Hello everyone, and welcome to the launch day for my latest book. I hope you all enjoy it.
The exciting continuation to a fantastic series that has it all! Revenge, cultivation, adventure, obnoxiously OP uncles, and a dash of love! Elemental Awakening is Here!
Elemental Awakening is the second book in a series being published by Aethon.
If you have read any of my other books, then you are familiar with my style. I prioritize the characters and their development. This story is no different, just with a focus on cultivation in a Norse themed world that the reader gets to explore with the MC.
You can find the novel on Amazon Kindle Unlimited HERE!
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Here''s the full blurb:
Justice is coming. A home is made. Demons are here.
Erik and Ainsley have reached Aurhlio, the first destination on their journey of revenge. Spending months together in such close proximity has encouraged their feelings to grow and blossom.
The life of a cultivator is a lonely one; unless you have managed to find a companion that can always stay by your side. That is what they have found in each other, and their desire to keep the other safe fuels their training efforts.
It''s these training efforts that reveal the presence of demons nearby, just waiting for a chance to strike.
The first of their targets, the Hidden Vang clan, is almost within reach. They aren''t strong enough to handle them, yet. What will they do, wait? Or find another method to destroy their enemy?
And finally, one last link to get the book on Kindle Unlimited.
Chapter 83
Nate was still thinking about the sling Anna had shown them hours later when he was cooking his dinner. Which in this case meant throwing a frozen, slightly weirdly seasoned pizza into the oven.
He had his laptop out in the living room and was working through the mediation art while waiting for George to show up. At least, that was what he was supposed to be doing. Instead, he had been working on the second dungeon, getting it ever closer to completion.
Originally, he had been tempted to put the Dungeon Core underneath the portal room somehow. That urge had lasted about as long as it took for him to remember where his avatar always spawned. He didn¡¯t want to appear in the middle of a group of angry blighted elves if he could help it.
Instead, he chose a room a little farther away, and then disguised, and blocked the entryway. The preceding room thankfully also led to another room besides the one he had taken over. With another exit for the blighted elves to head toward, it should keep them from looking too closely at the wall. At least, that was his hope.
Regardless, he still built up the same type of walled interior that he had done in the first dungeon, enclosing and hiding the Dungeon Core from view even more. With all the practice he had gotten using the interface, he was able to make the holes even smaller than before. Which he thought was rather impressive, considering the interface seemed to just be meant for the broad strokes. It got things done fast and efficiently, but not in the same exacting detail that he could manage in his avatar form.
With that decided on, he went to work tweaking the various rooms, changing one aspect of them after another. This dungeon was designed for thinking beings, not mindless instinctual beasts like the first one had been. He couldn¡¯t design it in the same way.
He wasn¡¯t even able to take away a basic advantage in the same manner that he had with the beasts. Taking away all of nature from the dungeon had been easy, but also seemed to have a piece of misguided information. When they had run into the beasts in the forest during the expedition, he couldn¡¯t remember that many of them using nature to their benefit. Then again, he had been rather distracted.
Either way, he didn¡¯t have enough information on the blighted elves to do something similar. Besides, as an intelligent race, he had little doubt that their abilities, strengths, and weaknesses would be just as varied as a human¡¯s. The only weakness he could think of that they might have was to various forms of light. However, he had already taken care of that, and it wasn¡¯t even a significant weakness in any case.
For now, it was simply an item that he put on the back burner of his mind. Once he actually saw the blighted elves in action and started learning more about them, then he would be able to make some better decisions in that regard.
In the meantime, he was going to start designing the traps for the dungeon. He had already decided that this dungeon would be more high-tech than the first one. There would be no bow and arrows in this one if he could help it. Instead, he planned on going almost to a sci-fi level with the tech.
At least, that was the plan. It depended on what he could design and make work. He had a sneaking suspicion that creating a working laser, even with the dungeon system helping him, would be more complicated than creating a bow. Then again, he could be wrong about that. Only time would tell.
At the moment, the oven timer was going off, so he closed the screens and opened his laptop instead. He would get some more studying done while he ate.
Nate had to admit, modifying the meditation arts was far more complicated than he had initially expected. Which was stupid. He should have been expecting them to be complicated. If they weren¡¯t, everyone would be trying to do what he was doing. Yet, even making small modifications to them could have cascading effects down the line.
The meditation arts had been designed to be modified in specific ways so that they would fit each cultivator. What he was attempting to do went far beyond that and touched on their core sections in small, but interesting ways.
He wasn¡¯t too proud to say that he was most definitely out of his depth on this one. Not that knowing that was going to stop him in any way. He had already known how difficult the project to integrate multiple affinities into one art would be and had always known it would be a long-term one. What he was attempting to do was not something that could be completed overnight.
Even modifying the art the school had given him so he could use it was taking some time. Honestly, he wasn¡¯t sure if it was truly worth the effort since he would be getting the void meditation art anyway. Yes, working on the shadow art was valuable practice, and if nothing else, it would be nice to have it done for later, but still¡
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Knowing that even if he managed to complete it before he got the void art that he would only get a day or two of use out of it was a little annoying. But that was life, it wasn¡¯t fair, and he didn¡¯t expect it to be.
Cutting up the pizza, he slid the pieces onto a wire rack and carried it back into the living room, along with a tall glass of water. Just as he was about to sit down, there was a knock at the door.
Rolling his eyes at how typical it was to be interrupted just as he was about to eat, he cracked it open to find George Trellow standing on the front step. He had come to check on him, just as his parents had said he would.
Swinging the door open the rest of the way, he invited the man inside. ¡°I was just about to eat some dinner. Would you like to join me? It¡¯s just a pizza, but there is plenty.¡±
He glanced at his watch and grimaced. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t stay long. I hadn¡¯t realized how late it was. I have a prior engagement tonight,¡± George¡¯s voice trickled off into a whisper as he followed Nate into the house.
¡°It sounds like it is a meeting you aren¡¯t entirely sure how to feel about.¡±
There was a halfhearted laugh in response as they settled into the couches of the living room. ¡°That is putting it lightly. You know I used to be married and that my son died. His circumstances were somewhat similar to yours.¡± Nate nodded. They had talked about the guild master¡¯s past once or twice. ¡°Well, my ex-wife is in the city and wanted to see me.¡±
¡°Ohhh, and how has that been going?¡±
George shrugged, and ran a tired hand over his face, paying special attention to massaging his closed eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not like we separated on bad terms, not really anyway. The death of our son was just too much for us to handle at the time. A part of me resented her for giving up on our marriage, but I was no better. I guess you could say that time has brought a certain clarity to our past mistakes.¡±
¡°Has she remarried, or is there still hope of something being there?¡± Nate could never avoid hoping for a happy ending when it came to people¡¯s romantic lives. It was something that he had never been able to achieve himself and had little experience in, even before he got sick. He had never aspired to be a Don Juan or Lothario.
He wasn¡¯t an idiot who believed love solved everything. That said, having the right person by your side certainly made going through life¡¯s problems a lot more bearable.
¡°She was married for a while, but the husband died on an expedition, from what I understand. She has been alone ever since. As for if there is still something there¡¡± George seemed more than a little apprehensive as he kept opening and closing his mouth without saying anything.
¡°I don¡¯t know. For that matter, I don¡¯t even know if I want there to be. We have a lot of history between us. She was my first love. My childhood sweetheart. We grew up together. I will always care for her, but moving past the death of our son, and discovering who we are now¡ that is something else entirely.¡±
¡°Well, it sounds to me like you should get going then and find out. I¡¯m fine for now. Come back tomorrow and let me know how everything went.¡± Nate pulled the older man to his feet and pushed him toward the door.
¡°Hmm, you managed to upgrade your core?¡±
¡°Tomorrow. We can talk about it tomorrow.¡±
George nodded, getting the hint as he moved along so he wouldn¡¯t be late meeting with his ex-wife.
A few seconds later, Nate was alone again with his slowly cooling pizza. He slipped a slice onto his plate and brought the laptop onto his lap.
Most of the screen was taken up with the shadow art he had gotten from the school. There was a small section on the side though, that was being used by two separate notes. One was for his ideas on the mediation art, while the other was for anything related to the dungeon. Just because he had stopped working on it for the moment didn¡¯t mean his mind was no longer thinking about it in the background.
Over the next couple of hours, he made decent progress in understanding the basic composition of the art. The fact that he had read through a few of the others already helped significantly in that regard. However, that meager understanding didn¡¯t really help him when it came to modifying it to fit himself. Or, in regard to his larger goal of modifying it, so he could use two or even three meditation arts at once.
Those were long-term goals though. For now, he simply needed to understand it well enough that he could ask the teacher Mr. Jones the right questions. Which he thought was finally the case. Studying so many different variations of the shadow mediation art had definitely slowed him down in that regard. But it was already beginning to show some dividends, at least in his opinion.
The teacher might think otherwise.
Nate shut everything down around nine o¡¯clock. He carefully went around to each window and door and made sure they locked before going upstairs to his bedroom. He left the hallway light on, just so the house wouldn¡¯t be completely dark with him in it.
A few minutes later he was inside the dungeon in his avatar form, staring at his information in confusion. He had missed it earlier when he was working on the second dungeon, but two, well, three pieces of information had changed.
His core had changed from Copper Grade (Low Quality) to Bronze Grade (Low Quality), and the charge had subsequently dropped to zero. Those were two things.
The most eye-catching one, at least in his opinion, was that his energy had also dropped. That morning it had been at fifty-nine, and now it was thirty-one. It still felt like the same amount as before, but the number was reading as much lower. It had been halved, almost as though it had been compressed by his new core.
Nate began to laugh as the proverbial light bulb went off inside his head. No wonder cultivators wanted higher-grade cores; they came with more qi energy. The density of the qi inside them, even at the lower realms, was much higher than what he would have gotten otherwise. He would have needed to go up two realms to get what he had achieved by upgrading his core once.
Increasing his realm came with an all-around power increase. While increasing, the grade of his core only upgraded his qi. In other words, that morning he had gotten a little mini power increase without even realizing it.
He wondered how many more times he could upgrade his core before he would be forced to increase his realm.
Chapter 84
There was still another day¡¯s worth of time before the new dungeon came into being. Now that he was in his avatar though, he was able to manipulate certain things in far more detail than he could before. It didn¡¯t matter which dungeon he was actually in at the time. Which was nice, as it made it easy to get around the one rather sizable downside of fixing the same floor of the dungeon that the avatar was on.
All the traps would go inactive at that time while the upgrades he had ordered were being built. This way, he never had to worry about that negative at all.
Nate relaxed inside the core room of the dungeon and began working on the traps for the new dungeon.
He was still working on the idea that the traps would be futuristic. Earlier, while sitting on the couch, he hadn¡¯t seen any options for what he had in mind. Now that he was in his avatar form, he was getting the feeling that it was merely a matter of time. The dungeon just needed him to finish one of the traps on his own first, so it could understand what he wanted. It had bits and pieces of what he wanted, but not as one complete whole.
Not yet, at least.
Thankfully, the trap crafting menu was a fairly hefty beast. There was a search bar at the top that he had used extensively in the beginning of the trap creation process for the first dungeon. After a certain point, he had gradually stopped using it though, as he had found the different items and traps he wanted to use.
This time around, he wanted to use advanced traps, and that bar was the key to finding the components to everything. There was no chance he would be able to create a proper laser from the ground up. There were just too many items involved in their creation.
He had seen one in operation when he was younger on a college campus. Granted, their overall construction had gotten much simpler since those days. Of course, their parts had also gotten infinitely more complicated as well. Not that any of that mattered. He had died before seeing anything in action outside of videos on the internet, and something told him that wasn¡¯t enough to make one from scratch.
Luckily, he didn¡¯t need to make it from such meager beginnings. He could, instead, after a few initial steps, skip to where it would be a usable trap. The search bar at the top, showing its usefulness once more.
He did discover one oddity when he did things this way ¡ª well, two, actually. The first was that the lasers each appeared as a blackboxed setup that he couldn¡¯t change. The dungeon would let him use them as traps, however, there was nothing inside the boxes at the moment. For the first time, he needed to research a tech tree with the Dungeon Core before he could do anything more with them.
It was a matter of how efficiently the dungeon was using resources. It could blackbox the tech, and make it work, but doing that was extremely inefficient. Each shot of the laser in the current fashion would cost far more than it normally should. From there, once the insides of the trap had been properly filled out, the Dungeon Core could continue to research the tech tree and make it powerful and efficient.
The second oddity was related to the first, in a way. The blackboxes could not be properly integrated into the dungeon. That meant the traps this time around would be fully visible, and able to be destroyed as well.
It was a rather interesting find to be sure, and suddenly he was a little glad that traps couldn¡¯t be taken out of the dungeon. That sort of tech would absolutely overturn everything this world knew. However, that didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t annoyed that he couldn¡¯t use it for his own purposes either. Unfortunately, that was life, give and take.
The dungeon system had set the boundaries, and he was willing to work inside them on this one. All of the truly cool tech he could think of making at the moment took up the precious free time he didn¡¯t have or would have been too eye-catching in any case.
As soon as Nate placed the first of the laser traps, it was added to the list of pre-built traps. He really needed the Dungeon Core to be finished before he could start doing anything even remotely fancy with them. All he could do at the moment was to place them. With the older style traps, he could make upgrades to them himself, at least to a certain level. With these tech-based traps, that wasn¡¯t even a possibility anymore.
It wasn¡¯t a downside that he had considered before that moment, but it certainly was one. The new dungeon would -hopefully- be much more powerful and versatile than the first one. However, in return, he would be depending on the Dungeon Core far more.
Again, give and take.
He placed a few more of the laser traps before stopping to think about what other trap he could use. Nate had no way of knowing if they would be effective yet, let alone how energy and resource-hungry they would be. Just because the resource counter between the dungeons was combined, didn¡¯t mean he suddenly started to run a deficit, simply because each shot of the laser cost a thousand times more than it could ever hope to bring in. He wasn¡¯t running a government, but a dungeon.
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Nate started jotting more ideas down, using the same method he had discovered before. Some of them would be far too complicated to be workable, while others had some potential. It all depended on how much the dungeon system was able to assist him in their creation. It had obviously done a lot for the laser, pulling a fair bit of the information from his mind if he had to guess.
It gave him hope that his future ideas might work, though the research the Dungeon Core would need to do for each would also increase quite a bit. In the old games he used to play, they were called ¡®Tech Trees¡¯, and generally, there would be one overarching research branch for everything. However, if he did things this way, it would be more likely that every individual trap would need to be researched.
The tech tree wouldn¡¯t come into play until the next tree, when it was able to consolidate all the information this one had learned. At least, that is what his gut was telling him. He would ask Aura what she knew when she came back to life in a while.
For now, he worked on constructing more weapons and possible traps.
Some were total blackbox affairs that he knew would be prohibitively expensive to use. For those, he only tried to place one or two in places where they wouldn¡¯t be going off constantly.
The others he at least had a basic, if extremely rudimentary understanding of how they functioned. Like the railguns, those would still need a lot of research done to back them up, but the existing knowledge he already had would prevent them from being complete energy sinks.
Regardless, he had chosen a technology-based dungeon, and that was exactly what he was going to do. If it took a little bit to make it fully useable, then that was fine, just as long as it didn¡¯t send him into the red. If that was even possible.
Nate had seen how many dimensional zones there actually were just in his area of the continent. The number was much higher than what he had seen on the map at school.
Whatever the end goal of the dungeon system, this wasn¡¯t going to be a short project. Whether it was closing the portals, if that was possible, or something else, the sheer number involved meant he was going to be at this for a long time.
Sure, after a certain point, he had to imagine that he would sort of start hitting a rolling stride in resources. Where he would have so many that he would be able to create the next dungeon and simply dominate it from the get-go. Considering how many resources he already had, that might now even be too far off unless the traps he was building truly were thirsty POSs.
All of those were concerns for a future Nate. Right now, all he needed to do was worry about constructing traps and weapons, and making sure his first dungeon wasn¡¯t going to be overrun by greedy cultivators.
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It was a balance.
For the moment, he kept the variety of traps and weapons high, but the number of each was somewhat low. Until they could be properly researched, it was simply too dangerous to have too many of each otherwise.
He took care to place them in the rooms where he thought there would be the most traffic, or they would be unavoidable.
Finally, with a few minutes to spare before Aura came back to life, he finished his preparations on the new dungeon. It still had a day before the Core was finished and the dungeon came into being, but he was largely finished. The only changes he would make to it now would be minor ones or items that came to him in the moment.
For now, it was as ready as he thought he could make it without ever having seen the blighted elves in action.
With that taken care of, he closed out of the interface and instead opened a few camera screens of the dungeon he was in. The number of beasts on the second floor had decreased with the modifications he had made before. The tunnel was still packed though, with the occasional beast getting pushed into the room and then into the abyss below. Without the floor there to catch them, they simply died one after another.
The tiny bridge, on the other hand was still as popular as ever, and still as hard to cross as before.
As soon as Aura revived, it would be back to the same farming spot he had created the other night for him. He wasn¡¯t going to force her to participate if she didn¡¯t want to. He knew firsthand how¡ invigorating and downright terrifying death could be.
Nate tended to avoid it, when possible, for that exact reason. It hurt, and it sucked. Yet Aura had been doing the opposite. She was dying every night. He wasn¡¯t sure it was healthy for her, heck; he didn¡¯t know if she was trying to punish herself for surviving when the rest of her family hadn¡¯t or if it was something else.
All he knew was that he needed to talk to her about it before it became a problem, or a larger one, if it already was.
There was still some time left before she was due to appear, and Nate immediately set about cultivating.
If he was being honest with himself, then he did not spend nearly enough time cultivating at the moment. However, he had reasons for that. Namely, the rainbow orbs he received from training inside the dungeon were far more effective, time-wise. There was also just how busy he was as well.
There was so much that he needed to do each day. School, training, working on the meditation arts, working on the dungeon, -which easily took up the most time, especially lately hanging out with his parents. All of that left him with little time to actually cultivate like he was supposed to.
He figured most kids did their cultivating at night before going to bed. But he was still actively doing other things at that time. Maybe he just needed to better manage his time, or perhaps he simply needed to not worry about it.
He had been managing fine up to that point, after all. He wouldn¡¯t say everything was perfect, but for now, things were still under control.
Nate would revisit the topic after the second dungeon was completed, and he had finished working on the meditation art. At this point in time, he still had too much going on to even feel somewhat safe messing with his current process.
Chapter 85
Aura was silent when she revived and slumped onto the ground in front of him. Her ears were limp, and she looked ragged. Strictly speaking, when she revived it was to perfect health, however, that was only physically. All the mental exhaustion, damage, and other problems that had begun to build up over time were still there and beginning to rear their ugly heads.
¡°We need to talk,¡± Nate told her as soon as he saw how terrible she looked. ¡°You can¡¯t keep doing this to yourself, Aura.¡± He reached toward her and gently pointed her sharp muzzle at him, so she couldn¡¯t avoid his gaze. ¡°I know you didn¡¯t ask for this, or for your entire family to be murdered. I understand that, but you are my companion now and linked to this dungeon.
¡°I¡¯m not going to just let you throw your life away by going berserk and dying each night. There are better ways to handle your grief. If you want revenge and power, then help me take control of the portal here. I have no idea what will happen then, but I know something will. No matter what, anything is better than continuing to do what you have been doing.¡±
He felt more than a little guilty because he had been mostly ignoring her. Part of that was because she kept dying, but it was also because she was inside the dungeon, even when he wasn¡¯t. There was a separation there. She could breach that barrier, but it was up to her to do that. He hadn¡¯t even thought about doing it the other way around before that moment.
She was silent for a long minute before adjusting her position so her limpid eyes could look up at him. ¡°I know. I need a purpose of some kind, some greater reason for continuing on each day. I¡¯m linked to the dungeon, but I don¡¯t know what your purpose with all of this is.¡±
¡°Before I answer that, tell me, why do your people go through the portals? They seem almost desperate to cross through them.¡±
¡°Each of the races your people have encountered at the various portals gain strength in slightly different ways. However, there is one constant that holds true for us all. Battle pushes us to ever greater heights faster than if we were to simply stay at home and cultivate peacefully. The portals are a way to gain strength without decimating our own people through constant war with each other.¡±
Nate reeled back at that answer. He wasn¡¯t sure what he had been expecting her to say, but it wasn¡¯t that. Not that they were being purposefully invaded. Instead, it was simply because the easiest way to gain strength was through fighting.
¡°All of our worlds were suddenly thrown into pandemonium, just like yours, when the portals appeared at some point in our history. Each and every single one of our worlds has a few of these infernal portals. Though I will admit, your world does seem to have many times that number more than normal and is linked to several more worlds than is typical.
¡°From what we have discovered in the past, two to three different races per world is considered normal. With each race having access to maybe three portals for the entire world, if they are lucky. Then we have your world, which is practically a meeting hub for everyone¡¡± She chuckled dryly. ¡°It¡¯s odd.¡±
¡°I¡¯m sure everyone here will be overjoyed to hear that if they are ever lucky enough to learn it.¡± Nate snarked, his mind full of confusion.
If the circumstances on Earth were so different from others, then there must be a reason behind it all. He had been somewhat convinced before that the goal of the dungeons was to close each of the incursions. Now, he wasn¡¯t so sure that is what he had been working toward anymore.
Unfortunately, Nate would have to wait until he managed to actually take control of the first dungeon to learn more. Only then would he be presented with the options it had promised and learn more.
Aura silently watched him for a minute before he remembered what he had told her before.
¡°Right, sorry. To be honest with you though, I¡¯m not sure what my purpose with all of this is either. Not entirely, anyway. When I created the first dungeon, it was so I could¡ make a difference¡ or find a way to stop the invaders.¡± He chuckled mirthlessly and rested his head against the stone wall. ¡°I don¡¯t really remember what my exact reasoning was at the time, and it doesn¡¯t really matter now.
¡°I have learned a lot since then, both in regards to how this world works, and now from you. I¡¯m not entirely sure that closing the portals would even be for the best. However, I do think they need to be brought under some form of control. So, I guess for now that is our goal. To create as many dungeons as possible and to change the current dynamic. However, I¡¯m sure that goal will change or be refined once we see the options that are presented when we take full control of this portal.¡±
A short while later, they finally stood up and headed for the second level to start their latest training session.
***
When Nate woke up the next morning, he was surprised by how much of a difference his new core grade had made. He was used to his backup core, taking a large chunk of his energy, which it did to improve his main core. What he had realized before though, was that when he upgraded his main core, it had also upgraded his backup core.
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The amount of energy he was getting from the rainbow cores was still the same as before, yet looking at his status, you wouldn¡¯t know it. Where each rainbow core would have given him a solid handful of qi points before, those had been halved now. And then further split between the two cores.
In other words, the amount of progress he had made in the latest training session hadn¡¯t been as great as it would have been before. That was to be expected as the grade of his core increased. It would become even more of an issue when his cultivation realm increased as well.
Dragging himself from bed, Nate grabbed another herb from the box the McFadden¡¯s had given his parents and went to take his shower.
Near the end of the shower, he shoved the wet herb into his mouth. Quickly chewing and swallowing the bitter herb down, he felt the familiar burst of energy that went entirely toward his backup core. He wasn¡¯t sure how it worked for everyone else, but that was how it did for him.
At least this time, he didn¡¯t need to worry about cleaning a ton of gunk off his body. That wouldn¡¯t happen again until the next time he upgraded his core, or possibly when he increased his realm.
Nate was waiting on the front steps of his house, nibbling on a piece of toast, when Angie¡¯s car rolled up.
Hopping up, he hurried toward it before the driver even had a chance to fully bring the car to a stop.
Inside, he found the two girls glaring at each other with their arms crossed and eyes narrowed in displeasure. ¡°Um, I can walk to school?¡± He offered, already reaching for the door.
¡°Touch that door and I¡¯ll make sure you regret it,¡± Angie snapped at him.
¡°Alright, sheesh. What did I do?¡±
Lindsay turned over the phone on her lap and showed him the screen. It held an image of a sling similar to the one Anna had shown them the night before.
¡°Ah,¡± He muttered. ¡°I take it you don¡¯t like the weapon?¡±
¡°Like it?¡± Angie snorted derisively. ¡°My parents would never even let me use it. If I even dared to so much as show something like that to them, they would blow their tops.¡±
¡°Did Lindsay at least explain the reasoning behind the choice?¡±
The girl in question shook her head. ¡°She wouldn¡¯t let me. Angie took one look at the picture and then started screaming at me. I never had a chance to explain anything.¡± She was more than a little put out by her friend¡¯s behavior.
Nate had figured as much, otherwise, he doubted Angie would be so against using it. She didn¡¯t seem to be so caught up in appearances as other people in her position. The way she had reacted was more likely a simple knee-jerk reaction than anything against the sling itself.
¡°We already know it isn¡¯t an elegant weapon, whatever that even means. However, it is perfect for use with the enhancement you received.¡± He was quick to say before Angie took their concern for her the wrong way.
Her mouth opened and closed as her brows furrowed. Against her side, one of her hands made a small twirling motion, as though she was already using a sling.
Lindsay rolled her eyes and turned away from her friend for the moment. She was still angry with her. Instead, she focused on Nathan, and the two were soon lost in a discussion on the various intricacies of their meditation arts.
Lindsay¡¯s mood had thawed a little by the time they reached the school, and Angie was looking a little sheepish.
¡°Sorry, Linds, I guess I should have listened to you earlier, before I reacted.¡±
¡°Yeah, you should have!¡± She shot back irritably.
***
After what had happened that morning, they had decided to skip any potential training session at Angie¡¯s. The girl had something more important that she needed to do that afternoon. She needed to talk to her parents about what she had come to accept as her new secondary weapon.
If they thought she had reacted badly to just seeing the image on Lindsay¡¯s phone, it was nothing to how she expected her mother to react.
That left Nathan sitting on his couch, with his crossbow resting on his legs, as he slowly wrapped the rail where it tended to glow. He had ripped up a couple of his old shirts into strips and was carefully layering them, ensuring everything remained flat. All the knots went on the bottom of the rail, where his hand would rest, along with several dabs of glue on each strip of cloth.
The strips of ripped shirt gave it a sort of weird raider vibe which he dug. He still needed to get a supply of bolts for the crossbow though. At least with the glowing portions now covered, he didn¡¯t need to worry about using it in the open.
Pushing the crossbow to the side, he grabbed his laptop and started working on his meditation art. Brick Jones, the teacher in charge of that class, had given him a lot of help on different items he had been struggling with that day. He had also mentioned that his new void art had been confirmed, but wasn¡¯t going to arrive until the end of the week at the earliest. Which meant that Nate wouldn¡¯t be able to start practicing it until next week sometime, since the teacher needed to look it over first.
He was making a fair bit of progress toward integrating the shadow meditation art into his meditation model. The pieces he had been struggling with the teacher had been able to help him with earlier during school. It helped that he had also continued to analyze the other shadow meditation arts he had found on the internet. He still had no idea how many of them were real, versus, cobbled together messes, however, he was tracking what each had in common, and where each one differed.
Granted, his sample size wasn¡¯t the greatest, but every bit of information helped.
Slowly, as he understood each portion of the meditation art, Nate changed it to fit himself specifically. Then, he would integrate into his meditation model, just as they had been taught to do. He didn¡¯t need to incorporate the new system all at once for it to be effective. Instead, it was more like he was layering it over a base system.
In computer terms, his meditation model was Unix OS or a translation layer for everything. The mediation art was more akin to Windows or Apple OS, which ran on top of the translation layer. It wasn¡¯t a one-to-one example, but it made more sense than thinking of the meditation art as a program or app in his opinion.
Regardless, every time he included a new portion of the art, the OS got an update, and it would run a little faster or have a new feature.
He could still cultivate in his current state, and it was faster than before, but it was nowhere near what it would someday become.
Chapter 86
While he was working on his meditation art, Aura was going through the first dungeon and making changes to the second floor. She wanted to ensure that they could focus on the new dungeon as much as possible when it was created later that night. Though, it still remained to be seen how she would get to the new one.
George made sure to stop by the house that night a little earlier than he had the day before.
Knowing that he would be coming by with news of how his date had gone with his ex-wife, Nate had decided to put some extra effort into preparing dinner that night. He was grilling up some steaks that had been saved from a beast in the second or third realm. His parents made a point to always bring back some of the better cuts of meat every time they went out on their personal expeditions. The family had a second freezer full of the tender meat out in the garage with all their other supplies.
He was careful in how he seasoned them and even included a few pieces of herbs that he had gotten from the dungeon for extra flavoring. The people of this world truly did not realize what they were missing. There was a reason that wars had been fought over spices from the fifteen hundreds all the way to the seventeen hundreds. That was two hundred years of war over simple spices, and it wasn¡¯t the only time it had happened.
People hated bland food. That¡¯s not to say the food of this Earth was bland or anything, just that they didn¡¯t have access to all of those delicious spices anymore.
They tried, and a few were even still available at incredibly high prices. However, it was a simple fact that not all of them could be grown on the North American continent, and certainly not within easy trade distance of where they lived. But Nate already had a plan to at least somewhat alleviate that. In the meantime, he would do what he could to mitigate the lack of flavor.
He most certainly hadn¡¯t been a professional chef in his past life. Yet living on his own for so long, you picked up on certain things you could do to make the bland healthy food he was force-fed more palatable. The constant YouTube videos he had watched on the subject helped immensely on that particular subject.
The one thing he did do, which was probably sacrilege to most other people, was actually cook the steak until it was done. Nate had never been able to stand the sight of pink meat as he was eating, or dripping half-cooked eggs, for that matter. He had tried both, and just couldn¡¯t keep either down. For the eggs, it was a matter of smell and texture. With the steak, it was something mental.
So, he cooked the steak until it was just barely past the point where the meat had begun to turn darker. The entire time, he was basting it in butter with the herbs and spices, ensuring it had a nice crust.
George had been sitting at the counter next to him making small talk as Nate cooked. He was deliberately avoiding the topic of how his date had gone with his ex-wife for the moment. Instead, he was focusing on answering any questions Nate had about cultivating, his meditation art, and really anything else he could think of.
It was obvious that before eating, there would be no discussing it.
Which Nate found rather interesting considering how heavy some of the other topics they delved into ended up being. The city they lived in was not a happy place. The healing guild that the grandfatherly man ran was constantly on the point of being overworked. There were always the cultivators who bit off more than they could chew on an expedition. Unfortunately, the real cause of all the overworked healers was the soldiers who protected their borders.
It was an interesting glimpse into a portion of life that was removed from his own. One that he had never even truly thought about before that moment.
The city wasn¡¯t in danger of being overrun, but the soldiers tended to generally be among the weaker cultivators in the city. However, as a result, they were given better armor and weapons to make up the difference. The better equipment did help them, but they could only do so much for people with low realms and crappy cores.
George pushed his plate away with a smile. ¡°That was delicious, thank you. I want to do a quick inspection of you and make sure everything is still good before we move on to other topics.¡±
Nate nodded and held out his hand to him.
¡°You¡¯re looking good. It amazes me how much of a difference that backup core makes, for you to have already upgraded your core once is beyond impressive.¡± The older man took his hand back with a shake of his head.
¡°It surprised me as well, and it really drove home just how important it is to have a good core. When I realized that my qi had become more dense and the amount available had halved¡ Well, it took me a few minutes to understand what had happened, but once I did, it really drove the fact home.¡±
¡°I had wondered why you were so calm about what Jace had done to you,¡± George commented. ¡°You really had no idea what the differences between each grade of core meant.¡±
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¡°That is part of it,¡± Nate agreed readily. ¡°I mean, I knew that a higher grade would obviously be better, but not the specifics. As for the whole Jace situation, there were extenuating circumstances there. Speaking of, have you gotten any word on him?¡±
¡°Nope, there hasn''t been so much as a peep that I am aware of. His parents might have heard from him, but if they have, they are wisely keeping it quiet.¡±
Nate bobbed his head for a few seconds before sighing. ¡°Whatever. It¡¯s not like I expected any different. The girls came out alright from the experience, and I have the backup core. Given the time, I¡¯ll be fine as well. Now, let¡¯s move on to what I am hoping is a happier topic. How was the date last night?¡±
¡°Claire, that¡¯s my ex-wife, and I spent a lot of time simply catching up, talking, finally working through everything that happened back then. Conversations that all should have happened twenty years ago. It was therapeutic, and cleansing.¡± George was staring into the glass of juice as though he wished it were something harder. ¡°We got so drunk and just¡ talked¡ for hours. It was nice. It was like when we were young again and simply enjoyed being around each other.¡±
A lone tear made its way down his cheek, the liquid dipping in and out of the wrinkles that had been brought on by age and grief.
¡°It sounds like it went about as well, or even better than you could have expected then, right?¡± He said carefully.
A genteel, wet snort and nod were his only answer for several long seconds. ¡°I¡¯ll see her again tonight and see what she specifically wants to do. However, last night really could not have gone any better in my mind. In a lot of ways, it brought closure to our past mistakes and finally allowed us to move past what happened back then.
¡°I also got to see a glimpse of the girl I fell in love with so many years ago. I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll get back together again though. I¡¯m not sure if I can trust her with my heart in that same way a second time. It wasn¡¯t me who gave up on our marriage and walked away. It was her. Losing her once, along with our son, was hard enough, losing her a second time,¡± He threw his palms face up onto the table. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could handle that a second time.¡±
Nate wasn¡¯t sure what to say to the man, or if there was something he should even say. Sometimes, the best thing a person could do was simply listen, and he had a feeling that was especially the case at the moment. George needed someone to listen to him talk, not try and offer a half-baked solution.
It turned out to be the right choice, as when he left a little while later, he looked as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Closing the door behind him, Nate pulled up the screens for the first dungeon. He let them hover in the air in front of him while he continued to work on his meditation art. The second Dungeon Core was going to finish its creation that night and right afterward the second dungeon would come into being. It was an event that he wanted to watch in real time. He didn¡¯t want to risk getting caught up in a fight or some other activity inside the first dungeon with his avatar.
Even Aura was waiting impatiently for the new dungeon to appear. Though the method in which she controlled and made changes was vastly different from his own, she was still able to monitor things in a more limited fashion. She could tell that there was a second Dungeon Core being created and could see the remaining time on it, but that was it. Her actual control and other related abilities were limited to the current dungeon that she was in at the moment.
Which reminded him that they would need to figure out how to transfer her to the new dungeon. He hoped it wasn¡¯t a hard or laborious process, like it was if he wanted to bring her home. To do that, she had to physically leave the dungeon and then meet up with him somewhere. After that first time, however, she would still be able to continue entering the dungeon through him as a medium.
It was a nice little tidbit of information that she had revealed to him the night before.
They simply needed to meet up first before any of that could happen. It was on the list of items to try and set up for this coming weekend during his next expedition with his parents.
Having her try and sneak into the city would be a little much. Meeting up with her while they were out on an expedition was a good compromise. Explaining her presence to his parents from there would be a little more difficult, but also not too hard. There was a history of people having beast companions.
Nate didn¡¯t know the normal process to train or get a proper companion beast, but that is what Aura had been registered by the wrist computer as. So that is what he would tell everyone she was. Hopefully, that would be enough to stop the bulk of the questions.
It wasn¡¯t like too many people would see her this way either. After they met up, and she met his parents, she would go back to the dungeon for a while. There was no point in risking a scene when they went through the checkpoint at the wall on the way back into the city.
Once they were back at home, she could come back if she wanted.
It would be nice having her right there to talk to instead of opening a few different windows. All the different hoops he had to go through currently felt restraining. In a weird way, Aura had taken on the position of dungeon manual. After she connected to the dungeon and the Dungeon Core, she had gained a level of understanding to its systems that he had been deprived of previously.
Up to the point of her appearance, he had been depending on his instincts and feelings that the wrist computer had been influencing. However, there had been no hard information there, just something nudging his gut feeling.
Now he had a walking, somewhat talking manual, but the process of speaking with her was a little awkward. Still, he had been learning more about the dungeons from her.
Unfortunately, she only contained information about the dungeons and not the rest of the wrist computer functions. Regardless, it was more information than he had possessed before.
None of that helped him with his meditation arts, which he had to work through and understand himself. A person couldn¡¯t have everything, and if they did, then life would simply become boring. He enjoyed working on the meditation art and sorting through it and comparing it to the other ones he had gathered from the internet.
Only after he had sorted the next section, would he begin working on modifying it to fit his meditation model and him as a person. Each section needed to be tweaked and changed to accommodate the changes for his body, and both cores. He was literally laying down a map of his meridians as he changed it.
If he screwed up here, then some of his meridians wouldn¡¯t be used to their full potential or could even be ignored entirely and die out from atrophy.
Chapter 87
Nate was beginning to yawn as the timer for the new Dungeon Core neared completion. He was used to being asleep by this point, and his teenage body liked getting a certain amount of sleep each day.
Still, he wanted to be awake to watch as this new dungeon came into being.
Then, as soon as he could, he would hop into the place in his avatar for some exploring. If he was lucky, or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint, he might even encounter a few blighted elves for some fun.
Aura had been doing her best to keep him awake as the last few minutes ticked down. Finally, it was time, and the new dungeon came into being.
In a mirror of the first dungeon¡¯s creation, somewhere out in the world, the second dungeon was creeping up from the ground. Over the course of a minute, it solidified into the same shape as the first building that had protected the dungeon. It had a lone door and wide walls, where Nate could place signs in the future.
For now, the portal had been completely cut off from the rest of the area.
Inside the building, the layout of the dungeon was already in place. All that remained was for the traps to be built, something that started as soon as the last stone in the floor settled into place.
Before the first blighted elf came through the portal moments later, everything was in place and Nate was ready to enter with his avatar.
Unfortunately, they still hadn¡¯t figured out how Aura was meant to transfer between the two dungeons. All she could do was keep busy in the first dungeon until they figured something out. Her own abilities didn¡¯t extend outside of any single dungeon that she was currently inside.
Once he was inside the dungeon, the first thing Nate noticed was how humid the air was. He was used to the unbearably dry air of the mountains where he lived. Here though, there was moisture, not enough to be clammy or leave a film on his skin, but it was pleasant. He hadn¡¯t even realized how much he missed having some decent humidity in the air until that moment.
Along with the water content, came a perceptible chill that reminded him they were getting along in the fall season. It would soon be Halloween, all hallows eve. Though calling it Samhain, the day when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest felt strangely more appropriate for him this time around.
There was still a week or two before that day arrived. He had seen the date circled on the calendar, but he didn¡¯t know if it was for Halloween or something else. There were a few things that had changed simply due to the lack of constant worldwide commerce and commingling that had been happening on his Old Earth.
It was possible that Halloween was one such casualty, and it was instead being celebrated in its older, more proper forms. Either way, it didn¡¯t matter to him, as it was merely a passing thought that the cold had reminded him of.
Monitoring the screens, he witnessed the first of the blighted elves come through the portal. Unlike in the first dungeon, here they could come through in a group of five. After that first group, however, no more of them appeared. It seemed that there was still a timer on how often the portal could be used.
The five pale elves looked around in confusion, their eyes squinting against what was to them a harsh glare. The dungeon was not what they had been expecting to find on the other side of the portal. Yet now that they were there, it was too late to turn back. There was no going back after you had gone through the portal, not for a while at least. Your body had to adjust to the new world you found yourself in before you could return.
Nate continued to watch as the first group poked around the initial room for a few minutes. It was only after they were joined by a second group of five that they opened one of the three doors and left the portal room behind.
The door they had chosen opened into a long, twisting corridor that led to a trapped room that he was rather proud of. The trap would only activate once someone had walked through at least one-third of the room. Then a simple three-layered laser beam would activate on the far side of the room and begin moving toward them. Meanwhile, behind them, a fully completed grid laser would be covering the door. If they wanted to leave, they would need to do so in diced chunks, just like in a certain Resident Evil movie.
It was possible they could dive through the initial three-layered laser, but that was what made it interesting.
Nate wasn¡¯t trying to stop the blighted elves wholesale. Not yet, at least. He didn¡¯t know enough about them. For the next few days, he would be concentrating on learning what worked against them and what didn¡¯t. Then, as soon as possible, he would upgrade the Dungeon Core to its second level. He had learned how important having the additional functionality it provided was with the last dungeon.
The ten elves moved slowly down the corridor, their hands poking at and feeling the stone walls as they walked.
He couldn¡¯t hear them, and even if he could, it was doubtful that he could have understood them. However, it was clear that they were talking about the dungeon and where they had ended up.
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Watching them closely, he could see that their eyes had adjusted to the light a small amount. Not a lot considering how the brightness kept changing, but even with that, they still weren¡¯t squinting quite as much as when they had first arrived.
In other words, their reported weakness really wasn¡¯t that much of a weakness after all, just like he had thought. They were sensitive to light, but it wasn¡¯t debilitating by any means.
They kept moving forward and a few minutes later; they crept into the first of the trapped rooms.
Back at the portal, another group of five blighted elves appeared. Checking the clock in the bottom corner of his wrist computer, Nate quickly figured out that there was a group coming through every fifteen minutes.
This new group was just as confused as the other two had been. However, when they saw that there was no one around, they quickly chose an exit and left the portal behind. Unlike the first two groups, they were more decisive in their decision-making abilities. They also chose a different exit from the others and headed in a different direction.
Now, Nate had two groups to keep his eyes on.
A moment later, the portal flashed again. It was much too soon for a new group of blighted elves to already be coming through.
Aura stepped through the portal and stretched, her four-tails flicking every which way.
The next second, a message appeared in front of Nate. ¡°I figured out how to switch between the dungeons. I use the portals! When I tried to enter the second floor, it offered me a choice. Did I want to come over here or go to the second floor?¡±
¡°That¡ actually makes a lot of sense. I can¡¯t believe we didn¡¯t think of that being a possibility earlier.¡± He admitted wryly. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it over. I could use the help monitoring them. There are two groups in the dungeon right now.¡±
Aura burst into motion, her nose guiding her directly toward the second group. ¡°These are different traps than the ones you used last time around.¡±
That reminded him that he still needed to set the Dungeon Core to researching the technology inside the blackboxed traps. That could wait until later. First, they needed to find out how well each of the traps actually worked.
The two continued talking back and forth as he described the new traps and what each of them did.
In the room with the group of ten blighted elves, they had at last gone inside far enough to activate the traps.
Now, one of the things movies tended to do was make lasers visible whenever they were used. Which is not how light worked. You didn¡¯t notice light until it reached its destination, unless there was something to interfere with it in some way. So, while that scene in the Resident Evil movie was sort of cool, it was also absolutely unrealistic. They never would have seen the lasers coming. The only hints they would have had were the dots they made on the walls.
That meant that Nate had been forced to create something that would make the lasers visible. Otherwise, the lasers would be too effective and well, he supposed that was fine, but it would lose some of the sportingness to it all.
Nate wasn¡¯t trying to massacre them, or rather, he was, but he was trying to give them a chance of survival at the same time. It was complicated. Perhaps in the future that would all change, but for now, at least this is how he wanted to do things.
He was still interested in learning about the inhabitants of the other worlds and watching them. Fighting them, training against them.
He wasn¡¯t delusional; all it would take to change his mind was losing someone close to him to an attack. Or something else of that nature. It was almost a certainty that it would happen at some point, given the state of the world. It might even be why he was so interested in learning from them while he could. Because he knew that interest likely wouldn¡¯t last.
Regardless, each room of the dungeon had some form of visual indicator they could use. Wisps of smoke rising up from the floor, or fog that fell from the ceiling. There was always something there that they could use to see the lasers. They simply had to understand what it was all for first.
He wasn¡¯t going to hold their hand on everything.
Sure, they might lose a few people before they learned each time, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He was nice like that.
In the room, the ten blighted elves were twitching as their heads swiveled from one spot to the next. Each area they focused on was where the laser line was showing through particularly well.
One of the elves took the lead, drawing his needle-thin sword, and waved it through one of the blue laser beams. The top of the stabbing sword separated from the half he was holding without the slightest hint of resistance. There was no telltale wisp of burning smoke or heated metal, nothing. It was simply cut in an instant.
Behind him, the other elves jumped back in shocked surprise.
Unfortunately, not all of them were as far inside the room as they should have been. One elf in particular had been staying consistently at the back of the group.
Nate watched in horrified fascination as that particular elf jumped back in fright. The leap carried them back into the door and through the lasers they obviously hadn¡¯t realized were behind them.
The sound of wet, diced chunks of meat falling to the ground behind them fixed that problem for them.
Turning around, they quickly spotted the diced, blood-soaked remains of their companion before the dungeon absorbed the pieces.
He felt his brows rising toward the ceiling at how well the lasers had performed. He had always thought they would be powerful, but he hadn¡¯t realized it would be to this degree. These blighted elves were still cultivators, even if they were a fairly low realm. Getting hit by a laser was instant death for them.
Nate smiled and flicked his eyes to the resources counter in the corner. The smile promptly fled from his face as a feeling of panic came over him instead.
At that moment, there were fourteen elves inside the second dungeon that he was getting energy from. Then there was also everyone from the first dungeon. However, even with all of that, his energy was still slowly going down.
It might have been because he hadn¡¯t yet had the Dungeon Core research anything, or because the lasers were using blue light which required more energy. It was both likely.
At the moment, all it meant was that he quickly needed to disable most of the laser traps he had put into the dungeon. Later, he could switch out the diodes for red instead of blue, which would use less energy.
He would also need to focus on other traps. It had been a possibility; it was why he had made sure to include plenty of other traps when he made the dungeon. He just hadn¡¯t realized it would be this bad.
Chapter 88
Nate shut down the extraneous traps and went back to monitoring the group of elves. Since it didn¡¯t count as modifying the traps, he didn¡¯t have to worry about shutting down the entire dungeon.
Unfortunately, simply disabling the traps that weren¡¯t even being used at the moment had no effect on the prodigious energy drain. The only solution for that was getting rid of the blighted elves in the two trap rooms.
He would simply have to put up with the energy loss until then.
Nate kept watching the elves as they freaked out about their companion. The first death had really made them panic. He saw everything with a sort of detached attitude that surprised even him. He had always known he could be a little cold and uncaring to people who weren¡¯t part of his personal bubble.
Still, this one was a tad new for him. Just like with the beasts from the first dungeon, he didn¡¯t see them as anything more than enemies. It didn¡¯t matter that they were humanoid in appearance or that they could speak and had intelligence. Aura had already proven that both of those things could be true for the beasts as well.
Besides, the dungeons had taken out cultivators a few times, and he hadn¡¯t cared about them either. Sometimes, people were no better than trash and didn¡¯t deserve to be treated any better either.
Nate was a very firm proponent of the golden rule. Treat others as you wish to be treated. If you want to be treated like crap, then treat others that way. Personally, he only really cared for a select few people. However, that didn¡¯t mean he treated others badly. He simply ignored them unless they did something against him or went against his bottom line.
Pushing those thoughts to the side for the moment, he switched cameras to the group Aura was monitoring.
They had made their way into a trapped room as well by that point and were contending with two different traps. The two combined had caused them to pause and halt entirely. The first was a gravity room. It was currently set to increase everything by three times. It could be an excellent training resource if you were a certain spiky-haired orange-Gi-wearing meathead. To everyone else, it was enough to send them crawling to the ground in desperation.
The enhanced gravity was only the first of the traps in the room. The second was the railgun. Once everyone was on the ground, and barely moving, the railgun could take its sweet time charging and aiming for each shot. The electro-magnetically charged shots fired small metal disks, and each shot shook the room.
Self-cauterized holes could be seen in each of the blighted elves, and he made a note to turn down the power on the railgun.
The trap was effective, but it was another energy-sucking room.
It had been somewhat easy to create certain items from his memories for the dungeon. However, the more outlandish they were, the more energy they needed to operate. The cost for the gravity room, for example, was exorbitant. As far as he knew, that had never been done outside of anime and television.
The railgun, on the other hand, while still expensive, had actually been something real. The Navy had several working models of the idea.
The point was that if he stuck with items that had actually existed, it would bring the energy cost down a small amount. However, having the Dungeon Core start researching all the tech items is what would really make the difference.
Aura¡¯s group was quickly wiped out, and he went back to watching his original group.
He was just in time to see one of them dive in between the three lasers. The elf in question was close to making it through cleanly before he clipped the heel of his boot on the beam of light at the last second. A solid chunk of the boot¡¯s heel was sliced off and fell to the ground.
Outside of that one slip-up, the man made it through without a problem. He did thoroughly inspect his foot to make sure that everything was still attached afterward. As soon as he was done with that, the remaining eight members of the group each took their turn, jumping through them as well.
In the end, the trap room that was sucking up his energy reserves like nobody¡¯s business had only managed to eliminate one of the blighted elves. The other trap room, while also expensive energy-wise, had been far more effective, and had even performed quicker.
He made a note of it and kept watching the elves. The first few runs through the new dungeon were more for information gathering than anything else. They were all about learning what did and didn¡¯t work.
In this case, he had learned that the lasers worked great to keep the elves inside the room. However, he would need to rethink everything else.
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In the corridor past the room, the blighted elves were talking again. Their hands were waving about in the air, and it didn¡¯t take a linguistic genius to understand what the looks on their faces were all about. They were frustrated and even a little scared.
They had gone through the portal, expecting to end up in the wilds of Earth, not wherever and in whatever this place was.
Things had changed, and they were trying to come up with a new plan for how to go through the area. The plan they eventually settled on was one that involved sacrificing the person at the front of the group each time. At least, it was more or less a sacrificial position.
That was the person who would be entering the next room first, and they would be doing it by themselves. If they could survive and show the rest of the group who were hanging back how to survive, then great. The more likely option, however, was that they would die after activating whatever trap was in that room. In which case, the rest of the group would at least know what traps were in the room and could come up with a plan.
Nate kept an eye on them for the next few rooms, watching as their numbers steadily dwindled. The plan they had come up with worked. Except there were more rooms inside the dungeon along their path than blighted elves in their group.
He kept making his notes, before switching his attention to the latest group of five that had made an appearance. They were acting differently from the other groups that he had seen up to that point.
Originally, they had chosen to take the same door as Aura¡¯s first group. They had reached the room where that group had died. However, it was at that point that they had stopped. One of the blighted elves had held out their hand toward the room and began talking rapidly to the others.
As soon as they were finished, all five turned around and headed back to the portal room.
From there, they chose the third door, the one that hadn¡¯t been chosen yet by any of the other groups.
The elf who had saved the group before was now in the lead and appeared to be acting as some sort of detector for them. A rather useless endeavor since they were still in the corridor that Nate treated as a safe space, not that they would know that.
Nate kept his eyes on that particular elf as the androgynous figure stopped everyone in front of the new room and tilted their head. He quickly pulled up the specs on the trap that was inside that room and winced.
That was a particularly nasty one if it worked the way he thought it would.
The entire room was a giant speaker and worked on the idea that everything had a specific frequency at which it would deconstruct. The trap would require a lot of power, as it moved through each frequency. The real problem is that it would have to hold the frequency for an undetermined amount of time once it was found. This particular trap was more of a pet project, something that was geared toward the long-term, rather than short-term results.
As long as the noise didn¡¯t mess with their minds too much, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard for the blighted elves to escape.
Still, Nate thought it was interesting that one of the elves seemed to have the ability to detect the dungeon¡¯s trap in some form.
At least, that is what he thought the lead elf was doing. He supposed that it was possible they were doing something else, but it was the likeliest option, he thought.
And if that was indeed the case, then that meant this new world had access to some form of magic. Or at the very least, that their energy skills were far more developed than humanities, not that was hard. It was too early to tell which it could be, or even if he was on the right track. With only one of the blighted elves having shown that particular talent so far, it was hard to say.
All he could do was add it to his notes alongside everything else and keep watching them. Which is exactly what he did.
From another screen, he spotted Aura lounging, undoubtedly watching the same group.
¡°What do you think of them?¡± He sent to her.
¡°The elf in the lead is an interesting one. She seemed to be able to tell that a previous group had died in that room. Yet, when they reached the new room, she could also somewhat detect the trap there.¡± Unlike when he had been on his expedition, despite still being separated from her, he could still hear her just fine. Where back then her message had come across as a text message, now it was like they were on a phone call.
¡°Her?¡± He hadn¡¯t realized the elf was female. ¡°How much of a problem do you think this will cause for us?¡±
¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± He could practically feel her shrug. ¡°The first few groups we saw didn¡¯t have anyone with this ability. It could be rare, or they might have simply been unlucky. I think it is still too soon to say either way, for sure.¡±
They kept talking and comparing notes as they watched the group enter the room and the speaker activate. It gradually worked its way through the different frequencies as they struggled to walk through the room. The level one Dungeon Core was still smart enough to note which ones were important and which ones weren¡¯t.
Some of the frequencies disturbed the inner ear, others made you lose control of your bodily functions. Then there were ones where the fabric was being shaken apart.
Unfortunately, the room never got to work through all of them, so while the blighted elves had all lost a few pieces of clothing by the end, they were all still alive.
Nate would have to wait for the next group to go through before he could learn at what frequency steel and other metals shook apart at. Then there was the ultimate frequency. The one that held bodies together. However, he had noticed that the sound waves had been damaging to the dungeon itself in certain ranges. He had made sure that the Dungeon Core knew not to use those frequencies in the future.
As far as he was concerned, the room was a success. Especially when you looked at how each of the blighted elves looked after they came out of it. Without exception, they all looked as though they had been sick for several weeks. The front of their armor was stained from where they had vomited. Not to mention that each of them was walking funny as their pants had a distinct sag under their rears along with a slow creeping stain.
The room may not have killed any of them, but it had most certainly made an impact on them all.
The group didn¡¯t even dare to sit down and simply leaned against the wall of the open corridor for several minutes.
Nate laughed and cringed at their misfortune before turning his attention to the latest group to have arrived.
Chapter 89
When Nathan woke the next morning, it was to a whole host of notes. There were a lot of changes that he needed to make to the traps in the second dungeon. By the end, there were only a couple that were fine as they were. All the rest needed various changes to drive down their energy costs or to make them more effective.
Unfortunately, he had never gotten a chance to fight any of them. That would need to wait another day or two. He needed to get more work done on the dungeon first before he had the freedom to start exploring the dungeon.
Even then, he would need to be lucky enough that there would be stragglers for him to attack. There was no way he was capable of handling a full five-member group at the moment.
After a shower and another item from the McFadden¡¯s box later found Nate was downstairs and cooking his breakfast. The item from the box hadn¡¯t been an herb this time but was instead a piece of crystalized honey.
The effect of the honey on his backup core was far more pronounced than the other pieces had been. There was a specific order in which they were supposed to be taken, and each one was definitely more powerful than the last. The energy from these was supposed to bring his core to the next level, which they had done right away, primarily thanks to his own efforts. However, that meant that the five items the box had contained had held an enormous amount of energy.
It was little wonder that more people didn¡¯t try to upgrade their cores. These herbs, crystalized honey, and everything else in the box must have been horrendously expensive. And that was just to upgrade his crappy low-quality core. What would everything cost for the next upgrade, or the one after that?
Then there was the consideration that all these items were specialized in that they mainly affected his core. There was very little bleed-through from the energy. His energy stat would go up a little with each dose, but not by much. However, that could be an effect of his backup core instead of the medicine itself, he wasn¡¯t sure.
All he knew was that they were expensive and that he couldn¡¯t count on an opportunity like this coming around more than a couple of times. The McFadden¡¯s had promised to provide the materials needed to upgrade his core a couple of times and that was it. If they discovered how easy it was for him to upgrade his core, they may even renege on that.
However, those were concerns for the future. At the moment, he had other more pressing concerns, such as school, his meditation arts, and his upcoming second expedition.
At least his parents were supposed to be back later that afternoon. That was good considering he still needed bolts for his crossbow and his new kukris. Not to mention that the house just felt rather empty without them. He had been alone for too many years before coming to this world, and despite the months that had passed, he still enjoyed having his parents around.
He really didn¡¯t like the darkness or being alone. Thankfully, Aura had helped keep the loneliness at bay, or at least she had, after she had stopped punishing herself.
He was just putting the dishes into the sink when Angie¡¯s car pulled up in front of the house.
In the car, he found the girls looking over a weapon listing on Angie¡¯s tablet. Peaking over her shoulder, he saw that it was for a sling, well, the rich person''s version of the sling. The materials it was made of were absolutely ridiculous for someone¡¯s first official weapon. One thing was for sure though, it was certainly nice looking, and no one could say that it was a peasant¡¯s weapon.
¡°I take it you got your parents on board with the idea of using a sling?¡± He said as he took his seat.
Angie nodded with a sigh. ¡°After I made the same argument that the both of you had with me, they came around. However, they are insisting on it being some half-garish monstrosity like this.¡±
¡°Huh, the rich have weird tastes. I can¡¯t imagine using something that expensive and needlessly ugly in a fight.¡±
¡°Hey, don¡¯t make me kick you out of the car,¡± Angie protested playfully, her brow arched as she looked over at him.
¡°Of course, your richiness, I apologize, for besmirching the good taste of your opulent parents. Please let me continue to bask in your decadent presence.¡±
¡°Wow,¡± Lindsay began laughing. ¡°That was actually rather impressive for something right off the cuff, like that. We both agree with you though, while it is somewhat nice looking, we¡¯re not convinced it''s even fully functional as a sling anymore.¡±
¡°Get two then. Buy that one, and then a more normal one, just in case.¡±
Angie bit her lower lip and flicked the auction site page back to the main site where she began a new search. By the time they had arrived at the school, she had a much more normal and far cheaper sling pulled up.
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To Nate¡¯s eyes, it looked the same as the one Anna had showed him at the store in town. However, he couldn¡¯t exactly mention that one to her, as that would mean outing Anna¡¯s involvement in the matter. The trainer might be more than a little sadistic, but she seemed to want what was best for Angie. So there was no way he was going to betray her like that.
Mira was waiting for them when they reached the orientation classroom. Her pressed pants and stylish blouse went well together, and as always, had been tailored for her. They didn¡¯t look high enough quality to be purely bespoke clothes, but that could also just simply be a simple choice. Either way, it was clear that she either came from or had earned a lot of money.
She waited for them to take their seats before handing each of them a pamphlet. ¡°During the last few days, we have been covering the basics of, well, everything, in more detail than they have in your other classes. In two days, you will embark on your second expedition.
¡°One of the benefits that this school provides to all students who create their cores while enrolled is two free energy skills. One for attack and one for support. Now, just to remind you three, each cultivator can only ever have seven skills at a time. However, don¡¯t forget that you can remove skills from your core whenever you want. You will simply lose the progress you had made in that skill forever. Even if you later choose to bring it back, you will still be starting from the beginning.¡±
Nate nodded along with what she was saying. That limit didn¡¯t apply to him thanks to his backup core, but he wouldn¡¯t be telling the average person about that particular detail. Regardless, the average cultivator could have three attack skills and four support skills.
Each of the energy skills was designed to be upgraded along with the cultivator according to their insights and needs. So, while you could buy a more powerful version of the skills, it generally wasn¡¯t regarded as the smart move.
¡°On that pamphlet, you will find a list of the energy skills the school offers. I would suggest that you take your time and go through it carefully. These skills are meant to help you with your expeditions and your future cultivation efforts. The benefits behind some of them are not as readily apparent as you might imagine.¡±
She was staring directly at Nate, when she said that, as though offering him a hint.
The girls raised their brows and opened the pamphlets before them. After the name of each skill, it was noted whether it was a support skill or an attack skill, and then there was a small description of what it did. That was it.
It was not exactly the best-formatted list any of them had ever seen, nor was it something that was designed to be informative.
Lindsay raised her hand. ¡°Where is all the information, Miss Moorish?¡± She asked after the teacher had nodded at her. ¡°There is almost nothing here.¡±
¡°For whatever reason, that is all the information that the school has decided you need to make an informed decision.¡± She sighed. ¡°That said, if you find one you are interested in, make sure to ask me about it before making your final decision. The descriptions are accurate; however, they do not always tell you everything about the skills.¡±
The pamphlet contained an even split between attack and support skills. The issue they each faced was whittling down the list of well over two hundred items to just two in the next few minutes. They couldn¡¯t spend too much time choosing, or Miss Moorish wouldn¡¯t have time to go get the skills for them. It was doubtful that they would be able to bring the skills home either, which meant that this class was the only time they had to learn them.
Well, this one, and the one they would have the next day on Friday.
Still, it was a schedule that didn¡¯t leave them with a lot of time to dither over everything. They had to go with their gut instincts and trust that they hadn¡¯t screwed up.
Nate was tempted by several different support skills. ¡®Basic Examine¡¯ was one that was almost always recommended to have. However, he had discovered that everything was naturally identified when it was put into the storage of his wrist computer. That was only part of the function of the overall examine skillset and not even the basic one at that, yet it was enough to keep him from taking it for now.
He needed something that would be more immediately useful.
The same went for ¡®Basic Flight¡¯. The skill sounded nice, but it took forever to train.
No, what he needed was something that could help his parents, Aura, his friends, and himself. With that in mind, Nate selected the ¡®Basic Healing¡¯ skill.
With that decided, he moved on to looking through the attack skills. Preferably, he wanted to find something that he could use with either his kukris or the crossbow. Barring that, he wanted a skill with the potential to grow towards working with both of them, and any other weapons he might use in the future.
There were just so many options. Blasts of qi, blades of qi, extensions, waves, ripples, whips, attached, non-attached, line of sight, timer-based mines, proximity mines.
It had only been around a hundred or so years since dimensional zones began appearing and people started cultivating. Yet there were already so many different skills. It was a testament to humanities¡¯ creative ingenuity and their warlike nature all at once.
Pushing the list away in frustration, Nate held up his hand. ¡°Is there an attack skill that would work with dual blades as well as a crossbow? Or something that would work with one of those and have the potential to grow towards working with them both or other weapons if I later decide to change?¡±
Mira Moorish leaned against her desk in thought for a minute. ¡°I can think of a couple that would work decently well, but not great with both of them. There are also a couple that work great with just one but have the potential for growth. Which would you prefer?¡±
Mediocrity or potential for greatness at the cost of time.
