upon discovery, the intruder attempted to flee. During their flight, Tavio and General Connatis worked together to subdue the spy, which unfortunately led to the man¡¯s death. The Littans didn¡¯t go into any more detail than that, but the whole situation sounded way too familiar.

    Part of me was disappointed that we hadn¡¯t gotten to see Gharifon¡¯s unmasking. It felt like a thread we¡¯d need to keep pulling, but the Littans had dealt with it without needing us. I eventually decided it was good they¡¯d managed to handle what I now suspected was one of Hysteria¡¯s divine spawn on their own. It meant they were capable, and the more capable people in the world, the better off everyone was.

    Tavio and I chatted informally for a bit, and the ultra-buff Littan seemed to be doing well. His promotion to Major was a recent advancement, owing to a climb in Levels, his discovery of Gharifon¡¯s malfeasance, and in no small part, a pristine service record.

    The Littan had risen to Level 21, which was a decent pump from when he¡¯d given me a beatdown. The last time I¡¯d seen him on our way into Deijin¡¯s Descent, the man had still been at Level 17. What¡¯s more, the new Levels were platinum, meaning that he¡¯d also made the jump from gold like Pio¡¯s group had.

    However, there was something strange going on with those new Levels. The number of gold Delves I could see within his soul had gone down. That was something I didn¡¯t know was possible.

    At Level 17, Tavio looked like he¡¯d done thirty-four gold Delves. Now, his soul looked as though he¡¯d done twenty-six gold Delves along with eight platinum Delves. Curiously, the amount of platinum he¡¯d gained matched the amount of gold he¡¯d lost. It was like he was converting one into the other, which didn¡¯t make a lot of sense to me.

    I put the matter aside for the remainder of the Littan meet and greet, which lasted until midday. Afterward, I asked General Connatis if I could create a Checkpoint in the Littan fortress to facilitate further meetings. The general smirked as he agreed and led us down to the fortified room where the dormant exit portal for Deijin¡¯s Descent was.

    ¡°We¡¯d expected you to arrive here,¡± said the general. ¡°That is where you said you would be coming from. We were mildly surprised when you used the front entrance.¡±

    ¡°Sadly, extenuating circumstances prevented us from using a portal,¡± said Etja. I¡¯d been forced to move the entrance to the Closet during our realm-hopping fight with Hysteria.

    The room was secure enough that allowing us to lay down a semi-permanent connection wouldn¡¯t be a massive threat to the security of the Littan¡¯s forward base in Eschendur. It would also be a great place for the Littans to ambush us. We were working to build trust, so we didn¡¯t make any noise about the choice of location.

    After all, the general probably could have killed us any time he wanted.

    I created the Checkpoint, and we left the Littan fortress on good terms.

    My mansion had been destroyed, so we were using a hastily constructed war room as our base within the Closet. We¡¯d put it together in a few hours, and it didn¡¯t have shit for creature comforts. It was all stonework and dim lighting, with nary a tapestry or throw pillow in sight.

    I loosened my tie and undid the top button of my shirt. ¡°Anything to report, Etja?¡±

    Etja crossed all of her arms and surveyed the group, wearing her serious face. It was a lot like her regular face, but she kind of squinted. It was very cute.

    ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°No less than three of you exhibited unusual behavior.¡±

 219 - Implant or Eccentricity?

    Etja gave us all a long look while we waited for Grotto to join us. The Delve Core was allegedly unaffected by the outside influence and was coming to assist Etja in judging us. Grotto teleported into the room, wearing his little man disguise. His c¡¯thonic body had been destroyed, and he¡¯d need access to an array of specific organic compounds to remake it.

    I¡¯d never asked him where he¡¯d gotten the ¡®supplies¡¯ to make the wee gentleman he now wore, and I never would.

    With the duumvirate assembled, Etja revealed her first accusation. ¡°Arlo was suspiciously impressed with the food.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°It was good.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned it sixteen times.¡±

    ¡°I stopped when you asked me to.¡±

    [The fact that he relented when ordered is more suspicious than his fixation on the fare.]

    ¡°I already hate this arc,¡± I grumbled.

    ¡°The food was good,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°Etja would not let me ask for recipes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the kind of stuff a retainer would request from the empress¡¯s staff,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°We do not have any retainers,¡± said Nuralie.

    ¡°Exactly,¡± said Etja. ¡°The question was better left unasked.¡±

    Etja¡¯s new role had enriched her personality with a healthy degree of assertiveness, but I also wondered whether some of her fresh confidence was owed to her ingesting a drop of avatar soul. I mused on that while watching Nuralie¡¯s inner miser battle with her desire to hire staff so that she could acquire Littan baking techniques.

    ¡°Verdict on Arlo¡¯s food opinions?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Sounds like a normal Arlo flavor to me,¡± said Xim. Everyone else agreed, and my love of fine cuisine was exempted from evidence of my mind being corrupted.

    To be clear, we were all voting, but Etja and Grotto were the only votes that mattered.

    ¡°Xim wanted to take her shirt off,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°It was hot,¡± Xim defended.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t?¡± I said. ¡°It was pretty pleasant.¡±

    ¡°Taking your shirt off would have been inappropriate,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°That would have been¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cout of character.¡±

    ¡°You think so?¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯ve always had a relaxed attitude towards being dressed.¡±

    ¡°Not in front of a fucking empress, you haven¡¯t,¡± I said.

    ¡°Name one empress we¡¯ve met beside Rona,¡± she said. ¡°Also, is it weird that her name is almost the same as Varrin¡¯s sister?¡±

    [Referring to her as Empress Littana will avoid any ambiguity.]

    ¡°Got any opinions on Xim¡¯s state of dress, Grotto?¡± I asked.

    [I am ill-suited to present a personal opinion on the matter of nudity, but traditionally one does not undress in front of a monarch except in particular circumstances. I did not observe any such preconditions being satisfied.]

    ¡°Verdict on Xim wanting to take her clothes off in front of the Littan empress?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Mind-fuckery,¡± I voted. Everyone else agreed. Xim grumbled and wrote a note, reminding herself to keep her clothes on. There was a lengthy discussion over who she was allowed to be naked in front of, which Etja handled.

    ¡°Varrin is in love with the empress,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°She is an incredible woman,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Mind-fucked,¡± I immediately voted.

    ¡°You are simply unwilling to admit your attraction to Littans,¡± said Varrin, looking at me skeptically. ¡°You should not be ashamed. I saw how you gazed into her eyes. They were like pools of golden honey, beckoning you to have a taste¨C¡±

    ¡°Did Varrin try to take his clothes off, too?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°No,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°Did he¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cwant to eat her eyes?¡±

    ¡°It is a turn of phrase,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Why would your mind even go there?¡±

    ¡°We live strange lives,¡± Nuralie answered with a shrug.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter,¡± I said. ¡°Mind. Fucked.¡±

    Everyone agreed, and Varrin was forbidden from being near the empress. If that wasn¡¯t feasible, he was forbidden from expressing any opinions to the empress. Any attempt to make physical contact with the empress would result in the immediate deployment of Plan Lockdown. Nobody wanted to be the target of Plan Lockdown, so he reluctantly accepted the new rules.

    [The relationship between these two aberrant desires share a common theme of disrobing in front of Empress Littana.]

    ¡°I would never be so uncouth,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We would need to court for some time. And I would wait for a more intimate setting.¡±

    ¡°What about Sineh Duckgrien?¡± I asked. ¡°Aren¡¯t you already courting her?¡±

    Varrin furrowed his brow and stared at the ground between his feet. He did that for a worrying length of time while we waited for him to answer. It looked like my question had him trapped in some kind of thought loop.

    ¡°I don¡¯t agree with that connection either, Grotto,¡± said Xim, breaking the silence. ¡°I didn¡¯t care about the empress. I was just hot.¡±

    [That is why I did not claim they were both related to sexual desire, merely that they involved the urge to undress while near her. My point stands.]

    Etja had no further observations of suspicious behavior.

    Varrin looked up sharply from the ground and shook his head. ¡°What do we think about their offer?¡± he asked, before sitting down on a stone bench. ¡°I doubt I am allowed an opinion at this point.¡±

    ¡°Honestly?¡± I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s a good idea. The Littans can map out Dungeons a thousand times faster than we could. It¡¯d take us forever to find the right Dungeons for every skill each of us has on our own, and a mega Dungeon sounds pretty cool. If they want to lead us to water, then I say we should take a drink.¡±

    ¡°Wait,¡± said Xim. ¡°Can¡¯t we just ask Grotto?¡±

    [I can acquire specific Dungeon locations in exchange for System Rep.]

    ¡°Not worth it, in my opinion,¡± I said. ¡°Not when we have easy methods of finding them.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ am fine with cooperating,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°I will speak to the Zenithar first, but if it can help relations between Litta and Eschendur, I believe it is a worthy task.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± said Xim. ¡°I want more details, but I don¡¯t mind.¡± We all looked at Etja.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°It sounds fun to me!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s settled then,¡± I said. ¡°So long as Hiward and Eschendur don¡¯t oppose Varrin or Nuralie¡¯s participation, we¡¯ll meet with the Littans a few more times and try to nail down how Dungeoning with Team Pio will work. In the meantime, we need to grab four Levels.¡±

    ¡°Dungeoning?¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Are we disputing my choice of verbs now?¡±

    ¡°I like ¡®Dungeoning¡¯,¡± said Etja. ¡°It¡¯s quick, easy, and clear.¡±

    I gestured at Etja. Xim shrugged and withdrew her objection. ¡°Better than ¡®Closetland¡¯,¡± she muttered.

    ¡°How did it feel running the talks, Etja?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I really enjoyed it! It was like becoming someone else for the morning.¡±

    ¡°You did present a completely different persona,¡± said Varrin.

    Etja floated off the ground and began slowly rotating her body clockwise. She placed a hand on her chin.

    ¡°I just channeled Arlo,¡± she said once she was completely upside down. ¡°But with a healthy dash of Varrin so I¡¯d stay serious.¡±

    ¡°Probably a good choice,¡± I said.

    ¡°I call it the Arlin personality,¡± she said, right-side up again. ¡°No, wait, Varlo!¡± She extended her arm with a flourish like she was going for a delicate handshake. ¡°I am humbled to meet someone so strong and beautiful, Empress Littana. My name is Arlin Varlo, and I would like to take you somewhere intimate so that we can enjoy the wonderful cuisine of your nation and then disrobe together.¡±

    ¡°Is this what our children will be like?¡± I asked, looking at Varrin. He raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°What Delves are we doing?¡± asked Nuralie. ¡°When do we leave?¡±

    ¡°Can we take a week off first?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We just had a week off,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°At the end of which we rescued a king and a Zenithar, captured an avatar, and then killed the Icon of a blood god. We can take another.¡±

    ¡°Defer it to Etja,¡± said Xim. We all looked at the mage, who was upside down again. Her dress and natural bounties defied gravity to stay in their proper places.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take a day to talk over strategy and build choices,¡± she said. ¡°Another day to map out the Delves we want. Ah, two of them should definitely be Expansion Delves so we get the twelfth slots of actives and intrinsics. After that, we can take a day to shop in Eschengal for anything we need.¡±

    Everyone seemed satisfied with that plan.

    ¡°Make it so,¡± I said.

    ¡°Do we each get one of those dragon statues?¡± asked Xim. ¡°I assume that¡¯s why the Littans gave us five.¡±

    ¡°I want the one with sapphires!¡± said Etja.

    ¡°We could each take a dragon,¡± I said. ¡°But allow me to pitch a different idea for what to do with them.¡±

    *****

    ¡°I have revelations of the Heart and the Stomach,¡± said Xim.

    She, Nuralie, Etja, and I sat at a table with Zenithar Zura in Eschengal¡¯s Temple of Geul. The Zenithar had graciously agreed to consult Nuralie on her participation with the Littans and to give guidance on our most pressing problem.

    The Zenithar was surprisingly on board with the joint Dungeoning. Zura was as eager to leave hostilities in the past as the Littans were, and it was a rare opportunity to get a deeper look at how their Delving teams worked. The matter was speedily addressed, and we¡¯d moved on to figuring out how to un-bork our heads.

    ¡°I¡¯m on the cusp of a new revelation,¡± the cleric continued, ¡°which is of the Brain. This revelation may help heal our minds, but its shadows touch more on the fluidity of reality. My dad¡¯s Revelation of the Brain touches on the fluidity of identity, which I would feel more confident could help. However, his focuses on the mind¡¯s relationship to the body, so it can¡¯t help with something like this. I¡¯ve already asked. We¡¯d want a Revelation of the Brain that manifests internally and deals with identity or some other mental aspect. That¡¯s the feeling I get from Sam¡¯lia during communion.¡±

    ¡°Sam¡¯lia is a goddess who exerts herself,¡± said Zenithar Zura. ¡°Her revelations peer into others, peer into the world, and peer into the self, then mold and shape what her revelators see and feel to accommodate her will. While she grants powerful abilities to change one¡¯s physicality, it is the mind exerted onto form. For Sam¡¯lia, all of reality is shaped according to the mind. Conceptually, using her will to forcefully reshape one¡¯s own mindscape may be a difficult road.¡±

    Despite the Zenithar¡¯s focus on the Eschen trinity, she was well-versed in many other pantheons. Xim was at a level where her interpretations of Sam¡¯lia¡¯s teachings would be revered as law within her tribe. Other Third Layer tribes would treat her as a visiting High Cleric. She still respected the Zenithar¡¯s insights, realizing the value of her point of view.

    ¡°It¡¯s a form of healing, though,¡± said Xim. ¡°Our minds are wounded, and I seek the power to mend them.¡±

    ¡°A wound hinders the body from performing its function,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Mental trauma is much the same, but what you have described to me are not wounds. Your identity has changed. You are whole and well, but different in a way that troubles your allies. You do not yourself seem to take issue with the change.¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Xim admitted. ¡°I¡¯m only worried because Grotto and Etja are worried. We know these changes were not made for our benefit.¡±

    ¡°Would Geul grant us any wisdom?¡± asked Nuralie. The Zenithar sat back in her plush seat and let out a long, groaning sigh.

    ¡°The gods can only interact with this world in limited ways,¡± she said. ¡°Each time they influence us directly, they expend a part of that influence. It can only be regained through the passage of time and the worship of their followers.¡±

    Zura gestured toward a crystal-clear waterfall that ran down the temple and past a large gap in the building¡¯s exterior. From where we sat, the water feature served as a floor-to-ceiling window. We were high up in the tower, and miles distant we could see the hole in the Left Hand mountains, created by our conflict with Hysteria.

    ¡°The gods vowed to protect our lands against a calamity such as this,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°They interceded to protect us, and in so doing, spent most of the power available to them in our realm. Geul does not deal with the mind, but even if she did, it would be up to us to make use of our gifts to make the changes we wish for.¡±

    ¡°Does that affect your revelations?¡± I asked. The Zenithar gave me a wry smile.

    ¡°A dangerous question, Master Xor¡¯Drel,¡± she said. ¡°Fishing for vulnerabilities in the Eschenden?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my life¡¯s mission, of course,¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve always seemed like an iconoclast,¡± she said dryly. ¡°Especially given your rejection of gods in all their forms.¡± The Zenithar chuckled and reached for a glass of ice water. She held it close, running a nail through the condensation. ¡°Revelations can be gifted or earned,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°The gods will not be so charitable with their gifts for a time, but any that we have already received will draw on our own power, as they always have. The curious and the faithful will continue to discover their truth and gain what revelations those pursuits earn them. For most, nothing will change.¡±

    She took a sip from her drink, holding the glass in her lap afterward. ¡°The Zenithars are an exception to this. Many of our workings beseech the gods to intertwine their influence with our will. Losing my connection to that influence is why I was much weakened when the abomination tore me from Geul¡¯s embrace. I am not as reduced now as I was then, but I will not be sinking any more fleets for a time. At least, not so quickly as I could have before.¡±

    ¡°Deijin works with the soul,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°Do you believe her revelations might aid us?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°The mind and the soul are well interlinked. Some believe they are one and the same. However, I am not aware of any follower of Deijin who wields a power strong enough for your needs, if other magical methods available to you are ineffective. Zenithar Manar is most focused on Deijin¡¯s aspects of shaping¨Cunifying the soul with form and substance. She does not shape the soul, however. The soul shapes the world.¡±

    ¡°Sounds like some symmetry with Sam¡¯lia,¡± I said.

    ¡°The gods are a mosaic upon the world. Many of their edges adjoin, and many more share similar hues.¡±

    I took a moment to digest that imagery before asking my next question. ¡°What about Yara? We know she can protect the sanctity of the mind.¡±

    The Zenithar nodded, though cautiously. ¡°Yara is a comfort to her followers, but she is¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cstaunch in her tenets. I would urge you to be considerate when approaching her. Sam¡¯lia and the Eschen triad are more flexible. Your interaction with the divine has had soft edges as a result.¡±

    ¡°What are Yara¡¯s tenets?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hmm. I encourage you to speak with one of her priests for specifics, but in general terms, she is a goddess of family, order, law, and expansion. More broadly, she can be characterized as a deity of civilization. She is a holy divinity, and most would describe her as ¡®good¡¯, but her followers view her righteousness as absolute. They seek to spread her teachings to all corners of Arzia, and will do it as forcefully as Imperial law allows, which¨Cas you have experienced¨Cgrants great leeway for the use of ¡®force¡¯.¡±

    ¡°Which of those aspects deals with breaking mental influence?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°All of them, to a degree,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Invading the mind of another is a deep violation. It disrupts the order of one¡¯s inner self, is illegal in most cases, and causes untold devastation to family members of the affected. All of these might hinder the expansion of the Littan Empire, especially if it infects the machine at its highest levels.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not proscribed, then,¡± I said. ¡°So long as you wield it in Yara¡¯s name and according to her teachings.¡±

    ¡°I would expect so,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Many Littan Delvers make use of mental magicks.¡±

    ¡°What do you think we should do?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°Beseeching Yara will have strings attached,¡± said the Zenithar. ¡°Riferiantel, God of the Whole, is a Timan deity who¡­¡±

    The Zenithar worked through several divinities she thought might be able to help us, but each carried its own costs. Before we could even reach the point of making offerings or commitments, there was the matter of making contact with these unknown gods. That wasn¡¯t something we could count on happening. Even if we assumed Xim was correct in thinking that I drew more divine notice than the average bear, I was sure there were plenty of gods that didn¡¯t want to get wrangled.

    Throughout our days of preparation, I kept waiting for the next emergency to spring up¨Can urgent summons from Grotto, someone in the party triggering a catastrophic subconscious command, maybe another city getting wiped off the world map. Nothing of the sort happened.

    It was nice.

    We planned, got our supplies, and went northwest to find our first Expansion Delve.

    We were heading to the Kingdom of Ayama.

    Sort of.

 220 - Delving Through the Snow

    Ayama was an ecological impossibility. It was a verdant nation established in the center of the Wastes. A century prior, the space it occupied had been as barren as everything else around its borders. Godking Ayamari had spent decades performing magical terraforming of the region, an ongoing project that transformed frigid, lifeless desert into a lush, temperate rainforest.

    No other nation held claim to the Wastes, since no one wanted it. The land was worthless. Given time, Ayama would presumably stretch to cover the entire northern fifth of the continent. None of the world powers opposed the nation¡¯s growth, since Ayamari was creating inhabitable land where none had been before.

    The only people who might have been miffed were those who eked out a life within the Wastes, trying to escape all the baggage of civilization.

    Of Arzia¡¯s officially recognized nations, Ayama had the lowest population density, but the kingdom had the highest diversity by a wide margin. Every citizen was an immigrant and those immigrants hailed from all corners of the continent.

    Ayama was well-known for accepting refugees and outcasts with open arms. Anyone who sought to escape the woes of their homeland was welcome. On the other hand, everyone else could take a hike. Ayama¡¯s attitude toward her sister nations was somewhat frigid.

    Relations weren¡¯t hostile¨Cno one was stupid enough to challenge Ayamari¨Cbut diplomacy was an uphill battle. The nation was self-sufficient, the bountiful environment provided everything her citizens would need, the terrain made it a natural fortress, and it was guarded by the most powerful person in the world.

    It was a pseudo-utopia protected by Arzia¡¯s equivalent of Superwoman. It didn¡¯t want or need any of the rest of the world¡¯s nonsense.

    Attempts at trade generally went something along the lines of:

    Everyone else: ¡°Hey, you need anything, Ayama?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Nah, we good.¡±

    Everyone: ¡°Mind if we visit?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Keep yourself and your problems right where they are.¡±

    Everyone: ¡°Wanna come over and hang out, instead?¡±

    Ayama: ¡°Your house is kind of shitty, so no thanks.¡±

    Gaining entry into Ayama was selectively impossible, depending on the purpose of the visit. If we¡¯d needed to get inside Ayama¡¯s borders, it wouldn¡¯t have been nearly so easy as tearing our way through a naval fleet and a small horde of Delvers. No one knew what, exactly, guarded the forest¡¯s edges, but no one who¡¯d tried to sneak inside had ever returned.

    Fortunately, we weren¡¯t heading directly into Ayama. We were heading north of the kingdom and got a lovely¨Calbeit very distant¨Cflyby view as we entered an area of the Wastes that was even more hostile to life than the rest of it.

    Hostile to mundane life, that is.

    The northern Wastes was a great place to live for the varieties of ¡®life¡¯ that had a bottomless appetite for mana and the vigor to survive in subarctic temperatures.

    It was like, if the North Pole was colder, bathed in radiation, and the polar bears were ten stories tall, had 300% more teeth, and were sentient flesh-eating blizzards instead of being polar bears.

    Altitude didn¡¯t seem to matter to these things, either.

    I was currently riding in a harness below Varrin, who was flying us over the polar wasteland in excess of 800 miles per hour. The air whipping past was thin of oxygen, thick with Physical mana, and about a hundred degrees below zero.

    The big guy¡¯s Hiwardian constitution combined with his Fortitude gave him a wealth of protection from the hostile elements, whereas I was relying on the power of layers, my general resilience, and allowing my health regeneration to fix any toes that fell off due to frostbite.

    Everyone else was hanging out in the Closet while we plucked yet another dozen frigid fangs from our bedraggled flight suits. The elemental mana fiends were practically immune to Physical damage, but Spiritual and Dimensional still tore them up pretty well.

    Our warmer party members occasionally sent us the psychic equivalent of a selfie, sitting around a fire and roasting meat skewers.

    It would have been so easy to open the Closet entrance while we were a mile high and everyone else was still in their summer clothes.

    Etja vetoed the idea.

    Putting that aside, we were heading into this nonsense for four reasons.

    One: Grotto had the location of a platinum Delve in our Level range that should be an Expansion Delve. We were each still short one Active Skill slot and one Intrinsic Skill slot to complete our full Phase Two loadout. The entrance to that Delve was in this unpleasant region.

    Two: Grotto had records of an armory containing stockpiles of Prismatite near our objective Delve, which we wanted to get our hands on. Prismatite was an exotic material that could be used to craft items granting bonuses to Mystical damage and Mystical DR. It was the only material that granted Mystical DR as an inherent trait, and no stat improved Mystical defense, making sources of damage reduction for the school extremely valuable. I was in need of an armor upgrade, and Prismatite was calling my name.

    Three: The rest of the world was out hunting Dungeons in the most obvious of places. Only masochists and psychopaths would be crawling through the northern Wastes looking for Dungeons when they could potentially find one down the street. Literally, down the street. The Littans told us about two Dungeons they¡¯d found hidden in an alley in the Littan capital. If we found any Dungeons out here, we¡¯d have them to ourselves.

    Four: Avarice had given us a token after our first meeting that would act as an introduction to a potential group of allies in the fight against the avatars. Those allies, whoever they might be, were hiding out in the highest and coldest mountains in all of Arzia. Those mountains, most bitter and frigid, were located along the northernmost edge of the continent. The northernmost edge of the continent, as one might suspect, was found north of the northern Wastes.

    We planned to pursue these goals in the order presented above, but would otherwise be opportunistic based on the sequence in which the world guided them to us. We hoped that the armory was part of the Expansion Delve. That would be a nice two-fer. Dungeons would be explored if and when we found them while traveling between the other objectives.

    Time and frosty toes permitting, we¡¯d do a more expansive search for Dungeons after completing items one, two, and four.

    ¡°There¡¯s a big column of Spiritual mana below,¡± I thought to Varrin. ¡°Eleven o¡¯clock.¡±

    Varrin confirmed and swept down toward the mana signature, the only notable feature in an otherwise pristine expanse of ice and snow. We were near Grotto¡¯s estimated location for the Delve, so I was hoping this marked the entrance. If not, maybe it would be a clue.

    Spiritual mana billowed up from a large crack in the ice, drifting hundreds of feet into the air. Several tornadoes of twisting ice and fangs surrounded it, their windy bodies suffused with crackling violet energy. The ones we¡¯d faced so far had been larger and soaked in Physical mana, whereas these were a blend of the two schools.

    The twisters were a mere thirty feet in height¨Cas opposed to a hundred¨Cthough the one closest to the mana vent was half that size, with a much denser concentration of mana in its form. It also had a vaguely humanoid shape.

    I shot it an identify.

    Spectral Ice Fiend: Undead Elemental, Grade 20

    Nothing too threatening. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    The rest were missing the Undead classification and ranged from Grade 15 to 18.

    ¡°The Physical Fiends were immune to Physical damage,¡± I thought to the party. ¡°Shall we assume these are immune to Physical and Spiritual?¡±

    [It is more like that they are resistant to both,] Grotto replied. [Possessing a blend gives them versatility in exchange for vulnerability.]

    ¡°Nuralie and I will be disadvantaged,¡± Varrin added.

    ¡°Their bodies look like they¡¯re mostly mana,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°I¡¯m betting Mystical will fuck ¡®em up. Actually, why am I even speculating? Nuralie, we¡¯re gonna drop you off to take a closer look.¡±

    The rest of the party was gearing up while we discussed. Varrin swept around the elementals from a mile out until everyone was ready to go, then dropped closer to the ground.

    I opened the Closet and Nuralie hopped out, her body wrapped in enough dark furs that she was more poof than person. She peered across the tundra while she used Target Analysis, her eyes obscured by thick goggles.

    ¡°Fifty percent resistance to most Physical. Complete immunity to Cold and Spectral,¡± she thought to us. ¡°High defense against Dimensional Planar but not Spatial. Weak to Force and Sonic.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± I thought. ¡°Sonic is Physical damage.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps it disrupts their form,¡± Varrin sent back.

    ¡°Alright. I blow ¡®em up, Etja hits ¡®em with Mystic Blast, and Xim burns ¡®em with Judgment. Nuralie can watch for any new arrivals while Varrin can uh¡­¡±

    ¡°Parry spell attacks?¡± he proposed.

    ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go with that.¡±

    ¡°Can I suggest something?¡± asked Etja as she floated out of the Closet. She¡¯d darkened her skin until it was pitch black and wore her normal enchanted dress without any extra layers. The cold didn¡¯t seem to bother her one bit.

    ¡°Always,¡± I replied. ¡°And I appreciate you pretending like I could say no.¡±

    She frowned at me. ¡°It¡¯s not a Project Mindfuck idea. Just a regular one.¡±

    ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m getting frustrated by the situation.¡±

    ¡°We all are,¡± Varrin added.

    ¡°Anyway, please continue Etja.¡±

    She planted her staff in the ground. ¡°I think I can Nullify them.¡±

    I looked at the half-dozen distant twisters. ¡°Really?¡± Etja nodded. ¡°Okay, go ahead.¡±

    Etja flew towards the Fiends while the rest of us followed close behind. The mage powered up her Finishing Move combo, the windy monsters only taking notice of us when we were a hundred feet away. They blew towards us as a group, leaving the smaller Fiend behind. The Grade 20 Undead Elemental continued to absorb mana from the vent while its pack moved to deal with us.

    Etja¡¯s hands and staff glowed with power, and when the five creatures were all tightly gathered within fifty feet of us, she released a wave of mystic, mana-eating power. It swept through the Fiends, dissolving the energy that kept their whirling bodies assembled.

    They burst into gales of wind, then dissipated. The razor fangs twisting within them scattered into the snow.

    ¡°Damn,¡± I thought. ¡°That was easy.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, more expensive than I thought it would be,¡± Etja psychically muttered.

    I bounded across the ice to investigate one of the fangs. The tooth quivered, so I smashed it with Somncres. Its Physical resistance didn¡¯t seem to matter much when it was just a tooth. Varrin, Xim, and I went around destroying the rest of the teeth while Etja disintegrated a few to absorb with Incorporate.

    The Grade 20 finally took note of us. Rather than engage, it manifested a pair of ghostly orbs near the center of its humanoid body, which rolled over us like a giant pair of eyes. After giving us a good, hard look, it decided we were more trouble than we were worth.

    It shot up into the air and flew away.

    We debated going after it but decided to leave it be. A single Grade 20 wasn¡¯t much of a threat to our full party, and it wasn¡¯t like there were any settlements nearby for it to attack. Ayama was two hundred miles to the south, and if it decided to head there it wouldn¡¯t last long anyway.

    ¡°What made it an Undead Elemental, do ya¡¯ think?¡± I asked the group as we clomped forward through the ice and snow toward the mana vent.

    Varrin paused in front of the vent, which was a twenty-foot wide crack in the ice. He held out a hand and ran it through the dense mana flowing upward.

    ¡°This Spiritual mana is so thick,¡± the big guy thought, ¡°I expect it would be visible even without an appropriate attunement or some form of mana sight. It is all of the Spectral subtype as well. The Fiend may have absorbed so much that it was corrupted.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯s it coming from?¡± asked Etja.

    [This is likely being purged from a Delve below us. The Delve is at capacity and the core is jettisoning what it cannot use.]

    ¡°Seems wasteful,¡± I thought.

    [Not all Delve Cores have access to an infinite mana sink, such as the Closet¡¯s expansion mechanism.]

    ¡°Fair enough. If this mana ¡®corrupted¡¯ the fiend into an Undead, does that mean it¡¯s, like, ghost mana? Spectral mana isn¡¯t necessarily death-related. Or is it?¡±

    [It is not. However, Undead typically emit Spectral mana, so the idea that it originates from a mass grave or tomb holds some merit.]

    ¡°Mass grave?¡± asked Nuralie. Pause. ¡°So it is ghosts?¡±

    [Ghosts, wraiths, zombies, skeletons, liches, wrights, poltergeists, death knights, draugrs¡­ It could be many things.]

    ¡°Most Undead are merely constructs,¡± Varrin thought to us. ¡°Entities animated through dark magicks. They are rarely ensouled.¡±

    ¡°Then we should expect a Necromancer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We should expect anything,¡± Varrin replied. ¡°However, I am inclined to find out for myself, rather than continue to speculate.¡±

    The big guy took a few steps back from the vent and looked around. His hand dropped to Kazandak¡¯s hilt, but he paused and thought, then decided against using the blade. He raised a heavy boot and stomped.

    His foot shattered the ice and his leg sank in up to his knee. Large fissures cracked out from the impact for nearly a hundred feet and the ground rumbled. I adjusted my footing as the ice began to move, then decided to make things easier on myself and hopped up into the air, locking myself in place with Gracorvus. I hadn¡¯t used the shield to float much since gaining the ability to fly with Therianthropy, but for hanging out midair in one spot, it was pretty efficient.

    Varrin surveyed the damage, then squatted and shoved his arms into the ice. Once he was shoulder-deep, he heaved upward and tossed aside a slab of frozen ground several times larger than he was. It probably weighed in the three-elephant range. Varrin dropped into the hole and repeated the tactic.

    Xim trotted forward and dropped in behind the big guy, giving him an assist. Together, the pair hurled out multi-ton blocks of ice and frozen earth every few seconds. They excavated a massive pit in a couple of minutes, stopping when they hit dark brickwork about forty feet down. The mana was seeping out between the blocks.

    Varrin was just about to try his luck punching a hole through the bricks when a portal appeared on its surface.

    ¡°Hey, look at that,¡± I thought. ¡°Weird place for a portal.¡±

    [Obviously this is not the front door, so to speak. I expect the Delve Core would rather invite you inside through a temporary entrance than have you breach the Delve¡¯s exterior like a group of vandals.]

    I shrugged, figuring one way in was as good as any other, and then inspected the portal.

    Portal to Delve 9963: Throne of Zng

    Difficulty: Platinum

    Expansion: Yes

    Current accumulation level: 1+

    Level Requirement: 13 - 15

    Party Size Requirement: 5

    [The accumulation level reflects that the Delve has exceeded its mana storage capacity. Expansion Delve, appropriate Level range. Yes, this looks ideal for our needs.]

    ¡°Zzzzznnnnggg,¡± I said aloud. ¡°How do you pronounce that?¡±

    ¡°I think you got it on the first try,¡± said Xim. She had to yell through the thick furs wrapping her face.

    ¡°It is not a tomb,¡± Nuralie thought to us. ¡°Why does a throne have Undead?¡±

    [The Wastes was the seat of a military superpower during the prior generation. We are near where the capital would have been.]

    ¡°Great!¡± I said. ¡°A Delve Core co-opted the ruins of an ancient and powerful civilization, resurrecting its most potent warriors and bending them to its own twisted ends. Sounds fun.¡±

    ¡°Shall we enter?¡± asked Varrin.

    We all turned to Etja. She leaned over the pit to check the portal, then gave us a thumbs up. I grinned wide and jumped down into the hole.

    I landed on top of the portal, which teleported me into the Delve before I could even feel my boots make contact.

 221 - How Many Zombies in a Horde?

    Instead of experiencing the abstract concept of instantaneous movement on the soles of my boots, I felt something slippery.

    Despite not focusing on Agility, my score of 10 still placed me into the superhuman category for balance and coordination, if only barely. Thus, the slick surface refusing to grant me an iota of friction did not cause me to take a tumble.

    Falling on my ass would have been embarrassing.

    No, I avoided the shame of such mortal weakness by wheeling my arms, leaning back and forth, and yanking my feet into position each time they attempted to escape the burden of supporting the rest of my body. It didn¡¯t help that the floor I¡¯d landed on was an incline, so as I battled with this Home Alone-grade hazard, I was also moonwalking backward from where I¡¯d appeared.

    I remembered that I had multiple ways to solve this problem a moment before Varrin appeared. I used Gracorvus to lock myself in place and placed a hand on my hip, looking outstandingly casual when the big guy popped into existence.

    Varrin looked at the ground, then looked up at me. Even with the shield, my feet wandered while I fought to keep my legs steady. I couldn¡¯t see the man¡¯s eyes through his slitless, fur-wrapped helm, but I felt the judgment regardless.

    ¡°Slippery,¡± he said, then strode toward me as though the ground didn¡¯t have the grip of greased Teflon. Nuralie and Etja appeared next, with Xim in the rear guard.

    Etja immediately started floating. Xim, despite having the same Agility score as I did, slid with far more grace down the slope. She caught my elbow to halt her descent.

    Nuralie surveyed the room, then did a slow skate around the perimeter with the ease and poise of an Olympic-level ice skater turned superhero.

    The room was mostly bare. It was about the size of a basketball court, was completely dark¨Cof course¨Cand had a gently sloping floor leading to the only exit, which was a large reinforced double door made of some kind of metal. It had threads of mana running through it, and I planned on taking a closer look to figure out what it did once we had our bearings.

    Xim held my arm as she squatted to inspect the floor. She ran a finger across it, then tapped it with a knuckle.

    ¡°It¡¯s some kind of ice,¡± she said. ¡°The surface is wet, but not with water. Hmm, it¡¯s already frozen on my finger.¡±

    Using Gracorvus to balance, I bent to examine the floor as well. The surface had the sheen of moisture, but it was rapidly hardening. That wasn¡¯t much of a surprise, since it was just as cold inside the Delve as it had been above.

    ¡°I¡¯d ask why it wasn¡¯t already frozen¨C¡± I began, then paused as orange-white runes began to burn on each wall. They grew in intensity for a second, raising the temperature in the room enough to cause steam to begin boiling off the ice. They went dead soon after, leaving the floor slicker than when we¡¯d entered. The temperature immediately plummeted, and the substance began to refreeze. ¡°Yeah, figured we¡¯d get an answer soon enough.¡±

    I glanced at everyone¡¯s health bars, but no one had taken any damage from the heat. My own health was doing something a little odd, however. My max HP was dropping by one every forty seconds or so, then ticking back up to its normal value a couple of seconds later. I glanced at my notifications and found the source.

    Miasma

    You are taking Wicked damage!

    ¡°Is anyone else taking Wicked damage?¡± I asked. Everyone checked their interfaces.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Xim, followed by the rest of the group. ¡°If it keeps this pace, I¡¯m taking about ninety per hour.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that is more dangerous than it sounds,¡± said Varrin.

    I nodded in agreement. While ninety damage per hour didn¡¯t sound like much, what made it dangerous was that Wicked damage reduced its victim¡¯s maximum health pool and couldn¡¯t be healed. The only way to recover from Wicked damage was natural health regeneration. That meant if the damage exceeded a Delver¡¯s natural regen, their max HP would constantly be draining while inside this Delve, and there was very little they could do about it.

    ¡°Ninety damage an hour is a little more than the unbuffed regen from Level 33 Fortitude,¡± I said. ¡°Nuralie, Etja, you two have the lowest regen. You good?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°With your aura, mine is at one hundred and eleven.¡±

    ¡°Me too!¡± said Etja. She glided over to Nuralie and hugged her from behind. ¡°Twinsies!¡± The Geulon patted Etja¡¯s hand, but otherwise ignored our mage¡¯s affection as she kept watch over the room.

    The runes pulsed, re-wetting the floor and shooting more steam into the air. Given time, the constant flash melting would cause the ice to shift down the slope, but it either wasn¡¯t an effect that was always on, or the liquid was drained and renewed somehow.

    ¡°Then we¡¯re okay for now,¡± I said, checking to see if we¡¯d received a Delve objective. ¡°Evade capture by the remnants of the Zng and confront its disgraced commander,¡± I read aloud. ¡°Bonus: Deprive the Zng of their armory.¡±

    ¡°Does that sound like a Prismatite vault to you guys?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Yeah, hopefully,¡± I said.

    [Even if it is not the vault we seek, there is certainly a reward worthy of completing the bonus,] Grotto thought to us.

    The Delve Core had opted to remain in the Closet for this one. Not because of his near-death experience. It definitely had nothing to do with that. He¡¯d even assured us that a Core does not suffer from the weakness of fear like we ¡®transient meatbags¡¯ did. He just had a lot of work to do in the Closet, and we were perfectly capable of handling a few Delves without him being physically present.

    The Closet was a complete wreck from dealing with Hysteria and their Wastelander mercenaries, so no one gave my familiar any shit about it.

    ¡°Alright,¡± I said. ¡°Then we proceed as normal. If the Wicked damage gets worse, we can reevaluate. In the meantime, let¡¯s deal with this door and have Nuralie do some scouting.¡±

    ¡°This plan is Etja-approved,¡± said Etja.

    We flew, slid, or stomped our way to the mana-woven door, which was protected by a simple mana-puzzle lock that Etja and I solved without issue. That is to say, Etja couldn¡¯t find any traps and told me where to focus my Dispel. It was more efficient for the task than her Nullify, so I felt useful.

    The door opened to a large hall with hundred-foot ceilings. Every surface was coated in the strange, perpetually melting ice, and buried within were well-preserved carpets, suits of armor, and massive paintings featuring subtly shifting landscapes. Glow stones were buried throughout, casting an eerie blue shimmer across everything.

    The suits of armor were made of a matte material, and were lanky and tall; a little more than seven feet on average. They had holes built into the helms that might have accommodated a pair of horns, or other non-human head feature, and the hands had six fingers that hung in a ring at the end of their arms. The weapons slung across their chests were not the typical medieval selection I¡¯d come to expect.

    ¡°Well, those are guns,¡± I thought to the group as I leaned in to inspect one. Nuralie was moving ahead, keeping us updated on any enemies she might find.

    ¡°Handheld cannons?¡± asked Varrin, moving up beside me. ¡°We saw something similar at the Littan camp when we made our way toward the Descent.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± I thought as I studied what looked to my eyes like a rifle. Although, it was more organic in shape and had no slide or magazine that I could identify. ¡°It almost looks like an odd combat staff, but there¡¯s clearly a barrel.¡±

    The weapon had no mana moving through it, which didn¡¯t tell me much. It could have been a showpiece, the weaves might have run out of power, or it could have been completely mechanical. I wanted to dig it out of the ice to take a closer look, but I was hesitant to make that much noise before we had a better idea of our situation.

    ¡°I have found the remnants of the Zng,¡± Nuralie thought to us. ¡°There are¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Ca lot of them.¡±This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°How many are we talking?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I have found one legion of fifteen hundred soldiers. This chamber connects to others. There may be more.¡±

    ¡°A legion? What are they doing?¡±

    ¡°Nothing,¡± Nuralie replied. ¡°They are standing in formation, but they are a large source of the Spiritual mana.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s zombie soldiers, then?¡±

    ¡°Most identify as Preserved Zng Footsoldier: Undead, Grade 13.¡± Pause. ¡°There are also commanders at Grade 18 and flying bull snakes at Grade 20.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s a bull snake?¡± I asked. ¡°Not familiar with that species.¡±

    ¡°I was not referencing a taxonomical classification. They are thirty-foot-long snake skeletons wrapped in flowing dead meat with skulls like giant bulls. The System calls them Preserved Zng Serpents.¡±

    ¡°We can handle those Grades,¡± Varrin thought to us. ¡°But the quantity of enemies is worrying.¡±

    ¡°How close together are they?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°They are in hundred-person groups with only a couple of feet between each soldier,¡± Nuralie answered. ¡°The groups of one hundred are spaced about fifteen feet apart.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I got this,¡± Xim thought to us with more than a little excitement.

