《From Death, Life. A Divine Dungeon Fanfic》 Chapter 1 Paige was sitting in the guild hall¡¯s bar, when a few of her friends got back from their scouting mission. Some local had claimed that he had found a dungeon in the Phantom Mountains. They grabbed drink each and waved over to their guild mates in the bar before headed to the back office to report into the guild leader. She was just glad that Frank had not made her go. It was not likely that it was a dungeon. The last scouting group had cleared that mountain range out only ten years ago. They had probably found a beast lair or a few wondering beasts, but that was all. A dungeon took a long time to develop. Even if this actually was a dungeon, it wouldn¡¯t be dangerous to anything larger than an insect. She clinked her ring against the glass mug. Not that a new dungeon would help much anyway. It would probably be another earth or maybe ice dungeon. The Phantom Mountains were a cold and barren collection of rocks. It would take a good two weeks of travel to get there. Well, probably twelve days to get there and two days to navigate the mountain. Good thing it was spring. Otherwise, a fire mage would have to spend who knows how much mana to melt through some of those passages. What a wasteland. Paige laughed to herself as she started to hear Frank¡¯s voice rise as he was chewing into the party. Charles and Greg had probably just let Frank know that they had found some beast lair that had gobbled up a shepherd or two. Charles was a wind cultivator though. At least he probably got a chance to cultivate a bit with the mountain winds. Frank¡¯s last bellow was so loud that Paige could understand it when he told them to get out. She quickly got the bartender¡¯s attention and ordered two more beers. After getting busted back down to fishie by Frank, she was sure that they could use another round. Greg came out and walked over to sit with Paige. Charles came out a moment later and walked over to join them. Paige pushed over the drinks to them. ¡°DId you save all the sheep?¡± Charles immediately started drinking his new beer. Greg swirled his beer and settled in to tell his story for the fourth time. ¡°Lass, we saved a few sheep, but this dungeon got four of the shepherds that found the place. They were just standard bumkins, but it killed four of them.¡± She set down her beer and stared at him. ¡°Are you serious? I thought for sure that it was just a beast that ate some sheep. Was it Infernal?¡± She tried to keep her tone more scared than excited. Greg¡¯s eyebrows shifted a bit, but Charles missed it entirely. ¡°Paige, you are going to love this. We went to this hole in the ground with Priest Henry and a wind mage elf. You know some of those High Elves. He didn¡¯t even tell us his name and we spent five days together. Priest Henry though, he was stomping around trying to take charge of the mission the entire time. Then, at the boss...¡± He just started to laugh to himself. She looked back to Greg and gave him a blank stare. Greg shook his head. ¡°We get there and the landowner tells us that him and four men seeing this hole in the ground shining blue. They walk in and one of the blokes falls into a pit trap. They walk all the way in to the floor boss. Turns out it¡¯s a big mushroom. One of the locals wants to go eat this big mushroom. In a twist of fate, it bites him in half. The boss takes out another of them with a ranged thorn. The other two make a break for it. Some smaller mushroom mobs take out the older one on their way out.¡± With the report given, Greg took a long drink from his beer. She looked over to Charles again. ¡°So the dungeon¡¯s affinity. It was Infernal?¡± Charles took the cue and picked up the story. ¡°It is a four room dungeon. It is completely fishie friendly. It was all moss and mushrooms. Greg lit up his attacks and the moss burned to cinders. The mushrooms were crazy. The red caps were about the size of pumpkins and they would bite. There were smaller white cap mushrooms too. It had your standard intro traps. A few pitfalls, rockfalls, and even a false wall with spikes against the side. The boss was great. It was a redcap that was about as tall as that dwarf that you used to run with. Priest Henry though, oh Priest Henry. He pushed out up front and charges into the boss room. It turns out that it also has moss tendrils. This moss wraps around his feet and drops him on his arse. You should have heard him!¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. He did his best impersonation of the Priest. ¡°This is a G ranked dungeon! How did it sneak up on me?¡± Going back to his regular voice, ¡°Then that mushroom reeled in the priest like an actual fish! It opened up it¡¯s mouth and was ready to bite his head off before Greg jumped in and cut him loose.¡± Greg raised his glass for another beer. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t have done anything anyway. That mushroom could have chewed on him all day before it got through his aura. His expression was reward enough though. The elf got in a few good swipes on the mushroom. Charles saved me a nasty headache when he blocked a thorn the size of my hand. Enough was enough, so I finished it off with a fire dart. The local was right about one thing though,it did make a good stew. The crazy thing was that none of the mobs were over G9. Then, this boss shows up as an F7 boss mob.¡± Paige was still holding the beer halfway up to lips. ¡°That is great to see that stuffy priest brought down a peg. Odd to see the boss that much stronger than the dungeon mobs. So this dungeon was Infernal? I can see that getting Frank all worked up.