Nate smiled. ¡°The second one, obviously. I will always choose potential.¡±
She nodded with a grin of her own. ¡°Perfect, just what I was hoping to hear. In that case, I think I have just the attack skill for you. Angie, Lindsay, are you ready to choose as well?¡±
In the end, they accepted the teacher¡¯s help in selecting the best skill to fit with both of their weapons as well.
¡°That was so much more stressful than I thought it would be,¡± Lindsay complained, stretched out across her desk a few minutes later. Miss Moorish had just left to fetch all their energy skills.
Angie and Nate grunted in agreement, both similarly collapsed atop their desks, just waiting for their teacher to return.
Chapter 90
When Mira returned, she had seven small books clasped tightly in her hands. She placed two of them in front of Angie, another two in front of Lindsay, and then brought the remaining three to Nate.
She handed him the two he had been expecting and then held up the third book. ¡°I told you to go through the list carefully, that the benefits behind some of them weren¡¯t as readily apparent as you might think. Brick Jones is the one who brought the potential of this particular energy skill to my attention.¡±
Nate had thought she was trying to give him a hint earlier, but he hadn¡¯t seen any skills that would help him in that way. Then again, that maybe should have been a clue that he needed to ask her for her help on the matter, like she obviously intended.
She glanced over at the girls before handing the third book over to Nate. ¡°Keep this quiet. Remember, each of you only gets two skills. However, Brick is certain that this skill will help Nate with his current project.¡±
Taking the thin book from her hands, he carefully read the title embossed on the front. ¡®Basic Ties¡¯. He grabbed the pamphlet and scanned the list for the entry on the support skill. Once he found it, he read the description once, and then two more times before looking up at the teacher in confusion.
¡°I don¡¯t understand. The description says that it reveals the ties that bind. That¡¯s all. I don¡¯t see how that would be useful to me.¡±
Mira went back to her desk, and only after making sure that both girls were paying attention as well, answered his question. ¡°That is a very good question and leads into something that you three need to keep in mind whenever you come across an energy skill in the future. How will the skill change and develop as ¡®I¡¯ use it?
¡°Not all skills change in ways you might expect. Take this particular skill, for example. Its primary use historically has been for monitoring companion bonds, merchant oaths, and things of that nature. However, that is only if you keep it pure in regards to its original purpose.¡±
She ran a hand through her hair before she continued. ¡°While I did learn about this from Mister Jones, I did confirm it through my own sources, so the information is good and does not apply solely to this skill, regardless. If you grow and change the skill, the ties that it reveals will be between your affinities or meditation arts instead.¡±
¡°That would be very helpful indeed,¡± Nate admitted. ¡°Though, what about afterward? It would no longer be useful after that. It¡¯s a lot of work to only throw it away right afterward.¡±
She shrugged. ¡°Remove the skill, or perhaps try to change and evolve it again, so it stays useful.¡±
¡°How exactly would he go about changing and evolving it that much?¡± Angie asked.
¡°By using it and his desires for the ability while doing so. It is the same method for all energy skills, in fact. However, you need to keep in mind that there are limits to how much each skill can change. An attack skill is not going to suddenly become a healing skill, in other words.
¡°That is why it is so important to find skills that work within the framework of what you are trying to do. We have a certain amount of freedom with the skills, but we need to use it wisely. Each skill takes a lot of time to upgrade and change.¡±
She glanced up at the clock above the door at the back of the room. ¡°Alright, you need to start reading these quickly. Unlike your meditation arts, you are not allowed to take pictures of these. The actual skill is in the first chapter of each book. Once you memorize the skill, you can try to absorb and press it into your core. Just make sure you have truly memorized it first. All of the information in the book after that pertains to the skills usage and tips in changing and evolving it in various ways.¡±
With that, she moved behind her desk and sat down to do some work on her laptop. While she did that, they commenced reading through the first chapters of their chosen energy skills, again and again. Making sure they were thoroughly memorized.
Mira hadn¡¯t mentioned why it was important to have it so ingrained, but it wasn¡¯t hard to imagine the consequences of embedding an energy skill wrong.
Thankfully, their orientation class was a three-period class for the first two weeks they would be in it. They were still in the first week, and only halfway through the first period, so they had plenty of time.
It took Nate twenty minutes to memorize the information for the healing skill. With the armband of basic health he always wore, and the sessions with George fixing his meridians and broken body, he was already intimately familiar with how the skill worked.
Raising his hand, he waited until Mira looked up before speaking. ¡°I¡¯ve memorized my first one. How do I go about absorbing the information and pressing it into my core?¡±
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¡°Make sure you have it truly memorized, because what you are going to do next is very easy to screw up on.¡±
¡°I do,¡± He replied confidently. ¡°I¡¯m already rather familiar with the healing skill.¡±
Understanding came into her eyes when he mentioned which skill it was. ¡°Alright then, what you need to do is envision each word being written onto your core using your qi. Once you have finished writing all of it you need to press it into place and your core will then absorb the skill into whichever available slot you wrote it on.¡±
¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that I could potentially create my own skill then, if those are the steps?¡± Nate asked her.
¡°There is a certain amount of understanding needed for its initial creation. However, if you believe that you can create a skill, certainly give it a try.¡± She told him with a grin.
¡°I take it everyone thinks that when they are told the process?¡± Angie wondered with a smile of her own.
The teacher nodded in good humor. ¡°The first thing everyone thinks when they learn the process is, ¡®oh, I can do that myself. Ultimate skill, here I come.¡¯ Trust me, I was no different when I was in your position, but there really is more to the initial skill¡¯s creation process than that. Some sort of unseen legacy exists that gets carried over and helps us learn them.¡±
They talked about the specifics for another couple of minutes before Nate decided it was time to write the skill onto his core.
He carefully followed each step of her instructions and focused inwards. Slowly, the passages of the basic healing skill began to appear on one face of his core. For now, he was keeping everything on his main core. He could see about transferring them later -if that was even possible- to his backup core. Right now, he just didn¡¯t want to do anything out of the ordinary.
Maintaining his focus throughout the entire process was the hardest part of inscribing the skill. It was fine, detailed work using his qi in such a manner.
Writing the skill took several minutes, but once he was finished, the rest was nearly effortless.
A simple mental push was all it took to finish the job. The words flashed in his mind¡¯s eye and began to compress onto the facet of his core. Within moments, the words had vanished entirely and been replaced by a runic symbol he had never seen before, and yet was intimately familiar with. The symbol represented everything that he currently knew about the skill and would change with him.
The runic symbol itself belonged to no human language that he had ever seen before. For all he knew, each symbol might be entirely original for each person.
Opening his eyes, he saw that had taken fifteen minutes for him to write and absorb the basic healing skill. It had been a tiring experience, but there were still two more that he needed to do that day.
Setting the first book to the side, he grabbed the one Mira had given him at Brick¡¯s request. He would leave his attack skill for last. This support skill had more utility toward helping him in overcoming the current issues he was facing. It would still be hard, he was aware of that, but getting started was almost always the hardest step.
This one was going to take him a little while longer to memorize and understand. He didn¡¯t have the prior experience with it that he had with the healing skill.
While he was working on that, Angie and Lindsay both began working on inscribing and absorbing their first skills. The two discovered how much work and focus it required to finish doing just one skill. Immediately after, they started on the second one alongside Nate.
By the time the class had ended, they had finished absorbing both skills. Nate barely managed to finish getting his attack skill inscribed in time. In actuality, the bell rang just seconds after he finished putting the skill in place. He had just barely made it in time, not that he would have stopped at that point in any case.
Regardless, his head possessed a dull throbbing ache to it that spiked with every step as they headed off to lunch. The bracelet of basic health was helping, but it would still take a few minutes for his headache to go away. He had really pushed himself to get all three skills memorized and absorbed in one sitting.
¡°Ugh, remind me not to do that again,¡± He complained after they had gotten their food and sat down at an empty table. ¡°Doing three skills in one go like that really takes a lot out of you.¡±
Lindsay raised a brow as she took a sip of her chocolate milk. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you were even able to, honestly. The amount of qi each word requires as its being written, and then when it''s being absorbed. No offense, but with your current core, I wouldn¡¯t have thought you would even have enough qi to do three skills in a row.¡±
This time, it was Nate¡¯s turn to raise a brow in surprise. ¡°What are you talking about? I mean, sure, each of them required a fair bit of qi to do, but I still have enough left over that I could safely manage one, maybe even two more.¡±
Angie threw a cherry tomato from her salad at him. ¡°Don¡¯t lie. Doing those two took most of what I had. I have no idea how you managed to do three. I¡¯m with Linds on this one, in that I wouldn¡¯t have thought your core would have enough qi for it.¡±
Nate popped the tomato into his mouth and ate it, using the moment to think. He hadn¡¯t been lying. He really did still have that much energy left. The only explanation he could think of was because of his backup core. However, that was not something he was willing to talk about in the cafeteria. Besides, George and his parents had told him to keep that secret to himself.
Which he intended to do. It was sad that he couldn¡¯t tell the girls everything, but that was simply life, it seemed.
He shrugged as he swallowed the salad projectile. ¡°Maybe you just used more qi to create the skills than I did. I don¡¯t think each skill requires the same amount of energy. They are each a different length, with a varying number of words. I imagine that has an impact on the overall cost.¡±
The table was quiet for a few seconds while they thought over what he had said.
¡°Hey, have you noticed that no one has come over to talk to us this week?¡± Lindsay asked the others. ¡°Normally, we are always getting bothered by annoying guys during lunchtime. It didn¡¯t even get better when Nate started eating with us, and yet, suddenly, no one is approaching us. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I¡¯m fine with the peace. I just want to know what changed.¡±
¡°You got your cores?¡± Nate offered.
¡°Possible, but no, I don¡¯t think that is it. There are plenty of kids here who could create their core at any time if they wanted. They would simply be of a lower quality as a result. The divide shouldn¡¯t be large enough that they would all simply stop talking to us,¡± Angie analyzed.
Chapter 91
Nate had spent the next period completing all his various homework assignments. This was the Tuesday and Thursday after-lunch period class that he shared with Angie and Lindsay. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t make the class any more interesting that day.
His head was still throbbing lightly from earlier, but the main issue was that the material was boring. The teacher was generally pretty good, but this time, the class was an absolute bore.
By the time the class had ended, and they were headed for Brick Jones¡¯ class, Nate felt like taking a nap. All of his energy had been sapped out of him, and he was yawning almost constantly.
¡°Come on, it wasn¡¯t that bad,¡± Lindsay protested as she pulled him along.
¡°It was pretty bad,¡± Angie muttered, rubbing at her eyes. She had actually fallen asleep halfway through and Lindsay¡¯s shoulder had a slight drool mark to prove it.
¡°Well, I managed to stay awake,¡± Lindsay pouted.
¡°Fine, how about next time I provide the shoulder for sleeping beauty over there?¡±
Angie blushed as both girls turned to stare at him.
It took Nate a second to understand what the problem was. There was no Disney in this world, or if there was, it had never taken off to the same degree due to the portals. As a result, his reference had been taken literally.
He spent the rest of their walk to class explaining the original Brothers Grimm version of the story to the girls.
Nate knew he couldn¡¯t just carelessly mention things that they wouldn¡¯t understand. That one had just slipped out by accident.
Mister Jones was waiting for them when they walked into his class. ¡°Alright, shall we jump right into things? Nate, Miss Moorish, informed me that you had learned basic ties earlier in her class. The skill is pretty much useless for your purposes at the moment; however, I do have some instructions for you here. They¡¯re not much, but they should hopefully help guide you toward the proper evolution of the skill.¡±
He handed the paper to Nate and turned his attention to everyone. ¡°Now, who has questions about their meditation arts?¡±
***
¡°Why do you think they did it?¡± Lindsay asked after school had let out and they were ensconced in the car and on the way to Nate¡¯s house.
¡°Hmm? Did what?¡± Nate and Angie asked at the same time.
¡°Why did they risk giving Nate a third skill? I mean, I¡¯m fine with it, don¡¯t get me wrong, especially if it works out like they hope it will. I can¡¯t see Nate not using it to help us find our other affinities like we had asked a few days ago. Back before we fully understood how complicated the process truly was.¡± She raised a hand to her head and re-centered herself. ¡°I just don¡¯t understand why they would have risked themselves like that.¡±
¡°Well, Brick is easy to understand,¡± Nate began. ¡°The man is a fanatic for all things meditation art-related. This skill will help me combine two of them and create a truly personalized one. The thought of being involved in something like that is probably like catnip to a man like him. Plus, I assume he imagines that he will benefit from whatever I learn in some fashion, and he isn¡¯t wrong. I wouldn¡¯t mind revealing what I had learned to him.¡±
¡°What about Mira though?¡± Angie wondered. ¡°Why would she risk it?¡±
He shrugged. ¡°Maybe she¡¯s dating Brick?¡± He said doubtfully.
Both girls kept their faces straight for a second before they started laughing at the sheer absurdity of the thought.
¡°He¡¯s like forty-five and she¡¯s maybe twenty-five, no, just no, eww,¡± Angie especially seemed disturbed by the thought. ¡°Old people date old people, that¡¯s the rule. He¡¯s like our parents¡¯ age.¡± She shivered and mock vomited.
¡°While I mostly agree with what she said, that doesn¡¯t help explain why she helped him, or you. I suppose she could just be one of those teachers who likes to see her students succeed¡ She is young enough that it¡¯s possible she hasn¡¯t been completely corrupted by society yet. I would rate the chances of that being a possibility though as slim. She doesn¡¯t seem like the idealistic type.¡± Lindsay gave them her opinion.
¡°Or maybe we have it all wrong,¡± Nate said after a moment. ¡°It could be that the school only officially gives two energy skills to the students, but that the teachers can give them one more or something. Who knows, maybe there was never a risk to them to begin with.¡±
¡°I can see that being a possibility,¡± Angie agreed. ¡°With how expensive this school is, I would have expected a full complement of skills, honestly.¡±
¡°I still expect that to happen,¡± Lindsay muttered. ¡°I think they¡¯re just spreading things out. Let¡¯s face it, after we finish our orientation class, get our skills, and finish our meditation arts, we could pretty much graduate. They need something to incentivize us to keep going to school beyond just the first few weeks after we get our cores.¡±
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That was a perspective that Nate hadn¡¯t thought of before that moment, but it certainly made sense to him. The school they were in catered to cultivators, not people who were expecting to go to college or some other form of trade institution.
It wouldn¡¯t be odd for them to simply and somewhat abruptly graduate at this point.
It wasn¡¯t something that Nate had even considered, and he didn¡¯t think either of them had either. However, the option was there now. The school needed to find a way to keep the students involved so that the sweet tuition money kept rolling in.
¡°Have either of you thought about graduating early?¡± He asked.
They both shook their heads.
¡°I had honestly forgotten that it was even an option until she mentioned it just now,¡± Angie said. ¡°I see no reason not to get everything that we can out of the school. I think we will probably still end up graduating at least a little early, just not a lot. Our parents will want us to stay in school for as long as possible as well, I think. It keeps us safe. After we graduate, we will become registered as full-blown cultivators with all the responsibilities that entails.¡±
With that, the topic was more or less finished and they moved on to something more interesting. Talking about their upcoming weekend expedition.
Unlike the week before, Angie and Lindsay wouldn¡¯t be coming with Nate and his parents this time. They would be going with the company that their parents had originally paid to guard them. Unsurprisingly, they were not looking forward to it nearly as much as they had the week before.
When they reached Nate¡¯s house, his parents¡¯ car was in the driveway and the garage door was open. The floor of the garage was littered with dirty equipment and gear that hadn¡¯t been put in the wash yet. It didn¡¯t look like they had been home for longer than a few minutes.
¡°I¡¯ll see you both in the morning. I should probably help my parents take care of all that and make sure they are alright,¡± Nate told them as soon as the car stopped in front of his house.
Inside, he found his parents taking apart their bags and going through their supplies.
¡°How did the expedition go?¡± He asked as the door closed behind him.
His parents were covered in dirt and looked absolutely exhausted.
¡°It was a nightmare,¡± His dad said tiredly after a moment.
Nina nodded her head from her place on the floor amidst the bags they were going through. ¡°We had cultivators from other cities appearing and mucking everything up. Apparently, news of the structure surrounding the portal in our dimensional zone has begun making the rounds. Not to mention the tall tales from the few cultivators that have come back from going inside it.¡±
Niall took up the story when she paused. ¡°When we got out there on Tuesday, everything was fine. We managed to get a few beasts early on, and it was looking like it would be a good trip. All of Tuesday was actually pretty good. Yesterday and this morning though¡ The first of the outsider cultivators showed up sometime early morning on Wednesday. At least that is when we ran into them.¡±
His wife tossed him one of his dirty shirts that had somehow ended up in her bag as he continued. ¡°They didn¡¯t care that we were out on an expedition or that they were inconveniencing anyone. They all wanted the same thing, and they wanted it right at that moment. Directions to the structure. We got into more than one fight with them, and when we got to the processing facility, we heard there were dozens of others who had as well. It didn¡¯t sound like anyone died. They were more like vigorous scuffles than duels, but still, it was not something we were expecting at all.¡±
Nate took a second to process and absorb everything they had just said. This was not something he had been expecting to happen, not at all. As silly as it sounds, especially considering how aware he was of humanity¡¯s greed, he hadn¡¯t expected cultivators to come from other cities. At least not in swarms.
A few here and there. Yes, he had foreseen that, but not a mob.
He was going to have to redo the traps in the first dungeon to deal with these troublesome cultivators. He didn¡¯t like the way that they had acted and disturbed the locals who just so happened to include his parents. The thought of adding more signs to the outside of the dungeon crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. Using those had been a risk, doing it again would potentially tell people that the creator was connected to the locals in some way.
It wasn¡¯t worth it. He would simply increase the difficulty of the traps and leave their fates in their own hands. He hadn¡¯t wanted to originally meddle with the traps that went against the cultivators, but that was before this new group.
¡°Well, you both look like you didn¡¯t sleep the entire time you were gone. How about I clean up everything in the garage while you finish up in here? Then you can tell me more when I come back inside?¡± Nate offered, noticing how they were both dragging with every movement they made.
He would have told them to go straight to bed if he had thought they would have done it. Putting everything away and cleaning the equipment came first, then sleep. That was the rule.
They tiredly waved him away, wordlessly agreeing to his suggestion.
Outside in the garage, Nate began going through all the equipment that had been left scattered across the concrete floor. It took him a few minutes to separate everything and throw the first load into the wash. Once that was going, he pulled out the hose and quickly sprayed down the items that his parents had missed before.
Their weapons would need a more thorough cleaning later, but at least now they weren¡¯t covered in blood and gore.
The amount of new wear, along with all the new dings he found scattered across their equipment, told a story of struggle. His parents had clearly not told him everything that had gone on out there. It had been a much more difficult expedition than they had said.
Finishing up out in the garage, he lowered the main door almost to the ground, leaving a small gap for airflow. The floor was wet from him washing off everything, so he wouldn¡¯t close it all the way until it had fully dried.
Inside the house, he found his parents passed out on the floor of the living room. Judging from their positions, they had fallen asleep shortly after he had gone outside.
Shaking his head in amusement, and feeling glad that they were alright, he headed up to his room. He would let them rest for now, while he worked on the traps in the first dungeon. They would wake up when he started making dinner if they weren¡¯t already up before then.
Hopping onto his bed, he pulled up the dungeon interface and set about his work.
Chapter 92
It only took a moment for Nate to have all the usual screens pulled up that he used to monitor the dungeons. What he found as soon as they were all up and running was a veritable swarm of cultivators inside the dungeon.
They were in the process of tearing through his dungeon. The first of the treasure chests had already been found, and it appeared to have only made them more eager.
Checking over the cultivators in the lead, he could see plenty of wounds from where they had simply barreled through traps. There were a couple who were being carried along as well due to more intense injuries. There was no way for him to check to see if anyone in the group had died already.
Dismissing them from his mind for the moment, Nate skipped a few rooms ahead and began examining the traps there. He didn¡¯t want to change the theme of the dungeon and start using technology all of a sudden. It might just be him being stubborn, but it felt wrong to change the theme like that.
What he needed was something that remained on theme but was either stronger -which was getting hard to do with his knowledge- or he created unexpected traps. Against thinking individuals, the unexpected was generally the most deadly. They were prepared for the regular traps by this point, their minds and reflexes were slowly being trained by them.
All he needed to do was shake things up. Not a lot, and not very often, but enough to ensure that it was effective.
The Dungeon Core would need to take over the duty of upgrading the traps and making them stronger. It might be time to start looking into upgrading it to Level 3. That could wait until later though. For now, he had something else to worry about.
The modification he was thinking about doing was akin to a crossbow above the doorway with an explosive-tipped arrow. There would be two of them set to aim and fire at the head of a random person as they walked into the room. It could be the first person who walked in or the tenth. There would be no telling.
They would be completely hidden and firing from just a couple of feet above the person¡¯s head. There would be no time to react unless that was their cultivation specialized in. Even then, they should still get damaged by the explosions from the dual crossbow bolts hitting the ground.
There was more he could and would do, but Nate wanted to see how they reacted to this little treat first.
While he waited for the cultivators to arrive at the room, he began to put traps around the next treasure chest. Nothing too crazy, but when the chest was opened, a giant saw blade would shoot out from the wall and catch any of the person¡¯s companions that were right behind them. He had seen that particular trap in a few movies before and wanted to see if it had any chance of actually working.
By the time he was finished playing with that, the first of the cultivators was about to enter the room. If he watched carefully, he could see the pressure tighten around the trigger assembly with every person who entered.
It was on the fourth person that the trap activated.
In an instant, the cultivator¡¯s head was vaporized in a cloud of red mist that was quickly overtaken by the actual explosion caused by the crossbow bolts. Without the need to worry about having a person draw the crossbow, he had been free to make it as powerful as he knew how. Which, in this case, thanks to his own crossbow, was apparently far more powerful than he would have thought. The explosives tips were more of an afterthought by the time they activated.
The explosions did throw a few of them back, several of which had been carrying others on their back. The resulting impacts against the hard walls and floor dealt even more damage to the group, which was nice. It just hadn¡¯t been the main form of attack as he had originally imagined it would be.
Above the doorway, the trap reset, and he could tell by the pressure on the assembly that the wait would be longer this time.
At least it would have been, originally.
With how fast the attack had been, no one seemed to know where it came from and instead began rushing around, looking after each other. Every time one of them stepped out of the room and then back in, the crossbows came a little closer to firing a second time.
The power of the trap had been exceptional, but the confusion it caused, at least this first time, was beyond his expectations.
It did give him an idea of what he could do for the other traps in the dungeon. He had never really tried to improve the throwing mechanism that flung the spears. He had also mainly left the bows in the arrow traps alone, concentrating instead on the arrows. The wrist computer itself had modified the bows at least once, but he hadn¡¯t done anything with them that he could remember.
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It was time to change that glaring oversight. This was clearly an area where his real-world experience could make a huge amount of difference in how they operated.
It was something to think about for later. Right now, he wanted to see how they reacted to the trap activating a second time.
Another person passed through the doorway, and their head vanished from their shoulders. The explosion followed a beat later, atomizing most of the body and flinging the sole other person that had been too close into the wall.
The resulting panic was much less pronounced this time around due to the limited casualties. It had proven itself effective as a trap, and that was enough for Nate. Turning his attention away from the invading cultivators, he instead began working on upgrading the bows behind the arrow traps and the throwing mechanism for the spears.
When he looked over the original spear traps, he became especially ashamed of those. They were using a bent leaf spring to fling the spear out of the hole. It had been modeled after the old trap he remembered seeing on TV that used a thin bent tree to provide the springing force.
Really, it was no wonder that they weren¡¯t doing better. The same mechanism was used for the spears or spikes that shot out of the floor and impaled everyone but didn¡¯t actually fly out from the opening. Those had been working a little better, but the power and speed with which they deployed had been lacking as well.
Now he had an idea of how to fix them all at once.
In one fell swoop, he removed the old mechanism and replaced it with a ballista-style spear launcher. It took some fiddling to get it to fit properly underneath the floor, but he was able to, after only a few minutes of trying.
Deciding that those were enough for the moment, Nate shut everything down and headed for the stairs to start on dinner.
Peeking into the living room, he spotted his parents still passed out in the same positions as where he had last seen them. At some point, they had moved closer together, and his dad¡¯s arm was now wrapped around his mother. Other than that, one small but nice-to-see change. They hadn¡¯t moved at all during the time he had been upstairs.
Opening the freezer, Nate pulled out two of the frozen pizzas he was supposed to have been eating while they were gone. He had chosen to cook himself one the first night, but the second night, he had made a proper meal for George and himself.
After popping those both in the oven and setting some extra time on the timer to account for it warming up, he sat down at the table. He needed to figure out a decent method to use basic ties. Something that would get it to the point where it could evolve and become properly useful. Whether that was constantly using it on everything he saw, including at night inside the dungeon, or something else. He needed to come up with a plan for its use.
The first part of that involved him actually beginning to use it. After learning the three skills earlier, there hadn¡¯t been a chance to try any of them out. He knew how to use them. That wasn¡¯t an issue. There simply hadn¡¯t been time during school.
With a thought, he activated the energy skill and felt something change at the back of his eyes.
Looking around the room, he didn¡¯t see anything obvious. There were nothing obvious that jumped out to him. However, nothing in the room was using any qi either. This was more of a skill that he would need to practice with people around or while out on an expedition in the wilds where there was plenty of qi in the environment. That meant using it at night while inside the dungeon would be an effective training method as well.
As that thought came to mind, his eyes drifted to the strange ephemeral computer strapped to his wrist. No one else had ever noticed its presence, and it didn¡¯t interfere with his clothes either. Only his hands seemed to be able to interact with it in any way.
When the skill behind his eyes touched on the wrist computer, it went crazy and began absorbing a large amount of his qi. It continued to gulp down his qi until he forced his eyes away and shut down the skill.
¡°Okay¡ I am not doing that again.¡± He panted, more than a little freaked out at what had just happened. He could feel that the skill had made a lot of progress, but the method had felt dangerous. ¡°Keep that in mind, Nate. Don¡¯t look at weird, possibly extra-dimensional things again.¡±
Specifically, that meant not looking at the dungeons from the outside.
It took him a few minutes to calm down, and by then it was time to set the table and wake his parents for dinner.
They were already beginning to stir when he made it into the front room. The smell from the pizzas having made its way into their dreams.
He gave them both the final shake they needed and a minute later; they were all seated around the table.
¡°Thanks for letting us sleep,¡± Nina said in between bites of the cheese pizza. ¡°I don¡¯t think either of us realized just how tired we actually were.¡±
Niall snorted and then coughed as a piece of food went down the wrong tube. ¡°I know I didn¡¯t.¡± He admitted hoarsely after he had finished coughing.
¡°It was fine. It gave me time to finish cleaning up everything in the garage and do some homework. I still need to switch the washer load over to the dryer. I forgot to do that.¡± He shook his head and grabbed another slice. ¡°Are we still on for this weekend¡¯s expedition, or did the appearance of all the new cultivators derail those plans?¡±
¡°No, they¡¯re still on. If anything, that area should be safer than where we were at. I doubt the cultivators we met will come that far inside before turning towards the inner dimensional zone where the structure is.¡± His father answered, drinking some water, and gently rubbing his upper chest.
The table was silent for a minute as they tore into the food.
¡°Whatever happened to your old boss? The one who did that pump and dump thing on you last week. Did they ever catch him?¡±
His parents shared a look that he couldn¡¯t quite discern.
¡°There have been reports of him, but not here. In the next city over. The Chrightons and Travers have been working with the bureau to have him brought back. However, it seems that their requests have been met with some resistance. He has attached himself to a rather strong company over there, and for whatever reason, they are willing to fight for a new member.¡±
Chapter 93
Nate thought over what his parents had told him over dinner as he switched the laundry over to the dryer. Donovan, that was the name of their old boss, had somehow gotten in good with a powerful company the next city over. They were willing to fight to keep him as well, which was making the licensing bureau over there more than a little mad. The company¡¯s permits to go on expeditions had already begun to be revoked, and yet they still refused to hand him over.
That wasn¡¯t a good sign.
No company would normally go against the licensing bureau, let alone for some measly new employee. The licensing bureau was what allowed the companies to operate outside the city walls and then sell their good at the various processing facilities. Without their permits, it was possible to still leave the city, and you could even hunt if you wanted to risk getting in trouble.
What you would not be able to do is sell any of the beasts¡¯ bodies to processing facilities afterward.
Yet, despite knowing all of that already, Donovan¡¯s new company was risking everything for him. Which could only mean that they believed he held the key to some knowledge they needed. What that could be though, he had no idea.
Nate had never met the man and couldn¡¯t say what he was like in any way. Was he smart, tenacious, and capable of picking up on small random details? He had no clue. All he could confidently say was that whatever information he was giving them had nothing to do with him. At least not directly. It might have something to do with the dungeon, but not him specifically.
Pushing those thoughts from his mind, he finished up with the laundry. His parents were waiting for him in the living room when he came out.
¡°Nate, can you sit down for a few minutes and join us?¡± His mom called out. ¡°We want to talk with you about our plans for tomorrow, but also find out how everything went while we were gone.¡±
He grinned and tapped his chest. ¡°I upgraded my core already. It happened pretty quickly with the items from the box that you gave me. It¡¯s a ¡®Bronze Core¡¯ now, still low quality obviously, but it¡¯s a step in the right direction.¡± He had started out as a ¡®Copper Core,¡¯ of low quality. ¡°Other than that, I got my first three energy skills and have just been working on my meditation arts. It was pretty boring here.¡±
They spent a few minutes going over the three skills he had selected or been given before moving on.
¡°Alright, now tomorrow, we plan on picking you up after school,¡± His father began. ¡°For some shopping.¡±
¡°We need to get your new kukris and some bolts for the crossbow, along with any other updated equipment we can afford,¡± Nina said.
¡°That sounds good to me. I take it we¡¯re leaving super early on Saturday again?¡±
His parents nodded.
¡°We have a slightly different location from before in mind, as we want to stay away from other cultivators.¡±
They spent a few more minutes planning everything out for the weekend expedition before calling it a night. His parents were tired and needed their rest, and Nate wanted to get some more work done on the dungeons.
¡°Did you listen to any of that?¡± He asked Aura, deliberately sending a message to her.
It took a minute for her to respond, during which time he changed and prepared for bed.
¡°Nothing caught my attention enough for me to listen this time around. What happened?¡± She returned after he had plopped himself onto his bed. The message appeared in a box of text on his wrist.
He quickly explained to her everything that had gone on with his parents¡¯ expedition and what they had decided.
¡°That does not bode well for either of the dungeons. These are meant to stop the invading forces, not the local cultivators. It might work out fine for the first dungeon since you already have a second floor in place there. However, changing the traps to fit the cultivators more than the blighted elves would be a foolish move.¡±
He felt himself nodding, even though she couldn¡¯t see him. ¡°On that, we can agree. Unless the traps are just completely overpowered, then they don¡¯t work nearly as well against the cultivators. That said, we might actually have less of a problem with them in the second dungeon. The blighted elves are more intelligent than the beasts from the first dungeon¡ no offense. They talk and work together, something that the beasts never did.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I already explained that my race ruled for a reason, and it¡¯s the one you just mentioned. They do gain intelligence later on, but not until the third stage of cultivation at the earliest. Or, as you know them, the eighth, ninth, and tenth realms.¡±
It was something that she had mentioned to him before, but he had forgotten.
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¡°Either way, we need to get rid of those cultivators in the first dungeon if you are going to attempt what we talked about before.¡±
¡°Which dungeon are you going to concentrate on tonight?¡±
He thought for a moment. ¡°The second dungeon still. I¡¯m going to make a couple more adjustments to the traps in the first dungeon first though. I want to create a spot where going past it would cost them too much. After I do that, I¡¯ll start fixing the traps in the second dungeon, and then hop inside. Send me any notes you made on the performance of the traps or the blighted elves, please.¡±
With that conversation completed, he began working on the traps for the first dungeon. He was just going to upgrade the traps in two of the rooms with improved crossbow systems. There was a room with two exits just ahead of the cultivators, leading to a fork in the road. That was why he had to improve two of the rooms.
The power behind the new crossbows was already showing its fangs. A full room of traps built around it would be a bloodbath. The cultivators would be forced to truly work for every step they took forward in either of those rooms.
It just wasn¡¯t something that he thought they would be able to do by that point. Many of them were already injured in some way, with about a fourth being carried. By the time they reached either of those rooms, those numbers would both have gone up some more. Injured people weren¡¯t as careful as they should be, and there would be no way to ferry the injured through.
It would be the end of the line for them.
Besides, they still needed to make it back through the traps to get out.
Deciding that he had done enough against this particular group, Nate turned his attention to the second dungeon. The first thing he did was switch all of the lasers to red diodes, instead of the far more powerful, but also more energy-hungry blue diodes that he had started with. He had swapped a few of them out the night before, but had mostly shut down a lot of the traps instead.
With that completed, he also set the lasers to pulse. Instead of drawing energy constantly for their beams, now they only had to do it when they pulsed. It was still a lot and didn¡¯t make a huge difference, but every little bit helped when you were dealing with such expensive items. It was an easy optimization, nothing more.
As he went through the traps, he made his way through his notes and Aura¡¯s. There were a few easy placement issues that he could solve right then. The main problem seemed to stem from the fact he had been forced to disable most of the traps before. The energy expenditure had been too high to maintain them all.
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The variety of traps wasn¡¯t quite enough, either.
Blighted elves were smart and tended to work together more often than not. They had even figured out a method to send messages sometime during the night. Now there was a large board in the portal room filled with information about the traps.
Aura had wanted to get Nate¡¯s opinion on the matter before she did anything to the board.
He would let it stay in place for now, in the future, he might change his mind. However, being able to see what they thought of each of the traps was valuable information in and of itself. Not that he would be able to read their language, but he was confident that the Dungeon Core would be able to. It just needed to reach level two, and maybe do a specialized research project on the subject was all. One of those, or possibly even both, in the worst-case scenario.
He had never started the Dungeon Core to researching anything the night before. Part of that was because he had gotten distracted, but a much larger part was simply because of the energy expenditure the traps were accruing. It was a bit of an oxymoron. He needed to research them to bring the costs down, and yet he was leery of spending more energy than he needed to in the beginning.
Nate had always been a big proponent of saving money, and apparently, that carried over to how he worked with the dungeon.
Glancing at the resource counter for energy, he saw the two resource counters that he had noted before. It was the same for every resource. They each now had a local counter and a global pool counter. All current dungeons contributed a percentage of their resources into the global pool so he could use it for¡ something.
He hadn¡¯t looked into the changes enough to know what he could and couldn¡¯t use the global pool for yet. All he did know was that all the resources for a Dungeon Cores level-up needed to come from the local resource counter. He couldn¡¯t just quickly upgrade them all in a rush like that.
After looking into it for a few minutes, he had a slightly better understanding of what was going on. The global resources could be used for items that had the potential to affect all the dungeons. That meant that all research projects could be funded through the global pool. There was something more, but it remained just out of his reach, as though he hadn¡¯t unlocked it yet.
He would get there in time, but not yet. In the meantime, he set the Dungeon Core to researching the blighted elves'' language, both spoken and written. With that completed, he set about installing a few traps for variety before he entered into the dungeon in his avatar form.
It was time for some practice, and if he was lucky, some more rainbow orbs and even possibly some equipment for his parents. He could hope, at least. The introduction of unknown cultivators who were eager to fight had unnerved him.
He had been hoping to have more time before he needed to start scrounging up equipment for his parents like this. Nate doubted he would last long against the blighted elves, then again, he didn¡¯t really need to last a long time against them. Just long enough to get an item for each parent.
Either way, he hadn¡¯t even tried fighting the elves at all. There was no saying how it would go¡ normally. Thankfully, this was exactly why he had saved his remaining few beast cores. He knew he would need them for long-range attacks against the more powerful blight elves in the second dungeon. They had a higher chance of dropping equipment or enchanted items than the beasts did.
At least, that was the hope.
The reports he had read said they carried those items, and he could obviously see them carrying equipment. Whether or not that meant the system that controlled his drops would give him those items though, was another story.
It seemed to work, at least somewhat, on what it felt he needed at the time.
He was giving himself the best chance of getting what he wanted and needed by doing things this way. Everything else was left to chance.
Settling into bed, Nate went back to the beginning menu and selected ¡®Avatar¡¯ followed by ¡®Don Avatar¡¯. His eyes closed, and he was taken inside the dungeon.
Chapter 94
Nate pulled up the camera screens as soon as he appeared in the room with the Dungeon Core.
¡°Where are you?¡± He sent to Aura, concentrating on the connection they now shared.
¡°I¡¯m coming toward you right now,¡± She replied.
He found her running toward him on the cameras a second later. She was only a room away from him and the Core. From what he could see, she was completely healthy and unharmed. There were no signs that she had gotten into any sort of action during the night. Which he was glad to see. It didn¡¯t seem like she was throwing herself into the oblivion of death each night still.
¡°How have you been?¡± He asked her when she joined him in the room.
¡°A little tired,¡± Was the yawn-filled reply. ¡°I haven¡¯t really gotten any sleep since coming to this dungeon last night. I don¡¯t know enough about these blighted elves to feel comfortable falling properly asleep anywhere near them. I can¡¯t wait to go back to the first dungeon later.¡±
Nate nodded. That would be one of the goals they would be working towards that night for sure. They needed to get her back to the portal so she could transfer back to the first dungeon.
Alone, she could possibly make it if she was careful and watched the cameras constantly. However, it would be much easier, and less stressful with his help. At least, he hoped it would be.
At the moment, there were five different groups of blighted elves in the dungeon. Only two of them were in between them and the portal though. That meant in the worst-case scenario, they would have to deal with ten enemies.
Nate pulled out a metal element core and slipped it into the hopper of his gun. He had only three cores left that he could use from the bag he had taken from Jace.
With that completed, he was ready to start attacking the first group they came across when the time came.
Together with Aura, they followed the screens to find the first of the blighted elf groups. They were a few rooms away and taking things very slowly. There was no danger-sensing elf with them. However, they had clearly studied the information left by other groups in the portal room.
They may have been taking the rooms slowly, but it was obvious that they knew what to expect. Each of them had suffered injuries, but all of the group members were still around.
That said, they were currently stuck. All of the information they had studied was currently useless.
As soon as Nate had reactivated all of the traps and modified them all, the information they had became outdated. This meant that they were currently stalled and slowly beginning to panic. This was the first time in the dungeon run that they had been forced to actually figure everything out themselves.
Needless to say, they were not handling the newfound pressure well.
In the meantime, Nate and Aura made their way to the corridor just outside the room and hung back just outside of sight. Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t enter the room at the moment. If they did, then all the traps would deactivate. He had gotten around that in the first dungeon by creating sections in every room. That way, only the section he was in would be deactivated at the time.
It also wasn¡¯t something that he had gotten around to adding to this dungeon just yet. He actually hadn''t even thought about doing them until that moment. It had made sense in the first dungeon because of how the traps were constructed. They were more localized and easily split into sections.
The traps in this dungeon weren¡¯t designed that way. They could be, he supposed. It would just take a lot more work, time, resources, and possibly energy. The gain for all that extra effort just wasn¡¯t enough, in his opinion.
It was easier to wait for one of them to come near the exit and take them out then.
Was it cowardly and unsporting, sure. Was it the smart play, absolutely. Sound tactics rarely had anything to do with what people stupidly perceived as honor anyway. Those notions had no place on the battlefield, and while he might be able to come back to life in this form, he wasn¡¯t going to let it make him complacent.
Training was all about getting things right for when it mattered. That meant while he could use his ability to come back to life, it was a crutch, nothing more. He couldn¡¯t depend on it, saving him in his normal form.
For the first time since the creation of this dungeon, Nate could hear the blighted elves talking. Standing just outside the room with them in it, was close enough that the lyrical strains of their language were able to reach his ears. It wasn¡¯t what he had been expecting. The language flowed together and was mildly pleasant to the ear, but that was it.
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Growing up, he had heard so many fantastical tales about elves that he had somewhat expected to be captivated by the beauty of their language. What he got instead was something that sounded like the verbal equivalent of flowing water. It was natural, and no less impressive for it, just not what he had been expecting to find.
Not that it would have mattered either way. They were invaders and had come to kill people to gain power. It did help ease his conscious a little bit. The beasts in the first dungeon had been unthinking beings. The cultivators who had stepped inside had been taken out by the dungeon itself and not him. What he was about to do was take the life of a properly thinking individual.
They were enemies, and that was all that really mattered.
He had no real compunction against what he was about to do. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered to him whether they were human, elf, or some other thinking species. All that mattered was that they were the enemy.
No, it was simply because this would be the first person that he had ever truly killed, and that made him pause.
There had more or less always been three circles of people for Nate. Those he cared for, which was by far the smallest. These were the people that he would feel sad and lost about when they died or eventually left him. The largest consisted of those he was indifferent towards. They could drop off the face of the planet and he wouldn¡¯t care at all.
Then there were those he hated. This should have been the smallest group, but had recently ballooned in size to include several families. He wouldn¡¯t mind torturing those he hated.
But he didn¡¯t actively hate the blighted elves, they were just enemies. More than that, those three circles had never been hard tested. As a result, they were mostly an academic study. There was no hard proof to back them up. He had never been able to get revenge for his parent¡¯s death back on Old Earth.
So, what he was capable of had never been tested.
He liked to think he could do something, but until now, the closest he had come to finding out was against Jace. And he was determined to find out what he was actually made of.
And that all began here, now, in this dungeon, with these opponents. In a place where the only one who would see him potentially fall apart afterward was, Aura.
While they waited for the first elf to approach the exit of the room, Nate inspected his weapon. There was so much he didn¡¯t understand about how it worked, and it would be incredibly easy to ignore it all and simply say it was magic. Except that wasn¡¯t how normal items worked, according to what he had seen.
The closest thing to magic that he had seen was how the dungeons and the traps were made, but even they followed consistent rules. The computer on his wrist that controlled it all needed energy and resources for everything it did. The process might not make a lot of sense to him, but there was a logic and consistency to it all.
There was no reason to believe that this weapon was any different. The crossbow certainly hadn¡¯t been. He hadn¡¯t understood the meanings of the runes and symbols on it, but after using it, he knew what they did, mostly. He knew that a large part of what made the crossbow so powerful, even without the enchantments, or whatever you want to call them, were the materials it was made from. The thing was an absolute unit of power that he hadn¡¯t even fully touched on yet.
The gun though, had no runes or symbols immediately visible on its surface. There might be some underneath the various removable parts, but that was only a guess. He had never had a reason to take the thing apart before.
It was a curiosity and one that he was interested in investigating at some point in the future, just not right then.
Right now, he had to focus on the blighted elf that had taken the lead for the group. She was carefully approaching the exit to check on what trap was awaiting them.
She ripped the hardened leather vambrace off her arm and used the hatchet she had hanging from her rear thigh to cut it into strips. Then she took the cord from the vambrace and tied it to each piece in turn. Once that was completed, she tossed it at the doorway.
The lead piece slammed into the ground as a force of localized extra gravity activated. All the various connected pieces of vambrace that soared in behind it made it an inch or two farther before they too, were pushed into the ground. They had never even had the chance to reach the exit of the room and activate the actual last trap for the room.
The blighted elf woman who had tossed her vambrace frowned and turned back to the rest of the group. She raised her hands in an upturned plaintive gesture and walked back to them.
¡°What do you think? Should we keep waiting, or just attack?¡± Nate sent to Aura in a message, since they didn¡¯t know how sensitive the elves'' hearing was.
She was sitting down on her haunches while they waited, her tails splayed out behind her. ¡°It makes no difference to me. There is an argument to be made for both of them. The faster we attack them, the more groups we can potentially attack tonight. While the reverse is also true. The more time we take watching them, the fewer we can attack, but the safer each of those will be.¡±
¡°This is one of those times I wish I had another long-range weapon. A crossbow with plenty of bolts would be very helpful right about now.¡± He complained lightly. The gun was nice, but it was also different from any other weapon that he used in his normal form. Using the gun was good for getting items, but worthless when it came to practice.
They waited for a few more minutes, just watching while the group talked things over in the room. The entire time they were discussing how to proceed, Nate and Aura were going through the cameras, checking on the other rooms. They discovered a few different groups, including two that had met up and joined forces.
All of them had sustained injuries in some form or another, with three of the groups actually missing members. The groups that had joined forces had one of their danger-sensing people and someone who appeared to be talking to an elf they had left in the portal room. That particular elf was making changes to the information board as they were told new information.
It was interesting, but it also meant that the longer they waited, the more elves would be coming into the dungeon and getting injured. The new changes he had made to the traps had slowed the elves down. That meant that if he hurried, he could move on to one of the larger groups and get more rewards in a shorter amount of time.
Nate cracked his neck and stood up. ¡°Long-range attacks only.¡± He crept to the edge of the corridor corner and aimed the gun at one of the blighted elves. Breathing out, he squeezed the trigger and let the battle begin.
Chapter 95
The metal marble tore through the air and ripped into the blighted elf he had been aiming for. A hole opened up in the unsuspecting elf, who took a moment to stare down at the fresh breathing hole in their chest.
A spurt of blood burst from his chest as he fell to his knees a second later in confusion. This was not something they had run into during their time in the dungeon. This was an actual attack, not a simple trap, and it caught the entire group unawares.
It was an opportunity that Aura took full advantage of. Her red tail began to glow as she accessed one of the techniques the element had let her learn. One of the things Nate had learned about Aura¡¯s Kitsune race pertained to her tails, more specifically, why each of them was a different color.
It turned out to be because each tail corresponded with a different element when it was formed. Moreover, there was a limit to how many techniques they could learn for each element depending on the tail. If it was the first tail, then they could learn nine techniques. The second tail was eight, and so on until the ninth tail, where they were limited to just the one technique.
However, each tail gained a little more power than the last as well. So, while the first might have the most techniques, it was also the weakest. The last tail, the one with a single technique, was the strongest. Those technique numbers only pertained to how many they could formally learn. They could still free-cast as much as they wanted with each of their elements if they had the proper control. Something that she had admitted, few ever accomplished, due to how dangerous the training for it was.
Not that she had to worry about that anymore. It was only a matter of time and painful practice before she became proficient in that coveted skill herself.
That was what he had learned from her.
The tail she used now was her third one. At first glance, the tail could be mistaken as simply another fire affinity and somewhat dismissed. Doing that would be at your own peril though. The tail wasn¡¯t fire red, instead; it was a darker red, with hints of black, and the spear of fire she summoned overhead had pieces of dark black matter mixed in as well. Her affinity wasn¡¯t simply with fire, it was with magma, and the boiling glass known as obsidian when it cooled.
While he cocked the gun for the next shot, her spear of volcanic pain rocketed towards its chosen victim. The fire splashed over the elf¡¯s chest, burning him. The flames were followed an instant later by liquid rock and boiling glass mixed together. The magma touched the existing burns and turned them into spots of barbeque as the molten mix clung to the screaming elf.
Nathan barely held back his wince at the sight of the ferocious and very painful-looking attack. It was not something that he wanted to be on the other end of.
The two attacks were all they managed to get off before the remaining three elves reacted. Techniques and items geared toward protection abounded over the next couple of seconds. Gauntlets with physical shields attached unfolded from two of the elves¡¯ arms covering their fronts. While a more mystical-looking one appeared and sheltered them from above.
The blighted elf Aura had attacked quickly died as its face was burned off and the liquid magma entered its skull. A stream of energy that only Aura and Nate could see flowed out from the body and entered the four-tailed kitsune. There was also an orb on the ground for Nate that was left behind when the elf¡¯s body disappeared.
It was something that freaked the others out, and one of them even tried to grab the orb. They failed at the task magnificently as their hand simply passed through it.
Behind the group, the elf Nate had shot in the beginning finally succumbed to his injuries and blood loss. A repeat of what had happened only moments earlier occurred as a stream of energy went towards Aura, and then another orb was left behind as the body was taken by the dungeon.
As long as they were fighting together, they would both get something. The rewards weren¡¯t as great as when they fought alone, but it was safer, and they weren¡¯t that much worse either.
Nate ducked back behind the corner of the corridor to hide. ¡°Do you have anything that will go through their shields?¡± The metal marbles he was currently firing were nice and had a decent amount of power, but he didn¡¯t think they would go through the shields.
She flicked her fourth tail; this one was the deep blue of a clear evening sky. ¡°I do have something that might work, but I don¡¯t have a lot of experience using it. I haven¡¯t had my fourth element for very long after all, and I only managed to learn one technique for it before everything happened.¡±
The tail began to glow, brightening as she sent energy into it.
A broad scythe-shaped arc of cutting wind took form above Aura¡¯s back. It was similar to the attack the gun fired when the hopper was loaded with a wind affinity beast core, only far more powerful. Something that was proven to him a second later as she let the attack fly.
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It zipped across the intervening space with a whoosh of wind and cut apart the enchanted metal shields as though they were nothing more than soggy paper. The blade of wind cut deeply into both of the elves¡¯ arms, almost severing them, before finally running out of energy and disappearing.
With a thump of exhaustion, Aura collapsed onto the floor at his feet.
¡°Sorry about this,¡± He said, as he took hold of her back legs and dragged her back behind the cover of the corner in the corridor. Dragging your companion by their hind legs wasn¡¯t exactly the most dignified thing to do. Not to mention Aura was a princess, or she had been, it was confusing. Either way, you never knew when you might accidentally do something really weird or awkward when it came to people from other areas. That concern was magnified several-fold when it came to separate species entirely.
As soon as she was hidden, Nate brought his gun back up into position, aimed, and fired. Taking one of the bleeding elves right in the sternum. He cocked the hammer, shifted his aim, and fired again before the last two could react. The speeding metal marble took the other injured elf in the chest, dropping him to the ground to wheeze out his last few breaths.
The last blighted elf screamed something at Nate, her words slowly losing their lyrical edge as they took on a more harsh tone. It all washed over him for the moment. He would have time to inspect his feelings over what he had done later. Right now, he had something to accomplish, and these blighted elves were standing in his way of that.
Besides, they were destined to die either way, either by his hands or by the traps in the dungeon. At least this way, their deaths would mean something more beyond just empowering the dungeon. It was slightly callous, but he didn¡¯t know these elves. They meant nothing to him, just like those cultivators who attacked his dungeon.
They were one and the same in his mind. It turned out that he needn¡¯t have been worried about whether or not the mental image he had of himself was correct. It was and knowing that brought him a small amount of peace, but also didn¡¯t really change anything for him either.
The barrier above the final elf flickered as she began to lose concentration on the technique that maintained it. Not that it really mattered. Nate wasn¡¯t planning to attack her from above anyway.
He cocked the hammer a final time, aimed and squeezed the trigger. The blighted elf woman was thrown backward as a gaping hole opened in her chest. He checked the cameras to make sure there were no other groups coming toward them and then entered the room to pick up his orbs.
Two of them were rainbow orbs that denoted they were filled with energy, or qi. He loved those, as they were particularly useful for his cultivation, especially at the moment, when he still hadn¡¯t entirely worked through his meditation art.
Another two were blue, which was the color of weapon orbs. While the final orb was yellow, which he believed, based on the single time he had gotten it before, meant it was an accessory. The bracelet of basic health recovery he wore had come from a yellow orb, so it could also just mean that the item was enchanted. Either way, he¡¯d find out in a second.
The first of the rainbow orbs sent a larger-than-normal jolt of energy into him. Confirming something that he had already suspected. He would get more energy from the orbs he received from stronger enemies in stronger dungeons. They weren¡¯t static in any way. Even sharing the energy from each kill with Aura still resulted in him getting more energy than what he would have gotten from several of the beasts in the first dungeon.
Of course, by this point, they were easier to hunt en-masse, and he knew what to expect from them.
It was harder to fight the blighted elves, whereas he had finally gotten to the point where he could fight the beasts with his kukris.
The energy he received from the rainbow orbs was nice, but it was the other items that he was really looking forward to. They were the things that he couldn¡¯t get from the first dungeon with just a little extra effort. At least he hoped that was the case. The first dungeon had given him nothing but items for himself, and even then, in limited amounts.
It was time to see if the second dungeon was any different.
It didn¡¯t take him more than a second to confirm that it was indeed different. Touching the first of the blue orbs revealed a set of bladed tonfas, the likes of which he had never seen before. The blades were sharper and more refined than his father¡¯s current version and there was also a small discreet trigger hidden next to the handles. There was no barrel that he could see, so he could assume it launched the deadly-looking knife at the front in some way. There were runic symbols running along the handle, support structure, and back of the blades.
If it was anything like his crossbow, then those would need to be hidden in some fashion. Which was a problem for a bladed weapon that was constantly being used to attack things. Then again, maybe it was less of a concern for his parents than it was for him. They were stronger than him after all, so it might not matter as much if they were seen with an enchanted weapon.
He put the tonfas into his storage and moved on to the second blue orb.
A recurve bow appeared on the floor when the orb had finished transforming. The inside of the bow was a dark blue inlaid with various symbols and runes that were different from the others in a light blue color. He would need to copy them all down into his notes later. The outside of the bow, the side that would be facing the enemy, was a flat black that gave it a menacing look. There was no method to remove the bowstring from the bow that he could see. It was meant to always be strung, which went against what he knew about proper recurve bows.
Then again, this was an enchanted bow. The rulebook had already been thrown out the window, so why not for this as well? The string itself almost seemed to be made out of some sort of metal-like cord. However, with it under tension like that, it was impossible to say for sure.
At the moment he couldn¡¯t even pull it back, and he didn¡¯t want to send qi into it lest it register the bow to him instead of his mother. You never knew what sort of functions might have been worked into these sorts of things after all.
Nate looked at the yellow orb and wondered what it might have for him. Strictly speaking, he had already gotten most of what he had wanted with just the weapons. Anything more would just be asking for all his luck to be blown at once.
Chapter 96
Behind him, Aura rolled over and shakily got to her feet. That second attack of hers had used far more energy than she had been expecting. She would be fine in a few minutes, however, until then she would be shaky on her feet.
Regardless, she came up behind him to watch as he touched the final orb.
The yellow orb melted away to reveal a bracelet. Nate tilted his head at that and stored the bracelet. He was counting on the information function of his storage to reveal what the bracelet actually was. Pulling up the storage interface, he discovered that it was a storage bracelet.
Nate had told his parents before that he had one, and now he actually did. Though, this one would go to one of them as well, along with the new weapons.
Closing the storage menu, he cracked his neck and looked at the camera screens. It was time to find the next group that they were going to attack.
They found their next target and began to move. This time, Nate remembered to use his basic ties energy skill on the dungeon around them and on Aura. Everything lit up with different colored strings, signifying their ties to each other. If he took a moment to concentrate on a particular string, then information about the particular bond would begin to flood into his mind.
Not particularly useful when it was how two bricks related to one another. When it came to the traps, however, that was another story entirely. Since those were still mostly blackbox tech that hadn¡¯t been researched yet, the information he received from them was decidedly more esoteric. It was less information-based and more centered around feelings. The ties were all about the feeling of it working properly, and well, and little else.
It was honestly a little much for his mind to parse, and he had to focus on something else instead. He turned his attention to the bond he shared with Aura and found it split between him and the computer on his wrist. The computer served as the focal point for her connection to the dungeons, as that was where it split again to both cores.
There was also a thick line that he hadn¡¯t noticed before that ran from the computer to each of the dungeons. He was careful not to focus on the wrist computer itself while he explored all of these connections. He had learned his lesson in regard to that earlier and had no desire for a repeat just yet.
Still, all of these connections gave him plenty to work and train with throughout the night. Using the energy skill required qi, so he would need to be careful in how he managed his energy, but this was just another part of his training.
***
Nate rolled out of bed with a wince. His hand involuntarily went to his tender neck. Everything had been going well enough until they hit the third group. That particular team had been a double-group, and both of them knew they were reaching when they attempted it. Still, they thought it would be safe enough as long as they remained out of sight.
That might have been the case for a normal group. They had failed to account for the danger sensing elf in the group, or the one who could send messages back to the portal room. The entire thing had turned into a mess.
He had gotten more items and rainbow orbs, but the way it had ended left a bad taste in his mouth.
Dying was never fun, but this was the first time he¡¯d been strangled to death. It had not been a pleasant experience, and that was with whatever mental calming that the wrist computer had in place. There needed to be safeguards to protect his mortal mind against the pain and memories of dying too often.
Shaking his head, he gathered up his clothes, a towel, and the fourth dose from the box. This time, what he was taking was a relatively normal-looking pill. It was the last item in the box that drew his eye though. It appeared to be a shard of an unaligned beast''s core. Something that hadn¡¯t been tainted by an affinity.
Nate hadn¡¯t even known that was possible. He thought all beasts had their preferred elemental affinities, but apparently, he was wrong. Either that, or there was some method to remove the affinity from a core, which would be interesting in its own right.
Regardless, that shard would have to wait for the next day.
Once he was in the shower and had taken the pill, Nate pulled up his information for a quick perusal.
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Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Mortal (Recently Awakened, Backup Core Available, 26% Charged)
Core: Bronze Grade[Low Quality]
Strength: 39
Speed: 35
Constitution: 40.5 [+]
Energy: 43
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Meditative Art: (School Shadow Temp)
Energy Skills: 3/14
Attack: Point Break
Support: Basic Ties
Basic Healing
Companion Beast: Aura (Kitsune 4-Tails)
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Dungeon Creation - Current limit 2
Dungeon Interface
Dungeon - 2
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Equip
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Items
Storage
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His gains were less than what he was expecting. Outside of the charge to his backup core, and perhaps the amount of actual energy he had gotten. That was to be expected though, when you spent less time training and more time working on the new dungeon.
At least the items from the McFadden¡¯s were helping in regard to those first two numbers.
He was also pleased to see that all three of his energy skills had been registered by the system.
Drying off after the shower, he quickly dressed, grabbed his bag, and headed down the stairs. He had already decided he would give his parents their new items later during their shopping trip. He would tell them that he had some items for them as well, but nothing else.
Let them experience the suspense of waiting for once. It would do them some good.
Nina was leaning over the counter when he came down, nursing a steaming cup of tea. From the smell it was giving off, he could tell it was a weak blend of her special ¡®Wakeup Tea¡¯. It was a tea that was more akin to a beginner¡¯s alchemist potion than a regular tea. Apparently, she had been taught the recipe by an alchemist they were escorting years before.
¡°You still that tired?¡± He asked, deciding to grab some of the tea for himself. He might not be tired at the moment, but the midday slump was real. Besides, the tea also helped the mind wake up, not just the body.
She yawned and shook her head. ¡°No, well, a little. We¡¯re doing better now, for the most part, but we are still recovering. After you leave, I¡¯ll probably head back up to bed for another couple of hours of sleep. Then we¡¯ll worry about getting things prepped for this weekend.¡±
Nate popped some bread into the toaster and sipped his cup of tea. ¡°Alright, well, I¡¯ll be waiting for you outside the school, just like I promised yesterday. Oh, and before I forget. I have a few surprises of my own for you and dad, so don¡¯t go buying anything major until after we meet up, yeah? Just get normal supplies until then.¡±
¡°Hmm,¡± Nina¡¯s eyes narrowed at him suspiciously, an effect that was ruined when she yawned again. ¡°Ugh, whatever. Fine, keep your secrets. We¡¯ll see you then. Have a good day at school and be safe.¡± She gave him a quick hug and went back up the stairs to bed.
Nate chuckled as he locked the door behind him. He had a feeling they were going to be very surprised by what he had for them. The wrist computer had known exactly what he wanted and needed the night before, just like it always did. That said, the dungeons didn¡¯t always give him what he wanted, but they generally gave him what he needed.
In this case, that was equipment for his parents, and it had delivered. Really, it had over-delivered if you considered the strength of their new weapons. If word got out about their weapons, there would be a target on their back, but it would be one they could handle. It was the same for the storage bracelet, or at least he hoped, but that was also fairly easy to hide.
The other couple of items, or rather everything combined¡ it was just too much.
He would need to think about what he was actually going to give them while he was at school. Or maybe he would just let them decide. Give them everything, and then they could choose what to actually use. That might be easiest.
Nate walked past his parents¡¯ car and leaned against the bumper while he waited for Angie and Lindsay to arrive. He had come outside a few minutes earlier than he usually did and had the chance to look up at the gray, stormy early morning sky for once. There was a chill in the air as the wind rustled his hair. It was perfect weather for a light jacket.
The kind of weather that brought a feeling of change and promise with it. Then again, he had always loved this time of year. The changing color of the leaves was a magical time, in his opinion, even if he didn¡¯t get to experience his preferred riot of color out here.
The sound of tires accompanied by the quiet rumble of a powerful engine brought Nate¡¯s attention back to the road as the car arrived.
¡°Are you ready for this weekend?¡± He asked as he slid in beside the girls.
Neither of them looked very excited at the prospect of the coming expedition.
¡°We met the team we will be going with last night for a few minutes,¡± Lindsay groused with her arms folded. ¡°They treated us both as nothing more than a couple of spoiled brats and little kids. It was like they didn¡¯t even expect us to actually want to participate while we were out there. It was only for a few minutes, but if it''s any indication, this weekend is going to suck!¡±
Angie nodded. ¡°How about you? Were your parents alright?¡±
¡°Yeah, it seems like there are a lot of cultivators coming from other cities to explore the structure around the portal though. They caused several problems for them, and even fought them a few times, it seems. This weekend will be different from the last one, that¡¯s for sure.¡± He settled back and cracked his neck. ¡°Did either of you get any decent practice in with your new energy skills against Anna last night?¡±
They both blanched and shivered. ¡°That woman is the devil, I tell you! As soon as she learned that we had finished writing any skills into our cores, she incorporated them into our training. It was brutal!¡± Angie complained, with Lindsay nodding emphatically by her side. ¡°It did help us though.¡± She continued with a defeated sigh. ¡°The inherent knowledge we receive on how to use each of the skills is only the most basic information. She was able to show us several more ways to use our skills.¡±
That was something Nate had noticed the night before as well. While he could immediately use all of the skills, that didn¡¯t mean it was in the best way possible. A lot of that he was assuming was because the skill wanted to see how he would use it before the first evolution it went through. He could be wrong, but that at least made some sense to him.