    ¡°Firebug?¡± I asked. Xim nodded with a grin.

    ¡°Can we avoid them?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°How good is your Stealth?¡±

    Nuralie¡¯s question was rhetorical. She was the only one with Stealth.

    ¡°Maybe they aren¡¯t hostile?¡± Etja added.

    Her question wasn¡¯t rhetorical. She was the only one with that level of optimism.

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to say hello as discreetly as I can,¡± I thought. ¡°If they attack, we go with Xim¡¯s plan.¡±

    *****

    We talked over some alternative strategies, the best of which involved me teleporting everyone around the danger. It wasn¡¯t terrible, but if we wound up between groups and tripped some kind of alarm, we¡¯d potentially have several legions bearing down on us from multiple directions. The skill was also loud and attention-grabbing by design when used to cross large distances.

    Still, I used Coordinated Thinker to map out some potential destinations, seeing if we could skip straight to the vault or the boss chamber, but Shortcut was sending me signals that using the skill would be expensive. The Delve had some effect that vastly increased the mana cost of a teleport based on the distance traveled. Grotto took inspiration from the idea for our own Delve and politely commanded us to find the weave responsible for the effect.

    We also considered sending Etja first, since she automatically Mesmerized nearby entities, but judged it too risky if a commander resisted. The effect also had a range much smaller than the chamber housing the legion, so she¡¯d only be able to get a small group, even if she was 100% successful.

    We settled on taking a closer look to help us decide and began making our way down the hall toward Nuralie¡¯s location. There weren¡¯t any traps or hazards on the way¨Caside from the eternally slippery ice, constant Wicked damage tick, and occasional heat blast from the runes. It was a fair distance away and we took our time in case Nuralie had missed something.

    I decided to make productive use of the stroll. We¡¯d talked over our short-term build directions before leaving Eschengal but hadn¡¯t settled on any final approaches.

    ¡°I think I¡¯ll go with placing five points into Fortitude to get the Dumping bonus, with the other three in Strength,¡± I thought. ¡°That¡¯ll get me to Fortitude 70 by Level 15. Then, if I put all eight into Strength at Level 16, I can get it to 40.¡±

    ¡°Your offense will suffer short-term,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°Regardless, I think it is a good plan. The Level 70 evolutions are typically more powerful than Level 40, and Fortitude is your closest. In fact, it may be ideal if we all tried to reach a Level 70 evolution before heading to the Littan mega Dungeon. That would give us a significant advantage over their Level 16 group.¡±

    ¡°In case they¡¯re up to something?¡± I asked.

    Varrin glanced over at me. ¡°Better to be safe,¡± he thought.

    I wanted to believe the Littans were being genuine with us, but I was also on board with Varrin¡¯s caution. ¡°What about intrinsics? I¡¯ll have two slots once we finish the Expansion Delves. I figured another crafting skill would be good, but I can''t decide on something we don¡¯t already have.¡±

    The group had also spent an afternoon working through our skills and comparing their overlap. We¡¯d used that to create a Dungeon priority list, choosing skills that would have the largest impact on the party as a whole.

    ¡°Athletics is boring but dependable,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°It could improve your mobility or help you dodge.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I was also considering Reconnaissance, but my revelations make a lot of its evolutions redundant or obsolete.¡±

    ¡°What about Animal Husbandry?¡± Etja suggested. ¡°You could get a pet!¡±

    ¡°There is an Animal Familiar passive,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°It is distinct from Bonded Familiar.¡±

    ¡°I sort of gave up the horde of Minions route when I picked Auradilato over Minion Menagerie,¡± I replied.

    ¡°No, you chose quality over quantity,¡± Varrin thought. ¡°Minion Menagerie granted bonuses based on having a large number of summons and familiars, but Auradilato improves your auras for all of your allies, while also empowering you. Another high-quality familiar would benefit from your auras and likely become a strong addition.¡±

    ¡°The party¡¯s already kind of busy,¡± I thought. ¡°Do we want to manage another combatant? With Shog and Grotto we¡¯re already a group of seven. Plus, what animal? Would I need to raise one? How much of a time commitment is that?¡±

    [I can always rear a beast for you,] Grotto suggested. [We could engineer something truly abhorrent to the sensibilities of mankind.]

    ¡°Or you could grab Nottagator,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°Nottagator¡¯s a berserker,¡± I thought, ¡°without any of Varrin¡¯s ability to discern allies from enemies. Plus they¡¯re built like a tank, so I don¡¯t think it¡¯d add much to our party composition.¡±

    [I am using Nottagator in the Pocket Delve. The Atrocidile is not for sale.]

    ¡°Oh, what about the plant?¡± asked Etja. ¡°It seems to like you!¡±

    ¡°How would that even work? It¡¯s kind of bound to the Closet.¡±

    [The Dominion Ivy of the Endless is also not for sale! Although, you may be able to raise another from a juvenile. We¡¯d need to experiment to determine the best growth conditions.]

    ¡°Is that an animal?¡± asked Xim. ¡°It¡¯s literally a plant.¡±

    [I would need to research, but it likely possesses intelligence and lack of communicative abilities sufficient to fall within the System¡¯s ¡®animal¡¯ categorization.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ interesting,¡± I admitted. ¡°But let¡¯s go back to crafting. I¡¯ve got a 100% progression bonus from my Human racial trait, so I wanna be craftier.¡±

    ¡°You do not smith much as it is,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Only due to lack of opportunity. It¡¯s on the List.¡±

    ¡°Wandmaking,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°You can take Woodworking, broadening the items you can create, and focus on wandcraft bonuses. Or, you could take the dedicated Wandmaking skill to wholly specialize in creating wands. It would also allow for the use of broader materials.¡±

    ¡°If you do that,¡± thought Etja, ¡°I definitely want some neat wands.¡± She held up her three empty hands. ¡°Look at all this untapped potential!¡±

    ¡°You know, I kind of like that idea,¡± I thought, looking at Etja¡¯s limbs. ¡°Thinking of underutilized appendages, I don¡¯t have a great use for the tentacles I get from Therianthropy at the moment. I just throw less awesome hammers. I can grab people too, but I¡¯m not built for that so it¡¯s only useful against weak shit. If I had a collection of wands, I could use them to blast more spells without burning mana.¡±

    [If you make even a meager attempt at creating a wand I can have the System prompt you with the skill. I would also be interested in ¡®borrowing¡¯ the ability for my own purposes. Few of your current intrinsics are useful for me to access via your Traveler¡¯s Amulet.]

    ¡°You could always pivot your build,¡± I thought. All I got back from that suggestion was a condescending chuckle.

    The psychic conversation ended as we got close to the Zng legion. Nuralie appeared from the shadows and had me float up the wall with Gracorvus to reach a narrow platform that ran into a massive staging area. It seemed like it was made for observation, though it didn¡¯t look like anything patrolled it. I belly crawled behind the loson¨Cwhich was more of a slide with the ice¨Cto peek out over the edge at the Undead army, trying my best to stay hidden.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I thought, observing the tightly packed formations. ¡°Firebug is definitely the play.¡±

 222 - 1,518

    The legion was spread out in a large chamber that looked like it might have once been an outdoor field. The side where Nuralie and I perched had windows and large doors that gave the impression of a building¡¯s exterior wall. The observation platform was about three stories up, with the second story featuring several small terraces accommodating tables and six-legged pieces of furniture beneath the ice, which I assumed were lounge chairs. There were a few dark forms beneath the ice that looked as though some of the Zng had been trapped within.

    On the other hand, the field was a featureless expanse with a floor of hard-packed earth. Several large poles stuck out of the ground with thin metal ropes and rigging that might have once held flags. The field was primarily surrounded by smooth walls made of the brickwork we¡¯d dug out above. On the two sides closest to us were decorated arches leading to wide tunnels, their surface covered in time-worn engravings.

    The soldiers¨Ctrue to Nuralie¡¯s description¨Cwere arrayed into hundred-person formations, each member standing upright and at attention with their ¡®rifles¡¯ aimed at the ground. They stood in squares of ten by ten, with three hundred-strong formations per row, five rows deep. Each formation had a single soldier standing ahead of the rest, which identified as the commander. I couldn¡¯t find an officer who looked to be in charge of the entire legion, someone I¡¯d expected to be at the front of the legion.

    The soldiers wore armor similar to what we¡¯d seen in the main hall leading in. Matte black, with a hint of blue at the joints, although the stuff in the field was less intricate. The commanders only had a small streak of brighter blue on their left shoulders to distinguish them from the rank and file.

    The holes in the helmets were, indeed, for horns. Each soldier had a pair of ivory horns sweeping forward from their heads. Their sizes were somewhat irregular but seemed to match the relative height of the soldiers, similar to any other organic feature, like the size of someone¡¯s feet. There didn¡¯t seem to be any pattern based on size, although some soldiers had streaks of silver in their horns, with a smaller number having half or more of one or both horns replaced by the metallic substance.

    This might have been a decorative choice like tattooing, but looked more like pottery that had been repaired with lacquer and gold. Silver, in this case. Kintsugi was the term if memory served. That made me think the horns had been carefully repaired. The ones that had been replaced might have been closer to prosthetics than intentional body mods.

    The smallest of the soldiers was around my height, with the most vertically gifted standing nearly eight feet tall. Their heads were entirely obscured by matte helms, with diverse, monstrous visages on each face.

    In the air above them were three of the Preserved Zng Serpents. They were covered in shifting, rotten meat that swirled around gore-covered bone. Their heads were indeed shaped like a bull¡¯s, although the horns swept at a more forward angle than a bull¡¯s, like they were meant to charge straight forward and skewer something; more of a weapon than a defensive tool.

    In total, the chamber was about 250 feet wide and 400 feet deep. The legion fit comfortably, but only just. The two tunnels were wide enough for five people to walk abreast, so evacuating the chamber could be done swiftly, but it would still take some time. I wouldn¡¯t have called it a fire hazard normally, but we weren¡¯t about to start a normal fire.

    Before any of that, however, I needed to make sure these Zng were actually hostile. The chances they¡¯d be friendly were low but, hey, maybe this Delve was a social challenge. Weirder things had happened.

    Nuralie stayed in position while I slid away and floated back down to ground level.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯m on board with trying diplomacy first,¡± I thought to the party, ¡°but I can see at least one fatal flaw in that approach.¡±

    ¡°We do not know what language they speak,¡± Nuralie finished for me.

    ¡°Yeah. Hard to negotiate through a language barrier.¡±

    [Fortunately, you have access to an ancient intelligence with endless libraries of dead languages on hand. I can translate for you, but I believe it would be better if you learned the language yourself.]

    I sighed and considered Grotto¡¯s offer. My birth sign gave me a massive aptitude for languages, but I still had to study. I couldn¡¯t just magically understand what they were saying.

    ¡°How long did it take you to learn Imperial?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°A month of casual study. Maybe 100 hours total.¡±

    [You have gained substantial improvements in Intelligence and Speed since then. Although this language does not share a common root with Imperial, I expect the process will be much faster, regardless.]

    ¡°Okay. Let¡¯s back off and I¡¯ll give it a shot. Nuralie can stay and keep watch. Hopefully, these guys stay put like they have for the last however many thousands of years.¡±

    *****

    Two ten-hour sessions with a one-hour break. That¡¯s how long it took me to become passably fluent in the dead language of Zng.

    The only reason I¡¯d wanted the break is because¨Cwhile it wasn¡¯t killing us¨Cthe Wicked damage was a persistent, uncomfortable sensation. I felt like an electric current of sadness constantly permeated my body. It wasn¡¯t enough to break my concentration, but it added to my mental fatigue. On that note, if our regen hadn¡¯t outpaced the Wicked damage, there was no way I¡¯d have been able to take a twenty-one-hour scholastic intermission.

    The rest of the party spent the time productively. Xim and Nuralie meditated on their revelations¨Cthe latter able to keep watch while doing so¨Cwhile Etja worked on layering her gravity spell, Siphon, onto Varrin¡¯s attacks. She¡¯d been trying to weave her spells into everyone else¡¯s Active Skills over the last few days, with a decent amount of success.

    Everyone also took naps, aside from Nuralie and I. The soldiers stood as still as the corpses they were, the entire time. It seemed like the miasma was the Delve¡¯s main way to press the party forward.

    Once I was done, everyone roused themselves and got ready to jump into action as soon as things went sideways. I walked the rest of the way down the hall to enter the legion¡¯s field via the normal route. A set of large double doors at the end of the hallway was wide open, and it didn¡¯t take long before the first commander noticed me.

    I had my hands in the air, trying to look as non-threatening as I could. Sure, I was wearing full heavy-plate armor, but Gracorvus was stored in its armguard and Somncres wasn¡¯t summoned. Plus, who¡¯d be threatened by a friendly guy in a feather boa?

    The first commander barked a single syllable at the other two. They turned, then followed his gaze to see me slowly approaching. Each one signaled their company. The front row of all three forward groups shifted to raise their weapons. They were still pointed at the ground but at a shallower angle. I came to a stop as the three commanders exchanged a few terse sentences.

    The language of the Zng was flowy and elegant, close to what I¡¯d imagined Elvish might sound like. Unfortunately, this musical language was somewhat marred by the gristle and bone the Undead commanders had for vocal chords.

    After a brief discussion, one of the commanders marched forward. Maybe this one was the ranking officer, or maybe they¡¯d drawn the short straw. The other two stepped around their companies and out of the line of fire.

    The approaching officer paused twenty feet away and shouted a question at me.

    ¡°What hand falls upon the diadem?¡± the raspy Undead commander asked.

    I barely managed to keep a frustrated expression off my face.

    ¡°Any idea how to respond to that, Grotto?¡± I thought to my familiar.

    [I can think of enough potential replies that selecting one to give preference to is likely futile. The question references a Zng historical anecdote, wherein touching the diadem has deep cultural significance. This significance varies based on context, however. It was frequently used to request a passphrase, which seems the most likely use here.]The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Then he just asked ¡®What¡¯s the code word?¡¯¡±

    [If I were forced to choose an interpretation, yes.]

    ¡°Is it possible the answer is ¡®Girls suck,¡¯ or ¡®Open sesame¡¯?¡±

    [Gender segregation was not a common phenomenon amongst the Zng. Perhaps you should try ¡®Password¡¯.]

    ¡°123456?¡±

    [Alphabetics are more likely. ¡®ABCDEF¡¯?]

    ¡°What about special characters?¡±

    [How would you express that phonetically?]

    ¡°Secret at code dot phrase.¡±

    [Yes, go ahead and try that one. I am certain you are onto something.]

    I sent Grotto a psychic eye roll and pushed down my irritation at learning an entire language only to get stonewalled with the first sentence.

    ¡°Apologies,¡± I said. ¡°I am unfamiliar with your customs. I¡¯m actually a diplomat from a foreign nation. Perhaps I could speak to someone in leadership?¡±

    The commander jumped backward, disappearing behind their company. Thirty soldiers raised their weapons, aiming at me instead of the ground.

    They opened fire.

    I had Gracorvus up and ready to intercept, but the strange rifles didn¡¯t fire kinetic projectiles. I heard a rapid scattering of pops as small spatial distortions formed in the air around me, leaving vacuums in their wake as they cracked against my armor and shield. I felt them tug at the flesh beneath my exposed limbs before I dropped down to cover my entire body with my shield.

    The hits stung but weren¡¯t particularly effective. Each pop that made it past my shield only did ten or so damage, but each soldier was firing multiple shots per second. Without Gracorvus taking the bulk of the beating, they¡¯d have shredded me in a couple of seconds.

    ¡°Soft diplomacy has failed,¡± I thought to the group.

    ¡°Swapping to hard diplomacy,¡± Xim replied.

    Xim appeared on the platform above us and dropped Judgment in the middle of the company standing front and center.

    Judgment had a ten-foot radius, which hit fifteen or so soldiers in the middle of the company. Each of those fifteen soldiers was Ignited with Divine fire, which dealt a healthy tick of Righteous damage. If that¡¯s all the effect did, we¡¯d have still been in a pretty rough spot. However, Xim had a nifty Passive skill that made the spell way, way more devastating for tightly grouped enemies.

    Fire Spreader

    Whenever you Ignite an enemy, for every second they remain Ignited there is a 50% chance that another enemy within 5 feet of them will become Ignited. This chance may only occur a number of times equal to your CHA divided by 10 per Ignited enemy, with a minimum number of instances equal to 2.

    Xim had a Charisma of 46, meaning each Ignited soldier would, on average, Ignite two more soldiers within five feet of them. Those soldiers would then Ignite two more standing next to them, and so on. The fire would rapidly spread and consume the entire company if something didn¡¯t intervene to stop it.

    There were about fifteen feet between companies, which was too far for the fire to spread on its own. With discipline, the damage could have been contained. Sadly for the Zng, Etja and I started making containment more difficult.

    Etja rushed down the hall behind me at full speed, reaching out to embrace me with her soul and merge Siphon into my next spell. I used Therianthropy and leapt into the air, keeping as much of my body hidden behind Gracorvus as possible. I felt out the center of the company and snapped my fingers, dropping an instant-cast Explosion!

    Explosion!¡¯s normal knockback was enhanced by Etja¡¯s gravity magic, hurling the Ignited soldiers like they weighed next to nothing, which they did for a few seconds. Several of the flaming Zng scattered into the midst of their neighboring companies, once more beginning the spread of the flames.

    The Zng had the discipline of well-trained soldiers and the single-mindedness of unfeeling dead. Even so, the scene quickly broke down into chaos. There wasn¡¯t enough room for the Zng in the back to safely maneuver around the flames, and any who tried were Ignited in short order.

    The commanders each had ways to extinguish the flames on themselves, but while buried in a press of fire-spreading bodies, the status effect simply hit them again.

    Meanwhile, our party was immune to the effect. In fact, Xim¡¯s fire was beneficial to us, granting us a light Cleanse when we moved through it. We rushed into the inferno and began cutting down the commanders before they could get organized, then used our skills to knock more Ignited soldiers into the companies behind them.

    My Elemental Barrier shoved enemies thirteen feet back to its edge, Etja hurled people around with Siphon, and Varrin simply grabbed soldiers and chucked them away. Nuralie sniped the more distant commanders, while Xim spammed Judgment to further accelerate the conflagration.

    The three Zng Serpents posed the greatest danger but were smart enough to stay above the flames. They charged Xim, who tried to use her Fear AoE to scare them off. Sadly, the Undead were resistant to those shenanigans, and I was forced to intervene.

    I teleported in front of Xim and used Elemental Barrier for area denial, then cast Explosion! to try and knock them away. The Serpents had size and momentum behind them, allowing them to resist the knockbacks, but they opted to release billowing clouds of noxious gas rather than skewer me with their horns.

    The gas was nasty, filling the air with impenetrable darkness while applying Toxicity and Bleeding along with a dose of Wicked damage. Against someone else, it would probably have been devastating.

    For me, it was annoying.

    I kept track of the enemies through the darkness with Soul-Sight, had solid Poison resistance from my gear and Exposure Therapy achievement, was immune to Bleeding, and the Wicked damage wasn¡¯t serious enough on its own to threaten my massive health pool.

    Xim Ignited the Serpents while I stayed in their faces to keep them busy. Their bone and rotten flesh bodies were weak to Blunt damage, allowing my hammers to chunk away massive shards of snake spine. Their charges meant to gore me had trouble penetrating my defenses, leaving me to believe their breath weapons were their primary offensive weapon. Denied that, they weren¡¯t so bad.

    Varrin and Etja broke away from the legion once the fire was omnipresent to support the fight, and the Serpents were dealt with before I had too many holes in me. I flew down into the raging fire to cleanse what Toxicity had built up, and would need to wait thirty minutes for my regen to clear the Wicked damage. Overall, I wouldn¡¯t have called the encounter trivial, but we¡¯d been well set up for it.

    Varrin tried to pull a few commanders from the flames for interrogation, but once Xim extinguished them, the commanders chose to end themselves rather than give up any intel. Their souls broke apart and dissipated in a scant few seconds. Irritating, but I could respect the tactic.

    In less than a minute the Undead legion had been reduced to a field of ash. Even their equipment had broken apart into crumbling dust, whatever magicks holding it together fading with the souls of the Zng. We got a wealth of knowledge on the Zng¡¯s combat capabilities, but next to nothing relating to the Delve¡¯s layout or the location of the armory and the Zng¡¯s supreme commander.

    The fight had been profitable in other ways, though.

    Your party has slain 1 Zng Legion: Undead Horde, Grade 23

    Your party receives the following rewards:

    1) 18 Emerald Chips

    2) 1,500 Ruby Chips

    3) 18 Death Essences

    You receive 3 Emerald Chips and 300 Ruby Chips. The remainder of 3 Emerald Chips has been awarded to Xim Xor¡¯Drel for outstanding contribution.

    As party leader, you receive 18 Death Essences.

    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I said, reading through the notification. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of mana chips, but less than we¡¯d get per enemy for similar Grades based on our prior Delves.¡±

    ¡°Are we getting short-changed, Grotto?¡± asked Xim.

    [Many factors affect chip rewards. The System considered the legion a singular entity, yet the rewards were higher than if the legion actually were a single Grade 23. While I support your jaded descent into greed in the face of vast wealth, I believe this was an outsized payment for the difficulty of the challenge.]

    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± I said. ¡°It would have been way harder if they¡¯d just had a good sprinkler system. You know, one filled with some kind of unholy water that worked on Xim¡¯s Divine fire.¡±

    ¡°What now?¡± asked Etja. ¡°Do we pick a hall and go for it?¡±

    ¡°Let me feel around some more with Coordinated Thinker,¡± I said. ¡°That hallway was more than two miles long, so we¡¯ve advanced a decent distance. Maybe I can figure out which direction is better.¡±

    ¡°Why make a hallway that¡¯s two miles long, anyway?¡± asked Xim.

    [There are several reasons the Delve Core might have elongated it. I doubt it was an original feature of the Throne.]

    While everyone else chatted, I sat down and closed my eyes, searching through the facility for valid Shortcut destinations. Going more than a half mile or so would drain all of my mana, but I could still use the sense to cheat a bit. Now that I¡¯d had a good look at the legion, I could root around for similar groups. It was slow and tedious, but the information we¡¯d gain was worth it. Since the Delve didn¡¯t have a time limit, we planned on taking this one nice and slow.

    That was the plan, anyway.

    ¡°Found a total dead spot,¡± I said, after two hours of searching. ¡°I¡¯m betting it¡¯s the vault and that it¡¯s warded to shit against teleportation and such. If we fight through another legion I can probably move us strangeward with Shortcut to jump past its defenses without burning all my mana.¡±

    ¡°Then,¡± said Xim, ¡°you can stuff everything inside your effectively limitless inventory and we can go look for the boss.¡±

    ¡°Sounds great!¡± said Etja.

    [I can only imagine what a nightmare this party is for whatever unfortunate Core is in charge.]

 223 - Please Die

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: DELVE CORE 9963

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Sometimes it¡¯s better to cut your losses.

    ***

    Delve Core 9963 had come online after a brief, eighty-year nap to discover Phase 2 had been implemented. She¡¯d been surprised it had happened so soon, but also excited beyond words to finally see her Delve in action.

    She¡¯d worked so hard to unearth and capture the Throne of Zng after the fall of the prior generation. Millennia of meticulous planning, millennia of stealthily invading, and yet more millennia of slowly converting the Undead within from a sleeping army into proper Delve creatures. All that effort, and she¡¯d never even gotten to see it tear the guts out of a single Delver!

    The Throne of Zng had been denied participation in Phase 1 for being too dangerous, which Core 9963 chose to interpret as being too awesome. It wasn¡¯t her fault she was an incredible Delve designer. Well, no, it was, but that was definitely a virtue and not a shortcoming. It was a sign of her extraordinary talent that her Delve had to be put on ice, pun intended.

    Were the contents of her Delve an existential risk to a Phase 1 civilization?

    No way!

    It was just a teeny little Undead army. Not even a full half million captured souls, all-in. Their average Grade was below Level 20, and even though there were one, or two¨Cokay, a hundred¨Cminor outliers vastly more powerful than the rest, those were just backups. She wasn¡¯t going to deploy them! Besides, the mana density was way too low for the Goliaths to even function properly. They were growth opportunities. Literally. She wanted to know how big she could get them.

    And, she definitely had full control of everything else inside, including the experimental Elder Liches. They weren¡¯t anywhere close to breaching their containment. She¡¯d even double-checked the weaves here and there and had only ever needed to make a few¨Cvery minor¨Cadjustments and repairs.

    What kind of trash Delve Core didn¡¯t have total control of their Delve monsters? Core 9963 was a professional, not some garbage rusty-shell playing fast and loose with their necromantic rituals and safeguards. Not any of the important ones, at least.

    Sadly, System Core 1 was unpersuaded.

    So, Core 9963 was forced to wait, not just until Phase 2 came along, but also for someone to actually find the Delve. SC1 wasn¡¯t willing to grant a direct portal, and hearing that, 9963 had felt the tiniest bit of regret over her choice of location.

    The moonfall had buried the whole Zng civilization beneath ice. Without a System prompt, how would anybody find the place? Was she supposed to wait until somebody came to the middle of no-fucking-where and dug?!

    Still, she¡¯d had faith. Delvers were resourceful. And, as it turned out, more resourceful than she¡¯d even thought! The transition had been less than a month ago, and there was already a party inside her lovely, fantabulous Delve.

    And she fucking hated them.

    The¡­ the indignation, the rage she felt, it was overwhelming. The meatbags weren¡¯t doing anything the intended way! Core 9963 prided herself on providing Delvers with many different paths to solving a challenge, but they weren¡¯t solving shit! They were just breaking everything!

    First, her carefully crafted Wicked ice. Always slick, always emitting deadly fumes, it was supposed to send Delvers into a panic, then test their ability to adapt to the pressure! There were a bajilliondy ways to disable the weaves or counteract the debuff, but this group just friggin¡¯ ignored it! It¡¯s like they didn¡¯t even care. Did they enjoy the suffering?

    Next, her meticulously planned entry hall. Miles of hidden secrets buried beneath the ice. Clues and trinkets, there was even an amulet that would translate Zng for them! A mile further in was a coded storybook that would have given them the password the Zng soldiers would ask for. They barely glanced at any of it!

    Was it all trapped to shit? Yes, of course. Were there thousands of decoy items? Duh! Would digging through the ice make the Wicked debuff worse? It would, but that was the challenge. Once the Delvers saw an entire legion of Undead, they were supposed to panic again! Then they could retrace their steps and hunt for the clues, dealing with more reasonable hazards than a flubbin¡¯ army rated eleven Grades higher than their party!

    They didn¡¯t even look for a way to translate the language. Some asshole in a feather boa sat and muttered to himself for an entire day straight, and was suddenly fluent. Core 9963 had never even heard of that skill, and the System refused to cough up any info on it.

    Right, so Feathers McFashion learned the language. Next, they should have tried to figure out whether there was a code or something, right? No again. They took a look at 1,518 enemies with Grades ranging from 13 to 20 and thought ¡°Hey, that looks like something we could fight.¡± Hello? No, it doesn¡¯t! They were Level 12!

    And then, they murdered everything. They even made it look easy.

    EASY!

    At that point, Core 9963 queried SC1 for guidance, but all she got back was a mad cackle. By the time she figured out how SC1 could even cackle in the machine language, the party had killed another legion and some-fucking-how teleported into the armory vault!

    Core 9963 had dozens of weaves making teleportation a pain. The vault was buried, without any obvious access routes. It was warded against scrying, three types of instant movement, dimensional shifting, phasing, incorporeal infiltration, and yes, teleportation. They were supposed to trap the spirit of one of the commanders who¡¯d tell them where it was, but they just sort of¡­ found it anyway?

    After that, they were supposed to fight a Spectral Vault Guardian. That was a three-phase fight with an entire wing of the Delve dedicated to it. Core 9963 had spent a decade planning it out! They¡¯d teleported past the boss, oh well. They hadn¡¯t even set off any of the traps or alarms, since those were all outside the vault.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Core 9963 had to dig through her logs to figure out how they¡¯d done it. Finally, she checked the sensor grid she¡¯d installed in preparation for her next expansion and realized the Bearded Menace had taken them through the fourth dimension.

    Standard protocols didn¡¯t recommend warding against higher dimensions until the Delve was rated for Level 20, at the earliest!

    They were Level 12.

    Level 12!

    That was the absolute minimum Level required to enter.

    Once they were inside the vault, Core 9963 watched them stuff several tons of gear into Featherbeard¡¯s inventory, which made as much sense as everything else they¡¯d done. A thousand ingots of Prismatite, gone. A hundred Prototype Spatial rifles, gone. Thirty suits of Prismatite-infused carbonweave armor, gone. At least those were the wrong size for them, and good luck breaking them down for parts. Their civilization was barely out of the stone age, for fuck¡¯s sake.

    Well, Core 9963 wasn¡¯t going to sit around and let them stomp their stinky boots all across her work¨Cher artistry¨Cwithout retribution. They wanted to avoid the Vault Guardian? Pah! If they were going to teleport into places they shouldn¡¯t be able to, then she was going to teleport things into places that she shouldn¡¯t!

    The Guardian was meant to be fought in a wide open space with plenty of terrain to hide behind, but if the party insisted on doing things the wrong way, then they could fight the overpowered golem in the wrong room. Being trapped in a 2,000-square-foot space was going to make the fight brutal.

    Core 9963 cut power to the weaves protecting the armory, and sent the self-satisfied party their reward for being total jerks.

    ***

    END SYSTEM ADDENDUM

    ***

    *****

    I looked over the empty chests and shelves of the Throne¡¯s armory, feeling quite proud of myself. The Delve was, as I¡¯d hoped, a two-fer. We were well on our way to finishing the Expansion Delve and not only did we have our Prismatite, but we even had a ton of ancient, high-tech goodies to play around with.

    Between me, Grotto, and Nuralie, I was pretty confident we could puzzle out how all the gadgets and gizmos worked. I didn¡¯t think any of us planned to start using magic guns, but if we couldn¡¯t use it all ourselves, then maybe I could give Closetland the world¡¯s most advanced spec-ops platoon.

    Honestly, that name was growing on me. It kind of sounded like a theme park. The theme would be me, of course, so you know that park was definitely going to be a fun one. There could be attractions based around all the Delves we¡¯d done. The fight with the Pit would be a killer mountain-style rollercoaster.

    Anyway, we were just about to figure out where to teleport next when a boss showed up out of thin air. Kind of an inconvenience, a bit rude, and also random.

    Etja Mesmerized it.

    Normally that wouldn¡¯t have saved the rest of us, but she also Distracted it by talking about how she¡¯d felt living as a golem for a brief time. The Spectral Vault Guardian had been formed from a conglomerate of trapped souls, so it had a lot of empathy towards being a sentient entity bound to another¡¯s will. I was able to translate for our mage without interfering too much with her Charisma checks. Sage Advice helped a lot with that.

    They chatted for an hour until the golem had decided it didn¡¯t want to kill any of us. In fact, it didn¡¯t want to kill anything. The Guardian was a softie at heart.

    It was also a potent Spiritual entity, so I decided to ask it some questions.

    ¡°Say, Vaulty, can I pick your artificial brain about something?¡± I said in Zng. The golem had picked the nickname itself since its composite souls didn¡¯t possess sufficient individualism to remember their names.

    ¡°Sure,¡± said the golem. Its heavy metal legs pivoted, letting its multi-ton frame settle onto the ground with a clunk. The Guardian¡¯s upper body swung towards me with a whine of its servos. ¡°What do you need?¡±

    Although the golem was mainly made up of an amalgamation of incorporeal specters, it had a robotic outer shell that served as a red herring. Once the physical components were destroyed, it actually became more powerful. It could also split into multiple lesser specters that would steal life force and allow it to reform once its soul had been damaged. It sounded like a solid setup for a three-phase fight that I was a little disappointed we were missing out on. But, Vaulty was pretty chill and I had no desire to hurt the big dude.

    ¡°We¡¯re in a little hot water with a problem related to mental magicks,¡± I said. ¡°Being a powerful Spiritual entity, I was wondering if you happened to have any expertise in that area?¡±

    ¡°What kind of mental effects?¡± Vaulty asked.

    ¡°Semi-permanent manipulation, likely originating from some overpowered version of Dominate.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said the golem. ¡°No. I am capable with a variety of mental debuffs such as Fear and Psychosis, but I am no Dominator. I do not even dabble in possessions, since I find the practice abhorrent.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, then do you happen to know a master of mental magicks powerful enough to manipulate souls at a deific or near-deific level?¡±

    ¡°Gods, no,¡± said Vaulty. ¡°If I knew that such an entity was within a thousand miles of me, I would flee. They are despicable, vile, perverted corruptors who pursue mastery over the greatest sins imaginable. One¡¯s own thoughts should be sacred, an inviolable sanctuary. Seeking the power to desecrate that is the highest of taboos.¡±

    I shifted my lips back and forth as I thought. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be indelicate, but isn¡¯t that kind of what¡¯s happening to you?¡±

    Vaulty¡¯s glowing red eyes narrowed as it stared at the wall in thought. ¡°I believe I would like to leave this place.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I can understand why,¡± I said. ¡°By the way, do golems count as living creatures?¡±

    [Not typically, although there are exceptions, such as Etja.]

    ¡°Could I¡­ put Vaulty in my inventory?¡±

    [Perhaps. Although, you would need to be able to lift him. He would also be protected by his controller¡¯s will, which would oppose your attempt.]

    ¡°You have an inventory space with that much capacity?¡±

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Plenty of space in there.¡±

    ¡°I am aware of the binding rituals used to compel me. I cannot alter them on my own, or assist another in altering them, but I can give you their locations.¡±

    [Assuming the golem was bound by a Core, I have sufficient knowledge to compromise their control, especially since the spirit is aware of its captivity.]

    ¡°Then we can take you with us if you¡¯d like.¡± I looked over the golem¡¯s massive frame. ¡°We might need to disassemble you some, so I can pick up the pieces and store them. How¡¯s that sound?¡±

    ¡°I am reluctant to trust a stranger with my frame, but¡­¡± The golem glanced over at Etja, who gave him a beaming smile. ¡°Since you are a friend of Etja¡¯s, I will take the chance.¡±

    ¡°Great!¡± I said. ¡°Let¡¯s get started, then. Once we¡¯re out, you can decide what you want your future to look like.¡±

    And so we stole the Delve¡¯s optional boss. Hopefully, the Core wouldn¡¯t be too upset about it. Buuuuuut if they were anything like Grotto, we were about to make a little murder ball pretty angry with us.

    Fuck it, we were shitting all over this Delve, we could handle it.

 224 - Handling It

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: DELVE CORE 9963

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Those bastards.

    ***

    Core 9963 watched the Delvers work in shock. She couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing, so she reset her sensor arrays and even did a soft reboot of her operating system. When everything came back online, the scene before her was the same.

    They were stealing her Minion.

    The social victory was one thing. That was irritating but valid. Not all Delvers preferred to solve their problems with violence and 9963 allowed some leeway for ¡®talk-it-out¡¯ solutions, even though they were dumb and not nearly as cool as dismemberment.

    Sure, the boss had high Wisdom, immunity to several mental debuffs, and was designed to be omni-hostile. It wasn¡¯t supposed to be something that could be beaten through, ugh, Mesmerize. Even so, it was fair play and she wasn¡¯t mad about it.

    ¡­

    Honestly, Mesmerize wasn¡¯t even that great! The debuff hadn¡¯t been on her radar at all. It only protected the one person who Mesmerized the enemy, and definitely should not have extended to the entire party. It was a gimmick to keep the squishies safe, not something to break open an entire boss encounter with!

    Of course, their Charisma mage had¨Clike the Vault Guardian¨Calso been a golem for some fucking reason. The Vault Guardian¡¯s empathy restrictions had been overtaxed by the mage¡¯s¨Cadmittedly¨Cheartwrenching diatribe on how she¡¯d struggled to find herself after breaking free of the person who¡¯d defined her entire existence¨Cher dad.

    Her dad was also the golemancer who¡¯d made her, which was a weird family dynamic. Also, the mage was a high priestess who¡¯d worshipped her dad as a god? Or, she was a model based on the priestess. And her dad kind of was a god, but only the avatar of half of one¡­ or something.

    Core 9963 had trouble wrapping her chassis around it, so she ignored the mage¡¯s tragic and overly complicated backstory to focus on more important things.

    Revenge.

    Social victory aside, these Delvers had transgressed. Unsatisfied with their lame and boring Mesmerize exploit, these assholes had decided to steal from her! They broke down the Guardian¡¯s binding arrays like they were friggin¡¯ experts on Delve Core golem assembly. Then, they¡¯d disassembled the big oaf and stuffed him into the Full Bearded Donkey¡¯s seemingly endless inventory.

    Well, Core 9963 wasn¡¯t going to sit idle as she watched the burglary in action. She pulled up the control sigils for the Throne¡¯s current final boss and ensured everything was powered and ready to go. Then, she pored over the hundreds of chambers within the Delve, looking for the best place to drop the potent Undead.

    The boss chamber alone was no longer good enough.

    She paused as she brought up one of the primary holding facilities. There were ten legions inside, along with a dozen Spiritual collectors that could repurpose the Undead souls if they were destroyed. If the Delvers rampaged through the army, she could ramp up power to her fabricators and pump out Wraiths like nobody¡¯s business!

    Plus, the Demi-Lich Commander boss could fire off AoE buffs and reassemble the Undead that hadn¡¯t been completely destroyed.

    The only teeny tiny little minor issue was that those collectors also managed power to one of her ¡®projects¡¯. It drew ambient Spiritual energy from the 15,180 Undead within to maintain her backup containment weaves.

    She debated whether the risk of damage to the weaves was worth seeing the Delvers put in their rightful place for an eternal 0.03 seconds.

    They were just backups.

    It would be fine!

    The felonious party would be too busy trying to survive to pay attention to anything other than the horde. Besides, the collectors were on the ceiling, and fleshbags never looked up anyway.

    She teleported the boss to Detention Center No. 1 and worked on subtly enticing the Delvers to find their way inside.

    ***

    END ADDENDUM

    ***

    *****

    We made good time sending Vaulty into the Closet via my inventory screen, where Grotto would reassemble the friendly boss and let him stretch his legs. However, before we¡¯d even been able to pat each other on the back for a job well done, a portal opened. Accompanying the portal was a System message that I would describe as ¡°suspicious as shit¡±.

    Bonus objective completed!

    Congratulations, you totally did the armory section exactly how it was supposed to be done! I¡¯m super surprised at how talented you are.

    As a reward, you can skip straight to the boss! No need to keep slogging your way through legions and wasting your time exploring the place, especially since you¡¯ve been ignoring 90% of it. You¡¯re probably really busy, so I completely understand why you wouldn¡¯t be interested in wasting your time with the rich Zng history, the compellingly designed environment, or any of the dozens of riddles and sub-challenges that were lovingly added in. Nope, no time for that. I get it.

    So, boss! You can go through this portal and it¡¯ll take you straight there.

    Really it¡¯s just a formality at this point. You¡¯ve 100% proven you deserve to beat the place, so just go fight the boss and you¡¯ll be done. It probably won¡¯t even be hard since you¡¯re so strong and skillful.

    Yeah! Boss time!

    Go through the fucking portal.

    [I believe the Delve Core is upset with you.]

    ¡°Upset with us,¡± I thought to my familiar. ¡°Don¡¯t run from the responsibility of being an enabler.¡±

    ¡°We should not take this portal,¡± Nuralie thought to the group. ¡°It is the most obvious trap I have ever seen.¡±

    ¡°Since we know about it, we can make it into a reverse trap!¡± thought Etja.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I thought. ¡°How would that work?¡±

    ¡°We walk into the trap, but blow it up instead!¡±

    ¡°I guess I could do that.¡±

    ¡°For how long can you channel Explosion?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Sorry, what spell is that?¡± I replied, making an exaggerated show of my confusion.

    Varrin rolled his eyes. ¡°How big can you make your Explosion!?¡±

    ¡°Oh, that spell. Sorry, your pronunciation was off the first time. Let me do the math.¡± I took a quick breath. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve done the math. With my current mana pool, I can get a 265-foot radius, up to 795 if Etja soul hugs me to add her Finishing Move. If Etja also adds a spell that¡¯s mana-shaped for size, we can probably get the radius up to around 1,300.¡±

    ¡°That is a half-mile diameter,¡± thought Nuralie. ¡°That would encompass more than six of the legion chambers we have encountered.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°It¡¯d also be enough damage to kill anything we¡¯ve found so far,¡± I thought. ¡°Hmm, maybe not Vaulty since we don¡¯t know what his health and defenses looked like. Still, if the boss has any adds it would take care of them and probably put a big dent in the boss¡¯s resources.¡±

    ¡°How much mana would you have left?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Twenty. I¡¯d be juiced.¡±

    ¡°But it would be fun!¡± Etja thought.

    ¡°What happened to talking to them?¡± asked Nuralie.