¡± Charles completely ignored her question and continued his story. ¡° We got the edible bits from the mushroom as loot and a bit of copper. Priest Henry was convinced that it was Infernal, since it had eaten those four shepherds. So, we were going to take the core and use it for a spell component for the guild leaders. I look around and find the core in a stalagmite. There¡¯s some little tree growing on top of the core. I pull out my sword to cut away the tree and the elf hits me with a blast of wind!¡± Greg picked up the story. ¡°It turns out that the sapling is actually a silverwood. Charles here almost started a war between the Lion kingdom and High Elven nation. He tells us that this is certainly not an infernal dungeon and then the elf made Charles give it a quality dagger, a gold, silver, and a copper.¡± ¡°So after I apologize for almost starting a war, Priest Henry figures that he will try to start one. He takes out his inscribed pendant and says that he will make sure that this is not an Infernal dungeon even if it does start a war. The elf just grinned and said ¡°Go for it.¡± So Henry puts the pendent inside the stalagmite and prays for the destruction of an Infernal core.¡± He waved his hands dramatically. Greg let the pause go for a bit, then continued. ¡°Then, nothing happened at all. Priest Henry pulls out the chain. Get this. The dungeon ATE his pendant! He turned and started chewing out the elf. THe elf puts some wards on the tree and we head out.¡± Charles drew a dagger and set it on the table. ¡° RIght before we leave, there is a single mushroom mob right in front of the door. We take it out and it drops my coins, this dagger here, and Henry¡¯s pendant. I like this dungeon already!¡± Paige picked up the dagger and examined it. ¡°That¡¯s incredible. The dungeon gave you back all of the tribute that you need to give to the dungeon as part of the scouting pack? Also, what affinity was the dungeon if it wasn¡¯t an Infernal?¡± Greg finally took pity on Paige and answered her questions. ¡°Well lass, that¡¯s the odd thing. All of us checked and we couldn¡¯t determine what it¡¯s affinity was. I think it simply doesn¡¯t have an affinity. It seems to be pure essence. I would wager that anyone can cultivate it. Earth, FIre, anyone. Probably even Infernal.¡± Greg raised his eyebrows at her. Paige stood up and called for another round. ¡°Gentlemen, thank you for your time. I appreciate the information, but I need to go talk to Frank. Wish me luck.¡± She tossed a few copper on the bartop for the drinks and then walked off to Frank¡¯s office. Walking up to the office, Paige knocked a quick rhythm as she opened the door. ¡°Hey Frank. I need to go to that new dungeon. I really want to check it out.¡± Frank let out a long sigh and looked to the ceiling. ¡°Look Paige, I am going to send a team up there. However , you have signed a mana contract. After the break out of those fire beasts, the guild is supplying this city with four round the clock water cultivators. You are one of those cultivators. If you were to try to go to this new dungeon, you¡¯d be dead by the time you got fifty miles away. Breaking a mana contract, bad way to go.¡± Paige started pacing the office as she spoke. ¡°The mana contract is for four water cultivators. It does not specifically say me. We can easily get one of the people that you mentioned from the team that¡¯s headed up there to replace me. You know the situation Frank. You know what a blessing a non-affinity dungeon would be to my son. He¡¯s..¡± Frank interrupted her as she tried to convince him. ¡°I do know what you are doing and I do know your son. However, your son is not in the guild and thus is not my problem.¡± He thought for a few moments, then sighed. ¡°Paige, you and I go back a ways. You are specifically signed up for the contract here for the next year. Easy job, easy money. We could use another hunter or two on the team that¡¯s headed to the new dungeon to set up a training camp. However, you and I are now even from that night in the Phoenix kingdom.¡± Paige grabbed him by the hand and kissed him on the cheek. ¡°Thank you so much Frank. I¡¯m going to go tell Korin now.¡± She turned and ran out of the office as Frank waved her away. Chapter 2 Korin walked the hunting trails outside of the city. He stopped and checked a few of the snares to see if they had caught anything over the night. Walking forward, he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He dropped to a crouch and unslung the bow off of his back. Korin silently crept over the trail towards the sound. Moving off the trail, he climbed through the tall grass. He saw a doe raise it¡¯s head up above the grass and look around. Pulling an arrow from his quiver, he nocked it on the bow string and sighted up on the doe. He took a deep breath in and let the arrow fly as he exhaled. The arrow struck true and hit the deer with a hint of essence. The deer simply fell to the ground. Korin ran over to the deer and inhaled deeply, pulling in the essence that escaped the deer with it¡¯s death. He spun the essence in his chi spiral as it condensed. Closing his eyes, he focused on making it as pure as possible. After a few minutes of this meditation, he added the essence to his center. Glancing down at himself, he nodded in satisfaction. His essence had only a tint of grey. Before his mother had helped him, his center was a blackened mess. As the son of a cultivator, he was very aware of how the universe worked. Some children grew up to nursery stories with moral lessons. Korin was raised with his mother teaching him how the basic elements formed everything. How celestial formed life and angels. How infernal formed death and demons. He was also aware of the limitations that it had placed upon him. The vast majority of celestial cultivators were good people. Most of them were priests for the church. While most were healers, a sizable amount were more warriors with celestial essence enhancements. Likewise, most infernal cultivators were not good people. The quickest way to power for an infernal cultivator was through prolonging death, necromancy, and