A short while later, they were sitting in their classroom, with Miss Moorish standing in front of them. Now that they had learned two of their energy skills, she was open to answering any of the questions they had about them. That included the different ways they could be used and evolved as well.
Naturally, as the last day of the week, however, the bulk of the class time would be spent talking about expeditions. She understood that this would be their second one and wasn¡¯t quite as worried as she would have otherwise been. That said, there was a lot of information that she had already gone over throughout the week that needed to be reiterated for their own safety.
Expeditions were not to be taken lightly. They were dangerous and had only become more so over the last couple of weeks.
She might be a fairly new teacher, and that was undoubtedly why she had taken such a shine to them. But she was not going to let them head out there again, without making sure they were as prepared mentally as she could make them.
Chapter 97
Mira finally stopped quizzing them when the lunch bell rang. ¡°I expect the three of you to stay safe this weekend, and I¡¯ll see you next week. Just as a reminder, next week continues this class¡¯s extended period setup to help you catchup on everything. After that, it will go back to the normal style of being a single-period-long class.¡± She waved to them while gathering up the various books from her desk.
¡°Ugh,¡± Nate muttered as he cracked his back with a quick twist once they were out the door and into the noisy hallway. ¡°She really went at us today.¡±
¡°Yeah, she really did. I get the feeling that she was serious about wanting us to be prepared for this weekend,¡± Lindsay said as they pushed through the crowd toward the lunchroom.
¡°Speaking of which, my parents will be picking me up after school today. So, I won¡¯t be needing a ride home. We are going to get me some new kukris along with all the other equipment they haven¡¯t managed to scrounge together by that point for the expedition.¡±
¡°I wish we were going with your parents again,¡± Angie complained. A pout crinkled the space between her brows as she pursed her lips. ¡°I just know this weekend is going to turn out to be an utterly standard affair. They are going to take us to a strictly regulated area. Maybe let us get a couple of hits on one of the beasts, and that will be it for the entire time. The entire experience will be nothing more than a glorified camping trip.¡±
¡°You could bring your phones or radios, and give me a call,¡± Nate suggested casually as they moved through the line and began picking out their food and placing it on their platters. ¡°I promise to make you as jealous as I possibly can by how much more fun I am having. You know, as I slog through the forest, and get covered in slime, and who knows what else?¡±
A couple of the closest groups of kids were clearly listening in, as they had stopped eating entirely and were leaning toward their table. None of them were even bothering to try and hide what they were doing.
One of the good things that had come from the girls forming their cores was suddenly everyone had stopped bothering them. All the fake friends that had surrounded them for years -the ones they despised- had suddenly vanished. No longer were they being constantly accosted by sycophants who just wanted to climb the social ladder through borrowed connections. For once, they were being left blessedly alone, and although strange, they were enjoying it for the most part.
Unfortunately, even now, there was the sense that everyone was just waiting for them to show some sort of weakness. An undercurrent of unease was rippling through the cafeteria as each student sensed the balance had been disrupted.
Not that the three responsible for that disruption particularly cared. They were just going about their business, talking, and making plans.
The rest of the students were left with a conundrum. Did they let those three exist outside the balance of power, or did they try to drag them back into the fold? Strictly speaking, could they even do anything against them? They were proper cultivators now, with cores.
Even Nate, with his low-quality core, could take on all the students there and win.
So, where did that leave them? It was a matter that they would have to think about later.
Nate stood up after finishing his lunch. ¡°I¡¯ll see you both in Brick¡¯s class. Have fun until then.¡±
Unlike Lindsay and Angie, he was not as clueless to what the other students had been feeling. The various emotions and thoughts each had were easily read on their faces. He had been dragged into enough messes since coming to this school, and this was one he did not want to be a part of.
He would hang around outside the cafeteria doors and listen to what was being said. But he didn¡¯t want to be a part of it. The location would let him be close enough to step in if the situation called for it. However, he seriously doubted it would. These kids all attended this school for a reason. Money was a major factor, but brains were also a requirement. None of them were stupid, and attacking the girls would be stupid.
In the end, nothing happened. Lindsay and Angie had always existed outside the power structure of the school, so this was nothing new for them all. It was annoying that they could no longer suck up to the girls, but that was about it.
The real problem was Nate, but he was also something of a conundrum for the student body. Until recently, he had always been an unobtrusive nonentity. Someone who had floated around outside all of their radars. No one really knew him, except by reputation, or because they had been in class with him. Yet, somehow, a boy like that had managed to do what all of them had been trying for so long.
Worse, it hadn¡¯t even been him who had made the first move, but Angelica.
When they all thought about it properly, they realized that they couldn¡¯t approach him lightly, either. It didn¡¯t matter who his parents were or how much money the boy had. It was becoming clear to them that he had backing from another source, one that could influence Angie and Lindsay. And that made him untouchable as well.
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A few minutes after Nate stood up from the lunch table, a lone girl approached them and carefully took his vacated seat. She sat with them for a little over a minute before quickly excusing herself and hurrying back to her previous table.
Lindsay¡¯s brows were furrowed in thought, while Angie was tapping away at the table in front of her. Whatever the girl had said to them was obviously causing them to think about something in turn.
Shrugging his shoulders, Nate turned and headed to his next class. He still had several minutes before it would begin, but there were several items he could do to occupy his time with until then. There was always working on the dungeons as a viable and seemingly never-ending time waster. Or also of a more immediate concern, he could work on the meditation art.
There was something that he wanted to try though. It was an idea that had come to him the night before while he was working his way through the second dungeon, practicing his energy skills. There might be a way to make basic ties useful toward his meditation art research right away.
At least, that was his hope. It was also entirely possible that he was completely wrong with his idea, in which case all he was about to do was waste some time.
Pulling out his school notebook, Nate began writing out the shadow mediation art he had been working on. Each stroke of his pen filled the ink with a slight amount of qi as he wrote the words onto the paper. Basic ties needed qi to work with, so he was giving it exactly that. At the same time, ink and paper couldn¡¯t handle much, so he had to be careful not to give them anything more than a trickle of energy.
As soon as he finished writing out the first stanza of the art, he dropped his pen and activated the skill.
Due to how little qi, he had been able to use the information he received back was minor. There was no flood of feelings that he needed to work his way through. Instead, it simply showed him the entire stanza in a variety of colors. Green where it tied together well. Yellow, where the connection was shaky, and red, where it was broken entirely. The colors intermixed at times to show him words that sort of worked but also didn¡¯t. The meaning of the words in those spots was a little shaky.
Even before he thought about combining multiple mediation arts, it looked as though he had a lot of work cut out for him in just making the first one better.
He would need to work his way through each of the sentences, slowly replacing words with ones that he thought would fit better. Then he would need to use the skill again, each time. In other words, it would become a giant, exhausting, and very annoying game of mix and match. One where he could potentially change the meaning of every stanza in the meditation art if he wasn¡¯t careful.
Nate quickly noted which words were yellow and which were red as the rest of the class trickled in around him.
***
When Nate reached Brick Jone¡¯s class, he found the man already sitting at his desk. The teacher was leaning over something with a look of incredible focus on his face.
Walking up to the side of his desk, he had a feeling he knew what the man was so absorbed in reading. Taking a quick peek, he grinned and leaned closer.
¡°It came in then?¡±
Brick started in surprise, the crown of his head nearly bumping into Nate¡¯s nose. ¡°You startled me! What was that? Oh, uh yes. Last night, actually. They managed to finish copying it early and were able to get it delivered right to my house. You still won¡¯t get it till Monday though.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m still working on properly incorporating the shadow meditation art. I¡¯m making progress on it and my overall cultivation speed has improved, but I still have a long way to go on it. Speaking of which, check out what I discovered earlier today.¡± Nate quickly told him about how he had written out the first part of the meditation art, and what it had shown him.
¡°That is incredible!¡± Brick immediately grabbed a pen and paper and wrote out the first stanza of one of his own meditation arts. ¡°Tell me what you see.¡±
Nate activated his energy skill and saw the now familiar mix of colors.
The teacher frowned as Nate told him what he was seeing. ¡°Interesting. I have a twice-evolved version of the basic tie¡¯s skill myself, that is part of the reason I knew about it in the first place. I admit that I never experimented with it much when I was younger, something that I regretted when I learned what it was truly capable of. This though¡ this is odd. What I see is completely different from what you see.¡±
¡°Is it trying to modify the ties to make them more appropriate for the wielder?¡± Nate asked.
Brick shook his head. ¡°That isn¡¯t how the skill works, or at least it shouldn¡¯t be. That would be a possible evolution, but you have only had the skill for a day. You are months at the earliest, away from the first skill evolution. It is interesting though, I admit. What you are seeing is personalized to you. What I am seeing, isn¡¯t. There is far more yellow than yours, and next to no red. Which means this stanza only needs a few modifications to become better.¡±
¡°Couldn¡¯t it just mean that meditation art is already suited for you? It is one of yours, right?¡±
The teacher shook his head. ¡°No, this isn¡¯t for one of my affinities. This is actually Lindsay¡¯s meditation art.¡±
Nate pulled back and tapped his lip. ¡°Hmm, well, mine will help me, but yours will help others. Definitely suited for a teacher. I¡¯m kind of sad that I can¡¯t help them as well, but maybe in the future I¡¯ll be able to personalize their meditation arts in the same way I can mine.¡±
¡°It¡¯ll be interesting to see for sure. Still, this really is an incredible discovery. How did you even think to try this?¡±
¡°I noticed that basic ties only works with items that have qi inside them. I don¡¯t know, it just made sense to me that this would work. I mean, assuming that I had been able to control my qi while writing it out, that is. The words making up the stanza would have qi and the skill should still be able to tell what it was supposed to do from my existing knowledge of the art.
¡°That last part is where I really became unsure if it would work or not. Just because I know something doesn¡¯t mean the energy skill does. However, during my experiments with it last night, I saw enough examples where it used my own knowledge for certain things that I felt confident it would work.¡±
¡°Just how late did you stay up last night practicing?¡±
¡°Hmm, not very- Oh look, the girls are here, time to start class,¡± Nate told him with a grin, abruptly changing the subject.
Chapter 98
The last class of the day went by quickly, and before he knew it, they were being excused for the weekend. Unfortunately, with how densely information-packed the last class had been, Nate hadn¡¯t had a chance to ask Lindsay or Angie what that girl had wanted at lunchtime. Now that class was over, he had to rush to the parking lot and his waiting parents.
He gave them both hurried goodbyes, along with well wishes for their expedition that weekend, and then vanished down the hallway.
Nate rushed through the crowded hallways and out the front doors of the school. Once he was clear of the main crowd and closer to the parking lot, it only took him a few moments to find his parents. The SUV had the storage box on the top for all their shopping and equipment needs, while the back had some rather distinctive features of its own.
It looked like the sort of vehicle that people would have taken off-roading in his past life. Though he honestly wasn¡¯t sure why. He didn¡¯t think his parents ever took it outside the city. It went from their house to the parking lot where the truck and trailer were, and then all around for shopping, but that was it. It needed a good suspension to carry the heavy gear and extra storage they put in it. But some of the other mods that had been done to it made less sense to him.
Then again, for all he knew, maybe this was what they had been using before they could afford the rig and trailer. There was a lot he didn¡¯t know about their early days.
He opened the back passenger door and slid in behind his mother. ¡°Hi, thanks for picking me up. Where are we off to?¡±
¡°Well, I guess that depends on you. Your mom said you had a surprise you wanted to show us after school. Something that would affect how we shopped.¡± His dad said from his place behind the steering wheel. He started the car and slowly maneuvered them out of the crowded parking lot.
¡°Right, um, in that case, let¡¯s get my new kukris first. I¡¯ll show you what I have prepared once that is done, just uh¡ park in the back corner or something,¡± Nate finished uncertainly. ¡°Someplace where we¡¯ll be out of sight.¡±
¡°That¡¯s easy enough to do,¡± Nina told him as she retrieved a wrapped present from underneath her seat. ¡°They were one of the things we picked up before coming to get you. We hope you like them.¡±
She passed them back to him as Niall took a turn and guided them to a parking lot for what looked like a church. His family had never been particularly religious before, but considering what had happened to him, that might have to change. Or maybe not. It wasn¡¯t as though he had met some all-powerful figure that had given him a name to worship anyway. For now, all he could say was that there was definitely some sort of higher power, nothing more.
Shaking his head to dispel the onslaught of weird thoughts, Nate turned his attention back to the present in his lap. He waited for his father to put the car into park, before tearing into the wrapping paper. It would be a terrible idea to handle a dangerous weapon like his new kukris while inside a moving vehicle.
¡°What are these made of?¡± He wondered aloud, as the dark gleaming blades came into view.
They were sitting on top of their respective, though somewhat cheap looking sheathes. He flicked a fingernail against the edge of the blade and then brought the finger to his mouth with a surprised hiss. On a metal blade, that move would have produced a music note of some kind and nothing more. With this blade, it produced more of a full thrum noise that he didn¡¯t know what to make of. More importantly, it had cut through his fingernail to the soft skin hidden underneath.
The angle shouldn¡¯t have been right for it to cut him like that. However, due to how sharp it was, the minor contact he had made with the edge had been enough to cut him.
¡°Yeah, you¡¯ll need to be careful with those. I¡¯m honestly not even sure the sheathes they gave us will stand up to their edges.¡± His father told him with a chuckle at his son¡¯s minor misfortune. It was no less than what he had experienced when he was younger. Some things were better taught through pain and action than by words and warnings.
¡°As for what they are made of,¡± Nina pulled out a sheet of paper that had been folded up in her pocket. ¡°Primarily the scales of an armadillo that had begun the third stage of cultivation, along with a few other parts from lower realm beasts. Then there was the primary binding agent, which is needed for any weapon using parts from a beast, though it isn¡¯t listed for some reason.¡±
Nate inhaled sharply at that declaration. The third stage of cultivation began with the eighth realm and continued to the tenth realm.
¡°When you say it had begun the third stage of cultivation¡ are you saying that it had entered the eighth realm? Or that it had been in that realm for a while?¡± Either way, the cost of these two kukris was astronomically higher than what he had been expecting his parents to spend.
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¡°We have no way of knowing since it isn¡¯t listed. Either way, the overall quality of the blades was brought down when they chose to also include parts from lower realm beasts.¡±
¡°Still, these must have cost almost as much as your own weapons!¡± He protested.
¡°Having a good, trustworthy weapon is essential if you want to stay safe while you are out on an expedition. You saw what happens if your weapon fails on you and you can no longer count on it last time. Luckily, we and the others were there to make sure nothing terrible happened. However, that might not always be the case. It is better to buy the best weapon you can and know that you will be able to depend on it when the time comes.¡± His father said, becoming suddenly serious.
Nate nodded, remembering the terrible condition of his metal kukris when the expedition had finished. They hadn¡¯t even managed to last the entire weekend. Regular metals just couldn¡¯t compare with the strength of beast¡¯s bodies.
He carefully put them inside their sheathes. A frown came to his face as he felt them cut into the material, the fibers parting effortlessly beneath the extremely sharp blades.
¡°Well, if that isn¡¯t a sign to move on to the next item of business, I don¡¯t know what is,¡± He muttered.
His mom winced. ¡°Um, maybe you can just keep them stored in your storage bracelet most of the time?¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. Like I said, this goes into the stuff I had for you two anyway.¡± Nate took a deep breath, and paying careful attention to keep up the illusion that he had a storage bracelet, began removing the first of the items from his storage. ¡°So, remember how I told you before that I was able to train in my dreams, and that I could occasionally get items from it as well?¡±
Niall sort of bobbled his head from side to side as he twisted around in his seat to face his son. ¡°I remember the conversation and the items you had. But we never went over the frequency, and I don¡¯t think we should now either. Some things are best kept to yourself, and this is probably one of them.¡±
Sitting just a few inches away from her husband, Nina nodded. ¡°I agree Nate. The less we know, the less we can accidentally let slip during a careless moment, or that might be overheard during a private conversation. As I said before, when you first told us, I¡¯m sure you have more secrets. Keep them. We don¡¯t need to know them all. Just know that we love you.¡±
Nate sniffed and twitched his nose a few times as the sudden urge to hug them both overcame him. Unfortunately, the SUV wasn¡¯t quite large enough for him to do that, so he had to settle for a slightly watery smile.
¡°Right, well, while you two were off playing Tarzan and Jane in the forest, I managed to get a couple of items for you.¡± He had pulled out two completely different-looking bracelets first. One was a little chunky looking, while the other was more svelte and streamlined. They were covered in runes and glyphs, and each of them worked in such a way to appear beautiful instead of merely functional. Both bracelets were works of art in their own way.
¡°What are those?¡± His mom asked softly.
¡°The first of many surprises,¡± He said. Nate extended the chunkier-looking bracelet. ¡°This one expands out into a shield. I¡¯m not sure how much use it will see, but I got it and now you¡¯ll have it in case of an emergency. This second one is a storage bracelet. You¡¯ll be able to carry a decent amount of stuff in it.¡±
He passed them both forward so they could look them over.
While they were doing that, he pulled out a pair of matching sheathes and transferred his new kukris into them. The sheathes were mostly normal looking, but the effects they came with were anything but. There were three of them, repair, sharpen, and clean. Given time, they would repair any minor damage done to the blades seated within them. The sharpening and cleaning were supposedly done much quicker.
With these, he wouldn¡¯t need to worry about his new blades meeting an untimely end anytime soon.
Up front, his mom had slipped the storage bracelet on, while his father had taken the shield bracelet.
¡°Okay, I have one more item for each of you, and these are the big ones,¡± Nate told them as he pulled out the two weapons he had gotten for them. ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have sheathes for these dad. Hopefully, your old ones can be made to work for the time being.¡±
While he was talking, Nina was stroking her new bow, feeling the smooth lines and the power it contained within. Just like Nate had been forced to do with the crossbow, she would need to cover all the runes and other symbols that covered the inside of the bow. The bowstring was a metal cord she had never seen before, with a wrap where her fingers and the back of the arrow would go. It was different from what she was used to, but it was gorgeous and held more than a hint of restrained deadly power within.
Niall was doing something with the two-bladed tonfas, inspecting every inch of them, and feeling how they felt in his hands. The only thing he barely restrained himself from doing was pulling the triggers they both had.
¡°Nate, these are¡¡± He began after a minute of drooling over his new toys.
¡°They¡¯re too much. I think they might be better than we deserve at this point,¡± Nina muttered.
¡°No, they¡¯re exactly what you two need to keep yourselves safe. Same rules as you gave me. Don¡¯t go flaunting them around. Hide the runes and other markers. If the time comes, then these will save your lives instead of leading you into more danger.¡±
¡°Well, I can definitely see why you wanted to stop us from buying certain things now,¡± Niall said, leaning back into the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°The arrows we buy normally for your mother¡¯s old bow would probably shatter if she put them through that thing. With the storage bracelet, we can also change up what sort of supplies we carry and the amount. It will need to be discreet though.¡±
He continued to mutter to himself as his eyes took on a distant look.
Nina, meanwhile, stored her bow and his tonfas in the storage bracelet with a satisfied grin. An act that Nate mirrored with his kukris and his own storage.
There was one more item he could have given them, but it could wait until later. It was something that he could use as well, after all. He wanted his parents to be safe, not to short-circuit their minds.
A short while later, they were back on the road and headed toward their first destination. It was time to get some bolts and arrows, among other things.
Chapter 99
Despite the long list of items they had on their shopping list, they only needed to hit three stores to finish getting everything. The rest of it they had managed to buy before picking up Nate. That had mostly consisted of perishable items.
At home, Nate stored the literal hundreds of bolts they had bought him. The idea was that he would be able to reuse them, however, if it came down to it, he would always have more. Besides, they expected to destroy a fair number of them in the beginning, as he got used to the crossbow. At least fifty of the bolts had been lower grade than the rest, so they could be more disposable during his learning period.
He put all of those in the quiver he had gotten the night before and set it to the side with the rest of his equipment. He had originally thought about giving the quiver to his mother; it was the last item he had gotten after all. But at the last moment, he had changed his mind.
It was silly, but he wanted to give something to both of them at the same time. He wanted to keep everything equal. They had never fought over anything stupid like this that he knew about, so he wasn¡¯t even sure where the concern came from. It was just there, and as a result, the quiver became his, instead of his mother¡¯s.
Not like she really needed it anymore, anyway. She had the storage bracelet and her old quiver. If she needed more arrows, she could just drop them into the quiver and call it good. The only advantage this one had over her normal one was its expanded size, and she had more or less negated that advantage with the storage bracelet.
Packing everything up that night for the expedition was far easier and quicker than normal. Nina made liberal, yet discreet, use of the storage bracelet to ferry everything in and out in large loads. Making sure the car was packed just the way she wanted it for the short trip in the morning.
Once they were in the rig, most of the supplies would go right back into her storage bracelet. Until then, it was important to keep up their illusion of normalcy.
The last thing they did before separating for bed that night was spread a map out across the dining room table.
¡°This is the path we are going to be taking this weekend, and right here is where we will be making camp,¡± Niall told his son as his finger traced out the path for him.
It was mostly the same as what they had taken the week before, only a mile or two further in. They also wouldn¡¯t be leaving the rig behind this time outside of the initial hunting expedition. They didn¡¯t have any requests to fetch herbs or other items, so this would be a much more normal expedition for them.
They would go in, park, get a couple of kills, bring them back to the trailer, and then start up the fans and let the beasts come to them.
As long as they weren¡¯t swarmed again, this wouldn¡¯t even be a problem for them.
Nate made note of the location and then wandered up to his room to work on his meditation art and talk to Aura. She needed to know where to meet them in order to be there as early as possible. As for his meditation art, he had been thinking about the map of his meridians that he had started creating for it.
He hadn¡¯t made a lot of progress on it, which was fine. He hadn¡¯t gotten to the part of integrating that section of the meditation art just yet. It was hard to reach a section that you hadn¡¯t worked on after all. He had come to the realization during school that day that basic ties would help him in that area as well.
It might not help him create the map of all his meridians, but it would help him to create the most optimized cycling model. One that used all of them in an efficient manner.
Regardless, he added it to his list of items to do in the future and went back to working his way through the first stanza. He had been far past this point originally, and now he was suddenly going back to work on something he thought he already understood. Only to find, as he was forced to tweak one word after another, that he had actually understood very little of its meaning.
However, that did have an interesting effect on him. Every time he changed a red word in the stanza into a correct one, or a yellow one into something a little more correct, his understanding grew. As it grew, the speed of his cultivation went up along with it. Not a lot. It was only one stanza out of the entire meditation art, but it did set a precedent.
If he could perfect the meditation art for himself, then its overall speed would be far greater than it would have been otherwise.
Of course, that would take time. Time that he wanted to be putting towards learning how to combine his two meditation arts. Instead, it now looked as though he would need to work on perfecting them both before he took that particular step.
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That was fine. No one seemed to expect him or the girls to begin integrating them just yet. There were several steps involved with simply learning a meditation art. Once you got into the process of modifying it to fit you, all timelines went out the window.
There was no pressure from the teachers or the others to finish quickly. They wanted the students to do it properly, and they knew that took time.
Nate sent a few messages back and forth between him and Aura, ensuring that she knew where to meet them. She had gotten lucky the night before and managed to escape when he died. It had been a close thing, but it had worked out in the end. As his death had allowed her the opportunity to hop through the portal and back to the first dungeon.
After he was done talking to her, he spent a few minutes working on the second dungeon. Going through the traps, he made a few more tweaks based on his own personal notes. Items that he had noticed in person the night before.
After they returned from the expedition, he would also expand on the variety of traps inside the second dungeon. At the moment, the entire place was operating with five or six basic traps that were modified somewhat for variety''s sake in the individual rooms. There needed to be a lot more different traps than that.
Or at least a few less power-hungry ones, if nothing else.
The last item he did before shutting everything down for the night was slot the beginning laser technology into the research field. The Dungeon Core had finished working on the blighted elves¡¯ language sometime during the day and had been sitting idle ever since.
He had a feeling that this particular research project would take it longer to complete. A feeling that was confirmed when a timer appeared above the research slot for two and a half days. That hadn¡¯t been there for the language, he was sure of that. However, maybe the first project had acted as a sort of calibration process.
It wouldn¡¯t be too far outside what he considered normal at the moment for that to be the case.
With a yawn, he closed the screens and brought his blanket over his head.
***
It felt like only a few minutes later when those same blankets were rudely pulled from his grasp by his father.
¡°Come on, time to get up,¡± Niall told him with a grin.
Nate rolled over with barely responsive eyes. ¡°Ugh, mom already gave you some of her tea. That¡¯s cheating. I used to wonder why you two were always so chipper in the morning, and now I know. It¡¯s because you both are dirty rotten cheaters,¡± He grumbled, just loud enough to make sure his father heard.
¡°Does that mean you don¡¯t want your cup of cheater juice? I¡¯ll tell your mother to throw it down the drain then.¡±
¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± Nate roared as he sprang out of bed amidst his father¡¯s cackles.
A minute later he was in the shower with the fifth and last dosage of the core enhancement items he had gotten from the McFadden¡¯s. This time it was a shard of untainted beast core, or rather a beast core, with no elemental affinity. It was something that could work with anyone, and they tended to have special properties as a result.
With a suspicious look at the crystal shard, Nate carefully put it onto his tongue before shifting it to the side and taking an experimental bite.
The shard ground unpleasantly against his molars for a moment before popping like a gusher candy. The shard dissolved into a burst of energy that flooded his mouth and entered the rest of his body from there. That energy was quickly pulled into both of his cores, with the bulk of it going toward the backup core.
With that completed, he finished up his shower and hurried down the stairs with his bag in hand. Everything else had already been loaded or was in his storage. The bag simply contained a few last-minute items he had thought to grab, like his music player, laptop, phone, and notebook.
It was doubtful that he would have a lot of time to do anything on the laptop, but he had many of his notes on it.
His parents were leaning against the counters in the kitchen talking about the expedition when he made his appearance. A travel mug was sitting to the side of them, with a lonely trail of steam coming up from the mouth hole in the lid.
¡°I hope you made a lot of this and put it in your bracelet,¡± Nate commented as he picked up the mug and quickly gave his mother a one-armed hug.
¡°I did. No worries there. Even if it doesn¡¯t stay hot inside the storage area, at least it will save me from having to make it out there.¡± She replied as they headed for the door. She had a box full of muffins, sausage, bacon, and other breakfast items they could eat in the car.
Nate sipped at the hot tea as he listened to them lock the door. He had never really thought about it much before that moment, but he had really been underutilizing his storage function, hadn¡¯t he? Then again, maybe not. In everyday life, there weren¡¯t exactly a lot of opportunities to use it in discreet ways that really mattered.
He climbed into the back of the SUV with a mental shrug and grabbed the box from his mother. A few moments later, they were off, traveling down the dark, empty streets of the chilly October morning.
¡°Is Halloween still celebrated here?¡± He asked, trying to remember when it had become bigger in America than in other places.
There was a distinct lack of decoration that he would have normally associated with the event. Which was odd, considering that it was less than two weeks away.
His mother cursed and pulled out her phone, checking the date. ¡°Is it that time of year already? I can¡¯t believe we missed the notification they sent out.¡±
She looked back at her son and his questioning gaze. ¡°In answer to your question, yes, we observe Halloween still. Though, I believe the method is different from what you will be familiar with. After the portals appeared, it returned to its Gaelic roots and is once more known as Samhain. The night where the veil between worlds thins.
¡°The worlds the veil separated were originally that of the living and the dead. Obviously, that is no longer the case. On Samhain, the portals will begin to act differently for a short while. They will become more active, and more interestingly, cultivators can even go through them if they wish. Few have ever returned, and always at great cost to the parties involved.¡±
Nate bit into the piece of crispy, delicious bacon in his hand while he listened to her speak. That was indeed not what he was expecting. It was completely outside of his expectations, in fact, but it did make a certain amount of twisted sense.
He would need to make sure both dungeons were ready for the coming changes.
Chapter 100
The tea his mother had made had woken Nate right up. After they transferred everything to the truck, he pulled out his notebook and started working on his meditative art. With basic ties backing him up, he felt like he was suddenly making more progress than before. He knew it was an illusion, as he was merely going over the parts he had already understood anyway.
The real test would come when he moved on to the new material, and he doubted it would help him actively understand any of it.
Regardless, once they were in the truck, had the trailer fully hooked up, and were on their way, he settled in to work on his own projects. Music thumped through his headphones as he concentrated, his eyes occasionally flicking to the passing sights outside the window. The wait at the wall was a few minutes longer this time than the week before.
The early hour was when most companies left on their weekend expeditions. Lone cultivators, and those simply performing their quota expeditions, tended to leave at a slightly later hour.
Nate kept working for as long as he could before the condition of the road began to deteriorate. At that point, he knew it was time to put the notebook away. He had created a list of potential new words for each of the red and yellow words in the first and second stanzas. The thesauruses were awesome in that regard. They made it easy to search for new, related words.
He would go through each of them later and test how they fit. It was lazy, but it worked, and it was faster than any other method he had thought of.
Storing the notebook, along with his headphones and music player, he stretched out his legs with a groan.
¡°How much longer?¡±
His mother turned around with a gentle smile curling her lips. ¡°Our turnoff is roughly in another mile, after this bridge.¡±
¡°Bridge?¡± Nate leaned over and peered at where they were going. He didn¡¯t remember there being a bridge of any note in this area. Not yet, at least. The closest major river should have still been a couple of hours away.
A minute later, a bridge came into view. It wasn¡¯t extremely long, nor was it one going over a river. Instead, it jumped over multiple creeks and streams. It barely even deserved the name of being a bridge, in his opinion, but it still was one.
Shaking his head for getting so easily confused, he sat back and waited.
A few minutes later, his dad slowed the truck and turned off the main highway and onto an old road that led to a destroyed housing area.
Trees had long since begun to reclaim the land, with trees growing through the old houses. The asphalt had split apart in many places and was completely untraversable after a certain point. The constant trickle of rigs and trailers from expeditions had worn down much of the growth on the road itself. However, it was clear that no one was putting the effort into clearing away the trees that would be required to push past a certain point.
The truck and trailer pulled into a nearby roundabout and slowly turned back around. When they were facing the entrance and could easily leave when the time came, Niall set the brakes and turned everything off.
¡°Time to get suited up everyone,¡± He said as he hopped out of the tall driver¡¯s seat.
Nate pulled out a mix of armor that he¡¯d gotten from the dungeon and what he had worn the week before. He put on the dungeon armor first, as they had been fitted especially for him. After that, he strapped the more pedestrian armor on over them as a disguise.
His new kukris went on next. The quiver went next and was slung at an angle across his rear. Crossbow bolts were shorter than regular arrows. It had been easy for him to fold over the excess length of the leather quiver and secure it with a tie. The last item to come out was the new crossbow that he slung across his back.
With that done, he patted himself down, checked to make sure he had everything, and then hopped out.
His dad had finished pulling on his own armor and fiddling with the laces of his boots when Nate joined him outside the truck. ¡°Looks like we aren¡¯t the only ones who got some new items,¡± He said as he took in his son, reaching over to straighten his chest piece. ¡°That one wasn¡¯t quite hidden.¡± He told him with a wink before going back to playing with laces.
Nate nodded and double-checked the rest of his pieces. ¡°Are we going to be alright bringing beasts into this old subdivision?¡±
Niall finished tucking in the laces of his finicky boot and straightened with a satisfying crack of his back. ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s the stuff.¡± He muttered with a quick twist of his waist that set off another round of pops and cracks. ¡°Despite how this place looks, it¡¯s one of the more popular locations for expeditions such as ours. The beasts tend to avoid the houses for the most part, preferring to go through the trees and the new underbrush instead.¡±
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Nate nodded, immediately seeing the advantage such actions would bring. It would make it much easier to track them and set up potential kill zones or something similar.
His mother joined them a moment later. Her new bow was in her hands and her usual quiver of arrows was already strapped to her hip. She had used a roll of dark tape to cover the runes and glyphs that covered the inside of the bow. It was a quick and easy fix that would last for now. When they got home, she would clean off all the sticky residue and do something else to cover everything.
Niall took the roll of tape from her and applied several strips of it to his new bladed tonfas. Hiding the runes on those was a little harder due to their odd shape, but he did what he could. With any luck, it wouldn¡¯t matter anyway, but they all knew that would be asking for too much.
¡°Where to now?¡± Nate asked when they had finished disguising their equipment.
¡°We have no particular goal this time around, unlike last week. So now we simply choose a direction and start walking, while remembering to mark our trail, of course.¡± His mother told him as she spread out the map on the hood of the truck. ¡°This is where we are, and here is the structure that now surrounds the portal in the middle of the dimensional zone. Where do you think we should go?¡±
He took in the expanse of space on the map with a critical eye. ¡°I don¡¯t know. You said before that all we need to do this time around is get a couple of kills in the trailer, right?¡± She nodded. ¡°In that case, we probably shouldn¡¯t wander too far, as that would simply increase the distance we have to haul the bodies back.¡±
He nibbled at a dry spot on his lower lip for a moment while he thought before shaking his head. ¡°I have no idea where we should go. Unless there is some method they haven¡¯t covered in one of the classes yet, it all looks the same to me.¡±
¡°There is a method,¡± His father said with a grin. ¡°But it¡¯s mostly common-sense stuff, nothing magical like what you are probably thinking. Though there are a few energy skills that can help you find enemies, they come with their own limitations.¡±
Nina rolled her eyes and bumped her hip against her husband¡¯s. ¡°What I was trying to do was make sure you knew it was okay to always lean on the knowledge of the locals. Anyone who would make fun of you for not knowing the information they took years to learn, or worse, keep it from you, is not worth working with. If at all possible, end your ties with them immediately.
¡°We¡¯ve had the displeasure of working with both types in the past. One is a moron at worst and a bully with an inflated ego at best. The other is suspicious of everyone and believes that their information is somehow superior to everyone else¡¯s. They are the type to stab you in the back if given a chance. Neither is worth associating with in the long-term. You can trust us on that one.¡±
Nate nodded in understanding and waited for them to choose a direction. His raised brows and slight nods toward the map giving them the reminder they needed.
¡°Right, I wasn¡¯t joking before when I said, now we simply choose a direction and start walking. As long as it is in the general direction of the inner dimensional zone, we¡¯ll be fine.¡± Nina said after a moment.
Well, that was really only one direction they could go then. However, there was a significant variance in the degrees at which they could travel.
Nate pulled out a crossbow bolt and pushed his index finger into a circular indent near the trigger. The bows began to stretch as some of his qi was taken to power the rapid cocking feature. He slipped the bolt into place and pointed. ¡°That way then.¡±
They shrugged willingly. ¡°That¡¯s as good a direction as any.¡± His mother handed the map to him. ¡°Keep track of where we are going, and don¡¯t forget to mark the trees so we can find our way back.¡±
He took the laminated map from her in surprise. They hadn¡¯t talked about doing this before or anything. His parents were simply throwing him into the deep end of the pool while they could still watch over him. It was not something he particularly enjoyed, but you know what they say. There was no better time than the present.
The saying was probably a lie. In fact, he knew it was, but it did bring a small measure of comfort to him at the moment.
Nate folded the map up and put it in his pocket as they started walking. He slung the crossbow across his back and pulled out a kukri to start marking up the trees as they passed.
His parents hadn¡¯t been joking. This really was a popular area for expeditions. The trees were riddled with old marks that had begun to scar over or fill in with moss if they were facing the right direction. Seeing so many of the marks allowed Nate to quickly get the proper distance down between new marks. He didn¡¯t want to put them down constantly, and if they were too far apart, then there was a chance you might lose the path.
Between fifteen and twenty feet seemed to be the sweet spot, at least for him. His parents, with their higher cultivation, had higher perception and abilities and would have been able to use far greater distances.
They had been walking for nearly twenty minutes when they came across their first beast of the day. It was a boar that was using its large tusks to dig up the ground it was currently snuffling around.
In a moment, Nate had his crossbow off his shoulder and in position. Next to him, his mother had her new bow at the ready, while by her side, Niall had his finger on the trigger of his new tonfas. They were as ready as they were going to be.
Nate carefully dropped to a kneeling position for better stability while he aimed down the iron sights of the crossbow. Breathing out, he squeezed the trigger. The crossbow jerked against his shoulder at the sudden release of power. The cheap bolt pierced the hide of the boar and entered up to the fletchings.
He hadn¡¯t switched out the cheap bolts meant for practice, which he had never done with the real, more expensive bolts.
As soon as she saw the bolt fly, Nina let her own arrow fly, deciding not to use any of the bow¡¯s enhancements just yet. Her arrow entered the densely muscled rear-haunch of the beast and kept ongoing, passing entirely through it in one go.
It dropped to the ground in a bugling scream of pain.
Beside her, Niall pulled the trigger on his bladed tonfas. The front portion of his tonfas shot forward on a chain and took out its throat. He squeezed the trigger again to retract the chain and bring the blade back into position.
Chapter 101
Niall waited to make sure it was fully dead before he walked forward and cut out its energy core. ¡°Foundation establishment,¡± He announced, holding it up so they could see. ¡°Not bad for our first beast of the trip. Now we just need to bring it back to the trailer.¡±
¡°Or,¡± Nate began, while he pointed to his mother¡¯s wrist. ¡°We could just store it for a while.¡±
His parents blinked and began to laugh. They had momentarily forgotten about the storage bracelet.
¡°Right, or we can just do that.¡± His father admitted with a wry grin.
Nina took a moment to check around the tree, trying to find whatever the boar had been smelling, but gave up after a minute. There was nothing obvious there, and her knowledge of rare herbs and other items was somewhat specialized.
Nate marked where they were on the map, the dry-erase marker creating an easy-to-see line back to the rig and trailer.
With all the busy work completed, they once more set off.
Nate found his mind wandering more easily this trip as they walked. Without a proper destination in mind, it almost felt like they were simply taking a hike. His mind wanted to take in the sights, instead of remaining vigilant. Without that goal present, or the girls, the entire expedition just had a different feel to it, he found.
Which should have been obvious in hindsight. It wasn¡¯t bad. He enjoyed spending time with his parents. It was just different, less fun, and more like the work and training it was meant to be.
The next beast they came across was a large rabbit. It had bone spurs sticking out the back of its feet like reverse claws. They were perfect weapons for a windmill kick to the head of an unsuspecting opponent. Not that he had ever seen a rabbit perform a flip outside of video games. Its teeth were heavily chipped and serrated, and several tufts of fur had only just begun to grow back.
They had just entered a small clearing when they spotted the Doberman-sized rabbit lazily hopping around.
Without needing to say anything, they lined up for a repeat of their earlier tactics. Nate waited until his parents were ready before gently pulling the trigger on the crossbow. With another explosion of forceful energy, the bows released their tension on the bolt and sent it rocketing through the air. He missed the rabbit by several inches this time.
The distance involved between this shot and the last one he had taken was easily double. He really did need to get some practice in with the crossbow if he wanted to be proficient with it.
Next to him, his mother released her arrow as well, as soon as she saw his was going to miss. Hers didn¡¯t, and the wooden missile eviscerated its head.
There was no need for Niall to do anything this time around. Instead, he simply removed the beast''s core and passed the body to his wife.
¡°Should we go for a couple more or start heading back?¡± Nate asked them as he brought out the map.
His father looked over his shoulder to where he had marked their current location on the map. ¡°We should probably get at least two more before heading back. The beast activity seems rather light at the moment. We¡¯ll need all the help we can get for later.¡±
Nina joined them a moment later. She had thoughtfully retrieved Nate¡¯s crossbow bolt after retrieving her own arrow from the ground. Something her husband had forgotten to do when he picked up the body.
¡°Let¡¯s head to this spot here,¡± She said, pointing to a nearby mark on the map. ¡°From there we can begin to circle back to the rig and trailer.¡±
¡°What¡¯s there?¡± Nate wondered as he memorized where they were going.
¡°A natural spring. This area used to be famous for them back in the day. Before the dimensional zones came, people used to believe that the water from natural springs like this one had healing effects. Drinking it was better for the body than normal water, and bathing in it could hasten the healing of wounds.¡± She smiled and shook her head. ¡°Some of that may have been true to a small extent before, but it¡¯s all true now.¡±
¡°Would it have helped with my problems before?¡± He asked as they began walking.
¡°It¡¯s entirely possible. I can¡¯t say how much, but it might have had some effect.¡± His mother¡¯s face fell as she remembered those days. ¡°Unfortunately, whatever magical effect is contained within the natural spring and its waters don¡¯t like to be bottled up. We would have had to bring you out here directly. Which, in your condition, could have easily killed you. Not to mention the regulations about bringing non-cultivators outside the city.
¡°It was an option we were considering either way when things started to get better. It truly would have been a desperate move on our part, as there would have been no guarantee that it would have helped. In the end, we might have done all of that, put you in so much danger simply to fix your knee. Which I suppose would have been something.¡±
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Nate nodded along, understanding what she was saying. The sharp edge of the memory of how bad his condition had been had already started to fade somewhat. Despite the relatively short amount of time that had passed. It had always been that way for him; it was part of what allowed him to stay sane. The full memory of his pain tended to fade quickly once it was over.
Logically, he might know that the entire experience had been off the charts painful or disorienting, or whatever. Now, though, all he really remembered was always being tired and his knee hurting. The full extent to which it had hurt had diminished, and the memories of everything else had dulled as soon as they were healed.
¡°It¡¯s alright, I understand. I¡¯m glad neither of you had to sneak me out of the city so we could try and attempt this hike in my previous condition. I doubt I would have made it.¡± He meant for the words to be lighthearted, but instead they came out flat and conversation stalled for a couple minutes afterward.
¡°Remind me to thank George again when we get home,¡± Niall said softly as they stepped out of the trees and onto the broken remains of an asphalt road.
¡°Same honey, same,¡± Nina whispered back solemnly.
All along the sides of the road, they could see signs of where beasts had passed through. It was in a similar condition to the road back at the subdivision and had slowly been retaken by nature. There were plenty of areas as they pushed forward that they needed to skirt around because of the extensive damage.
As they neared their destination, they caught sight of a herd of lightning deer protected by a young lightning buck. It only had a few points to its antlers, but as Nate¡¯s mother had explained the last time they encountered one, the true danger was the herd. The buck was a symbol of power, but the herd was the true strength.
They stayed well back and made sure to not make any aggressive moves toward them. Luckily for them, the wind was blowing toward them, instead of against them. So, while the herd of lightning deer still likely knew they were there, the lack of scent constantly disturbing them kept them from getting jumpy.
After a few minutes of walking like that, Nina and Niall gradually relaxed the tight grips they had been maintaining on their weapons all morning. The herd in front of them was acting as guards and keeping all the other beasts away. For the moment, at least they were relatively safe.
Not exactly how they wanted things to happen, considering they were meant to be collecting beast bodies at the moment. However, sometimes you simply needed to take life as it came, and this was one of those times.
A few minutes later, the natural spring came into view. At some point in the past, people had installed a hand pump so the water could be piped directly into buckets or bottles of water. The spring itself was little more than a pond, maybe ten feet wide and six or so deep.
There were several different beasts and evolved animals drinking from the pond or the many runoff streams. Each one was looking suspiciously at their neighbor but was not acting aggressively for the moment. They all understood that this was a special location.
Some watering holes were treated as neutral locations in the wild where no animals would be hunted while near it. This was one such location.
The three of them would need to be careful not to attack anything. They wouldn¡¯t be able to accept the consequences otherwise.
Carefully, Nate walked over to the hand pump and gave the lever a few test pumps to see if it even worked. On the fifth motion, he began to feel a buildup of pressure and kept going, stepping out of the way of the faucet.
Eventually, slightly rust-colored water began to flow out of the pipes. ¡°Hmm, just what I¡¯ve always wanted to drink, rusty water, tastes just like iron,¡± Nate joked as he continued to pump, hoping it would clear up.
While he was doing that, his parents had removed their boots and rolled up their pants. Sitting on a nearby rock, they were soaking their feet and relaxing in the morning sun, amidst the non-hostile beasts and other animals. It was a rare sight, and one they were rather enjoying.
Nate kept working at the old pump and a short while later, the water that was coming out looked clear. Grabbing a bottle, he filled it up and held it up to the sky, where the sunlight would highlight any impurities. Outside of a few rusty iron flakes at the bottom, it was clear.
He passed the bottle to his parents after he had drunk his share and pulled off his boots to relax next to them. ¡°It has an odd taste, very¡ minerally? Is that right?¡± He shook his head. ¡°Either way, I can feel it bring back the energy I spent walking here from the truck. As for healing though, I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t feel anything on that end.¡± His bracelet kept him in top shape for the most part, but it also helped him to become sensitive to healing energies.
Nina drank from the bottle next before passing it to her husband, who finished it off. ¡°You¡¯re right. I feel the little energy I spent earlier from walking and fighting coming back. Then again, I¡¯m not injured, so maybe that¡¯s why.¡±
¡°Hmm, should we bottle some up and put it in the storage bracelet?¡± Nate asked as he watched the different beasts and animals move around them.
¡°A few bottles wouldn¡¯t hurt, but not too much. We shouldn¡¯t be greedy.¡± His mother cautioned, as they each stood and pulled their socks on over wet feet. The boots they wore would keep them from getting trench foot, as they were designed to wick excess moisture out. A dry foot was a happy foot.
Niall had just finished filling the fifth water bottle when everything drinking from the spring went silent. Calmly, he passed the bottles back to Nina, who stored them and grabbed his tonfas.
Nate unslung the crossbow from his shoulder and made sure a bolt was loaded.
Thirty seconds later, the sound of other cultivators stomping through the underbrush reached his ears. His parents had no doubt heard them a while earlier as their expressions twisted into ones of distaste.
It only took him a few moments to reach his own conclusion as to why that was. These weren¡¯t cultivators out on an expedition. They wouldn¡¯t have been stomping about making so much noise if that was the case. No, these were more of the foreign cultivators from other towns and cities who had come to see the dungeon.
Sure enough, shortly after he came to that realization, a group of cultivators stumbled upon the spring. Some of the animals and beasts had fled, but many had chosen to stay. Lending to a no doubt ripe-for-the-picking buffet of potential beast cores.
¡°Don¡¯t even think about attacking any of them,¡± Nate¡¯s father commanded before the new group could so much as even twitch toward their weapons.
Chapter 102
The woman in charge of the group sneered as she took in Nina and Niall¡¯s cultivation realms compared to that of her group. ¡°And what makes you think we¡¯re going to listen to a couple of cultivators lower than us?¡±
Niall ground his teeth, his grip on the tonfas tightening. ¡°You are visiting our lands. At least show some respect for how we do things here. I didn¡¯t realize the cities nearby no longer recognized natural springs as safe spaces.¡±
The woman scoffed. ¡°That is an old mentality that has been dying out for ages. Earth is our world. Why should we give them any safe spaces at all?¡±
¡°Because if we do, then they will return the favor!¡± Nina snarled, waving at the pond behind her. ¡°Do you think this sort of scene happens by accident? No, all parties involved have to be careful not to disrupt it. What you are trying to do is going to ruin that.¡±
¡°And?¡± The woman returned simply. ¡°As you pointed out, we¡¯re visitors, nothing more. What do we care about if something happens here? If anything, this is the best place for us to find out what would happen. It will suck for you, but that is a price everyone else will gladly pay for this information.¡±
Nina¡¯s eyes hardened as her lips set in a firm line. The arm holding the odd metal bowstring taut had begun to shake under the constant strain of having it ready. She needed to make a decision soon before her arm and the fingers holding the bowstring did it for her.
¡°Turn around and leave. You all came out here for the structure around the portal in the dimensional zone. Stick to your original goal, and don¡¯t get distracted.¡± She said as calmly as she could, a line of sweat beginning to bead its way down the side of her head.
Another cultivator came up behind her and put his hand firmly on her shoulder. ¡°Come on, Jean. She¡¯s right, we came out here for a reason. Quit messing with the locals. We are not going to destroy a natural spring.¡±
She jerked away and rounded on her companion. ¡°We came out here to earn money! And I wasn¡¯t joking when I mentioned that it was a price others would gladly pay for. Before we left, I was approached and given a whole list of items like this.¡±
Niall took a single step forward and held out one of his hands, the other remaining on a tonfa. ¡°May I see this list, please?¡±
The woman hesitated for several moments before finally reaching into the inner breast pocket of her armor.
Niall took it from her and felt his brows rise in surprise as he read the list, she handed him. Each item that had been scrawled out was a potential landmine of trouble for the city nearest it. At the same time, he could also see the reasoning behind most of them. The desire to finally know what would happen if something messed with the environment that had been created in the dimensional zones.
That didn¡¯t mean he condoned it, only that he could somewhat understand the appeal.
He took a photo of the list with his phone and then handed it back to her. ¡°I would ask that you not do any of these, however, I also understand that we are not in a position to negotiate.¡±
Nate shook his head, more content than ever before in his decision to strengthen the traps against the cultivators. It made no sense to him why these cultivators would be coming from other cities anyway. Sure, he had included a few treasure chests, but the amount of money they could make simply by going out on an expedition wasn¡¯t small.
What really drove them to explore such a dangerous place? He suddenly had to know.
¡°Why are you heading to the structure in the first place?¡± Nate asked them. Speaking up for the first time. ¡°You can¡¯t be doing this because of money. You would make more by doing expeditions. What is driving you all to explore that place?¡±
¡°Exactly that. We get to explore it. There is plenty about this world we still don¡¯t understand, but this structure¡ it is something completely new. The call to explore it, and learn its secrets, is felt by all who want to be more than simple cultivators.¡±
Nate could feel the passion in her voice as she spoke. It was something that he hadn¡¯t accounted for, that he hadn¡¯t even thought about before that moment. The drive to explore was something natural for humans, and it was one he had completely dismissed. They weren¡¯t flocking to the dungeon because of the treasure chests, though that probably helped, no it was because they were unknown. The dungeons were something new, and foreign. They were the proverbial siren call to the sailors suffering from heatstroke.
It was little wonder that they would jump into the water, regardless of whether or not they could swim.
The three watched the other group leave, while the beasts and animals of the natural spring slowly went back to normal.
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¡°That is going to be a problem for us, isn¡¯t it?¡± Nina asked, pointing to her husband¡¯s phone.
¡°I would like to say no, but I can¡¯t do that. It¡¯s possible that the bulk of the groups will have a conscience like this one. They would have kept her from doing anything. However, it only takes one group to cause a mess. Let¡¯s start heading back to the rig. I want to see if we can get in contact with the city and let them know about this.¡±
The radio signals out here could be spotty at the best of times, and it was impossible to keep a repeater tower in operation for more than a few days. Each truck was supposed to set up an antenna for that purpose when they parked. It was just a small one on the roof of their rig. Unfortunately, a lot of people forgot to do it much of the time.
They drained power continually, and it was one more step in an already involved process.
Regardless, he had to try. It was either that or take the truck back onto the road and head back until he could. Luckily, they weren¡¯t super deep into the dimensional zone, which meant their chances of reaching the city with fewer low-power signal repeaters were greater.
With that decided, they continued with their previous plan to circle back to the truck and trailer. Only now, they were moving with more speed and determination than before.
A few minutes out from the spring, they came across another rabbit. Only for it to be shot through the head by Nina before Nate could even get his crossbow into position.
¡°Sorry,¡± She told him, with a slight shrug. ¡°But we¡¯re on a time crunch right now. You¡¯ll have to get your practice in later.¡±
Niall carved out the core and then carried the body to her for storage in the bracelet, while they continued on. That happened an additional four times over the course of their hike back to the subdivision. They had seven bodies to store in the trailer by that point. Which his parents considered a good starting point. As long as they kept the speed of the fans low, they wouldn¡¯t run into the problem they had the week before.
Back at the truck, Niall hurried into the driver¡¯s seat and started up the electronics.
Nate watched as an antenna around two feet in length flipped up into position from where it had been lying flat against the roof. Apparently, his parents were some of the people who forgot to set it up after they were in position.
The dimensional zones messed with the wireless signals and robbed them of their strength. On his Old Earth, even without repeaters, the signal from a small base station radio like the one in the truck should have been able to easily reach twenty-five to forty miles at least. He had never messed around with them, but some of the nurses who had taken care of him over the years had. Everything he knew was secondhand knowledge.
Either way, he was fairly certain that before the radio inside the truck would have had minimal difficulty reaching the city from their current distance. Now, it required all the help it could get and then some.
While his father was dealing with that, they went into the trailer and laid out the bodies they had hunted earlier. It would be several hours yet before they began to release the smell that would attract the rest of the beasts to them.
Plenty of time, in other words, to wash their hands and have a decent meal.
While they were waiting for the bodies to do their thing, Nate stepped to the side to practice with the crossbow and his mother went to talk to his father.
Discreetly, Nate also sent off a message to Aura. ¡®Where are you?¡¯
Not exactly anything original, but he wanted to know when to expect her.
¡®On my way. I¡¯m outside the dungeon now. It took a bit to get past all the cultivators that were setting up camp outside the place.¡¯ She returned a moment later.
He felt his brows raise in surprise at that one. He hadn¡¯t realized that there were so many cultivators coming to explore the dungeon. The first dungeon definitely needed its Core raised to Level 3 soon. Upgrading the Dungeon Core to Level 2 had given it a certain level of autonomy and just overall ability. He hadn¡¯t needed to micromanage the place nearly as much afterward. His hope was that the theme would hold true going forward as well.
He did not want to micromanage the traps against all the cultivators. That just sounded exhausting.
The current Dungeon Core could make minor modifications to the traps, which generally made them better, but that was it. Creating new traps was outside its capabilities at the moment. Perhaps not in time though, if he reached the right level, whatever that was.
While those thoughts were running through his mind, he was taking careful aim and practicing with the crossbow. He had a tendency to jerk on his shots, as he anticipated the harsh recoil from the bow. Other than that, his aim wasn¡¯t too bad. He simply needed practice and to get rid of a bad habit he had developed in the last few hours.
When his parents joined him a half-hour later, their annoyed expressions said everything he needed to know.
¡°They already knew about the list, didn¡¯t they?¡± He guessed, coming back from picking up all his practice bolts. Many of which were showing dulled tips or damaged fletchings.
They nodded tiredly. ¡°A few other groups have already reported in about them. A delegation, if you want to call it that, is being sent to each of the cities involved for an explanation.¡± Niall cracked his neck and stared up at the cloudless sky. ¡°As if they will get an honest answer.¡±
¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about all of this,¡± Nate said after a moment. ¡°As long as we can hold on for this initial period and make sure they don¡¯t do anything stupid. Some news should be trickling our way soon that changes things.¡±
Nina narrowed her eyes at Nate suspiciously. ¡°You know something, don¡¯t you?¡±
Nate nodded and gave them a small grin. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. Something has to happen first.¡± Or rather, someone had to make an appearance first.
Aura was hoping to join up with them sometime that night. Assuming nothing went wrong, and that she wasn¡¯t delayed. He would tell them the addendum to the earlier story he had concocted then.
¡°Hmm, alright,¡± She agreed after a moment, deciding to trust him.
¡°Do we need to do anything else while we wait for those bodies to do their thing?¡± He asked, looking around the place.
¡°Nope, since it¡¯s just us three this time, we can all just sleep in the back of the truck. It¡¯ll be more comfortable than sleeping in a tent. Trust us on that one,¡± Niall replied, looking around. ¡°Wait, no, I take that back. We still need to set up all the lights and put a fire together. After that, make sure to take a nap if you can. Night, as you saw last time, is when they really get active.¡±
Chapter 103
Sleeping in the truck was more comfortable than he expected. Pretty much every seat except the backmost row was designed to almost fully recline. As long as you weren¡¯t too tall, then they worked out well.
A couple of hours of sleep later, and the sun was starting to head toward the horizon when he stumbled blearily out of the truck.
The bodies in the trailer should be ready for use by that point, and frankly, he was ready to get things moving. Taking that nap might not have been the best idea, as all he wanted to do right then was go back to sleep.
His mom handed him an espresso-sized cup of her Wakeup tea as he joined them. ¡°This is a special version of the tea, and it comes with an extra kick. It¡¯s best not to drink too much of it.¡± She said in explanation of the small cup size.
He downed the liquid in one go and shuddered as liquid heat coursed through his veins, driving away all traces of fatigue. The colors at the edge of his vision pulsed a few times before settling into place like normal.
¡°What was that?¡± He asked with a lick of his lips.
¡°That was my Wakeup tea made with the natural spring water you collected. It turns out that it does indeed keep its properties inside the storage bracelet. At least for this long.¡± She had to add that caveat at the end.
¡°Well, it certainly hits differently from the regular version, that¡¯s for sure.¡± He handed the small cup back to her and did a quick set of stretches to limber up. ¡°Are we good to go?¡±
His father brought him to the back of the trailer and commenced with the tutorial. He showed him how to operate the fans, windows, shrouds, ducts, and various other items that went into using the trailer effectively. Each piece of equipment had a part to play in what they were about to do. Some cultivators used all of them, while others relied more on one or two in particular.
However, knowing them all, at least in the beginning, was key. After that, he could decide which method he wanted to go with.
In the past, Nina and Niall had mostly set the ductwork on a semi-focused spread and then left it alone. They preferred to work with the fan, shrouds, and windows to control the stream. Even the other bits and bobs, like tilt, and angle, they had set once and then forgotten about right afterward. Some people loved playing with those details each time, trying to maximize their gains.
His parents considered it pointless. Sure, it was fun for a little while, until you realized that it was largely pointless. A good gust of wind would ruin all the minute details you had put so much work and thought into like they weren¡¯t even there. Which is why they mostly stuck to the basics. They still used the settings on everything, they just weren¡¯t actively changing them each time.
It was what a lot of the expedition companies did, and where they had learned it.
Now they were teaching it all to Nate. Who took plenty of notes and asked a copious number of questions. He treated the matter seriously, not wanting to waste his parent¡¯s time, and knowing that this could potentially be a life-or-death matter in the future. Hopefully not, but if they were swarmed again like they had the week before, then being able to understand and handle these controls would help.
Together, they ran through everything several times before he and his mother climbed to the top of the trailer. It was go time.
He had exchanged all the practice bolts in his quiver for the sharper, more durable, and far-nastier tipped hunting bolts. One of which was already loaded in his crossbow.
A few feet away, his mother was standing with her own bow at the ready. ¡°Hit it, Niall. Let¡¯s have the windows and shrouds open all the way for thirty seconds, with the fans going full blast. Then raise the windows halfway. After a minute, lower the first of the shrouds into place, with the second following fifteen seconds later.¡±
She glanced at Nate to make sure he was paying attention. Most of what she had just said was for his benefit, and not her husband¡¯s. Only a few details changed each time, depending on what she could see of the sky and sense from the wind.
¡°You got it.¡±
The windows of the trailer all lowered with a thunk, letting out the qi-enhanced pheromones that the beasts released a few hours after death. Next, the fans kicked on and began blowing it all out over the old subdivision and into the forest beyond.
The first thirty seconds were quiet, and then the windows of the trailer were partly raised. That cut the amount of pheromone it blew into the surroundings by a portion. Not half, as it was still air. It simply started moving a little faster when the opening was compressed.
That was where the shroud came into play. It was what really cut the amount of pheromone being spewed into the surroundings when the fans were on full.
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It was still quiet after three minutes and, same for four minutes. At the five-minute mark, however, they began to hear the first distant screeches and noises of beasts coming their way.
¡°Cut the fan speed by half and get ready,¡± Nina told Niall as she brought her bow up to the ready position.
They were doing things very differently from the week before. He couldn¡¯t figure out if it was because there were fewer cultivators present, or if that expedition simply had different variables he wasn¡¯t aware of.
Nate knelt down on top of the trailer and kept his eyes open and ready for whatever was coming.
The first beast to make an appearance was a flying squirrel that leaped from the top of one of the houses. An arrow from his mother sent it spiraling to the ground, its wings limp and collapsed.
The next beast made itself known only a few moments later as it slithered through the trees and broken pavement. A giant emerald boa constrictor slid into view. It was easily as long as the trailer and its head was large enough that it could swallow a human if it tried hard enough.
Nate took aim and fired. His finger immediately pressed against the indentation that would pull the string back into position. The bolt cracked through the hard scales protecting the snake and sank in deep a foot behind its head. It was a good shot, but his aim had been off.
The large snake beast was definitely feeling pain, but it wasn¡¯t an instant kill shot.
He tried again as soon as he was able, and was able to kill it, despite it thrashing about in pain.
While he was doing that, his mother had eliminated another flying squirrel that had come from the same location as the first.
Down below, his father ran out and collected both squirrel bodies in the brief lull that followed. He even dragged the snake corpse closer to the trailer, but its large size prevented him from getting it inside for the moment.
The trees and brush surrounding them continued to shake and rustle about with more than just the wind. Despite that, nothing made an appearance to attack for the next couple of minutes.
¡°Be ready,¡± His mother warned, her eyes flicking from tree to tree. ¡°When a calm this long happens, it¡¯s usually because a hunting pack has arrived and is surrounding us.¡±
¡°Quilled wolves?¡± He asked, referring to the wolf species they had seen last time.
¡°Maybe, but there are other variations as well. It is probably a wolf pack of some kind though.¡±
Sure enough, a few moments later, they heard wolf howls and the beasts burst from the trees. Each one was covered in a sort of heavy-looking overlapping plate armor that ran down their sides and over most of their head. The muscular legs underneath were exposed and their obvious weakness as the beasts were rather slow.
Coming up behind them, acting as a sort of guard, was another type of wolf. This breed had long claws, and saber tooth-like fangs, with a thick trunk of a neck to support the extra weight.