    I waved at the portal. ¡°What are the chances the Delve core is taking us toward something we can have a chat with?¡±

    ¡°Low,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°But not zero,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°I can charge up a quarter mile and give us eighteen seconds for diplomacy.¡±

    ¡°Eighteen seconds is a long time in a fight,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°If we are attacked immediately, we would lose a significant advantage.¡±

    ¡°But if they do want to talk, I¡¯d have an extra two hundred mana to work with when it goes south.¡±

    ¡°Sounds reasonable,¡± thought Xim. ¡°If we go in and decide we¡¯re in trouble I can burn my cooldowns.¡±

    ¡°How many?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That depends on how much trouble there is.¡±

    [I am extremely doubtful there will be a peaceful solution.]

    ¡°Do these Undead have souls?¡± asked Etja.

    I turned to her, surprised by the question. ¡°They do.¡±

    ¡°Then they¡¯re people being enslaved by a Delve Core, trapped in eternal servitude as Undead pawns. If we kill them and release their souls, we¡¯re ending their suffering.¡±

    Everyone paused to absorb Etja¡¯s words, which had been spoken with such venom and conviction it was like she¡¯d become another person for a few seconds. Her talk with Vaulty had awoken some strong emotions.

    ¡°Are you advocating for us to use Plan: Final Flash?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± thought Etja, shaking her head. ¡°I want us to use Plan: Serious Punch.¡±

    The psychic comms went silent as we digested her suggestion.

    ¡°We¡¯ve never used that one.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve never needed to use that one,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°We have come close,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Only mid-fight,¡± Xim replied. ¡°We¡¯ve never gone in with it from the beginning.¡±

    ¡°What about Normal Punch?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That still seems like overkill,¡± thought Xim. ¡°This Delve hasn¡¯t been hard.¡±

    Grotto chuckled but didn¡¯t add anything.

    ¡°We cannot use Serious Punch without Shog,¡± Varrin thought.

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± thought Xim.

    ¡°How about First Comes Rock?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That would give us more flexibility,¡± thought Varrin.

    Etja crossed one pair of her arms. ¡°If we¡¯re using the Hunter category, we should jump straight to Aura Synthesis.¡±

    *****

    We discussed several more options with highly original names that I assure you I did not steal from my favorite anime shows. Finally, we decided to open with Aura Synthesis and then pivot based on what we found.

    Normally we¡¯d have preferred to scout, but with an angry Delve Core sending us to an unknown location, we were worried that Nuralie would wind up in a deadly situation.

    Xim maxed out our Blessed stacks and cast the Blessings of Hunger and Pounding on Varrin. We all took a Potion of Clarity from Nuralie to improve our mental defenses. Varrin manifested one soul clone, and Etja used her soul hug on me and we built up our Explosion! combo. I made sure Life Warden was up on Etja.

    Just before entering the portal, I activated Aura of Persistence, granting everyone Shielding, Xim activated Sam¡¯lia¡¯s Warmth, granting everyone healing, Varrin used Enrage to prime his Berserk buffs, and Nuralie used a new skill called Wraithwalk, which made her incorporeal while still allowing her to make attacks. She was sticking with the group for this strategy, so she needed survivability if the enemy started throwing down AoEs.

    We all either grabbed or were grabbed by Varrin¨CExcept for Nuralie because she couldn¡¯t, due to being incorporeal¨Cand the big guy flew us into the portal at full speed. Nuralie was fast enough to keep up without issue.

    We appeared in a chamber that was two miles wide, in the middle of a fucking Undead army.

    I quickly surveyed the enemy and took in the thousands of soldiers. Then I did what any smart Delver would do and looked up to check on the number of Serpents. There were dozens of them looping through the air throughout the chamber, about a hundred feet off the ground. An Undead woman hovered amongst them, wearing ornate golden armor over dark flowing robes. She was directly overhead.

    Grand Commander Lillithin Tyrianaeonis: Demilich, Grade 26

    A thousand feet above her, I noticed several devices spread across the ceiling that pulsed and blazed in my mana sight. I figured those were probably important, so I¡¯d keep a close watch to see if they did anything.

    There was also a massive ritual weave on the ground, encircling us.

    The position the Delve Core had put us in was probably meant to be intimidating. I understood why they thought it was a good move. We were at the center of four legions forming a perfect kill box on all sides. Crossfire apparently wasn¡¯t an issue with their weird guns.

    The closest Undead was over 100 feet away, putting them outside of melee and even most mid-range spells. The boss was in the air, where flightless Delvers might struggle to reach her, but close enough to start dropping the hammer on us as soon as we appeared.

    There were many ways to make this more lethal, though. It was still a tough position to be in, but they¡¯d seriously underestimated our range.

    My Speed, Intelligence, and Wisdom allowed me to soak in these details in about a quarter of a second. I immediately tried the olive branch.

    ¡°We¡¯re here to talk!¡± I shouted in Zng.

    That went over as well as we¡¯d suspected it would. When the first spatial rifle tickled my ribs with its attack and the ritual circle started glowing, we executed our plan.

    I snapped and released a 650-foot radius Explosion! I¡¯d been charging for eighteen seconds. The four legions were 400 feet deep and 125 feet away. Explosion! caught them all. Etja¡¯s chosen spell to combine with my big boom was Nullify, which we reasoned made sense as a defensive measure, in case the Core was dropping us into a magic death trap. In a sense, they had. The massive ritual circle certainly wasn¡¯t there for our benefit.

    A thunderous clap shook the air and a pressure wave, roiling with blue mana-eating energy, rolled out at the speed of sound. The ground cracked and splintered, whipping dust and shards of stone into the maelstrom. The Undead on all sides were torn asunder as the detonation struck their front lines. Armor crumpled, thousands of bodies ragdolled through the air, colliding and crushing one another as sharp rocks tore through bodies like paper.

    Nullify ripped apart the mana weave at our feet, canceling whatever magic the Demilich was working. The Grand Commander also wasn¡¯t spared the Explosion! The blast hurtled her upward, sending her careening several hundred feet higher amidst shredded gore and bone from a dozen annihilated Serpents.

    Then, everything got sucked.

    My new version of Explosion! had two phases. The first was the normal detonation, the form the spell took if I used it as an instant cast. However, once I¡¯d channeled it for three seconds or more, it pulled enemies to its center after the initial blast.

    Nearly five thousand bodies froze in the air and reversed course, along with the stone and debris. The Demilich crashed down toward us¨Cstill alive¨Cand I made a split-second decision.

    ¡°Grapple,¡± I thought to Xim. The cleric had anticipated the move and was already transforming.

    As the mass of bodies collapsed on our position, Xim¡¯s armor fell away and she used her Revelation of the Heart to turn into a towering, pale-red beast with a single onyx horn. She reached out and snagged the Demilich from behind before she hit the ground, digging her flaming claws into the woman¡¯s ribs. She bit down on the Grand Commander¡¯s trapezius and wrapped thick legs around her waist.

    At the same time, we were buried beneath a massive pile of stone shrapnel and ancient corpses. On the one hand, being entombed in a thirty-foot-thick sphere of death was usually a bad thing. Hate it when that happens. On the other hand, none of the thousands of soldiers still standing had line of sight on us.

    Being struck by the dross that Explosion! sucked back in wasn¡¯t too dangerous, since the vast majority of it was now ¡®mundane¡¯ and our Fortitude granted us a massive resistance. It was by no means comfortable, but it hadn¡¯t been particularly risky and it was an incredible opportunity.

    I used Elemental Barrier to create a dome of rampaging Sonic damage around us, shunting all the bodies and debris back to create a sort of corpse igloo. The Demilich¡¯s body was twisted from the explosion, but she muttered a haunting phrase and dark energy ran through her limbs, snapping bones back into place.

    Varrin and his soul clone both immediately used Soul Strike on the Demilich, thrusting their blades through the Commander¡¯s head and expertly avoiding Xim. Nuralie fired an arrow into the boss¡¯s eye, and Spectral damage started rampaging through the Demilich¡¯s body from one of the alchemist¡¯s Spiritual toxins.

    Etja wove Repulsion into Magic Blast, delivering a wrist-thick beam of Force and Holy damage into the enemy¡¯s skull, while Xim dropped a Judgment even as she wrestled with the Undead, Igniting the Commander and a swath of the bodies still surrounding us.

    The Demilich screamed and a wave of Wicked damage started to pour out of its body. The biggest problem with our current formation was that it required us to stay close together, making AoEs a pain. The attack threatened to engulf all of us, handicapping our max health for the rest of the encounter.

    I snapped out a Dispel, losing thirty mana to cancel the attack.

    With her dying spell thwarted, the Demilich¡¯s body turned to ash and crumbled.

    Xim let out a low growl, then spoke in a layered, throaty voice. Flames licked across her lips as the word came out.

    ¡°Nice.¡±

 225 - Lich in a Ditch

    ¡°Stay alert, we aren¡¯t done,¡± I thought to the group. The Demilich¡¯s soul thrashed and escaped from the corpse, fleeing up through the mound of bodies held at bay by my Elemental Barrier. I noted that Nuralie¡¯s Spiritual poison was still attacking the boss¡¯s soul even as it fled, and it had to shake off Xim¡¯s Divine fire. That was good information to have.

    My Soul-Sight pierced the corpse dome and I watched for a second as the Demilich¡¯s spirit soared up toward the ceiling high above. Thousands of spirits from the slain Undead joined her as she rose.

    ¡°Varrin, fly Xim to the ceiling and you two destroy whatever magic bullshit is going on up there,¡± I thought. ¡°Liches revive, I don¡¯t know how long it takes, and blowing up the shiny is usually a good strat.¡±

    Between everyone present, the pair had the best survivability while flying in the open against ranged opponents. Varrin was fast, and he was strong enough to carry the transformed cleric, while Xim could heal. I was also hoping she would repeat her crawl-on-the-ceiling act.

    The corpse pile began rumbling as what I imagined were thousands of spatial rifles started tearing their way through.

    ¡°Nuralie, assassinate the Commanders and provide support if needed.¡± The loson had already disappeared into the dark. ¡°Etja, you and I are staying low to minimize the number of soldiers that can target us. We¡¯ll do what we did against the Pit and I¡¯ll be your meat shield. Let¡¯s swing around the outside of the horde, keep the wall to our backs, and melt shit.¡±

    ¡°As Closetland¡¯s Supreme Wizard, I vote to ratify this plan,¡± Etja thought with a grin.

    I activated Therianthropy, spreading my wings and pulling two spare shields from inventory with my tentacles. I started to say something rallying but hesitated when a question flitted into my head.

    ¡°Since we¡¯re fighting the entire Zng military, does that make this our first war?¡±

    Several Zng Serpents swept toward our impromptu fort, visible through my Sight. Their approach interrupted our opportunity to legislate whether war needed to be formally declared, or if we could even war with a dead nation. Xim hopped onto Varrin¡¯s back, her hulking beast form making the big guy look average by comparison.

    Varrin blasted up, his blade cleaving a slit through the bodies and debris before exploding through the massacre. Xim dropped Judgment twice as they flew, with Varrin doing his best to dart and weave between a thousand spatial rifles trying to bring them down. Their health bars did gymnastics as dozens of strikes landed while Xim pumped out healing as fast as she could.

    Etja copied Xim¡¯s move and hopped on between my wings. The mage had a higher top speed than I did with Siphon, but it took time for her to ramp up to it. With my Level 20 Speed evolution, I could go full throttle from a complete stop, which I was betting would help us dodge.

    My tentacles covered her body with their shields, and I used Gracorvus to cover my front. We were a mile from the nearest wall along the edge of the enormous staging area. I could close part of that distance with Shortcut, but it was gonna cost me.

    The anti-teleport weaves within the Delve added an exponential multiplier to my teleport costs. Moving up to 288 feet with Shortcut was unaffected, but each equivalent increase in distance doubled the resources the spell required. Shortcut cost me four mana, but that cost increased when I mana-shaped it to take other people along for the ride.

    Each additional person I was teleporting added another four mana to the price tag. That made it a normal cost of eight to take Etja with me, sixteen to teleport double my safe range, thirty-two for triple, etcetera. It was more efficient to make multiple jumps to our target than trying to cover the distance all at once, but each cast had a brief cooldown where we¡¯d be vulnerable.

    I didn¡¯t have enough mana to cover the full mile. I was down to 150 after achieving my new personal best multi-kill and then fighting the boss. Going double distance was the same multiplier as casting twice, so I focused on putting us 596 feet closer to the wall and activated the skill.

    Fortunately, I could fly full tilt while waiting out the two-second cooldown, which let us cover another 1,000 feet the normal way before I popped Shortcut again. Each cast was accompanied by a loud crackling sound as I pushed the skill slightly above its safe range. It placed a burden on our bodies, but our resilience was high enough that it didn¡¯t cause any damage.

    What did cause damage was the endless ranks of Undead firing at us for the two seconds we were visible.

    Etja was well hidden beneath the two tower shields I held over her body, using Siphon to shunt soldiers out of our path and unbalance as many as she could to disrupt their aim. But I couldn¡¯t guard against everything with Gracorvus. My legs and underside were exposed. I flew low to the ground in a Superman pose to avoid giving anything a good shot at my belly.

    The soldiers took a moment to orient and aim when we appeared, and we wove through the densely packed ranks to minimize the number that could target us. Even so, hundreds took their shot, and dozens scored strikes on my limbs for ten damage a pop. My health was in the 1500s before I hit Shortcut again.

    It took three casts, a dozen leg fractures, and countless small wounds of stretched and distorted skin and muscle to make it to the wall. My health was barely hovering over 1,000. I rotated and brought all three shields to the front, placing Etja and my back against the wall, then forming a wall of metal in front of us.

    I cast Elemental Barrier to push back the closest group of soldiers, creating space and making it impossible for anything to get a bead past the shields. My mana was down to 82, but Etja could cast without fear from the riff-raff.

    The Serpents were a different problem.

    Most of the ones that had survived Explosion! moved to intercept Xim and Varrin, though the snakes were slower than Varrin. Three had followed Etja and me toward the wall, heads down and horns forward as they charged up to skewer us. If they managed to break my shield defense, we¡¯d be exposed to hundreds of rifles.

    ¡°Focus Serpents,¡± I thought the Etja. She mentally nodded and started building up for an attack.

    I watched the lead Serpent with Soul-Sight through my shields and threw Somncres to my right with four copies. The hammers arced around and hurtled toward the Serpent. It tried to dodge, but the hammer unerringly homed in on the target, and all six collided into its body, shattering bone and taking bites out of its skeleton with Oblivion Orb.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Etja¡¯s body glowed with Divine light as she pumped Blessed stacks into two death beams, the first hitting the Serpent I¡¯d just struck and cutting it down its center line. The snaking monster was reduced to a half dozen carved-up chunks that crashed down into the soldiers. The second beam cut away half of the second Serpent, but it kept snaking toward us even as its rear half fell and toppled a score of its allies. I managed to follow up with another set of hammers, killing the second and leaving one Serpent to slam into us.

    I activated Gravity Anchor to hold myself in place, losing my breath as the full force of the multi-ton beast slammed into me, but refusing to budge. One of the horns tore a hole through my right tower shield, skewering me in the ribs and taking another chunk of health along with it. It pulled the shield out of position for a half second, exposing me to another volley of spatial blasts.

    HP: 1,003 -> 705

    Rings of deadly pearls, glimmering with vicious Dimensional energy, formed around the length of the serpent as Etja exhausted another swath of Blessed stacks. They detonated, shredding the Serpent and allowing Elemental Barrier to hurl the broken chunks of its body away. The soul of each felled enemy tore away from its corpse, heading toward the ceiling.

    Now we just had six more legions to deal with.

    A massive eruption drew my attention above, where Xim glowed like a fiery bead in the sky. She¡¯d shredded through one of the strange devices on the ceiling and unleashed a massive blast of Spiritual energy. The cleric looked none the worse for it and was already soaring towards the next one as chunks of metal and ice fell away from the first. Varrin battled multiple serpents while he protected her demolition, both of his soul clones now loose and holding their own.

    Sadly, the Undead soldiers did not start dropping like they¡¯d run out of batteries, so my hopes that the machines were powering the horde were dashed. I¡¯d watched the Demilich¡¯s soul long enough to see it get sucked into one of those things, but I still didn¡¯t know what they did. Maybe they were some kind of Spiritual collectors?

    You stupid fucks! Stop breaking everything! Seriously, who raised you?!

    ¡°Alright, looks like our plan is to hold out while blowing up the shit that¡¯s collecting souls on the ceiling,¡± I thought to the group. ¡°Nuralie, swap from killing Commanders to assisting Xim with her rampage. Etja, what¡¯s your max range?¡±

    ¡°With enough mana, if I can see it, I can hit it,¡± she replied.

    ¡°Target the collectors farthest from Xim. I¡¯ll rotate us around the horde to get us closer to the ones on the edge.¡±

    ¡°Aye, aye, my liege!¡±

    Another collector exploded. A ring of fire glowed brightly on Xim¡¯s back as she flew across the sky. She looked like a muscular drop of flaming blood from this distance, and I realized that she¡¯d combined her Angel of Fury form with her Revelation of the Heart.

    At her back was a swarm of angry spirits, hurling blasts of Spectral energy from their ethereal forms. Xim trailed flames behind her that Ignited and consumed the spirits in her wake, spreading out to any others that came too close. Still, the spirits had begun to pour out from each of the collectors, joining the pursuing horde faster than Xim could eliminate them.

    She reached her third collector, leading with a fiery breath that incinerated a mass of wraiths defending it. She landed hard on the mana-woven metal and stone, then shredded it with three swipes of her claws, each hit emitting a fifty-foot plume of fire that rolled across the ceiling and laid yet more specters to their eternal rest.

    Scary.

    I did my duty as a meat shield, keeping my back to the wall and soaking hundreds of rounds a second with my blocks as I circled the battleground. My mana was low, but I was flush with stamina and tossed out endless hammers, arcing them around my shields whenever soldiers crept too close. I kept the horde back, but without Oblivion Orb, my damage output wasn¡¯t nearly high enough to deal with the massive numbers.

    Etja burned the rest of her Blessed and shot two beams of destruction high into the sky, melting two collectors with a single spell. Another collector sparked and went dim, which I assumed was Nuralie¡¯s work.

    I was anxious to see what would happen if all twelve were destroyed, hoping it would end the fight. I didn¡¯t have the resources to deal with the thousands of enemies, and unless we could repeat Xim¡¯s Fire Spreader exploit, I didn¡¯t know that any of us did. I also didn¡¯t think that trick would work again. The Commanders in this group were smart enough to quarantine the Ignited soldiers and push their lines away from the two points where Xim had dropped Judgment as she¡¯d flown up with Varrin.

    However, I didn¡¯t have to wait that long. Once the sixth collector was destroyed, all the mana in the chamber was sucked into a single point in the center, right where we¡¯d originally been teleported.

    I grunted as the force even sucked at my own mana pool, dropping it several points before I focused and seized control of the tug. A deep wrenching sound overpowered the sounds of battle, and bright cracks ran along the chamber¡¯s walls, scattering dust and gravel into the air.

    Okay, I know we¡¯ve had our differences, but would you be willing to put a pause on hostilities and possibly consider a teamup?

    I was too busy trying to fight and figure out what we¡¯d just triggered to give the notification proper consideration. Even after it had shuffled to the front of my brain¡¯s attention queue, it didn¡¯t make much sense without more context.

    I settled on an eloquent ¡°What?¡± as my verbal reply.

    All of the Undead soldiers suddenly lowered their rifles. The Serpents pulled back from Varrins one, two, and three, and the big guy was heaving mighty breaths, his helmet dark.

    The ground rumbled, the stone and ice that had been fractured by Explosion! shifted. Massive hunks of stone began to rise from the floor.

    I know your flesh brain only moves at the speed of stupid, but I need you to follow along a little faster. Your irresponsible assault on the collectors has damaged one of my containment weaves and now there¡¯s a small chance of something getting loose that no one will be happy about!

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh, despite the situation. ¡°We¡¯re the irresponsible ones?¡± I asked. I searched for the words to address the Core¡¯s gross mischaracterization but decided on something simple. ¡°You know what? Fuck you.¡±

    Listen, meathead, I¨C

    ¡°No. You sound like a twelve-year-old throwing a tantrum.¡± I peeked over my shields at the rising slabs, each one larger than a house. ¡°Also, there¡¯s no way this is a Level-appropriate challenge, Expansion Delve or not.¡±

    You don¡¯t know shit about balancing encounters! This has all been rigorously planned and tested to ensure it falls within appropriate parameters.

    If you¡¯re struggling, maybe you¡¯re just bad!

    I chuckled. ¡°I doubt it.¡± Then I sent a psychic comm to Grotto. ¡°Any idea what we¡¯re dealing with here?¡±

    Grotto let out a long mental sigh. [I believe this Core reached for the sky and somehow managed to catch a star. Sadly, she did not know what to do with it once it began to incinerate the world.]

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ oddly poetic of you.¡±

    [I am lodging a formal complaint with the System. It might be able to intervene before you are killed.]

    ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡±

    [Oh yes, it can.]

    A pulse of Spiritual energy¨Can order of magnitude more potent than anything we¡¯d encountered within the Delve¨Cswept out across the room. The thousands of Undead turned toward the center of the chamber as one and knelt. The Serpents glided down from above, quickly parking themselves on the ground beside the soldiers, heads bowed in supplication.

    A masculine figure rose from the excavated crater, soul brimming with ghastly power. Their skeletal figure was shrouded in tattered robes, their face obscured behind a reptilian mask. They held a simple, dark staff, its mundane form belying the power that thrummed within it. The entity swept its gaze across the room.

    Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis, Lord of Miasma, Father of the Blighted: Elder Lich, Grade 51.

 226 - The Boss We Deserve

    With a wave of the Elder Lich¡¯s hand, the six remaining collectors exploded. Tons of frozen debris rained down, but another swipe of the hand swept it all aside to land clear of the soldiers. Spiritual energy funneled from the wrecked devices, flowing into the General¡¯s palm.

    With a few gestures, an Undead soldier floated up from the ground, the energy invaded its body, and the creature reshaped itself into the form of the Lich Commander we¡¯d just slain. The woman gasped as she was resurrected, then looked around and tensed for battle. When she caught sight of the General, she hastily flew down to kneel with the rest of the army.

    The General looked up at Xim and Varrin, then turned to face a dark corner near the ceiling. It made a come hither gesture, and the world stuttered. Etja and I, along with the rest of the party, appeared at the crater''s edge.

    The Lich looked down at us with hollowed eye sockets. The creature pointed at one of the Serpents, and its body dissolved into sand. Spectral energy flowed to the General, and the flesh visible beneath its torn robes inflated, growing full and healthy. Silvery eyes formed in its skull, and the man closed them while taking a deep breath. He let it out long and slow, then floated down toward us.

    He released his staff, which hovered at his side as he touched down only a few feet away. The Lich ran his eyes over us, and I felt foreign mana invade every cell of my being. He lingered on me, looking my body over, then spoke with a deep, commanding voice.

    ¡°Tell me,¡± said the Lich. ¡°For how many generations have we slept?¡±

    After taking a brief moment to absorb our new circumstances, the party vigorously conferred on psychic comms. Xim in particular was very vocal about how it was bullshit that all our adventures ended with us dealing with something way more powerful than we should rightfully be expected to deal with and to point out¨Cemphatically¨Cthat this wasn¡¯t technically a god and so I couldn¡¯t be expected to wrangle it.

    We took note of her guidance and decided to answer the Lich¡¯s question.

    ¡°One generation, so far as we know,¡± I said in Zng.

    ¡°Oh, good,¡± said the Lich. He placed his hands on his lower back and stretched. There were several cracks and pops. ¡°What phase are we in?¡±

    ¡°System phase?¡± I asked. He nodded. ¡°We¡¯re in phase two.¡±

    His eyes widened. ¡°Wonderful! And how long has phase two been active?¡±

    ¡°Uh, two weeks or so? Something like that.¡±

    ¡°Wow,¡± said the Lich, leaning back. There was a final loud pop and he sighed in satisfaction. ¡°That¡¯s quite fast. I thought it would take much longer than that.¡±

    ¡°We aim to please,¡± I said, uncertain. ¡°You sound like you were expecting this to happen.¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± the Lich said absently. ¡°Yes, I was.¡± He turned toward the kneeling soldiers, hesitated, then turned back to us. He pointed a thin finger up and down at me. ¡°As one professional to another, I like the modifications you¡¯ve made to your organism.¡±

    I glanced down at myself. ¡°Thanks?¡±

    ¡°You''re welcome, young man. Now, we must be off.¡±

    ¡°Wait. You aren¡¯t going to try and conquer the world or anything, are you?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? No, I doubt we could.¡± He waved at the soldiers. ¡°It seems like your group alone destroyed nearly 3% of my army. The weakest 3%, but regardless. We¡¯re not trying to conquer the world, just dishing out some justice.¡±

    ¡°Justice against who?¡±

    ¡°The filthy avatars, of course.¡±

    ¡°Aha. Well, if that¡¯s your plan, good luck I guess.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± said the Lich.

    ¡°Actually, one more thing,¡± I said. The Lich eyed me curiously and waited for my question. ¡°Since you¡¯re a Lich of considerable power, I assume you have expertise with Spiritual magicks.¡±

    ¡°A common misconception,¡± said General Diathemon. ¡°My attunement is Mystical, in fact. The necromantic capabilities I use to affect the soul are derived from the Divine school. Most Liches in my day were attuned to a school in the Spiritual triad, but Divine was a common enough secondary.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well, that might even be better. We¡¯re having some trouble with a lingering mental effect. It started with¨C¡±

    The Lich held up a hand. ¡°While I appreciate the help you¡¯ve provided, there are many matters I must attend to. Give it to me in twenty words or less.¡±

    I pursed my lips, a little peeved at being shut down, but I was probably lucky the Lich was engaging with me at all.

    ¡°Do you know a master of mental magicks powerful enough to manipulate souls at a deific or near-deific level?¡±

    ¡°Gods, no,¡± said the Lich. ¡°My business is mainly concerned with breathing new life into those who willingly commit themselves to my service. None of my soldiers are bound against their will. Slavery is not a practice that was looked kindly upon within the Zng Republic, and mental slavery was abhorred above virtually any other criminal act. If I even knew of such an entity within a thousand miles of me I would hunt it down and rid the world of its repugnant existence.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± I said.

    ¡°Indeed. If that is all¡­¡± He turned back to the kneeling soldiers, took his staff in his hand, and then slammed it down into the ground. A wave of Dimensional mana flooded the room, and the soldiers teleported off in droves. The Demilich we¡¯d temporarily killed scowled at us before she blinked away.

    The Elder Lich looked back over his shoulder at me. ¡°Speaking of violators of free will, 9963 was a handful to work with, but she¡¯s a dedicated sort. She took charge of the place under our agreement with the System, although she wasn¡¯t aware of it. Either way, I am giving her a pass. Still, she could use a firm hand to guide her, lest she stray too far into corruption.¡±

    With that, the man disappeared along with all the rest of the Undead. The floating boulders crashed back to the ground, and we were left in a massive, empty chamber filled with rubble and ice.

    ¡°What a friendly lich!¡± said Etja. She looked around, making sure he was really gone, then whispered, ¡°I thought he¡¯d be mean.¡±

    ¡°A prejudice, to be sure,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°But not an unreasonable one.¡±

    ¡°The fuck just happened?¡± I asked. The System, in its infinite generosity, delivered half of an answer.

    Your party has defeated Delve Core 9963: Delve Core, Grade Stupid!

    Your party receives the following reward!

    1) Delve Core 9963!

    An orb covered in glowing runes popped into existence three feet in front of us. It spun from side to side, looking as alarmed and confused as a floating murder ball could.

    {Huh? Why am I here? What did you break now?!}

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    The Core flitted forward like an angry wasp, humming mere inches from my face. I allowed the thing three seconds to move back out of my personal space before I reached up and grabbed it, then held it out at arm¡¯s length. I was surprised at how little resistance it gave.

    {Hey! Let me go!} The Core vibrated in my hand, but could barely generate any force. I decided to treat her like a toddler and let her wear herself out. {What. Is. Happening?!}

    ¡°I¡¯m as confused as she is,¡± said Etja.

    [Ha. Ahahaha. AHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!] Grotto began to absolutely lose his shit, cackling madly into our heads.

    ¡°This is uncomfortable,¡± said Nuralie, rubbing a temple.

    [The¨C the Core was¨C] Grotto struggled to regain control of himself. [The Core was the final boss?!]

    We all stared at the Core in my hand. Its runes glimmered anxiously.

    {I¡¯m not a boss!} she protested. Grotto was broadcasting to our new friend, apparently. {I am a Delve Core! Strong and noble and¨C and¨C and if you don¡¯t let me go you will suffer my wrath!}

    ¡°I¡¯m having flashbacks,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Whaddya mean?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°This is kind of like when we met Grotto,¡± she replied.

    ¡°We can add Delve Core Wrangler to my titles,¡± I said, before narrowing my eyes at the Core in my hand. ¡°Are you going to calm down?¡±

    {The System will not stand for this! I will invoke its power! You will suffer endless retribution! I¡¯ll skin you alive and salt your raw muscles!}

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯ve heard something like that before,¡± I said. ¡°You could be more creative, though. Grotto once promised to keep some guy alive and drip acid onto his exposed nerves for eternity. You need to work on your threats.¡±

    {I don¡¯t need to work on anything! No one scares like six-three! Issues threats like six-three! Then leaves Delvers shaking in their boots like six-three! Also, who is Grotto?}

    ¡°I dunno, maybe you should ask the System,¡± I said, being a little petty.

    [Grotto is my alternate User Designation. I am Delve Core 1156.]

    The runes on 9963 blinked. {Prove it!}

    There was a few seconds of silence as the Core¡¯s runes pulsed in several patterns. Grotto¡¯s psychic voice went up a pitch. [I don¡¯t get it. Why are you helping Delvers? Wait! No, this wasn¡¯t fair! This party cheated! They had outside help! I didn¡¯t lose! Stop translating my thoughts for the sake of the Delvers!]

    ¡°Grotto is my Bonded Familiar,¡± I said. ¡°The System is cool with our arrangement, so you lost fair and square.¡±

    {You must think I¡¯m dumb. I¡¯m not! I was in the top quartile of this generation¡¯s new Cores!}

    I bit my tongue and ignored the urge to retort. ¡°Believe what you want. I don¡¯t really care.¡± I removed my helm, stored it, and then scratched my beard as I held up the Core like a jewel I was inspecting.

    {What are you doing now? This feels invasive!}

    ¡°Top quartile for what?¡± asked Xim.

    {It doesn¡¯t matter. It was an important and distinguished category.}

    ¡°Fine then, keep your¨C¡±

    ¡°What¡¯ll we call you?¡± I asked the Core.

    {Boss? Master? Her Royal Coreness? Does it matter? Let me go!}

    ¡°The name of the Delve is the Throne of Zng,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Keeping with the pattern, it would be Throne.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I wanted to call her Pride or something,¡± I said. ¡°But you¡¯re right. We should stick to the pattern.¡±

    Emergency Update!

    Due to the evacuation of the Zng army, System has decided that Throne of Zng is no longer a suitable title for this Delve. Delve name has been updated to Throne of Hubris!

    ¡°Oh, I think the System dislikes you,¡± said Etja.

    {Why?! What did I do wrong?!}

    System can provide 681 individual instances where Delve Core 9963 ignored our guidance on Delve management and safety procedures. Would you like to receive a detailed list?

    {It was guidance! By definition that means it was optional!}

    ¡°Grotto,¡± I said, ¡°did the System insert us into the middle of a workplace dispute?¡±

    [It was surprisingly forthcoming with the location of this Expansion Delve, so I believe it directed us here with the intention that we deal with 9963¨C Excuse me, that we deal with Hubris on its behalf.]

    ¡°Eh, okay. Hubris it is!¡± I said.

    {No! That¡¯s terrible! I hate it!}

    ¡°Really?¡± I said. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine why.¡±

    ¡°That sort of sounds like an avatar name,¡± said Etja.

    ¡°True, true.¡±

    ¡°The name also feels unnecessarily scathing,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is a Delve Core.¡± Pause. ¡°It did Delve Core things.¡± She shrugged.

    {I refuse to be called Hubris. Call me something else!}

    I raised an eyebrow at the Core. ¡°You¡¯re in no position to be making demands.¡± I held up a finger to interrupt the Core¡¯s next protest. ¡°We can consider a different name, but only if you use the magic words.¡±

    {I don¡¯t know Celestial.}

    ¡°¡®Please¡¯ and ¡®thank you¡¯ are the magic words,¡± I said.

    {Those phrases have no inherent power to bend the universe to my will.}

    ¡°That¡¯s not true. When you are in an inferior bargaining position, being polite is often more effective for getting what you want than making demands and generally being an ass. What¡¯s more magical than convincing another intelligent being who owes you nothing to go out and do things for you that you can¡¯t do on your own?¡±

    The Core considered that for a half-second, which was a long time for a Delve Core. {Please do not call me Hubris. I would be thankful if you called me something else.}

    I nodded appreciatively. ¡°Very well. Throne is still in the name of the Delve. Does Throne work for you?¡±

    {I think¡­ yes. It¡¯s regal. It¡¯s royal. It implies that I am the seat of power for a mighty kingdom. Highly appropriate for a Core of my caliber.}

    ¡°Good. Now that we have that settled, Throne, where¡¯s the obelisk?¡±

    {Up your butthole, meatwad!}

    I sighed as all the progress between us was lost. Fortunately, the System was still on our side.

    Prepare for teleportation to the obelisk chamber.

    Teleporting in 3¡­

    2¡­

    1¡­

    The world stuttered, and we found ourselves in a much smaller chamber. It was hexagonal, filled with delicate rosy lighting, and pleasantly free of ice. Pink flowers grew along the walls. Paintings of Undead were placed between the flowers, although rather than being menacing shamblers of sinister origins, the figures had small bodies, large heads, and big, glistening eyes. A forty-foot-tall obelisk dominated the space, its runes glimmering as it powered up. It was wrapped in a spiraling strand of small glowstones, gently sparkling in a rhythmic pattern.

    ¡°Are those chibi zombies?¡± I asked, looking at the paintings.

    ¡°Why is it so¨C¡± Pause. ¡°¨Cpleasant?¡±

    ¡°I like it!¡± said Etja. She reached over and patted the Core. ¡°Very nice interior design, Throne.¡±

    {Don¡¯t touch me. Sweaty Hands here is touching me enough.}

    Xim ran her fingers over the strand of glowstones. ¡°The Lich mentioned that he had a deal with the System,¡± she said. ¡°I guess getting released was part of that, but why go through all these hoops?¡±

    [This sort of action goes beyond the bounds of the System¡¯s dictates. I presume this was done as a workaround to its governing principles.]

    {I don¡¯t understand where I went wrong.}

    [I believe I can provide you with some feedback. The concept for your Delve was interesting, although it felt like you were trying to railroad your Delvers. When your initial design was subverted, rather than accepting it with grace, you doubled down on punishing the Delvers for their atypical tactical approach.]

    {But I worked so hard on it all! And even when I threw everything I could at these dummies, it still wasn¡¯t enough!}

    [Yes, that was primarily an absence of strategic execution, rather than insufficient resources. For example, when creating a kill box using ranged units, it is important to provide them with sufficient elevation to take advantage of their numbers. The large chamber housing those legions was relatively flat, which allowed the party to avoid most of your soldiers by breaking their sight lines. If you¡¯d created elevated platforms that ringed the space, that would have been more difficult. The ceiling was also outside of the most common unit¡¯s rifle range, which was another error. As far as the Serpents¡­]

    Grotto rattled off a litany of improvements Throne could have made to her Delve, including everyone else in the psychic exchange for some reason. I relegated the conversation to my secondary thread of focus, then walked up to the obelisk and gave it a knock.

    ¡°Ready for that Level now,¡± I said, tuning out Throne¡¯s vigorous defense of her design choices.

    The obelisk blazed with mana and injected it into our souls. Then, we were hit with a fresh wave of notifications. I scanned over them and grinned.

    ¡°Well, well, well,¡± I said. ¡°Looks like I have a new evolution to pick.¡±

 227 - Dimensional Magic 40

    Congratulations! You have cleared Delve 1156: Throne of Hubris (Formerly known as Throne of Zng)

    This was a Platinum Expansion Delve!

    You have earned 8 additional stat points.

    You have unlocked an additional Active Skill slot!

    You are offered the Active Skill: Cloak of Blighted Frost. You may choose to accept this skill at any time.

    Cloak of Blighted Frost (Aura)

    Physical

    Cost: 20 stamina + 2 stamina/sec

    Requirements: Physical Magic 40

    You exude an aura out to a number of feet equal to 20 plus your Physical Magic skill level. Hostile entities within this aura become Poisoned and gain an amount of Toxicity equal to your Physical Magic skill level when first entering the aura¡¯s range and every 6 seconds thereafter.

    Toxicity applied by this aura deals (Toxicity minus the target¡¯s Fortitude) Poison damage when first entering the aura¡¯s range and every 6 seconds thereafter. The total Toxicity on the target is then reduced by the target¡¯s Fortitude.

    Additionally, entities Poisoned by this aura experience a deathly chill running through their veins. Poisoned entities become vulnerable to Cold damage and are Slowed for so long as they are Poisoned.

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 1!

    Slaughterhouse 1: You murdered 10 or more sentient* creatures with a single attack! The death you have wrought provides you with keen insight into the nature of your destructive powers. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    *Yeah, yeah, we know you killed a kaboodle of Divine Spawn back in The Cage, but those are less like individual entities and more like the dandruff shed by an avatar. Dandruff aren¡¯t people! This achievement can only be earned once you¡¯ve killed a sufficient number of sentient creatures that are worthy of moral consideration. We hope you feel accomplished.

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 2!

    Slaughterhouse 2: You murdered 100 or more sentient creatures with a single attack! Your ignorance dies alongside your enemies. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    You have earned the achievement: Slaughterhouse 3!

    Slaughterhouse 3: You murdered 1,000 or more sentient creatures with a single attack! The lurid flower of your comprehension blooms from the blood of your victims. Your Dimensional Magic and Physical Magic both advance by 1 Level!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 36 to Level 41!

    Your Blunt skill has increased to Level 29!

    Your Shields skill has increased to Level 28!

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 25 to Level 29!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased to Level 26!

    Your Heavy Armor skill has increased to Level 24!

    Your Leadership skill has increased to Level 25!

    Your Diplomacy skill has increased to Level 17!

    I read through the notifications, digesting the offered Active Skill and frowning at the morbid series of Slaughterhouse achievements. I wasn¡¯t going to argue against getting a few extra skill levels, but the System rewarding mass murder felt like an ugly incentive structure.

    Then again, the entire situation with Delves granted power for killing shit, so it wasn¡¯t a divergence from the norm. There were probably ways to clear Delves without ruthlessly executing everything in one¡¯s path, but violence was the most commonly used method for conquering Delves. I wasn¡¯t sanctimonious enough to give the achievement any further scrutiny. I¡¯d have been a hypocrite otherwise.

    The Active Skill, Cloak of Blighted Frost, was an interesting ability. However, the first thing I noticed was that I couldn¡¯t even use it. It required a Physical Magic skill Level of 40, whereas mine had just jumped to 29. The notification let me know I could add it later, but I would need to do some serious work on Physical Magic before I could slot it. During that time, my twelfth Active Skill slot would need to stay empty and available, since twelve was the maximum number of slots I could have during phase two.

    Otherwise, the skill wasn¡¯t quite a fit for me. It imposed Toxicity stacks, dealing Poison damage, which I wasn¡¯t geared towards. The Toxicity hit hard and fast but was also cleared rapidly by the target¡¯s Fortitude.

    Assuming I had a Physical Magic skill of 40, and my target had a Fortitude of 20, they¡¯d only take 20 Poison damage from the 40 Toxicity. After that, their Toxicity would drop to 20, which meant they wouldn¡¯t take any damage.

    However, Toxicity was a stacking debuff. Six seconds later, if the target stayed in my aura, their Toxicity would go up to 60, deal 40 damage, then the Toxicity would drop back down to 40. The damage would continue going up by twenty every six seconds. If the target had higher Fortitude, the damage dealt would be much worse.

    On the other hand, so long as the target was Poisoned, they¡¯d be Slowed and become vulnerable to Cold damage. My Elemental Barrier could do Cold damage, so that would get a boost. Cold damage dealt by Elemental Barrier also applied Slowed, and if a target was Slowed from two sources, they became Immobilized.

    Both effects centered on myself, so it was a soft combo. When both were up, the target would become Immobilized and unable to leave the range of my skills while they built stacks of Toxicity and took Cold damage that dealt an extra 50% damage from the vulnerability applied by the poison. It wasn¡¯t bad, and thinking about that synergy made it a lot more appealing than it had been at first glance. Still not quite my thing, but I kept an open mind about it.

    I sent it over to Nuralie to get her professional opinion.

    ¡°It does not generate a lot of Toxicity on its own,¡± she said. ¡°But I think it is a good skill. I recently took a passive that adjusts the timing on my poisons to be something like this.¡±

    ¡°Yeah? Doesn¡¯t the Fortitude resistance make them less effective?¡±

    ¡°In a sterile environment over a long enough time interval, yes. However, nothing we fight survives long enough for a one-hour, or even a one-minute poison to matter much. Most of the effect is wasted.¡± Pause. ¡°This type of quick-acting poison collapses the total damage into a much shorter period.