demon summoning. Some infernal cultivators were enhanced warriors, but the majority focused on summoning. His mother was a water cultivator. She was able to pull essence from any water source. She said that she was able to gain more essence from the river that borders the city than that of a still source of water. Korin did not inherit the ability to cultivate from water like his mother. That would have made life far simpler. Korin was an infernal cultivator. Looking down at the doe, he knew that he could have gotten more essence off of it. If a creature or sentient died with extreme emotions, they released more essence. He never could bring himself to do that. He would rather give a quick clean kill than resort to something like that. He bent down and picked up the doe. Settling the doe over his shoulders, he started walking back towards the hunting lodge that he and the other hunters lived in. He just filled his quota before breakfast and got a decent amount of essence in the process. It was going to be a good day! * * * Hector was sitting on the porch enjoying the morning sun while he repaired the fishing nets. The hunters and the fisherman traded favors and their catches to give each member a variety of skills. This time, it was Hector¡¯s turn. So here he sat, mending a fishing net instead of out checking his snares. Either the fishermen from the lodge were trying to catch the boulders sticking out of the river or the fish of the river were just plain mean. He was examining one of the tears that stretched the length of the net. Three strands of the net were the only things that had prevented this net from being torn in two. He looked up at the sound of feet pounding along the western road that lead to the city. When he saw it was his friend¡¯s mother, he reached down to assure that he was wearing his sword. Paige was not the type to show up unannounced, let alone at a speed a non cultivator would be proud of on their horse. Something was going on for her to be using essence to get here in a hurry. Hector tossed the damaged net to the side and waved his arms to get her attention. ¡°Paige!¡± He yelled. ¡°Are the fire imps attacking the city again?¡± She turned towards him and lept the last thirty yards. Landing lightly next to him, she grabbed his shoulder. ¡°No imps this time Hector. Where is Korin?¡± Hector pointed to the north. ¡°He left with the sunrise. Depending how things look, he could be gone all morning. What is going on Paige? I can help.¡± At that moment, Korin rounded one of the bends alongside of the river. He had a good sized doe over his shoulders as he walked towards the hunter¡¯s lodge. Paige slapped him on his shoulder, then ran out to meet her son. Jumping down from the porch himself, Hector ran after Paige. Hector was a cultivator as well of moderate skill. Paige was significantly more trained than he was. As he was only D5, she reached Korin much faster than he did. As Hector got close enough, he heard his friend greet his mother. Then, he asked her where the fire is for her to be rushing around. Hector could see her roll her eyes at him from twenty feet away. ¡°I¡¯ve learned about the opportunity that we have been waiting for. The guild has found a new dungeon that simply does not have an affinity. This means that anyone can cultivate there. This can accelerate our plan by years!¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°If it really is affinity free, you would be able to get enough to open your Liver meridian. That¡¯s just the start. Hector here can go with you. You owe me for opening your water affinity channel. This will help you out a bunch too. The two of you should have no problem filling up a group for the dungeon.¡± Hector nodded. ¡°Yeah, of course. I¡¯d be more than happy to help Korin. It does sound like it could be an amazing place to grow. When would we need to leave?¡± ¡°If I know Frank, the expedition to the new dungeon is leaving in the morning. You will need to grab your camping gear. Dress warm, those mountains can get cold.¡± Paige cycled some essence through her eyes and looked at the two young men. Both had worked very hard in keeping their essence pure. Her son¡¯s essence was a light grey color. Hector had been an earth cultivator, but he had wanted more. She had forced open his water affinity channel. This mixture of earth and water had turned him into a plant cultivator. Paige looked at her son¡¯s long time friend. For being such a young cultivator, he had done very well with his chi spiral. His essence was mostly brown, but she was starting to see a hint of green now. She couldn¡¯t be more proud of either one of these young men. * * * When Paige moved here with her son ten years ago, they had decided that there was a chance to start over here. She had made enough silver to buy a few beast cores from the guild. Those would be just what she needed for her son. There was a feature here that she learned about that made her grab her son come running. There was a rather large bandit camp nearby that had been trying to prey on the city. It was large enough where the bandit camp may have been considered a small city in its own right. The bandit leader was an ambitious man by the name of Wolf. He had lead that bandit city to a small amount of power. Then, he made a mistake. One of the caravans that they attacked had three new guild members with little to no training. As such, they were jokingly called fishies. There had been an intense fight that killed the three guild members and fifteen of the bandits in that raiding party dead. As bad as that was, it got worse. One of the fishies was a ranking guild member¡¯s cousin. Orders came down swiftly for the guild to eradicate the bandit camp. Paige and Korin got there fast enough to talk with guild leader Frank before the battle. She had explained her son¡¯s situation and her plan. Frank had no love