Nina cursed when she saw there were multiple packs working together. The bow in her hands began to glow dimly beneath all the tape as she activated the full enchantments within it for the first time. Each arrow that she rapidly launched out would gain an extra burst of speed before impacting its chosen target. Her hands moved with unerring speed and accuracy, leaving Nate¡¯s efforts in the dust.
For every one shot he took, she had already taken a minimum of ten. He had no doubt that she could have taken even more if the draw of the bow hadn¡¯t been so high. Even using the enchantment that helped her draw it back, it wasn¡¯t an easy bow to draw back and use.
The draw weight of the bow was just that high. However, it also meant that her arrows were incredibly powerful. Something that was being displayed firsthand as they punched through the wolves¡¯ plate armor with ease, and then kept on going. Granted, both she and Niall were far too strong for this area, but natural armor was stronger than regular armor.
It was rare to see it dismissed so casually.
Needless to say, she was very impressed with her new bow.
The overall result was that two of the saber tooth wolves had fallen to Nate¡¯s bolts. Fifteen wolves had been taken out by Nina, the majority of which had been plate wolves. Then, Niall had eliminated the rest of the saber tooth wolves with his bladed tonfas and throwing knives. Twenty-three wolves were the final count. Twelve had belonged to the plate wolf pack, while all the rest had been part of the nearly equal-sized saber tooth pack.
¡°We need to get your speed up with that crossbow,¡± His mother panted, wiping some sweat from the hair above her eyes. ¡°You need to be able to load, aim, and fire it faster than that. I know there is a certain speed limit with crossbows. It will always be slower than a regular bow, but it should be capable of firing faster than what you were doing.¡±
Nate nodded; it was something he had noticed as well. ¡°Yeah, the enchantment pulls the string back fairly quickly. I¡¯m the slow part of the equation.¡±
They stayed on overwatch duty while Niall dragged the wolf bodies into the trailer.
¡°How many beasts are we expecting to get during this expedition?¡± Nate asked.
¡°Hopefully enough to fill up the trailer, which, depending on their size, is generally between one hundred to one hundred and twenty. If you remember the horde from last time, we could have gone well over that number. Probably twice over.¡± She shook her head. ¡°We left a lot of cores and meat behind last week. Even for a low-tier area, that still would have been a decent amount of money.¡±
She shook her head. ¡°Anyway, there is usually one big push of monsters each time you use the fan. If you do it correctly anyway. In this case, it was the wolves. Their packs would have pushed most of the other beasts out of the way. So we might get a few more stragglers over the next half-hour or so. Then it will be time to turn on the fan, open the windows and shrouds, and repeat everything again. Just being more careful, since there are more bodies in there now.¡±
Sure enough, over the next half hour, a few more beasts slowly trickled in before they stopped appearing entirely. Two raccoons, a rabbit, and the world¡¯s ugliest rat had all joined the pile of bodies in the trailer.
Night had fully fallen by that time, and the various lights they had placed around the area were blazing at full strength.
They took a brief break to eat, drink, and regain their strength before retaking their positions. Niall moved to the front of the trailer and began operating the controls. The fans whirred to life as the windows dropped down halfway, and the shrouds opened three-quarters of the way.
They were being much more conservative this time around. The guards for the girls might have given them glowing reviews, but Nina and Niall knew the truth. They had been too excited, too lax, and had screwed up.
It could have cost them their son if things had turned out differently. They needed to be better, so they were being better.
Chapter 104
Nate was trying to shoot the crossbow faster, while not letting his aim suffer. It was not going well; the problem was it was still an unfamiliar weapon for him. The only way he was going to get faster with it was practice and time.
He was getting lots of practice in at the moment, but time was still lacking.
They were working their way through the second wave of beasts at the moment. The big push of beasts had arrived, and they were finding it considerably more difficult than the first time. Not because they were tougher -no, they were easy to kill- but because of the sheer number involved.
The big push this time hadn¡¯t been from more wolves, boars, or other beasts that would have normally been considered top predators in an area. No, it was a horde of giant, misshapen, ugly rats!
They swarmed out of the trees in a wave of wriggling tails and missing tufts of fur.
Without even needing to be told, Nate activated the sole attack energy skill he possessed. A skill called ¡®Point Break¡¯. A dot of energy bound itself to the tip of his crossbow bolt an instant before he squeezed the trigger. The bolt buried itself inside the shoulder of a rat that proceeded to then bulge outward obscenely as the bolt exploded inside the beast when the skill activated.
Nate had asked Mira Moorish for a skill that worked for both his kukris and crossbows. The options she had given him at the time was mediocrity, with a skill that would work with both right away. Or he could take an energy skill that worked great with one but had the potential for growth and work toward evolving it on his own. Obviously, he had chosen the second option.
The skill was supposed to be used against armored foes, where the explosion would be focused right at the tip. However, against soft targets, it was incredibly effective as well, though rather wasteful as it utterly destroyed the bolts.
He had been hoping for a bigger explosion when he used it, and while it had certainly been effective, he couldn¡¯t waste the qi. Nate needed everything he had to keep the crossbow going. His parents had been right before, cocking it constantly during a beast wave was tiring for him at the moment. Not as bad as it once would have been, but he could still feel his qi reserves starting to dip lower.
Down below, his father was in the midst of a dance of death. Blood streamed through the air behind him as he moved, creating arcs of crimson liquid. It was beautiful in an odd sort of way, and he had never known his father to move as gracefully as he was right then.
Beside Nate, his mother was working the bow like it was an extension of herself. There was no hesitation in her movements, only economical strength. Pull, release, smoothly retrieve another arrow, and nock it while pulling the bowstring back, all in one continuous movement.
Shaking his head, he refocused and got back to shooting. There were rats that needed to be killed.
At the back of the swarm, where they were closest to the forest, a forty-foot sheet of green and blue glacial ice appeared. It stayed in position for several seconds, simply standing there as a tall, imposing wall of freezing cold. Then slowly it began to fall, gradually gaining speed as it did so. With a thunderous crash, it hit the ground, squashing all the rats who had been unfortunate enough to be underneath it at the time.
With a calm hop, a four-tailed kitsune appeared on one of the broken pieces of ice and looked toward them.
¡°I have arrived,¡± Aura happily sent to Nate.
¡°Yeah, I noticed.¡± He replied aloud, startling his mother, who peeked quickly down at him before returning her gaze to the kitsune. ¡°Mom, dad, I would like to introduce you to Aura. She is my companion beast and part of the surprise I mentioned I would tell you about later. Aura, these are my parents, Niall, and Nina.¡±
Aura dipped her head and projected her thoughts at them as she said hello in the odd manner she had of speaking with people.
The surprise his parents had at the evolving situation only lasted a few moments before the remaining rats required their attention. A handful of seconds later, the last of the rats had been dispatched, and everything was quiet.
¡°You have a companion beast?¡± His mother screeched. ¡°How! This is only the second time you have been out beyond the walls of the city.¡±
¡°That¡¯s not exactly true,¡± Nate confided to them as he sat on the edge of the trailer and looked down at the dozens of disgusting rat corpses that now littered the area. ¡°My dreams are connected to the structure in the middle of the dimensional zone. Well, structures; there are two of them now. That¡¯s how I met Aura here. I wanted to meet up with her to make at least partially sure I wasn¡¯t going insane and imagining everything.¡±
That was certainly a sentiment his parents could understand.
With this revelation, he could finally tell them that they were dungeons, and why he didn¡¯t want them going inside. It still wasn¡¯t perfect, but unless he told them the full truth, it was probably as good as he was going to get. The full truth was out of the question. He had already decided that long ago. Telling anyone that he was the one in control of the dungeons was a big no-no.
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However, he had discovered the week before that there was a certain amount of relief in telling his parents something. Not necessarily a cleansing of his soul, but more like a small weight off his shoulders. They could carry the full weight of what he was doing, nor would he ever ask them to, but small portions were certainly doable.
They talked more as they cleared up the mess that had been made.
The second wave, mainly due to the rats, had ended up filling the trailer a lot more than they originally intended for it to be by this point. They had enough room for another wave, but that would be it. This time around, they would be finishing a little early, it seemed.
Not early enough to drive the rig and trailer back to drop everything off and then make a second run. They weren¡¯t that lucky. Still, the next week, they would probably move to a slightly more difficult area.
The sound of rattling trailers filled the air behind them, as a couple of late expedition teams turned off the main road.
Aura¡¯s head snapped toward Nate. ¡°Should I hide? How common are companion beasts?¡±
¡°Err,¡± He repeated the question to his parents after a moment. It was a hard one for him to answer without knowing more. Nate had seen cultivators walking around with their companion beasts in the city, but he wouldn¡¯t say they were exactly common. He didn¡¯t know how strong those people were, either.
¡°It¡¯s a little odd, but not terribly so. A lot of parents buy companion beasts for their children, especially if they are long-range fighters. They are rather expensive, so we hadn¡¯t even considered it. However, her tails are rather eye-catching.¡± Nina informed him after a moment.
Aura¡¯s first tail, a pale, indistinct watery looking color, began to glow. A moment later, all four of her tails had been replaced by a single normal-looking fox tail. She was still larger than normal, and had her own coloring, but appeared more like a regular fox than before.
¡°Are these rats even worth anything?¡± Nate asked as he watched his dad cut open yet another one, only to come away with nothing.
¡°Most rats in these waves won¡¯t have cores. The stronger ones will either lead their own waves, be alone, or move to a stronger area. I won¡¯t say they are worth a lot, but yeah, their bodies are still worth something to the cities. Nothing is wasted, don¡¯t forget that. We might not make as much off of them, but they can still be sold.¡±
Aura¡¯s ice had vanished, allowing them to get to the flattened rat patties that had been left in its wake. All told from that roughly forty-strong rat wave, they had only managed to score five cores. It was a horrible average and made Nate despise rats even more. They didn¡¯t even make good beast fodder.
They were still carrying the rats to the back of the trailer when the rattling trailers they had heard before started to come closer. They had stopped for a couple of minutes at a different site but were now back on the move again.
Niall rested his hand on the grip of a tonfa, while Nina unslung her bow. It wasn¡¯t often that cultivators actually fought each other while out on an expedition, but it did happen occasionally. After all, what better way was there to make sure a body disappeared than to do it while out in the wild?
So, while they weren¡¯t truly worried about being attacked right then, they knew to be cautious. Besides, their interaction earlier with the cultivators from another city had been¡ taxing in that regard.
Two trucks stopped at the opening of the street where they were parked. Both were nice-looking trucks, with lift kits, modified exhausts, and large turbos. The trailers being dragged behind them, on the other hand left something to be desired. They were both rusty, old-modified horse trailers.
The driver door opened on the closest one and a slightly pudgy middle-aged man leaned out. ¡°Would it be alright if we joined you here? This is our second required expedition this month, and we got started late. We were going to set up back there, but then we saw your lights and saw you were already set up. We thought, maybe, you wouldn¡¯t mind letting us join in?¡± He sounded so hopeful they couldn¡¯t help but breathe out the tension they had been unconsciously gathering in their necks and shoulders.
They all shared a glance and then shrugged.
¡°Sure, come on in, just make sure the street exit is left open in case any of us need to leave in a hurry,¡± Nina told the man.
He slapped the roof of his truck with a grin and ducked back inside.
The next few minutes were filled with some of the most inelegant trailer maneuvering that Nate had ever seen in both lives.
¡°Uh, maybe you and mom should teach me how to back up the trailer at some point. I don¡¯t want to be stuck doing ninety-point turns like these two as they keep screwing it up.¡± Both his parents nodded in agreement wordlessly.
The rats had all been moved to the back of the trailer by the time their new friends had finished parking and began to unload. The only good thing about rats is, despite their initial size, they packed down rather well. That meant they still had a decent amount of room left in the trailer still.
A couple of the new cultivators who had just joined them came over to introduce themselves a minute later.
The driver who had originally asked for permission to join them was named John. He was a water technician at the local plant. His wife was Alice, and she worked for one of the construction companies as a dirt compacter. People like her had built the wall around the city.
The rest of the people in the group worked similarly mundane jobs and were their neighbors for the most part. There was a teacher, a software engineer, a mechanic, and a housewife. Their group had a little bit of everything from the more normal side of life.
These were the people who kept the city running day in and day out.
It wasn¡¯t until that moment that Nate realized just how disconnected he had become from the surrounding people. He had never considered himself a part of the upper crust of society. However, in a way, that was almost how the cultivators who dedicated themselves to expeditions and gaining strength were perceived. He had stopped actively interacting with people like this and instead found himself hanging out with people like Angie and Lindsay instead.
It wasn¡¯t something he had done consciously; it was simply the social divide in action. There was no reason to be around them until there was a reason to, such as right at that moment.
It took a good half hour for them to get situated in their preferred locations. Then Niall opened the windows and shrouds while turning the fans on at full.
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It''s called Created G.H.O.S.T. System and I''ll be putting out daily chapters for the next week or two on it. Enjoy.
Become a Wraith. Advance Through the Tiers. Don''t go Cyberpsycho.
Trace had finally gotten his first proper job as an apprentice Wraith, and already everything was going wrong. The information the Job Broker had given him was bad. Now he was left hiding in the middle of a Scav den as they returned.
Such was life in Denver in the year 2159.
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Everything had changed when Steel Goddess Meredith went berserk a hundred and thirty years before. Her wrath was just the first step in the downfall of humanity and the world.
The Corporations that were to blame, got pushed aside, while new ones rose up to power. All the while she watched down from above, no longer caring what humans did with Earth. Space, however, was hers alone.
This was the world Trace was born into, a harsh, uncaring place. It was also one where it was possible to become practically immortal if you had enough money and could withstand the side-effects.
As long as he can keep his cyberware under control, and can keep progressing and learning. Moving through the Tiers to become a specialized Wraith won''t be a problem. First, he''ll need to survive long enough to escape this den. Preferably with all his parts still attached.
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Chapter 105
The new people were completely trying to take advantage of what they had already done. If they set out now, they would need to find some beasts to kill and bring back. Then there was also the waiting period that would delay them. They also had the terrible condition of their trailers to contend with.
It was obvious that they were proud of their trucks and that the trailers were either a secondary concern or rentals. Either way, there was no guarantee that the fan and other functions in them would work properly.
So, it made sense that they would want to piggyback on to an already in-process expedition. It saved them from waiting around and let them get right to the action.
Nate¡¯s parents didn¡¯t say anything about them after letting them join. ¡°Does something like this happen often?¡±
His father looked up from his place at the back of the trailer and waggled his hand back and forth. ¡°Meeting other groups is pretty common. Even during the week, your mother and I will encounter a couple of them. Their choosing the site right behind ours would have been completely normal. Asking to join another expedition¡¯s hunting site is a little stranger. It still happens but is significantly more rare.¡±
Aura was resting at the foot of their trailer, where she could hear everything going on. Her presence had raised a few brows, but none of their visitors had said anything about her.
¡°People who only do the required expeditions are an interesting bunch, I¡¯ve always thought.¡± His mother said from beside him. ¡°The way they act, and think, is so different from the way those of us who do this as an occupation. Meeting them out here is always a nice breath of fresh air.¡±
That was a sentiment that Nate could completely understand.
The entire time they had been talking, the fan had been blowing at full blast. With more cultivators and two more trailers to fill, they were going to need a lot more beasts. Still, Niall cut the power in half after another minute, raised the windows three-quarters of the way, and then partially closed the shrouds. He would let it keep running in the background for the time being with those settings.
Aura¡¯s ears began to twitch as she heard noises in the forest, too distant for the humans to hear for the time being. It was nice to have the early warning, as it let the three know to start getting ready.
A minute later, Aura stood up and shook the gravel from her hair. ¡°Can I use my techniques, or should I stick to claws and mouth?¡± She sent to Nate.
He glanced at their new companions and gently shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re playing at being a mostly normal fox beast for the moment, so no techniques. Sorry.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. Sticking to the inside of the first dungeon was getting a little boring anyway. It was starting to feel wrong to continually kill my people, even if they did betray my family. Unfortunately, the second dungeon is too strong for me to do anything in alone.¡±
He knew what she was talking about. The blighted elves were no joke. That reminded him that he needed to check on the energy expenditure for the traps. After all the changes he had made to the traps, it had gotten better, but it was still in the red in terms of operating cost. The only reason they could afford to keep going was because of the shared energy pool that the first dungeon was donating to.
He was hoping that researching the laser technology would drive those costs down and finally put the dungeon in the black.
The research time for that particular project was two and a half days when he started it. That meant there was still plenty of time left on the timer.
¡°Sorry, I needed to make a dungeon where I could get items more often. The drop rate for them in the first dungeon was abysmal, since your people don¡¯t use items in the first place.¡± It had made him question why he had gotten the items he had more than once. All it had come down to was him still not understanding how the dungeons worked.
¡°You could have just asked me if you were curious,¡± She chided him, reminding him that she now knew more about the dungeon system than he did. ¡°You specifically had a need for those items, so the dungeon itself generated them. They weren¡¯t taken from the beasts you were fighting at the time. If you had taken a look at the resources right after those items were created, you would have noticed a dip each time.¡±
He nodded along as he listened to her talk. ¡°So, the items I gave my parents then, those actually came from the blighted elves and not the dungeon itself?¡±
Her head shook from side to side. ¡°Kind of. It¡¯s more like the base blueprints came from the items the blighted elves were carrying, and then the dungeon modified them some. The cost isn¡¯t nearly as egregious as when they are created from nothing, but they still have a cost in resources.¡±
He took a moment to process. ¡°So, I probably shouldn¡¯t go in there with the intention to get items of some sort too often then.¡±
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¡°No, probably not, especially not in the second dungeon.¡± She agreed.
That was easy to understand when she explained it that way. He really needed to put in the effort to ask her for information more often.
By that point, the first of the beasts had started to make their way through the trees and out into the open. The first three were whip-tailed leopards, each with three tails signifying they were at least in the core creation realm. A bolt from Nate and an arrow from Nina eliminated two of them, while Aura handled the third.
She nimbly dodged the strikes from the cracking tails. Occasionally she would knock them aside with one of her own if the situation called for it, and she could get away with it. Her tails might have been disguised to look like they were one whole at the moment, but they were all still there. It was only an illusion, after all, not a transformation.
Her claws raked through its neck and stopped it cold as it fell to the ground, dead.
Niall whistled softly in appreciation. ¡°Those were some nice moves, Aura; those whips aren¡¯t easy to dodge.¡± He hurried over and began pulling the bodies toward the trailer with her help. If they were going to get swarmed, then they wanted the area to be as clear as possible.
There was some rustling in the brush behind them, and a large porcupine beast waddled into view next to the two new groups.
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Its appearance took them by surprise, but this wasn¡¯t their first expedition, and were ready to meet it a few moments later. The makeup of their party was interesting to Nate as they didn¡¯t follow the normal format.
When he and the girls had been intending to party together, they had all chosen specific roles that fit them, but still mostly helped the party. It was admittedly a little hard to do with only three people. However, you typically had a striker, defender, and then someone in the back acting as a controller doing long-range attacks. With more people, you could, of course, improve the format, but that was the basic setup and the one they had gone with.
The two parties he was watching were nothing like that. The weapons they carried were ones that didn¡¯t require much training to use, at least as long as they didn¡¯t try to get fancy with them. One party carried spears, the other carried clubs, and they all carried crossbows. They hadn¡¯t picked their weapons based on personal preference but on ease of use.
Hunting was a chore for them, nothing more. It was something to be completed as quickly as possible so they could get back to their daily lives.
As he watched, they lowered their spears to meet its waddling charge, while above their heads, their friends took aim. The crossbows they were using were powerful and came with cranks that could be attached after every shot to help them pull the powerful bows back into position.
Slow, but powerful. That was all he had to say about them.
Yes, the bolts could punch through a tree, but the crossbows were incredibly slow to reload and looked to be rather heavy as well. However, the great thing about crossbows was their extreme power and how easy they were to aim. Not to mention, with all of them carrying one of them, the setup worked halfway decently for them. Granted, they weren¡¯t getting swarmed at the moment either.
A pair of raccoons, their long sharp claws digging through the crumbling pavement, followed after the porcupine just a short time later.
It was here that Nate truly got to see how the two teams worked together. None of them were expert marksmen, however, they were all decent enough shots. The spears kept the raccoons from getting close and restricted their movements enough that the crossbow users could land a hit.
That was all it took, and a few short moments later, they were loading the corpses into their trailers.
He wouldn¡¯t say it was impressive, not really. But they were making decent use of what they did have along with their abilities. At least in his amateur opinion.
That was all he had time to take in, as they had their own beasts to eliminate after that. A large pack of coyotes had chosen that moment to make their appearance.
¡°These aren¡¯t beasts,¡± Aura informed Nate as she took in the sight of them. ¡°They are evolved animals though, which means they will be smarter than normal.¡±
¡°Will they still have a core?¡± He asked aloud.
¡°They should.¡±
His parents both shot him a glance. ¡°Just talking with Aura. She was telling me that these are evolved animals, instead of beasts from the dimensional zone.¡±
Niall nodded. ¡°They will, but dealing with them is a pain. Evolved animals in general are usually annoying as they are smarter in general and have learned from us humans over the years. Of course, it should go without saying that some animals are naturally smarter or craftier than others. Some, like the rats, have barely seen an increase in their intelligence.¡±
Not all the rats they encountered were evolved animals, some were beasts from the dimensional zone. Regardless, they both seemed to be equally reckless with their lives.
Seeing as they were in a pack, Nate decided to try something and used his basic ties skill. Threads between each of the coyotes sprang into his vision. They were all interconnected, but the majority of them led to three coyotes in the middle of the group. There might be no such thing as an alpha, but every group had its leaders, regardless of species.
Nudging his mom, Nate pointed to two of them while he aimed at the third. With a thumping jerk against his shoulder, the powerful crossbow released the bolt.
He missed, not by much, but it didn¡¯t kill the coyote. The bolt scored a bleeding groove down its side as it jumped away, but that was it. The two his mother had aimed for fell over dead without complaint like good giant coyotes should.
Instantly, a large portion of the threads holding the pack together and as a cohesive element frayed and snapped. The evolved animals were still smart, but without them working together as part of a whole pack, they were much less dangerous. It would also be easier to scare them off now. Some things about coyotes never changed, and that was one of them.
Aura and Niall dashed forward, and over the course of the next two minutes, twelve more of the coyotes fell to their efforts.
At last, with a beaten look, the coyote Nate had skimmed with his bolt gave a high-pitched bark. The remaining pack turned and fled into the night, disturbing a couple of moose who had been minding their own business nearby.
With a bugling roar, the two moose swung their heads and wiped out a few more of the coyotes. A huff of annoyance passed through their large lips as they shouldered past the trees, cracking them, and vanished.
Chapter 106
Nate was sitting inside the truck beside Aura as they left the old subdivision behind them. The sun was beginning to peek over the distant horizon as they began their journey back home. They had spent some time swapping out the bodies inside the trailer for those that would bring in more of a profit. A fair bit of time had also been spent on retrieving cores from everything so they wouldn¡¯t have to do it later.
The other group was still back there, finishing up their own preparations to leave. They were packing their old-rusted, rickety trailers as full as they could. They had admitted to Nina and Niall that their usual expeditions were barely above the minimum requirements. Seeing how the three, well, four of them fought had reminded them of what they had learned so long ago when they were in school. They had already started to think about how they could change and improve their formation.
None of them were too proud to admit that the sudden influx of money from cores and bodies would help in that regard. If they were going to change the formation, then new gear would be needed as well.
Nate yawned and absentmindedly began to pet and scratch Aura behind the ears.
She had let the illusion fall as soon as they were in the truck and was back to looking normal again.
¡°Are you going to be able to hide yourself when we reach the city?¡± Nina asked Aura.
She nodded. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t work against other beasts, but against humans, it should be easy enough. I can disguise myself again if that is easier, or simply enter Nate.¡±
Nina began to nod along, before suddenly twisting her head around so quickly that her hair whipped Niall in the face. ¡°What was that last one you mentioned? I think there might have been a translation error there. The images I was getting showed you going into his chest. That can¡¯t be right though, that¡¯s not how companion beast connections work. They can¡¯t simply enter a person¡¯s body.¡±
Nate held his hand out to Aura. She put her paw on it and quickly turned ephemeral and sank into his skin as she retreated for the moment.
Now that they had met in person, his body acted as a portal to the dungeons for her. However, it also acted as a safe haven of sorts. At any time when they were touching, she could sink beneath his skin and curl herself around his main core, while her tails protected his backup core.
There was undoubtedly some benefit to doing this, besides the comfort it provided her. What that was, though, neither of them knew at the moment. It was something they would need to learn together.
Nate¡¯s mother felt her mouth drop open in surprise. ¡°Aura¡ she just- just-¡± She tugged on Niall¡¯s arm. ¡°Honey, Aura just sank into Nate¡¯s skin. Was that something companion beasts did?¡±
From the rearview mirror, Nate could see his father¡¯s eyes were wide. He had seen what Aura did and was barely holding it together as he gripped the creaking steering wheel tight.
¡°I, uh, didn¡¯t think so, but I admittedly also haven¡¯t spent a lot of time around them.¡± Niall managed to say after several miles of silence.
The trip back to the city and its protective walls was filled with quiet conversation as they chatted about Nate¡¯s schooling and their work. Both of them had absolutely loved their new weapons and items. The performance of each had blown them away.
Nate was glad to hear it, but by the time they had reached the walls of the city, his attention had been taken by something else. A message from the second dungeon had suddenly appeared on the ethereal touchscreen of the computer attached to his wrist.
¡®Energy resource is dangerously low. All traps and extraneous systems currently inside the dungeon have been disabled. You have twenty-four hours to correct this before trap reclamation will begin. If that has not corrected the deficit, after a further seventy-two hours, parts of the dungeon itself will be reclaimed. This can only be stopped once enough energy to resume normal operations has been generated.¡¯
He held back a curse as he pulled up the information on the second dungeon. Even with all the modifications he had made to the traps, they were still sucking up too much energy. He had thought it was fine, that the shared pool would keep things in balance.
The first dungeon was generating so much energy, he hadn¡¯t seen a case where the dungeon would burn through all the energy. He had been a na?ve idiot.
When he made the lasers and other traps weaker, they became less efficient at taking out the blighted elves. That meant that more of them were surviving than before, even if the number was still small. No, the real problem came from those blighted elves who could sense danger. More of them had come through, and they were causing the rooms those elves were trapped in to run constantly. All the while, they were content to sit wherever it was safe.
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More and more elves had come through the portal like normal, while fewer and fewer had been dying. It increased the energy coming in, but also spiked the energy being spent. He had to acknowledge that this might not have been the best design for a dungeon.
At least the deficit wasn¡¯t too bad. He would have enough energy to resume normal operations shortly. The problem was how many blighted elves were now inside the second dungeon. He hurriedly disabled all of the traps, except for the ones nearest the exit. That way, even if the traps came back online, he wouldn¡¯t be wasting energy anywhere except at the spot where they all needed to go anyway.
It was infuriating that he had miscalculated like this, but it was all part of learning.
He would do better going forward, or something like this could become a major danger. The shared pool was certainly a blessing, however, it didn¡¯t solve everything. He could see that there was energy inside the energy pool, but the second dungeon wasn¡¯t accessing it at all. The dungeon was going to have to generate enough energy on its own first to reactivate the systems before it could then access the shared resource pool again.
It was a good thing there were a lot of blighted elves inside the place. Their mere presence was making a difference, just at a slower pace. Energy from beings inside the dungeons came at a consistent but slow and low rate. Death provided that same energy in a large burst all at once. Where it would take dozens of hours or more to get the energy from something just existing in the dungeon, their death would give it all at once.
He only had a few minutes to work through everything and get the dungeon in order before they drove into the processing facility. Unlike the last time, all the cores had already been taken out of all the bodies. All they needed to do was unload all the bodies onto the forklift that would weigh them.
The same representative as the week before inspected the beasts as they were loaded onto the massive tray on the front of the forklift. He marked down each type along with their numbers, keeping a running tally going as the three unloaded their trailer.
When they had finished, he lifted the tray into the air to get the final numbers and ran everything through the computer. It spat out a cheque for the initial payment that he needed to sign. He handed it over to the Holmes, and their business was completed.
¡°I¡¯m glad to see you didn¡¯t run into any extra trouble this week. It seems like you had a good hunt.¡±
¡°It wasn¡¯t too bad; we had some regulars come join our hunting spot halfway through the expedition. They were interesting folk, and it was a lot better than the mess we ran into last week. That¡¯s for sure.¡± Nina told him as they all climbed back up into the truck.
¡°Do I need to warn them about joining other¡¯s encampments?¡± The representative asked carefully.
Niall shook his head. ¡°No, they asked before joining ours and kept a respectful distance. The argument could be made that they were leeching off us, but we were already using the fan, so there was no major difference there. Sure, we kept things going a little longer than we would have on our own, but it worked out. We got a better haul than we would have otherwise, and Nate needed the extra practice with his secondary weapon.¡±
The representative nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll leave it alone. You all take care, and I¡¯ll be seeing the two of you in a couple of days, yeah?¡±
¡°Yup, that¡¯s our new schedule.¡± Niall agreed as he put the truck in gear and drove them slowly out of the processing facility.
¡°How did we do?¡± Nate couldn¡¯t help but ask.
¡°Not as well as last week, where we had two trips, but not bad either. We were farther in this time, so the quality was better. Then, with all the extra time we spent in the subdivision, we were able to toss out all of the rats we had collected. They¡¯ll buy them, but they really aren¡¯t worth much, outside of the teeth. We should have collected their teeth.¡± He finished with a shake of his head.
Nate looked inside at his core and saw that Aura was sleeping soundly, wrapped around both his cores. No wonder she hadn¡¯t responded to the message from the dungeon earlier. She had probably been exhausted after leaving the dungeon and then fighting beside him all night long.
They parked the rig and trailer, with Nina pushing the first button on a remote she pulled out of the glove box. Jane met them a minute later as they were transferring items back into the SUV.
¡°Hey Nina, Niall, and uh?¡± She tilted her head, drawing a blank when it came to Nate¡¯s name.
¡°Nate, I don¡¯t think we were introduced last week.¡±
¡°Right, you all were trying to get away from that hazardous wasteland you left for me as fast as you could,¡± Jane said with a grin. ¡°Judging by the state of your clothes this time around, I¡¯d say it¡¯s going to be a more normal cleaning.¡±
Nina nodded. ¡°We got a little bloody taking out the cores, but Nate and I were on controlling duty the entire time. Niall, on the other hand¡¡±
They all looked at him. His tonfas were a decidedly close-range weapon, and he had the blood stains to show it.
¡°Right, bring extra blood stain remover like usual,¡± Jane told her with a shake of her head. ¡°I have no idea how you all do it. I like being clean too much to ever let myself roll around in the filth like all of you expeditioners seem to enjoy doing.¡±
¡°We¡¯ve been through this, Jane. We don¡¯t enjoy it, it¡¯s just a fact of life. Now, with that in mind, I think it¡¯s time for us to go take our showers and get cleaned up.¡±
A few minutes later, now freshly showered and in clean clothes, the three of them were on their way to the bank. The last item before they could head home was to get all of the cores processed.
¡°Before we go inside, does anyone need any of the cores for anything?¡± Niall asked as he parked the SUV.
¡°I need void or shadow cores for my cultivation, but I can use two of every other kind of core. The weapon I use in my dreams is powered by cores, and different cores provide different effects.¡± He quickly explained to them. ¡°I do a fair bit of training with my kukris in the dreams, but sometimes, I need something a little more powerful or that can just go through everything faster.¡±
His dad just shook his head at that unexpected little tidbit of information. He and Nina had no clue what to make of his ¡®dreams¡¯ anymore. Not that they ever had, but the appearance of Aura, and the revelation that his dreams were taking place in the structures which were actually dungeons, changed things. That meant each night there was yet another version of their son fighting in those things.
It was a little hard to process at the moment.
Chapter 107
Nate knew his parents weren¡¯t stupid. If they hadn¡¯t yet, then soon enough they would begin to put some clues together. The most notable of which were likely the signs he had put outside the dungeon when it first appeared. His parents had told him to keep his secrets to himself, as they understood the need for secrecy.
Hopefully, they stuck with that. He really didn¡¯t want to risk word about what he could do getting out. It would be better if they never mentioned it, period.
By the time they reached the house, they were all starting to yawn. Unloading the car only took a few minutes, as most things were inside Nina¡¯s storage bracelet. Not everything though, as they still had to be seen unloading at least a few items.
From there, it was a quick stop to the garage and the washer machine for the first load and then they all headed to bed.
***
At some point during his extended nap, Aura had come out of his chest and made herself at home in his room. At the moment, she was curled up on his computer chair in front of the window, just watching the outside world.
¡°How is it? Different from what you imagined?¡± He asked her with a yawn while stretching.
¡°I didn¡¯t even know enough to imagine what it would be like. Meeting your parents'' last night, and coming across the truck and trailer were eye-opening,¡± There was the slightest of hesitations when she sent the two names across, and this time they were accompanied by images.
¡°That¡¯s right, that¡¯s what they are called.¡± He stopped his stretching and turned to her. ¡°How exactly are you talking to my parents? Are you using this method, or the original one from when we first met?¡±
¡°I have been using the original method of my people. Why?¡±
¡°No reason, I was just curious, is all. My mom made a few comments about the images she was getting from you that made me wonder.¡±
Aura nodded. ¡°I thought it would be better if I didn¡¯t appear to have a firm grasp on your language just yet.¡±
¡°I appreciate it. My parents are already keeping enough of my secrets as it is. I would rather not add more of them if it can be helped.¡± He reached out and scratched her behind the ears for a few minutes as they sat in silence and enjoyed the view.
¡°The second dungeon is going to be a problem.¡± She said, at last, breaking the peaceful atmosphere.
¡°For now, once the Dungeon Core finishes researching the project, I have it on the cost of everything should go down. Wait-¡± Nate¡¯s hand froze mid-scratch. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you could access the other dungeons if you weren¡¯t in them.¡±
¡°I can¡¯t if I am inside a dungeon. Or rather, I should say, I can¡¯t except when I am with you. I can access both dungeons through you, similar to a portal, but it also lets me access the administrator functions, which I can¡¯t do inside a portal.¡±
That was a useful piece of information.
¡°Having you come out to meet me just keeps getting better,¡± Nate said in appreciation. ¡°I agree that we will need to keep an eye on the second dungeon. Actually, Samhain is coming up soon. I don¡¯t know what you call it -if anything- but it¡¯s a yearly event wherein the portals begin to act differently.¡±
Aura bobbed her head. ¡°We do have our own name for it, though it doesn¡¯t translate well. How will it affect the dungeons?¡±
¡°No idea. All we can do is prepare the best we can for whatever happens. I think something will happen to the first dungeon around that time, as well.¡± The countdown timer that had appeared would be done roughly a day and a half before Samhain.
Assuming no more beasts made it through the portal, that is. That was the main reason the timer had continued to shrink as much as it had. With no beasts coming through the portal, the original month-timeline had been cut in half.
Then he would need to make a real decision concerning the portal and what to do with it. Before then, it was pointless to even think about it. He didn¡¯t even know what his options would be outside of closing the portal. Which was something that he didn¡¯t think was a good idea. The entire economy of the city was built around the dimensional zone. If he closed the portal, then that zone would likely vanish at some point.
¡°Nate!¡± His mother called out for him. ¡°Can you come down here?¡±
He followed her voice downstairs and then down into the basement. His parents had rearranged the gym equipment, so they were closer to the wall. It had opened up a path down the middle of the room with a large target at the far end.
¡°I told you, while we were out there, that you needed to get your speed with the crossbow up. Your aim was already fairly decent, but anytime you tried to speed up too much, your bolts started to drift off target more. Now you have somewhere to practice during the week while we are gone. Make sure you actually use it with your practice bolts, not the hunting bolts. We should have set this up last week; we just didn¡¯t think of it at the time. Sorry.¡±
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He shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s fine. This is awesome. It sucks that our house isn¡¯t longer though.¡±
The archery lane they had created was limited by the length of their side of the duplex.
His father snorted. ¡°Everyone¡¯s a critic when it comes to length.¡±
Nate¡¯s mouth fell open in shock as his parents started laughing at his reaction.
Aura perked up and tilted her head toward the ceiling. ¡°We have visitors.¡±
The distant sound of knocking echoed through the house and down to the basement.
¡°Were we expecting company?¡± He asked as they all headed for the stairs.
Both of them shook their heads as a second knock came from the front door.
¡°It¡¯s probably George,¡± Nate muttered. ¡°Everyone else has the sense to use the doorbell.¡±
Behind them, Aura¡¯s form flickered and changed. The color of her hair had taken on a more normal rust-colored red, and she now only had one fluffy-looking tail. She wasn¡¯t going to bother hiding while they were at home. That would just get tiring and annoying.
Niall opened the door, and sure enough, George was standing on the front porch. Standing at his side was a woman with dark brown hair that was starting to become streaked with grey. Her face was mostly smooth outside of a few crowfoot wrinkles at the corners of her hazel eyes and around her mouth. Her hand was clasped around the crook of George¡¯s elbow, with his hand resting comfortingly on hers.
¡°Claire, I presume?¡± Nate asked, brushing past his parents. ¡°George has told me a little about you, but I thought he said you were childhood sweethearts. He looks positively ancient compared to you.¡±
A soft laugh met his words as her grip on George¡¯s elbow relaxed a fraction. ¡°He does suffer from old man face, doesn¡¯t he? I need to get him some decent moisturizer.¡±
His parents invited them inside, and moments later, they were all sitting in the living room talking.
George couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off of Aura, who was lying on the ground next to Nate¡¯s feet.
¡°When did you get a companion beast?¡± He asked, at last, unable to contain his curiosity any longer.
¡°During this trip,¡± Nate said, as he reached down to pet Aura. ¡°She came to me and before I knew it, the bond had been formed. Which I gather is not the normal method.¡±
His father laughed. ¡°If all of us had beasts coming to us offering themselves up as companions, then maybe. But no, the usual process is a lot more complicated and involved.¡±
George stared at Aura and then shifted his gaze to Nate. ¡°Interesting for sure, and it looks like you are making good progress on your core. How about your meditation art? Have you started cultivating it yet?¡±
Nate shook his and explained the various obstacles he had encountered with the meditation art initially, and how he had started to finally make progress on it. Of course, all of that would be coming to an end the next day when he picked up his new meditation art. The one that was more closely aligned with his actual affinity.
One step forward, two steps back, as it were.
However, now that he had some experience under his belt, it wouldn¡¯t take as long to reach the same place with the new art. At least, that was the hope. Speaking of which, he needed to download all the void meditation arts he could find on the internet later so he could compare them. The bulk of what he had found on the net for the shadow meditation art had been too mangled to be useful. After getting basic ties though, he had been able to sift through and find a few useful nuggets.
Integrating them into the meditation art from the school was another matter entirely. It had shown him that not everything he had found was as useless as he had started to think it was, at least.
After they had all been talking for nearly twenty minutes, George clapped his hands, bringing their attention to him. ¡°We did actually come here tonight for a reason. I know you just got back from an expedition and are likely tired. I wanted you to meet Claire, and I thought I would invite you out to eat. I have benefitted from your hospitality numerous times at this point, and never reciprocated. It is time to fix that glaring omission on my part.¡±
¡°What are you talking about? You were helping Nate. There was never any need or obligation to return our hospitality. If anything, we haven¡¯t done enough to repay you.¡± Nina protested.
¡°Nonsense, now go grab your coats and we will head out. I apologize in advance that we will need to leave Aura, as I was unaware of her presence when I made the reservations.¡±
He was being a little pushy, but he was also right. None of them had felt particularly up to cooking anything more extravagant than a frozen burrito or pizza.
Aura followed Nate upstairs and then vanished into his chest while he quickly changed into something more appropriate and grabbed a jacket. A minute later, he was back downstairs and waiting for his parents.
¡°So, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, and I do realize this is a little personal, what have the two of you decided to do?¡± He asked, motioning to Claire and then to George.
¡°We are still in the process of deciding,¡± George told them after a moment of looking into her eyes. ¡°Claire needs to head back to her city and home in a few days. We¡¯ll continue to talk at that point and go from there. All we know for sure is that we are taking things slow right now.¡±
Claire nodded, taking George¡¯s hand in her own.
Nina and Niall came down the stairs. Both had gone the same route as Nate, and similarly, had changed into something more presentable.
¡°Alright, shall we follow you?¡± Niall asked as he helped his wife into her jacket.
¡°Sure, we are heading toward the old Union railroad station. There is a restaurant that opened within the last couple of months. They specialize in cooking beast meat, and they just keep it coming until you are full. The servers each carry meat from a different species of beast. I was reminded of the place when I was having dinner with Nate the other day. Supposedly, it is an experience and also delicious.¡± He shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ll settle for it being a memorable place to have dinner together.¡±
¡°I believe I know the place you are talking about,¡± Nina told him. ¡°I think I heard a few of the other hunters talking about the place a few weeks ago at the parking lot. It has been getting a lot of attention recently.¡±
¡°I¡¯m not surprised.¡± George waited for them to lock the door before continuing. ¡°Most regulars and normal folk don¡¯t tend to have easy access to beast meat. The benefits it brings them when eaten in an unprocessed state can¡¯t be understated.¡±
Chapter 108
Dinner had been delicious, and the company had been delightful. Claire was fun and easy to talk to. She had made an effort to get to know them, understanding that they were important to George in some way. Because she had been willing to put in that effort, there had been no awkward pauses or lulls in the conversation the entire night.
It had been fun, and easy, a night out between friends who were catching up and having fun.
All too soon, it came to an end, and it was time for them to separate and return home. They had actually stayed out later than they had originally intended, and Nate still had school in the morning.
The days were slowly starting to blend together as a routine formed in his life. The only things that kept it from being utterly forgettable were Angie and Lindsay, and a couple of his classes at school. Most of the rest of it was simply the same old, day in and day out.
His interactions with the dungeons each night were where he found the most satisfaction. However, he also understood that they needed time to do their own thing. Constantly monitoring them was what the Dungeon Cores were for¡ Specifically the level two upgrade. Apparently, the basic level one was practically worthless.
Still, he found himself enjoying the time he spent designing and changing the dungeons. There was always the constant worry that something might happen to one of the cores, but he had hidden them behind dual false walls for a reason. He didn¡¯t believe that most people would think there was another false wall behind the first false wall. The treasure in front of their eyes would be too distracting.
Still, that is what made this new life of his so fulfilling. He had a couple of friends. He had his parent''s back, and he had a purpose in the form of the dungeons and whatever their end goal might be.
Nate said good night to his parents and trudged up the stairs to his bedroom. Even with the nap earlier, it had been a long day, and his body was looking forward to getting some sleep. Honestly, he wouldn¡¯t mind simply turning off his mind as well, except he needed to do some work on the dungeons.
Almost mechanically, yawning the entire time, he stripped down and fell into bed, barely remembering to don his avatar before his head hit the pillow.
Nate found himself standing in the core room of the second dungeon. After over fourteen hours of being out of commission, it had finally started back up again about a half hour earlier.
The only room that was currently active trap-wise was the exit. Which was also a room that had three different traps in it and was something that he had almost considered overkill when he first put it together.
The first trap was enhanced gravity. Yes, it sucked up energy, but it was needed for what came next. The second trap was another frequency room. He had seen how much the blighted elves enjoyed the first one that he had to create a second one. The increased gravity would hold them in place for longer and really let them enjoy the changes in frequency and the effects it had on their bodies.
The final trap in the room was a railgun that launched spikes from the floor. Although that only happened near the actual exit. It wouldn¡¯t be good to cut short the frequency testing too soon.
Pulling up the camera screens, Nate was surprised to see how many blighted elves there were inside the dungeon. They generally appeared in groups of five, every fifteen minutes. Some of them, or rather most of them, had surely managed to escape the dungeon before it turned back on. Yet, there were still a solid fifty of them roaming the halls.
When he looked at the portal room, he understood why. The blighted elves had spent their time wisely and created a map of the entire dungeon.
Thanks to having researched the blighted elves'' language earlier, he could also read their notes. He did wonder though, if it only worked through the cameras, or if he would also be able to read it in person. Regardless, he could now read what they had been writing about the dungeon, and little of it was nice.
Just for that, he decided he wasn¡¯t going to let them keep their map. Or rather, he was, but it would no longer be useful. As soon as he got the chance, he would change the layout of the dungeon. A few of the rooms would stay the same, but most would find the corridors swapped around, if nothing else.
Nate hung around the second dungeon for a while longer. Just watching the different groups as they wandered the rooms. Mostly, he watched what was going on at the exit, and the energy expenditure. He had made numerous improvements to the traps, and everything had still gone sideways.
He had changed out the laser LEDs from blue to red, which had been a major energy saving. At least in theory. The issue was they were also less powerful, so they had to operate for longer to make up the difference. The pulsing effect he had implemented also hadn¡¯t done as much as he hoped it would because of the red diode''s lower power. If they had still been using blue or even green LEDs, it might have been effective. With red, however, it had simply proven to be a waste.
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The theory had been somewhat valid. He had simply chosen the wrong color to apply it to.
Going through his various improvements, he found several that had been like that. Some would have been far more effective if he had stuck with the more powerful blue diodes. Or simply chosen a reasonable middle-of-the-road green diode, which was decently powerful, but less energy intensive than the blue. Instead, he had gone for the weakest and most inefficient color.
Now, he and the entire dungeon were paying the price.
Nate shook his head despondently. He had been too excited at the prospect of finally playing around with something more advanced than bows and arrows. As a result of that excitement, he had let certain concepts fade from his mind. At least he was thinking clearly for the moment.
He brought up his notes and quickly jotted a few ideas down. As soon as there was more energy in the second dungeon, he would be changing the traps, yet again.
At least the ¡®Beginning Laser Tech¡¯ the Dungeon Core was researching would help with that when it finished in the morning.
With that all finished, he took one last semi-annoyed look at the screens and transferred his avatar to the first dungeon.
Aura materialized out of his chest as he pulled up the screens and began looking for cultivators. There were indeed several groups spread throughout the first few rooms. Each of the groups was taking their delve slowly and proceeding at a methodical pace. Unlike many of the cultivator groups who had come before them, they weren¡¯t causing undue damage to the dungeon.
Nate decided to leave them alone for the time being. They would live or die by their own efforts. He wasn¡¯t going to change anything on them that night.
Glancing at the resource counter, he made a note of how much energy the first dungeon had been producing. He finally had enough energy to purchase the Level 3 Dungeon Core upgrade. The issue was, he didn¡¯t have access to the core at the moment. It was hidden behind multiple walls for its own protection.
If he tried to modify anything inside the core room, the entire dungeon would shut down.
That meant he either needed to destroy the walls himself in person or wait until after the dungeon had finished its current countdown. Nate frowned. This thought process felt eerily familiar to him. Almost as though he had already gone through all of these same problems before.
Closing his eyes, he tried to remember how he had done the first Dungeon Core level upgrade. He remembered touching the core¡ Ah, Nate shook his head in annoyance and made a note so he would remember in the future. Then again, he probably could have also just asked Aura.
He really needed to get better at doing that.
Touching the core hadn¡¯t worked. He had needed to perform the upgrade while on the outside from his bed, using the wrist computer and the ¡®Dungeon Interface¡¯.
It was a little embarrassing and annoying that he had forgotten that, but it would be easy enough to do in the morning.
With all of that decided, he closed everything but the camera screens and turned to Aura. ¡°I¡¯m going to get some practice in on the second floor. Would you like to join me? Or are you more interested in watching the cultivators up here at the moment?¡±
She had mentioned that she was getting tired of killing her people for the moment. She still held a mountains worth a resentment toward them and what they did. But she had worked out a decent portion of her own anger on them as she slaughtered them. The ones she really wanted to get at were still too strong for her and outside her reach.
Aura picked herself up off the floor and stretched, her paws flexing as they scratched against the hard stone. Her claws dug grooves through the uneven material where she had let them out for additional purchase.
¡°I¡¡± Her head cocked to the side as she thought the question over seriously. ¡°Are you actually asking me, or is there an option you want me to go with?¡±
Nate groaned internally. Any doubt he might have had that she was indeed a female fox, had fled with that one question. ¡°Only a woman would ask that question.¡± He replied irritably. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to figure out how much room I¡¯ll have to practice everything, that is all. With you there, I¡¯ll naturally have more. But I also know you were getting tired of fighting your people, so I¡¯m not going to force you to go with me or anything. I mean honestly Aura. Have I even forced you to do anything at this point?¡±
¡°You¡¯re right, sorry. I¡¯m just on edge. I do want to fight my people, but right now it is because of the relatively easy access to cultivation energy the dungeon provides. It was when I realized why I was fighting them that I became sick of it all. I had lost sight of my revenge in the pursuit of personal strength, and it has only been a few days. What will I be like in a month, a year, or longer?¡±
It was the most vulnerable he had heard her telepathic communications since their initial conversations. This was something that was really bothering her.
He didn¡¯t want to take her problem lightly, yet at the same time, he didn¡¯t have a good answer for her. Maybe that would have to be good enough. The knowledge that he was willing to stand beside her and work through the issue together with her instead of simply leaving her alone. He knew that would help him if he was losing himself.
This was the sort of decision that she needed to make for herself, and he let her know that. Nate gave her his thoughts on the matter, but that was the extent of what he would do at the moment. Until she asked for more help, he would respect the distance.
He left her in the core room while he made his way to the portal and the second floor. His energy skills and kukris weren¡¯t going to practice themselves. As interesting as that would be, he needed to put in the effort to get better with them. Especially his energy skills. He was trying to get those to the point where they could evolve. Which meant constant use, and in interesting and inventive ways as well.
He had already started using basic ties and point break semi-regularly while out on the expedition. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, he had only had a single opportunity to use basic healing when one of the regulars had fallen from the top of their trailer. A sprained wrist wasn¡¯t much, but it had been practice, nevertheless.
Now he just had to keep the momentum of the other skills going while he was inside the dungeon.
Chapter 109
Nate rolled out of his bed the next morning with a groan. His entire body ached and felt uncomfortably close to the condition of his previous body. He had gotten far more practice with his healing skill than he had initially planned on.
The beasts had swarmed his location and slowly worn him down until his mistakes started to pile up. From there, it was simply a matter of time until they dragged him under a horde of claws, teeth, and the occasional rare energy skill.
Slowly, he gathered up his towel and clothes and hobbled his way to the shower. Nate was tempted to take one of the healing pills he had in storage, but also knew that he wasn¡¯t really injured. What he was feeling right now was the damage that had been transferred over from the avatar. It wasn¡¯t cutting damage, but something more akin to bone-deep bruising.
It hurt, but his bracelet would take care of the worst of it over the next couple of hours. By the time school let out for the day, he expected all of it to be healed, or ignorable.
It was too bad his basic healing skill wasn¡¯t capable of doing anything that serious just yet.
He slipped beneath the steaming water and hissed as it hit his skin with a vengeance.
Nate let his head rest against the wall, the water striking the back of his neck and rolling down his back. With a sigh of relief, he pulled up ¡®Dungeon Interface¡¯ on the wrist computer. He highlighted the first dungeon¡¯s Dungeon Core and selected it.
¡®Energy requirement for upgrade ¨C Met. Would you like to proceed with the Level 3 Core upgrade at this time? Yes/No¡¯
After having been through this once already, he knew what to expect. He pushed the ¡®Yes¡¯ button and then glanced up at the energy resource counter.
Slowly, the stored energy began to tick down. He watched it for several seconds, attempting to grasp a rough average. Again, his prior experience came into play here. It was counting down a little faster than that last time, but not by much. However, the cost of the upgrade had increased by seven times. As a result, at the current speed of energy consumption, it would take around roughly thirty hours to finish.
Thankfully, just like the first time, the dungeon remained in normal operational mode during its upgrade.
With that done, he closed out the menu and focused on his shower.
The research project for the beginning laser tech tree still had a couple more hours to go before it finished. By the time school let out, he would be ready to start another research project. It was just a matter of what would give the dungeon the most immediate benefits.
Nate pushed the matter to the back of his mind as he let the heat from the water soak into his muscles. The near-scalding temperature soothing his body from the damage that had been passed through from his avatar.
Curled protectively around his cores, Aura was in little better shape than his avatar had been in when he left. Neither of them had died, though it had been close more than once. Thankfully, Aura healed at a far faster pace than normal when she was resting in his chest. Something that they had only just now discovered.
He was feeling a little more human by the time he made it down the stairs. The remaining stiffness would fade as he moved about.
His mother saw the odd way he was walking and pushed a muffin and plate of bacon toward him. ¡°Rough night?¡±
He nodded and grunted in appreciation. ¡°It was decently productive but incredibly painful and rough. I made a decent amount of progress on my energy skills though. At least I think I did. I used them a lot. That has to count for something.¡±
¡°It does. Just make sure you always have what your skills need to evolve toward in mind and try to use them more in that direction if possible.¡± She agreed.
Nate pushed the empty box his parents had gotten from the Chrightons across the table. ¡°I¡¯m not sure if they¡¯ll give me more now or if we should wait a while before approaching them for the next dose.¡±
Nina took the box slowly, a lone finger remaining atop its lid to tap at it every few seconds. ¡°We¡¯ll have to look into the process and see how long this sort of thing usually takes. Your backup core might have made it easier for you to absorb the energy from the items. We need to make sure that there isn¡¯t supposed to be a waiting period of some sort at the end. Once your father and I know what to expect, we¡¯ll approach them again.¡±
¡°Is that alright? They won¡¯t try to hurt you, us, or anything, will they?¡± He asked, suddenly second-guessing his request.
¡°They shouldn¡¯t no. This is something they said they would do. However, I wouldn¡¯t depend on them being willing to actually provide the herbs and items more than one or two more times. After that, the costs will have piled up and they will start to second guess themselves.¡±
¡°Better to use them now then, before they have too much time to think.¡± He replied with a grin.
The glint of sunlight flashing across the windows alerted them both to the presence of a car pulling up outside.
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¡°It looks like the girls are here. You better get going, have fun at school, and tell them both hello for me.¡±
Nate kissed his mother on the cheek and snagged his bag as he hurried to the front door.
Angelica was already out of the car when he opened the door and stepped out.
¡°You come out too quickly these days. We haven¡¯t had a chance to say hello to your parents in a while.¡± She said with a slight pout.
¡°Oh? My apologies. I didn¡¯t realize my parents were so interesting to you two.¡±
Lindsay stared at him with dead, fishlike eyes as he slid into the car. ¡°We need to talk to your parents! Do you understand?¡±
¡°Not really no.¡±
¡°This weekend was-¡±
¡°A fudging disaster!¡± Lindsay practically snarled, the girl coming closer to cursing than he had heard her in a long while.
¡°Yes, that. It was beyond unpleasant.¡± Angie agreed without a second¡¯s hesitation. ¡°The group our parents hired took us to the privileged zone.¡± She spat out the name. ¡°They let us perform the kill strikes exactly one time, each on an already wounded beast. Then we were sent back to a shared camp with all the other rich, privileged teens our age. It was HUMILIATING.¡± She finished with a snarl.
¡°Look, we gave this other company a chance, and they were terrible. Please, we are begging you, get your parents to let us come with you again.¡±
¡°Uhh, I mean, I can ask, but I doubt they¡¯ll have a problem with it. The ones you need to convince are your parents, not mine.¡±
Both of them sighed with relief at his admission.
¡°Good, we already have a plan in place to convince our parents. Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Lindsay told him, a mischievous glint entering her eye.
¡°Righttt, that¡¯s not slightly ominous or anything. So, outside of an apparently relaxing expedition, how was your weekend?¡± He quickly dodged both girls¡¯ attempts to kick him.
¡°Oh!¡± Lindsay suddenly sat up, an excited look on her face. ¡°You should have seen Angie using her sling out there. It works great with her enhancement. We didn¡¯t get much hunting done, but she certainly intimidated the other kids in camp.¡±
Angie blushed and nodded, her hair bouncing until it covered most of her face. ¡°You guys really were right; the sling synergizes with the enhancement I got from my matched core awakening. Although, they are incredibly hard to aim as a result. Right now, getting anything even close to the target is more a matter of luck than anything else."
Lindsay waved away the girl¡¯s comment. ¡°I saw her shoot a marble through a tree, Nate! And it wasn¡¯t some piddling pine tree either. This was a proper thick tree.¡±
¡°Really?¡± He asked in surprise.
¡°I had been spinning the sling for a while by that point, so the windup takes forever, but yeah, it happened.¡± She seemed inordinately pleased with herself, not that it wasn¡¯t deserved.
¡°Wow, that¡¯s impressive, no matter how it happened.¡±
***
Mira Moorish was waiting for them when they entered the classroom. Her eyes took in each of them in turn, looking for injuries or other marks. When she was satisfied that they were alright she moved aside and let them take their seats.
¡°Let¡¯s start off the class with each of you telling me how your expeditions went. Afterward, we can discuss any items you wish you had known more about. This is the last week where I will have you for the entire morning. We need to make sure that we cover the items that will do you the most good in a real-world setting first. I¡¯ll try to weave in items from the curriculum throughout all of that.¡±
Nate decided to go first since he had already heard how Lindsay and Angie¡¯s expedition went.
They all enjoyed hearing about the spring and how the different animals were all treating it as a safe place. There were appropriate noises of disgust when it came to the foreign cultivators. Mira especially seemed disturbed to learn about them and what they were nearly willing to do.
He told them about the regulars who appeared, and how they had asked to join them. The only thing he didn¡¯t mention was Aura. Without knowing how the official process of getting a beast companion happened, it would be hard to explain her if anyone asked. He didn¡¯t particularly enjoy lying to his friends and wanted to keep them to a minimum as much as possible.
The girls groaned when he finished, splaying themselves across their desks.
¡°Your expedition was so much more exciting and interesting than ours. All we did was sit at camp. The group our parents hired wouldn¡¯t even let us leave to hunt after we both got the single kill we needed for the expedition.¡±
Mira shook her head, appalled as the girls recalled their own expedition. ¡°Right, well, those sorts of expeditions aren¡¯t going to do them any favors in the long run. I would suggest not participating in them if at all possible.¡±
Her eyes took on a distant look as she mentally reviewed everything. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s start with safe havens and move on from there. They are important to know about, and if you even so much as accidentally hurt anything while in one¡¯s territory, you will be in a world of trouble. And yes, I said anything that includes other cultivators. Safe havens aren¡¯t just for those who live in wilds.¡±
***
By the time lunchtime rolled around, all three were feeling slightly wrung out. Mira had been especially eager to teach them that day, and the amount of information she had thrown their way had been enormous.
Nate dragged his feet along the cafeteria line, selecting the food that appealed to him at the moment. His mind was mostly asleep, and it took him until they were sitting at their normal table to remember what had happened the last time. How the two had been approached by one of the other students after he had left the table early on Friday.
¡°What happened last week? What did the other students want to talk to you about?¡± He asked as he grabbed his slice of gourmet cardboard pizza. Some things never changed, it seemed, even at expensive schools.
¡°You saw that, huh?¡± Lindsay bit into her own slice as she looked over her shoulder. ¡°It was odd. She apologized for their previous behavior and said that they wouldn¡¯t be bothering us anymore. I asked my brothers about it when I got home and apparently, every school has two factions. The cultivators, IE us, and those who haven¡¯t formed their cores yet. We are the first in our grade to form our cores, so we are at the top, and now outside of their hierarchy. And since we don¡¯t do anything with the other grades really¡¡± She shrugged.
¡°Weird, but okay, at least that means you won¡¯t be pestered by people constantly like you were before.¡±
They nodded and then pinned him down with twin stares. ¡°Of course, that also means you aren¡¯t allowed to go anywhere now. We¡¯d be lonely without you. They may have been annoying for sure, but they also kept us company in this large school.¡± Angie told him, displaying a rare hint of real emotional fragility.
He nodded readily, unable to keep the surprise from his face. Nathan never would have suspected that these two ever felt lonely with how attached at the hip they seemed to be.
¡°There¡¯s no need to be surprised. We might always be together, but even we sometimes feel the need to have others around, at least occasionally.¡± Lindsay said as she swallowed her bite of pizza.
Chapter 110
Brick Jones handed Nate his new meditation art as soon as they entered the classroom. ¡°Here you go. I spent the weekend looking it over, and there are a few areas I want to go over with you. Same rules as before, you can take photographs of the meditation art for your own use, but that is it. This is the school¡¯s copy, even if it was provided because of you, so it must remain here.¡±
Nate nodded. It was no more, or less, than what he had been expecting.
He opened the new to him void meditation art and proceeded to take careful photos of each page. It wouldn¡¯t do if he got home later, only to realize that some of them were out of focus. So, he doubled up on the shots, staying careful the entire time. It hadn¡¯t been a problem with the last meditation art, but he had gotten lucky.
After he was done taking the photos, he began reading through it. Overall, it was around the same length as his shadow meditation art. There were even similarities in the basic structures on how they were constructed. Which was unsurprising, as he imagined that would be the case for nearly all meditation arts that weren¡¯t completely customized.
That was really all he could say for it though. The differences between the void and shadow meditation arts were much more stark now that he could see it for himself. He had expected there to be differences, of course, there had to be with how the different elemental qi was gathered.
Those changes turned out to be the least noteworthy things inside the new meditation art.
He read it through once and then glanced at the clock. There was still some time left before it would ring.
Nate waved at Brick, who scurried over and took a seat beside him. ¡°You read through it and saw the differences from your old shadow meditation art, yes?¡±
He nodded.
¡°Good, I want you to keep those in mind while you look over the art with basic ties later. I want you to use this one as a basis for improving the shadow meditation art. I can¡¯t say for certain, so don¡¯t hold this against me if I am wrong. However, I believe this particular void art may have been part of a more complex meditation art. I have come across a few meditation arts such as this one during my time here, and they always outperform the rest. I would almost call them special meditation arts. If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that we still have to integrate them into our meditation models, they would be highly sought after, I¡¯m sure.¡±
Nate made a face at that, catching the unsaid meaning. ¡°In other words, these ¡®Special Meditation Arts¡¯ are incredibly hard to work with.¡±
Brick gave him a wry grin and turned his attention to the book. ¡°Let me go over the sections that I believe will give you the most trouble. Again, I think basic ties is going to be your answer to working with this particular art. Where others find it hard, I doubt that will be the case for you.¡±
***
¡°How does the new meditation art look?¡± Angie asked as they headed to her house for some practice after school.