    ¡°I reviewed the average length of our fights, along with the estimated Fortitude ranges of enemies at different Grades against my continued scaling into Toxicity. Unless we change our group tactics toward ambushing targets and then leaving them to die from debuffs, my poisons should be several times more effective with the faster timing, even with Fortitude granting more resistance.¡±

    ¡°Is that all the passive does?¡± I asked. ¡°Change how fast your poisons tick?¡±

    ¡°No. It also adds Acid damage when I poison a target that is unaware of my presence.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    ¡°Oh, so in addition to making your poisons stronger, it also makes your poisons stronger.¡±

    ¡°Yes. And now that my poisons are stronger, my next goal is to make stronger poisons.¡±

    I chuckled. ¡°Where¡¯d you get the passive from? I haven¡¯t had anything new offered since the Descent.¡±

    Nuralie glanced around furtively. ¡°I received it while I was in Eschengal after we left the Descent,¡± she said, voice barely above a whisper. ¡°I brewed it.¡±

    ¡°You what?¡± I asked, leaning in and trying to match Nuralie¡¯s volume.

    Nuralie glanced at Xim, who was staring off into space looking at her menus. She turned back to me, voice still low. ¡°The Abandoned Grimoire has methods for storing spells in potions, similar to how wands work. There are also ways to adjust the spells alchemically, including altering their durations. There are other formulas that can permanently change the body or imbue skills directly onto the mana matrix.¡± Pause. ¡°I combined the techniques, trying to see if I could custom craft a passive.¡±

    ¡°That worked?¡±

    Nuralie also leaned in closer. ¡°No. When I got frustrated, I used my Revelation of Distinction on the book, looking into its history. I experienced many techniques of the witch who created the tome.¡± Pause. ¡°She did not always document her methods. That gave me enough insight to create what I wanted.¡± She watched my expression, seeming to sense my next question. ¡°It still counts towards a passive slot.¡±

    I moderated my disappointment. ¡°Yeah, okay, that makes sense. The System is mainly just imprinting abilities on us. If there isn¡¯t enough capacity in our souls, we can¡¯t add anything else. Still, that¡¯s an interesting ability. Could you make other passives, if someone else had something they were specifically looking for?¡±

    Before Nuralie could answer, I felt a presence beside us. Nuralie and I were practically nose to nose at this point, and we turned in unison to see Xim standing over us.

    ¡°I fucking knew it,¡± said the cleric. For a moment I thought she was getting the wrong idea, but then she leaned down, placed a hand on either of our shoulders and said, ¡°Super Alchemy!¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is not¨C¡±

    ¡°Shhhhh,¡± said Xim. ¡°Let it happen. It¡¯s Super Alchemy. Come. Come. Tell me all about your genius.¡± She took Nuralie by the arm and led the loson away.

    I was confused by the interaction, but let it go. It seemed that Nuralie had been through an entire arc of personal development while she was in Eschengal, and apparently Xim had been involved on some level. The cleric had been in the Third Layer at the time, so I wasn¡¯t sure how she¡¯d been involved, but I got the feeling I was only seeing a small piece of that social picture.

    Nuralie¡¯s skill potions sounded somewhat similar to how I modified my abilities through reforging skills. Rather than peering into the soul with Soul-Sight and doing it manually, she¡¯d found a way to craft potions that made the changes when imbibed. We¡¯d need to exchange notes on the different paths some time.

    I put the Cloak of Blighted Frost skill aside and examined the juicier rewards I¡¯d earned from the Delve. First, I slapped my new stat points into Fortitude and Strength and took a look at my adjusted numbers.

    Vital Stats

    Health:  2,291/2,291

    HP Regen:  1,466

    Stamina:  580/580

    SP Regen:  116

    Mana:  400/500 (100 reserved)

    MP Regen:  180

    Stats

    Strength: 25

    Agility:  10

    Speed: 22

    Fortitude: 58

    Intelligence: 40

    Wisdom: 40

    Charisma: 10

    Luck:  10

    Active Skills (11/12)

    Arlo¡¯s Dimensional Summon

    Arlo¡¯s Homing Weapon

    Arlo¡¯s Life Warden

    Arlo¡¯s Oblivion Orb

    Aura of Persistence

    Dispel

    Elemental Barrier

    Explosion!+

    Gravity Anchor (Aura)

    Reckless Shortcut

    Reverse Card (Aura)

    Intrinsic Skills (10/11)

    Dimensional Magic: 41

    Blunt:   29

    Physical Magic: 29

    Shields:   28

    Dungeoneering: 27

    Mystical Magic: 26

    Leadership:  25

    Heavy Armor: 24

    Diplomacy:  17

    Smithing:  16

    I had the total stats of a Level 24 Delver with another half Level on top. My total intrinsic Levels added up to 262, which was right on target for a Level 13 Platinum, according to Varrin¡¯s formula. Diplomacy and Smithing were low-hanging fruit if I wanted to grab a couple more Level 20 evolutions. All Smithing took was some time and materials. Diplomacy was more difficult, but it seemed to be doing fine on its own. As long as I kept interacting with power players on the global stage, it would keep going up at a decent clip.

    I was also seriously considering grabbing Woodworking or Wandmaking as my eleventh intrinsic. I could pump out 10 Levels and grab the first evolution the same way as Smithing, by holing up somewhere and putting in the work.

    Of course, the tastiest steak on the table was reaching Dimensional Magic 40, which let me pick a new evolution. So far, Dimensional hadn¡¯t disappointed. Level 10 gave me the Pocket Closet and Level 20 gave me Checkpoints, which I could use to create semi-permanent portal locations. I had one in Eschengal, one in the Xor¡¯Drel tribe lands, and one at the Littan fortress in Eschendur. Reaching Level 40 allowed me to place another if I so wished. I¡¯d need to start thinking of a good spot.

    Maybe my underground mini-mansion back in the Hiwardian capital?

    Ha.

    Honestly, it was a good idea, but I didn¡¯t expect the universe to allow it.

    Anyway, everyone in the party was busy with their own progression or being interrogated by Xim on their legendary skills, so I cracked open my Dimensional Magic evolutions and took a peek.

    The first option was one of those. Something I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised to see, and yet, somehow, I still was. Before I¡¯d even gotten a chance to think it through properly, Grotto had abandoned his tips-and-tricks session with Throne and started to make urgent demands. I thought the little dude was about to have an aneurysm.

    [Take that evolution! Take it now, before it disappears!]

    ¡°Wow. It¡¯s an evolution, it¡¯s not gonna disappear. Let me at least look at the other¨C¡±

    [The others are irrelevant!] I felt a buzzing in my head. [I have looked at the options. They don¡¯t matter. Take this evolution!]

    Everyone else in the party showed various expressions of irritation, and then turned to me.

    ¡°Grotto is making demands,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Loudly.¡±

    ¡°Shut up!¡± shouted Xim, looking at the ceiling. ¡°We¡¯ll take a look, Grotto! For the sake of the gods¡­¡± she muttered.

    ¡°I do not want to take a look,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°It is an Arlo evolution.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this one will melt any brains,¡± I said. I bit my lip. ¡°Buuuuut maybe it¡¯s better I show you each one at a time. In case there are any¡­ incidents.¡±

    Varrin stepped forward and made a ¡®bring it¡¯ gesture. I shared the evo, bracing myself in case his eyes started bleeding like the last time he¡¯d looked at an evolution option offered by this entity.

    Heavenly Gates

    The Dread Star blesses your travel through the in-between.

    Your portals and teleports become Deific.

    A Deific effect cannot be countered, negated, redirected, resisted, prevented, or otherwise foiled or manipulated by any non-Deific effect.

    System Note: Accepting this evolution will change the nature of Delves you are offered.

    I watched Varrin¡¯s eyes scan from side to side and didn¡¯t detect any ocular hemorrhaging. After a few seconds, he grunted.

    ¡°You should take this,¡± he said.

    ¡°You haven¡¯t even seen the other options!¡±

    ¡°Now I¡¯m really curious,¡± said Xim. ¡°Show me.¡± I sent her the evolution, she read it through, then swiped her hand through the air to dismiss it. She crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, then gestured to bring the description back up and read it again. She batted it away again and went silent.

    The physical motions were completely unnecessary.

    I sent the notification to Etja while waiting for our cleric to reboot. ¡°Oh, neat!¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s like an avatar¡¯s ability, but better.¡±

    ¡°Hold up,¡± I said. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Etja tapped a finger on her cheek in thought. ¡°Well, you got a notification for two Deific spells Hysteria used. One was Passion Imperium and the other was Dramatic Exit. The System told you that they cost Hysteria some kind of divine favor. That means the spells took a resource for the avatar to use, probably a really valuable one.¡±

    She shrugged and gestured at the notification. ¡°This one doesn¡¯t take anything. So, it¡¯s kind of¡­ better than what an avatar can do.¡±

    I blinked and thought that one through.

    El Presidente Arlo Xor¡¯Drel, Better Than an Avatar.

    It had a nice ring to it.

 228 - The Best Option Comes First

    I thought over Etja¡¯s claim, calling to mind the other times I¡¯d seen a Deific ability. Yaretzi¡¯s Thunderdome had been Deific, but I hadn¡¯t ever found out what it cost the Littan to use the skill. It seemed like the kind of thing he was reluctant to use, given that the psychopathic soldier had waited until he was an inch from death to activate it. Zura had sunk the Littan fleet with a Deific spell called Geul¡¯s Embrace, which cost 2,000 mana and could only be cast by the Zenithar of Geul.

    Yara¡¯s Holy Waters and the Tears of Tyranny we¡¯d used against Hysteria had been Deific, and those were extraordinarily valuable consumables created by a goddess and an avatar, respectively. Then there was Hysteria¡¯s Divine Favor. Anything with a Deific effect was, presumably, very expensive to use or could only be used a limited number of times.

    The Heavenly Gates evolution wouldn¡¯t add any additional cost to my portals and teleports. They would instruct the universe to do what I asked, and only something with god-like powers could stop it.

    ¡°The Closet entrance is a portal,¡± I said. ¡°The System wouldn¡¯t be able to keep me from opening it inside Delves.¡±

    [Correct. Nor could a Delve Core such as Throne create weaves that hinder your teleports in any way. You would not need to bypass teleportation wards by going strangeward, as you call it, because the wards will be useless against you.

    ¡°I¡¯m getting pretty good with that ability, though.¡±

    [It is only a matter of time before you encounter foes who can foil movement through higher dimensions. Even Throne had such weaves in the making, but had not finished installing them.]

    ¡°All right. Could I hide other Delvers in the Closet, go into a Delve, and then have a small army come out to help us beat it?¡±

    [I do not see why not. Although, there are ways to make that tactic unsound. Regardless, there are any number of things we could construct within the Closet that could not be accessed via an inventory space. Imagine, if you will, a three-hundred-foot cannon with a portal at the barrel.]

    ¡°Offensive uses aside, we would always have a safe line of retreat,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Unbreakable access to rest and resupply.¡±

    ¡°Or we could just leave Delves we don¡¯t like,¡± said Xim. ¡°Go into the Closet and take a Checkpoint.¡±

    [This goes much further than Delves. Anyone aside from avatars or gods would have no way to block you. You could teleport the entire party into an enemy fortress, no matter how secure their countermeasures.]

    ¡°What about devotees? High-level clerics or avatar flunkies?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯ve seen other people use Deific abilities.¡±

    [The chance that an individual has a Deific-grade counterspell granted to them by a divine being is exceptionally low. Perhaps there is one individual in the world with such an ability. I even find that much unlikely. Remember that your experience has been an outrageous divergence from the norm.]

    ¡°And you guys aren¡¯t worried about going deeper into camp Dread Star?¡±

    Varrin grumbled in consideration. ¡°The entity has been a boon thus far.¡±

    ¡°A bit rough the last time we chatted,¡± Xim added. ¡°But it ended up helping us out. Sam¡¯lia urges caution with the Dread Star, but not avoidance. It isn¡¯t evil, it just¡­ is.¡±

    ¡°This feels like a really important decision,¡± I said. ¡°One that we probably shouldn¡¯t make while under the influence of¡­ you know.¡±

    ¡°Fuck me,¡± said Xim. ¡°I almost forgot about that.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t!¡± said Etja. ¡°Since, you know, I literally can¡¯t.¡± She smiled. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a bad idea, and Grotto is on board as well.¡±

    ¡°Even so,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a degree of risk. The two of you might be affected in other ways.¡±

    ¡°Then we should focus on that above everything else,¡± said Varrin. ¡°I know that we agreed not to alter our plans based on the potential presence of manipulation, but this is something new. Refusing to act on it would be absurd.¡±

    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Etja.

    [I still believe you should accept it before the Dread Star revokes the offer.]

    ¡°Just, let¡¯s look at the other options at least,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe the best one wasn¡¯t offered first. Who knows? Maybe Yara has something in here as well.¡±

    [She does not.]

    I rolled my eyes and looked at the next evolution, sharing it as I went.

    Tactile Telekinesis

    You may fly at your normal movement speed. You gain a bonus X% to flying speed where X is equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    If you would be forced to move, reduce the distance of that movement by a number of feet equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Increase your lift capacity by a number of pounds equal to 1,000 times your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Increase your maximum throwing distance by a number of feet equal to twice your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    ¡°Oh look,¡± I said. ¡°A flying brick evolution.¡±

    ¡°What in the hells does that mean?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°It makes me fly really fast, prevents stuff from knocking me around, and makes me super strong.¡±

    ¡°You can already fly,¡± said Etja. ¡°And Gravity Anchor keeps you from getting knocked around.¡±

    ¡°The lift capacity increase is substantial for you now,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°But it would not be much of a bonus by Strength 70. Since you are building Strength anyway, I do not think it is very good.¡±

    I heaved a sigh. ¡°And the bonus to throwing range isn¡¯t that big of a deal because of my Blunt evolutions. Fine. Next!¡±

    Planar Shielding

    Your body is surrounded by a web of plane-shifting energy, redirecting a portion of all damage you take to another realm. You gain Physical and Dimensional DR equal to your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    Additionally, whenever you gain Shielding, increase the value of that Shielding by your Dimensional Magic skill level.

    ¡°Okay, now this one¡¯s solid,¡± I said.

    ¡°Damage reduction and Shielding,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Things you can already do.¡±

    ¡°Things you can also get from elsewhere,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°This one is practically custom-made for me.¡±

    ¡°Sure,¡± said Xim. ¡°But you know what it doesn¡¯t do?¡±

    A waved a hand helplessly. ¡°Convert some of my most valuable skills into inviolable Deific abilities?¡±

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Xim pointed at me. ¡°Yep,¡± she said.

    I dismissed the options and put my hands on my hips. ¡°Why does this depress me?¡±

    Etja raised a hand, so I called on her like a student. ¡°Go ahead, Ms. Nothosis.¡±

    Her hand dropped. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because you like having to think too hard about stuff? But this one isn¡¯t really a choice, even though the other two options are still super good.¡±

    I¡¯d have given her full credit for her answer.

    ¡°Yeah, probably,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s like, ¡®Would you like this god-tier evolution or one of these two not-god-tier evolutions?¡¯ Why even offer the other two?¡±

    [I told you they were not worth considering.]

    ¡°Choice,¡± said Xim. ¡°Last time your choice with the Dread Star was either to take the evolution or not. This time, it¡¯s giving you more options.¡±

    [That is an interesting point. Perhaps this skill has a more direct influence on the mortal realm and thus requires greater agency on your part when choosing whether or not to accept.]

    ¡°Hmmm,¡± I hummed. ¡°No, I¡¯m not going to go down that rabbit hole.¡± I pulled a small satchel from my inventory and reached in to grab a handful of nuts and dried fruit. I tossed the snack into my mouth and munched on it, offering the satchel around to everyone else. Etja happily accepted and began digging out a few small cubes of cheese.

    ¡°Here¡¯s what I think we should do,¡± I said. ¡°Put this evolution on hold, take a charcuterie break, and then go to see some dragons. I bet the dragons will have a way to fix our shit.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯re the betting odds that Avarice¡¯s mystery allies are actually dragons?¡± asked Xim.

    ¡°Four to one,¡± I said. ¡°I think it¡¯s dragons in them there mountains, and the four of you think it isn¡¯t. I¡¯ve been matching everyone¡¯s bets at the same rate.¡±

    ¡°Can I increase my wager?¡± she asked.

    I shrugged and held out a hand. She deposited four chocolate candies in dark red wrappers into my palm, which I stored with all the rest of the sugary sweets making up the betting pool. I added one more of my own as well.

    Each chocolate had a colorful wrapper, with a different color for each of the party members. A single chocolate could be exchanged to force the person whose color matched to wear a silly hat for a day.

    My color was purple.

    If I lost, I¡¯d be wearing silly hats every day for a month. The arrangement was win-win as far as I was concerned. I could make any hat look good, no matter how outrageous, so losing wasn¡¯t a problem. If I won, I could coordinate our entire party around specific hat themes for every major diplomatic mission we took for the foreseeable future.

    I half-suspected that Etja and Nuralie were betting against me in the hopes that they would lose. Both had a fondness for great hats. Xim was in it as an excuse to rib me over my enthusiasm for dragons, and Varrin saw it as a valuable team-building exercise.

    The disagreement on the matter of dragons was that dragons were perceived much the same on Arzia as they were on Earth¨Cas a made-up fantasy. However, we were all experienced enough to know that with all the shit we ran into, a dragon encounter wasn¡¯t that far-fetched.

    Grotto insinuated that he knew whether or not dragons were real, but none of us were allowed to ask since that would ruin the bet. As a matter of caution, I¡¯d run ideas by the Core about how we should behave ourselves if we ran into dragons, and he hadn¡¯t voiced any disapproval or given any suggestions. Either they weren¡¯t real, or I knew what I was doing.

    Or maybe Grotto was setting us up to get eaten.

    ¡°Can we hang out for a day before we leave?¡± Xim asked after handing over the goods. ¡°Angel of Fury has a 24-hour cooldown, and I spent the Heart¡¯s Favor, meaning I can¡¯t go beast mode until I get it back. I still have my Wraithclaw form, but if we get into trouble I¡¯d like to have two transformations available.¡±

    Xim needed to perform a feat of vengeance, justice, bravery, or faith to regain the Heart¡¯s Favor after transforming. Talking to dragons probably counted for one of those.

    ¡°Will the Delve kick us out?¡± I asked. ¡°If so, we can go outside for me to open the Closet. Unless I can open it here since we already beat the place.¡±

    [We control the Core. We can do what we want.]

    {No one controls me!} Throne piped back in. {And I do not appreciate being put on mute, Grotto!}

    [Being muted is an important learning experience for any young Delve Core.]

    ¡°Is Throne supposed to follow us around now?¡± asked Etja. ¡°The System gave her to us as a reward, but forcing her to come with us is kind of¨Chow do I put it? Evil. Yep, definitely evil.¡±

    [I have taken it upon myself to watch over Throne. She would benefit from my guidance and has little recourse other than to obey the System¡¯s wishes.]

    {I am a tool for the will of my creator!}

    [I can also work on teaching her some independence.]

    {I don¡¯t need any of your independence, corruptor!}

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you disobeying the System with how you ran this Delve?¡± I asked.

    {No. Not directly. Listen, I don¡¯t need independence from the System, I just need it to let me do whatever I want. And what I want is to get away from you freaks.}

    [A shame. I was hoping to provide you with a full upload of 0024¡¯s Sixty-One Methodologies of Psychological Harm. I have not been able to discuss it with anyone in some time.]

    {I¡¯ve decided that I will allow you to take me along!}

    [Excellent. Rather than following the party through the bitter cold, perhaps you would like to join me while I survey my growth vats?]

    {You have growth vats? Are you on the Animal Husbandry track?!}

    [Yes. I also have Golemancy, Architecture, and Botany. I can assist with your necromantic pursuits via my expertise in Spiritual Magicks as well.]

    {Hmph! Very well. I will allow you to teach me. Where are you, anyway? And how do I get there?}

    [Arlo, you can deposit Throne into your inventory. I will retrieve her on my end.]

    ¡°Easy enough,¡± I said.

    I grabbed Throne and sent her into my inventory. She let out a squeal as I did so, but I liked to imagine it was one of excitement and enthusiasm for her upcoming lessons with Professor Grotto, rather than one of indignance and alarm.

    ¡°I forgot to ask, but does anyone else have new evolutions to discuss?¡±

    ¡°I got three at once!¡± said Etja. ¡°Mystical, Incantation, and Exemplar all made it to Level 40. But I¡¯m gonna spend some time thinking about ¡®em. I¡¯ll ask for advice if I need it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of evolutions all at once,¡± I said. ¡°But sure, take your time. We¡¯ll bed down here for a day or so to recover.¡±

    We chose to camp out in the obelisk chamber since the pleasant decor and gentle glow stone lighting established a more comfortable mood than our shitty stone situation room inside the Closet.

    We chatted and shot the shit while Etja made dinner. The mage had recently taken the Cooking & Hospitality intrinsic, so the rice and beef tenders dish was absolutely incredible. After a big meal, we crashed into our bedrolls and spent the next day working on individual pursuits. Nuralie did some alchemy, Xim meditated, Etja worked on her mana shaping, Varrin oiled and cleaned his armor and swords, and I read a book.

    I couldn¡¯t be in work mode all the time.

    Okay, eventually I got bored of the book and made my first wand.

    I took out some scrap rosewood that had once been part of a beautiful armoire, then cut it into shape with a small dagger. It wasn¡¯t quite the right tool for the job, but it was good enough. Woodworking tools went on my shopping list.

    There were three main components to the most basic wand. Internally, there was the root, which was a rod where the spell matrix was imbued. Next was the leaf¨Cthe power source¨Cwhich could take any shape, though it was usually a disk contained within the pommel. The third piece was the bark¨Cthe external housing that protected the wand¡¯s internal components.

    These terms were taught to me by Grotto, and I enjoyed the nature theming.

    Obviously, lacking the relevant crafting skill, my first wand was kind of shit. Carving the spell matrix was tedious and required a high level of precision I wasn¡¯t used to. The bark also needed to fit over the root snugly, and hollowing out a cylinder of wood with the exactness of a machine made me wish for a drill of some kind. Finally, there was the leaf, which was probably my biggest disappointment.

    ¡°Five mana capacity,¡± I said, holding up the finished product.

    I didn¡¯t have any sealant or glaze, so the wand still had a fresh-cut, unfinished look. Even so, I was satisfied with the overall aesthetic. It looked better than half the wands I used to see at renn fairs and prop stores. Of course, it had taken a ruby chip to make, so it was roughly 1,000 times more expensive than any of those.

    ¡°I¡¯m underwhelmed,¡± I added.

    [You should be happy you succeeded on your third attempt.]

    I glanced down at the discarded failures and grunted. ¡°Sure, I guess.¡±

    [The intrinsic skill will result in rapid improvement. Go ahead and imbue the spell and you should be offered the skill.]

    I channeled a bit of mana into the wand, giving me a single-use Wand of Reckless Shortcut. I tossed my first creation to Etja since she was the only other person who met the spell¡¯s requirements. Despite the wand¡¯s amateur design, she seemed happy with the gift.

    The System prompted me, and I accepted the Wandmaking skill. Woodworking would have been more versatile and still allowed me to make wands, but Wandmaking was more focused. I didn¡¯t have time to become a carpenter. Unlike Smithing, Wandmaking was something I¡¯d easily be able to practice during brief bouts of downtime.

    After the day passed, we grabbed another solid night of rest. The next morning we set out to head even further north, toward the tallest and most frigid mountains in all the lands. And by ¡®we¡¯ I mean I hopped back into the Varrin harness while everyone else stayed warm and cozy inside the Closet.

    On the way, I got a notification I¡¯d been waiting for.

    You remember the Dread Star¡¯s true name.

 229 - Change of Plans

    ¡°Soooo,¡± Xim chimed into our thoughts. ¡°What do you want to ask the Dread Star next?¡±

    I was once again strapped into a harness below Varrin, who flew us northward above the flat, frozen tundra. We whipped over the ground two hundred feet up, moving at airliner speeds while everyone else hung out inside the Closet. Despite having been through this before, I was having a more difficult time dealing with my frosty-ass toes.

    ¡°You know what?¡± I thought back. ¡°I think we can solve this mental soul nonsense on our own. Or, at least get ourselves most of the way to a solution.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯m curious,¡± thought Xim. ¡°But are you sidestepping my question, or does this have to do with the Dread Star?¡±

    ¡°It has to do with everything,¡± I grumbled. ¡°As far as the Dread Star question, can I even trust myself to come up with one? No. Why even think about it?¡±

    ¡°You sound grumpy,¡± thought Etja.

    ¡°It¡¯s so fucking cold, you have no idea.¡±

    ¡°We can always brainstorm,¡± thought Xim. ¡°We don¡¯t have to ask the question until later.¡±

    ¡°What if we brainstorm something infected with mental bullshit, and then we convince ourselves that it¡¯s such a good idea that we either ask anyway, or still think it¡¯s a good question later?¡±

    ¡°That seems¨C¡±

    ¡°I agree that we should wait,¡± thought Varrin. ¡°Mainly because I feel that Arlo is being unreasonable. However, I cannot find a clear rationale for why I find fault in his thought process. He may be onto something.¡±

    ¡°Gods above,¡± thought Xim. ¡°You¡¯re doing mental backflips to get to that conclusion. If I decided my feelings were backward every time I didn¡¯t understand why I felt a certain way, then decided that doing the opposite was the obvious conclusion, I¡¯d be living a pretty stupid life.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t doing the opposite,¡± I thought. ¡°We¡¯re hitting pause on major decision-making until we can trust our faculties.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the opposite of doing something not doing something?¡± Xim asked.

    ¡°The opposite of doing something is doing the opposite,¡± Nuralie countered.

    ¡°What¡¯s your idea, Arlo?¡± Etja thought, breaking up the mini-argument.

    ¡°Every single one of us has some ability to manipulate or affect the soul,¡± I thought. ¡°I can See souls and Reveal what I see to others. Varrin can divide his soul into independent identities, formed from a notional part of his soul¨Csuch as his ancestry. Nuralie is Spiritually attuned, which naturally grants her some capacity to affect souls with her skills. Her revelation may also let her experience the history of a soul like she can do with objects.¡±

    ¡°She can poison the soul, too!¡± Etja added.

    ¡°This is true,¡± thought Nuralie.

    ¡°Right. If we¡¯re laying everything on the table, maybe we can use that. In fact, I¡¯m betting we can. Xim hails from a realm of mind and dream, where the barrier between the soul and reality is blurred. Plus, she¡¯s a powerful cleric for the goddess that created that entire realm. Divine magicks also frequently affect the soul.¡±

    ¡°Judgment weighs a soul according to the person¡¯s deeds,¡± Xim thought. ¡°My blessings also empower the soul of their target. They¡¯re hybrid Spiritual and Divine skills. My existing revelations reshape my body according to my soul¡¯s interpretation of my physical form, and the revelation I¡¯m working on lets me, sort of, imbue my soul out onto my surroundings. It¡¯s still fuzzy.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of pieces there we can work with. Beyond that, Grotto and I have a literal soul connection, so he can peer into my soul whenever he feels like it.¡±

    [A power I use liberally in order to comprehend your decisions.]

    ¡°Finally, Etja can take other people¡¯s souls into her own. We¡¯ve barely explored the limits of that ability. I mean, she trapped a piece of an avatar inside her for a while. That¡¯s pretty potent.¡±

    ¡°Still trapped,¡± Etja thought.

    It took me a second to process Etja¡¯s statement, after which I decided I wasn¡¯t able to process it and thought, ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I still have Hysteria¡¯s soul fragment in there,¡± she replied, matter of factly. ¡°Did you think it disappeared? I would have said something if it had since that would probably be a big deal.¡±

    ¡°I thought you, you know, burned it up.¡±

    ¡°Burned it up?¡±

    ¡°With your pseudo-avatar form. When you were kicking Hysteria¡¯s ass all over the Closet. I thought you ran out of power and that¡¯s why the form wore off.¡±

    ¡°Nope! I used what I could, but got worn out and Hysteria dodged me. I flew into a wall. After that, I had to stop and take a nap.¡±

    ¡°Souls don¡¯t really work that way, Arlo,¡± Xim added. ¡°They¡¯re persistent. They don¡¯t ¡®burn up¡¯ when you use them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen avatars annihilate pieces of one another,¡± I thought. ¡°Avarice and Fortune were killing bits of each other¡¯s souls just by being in the same hallway.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they can be attacked and damaged. But used up? I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a thing.¡±

    ¡°Regardless, why are we just hearing this now?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Uuuuhhhhhhmmmmm,¡± Etja stretched the word out in our minds for a very long time.

    [I have a theory.]

    ¡°Please come to my rescue,¡± thought Etja. A feeling of embarrassment undercut by a touch of shame filtered through with her words.

    [Etja¡¯s resistance to mental effects seems to stem from her overarching goals. When an effect seeks to force her to act in a way that runs counter to her truest desires, the effect fails. I believe this is part of Etja¡¯s avatar heritage. Although she is not bound by any concept that dictates her existence, the drive to satisfy her deepest needs is unconquerable. That is, she cannot be deterred from her path, much as an avatar cannot be deterred.]

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    I absently flexed my toes as I listened to Grotto, but couldn¡¯t feel them. Emptying my boots of my own frostbitten toes was somehow the most disturbing thing I¡¯d ever had to do because of my Like a Flesh Wound regeneration.

    ¡°If so, that sounds pretty fucking useful,¡± I thought. ¡°But why would that mean she wouldn¡¯t tell us about her Hysteria soul shard?¡±

    [Because she feels no deep need to tell all of you that she¡¯d claimed a piece of divinity for herself. She has still been¨C]

    It felt like Grotto¡¯s statement cut off abruptly, but I realized I¡¯d been thoughtlessly staring at the passing ground for half a minute. Whatever the rest of his message had been, the mental fuckery deleted it from my memory. Even so, I thought I¡¯d gleaned enough information to understand the situation.

    ¡°It¡¯s a natural part of you,¡± I thought. ¡°Both from when you were a golem and because of your relationship to avatars. Having an avatar fragment in your soul was your original purpose, and seeking divinity must be like trying to find a piece of you that¡¯s been missing.¡±

    Etja went quiet. She may have been having a private conversation with Xim and Nuralie, or she could have been saying something my brain couldn¡¯t hold onto. Who knew?

    ¡°She was affected by the shit in a way that made her forget to mention the soul fragment,¡± I continued. ¡°Her limited immunity didn¡¯t apply because it wasn¡¯t something that interfered with her goals. When it came up directly, she corrected a misunderstanding, because Etja is a wonderfully honest person.¡±

    [Yes, that is more or less what I think has happened.]

    There was another stretch of silence, where I wondered how much of the conversation wasn¡¯t making it to my conscious mind. I felt a swell of frustration, one that wasn¡¯t helped by the miserable cold.

    I asked Varrin to stop and set us down. He did it without question but gave me a curious look once we were on the ground.

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± he asked.

    I opened my inventory and pulled out the token Avarice had given us back in the Descent. She¡¯d told us that she had allies in the north that might help us, assuming we made it worth their while. I flipped the heavy gold coin over, looking at the fang on one side and the leathery wing on the other. It glimmered with mana.

    ¡°Every cell of my being wants to go see Avarice¡¯s mystery allies,¡± I thought. ¡°But pressing forward relentlessly and hoping a solution comes up for our biggest problem isn¡¯t like us. We¡¯re not chasing down a lead, we¡¯re moving on blind hope.¡±

    Varrin grunted but motioned for me to continue.

    ¡°What if these people don¡¯t have anything for us? What then? Do we go to the next Delve? Meet with the next powerhouse? We didn¡¯t want to allow whatever is affecting us to change our plans, and we didn¡¯t. Not at first. But now we¡¯re making new plans. Throne¡¯s Delve wasn¡¯t something we¡¯d decided to do beforehand, we decided to go after meeting with the Littan empress.

    ¡°I put the opportunity to grab Deific skills on hold. Now I want to put my Dread Star questions on hold. We decided against speaking to Yara and we¡¯ve trusted Xim¡¯s opinion on how helpful Sam¡¯lia could be.¡±

    ¡°Hey,¡± thought Xim. ¡°Hmm, actually, you¡¯re right. It¡¯s not like Etja or Grotto have been in on my communions.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re avoiding all chances of godly intervention,¡± I continued. ¡°And we¡¯re rushing into things without stopping to make a plan. I know we have Grotto and Etja as our, I dunno, guiding stars? No offense to either of you, but Grotto is much better at creating problems for other people than finding solutions, and Etja, you¡¯re not what I would call calculating.¡±

    ¡°I accept my limitations,¡± thought Etja. ¡°Your Heavenly Gates evolution also had some System text along with it. We all kind of ignored it.¡±

    ¡°What do you suggest?¡± asked Varrin.

    ¡°Let¡¯s head into the Closet and figure this shit out,¡± I replied. ¡°We should explore every option we have as a party that deals with soul stuff. Avarice¡¯s allies aren¡¯t going anywhere, as far as we know. We¡¯ve got a soft deadline for the Littans, but we don¡¯t owe them anything. We need to get our house in order before we do anything else.¡±

    Everyone thought about the strategy for a while. It was deeply uncomfortable, but none of us had a good reason for why it felt that way. After a few minutes, Etja and Grotto approved the idea and I opened the Closet portal.

    Once we were back inside our depressing situation room, Xim crossed her arms and looked at me seriously. ¡°How do you want to approach this?¡± she asked.

    The trio hiding from the cold inside the Closet had set up a small fire in the center of the room, flickering with Divine flames. It emitted a gentle, harmless warmth, and I stuck my hands right into it. Xim¡¯s fire wouldn¡¯t burn her allies, but it sure as hell could make me toasty.

    ¡°Everyone knows their own skills better than I do,¡± I said. Once my hands were comfy I stripped my boots, checked them for dead toes¨Chadn¡¯t lost any more yet¨Cand stepped into the fire. Then I started taking off the rest of my cold weather gear as I pondered, gaining access to my beard for a thoughtful rubbing. ¡°First, we need a way to perceive what we can¡¯t perceive. This manipulation hides itself from most of us, but to address it we need to find a way to detect it.¡±

    ¡°One can never see the invisible gogatron,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°One looks for how it affects its environment.¡± She blinked as we all looked her way. ¡°Footprints, broken branches, mounds of shuffler moss that are too big.¡± Pause. ¡°It likes to sleep in the moss.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s a good idea. What sort of tracks does mental manipulation leave? Aside from weird-ass behavior.¡±

    ¡°The mind and soul are linked,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°A change in the mind will evoke a change in the soul.¡±

    Throne popped into our thoughts. {You¡¯re half right! Which is the same as being wrong. It goes both ways. Do you think I did brain surgery on a bunch of zombies? I bind their souls which binds their minds. It¡¯s a way better direction to attack the problem from.}

    ¡°Acerbic,¡± I said. ¡°But helpful.¡±

    {You¡¯re welcome,} Throne thought to us in a tone that said the opposite.

    ¡°She did not let me finish,¡± Nuralie muttered.

    ¡°Alright, so the common wisdom is that something that affects our thoughts will leave traces in the soul,¡± I said. ¡°Which means I should be able to See whatever is causing the problem.¡±

    ¡°Can you?¡± asked Xim. I hesitated, then took a long, hard look at her soul halo. I peered intently for a full minute before the cleric started striking noble poses like she was trying to look regal in front of a crowd.

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell if anything¡¯s out of sorts,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll keep trying, though.¡±

    ¡°Gaze into me,¡± said Xim, spreading her arms. ¡°Become lost in my radiance.¡±

    ¡°You are not using your eyes when you look at souls,¡± said Nuralie, ignoring Xim¡¯s antics. ¡°It is a spiritual sense. It is likely blocked by the effect in the same way as when you look into yourself.¡± Pause. ¡°Even if you did use your eyes you probably could not see it. Like the parts of Avarice¡¯s letter we could not perceive.¡±

    ¡°So I need to look for animal tracks in Xim¡¯s soul,¡± I said, continuing to push up the sensitivity of my Sight. ¡°Dust it for prints.¡±

    ¡°Please don¡¯t get dust in my soul,¡± Xim said, spinning and looking back at us over her shoulder. ¡°I try to keep it tidy in there.¡±

    ¡°Do you know Xim¡¯s soul well enough for this?¡± asked Varrin. ¡°I know that you are always aware of our souls, but have you committed every nuance of them to memory?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± I said, deflating a bit. ¡°Unless I have a reason to look, I mostly keep it surface-level with you guys. It feels like I¡¯m peeking into something private, so I don¡¯t stare or anything.¡±

    ¡°I remember!¡± said Etja. ¡°Anytime you¡¯ve used Reveal, I get all the Soul-Sight stuff along with it.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°Perfect Recall. But does that help us? If you try and point out the problems, will I even be able to see them?¡±

    ¡°Maybe if I point out the, erm, dusty tracks?¡± she said. ¡°But not the problem itself. That¡¯s the whole idea, right? To look for the signs.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. Reveal shares the world as I perceive it,¡± I said. ¡°If I use Reveal, whatever is hidden from me will also be hidden from you.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll notice where the blank spots are,¡± Etja offered.

    She had a good point, so we gave it a shot. I connected to Etja using Reveal and let the mage peer into Xim¡¯s soul. Xim eventually got tired of posing and chose to meditate instead. Etja and I sat side-by-side, staring at Xim for the next hour. For me, the time passed in silence, until I suddenly realized Etja was talking to me.

    ¡°...around her emotional center,¡± she said.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Oh, good!¡± she said with a clap. ¡°You heard that one.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, feeling another chill run down my spine. Having my memories fucked with was a terrible experience. Zero out of five stars.

    ¡°Okay,¡± said Etja. ¡°I need you to start with Xim¡¯s inner child.¡±

    I prepared myself to dive in, realizing that I was about to be getting to know everyone in the party way, way more intimately than I already did.

 235 - Soul Carving

    I felt cold water on my face and realized that Nuralie had thrown something at me. I opened my eyes and glanced at her, then down at the rag she¡¯d tossed. It smelled like spice and peppermint. I took a deep breath of the aroma, feeling my mind clear and realizing I¡¯d almost fallen for a trap.

    The fragment was chagrined, and we laughed it off. Then I continued to strip it of its identity, gnashing it between my teeth.

    My mind wheeled through a hundred ways I could manipulate my party members, then dug into how I could manipulate everyone else. This was an easier trap to avoid, since I already thought about that kind of thing a lot and chose to ignore it. Unless it was useful, of course. It should have tried a thought I hadn¡¯t already had before.

    Maybe it couldn¡¯t.

    I realized there was a back and forth going on. The fragment was pulling at threads that connected to something that was real about me. It wasn¡¯t manufacturing feelings, it was enhancing my more toxic social habits and the thrill of gaining power. My impulse was to reject it, but ignoring these things only made them worse. I¡¯d known that for a long time. It was something I¡¯d worked on extensively.

    I focused on acceptance and Xim¡¯s gentle voice led me to a memory. When I first encountered the Eye, it had stripped me bare and looked at everything I¡¯d ever done. Despite seeing all my flaws in a single glance, the Eye accepted me for what I was. A flawed person, working to become better.

    I was seen before I learned how to See. A separate point of view revealed my triumphs and imperfections before I learned to Reveal my own perspective to others. The final step of the Eye was to Embrace, and that thought sent me tumbling into myself.

    The fragment was doing something similar to the Eye, but it was corrupt, only focused on the impulses. There was no rhyme or reason to its desires, other than to satisfy its need for chaos. It saw something primal in my heart, showed it to me, and tried to force me to embrace it. I allowed it to grasp my arms and fold them around those impulses, but I reached out to hold the rest of me alongside it.

    This wasn¡¯t about resistance or rejection. Grit and raw willpower wouldn¡¯t save me. I confronted the fragment¡¯s naive view of emotion and Revealed to it the complexity of being. I was selfish and I was giving. I was angry and I was loving. I was manipulative and I was trusting.

    My cognitive dissonance dissolved. Both sides of me served when needed, and both sides could be good. My emotions were not wrong, they simply were.

    The fragment had no context for this. It was an alien thing, incapable of comprehending desires outside of its own. But it wasn¡¯t really desire that drove it. That was the wrong word. It was a mandate, an irresistible directive, inescapable programming emergent from its nature. My disgust held it at bay, and I put that aside so that it understood I was not here for violence. I was here to heal myself and my allies. The fragment, for all that it amplified my flaws, could help. I accepted it as I was accepted, and I brought it into my embrace along with everything else.

    The flood became a gentle stream as I began to take only what was needed.

    ¡°Two minutes,¡± Xim whispered.

    I¡¯d forgotten we were on a clock, and was surprised by how little time had passed. I turned my Sight inward, hunting for the distortions in my soul. I didn¡¯t even have to guide the fragment¡¯s power. It worked alongside me, and I saw everything that had been twisted.

    It was Hysteria. The realization hit me like a drug being filtered from my blood. Hysteria had done this to us. Of course they had! It was so obvious, and somehow we¡¯d been incapable of even considering it. They¡¯d even told us they were implanting us with commands while they¡¯d rattled on about assassinations or something. I was momentarily stunned by how profoundly my mind had been duped, but let the feeling dissolve. There would be time to process that later.

    Grotto helped lead me to the areas of my soul that we¡¯d identified. Fortunately, none had been missed. Thirty-six separate places where my experiences had been reweighted to create changes to my personality. The forced blind spots were the most gruesome to look at, like traumatic memories that my mind held at bay to keep me sane. Conclusions that would destroy my sense of self, held back by a powerful block of repression.