for infernal cultivators and took quite a bit of convincing. You can not choose your affinity channel, so Frank had grudingly admitted that he may not be a necromancer intent on summoning. Korin had sworn that he had never, nor did he have any interest in summoning. He agreed to help, on a condition. Frank would be meeting with Korin regularly. If Frank saw any inclination towards necromancy or demon summoning, he would take the young man to the king himself. Paige had taken part of the raid. Her pay for the job was different than usual. Instead of coin, she was aloud to bring Korin with her to the raid. The raid was brief and brutal. Ten C rank cultivators made quick work of the bandit camp. After the bandits were dealt with, Frank allowed the team to help strip Korin¡¯s center. Korin drank as much water as he possibly could, then swallowed a beast core. The core pulled all of Korin¡¯s essence into itself and then pulled in all of his corruption. After all the corruption was pulled from him, Paige took control of all the water that Korin had drank. She wrapped it around the beast core and pulled it and a gallon of water from his stomach. She increased the pressure in the water and crushed the beast core. As soon as he was able, he was instructed to start cultivating. Korin began working to pull in all of the just released infernal essence with the deaths of so many bandits. All of the guild members watched and guarded Korin, but let him know that they would be keeping an eye on him. It had been a successful mission. The bandits would not be bothering the caravans. The city was paying a nice sum to the guild for removing the bandits. More importantly to Paige, all of the corruption had been removed from her son. Korin spent the next three hours cultivating in the ruins of the bandit camp. Only one member of the guild had stayed with Paige and Korin. The C8 wind cultivator had simply said that he had orders. When pressed, he said that he was to stay just in case to help. He thinly veiled threat was obvious to everyone. When the last of the infernal essence had been incorporated into Korin¡¯s key spiral, he dropped to the floor exhausted. Since he learned how to cultivate, he had only been able to cultivate in a small burst to take in the energy released when an animal died. He had learned how to cultivate from an area saturated in infernal energy, like a graveyard. Even then, it had been a challenge with so much corruption in his center. The difference was huge. Hunting animals like deer did not provide much essence. Graveyards offered steady essence, but it was very diluted. The death of the thirty bandits only hours ago had released a visible dark cloud of infernal essence. A human released so much more essence than a simple deer. When the last of the cloud disappeared into Korin, he nodded weakly. Paige lifted her son to his feet and wrapped his arm over her shoulder. She could have easily carried him like she had when he was an infant. She doubted that his 21 year old pride would endure that. She stayed with him for the next day as he processed the essence from his chi spiral. She was very proud of how he managed to to process all of that essence and let only the smallest amount of corruption into his center. After it all was processed, Korin was an F6 cultivator. The guild still would not accept an infernal cultivator. Thanks to Frank¡¯s deal, they would not hunt him down as long as he kept his end of the bargain. The guild did not specifically forbid Paige from working with her son on cultivating, but it certainly would not help her. She had a plan on what they could do though. She had started working on this plan the moment she figured out her baby¡¯s affinity channel. He would only have a few options. Necromancy and demon summoning would be the fastest path to strength. Until he was discovered, then it was imprisonment or execution. No, being an infernal summoner would very quickly lead to death. He would need to be a non cultivator or a melee fighter. Another option would be to change his affinity. She would only need a way to test it first. Until then, she would help train him with weapons. That opportunity came two years later. Korin had decided that he wanted to work for the city as a hunter. This would give him a chance to practice some skills, such as archery, tracking, and herbalism. Paige had pushed him hard to learn alchemy and herbalism to help support her plan. Korin had turned out to have quite a knack for it. Everyday when he went out hunting, he would come back with his packs full of herbs for him to use. He got better and better at hunting and usually come back with some game. This had the added benefit of giving him a chance to cultivate a bit of essence as well. Chapter 3 It was a year after Kornin had started as a hunter for the city. He was part of a larger hunting party checking on some unusual markings. The tracks looked similar to the tracks that would be left by a bear. The odd thing is that this animal seemed to make an effort to specifically avoid stepping in soft dirt that would leave tracks. Korin and the other four men tracked the bear for three days. The group broke camp at dawn and continued to track the difficult trail. The trail had gone cold too many times to keep count. They would need to find the trail again every hour or so due to the bear¡¯s habit of avoiding anything that would hold a track. A lucky break came when the bear¡¯s tracks intersected with the tracks of a few deer. The tracks showed that the deer scattered at the approach of the bear, but it seemed to focus on one of the deer and give chase. This was the first chance that the hunter¡¯s had to really study the bear¡¯s tracks. They knew from the size of the tracks that this was a larger bear. Judging from how far apart the tracks were though, they had underestimated. The leader of the hunt was