¡°Interesting, it¡¯s a lot more complex than my last one, but Brick seems to think that¡¯s a good thing.¡± Nate ran a hand through his hair and glanced out the car window. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I keep reminding myself to take things slow, but at the same time I just want to rush everything and go fast.¡±
Lindsay rolled her eyes. ¡°Quit acting like a boring old person. Who cares about the future? We¡¯re only teenagers.¡± She was only half-joking.
No one these days that could also cultivate was only anything.
¡°Hey, that wasn¡¯t something an old man would say. I was merely commenting on how long meditation art stuff takes.¡±
She agreed reluctantly. ¡°I can get behind that statement, and I¡¯m not even starting over like you. Working to understand the meditation art, then make it our own, and then to finally integrate it into our meditation models. All of those things take so much time. At least we can do each of them at the same time. If we had to do each piece on its own before moving onto the next step, this would really take forever.¡±
¡°Has Brick modified either of your meditation arts yet?¡± He asked as they neared Angie¡¯s home.
¡°He mentioned that he was going to, but that it would take a few days. Apparently, he was busy all weekend looking at a certain someone¡¯s new meditation art. Did you see the bags under his eyes? I doubt he even got much sleep.¡±
Nate hadn¡¯t noticed the bags under his eyes, but it didn¡¯t surprise him. ¡°I told you he was obsessive about the subject.¡±
Inside the training facility, they were limbering up and going through their stretches when Anna and another trainer made their appearances.
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Lindsay straightened and ran at him. ¡°Landon! When did you get back? Do mom and dad know you¡¯re in the city?¡± She squealed happily.
¡°That¡¯s her older brother,¡± Angie supplied helpfully.
¡°I figured, though I didn¡¯t realize, the gap between their ages was quite so large.¡±
Lindsay was the youngest in her family at seventeen. The man standing beside Anna appeared to be a similar age as her, though now that he thought about it, he wasn¡¯t sure how old she even was.
¡°Are you thinking rude thoughts?¡± Angie asked, while elbowing him gently in the ribs. ¡°And the difference in the ages isn¡¯t as extreme as you¡¯re thinking.¡±
¡°No, I wasn¡¯t, not really anyway. I was just thinking that I didn¡¯t know Anna¡¯s age. So, I can¡¯t actually say as to whether or not the gap between them is large or not.¡±
¡°Oh,¡± She said simply, taking in Anna¡¯s appearance. ¡°Yeah, my family got really lucky that we were able to hire her. She¡¯s actually the daughter of my father¡¯s childhood best friend.¡±
Nate took that information in and looked even harder at Anna. ¡°She can¡¯t be that much older than us then. Your parents don¡¯t seem that old.¡±
¡°Cultivators never do, but no, they aren¡¯t, and that is what I meant when I said we got lucky. Anna is a prodigy. She is extremely talented with weapons and at cultivation. Her current realm is barely a little lower than my parents, and she is only twenty-nine.¡±
His brows rose in amazement. Nate had always known she was good, but the thought that she was awesome to this degree hadn¡¯t crossed through his mind before then.
¡°How old is Landon?¡±
Angie bit her lower lip as she took a moment to think. ¡°He¡¯s twenty-five, I think?¡±
¡°That¡¯s not too bad, depending on where the rest of her siblings are in the lineup, I guess.¡± He said after a moment. ¡°So, him and Anna, huh? Based strictly on looks, they¡¯re a good-looking couple.¡±
¡°What, no, they¡¯re not¡¡± She protested, her head snapping to watch how close the two were standing next to each other even while Lindsay hung from his neck like a koala. ¡°Maybe they are?¡± She blinked and then shrugged, deciding it wasn¡¯t any of her business.
Eventually, the three made their way over to them.
¡°Okay, you three, we are going to run this practice a little bit differently from our past sessions. We¡¯ll spend a few minutes doing warmup exercises, and then you will attack Landon and me as a group. In other words, we are practicing group tactics today.¡± Anna told them with a clap of her hands.
Landon smiled evilly at his sister as he swung a pair of khopeshs menacingly.
¡°You are such a goofball,¡± Lindsay twirled her heavy halberd. She was far less mobile, but the reach of the weapon made up for it.
¡°I can¡¯t believe you decided to stick with that thing,¡± Her brother commented with a shake of his head.
¡°It¡¯s a family tradition.¡±
He snorted, ¡°And yet only you, Logan, and dad have decided to stick with it after being given a choice. I do admit, training with such a heavy weapon did come with some perks though.¡± He flexed his biceps, showing off his muscles.
¡°This is a very weird argument,¡± Nate muttered.
¡°Welcome to the Travers family,¡± Angie returned equally softly. ¡°Lindsay may not enjoy being around my parents, but I love being around her family. They are an absolute blast most of the time. They¡¯re all a little weird, but almost always nice and polite. To me, at least they feel normal.¡±
By the time they finished talking, the siblings were done showing off to each other and were ready to begin.
Nate had his kukris at ready and was standing beside Angie, Lindsay was a few steps behind them. They had never fought other humans while in their formation, and he didn¡¯t think it was going to go well. However, that was the purpose of these training matches, to teach them what they needed to improve upon.
Unlike the other two, he was the only one without a secondary weapon present as well. However, that was mainly due to his own lack of foresight rather than there being a dearth of options. There were plenty of training crossbows on the wall. He just hadn¡¯t thought to grab one until it was too late.
Angie held her single-handed sword at the ready. Her stance was slightly forward so she could spring into motion, or dodge to the side as the need arose. Compared to her, Nate felt absolutely sloppy, but nearly all of his training had been against beasts inside the dungeon. He had done a few sessions against Anna, and there had been some ingrained knowledge from the past Nate¡¯s previous training with the kukris, but that was it.
Anna was wielding a one-handed sword and a long dagger. It was a classic combo, and he wondered why Angie hadn¡¯t gone for the same thing.
Abruptly, they burst into action, both of them surging into motion at the same time. Anna jumped into the air and then lightly pushed off Landon¡¯s shoulder, soaring over their heads. In a single move, she had gotten behind them and into a position where Lindsay would be forced to deal with her alone.
Meanwhile, Landon was working the curved scythe-like blades of his khopesh swords furiously as he worked to keep the two teens at bay.
Despite the fact that it was only a practice session, they were all careful to keep the edges of their weapons away from the other weapons. Nate had quickly learned that despite what popular media would have him believe on Old Earth, you did not want to always strike the edge of your weapons against each other. That was the fastest way to ruin a perfectly good weapon and was something only brutes and idiots did.
Different weapons had different striking and parrying zones. Some, like Angie¡¯s sword, were made to take the strikes on the edge. The khopesh, on the other hand, was made more for parrying, and Landon was very good at it.
Right from the get-go, it was abundantly clear that Landon was ambidextrous as he wielded both swords with equal grace. That said, he was still human, and both hands were still being controlled by one mind and one pair of eyes.
After a few seconds, he began to get pushed back as Angie and Nate started to work together to overwhelm him. The khopesh could keep two of their blades occupied. However, Nate was also dual-wielding kukris. He might not have been doing it with as much grace as Landon, but his proficiency with them was still rather decent.
It was more than enough to take advantage of the opportunities the older man began to present as they settled into a rhythm.
Landon chuckled and gave them a small nod before increasing the pace. His second hand gradually began to operate out of sync with his first and then was entirely on its own. He was using his higher cultivation to help independently control his second hand.
Chapter 111
Anna had the groups separate after a few minutes. ¡°That wasn¡¯t bad, but I don¡¯t think it counts as group tactics either, since we separated you. I¡¯m going to stand off to the side this time and just watch. Landon, up your speed a little more so you can handle all three of them at the same time. Ladies, Nate, don¡¯t forget to use your secondary weapons whenever you can.¡±
Nate broke off from the group to grab a crossbow with an attached quiver. The number of bolts he could fire would be far more limited with such a small holding quiver. However, it was something he needed to get used to either way. He might not always be in a situation where he could use the storage to refill his quiver.
He took a moment to pull it back into the charged position before hanging it from his back.
This was going to be a learning experience, that was for sure.
Anna eyed his crossbow and Angie¡¯s sling with a speculative expression. The two might work better than others would originally think. The crossbow was a mid to long-range weapon, while the sling was definitely a close-to-mid-range weapon. The same went for the darts that Lindsay was carrying.
Their secondary weapons actually complemented each other rather well, in her opinion.
In a normal fight, they would be able to hold off any beasts from getting close to Nate while he took the time to pull back the powerful string on his crossbow. A regular bow would have been better, of course, but you couldn¡¯t have everything.
¡°Why didn¡¯t you go for a regular bow? If I¡¯m not mistaken, that¡¯s what Angie said your mother uses.¡± She asked as he got back into position.
¡°A powerful crossbow sort of fell into my lap when I was trying to decide. It comes with its cocking assembly as well, so it¡¯s not as slow as you might think either.¡± He replied with a shrug, sticking mostly with the truth.
A lot of newer crossbows in his past life had cocking assemblies that you could slap on the back of the crossbow to pull the string into position. They still took several seconds, but were much easier than trying to do it yourself.
She nodded in understanding and motioned for them to get into position. ¡°Landon, give them opportunities to use each of their weapons. Make sure to smack them if they don¡¯t take advantage of the opening.¡±
***
Nate had been feeling mostly normal for a couple of hours by the time school let out. Yet, by the time they were done practicing at Angie¡¯s, he felt even worse than he had that morning. Everything hurt and muscles he didn¡¯t even know he¡¯d possessed were screaming at him in protest at their abuse.
¡°I think she is getting even more sadistic,¡± He grumbled, dragging his body into the car with Angie and Lindsay, both of whom looked only a little better than him.
¡°I personally blame Lindsay¡¯s brother for this one,¡± Angie grouched with a wince as she touched her sensitive shoulder. ¡°Who knew those two would be such a match made in heaven?¡±
¡°Ugh, I don¡¯t know how I feel about calling Anna older sister. She enjoys picking on me far too much.¡± Lindsay blinked in realization as she melted into the comfortable car seat. ¡°Huh, then again, it¡¯s like she¡¯s already family.¡±
Nate rolled his eyes and settled in for the ride back to his house.
¡°Don¡¯t forget to ask your parents about this weekend!¡± Both girls said as the car stopped in front of his house.
¡°I will. Don¡¯t forget to get permission from your own as well.¡± He grabbed his bag and waved to them as he hurried up the steps of his house.
Inside the front room, he found his parents sitting around piles of food, snacks, water bottles, arrows, and other equipment. It was more than they had bought in the past. But with his mother¡¯s new storage bracelet, they could afford to carry more, just in case something happened.
¡°I take it you are both still going to stick with the same schedule you decided on last week, then?¡± He asked as Aura leaped out of his chest.
¡°Hmm?¡± Niall looked up. ¡°Oh, hey son. I didn¡¯t realize it was that late already. And yes, we have already begun to make some headway on the debt we took on buying that rig and trailer. Even if it was used, it wasn¡¯t exactly cheap.¡±
¡°I thought you¡¯ve had them both for a while now.¡±
¡°The truck, yes, but the trailer we bought when we decided to create our company.¡± Nina supplied tiredly while stretching her arms overhead. ¡°We never needed our own trailer before as the previous company had ones we could always tow.¡±
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¡°Well, be careful while you¡¯re out there, and avoid any cultivators from other cities. Until we hear back from that delegation you mentioned, we have no idea what they are doing.¡± He plopped himself onto the couch right behind them with a groan. ¡°By the way, Angie and Lindsay want to come with us again this weekend. Apparently, the company their parents hired for their last expedition gave them the deluxe princess treatment, and they hated every minute of it.¡±
¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± His mother said after a moment. ¡°Same rules as last time though. If they want extra security, then they need to provide it. We¡¯ll be more careful this time either way, but we¡¯ll also be heading into a slightly stronger area than we did this last weekend. Your father and I are going to take a few hours to scout out a few locations either tomorrow or as we are coming back.¡±
¡°I figured that would be your answer, but I thought it would be smart to get your permission still just in case.¡±
¡°We appreciate it,¡± His father replied wryly, patting his son on the leg. ¡°Are you going to be fine here by yourself? You seemed a little jittery last time when we got back.¡±
¡°That was just bad memories creeping in, probably. Besides, I won¡¯t be alone this time. I¡¯ll have Aura here to keep me company.¡±
The kitsune returned at that moment with an untoasted bagel in her mouth. ¡°What? I was hungry?¡± She projected to them all.
¡°Yup, she¡¯ll keep you company alright. Up to the point, you start looking like a bagel, apparently.¡± His mother teased.
¡°Hmph, I would never. He smells terrible when he gets all sweaty. I¡¯d never be able to reconcile the past smell with what I was eating. I¡¯m afraid he is permanently off the menu!¡± Aura told them while managing to convey her thoughts in an utterly regal tone of images.
¡°Gee thanks, and you smell like roses too,¡± Nate grumbled. He had seen her just as covered in blood as himself before. ¡°Anyway, I got my new void meditation art today, so I¡¯m going to head upstairs and start working on that. Call up for me if you need anything.¡±
Aura stayed downstairs with his parents, while he went up and began working on the new art. The first thing he had to do was a net search for other void meditation arts. He had been holding off on collecting them before he had a real copy to compare them against.
Now that he had a real version of the art, he would know what to look for.
The mass of shadow meditation arts he had collected had not been nearly as useful as he had hoped. Especially once he figured out the trick with basic ties. However, there was an absolute variety there that helped inspire him in the direction certain stanzas should go. Seeing the direction others had gone with theirs, either on purpose or in an effort to ruin others, still helped him.
It took him a while to collect a few of them, as even on the net, the void meditation arts were fairly rare.
Regardless, with that finally done, he sat back and began comparing them as he wrote out the first section with his qi. If he was going to practice it, then he might as well practice the best version he could right from the beginning.
By the time his mother called him down for dinner a while later, the first stanza had no more red in it. There was plenty of yellow, some of which had been added by him, but all the words that had shown up as red were now gone.
It was progress, and that was all he could really hope to make in the short term.
Downstairs, everything had been organized and put away when he made his way down. The only items left out were the gear they would be wearing the next day.
¡°Are you all ready to go?¡± He asked as he sat down at the table across from his parents.
His father nodded. ¡°Last week showed us what we actually needed to bring and what we didn¡¯t. It would have gone even faster this time around if it hadn¡¯t been for that bracelet you gave your mother. We ended up over packing a little bit because of all the extra room we had.¡±
¡°There aren¡¯t going to be any frozen pizzas in our future, that¡¯s for sure,¡± Nina told him with a wink.
¡°Just be careful while you¡¯re out there. I don¡¯t trust those other cultivators. I¡¯m not sure what the other cities are thinking, but something is definitely going on.¡±
¡°With any luck, we¡¯ll know the answer to that fairly soon. They sent out the first of the delegations today.¡± His mother told him as she began dishing up their dinner.
***
Unfortunately, when his parents had approached the Chrightons earlier that day, they had come up empty. The family had not been prepared to put in the second order so soon.
It was an annoyance, but one they had been expecting.
As soon as Nate entered the dungeon that night, he began reviewing how the research project had affected the traps. Looking inside the laser-based traps, he noticed that what had once been black-box technology was now an area filled with proper technology. There were still plenty of black boxes all over the place. However, it was no longer one massive, unknowable block.
It had been broken up into chunks, with sections of mostly recognizable technology in-between.
That meant he could either continue to research the laser technology tree and bring down the energy cost. Which was a very good thing. Or he could dip his proverbial toe into researching the traps and bring their costs down some first. The gravity generator was especially costly, while the frequency and vibration modifier were mostly established technology.
He wasn¡¯t using nearly as many of the gravity generators as he was laser traps. At the same time, the few he did have were still a significant expense. At least they were before he had disabled all of the traps outside of the one by the exit. However, the gravity trap in that room still equated to nearly half of the overall cost.
More now that the lasers had just become slightly more efficient.
Well, realizing that made the decision rather easy for him. He was going to have to do all of the various research items in a staggered fashion; it seemed. Instead of just blowing through an entire tech tree lineup in one go like he would have preferred.
Such was life, no matter how annoying it was at times.
With the matter decided, he made his selection and watched as the new timer appeared. Sixty hours again, same as the last time. If he had to make a guess, then that would mean this was also just the beginning of a brand-new technology tree he had to research piece by piece to get the full benefit.
That was annoying, but it also made sense to him. Without these obstacles, it would be entirely too easy for him to grow in power quickly. Though, why that would be a bad thing, he didn¡¯t have a clue.
Either way, with that done, he set his eyes on his training area for the night, and with Aura by his side, headed to the second floor of the first dungeon.
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¡°You really have a mouth on you,¡± Trace said after Ko was finally able to retrieve her freed finger. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever even heard half of those curses before, and I grew up on the streets.¡±
¡°That wasn¡¯t funny, Trace! What just happened?¡± She was examining her finger and the rapidly diminishing ring of nanites that had been forcefully injected beneath her skin.
Chapter 112
Nate and Aura were more careful in how they approached the second floor this time around. Both had a feeling that their time actively hunting in the first dungeon was quickly coming to an end. Outside of when they had screwed up like the night before, most of the beasts didn¡¯t present enough of a challenge by themselves anymore.
The dungeon itself seemed to recognize that, as the rewards they got decreased each night as well.
However, it did give Nate plenty of downtime to work on his new meditation art, or the second dungeon as needed.
The real issue was that while the challenge the first dungeon presented was quickly disappearing, the second was still too strong for them. Ideally, there would have been another dungeon or two separating them, but it was what it was. There was no changing things now.
The beasts in the first dungeon were still stronger than Nate when it came to cultivation. However, his skill with the kukri and kriegsmesser had grown by leaps and bounds. It was a matter of his skills and equipment being too good for the area he was in.
As they had already seen, that didn¡¯t necessarily translate to anything when going against thinking beings that could also train. At this point, his cultivation was the limiting factor. Which is why, about halfway through the night, he eventually called it quits and found a quiet corner to work on his meditation art the rest of the night. He needed to get serious about his regular cultivation if he didn¡¯t want to fall behind the others.
Sure, he had been making do with the dungeon, but its usefulness was apparently coming to an end for the moment at least.
Aura settled into his chest and curled up around his cores as she went to sleep.
***
Nate checked the progress he had made on the first stanza of the void meditation art as he was drying himself from his shower. He had made good progress on it in his opinion. His previous experience from working with the shadow meditation art was definitely helping him this time around.
He pulled up his information and reviewed the changes. His energy had gone up a fair bit from the rainbow orbs he had gotten. The charge on the backup core, on the other hand, had only increased by a small amount.
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Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Mortal (Recently Awakened, Backup Core Available, 35% Charged)
Core: Bronze Grade [Low Quality]
Strength: 43
Speed: 37
Constitution: 43.5 [+]
Energy: 55
Meditative Art: (School Void)
Energy Skills: 3/14
Attack: Point Break
Support: Basic Ties
Basic Healing
Companion Beast: Aura (Kitsune 4-Tails)
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Dungeon Creation - Current limit 2
Dungeon Interface
Dungeon - 2
Avatar
Equip
Don Avatar
Items
Storage
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Overall, while he was making progress, it just didn¡¯t feel as fast as he would have liked it to.
Downstairs, his parents were taking the morning a little slow, Usually, they would have left before the sun had even risen. This time they were simply sitting at the table eating breakfast, waiting for him to leave first.
¡°Have you had any luck finding employees?¡± He asked, joining them at the table.
His dad laughed, quickly turning his head, as crumbs from his muffin spewed out.
¡°That¡¯s nasty, dear.¡± Nina admonished him. ¡°And no, unfortunately, we haven¡¯t really had time to advertise the company since we started working again. Then there is the matter of our weapons, that our incredibly thoughtful son dropped in our lap the other day. Explaining those to anyone who was constantly near us might be a problem, so we haven¡¯t even thought about it the last few days.¡±
Niall finished cleaning up his mess. ¡°I¡¯m assuming at least some of the guards will come with the girls again this weekend, assuming their parents agree, of course. We¡¯ll be able to see how the guards react to them, then.¡±
¡°What time are you expecting to be back on Thursday?¡± Nate asked, while quickly mowing his way through breakfast.
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¡°Not sure, but we¡¯ll likely be here either by the time you get back from school or shortly after that.¡±
He nodded. It was more or less the answer he had expected and was how they had operated the last time around.
¡°Now, go on and get out of here. The girls just drove up.¡± Niall told him, pointing his fork at the front door.
Nate hugged his parents, grabbed his bag, and hurried out the door. Only to stop a few steps later.
Angie and Lindsay were running up the path toward him with intense looks on their faces. ¡°Have your parents left yet?¡± Angie asked as they pushed him back inside the house.
¡°What? No, they were having a slow morning. Why, what¡¯s going on?¡±
¡°Where¡¯s your TV? You all need to see this.¡± The sound of the girls¡¯ raised voices brought his parents to the front hallway.
¡°The TV is in the living room, hanging on the wall. What¡¯s going on?¡± Nina asked, thoroughly confused by how they were acting.
Lindsay rushed into the living room and found the remote for the TV. By the time they had all joined her, the screen was on and tuned to the news.
¡°This came across the radio while we were on our way here,¡± Angie told them.
The news was showing the tall earthen walls that surrounded the city. In front of them was an absolutely massive horde of beasts. It was a wave of beasts, all attacking the wall for as far as the camera could see in every direction.
Everyone in the room limply fell onto whatever chair was closest, as their legs refused to hold them up any longer.
¡°Some of them must have gone through with it,¡± Niall muttered. ¡°The insane idiots actually chose to destroy some of the natural treasure spots.¡±
¡°Like that spring we visited?¡± Nate asked.
His father nodded. ¡°It was a safe haven and a natural treasure. If they ruined it¡¡± He waved his hand at the screen.
¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to be heading out after all,¡± Nina muttered, her eyes glued to the screen.
¡°Are we still going to have school today?¡± Nate was less worried about skipping class and more interested in what would suddenly be canceled because of this. ¡°I assume they would have heard about this before it reached the radio waves.¡±
¡°They would have, yes,¡± Niall said without looking away from the TV. ¡°However, no, school wouldn¡¯t be canceled. They will want all the kids in one where they can watch them in case something goes wrong. Besides, it¡¯s more likely that a lot of their parents are going to get called up to defend the wall. Same for all of us. Now that you have your cores, defending the city in times like this has become part of your duty.¡±
¡°What will we need to do?¡± Lindsay wondered, her voice trembling.
¡°It¡¯s hard to say, but Nate, Angie, and myself, will likely get stationed atop the wall at various points. We all have long-distance attacks. As for you two¡ Niall may get sent on retrieval missions with a team outside the wall if they can create a good enough opening for them to leave through. Lindsay, maybe security, or some sort of driver? I don¡¯t know.¡± Nina guessed. ¡°Nothing has happened like this in years here, and certainly not on this scale.¡±
Angie stood. ¡°I guess we should head back home then and get our gear together while we wait for the call.¡±
Nate walked them both out to the car. ¡°Be safe on the way back to your homes, and Angie start carrying your cell phone so we can all stay in touch with each other.¡±
Lindsay smirked at that.
Distaste colored Angie¡¯s face at the suggestion. ¡°If I start carrying it though, then my mom will be able to get a hold of me whenever she wants.¡±
¡°Fine, whatever, I just thought it would be nice if we could all get in touch with each other while we were on the wall or doing whatever.¡±
She briefly ground her teeth together and then nodded. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll make sure it stays in my pocket after I get home. If I don¡¯t see you again before you and your parents get called up, stay safe.¡±
¡°Yeah, you might have cooties, but you¡¯re alright for a guy,¡± Lindsay added with a playful wink.
He shoved them both toward the waiting door of the car. ¡°That goes double for the both of you. Keep yourselves and your cooties safe.¡±
Back inside the house, he found his parents gathering up his equipment and adding it to their pile in the middle of the house.
¡°It¡¯s lucky you two decided to not leave as early as you normally do.¡±
¡°Yeah, lucky¡¡± His parents shared a look. ¡°We were going to, but it just felt wrong at the time. So, we decided to just go back to sleep for another couple of hours until after you left for school.¡±
His mom handed him a paper they had printed out. ¡°Here, this is the method for getting a companion beast normally. There are others, but this is the most popular and widespread method. If you are going to keep Aura around, then you need to know the method in case someone asks questions.¡±
It was something that he had meant to look into himself but had forgotten amongst all the other items pushing for his attention. He had it now though, and that is what was important.
The TV was still playing in the background as they placed their equipment on the floor at each of their feet. The news provided a constant stream of updates as they performed maintenance on everything. Everything had already been cleaned. That was one of the things they did right away whenever they returned. The main thing they were doing at the moment was making sure all the runes on their weapons were still covered.
The phone call came shortly before ten o¡¯clock, calling all three of them up.
They needed to report to the licensing bureau by the wall to get their assignments.
***
A harried couple of people were busy checking everyone when they arrived at the bureau.
¡°Names, status, and placement, please.¡± The one in front of them said wearily. The attack had only reached the news a few hours before, but they had already been dealing with check-ins long before that.
¡°Niall, Nina, and Nathaniel Holmes. Two hunters and one student. I¡¯m a close-range fighter, and they both have long-range capability.¡± Niall informed the tired clerk.
She quickly scrawled down several lines of information and handed them three slips of paper. ¡°You will need to meet up with the group by the gate. The information for your squad leader is on the paper. Your wife and son are on the wall. Here is their squad leader¡¯s information. Be careful.¡±
That was it. They were quickly shuffled off to the side as another cultivator in line took their place.
Niall handed the two slips of paper over to Nate and Nina and then followed the action up with a tight hug. ¡°Stay safe, both of you.¡±
It took them a minute to find a shuttle going to the wall, and then they were off. Niall went into a different shuttle, separating them.
¡°He¡¯ll be alright mom,¡± Nate whispered, holding her close.
Atop the wide densely packed earthen walls that protected the city, they both received a shock they hadn¡¯t been prepared for.
The number of beasts shown by the news had been severely undercutting how many there actually were. The only reason they hadn¡¯t overrun the season in an instant was because of the wall¡¯s strength, and the beasts had a hard time climbing its reversed concave surface.
There were plenty of spots where the beasts had begun to tear their way through the hardened wall. However, every inch they clawed out was hard won, and filled with bodies.
Unfortunately, if there was one thing the beasts had in great supply at the moment, it was numbers.
Even from his position several stories in the air, Nate couldn¡¯t see an end to them. All of the beasts in the area were coming out to attack them.
Chapter 113
Nate had been on the wall for several hours, shooting bolt after bolt into the mass of beasts below when Angie joined them.
Lindsay had been relegated to shuttle duty and was acting as one of the drivers. It was a position that had been given to most of the young close-range fighters as they came in. Their cultivation realms simply weren¡¯t high enough to put them anywhere else, so they were made use of where they could.
Those who couldn¡¯t drive were given the task of keeping everyone¡¯s ammunition on the wall topped up. Arrows, bolts, spears, rocks, marbles, whatever it was they used were being provided at the moment.
Down below, the ground had turned into a swampy wasteland. The beasts trampled their dead without a care, pulping the remains into a fine paste that was slowly ground into the dirt.
Occasionally, one of the defenders would use an energy skill, but for the most part, everyone was saving their strength. They all knew this was going to be a long, hard battle.
As the day wore on, more people began using their energy skills on the beasts that drew close to the walls. The impact-hardened dirt had started to take on an increasing amount of damage all along the line. Something that they were all aware couldn¡¯t continue if they were to survive this wave. It was only the first day of the attack and already the damage done to the wall had started to mount. It wasn¡¯t serious by any means, but the entire point was to keep it from ever reaching that stage.
The downside to Angie¡¯s choice of weapon quickly became apparent as she stood side by side with Nate and his mother. Her arm needed to be constantly in motion, which was fine for the occasional beast, or even short waves. However, doing it for hours on end was nearly impossible.
She was still in the first realm, and her body simply hadn¡¯t been enhanced enough yet to work like that. As it was, Nate was beyond impressed that she managed to keep her arm moving constantly for a full thirty-minutes before taking her first break. After that, each subsequent break grew longer, while her attacking period gradually grew shorter.
Next to her, Nate was doing better, but his qi had started to dip from constantly cocking the crossbow. He was acting like he had an attachment that went on the back to pull back the bows. Really, it was just a block of metal he had pulled from his storage.
The act was a little grating in the beginning, but now felt normal. The issue was simply how many times he had fired the crossbow. He was getting faster, but no matter what, the horde below refused to thin.
Next to him, his mother was an absolute unit of a beast. Her arms moved almost mechanically as she smoothly and constantly drew back and released the metallic string of her new bow. The only time she stopped was when she needed to put on a pair of finger guards.
Over the years, and with her cultivation, her fingers had gained hard callouses that prevented the normal bowstrings from hurting her fingers. The metallic string on her new bow was hardly normal, not to mention how many times she was being forced to draw it. Her fingers had been rubbed raw by the time she put the finger guards on.
Even with the damage, she never faltered or slowed, and she was definitely one of the more effective archers on the wall. Each arrow she released was shot with great precision and always found a target.
Down by the gate, constant groups were being sent out and returning from harrying runs. They were doing their best to keep certain areas clear, but were gradually being pushed back and overwhelmed.
If there was one small blessing from all of this, it was that the smell the beasts were releasing a few hours after death no longer mattered. It couldn¡¯t draw any more beasts to the city than what was already there.
Four hours, that was how long Nate and Angie¡¯s shift on the wall lasted after she showed up. By the time it ended, her arm was practically useless, and Nate had fired his crossbow so many times that he had gone cross-eyed. He had hit thousands of beasts during that time, and well over half had died or been trampled to death as a result of his bolts. And yet, it all felt meaningless. There was no end in sight, only more of them for as far as his eyes could see.
Together they trudged wearily from the wall after Nate had discretely slipped a healing pill to his mother. She could use it later to heal her muscles, along with her torn fingers.
They followed a bunch of other tired long-range fighters that were leaving the wall at the same time as them. These were cultivators that had been there since early in the morning, and now their shift was just barely ending. At that rate, Nate didn¡¯t expect his parents to get home until late that night.
At the bottom of the wall, there was a constant stream of shuttles, vans, carts, and whatever else they could find waiting to ferry people about. The city had not been properly maintaining its fleet of shuttles and found itself woefully short on transportation. They would have been short regardless, but it was even worse now.
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¡°Can I catch a ride back to my house from you?¡± Nate asked once they were in the shuttle. He was gently massaging her shoulder and upper arm with his own weak hands.
Angie was groaning and wincing as his fingers dug into the sensitive flesh. ¡°Yeah, that shouldn¡¯t be an issue. You know I¡¯m always happy to give you a ride.¡±
¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I want to automatically assume, not yet anyway. Maybe in a couple of months.¡±
She chuckled and then jerked as he touched an especially sensitive muscle. ¡°I am regretting letting you all talk me into taking up the sling now, no matter how well it fits. This is a downside I didn¡¯t even think about before now.¡±
¡°Me neither. If my crossbow hadn¡¯t come with the auto-crank, it would have destroyed my shoulders and hands.¡±
Back at the license bureau building, they found Lindsay waiting for them. As more cultivators had gotten called up, all the parking lots in the area had rapidly filled to the maximum capacity. As a result, the shuttle drivers had been forced to start ferrying people from the farther out parking lots to the bureau office first. She had been driving back and forth for hours and was mentally exhausted.
This was just one of the dozens of offices and gates spread across the wall, and yet it was constantly in motion.
She dragged herself to their sides and plopped down on the short retaining wall they had collapsed on.
¡°You two look as though you have been having fun up there.¡± She carefully pulled the hem of Angie¡¯s shirt away from her neck and looked down at her shoulder and upper arm. ¡°There is some swelling around the joint in your shoulder, and your arm is red.¡± She clicked her tongue and shook her head. ¡°You really overworked yourself up there. How about you?¡± Her eyes flicked to Nate.
He shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m tired, but that is mostly it. My crossbow came with an auto-crank unit.¡±
Angie rolled her eyes at that explanation but didn¡¯t say anything.
Lindsay took over massaging Angie¡¯s shoulder and arm from Nate, giving his tired fingers a much-needed rest.
They only needed to wait a couple of minutes for Angie¡¯s driver to show up.
¡°Were you able to hear anything interesting driving everyone about?¡± Nate asked once they were inside the car.
Lindsay nodded but didn¡¯t seem happy. ¡°What your dad said earlier at your house was right. They got confirmation from a few of the expedition teams that were still out there. Natural safe havens, treasure spots, places that are meant to be sacred to everyone, beasts, animals, and us, have been destroyed. They don¡¯t have an exact count just yet, but from what I overheard, the last reported number was five.¡±
¡°How many are there even in the region?¡± Angie wondered.
Lindsay shrugged. ¡°We live close to the mountains, so who can say? More than other areas have, on average, probably.¡±
¡°We¡¯re not super close to the mountains,¡± Nate protested. ¡°We live in the foothills; the mountains are still¡¡± He trailed off, suddenly unsure.
On his Old Earth, it had been a simple thing to drive down the highway and then up into the mountains. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was the case here. Sure, Denver still existed, sort of, but the state capital was a fraction of the size it should have been. But he hadn¡¯t been there since arriving in this world. He had no idea what condition the roads would even be like.
¡°The foothills, what?¡± Angie prompted.
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¡°Nothing, I was just thinking about the condition of the roads and that there are places closer to them, like Denver. Then I remembered where the dimensional zone was and realized it didn¡¯t matter anyway. The mountains may have more truly natural treasure spots, but us, we were forgetting that everything revolves around the dimensional zones. There are more spots in this area simply because we are close to the zone, nothing more.¡±
They slowly nodded at that. It was indeed something they had forgotten in the heat of the moment.
¡°Whatever, it¡¯s not like we can do something about it in any case,¡± Lindsay said after a moment. ¡°I just hope they don¡¯t call us back to the wall for our next shift too soon. Did either of you hear when our next turn would be?¡±
Angie and Nate shared a look as they shook their heads. It had been the last thing on their minds at the time. All they had been thinking about was leaving.
¡°Make sure you get your arm and shoulder looked at, Angie. Lindsay, stay safe, it¡¯ll be hectic out there.¡± He told them both as he got out at his house.
Aura leaped out of his chest as soon as they were safely out of sight inside. She had been keeping up a running commentary on various things throughout the day in an effort to keep him somewhat entertained. It had mostly worked, though the effort of holding a one-sided conversation for hours on end had worn at her.
¡°Thanks for doing that all-day, it definitely helped.¡± He said, reaching out to scratch her behind the ears. ¡°This is definitely not what we were expecting to happen.¡± His eyes flashed angrily. ¡°Perhaps I have been too nice with my traps when it comes to the ones aimed at the cultivators.¡±
Aura nudged his hand, urging him to continue scratching her ears. ¡°I think it is more likely that there are other factors at play. You don¡¯t find it the least suspicious that your parent¡¯s old boss would go crawling to another city, and get protection just before all of this goes down?¡±
His fingers scratched at her ear on autopilot. ¡°I hadn¡¯t really considered it. The man, Donovan? Rarely enters my thoughts as it is. He was a passing curiosity for the most part. One who tried and failed to hurt my parents. I would get revenge against him if I could, but that is as far as my thoughts about him have really gone since my parents told me where he went. I basically dismissed and then forgot about him.¡±
Nate frowned, his free hand tapping on his knee as he relaxed on the couch next to Aura. ¡°Do you think all of this was because of him?¡±
She shook her head. ¡°No, I doubt it. I think they merely took advantage of the information he had to make their move and enhance plans already in place.¡±
It was an interesting theory and one that he would need to think about some more for sure. The only issue he had with it was that it all hinged on the cities wanting to destroy another city. Whether it was for knowledge, access to the dungeon or another unknown reason was immaterial. That was a lot to swallow.
A few deaths were normal in this world, but the loss of an entire city¡
That was something else entirely.
Chapter 114
Nate made a couple of pizzas for dinner and cooked a few steaks for Aura. While they waited for his parents to get back, he read the paper his mother had given him about beast companions. There were indeed a few different ways touched upon briefly in the paper. One method saw the cultivator using energy skills to better communicate with animals, and therefore beasts. Another was the use of collars and bracelets, which accomplished something similar, except through a slightly more forced connection.
Most of the methods the paper touched on were ones that didn¡¯t force the beast companion into servitude.
Since he didn¡¯t have the bracelet and collar, items that were fairly costly as they were runed, nor did he posses the energy skill to talk with animals. He had to go with an option that was, in his opinion, a little more out there on the believability scale. He had heard plenty of stories of animals on OE that adopted people and followed them for hours, sometimes even home, but those were usually semi-domesticated cats and dogs.
People were supposed to believe that Aura had more or less adopted him during their last expedition. That he and her had bonded as a result.
It seemed unbelievable to him, but apparently, it was one of the more common ways to get a beast companion. Not that they were common by any means.
It was good information to have, and he put it in his storage to review again later.
With that completed, he pulled up the screens for the first dungeon and began working on his meditation art. After everything that had happened that day, he was feeling a definite pressure to integrate the meditation art into his meditation model.
There were simply a lot of steps involved in the process if he wanted to do it right. Which he did, doing it wrong, would only lead to complications down the road.
At least he was still able to cultivate without it, just at a much slower pace and without all the benefits it would bring.
For the moment, at least he was done working on the first stanza. It still had a couple of words that were in yellow, indicating that they weren¡¯t quite right. However, he wasn¡¯t sure what to replace them with, and was eager to move on to the second stanza. So, that is exactly what he did. The first stanza, he would leave the way it was for now. Hopefully, he would get some insight into it in the future. But he wasn¡¯t going to stress about it when there was so much more that needed to be fixed.
There were many more stanzas that he needed to work through before he could even think of fully integrating it. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t affecting his meditation model though. It was, and his cultivating speed saw a resulting increase.
Nate had been keeping an eye on the cultivators inside the dungeon while he¡¯d been working on everything. To say he was impressed with them would be giving them far too much credit. At some point in the last few hours, hundreds of cultivators had begun arriving in waves. Groups of three and five had been trickling in. Then it would slow down for a period and begin to pick up again.
At least that was the impression Nate was getting. The amount he was able to see outside the dungeon was still limited, after all.
He was interested in where they were all coming from, but he also knew he wouldn¡¯t be getting any answers. It just seemed ridiculous to think that all these cultivators had come from one city. However, if they were coming from multiple cities, and not just one, then that meant something else entirely.
Nate was under the impression that the higher-ups of the city believed this attack, if you would, on their city was the result of a single other close city. If you combined what he was seeing with his own thoughts, then that seemed highly unlikely.
He still didn¡¯t understand why the other cities had done this, but he was more concerned with how quickly they had acted. The dungeon hadn¡¯t been around for that long, and yet a concerted effort had already been made to attack another city over it.
That was going to be annoying in the future. He just knew it.
The front door finally opened a little past eight in the evening to reveal both of his parents. His mom simply looked exhausted, with both of her arm¡¯s trembling. The fingers on her dominant hand were twitching spastically with every beat of her heart.
Next to her, his father was covered in cuts and mud that had been mixed together with blood.
Nate pointed to the garage. ¡°Go in there and wash off with the hose. Leave your equipment on the floor. I¡¯ll go get you some clean clothes to change into.¡±
Nina shook her head tiredly and held up the bracelet. ¡°There¡¯s no need. We were prepared to go on our expedition, remember? We have everything we need in here.¡±
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Nate pulled out a healing pill for his father and handed it to him. ¡°Alright, well, pizza is in the kitchen. I¡¯ll clean up the equipment while you both are eating.¡±
***
¡°How was it looking when you left?¡± He asked after he had cleaned their weapons and other equipment. His father¡¯s armor and the rest of their clothes were now going through the wash.
¡°Endless,¡± His mother replied, around a mouthful of reheated pizza. ¡°The night is only going to make things worse. They were saving all the cultivators with skills and abilities that help them see or operate in the night for when it got dark.¡± She shook her head. ¡°But there just aren¡¯t enough of them. The rest will just be firing their arrows blindly into the darkness.¡±
¡°Do you think the city is going to fall or be overrun?¡± Nate wondered softly.
¡°We¡¯ll see in the morning,¡± Niall replied, barely eating. Unlike his wife, he had barely touched his food. ¡°It will all depend on how the wall looks in the morning.¡±
¡°So, should I start packing everything in the house into my storage then, or wait until morning?¡±
His mom flicked a limp onion at him but seemed intrigued by the idea none-the-less.
¡°Let¡¯s hold off on doing that for now, but be prepared to shove all the more valuable and useful items in that you can.¡±
He nodded and hesitated before glancing at Aura and then at his parents. ¡°About how many cultivators would you say each city can typically spare from their defenses?¡±
Niall scratched his arm, where the pink of new skin could still be seen. ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. Most cities have similar setups to our own, but not all of them, wherein cultivators without other prospects or desires can enroll in the military or city-guard. For the most part, they are responsible for the safety of the city. It is only when disasters like this happen that the rest of us get called up. So really, as long as their military/city-guard are still in place, they would be fine. Why?¡±
In other words, it wasn¡¯t completely out of the realm of possibly that all those cultivators he had seen were from one city then.
¡°Aura saw hundreds of cultivators at the structure in the dimensional zone.¡± He said, putting the source of the information at her paws.
Both of his parents cursed at that revelation.
¡°You had already thought what that might mean before you told us,¡± Nina said confidently, the pizza crust dangling from her fingers.
Nate nodded. ¡°I¡¯d had a few thoughts on the matter, but I wasn¡¯t sure how accurate my information was. I was originally thinking that there were multiple cities involved in this attack because of how many cultivators there were. Now, I¡¯m not so sure,¡±
His father groaned and rubbed at his tired face. ¡°It¡¯s above our ability to influence, regardless. We can¡¯t exactly tell anyone this information, or act on it in any way.¡±
¡°True, but I thought it was relevant to us possibly needing to pack up the house,¡± Nate told them after a moment. ¡°When is the next time we will all get called up again?¡±
¡°You will likely get called up in the morning. Your mother and I, on the other hand, will probably be left alone until the afternoon.¡±
Nate stood with a glance at the clock. ¡°In that case, I think I am going to head up to bed now.¡±
It was far earlier than he normally went to sleep, but the day had been far more tiring than most as well.
They spent a few moments wishing each other good night, and then he and Aura went upstairs.
With a yawn, he fell onto his bed and pulled up the information for the second dungeon. He was too tired to actively work on it at the moment, however, he still wanted to see how things were going over there.
The amount of energy gathered had finally started to climb again after the first round of beginning laser technology had finished being researched. There was still more to be researched on that front, but this was enough for the moment. The red lasers were no longer sending him into the negative with their use. If he wanted to use the more powerful diodes, which he did, then he would undoubtedly need to go further down that particular research tree for them to become efficient.
Not all of the blighted elves were dying in the exit room, but the few that were escaping were looking ragged and close to death. The increased gravity combined with the frequency attack that had, by that point, gotten dialed into the most effective sound ranges was a debilitating combo.
The sound destroyed their equilibrium and then went to work on the rest of their bodies. All the while leaving them to crawl through a minefield of railgun spike launchers.
Honestly, the exit trap room had been a desperate move on his part, but it was also quite nearly the perfect trap.
That was all he wanted to see, and Nate closed the screens. For the moment, he wasn¡¯t going to do anything with the second dungeon. Not until either something changed or a few research items had been completed. It was simply too strong for his current strength, and while his traps seemed to be managing, they were still letting roughly one in four through.
He turned his attention back to the first dungeon as Aura entered his chest. The camera screens revealed a mess of a dungeon to him, that had him shaking with rage.
The cultivators were destroying the inside of the dungeon. It was the first group that had gone through all over again. Except these cultivators had no reason for the destruction they were causing. He had removed the treasure chests earlier. That meant they weren¡¯t getting anything from their efforts, but the pleasure one got from the act of destruction.
Plenty of the cultivators showed injuries, and a few had been killed, but they were clearly stronger than the past cultivators he had dealt with. Not to mention, there were so many of them!
They were slowly, but steadily, pushing their way through the rooms of the dungeon, and he had no idea on how to stop them.
He didn¡¯t want to simply let them keep destroying his dungeon, but they weren¡¯t playing fair either!
The cultivators would stay in the corridors he had designated as safe zones to launch energy skills into the rooms. Only after the inside of the rooms were in rubble, would they enter. They had been caught off guard a few times by traps that hadn¡¯t been destroyed or that were placed in the archway. However, by and large, they were learning from their mistakes.
That was not why he had left the corridors as not trap areas, and it was really beginning to irk him.
Nate took a moment to study their energy skills and then slowly grinned as an idea came to him.
Chapter 115
Inside the dungeon, the cultivators opened the door before them. It wasn¡¯t the first one they had run into. Some of the rooms had them, others didn¡¯t.
Without giving it a second thought the man in the lead swung it open, ignoring the slight bit of pressure that almost pushed it out into his hand. Then he ducked down as his companions began their bombardment. Qi infused energy skills zipped past above his head, roaring into the interior of the room. It was a practiced procedure that they had done several times already.
The explosive skills tore through the air and hit the ground. They cracked the various surfaces of the dungeon and ignited the gas that Nate had pumped into several of the rooms. An enormous, compressed fireball was funneled over the unsuspecting cultivators roasting them and sending them flying backward with the force of a jet engine.
Nate watched all of this happen from his screens, a brow slightly raised in amazement. He had expected it to be impressive, but not quite to the extent of what he had just seen.
Unfortunately, the damage to the dungeon itself was also fairly extensive.
Not that they wouldn¡¯t have gotten destroyed anyway, but this was a step or two beyond what the cultivators would have done.
As for the cultivators themselves, well, they resembled burned and barbequed husks more than anything else. Amazingly, there were still several that were alive among them, however, the damage the trap had done couldn¡¯t be overstated. It had traveled back the way they had come and had caught many of the cultivators unaware. The damage to those farther back was lighter when it came to burns. The number of broken bones from the backblast and pressure, however, only grew.
The crater that was left of the rooms he had used was definitely worse than what the cultivators would have done. At the same time, he couldn¡¯t help but feel like the trade-off had been worth it this time. They would be expensive to rebuild, but it was the first time the dungeon had been able to properly strike back at them this time around.
He doubted the same trick would work twice¡ at least not in the exact same manner.
There were plenty more cultivators still, and that single display wouldn¡¯t stop them.
However, if they were going to continue destroying the dungeon, then he had another idea that might work.
The first time around, he had packed several rooms and corridors full of an explosive but fairly odorless gas. What he was going to do now was simply remove the extra step. The walls, ceiling, and floors of the dungeon were going to have cavities carved into them and the gas deposited inside.
Then either the cultivators would set it off or one of the traps would. He was doing a lot of damage to the dungeon with each of these, but he couldn¡¯t allow these cultivators to continue exploring the dungeon.
Their methods were too destructive.
It would be one thing if they simply wanted to explore the dungeon. If that had been the case, he would have simply left the traps alone, even if they had been ineffective. What they were doing posed a risk to the dungeon itself. He could only imagine what they would do when they reached the room with the Dungeon Core.
He made the last of the adjustments and then donned his avatar.
Aura and he stopped beside the portal that would take them to the second floor. Neither said anything, but they were both thinking the same thing.
They could go down to the second floor and continue the practice they had been getting. It was a good and valuable experience, but even with Nate¡¯s lower realm, he wasn¡¯t finding it too difficult anymore, usually. As long as they weren¡¯t swarmed or something else unexpected happened, he could fight them off on his own. However, everyone knew that things never went according to plan when it came to fights.
Or they could stay on this floor and attack the cultivators.
Nate had the gun, and she had her various energy skills, which could be used at a distance. Stronger beast cores equaled stronger attacks when it came to the odd gun he had been using. He had made sure to collect a decent variety of different realm cores after the weekend expedition.
That didn¡¯t mean the current cores he had were strong enough to hurt the cultivators that were invading the dungeon. Which is why they were both hesitating. They had a lot to gain from attacking the cultivators, however, they also had much to lose.
Nate checked the equipment he was wearing and then looked at what he had in storage that he could access. There were two sections in the storage listing. One was greyed out while he was in his avatar form and the other was usable. The grey one was everything he had accessed or stored while awake. While the other was all the items that had never left the storage since being put inside during his various avatar times.
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The sole exception to this was the beast cores, which he put into storage while awake and could access later in his avatar form.
He was checking the storage because he needed something to cover his face. The avatar was a direct recreation of his normal body and looked exactly like him, well, outside of the few improvements he had originally made to it. By this time, they had mostly transferred over to his real body, so there was no longer any real difference between the two.
Either way, he didn¡¯t want anyone possibly recognizing him if they got away.
The odds of that ever happening were low. A few rather unlikely items would need to happen for them to get the chance to meet the real him. However, that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t spread posters of what he looked like.
It was simpler and easier to just make sure that if they saw him, they couldn¡¯t identify him.
At first, he couldn¡¯t find anything in his storage that he could use. He didn¡¯t have a full-face helmet, nor did he have a neckerchief or facemask. That was when his eyes caught on the shredded remains of his old fish leather shirt. He hadn¡¯t thought of the shirt since it was destroyed during his first foray into the second level of this dungeon.
It would be a callback to his youth, but he could certainly wrap the shirt around his face. How many kids had done something similar? Acting like they were superheroes or masked vigilantes. He certainly had when he was younger.
Nate wrapped it around his head, using the sleeves to make up for the gashes and huge tears. It took some creative tying, but a few minutes later, his face was covered.
¡°What do you think?¡±
Aura took a few seconds to respond. ¡°It would be best if we can keep you mostly hidden. Your eyes and hair are still visible. From what I have seen the last few days, your blue eyes and your curly rust-colored hair are somewhat outside the norm.¡±
He nodded in acknowledgment of her words, a hand going up to touch his hair. ¡°I¡¯m definitely not unique, but yeah, they can be used to help identify me. So, sticking to the corners like I did back in the second dungeon, it is.¡±
With all of that finished, they headed to the next room in the cultivator¡¯s path and waited for them. It was moments like this that made Nate remember that he had never created the paths specifically for him and Aura. Though, it was probably a good thing in this case, as they would have been found by the cultivators.
Nate had the camera screens pulled up and was monitoring the invaders as they finished clearing out the rubble, obstructing them. Now that the last of the debris was out of their way, they could continue exploring the dungeon.
The first of the rooms, with the hollowed-out floors, walls, and ceilings, would be in their way next.
He was curious if they would change their methods at all after how explosive the last room had been. That was part of why he had switched up how he was doing the explosions. It would work once. After that though, they would be on guard against it.
Sure enough, as he watched the group in the lead, the cultivator who opened the door was extra careful with how it opened. After noticing that there was no extra pressure forcing it open, the woman relaxed slightly and swung it open.
Without delay, the bombardment started.
Nate scoffed and rolled his eyes. They had shown some caution, but that was it. Clearly, they had yet to learn their lesson, but that was fine with him.
He and Aura were hidden behind the door on the opposite end of the room. As soon as the place blew, they would be ready to swing it open and begin their attacks. He wasn¡¯t worried about the door being damaged, but even if it was blown off its hinges, they were standing off to the side where they would be safe.
Just in case though, since this was his first time being near an explosion, Nate kept his mouth open. It was an action that was supposed to be effective when someone was near concussion grenades.
Aura followed his example as she flattened herself to the ground and covered her ears with her paws.
A few moments later, the walls shook, and a jet flame shot past them, blowing the door clear off its hinges and sending it rocketing into the wall at the end of the corridor. He had definitely underestimated how much gas he had been able to compress inside the cavities.
The insides of his body felt as though they had been compressed and then shifted forcibly to the side and then yanked back into position. Nate coughed out a mouthful of blood as he collapsed to his knees, immediately regretting the desire to be so close to the room.
Aura rolled onto her side and coughed as well, just without the blood. She was a higher realm than him in her cultivation, and her body was stronger than his as a result. The pressure from the explosion had still hurt her, but not nearly as bad as it had Nate.
¡°That was not pleasant,¡± Aura said, staying on her side for the moment.
Nate rubbed his tender chest and stood. ¡°That is putting it lightly, I think. Next time, let¡¯s not stand so close.¡±
He stumbled over to the doorway and peeked into the destroyed room. There was something different about seeing the destruction in person than from the camera screens.
The crater that had been left inside was even bigger than the first time around. At least this time, it was more localized to a single room instead of the multiple areas that had been taken out the time before.
The blast had been oriented toward the open door at the time. Blackened charred silhouettes around the edges were all that remained of where the closest cultivators had been. The source of those particular char spots had been violently hurled down the corridor until they hit the remains of the wall for the last destroyed room.
The sudden stop to their impromptu flight had left many of them broken and barely able to move. At least one was dead, judging from the angle of the neck.
Nate was fairly certain necks weren¡¯t supposed to fold that way. He never claimed to be an expert though, so it was possible they were still alive and merely paralyzed.
The main issue at the moment was getting across the ruined, cavernous room, and into a position where they could attack the cultivators. From their current position, they couldn¡¯t do anything.
With dual sighs of annoyance, they climbed down into the room and began gingerly making their way across. There were several times when Nate had to help Aura across particularly large pieces of rubble.
After climbing back up to the doorway, they finally laid eyes on the cultivators in person. Taking up their hidden positions, they prepared to attack the barely aware group of concussed cultivators.
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Now he is a simple construction worker on vacation with his girlfriend, Ashley. At least he was until she got kidnapped.
Awakening a side of himself that is perhaps better left asleep, he must work with the businesses of the Underworld to track her down.
Caught up in a web of intrigue tracing back to her family''s company and one of their R&D projects, he must do what he does best. Eliminate the opposition, from a distance, if possible, the shadows if not, and up close if there is no other choice.
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Chapter 116
Nate collapsed against the wall next to an exhausted Aura. Even with how hurt the cultivators had been, the fight hadn¡¯t been easy.
It was not easy to hop multiple realms. Powerful weapons could do a lot, but even they had their limits.
Aura had been forced to do most of the work on the more uninjured cultivators in the group.
The payoff had been worth it though. The rainbow orbs he had collected afterward had been very helpful toward his cultivation. The other items had been equally good in that regard. There had been more variety than normal in what he got, as the items were coming directly from the cultivators. The dungeon was still improving them each time, but they were definitely coming from the people.
He recognized many of the items due to how closely they resembled the original pieces. The colors changed, and the shape had often gone through a minor shift, but knowing where they had come from, the similarities were obvious to his eyes. To anyone else, he doubted that would be the case.
He would have plenty of items to go through later. Most of it would end up going to his parents. There were one or two pieces that he wanted to look at more closely before deciding.
That could wait for a time when his mind was working better. At the moment, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.
Aura disappeared into his chest as he opened the menu on the computer attached to his wrist and closed his eyes, falling properly asleep.
When he opened his eyes in the morning, Nate had a message waiting for him. It had actually appeared in the middle of the night, but he had been too busy to pay it any attention by that point. Then later, his mind had simply been too tired to process what it was saying.
¡®The Dungeon Core has been successfully upgraded to the third level. All functions of this dungeon can now be primarily relegated to the Dungeon Core, though specific tasks will require permission from the administrator. At this stage, the Core can maintain, strengthen, and slowly make improvements to the dungeon based on empirical data. The walls, floors, and overall material of the dungeon are now adjustable in strength by the Dungeon Core. There are five total levels for each Dungeon Core. Keep upgrading the Core to discover the additional functions that await at each level.¡¯
Well, that explained why more cultivators hadn¡¯t been coming at them then.
Nate pulled up the cameras for the dungeon as he showered. The rooms that had been destroyed by the cultivators, and by his own explosive traps, had all been completely repaired. There were several groups of foreign cultivators that suddenly found themselves spread out in undamaged rooms with working traps.
It looked as though they were still able to damage the dungeon to a small extent. The new level 3 Dungeon Core was able to repair the damage done to its walls, floors, and ceilings in such a short time that it hardly mattered.
Downstairs, he found the house silent and still.
That was right. He didn¡¯t need to get ready for school that day. Until the call came for him to show up at the wall, he had free time.
Despite that, he decided to follow his normal schedule for the moment and made breakfast. While he was eating, he pulled up his storage and began going through the items he had gotten throughout the night.
There were several pieces of armor that he pulled out for all three of them. Since the original design had come from cultivator equipment in the first place, they could even wear them normally. The dungeon had still added its own enchantments to them, but they were hidden from view. They looked high class and would mold to the wearer¡¯s shape. The chest protection was a mottled black color, while the pants were an off-grey color.
There were two other items of note. He had gotten a crossbow and a quiver for it. Both items he kept inside the storage for use with his avatar. It would be nice to have both of his actual weapons available to him each night. He enjoyed being able to use the gun and kriegsmesser, but there was something to be said for stability and proper practice.
He cleared away his dishes and laid out the new protective pants and armor tops for his parents on the table where they would see them.
After that, he began working on his meditation model in the living room. He kept his phone close and had the TV on, but turned it down low.
The city had detonated large swaths of buried explosives at different points around the perimeter of the wall. It was the first time he had seen any hint of the people of this world using explosives. From the camera footage, they seemed great at digging holes, but less useful at killing anything that had a core.
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Even with the extra help, the cultivators on the wall had barely managed to keep the beasts at bay throughout the night.
The wall had suffered a lot of damage as a result of their inability. Not that anyone was really blaming them. Everyone had always known that nighttime was going to be the hardest period.
The view on the screen split for a moment, showing the reporter on the top half while below her was a panning shot of the horde. There were portions of it where you could see that it had shrunk or damage had been to the specific area. The reporter was talking about the amazing progress they had made. Despite that, it was obvious that they were in a losing battle.
Even with the constant expeditions out into the dimensional zone and surrounding areas, the number of beasts hadn¡¯t shrunk at all. Now they were seeing how many there actually were as they came from all around and converged on their city.
With a shake of his head, he went back to working on his meditation art. There was nothing he could do about the situation. He was nothing more than a very small cog in an extremely large machine. As a student, any contribution he could make was almost inconsequential, but it still added up in the end.
While he and his parents could now easily pack up their house and leave, that was not the case for anyone else. Angie and Lindsay¡¯s families both had rather large estates here in the city that would be utterly lost if the place was overrun. And while both families had holdings in other cities, so they would be fine, it would still be a blow.
That wasn¡¯t even considering the massive loss of life. If the walls fell, then everyone inside the city would be doomed. The beasts didn¡¯t separate their victims between civilians and active cultivators.
It would not be a pretty sight if they were forced to abandon the city.
Unfortunately, it was not something he could control. It wasn¡¯t even something that Aura could control. These beasts were no longer really her family¡¯s subjects and wouldn¡¯t listen to her, even if she tried to command them.
With a groan of annoyance, he stored all the work he had been doing on his meditation art and relaxed into the couch. There was too much going on at the moment, and he was having a hard time concentrating.
He felt a little helpless at the moment and had no idea what to do. This wasn¡¯t some movie or anime where he could simply force himself to become stronger because things were getting serious. No, that process took time, and while he was definitely making progress, he wasn¡¯t quite there yet. And even if he hadn¡¯t been, one single realm advancement from him wasn¡¯t going to make a single bit of difference. There were thousands of cultivators out there on the walls right now who had several realms on him, and they were still struggling.
The survival of their city wasn¡¯t going to come down to the actions of one teen, with the memories of an adult. No, it was going to be a group effort. Nothing short of that would keep them alive.
***
Nate felt the wall shaking beneath his feet as the dirt compactors went about their work, reinforcing the wall behind him. They were using large industrial-sized machines to do the initial pressing of the dirt down. Then behind them would come several specialized cultivators at a time, one of which he recognized as Alice, one of the people who joined them during their last expedition.
They were each using affinity-enhanced energy skills to further compact the dirt to a rock-hard consistency. This would drop the overall level of the dirt by several feet in the new sections. So, more dirt would then have to be brought in and the process was repeated until the new section was level with the old one.
It was a stopgap measure, but it was better than nothing.
He waved to Alice, who gave him a tight, strained smile in return. That was really all he had time to do. The next barrel of bolts arrived for him to use, and he went back to work.
The city always maintained a hefty supply of arrows and crossbow bolts. The other throwable weapons were less abundant. Teams of cultivators that were being sent out of the gate already had an additional goal for their trips. They needed to retrieve as many usable arrows, bolts and thrown spears as possible.
The people of the city were already making more of each to ensure they never ran the risk of running out.
Looking down the line of the wall, he could see fewer people using non-standard weapons than the day before. There were a couple of them in key points, but that was it.
Nate loaded the bolt and leaning against the small parapet, aimed at whichever beast caught his eye at the moment. There were so many of them that there was no need to be choosy. He had been on the wall for a couple of hours already, and a feeling of doom had started to settle into him.
The wave of beasts was never-ending. Even the large energy skill attacks that had wiped out dozens at a time had done nothing to thin the horde.
He fired bolt after bolt into the mass below, doing his part in keeping them at bay. Occasionally, he would use his energy skill point break whenever he saw a target get too close. The skill destroyed the bolt, but he held little hope in getting most of them back regardless of what the city wanted. The people being sent out on expeditions didn¡¯t have any sort of storage items. That meant they were limited to bringing back what they could carry and nothing more.
He tried not to use his energy skills too much, as he needed his qi to pull the crossbow back into position each time as well.
Nate had attempted to use basic ties on the beasts a few times in an effort to see if there was something controlling them. Each time, he had come up with nothing but a jumble of lines. There were the usual ties between related beasts, packs, and a few others, but nothing that drew them all together. They were simply mad, infuriated because their precious safe havens and natural treasure spots had been destroyed.
And instead of going after the idiots who had caused the damage, they were attacking the closest mass of people.