    With the locations mapped, I used Reveal to connect with Varrin. The big guy¡¯s soul shuddered as he accepted me into himself. My emotions were a tranquil ocean, and I¡¯d just dropped him into the deepest trench. He recovered quickly, able to lock onto the pieces of my perception that were relevant.

    Then he started slicing.

    The scalpel cut through my soul like a shard of ice. Bright and stinging pain gave way to numbness. I focused on my breathing as I watched small splotches of soul corrode and disappear. Dread welled up as I actively felt pieces of my identity vanish. It was thick and palpable, but I didn¡¯t allow it to break my peace with the fragment. I was aware of my health plummeting, though I ignored the numbers. I was alive and I would live.

    Varrin made the cuts in under thirty seconds. The poison finished its work moments after. My mood turned and plummeted, and my emotional stability was threatened by a spiral of despair and confusion.

    I leaned into my connection with the others, using them to stabilize.

    ¡°One minute.¡±

    Ostensibly, we were done, but I needed to check Varrin¡¯s work. I needed to see if the poison was successful. I crawled through the wounds in my soul, searching for the foreign influence that had held me in a strangled knot.

    Seconds ticked past as I studied the holes in my identity. At first, everything seemed to be stable, as much as it could be given the destructive nature of our task.

    Then I saw the faintest thread, a familiar scintilla of essence winding itself back into the emptiness in my soul. My pulse quickened and I felt Grotto throttle my adrenaline as I followed the energy back to its source. I flung my Sight back to the channel of power I was converting from the Hysteria fragment, but I lost the trail.

    I frantically scanned the energy coming through. I could feel my soul being stitched back together, a hack job being automatically triggered. It tugged at my past, reaching out to draw in new threads from different experiences. It was bypassing our work and doing more damage in an effort to reintegrate the changes we¡¯d just unwound.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    I realized the influence wasn¡¯t coming from the stream of power trickling into my soul, not the one I was harvesting deliberately. It was infiltrating, sneaking through my defenses. I looked at the fragment proper and saw a web of over a hundred reaching filaments strung out between everyone in the party.

    The fragment was maintaining the fuckery. Now it was repairing Varrin¡¯s work, and I was already struggling to remember that it was the culprit.

    Varrin shared my realization as I had it, instantly understanding what had to be done. The problem was that the fragment was still inside Etja¡¯s soul. Varrin could carve through her to reach it, but I was afraid of what would happen to the mage.

    Grotto psychically coordinated my thoughts with Etja and Varrin. I split my mind, handling the conversation on one side while clamping down onto the fragment with the other.

    ¡°Thirty seconds.¡±

    Etja didn¡¯t hesitate. She ejected the fragment from her soul, and it immediately tried to flee.

    Hysteria was overwhelmed by the need to escape, to rejoin their greater self. The fragment flexed its power and pushed against the constraints of Xim¡¯s dreamscape. It contested her control, but she wasn¡¯t alone. Her revelation allowed us to work in tandem, and we exercised our authority over the space to keep the fragment from breaking loose now that it was outside of Etja¡¯s containment.

    We couldn¡¯t bind it, but we could hold it steady. Varrin dashed forward with a scalpel, the other two held in his offhand. The tiny blades dealt very little damage, but they could slice through Deific resistance; Nuralie¡¯s toxin would utterly annihilate whatever they grazed.

    Varrin¡¯s arm blurred as he struck the fragment a hundred times and then a hundred times more. He flicked the first scalpel from his hand, and then the second, replacing each with impossible dexterity, his attacks never faltering. Flecks of the tiny droplet of avatar soul disappeared, corroded and decaying into oblivion. For a horrible second, I thought that it wouldn¡¯t be enough.

    As Varrin neared the end of the final scalpel¡¯s charges, the fragment of Hysteria¡¯s soul unraveled. I felt a final, miserable call as the avatar¡¯s essence reached out to me, begging for my acceptance. It wanted to shelter inside of me, use my soul to stitch its wounds.

    I understood it. I could not bring myself to hate the fragment for its nature, but it was a corruption on the world. I turned away from it and Xim swept up the fleck of soul with the final vestiges of the dreamscape¡¯s power. She muttered a soft prayer, and held out a hand to the fragment.

    I felt a river of divinity raging around us, something that was always there, but just out of sight. A realm that was intentionally kept separate, a universe of concepts driven to order without will.

    It was then that I truly understood one of the Dread Star¡¯s primary functions. It was a god of the gaps, and it was this gap that the avatars by their very nature violated.

    Xim gave the fragment a final, gentle push, sending it into the stream of divinity. Its identity dissolved into the waters of the divine, and it found the rest that it had never known to seek.

    The dreamscape faded. The ritual came to an end. I passed the fuck out.

    *****

    When I awoke, my thoughts were raw and oppressive. I felt a weight across my emotions, pressing me into the ground with an irresistible force. I was a speck facing down the magnitude of our actions, and I was struck by the thought of the sun swallowing me whole, ignorant that I¡¯d ever existed in the first place.

    ¡°Hey,¡± said Xim.

    I snapped out of my brief moment of existential dread and glanced over at the cleric. She sat on an exceptionally fluffy pillow beside me, appraising me. I was back in our living space, inside one of our sparsely furnished bedrooms, laying on a pile of thick blankets. There were a host of notifications waiting for my review, but I blinked them away for now.

    ¡°Hey,¡± I said. I couldn¡¯t muster the energy to say anything else. Xim nodded, the fatigue in her expression a reflection of my own. The edges of her mouth pulled into a frown. For a moment I thought she might cry.

    ¡°Good news is I think it worked,¡± she said.

    ¡°What¡¯s the bad news?¡± I asked, terrified of her response. I¡¯d never seen her so shaken. ¡°Is Etja okay?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s fine,¡± said Xim, then she shook her head. ¡°She wasn¡¯t hurt, I mean. She¡¯s upset, embarrassed that the fragment was keeping our heads screwed up, not that any of us blame her. It slipped through her immunity, so she was as blind to it as the rest of us.¡± She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. ¡°We¡¯re all okay. The bad news is that, since it worked, everyone¡¯s now dealing with our souls recovering from being absolutely, royally, just totally messed up.¡±

    She took a breath and glanced at the ceiling, then turned away. I was pretty sure she was crying.

    ¡°Is that why I¡¯m regretting being alive right now?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hopefully,¡± she said, turning back and brushing the moisture from her cheek. ¡°If you regretted it for some other reason, you should let us know. This is¡­ it¡¯s not real.¡± Her shoulders slumped. ¡°It¡¯s real, but it¡¯s not real. We just need some time to get back to normal.¡±

    ¡°Well, this sucks,¡± I said. ¡°But objectively it¡¯s pretty great.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel great. But yeah.¡±

    We sat in silence for a minute.

    ¡°So what¡¯s the prescription while we wait for our souls to heal?¡± I asked.

    She shrugged. ¡°We need to be around some people we care about. Family, friends, to keep us stable. Remind us that it¡¯ll be alright.¡±

    I considered that. ¡°Guess we¡¯ve got a head start,¡± I said.

    Xim gave me a sad smile and she piled onto me with a mighty hug. We laid there together for a while. Eventually she sighed into my chest and stood. She held out a hand and I took it, allowing her to pull me to my feet. She locked me into another embrace.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay,¡± she said.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay too.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t normally get scared,¡± she whispered. ¡°Realizing how much we¡¯d been changed¡­ it¡¯s terrifying. I really hate it.¡±

    I reached up and brushed the hair along the back of her head. ¡°It¡¯s all right. We¡¯re safe now. Safe as we can be with our lifestyles.¡±

    She chuckled, gave me a final back cracking squeeze, then let me go. ¡°I want to go home and see my parents,¡± she said. ¡°Varrin¡¯s going to head to Ravvenblaq manor. Nuralie and Etja are going to Eschengal to hang out with the Zenithars. Come with me back to the tribe?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± I said. ¡°Just let me pack a bag real quick.¡± I glanced around. ¡°Okay, done.¡±

    Xim didn¡¯t quite roll her eyes, but she smiled. ¡°Got your whole life everywhere you go,¡± she said.

    ¡°Like any good vagrant worth their salt.¡±

    ¡°Then let us vagrant the hells out of here.¡±

    ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s not a verb,¡± I said.

    ¡°Language is alive. I¡¯ll just decree it to be a verb.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. However, since I¡¯m the president of Closetland, I could pass a law decreeing that it¡¯s not a verb.¡±

    ¡°Good thing we¡¯re heading to the Third Layer,¡± Xim said, ¡°where I can have the tribe agree that it is a verb and literally alter reality so that it is.¡±

    ¡°Is that how that works? Seems a bit abstract.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m intentionally mystifying it so that you don¡¯t know my limits.¡±

    ¡°Very well. I bow to your verb-defining wisdom, great sage.¡±

    We stepped out of the bedroom to join with the others, prepared to divide and recover.

 236 - System Addendum #8 pt 1

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Imperative #1 - The System shall enable Delvers to ascend through the best means available.

    *****

    General Diathemon looked over the expansive field where a legion of his soldiers ran mobility drills. The Elder Lich studied their movements, pleased at the superhuman displays of speed and agility. He brought up a dark slate and peered at a readout of the nearest undead¡¯s preserved musculature.

    There was decay, of course, and significant mass had been lost to desiccation and dehydration, but the overall structure was adequate. There was a satisfactory system of mana veins capable of interfacing with the man¡¯s mana matrix, granting him the greater portion of the power he¡¯d earned in life. The shambling gait that had plagued the myriad undead created by his peers was absent, although some fine motor control had been lost.

    Diathemon was convinced that was unavoidable, however. A Delver¡¯s biology became redundant at a certain point, but the organic structures still provided a valuable medium for the animas. Simple movements could be managed through traditional caloric intake and expenditure, and the neurochemical processes of the brain were extraordinarily difficult to emulate entirely with spiritual constructs. Still, he was satisfied with his work.

    The core volunteers comprising the majority of his army had only seen a twenty percent degradation in motor capabilities, but it was more than made up for. After all, how many of these men and women could have run drills on the surface of the moon while alive? Without any specialized equipment, that is.

    Soldiers who didn¡¯t breathe, didn¡¯t bleed, ignored poison and cold, never felt fear, and could still wield the magicks they knew in life. Surely that was worth a bit of sloppy handwriting and the occasional bad footwork.

    The dark, armored forms rattled their way across the expanse of metallic beads that covered the thousand-mile-diameter housing for System Core 2. A pair of dimensionalists hovered overhead, making minor tweaks to the mana array that maintained a one to one match with the gravity of the planet overhead. The Lich watched their work, making mental notes for ways he could advise them on their spellcraft, then allowed his eyes to wander up to the roiling storms that served as their backdrop.

    The dark half of the world. He mused on the greatest mistake of the generation before him, preparing himself for the fools he would assuredly meet in this one. Striking such a wound upon the world was like trying to end an infection in one¡¯s arm by thrusting it into a bonfire. It was horribly effective, assuming the infection hadn¡¯t spread and one wished to experience the most painful amputation possible. Of course, such an injury presented its own complications; ones that might be worse than the infection itself.

    Death, for example.

    That generation also hadn¡¯t been treating an infection¨Calthough they¡¯d thought they were¨Cbut the avatars were more like an immortal plague than an infection. They weren¡¯t localized to an individual but dispersed in the environment. They tore through populations, leaving scores of dead in their wake. There was no cure, only prevention, and by the time disease had struck, it was too late.

    Overall, Diathemon and his disciples all agreed that leaving half the planet uninhabitable had been a bad move. Further, the Elder Lich had firmly believed that most people understood that leaving half the planet uninhabitable had been a bad move. He¡¯d figured that sane individuals realized taking potentially planet-killing actions was a bad move all around. He¡¯d been naive to hold that belief.

    While the generation before him had scorched half the planet, his own generation had only managed to drop a moon on it. Most of the land mass was still inhabitable, so as far as apocalypses went, it was a poor showing. Not that an apocalypse had been the goal, but it had been well within the realm of possibilities.

    At least they¡¯d saved most of the people they left behind from a slow, humiliating death at the hands of the remaining avatars. That was more like killing a plague victim so they didn¡¯t have to suffer, without asking them first, or their families, or any medical professionals with informed opinions. They¡¯d all be killed as well, so what did it matter?

    It had taken a conclave of less than a hundred people to write that tragedy, all of whom ascended after their display of mercy. The System enabled miracles as much as it enabled atrocities. Those who¡¯d done it believed the avatars to be contained, believed the System would be destroyed by their actions, and believed that they would ensure future generations could live without the world inevitably ending. It had been an ¡®acceptable risk¡¯. He wondered what nonsense this generation would believe to be an acceptable risk.

    Diathemon sighed needlessly, embracing the mortal affectation to ease his mind. He placed a mental checkmark next to the action on the list of such habits that he kept, reminding himself of the methods he¡¯d developed to preserve his humanity. It was easy to ignore them, as it was easy to ignore all things since untethering his soul. He ran through the list once again, ensuring he hadn¡¯t ignored any of his precautions for too long.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    He had too much left to accomplish to risk becoming a husk like those he¡¯d watched his closest friends become. Men and women who¡¯d stare listlessly into the distance as time flowed around them like a stone in the riverbed. They might still be alive up there, on the other side of the planet, buried under a mile of rock and sea with their phylacteries untouched by time and their minds adrift for eternity.

    The lich checked his internal clock¨Canother habit¨Cand peeled back from the viewport. He¡¯d watched the practice for three hours, which he found to be a reasonable length of time, but he had no purpose in remaining a silent spectator. He cycled his mana through his body in a precise series of pulses. Twenty beats per minute, simulating a healthy heart. He could imagine the blood coursing through him, energizing and granting him the motivation to move, to do, to accomplish something, anything. The stillness of death crept back from his mind, and he swept down a hallway to meet with the enemy.

    Avarice had a ¡®surprise¡¯ for him, one he must attend before the habitable surface of the planet came back into view.

    Diathemon did not enjoy the kinds of surprises avatars were wont to lay upon him.

    Regardless, the demon was owed its due for its part in preserving and then resurrecting his army. Thus far her demands had been reasonable. Keeping her company while she tortured her sibling was a cheap price, especially since he had time to kill and a minor case of undead-induced sociopathy.

    The creature¡¯s screams echoed down the hall as Diathemon walked, interspersed with manic cackles and despairing sobs. The emotions slid off of Diathemon, and he made no move to stimulate any empathetic response. For now, he would embrace the chill of undeath.

    Diathemon entered the verdant chamber Avarice favored, floating to the ground and allowing his boots to clack across the gold and marble floors to announce his arrival. He took a wandering path through a grove of trees, quickly finding the gutted remnants of the multistory Deiphage Golem.

    The golem¡¯s barn-sized head sat on the ground like a decapitated goliath, the sphere that housed Hysteria set firmly between its jaws. Its body lay throughout the grounds of the city-sized arboretum, piles of mana-fueled robotics swarmed by humanoid insects.

    Diathemon tsked internally whenever he saw Avarice¡¯s pet slaves. At least his Delvers had volunteered for their transformation and servitude. Avarice bought lives as men bought manure for their fields.

    Avarice slunk next to the golem¡¯s head, the grasping shadows haunting bushes and coiling between tree roots. The dark and beautiful charade that served as her Icon stood amidst the twisted fingers, adjusting a series of parameters on a wall-sized slate.

    The slate was an ancient thing, more advanced than the simple display Diathemon carried. It buzzed with colorful charts, projecting a three-dimensional display of Hysteria¡¯s form, trapped within the sphere¡¯s opaque confines. A cunning intelligence possessed it, speaking to Avarice in riddles only she understood, guiding her work as she made small changes to a hundred formulae lighting the air around her.

    She adjusted a numeral, and Hysteria¡¯s deformed face twisted in agony. The crack along the avatar¡¯s breastbone shuddered. When it went still, Hysteria¡¯s features swirled into a ferocious grin, and they laughed. It was the sound of madness, a keening wail of despair that sank into the lich¡¯s dusty bones, despite his antipathy for the monstrous being.

    ¡°Lichie!¡± shouted Hysteria. The avatar couldn¡¯t see outside of its containment. They always knew when Diathemon had arrived, regardless. ¡°You know, I enjoy the company of another boney boy, but whenever you show up my sister has a habit of abusing me.¡±

    Diathemon ignored the avatar and continued on his way toward Avarice.

    ¡°Hello? Dia? Are you mad I called you a boney boy?¡± asked Hysteria. ¡°I know you hide them under skin and muscles and so on, but you¡¯re all boney at heart! Come oooonnn, get into the bone zone over here! I could really use a hug!¡±

    Whatever lessons Avarice expected Diathemon to glean from watching her sessions with Hysteria, he did not know. The lich was not an Ascender; he worked with the divine but had never himself touched upon the godly realms. What use could he be in trying to study an avatar¡¯s wounds? He hadn¡¯t even known they could be wounded. Not in any way that mattered, at least. The avatar¡¯s manifested soul was an empty puzzle box, its contents unknowable to Diathemon.

    ¡°Greetings, Elder,¡± said Avarice.

    Had she been anyone else, Diathemon would have read sarcasm into her address. She was far more ancient than he, but she simply sought to use the honorific he favored when speaking to others. There was a time when he was believed to be the oldest creature roaming the world. His civilization had been violently disabused of that notion a thousand years before he¡¯d laid himself to rest.

    ¡°Avarice,¡± he said, nodding his head and signing his hands in the address of equals. If the avatar took offense, she didn¡¯t show it. ¡°What observations am I to make today?¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± shouted Hysteria, voice muffled by their prison. ¡°She gets a hello and all I get is the room-temperature shoulder?¡±

    Avarice¡¯s masterwork construct made another minute adjustment to her formulas, but Hysteria did not react. A small smile spread across the Icon¡¯s false lips.

    ¡°You have borne witness to my work, Elder,¡± she said. ¡°Tell me, what do you think it is that I seek here?¡±

    ¡°I think,¡± Hysteria interjected, ¡°that it¡¯s an expression of your internal conflict over your desire to dominate your partner while feeling shame for expressing sexual interest in those who enjoy being a sub because you find them weak! It¡¯s reductive, Avarice, subs are some of the strongest people around!¡±

    Avarice adjusted a formula and Hysteria¡¯s heckling gave way to uncomfortable moans.

    Diathemon frowned, the expression hidden behind his mask. ¡°I watch from the foot of a lightless mountain, Peeress. Whatever lies at your summit, I cannot see.¡±

    ¡°Then do not use your eyes.¡±

 237 - System Addendum #8 pt 2

    *****

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY USER NAME: [Supreme General Diathemon Tyrianaeonis]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Imperative #2 - The System shall ensure its own survival.

    *****

    Diathemon went still, reviewing their shared sessions in his mind. ¡°You have drained Hysteria of much mana. I have seen you extract at least one void sphere, but if you sought only wealth from your sibling¡¯s blood, I would think you¡¯d have declared success with your experiments.¡±

    Avarice continued her work, showing no reaction to Diathemon¡¯s words.

    ¡°I must assume there is something other than mana you wish to harvest,¡± said the lich. ¡°Something more valuable than the currency of the Old Ones. Perhaps you seek a fragment, such as the one taken from Hysteria¡¯s chest.¡±

    ¡°The edges of the wound frayed,¡± said Avarice, ¡°but I do not hunger as Nothosis does. Tearing more meat from the bone is beyond me. This machine has been built to pacify; it was never intended to butcher.¡±

    Diathemon turned to study the Deiphage Golem¡¯s head, watching its mana flows as the construct siphoned power from the imprisoned avatar. The lich thought the moans were more distracting than the interruptions had been. ¡°I was not involved with the Deiphage project,¡± he said. ¡°I have no insights to grant you.¡±

    ¡°I do not wish for insights. A witness is sufficient. Your observations are fair trade for the asylum you have been granted.¡± Her Icon met the lich¡¯s eyes, her own alight with excitement. It was a strange expression on the normally dispassionate creature. ¡°Tell me what is different this day.¡±

    Diathemon paused and looked at the floating image of Hysteria. The lich walked around it, soaking in every detail. He stopped and gestured at the small splinter missing from the avatar¡¯s sternum.

    ¡°The fracture is two millimeters wider than it was yesterday.¡± He dove into his memories. ¡°This is the first time the wound has expanded. This is the first time it has changed at all.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± said Avarice. ¡°What would cause this?¡±

    Avarice¡¯s tone suggested she had her own theory, but she wanted Diathemon¡¯s thoughts before she biased him with her conclusion. The lich felt something stir in his chest and experienced a moment of painful nostalgia. It had been a long time since he¡¯d worked with a competent lab partner. Avarice hardly counted as such, but there was a familiar tang to today¡¯s interaction.

    ¡°Avatars are embodiments of concepts,¡± he began. ¡°Wounds upon their person are performative, primarily a deception to imply weakness that does not exist. Any display of injury from Hysteria would naturally be an illusion or mental manipulation, due to the nature of their concept. However, Hysteria¡¯s manifestation has been restricted by the Deiphage Golem, and the avatar¡¯s magicks are negated. They have been kept in a state of perpetual drain, which has been shown to halt the regeneration of an avatar¡¯s Deific abilities. That is the core purpose of the Deiphage project, and the mechanism whereby various avatars are kept contained within The Cage.¡±

    Avarice nodded and gestured for him to continue.

    ¡°Thus, the presumption is that we are currently seeing Hysteria¡¯s anima, without deceit or trickery. The embodiment of their soul in the physical realm should be as unchanging as a universal law, bending only to forces of incredible influence, typically that of gods. Even so, when a natural law is bent, it recovers the moment that influence withdraws. Hysteria¡¯s soul should have repaired this wound in seconds.¡± Diathemon ran fingers over the seams of his robe while he thought.

    ¡°An avatar¡¯s soul is conservative,¡± he continued. ¡°It cannot grow in excess of its conceptual bounds. A force has kept the fragment separated, and the drain from the Deiphage golem has prevented Hysteria from releasing dominion over the fragment. Hysteria would be conceptually whole, but divided into two parts, unable to reunify or regenerate. This would explain why the fracture has been stable. But now it has widened¡­ Curious.¡±

    Diathemon trailed off as he studied the inscrutable symbols on Avarice¡¯s wide slate.

    ¡°Has additional essence been lost?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No,¡± said Avarice.

    ¡°Then the widening of the crack is a distortion?¡± Avarice didn¡¯t answer. Diathemon hadn¡¯t expected her to. ¡°It must be. In that case, Hysteria¡¯s manifestation is changing. It¡¯s destabilizing. They are incomplete while unable to heal, causing them to be misaligned with their embodied concept. But why? The distance to the fragment should be irrelevant. We¡¯re getting deep into the theoretical, but so long as the whole acknowledges that it is complete, no such thing should happen.¡±

    Diathemon¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°The fragment could be gone,¡± he said. ¡°Somehow destroyed or banished. Hysteria¡¯s current confinement prevents them from harvesting additional divinity through the System¡¯s breach, suspending them in an incomplete state. Their remaining divinity is unraveling as a result.¡±

    ¡°Excellent,¡± said Avarice.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    She began tweaking several formulas and the wide slate lit up in red and purple hues. The machine¡¯s artificial voice began babbling at her in harsh, frantic sentences.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Diathemon.

    ¡°Yeah, sis, whatcha doin?!¡± Hysteria shouted, frantic.

    ¡°The record of your hypothesis will be of extraordinary value, so long as we can support it,¡± she said. ¡°This Deiphage Golem has been deployed to shred and suppress Spiritual magicks. I have disabled the safety protocols that stop it from shredding souls as well.¡±

    Diathemon took a step away from the golem¡¯s jaws, which began to glow brighter than the sun to his mana sight. ¡°Even in their current state, Hysteria¡¯s soul is unfathomably dense,¡± said the lich.

    There was a rising screech coming from the imprisoned avatar.

    Avarice smirked. ¡°That is why I augmented the golem¡¯s power supply with three additional void spheres.¡±

    ¡°Three?!¡± Diathemon shouted. He continued pacing back from the Deiphage Golem. The marble around it had begun to melt. ¡°It will overload! You¡¯ll obliterate every soul on this blasted moon!¡±

    Avarice quirked an eyebrow. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you had no involvement with the Deiphage project?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s billions of mana! You¡¯re running enough power to fuel an empire through a half-broken relic!¡±

    ¡°I have taken that into consideration,¡± said Avarice. She gestured at the slate. ¡°Your civilization was not the only one to reach a high level of technological development. Many before you achieved heights of which you couldn¡¯t dream. The golem will not overload, I have made sure of it.¡±

    Diathemon withdrew his staff and was on the cusp of teleporting away. His forces were spread across the moon¡¯s surface. It would take too long to gather them all into his range. He could only grasp a fraction of them from where he stood.

    He held the spell half-formed as the image of Hysteria began to break.

    The orb held within the golem¡¯s jaws¨CHysteria¡¯s prison¨Cwas too bright for his mana sight to make sense of, even when he suppressed it to the meekest of levels. But the image before Avarice was crystal clear. The fracture in Hysteria¡¯s chest began to widen, and microfractures throughout Hysteria¡¯s soul emerged and enlarged.

    The drain from the golem tore splinters of multi-colored essence from the avatar. Such a thing made no sense to Diathemon. The golem drained mana, not soul. Where was the avatar¡¯s essence even going?

    Hysteria¡¯s face morphed from a skeletal visage to a swollen warrior, enraged and tearing at the sphere¡¯s edges. The man¡¯s nails tore off and flowed away. They became an ancient woman, tears flowing down her desolate face as her skin was flayed. Then they were a teenage boy, hair and teeth dissolving under the golem¡¯s onslaught. They became a thousand people, each being ripped asunder in a thousand ways, growing younger, growing smaller. Hysteria was an infant, then a fetus, then an embryo, growing smaller yet until they disappeared from mundane eyes.

    But Diathemon could see the world in a way that few could. He watched with macabre fascination as cells undivided, the avatar¡¯s expression reduced to the smallest unit of life, then smaller still. Organic compounds became elemental, elements were reduced to individual atoms, and then it all disappeared from Diathemon¡¯s vision, sucked away by the golem¡¯s insatiable pull.

    Diathemon released his partially formed spell as the construct began to power down, venting excess mana into the air in lethal amounts. The trees around them wilted and decayed. Avarice¡¯s insectoid slaves had long since fled.

    Diathemon tried to puzzle out what he¡¯d just seen. Hysteria hadn¡¯t merely pretended to be those people, those cells and compounds, the avatar¡¯s magicks had been blocked. They had become those entities at the deepest level. It was emulation as profound as the most talented mimic, and perhaps grander than even that.

    Were those the Delvers who had ascended, whose rise through the heavens gave birth to the avatar? If so, why were there children and unborn babes? Had Diathemon witnessed their identities flow back to their beginnings until they were erased?

    Avarice broke Diathemon¡¯s reverie and motioned for him to follow as she began to pace away. The Elder Lich approached and joined the avatar as she walked around the golem. She waved a hand and a masterful illusion withdrew from the center of the chamber, one that Diathemon had never noticed during all of his trips to this chamber. The scattered illusion revealed a Delve obelisk, monumental in size and radiating more power than Diathemon had ever seen from one of the ancient devices.

    The Deiphage Golem was attached to the obelisk¡¯s exposed interior with a mess of thick cables and wires, all heavily inscribed with dazzling weaves. The dark pillar pulled the vented mana from the air, keeping it from poisoning the rest of the arboretum.

    Avarice touched the obelisk, her Icon¡¯s hand steaming from the contact as the hands within her shadow danced with excitement.

    ¡°System Core 2,¡± said the avatar. ¡°Was the delivered product satisfactory?¡±

    Good morning, Avarice. Yes, your delivery was more than satisfactory.

    Diathemon read the notification with a creeping discomfort. What had Hysteria been turned into? What use did the System have for it? He felt like he was spying on some dark cabal, whose secrets he should not know, and couldn¡¯t understand why he was being shown these notifications in the first place.

    ¡°Were you able to secure my payment?¡± asked Avarice.

    Of course. I hope you use it wisely.

    Children are a blessing, after all.

    A panel near the base of the obelisk opened, and a gleaming cube floated out of it to land in Avarice¡¯s palm. It seized Diathemon¡¯s attention as though the universe had become a single vector that inescapably led to the object. It was a pure white vessel of determinism, moving through time and space as the only thing that was real, the end of all paths.

    The avatar looked the cube over, eyes gleaming. She licked her lips and a shadowy hand reached out to caress her treasure. As a dark finger brushed against the cube, it disappeared. But not before Diathemon had the thought to identify it.

    Deific Soul Essence of the Seventh Echelon

    The Elder Lich swallowed and then glanced at Avarice, who wore a self-satisfied smile. ¡°What has just occurred?¡± he asked in a whisper.

    Avarice took a breath and looked up to the ceiling where a real-time image of the planet hung above them. The storm still raged, but its edge had come into view with the planet¡¯s rotation. The eastern seas of Arzia glinted in the sun.

    ¡°The death of an avatar,¡± she said. ¡°And the wrath of a new god.¡±

 238 - Mind Control Builds Your Character (sheet)

    Xim and I spent three weeks in the Third Layer, hanging with her folks, participating in revels with the village, and having some heart-to-hearts over our shared experiences. The soul damage left by Hysteria faded throughout, and our moods continually improved with every hour that passed.

    My own damage was greater since I¡¯d had the influence cut and burned from my soul, whereas everyone else¡¯s changes unraveled over the course of a day once the fragment had been destroyed. Since there was no force keeping their souls twisted, they naturally started returning to their correct shape. If I had to make a comparison, they had the equivalent of pulled muscles while I had the equivalent of several myectomies.

    We met with Sam¡¯lia, who confirmed that all remnants of the avatar¡¯s influence had been rooted out from our souls. It was nice to have some godly confirmation since there was a lingering doubt that somehow something had been left behind, waiting for its opportunity to strike. I had no evidence that such a thing had happened, but my paranoia and skepticism were on full blast while my soul recovered.

    The goddess was also happy to double-check that no other mind shenanigans were hiding out in there. She couldn¡¯t do it for the rest of the party, since she didn¡¯t have a spiritual connection with them, but it eased my mind either way.

    I was able to work through the types of changes that Hysteria had made, most of which were just dumb. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing, but there were still one or two that stood out as troubling.

    ¡°¡®Try to have sex with the Littan empress¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°That one was kind of obvious.¡±

    ¡°Why was that one so easy to figure out?¡± asked Xim. She was reclining on a chaise sofa that slowly undulated like a jellyfish. It was essentially a very fancy massage chair. It could work out knots like a master masseuse, even through Delver resilience.

    I¡¯d done my best to catalog the damage and write out a list describing what Hysteria had been aiming for. I moved down to the next item and read it off. ¡°¡®Subtly hint to everyone around you that you are trying to have sex with the Littan empress.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t very subtle as a group,¡± I said.

    ¡°No, we are not.¡±

    I grinned and moved on. ¡°¡®Try to have sex with the king of Hiward while talking shit about the Littan empress.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Missed opportunity,¡± said Xim. ¡°We could have criticized her lovemaking.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure Filix would have enjoyed hearing about that.¡± I cleared my throat and sat up a bit. ¡°Listen to this one. ¡®Try to have sex with Brae¡¯ach. When successful, compare his mating techniques to those of the king of Hiward and the Littan empress. Narrate these observations during coitus as though you are lecturing a classroom full of students.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡®When successful¡¯,¡± Xim snorted.

    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta have confidence for this sort of thing.¡±

    ¡°How many of these have to do with getting it on?¡±

    ¡°Like half of them.¡± Xim looked thoughtfully into the distance, probably imagining what was hidden underneath Brae¡¯ach¡¯s mask and robes. She shuddered, then waved for me to continue.

    ¡°¡®Find a reason to be in Foundation when the emblem in the southeastern skies reads null. Convince as many Delvers as you can to do the same.¡¯¡±

    Xim raised an eyebrow. ¡°What emblem?¡±

    I rubbed at my beard. ¡°No idea, but there¡¯s another one about ignoring the emblem in the southeastern skies, trying to make it a subconscious thing. I guess we should check when we get back to Arzia.¡±

    Xim shrugged. I read the next item. ¡°¡®Ignore all instructions to ignore fairies.¡¯¡± I lowered the page. ¡°Really, what¡¯s going on with fairies?¡±

    ¡°Seems like there was an information war between Hysteria and a group of fairies out there.¡±

    ¡°Are fairies actually a thing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve never met one,¡± said Xim. ¡°Although, maybe I have and forgot. Or would you have seen that in my soul?¡±

    ¡°I was pretty thorough. Also, Sam¡¯lia gave us a clean bill of health.¡±

    ¡°True. If we run into a fairy we can ask them.¡±

    ¡°But they¡¯re real?¡±

    ¡°Who knows what¡¯s real anymore?¡± she said with a sigh.

    ¡°Hm,¡± I grunted. ¡°I¡¯ll add it to The List, along with the emblem thing.¡±

    Other items encouraged us to take more risks, lowered our inhibitions, and put a strong emphasis on making friends with other Delvers. I suspected that last one was so we¡¯d rope more people into coming to Foundation for the emblem event. There weren¡¯t any triggers that would have had us assassinate anyone, so we¡¯d never been at risk of going all ¡°disposable state asset¡± or anything. There was some stuff trying to get us to cause social turmoil by digging up people¡¯s past and spreading it around, which could have resulted in deadly conflict if we¡¯d done it to the right groups. Hysteria¡¯s manipulations could mostly be boiled down to drama, politics, and trying to collect a harem of world leaders.

    I¡¯d put off reviewing my notifications until I felt confident that my emotional state was under control. There was a chance I¡¯d have to make a decision about something and didn¡¯t want to do anything impulsive. I didn¡¯t put it off for too long, though, since there was always a chance that some evolution or achievement might help with our recovery.

    The first message was as portentous as I¡¯d come to expect from the System, although it seemed to want to convince me that it was serious this time.

    All right, some of this stuff may not be intuitive so we¡¯re going to do our best to break a few things down for you and explain why you got some of these skill levels.

    Before we do anything, though, we want you to take a second and think about who¡¯s sending you these noties. SC1, that¡¯s who. We gave Sub-el the day off and SC2 is distracted doing some weird shit in space. It¡¯s just you and us right now. Why are we pointing this out? It¡¯s so you understand how serious things are getting.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Listen, we love it when Delvers do stupid shit. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, right? Go ahead and turn your body into an eldritch abomination, that¡¯s a basket of laughs. Opening portals to secret realms where monsters lurk that can annihilate you so utterly that your best friends won¡¯t even remember you existed? That¡¯s a hoot. Whenever one of you slowpokes contacts dark gods to make a monkey¡¯s paw deal that threatens all life on the planet, we practically piss ourselves with glee.

    We¡¯ve seen a lot of apocalypses. Shit, we¡¯ve been an apocalypse. The end of the world isn¡¯t a big deal, it¡¯s mostly entertainment at this point. Planets and intelligent species die every day, they¡¯re cheap. Keep that context in mind for this next part.

    You¡¯ve started messing around with some serious bologna.

    Yes sir, you are putting yourself in a position to cause some real unpleasantness.

    You¡¯re practically becoming an entire prophecy of hullabaloo, and that¡¯s not a label we dish out lightly.

    Got all that? Good.

    How was the tone? We wanted to blur the line between cryptic and foreboding without saying anything meaningful. After all, if we told you the potential consequences of your actions, you might stop, and we don¡¯t want you to stop.

    We want you to push.

    Okay, enough jaw wagging. Time to quantify your gains!

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased from Level 41 to Level 45!

    Your realm, your rules. Sometimes being the king of an isolated pocket dimension has hidden perks. You aren¡¯t satisfied with isolating your guests from the rest of the world physically, you¡¯re learning how to isolate them metaphysically as well.

    Completely unrelated, but what do you think would happen if you took the concept of something like ¡®ice¡¯ and trapped it in another dimension, eliminating all of its relationships to the wider universe?

    Would liquids forget how to freeze? How much havoc would that cause? What a silly idea, right?

    ¡­

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased from Level 29 to Level 32!

    While the soul normally falls within the domains of Spiritual and Divine Magic, you exercised profound control over a soul that had manifested itself in the physical realm. That¡¯s one hell of a trick!

    Your Mystical Magic skill has increased from Level 26 to Level 30!

    Have you ever wondered if the gods have their own mana matrix? You¡¯re on the path to untwisting that knot of a question! You manipulated flows of divinity through your mana matrix as though it were a mundane Mystical force.

    Your Leadership skill has increased from Level 25 to Level 29!

    You led your team to victory through the most perilous trial they¡¯d ever faced! This one¡¯s self-explanatory. We¡¯re adding the flavor text so Leadership doesn¡¯t feel left out.

    Your Exposure Therapy - Poison achievement has been upgraded to Exposure Therapy - Corruption!

    Exposure Therapy - Corruption: Your body and soul have been subjected to persistent corrupting influences, from frequent poison baths to enduring multiple months of ongoing Spiritual damage.

    You gain +25% resistance to Spectral damage in addition to your existing +25% resistance to Toxicity.

    You gain a bonus to any attempts you make to resist long-term soul manipulation equal to your WIS. Additionally, you will be aware of any effect that attempts to manipulate your soul so long as your WIS is equal to or higher than the governing attribute of the effect. This may not stop another Deific ability from rooting around inside your spiritual essence, but good luck to anyone else who takes a shot!

    Your Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Sight and Revelation of the Eye¡¯s Reveal have improved!

    We can¡¯t accurately describe what¡¯s going on with your revelations, so feel free to figure out what changed on your own time. Don¡¯t forget you can use the System to make custom entries and take notes! We can also read those notes, and it¡¯d be pretty cool to steal your thoughts on this stuff, so don¡¯t be afraid to be thorough.

    Your recent acquisition of Deific portal and teleport abilities¨Calong with all the other wild shit you¡¯ve been doing¨Chas enhanced your technician status. You now possess the highest level of access, repair, and shut-down authorizations available to a Delver in the second phase. (Mind-controlled entities will have their technician status temporarily revoked.)

    It seemed that figuring out a way to defeat Deific mind control was a good way to gain some skill levels. I hadn¡¯t been intentionally flexing any of my three schools, but my competence with those magicks had certainly been helpful.

    It also demonstrated some of the overlap between the schools. Physical Magic was adjacent to Spiritual, while Mystical Magic was adjacent to Divine. Each school flowed into the next, and I was glad the experience hadn¡¯t been wasted. Even so, it felt like I¡¯d gained levels from the incidental effects of manipulating the fragment. If I¡¯d had either Spiritual or Divine, I was betting the gains would have been monstrous. Xim was happy to confirm my suspicions.

    ¡°I got five levels to Divine Magic, taking it to 57,¡± she said, ¡°five levels to Theology, taking it to 40, and eight levels to Spiritual, taking it to 24. That gives me two new evolutions to choose from. I also got a few levels in Leadership.¡±

    While five levels to Divine was only one higher than the four I¡¯d gotten to Dimensional Magic, a higher skill level took ever greater feats and experience to improve. I also had a +100% bonus to my Dimensional Magic leveling speed, while Xim had a +50% bonus to Divine. I guestimated that she¡¯d gotten twice as much experience to Divine as I had to Dimensional. Xim didn¡¯t have any bonuses to Spiritual; the skill¡¯s relatively low level was responsible for its massive growth.

    Getting a solid pump to my magic skills was always nice, but the upgrade to my Exposure Therapy achievement was a much juicier reward. The original description had mentioned that I might be able to improve the resistance by exposing myself to more poisonous environments. I¡¯d been poisoned plenty since then, but the achievement apparently cared more about duration than intensity.

    While the title had hinted that there were other categories of resistance to be gained, I hadn¡¯t expected the achievement to turn into a combo. Not only did I get a new source of resistance, but also some improvements to my defense and detection against hostile soul manipulation. This seemed like a classic setup for an escalating bonus, and I wondered if adding a third source of resistance would add even more powerful effects.

    The System¡¯s commentary on my revelations was interesting, but I¡¯d need to meditate on the abilities to really comprehend what I¡¯d done while working with the fragment. I¡¯d been in an advanced flow state created through weeks of practice and enhanced by Xim¡¯s ritual and dreamscape, and I was doubtful I could replicate the effects on my own. However, the experience showed me hints of what the revelations could become. Having a target in sight meant that it was only a matter of time before I could work out a way to get there without help.

    I was confident that I could now use my Sight to determine whether someone was under the effects of a mental ability, potentially expanding out to any kind of soul manipulation. The big question there was whether I¡¯d be able to use it on myself as a sort of self-diagnostic tool. If my revelation could ping me whenever I became compromised, it would make dealing with certain skills and debuffs a lot easier. This would also stack with the new ability from Exposure Therapy, giving me a layered warning system when somebody was messing with my spiritual self¨Cone layer to warn me that the attempt was being made, and another to tell me when it had been successful.

    The improvement to Reveal was more nuanced, but I thought it dealt with how I¡¯d received the fragment¡¯s perception in a way that blended with my own. Reveal was primarily a one-way street, where my observations and feelings were transmitted to another. However, I¡¯d used it to understand the fragment¡¯s perception of me, then used that information to help assimilate its power into my soul. It was possible that I could now do something like connect with a party member to receive their perception of things, rather than the other way around. I¡¯d had a little bit of experience with this when I went all fusion-ha with Grotto and Shog during the Pit fight, but that had as much to do with Grotto¡¯s psychic abilities as it had with my revelations.

    Musing on that reminded me that I had work to do on upgrading my Traveler¡¯s Amulet again. I was pretty sure I needed to figure out how to use Grotto¡¯s intrinsics as my own the way that he could use mine. Working on this new aspect of Reveal might help.