an experienced woodsman who had seen fifty winters. He determined that this bear had to be about as tall as a man when it was standing on all fours. Korin reached into his pouches and pulled out some vials of a paralytic poison that he had been able to make. He passed them around and had everyone apply them to their weapons. With this information and feeling better prepared, they hurried off after the bear. When they found the bear, it was hunched over the body of the buck that it had been chasing. The bear was massive. On it¡¯s four paws, it was at least a head taller than any man in the group. It¡¯s fur was black as night. It was easily the largest animal that Korin had ever seen. The bear was busy devouring the buck and had not noticed the approach of the five men. The lead huntsman signalled for Korin and one other hunter to climb the nearby trees, then fire arrows at his signal. The other hunters would also shoot arrows at the bear and then switch to their long spears. The bear crunched through another bone as Korin climbed the tree. Korin gave the lead huntsman the signal followed shortly the hunter in the other tree. Everyone readied their bows with the paralytic poison. The leader put up his ten fingers then waited two seconds then lowered one. Two more seconds and he lowered another finger. After he lowered the third finger two seconds later, he grabbed out his own bow and sighted up on the bear. When everyone reached zero on the lead huntsman¡¯s countdown, they launched their first volley. The bear whipped it¡¯s head around at the sound of the bow strings. All five arrows sunk deep into the bear¡¯s hide and introduced the poison into the bear¡¯s blood stream. The bear roared and started to charge. The three hunters on the ground had enough time to fire another arrow before tossing aside their bows and raising their spears to form a spear wall and meet the charge. Korin and the other hunting continued to rain down arrows on the bear as it charged. Korin as also taking a moment to charge his arrows with a bit of infernal essence as he fired on the bear. These arrows would be naturally more deadly than a regular arrow. This made him a tad slower than the other archers, but he had always played this off as taking more time to aim. The bear crashed into the spear wall and pushed all three men back by it¡¯s massive weight. The hunter on the left side¡¯s spear bent and snapped in half. This allowed the bear to move in that direction. The bear slammed it¡¯s massive paw into the hunter driving him into the ground in front of it. It¡¯s next step sent all of the bear¡¯s weight crushing down on the man¡¯s rib cage. The hunter didn¡¯t stand a chance. The ribs shattered and chest cavity collapsed, crushing every vital organ inside. The hunter died in an instant. The other two hunters on the ground changed position and shoved their spears deeper into the bear. Korin¡¯s senses had been attuned to the burst of essence when a being dies. Hating himself for doing this, but unwilling to waste the essence in the air, he activated the technique that he had developed with his mother. With a sharp inhalation, he pulled in the cloud of infernal energy. The energy added a large amount to Korin¡¯s chi spiral to be refined at a less dangerous time. The other hunter in the tree got a spectacular shot off and caught the bear in the neck. The bear flinched and chuffed as the arrow struck it¡¯s neck. It looked up at the archer and then stood up on it¡¯s hind legs. This brought the bear up to about fourteen feet high. It reached up grabbed the hunter who was in the tree about sixteen feet up off the ground. It raked it¡¯s claws through the man¡¯s armor and tore deep into his chest. As the bear feel back to all fours, it pulled the man down from the tree where he landed with a sickening crunch. Heart broken, Korin inhaled the infernal energy from another one of his fellow hunters. He fired another infernaly charged arrow at the bear and noticed that it was starting to slow down and not moving it¡¯s left arm near as well. The bear swung it¡¯s right arm out and smashed another of the remaining spears. The situation repeated itself as the spear shattered. It struck the hunter with the back of it¡¯s paw on the way back. The blow sent the hunter flying as he slammed into the tree that Korin was in. The bear narrowed it¡¯s eyes and surged forward to finish off the downed hunter. Unwilling to watch another hunter die, Korin dropped his bow and pulled out his hand axe. He poured as much infernal essence as he could into his deadly strike ability and leapt towards the bear¡¯s left side. The bear saw him and tried to lift it¡¯s arm to swat him out of the air. The paralytic poison and the injury from the spear had limited the bear¡¯s range of motion. It simply was not able to lift it¡¯s arm high enough to reach him. Korin landed on the bear¡¯s back and dug his hands into the bear¡¯s fur for a grip. He slammed his axe into the bear¡¯s spine right at the base of it¡¯s neck. The infernal essence caused the blade to sink in deeper and change the angle enough to sever the bear¡¯s spinal column. This caused the bear to crash to the ground about two feet away from the wounded hunter. Korin¡¯s axe raised and fell three more times before the bear stopped moving. He looked to see that Michael, the lead huntsman, had ran over and stabbed the bear in the throat. He had twisted and pulled the spear free, severing the major arteries. Korin was suddenly surrounded by a dark cloud of essence. He pulled a small waterskin with a red ribbon on it out of the pouch at his side and tossed it to the lead huntsman. ¡°Hurry Michael! Pour this down his throat.¡± Korin pointed towards the downed hunter. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Michael looked at the waterskin for a moment, then ran over towards the hunter. He tilted back the man¡¯s head and poured some of the healing liquid into the man¡¯s throat. He would recap it, then hold then man¡¯s nose and force him to swallow. He then repeated this process. Seeing that Michael had the situation in hand, Korin closed his eyes and breathed the infernal essence in. After five minutes of cultivating the bear¡¯s essence, he had his chi spiral filled to an uncomfortable level. He opened his eyes and saw Michael staring at him. ¡°Are you alright up there?¡± he gave him a strange look as he was still sitting on top of the dead bear. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sorry. I guess I overdid it there with that last attack.¡± Michael nodded and patted the side of the bear. ¡°Well Korin, you really need to work on your self-preservation skills. Come on down off that bear. I need your help.¡± Korin slid down and was slightly light headed from all off the essence that he had taken in from the bear and the two hunters. After looking at Korin oddly, Michael shrugged and patted the bear. Michael pulled off his backpack and walked up to the bear¡¯s front paw. He picked up the bear¡¯s massive paw and slid it in the bag. Korin went slack jawed as the bear slid into the bag. He held up the bag in front of Korin. ¡°There are certain perks from being the lead huntsman. Now, we need to put our hunters in as well.¡± He walked up to the man who was in the tree. ¡°Lucas. He was a bit of a drifter. He never told us where he came from and if he had any family.¡± He put the bag over the man¡¯s head and he slid into the bag. Walking over to the man who was wielding the spear. ¡°This is Victor. He just got married a year ago. No children. We shall be giving his share of the hunt to his wife.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go check on Hector. I gave him the full skin of the health potion you whipped up. Impressive by the way. Health potions and paralytic poisons. You will have a nice side business as an alchemist.¡± Korin nodded in acknowledgment. ¡°That¡¯s the plan. I get to wander the forest collecting the ingredients that I need and you pay me for it. As long as I bring back a deer every once in a while, I can gather as much as I need.¡± Michael was quiet as he reached into his bag and pulled out a two long wooden poles with cloth tying them together. He walked over to Hector, the injured hunter. He gestured to Hector¡¯s feet and stepped over by his head. ¡°You and I are going to talk about that when we get things settled here. We need to start using you more efficiently. I want every hunter to be carrying some of your potions. They¡¯ll gather materials for you to get you prepped for this. I still want you to help with these big hunts though. We all would be dead if not for your leap of faith there. We need to double time out of here though. That potion should let us get him back to town, but we need to get him to a priest. We also have dead to bury and a bear to process. Now that we have seen that thing in action, i¡¯m sure that it¡¯s a beast. No regular bear would act like that.¡± They lifted Hector and set him on the stretcher that came out of the impossibly large bag. As they rushed back through the forest towards the city, Korin frantically thought of what to do. As an infernal cultivator, it would not be a good idea to step into a building full of celestial cultivators. All it would take is one of them to decide to attack before realizing that he¡¯s not a summoner. Korin shook his head as they lifted him up. ¡°Michael, we¡¯ve been out here for three days and just been through quite a fight. We should go to the lodge. Fresh hunters can get him to a priest faster than we can. I¡¯ve already helped him as much as I can with that potion. Speed is what Hector needs. I¡¯d rather help with the dead.¡± Not slowing down at all, Michael adjusted his path towards the lodge. ¡°You are right. Fresh hunters will make better time. You are also being an idiot. Your healing potion is the only reason that he¡¯s not in the bag with the others. Your poison is probably the only reason that we are all not bear scat.¡± They emerged from the forest a short time later. A small crowd of hunters started to gather on the porch. Michael barked out orders and four hunters ran down and relieved them of the stretcher. He handed one of the hunters five copper and sent them running to the church with the stretcher. Michael turned towards Korin. ¡°Rest up for a little while. Then, we can lay Lucas and Victor to rest.¡± Korin walked over to one of the chairs on the porch and slumped into it. Sitting there, he worked on refining all of the essence in his chi spiral. The massive influx of essence had let him rise from F8 to F9. That beast had given him almost the same amount of essence as half of the bandit camp back when he had his essence stripped. * * * Hector made a full recovery and became a close friend to Korin. Michael had been correct. The bear was a beast. The local spotter called a dire black bear. It even had a core. The core was sold to the adventurer''s guild, the hide to a noble, and the meat to the city. Even split four ways, they each made significant profit. Korin used his share to buy himself quality leather armor, a good axe for combat, and a portable alchemy set. Hector had other plans. He was so impressed by the priest¡¯s ability to heal, that he tried to join their ranks. He was devastated when he was turned away. They had explained that his affinity was with earth and only celestial cultivators could become priests. He told Korin about this and Korin arranged a meeting with his mother. She asked to meet them by the river the next day. She explained the elements of the heavens and the earth to Hector. She told him that everyone is born with at least one affinity channel open. She emphasized that this channel does not determine who you are, but simply what essence techniques you