Down on the ground, one of the expeditionary forces launched a fierce counterattack. Powerful energy skills burst into being. A couple were even augmented by the user¡¯s particular elemental affinity. Instantly, an area of land two-hundred yards in front of the wall and thirty feet wide was laid bare of life.
The ground itself had seemed to come to life as roots, blades of grass, and everything else vegetative reared up and speared through the beasts. A sharp burst of wind cut them all to the bone, leaving them on the ground bleeding. The third attack finished them off as a powerful beam of fire seared the flesh right off their bones.
Chapter 117
¡°Things are going to get worse for the city soon,¡± Aura told the family that night as Nina and Niall were preparing to head out. They had been assigned to work the overnight shift for their positions.
Both parents paused what they were doing to look at her. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Niall asked after a moment.
Aura had already had this entire conversation with Nate, so he was paying the bare minimum attention to them while he worked on his meditation art.
¡°It¡¯s not something that we particularly enjoy doing, as it plays havoc with our natural cultivation paths. Even the more unthinking beasts instinctually understand that.¡± She opened with a decent disclaimer. ¡°However, we can use the cores of other beasts to enhance our own cultivation. If you have ever looked at the remains of a beast corpse after a beast has eaten their fill of the qi-enhanced flesh, you would have noticed that the core, if there was one, was never touched.¡±
Her mental tone dripped with disdain at the mere thought of the action. ¡°Each one used takes you further from your original path, making it harder to cultivate naturally in the future. If you have an easy supply of cores to devour, then they are an easy alternative to power. It is a problem that my kind only faces in times of war. No beast would sacrifice their future otherwise.¡±
Nina finished slipping on the armored top Nate had left out for her and Niall and sat down with a grunt. ¡°I am almost certain that the city is unaware of that.¡±
¡°And we haven¡¯t exactly had the chance to go out and pick up the beast cores¡¡± Niall tucked the bottom of his new armored pants into the tops of his boots. ¡°I¡¯ll be sent out beyond the wall again; I can raise the warning then. I¡¯ll tell them I saw a few of the beast¡¯s eating cores and growing stronger.¡±
Nina pulled out her bow from her storage bracelet, pulled it off her wrist, and then handed it to her husband. ¡°Here, I¡¯ve shared the permissions on it, so you can use it as well. Pick up as many of the beast cores as you can while out there tonight.¡±
***
Inside the first dungeon, Nate and Aura were going through all the various changes that the newly upgraded Dungeon Core had performed throughout the day.
It hadn¡¯t touched any of the traps Nate had disabled from before. However, all of the rooms and traps that had still been active had undergone tweaks of some sort. The traps had simply undergone the most extensive of the changes. Not necessarily the largest, but simply the most overall.
The Dungeon Core had improved details that Nate hadn¡¯t even thought of before. The cam/wheels on the crossbow traps, along with the other traps that he had incorporated the design into, now worked better than before. The Core had smoothed out and improved the design in ways he hadn¡¯t even thought of.
Which was what it seemed to do on a lot of things. With better bearings, springs, and choice of metal, it had changed little details all across the board in a bid for better performance. The dungeon traps had always been a strange mix of magic and logic to Nate. Where they didn¡¯t quite make sense to him, the Dungeon Core apparently had the recipe.
The traps still weren¡¯t enough to hold back the cultivators by themselves. They could hurt and damage them, but only the crossbow trap right above the doorways had the power to kill any of them. As a result, the Dungeon Core had added a needed twist to the exploding rooms.
The cultivators were no longer trying to actively destroy the dungeon rooms and the traps. That was the thing that had annoyed Nate the most about their intrusion. This didn¡¯t mean the dungeon was going to quit doing dungeon things though, hence the new twist.
Namely, the Dungeon Core itself had taken control of the gas-filled sections and would detonate them on command. The resulting explosions were far more deadly than any that had come before, save perhaps the first couple. The Dungeon Core was able to make the stone far tougher now, which meant it was able to also pack in far more gas before the stone containers began to reach their stressing points.
The explosions were big, and the hard stone acted as glorious natural fragmentation grenades. Piercing all the flesh of those caught in its wrath.
¡°I don¡¯t think we need to worry about the cultivators for the moment,¡± Aura declared. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to get the Dungeon Core leveled up a few times in the second dungeon as well.¡±
Nate laughed. ¡°Hah, that¡¯ll be nice, but it¡¯ll take forever at the rate we¡¯re going.¡±
Together, they approached the portal and headed down to the second floor of the dungeon. They weren¡¯t going to mess with the cultivators for the moment. Both of them wanted to warm up first and see how things were progressing down below.
Contrary to expectations, the Dungeon Core hadn¡¯t ruined the second floor. It would have been easy for the Core to completely change the floor and wipe out their hunting and practice areas. That wasn¡¯t what it had done.
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Instead, it did the exact same thing it had done on the first floor, only in more moderation. It improved the existing traps, thinning the number of beasts that made it through to the end. It also helped to ensure that they would be injured when they fought in the little side tunnel area Nate had made.
The Dungeon Core had understood that they didn¡¯t want the second floor trapped to the point of complete inaccessibility. All they wanted was to make sure that they never made it to the first floor again. It had done that, while also making sure that they were weakened in the areas Nate and Aura used for practice.
Aura wasn¡¯t exactly a fan of that last item, but Nate didn¡¯t care either way at the moment.
Practice at his current level of ability was still practice, whether the beasts were injured a little more than before or not mattered little.
This time around, he wanted to try out his new crossbow and quiver. After that, maybe they would head back up to the first floor and go to work on the cultivators.
***
¡°How many cultivators do you think they have lost at this point?¡± Nate asked Aura, as they watched some of the injured foreign cultivators get dragged out of the dungeon. The other groups were consistently making sure that none of the traps came back in the first couple of rooms.
¡°I¡¯m not sure, but they haven¡¯t made any progress despite those losses.¡± She was viewing them through her own connection to the dungeon. ¡°No matter how you view it, their operation has been very subpar and ineffective.¡±
That was a sentiment he could agree with. They had destroyed who knew how many safe havens around the area, encouraging an attack on the city, and they had made no progress. Their leaders had to be sweating and furious by this point.
Oddly enough, Nate found he was perfectly alright with them being in that state.
***
His parents trudged back into the house as he was preparing breakfast for everyone. Nate¡¯s mother looked exhausted, while his father was covered in various surface-level injuries. His new armor had held up well, saving him from the worst of the hits.
¡°Fun night?¡± Nate quipped as he carefully flipped the large omelet he had been making. It was full of diced onions, sliced red bell peppers, cheese, and more.
¡°Oh yeah, classical date night. The only thing missing was a car with a bench backseat.¡± Niall muttered tiredly.
Nate gagged. ¡°That¡¯s disgusting. You¡¯re my parents. You two don¡¯t have sex. As far as I¡¯m concerned, I appeared through immaculate conception and the supreme efforts of a very dedicated stork.¡± He smiled and pushed them both toward the table. Cleaning up their gear could wait for a few minutes. ¡°Seriously though, how was it last night?¡±
¡°The wall took less overall damage than it did the first night,¡± Nina told him as she put her head on the table. ¡°However, the areas that were hit took far more attacks as a result. We came close to losing a few sections of the wall during the night. They¡¯ll be reinforcing it constantly today.¡±
Nate frowned, leaning against the counter. ¡°That sounds a lot closer than I think all of us were hoping it would be.¡±
¡°That¡¯s because it is,¡± Niall admitted. ¡°This isn¡¯t a normal beast wave. The walls and our defenses weren¡¯t built to withstand these sorts of numbers or constant abuse.¡±
¡°Do their numbers show any signs of shrinking at least?¡±
¡°Maybe a little? It¡¯s hard to say.¡± His mom told him. Her eyes dragging shut against the cool surface of the table. Next to her, Niall wasn¡¯t much better. Defending the city was taking everything everyone had during each shift they worked. It had only been a couple of days, and already they were all feeling its exhaustive effects.
The city wouldn¡¯t be able to hold out much longer if something didn¡¯t change soon.
The omelet was divided into thirds and plated up while they continued talking. Nate had already prepared a separate piece of meat for Aura to eat. Which she was doing right next to them.
Niall handed Nate the keys to the car and told him to be careful before both parents tiredly dragged themselves up to bed. A minute later, their armor and other clothes came crashing down the stairs for Nate to throw in the washer.
He settled himself in front of the TV to watch the news and get some work done while he waited for the call. Regular cultivators all left their shifts knowing when they would return next. As a high school student who had only just formed his core, he was being treated as the person you called to fill in a vacancy. He was a part-timer in their eyes and nothing more.
That was fine for the most part, though it did make trying to set a schedule hard.
He sent off a message to Angelica and Lindsay, checking in with them both.
***
The damage to the wall was definitely worse than the day before. There were more sections in need of reinforcing, and at least one that had come close to falling entirely.
Looking out over the beast wave, it was possible to finally see an end to it.
The beasts at the very back would occasionally break off and turn back toward the dimensional zone. It was a gradual process, but it was also obvious that many of the beasts had expended their anger by that point. That would have been good news, and it was, many simply considered it too little too late.
More and more of the beasts near the wall were eating beast cores that had been left lying on the ground. So, while the overall number of beasts dwindled, the strength of those that remained continued to skyrocket.
Nate picked his shots with care, aiming for any beast that looked as though it was going for a beast core. If they grew too strong, then his crossbow wouldn¡¯t be able to hurt them. There had already been a few beasts where his energy skill attack had done little more than leave a nasty burn on them. Unless he hit them right in the eye, there was nothing he could do against those sorts of enemies. They were too strong.
Instead, he had dedicated himself to ensuring that as few as possible were able to eat another beast core. He wasn¡¯t strong enough to destroy the cores, but the explosions he caused would send them flying, frustrating the beast¡¯s efforts to eat them.
It was perhaps a little petty how satisfying he was finding their roars and other noises of frustration. The archers closest to him had quickly clued into what he was doing and would use the beast¡¯s moment of distraction to poke it full of holes.
A few of the weaker archers with similar explosive energy skills had taken to doing similar attacks on the cores. Frustrated beasts began to fall one after another.
The stronger beasts were still a worry, but Nate didn¡¯t have the strength to worry about them, so he didn¡¯t. You worried about things that you could affect and help with, and that was it. Worrying about any more than that was only asking for an ulcer or anxiety problems.
Chapter 118
At some point that morning, the latest research project in the second dungeon had been completed. This one was for the ¡®Basic Gravity Technology¡¯ tree. That would bring down the cost of that particular trap a decent amount while also making it more effective.
Nate had a few more ideas on how to implement gravity in various traps, but it was a matter of practicality and cost.
He felt like that was a good beginning for the traps in the dungeon. They had become more effective, and their energy costs had come down both times. The next project he had in mind was the one that should have the largest effect, cost-wise at least, yet. He set the Dungeon Core to research ¡®Capacitor Technology¡¯ and was given a time of ninety-six hours or four days for completion.
He supposed he could have just bundled a bunch of electronics together, but the time to complete it would have been prohibitive. He needed to choose his projects carefully.
Nate met up with Lindsay on his way back to the car. She was still acting as a driver, chauffeuring people back and forth for hours on end. It was a job that she absolutely hated and thought was mind-numbingly dull.
Angie was currently in the office doing paperwork. Both times she had been sent to the wall, her shoulder had required healing. After that, they had decided to stick her in the office instead of risking a permanent injury to her shoulder.
She and Lindsay still had a few more hours left on their shift.
Nate sat in the car for a moment, just resting his eyes and arms. He was getting a ton of practice with all three of his energy skills. He had been mainly using the basic healing to work on his own sore muscles at the moment. There was a certain amount of comfortableness he wanted to attain with the skill before he really started using it on other people.
All of the combat he had been participating in was great for the development of his energy skills. However, it was terrible for the city.
All along the wall, he could see it being reinforced, as they struggled to hold against the numbers and overall might of the beasts.
The wall that had once seemed so impressive when he first saw it now seemed anything but. It was riddled with hastily made repairs that weren¡¯t up to the quality of the original wall. Still, it was all they could manage as the damage continued to grow.
Concrete might have been a more normal construction material for walls such as this. Unfortunately, the long curing and drying period made them ineffectual options at times like this. Not to mention, as odd as it sounded, the impacted dirt actually possessed a similar strength against impacts. When it was done properly.
That was a large reason why the construction of the wall was an ongoing project that took years. They had been trying to get it right.
At the moment, Nate wished they had done it right, while also adding a few extra layers behind it as well.
Opening his eyes, he started the SUV and carefully drove home. Once he was there, he dragged himself inside and passed out on the couch in the living room.
***
Nate had only been asleep for a few hours when his parents shook him awake.
¡°Time to get up, son. We need to start packing up the house. Several sections of the wall have fallen completely within the last few minutes. Not all of the wall that surrounded the city was the same height and depth if you remember, and those weaker sections were impossible to reinforce.¡± Niall told him while shaking his head.
Nate blinked, his sleep-addled mind not comprehending the words his dad had said.
Niall clapped his hands together, the loud noise echoing through the house and causing Nate to jump right off the couch. ¡°Are you awake now?¡±
Nate glared at him. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m also deaf. How much time do we have?¡±
¡°It¡¯s impossible to say for sure, but those sections of the wall are pretty far from us.¡±
¡°Alright.¡± Nate ran a hand down his face, scraping the last vestiges of sleep from him as he slapped his cheeks to a rosy hue. ¡°I¡¯ll get started on my room, and then move on to yours and moms. Have her work on the food. Where are we going to go?¡±
His father shrugged, a brief look of despair coloring his face. ¡°We haven¡¯t figured that out just yet. Get packing. I¡¯ll start making some calls.¡±
Nate ran up the stairs, passing his mother on the way. He told her he¡¯d handle the rooms if she would gather up all of their supplies.
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Aura stepped out of his chest, as he began shoving things into the storage function of his wrist computer. It was as he was doing this that he discovered the storage function possessed the ability to create tabbed windows. It wasn¡¯t anything truly miraculous, but it certainly made keeping things separate from each other much easier.
He created a tab for his room, another for his parent¡¯s room, and then one for each of the rooms in the house.
As soon as he was finished in his room, with it completely empty outside of the copious amount of dust, he switched tabs and ran over to his parent¡¯s room.
Aura was helping drag items to him, making it easier to simply put them into storage instead of walking all around the room. It was mostly a wasted effort, but she wanted to feel useful, and that was all she could do at the moment.
He had just finished storing everything upstairs when a call from George came through the crowded cell lines.
George just wanted to make sure they had a plan of sorts -which they didn¡¯t, not really anyway- before he called the girls and their families. For the moment, he was stuck inside the city since he was the guild master for the healing guild. He would be one of the last to leave.
Nate managed to get the location of George¡¯s house from him, ostensibly so they could grab a few items for him that he couldn¡¯t stand to lose. Heirlooms, and pieces of memorabilia from his dead son and lost marriage. If there was time, Nate would simply pack up the entire house in the same manner they were doing theirs.
After telling him where to find the extra key, George hung up to call Angie.
Nate had kept working throughout the call and had most of the ground floor stored by the time he hung up.
An hour later, everything in the house had been stored by either him or his mother. Aura took a quick run through the house and managed to find a couple of items they had missed.
With that done, they locked the house and left for George¡¯s place with only a single glance back at the duplex that had been their home. The roads were clogged with people trying to find some way to escape. The problem with that was that the city was still surrounded by beasts.
There would be no escaping them just yet. All they were doing was clogging the roadway for no reason.
However, it did make it easy for them to reach George¡¯s place, as there was no traffic going in that direction.
¡°You realize I¡¯m probably never going to get the rest of those herbs to upgrade my core from the McFadden¡¯s now,¡± Nate said as they stopped in front of a small house only a few blocks away from the healing guild headquarters.
The house was two stories tall, but the amount of space inside was less than what they had inside their duplex. Even the basement was a cramped tiny shoebox of a space.
All that meant was that he was able to pack the place up even quicker than their own house.
His mother had discovered the limits of her own storage bracelet earlier. It could accept anything the size of a large wardrobe and smaller; she hadn¡¯t tried anything bigger than that. However, while the storage bracelet might not have a size limit, it most definitely had a weight limit, and a hard one at that. Two hundred and fifty pounds, or a little over one hundred and thirteen kilograms. As soon as she hit that limit, no more would go in and anything that would put her over the limit would not go in either.
It was an interesting bit of information for sure, though ultimately somewhat pointless beyond knowing their limitations.
While he was inside the house, packing everything, his parents were trying to get through the busy cell lines to call different people. Before this emergency, he had never known that service providers placed different importance on certain numbers in their system, though it did make sense. People like George or other first responders needed to be able to call out on a consistent basis. Which meant their phone numbers needed to have a higher priority in the provider''s system.
It was why George had been able to call him, and why his parents were having such a hard time getting any of their calls to connect.
By the time he had finished collecting everything from George¡¯s house into a new, appropriately labeled tab in his storage, they still had yet to connect to anyone.
¡°Where to now? Angie¡¯s home, or perhaps Lindsay¡¯s, or are we going to follow the sheep and join the herd and get stuck in line?¡± He asked as they pulled away from the small house.
¡°The healing guild,¡± His mother replied, her eyes glued to the news streaming across her phone. ¡°We need to speak with George and make sure he knows where his stuff all is.¡±
That was true. George probably hadn¡¯t been expecting Nate to pack up his entire house for him.
Aura didn¡¯t bother entering Nate¡¯s chest as they parked in front of the guild and climbed out, though she had, of course, changed her appearance. Everyone had to learn about her at some point, and this was as good a time as any. The healing guild was a safe space, so she shouldn¡¯t be at risk of being attacked.
Walking through the doors revealed an absolute madhouse of activity. People were rushing about every which way in a determined manner. They weren¡¯t doing it carelessly either, but instead with a clear and obvious practiced efficiency.
The people parted around them as they made their way to the front desk, their presence causing minimal disruption to everyone. Aura drew a few glances, but they were all so busy that they didn¡¯t have any more time than to catch a quick glimpse of her.
¡°Hi, we¡¯re here to meet with your guild master, George Trellow,¡± Niall told the harried woman at the front desk.
A stack of papers sat beside her, and her fingers were verily flying across the keyboard as she entered information into one database after another.
Large bloodshot eyes that sat behind a pair of reading glasses glanced up at them after a couple of seconds. Her fingers continued to dance across the keyboard without stopping, their speed having only taken a minor hit with her attention away from the screen.
¡°What¡¯s your name?¡±
¡°We¡¯re the Holmes family. I¡¯m Niall. This is my wife Nina, and my son Nathan, along with his beast companion Aura.¡±
¡°Nathan Holmes, yes, George did mention you might be stopping by here instead of leaving, as would be smart.¡± Her eyes flickered to the screen, and an annoyed click of her tongue followed as she was forced to erase part of what she had typed out incorrectly. ¡°Follow that hallway there, then grab someone to authorize the elevator for you and take it to the top floor. His office will be at the end of the hallway up there.¡± She used her chin to point at the hallway she meant for them to go down, and then grabbed the phone to call George and let him know they were on their way up.
She was too busy to do anything more than that. They all were.
At least with so many people around, finding someone to authorize the elevator for use was easy.
Chapter 119
George was juggling two different phone calls and working on his computer when they opened the door to his office. One of four on the top floor of the building.
He pointedly eyed a few chairs in front of his desk with a nod before refocusing on both conversations.
¡°No, Trissa! I don¡¯t care what you say. I am not giving your family preferential treatment of any kind.¡± He slammed the first phone down into its cradle. ¡°And as for you, Lisa! Get your bloody family over to the Chrighton compound where it''s safe and keep that woman in line before I lose it.¡± George hung up his cell phone in a much more controlled manner and placed it face down on his desk.
¡°How are things going?¡± Nate asked.
The older man¡¯s head sagged. ¡°Everything is a mess right now. We¡¯ve been keeping it from the news, but even before the wall broke, things weren¡¯t going well. The cultivators on the walls are overworked, and starting to accumulate injuries as they push their bodies and their cores. That goes triple for my people.¡± He pulled his head back up and stared at Aura. ¡°Enough about me though. I see you have been holding out on me.¡± A small grin graced his tired face as he spoke.
Nate was relieved George wasn¡¯t mad or insulted they had hidden her existence from him. ¡°Our last expedition was an interesting one, to say the least. I would have told you on Sunday when you came by, but Claire was there¡¡± Nate quirked his head in sudden thought. ¡°Have you heard from her at all since this began? Was she able to make it through alright? Is she safe?¡±
¡°I have, and yes, she managed to get home safely. Thank you for asking. She is also raising awareness of what is going on here, and what the visiting cultivators did to ensure it happened.¡±
¡°Is that safe?¡± Nina asked, leaning forward. ¡°I mean, this was all sanctioned by their local governments. If she says the wrong thing, and they found out¡¡±
¡°I did mention that to her,¡± George suddenly looked even more tired than before. ¡°Thankfully, she actually lives a couple of cities away from us. So, the risk is minimized somewhat. It was something that she insisted on doing.¡±
¡°Where do you want me to put the items we grabbed from your house?¡± Nate asked a couple of minutes later.
George waved to the open space around the room. ¡°Just put it wherever you see space. Do you need help bringing it up from your car? I¡¯ll have a few of my minions help you.¡±
Niall¡¯s face became a tad cramped as he turned to his son. ¡°Yeah, Nate, do we need help bringing it all up here?¡±
He chuckled awkwardly and walked over to the corner. ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. We have everything right here.¡±
With that said, he began pulling everything that George had specifically requested he retrieve out of his storage. He had kept his requests to a minimum due to the belief that their space would be at a premium.
The guild master watched with wide eyes that slowly drifted to Aura, and then back to Nate with a look of partial dawning comprehension. ¡°You have a storage bracelet and a beast companion. I¡¯m beginning to think that you have more secrets than the average cultivator.¡±
¡°Maybe a couple,¡± Nate admitted with a wry smile.
George nodded and then shrugged. ¡°Well, I admit that I am curious. However, some things should be kept private. Now, where are you all off to?¡±
¡°Where would you suggest?¡± Nina wondered. ¡°Leaving the city is all but impossible at the moment, and the roads are only getting more and more congested as people try to flee. We had to get out of the house, but now I¡¯m wondering if just holing ourselves up in the basement would have been a smarter plan. Without the ability to leave the city, we¡¯re trapped no matter what.¡±
¡°Go to the Chrighton¡¯s estate,¡± George told them firmly. ¡°It¡¯s where Lindsay and her family should be heading to right at this moment. They have the best setup for creating a defensive position of some kind. It¡¯s where I¡¯ll be going after I¡¯m finished here. I¡¯ll call ahead and let them know to expect you.¡±
Nate looked at the items he had just offloaded and sighed before storing them all over again with a roll of his eyes.
¡°Thank you, I appreciate it. That¡¯s one less thing I will need to worry about in the heat of the moment.¡±
Nate nodded and looked at his parents. ¡°Are we done here?¡±
Niall stood. ¡°Yup, let¡¯s go. George, stay safe, and we¡¯ll see you at the Chrighton compound, estate, or whatever you want to call it.¡±
Back outside, the previously congested roads had taken on a whole new level of driver stupidity. Accidents of one form or another were everywhere they looked. In their haste to escape, people were rear-ending the cars in front of them, side-swiping their neighbors, and causing damage all about as they drove up on the sidewalks and through people¡¯s yards.
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Unfortunately, unlike before, they were no longer heading in the opposite direction of traffic. Not that it would have mattered anymore, as people had completely forgotten what the rules of the road were.
All Niall could do was to join in the madness and do his best to keep them all safe.
Over the next few minutes, the SUV was sideswiped countless times and rear-ended twice. By the time they pulled off the main road and onto the road that led to Angie¡¯s place, the windows of the car were either shattered or riddled with cracks. Luckily, all the damage had been cosmetic and didn¡¯t affect how the engine handled in any way.
Of course, that didn¡¯t stop Nina from calling them a bunch of ¡®savages¡¯ as they left the crowded main thoroughfare behind.
They started to make better time at that point, but the roads were still crowded. The only difference was that people were a little less insane in this area.
Pulling up to the gates at the Chrighton estate, Nate couldn¡¯t help but feel his jaw loosen a little. Since becoming friends with Angie and Lindsay, he had been to Angie¡¯s house several times. It was always an intimidating experience, just in regard to the physical reminder of their social disparity.
Now, however, it had become an intimidating experience for a whole new reason. When George had mentioned that they had the best setup for a defensive position, he hadn¡¯t been joking.
Since he had last been there a few days before, towering walls of impacted dirt had been created that circled their entire property. The sole opening was the gate, which had been turned into a large tunnel with a series of drop gates.
Nate hopped out as they reached the gate and approached the guard. ¡°My name is Nathan Holmes, and this is my family. Angelica is expecting us.¡±
The guard looked him up and down and then took in the battered state of their car before nodding. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you accompanying the young miss a few times now. Word came down just a few minutes ago to expect you.¡± He spoke into his radio and the gates near the back of the tunnel that had been previously dropped were raised.
¡°Has Lindsay and her family arrived yet?¡± Nathan asked him with a polite nod.
¡°She has, though portions of her family have yet to arrive.¡±
¡°Alright, thanks. Stay safe out here. People are getting crazy out there.¡± Nathan hurried back to the car so his dad could drive them through the tunnel.
Despite having been to Angie¡¯s place several times, he had actually only been to her house one time, when he first met her parents. Every other time he had visited, he had gone to the training facility.
Angie and Lindsay were ready and waiting for them when they pulled up behind the line of other cars already there in front of the mansion.
¡°I hope you¡¯re ready for this,¡± Angie said to Nate in a way of warning and welcome as he stepped out.
¡°Your mom in a mood?¡±
¡°She always is when Lindsay¡¯s parents are around.¡± Lindsay nodded at that assessment.
Both girls squealed in delight as Aura hopped out of the car and stretched in front of them.
¡°When did you get a beast companion?¡± Lindsay demanded as she bent down and began petting Aura.
¡°This last weekend,¡± Nate quickly told them the same story he had given George, with a few minor tweaks to accommodate why he hadn¡¯t told them on Monday.
As his parents joined them outside of the SUV, the girls brought them inside the house. Both sets of parents were sitting inside Aden¡¯s rather large study and presumably office. It had a solid wood desk in between a pair of towering windows by the far wall.
Closer to the middle of the room was a rather chunky-looking table with a display embedded in it. There were multiple maps of the area currently displayed across its surface. One of the city as a whole, four different ones for the wall around the city, and then five smaller maps for the Chrighton compound.
At the moment, they were gathered around the table talking about how they were going to defend everything.
Lindsay¡¯s father, James, tapped one of the upper corners of a map and it grew to encompass the entire table. ¡°I¡¯m telling you; it is still too much size. We need more people and supplies. A large part of the reason the wall around the city is failing is because of cultivator shortages. We just didn¡¯t have enough people to man the walls properly. The local government made them too long, in the hopes that the city would continue to grow. Which admittedly, it did, but not enough to take up even a fraction of the space they prepared.¡±
¡°We are more than willing to do our part and participate in any defensive operations,¡± Nina said, butting into the conversation before it could get too heated.
¡°Mom, dad, the Holmes family just arrived,¡± Angie said, motioning to the people beside her.
Nate waved to them. ¡°I hope you have prepared a hefty stock of arrows and crossbow bolts.¡±
Niall nudged his son and subtly shook his head. Meanwhile, Lindsay turned her head to the side to hide the smile that suddenly bloomed into being.
Lisa Travers and Trissa Chrighton scowled at Nathan, their eyes taking in every detail about him and finding him wanting in every way. No doubt they both thought that their girls were interested in him in some way. Which, if true, Nate would be flattered. They were both gorgeous young women. However, he hadn¡¯t caught so much as a hint of interest that they were attracted to him in that way. So, he had been careful to keep his own feelings completely non-sexual toward them both.
They were his friends, and nothing more. If either wanted to change that, then they would need to be the one to make the first move, not him.
¡°We have been stocking up supplies for years now, in case something like this ever happened. Both of our families have.¡± Aden replied to Nate.
¡°Alright, well, it was nice to see all of you again. But I know when I¡¯m out of my depth. Why don¡¯t I just leave my parents here with you all and go somewhere else with Angie and Lindsay? I¡¯m sure we can find someplace else to cause trouble.¡±
He spun about and quickly escaped from the room before they could say anything to contest him. Aura was hot on his trail as he wandered back through the halls of the massive house.
Angie found him a minute later, with Lindsay joining them a minute after that.
¡°How many families have your parents welcomed into their home?¡± He asked, stopping beside a window that looked out over the back garden. The grounds around the house were immaculate, outside of the dozen large expedition-style RV trucks. They were the sort of comfortable trucks that his family could only dream of owning.
The truck his parents had bought was large, but was designed to mostly haul a large number of people. It possessed what was known as an extended crew-cab. It was a truck with a short bed in the back, but it had a third passenger row inside.
It was large enough to be comfortable for sleeping, if needed, but that was it. However, it would never be mistaken for an RV.
Chapter 120
Angie chuckled at his misunderstanding. ¡°Those are RVs my family brought in for the use of the families of the people working for us.¡±
Lindsay pointed to a grouping a little farther out. ¡°My family did the same thing. Though we have no idea how many of our own people will arrive with their families.¡±
Nate shook his head at the ridiculousness of the situation he had found himself in. How had he found himself friends with these two ultra-rich girls again?
¡°So, what should we do?¡± Nate asked, his back now to the window showing off the garden. ¡°I assume we have some time before anything reaches this area of the city.¡±
Aura nodded.
The action brought both girls¡¯ attention back to her. ¡°Well, I know what I want to do.¡± Lindsay glommed onto the apparent fox beast with a vengeance and began petting her.
Nate chuckled as Aura¡¯s stream of telepathic communication turned to a glitchy, mushy mess under Lindsay¡¯s assault. He only stopped her when she started to drift towards her tail. Aura¡¯s illusion only hid the three extra tails. It didn¡¯t make them disappear entirely. Besides, it was clear that his companion was enjoying her ministrations.
¡°Is it just foxes you like, or all cute, fluffy animals in general?¡± He asked Lindsay, while Aura hid behind his legs.
Her ears were a bright red as she looked away.
¡°She¡¯s always had a thing for foxes, but all cute semi-fluffy animals not trying to kill us will do her in.¡± Angie supplied with a smile.
¡°Traitor,¡± Lindsay hissed.
***
With nothing else to do, they eventually found themselves playing video games in one of the rooms off to the side. The games weren¡¯t nearly as developed as what Nate was accustomed to on OE, and they cost three times as much, but they were still fun. It was another of the industries that hadn¡¯t seen as much development as a result of the world changing.
People still needed entertainment, so it had, of course, happened, but the focus on it would never be there in this world. They couldn¡¯t afford for it to be, not outside of the major cities, anyway. Not unless what he was attempting to do really started to make a difference.
They had first checked out the training pavilion, but Anna wasn¡¯t there at the moment. She and Landon were both out doing something. Due to the sudden attack on the city, he had gotten trapped here, and his visit back had taken on a slightly different tone for the moment.
Aura¡¯s ears perked up and her head turned towards where the gate in the wall was. A moment later, they all heard the distant sound of an explosion.
Nate paused the brawling game and hurried over to the window. The rear of the gate tunnel was just barely visible from the room they were in. A thick black smoke was pouring out of it, while the guards stood ready to intervene at the side. The gates were still dropped in place, preventing any outside entry.
Opening the window, he jumped out and began running toward the gate. Aura followed hot on his heels.
Behind him, Angie and Lindsay took a more measured approach and took the time to go through the house and get the keys to a cart. They passed him a minute later, slowing enough for him to hop on.
In the heat of the moment, he had forgotten how stupidly large the Chrighton estate was. Just because he could see the gate, didn¡¯t actually mean it was close enough to run too quickly.
When they reached the gate, they saw that someone had crashed into the first of the thick gates that had been dropped in place. The gate wasn¡¯t damaged, but the car had gone up in flames. A dark oily smoke had filled the top of the tunnel. The guards on the other side of the wall were peering into the destroyed cabin of the car and shaking their heads. Whoever had been inside was already dead.
It wasn¡¯t clear if their running into the gate was an accident or an attempt to enter the compound. Either way, it hadn¡¯t succeeded.
Looking past the burning car, Nate could see more cars on the road than when they had arrived a few hours earlier. The area where Angie¡¯s family lived was not exactly remote, however, the roads that led to her home were not typically filled with a lot of traffic either.
¡°Do we need to help them move that car and clear the gate?¡± Nate asked.
¡°Not until it stops burning,¡± Angie said. ¡°But I do want to see what is going on out there.¡±
Built into the side of the tunnel was a smaller pass-through area for the guards and others to walk through the wall.
Lindsay led the way through, only to hiss in pain when they reached the door that would have led them out. The heat from the nearby fire had heated up the handle to a burning hot state.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
¡°Aura?¡± Nate requested.
She glanced at him and nodded. While maintaining her illusionary disguise, she activated part of the affinity in her second tail. A burst of glacier ice formed in the air around them, dropping the temperature of the tunnel severely. With a flex of her will, she flung the ice at the door, cooling it near instantly.
¡°Uh, what just happened?¡± Lindsay asked through cold, chattering teeth. ¡°Is Aura not a normal beast companion?¡±
He shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I think she¡¯s pretty normal. She just happens to be a very smart girl, is all.¡± Nate winked at Aura as he opened the door for them.
Outside, they were closer to the burning car and the destruction it had attempted to wreak. From their current spot by the door, they could easily see the three dead bodies that were being consumed by the fire.
¡°How did it even explode?¡± Nate wondered aloud as they joined the guards by the gate. ¡°That¡¯s not a gas model car. Is it?¡±
Most of the cars that were being produced in his new world ran off of some form of ground-up beast cores. The engines were magitech devices, in other words. Expensive, but reliable, with a very good energy conversion rate. Not to mention, in a pinch, if you were stuck outside the walls, you could shove an entire beast core into the tank to get home. Though that would damage the engine.
It was what all expedition vehicles ran off of for good reason.
Gasoline and diesel were still around; however, the refineries were much less prevalent. Combine that with a general lack of easy ways to ship the fuel and a third method to power, the vehicle had needed to be developed. Well, fourth, but batteries hadn¡¯t taken off here the way they had on OE.
¡°It still uses oil to keep everything lubricated,¡± One of the guards said unhelpfully.
While that explained the thick black smoke, it didn¡¯t tell them why it had exploded in the first place.
¡°Did you see what happened?¡± Lindsay asked the other guard.
He nodded and pointed to the road that had continued to grow ever busier. ¡°They were weaving in and out of traffic, driving in the ditches when they could. Just generally acting like insane idiots. They had to hop back onto the road to go around the driveway, but ended up clipping a few cars and getting sent into a spin. Next thing we know they were careening into the gate and then exploding. I wouldn¡¯t have thought there was enough force to cause an explosion.¡±
¡°Are these beast core-fed engines usually susceptible to blowing up?¡± Nate asked, suddenly worried about something he hadn¡¯t even considered a concern before that moment.
Angie shook her head. Normally, she would have chuckled at the oddly out-of-place question, but it didn¡¯t seem like the time or place. It was only when he asked questions on subjects like this, which were common knowledge, that she remembered his memory had been damaged.
¡°While they do use ground-up beast cores as the power source, they ensure that the fragments aren¡¯t unstable.¡± She frowned and glared at the car unhappily.
Aura flexed her qi and used her second affinity to create a layer of ice above the car. The air around them filled with the hisses and pops of cooling metal as the fire was doused in an instant.
The two guards took the chance to peek inside the car and gave dual snorts. ¡°There are enough liquor bottles in here to pickle an army. I can¡¯t say much for the initial explosion, but they certainly would have kept the flames going.¡±
Angie held a hand to her head as she felt a headache coming on. ¡°Push it to the side, out of the way. We still have more people expected to arrive within the next few hours. Make sure you both stay safe. I¡¯m sure this won¡¯t be the last car on the road in this state.¡±
The two guards¡¯ cultivation was more than enough to give them the strength to push the car out of the way. Even with its flat, melted tires.
With that done, the group went back through the tunnel and to the house.
¡°Your family didn¡¯t bring much,¡± Lindsay commented as the cart drove past the battered SUV. ¡°Are you all going to be alright?¡±
¡°My mom has a storage bracelet,¡± Nate told them, knowing it would come out eventually. He would try to keep the fact that he had one as well -not really- a secret for a while longer. Either way, if you couldn¡¯t trust your friends and family, then who could you trust?
Lindsay¡¯s mouth opened and closed soundlessly a few times at his casual declaration. While Angie, who was driving, twisted around to stare at him with wide eyes.
¡°You¡¯re about to run into the retaining wall,¡± He pointed ahead of them, to the stone wall the cart was rapidly approaching,
She spun the wheel at the last second, keeping them from hitting it. ¡°You can¡¯t just say something like that, Nate!¡±
¡°Sure, I can. I mean, I wouldn¡¯t do it with anyone else, but you two are my friends.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Besides, George already knows. I¡¯m sure it would have slipped out on accident at some point.¡±
¡°Why does George know?¡± Angie hissed, pulling the cart to a stop in front of the house.
¡°We stopped by his place to pick up a few items for him. He¡¯s the one who told us to come here, remember?¡±
¡°And you just whipped them out from the storage bracelet,¡± She muttered with a shake of her head. ¡°I would have expected more sense from your parents. I suppose there is something to be said about expeditious moves during times such as this. Just be careful. Enchanted items of any sort are not exactly common in this particular area.¡± She glared at him while she spoke, making sure he understood what she was saying.
Yeah, she had noticed something was up with his crossbow that first day on the wall.
He nodded.
¡°Good, now let¡¯s head back inside. I believe I was about to beat your character with mine for the fifteenth time in the game.¡±
¡°No, that¡¯s not true!¡± He denied. ¡°I was just starting to get the hang of the controls and understand how the finishers work. If you would quit cheating all the time, I would have picked it up by now.¡±
Lindsay rolled her eyes. ¡°Puh-lease, I was beating you both, and I wasn¡¯t even using the finishing attacks. There was nothing but pure skill going on there, baby.¡±
The two ground their teeth but couldn¡¯t retort. What she had said was true. She really was that good at the game. With a quick shared glance, Nate and Angie made a tacit agreement to gang up on her character. Lindsay would know defeat if it was the last thing they did.
Hours later, Nate had improved as he fully grasped the combos, and finishers used in the game. However, even teaming up with Angie¡¯s character, they had only managed to defeat Lindsay¡¯s sword-wielding elf maiden a handful of times.
¡°Ugh, whatever. I give up,¡± He said, at last, a relaxed smile on his face. Despite everything going on, he¡¯d had fun playing with them. ¡°I¡¯m tired, and it¡¯s obvious that Lindsay is a secret master of this game. She probably trains under a waterfall with the game in her hand or something weird like that.¡±
Both girls laughed at the odd mental image.
¡°Thanks for this. It was fun just playing a game with friends. It felt nice to be normal again.¡±
Chapter 121
Nate checked on the second dungeon when he first entered his avatar that night. The blighted elves were still maintaining their board in the portal room. The one they used to record all the details about the dungeon.
It had taken them a bit, but they had eventually begun to adapt strategies to the traps that were still active.
A few days earlier, he probably would have switched up the traps a little on them. Just to keep everything working at full efficiency. Now, he had other things on his mind, like the cultivators he was occasionally seeing peek through the dungeon entrance.
They had officially found the second dungeon.
It didn¡¯t seem as though they had made any moves to enter the dungeon itself, not yet at least, thankfully. His energy reserves were getting better with the latest research improvements. Still, he wasn¡¯t quite ready to activate more of the traps again.
He wanted more of a buffer before he risked something like that. Having the entire dungeon shut down had been an eye-opening experience.
At least the blighted elves were strong enough on their own to hold the cultivators back. Especially with the numbers that he was now seeing inside the dungeon.
Nate monitored everything for a few more minutes before switching over to the first dungeon. The timer that marked when the dungeon would finish taking control of the portal blinked into being alongside the various resource counters. It was a terrible countdown timer in his opinion as it would randomly skip seconds the system decided were unneeded.
In other words, the longer the countdown went on uninterrupted, the faster it counted. As long as nothing came through the portal, then he would have complete control of it in under three days. In all likelihood, considering how it continued to speed up, maybe even less.
Turning his attention away from the portal, he focused on the rest of the first floor of the dungeon. The cultivators that had been trying to invade and destroy the place before had finally pulled out. There were now only two of them sitting in a corridor near the exit room.
The rest had all left.
He pulled up the event log that the Dungeon Core had begun creating for him when it reached Level 3. It was an interesting little function that allowed him to quickly skim through and read what he would have otherwise missed. In this case, it was the cultivators leaving due to accumulated damage, and the risk involved in the operation.
At least it seemed as though they figured out that the place was a dungeon.
Looking through the logs, it was immediately apparent to him that the Dungeon Core could hear whatever people were saying while they were inside its walls. It bugged him that all he could do was watch, but not listen.
Regardless, it seemed as though the major cultivator concern had been dealt with for the moment. The Level 3 upgrade had made the interior of the dungeon too difficult for them to easily damage and largely solved it on its own.
Switching his view to the second floor, he went through the few minor adjustments the Dungeon Core had made throughout the day. It hadn¡¯t created traps or anything of that nature. What it had done was a little more diabolical. It had aimed at the beast¡¯s comfort level. The temperature on the entire level had been raised. Corridors had been made thinner, doors between rooms turned into jigsaw puzzle pieces, and small spikes added to the floor where they walked.
Everything they did now added some layer of discomfort to their lives. It made them hot, sweaty, and irritable. Which in turn made their minds tired and easily distracted during key moments when they fought.
The heat would still affect Nate and Aura, but they would still be going in fresh compared to the others. It was a tactic that he wholeheartedly approved of.
He would have to see about using it again later on in other dungeons. He switched the camera back to the two cultivators near the exit and screamed in frustration. They were talking. He could see their mouths moving, and yet still he could hear nothing.
Nate pulled up the event log after a moment and simply used that to read along with a slight delay. It was then that an idea occurred to him. He might not be able to hear them for whatever reason. However, now that the Dungeon Core was capable of transcribing what they were saying, couldn¡¯t it give him subtitles?
It took him some finagling to get it working right as the Dungeon Core needed to work with the camera views inside his wrist computer. Which it directly created a fork of once the system understood what he was trying to do. Once all of that was done and in place though, subtitles promptly began appearing at the bottom of the camera view whenever they were speaking.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Next, he just needed to test if it worked in the second dungeon or if it would only be limited to the first dungeon because of the upgraded Core.
Either way, he now had a way of actively seeing what people were saying inside his dungeon. It was a little late, now that nearly all of the cultivators had decided to abandon their mission. Something that he was still incensed about.
After everything they had done in the area, destroying safe havens, and creating a monstrous beast wave on the city, they had simply left the dungeon behind.
Nate read along with their conversation for a few minutes to see if they would say anything interesting.
Aura had been using the access she had to the dungeon system to watch the two that were left as well.
Deciding they had seen enough, they headed down to the second floor and got to work. It was a gradual thing, but they had started to notice a change in the beasts¡¯ day after day. A light had started to go out in their eyes, as though the thing that drove them obsessively onward had begun to fade.
Nate had a few thoughts on the matter, but he didn¡¯t want to say anything, not until he was sure. Some things were better kept to yourself where they couldn¡¯t harm anyone if you were wrong.
However, for the moment at least, they were still more than willing to continue throwing themselves at Nate¡¯s kukris as he practiced throughout the night.
***
Anna, along with Lindsay¡¯s brother Landon, had returned to the Chrighton estate sometime in the middle of the night.
Aura had made the mistake of plodding around in plain view as she and Nate went to get breakfast. It was promptly discovered that Lindsay wasn¡¯t the only one who liked cute, fluffy animals. Anna was the only one to discover her extra tails, though, at least for the moment.
¡°Ugh, really? What is with you people, and just glomping onto her like your life depends on it?¡± Nate complained as Anna looked up at him questioningly. Her hand was currently latched onto a tail hidden behind Aura¡¯s illusions. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that. Don¡¯t you know that it''s rude to grab someone¡¯s tail?¡±
Surprisingly, Anna dropped it and released Aura, who promptly hid behind Nate¡¯s legs.
¡°Right, sorry about that. Lost my head for a second there.¡± She tilted her head as she stood. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you had a beast companion, especially one who is so¡ special.¡±
¡°It¡¯s a fairly recent thing. She found me during the expedition this last weekend,¡± Which was entirely true, in a sense. ¡°As for her being special, please keep that to yourself. No one but myself and my parents know that she is anything more than what she appears.¡±
She nodded readily. ¡°I can do that. It¡¯s bad manners to pry into other people¡¯s beast companions too much, anyway. They often evolve in ways that they wouldn¡¯t have otherwise, making their original races somewhat meaningless.¡±
He glanced down at Aura, wondering if that was even possible for her race. What would a kitsune evolve into? Wasn¡¯t it already at the top of the evolutionary ladder? He shook his head, dispelling the distracting thoughts for the moment. They would find out eventually, or not, either was fine. It was up to Aura either way.
¡°We were just about to get some breakfast. Have you eaten yet?¡± He offered.
¡°Sure, I think the cook is already awake.¡±
Nate blinked, his foot halting in midair. ¡°Right, totally forgot about that. I won¡¯t even need to make it myself. That¡¯ll take some getting used to.¡± Usually, it was either his mother or himself cooking breakfast. ¡°Did you and Landon learn anything interesting while you were out and about yesterday?¡±
Her face darkened. ¡°We did actually, though it certainly isn¡¯t good news. It concerns some friends of yours, in fact. Do the family names Turner and Peterson mean anything to you?¡±
Nate unconsciously kicked out his leg to make sure his knee was still working. ¡°I¡¯m guessing you know they do, but you missed one.¡±
She shook her head once as they entered the dining room. ¡°No, the Pritchley¡¯s haven¡¯t done anything. In fact, they have been actively participating in the defense of the city. Those two families, however, fled the city yesterday. They disregarded their status and just left. It¡¯s fine for others to leave if they can, but not people in their position. They hold actual power and authority in the city, and now their absence has created a vacuum that will create ripples.¡±
In other words, things were only about to get worse.
There was already some food set out on the table for people to eat as needed.
Nate filled a plate for himself and a second for Aura. ¡°Can you show me on a map where both of their houses are?¡± He asked as he sat down, an idea coming into being.
She nodded slowly. ¡°What are you thinking?¡±
¡°Just that they owe me, and I¡¯m sure they didn¡¯t have time to take everything when they fled. I¡¯m sure there are plenty of supplies and other goodies still left in the place.¡±
Anna coughed, turning her head to the side as pieces of egg found their way sprayed through her nose.
¡°Eww, that¡¯s disgusting,¡± Nate scooted his plate away from her.
¡°Ugh, egg in my nose, that smells so weird,¡± She complained. ¡°Anyway, yes, I know where they both live. That¡¯s actually a pretty good idea.¡±
Now that Nate had gotten a taste of emptying people¡¯s houses into his storage, he wanted to grab as much as he could while he had the chance. It would help his family get ahead wherever they ended up when this was all over. Otherwise, they, like so many others, would be stuck starting from nothing all over again.
His parents had just started their company, and he wasn¡¯t going to let them fail now. Not if he could help them in any case.
A short time later, a procession of three trucks left the Chrighton estate. Anna was leading the group while Landon was taking up the rear. Lindsay was driving the middle truck, with Angela and Nate in it. The girl¡¯s parents had been hesitant at first to let them leave the property, but had eventually agreed under the condition they brought others.
It was an easy choice to make, and now they were on the road heading to the first of the houses.
Unlike the day before, the roads weren¡¯t nearly as packed with cars and crazy drivers. There were still a few out and about, but most had figured out they couldn¡¯t leave and eventually returned home. The city was still surrounded by beasts. There was no escaping them just yet. All their clogging the roadways accomplished was making it harder for those who needed to reach the wall to get there.
The wall would either fall in its entirety, or the beasts would die. With the city surrounded as it was, there would be no escape for most of them.
Chapter 122
The house the Peterson¡¯s had lived in was massive. It easily qualified as a mansion, though it lacked the large estate that the Chrightons had for their holdings. All it boasted was the size of the house and a rather modest backyard.
The family may have had money, but they were obviously nowhere near the level of the Chrighton¡¯s or Lindsay¡¯s family. Although Nate had never actually seen the Travers¡¯ estate, he knew enough about them to know it wouldn¡¯t be small.
Unfortunately, it was immediately obvious that the family had either been putting on airs the entire time, or all their money was somewhere else. All the items in the house were fake. Every golden candelabra, silver fork, and fine vase was plated and fake. They looked good, but they were thin veneers, nothing more.
The group''s stop there ultimately ended up being rather short overall, as the amount of supplies they found was limited. Nate still managed to walk away with a number of manuals for different affinities and a couple for energy skills. They weren¡¯t anything impressive, however, more information was always appreciated.
At some point, he wanted to experiment with creating or modifying energy skills. That was far in the future still and depended on him continuing to evolve his skill, basic ties. Brick Jones had definitely been onto something when he had made sure Mira gave him that particular skill. It was one that had hidden depths to it, far beyond what was immediately apparent.
None of that stopped Nate from grabbing everything he deemed somewhat valuable that wasn¡¯t nailed down. TVs, laptops, and books all went inside a new tab. All the food and other immediately usable supplies went into the back of the trucks to be taken back to the estate.
¡°Well, that was a disappointment,¡± Lindsay said as their procession of trucks hit the road again toward the second house.
The other two nodded.
¡°How common is it for people to decorate their houses with cheap knockoffs like that?¡± Nate wondered aloud.
¡°It depends on a couple of factors,¡± Angie began. ¡°The Petersons were fairly new to their wealth and station in life, at least as these things go. I think it was the current head of the house, Randall, whose father, that raised them to where they are now. They haven¡¯t had generations to accumulate their wealth and the items in their house. Unless they wanted to waste their money, they were left with two options. Not displaying how rich they are, or doing what they did.¡±
¡°What are the other factors you mentioned?¡±
¡°The family itself, and where they want to put their money.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Though, usually those sorts of families don¡¯t worry about the image they give off anyway.¡±
¡°You¡¯ll notice that there is nothing like that in her house,¡± Lindsay interjected with a smirk. ¡°However, the entire place pretty much smacks of wealth as it is.¡±
Angie shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m not going to apologize for something my family has worked tirelessly to obtain.¡±
Nate looked out the window, tuning the two girls out as they started what he sensed was a familiar topic of playful bickering for them.
The city was surprisingly intact. There were a few people who were going around attempting to loot, but that was it. Stealing and creating too much trouble was surprisingly hard in a world where nearly anyone could be a cultivator. You could never tell if the store you were about to rob was staffed by someone in the same realm as you, or maybe even higher.
This wasn¡¯t like the stories he had read on Old Earth, where the higher your cultivation, the more people respected you. That was true to an extent here, but it was also mainly just another aspect of who they were. Unless they were full-time expedition hunters, the professionals, then their actual cultivation only came into play during the required expeditions.
Still, after seeing how panicked everyone had been the day before, and full the roads had been. Nate had been expecting more damage and fires set by angry mobs and the like. For the moment at least, the area he could see looked relatively normal.
Anna was already out of the truck she had been in and was talking to a man that Nate recognized as Leon Pritchley when they arrived at the Turner mansion. Leon was the father of the girl who had held back during the attack on him. She hadn¡¯t possessed the mental fortitude at the time to stop people that she considered friends from doing something she knew was wrong. However, she also hadn¡¯t participated in it.
Leon¡¯s eyes flickered to the girls and Nate as they exited the truck. ¡°They were both many things, I will give you that, and their boys were worse. However, never in the years that I have known them have they shown themselves to be cowards.¡±
Anna pointed at the door of the house. ¡°After you then. You came here for a reason; we don¡¯t mind entering the house after you. We just came from the Peterson place though, and it had been abandoned. Absolutely garish interior.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
He winced at that comment. ¡°Yes, most of those were bought years ago when they were just starting out. They never replaced them, regardless of how often we told them that they needed to. I¡¯d like to say that they were a reminder of where they came from, but I think we both know that would be a lie.¡±
Leon ran a hand through his hair, smoothing it back as he nodded to Angie and Lindsay. ¡°Nathan, you are looking well. I was disappointed to hear about your core. However, it seems my concerns were at least partially misplaced, as I see you have already raised its rank by one. Impressive.¡±
With the pleasantries over with, he turned to the door, and after finding it locked, simply broke it down with a well-placed kick. The inside of the house was completely empty. They had packed everything down to the last piece of silverware when they fled.
¡°I don¡¯t know how appropriate this is to say,¡± Nate began hesitantly, as they all came back together in the foyer after combing through the large house. ¡°But I don¡¯t think their leaving was a last-minute decision. With everything that was in this house, they would have needed multiple moving trucks or several storage bracelets of a large size.¡±
Leon was completely pale. The faith he¡¯d possessed in his friends shattered. He didn¡¯t even react to what Nate said. He couldn¡¯t, the evidence suggesting otherwise was nonexistent.
The group left him standing in the entryway of the house, a lost look on the man¡¯s face as they drove away. His friends had utterly betrayed him and the city. What was perhaps worse was they hadn¡¯t even had the decency to invite him along.
Back at the Chrighton estate, they found all three groups of parents waiting for them, wanting an update on the city. They were still in contact with people on the wall, but more and more cultivators were deciding not to show up for their assigned shifts. Everyone knew the wall would fall, and instead, they were choosing to look after their families.
After the ill-advised attempt to leave the city yesterday, people were grouping up and creating their own little shelters.
No one was under any illusion that the city would be anywhere near the same after this was over and done with. The period of rebuilding would be harsh on them, and while they were nearing winter, that wasn¡¯t too much of a concern for the cultivators.
Nate simply wished he could do more, but he couldn¡¯t. The sort of things that he was capable of doing in the dungeon were limited to the dungeon. That was his space. The city most definitely was not.
Aden Chrighton, Angie¡¯s father, immediately headed to his office to begin making some phone calls to other cities after hearing what they had to say.
¡°Do you think the McFaddens are still around? Janett was related to one of them, wasn¡¯t she?¡± Niall asked. ¡°If just these two families leaving is creating a power vacuum, them doing the same would cause an absolute collapse.¡±
¡°Let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves here,¡± Trissa, Angie¡¯s mother, said. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like them-¡°
¡°We don¡¯t particularly care for them either way,¡± Nina interrupted her. ¡°It was Jace we didn¡¯t like. The McFadden¡¯s were more or less typical powerful rich people in our dealings with them. Always trying to use their influence to force us to back down. Luckily for them, what we wanted was something their money could provide. The proper ingredients to upgrade Nate¡¯s core.¡±
Lisa, Lindsay¡¯s mother, coughed, directing their attention to her. ¡°In answer to Niall¡¯s question. Yes, Dean Turner is Janett¡¯s stepbrother. So, the question about whether or not they are still here isn¡¯t entirely without merit. Even if they are, she might know where he fled, since it seems he was far more prepared than Randall.¡±
Nate slowly backed away from the gathering. It sounded as though they were going to check on the McFadden¡¯s after all, and that was not something he was interested in. He would rather spend his time working on his meditation art. For the moment at least, he had finished working on the first stanza with basic ties and had moved on to the second one.
There were still a few yellow words in the first stanza, but he could live with that for the moment. He needed to keep moving forward. Which meant that he needed to work toward understanding the next stanza, and then beginning to modify it. He already knew what the entire art was supposed to mean as a whole. It would be impossible to modify it properly otherwise, as he would risk changing the meaning of things too much.
Knowing what something meant as a whole, and the deeper meaning behind a localized stanza, however, was not the same thing. This was generally the main step for a cultivator before they integrated them into their meditation models. With him, it was simply another step on the path he was creating for himself.
He had already begun to work toward understanding the second stanza days before and was eager to get back to it.
Angie and Lindsay followed him out, with Aura slipping away a moment later as well.
¡°What are you up to?¡± Lindsay wondered as they followed along behind him.
He chuckled at the incongruency going on at the moment. They were inside Angie¡¯s house, and yet they were following him.
¡°I¡¯m going to go get some studying done on my meditation art,¡± He told them honestly. ¡°The way I¡¯m doing it is a little convoluted and will take a while to complete. However, the results should be exceptional if it works out.¡±
¡°You¡¯re talking about the changes you¡¯ve been making basic ties?¡± Angie asked.
He nodded. ¡°Mr. Jones told you?¡±
¡°He came by the other day after this had all just started, and told us both, in confidence, what you had discovered. He had brought the basic ties skill book from the school just so we could both learn it right then.¡± Lindsay said softly.
¡°Oh, that¡¯s good then,¡± He replied with a grin, not particularly minding that the teacher had told them. It had never even occurred to him that the man would keep it a secret anyway. ¡°And? How¡¯s it been going? Have you made any progress with the skill or your meditation arts yet?¡±
The two girls frowned and shook their heads.
¡°It¡¯s not going so good on my part,¡± Angie said after a moment. ¡°I haven¡¯t gotten it to work on my meditation art at all, and it¡¯s confusing when used on other things.¡±
Lindsay nodded, her face more than a little red with embarrassment.
¡°Huh, okay, well, I guess the first thing we need to do is make sure you both understand how the skill works. Brick did say that the way I use mine was different than the way he used his, or something. Worst-case scenario, you¡¯ll both have to wait until the skill has evolved to do this. However, I don¡¯t really see why that would be the case since all three of us have really only just gotten the skill.¡±
Chapter 123
Nate spent the night going through the second dungeon, just watching what the blighted elves were up to. He discovered that the subtitle function didn¡¯t work there. However, he wouldn¡¯t need to upgrade the Dungeon Core to Level 3 to get it working either. It was a simple matter of researching it now.
Once a function had been unlocked in one dungeon, that was apparently how it transferred over to the others.
That would need to wait until his current project was finished. It was nice to know that soon he would be able to understand what the blighted elves were saying as he watched them.
They had continued to map out the dungeon, but interestingly enough left the area with the core alone. It was almost as though they could sense that something was there. The map they had drawn in the portal room was fairly detailed everywhere else, only to abruptly fall off when it got too close to the room with the Dungeon Core.
More than any of that though, he found his interest being held by the tactics they devised to get through the traps. The lasers were all being diverted now by pieces of armor that had been buffed to a shine. The enhanced gravity they worked around by stripping everything off and going through with only the bare essentials on. They would hold a rope attached to the rest of their equipment that they would pull through when they made it.
The railgun spike launchers they had mapped the locations of, so those were no longer a problem for them either. Really, the only trap they hadn¡¯t found a way around was the deconstructing sound frequency. Which was rarely deadly to the enhanced beings. It messed them up for sure. They all left smears of blood and other bodily fluids in their wake, but it didn¡¯t quite have enough power to finish the job most of the time.
Nate could have increased the power, easily in fact, but then it would have started damaging the dungeon as well. He was trying to save energy, not create another draw point.
It was a process that was going rather well, exceedingly so, in fact.
The traps might not be as useful as he had originally hoped they would be, but they were managing to do one thing right. The ones near the exit kept the blighted elves inside the dungeon for a reasonably long period of time.
The dungeon gained the most energy and other resources when a being died inside it. However, it still gained energy just from them being inside its walls. Without the shared pool, it would be suffering from a lack of resources, but that wasn¡¯t an issue.
No, he was eyeing the counter for energy. The one that had been empty only a while before and forced the dungeon to shut down. What he saw brought a smile to his face. It wasn¡¯t quite there yet, but in a few more days, he would be able to increase the level of the Dungeon Core. Or put more traps back in place.
He hadn¡¯t quite decided yet which¡
No, that was a lie. He had. The Level 2 upgrade should unlock a new dungeon for him. He would be placing it in against something a tad lower in difficulty as well. Though, hopefully, still intelligent.
It seemed to him that the blighted elves generated more energy for the dungeon than the beasts did on average. In part because their cultivation realms were higher, but he was pretty sure that the fact that they were intelligent beings had an effect on it as well. How much, he had no way of knowing, just that it was probably there in some way.
Either way, for the moment, he didn¡¯t want to mess with things too much and was just looking for a lazy night. All the excitement lately had started to wear on his mind. He wasn¡¯t used to firing on all cylinders constantly, and that was exactly what he had been doing for a while now.
So, he found a quiet corner in the dungeon with Aura and worked on his meditation art for a while. Then he cultivated, and finally, he simply took a nap while still in his avatar form, something that he had never done before.
The stress had started to get to him in more ways than he wanted to admit. Taking this break, as small as it was, helped. It might not have lasting effects, but it would help him keep going for now.
When he woke the next morning, everything had changed.
Everyone had known it was coming. It was simply a matter of how long it was going to take, and now the time had run out. The wall around the city had completely fallen during the night. The small breaches of before had turned into something that they had absolutely no hope of even possibly keeping under control.
It took him a few minutes to find everyone, as they had gathered outside on the wall built around the estate. They were all watching the beast-core-enhanced beasts tear through the city.
Buildings were being torn apart, as the stronger, more durable beasts simply ran through them like mobile wrecking machines. The tallest buildings in the city had already been destroyed, not that they were skyscrapers or anything. Nate didn¡¯t think they had been taller than fifteen stories, max.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
However, the damage caused when they had fallen¡
The dust was still hanging in the air, concealing blocks from view.
Each of the adults standing on the wall gripped their weapons tight, their faces set in a rictus of fury. Setting aside the destruction of the city that they had made their home. Countless people were dying every moment that those beasts rampaged and there was nothing they could do to save them. These beasts had all grown too powerful for anyone gathered there to damage.
If they all worked together, they would likely be able to take one down. But that was assuming that none of the other beasts interfered with their fight.
A worn-looking George was the first to see Nate come up the stairs and join everyone else on the top of the wall.
¡°Hey, when did you get here?¡± Nate asked him, his wide eyes taking in the utter destruction of the city he had known for the last first months.
¡°About three o¡¯clock this morning. I waited for as long as I could before leaving the guild building.¡± His eyes were a mix of sad, and supremely angry as he glared out over the destruction. ¡°I won¡¯t forget who caused this all to happen, and I won¡¯t rest until those people are brought to justice.¡±
¡°How likely is that to happen?¡± Lindsay asked, walking up to them in time to hear the tail end of the conversation.