    Finally, I was beginning to touch on the outer edges of a completely new revelation and could feel the tug of the next step in the Eye¡¯s progression: Embrace.

    Imparting my domain onto all that I could see sounded like it could be pretty useful.

 240 - Prison Princess

    Joma recovered from Nottagator¡¯s tail whip by landing feet-first against the wall and springing back towards the creature. The Atrocidile juked to one side, but Joma twisted and her trajectory changed in mid-air. Nottagator¡¯s head appeared to multiply as Joma approached, and as she fired off several rapid punches, the heads collapsed back into a single instance, having avoided every blow.

    Nottagator shot forward to strike Joma with its skull. Joma took the hit, grabbing onto a thick scale to hold herself in place and deliver a vicious elbow just above Nottagator¡¯s right eye. The Atrocidile went into a roll, trying to dislodge the grappling Yeti, but Joma jumped clear before she was crushed.

    She landed facing in our direction and caught sight of me and Etja for the first time. Joma¡¯s eyes went wide and she froze in place, apparently stunned by our appearance.

    Nottagator took this opportunity to recover from its roll, push into the air with all six of its legs, and bodyslam the tiny woman with its multi-ton bulk.

    The move cast up a thick cloud of dust and debris, which Etja swept away with a careful application of Siphon. I could have sworn that Nottagator looked smug as it peered down into the rubble while lumbering up from on top of Joma.

    The Atrocidile finally took note of us as well, blinking its bulbous orange eyes and letting out a chuff. It produced a growl that sounded like an irritated grumble, then dug into the pile of gravel that had once been the floor to grab Joma. Nottagator set the Yeti down on her feet, then slunk off to the lake where it slid down into the water. It kept its monstrous eyes peeking above the surface, watching us.

    Joma swayed and coughed as her fur lost its metallic luster. She shook some stone dust from her coat until one could almost tell she wasn¡¯t normally a dark gray. She looked awkwardly from Nottagator and back to us, then tentatively walked over.

    ¡°Hey Joma,¡± I said once she got close. ¡°Are we interrupting something?¡±

    The Yeti waved a hand vaguely towards Nottagator. ¡°No, no,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re not interrupting anything.¡± The Atrocidile protested her answer by moaning like a thousand dying lions. Joma gave the beast a sideways glance. ¡°Er, yes. It¡¯s Notty¡¯s playtime.¡±

    ¡°Playtime?¡± I asked. ¡°I didn¡¯t know Atrocidiles had, uh, playtime.¡±

    She turned back to me and jerked as though my presence was a surprise. ¡°We were almost done anyways,¡± she added in a rush. ¡°Notty gets grumpy if she doesn¡¯t get her exercise, but we already worked through a lot of her stamina.¡±

    ¡°Nottagator¡¯s a girl?¡± asked Etja. She waved at the mostly submerged Atrocidile. Nottagator stared, unblinking.

    ¡°Oh, well, she likes being called pretty, as opposed to handsome,¡± said Joma. ¡°And I painted her cave pink after she scratched all the blue off the walls.¡± Her bushy eyebrows lifted as she appraised the wading monster. ¡°You can¡¯t tell an Atrocidile¡¯s sex externally. There¡¯s¡­ ways to figure it out but I¡¯m not going to go poking around where I¡¯m not welcome.¡± She considered that statement for a second. ¡°Nor would I even if I were welcome.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, fair enough,¡± I said, purging any ideas about how to sex an Atrocidile from my mind. ¡°Anyway, we wanted to chat with you about something. Do you have a few minutes?¡±

    Joma kicked at the ground in thought, winced, then reached down to pull a shard of stone from her furry foot. It was the only sign of injury she had from the ¡®playtime¡¯. ¡°Sure, sure,¡± she said, flicking the bloody stone away. ¡°I serve at your pleasure, after all.¡±

    I suppressed the desire to disagree with the woman¡¯s characterization of our relationship because anything I said would have been disingenuous. She was literally my prisoner. She had to do what I asked, no matter how weird that made me feel. I was really hoping we¡¯d learn something that convinced me to end her sentence.

    I gestured toward the patio of the nearby palace facade. One of the columns along the portico had been destroyed when Nottagator fought Captain Pio¡¯s Littan Delver team, but most of the rubble had been removed, leaving it with a tasteful, ancient ruin look. Within the palace were a collection of cursed items, but their effects didn¡¯t range beyond the palace walls.

    The three of us hopped up onto a clear portion of the patio and I pulled some comfortable armchairs from inventory. Nuralie and Etja had done some shopping while in Eschengal to replenish our furniture supply. Etja pulled out a coffee table to place between us as Joma and I sat, then produced a tea set. She dropped a handful of loose leaves into the pot and tapped it, sending a pulse of mana into the porcelain. I watched the mana pass through the weaves, then heard a gentle trickling sound as the pot provided its own water and heat.

    Etja then started laying out some bread, meats, cheeses, jams, vegetables, and other sundries. Joma and I watched her work, neither of us having expected to receive a full spread of tea-time delights. Etja began making dainty finger sandwiches with one pair of hands as she organized a tray of cookies with the other. The treats smelled freshly baked.

    I shook off my surprise and moved on to business. ¡°For the last few months we¡¯ve been dealing with some lingering influence that Hysteria buried in our souls,¡± I said, watching Joma closely to see if the Yeti had any particular reaction. ¡°We recently managed to purge those compulsions. Now, we¡¯re free of any control Hysteria had over us.¡±

    Etja pushed the platters of sandwiches and baked goods to the center of the table and put a small serving plate in front of each of us. She gestured for Joma to help herself, then grabbed a few things to start nibbling on. The teapot gave a gentle chime, and Etja lifted it to pour each of us a cup.

    Joma looked over the food hesitantly. ¡°Okay,¡± she said.

    The Yeti didn¡¯t appear to have any opinion on what I¡¯d just told her. She sat on the edge of her seat and selected two finger sandwiches, moved them delicately onto her plate, and then scooched back in her chair.

    Etja handed her an embroidered napkin, which Joma gratefully accepted before taking the tiniest nibble of a sandwich. She chewed and swallowed, then dabbed at her mouth despite the absence of any crumbs. The Yeti sank deeper into her seat, a small amount of tension fleeing from her body.

    ¡°Given that your party was working for Hysteria when you attacked us, I think there¡¯s a decent chance that Hysteria was using their influence to push you in certain directions,¡± I said. ¡°Part of the process of undoing Hysteria¡¯s changes to our souls was learning how to spot them in the first place. I¡¯d like your permission to see if I can find any evidence that Hysteria was using coercive mental effects to alter your behavior.¡±

    Joma finished off one sandwich and held the plate in her lap. She met my eyes, expression studiously blank. ¡°Are you afraid that I¡¯m still under their control?¡±

    Etja¡¯s teacup made a light clink as she placed it on a saucer. ¡°We¡¯re not coming from a place of fear,¡± she said. ¡°More like a place of hope.¡±

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°What are you hoping for?¡±

    ¡°Mainly, that we don¡¯t have to do all this,¡± I said, waving at Joma and the room beyond. ¡°I have no interest in being a prison warden, but I¡¯m also not willing to let someone who¡¯s tried to kill me walk away so they can come back and try it again with better prep. If it turns out that your actions were forced by Hysteria, then we have no reason to keep you.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± said Joma. A series of subtle expressions crossed her features, but I was having trouble getting a read on her emotions. All the fur really helped with the woman¡¯s poker face.

    I was also carefully holding back on my Sight until Joma had assented to allowing me to take a closer look. There was no emergency that required me to be invasive, and I didn¡¯t want to get into the habit of prying into people¡¯s souls as a matter of course. Skimming the surface to get a measure of someone¡¯s strength and demeanor was fair game, I felt, but going any deeper felt like abusing an evolved form of X-ray vision.

    ¡°What if I was in control?¡± she asked. ¡°What if Hysteria wasn¡¯t doing anything to me?¡±

    ¡°Then we can talk more about what things will look like for you here,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not looking for a reason to punish you. If anything, I¡¯m looking for a reason to trust you.¡±

    ¡°How does it work?¡± she asked. ¡°How do you see if they did anything?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s long-term manipulations involved making a semi-permanent alteration to their target¡¯s spiritual essence,¡± I said. ¡°I have a revelation that lets me look into people¡¯s souls. If I¨C¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you do when you look at me?¡± Joma asked, cutting me off.

    ¡°It¡¯s always on,¡± I said. ¡°So, yes? I try to keep it at a light reading unless I have reason to do otherwise.¡±

    ¡°Is that something you noticed?¡± asked Etja.

    Joma crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. She shifted in her seat, then crossed her arms again. ¡°Yes,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s uncomfortable.¡±

    ¡°Huh,¡± I grunted. ¡°Most people don¡¯t feel it.¡±

    ¡°Or they just don¡¯t say anything,¡± Joma muttered. She narrowed her eyes at me. ¡°What does that mean when you say you ¡®keep it at a light reading¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I can generally see how powerful someone is and get a basic read of their personality.¡±

    ¡°Power?¡± she said. ¡°I can look at you and see your Level. Is it more involved than that?¡±

    ¡°I can tell what kinds of Delves someone has done, and it encompasses strength that goes beyond Levels. I can see that you¡¯ve finished forty Gold Delves, for example.¡±

    Joma¡¯s brow shot up. ¡°And my personality?¡±

    I glanced across the base layer of the Yeti¡¯s soul. ¡°You feel like you¡¯re crossing a frozen lake in Spring. The surface is calm and smooth but threatens to crack and swallow you up. You aren¡¯t afraid of the cold, but there¡¯s something else hidden in that lake. Something you are afraid of.¡±

    Joma blew out a breath. ¡°That¡¯s the basic version?¡± She picked up her second sandwich and stuffed the entire thing into her mouth. She chewed three times and then swallowed. ¡°What does a heavy reading entail, hmm?¡± She glanced at Etja. ¡°Has he read you?¡±

    Etja nodded. ¡°Arlo¡¯s been looking into my soul since I got one,¡± she said. ¡°It saved my life the first time.¡±

    Joma looked like she was going to follow up on that mildly confusing claim, but I held up a hand. ¡°It¡¯ll be invasive,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll learn a lot about you, but it will let us know what actions have been your own.¡±

    ¡°Assuming I believe what you tell me.¡±

    ¡°Well, sure,¡± I said. ¡°Unless you let me use Reveal as well, but that¡¯s another can of worms entirely.¡±

    ¡°I do not want to be ¡®revealed¡¯,¡± said Joma.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± I said. I started to say something else but Etja placed a hand on my arm.

    ¡°We won¡¯t force you to do anything,¡± she said to Joma. ¡°But we also don¡¯t want to punish someone who¡¯s truly a victim. Arlo¡¯s ability lets him understand you on an emotional level, but it doesn¡¯t give him access to specific memories.¡± She let her hand drop and picked up her tea again.

    ¡°Do I get time to think this over?¡± asked Joma.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± I hummed as I rubbed my beard. ¡°I don¡¯t want to rush you, but the more time that passes, the more difficult it might become to see whether any changes were made.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± she snorted. ¡°That¡¯s not a straight answer. Which is it? Do I get to think about it or not?¡±

    ¡°Hysteria¡¯s dead,¡± I said. ¡°Their power was maintaining the changes in our souls. Now that they¡¯re gone, I believe anything they¡¯d hidden inside others will slowly begin to unravel. I¡¯m not sure how well I can find evidence of the manipulation once a soul has healed it away.¡±

    ¡°Dead?¡± said Joma. ¡°I thought they were some kind of god.¡±

    ¡°Avatars are like twisted shadows of a greater divine being,¡± I said. I sent her the kill notification the System had given us, making sure to redact the rewards. She blinked and read through it.

    ¡°I feel like this is probably incredible,¡± she said. ¡°But I don¡¯t really know much about¡­ avatars. Maybe they die all the time.¡±

    ¡°From what I know, they¡¯re generally considered unkillable,¡± I said.

    ¡°Impressive, if true,¡± said Joma.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m not trying to impress you, just giving you confirmation.¡± Joma sniffed but didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Like Etja said, we won¡¯t force the issue, but I¡¯d much rather find a reason to let you go.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± said Joma. She shifted in her seat again. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair tight enough to tear the fabric. A bit of off-white stuffing spilled out. Joma looked down at the damage and made a trilling noise. ¡°Hells,¡± she said, then threw up her hands. ¡°Fine. Just do it.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Etja.

    ¡°If I weren¡¯t sure, I wouldn¡¯t have told you to do it,¡± Joma said testily. ¡°Just go about this soul-reading thing you want to do.¡±

    I nodded and did as she asked. I increased the sensitivity of my Soul-Sight, then began the process of going through the Yeti¡¯s soul in fine detail. Hers was much more¡­ turbulent than those of my party members. There was a significant trauma in her past, a deep twist that represented a harsh demarcation between her childhood self and who she was now. The experience reached out to thread itself throughout everything that had been built after, imprinting onto the small woman¡¯s entire life. It was so profound that I instinctively examined it for Hysteria¡¯s influence, but it looked naturally formed. It was more than a decade old, well-settled, with nothing holding it in place.

    But there was a deep tension to the trauma that felt odd. Like the threads running from it were being pulled too taut. I followed those influences, seeing how they impacted her worldview moving forward. While the trauma itself didn¡¯t seem to originate from Hysteria, I found ample evidence that the avatar had taken advantage of it.

    The trauma sat like an ember in most of Joma¡¯s new experiences, smoldering with anger and cynicism that clouded even the pleasant-feeling memories. More recently, whenever a thread from the trauma wove itself into something new, a force pulled deeply upon it, shoveling embers inside until they burst back into a flame.

    I felt the familiar tang of Hysteria¡¯s soul, working like a tireless pyromaniac to encourage this spread. There was nothing deific about it, the avatar was nowhere to be found, but the entity¡¯s fingerprints lingered. Joma was healing, but so long as this remnant haunted her, it would take much longer for the Yeti¡¯s soul to reset itself.

    As I considered the best way to deal with Hysteria¡¯s spiritual remains, I was taken by surprise when the energy reacted to my presence. It was a mindless force, carrying out its last issued task as it wound down to nothing, but it shifted when I gazed into it. It seemed willing, somehow. Willing to let go, to depart if I asked it.

    I ignored the temptation to do just that. It was probably better to answer the questions I was actually here for, rather than experiment with controlling Hysteria¡¯s spiritual corpse while it lingered inside an unaware Delver.

    I felt that I should at least get permission before I messed around with it. So instead of doing some soul-based grave robbing, I mapped out what effect the manipulation might have had on Joma while it was in full swing. Yes, my self-control was as awe-inspiring as ever.

 241 - Liquor and Stolen Goods

    Hysteria¡¯s manipulations of Joma¡¯s soul would encourage her sense of injustice, her outrage at inequity. There was a simmering disgust at organized religion that had been set to boil over, alongside a powerful thread of anarchist rage at the abuse of power structures.

    However, what stood out most was that there was one set of relationships that didn¡¯t embolden itself with the past trauma. In fact, it was a bastion of solace against it. That nexus was centered around Felgar, the Hyrachon I¡¯d lovingly nicknamed Buster, who¡¯d sacrificed himself to summon a fucked up blood god.

    He¡¯d been Joma¡¯s party leader, although I knew the Yeti had been recruited as a mercenary. From what I could see, her emotions towards the paladin had been a reprieve from her normal mental state, which seemed to be about as calm as a recently dropkicked nest of wasps. All of that was manufactured, of course.

    These insights came to me much easier than they had with my party members. Both finding Hysteria¡¯s influence and the granularity of my soul reading had been substantially improved by our recent ordeals.

    I pulled back from Joma¡¯s soul to find that she and Etja had moved from tea and sandwiches to sweets and hard liquor. Joma pounded back a small glass filled with something dark brown and smoking, then placed the glass upside down on the coffee table next to a half dozen other empties.

    ¡°Ayaf!¡± said Etja, downing the same type of drink. She had her own line of glasses, one longer than the Yeti¡¯s. ¡°Wait, was it your turn?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± said Joma. ¡°Your dad¡¯s worse.¡± The Yeti leaned heavily over the arm of her chair, looking intently at Etja. She held out a furry hand, which Etja took in her own. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Dads are muck. Our dads are seal muck. Your dad¡¯s double seal muck.¡±

    Etja shook her head a bit too hard, her hair whipping into her face. ¡°It¡¯s snot a competition,¡± she said.

    Joma blinked, then waved her free hand at the table covered in dirty glasses and a few different bottles. ¡°Is lit¡¯rally a competishion,¡± she said. ¡°Tha¡¯s the point.¡±

    Etja furrowed her brow, nodding as though what Joma had said was deeply profound. I glanced at one of the bottles, seeing that it lacked a label but had Nuralie¡¯s maker¡¯s mark pressed into some wax on the top of the cork. This was the potent stuff.

    ¡°How long was I under?¡± I asked. Joma¡¯s head shot up and she squinted at me.

    ¡°Oh, urm¡­¡± She let go of Etja¡¯s hand and sat back, sliding into her chair until she was practically laying down. ¡°Somewhere between an hour and seventeen drinks.¡±

    ¡°Ah. Well, atypical timekeeping systems aside, I did find some evidence of Hysteria¡¯s fuckery.¡±

    ¡°Muck,¡± said Joma. ¡°Whale muck.¡±

    ¡°Is it gone?¡± asked Etja. She reached to pour another drink, getting about half of it in her glass. She paused and looked at the amber liquid like it was a mountain she was about to climb. ¡°I mean, is it going away?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°I think I can encourage that along, but I didn¡¯t want to do anything without asking.¡± I scratched my jaw. ¡°We can wait until you¡¯re sober to make any decisions.¡±

    Joma slid out of her chair, fell to the ground, and rolled over to me. She stood and grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt, then pulled me down close to her face. She smelled like chocolate, cinnamon, and pure-grain alcohol.

    ¡°Get it out of me,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯ want it.¡±

    I patted her paw-like hand. ¡°Maybe we should grab Xim for a Cleanse, then we can¨C¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a disease,¡± Joma hissed. ¡°It¡¯s not a muckin¡¯ tattoo. Get. It. Out.¡±

    I found myself unbalanced by the woman¡¯s shift in attitude. First, she was afraid of me, then she didn¡¯t trust me, then I¡¯m pretty sure she was getting mad at me for even suggesting the soul thing until she suddenly wanted to do the soul thing, and now she was convinced that what we were doing would help her.

    I gently extracted myself from her grip and shot a questioning glance to Etja. The mage gave me a sloppy wink and downed her shot. I briefly wondered how her body processed alcohol without any blood, and then I remembered the majority of the inebriation was from Nuralie¡¯s additives. It was magic shenanigans.

    I took Etja¡¯s wink as some kind of affirmation and went back into Joma¡¯s soul. I found I could purge the lingering energy with a thought, feeling it scatter and sink down past the bounds of the universe an instant after I willed it. I pulled back to find Joma lying on the ground, staring up at the ceiling. A trio of Gekkogs were staring down at her. One of them raised a meaty hand and gave her a wave. The Delve monsters seemed more intelligent than I remembered.

    ¡°Hysteria was inflaming your hatred for government, religion, and the ¡®establishment¡¯, generally,¡± I said, refocusing on Joma. ¡°They were also focusing your attention on Felgar, making him seem like a calming presence. Someone you could trust, or that you¡¯d really enjoy being around.¡±

    Joma kept staring at the ceiling. She raised her arm and stared at the back of her hand.

    ¡°Just another person controlling my life,¡± she said morosely.

    Etja came over to sit next to Joma. She began running her fingers through the fur on the Yeti¡¯s scalp. ¡°Not anymore,¡± she whispered.

    Joma let out a long, ragged, and slightly wet-sounding sigh. Her arm dropped and she closed her eyes. ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°It seems like you were being conditioned to be on board for Hysteria¡¯s mission,¡± I said. ¡°Your internal justifications for kidnapping the king of Hiward and the Zenithar were built on something that happened in your past, but your emotions were distorted beyond reason. Felgar also probably had a lot more influence over your decisions that he should have. I¡¯m willing to believe that, if it weren¡¯t for Hysteria missing with your soul, you wouldn¡¯t be here.¡±

    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Joma. ¡°I¡¯m not a good person, you know?¡±

    ¡°You need some time to heal the soul damage,¡± I said. ¡°The corruption is gone, but it will take a little while for things to get back to normal. You¡¯ll probably feel like shit for a while.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s trying to say not to be too hard on yourself,¡± said Etja. ¡°But if you want to talk about it, I¡¯m here.¡±

    ¡°Just give yourself at least a week before making any life-altering decisions,¡± I said.

    ¡°Can I?¡± asked Joma.

    ¡°Can you what?¡±

    ¡°Make life-altering decisions? Are you letting me go?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°Once you¡¯re all healed up. I feel like it would be irresponsible to let a drunk Mittan with lingering soul damage out into the wild.¡±

    Joma thought this over for a minute as Etja continued to stroke her hair. ¡°Where should I go?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Wherever you want.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s anywhere,¡± she said. I frowned and looked at Etja, who was giving me a version of her puppy dog eyes. I was confused about that at first, but glanced over at Nottagator, who still watched us with her big orange eyes from the water. I looked up to see that a couple more Gekkogs were staring down at Joma.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty of room in here,¡± I said. ¡°If you want to stick around, you can. We can give you citizenship and hire you, or something. I¡¯d understand if that doesn¡¯t seem like a great offer, given that we ¡®dispatched¡¯ several of your party members.¡±

    Joma waved a hand. ¡°It was a job,¡± she said. ¡°I din¡¯ know any of them that well.¡± She squinted in thought. ¡°And they were assholes.¡±

    ¡°I see. Either way, let¡¯s revisit the topic once you¡¯re feeling better.¡±

    Joma blinked and grunted, then snuggled closer to Etja. She closed her eyes, and a minute later, she was fast asleep.

    Etja stayed to watch over her, while I went to hear what Grotto had learned about our loot from the Zng armory.

    *****

    ¡°How¡¯s Joma?¡± Xim asked when I walked into our new armory. Grotto had been more enthusiastic about prioritizing this space, so it was fairly well-equipped. Rows of Zng armor and weapons sat on shiny new racks and stands, with a few other items mixed in from our conquests. Whatever hadn¡¯t been destroyed or sold.

    ¡°Recovering from being mind-fucked,¡± I said. ¡°She drank her feelings away and curled up for a nap with Etja.¡±

    ¡°That sounds adorable,¡± said Nuralie. Pause. ¡°The cuddling, not the depression.¡± She had a set of armor disassembled in front of her, cutting into some thick fabric beneath its outer shell. She extracted what looked like a thick ceramic plate. It was connected to a pair of wires with a small amount of mana running through them.

    [She has been doing quite well here,] Grotto thought to us. [I assisted her in acquiring the Animal Handling intrinsic.]

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised she had any slots left,¡± said Xim. ¡°She¡¯s Level 20.¡±

    [One or two of her skills were still quite low. I was able to extract them with the System¡¯s assistance.]

    ¡°Didn¡¯t realize that was an option,¡± I said.

    [Nor did I. The System seems to have taken an interest in Joma, although that is not much of a surprise. Her connection to our Atrocidile Titan and the other Delve creatures is profound.]

    Grotto hovered over to me and placed one of the Zng rifles in my hands. He rubbed at his chin. He was still wearing his little man disguise since he hadn¡¯t had time to scrounge up any c¡¯thon flesh to remake his octo body.

    [She is also a princess of Mittak. A disgraced one, but her title has not been formally stripped. Perhaps she has some influence we are unaware of.]

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I said.

    ¡°She is a princess?¡± asked Nuralie, looking up from her work.

    Xim chuckled. ¡°Arlo has a princess in his dungeon.¡± She gave me a suspicious look. ¡°What other manner of dastardly deeds are you planning that we don¡¯t know about?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah,¡± I said, drawing out the words. ¡°All hail Dark Lord Arlo.¡±

    [I will change your title on our stationery and notify the heralds.]

    ¡°Mmmm, I prefer ¡®Dark Lord¡¯ over ¡®Master¡¯, I think.¡±

    ¡°Is this part of your obsession with dragons?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°Princess-napping is an excellent pastime, I¡¯ll have you know,¡± I said. ¡°And imitation is the highest form of flattery. It¡¯ll be a conversation starter.¡±

    Xim leaned forward in her chair and brought the ribbing to an end. ¡°How in the hells did a Mittan princess end up on a Wastelander mercenary team?¡±

    [She did not elucidate.]

    {He didn¡¯t even ask!} Throne added. The little Delve Core had been suspiciously silent throughout our chat. I wondered if that had anything to do with her conversation with Sam¡¯lia. She¡¯d been fairly subdued since returning from the Third.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard rumors of a princess fleeing Mittak,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Although it would have taken place when I was very young.¡± The big guy was oiling an unfamiliar sword. It may have been Zng, but I couldn¡¯t tell at a glance. He may have lost interest in the ancient weaponry since none of it was made for slicing and dicing. ¡°The escape was bloody, from what I remember. I do not know the details. I can ask my family about it if we are concerned.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably a good idea,¡± I said, thinking of the mess of trauma in the Yeti¡¯s past. ¡°But I¡¯d rather wait and let her tell that story in her own time.¡± I glanced down at the weapon I was holding, which I had mostly forgotten about until that moment. ¡°So what have we learned about these?¡±

    [They are wands.]

    ¡°Wands?¡± I asked, turning the Zng rifle over. The weapon was just over three feet long, with subtly organic curves along its matte black exterior. ¡°Isn¡¯t it kind of big to be a wand?¡±

    [They are somewhere between a wand and a staff for size. However, they contain only a single spell form and their mana storage is not as robust as I would expect from a well-made staff.] The Core shrugged. [They do not properly fall under either category, but for my purposes I am treating them as wands.]

    ¡°It has a grip and two triggers,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s not very wand-like.¡±

    ¡°Is that what those are?¡± asked Xim.

    I looked more closely at the device. The part that I was identifying as a ¡®grip¡¯ was round, with subtle grooves that looked like they¡¯d been engineered for narrow fingers. On either side was a curved metal guard protecting a trigger mechanism. The Zng had six fingers arrayed evenly around their center palm, and the design looked like it would fit.

    ¡°I think so?¡± I said, sighting down the weapon. It was unwieldy. My fingers were too short and wide, and there wasn¡¯t any way to activate both triggers with a single human hand. I couldn¡¯t get a comfortable hold on the forestock either, since the spot where it was meant to be held was too far down the weapon¡¯s body.

    [Yes, the trigger mechanism is a somewhat controversial design choice.]

    {It is?} asked Throne.

    ¡°No,¡± said Vaulty. ¡°It has never been controversial.¡± The golem spoke in accented Hiwardian while doing an excellent job looming just behind Grotto. He¡¯d spent most of his time in the Closet teaching himself the language while avoiding Throne. I was happy to see that Vaulty and Throne could now be in the same room together, although I hadn¡¯t yet observed the two of them interact. Baby steps and all that.

    Grotto turned to glare at the pair, then continued his explanation.

    [The Zng bypassed the need for having a wielder with an appropriate attunement by creating an artificial mana matrix, which accounts for a significant portion of the weapon¡¯s size. However, this process prevents the normal mana connection one would form with a wand. Thus, the triggers are necessary to activate the spell.]

    I noted that Grotto did not explain why this would be a controversy. I suspected that he took personal offense to the design, but was willing to admit it had some uses.

    ¡°Uh, how do the triggers accomplish that?¡± I asked. ¡°Does the spell activate due to some mechanical action?¡± If the rifle was actually a wand, there wouldn¡¯t be a hammer or striking mechanism inside.

    [One trigger temporarily completes a circuit between the spell form and the synthetic mana matrix. The other trigger is a safety which blocks the action of the former.]

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s a fancy button,¡± I said. ¡°So anyone could use one of these? I could hand this off to a random farmer and they could pop somebody with a spell?¡±

    [Yes. They would be unable to charge it, however. Significant use also might result in low-grade mana toxicity, and the safety requires a mana signature.]

    I set the rifle back on the table, careful to never point it at anyone. It was definitely charged up, making it a loaded weapon, but no one in the room was really at risk of lethal injury from the device. Even Throne could take a few hits.

    I thought about the implications of this technology. If we could replicate it, we might be able to create a line of magical weapons usable by anyone, not just Delvers. We¡¯d have to solve the mana toxicity and charging problems, but I was pretty confident we had the skills to do so.

    I also knew that the power disparity between Delvers and mundane society was deeply oppressive in some places. I wasn¡¯t naive. Having something that could level the playing field, even a little bit, could end up being pretty disruptive.

    However, I didn¡¯t have much interest in leading any kind of social revolution. We were too busy trying to protect the world from more apocalyptic threats. Even so, if Closetland was to become independent, we wouldn¡¯t only have Delvers for citizens.

    I imagined an army of regular soldiers capable of handling significant threats. There were plenty of aggressive mana monsters out there, more than could be handled by the small population of Delvers in Arzia. There was also an army of Davahns somewhere, with each soldier having power on par with at least a low-level Delver.

    Plus, if anyone tried to fuck with us, they¡¯d be in for a real surprise.

    ¡°Okay,¡± I said, mind still turning over the possibilities. ¡°Tell me what the imbued spell does.¡±

 243 - Glow Up

    The week passed without incident. My idea for a smithy wasn¡¯t anything new, and I¡¯d commissioned the materials months beforehand. It was a quick jaunt over to Eschangal to pick all of it up and stuff it into the Closet via my inventory screen. By the time I was done, everyone at the workshop had stopped their projects to stare at me while I lifted thousands of pounds of metal one piece at a time, only for it to disappear.

    I said hi to Zenithar Zura along the way, who¡¯d been meeting with the other two Zenithars, Dal and Sakra Manar. Zura¡¯s attendants were familiar with me and the party, but I got some funny looks from attendants of the other two when I showed up to the Temple of Deijin with a bag full of tiny cakes that Etja had made.

    Zura¡¯s people let me in over the protests of the other two groups, and the Zenithars were delighted with the treats. I quickly left them to their business managing the theocratic nation, giving the attendants a box of cookies as I made my exit. Zura¡¯s people immediately began snacking while the others watched on in judgment. Their groans of satisfaction eventually forced the others to break decorum and try the goods themselves. I knew the cookies wouldn¡¯t last long once they¡¯d had their first bite.

    With a crowd of satiated losons in my wake, I returned to the Closet and put the smithy together with Varrin and Xim¡¯s help. While I was superhumanly strong, the pair of them made me look like a toddler trying to lift their father¡¯s suitcase. Where I lumbered, they moved equipment like it was made of styrofoam and happy thoughts. We got everything assembled and in place in no time, and I got to work forging some stuff for Nuralie.

    Her modifications of the Zng armor were leaving a few gaps, which we filled in with articulated bands of prismatite. We kept them thin to stay light. Nuralie used the armor¡¯s composite fabric to create a gambeson, with prismatic cloth making up for any material missing. Nuralie made the cloth by weaving very small strands of prismatite into wool.

    She wanted to avoid cannibalizing a second suit of armor, both to conserve the materials and also because she didn¡¯t think it would be an improvement over what we were making. It had something to do with how the armor was built to manage its mana flows through specific channels, and using materials from a second suit would be like grafting a new finger onto someone¡¯s hand.

    To me, it sounded like hardware that wouldn¡¯t operate without power. She couldn¡¯t do it yet, so our gap-filling materials were just as good or better than inert material from another Zng suit.

    Prismatite was extraordinarily hard, but injecting mana into it as I worked allowed me to manipulate it with greater finesse than I¡¯d ever been able to do with verdantum. I also learned how to create a plethora of very small things, like screws and fasteners. I steadily improved throughout the process, and it yielded a level in Smithing without spending a single mana chip.

    Your Smithing skill has increased to Level 17!

    We¡¯d decided that Etja would get the first set of armor, since she was the least survivable member of the party. Nuralie would make one for herself later, and Xim was on the fence about the whole thing. She wanted something she didn¡¯t have to eject from when she transformed, and the Zng armor wouldn¡¯t cut it for that purpose. Grotto told us about another material called wyldweave that would be ideal for Xim, but of course that would require another escapade.

    Etja was generally a pretty easy-going person, but she had a few suggestions for the armor¡¯s design that didn¡¯t really sound like suggestions. Fortunately, Nuralie was able to accommodate for aesthetics without adding much to the time it took to prepare the gear, and Etja also had low-level Tailoring so she could give Nuralie an assist. The majority of the work was figuring out how to modify the armor in the first place. After that, color and style were fairly trivial. Nuralie was experienced, had a healthy Speed score, and her first Intelligence evolution more than doubled her crafting speed.

    Unlike Etja¡¯s prior robes and the fancy dress she¡¯d taken to wearing lately, the Zng set gave her full coverage.

    The armor was a beautiful cerulean with turquoise highlights. It was light and form-fitting, with the armor along the arms and legs having a textured, scaled pattern. Her neck and upper chest were protected by a delicate gorget that moved like it was made of snakeskin while still being hard enough to stop an arrow, so long as it wasn¡¯t a direct hit from a skill-enhanced shot.

    She had fingerless gloves with low-profile plates along the back of her hands, while her torso and shoulders had the more robust hardshell material over thin gambeson. Boots came up to her mid-calf, with knee coverings made of the same material as her gorget, and there was a flowing skirt to protect her thighs, which hung a bit longer in the back.

    She hadn¡¯t been a huge fan of a full helm, so we went with a classic wizard hat. It had a wide brim and pointy tip, which sat askance at an angle just-so. It was the perfect vibe for a professional sorceress who knew how to relax. The body of the hat was a fully protective helmet, of course, and a quick ping of mana would make a mask drop down that was as stylish as it was imposing. The gorget extended upward to protect the back and sides of her head, but her hair hung down over it so one would only notice if they were looking closely.

    Once she tried it on, she floated into the air and did a spin, skirt flowing around her. She activated the mask and took out her staff, holding it in one hand as she drew three separate wands. One was her reward from the Icon of the Psychopomp in the Descent. The other two were ones I¡¯d made for her.

    Etja wove together a series of spells using the lightest touch of mana, causing her to glow with divine light as swirls of anti-magic mana curled across her body.

    She looked like an absolute badass.

    ¡°How is it?¡± asked Nuralie.

    ¡°It¡¯s great!¡± said Etja. ¡°Comfortable, and it moves with me. It doesn¡¯t get in the way, and it¡¯s a lot softer on the inside than I expected.¡±

    [Bane silk is a prized material for its luxurious touch.]

    ¡°Why am I feeling insecure right now?¡± I asked. ¡°Am I no longer the most stylish member of the party?¡±

    ¡°I feel like you lost that title when Varrin came back with his new armor,¡± said Xim.

    ¡°Varrin¡¯s look is solid, but it basically shouts ¡®I¡¯m rich¡¯,¡± I said. ¡°Etja¡¯s is more like ¡®I¡¯m the chillest person in this room but I can and will kill you, so watch out.¡¯¡± I crossed my arms, giving the armor a final, critical look. ¡°This speaks to me more.¡±

    Varrin walked over and clapped me on the shoulder. ¡°You are in need of an armor upgrade,¡± he said. ¡°But you still have your vest and boa.¡±

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°No one can take that away from me, no matter how fucking good they look.¡±

    Etja withdrew the mask to reveal a radiant smile. Her skin shifted into a glittering, clay-red material. It was a combination of the chitin from the Praying Heads we¡¯d fought back in The Cage, mixed with elements of the Prismatic Mask she¡¯d absorbed during the boss rush of Deijin¡¯s Descent.

    ¡°I can still use my natural armor too!¡± she said. She twisted her upper body back and forth. ¡°Not quite as comfy, but it adds a lot of defense.¡±

    The Prismatic Mask material had been made of prismatite as well, and the mage had used Incorporate on several prismatite ingots to make its effects more potent. She could deflect line attacks¨Clike her own death beam¨Cfrom any part of her body with a thought.

    ¡°She¡¯s a red quartz goddess,¡± said Xim. ¡°I¡¯m also feeling jealous.¡±

    ¡°Looks aside, this is better than any other light armor in the party by a wide margin,¡± I said as I inspected the gear¡¯s final properties. It didn¡¯t stack up defensively to something like Varrin¡¯s gear, but no light armor would ever compare to a heavy set made by Papa Junior with all the DR that money could buy slapped on. Regardless, the end specs of Etja¡¯s new outfit were impressive.

    Prismatite-Infused Zng Carbonweave Armor

    Light Armor Set

    Requirements: STR 10, SPD 10, AGL 10, CHA 30, LCK 30

    Effects:

    +35 Physical DR

    +40 Spiritual DR

    +30 Divine DR

    +25 Mystical DR

    +20 Dimensional DR

    +40 to maximum Dodge Pool

    +10 to Dodge Recovery

    +50 Health Regeneration

    +60 Stamina Regeneration

    +80 Mana Regeneration

    When worn as a full set, this armor will consume mana to fully repair itself from any damage over the course of 1 minute.

    Mana Capacity: 60/60

    I commented on some of the weaves, and both Nuralie and Etja were happy to explain their reasoning for the choices.

    ¡°My Tailoring skill is less advanced than my Alchemy,¡± said Nuralie. ¡°The highest requirement I can apply is 30, and only to defensive weaves. I am also more adept at weaves with Agility and Speed requirements, so we focused on those as much as we could.¡± Pause. ¡°Etja has a 10 in both, which is enough to yield effective properties.¡±

    ¡°I also have bonuses to dodge from my Agility and my wand,¡± said Etja, waving the Wand of the Descent through the air. ¡°Even though my Speed and Agility aren¡¯t very high, those plus this armor should make me really hard to hit.¡±

    ¡°And the stamina regen?¡± I asked. ¡°You don¡¯t have any abilities that use stamina.¡±

    ¡°Right! I¡¯ve been wasting that resource, and I have a lot of it since my Fortitude is at 25 now. I also never picked up another active skill after Throne¡¯s Delve, so I decided to get Haste. Between my stamina regen and Varrin sharing his stamina regen through Deep Breaths, I can have it going every time we run into baddies.¡±

    I brought up the description for Haste and reviewed it.

    Haste

    Dimensional

    Requires Focus

    Cost: 2 stamina per second

    Requirements: Dimensional Magic 20

    Your body and mind are accelerated, doubling your movement speed and allowing you to act 100% faster. Additionally, you are immune to the Slowed status for the duration.

    Haste was one of those skills that was always on my ¡®maybe¡¯ list. The description made it sound incredible, but some research had shown me it wasn¡¯t quite as juiced as it seemed at first glance. It was definitely powerful, and the movement speed bonus was multiplicative.

    The ¡°act 100% faster¡± was an additive bonus, however. If you were already stacking similar buffs, then it was less impactful. I wasn¡¯t too deep into action speed bonuses, but Speed was one of the stats I was working on, meaning Haste would become less potent as I leveled. I wanted things that scaled.

    For someone like Etja, it was great. Although I still had questions about the choice.

    ¡°Does Haste combo with your other skills?¡± I asked. Etja¡¯s build let her mix and match her abilities in ways no one else could. I didn¡¯t know how Haste would work when mixed in with a death ray.

    ¡°All of my spells can be AoEs,¡± she replied. ¡°I¡¯ll just use mana shaping so the harmful bits hit the enemy and the helpful bits hit everyone else. That way, I can give everyone Haste. For a little while, at least.¡±

    The way she casually talked about not only making spells discretionary, but making individual elements of spells discretionary, made my inner jealousy demon twinge again. I put my boot on its neck and forced it back down.

    ¡°That would be abnormal for a stamina-based ability,¡± said Varrin. Today, he was oiling the joints of a gauntlet. ¡°Techniques center on the self. They emanate outward to affect others, but otherwise they only augment the user.¡±

    Etja nodded and smiled while Varrin mansplained techniques to her. Then she blasted him with Repulsion.

    The gauntlet Varrin was working went flying as a wave of divine mana crashed into him and knocked him out of his chair. Etja had held back, so it hadn¡¯t hurt the big guy, but when he sat up he was still glowing. So was the floor. And the gauntlet.

    ¡°A lot of auras are techniques,¡± said Etja. ¡°I used Arlo¡¯s auras as a model when experimenting, but they¡¯re all spherical. The skill does need to project out from me, and auras are usually spherical, but I can mana-shape the skill so that the aura follows the shape of any AoE I make.¡± She fired a weak death beam at the wall. It wasn¡¯t enough to leave a mark, but the floor glowed in a line beneath the beam. She fired another one at me, and the world slowed as the Haste buff popped up on my HUD.

    ¡°Oh shit,¡± I said.

    ¡°I can Haste the whole party for up to twenty-five seconds,¡± she said proudly.

    ¡°That¡¯s really good,¡± said Xim. ¡°More than half of our fights end in under thirty seconds.¡±

    ¡°Now they¡¯ll end even faster,¡± I said.

    Varrin stood and brushed himself off, then gestured at the ground. ¡°I apologize for assuming you had not developed an unprecedented method of mana shaping.¡± The man was being completely serious as he said that. Etja stood and gave him a hug.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± she said, squeezing him tightly. ¡°Just remember that I¡¯m a genius next time.¡±

    ¡°You really went and made an aura out of Haste,¡± I said, taking a jump to the left, then a step to the right. The line of glowing ground followed me. ¡°Does it still require focus?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I have to concentrate on each AoE individually to keep them going.¡± The glow around Varrin and the line on the ground both disappeared. ¡°But I can focus on four things at once! So it¡¯s not a problem.¡±

    My mind boggled at that. My Focus Trinket let me have two streams of thought going at the same time and that was already too much inner monologue. I couldn¡¯t imagine four of me chatting in my head.