can use. More than that, she explained that there were still ways for him to heal even with his current affinity. However, there could be a more effective way too. Hector had begged her to help him utilize these skills. She agreed, but explained that it would be pricey and she wanted a commitment from him in return. As a healer, he would be well sought after in groups of cultivators. Hector would always need to have her son in that group if Korin wanted and he would need to buy a memory stone. Hector agreed immediately, Paige told them that she needed to get a few things together and meet them in the cave south of town tomorrow just after sunrise. She ran back to the guild to purchase some supplies and cash in on an old debt from one of the guild¡¯s healers that she knew. When Hector and Korin arrived at the cave, Paige was already there, sitting next to six water skins. Hector handed her the fifty copper that they had agreed upon. The true cost of this venture was significantly more and Paige would have sponsored it all anyway. The fifty copper was a lot of money for a hunter. It showed a lot of commitment for him to pay this much. Korin watched the process of stripping one¡¯s core for the first time since experiencing it himself. This time was so much more peaceful than the one he remembered. Hector pressed the memory stone against his forehead, then stumble back and fall against the wall of the cave. After he came back to his senses, he knew how to cultivate. Korin got a good laugh at the expression on Hector¡¯s face when he saw what his center looked like. Paige had him drink all six water skins. Then, he swallowed the beast core. The core pulled all of Hector¡¯s accumulated essence and all of his corruption into itself. Right before it started to pull his life energy, Paige had him start cultivating the earth essence of the cave. Then, she used her techniques and pulled the water and the core out of Hector¡¯s stomach. The water hovered in the air and the pressure increased vastly. Releasing a large bubble, the core was crushed. With a wave of her hand, she sent the water bubble and the shards of the core back into the cave, Paige instructed and corrected Hector as he pulled in earth essence and purified it in his chi spiral.she squinted at him. He had managed to get a pure center. ¡°You need to gather and refine as much essence as you can. Once you can get to F8, I¡¯ll feel comfortable opening up your water channel and we can get you that plant healing technique we talked about.¡± Chapter 4 Hector was good to his word. Over the next year, he became the best gatherers of herbs and other plants for the lodge. Everyday, he stop when he found a large concentration of earth essence and cultivate. It only took him two years to reach F8. Once he did so, Paige opened his water affinity. She followed the method that her contact had described and it worked fantastically. Hector was now a plant cultivator. As the lodge was right next to the forest, this gave Hector ample opportunity to cultivate. He had explored his affinity enough to discover other techniques. He had the healing, but also a root tangle, skin with the durability of bark, and the ability to form a lash out of a vine. Korin could not help but be jealous of his friend. He had purposely avoided delving too deeply into his own affinity. The majority of the techniques that he could find involved summoning. Seven years from that point, both men had broken into the D ranks. They had seen the benefits of this life as their bodies toughened. They were always brought along by Michael when there was a dangerous hunt. The last five hunts had no casualties, thanks to Hector. Ten years had passed since Korin and his mother had moved into the Lion Kingdom. He was now a skilled alchemist. He made healing potions, anti-venoms, and a variety of poisons for the hunters. He was now at D3. Hector had caught and surpassed him to reach D5. Life was going smoothly for the two men in the hunter¡¯s lodge. Of course, that is when things change. Paige showed up mid morning to tell them that they needed to pack up and leave to explore a new dungeon. She had convinced them so completely of the speed at which this would happen that both of the men ran out and purchased the tents, sleeping rolls, and trail supplies that they would need for the long trek to the Phantom Mountains. What surprised them was that she was wrong on this point. They were ready to go the next morning, but the day came and went. They had explained to MIcheal what their plans were. He wished them well and had them work on creating a stockpile of potions in the time that he had remaining until they left with the expedition. It turned out there it took the guild a month and a half before it was ready to leave. The journey was peaceful. Any creatures that could have been in the area were wise enough to stay out of the way of such a large group of people and their four supply wagons. Korin and Hector were able to hunt and forage around the group during the trip and had been able to supply the group with a deer or two on most nights to help supplement supplies. Giving the cook extra meat to work with had earned them a friend early. Two weeks after they left the city, they had arrived at the dungeon. * * * Korin stood and admired the entrance to the dungeon. There were spiral stairs leading down into a large cave. The cave was lined with intricate carvings along the walls. The amazing thing is that these were natural formations. Paige had explained that the concentrations of the various types of essences create dungeons and draw monsters and beasts into them. The first group had gone into the dungeon about an hour ago. Everyone else needed to have their group ready and they could be sent into the dungeon every three hours. Once the creatures had been drawn into or mutated by the dungeon, they would always be there and would be recreated not long after they were cleared out. He and Hector had arrived with the caravan from the Lion Kingdom two days ago. The guild leader had set things in motion and groups started going into the dungeon. Three groups had gone through while everyone else worked to set up the camp. They had set up their tents and then moved to help set up the mess hall. They had made friends with the chef and it was a good to keep on those terms. Korin set down one of the benches and looked up to see a man with cloth wrapping on his arms and hands staring at him. With a shrug, Korin walked over to the caravan and pulled another bench down.