The older gentleman deflated some. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The public outcry might be enough to make them lose their positions, but little more than that. The damage has been done, the city has been lost and nothing will bring it back. There is no recourse for that.¡±
Nate felt his shoulders slump in defeat. ¡°That¡¯s not exactly what I was hoping to hear.¡±
¡°That¡¯s it then?¡± Lindsay wondered, her eyes wandering across the ever-growing devastation. ¡°Humanity has lost another city, and no one is even going to care?¡±
George shrugged sadly. ¡°Who can say? We don¡¯t lose cities that often, and the factories here didn¡¯t produce anything that essential.¡±
¡°Still, it just doesn¡¯t seem right.¡± Nate could see a few groups fighting beasts as they came a little close to where they had holed up.
¡°It¡¯s not, but it is life.¡±
Their little group was quiet for a few minutes as they listened to the roars and sound of buildings crashing to the ground.
¡°I guess we could leave now if we really wanted to,¡± Nate muttered. ¡°Assuming we could make it to the truck and trailer, of course. All the beasts are inside the wall now instead of surrounding the city, keeping people trapped. Hopefully, that means that some people are taking the chance to escape. Those that weren¡¯t able to find safe places to hide at least.¡±
Back inside the house, they found themselves in Aden¡¯s office, which felt small for once with all of them in it.
The chunky table with the display embedded in it was showing a map of the city and wall. Sections of the wall had been highlighted in red and then crossed out.
¡°We need to decide if we are going to help the people out there, or simply hole up and look after ourselves. One of those choices is obviously smarter than the other.¡± Aden began, as he laid out what the options were and how much food the estate had managed to stock.
Niall and Nina backed up at the same time. ¡°We appreciate you inviting us to be part of this discussion, but we are already guests and interlopers here. It wouldn¡¯t be right for us to help you make this decision.¡±
Aden chuckled. ¡°You¡¯re no more an interloper than James and Lisa here. So, stay and offer your opinion.¡±
Anna and Landon were actively marking parts of the map with George¡¯s input. He had the most up-to-date information among those in the group about what had been going on throughout the city.
When Nate¡¯s attention came back to the main conversation, it had been decided that they would be accepting people into the walls of the estate. Along with that, groups would be heading out to start finding and bringing people back with them.
Instead of doing the safe thing and turtling up, they would be doing what they could for the people of the city. It might have been better to have done that from the beginning, but they had never been under any obligation to do anything for them to begin with.
The people that came in wouldn¡¯t be exactly comfortable, but they would be safe.
With that decided, it was just a matter of deciding on the composition of the teams. Which didn¡¯t take that long either. Everyone was going out except for George and the guards. So, the kids would be accompanying their parents to create teams of three, while Anna and Landon would form their own team as well.
As soon as the decision was made, they all split and went their different ways.
Nate and his parents headed to their wrecked SUV and headed out first. Unlike the others, they had no need to gather their equipment. Nina and Nate were already carrying everything they needed.
The point of what they were doing was to rescue people. However, if they happened to be able to take out a beast, then so much the better. No one was too hopeful about the odds of that happening. The beasts had grown too strong, and them attacking one would be foolish beyond measure.
The idea was to save people, not throw away their own lives.
¡°Did you find anything when you went to the McFadden¡¯s last night?¡± Nate asked as they left the estate behind them.
¡°Oh, right here you go,¡± His mother passed back a new box of upgrade ingredients for his core. ¡°Needless to say, this will be the last one you¡¯ll be getting from them. They are still here for now, doing their duty, but they have plans to leave as soon as the matter has been resolved. The McFaddens have no interest in helping to rebuild the city, and I can¡¯t exactly blame them for that one.¡±
¡°What about us? What are we going to do?¡± Nate asked his parents. It was a question that had been bothering him ever since the wall was first breached. ¡°Are we sticking around or going somewhere else?¡±
Niall and Nina shared a look. ¡°That is something we need to discuss as a family. However, the Chrightons and Travers did offer us a position if and when they left. Neither has made a firm decision of their own on the matter just yet. Despite the differences between the parents, they understand how close the girls are and don¡¯t want to destroy a friendship like that by separating them.¡±
Nate looked out the car window at the city. ¡°What are the odds that people will stick around to rebuild this place?¡±
¡°Oh, it¡¯s guaranteed. People will always stick around to rebuild the places they call home. The real question is how many of them that will be, and if it will be enough, even to keep those that remain safe.¡± Nina said, her own eyes skipping from destroyed building to destroyed building.
Chapter 124
Aura¡¯s help was integral in finding people amongst the collapsed buildings. Her sensitive ears and nose mixed with her ability to communicate made it relatively easy for them to find people who needed help.
Each one they saved, they sent on their way, either walking or in whichever car they could find nearby with keys.
In that fashion, they continued to press on for several hours before deciding it was time to turn around and head back. They had encountered a few weaker beasts, but thankfully nothing that they couldn¡¯t handle.
¡°How many people do you think their estate can actually hold?¡± Nate asked, as they were heading back hours later.
¡°It depends on how comfortable people want to be,¡± His dad replied grimly.
If they went with standing room only, then a lot of people could be stuffed inside the estate walls. They wouldn¡¯t be comfortable, but they would be safe, at least for a while longer. On the other hand, if they went for something that used a little bit more room¡ The number of people they could fit inside would be a quarter they would have otherwise been able to.
It was an interesting problem, comfort, versus helping others. Of course, in the end, it was still up to the Chrightons and no one else.
At the estate, the gates were up, and the guards were welcoming a stream of people inside and showing them where to go. The maids, gardeners, and various other people who worked about the estate had momentarily abandoned their other duties in order to curb the madness.
The Holmes pulled off to the side near the gate and offered their help to the guards there. They were initially hesitant when they saw the SUV pulling over, only to be relieved when Nina and Niall stepped out. Nate slipped into the driver¡¯s seat and drove the rest of the way up to the house.
Once there, he found that they were the first back, and quickly followed his parent¡¯s example by making himself useful. Joining up with a few maids who had seen him with Angie and Lindsay the night before, he and Aura helped corral the incoming people.
It was madness, and they all knew that the only reason this might work was because the beasts were ignoring them. Hopefully, that was something that would continue.
Nate wasn¡¯t sure how many people there were inside the walls of the Chrighton estate as dusk began to fall. However, he knew it numbered well into the thousands. Countless cars lined the road leading up to their driveway, and people had needed to be assigned to move them farther down. Too many people had parked them haphazardly and abandoned the vehicles in their rush to safety.
Aura was asleep on Nate¡¯s feet as he relaxed on a couch. His feet were aching from the constant standing and back and forth. It was different from the exercise he had grown used to in the dungeon or on expeditions. Simply standing, with short bursts of motion, somehow took a lot more energy out of you.
¡°How do you think we did?¡± He asked Angie, who had collapsed into a nearby chair with a groan.
After returning to the house, both Angie and Lindsay had set about helping in the same manner he had been. Nate and Angie had already finished their showers while Lindsay was still in hers.
Wet, semi-curled ringlets clung to Angie¡¯s face. It was something that he hadn¡¯t really noticed about her hair before that moment. In its dry state, there was only a slight curl to her hair, one that apparently became far more pronounced when it was wet.
¡°I don¡¯t know about how you or Lindsay did, but I doubt my parents and I covered more than a few square miles total.¡± She brushed the wet hair off her cheek and stared up at the ceiling. ¡°People are still trickling in even now, but there is only so much room available. Not to mention resources.¡±
He nodded. ¡°If this continues for more than a couple of days, we¡¯re going to be in trouble.¡±
Silence took over the room as they were both lost in their own thoughts for several minutes.
¡°Hey, have your parents decided what they are going to do yet?¡± Nate asked her.
¡°Not that I know of. I think they¡¯re waiting to see just how bad the damage here really is before deciding. There are certain advantages to being part of a city¡¯s rebuilding efforts. That is only if they decide it is worth it for them. My family is made up of merchants, not politicians. We¡¯ve never really had the desire to enter that particular space, either.¡±
¡°Practical. Can¡¯t fault them for that. Family comes first. Helping others is all well and good, but if it starts to affect your own family, then there is a problem.¡±
¡°Some would call that a selfish way of thinking,¡± She pointed out.
He shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m fine with that label. It is an inherently selfish way of thinking. However, it¡¯s also just the way I am. My family and friends come first always. I¡¯ll help others, but once that help starts to become detrimental to those who I actually care about, it¡¯s gone. I¡¯m not some paragon of virtue who believes the world should conform to my own view of righteousness. Those sorts of people are simply na?ve and are in for a very rude awakening at some point in their lives.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Nate shook his head and looked at her. ¡°Sorry, for whatever reason, that¡¯s a subject that always seems to annoy me when people bring it up.¡±
¡°It¡¯s fine. I can¡¯t say that I am as passionate on the subject as you are, but I have similar feelings on the matter.¡± She stood and walked over to the window. Her eyes taking in the masses of people lying in the grass outside her house. ¡°Then again, seeing them suffering in person is different from what I had always imagined it to be. So, now I have no actual idea how I would react.¡±
Lindsay walked in as they were talking, a towel wrapped around her head. ¡°What are we talking about?¡±
¡°The futility of acting like a hero, and what we think our families plan to do in the future,¡± Angie told her, glancing away from the window.
¡°That sounds like a heavy topic for a nighttime discussion, but okay.¡± She plopped down on the nearby couch. ¡°I think my parents are hoping yours will want to stay. The rest of my brothers and sisters have all been called home. Landon being here was a nice coincidence, but it set certain ideas in motion in my parent¡¯s minds. The rest of my siblings aren¡¯t going to be so quick to forgive him for it.¡±
¡°Ugh, can this city even really be fixed?¡± Nate asked. ¡°Those beasts are still out there rampaging through the place. Just thinking of all the work involved is making me dizzy, and the cost¡¡±
¡°Luckily, that is something we don¡¯t need to worry about. We¡¯re still in school¡¡± Angie trailed off, as she transitioned to biting her lower lip. ¡°Hmm, you remember how we were talking about graduating early before? This might be one of those times where the school could conceivably toss us the remaining energy skills we need to graduate.¡±
They each let that thought sink in for several moments. There was nothing they could do either way, but having the choice taken from them didn¡¯t sit right with the group.
¡°Sounds to me like we should get to work on evolving our skills, and doing everything we can with our meditation arts.¡±
¡°If only it was that easy,¡± Lindsay muttered as they all settled around the table to pick up where they had left off the night before.
Nate had learned that their version of basic ties differed from his own, which wasn¡¯t too much of a surprise. The one that Brick Jones was using had been evolved multiple times by his own admission before he noticed it having an effect like the one Nate had pointed out to him.
It was hard to say for sure, but he believed that his dimensional affinity or the wrist computer was having an effect on the energy skill. More than likely his affinity than the computer in this case, at least to his own thinking. Regardless, there was no way to know for sure.
What that meant for the girls, is that they needed to evolve the basic ties skills at least once. If they focused on the direction they wanted it to go, then that one time might even be enough.
However, that didn¡¯t mean that they were left hanging in the dark during this time. When Brick Jones had given them the energy skills for basic ties, he had also presented them both with revised versions of their meditation arts. Well, calling them ¡®revised¡¯ was being generous. All they were was the original meditation arts they had learned, with the red and yellow words marked in each stanza.
They had to work everything out from there on their own. Unfortunately, without his help, neither girl was able to tell if the words they were choosing were worse or better than the originals. Nate¡¯s version of basic ties only gave him information as if the meditation art was for him, not someone else. Which meant his help was useless as well. All they could do was work their way through the red words and hope they didn¡¯t make anything worse.
There was a certain amount of intuition and feeling involved with the process they had found. It kept them from making too egregious of mistakes.
As they were close to shutting down for the night, the wall around the estate shuddered.
One of the beasts had found them at last.
The people outside screamed, and more than a few began to cry. There were also many who grabbed their nearby weapons and hurried to the wall. They might not be the strongest cultivators in the area, but they were smart enough to understand that this was their last stand.
The proverbial Alamo.
Aura ran alongside the cart that took the group to the wall where the attack originated. It wasn¡¯t near the wall, but off to the side, closer to the main wall of the city. It was a beast that had wandered in recently instead of one that had spent the entire day tearing through buildings.
That was both good and bad news. That meant it was fresh, and not tired from the effort it had been expending all day. It also meant it was probably not as powerful as the rest of the beasts in the city.
If they were right, then this was the best-case scenario for the estate. A beast corpse would discourage the others from attacking them, while they would get away with only light damage.
Standing atop the wall, they found their parents already looking down at the beast attacking the wall.
¡°Is that a goat?¡± Nate wondered, sure that his eyes were playing a trick on him.
Everyone nodded, as the beast backed up to take another ramming pass at the wall. It lowered its horned head and charged, only to bounce away when it connected a second later. The section of wall they were standing on trembled, but the impact was noticeably weaker than the hits from before.
The large goat shook its head, bleated in frustration, and backed up even further than before.
¡°I think it has already given itself some brain damage,¡± Niall said blandly. ¡°I don¡¯t think it was expecting the wall to be this hard.¡±
Aden scoffed. ¡°It had better be. I paid for it to be packed down, even more than the wall around the city. At this point, concrete can¡¯t compare to it. Imagine this entire wall is a block of solid steel, and you¡¯re somewhere on the right track.¡±
Lindsay¡¯s mother glared at him. ¡°Great, we have you to blame for the fall of the city, then. If the people who worked on your wall had been where they were supposed to be on the city wall, then none of this might have happened.¡±
James put a hand on his wife¡¯s shoulder and shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s not being fair, and you know it.¡±
She ground her teeth together and turned away from them.
¡°The wall around the city had already been compromised when we started on ours,¡± Trissa told them quietly, still watching the goat torment itself. ¡°And while you¡¯re not wrong, you¡¯re also not entirely correct, either. We did keep them from working on the wall around the city, but it wouldn¡¯t have mattered. The city never had enough earth compactors to begin with. They had maybe a thousand people doing a job that required well over a five-thousand minimum during normal operations. The force was beyond barebones, in other words.¡±
¡°It was almost always destined to fall if anything ever cracked it,¡± Aden told them as the goat shook its head again, a glow beginning to encompass its horns.
Chapter 125
Nina decided that the goat had experienced enough fun and buried one arrow after another along the length of its spine. The glow surrounding its horns gradually petered out as it slumped in place with a final weak bleat.
The goat may have been strong, but Nate¡¯s mother had an enchanted bow. Enchantments, which she had just managed to use without alerting the others.
Well, most everyone. George once again showed how attentive to details he could be when Nate caught him eyeing Nina¡¯s trembling fingers. She had made those shots without a finger guard protecting her from the metal of the bowstring. They weren¡¯t bleeding this time, but it was close.
Nina had been meaning to add a protective wrapping to the area of the string where her fingers touched. She would leave a spot blank for the arrows to nock into position properly. However, with how busy life had gotten, she had kept putting it off. It wasn¡¯t a big deal to wear fingerguards, usually.
George raised a brow at Nate but didn¡¯t say anything aloud. The older gentleman knew enough to keep other¡¯s secrets.
¡°Well, that was exciting. Should we leave it down there where its core can be easily eaten, or bring it up here where it might not scare off the other beasts?¡± Nate asked the gathered group.
Landon mumbled out his own utterly PG version of a curse, though it was still enough to receive a look of disproval from his mother. ¡°I forgot about that for a few moments there. Its corpse could actually serve as a dinner bell for the stronger ones. They¡¯ll want its core since they¡¯ve gone mad, but even more normally, they¡¯ll want the energy inside its meat and body. We need to move that thing before it starts to release its smell all over the place.¡±
In the heat of the moment, it was something even the more experienced expedition hunters had managed to forget. You didn¡¯t use beast corpses as warnings; you used them as bait.
Without delaying, Anna and Landon hurried from the wall, grabbing people as they went. They needed to bring the beast inside the walls of the estate before it caused them more problems. At least they had gotten some food delivered to their doorstep.
¡°Well, I don¡¯t know about you, but I¡¯m tired,¡± Nate told the others as he and Aura began heading back to the house.
¡°Hmm, yes, I believe that is a good idea as well. Nina, dear, walk with me? I had something I wanted to talk to you about earlier, but didn¡¯t get the chance to.¡± George requested, as he leaned back and popped his back with a sigh of relief.
It had been a momentary bit of excitement, but in the end, that was all it was.
Everyone dispersed just as quickly as they arrived, with only a few extra than before staying behind to bolster the forces on the wall.
***
Inside the dungeon that night, Nate¡¯s attention was glued to the countdown that had continued to decrease at an abnormal pace.
He had given up on trying to estimate when it would actually finish, as it kept changing. Right now, for instance, it was saying five minutes. Even as he watched though, seconds would occasionally be skipped. By themselves, they meant little, but those seconds added up. Which is how he and Aura had found themselves with a dungeon that was finishing a day or two ahead of its original schedule.
¡°Are you ready for this?¡± Aura wondered as the timer ticked down.
He snorted in disbelief. ¡°You¡¯re joking, right? I have absolutely no idea what the options are going to be, let alone what I¡¯m going to do. I don¡¯t even know if there is a right choice in this situation. Is closing the portal the right one? Because if I do that, then I screw up everyone¡¯s way of life and what has become a part of our eco-system. Just because we don¡¯t like it, doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not best to leave things the way they are.¡±
Nate pulled at his hair. ¡°Argh! This is why I¡¯ve been trying to avoid thinking about this. No matter what, until I actually know what the choices are, I won¡¯t even know if there is a good or even decent choice.¡±
In the top corner of the expanded wrist computer screen, the timer reached zero and began to flash. Prompting a new message to appear on top of the various camera views he had been keeping open.
¡®The dungeon has completed taking control of the portal at this location. The portal and dungeon will now be sealed until a decision has been made regarding their future status. Available options for this location will now be presented.¡¯
1. Be Done with This Location ¨C Erase the Portal, and Dungeon.
2. Keep everything as it is ¨C No Change (All future contributions to the shared pool will be significantly decreased.)
3. I Like the Fuzzies ¨C Enhance the properties of the portal and strengthen those that come through it.
4. You ALL Shall Pass ¨C Permanently change the portal and allow for dual-transference all the time.
¡
25. The Best of Both Worlds ¨C The purpose of this dungeon changes and a mild form of mental compulsion is used to enhance the intelligence of lesser beings and to create a community among all who enter.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Nate blinked at the myriad of options that were presented to him. He had been expecting something like three or four options, not this list. Many of them were similar to each other but just swapped sides in case he wanted to favor the beasts over the humans. His guess was that what Aura¡¯s influence on the choices, but it also might truly be that the dungeon system just didn¡¯t care.
Despite what he had said to Aura a few minutes earlier, this didn¡¯t actually help him decide. None of these options leaped out at him. There were several okay ones, and sure, many of them were interesting. It was just none of them had that draw he had been hoping for.
The closest was probably number twenty-five, but he was hesitant to select that option for one simple reason. He had no idea what a community between their two races would even look like. Everything he came up with inevitably turned into some version of pets or beast companions, and he doubted that was what the dungeon system had in mind for a community.
¡°Which one do you think sounds the best?¡± He asked Aura with a sigh.
¡°I think we can forget number seventeen, despite your race¡¯s odd fixation with cats, I don¡¯t believe they want to actually be ruled by them. Number four could be interesting, though I would rather we try that on a world I owe a little less allegiance to.¡± Her eyes tracked up and down, reading a screen only she could see. ¡°It has to be twenty-five.¡±
¡°I¡¯m worried about what kind of community would result from that.¡± He admitted.
¡°I¡¯m not. My people may not be quite as industrious as your own, but we do have our own way of creating things. We have crafters, healers, scholars, and more. It¡¯s just¡ you¡¯ve only seen the one side of my race. Choose that one, please.¡±
Nate took another minute to look over all the options before pulling the trigger on option twenty-five.
Immediately afterward there was a flash of light, and he was ejected from his avatar form. The next thing he knew, he was rolling out of bed the next morning.
Everyone outside was being noisy, and he decided to put his burning curiosity about the changes to the dungeon to the side for the moment. He wanted to find out what was going on outside first.
Aura leaped out of his chest as he hurried to change and was the first one out the door.
Outside, Nate saw her running ahead of him toward the wall and was left to snag a cart by himself. The wall itself was absolutely packed with people. Just finding enough room to make it to the top was a struggle and took him several minutes.
What he saw once he reached it though, was completely unexpected. The devastated city was empty.
All the beasts that they had been wracking their brains over the last couple of days on how to get rid of had simply vanished. There wasn¡¯t a single beast in sight, as they were now all gone.
¡°What happened?¡± Nate asked the person closest to him. ¡°Where did they all go?¡±
¡°We don¡¯t know. The people on the wall are saying that some kind of pulse of energy came from the dimensional zone last night. All the beasts turned and left right afterward.¡±
Nate and Aura shared a look as they slowly edged their way back off the wall, careful not to dislodge any of the others.
¡°Come on, let¡¯s see what sort of changes this thing made to the dungeon when we weren¡¯t looking.¡± He muttered to her, driving the cart back to the house.
Securely ensconced in the guest room he had been assigned; Nate pulled up the menu on the wrist computer. Right away, he noticed a few key differences in how it looked now versus before.
|
Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Mortal (Recently Awakened, Backup Core Available, 44% Charged)
Core: Bronze Grade [Low Quality]
Strength: 52
Speed: 46
Constitution: 54.5 [+]
Energy: 65
Meditative Art: (School Void)
Energy Skills: 3/14
Attack: Point Break
Support: Basic Ties
Basic Healing
Companion Beast: Aura (Kitsune 4-Tails)
|
Dungeon Creation: Current limit 3
Dungeon Interface
Conquered Portals: 1
Dungeons: 1(1)
Avatar
Equip
Don Avatar
Items
Storage
Misc
Nate¡¯s Room
Mom & Dad¡¯s Room
Upstairs Bathroom
Living Room
George¡¯s House
|
He had gained a new entry under the ¡®Dungeon Interface¡¯ selection, for one, along with that he was now able to create a third dungeon.
The new dungeon was a nice surprise, but it wasn¡¯t what he was interested in at the moment. Nate clicked on the ¡®Conquered Portals¡¯ option and finally saw what had become of his first dungeon.
The first thing he noticed was that his connection to the world outside the dungeon had been strengthened. He could maintain the original dungeon structure if he so desired or change it to something else. However, the most curious thing was that he now had limited control of the dimensional zone immediately outside the dungeon as well. It wasn¡¯t by much, just the size of the clearing that extended around the building.
Maybe a hundred and fifty feet in every direction or so.
When he pulled up the interface for the space outside the building, he finally understood what it meant when it had said community. There were options for everything -that didn¡¯t involve traps- even if he didn¡¯t understand how they worked with the animal-like beasts.
He had selections for building an apothecary, alchemy shop, meeting halls, something called a slime-vat, and more. At the same time, the dungeon itself was still there, operating as usual, though he now had the option of refusing entry to anyone he wanted.
In a way, it was the next evolution of everything, and he just knew it was going to cause problems.
Nate raised a protective wall around the space, ensuring it was tall enough that the nearby trees weren¡¯t a problem. Then, for the moment, he created a large single meeting hall off to the side of the dungeon entrance.
Later he would see if he could leave the dungeon in his avatar form, or if a special trip out there needed to be made.
¡°What do you think?¡± He asked Aura after he finished making the building.
¡°It¡¯s different from what I was expecting.¡± She admitted readily. ¡°Assuming this works, it will create a form of community that you humans will want to come trade with. I do believe the early days will be fraught with trouble though. We need to get the others on board and have an expedition sent there as quickly as possible. Also, may I please be the one in charge of its development?¡±
Nathan blinked in surprise. It was fairly rare for Aura to make an actual request of him. ¡°Of course you can. They are your people still. Make sure you carve lots of little kitsunes into the walls, so they know who is responsible for their safety.¡±
She laughed, her sharp teeth flashing wickedly.
Chapter 126
Nate found his parents and pulled them into a side room. ¡°What is everyone thinking so far?¡±
Niall ran a hand through his unkempt hair and yawned. ¡°Both the Chrightons and Travers seem to be of the opinion that it might be better to abandon this place. There has been too much damage done to the city, and we¡¯re inclined to agree.¡±
Nina nodded, her own tired yawn pulling at her mouth.
Nate bit at his lower lip and looked down at Aura. Leaving the area wouldn¡¯t affect them, but it would leave potential options on the table for someone else to collect. It would be better for everyone if the people of this city were the ones who made first contact with the new community.
¡°If that is what you all want to do, then there is something we need to show you all first. And we need to hurry,¡± He told them with a wry grin.
His parents kept any mention of his dreams to themselves, and instead simply threw Aura under the bus by revealing that she could speak. As soon as they did that, everything began to happen quickly and only a short time later, they were speeding through the city in a luxurious but capable expedition RV toward the dungeon.
He had decided not to wait until the next time he fell asleep. There were still foreign cultivators somewhere in the area. This was something important enough that it needed to be seen to be believed and handled in person. Which is exactly what they were going to do.
Angie and Lindsay had been pestering Aura with question after question ever since they learned she could communicate. In their opinion, they had just gained another girl in the group, one that happened to be extremely fluffy, which was even better. This also had the side-effect of making Nate even more outnumbered than before.
Something that the two human girls were happy to promptly abuse.
They were not exactly happy with him at the moment that he had been keeping the secret that Aura could talk to himself. A problem that became even worse when Lindsay accidentally touched one of her hidden tails.
Due to the size of the RV, they were able to keep the reveal from the adults, though only barely.
¡°What the-¡± Lindsay shoved her fist into her mouth and bit down on it as she glared at Nate.
¡°I honestly think that might be the closest I have ever seen her come to cursing at someone,¡± Angie told him, mildly impressed. ¡°She had to physically stop herself. Seriously though, the fact she could talk was one thing, but this is something else entirely.¡±
He sighed and shrugged, looking at Aura. ¡°It¡¯s up to you. What do you want to do?¡±
¡°It¡¯s a little late to be thinking about that, isn¡¯t it?¡± She asked with a matching sigh. ¡°Oh well, I always figured that something like this would happen, eventually.¡±
Aura canceled the illusion that had kept her looking somewhat like a normal fox and finally revealed her actual form to the girls.
¡°Oh, you are gorgeous,¡± Lindsay whispered, running her hand down one of her colored tails. ¡°And they¡¯re so fluffy, I just want to cuddle up next to you.¡±
¡°She really likes soft things, doesn¡¯t she?¡± Nate asked Angie in a whisper. ¡°I remember you mentioning before that foxes were her favorite animal.¡±
¡°Oh, you have no idea. Her room might not be pink, but there are enough stuffed animals in there to create a zoo.¡±
Nate looked at the halberd-wielding girl with doubtful eyes. There was no doubt that Lindsay was a pretty girl, but the fact that she had such a soft side to herself was surprising.
***
Nate left Aura to her fate with Angie and Lindsay while he pulled out a map, his notebook, and laptop. Now that he had a new dungeon slot open, he needed to figure out where to put it. Thankfully, he had already gathered much of the information he needed when he created the last one.
It was just a matter of sorting through the appropriate options.
Something that took longer than he liked, though he also took the chance to transfer all the information to an Excel spreadsheet and organize it. Despite how many dimensional zones there were, the amount of information he had been able to gather on them was limited. The internet in this world was functional, but it had more in common with the early days of the internet than anything modern.
The search engines were clunky and hard to use, the webpages, while not quite at Geopages level of monstrosity, weren¡¯t far off either. The internet was available and useful, but they just weren¡¯t able to devote the resources to truly make it shine. As a result, they were left with this basic level of usefulness that was barely more than a glimmer of what he knew it could be.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Still, it had been enough for him to gather a few details on a few dozen.
The Excel spreadsheet was rough, but it was better than nothing. The problem was still a lack of information. He had created a separate page for each strength tier, with ones like the beast dimensional zone in the lowest tier.
The blighted elves were in tier 3 and tier 4. They showed up multiple times and displayed greater strength at some of the other zones. That was actually true for most of the species. They all appeared more than once, with portals that let the stronger ones through at more limited intervals.
The tiers were his own creation, as he had no better way of keeping track of everything other than the unreliable word of people on the internet.
It was hard to properly gauge what was fact versus rumor, and the true strength of the entities at a particular dimensional zone without actually going there himself. However, that was not an option in this world for him, at least not yet. Maybe at some point in the distant future it would be. For now, all he could do was depend on the information he gathered from the forums on the internet.
By the time the group was forced to leave the RV, Nate had narrowed his possible selections to a few locations. None of them were ones he was particularly excited about, but they needed to be conquered regardless.
Aura placed the illusion back on herself before the adults could see her normal form as they prepared to leave the vehicle behind.
Everyone strapped on their armor and weapons, and then they were on their way.
The hike through the forest began without any fanfare, and they set off at a rapid pace. The trees were silent, as though everything that normally lived in the area had utterly vanished. There was no sign of any animals, beasts, or even so much as the annoying chirp of an insect.
The only sound was what they were making.
It was unnerving, but also a sign that they were on the right mark in heading to where ¡®Aura¡¯ had instructed them to go. Due to the lack of beasts and other interference, they were able to pick up their speed even more.
This was already farther than Nate, or Lindsay and Angie had ever been in the dimensional zone before. They still had hours to go before reaching the center of the zone at their current pace. Normally, this sort of trip would have taken far longer, as they would have needed to move slower and with far more caution.
***
They were still around an hour away from the dungeon when they finally began encountering animals and beasts again. Some of them looked hurt, as though they had gotten in the way of a much larger unaware being. However, they were all standing in place, slowly shuffling about as they tried to creep a little closer.
Nate used basic healing on the closest animals as they passed them. They were docile at the moment, and these were all weaker beings anyway, so there was no reason not to get some quick practice in. He wasn¡¯t sticking around to heal any of them, so it wasn¡¯t really doing anything more than giving them a quick burst of energy and little more.
The group pushed through the mass of bodies and eventually found themselves standing just outside the walls of the community.
Nearby, they could see the remaining foreign cultivators who had started the attack on the city. There were more than Nate had expected still around, or more likely, he supposed, these were the ones not stupid enough to enter the dungeon.
Lindsay¡¯s parents snarled at them and made sure they had their faces memorized.
Ignoring the others, Nate and Aura walked through the opening in the walls and into what would eventually become a new community. At the moment, it was a large open space, with the sole new building standing to the side of the dungeon structure.
It was the first time Nate was seeing it in person and after everything he had done with it; he felt a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu.
The two led the rest of the group toward the meeting house and the beasts that had taken up position within the building.
Inside the building, they found many different beasts, including the stronger ones that had been attacking the city. They were all gathered around the edges, and many had climbed up onto the rafters wherever possible. The space directly in front of the doors was the only spot left open for the group.
Aura looked back at the adults that had accompanied them and shook her head. The illusion had been a waste of time. What she needed to do next meant dispelling it anyway. Really, this entire meeting hinged on her.
There was no one else among the humans that could talk to the beasts after all.
Not only that, as a member of their ruling family, even if they had been deposed, this was something that she needed to do. She just wished that it didn¡¯t involve revealing her secret to yet more people. Judging by the looks she had been getting from Lindsay¡¯s mother, she had a feeling that her little obsession had been come by honestly, as it were.
With a shake of her head, Aura dispelled the illusion revealing her tails and natural kitsune heritage to all gathered in the meeting house.
Discreetly, Nate manipulated the menus on his wrist computer and pulled up the cameras for where they were located. He also pulled up a couple for just outside the building in an effort to check on the foreign cultivators.
The girl¡¯s parents gasped in surprise at Aura¡¯s change. They had already known she was different; she had been able to talk, after all, in a fashion. However, this was a clear use of a complicated energy skill being used to hide what she was. It turned what they thought they knew about the beast race on its head.
The beasts gathered in the building all fell to their knees in a show of deference to their ruler. Now that they were inside the walls of the dungeon community, it was actively working to enhance their minds and make them more than they once were. There was only so much it could do, and it would take time for the effects to become permanent.
However, even in the short time they had been there, they had gone from beasts that were little better than animals to beings with the capacity to hold a conversation.
It was a severe drain on the dungeon¡¯s resources at the moment, but the ones in this building had needed to be raised faster than the rest. The downside of performing the work on them so quickly is that it would take them far longer to stabilize than normal. If they wanted to keep their newly gained intelligence, then they couldn¡¯t leave the community for several months.
A cacophony of barks, howls, yips, screeches, and all other manner of noises filled the space as the beasts greeted Aura.
¡°We welcome her highness to our newly established community.¡± Streamed across the screen in the subtitles area. ¡°We are ecstatic to see that you survived what our elders did to your family. What would you have us do with the humans behind you?¡±
Chapter 127
Nate calmed everyone down as they tensed at the sudden noise. This was not what they had been expecting. They had been expecting more Aura¡¯s weird image-based telepathy and less African safari.
For now, everything they were saying didn¡¯t have any impact on the reason why they had come here. They were still in the pre-meeting, getting-to-know-one-another phase of everything. This was her time to shine, and not an area where they mattered in the slightest.
As a kitsune, Aura was recognized as royalty, even if they didn¡¯t recognize her personally. Just being able to speak with her was blowing all of their minds. This was not something that they thought they would have the chance to ever do. Especially not after what their elders had done on their world to the royal family.
Many of the kitsunes had been eliminated, though there were rumors that some escaped through other portals. Until that moment, they hadn¡¯t believed the claims. The royal family was strong, but they had been against everyone who had become dissatisfied with them.
The odds simply weren¡¯t in their favor.
Yet now they were seeing one of them standing in front of them. It made them question the validity of those rumors anew.
It took a while as the gathered beasts had plenty of questions for her, but eventually, the conversation turned to the nature of the walled community. It was a subject that she was even more qualified to educate them on than Nate was. Her connection to the Dungeon Core, and through it the wrist computer, had thoroughly filled her mind with all the needed information.
Unfortunately, for Nate, and to a lesser extent her, it had simply happened after he had made the selection. He had still made the right choice, but knowing it all beforehand would have prevented him from doing so blindly.
Her revelations brought some discontent among the stronger beasts, simply because the choice was being taken from them. Due to the forced nature of their enhanced mental status, they were unable to even leave and come back again without suffering some consequences.
After they got their initial complaints out of their system, they started to calm down and were once more willing to listen to her. With those interruptions over, she finally began to outline what the true purpose of the community was.
Unlike those currently in the meeting building with them right then, the rest of the beasts could leave the walls normally. Since they hadn¡¯t had their minds forcefully elevated and were going through the process in the way it was intended, they could leave the walls for a few hours at a time without regressing. Even then, the only downside of regressing, as long as they still came back to the community, was that the process would take longer to complete.
She continued with her yips and snarls and mentioned the different buildings that could be built within the walls.
Most of the beasts looked away from her in embarrassment when she mentioned paths, their versions of jobs. Prior to coming to Earth, many of them had been too young to even think about pursuing a path in life.
There were a couple of them who stood out and asked if they could request the buildings for their vocations be constructed.
The first was a large snake, who identified itself as a journeyman healer and wanted a clinic constructed. The next was a koala sort of creature that was an a apothecarist, trained under her parents. The last was a leopard with three whip tails that said it had once been training to be an alchemist. It would like to start the process once again and since it was among the buildings she had mentioned, requested one be built.
There were likely more among the other beasts, but they would have to wait to find out until a later time. Intelligence came with cultivation for beasts that weren¡¯t the kitsunes. However, that didn¡¯t mean they couldn¡¯t be trained before then. It was simply more inefficient was all, but it could still be done. Which is why those who did possess some knowledge were typically from families that practiced a certain path.
Nate and Aura made note of each request, only to then pause as a thought occurred to them at the same time. What would they do about future requests? Was she going to need to leave the dungeon regularly to speak with them?
¡°The board outside the portal in the second dungeon,¡± Nate breathed out in near silence, hoping she would understand.
She did.
¡°There will be a board placed in front of this building that you can write on. When someone has a need for a new building, have them write the path and the type of building down. Implements of your various trades, unfortunately, will most likely be up to you to either create or procure through trade.¡±
The conversation continued with the humans behind her, -with the exception of Nate- looking utterly lost as they were unable to follow along in the slightest. Finally, as everything was drawing to a close, one of the beasts in the rafters asked a question more important than the rest.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
¡°How are we to respond if the humans attack us?¡±
¡°As you would normally,¡± Aura replied without even needing to think about it. ¡°The area inside the walls should be a safe place. However, not all humans will agree with that. They are just like us in that regard. If someone is outside the walls and is attacked, they are free to defend themselves. Be prepared to defend their actions should they make it back. The humans are oddly pack-like when one of their own gets attacked by something not human.¡±
Nate had never thought of it in those terms before, but he couldn¡¯t say she was wrong either. The way humans acted was rather pack-like at times.
A short time later, the group was leaving the building behind. Everyone was practically vibrating with barely held-back questions. However, they knew better than to ask any of them just yet. They needed to get past the group of foreign cultivators first.
The space within the walls had become packed with beasts during their time inside the meeting hall. There was a thin space left for them to walk to the opening in the walls, and that was it. Everywhere else had become packed with beasts. In many of the places, they were even lying on top of each other, doubling up on what should have been a single space.
Everyone could merely shake their heads at the unbelievable sight.
Nate now knew that the pulse of the energy had called the beasts in the area back to this location. Still, seeing them all acting like this was beyond his wildest expectations.
The group was stopped outside the walls by the other group of cultivators who had been waiting for them.
There were still plenty of beasts who hadn¡¯t managed to fit inside the walls. Some were sticking close to the place, while most others had already begun to wander off. The effects of the earlier call, already beginning to wear off.
¡°What happened in there? What is this place?¡± One of the cultivators demanded imperiously.
¡°And who are you to demand anything of us?¡± Aden snarled at the man. ¡°Do you really think that we don¡¯t know what you did? You destroyed who knows how many natural treasure spots and safe locations all to create an artificial beast wave. Well, congratulations, you did! And you destroyed our city in the process. Do you even have any idea how many people your little stunt has killed?¡±
¡°We had orders,¡± Another began weakly.
¡°There are always orders. Unless you¡¯re military, you don¡¯t have to follow them.¡± Lindsay¡¯s father told them wearily.
The team looked away from them in shame. They were simply cultivators, professional hunters, the same as Nate¡¯s parents. The orders had been admittedly questionable, at the same time, they had been promised a new sort of adventure. It was selfish of them, but many hunters were also thrill-seekers, and that described them to a ¡®T¡¯.
They hadn¡¯t thought about the consequences at the time. It was stupid of them, but it was also human. Only that they had the opportunity to do something that they had never done before. There had been a few groups, such as the one Nate and his parents had run into before, that hadn¡¯t participated in the extra activities. Not that it had mattered much in the end.
The back and forth continued for another minute, before Nate stepped forward and simply told them.
With just that explanation, the group understood how deeply they were screwed. This dimensional zone primarily belonged to the city they had just had a hand in destroying. There was no way they or their city would be given access to whatever wonders this beast community might bring forth.
The cultivators clenched their fists tight enough to draw blood and fell to their knees. ¡°Please, we¡¯ll do what we can to encourage our city, and the others involved in this plan, to provide aid in rebuilding your home. Just please, don¡¯t cut us off from this new resource.¡±
¡°If only you had been this forward-thinking before,¡± Aden told them with a sigh. He squinted at Nate, who shrugged, and Aura who bobbled her head from side to side.
They weren¡¯t going to micromanage the community. It was an extension of the dungeon, so they maintained some control over it, but they wouldn¡¯t be acting as managers or anything. As for Aura, as far as anyone else was concerned, she was just someone who had acted as a translator and had once held a high position in the beast¡¯s society. Nothing more.
Although she had reapplied her illusion before exiting the meeting building.
¡°I think we can come to an agreement on a case-by-case basis.¡± He said at last. ¡°If nothing else, my family owns a merchant business. Perhaps we can do something through that.¡±
A few minutes later, they were back on the trail and hurrying back to the RV. They had a limited window in which they could run all out without fear of being attacked by anything, and they intended to use it. The beasts that had wandered away from the walls were beginning to grow more restless by the minute.
They were still roughly a half-hour away from the vehicle when the first attack came from the side.
It was a flying squirrel that Lindsay smashed to the ground with her halberd. The spike on the opposite side of the axe-blade pierced cleanly through the beast.
Since the time for secrets was over, Nina stored the body in her bracelet with a grin to the others and they continued on.
After that, the attacks began to happen more frequently. They were no longer caused by the deep-seated rage from before that had destroyed the city. Instead, they had returned to a more, if slightly agitated normal.
There was a previously unseen benefit from them killing all the beasts they had while defending the city. The average tier of each area had fallen drastically. Most of the beasts that weren¡¯t tethered to the community in someway were only one realm, maybe one and a half if they were lucky above ¡®Core Creation¡¯.
That meant they were plenty strong enough for the kids to push themselves, but without facing significant danger at the same time. Just Nate alone was able to dispatch most beasts of that level by himself. Their own realms might still have been mortal, however, the way humans counted their realms differed from that of invading species.
The named ¡®Core Creation¡¯ realm was the third realm for humans. Even though they actually created their cores during the initial mortal realm. Both realms were still part of the first stage. It had led to some confusion in the beginning and still did to that day on occasion. However, since all the differences belonged within the first stage, people eventually decided to just ignore it.
Regardless, despite being mortal realm cultivators, the three had cores of their own. Which meant that they had access to more strength and energy than a true mortal, along with their energy skills.
By the time they made it back to the RV, it was evening and all three of the kids had fought several times.
The adults, interestingly enough, still looked completely fresh and hadn¡¯t so much as touched their weapons the entire way back.
Chapter 128
James, Lindsay¡¯s father, hopped into the driver¡¯s seat of the RV, while the rest of the adults took up positions where they could watch. In the back, the three teens settled down to rest, while Aura was semi-forcibly cuddled up to by Lindsay. Her mother, Lisa, was watching with ill-contained jealousy.
The drive back to the destroyed city took a while and night had fully fallen by the time they reached it. They hadn¡¯t had any problems getting back, and the trip had been as quiet as the dark ruins of the city they were now driving through.
Up front, Nate could vaguely hear their parents talking about reconstruction efforts, and what the city needed to do next. He had been napping on one of the beds, but it sounded as though everyone was intending to stay in the city.
His idea of showing them the community had worked. They had understood the value that such a location held, along with the future opportunities as well.
It wasn¡¯t only about the items they might get from the beasts. Those were negligible in this instance, as the beasts were mostly uneducated before being sent through the portals. However, it remained to be seen if their version of uneducated on the subject was the same as the humans. The beasts came from a world with far more knowledge on certain subjects than the humans had managed to glean in the last hundred or so years.
No, the real value came from the increased safety the city would experience as a result of the changes to the dimensional zone. The beast community was another layer of safety for the city, so nothing like this destruction would ever happen again.
Of course, that wouldn¡¯t stop them from rebuilding the walls and making them even better.
Back at the mansion, everyone separated with the agreement to meet again in the morning. They would cover everything that they had learned with those who hadn¡¯t come with them.
Nate and Aura tried to leave, except Lisa finally saw her chance and glomped onto the kitsune. Her husband eventually pulled her away, though it took him a few minutes to pry her fingers and arms off the fluffy beast companion.
Finally, alone in their guest room, Aura let her illusion drop and shook herself thoroughly. ¡°Are you ready to select a location for the next dungeon?¡±
He pulled out his notebook and laptop and opened them. ¡°I¡¯ve limited the number of possible locations, but I haven¡¯t made a final decision.¡± He spun his pen around his thumb as he thought. ¡°I¡¯m not sure it really matters though, each of the options is mostly the same in strength. Supposedly anyway, I¡¯m working off rumors and information from the internet here.¡±
¡°What are the invading species at each of these locations?¡± Aura asked, flopping onto her back and wiggling around as she used the carpet to scratch her back.
¡°There are six options, with a possible seventh one that the information I was finding is divided on. They are goblins, kobolds, orcs, zombies, and skeletons together and separate, and then the last one is called gu. They are a form of insect race that seems to be able to take control of hosts, but also has their own form of attacks and abilities.¡±
Aura shook her head. ¡°Any race that can take hosts, while also possessing their own attacks and abilities, is not an enemy to be taken lightly. I have no idea what the humans on your internet are thinking in dividing their opinion.¡±
¡°That¡¯s mostly my thoughts as well. I mainly included them to see what you thought about them.¡± He grinned at her. ¡°We want an easy dungeon, something that we can use to generate energy for the shared pool and give us quick access to another dungeon.¡±
He had come up with a rough plan on how they might be able to make use of an easy-dimensional zone. It mainly involved getting the Dungeon Core to level 2 as quickly as possible. At that point, they unlocked the second floor, along with a new dungeon. If it was an easy dungeon, but the monsters also swarmed, then he would let one or two through the portal occasionally so the portal wouldn¡¯t close this time. That way, he could keep getting energy for the shared pool without worry. Nate doubted he would be creating a community from any of these races.
¡°In that case, let¡¯s go with the skeleton location. Then after that, we can do the goblin location, and then possibly the zombies.¡± Aura mentioned her thoughts.
Nate nodded, appreciating her opinion on the matter. ¡°You just don¡¯t want to deal with stinky zombies.¡±
Her eyes went blank as she stared at him. ¡°You have no idea how sensitive my nose is. If they are stinky for you, then it¡¯s thousands of times worse for me.¡±
He opened and closed his mouth, nodding in acceptance. ¡°That¡¯s fair. Hopefully, smell less skeletons it is.¡± Nate glanced at the date and tilted his head thoughtfully. ¡°How worried should we be about Samhain?¡±
¡°Why?¡± She asked suspiciously.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
¡°The second Dungeon Core took three days to create. Assuming that is the normal amount of time, then that means the new dungeon will come into being on Samhain, on Halloween. Now I know that the veil between worlds is supposed to thin around that time, but that¡¯s all. I don¡¯t know when exactly it will happen, or how long it will last.¡±
¡°It¡¯s already started. It begins when the first leaf falls.¡± Aura explained, only a little surprised that he didn¡¯t know this. ¡°When the veil is at its thinnest, however, is on the day you call Samhain. It begins with the falling of the sun and ends when it rises.¡±
Nate tapped away at his laptop, taking some notes. ¡°Okay, so if we start the creation of the Dungeon Core now, then we can just barely head off the worst of it for this location. No idea how bad it would be since the skeletons are supposed to be easy to defeat, at the same time, since they are undead, they may come through in greater numbers or something during that time.¡±
From the limited amount of information about that particular portal, it seemed as though the skeletons were already fairly numerous. The only reason they hadn¡¯t taken over the area was because of how weak they were.
Nate selected the option for ¡®Dungeon Creation¡¯ from the menu on his wrist computer and waited. In only a few moments, the screen had begun to expand and drift off his wrist until it settled in front of him. At roughly the size of a hundred-inch screen, he now needed to stretch to touch everything.
¡®Welcome to the Dungeon Creation system. You are currently limited to three dungeons at this time. Please, choose the location of your third dungeon carefully. These are the currently open incursions to your world, colloquially known as ¡®Dimensional Zones¡¯ and their associated portals. Please make your selection from these options.¡¯
On the plus side, with that much real estate, it was far easier to navigate things quickly. He pinched the screen, zooming out a little more. The next dungeon was not exactly close by. The first dungeon had obviously been the closest, while the second had been a state and a half away in Missouri.
The one he was looking for this time was located in Nevada.
There were innumerable dimensional zones in between not only his current dungeons but also in the intervening distance between Nevada and Colorado. The problem there was two-fold. Not all of the portals were known to the humans. Some of them existed in old, abandoned mines, deep underwater, or in the backcountry where no one had stepped in years.
People had consolidated into their cities, instead of spreading out like they had on his Old Earth. Many once burgeoning towns had been left to rot and return to nature when the portals first appeared. Some of them would have been excellent candidates for proper cities due to their proximity to dimensional zones. Unfortunately, humanity hadn¡¯t known enough back then and had lost many valuable chances.
However, this led to the second problem. If the portals weren¡¯t known, then their invading species also wasn¡¯t known. The display in front of Nate didn¡¯t give him that sort of information. He had to gather it on his own. That was why he hadn¡¯t touched any of the portals that appeared on the screen in between his already-created dungeons.
Without knowing how dangerous they were, the risk was too high until he could create more dungeons and have a buffer of some sort.
It took him a few minutes of pinching and flicking at the screen to finally find what he wanted. However, he did find it curious that there were four portals located in the remains of the Area 51 Air Force Base. He hadn¡¯t realized dimensional zones could exist that closely together. There was also the matter of what had made the base famous. At least on his Earth, it was one of the places the remains of the aliens from the crash in Roswell had been brought. Another location that had multiple portals.
The problem with that, in this case, was that the crash had happened in the 1940s. The portals would have already been here by then. So, it was unlikely that the event had even occurred, or if it had, the knowledge had never been spread around. Regardless, it was a curiosity simply because it didn¡¯t fit the normal pattern, while also seeming to be affected by outside events.
Nate pushed the matter to the side for the moment and selected the dimensional zone he wanted. It was just outside of Reno.
¡®Incursion Zone selected, are you sure this is the area you would like to create your third dungeon in?¡¯
He promptly selected ¡®Yes¡¯. With the limited amount of information he had, it was either the right one, or it wasn¡¯t. There was no way for him to know for sure, though he was reasonably certain it was the correct location.
The screen went blank for a moment before a new message appeared.
¡®The Dungeon Core for the new dungeon is now being constructed. During this time, construct the interior of the dungeon using the resources available at your disposal. Now that you have fully taken over a portal, the primary goal has been shown, if not completed. The other goals are the same as before. They are to protect the Dungeon Core first and prevent access to the outside world second. As the dungeon and its Core grow in strength, it will be able to merge with the portal and create additional levels inside their world as needed.¡¯
The message had changed yet again from its prior versions. They weren¡¯t major changes, just interesting little modifications.
Closing the message, he saw the timer in the corner appear, the same as last time. It even had the same amount of time on it, which was something that he had been counting on but knew might not be the case.
He had three days to construct a dungeon for a potentially unknown enemy. Hopefully, it was skeletons, but if not, everything he had created could be wasted.
By this point, it had become clear to him that the dungeons liked having themes of some sort. He thought he had come up with the idea on his own the first time around. However, clearly it had been a prod from the dungeon system or wrist computer or whatever, to put him in the right direction. Thankfully, the themes could also be somewhat loosely defined.
The issue was skeletons needed to be bashed to pieces. He couldn¡¯t see a regular piercing sword doing much damage to one of them. It would break the one rib bone it had hit, and that was it. That meant the theme of this dungeon was going to be blunt attacks in all its forms. Maces, hammers, heavy-tipped blunt arrows. There were lots of options, really.
A laser wouldn¡¯t be as effective against skeletons, not that he would be able to build one with the theme of the dungeon. That was also the issue.
It was going to be a purpose-built dungeon. If he had got the location wrong, these traps wouldn¡¯t be as effective against another species.
Chapter 129
Nate rolled out of bed and grabbed the first of the items meant to upgrade his core. He was lucky the McFaddens had given him the second box of ingredients. He honestly hadn¡¯t been expecting them to honor the promise they had made past the first time, though obviously, he was glad that they had.
This batch of items was different from the first which had contained a couple of herbs, before moving onto crystallized items. These were all clearly alchemical creations that were kept in tiny test tube containers with wax-covered cork tops. Each tube was labeled one through five, making sure there was no guesswork in the order of which to take them in.
According to the status screen on his wrist computer, his backup core was currently at 46% charge. It had gone up a little more after his and Aura¡¯s training the night before. He was interested in seeing how much this little gumdrop-looking thing would make it jump by.
He popped it into his mouth and sucked on it while stripping and waiting for the water to turn hot. The research on capacitors had finished a few minutes before he woke up. It had the effect, among other things, of lowering energy costs on the lasers and railguns. Now he had ¡®Subtitles¡¯ being researched. It would take twelve hours, so by the time he went to sleep that night, it would have been finished for a while already.
Stepping into the shower, he could already feel the gumdrop beginning to dissolve in his mouth and the energy flowing through his body. Unlike the energy he absorbed through meditation exercises, this was mostly outside of his control. He could have taken hold of it if he wanted to. However, the amount of regular qi the gumdrop contained wasn¡¯t much. This wasn¡¯t a different form of energy. It was more pure and went directly to his backup core, where it would be most effective.
A nearly unbearable heat built up inside his chest as the energy continued to pour in. With a strangled gasp, he slapped at the computer strapped to his wrist, activating the screen.
His information on the lefthand side of the screen updated in real time, though there was rarely a reason to look at it that long.
Looking at the sudden jump in energy in his backup core he wanted to curse at the McFaddens. It was still increasing even while he watched the screen, standing there beneath the water, his shower all but forgotten.
They were some really petty people, that was for sure. They may have publicly been shaming their son, but in the end, he was still their son. This gumdrop had far too much energy inside of it for something that should have been part of the second upgrade. More likely, they had given him a kit intended for the third core upgrade. However, they hadn¡¯t known about his backup core, which was by design.
No one outside of his parents and George knew about it. So, while this was still painful, it would be survivable. Not only that, but he would also get more energy out of them than another person would because of how his extra core worked. Then there was also the added bonus that these core-enhancing items would actually be useful after he upgraded his core this time.
The McFaddens might have done this maliciously, but they had also done him a favor. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t extremely painful though.
His body locked up as every muscle he had cramped at once. Suddenly, there were two streams of energy, one entering his backup core, and one leaving it. The second scoured his body, cleansing it from the inside out before moving onto his core. A thin oily sludge was pushed out of his pores and onto the floor of the shower.
The smell was terrible.
Pressure began to form around his core, compressing it and molding it as it willed. Turning his attention inward, he could sense the last of the obvious defects in his core being smoothed out and vanishing. The core itself was now smaller, having been compressed, but it was shinier than before and much sturdier.
By the time his backup core had begun to cool, he had been in the shower for over half an hour and curled up on the floor for much of it. In return for putting up with that pain, he had gone from a 46% charge to full and started on the next core grade with 05%, and gotten a core upgrade. It was no wonder that it had hurt so much, and there was little doubt in his mind that without the backup core, that much energy would have destroyed his actual core.
The quality and realm of your core affected how dense your qi energy was. Every time you upgraded your core, your qi would be halved as it grew denser and more potent.
The first time he had taken an herb with his Copper Grade core, he had experienced a jump of roughly 17% give or take a couple of points. That was using an herb meant for his actual core. The amount of energy he had gotten this time around was so much more than back then that it wasn¡¯t even funny.
He now possessed a Pyrite Grade core, which had increased a realm in quality. No longer was it a Low-Quality core, now he had a Basic Quality core. It wasn¡¯t much, but it felt like a huge increase.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Eventually, he pulled himself off the floor with a groan and began cleaning himself. Everything hurt.
Aura hopped out of his chest as soon as he was done with the shower. ¡°Don¡¯t do that while I¡¯m sleeping around your cores!¡± She hissed, her fur and hair standing on end. ¡°I saw all those changes first-hand. It was uncomfortable!¡±
He winced and apologized. ¡°Sorry about that. I didn¡¯t exactly expect to upgrade my core today though.¡± He had also forgotten that she was currently inside his chest, not that he was going to tell her that. He wasn¡¯t an idiot.
She grumbled, but let the issue rest. The two idly chatted while he got dressed and went to find everyone else. His steps and body movements were stiff, something that the others immediately noticed.
¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± His mother promptly asked, rushing over to him. She wanted to ask if it was about his dream activities, but knew this wasn¡¯t the appropriate time. There were too many people around.
¡°The McFaddens thought they would be funny,¡± He grunted out while awkwardly making his way over to a chair.
George reached across the table and grabbed hold of his hand. A surprised look and angry expression appearing on his face. ¡°I would say that is more than them just attempting to be funny.¡± He growled. ¡°If it had been anyone else.¡±
¡°Yeah, I sort of figured as much,¡± He admitted. ¡°At the same time, it worked out rather well for me in this case, I think.¡± The remaining four doses, combined with the energy he would get from the rainbow orbs, should be enough to get him to the next core grade.
His mother snapped her fingers in front of his face. ¡°Hello? Care to clue me in here? What did the McFadden¡¯s do with the core enhancement items?¡±
¡°They gave me the wrong grade. Instead of pieces intended for a second-grade core, they sent me ones for a third-grade. I went from a little under half full to having enough energy to upgrade my core.¡±
¡°That must have been a potent third-grade ingredient,¡± She muttered angrily. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright? No problems outside of the pain?¡±
¡°I¡¯m fine. It freaked out Aura, but¡¡± He shrugged and looked around. ¡°Where are the others?¡± Only Lindsay and Angie were in the room with them. Everyone else was missing.
¡°Now that it is safe for the moment, they have dispersed throughout the city to round up what leadership they can find. It is time to begin organizing efforts to rebuild the city.¡± George told him as he ate a scone. ¡°I will be heading back to the healing guild myself just as soon as I finish eating.¡±
Now that the attacks had stopped, and the rebuilding efforts had yet to start, there was nothing for Nate and the others to do. As a result, they spent the entire day working on their meditation arts, tweaking their original models a little, and using basic ties on everything. The girls wanted to evolve their energy skills as soon as possible, and while they knew it would still be a bit, that was all the more reason to actively work at it.
That night, Nate could finally follow along with what the blighted elves were saying. Along with that, he also needed to select a new research project. He had one in mind, but he wasn¡¯t entirely sure if there would be any crossover. There seemed to be a certain amount of similarity between how electricity and qi functioned. At least inside the dungeon, so that left him with some hope.
All that he could do was see if the research project even started. If it did, then it would probably have some effect, but how much would only be known when it was completed.
The first step was getting everything up to a certain standard, and then he could move forward from there. He pulled up the research prompt and inserted the new project, ¡®Modified Qi Voltage Standard 12-Volt¡¯. It had a time of one hundred and twenty hours or five days. It was the longest project yet.
He knew that the 12-Volt, 120, and 240-Volt architectures, at least when it came to electricity, had been the predominant ones for houses on his Old Earth. When it came to vehicles, 12-Volts had been the popular setup. However, both had their problems and limitations and were eventually converted over to a 48-Volt architecture. It was more efficient and required far less material to transfer the same amount of energy.
If he had been alive for longer, he might have even seen the day when they took the next step.
Probably not though, considering how long it had taken them to just get as far as they had.
With that out of the way, he began working on the design of the new dungeon, while Aura created buildings for the community. It was something that she had asked if she could do, and he had agreed without any hesitation. They already knew that she could modify the traps he had created. Now they would see if she could actually create things as well.
The answer to that, thankfully, was yes, though it did seem to only be limited to the community area. She couldn¡¯t create anything in the dungeon, only modify it. Both agreed it was an odd limitation, but that it didn¡¯t really matter either way.
This new dungeon was severely scaled down in scope from his first two. Both of those had been massive with most of the rooms rarely ever seeing use. The idea of a labyrinth was nice on paper. However, apparently, he wasn¡¯t very good at creating versions that would confound the senses of races he knew little about.
He had less of a worry about that happening with the skeletons. One would assume something was creating the skeletons, so it was still there, only diminished somewhat.
Regardless, he based the layout of the third dungeon on the last section of the first dungeon. He kept the portal room and exit in the same place but needed to move the core room. In the end, the dungeon ended up with sixteen rooms. There were a couple that he could remove in the future to streamline it if they saw little use. He would need to wait and see what sort of skeletons came through the portal before deciding anymore than this. Were they completely mindless ones who wandered around bumping into walls until something caught their attention, or did they have basic intelligence?
Until he knew for sure, the extra rooms and paths would give him some valuable extra data.
With the initial layout decided, he just needed to begin putting out the traps. Anything that did large area blunt damage was going into the dungeon. Big hammers, ceiling drops, and anything else he could think of.
Chapter 130
The next morning, Nate tossed the gumdrop in his hand a couple of times before grabbing a knife and cutting it in half. With his new core, it probably would have been fine, but he wasn¡¯t willing to take any chances. If this worked, then he would just take the second half of it later.
It was definitely still a large rush of energy, but it was nowhere near as potent as it had been the day before. Still large, for just half of gumdrop looking thing though.
It was more than he was expecting, but it was manageable this time. If all the pieces in the vials were like this, then there was no doubt he would be able to upgrade his core again. He had been fairly certain that he would be able to manage it before, especially with the addition of the rainbow orbs. Now he knew that he would be able to accomplish it.
The day before had been spent with the adults, talking to everyone that they could find. Today, they would be getting to work on rebuilding the city. Kind of anyway. It was more like they would all be working together to move rubble and begin clearing away everything.
Thankfully, the roads were still mostly clear, so all the trucks and semis that they could find would still be able to cart everything off. There was also the added benefit that came from almost everyone being cultivators. They didn¡¯t need to bring in a lot of heavy machinery. The increased strength they would get as their realms increased made a big difference here.
There was no need to wait for cranes or other machinery. All they needed to do was pick up whatever they could lift and toss it into the back of the nearest truck. Whatever they couldn¡¯t lift by themselves, they could do together. Enhanced stamina and strength were wonderful things, or at least their wives seemed to think so.
Nate split off from the rest of the group early on so he could conduct some experiments. With his current core realm of mortal, his strength, while increasing daily, was still within mortal limits. As a result, he was less useful than many of the others in the area. However, he had an idea he wanted to try out, namely storing everything.
By that point, it had become clear to him that if the wrist computer¡¯s storage function had a size limit; it was something ridiculous. That wasn¡¯t what he was worried about. Instead, it was the method of storing items. In the past, he had always been able to pick up or lift at least a piece of whatever he was storing. He had no idea if that was even a requirement, or if he would be able to store these huge chunks of concrete that were larger than him.
There was only one way to find out for sure, and that was to experiment. Preferably in an area without prying eyes around.