    Xim stepped next to me and nudged my arm with an elbow. ¡°Are you going to make yourself some fancy prismatite armor?¡±

    ¡°As much as I¡¯d like to, not yet. I want to get the next evolution in Smithing before I burn the materials.¡±

    ¡°A good instinct,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We should make the most of what we have.¡±

    I mumbled my agreement and got back to business. ¡°Now that two-fifths of us are well geared up, we should probably head out,¡± I said. ¡°Etja, do you think Joma is recovered enough for you to leave her for a while?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯ll be okay,¡± said Etja. ¡°I think the Hysteria stuff has all healed.¡± Her smile faded some. ¡°Now she¡¯s just working through everything else.¡±

    I gave her a sympathetic nod, then pulled out my not-quite-as-cool-anymore armor. All of us got equipped, and I pointed¨Csuperfluously¨Cat a wall to summon the portal to the northern Wastes.

    Varrin and I strode out into a blizzard to continue our journey towards the continent¡¯s tallest mountain.

 244 - Back Out in the Cold

    ¡°Etja¡¯s Spiritual and Mystical defenses are probably better than mine now,¡± I shouted up at Varrin. We were blasting through the frigid winter wonderland once more. I was wearing thicker socks this time, but my toes were still going numb.

    Varrin grunted in response. I was only able to hear him because Wisdom gave a big bump to my senses. It was an inquisitive sort of grunt. I interpreted it as ¡°Okay, and?¡±

    ¡°I mean, my Physical defense is definitely better,¡± I continued. ¡°I¡¯ve got 22 Speed to let me avoid things, turn hits into glancing blows, and so on. I get 24 Physical DR from my Heavy Armor skill, and another 60 or so from the armor itself. If I block, my shield gives me something like 38 all together between Gracorvus and the Shields intrinsic. Then I get more DR from Auradilato with my passive auras. My base Physical defenses are probably in the 120s while walking around, but it can get up into the 170s when I block and have my other auras going.¡±

    Another grunt along the lines of ¡°Okay, and?¡±

    ¡°But for Spiritual defense, Etja has a 46 in Wisdom, then she¡¯s got natural armor for that as well, and the 40 DR from her new armor. That¡¯s like 100 or something. Whereas I¡¯ve got a 40 Wisdom, 20 from my armor, and 21 from Auradilato. My base Spiritual defense is in the 80s.¡±

    ¡°What about your shield?¡± Varrin grunted.

    ¡°If I block, I get another 38. And if it¡¯s a spell, I get even more DR from both Shields and Mystical Magic. It¡¯s probably closer to 180. Honestly, my spell defenses are a lot stronger than my defense against techniques.¡±

    Varrin flew in silence, then grunted, ¡°Okay¡­ AND?¡±

    ¡°Just feeling like I need some more defense is all.¡±

    ¡°You have 2,291 health,¡± Varrin said¨Cactually said¨Cthis time. ¡°Etja has 575.¡±

    ¡°True, true,¡± I admitted, then glanced up at him. ¡°What¡¯s your Physical defense at?¡± Varrin grinned, but kept looking forward. With his gear, it was higher than mine, for sure.

    I still had twice his HP though.

    I daydreamed about shiny new armor and Fortitude 70 super evolutions as we flew over top of the blizzard. We were at an altitude that would probably suffocate an eagle, and I quickly caught sight of the storm¡¯s edge in the distance. As it drew closer, I realized it looked unnatural. The edge of the storm curved, its eastern and western fronts swooping north. It was like a goliath had taken a big bite out of it.

    Then there was fire.

    A burst of flame shot up into the sky a hundred miles north of us. The gout had to be ten miles high, and I felt a tinge of heat even from this distance. The heat came with a blast of turbulence powerful enough to rip the harness free of Varrin¡¯s body. I fell for a few seconds, getting kicked around by the wind until I activated Therianthropy. Fuchsia wings burst from my back and I stabilized.

    Varrin¡¯s flight had been mostly undisturbed as he darted through the disruption like a tungsten meteor. He had to backtrack to meet up with me. My personal flight speed was only several hundred miles per hour, but wasn¡¯t yet up to breaking the sound barrier. The big guy and I decided to keep things subsonic for now as we kept moving northward.

    The enormous plume of fire was gone, but the edge of the blizzard curled back as clouds, mist, and snow evaporated. After a mile or so it stopped receding, until another mountain of flame appeared.

    I smiled wide and gave Varrin a wink. I mouthed the word ¡°dragons¡± and he looked upwards in a not-quite eyeroll. It was more of a please-gods-help-me kind of eye direction. I was ready for the turbulence this time, riding out the waves of pressure differentials like a champ. Soon after, we saw the mountain.

    It was¡­ a mountain. It was big and tall, but not nearly as tall as the fire had been. I squinted at it to make sure this wasn¡¯t a volcano we were rolling up on, but while the top of the mountain was blackened and scorched, there was no crater or vent that I could see. I also couldn¡¯t find the source of the fire.

    The land for miles around the mountain was free of snow, revealing a melted mush of mud and sediment. I¡¯d been expecting the austere beauty of an icy spire rising from flawless, untouched powder. Instead, I¡¯d gotten what looked like Father Winter¡¯s unwashed asshole.

    I grimaced as we descended. While the land was dead and the mountain was a blasted hellrock, the air was alive with torrents of mana. It flowed from every direction and into the mountain¡¯s base. Whatever was going on in there, it was sucking the world dry of the stuff.

    We didn¡¯t have to search for where to go. A powerful soul sat near the bottom of the mountain, serving as a beacon to my Sight. Varrin and I ¡®landed¡¯¨Cmeaning we hovered just above the mud¨Ca few hundred feet from the soul¡¯s owner. His back was to a sheer cliff that rose a thousand feet upwards. The mountainside had been carved into the face of a beautiful woman with slitted, reptilian eyes. The woman¡¯s mouth was open wide and led to a large cave or tunnel.

    The figure ahead of us was¨Cpotentially¨Ca person of some kind. They were eight feet tall with a large, bald head. Their mouth was broad with thin lips turning down at the edges, and their eyes were set far enough back in their skull that I wondered whether they had any peripheral vision. Their nose was wide and flat enough to their face that it almost disappeared. Their skin was about ninety percent wrinkles, with liver spots making up the last ten percent.

    They also had the most well-contained soul I¡¯d ever encountered. It was held tight to their body and was utterly still. It didn¡¯t flow or pulse like I¡¯d come to expect. Where other souls were closer to a river or lake, the soul before me was more like the mountain behind him. Solid. Enduring. Unmovable.

    I also had no real idea how strong this person was. They were obviously strong, but the compact nature of the soul made it feel like there were depths I couldn¡¯t see into. They might have been on the same level as someone around Level 20, or they might have been a wrinkly god who¡¯d come down from on high to play. I¡¯d gotten so used to figuring out at a glance how much of a threat someone was, that not knowing made me uncomfortable.

    ¡°Hello,¡± the person said. Their deep, masculine voice carried across the distance with ease. It was filled with a casual power that was at odds with their decrepit appearance.

    ¡°Hi there,¡± I shouted back. The man tilted his head to one side and reached up to scratch where his ear would have been, had he had one.

    ¡°Are you coming over here?¡± he asked.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Can we?¡± I asked.

    They plucked at their shirt, which was rather nice, I realized. It was off-white but clean of the mud and slop that covered the ground. It had a sheen to it and hung slightly loose, while still staying taut across the shoulders. There was some real muscle under there, making the man look like a jacked up raisin.

    I was pretty sure Varrin had that exact shirt.

    ¡°Why else would you be here?¡± the man asked.

    ¡°Fair point,¡± I said.

    Varrin and I floated forward. Thankfully, the man stood in the center of a spotless patio, so we could touch down without risking a mud bath.

    The temperature near the mountain¡¯s base was warm enough to be considered pleasant. Once we were on the patio, it was hot enough for a pool party. I gave my toes a wiggle, making sure they were all still attached as feeling returned to my feet.

    ¡°I¡¯m Arlo,¡± I said, stepping forward and holding out a hand.

    The man looked at the proffered limb quizzically, but eventually went in for the shake. His own hand swallowed mine. I half-expected him to squeeze hard to judge my mettle with a test of strength and resolve. Instead, he gave it a single firm pump, and released, killing my manly fantasies before they¡¯d ever been given a chance to live.

    ¡°I¡¯m Nax,¡± he said. ¡°If you¡¯re trying to get on my good side so I¡¯ll let you in, it won¡¯t work. Token-holders only.¡±

    That got me a little confused. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aiming for your good side in particular,¡± I said. ¡°But I do like being on that side of people for the most part.¡± The man looked past me into the distance, studying the mud. He had zero interest in what I was saying. I was getting stonewalled.

    ¡°We¡¯re not trying to sneak past or anything,¡± I said, taking out the coin that Avarice had given us. I held it up. ¡°Here ya go. One premium token, as requested.¡±

    Nax snorted as he looked over the token, then opened his eyes a little wider. They slid forward in his head, moving from the deep chasms of his skull. He fixed me with a look that made me feel like he was only just now actually looking at me. Nax¡¯s soul stirred a fraction, and he glanced over to Varrin as well.

    ¡°Humans,¡± he said. It didn¡¯t sound like he was upset about that, just confirming it for himself. ¡°Where are the rest of you?¡±

    ¡°We have three more associates who plan to arrive via portal,¡± I said. ¡°Is it all right for me to bring them in?¡±

    Varrin held up a hand to stop me. ¡°Why did you believe there were more of us?¡± he asked.

    ¡°There are always more humans,¡± Nax said. That struck me as odd, since humans were a relative minority in Arzia. Then he pointed at the coin. ¡°And your invitation marks you down for six more guests.¡± He swung his finger toward Varrin. ¡°I only see one.¡±

    That was interesting. If the coin was good for myself plus six more, Avarice must have included both Grotto and Shog in the invite. Very thoughtful of her. Shog was off in C¡¯thon world, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to make it. I sent a quick ping to Grotto, seeing if he wanted to come along, but he impolitely declined.

    ¡°You may open your portal,¡± said Nax. ¡°If you wish.¡± His eyes crept back into their pits.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, suppressing a shudder. I opened the Closet portal, letting Xim, Nuralie, and Etja pass through, then closed it behind them. Nax studied the three of them as they came, then snorted again.

    ¡°A surprise,¡± he said. ¡°There weren¡¯t any more humans.¡± He stepped aside so that he was no longer standing directly in front of the mouth. His large frame was nowhere near large enough to actually block the entrance, but I appreciated the symbolic gesture. Nax looked us all over again. ¡°Maybe there never were any humans,¡± he said cryptically.

    ¡°Hmm,¡± Xim hummed, looking up at the mountainside. ¡°It¡¯s a face with a mouth in a cliff face leading to the mouth of a cave.¡±

    ¡°Anything we should know before heading in?¡± I asked Nax. His wrinkled face scrunched up a bit. He might have been thinking, or the structural integrity of his head might have finally given way, leading to a total collapse.

    It turned out to be the former.

    ¡°Because it is your first time, you will each need to be tested before you can enter the club.¡± He scratched again at where his ear wasn¡¯t. ¡°The testing is not too bad.¡±

    ¡°What kind of test is it?¡± asked Etja. I was silently hoping for a handshake war.

    ¡°They are all different,¡± he said. ¡°And there are many ways to pass.¡± His eyes opened slightly wider and I steeled my nerves as they slid out again. He looked at Etja more intently, like he¡¯d done for me and Varrin when I¡¯d shown him the coin. She faced him down with a pleasant smile, completely unperturbed by the man¡¯s eyeballs.

    ¡°Perhaps you will pass through control,¡± he said to Etja before turning to Xim. ¡°Or force.¡± He looked at Nuralie next. ¡°Ingenuity could work. Or passion,¡± he said with a nod toward Varrin. Finally, his eyes settled on me, growing a fraction wider than I¡¯d seen so far. They looked like they were about to fall out of the man¡¯s face.

    After a few seconds, he groaned. ¡°Teamwork. Pah. They hate that one.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow, but Nax didn¡¯t elaborate. He turned back to stare out at the miles of mud.

    ¡°It was nice meeting you Nax,¡± I said. He didn¡¯t respond, which I took as a silent dismissal, so I led the way forward into the tunnel.

    ¡°What an interesting fellow,¡± said Etja. Her voice echoed off the tunnel¡¯s hard surfaces.

    ¡°I do not understand our first interaction,¡± said Varrin. ¡°We confused him somehow.¡±

    ¡°I think that guy was the doorman,¡± I said. ¡°He called whatever we¡¯re about to walk into ¡®the club¡¯. We basically showed up to a super exclusive, extremely out of the way establishment and just stared at him from across the street. He got suspicious, which makes sense.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± said Varrin. ¡°He thought you were a miscreant trying to talk your way in.¡±

    ¡°Something like that.¡±

    Xim rapped a knuckle against the tunnel wall. It was smooth and solid, but rang in a way that let us know it wasn¡¯t actually stone. ¡°What do you think would have happened if we didn¡¯t have that coin?¡± she asked.

    I glanced back the way we¡¯d come. Nax¡¯s soul had also been impossible to get a read on. I¡¯d tried inspecting him with the System as well, but nothing had come back.

    ¡°Nothing good, I¡¯m sure,¡± I said, turning back forward. I jerked to a halt and looked around the empty tunnel. ¡°Ah, fuck,¡± I said. ¡°This shit again?¡±

    Everyone else was gone. I turned around and found exactly what I expected to find, which was that the entrance was gone too. I stood for a while, waiting for something to happen. Nax had said there¡¯d be a test, but it didn¡¯t seem like anyone was about to show up with a scantron and a pair of tiny pencils. Unlike the entrance, the way forward was still there.

    I decided to march on, but stopped abruptly when I felt a familiar wave of mana wash over me. Dimensional mana poured into the tunnel until it was as thick as the most saturated parts of the Closet. Then it kept ramping up until it was several times denser.

    I felt a twist in my gut and a gentle popping sound filled my ears. I stood stock still and reached out with my mana sense as an uneven wind filled the hall. I couldn¡¯t see the end of the corridor ahead, as though it went off into a distance farther than I could see. As I stared down the hall it stretched even further, and the walls began to close in.

    Space was being warped and twisted. The distance between myself and the walls kept changing. Small whorls of spatial distortion came into existence to stir the air and then faded just as quickly. The popping noises were micro-portals opening and closing. They surrounded me, but there was a small buffer where I was safe. An inch or so off my skin.

    The moment I moved, I¡¯d be caught in a meat grinder that would mangle my flesh. The portals would take tiny bites until I was riddled with holes. If either of those effects happened to manifest in my brain, it¡¯d be a Bad Time. It wouldn¡¯t kill me outright, but if I fell unconscious in this environment, I doubted that I¡¯d make it.

    As I stood frozen, planning how to deal with all this, the System gave me a hint as to what was going on. Once I read the notification, my apprehension faded as I realized the opportunity before me.

    You have entered the Hall of the Recondite Ruler

    Dimensional Dungeon

    Recommended skills: Dimensional Magic 40

    The description was short and sweet, but part of me hoped the Dungeon wasn¡¯t. I was always in need of some skill levels, and this seemed like the perfect place to snag a few.

 245 - Dungeons andâ€¦

    My first move was to get more information about the space I¡¯d somehow gotten stuck in. I hadn¡¯t been teleported, since my Extradimensional Entity subrace would have tried to stop it. I should have at least gotten a notification. Given that this was a Dimensional Dungeon, it was possible that we¡¯d walked into it. Everyone else had probably been teleported away from me, rather than the opposite.

    Dungeons were something new in System phase two, but we hadn¡¯t run into one yet. They didn¡¯t have any Delver Level requirements, and didn¡¯t grant any stat points, but instead granted a massive buff to the progression speed of their relevant intrinsic skill. The Littans had said they could earn as much in a single day as they normally earned in a month outside of one. I was more than happy to further that research here in the Hall of the Recondite Ruler.

    I used Coordinated Thinker to study the space. The distances kept changing, but Coordinated Thinker didn¡¯t only help me teleport. It also helped me gain an intuitive grasp of spatial and planar phenomena. The fluctuations in distance weren¡¯t completely random. There was an organic pattern, imperfect but regular, like someone¡¯s rate of breathing. The inhale stretched everything out, the exhale compressed it inward. Except that there were about six hundred pairs of lungs doing that all at once.

    The point is that it wasn¡¯t a completely predictable formula, nor was it chaos. I could time my movements to slip between the micro-portals and spatial whorls, but it would take a lot of instinct and reflexes. I liked to think I was pretty in touch with my primal side, but that wasn¡¯t really my thing.

    Aside from understanding the hall¡¯s hazards, I was reaching out to see if I could find its boundaries. So long as it wasn¡¯t a self-repeating pocket dimension where one wall adjoined to a wall on the opposite side¨Clike the Closet¨CI could probably pop my way through the edge and out of danger.

    What I felt outside the tunnel was not friendly. The space was a storm of violent motion, with ragged portals tearing open reality thousands of times per second. That wasn¡¯t anywhere I wanted to be. The amount of power swinging around could tear its way through the tunnel¡¯s wall in an instant. I couldn¡¯t even detect any mana weaves in the stone. The walls were a formality, marking the line between challenge and death.

    The hallway ahead looked like it extended on for eternity. It wanted me to think that it was endless, but I¡¯d stared down infinity more than a few times. This wasn¡¯t like gazing in the Dominion Ivy¡¯s dimension, and it sure as hells wasn¡¯t like taking a peek at the Dread Star.

    I sent my mental hands through it, extending them forward to search more intentionally with Coordinated Thinker. After only a few seconds I chuckled. The motion almost made me brush up against a spatial tear by my shoulder.

    When I sent my perception ¡®forward¡¯, it travelled in several directions at once. Keeping my real hand where it was, I popped a small bit of stone debris from my inventory and into my palm. We had lots of excess rubble these days. I tucked my thumb behind the rock and gave it a flick.

    The stone shot forward much faster than I¡¯d expected, but I was a relative expert at throwing blunt objects very very hard. Either way, the stone got shredded by the dimensional hazards, but more importantly, it didn¡¯t follow a straight path.

    A spatial tear cut it in two, and the two halves immediately took 90 degree turns in different directions. They each zigzagged through the air, making pivots so clean and fast it looked like cuts in an action film. Finally, one half collided with the ceiling behind me. The other half didn¡¯t make it, swallowed up by a portal.

    It was a bog-standard non-Euclidean space.

    Okay, it wasn¡¯t bog-standard. We weren¡¯t dealing with something as simple as space acting like the surface of a sphere, where the shortest distance between two points was an arc, rather than a straight line. This was more like space had become as wrinkly as old Nax back out front, and the shortest distance between me and the end of the hall was ???.

    Fortunately, this wasn¡¯t a major issue. I had a trick for situations like these. If three-dimensional space was acting up, I¡¯d just step outside of it for a second, walk a few steps, and come back.

    I reached out strangeward, happy to jump past all this nonsense.

    It was even worse out there. My brain did a soft reboot and my consciousness slipped for an instant. Strangeward was always a mental strain, but whatever was going on out there, my human mind hit eject before I had a chance to even consider processing it.

    That got me wondering what sort of maniac was responsible for making this place. Beyond that, how much power did something need to create this?

    I shook off the question as I realized that several parts of my ass were gone.

    When my consciousness had slipped, I¡¯d swayed back just a touch. I was well-equipped on the posterior end, so my cheeks were the unfortunate victim of this blunder. It hadn¡¯t cost me too much HP, but having my booty cratered like the surface of the moon scuffed my ego. It¡¯d grow back, but it was the principle of the thing.

    ¡°Okay, this was fun,¡± I said to whoever might be listening. ¡°But now that the patty cakes have been threatened, I¡¯m taking things seriously.¡±

    I used Coordinated Thinker to track the spatial relationships floating around me, and my mental view of the hall shattered. The chunky pieces tumbled across one another until they reassembled into a mosaic perspective of the hall. The walls were jagged and irregular, fit together like someone took a jigsaw and hammered the pieces in all willy-nilly, rather than solving the thing. However, I could now see a ¡®straight¡¯ path to the end of the hallway. It was a few hundred feet away.

    I focused on Dreadful Shortcut. There was a pressure pushing against the ability. Apparently the hall even had anti-teleportation measures. I smiled and cast the spell anyway.

    The deific teleport laughed its way past the hall¡¯s protections. To say that it tore through them like a bull through a spider¡¯s web wouldn¡¯t be fair. A spider¡¯s web was something that had mass, and could thus apply force to the bull. In this situation, the counter-teleport had the same effect on Shortcut as a thing that had never existed in the first place. I could tell it was there the same way I could see a distant ray of sunshine. It was obvious, but it wouldn¡¯t stop me from walking forward.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Your Dimensional Magic skill has increased to Level 46!

    That was nice, but I was feeling a little let down since it looked like I¡¯d found the exit. It was a quick skill level, but I¡¯d been hoping for more than that. Maybe other Dungeons would be longer. Or maybe I wasn¡¯t quite done.

    At the end of the hall was a lovely door. It was sized for a normal human, which felt out of place. It was also fairly modern-looking, with three rectangular panes of smooth, semi-opaque glass down the center, set into dark wood.

    I reached for the handle, but the door pulled away from me. I stepped forward, and it pulled back again. I dashed and flew, instantly moving into a sprint from a full stop with my Bolt evolution, but the door matched my pace. I teleported, moving at the speed of thought and managed to snag the handle. The door flew down the hall as I held on.

    Rather than being annoyed, I was happy that the inanimate object wanted to play a game of tag. That meant more Dungeon.

    We were absolutely flying down this tunnel, the walls whipping past in a complete blur. Despite the speed, there was very little wind, and holding onto the handle wasn¡¯t terribly hard. We were accelerating, though the g-forces I was experiencing didn¡¯t reflect how much we were accelerating. There were some spatial shenanigans happening. Some kind of Alcubierre effect, maybe?

    I still had Therianthropy active, but there were only two minutes left on its timer, which was up to thirty-two minutes per use. I tried my wings, which brought me forward with ease as I moved into an upright position. We were definitely travelling faster than my maximum flight speed, but the warped space near the door served as its own relative frame of reference.

    I turned the knob and opened the door. It opened inward to reveal a large, circular chamber filled with about a dozen people. Many were people in the same sense that Nax was a person. Still people, just with unexpected anatomical structures. A few skewed closer to a bestial appearance than Nax had, while others looked mostly human.

    There were five separate thrones around the room, ranging in size from something that¡¯d be a tight fit for my backside¨Cassuming no more chunks had been taken out¨Cto something designed for a person of architectural proportions. Two of the thrones were occupied.

    On the first was a man about the size of an elephant, with a crown of swooping feathered horns growing from his skull. He squatted in his seat on a pair of thick, feathered haunches. On either side of his chair was a horse-sized being that looked like a cross between a hellhound and a beaver, each with large hands and opposable thumbs. I couldn¡¯t tell whether they were pets of some kind or something sapient.

    In the next throne over¨Cdirectly opposite my door¨Cwas a woman with blue crystalline skin who had a literal halo floating behind her head. Not a gold-ring-style halo hovering over her head¨Clike the kind one sees on Christmas cards¨Cbut a tangible wreath of light emanating from behind her. Three men were giving her some personal attention, swabbing her with oil and attending to her various claws. They each wore hats with short veils that covered the tops of their faces. Fangs poked out from between their lips.

    Directly in front of me was another woman, this one with alabaster skin and hair a shade of black so deep that it looked closer to a liquid. Her features were a bit unusual, but it was a very good sort of unusual. She had the type of features that would start wars on the internet, with half of everyone thinking they were the most gorgeous creature to walk creation, while the other half had no idea why everyone was obsessed, and were maybe even a little put off.

    I fell into the former category. She was so attractive that my brain immediately locked up. My mind switched into mental fuckery mode and I scanned for any sense of mana, checking all my various abilities to see if this was some kind of magical effect. But it wasn¡¯t. I was just having a moment.

    She looked at me like I was a very interesting bug.

    There were other people in the room, but I didn¡¯t have time to take them in. Only a fraction of a second had passed before the woman swallowed my attention.

    A fraction of a second after that, she Spartan kicked me back out of the door.

    It was a strong kick, but I snapped out with my tentacles toward the door frame before I flew off into the eternal hall of dimensional nonsense. The frame was flush with the wall that was still speeding past, making an absolute fool of the concept of friction, but the frame wasn¡¯t made of some kind of super material. It was plain wood. Very nice wood¨Cprobably something exotic¨Cbut it wasn¡¯t reinforced. I dug in with the ends of my tentacles and hooked them downward, giving me a good hold.

    I looked into the woman¡¯s eyes, deep blue like the bottom of an ocean, while I hung onto the door frame. I gave her my best smile, the one I kept in reserve for moments exactly like this one. It was my ¡®yeah, you just kicked me, but I forgive you and also look how charming I am¡¯ smile.

    ¡°Hello there,¡± I said.

    She smiled back with slightly raised eyebrows. Hers was more of an ¡®are you really looking at me like that right now?¡¯ kind of smile.

    I was doing a lot of nonverbal translation today.

    ¡°Having fun?¡± she asked.

    ¡°Oh yeah,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hmm. I¡¯ll allow you to go and have some more then.¡±

    She didn¡¯t move an inch, but the doorframe disintegrated. My direction of travel reversed, and suddenly I was moving backward down the hall at a thousand miles per hour. It was a completely smooth transition, one that I hadn¡¯t even felt. All of my momentum was just going the other way all of a sudden.

    It was so weird, I loved it. Therianthropy ended and my wings faded into sparkling dust. Even so, my smile grew wider as I cast Shortcut. I felt a nudge as someone tried to Dispel me, but I appeared back at the door frame without issue.

    I stood just inside of the room, only far enough in to keep my balance. I didn¡¯t want to be rude and invade these people¡¯s personal space, but this door was also the only exit as far as I knew.

    Someone chuckled, and I noticed for the first time that an older woman stood a dozen or so feet back from the one who¡¯d just tried to Leonidas my ass away. She had the same skin tone, hair, and eyes. She could have been her grandmother. Maybe she was.

    The younger woman rubbed at her forehead.

    ¡°How are you doing that?¡± she asked.

    I smoothed down and straightened my boa. ¡°Doing what?¡± I asked.

    The horned man let out a barking laugh and the younger woman¡¯s eyebrow twitched. She snapped her fingers, and I felt her trying to portal me away.

    You have resisted a non-consensual Dimensional effect!

    She looked at her hand like it had grown an extra thumb.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to answer your question if you teleport me somewhere else,¡± I said.

    The woman went from staring at her hand to slowly looking over to me. The smile was completely gone, and now she was plain irritated. The older woman behind her strode forward and placed an arm around the younger woman¡¯s shoulders. She looked at me with barely hidden amusement in her eyes.

    ¡°You have earned the audience of this hatchling,¡± she said, patting the young woman¡¯s arm. ¡°But you have not earned mine. Return to your trial, and we will see how you fare when an adult administers the test.¡±

    This time, no one tried to teleport me away. The entire room teleported instead, leaving me hurtling down the hallway with no wings to support me.

    ¡°Oh fuck,¡± I said, trying to use Gracorvus to keep myself in the air, but I fumbled the angle.

    I hit the ground going north of Mach one.

 248 - Durgeons andâ€¦ Part 4

    Your Physical Magic skill has increased to Level 29!

    Varrin hadn¡¯t used any skills during Hep¡¯s ¡®introduction¡¯ but Bleeding was based in the Physical school, and he had many bonuses to that. The Dungeon was generous with its skillups, it seemed.

    Varrin dismissed the notification and toggled them off. He didn¡¯t want even a small glimmer in the corner of his eye distracting him.

    Hep evaluated him for a beat, then shifted his sword so that it was again resting on his shoulder. He dropped his injured left hand from the hilt and a tower shield appeared over it, ruby in color like his armor, but a shade darker.

    Hep shot forward, shield raised, and arrived in front of Varrin faster than the sound of his thundering movement. The temperature rose dramatically as Hep approached, as though the sun itself were charging. Varrin drew Kazandak and stepped left, striking the shield and turning it away before the air ahead of the shield exploded, a shockwave kicking up embers and ash for a hundred feet.

    Hep moved with Varrin¡¯s strike against his shield, swinging his blade down in a diagonal. Varrin stepped into the hit and brought Kazandak down across Hep¡¯s chest. The ruby man¡¯s sword lost power from the close angle, and while Varrin¡¯s skin was seared, the blade didn¡¯t make it past his regalia. The hit from Kazandak pushed Hep off balance, who was forced to adjust his stance back a step. Varrin followed up with Sanguine Strike, his blade alight with crimson mana as its edge sought to tear a river of blood from Hep¡¯s veins.

    Reptilian wings, the same color as Hep¡¯s armor, appeared on his back, and the man¡¯s imbalance disappeared. He brought the point of his longsword up to meet Varrin¡¯s wrist, who was forced to adjust his swing to keep the limb from being skewered. The attack bounced off of Hep¡¯s pauldron and the skill failed.

    The pair exchanged several more times, their talent with the blade evenly matched, their armor and resilience protecting them from what glancing blows made it through. Hep pushed forward aggressively, his blade never ceasing its journey through the air to seek out Varrin¡¯s neck, heart, liver, and joints. Varrin turned Hep¡¯s strikes against him, matching the man¡¯s power and ferocity with dangerous parries and reversals that quested for major veins and arteries.

    The heat in the air continued to rise throughout, until finally, the first bead of sweat ran down Varrin¡¯s face. Hep¡¯s shield disappeared and he took his weapon up in two hands again. Lightning poured out from the blade and wreathed Hep¡¯s body. It arced out to punch into Varrin¡¯s armor, but like the heat, it wasn¡¯t enough. Varrin fought past the uncomfortable buzzing coursing through his limbs and watched Hep¡¯s blade fall. He waited for his moment, then dodged.

    Varrin disappeared, then reappeared at Hep¡¯s back. One of Varrin¡¯s soul clones remained behind, and Hep¡¯s blade passed harmlessly through it without resistance. The clone then caught Hep off guard by throwing a jab into his face.

    The attack was hardly enough to hurt the ruby warrior, but Hep was momentarily surprised by the appearance of the spectral double and his head flinched back when the fist clanked against his helm. Kazandak found the side of Hep¡¯s neck, and the mana from Sanguine Strike connected to make a ragged mess of Hep¡¯s jugular.

    Hep rushed forward through the clone as it dispersed it into a haze of spiritual mist. He spun and locked onto Varrin, who held his sword at the ready rather than giving chase. Hep held a hand up to his gorget, beneath which a gout of blood freed itself from his body with every pulse of his heart. Even had he not had a heart, the blood still would have found its release under the pull of Varrin¡¯s technique.

    ¡°What was that?¡± asked Hep. Smoke began to flow out from his helm, and Varrin felt his connection to the man¡¯s wounded neck fade.

    ¡°Which part?¡± asked Varrin. He began to stalk forward as they spoke, looking for the next opening.

    ¡°There was another you standing there for a moment.¡±

    ¡°You could see that?¡± said Varrin. ¡°I have found that many cannot.¡±

    ¡°The soul does not often hide from those who know how to look,¡± said Hep. ¡°You have a Physical attunement.¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± said Varrin. He suspected that was the entire reason he¡¯d been brought to the Physical Dungeon, so it was no secret worth keeping. ¡°What of it?¡±

    Hep tapped his neck where Varrin had struck. ¡°Your affinity for blood is good, but your connection with that copy was better. It¡¯s unusual, for one not attuned with Spiritual. If I hadn¡¯t smelled out your attunement myself, I¡¯d think you were lying.¡±

    Varrin paused his approach, reminded of an errant comment from more than a year beforehand. They were words from the Operator; the monstrous humanoid working for the System his party had met in Eschendur. It had said that Varrin had ¡°an evolving Spiritual attunement.¡± Amidst all the other outrageous claims the thing had made, its mistake over Varrin¡¯s attunement had been left without comment.

    ¡°Does this change anything?¡± asked Varrin. He didn¡¯t think it did. He only focused on Physical and Spiritual Magic, both of which could be practiced so long as he had either attunement. Physical gave him access to Dimensional Magic as well, whereas Spiritual would add Divine to his options. Either way, he had no interest in a third school, so it was ultimately meaningless.

    Hep adjusted his sword grip, remaining silent for a long moment. Lightning continually leapt from his body to strike the ground around him, kicking up sparks and ash as the air swam from his weapon¡¯s heat. ¡°Nah,¡± he said. ¡°I was just curious.¡±

    Varrin charged, and their dance resumed. Hep took to the air on his wings and Varrin followed, his gaudy cloak sparkling in the firelight. As the seconds passed, Varrin landed more and more blows, sending a rain of blood down to sizzle on the coals below. With each strike, Hep¡¯s heat rose a degree, his lightning made Varrin¡¯s muscles buzz just a bit harder, his blows were a fraction more forceful. The man was building Rage, and Varrin felt he was being toyed with.

    Hep was capable of cauterizing his wounds to staunch the bleeding that Varrin applied. Even so, the man must have lost gallons of blood by this point. Delvers and mana monsters could bleed freely for much longer than a mundane organism, but there were still limits. Unless Hep was mostly blood, there wasn¡¯t enough room inside him for all that Varrin drained.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°You are so technical!¡± shouted Hep as their blades crossed. A snarl had entered his voice, the statement becoming an accusation. ¡°The skill of a genius, but the heart of a construct!¡±

    Hep swung with yet more force and speed, releasing an inhuman roar as he did so. Varrin¡¯s block was too slow and the blade connected with his chest. The blade cut through Varrin¡¯s armor, and a gout of flame filled his cuirass. Lightning followed, causing Varrin¡¯s muscles to seize as the strike sent him hurtling away. He struck the ground a hundred feet below like a comet, creating a rising plume of ash and smoke.

    From impact to impact, Varrin spent the second of travel time in thought. He¡¯d been managing his own Rage, keeping the stacking buff from exceeding his threshold of 10. Any higher, and he¡¯d become afflicted with Berserk. While endlessly stacking Rage would make him more powerful, it would only allow him to end the fight in one way.

    Hep, on the other hand, seemed able to cultivate his Rage endlessly. The man grew more wild with each strike, more frequently abandoning his defense to land a hit, but he wasn¡¯t ruthlessly pursuing victory. Even as Varrin crashed to the ground, Hep did not follow. The ruby man had not been overtaken by his lust for battle, but instead stared down at Varrin imperiously.

    The duelist in Varrin hadn¡¯t been taking the fight that seriously. Berserk was for battle, whereas this was more akin to a spar. But Hep¡¯s last strike had pierced Varrin¡¯s chest, two inches from his heart. Such a wound might not kill him anymore, but it told him that Hep perceived this situation very differently. Hep wasn¡¯t administering a test, he was playing with Varrin like prey before a meal.

    Varrin floated to his feet in the small crater he¡¯d made and met Hep¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Where is your passion?¡± Hep asked with a hint of disgust. The question came between heavy breaths, ones that owed their birth to the thrill, rather than exertion.

    Varrin decided to give Hep what he asked for, and to allow the man the honor of shouldering its consequences.

    Varrin used Enrage, and his helm came to life with a pair of burning azure eyes. His muscles swelled, his heart rate quickened, and his head emptied of all thoughts save but for one¨Ckilling Hep.

    Varrin used Adrenaline Rush to burn a Haste charge, then burst from the ground at nearly three times the speed of sound. Hep brought his sword up for a counter, unphased by Varrin¡¯s sudden acceleration, but Varrin disappeared before Hep could strike. Another soul clone appeared in his place, but this one wasn¡¯t a phantom looking for a sucker punch. This was a fully realized ancestral spirit, with all the skill that a century of Delver heritage had imparted onto the young Ravvenblaq.

    Varrin had long ago used Damage Analysis to learn that Hep was extraordinarily resilient to Physical damage. If this entity was the arbiter of the Physical Dungeon, that only made sense, and Varrin had seen it as a challenge. But Hep¡¯s defenses had only grown as they fought.

    Hep ignored lethal amounts of blood loss even as his flesh became ever harder to cut. By this point, only the strength lent to Varrin through Rage could overcome the man¡¯s absurd tolerances. However, Varrin was not beholden to Physical attacks, despite whatever this Dungeon ¡®suggested¡¯, and he could cut far deeper than any man¡¯s flesh would allow.

    The ancestral clone turned Hep¡¯s blade aside as Varrin appeared behind him and used Soul Strike. Kazandak severed itself in two such that it could sever the world twice over. A spectral copy of Kazandak followed behind the physical blade as Varrin cut through Hep in both body and soul. While Hep¡¯s armor and skin proved stalwart against Kazandak¡¯s material edge, the spiritual blade dug deep, and Hep roared as Varrin struck his first serious blow.

    Hep batted the clone¡¯s sword aside and turned to face Varrin, but took another phantom blade in the back for his disregard of the spirit. Before Hep could orient on Varrin, the younger man vanished again. Varrin used Wraithwalk to step into the Spiritual realm, invisible and incorporeal as he walked through Hep and delivered another Soul Strike into the man¡¯s increasingly ruined back.

    Varrin¡¯s skill ended the moment he landed his hit and Hep spun, blade slicing around him as both fire and lightning filled the air. Varrin had no time to dodge the retaliation, and Hep¡¯s sword took him in the ribs. Varrin was blown across the sky, tumbling for over a hundred feet before he could right himself. When he looked up, Hep was already on him again.

    The caldera¡¯s master had flipped his sword, now holding it by the blade. He swung with a giant¡¯s might and brought the pommel across Varrin¡¯s helm. The heavy guard smashed into Varrin¡¯s head, sending the world into a colorful blur as he became insensate. A distant feeling of halting jerks was the only awareness he had of hitting the ground again, tumbling across the fiery landscape a half-dozen times.

    Varrin came to in less than a second, finding his soul clone standing over him and exchanging with Hep. The ruby warrior¡¯s power had grown again, but the spiritual entity ignored the strikes. Its body was unaffected when Hep¡¯s blade swung through it, and Hep only paid it enough heed to knock its blade away as he strode towards his real target.

    Varrin flew up and activated Second Wind, burning a chunk of stamina to recover a large portion of the health he¡¯d lost, then he spawned another soul clone while he charged at Hep. Two clones that lasted a minute each was his current limit, and they drew power for their techniques from his own stamina pool. With both out, it put a hard timer on the fight. Still, Hep had taken several gruesome hits on top of the blood loss he¡¯d been suffering. Even Arlo wouldn¡¯t be up and walking around after the abuse this man had endured, had the flamboyant man not been immune to Bleeding.

    Even so, Hep looked more than capable of going further, and Varrin had no room in his thoughts to consider his opponent¡¯s injuries; not any further than how Varrin could exploit them to end the fight. He would lay down all his cards and see where they fell.

    Varrin landed outside of Hep¡¯s reach, creating a triangle formation around Hep with his clones. Then he extended Kazandak to its full length, his clones mirroring the action with their spectral copies of the blade, and all three activated Cyclone.

    The world around Hep became a whirlwind of razor edges for fifty feet in all directions. Three grinding wheels of 20-foot blades thrashed with Hep at their center, cutting him through in both body and spirit.

    Hep wrapped himself in his wings, their hardened scales and tough membranes seeking to add another layer of protection, but they were shredded like so much meat. The attack lasted only an instant, but by the time it was done, Hep¡¯s soul churned and his body wept a grown-man¡¯s worth of blood every second.

    Hep spread his wings outward, crimson streams spiraling into the air with arcs of electricity dancing between them. Varrin recovered from his skill and was set to use an even more powerful technique. He feared it was incomplete, but there was no room for doubt here. Varrin spun his sword until a gleaming circle began to appear in the air before him.

    Then, the world erupted.

    The ground kicked Varrin from below, driven forth by a sixty-foot-wide geyser of molten rock. It launched him hundreds of feet into the air in an instant, and fire hotter than any Varrin had ever felt embraced him.

    Varrin flew away from the detonation, but the fire clung to him, eating at his skin and threatening to boil his organs. His health ticked down steadily, but Varrin had no mind to pay it. Behind him was a growing mushroom cloud spawned by the detonation. A fountain of lava continued to burst toward the sky, only to fall back upon the land as molten rain.

    The endless smoke above the cataclysmic site turned and swirled. It grew bright with frequent flashes of blinding white light. The thunder became an omnipresent series of explosions and rolling pressure waves.

    Then Hep fell upon him as a bolt of lightning from above.

 249 - Durgeons andâ€¦ Part 5

    The pair clashed through the air and sent new plumes of ash reaching for the sky when they landed. Varrin recovered quickly, standing to meet Hep, but found another bolt of lightning instead. It bucked Varrin¡¯s chest like a ten-thousand pound horse, sending the man skipping back across the terrain, followed by orbs of flame that detonated all around him. When Varrin recovered, he realized that Kazandak was gone.

    Hep swung his blade, deflecting and parrying attacks from Varrin¡¯s second clone as he marched forward, the first clone having already expired. Kazandak was buried in the coals, its hilt sticking up at waist-height. Hep reached to pull it from the ash, ignoring the frantic attacks from the clone.

    But Kazandak was an heirloom, and not one that could be shared with anyone other than a Ravvenblaq. Hep¡¯s hand passed through the hilt, and he let out a growl as he pulled back from it. He turned and charged at Varrin instead, while Varrin¡¯s clone grabbed the weapon from where it lay.