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Walking over, he set the bench down on the other side of the table. As he stood back up he felt a prick of something sharp against his back between the chest piece and the greaves. Korin froze immediately. A male voice with a cultured accent spoke directly into his right ear. ¡°Thank you so much for setting up these tables and benches. That will make our conversation so much more comfortable. After you.¡± The tip of the blade disappeared. Korin tried to turn and look at his captor, but the man placed a finger against his chin kept his head from turning. ¡°Eh eh, let¡¯s not spoil the mystery.¡± Korin looked forward and saw the cloth wrapped man sitting in front of him to his left. He was obviously using his essence to look into Korin¡¯s center. ¡°You have done very well with your chi spiral. Most infernal cultivators that I have encountered are not as concerned with essence purity. I am confused though as you do not seem to be equipped for your normal infernal cultivators.¡± Korin scowled at the implication. ¡°I¡¯m not a summoner. You can not help what infinity you are born with. Trust me, life would have been much easier for me if I had just had a water affinity.¡± All three of the men tensed as they heard another person walking towards the table. Korin felt the blade tip reappear in the inside of his leg right over a large artery. The message was very clear. Hector walked up and sat down in front of Korin, next to the man in the cloth wrappings. He slid over a mug of ale to Korin. ¡°The chef gave us a drink on the house for helping set up. The name is Hector. You guys are in the group that went In this morning right? We¡¯d love to get some pointers before we go in.¡± Hector offered his hand to the man with the dagger. The man sitting next to Korin stared at the offered hand until Hector awkwardly dropped it. The man across from him squinted at Hector this time. ¡°You are a plant cultivator and you travel with this man? Most plant cultivators revere life.¡± Hector gave him an odd look. ¡°First off, without him I be ten years dead in the ground. I owe him the very fact that I know what a cultivator is, let alone am one. He even helped me get the affinity that I have. Plant affinity is a form of nature. I assure you death is a very involved in nature.¡± The man with the knife pressed against Korin¡¯s leg under the table yawned. ¡°Sure. Death is normal. It¡¯s the undead and demon possessed part that¡¯s not so natural and tends to annoy people.¡± Hector shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve worked with him for ten years and I¡¯ve only seen him use one technique. That one only makes his weapon more deadly. If anything, he needs to explore his affinity more and give himself more tools to work with.¡± The cloth wrapped man tapped his chin thoughtfully as he looked at Hector. Looking back at Korin, ¡°What are you hoping to achieve here?¡± Being mindful of the dagger sitting on his leg, Korin shrugged. ¡°I want the same thing that everyone wants here. I want a chance to cultivate pure essence. I don¡¯t get a chance to cultivate quite as easily as everyone else. Unless, I wanted to give in and become a summoner. Specifically, I want to get open my Liver meridian. Once I have that open, I¡¯ll need to get get up to D8.¡± The man sitting next to Korin slapped the flat of the blade on Korin¡¯s leg and laughed aloud. ¡°Ah, I remember when I opened my Liver meridian. Well, to be honest, I remember the first day of that week. I woke up in the dwarven kingdom. I¡¯m still not quite sure who she was or where I got cat o¡¯nine tails.¡± The cloth wrapped man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ¡°Are you planning on drinking yourself into a stupor or something more specific?¡± Hector pulled out a water skin with a red ribbon on it and handed it over to the man. ¡°Korin is a renowned alchemist in the hunter¡¯s lodge. Once he opens that meridian, he¡¯ll be able to make much better alchemist.¡± The man took the water skin and examined it closely. The man with the dagger looked over to Hector. ¡°You said that he helped you become a plant cultivator. How exactly did he do that?¡± Hector started to answer when Korin interrupted him. ¡°My mentor is a water cultivator. She was able to open Hector¡¯s water affinity channel. She is the one who talked to the guild leader and got permission for us to come and train in this dungeon.¡± ¡°Did you now? That is awfully nice of the guild leader to extend such a courtesy to someone who is not even in the guild. I¡¯ll tell you what. Craig and I will go chat with the guild leader. I¡¯m sure that you are telling us the truth and we will not need to come find you again.¡± The dagger disappeared as the man stood up. As he stood up, he clapped his hand on Korin¡¯s shoulder. As he did he reached over with his middle finger and tapped spots that Korin¡¯s armor didn¡¯t cover. The finger tapped the artery on the side of his neck. Standing up he ruffled Korin¡¯s hair. As he did so, he also tapped Korin¡¯s temple. Korin understood the message clearly. The dagger weilding man winked at him, then walked away whistling. The other man walked off in the same direction.