So, he went off alone, opened the storage menu, created a new tab titled ¡®Rubble¡¯, and began. Over the course of the next hour, he began to learn the specific requirements of his storage ability. Size and weight truly didn¡¯t seem to matter, as at one point, he even stored the crumpled remains of a vehicle. However, it had to be disconnected from the ground, and if he couldn¡¯t lift it, then he had to touch it with the ethereal screen of the wrist computer. He might be the only one who could see or even touch the device, but it could apparently still interact with the real world when it needed to.
Working mostly alone, with only Aura to keep him company, and warning him when anyone was coming close, he managed to get quite a bit done. Clearing things was easy when all you needed to do was touch it with your wrist. Large sections of house walls and broken buildings went into his storage, and then into the back of various dump trucks when no one was watching.
The material would be crushed and added to the wall around the city as they rebuilt it. Nothing would be going to waste as they rebuilt and strengthened the wall. They wouldn¡¯t be chasing perfection this time either, instead, they would be doing the job. Then, as they had time, they would be adding extra height and width to the wall.
Thankfully, it was a process that the compacting crews and engineers had long since perfected.
All throughout the day, the trucks could be seen running throughout the city carrying their loads to the wall. Alternatively, there were other trucks that were carrying a different sort of cargo. They were loaded down with the bodies of the city¡¯s residents that were recovered throughout the day. Occasionally, a group would find a few people who were still alive, but by and large, if they were near a destroyed section, they had probably been lost as well.
For the moment, all the bodies were being brought to the graveyard and laid out in a long row. The burial services would be taken care of in a day or two as more of them were recovered.
The previous excitement everyone had shown at being able to return home and start the rebuild of the city faded away as the day progressed. Many of them became hesitant to touch the larger pieces of concrete and broken walls, afraid of what they might find underneath. These were normal people, cultivators who had decided to forgo the professional hunting path in lieu of pursuing normal jobs. People like Alice the dirt compacter and her husband John, the water technician who worked at the water plant.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Both had been part of the normal, regular expeditioner group that Nate and his parents had encountered the last time they were out. Regular expeditioners far outnumbered the professional hunters. They always had. Most people simply wanted to live a normal life, and thanks to the required expeditions, they could do so while also enjoying some extra money.
Only now, they were seeing the downside of their lives, what happened when they all played it safe. It just depended on where they stuck their head in the sand. Some were realistic on the matter, while others disassociated and chose to blame whoever they could.
It was typical human behavior.
Nate and Aura rejoined his parents in the afternoon and began working with them and the others.
¡°What were you doing all morning by yourself?¡± His mother asked as they lugged a wall over to a dump truck.
He tapped his wrist where the healing bracelet was. His parents believed that it was a storage bracelet. ¡°I was experimenting with the various ways I could use this to speed things along.¡±
She glanced at her own with a thoughtful look before dismissing it. Her storage bracelet had much lower limits than the one her son possessed.
¡°Make sure no one sees you using that,¡± Niall told him from behind them.
¡°I know,¡± Nate replied confidently. ¡°That¡¯s why I went off alone and had Aura watching out for anyone coming close.¡±
¡°Just be careful,¡± Nina said, ruffling his hair.
Back at the Chrighton estate, they learned that George had indeed gone back to work at the guild that day. The building itself was partially destroyed, but with all the injured people being recovered, he really had no choice in the matter. The people were counting on him, and all the people in the guild would be looking to him for leadership.
In turn, the Chrighton, Travers, Pritchley, and Holmes families, among others, were all working together to establish a semblance of normalcy and control. Outside of the Holmes, the rest of the families were well known and had power and money. Or at least they had prior to all of this happening.
Plans were being made, talked about, dissected, and then tossed aside as new information continued to come in from all over the city.
The first day of clearing everything had gone well. There had been a few bumps and bruises in the first few hours as people worked out their frustrations and other issues. After that initial period though, they had all gradually settled down and gotten to work.
That isn¡¯t to say that they had made a large amount of progress. They hadn¡¯t. There was simply too much that needed to be done. However, with how many people they had working, the area they had managed to clean wasn¡¯t small either.
They were planning on which parts of the city to repair first. Water and sewage were at the top of the list, as was the beast processing facility. People needed water, food, and a clean environment, after all. Deciding on what to fix after those was a little harder. Arguments could be made for other businesses, such as grocery stores or public services. While the people would undoubtedly want housing to begin being rebuilt at some point. There was also the concern of supplies for each of these projects.
Certain items could be cannibalized from the remains of other buildings. However, they would eventually run out of viable options by doing that. There was the hope that the other cities would send help and supplies like the cultivators had promised. At this point, none of them were exactly holding out hope that they would follow through on what they had been told.
While the adults were working through all the problems, Nathan, Angelica, and Lindsay worked on their own items. Together, they reworked lines in their meditation arts and then worked on their energy skills.
It wasn¡¯t exactly fun, but knowing they were making progress held a certain excitement all its own.
Before going to bed that night, Nate needed to take another shower to remove all the dirt and dust that had accumulated on him while working in the city. It was also the perfect time to take the other half of the gumdrop.
This time, without any hesitation, he popped it into his mouth, chewing it slowly as he walked into the shower. The water was still cold as he began cleaning himself. He had used a towel to get the worst of the dirt and grime off his arms and face earlier. But nothing beat a nice shower.
The energy from the gumdrop sank into being and surged toward his backup core. It was slightly less than what he had gotten from the other half that morning. They had looked to be about the same size, so he was guessing that some of the energy had leaked out of it after he cut it in half. According to his screen, he received one full point of energy less from that piece than what he had gotten in the morning.
If he ran it by the numbers, that was a pretty hefty loss in the intervening time.
That morning, he had gotten an increase of eleven points to his backup core. Now he had only gotten ten. If he chose to cut them in the future, he needed to make sure he swallowed the other half as soon as possible. Otherwise, there would be a severe loss in effectiveness.
The main thing he needed to finish that night was the traps in the new dungeon. It wasn¡¯t going to be finished until Wednesday night, but he still needed to finish everything that night. On Wednesday, he would only have enough time to make a few last-minute changes and corrections before it finished and came into being.
He had a few ideas written down, however, this time around he was going in mostly blind. It was a situation that he had a feeling he was going to become uncomfortably familiar with. As he began working with dungeons that he had no information on, the only thing he would be able to do initially was the room layout. The traps and everything else would need to wait until after the dungeon had been formed.
Doing it that way wasn¡¯t quite ideal in his mind, as it would delay things. That said, his current method simply wasn¡¯t going to work for many of the locations. That was the way of things, and he would do what needed to be done.
Nate opened the menu and began looking through the pre-created traps it had put together for him.
Chapter 131 - Book 2 – End
The pre-made traps were typically not something that Nate liked to use. They worked just fine, but they weren¡¯t as strong as the ones he made from scratch. As traps meant for skeletons though, he felt they would suffice, and if not, then that was something he could fix later.
He was in his avatar sitting on the first floor of the first dungeon when he felt the change come over the place. As if in confirmation of what he had already suspected, a notification appeared before his eyes.
¡®The yearly event Samhain has begun. At this time, the veil between all worlds is at its thinnest.¡¯
He peered over at Aura and lightly poked her nose. ¡°Are you going to cross back over and try to find more of your family? Want me to come with you?¡±
She hesitated, the idea seeming to really appeal to her. Finally, she shook her head in the negative. ¡°No, I haven¡¯t grown enough during our time together, and you are even weaker than me. We would only end up running into a situation that we couldn¡¯t handle and dying.¡± She gnashed her teeth, swiping away the notification angrily. ¡°Perhaps next year. Hopefully, it won¡¯t be too late then.¡±
He placed his hand on her head and lightly scratched her ears. ¡°Alright, if that¡¯s what you think is best. Just know that I¡¯m here for you.¡±
Aura nodded, her head drooping. ¡°I do want to, but even if we made it past everyone on the second floor, we would need to still traverse the distances of my world. At the moment, we are too slow to go any significant distance and then make it back again.¡±
That was a very good point and not one that he had even considered prior to that point. However, with his storage function, it wouldn¡¯t be a problem to store a dirtbike or any number of other things. The problem with that was how loud they all were. On a world consisting of beasts, something mechanical would stick out like a sore thumb.
They had a year to work through the issue. For now, he could only hope that one of the other races he would eventually create dungeons against had something useful.
Suddenly, Aura perked up. ¡°Pull up your camera screens. It seems one of the community beasts just entered the dungeon.¡±
The beast in question was a flying squirrel that had paused just inside the doors of the dungeon. It bowed its head and began to squeak.
The screen in front of Nate provided subtitles in the form of translation. ¡®Oh, great Dungeon Being, please allow me safe passage back to my people so that I may converse with them. I wish to tell them of the wonders that await them on this side, and also bring news of our princess¡¯ survival.¡¯
A prompt appeared in front of him by way of the Dungeon Core, asking if he wanted to grant the request.
Nate cursed, his mind scrambling. He ignored the prompt for the moment and instead pulled up a bunch of camera screens.
Despite having just mentioned Aura going back through the portal himself, he hadn¡¯t fully considered the implications until the squirrel appeared. Many of the blighted elves inside the second dungeon were taking the chance to cross back through the portal. At some point, a group had even taken the map they had created of the dungeon.
Over in the first dungeon, they were attempting to do the same thing. However, due to the second floor being a part of the dungeon, and therefore also containing traps, they were struggling to make any headway backtracking.
He clicked ¡®Yes¡¯ on the prompt and sat back with a groan. ¡°Well, this complicates things. If all the future groups that enter the second dungeon portal are ready for it, then we¡¯ll have an even harder time raising its level.¡±
As it was, they were actually getting close to the energy levels required for the second level of the Dungeon Core. After the scare of having the dungeon shutting down before, he didn¡¯t dare upgrade the Core until they had an excess.
With all the research the core had been doing for the traps, they had become more efficient. The costs were slowly coming down, but the fear had been driven into him. Now that the first dungeon was only contributing a small portion of the energy it earned to the shared pool, he needed to be even more careful. The community in the first dungeon required a lot of energy to keep running. A new sub-pool had been created for exactly that purpose, and everything concerning the community was taken from it.
That included the energy to create new buildings, along with the energy that was used to fuel the transformation in the beast¡¯s minds. All the building materials were taken from the normal resource pools.
Aura nodded, her eyes flicking across screens only she could see. ¡°They will be much better prepared in the future, that is for sure.¡±
Nate cracked his neck and sighed. There was nothing he could really do about it, not really anyway. If he simply wanted to kill everything, then placing a series of doors directly in line with the portal and a railgun would do the job. He couldn¡¯t put traps inside the portal room, but he was fairly certain that one would work. And truthfully, it was an idea he might do at some point in future dungeons, depending on the inhabitants.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
However, he had already decided with the creation of the community that the goal of the dungeons wasn¡¯t to kill them all. He certainly wasn¡¯t against doing so. After all, once they left the dungeon, that is exactly what they would do to humans. It was just that it now served a purpose for him to leave more of them alive, if possible.
At least that was the case with the thinking races. It was doubtful there would be anything useful from the skeletons.
The two watched the goings-on inside the dungeons for a while longer before shutting everything down. They wouldn¡¯t be able to get any combat practice in that night, and Nate didn¡¯t really feel like working on his meditation art at the moment. All he wanted to do was get some sleep.
***
The next morning, Nate ate the second alchemical core enhancer. It was a bit much for his body at twenty-three points. The strain was handled by his backup-core without a problem, despite how it made him feel.
|
Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 17 years
Realm: Mortal (Backup Core Available, 49% Charged)
Core: Pyrite Grade [Basic Quality]
Strength: 59
Speed: 53
Constitution: 61.5 [+]
Energy: 37
Meditative Art: (School Void)
Energy Skills: 3/14
Attack: Point Break
Support: Basic Ties
Basic Healing
Companion Beast: Aura (Kitsune 4-Tails)
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Dungeon Creation: Current limit 3
Dungeon Interface: 3
Conquered Portals: 1
Dungeons: 1 (1 ¨C In progress)
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At breakfast, the conversation was dominated by two subjects. Samhain, and the work that was to be done in the city that day.
The adults had apparently decided that one of the first items that needed to be rebuilt -along with the other items they had decided on the night before- was the schools. There were too many kids just roaming around and getting in the way. The need to get the younger ones out of the way had become apparent as more reports came in.
There was a lot to be done, and the days had already been growing colder. The adults with their cultivator abilities would be able to handle what promised to be a harsh winter relatively easily. The kids and older teens who hadn¡¯t formed their cores wouldn¡¯t have those same advantages.
Not all of the schools would be rebuilt. Many of them had been getting old as they were before they were destroyed. As they rebuilt the schools, they would be making them bigger, and able to handle more kids. They wanted each one able to handle a larger portion of the city.
That meant that they needed to have people going around to each of the schools that would now be defunct and collect everything. Each of them had valuable libraries of energy skills, meditation model information, and meditation arts.
This is what Angie, Lindsay, and Nate would be going around doing that day, along with a large group of other people.
The oldest and most damaged schools had all been marked down on multiple maps. Everything they grabbed would be going directly into trucks and then moved to one of the schools that would be made larger later.
It was not a project that would be done in a couple of days, but it needed to be started. On the plus side, they would be able to take their pick of any energy skills they happened to come across.
The kids would have eventually received more energy skills from their own schools. They were just speeding things along a little, assuming they even found anything interesting. Not every school had a large library of energy skills.
Outside in the city itself, more people were talking about Samhain, but their interest in the yearly event was definitely muted. Normally, the thinning of the veil would have been a big deal for them. It was when they had a chance to crossover to another world. There was also usually a lull around that time, due to the beasts and other portal invaders also taking the opportunity to go back home.
Unfortunately, due to what had happened with the attack on the city, none of them had more than the bare amount of interest.
Nate had been expecting it to be a huge deal previously. It was something he was looking forward to, and then everything had gotten ruined.
If there was a silver lining to working at the schools, it was uncovering the bunkers. The newer schools didn¡¯t have them, as they had gone out of style with the introduction of the wall. However, all the older schools had large bunkers buried beneath their gymnasiums.
It didn¡¯t look as though they had been maintained at all, and yet they had held up. Each of them was full of families and teachers. Finding the additional survivors was a huge event, and more people were promptly called in for each of the old schools throughout the city. Finding temporary housing for all of them was a struggle, but that would be a problem for weeks to come.
At least food wasn¡¯t an issue, yet. There were multiple beast body processing centers, and despite some of them having been destroyed, the remaining ones were able to keep up with the demand.
The three teenagers and Aura were absolutely filthy when they finally dragged themselves back to the estate. Night had fallen hours ago, but they had gotten caught up in uncovering the bunkers.
They all but collapsed on the couches after entering the house. It had been another physically and emotionally exhausting day for them. Uncovering the doors to the bunkers and helping all those people had helped to push aside the memories of all the bodies they had found the day before.
Right now, they were all starving, but they didn¡¯t really feel like moving either.
A while later, Nate finally dragged himself into a shower and then into the comforting embrace of his bed. A few minutes later, Aura joined him. She had been subjected to Lindsay somewhat forcefully absconding with her to a larger, more luxurious shower.
¡°Traitor,¡± She muttered before sinking into his chest.
¡°Oh hush, you know you liked the attention. Besides, my shower wouldn¡¯t have been big enough to clean you properly.¡± He yawned, barely managing to keep his eyes open long enough to open the menu. His hand fell atop the bed stretched out toward the computer on his wrist, soft snores filling the room.
The third dungeon would be finished that night. However, his inspection of it would need to wait until morning.
Book 2 ¨C End
Chapter 132 - Book 3 – Start
Nate stood atop the wall, looking back over the city. They had made a lot of progress in the last eight months.
After the other somewhat close cities had started sending in aid and other support, things had really started to take off. That didn¡¯t mean they had forgiven the ones directly involved with causing the beast wave. Once word had gotten back to the rest of the people in those particular cities, it didn¡¯t take long for those responsible to be ousted.
Very few of the common cultivators agreed with any decision that resulted in the destruction of a city. The cultivators who had chosen to follow orders, willingly or not, wisely chose to keep their mouths shut.
Regardless, looking out over the city revealed a different sight from the one a year before.
They hadn¡¯t rebuilt it in the same way that it had been originally, but instead, had attempted to improve it. Unfortunately, that meant that most regular houses had been demolished. They were either being replaced with duplexes or full one-apartment complexes.
Underneath each of the apartment buildings, a bunker was put in place as well. They might never see any use. Everyone hoped they wouldn¡¯t, but they had seen how effective the ones at the schools had been.
The reveal of the bunkers had changed their plans with regard to the schools as well. They had decided to keep the number the same because of them.
More cultivators with an affinity for earth meant that a lot of items moved quickly despite the cold.
Of course, he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to believe that they were doing all of this simply because they were feeling guilty. No, they wanted access to the community outside the dungeon, which had truly begun to show its worth.
The flying squirrel that had gone back to its world had done some good as more and more path-trained beasts requested access to the community. Now that he owned the portal, Nate had eventually lowered the difficulty of the traps so that more beasts could begin entering the first floor and exiting the dungeon.
The number of paths and shops they had spread throughout the community had skyrocketed along with the size of its clearing. In the beginning, the clearing had a radius of a hundred and fifty feet from the dungeon in the center to the walls at the edge. Now it was closer to five hundred feet.
Much had happened in the last eight months, both to the city and him.
He had continued to train using the dungeons, the number of which had slowly continued to grow. The milestones that needed to be reached before he could create a new Dungeon Core had remained the same. The cost of each Core upgrade, along with how much it cost to create a new Core, however, had not.
At the moment, he managed to upgrade his own core from Pyrite to Silver, and then again to what it was now at Opal. Silver was the second stage of [Basic Quality] cores, whereas Opal was the first in [Regular Quality]. Each upgrade had felt incredible, though his progress had slowed significantly after he finished that second batch of alchemical core enhancement items. It was still there thanks to his backup core; it just wasn¡¯t coming as rapidly.
Having had his energy compressed so many times, made the amount of qi he possessed closer to what was normal. Finally, he wasn¡¯t depending on what his backup core held all the time, just so he would be exhausted immediately.
Along with the increase in his core quality was the overall growth of his cultivation realm. He had also come to learn a few things about how it all worked for him, and what made him different. The status sheet that always appeared on the left-hand side of his wrist computer screen had always shown his various attributes. Yet they had never meant much to him. Sure, he could feel himself getting healthier, faster, and stronger, but the numbers themselves didn¡¯t seem to correlate with the actual increase.
Early on, he had tried to figure out if there was any link between the numbers and his actual abilities. At first, that seemed to be the case. However, that theory faded and vanished as the numbers continued to grow higher, but he couldn¡¯t suddenly bench-press a car.
Instead, all they seemed to be was a marker of sorts. A system that let him know where his gains were being consolidated towards, and they were always reset with each realm upgrade. That was another thing. The plus sign he had grown used to seeing beside his ¡®Constitution¡¯ for so long had finally vanished as well. It had given him a seven-point bonus when he finally increased his realm, giving him a head start on that particular attribute.
All he needed to go to the next realm was a score of one-hundred in energy and then he could choose to move up a realm or hold off for a while. Maxing out the other attributes would make him stronger overall, but it wasn¡¯t needed.
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Nathaniel Holmes
Age: 18 years
Realm: Core Creation (Backup Core Available, 72% Charged)
Core: Opal Grade [Regular Quality]
Strength: 71 [2]
Speed: 62 [1.87]
Constitution: 72 [2]This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Energy: 54
Meditative Art: (School Void)
Energy Skills: 7/14
Attack: Point Break 3
Qi Blast
Chanced Affinity Arrow
Support: Binding Ties
Basic Healing 2
Shared Senses
Humid Waters
Companion Beast: Aura (Kitsune 4-Tails)
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Dungeon Creation: Current limit 42
Dungeon Interface: 36
Conquered Portals: 9 (8 - Closed)
Dungeons: 27 (0 - In progress)
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That didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t going to try and max out those numbers every time, regardless. At least now that he knew. Just staring at the odd number next to his speed was a constant annoying tickle at his brain.
Nate¡¯s mother found him standing there a while later, Aura by his side. ¡°Are you ready for this?¡± She asked her son, joining him in staring out over the partially rebuilt city.
He shook his head, a flicker of unease entering his chest. ¡°No, not really. I know you and dad will be safe here once I leave. Your business has taken off, and you have employees, not to mention you have also become friends with the Chrightons, Travers, George, and Claire. Despite that, it just doesn¡¯t feel right to leave you both behind.¡±
Spending the last year with them had been a balm to his soul in many ways. He still found himself having the occasional problem with night terrors, but by and large, those had stopped.
She placed her hand on his shoulder and pulled him close, bringing his larger frame in for a hug. ¡°As you said, we won¡¯t be alone, and you won¡¯t be either. You¡¯ll have Aura and the girls with you and Anna for at least part of the journey.¡±
He snorted at that. The past few months had opened his eyes to many things about the sadistic trainer. Namely, that she did not have it as together as she liked to project or have everyone believe. However, having her as a chaperone for the first little bit had been an understandable condition by the various parents involved.
Originally, it had only been him and Aura who were going to leave and explore the burgeoning dungeon sites. He had been working to fill out his physical map and wanted to find out what all the different smaller dimensional zones were. They didn¡¯t seem to be regular incursion areas, and yet they still appeared on his dungeon creation map.
There had to be something there, and he wanted to know what before he selected one, and wasted what had become an increasingly expensive creation. The first couple of new Cores had been cheap enough that he had initially barely noticed the cost, especially once the shared resource pool came into play.
That changed when he created the fourth dungeon, as by that point, the costs associated with the creation of the Cores had finally begun to reveal themselves. It wasn¡¯t much back then, but every Dungeon Core he made got a little more expensive. It was a good thing that he he had so many of them by this point.
There were a few that weren¡¯t huge earners, such as the second dungeon with the blighted elves which had mostly gone unused since Samhain. Every once in a while, a party of cultivators would appear in it, or some blighted elves would come through the portal, but that was it. They had taken the chance to mark it as off-limits for their people.
Meanwhile, the first dungeon was only contributing a small amount to the shared pool, as the rest of it was going to the upkeep of the community.
By and large, however, the vast majority of the dungeons were doing well. He was rather disappointed that the only ones he had managed to close since the first belonged to things he couldn¡¯t form communities around though. Not to mention that for whatever reason there was an abnormal number of dimensional zones, at least in his opinion that led to annoying places. He had created several dungeons for kobolds, ants, rats, and one particulary terrifying dungeon that he refused to enter which housed giant earwigs.
He had come uncomfortably close to losing that last dungeon at one one point as well. Nate really did not like earwigs. Most people professed to hating spiders or cockroaches, well he hated earwigs. They were unnatural and gross.
All of it had helped to shape the way he approached dungeons the last few months. Including the eight portals that he had closed as soon as they had been conquered. The skeleton and zombie dungeons had been relatively easy portals for him, and also indicative of something else he hadn¡¯t understood up to that point.
Most dimensional zones were actually limited to one species.
The portal would appear inside the claimed territory of a specific species, and they alone would make use of it. It was only when the portal appeared in public places, contested lands, or otherwise shared locations that multiple species got involved. That is what had happened on Aura¡¯s world. The portal there had appeared just outside of their capital, and there had been no hiding it.
Since then, most of the dungeons he had created had belonged to one single species. He had to admit; it was more boring that way. Only needing to plan out traps for rats, or whatever the current enemy was, lacked a certain freedom he had enjoyed in the first two dungeons. It wasn¡¯t entirely terrible as these single specie dimensional zones tended to have stronger, and therefore smarter, enemies. That at least offered up some variety.
Not much, but some.
Aura pulled at his hand with her mouth, her sharp teeth never piercing his skin. She was always careful to never draw blood with her mouth, understanding just how strong her jaws and sharp teeth could be. ¡°Come on,¡± She sent to him, pulling him toward his waiting mother. ¡°Everyone is waiting for us at the house, and I¡¯m getting hungry.¡±
He rolled his eyes, allowing himself to be pulled along. That was just an excuse, and they both knew it. What she really wanted was to be pampered by Lisa Travers, Lindsay¡¯s mom. It had taken some time for the woman to give in to her urges, but eventually, she had pounced on Aura with a vengeance.
The kitsune had hidden from her for a month straight afterward. Now, she absolutely loved the treatment she got from her and Lindsay.
A short time later, they arrived at the Chrighton estate, where everyone was waiting to get the party started. In the morning, the kids, Aura, and Anna would all be leaving to go on their own adventure.
How could they not let them all go with a party of close friends and family?
Gifts had even been prepared for them, mainly in the form of healing pills. Something that the beast alchemists who lived in the community outside the first dungeon were remarkably adept at making. Nate had always sort of assumed that was the case, considering how many he received from the dungeon when he was practicing there.
George and Claire were there as well. Ostensibly, they were still taking things slow. If anyone took a second to actually look and watch them, they would see that the two were never far from each other outside of working hours.
They would also notice the layer of dust that had begun to collect in the apartment Claire was renting.
Still, no one said anything, content to let them maintain their illusion of privacy. Most were simply glad that George was happier than he had been in a long time.
The older gentleman hugged Nate as he walked in, slipping a piece of paper into his palm as he did so. ¡°Take a look at that later, but you might want to add heading to Arizona onto your list of stops.¡± He whispered with a wink.
Chapter 133
Nate snuck away from the party as soon as he had a moment to take a look at the note George had given him. He read the hurriedly scrawled message and then looked back at George, who had been watching him. The older man gave him a slight nod and raised his hand before turning away.
It would seem that a new location had been added to their little journey, the Grand Canyon. There was a dimensional zone that had some floating jelly beings that were reported to have the space affinity.
It wasn¡¯t perfect. He could readily admit that. The space affinity wasn¡¯t the dimensional element that he really needed. However, it was a step closer, void would be better yet, but that had been impossible to come across. This was the first time he had even heard mention of the space affinity being seen in the wild. If he wanted to make the most of his affinities, and cultivation benefits, then this is what he needed to do.
Strength wasn¡¯t as all encompassing in their society, not like it was in their old cultivation novels he had read in his first life. The concept of cultivating power was still to new here for that. Given time though, eventually they may fall into the same trap of might makes right. He had already experienced it to a degree, multiple times in fact.
After basic ties had evolved into binding ties, the skill had unsurprisingly changed and become more powerful. He wasn¡¯t ready to fully tackle the project he had begun nearly a year ago, in creating a meditation art that would let him work with more than one affinity at a time. However, he had managed to do some work on it over the last few months.
What the new, more powerful version of the skill allowed him to do was something else. Borrowing on his existing knowledge of meditation arts, he could now use the skill to examine how an affinity was bound to a person. It was a slow process, but using what he learned would allow him to create a new meditation art. The original function of the skill would then help him to fix any errors.
There was more to the evolved skill, but that was the function that had drawn his immediate attention.
Of course, only he knew, still, that he could simply create a dungeon and begin watching them right away. Something that he planned to do that night. It might raise suspicions from George, but he trusted the man. At this point, he had practically taken the position of being Nate¡¯s grandfather¡ maybe not; he wasn¡¯t quite old enough for that. Regardless, he was family. Any suspicions he had, he would keep to himself, until he could either ask Nate directly or his parents.
As for Nina and Niall, well, they knew something was up. They also understood that keeping them in the dark was for their own good. So, they pretended that Nate¡¯s story about dream walking through the ever increasing number of dungeons made perfect sense and left the matter at that.
Nate folded the note up and discreetly stored it away.
Mira Moorish, their old teacher, had joined the party at some point and was talking to his parents. As always, she was dressed to impress. While talking, she kept self-consciously pulling the left sleeve of her blouse down. During the attack on the city, she had gotten a scar that ran nearly the entire length of her arm. It had lightened considerably through the use of creams and alchemical creations. Still, she remained fully aware of how it appeared on her once flawless skin.
Nate thought she was ridiculous and that the scar wasn¡¯t even that noticeable anymore. Angie and Lindsay¡¯s opinions tended to swap depending on how they were feeling that day.
He spotted the inseparable duo, in deep conversation with Angie¡¯s mom, Trissa, who spotted him looking their way. She waved him over, pausing the conversation until Nate had joined them.
¡°This involves you as well, so you should probably hear what I have to say.¡± She said in way of greeting. ¡°We received word that Jace has finally been seen. He went back east to New York City.¡±
The girls hissed. That was going to be a long trip. On Nate¡¯s Original Earth, most of the nation¡¯s highway and interstate network had been constructed during the 1950s and 1960s. A time in which the dimensional portals had already appeared on this Earth, and thus no such project had ever happened.
The older roads were still there, of course, and speed limits were a thing of the past. That said, the last hundred years hadn¡¯t exactly been kind to the condition of the roads. So, while the speed limits might be gone, realistically it didn¡¯t actually matter as you wouldn¡¯t be speeding along anything. Not if you didn¡¯t want to destroy your vehicle anyway.
They would be taking a heavy-duty RV overlander style truck for the trip. Something that could go wherever they needed, or wanted it to go, but wouldn¡¯t exactly be the fastest thing around. As long as they were careful, and took care of it, then they shouldn¡¯t have any issues.
¡°It sounds like we can finally finalize our route,¡± Nate said wearily, just thinking of how long this trip was going to be. ¡°George gave me a hint for a dimensional zone location with monsters that have the space element affinity.¡±
Trissa raised a brow in surprise. ¡°Where did he manage to find something like that?¡±
¡°The Grand Canyon,¡± He replied wryly.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Angie¡¯s mother sighed, her hand going up to begin rubbing at her forehead. ¡°This trip of yours just keeps getting longer and longer. Make sure you all call or message regularly if the option isn¡¯t available.¡±
***
Nate collapsed onto his bed for the last time and stared up at the ceiling. The going away party had lasted for far longer than he had originally expected it to. He was so tired and just worn out. Hours of socializing with people, even if they were people that he actually liked, were simply too much.
Then there was the time he had spent with his parents and Aura afterward.
The entire day had been draining.
He took a moment to breathe and then opened the menu to enter his avatar. The second dungeon had become largely unused since Samhain. It was the dungeon that he visited the most when he simply wanted to sit and plan.
Nate took in the resource counter and then the number of actual dungeons he had already created. This one in the Grand Canyon would be number thirty seven, and the Dungeon Core would cost three hundred and sixty thousand energy. It was a heavy investment; however, he did have it in the shared resource pool.
He had been very careful with the last few dungeons he had created. Choosing their locations with as much care as he could using the limited information he had available. As a result, they rarely took energy from the shared pool and donated more than they took. At this point, he was ready to create a couple more Dungeon Cores and the dungeons with them, if he was careful. He just had to commit to doing it.
Opening the Dungeon Creation menu, he navigated to the general area where the Grand Canyon was located. Once that location was pulled up, he removed the note from his storage to find the exact area it mentioned.
It was near the north rim, close to Marble Canyon. It was some place that had originally been called Kincaid¡¯s cave. The name sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn¡¯t place why.
Either way, with the location now identified, it only took him a few moments to find the right spot. A minute later, the new Dungeon Core was under construction. It would be finished in three days.
Nate didn¡¯t plan on doing any training in the dungeons that night. He wanted to get some proper sleep for once. Instead, all he wanted to do was take some time to look over a few of the other dungeons.
Most of his currently active dungeons had level-two Dungeon Cores in them. The first of the exceptions was the first dungeon, which had a level four. Along with providing him access to another dungeon slot, one of its functions had been to help strengthen the mental growth of the inhabitants living inside its community. Something that it had been already doing before, but at a great cost in energy, the process had been greatly optimized when the fourth upgrade had occurred.
The second exception was obviously the dungeon with the blighted elves, which remained at level one because of its rare use.
There were others but they were all newer dungeons, as the only requirement for upgrading the Core was energy.
Moving on from the newer dungeons, he stopped at one of his older dungeons. It was a mixed dungeon of zombies and skeletons, along with the occasional lich. It was related to the two portals he had already conquered and closed. Unfortunately, the difficulty of the monsters in this particular dungeon was much harder to deal with. The tactics he had used in the other two dungeons just didn¡¯t seem to work as well. Whenever there was a lich nearby, the infernal being was always strengthening them or bringing them back to life.
In comparison, the dungeons with the kobolds and rats were much easier. The ant dungeon was a pain though, that one¡ it was just plain weird. Something had happened during its construction, and he wasn¡¯t sure what, but he didn¡¯t like it. There had been a couple of other dungeons with similar effects, but none as pronounced as the ant dungeon.
Then there was the final dungeon he was going to look at that night. It had been an experiment more than anything.
He had found one of the many dimensional zones off the coast of Florida and created a dungeon around it. Right there, in the middle of the water. It was¡ well; it wasn¡¯t a dungeon that he could ever enter, at least not until his realm was much higher. It had also taken some tinkering to get the traps right.
The beings that came through the portal were some sort of water elementals. In the water they were king, so he put doors in each room of the dungeon and then pumped out the water. It still wasn¡¯t perfect. But it actually worked rather well, though he did feel a little guilty. The elementals were more or less restricted to the water, so unless someone was attempting to cross the ocean, they would never even encounter them.
Researching the water pumps, along with the water elementals, language, and subtitle function, were some of the first things he had done. He had discovered that the water elementals did talk to each other, however, their level of intelligence was not very high. They were beings with the minds of a young child, and gradually grew more intelligent as they became stronger.
At their current stage, they were fairly innocent, even playful creatures. In the ocean, after they had gained strength and intelligence, it was a different matter entirely.
It took him a few minutes to review each of the dungeons and see how they were doing. All of them, save the one in the ocean, had been discovered by people living near them. After some thought on the matter, he had decided to continue with the treasure chests in active dungeons. That meant the first dungeon no longer had them, and neither did the second.
He had changed what he was putting in them. No longer were cultivators getting gold and gems. Instead, they were getting the occasional herb, along with small bottles of spices. He had eaten enough bland Mexican and Indian food over the last year that was missing essential spices to make that particular decision easy. Each dungeon gave a different spice, and as a result, he had even been able to decrease the number of traps in certain areas.
It required a shift in priorities, but that was fine, he was playing the long game. There were tons of dimensional zones that needed to be dealt with. He was looking at a project of decades, not years.
Eventually, it would reach a point where so much energy was coming in that he could create as many Dungeon Cores as possible. He wasn¡¯t there yet, and even if he was, he would still need to find some way to take care of them all. That was still a concern for the future.
He went through each of the dungeons, making notes on each one, before closing everything up. Even working quickly and doing nothing more than reviewing them, the process had still taken more than an hour. Aura hadn¡¯t even bothered to come inside and join him this time around. She had chosen instead to remain sleeping on the bed, knowing that he wasn¡¯t going to be doing anything interesting this time around.
Opening the menu one final time, he exited his avatar, and everything went dark as he entered his sleeping body.
Chapter 134
Angelica was currently driving the rugged RV that all of their parents had chipped in to buy for them. It wasn¡¯t a top-of-the-line product; they hadn¡¯t wanted that. Instead, it was something that could take a beating and keep on going. It was comfortable and had plenty of power, with absolutely massive tires that could roll right over smaller trees.
They would be doing expeditions while they were out and about, taking advantage of Nate¡¯s impressive amount of storage. Something that had become somewhat of an open secret among the group after he had returned the contents of George¡¯s entire house to him.
They would be keeping most of the cores they found. Nate could use them with his gun -a secret they did not know about-, but the RV also used them as fuel. They needed to be processed first before they could be used as a fuel. A small core converter had been installed on the RV for exactly that purpose. It had terrible efficiency compared to the larger permanently installed converters in cities. However, it worked, and that was all that mattered.
The first stop on their trip after they dropped off Anna was going to be one of the odd-dimensional zones Nate had been seeing on his Dungeon Creation map. They would take the RV as far off-road as they could before heading the rest of the way to the destination on foot.
Nate played around with his notes at the table while Lindsay paid attention to Aura for the next couple of hours. Anna was in the front passenger seat, acting as navigator and general copilot.
With the current number of dungeons that he had; it was long since past the point where it became too much to manage by himself. The Dungeon Cores were supposed to be taking up the slack in that regard. Except they didn¡¯t actually do that until level three, and level four was where it became truly useful.
He wasn¡¯t really looking forward to the day when he had hundreds of dungeons all clamoring for his attention. He snapped his notebook closed and stared out the window for a few minutes. The road they were on was taking them in the direction of the city of Pueblo.
The leadership of the city had been the primary group behind the attack on their city the year before. While the matter had been settled, and they had helped them rebuild, it still left a bad taste in all of their mouths.
That was fine. They were only stopping there for the night, and then they would be continuing onward. They were on the old I-25 road, and not particularly enjoying themselves. The weather and time had not been kind to this section of the interstate. The yearly freezing and thawing over the last hundred years, along with countless beasts and other animals walking across the pavement had led to it crumbling.
Scraggly crabgrass and small trees had sprung up in between the cracks, further breaking the pavement.
It wasn¡¯t the worst section of road they had come across during the last year of going on weekend expeditions, but it was close. Thankfully, the large tires and hefty suspension of the overlander RV could handle it with ease.
After leaving Pueblo, they would continue on down to New Mexico. It was there they would investigate the first of the weird extra dimensional zone sights. There were others that were closer. However, he didn¡¯t want to tip his hand too soon. Besides, they would be getting rid of Anna in Trinidad.
That was where Lindsay¡¯s brother, Landon, had eventually scurried off to after having enough family time. Having all the Travers kids called back home after the attack on the city had been a nice reunion for them¡ at first. Then, within four days, their strong personalities began to make themselves known.
For the sake of everyone¡¯s sanity, James and Lisa had told their kids that while it was nice to see them, calling them all back had been a mistake. In other words, they needed to get lost, pronto. They had all been happy to read between the lines, after making sure to give Lindsay plenty of grief, of course. She was the baby of the family, and they would always be there for her, but they also showed their love in typical older sibling fashion.
Whenever the driver would get tired, they¡¯d switch out and continue driving. In that manner, even having to go somewhat slowly for most of the day, they still managed to reach Pueblo while the sun was still high in the sky.
Lindsay, who was currently driving, slowed the large vehicle as the towering, compacted walls of the city came into view. ¡°Ugh,¡± She muttered in distaste. ¡°I know it wasn¡¯t the people of the city who orchestrated the attack on our city, but it was their cultivators who still carried it out. Can we just, like, keep driving? Maybe sleep in the RV tonight?¡±
Anna looked at the other two, and then Aura, before shrugging. ¡°I¡¯m fine with that. Just know we¡¯ll have to deal with any issues that arise as a result.¡±
Lindsay put the truck back into gear with a grin. ¡°That¡¯s fine with me.¡±
Both of the girls had seen their cultivations grow steadily in the beginning as they worked with Nate. Then later, once the energy skill basic ties had evolved, they were able to fix even more of the issues. It was an ongoing process still, but their realms were solidly in ¡®Core Refining¡¯, putting them an entire realm ahead of Nate.
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The benefits of having a great quality core right from the start could not be understated. Even with meditation arts that hadn¡¯t been perfected for them, their cultivation speed had still been greater than his own, despite his advantages. The gap was slowly closing, but it would be some time yet before it disappeared entirely.
She drove them around the city, bypassing it entirely, and then continued on until the light began to fade. With just a little more time, they would have made it to Colorado City, but it wasn¡¯t to be. They had already been dodging beasts for the last hour of the trip.
The stupid things seemed to think it was a good idea to jump out of the trees and bushes and attempt to ram the side of the RV. Only one had actually managed to accomplish the feat, their dazed rear end had then been promptly run over by a set of massive tires.
Anna, now in the driver''s seat, had managed to dodge the rest.
Under excellent conditions, the drive to Colorado City from Pueblo would have only taken them thirty minutes to do. Unfortunately, those sorts of circumstances hadn¡¯t existed for years. The degrading road didn¡¯t allow people to maintain the speeds that would get them there that quickly. At least not without shaking their vehicle to pieces.
Anna found the remains of an old rest stop and pulled over for the night.
Nate and Aura were sent out in one direction to do a quick clearing run, while the other three went the other way. They would each complete a half circle and then meet back up at the RV.
The girls were stronger than him, but still weaker than Aura, so the groups more or less evened out.
This far from the dimensional zone they were familiar with, the beasts and animals they encountered were no longer familiar to them. The animals were the same for the most part, but the beasts were completely different. Some of them were the result of breeding with the local wildlife, while others had migrated from much farther away.
What Aura made clear though, is that none of them were from her world. Or at the very least, not the section of the world that her family had ruled over.
That¡¯s not to say that the fights were hard though. They weren¡¯t. Nate had grown rather adept with the crossbow and kukris over the last few months. And Aura was always there to back him up, no matter what.
The time they had spent training in the dungeons had done them both good. While dying or suffering grievous injuries was unpleasant, it was always a valuable learning experience. Those injuries and deaths merely served to reinforce all the lessons with blood.
The progress they had made as a result of fighting together was impressive. That said, Nate would be needing a new crossbow sometime soon. The weapon had been carrying him for a while now, but those days would be coming to an end once he upgraded his realm.
That actually went for a lot of his equipment. Both inside and outside the dungeons. He had been using the kriegsmesser more and more lately because he needed the extra power he could get with the swings. The gun was still useful, as the power of its attacks depended on the strength of the core he put in the hopper. However, now that they were on their own, he couldn¡¯t depend on his parents to keep him supplied with the high grade cores he needed.
Thankfully, he had built up a fair stock, but they wouldn¡¯t last forever.
Eventually, he would need to get new equipment from the dungeons, but the energy and resource costs involved had made him hesitant to take that step. He had discovered that equipment almost never actually dropped naturally. He could make it drop, but again, it would be expensive, and according to Aura came with some rather arbitrary limitations, such as he could only do it for those related to him. There were ways around this, but the cost would increase exponentially.
That meant he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything for the girls anyway. Not, while they were away from the dungeons, or in the normal fashion anyway.
However, the introduction of the community had introduced another change. Monsters inside the dungeons would now occasionally drop usable body parts when they were absorbed. It had taken him so long to notice this change, as it had never occurred in the first dungeon.
Whether that was because of the community, or Aura, he had no idea, but for her sake, he was glad.
Skeletons from the third dungeon dropped various brittle bones. He collected a few but left the rest, as he could see no possible use for the weak items. The drops from the zombies were even worse, and he never even bothered to pick those up.
By far the most useful were the drops from the ant dungeon. It was also the dungeon he and Aura hated going to the most. The ants would drop pieces of their hardened carapace and stringy muscle fibers. Everything a person would need to make armor, in other words.
They just needed to collect more of it, and there was the rub. The hardened shell of the giant ants worked well as armor because it naturally was armor. They were difficult to fight, and like natural insects, there were swarms of them. The dungeon that housed them was odd, with maze-like dirt tunnels instead of the stone walls he usually made.
The rat and kobold dungeons were somewhat useful as well, though again, they were difficult monsters to fight against properly in their own ways. The rats also used swarm tactics. Individually, they were weak, but there was never just one, and if by some miracle you did find one alone, its injured cries would bring more running to its rescue. They were annoying, practically boneless buggers that would gnaw and claw at you until you died. Sure, dozens of them would die in the process as well, but they didn¡¯t care about that. They were kamikaze-type monsters and a pain to fight unless you had a death wish.
The kobolds were more normal. They were just plain tough with the dragon scales that covered parts of their bodies. If you could get around those and deal with the entire group they always traveled in, then you would be fine.
All of the parts they had been collecting had been going to the beasts in the community. As they needed to become familiar with the materials first, and then work out what they could even make with them.
The process would have typically taken even longer, except the community had provided the craftbeasts with personalized tools to help them along. It had cost some energy and resources, but it had been worth it. Unsurprisingly, the general shape of most paws was rather ill-suited to performing fine-detailed work. Certain tools needed to be created to help them along.
They could manage without them, but it would take far longer.
Chapter 135
The limbs of Nate¡¯s crossbow sang as they released, only to tighten again as he slapped another bolt into place while charging it. He cursed and jumped back, a dizzy Aura by his side.
They had somehow managed to practically step right onto a sleeping snake.
Nate¡¯s boot had been what dug into the thing¡¯s tail, but Aura was who it bit right in the leg. It had been venomous, and she was starting to feel the effects as they fled from all its slithering friends.
She had already taken a pill for it from her inventory and was just waiting for it to take effect. In the meantime, she was having problems concentrating enough to use her energy skills.
Nate¡¯s energy skills were having a larger effect. His ¡®Qi Blast¡¯ was similar to a shotgun in the way it worked, making it perfect for crowd control. The crossbow bolts he was using with another energy skill called ¡®Chanced Affinity Arrow¡¯. That particular skill was based around activating two chance effects. The first was that the arrow had a chance of taking on the user¡¯s affinity. While the second effect was that it had a chance of hitting a weak point.
They had been running for the last several minutes, accidentally heading farther away from the RV as they fled from the mass of snakes.
¡°Come on, Aura, just hop into my chest already!¡± He told her for the third time, watching as she stumbled to the side. The pill she had taken had helped, but it needed more time to get rid of the venom coursing through her body.
He hoped the girls were alright. They had healing pills, but he wasn¡¯t sure if they had ever thought of getting ones for poison and venom as well.
She grunted weakly and lurched toward him, her muzzle tapping his arm as she sank into him.
Aura would heal faster inside his chest, near his cores. They had never tested whether she would come back to life if she died outside of the dungeon or if she was limited in the same way Nate was. Frankly, it seemed better to assume that she was, and not play around.
Dodging the abnormally large snakes, he began heading back toward the RV and hopefully reinforcements.
This was not a good situation for them to be in. With beasts this small, they would never be able to retrieve all the bodies. That meant that eventually, the bodies they missed would begin attracting attention, drawing more beasts to the area.
All that is to say, that they would need to find a new place to park and sleep for the night.
Any cores these snakes might have had would be lost as well.
¡°Anna? Angie, Lindsay?¡± He called out, as he hit the road and began sprinting back to where they had parked the vehicle. Behind him, a writhing mass of wriggling, hissing snakes burst from the underbrush and continued after him.
Nate fired off another qi burst, the shotgun attack pushing them back momentarily. However, he had already used it so many times that his main core was running low on energy. He mentally switched cores and began drawing qi from his backup core instead for his attacks.
That was the trick. He had to manually make the switch or wait until his main core was completely drained. That was generally not a good idea.
It took him several minutes of running along the road before he finally spotted where they had pulled off. The bonus to this was that he had finally outpaced the snakes, even though more kept coming onto the road to chase after him.
He called out to the girls several more times, his voice growing slightly hoarser each time. Finally, Anna responded, as she appeared by his side in a flash and cut all the snakes to pieces.
¡°We need to leave now!¡± She ordered. ¡°Lindsay was bitten, and we don¡¯t have any pills to treat venom.¡± Her voice was bitter, clearly blaming herself.
¡°Aura was bitten as well. I have some pills she can take, but I agree that we need to leave this area, regardless.¡± Nate was more than happy to see that Angie was sitting behind the wheel of the RV with the lights and engine already on.
As soon as they both jumped into the RV, Angie floored it. There were streaks of squished snakes left in their wake. Anna went up to join Angie, while Nate went to give Lindsay a couple of pills for poison and venom.
Bright headlights and light racks lit up the road in the failing light. They had made sure that the RV was well-equipped with lights. While their parents had paid for the initial vehicle. Nearly all of the modifications to the RV had been designed and paid for by the kids. Some, like the small core converter, had obviously been outside of their price range. However, they had done their best to pay for everything themselves.
Lindsay stirred weakly as he shoved a few pills down her throat, along with some water.
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¡°Thanks,¡± She muttered, with a cough. ¡°Should have known that you would have some anti-venom pills already prepared.¡±
He chuckled and patted her leg. ¡°All you had to do was ask. I¡¯ll give you both some of them later, so this doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±
She nodded and closed her eyes, going to sleep.
¡°I gave Lindsay the anti-venom pills. She should be fine in a while. Right now, she is just sleeping everything off.¡± He told the other two, taking a seat right behind Anna.
Angie let out a long, shuddering breath. ¡°Good, thank heavens you had those. I would have had to drive like mad to get to Colorado City in time.¡±
¡°I¡¯ll give all three of you a few of them in the morning, so something like this doesn¡¯t happen again.¡±
Anna was frowning, unhappy with her own performance. ¡°It¡¯s only the first night and I already almost got one of you killed.¡±
Nate rolled his eyes. ¡°Anna, do you even know how many times I have been poisoned, stabbed, clawed, or otherwise injured going out on expeditions with my parents? We all know how dangerous it is to leave the cities. Sure, this was not how we wanted things to begin, but we also never thought that this trip would be safe either.¡±
¡°I know that, but it¡¯s different when I¡¯m the one responsible for your safety still.¡± Anna¡¯s hand was pale from how tight she was clenching it.
Angie took them a couple of miles closer to the city before pulling over. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you two, but I¡¯m ready for some sleep. Being chased by snakes and watching Lindsay getting bit wore me out.¡± She muttered, stretching her arms out with a yawn.
¡°Make sure your door is locked,¡± Nate reminded her, doing the same for the side door. ¡°I¡¯ll see you all in the morning.¡± His bunk was nestled above the cab, while the girls were sharing the room at the back of the vehicle.
For the next day or two, Anna would be using the table that sank down to become another bed as her own.
Entering his avatar, Nate transferred to the kobold dungeon and readied his weapons. The kukris were strapped crosswise across his rear, while the kriegsmesser was on his left hip. He had finally gotten a holster for the gun a while back, and it was strapped to his right thigh.
He was loaded for bear, as people used to say on OE, and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. Kobolds were annoying enemies; they were semi-intelligent and had strong natural armor. The theme of the dungeon he had put together against them, unfortunately, wasn¡¯t exactly the most effective. It had been the impetus in which he had later begun to refine how he approached the themes and overall creation of each dungeon.
The amount of information he had for each one was less and less each time.
In the beginning, he had tried to create traps and the entire dungeon all at once. Now, all he worried about was hiding the core, and sometimes a basic layout. That was it.
Once the dungeon had been formed, he would watch and study the monsters, creatures, denizens, or whichever term fit them best. Then, when he was ready, he and Aura would fight them if needed. The two would learn what they could about them and only then would he decide on the theme for the dungeon and the eventual traps.
With the kobolds, he had been hasty and known them to be lizard-based. So, he had based the entire dungeon around ice. Coincidentally, he also learned how much he hated being cold.
The issue was that while kobolds did indeed look like lizards; they had more in common with their draconic ancestors than their cold-blooded cousins. The cold and the various traps ended up doing more harm to him than them. There were still some that succumbed to them, but not as many as he had thought.
At the moment, the Dungeon Core was researching glacial ice forms, due to how hard and cold they tended to be. If regular ice wouldn¡¯t work, then he would just go even harder and colder.
Nate shivered as the avatar settled into place in the dungeon.
His armor was not exactly built to keep him warm. That wasn¡¯t its main function, and he felt sorry for the cultivators who entered this dungeon, unaware of what he had done in his ignorance.
He needed more parts for the path artisans in the community to work with. If it wasn¡¯t for that, he wouldn¡¯t have willingly entered this place, especially not without Aura as backup.
It was going to be a long, miserable night, at least if he managed to survive.
Nate managed to take out one group of kobolds on his own before he decided to switch dungeons. Kobolds worked together and had their own language. They were like a high-form beast in that regard. They were smarter than the average beast by quite a lot. It wasn¡¯t quite fully formed, like it had been with blighted elves or humans, but it was still there.
They fought in groups and used weapons, even energy skills, on occasion. Not to mention their more obvious advantages of hard scales, strength, and some of them even being able to combine their liquids to create a small amount of fire. It wasn¡¯t much, but if you were close, it could still hurt.
After working himself to the bone just to take out that one group, and only getting one scale and a rainbow orb for his efforts, he left. The ant and rat dungeons were out of the question, as they would simply swarm him. He had grown somewhat used to dying over the last year, but some deaths were worse than others. Those orchestrated by rats and insects were definitely rated among the worst that he had experienced to date.
Going to either of those dungeons alone was simply suicide, even with the traps being somewhat effective. They could simply swarm those as well. Constantly repairing everything in those two dungeons was an absolute energy sink and he couldn¡¯t wait to upgrade the Dungeon Core in both of them. The increased hardness of dungeon material would be a welcome reprieve on high energy expenditure.
Unfortunately, there didn¡¯t seem to be much he could do about that one.
He had tried researching materials in the past without any luck. It could do weaker ones just fine, but stronger was always where the problem lay.
There were plenty of other dungeons, but only one viable one that he hadn¡¯t visited recently, the mixed skeleton, zombie, and lich dungeon.
He swapped out the gun and equipped his crossbow and quiver. The crossbow was strapped to his back, while the quiver took the place of his gun and holster on his right leg. Nate tightened the strap on the crossbow and unsheathed the kriegsmesser.
His view on practicing multiple weapons had evolved over the last eight months. Each of them had their uses, and he used them as such. This wasn¡¯t some story where the sword ruled all, or the equally ignorant belief that the spear was king. They each had their uses.
That said, he still had to pick and choose which ones he learned and focused on. He would have loved to say that he was some once-in-a-millennium genius with weapons. The truth was, he had been practicing nearly constantly with the crossbow, kukris, and now kriegsmesser since he had created the first dungeon.
Countless hours were spent nearly every night with them in hand. Adding even more to the mix would just be insane.
Chapter 136
A convoy of trucks with trailers encountered them on the road the next day. All the different professional expeditioners were heading out, with a few returning to the city, their trailers already loaded down.
As with Pueblo, they decided to bypass Colorado City, driving around the walled city. The walls of this city were older than theirs had been. There were sections of old concrete still visible, where it had been constructed back before they had started using the newer impacted dirt method.
If they were going to try and make it to Trinidad that day, then they needed to get moving. It was a short trip at only sixty-one miles, but there was a lot they needed to do once they were there. Not to mention, those miles were all over crappy, destroyed roads and terrain. The tires and suspension of the overland RV were built for that sort of thing, and this would be a perfect area for them to discover its everyday limits.
Would the rig be alright if they drove at a constant thirty miles an hour over semi-rough terrain? What about forty miles an hour? They weren¡¯t talking about its true limits. They weren¡¯t trying to break it. They wanted to know what the RV could handle day in and day out without causing a problem.
If they could maintain thirty miles an hour, then the trip would take a measly two hours. That was plenty doable in a day, even if they had to go slower. However, it would have larger implications on what they could expect going forward.
With Lindsay behind the wheel, who had woken up that morning feeling perfectly fine, that was incredibly unlikely. If there was ever anyone who had a need for speed, it was her. The girl had a distinct tendency toward a lead foot.
Thankfully, Aura was doing much better as well.
***
Nate bit his lower lip as he glared at the energy counter and then the number of dungeons he could still create. He had been playing it somewhat safe lately, taking things slowly, learning more about how everything worked. He had even come up with a new method for how to approach the dungeons.
Yet, every time he needed to create another dungeon, he found himself hesitating. He hated seeing that creation map. Every time it came up it always made him feel so hopeless. There were so many dimensional zones on Earth, and he was only one person.
He clicked on the ¡®Dungeon Creation¡¯ option and flicked the map a couple of times, sending it spinning about. For this next one, he wanted a location that he truly knew nothing about.
The map stopped partially over Asia and the ocean. Zooming in, he saw Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and several other countries. He increased the focus on South Korea, seeing that for such a small country they had a rather alarming number of dimensional zones active there.
He selected one near the ocean, around where he thought the city of Busan was.
The cost of creating the Dungeon Core had increased by another ten-thousand energy, making this one three-hundred and seventy-thousand. It hurt to spend that much energy all at once. His main energy earners were all dungeons that he kept dieing in, like the kobold dungeon. The water elemental dungeon that he could even enter did pretty well for itself.
Then there were the annoying dungeons, the ones filled with insects and rodents. The ant, and rat dungeons, among others, while they had extreme numbers, that was really all they had. Each one of them barely gave any energy for even being inside the place, and their deaths were little better.
He looked at the remaining energy in the shared pool before shaking his head. What was left was going to be needed during the construction of the actual dungeons. It was better to stop while he was ahead on this one.
Starting the thirty-eighth Dungeon Core was already pushing his comfort levels.
Nate had been discreetly working on the dungeon instead of meditating. Now that he had finished with what he wanted to do for the moment, he closed the menus and began meditating for real. Ever since he had properly worked through all the stanzas of the void art, his speed had increased. After finishing that, he had also taken the time to work on his old shadow meditation art as well.
Anna tapped him on the shoulder a little over an hour and a half later. They were getting close to Trinidad.
Surprisingly, the ride had been fairly smooth. The road was cracked and pitted, but what Nate had failed to account for was that potholes came from constant use. Without the constant wear and tear on the roads, they had worn down, but at the same time were also in better condition in this part of the state than he had expected. Trinidad experienced fewer temperature swings than where they lived, and that had prevented additional pavement cracking and damage.
Still, a hundred years of neglect added up.
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The suspension of the overlander RV and its massive tires did the rest to keep the ride smooth and comfortable for the inhabitants.
There were jostles here and there, but as long as they kept the speed beneath forty miles an hour, it wasn¡¯t too bad.
Nate gently nudged Aura to the side from where she was lying, tanning herself with the sunlight from the windshield.
¡°I didn¡¯t expect us to make the trip this quickly,¡± He said, coming up behind Lindsay, and Angie, who was now sitting in the passenger¡¯s seat.
Anna nodded. ¡°It would have been better if we had taken another day or two to make sure you all were ready. But that is just me being extra sensitive because of last night. You all have been working as a group for months now and know what you are doing. As long as you don¡¯t get in over your head, then you should be fine. The RV was just a little more capable than we had first anticipated is all.¡±
¡°A little?¡± Lindsay asked with a snort. ¡°Try a lot. This thing is a freaking tank, and I love it.¡±
The phrase took Nate by surprise for a moment as he hadn¡¯t even realized that this world had tanks until right then. For the first few years after the dimensional zones appeared, the world had still held itself together for the most part.
The portals and the invading enemies had been the unifying force for the entire world instead of two world wars. It was during that time that they had lost a lot of their manufacturing ability for planes. From what Anna had told him before, from when she had bought her car. There were companies working to regain what had been lost. However, the extreme noise always drew attention.
Anytime they attempted actual test flights of any sort, they would be swarmed by animals and monsters who had been drawn to the noise. They continued to make progress, but it was incredibly slow as a result.
The large overlander RV slowed as the walls of Trinidad came into view. It was noon and there were no other expedition trucks on the road around them. They had the entire place to themselves.
That said, the guards at the wall would not recognize their vehicle and would undoubtedly stop them for a few questions. Nothing major, just checking who they were and what they were up to. Trinidad wasn¡¯t a city-state, at least no more than any of the places out here were. But caution was always warranted, especially after what had happened to their own city.
Now that they were next to the city, their phones had a signal again. They each turned their devices on, and they each began dinging and making endless chimes as messages rolled in. Anna called Landon and let him know where they were.
It took a few minutes for them to get through the wall and the guards that were stationed there. It took some time, but they didn¡¯t have any issues going through it.
Once they were through, Landon, through Anna, gave them directions on where to meet him.
He was working with an expedition company, that was doing regular dives into the nearby dimensional zone. Nate had been avoiding this particular zone simply because of how close it was. He didn¡¯t want to do too many in one place, especially in the beginning. People might begin to have suspicions about the location of the creator of all the buildings if he did that.
It helped that the monsters of this particular dimensional zone were also fairly strong. Any traps he might create wouldn¡¯t be strong enough to hurt most of them, yet. Research would help with that, and he was gradually working his way up to being able to take on stronger enemies by doing that at the other dungeons. It was simply a matter of time.
They found Landon sitting on the steps of a large building, waiting for them. He jumped to his feet when they drove up and ran toward them.
¡°Would you look at this? My little sister is already old enough to leave home and go on her first road trip with friends. She¡¯s graduated high school and has now become a proper hunter. Our little Lin-lin is all grown up.¡± Landon cried out while wiping away a fake tear.
Anna kissed his cheek and rolled her eyes.
¡°Yeah, laugh it,¡± Lindsay muttered as she opened the driver¡¯s door.
¡°Oh, that¡¯s not nice, little Lin-lin,¡± Nate teased. ¡°Your older brother is just looking out for you.¡±
Landon chuckled and gave him a fist bump. ¡°Let me grab my car and then I¡¯ll show you to my place.¡±
The plan was to stay in the Trinidad area for a couple of days. The company Landon was a part of had volunteered to include them on an expedition trip. Landon and Anna would be the ones mainly in charge of keeping an eye on them. They wouldn¡¯t necessarily be allowed to do anything, but they were still allowed to come.
It would be up to them to learn whatever they could from the experience, or simply to enjoy being taken along for the ride.
Angela looked around curiously as they drove through the inner city to Landon¡¯s apartment. With the work her family did, she had been to plenty of other walled cities. However, they all tended to head more inland than the direction they were currently going. The last time she had been to this portion of the state was many years before.
Landon¡¯s apartment was a clean, first-floor affair. As a professional hunter, he needed a lot of room and access to certain washing and cleaning facilities. Most of his equipment was cleaned by the company at their building. There were always items that they inevitably missed though.
The apartment itself held racks of polished but chipped and partially broken khopeshs and other armor. Each one was a blade he had wielded at some point in the past, or a set of armor that had saved his life.
The beasts they were fighting were not exactly soft targets, and it wasn¡¯t uncommon for someone who used blades to go through dozens of them during their career. Just as archers had to continually upgrade their bows, all the other weapons a user could think of had to be upgraded at some point as well.
Lindsay roamed through each of the rooms, taking quick pictures of the place before her brother could stop her. She was cackling madly as she dashed from place to place, her cell phone in hand.
¡°Oh, mom is going to love this shot.¡± She yelled from the bathroom. ¡°When was the last time you cleaned the sink? And why are your boxers hanging from the shower rack?¡±
Landon blushed and ran after her.
¡°He really should have expected her to do something like that,¡± Anna said, wandering over to the fridge and pulling out a jug of cold water. ¡°Their mother is always trying to get him and all the other siblings to send photos of their homes. Lindsay is simply the only one young enough to still get bribed into doing something about it.¡±
Nate leaned against the counter with Angie as they enjoyed the show. Over the last few months, he had come to know the Travers better and appreciate their special brand of weird.