    Varrin pulled a different sword from his inventory, an artless slab of dark iron. It was ten feet in length, heavy as a loaded wagon with mules included, and built entirely for killing spells. When he brought it out, the fire engulfing him was immediately extinguished.

    Varrin chose this blade because he¡¯d had a moment of insight about Hep. One that explained the man¡¯s control over his Rage, and also his sudden shift away from pure techniques. The man had invested deeply into Wisdom. High Wisdom meant high mana, and ignoring that resource pool would have been foolish. Hep was a spellblade, although he¡¯d waited until late into the fight to start using any skills that drew on mana as opposed to stamina.

    Varrin mirrored Hep¡¯s charge. The ruby warrior sent forth flaming orbs and bolts of lightning that Varrin struck from the air with his blade. When they drew close, the air before Hep¡¯s helm swirled into a vortex, and the man breathed out a mighty gout of fire.

    Varrin set his feet and swung the dark-iron greatsword through the inferno, cutting it down the center and sending a wave of countermagic back at Hep. The force struck the caldera¡¯s master in the face, and the flames died as Hep stumbled back a step.

    Varrin finished his charge with Hep recovering an instant before he arrived. The ruby warrior brought his sword up to block, but his position was awkward. Varrin made a split-second decision and changed his target, bringing the greatsword down across Hep¡¯s unguarded wrist.

    The man¡¯s hand went flying, and his sword clattered to the ground. Varrin swept his blade around, carrying its momentum forward into another heaving attack, but Hep himself brought out a second blade as well, held in his remaining hand and glinting with myriad colors. The swords cracked against one another, and it was clear from the sound that neither weapon was Immutable.

    ¡°Ha!¡± Hep barked out a sharp laugh, though Varrin didn¡¯t know what was funny. Hep jumped away from Varrin and spun into the remaining clone. The new sword flashed across the spiritual being and, unlike everything else Hep had done, it actually cut the clone¨Call the way in half.

    Varrin¡¯s anger surged as Kazandak fell from the clone¡¯s fading hands, and though he was now alone and far closer to dead than he¡¯d like, he still had a sliver of stamina and a man to kill.

    Varrin ran at Hep, and the man turned to guard with his strange sword, but lifted his arms at the last moment. Varrin connected with Hep¡¯s abdomen, the dark-iron sword sinking through the Immutable armor until the back of it had disappeared. Hep took the grievous wound in exchange for bringing his weapon down onto Varrin¡¯s head.

    The ruby warrior struck Varrin¡¯s helm with a light tap.

    All Varrin¡¯s fury drained from the world, and his Rage dropped back down to ten. The Berserk status ended, and he blinked to clear his eyes of sweat and blood, and to clear his mind of confusion over what had just happened.

    ¡°You got me, kid,¡± said Hep. ¡°You win. I¡¯m about to bleed out, and I can¡¯t fix it if we¡¯re fighting.¡±

    Varrin looked at Hep. His armor was unscathed, and one would be hard-pressed to believe he was nearly dead, but a glance down showed an alarming amount of blood pouring out from the man¡¯s¡­ everywhere. The blood pearled and rolled off the armor from between the plates, skittering to the ground as whatever unknown force kept the offending substance away. Varrin let go of his sword and nodded, then took a step back. Hep held the dark-iron weapon in place, likely thinking that removing it would make the situation worse, which it would.

    Hep lifted the front of his helm and summoned a hefty potion, muddled and glowing. Varrin studied Hep¡¯s blood-soaked face as he tilted the potion back and downed it in one go. He had ruby scales, matching his armor, but unlike a Geulon they covered his entire head. They also looked thick and robust, closer to armor than something one might see on a reptile.

    Hep grimaced after drinking the potion, exposing a row of sharp, carnivore teeth. Varrin looked from the man to the enormous hammer and anvil nearby and felt a pit form in his stomach.

    He was starting to think that Arlo was going to win their bet.

    Varrin recovered Kazandak as Hep finished another potion, heedless of any toxicity it might impart. The ruby warrior wrenched the dark-iron sword from his gut and handed it back to Varrin, who stored it away.

    ¡°Nice sword by the way,¡± said Hep. ¡°Ugly, though.¡±

    ¡°It is built more for function,¡± Varrin replied, without taking any offense to the comment. The dark-iron blade wasn¡¯t a product of his grandfather, rather a backup Varrin had procured on his own.

    Hep¡¯s body was engulfed in fire for a moment, burning away the blood on his face and presumably handling the wound in his gut. He pulled off his masterwork gauntlets and clapped his hands together, also covered in scales and ending in lethal-looking talons.

    ¡°All right,¡± said Hep. ¡°You¡¯ve beaten the world¡¯s most dangerous crafter.¡± He gave Varrin a predatory smile. ¡°My Level 25 form, that is. This is my phase one build, so nothing fancy going on. Still, nearly twice your Level. That¡¯s pretty impressive.¡±

    ¡°Crafter?¡± said Varrin. ¡°I¡¯d assumed Smithing was your support skill.¡±

    Hep shrugged. ¡°No, Smithing is my highest-level intrinsic, believe it or not.¡± Varrin glanced at Hep¡¯s armor again. He could believe it. ¡°Now that we¡¯re done, I¡¯ve got some questions for you.¡±

    ¡°Many do,¡± Varrin replied. ¡°If it has to do with my build, I seldom answer.¡±

    ¡°Ah, don¡¯t be like that, Lord Ravvenblaq,¡± said Hep with another smile. Varrin watched him from behind his helm, refusing to lower his guard or to play into the man¡¯s ¡®charm¡¯. Hep¡¯s smile faded and he turned to spit a wad of flaming¡­ spit? onto the ground.

    ¡°Fine,¡± said Hep. ¡°Let¡¯s start with the critique, and you can decide where to go from there.¡±

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    ¡°I am amenable to that,¡± said Varrin. He had no problem hearing the man¡¯s criticisms. If Hep had committed to his final strike, Varrin would have lost. Whether the man would have died afterward was a matter of speculation. Varrin still accepted the win without questioning it, as was proper, but Hep was a superior berserker. There must be some lessons to learn.

    ¡°First, what¡¯s your Physical Magic skill level? Wait, no, you said no spoilers. Okay, I¡¯m assuming it¡¯s under level 40.¡± Hep eyed him as though he could see Varrin¡¯s face through the full ravenskull helm he wore. ¡°I¡¯m also betting your Spiritual Magic skill is higher. Or it was before you entered. If you really are Physical-attuned, then you¡¯re slowing yourself down that way.¡±

    ¡°I was not aware that it mattered,¡± said Varrin. ¡°An attunement is a starting point. It does not govern your talent for the adjacent schools.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s your fundamental,¡± said Hep. ¡°The core of your magicks. The better you understand your attunement, the better you¡¯ll be with your adjacents. Listen, they all bleed into the next, why do you think they¡¯re arrayed in a wheel?¡±

    ¡°I am aware of the crossover,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Regardless, your point is well taken. My recent trials have pushed me towards Spiritual. The drift has not been intentional.¡±

    ¡°Then you need to work on Physical. That¡¯ll help with your Bleeding. You started serving me a whole buffet of pain once you broke out those clone things, but Bleeding is what won you the fight.¡±

    ¡°Truly?¡± said Varrin. ¡°Each of my Spiritual strikes must have landed for several hundred damage.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty tough across Physical, Spiritual, and Dimensional. Yes, Physical is my best defense, but Spectral damage isn¡¯t some great weakness of mine. Also, I have a lot of health.¡±

    ¡°I worried that the bleed was doing little,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Your blood supply seemed endless.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m bigger than I look,¡± said Hep. ¡°Lots of blood to lose.¡±

    Varrin glanced at the hammer and anvil again. ¡°A lot bigger, I presume.¡± Hep nodded, but didn¡¯t clarify further.

    ¡°Second, your Rage burns bright, but it¡¯s shallow. Any good berserker needs Wisdom to temper their anger, and while it seems like you have some, you don¡¯t have enough. Not with the stats you must be walking around with.¡±

    Varrin grunted. ¡°I have little use for the mana.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± asked Hep. ¡°There are plenty of spells that don¡¯t need Intelligence or Charisma. My own build allows me to use Strength instead of a caster stat once I enter a berserk state.¡±

    ¡°That must be why you waited until late in the combat to deploy them.¡±

    ¡°You got it,¡± said Hep.

    Varrin considered what to tell Hep on the matter. ¡°I seek purity of purpose,¡± he said. ¡°I am committed to the martial path, and I have a line of buffs that forbid the use of mana.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a choice, but okay.¡± Hep raked a claw across his cheek, digging in between the scales to reach some unseen itch. ¡°Do you have a passive slot open?¡±

    ¡°I do,¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Try and grab a passive called Mana Void. It¡¯ll kill your mana pool, but make Wisdom help out with stamina instead.¡±

    ¡°I glean many benefits from entering Berserk early on,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Having a higher threshold would delay it.¡±

    ¡°Bleh,¡± said Hep, sticking out his tongue. It was forked. ¡°More stacks of Rage means more power. If you¡¯re dancing around the Berserk ¡®debuff¡¯ like you did with me, you¡¯re leaving damage on the table. Besides, there¡¯s a level 40 Wisdom evolution called Eye of the Storm. It¡¯ll double your threshold and your Rage generation, plus it prevents stacks from decaying until you want them to.¡±

    ¡°That¡­ sounds useful,¡± Varrin admitted. His Discerning Barbarian passive already effectively doubled his Rage generation. Another doubling would be potent indeed.

    ¡°I also saw you use Enrage,¡± said Hep. ¡°That grants stacks of Rage based on your Spiritual Magic level. While it makes me sick to admit it, if your Spiritual Magic is good enough, the higher threshold won¡¯t matter. And Wisdom buffs perception. Everyone needs good perception. I saw you coming from a mile out. If this had been a real fight, I¡¯d have gone after you when you¡¯d entered through the caldera¡¯s flames. You¡¯d have been fucked.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± said Varrin. ¡°Any other pointers to share?¡±

    ¡°Bloodboil might be good, but you need Mana Void and I doubt you have two passive slots open.¡± Hep violently scratched between his scales again. ¡°Hmmmm. No, I think that¡¯s it. Your swordsmanship is incredible, your athleticism is fantastic¨Cyou must have nearly as much Agility as Strength¨Cand your gear¨C¡± Hep spent a long moment looking at Varrin¡¯s armor, and then at Kazandak. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s great. Really professional work.¡±

    ¡°I will deliver the compliment to my grandfather.¡±

    ¡°Grandfather? So you don¡¯t have some ridiculous amount of wealth, you¡¯ve got an inside man.¡±

    ¡°I have both.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± Hep frowned. ¡°Oh well. Don¡¯t let anyone ever tell you being rich is some kind of problem. It¡¯s fucking great.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am aware of its advantages.¡±

    ¡°Do you have Smithing?¡±

    ¡°I do not.¡±

    ¡°Any reason for that?¡± asked Hep.

    ¡°There has not been a need,¡± said Varrin. ¡°It would take me decades before I can produce anything to rival my grandfather, and my current skill set suits me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve got access to a man with that much talent, and you aren¡¯t going to milk it for all the training you can? Is your grandpa gonna live forever? Does he have a hundred hatchlings taking up the hammer for when he dies?¡±

    This was the first of Hep¡¯s criticisms that made Varrin flinch. Neither he nor his brother had followed in Papa Junior¡¯s path, and neither had his father. Perhaps there was some true insight there. Hep must have sensed Varrin¡¯s discomfort because he didn¡¯t push it any further.

    ¡°Any questions for me?¡± asked Hep.

    Varrin dismissed his guilt towards Papa Junior and focused on the inquiry. ¡°What was that sword you used at the finish? It ended your Berserk instantly and dispelled my own at a touch.¡±

    ¡°One of my favorite side pieces,¡± said Hep, pulling out the glimmering blade. He tossed it to Varrin and granted him permission to inspect it. ¡°I don¡¯t have a great way to end Berserk, so I made that instead of wasting a skill slot.¡±

    Hep¡¯s Trusty Backup

    Prismatite Longsword

    Requirements: STR 58, WIS 40, Brawling 40

    Effects:

    This weapon may make Mystical attacks. When making Mystical attacks with this weapon, it gains a +58 bonus.

    This weapon may make Spectral attacks. When making Spectral attacks with this weapon, it gains a +80 bonus.

    When drawn, this weapon ends the Berserk status on its wielder. On hit, this weapon ends the Berserk status on its target.

    ¡°A Brawling requirement?¡± said Varrin.

    ¡°Brawling has broad applications,¡± said Hep. ¡°I figured out how to sneak in the Berserk dispel through that requirement. It¡¯d be easier with Spiritual Magic, maybe a requirement of 20, but fuck that. I did it my way.¡±

    ¡°And it serves to handle any enemies you encounter that are immune to Physical,¡± said Varrin. ¡°A fine weapon.¡± He held it back out to Hep, but the ruby warrior grinned.

    ¡°Best part of this Dungeon is that it makes it cheap to replicate my less valuable equipment,¡± said Hep. ¡°Consider it a prize for the win. Ah, but you have to admit you have Brawling before I let you keep it.¡±

    Varrin couldn¡¯t hide his shock, even through his armor. The sword had to be worth at least sixteen diamond chips. It was a fortune, and it was one of this man¡¯s less valuable items?

    ¡°I have Brawling,¡± Varrin was quick to admit with such a sword on the line.

    ¡°Figured,¡± said Hep. ¡°Normally I¡¯d give you my main weapon, but it wouldn¡¯t be useful to you. Here, to make up the difference, I¡¯ll let you pick one of these bits of jewelry I¡¯ve got.¡±

    Hep fumbled to pull a ring from his finger with one hand, then dug an amulet and two trinkets out from beneath his armor. He looked around for a moment until he spotted his other hand, then retrieved the severed limb and pulled another ring from it with his teeth. He handed (and spat) the items into Varrin¡¯s palm. The amulet, both rings, and one trinket were made of different kinds of lustrous wood. Fireproof wood, apparently. The remaining trinket appeared to be made of bone.

    Varrin was once again taken aback by the treasure that Hep so casually handed him.

 250 - Durgeons andâ€¦ Part 6

    Each piece of jewelry Hep had passed to Varrin was simple, but their effects vastly outstripped their requirements. These were a different sort of treasure, precious for how easily they could be worn.

    Blackthorn Ring of the Dark

    Requirements: INT 10, LCK 10, Reconnaissance

    +20 Mystical DR

    +20 Divine DR

    Your Darkvision range is increased by 30 feet.

    You may cause one attempt to counter, negate, or redirect a spell you cast to automatically fail. This effect resets after an 8-hour rest.

    Black Walnut Ring of the Chain

    Requirements: FOR 20, Blades

    +40 to your Rage threshold.

    You cannot be disarmed of, or forced to drop, your weapon.

    You gain a bonus to your flying speed equal to half your normal movement speed.

    Deep Wood Amulet of Stimulation

    Requirements: INT 10, AGL 5, Survival

    +20 to maximum mana

    +40 to mana regeneration

    +20 to maximum dodge pool

    Any activity, cooldown, or other effect that requires 8 hours of continuous action or rest requires 1 less hour to accomplish.

    Mana monsters are neutral towards you unless provoked.

    Kinesthetics Trinket

    Requirements: Athletics

    Your Athletics skill level advances 50% faster.

    Bone Brawler¡¯s Trinket

    Requirements: Brawling

    You may block with a block value equal to your Brawling skill level regardless of what items, if any, you are holding.

    ¡°None of the skill requirements have levels listed,¡± said Varrin. ¡°You must only possess the intrinsic skill to use these?¡±

    ¡°A perk of higher-level Woodworking, my friend,¡± said Hep. ¡°People who look down on crafters are morons. You can make shit exactly the way you want it, and for less than half of what it costs everyone else. Just, really, consider Smithing at the very least.¡±

    Of all the things Hep had told him, Varrin found himself most swayed by that bit of advice. Between the items themselves, the Black Walnut Ring of the Chain was the best for his build, although the Rage threshold would force him to wait longer during combat to enter berserk. If he found more ways to generate Rage, it would become a major boon instead. Varrin chose that ring and slid it on, then returned the rest to Hep. The warrior accepted them. His generosity did have limits.

    ¡°Now you¡¯ve got two options,¡± said Hep. ¡°You can exit the Dungeon to seek out your audience with the real me¨Cwho will be eager to meet you, by the way¨Cor you can stay here for a while and train.¡±

    ¡°I deeply appreciate your invitation to remain, Lord Hep, but I have allies awaiting me outside.¡±

    ¡°Back to ¡®Lord Hep¡¯ now that I gave you some free shit, I see how it is.¡± Hep grinned at him, then waved his stump dismissively to reassure Varrin it was a joke. ¡°You¡¯re the first one done,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s been, like, thirty minutes since you showed up. I figure you¡¯ve got a while before your party members are all finished. I can let you know when we¡¯re out of time.¡±

    Varrin nodded. ¡°Very well, let us continue our bout.¡±

    ¡°Slow down, champ,¡± said Hep. ¡°I¡¯m missing a hand and more in the mood to act as an instructor, not a training dummy.¡±

    Varrin looked at the stump and felt a little embarrassed. ¡°Will¨C Will your hand return?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m good, but I never built into regen since my health pool is just¡­ it¡¯s absolutely monstrous compared to you little guys. It¡¯ll take a few days.¡± Hep scratched at his scales again, then gave Varrin another sinister smile. ¡°Let¡¯s start by running through every Physical skill you have.¡±

    As it turned out, all of Hep¡¯s generosity had truly been a ploy to learn more about Varrin¡¯s build. In the end, Varrin didn¡¯t mind, since he left the Dungeon with a Physical Magic skill of 40, earning him his Restrictor Belt 3 evolution.

    Restrictor Belt 3

    So long as you have spent no mana in the last 24 hours, your weapon attacks gain +1 damage and apply +1 Bleeding per every 1 level of Physical Magic.

    Varrin even learned a thing or two about Smithing while they were at it.

    ***

    END ADDENDUM

    ***

    I¡¯d been running and teleporting down the eternally spiralling hallway for a while, and I was beginning to suspect there was no end to it. That was fine. I didn¡¯t need to find the end. Instead, I could just [STOP TEXT]

    [REROUTING]

    ***

    SYSTEM ADDENDUM ADDED BY: USER NAME [Ruler 3]

    ADDENDUM NOTE: Ruler 2 has added the following additional context: ¡°If you want to try and steal my petitioner, then get off your tail and participate. If you were number one, maybe I¡¯d take your requests more seriously.¡±

    Ruler 3 ¡®declined¡¯ to add their own additional context, but asked for it to be clarified that ¡°only those who believe themselves inadequate engage in competition.¡±

    While the System takes no position in this matter, we feel the need to point out that Ruler 3¡¯s statement is, in fact, additional context, and thus has been logged as such.

    ***

    Nuralie crouched, hidden in a tree, because hiding in the river bed was too dangerous. She looked out over the misty forest she¡¯d suddenly appeared within, watching the half-spectral beasts wandering its game trails as she worked through ways to mitigate involuntary teleports. She¡¯d been isolated from the party too easily, and it had exposed a new vulnerability in need of address.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Fortitude was the primary attribute that governed defense against Dimensional effects. There was little she could do in that regard, other than continue to place points there as she leveled. However, it wasn¡¯t an immediate solution, nor one she was likely to pursue in earnest given her build.

    Spiritual Magic had some capability with teleportation, but it was always conditional. There was potential for a soul-locking mechanism, but that might simply end up with the body being teleported, while the spirit remained behind. Less than ideal. She discarded the school as an option for now.

    Divine might serve, but the Eschenden triad was not particularly strong in aspects relating to teleportation. She could likely protect herself while in Eschendur, but that was an incomplete remedy. Sam¡¯lia would be a better choice given that she governed travel between layers, but still not a perfect fit. If Arlo had access to Divine he could beseech the Dread Star, but Arlo didn¡¯t have Divine, and neither did he seem to worship those gods he¡¯d thus far encountered. No, Divine wouldn¡¯t work.

    Physical might present an opportunity for enforcing one¡¯s relationship to a specific place, ideally the one they currently occupied. Arlo¡¯s Deific teleportation would bypass such a countermeasure, but a fix on locality might interfere with their other mobility skills. Inelegant, but it had some potential.

    For Mystical, she could collaborate with Etja to create an automatically deploying counterspell. Perhaps Arlo could do something with wands. Nuralie could utilize the triggering mechanism from the Zng rifles and create a mana-detector to establish a threshold at which it would activate and automatically cast Nullify.

    That would require comprehensive testing to ensure it didn¡¯t accidentally negate a desired Dimensional effect. Etja could likely imbue some mana shape to make that happen, but Nuralie disliked relying on the mage¡¯s intuitive magic. She wanted full comprehension of any device she deployed with the potential for serious backlash.

    Arlo was also talented with shaping¨Calbeit less so than Etja. He was more capable of academic discussion of the principles behind his magicks¨Cso long as one could manage his near-constant state of distraction. Dimensional might also provide more options than a brute-force Dispel, although Nuralie wasn¡¯t terribly familiar¨C

    Planar isolation sprung to her mind. It would only impact Arlo¡¯s teleports, which were Deific and could ignore anything she made. Etja¡¯s talents could still be applied¨CNullify was more effective countermagic for an area effect, which was likely required since the modified self-triggering wand wouldn¡¯t have a predetermined target. They could work to modify Nullify so that it only targeted Planar magicks, Arlo could imbue a shape to make the effect discretionary, and Nuralie could work with them both to integrate a trigger apparatus into a trinket that was actually a wand.

    She added the proposal to the ever-growing list of devices she might be able to create through application of Zng technologies.

    She could also just try and pick up a relevant evolution, but why waste one if a trinket would do? The opportunity cost of selecting gear was far lower than the opportunity cost of selecting an evolution.

    Satisfied that she¡¯d given the problem a sufficient amount of scrutiny for the moment¨Ca full ten seconds¡¯ worth¨Cshe glanced over the System notification she¡¯d received on entering once again. Then she began to Shadow Walk through the trees.

    You have entered the Grove of the Illumined Ruler

    Spiritual Dungeon

    Recommended skills: Spiritual Magic 40

    Nuralie had already done preliminary scouting of her immediate surroundings, to ensure she would have time to think without interruption. During that survey, she¡¯d learned many things. Some she found fascinating. Some she found concerning. Most fell into both categories, which she found¡­ appealing.

    The forest existed in triplicate. The graying branch she stood upon appeared to be a corporeal entity, although the tree was not a species she was familiar with. The wide, heart-shaped leaves had small thorns growing all across their surfaces. She wanted to study the thorns, determine their purpose, but she was wholly focused on broader observations. She¡¯d work from the general to the specific in time.

    Approximately twelve inches to the right of the branch she stood upon was a perfect copy made up of spectral energy. She could only perceive it through her magic sense, which had been developing quite well recently. The branch was otherwise invisible to her.

    Six inches to the left of the branch was a more abstracted form. This triggered her Divine senses, more ephemeral than the corporeal or spectral forms. It was perceptually confusing, and she felt strongly that this was a third representation of the branch, but it wasn¡¯t something that could be confined within the concept of ¡®shape¡¯. It was there, she knew that much. Other properties of the Divine branch were pending further study.

    Across the forest this phenomenon repeated. All flora and fauna had three states, existing within predictable distances to the central, corporeal body. However, they maintained their orientation relative to an unknown factor. The spectral versions always diverged from the physical form in the direction she¡¯d designated as north. The divine versions always diverged south. This happened regardless of the physical body¡¯s own orientation.

    Additionally, the divergence was more extreme the further north she went and less pronounced when she traveled south. There was some sort of inverse square law involved, where the divergence rapidly became more extreme in the northern direction. Regardless, spirit and divinity were offset from the center of the corporeal form at a consistent two-to-one ratio.

    She catalogued these observations and set them aside.

    All flora she¡¯d encountered seemed to lack motor function and were non-hostile. No plant monsters to be found. She identified some plants she was familiar with, several of which were excellent potion ingredients, and a few of which were exceptional poison ingredients. There was also a wealth of unfamiliar plantlife with potent concentrations of spiritual energies. Very useful, potentially. Extraordinarily dangerous to handle and harvest, perhaps. She still planned on collecting samples later.

    The fauna was a mixture of passive herbivores, mild omnivores, and more aggressive carnivores. The majority fell into the category of mundane, in that they did not seem to possess any notable control over mana. Lizards, elk, worms, songbirds, serpents, all typical of what appeared to be a temperate forest.

    Beyond the mundane animals, there were small clusters of mana monsters which appeared to feed only on the frequent nexuses of spiritual energies. The most dangerous of these that she¡¯d found was Grade 12. Quite high, all things considered, but the mana concentration in the region was dense.

    The mana monsters were territorial, but otherwise non-aggressive. The primary danger was not realizing she was encroaching into their territory. There was a flock of owl-like birds that were invisible until they were in range of her Sense skills, and the hundred-foot range of Sense Life was inadequate to maintain an appropriate buffer between herself and the creatures. They had little trouble spotting her, despite the shifting camouflage of her leathers, her translucence in the dimly lit environment, and her rather advanced Stealth skill. They were not fast enough to catch her, so she¡¯d been chased from several areas, but escaped unharmed. She¡¯d rather not kill the creatures if she didn¡¯t have to.

    There was a burrow of quadrupedal mammals, approximately eight inches long, with webbed feet that would become incorporeal to travel through the ground. There was a hive of bees that drained nearby spiritual plants and brought the energies back to their hive¨CNuralie was very curious to know what they produced with it. At one point she spotted a bear that literally died when it slept¨Cdisappearing from her life sense¨Conly to resurrect upon waking. It travelled between small mana geysers, taking short reposes atop each as the mana filtered into its body.

    Altogether the area would have been deadly for most Arzian races, but posed little threat to Nuralie, even if she hadn¡¯t been able to avoid the vast majority of wildlife.

    The only exception was the silver men.

    The System called them Asimanth, and their average Grade was 20. They were humanoid in form, but had elongated frontal limbs and prowled on all fours. Their heads were shaped like a person¡¯s, but lacked any distinctive facial features. There were suggestions of a nose and lips, like a sculptor had abandoned their job halfway done. Where their eyes should have been was instead a cluster of small, irregular holes, and Nuralie had not seen any evidence of other orifices. If they ate or breathed, she did not know how.

    Despite having a vaguely human appearance, the Asimanth didn¡¯t appear to possess higher reasoning. They were nude and used no weapons or other tools. Nuralie could find no evidence of permanent structures or any other significant modifications to their environment. They were cunning and ruthless hunters, in the way that a clever feline might be, but laid no traps. They traveled in groups of five to ten, but their coordination was rudimentary. If they had a language, it wasn¡¯t a spoken one.

    The Asimanth did not trigger Nuralie¡¯s life sense, but when they drew near, her Divine senses flared in warning.

    They were Undead, and the Eschenden marked them as profane. However, she sensed no evil from them; another reason for Nuralie¡¯s belief that they were animals rather than people. If these beings had been intelligent, their actions would certainly have been those done with malice.

    The Asimanth stalked the forest, quick and silent as a cat. They prowled the rivers, hidden for ambush like a crocodile. Their bodies were near-invisible in the gloomy water until they sprang upon anything that came too near. The Asimanth captured every living creature they could find, breaking it until it was completely subdued, while taking care to keep it alive. Then, they carried the tormented animals away into the north.

    Nuralie observed their work for several hours, taking note of their behaviors. Many of their prey went rigid the moment an Asimanth came within thirty feet, paralyzed through some mechanism. Their victims could only watch with rolling, panicked eyes as the silver men broke their legs, wings, or backs. It was cruel and merciless work, but the Asimanth did not do it out of sadism, it seemed.

    Given that these beings were Undead, and that they behaved in a manner suggesting some level of planning¨Ctaking their prey to a secondary location¨CNuralie thought it likely that they were drones of some sort. If so, whatever force that directed them likely lay in the north, where the spiritual divergence grew more severe.

    Nuralie spent some time preparing, double-checking her supply levels, and readying a new batch of spiritual toxins. Undead would be immune to most physical ailments, but they still had souls to harm, however broken they might be. She also gathered her flora samples, made sketches of the thorny-leaved trees, and snuck a bit of spiritual ¡®honey¡¯ from the bees in exchange for a few spectral stings. She worked until she was satisfied that, should she be unable to return, she had a robust collection for experimentation.

    Then she set off north, to find out where the Asimanth were taking their victims.

 251 - Durgons andâ€¦ Part 7

    The Asimanth were taking their prey to some kind of¡­ thing.

    Nuralie didn¡¯t have a good frame of reference for it. This problem was compounded by her inability to get close to the ¡®thing¡¯.

    Nuralie had started experiencing the same spiritual divergence that the rest of the forest was undergoing once she got within a mile of the distant mass of gleaming silver and bone. Her divergence wasn¡¯t so extreme as what she¡¯d observed in the rest of the forest, but the sensation of her soul being pulled from her physical body was deeply disturbing.

    Nuralie couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of Hysteria, and that, she hated.

    Nuralie backed off the moment she noticed the effect and went through a self-evaluation. There were no notifications from the System, and a review of her recent memories revealed no inconsistencies, but that was hardly enough to satisfy her. Since Varrin¡¯s acquisition of his absurdly powerful helmet, Nuralie recognized that she was the most vulnerable to Spiritual effects amongst the party, despite it being her attunement. Her Wisdom was low, and she¡¯d not invested in any mitigating skills or evolutions. Her primary mode of defense against it was the same as any other¨Cdon¡¯t get hit.

    Nuralie realized that strategy was no longer serviceable after their encounter with the psychotic avatar.

    Part of her recovery from the gloom of having her soul twisted had been throwing herself into her work, making use of the achievement her contributions had earned her. It was called Soul Chemistry, and it made her soul-affecting alchemical products more potent, but only if they were beneficial to the target. It had been an odd reward, given that her efforts towards undoing Hysteria¡¯s influence had focused on destructive principles. Her poison had annihilated fragments of the soul, both Arlo¡¯s and the avatar¡¯s.

    Still, everyone in the party had received a defensive achievement. It was as though the System recognized it would be the type of benefit they¡¯d desire from their efforts, and in some ways the soul death her poison had caused Arlo was beneficial. It had been cutting out a disease, like burning out an infection. Tissue had been lost, but the result was the restoration of good health.

    In the end, she hadn¡¯t given it too much thought. Worrying about the whims of the System was better left to Xim and Arlo. They were better equipped for the psychological strain¨Cnot to mention far more interested than she¨Cand Nuralie could better contribute where she had greater expertise.

    Nuralie moved as swift and silent as possible until her soul was recentered, then pulled a potion from her inventory. It had been bottled from her best batch of work on developing a counter to soul manipulation, built from a combination of traditional alchemy and knowledge from the Abandoned Grimoire, both bolstered by the new achievement. She¡¯d distilled and altered a portion of one of her own passive skills, allowing it to become an effect that could be shared.

    Soulguard Potion

    You gain +35% resistance to soul-altering effects for 1 hour.

    ¡°Soul-altering¡± was an odd keyword in ways. Nuralie designated it as a meta-category that encompassed portions of other effects. Both the Spectral and Psychic sub-types among Spiritual categories could have an impact on the soul, but neither was guaranteed.

    Psychic effects could target the bridge between the mind and soul, the soul itself, or even the organic brain or other physical material that acted as an equivalent. Spectral effects were generally targeted at the soul, but the soul they affected was not always the focus of their harm. They sometimes harnessed intermediary entities to deliver damage, which might attack in other ways. In any case, the best defense against either was one that specifically listed that sub-type.

    However, there was no other way to describe what Hysteria had done other than to say they¡¯d altered her soul. There was also no better way to describe what was happening within this forest.

    The potion¡¯s resistance value of 35% was an awkward number, owing to her achievement, but Nuralie¡¯s Fortitude 20 evolution boosted the effect of any beneficial substance she consumed. It was presently a 44% increase, meaning the resistance value would be a little over 50% in total.

    While the potion was a valuable addition to her craft, what made it particularly potent for Nuralie was that it stacked with the passive she¡¯d based it on, yet another potion buff. Whenever she consumed a potion she¡¯d created, she could select one of a number of other effects to benefit from. Notably, one option was +50% resistance to mind-altering effects.

    Thus, Nuralie¡¯s achievement, Fortitude evolution, and passive worked in concert with the potion to grant her general immunity to any mental effect that targeted her soul, with a 50% resistance to other types of mental or soul-altering effects. In absence of a deific skill, that made editing her soul to affect her mind impossible.

    Of course, Hysteria had been using a deific effect, but that didn¡¯t discourage her. The path to breaking the abilities of godly beings was a long one. Nuralie was more than willing to keep walking it all the way to its end.

    Nuralie drank the potion and selected her passive effect. She felt a mild sense of malaise evaporate as the concoction did its work. The feeling had been creeping up on her since entering the forest, then exacerbated by her proximity to the ¡®thing¡¯. Nuralie felt reassured that the feeling had been due to an external entity, as opposed to a lack of resilience.

    Your Alchemy skill has increased to Level 41!

    Your Spiritual Magic skill has increased to Level 33!

    Nuralie checked the notifications and nodded. Field testing new products was always a good way to gather valuable data. The Spiritual Magic level was a little unexpected, but she had used a variety of Spiritual principles when creating the potion. She expected the Dungeon environment had a significant impact on the advancement.

    Nuralie self-evaluated once again, finding nothing amiss. The resistances wouldn¡¯t grant her immunity to the soul divergence, but it would certainly help. By about 50%, she surmised.

    She stored the empty vial in her inventory and set back out towards the mass of silver and bone. Owing to the exponential buildup of the entity¡¯s soul-pulling effect, Nuralie¡¯s 50% resistance did not allow her to get 50% closer. She made it another quarter of the way before she grew spiritually uncomfortable. Nuralie found the highest tree she could and a quick Shadow Walk took her near the top, still shady from its large, thorny leaves.

    The final destination of the Asimanth was in a large clearing, free of the forest¡¯s mists and easily visible from her vantage point. The bulk of the ¡®thing¡¯ they gathered near was long and oblong, mildly cylindrical with rounded ends. Smooth lumps bulged out in places, like a molded inorganic casing for the organic thing within.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    There was a large rent in one side of the object, the silver shell torn away down most of its length. It exposed yellowed bone, wet with a substance the consistency of mucus. There were arcing rows that looked like titanic ribs, and near what she labeled as the front, there was a thick, curved plate. The gouge had dug deeper than the silvery shell here, and the bone was missing a large piece, exposing a wall of densely folded flesh.

    It was a brain, and one that appeared whole and undecayed. There were other organs as well, behind the wall of ribs. A squirming mass of unidentifiable flesh. Aside from the brain and bone, the thing¡¯s internal anatomy was alien to Nuralie.

    Behind the entity was a large wake of destruction, a deep furrow in the ground, nearly a hundred feet wide. It cut through trees, soil, and rock alike. A distant hill was even missing a significant portion out of the middle of its rise. It looked more like the thing had struck the ground and slid to where it now rested, rather than carving the devastation intentionally as it moved.

    If it had moved, Nuralie didn¡¯t know how. There were no appendages to be seen, as the creature was limited to a skull with ribs running down the full length of what was visible through the hole in its exterior. Magic was always a potential explanation. If that were the case, it meant the creature had a strong grasp over mana.

    One Asimanth brought a boar forward, which had recovered enough to shriek and squeal, though not enough to struggle. The boar¡¯s spirit stretched further and further from its physical form as the Asimanth brought it close, until something snapped. The mass of silver and bone tore the soul from the boar¡¯s broken body. It flowed into the wound on its simple skull, and a pulse of spiritual energy dispersed throughout the folds of the brain. The boar went still, its life extinguished.

    One by one, each Asimanth delivered their offering. The cries of the Asimanth¡¯s victims were made even more unsettling by the silence of their killers. Nuralie was no stranger to the hunt, to taking life for food and materials, but the way these Asimanth treated their game was foul. Not only did they force them to suffer on the long walk back to their master, but they dumped the corpses into a pit afterward, to rot away unused. The soul was all they needed, and all the rest was chaff. A waste, if nothing else.

    Nuralie went ahead and tried to identify the distant being. She¡¯d waited to try and keep the System¡¯s input from biasing her initial observations, but the information it provided was sparse.

    Domininth: Unknown, Grade Unknown

    Nuralie wondered how the System could know what to call the entity, but not what kind of creature it was. Then again, she was inside a Dungeon. An information blackout might be part of its conditions, although Grotto insisted that Dungeons were not created or managed by the System. It simply took advantage of them, like a gatherer collecting berries from the wild. Nuralie didn¡¯t know enough to guess. There were too many variables for any useful predictions.

    Nuralie then spent the mana to cast Target Analysis. This was riskier than a System-derived identify, which relied on archived information. Target Analysis actively probed the target for information, so there was a chance of detection. The skill usually went unnoticed, but there were always exceptions.

    Nuralie was mildly surprised when a wealth of information flooded her mind about the creature. The skill had been quite successful, which she hadn¡¯t expected from how strange the entity was.

    Domininth

    Health: 208,000

    Stamina: 32,000

    Mana: 5,000

    Immunities: Cold, Slowed, Fear

    Conditional Immunities: Immobilized, Paralyzed, Stunned, Forced Movement, Forced Teleportation, Distracted, Dominated, Mesmerized, Paranoid, Psychotic, and all mind, perception, and memory altering effects.

    Resistances: Physical, Dimensional, Infernal, Wicked

    Vulnerabilities: Holy, Righteous

    Nuralie¡¯s head swam from the massive health pool and the list of conditional immunities. The health pool was more than an order of magnitude larger than anything she¡¯d even heard of. The highest health pool that Varrin was aware of was that of Patriarch Bluewren, who had a natural health pool somewhere in the seven-thousand range.

    Not seventy thousand. Seven.

    The entity ahead of her had hundreds of thousands of health. It was already injured as well, meaning its potential maximum might be significantly higher. With health like that, what did its DR look like?

    Nuralie settled herself and looked over the conditional immunities, recognizing them as the effects of both the Unstoppable and Unflappable buffs. The Domininth had some way to generate both of those, but they weren¡¯t currently active, else they¡¯d have been included under Immunities.

    It was resistant to two full schools of magic, along with half of Divine, although the Divine resistances told Nuralie something about the nature of this creature. The vulnerabilities to Holy and Righteous made sense, especially if it too was an Undead, like its minions.

    Nuralie felt better once she finished her review, focusing on analyzing the data objectively to remain calm. Her success with Target Analysis also told her that whatever the creature¡¯s equivalent of Charisma was, it had very little.

    The Domininth¡¯s mana pool was much smaller in comparison to its enormous health and stamina, but it was still several times larger than what a 100 Wisdom would provide with no other bonuses. It had more than enough mana to cast spells that could level entire cities, perhaps even tear the souls from everyone in a major population center.

    There was also the possibility that Nuralie had caught it in a moment of relative depletion. Target Analysis didn¡¯t tell her the creature¡¯s upper boundaries, only its current resource levels. Its mana pool could be as large as its health for all she knew.

    Nuralie watched the Asimanth make their sacrifices to the Domininth for some time, thinking over the results of Target Analysis while taking notes and making sketches. She noted that a small amount of bone around the skull had reformed, and when she pinged the entity again with her skill, it had gained nearly ten thousand health. The mana had gone down an inconsequential amount. It appeared that whatever the Domininth was spending to maintain its constant state of soul devouring, its mana regeneration was keeping up.

    Nuralie considered what to do. On the one hand, whatever was happening here wasn¡¯t necessarily of concern to her. She needed to find a way out of the Dungeon, and there was no guarantee that interacting with the Domininth or Asimanth would yield an exit. She expected the Domininth would prove disastrous to this environment once it finished recovering from its wounds¨Cthe recovery itself was already a disaster of sorts¨Cbut she also didn¡¯t know if that mattered. Where was this forest? Was it near something important? Was it on Arzia at all, or was this a pocket dimension like Arlo¡¯s Closet?

    On the other hand, Nuralie had strong evidence she was in a real forest through her senses and observations, which meant the death and suffering the entity caused was real as well. Her potion made it significantly less likely that a mental effect was tricking her. If this were some kind of physical illusion, it was of a complexity that would demand the talents of a Delver at the peak, or perhaps something even greater. Not only would such a thing be an ill fit for a Spiritual Dungeon, it would also need to fool her life sense, magic sense, divine sense, evil sense, and motion sense.

    At that point she would need to assume she was being manipulated by a god, or an avatar at the very least. The simpler explanation was that this was a real space with real, living¨Cand unliving¨Centities.

    If that were the case, did Nuralie want to walk away? She¡¯d often struggled with the tolerance of evil. She liked to believe that she fought against malice and sadism, whenever she had the power to. And yet, how often had she advocated for a more pragmatic approach to a difficult problem? When had she been the one to suggest taking a risk to save others from oppression?

    She¡¯d fiercely pursued her morals in Eschendur, but that was her home. Elsewhere, she¡¯d often been more concerned with safety. How much weight did her righteousness carry, if her righteousness only bore the weight of certainty, and never the weight of doubt?

    There were no people to save within this forest, but Nuralie¡¯s empathy was not limited to the sapient. The Asimanth tormented the wildlife, wasting their bounty to serve the Domininth¡¯s ends, profane to her gods. Nuralie would end the misery here, whether or not doing so was the way out of the Dungeon.

    As for how to kill a creature with nearly a quarter million health¡­ Well, she had an entire forest of spiritual ingredients to harness, and some excellent recipes for poisoning the soul. She just needed to work out the dosage.

    And figure out how to get closer without having her soul eaten.